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

by Bolesław Prus

  CHAPTER VIII

  The prince returned to his villa full of care, and summoned Tutmosis.

  "Thou must," said Rameses, "teach me how to find money."

  "Ha!" laughed the exquisite; "that is a kind of wisdom not taught inthe highest school of the priests, but wisdom in which I might be aprophet."

  "In those schools they explain that a man should not borrow money,"said Rameses.

  "If I did not fear that blasphemy might stain my lips, I should saythat some priests waste their time. They are wretched, though holy!They eat no meat, they are satisfied with one wife, or avoid womenaltogether, and--they know not what it is to borrow. I am satisfied,Rameses," continued the exquisite, "that thou wilt know this kind ofwisdom through my counsels. To-day thou wilt learn what a source ofsensations lack of money is. A man in need of money has no appetite,he springs up in sleep, he looks at women with astonishment, as if toask, 'Why were they created?' Fire flashes in his face in the coolesttemple. In the middle of a desert shivers of cold pass through himduring the greatest heat. He looks like a madman; he does not hearwhat people say to him. Very often he walks along with his wig awryand forgets to sprinkle it with perfume. His only comfort is a pitcherof strong wine, and that for a brief moment. Barely has the poor man'sthoughts come back when again he feels as though the earth wereopening under him.

  "I see," continued the exquisite, "that at present thou art passingthrough despair from lack of money. But soon thou wilt know otherfeelings which will be as if a great sphinx were removed from thybosom. Then thou wilt yield to the sweet condition of forgetting thyprevious trouble and present creditors, and then-- Ah, happy Rameses,unusual surprises will await thee! For the term will pass, and thycreditors will begin to visit thee under pretence of paying homage.Thou wilt be like a deer hunted by dogs, or an Egyptian girl who,while raising water from the river, sees the knotty back of acrocodile--"

  "All this seems very gladsome," interrupted Rameses, smiling; "but itbrings not one drachma."

  "Never mind," continued Tutmosis. "I will go this moment to Dagon, thePhoenician banker, and in the evening thou wilt find peace, though hemay not have given thee money."

  He hastened out, took his seat in a small litter, and surrounded byservants vanished in the alleys of the park.

  Before sunset Dagon, a Phoenician, the most noted banker in Memphis,came to the house of Rameses. He was a man in the full bloom of life,yellow, lean, but well built. He wore a blue tunic and over it a whiterobe of thin texture. He had immense hair of his own, confined by agold circlet, and a great black beard, his own also. This rich growthlooked imposing in comparison with the wigs and false beards ofEgyptian exquisites.

  The dwelling of the heir to the throne was swarming with youth of thearistocracy. Some on the ground floor were bathing and anointingthemselves, others were playing chess and checkers on the first story,others in company with dancing-girls were drinking under tents on theterrace. Rameses neither drank, played, nor talked with women; hewalked along one side of the terrace awaiting the Phoenicianimpatiently. When he saw him emerge from an alley in a litter on twoasses, he went to the first story, where there was an unoccupiedchamber.

  After awhile Dagon appeared in the door. He knelt on the threshold andexclaimed,--

  "I greet thee, new sun of Egypt! Mayst thou live through eternity, andmay thy glory reach those distant shores which are visited by theships of Phoenicia."

  At command of the prince, he rose and said with violentgesticulations,--

  "When the worthy Tutmosis descended before my mud hut--my house is amud hut in comparison with thy palaces, erpatr--such was the gleamfrom his face that I cried at once to my wife, 'Tamara, the worthyTutmosis has come not from himself, but from one as much higher thanhe as the Lebanon is higher than the sand of the seashore.' 'Whencedost thou know, my lord, that the worthy Tutmosis has not come forhimself?' 'Because he could not come with money, since he has none,and he could not come for money, because I have none.' At that momentwe bowed down both of us to the worthy Tutmosis. But when he told usthat it was thou, most worthy lord, who desirest fifteen talents fromthy slave, I asked my wife, 'Tamara, did my heart teach me badly?''Dagon, thou art so wise that thou shouldst be an adviser to theheir,' replied my Tamara."

  Rameses was boiling with impatience, but he listened to thebanker,--he, Rameses, who stormed in the presence of his own motherand the pharaoh.

  "When we, lord, stopped and understood that thou wert desirous of myservices, such delight entered my house that I ordered to give theservants ten pitchers of beer, and my wife Tamara commanded me to buyher new earrings. My joy was increased so that when coming hither Idid not let my driver beat the asses. And when my unworthy feettouched thy floor, O prince, I took out a gold ring, greater than thatwhich the worthy Herhor gave Eunana, and presented it to thy slave whopoured water on my fingers. With permission, worthiness, whence camethat silver pitcher from which they poured the water?"

  "Azarias, the son of Gaber, sold it to me for two talents."

  "A Jew? Erpatr, dost them deal with Jews? But what will the gods say?"

  "Azarias is a merchant, as thou art," answered Rameses.

  When Dagon heard this, he caught his head with both hands, he spat andgroaned,--

  "O Baal Tammuz! O Baaleth! O Astoreth!--Azarias, the son of Gaber, aJew, to be such a merchant as I am. Oh, my legs, why did ye bring mehither? Oh, my heart, why dost thou suffer such pain and palpitation?Most worthy prince," cried the Phoenician, "slay me, cut off my handif I counterfeit gold, but say not that a Jew can be a merchant.Sooner will Tyre fall to the earth, sooner will sand occupy the siteof Sidon than a Jew be a merchant. They will milk their lean goats, ormix clay with straw under blows of Egyptian sticks, but they willnever sell merchandise. Tfu! tfu! Vile nation of slaves! Thieves,robbers!"

  Anger boiled up in the prince, it is unknown why, but he calmedhimself quickly. This seemed strange to Rameses himself, who up tothat hour had not thought self-restraint needed in his case inpresence of any one.

  "And then," said the heir on a sudden, "wilt thou, worthy Dagon, loanme fifteen talents?"

  "O Astoreth! Fifteen talents? That is such a great weight that Ishould have to sit down to think of it properly."

  "Sit down then."

  "For a talent," said Dagon, sitting in an armchair comfortably, "a mancan have twelve gold chains, or sixty beautiful milch cows, or tenslaves for labor, or one slave to play on the flute or paint, andmaybe even to cure. A talent is tremendous property--"

  The prince's eyes flashed,--

  "Then thou hast not fifteen talents?"

  The terrified Phoenician slipped suddenly from the chair to thefloor.

  "Who in the city," cried he, "has not money at thy command, O child ofthe sun? It is true that I am a wretch whose gold, precious stones,and whole property is not worth one glance of thine, O prince, but ifI go around among our merchants and say who sent me, I shall getfifteen talents even from beneath the earth. Erpatr, if thou shouldststand before a withered fig-tree and say 'Give money!' the fig-treewould pay thee a ransom. But do not look at me in that way, O son ofHorus, for I feel a pain in the pit of my heart and my mind is growingblunted," finished the Phoenician, in tones of entreaty.

  "Well, sit in the chair, sit in the chair," said the prince, laughing.

  Dagon rose from the floor and disposed himself still more agreeably inthe armchair.

  "For how long a time does the prince wish fifteen talents?"

  "Certainly for a year."

  "Let us say at once three years. Only his holiness might give backfifteen talents in the course of a year, but not the youthful heir,who must receive young pleasant nobles and beautiful women.--Ah, thosewomen!--Is it true, with thy permission, that thou hast taken tothyself Sarah the daughter of Gideon?"

  "But what per cent dost thou wish?" interrupted Rameses.

  "A trifle, which thy sacred lips need not mention. For fifteen talentsthe prince will give five talents yearly, and in t
he course of threeyears I will take back all myself, so that thou, worthiness, wilt noteven know--"

  "Thou wilt give me to-day fifteen talents, and during three years takeback thirty?"

  "Egyptian law permits percentage to equal the loan," answered Dagon,confusedly.

  "But is that not too much?"

  "Too much?" cried out Dagon. "Every great lord has a great court, agreat property, and pays no per cent save a great one. I should beashamed to take less from the heir to the throne; if I did the princehimself might command to beat me with sticks and to drive me out ofhis presence."

  "When wilt thou bring the money?"

  "Bring it? O gods, one man would not have strength to bring so much. Iwill do better: I will make all payments for the prince, so that,worthiness, thou wilt not need to think of such a wretched matter."

  "Then dost thou know my debts?"

  "I know them a little," answered Dagon, carelessly.

  "The prince wishes to send six talents to the Eastern army; that willbe done by our bankers. Three talents to the worthy Nitager and threeto the worthy Patrokles; that will be done here immediately. Sarah andher father I can pay through that mangy Azarias--even better to paythem thus, for they would cheat the prince in reckoning."

  Rameses began to walk through the room impatiently.

  "Then am I to give a note for thirty talents?"

  "What note? why a note? what good would a note be to me? The princewill rent me for three years lands in the provinces of Takens, Ses,Neha-Chent, Neha-Pechu, in Sebt-Het, in Habu."

  "Rent them?" said the prince. "That does not please me."

  "Whence then am I to get back my money, my thirty talents?"

  "Wait! I must ask the inspector of my granaries how much theseproperties bring me in yearly."

  "Why so much trouble, worthiness? What does the inspector know? Heknows nothing; as I am an honest Phoenician, he knows nothing. Eachyear the harvest is different, and the income different also. I maylose in this business, and the inspector would make no return to me."

  "But seest thou, Dagon, it seems to me that those lands bring far morethan ten talents yearly."

  "The prince is unwilling to trust me? Well, at command of the heir Iwill drop out the land of Ses. The prince is not sure of my heart yet?Well, I will yield Sebt-Het also. But what use for an inspector here?Will he teach the prince wisdom? O Astoreth! I should lose sleep andappetite if such an overseer, subject and slave, dared to correct mygracious lord. Here is needed only a scribe who will write down thatmy most worthy lord gives me as tenant for three years lands in suchand such a province. And sixteen witnesses will be needed to testifythat such an honor from the prince has come to me. But why shouldservants know that their lord borrows money from Dagon?"

  The wearied heir shrugged his shoulders.

  "To-morrow," said he, "thou wilt bring the money, and bring a scribeand witnesses. I do not wish to think of it."

  "Oh, what wise words!" cried the Phoenician. "Mayst thou live,worthiest lord, through eternity!"