bowstring. There is nothing left but to defy him, and trust the gods
to aid the just cause. Remeses will be crowned king, ere Mœris can
get my message and return a letter to him. There are but five days
more to the end of the forty. Three days afterwards is the coronation.
That is nine from to-day. It will take twelve or more days for a
message to go and come from the camp of Mœris. Three days! Time
enough to make or mar an empire. Sesostris, this prince of Typhon,
this haughty Mœris, shall yet be confounded!"
Thus speaking, the queen, whose whole powers were aroused by despair
linked with affection, laid her hand in mine, bade me good-night--for
it was now moonlight, so long had we discoursed--and begged me come in
the morning and breakfast with her.
Here, in the quiet of my chamber, dear mother, I have made a record of
this extraordinary interview. The letter I shall preserve unless it be
necessary to destroy it; but I shall not send it to you until the seal
of secrecy is removed.
What can I say? How can I realize that Remeses is a Hebrew? How little
he suspects the truth! Will he hear it? If he does; but it is useless
to speculate upon the consequences. I pray that he may be well crowned
before Mœris can do him any mischief; for, son of Misr, or son of
Abram, he is worthy of the throne of Egypt, and will wield its sceptre
with wisdom and justice, beyond that of any of the proud Pharaohs. The
attachment of the queen is natural. I deeply feel for her. The conduct
of Mœris is also natural. What will be his course? Farewell, dear
mother.
Your affectionate son,
SESOSTRIS.
LETTER XXIV.
PALACE OF REMESES, CITY OF ON.
MY DEAREST MOTHER:
I commence this letter, as I did one written and addressed to you two
days ago, with the probability, that circumstances may yet render the
seal of secrecy, now placed upon it, unnecessary; at least I shall
detain both this one and that, for a time, if not finally destroy
them. But I have a feeling that you will yet read what I write.
If the incidents and scenes recorded, in the preceding letter, were of
an extraordinary kind, you must be prepared to read in this, of events
still more strange, and painfully interesting. It is with an effort
that I calm my pulse, and subdue my emotions sufficiently, to narrate
equably what I desire to make known to you.
The morning after my interview with the queen, I arose early from a
sleepless couch; for the events of the preceding evening, recalled by
an excited mind, kept me awake with reflections of the most anxious
and distressing nature. I mourned for Remeses, my noble, wise, and
great friend and counsellor,--a prince by nature, and by the seal of
all the gods, if not by inheritance from the Pharaohs. Not regarding
the Hebrew race with the disdainful eye of those who have been masters
over them, like the Egyptians, but looking upon them only as an
unfortunate nation, descendants of the three patriarchal princes of
Palestine, I, dear mother, felt no contempt for Remeses on account of
his lineage and blood: To me, he was still as dear and as much
honored. It was not the "prince" I loved from the first, but the
"_man_" and he remains. I tossed my head on my pillow, grieving for
him; as I knew, should the tidings ever come to his ears, and be
confirmed as a truth, that it would break his great heart--crush his
mighty soul to the earth; for, educated as an Egyptian prince, he
entertains towards the Hebrews, the haughty contempt (so far as this
sentiment can repose in such a benevolent bosom), which characterizes
the Egyptian nation. How will he be humbled, overwhelmed, confounded,
dismayed!
Such were my wakeful reflections, when at length the morning dawned;
and I arose, bathed, and prepared to obey the command of the queen to
breakfast with her. Believing that she must have passed a sorrowful
night, and would not awake early, I sat down to read in a roll of
papyrus which lay upon my table, among other books that belonged to
Remeses; for I was occupying his own suite of rooms during his
absence, amid the sacred mysteries of his kingly initiation. It proved
to be written in the Theban running character, which I am not familiar
with, and laying it down, I took up a leaf of new papyrus, on which I
recognized the bold and elegant script of Remeses. As he had given me
free access to all upon the table, I examined the subject, and finding
that it was a sacred poem, I read therein a few sentences, when I
perceived that it was the history of a remarkable era in the life of
the venerable Lord of Uz, to whom I have alluded. This aged and
interesting Syrian has already taken his departure, but previously
made known to Remeses, as he told me, all the events connected with an
extraordinary period of his middle life.
I read, therefore, with interest what Remeses had commenced: for it
was only a beginning. After giving the name of the Lord of Uz, and
that of the land in which he dwelt, he spoke of his uprightness, his
holiness, his riches, and his pious care over his children--who were
seven sons and three daughters; and also of their happiness,
festivities, and prosperity; and how, by the permission of the One
God, Typhon, or the Spirit of Evil, tempted him.
Thus far had my friend got in the history, and I was about to replace
the scroll, when the door opened, and lo! Prince Remeses himself stood
before me! I started with an exclamation of joyful astonishment; but
seeing his visage haggard and pallid with woe, I was alarmed. I
approached him to embrace him, as he stood just within the door,
regarding me with looks of doubt and solicitude.
"Wilt thou, O Prince of Tyre, embrace a Hebrew?" he surprised me by
asking, in a voice deep and tremulous.
"Then thou knowest it all," I cried, "O my friend!" as I threw myself
into his embrace.
For a few minutes we wept in each other's arms. At length he spoke and
said--
"Yes, Sesostris, I have heard it all! Thou knowest the secret also,
says my moth----nay--I forgot--I should have said--the queen!" Here
his emotion overcame him. He leaned his noble head upon my shoulder
and continued: "Yet she is my mother, prince! She has ever been a
mother to me! I have known no other! I shall love her, while my life
lasts, above all earthly things. Pardon my grief, Sesostris! Nature is
mighty in sorrow, and will have her way! The heart, like our Nile,
will sometimes overflow, if full."
In a few moments he was composed, and said sadly--
"Knowing my history, can you regard me as before?"
"I love thee as ever, O prince--"
He interrupted me--"Call me not 'prince,' call me by my name--that, at
least, is left me! But I am a slave!"
"No--not to me! You are a descendant of kings! Are not Prince Abraham,
Isaac, and the great Prince Jacob your ancestors? I am not an Egyptian
any more than thyself," I answered him.
"True, true! I must not forget that! I thank thee, O prince, for
reminding me of this. A slave in Egypt may be a freeman in Tyre!"
"That is true also," I said. "May I ask, O Remeses, why you have left
the temples and are here; and how you heard this intelligence, which
you bear up under like a god?"
"I am calm now; but, Sesostris, I have passed through a sirocco of the
soul! You shall hear all. Come and sit here."
I placed myself by the table opposite to him. He then began as
follows:
"I need not describe to you, O my friend, the nature of the rites and
ceremonies, nor the character of the mysteries which I have been in
contact with, for five-and-thirty days; let it be enough for your
curiosity to know, that beneath all the splendor of our polytheism is
hidden the mystery, known to the 'sons of the Lord of heaven, of One
God. This truth is guarded by the mystics, as a mystery, not as a
doctrine; and is of no value to them nor to the world: it is as if the
sun were forever shrouded in impenetrable clouds. I have learned it
only darkly; but this is not to my purpose now, my friend: perhaps at
another time we will discourse of these things. I had passed my
decreed days and nights, at all the shrines which the laws for kings
direct when, last night, I was borne across the Nile by a company of
the mystics, who left me at the entrance of the avenue leading to the
sphinx that is before Cheops and Chephres. There twelve other
ecclesiastical mystics took me in charge. We marched together, six on
each side of me, in profound silence; till, on passing the lion facing
the sphinx, their leader cried--
"'Let the king be as a lion in strength and majesty!'
"The rest answered with one voice--
"'And may his enemies be as lambs beneath his paws!'
"At the small temple, between the feet of the sphinx, three priests
stood, one of whom sprinkled my head with sacred water; the second,
with his little finger that had been dipped in the blood of a cock
which he had sacrificed, touched my forehead; and the third waved
incense before me;--while from within came a low, plaintive chant of
voices and instruments, invoking the gods in a hymn on my behalf. The
whole scene was solemn and impressive.
"I was then conducted to the pylon of the great temple before the
pyramids. As I passed beneath the gate, the twelve priests left me;
and twenty-four others, dressed in white robes and bearing torches,
took me in charge, and conducted me at a slow march across the great
quadrangle, leading me to a dark portal which descended, as I was
told, to the base of the pyramid, down to the 'hall of all the
mysteries of the earth.'"
"Is not this the temple of the magicians?" I asked, gratified to see,
that Remeses could for a moment so far forget his great sorrow, as to
enter into these details, for my gratification.
"Yes, the place where the sorcerers and soothsayers hold their mystic
and fearful rites. For ages, this subterranean temple, under the earth
between the two pyramids, but no part of the pyramidal structure
itself, has been their place of solemn assembly. Into this region I
descended, led by only two men, who received me at the head of the
stairs of stone.
"But I may not describe, more particularly, the progress of my
mysterious journey through subterranean passages, which I had no
conception existed beneath the space between the two pyramids;
although tradition has it, that the whole territory underneath both is
a labyrinthine catacomb, which assertion I have now no reason to
doubt. After traversing vast gloomy corridors of pillars hewn from the
solid rock, and a succession of chambers dedicated to mysteries, I was
ushered, by the sound of awful music, from an unseen source, into a
great central temple, so large that the torches borne by my guides,
could not penetrate its outer blackness. In the centre of this solemn
hall stood an altar of black marble. We approached it, when suddenly
from it soared aloft a bright flame which illumined the temple, to its
remotest obscurities, with a light like the moon when it is full.
revealing in the height above, a firmament with its thousand stars
reflecting the light. I had already, my Sesostris, passed through such
varied and surprising scenes, in the progress of my initiation, that I
was not surprised at this, for the arts of the priestly magicians seem
to embrace a knowledge of all the secret alchemy of nature; and they
possess wisdom and skill to control her wonderful powers. While this
brilliant flame burned from a brazen vase which stood upon the altar,
a procession of figures entered by a distant door, and slowly made the
circuit of the massive corridor. I perceived at once that they were
attired symbolically, representing the powers of nature, and were
preceded by five stately and imposing forms standing for fire, water,
earth, air, and the Nile; symbols of which were worn upon their heads,
and carried in their hands. Behind these came seven persons, each
crowned with a star, the whole representing the seven stars. Then
advanced Orion, belted and armed; Arcturus, Aldebaran, Procyon, Rigel,
and Antares, each with a blazing coronet above his brow, and carrying
the symbols and wearing the dress of the god. These, with an interval
of space between, were followed by the twelve constellations of the
zodiac; each zodiac consisting of twelve bands of men, subdivided into
twenty-four smaller companies, and so moving, each in a place assigned
him, as to show the position of every star of the constellation, which
he was appointed to aid in illustrating. Each individual carried above
his head a starry light, inclosed in a crystal cup.
"This imposing and magnificent representation and illustration of the
march of Time through the heavens, with all the movements of the
heavenly orbs, presented a spectacle of splendor unsurpassed by any
human display. Solemn as the march of the stars themselves, this
procession of constellations moved once around the grand circuit of
the temple, and then the five leaders advanced towards the altar, by
which I stood alone, deserted by those who had led me thither. Every
one of these symbolic persons in succession bent the knee before me,
in token that the powers of the earth, air, fire, and water, with the
great Nile itself, were submissive to my will. Ah, Sesostris,"
interspoke Remeses here, "how little did they suspect, when paying me
this customary homage, that I was a mere Hebrew slave, who could make
use of the air, of fire, of water, of the earth, or of the Nile, only
by the permission of my Egyptian masters!
"Other striking ceremonies passed thereafter, and by and by I was left
alone beside the altar, the flame of which it was my duty to feed with
naphtha until morning, this being the first vigil of the last five
nights. I was not, however, long left alone. Seven magicians, in their
gorgeous apparel, came from a door that seemed to be an outlet from
beneath the second pyramid, and approached me, chanting a war-song.
Each bore a piece of royal armor,--one a helmet, one a cuirass, one a
spear, another a shield. As they passed me they presented, and I
received from each, a piece of the armor, and invested myself
therewith. I was told by the leader to be strong and fight valiantly,
for I should be assailed by powers of evil. They then left me, and
again I was alone, yet on my guard. Feeding the flame till it burned
high, I sought to penetrate the gloom, at least expecting to behold a
lion let into the temple for me to combat with, that I might prove my
right to the sword of the Pharaohs which I held in my grasp.
"I know not, Sesostris, who or what would have been my assailant, if
due time had elapsed for his coming; but I suddenly heard a step
behind me, and behold, instead of a fierce beast or a warrior, a
single magician, tall and commanding, who bore in one hand merely the
sacred _crux_ or emblem of life, and in the other his black wand
tipped with an emerald. I challenged him, as I was directed to do by
my instructors, and demanded whether he came for good or evil, with
war or peace in his heart.
"He made no other reply than--
"'Follow me!'
"I obeyed. Ah, how little did I suspect, O Sesostris, that I was about
to encounter what was more fearful than a roaring lion,--more terrible
than an armed host! But you shall hear.
"I crossed the echoing temple-floor to a small portal, which at first
did not reveal its presence, being a slab in the wall, but which, at a
slight pressure of the magician's wand, betrayed an opening through
which we passed,--I, with my sword held in my hand to defend or
attack. The stone door closed behind me, and I was conducted through a
beautiful chamber, adorned with marbles, and sparkling with precious
stones, that seemed to shine by a light of their own, as I could
discover no source of reflection; though doubtless, however, that was,
in some part, concealed by the art of these ingenious and wise
magicians.
"There was an inner chamber, or adytum, entirely encased with panels
of black marble, polished like a mirror. I was conducted into this
room, and commanded, by a voice unknown, and from an invisible person,
to seat myself upon a stone chair in the centre of the floor. I
obeyed; for princes, during their initiation, are taught constantly,
that 'he who would know how to command must learn how to obey;' and
thus, in these rites, submission and obedience are inculcated, as
necessary elements in the character of one who wishes to exact them
from others. Indeed, Sesostris, the whole routine of the ceremonies,
though sometimes vain and frivolous, sometimes extravagant, is
calculated to impress upon the heart of a prince the wisest lessons in
self government, and the profoundest knowledge of himself. Every
temptation is offered him, that he may resist it. Every condition of
life, from hunger and thirst upward, he passes through in his
progress. Three nights and days I fasted in the temple of Pthah, that
I might pity the hungry: two days I suffered thirst, that I might feel
for the thirsty: six hours I toiled with burdens, that I might know
how my poorer subjects toiled: one hour I was a servant, another a
prisoner, a third cup-bearer to the high-priest. Every rite is a link
in the practical education of a prince; and he who comes to the
throne, has reached it through every grade of society, and through
every condition of humanity; and thus the king centres and unites
within his own person, from having been engaged in each, the pursuits
of all his people, and knows by experience their joys and sorrows,
toils and pleasures; and can say to every class of Egyptians, 'there
is nothing which appertains to you that is foreign to me. The people
of Egypt are represented in their king.'
"When I had taken my seat in this chamber of black marble, which was
dimly lighted by a misty radiance before me, I saw that I was alone.
Now, O Sesostris, came my trial!--such an one as no prince of the
house of Pharaoh had ever passed through. It is said that Osirtasen,
when he was brought to this chamber, had it revealed to him that he
was the son of the god Hercules but to me was revealed, alas! thou
knowest what, and shalt hear how!
"'Remeses-Moses,' said a deep and stern voice from what, in the
obscurity, seemed to me a shrine, 'thou art wise, and virtuous, and
strong of heart! Gird thyself with courage, and hear what is to be
revealed to thee! Know that thou art not the son of Amense, queen of
Egypt, as thou believest. She was never a mother!'
"'It is false, thou wicked magician!' I cried, starting to my feet.
'Art thou, then, the foe I am to meet and destroy?'
"'Silence, young man!' cried another voice, with a tone of power.
'What the mysterious oracle utters is true. Thou art not the son of
Pharaoh's daughter! Thou hast no title to the throne of Egypt!'
"'Who am I, then?' I cried, impressed and awed, yet full of anger at
the words.
"'Thou art the son of a Hebrew mother and a Hebrew father!' said the
voice.
"I advanced sword in hand to meet these invisible persons, believing
that the insult was but another of the series of tests, and this one
in particular, of my patience and temper; for, O Sesostris," added
Remeses to me, bitterly, "what greater insult could have been put upon
a prince of Egypt than this! When I came forward, I saw the wall, as
it were, open before me; and I beheld the Nile in bright sunshine; the
Island of Rhoda, with its palaces and gardens; the distant towers and
obelisks of On, and all the scenery adjacent, but seemingly so near,
that I could lay my hand upon it all.
"At this surprising spectacle manifesting itself in the dark chambers
of the pyramids, I stood amazed and arrested! I felt that it was
supernatural, or produced by magic. As I gazed, perplexed, a third
voice said--
"'Behold! Thou seest that the obelisk of Amense is wanting; that the
palace of the governor of the Nile has only its foundations laid. The
scene is, as Egypt was thirty-five years ago.'
"I looked again, and recognized the truth. I saw it was not the Nile
of to-day. I saw, also, that its stream was at a height, different
from its present mark upon the nilometer. I was amazed, and awaited
with intense expectation. Suddenly I saw a party of spearmen enter a
hut, which I perceived was one of a group that was occupied by Hebrew
workmen, who were engaged upon the governor's palace. Presently they
came forth, two of them, each bearing an infant aloft upon a spear,
which was thrust through it, and followed by shrieking women. I could
hear and see all as if I were on the spot. I impulsively advanced to
slay the men, for all seemed so real, but as I did so, saw at my feet
a yawning gulf. Then the men cast the infants into the Nile. I saw
three others go into another hut, whence they were driven forth by two
desperate Hebrews, who, armed with straw-cutters, slew two of them;
but the other fled, and returning with his comrades, they set fire to
the hut of rushes, and consumed the inmates within it. I now perceived
that it seemed drawing towards the close of day. From a hut, near the
water, a man and a young girl, both Hebrews, stole forth, and
collecting bulrushes in their arms, returned to the hut. It was now
night. I had seen the shades of evening fall over the scenery, and the
stars come out. Yet, by a power incomprehensible to me, I could look
into the closed and barred hut, and see that, by the light of a rush
dipped in bitumen, three of its inmates were making, in secret haste,
a large basket. I saw them finish it, and then beheld the man smear it
within and without with pitch. From their conversation, I learned that
they wished it to resist water, and that they were to commit some
precious freight to its frail protection; what, I could not learn; as,
when they spoke of it, their colloquy was in low hushed tones, and
with looks of fear, especially the two females, who wept very much.
One of them, I learned by their words, was the daughter of the man by
a former wife. There was another child, a boy apparently of the age of
three years, lying in sweet sleep upon a bed of rushes, made up in a
corner of the hut. When the little ark was done, I watched with the
deepest interest their further proceedings. At length the three went
out together, and to my surprise I saw, by the setting moon, that it
was near dawn. They bent their steps, swiftly and silently, towards
the ancient temple of Isis, which was then, as now, in ruins, and
deserted by every Egyptian, for the sacrilege done therein under the
reign of Bnon, the Phœnician Pharaoh. I could see them steal along
the tangled avenue beneath the palm-trees, and through that of the
broken sphinxes, until they came to the pyramidion of the obelisk of
Sesostris I. Here a deep, ancient excavation, covered with vines and
rushes, showed a flight of broken steps. After carefully looking all
about, to see if they were observed, they descended. In a few minutes
the three came forth, the elderly woman holding in her arms an infant,
upon the beautiful face of which the waning moon shone for a moment,
but instantly she hid it with her mantle, and hurried to the
river-side. Here the man put the basket upon the shore, and extended
his arms for the child. The poor mother, as I now perceived she must
be, burst into tears, and clasped it closer and closer to her heart.
"'Nay, Jochebeda,' he said, with gentle firmness, 'thy cries will
attract notice. The child cannot live if we delay. Hast thou not had
warning from the kind Egyptian woman, who was with thee when it was
born, and who aided thee in concealing it, that its hiding-place is
known, and that in the morning soldiers will be there? Bear up, heart!
If we commit it to the Nile, the God of our fathers, in whom we trust,
and who will yet return, to redeem us, according to His promise to our
father Abraham, may guide the frail baris to some secure haven, and
provide for the child a pitiful heart to save it.'