The Pharaoh and the Priest: An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt

by Bolesław Prus

  CHAPTER I

  In the thirty-third year of the happy reign of Rameses XII., Egyptcelebrated two festivals which filled all its faithful inhabitantswith pride and delight.

  In the month of Mechir--that is, during January--the god Khonsureturned to Thebes covered with costly gifts. For three years and ninemonths he had travelled in the country of Buchten, where he restoredhealth to the king's daughter, Bentres, and expelled an evil spiritnot only from the royal family, but even from the fortress.

  So in the month Farmuti (February) Mer-Amen-Rameses XII., the lordof Upper and Lower Egypt, the ruler of Phoenicia and nine nations,after consultation with the gods to whom he was equal, named aserpatr, or heir to the throne, his son, aged twenty years,Cham-Sem-Merer-Amen-Rameses.

  This choice delighted the pious priests, the worthy nomarchs, thevaliant army, the faithful people, and every creature living in Egypt,because the older sons of the pharaoh, who were born of a Hittiteprincess, had been visited by an evil spirit through enchantmentswhich no one had the power to investigate. One son of twenty-sevenyears was unable to walk after reaching maturity; the second openedhis veins and died; the third, through poisoned wine, which he wouldnot cease drinking, fell into madness, and believing himself a monkey,passed whole days among tree branches.

  But the fourth son, Rameses, born of Queen Nikotris, daughter of thepriest Amenhotep, was as strong as the bull Apis, as brave as a lion,and as wise as the priests. From childhood he surrounded himself withwarriors, and while still a common prince, used to say,--

  "If the gods, instead of making me the youngest son of his holiness,had made me a pharaoh, like Rameses the Great, I would conquer ninenations, of which people in Egypt have never heard mention; I wouldbuild a temple larger than all Thebes, and rear for myself a pyramidnear which the tomb of Cheops would be like a rosebush at the side ofa full-grown palm-tree."

  On receiving the much desired title of heir, the young prince beggedhis father to be gracious and appoint him to command the army corps ofMemphis. To this his holiness, Rameses XII., after consultation withthe gods, to whom he was equal, answered that he would do so in casethe heir could give proof that he had skill to direct a mass of troopsarrayed for battle.

  A council was called under the presidency of the minister of war,San-Amen-Herhor, high priest of the great sanctuary of Amon in Thebes.

  The council decided in this way: "The heir to the throne, in themiddle of the month Mesore, will take ten regiments, disposed alongthe line which connects Memphis with the city of Pi-Uto, situated onthe Bay of Sebenico.

  "With this corps of ten thousand men prepared for battle, providedwith a camp and with military engines, the heir will betake himselfeastward along the highroad from Memphis toward Hittite regions, whichroad lies on the boundary between the land of Goshen and thewilderness. At this time General Nitager, commander of the army whichguards the gates of Egypt from attacks of Asiatic people, will movefrom the Bitter Lakes against the heir, Prince Rameses.

  "Both armies, the Asiatic and the Western, are to meet near Pi-Bailos,but in the wilderness, so that industrious husbandmen in the land ofGoshen be not hindered in their labors.

  "The heir will be victorious if he does not let himself be surprisedby Nitager, that is, if he concentrates all his forces and succeeds inputting them in order of battle to meet the enemy.

  "His worthiness Herhor, the minister of war, will be present in thecamp of Prince Rameses, and will report to the pharaoh."

  Two ways of communication formed the boundary between the land ofGoshen and the desert. One was the transport canal from Memphis toLake Timrah; the other was the highroad. The canal was in the land ofGoshen, the highroad in the desert which both ways bounded with a halfcircle.

  The canal was visible from almost every point upon the highroad.Whatever artificial boundaries might be, these neighboring regionsdiffered in all regards. The land of Goshen, though a rolling country,seemed a plain; the desert was composed of limestone hills and sandyvalleys. The land of Goshen seemed a gigantic chessboard the green andyellow squares of which were indicated by the color of grain and bypalms growing on their boundaries; but on the ruddy sand of the desertand its white hills a patch of green or a clump of trees and bushesseemed like a lost traveller.

  On the fertile land of Goshen from each hill shot up a dark grove ofacacias, sycamores, and tamarinds which from a distance looked likeour lime-trees; among these were concealed villas with rows of shortcolumns, or the yellow mud huts of earth-tillers. Sometimes near thegrove was a white village with flat-roofed houses, or above the treesrose the pyramidal gates of a temple, like double cliffs, many-coloredwith strange characters. From the desert beyond the first row ofhills, which were a little green, stared naked elevations covered withblocks of stone. It seemed as if the western region, sated with excessof life, hurled with regal generosity to the other side flowers andvegetables, but the desert in eternal hunger devoured them in thefollowing year and turned them into ashes.

  The stunted vegetation, exiled to cliffs and sands, clung to the lowerplaces until, by means of ditches made in the sides of the raisedhighroad, men conducted water from the canals to it. In fact, hiddenoases between naked hills along that highway drank in the divinewater. In these oases grew wheat, barley, grapes, palms, andtamarinds. The whole of such an oasis was sometimes occupied by onefamily, which when it met another like itself at the market inPi-Bailos might not even know that they were neighbors in the desert.

  On the fifteenth of Mesore the concentration of troops was almostfinished. The regiments of Prince Rameses, which were to meet theAsiatic forces of Nitager, had assembled on the road above the city ofPi-Bailos with their camp and with some military engines.

  The heir himself directed all the movements. He had organized twoparties of scouts. Of these the first had to watch the enemy, theother to guard its own army from attack, which was possible in a hillyregion with many ravines. Rameses, in the course of a week, rodearound and examined all the regiments, marching by various roads,looking carefully to see if the soldiers had good weapons and warmmantles for the night hours, if in the camps there was dried bread insufficiency as well as meat and dried fish. He commanded, besides,that the wives, children, and slaves of warriors marching to theeastern boundary should be conveyed by canal; this diminished thenumber of chariots and eased the movements of the army.

  The oldest generals admired the zeal, knowledge, and caution of theheir, and, above all, his simplicity and love of labor. His court,which was numerous, his splendid tent, chariots, and litters were leftin the capital, and, dressed as a simple officer, he hurried fromregiment to regiment on horseback, in Assyrian fashion, attended bytwo adjutants.

  Thanks to this concentration, the corps itself went forward veryswiftly, and the army was near Pi-Bailos at the time appointed.

  It was different with the prince's staff, and the Greek regimentaccompanying it, and with some who moved military engines.

  The staff, collected in Memphis, had the shortest road to travel;hence it moved latest, bringing an immense camp with it. Nearly everyofficer, and they were young lords of great families, had a litterwith four negroes, a two-wheeled military chariot, a rich tent, and amultitude of boxes with food and clothing, also jars full of beer andwine. Besides, a numerous troop of singers and dancers, with music,had betaken themselves to journey behind the officers; each womanmust, in the manner of a great lady, have a car drawn by one or twopair of oxen, and must have also a litter.

  When this throng poured out of Memphis, it occupied more space on thehighway than the army of Prince Rameses. The march was so slow thatthe military engines which were left at the rear moved twenty-fourhours later than was ordered. To complete every evil the femaledancers and singers, on seeing the desert not at all dreadful in thatplace, were terrified and fell to weeping. To calm these women it wasnecessary to hasten with the night camp, pitch tents, arrange aspectacle, and a feast afterward.

  The night amusement in the cool, under th
e starry sky, with wildnature for a background, pleased dancers and singers exceedingly; theydeclared that they would travel thenceforth only through the desert.Meanwhile Prince Rameses sent an order to turn all women back toMemphis at the earliest and urge the march forward.

  His dignity Herhor, minister of war, was with the staff, but only as aspectator. He had not brought singers himself, but he made no remarksto officers. He gave command to carry his litter at the head of thecolumn, and accommodating himself to its movements, advanced or restedunder the immense fan with which his adjutant shaded him.

  Herhor was a man of forty and some years of age, strongly built,concentrated in character. He spoke rarely, and looked at people asrarely from under his drooping eyelids. He went with arms and legsbare, like every Egyptian, his breast exposed; he had sandals on hisfeet, a short skirt about his hips, an apron with blue and whitestripes. As a priest, he shaved his beard and hair and wore a pantherskin hanging from his left shoulder. As a soldier, he covered his headwith a small helmet of the guard; from under this helmet hung akerchief, also in blue and white stripes; this reached his shoulders.Around his neck was a triple gold chain, and under his left arm ashort sword in a costly scabbard. His litter, borne by six blackslaves, was attended always by three persons: one carried his fan,another the mace of the minister, and the third a box for papyrus.This third man was Pentuer, a priest, and the secretary of Herhor. Hewas a lean ascetic who in the greatest heat never covered his shavenhead. He came of the people, but in spite of low birth he occupied ahigh position in the state; this was due to exceptional abilities.

  Though the minister with his officials preceded the staff and heldhimself apart from its movements, it could not be said that he wasunconscious of what was happening behind him. Every hour, at timesevery half hour, some one approached Herhor's litter,--now a priest oflower rank, an ordinary "servant of the gods," a marauding soldier, afreedman, or a slave, who, passing as it were indifferently the silentretinue of the minister, threw out a word. That word Pentuer recordedsometimes, but more frequently he remembered it, for his memory wasamazing.

  No one in the noisy throng of the staff paid attention to thesedetails. The officers, sons of great lords, were too much occupied byrunning, by noisy conversation, or by singing, to notice whoapproached the minister; all the more since a multitude of people werepushing along the highway.

  On the sixteenth of Mesore the staff of Prince Rameses, together withhis dignity the minister, passed the night under the open sky at thedistance of five miles from the regiments which were arranged inbattle order across the highway beyond the city of Pi-Bailos.

  In that early morning which precedes our six o'clock, the hills grewviolet, and from behind them came forth the sun. A rosy light flowedover the land of Goshen. Villages, temples, palaces of magnates, andhuts of earth-tillers looked like sparks and flames which flashed upin one moment from the midst of green spaces. Soon the western horizonwas flooded with a golden hue, and the green land of Goshen seemedmelting into gold, and the numberless canals seemed filled with moltensilver. But the desert hills grew still more marked with violet, andcast long shadows on the sands, and darkness on the plant world.

  The guards who stood along that highway could see with the utmostclearness fields, edged with palms, beyond the canal. Some fields weregreen with flax, wheat, clover; others were gilded with ripeningbarley of the second growth. Now earth-tillers began to come out tofield labor, from huts concealed among trees; they were naked andbronze-hued; their whole dress was a short skirt and a cap. Someturned to canals to clear them of mud, or to draw water. Othersdispersing among the trees gathered grapes and ripe figs. Many nakedchildren stirred about, and women were busy in white, yellow, or redshirts which were sleeveless.

  There was great movement in that region. In the sky birds of preyfrom the desert pursued pigeons and daws in the land of Goshen. Alongthe canal squeaking sweeps moved up and down, with buckets offertilizing water; fruit-gatherers appeared and disappeared among thetrees, like colored butterflies. But in the desert, on the highway,swarmed the army and its servants. A division of mounted lancers shotpast. Behind them marched bowmen in caps and petticoats; they had bowsin their hands, quivers on their shoulders, and broadswords at theirright sides. The archers were accompanied by slingers who carried bagswith missiles and were armed with short swords.

  A hundred yards behind them advanced two small divisions of footmen,one division armed with darts, the other with spears. Both carriedrectangular shields; on their breasts they had thick coats, as it werearmor, and on their heads caps with kerchiefs behind to ward off thesun-rays. The caps and coats had blue and white stripes or yellow andblack stripes, which made those soldiers seem immense hornets.

  Behind the advance guard, surrounded by a retinue of mace-bearers,pushed on the litter of the minister, and behind it, with bronzehelmets and breastplates, the Greek companies, whose measured treadcalled to mind blows of heavy hammers. In the rear was heard thecreaking of vehicles, and from the side of the highway slipped alongthe bearded Phoenician merchant in his litter borne between two asses.Above all this rose a cloud of golden dust, and heat also.

  Suddenly from the vanguard galloped up a mounted soldier and informedHerhor that Prince Rameses, the heir to the throne, was approaching.His worthiness descended from the litter, and at that moment appeareda mounted party of men who halted and sprang from their horses. Oneman of this party and the minister began to approach each other,halting every few steps and bowing.

  "Be greeted, O son of the pharaoh; may he live through eternity!" saidthe minister.

  "Be greeted and live long, O holy father!" answered Rameses; then headded,--

  "Ye advance as slowly as if your legs were sawn off, while Nitagerwill stand before our division in two hours at the latest."

  "Thou hast told truth. Thy staff marches very slowly."

  "Eunana tells me also," here Rameses indicated an officer standingbehind him who was covered with amulets, "that ye have not sent scoutsto search ravines. But in case of real war an enemy might attack fromthat side."

  "I am not the leader, I am only a judge," replied the minister,quietly.

  "But what can Patrokles be doing?"

  "Patrokles is bringing up the military engines with his Greekregiment."

  "But my relative and adjutant, Tutmosis?"

  "He is sleeping yet, I suppose."

  Rameses stamped impatiently, and was silent. He was a beautiful youth,with a face almost feminine, to which anger and sunburn added charm.He wore a close-fitting coat with blue and white stripes, a kerchiefof the same color behind his helmet, a gold chain around his neck, anda costly sword beneath his left arm.

  "I see," said the prince, "that thou alone, Eunana, art mindful of myhonor."

  The officer covered with amulets bent to the earth.

  "Tutmosis is indolent," said the heir. "Return to thy place, Eunana.Let the vanguard at least have a leader."

  Then, looking at the suite which now surrounded him as if it hadsprung from under the earth on a sudden, he added,--

  "Bring my litter. I am as tired as a quarryman."

  "Can the gods grow tired?" whispered Eunana, still standing behindhim.

  "Go to thy place!" said Rameses.

  "But perhaps thou wilt command me, O image of the moon, to search theravines?" asked the officer, in a low voice. "Command, I beg thee, forwherever I am my heart is chasing after thee to divine thy will andaccomplish it."

  "I know that thou art watchful," answered Rameses. "Go now and lookafter everything."

  "Holy father," said Eunana, turning to the minister, "I commend mymost obedient service to thy worthiness."

  Barely had Eunana gone when at the end of the marching column rose astill greater tumult. They looked for the heir's litter, but it wasgone. Then appeared, making his way through the Greek warriors, ayouth of strange exterior. He wore a muslin tunic, a richlyembroidered apron, and a golden scarf across his shoulder. But he wasdistinguished above
all by an immense wig with a multitude of tresses,and an artificial beard like cats' tails.

  That was Tutmosis, the first exquisite in Memphis, who dressed andperfumed himself even during marches.

  "Be greeted, Rameses!" exclaimed the exquisite, pushing aside officersquickly. "Imagine thy litter is lost somewhere; thou must sit in mine,which really is not fit for thee, but it is not the worst."

  "Thou hast angered me," answered the prince. "Thou sleepest instead ofwatching the army."

  The astonished exquisite stopped.

  "I sleep?" cried he. "May the man's tongue wither up who invented thatcalumny! I, knowing that thou wouldst come, have been ready this hourpast, and am preparing a bath for thee and perfumes."

  "While thus engaged, the regiment is without a commander."

  "Am I to command a detachment where his worthiness the minister of waris, and such a leader is present as Patrokles?"

  Rameses was silent; meanwhile Tutmosis, approaching him, whispered,--

  "In what a plight thou art, O son of the pharaoh! Without a wig, thyhair and dress full of dust, thy skin black and cracked, like theearth in summer. The queen, most deserving of honor, would drive mefrom the court were she to look at thy wretchedness."

  "I am only tired."

  "Then take a seat in my litter. In it are fresh garlands of roses,roast birds, and a jug of wine from Cyprus. I have kept also hidden inthe camp," added he in a lower voice, "Senura."

  "Is she here?" asked the prince; and his eyes, glittering a momentbefore, were now mist covered.

  "Let the army move on," said Tutmosis; "we will wait here for her."

  Rameses recovered himself.

  "Leave me, tempter! The battle will come in two hours."

  "What! a battle?"

  "At least the decision as to my leadership."

  "Oh, laugh at it!" smiled the exquisite. "I would swear that theminister of war sent a report of it yesterday, and with it thepetition to give thee the corps of Memphis."

  "No matter if he did. To-day I have no thought for anything but thearmy."

  "In thee this wish for war is dreadful, war during which a man doesnot wash for a whole month, so as to die in-- Brr! But if thou couldstsee Senura, only glance at her--"

  "For that very reason I shall not glance at her," answered Rameses,decisively.

  At the moment when eight men were bringing from beyond the Greek ranksthe immense litter of Tutmosis for the use of Rameses, a horsemanraced in from the vanguard. He dropped from his horse and ran soquickly that on his breast the images of the gods or the tablets withtheir names rattled loudly. This was Eunana in great excitement.

  All turned to him, and this gave him pleasure apparently.

  "Erpatr, the loftiest lips," cried Eunana, bending before Rameses."When, in accordance with thy divine command, I rode at the head of adetachment, looking carefully at all things, I noticed on the highroadtwo beautiful scarabs. Each of these sacred beetles was rolling anearth ball toward the sands near the roadside--"

  "What of that?" interrupted Rameses.

  "Of course," continued Eunana, glancing toward Herhor, "I and mypeople, as piety enjoins, rendered homage to the golden symbols of thesun, and halted. That augury is of such import that no man of us wouldmake a step forward unless commanded."

  "I see that thou art a pious Egyptian, though thou hast the featuresof a Hittite," answered the worthy Herhor; and turning to certaindignitaries standing near, he added,--

  "We will not advance farther by the highway, for we might crush thesacred beetles. Pentuer, can we go around the road by that ravine onthe right?"

  "We can," answered the secretary. "That ravine is five miles long,and comes out again almost in front of Pi-Bailos."

  "An immense loss of time!" interrupted Rameses, in anger.

  "I would swear that those are not scarabs, but the spirits of myPhoenician usurers," said Tutmosis the exquisite. "Not being able,because of their death, to receive money from me, they will force menow to march through the desert in punishment!"

  The suite of the prince awaited the decision with fear; so Ramesesturned to Herhor,--

  "What dost thou think of this, holy father?"

  "Look at the officers," answered the priest, "and thou wilt understandthat we must go by the ravine."

  Now Patrokles, leader of the Greeks, pushed forward and said to theheir,--

  "If the prince permit, my regiment will advance by the highway. Mysoldiers have no fear of beetles!"

  "Your soldiers have no fear of royal tombs even," added the minister."Still it cannot be safe in them since no one has ever returned."

  The Greek pushed back to the suite confounded.

  "Confess, holy father," hissed the heir, with the greatest anger,"that such a hindrance would not stop even an ass on his journey."

  "True, but no ass will ever be pharaoh," retorted the minister,calmly.

  "In that case thou, O minister, wilt lead the division through theravine!" exclaimed Rameses. "I am unacquainted with priestly tactics;besides, I must rest. Come with me, cousin," said he to Tutmosis; andhe turned toward some naked hills.