The Pharaoh and the Priest: An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt
Page 43
CHAPTER XXXIX
The priestess brought little happiness to the viceroy. When he camethe first time to visit her in the villa occupied recently by Sarah,he thought: "I shall be met with delight now and gratitude."
Meanwhile Kama received him almost with anger.
"What is this?" cried she. "A half day has passed, and that wretchedJewess is restored to thy favor."
"Does she not dwell in the servants' house?" asked the prince.
"But my steward says that she will wash my feet no longer."
When the prince heard this, a feeling of disgust seized him.
"Thou art not satisfied, I see," said he.
"I shall not be satisfied till I humiliate that Jewess," cried Kama,"till she, by serving me and kneeling at my feet, forgets that she wasonce thy first woman and the mistress of this villa. I shall not besatisfied till my servants cease to look at me with fear and withoutconfidence, and on her with compassion."
The Phoenician woman was less and less pleasing to Rameses.
"Kama," said he, "consider what I tell thee: If a servant here were tokick in the teeth a female dog that was suckling its young, I shouldhunt that servant out of this villa. Thou hast struck with thy footbetween the eyes a woman and a mother. In Egypt mother is a greatword. A good Egyptian reverences three things beyond all others,--thegods, the pharaoh, and his own mother."
"Oh, woe to me!" cried Kama, throwing herself on the couch. "Here ismy reward, wretched woman, for denying my goddess. One week ago menplaced flowers at my feet and burnt incense before me, but to-day--"
The prince walked out of the chamber quietly, and saw the priestessagain only after some days had passed.
But she was still in evil humor.
"I implore thee, lord," cried she, "think a little more of me. Myservants even begin to contemn me, the warriors look at me with afrown, and I am afraid that some one in the kitchen may poison thefood prepared for me."
"I was occupied with the army, so I could not visit thee," replied theviceroy.
"That is untrue," answered Kama, in anger. "Yesterday thou wertoutside the entrance to this house, and then thou didst go to theservants' house, where dwells the Jewess. Thou didst this to show--"
"Enough!" interrupted the prince. "I was neither here nor at theservants' house. If it seemed to thee that thou wert looking at me,that means that thy lover, that worthless Greek, not only has not leftEgypt, but even dares to wander through my garden."
The Phoenician woman heard him with fright.
"O Astaroth!" cried she, suddenly. "Save me! Hide me, O earth! for ifthat wretch Lykon returns mighty misfortune is threatening me."
The prince laughed, but he had not patience to listen to thecomplaints of the ex-priestess.
"Be at rest," said he, when going, "and wonder not if after some daysmen bring in thy Lykon bound like a jackal. That insolent ruffian hasworn out my patience."
On returning to his palace the prince summoned Hiram and the chief ofpolice in Pi-Bast. He told them that Lykon, the Greek with a faceresembling his, was prowling around among the palaces, and he gavecommand to seize him. Hiram swore that if Phoenicians helped thepolice the Greek would be taken. But the chief shook his head.
"Dost doubt?" asked the prince.
"Yes, lord. In Pi-Bast dwell many pious Asiatics who think thepriestess worthy of death because she deserted the altar. If thisGreek has bound himself to kill Kama, they will help him, they willconceal the man, and facilitate flight for him."
"What is thy answer to this?" asked the heir of Hiram.
"The worthy master of the palace speaks wisely," replied the oldPhoenician.
"But ye have freed Kama from the curse."
"I guarantee that Phoenicians will not touch Kama, and will pursue theGreek. But what is to be done with the other adherents of Astaroth?"
"I make bold to think," said the chief, "that nothing threatens thiswoman at present. If she had courage, we might employ her to decoy theGreek, and seize him here in thy palaces, O Erpatr."
"Then go to her," said the prince, "and lay before her whatever planthou mayst think out. And if thou seize the man, I will give thee tentalents."
When the heir left them, Hiram said to the chief,--
"Dignitary, I am aware that thou knowest both kinds of writing, andthat the wisdom of priests is not strange to thee. When thou hast thewish, thou art able to hear through walls and see things in darkness.For this reason thou knowest the thoughts of the man who works with abucket, the laborer, the artisan who takes sandals to market, thegreat lord who in the escort of his servants feels as safe as a childon the bosom of its mother."
"Thou speakest truth," replied the official. "The gods have given me awonderful gift of clear insight."
"That is it; thanks to thy gifts, thou hast guessed beyond doubt thatthe temple of Astaroth will appoint to thee twenty talents if thouseize that wretch who dares assume the appearance of the prince, ourviceroy. Besides, in every case, the temple offers thee ten talents ifnews of the likeness of the wretched Lykon to the heir is not reportedthroughout Egypt; for it is offensive and improper that an ordinarymortal should recall by his features a personage descended fromdivinity."
"Therefore let not that which thou hearest of the wretched Lykon gobeyond our own hearts, nor any word touching our chase after thatgodless outcast."
"I understand," replied the official. "It may even happen that such acriminal may lose his life before we can give him to the court."
"Thou hast said it," replied Hiram, pressing his hand; "and every helpasked by thee of Phoenicians will be furnished."
They parted like two friends who were hunting a wild beast, and knewthat the problem was not that their spear should strike, but that thebeast should drop in its tracks and not go into other hands.
After some days Rameses visited Kama again, but found her in a statetouching on insanity. She hid herself in the darkest room of thevilla; she was hungry, her hair was not dressed, she was evenunwashed. She gave the most contradictory commands to her servants; atone time she ordered all to come to her, at another she sent all away.In the night she summoned the guard of warriors, and fled to thehighest chamber soon after, crying out that they wished to kill her.
In view of these actions all desire vanished from the prince's soul,and there remained simply a feeling of great trouble. He seized hishead when the steward of the palace and the officer told him of thesewonders, and he whispered:
"Indeed, I did badly in taking that woman from her goddess; for thegoddess alone could endure her caprices with patience."
He went, however, to Kama, and found her emaciated, broken, andtrembling.
"Woe to me!" cried she. "There are none around me but enemies. Mytirewoman wishes to poison me; my hairdresser to give me some dreadfuldisease. The warriors are waiting an opportunity to bury swords andspears in my bosom; I am sure that instead of food, they prepare forme magic herbs in the kitchen. All are rising up to destroy me--"
"Kama!" interrupted the prince.
"Call me not by that name!" whispered she; "it will bring memisfortune."
"But how do these ideas come to thee?"
"How? Dost thou think that in the daytime I do not see strange peoplewho appear at the palace and vanish before I can call in my servants?And in the night do I not hear people outside the wall whispering?"
"It seems so to thee."
"Cursed! Cursed!" cried Kama, weeping. "Ye all say that it seems tome. But the day before yesterday some criminal hand threw into mybedchamber a veil, which I wore half a day before I saw that it wasnot mine and that I had never worn a veil like it."
"Where is that veil?" inquired the prince, now alarmed.
"I burned it, but I showed it first to my servants."
"If not thine even, what harm could come of it?"
"Nothing yet. But had I kept that rag in the house two days longer, Ishould have been poisoned, or caught some incurable disorder. I knowAsiatics and their methods."
The prince commanded to double the watch at the villa and around it,and returned in desperation to his dwelling.
"Never should I have believed," said he, "that a single weak womancould bring so much trouble. Four freshly caught hyenas are not sorestless as that Kama!"
At his palace the prince found Tutmosis, who had just returned fromMemphis and had barely taken time to bathe and dress after thejourney.
"What hast thou to say?" inquired the prince of his favorite, diviningthat he had not brought pleasant tidings. "Hast thou seen hisholiness?"
"I saw the sun-god of Egypt, and this is what he said to me--"
"Speak," hurried Rameses.
"Thus spoke our lord," answered Tutmosis, crossing his arms on hisbreast: "'For four and thirty years have I directed the weighty car ofEgypt, and I am so wearied that I yearn to join my mighty forefatherswho dwell now in the western kingdom. Soon I shall leave this earth,and then my son, Rameses, will sit on the throne, and do with thestate what wisdom points out to him.'"
"Did my holy father speak thus?"
"Those are his words repeated faithfully. A number of times the lordspoke explicitly, saying that he would leave no command to thee, sothat thou mightst govern Egypt as thy wishes indicate."
"Oh, holy one! Is his illness really serious? Why did he not summonme?" asked the prince, in sorrow.
"Thou must be here, for thou mayst be of service in this part ofEgypt."
"But the treaty with Assyria?"
"It is concluded in this sense, that Assyria may wage war on the eastand north without hindrance from Egypt. But the question of Phoeniciaremains in abeyance till thou art the pharaoh."
"O blessed! O holy ruler! From what a dreadful heritage thou hastsaved me."
"So Phoenicia remains in abeyance," continued Tutmosis. "But stillthere is one bad thing. His holiness, to show Assyria that he will nothinder her in the war against northern peoples, has commanded todecrease our army by twenty thousand mercenaries."
"What dost thou tell me!" cried the heir, astounded.
Tutmosis shook his head in sign of sorrow.
"I speak the truth, and four Libyan regiments are now disbanded."
"But this is madness!" almost howled the heir, wringing his hands."Why have we so weakened ourselves, and whither will those disbandedmen go?"
"They have gone to the Libyan desert already, and will either attackthe Libyans, which will cause us trouble, or will join them and bothwill attack then our western border."
"I have heard nothing of this! What did they do, and when did they doit? No news reached us!" cried Rameses.
"The disbanded troops went to the desert from Memphis, and Herhorforbade to mention this news to any person."
"Do neither Mefres nor Mentezufis know of this matter?"
"They know."
"They know, and I do not."
The prince grew calm on a sudden, but he was pale, and on his youngface was depicted terrible hatred. He seized both hands of hisfavorite, pressed them firmly, and whispered,--
"Hear me! By the sacred heads of my father and mother, by the memoryof Rameses the Great--by all the gods, if there are any, I swear thatduring my rule if the priests will not bow down before me I will crushthem."
Tutmosis listened in alarm.
"I or they!" finished the prince. "Egypt cannot have two lords."
"Formerly it had only one, the pharaoh," added Tutmosis.
"Then thou wilt be loyal to me?"
"I, all the nobles, and the army, I swear to thee."
"Enough!" concluded Rameses. "Let them discharge the mercenaryregiments, let them sign treaties, let them hide before me like bats,and let them deceive us all. But the time will come-- And now,Tutmosis, rest after the journey; be with me at the feast thisevening. Those people have so bound me that I can only amuse myself.Then let me amuse myself. But in time I will show them who the rulerof Egypt is,--they or I."
From that day feasts began again. The prince, as if ashamed to meetthe army, was not present at drills. Still, his palace was swarmingwith nobles, officers, jugglers, and singers, while at night greatorgies took place, at which the sound of harps mingled with thedrunken shouts of guests and the spasmodic laughter of women.
Rameses invited Kama to one of these feasts, but she refused.
The prince was offended. Seeing this, Tutmosis said,--
"They have told me, lord, that Sarah has lost thy favor."
"Do not mention that Jewess to me," replied Rameses. "But dost thouknow what she did with my son?"
"I know; but that, it seems to me, was not her fault. I heard inMemphis that thy worthy mother and the worthy minister Herhor made thyson a Jew, so that he might rule over Israelites sometime--"
"But the Israelites have no king,--only priests and judges,"interrupted the prince.
"They have not, but they wish to have. They, too, are disgusted withpriestly rule."
The heir waved his hand contemptuously.
"A charioteer of his holiness means more than any king, especially anyking of the Israelites, who as yet have no kingdom."
"In every case, Sarah's fault is not so great," put in Tutmosis.
"Then know that I will pay the priests sometime."
"They are not to blame so greatly. For instance, the worthy Herhor didthis to increase the glory and power of thy dynasty. And he did itwith the knowledge of thy mother."
"But why does Mefres interfere? His single duty is to care for thetemple, not influence the fate of the pharaoh's descendants."
"Mefres is an old man growing whimsical. The whole court of hisholiness jeers at him because of practices, of which I know nothing,though I see the holy man almost daily."
"This is curious. What does he do?"
"A number of times during twenty-four hours he performs solemnservices in the most secret parts of the temple, and he commands thepriests to see if the gods do not hold him suspended while praying."
"Ha! ha!" laughed Rameses. "And all this is going on in Pi-Bast hereunder our eyes, and I do not know of it?"
"A priestly secret."
"A secret of which all in Memphis are talking! Ha! ha! ha! In theamphitheatre I saw a Chaldean suspended in the air."
"I saw him too; but that was a trick, while Mefres wishes to be borneabove the earth really on the wings of his devotion."
"Unheard-of buffoonery! What do the other priests say to this?"
"Perhaps in our sacred papyruses there is mention that in old timesthere were prophets among us who had the gift of suspending themselvesin the air; so the desires of Mefres do not astonish priests nowadays.And since, as is known to thee, subordinates among us see whateverpleases superiors, some holy men claim that during prayer Mefresreally rises a couple of fingers high above the pavement."
"Ha! ha! ha! And with this great secret the whole court is occupied,and we, like laborers or earth-diggers, do not even suspect thatmiracles are wrought at one side of us. A wretched fate to be heir tothe throne of Egypt!" laughed the viceroy.
When he grew calm, at the repeated request of Tutmosis, he commandedto transfer Sarah from the servants' house to Kama's first villa. Theservants were delighted at this change; all the serving and slavewomen, and even the scribes conducted Sarah to her new dwelling withmusic and shouts of pleasure.
The Phoenician woman, when she heard the uproar, asked the reason; andwhen they told her that Sarah had been restored to the favor of theprince, and that from the servants' house she had been transferred tothe villa, the enraged ex-priestess sent for Rameses.
The prince came.
"Dost thou treat me in this way?" screamed she, losing control of hertemper. "Thou didst promise that I should be thy first woman, butbefore the moon traversed half the heavens thy promise was broken.Perhap
s thou thinkest that the vengeance of Astaroth will fall on thepriestess alone, and not reach to princes."
"Tell thy Astaroth," replied Rameses, calmly, "not to threatenprinces, or she may go herself to the servants' house."
"I understand!" exclaimed Kama. "I shall go to the servants' house,perhaps even to prison, while thou wilt spend nights with thy Jewess.Because I have left the gods for thee I have drawn down a curse on myown head. Because I left them I know no rest for a moment; I have lostmy youth for thee, my life, my soul even, and this is the pay whichthou givest me."
The prince confessed in his heart that Kama had sacrificed much forhim, and he felt compunction.
"I have not been and shall not be with Sarah," said he. "But does itharm thee that the ill-fated woman has some comfort and can nourishher child unmolested?"
Kama trembled. She raised her clinched fist, her hair stirred, and inher eyes an ugly fire of hate was flashing.
"Is this the answer which thou givest me? The Jewess is unhappybecause thou didst drive her from the villa, and I must be satisfied,though the gods have driven me out of their temples. But my soul--thesoul of a priestess who is drowning in tears and in terror--does notmean more for thee than that brat of the Jew woman--this child, which,would he were dead--may he--"
"Silence!" cried the prince, shutting her mouth.
She drew back frightened.
"Then may I not even complain of my wretchedness?" inquired she. "Butif thou art so careful of that child, why steal me from the temple,why promise that I should be first in thy household? Have a care,"continued she, raising her voice again, "that Egypt, after learning myfate, may not call thee a faith-breaker."
The prince turned his head and laughed. But he sat down, and said,--
"My teacher was right, indeed, when he warned me against women: Ye arelike ripe peaches in the eyes of a man whose tongue thirst hasparched, but peaches ripe only in appearance. Woe to the fool whodares bite that fruit of fair seeming; instead of cooling sweetness hewill find a nest of wasps that will sting not his lips alone, but hisheart also."
"Wilt thou complain? Wilt thou not spare me even this shame after Ihave sacrificed to thee both my dignity of priestess and my virtue?"
The heir shook his head and smiled.
"Never could I have thought," said he, after a while, "that the storytold by laborers before bedtime could have come true. But to-day I seethe truth of it. Listen to me, Kama; perhaps thou wilt stop, and notforce me to withdraw the good-will which I have for thee."
"He wishes now to tell a fable!" said the priestess, bitterly. "Thouhast told me one already, and I was profited by hearing it."
"This will profit thee if thou understand it."
"Will there be anything about Jewish brats in it?"
"Of priestesses there will be; only listen carefully.
"The following thing happened here long ago, in Pi-Bast:[17]
[17] A true story.
"Once Prince Satni, on the square before the temple of Ptah, saw avery beautiful woman. She surpassed all whom he had met before, and,what was more noteworthy, she had much gold on her person.
"She pleased the prince greatly, and when he learned that she was thedaughter of the high priest, he sent his equerry to her with thefollowing offer,--
"'I will give thee gold rings if thou wilt pass one short hour in mycompany.'
"The equerry went to the beautiful Tbubui and repeated the words ofPrince Satni. When she had listened to him politely, she answered asbecame a well-bred young lady,--
"'I am the daughter of a high priest; I am innocent, no low girl. So,if the prince wishes to have the pleasure of knowing me, let him cometo my house, where everything will be ready, and where acquaintancewith him will not expose me to the scandal of all the street gossips.'
"Prince Satni went to Tbubui's chambers, the walls of which werecovered with lapis lazuli and pale green enamel. There were also manycouches decked with regal linen, and not a few one-legged tables onwhich gold goblets were standing. One of these goblets was filled withwine and given to the prince, while Tbubui said to him, 'Be gracious,and drink.' To this the prince answered, 'Thou knowest that I have notcome to drink wine here.' Still the two sat down at the feast, duringwhich Tbubui wore a long, heavy robe fastened at her neck closely.When the prince, excited by wine, wished to kiss her, she repelledhim, and answered,--
"'This house will be thine. But remember that I am no street woman,but an innocent maiden. If thou wish from me obedience, swear faith,and convey to me thy property.'
"'Let the scribe come!' cried the prince. When they brought in thescribe, Satni commanded him to write an act of betrothal, also a deedby which he transferred to Tbubui all his money, and all his property,personal and real.
"An hour later the servants announced to the prince that his childrenwere waiting in the lower story. Tbubui left him then, but returnedsoon, attired in a transparent gauze robe. Satni wished again toembrace her, but she repelled him a second time, saying: 'This housewill be thine. But, since I am no common woman, but an innocentmaiden, if thou wish to possess me, let thy children renounce everyclaim, lest they raise lawsuits hereafter with my children.'
"Satni called up his children, and commanded them to sign an actrenouncing all claim to his possessions. They did so. But when, rousedby long resistance, he approached Tbubui, she repelled him, saying,--
"'This house will be thine. But I am no chance passing woman, I am apure maiden. If thou love me, give consent to kill those children lestthey take property from my children.'"
"This is rather a long story," said Kama, impatiently.
"It will end right away. And dost thou know, Kama, what Satni repliedto this: 'If thou wish, let the crime be accomplished.' Tbubui gave nochance to have these words said a second time. Before their father'seyes she commanded to kill the children, and throw their bloody limbsto dogs and cats outside the windows. Only after that did Satni enterher chamber and repose on her bed, inlaid with ivory."
"Tbubui did well not to trust to men's promises," said the irritatedKama.
"But Satni," said the heir, "did better. He woke, for his dreadfulcrime was a dream only. And remember this, Kama, the surest way torouse a man from love's intoxication is to curse his son."
"Be at rest, lord," said Kama, gloomily, "I will never mentionhereafter thy son or my sorrow."
"And I will not withdraw my favor from thee, and thou wilt be happy,"said Rameses, in conclusion.