usual retinue was an army, wherever he moved; and no doubt Bnon, the
king, willingly let him depart when he had offended him, rather than
meet the valor of the arm which had already slain five kings of the
East, and taken their spoil. At length Prince Abram died and left a
son, who succeeded him not only in his riches but his wisdom. After a
time he also died and left a son, Prince Jacob, who had twelve sons,
all princes of valor--but who, like the Arabians of to-day, lived a
nomadic life. One of these brothers was beloved of his father more
than the others; and, moved by envy, they seized upon him and sold him
to a caravan of the bands of Ishmael, the robber king of Idumea, as it
was on its way to Egypt. These barbarians sold the young Prince Joseph
to an officer of the king's palace, Potipharis, captain of the guard,
whose descendant, Potiphar-Meses, is the general of cavalry you met at
the queen's banquet. This officer became the friend of the young
Syrian, and raised him to a place of honor in his household. In the
course of time the king, who was the eminent Pharaoh-Apophis, dreamed
a dream which greatly troubled his mind, and which neither his
soothsayers, magicians, nor the priests could interpret. Joseph, who
was eminent for his piety, love of truth, and devotion to his God,
being in prison--to which, on some false charge of seeking the love of
his master's wife, he had been committed--had interpreted the dreams
of two prisoners, one of whom, being released and hearing of the
king's dream, sent him word that while in prison the Hebrew captive
had truly interpreted a dream, which both he and his companion had
dreamed. Thereupon Pharaoh sent for the Hebrew, who interpreted his
dream, which prophesied seven years of great plenty, such as was never
known in Egypt, and seven years to follow them of such scarcity as no
kingdom on earth had ever suffered from. And when the Hebrew had
recommended the king to appoint an officer to gather in the corn
during the years of plenty, and to husband it in treasure-houses
against the seven years of scarcity, Apophis at once elevated him to
that high position. Removing from his hand his own signet ring, he
placed it upon the finger of Joseph; and, having arrayed him in
vestures of fine linen and placed a gold chain about his neck,
presented him with the second state-chariot to ride in, and made him
ruler over all his realm, commanding all men to bow the knee before
him as to a prince of the blood, and second in power only to himself."
"And these," I said, glancing at a group of Hebrew laborers not far
off, who were seated upon a ruin eating garlic and coarse bread for
their noon-day meal--"and these are of the same blood?"
"Yes, Sesostris! But you shall hear their history. This Joseph reigned
in Egypt above threescore years, holding in his hand the supreme
power, save only that he wore not the crown of Apophis, who, given up
to pleasure or to war, gladly relieved himself of the active cares of
state. But while he was early in power, and yet a young man, his
father and brothers were driven into Egypt by the seven years' famine,
which followed the seven years of plenty."
"Then," I interrupted, "the dream of Pharaoh was rightly read by the
Hebrew youth?"
"In all particulars he interpreted it with the wisdom of a god, who
sees into the future as into the past! But, to resume my narrative--he
recognized his father, Jacob, and his brethren."
"Did he make use of his power to punish the latter for their cruelty
in selling him into bondage?"
"On the contrary, he forgave them! At first they did not recognize
their shepherd brother in the powerful and splendid prince of Egypt,
before whom they came under his name of Hermes-Osiris, which Pharaoh
had conferred upon him."
"It must have been both a wonderful surprise and a source of terror to
them when they at length found in whose presence they bowed," I said,
picturing in my mind the scene when they perceived who he was. I
imagined not only the trembling fear of the men, but the joy of the
venerable father.
"Doubtless a most touching and interesting interview," answered
Remeses. "Instead of avenging their cruelty he entertained them in his
palace with a banquet, and afterwards solicited of Pharaoh, who
refused him no request, that his father and brethren might dwell in
the land."
At this moment a tall Hebrew young man passed, returning with a proud,
free step, having carried his burden and placed it by a well, which
some workmen were repairing. I gazed upon him with interest, fancying
I beheld in his face the lineaments of the prince of whom Remeses was
talking. I thought, too, the eyes of my companion followed the
youthful bondman, as he went away, with something like a kindred
sentiment; for, as he discoursed of the glory and virtues of Prince
Joseph, it was impossible that we should not be drawn nearer, as it
were, to these hapless captives of his race.
"It was in this part of Egypt where the Syrian patriarch dwelt. This
very temple is erected upon the site of his habitation, and from here,
as far as you can see, stretched the rich fields and fertile plains
occupied by him, his sons, and their descendants. Here they erected
cities, most of which were destroyed by the subsequent dynasty, with
all the monuments of Joseph's power; and here they dwelt for seventy
years in peace and plenty, increasing in numbers, wealth, and
intelligence--their best-educated men holding offices in the state,
and commanding the respect and confidence not only of the king, but of
the Egyptians."
But, my dear mother, it is time I close this letter. Until I again
take up my pen to write you, remain assured, I pray you, of my filial
reverence and love.
Your affectionate
SESOSTRIS.
LETTER VIII.
PALACE OF AMENSE.
MY HONORED AND BELOVED MOTHER:
My last letter closed with the narration of a history of the Hebrews,
from the lips of Prince Remeses, to which I listened as we walked to
and fro on the terrace of the temple. I will in this letter continue,
or rather conclude, the subject, feeling that it will have interested
you quite as deeply as it has engaged my attention.
The governor of the queen's granaries having arrived, mounted upon a
handsomely caparisoned horse, and attended by runners, the prince at
once gave him the orders for which he came, and then, dismissing him
with a wave of his hand, turned to me, as I was watching the majestic
flight of several eagles of prey, which, circling above my head at a
great height, with seemingly immovable wings, through cutting the air
so swiftly, gradually diminished the circles of their flight, and
descended upon some object not far distant, on the road leading to
another treasure-city, called Pithom, many leagues up the Nile, which
the Hebrews had built for Amunophis I., threescore years and more ago.
"I will now resume my history of the Hebrews, my dear Sesostris," said
the prince, "and will be brief, as we must return to On. The Prince
Joseph, as I have said, obtained for his father and brethren all this
fair plain, the heart and beauty of Egypt. Here they dwelt when the
old man died, after seventeen years' residence in Egypt; and the
Hebrew prime minister of the king made for his father a funeral such
as few kings receive. It is said to have been more magnificent than
that of Osirtasen I., of which our poets have sung. By Pharaoh's
command, as his favorite wished to bury his father in Palestine, a
vast army went up with the body,--chariots, horsemen, and footmen,--so
that to this day the splendor and pomp of the funeral is a tradition
throughout the lands they traversed. Joseph then returned to Egypt,
and ruled sixty-one years, until both he and Apophis the king were
waxed in years. At length he died, and was embalmed, and his body
placed in the second pyramid, which you behold a little to the right
of Memphis. There his body does not now rest, for, after the expulsion
of the Phœnician dynasty, the Hebrews secretly removed it, and its
place of concealment is known only to themselves. There is a saying
among them that the bones of this prince shall rise again, and that he
shall go with them forth from Egypt to a new and fair country beyond
Arabia."
"Then they have a hope of being one day delivered from their present
condition?" I asked.
"It is a part of their faith, and inborn, if I may so speak. It is
this hope, I think, which makes them bear up so patiently under their
servitude."
"And how, noble Remeses, were they reduced to bondage in the fair land
wherein they once dwelt so peacefully, under the benign sway of their
mighty brother?"
"The answer to this question, my Sesostris," said the prince, "will
involve a history of the overthrow of the dynasty of the Phœnician
conquerors, which lasted over two hundred years, with a succession of
six kings. Upon the death of the Prince Joseph in his one hundred and
tenth year, Apophis the king, being also of great age, became
incapable of managing his kingdom, which he had for sixty years
intrusted to the hands of his Hebrew prime minister. Ignorant of the
true condition of his government--known to but few of his
subjects--aged and imbecile, he was incapable of holding the reins of
state, left by the Hebrew in his hands. The ever-jealous and watchful
king of the Thebaïd, in Upper Egypt, did not delay to take advantage
of an opportunity like this to attempt the restoration, in Lower
Egypt, of the ancient throne of the native Pharaohs, by the expulsion
of the usurping dynasty. But, my Sesostris, you know well the
subsequent history--how Pharaoh Amosis, with his Theban hosts, drove
them from city to city, and finally pursued them into Arabia, whence
they settled in the land of the Philistines, and, capturing Salem,
made it their capital city--at least such is one of the traditions."
"They held it for a time," I answered, "but, being driven from it by
the King of Elam, they subsequently fortified Askelon. They are still
a powerful people, under the name of Philistines; and, what is
singular, retain scarcely a custom derived from the two hundred and
twenty-five years' residence and reign in Egypt."
"It is not more remarkable than the fact that their domination here
made no impression upon the people of Egypt; they left no words of
their own in our language, and no customs of theirs were adopted by
the Egyptians They simply held military possession of the kingdom,
living in fortified cities and levying tribute upon the people for
their support. The few monuments they erected were defaced or
overthrown by the victorious Theban king and restorer, Amosis, my
great ancestor, or by his successor, Amunophis I.
"When these invaders were expelled from Lower Egypt, then the two
crowns of the Thebaïd and Memphitic kingdoms became united in the
person of Amunophis, the son of 'the Restorer,' and it is this Thebaïd
dynasty which now holds the sceptre of the two kingdoms, and which is
represented in the person of my mother, the daughter of Amunophis, who
died when she was a young girl. She has ever since reigned with the
title of 'the Daughter of Pharaoh,' being so called by the people when
she ascended the throne of Memphis and Thebes. But my dear prince,"
said Remeses, with a smile, "I have been giving you the history of the
dynasty of my race, rather than of the Hebrew people."
"I am not the less interested, dear Remeses," I said, "and perceive
that the two histories are naturally united."
"Yes. The new king, Amosis, called 'Restorer,' upon the obelisk at
Memphis which bears his name, and upon which the scenes of the
expulsion of these Philistine soldier-monarchs are depicted with great
spirit and fidelity--the new king, I say, upon driving out the
invaders, keeping the Phœnician king's fair daughter, Ephtha, as
his wife, turned his attention to the other class of strangers, who
had the fairest portion of Egypt for their possession. He accordingly
visited, in state, the city of Succoth, in the province of Goshen,
which they had built and beautified during the seventy years they had
dwelt there under Prince Joseph's mild and partial rule. It was
without walls, wholly unfortified, and had not even a temple--for the
Hebrews of the better class worship only with the intellect, a
spiritual Deity in his unity."
"Which, if I dare speak so boldly to you, O Remeses," I said, "appears
to me to be the noblest species of worship, and the purest sort of
religion for an intellectual being."
"Sayest thou?" quickly demanded the prince, surveying my face with his
full bright gaze. "Thou art in advance of the rest of mankind, my
Sesostris! The same feeling exists in my own bosom; but I believed
myself alone in experiencing it. Some day we will hold discourse
together on this high mystery. There seems to come up from my
childhood a voice which I can never silence, and which I hear loudest
when I am most solemnly engaged in the sacred rites of the altars of
our gods, saying--
"'Son of earth, there is but one GOD, invisible, eternal, uncreated,
and whose glory He will not share with another; worship Him with the
spirit and with the understanding.'"
"This is remarkable," I said, "for such also is the mystery taught by
the priests of Chaldea, of whom Melchisedec was the first high-priest.
I have read their sacred books in Damascus."
"I have never seen them; yet this voice forces itself upon me
everywhere, my Sesostris. All is dark and inscrutable to us mortals.
We hang our faith upon a tradition, and our hopes upon a myth. We feel
ourselves equal or superior to the deities we worship, and find no
repose in the observances our religion demands. Would that I had the
power to penetrate the blue heavens above us and find out God, and
know what life means, and whence we came and whither we go."
"Once across the Lake of the Dead," I answered, "and all will be
revealed. Osiris in his vast judgment-hall will give each soul the key
of the past and the future."
"So say the priests, and so we believe. But to return to the Hebrews.
Another time we will discourse on these themes. The new king hearing
that two hundred thousand and more foreigners dwelt here, called all
the elders and chief men before him; and when he had questioned them
and heard their history, and had learned that the Prince Joseph, who
had done so much to uphold and consolidate the Phœnician rule, was
one of their ancestors, his wrath was presently kindled against them.
He saw in them the friends and adherents of the overthrown dynasty;
both as allied by blood to the great Hebrew prime-minister, and as
originating from the same country with the expelled Phœnician king.
He, therefore, perceiving they were not a warlike people, and could
not be dreaded as an army, instead of declaring war against them and
driving them out of Egypt, as he had done the Syrian kings, resolved
to reduce them to servitude like captives taken in war. Having come to
this resolution, he held as prisoners the chief men before him, and
placed the whole people under the yoke of bondage, enrolling them
under task-officers, and putting them to work upon the cities,
temples, palaces, and canals, which the Phœnicians had either
destroyed, or suffered to fall into ruin. This was the beginning, my
Sesostris, of the subjugation to perpetual labor of these Syrians or
Hebrews in the very land where one of their family had ruled next to
the throne. They have been engaged since in building cities, and
walls, and in cultivating and irrigating the royal wheat-fields;
aiding in hewing stone in the quarries, and in all other works of
servitude: but as the making of bricks requires no intelligence, and
as it was not the policy of Amunophis-Pharaoh to elevate their
intellects, but the contrary, lest they should prove troublesome, they
have chiefly been kept to this, the most degrading of all labor."
"How long is it that they have been in this condition?" I asked.
"About one hundred and five or six years have elapsed since the death
of Prince Joseph. But they were gradually reduced to their present
state. During the latter years only of Amunophis were their tasks
increased. They, nevertheless, multiplied in such numbers that the
king began to apprehend danger to his crown from their multitude."
"Were there men among them who sought to free their fellows?" I
inquired.
"Always, and to this hour. They are a proud, haughty, resolute, and
stubborn race. They bend to the yoke, indeed, but with hatred of the
oppressor, not with the willing submission of the Libyan or Nubian
captive. The king had reason to fear from the increase of their
numbers, when he found the census of this people gave more than a
million of souls, while the number of his own subjects in both
provinces did not exceed six millions; his own Thebans not amounting
to as many as the Hebrews numbered. Upon this he became alarmed, for
he was about entering into a war with the kings of Syro-Arabia, and
apprehended that being of the same Syrian stock they might join
themselves to his enemies. He, therefore, increased their burdens and
taskmasters in order to keep them in closer subjugation; but the more
he oppressed them the more they multiplied. In relating these facts, O
prince, do not think I approve of cruelty even in my royal ancestor.
It was, no doubt, a great wrong in the beginning inflicted upon them,
in making them servants, and the subsequent series of oppressions were
but the natural results of the first act. It was one unmixed evil
throughout. Having committed the manifest error in the outset, of
enslaving them to the crown, it now became a necessary policy to
prevent their dangerous increase. He would not send them with his army
into Arabia lest they should join his enemies. He, therefore, to keep
down their numbers, ordered all the male infants as soon as born to be
put to death by the Egyptian women."
"A dreadful alternative!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, and one not to be defended," answered Remeses, in a decided
tone. "But Amunophis, having caught the lion by the jaws, was
compelled either to destroy him, or be destroyed himself. The result
of the edict was, that many perished. The Nile, it is said, was
constantly bearing down upon its bosom corpses of new-born Hebrew
babes."
"Dreadful!" I ejaculated.
"It became so to the king. But he felt that one or the other must
perish, and that these innocent infants must die for the future safety
of the kingdom. There were sad and tragic scenes! Many a Hebrew mother
fought to save her infant, or perished with it clasped to her heart!
Many a desperate father resisted the soldiers who sought his hut for
his concealed child, and died on the threshold, in the ineffectual
effort to save his son! You perceive, Sesostris, that I speak with
emotion. I have heard the scenes of that era described by those who
witnessed them. I was an infant at the time, and do not speak of my
own knowledge; but many live who then saw tragedies of horror such as
few lands have witnessed. Had I been Amunophis I think I should have
devised some other way to ward off the anticipated danger from my
kingdom. But this sanguinary edict was unsuccessful. The Egyptian
nurses were tenderer of heart than the king, and saved many to the
tears and entreaties of mothers. Thousands of mothers, stifling every
cry of nature, gave birth secretly, and in silence, to their babes,
and the fathers or friends stood ready to fly with it to some prepared
concealment. Thousands were thus saved, as the innumerable multitudes
of men you have beheld this day toiling in the fields, making brick to
build up Raamses, bear witness. The edict continued in force for two
years, when Amunophis died. After the seventy days of mourning were
ended, his daughter Amense, who had been married to the prince of the
Thebaïd, a nephew of Amunophis, but had been left a widow about the
time of her father's death, came to the throne as the next in
succession to the double crown. With the sceptre was bequeathed to her
the iron chain that bound the Hebrews. Young, inexperienced in rule,
without advisers, my mother knew not how to solve the problem these
enslaved Syrians presented to her. As a woman, she felt that she could
originate no new policy. But prompted by humanity, the first act of
her power was to repeal the edict commanding the death of the infants.
This act alone kindled in the hearts of the whole of the oppressed
people a sentiment of gratitude. On the contrary, her lords, generals,
chief princes of the nomes, and dukes of cities, with one voice
assured her that this act of clemency would destroy her throne. But
you see, my Sesostris, that it still stands. For thirty-four years she
has reigned over the empire of Egypt, and it has never before reached
so high a degree of prosperity, power, and strength. Her armies of the
east, and of the south, and of Libya, are superior to those of all
nations."
"Yet is the problem more intricate, and farther from solution than
ever," I said to the prince. "The Hebrew is still in the land, still
increasing in numbers, and now far more formidable than in the reign
of your grandsire, Amunophis."
"This is true. My mother and I have talked for hours together upon the
theme. She, with her woman's gentler nature, would not oppress them,
yet has she been compelled by necessity to hold them in strict
subjugation, lest they become a formidable element of insurrection in
the kingdom. So far as is consistent with safety to her two crowns,
she mitigates the severity of their condition; and as you have
understood, has forbidden the women to be struck with blows, or put to
heavy toil. Still it is not easy, among so many thousand taskmasters,
and so many myriads of bondmen, to oversee all individual acts of
oppression; but when brought to our notice they are severely punished.
The condition of the Hebrew is an incubus upon the soul of my noble
mother, and if it were in her power, with safety to her subjects, to
release them to-morrow from their bondage, she would do so. But state
policy demands imperatively, rigid supervision, severe discipline, and
constant labor, lest being idle, and at liberty to go where they
choose, they conspire against us. Several times agents from the King
of Ethiopia, our natural and hereditary foe, with whom we are almost
always at war, have been discovered among them; and arms have been
placed in their possession by the spies of the Queen of Arabia. They
have, moreover, among them men of courage and talent, who, like their
ancestor, Prince Abraham, possess warlike fire, and, like the Prime
Minister Joseph, have wisdom in council, to advise and rule. Such
persons, among slaves, are to be feared, and there is necessary a
certain severity, you would call it oppression, to keep down all such
spirit."
"The burdens of these Hebrews still seem very heavy, O Remeses," I
said.
"They doubtless are; but their condition is far lighter than it has
been. They are allotted certain tasks, according to their strength,
and if these are done early they have the rest of the day to
themselves."
"And if late?"
"They must complete their tale of bricks, unless disabled by sickness.
Blows are not given to men unless they are wilful and insubordinate.
Once a year the queen visits all the Hebrews in the country of Avaris,
of which Goshen forms but a part, and regulates abuses. The Hebrew
always has the right of appealing to the governor of the province,
against his taskmaster, if cruelly treated. All that the queen can do
is to execute with severity the laws against oppressing them."
"This Hebrew people, O Remeses," I said, as he ceased speaking, "are
the cloud which overshadows Egypt. I foresee danger to the dynasty
from it."
"I have in vain tried to settle upon some policy, to be pursued--when
I come to the throne, if it please Heaven that my mother depart this
life before me, (I pray the god to keep her to a good old age)--in
reference to them. But my wisdom is at fault. When I take the sceptre
I shall feel that the bondage of the Hebrew, which I inherit with it,
will make it lead in my hand."
While he was speaking, the impatient pawing of his spirited
chariot-horses, restrained with difficulty by three footmen, reminded
him that we were delaying at Raamses when we ought to be on our way
back to On.
"Come, Sesostris, let us get upon the chariot and return, for I
promised to dine with my mother and the Lord Prince Mœris to-day;
and it is already past noon by the shadow of that obelisk."
We stood upon the silver-chased chariot, and taking the leopard-skin
reins in his left hand, he made a sign to his footmen, who, springing
away from the heads of the fretting and frothing horses, let them fly.
Away, like the wind, we swept the plain in front of the treasure-city;
along the plateau where had stood the palace and gardens of Joseph,
the lord of Egypt; past the ruined strangers' fountain, where I had
talked with the venerable Ben Isaac and his handsome son; past a well
beside which Jacob had his great house, during the seventeen years he
lived in Goshen, the ruins of which were visible a little ways off to
the east. On we rolled, preceded and followed by the fleet-footed
runners, across the plain of the Hebrew brick-makers, who still bent
to their labors. Women and children, with dark fine eyes and raven
hair, gathering straw by the wayside or in the stubble-fields, were
passed in vast numbers. Crossing an open space, I saw before me a
black mass on the ground, which, as we advanced, proved to be a crowd
of vultures or carrion eagles, that slowly and reluctantly moved aside
at our coming; and the next moment our horses shied at the dead body
of a man, around which they had been gathered feasting upon the flesh.
The long beard and dark hair, the coarse blue loin-cloth, and the pile
of bricks at his side, told the whole tale. It was an emaciated
Hebrew, who had perished on the road-side under his burden.
I did not look at Remeses. I knew that he saw and felt. He reined up,
and sternly commanded two of his footmen to remain and bury the body.