Think not that the splendors of the Court of "Pharaoh's Daughter," as the Egyptians still love to call their queen, will lead me to forget my own royal home and the dear scenes in which I have passed my life—scenes that memory will ever cherish, as they are associated with the love and care of a mother, such as a prince was never before blessed with by the gods. Think not, my queenly mother, that while I describe with pleasure the magnificence of Queen Amense's realm, I think less of your own kingdom; but, rather, all I behold only causes me to love my native land the more; for the glory of Tyre, my home, is my mother's presence—and my mother is not here! Queen Amense may have the homage of my intellect, but that of my heart is reserved only for thee!
I have prefaced my letter in this manner, dear mother, lest you should jealously read the glowing descriptions I give of what I behold, and may fear that the luxuries and grandeur of Egypt will make me dissatisfied with the lesser splendor of the Court of Phœnicia. Fear not. I shall bring back to thee a son's faithful love, and to my people the loyal affection due to them from their prince.
I closed my letter to you in sight, as I thought, of the City of the Sun. But what I believed to be the capital of the gods, was but the colossal gateway leading from the river to the city, which is half an hour's ride inland. Yet from the Nile to the city there is a continuous avenue of temples, such as earth has never beheld—not even Nineveh or Babylon, in all their glory. For a mile fronting the river extends a row of palaces, which, stupendous as they are, form but wings to a central temple of vaster dimensions. The palaces that guard it, as it were, are adorned with sculptured columns of the most elegant description. They are three hundred in number, covered with gorgeous paintings in the richest tints, and carved with the most finished art. The beautiful capitals of these columns are shaped alternately like a flower-bud, not yet expanded, or like the open flower of the lotus, and the sides formed of imitations, by the wonderful artist, of leaves and flowers indigenous to Egypt. The columns and capitals, thus exquisitely fashioned, are gigantic in size, and of the grandest altitude.
The central temple is a lofty and wonderful edifice of brilliant red sandstone, with sixty columns of marble enriching its façades; these, with the three hundred, representing the three hundred and sixty days of the ancient Egyptian year. The front of this sublime temple is pierced by three colossal gateways, broad enough for four chariots to pass abreast. These gateways are adorned with paintings, in the brightest tints, representing processions of priests, sacrifices, offering of incense, and all the imposing religious ceremonies appertaining to the worship of the Sun.
Above the centre gateway, between the noble wings of the propyla which flank it, is a representative emblem of Osiris, in the shape of a splendid shield of the sun, a half-sphere of gold, from which extend wings for many yards, each feather glittering with precious stones. Around the globe are entwined two brazen asps emblems of which I have not yet learned the signification.
Imagine, my dear mother, this stupendous and noble temple, with its vast wings facing the river, and reflected upon its sunny surface. Fancy the river itself, flowing laterally through these gateways into an artificial canal, lined with trees, and bordered by lesser temples, which recede in long lines of diminishing columns. Behold oranges swinging in clusters from branches bending over the water, while scarlet pomegranates, figs, and olives fill trees innumerable that shade the terraces; and vines, either gorgeous with flowers of wonderful beauty and form, or pendent with purple grapes, entwine the columns, and depend from the carved abacus of the capitals.
Into this canal my beautiful galley was received, in the sight of thousands of admiring gazers standing upon the steps of the terrace which led down to the entrance, and on which I had landed to pay my homage to the chief captain at the propylon, who, magnificently attired, waited, by the queen's command, to receive me and conduct me to the city.
Returning with me on board my galley, he gave orders for it to be taken in charge by two royal barges, with prows of silver, and golden banners waving above the heads of the rowers, who were Nubian slaves clothed in scarlet tunics. Thus, in state, my dear mother, as became a prince, was I borne along this avenue of palaces and fanes, and fragrant gardens. The vanishing line of columns was, at short intervals, interrupted by gateways, above which were statues of Osiris and Isis.
I was almost bewildered by the novelty and splendor of these varied scenes, and was thinking that nothing could surpass in magnificence this mighty avenue to a city, when all at once the canal expanded into a circular lake completely inclosed by columns, forming majestic colonnades on all sides, in which were walking and conversing innumerable richly dressed persons, while others were grouped around noble-looking ancient men, listening to their discourses. The chief captain, who was with me in my galley, informed me that these columned halls were the favorite resort of the eminent philosophers and scholars of all lands, who came hither to be taught in the learning and wisdom of the Egyptians. I then looked a little closer, when he was pleased to point out to me several great philosophers, who, called wise men in their own kingdom, yet had come hither to learn at the feet of these masters of the world's wisdom, the wise men of Egypt. As we were rowed past and around this majestic circle of columns, I saw two noble youths from Damascus, who came last year to Tyre, in order to embark for Memphis. I beheld also Prince Melchor of the City of Salem, in Syria, the descendant of the great king Melchisedec, whose wise reign, about three centuries ago, is still remembered with glory and honor to his name. The prince recognized me, and returned my salutation, and leaving the group with which he stood, hastened around the terrace to meet me at the place of debarkation; for this delightful lake, dear mother, terminated the noble canal which united it with the river. Beyond it, the galleys and barges did not go. Instead of water, this mighty avenue to On was now to be continued by land. At the place opposite the inlet rose two lofty obelisks a hundred feet in the air, of incomparable elegance and beauty. They were dedicated to Osiris and Isis. Elevated upon pedestals of porphyry, they formed the graceful entrance to a semicircular flight of marble steps which led from the lake to a broad terrace interlaid with parti-colored marbles, in every variety of device which taste could conceive, or art execute. Landing upon these steps, I ascended to the terrace, and was there met and embraced by the Prince of Salem. Here the chief captain took leave of me, and immediately there advanced towards me a noble person, wearing a chain of gold about his neck, and clothed in purple silk, richly embroidered, and who carried in his right hand a long silver wand, with the head of an ibis, cut out of a precious stone, upon it. He said that he was an officer of the court of the queen, and had come to conduct me on my way to the city.
"Her majesty," he said, with dignity becoming one who served so mighty a monarch, "has received your letter, royal prince, and has directed her servants to pay you all honor!"
I acknowledged the grace of the queenly Amense in this courteous reception of a stranger, and followed him across the terrace, which I perceived was encircled by statues of all the divinities of the earth; and I was gratified to see that Io, and Hercules, and the favored deity of Phœnicia, Athyris, had conspicuous pedestals allotted to their sacred images, near the Theban god Amun.
Indeed, dear mother, this fact, and the manner of my reception, shows that the present dynasty has graciously forgotten the conquest of Egypt by the warlike hosts of Phœnicia. But when we recollect that the first Amosis of the present house of Pharaohs had for his queen the beautiful Ephtha, daughter of the last Phœnician Pharaoh, taking her captive when he expelled the father from the throne of Memphis, we need not be surprised at the favor shown us by the noble Queen Amense, for, fourth only in descent from the fair Phœnician, who was of our own blood, she is our cousin by just hereditary lineage.
When I had traversed the "Hall of the Gods," we came to a lofty two-leaved gate of brass, which stood between two sculptured propyla of Libyan stone. At a wave of the wand of my escorter, they flew wide open, and revealed the most magnificent and awe-inspiring spectacle that it was possible to conceive the world could present.
Before me was revealed an avenue, more than a mile in length to the eye, leading straight to the City of the Sun, which rose, temple rising beyond temple, shining like gold in the sunbeams, a mountain of architecture, fashioned as if by the hands of gods rather than of men. In the midst stood, elevated above all surrounding edifices, the great temple of Osiris itself, encircled by a belt of twelve glittering obelisks, representing the twelve months. In the centre of this wonderful girdle, upon the apex of a pyramid rising within the walls of the temple, two hundred feet high, blazed that sacred gold shield of the sun—the shield of Osiris—the fame of which has filled the world. It was like the sun itself for glory and splendor! Oh, how can I describe all this! My pen refuses to find language to record what I wish to write.
But I will be brief, lest I overpower you with gorgeousness, and blind you with glory. Verily, the Egyptians seem resolved to rob the heavens of their celestial architecture, and set up a rival heaven on earth!
From the open gateway of brass I beheld the city thus described, with its temple, obelisks, pyramid, and countless palaces, while the whole was encircled by a green belt of gardens, which shut it in from the desert, like a setting of Indian diamonds in a bed of Assyrian emeralds.
The avenue itself was paved with red-colored Syene stones from the isles of the Cataracts, and on each side was a gigantic row of sphinxes, reposing on broad, elevated dromoi. Some of these represented lions, leopards, and other beasts of the African and Nubian deserts. Some of them had the head of a ram, with the body of a lion, the fore-paws extended upon the terrace, the vast body resting upon the hind-paws, all presenting aspects of majestic repose. There were one hundred of these stone effigies, in a double row twenty feet apart, facing the avenue, and fastening upon the passer-by their stony eyes in immovable watchfulness. This avenue I walked up, preceded by the queen's officer, and escorted by a retinue, which fell in behind me.
Having passed this row of crio-sphinxes we ascended three broad steps, on each side of which towered a lofty pylon, elaborately adorned with costly paintings of colossal size, representing sacred scenes. Another dromo bordered with fourscore andro-sphinxes, having alternate faces of Osiris and Isis, the one stamped with majesty, the other with beauty, now began, and passing this solemn and awful range of gigantic faces we came to another ascent of marble steps, flanked by obelisks: four lofty pylones, and three spacious courts were at the end of the dromos of sphinxes, also a vast arena inclosed by palaces. Crossing this noble square, we came to two colossi of granite, representing Cheops and Nilus, their shields covered with hieroglyphics wrought with the highest degree of perfection, each cartouch recording their titles and deeds.
At this point there met me a superbly caparisoned Arabian charger, held by two pages; while a young noble, bearing upon his breast the insignia of a prince of the queen's palace, addressed me, and invited me to mount the beautiful and fiery animal.
I obeyed, leaping into the saddle with delight at once more being upon horseback. Scarcely had I pressed the bit with the gilded bridle, ere a score of horsemen, in splendid armor, issued from the propylon on my left, in two columns, and, inclosing me between them, escorted me through several magnificent courts, in which I caught glimpses of obelisks, monoliths of kings, pylones sixty feet in height with pyramidal wings, giving entrance to courts each more magnificent than the last.
At length I saw before me the great and splendid pylon which gives admission to the city. In front of it, raised upon a throne of crimson stone, stood, with his ibis head fifty feet in the air, a monolith statue of Thoth. In his outstretched right hand he held a pair of scales, and in his left a tablet.
At this gate, the city is entered in its central point. Two obelisks, ninety feet in height, towered on each side of the entrance. Here I was received by a venerable noble, who was mounted upon a snow-white horse, and attended by a brilliant retinue, all superbly mounted. This personage extended to me the same hospitable and courteous welcome from his queen, which had been presented to me from the others. He rode by my side, and we took our way at a rapid trot along an avenue of alternate obelisks and sphinxes, until we passed through a pylon which opened into the streets of the city. The splendor around bewildered me. Palaces, with gorgeous façades and triple stories of colonnades, composed street after street, while fountains and statues and propyla, temples, monoliths, andro-sphinxes and crio-sphinxes presented, as I rode along through this superb "City of the Sun," an endless spectacle of architectural grandeur and marble magnificence. The streets were thronged with handsomely attired citizens, either in the pursuit of pleasure or business, while priestly processions, festival parties crowned with flowers and attended by musicians, and bodies of horse, were met by us. Gilded chariots, palanquins, and vehicles of rare and graceful forms, were numerous. The whole city wore an air of pleasure and life, and impressed me with the idea that the Egyptians are not only master-builders in architecture, but know how to enjoy the splendid cities they erect with such costly care.
My senses sated with luxury, I was not unwilling to alight at the entrance of a beautiful palace, which the venerable horseman said the queen had placed at my service. Upon its portico I was met by my private secretary, Acherres, who, in his joy at beholding me again, forgot for a moment my rank, and embraced me with tears of delight; for, in this foreign land, he saw in me alone the link which bound him to his native country.
I have now been two days in this palace, wherein is furnished me, by the queen, the attendance of slaves; and every luxury of Egypt is at my command. As I said to you, dear mother, in my first letter, I have yet only seen the Queen of Egypt at a distance, as she was ascending the steps of her palace, but to-morrow I am formally to be presented to her, for on that day of the week alone she receives princes and ambassadors. She had returned four days before to Memphis, from Philæ, with a great retinue of the lords and officers of her realm, and yesterday, crossing the Nile in her barge of state, she entered this sacred city, which she visits for three days every month to perform in the great temple the sacred rites of her gorgeous religion. Of this worship I will soon write you more fully. It is an error, however, to suppose that these enlightened Egyptians worship the sun, or any other objects, as such, of mere matter. Their fundamental doctrine is the unity of the deity, whose attributes are represented under positive and material forms. The common people perhaps never go beyond these forms, and their minds never are admitted to a knowledge of the truth of the mysteries; but the priests, and the high in rank, look upon the sun, and moon, and animals, and the fecund Nile, only as so many attributes of a one infinite deity. The sun—believed to possess much of the divine influence in its vivifying power and its various other effects—is regarded as one of the grandest agents of the one deity. The moon is another direct manifestation of the invisible author, and as the regulator of time, say their sacred books, is figured in painting and sculpture as the ibis-headed Thoth, and the deity who records, as time flies, the actions of men's lives. Osiris, if I understand their mythology, is this supreme god (symbolized here by the sun), who is also the judge of the souls of the dead, rewarding or punishing hereafter the creatures he has created, according to their lives. But when I learn more fully their system of religion, I will explain it to you, dear mother.
Although I have not seen, to speak with her, the august lady who reigns over Egypt, I have been visited by her son, the lord Prince Remeses. I have already written of him. He is in his thirty-fourth year, and the noblest appearing man my eyes ever beheld. Upon his brow the gods have set the seal and impress of command. I will narrate the manner of our first intercourse.
I was standing by the window of the stately apartment, which overlooks one of the squares of the city, interested in watching the toils of several hundred men, coarsely attired in blue aprons or loin-cloths, and gray breeches reaching only to the knee, the upper part of their bodies being naked, who were at work constructing a wall which was to inclose a new lake before the temple of Apis, in the midst of the square; for On is a city of alternate lakes (all of great beauty and adorned with trees), temples, squares, and palaces, interspersed with dromos of sphinxes connecting court after court, through lofty pylones; while obelisks, statues, and fountains fill up the interspaces.
My window not only commanded a view of these laborers with their heavy burdens of bricks, borne on their shoulders to the top of the wall they were building, but also, beyond the wall and distant temples, a glimpse of the yellow expanse of the desert. How mighty, and grand, and solemn it looked in its loneliness and ocean-like vastness! A faint dark line that I at length perceived in motion, was, doubtless, a caravan coming from the haven of the Red Sea, where the galleys from Farther Ind land their precious freights of untold wealth. This caravan seeks the port of On, six miles below on the Nile, whence sail ships, laden with the treasures of the caravan, to all parts of the known earth. Sesostris, Thothmes, Menes, all planned a canal from the Nile to this sea; but the camels are the only ships, to this day, that cross this desert waste. Again my eyes rested upon the laborers, seeing that they were sorely pressed by cruel taskmasters, who, with long rods, urged them to their ceaseless toil. I perceived, then, that they were men with Syrian features, arched eagle noses, long black beards, and narrow but fine eyes, which seemed to have a strange expression of tears in them. There were among them noble and manly men, handsome youths, though pale with toil, and bent forms of aged men. I marvelled to see so fine a race thus in bondage, as slaves under taskmasters, for in the day of the Phœnician Pharaohs, there were no such bondmen in the land of Egypt. From their remarkable likeness to some natives of Mesopotamia I had seen in Tyre, I judged that they must be captives of that ancient Orient people, taken in the wars of Amunoph.
While I was regarding them, and especially an interesting youth, whose dark eyes, as he staggered under a heavy burden of bricks, were turned up to me as if seeking sympathy, Acherres entered and said:
"My lord Sesostris, the mighty Prince Remeses is alighting from his chariot upon the steps of your palace!"
Upon hearing this news I hastened to the portico, wondering if I were to be honored with a personal visit from the lord of Egypt, ere the queen mother should receive me in state.
Upon reaching the circular peristyle hall within the portico, the ædile of my palace opened the gilded doors, and there stood before me the Prince of Egypt. I have already described his noble presence and personal appearance. Upon seeing me he advanced, waving his attendants to withdraw, and with mingled dignity and sweetness, that at once won my heart, said:
"I welcome you, noble Prince of Tyre, to Egypt! I have been engaged in reviewing the army of the Nile, a day's march hence, and heard but yesterday of your arrival. I hail you, not as a stranger, but as cousin, dear Sesostris; for are we not allied by blood?"
"You, my lord prince," I said, "are descended from two lines of kings—the Syrian and Theban—I from but one. But by that one we are indeed of the same blood. But what is a prince of Tyre, compared with the heir to the throne of Egypt?"
"We are to be friends and equals," he said, smiling, as he pressed my hands. I accepted this pledge of friendship with grateful emotion, my dear mother; and from that moment we became as brothers,—he the elder, I the younger, and looking up to him with admiration and pride, as henceforth my model of what a prince should be.
He remained with me three hours. We discoursed of you, of Tyre, of the beautiful city of Damascus,—my sword of Damascene steel attracting his notice (for he is a famous soldier), and leading to the mention of this city. We talked also of Egypt, and her glory, and her power; of the queen, his mother, and the manners, religion, and policy of the kingdom.
But, my dear mother, I will here close this letter, and in another relate to you what passed at our interview, and the most interesting portion of his conversation.
The climate of this land of the Sun is so delightful to the senses that one feels a constant buoyancy of the heart, and experiences in the consciousness of mere existence, an undefinable and delicious joy; and herein I discover the key to the cheerful gayety of the Egyptians. The skies are blue with eternal sunshine. The atmosphere, free from moisture, is so transparent and crystalline, that distant objects lose one half their distance to the eye. The sun rises ever with cloudless splendor, and sets in a sea of golden glory, without a shadow of a cloud falling upon his fiery disk. The moon sails by night across the starry ocean of the heavens, with a brilliancy unknown in other lands; while the stars burn with an increased intensity, and seem enlarged by means of the purity of the upper air through which we behold them. It is no marvel that the dwellers in this happy land are wise, and love art, and delight in forms of beauty, and build palaces for gods! But I promised in my last letter, dear mother, to describe what particularly passed in the long and interesting interview which the Prince Remeses had with me on his first visit to my palace. I have already described his personal appearance; but, as ladies are always interested in costume, I will relate to you how he was attired.
The Egyptians, you are aware, always shave the head and beard closely, save when in mourning. They have nevertheless a plaited lock of hair on the height of the forehead, which falls down over the ear. Such is the fashion with which the youthful god Horus is represented in paintings and statues, though the beautiful locks of this deity are not so closely removed but that a crest of golden tresses covers the top of his head like the plume of a helmet. Something in this manner Prince Remeses wore the lock of jet-black hair which remained. But upon his head he had a rich cap or kaftan of green silk, the front of which was shaped like the beak of an eagle, while behind, it fell to the shoulders in a sort of cape, fashioned like drooping wings—the whole most becoming and striking. In the eyes of the eagle, blazed diamonds, and his plumage was studded with precious stones, beryls, sardine gems, and the onyx-stone. This head-costume, in varied forms, is worn by all the nobles and men of high rank. With some the ibis or the vulture, with others the lion or the hawk, form the insignia. I have seen him since in his chariot, in a close-fitting helmet-cap of burnished gold, resembling that of the Egyptian god of war, which, with his martial form and commanding glance, lent to him the aspect of the god himself!
His vesture was of fine linen, worn in numerous folds about his form; and a surcoat embroidered with gold in royal devices, left open in front, displayed a girdle of links of steel and gold, exquisitely and cunningly woven, to which hung his jewelled sword. About his neck was fastened, by a pearl of price, a collar of the red-hued gold of Ophir, massive and large; and upon his manly chest glittered a breastplate, sparkling with the enamelled cartouch of the god Athothis, the deity who presided at his birth, and who is the same as our Taut, the inventor of letters.
And here let me remark, that writing by letters is scarcely yet known in Egypt, the hieroglyphic form being still in current use; but Remeses has cultivated the Phœnician art, and writes with a character of his own construction, with the facility and beauty of one of our own men of letters. Ere long, through his influence, this form of writing will supersede wholly the hieroglyph, which is cumbersome and difficult to be understood, save by a native-born Egyptian; yet I have commenced the study of it, and can read already the cartouch of Mitres, on his obelisk over against the portico of my residence. Of this obelisk, which is ninety-nine feet high, it is said that when it was about to be elevated to its position, he employed 20,000 workmen, and apprehensive that the engineer would not raise it with sufficient care, he bound the prince his son to the apex while it lay on the ground, and thus effectually guaranteed the safety of his monument. This was many centuries ago; but, as I gazed to-day upon the towering apex, I could not but think, with a tremor of the nerves, of the hapless young prince as he mounted into the sky, on that slow and perilous journey!
Have I not been digressing, dear mother? But you must not, in familiar letters, look for artistic continuity of narrative. I shall digress, or go from subject to subject, as collateral objects suggest themselves in passing them; but, nevertheless, I shall not leave your curiosity unsatisfied upon any matter which I have commenced, but in due time, from every digression, shall return to it. I will, therefore, this apology once for all, return to the princely Remeses.
He wore upon his right hand a signet-ring of silver, once belonging to his ancestor, Amosis, the leader of the XVIIIth dynasty; and also a large ring of pure gold, set with a chrysoprasus, and bearing the shield of Osirtasen I., or Sesostris—for he has both names in history—for whom I am named.
In all respects he was attired with magnificence, and yet with simplicity, as became a man of taste and a prince. The profuse ornaments of jewelry, with which I perceive the nobles about the court load themselves, his good sense disdains. He retains only the insignia belonging to his high rank.
I have said that his hair is raven-black, and may add that his eyes are large, expressive, heavily-lidded, and with a peculiar expression of mingled softness and brilliancy. Unlike the Egyptians, his features are truly Syriac, with the high arched nose and full red lips of the inhabitants of the city of Damascus. Do you remember when we last year visited Damascus, seeing, in the painted chamber of the adytum of the mausoleum of Eliezer, a representation of the Hebrew prince Abram, of Syria? To that venerable prince, whose virtues and wisdom tradition would have preserved, even if he had not erected this tomb to his own and his master's memory, Eliezer was chamberlain or steward for many years. Returning to Damascus with great wealth, which Abram had bestowed upon him, he brought with him from Egypt, where he had once been, a cunning artist in colors, who decorated the tomb he erected for himself, in that wonderful manner which has excited the admiration of all beholders. But, dear mother, beautiful as that is, and well preserved as it has been for four hundred years, it is not to be compared with art in Egypt at the present day. You remember you were struck with the majesty and almost celestial sublimity of the old shepherd prince's face, which the affection of his steward has preserved. You spoke of the eagle-like nose, the dark, yet tearful-looking eyes, with the drooping lid just casting into shadow the depth of its inner light. You remember the nobly shaped head and commanding brow. Such a head and profile is that of Remeses, the Prince of Egypt. My first look at his face recalled the portrait in the tomb, which its founder has so beautifully and modestly inscribed:
"ELIEZER OF DAMASCUS,
THE STEWARD OF ABRAM,
PRINCE
BELOVED OF THE GODS."
After I had received Remeses into my house, I conducted him through a two-valved door, opened before us by my chief butler, into the superb apartment allotted for recreation and repose. My mansion consisted of a court encircled by columns, and from it extended corridors to various chambers. The court is crossed by avenues of trees, while fountains and flowering plants refresh the eye in every direction.
The apartment into which Remeses came with me, was divided into tall panels, upon which were executed, in the most brilliant colors, the fairest pictures. These panels were intercolumnar, each column adorned with carvings of leaves and flowers, and terminating in a capital in imitation of an open lotus. This room was open to the air, but shielded from the sun by a purple awning that extended to its four sides, and was a little raised above the walls upon the columns, so that the breezes, which were wafted over the gardens of flowers, might freely enter.
This was my reception-room, or mándara, as it is termed. A beautiful cornice surrounds the whole room. The furniture is of the most tasteful and luxurious description, and of forms and uses unknown to our severer Syrians. There are tables of Arabian wood, inlaid with ivory; sofas of ebony and other rare materials, covered with silken cushions; a chair ornamented with the skin of a leopard; another, of still more graceful outline, embroidered with silk and threads of gold; another, the frame of which recedes gradually, terminating at its summit in a graceful curve, and supported by resting upon the back of a swan with feathers of ivory. A chair for repose is covered with gilded leather, and arched by a rich canopy of painted flowers, birds, and fancy devices. The legs of all these chairs were in imitation of some wild beast, while the arms represented in ivory or ebony the beaks of birds,—that of the ibis, sacred as it is, being the favorite. There are couches, too, which are nothing more nor less than crouching lions gilded, upon the backs of which the sleeper reposes on gorgeous housings stuffed with the softest down. The shapes of the furniture exhaust all forms. There are, in some of my rooms, chairs shaped like harps, others like leaves of the fig-tree, others like birds. Tables of ebony are supported on the heads of naked Nubian slaves two feet high, carved in ebony, while the bronze lamps are uplifted upon the palm of a dancing girl cast in bronze, who seems to hold the light for you while you read or write. Carpets and foot-stools, covered with embroidery, are not wanting; and I have three round tables—one of metal, one of ivory, one of ebony—polished like mirrors of steel. These are covered with ornaments of the most exquisite finish and beauty; and before my window where I write is a sort of bureau ornamented with hieroglyphics, carved in intaglio, inlaid with sycamore, tamarisk, and palm woods, and enriched with bosses of solid gold.
In this apartment I received Remeses. Placing a seat by the window, I sat near him. For a moment he surveyed me with a close but courteous scrutiny, such as strangers irresistibly cast upon each other after a first meeting.
"I hope you are at home here, noble Sesostris," he said. "This is one of my palaces, but I have more than I can make use of, such is the bounty and affection of my mother."
"I have every comfort and luxury—more than I desire," I answered. "I was not prepared to find in Egypt such splendor and magnificence. The half, my noble prince, has not been told the world."
"And yet you have seen but a small portion of this kingdom," he said, with a smile of pardonable pride. "Although On is the city of palaces and temples, for there is a temple to each of the three hundred and sixty gods of our calendar year, yet Memphis is the true seat of our empire. We rule Egypt from Memphis: we worship the gods from On."
"But is not the great god Apis the peculiar deity of Memphis?" I asked; "and is not his worship the most magnificent and imposing on earth?"
"Yet here in the City of the Sun is the temple of Mnevis, the sacred ox of On, honored with a worship as profound and universal as that of Apis."
"But do the more polished Egyptians indeed worship the ox, either here or in Memphis?" I asked with some hesitation, for, as prince, Remeses is first priest of the realm, next to the high-priest of Osiris.
"Do not fear to ask freely any questions, my dear Sesostris," he said. "We do not worship these animals. They are but the embodiment of attributes. Under both of these gods, at On and at Memphis, Osiris the great Judge of men is veiled. They are but the living images of Osiris. The origin of their introduction is unknown save to the priests, whose office it is to keep the records of all things appertaining to religion."
"What is revealed concerning the history of Osiris?" I asked; "for I am at a loss to understand the exact relation a deity known over the world by name, but of whose worship little is understood, holds to Egypt and to the other gods. At home, in Syria, I have marvelled how the Egyptian mythology could stand, when made up of such contradictory elements,—a part directing the worship of an invisible divinity, and a part directing the adoration of the hosts of heaven and beasts of the earth. In Phœnicia we worship the Invisible through the sun, as his representative. We worship nothing earthly. In Palestine, south of us, Ashteroth, Belus, and images of stone and brass are adored, but not with us."
"The Egyptians, through all their forms, and by all their gods, adore the Supreme Infinite, my Sesostris," said the prince. "The history of our faith is briefly this, according to common tradition: Osiris was in the beginning the one lord of worlds; the sun of truth and the glory of his universe. He came upon earth for the benefit of mankind. Before his coming, the ox and all other animals were wild, and of no service to man. The Nile was a terror to Egypt. Vegetation had perished. He came as a 'manifester of good and truth,' as saith the great golden book in the Hall of Books. He entered into all things, and infused his life, and good, and uses into all. He bound the Nile to its banks, by breasting its flood and subduing it. His spirit passed into the bull, and all cattle. He tempered the heat of the sun, and drew the poison from the moon. The earth became his bride, under the name of Isis; and brought forth Horus, and the order of equal times, and thus man was benefited and the earth made habitable. Upon this, his brother Sethis, who represented 'evil,' as Osiris did 'good,' sought his destruction, and caused him to be hated and put to death. He was buried, and rose again, and became the judge of the dead. And this legend or fable is the foundation, noble Sesostris, of our mythology. The sun, moon, Nile, animals, and vegetables even, are regarded as sacred, therefore, because the spirit or soul of Osiris had been infused into them, to change them from evil to good. Thus one god is worshipped through visible objects, which he has consecrated,—objects once his temples and abodes; for, says the sacred record, he had to enter into every thing which he restored to the use of man."
"The mythology of Egypt," I said, "is at once relieved, O prince, from the charge of grossness and superstition which has been attached to it. I can now understand more clearly your system of religion."
"The mysteries of our religion are still unfathomable," answered Remeses. "It is doubtful if they are fully comprehended by the priests. In the multiplicity and diversity of objects of worship I am often confounded, and it is a relief to me to pass by all material forms of Osiris, and send my mind upward only to himself!"
"That is a noble conception, great prince," I said, admiring the lofty and almost divine expression with which this pure sentiment lighted up his fine countenance.
"But the people of Egypt are not able to comprehend Deity except through visible forms; and, in order to convey an impression of the abstract notions men form of the attributes of Deity, it will always be necessary, perhaps, to distinguish them by some fixed representation; hence the figures of Osiris under the various forms in which he is worshipped, of Pthah, of Amun, Neith, and other gods and goddesses, were invented by the ancient priests as the signs of the various attributes of the Deity. And as the subtlety of speculation expanded the simple principles of our mythology, the divine nature was divided and subdivided, until any thing which seemed to bear any analogy to it was deified, received a figure or form as a god, and was admitted into the Pantheon of the kingdom, to a share of the worship of the people."
"And this nicety of philosophical speculation," I said, "must have given rise to the several grades of deities in Egypt."
"Yes; the gods of the first, second, and third orders: each with its system of priesthood and rituals."
"In all this, I see you give no divine honors to departed heroes," I remarked.
"No. Our gods are none of them deified men. They are not like Bacchus, and Hercules, and other of the ancient and Syriac deities, who were human heroes. Our mythology is a pure spiritualism: its object, Divinity, worshipped by emblems, symbols, signs, figures, and representative attributes."
"It is a pantheism, then, rather than a polytheism," I remarked.
"You speak justly, Sesostris," he said. "The figures of our gods, which you see hewn in marble, painted on temples, standing colossal monoliths in the entrance of the city, are but vicarious forms, not intended to be looked upon as real divine personages. Not a child in Egypt believes that a being exists, with the head of a bird joined to the human form—as the statue of Thoth, with the ibis head, in front of the temple; or under the form of a Cynocephalus, having the horns of the moon upon his head; or as the goddess Justice, without a head; or a bird with the head of a woman; or a god with a ram-headed vulture's head, or that of a hawk, like the deity Horus; or Anubis, with the head of a dog. Why these unnatural forms were chosen as emblems of these gods, the priests fancifully explain, and perhaps in many cases truly. They are all, simply personifications of divine attributes."
"Abuses," I remarked, when he had thus eloquently spoken, "must naturally flow from such representations, and these emblems, among the people, soon assume the importance of the divine personages to which they appertain. The mass of the population must be idolaters."
"You speak truly. They are. The distinction between the image and the idea which it represents is too subtle for the ignorant; they lose sight of the attribute, by filling the whole horizon of their minds with its image. Thus the Egyptian mind is clearly more and more being drawn away from its ancient spiritual worship, to a superstitious veneration for images, which originally were intended only to control and fix attention, or to represent some religious tradition or idea of divinity."
"Are not Apis, the sacred bull, at Memphis, and Mnevis at On, regarded as gods?" I asked.
"Only as the soul of Osiris. The bull is the most powerful animal in all Egypt, and hence a type of the Deity. But this subject, my dear Sesostris," added the prince, with a fine look of friendship, "you will know more of by and by, as you dwell among us. I will command that you shall have every facility from the priests, and also from the philosophers and wise men, in your further studies of our people. I am happy to have given you your first lesson in Egyptian lore."
"You have done me infinite honor, noble Remeses," I replied, returning with gratitude his looks of kindness. "I hope ere long so to profit by your information as to understand your ancient system of religion. From what you have said, I perceive that it stands above all others on earth, rightly interpreted; and before its spiritual essence, our worship in Phœnicia—which is chiefly a union of idolatry and Sabæanism—is pure materialism."
At this moment we rose, as by one impulse, and walked out upon the terrace to enjoy the breeze which was waving refreshingly, to our eyes, the branches of a palm that stood before the door. The day was intensely hot. In the shade of the columns on the square, many of the citizens had gathered for shelter from the sun's beams. But still in its burning heat the bondmen of whom I have spoken, toiled on, with their burdens of brick. Not far off were a score under one taskmaster, who stood by with a long staff with which he severely beat an old man, who had sunk to the earth under the combined heat of the sun and the weight he was compelled to bear. My heart was touched at once with pity and indignation.
"What unhappy people are these, O prince," I said, "who endure such heavy labor?"
"Hebrews!" he answered, haughtily and indifferently. "Hast thou not heard of these bond-slaves of our land? They have been in Egypt several generations. They build our cities, our walls, our canals. They number two millions, and are the hereditary slaves of the Pharaohs."
"To what circumstances do they owe their captivity?" I asked.
"If it will interest you, my Sesostris," he said, "I will at another time relate their history."
"It will gratify me to listen to it," I answered. "I am struck with the Syriac cast of their features."
"Indeed! They originally came from Syria. Do they preserve still the lineaments of their country?"
"Strikingly so," I answered.
We now walked the noble terrace together, while he pointed out to me the prospect from it. In view was one half the city, and the dark "Lake of the Dead," of which I will speak hereafter; the avenues of sphinxes; the gigantic gateways or pylones and obelisks on the river; and the mighty Nile itself, flowing like an ever-lengthening sea amid the fairest scenery of earth. Reposing upon its bosom, like a gigantic floating garden, was visible the noble isle of Rhoda, decked with gorgeous palaces,—one of which, said Remeses, is the favorite home of his royal mother. Still beyond this lovely island rose from the water the gardens, villas, palaces, temples, and propyla which lay between Memphis and the river; while the city of Apis, "the diadem of Egypt," in all the glory of architectural majesty and beauty, reposed on the plain beyond; the mighty pyramids, with their winged temples and colossal dromos of sphinxes, filling the background of this matchless scene.