Egyptians, my dear mother. Houses slightly removed beyond the degree
of mere barbarous huts, built of crude brick, and very small, are the
habitations of the lower orders. Others, of more pretension, are
stuccoed, and have a court; others, still superior, have the stuccoed
surface painted, either vermilion and orange, in stripes, or of a
pale-brown color, with green or blue ornaments, fanciful rather than
tasteful. Those of merchants and persons of that grade, are more
imposing;--corridors, supported on columns, give access to the
different apartments, through a succession of shady avenues and
courts, having one side open to the breezes; while currents of fresh
air are made to circulate freely through the rooms and halls, by a
peculiar arrangement of the passages and courts; for, to have a cool
house in this ardent latitude is the aim of all who erect habitations.
Even small detached dwellings of artificers and tradesmen, consisting
of four walls, with a flat roof of palm-branches, laid on split
date-trees as a beam, covered with mats, and plastered with mud of the
Nile, having but one door, and wooden shutters,--even such humble
habitations have in the centre an open court, however limited, with
rooms opening to the air on one side; while around the small court are
planted one or more palms, for shade, besides adorning it with plants
of their favorite flowers. I have seen some such neat little abodes,
not much larger than cages, with a cheerful family in it, who lived
out of doors all day, dining under the shade of their tree, and
dancing in their open court by moonlight, to the music of clapping
hands or the castanets, until bedtime, using their houses only to
sleep in; and such is the happy life of half the Egyptians of their
grade.
The grander mansions, less than palaces, are not only stuccoed within
and without, but painted with artistic and tasteful combinations of
brilliant tints. They have numerous paved courts, with fountains and
decorated walls, and are adorned with beautiful architectural devices,
copied from the sacred emblems and symbols in the temples, and
arranged and combined in forms or groups in the most attractive style.
Over the doors of many houses are handsome shields or tablets, charged
with the hieroglyph of the master, inscribed with some sentence. Over
that of the house of the chief weigher of metals, opposite my palace
window in On, was written "The House of the Just Balance." Over
another "The good house;" and over a third, "The friend of Rathoth,
the royal scribe, liveth here." Any distinction, or long journey, or
merit, or attribute, gives occasion for an inscription over the
entrances.
The beauty of a house depends on the taste, caprice, or wealth of its
builders. The priests and lords of Egypt live in luxurious abodes, and
a display of wealth is found to be useful in maintaining their power,
and securing the respect and obedience of the under classes.
"The worldly possessions of the priest," said an Egyptian scribe of
the temple of Apis, "are very great, and as a compensation for
imposing upon themselves at times abstemiousness, and occasionally
limiting their food to certain things, they are repaid by improved
health, and by the influence they acquire thereby. Their superior
intelligence enables them," he continued, ironically, "to put their
own construction on regulations and injunctions emanating from their
sacred body, with the convenient argument, that what suits them does
not suit others." The windows of the houses are not large, and freely
admit the cool breezes, but are closed at night by shutters. The
apartments are usually on the ground-floor, and few houses, except
perhaps in Thebes, exceed two stories in height. They are accessible
by an entrance court, often having a columnar portico decked with
banners or ribbons, while larger porticos have double rows of columns,
with statues between them. When there is an additional story, a
terrace surmounts it, covered by an awning, or by a light roof
supported upon graceful columns. Here the ladies often sit by day: and
here all the family gather at the close of the afternoon to enjoy the
breeze, and the sight of the thronged streets and surrounding
scene,--for it is open on all sides to the air. In the trades' streets
the shops are on the ground-floor, and the apartments for families are
above. As it scarcely ever rains, the tops of the houses, terraced,
and covered with a handsomely fringed awning, are occupied at all
hours, and even at night as sleeping-places by the "lord of the
house," if the apartments below are sultry and close. Some noble
edifices have flights of steps of porphyry or marble leading to a
raised platform of Elephantine or Arabic stone, with a doorway between
two columns as massive as towers--ambitious imitations of the propyla
of the temples. These gateways have three entrances, a smaller one on
each side of the principal entrance for servants, who are very
numerous in an Egyptian house of the first class. Such is the house of
my friend, the Admiral Pathromenes, whom I visited the day I saw him
in his galley, and just before he sailed with the fleet for Ethiopia.
On entering the portal, I passed into an open court, on the right side
of which was the mándara or receiving-room for visitors, where
servants took my sandals, and offered water for my hands in silver
ewers, at the same time giving me bouquets of flowers. This room,
surrounded by gilt columns, and decorated with banners, was covered by
an awning supported by the columns, and was on all sides open to
within four feet of the floor, which lower space was closed by
intercolumnar panels, exquisitely painted with marine subjects. Above
the paneling a stream of cool air was admitted, while the awning
afforded protection from the rays of the sun. This elegant
reception-hall had two doors--that by which I had entered from the
street, and another opposite to it which communicated with the inner
apartments. Upon my announcement by the chief usher, the admiral came
through the latter door to receive me; hence the title of
"reception-room" given to this column-adorned and paneled hall. He
embraced me, and entered with me by his side into a corridor which led
into a court of large dimensions, ornamented in the centre with an
avenue of trees--palm, olive, orange, and fig trees, the latter being
an emblem of the land of Egypt. Here numerous birds filled their leafy
coverts with melody. Six apartments faced as many more on two sides of
this court--the corridor, or piazza, of pictured columns extending
along their entire front; and before the corridor was a double row of
acacia-trees. We did not turn to these rooms, but, advancing along the
charming avenue between them, passed around a brazen fountain-statue
of Eothos or Neptune, who was pouring water out of a shell upon a
marble lotus-leaf, from which it fell into a vase of granite. Passing
this figure, we kept the avenue till we came to a beautiful door
facing the great court. It was of palm-wood, carved with devices of
branches and flowers, and inlaid with ivory and colored woods, all
finely polished. At this door a servant, in neat apparel, met us, and
opening it ushered us into the sitting-room of "the lady of the
house," who had already received notice of our approach, and who,
presenting me with flowers, welcomed me graciously, and with a
cordiality that gave me a favorable estimation of the goodness of her
heart, and the amiability of her disposition.
Thus, dear mother, have I given you some insight into Egyptian
home-life, and introduced you into the inmost private room of one of
their houses. I will close my description by saying, that the ceiling
of the reception-room was richly and tastefully adorned with the
pencil; that gracefully shaped chairs, covered with needle-work;
sofas, inlaid tables, couches with crimson and gold embroidery, and
elegant vases of flowers, were charmingly disposed about it; and that
a lute and two sistra were placed near a window, and a harp stood
between two of the columns that inclosed a pictured panel representing
the finding of Osiris.
Farewell, dearest mother. You will see that I have now acquitted
myself of the charge of indifference to so interesting a subject as
the mode of life of the ladies of Egypt, and by hastening to describe
it to you in this letter, have evinced my profound filial reverence
for your slightest wish.
Your faithful and affectionate son,
SESOSTRIS.
LETTER XIII.
THE CITY OF APIS.
MY DEAR MOTHER:
I thank you for your long and very welcome letter, written from your
palace, at Sidon, whither you went to celebrate the rites of Adonis.
It assures me of your continued health, which may the gods guard with
jealous care, for not only the stability of your kingdom, but my whole
happiness depends on your life, beloved mother and queen. You also
allude to your visits to the temples of Astarte and of Tammuz, on
Lebanon. What a noble worship was that of our fathers, who, amid its
gigantic cedars, old as the earth itself, there first worshipped the
gods! How majestic must have appeared their simple rites, with no
altar but the mountain rock, no columns but the vast trunks of mighty
trees, no roof but the blue heavens by day, and the starry dome by
night; while at morning and evening went up the smoke of the sacrifice
of bullocks to the gods. These were the first temples of men, not
builded by art, but made by the gods themselves as meet places for
their own worship. I question, dear mother, if the subsequent descent
of religion from its solemn shrines, in the dark forests of Libanus,
into the valleys and cities, to be enshrined in temples of marble,
however beautiful, has elevated it. Though the Phœnicians built the
first temples on the peninsula of Tyre, before any others existed,
save in groves; yet in Egypt (which claims also this honor), the
"houses of the gods," in their vast and pyramidal aspects, their
pillars like palm-trees, their columns like cedars, approach more
nearly to the dignity, sublimity, and majesty of the primeval forests
and eternal mountains where religion first offered prayer to heaven.
Your visit to the temple of Tammuz, at Sareptha, recalls a legend
which, singularly enough, I first heard in Egypt, of the origin of the
rites to that deity.
The books of the priests here, relating to Phœnician, Sabæan,
Persian, and Chaldean ceremonies (for the learning of the Egyptians
seems to embrace a knowledge of books of all countries), relate
that Tammuz was a "certain idolatrous prophet of the Sabæan
Fire-worshippers, who called upon King Ossynœces, our remote
ancestor, and commanded him to worship the Seven Planets and the
Twelve Signs of the constellations. The king, in reply, ordered him to
be put to death. On the same night on which he was slain," continues
the book from which I write, "a great gathering of all the images of
the gods of the whole earth was held at the palace, where the huge
golden image of the sun was suspended; whereupon this image of the sun
related what had happened to his prophet, weeping and mourning as he
spoke to them. Then all the lesser gods present likewise commenced
weeping and mourning, which they continued until daylight, when they
all departed through the air, returning to their respective temples in
the most distant regions of the earth." Such, dear mother, is the
tradition here of the origin of the weeping for Tammuz, the observance
of which now forms so important a feature in our Phœnician worship,
although introduced, as it was, from the Sabæans themselves.
But the more I have conversed with the wise and virtuous Prince
Remeses, the more I feel the gross nature of our mythology, O mother,
and that images and myths, such as form the ground and expression of
our national worship, and that rest wholly in the material figure
itself, are unworthy the reverence of an intelligent mind. It is true,
we can look at them, and honor that which they represent,--as I daily
look at your picture, which I wear over my heart, and kissing it from
love for thee, do not worship and adore the ivory, and the colors that
mark upon its surface a sweet reflection of your beloved and beautiful
countenance. Oh, no! It is you far away I think of, kiss, love, and in
a manner adore. Yet an Egyptian of the lowest order, seeing me almost
worshipping your picture, would believe I was adoring an effigy of my
tutelar goddess. And he would be right, so far as my heart and
thought, and you are concerned, my mother. In this representative way,
I am now sure that Remeses regards all images, looking through and
beyond them up to the Supreme Infinite. I also have imbibed his lofty
spirit of worship, and have come to adore the statues as I worship
your picture. But _where_, O mother, is the Infinite? When I think of
you, I can send my soul towards you, on wings that bear me to your
feet, either in your private chamber at needle-work, or with your
royal scribe as you are dictating laws for the realm, or upon your
throne giving judgment. In memory and imagination, I can instantly
send my thoughts out to you, and behold you as you are. But the
Infinite, whom Remeses calls GOD, in contradistinction to lesser gods,
where does He hide Himself? Why, if He _is_, does He not reveal
Himself? Why does He suffer us to grope after Him, and not find Him?
If He be good, and loving, and gracious in His nature, He will desire
to make known to His creatures these attributes. But how silent--how
impenetrable the mystery that environs Him in the habitation of His
throne! Will He forever remain wrapped up in the dark clouds of space?
Will He never reveal Himself in His moral nature to man? Will He never
of Himself proclaim to the creation His unity--that there is no God
but One, and besides Him there is none else? How can He demand
obedience and virtue of men when they know not His laws? Yet,
consciousness within, visible nature, reason, all demonstrate that
there is but one Supreme God, a single First Cause, how numerous
soever the inferior deities He may have created to aid in the
government of His vast universe; and that to Him an intellectual and
spiritual worship should be paid. This is the theory of Remeses, who
seems to be infinitely above his people and country in piety and
wisdom. Sometimes I fancy that he draws inspiration from this Infinite
God whom he worships in his heart, and recognizes through his
intellect; for his utterances on these themes are often like the words
of a god, so wonderful are the mysteries treated of by him, so
elevating to the heart and mind.
But I will repeat part of a conversation we had together, after he had
offered in the temple of Apis his sacrifice for the restoration of the
queen's health. He said, as we walked away together, along a beautiful
and sacred avenue of acacia and delicate, fringe-like ittel or
tamarisk trees, alternating with the pomegranate and mimosa:
"Sesostris, doubtless, after all my conversations with you, I seemed
an idolater to-day, quite as material and gross, in the offerings and
prayers I made, as the galley-rower we saw offering a coarse garland
of papyrus-leaves and poppies to the god."
"No, my noble prince," I answered; "I saw in you an intellectual
sacrificer, whose bodily eyes indeed beheld the sacred bull, but whose
spirit saw the Great Osiris, who once dwelt in the bull when on earth.
You honored the house where anciently a god abode."
"No, Sesostris, the bull is nothing to me in any sense, but as the
prince of a realm whose laws ordain the worship of Apis in Memphis, of
the ram-headed Ammon at Thebes, or the sacred ox at On, I outwardly
conform to customs which I dare not and cannot change. Or if I would,
what shall I give the people if I take away their gods? My own
religion is spiritual, as I believe yours is becoming; but how shall I
present a spiritual faith to the Egyptians? In what form--what visible
shape, can I offer it to them? for the priests will demand a visible
religion--one tangible and material. The people cannot worship an
intellectual abstraction, as we can, Sesostris, and as the more
intelligent priests pretend they do and can. Yet if, when I come to
the throne, by an imperial edict I remodel the theology of the
priesthood and the worship of the people--remove the golden sun from
the temple in On, slay the sacred bull Apis, and banish the idols from
all the thousand temples of the two Egypts, with _what_ shall I
replace the religion I depose?"
"With an intellectual and spiritual worship of the Supreme Infinite,"
I answered.
"But who will enlighten my own ignorance of Him, Sesostris?" he
inquired sadly. "What do I know of Him save from an awakened
consciousness within my bosom? How can I make others possess that
consciousness which is only intuitive, and so incommunicable? I must
first know _where_ God is, before I can direct the people whither to
look for Him when they pray. I must first cultivate their minds and
imaginations, in order to enable them to embrace a purely mental
religion, and to worship the Infinite independently of figures,
images, and visible mementos or symbols; for, so long as they have
these at all, they will rest their faith in them, and will look upon
them as their gods. But what do I know of the God I would reveal to
them? Absolutely nothing! That there can be but one Supreme God,
reason demonstrates; for if there were two equal gods, they would have
equal power, equal agency in the creation and upholding of all things,
in the government of the world, and in the worship of men! Two equal
gods, who in no case differ one from the other, but are in all things
one and the same, are virtually but one God. Therefore, as neither
two, nor any number of _equal_ gods, can exist without acting as a
unit (for _otherwise_ they cannot act), there can be only one God!"
I at once assented to the conclusiveness of the prince's reasoning.
"God, then, existing as One, all beings in his universe are below Him,
even His creatures the 'gods,' if there be such made by Him. It
becomes, therefore, all men to worship, not these gods, but the God of
gods. That he should be worshipped spiritually is evident, for he must
be a spiritual essence; and as we are certainly composed of spirits
and material bodies, and as our spirits are no less certainly our
superior part, so He who made the spirit of man must be superior to
all bodies or forms of matter; that is, he must be that by reason of
which he is superior, namely, a SPIRIT."
I then said to this learned and great prince, "Thinkest thou, Remeses,
that this Infinite God, whom we believe exists, will ever make a
revelation of Himself, so that He may be worshipped as becomes His
perfections? Do you think the veil of ignorance which hangs between
Him and us will ever be lifted?"
"Without question, my Sesostris," he answered, with animation, the
light of hope kindling in his noble eyes, "the Creator of this world
must be a benevolent, good, and wise Being."
"Of that there can be no doubt," was my reply.
"Benevolence, goodness, and wisdom, then, will seek the happiness and
elevation of man. A knowledge of the true God, whom we are now feeling
and groping after in darkness, with only the faint light of our reason
to illumine its mysterious gloom,--this knowledge would elevate and
render happy the race of men. It would dissipate ignorance, overthrow
idolatry, place man near God, and, consequently, lift him higher in
the scale of the universe. A God of wisdom, benevolence, and justice,
will seek to produce this result. The world, therefore, _will_ have a
revelation from Him, in the fulness of time,--when men are ready to
receive it. It may not be while I live, Sesostris, but the time will
come when the knowledge of the Infinite God will be revealed by
Himself to man, who will then worship Him, and Him alone, with the
pure worship due to His majesty, glory, and dominion."
As Remeses concluded, his face seemed to shine with a supernatural
inspiration, as if he had talked with the Infinite and Spiritual God
of whom he spoke, and had learned from Him the mighty mysteries of His
being. Then there passed a shadow over his face, and he said,
sorrowfully--
"How can I lead the people of Egypt to the true God, when He hath not
taught me any thing of Himself? No, no, Sesostris, Egypt must wait, I
must wait, the world must wait the day of revelation. And that day
will come, or there is _no_ God! For an ever-silent God--a God who
forever hideth Himself from His creatures--is as if there were no God!
But that there is a God the heavens declare in their glory, the ocean
hoarsely murmurs His name, the thunders proclaim His power, the lilies
of the field speak of His goodness, and we ourselves are living
manifestations of His benevolence and love. Let us, therefore, amid
all the splendor of the idolatry which fills the earth, lift up _our_
hearts, O Sesostris, to the One God! and in secret worship Him,
wheresoever our souls can find Him, until He reveals Himself openly to
the inhabitants of the earth."
In relating this conversation, my dear mother, I not only am preparing
you to see my views of our mythology materially changed, but I unfold
to you more of the sublime character of Remeses, and give you some
insight into his deep philosophy and wonderful wisdom.
I will, in connection with this subject, describe to you a religious
scene I witnessed in the Temple of Apis on the occasion of an
excursion made by me in company with Remeses, from the Island of
Rhoda.
I have already spoken of his courtesy in offering to accompany me to
Memphis, at which city he left me, immediately after his oblation and
thanksgiving, and proceeded to attend to some urgent affairs connected
with the proposed movement of the army; with which, since then, he has
taken his departure.
The barge in which I left the palace at Rhoda, was rowed by forty-four
men, swarthy and muscular to a noticeable degree, who belong to a
maritime people, once possessing the Pelusian Delta, but who are now
reduced to a servitude to the crown. They have a sort of chief, called
Fellac, whom they regard partly as a priest, partly as a patriarch.
Under him, by permission of the crown, they are held in discipline.
They have a mysterious worship of their own, and are reputed to deal
in magic, and to sacrifice to Typhon, the principle of evil.
They were attired in scarlet sashes, bound about the waist, and
holding together loose white linen drawers, which terminated at the
knee in a fringe. Their shoulders were naked, but upon their heads
each wore a sort of turban of green cloth, having one end falling over
the ear, and terminating in a silver knob. These were the favorite
body-guard rowers of the prince. Their captain was a young man, with
glittering teeth, and large oval black eyes. He was mild and serene of
aspect, richly attired in a vesture of silver tissue, and had his
black hair perfumed with jasmine oil. His baton of office was a long
stick--not the long, slender, acacia cane which all Egyptian gentlemen
carry, but a staff short and heavy, ornamented with an alligator's
head, which, with that of the pelican, seem to be favorite decorations
of this singular people.
As we were on the water, moving swiftly towards the quay of the city,
amid countless vessels of all nations, a slave-barge passed down from
Upper Egypt, laden with Nubian boys and girls, destined to be sold as
slaves in the market. Borne with velocity along, we soon landed at the
grand terrace-steps of the quay. They were thronged with pilots,
shipmen, those who hold the helm and the oar, mariners, and
stranger-merchants innumerable. A majestic gateway, at the top of the
flight of porphyry stairs, led to an avenue of palm-trees, on each
side of which was a vast open colonnade covered with a wide awning,
and filled with merchants, buyers, captains, and officers of the
customs, dispersed amid bales of goods from all lands of the earth. I
lingered here, for a short time, gazing upon these representatives of
the wealth and commerce of the world. This is the great landing-mart
of Memphis, for the products of the other lands; while Jizeh, lower
down, is the point from whence all that goes out of the country is
shipped. The strange cry of the foreign seamen, as they hoisted heavy
bales, and the wild song of the Egyptian laborers, as they bore away
the goods, the confused voices of the owners of the merchandise, the
variety and strange fashion of their costumes, the numerous languages
which fell upon my ear, produced an effect as novel as it was
interesting.
The riches and beauty of what I saw surprised me, familiar as I am
with the commerce of Tyre. There were merchants from Sheba, bearded
and long-robed men, with gold-dust, spices of all kinds, and precious
stones of price; and others from the markets of Javan, with cassia,
iron, and calamus; there were wines from the vine-country of Helbona,
and honey, oil, and balm from Philistia; merchants of Dedan, with
embroidered linings and rich cloths for chariots, and costly housings
for horses, of lynx and leopard-skins; tall, grave-looking merchants
from our own Damascus, with elegant wares, cutlery, and damascened
sword-blades of wonderful beauty, and which bring great price here;
shrewd-visaged merchants of Tyre, with purple and broidered work and
fine linen; and merchants of Sidon, with emeralds, coral, and agate,
and the valuable calmine-stone out of which, in combination with
copper, brass is molten by the Egyptians.