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

by Bolesław Prus

  CHAPTER XLVIII

  In the course of those few months, during which Prince Rameses hadfulfilled the duties of viceroy of Lower Egypt, his holiness thepharaoh had failed in health continually. The moment was approachingin which the lord of eternity, who roused delight in human hearts, thesovereign of Egypt, and of all lands on which the sun shone, had tooccupy a place at the side of his revered ancestors in the Libyancatacombs which lie on the other side of the city Teb.

  Not over advanced in age was this potentate, the equal of the gods, hewho gave life to his subjects, and had power to take from husbandstheir wives whenever his heart so desired. But thirty and some yearsof rule had so wearied him that he wished, of his own accord, to restand regain youth and beauty in that kingdom of the west, where eachpharaoh reigns without care through eternity over people who are sohappy that no man of them has ever wished to return to this earth fromthat region.

  Half a year earlier the holy lord had exercised every activityconnected with his office, on which rested the safety and prosperityof all visible existence.

  Barely had the cocks crowed in the morning when the priests roused thesovereign with a hymn in honor of the rising sun. The pharaoh rosefrom his bed and bathed in a gilded basin containing water fragrantwith roses. Then his divine body was rubbed with priceless perfumesamid the murmur of prayers, which had the power of expelling evilspirits.

  Thus purified and incensed by prophets, the lord went to a chapel,removed a clay seal from the door and entered the sanctuaryunattended, where on a couch of ivory lay the miraculous image ofOsiris. This image had the wondrous quality that every night thehands, feet and head fall from it. These on a time had been cut off bythe evil god Set; but after the prayer of the pharaoh all the membersgrew on without evident reason.

  When his holiness convinced himself that Osiris was sound again hetook the statue from the couch, bathed it, dressed it in preciousgarments, and putting it on a malachite throne burnt incense beforeit. This ceremony was vastly important, for if any morning the divinemembers would not grow together it would signify that Egypt, if notthe whole world, was threatened by measureless misfortune.

  After the resurrection and restoration of the god, his holiness openedthe door of the chapel, so that through it blessings might flow forthto the country. Then he designated the priests, who all that day wereto guard the sanctuary, not so much against the ill-will, as thefrivolity of people. For more than once it happened that a carelessmortal who had gone too near that most holy place received aninvisible blow which deprived him of consciousness or of life, even.

  After he had finished divine service, the lord went, surrounded bychanting priests to a great hall of refection, where stood a smalltable and an armchair for him and nineteen other tables beforenineteen statues which represented the nineteen preceding dynasties.When the sovereign had seated himself youths and maidens came in withsilver plates, on which were meat and cakes, also pitchers of wine.The priest, the inspector of the dishes, tasted what was on the firstdish, and what was in the first pitcher, then, on his knees, he gavethese to the pharaoh, but the other plates and pitchers were placedbefore the statues of the pharaoh's ancestors. When the sovereign hadsatisfied his hunger and left the hall princes or priests had theright to eat food intended for the ancestors.

  From the hall of refection the lord betook himself to the grand hallof audience. There the highest dignitaries of state, and the nearestmembers of the family prostrated themselves before him, after that theminister, Herhor; the chief treasurer, the supreme judge, and thesupreme chief of police made reports to him. The reading was varied byreligious music and dancing, during which wreaths and flowers werecast on the throne of the pharaoh.

  After the audience his holiness betook himself to a side chamber andreposing on a couch slumbered lightly for a time; then he offered wineand incense to the gods, and narrated to the priests his dreams, fromwhich those sages made the final disposition in affairs which hisholiness was to settle.

  But sometimes, when there were no dreams, or when the interpretationof them seemed inappropriate to the pharaoh, his holiness smiled andcommanded kindly to act in this way or that in given cases. Thiscommand was law which no one might change except in the executionperhaps of details.

  In hours after dinner his holiness, borne in a litter, showed himselfin the court to his faithful guard, and then he ascended to the roofand looked toward the four quarters of the earth, to impart to themhis blessing. At that moment on the summits of pylons bannersappeared, and mighty sounds came from trumpets. Whoso heard thesesounds in the city or the country, an Egyptian or a stranger, fell onhis face so that a portion of supreme grace might descend on him.

  At that moment it was not permitted to strike man, or beast: a stickraised over a man's back dropped of itself. If a criminal sentencedto death, declared that the sentence was read to him at the time whenthe lord of earth and heaven had appeared, his punishment waslessened. For before the pharaoh went might, and behind him followedmercy.

  When he had made his people happy, the ruler of all things beneath thesun entered his gardens among palms and sycamores, there he sat alonger time than elsewhere, receiving homage from his women andlooking at the amusements of the children of his household. When oneof them arrested his attention by beauty or adroitness he called itup, and made inquiry,--

  "Who art thou, my little child?"

  "I am Prince Binotris, the son of his holiness," answered the littleboy.

  "And what is thy mother's name?"

  "My mother is the lady Ameses, a woman of his holiness."

  "What dost thou know?"

  "I know how to count to ten and to write: 'May he live througheternity our god and father, his holiness the pharaoh Rameses!'"

  The lord of eternity smiled benignly and touched with his delicate,almost transparent, hand the curly head of the sprightly little boy.Then the child became a prince really, though the smile of hisholiness was ever enigmatical. But whoso had been touched by thedivine hand was not to know misfortune in life and had to be raisedabove others.

  The sovereign dined in another hall of refection and shared his mealwith the gods of all the divisions of Egypt, gods whose statues wereranged along the walls there. Whatever the gods did not eat went tothe priests and higher court dignitaries.

  Toward evening his holiness received a visit from Lady Nikotris, themother to the heir to the throne of Egypt; looked at religious dancesand heard a concert. After that he went again to the bath and, thuspurified, entered the chapel of Osiris to undress and lay to sleep themarvellous divinity. When he had finished this he closed and sealedthe chapel door and then, surrounded by a procession of priests, thepharaoh went to his bedchamber.

  In an adjoining apartment the priests offered up, till the followingsunrise, silent prayers to the soul of the pharaoh, which found itselfamong gods during the sleep of the sovereign. They laid before ittheir prayers for a favorable transaction of current state business,for guardianship over the boundaries of Egypt, and over the tombs ofthe pharaohs, so that no thief might dare to enter in and disturb theendless rest of those potentates. But the prayers of the priests,because of night weariness, surely, were not always effectual, forstate difficulties increased, and sacred tombs were robbed, not onlyof costly objects, but even of the mummies of sovereigns.

  This was because various foreigners had settled in the country andunbelievers from whom the people learned to disregard the gods ofEgypt and the most sacred places.

  The repose of the lord of lords was interrupted exactly at midnight.At that hour the astrologers roused his holiness and informed him inwhat mansion the moon was, what planets were shining above thehorizon, what constellations were passing the meridian and whether ingeneral something peculiar had taken place in heavenly regions. Forsometimes clouds appeared or stars fell in greater number than usual,or a fiery ball flew over Egypt.

  The lord listened to the report of the astrologers. In case of anyunusual phenomenon he pacified them concerning
the safety of theworld, and commanded to write down all observations on appropriatetablets, which were sent every month to priests of the temple of theSphinx, the greatest sages in Egypt. Those men drew conclusions fromthose tablets, but the most important they declared to no one, unlessto their colleagues the Chaldean priests in Babylon.

  After midnight his holiness might sleep till the morning cock-crow ifhe thought proper.

  Such a pious and laborious life had been led, not more than half ayear ago, by this kind, divine person, the distributor of protection,life, and health, who watched day and night over the earth and thesky, over the world both visible and invisible. But for the last halfyear his eternally living soul had begun to be more and more weariedwith earthly questions, and with its bodily envelope. There were longdays when he ate nothing, and nights during which he had no sleepwhatever. Sometimes during an audience, there appeared on his mildface an expression of deep pain, while oftener and oftener, hefainted.

  The terrified Queen Nikotris, the most worthy Herhor and the priests,asked the sovereign repeatedly whether anything pained him. But thelord shrugged his shoulders, and was silent, fulfilling always hisburdensome duties.

  Then the court physicians began imperceptibly to give the mostpowerful remedies to restore strength to him. They mixed in his wineand food at first the ashes of a burnt horse and a bull; later of alion, a rhinoceros, and an elephant; but these strong remedies seemedto have no effect whatever. His holiness fainted so frequently thatthey ceased to read reports to him.

  On a certain day the worthy Herhor with the queen and the priests,fell on their faces; they implored the lord to permit them to examinehis divine body. He consented. The physicians examined and struck him,but found no worse sign than great emaciation.

  "What feelings dost thou experience, holiness?" inquired at last thewisest physician.

  The pharaoh smiled.

  "I feel," replied he, "that it is time for me to return to my radiantfather."

  "Thou canst not do that, holiness, without the greatest harm to thypeople," said Herhor, hurriedly.

  "I leave you my son, Rameses, who is a lion and an eagle in oneperson. And in truth, if ye will obey him, he will prepare for Egyptsuch a fate as the world has not heard of since the beginning ofages."

  A chill passed through holy Herhor and the other priests at thatpromise. They knew that the heir to the throne was a lion and an eaglein one person, and that they must obey him. But they would havepreferred to have for long years that kindly lord, whose heart, filledwith compassion, was like the north wind which brings rain to thefields and coolness to mankind. Therefore they fell down all of themas one man to the pavement, groaning, and they lay prostrate till thepharaoh consented to let himself be treated.

  Then the physicians took him out for a whole day to the gardens,among frequent pine-trees, they nourished him with chopped meat; theygave him strong herbs with milk and old wine. These effective meansstrengthened his holiness for something like a week yet; then a newfaintness announced itself, and to overcome that they forced theirlord to drink the fresh blood of calves descended from Apis.

  But neither did this blood help for a long time, and they found itneedful to turn for advice to the high priest of the temple of thewicked god Set.

  Amid general fear, the gloomy priest entered the bedchamber of hisholiness. He looked at the sick pharaoh and prescribed a dreadfulremedy.

  "It is needful," said he, "to give the pharaoh blood of innocentchildren to drink; each day a full goblet."

  The priests and magnates in the chamber were dumb when they heard thisprescription. Then they whispered that the children of earth-tillerswere best for the purpose, since the children of priests and greatlords lost their innocence even in infancy.

  "It is all one to me whose children they are," said the cruel priest,"if only his holiness has fresh blood given him daily."

  The pharaoh, lying on the bed with closed eyes, heard that gorycounsel, and the whispers of the frightened courtiers. And when one ofthe physicians asked Herhor timidly if it were possible to takemeasures to seek proper children, Rameses XII. recovered. He fixed hiswise eyes on those present,--

  "The crocodile will not devour its own little ones," said he, "ajackal or a hyena will give its life for its whelps, and am I to drinkthe blood of Egyptian infants, who are my children? Indeed, I nevercould have believed that any one would dare to prescribe means sounworthy."

  The priest of the evil god fell to the pavement, and explained that inEgypt no one had ever drunk the blood of infants but that the infernalpowers returned health by it. Such means at least were used inPhoenicia and Assyria.

  "Shame on thee!" replied the pharaoh, "for mentioning in the palace ofEgyptian sovereigns disgusting subjects. Knowest thou not thatPhoenicians and Assyrians are barbarous? But among us the mostunenlightened earth-tiller would not believe that blood, shed withoutcause, could be of service to any one."

  Thus spoke he who was equal to immortals. The courtiers covered theirfaces, spotted now with shame, and the high priest of Set wentsilently out of the chamber.

  Then Herhor, to save the quenching life of the sovereign, had recourseto the last means, and told the pharaoh that in one of the Thebantemples, Beroes, the Chaldean, lived in secret. He was the wisestpriest of Babylon--a miracle-worker without equal.

  "For thee, holiness," said Herhor, "that sage is a stranger, and hehas not the right to impart such important advice to the lord ofEgypt. But, O Pharaoh, permit him to look at thee. I am sure that hewill find a medicine to cure thy illness, and in no case will heoffend thee by impious expressions."

  The pharaoh yielded this time also to persuasions from his faithfulservitors. And in two days Beroes, summoned in some mysterious way,was sailing down toward Memphis.

  The wise Chaldean, even without examining the pharaoh minutely, gavethis counsel,--

  "We must find a person in Egypt whose prayers reach the throne of theHighest. And if this person prays sincerely for the pharaoh, thesovereign will receive his health and live for long years in strengthagain."

  On hearing these words the pharaoh looked at the priests surroundinghim, and said,--

  "I see here holy men in such numbers that, if one of them thinks ofme, I shall be in health again." And he smiled imperceptibly.

  "We are all only men," interrupted Beroes; "hence our souls cannotalways rise to the footstool of Him who existed before the ages. But,holiness, I will use an infallible method by which to find a man whoseprayers have the utmost sincerity, and the highest effect."

  "Discover him, so that he may be a friend to me in my last hour oflife," said the pharaoh.

  After this favorable answer the Chaldean desired a room with a singledoor, and unoccupied. And that same day, one hour before sunset, heasked that his holiness be borne into that chamber.

  At the appointed hour four of the highest priests dressed the pharaohin a robe of new linen, pronounced a great prayer above him,--thisprayer expelled every evil power absolutely,--and seating him in alitter they bore him to that simple chamber where there was but onesmall table.

  Beroes was there already, and, looking toward the east, was praying.

  When the priests had left the chamber the Chaldean closed the heavydoor, put a purple scarf on his arm and placed a glass globe of blackcolor on the table before the pharaoh. In his left hand he held asharp dagger of Babylonian steel, in his right a staff covered withmysterious signs, and with that staff he described in the air a circleabout himself and the pharaoh. Then facing in turn the four quartersof the world, he whispered,--

  "Amorul, Taneha, Latisten, Rabur, Adonai have pity on me and purifyme, O heavenly Father, the compassionate and gracious. Pour down onthy unworthy servant thy sacred blessing, and extend thy almighty armagainst stubborn and rebellious spirits, so that I may consider thysacred work calmly."

  He stopped and turned to the pharaoh,--

  "Mer-Amen-Rameses, high priest of Amon, dost thou distinguish a sparkin that black globe
?"

  "I see a white spark which seems to move like a bee above a flower."

  "Mer-Amen-Rameses, look at that spark and take not thy eyes from it.Look neither to the right nor the left, look not on anything whateverwhich may come from the sides."

  And again he whispered,--

  "Baralanensis, Baldachiensis, by the mighty princes Genio, Lachidae,the ministers of the infernal kingdom, I summon you, I call youthrough the strength of Supreme Majesty, by which I am gifted, Iadjure, I command!"

  At that place the pharaoh started up with aversion.

  "Mer-Amen-Rameses, what seest thou?" asked the Chaldean.

  "From beyond the globe rises some horrid head--reddish hair isstanding on end; a face of greenish hue; the eye looking down so thatonly the white of it is visible; the mouth open widely, as if toshriek."

  "That is Terror!" cried Beroes, and he held his sharp dagger pointabove the globe.

  Suddenly the pharaoh bent to the earth.

  "Enough!" cried he, "why torment me thus? The wearied body seeks rest,the soul longs to be in the region of endless light. But not only willye not let me die; ye are inventing new torments. Oh, I wish not--"

  "What dost thou see?"

  "From the ceiling every instant two spider legs lower themselves--theyare terrible. As thick as palm trunks; shaggy with hooks at the endsof them. I feel that above my head is a spider of immense size, and heis binding me with a web of ship ropes."

  Beroes turned his dagger point upward.

  "Mer-Amen-Rameses," said he again, "look ever at the spark, and neverat the sides. Here is a sign which I raise in thy presence," whisperedhe. "Here am I mightily armed with Divine aid, I, foreseeing andunterrified, who summon you with exorcisms--Aye, Saraye, Aye, Saraye,Aye, Saraye--in the name of the all-powerful, the all-mighty andeverlasting divinity."

  At that moment a calm smile appeared on the lips of the pharaoh.

  "It seems to me," said he, "that I behold Egypt--all Egypt. Yes! thatis the Nile--the desert. Here is Memphis, there Thebes."

  Indeed he saw Egypt, all Egypt, but no larger than the path whichextended through the garden of his palace. The wonderful picture hadthis trait, that when the Pharaoh turned more deliberate attention toany point of it, that point with its environments grew to be of realsize almost.

  The sun was going down, covering the earth with golden and purplelight. Birds of the daytime were settling to sleep, the night birdswere waking up in their concealments. In the desert hyenas and jackalswere yawning, and the slumbering lion had begun to stretch his strongbody and prepare to hunt victims.

  The Nile fisherman drew forth his nets hastily, men were tying up atthe shores the great transport barges. The wearied earth-workerremoved from the sweep his bucket with which he had drawn water sincesunrise; another returned slowly with the plough to his mud hovel. Incities they were lighting lamps, in the temples priests wereassembling for evening devotions. On the highways the dust wassettling down and the squeak of carts was growing silent. From thepylon summits shrill voices were heard calling people to prayer.

  A moment later, the pharaoh saw with astonishment flocks of silverybirds over the earth everywhere. They were flying up out of palaces,temples, streets, workshops, Nile barges, country huts, even from thequarries. At first each of them shot upward like an arrow, but soon itmet in the sky another silvery feathered bird, which stopped its way,striking it with all force and--both fell to the earth lifeless.

  Those were the unworthy prayers of men, which prevented each otherfrom reaching the throne of Him who existed before the ages.

  The pharaoh strained his hearing. At first only the rustle of wingsreached him, but soon he distinguished words also.

  And now he heard a sick man praying for the return of his health, andalso the physician, who begged that that same patient might be sick aslong as possible. The landowner prayed Amon to watch over his granaryand cow-house, the thief stretched his hands heavenward so that hemight lead forth another man's cow without hindrance, and fill his ownbags from another man's harvest.

  Their prayers knocked each other down like stones which had beenhurled from slings and had met in the air.

  The wanderer in the desert fell on the sand and begged for a northwind, to bring a drop of rain to him, the sailor on the sea beat thedeck with his forehead and prayed that wind might blow from the east aweek longer. The earth-worker wished that swamps might dry up quicklyafter inundation; the needy fisherman begged that the swamps might notdry up at any time.

  Their prayers killed each other and never reached the divine ears ofAmon.

  The greatest uproar reigned above the quarries where criminals,lashed together in chain gangs, split enormous rocks with wedges,wetted with water. There a party of day convicts prayed for the night,so that they might lie down to slumber; while parties of nighttoilers, roused by their overseers, beat their breasts, asking thatthe sun might not set at any hour. Merchants who purchased quarriedand dressed stones prayed that there might be as many criminals in thequarries as possible, while provision contractors lay on theirstomachs, sighing for the plague to kill laborers, and make their ownprofits as large as they might be.

  So the prayers of men from the quarries did not reach the sky in anycase.

  On the western boundary the pharaoh saw two armies preparing forbattle. Both were prostrate on the sand, calling on Amon to rub outthe other side. The Libyans wished shame and death to Egyptians; theEgyptians hurled curses on the Libyans.

  The prayers of these and of those, like two flocks of falcons, foughtabove the earth and fell dead in the desert. Amon did not even seethem.

  And whithersoever the pharaoh turned his wearied glance he saw thesame picture everywhere. The laborers were praying for rest anddecrease of taxes, scribes were praying that taxes might increase andwork never be finished. The priests implored Amon for long life toRameses XII. and death to Phoenicians, who interfered with theirinterests; the nomarchs implored the gods to preserve the Phoeniciansand let Rameses XIII. ascend the throne at the earliest, for he wouldcurb priestly tyranny. Lions, jackals, and hyenas were panting withhunger and desire for fresh blood; deer and rabbits slipped out ofhiding-places, thinking to preserve wretched life a day longer, thoughexperience declared that numbers of them must perish, even on thatnight, so that beasts of prey might not famish. So throughout thewhole world reigned cross-purposes everywhere. Each wished that whichfilled others with terror; each begged for his own good, withoutasking if he did harm to the next man.

  For this cause their prayers, though like silvery birds flyingheavenward, did not reach their destination. And the divine Amon, towhom no voice of the earth came at any time, dropped his hands on hisknees, and sank ever deeper in meditation over his own divinity, whileon the earth blind force and chance ruled without interruption.

  All at once the pharaoh heard the voice of a woman,--"Rogue! Littlerogue! come in, thou unruly, it is time for prayers."

  "This minute--this minute!" answered the voice of the little child.

  The sovereign looked toward the point whence the voice came and sawthe poor hut of a cattle scribe. The hut owner had finished hisregister in the light of the setting sun, his wife was grinding flourfor a cake, and before the house, like a young kid, was running andjumping the six-year-old little boy, laughing, it was unknown for whatreason.

  The evening air full of sweetness had given him delight, that wasevident.

  "Rogue!--Little rogue! come here to me for a prayer," repeated thewoman.

  "This minute! this minute!"

  And again he ran with delight as if wild.

  At last the mother, seeing that the sun was beginning to sink in thesands of the desert, put away her mill stones, and, going out, seizedthe boy, who raced around like a little colt. He resisted but gave wayto superior force finally. The mother, drawing him to the hut asquickly as possible, held him with her hand so that he might notescape from her.

  "Do not twist," said she, "put thy feet under thee, sit upri
ght, putthy hands together and raise them upward.--Ah, thou bad boy!"

  The boy knew that he could not escape now; so to be free again as soonas possible he raised his eyes and hands heavenward piously, and witha thin squeaky voice, he said,--

  "O kind, divine Amon, I thank thee, thou hast kept my papa to-day frommisfortune, thou hast given wheat for cakes to my mamma. What more?Thou hast made heaven. I thank thee. And the earth, and sent down theNile which brings bread to us. And what more? Aha, I know now! And Ithank thee because out-of-doors it is so beautiful, and flowers aregrowing there, and birds singing and the palms give us sweet dates.For these good things which thou hast given us, may all love thee as Ido, and praise thee better than I can, for I am a little boy yet and Ihave not learned wisdom. Well, is that enough, mamma?"

  "Bad boy!" muttered the cattle scribe, bending over his register. "Badboy! thou art giving honor to Amon carelessly."

  But the pharaoh in that magic globe saw now something altogetherdifferent. Behold the prayer of the delighted little boy rose, like alark, toward the sky, and with fluttering wings it went higher andhigher till it reached the throne where the eternal Amon with hishands on his knees was sunk in meditation on his own all-mightiness.

  Then it went still higher, as high as the head of the divinity, andsang with the thin, childish little voice to him:

  "And for those good things which thou hast given us may all love theeas I do."

  At these words the divinity, sunk in himself, opened his eyes--therecame to the earth immense calm. Every pain ceased, every fear, everywrong stopped. The whistling missile hung in the air, the lion stoppedin his spring on the deer, the stick uplifted did not fall on the backof the captive. The sick man forgot his pains, the wanderer in thedesert his hunger, the prisoner his chains. The storm ceased, and thewave of the sea, though ready to drown the ship, halted. And on thewhole earth such rest settled down that the sun, just hiding on thehorizon, thrust up his shining head again.

  The pharaoh recovered. He saw before him a little table, on the tablea black globe, at the side of it Beroes the Chaldean.

  "Mer-Amen-Rameses," asked the priest, "hast thou found a person whoseprayers reach the footstool of Him who existed before the ages?"

  "I have."

  "Is he a prince, a noble, a prophet, or perhaps an ordinary hermit?"

  "He is a little boy, six years old, who asked Amon for nothing, heonly thanked him for everything."

  "But dost thou know where he dwells?" inquired the Chaldean.

  "I know, but I will not steal for my own use the virtue of his prayer.The world, Beroes, is a gigantic vortex, in which people are whirledaround like sand, and they are whirled by misfortune. That child withhis prayer gives people what I cannot give: a brief space of peace andoblivion. Dost understand, O Chaldean?"

  Beroes was silent.