of faith: that I look, through all material and vicarious
representatives, onward and upward to the Infinite and Supreme Essence
of Life--the Generator, Upholder, and Guide of the worlds and all that
dwell upon them. From a child I have never entered, as my dear mother
does, into the heart and spirit of our worship. There is something
within me which tells me that we consist of a twofold being--a soul
within a body. The soul must have had a Soul as its creator;
therefore, O Sesostris, do I believe in a Supreme Soul of the
universe--the Fountain of all souls; a Being of thought, invisibility,
intelligence, and reason, each supreme and eternal; for I can conceive
no creator of a SOUL, nor end of its existence. Before all things that
actually exist, and before all beings, there is One Being whom I would
designate, for want of another term, God of gods, prior to the first
god or king of earth, remaining unmoved and unapproachable in the
singleness of His own unity. He is greater than, as He was prior to,
all material things, of which He is the sole fountain; and He is also
the foundation of things conceived by the intellect, and from His
intellect spring the spirits of the gods and the souls of men."
"Then," said I to the prince, to whom I had listened with surprise and
pleasure--for, mother, similar to these are the deep mysteries taught
by our most sacred priests of Io, into which I was initiated when I
became twenty-five years of age--"then you believe that God is
Intellect conceiving itself, and that the creation of man was but the
beginning of an infinite series of resistless conceptions of Himself?"
"Not resistless, but voluntary. Finding Himself existing, He
multiplied Himself, for His own glory and delight primarily; and
secondly, for the happiness of the offspring of His Intellect."
"We are then His offspring, that is, our souls?"
"Without doubt, if my theories be founded in truth," he answered
contemplatively. We were then in mid-river, and the forty-four rowers
of our gilded barge were slowly dipping their brazen-mounted oars into
the glassy water, while with gentle motion we were borne towards the
isle of palaces and terraces. Our heads were shaded from the sun by a
silken pavilion stretched above the stern of the galley, under which
we reclined upon sumptuous cushions as we conversed. Remeses, however,
is by no means a voluntary seeker of luxurious ease; but in Egypt,
where splendor and voluptuous furniture everywhere invite to
indulgence, one must either deprive himself of all comforts, for the
sake of enduring hardship, or yield unchallenging to the countless
seductive forms of couches, lounges, chairs, and sofas, which
everywhere, on the galleys and in houses, offer themselves to his use.
The air was balmy and soft, and fanned our faces; while the beautiful
shores, lined with villas of the chief men of the court, afforded a
grateful picture to the eye. Our rowers let their sweeps fall and rise
to the low and harmonious time of a river chant, which, while it
inspired conversation between the prince and myself, did not disturb,
but rather veiled our subdued voices.
"Do you believe there are lesser gods?" I asked.
"Do you mean, Sesostris, beings higher in rank than men, and so
created, to whom the Supreme Intellect of the Universe delegates a
part of His authority and power over man and nature? Such, in its
purity, is our Egyptian idea of gods."
"Such is not the Phœnician," I answered, hesitatingly; for I felt
how far in advance of the hero demigods of our Assyrio-Median
mythology was the Egyptian theological conception of a god, while the
still sublimer idea held by Remeses, that they are celestial princes
under the Supreme Prince, created as his servants, yet so far above
men as to be as gods to us, took fast hold of my imagination, and
commended itself to my intellect.
"What, my dear Sesostris, is the mythology of your country?" he asked,
with a look of deep interest. "I have read some of your sacred books,
and from them I perceive we obtain our myths of Isis, Mars, Hercules,
Vulcan, and even Venus, who is your Astarte and our Athor. We owe much
of our religion and learning to you Tyrians, my Sesostris."
"The recipient has become mightier than the giver," I replied.
"Without doubt you have received from us the great invention of the
phonetic alphabet, which your scholars are already making use of,
though I learn the priests oppose it as an invasion upon the sacred
writing of the hieroglyphic representations. I have seen here many
rolls of papyrus written in our Phœnician letter, in the vernacular
Koptic words, and executed with taste and beauty."
"It is not pictorial, and therefore the priests, who are all artists
and lovers of colors, reject it. It will be slowly introduced. Upon
obelisks and tombs the brilliant and varied hieroglyphic writing will
continue, even though the records and rolls may by and by be written
with the Tyrian alphabet. You have seen my Chaldaic letter, which I
have formed partly on the model of your great Kadmus, and partly on
the sacred characters, reducing forms of things to outlines and
strokes of the stylus. This I invented, hoping to introduce it into
Egypt, if the Tyrian letter is opposed by our priests, on the score of
being foreign cabalistic signs; for such do they see fit to regard
them, and speak of them. But, my Sesostris, let me learn of you
something of your mythology."
I was about to reply, when my attention was attracted to a "procession
of the dead" crossing the river just above us, the body being placed
in a gorgeous car which stood in a richly painted and gilded _baris_,
with a curved prow carved with the head of Osiris. It was tied to a
barge, with twenty rowers, which moved to a slow and solemn strain of
music that came wildly floating across the waters to our ears, mingled
with the wails of mourners who crowded the deck of the galley; chiefly
women with long dishevelled hair and naked breasts, which they beat
frantically at times, with piercing cries. Through a small window in
the ark or car I could see the painted visage upon the head of the
mummy case.
It soon landed, and we resumed our conversation.
"You are aware, O prince," I said, turning to him, "that Phœnicia
was settled among the first of the nations, after Typhon sent the
flood of waters to destroy Osiris upon earth. Of course you Egyptians
believe in the universal inundation of the earth?"
"The tradition is well-founded," he answered. "We believe that mighty
nations existed aforetime, beyond the history of any kingdom, and that
for their evils the Divine Creator of men brought upon them as
punishment a mighty unknown sea, which drowned the world: that Menes,
a great and good king, also called Noe-Menes, was spared by the gods,
he with all his family being saved in a ship of the old world, which
sailed to the mountains of Arabia Deserta, where, guided by a dove,
they landed and sacrificed to the gods. This Menes, descending from
the mountain, founded Egypt, first building This, or Thebis, and then
Memphthis, dividing Egypt into the Thinite and Memphite provinces; and
so from Egypt all the world was repeopled.
"Such is our tradition, O Remeses," I said, smiling, "only instead of
a mountain in Arabia, it was Libanus, in Syria, to which his galley
was guided, not by a dove, but by a raven; and that his name was
Ammon, or Hammun; and that the first city built was Sidon, and the
next the city of the Island of Tyre."
Remeses returned my smile and said, "No doubt there was a disposition
in all our forefathers to give the honor of being the oldest nation to
their own. Hammun is also a person in our Egyptian tradition, but is
called the son of Menes; who, rebelling against his father, was driven
from This or Thebis into Africa, where he founded Libya, and erected
to himself, as a god, the ancient temple and worship of Ammon. From
him come the Nubians and Ethiopians."
"Then I will claim no traditionary alliance with him," I answered
good-humoredly. "_Our_ Ammon was called also Hercules, and the first
temple of the earth was built to him on the rocky isle of ancient
Tyre. Then Belus, the hero and warrior-god, and founder of Babylon,
became the patron of Tyre; and a noble temple was also erected to
Nimrod, who slew the wild beasts that swarmed in ancient Syria, and
who became the protector of shepherds and agriculture. Thus came our
first gods, being men deified; while yours are but attributes, or
created celestial powers, high above men; or animated forms
representing the Deity incarnate and comprehensible to the senses.
Baalbec was a city built to Bel or Belus, who, like your Osiris, is
the symbol of the sun, which, of burnished gold, he displayed upon his
shield in battle. In Phœnicia we call him 'the Lord of the Sun,'
and the 'Sun-God.' We pay him divine honors by sacrifices, libations,
and offerings of incense. And this recalls a discovery I recently made
in On, that the true meaning of Re and of On is not 'the City of the
Sun,' but the 'Lord of the Sun's' city; that is, the city of Osiris,
who is the lord of the sun. This meaning of the name at once removes
from On the impression which was at first made upon my mind, that you,
and the queen, and your whole court, worshipped the sun as the Persic
and Parthian nations do; whereas it is Osiris, the Lord of the Sun,
that is the Supreme god, generator, producer, and creator of the sun
and all things that are. No sooner had I made this discovery, which I
did by conversing with the high-priest of On, than I perceived that
whatsoever grossness may be found in the religion of the lower castes
of the people, who seldom see beyond the symbol, the theology of the
wise and great is free from idolatry."
"I am glad you justify us in this matter, dear Sesostris," answered
the prince. "We are not idolaters like the Persian and Barbara kings.
Our sacred books teach an intellectual and spiritual theology. But, as
I have before said to you, the Invisible is so veiled from the people,
by the visible forms under which he is offered to them by the
priesthood, that while _we_ adore the God of power and strength in
Apis, _they_ worship the bull himself: while _we_ in the form of
Horus, with his uræus and disk, adore Him who made him a benefactor to
men and a pursuer of evil, _they_ bow down to the hawk-headed statue
of porphyry and worship the sculptured colossus of stone. But I
interrupt you. Proceed, if you please, with the account of the origin
of your country's religion."
"I have not much more to add of interest," I answered, "save of Adonis
and Astarte."
"Are not these your Osiris and Isis?" asked the prince readily.
"I will first explain," said I, not immediately answering his
question, "what we in Phœnicia think of Isis. The priests teach
that the identity of the goddess Io, who is worshipped with rites
unusually imposing at Byblos, is one with Isis."
"What is your opinion, Sesostris?"
"There is," I answered, "a close resemblance between the rites which
relate to the death and revival of Adonis at Byblos, and of your
divinity Osiris in Egypt. Indeed the priests at Byblos claim to have
the sepulchre of Osiris among them, and maintain that all the rites
which are commonly referred to Adonis properly relate to Osiris."
"Then Egypt derives Osiris from Phœnicia?" remarked Remeses, with a
slight movement of the brows, and a smile.
"Without doubt," I replied. "In Tyre we call Egypt the daughter of
Phœnicia."
"The daughter has out-grown the mother, dear Sesostris. We are proud
of our parentage. We bow to Phœnicia as the mistress of letters and
queen of the merchants of the earth. But what think the priests of
Baalbec of Osiris and Isis?"
"It is the tradition of those haughty priests that they are distinct
persons," I replied. "The ceremonies and rites with which they worship
these deities are truly magnificent, and are invested with every form
of the beautiful and gorgeous. Ours, as I have said, in some points
resemble your Egyptian rites in honoring Osiris and Isis; but while
you Egyptians, Remeses, adore only an abstract attribute of the deity,
_we_ adore the hero and the heroic woman--Adonis and Astarte. We rise
not beyond them. We elevate them to the heavens and to the moon, and
call them our gods. Truly, in the presence of the sublimer, purer myth
which is the element of your faith, O Remeses, I feel that I am not
far above the Barbara kings of Southern Africa, who deify each his
predecessor. The priests of Isis, when they were in Phœnicia,
attempted to elevate our worship; but we are still idolaters, that is,
mere men-worshippers. Or, where we do not pay them divine honors, we
offer them to the sun, and moon, and stars. I must be initiated, O
Remeses, into the profounder intellectual mysteries of your spiritual
myth, now that I am in Egypt."
"You shall have your wish gratified. The high priest of On shall
receive orders to open to you (what is closed to all strangers) the
sacred and mystic rites of our faith."
"I have alluded to the mysteries of the temple at Tyre," I added.
"Initiated thereinto, I was taught that religion had a higher object
than human heroes, and that in Astarte is worshipped the daughter of
Heaven and Light, who is LIFE, and that Adonis, her son by the Earth,
signifies Truth. Thus, from heaven spring Light, Life, and Truth.
These three, say the mystic books which I studied, constitute the
Trinity of God, who consists and subsists only in this undivided
Trinity as a unit; not Light alone, not Life alone, nor Truth alone;
but One in Three. That these three are not three deities, just as in
geometry the three sides and three angles are not three triangles, but
one triangle. That in order to bring this mystery to a level with the
minds of men, light was symbolized by the sun, life by Astarte, truth
by Adonis. In the temple of Bel-Pheor, in Cœle-Syria, the sun
itself is worshipped as light, life, and truth in one; his rays
representing light, his heat life, his material disk or body truth."
"This is interesting to me, Sesostris," said Remeses. "It explains to
me what I did not before understand, why the Syrians worship the sun.
To them it is the majestic symbol of the trinity of deity. But I fear
that in Egypt he is worshipped as an idol; for he, doubtless, is
worshipped by many, and in many cities are temples to him. But this
material worship, which separates the symbol from the truth behind it,
was introduced by the Palestinian dynasty, and it is almost the only
trace it has left in Egypt of its presence. The worship of Osiris,
rightly understood, is the worship of the deity, as revealed in our
sacred books. But the mystery of his trinity is unknown to our
theology. Have you many temples of the sun in Tyre?"
"One only," was my answer, "but worthy, if I may so say, from its
splendor, to stand in your city of 'the Lord of the Sun,' as I must
call it."
"Is there not a city of your kingdom called Baal-phegor, in which is a
famous sun-temple?"
"You mean Baalbec, the same words, only changed slightly. This city
deserves its great fame, so grand are its fanes, so noble its palaces,
so imposing the worship of the sun before its altars, so gorgeous the
interiors of its temples, so rich the apparel of its priests, so
sublime its choral worship. It is in Syrio-Euphrates, and is so shaded
by palms that it has the aspect, in approaching it across the desert,
of being an oasis filled with temples."
"Is not Phœnicia a lovely land, Sesostris?" he asked, at the same
time returning the salutation of the admiral, Pathromenes, who passed
in his war-galley, on his way to join the Prince Mœris, whose fleet
sails to-morrow on its expedition. I was glad, also, to behold again
my courteous friend of the Pelusian coast, and cordially received and
answered his polite and pleased recognition of my person.
"It is indeed a lovely land, with its verdant plains, majestic
mountains clothed with cedar, and beautiful but narrow rivers. It is
covered with fair cities from the peninsula of Tyre to the further
limits of Cœle-Syria, and is a rich and lovely kingdom, populous
and happy. Its two great cities, Tyre and Sidon, are called the eyes
of the world."
"I have so heard," he answered, "and when this Ethiopian war ends, and
I find time to be absent, I hope to cross the sea to your kingdom and
see 'the mother of Egypt,' as she also calls herself; 'the merchant of
the seas,' whose galleys have discovered in unknown oceans, beyond the
Pillars of the West, the isles of the blessed."
"So report our bold and venturous mariners," I answered.
"We who stay at home, know not, Sesostris, what marvels lie beyond the
seas at the extremity of the plane of the earth's vast area. It is
possible that islands and lands of wonderful beauty may exist where
the sun wheels over the West to return to his rising in the Orient;
and if we credit mariners who follow the shores of the Arabian and
Indian seas, there are fair shores from whence come off to them
breezes laden with fragrance of unknown flowers, while birds of rare
melody fill the air with their songs by day; but at night the odorant
forests echo with the dread roar of fierce monsters, that guard the
shores from the invasion of man!"
"I have sailed along those shores, if I may be so bold as to speak in
such a presence, my lord prince," interrupted the captain of the
galley, who had stood by listening to our discourse.
"Say on, Rathos," answered the prince courteously. "What have you to
tell of marvels on foreign seas?"
"The lands at the earth's end, your excellency, are not like ours of
Egypt. I have seen isles where the men are like larger monkeys, and
have a language no one understands, and build their houses in the
trees. Evil demons I doubt not, or else souls sent back to earth from
Amenthe, by Osiris, to atone for crimes in monstrous forms, neither
human nor beast!"
"I have heard of these creatures," said I. "How far hast thou sailed,
O Rathos?"
"To the very edge of the world, my lord of Tyre," he answered quietly.
"I was in a ship going to Farther Ind. In sailing round the end of the
earth we lost the shore in a dark storm; and when day came we saw only
sky and water. All were in consternation to be thus between heaven and
sea, and no land to guide our course. To add to our terror, I
perceived that we were borne swiftly upon an ocean-current eastward.
It increased in velocity, and I soon saw that we must be approaching
the verge of the vast and horrid gulf, over which the full ocean
plunges, a thousand leagues in breadth, prone into chaos and the
regions of the lost spirits of the unburied souls of men! But by the
interposition of the god of winds, to whom I vowed a libation and a
bale of the richest spices of Bengal, a great storm swept over the sea
against us, and before it we fled as with wings, until we came to a
great island, under the shelter of which we anchored, rejoicing in our
safety."
"Verily, brave Rathos, thou wert in a great peril," I said. "Thinkest
thou it was at the world's end?"
"So said the king of the island, and he congratulated us on our
escape; saying that few ships, when once upon that downward tide, ever
returned again to the top of the earth."
"Thinkest thou the earth is square, Rathos, from what voyages thou
hast made?" I asked of the gray-haired captain, whose silvery locks
were braided around his head, and covered by a green embroidered
bonnet, with a fringed cape falling to his neck.
"Or a triangle, my lord prince; but some say four square, with a
burning mountain at each angle."
"Which is thine own opinion, Rathos?" asked the prince, who had been
listening to our conversation.
"That it is irregular and jagged, my lord of Egypt, in shape not
unlike this fair Isle of Rhoda, at which we are about to land."
"And what thinkest thou, Rathos, is its foundation?" continued the
prince.
"The Indian wise men say it is held up on the back of a huge tortoise;
and our priests of Egypt that it floats in a vast ocean; while in
Jaffa they teach that it floats on a boundless sea of fire. I know
not, my lord prince. I leave knowledge of such wisdom to the great
philosophers; and for my part am content to live upon our fair earth
as long as the gods will, be it fire, or tortoise, or even though it
stand on nothing, as the people in Persia hold that it does. But we
are at the terrace-steps, my lord of Memphis!"
Here he bowed low, holding his hand to his heart, and left us to
superintend the landing of the galley, at the porphyry staircase of
the propylæum of the palace.
"Sesostris," said the prince to me, "has the idea occurred to you that
this world may be a globe, suspended in subtle ether, and in diurnal
revolution around the _fixed_ sun?"
"Never, Remeses!" I cried, with a look of amazement at this bold and
original thought. "It is impossible it should be so!"
"Nothing is impossible with the Author of creation!" said Remeses,
with great solemnity. And, then, after an instant's pause, he added
pleasantly--"On what does the sea of fire or the tortoise rest, my
dear prince? Which theory is the most difficult to receive? But I have
given astrology considerable attention, and if you will examine with
me some observations and calculations that I have made, I think you
will be with me in my novel opinion, that this earth _may prove_ to be
a sphere and in orbitual motion, with its seven planets, about the
sun; its annual progress in its circuit giving us seasons, its diurnal
motion night and day! But I see you stand perplexed and amazed. By and
by you shall be initiated into the mysteries of my studies. Let us
land!"
Farewell, dear mother. The great length of this letter renders it
necessary that I should close it abruptly, but believe me ever
Your dutiful son,
SESOSTRIS
LETTER XI.
PALACE OF RHODA, ON THE NILE.
MY BELOVED MOTHER:
In my last letter I narrated a conversation between Prince Remeses and
myself, upon the myths of Egypt and Phœnicia, and other subjects,
while being borne in his galley from the Memphis bank of the river
down to the Island of Rhoda. I have already described this beautiful
isle, and spoken of it as the favorite residence of the queen. It is
situated nearly midway between her two chief cities, On and Memphis,
both of which--one on the west and the other on the east--are in sight
from the top of the central pylon of her palace, that divides the
"court of fountains and statues" from her gardens.
Also from this point the queen commands, at one view, the noble
spectacle of her navy anchored in the river, and her armies encamped,
the one on the plain of Memphis, and the other upon that of Raamses.
I wrote you a letter day before yesterday, my dear mother, after my
return from a very interesting visit to the plain of Memphis, whither
the prince went in his state barge to review the 80,000 soldiers
encamped there. I will devote this letter to an account of a second
visit, and a description of the scenes I witnessed, and a narration of
the events which transpired.
Early this morning, when the queen and Remeses and I were about to be
seated at our repast; and, as the pious custom of the Egyptians of all
ranks is, Remeses having just asked the blessing of the gods before
partaking, lo! Prince Mœris, lord of the Thebaïd, came in
unannounced, accompanied by his favorite lion, which always follows
his steps or stalks by his side, and said, with bluntness unsuited to
the presence--
"Your majesty, I have come to say to you that I am ready to weigh
anchor and commence my voyage to the Cataracts! I await your orders
and pleasure!"
Thus speaking, he stood with his head-admiral and half a dozen of his
chief officers behind him in the entrance, his sword at his side, and
his gold helm with its nodding plumes towering proudly. His whole
appearance was singularly splendid and martial, and he seemed to be
conscious of the effect the striking elegance and brilliancy of his
costume produced upon me; for, though brave as Osirtasen the
Conqueror, he is as vain as ever was the fair Princess Nitocris.