From the day that he became viceroy of Lower Egypt a life unparalleled
in troubles set in for Rameses,--such a life as he had not even
imagined, though born and reared in the pharaoh's palace.
People simply tortured him; his torturers were persons who had
interests of various kinds and who were of various social classes.
On the very first day, at sight of the throngs of people, who crowded
and pushed one another with eagerness, trampled his lawns, broke his
trees, and injured even the wall which enclosed his villa, the heir
demanded a guard for protection. But on the third day he was forced to
flee from his own dwelling to the precincts of the palace proper,
where, because of numerous sentries and above all because of high
walls, access to him was made difficult.
During the ten days which preceded his departure, representatives of
all Egypt, if not of the whole world of that period, passed before the
eyes of the new viceroy.
First of all were admitted great personages. Hence to congratulate him
came the high priests of temples, ministers, ambassadors, Phoenician,
Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian, Nubian, men whose dresses even he could not
remember. Next came the chiefs of neighboring provinces, judges,
secretaries, the higher officers of the army corps in Memphis, and
landowners.
These people desired nothing, they simply expressed their delight at
honor shown him. But the prince, while listening to these persons from
morning till midday and from midday till evening, felt confusion in
his head, and a quivering in all his members.
After these came representatives of the lower classes with gifts:
merchants bringing gold, foreign stuffs, amber, fruits, and perfumes.
Then bankers and men who loaned money for interest. Further,
architects with plans for new buildings, sculptors with projects for
statues and carvings in relief, masons, potters, makers of ordinary
and ornamental furniture, blacksmiths, founders, tanners,
wine-merchants, weavers, even dissectors who opened the bodies of the
departed.
The procession of those men rendering homage had not finished when an
army of petitioners approached the viceroy. Invalids, widows, and
orphans of officers requested pensions; noble lords required court
offices for their sons. Engineers presented new methods of irrigating
Egypt; physicians offered means against diseases of all sorts;
soothsayers offered horoscopes. Relatives of prisoners petitioned to
lessen punishments; those condemned to death begged for life; the sick
implored the heir to touch them, or to bestow on them his spittle.
Finally, beautiful women announced themselves, the mothers of stately
daughters begging the heir humbly but insistently to receive them
into his mansion. Some indicated the amount of the pension demanded,
praising their virginity and their talents.
After ten days of looking every moment at new persons and faces, and
hearing petitions which only the possession of a world and divine
power to dispense it could satisfy, Prince Rameses was exhausted. He
could not sleep; he was so excited that the buzz of a fly pained his
nerves, and at moments he did not understand what people said when
they talked to him.
In this position Herhor came again to assist the viceroy. He commanded
to inform the wealthy that the prince would not receive any more
persons on questions of interest; and against common people, who, in
spite of repeated invitations to disperse, were still waiting, he sent
a company of Numidians with clubs. These succeeded with incomparably
more ease than Rameses in meeting popular wishes, for before an hour
had passed the petitioners had vanished from the square, like mist,
while one and another of them for a couple of succeeding days poured
water on their heads, or other bruised parts of their bodies.
After this trial of supreme power the prince felt profound contempt
for men and became apathetic. He lay two days on a couch with his
hands beneath his head gazing vacantly at the ceiling. He did not
wonder that his sacred father passed his time at the altars of the
gods, but he could not understand how Herhor was able to manage the
avalanche of business, which, like a storm, not only surpassed the
strength of a man, but might even crush him.
"How carry out plans in this case when a throng of petitions fetter
our will, devour our thoughts, drink our blood? At the end of ten days
I am sick, at the end of a year I should be an idiot. In this office
it is impossible to carry out any plan; a man can just defend himself
from madness."
He was so alarmed by his weakness in the position of ruler that he
summoned Herhor, and with a complaining voice told of his suffering.
The statesman listened with a smile to the complaints of the young
steersman of the ship of state, and at last said in answer,--
"Knowest thou, lord, that this immense palace in which we dwell was
reared by one architect, named Senebi, who moreover died before it was
finished? And to a certainty thou wilt understand how this famous
architect could carry out his plan without weariness and be always in
a cheerful temper."
"I am curious."
"Well, he did not do everything himself; he did not hew the beams or
cut the stones, he did not make the bricks, he did not carry them to
the scaffolding. He did not lay them into the wall and fasten them
together. He only drew the plan, and moreover he had assistants. But
thou, prince, hadst the wish to do all things thyself, to listen in
person and transact every business. That goes beyond human strength."
"How should I do otherwise if among petitioners there are some who
have suffered without cause, or if there is unrewarded service? Of
course the foundation of the state is justice."
"How many canst thou hear in a day without weariness?" asked Herhor.
"Well, twenty."
"Thou art happy. I hear at the most six or ten, but they are not
interested in the petitions,--they are chief secretaries, overseers,
and ministers. These men report to me no details, only the most
important things that are done in the army, on the estates of the
pharaoh, in questions of religion, in the courts, in the provinces,
and touching movements of the Nile. Therefore they report no trivial
matter, because each man before he comes to me must hear ten inferior
secretaries. Each inferior secretary and overseer collected
information from ten sub-secretaries and sub-inspectors, and they in
their turn have heard reports from ten officials who are under them.
In this manner I and his holiness speaking with only ten people daily
know all that is most important in a hundred thousand points of Egypt
and the world beyond it.
"The watchman in charge of one part of a street in Memphis sees only a
few houses. A decurion of ten policemen knows the whole street, a
centurion a division of the city, the chief knows all the city. The
pharaoh stands above them all, as if he were standing on the highest
pylon of the temple of Ptah, and sees not only Memphis, but the
cities, Sochem, On, Cherau, Turra, Tetani, with their suburbs, and
a portion of the western desert.
[Illustration: Step Pyramid]
"From that height his holiness is unable, it is true, to see the
people who are wronged, or those who are unrewarded, but he is able to
see the crowd of laborers who have collected without work. He cannot
see warriors in the dramshops, but he can know what regiment is
exercising. He cannot see what a given earth-tiller or citizen is
preparing for dinner, but he can see a fire beginning in a given
quarter of the city.
"This order in the state," continued Herhor, with growing animation,
"is our strength and glory. Snofru, a pharaoh of the first dynasty,
asked a certain priest what monument he should rear to himself.
"'Draw on the earth, O lord,' replied the priest, 'a square, and put
on it six million unhewn stones; they will represent the people. On
that foundation place sixty thousand hewn stones; they will be the
lower officials. On them place six thousand polished stones; they will
be thy higher officials. On these put sixty covered with carvings;
those will be thy most intimate counsellors and chief leaders, and on
the summit place one monolith with its pedestal and the golden image
of the sun; that will be thyself.'
"The Pharaoh Snofru followed that advice. Thus rose the oldest
pyramid, the step pyramid, a tangible image of our state; from that
pyramid all others had their origin. Those are immovable buildings,
from the summits of which the rim of the world is visible, and they
will be a marvel to the remotest generations.
"In this system resides our superiority over all neighbors. The
Ethiopians were as numerous as we, but their king himself took care of
his own cattle, and beat his own subjects with a club; he knew not how
many subjects he had, nor was he able to collect them when our troops
invaded his country. There was not a united Ethiopia, but a great
crowd of unorganized people. For that reason they are our vassals at
present.
"The Prince of Libya judges all disputes himself, especially among the
wealthy, and gives so much time to them that he cannot attend to his
own business. So at his side whole bands of robbers rise up; these we
exterminate.
"Were there in Phoenicia a single ruler who knew what was happening
and who commanded in all parts, that country would not pay us one uten
of tribute. But what a happiness for us that the kings of Nineveh and
Babylon have each only one minister, and are tormented with the onrush
of business as thou art this day. They wish to see, judge, and command
everything; hence the affairs of their states are entangled for a
century to come. But were some insignificant scribe to go from Egypt
to those kings, explain their errors of management, and give them our
official system, our pyramid, in a year's time Judæa and Phoenicia
would fall into the hands of the Assyrians, and in a few tens of years
powerful armies, coming from the East and the North by land and by
sea, would hurl themselves on us, armies which we might not be able to
vanquish."
"Therefore let us fall on them to-day and take advantage of their want
of order," cried Rameses.
"We are not cured yet of previous victories," answered Herhor, coldly;
and he began to take leave of the viceroy.
"Have victories weakened us?" burst out the heir. "Or have we not
brought home treasures?"
"But does not the axe with which we cut wood become blunted?" inquired
Herhor; and he went out.
The prince understood that the great minister wished peace at all
costs, in spite of the fact that he was chief of the armies.
"We shall see," whispered Rameses to himself.
A couple of days before his departure Rameses was summoned to his
holiness. The pharaoh was sitting in an armchair in a marble hall; no
other person was present, and the four entrances were guarded by
Nubian sentries.
At the side of the royal armchair was a stool for the prince, and a
small table covered with documents written on papyrus. On the walls
were colored bas-reliefs showing the occupations of field-workers, and
in the corners of the hall were ungraceful statues of Osiris smiling
pensively.
When the prince at command of his father sat down, his holiness spoke
to him,--
"Here, my son, are thy documents as leader and viceroy. Well, have the
first days of power wearied thee?"
"In thy service, holiness, I shall find strength."
"Flatterer!" said the pharaoh, smiling. "Remember that I do not
require overwork on thy part. Amuse thyself; youth needs recreation.
This does not mean, however, that thou art not to have important
affairs to manage."
"I am ready."
"First I will disclose my cares to thee. Our treasury has a bad
aspect; the inflow of revenue decreases yearly, especially in Lower
Egypt, and expenditures are rising."
The pharaoh fell to thinking.
"Those women--those women, Rameses,--they swallow up the wealth, not
of mortal men only, but my wealth. I have some hundreds of them, and
each woman wishes to have as many maids as possible, as many
dressmakers, barbers, slaves,--slaves for her litter, slaves for her
chamber,--horses, oarsmen, even her own favorites and their
children-- Little children! When I was returning from Thebes one of
those ladies, whom I do not even remember, ran into my road and,
showing a sturdy boy of three years, desired that I should designate
for him a property, since he was, as she said, a son of mine. My son,
and three years of age. Canst thou understand this? The affair was
simple. I could not argue with a woman, besides, in such a delicate
question. But for a man of noble birth it is easier to be polite than
find money for every fancy of that sort."
He shook his head and continued,--
"Meanwhile incomes since the beginning of my reign have decreased
one-half, especially in Lower Egypt. I ask what this means. They
answer: people have grown poor, many citizens have disappeared, the
sea has covered a certain extent of land on the north, and the desert
on the east, we have had a number of bad harvests; in a word, tale
follows tale while the treasury becomes poorer and poorer. Therefore I
beg thee to explain this matter. Look about, learn to know
well-informed men who are truthful, and form of them an examining
commission. When they begin to report, trust not over-much to papyrus,
but verify here and there in person. I hear that thou hast the eye of
a leader; if that be true, one glance will tell thee how accurate the
statements of the commission are. But hasten not in giving thy
opinion, and above all, do not herald it. Note down every weighty
conclusion which comes to thy head on a given day, and when a few days
have passed reëxamine that question and note it down a second time.
This will teach thee caution in judgment and accuracy in grasping
subjects."
"It will be as thou commandest," replied the prince.
"Another mission which thou must accomplish is truly difficult.
Something is happening in Assyria which begins to alarm my government.
Our priests declare that beyond the Northern sea stands a pyramidal
mountain covered with green at its base and with snow on the summit.
This mountain has marvellous qualities. After many years of quiet it
begins all at once to smoke, roar, and tremble, and then it hurls out
as much liquid fire as there is water in the Nile. This fire, which
flows down its sides in various directions and over an immense stretch
of country, ruins the labor of earth-tillers.
"Well, Assyria is a mountain of that sort. For whole ages calm and
quiet reign in that region, till all on a sudden a tempest bursts out
there, great armies pour forth from it and annihilate peaceful
neighbors. At present around Nineveh and Babylon seething is audible:
the mountain is smoking. Thou must learn therefore how far that smoke
indicates an outburst, and think out means of precaution."
"Shall I be able to do so?" asked the prince, in a low voice.
"Thou must learn to observe. If thou hast the wish to learn anything
well, be not satisfied with the witness of thy own eyes, but
strengthen thyself with the aid of a number of others. Confine not
thyself to the judgment of Egyptians alone, for each people, each man
has a special way of looking at subjects, and neither one grasps the
whole truth in any question. Listen therefore to what the Phoenicians,
the Hebrews, the Hittites, and the Egyptians think of the Assyrians,
and weigh in thy own heart with care all that agrees in their
judgments concerning Assyria. If all tell thee that danger is coming
from that point, thou wilt know that it is coming; but if different
men speak variously, be on thy guard also, for wisdom commands us to
look for less good and more evil."
"Thy speech is like that of the gods," whispered the heir of Egypt.
"I am old, and from the height of the throne things are seen of which
mortal men have not even a suspicion. Wert thou to inquire of the sun
what he thinks of this world's affairs, he would tell thee things
still more curious."
"Among the people from whom I am to gain knowledge of Assyria, thou
hast not mentioned the Greeks, O father," put in Rameses.
The pharaoh nodded, and said with a kindly smile,--
"The Greeks! oh, the Greeks! A great future is in store for that
people. In comparison with us they are in childhood, but what a spirit
is in them!
"Dost remember my statue made by a Greek sculptor? That is my second
self, a living person! I kept it a month in the palace, but at last I
gave it to the temple in Thebes. Wilt thou believe, fear seized me
lest that stone _I_ should rise from its seat and claim one-half of
the government. What a disorder would rise then in Egypt!
"The Greeks! Hast thou seen the vases which they make, the palaces
which they build? From that clay out there and from stone something
comes that delights my old age and forbids me to think of my
feebleness.
"And their language! O gods, it is music and sculpture and painting.
In truth, I say that if Egypt could ever die as a man dies, the Greeks
would take all its property. Nay more, they would persuade the world
that everything done by us was their work, and that we never existed.
And still they are only the pupils of our primary schools, for, as
thou knowest, we have no right to communicate the highest knowledge to
foreigners."
"Still, father, it seems that thou hast no trust in the Greeks."
"No, for they are peculiar; one can trust neither Greek nor
Phoenician. The Phoenician, when he wishes, sees and will tell thee
genuine truth of Egypt, but thou wilt never know when he is telling
it. The Greek, as simple as a child, would tell the truth always, but
he is never able.
"The Greeks look at the world in a manner different altogether from
our way. In their wonderful eyes everything glitters, assumes colors
and changes, as the sky and the water of Egypt. How then could we rely
on their judgment?
"In the days of the Theban dynasty, far away toward the north, was
the little town of Troy. We have in Egypt twenty thousand as large as
it. Various Greek vagrants laid siege to that hamlet, and so annoyed
its few inhabitants that after ten years of trouble they burned their
little fortress and moved to other places. An every-day robber
narrative! Meanwhile just see what songs the Greeks sing of the Trojan
combats. We laugh at those wonders and heroisms, for our government
had accurate information of events there. We see the lies which strike
any one, but still we listen to those songs, as a child does to tales
which its nurse tells, and we cannot tear ourselves free from them.
"Such are the Greeks: born liars, but fascinating; yes, and valiant.
Every man of them would rather die than tell truth. They do not lie
for profit, as do the Phoenicians, but because their mind constrains
them."
"Well, what am I to think of the Phoenicians?"
"They are wise people of mighty industry and daring, but hucksters:
for them life means profit, be it great or the greatest. The
Phoenicians are like water: they bring much with them, but bear away
much, and push in at all points. One must give them the least
possible, and above all watch that they enter not through hidden
crannies into Egypt. If thou pay them well and offer hope of still
greater profit, they will be excellent assistants. What we know to-day
of secret movements in Assyria we know through Phoenicians."
"And the Jews?" asked the prince, dropping his eyes.
"A quick people, but gloomy fanatics and born enemies of Egypt. Only
when they feel on their necks the iron-shod sandal of the Assyrian,
will they turn to us. May that time not come too late to them! It is
possible to use their services, not here, of course, but in Nineveh
and Babylon."
The pharaoh was wearied now. Hence the prince fell on his face before
him, and when he had received the paternal embrace he went to his
mother.
The lady, sitting in her study, was weaving delicate linen to make
garments for the gods, and her ladies in waiting were sewing and
embroidering robes or making bouquets. A young priest was burning
incense before the statue of Isis.
"I come," said the prince, "to thank thee, my mother, and take
farewell."
The queen rose and putting her arms around her son's neck, said to him
tearfully,--
"Hast thou changed so much? Thou art a man now! I meet thee so rarely
that I might forget thy features did I not see them in my heart every
moment. Thou art unkind. How many times have I gone with the first
dignitary of the state toward thy villa, thinking that at last thou
wouldst cease to be offended, but thou didst bring out thy favorite in
my presence."
"I beg thy pardon--I beg thy pardon!" said Rameses, kissing his
mother.
She conducted him to a garden in which peculiar flowers grew, and when
they were without witnesses, she said,--
"I am a woman, so a woman and a mother has interest for me. Dost thou
wish to take that girl with thee on thy journey? Remember that the
tumult and the movement which will surround thee may harm her, for in
her condition calm and quiet are needed."
"Art thou speaking of Sarah?" inquired Rameses, astonished. "She has
said nothing to me of that condition."
"She may be ashamed; perhaps she does not herself know," replied the
queen. "In every case the journey--"
"I have no intention of taking her!" exclaimed Rameses. "But why does
she hide this from me--as if the child were not mine?"
"Be not suspicious," chided the lady. "This is the usual timidity of
young women. Moreover, she may be hiding her condition from fear lest
thou cast her away from thee."
"For that matter, I shall not take her to my court!" broke out the
prince, so impatiently that the queen's eyes were smiling, but she
covered them with their long lashes.
"It is not well to be over-harsh with a woman who loved thee. I know
that thou hast given an assured support to her. We will give her
something also. And a child of the royal blood must be reared well,
and have property."
"Naturally," answered Rameses. "My first son, though without princely
rights, must be so placed that I may not be ashamed of him, and he
must not regret separation from me."
After parting with the queen, Rameses wished to go to Sarah, and with
that object returned to his chambers.
Two feelings were roused in him,--anger at Sarah for hiding the cause
of her weakness, and pride that he was going to be a father.
He a father! This title gave him an importance which, as it were,
supported his titles of commander and viceroy. Father! that did not
mean a stripling who must look perforce with reverence on older
people.
He was roused and enraptured. He wished to see Sarah, to scold, then
embrace her and give her presents.
But when he returned to his part of the palace he found there two
nomarchs from Lower Egypt who had come to report on their provinces,
and when he had heard them out, he was wearied. Besides, he was to
hold an evening reception and did not wish to be late in beginning.
"And again I shall not be with her," thought he. "Poor girl! for
twenty days she has not seen me--"
He summoned the negro.
"Hast thou that cage which Sarah gave thee when we went to greet his
holiness?"
"I have."
"Take a pigeon from it, and let the bird loose."
"The pigeons are eaten."
"Who ate them?"
"Thou. I told the cook that those birds came from the Lady Sarah; so
he made a roast and pies out of them for thee, worthiness."
"May the crocodiles eat you both!" cried the prince, in anger.
He sent for Tutmosis and despatched him immediately to Sarah. He
explained to him the history of the pigeons, and said,--
"Give her emerald earrings, bracelets, anklets, and two talents. Say
that I am angry because she concealed her condition, but that I will
forgive her if the child is healthy and handsome. Should she have a
boy, I will give her another place," finished he with a smile.
"But--but--persuade her to put away even a few Jews, and to take even
a few Egyptian men and women. I do not wish my son to be born into
such company; besides, he might play with Jew children. They would
teach him to give his father the worst dates of the harvest."
[Illustration: Village of Bedreshen on the site of Memphis]