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

by Bolesław Prus

  CHAPTER LVI

  In the middle of the month Famenut (January) spring began. All Egyptwas green with growing wheat. On black patches of land crowds of menwere sowing lupines, beans, and barley. In the air was the odor oforange blossoms. The water had fallen greatly and new bits of landwere laid bare day by day.

  Preparations for the funeral of Osiris-Mer-Amen-Rameses were ended.

  The revered mummy of the pharaoh was inclosed in a white box, theupper part of which repeated perfectly the features of the departed.The pharaoh seemed to see with enamelled eyes, while the godlike faceexpressed a mild regret, not for the world which the ruler had left,but for the people condemned to the sufferings of temporal existence.On its head the image of the pharaoh had an Egyptian cap with whiteand sapphire stripes; on its neck, a string of jewels; on its breast,the picture of a man kneeling with crossed hands; on its legs, imagesof the gods, sacred birds, and eyes, not set into any face, but, as itwere, gazing out of infinity.

  Thus arrayed, the remains of the pharaoh rested on a costly couch in asmall cedar chapel, the walls of which were covered with inscriptionscelebrating the life and deeds of the departed sovereign. Abovehovered a miraculous falcon with a human head, and near the couchnight and day watched a priest clothed as Anubis, the god of burial,with a jackal's head on his body.

  A heavy basalt sarcophagus had been prepared which was to be the outercoffin of the mummy. This sarcophagus had also the form and featuresof the dead pharaoh. It was covered with inscriptions, and pictures ofpeople praying, of sacred birds and also scarabs.

  On the 17th of Famenut, the mummy, together with its chapel andsarcophagus, was taken from the quarter of the dead to the palace andplaced in the largest hall there.

  This hall was soon filled with priests, who chanted funeral hymns,with attendants and servants of the departed, and above all with hiswomen, who screamed so vehemently that their cries were heard acrossthe river.

  "O lord! thou our lord!" cried they, "why art thou leaving us? Thou sokind, so beautiful. Thou art silent now, thou who didst speak to us sowillingly. Thou didst incline to our society, but to-day thou art farfrom us."

  During this time the priests sang,--

  _Chorus I._ "I am Tum, who alone exists."

  _Chorus II._ "I am Re, in his earliest splendor."

  _Chorus I._ "I am the god who creates himself."

  _Chorus II._ "Who gives his own name to himself, and no one among thegods can restrain him."

  _Chorus I._ "I know the name of the great god who is there."

  _Chorus II._ "For I am the great bird Benu which tests theexistent."[37]

  [37] "Book of the Dead."

  After two days of groans and devotions a great car in the form of aboat was drawn to the front of the palace. The ends of this car wereadorned with ostrich plumes and rams' heads, while above a costlybaldachin towered an eagle, and there also was the ureus serpent,symbol of the pharaoh's dominion. On this car was placed the sacredmummy, in spite of the wild resistance of court women. Some of themheld to the coffin, others implored the priests not to take their goodlord from them, still others scratched their own faces, tore theirhair, and even beat the men who carried the remains of the pharaoh.

  The outcry was terrible.

  At last the car, when it had received the divine body, moved on amid amultitude of people who occupied the immense space from the palace tothe river. There were people smeared with mud, torn, covered withmourning rags, people who cried in heaven-piercing voices. At the sideof these, according to mourning ritual, were disposed, along the wholeroad, choruses.

  _Chorus I._ "To the West, to the mansion of Osiris, to the West artthou going, thou who wert the best among men, who didst hate theuntrue."

  _Chorus II._ "Going West! There will not be another who will so lovethe truth, and who will so hate a lie."

  _Chorus of charioteers._ "To the West, oxen, ye are drawing thefuneral car, to the West! Our lord is going after you."

  _Chorus III._ "To the West, to the West, to the land of the just! Thecities which thou didst love are groaning and weeping behind thee."

  _The throng of people._ "Go in peace to Abydos! Go in peace to Abydos!Go thou in peace to the Theban West!"

  _Chorus of female wailers._ "O our lord, O our lord, thou art going tothe West, the gods themselves are weeping."

  _Chorus of priests._ "He is happy, the most revered among men, forfate has permitted him to rest in the tomb which he himself hasconstructed."

  _Chorus of drivers._ "To the West, oxen, ye are drawing the car, tothe West! Our lord is going behind thee."

  _The throng of people._ "Go in peace to Abydos! Go in peace to Abydos,to the western sea."[38]

  [38] Authentic expression.

  Every couple of hundred yards a division of troops was stationedwhich greeted the lord with muffled drums, and took farewell with ashrill sound of trumpets.

  That was not a funeral, but a triumphal march to the land ofdivinities.

  At a certain distance behind the car went Rameses XIII., surrounded bya great suite of generals, and behind him Queen Nikotris leaning ontwo court ladies. Neither the son nor the mother wept, for it wasknown to them then (the common people were not aware of this), thatthe late pharaoh was at the side of Osiris and was so satisfied withhis stay in the land of delight that he had no wish to return to anearthly existence.

  After a procession of two hours which was attended by unbroken cries,the car with the remains halted on the bank of the Nile. There theremains were removed from the boat-shaped car and borne to a realbarge gilded, carved, covered with pictures, and furnished with whiteand purple sails.

  The court ladies made one more attempt to take the mummy from thepriests; again were heard all the choruses and the military music.After that the lady Nikotris and some priests entered the barge whichbore the royal mummy, the people hurled bouquets and garlands--and theoars began to plash.

  Rameses XII. had left his palace for the last time and was moving onthe Nile toward his tomb in Theban mountains. But on the way it washis duty, like a thoughtful ruler, to enter all the famed places andtake farewell of them.

  The journey lasted long. Thebes was five hundred miles distant higherup the river, along which the mummy had to visit between ten andtwenty temples and take part in religious ceremonies.

  Some days after the departure of Rameses XII. to his eternal rest,Rameses XIII. moved after him to rouse from sorrow by his presence thetorpid hearts of his subjects, receive their homage and give offeringsto divinities.

  Behind the dead pharaoh, each on his own barge, went all the highpriests, many of the senior priests, the richest landholders, and thegreater part of the nomarchs. So the new pharaoh thought, not withoutsorrow, that his retinue would be very slender.

  But it happened otherwise. At the side of Rameses XIII. were all thegenerals, very many officials, many of the smaller nobility and allthe minor priests, which more astonished than comforted the pharaoh.

  This was merely the beginning. For when the barge of the youthfulsovereign sailed out on the Nile there came to meet him such a mass ofboats, great and small, rich and poor, that they almost hid the water.Sitting in those barges were naked families of earth-tillers andartisans, well-dressed merchants, Phoenicians in bright garments,adroit Greek sailors, and even Assyrians and Hittites.

  The people of this throng did not shout, they howled; they were notdelighted, they were frantic. Every moment some deputation broke itsway to the pharaoh's barge to kiss the deck which his feet hadtouched, and to lay gifts before him: a handful of wheat, a bit ofcloth, a simple earthen pitcher, a pair of birds, but, above all, abunch of flowers. So that before the pharaoh had passed Memphis, hisattendants were forced repeatedly to clear the barge of gifts and thussave it from sinking.

  The younger priests said to one another that except Rameses the Greatno pharaoh had ever been greeted with such boundless enthusiasm.

  The whole journey from Memphis to Thebes was conducted in a si
milarmanner and the enthusiasm of people rose instead of decreasing.Earth-tillers left the fields and artisans the shops to delightthemselves with looking at the new sovereign of whose intentionslegends were already created. They expected great changes, though noone knew what these changes might be. This alone was undoubted, thatthe severity of officials had decreased, that Phoenicians collectedrent in a less absolute manner, and the Egyptian people, always sosubmissive, had begun to raise their heads when priests met them.

  "Only let the pharaoh permit," said people in inns, fields andmarkets, "and we will introduce order among the holy fathers. Becauseof them we pay immense taxes, and the wounds on our backs are alwaysopen."

  Among the Libyan hills, about thirty-five miles south of Memphis, laythe country of Piom or Fayum, wonderful through this, that human handshad made it.

  There was formerly in this province a sunken desert surrounded bynaked hills. The pharaoh Amenhemat first conceived the daring plan ofchanging this place into a fruitful region, three thousand fivehundred years before the Christian era.

  With this object he divided the eastern part of the depression fromthe rest and put a mighty dam around it. This dam was about eightmetres high, one hundred yards thick at the base, and its length morethan four hundred kilometres.

  In this way was created a reservoir which held three milliards ofcubic metres of water, the surface of which occupied about threehundred square kilometres. This reservoir served to irrigate twohundred thousand hectares of land, and besides, in time of overflow,it took in the excess of water and guaranteed a considerable part ofEgypt from sudden inundation.

  This immense collection of water was called Lake Moeris, and wasconsidered one of the wonders of the world. Thanks to it a desertvalley was changed into the fertile land of Piom, where about twohundred thousand people lived in comfort. In this province, besidespalms and wheat, were produced the most beautiful roses; oil made fromthese went to all Egypt, and beyond its boundaries.

  The existence of Lake Moeris was connected with another wonder amongworks of Egyptian engineers, Joseph's canal. This canal, two hundredyards wide, extended about three hundred and fifty kilometres alongthe western side of the Nile. It was situated fifteen kilometres fromthe river, served to irrigate lands near the Libyan mountains, andconveyed water to Lake Moeris.

  Around the country of Piom rose a number of ancient pyramids and amultitude of smaller tombs. On its eastern boundary was the celebratedLabyrinth (Lope-rohunt). This was built also by Amenhemat and had theform of an immense horseshoe. It occupied an area one thousand yardslong and six hundred wide.

  This edifice was the great treasure-house of Egypt. In it reposed themummies of several famous pharaohs, renowned priests, generals, andarchitects. Here lay the remains of revered animals,--above all, thoseof crocodiles. And here was kept the property of the Egyptian state,brought together in the course of ages. Of this structure it isdifficult to gain an idea at present.

  The labyrinth was neither inaccessible from the outside, nor watchedover-carefully; it was guarded by a small division of troops attachedto the priests, and some priests of tried honesty. The safety of thetreasury lay specially in this: that with the exception of those fewpersons, no one knew where to look for it in the labyrinth, which wasdivided into two stories, one above ground, the other subterranean,and in each of these there were fifteen hundred chambers.

  Each pharaoh, each high priest, finally each treasurer and supremejudge was bound to examine with his own eyes the property of the stateimmediately after entering on his office. Still, no one of thedignitaries could find it, or even learn where the treasure lay,whether in the main body of the building or in some of its wings,above the earth or beneath it.

  There were some to whom it seemed that the treasure was reallyunderground, far away from the labyrinth proper. There were even somewho thought that the treasure was beneath the lake, so that it mightbe submerged should the need come. Finally no dignitary of the statecared to occupy himself with the question, knowing that an attack onthe property of the gods drew after it ruin to the sacrilegious. Theuninitiated might have discovered the road, perhaps, if fear had notparalyzed intruders. Death in this world and the next threatened himand his family who should dare with godless plans to discover suchsecrets.

  Arriving in those parts Rameses XIII. visited first of all theprovince of Fayum. In his eyes it seemed like the interior of someimmense bowl, the bottom of which was a lake and hills the edges.Whithersoever he turned he found green juicy grass varied withflowers, groups of palms, groves of fig-trees and tamarinds, amidwhich from sunrise to sunset were heard the singing of birds and thevoices of gladsome people.

  That was perhaps the happiest corner of Egypt.

  The people received the pharaoh with boundless delight. They coveredhim and his retinue with flowers, they presented him with a number ofvessels of the costliest perfumes as well as gold and precious stonesto the amount of ten talents.

  Rameses spent two days in that pleasant region where joy seemed toblossom on the trees, flow in the air, and look over the waters ofLake Moeris. But men reminded him that he should see the labyrinthalso.

  He left Fayum with a sigh and gazed around as he travelled. Soon hisattention was fixed by a majestic pile of gray buildings which stoodon an eminence.

  At the gate of the famous labyrinth Rameses was greeted by a companyof priests of ascetic exterior, and a small division of troops, everyman in which was completely shaven.

  "These men look like priests," said Rameses.

  "They do, because every one in the ranks has received the inferiorordination, and centurions the superior," answered the high priest ofthe edifice.

  When he looked more carefully at the faces of those strange warriors,who ate no meat and were celibates, the pharaoh noted in them calmenergy and quickness; he noted also that his sacred person made noimpression whatever in that place.

  "I am very curious to learn how Samentu's secret plan will succeed,"thought he. The pharaoh understood that it was impossible either tofrighten those men or to bribe them. They were as self-confident inlooks as if each one commanded countless regiments of spirits.

  "We shall see," thought Rameses, "if they can frighten my Greeks andAsiatics, who, fortunately, are so wild that they do not know pompousfaces."

  At the request of the priests, the pharaoh's suite remained at thegate, as if under guard of the shaven soldiers.

  "Must I leave my sword too?" asked Rameses.

  "It will not harm us," answered the chief overseer.

  The young pharaoh had the wish at least to slap the pious man with theside of his sword for such an answer, but he restrained himself.

  Rameses and the priests entered the main building by an immense courtand passed between two rows of sphinxes. Here in a very spacious, butsomewhat dark, antechamber were eight doors, and the overseerinquired,--

  "Through which door dost thou wish to go to the treasure, holiness?"

  "Through that by which we can go the most quickly."

  Each of five priests took two bundles of torches, but only one igniteda torch.

  At his side stood the chief overseer holding in his hands a largestring of beads on which were written certain characters. Behind themwalked Rameses surrounded by three priests.

  The high priest who held the beads turned to the right and entered agreat hall, the walls and columns of which were covered withinscriptions and figures. From that they entered a narrow corridor,which led upward, and found themselves in a hall distinguished by agreat number of doors. Here a tablet was pushed aside in the floor,discovering an opening through which they descended, and againadvanced through a narrow corridor to a chamber which had no doors.But the guide touched one hieroglyph of many, and the wall moved asidebefore them.

  Rameses tried to remember the direction in which they were going, butsoon his attention was bewildered. He noted, however, that they passedhurriedly through great halls, small chambers, narrow corridors, thatthey climbed up or desce
nded, that some halls had a multitude of doorsand others none whatever. He observed at once that the guide at eachnew entrance dropped one bead from his long rosary, and sometimes, bythe light of the torch, he compared the indications on the beads withthose on the walls.

  "Where are we now?" asked the pharaoh on a sudden, "beneath the earth,or above it?"

  "We are in the power of the gods!" replied his neighbor.

  After a number of turns and passages the pharaoh again said,--

  "But I think that we are here for the second time."

  The priests were silent, but he who carried the torch held his lightto the walls in one and another place, and Rameses, while looking,confessed in spirit that they had not been there before.

  In a small chamber without doors they lowered the light, and thepharaoh saw on the pavement dried, black remains, covered with decayedclothing.

  "That," said the overseer of the building, "is the body of aPhoenician who, during the sixteenth dynasty, tried to break into thelabyrinth; he got thus far."

  "Did they kill him?" inquired Rameses.

  "He died of hunger."

  The party had advanced again about half an hour, when the priest whobore the torch lighted a niche in the corridor where also driedremains were lying.

  "This," said the overseer, "is the body of a Nubian priest, who in thetime of thy grandfather, holiness, tried to enter the labyrinth."

  The pharaoh made no inquiry as to what happened to this man. He hadthe impression of being in some depth and the feeling that the edificewould crush him. Of taking bearings amid those hundreds of corridors,halls, and chambers, he had no thought any longer. He did not evenwish to explain to himself by what miracle those stone walls opened,or why pavements sank before him.

  "Samentu will do nothing," said he in spirit. "He will perish likethese two, whom I must even mention to him."

  Such a crushing, such a feeling of helplessness and nothingness he hadnever experienced. At moments it seemed to him that the priests wouldleave him in one of those narrow doorless chambers. Then despairseized the young pharaoh; he touched his sword and was ready to cutthem down. But he remembered directly that without their assistance hecould not go hence, and he dropped his head.

  "Oh to see the light of day, even for a moment! How terrible mustdeath be among three thousand rooms filled with gloom or utterdarkness!"

  Heroic souls have moments of deep depression which the common mancannot even imagine.

  The advance had lasted an hour almost when at last they entered a lowhall resting on octagonal pillars. The three priests surrounding thepharaoh, separated--then Rameses noticed that one of them nestled upto a column and vanished, as it were, in the interior of it.

  After a while a narrow opening appeared in one of the walls, thepriests returned to their places, and the guide commanded to lightfour torches. All turned toward that opening and pushed through itcautiously.

  "Here are the chambers," said the overseer.

  The priests lighted quickly torches which were fixed to the walls andcolumns. Rameses saw a series of immense chambers filled with mostvaried products of priceless value. In this collection every dynasty,if not every pharaoh, had placed from what he or it possessed, thatwhich was most peculiar, or which had the most value.

  There were chariots, boats, beds, tables, caskets, and thrones gold orcovered with gold plate, also inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl andcolored wood so ornamentally that artists must have worked tens ofyears at them. There were weapons, shields and quivers glittering withjewels. There were pitchers, plates, and spoons of pure gold, costlyrobes, and baldachins.

  All this treasure, thanks to dry and pure air, was preserved withoutchange during ages.

  Among rare objects the pharaoh saw the silver model of the Assyrianpalace brought to Rameses XII. by Sargon. The high priest, whileexplaining to the pharaoh whence each gift came, looked at his facediligently. But in place of admiration for the treasures, he noticeddissatisfaction.

  "Tell me, worthiness," inquired Rameses on a sudden, "what good comesof these treasures shut up in darkness?"

  "Should Egypt be in danger there would be great power in them,"replied the overseer. "For a few of these helmets, chariots and swordswe might buy the good-will of all the Assyrian satraps. And maybe evenKing Assar himself would not resist if we gave him furniture for histhrone hall, or his arsenal."

  "I think that they would rather take all from us by the sword than afew through good-will," said the pharaoh.

  "Let them try!" replied the priest.

  "I understand. Ye have then means of destroying the treasures. But inthat case no one could make use of them."

  "That is not a question for my mind," replied the overseer. "We guardwhat is given to us, and do what is ordered."

  "Would it not be better to use a portion of these treasures to fillthe coffers of the state and raise Egypt from the misery in which itis at present?" asked the pharaoh.

  "That does not depend on us."

  Rameses frowned. He examined things for some time without very greatinterest; at last he inquired,--

  "Yes, these products of art might be useful in gaining the good-willof Assyrian dignitaries; but if war were to break out with Assyria howcould we get wheat, men, and arms from nations which have no knowledgeof rare objects?"

  "Open the treasury," said the high priest.

  At this time the priests hurried in different directions: two vanishedas if in the interior of columns, while a third went up along the wallon steps and did something near a carved figure.

  Again a hidden door slipped aside and Rameses entered the real hall oftreasure.

  That was a spacious room filled with priceless objects. In it wereearthen jars containing gold dust, lumps of gold piled up like bricks,and ingots of gold in packages. Blocks of silver stored at one sideformed, as it were, a wall two ells thick and as high as the ceiling.In niches and on stone tables lay precious stones of every color:rubies, topazes, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds, pearls as large asnuts and even as birds' eggs. There were single jewels which equalleda town in value.

  "This is our property in case of misfortune," said the overseer.

  "For what misfortune are ye waiting?" inquired the pharaoh. "Thepeople are poor, the nobility and the court are in debt, the armydecreased one half, the pharaoh without money. Has Egypt ever been ina worse position?"

  "It was in a worse position when the Hyksos conquered it."

  "In a few years," replied Rameses, "even the Israelites will conquerthis country unless the Libyans and Ethiopians precede them. And thenthese beautiful stones, broken into pieces, will go to ornament thesandals of black men and Hebrews."

  "Be at rest, holiness. In case of need not only the treasure itself,but the labyrinth would vanish without a trace, together with itsguardians."

  Rameses understood thoroughly that he had before him fanatics whothought only of this: not to let any one possess that treasure. He satdown on a pile of gold bricks, and continued,--

  "Then ye are preserving this property for evil days in Egypt?"

  "Thou speakest truth, holiness."

  "But who will convince you, its guardians, that those days have comewhen they are really present?"

  "To do that it would be necessary to call an extraordinary assembly ofEgyptians, an assembly made up of the pharaoh, thirteen priests of thehighest degree, thirteen nomarchs, thirteen nobles, thirteen officers,and thirteen of each of the following: merchants, artisans, andearth-tillers."

  "Then ye would give to such an assembly the treasures?" asked thepharaoh.

  "We would give the necessary sum if the whole assembly, as one man,decided that Egypt was in danger, and--"

  "And what?"

  "If the statue of Amon in Thebes confirmed that decision."

  Rameses dropped his head as if to hide his great satisfaction.

  He had a plan ready.

  "I shall be able to collect such an assembly and incline it tounanimity," thought the pharaoh
. "Also it seems to me the divinestatue of Amon will confirm the decision if I put my Asiatics aroundit."

  "I thank you, pious men," said he aloud, "for showing me theseprecious things, the great value of which does not prevent me frombeing one among the poorest of sovereigns. And now I beg you to leadme hence by the shortest way possible and the most convenient."

  "We wish thee, holiness, to double the wealth of the labyrinth. As tothe road, there is only one, we must return as we came."

  One of the priests gave Rameses dates, another a flask of wine mixedwith some invigorating substance. Then the pharaoh recovered strengthand went forward cheerfully.

  "I would give much," said he, laughing, "to know all the turns of thiswonderful passage."

  The guiding priest stopped,--

  "I assure thee, holiness, that we ourselves do not understand orremember this road, though each one of us has entered a number oftimes by it."

  "Then how do ye manage?"

  "We have certain indications, but if one of these were to fail us,even at this moment we should die here of hunger."

  They reached the antechamber at last and through it the courtyard.Rameses looked around and drew one breath of relief after another.

  "For all the treasures of the labyrinth I would not guard them!" criedhe. "Terror falls on my breast when I think that it is possible to diein those stone prisons."

  "But it is possible to grow attached to them," replied the priestsmiling.

  The pharaoh thanked each of his guides, and concluded,--

  "I should be glad to show you some favor; ask for one."

  The priests listened with indifference, and their chief answered,--

  "Pardon me, holiness, but what could we wish for? Our figs and datesare as sweet as those in thy garden, our water is as good as that fromthy well. If wealth attracted us have we not more of it than all thekings put together?"

  "I cannot win these men by anything," thought the pharaoh, "but I willgive them a decision of the assembly, and a decision of Amon."