In the course of those few months, during which Prince Rameses had
fulfilled the duties of viceroy of Lower Egypt, his holiness the
pharaoh had failed in health continually. The moment was approaching
in which the lord of eternity, who roused delight in human hearts, the
sovereign of Egypt, and of all lands on which the sun shone, had to
occupy a place at the side of his revered ancestors in the Libyan
catacombs which lie on the other side of the city Teb.
Not over advanced in age was this potentate, the equal of the gods, he
who gave life to his subjects, and had power to take from husbands
their wives whenever his heart so desired. But thirty and some years
of rule had so wearied him that he wished, of his own accord, to rest
and regain youth and beauty in that kingdom of the west, where each
pharaoh reigns without care through eternity over people who are so
happy that no man of them has ever wished to return to this earth from
that region.
Half a year earlier the holy lord had exercised every activity
connected with his office, on which rested the safety and prosperity
of all visible existence.
Barely had the cocks crowed in the morning when the priests roused the
sovereign with a hymn in honor of the rising sun. The pharaoh rose
from his bed and bathed in a gilded basin containing water fragrant
with roses. Then his divine body was rubbed with priceless perfumes
amid the murmur of prayers, which had the power of expelling evil
spirits.
Thus purified and incensed by prophets, the lord went to a chapel,
removed a clay seal from the door and entered the sanctuary
unattended, where on a couch of ivory lay the miraculous image of
Osiris. This image had the wondrous quality that every night the
hands, feet and head fall from it. These on a time had been cut off by
the evil god Set; but after the prayer of the pharaoh all the members
grew on without evident reason.
When his holiness convinced himself that Osiris was sound again he
took the statue from the couch, bathed it, dressed it in precious
garments, and putting it on a malachite throne burnt incense before
it. This ceremony was vastly important, for if any morning the divine
members would not grow together it would signify that Egypt, if not
the whole world, was threatened by measureless misfortune.
After the resurrection and restoration of the god, his holiness opened
the door of the chapel, so that through it blessings might flow forth
to the country. Then he designated the priests, who all that day were
to guard the sanctuary, not so much against the ill-will, as the
frivolity of people. For more than once it happened that a careless
mortal who had gone too near that most holy place received an
invisible blow which deprived him of consciousness or of life, even.
After he had finished divine service, the lord went, surrounded by
chanting priests to a great hall of refection, where stood a small
table and an armchair for him and nineteen other tables before
nineteen statues which represented the nineteen preceding dynasties.
When the sovereign had seated himself youths and maidens came in with
silver plates, on which were meat and cakes, also pitchers of wine.
The priest, the inspector of the dishes, tasted what was on the first
dish, and what was in the first pitcher, then, on his knees, he gave
these to the pharaoh, but the other plates and pitchers were placed
before the statues of the pharaoh's ancestors. When the sovereign had
satisfied his hunger and left the hall princes or priests had the
right to eat food intended for the ancestors.
From the hall of refection the lord betook himself to the grand hall
of audience. There the highest dignitaries of state, and the nearest
members of the family prostrated themselves before him, after that the
minister, Herhor; the chief treasurer, the supreme judge, and the
supreme chief of police made reports to him. The reading was varied by
religious music and dancing, during which wreaths and flowers were
cast on the throne of the pharaoh.
After the audience his holiness betook himself to a side chamber and
reposing on a couch slumbered lightly for a time; then he offered wine
and incense to the gods, and narrated to the priests his dreams, from
which those sages made the final disposition in affairs which his
holiness was to settle.
But sometimes, when there were no dreams, or when the interpretation
of them seemed inappropriate to the pharaoh, his holiness smiled and
commanded kindly to act in this way or that in given cases. This
command was law which no one might change except in the execution
perhaps of details.
In hours after dinner his holiness, borne in a litter, showed himself
in the court to his faithful guard, and then he ascended to the roof
and looked toward the four quarters of the earth, to impart to them
his blessing. At that moment on the summits of pylons banners
appeared, and mighty sounds came from trumpets. Whoso heard these
sounds in the city or the country, an Egyptian or a stranger, fell on
his face so that a portion of supreme grace might descend on him.
At that moment it was not permitted to strike man, or beast: a stick
raised over a man's back dropped of itself. If a criminal sentenced
to death, declared that the sentence was read to him at the time when
the lord of earth and heaven had appeared, his punishment was
lessened. For before the pharaoh went might, and behind him followed
mercy.
When he had made his people happy, the ruler of all things beneath the
sun entered his gardens among palms and sycamores, there he sat a
longer time than elsewhere, receiving homage from his women and
looking at the amusements of the children of his household. When one
of them arrested his attention by beauty or adroitness he called it
up, and made inquiry,--
"Who art thou, my little child?"
"I am Prince Binotris, the son of his holiness," answered the little
boy.
"And what is thy mother's name?"
"My mother is the lady Ameses, a woman of his holiness."
"What dost thou know?"
"I know how to count to ten and to write: 'May he live through
eternity our god and father, his holiness the pharaoh Rameses!'"
The lord of eternity smiled benignly and touched with his delicate,
almost transparent, hand the curly head of the sprightly little boy.
Then the child became a prince really, though the smile of his
holiness was ever enigmatical. But whoso had been touched by the
divine hand was not to know misfortune in life and had to be raised
above others.
The sovereign dined in another hall of refection and shared his meal
with the gods of all the divisions of Egypt, gods whose statues were
ranged along the walls there. Whatever the gods did not eat went to
the priests and higher court dignitaries.
Toward evening his holiness received a visit from Lady Nikotris, the
mother to the heir to the throne of Egypt; looked at religious dances
and heard a concert. After that he went again to the bath and, thus
purified, entered the chapel of Osiris to undress and lay to sleep the
marvellous divinity. When he had finished this he closed and sealed
the chapel door and then, surrounded by a procession of priests, the
pharaoh went to his bedchamber.
In an adjoining apartment the priests offered up, till the following
sunrise, silent prayers to the soul of the pharaoh, which found itself
among gods during the sleep of the sovereign. They laid before it
their prayers for a favorable transaction of current state business,
for guardianship over the boundaries of Egypt, and over the tombs of
the pharaohs, so that no thief might dare to enter in and disturb the
endless rest of those potentates. But the prayers of the priests,
because of night weariness, surely, were not always effectual, for
state difficulties increased, and sacred tombs were robbed, not only
of costly objects, but even of the mummies of sovereigns.
This was because various foreigners had settled in the country and
unbelievers from whom the people learned to disregard the gods of
Egypt and the most sacred places.
The repose of the lord of lords was interrupted exactly at midnight.
At that hour the astrologers roused his holiness and informed him in
what mansion the moon was, what planets were shining above the
horizon, what constellations were passing the meridian and whether in
general something peculiar had taken place in heavenly regions. For
sometimes clouds appeared or stars fell in greater number than usual,
or a fiery ball flew over Egypt.
The lord listened to the report of the astrologers. In case of any
unusual phenomenon he pacified them concerning the safety of the
world, and commanded to write down all observations on appropriate
tablets, which were sent every month to priests of the temple of the
Sphinx, the greatest sages in Egypt. Those men drew conclusions from
those tablets, but the most important they declared to no one, unless
to their colleagues the Chaldean priests in Babylon.
After midnight his holiness might sleep till the morning cock-crow if
he thought proper.
Such a pious and laborious life had been led, not more than half a
year ago, by this kind, divine person, the distributor of protection,
life, and health, who watched day and night over the earth and the
sky, over the world both visible and invisible. But for the last half
year his eternally living soul had begun to be more and more wearied
with earthly questions, and with its bodily envelope. There were long
days when he ate nothing, and nights during which he had no sleep
whatever. Sometimes during an audience, there appeared on his mild
face an expression of deep pain, while oftener and oftener, he
fainted.
The terrified Queen Nikotris, the most worthy Herhor and the priests,
asked the sovereign repeatedly whether anything pained him. But the
lord shrugged his shoulders, and was silent, fulfilling always his
burdensome duties.
Then the court physicians began imperceptibly to give the most
powerful remedies to restore strength to him. They mixed in his wine
and food at first the ashes of a burnt horse and a bull; later of a
lion, a rhinoceros, and an elephant; but these strong remedies seemed
to have no effect whatever. His holiness fainted so frequently that
they ceased to read reports to him.
On a certain day the worthy Herhor with the queen and the priests,
fell on their faces; they implored the lord to permit them to examine
his divine body. He consented. The physicians examined and struck him,
but found no worse sign than great emaciation.
"What feelings dost thou experience, holiness?" inquired at last the
wisest physician.
The pharaoh smiled.
"I feel," replied he, "that it is time for me to return to my radiant
father."
"Thou canst not do that, holiness, without the greatest harm to thy
people," said Herhor, hurriedly.
"I leave you my son, Rameses, who is a lion and an eagle in one
person. And in truth, if ye will obey him, he will prepare for Egypt
such a fate as the world has not heard of since the beginning of
ages."
A chill passed through holy Herhor and the other priests at that
promise. They knew that the heir to the throne was a lion and an eagle
in one person, and that they must obey him. But they would have
preferred to have for long years that kindly lord, whose heart, filled
with compassion, was like the north wind which brings rain to the
fields and coolness to mankind. Therefore they fell down all of them
as one man to the pavement, groaning, and they lay prostrate till the
pharaoh consented to let himself be treated.
Then the physicians took him out for a whole day to the gardens,
among frequent pine-trees, they nourished him with chopped meat; they
gave him strong herbs with milk and old wine. These effective means
strengthened his holiness for something like a week yet; then a new
faintness announced itself, and to overcome that they forced their
lord to drink the fresh blood of calves descended from Apis.
But neither did this blood help for a long time, and they found it
needful to turn for advice to the high priest of the temple of the
wicked god Set.
Amid general fear, the gloomy priest entered the bedchamber of his
holiness. He looked at the sick pharaoh and prescribed a dreadful
remedy.
"It is needful," said he, "to give the pharaoh blood of innocent
children to drink; each day a full goblet."
The priests and magnates in the chamber were dumb when they heard this
prescription. Then they whispered that the children of earth-tillers
were best for the purpose, since the children of priests and great
lords lost their innocence even in infancy.
"It is all one to me whose children they are," said the cruel priest,
"if only his holiness has fresh blood given him daily."
The pharaoh, lying on the bed with closed eyes, heard that gory
counsel, and the whispers of the frightened courtiers. And when one of
the physicians asked Herhor timidly if it were possible to take
measures to seek proper children, Rameses XII. recovered. He fixed his
wise eyes on those present,--
"The crocodile will not devour its own little ones," said he, "a
jackal or a hyena will give its life for its whelps, and am I to drink
the blood of Egyptian infants, who are my children? Indeed, I never
could have believed that any one would dare to prescribe means so
unworthy."
The priest of the evil god fell to the pavement, and explained that in
Egypt no one had ever drunk the blood of infants but that the infernal
powers returned health by it. Such means at least were used in
Phoenicia and Assyria.
"Shame on thee!" replied the pharaoh, "for mentioning in the palace of
Egyptian sovereigns disgusting subjects. Knowest thou not that
Phoenicians and Assyrians are barbarous? But among us the most
unenlightened earth-tiller would not believe that blood, shed without
cause, could be of service to any one."
Thus spoke he who was equal to immortals. The courtiers covered their
faces, spotted now with shame, and the high priest of Set went
silently out of the chamber.
Then Herhor, to save the quenching life of the sovereign, had recourse
to the last means, and told the pharaoh that in one of the Theban
temples, Beroes, the Chaldean, lived in secret. He was the wisest
priest of Babylon--a miracle-worker without equal.
"For thee, holiness," said Herhor, "that sage is a stranger, and he
has not the right to impart such important advice to the lord of
Egypt. But, O Pharaoh, permit him to look at thee. I am sure that he
will find a medicine to cure thy illness, and in no case will he
offend thee by impious expressions."
The pharaoh yielded this time also to persuasions from his faithful
servitors. And in two days Beroes, summoned in some mysterious way,
was sailing down toward Memphis.
The wise Chaldean, even without examining the pharaoh minutely, gave
this counsel,--
"We must find a person in Egypt whose prayers reach the throne of the
Highest. And if this person prays sincerely for the pharaoh, the
sovereign will receive his health and live for long years in strength
again."
On hearing these words the pharaoh looked at the priests surrounding
him, and said,--
"I see here holy men in such numbers that, if one of them thinks of
me, I shall be in health again." And he smiled imperceptibly.
"We are all only men," interrupted Beroes; "hence our souls cannot
always rise to the footstool of Him who existed before the ages. But,
holiness, I will use an infallible method by which to find a man whose
prayers have the utmost sincerity, and the highest effect."
"Discover him, so that he may be a friend to me in my last hour of
life," said the pharaoh.
After this favorable answer the Chaldean desired a room with a single
door, and unoccupied. And that same day, one hour before sunset, he
asked that his holiness be borne into that chamber.
At the appointed hour four of the highest priests dressed the pharaoh
in a robe of new linen, pronounced a great prayer above him,--this
prayer expelled every evil power absolutely,--and seating him in a
litter they bore him to that simple chamber where there was but one
small table.
Beroes was there already, and, looking toward the east, was praying.
When the priests had left the chamber the Chaldean closed the heavy
door, put a purple scarf on his arm and placed a glass globe of black
color on the table before the pharaoh. In his left hand he held a
sharp dagger of Babylonian steel, in his right a staff covered with
mysterious signs, and with that staff he described in the air a circle
about himself and the pharaoh. Then facing in turn the four quarters
of the world, he whispered,--
"Amorul, Taneha, Latisten, Rabur, Adonai have pity on me and purify
me, O heavenly Father, the compassionate and gracious. Pour down on
thy unworthy servant thy sacred blessing, and extend thy almighty arm
against stubborn and rebellious spirits, so that I may consider thy
sacred work calmly."
He stopped and turned to the pharaoh,--
"Mer-Amen-Rameses, high priest of Amon, dost thou distinguish a spark
in that black globe?"
"I see a white spark which seems to move like a bee above a flower."
"Mer-Amen-Rameses, look at that spark and take not thy eyes from it.
Look neither to the right nor the left, look not on anything whatever
which may come from the sides."
And again he whispered,--
"Baralanensis, Baldachiensis, by the mighty princes Genio, Lachidae,
the ministers of the infernal kingdom, I summon you, I call you
through the strength of Supreme Majesty, by which I am gifted, I
adjure, I command!"
At that place the pharaoh started up with aversion.
"Mer-Amen-Rameses, what seest thou?" asked the Chaldean.
"From beyond the globe rises some horrid head--reddish hair is
standing on end; a face of greenish hue; the eye looking down so that
only the white of it is visible; the mouth open widely, as if to
shriek."
"That is Terror!" cried Beroes, and he held his sharp dagger point
above the globe.
Suddenly the pharaoh bent to the earth.
"Enough!" cried he, "why torment me thus? The wearied body seeks rest,
the soul longs to be in the region of endless light. But not only will
ye not let me die; ye are inventing new torments. Oh, I wish not--"
"What dost thou see?"
"From the ceiling every instant two spider legs lower themselves--they
are terrible. As thick as palm trunks; shaggy with hooks at the ends
of them. I feel that above my head is a spider of immense size, and he
is binding me with a web of ship ropes."
Beroes turned his dagger point upward.
"Mer-Amen-Rameses," said he again, "look ever at the spark, and never
at the sides. Here is a sign which I raise in thy presence," whispered
he. "Here am I mightily armed with Divine aid, I, foreseeing and
unterrified, who summon you with exorcisms--Aye, Saraye, Aye, Saraye,
Aye, Saraye--in the name of the all-powerful, the all-mighty and
everlasting divinity."
At that moment a calm smile appeared on the lips of the pharaoh.
"It seems to me," said he, "that I behold Egypt--all Egypt. Yes! that
is the Nile--the desert. Here is Memphis, there Thebes."
Indeed he saw Egypt, all Egypt, but no larger than the path which
extended through the garden of his palace. The wonderful picture had
this trait, that when the Pharaoh turned more deliberate attention to
any point of it, that point with its environments grew to be of real
size almost.
The sun was going down, covering the earth with golden and purple
light. Birds of the daytime were settling to sleep, the night birds
were waking up in their concealments. In the desert hyenas and jackals
were yawning, and the slumbering lion had begun to stretch his strong
body and prepare to hunt victims.
The Nile fisherman drew forth his nets hastily, men were tying up at
the shores the great transport barges. The wearied earth-worker
removed from the sweep his bucket with which he had drawn water since
sunrise; another returned slowly with the plough to his mud hovel. In
cities they were lighting lamps, in the temples priests were
assembling for evening devotions. On the highways the dust was
settling down and the squeak of carts was growing silent. From the
pylon summits shrill voices were heard calling people to prayer.
A moment later, the pharaoh saw with astonishment flocks of silvery
birds over the earth everywhere. They were flying up out of palaces,
temples, streets, workshops, Nile barges, country huts, even from the
quarries. At first each of them shot upward like an arrow, but soon it
met in the sky another silvery feathered bird, which stopped its way,
striking it with all force and--both fell to the earth lifeless.
Those were the unworthy prayers of men, which prevented each other
from reaching the throne of Him who existed before the ages.
The pharaoh strained his hearing. At first only the rustle of wings
reached him, but soon he distinguished words also.
And now he heard a sick man praying for the return of his health, and
also the physician, who begged that that same patient might be sick as
long as possible. The landowner prayed Amon to watch over his granary
and cow-house, the thief stretched his hands heavenward so that he
might lead forth another man's cow without hindrance, and fill his own
bags from another man's harvest.
Their prayers knocked each other down like stones which had been
hurled from slings and had met in the air.
The wanderer in the desert fell on the sand and begged for a north
wind, to bring a drop of rain to him, the sailor on the sea beat the
deck with his forehead and prayed that wind might blow from the east a
week longer. The earth-worker wished that swamps might dry up quickly
after inundation; the needy fisherman begged that the swamps might not
dry up at any time.
Their prayers killed each other and never reached the divine ears of
Amon.
The greatest uproar reigned above the quarries where criminals,
lashed together in chain gangs, split enormous rocks with wedges,
wetted with water. There a party of day convicts prayed for the night,
so that they might lie down to slumber; while parties of night
toilers, roused by their overseers, beat their breasts, asking that
the sun might not set at any hour. Merchants who purchased quarried
and dressed stones prayed that there might be as many criminals in the
quarries as possible, while provision contractors lay on their
stomachs, sighing for the plague to kill laborers, and make their own
profits as large as they might be.
So the prayers of men from the quarries did not reach the sky in any
case.
On the western boundary the pharaoh saw two armies preparing for
battle. Both were prostrate on the sand, calling on Amon to rub out
the other side. The Libyans wished shame and death to Egyptians; the
Egyptians hurled curses on the Libyans.
The prayers of these and of those, like two flocks of falcons, fought
above the earth and fell dead in the desert. Amon did not even see
them.
And whithersoever the pharaoh turned his wearied glance he saw the
same picture everywhere. The laborers were praying for rest and
decrease of taxes, scribes were praying that taxes might increase and
work never be finished. The priests implored Amon for long life to
Rameses XII. and death to Phoenicians, who interfered with their
interests; the nomarchs implored the gods to preserve the Phoenicians
and let Rameses XIII. ascend the throne at the earliest, for he would
curb priestly tyranny. Lions, jackals, and hyenas were panting with
hunger and desire for fresh blood; deer and rabbits slipped out of
hiding-places, thinking to preserve wretched life a day longer, though
experience declared that numbers of them must perish, even on that
night, so that beasts of prey might not famish. So throughout the
whole world reigned cross-purposes everywhere. Each wished that which
filled others with terror; each begged for his own good, without
asking if he did harm to the next man.
For this cause their prayers, though like silvery birds flying
heavenward, did not reach their destination. And the divine Amon, to
whom no voice of the earth came at any time, dropped his hands on his
knees, and sank ever deeper in meditation over his own divinity, while
on the earth blind force and chance ruled without interruption.
All at once the pharaoh heard the voice of a woman,--"Rogue! Little
rogue! come in, thou unruly, it is time for prayers."
"This minute--this minute!" answered the voice of the little child.
The sovereign looked toward the point whence the voice came and saw
the poor hut of a cattle scribe. The hut owner had finished his
register in the light of the setting sun, his wife was grinding flour
for a cake, and before the house, like a young kid, was running and
jumping the six-year-old little boy, laughing, it was unknown for what
reason.
The evening air full of sweetness had given him delight, that was
evident.
"Rogue!--Little rogue! come here to me for a prayer," repeated the
woman.
"This minute! this minute!"
And again he ran with delight as if wild.
At last the mother, seeing that the sun was beginning to sink in the
sands of the desert, put away her mill stones, and, going out, seized
the boy, who raced around like a little colt. He resisted but gave way
to superior force finally. The mother, drawing him to the hut as
quickly as possible, held him with her hand so that he might not
escape from her.
"Do not twist," said she, "put thy feet under thee, sit upright, put
thy hands together and raise them upward.--Ah, thou bad boy!"
The boy knew that he could not escape now; so to be free again as soon
as possible he raised his eyes and hands heavenward piously, and with
a thin squeaky voice, he said,--
"O kind, divine Amon, I thank thee, thou hast kept my papa to-day from
misfortune, thou hast given wheat for cakes to my mamma. What more?
Thou hast made heaven. I thank thee. And the earth, and sent down the
Nile which brings bread to us. And what more? Aha, I know now! And I
thank thee because out-of-doors it is so beautiful, and flowers are
growing there, and birds singing and the palms give us sweet dates.
For these good things which thou hast given us, may all love thee as I
do, and praise thee better than I can, for I am a little boy yet and I
have not learned wisdom. Well, is that enough, mamma?"
"Bad boy!" muttered the cattle scribe, bending over his register. "Bad
boy! thou art giving honor to Amon carelessly."
But the pharaoh in that magic globe saw now something altogether
different. Behold the prayer of the delighted little boy rose, like a
lark, toward the sky, and with fluttering wings it went higher and
higher till it reached the throne where the eternal Amon with his
hands on his knees was sunk in meditation on his own all-mightiness.
Then it went still higher, as high as the head of the divinity, and
sang with the thin, childish little voice to him:
"And for those good things which thou hast given us may all love thee
as I do."
At these words the divinity, sunk in himself, opened his eyes--there
came to the earth immense calm. Every pain ceased, every fear, every
wrong stopped. The whistling missile hung in the air, the lion stopped
in his spring on the deer, the stick uplifted did not fall on the back
of the captive. The sick man forgot his pains, the wanderer in the
desert his hunger, the prisoner his chains. The storm ceased, and the
wave of the sea, though ready to drown the ship, halted. And on the
whole earth such rest settled down that the sun, just hiding on the
horizon, thrust up his shining head again.
The pharaoh recovered. He saw before him a little table, on the table
a black globe, at the side of it Beroes the Chaldean.
"Mer-Amen-Rameses," asked the priest, "hast thou found a person whose
prayers reach the footstool of Him who existed before the ages?"
"I have."
"Is he a prince, a noble, a prophet, or perhaps an ordinary hermit?"
"He is a little boy, six years old, who asked Amon for nothing, he
only thanked him for everything."
"But dost thou know where he dwells?" inquired the Chaldean.
"I know, but I will not steal for my own use the virtue of his prayer.
The world, Beroes, is a gigantic vortex, in which people are whirled
around like sand, and they are whirled by misfortune. That child with
his prayer gives people what I cannot give: a brief space of peace and
oblivion. Dost understand, O Chaldean?"
Beroes was silent.