The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 137

Whithersoever he looked: toward the field, the river, the roofs of houses, or even the limbs of tamarind and fig-trees there was a throng of people, and an unceasing shout which was like the roar of a tempest.

When he arrived at the temple the pharaoh stopped his horses and descended before the public gate. This act pleased the common people and delighted the priesthood. He pa.s.sed on foot along the avenue of sphinxes and, greeted by the holy men, burned incense before the statues of Seti which occupied both sides of the main entrance.

In the peristyle the high priest turned the attention of his holiness to the splendid portraits of the pharaohs, and pointed out the place selected for that of Rameses. In the hypostyle he indicated to him the meaning of the geographical maps and statistical tables.

In the chamber of "divine apparition" Rameses offered incense to the gigantic statue of Osiris, and the high priest showed him the columns dedicated to the separate planets: Mercury, Venus, the moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The planets stood around statues of the sun G.o.d to the number of seven.

"Thou hast told me," said Rameses, "that there are six planets; meanwhile I see seven columns."

"The seventh represents the earth, which is also a planet."

The astonished pharaoh asked for explanation, but the sage was silent, indicating by signs that his lips were sealed on that subject.

In the chamber of the "tables of offering" was heard low but beautiful music, during which a solemn dance was given by a chorus of priestesses.

The pharaoh removed his golden helmet; next, his breastplate of great value, and gave both to Osiris, desiring that these gifts should remain in the treasury of the G.o.d, and not be transferred to the labyrinth.

In return for his bounty the high priest bestowed on the sovereign a most beautiful dancer fifteen years of age, who seemed greatly delighted with her fortune.

When the pharaoh found himself in the hall of "repose" he sat on the throne, and his subst.i.tute in religion, Sem, to the sound of music and amid the smoke of censers, entered the sanctuary to bring forth the divinity.

Half an hour later, to the deafening sound of bells, appeared in the gloom of the chamber a golden boat hidden by curtains which moved at times as if some living being were sitting behind them.

The priests prostrated themselves, and Rameses looked intently at the transparent curtains. One of these was turned aside and the pharaoh saw a child of rare beauty which looked at him with such wise eyes that the ruler of Egypt was almost afraid of it.

"This is Horus," whispered the priest. "Horus the rising sun. He is the son of Osiris and also his father, and the husband of his own mother, who is his sister."

The procession began, but only through the interior of the temple. In advance went harpers and female dancers, next a white bull with a golden s.h.i.+eld between his horns,--then two choruses of priests and high priests bearing the G.o.d, then choruses, and finally the pharaoh in a litter borne by eight priests of the temple.

When the procession had pa.s.sed through all the corridors and halls of the temple, and the G.o.d and Rameses had returned to the chamber of repose, the curtain concealing the sacred boat slipped apart and the beautiful child smiled at the pharaoh.

After that Sem bore away the boat and the G.o.d to the chapel.

"One might become a high priest," said the pharaoh, who was so pleased with the child that he would have been glad to see it as often as possible.

But when he had gone forth from the temple and seen the sun and the throng of delighted people, he confessed in his soul that he understood nothing. He knew not whence they had brought that child, unlike any other child in Egypt, whence that superhuman wisdom in its eyes, nor what the meaning was of all that he himself had seen.

Suddenly he remembered his murdered son, who might have been as beautiful, and the ruler of Egypt wept in presence of a hundred thousand subjects.

"Converted! The pharaoh is converted!" said the priests. "Barely has he entered the dwelling of Osiris, and his heart is touched."

That same day one blind man and two paralytics, who were praying outside the walls of the temple, recovered health. The council of priests decided, therefore, to reckon that day in the list of those which were miraculous, and to paint a picture on the external wall of the edifice representing the weeping pharaoh and the cured people.

Rameses returned rather late in the afternoon to his palace to hear reports. When all the dignitaries had left the cabinet Tutmosis came in and said,--

"Holiness, the priest Samentu wishes to pay thee homage."

"Well, let him come."

"He implores thee, lord, to receive him in a tent in the military camp; he a.s.serts that the walls of the palace are fond of listening."

Before sunset, the pharaoh went with Tutmosis to his faithful troops and found among them the royal tent, at which Asiatics were on guard by command of Tutmosis.

In the evening came Samentu dressed in the garb of a pilgrim, and when he had greeted his holiness with honor, he whispered,--

"It seems to me that I was followed the whole way by some man who has stopped not far from this tent, O holiness. Perhaps he was sent by the high priests."

At the pharaoh's command Tutmosis ran out, and found, in fact, a strange officer.

"Who art thou?" asked he.

"I am Eunana, a centurion in the regiment of Isis. The unfortunate Eunana. Dost thou not remember me, worthiness? More than a year ago at the manuvres near Pi-Bailos I discovered the sacred scarabs--"

"Ah, that is thou!" interrupted Tutmosis. "But thy regiment is not in Abydos?"

"The water of truth flows from thy lips. We are quartered at a wretched place near Mena where the priests have commanded us to clear a ca.n.a.l, as if we were Hebrews or earth-diggers."

"How hast thou appeared here?"

"I implored my superiors for a rest of some days, and like a deer thirsting for a spring I, thanks to the swiftness of my feet, have hurried hither--"

"What dost thou wish, then?"

"I wish to beg favor of his holiness against the shaven heads who give me no promotion because I am sensitive to the sufferings of warriors."

Tutmosis returned to the tent, ill-humored, and repeated the conversation to the pharaoh.

"Eunana?" repeated the sovereign. "Yes, I remember him. He caused us trouble with his beetles, but got fifty blows of a stick through Herhor. And thou sayst that he complains of the priests? Bring him hither."

The pharaoh told Samentu to go into the second division of the tent.

The unfortunate officer soon showed himself. He fell with his face to the earth, and then kneeling, and sighing, continued,--

"I pray every day at his rising and setting to Re Harmachis, and to Amon, and Re, and Ptah, and to other G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, for thy health, O sovereign of Egypt! That thou live! That thou have success, and that I might see even the splendor of thy heel."[39]

[39] Authentic.

"What does he wish?" asked the pharaoh of Tutmosis, observing etiquette for the first time.

"His holiness is pleased to inquire what thy wish is?" repeated Tutmosis.

The deceitful Eunana, remaining on his knees, turned toward the favorite, and said,--

"Thou art the ear and eye of the land; thou givest delight and life, hence I will answer thee as at the judgment of Osiris: I have served in the priests' regiment of the divine Isis ten years; I have fought six years on the eastern boundary. Men of my age are commanders of thousands, but I am only a centurion. I receive blows of sticks at command of the G.o.d-fearing priests. And why is such injustice done me?

In the daytime I think of books, and at night I read them, since the fool who leaves books as quickly as a gazelle takes to flight is of low mind; he is like the a.s.s which receives lashes, like the deaf man who does not hear, and with whom one must speak with his fingers. In spite of my love for science I am not puffed up with my own knowledge, but I take counsel with all, for from each man it is possible to learn something, and I surround with my esteem worthy sages--"

The pharaoh moved impatiently, but listened on, knowing that an Egyptian considered garrulousness as his duty and the highest honor to superiors.