“He will gain by that; for he will not pay his debts to them.”
“In my opinion,” said Herhor, after some thought, “now is the moment in which we can regain the favor of this youthful pharaoh. He is hasty in anger, but he knows how to be grateful. I have experienced that—”
“Every word is an error,” interrupted the stubborn Mefres. “First of all, this prince is not the pharaoh yet, for he has not been crowned in a temple. Second, he will never be a real pharaoh, since through contempt he will never be ordained a high priest. And finally, we do not need his favor, while he needs the favor of the gods, whom he insults at every step he makes.”
Mefres, who had been panting from anger, stopped and began anew,—
“He spent a month in the temple of Hator, he listened to the highest wisdom, and immediately afterward betook himself to the Phœnicians. What do I say? He visited the idol house of Astarte and took thence a priestess—an offence against all religions. After that he reviled my piety, in public; conspired with such frivolous minds as his own, and with the aid of Phœnicians stole state secrets. And when he ascended the throne—I speak incorrectly, when he had barely stood on the first step of the throne, he tried to make the priests odious; he disturbed the earth-tillers and the warriors, and renewed vows with his friends the Phœnicians.
“Dost thou, worthy Herhor, forget all this? And if thou remember, dost thou not understand the dangers which threaten us from this milksop? Still he has under his hand the rudder of the ship of state, which he pushes in among rocks and eddies. Who will assure me that this madman, who yesterday summoned to his presence the Phœnicians, but quarrelled withthem to-day, will not do something to-morrow which will expose Egypt to destruction?”
“And therefore, what?” inquired Herhor, looking into his eyes quickly.
“This—we have no reason to show him gratitude, which would really be weakness. But since he wants money at once, we will not give him money.”
“But—but then what?” inquired Herhor.
“Afterward he will govern the state and increase the army without money,” answered the irritated Mefres.
“But if his famished army wants to rob temples?”
“Ha! ha! ha!” burst out Mefres, but suddenly he grew serious and bowing said in an ironical tone,—
“That pertains to thee, worthiness. A man who for so many years has directed the state should prepare for such dangers.”
“Let us suppose,” said Herhor, slowly, “that I can find means against dangers to the state. But canst thou, worthiness, who art the senior high priest, provide against insults to the priestly order and the temples?”
They looked each other in the eyes for a moment.
“Dost thou inquire whether I can? Whether I can? I need make no effort. The gods have placed in my hands a thunderbolt which will destroy every author of sacrilege.”
“Pst!” whispered Herhor. “Let that take place.”
“With the consent or without the consent of the supreme council of priests,” added Mefres. “When a boat is overturned there is no time to discuss with the oarsmen.”
They parted in a gloomy state of mind. That same day in the evening the Pharaoh summoned them.
They came at the appointed time, each high priest separately. Each made a profound obeisance to his lord, and each stood in a separate corner without looking at the other.
“Have they quarrelled?” thought Rameses? “No harm in that!”
A moment later the holy Sem and the prophet Pentuer came in. Then Rameses sat on an elevation, indicated to the priests stools in front of him, and said,—
“Holy fathers! I have not summoned you thus far to counsel because all my orders related to military questions exclusively.”
“Thou hadst the right, holiness, not to call us,” put in Herhor.
“I have done what I was able in such a short time to strengthen the defensive power of the state. I have formed two new schools for officers and I have restored five regiments.”
“Thou hadst the right, lord,” answered Mefres.
“Of other military reforms I do not speak, since those questions do not concern you, holy people.”
“Thou art right,” said Mefres and Herhor together.
“But there is another question,” continued the pharaoh, satisfied with the assent of the two dignitaries from whom he had expected opposition. “The funeral day of my divine father is approaching, but the treasury does not possess sufficient funds.”
Mefres rose from his stool.
“Osiris-Mer-Amen-Rameses,” said he, “was a just lord who for many years assured peace to his people, and praise to the gods. Permit, holiness, that the funeral of this pious pharaoh be performed at the expense of the temples.”
Rameses XIII. was astonished and was moved by the homage rendered his father. He was silent for a while as if unable to find an answer; at last he replied,—
“I am very thankful to you for the honor shown my father, who is equal to the gods. I permit the funeral, and once more I thank you greatly.”
He stopped, rested his head on his hand and meditated, as if struggling with himself. Suddenly he raised his head; his face was animated, his eyes were gleaming.
“I am moved,” said he, “by this proof of your good-will. If the memory of my father is so dear to you ye cannot have ill-will toward me.”
“Thou hast no doubt, I think, holiness, touching our good-will?” said the high priest Sem.
“Thou art speaking truth,” continued the pharaoh. “I suspected you unjustly of prejudice toward me. I wish to correct my suspicion; I will be sincere with you.”
“May the gods bless thee, holiness,” said Herhor.
“I will be sincere. My divine father, because of age, illness, and perhaps priestly occupations, could not devote so much time to affairs of state as I can. I am young, in health, free, hence I wish to rule, myself, and will rule. As a leader must direct his army on his own responsibility and according to his own plan, so shall I direct the state. This is my express will and I shall not draw back from it.
“But I understand that even were I the most experienced I could not succeed without faithful servants and wise counsellors. Therefore I shall ask your advice sometimes on various questions.”
“To this end we constitute the supreme council near thy throne,” remarked Herhor.
“I shall use,” continued Rameses with animation, “your services immediately, even from this moment.”
“Command, lord,” said Herhor.
“I wish to improve the condition of the Egyptian people. But since in such affairs over-hasty action may only bring injury, I give them at first a small thing: After six days’ labor the seventh for rest.”
“Such was it during the reigns of the eighteenth dynasty. That law is as old as Egypt itself,” said Pentuer.
“Rest every seventh day will give fifty days to each laborer during a year, or it will take from his lord fifty drachma. On a million of laborers the state will lose ten thousand talents yearly,” said Mefres. “We have calculated that in the temples.”
“That is true,” answered Pentuer, quickly, “but the losses will be during the first year only, for when the people increase in strength by rest they will recover all and more in the following years.”
“That is true,” answered Mefres, “but in every case it is necessary to have ten thousand talents for that first year. I think even that twenty thousand talents would not be amiss.”
“Thou art right, worthy Mefres,” said the pharaoh. “In view of the changes which I wish to introduce in my state twenty thousand, and even, thirty thousand talents would notbe too great a sum; therefore,” added he quickly, “I shall ask assistance of you holy men.”
“We are ready to support every measure of thy holiness with prayers and processions,” said Mefres.
“Very good; pray and encourage the people to pray. But besides that give the state thirty thousand talents,” answered the pharaoh.
The high priests were silent; Rameses waited a while, then turned to Herhor,—
“Thou art silent, worthiness.”
“Thou hast said thyself, O sovereign, that the treasury has no means, even to bury Osiris-Mer-Amen-Rameses. I cannot even divine, therefore, where we could get thirty thousand talents.”
“But the treasury of the labyrinth.”
“That is a treasury of the gods, to be touched only at a moment when the state is in supreme need,” replied Mefres.
Rameses XIII. boiled up with anger.
“If earth-tillers do not need this sum, I do,” said he, striking his fist on the arm of the chair.
“Holiness,” replied Mefres, “thou canst in the course of a year receive more than thirty thousand talents, and Egypt twice as much.”
“How?”
“Very simply. Give command, sovereign, to expel the Phœnicians from Egypt.”
It seemed that the pharaoh would rush at the insolent high priest; he grew pale, his lips quivered, his eyes stared. But he restrained himself in one moment, and said, in a tone of wonderful calmness,—
“Well, sufficient. If ye are able to give only such counsels I shall get on without them. The Phœnicians have our signatures that we will pay them our debts faithfully. Has this occurred to thee, Mefres?”
“Pardon, holiness, but at that moment other thoughts occupied me. Thy ancestors, not on papyrus, but on bronze and stone carved out the statement that the gifts made by them to the gods and the temples belonged and would belong forever to the gods and the temples.”
“And to you priests,” added the pharaoh, sneeringly.
“As much to us,” replied the haughty high priest, “as the state belongs to thee, sovereign. We guard and increase those treasures; but we have not the right to spend them.”
The pharaoh left the hall panting with anger, and went to his own cabinet. His position was presented to him with terrible distinctness. Of the hatred of the priests toward him he had no doubt any longer. Those were the same dignitaries who, giddy with pride, had the past year refused him the corps of Memphis, and who had made him viceroy only when it seemed to them that he had performed an act of penitence by withdrawing from the palace—the very same who watched every movement of his, made reports regarding him, but did not tell him, the heir to the throne, even of the treaty with Assar,—the very same dignitaries who had employed deceit against him in the temple of Hator, and who at the Soda Lakes slaughtered prisoners to whom he had promised freedom.
The pharaoh recalled the obeisances of Herhor, the looks of Mefres, and the tones of voice which both used. Beneath the show of good-will, their pride and their contempt for him appeared each moment. He asks for money, they promise prayers. Nay! they dare to tell him that he is not sole ruler in the land of Egypt.
The young sovereign laughed in spite of himself, for he called to mind the hired herdsmen who told the owner of the flock that he had no right to do what he liked with it. Besides the ridiculous aspect there was in the case a point which was terrible. The treasury contained perhaps a thousand talents which, according to the recent rate of outlay would last from seven to ten days. And then what? How would the officials, the servants, and above all how would the army, exist, not only without pay, but without sustenance?
The high priests knew this position of the pharaoh—if they did not hasten to assist him they wished to ruin him, and to ruin him in the course of a few days, even before the funeral of his father.
Rameses recalled a certain event of his childhood.
He was at a school of the priests when, on the festival of the goddess Mut, after various amusements they introducedthe most famous buffoon in Egypt. This artist represented an unfortunate hero: when he commanded he was not obeyed, his anger was answered with laughter, and when, to punish those who made sport of him, he seized an axe, the axe broke in his hands. At last they let out a lion at him and when the defenceless hero began to flee it turned out that not a lion was chasing him, but a pig in a lion’s skin.
The pupils and the teachers laughed at those adventures till the tears came; but the little prince sat gloomily; he was sorry for the man who was eager for great things but fell covered with ridicule.
That scene and the feelings which he experienced then were revived in the memory of the pharaoh. “They want to make me like that buffoon,” thought he. Despair seized him, for he felt that his power would end when the last talent was issued, and with his power his life also.
But here came a certain revulsion. He halted in the middle of the room and thought,—
“What can happen to me? Nothing save death. I will go to my glorious ancestors, to Rameses the Great— But then, I could not tell them that I died without defending myself. After the misfortunes of this earthly life eternal shame would meet me. How was it to end? He, the conqueror at the Soda Lakes, to yield before a handful of deceivers against whom one Asiatic regiment would not have much trouble? For the reason, then, that Mefres and Herhor wish to rule Egypt and the pharaoh, his troops must suffer hunger, and a million men are not to receive rest from labor? But did not his ancestors rear these temples. Did they not fill them with spoils? And who won the battles? The priests, or the warriors? Who, then, had a right to the treasures,—the priests, or the pharaoh and his army?”
Rameses shrugged his shoulders and summoned Tutmosis. Though it was late at night the favorite came to him straightway.
“Dost thou know,” asked the pharaoh, “that the priests have refused me a loan, though the treasury is empty?”
Tutmosis straightened himself, and asked,—
“Wilt thou command to take them to prison?”
“Wouldst thou?”
“There is not an officer in Egypt who would hesitate to carry out an order from our lord and leader.”
“In that case,” said the pharaoh, deliberately, “there is no need to imprison any one. I have too much power on my side and too much contempt for the priesthood. A man does not put into a box bound with iron the carrion which he meets on the highway; he merely passes around it.”
“But a hyena is confined in a cage,” whispered Tutmosis.
“It is too early yet. I must be gracious to those men, at least till my father is buried or they might commit some indignity on his revered mummy, and destroy his spirit. But go to-morrow to Hiram and tell him to send me that priest of whom we have spoken.”
“That will be done. But I must remind thee, holiness, that to-day people attacked Phœnician houses in Memphis.”
“Oho! That was not needed.”
“It seems to me, too,” continued Tutmosis, “that since thou hast commanded Pentuer to investigate the condition of earth-tillers and laborers the priests are exciting the nomarchs and nobles. They say that it is thy wish to ruin the nobility for the sake of the people.”
“But do the nobles believe that?”
“There are some who believe, but there are others who say directly that it is an intrigue of the priests against the pharaoh.”
“But if I wish indeed to improve the condition of earth-tillers?”
“Thou wilt do, lord, that which pleases thee,” answered Tutmosis.
“Oh, I understand my position!” exclaimed Rameses. “Be at rest, and tell the nobility that not only will they lose nothing in carrying out my orders, but their own condition will be improved notably. The wealth of Egypt must be taken at last from the hands of the unworthy and given to faithful servants.”
The pharaoh dismissed his adjutant and went to rest satisfied. His temporary despair seemed to him laughable.
About noon of the following day it was announced that a deputation of Phœnician merchants had come to his holiness.
“Do they wish to complain of the attack on their houses?” inquired the pharaoh.
“No,” replied the adjutant, “they wish to offer thee homage.”
In fact a number of Phœnicians, under the leadership of Rabsun, declared that, according to ancient custom they had made bold to lay an insignificant gift at the feet of the sovereign who gave life to them and security to their property.
Then they placed on the tables gold plates, chains, and goblets filled with jewels.
After that, Rabsun placed on the steps of the throne a tray with the papyrus by which the Phœnicians bound themselves to give all things necessary for the army to the amount of two thousand talents.
That was a considerable gift, since all that the Phœnicians had brought represented a sum of three thousand talents.
The pharaoh answered the faithful merchants very graciously, and promised protection. He dismissed them in happiness.
Rameses XIII. drew a breath of relief: bankruptcy of the treasury, and therefore the need of using violent measures against the priests was deferred ten days longer.
In the evening, again, under the guardianship of Tutmosis, the worthy Hiram stood in the cabinet of his holiness. This time he did not complain of weariness, but he fell on his face and cursed the stupid Dagon.
“I have learned,” said he, “that that mangy fellow dared to remind thee, holiness, of our talk concerning the canal to the Red Sea. May he perish! May the leprosy devour him! May his children become swineherds and his grandchildren Hebrews. But do thou, sovereign, only command, and whatever wealth Phœnicia has she will lay at thy feet without bond or treaty. Are we Assyrians—or priests,” added he in a whisper, “that one word of such a mighty potentate should not suffice us?”
“But if I should require a really large sum?”
“Such as—?”
“For example, thirty thousand talents.”
“Immediately?”
“No, in the course of a year.”
“Thou wilt have it, holiness,” answered Hiram, without hesitation.
The pharaoh was astonished at this liberality.
“But must I give you a pledge?”
“Only for form’s sake,” replied the Phœnician. “Give us, holiness, the quarries in pledge, so as not to rouse the suspicions of priests. Were it not for them, thou wouldst have all Phœnicia without pledge or paper.”
“But the canal? Am I to sign a treaty at once?” asked Rameses.
“Not at all. Thou wilt make, O holiness, a treaty when it pleases thee.”
It seemed to the pharaoh that he was uplifted in the air. At that moment it seemed to him that he had tasted for the first time the sweetness of regal power, and tasted it, thanks to the Phœnicians.
“Hiram,” said he, controlling himself no longer, “I give thee permission this day to dig a canal which shall join the Red Sea with the Mediterranean.”
The old man fell at the feet of the pharaoh.
“Thou art the greatest sovereign ever seen on earth,” said he.
“For the time thou art not permitted to speak of this to any one, because the enemies of my glory are watching. But that thou shouldst feel certain, I give thee this from my own finger.”
He took from his finger a ring adorned with a magic stone on which was engraved the name Horus, and put it on the finger of the Phœnician.
“The property of all Phœnicia is at thy command,” said Hiram, moved profoundly. “Thou wilt accomplish a work which will herald thy name till the sun quenches.”
The pharaoh pressed Hiram’s iron-gray head and commanded him to sit down before him.
“And so we are allies,” said he, after a while, “and I hope that from this will rise prosperity for Egypt and Phœnicia.”
“For the whole world,” added Hiram.
“But tell me, prince, whence hast thou such confidence in me?”
“I know thy noble character, holiness. If thou, sovereign, wert not a pharaoh, in a few years thou wouldst become the most renowned of Phœnician merchants and the chief of our council.”
“Let us suppose that,” replied Rameses. “But I, to keep my promises, must first bend the priests. That is a struggle the issue of which is uncertain.”
Hiram smiled.
“Lord,” said he, “if we were so insignificant as to abandon thee to-day when thy treasury is empty, and thy enemies are insolent, thou wouldst lose the battle. For a man deprived of means loses daring easily; from an impoverished king his armies turn away as well as his dignitaries and his subjects. But if thou, sovereign, have our gold and our agents, with thy army and thy generals thou wilt have as much trouble with the priests as an elephant with a scorpion. Thou wilt barely set thy foot on them and they will be crushed beneath it. But this is not my affair. The high priest Samentu is waiting in the garden, he whom thou hast summoned. I withdraw; it is his hour. But I refuse not the money. Command me to the extent of thirty thousand talents.”
He fell on his face again and then withdrew, promising that Samentu would present himself straightway.
In half an hour the high priest appeared. As became one who honored Set he did not shave his red beard and shaggy hair; he had a severe face, but eyes full of intellect. He bowed without excessive humility and met the soul-piercing gaze of the pharaoh with calmness.
“Be seated,” said the pharaoh.
The high priest sat on the floor.
“Thou pleasest me,” said Rameses. “Thou hast the bearing and the face of a Hyksos, and they are the most valiant troops in my army.” Then he inquired, on a sudden—
“Art thou the man who informed Hiram of the treaty of our priests with Assyria?”
“I am,” replied Samentu, without dropping his eyes.
“Didst thou share in that iniquity?”
“I did not. I overheard the conditions. In the temples, as in thy palaces, holiness, the walls are honeycombed withpassages through which it is possible to hear on the summit of pylons what is said in the cellars.”
“And from subterranean places it is possible to converse with persons in upper chambers?” asked the pharaoh.
“And imitate voices from the gods,” added the priest seriously.
The pharaoh smiled. Then the supposition was correct that it was not the spirit of his father, but priests who spoke to him and to his mother.
“Why didst thou confide to Phœnicians a great secret of the state?” inquired Rameses.
“Because I wished to prevent a shameful treaty which was as harmful to us as to Phœnicia.”
“Thou mightst have forewarned some Egyptian dignitary.”
“Whom?” inquired the priest. “Men who were powerless before Herhor; or who would complain of me to him and expose me to death and tortures? I confided it to Hiram, for he meets dignitaries of ours whom I never see.”
“But why did Herhor and Mefres conclude such a treaty?” inquired Rameses.
“In my opinion, they are men of weak heads whom Beroes, the great Chaldean priest, frightened. He told them that for ten years evil fates would threaten Egypt; that if we began war with Assyria during that time we should be defeated.”
“And did they believe him?”
“Beroes, it seems, showed them wonders. He was even borne above the earth. Beyond doubt that is wonderful; but I cannot understand why we should lose Phœnicia because Beroes can fly above the earth.”
“Then thou dost not believe in miracles?”
“It depends upon what they are,” replied Samentu. “It seems that Beroes does perform unusual things; but our priests merely deceive people as well as rulers.”
“Thou hast a hatred for the priestly order?”
“Well, they cannot endure me, and what is worse they insult me under pretext that I am a minister of Set. Meanwhile, what do I care for gods whose hands and feet must be moved by strings. Or priests who pretend to be abstemious and devout, but have ten wives, spend some tens of talentsyearly, steal the offerings placed on altars, and are little wiser than pupils of a higher school.”
“But dost thou take presents from Phœnicians?”
“From whom should I take them? The Phœnicians are the only men who really honor Set; they fear lest he might wreck their ships. With us the poor alone revere him. Were I restricted to their offerings I should die of hunger, and my children also.”
The pharaoh thought that this priest was not a bad man, though he had betrayed a temple secret. And moreover, he seemed wise and he spoke truth.
“Hast thou heard anything,” inquired Rameses again, “of a canal which is to join the Red Sea with the Mediterranean?”
“I know of that affair. Our engineers have been developing the project for some centuries.”
“But why has it not been carried out ere this time?”
“Because the priests are afraid that strangers would come who might undermine our religion, and with it the priestly income.”
“Is there truth in what Hiram says of people living in the distant East?”
“Perfect truth. We know of them for a long time, and no ten years pass that we do not receive from those countries products, precious stones, or pictures.”
The pharaoh meditated again, and asked suddenly,—
“Wilt thou serve me faithfully if I make thee my counsellor?”
“I will serve thee, holiness, with life and death. But were I to become thy counsellor, the priests, who hate me, would be indignant.”
“Dost thou not think it possible to overthrow them?”
“It is possible and very easy.”
“What would thy plan be, if I had to free myself of them?”
“To obtain possession of the treasures in the labyrinth.”
“Couldst thou go to it?”
“I have many indications; the rest I can discover, for I know where to search for them.”
“What further?” inquired the pharaoh.
Statue of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen
“It would be necessary to bring an action against Herhor and Mefres for treason, and for secret relations with Assyria.”
“But the proofs?”
“We should find them with the help of the Phœnicians.”
“Would no danger come of that to Egypt?”
“None. Four hundred years ago the pharaoh, Amenhôtep IV. overturned the power of priests by establishing the faith in one god, Re Harmachis. It is understandable that in those conditions he took treasures from the temples of the other gods. And at that time neither the people, nor the army, nor the nobility took part with the priesthood. What would the case be to-day when the old faith is greatly weakened?”
“Who assisted Amenhôtep?” inquired Rameses.
“A simple priest, Ey.”
“But who, on the death of Amenhôtep, became his heir?” asked Rameses, looking quickly into the eyes of the priest.
Samentu answered, calmly,—
“Events show that Amenhôtep was incompetent, more occupied in honoring Re than in governing Egypt.”
“Indeed, thou art a real sage!” said Rameses.
“At thy service, holiness.”
“I appoint thee my counsellor,” said the pharaoh. “In that case thou mayst visit me in secret, and thou wilt dwell with me.”
“Pardon, lord, but until the members of the supreme council are in prison for negotiating with enemies of Egypt, my presence in the palace would bring more harm than profit. So I will serve thee, holiness, and advise, but in secret.”
“And wilt thou find the way to the treasure in the labyrinth?”
“I hope, lord, that before thou returnest from Thebes, I shall succeed in this matter. But when we transfer the treasure to thy palace, when the court condemns Herhor and Mefres whom thou mayst pardon afterward, with permission, I will appear openly and cease to be the priest of Set, who only frightens people and turns them from me.”
“And dost thou think that everything will go well?”
“I pledge my life on it!” cried the priest. “The people love thee, holiness, so it is easy to influence them againsttraitorous dignitaries. The army obeys thee as no army has obeyed a pharaoh since Rameses the Great. Who will oppose, then? In addition, holiness, thou hast the Phœnicians behind thee, and money, the greatest power on earth.”
When Samentu took farewell, the pharaoh permitted him to kiss his feet, and gave him a heavy gold chain and a bracelet ornamented with sapphires. Not every dignitary received such favor after long years of service. The visit and Samentu’s promises filled the pharaoh’s heart with new hope.
What if he should succeed in getting the treasure of the labyrinth! For a small part of it he might free the nobles from Phœnician debts, improve the lot of the laborers and redeem the mortgaged property of the court.
And with what edifices might the state be enriched!
Hence the treasure of this labyrinth might remove all the pharaoh’s troubles. For what was the result of a great loan from the Phœnicians? It would be necessary to pay a loan some time, and, sooner or later, mortgage the rest of the pharaoh’s property. That was merely to defer ruin, not avoid it.
IN the middle of the month Famenut (January) spring began. All Egypt was green with growing wheat. On black patches of land crowds of men were sowing lupines, beans, and barley. In the air was the odor of orange blossoms. The water had fallen greatly and new bits of land were laid bare day by day.
Preparations for the funeral of Osiris-Mer-Amen-Rameses were ended.
The revered mummy of the pharaoh was inclosed in a white box, the upper part of which repeated perfectly the features of the departed. The pharaoh seemed to see with enamelled eyes, while the godlike face expressed a mild regret, not for the world which the ruler had left, but for the people condemned to the sufferings of temporal existence. On its head the image of the pharaoh had an Egyptian cap with white and sapphire stripes; on its neck, a string of jewels; on its breast,the picture of a man kneeling with crossed hands; on its legs, images of the gods, sacred birds, and eyes, not set into any face, but, as it were, gazing out of infinity.
Thus arrayed, the remains of the pharaoh rested on a costly couch in a small cedar chapel, the walls of which were covered with inscriptions celebrating the life and deeds of the departed sovereign. Above hovered a miraculous falcon with a human head, and near the couch night and day watched a priest clothed as Anubis, the god of burial, with a jackal’s head on his body.
A heavy basalt sarcophagus had been prepared which was to be the outer coffin of the mummy. This sarcophagus had also the form and features of the dead pharaoh. It was covered with inscriptions, and pictures of people praying, of sacred birds and also scarabs.
On the 17th of Famenut, the mummy, together with its chapel and sarcophagus, was taken from the quarter of the dead to the palace and placed in the largest hall there.
This hall was soon filled with priests, who chanted funeral hymns, with attendants and servants of the departed, and above all with his women, who screamed so vehemently that their cries were heard across the river.
“O lord! thou our lord!” cried they, “why art thou leaving us? Thou so kind, so beautiful. Thou art silent now, thou who didst speak to us so willingly. Thou didst incline to our society, but to-day thou art far from us.”
During this time the priests sang,—
Chorus I.“I am Tum, who alone exists.”
Chorus II.“I am Re, in his earliest splendor.”
Chorus I.“I am the god who creates himself.”
Chorus II.“Who gives his own name to himself, and no one among the gods can restrain him.”
Chorus I.“I know the name of the great god who is there.”
Chorus II.“For I am the great bird Benu which tests the existent.”[37]
[37]“Book of the Dead.”
[37]“Book of the Dead.”
After two days of groans and devotions a great car in the form of a boat was drawn to the front of the palace. Theends of this car were adorned with ostrich plumes and rams’ heads, while above a costly baldachin towered an eagle, and there also was the ureus serpent, symbol of the pharaoh’s dominion. On this car was placed the sacred mummy, in spite of the wild resistance of court women. Some of them held to the coffin, others implored the priests not to take their good lord from them, still others scratched their own faces, tore their hair, and even beat the men who carried the remains of the pharaoh.
The outcry was terrible.
At last the car, when it had received the divine body, moved on amid a multitude of people who occupied the immense space from the palace to the river. There were people smeared with mud, torn, covered with mourning rags, people who cried in heaven-piercing voices. At the side of these, according to mourning ritual, were disposed, along the whole road, choruses.
Chorus I.“To the West, to the mansion of Osiris, to the West art thou going, thou who wert the best among men, who didst hate the untrue.”
Chorus II.“Going West! There will not be another who will so love the truth, and who will so hate a lie.”
Chorus of charioteers.“To the West, oxen, ye are drawing the funeral car, to the West! Our lord is going after you.”
Chorus III.“To the West, to the West, to the land of the just! The cities which thou didst love are groaning and weeping behind thee.”
The throng of people.“Go in peace to Abydos! Go in peace to Abydos! Go thou in peace to the Theban West!”
Chorus of female wailers.“O our lord, O our lord, thou art going to the West, the gods themselves are weeping.”
Chorus of priests.“He is happy, the most revered among men, for fate has permitted him to rest in the tomb which he himself has constructed.”
Chorus of drivers.“To the West, oxen, ye are drawing the car, to the West! Our lord is going behind thee.”
The throng of people.“Go in peace to Abydos! Go in peace to Abydos, to the western sea.”[38]
[38]Authentic expression.
[38]Authentic expression.
Every couple of hundred yards a division of troops was stationed which greeted the lord with muffled drums, and took farewell with a shrill sound of trumpets.
That was not a funeral, but a triumphal march to the land of divinities.
At a certain distance behind the car went Rameses XIII., surrounded by a great suite of generals, and behind him Queen Nikotris leaning on two court ladies. Neither the son nor the mother wept, for it was known to them then (the common people were not aware of this), that the late pharaoh was at the side of Osiris and was so satisfied with his stay in the land of delight that he had no wish to return to an earthly existence.
After a procession of two hours which was attended by unbroken cries, the car with the remains halted on the bank of the Nile. There the remains were removed from the boat-shaped car and borne to a real barge gilded, carved, covered with pictures, and furnished with white and purple sails.
The court ladies made one more attempt to take the mummy from the priests; again were heard all the choruses and the military music. After that the lady Nikotris and some priests entered the barge which bore the royal mummy, the people hurled bouquets and garlands—and the oars began to plash.
Rameses XII. had left his palace for the last time and was moving on the Nile toward his tomb in Theban mountains. But on the way it was his duty, like a thoughtful ruler, to enter all the famed places and take farewell of them.
The journey lasted long. Thebes was five hundred miles distant higher up the river, along which the mummy had to visit between ten and twenty temples and take part in religious ceremonies.
Some days after the departure of Rameses XII. to his eternal rest, Rameses XIII. moved after him to rouse from sorrow by his presence the torpid hearts of his subjects, receive their homage and give offerings to divinities.
Behind the dead pharaoh, each on his own barge, went all the high priests, many of the senior priests, the richest landholders, and the greater part of the nomarchs. So the new pharaoh thought, not without sorrow, that his retinue would be very slender.
But it happened otherwise. At the side of Rameses XIII. were all the generals, very many officials, many of the smaller nobility and all the minor priests, which more astonished than comforted the pharaoh.
This was merely the beginning. For when the barge of the youthful sovereign sailed out on the Nile there came to meet him such a mass of boats, great and small, rich and poor, that they almost hid the water. Sitting in those barges were naked families of earth-tillers and artisans, well-dressed merchants, Phœnicians in bright garments, adroit Greek sailors, and even Assyrians and Hittites.
The people of this throng did not shout, they howled; they were not delighted, they were frantic. Every moment some deputation broke its way to the pharaoh’s barge to kiss the deck which his feet had touched, and to lay gifts before him: a handful of wheat, a bit of cloth, a simple earthen pitcher, a pair of birds, but, above all, a bunch of flowers. So that before the pharaoh had passed Memphis, his attendants were forced repeatedly to clear the barge of gifts and thus save it from sinking.
The younger priests said to one another that except Rameses the Great no pharaoh had ever been greeted with such boundless enthusiasm.
The whole journey from Memphis to Thebes was conducted in a similar manner and the enthusiasm of people rose instead of decreasing. Earth-tillers left the fields and artisans the shops to delight themselves with looking at the new sovereign of whose intentions legends were already created. They expected great changes, though no one knew what these changes might be. This alone was undoubted, that the severity of officials had decreased, that Phœnicians collected rent in a less absolute manner, and the Egyptian people, always so submissive, had begun to raise their heads when priests met them.
“Only let the pharaoh permit,” said people in inns, fields and markets, “and we will introduce order among the holy fathers. Because of them we pay immense taxes, and the wounds on our backs are always open.”
Among the Libyan hills, about thirty-five miles south ofMemphis, lay the country of Piom or Fayum, wonderful through this, that human hands had made it.
There was formerly in this province a sunken desert surrounded by naked hills. The pharaoh Amenhemat first conceived the daring plan of changing this place into a fruitful region, three thousand five hundred years before the Christian era.
With this object he divided the eastern part of the depression from the rest and put a mighty dam around it. This dam was about eight metres high, one hundred yards thick at the base, and its length more than four hundred kilometres.
In this way was created a reservoir which held three milliards of cubic metres of water, the surface of which occupied about three hundred square kilometres. This reservoir served to irrigate two hundred thousand hectares of land, and besides, in time of overflow, it took in the excess of water and guaranteed a considerable part of Egypt from sudden inundation.
This immense collection of water was called Lake Moeris, and was considered one of the wonders of the world. Thanks to it a desert valley was changed into the fertile land of Piom, where about two hundred thousand people lived in comfort. In this province, besides palms and wheat, were produced the most beautiful roses; oil made from these went to all Egypt, and beyond its boundaries.
The existence of Lake Moeris was connected with another wonder among works of Egyptian engineers, Joseph’s canal. This canal, two hundred yards wide, extended about three hundred and fifty kilometres along the western side of the Nile. It was situated fifteen kilometres from the river, served to irrigate lands near the Libyan mountains, and conveyed water to Lake Moeris.
Around the country of Piom rose a number of ancient pyramids and a multitude of smaller tombs. On its eastern boundary was the celebrated Labyrinth (Lope-rohunt). This was built also by Amenhemat and had the form of an immense horseshoe. It occupied an area one thousand yards long and six hundred wide.
This edifice was the great treasure-house of Egypt. In it reposed the mummies of several famous pharaohs, renownedpriests, generals, and architects. Here lay the remains of revered animals,—above all, those of crocodiles. And here was kept the property of the Egyptian state, brought together in the course of ages. Of this structure it is difficult to gain an idea at present.
The labyrinth was neither inaccessible from the outside, nor watched over-carefully; it was guarded by a small division of troops attached to the priests, and some priests of tried honesty. The safety of the treasury lay specially in this: that with the exception of those few persons, no one knew where to look for it in the labyrinth, which was divided into two stories, one above ground, the other subterranean, and in each of these there were fifteen hundred chambers.
Each pharaoh, each high priest, finally each treasurer and supreme judge was bound to examine with his own eyes the property of the state immediately after entering on his office. Still, no one of the dignitaries could find it, or even learn where the treasure lay, whether in the main body of the building or in some of its wings, above the earth or beneath it.
There were some to whom it seemed that the treasure was really underground, far away from the labyrinth proper. There were even some who thought that the treasure was beneath the lake, so that it might be submerged should the need come. Finally no dignitary of the state cared to occupy himself with the question, knowing that an attack on the property of the gods drew after it ruin to the sacrilegious. The uninitiated might have discovered the road, perhaps, if fear had not paralyzed intruders. Death in this world and the next threatened him and his family who should dare with godless plans to discover such secrets.
Arriving in those parts Rameses XIII. visited first of all the province of Fayum. In his eyes it seemed like the interior of some immense bowl, the bottom of which was a lake and hills the edges. Whithersoever he turned he found green juicy grass varied with flowers, groups of palms, groves of fig-trees and tamarinds, amid which from sunrise to sunset were heard the singing of birds and the voices of gladsome people.
That was perhaps the happiest corner of Egypt.
The people received the pharaoh with boundless delight.They covered him and his retinue with flowers, they presented him with a number of vessels of the costliest perfumes as well as gold and precious stones to the amount of ten talents.
Rameses spent two days in that pleasant region where joy seemed to blossom on the trees, flow in the air, and look over the waters of Lake Moeris. But men reminded him that he should see the labyrinth also.
He left Fayum with a sigh and gazed around as he travelled. Soon his attention was fixed by a majestic pile of gray buildings which stood on an eminence.
At the gate of the famous labyrinth Rameses was greeted by a company of priests of ascetic exterior, and a small division of troops, every man in which was completely shaven.
“These men look like priests,” said Rameses.
“They do, because every one in the ranks has received the inferior ordination, and centurions the superior,” answered the high priest of the edifice.
When he looked more carefully at the faces of those strange warriors, who ate no meat and were celibates, the pharaoh noted in them calm energy and quickness; he noted also that his sacred person made no impression whatever in that place.
“I am very curious to learn how Samentu’s secret plan will succeed,” thought he. The pharaoh understood that it was impossible either to frighten those men or to bribe them. They were as self-confident in looks as if each one commanded countless regiments of spirits.
“We shall see,” thought Rameses, “if they can frighten my Greeks and Asiatics, who, fortunately, are so wild that they do not know pompous faces.”
At the request of the priests, the pharaoh’s suite remained at the gate, as if under guard of the shaven soldiers.
“Must I leave my sword too?” asked Rameses.
“It will not harm us,” answered the chief overseer.
The young pharaoh had the wish at least to slap the pious man with the side of his sword for such an answer, but he restrained himself.
Rameses and the priests entered the main building by an immense court and passed between two rows of sphinxes. Here in a very spacious, but somewhat dark, antechamber were eight doors, and the overseer inquired,—
“Through which door dost thou wish to go to the treasure, holiness?”
“Through that by which we can go the most quickly.”
Each of five priests took two bundles of torches, but only one ignited a torch.
At his side stood the chief overseer holding in his hands a large string of beads on which were written certain characters. Behind them walked Rameses surrounded by three priests.
The high priest who held the beads turned to the right and entered a great hall, the walls and columns of which were covered with inscriptions and figures. From that they entered a narrow corridor, which led upward, and found themselves in a hall distinguished by a great number of doors. Here a tablet was pushed aside in the floor, discovering an opening through which they descended, and again advanced through a narrow corridor to a chamber which had no doors. But the guide touched one hieroglyph of many, and the wall moved aside before them.
Rameses tried to remember the direction in which they were going, but soon his attention was bewildered. He noted, however, that they passed hurriedly through great halls, small chambers, narrow corridors, that they climbed up or descended, that some halls had a multitude of doors and others none whatever. He observed at once that the guide at each new entrance dropped one bead from his long rosary, and sometimes, by the light of the torch, he compared the indications on the beads with those on the walls.
“Where are we now?” asked the pharaoh on a sudden, “beneath the earth, or above it?”
“We are in the power of the gods!” replied his neighbor.
After a number of turns and passages the pharaoh again said,—
“But I think that we are here for the second time.”
The priests were silent, but he who carried the torch held his light to the walls in one and another place, and Rameses, while looking, confessed in spirit that they had not been there before.
In a small chamber without doors they lowered the light, and the pharaoh saw on the pavement dried, black remains, covered with decayed clothing.
“That,” said the overseer of the building, “is the body of a Phœnician who, during the sixteenth dynasty, tried to break into the labyrinth; he got thus far.”
“Did they kill him?” inquired Rameses.
“He died of hunger.”
The party had advanced again about half an hour, when the priest who bore the torch lighted a niche in the corridor where also dried remains were lying.
“This,” said the overseer, “is the body of a Nubian priest, who in the time of thy grandfather, holiness, tried to enter the labyrinth.”
The pharaoh made no inquiry as to what happened to this man. He had the impression of being in some depth and the feeling that the edifice would crush him. Of taking bearings amid those hundreds of corridors, halls, and chambers, he had no thought any longer. He did not even wish to explain to himself by what miracle those stone walls opened, or why pavements sank before him.
“Samentu will do nothing,” said he in spirit. “He will perish like these two, whom I must even mention to him.”
Such a crushing, such a feeling of helplessness and nothingness he had never experienced. At moments it seemed to him that the priests would leave him in one of those narrow doorless chambers. Then despair seized the young pharaoh; he touched his sword and was ready to cut them down. But he remembered directly that without their assistance he could not go hence, and he dropped his head.
“Oh to see the light of day, even for a moment! How terrible must death be among three thousand rooms filled with gloom or utter darkness!”
Heroic souls have moments of deep depression which the common man cannot even imagine.
The advance had lasted an hour almost when at last they entered a low hall resting on octagonal pillars. The three priests surrounding the pharaoh, separated—then Rameses noticed that one of them nestled up to a column and vanished, as it were, in the interior of it.
After a while a narrow opening appeared in one of the walls, the priests returned to their places, and the guide commandedto light four torches. All turned toward that opening and pushed through it cautiously.
“Here are the chambers,” said the overseer.
The priests lighted quickly torches which were fixed to the walls and columns. Rameses saw a series of immense chambers filled with most varied products of priceless value. In this collection every dynasty, if not every pharaoh, had placed from what he or it possessed, that which was most peculiar, or which had the most value.
There were chariots, boats, beds, tables, caskets, and thrones gold or covered with gold plate, also inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl and colored wood so ornamentally that artists must have worked tens of years at them. There were weapons, shields and quivers glittering with jewels. There were pitchers, plates, and spoons of pure gold, costly robes, and baldachins.
All this treasure, thanks to dry and pure air, was preserved without change during ages.
Among rare objects the pharaoh saw the silver model of the Assyrian palace brought to Rameses XII. by Sargon. The high priest, while explaining to the pharaoh whence each gift came, looked at his face diligently. But in place of admiration for the treasures, he noticed dissatisfaction.
“Tell me, worthiness,” inquired Rameses on a sudden, “what good comes of these treasures shut up in darkness?”
“Should Egypt be in danger there would be great power in them,” replied the overseer. “For a few of these helmets, chariots and swords we might buy the good-will of all the Assyrian satraps. And maybe even King Assar himself would not resist if we gave him furniture for his throne hall, or his arsenal.”
“I think that they would rather take all from us by the sword than a few through good-will,” said the pharaoh.
“Let them try!” replied the priest.
“I understand. Ye have then means of destroying the treasures. But in that case no one could make use of them.”
“That is not a question for my mind,” replied the overseer. “We guard what is given to us, and do what is ordered.”
“Would it not be better to use a portion of these treasuresto fill the coffers of the state and raise Egypt from the misery in which it is at present?” asked the pharaoh.
“That does not depend on us.”
Rameses frowned. He examined things for some time without very great interest; at last he inquired,—
“Yes, these products of art might be useful in gaining the good-will of Assyrian dignitaries; but if war were to break out with Assyria how could we get wheat, men, and arms from nations which have no knowledge of rare objects?”
“Open the treasury,” said the high priest.
At this time the priests hurried in different directions: two vanished as if in the interior of columns, while a third went up along the wall on steps and did something near a carved figure.
Again a hidden door slipped aside and Rameses entered the real hall of treasure.
That was a spacious room filled with priceless objects. In it were earthen jars containing gold dust, lumps of gold piled up like bricks, and ingots of gold in packages. Blocks of silver stored at one side formed, as it were, a wall two ells thick and as high as the ceiling. In niches and on stone tables lay precious stones of every color: rubies, topazes, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, pearls as large as nuts and even as birds’ eggs. There were single jewels which equalled a town in value.
“This is our property in case of misfortune,” said the overseer.
“For what misfortune are ye waiting?” inquired the pharaoh. “The people are poor, the nobility and the court are in debt, the army decreased one half, the pharaoh without money. Has Egypt ever been in a worse position?”
“It was in a worse position when the Hyksos conquered it.”
“In a few years,” replied Rameses, “even the Israelites will conquer this country unless the Libyans and Ethiopians precede them. And then these beautiful stones, broken into pieces, will go to ornament the sandals of black men and Hebrews.”
“Be at rest, holiness. In case of need not only the treasure itself, but the labyrinth would vanish without a trace, together with its guardians.”
Rameses understood thoroughly that he had before him fanatics who thought only of this: not to let any one possess that treasure. He sat down on a pile of gold bricks, and continued,—
“Then ye are preserving this property for evil days in Egypt?”
“Thou speakest truth, holiness.”
“But who will convince you, its guardians, that those days have come when they are really present?”
“To do that it would be necessary to call an extraordinary assembly of Egyptians, an assembly made up of the pharaoh, thirteen priests of the highest degree, thirteen nomarchs, thirteen nobles, thirteen officers, and thirteen of each of the following: merchants, artisans, and earth-tillers.”
“Then ye would give to such an assembly the treasures?” asked the pharaoh.
“We would give the necessary sum if the whole assembly, as one man, decided that Egypt was in danger, and—”
“And what?”
“If the statue of Amon in Thebes confirmed that decision.”
Rameses dropped his head as if to hide his great satisfaction.
He had a plan ready.
“I shall be able to collect such an assembly and incline it to unanimity,” thought the pharaoh. “Also it seems to me the divine statue of Amon will confirm the decision if I put my Asiatics around it.”
“I thank you, pious men,” said he aloud, “for showing me these precious things, the great value of which does not prevent me from being one among the poorest of sovereigns. And now I beg you to lead me hence by the shortest way possible and the most convenient.”
“We wish thee, holiness, to double the wealth of the labyrinth. As to the road, there is only one, we must return as we came.”
One of the priests gave Rameses dates, another a flask of wine mixed with some invigorating substance. Then the pharaoh recovered strength and went forward cheerfully.
“I would give much,” said he, laughing, “to know all the turns of this wonderful passage.”
The guiding priest stopped,—
“I assure thee, holiness, that we ourselves do not understand or remember this road, though each one of us has entered a number of times by it.”
“Then how do ye manage?”
“We have certain indications, but if one of these were to fail us, even at this moment we should die here of hunger.”
They reached the antechamber at last and through it the courtyard. Rameses looked around and drew one breath of relief after another.
“For all the treasures of the labyrinth I would not guard them!” cried he. “Terror falls on my breast when I think that it is possible to die in those stone prisons.”
“But it is possible to grow attached to them,” replied the priest smiling.
The pharaoh thanked each of his guides, and concluded,—
“I should be glad to show you some favor; ask for one.”
The priests listened with indifference, and their chief answered,—
“Pardon me, holiness, but what could we wish for? Our figs and dates are as sweet as those in thy garden, our water is as good as that from thy well. If wealth attracted us have we not more of it than all the kings put together?”
“I cannot win these men by anything,” thought the pharaoh, “but I will give them a decision of the assembly, and a decision of Amon.”