A number of times the barge bearing the worthy lady Nikotris and the vice-pharaoh Herhor appeared near Sarah's dwelling. Each time the prince saw his mother conversing with the minister joyously, and convinced himself that they refrained ostentatiously from looking toward him, as if to show indifference.
"Wait!" whispered he, in anger, "I will show you that life does not annoy me, either."
So when one day, shortly before sunset, the queen's gilded barge appeared with a purple tent having ostrich plumes on each of its four comers, Ramses gave command to prepare a boat for two persons, and told Sarah that he would sail with her.
"O Jehovah!" cried she, clasping her hands. "But thy mother is there, and the viceroy!"
"But in this boat will be the heir to the throne. Take thy harp,
Sarah."
"And the harp, too?" cried Sarah. "But if her worthiness were to speak to thee! I should throw myself into the river."
"Be not a child," replied Ramses, laughing. "My mother and his worthiness love songs immensely. Thou mayest even win their favor if Thou sing some splendid song of the Hebrews. Let there be love in it."
"I know no song of that kind," answered Sarah, in whom the prince's words had roused hope of some sort. Her song might please those powerful rulers, and then what?
On the royal barge they saw that the heir to the throne was sitting in a simple boat and rowing.
"Dost Thou see, worthiness," whispered the queen to the minister, "that he is rowing toward us with his Jewess?"
"The heir has borne himself with such correctness toward his warriors and his people, and has shown so much compunction in withdrawing from the limits of the palace, that his mother may forgive small errors," answered Herhor.
"Oh, if he were not sitting in that boat, I would give command to break it!" said the worthy lady.
"For what reason?" asked the minister. "The prince would be no descendant of high priests and pharaohs if he did not break through restraints which the law, alas, puts on him, or perhaps our mistaken customs. He has given proof in every case that in serious junctures he is able to command himself. He is even able to recognize his errors, a rare power and priceless in an heir to the throne of Egypt. The very fact that the prince wishes to rouse our curiosity with his favorite shows that the position in which he finds himself pains him; besides, his reasons are among the noblest."
"But the Jewess!" whispered the lady, crushing her feather fan between her fingers.
"At present I am quite at rest regarding her," continued Herhor. "She is shapely, but dull; she never thinks of using influence on the prince, nor could she do so. Shut up in a cage which is not over- costly, she takes no gifts, and will not even see any one. In time, perhaps, she might learn to make use of her position even to the extent of decreasing the heir's treasury by some talents. Before that day comes, however, Ramses will be tired of her."
"May the all-knowing Amon speak through thy mouth," said the lady.
"The prince, I am sure of this, has not grown wild over a favorite, as happens often to young lords in Egypt. One keen, intriguing woman may strip a man of property and health, nay, bring him to the hall of judgment. The prince is amused with her as a grown-up man might be amused with a slave girl. And Sarah is pregnant."
"Is that true?" cried the queen. "How dost Thou know?"
"It is not known to his worthiness the heir, or even to Sarah," said Herhor, smiling. "We must know everything. This secret, however, was not difficult to get at. With Sarah is her relative Tafet, an incomparable gossip."
"Have they summoned a physician already?"
"Sarah knows nothing of this, I repeat, but the worthy Tafet, from fear lest the prince might grow indifferent to her foster child, would be glad to twist the neck of this secret. But we do not let her. That will be the prince's child also."
"But if it is a son? Thou knowest that he may make trouble," put in the lady.
"All is foreseen," replied Herhor. "If the child is a daughter, we will give her a dowry and the education proper for young ladies of high station. If a son, he will become a Jew."
"Oh, my grandson, a Jew!"
"Do not take thy heart too soon from him. Our envoys declare that the people of Israel are beginning to desire a king. Before the child matures their desires will ripen, and then we may give them a ruler, and of good blood indeed."
"Thou art like an eagle which takes in East and West at a glance," said the queen, eying the minister with amazement. "I feel that my repulsion for this maiden begins to grow weaker."
"The least drop of the pharaoh's blood should raise itself above nations, like a star above the earth," added Herhor.
At that moment the heir's boat moved at a few tens of paces from the royal barge, and the queen, shielded by her fan, looked at Sarah through its feathers.
"In truth the girl is shapely," whispered Queen Nikotris.
"Thou art saying those words for the second time, worthy lady."
"So Thou hast noted that?" laughed her worthiness.
Herhor dropped his eyes.
In the boat was heard a harp, and Sarah began a hymn, with trembling voice,
"How great is Jehovah, O Israel! how great is Jehovah, thy God."
"A most beautiful voice," whispered the queen.
The high priest listened with attention.
"His days have no beginning," sang Sarah, "and His dwelling has no limit. The eternal heavens change beneath His eye, like a garment which a man puts on his body and then casts away from him. The stars flash up, and are quenched, like sparks from fuel, and the earth is like a brick which a traveler touches once with his foot while going ever farther.
"How great is thy Lord, O Israel! There is no being who can say to Him, 'Do this!' there is no womb which could have given birth to Him. He created the bottomless deeps above which He moves when He wishes. He brings light out of darkness, and from the dust of the earth He creates living things which have voices.
"For Him savage lions are as locusts, the immense elephant He looks on as nothing, before Him the whale is as weak as an infant.
"His tricolored bow divides the heavens into two parts and rests on the ends of the earth plain. Where are the gates which could equal Him in loftiness? Nations are in terror at the thunder of His chariot, and there is naught beneath the sun which could stand His flashing arrows.
"His breath is the north wind at midnight, which freshens trees when withering, His anger is like the chamsin which burns what it touches.
"When He stretches His hands above the waters, they are petrified. He pours the sea into new places, as a woman pours out leaven. He rends the earth as if it were old linen, and clothes in silvery snow the naked tops of mountains.
"In a grain of wheat He hides one hundred other grains, and causes birds to incubate. From the drowsy chrysalis He leads to life a golden butterfly, and makes men's bodies wait in tombs until the day of resurrection."
The rowers, absorbed in the song, raised their oars, and the purple barge dropped slowly down with the sweep of the river. All at once Herhor rose, and commanded,
"Turn now toward Memphis!"
The oars fell; the barge turned where it stood, and raised the water with noise. After it followed Sarah's hymn decreasing gradually,
"He sees the movement of hearts, the silent hidden ways on which pass the innermost thoughts in men's breasts. But no man can gaze into His heart and spy out His purposes.
"Before the gleam of His garments mighty spirits hide their faces. Before His glance the gods of great cities and nations turn aside and shrink like withering leaves.
"He is power, He is life, He is wisdom. He is thy Lord, thy God, O
Israel!"
"Why command, worthiness, to turn away our barge?" asked the worthy
Nikotris.
"Lady, dost Thou know that hymn?" asked Herhor, in a language understood by priests alone. "That stupid girl is singing in the middle of the Nile a prayer permitted only in the most secret recesses of our temples."
"Is that blasphemy then?"
"There is no priest in the barge except me," replied the minister. "I have not heard the hymn, and if I had I should forget it. Still I am afraid that the gods will lay hands on that girl yet."
"But whence does she know that awful prayer, for Ramses could not have taught it to her?"
"The prince is not to blame. But forget not, lady, that the Jews have taken from our Egypt many such treasures. That is why, among all nations on earth, we consider them alone as sacrilegious."
The queen seized the hand of the high priest.
"But my son will no evil strike him?" whispered she, looking into his eyes.
"I say, worthiness, that no evil will happen to any one. I heard not the hymn, and I know nothing. The prince must be separated from that Jewess."
"But separated mildly; is that not the way?" asked the mother.
"In the mildest way possible and the simplest, but separation is imperative. It seemed to me," continued the high priest, as if to himself, "that I foresaw everything. Everything save an action for blasphemy, which threatens the heir while he is with that strange woman."
Herhor thought awhile, and added,
"Yes, worthy lady! It is possible to laugh at many of our prejudices; still the son of a pharaoh should not be connected with a Jewess."
CHAPTER XVII
SINCE the evening when Sarah sang in the boat, the royal barge had not appeared on the Nile, and Prince Ramses was annoyed in real earnest.
The month Mechir (December) was approaching. The waters decreased, the land extended more widely each day, the grass became higher and thicker, and in the grass flashed up flowers of the most varied hues and of incomparable odor. Like islands in a green sea appeared, in the course of a single day, flowery places, as it were white, azure, yellow, rosy, or many colored carpets from which rose an intoxicating odor. Still the prince was wearied, and even feared something. From the day of his father's departure he had not been in the palace, and no one from the palace had come to him, save Tutmosis, who since the last conversation had vanished like a snake in the grass. "Whether they respected the prince's seclusion, or desired to annoy him, or simply feared to pay him a visit because he had been touched by disfavor, Ramses had no means of knowing.
"My father may exclude me from the throne, as he has my elder brothers," thought the heir sometimes; and sweat came out on his forehead, while his feet became cold.
"What would he do in that case?"
Moreover Sarah was ill, thin, pale, her great eyes sank; at times she complained of faintness which attacked her in the morning.
"Surely some one has bewitched the poor thing," groaned the cunning Tafet, whom the prince could not endure for her chattering and very bad management.
A couple of times, for instance, the heir noticed that in the evening Tafet sent off to Memphis immense baskets with food, linen, even vessels. Next day she complained in heaven-piercing accents that flour, wine, and even vessels were lacking. Since the heir had come to the villa ten times more of various products had been used there than formerly.
"I am certain," thought Ramses, "that that chattering termagant robs me for her Jews, who vanish in the daytime but are prowling around in the night, like rats in the nastiest comers!"
The prince's only amusement in these days was to look at the date harvest. A naked man took his place at the foot of a high palm without side branches, surrounded the trunk and himself with a circular rope which resembled the hoop of a barrel. Then he raised himself on the tree by his heels, his whole body bent backward, but the hoop-like rope held him by squeezing his body to the tree. Next he shoved the flexible hoop up the trunk some inches, raised himself by his heels again, then shoved the rope up. In this way he climbed, exposed meanwhile to the peril of breaking his neck, till he reached the top, where grew a crown of great leaves and dates.
The prince was not alone when he saw these gymnastics; Jewish children also were spectators. At first there was no trace of them. Then among bushes and from beyond the wall curly heads and black gleaming eyes appeared. Afterward, when they saw that the prince did not drive them away, these children came out each from a hiding-place and approached the tree gradually. The most daring among the girls picked up a beautiful date which she brought to Ramses. One of the boys ate the smallest date, and then the children began to eat and to give the prince fruit. At first they brought him the best, then inferior dates, finally some that were spoilt altogether.
The future ruler of the world fell to thinking, and said to himself,
"They crawl in at all points, and will treat me always in this way: they will give the good as a bait, and what is spoiled out of gratitude."
He rose and walked away gloomily; but the children of Israel rushed, like a flock of birds, at the labor of the Egyptian, who high above their heads was singing unmindful of his bones and of this, that he was harvesting not for his own use.
Sarah's undiscovered disease, her frequent tears, her vanishing charms, and above all the Jews, who, ceasing to hide, managed the place with increasing tumult, disgusted Ramses to the utmost degree with that beautiful comer. He sailed no more in a boat, he neither hunted nor watched the date harvest, but wandered gloomily through the garden, or looked from his roof at the palace. He would never go back to that palace unless summoned, and now he thought of a trip to his lands near the sea, in Lower Egypt.
In such a state of mind was he found by Tutmosis, who on a certain day came in a ceremonial barge to the heir with a summons from the pharaoh.
"His holiness is returning from Thebes, and wishes the heir to go forth and meet him."
The prince trembled, he grew pale and crimson, when he read the gracious letter of his lord and ruler. He was so moved that he did not notice his adjutant's new immense wig, which gave out fifteen different perfumes, he did not see his tunic and mantle, more delicate than mist, nor his sandals with gold rings as ornaments.
After some time Ramses recovered, and inquired without looking at
Tutmosis,
"Why hast Thou not been here for such a period? Did the disfavor into which I have fallen alarm thee?"
"Gods!" cried the exquisite. "When wert Thou in disfavor, and in whose? Every courier of his holiness inquired for thy health; the worthy lady, Nikotris, and his worthiness Herhor have sailed toward this villa repeatedly, thinking that Thou wouldst make a hundred steps toward them after they had made a couple of thousand toward thee. I say nothing of the troops. In time of review the warriors of thy regiments are as silent as palm-trees, and do not go from the barracks. As to the worthy Patrokles, he drinks and curses all day from vexation."
So the prince had not been in disfavor, or if he had been the disfavor was ended. This thought acted on Ramses like a goblet of good wine. He took a bath quickly, anointed his body, put on fresh linen, a new kaftan, a helmet with plumes, and then went to Sarah.
Sarah screamed when she saw the prince arrayed thus. She rose up, and seizing him around the neck, whispered,
"Thou art going, my lord! Thou wilt not come back to me."
"Why not?" wondered the heir. "Have I not gone away often and returned afterward?"
"I remember thee dressed in just this way over there in our valley," said Sarah. "Oh, where are those hours! So quickly have they passed, and so long is it since they vanished."
"But I will return and bring the most famous physician."
"What for?" inquired Tafet. "She is well, my dear chick she needs only rest. But Egyptian physicians would bring real sickness."
The prince did not look at the talkative woman.
"This was my pleasantest month with thee," said Sarah, nestling up to
Ramses, "but it has not brought happiness."
The trumpets sounded on the royal barge, repeating a signal given higher up on the river.
Sarah started.
"Dost Thou hear, lord, that terrible outburst? Thou hearest and smilest, and, woe to me, Thou art tearing away from my embraces. When trumpets call nothing can hold thee, least of all thy slave, Sarah."
"Wouldst them have me listen forever to the cackling of hens in the country?" interrupted the prince, now impatient. "Be well, and wait for me joyously."
Sarah let him go from her grasp, but she had such a mournful expression that Ramses grew mild and stroked her.
"Only be calm. Thou fearest the sound of our trumpets. But were they ill-omened the first day?"
"My lord," answered Sarah, "I know that over there they will keep thee, so grant me this one, this last favor. I will give thee," continued she, sobbing, "a cage of pigeons. They were hatched out and reared here; hence, as often as Thou rememberest thy servant, open the cage and set one of them free; it will bring me tidings of thee, and I will kiss and fondle it as as But go now!"
The prince embraced her and went to the barge, telling his black attendant to wait for the pigeons.
At sight of the heir, drums and fifes sounded, and the garrison raised a loud shout of welcome. When he found himself among warriors, the prince drew a deep breath, and stretched out his arms, like a man liberated from bondage.
"Well," said he to Tutmosis, "women have tormented me, and those Jews O Cyrus! command to roast me on a slow fire at once, but put me not in the country a second time."
"So it is," confirmed Tutmosis; "love is like honey. It must be taken by sips, a man must not swim in it. Brr! shudders pass over me when I think that Thou hast passed nearly two months fed on kisses in the evening, dates in the morning, and asses' milk at midday."
"Sarah is a very good girl," said Ramses.
"I do not speak of her, but of those Jews who have settled down at that villa like papyrus in swamp land. Dost Thou see, they are looking out at thee yet, and perhaps are sending greetings," said the flatterer.
The prince turned to another side with displeasure, and Tutmosis winked joyfully at the officers, as if to tell them that Ramses would not leave their society very soon this time.
The higher they ascended the Nile the denser on both banks were spectators, the more numerous were boats on the river, and the more did flowers, garlands, and bouquets float down; these had been thrown at the barge of the pharaoh.
About five miles above Memphis there were multitudes of people with banners, with statues of gods, and with music; an immense roar was heard, like the sound of a tempest.
"There is his holiness!" cried Tutmosis, delighted.
One spectacle was presented to the eyes of the onlookers: in the middle of a broad bend in the river sailed the great barge of the pharaoh, rising in front like the breast of a swan. At the right and left sides of it, like two giant wings, pushed forward the countless boats of his subjects, and in the rear, like a rich fan, stretched the retinue of the ruler of Egypt.
Every one living shouted, sang, clapped hands, and threw flowers at the feet of the lord whom no one even saw. It was enough that under that gilded canopy and those ostrich plumes waved a ruddy blue flag, denoting that the pharaoh was present.
The people in the boats were as if drunk, the people on the shore as if mad. Every moment some boat struck or overturned a boat and some man fell into the water, out of which luckily the crocodiles had fled, frightened by the unparalleled uproar. On the banks men ran into one another, for no one paid heed to his neighbor, his father, or his child, but fixed his wild eyes on the gilded beak of the barge and the tent of the pharaoh. Even people who were trampled, whose ribs the wild crowd broke stupidly, and whose joints they put out, had no cry save this,
"May he live through eternity, O our ruler! Shine on, Thou the sun of
Egypt!"
The madness of greeting spread to the barge of Ramses: officers, soldiers, and oarsmen pressed into one throng and strove to outshout one another. Tutmosis, forgetting the heir to the throne, clambered up on the prow, and almost flew into the water.
Meanwhile a trumpet sounded from the pharaoh's barge, and soon after one answered from the barge of Ramses. A second signal, and the barge of the heir touched the great barge of the pharaoh.
Some official called to Ramses. From barge to barge they extended a gangway of cedar with carved railings, and the prince found himself next in the embrace of his father.
The presence of the pharaoh, or the storm of shouts roaring about him, so stunned Prince Ramses that he could not utter a syllable. He fell at his father's feet, and the lord of the world pressed the heir to his sacred bosom.
A moment later the side walls of the tent rose, and all the people on both banks of the Nile saw their ruler on a throne, and on the high step of it Ramses kneeling, with his head on the breast of his father.
Such silence followed that the rustling of banners on the barges was audible. Then on a sudden burst forth one immense roar, greater than all which had preceded. With this the Egyptian people honored the reconciliation of son and father; they greeted their present, and saluted their future ruler.
If any man had reckoned on dissensions in the sacred family of the pharaoh, he might convince himself then that the new royal branch held to its parent trunk firmly.
His holiness looked very ill. After the tender greeting of his son, he commanded him to sit at the side of the throne.
"My soul was rushing forth toward thee, Ramses," said he, "and all the more ardently the better were the tidings which I had of thee. Today I see not only that Thou hast the heart of a lion, but that Thou art a man full of prudence, who knows how to estimate his own acts, who is able to restrain himself, and who feels for the interests of Egypt."
When the prince, filled with emotion, was silent and kissed his father's feet, the pharaoh continued,
"Thou hast done well to renounce command of the Greek regiments, because from this day the corps in Memphis is thine, Thou art its commander."
"My father!" whispered the heir, trembling.
"Besides, in Lower Egypt, which is open on three sides to attacks of hostile nations, I need a wise, active man, who will watch all things round him, weigh them well in his heart, and act promptly. For this reason I appoint thee my lieutenant in that half of the kingdom."
Abundant tears flowed from the prince's eyes. With those tears he bade farewell to his youth; be greeted power, to which his soul had turned for years with uncertainty and longing.
"I am now weak and wearied," said the ruler, "and were it not for anxiety touching thy youth and the future of Egypt, I would this day beg my deathless ancestors to call me to their glory. Each day is for me more difficult, and therefore, Ramses, Thou wilt begin to share the burden of rule with me. As a hen teaches her chicks to search out grains of corn and hide before the hawk, so I will teach thee that toilsome art of ruling a state and watching the devices of enemies. May Thou fall on them in time, like an eagle on timid partridges."
The pharaoh's barge and its well-ordered retinue had descended to a point opposite the palace. The wearied ruler took a seat in his litter, and at that moment Herhor approached Ramses.
"Permit me, worthy prince," said he, "to be the earliest among those who are delighted with thy elevation. May Thou lead the army with as much success as Thou shalt govern the most important part of the state to the glory of Egypt."
Ramses pressed his hand firmly.
"Didst Thou do this, O Herhor?" asked he.
"It belonged to thee," replied the minister.
"Thou hast my gratitude, and wilt see that it is of value."
"Thou hast rewarded me already in speaking thus," replied Herhor.
The prince wished to depart; Herhor detained him.
"A brief word. Be careful, O heir, that one of thy women, Sarah, does not sing religious hymns."
When Ramses looked at him with astonishment, he added,
"During our sail on the Nile that maiden sang our most sacred hymn, a hymn to which only the pharaoh and high priests have the right to listen. Poor child! she might have suffered for her skill and for her ignorance of what she was singing."
"Then has she committed sacrilege?" inquired Ramses, in confusion.
"Yes, unconsciously," answered Herhor. "It is lucky that I was the only man who understood it, and my decision is that between that song and our hymn the resemblance is remote. In every case let her never repeat it."
"Well, and should she purify herself?" asked the prince. "Will it suffice her, as a foreign woman, if she gives thirty cows to the temple of Isis?"
"Yes, let her give them," replied Herhor, with a slight grimace. "The gods are not offended by gifts."
"Do thou, noble lord," said Ramses, "be pleased to accept this miraculous shield, which I received from my sacred grandfather."
"I? the shield of Amenhotep?" exclaimed the minister, with emotion. "Am
I worthy of it?"
"By thy wisdom Thou art equal to my grandfather, and Thou wilt equal him in position."
Herhor made a low bow in silence. That golden shield set with precious stones, besides its great value in money, had moreover the virtue of an amulet; hence it was a regal present.
But the prince's words might have the loftier meaning that Herhor would equal Amenhotep in position. Amenhotep had been the father-in-law of a pharaoh. Had the heir decided already to marry Herhor's daughter?
That was the fond dream of Queen Nikotris and the minister. But it must be acknowledged that Ramses in speaking of the future dignities of Herhor had not thought in the least of marrying his daughter, but of giving him new offices, of which there was a multitude at the court and in the temples.
CHAPTER XVIII
FROM the day that he became viceroy of Lower Egypt a life unparalleled in troubles set in for Ramses, such a life as he had not even imagined, though born and reared in the pharaoh's palace.
People simply tortured him; his torturers were persons who had interests of various kinds and who were of various social classes.
On the very first day, at sight of the throngs of people, who crowded and pushed one another with eagerness, trampled his lawns, broke his trees, and injured even the wall which enclosed his villa, the heir demanded a guard for protection. But on the third day he was forced to flee from his own dwelling to the precincts of the palace proper, where, because of numerous sentries and above all because of high walls, access to him was made difficult.
During the ten days which preceded his departure, representatives of all Egypt, if not of the whole world of that period, passed before the eyes of the new viceroy.
First of all were admitted great personages. Hence to congratulate him came the high priests of temples, ministers, ambassadors, Phoenician, Greek, Hebrew, Assyrian, Nubian, men whose dresses even he could not remember. Next came the chiefs of neighboring provinces, judges, secretaries, the higher officers of the army corps in Memphis, and landowners.
These people desired nothing, they simply expressed their delight at honor shown him. But the prince, while listening to these persons from morning till midday and from midday till evening, felt confusion in his head, and a quivering in all his members.
After these came representatives of the lower classes with gifts: merchants bringing gold, foreign stuffs, amber, fruits, and perfumes. Then bankers and men who loaned money for interest. Further, architects with plans for new buildings, sculptors with projects for statues and carvings in relief, masons, potters, makers of ordinary and ornamental furniture, blacksmiths, founders, tanners, wine-merchants, weavers, even dissectors who opened the bodies of the departed.
The procession of those men rendering homage had not finished when an army of petitioners approached the viceroy. Invalids, widows, and orphans of officers requested pensions; noble lords required court offices for their sons. Engineers presented new methods of irrigating Egypt; physicians offered means against diseases of all sorts; soothsayers offered horoscopes. Relatives of prisoners petitioned to lessen punishments; those condemned to death begged for life; the sick implored the heir to touch them, or to bestow on them his spittle.
Finally, beautiful women announced themselves, the mothers of stately daughters begging the heir humbly but insistently to receive them into his mansion. Some indicated the amount of the pension demanded, praising their virginity and their talents.
After ten days of looking every moment at new persons and faces, and hearing petitions which only the possession of a world and divine power to dispense it could satisfy, Prince Ramses was exhausted. He could not sleep; he was so excited that the buzz of a fly pained his nerves, and at moments he did not understand what people said when they talked to him.
In this position Herhor came again to assist the viceroy. He commanded to inform the wealthy that the prince would not receive any more persons on questions of interest; and against common people, who, in spite of repeated invitations to disperse, were still waiting, he sent a company of Numidians with clubs. These succeeded with incomparably more ease than Ramses in meeting popular wishes, for before an hour had passed the petitioners had vanished from the square, like mist, while one and another of them for a couple of succeeding days poured water on their heads, or other bruised parts of their bodies.
After this trial of supreme power the prince felt profound contempt for men and became apathetic. He lay two days on a couch with his hands beneath his head gazing vacantly at the ceiling. He did not wonder that his sacred father passed his time at the altars of the gods, but he could not understand how Herhor was able to manage the avalanche of business, which, like a storm, not only surpassed the strength of a man, but might even crush him.
"How carry out plans in this case when a throng of petitions fetter our will, devour our thoughts, drink our blood? At the end of ten days I am sick, at the end of a year I should be an idiot. In this office it is impossible to carry out any plan; a man can just defend himself from madness."
He was so alarmed by his weakness in the position of ruler that he summoned Herhor, and with a complaining voice told of his suffering.
The statesman listened with a smile to the complaints of the young steersman of the ship of state, and at last said in answer,
"Knowest thou, lord, that this immense palace in which we dwell was reared by one architect, named Senebi, who moreover died before it was finished? And to a certainty Thou wilt understand how this famous architect could carry out his plan without weariness and be always in a cheerful temper."
"I am curious."
"Well, he did not do everything himself; he did not hew the beams or cut the stones, he did not make the bricks, he did not carry them to the scaffolding. He did not lay them into the wall and fasten them together. He only drew the plan, and moreover he had assistants. But thou, prince, hadst the wish to do all things thyself, to listen in person and transact every business. That goes beyond human strength."
"How should I do otherwise if among petitioners there are some who have suffered without cause, or if there is unrewarded service? Of course the foundation of the state is justice."
"How many canst Thou hear in a day without weariness?" asked Herhor.
"Well, twenty."
"Thou art happy. I hear at the most six or ten, but they are not interested in the petitions, they are chief secretaries, overseers, and ministers. These men report to me no details, only the most important things that are done in the army, on the estates of the pharaoh, in questions of religion, in the courts, in the provinces, and touching movements of the Nile. Therefore they report no trivial matter, because each man before he comes to me must hear ten inferior secretaries. Each inferior secretary and overseer collected information from ten sub- secretaries and sub-inspectors, and they in their turn have heard reports from ten officials who are under them. In this manner I and his holiness speaking with only ten people daily know all that is most important in a hundred thousand points of Egypt and the world beyond it.
"The watchman in charge of one part of a street in Memphis sees only a few houses. A decurion of ten policemen knows the whole street, a centurion a division of the city, the chief knows all the city. The pharaoh stands above them all, as if he were standing on the highest pylon of the temple of Ptah, and sees not only Memphis, but the cities, Sochem, On, Cheran, Turra, Tetani, with their suburbs, and a portion of the western desert.
"From that height his holiness is unable, it is true, to see the people who are wronged, or those who are unrewarded, but he is able to see the crowd of laborers who have collected without work. He cannot see warriors in the dramshops, but he can know what regiment is exercising. He cannot see what a given earth-tiller or citizen is preparing for dinner, but he can see a fire beginning in a given quarter of the city.
"This order in the state," continued Herhor, with growing animation, "is our strength and glory. Snofru, a pharaoh of the first dynasty, asked a certain priest what monument he should rear to himself.
"'Draw on the earth, O lord,' replied the priest, 'a square, and put on it six million unhewn stones; they will represent the people. On that foundation place sixty thousand hewn stones; they will be the lower officials. On them place six thousand polished stones; they will be thy higher officials. On these put sixty covered with carvings; those will be thy most intimate counselors and chief leaders, and on the summit place one monolith with its pedestal and the golden image of the sun; that will be thyself.'
"The Pharaoh Snofru followed that advice. Thus rose the oldest pyramid, the step pyramid, a tangible image of our state; from that pyramid all others had their origin. Those are immovable buildings, from the summits of which the rim of the world is visible, and they will be a marvel to the remotest generations.
"In this system resides our superiority over all neighbors. The Ethiopians were as numerous as we, but their king himself took care of his own cattle, and beat his own subjects with a club; he knew not how many subjects he had, nor was he able to collect them when our troops invaded his country. There was not a united Ethiopia, but a great crowd of unorganized people. For that reason they are our vassals at present.
"The Prince of Libya judges all disputes himself, especially among the wealthy, and gives so much time to them that he cannot attend to his own business. So at his side whole bands of robbers rise up; these we exterminate.
"Were there in Phoenicia a single ruler who knew what was happening and who commanded in all parts, that country would not pay us one uten of tribute. But what a happiness for us that the kings of Nineveh and Babylon have each only one minister, and are tormented with the onrush of business as Thou art this day. They wish to see, judge, and command everything; hence the affairs of their states are entangled for a century to come. But were some insignificant scribe to go from Egypt to those kings, explain their errors of management, and give them our official system, our pyramid, in a year's time Judaea and Phoenicia would fall into the hands of the Assyrians, and in a few tens of years powerful armies, coming from the East and the North by laud and by sea, would hurl themselves on us, armies which we might not be able to vanquish."
"Therefore let us fall on them today and take advantage of their want of order," cried Ramses.
"We are not cured yet of previous victories," answered Herhor, coldly; and he began to take leave of the viceroy.
"Have victories weakened us?" burst out the heir. "Or have we not brought home treasures?"
"But does not the axe with which we cut wood become blunted?" inquired
Herhor; and he went out.
The prince understood that the great minister wished peace at all costs, in spite of the fact that he was chief of the armies.
"We shall see," whispered Ramses to himself.
A couple of days before his departure Ramses was summoned to his holiness. The pharaoh was sitting in an armchair in a marble hall; no other person was present, and the four entrances were guarded by Nubian sentries.
At the side of the royal armchair was a stool for the prince, and a small table covered with documents written on papyrus. On the walls were colored bas-reliefs showing the occupations of field-workers, and in the comers of the hall were ungraceful statues of Osiris smiling pensively.
When the prince at command of his father sat down, his holiness spoke to him,
"Here, my son, are thy documents as leader and viceroy. Well, have the first days of power wearied thee?"
"In thy service, holiness, I shall find strength."
"Flatterer!" said the pharaoh, smiling. "Remember that I do not require overwork on thy part. Amuse thyself; youth needs recreation. This does not mean, however, that Thou art not to have important affairs to manage."
"I am ready."
"First I will disclose my cares to thee. Our treasury has a bad aspect; the inflow of revenue decreases yearly, especially in Lower Egypt, and expenditures are rising."
The pharaoh fell to thinking.
"Those women those women, Ramses, they swallow up the wealth, not of mortal men only, but my wealth. I have some hundreds of them, and each woman wishes to have as many maids as possible, as many dressmakers, barbers, slaves, slaves for her litter, slaves for her chamber, horses, oarsmen, even her own favorites and their children Little children! When I was returning from Thebes one of those ladies, whom I do not even remember, ran into my road and, showing a sturdy boy of three years, desired that I should designate for him a property, since he was, as she said, a son of mine. My son, and three years of age. Canst Thou understand this? The affair was simple. I could not argue with a woman, besides, in such a delicate question. But for a man of noble birth it is easier to be polite than find money for every fancy of that sort."
He shook his head and continued,
"Meanwhile incomes since the beginning of my reign have decreased one- half, especially in Lower Egypt. I ask what this means. They answer: people have grown poor, many citizens have disappeared, the sea has covered a certain extent of land on the north, and the desert on the east, we have had a number of bad harvests; in a word, tale follows tale while the treasury becomes poorer and poorer. Therefore I beg thee to explain this matter. Look about, learn to know well-informed men who are truthful, and form of them an examining commission. When they begin to report, trust not over-much to papyrus, but verify here and there in person. I hear that Thou hast the eye of a leader; if that be true, one glance will tell thee how accurate the statements of the commission are. But hasten not in giving thy opinion, and above all, do not herald it. Note down every weighty conclusion which conies to thy head on a given day, and when a few days have passed reexamine that question and note it down a second time. This will teach thee caution in judgment and accuracy in grasping subjects."
"It will be as Thou commandest," replied the prince.
"Another mission which Thou must accomplish is truly difficult. Something is happening in Assyria which begins to alarm my government. Our priests declare that beyond the Northern sea stands a pyramidal mountain covered with green at its base and with snow on the summit. This mountain has marvelous qualities. After many years of quiet it begins all at once to smoke, roar, and tremble, and then it hurls out as much liquid fire as there is water in the Nile. This fire, which flows down its sides in various directions and over an immense stretch of country, ruins the labor of earth-tillers.
"Well, Assyria is a mountain of that sort. For whole ages calm and quiet reign in that region, till all on a sudden a tempest bursts out there, great armies pour forth from it and annihilate peaceful neighbors. At present around Nineveh and Babylon seething is audible: the mountain is smoking. Thou must learn therefore how far that smoke indicates an outburst, and think out means of precaution."
"Shall I be able to do so?" asked the prince, in a low voice.
"Thou must learn to observe. If Thou hast the wish to learn anything well, be not satisfied with the witness of thy own eyes, but strengthen thyself with the aid of a number of others. Confine not thyself to the judgment of Egyptians alone, for each people, each man has a special way of looking at subjects, and neither one grasps the whole truth in any question. Listen therefore to what the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the Hittites, and the Egyptians think of the Assyrians, and weigh in thy own heart with care all that agrees in their judgments concerning Assyria. If all tell thee that danger is coming from that point, Thou wilt know that it is coming; but if different men speak variously, be on thy guard also, for wisdom commands us to look for less good and more evil."
"Thy speech is like that of the gods," whispered the heir of Egypt,
"I am old, and from the height of the throne things are seen of which mortal men have not even a suspicion. Wert Thou to inquire of the sun what he thinks of this world's affairs, he would tell thee things still more curious."
"Among the people from whom I am to gain knowledge of Assyria, Thou hast not mentioned the Greeks, O father," put in Ramses.
The pharaoh nodded, and said with a kindly smile,
"The Greeks! oh, the Greeks! A great future is in store for that people. In comparison with us they are in childhood, but what a spirit is in them!
"Dost remember my statue made by a Greek sculptor? That is my second self, a living person! I kept it a month in the palace, but at last I gave it to the temple in Thebes. Wilt Thou believe, fear seized me lest that stone should rise from its seat and claim one-half of the government. What a disorder would rise then in Egypt!
"The Greeks! Hast Thou seen the vases which they make, the palaces which they build? From that clay out there and from stone something comes that delights my old age and forbids me to think of my feebleness.
"And their language! O gods, it is music and sculpture and painting. In truth, I say that if Egypt could ever die as a man dies, the Greeks would take all its property. Nay more, they would persuade the world that everything done by us was their work, and that we never existed. And still they are only the pupils of our primary schools, for, as Thou knowest, we have no right to communicate the highest knowledge to foreigners."
"Still, father, it seems that Thou hast no trust in the Greeks."
"No, for they are peculiar; one can trust neither Greek nor Phoenician. The Phoenician, when he wishes, sees and will tell thee genuine truth of Egypt, but Thou wilt never know when he is telling it. The Greek, as simple as a child, would tell the truth always, but he is never able.
"The Greeks look at the world in a manner different altogether from our way. In their wonderful eyes everything glitters, assumes colors and changes, as the sky and the water of Egypt. How then could we rely on their judgment?
"In the days of the Theban dynasty, far away toward the north, was the little town of Troy. We have in Egypt twenty thousand as large as it. Various Greek vagrants laid siege to that hamlet, and so annoyed its few inhabitants that after ten years of trouble they burned their little fortress and moved to other places. An every-day robber narrative! Meanwhile just see what songs the Greeks sing of the Trojan combats. We laugh at those wonders and heroisms, for our government had accurate information of events there. We see the lies which strike any one, but still we listen to those songs, as a child does to tales which its nurse tells, and we cannot tear ourselves free from them.
"Such are the Greeks: born liars, but fascinating; yes, and valiant. Every man of them would rather die than tell truth. They do not lie for profit, as do the Phoenicians, but because their mind constrains them."
"Well, what am I to think of the Phoenicians?"
"They are wise people of mighty industry and daring, but hucksters: for them life means profit, be it great or the greatest. The Phoenicians are like water: they bring much with them, but bear away much, and push in at all points. One must give them the least possible, and above all watch that they enter not through hidden crannies into Egypt. If Thou pay them well and offer hope of still greater profit, they will be excellent assistants. What we know today of secret movements in Assyria we know through Phoenicians."
"And the Jews?" asked the prince, dropping his eyes.
"A quick people, but gloomy fanatics and born enemies of Egypt. Only when they feel on their necks the iron-shod sandal of the Assyrian, will they turn to us. May that time not come too late to them! It is possible to use their services, not here, of course, but in Nineveh and Babylon."
The pharaoh was wearied now. Hence the prince fell on his face before him, and when he had received the paternal embrace he went to his mother.
The lady, sitting in her study, was weaving delicate linen to make garments for the gods, and her ladies in waiting were sewing and embroidering robes or making bouquets. A young priest was burning incense before the statue of Isis.
"I come," said the prince, "to thank thee, my mother, and take farewell."
The queen rose and putting her arms around her son's neck, said to him tearfully,
"Hast Thou changed so much? Thou art a man now! I meet thee so rarely that I might forget thy features did I not see them in my heart every moment. Thou art unkind. How many times have I gone with the first dignitary of the state toward thy villa, thinking that at last Thou wouldst cease to be offended, but Thou didst bring out thy favorite in my presence."
"I beg thy pardon I beg thy pardon!" said Ramses, kissing his mother.
She conducted him to a garden in which peculiar flowers grew, and when they were without witnesses, she said,
"I am a woman, so a woman and a mother has interest for me. Dost Thou wish to take that girl with thee on thy journey? Remember that the tumult and the movement which will surround thee may harm her, for in her condition calm and quiet are needed."
"Art Thou speaking of Sarah?" inquired Ramses, astonished. "She has said nothing to me of that condition."
"She may be ashamed; perhaps she does not herself know," replied the queen. "In every case the journey."
"I have no intention of taking her!" exclaimed Ramses. "But why does she hide this from me as if the child were not mine?"
"Be not suspicious," chided the lady. "This is the usual timidity of young women. Moreover, she may be hiding her condition from fear lest Thou cast her away from thee."
"For that matter, I shall not take her to my court!" broke out the prince, so impatiently that the queen's eyes were smiling, but she covered them with their long lashes.
"It is not well to be over-harsh with a woman who loved thee. I know that Thou hast given an assured support to her. We will give her something also. And a child of the royal blood must be reared well, and have property."
"Naturally," answered Ramses. "My first son, though without princely rights, must be so placed that I may not be ashamed of him, and he must not regret separation from me."
After parting with the queen, Ramses wished to go to Sarah, and with that object returned to his chambers.
Two feelings were roused in him, anger at Sarah for hiding the cause of her weakness, and pride that he was going to be a father.
He a father! This title gave him an importance which, as it were, supported his titles of commander and viceroy. Father! that did not mean a stripling who must look perforce with reverence on older people.
He was roused and enraptured. He wished to see Sarah, to scold, then embrace her and give her presents.
But when he returned to his part of the palace he found there two nomarchs from Lower Egypt who had come to report on their provinces, and when he had heard them out, he was wearied. Besides, he was to hold an evening reception and did not wish to be late in beginning.
"And again I shall not be with her," thought he. "Poor girl! for twenty days she has not seen me."
He summoned the negro.
"Hast Thou that cage which Sarah gave thee when we went to greet his holiness?"
"I have."
"Take a pigeon from it, and let the bird loose."
"The pigeons are eaten."
"Who ate them?"
"Thou. I told the cook that those birds came from the Lady Sarah; so he made a roast and pies out of them for thee, worthiness."
"May the crocodiles eat you both!" cried the prince, in anger.
He sent for Tutmosis and dispatched him immediately to Sarah. He explained to him the history of the pigeons, and said,
"Give her emerald earrings, bracelets, anklets, and two talents. Say that I am angry because she concealed her condition, but that I will forgive her if the child is healthy and handsome. Should she have a boy, I will give her another place," finished he, with a smile. "But but persuade her to put away even a few Jews, and to take even a few Egyptian men and women. I do not wish my son to be born into such company; besides, he might play with Jew children. They would teach him to give his father the worst dates of the harvest."
CHAPTER XIX
THE foreign quarter in Memphis lay on the northeastern extremity of the city near the river. There were several hundred houses in that place and many thousand people, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, most of all, Phoenicians.
That was a wealthy quarter. A street thirty paces in width formed its leading artery. This street was rather straight, and paved with flat stones. On both sides were houses of sandstone, brick, or limestone, varying in height from three to five stories. In the cellars were stores of raw materials; on the ground floors were arched rooms; on the first stories dwellings of wealthy people; higher were the workshops of weavers, tailors, jewelers; highest of all, the crowded dwellings of laborers.
The buildings of this quarter, like those in the whole city, were mainly white; but one might see stone houses as green as a meadow, as yellow as a wheat-field, as blue as the sky. or as red as blood.
The front walls of many houses were ornamented with pictures representing the occupations of people who dwelt in them. On the house of a jeweler long rows of pictures announced that its owner sold to foreign kings chains and bracelets of his own making which roused their amazement. The immense palace of a merchant was covered with pictures representing the labors and perils of a trafficker: on the sea dreadful monsters with fish tails were seizing the man; in the desert winged dragons breathing fire were grasping after him, and on distant islands he was tormented by a giant whose sandals were larger than any ship of the Phoenicians.
A physician on the wall of his office represented persons who, thanks to his aid, had recovered lost hands and feet, even teeth and youthfulness. On a building occupied by a government administrator of the quarter were to be seen a keg into which people were throwing gold rings; a scribe into whose ears some one was whispering; an offender, stretched on the ground, whom two other men were beating.
The street was full. Along the walls stood litter-bearers, men with fans, messengers and laborers, ready to offer their services. In the middle of the street moved an unbroken line of merchants' wares carried by men, asses, or oxen attached to vehicles. On the sidewalks pushed forward noisy sellers of fresh water, grapes, dates, dried fish, and among them hucksters, flower-girls, musicians, and tricksters of various descriptions.
In this torrent of people which flowed forward and separated, in which men bought and sold, crying out in various tones, policemen were prominent. Each had a brownish tunic reaching to his knees, bare legs, an apron with blue and red stripes, a short sword at his side, and a strong stick in his hand. This official walked along on the sidewalk; sometimes he conversed with a colleague; most frequently, however, he stood on a stone at the edge of the street, so as to take in more accurately the crowd which flowed past in front of him.
In view of such watchfulness street thieves had to do their work cleverly. Usually two began to fight, and when a crowd had gathered around them and the police clubbed both spectators and quarrelers, other confederates in the art did the stealing.
About half-way between the two ends of the street stood the inn of Asarhadon, a Phoenician from Tyre. In this inn, for easier control, all were forced to dwell who came from beyond the boundaries of Egypt. It was a large quadrangular building which on each side had a number of tens of windows, and was not connected with other houses; hence men could go around the place and watch it from all points. Over the principal gate hung the model of a ship; on the front wall were pictures representing his holiness Ramses XII placing offerings before the gods, or extending his protection to foreigners, among whom the Phoenicians were distinguished by a sturdy stature and very ruddy faces.
The windows were narrow, always open, and only in case of need shaded by curtains of linen or by colored slats. The chambers of the innkeeper and of travelers occupied three stories; the ground floor was devoted to a wine shop and an eating-place. Sailors, carriers, handicraftsmen, and in general the poorer class of travelers ate and drank in a courtyard which had a mosaic pavement and a linen roof resting on columns, so that all guests might be under inspection. The wealthier and better born ate in a gallery which surrounded the courtyard. In the courtyard the men sat on the pavement near stones which were used instead of tables; in the galleries, which were cooler, there were tables, stools, and armchairs, even low couches, with cushions, on which guests might slumber.
In each gallery there was a great table on which were bread, meat, fish, and fruits, also jugs holding several quarts of beer, wine, and water. Negroes, men and women, bore around food to the guests, removed empty vessels, and brought from the cellars full pitchers, while scribes watching scrupulously over the tables noted down carefully each piece of bread, bulb of garlic, and flagon of water. In the courtyard two inspectors stood on an elevation with sticks in their grasp; these men kept their eyes on the servants and the scribes on the one hand, and on the other by the aid of the sticks they settled quarrels between the poorer guests of various nations. Thanks to this arrangement thefts and battles happened rarely; they were more frequent in the galleries than the courtyard.
The Phoenician innkeeper himself, the noted Asarhadon, a man beyond fifty, dressed in a long tunic and a muslin cape, walked among the guests to see if each received what he had ordered.
"Eat and drink, my sons!" said he to the Greek sailors, "for such pork and beer there is not in all the world as I have. I hear that a storm struck your ship about Rafia? Ye should give a bounteous offering to the gods for preserving you. In Memphis a man might not see a storm all his life, but at sea it is easier to meet lightning than a copper uten. I have mead, flour, incense for holy sacrifices, and here, in the corner, stand the gods of all nations. In my inn a man may still his hunger and be pious for very slight charges."
He turned and went to the gallery among the merchants. "Eat and drink, worthy lords," incited he, making obeisance. "The times are good. The most worthy heir may he live for ever! is going to Pi-Bast with an enormous retinue, but from the upper kingdom a transport of gold has come, of which more than one of you will win a good portion. I have partridges, young goslings, fish direct from the river, perfect roast venison. And what wine they have sent me from Cyprus! May I be turned into a Jew if a goblet of that luxury is not worth two drachmas, but to you, my benefactors and fathers, I will give it today for one drachma, only today, to make a beginning."
"Give it for half a drachma a goblet, and we will taste it," said one of the merchants.
"Half a drachma!" repeated the host. "Sooner will the Nile flow upward toward Thebes than I give such sweetness for half a drachma, unless I do it for thee, Lord Belezis, who art the pearl of Sidon. Hei, slaves! bring to our benefactors the largest pitcher of wine from Cyprus."
When the innkeeper had walked on, the merchant named Belezis said to his companions,
"May my hand wither if that wine is worth half a drachma! But never mind! We shall have less trouble with the police hereafter."
Conversation with guests of all nations and conditions did not prevent the host from looking at the scribes who noted down food and drink, at the watchman who stared at the scribes and the servants, and above all at a traveler who had seated himself on cushions in the front gallery, with his feet under him, and who was dozing over a handful of dates and a goblet of pure water. That traveler was about forty years old, he had abundant hair and beard of raven color, thoughtful eyes, and wonderfully noble features which seemed never to have been wrinkled by anger or distorted by fear.
"That is a dangerous rat!" thought the innkeeper, frowning. "He has the look of a priest, but he wears a dark coat. He has left gold and jewels with me to the value of a talent, and he neither eats meat nor drinks wine. He must be a great prophet or a very great criminal."
Two naked serpent tamers came into the courtyard bearing a basket full of poisonous reptiles, and began their exhibition. The younger one played on a flute, while the elder wound around his body snakes big and little, any one of which would have sufficed to drive away guests from the inn "Under the Ship."
The flute-player gave out shriller and shriller notes; the serpent- tamer squirmed, foamed at the mouth, quivered convulsively, and irritated the reptiles till one of them bit him on the hand, another on the face, while he swallowed alive a third one, the smallest.
The guests and the servants looked at the exhibition of the serpent- tamer with alarm. They trembled when he irritated the reptiles, they closed their eyes when they bit him; but when the performer swallowed one of the snakes, they howled with delight and wonder.
The traveler in the front gallery, however, did not leave his cushions, he did not deign even to look at the exhibition. But when the tamer approached for pay, he threw to the pavement two copper utens, giving a sign with his hand not to come nearer.
The exhibition lasted half an hour perhaps. When the performers left the courtyard, a negro attending to the chambers of the inn rushed up to the host and whispered something anxiously. After that, it was unknown whence, a decurion of the police appeared, and when he had conducted Asarhadon to a remote window, he conversed long with him. The worthy owner of the inn beat his breast, clasped his hands, or seized his head. At last he kicked the black man in the belly, and commanded him to give the police official a roast goose and a pitcher of Cyprus wine; then he approached the guest in the front gallery, who seemed to doze there un brokenly, though his eyes were open.
"I have evil news for thee, worthy lord," said the host, sitting at the side of the traveler.
"The gods send rain and sadness on people whenever it pleases them," replied the guest, with indifference.
"While we were looking at the snake-tamers," continued the host, pulling at his parti-colored beard, "thieves reached the second story and stole thy effects, three bags and a casket, of course very precious."
"Thou must inform the court of my loss."
"Wherefore the court?" whispered the host. "With us thieves have a guild of their own. We will send for their elder, and value the effects; Thou wilt pay him twenty per cent of the value and all will be found again. I can assist thee."
"In my country," replied the guest, "no man compounds with thieves, and
I will not. I lodge with thee, I trusted thee with my property, and
Thou wilt answer."
The worthy Asarhadon began to scratch his shoulder-blades.
"Man of a distant region," continued he, in a lower voice, "ye Hittites and we Phoenicians are brothers, hence I advise thee sincerely not to turn to an Egyptian court, for it has only one door, that by which a man enters, but none by which he goes out."
"The gods can conduct an innocent man through a wall," said the
Hittite.
"Innocent! Who of us in the land of bondage is innocent?" whispered the host. "Look in that direction; over there that commander of ten policemen is finishing a goose, an excellent young goose, which I myself would have eaten gladly. But dost Thou know why, taking it from my own mouth, I gave that goose to him?"
"It was because the man came to inquire about thee."
When he said this, the Phoenician looked askance at the traveler, who did not lose calmness for an instant.
"He asked me," continued the host, "that master of ten policemen asked, 'What sort of man is that black one who sits two hours over a handful of dates?' I replied: 'A very honorable man, the lord Phut.' 'Whence comes he?' 'From the country of the Hittites, from the city of Harran; he has a good house there of three stories, and much land.' 'Why has he come hither?' 'He has come,' I replied, 'to receive five talents from a certain priest, talents lent by his father.'
"And dost Thou know, worthy lord," continued the innkeeper, "what that decurion answered? 'Asarhadon,' said he, 'I know that Thou art a faithful servant of his holiness, Thou hast good food and pure wines; for this reason I warn thee, look to thyself. Have a care of foreigners who make no acquaintances, who avoid wine and every amusement, and are silent. That Phut of Harran may be an Assyrian spy.' The heart died in the when I heard this. But these words do not affect thee," said he, indignantly, when he saw that the terrible suspicion of espionage did not disturb the calm face of the Hittite.
"Asarhadon," said the guest, after a while, "I confided to thee myself and my property. See to it, therefore, that my bags and my casket are returned to me, for in the opposite case I shall complain of thee to that same chief of tea who is eating the goose which was intended for thee."
"Well, but permit me to pay the thieves only fifteen per cent of the value of the things," cried the host.
"Thou hast no right to pay."
"Give them even thirty drachmas."
"Not an uten."
"Give the poor fellows even ten drachmas."
"Go in peace, Asarhadon, and beg the gods to return thee thy reason," answered the traveler, with the same unchanging calmness.
The host sprang up, panting from anger.
"The reptile!" thought he. "He has not come for a debt simply. He is doing some business here. My heart tells me that he is a rich merchant, or maybe an innkeeper who, in company with priests and judges, will open another inn somewhere near this one. May the first fire of heaven burn thee! May the leprosy devour thee! Miser, deceiver, criminal from whom an honest man can make nothing."
The worthy Asarhadon had not succeeded yet in calming himself when the sounds of a flute and a drum were heard on the street, and after a while four dancers, almost naked, rushed into the courtyard. The carriers and sailors greeted them with shouts of delight, and even important merchants in the galleries looked at them with curiosity and made remarks on their beauty. The dancers with motions of the hands and with smiles greeted all the company. One began to play on a double flute, another accompanied with a drum, and the two others danced around the court in such fashion that there was hardly a guest whom their muslin shawls did not strike as they whirled.
Those who were drinking began to sing, shout, and call to the dancers, while among the common herd a quarrel sprang up which the inspectors settled with canes. A certain Libyan, angered at sight of the canes, drew a knife, but two black men seized his arms, took from him some bronze rings as pay for food, and hurled him out to the street. Meanwhile one of the dancers remained with the sailors, two went among the merchants who offered them wine and cakes, and the oldest passed among the tables to make a collection.