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

by Bolesław Prus

  CHAPTER V

  As the suite of the heir approached Memphis, the sun was near itssetting, while from countless canals and the distant sea came a windfilled with cool moisture. The road descended again to the fertileregion, where on fields and among bushes continuous ranks of peoplewere working, a rosy gleam was falling on the desert, and the mountainsummits were in a blaze of sunlight.

  Rameses halted and turned his horse. His suite surrounded him quickly,the higher officers approached with some leisure, while the marchingregiments drew nearer slowly and with even tread. In the purple raysof the setting sun, the prince had the seeming of a divinity, thesoldiers gazed at him with affection and pride, the chiefs lookedadmiringly.

  He raised his hand. All were silent.

  "Worthy leaders," began he, "brave officers, obedient soldiers! To-daythe gods have given me the pleasure of commanding you. Delight hasfilled my heart. And since it is my will that leaders, officers, andsoldiers should share my happiness at all times, I assign one drachmato each soldier of those who have gone to the east, and to those whoreturn with us from the eastern boundary; also one drachma each to theGreek soldiers who to-day, under my command, opened a passage out ofthe ravine; and one drachma to each man in the regiments of the worthyNitager who wished to cut off the way to us."

  There was a shout in the army.

  "Be well, our leader! Be well, successor of the pharaoh, may he liveeternally!" cried the soldiers; and the Greeks cried the loudest.

  The prince continued,--

  "I assign five talents to be divided among the lower officers of myarmy and that of the worthy Nitager. And finally I assign ten talentsto be divided between his worthiness the minister and the chiefleaders--"

  "I yield my part for the benefit of the army," answered Herhor.

  "Be well, O heir!--be well, O minister!" cried the officers and thesoldiers.

  The ruddy circle of the sun had touched the sands of the westerndesert. Rameses took farewell of the army and galloped towardsMemphis; but his worthiness Herhor, amid joyous shouts, took a seat inhis litter and commanded also to go in advance of the marchingdivisions.

  When they had gone so far that single voices were merged into oneimmense murmur, like the sound of a cataract, the minister, bendingtoward the secretary, asked of him,--

  "Dost thou remember everything?"

  "Yes, worthy lord."

  "Thy memory is like granite on which we write history, and thy wisdomlike the Nile, which covers all the country and enriches it," saidHerhor. "Besides, the gods have granted thee the greatest ofvirtues,--wise obedience."

  The secretary was silent.

  "Hence thou mayest estimate more accurately than others the acts andreasons of the heir, may he live through eternity!"

  The minister stopped awhile, and then added,--

  "It has not been his custom to speak so much. Tell me then, Pentuer,and record this: Is it proper that the heir to the throne shouldexpress his will before the army? Only a pharaoh may act thus, or atraitor, or--a frivolous stripling, who with the same heedlessnesswill do hasty deeds or belch forth words of blasphemy."

  The sun went down, and soon after a starry night appeared. Above thecountless canals of Lower Egypt a silvery mist began to thicken,--amist which, borne to the desert by a gentle wind, freshened thewearied warriors, and revived vegetation which had been dying throughlack of moisture.

  "Or tell me, Pentuer," continued the minister, "and inquire: whencewill the heir get his twenty talents to keep the promise which he madethis day to the army with such improvidence? Besides, it seems to me,and certainly to thee, a dangerous step for an heir to make presentsto the army, especially now, when his holiness has nothing with whichto pay Nitager's regiments returning from the Orient. I do not askwhat thy opinions are, for I know them, as thou knowest my most secretthoughts. I only ask thee to the end that thou remember what thou hastseen, so as to tell it to the priests in council."

  "Will they meet soon?" inquired Pentuer.

  "There is no reason yet to summon them. I shall try first to calm thiswild young bull through the fatherly hand of his holiness. It would bea pity to lose the boy, for he has much ability and the energy of asouthern whirlwind. But if the whirlwind, instead of blowing awayEgypt's enemies, blows down its wheat and tears up its palm-trees!--"

  The minister stopped conversation, and his retinue vanished in thedark alley of trees which led to Memphis.

  Meanwhile Rameses reached the palace of the pharaoh.

  This edifice stood on an elevation in a park outside the city.Peculiar trees grew there: baobabs from the south; pines, oaks, andcedars from the north. Thanks to the art of gardeners, these treeslived some tens of years and reached a considerable height.

  The shady alley led to a gate which was as high as a house of threestories. From each side of the gate rose a solid building like a towerin the form of a truncated pyramid, forty yards in width with theheight of five stories. In the night they seemed like two immensetents made of sandstone. These peculiar buildings had on the groundand the upper stories square windows, and the roofs were flat. Fromthe top of one of these pyramids without apex, a watch looked at thecountry; from the other the priest on duty observed the stars.

  At the right and left of these towers, called pylons, extended walls,or rather long structures of one story, with narrow windows and flatroofs, on which sentries paced back and forth. On both sides of themain gate were two sitting statues fifteen feet in height. In front ofthese statues moved other sentries.

  When the prince, with a number of horsemen, approached the palace, thesentry knew him in spite of the darkness. Soon an official of thecourt ran out of the pylon. He was clothed in a white skirt and darkmantle, and wore a wig as large as a headdress.

  "Is the palace closed already?" inquired the prince.

  "Thou art speaking truth, worthy lord," said the official. "Hisholiness is preparing the god for sleep."

  "What will he do after that?"

  "He will be pleased to receive the war minister, Herhor."

  "Well, and later?"

  "Later his holiness will look at the ballet in the great hall, then hewill bathe and recite evening prayers."

  "Has he not commanded to receive me?" inquired Rameses.

  "To-morrow morning after the military council."

  "What are the queens doing?"

  "The first queen is praying in the chamber of her dead son, and thyworthy mother is receiving the Phoenician ambassador, who has broughther gifts from the women of Tyre."

  "Did he bring maidens?"

  "A number of them. Each has on her person treasures to the value often talents."

  "Who is moving about down there with torches?" asked the prince,pointing to the lower park.

  "They are taking thy brother, worthiness, from a tree where he hasbeen sitting since midday."

  "Is he unwilling to come down?"

  "He will come down now, for the first queen's jester has gone for him,and has promised to take him to the inn where dissectors aredrinking."

  "And hast thou heard anything of the manoeuvres of to-day?"

  "They say that the staff was cut off from the corps."

  "And what more?"

  The official hesitated.

  "Tell what thou hast heard."

  "We heard, moreover, that because of this five hundred blows of astick were given to a certain officer at thy command, worthiness."

  "It is all a lie!" said one of the adjutants of the heir in anundertone.

  "The soldiers, too, say among themselves that it must be a lie,"returned the official, with growing confidence.

  Rameses turned his horse and rode to the lower part of the park wherehis small palace was situated. It had a ground and an upper story andwas built of wood. Its form was that of an immense hexagon with twoporticos, an upper and a lower one which surrounded the building andrested on a multitude of pillars. Lamps were burning in the interior;hence it was possible to see that the walls were formed of p
lanksperforated like lace, and that these walls were protected from thewind by curtains of various colors. The roof of the building was flat,surrounded by a balustrade; on this roof stood a number of tents.

  Greeted heartily by half-naked servitors, some of whom ran out withtorches, while others prostrated themselves before him, the heirentered his residence. On the ground floor he removed his dusty dress,bathed in a stone basin, and put on a kind of great sheet which hefastened at the neck and bound round his waist with a cord for agirdle. On the first floor he ate a supper consisting of a wheatencake, dates, and a glass of light beer. Then he went to the terrace ofthe building, and lying on a couch covered with a lion skin, commandedthe servants to withdraw and to bring up Tutmosis the moment heappeared there.

  About midnight a litter stopped before the residence, and out of itstepped the adjutant. When he walked along the terrace heavily yawningas he went, the prince sprang up from the couch and cried,--

  "Art thou here? Well, what?"

  "Then art thou not sleeping yet?" replied Tutmosis. "O gods, after somany days of torture! I think that I should sleep until sunrise."

  "What of Sarah?"

  "She will be here the day after to-morrow, or thou wilt be with her inthe house beyond the river."

  "Only after to-morrow!"

  "Only? I beg thee, Rameses, to sleep. Thou hast taken too much badblood to thy heart, fire will strike to thy head."

  "What about her father?"

  "He is honorable and wise. They call him Gideon. When I told him thatthou hadst the wish to take his daughter, he fell on the ground andtore his hair. Of course I waited till this outburst of fatherlysuffering was over; I ate a little, drank some wine, and at lastproceeded to bargaining. The weeping Gideon swore first of all that hewould rather see his daughter dead than the mistress of any man. ThenI told him that near Memphis, on the Nile, he would receive land whichgives two talents of yearly income and pays no taxes. He wasindignant. Then I stated that he might receive another talent yearlyin gold and silver. He sighed and declared that his daughter had spentthree years at school in Pi-Bailos; I added another talent. ThenGideon, still disconsolate, remembered that he would lose his verygood position of manager for the lord Sesofris. I told him that heneed not lose that place, and added ten milch cows from thy stables.His forehead cleared somewhat; then he confessed to me, as a profoundsecret, that a certain very great lord, Chaires, who bears the fan ofthe nomarch of Memphis, was turning attention toward Sarah. I promisedthen to add a young bull, a medium chain of gold, and a largebracelet. In this way thy Sarah will cost thee land, two talentsyearly in money, ten cows, a young bull, a chain and a gold bracelet,immediately. These thou wilt give to her father, the honest Gideon; toher thou wilt give whatever pleases thee."

  "What did Sarah say to this?"

  "While we were bargaining she walked among the trees. When we hadfinished the matter and settled it by drinking good Hebrew wine, shetold her father--dost thou know what?--that if he had not given her tothee, she would have gone up the cliff and thrown herself down headforemost. Now thou mayst sleep quietly, I think," ended Tutmosis.

  "I doubt it," answered Rameses, leaning on the balustrade and lookinginto the emptiest side of the park. "Dost thou know that on the wayback we found a man hanging from a tree?"

  "Oh! that is worse than the scarabs!"

  "He hanged himself from despair because the warriors filled the canalwhich he had been digging for ten years in the desert."

  "Well, that man is sleeping now quietly. So it is time for us."

  "That man was wronged," said the prince. "I must find his children,ransom them, and rent a bit of land to them."

  "But thou must do this with great secrecy," remarked Tutmosis, "or allslaves will begin to hang themselves, and no Phoenician will lend us,their lords, a copper uten."

  "Jest not. Hadst thou seen that man's face, sleep would be absentto-night from thy eyes as it is from mine."

  Meanwhile from below, among the bushes, was heard a voice, notover-powerful, but clear,--

  "May the One, the All-Powerful, bless thee, Rameses,--He who has noname in human speech, or statue in a temple."

  Both young men bent forward in astonishment.

  "Who art thou?" called out the prince.

  "I am the injured people of Egypt," replied the voice, slowly and withcalmness.

  Then all was silent. No motion, no rustle of branches betrayed humanpresence in that place.

  At command of Rameses servants rushed out with torches, the dogs wereunchained, and every bush around the house was searched. But theyfound no one.

  "Who could that have been, Tutmosis?" asked the prince, with emotion."Perhaps it was the ghost of that slave who hanged himself?"

  "I have never heard ghosts talking, though I have been on guard attemples and tombs more than once. I should think, rather, that he whohas just called to us is some friend of thine."

  "Why should he hide?"

  "But what harm is that to thee? Each one of us has tens, if nothundreds, of invisible enemies. Thank the gods, then, that thou hasteven one invisible friend."

  "I shall not sleep to-night," whispered the excited prince.

  "Be calm. Instead of running along the terrace listen to me and liedown. Thou wilt see Sleep--that is a deliberate divinity, and it doesnot befit him to chase after those who run with the pace of a deer. Ifthou wilt lie down on a comfortable couch, Sleep, who loves comfort,will sit near thee and cover thee with his great mantle, which coversnot only men's eyes, but their memories."

  Thus speaking, Tutmosis placed Rameses on a couch; then he brought anivory pillow shaped like a crescent, and arranging the prince, placedhis head on this pillow.

  Then he let down the canvas walls of the tent, laid himself on thefloor, and both were asleep in some minutes.