In an adjoining apartment the priests offered up, till the following sunrise, silent prayers to the soul of the pharaoh, which found itself among gods during the sleep of the sovereign. They laid before it their prayers for a favorable transaction of current state business, for guardianship over the boundaries of Egypt, and over the tombs of the pharaohs, so that no thief might dare to enter in and disturb the endless rest of those potentates. But the prayers of the priests, because of night weariness, surely, were not always effectual, for state difficulties increased, and sacred tombs were robbed, not only of costly objects, but even of the mummies of sovereigns.
This was because various foreigners had settled in the country and unbelievers from whom the people learned to disregard the gods of Egypt and the most sacred places.
The repose of the lord of lords was interrupted exactly at midnight. At that hour the astrologers roused his holiness and informed him in what mansion the moon was, what planets were shining above the horizon, what constellations were passing the meridian and whether in general something peculiar had taken place in heavenly regions. For sometimes clouds appeared or stars fell in greater number than usual, or a fiery ball flew over Egypt.
The lord listened to the report of the astrologers. In case of any unusual phenomenon he pacified them concerning the safety of the world, and commanded to write down all observations on appropriate tablets, which were sent every month to priests of the temple of the Sphinx, the greatest sages in Egypt. Those men drew conclusions from those tablets, but the most important they declared to no one, unless to their colleagues the Chaldean priests in Babylon.
After midnight his holiness might sleep till the morning cockcrow if he thought proper.
Such a pious and laborious life had been led, not more than half a year ago, by this kind, divine person, the distributor of protection, life, and health, who watched day and night over the earth and the sky, over the world both visible and invisible. But for the last half year his eternally living soul had begun to be more and more wearied with earthly questions, and with its bodily envelope. There were long days when he ate nothing, and nights during which he had no sleep whatever. Sometimes during an audience, there appeared on his mild face an expression of deep pain, while oftener and oftener, he fainted.
The terrified Queen Niort's, the most worthy Herhor and the priests, asked the sovereign repeatedly whether anything pained him. But the lord shrugged his shoulders, and was silent, fulfilling always his burdensome duties.
Then the court physicians began imperceptibly to give the most powerful remedies to restore strength to him. They mixed in his wine and food at first the ashes of a burnt horse and a bull; later of a lion, a rhinoceros, and an elephant; but these strong remedies seemed to have no effect whatever. His holiness fainted so frequently that they ceased to read reports to him.
On a certain day the worthy Herhor with the queen and the priests, fell on their faces; they implored the lord to permit them to examine his divine body. He consented. The physicians examined and struck him, but found no worse sign than great emaciation.
"What feelings dost Thou experience, holiness?" inquired at last the wisest physician.
The pharaoh smiled.
"I feel," replied he, "that it is time for me to return to my radiant father."
"Thou canst not do that, holiness, without the greatest harm to thy people," said Herhor, hurriedly.
"I leave you my son, Ramses, who is a lion and an eagle in one person. And in truth, if ye will obey him, he will prepare for Egypt such a fate as the world has not heard of since the beginning of ages."
A chill passed through holy Herhor and the other priests at that promise. They knew that the heir to the throne was a lion and an eagle in one person, and that they must obey him. But they would have preferred to have for long years that kindly lord, whose heart, filled with compassion, was like the north wind which brings rain to the fields and coolness to mankind. Therefore they fell down all of them as one man to the pavement, groaning, and they lay prostrate till the pharaoh consented to let himself be treated.
Then the physicians took him out for a whole day to the gardens, among frequent pine-trees, they nourished him with chopped meat; they gave him strong herbs with milk and old wine. These effective means strengthened his holiness for something like a week yet; then a new faintness announced itself, and to overcome that they forced their lord to drink the fresh blood of calves descended from Apes.
But neither did this blood help for a long time, and they found it needful to turn for advice to the high priest of the temple of the wicked god Set.
Amid general fear, the gloomy priest entered the bedchamber of his holiness. He looked at the sick pharaoh and prescribed a dreadful remedy.
"It is needful," said he, "to give the pharaoh blood of innocent children to drink; each day a full goblet."
The priests and magnates in the chamber were dumb when they heard this prescription. Then they whispered that the children of earth-tillers were best for the purpose, since the children of priests and great lords lost their innocence even in infancy.
"It is all one to me whose children they are," said the cruel priest, "if only his holiness has fresh blood given him daily."
The pharaoh, lying on the bed with closed eyes, heard that gory counsel, and the whispers of the frightened courtiers. And when one of the physicians asked Herhor timidly if it were possible to take measures to seek proper children, Ramses XII recovered. He fixed his wise eyes on those present,
"The crocodile will not devour its own little ones," said he, "a jackal or a hyena will give its life for its whelps, and am I to drink the blood of Egyptian infants, who are my children? Indeed, I never could have believed that anyone would dare to prescribe means so unworthy."
The priest of the evil god fell to the pavement, and explained that in
Egypt no one had ever drunk the blood of infants but that the infernal
powers returned health by it. Such means at least were used in
Phoenicia and Assyria.
"Shame on thee!" replied the pharaoh, "for mentioning in the palace of Egyptian sovereigns disgusting subjects. Knowest Thou not that Phoenicians and Assyrians are barbarous? But among us the most unenlightened earth-tiller would not believe that blood, shed without cause, could be of service to any one."
Thus spoke he who was equal to immortals. The courtiers covered their faces, spotted now with shame, and the high priest of Set went silently out of the chamber.
Then Herhor, to save the quenching life of the sovereign, had recourse to the last means, and told the pharaoh that in one of the Theban temples, Beroes, the Chaldean, lived in secret. He was the wisest priest of Babylon a miracle worker without equal.
"For thee, holiness," said Herhor, "that sage is a stranger, and he has not the right to impart such important advice to the lord of Egypt. But, O Pharaoh, permit him to look at thee. I am sure that he will find a medicine to cure thy illness, and in no case will he offend thee by impious expressions."
The pharaoh yielded this time also to persuasions from his faithful servitors. And in two days Beroes, summoned in some mysterious way, was sailing down toward Memphis.
The wise Chaldean, even without examining the pharaoh minutely, gave this counsel,
"We must find a person in Egypt whose prayers reach the throne of the Highest. And if this person prays sincerely for the pharaoh, the sovereign will receive his health and live for long years in strength again."
On hearing these words the pharaoh looked at the priests surrounding him, and said,
"I see here holy men in such numbers that, if one of them thinks of me,
I shall be in health again." And he smiled imperceptibly.
"We are all only men," interrupted Beroes; "hence our souls cannot always rise to the footstool of Him who existed before the ages. But, holiness, I will use an infallible method by which to find a man whose prayers have the utmost sincerity, and the highest effect."
"Discover him, so that he may be a friend to me in my last hour of life," said the pharaoh.
After this favorable answer the Chaldean desired a room with a single door, and unoccupied. And that same day, one hour before sunset, he asked that his holiness be borne into that chamber.
At the appointed hour four of the highest priests dressed the pharaoh in a robe of new linen, pronounced a great prayer above him, this prayer expelled every evil power absolutely, and seating him in a litter they bore him to that simple chamber where there was but one small table.
Beroes was there already, and, looking toward the east, was praying.
When the priests had left the chamber the Chaldean closed the heavy door, put a purple scarf on his arm and placed a glass globe of black color on the table before the pharaoh. In his left hand he held a sharp dagger of Babylonian steel, in his right a staff covered with mysterious signs, and with that staff he described in the air a circle about himself and the pharaoh. Then facing in turn the four quarters of the world, he whispered,
"Amorul, Taneha, Latisten, Rabur, Adonay have pity on me and purify me, O heavenly Father, the compassionate and gracious. Pour down on thy unworthy servant thy sacred blessing, and extend thy almighty arm against stubborn and rebellious spirits, so that I may consider thy sacred work calmly."
He stopped and turned to the pharaoh,
"Mer-Amen-Ramses, high priest of Amon, dost Thou distinguish a spark in that black globe?"
"I see a white spark which seems to move like a bee above a flower."
"Mer-Amen-Ramses, look at that spark and take not thy eyes from it. Look neither to the right nor the left, look not on anything whatever which may come from the sides."
And again he whispered,
"Baralanensis, Baldachiensis, by the mighty princes Genio, Lachidae, the ministers of the infernal kingdom, I summon you, I call you through the strength of Supreme Majesty, by which I am gifted, I adjure, I command!"
At that place the pharaoh started up with aversion.
"Mer-Amen-Ramses, what seest thou?" asked the Chaldean.
"From beyond the globe rises some horrid head reddish hair is standing on end; a face of greenish hue; the eye looking down so that only the white of it is visible; the mouth open widely, as if to shriek."
"That is Terror!" cried Beroes, and he held his sharp dagger point above the globe.
Suddenly the pharaoh bent to the earth.
"Enough!" cried he, "why torment me thus? The wearied body seeks rest, the soul longs to be in the region of endless light. But not only will ye not let me die; ye are inventing new torments. Oh, I wish not."
"What dost Thou see?"
"From the ceiling every instant two spider legs lower themselves they are terrible. As thick as palm trunks; shaggy with hooks at the ends of them. I feel that above my head is a spider of immense size, and he is binding me with a web of ship ropes."
Beroes turned his dagger point upward.
"Mer-Amen-Ramses," said he again, "look ever at the spark, and never at the sides. Here is a sign which I raise in thy presence," whispered he. "Here am I mightily armed with Divine aid, I, foreseeing and unterrified, who summon you with exorcisms Aye, Saraye, Aye, Saraye, Aye, Saraye in the name of the all-powerful, the all-mighty and everlasting divinity."
At that moment a calm smile appeared on the lips of the pharaoh.
"It seems to me," said he, "that I behold Egypt all Egypt. Yes! that is the Nile the desert. Here is Memphis, there Thebes."
Indeed he saw Egypt, all Egypt, but no larger than the path which extended through the garden of his palace. The wonderful picture had this trait, that when the Pharaoh turned more deliberate attention to any point of it, that point with its environments grew to be of real size almost.
The sun was going down, covering the earth with golden and purple light. Birds of the daytime were settling to sleep, the night birds were waking up in their concealments. In the desert hyenas and jackals were yawning, and the slumbering lion had begun to stretch his strong body and prepare to hunt victims.
The Nile fisherman drew forth his nets hastily, men were tying up at the shores the great transport barges. The wearied earth-worker removed from the sweep his bucket with which he had drawn water since sunrise; another returned slowly with the plough to his mud hovel. In cities they were lighting lamps, in the temples priests were assembling for evening devotions. On the highways the dust was settling down and the squeak of carts was growing silent. From the pylon summits shrill voices were heard calling people to prayer.
A moment later, the pharaoh saw with astonishment flocks of silvery birds over the earth everywhere. They were flying up out of palaces, temples streets, workshops, Nile barges, country huts, even from the quarries. At first each of them shot upward like an arrow, but soon it met in the sky another silvery feathered bird, which stopped its way, striking it with all force and both fell to the earth lifeless.
Those were the unworthy prayers of men, which prevented each other from reaching the throne of Him who existed before the ages.
The pharaoh strained his hearing. At first only the rustle of wings reached him, but soon he distinguished words also.
And now he heard a sick man praying for the return of his health, and also the physician, who begged that that same patient might be sick as long as possible. The landowner prayed Amon to watch over his granary and cow-house, the thief stretched his hands heavenward so that he might lead forth another man's cow without hindrance, and fill his own bags from another man's harvest.
Their prayers knocked each other down like stones which had been hurled from slings and had met in the air.
The wanderer in the desert fell on the sand and begged for a north wind, to bring a drop of rain to him, the sailor on the sea beat the deck with his forehead and prayed that wind might blow from the east a week longer. The earth-worker wished that swamps might dry up quickly after inundation; the needy fisherman begged that the swamps might not dry up at any time.
Their prayers killed each other and never reached the divine ears of
Amon.
The greatest uproar reigned above the quarries where criminals, lashed together in chain gangs, split enormous rocks with wedges, wetted with water. There a party of day convicts prayed for the night, so that they might lie down to slumber; while parties of night toilers, roused by their overseers, beat their breasts, asking that the sun might not set at any hour. Merchants who purchased quarried and dressed stones prayed that there might be as many criminals in the quarries as possible, while provision contractors lay on their stomachs, sighing for the plague to kill laborers, and make their own profits as large as they might be.
So the prayers of men from the quarries did not reach the sky in any case.
On the western boundary the pharaoh saw two armies preparing for battle. Both were prostrate on the sand, calling on Amon to rub out the other side. The Libyans wished shame and death to Egyptians; the Egyptians hurled curses on the Libyans.
The prayers of these and of those, like two flocks of falcons, fought above the earth and fell dead in the desert. Amon did not even see them.
And whithersoever the pharaoh turned his wearied glance he saw the same picture everywhere. The laborers were praying for rest and decrease of taxes, scribes were praying that taxes might increase and work never be finished. The priests implored Amon for long life to Ramses XII and death to Phoenicians, who interfered with their interests; the nomarchs implored the gods to preserve the Phoenicians and let Ramses XIII ascend the throne at the earliest, for he would curb priestly tyranny. Lions, jackals, and hyenas were panting with hunger and desire for fresh blood; deer and rabbits slipped out of hiding-places, thinking to preserve wretched life a day longer, though experience declared that numbers of them must perish, even on that night, so that beasts of prey might not famish. So throughout the whole world reigned cross-purposes everywhere. Each wished that which filled others with terror; each begged for his own good, without asking if he did harm to the next man.
For this cause their prayers, though like silvery birds flying heavenward, did not reach their destination. And the divine Amon, to whom no voice of the earth came at any time, dropped his hands on his knees, and sank ever deeper in meditation over his own divinity, while on the earth blind force and chance ruled without interruption.
All at once the pharaoh heard the voice of a woman, "Rogue! Little rogue! come in, Thou unruly, it is time for prayers."
"This minute! this minute!" answered the voice of the little child.
The sovereign looked toward the point whence the voice came and saw the poor hut of a cattle scribe. The hut owner had finished his register in the light of the setting sun, his wife was grinding flour for a cake, and before the house, like a young kid, was running and jumping the six-year-old little boy, laughing, it was unknown for what reason.
The evening air full of sweetness had given him delight, that was evident.
"Rogue! Little rogue! come here to me for a prayer," repeated the woman.
"This minute! this minute!"
And again he ran with delight as if wild.
At last the mother, seeing that the sun was beginning to sink in the sands of the desert, put away her mill stones, and, going out, seized the boy, who raced around like a little colt. He resisted but gave way to superior force finally. The mother, drawing him to the hut as quickly as possible, held him with her hand so that he might not escape from her.
"Do not twist," said she, "put thy feet under thee, sit upright, put thy hands together and raise them upward. Ah, Thou bad boy!"
The boy knew that he could not escape now; so to be free again as soon as possible he raised his eyes and hands heavenward piously, and with a thin squeaky voice, he said,
"O kind, divine Amon, I thank thee, Thou hast kept my papa today from misfortune, Thou hast given wheat for cakes to my mamma. What more? Thou hast made heaven. I thank thee. And the earth, and sent down the Nile which brings bread to us. And what more? Aha, I know now! And I thank thee because out-of-doors it is so beautiful, and flowers are growing there, and birds singing and the palms give us sweet dates. For these good things which Thou hast given us, may all love thee as I do, and praise thee better than I can, for I am a little boy yet and I have not learned wisdom. Well, is that enough, mamma?"
"Bad boy!" muttered the cattle scribe, bending over his register. "Bad boy! Thou art giving honor to Amon carelessly."
But the pharaoh in that magic globe saw now something altogether different. Behold the prayer of the delighted little boy rose, like a lark, toward the sky, and with fluttering wings it went higher and higher till it reached the throne where the eternal Amon with his hands on his knees was sunk in meditation on his own all-mightiness.
Then it went still higher, as high as the head of the divinity, and sang with the thin, childish little voice to him:
"And for those good things which Thou hast given us may all love thee as I do."
At these words the divinity, sunk in himself, opened his eyes there came to the earth immense calm. Every pain ceased, every fear, every wrong stopped. The whistling missile hung in the air, the lion stopped in his spring on the deer, the stick uplifted did not fall on the back of the captive. The sick man forgot his pains, the wanderer in the desert his hunger, the prisoner his chains. The storm ceased, and the wave of the sea, though ready to drown the ship, halted. And on the whole earth such rest settled down that the sun, just hiding on the horizon, thrust up his shining head again.
The pharaoh recovered. He saw before him a little table, on the table a black globe, at the side of it Beroes the Chaldean.
"Mer-Amen-Ramses," asked the priest, "hast Thou found a person whose prayers reach the footstool of Him who existed before the ages?"
"I have."
"Is he a prince, a noble, a prophet, or perhaps an ordinary hermit?"
"He is a little boy, six years old, who asked Amon for nothing, he only thanked him for everything."
"But dost Thou know where he dwells?" inquired the Chaldean.
"I know, but I will not steal for my own use the virtue of his prayer. The world, Beroes, is a gigantic vortex, in which people are whirled around like sand, and they are whirled by misfortune. That child with his prayer gives people what I cannot give: a brief space of peace and oblivion. Dost understand, O Chaldean?"
Beroes was silent.
CHAPTER XLIX
AT sunrise of the twenty-first of Hator there came from Memphis to the camp at the Soda Lakes an order by which three regiments were to march to Libya to stand garrison in the towns, the rest of the Egyptian army was to return home with Ramses.
The army greeted this arrangement with shouts of delight, for a stay of some days in the wilderness had begun to annoy them. In spite of supplies from Egypt and from conquered Libya, there was not an excess of provisions; water in the wells dug out quickly, was exhausted; the heat of the sun burned their bodies, and the ruddy sand wounded their lungs and their eyeballs. The warriors were falling ill of dysentery and a malignant inflammation of the eyelids.
Ramses commanded to raise the camp. He sent three native Egyptian regiments to Libya, commanding the soldiers to treat people mildly and never wander from the camp singly. The army proper he turned toward Memphis, leaving a small garrison at the glass huts and in the fortress.
About nine in the morning, in spite of the heat, both armies were on the road; one going northward, the other toward the south.
The holy Mentezufis approached the heir then, and said,
"It would be well, worthiness, couldst Thou reach Memphis earlier.
There will be fresh horses half-way."
"Then my father is very ill?" cried out Ramses.
The priest bent his head.
The prince gave command to Mentezufis, begging him to change in no way commands already made, unless he counseled with lay generals. Taking Pentuer, Tutmosis, and twenty of the best Asiatic horsemen, he went himself on a sharp trot toward Memphis.
In five hours they passed half the journey; at the halt, as Mentezufis had declared, were fresh horses and a new escort. The Asiatics remained at that point, and after a short rest the prince with his two companions and a new escort went farther.
"Woe to me!" said Tutmosis. "It is not enough that for five days I have not bathed and know not rose perfumed oil, but besides I must make in one day two forced marches. I am sure that when we reach Memphis no dancer will look at me."
"What! Art Thou better than we?" asked the prince.
"I am more fragile," said the exquisite. "Thou, prince, art as accustomed to riding as a Hyksos, and Pentuer might travel on a red-hot sword. But I am so delicate."
At sunset the travelers came out on a lofty hill, whence they saw an uncommon picture unfolded before them. For a long distance the green valley of Egypt was visible, on the background of it, like a row of ruddy fires, the triangular pyramids stood gleaming. A little to the right of the pyramids the tops of the Memphis pylons, wrapped in a bluish haze, seemed to be flaming upward.
"Let us go; let us go!" said Ramses.
A moment later the reddish desert surrounded them again, and again the line of pyramids gleamed until all was dissolved in the twilight.
When night fell the travelers had reached that immense district of the dead, which extends for a number of tens of miles on the heights along the left side of the river.
Here during the Ancient Kingdom were buried, for endless ages, Egyptians, the pharaohs in immense pyramids, princes and dignitaries in smaller pyramids, common men in mud structures. Here were resting millions of mummies, not only of people, but of dogs, cats, birds, in a word, all creatures which, while they lived, were dear to Egyptians.
During the time of Ramses, the burial-ground of kings and great persons was transferred to Thebes; in the neighborhood of Memphis were buried only common persons and artisans from regions about there.
Among scattered graves, the prince and his escort met a number of people, pushing about like shadows.
"Who are ye?" asked the leader of the escort.
"We are poor servants of the pharaoh returning from our dead. We took to them roses, cakes, and beer."
"But maybe ye looked into strange graves?"
"O gods!" cried one of the party, "could we commit such a sacrilege? It is only the wicked Thebans may their hands wither! who disturb the dead, so as to drink away their property in dramshops?"
"What mean those fires at the north there?" interrupted the prince.
"It must be, worthiness, that Thou comest from afar if Thou know not," answered they. "Tomorrow our heir is returning with a victorious army. He is a great chief! He conquered the Libyans in one battle. Those are the people of Memphis who have gone out to greet him with solemnity. Thirty thousand persons. When they shout."
"I understand," whispered the prince to Pentuer. "Holy Mentezufis has sent me ahead so that I may not have a triumphal entry. But never mind this time."
The horses were tired, and they had to rest. So the prince sent horsemen to engage barges on the river, and the rest of the escort halted under some palms, which at that time grew between the Sphinx and the group of pyramids.
Those pyramids formed the northern limit of the immense cemetery. On the flat, about a square kilometer in area, overgrown at that time with plants of the desert, were tombs and small pyramids, above which towered the three great pyramids: those of Cheops, Chafre, and Menkere, and the Sphinx. These immense structures stand only a few hundred yards from one another. The three pyramids are in a line from northeast to southwest. East of this line and nearer the Nile is the Sphinx, near whose feet was the underground temple of Horus.
The pyramids, but especially that of Cheops, as a work of human labor, astound by their greatness. This pyramid is a pointed stone mountain; its original height was thirty five stories, or four hundred and eighty-one feet, standing on a square foundation each side of which was seven hundred and fifty-five feet. It occupied a little more than thirteen acres of area, and its four triangular walls would cover twenty acres of land. In building it, such vast numbers of stones were used that it would be possible to build a wall of the height of a man, a wall half a meter thick, and two thousand five hundred kilometers long.
When the attendants of the prince had disposed themselves under the wretched trees, some occupied themselves in finding water; others took out cakes, while Tutmosis dropped to the ground and fell asleep directly. But the prince and Pentuer walked up and down conversing.
The night was clear enough to let them see on one side the immense outline of the pyramids, on the other, the Sphinx, which seemed small in comparison.
"I am here for the fourth time," said the heir, "and my heart is always filled with regret and astonishment. When a pupil in the higher school, I thought that, on ascending the throne, I would build something of more worth than the pyramid of Cheops. But today I am ready to laugh at my insolence when I think that the great pharaoh in building his tomb paid sixteen hundred talents (about ten million francs) for the vegetables alone which were used by the laborers. Where should I find sixteen hundred talents even for wages?"
"Envy not Cheops, lord," replied the priest. "Other pharaohs have left better works behind: lakes, canals, roads, schools, and temples."
"But may we compare those things with the pyramids?"
"Of course not," answered Pentuer, hurriedly. "In my eyes and in the eyes of all the people, each pyramid is a great crime, and that of Cheops, the greatest of all crimes."
"Thou art too much excited," said the prince.
"I am not. The pharaoh was building his immense tomb for thirty years; in the course of those years one hundred thousand people worked three months annually. And what good was there in that work? Whom did it feed, whom did it cure, to whom did it give clothing? At that work from ten to twenty thousand people perished yearly; that is, for the tomb of Cheops a half a million corpses were put into the earth. But the blood, the pain, the tears, who will reckon them?
"Therefore, wonder not, lord, that the Egyptian toiler to this day looks with fear toward the west, when above the horizon the triangular forms of the pyramids seem bloody or crimson. They are witnesses of his sufferings and fruitless labor.
"And to think that this will continue till those proofs of human pride are scattered into dust! But when will that be? For three thousand years those pyramids frighten men with their presence; their walls are smooth yet, and the immense inscriptions on them are legible."
"That night in the desert thy speech was different," interrupted the prince.
"For I was not looking at these. But when they are before my eyes, as at present, I am surrounded by the sobbing spirits of tortured toilers, and they whisper, 'See what they did with us! But our bones felt pain, and our hearts longed for rest from labor.'."
Ramses was touched disagreeably by this outburst. "His holiness, my father," said he, after a while, "presented these things to me differently; when we were here five years ago, the sacred lord told me the following narrative:
"During the reign of the pharaoh Tutmosis I, Ethiopian ambassadors came to negotiate touching the tribute to be paid by them. They were all arrogant people. They said that the loss of one war was nothing, that fate might favor them in a second; and for a couple of months they disputed about tribute.
"In vain did the wise pharaoh, in his wish to enlighten the men mildly, show our roads and canals to them. They replied that in their country they had water for nothing wherever they wanted it. In vain he showed them the treasures of the temples; they said that their country concealed more gold and jewels by far than were possessed by all Egypt. In vain did the lord review his armies before them, for they asserted that Ethiopia had incomparably more warriors' than his holiness.
"The pharaoh brought those people at last to these places where we are standing and showed them those structures.
"The Ethiopian ambassadors went around the pyramids, read the inscriptions, and next day they concluded the treaty required of them.
"Since I did not understand the heart of the matter," continued Ramses, "my holy father explained it.
"'My son,' said he, 'these pyramids are an eternal proof of superhuman power in Egypt. If any man wished to raise to himself a pyramid he would pile up a small heap of stones and abandon his labor after some hours had passed, asking: 'What good is this to me?' Ten, one hundred, one thousand men would pile up a few more stones. They would throw them down without order, and leave the work after a few days, for what good would it be to them?
"'But when a pharaoh of Egypt decides, when the Egyptian state has decided to rear a pile of stones, thousands of legions of men are sent out, and for a number of tens of years they build, till the work is completed. For the question is not this: Are the pyramids needed, but this is the will of the pharaoh to be accomplished, once it is uttered.' So, Pentuer, this pyramid is not the tomb of Cheops, but the will of Cheops, a will which had more men to carry it out than had any king on earth, and which was as orderly and enduring in action as the gods are.
"While I was yet at school they taught me that the will of the people was a great power, the greatest power under the sun. And still the will of the people can raise one stone barely. How great, then, must be the will of the pharaoh who has raised a mountain of stones only because it pleased him, only because he wished thus, even were it without an object."
"Wouldst thou, lord, wish to show thy power in such fashion?" inquired
Pentuer, suddenly.
"No," answered the prince, without hesitation. "When the pharaohs have once shown their power, they may be merciful; unless some one should resist their orders."
"And still this young man is only twenty three years of age!" thought the frightened priest.
They turned toward the river and walked some time in silence.
"Lie down, lord," said the priest, after a while; "sleep. We have made no small journey."
"But can I sleep?" answered the prince. "First I am surrounded by those legions of laborers who, according to thy view, perished in building the pyramids Just as if they could have lived forever had they not raised those structures! Then, again, I think of his holiness, my father, who is dying, perhaps, at this very moment. Common men suffer, common men spill their blood! Who will prove to me that my divine father is not tortured more on his costly bed than thy toilers who are carrying heated stones to a building?
"Laborers, always laborers! For thee, O priest, only he deserves compassion who bites lice. A whole series of pharaohs have gone into their graves; some died in torments, some were killed. But Thou thinkest not of them; Thou thinkest only of those whose service is that they begot other toilers who dipped up muddy water from the Nile, or thrust barley balls into the mouths of their milch cows.
"But my father and I? Was not my son slain, and also a woman of my household? Was Typhon compassionate to me in the desert? Do not my bones ache after a long journey? Do not missiles from Libyan slings whistle over my head? Have I a treaty with sickness, with pain, or with death, that they should be kinder to me than to thy toilers?
"Look there: the Asiatics are sleeping, and quiet has taken possession of their breasts; but I, their lord, have a heart full of yesterday's cares, and of fears for the morrow. Ask a toiling man of a hundred years whether in all his life he had as much sorrow as I have had during my power of a few months as commander and viceroy."
Before them rose slowly from the depth of the night a wonderful shade. It was an object fifty yards long and as high as a house of three stories, having at its side, as it were, a five-storied tower of uncommon structure.
"Here is the Sphinx," said the irritated prince, "purely priests' work! Whenever I see this, in the day or the night time, the question always tortures me: What is this, and what is the use of it? The pyramids I understand: Almighty pharaoh wished to show his power, and, perhaps, which was wiser, wished to secure eternal life which no thief or enemy might take from him. Drat this Sphinx! Evidently that is our sacred priestly order, which has a very large, wise head and lion's claws beneath it.
"This repulsive statue, full of double meaning, which seems to exult because we appear like locusts when we stand near it, it is neither a man nor a beast nor a rock What is it, then? What is its meaning? Or that smile which it has If Thou admire the everlasting endurance of the pyramids, it smiles; if Thou go past to converse with the tombs, it smiles. Whether the fields of Egypt are green, or Typhon lets loose his fiery steeds, or the slave seeks his freedom in the desert, or Ramses the Great drives conquered nations before him, it has for all one and the same changeless smile. Nineteen dynasties have passed like shadows; but it smiles on and would smile even were the Nile to grow dry, and were Egypt to disappear under sand fields.
"Is not that monster the more dreadful that it has a mild human visage? Lasting itself throughout ages, it has never known grief over life, which is fleeting and filled with anguish."
"Dost Thou not remember, lord, the 'faces of the gods," interrupted Pentuer, "or hast Thou not seen mummies? All immortals look on transient things with the selfsame indifference. Even man does when nearing the end of his earth-life."
"The gods hear our prayers sometimes, but the Sphinx never moves. No compassion on that face, a mere gigantic jeering terror. If I knew that in its mouth were hidden some prophecy for me, or some means to elevate Egypt, I should not dare to put a question. It seems to me that I should hear some awful answer uttered with unpitying calmness. This is the work and the image of the priesthood. It is worse than man, for it has a lion's body; it is worse than a beast, for it has a human head; it is worse than stone, for inexplicable life is contained in it."
At that moment groaning and muffled voices reached them, the source of which they could not determine.
"Is the Sphinx singing?" inquired the astonished prince.
"That singing is in the underground temple," replied Pentuer. "But why are they praying at this night hour?"
"Ask rather why they pray at all, since no one hears them."
Pentuer took the direction at once and went toward the place of the singing. The prince found some stone for a support and sat down wearied. He put his hands behind him, leaned back, and looked into the immense face before him.
In spite of the lack of light, the superhuman features were clearly visible; just the shade added life and character. The more the prince gazed into that face, the more powerfully he felt that he had been prejudiced, that his dislike was unreasonable.
On the face of the Sphinx, there was no cruelty, but rather resignation. In its smile there was no jeering, but rather sadness. It did not feel the wretchedness and fleeting nature of mankind, for it did not see them. Its eyes, filled with expression, were fixed somewhere beyond the Nile, beyond the horizon, toward regions concealed from human sight beneath the vault of heaven. Was it watching the disturbing growth of the Assyrian monarchy? Or the impudent activity of Phoenicia? Or the birth of Greece, or events, perhaps, which were preparing on the Jordan? Who could answer?
The prince was sure of one thing, that it was gazing, thinking, waiting for something with a calm smile worthy of supernatural existence. And, moreover, it seemed to him that if that something appeared on the horizon, the Sphinx would rise up and go to meet it.
What was that to be, and when would it come? This was a mystery the significance of which was depicted expressly on the face of that creature which had existed for ages. But it would of necessity take place on a sudden, since the Sphinx had not closed its eyes for one instant during millenniums, and was gazing, gazing, always.
Meanwhile Pentuer found a window through which came from the underground temple pensive hymns of the priestly chorus:
Chorus I. "Rise, as radiant as Isis, rise as Sotis rises on the firmament in the morning at the beginning of the established year."
Chorus II. "The god Amon-Ra was on my right and on my left. He himself gave into my hands dominion over all the world, thus causing the downfall of my enemies."
Chorus I. "Thou wert still young, Thou wert wearing braided hair, but in Egypt naught was done save at thy command no corner-stone was laid for an edifice unless Thou wert present."
Chorus II. "I came to Thee, ruler of the gods, great god, lord of the sun. Turn promises that the sun will appear, and that I shall be like him, and the Nile; that I shall reach the throne of Osiris, and shall possess it forever."
Chorus I. "Thou hast returned in peace, respected by the gods, O ruler of both worlds, Ra-Mer-Amen-Ramses. I assure to thee unbroken rule; kings will come to thee to pay tribute."
Chorus II. "O thou, Thou Osiris-Ramses! ever-living son of heaven, born of the goddess Nut, may thy mother surround thee with the mystery of heaven, and permit that Thou become a god, O thou, O Osiris-Ramses." [Tomb inscriptions]
"So then the holy father is dead," said Pentuer to himself.
He left the window and approached the place where the heir was sitting, sunk in imaginings.
The priest knelt before him, fell on his face, and exclaimed:
"Be greeted, O pharaoh, ruler of the world!"
"What dost Thou say?" cried the prince, springing up.
"May the One, the All-Powerful, pour down on thee wisdom and strength, and happiness on thy people."
"Rise, Pentuer! Then I then I."
Suddenly he took the arm of the priest and turned toward the Sphinx.
"Look at it," said he.
But neither in the face nor in the posture of the colossus was there any change. One pharaoh had stepped over the threshold of eternity; another rose up like the sun, but the stone face of the god or the monster was the same precisely. On its lips was a gentle smile for earthly power and glory; in its glance there was a waiting for something which was to come, but when no one knew.
Soon the messengers returned from the ferry with information that boats would be waiting there.
Pentuer went among the palms, and cried,
"Wake! wake!"
The watchful Asiatics sprang up at once, and began to bridle their horses. Tutmosis also rose, and yawned with a grimace.
"Brr!" grumbled he, "what cold! Sleep is a good thing! I barely dozed a little, and now I am able to go even to the end of the world, even again to the Soda Lakes. Brr! I have forgotten the taste of wine, and it seems to me that my hands are becoming covered with hair, like the paws of a jackal. And it is two hours to 'the palace yet.
"Happy are common men! One ragged rogue sleeps after another and feels no need of washing: he will not go to work till his wife brings a barley cake; while I, a great lord, must wander about, like a thief in the night, through the desert, without a drop of water to put to my lips."
The horses were ready, and Ramses mounted his own. Pentuer approached, took the bridle of the ruler's steed, and led, going himself on foot.
"What is this?" inquired the astonished Tutmosis.
He bethought himself quickly, ran up, and took Ramses' horse by the bridle on the other side. And so all advanced in silence, astonished at the bearing of the priest, though they felt that something important had happened.
After a few hundred steps the desert ceased, and a highroad through the field lay before the travelers.
"Mount your horses," said Ramses; "we must hurry."
"His holiness commands you to sit on your horses," cried Pentuer.
All were amazed. But Tutmosis recovered quickly, and placed his hand on his sword-hilt.
"May he live through eternity, our all-powerful and gracious leader
Ramses!" shouted the adjutant.
"May he live through eternity!" howled the Asiatics, shaking their weapons.
"I thank you, my faithful warriors," answered their lord.
A moment later the mounted party was hastening toward the river.
CHAPTER L
We know not whether the prophets in the underground temple of the Sphinx saw the new ruler of Egypt when he halted at the foot of the pyramids, and gave information touching him at the palace, and if so how they did it. The fact is that when Ramses was approaching the ferry, the most worthy Herhor gave orders to rouse the palace servants, and when their lord was crossing the Nile all priests, generals, and civil dignitaries were assembled in the great hall of audience.
Exactly at sunrise Ramses XIII, at the head of a small escort, rode into the palace yard, where the servants fell on their faces before him, and the guard presented arms to the sound of drums and trumpets.
His holiness saluted the army and went to the bathing chambers, where he took a bath filled with perfumes. Then he gave permission to arrange his divine hair; but when the barber asked most submissively if the pharaoh commanded to shave his head and beard, the lord replied,
"There is no need. I am not a priest, but a warrior."
These words reached the audience-hall a moment later; in an hour they had gone around the palace; about midday they had passed through every part of the city of Memphis, and toward evening they were known in all the temples of the state, from Tami-n-hor and Sabue-Chetam on the north to Suunu and Pilak on the south.
At this intelligence the nomarchs, the nobility, the army, the people, and the foreigners were wild with delight, but the sacred order of priests mourned the more zealously the dead pharaoh.
When his holiness emerged from the bath he put on a warrior's short shirt with black and yellow stripes, and a yellow breast-piece; on his feet sandals fastened with thongs, and on his head a low helmet with a circlet. Then he girded on that Assyrian sword which he had worn at the battle of the Soda Lakes, and, surrounded by a great suite of generals, he entered with a clatter and clinking the audience-hall.
There the high priest Herhor stood before him, having at his side Sem, the holy high priest, Mefres, and others, and behind him the chief judges of Thebes and Memphis, some of the nearer nomarchs, the chief treasurer, also the overseers of the house of wheat, the house of cattle, the house of garments, the house of slaves, the house of silver and gold, and a multitude of other dignitaries.
Herhor bowed before Ramses, and said with emotion,
"Lord! it has pleased thy eternally living father to withdraw to the gods where he is enjoying endless delight. To thee, then, has fallen the duty of caring for the fate of the orphan kingdom.
"Be greeted, therefore, O lord and ruler of the world, and, holiness, may Thou live through eternity Cham-Sam-mereramen-Ramses-Neter-haq-an."
Those present repeated this salutation with enthusiasm. They expected the new ruler to show some emotion or feeling. To the astonishment of all he merely moved his brow and answered,
"In accordance with the will of his holiness, my father, and with the laws of Egypt, I take possession of government and will conduct it to the glory of the state and the happiness of the people."
He turned suddenly to Herhor and, looking him sharply in the eyes, inquired,
"On thy miter, worthiness, I see the golden serpent. Why hast Thou put that symbol of regal power on thy head?"
A deathlike silence settled on the assembly. The haughtiest man in Egypt had never dreamed that the young lord would begin rule by putting a question like that to the most powerful person in the state, more powerful, perhaps, than the late pharaoh.
But behind the young lord stood a number of generals; in the courtyard
glittered the bronze-covered regiments of the guard; and crossing the
Nile at that moment was an army wild from the triumph at the Soda
Lakes, and enamored of its leader.
The powerful Herhor grew pale as wax, and the voice could not issue from his straitened throat.
"I ask your worthiness," repeated the pharaoh, calmly, "by what right is the regal serpent on thy miter?"
"This is the miter of thy grandfather, the holy Amenhotep," answered Herhor, in a low voice. "The supreme council commanded me to wear it on occasions."
"My holy grandfather," replied the pharaoh, "was father of the queen, and in the way of favor he received the right to adorn his miter with the ureus. But, so far as is known to me, his sacred vestment is counted among the relics of the temple of Amon."
Herhor had recovered.
"Deign to remember, holiness," explained he, "that for twenty-four hours Egypt has been deprived of its legal ruler. Meanwhile some one had to wake and put to sleep the god Osiris, to impart blessings to the people and render homage to the ancestors of the pharaoh."
"In such a grievous time the supreme council commanded me to wear this holy relic, so that the order of the state and the service of the gods might not be neglected. But the moment that we have a lawful and mighty ruler I set aside the wondrous relic."
Then Herhor took from his head the miter adorned with the ureus, and gave it to the high priest Mefres.
The threatening face of the pharaoh grew calm, and he turned his steps toward the throne.
Suddenly the holy Mefres barred the way, and said while bending to the pavement,
"Deign, holy lord, to hear my most submissive prayer."
But neither in his voice nor his eyes was there submission when, straightening himself, he continued,
"I have words from the supreme council of high priests."
"Utter them," said the pharaoh.
"It is known to thee, holiness, that a pharaoh who has not received ordination as high priest cannot perform the highest sacrifices; that is, dress and undress the miraculous Osiris."
"I understand," interrupted Ramses, "I am a pharaoh who has not received the ordination of high priest."
"For that reason," continued Mefres, "the supreme council begs thee submissively, holiness, to appoint a high priest to take thy place in religious functions."
When they heard these decided words, the high priests and civil dignitaries trembled and squirmed as if standing on hot stones, and the generals touched their swords as if involuntarily. The holy Mefres looked at them with unconcealed contempt, and fixed his cold glance again on the face of the pharaoh.
But the lord of the world showed no trouble even this time.
"It is well," said he, "that Thou hast reminded me, worthiness, of this important duty. The military profession and affairs of state do not permit me to occupy myself with the ceremonies of our holy religion, so I must appoint a substitute."
While speaking he looked around at the men assembled.
On the left of Herhor stood the holy Sem. Ramses glanced into his mild and honest face and inquired suddenly,
"Who and what art thou, worthiness?"
"My name is Sem; I am high priest of the temple of Ptah in Pi-Bast."
"Thou wilt be my substitute in religious ceremonies," said the pharaoh, pointing toward him with his finger.
A murmur of astonishment ran through the assembly.
After long meditation and counsels it would have been difficult to select a more worthy priest for that high office.
Herhor grew much paler than before; Mefres pressed his blue lips together tightly and dropped his eyelids.
A moment later the new pharaoh sat on his throne, which instead of feet had the carved figures of princes and the kings of nine nations.
Soon Herhor gave to the lord, on a golden plate, a white and also a red crown.
The sovereign placed the crowns on his own head in silence, while those present fell prostrate.
That was not the solemn coronation; it was merely taking possession of power.
When the priests had incensed the pharaoh and had sung a hymn to Osiris, imploring that god to pour all blessings on the sovereign, dignitaries of the civil power and of the army were permitted to kiss the lowest step of the throne. Then Ramses took a gold spoon, and, repeating a prayer which the holy Sem pronounced aloud, he incensed the statues of the gods arranged in line on both sides of the pharaoh's chapel.
"What am I to do now?" inquired he.
"Show thyself to the people," replied Herhor.
Through a gilded, widely opened door his holiness ascended marble steps to a terrace, and, raising his hands, faced in turn toward the four sides of the universe. The sound of trumpets was heard, and from the summits of pylons banners were hung out. Whoso was in a field, in a yard, on the street, fell prostrate; the stick, raised above the back of a beast or a slave, was lowered without giving the blow, and all criminals against the state who had been sentenced that day received grace.
Descending from the terrace the pharaoh inquired,
"Have I something more to do?"
"Refreshments and affairs of state are awaiting thee, holiness," replied Herhor.
"After that I may rest," said the pharaoh. "Where are the remains of his holiness, my father?"
"Given to the embalmers," whispered Herhor.
Tears filled the pharaoh's eyes, and his mouth quivered, but he restrained himself and looked down in silence. It was not proper that servants should see emotion in such a mighty ruler.
Wishing to turn the pharaoh's attention to another subject, Herhor asked,
"Wilt Thou be pleased, holiness, to receive the homage due from the queen, thy mother?"
"I? Am I to receive homage from my mother?" asked Ramses, with repressed voice.
"Hast Thou forgotten what the sage Eney said? Perhaps holy Sem will repeat those beautiful words to us."
"Remember," quoted Sem, "that she gave birth to thee and nourished thee in every manner."
"Speak further; speak!" insisted the pharaoh, striving always to command himself.
"Shouldst Thou forget that she would raise her hands to the god, and he would hear her complaint. She bore thee long beneath her heart, like a great burden, and gave thee birth when thy mouths had expired. She carried thee in her arms afterward, and during three years she put her breast into thy mouth. She reared thee, was not disgusted with thy uncleanness. And when Thou wert going to school and wert exercised in writing, she placed before thy teacher daily bread and beer from her own dwelling." [Authentic]
Ramses sighed deeply and said with calmness,
"So ye see that it is not proper that my mother should salute me.
Rather I will go to her."
And he passed through a series of halls lined with marble, alabaster, and wood, painted in bright colors, carved and gilded; behind him went his immense suite. But when he came to the antechamber of his mother's apartments, he made a sign to leave him. When he had passed the antechamber, he stopped a while before the door, then knocked and entered quietly.
In a chamber with bare walls, where in place of furniture there stood only a low wooden couch and a broken pitcher holding water, all in sign of mourning, Queen Niort's, the mother of the pharaoh, was sitting on a stone. She was in a coarse shirt, barefoot; her face was smeared with mud from the Nile, and in her tangled hair there were ashes.
When she saw Ramses, the worthy lady inclined so as to fall at his feet. But the son seized her in his arms, and said with weeping,
"If thou, O mother, incline to the ground before me, I shall be forced to go under the ground before thee."
The queen drew his head to her bosom, wiped away his tears with the sleeve of her coarse shirt, and then, raising her hands, whispered,
"May all the gods, may the spirit of thy father and grandfather, surround thee with blessing and solicitude. O Isis, I have never spared offerings to thee, but today I make the greatest; I give my beloved son to thee. Let this kingly son become thy son entirely, and may his greatness and his glory increase thy divine inheritance."
The pharaoh embraced and kissed his mother repeatedly, then he seated her on the wooden couch and sat on the stone himself.
"Has my father left commands to me?" inquired he.
"He begged thee only to remember him, but he said to the supreme council, 'I leave you my heir, who is a lion and an eagle in one person; obey him, and he will elevate Egypt to incomparable power.'."
"Dost Thou think that the priests will obey me?"
"Remember," answered the queen, "that the device of the pharaoh is a serpent, and a serpent means prudence, which is silent, and no one knows when it will bite mortally. If Thou take time as thy confederate, Thou wilt accomplish everything."
"Herhor is tremendously haughty. Today he dared to put on the miter of the holy Amenhotep. Of course I commanded him to set it aside. I will remove him from the government, him and certain members of the supreme council."
The queen shook her head.
"Egypt is thine," said she, "and the gods have endowed thee with great wisdom. Were it not for that, I should fear terribly a struggle with Herhor."
"I do not dispute with him; I remove him."
"Egypt is thine," repeated the queen, "but I fear a struggle with the priests. It is true that thy father, who was mild beyond measure, has made those men insolent, but it is not wise to bring them to despair through severity. Besides, think of this: Who will replace them in counsel? They know everything that has been, that is, and that will be on earth and in heaven; they know the most secret thoughts of mankind, and they direct hearts as the wind directs tree leaves. Without them Thou wilt be ignorant not only of what is happening in Tyre and Nineveh, but even in Thebes and Memphis."
"I do not reject their wisdom, but I want service," answered the pharaoh. "I know that their understanding is great, but it must be controlled so that it may not deceive, and it must be directed lest it ruin the State. Tell me thyself, mother, what they have done with Egypt in the course of thirty years? The people suffer want, or are in rebellion; the army is small, the treasury is empty, and meanwhile two months' distance from us Assyria is increasing like dough containing leaven, and today is forcing on us treaties."
"Do as may please thee, but remember that the device of a pharaoh is a serpent, and a serpent is silence and discretion."
"Thou speakest truth, mother, but believe me, at certain times daring is better than prudence. The priests planned, as I know today, that the Libyan war should last entire years. I finished it in the course of a few days, and only because every day I took some mad but decisive step If I had not rushed to the desert against them, which by the way was a great indiscretion, we should have the Libyans outside Memphis at this moment."
"I know that Thou didst hunt down Tehenna, and that Typhon caught thee," said the queen. "O hasty child, Thou didst not think of me."
He smiled.
"Be of good heart," replied Ramses. "When the pharaoh is in battle, at his left and his right hand stands Amon. Who then can touch him?"
He embraced the queen once more and departed.
CHAPTER LI
THE immense suite of his holiness had remained in the hall of attendance, but as if split into two parts. On one side were Herhor, Mefres, and some high priests superior in years; on the other were all the generals, civil officials, and a majority of the younger priests.
The eagle glance of the pharaoh saw in one instant this division of dignitaries, and in the heart of the young sovereign joyous pride was kindled.
"And here I have gained a victory without drawing my sword," thought
Ramses.
The dignitaries drew away farther and more distinctly from Herhor and Mefres, for no one doubted that the two high priests, till then the most powerful persons in the state, had ceased to possess the favor of the new pharaoh.
Now the sovereign went to the hall of refection, where he was astonished first of all by the multitude of serving priests and the number of the dishes.
"Have I to eat all this?" inquired he, without hiding his amazement.
The priest who inspected the kitchen explained to the pharaoh that the dishes not used by his holiness went as offerings to the dynasty. And while speaking he indicated the statues placed in line along the hall.
Ramses gazed at the statues, which looked as if no one had made them an offering; next at the priests, who were as fresh of complexion as if they had eaten everything presented; then he asked for beer, also the bread used by warriors, and garlic.
The elder priest was astonished, but he repeated the order to the younger one. The younger hesitated, but repeated the command to the serving men and women. The servants at the first moment did not believe their own ears, but a quarter of an hour later they returned terrified, and whispered to the priests that there was no warriors' bread nor garlic.
The pharaoh smiled and gave command that from that day forth there should not be a lack of simple food in his kitchen. Then he ate a pigeon, a morsel of wheaten cake, and drank some wine.
He confessed in spirit that the food was well prepared and the wine exquisite. He could not free himself from the thought, however, that the court kitchen must swallow immense sums of money.
Having burnt incense to his ancestors, the pharaoh betook himself to his cabinet to hear reports from ministers.
Herhor came first. He bent down before his lord much lower than he had when greeting him, and congratulated Ramses on his victory at the Soda Lakes with great enthusiasm.
"Thou didst rush," said he, "holiness, on the Libyans like Typhon on the miserable tents of wanderers through the desert. Thou hast won a great battle with very small losses, and with one blow of thy divine sword hast finished a war, the end of which was unseen by us common men."
The pharaoh felt his dislike toward the minister decreasing.
"For this cause," continued the high priest, "the supreme council implores thee, holiness, to appoint ten talents' reward to the valiant regiments. Do thou, as supreme chief, permit that to thy name be added 'The Victorious.'."
Counting on the youth of the pharaoh, Herhor exaggerated in flattery.
Ramses recovered from his delight and replied on a sudden,
"What wouldst Thou add to my name had I destroyed the Assyrian army and filled our temples with the riches of Nineveh and Babylon?"
"So he is always dreaming of that?" thought the high priest.
The pharaoh, as if to confirm Herhor's fears, changed the subject.
"How many troops have we?" asked he.
"Here in Memphis?"
"No, in all Egypt."
"Thou hadst ten regiments, holiness," answered Herhor. "The worthy Nitager on the eastern boundary has fifteen. There are ten on the south, for Nubia begins to be disturbed; five are garrisoned throughout the country."
"Forty altogether," said Ramses, after some thought. "How many warriors in all?"
"About sixty thousand."
Ramses sprang up from his chair.
"Sixty thousand instead of one hundred and twenty thousand!" shouted he. "What does this mean? What have ye done with my army?"
"There are no means to maintain more men."
"O God!" said the Pharaoh, seizing his head. "But the Assyrians may attack us a month hence. We are disarmed."
"We have a preliminary treaty with Assyria," put in Herhor.
"A woman might give such an answer, but not a minister of war," said Ramses, with indignation. "What does a treaty mean when there is no army behind it: Today one half of the troops which King Assar commands would crush us."
"Deign to be at rest, holy lord. At the first news of Assyrian treason we should have half a million of warriors."
The pharaoh laughed in his face.
"What? How? Thou art mad, priest! Thou art groping among papyruses, but I have served seven years in the army, and there was almost no day which I did not pass in drill or maneuvers. How couldst Thou have an army of half a million in the course of a few months?"