towards the reception-rooms of the royal banquet-hall by the
grand-chamberlain. At the door we were received by the chief butler,
while the other officers of the royal household stood in a line,
bending low as the queen and her guests passed in. We consisted,
besides her majesty, the prince and myself, of the ambassador from
Chaldea, the king's messenger from the Court of Chederlaomer III., in
whose country, three hundred years and more ago, the famous battle of
Sodom was fought; the ambassador from the kingdom of Assyria; the
young Prince of Tarshish; the Duke Chilmed of Sheba, and the Dukes
Javan and Tubal; the Lord of Mesech, and the Prince of Midian. Besides
these was a great and wise prince from the land of Uz, near the
country of Prince Abram, the Mesopotamian. He was accompanied by two
friends, philosophers and men of note, Zophar of Naamath, and Lord
Eliphaz of Teman. This lord of Uz came into Egypt with a great retinue
and train of servants, for he is a man of vast possessions. He had
heard of the wisdom and power of Amense, and had come with his own
merchants to visit her court. He is also an eminently wise man, a
worshipper of the one Deity, as was the ancient king Abram. He is of
venerable and majestic aspect, is learned in all the wisdom of Chaldea
and Arabia, and seeks to add thereto the lore of Egypt. Besides this
distinguished prince, there are other philosophers of note and name.
In such noble company, dear mother, was it my fortunate lot to fall.
Truly, to come into Egypt is to see the whole world!
The queen, after entering the ante-room, retired to the right, where
her ladies-in-waiting received her and escorted her to her own
apartments to prepare for the banquet, which had been delayed by the
review. Remeses leading the way, with me by his side, we came to the
outer room, where handsomely dressed pages offered us scented water in
ewers of gold, to lave our fingers, removed our sandals, and in
foot-pans of gold washed our feet, beginning with Remeses. They then
dried them with perfumed napkins of the softest linen fringed with
threads of gold, and placed upon them sandals of crimson cloth,
embroidered with flowers. Our upper garments were removed by Nubian
servants, and replaced by a banquet-vesture, more or less rich
according to our rank. Thus refreshed, we entered a beautiful
reception-room containing the most elegant articles of furniture. Here
every one of us was presented by the chief gardener of the palace with
a lotus-flower, to be held in the hand during the entertainment. As we
moved about, admiring the beauty of the rooms and the furniture, and
such objects of luxury and art as were intended to gratify the tastes
of guests, there were several arrivals of generals, and officers of
the chariot legion, and other divisions of the army of Lower Egypt,
who had been summoned to the banquet. Among these I recognized some of
the superbly uniformed officers who had lined the avenue of the grand
approach to the throne--for you will recollect that I said it was an
army of officers, soldiers of this rank alone being permitted to do
the honors of the palace on the reception of princes or foreign
ambassadors.
There were, also, nobles, and distinguished citizens, Egyptian
gentlemen of worth and condition, that entitled them to the honor of
dining at the palace. From a window I witnessed the arrival of these.
They came in elegant pleasure-chariots, attended by a number of
servants. One of these footmen came forward to announce to the chief
porter his master's name; others took the reins, for the Egyptian lord
prefers to drive himself in the streets; another, who held above his
head, standing behind him, a large parasol of gorgeous plumes,
alighted, carried it still above him as he crossed to the portico of
the palace.
Several aged persons arrived in palanquins exquisitely carved and
painted, and borne by slaves. Two or three arrived on foot, an
attendant holding a shield or large fan above them. Water was brought
also for their feet, but not in golden foot-bowls, and robes and
sandals were distributed according to rank.
At length, for these polite Egyptians (as well as ourselves) regard it
as a want of good-breeding to sit down to table immediately on
arriving, the music, which had played all the while the guests were
arriving, ceased, and the chief butler announced the moment of the
banquet. At the same instant the queen entered the apartment, and,
after receiving the salutations of us all, was escorted by Remeses to
the banquet-hall. As we entered, a company of musicians, stationed
near the door, struck up one of the favorite airs of the country,
playing upon tambourines, cymbals, double-pipes, flutes which rested
on the floor, guitars, lyres, and instruments unknown to me. The music
was full of harmony, and, to my ear, novel, from the number of strange
instruments. This continued until we had been seated according to
rank, my place being to the left of the queen, Remeses sitting at her
right. There were four ladies of rank also near the queen, along the
table, which I may mention was of polished silver.
When we had taken our places the loud music ceased, and seven
minstrels, who stood by as many harps behind the queen, commenced
playing a beautiful air, accompanying it by their voices. The melody
was full of richness and sweetness. While this was performing,
servants approached, and from exquisite porcelain vases poured
sweet-scented ointment upon our heads. Then entered from the gardens,
into which the banquet-room opened on two sides, as many beautiful
maidens, bearing necklaces of fresh flowers which they had just
gathered, and cast them over our shoulders.
Having received these tokens of welcome, a train of servants presented
us wine in one-handled goblets. That of Remeses, and mine own, was of
gold and jewelled. The others were of silver or agate. The queen's was
presented to her in a single crystal, and that of the ladies in small,
delicate vases of some precious metal. The health of the queen, and of
the prince, and others present, was drunk, while music regaled our
senses. Remeses, who acted as ruler of the feast, pledged me to drink
thy health, my dear mother, which was responded to by all the company;
the Prince of Uz remarking, that the fame of your virtues and the
wisdom of your reign had reached his country. You may judge how my
heart swelled with pride and joy at this testimony to your
excellencies, O my noble and royal mother, from so dignified a source,
in the presence of such a company of witnesses! Until the dinner was
served up, various songs and performances were introduced, and at the
close of the banquet there were the wonderful dances of Arabian girls,
exhibitions of buffoonery, games, and feats of agility by jugglers. I
regret to say, that some of the guests retired overcome with wine, and
had to be borne on the shoulders of their servants to their homes;
while two of the ladies were freer with their little crystal goblets
than was seeming for their sex. The queen scarce touched the wine to
her lips, while Remeses preserved the severest temperance. After the
banquet, Remeses accompanied me to apartments in the palace, which he
said were for the future to be my abode. Here, taking leave of him, I
commenced this letter, which I now close, assuring you of my filial
love and reverence.
SESOSTRIS.
LETTER VI.
PALACE OF THE PHARAOHS, CITY OF ON.
MY DEAR AND HONORED MOTHER:
This morning, as I was about leaving the palace, in order to spend
several hours in traversing the city on foot, that I might see the
citizens at their pursuits, and observe the manners and customs of
this people, the Prince Remeses rode up in his silver-embossed
chariot, himself his own charioteer, two footmen, carrying their
sandals in their left hand, running by the side of his superb horses.
With that absence of form and ceremony which belongs to true
friendship, he did not wait for me to order my grand-chamberlain and
other chief officers of my retinue to receive him, but came straight
to the room "of the alabastron," so called from its alabaster columns,
which was my reception-room, and in the window of which he had seen me
from the street. I met him at the door of the ante-room, and when I
would have saluted him by laying his hand against my heart and then
raising it to my lips, he embraced me with affection.
"Nay, noble Sesostris, said I not we are friends and cousins, and
therefore equals? I have come for you to go with me to Raamses, the
treasure-city, built by Amunophis, my grandfather. I am planning a new
palace, to be erected there for the governor of the treasures of the
kingdom, and am to meet, to-day, the chief architect. Will you
accompany me?"
"With pleasure, my prince," I said; "though I had just proposed to
walk about the city among the people, and see them in their homes and
domestic pursuits."
"You will find time for this always--come with me. You can stand with
me in my chariot, or I will give you one to yourself, with a
charioteer."
I replied that I would go with him, as I should wish to ask him many
questions on the way. In a few moments we were moving rapidly through
the superb streets of the city, and, passing through three grand
pylones uniting as many courts, we came to the great gate of the city
to the south. The towers on each side of it were ninety-nine feet
high, and the pylon between them a wonder of beauty, for the elegance
of its intaglio adornments.
At this gate stood a phalanx of dark Libyan soldiers, who form,
everywhere, the guards of the gates, being noted both for faithfulness
and for their gigantic size. They were armed with lances and swords,
and as we passed through the gate paid to us the military salutation
due to royalty; for though Remeses is not the ruler of Egypt, yet he
wields an influence and power, both from his personal popularity and
the confidence reposed in him by his queen mother, which is almost
equal to the supreme dignity. And when he comes to the throne he will
rule wisely, and, if possible, raise Egypt to still greater glory. I
have already spoken of the remarkable air of dignity about him,
combined with an infinite gracefulness. He has an excellent
understanding, and the distinguished Egyptians with whom I have
conversed, tell me that "no man ever more perfectly united in his own
person the virtues of a philosopher with the talents of a general."
Gentle in his manner, he is in temper rather reserved; in his morals
irreproachable, and never known (a rare virtue in princes of Egypt) to
exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance. Candor, sincerity,
affability, and simplicity, seem to be the striking features of his
character; and when occasion offers, he displays, say the officers of
his army, the most determined bravery and masterly soldiership.
Having passed the gate, the prince drew rein a little, to relieve the
footmen, six of whom ran before and as many behind the chariot,
besides the two "pages of the horse," who kept close to the heads of
the horses. Once outside of the city, we were in a beautiful avenue,
which led through groves and gardens, past villas and ornamental
lakes, for half a mile,--the city, for this breadth, being inclosed by
such a belt of verdure and rural luxury.
"Here," said Remeses, "dwell the nobles, in the intense heats of
summer. The summer palace of my mother is on the island of Rhoda,
between On and Memphis, in the Nile. I am yet to conduct you thither,
and also to the pyramids. You see pavilions on small islets in these
circular lakes. They are temples, or rather shrines for the private
devotions of the families."
We left this lovely suburb, and entered upon a broad road, which,
after crossing a plain on which stood the ruins of a palace of
Osirtasen I., wound through a region of wheat-fields, which extended
along the Nile as far as the eye could see. The laborers were chiefly
Egyptian, and wore the loin-cloth, and short trowsers reaching
half-way to the knee, which I have before described. They sang
cheerful songs as they worked, and stopped to gaze after the rolling
chariot which was passing across their lands like a meteor, its silver
panels flashing in the sun.
About twenty stadia, or nearly four miles, from the city, we came
suddenly upon a vast desolate field, upon which thousands of men
seemed to be engaged in the occupation of making brick. As we drew
near, for the royal road we were traversing passed directly through
this busy multitude, I saw by their faces that the toilers were of
that mysterious race, the Hebrew people.
I say "mysterious," dear mother; for though I have now been six weeks
in Egypt, I have not yet found any of the Egyptians who can tell me
whence came this nation, now in bondage to the Pharaohs! Either those
whom I questioned were ignorant of their rise, or purposely refrained
from talking with a foreigner upon the subject.
You will remember that I once inquired of Remeses as to their origin
and present degradation, and he said he would at some other time reply
to my question. Since then I have had no opportunity of introducing
the subject again to him, other objects wholly absorbing our attention
when we met. Yet in the interim I was forced irresistibly to notice
these people and their hard tasks; for, though they were never seen in
the streets mingling with the citizens (save only in palaces, where
handsome Hebrew youths often serve as pages), yet where temples, and
granaries, and walls, and arsenals, and treasure-houses were being
erected, they were to be found in vast numbers. Old and young men,
women, and children, without distinction, were engaged in the plain
across which we moved.
"Pardon me, noble prince," I said; "permit me to linger a moment to
survey this novel scene."
Remeses drew up his horses, and from the chariot I cast my eyes over
the vast level which embraced half a square league.
"These fields, Sesostris," said the prince, "are where the brick are
made which are to erect the walls of the treasure-city, one of the
towers of which you behold two miles distant. The city itself will
take the years of a generation of this people to complete, if the
grand design is carried out. On the left of the tower you see the old
palace, for this is not a new city we are building so much as an
extension of the old on a new site, and with greater magnificence. It
is my mother's pride to fill Egypt with monuments of architecture that
will mark her reign as an era."
The scene that I beheld from the height of the chariot I will attempt
to describe, my dear mother. As far as I could see, the earth was dark
with people, some stooping down and with wooden mattocks digging up
the clay; others were piling it into heaps; others were chopping straw
to mix with the clay; others were treading it with their feet to
soften it. Some with moulds were shaping the clay into bricks. Another
stood by with the queen's mark, and stamped each brick therewith, or
the one which was to be the head of a course when laid. There were
also the strongest men employed in raising upon the shoulders of
others a load of these bricks, which they bore to a flat open space to
be dried in the sun; and a procession of many hundreds was constantly
moving, performing this task. Some of the slaves carried yokes, which
had cords at each end, to which bricks were fastened; and many of the
young men conveyed masses of clay upon their heads to the moulders.
Those who carried the brick to the smoothly swept ground where they
were to be dried, delivered them to women, who, many hundreds in
number, placed them side by side on the earth in rows--a lighter task
than that of the men. The borders of this busy plain, where it touched
the fields of stubble wheat, were thronged with women and children
gathering straw for the men who mixed the clay. It was an active and
busy spectacle. Yet throughout the vast arena not a voice was heard
from the thousands of toilers; only the sharp authoritative tones of
their taskmasters broke the stillness, or the creaking of carts with
wooden wheels, as, laden with straw from distant fields, they moved
slowly over the plain.
The laborers were divided into companies or parties of from a score to
one hundred persons, over whom stood, or was seated, an Egyptian
officer. These taskmasters were not only distinguishable from the
laborers by their linen bonnet or cap with a cape descending to the
neck, but by a scarlet or striped tunic, and a rod or whip of a single
thong or of small cords. These men watched closely the workmen, who,
naked above the waist, with only a loin-cloth upon many of them,
worked each moment in fear of the lash. The taskmasters showed no
mercy; but if the laborer sunk under his burden, he was punished on
the spot, and left to perish, if he were dying, and his burden
transferred to the shoulders of another. So vast was the multitude of
these people, that the death of a score a day would not have been
regarded. Indeed, their increase already alarms the Egyptians, and
their lives, therefore, are held in little estimation.
The vast revenue, however, accruing to the crown from this enslaved
nation of brick-makers, leads to regulations which in a great measure
check the destructive rigor of the taskmasters; for not only are
thousands building cities, but tens of thousands are dispersed all
over Lower Egypt, who make brick to sell to nobles and citizens, the
crown having the monopoly of this branch of labor. Interest alone has
not prompted the queen to make laws regulating their treatment, and
lessening the rigor of their lot; but also humanity, which is,
however, an attribute, in its form of pity, little cultivated in
Egypt. Under the preceding Pharaohs, for seventy years, the condition
of these Hebrews was far more severe than it has been under the milder
reign of the queen. I am assured that she severely punishes all
unnecessary cruelty, and has lightened the tasks of the women, who
also may not be punished with blows.
I surveyed this interesting and striking scene with emotions of wonder
and commiseration. I could not behold, without the deepest pity,
venerable and august looking old men, with gray heads and flowing
white beards, smeared with clay, stooping over the wooden moulds,
coarsely clad in the blue and gray loin-cloth, which scarcely
concealed their nakedness: or fine youths, bareheaded and burned red
with the sun, toiling like cattle under heavy burdens, here and there
upon a naked shoulder visible a fresh crimson line where the lash or
the rod of an angered officer had left its mark! There were young
girls, too, whose beautiful faces, though sun-burned and neglected,
would have been the envy of fair ladies in any court. These, as well
as the others of their sex, wore a sort of tight gown of coarse
material tied at the neck, with short close sleeves reaching to the
elbow. Their black or brown hair was tied in a knot behind, or cut
short. And occasionally I saw a plain silver or other metallic ring
upon a small hand, showing that even bondage has not destroyed in
woman the love of jewels.
As we rode along, those Egyptians who were near the road bowed the
knee to the prince, and remained stationary until he passed. We rode
for a mile and a half through this brick-field, when at its extremity
we came upon a large mean town of huts composed of reeds and covered
with straw.
"There," said Remeses, "are the dwellings of the laborers you have
seen."
These huts formed long streets or lanes which intersected each other
in all directions. There was not a tree to shade them. The streets and
doors were crowded with children, and old Hebrew women who were left
to watch them while their parents were in the field. There seemed to
be a dozen children to every house, and some of five and six years
were playing at brick-making, one of their number acting as a
taskmaster, holding a whip which he used with a willingness and
frequency that showed how well the Egyptian officers had taught the
lesson of severity and cruelty to the children of their victims. In
these huts dwelt forty thousand Hebrews, who were engaged either in
making brick, or conveying them to Raamses, close at hand, or in
placing them in mortar upon the walls.
We passed through the very midst of this wretched village of bondmen,
whose only food in their habitations is garlic, and leeks, and fish or
flesh, their drink the turbid water of the Nile, unfiltered from its
impurities by means of porous stone and paste of almonds--a process of
art so well known to the Egyptians. On the skirts of the village was a
vast burial-place, without a tomb or stone; for these Hebrews are too
poor and miserable to embalm their dead, even if customs of their own
did not lead them to place them in the earth. The aspect of this
melancholy place of sepulture was gloomy enough. It had the look of a
vast ploughed plain; but infinitely desolate and hideous when the
imagination pictured the corruption that lay beneath each narrow
mound. I felt a sensation of relief when we left this spot behind, and
drove upon a green plateau which lay between it and the treasure-city
of the king. The place we were crossing had once been the garden of
Hermes or Iosepf, the celebrated prince who about one hundred and
thirty years ago saved the inhabitants of Egypt from perishing by
famine, having received from the god Osiris knowledge of a seven
years' famine to befall the kingdom, after seven years of plenty. This
Prince Iosepf or Joseph was also called Hermes, though he wrote not
all the books attributed to Hermes, as we in Phœnicia understand of
that personage.
"Was this Joseph an Egyptian?" I asked of the Prince Remeses, as we
dashed past the ruins of a palace in the midst of the gardens.
"No, a Hebrew," he answered. "He was the favorite of the Phœnician
Pharaoh who commenced the palaces of this City of Treasure."
"A Hebrew!" I exclaimed. "Not one of the race I behold about me
toiling towards the city with sun-dried bricks upon their heads, and
whom I have seen at work on the plain of bricks?"
"Of the same," he answered.
"Your reply reminds me, O Remeses, that you have promised to relate to
me the history of this remarkable people, who evidently, from their
noble physiognomies, belong to a superior race."
"I will redeem my promise, my dear Sesostris," he said, smiling, "as
soon as I have left the chariot by yonder ruined well, where I see the
architect and his people, whom I have come hither to meet, await me
with their drawings and rules."
We soon drove up to the spot, having passed several fallen columns,
which had once adorned the baths of the house of this Hebrew prince,
who had once been such a benefactor to Egypt; but, as he was the
favorite of a Phœnician king, the present dynasty neglect his
monuments, as well as deface all those which the Shepherd Kings
erected to perpetuate their conquest. Hence, it is, dear mother, I
find scarcely a trace of the dominion in Lower Egypt of this race of
kings.
The ruined well was a massive quadrangle of stone; and was called the
"Fountain of the Strangers." It was in ruins, yet the well itself
sparkled with clear water as in its ancient days. Grouped upon a stone
platform, beneath the shade of three palms, stood the party of artists
who awaited the prince. Their horses, and the cars in which they came,
or brought their instruments, stood near, held by slaves, who were
watering the animals from the fountain.
Upon the approach of the prince these persons, the chief of whom was
attired handsomely, as a man of rank (for architects in Egypt are
nobles, and are in high place at court), bowed the knee reverently
before him. He alighted from his chariot, and at once began to examine
their drawings. Leaving him engaged in a business which I perceived
would occupy him some time, I walked about, looking at the ancient
fountain. In order to obtain a view of the country, I ascended a tower
at one of its angles, which elevated me sixty feet above the plain.
From this height I beheld the glorious City of the Sun, a league and a
half to the north, rising above its girdle of gardens in all its
splendor. In the mid-distance lay the plain of brick-workers, covered
with its tens of thousands of busy workers in clay. Then, nearer
still, stretched their squalid city of huts, and the gloomy
burial-place, bordering on the desert at the farther boundary.
Turning to the south, the treasure-city of Raamses lay before me, the
one half ancient and ruinous, but the other rising in grand outlines
and vast dimensions, stretching even to the Nile, which, shining and
majestic, flowed to the west of it. Further still the pyramids of
Memphis, the city itself of Apis, and the walls and temples of Jisah
towered in noble perspective. The Nile was lively with galleys
ascending and descending, and upon the road that followed its banks
many people were moving, either on foot, in palanquins, chariots, or
upon horseback. Over the whole scene the bright sun shone, giving life
and brightness to all I beheld.
To the east the illimitable desert stretched far away, and I could
trace the brown line of road along which the caravans travel between
the Nile cities and the port of Suez, on the sea of Ezion-Geber, in
order to unlade there for ships from Farther Ind that are awaiting
them.