HIS stay in Aa had so wearied Ramses that to seek rest and rally his
thoughts he commanded to stop all solemnities in his honor, and
directed that during his journey people should never come forth to
greet him.
The prince's retinue were astonished, even somewhat offended; but they
carried out the command, and Ramses again found some quiet. He had time
to review his troops, which was his most agreeable occupation, and he
could collect his scattered thoughts in some measure.
Shut up in the remotest corner of the palace, the prince began to
consider how far he had carried out the commands of the pharaoh his
father.
He had surveyed Aa with his own eyes, its fields, towns, population,
officials. He had verified the fact that the eastern edge of the
province was yielding to the advance of the desert. He had observed
that laborers were indifferent and stupid; that they did only what was
commanded, and that with unwillingness. Finally, he had convinced
himself that really faithful and loving subjects were to be found only
among the aristocracy, for they were related to the family of the
pharaohs, or were of the noble order, and were grandsons of the men who
had fought under the great Ramses.
In every case those people rallied to the dynasty heartily, and were
ready to serve it with genuine readiness; not like the low people, who
when they had shouted a greeting ran back with all speed to their pigs
and their oxen.
But the chief object of his mission was not explained yet. Ramses not
only did not see clearly causes for the decrease of the royal income,
but he did not know how to formulate this question: Why is there evil,
and how can we correct it? He only felt that the legendary war of the
god Set with Osiris furnished no true explanation, and gave no means of
cure whatever.
But the prince, as the coming pharaoh, wished to have a great income,
like that of former rulers in Egypt. He was boiling with anger at the
very thought that when he had mounted the throne he would be as poor as
his father and perhaps even poorer.
"Never!" cried the prince, balling his fists.
To increase the royal property he was ready to rush sword in hand
against Set and hew that god into pieces, as Set had hewn his own
brother Osiris. But instead of the cruel divinity and his legions he
saw around him ignorance, the desert, and silence.
Under the influence of these struggles with his own thoughts, he seized
once the high priest Mefres.
"Tell me, holy father, to whom all wisdom is familiar, why does the
income of the state decrease, and in what manner can we add to it?"
Mefres raised his hands.
"May the spirit be blessed, worthy lord," cried the priest, "which
whispered such thoughts to thee. Oh, mayest Thou follow in the steps of
mighty pharaohs who built temples in all parts of Egypt, and through
canals and sluices increased the area of fertile land in this country."
The old man was so moved that he fell to weeping.
"First of all," said the prince, "answer what I ask; for how think of
temples and canals when the treasury is empty? The greatest misfortune
has befallen Egypt: its rulers are threatened with indigence. We must
examine this, first of all, and cure it; after that the rest will come
easily."
"This, prince, Thou wilt learn only in temples, at the foot of the
altar," said the high priest. "There alone can thy noble curiosity be
pacified."
Ramses started up with impatience.
"Before thy eyes, worthy father, the temple hides the whole country,
even the treasury of the pharaoh. I am, for that matter, a priestly
pupil. I was reared in the shadow of a temple, I know the secret of the
spectacles in which the malice of Set is represented, with the death
and re-birth of Osiris, and what does that profit me? When my father
asks how to replenish the treasury, I can give him no answer. Should I
persuade him to pray longer and oftener than he does at the present?"
"Prince, Thou art blaspheming, Thou knowest not the high ceremonies of
religion. If Thou knew them Thou couldst answer many questions which
torment thee; and hadst Thou seen that which I have, Thou wouldst know
that the highest interest of Egypt is to support priests and temples."
"Men in old age become children," thought Ramses; and he stopped the
conversation.
Mefres had been very pious at all times, but he had then grown
eccentric.
"I should end well," thought Ramses, "if I yielded to priests and
assisted at puerile ceremonies. Perhaps Mefres would even command me to
stand for whole hours at an altar, as he himself does, beyond doubt,
while expecting a miracle."
In the month Pharmuthi (end of January and beginning of February) the
prince took leave of Otoes, before starting for Hak, the next province.
He thanked the nomarchs and lords for their splendid reception, but at
heart he was sad, for he knew that he had not mastered the problem put
forth by his father.
Escorted by the family and court of Otoes, the prince with his retinue
crossed to the right bank of the river, where he was greeted by
Ranuzer, the worthy nomarch, together with the lords and the priests of
his province.
When the prince reached the land of Hak, the priests raised a statue of
Atmu, patron god of the province, and the officials fell prostrate;
then the nomarch brought a golden sickle to Ramses, and begged him to
open the harvest as viceroy of the pharaoh, that being the time to
gather in barley.
Ramses took the sickle, cut a couple of handfuls of ears, and burnt
them with incense before the god the guardian of the boundaries. After
him the nomarch and the great lords cut barley also, and at last
harvesters fell to reaping. They cut only ears, which they packed into
bags; the straw remained on the field behind them.
When he had heard a tedious service before the god, the prince mounted
a two-wheeled car, a division of the army moved on, and the priests
followed. Two lords led the horses of the heir by the bridles. After
the heir, on a second car, rode the nomarch, and next an immense train
of lords and court servitors. The people, agreeable to the will of
Ramses, did not present themselves, but laborers in the fields, at
sight of the procession, fell on their faces.
In this manner when he had passed a number of pontoon bridges thrown
over arms of the Nile and canals, the prince reached toward evening the
city of Anu, the capital.
For some days feasts of greeting continued; they rendered homage to the
heir, and presented officials. At last Ramses begged to interrupt the
festivities, and requested the nomarch to acquaint him with the wealth
of the province.
Next morning the review began, and lasted a fortnight. Every day in the
court of that palace where the heir had his residence appeared various
guilds of craftsmen. These came under command of guild officers, to
exhibit their productions. In turn came armorers and swordsmiths,
makers of spears and axes, manufacturers of musical instruments, fifes,
trumpets, drums, harps. After these came the great guild of
cabinetmakers, who exhibited armchairs, tables, couches, litters, and
carriages, ornamented with rich drawings, made of various wood, mother-
of-pearl, and ivory; then they brought kitchen utensils, things for the
fire, spits, two-eared pots, and flat pans with covers; jewelers
rivaled one another with gold rings of wonderful beauty, amber
bracelets and anklets, or chains made of gold mixed with silver. All
these were carved with artistic skill, and inlaid with precious stones
or enamel of various colors.
The procession was closed by potters who carried more than a hundred
kinds of earthen vessels. They brought vases, pots, plates, pitchers,
and jugs of the most varied forms and sizes, covered with paintings
ornamented with beast and bird heads.
Each guild made an offering to the prince of its most beautiful
productions. These filled a large hall, though among them no two things
were similar.
At the end of the curious but interesting exhibition, his worthiness
Ranuzer asked the prince if he was satisfied.
The heir thought awhile.
"More beautiful things I have not seen except in the temples or in the
palaces of my father. But since only rich people can buy them, I do not
see how the state treasury can have much profit from those objects."
The nomarch was astonished at the young lord's indifference, and was
alarmed by his anxiety about income; but wishing to satisfy Ramses, he
began then to conduct him through the royal factories.
One day they went to buildings where slaves were grinding flour in many
hundred hand-mills and in mortars. They went to bakeries where men were
baking bread and rusks to feed the army, and to places where preserved
fish and meat were in course of preparation. They examined great
tanneries, and shops where sandals were made, foundries where copper
was cast into arms and utensils. After that, brickyards, guilds of
weavers and tailors.
These establishments were situated in the eastern part of the city.
Ramses at first looked at them with interest, but very soon he was
disgusted with the sight of laborers who were timid, lean, sickly in
complexion, and who had scars left by sticks on their shoulders.
Thenceforth he stopped only briefly at factories. He preferred to look
at the environs of the city of Anu. Far to the east he could see the
desert where a year earlier the maneuvers had taken place between his
corps and Nitager's. He saw, like a thing on the palm of his hand, the
road by which his regiments had marched, the place where because of the
beetles the military engines had to turn to the desert, and perhaps
even the tree on which the canal digger had hanged himself.
From that elevation over there in company with Tutmosis he had looked
at the blooming land of Goshen and cursed the priesthood. And there
among the hills he had met Sarah, toward whom his heart had flamed up
on a sudden.
Today what changes! He had ceased to hate the priests from the hour
that by the influence of Herhor he had received the army corps and the
office of viceroy. He had become indifferent to Sarah, but that child
whose mother she would be grew to him more and more important.
"What is she doing there?" thought the prince. "I have not had news
from her this long time."
While he was looking on those eastern hills in this way, and thinking
of the recent past, Ranuzer at the head of his escort felt certain that
the prince had observed abuses in the factories and was meditating over
means of punishment.
"I am curious to know what he discovered," thought the worthy nomarch.
"Is it that half the bricks are sold to the Phoenicians, or that ten
thousand sandals are lacking in the factory, or perhaps some low wretch
has whispered to him about the foundries?"
And the nomarch's heart was anxious.
Suddenly the prince turned toward the escort and called Tutmosis, who
was bound to be at all times near his person.
Tutmosis ran up. The heir went to one side with him.
"Hear me," said he, pointing toward the desert. "Dost Thou see those
hills?"
"We were there last year," sighed the courtier.
"I remember Sarah."
"I will burn incense to the gods at once," cried Tutmosis, "for I
thought that your worthiness had forgotten faithful servants since
becoming viceroy."
The prince looked at him and shrugged his shoulders.
"Select," said he, "from the gifts brought me, some of the most
beautiful vessels, utensils, stuffs, and, above all, chains and
bracelets, and take them to Sarah."
"Live through eternity, O Ramses!" exclaimed the exquisite, "for Thou
art high-minded."
"Tell her," continued the prince, "that for her my heart is always full
of favor. Say that I wish her to care for her health. Tell Sarah that
when the time of freedom comes and I have carried out the commands of
my father, she will come to me and live in my house. I cannot endure
that the mother of my child should be grieving in loneliness. Go, do as
I have said, and return with pleasant tidings."
Tutmosis prostrated himself before the noble ruler, and took the road
straightway. The retinue of Ramses, unable to divine the conversation,
envied Tutmosis the favor of the viceroy, while the worthy Ranuzer felt
alarm rising in his soul.
"Oh," said he, anxiously, "may I not need to raise hands on myself and
leave my house in the bloom of my years! Why did I, the unfortunate,
when taking the pharaoh's goods, not think of the hour of trial?"
His face became yellow, and his legs tottered under him. But the
prince, mastered by a wave of reminiscences, took no note of this
change in the nomarch.