The prince returned to his villa full of care, and summoned Tutmosis.
"Thou must," said Rameses, "teach me how to find money."
"Ha!" laughed the exquisite; "that is a kind of wisdom not taught in
the highest school of the priests, but wisdom in which I might be a
prophet."
"In those schools they explain that a man should not borrow money,"
said Rameses.
"If I did not fear that blasphemy might stain my lips, I should say
that some priests waste their time. They are wretched, though holy!
They eat no meat, they are satisfied with one wife, or avoid women
altogether, and--they know not what it is to borrow. I am satisfied,
Rameses," continued the exquisite, "that thou wilt know this kind of
wisdom through my counsels. To-day thou wilt learn what a source of
sensations lack of money is. A man in need of money has no appetite,
he springs up in sleep, he looks at women with astonishment, as if to
ask, 'Why were they created?' Fire flashes in his face in the coolest
temple. In the middle of a desert shivers of cold pass through him
during the greatest heat. He looks like a madman; he does not hear
what people say to him. Very often he walks along with his wig awry
and forgets to sprinkle it with perfume. His only comfort is a pitcher
of strong wine, and that for a brief moment. Barely has the poor man's
thoughts come back when again he feels as though the earth were
opening under him.
"I see," continued the exquisite, "that at present thou art passing
through despair from lack of money. But soon thou wilt know other
feelings which will be as if a great sphinx were removed from thy
bosom. Then thou wilt yield to the sweet condition of forgetting thy
previous trouble and present creditors, and then-- Ah, happy Rameses,
unusual surprises will await thee! For the term will pass, and thy
creditors will begin to visit thee under pretence of paying homage.
Thou wilt be like a deer hunted by dogs, or an Egyptian girl who,
while raising water from the river, sees the knotty back of a
crocodile--"
"All this seems very gladsome," interrupted Rameses, smiling; "but it
brings not one drachma."
"Never mind," continued Tutmosis. "I will go this moment to Dagon, the
Phoenician banker, and in the evening thou wilt find peace, though he
may not have given thee money."
He hastened out, took his seat in a small litter, and surrounded by
servants vanished in the alleys of the park.
Before sunset Dagon, a Phoenician, the most noted banker in Memphis,
came to the house of Rameses. He was a man in the full bloom of life,
yellow, lean, but well built. He wore a blue tunic and over it a white
robe of thin texture. He had immense hair of his own, confined by a
gold circlet, and a great black beard, his own also. This rich growth
looked imposing in comparison with the wigs and false beards of
Egyptian exquisites.
The dwelling of the heir to the throne was swarming with youth of the
aristocracy. Some on the ground floor were bathing and anointing
themselves, others were playing chess and checkers on the first story,
others in company with dancing-girls were drinking under tents on the
terrace. Rameses neither drank, played, nor talked with women; he
walked along one side of the terrace awaiting the Phoenician
impatiently. When he saw him emerge from an alley in a litter on two
asses, he went to the first story, where there was an unoccupied
chamber.
After awhile Dagon appeared in the door. He knelt on the threshold and
exclaimed,--
"I greet thee, new sun of Egypt! Mayst thou live through eternity, and
may thy glory reach those distant shores which are visited by the
ships of Phoenicia."
At command of the prince, he rose and said with violent
gesticulations,--
"When the worthy Tutmosis descended before my mud hut--my house is a
mud hut in comparison with thy palaces, erpatr--such was the gleam
from his face that I cried at once to my wife, 'Tamara, the worthy
Tutmosis has come not from himself, but from one as much higher than
he as the Lebanon is higher than the sand of the seashore.' 'Whence
dost thou know, my lord, that the worthy Tutmosis has not come for
himself?' 'Because he could not come with money, since he has none,
and he could not come for money, because I have none.' At that moment
we bowed down both of us to the worthy Tutmosis. But when he told us
that it was thou, most worthy lord, who desirest fifteen talents from
thy slave, I asked my wife, 'Tamara, did my heart teach me badly?'
'Dagon, thou art so wise that thou shouldst be an adviser to the
heir,' replied my Tamara."
Rameses was boiling with impatience, but he listened to the
banker,--he, Rameses, who stormed in the presence of his own mother
and the pharaoh.
"When we, lord, stopped and understood that thou wert desirous of my
services, such delight entered my house that I ordered to give the
servants ten pitchers of beer, and my wife Tamara commanded me to buy
her new earrings. My joy was increased so that when coming hither I
did not let my driver beat the asses. And when my unworthy feet
touched thy floor, O prince, I took out a gold ring, greater than that
which the worthy Herhor gave Eunana, and presented it to thy slave who
poured water on my fingers. With permission, worthiness, whence came
that silver pitcher from which they poured the water?"
"Azarias, the son of Gaber, sold it to me for two talents."
"A Jew? Erpatr, dost them deal with Jews? But what will the gods say?"
"Azarias is a merchant, as thou art," answered Rameses.
When Dagon heard this, he caught his head with both hands, he spat and
groaned,--
"O Baal Tammuz! O Baaleth! O Astoreth!--Azarias, the son of Gaber, a
Jew, to be such a merchant as I am. Oh, my legs, why did ye bring me
hither? Oh, my heart, why dost thou suffer such pain and palpitation?
Most worthy prince," cried the Phoenician, "slay me, cut off my hand
if I counterfeit gold, but say not that a Jew can be a merchant.
Sooner will Tyre fall to the earth, sooner will sand occupy the site
of Sidon than a Jew be a merchant. They will milk their lean goats, or
mix clay with straw under blows of Egyptian sticks, but they will
never sell merchandise. Tfu! tfu! Vile nation of slaves! Thieves,
robbers!"
Anger boiled up in the prince, it is unknown why, but he calmed
himself quickly. This seemed strange to Rameses himself, who up to
that hour had not thought self-restraint needed in his case in
presence of any one.
"And then," said the heir on a sudden, "wilt thou, worthy Dagon, loan
me fifteen talents?"
"O Astoreth! Fifteen talents? That is such a great weight that I
should have to sit down to think of it properly."
"Sit down then."
"For a talent," said Dagon, sitting in an armchair comfortably, "a man
can have twelve gold chains, or sixty beautiful milch cows, or ten
slaves for labor, or one slave to play on the flute or paint, and
maybe even to cure. A talent is tremendous property--"
The prince's eyes flashed,--
"Then thou hast not fifteen talents?"
The terrified Phoenician slipped suddenly from the chair to the
floor.
"Who in the city," cried he, "has not money at thy command, O child of
the sun? It is true that I am a wretch whose gold, precious stones,
and whole property is not worth one glance of thine, O prince, but if
I go around among our merchants and say who sent me, I shall get
fifteen talents even from beneath the earth. Erpatr, if thou shouldst
stand before a withered fig-tree and say 'Give money!' the fig-tree
would pay thee a ransom. But do not look at me in that way, O son of
Horus, for I feel a pain in the pit of my heart and my mind is growing
blunted," finished the Phoenician, in tones of entreaty.
"Well, sit in the chair, sit in the chair," said the prince, laughing.
Dagon rose from the floor and disposed himself still more agreeably in
the armchair.
"For how long a time does the prince wish fifteen talents?"
"Certainly for a year."
"Let us say at once three years. Only his holiness might give back
fifteen talents in the course of a year, but not the youthful heir,
who must receive young pleasant nobles and beautiful women.--Ah, those
women!--Is it true, with thy permission, that thou hast taken to
thyself Sarah the daughter of Gideon?"
"But what per cent dost thou wish?" interrupted Rameses.
"A trifle, which thy sacred lips need not mention. For fifteen talents
the prince will give five talents yearly, and in the course of three
years I will take back all myself, so that thou, worthiness, wilt not
even know--"
"Thou wilt give me to-day fifteen talents, and during three years take
back thirty?"
"Egyptian law permits percentage to equal the loan," answered Dagon,
confusedly.
"But is that not too much?"
"Too much?" cried out Dagon. "Every great lord has a great court, a
great property, and pays no per cent save a great one. I should be
ashamed to take less from the heir to the throne; if I did the prince
himself might command to beat me with sticks and to drive me out of
his presence."
"When wilt thou bring the money?"
"Bring it? O gods, one man would not have strength to bring so much. I
will do better: I will make all payments for the prince, so that,
worthiness, thou wilt not need to think of such a wretched matter."
"Then dost thou know my debts?"
"I know them a little," answered Dagon, carelessly.
"The prince wishes to send six talents to the Eastern army; that will
be done by our bankers. Three talents to the worthy Nitager and three
to the worthy Patrokles; that will be done here immediately. Sarah and
her father I can pay through that mangy Azarias--even better to pay
them thus, for they would cheat the prince in reckoning."
Rameses began to walk through the room impatiently.
"Then am I to give a note for thirty talents?"
"What note? why a note? what good would a note be to me? The prince
will rent me for three years lands in the provinces of Takens, Ses,
Neha-Chent, Neha-Pechu, in Sebt-Het, in Habu."
"Rent them?" said the prince. "That does not please me."
"Whence then am I to get back my money, my thirty talents?"
"Wait! I must ask the inspector of my granaries how much these
properties bring me in yearly."
"Why so much trouble, worthiness? What does the inspector know? He
knows nothing; as I am an honest Phoenician, he knows nothing. Each
year the harvest is different, and the income different also. I may
lose in this business, and the inspector would make no return to me."
"But seest thou, Dagon, it seems to me that those lands bring far more
than ten talents yearly."
"The prince is unwilling to trust me? Well, at command of the heir I
will drop out the land of Ses. The prince is not sure of my heart yet?
Well, I will yield Sebt-Het also. But what use for an inspector here?
Will he teach the prince wisdom? O Astoreth! I should lose sleep and
appetite if such an overseer, subject and slave, dared to correct my
gracious lord. Here is needed only a scribe who will write down that
my most worthy lord gives me as tenant for three years lands in such
and such a province. And sixteen witnesses will be needed to testify
that such an honor from the prince has come to me. But why should
servants know that their lord borrows money from Dagon?"
The wearied heir shrugged his shoulders.
"To-morrow," said he, "thou wilt bring the money, and bring a scribe
and witnesses. I do not wish to think of it."
"Oh, what wise words!" cried the Phoenician. "Mayst thou live,
worthiest lord, through eternity!"