The Beguiling of Bagoas
That night Noot my master came to bid farewell to me.
"I go north as I have been commanded--as to how the command came, let
that be--hoping thereby to preserve the temples of our worship and
those who serve in them. I know not if I shall return, or when, and
therefore, Daughter of my spirit, it grieves me to part from you in
these troublous times. Yet the command said that you must not
accompany me but bide here. For your comfort, learn two things: first,
that no harm shall come to you, as I have told you before; and
secondly, though that hour be far away, even in the flesh we shall
meet again. Wait then till my word comes to you."
I bowed my head in obedience and asked whether he was unattended.
"Nay, Daughter," he answered. "I take with me certain of our
fellowship, and among them that Greek Kallikrates who has asked leave
to accompany me. Being a man of war, as you have seen, he may
perchance prove of service upon such a mission. How he learned that I
was going I cannot say," he added, looking at me curiously.
"I told him. Ask no more, Master."
"There is little need, I think," he answered, smiling. "It may please
you to learn," he added bitterly, "that the traitor who was Pharaoh,
flies up Nile to-morrow ere the dawn. Already they lade his ship with
the chests of Egypt's treasure, many of them, that should have gone to
pay his soldiers and strengthen his allies."
"May the counting of them comfort him in his honourable exile among
the Ethiopians! Yet, my Master, I think that he will need to count
quickly, unless it pleased the gods to send a false vision to me when
I prophesied in the palace yonder, ere this shameless Nectanebes gave
the Daughter of Isis to Tenes the Sidonian."
"If so, Ayesha, the gods sent a false vision to me also. How will he
face them, I wonder, with the blood of Egypt on his hands, and with
what voice will he tell them of their desecrated shrines?"
"I know not, Master, yet it was written that because of her apostasies
and sins Egypt must fall. Can the gods, then, be wroth with their own
instrument?"
Noot pondered awhile, shaking his head, then answered,
"Go ask that question of the Sphinx who sits yonder in the sand by the
pyramids of the ancient kings brooding, as the legend says, over the
secrets of earth and heaven. Or," he added slowly, "when your own days
are done, Ayesha, ask it of your soul. Perchance then some god will
make clear the riddle of the world below, but here on earth it cannot
be answered, since he who could read it would know all things and be
himself a god. Sin must come, and to sin, sinners are necessary. But
to what sin is necessary, I do not know, unless it be that from it
good is born at last. At least the sinner can plead that he is but an
arrow on the bow of Destiny and that the arrow must fly where the
shooter aims, even though it drinks innocent blood, widows women, and
makes children fatherless."
"Mayhap, my Master, it will be answered to this arrow that it
fashioned itself to deal out death; that it grew the wood and forged
the barb and bound upon its shaft the feathers of desire; which wood,
had it chosen otherwise, here or elsewhere might have flourished--a
tree bearing fruits--or as seasoned wood, shaped itself to be a staff
to lean upon or a rod of justice in the hands of kings."
"You are wise, Ayesha, nor have I instructed you in vain," he replied
with a gentle smile. "Yet I repeat, when for the last time you watch
the sun sink and your soul prepares to follow it over the edge of the
world, then again propound to it this riddle and hear the answer of
that invisible Sphinx which broods in the heaven above, on the earth
below, and in the breast of every child it bears."
Thus he spoke and waved his hand, making an end of that debate. Nor
have I ever forgotten it, or his words, and now when sometimes I feel
or hope soon I, even I, the half-immortal, may see the sun sink for
the last time, once more, as Noot commanded, I ask this riddle of the
Sphinx that broods within my instructed spirit, and wait its answer.
For alas and alas! how am I better than Nectanebes? He betrayed the
gods. Have I not betrayed the gods who were nearer to me than ever
they came to his coarse and gluttonous soul? He shed blood to satisfy
his rage and lust. Have I not shed blood and shall I not perchance
shed more of it before all is done, when my unconquerable appetites
are on me and there is a dear prize that I would win? He fled with the
treasures of Egypt to waste them in the desert sand. Have I not fled
with the treasures that were given me--with the jewelled crowns of my
wisdom, with the golden talents of my heaped-up learning, with the
alabaster vessel of my beauty, with the perfumes of my power and my
eloquence--that drilled, ordered, and massed together, and added to
the greatest gift of all, my length of undying days, might have
reformed the world and led it into peace?
Have I, Ayesha, not fled with all these countless splendours clasped
upon my breast, and buried them in the wilderness, as did Nectanebes
with Egypt's wealth, before the barbarians slew him? Have I not done
these things because of a great desire and because, robbed of that
desire, the world I should have guided was gall to my tongue and
gravel to my teeth? Yet was I to blame? Was not that blind man I loved
to blame who could not see with his darkened, fleshly eyes the glory
that lay within his grasp and thus stirred my soul to madness? Was not
the woman to blame also who darkened those eyes of his by arts the
evil gods had given her?
Oh! I know not. Perchance they too can put up a tale before the
Judgment Seat which I shall find it hard to answer, for they too are
as they were made, or as they made themselves, shaping their own
arrows from the wood of circumstance that grew I know not where. And
now my desire has drawn near to me again; it gleams, a glittering
fruit, upon the Tree of Life, and I stretch out my hand to pluck it.
Yes, I stand on tiptoe and almost reach it with my finger-tips. Yet
what if it prove a corruption? What if it crumble into dust, rotted by
the great sun of my spirit, withered at the fingering of my undying
hand?
Oh! my lord hunts upon the mountain after the fashion of men, and
Atene, once named Amenartas, sits in her dark beauty in the City of
the Plains and, as aforetime, plots my ruin and her fleshly theft. Who
knows the end? But there within my soul broods the Sphinx smiling its
immortal smile and to it soon or late I must put that question to
which Noot, the holy and half divine, could give no answer--or would
not if he could.
"What of the royal Princess, Amenartas?" I asked. "Know, Master, that
I grow weary of this woman."
"Aye, Daughter, these temple courts are wide, but not wide enough for
both of you. Take comfort, she sails to-morrow."
"North?" I asked.
"Nay, south with her father, Nectanebes. Or so she tells me, saying
that his fortune shall be her own and that together they will reign or
fall."
"It is well," I answered.
Then we talked of humble matters that had to do with the shrine of the
goddess and of the hiding away of her treasures lest the Persians
should take them. When all was finished, Noot rose, blessed me,
calling on the Powers above to protect me, and went his ways in the
ship _Hapi_ which he had purchased to bring it to my aid at Sidon, nor
did I guess that for years I should see him no more. Yet I think he
knew it well.
Like a mighty river in its flood the Persian hosts poured down on
Memphis. As such a torrent sweeps away the village and the humble
homestead, drowns the cattle, twists out the palm trees by their
roots, covers the corn with slime, floods cities, palaces, and
temples, chokes the breath from their inhabitants and strews the kind
earth with the corpses of those that tilled it, so did Ochus and his
barbarians to Egypt. Rapine and massacre, flames of fire and misery
marked their path. Men were butchered by the thousand, the aged and
women who were no longer fair were driven into the desert to starve.
Yes, it was the sport of those Persians to drive them like game to
where there was no water, and then watch them die of thirst beneath
the burning sun. Only the young women were spared to be concubines or
slaves, and the flower of the children to be put to vile purposes. The
cities and the temples were pillaged, their citizens tortured to drag
from them the secret of the hiding-places of treasure, the priests
were forced to sacrifice to the god of fire and to spit upon their own
or die, the priestesses were burned or defiled, or both.
So pitiful was the case of Egypt that although I knew that by her sins
and faithlessness she had brought these woes upon herself, I who by my
work at Sidon had become one of the appointed ministers of her
destruction, my heart wept for her and I prayed the avenging gods to
hold their hands. Also I prayed them to give Ochus to drink of his own
cup and to make of me the butler who mixed his wine. Nor did I pray in
vain.
Thus the red Ochus came at length to Memphis, the white-walled city,
the ancient, the holy, and filled its streets with horror, till they
were spread thick with dead and one wail of woe went up to heaven. Yet
he did not burn the place, perchance because our prayers availed and
the gods relented, perchance because he wished to keep it to be the
seat of his majesty. Only here as elsewhere he sacked the temples and
wrought sacrilege.
From the pylon top of the temple of Isis that overlooked the courts of
that of Ptah and the gilded stable of the bull Apis, with my own eyes
I saw the Persians, for in this business the Greeks would have no
hand, drag out the sacred beast whom they held to be a god of the
Egyptians, though in truth he was but the emblem of the god, or rather
of the generating power that is in Nature, and butcher it with jeers
and mockery. More, their scullions came and cooked the sacred flesh
after which, at tables spread in the inner court, Ochus and his
captains ate it, forcing the priests of Ptah to "taste of their own
god" and to drink of the liquor in which it had been seethed. They
were cowards, those priests, or surely they would have found means to
mix the broth with poison.
After the feast, when all the revellers were drunk with wine, a great
jackass was brought and, the statue of the god having been thrown out
of it, was stabled in the sanctuary.
Such were some of the things that were done in Memphis and indeed
throughout Egypt, for as Apis was served, so was the holy ram of
Mendes. Moreover, other things were done too shameful to record.
Now all this while I sat in the temple of Isis awaiting what might
befall. I will not say that I was unafraid, because I was afraid. Yet
within me was that proud spirit which forbade me to show my fear.
Moreover, within me also burned a certain fire of faith whereof the
light was my guide in the darkness of despair. The holy Noot, my
Master, had told me that I and those with me should take no harm, and
I would not doubt my Master. Moreover, when I prayed at night, a voice
from heaven speaking in my heart seemed to command me to be brave,
since there fought for me and mine those whom I could not see.
So there I sat quite alone with none to counsel me and none to help
me, giving courage as best I could to those poor priests and
priestesses, my fellow servants of the goddess. The worship of the
temple went on as before, each morn the statue of the Mother was
decked and dressed, the perfumes were poured, the offerings were made,
the processions wound round the courts preceded by the singers and the
shakers of the _sistrum_, while at night the holy hymns were chanted
to the stars.
The Persians came to know of these things and gathered at the gates,
amazed.
"Who are these," they asked, "who have no fear?"
But we answered nothing though death stared us in the face.
The matter reached the ears of Ochus and stirred his wonder, so that
in the end he came in person to visit the temple. I received him in
the great hall, veiled and seated in a chair of state that was set at
the foot of a statue of the goddess. With him were sundry of his great
lords dressed in silks and perfumed, also the general Mentor whom I
had known at Sidon where he played traitor, deserting with his Greeks
to the Persians. Further there was present Bagoas the eunuch and first
councillor of the King of kings, who commanded his army also; like all
these unfortunates, a fat, shrill-voiced man with a smooth and furtive
manner, who waved his long hands to and fro when he spoke.
Now this Bagoas was by birth Egyptian; so I had heard, and my first
sight of him confirmed the tale. Yes, without doubt by birth he was an
Egyptian of the small-boned, large-eyed, round-headed type that had
descended from the ancient blood, as I knew by the statues of many
that I have seen taken from the earliest tombs before it became the
custom to embalm the dead. I noted this, and at once a thought came to
me.
Would an Egyptian desire to see the sanctuary of Isis and her priests
desecrated and destroyed? Perchance he did not worship Ptah or Apis,
or other of the gods, but all born upon the Nile venerated Mother
Isis, the Queen of Heaven, and bowed to her sovereignty. That was a
faith which where'er they wandered and upon whatever altars they
burned incense, they never could forget, because through a hundred
generations it came down to them with their blood. Yet who knew? This
Bagoas, it was said, was a cunning fellow steeped in murder, who from
his crimes had reaped a rich reward, and such an one, looking only to
his day of glory, might forget even Isis and the wrath to come.
Ochus, loose-lipped, cruel-faced, and weary-eyed, wearing a look of
pride that yet was full of haunting terrors, such as are ever the
companions of murderers who know that in a day unborn surely
themselves they will be murdered, stood before me. I, rising from my
chair, made obeisance to the King of kings--and had he but known it,
cast the curse of Isis at him from beneath my veil.
"What is this?" he asked, speaking in Greek, in the thick voice of one
who has drunk well at the feast, and pointing at me with his sceptre.
"Is it one of those wrapped bodies that we drag from the tombs, such
as we used for the cooking of the god Apis, broiling him with his own
worshippers? Nay, for it moves and talks and seems to have the shape
of woman. Bagoas, strip that veiled thing naked, that we may see
whether it be a woman, and if so, of what favour."
Now when I, Ayesha, heard this, at once all my courage came back to
me, as ever it does when peril gets me by the throat. At once I laid
my plan, which was short and simple.
If that eunuch so much as advanced to lay a finger on me, I would draw
the knife that hung to my girdle, the curved, razor-edged Arab knife
that had been my father's, and thrusting him aside, I would spring
past him and strike it through the heart of yonder King of kings,
sending him to sum up his account with Isis. Then if there were time,
I would serve Bagoas in the same way, and afterward, if must be, use
the knife upon myself. Better thus than that I should be shamed before
these barbarians.
I spoke no word and my face was hid, yet I think that out of my soul
sprang something which warned these two of their danger. Or perchance
it was my guardian spirit that warned them. At the least Bagoas went
down upon his knees and bowed till his forehead touched the ground.
"O King of kings," he said, "I pray thee command not thy slave to do
this deed. Yonder lady is the prophetess of Isis, Queen of all gods,
Queen of Heaven and Earth, and to touch her with an unhallowed hand is
a sacrilege that brings death in this world and in that to come
everlasting torment."
Now Ochus laughed brutally, then turned and asked,
"What do you say, Mentor, who are a Greek and know no more of the gods
of Egypt than I do? Is there any reason why we should not strip this
veiled priestess and discover what she is like beneath those
wrappings?"
Now Mentor rubbed his brow and answered,
"Since I am asked, O King of kings, one does come into my mind. Do you
remember Tenes, King of the Sidonians? He took this same prophetess as
a gift from Nectanebes, and also wished to strip her in his fashion.
Well, Tenes came to a very bad end, and so did Nectanebes who gave her
to him, or is in the way of it. Therefore, O King of kings, were I in
your place, I should advise that she remain veiled, who perhaps after
all is but an ugly old woman. I have known little of Isis, still she
is a goddess with a great name and perchance it is scarcely worth
while to risk her wrath to look at the wrinkled flesh of an ugly old
woman. One never knows, O King of kings, and I have seen so much of it
of late that I come to learn that death, with the curse of Heaven
thrown in, is a bad business."
Thus spoke Mentor in his bluff, rambling, soldier talk, that yet was
so full of Grecian cunning, and Ochus, appearing suddenly to grow
sober, listened to him.
"I seem to remember," Ochus said, "that this same priestess served me
well yonder at Sidon, giving the Phœnician dog, Tenes, counsel that
led him down to ruin. So at least the tale runs. Therefore, not
because of the Egyptian goddess whom I despise," and he spat on the
statue of Isis, an act at which I saw Bagoas shiver, "or for the
reasons that you fools give, but because by design or chance, I know
not which, she served me well at Sidon, let her continue to wear her
veil. I command also that this temple, which is beautiful in its
fashion, shall not be burned or harmed, and that those who serve it
may continue to dwell there and carry on their mad worship as it
pleases them, provided that they stay within its walls and do not
attempt to stir up the people by pageantry in the streets. In token
thereof I stretch out my sceptre," and he held the ivory-headed wand
he carried toward me.
Bagoas whispered to me that I must touch it, so I thrust my arm
between the folds of my veil and did so, though next instant I
remembered that it would have been wiser to grasp the wand from
beneath the veil.
At once Ochus noted the beauty of that arm and exclaimed with a laugh,
"By the holy fire! yonder hand and wrist are not those of an ugly old
woman, such as was spoken of by you slaves, but rather those of one
who is still young and fair. Had I seen them but a moment gone, surely
she should have been stripped. Indeed----"
"I have touched the sceptre of the Great King," I broke in coldly.
"Once the sceptre has been touched the decree of the Great King may
not be altered."
"Wise also," said Ochus, "for she knows our Persian laws. Well, she is
right. The sceptre has been touched and what has been said cannot be
changed. See now, all of you who are ignorant, how good a shield is
wisdom. Come, Mentor, let us be going to make sport with those young
priestesses of Ammon who, not being wise, but only pretty, await us in
the palace. It will be a merry night. Bagoas, bide you here, lest you
should be shocked," and he laughed brutally, "also to inquire whether
this heavenly harlot called Isis decks herself with jewels, for if so,
as to them I swore no oath. Farewell, Priestess. Continue to be wise
and to wear a veil, because if the rest of you is as shapely as your
hand, who knows but that some night when wine has drowned all
promises, I, or others, might cause you to be stripped at last."
Then he turned and went, followed by his foul company. Only Bagoas
remained behind as he had been bidden.
When the doors had closed and by the shouts from without the walls I
knew that the Persians were gone, I said to Bagoas, who was alone with
me in the place,
"Tell me, Egyptian, cradled beneath the wings of Isis, are you not
afraid?" and I turned my head, glancing at the vile stain upon the
alabaster statue.
"Aye, Prophetess," he answered, "I am afraid, as much afraid as you
were but now."
"Fool!" I mocked back at him, "I was not afraid. Ere ever a hand had
been laid upon me by you, you would have been dead, and that king whom
you serve would have been dead also--ask me not how--and by now your
souls would be writhing beneath the hooks of the Tormentors of the
Under-world. Have you not heard of the curse of Isis, Eunuch, and do
you think that your pomp and power can protect you from her swift
sword? Now, _now_, should I but breathe one prayer to her, she can
slay you if she wills."
He quaked, he fell upon his knees; yes, this murderer of kings fell
upon his knees before me, one veiled woman in a shrine, imploring me
to spare him and to protect him from the wrath of Heaven. For in his
soul Bagoas was still Egyptian, and the blood of his forefathers who
had worshipped Isis for a thousand years still ran strong in him.
Moreover, he feared me, the priestess whose fame he knew, as he knew
the fate of those who had offended me.
"Forgiveness! Protection! Methinks these must be most dearly bought,
Bagoas. Are you one of those who have eaten the flesh of Apis and
dragged the virgins of Ammon from their sanctuary? Are you one of
those who have stabled an ass in the temple of Ptah, have burned the
ancient fanes and have butchered the priests upon their altars?"
"Alas! I am," he said, beating his breast, "but not of my own will.
What I did I must do, or die."
"It may be so. Make your own peace with those gods if you can. I have
little to do with them who serve the Supreme Mother. But for her what
atonement?" and again I glanced at the foul stain upon the alabaster
of the image.
"That is what I need to be told. What atonement, Prophetess? I will
swear that there are no jewels here; that the Mother is decked only
with flowers and with perfumes. I will guard this shrine so that never
again a Persian sets foot within its walls. I will cause any who
offend you, Prophetess, to die secretly and at once. Is it enough?"
"Nay, nor by a hundredth part. You would spare the ceremonial
trappings of the Mother, but where is vengeance upon him who defiled
her with his spittle? You would protect the priestess, but where is
vengeance upon him who would have stripped her stark to be his sport
and that of his barbarians? If that is all you have to offer, Bagoas,
take the Mother's curse and that of her Oracle, and get you down to
hell." Here Bagoas lifted his hand as though to protect his head and
began to protest, but without heeding him I went on,
"Hurry not, linger as long as you will upon the road. Deck yourself
like a woman with broidered robes, perfume yourself with scents; set
chains about your neck and jewels upon your fingers. Pander to the
lusts you cannot share and take your pay in gold and provinces. Poison
those you hate and from pure children wring out their lives, because
these stand between you and the fruit of some new phantasy. Glut
yourself with the swine's food of earth, swell yourself out with the
marsh-gas of power, and then, Bagoas, die! die! one year, ten years,
fifty years hence, and get you down to hell and look upon the awful
eyes of the goddess you have shamed, of her whom your forefathers
worshipped from the beginning, and wait the coming of her priestess,
that with every merciless particular she may lay the count against you
from the pavement of the Judgment Hall."
"What, then, shall I do? What shall I do to save my soul? Know,
Priestess, that I who am maimed in my body would save my soul, and
that all these gauds you count are but gall and ashes to me; for
having nought else to gain--being robbed of wives and children I needs
must seek them and thus drug the spirit that is within me. Oh! it is
something--being what I am, that I should feel the necks of all these
great ones writhing beneath my foot. Yes," here his voice dropped to a
whisper, "even that of the King of kings himself, who forgets that
there were other Kings of kings before him. Tell me--what must I do?"
Secretly I drew the curved knife at my girdle; secretly and unwincing,
unseen of him, I gashed my arm--oh! I cut deep, for I can see the mark
to-day, though this fair flesh of mine once seemed to perish in the
immortal fire, but to re-arise elsewhere. The blood from a severed
vein leaped forth and stained my veil, a little mark at first which
grew and grew, till it cried of murder. The man's eyes fastened
themselves upon the prodigy, for so he thought it; then he asked,
"Blood! _Whose_ blood?"
"Perchance that of the wounded goddess. Perchance that of a shamed
priestess. What does it matter, Bagoas?"
"Blood," he went on, "for what does the blood ask?"
"Perchance it cries to Heaven for vengeance; perchance it demands to
be washed away with other blood, Bagoas. Who am I that I should
interpret parables?"
Now he understood, and struggling from his knees, bent forward
whispering in my ear. Yes, the priceless jewels that hung from his
pointed golden cap jingled against my ear.
"I understand," he said, "and be sure it shall be done. But not yet.
It cannot be yet. Still I swear that it shall be done when the hour is
ripe. I hate him! I say that I hate him who while he showers gifts
upon me with his hands, mocks me with his tongue, and who, when by my
wit I win victories for him, jeers at the soldiers who are led by one
who is neither man nor woman. Yes, I hate him who, knowing that I am
of Egypt and in my heart a worshipper of the gods of Egypt, forces me
to desecrate their shrines and to butcher those who serve them. Oh! I
swear that it shall be done in its season."
"By what, O Bagoas?"
"By this, Prophetess," and seizing the dripping veil he rubbed that
which stained it upon his lips and brow, "I swear by the blood of
Isis, or of her Priestess and Oracle in whom Isis is, that I will
neither rest nor stay till I bring Ochus Artaxerxes to his doom. Years
may go by, but still I will bring him to his doom--at a price."
"What price?" I asked.
"That of absolution, Priestess, which is yours to give."
"Aye, it is mine to give or to withhold. Yet I give it not until Ochus
lies dead, and by your hand. Then I call it down from Heaven--not
before."
"At least protect me till that hour, O Daughter of the Queen of
Heaven."
From the necklace I wore beneath my veil I loosed a certain charm of
power, the secret symbol of the Queen herself, worked cunningly in
jasper, and known only to the initiate. This I breathed upon and
blessed.
"Take it," I said, "and wear it on your heart. It shall protect you
from all ills while your heart is true. But if once that heart turns
from its purpose; aye! even if it fail to accomplish its purpose, then
this holy token shall bring all ills upon you, here and hereafter,
Bagoas. For then upon your doomed head shall fall the curse of the
goddess that even now hangs suspended over it, as in the Grecian fable
the sword of Damocles hangs by its single hair. Take it and be gone,
to return no more till you come to tell me that Ochus Artaxerxes
treads that same road upon which he has set so many feet."
Bagoas took the talisman and pressed it on his brow, as though it had
been the very signet of the King of kings, and hid it away about him.
Then he prostrated himself before me, who sat upon a greater throne,
that of the Queen of queens, prostrated himself till his forehead
touched the ground beneath my feet. Then rising, without another word,
Bagoas withdrew himself with humble obeisances till he reached the
doors where he vanished from my sight.
When the man had gone I, Ayesha, laughed aloud, I who had played a
great game and won it.
Yes, I laughed aloud; then, having purified the statue of the goddess
and burnt incense before it, I went upon my knees and returned my
humble thanks to that just Heaven of which I was the minister.