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diff --git a/49332.txt b/49332.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..37a55fc --- /dev/null +++ b/49332.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6201 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Epicurean by Thomas Moore + + + +This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +http://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United +States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located +before using this ebook. + + + +Title: The Epicurean + +Author: Thomas Moore + +Release Date: June 29, 2015 [Ebook #49332] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EPICUREAN*** + + + + + + THE + + EPICUREAN, + + A TALE. + + BY + + THOMAS MOORE. + + +*Second Edition.* + +LONDON: +PRINTED FOR +LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, +PATERNOSTER-ROW. +1827. + + + + + +The Publishers beg to inform the Composers of Music, and Music Sellers, +that MR. JAMES POWER, of the Strand, Music Seller, is the only person +authorized by them to publish the SONGS or VERSES in this Work connected +with Music. + + + + + + TO + LORD JOHN RUSSELL + _THIS VOLUME_ + IS INSCRIBED + BY ONE WHO ADMIRES HIS CHARACTER + AND TALENTS, + AND IS PROUD OF HIS FRIENDSHIP. + + + + + + A + LETTER TO THE TRANSLATOR, + + + FROM + ----, ESQ. +_Cairo, June 19. 1800._ +My dear Sir, + +In a visit I lately paid to the monastery of St. Macarius,--which is +situated, as you know, in the Valley of the Lakes of Natron,--I was lucky +enough to obtain possession of a curious Greek manuscript, which, in the +hope that you may be induced to translate it, I herewith send you. +Observing one of the monks very busily occupied in tearing up, into a +variety of fantastic shapes, some papers which had the appearance of being +the leaves of old books, I enquired of him the meaning of his task, and +received the following explanation:-- + +The Arabs, it seems, who are as fond of pigeons as the ancient Egyptians, +have a superstitious notion that, if they place in their pigeon-houses +small scraps of paper, written over with learned characters, the birds are +always sure to thrive the better for the charm; and the monks, who are +never slow in profiting by superstition, have, at all times, a supply of +such amulets for purchasers. + +In general, the holy fathers have been in the habit of scribbling these +mystic fragments, themselves; but a discovery, which they have lately +made, saves them this trouble. Having dug up (as my informant stated) a +chest of old manuscripts, which, being chiefly on the subject of alchemy, +must have been buried in the time of Dioclesian, "we thought we could +not," added the monk, "employ such rubbish more properly, than in tearing +it up, as you see, for the pigeon-houses of the Arabs." + +On my expressing a wish to rescue some part of these treasures from the +fate to which his indolent fraternity had consigned them, he produced the +manuscript which I have now the pleasure of sending you,--the only one, he +said, remaining entire,--and I very readily paid him the price he demanded +for it. + +You will find the story, I think, not altogether uninteresting; and the +coincidence, in many respects, of the curious details in Chap. VI. with +the description of the same ceremonies in the Romance of _Sethos_(1), +will, I have no doubt, strike you. Hoping that you may be tempted to give +a translation of this Tale to the world, + + I am, my dear Sir, + Very truly yours, + ---- + + + + + + + THE EPICUREAN. + + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +It was in the fourth year of the reign of the late Emperor Valerian, that +the followers of Epicurus, who were at that time numerous in Athens, +proceeded to the election of a person to fill the vacant chair of their +sect;--and, by the unanimous voice of the School, I was the individual +chosen for their Chief. I was just then entering on my twenty-fourth year, +and no instance had ever before occurred, of a person so young being +selected for that office. Youth, however, and the personal advantages that +adorn it, were not, it may be supposed, among the least valid +recommendations, to a sect that included within its circle all the beauty +as well as wit of Athens, and which, though dignifying its pursuits with +the name of philosophy, was little else than a pretext for the more +refined cultivation of pleasure. + +The character of the sect had, indeed, much changed, since the time of its +wise and virtuous founder, who, while he asserted that Pleasure is the +only Good, inculcated also that Good is the only source of Pleasure. The +purer part of this doctrine had long evaporated, and the temperate +Epicurus would have as little recognised his own sect in the assemblage of +refined voluptuaries who now usurped its name, as he would have known his +own quiet Garden in the luxurious groves and bowers among which the +meetings of the School were now held. + +Many causes, besides the attractiveness of its doctrines, concurred, at +this period, to render our school the most popular of any that still +survived the glory of Greece. It may generally be observed, that the +prevalence, in one half of a community, of very rigid notions on the +subject of religion, produces the opposite extreme of laxity and +infidelity in the other; and this kind of re-action it was that now mainly +contributed to render the doctrines of the Garden the most fashionable +philosophy of the day. The rapid progress of the Christian faith had +alarmed all those, who, either from piety or worldliness, were interested +in the continuance of the old established creed--all who believed in the +Deities of Olympus, and all who lived by them. The consequence was, a +considerable increase of zeal and activity, throughout the constituted +authorities and priesthood of the whole Heathen world. What was wanting in +sincerity of belief was made up in rigour;--the weakest parts of the +Mythology were those, of course, most angrily defended, and any +reflections, tending to bring Saturn, or his wife Ops, into contempt, were +punished with the utmost severity of the law. + +In this state of affairs, between the alarmed bigotry of the declining +Faith, and the simple, sublime austerity of her rival, it was not +wonderful that those lovers of ease and pleasure, who had no interest, +reversionary or otherwise, in the old religion, and were too indolent to +enquire into the sanctions of the new, should take refuge from the +severities of both under the shelter of a luxurious philosophy, which, +leaving to others the task of disputing about the future, centered all its +wisdom in the full enjoyment of the present. + +The sectaries of the Garden had, ever since the death of their founder, +been accustomed to dedicate to his memory the twentieth day of every +month. To these monthly rites had, for some time, been added a grand +annual Festival, in commemoration of his birth. The feasts, given on this +occasion by my predecessors in the Chair, had been invariably +distinguished for their taste and splendour; and it was my ambition, not +merely to imitate this example, but even to render the anniversary, now +celebrated under my auspices, so brilliant, as to efface the recollection +of all that went before it. + +Seldom, indeed, had Athens witnessed such a scene. The grounds that formed +the original site of the Garden had, from time to time, received +considerable additions; and the whole extent was laid out with that +perfect taste, which knows how to wed Nature to Art, without sacrificing +her simplicity to the alliance. Walks, leading through wildernesses of +shade and fragrance--glades, opening, as if to afford a play-ground for the +sunshine--temples, rising on the very spots where imagination herself would +have called them up, and fountains and lakes, in alternate motion and +repose, either wantonly courting the verdure, or calmly sleeping in its +embrace,--such was the variety of feature that diversified these fair +gardens; and, animated as they were on this occasion, by all the living +wit and loveliness of Athens, it afforded a scene such as my own youthful +fancy, rich as it was then in images of luxury and beauty, could hardly +have anticipated. + +The ceremonies of the day began with the very dawn, when, according to the +form of simpler and better times, those among the disciples who had +apartments within the Garden, bore the image of our Founder in procession +from chamber to chamber, chanting verses in praise of--what had long ceased +to be objects of our imitation--his frugality and temperance. + +Round a beautiful lake, in the centre of the garden, stood four white +Doric temples, in one of which was collected a library containing all the +flowers of Grecian literature; while, in the remaining three, +Conversation, the Song, and the Dance, held, uninterrupted by each other, +their respective rites. In the Library stood busts of all the most +illustrious Epicureans, both of Rome and Greece--Horace, Atticus, Pliny the +elder, the poet Lucretius, Lucian, and the biographer of the Philosophers, +lately lost to us, Diogenes Laertius. There were also the portraits, in +marble, of all the eminent female votaries of the school--Leontium and her +fair daughter Danae, Themista, Philaenis, and others. + +It was here that, in my capacity of Heresiarch, on the morning of the +Festival, I received the felicitations of the day from some of the fairest +lips of Athens; and, in pronouncing the customary oration to the memory of +our Master (in which it was usual to dwell on the doctrines he inculcated) +endeavoured to attain that art, so useful before such an audience, of +diffusing over the gravest subjects a charm, which secures them listeners +even among the simplest and most volatile. + +Though study, as may easily be supposed, engrossed but little of the +mornings of the Garden, yet the lighter part of learning,--that portion of +its attic honey, for which the bee is not obliged to go very deep into the +flower--was zealously cultivated. Even here, however, the student had to +encounter distractions, which are, of all others, least favourable to +composure of thought; and, with more than one of my fair disciples, there +used to occur such scenes as the following, which a poet of the Garden, +taking his picture from the life, described:-- + + "As o'er the lake, in evening's glow, + That temple threw its lengthening shade, + Upon the marble steps below, + There sate a fair Corinthian maid, + Gracefully o'er some volume bending; + While, by her side, the youthful Sage + Held back her ringlets, lest, descending, + They should o'er-shadow all the page." + +But it was for the evening of that day, that the richest of our luxuries +were reserved. Every part of the Garden was illuminated, with the most +skilful variety of lustre; while over the Lake of the Temples were +scattered wreaths of flowers, through which boats, filled with beautiful +children, floated, as through a liquid parterre. + +Between two of these boats a perpetual combat was maintained;--their +respective commanders, two blooming youths, being habited to represent +Eros and Anteros; the former, the Celestial Love of the Platonists, and +the latter, that more earthly spirit, which usurps the name of Love among +the Epicureans. Throughout the evening their conflict was carried on with +various success; the timid distance at which Eros kept from his more +lively antagonist being his only safeguard against those darts of fire, +with showers of which the other continually assailed him, but which, +luckily falling short of their mark upon the lake, only scorched the +flowers upon which they fell, and were extinguished. + +In another part of the gardens, on a wide verdant glade, lighted only by +the moon, an imitation of the torch-race of the Panathenaea was performed, +by young boys chosen for their fleetness, and arrayed with wings, like +Cupids; while, not far off, a group of seven nymphs, with each a star on +her forehead, represented the movements of the planetary choir, and +embodied the dream of Pythagoras into real motion and song. + +At every turning some new enchantment broke upon the ear or eye. +Sometimes, from the depth of a grove, from which a fountain at the same +time issued, there came a strain of music, which, mingling with the murmur +of the water, seemed like the voice of the spirit that presided over its +flow;--while sometimes the strain rose breathing from among flowers; and, +again, would appear to come suddenly from under ground, as if the foot had +just touched some spring that set it in motion. + +It seems strange that I should now dwell upon these minute descriptions; +but every thing connected with that memorable night--even its long-repented +follies--must for ever live sacredly in my memory. The festival concluded +with a banquet, at which I, of course, presided; and, feeling myself to be +the ascendant spirit of the whole scene, gave life to all around me, and +saw my own happiness reflected in that of others. + + + + + + CHAP. II. + + +The festival was over;--the sounds of the song and dance had ceased, and I +was now left in those luxurious gardens, alone. Though so ardent and +active a votary of pleasure, I had, by nature, a disposition full of +melancholy;--an imagination that presented sad thoughts, even in the midst +of mirth and happiness, and threw the shadow of the future over the gayest +illusions of the present. Melancholy was, indeed, twin-born in my soul +with Passion; and, not even in the fullest fervour of the latter, were +they separated. From the first moment that I was conscious of thought and +feeling, the same dark thread had run across the web; and images of death +and annihilation mingled themselves with the most smiling scenes through +which my career of enjoyment led me. My very passion for pleasure but +deepened these gloomy fancies. For, shut out, as I was by my creed, from a +future life, and having no hope beyond the narrow horizon of this, every +minute of delight assumed a mournful preciousness in my eyes, and +pleasure, like the flower of the cemetery, grew but more luxuriant from +the neighbourhood of death. + +This very night my triumph, my happiness had seemed complete. I had been +the presiding genius of that voluptuous scene. Both my ambition and my +love of pleasure had drunk deep of the cup for which they thirsted. Looked +up to by the learned, and loved by the beautiful and the young, I had +seen, in every eye that met mine, either the acknowledgment of triumphs +already won, or the promise of others, still brighter, that awaited me. +Yet, even in the midst of all this, the same dark thoughts had presented +themselves;--the perishableness of myself and all around me every instant +recurred to my mind. Those hands I had prest--those eyes, in which I had +seen sparkling, a spirit of light and life that should never die--those +voices, that had talked of eternal love--all, all, I felt, were but a +mockery of the moment, and would leave nothing eternal but the silence of +their dust! + + Oh, were it not for this sad voice, + Stealing amid our mirth to say, + That all, in which we most rejoice, + Ere night may be the earth-worm's prey;-- + _But_ for this bitter--only this-- + Full as the world is brimm'd with bliss, + And capable as feels my soul + Of draining to its depth the whole, + I should turn earth to heaven, and be, + If bliss made gods, a deity! + +Such was the description I gave of my own feelings, in one of those wild, +passionate songs, to which this ferment of my spirits, between mirth and +melancholy, gave birth. + +Seldom had my heart more fully abandoned itself to such vague sadness than +at the present moment, when, as I paced thoughtfully among the fading +lights and flowers of the banquet, the echo of my own step was all that +sounded, where so many gay forms had lately been revelling. The moon was +still up, the morning had not yet glimmered, and the calm glories of night +still rested on all around. Unconscious whither my pathway led, I wandered +along, till I, at length, found myself before that fair statue of Venus, +with which the chisel of Alcamenes had embellished our Garden;--that image +of deified woman, the only idol to which I had ever bent the knee. Leaning +against the pedestal, I raised my eyes to heaven, and fixing them sadly +and intently on the ever-burning stars, as if I sought to read the +mournful secret in their light, asked, wherefore was it that Man alone +must perish, while they, less wonderful, less glorious than he, lived on +in light unchangeable and for ever!--"Oh, that there were some spell, some +talisman," I exclaimed, "to make the spirit within us deathless as those +stars, and open to its desires a career like theirs, burning and boundless +throughout all time!" + +While I gave myself up to this train of thought, that lassitude which +earthly pleasure, however sweet, leaves behind,--as if to show how earthly +it is,--came drowsily over me, and I sunk at the base of the statue to +sleep. + +Even in sleep, however, my fancy was still busy; and a dream, so vivid as +to leave behind it the impression of reality, thus passed through my mind. +I thought myself transported to a wide desert plain, where nothing seemed +to breathe, or move, or live. The very sky above it looked pale and +extinct, giving the idea, not of darkness, but of light that had died; +and, had that region been the remains of some older world, left broken up +and sunless, it could not have looked more dead and desolate. The only +thing that bespoke life, in this melancholy waste, was a small moving +spark, that at first glimmered in the distance, but, at length, slowly +approached the spot where I stood. As it drew nearer, I could perceive +that its feeble gleam was from a taper in the hand of a pale venerable +man, who now stood, like a messenger from the grave, before me. After a +few moments of awful silence, during which he looked at me with a sadness +that thrilled my very soul, he said,--"Thou, who seekest eternal life, go +unto the shores of the dark Nile--go unto the shores of the dark Nile, and +thou wilt find the eternal life thou seekest!" + +No sooner had he said these words than the death-like hue of his cheek +brightened into a smile of more than human promise. The small torch that +he held sent forth a radiance, by which suddenly the whole surface of the +desert was illuminated, even to the far horizon's edge, along whose line +were now seen gardens, palaces, and spires, all bright and golden, like +the architecture of the clouds at sunset. Sweet music, too, was heard +every where, floating around, and, from all sides, such varieties of +splendour poured, that, with the excess both of harmony and of light, I +woke. + +That infidels should be superstitious is an anomaly neither unusual nor +strange. A belief in superhuman agency seems natural and necessary to the +mind; and, if not suffered to flow in the obvious channels, it will find a +vent in some other. Hence, many who have doubted the existence of a God, +have yet implicitly placed themselves under the patronage of Fate or the +stars. Much the same inconsistency I was conscious of in my own feelings. +Though rejecting all belief in a Divine Providence, I had yet a faith in +dreams, that all my philosophy could not conquer. Nor was experience +wanting to confirm me in my delusion; for, by some of those accidental +coincidences, which make the fortune of soothsayers and prophets, dreams, +more than once, had been to me + + Oracles, truer far than oak, + Or dove, or tripod, ever spoke. + +It was not wonderful, therefore, that the vision of that night, touching, +as it did, a chord so ready to vibrate, should have affected me with more +than ordinary power, and sunk deeper into my memory with every effort I +made to forget it. In vain did I mock at my own weakness;--such self- +derision is seldom sincere. In vain did I pursue my accustomed pleasures. +Their zest was, as usual, for ever new; but still came the saddening +consciousness of mortality, and, with it, the recollection of this +visionary promise, to which my fancy, in defiance of my reason, still +clung. + +Sometimes indulging in reveries, that were little else than a continuation +of my dream, I even contemplated the possible existence of some secret, by +which youth might be, if not perpetuated, at least prolonged, and that +dreadful vicinity of death, within whose circle love pines and pleasure +sickens, might be for a while averted. "Who knows," I would ask, "but that +in Egypt, that land of wonders, where Mystery hath yet unfolded but half +her treasures,--where so many dark secrets of the antediluvian world still +remain, undeciphered, upon the pillars of Seth--who knows but some charm, +some amulet, may lie hid, whose discovery, as this phantom hath promised, +but waits my coming--some compound of the same pure atoms, that scintillate +in the eternal stars, and whose infusion into the frame of man might make +him, too, fadeless and immortal!" + +Thus did I fondly speculate, in those rambling moods, when the life of +excitement which I led, acting upon a warm heart and vivid fancy, produced +an intoxication of spirit, during which I was not wholly myself. This +bewilderment, too, was not a little increased by the constant struggle +between my own natural feelings, and the cold, mortal creed of my sect, in +endeavouring to escape from whose deadening bondage I but broke loose into +the realms of romance and fantasy. + +Even, however, in my calmest and soberest moments, that strange vision +perpetually haunted me. In vain were all my efforts to chase it from my +mind; and the deliberate conclusion to which I came at last, was, that +without, at least, a visit to Egypt, I could not rest, nor, till convinced +of my folly by disappointment, be reasonable. I, therefore, announced +without delay to my associates of the Garden, the intention which I had +formed to pay a visit to the land of Pyramids. To none of them did I dare +to confess the vague, visionary impulse that actuated me. Knowledge was +the object that I alleged, while Pleasure was that for which they gave me +credit. The interests of the School, it was apprehended, would suffer by +my absence; and there were some tenderer ties, which had still more to +fear from separation. But for the former inconvenience a temporary remedy +was provided; while the latter a skilful distribution of vows and sighs +alleviated. Being furnished with recommendatory letters to all parts of +Egypt, in the summer of the year 257, A.D. I set sail for Alexandria. + + + + + + CHAP. III. + + +To one, who extracted such sweets from every moment on land, a sea-voyage, +however smooth and favourable, appeared the least agreeable mode of losing +time that could be devised. Often did my imagination, in passing some isle +of those seas, people it with fair forms and kind hearts, to whom most +willingly, if I might, would I have paused to pay homage. But the wind +blew direct towards the land of Mystery; and, still more, I heard a voice +within me, whispering for ever "On." + +As we approached the coast of Egypt, our course became less prosperous; +and we had a specimen of the benevolence of the divinities of the Nile, in +the shape of a storm, or rather whirlwind, which had nearly sunk our +vessel, and which, the Egyptians on board said, was the work of their God, +Typhon. After a day and night of danger, during which we were driven out +of our course to the eastward, some benigner influence prevailed above; +and, at length, as the morning freshly broke, we saw the beautiful city of +Alexandria rising from the sea, with its Palace of Kings, its portico of +four hundred columns, and the fair Pillar of Pillars, towering up to +heaven in the midst. + +After passing in review this splendid vision, we shot rapidly round the +Rock of Pharos, and, in a few minutes, found ourselves in the harbour of +Eunostus. The sun had risen, but the light on the Great Tower of the Rock +was still burning; and there was a languor in the first waking movements +of that voluptuous city--whose houses and temples lay shining in silence +round the harbour--that sufficiently attested the festivities of the +preceding night. + +We were soon landed on the quay; and, as I walked, through a line of +palaces and shrines, up the street which leads from the sea to the Gate of +Canopus, fresh as I was from the contemplation of my own lovely Athens, I +felt a glow of admiration at the scene around me, which its novelty, even +more than its magnificence, inspired. Nor were the luxuries and delights, +which such a city promised, among the least of the considerations on which +my fancy, at that moment, dwelt. On the contrary, every thing around +seemed prophetic of future pleasure. The very forms of the architecture, +to my Epicurean imagination, appeared to call up images of living grace; +and even the dim seclusion of the temples and groves spoke only of tender +mysteries to my mind. As the whole bright scene grew animated around me, I +felt that though Egypt might not enable me to lengthen life, she could +teach the next best art,--that of multiplying its enjoyments. + +The population of Alexandria, at this period, consisted of the most motley +miscellany of nations, religions, and sects, that had ever been brought +together in one city. Beside the school of the Grecian Platonist was seen +the oratory of the cabalistic Jew; while the church of the Christian +stood, undisturbed, over the crypts of the Egyptian Hierophant. Here, the +adorer of Fire, from the east, laughed at the superstition of the +worshipper of cats, from the west. Here Christianity, too, unluckily, had +learned to emulate the vagaries of Paganism; and while, on one side, her +Ophite professor was seen kneeling down gravely before his serpent, on the +other, a Nicosian was, as gravely, contending that there was no chance of +salvation out of the pale of the Greek alphabet. Still worse, the +uncharitableness of Christian schism was already distinguishing itself +with equal vigour; and I heard of nothing, on my arrival, but the rancour +and hate, with which the Greek and Latin churchmen persecuted each other, +because, forsooth, the one fasted on the seventh day of the week, and the +others fasted upon the fourth and sixth! + +To none of those religions or sects, however, except for purposes of +ridicule, did I pay much attention. I was now in the most luxurious city +of the universe, and gave way, without reserve, to the seductions that +surrounded me. My reputation, as a philosopher and a man of pleasure, had +preceded me; and Alexandria, the second Athens of the world, welcomed me +as her own. My celebrity, indeed, was as a talisman, that opened hearts +and doors at my approach. The usual noviciate of acquaintance was +dispensed with in my favour, and not only intimacies, but loves and +friendships, ripened in my path, as rapidly as vegetation springs up where +the Nile has flowed. The dark beauty of the Egyptian women had a novelty +in my eyes that enhanced its other charms; and that hue of the sun on +their rounded cheeks was but an earnest of the ardour he had kindled in +their hearts-- + + Th' imbrowning of the fruit, that tells + How rich within the soul of sweetness dwells. + +Some weeks rolled on in such perpetual and ever-changing pleasures, that +even the melancholy voice in my heart, though it still spoke, was but +seldom listened to, and soon died away in the sound of the siren songs +that surrounded me. At length, however, as the novelty of these scenes +wore off, the same gloomy bodings began to mingle with all my joys; and an +incident that occurred, during one of my gayest revels, conduced still +more to deepen their gloom. + +The celebration of the annual festival of Serapis took place during my +stay, and I was, more than once, induced to mingle with the gay +multitudes, that crowded to his shrine at Canopus on the occasion. Day and +night, while this festival lasted, the canal, which led from Alexandria to +Canopus, was covered with boats full of pilgrims of both sexes, all +hastening to avail themselves of this pious licence, which lent the zest +of a religious sanction to pleasure, and gave a holiday to the passions of +earth, in honour of heaven. + +I was returning, one lovely night, to Alexandria. The north wind, that +welcome visitor, freshened the air, while the banks, on either side, sent +forth, from groves of orange and henna, the most delicious odours. As I +had left all the crowd behind me at Canopus, there was not a boat to be +seen on the canal but my own; and I was just yielding to the thoughts +which solitude at such an hour inspires, when my reveries were broken by +the sound of some female voices, coming, mingled with laughter and +screams, from the garden of a pavilion, that stood, brilliantly +illuminated, upon the bank of the canal. + +On rowing nearer, I perceived that both the mirth and the alarm had been +caused by the efforts of some playful girls to reach a hedge of jasmin +which grew near the water, and in bending towards which they had nearly +fallen into the stream. Hastening to proffer my assistance, I soon +recognised the voice of one of my fair Alexandrian friends, and, springing +on the bank, was surrounded by the whole group, who insisted on my joining +their party in the pavilion, and flinging the tendrils of jasmin, which +they had just plucked, around me, led me, no unwilling captive, to the +banquet-room. + +I found here an assemblage of the very flower of Alexandrian society. The +unexpectedness of the meeting gave it an additional zest on both sides; +and seldom had I felt more enlivened myself, or contributed more +successfully to circulate life among others. + +Among the company were some Greek women, who, according to the fashion of +their country, wore veils; but, as usual, rather to set off than conceal +their beauty, some gleams of which were continually escaping from under +the cloud. There was, however, one female, who particularly attracted my +attention, on whose head was a chaplet of dark-coloured flowers, and who +sat veiled and silent during the whole of the banquet. She took no share, +I observed, in what was passing around: the viands and the wine went by +her untouched, nor did a word that was spoken seem addressed to her ear. +This abstraction from a scene so sparkling with gaiety, though apparently +unnoticed by any one but myself, struck me as mysterious and strange. I +inquired of my fair neighbour the cause of it, but she looked grave and +was silent. + +In the mean time, the lyre and the cup went round; and a young maid from +Athens, as if inspired by the presence of her countryman, took her lute, +and sung to it some of the songs of Greece, with a feeling that bore me +back to the banks of the Ilissus, and, even in the bosom of present +pleasure, drew a sigh from my heart for that which had passed away. It was +daybreak ere our delighted party rose, and unwillingly re-embarked to +return to the city. + +Scarcely were we afloat, when it was discovered that the lute of the young +Athenian had been left behind; and, with my heart still full of its sweet +sounds, I most readily sprung on shore to seek it. I hastened to the +banquet-room, which was now dim and solitary, except that--there, to my +astonishment, still sat that silent figure, which had awakened my +curiosity so strongly during the night. A vague feeling of awe came over +me, as I now slowly approached it. There was no motion, no sound of +breathing in that form;--not a leaf of the dark chaplet on its brow +stirred. By the light of a dying lamp which stood before the figure, I +raised, with a hesitating hand, the veil, and saw--what my fancy had +already anticipated--that the shape underneath was lifeless, was a +skeleton! Startled and shocked, I hurried back with the lute to the boat, +and was almost as silent as that shape for the remainder of the voyage. + +This custom among the Egyptians of placing a mummy, or skeleton, at the +banquet-table, had been for some time disused, except at particular +ceremonies; and, even on such occasions, it had been the practice of the +luxurious Alexandrians to disguise this memorial of mortality in the +manner just described. But to me, who was wholly unprepared for such a +spectacle, it gave a shock from which my imagination did not speedily +recover. This silent and ghastly witness of mirth seemed to embody, as it +were, the shadow in my own heart. The features of the grave were now +stamped on the idea that haunted me, and this picture of what I _was to +be_ mingled itself with the sunniest aspect of what I _was_. + +The memory of the dream now recurred to me more livelily than ever. The +bright assuring smile of that venerable Spirit, and his words, "Go to the +shores of the dark Nile, and thou wilt find the eternal life thou +seekest," were for ever before my mind. But as yet, alas, I had done +nothing towards realising this splendid promise. Alexandria was not +Egypt;--the very soil on which it stood was not in existence, when Thebes +and Memphis already counted ages of glory. + +"It is beneath the Pyramids of Memphis," I exclaimed, "or in the mystic +Halls of the Labyrinth, that I must seek those holy arcana of science, of +which the antediluvian world has made Egypt its heir, and among +which--blest thought!--the key to eternal life may lie." + +Having formed my determination, I took leave of my many Alexandrian +friends, and departed for Memphis. + + + + + + CHAP. IV. + + +Egypt was the country, of all others, from that mixture of the melancholy +and the voluptuous, which marked the character of her people, her +religion, and her scenery, to affect deeply a temperament and fancy like +mine, and keep tremblingly alive the sensibilities of both. Wherever I +turned, I saw the desert and the garden, mingling their bloom and +desolation together. I saw the love-bower and the tomb standing side by +side, and pleasure and death keeping hourly watch upon each other. In the +very luxury of the climate there was the same saddening influence. The +monotonous splendour of the days, the solemn radiance of the nights--all +tended to cherish that ardent melancholy, the offspring of passion and of +thought, which had so long been the inmate of my soul. + +When I sailed from Alexandria, the inundation of the Nile was at its full. +The whole valley of Egypt lay covered by its flood; and, as I saw around +me, in the light of the setting sun, shrines, palaces, and monuments, +encircled by the waters, I could almost fancy that I beheld the sinking +island of Atalantis, on the last evening its temples were visible above +the wave. Such varieties, too, of animation as presented themselves on +every side!-- + + While, far as sight can reach, beneath as clear + And blue a heaven as ever bless'd this sphere, + Gardens, and pillar'd streets, and porphyry domes, + And high-built temples, fit to be the homes + Of mighty gods, and pyramids, whose hour + Outlasts all time, above the waters tower! + + Then, too, the scenes of pomp and joy, that make + One theatre of this vast, peopled lake, + Where all that Love, Religion, Commerce gives + Of life and motion, ever moves and lives. + Here, up the steps of temples, from the wave + Ascending, in procession slow and grave, + Priests, in white garments, go, with sacred wands + And silver cymbals gleaming in their hands: + While, there, rich barks--fresh from those sunny tracts + Far off, beyond the sounding cataracts-- + Glide with their precious lading to the sea, + Plumes of bright birds, rhinoceros' ivory, + Gems from the isle of Meroee, and those grains + Of gold, wash'd down by Abyssinian rains. + + Here, where the waters wind into a bay + Shadowy and cool, some pilgrims, on their way + To Sais or Bubastus, among beds + Of lotus-flowers, that close above their heads, + Push their light barks, and hid, as in a bower, + Sing, talk, or sleep away the sultry hour; + While haply, not far off, beneath a bank + Of blossoming acacias, many a prank + Is play'd in the cool current by a train + Of laughing nymphs, lovely as she, whose chain + Around two conquerors of the world was cast, + But, for a third too feeble, broke at last! + +Enchanted with the whole scene, I lingered on my voyage, visiting all +those luxurious and venerable places, whose names have been consecrated by +the wonder of ages. At Sais I was present during her Festival of Lamps, +and read, by the blaze of innumerable lights, those sublime words on the +temple of Neitha: "I am all that has been, that is, and that will be, and +no man hath ever lifted my veil." I wandered among the prostrate obelisks +of Heliopolis, and saw, not without a sigh, the sun smiling over her +ruins, as if in mockery of the mass of perishable grandeur, that had once +called itself, in its pride, "The City of the Sun." But to the Isle of the +Golden Venus was my fondest pilgrimage;--and as I explored its shades, +where bowers are the only temples, I felt how far more fit to form the +shrine of a Deity are the ever-living stems of the garden and the grove, +than the most precious columns that the inanimate quarry can supply. + +Every where new pleasures, new interests awaited me; and though +Melancholy, as usual, stood always near, her shadow fell but half-way over +my vagrant path, and left the rest more welcomely brilliant from the +contrast. To relate my various adventures, during this short voyage, would +only detain me from events, far, far more worthy of record. Amidst such +endless variety of attractions, the great object of my journey was +forgotten;--the mysteries of this land of the sun were, to me, as much +mysteries as ever, and I had as yet been initiated in nothing but its +pleasures. + +It was not till that evening, when I first stood before the Pyramids of +Memphis, and saw them towering aloft, like the watch-towers of Time, from +whose summit, when he expires, he will look his last,--it was not till this +moment that the great secret, of which I had dreamed, again rose, in all +its inscrutable darkness, upon my thoughts. There was a solemnity in the +sunshine that rested upon those monuments--a stillness, as of reverence, in +the air around them, that stole, like the music of past times, into my +heart. I thought what myriads of the wise, the beautiful, and the brave, +had sunk into dust since earth first beheld those wonders; and, in the +sadness of my soul, I exclaimed,--"Must man alone, then, perish? must minds +and hearts be annihilated, while pyramids endure? Death, Death, even on +these everlasting tablets,--the only approach to immortality that kings +themselves could purchase,--thou hast written our doom, saying, awfully and +intelligibly, 'There is, for man, no eternal mansion, but the tomb!'" + +My heart sunk at the thought; and, for the moment, I yielded to that +desolate feeling, which overspreads the soul that hath no light from the +future. But again the buoyancy of my nature prevailed, and again, the +willing dupe of vain dreams, I deluded myself into the belief of all that +I most wished, with that happy facility which makes imagination stand in +place of happiness. "Yes," I cried, "immortality _must_ be within man's +reach; and, as wisdom alone is worthy of such a blessing, to the wise +alone must the secret have been revealed. Deep, it is said, under yonder +pyramid, has for ages lain concealed the Table of Emerald, on which the +Thrice-Great Hermes engraved, before the flood, the secret of Alchemy, +that gives gold at will. Why may not the mightier, the more god-like +secret, that gives life at will, be recorded there also? It was by the +power of gold, of endless gold, that the kings, who repose in those massy +structures, scooped earth to the centre, and raised quarries into the air, +to provide themselves with tombs that might outstand the world. Who can +tell but that the gift of immortality was also theirs? who knows but that +they themselves, triumphant over decay, still live--those mansions, which +we call tombs, being rich and everlasting palaces, within whose depths, +concealed from this withering world, they still wander, with the few who +are sharers of their gift, through a sunless, but illuminated, elysium of +their own? Else, wherefore those structures? wherefore that subterraneous +realm, by which the whole valley of Egypt is undermined? Why, else, those +labyrinths, which none of earth hath ever beheld--which none of heaven, +except that God, with the finger on his hushed lip, hath trodden!" + +While I indulged in these dreams, the sun, half sunk beneath the horizon, +was taking, calmly and gloriously, his leave of the Pyramids,--as he had +done, evening after evening, for ages, till they had become familiar to +him as the earth itself. On the side turned to his ray they now presented +a front of dazzling whiteness, while, on the other, their great shadows, +lengthening to the eastward, looked like the first steps of Night, +hastening to envelope the hills of Araby in her shade. + +No sooner had the last gleam of the sun disappeared, than, on every house- +top in Memphis, gay, gilded banners were seen waving aloft, to proclaim +his setting,--while a full burst of harmony pealed from all the temples +along the shores. + +Startled from my musing by these sounds, I at once recollected, that, on +that very evening, the great festival of the Moon was to be celebrated. On +a little island, half-way over between the gardens of Memphis and the +eastern shore, stood the temple of that goddess, + + Whose beams + Bring the sweet time of night-flowers and dreams. + _Not_ the cold Dian of the North, who chains + In vestal ice the current of young veins; + But she, who haunts the gay, Bubastian grove, + And owns she sees, from her bright heav'n above, + Nothing on earth, to match that heav'n, but love! + +Thus did I exclaim, in the words of one of their own Egyptian poets, as, +anticipating the various delights of the festival, I cast away from my +mind all gloomy thoughts, and, hastening to my little bark, in which I now +lived, like a Nile-bird, on the waters, steered my course to the island- +temple of the Moon. + + + + + + CHAP. V. + + +The rising of the Moon, slow and majestic, as if conscious of the honours +that awaited her upon earth, was welcomed with a loud acclaim from every +eminence, where multitudes stood watching for her first light. And seldom +had she risen upon a scene more beautiful. Memphis,--still grand, though no +longer the unrivalled Memphis, that had borne away from Thebes the crown +of supremacy, and worn it undisputed through so many centuries,--now, +softened by the moonlight that harmonised with her decline, shone forth +among her lakes, her pyramids, and her shrines, like a dream of glory that +was soon to pass away. Ruin, even now, was but too visible around her. The +sands of the Libyan desert gained upon her like a sea; and, among solitary +columns and sphinxes, already half sunk from sight, Time seemed to stand +waiting, till all, that now flourished around, should fall beneath his +desolating hand, like the rest. + +On the waters all was life and gaiety. As far as eye could reach, the +lights of innumerable boats were seen, studding, like rubies, the surface +of the stream. Vessels of all kinds,--from the light coracle, built for +shooting down the cataracts, to the large yacht that glides to the sound +of flutes,--all were afloat for this sacred festival, filled with crowds of +the young and the gay, not only from Memphis and Babylon, but from cities +still farther removed from the scene. + +As I approached the island, I could see, glittering through the trees on +the bank, the lamps of the pilgrims hastening to the ceremony. Landing in +the direction which those lights pointed out, I soon joined the crowd; +and, passing through a long alley of sphinxes, whose spangling marble +shone out from the dark sycamores around them, in a short time reached the +grand vestibule of the temple, where I found the ceremonies of the evening +already commenced. + +In this vast hall, which was surrounded by a double range of columns, and +lay open over-head to the stars of heaven, I saw a group of young maidens, +moving in a sort of measured step, between walk and dance, round a small +shrine, upon which stood one of those sacred birds, that, on account of +the variegated colour of their wings, are dedicated to the moon. The +vestibule was dimly lighted,--there being but one lamp of naptha on each of +the great pillars that encircled it. But, having taken my station beside +one of those pillars, I had a distinct view of the young dancers, as in +succession they passed me. + +Their long, graceful drapery was as white as snow; and each wore loosely, +beneath the rounded bosom, a dark-blue zone, or bandelet, studded, like +the skies at midnight, with little silver stars. Through their dark locks +was wreathed the white lily of the Nile,--that flower being accounted as +welcome to the moon, as the golden blossoms of the bean-flower are to the +sun. As they passed under the lamp, a gleam of light flashed from their +bosoms, which, I could perceive, was the reflection of a small mirror, +that, in the manner of the women of the East, each wore beneath her left +shoulder. + +There was no music to regulate their steps; but, as they gracefully went +round the bird on the shrine, some, by the beat of the castanet, some, by +the shrill ring of the sistrum,--which they held uplifted in the attitude +of their own divine Isis,--harmoniously timed the cadence of their feet; +while others, at every step, shook a small chain of silver, whose sound, +mingling with those of the castanets and sistrums, produced a wild, but +not an unpleasing harmony. + +They seemed all lovely; but there was one--whose face the light had not yet +reached, so downcast she held it,--who attracted, and, at length, riveted +all my attention. I knew not why, but there was a something in those half- +seen features,--a charm in the very shadow, that hung over their imagined +beauty,--which took me more than all the out-shining loveliness of her +companions. So enchained was my fancy by this coy mystery, that her alone, +of all the group, could I either see or think of--her alone I watched, as, +with the same downcast brow, she glided round the altar, gently and +aerially, as if her presence, like that of a spirit, was something to be +felt, not seen. + +Suddenly, while I gazed, the loud crash of a thousand cymbals was +heard;--the massy gates of the Temple flew open, as if by magic, and a +flood of radiance from the illuminated aisle filled the whole vestibule; +while, at the same instant, as if the light and the sounds were born +together, a peal of rich harmony came mingling with the radiance. + +It was then,--by that light, which shone full upon the young maiden's +features, as, starting at the blaze, she raised her eyes to the portal, +and, as suddenly, let fall their lids again,--it was then I beheld, what +even my own ardent imagination, in its most vivid dreams of beauty, had +never pictured. Not Psyche herself, when pausing on the threshold of +heaven, while its first glories fell on her dazzled lids, could have +looked more beautiful, or blushed with a more innocent shame. Often as I +had felt the power of looks, none had ever entered into my soul so far. It +was a new feeling--a new sense--coming as suddenly as that radiance into the +vestibule, and, at once, filling my whole being;--and had that vision but +lingered another moment before my eyes, I should have wholly forgotten who +I was and where, and thrown myself, in prostrate adoration, at her feet. + +But scarcely had that gush of harmony been heard, when the sacred bird, +which had, till now, stood motionless as an image, expanded his wings, and +flew into the Temple; while his graceful young worshippers, with a +fleetness like his own, followed,--and she, who had left a dream in my +heart never to be forgotten, vanished with the rest. As she went rapidly +past the pillar against which I leaned, the ivy that encircled it caught +in her drapery, and disengaged some ornament which fell to the ground. It +was the small mirror which I had seen shining on her bosom. Hastily and +tremulously I picked it up, and hurried to restore it;--but she was already +lost to my eyes in the crowd. + +In vain I tried to follow;--the aisles were already filled, and numbers of +eager pilgrims pressed towards the portal. But the servants of the Temple +prevented all further entrance, and still, as I presented myself, their +white wands barred the way. Perplexed and irritated amid that crowd of +faces, regarding all as enemies that impeded my progress, I stood on +tiptoe, gazing into the busy aisles, and with a heart beating as I caught, +from time to time, a glimpse of some spangled zone, or lotus wreath, which +led me to fancy that I had discovered the object of my search. But it was +all in vain;--in every direction, files of sacred nymphs were moving, but +nowhere could I see her, whom alone I sought. + +In this state of breathless agitation did I stand for some +time,--bewildered with the confusion of faces and lights, as well as with +the clouds of incense that rolled around me,--till, fevered and impatient, +I could endure it no longer. Forcing my way out of the vestibule into the +cool air, I hurried back through the alley of sphinxes to the shore, and +flung myself into my boat. + +There is, to the north of Memphis, a solitary lake (which, at this season +of the year, mingles with the rest of the waters,) upon whose shores +stands the Necropolis, or City of the Dead--a place of melancholy grandeur, +covered over with shrines and pyramids, where many a kingly head, proud +even in death, has for ages awaited the resurrection of its glories. +Through a range of sepulchral grots underneath, the humbler denizens of +the tomb are deposited,--looking out on each successive generation that +visits them, with the same face and features they wore centuries ago. +Every plant and tree, that is consecrated to death, from the asphodel- +flower to the mystic plantain, lends its sweetness or shadow to this place +of tombs; and the only noise that disturbs its eternal calm, is the low +humming sound of the priests at prayer, when a new inhabitant is added to +the silent city. + +It was towards this place of death that, in a mood of mind, as usual, half +bright, half gloomy, I now, almost unconsciously, directed my bark. The +form of the young Priestess was continually before me. That one bright +look of hers, the very memory of which was worth all the actual smiles of +others, never left my mind. Absorbed in such thoughts, I rowed on, scarce +knowing whither I went, till, startled by finding myself within the shadow +of the City of the Dead, I looked up, and saw, rising in succession before +me, pyramid beyond pyramid, each towering more loftily than the +other,--while all were out-topped in grandeur by one, upon whose summit the +moon seemed to rest, as on a pedestal. + +Drawing near to the shore, which was sufficiently elevated to raise this +city of monuments above the level of the inundation, I lifted my oar, and +let the boat rock idly on the water, while my thoughts, left equally +without direction, fluctuated as idly. How various and vague were the +dreams that then passed through my mind--that bright vision of the temple +mingling itself with all! Sometimes she stood before me, like an aerial +spirit, as pure as if that element of music and light, into which I had +seen her vanish, was her only dwelling. Sometimes, animated with passion, +and kindling into a creature of earth, she seemed to lean towards me with +looks of tenderness, which it were worth worlds, but for one instant, to +inspire; and again--as the dark fancies, that ever haunted me, recurred--I +saw her cold, parched, and blackening, amid the gloom of those eternal +sepulchres before me! + +Turning away, with a shudder, from the cemetery at this thought, I heard +the sound of an oar plying swiftly through the water, and, in a few +moments, saw, shooting past me towards the shore, a small boat in which +sat two female figures, muffled up and veiled. Having landed them not far +from the spot where I lay,--concealed by the shadow of a monument on the +bank,--the boat again departed, with the same fleetness, over the flood. + +Never had the prospect of an adventure come more welcome than at this +moment, when my fancy was weaving such chains for my heart, as threatened +a bondage, of all others, the most difficult to break. To become enamoured +thus of a creature of my own imagination, was the worst, because the most +lasting, of follies. Reality alone gives a chance of dissolving such +spells, and the idol I was now creating to myself must for ever remain +ideal. Any pursuit, therefore, that seemed likely to divert me from such +thoughts--to bring back my imagination to earth and reality, from the vague +region in which it was wandering, was a relief too seasonable not to be +welcomed with eagerness. + +I had watched the course which the two figures took, and, having hastily +fastened my boat to the bank, stepped gently on shore, and, at a little +distance, followed them. The windings through which they led were +intricate; but, by the bright light of the moon, I was enabled to keep +their forms in view, as, with rapid step, they glided among the monuments. +At length, in the shade of a small pyramid, whose peak barely surmounted +the plane-trees that grew nigh, they vanished from my sight. I hastened to +the spot, but there was not a sign of life around; and had my creed +extended to another world, I might have fancied that these forms were +spirits, sent from thence to mock me,--so instantaneously they disappeared. +I searched through the neighbouring grove, but all there was still as +death. At length, in examining one of the sides of the pyramid, which, for +a few feet from the ground, was furnished with steps, I found, midway +between peak and base, a part of the surface, which, though presenting an +appearance of smoothness to the eye, gave to the touch, I thought, +indications of a concealed opening. + +After a variety of efforts and experiments, I, at last, more by accident +than skill, pressed the spring that commanded this mysterious aperture. In +an instant the portal slid aside, and disclosed a narrow stair-way within, +the two or three first steps of which were discernible by the moonlight, +while the rest were lost in utter darkness. Though it was difficult to +conceive that the persons whom I had followed would have ventured to pass +through this gloomy opening, yet to account for their disappearance +otherwise was still more difficult. At all events, my curiosity was now +too eager in the chase to relinquish it;--the spirit of adventure, once +raised, could not be so easily laid. Accordingly, having sent up a gay +prayer to that bliss-loving Queen whose eye alone was upon me, I passed +through the portal and descended into the pyramid. + + + + + + CHAP. VI. + + +At the bottom of the stair-way I found myself in a low, narrow passage, +through which, without stooping almost to earth, it was impossible to +proceed. Though leading through a multiplicity of dark windings, this way +seemed but little to advance my progress,--its course, I perceived, being +chiefly circular, and gathering, at every turn, but a deeper intensity of +darkness. + +"Can this," I thought, "be the sojourn of any thing human?"--and had +scarcely asked myself the question, when the path opened into a long +gallery, at the farthest end of which a gleam of light was visible. This +welcome glimmer appeared to come from some cell or alcove, in which the +right-hand wall of the gallery terminated, and, breathless with +expectation, I stole gently towards it. + +Arrived at the end of the gallery, a scene presented itself to my eyes, +for which my fondest expectations of adventure could not have prepared me. +The place from which the light proceeded was a small chapel, of whose +interior, from the dark recess in which I stood, I had, unseen myself, a +full and distinct view. Over the walls of this oratory were painted some +of those various symbols, by which the mystic wisdom of the Egyptians +loves to shadow out the History of the Soul--the winged globe with a +serpent,--the rays descending from above, like a glory, and the Theban +beetle, as he comes forth, after the waters have passed away, and the +first sunbeam falls on his regenerated wings. + +In the middle of the chapel stood a low altar of granite, on which lay a +lifeless female form, enshrined within a case of crystal,--as they preserve +their dead in Ethiopia,--and looking as freshly beautiful as if the soul +had but a few hours departed. Among the emblems of death, on the front of +the altar, were a slender lotus-branch, broken in two, and a bird, just +winging its flight from the spray. + +To these memorials of the dead, however, I but little attended; for there +was a living object there upon which my eyes were most intently fixed. + +The lamp, by which the whole of the chapel was illuminated, was placed at +the head of the pale image in the shrine; and, between its light and me, +stood a female form, bending over the monument, as if to gaze upon the +silent features within. The position in which this figure was placed, +intercepting a strong light, afforded me, at first, but an imperfect and +shadowy view of it. Yet even at this mere outline my heart beat high,--and +memory, as it proved, had as much share in this feeling as imagination. +For, on the head changing its position, so as to let a gleam fall on the +features, I saw with a transport, which had almost led me to betray my +lurking-place, that it was she--the young worshipper of Isis--the same, the +very same, whom I had seen, brightening the holy place where she stood, +and looking like an inhabitant of some purer world. + +The movement, by which she had now given me an opportunity of recognising +her, was made in raising from the shrine a small cross(2) of silver, which +lay directly over the bosom of the lifeless figure. Bringing it close to +her lips, she kissed it with a religious fervour; then, turning her eyes +mournfully upwards, held them fixed with an inspired earnestness, as if, +at that moment, in direct communion with heaven, they saw neither roof, +nor any other earthly barrier between them and the skies. + +What a power hath innocence, whose very helplessness is its safeguard--in +whose presence even Passion himself stands abashed, and turns worshipper +at the altar which he came to despoil. She, who, but a short hour before, +had presented herself to my imagination, as something I could have risked +immortality to win--she, whom gladly, from the floor of her own lighted +temple, in the very face of its proud ministers, I would have borne away +in triumph, and defied all punishments, both human and sacred, to make her +mine,--she was now before me, thrown, as if by fate itself, into my +power--standing there, beautiful and alone, with nothing but her innocence +for her guard! Yet, no--so touching was the purity of the whole scene, so +calm and august that protection which the dead seemed to extend over the +living, that every earthlier feeling was forgotten as I gazed, and love +itself became exalted into reverence. + +Entranced, indeed, as I felt in witnessing such a scene, thus to enjoy it +by stealth, seemed a wrong, a sacrilege--and, rather than let her eyes meet +the flash of mine, or disturb, by a whisper, that sacred silence, in which +Youth and Death held communion through Love, I would have let my heart +break, without a murmur, where I stood. Gently, as if life depended upon +every movement, I stole away from that tranquil and holy scene--leaving it +still tranquil and holy as I found it--and, gliding back through the same +passages and windings by which I had entered, regained the narrow stair- +way, and again ascended into light. + +The sun had just risen, and, from the summit of the Arabian hills, was +pouring down his beams into that vast valley of waters,--as if proud of the +homage that had been paid to his own Isis, now fading away in the superior +light of her Lord. My first impulse was to fly from this dangerous spot, +and in new loves and pleasures seek forgetfulness of the scene which I had +witnessed. "Once out of the circle of this enchantment," I exclaimed, "I +know my own susceptibility to new impressions too well, to doubt that I +shall soon break the spell that is around me." + +But vain were my efforts and resolves. Even while I swore to fly, my steps +were still lingering round the pyramid--my eyes still turned towards the +secret portal, which severed this enchantress from the world of the +living. Hour after hour did I wander through that City of Silence,--till, +already, it was noon, and, under the sun's meridian eye, the mighty +pyramid of pyramids stood, like a great spirit, shadowless. + +Again did those wild and passionate feelings, which had, for a moment, +been subdued into reverence by her presence, return to kindle up my +imagination and senses. I even reproached myself for the awe, that had +held me spell-bound before her. "What would my companions of the Garden +say, did they know that their chief,--he, whose path Love had strewed with +trophies--was now pining for a simple Egyptian girl, in whose presence he +had not dared to give utterance to a sigh, and who had vanquished the +victor, without even knowing her triumph!" + +A blush came over my cheek at the humiliating thought, and my +determination was fixed to await her coming. That she should be an inmate +of those gloomy caverns seemed inconceivable; nor did there appear to be +any issue from their depths but by the pyramid. Again, therefore, like a +sentinel of the dead, did I pace up and down among these tombs, +contrasting, in many a mournful reflection, the burning fever within my +own veins with the cold quiet of those who slept around. + +At length the fierce glow of the sun over my head, and, still more, that +ever restless agitation in my heart, were too much for even strength like +mine to bear. Exhausted, I lay down at the base of the pyramid--placing +myself directly under the portal, where, even should slumber surprise me, +my heart, if not my ear, might still be on the watch, and her footstep, +light as it was, could not fail to awake me. + +After many an ineffectual struggle against drowsiness, I at length sunk +into sleep--but not into forgetfulness. The same image still haunted me, in +every variety of shape, with which imagination, assisted by memory, could +invest it. Now, like Neitha, upon her throne at Sais, she seemed to sit, +with the veil just raised from that brow, which mortal had never, till +then, beheld,--and now, like the beautiful enchantress Rhodope, I saw her +rise out of the pyramid in which she had dwelt for ages,-- + + "Fair Rhodope, as story tells, + The bright, unearthly nymph, who dwells + Mid sunless gold and jewels hid, + The Lady of the Pyramid!" + +So long, amid that unbroken silence, did my sleep continue, that I found +the moon again shining above the horizon, when I awoke. All around was +silent and lifeless as before, nor did a print upon the herbage betray +that any foot had passed it since my own. Refreshed by rest, and with a +fancy still more excited by the mystic wonders of which I had been +dreaming, I now resolved to revisit the chapel in the pyramid, and put an +end, if possible, to this illusion that haunted me. + +Having learned from the experience of the preceding night, the +inconvenience of encountering those labyrinths without a light, I now +hastened to provide myself with a lamp from my boat. Tracking my way back +with some difficulty to the shore, I there found, not only my lamp, but +some dates and dried fruits, with a store of which, for my roving life +upon the waters, I was always supplied,--and which now, after so many hours +of abstinence, were a welcome and necessary relief. + +Thus prepared, I again ascended the pyramid, and was proceeding to search +out the secret spring, when a loud, dismal noise was heard at a distance, +to which all the echoes of the cemetery answered. It came, I knew, from +the Great Temple on the shore of the Lake, and was the shriek which its +gates--the Gates of Oblivion, as they were called--sent forth from their +hinges, in opening at night, to receive within their precincts the newly- +landed dead. + +I had heard that sound before, and always with sadness; but, at this +moment, it thrilled through me, like a voice of ill omen, and I almost +doubted whether I should not abandon my enterprise. The hesitation, +however, was but momentary;--even while it passed through my mind, I had +touched the spring of the portal. In a few seconds more, I was again in +the passage beneath the pyramid, and being enabled by my lamp to follow +the windings of the way more rapidly, soon found myself at the door of the +small chapel in the gallery. + +I entered, still awed, though there was now nothing living within. The +young Priestess had fled--had vanished, like a spirit, into the darkness. +All the rest was as I had left it on the preceding night. The lamp still +stood burning upon the crystal shrine--the cross lay where the hands of the +young mourner had placed it, and the cold image beneath wore the same +tranquil look, as if resigned to the solitude of death--of all lone things +the loneliest. Remembering the lips that I had seen kiss that cross, and +kindling with the recollection, I raised it passionately to my own;--but, +at the same moment, I fancied the dead eyes met mine, and, saddened in the +midst of my ardour, I replaced the cross upon the shrine. + +I had now lost all clue to the object of my pursuit, and was preparing +slowly to retrace my steps to earth, with that gloomy satisfaction which +certainty, even when unwelcome, brings,--when, as I held forth my lamp, on +leaving the chapel, I could perceive that the gallery, instead of +terminating here, took a sudden bend to the left, which had before eluded +my eye, and which gave a promise of leading still further into those +recesses. Re-animated by this discovery, which opened a new source of hope +to my heart, I cast but one hesitating look at my lamp, as if to ask +whether it would be faithful through the gloom I was about to encounter, +and, without further thought, rushed eagerly forward. + + + + + + CHAP. VII. + + +The path led, for some time, through the same sort of narrow windings as +those which I had encountered in descending the stair-way; and at length +opened, in a similar manner, into a straight and steep gallery, along each +side of which stood, closely ranged and upright, a file of lifeless +bodies, whose glassy eyes threw a preternatural glare upon me as I passed. + +Arrived at the end of this gallery, I found my hopes a second time vanish. +The path, I perceived, extended no further. The only object that I could +discern, by the glimmering of my lamp, which now, every minute, burned +fainter and fainter, was the mouth of a huge well, that lay gaping before +me--a reservoir of darkness, black and unfathomable. It now crossed my +memory that I had heard of such wells, as being used occasionally for +passages by the Priests. Leaning down, therefore, over the edge, I looked +anxiously within, to discover whether it was possible to descend into the +chasm; but the sides were hard and smooth as glass, being varnished all +over with that dark pitch, which the Dead Sea throws out on its slimy +shore. + +After a more attentive scrutiny, however, I observed, at the depth of a +few feet, a sort of iron step, projecting dimly from the side, and, below +it, another, which, though hardly perceptible, was just sufficient to +encourage an adventurous foot to the trial. Though all hope of tracing the +young Priestess was at an end,--it being impossible that female foot should +have dared this descent,--yet, as I had so far engaged in the adventure, +and there was, at least, a mystery to be unravelled, I determined, at all +hazards, to explore the chasm. Placing my lamp (which was hollowed at the +bottom, so as to fit like a helmet) firmly on my head, and having thus +both hands at liberty for exertion, I set my foot cautiously on the iron +step, and descended into the well. + +I found the same footing, at regular intervals, to a considerable depth; +and had already counted near a hundred of these steps, when the ladder +altogether ceased, and I could descend no farther. In vain did I stretch +down my foot in search of support--the hard, slippery sides were all that +it encountered. At length, stooping my head, so as to let the light fall +below, I observed an opening or window directly above the step on which I +stood, and, taking for granted that the way must lie in that direction, +with some little difficulty clambered through the aperture. + +I now found myself on a rude and narrow stair-way, the steps of which were +cut out of the living rock, and wound spirally downward in the same +direction as the well. Almost dizzy with the descent, which seemed as if +it would never end, I, at last, reached the bottom, where a pair of massy +iron gates closed directly across my path, as if to forbid any further +progress. Massy, however, and gigantic as they were, I found, to my +surprise, that the hand of an infant might have opened them with ease--so +readily did their great folds give way to my touch, + + "Light as a lime-bush, that receives + Some wandering bird among its leaves." + +No sooner, however, had I passed through, than the din, with which the +gates clashed together again, was such as might have awakened death +itself. It seemed as if every echo, throughout that vast, subterranean +world, from the Catacombs of Alexandria to Thebes's Valley of Kings, had +caught up and repeated the thundering sound. + +Startled, however, as I was, not even this supernatural clangour could +divert my attention from the light that now broke upon me--soft, warm, and +welcome as are the stars of his own South to the mariner who has been +wandering through the seas of the north. Looking for the source of this +splendour, I saw, through an archway opposite, a long illuminated alley, +stretching away as far as the eye could reach, and fenced, on one side, +with thickets of odoriferous shrubs, while, along the other, extended a +line of lofty arcades, from which the light, that filled the whole area, +issued. As soon, too, as the din of the deep echoes had subsided, there +stole gradually on my ear a strain of choral music, which appeared to +come, mellowed and sweetened in its passage, through many a spacious hall +within those shining arcades. Among the voices I could distinguish some +female tones, towering high and clear over all the rest, and forming the +spire, as it were, into which the harmony tapered, as it rose. + +So excited was my fancy by this sudden enchantment, that--though never had +I caught a sound from the young Egyptian's lips,--I yet persuaded myself +that the voice I now heard was hers, sounding highest and most heavenly of +all that choir, and calling to me, like a distant spirit out of its +sphere. Animated by this thought, I flew forward to the archway, but +found, to my mortification, that it was guarded by a trellis-work, whose +bars, though invisible at a distance, resisted all my efforts to force +them. + +While occupied in these ineffectual struggles, I perceived, to the left of +the archway, a dark, cavernous opening, which seemed to lead in a +direction parallel to the lighted arcades. Notwithstanding my impatience, +however, the aspect of this passage, as I looked shudderingly into it, +chilled my very blood. It was not so much darkness, as a sort of livid and +ghastly twilight, from which a damp, like that of death-vaults, exhaled, +and through which, if my eyes did not deceive me, pale, phantom-like +shapes were, at that very moment, hovering. + +Looking anxiously round, to discover some less formidable outlet, I saw, +over the vast folding-gates through which I had just passed, a blue, +tremulous flame, which, after playing for a few seconds over the dark +ground of the pediment, settled gradually into characters of light, and +formed the following words:-- + + You, who would try + Yon terrible track, + To live, or to die, + But ne'er to look back-- + + You, who aspire + To be purified there, + By the terrors of Fire, + Of Water, and Air,-- + + If danger, and pain, + And death you despise, + On--for again + Into light you shall rise; + + Rise into light + With that Secret Divine, + Now shrouded from sight + By the Veils of the Shrine! + + But if---- + +Here the letters faded away into a dead blank, more awfully intelligible +than the most eloquent words. + +A new hope now flashed across me. The dream of the Garden, which had been +for some time almost forgotten, returned to my mind. "Am I then," I +exclaimed, "in the path to the promised mystery? and shall the great +secret of Eternal Life _indeed_ be mine?" + +"Yes!" seemed to answer, out of the air, that spirit-voice, which still +was heard crowning the choir with its single sweetness. I hailed the omen +with transport. Love and Immortality, both beckoning me onward--who could +give a thought to fear, with two such bright hopes in view? Having invoked +and blessed that unknown enchantress, whose steps had led me to this abode +of mystery and knowledge, I plunged into the chasm. + +Instead of that vague, spectral twilight which had at first met my eye, I +now found, as I entered, a thick darkness, which, though far less +horrible, was, at this moment, still more disconcerting, as my lamp, which +had been, for some time, almost useless, was fast expiring. Resolved, +however, to make the most of its last gleam, I hastened, with rapid step, +through this gloomy region, which seemed wider and more open to the air +than any that I had yet passed. Nor was it long before the appearance of a +bright blaze in the distance announced to me that my first great Trial was +at hand. As I drew nearer, the flames burst high and wide on all +sides;--and the spectacle that now presented itself was such as might have +appalled even hearts more habituated to dangers than mine. + +There lay before me, extending completely across my path, a thicket, or +grove of the most combustible trees of Egypt--tamarind, pine, and Arabian +balm. Around their stems and branches were coiled serpents of fire, which, +twisting themselves rapidly from bough to bough, spread their own wild- +fire as they went, and involved tree after tree in one general blaze. It +was, indeed, rapid as the burning of those reed-beds of Ethiopia, whose +light brightens, at night, the distant cataracts of the Nile. + +Through the middle of this blazing grove, I perceived, my only pathway +lay. There was not a moment to be lost--the conflagration gained rapidly on +either side, and already the narrowing path between was strewed with fire. +Casting away my now useless lamp, and holding my robe as some protection +over my head, with a tremor, I own, in every limb, I ventured through the +blaze. + +Instantly, as if my presence had given new life to the flames, a fresh +outbreak of combustion arose on all sides. The trees clustered into a +bower of fire above my head, while the serpents, that hung hissing from +the red branches, shot showers of sparkles down upon me, as I passed. +Never were decision and activity more serviceable;--one minute later, and I +must have perished. The narrow opening, of which I had so promptly availed +myself, closed instantly behind me; and, as I looked back, to contemplate +the ordeal which I had passed, I saw that the whole grove was already one +mass of fire. + +Happy at having escaped this first trial, I plucked from one of the pine- +trees a bough that was but just kindled, and, with this for my only guide, +hastened breathlessly forward. I had gone but a few paces, when the path +turned suddenly off,--leading downwards, as I could see by the glimmer of +my brand, into a more confined space, through which a chilling air, as if +from some neighbouring waters, blew over my brow. Nor had I proceeded very +far, when the sound of torrents fell on my ear,--mingled, as I thought, +from time to time, with shrill wailings, like the cries of persons in +danger or distress. At every step the noise of the dashing waters +increased, and I now perceived that I had entered an immense rocky cavern, +through the middle of which, headlong as a winter-torrent, the flood, to +whose roar I had been listening, rushed. Upon its surface, too, there +floated strange, spectre-like shapes, which, as they went by, sent forth +those dismal shrieks, as if in fear of some precipice to whose brink they +were hurrying. + +I saw too plainly that my course must be across that torrent. It was +fearful; but in courage lay my only hope. What awaited me on the opposite +shore, I knew not; for all there was wrapped in impenetrable gloom, nor +could the weak light I held reach half so far. Dismissing, however, all +thoughts but that of pressing onward, I sprung from the rock on which I +stood into the flood,--trusting that, with my right hand, I should be able +to buffet the current, while, with the other, I might contrive to hold my +brand aloft, as long as a glimmer of it remained, to guide me to the +shore. + +Long and formidable was the struggle I had to maintain. More than once, +overpowered by the rush of the waters, I had almost given myself up, as +destined to follow those apparitions, that still passed me, hurrying, with +mournful cries, to their doom in some invisible gulf before them. + +At length, just as my strength was nearly exhausted, and the last remains +of the pine-branch were falling from my hand, I saw, outstretching towards +me into the water, a light double balustrade, with a flight of steps +between, ascending, almost perpendicularly, from the wave, till they +seemed lost in a dense mass of clouds above. This glimpse--for it was no +more, as my light expired in giving it--lent new spring to my courage. +Having now both hands at liberty, so desperate were my efforts, that after +a few minutes' struggle, I felt my brow strike against the stairway, and, +in an instant more, my feet were on the steps. + +Rejoiced at my rescue from that perilous flood, though I knew not whither +the stairway led, I promptly ascended it. But this feeling of confidence +was of short duration. I had not mounted far, when, to my horror, I +perceived, that each successive step, as my foot left it, broke away from +beneath me,--leaving me in midair, with no other alternative than that of +mounting still by the same momentary footing, and with the dreadful doubt +whether it would even endure my tread. + +And thus did I, for a few seconds, continue to ascend, with nothing +beneath me but that awful river, in which--so tranquil it had become--I +could hear the plash of the falling fragments, as every step in succession +gave way under my feet. It was a trying moment, but still worse remained. +I now found the balustrade, by which I had held during my ascent, and +which had hitherto seemed firm, grow tremulous in my hand,--while the step +to which I was about to trust myself, tottered under my foot. Just then, a +momentary flash, as if of lightning, broke around, and I saw, hanging out +of the clouds, within my reach, a huge brazen ring. Instinctively I +stretched forth my arm to seize it, and, at the same instant, both +balustrade and steps gave way beneath me, and I was left swinging by my +hands in the dark void. As if, too, this massy ring, which I grasped, was +by some magic power linked with all the winds in heaven, no sooner had I +seized it than, like the touching of a spring, it seemed to give loose to +every variety of gusts and tempests, that ever strewed the sea-shore with +wrecks or dead; and, as I swung about, the sport of this elemental strife, +each new burst of its fury threatened to shiver me, like a storm-sail, to +atoms! + +Nor was even this the worst;--still holding, I know not how, by the ring, I +felt myself caught up, as if by a thousand whirlwinds, and round and +round, like a stone-shot in a sling, whirled in the midst of all this +deafening chaos, till my brain grew dizzy, and my recollection confused, +and I almost fancied myself on that wheel of the infernal world, whose +rotations, it is said, Eternity alone can number! + +Human strength could no longer sustain such a trial. I was on the point, +at last, of loosing my hold, when suddenly the violence of the storm +moderated;--my whirl through the air gradually ceased, and I felt the ring +slowly descend with me, till--happy as a shipwrecked mariner at the first +touch of land--I found my feet once more upon firm ground. + +At the same moment, a light of the most delicious softness filled the +whole air. Music, such as is heard in dreams, came floating at a distance; +and, as my eyes gradually recovered their powers of vision, a scene of +glory was revealed to them, almost too bright for imagination, and yet +living and real. As far as the sight could reach, enchanting gardens were +seen, opening away through long tracts of light and verdure, and sparkling +every where with fountains, that circulated, like streams of life, among +the flowers. Not a charm was here wanting, that the imagination of poet or +prophet, in their pictures of Elysium, ever yet dreamed or promised. +Vistas, opening into scenes of indistinct grandeur,--streams, shining out +at intervals, in their shadowy course,--and labyrinths of flowers, leading, +by mysterious windings, to green, spacious glades, full of splendour and +repose. Over all this, too, there fell a light, from some unseen source, +resembling nothing that illumines our upper world--a sort of golden +moonlight, mingling the warm radiance of day with the calm and melancholy +lustre of night. + +Nor were there wanting inhabitants for this sunless Paradise. Through all +the bright gardens were wandering, with the serene air and step of happy +spirits, groups both of young and old, of venerable and of lovely forms, +bearing, most of them, the Nile's white flowers on their heads, and +branches of the eternal palm in their hands; while, over the verdant turf, +fair children and maidens went dancing to aerial music, whose source was, +like that of the light, invisible, but which filled the whole air with its +mystic sweetness. + +Exhausted as I was by the trials I had undergone, no sooner did I perceive +those fair groups in the distance, than my weariness, both of frame and +spirit, was forgotten. A thought crossed me that she, whom I sought, might +be among them; and, notwithstanding the awe, with which that unearthly +scene inspired me, I was about to fly, on the instant, to ascertain my +hope. But in the act of making the effort, I felt my robe gently pulled, +and turning, beheld an aged man before me, whom, by the sacred hue of his +garb, I knew to be a Hierophant. Placing a branch of the consecrated palm +in my hand, he said, in a solemn voice, "Aspirant of the Mysteries, +welcome!"--then, regarding me for a few seconds with grave attention, +added, in a tone of courteousness and interest, "The victory over the body +hath been gained!--Follow me, young Greek, to thy resting place." + +I obeyed in silence,--and the Priest, turning away from this scene of +splendour, into a secluded path, where the light faded away, as we +advanced, conducted me to a small pavilion, by the side of a whispering +stream, where the very spirit of slumber seemed to preside, and, pointing +to a bed of dried poppy-leaves within it, left me to repose. + + + + + + CHAP. VIII. + + +Though the sight of that splendid scene which opened upon me, like a +momentary glimpse into another world, had, for an instant, re-animated my +strength and spirit, so completely had fatigue overmastered my whole +frame, that, even had the form of the young Priestess stood before me, my +limbs would have sunk in the effort to reach her. No sooner had I fallen +on my leafy couch, than sleep, like a sudden death, came over me; and I +lay, for hours, in the deep, and motionless rest, which not even a shadow +of life disturbs. + +On awaking I saw, beside me, the same venerable personage, who had +welcomed me to this subterranean world on the preceding night. At the foot +of my couch stood a statue, of Grecian workmanship, representing a boy, +with wings, seated gracefully on a lotus-flower, and having the forefinger +of his right hand pressed to his lips. This action, together with the +glory round his brows, denoted, as I already knew, the God of Silence and +Light. + +Impatient to know what further trials awaited me, I was about to speak, +when the Priest exclaimed, anxiously, "Hush!"--and pointing to this statue +at the foot of the couch, said--"Let the spell of that Spirit be on thy +lips, young stranger, till the wisdom of thy instructors shall think fit +to remove it. Not unaptly doth the same god preside over Silence and +Light; since it is only out of the depth of contemplative silence, that +the great light of the soul, Truth, arises!" + +Little used to the language of dictation or instruction, I was now +preparing to rise, when the priest again restrained me; and, at the same +moment, two boys, beautiful as the young Genii of the stars, entered the +pavilion. They were habited in long garments of the purest white, and bore +each a small golden chalice in his hand. Advancing towards me, they +stopped on opposite sides of the couch, and one of them, presenting to me +his chalice of gold, said, in a tone between singing and speaking,-- + + "Drink of this cup--Osiris sips + The same in his halls below; + And the same he gives, to cool the lips + Of the Dead, who downward go. + + "Drink of this cup--the water within + Is fresh from Lethe's stream; + 'Twill make the past with all its sin, + And all its pain and sorrows, seem + Like a long-forgotten dream! + + "The pleasure, whose charms + Are steep'd in woe; + The knowledge, that harms + The soul to know; + + "The hope, that, bright + As the lake of the waste, + Allures the sight, + But mocks the taste; + + "The love, that binds + Its innocent wreath, + Where the serpent winds, + In venom, beneath;-- + + "All that, of evil or false, by thee + Hath ever been known or seen, + Shall melt away in this cup, and be + Forgot, as it never had been!" + +Unwilling to throw a slight on this strange ceremony, I leaned forward, +with all due gravity, and tasted the cup; which I had no sooner done than +the young cup-bearer, on the other side, invited my attention, and, in his +turn, presenting the chalice which he held, sung, with a voice still +sweeter than that of his companion, the following strain:-- + + "Drink of this cup--when Isis led + Her boy, of old, to the beaming sky, + She mingled a draught divine, and said-- + 'Drink of this cup, thou'lt never die!' + + "Thus do I say and sing to thee, + Heir of that boundless heav'n on high, + Though frail, and fall'n, and lost thou be, + Drink of this cup, thou'lt never die!" + +Much as I had endeavoured to keep my philosophy on its guard, against the +illusions with which, I knew, this region abounded, the young cup-bearer +had here touched a spring of imagination, over which, as has been seen, my +philosophy had but little controul. No sooner had the words, "thou shalt +never die," struck on my ear, than the dream of the Garden came fully to +my mind, and, starting half-way from the couch, I stretched forth my hands +to the cup. Recollecting myself, however, and fearful of having betrayed +to others a weakness only fit for my own secret indulgence, with an +affected smile of indifference I sunk back again on my couch,--while the +young minstrel, but little interrupted by my movement, still continued his +strain, of which I heard but the concluding words:-- + + "And Memory, too, with her dreams shall come, + Dreams of a former, happier day, + When Heaven was still the Spirit's home, + And her wings had not yet fallen away; + + "Glimpses of glory, ne'er forgot, + That tell, like gleams on a sunset sea, + What once hath been, what now is not, + But, oh, what again shall brightly be!" + +Though the assurances of immortality, contained in these verses, would, at +any other moment,--vain and visionary as I thought them,--have sent my fancy +wandering into reveries of the future, the effort of self-control I had +just made enabled me to hear them with indifference. + +Having gone through the form of tasting this second cup, I again looked +anxiously to the Hierophant, to ascertain whether I might be permitted to +rise. His assent having been given, the young pages brought to my couch a +robe and tunic, which, like their own, were of linen of the purest white; +and having assisted to clothe me in this sacred garb, they then placed +upon my head a chaplet of myrtle, in which the symbol of Initiation, a +golden grasshopper, was seen shining out from among the dark leaves. + +Though sleep had done much to refresh my frame, something more was still +wanting to restore its strength; and it was not without a smile at my own +reveries I reflected, how much more welcome than the young page's cup of +immortality was the unpretending, but real, repast now set before +me,--fresh fruits from the Isle of Gardens in the Nile, the delicate flesh +of the desert antelope, and wine from the Vineyard of the Queens at +Anthylla, fanned by one of the pages with a palm-leaf, to keep it cool. + +Having done justice to these dainties, it was with pleasure I heard the +proposal of the Priest, that we should now walk forth together, and +meditate among the scenes without. I had not forgotten the elysium that +welcomed me last night,--those enchanted gardens, that mysterious music, +and light, and the fair forms I saw wandering about,--as if, in the very +midst of happiness, still seeking it. The hope, which had then occurred to +me, that, perhaps, among those sparkling groups, might be the maiden I +sought, now returned with increased strength. I had little doubt that my +guide was about to lead to the same Elysian scene, and that the form, so +fit to inhabit it, would again appear before my eyes. + +But far different was the region to which he conducted me; nor could the +whole world produce a scene more gloomy, or more strange. It had the +appearance of a small, solitary valley, inclosed, on every side, by rocks, +which seemed to rise, almost perpendicularly, to the very sky;--for it was, +indeed, the blue sky that I saw shining between their summits, and whose +light, dimmed and half lost, in its descent thus far, formed the +melancholy daylight of this nether world.(3) Down the side of these rocky +walls fell a cataract, whose source was upon earth, and on whose waters, +as they rolled glassily over the edge above, a gleam of radiance rested, +that showed how brilliant was the sunshine they left. From thence, +gradually darkening, and broken, in its long descent, by alternate chasms +and projections, the stream fell, at last, in a pale and thin mist--the +phantom of what it had been on earth--into a small lake that lay at the +base of the rock to receive it. + +Nothing could be more bleak and saddening than the appearance of this +lake. The usual ornaments of the waters of Egypt were not wanting: the +lotus here uplifted her silvery flowers, and the crimson flamingo floated +over the tide. But they were, neither of them, the same as in the upper +world;--the flower had exchanged its whiteness for a livid hue, and the +wings of the bird hung heavy and colourless. Every thing wore the same +half-living aspect; and the only sounds that disturbed the mournful +stillness were the wailing cry of a heron among the sedges, and that din +of the waters, in their midway struggle, above. + +There was an unearthly sadness in the whole scene, of which no heart, +however light, could resist the influence. Perceiving how I was affected +by it, "Such scenes," said the Priest, "are best suited to that solemn +complexion of mind, which becomes him who approaches the Great Secret of +futurity. Behold,"--and, in saying thus, he pointed to the opening over our +heads, through which I could perceive a star or two twinkling in the +heavens, though the sun had but a short time passed his meridian,--"as from +this gloomy depth we can see those stars, which are now invisible to the +dwellers upon the bright earth, even so, to the sad and self-humbled +spirit, doth many a mystery of heaven reveal itself, of which they, who +walk in the light of the proud world, know not!" + +He now led me towards a rustic seat or alcove, beside which stood an image +of that dark Deity, that God without a smile, who presides over the +kingdom of the Dead.(4) The same livid and lifeless hue was upon his +features, that hung over every thing in this dim valley; and, with his +right hand, he pointed directly downwards, to denote that his melancholy +kingdom lay there. A plantain--that favourite tree of the genii of +Death--stood behind the statue, and spread its branches over the alcove, in +which the Priest now, seating himself, signified that I should take my +place by his side. + +After a long pause, as if of thought and preparation,--"Nobly," said he, +"young Greek, hast thou sustained the first trials of Initiation. What +remains, though of vital import to the soul, brings with it neither pain +nor peril to the body. Having now proved and chastened thy mortal frame, +by the three ordeals of Fire, of Water, and of Air, the next task to which +we are called is the purification of thy spirit,--the cleansing of that +inward and immortal part, so as to render it fit for the reception of the +last luminous revealment, when the Veils of the Sanctuary shall be thrown +aside, and the Great Secret of Secrets unfolded to thee!--Towards this +object, the primary and most essential step is, instruction. What the +three purifying elements, through which thou hast passed, have done for +thy body, instruction will effect for----" + +"But that lovely maiden!" I exclaimed, bursting from my silence, having +fallen, during his speech, into a deep revery, in which I had forgotten +him, myself, the Great Secret, every thing--but her. + +Startled by this profane interruption, he cast a look of alarm towards the +statue, as if fearful lest the God should have heard my words. Then, +turning to me, in a tone of mild solemnity, "It is but too plain," said +he, "that thoughts of the upper world, and of its vain delights, still +engross thee too much, to let the lessons of Truth sink profitably into +thy heart. A few hours of meditation amid this solemn scenery--of that +wholesome meditation, which purifies, by saddening--may haply dispose thee +to receive, with reverence, the holy and immortal knowledge that is in +store for thee. With this hope, I now leave thee to thy own thoughts, and +to that God, before whose calm and mournful eye the vanities of the world, +from which thou comest, wither!" + +Thus saying, he turned slowly away, and passing behind the statue, towards +which he had pointed during the last sentence, suddenly, and as if by +enchantment, disappeared from my sight. + + + + + + CHAP. IX. + + +Being left to my own solitary thoughts, I had now leisure to reflect, with +coolness, on the inconveniences, if not dangers, of the situation into +which my love of adventure had hurried me. However ready my imagination +was to kindle, in its own ideal sphere, I have ever found that, when +brought into contact with reality, it as suddenly cooled;--like those +meteors, that seem stars in the air, but, the moment they touch earth, are +extinguished. Such was the disenchantment that now succeeded to the dreams +in which I had been indulging. As long as Fancy had the field of the +future to herself, even immortality did not seem too distant a race for +her. But when human instruments interposed, the illusion vanished. From +mortal lips the promise of immortality seemed a mockery, and imagination +herself had no wings that could carry beyond the grave. + +Nor was this disappointment the only feeling that occupied me;--the +imprudence of the step, which I had taken, now appeared in its full extent +before my eyes. I had thrown myself into the power of the most artful +priesthood in the world, without a chance of being able to escape from +their toils, or to resist any machinations with which they might beset me. +It seemed evident, from the state of preparation in which I had found all +that wonderful apparatus, by which the terrors and splendours of +Initiation are produced, that my descent into the pyramid was not +unexpected. Numerous, indeed, and active as were the spies of the Sacred +College of Memphis, there could be but little doubt that all my movements, +since my arrival, had been tracked; and the many hours I had passed in +watching and wandering round the pyramid, betrayed a curiosity which might +well inspire these wily priests with the hope of drawing an Epicurean into +their superstitious toils. + +I well knew their hatred to the sect of which I was Chief;--that they +considered the Epicureans as, next to the Christians, the most formidable +enemies of their craft and power. "How thoughtless, then," I exclaimed, +"to have placed myself in a situation, where I am equally helpless against +their fraud and violence, and must either seem to be the dupe of their +impostures, or submit to become the victim of their vengeance." Of these +alternatives, bitter as they were, the latter appeared by far the more +welcome. I blushed even to think of the mockeries to which I already had +yielded; and the prospect of being put through still further ceremonials, +and of being tutored and preached to by hypocrites I despised, appeared to +me, in my present temper, a trial of patience, to which the flames and the +whirlwinds I had already encountered were pastime. + +Often and impatiently did I look up, between those rocky walls, to the +bright sky that appeared to rest upon their summits, as, round and round, +through every part of the valley, I endeavoured to find an outlet from its +gloomy precincts. But in vain I endeavoured;--that rocky barrier, which +seemed to end but in heaven, interposed itself every where. Neither did +the image of the young maiden, though constantly in my mind, now bring +with it the least consolation or hope. Of what avail was it that she, +perhaps, was an inhabitant of this region, if I could neither see her +smile, nor catch the sound of her voice,--if, while among preaching priests +I wasted away my hours, her presence diffused its enchantment elsewhere. + +At length exhausted, I lay down by the brink of the lake, and gave myself +up to all the melancholy of my fancy. The pale semblance of daylight, +which had hitherto shone around, grew, every moment, more dim and dismal. +Even the rich gleam, at the summit of the cascade, had faded; and the +sunshine, like the water, exhausted in its descent, had now dwindled into +a ghostly glimmer, far worse than darkness. The birds upon the lake, as if +about to die with the dying light, sunk down their heads; and, as I looked +to the statue, the deepening shadows gave an expression to its mournful +features that chilled my very soul. + +The thought of death, ever ready to present itself to my imagination, now +came, with a disheartening weight, such as I had never before felt. I +almost fancied myself already in the dark vestibule of the +grave,--separated, for ever, from the world above, and with nothing but the +blank of an eternal sleep before me. It had often, I knew, happened that +the visitants of this mysterious realm were, after their descent from +earth, never seen or heard of;--being condemned, for some failure in their +initiatory trials, to pine away their lives in the dark dungeons, with +which, as well as with altars, this region abounded. Such, I shuddered to +think, might probably be my destiny; and so appalling was the thought, +that even the spirit of defiance died within me, and I was already giving +myself up to helplessness and despair. + +At length, after some hours of this gloomy musing, I heard a rustling in +the sacred grove behind the statue; and, soon after, the sound of the +Priest's voice--more welcome than I had ever thought such voice could +be--brought the assurance that I was not yet, at least, wholly abandoned. +Finding his way to me through the gloom, he now led me to the same spot, +on which we had parted so many hours before; and, in a voice that retained +no trace of displeasure, bespoke my attention, while he should reveal to +me some of those divine truths, by whose infusion, he said, into the soul +of man, its purification can alone be effected. + +The valley had now become so wholly dark, that we could no longer discern +each other's faces, as we sat. There was a melancholy in the voice of my +instructor that well accorded with the gloom around us; and, saddened and +subdued, I now listened with resignation, if not with interest, to those +sublime, but, alas, I thought, vain tenets, which, with the warmth of a +believer, this Hierophant expounded to me. + +He spoke of the pre-existence of the soul,--of its abode, from all +eternity, in a place of bliss, of which all that we have most beautiful in +our conceptions here is but a dim transcript, a clouded remembrance. In +the blue depths of ether, he said, lay that "Country of the Soul,"--its +boundary alone visible in the line of milky light, that separates it, as +by a barrier of stars, from the dark earth. "Oh, realm of purity! Home of +the yet unfallen Spirit!--where, in the days of her primal innocence, she +wandered, ere her beauty was soiled by the touch of earth, or her +resplendent wings had withered away. Methinks," he cried, "I see, at this +moment, those fields of radiance,--I look back, through the mists of life, +into that luminous world, where the souls that have never lost their high, +heavenly rank, still soar, without a stain, above the shadowless stars, +and dwell together in infinite perfection and bliss!" + +As he spoke these words, a burst of pure, brilliant light, like a sudden +opening of heaven, broke through the valley; and, as soon as my eyes were +able to endure the splendour, such a vision of loveliness and glory opened +upon them, as took even my sceptical spirit by surprise, and made it +yield, at once, to the potency of the spell. + +Suspended, as I thought, in air, and occupying the whole of the opposite +region of the valley, there appeared an immense orb of light, within +which, through a haze of radiance, I could see distinctly groups of young +female spirits, who, in silent, but harmonious movement, like that of the +stars, wound slowly through a variety of fanciful evolutions; and, as they +linked and unlinked each other's arms, formed a living labyrinth of beauty +and grace. Though their feet seemed to tread along a field of light, they +had also wings, of the richest hue, which, like rainbows over waterfalls, +when played with by the breeze, at every moment reflected a new variety of +glory. + +As I stood, gazing with wonder, the orb, with all its ethereal inmates, +gradually receded into the dark void, lessening, as it went, and growing +more bright, as it lessened;--till, at length, distant, apparently, as a +retiring comet, this little world of Spirits, in one small point of +intense radiance, shone its last and vanished. "Go," exclaimed the rapt +Priest, "ye happy souls, of whose dwelling a glimpse is thus given to our +eyes, go, wander, in your orb, through the boundless heaven, nor ever let +a thought of this perishable world come to mingle its dross with your +divine nature, or tempt you to that earthward fall, by which spirits, as +bright, have been ruined!" + +A pause ensued, during which, still under the influence of wonder, I sent +my fancy wandering after the inhabitants of that orb,--almost wishing +myself credulous enough to believe in a heaven, of which creatures, so +like all that I most loved on earth, were inmates. + +At length, the Priest, with a sigh at the contrast he was about to draw, +between the happy spirits we had just seen and the fallen ones of earth, +resumed his melancholy History of the Soul. Tracing it, from the first +moment of earthward desire, to its final eclipse in the shadows of this +world, he dwelt upon every stage of its darkening descent, with a pathos +that sent sadness into the very depths of the heart. The first downward +look of the Spirit towards earth--the tremble of her wings on the edge of +Heaven--the giddy slide, at length, down that fatal descent, and the +Lethaean cup, midway in the sky, of which when she has once tasted, Heaven +is forgot,--through all these gradations he mournfully traced her fall, to +the last stage of darkness, when, wholly immersed in this world, her +celestial nature is changed, she can no longer rise above earth, nor +remembers her home, but by glimpses so vague, that, mistaking for hope +what is only memory, she believes them to be a light from the Future, not +the Past. + +"To retrieve this ruin of the once blessed Soul--to clear away, from around +her, the clouds of earth, and, restoring her lost wings(5), facilitate +their return to Heaven--such," said the reverend man, "is the great task of +our religion, and such the triumph of those divine Mysteries, in which the +life and essence of our religion lie. However sunk and changed and clouded +may be the Spirit, as long as a single trace of her original light +remains, there is yet hope that----" + +Here his voice was interrupted by a strain of mournful music, of which the +low, distant breathings had been, for some minutes, heard, but which now +gained upon the ear too thrillingly to let it listen to any more earthly +sound. A faint light, too, at that instant broke through the valley,--and I +could perceive, not far from the spot where we sat, a female figure, +veiled, and crouching to earth, as if subdued by sorrow, or under the +influence of shame. + +The light, by which I saw her, was from a pale, moon-like meteor, which +had formed itself in the air as the music approached, and shed over the +rocks and the lake a glimmer as cold as that by which the Dead, in their +own realm, gaze on each other. The music, too, which appeared to rise +directly out of the lake, and to come full of the breath of its dark +waters, spoke a despondency in every note which no language could +express;--and, as I listened to its tones, and looked upon that fallen +Spirit, (for such, the holy man whispered, was the form before us,) so +entirely did the illusion of the scene take possession of me, that, with +breathless anxiety, I waited the result. + +Nor had I gazed long before that form rose slowly from its drooping +position;--the air around it grew bright, and the pale meteor overhead +assumed a more cheerful and living light. The veil, which had before +shrouded the face of the figure, became gradually transparent, and the +features, one by one, disclosed themselves through it. Having tremblingly +watched the progress of the apparition, I now started from my seat, and +half exclaimed, "It is she!" In another minute, this veil had, like a thin +mist, melted away, and the young Priestess of the Moon stood, for the +third time, revealed before my eyes. + +To rush instantly towards her was my first impulse--but the arm of the +Priest held me firmly back. The fresh light, which had begun to flow in +from all sides, collected itself in a glory round the spot where she +stood. Instead of melancholy music, strains of the most exalted rapture +were heard; and the young maiden, buoyant as the inhabitants of the fairy +orb, amid a blaze of light like that which fell upon her in the Temple, +ascended into the air. + +"Stay, beautiful vision, stay!" I exclaimed, as, breaking from the hold of +the Priest, I flung myself prostrate on the ground,--the only mode by which +I could express the admiration, even to worship, with which I was filled. +But the vanishing spirit heard me not:--receding into the darkness, like +that orb, whose track she seemed to follow, her form lessened away, till +she was seen no more. Gazing, till the last luminous speck had +disappeared, I suffered myself unconsciously to be led away by my reverend +guide, who, placing me once more on my bed of poppy-leaves, left me to +such repose as it was possible, after such a scene, to enjoy. + + + + + + CHAP. X. + + +The apparition with which I had been blessed in that Valley of Visions--as +the place where I had witnessed these wonders was called--brought back to +my heart all the hopes and fancies, in which I had indulged during my +descent from earth. I had now seen once more that matchless creature, who +had been my guiding star into this mysterious world; and that she was, in +some way, connected with the further revelations that awaited me, I saw no +reason to doubt. There was a sublimity, too, in the doctrines of my +reverend teacher, and even a hope in the promises of immortality held out +by him, which, in spite of reason, won insensibly both upon my fancy and +my pride. + +The Future, however, was now but of secondary consideration;--the Present, +and that deity of the Present, woman, were the objects that engrossed my +whole soul. For the sake, indeed, of such beings alone did I think +immortality desirable, nor, without them, would eternal life have appeared +to me worth a prayer. To every further trial of my patience and faith, I +now made up my mind to submit without a murmur. Some propitious chance, I +fondly persuaded myself, might yet bring me nearer to the object of my +adoration, and enable me to address, as mortal woman, her who had hitherto +been to me but as a vision, a shade. + +The period of my probation, however, was nearly at an end. Both frame and +spirit had now been tried; and, as the crowning test of the purification +of the latter was that power of seeing into the world of spirits, with +which, in the Valley of Visions, I had proved myself to be endowed, there +remained now, to perfect my Initiation, but this one night more, when, in +the Temple of Isis, and in the presence of her unveiled image, the last +grand revelation of the Secret of Secrets was to open upon me. + +I passed the morning of this day in company with the same venerable +personage, who had, from the first, presided over the ceremonies of my +instruction; and who, to inspire me with due reverence for the power and +magnificence of his religion, now conducted me through the long range of +illuminated galleries and shrines, that extend under the site upon which +Memphis and the Pyramids stand, and form a counterpart under ground to +that mighty city of temples upon earth. + +He then descended with me, still lower, into those winding crypts, where +lay the Seven Tables of stone, found by Hermes in the valley of Hebron. +"On these tables," said he, "is written all the knowledge of the +antediluvian race,--the decrees of the stars from the beginning of time, +the annals of a still earlier world, and all the marvellous secrets, both +of heaven and earth, which would have been, + + "_but_ for this key, + Lost in the Universal Sea." + +Returning to the region, from which we had descended, we next visited, in +succession, a series of small shrines, representing the various objects of +adoration through Egypt, and thus furnishing to the Priest an occasion for +explaining the mysterious nature of animal worship, and the refined +doctrines of theology that lay veiled under its forms. Every shrine was +consecrated to a particular faith, and contained a living image of the +deity which it adored. Beside the goat of Mendes, with his refulgent star +upon his breast, I saw the crocodile, as presented to the eyes of its +idolaters at Arsinoe, with costly gems in its loathsome ears, and rich +bracelets of gold encircling its feet. Here, floating through a tank in +the centre of a temple, the sacred carp of Lepidotum exhibited its silvery +scales; while, there, the Isiac serpents trailed languidly over the altar, +with that movement which most inspires the hopes of their votaries. In one +of the small chapels we found a beautiful child, feeding and watching over +those golden beetles, which are adored for their brightness, as emblems of +the sun; while, in another, stood a sacred ibis upon its pedestal, so +like, in plumage and attitude, to the bird of the young Priestess, that I +could gladly have knelt down and worshipped it for her sake. + +After visiting these various shrines, and listening to the reflections +which they suggested, I was next led by my guide to the Great Hall of the +Zodiac, on whose ceiling, in bright and undying colours, was delineated +the map of the firmament, as it appeared at the first dawn of time. Here, +in pointing out the track of the sun, among the spheres, he spoke +eloquently of the analogy that exists between moral and physical +darkness--of the sympathy with which all spiritual creatures regard the +sun, so as to sadden and droop when he sinks into his wintry hemisphere, +and to rejoice when he resumes his own empire of light. Hence, the +festivals and hymns, with which most of the nations of the earth are wont +to welcome the resurrection of his orb in spring, as an emblem and pledge +of the re-ascent of the soul to heaven. Hence, the songs of sorrow, the +mournful ceremonies,--like those Mysteries of the Night, upon the Lake of +Sais,--in which they brood over his autumnal descent into the shades, as a +type of the Spirit's fall into this world of death. + +In discourses such as these the hours passed away; and though there was +nothing in the light of this sunless region to mark to the eye the decline +of day, my own feelings told me that the night drew near;--nor, in spite of +my incredulity, could I refrain from a flutter of hope, as that promised +moment of revelation approached, when the Mystery of Mysteries was to be +made all my own. This consummation, however, was less near than I +expected. My patience had still further trials to encounter. It was +necessary, I now found, that I should keep watch, during the greater part +of the night, in the Sanctuary of the Temple, alone and in darkness,--and +thus prepare myself, by meditation, for the awful moment, when the +irradiation from behind the sacred Veils was to burst upon me. + +At the appointed hour, we left the Hall of the Zodiac, and proceeded +through a line of long marble galleries, where the lamps were more thinly +scattered as we advanced, till, at length, we found ourselves in total +darkness. Here the Priest, taking me by the hand, and leading me down a +flight of steps, into a place where the same deep gloom prevailed, said, +with a voice trembling, as if from excess of awe,--"Thou art now in the +Sanctuary of our goddess, Isis, and the dark veils, that hang over her +image, are before thee!" + +After exhorting me earnestly to that train of thought, which best accorded +with the spirit of the place where I stood, and, above all, to that full +and unhesitating faith, with which alone, he said, the manifestation of +such mysteries should be approached, the holy man took leave of me, and +re-ascended the steps;--while, so spell-bound did I feel by that deep +darkness, that the last sound of his footsteps died upon my ear, before I +ventured to stir a limb from the position in which he had left me. + +The prospect of the long watch, now before me, was dreadful. Even danger +itself, in an active form, would have been preferable to this sort of +safe, but dull, probation, by which patience was the only virtue put to +the proof. Having ascertained how far the space around me was free from +obstacles, I endeavoured to beguile the time by pacing up and down within +those limits, till I became tired of the echoes of my own tread. Finding +my way, then, to what I felt to be a massive pillar, and, leaning wearily +against it, I surrendered myself to a train of thoughts and feelings, far +different from those with which the Hierophant had hoped to inspire me. + +"Why," I again asked, "if these priests possess the secret of life, why +are they themselves the victims of death? why sink into the grave with the +cup of immortality in their hands? But no, safe boasters, the eternity +they so lavishly promise is reserved for _another_, a future world--that +ready resource of all priestly promises--that depository of the airy +pledges of all creeds. Another world!--alas, where does it lie? or, what +spirit hath ever come to say that Life is there?" + +The conclusion, to which, half sadly, half passionately, I arrived, was +that, life being but a dream of the moment, never to come again, every +bliss that is promised for hereafter should be secured by the wise man +here. And, as no heaven I had ever heard of from these visionary priests +opened half such certainty of happiness as that smile which I beheld last +night,--"Let me," I exclaimed, impatiently, striking the massy pillar, till +it rung, "let me but make that beautiful Priestess my own, and I here +willingly exchange for her every chance of immortality, that the combined +wisdom of Egypt's Twelve Temples can offer me!" + +No sooner had I uttered these words, than a tremendous peal, like that of +thunder, rolled over the Sanctuary, and seemed to shake its walls. On +every side, too, a succession of blue, vivid flashes pierced, like so many +lances of light, through the gloom, revealing to me, at intervals, the +mighty dome in which I stood--its ceiling of azure, studded with stars, its +colossal columns, towering aloft, and those dark, mysterious veils, which +hung, in massy drapery, from the roof to the floor, and covered the rich +glories of the Shrine under their folds. + +So weary had I grown of my tedious watch, that this stormy and fitful +illumination, during which the Sanctuary seemed to rock to its base, was +by no means an unwelcome interruption of the monotony under which my +impatience suffered. After a short interval, however, the flashes +ceased;--the sounds died away, like exhausted thunder, through the abyss, +and darkness and silence, like that of the grave, succeeded. + +Resting my back once more against the pillar, and fixing my eyes upon that +side of the Sanctuary, from which the promised irradiation was to burst, I +now resolved to await the awful moment in patience. Resigned and +immovable, I had remained thus, for nearly another hour, when, suddenly, +along the edges of the mighty Veils, I perceived a thin rim of light, as +if from some brilliant object under them;--like that border which encircles +a cloud at sunset, when the radiance, from behind, is escaping at its +edges. + +This indication of concealed glories grew every instant more strong; till, +at last, vividly marked as it was upon the darkness, the narrow fringe of +lustre almost pained the eye, giving promise of a splendour too bright to +be endured. My expectations were now wound to the highest pitch, and all +the scepticism, into which I had been cooling down my mind, was forgotten. +The wonders that had been presented to me since my descent from earth--that +glimpse into Elysium on the first night of my coming--those visitants from +the Land of Spirits in the mysterious valley,--all led me to expect, in +this last and brightest revelation, such visions of glory and knowledge as +might transcend even fancy itself, nor leave a doubt that they belonged +less to earth than heaven. + +While, with an imagination thus excited, I stood waiting the result, an +increased gush of light still more awakened my attention; and I saw, with +an intenseness of interest, which made my heart beat aloud, one of the +corners of the mighty Veil slowly raised up. I now felt that the Great +Secret--whatever it might be--was at hand. A vague hope even crossed my +mind--so wholly had imagination resumed her empire--that the splendid +promise of my dream was on the point of being realised! + +With surprise, however, and--for a moment--with disappointment, I perceived, +that the massy corner of the Veil was but raised sufficiently to allow a +female figure to emerge from under it,--and then fell again, over its +mystic splendours, as dark as before. By the strong light, too, that +issued when the drapery was lifted, and illuminated the profile of the +emerging figure, I either saw, or fancied that I saw, the same bright +features, that had already mocked me so often with their momentary charm, +and seemed destined to haunt my heart as unavailingly as the fond, vain +dream of Immortality itself. + +Dazzled as I had been by that short gush of splendour, and distrusting +even my senses, when under the influence of a fancy so excited, I had +hardly time to question myself as to the reality of my impression, when I +heard the sounds of light footsteps approaching me through the gloom. In a +second or two more, the figure stopped before me, and, placing the end of +a riband gently in my hand, said, in a tremulous whisper, "Follow, and be +silent." + +So sudden and strange was the adventure, that, for a moment, I +hesitated,--fearful lest my eyes should have been deceived as to the object +they had seen. Casting a look towards the Veil, which seemed bursting with +its luminous secret, I was almost doubting to which of the two chances I +should commit myself, when I felt the riband in my hand pulled softly at +the other extremity. This movement, at once, like a touch of magic, +decided me. Without further deliberation, I yielded to the silent summons, +and following my guide, who was already at some distance before me, found +myself led up the same flight of marble steps, by which the Priest had +conducted me into the Sanctuary. Arrived at their summit, I felt the pace +of my conductress quicken, and, giving one more look to the Veiled Shrine, +whose glories we left burning ineffectually behind us, hastened into the +gloom, full of confidence in the belief, that she, who now held the other +end of that clue, was one whom I could follow devotedly through the world. + + + + + + CHAP. XI. + + +So rapidly was I hurried along by my unseen conductress, full of wonder at +the speed with which she ventured through these labyrinths, that I had but +little time to reflect upon the strangeness of the adventure to which I +had committed myself. My knowledge of the character of the priests, as +well as the fearful rumours that had reached me, of the fate that often +attended unbelievers in their hands, waked a momentary suspicion of +treachery in my mind. But, when I recalled the face of my guide, as I had +seen it in the chapel, with that divine look, the very memory of which +brought purity into the heart, this suspicion all vanished, and I felt +shame at having harboured it but an instant. + +In the mean while, our course continued uninterrupted, through windings +more capriciously intricate than any that I had yet passed, and whose +darkness seemed never to have been disturbed by a single glimmer. My +conductress still continued at some distance before me, and the clue, to +which I clung as if it were the thread of Destiny herself, was still kept, +by her speed, at full stretch between us. At length, suddenly stopping, +she said, in a breathless whisper, "Seat thyself here," and, at the same +moment, led me by the hand to a sort of low car, in which I lost not a +moment in placing myself, as desired, while the maiden, as promptly, took +her seat by my side. + +A sudden click, like the touching of a spring, was then heard, and the +car,--which, as I had felt in entering it, leaned half-way over a steep +descent,--on being loosed from its station, shot down, almost +perpendicularly, into the darkness, with a rapidity which, at first, +nearly deprived me of breath. The wheels slid smoothly and noiselessly in +grooves, and the impetus, which the car acquired in descending, was +sufficient, I perceived, to carry it up an eminence that succeeded,--from +the summit of which it again rushed down another declivity, even still +more long and precipitous than the former. In this manner we proceeded, by +alternate falls and rises, till, at length, from the last and steepest +elevation, the car descended upon a level of deep sand, where, after +running for a few yards, it by degrees lost its motion and stopped. + +Here, the maiden alighting, again placed the riband in my hands,--and again +I followed her, though with more slowness and difficulty than before, as +our way led up a flight of damp and time-worn steps, whose ascent seemed +to the weary and insecure foot interminable. Perceiving with what languor +my guide now advanced, I was on the point of making an effort to assist +her progress, when the creak of an opening door above, and a faint gleam +of light which, at the same moment, shone upon her figure, apprised me +that we were arrived within reach of sunshine. + +Joyfully I followed through this opening, and, by the dim light, could +discern, that we were now in the sanctuary of a vast, ruined +temple,--having entered by a passage under the lofty pedestal, upon which +an image of the idol of the place once stood. The first movement of the +maiden, after replacing the portal under the pedestal, was, without even a +look towards me, to cast herself down on her knees, with her hands clasped +and uplifted, as if for the purpose of thanksgiving or prayer. But she was +unable to sustain herself in this position;--her strength could hold out no +longer. Overcome by agitation and fatigue, she sunk senseless upon the +pavement. + +Bewildered as I was, myself, by the events of the night, I stood for some +minutes looking upon her in a state of helplessness and alarm. But, +reminded, by my own feverish sensations, of the reviving effects of the +air, I raised her gently in my arms, and crossing the corridor that +surrounded the sanctuary, found my way to the outer vestibule of the +temple. Here, shading her eyes from the sun, I placed her, reclining, upon +the steps, where the cool wind, then blowing freshly from the north, might +play, with free draught, between the pillars over her brow. + +It was, indeed,--I now saw, with certainty,--the same beautiful and +mysterious girl, who had been the cause of my descent into that +subterranean world, and who now, under such strange and unaccountable +circumstances, was my guide back again to the realms of day. I looked +round, to discover where we were, and beheld such a scene of grandeur, +as--could my eyes have wandered to any other object from the pale form +reclining at my side--might well have won them to dwell on its splendid +beauties. + +I was now standing, I found, on the small island in the centre of Lake +Moeris; and that sanctuary, where we had emerged from darkness, formed part +of the ruins of a temple, which (as I have since learned) was, in the +grander days of Memphis, a place of pilgrimage for worshippers from all +parts of Egypt. The fair Lake, itself, out of whose waters once rose +pavilions, palaces, and even lofty pyramids, was still, though divested of +many of these wonders, a scene of interest and splendour such as the whole +world could not equal. While the shores still sparkled with mansions and +temples, that bore testimony to the luxury of a living race, the voice of +the Past, speaking out of unnumbered ruins, whose summits, here and there, +rose blackly above the wave, told of times long fled and generations long +swept away, before whose giant remains all the glory of the present stood +humbled. Over the southern bank of the Lake hung the dark relics of the +Labyrinth;--its twelve Royal Palaces, like the mansions of the Zodiac,--its +thundering portals and constellated halls, having left nothing behind but +a few frowning ruins, which, contrasted with the soft groves of olive and +acacia around them, seemed to rebuke the luxuriant smiles of nature, and +threw a melancholy grandeur over the whole scene. + +The effects of the air, in re-animating the young Priestess, were less +speedy than I had expected;--her eyes were still closed, and she remained +pale and insensible. Alarmed, I now rested her head (which had been, for +some time, supported by my arm,) against the base of a column, with my +cloak for its pillow, while I hastened to procure some water from the +Lake. The temple stood high, and the descent to the shore was precipitous. +But, my Epicurean habits having but little impaired my activity, I soon +descended, with the lightness of a desert deer, to the bottom. Here, +plucking from a lofty bean-tree, whose flowers stood, shining like gold, +above the water, one of those large hollowed leaves that serve as cups for +the Hebes of the Nile, I filled it from the Lake, and hurried back with +the cool draught to the temple. It was not without some difficulty and +delay that I succeeded, in bearing my rustic chalice steadily up the +steep; more than once did an unlucky slip waste its contents, and as often +did I impatiently return to refill it. + +During this time, the young maiden was fast recovering her animation and +consciousness; and, at the moment when I appeared above the edge of the +steep, was just rising from the steps, with her hand pressed to her +forehead, as if confusedly recalling the recollection of what had +occurred. No sooner did she observe me, than a short cry of alarm broke +from her lips. Looking anxiously round, as though she sought for +protection, and half audibly uttering the words, "Where is he?" she made +an effort, as I approached, to retreat into the temple. + +Already, however, I was by her side, and taking her hand gently, as she +turned away, "Whom dost thou seek, fair Priestess?" I asked,--for the first +time breaking through the silence she had enjoined, and in a tone that +might have re-assured the most timid spirit. But my words had no effect in +calming her apprehension. Trembling, and with her eyes still averted +towards the Temple, she continued in a voice of suppressed alarm,--"Where +_can_ he be?--that venerable Athenian, that philosopher, who----" + +"Here, here," I exclaimed, anxiously interrupting her,--"behold him still +by thy side--the same, the very same who saw thee steal from under the +lighted Veils of the Sanctuary, whom thou hast guided by a clue through +those labyrinths below, and who now but waits his command from those lips, +to devote himself through life and death to thy service." As I spoke these +words, she turned slowly round, and looking timidly in my face, while her +own burned with blushes, said, in a tone of doubt and wonder, "Thou!" and +hid her eyes in her hands. + +I knew not how to interpret a reception so unexpected. That some mistake +or disappointment had occurred was evident; but so inexplicable did the +whole adventure appear, that it was in vain to think of unravelling any +part of it. Weak and agitated, she now tottered to the steps of the +temple, and there seating herself, with her forehead against the cold +marble, seemed for some moments absorbed in the most anxious +thought,--while silent and watchful I waited her decision, with a prophetic +feeling, however, that my destiny would be henceforth linked with hers. + +The inward struggle by which she was agitated, though violent, was not of +long continuance. Starting suddenly from her seat, with a look of terror +towards the temple, as if the fear of immediate pursuit had alone decided +her, she pointed eagerly towards the East, and exclaimed, "To the Nile, +without delay!"--clasping her hands, when she had spoken, with the most +suppliant fervour, as if to soften the abruptness of the mandate she had +given, and appealing to me with a look that would have taught Stoics +tenderness. + +I lost no time in obeying the welcome command. While a thousand wild hopes +and wishes crowded upon my fancy, at the prospect which a voyage, under +such auspices, presented, I descended rapidly to the shore, and hailing +one of the numerous boats that ply upon the Lake for hire, arranged +speedily for a passage down the canal to the Nile. Having learned, too, +from the boatmen, a more easy path up the rock, I hastened back to the +Temple for my fair charge; and without a word, a look, that could alarm, +even by its kindness, or disturb that innocent confidence which she now +placed in me, led her down by the winding path to the boat. + +Every thing looked smiling around us as we embarked. The morning was now +in its first freshness, and the path of the breeze might be traced over +the Lake, wakening up its waters from their sleep of the night. The gay, +golden-winged birds that haunt these shores, were, in every direction, +skimming along the lake; while, with a graver consciousness of beauty, the +swan and the pelican were seen dressing their white plumage in the mirror +of its wave. To add to the animation of the scene, a sweet tinkling of +musical instruments came, at intervals, on the breeze, from boats at a +distance, employed thus early in pursuing the fish of these waters, that +suffer themselves to be decoyed into the nets by music. + +The vessel which I selected for our voyage was one of those small +pleasure-boats or yachts,--so much in use among the luxurious navigators of +the Nile,--in the centre of which rises a pavilion of cedar or cypress +wood, gilded gorgeously, without, with religious emblems, and fitted up, +within, for all the purposes of feasting and repose. To the door of this +pavilion I now led my companion, and, after a few words of +kindness--tempered with as much respectful reserve as the deep tenderness +which I felt would admit of--left her in solitude to court that restoring +rest, which the agitation of her spirits but too much required. + +For myself, though repose was hardly less necessary to me, the ferment in +which my thoughts had been kept seemed to render it hopeless. Throwing +myself upon the deck, under an awning which the sailors had raised for me, +I continued, for some hours, in a sort of vague day-dream,--sometimes +passing in review the scenes of that subterranean drama, and sometimes, +with my eyes fixed in drowsy vacancy, receiving passively the impressions +of the bright scenery through which we passed. + +The banks of the canal were then luxuriantly wooded. Under the tufts of +the light and towering palm were seen the orange and the citron, +interlacing their boughs; while, here and there, huge tamarisks thickened +the shade, and, at the very edge of the bank, the willow of Babylon stood +bending its graceful branches into the water. Occasionally, out of the +depth of these groves, there shone a small temple or pleasure- +house;--while, now and then, an opening in their line of foliage allowed +the eye to wander over extensive fields, all covered with beds of those +pale, sweet roses, for which this district of Egypt is so celebrated. + +The activity of the morning hour was visible every where. Flights of doves +and lapwings were fluttering among the leaves, and the white heron, which +had roosted all night in some date-tree, now stood sunning its wings upon +the green bank, or floated, like living silver, over the flood. The +flowers, too, both of land and water, looked freshly awakened;--and, most +of all, the superb lotus, which had risen with the sun from the wave, and +was now holding up her chalice for a full draught of his light. + +Such were the scenes that now passed before my eyes, and mingled with the +reveries that floated through my mind, as our boat, with its high, +capacious sail, swept over the flood. Though the occurrences of the last +few days appeared to me one series of wonders, yet by far the most +miraculous wonder of all was, that she, whose first look had sent wild- +fire into my heart,--whom I had thought of ever since with a restlessness +of passion, that would have dared any thing on earth to obtain its +object,--was now sleeping sacredly in that small pavilion, while guarding +her, even from myself, I lay calmly at its threshold. + +Meanwhile, the sun had reached his meridian. The busy hum of the morning +had died gradually away, and all around was sleeping in the hot stillness +of noon. The Nile-goose, folding her splendid wings, was lying motionless +on the shadow of the sycamores in the water. Even the nimble lizards upon +the bank seemed to move more languidly, as the light fell upon their gold +and azure hues. Overcome as I was with watching, and weary with thought, +it was not long before I yielded to the becalming influence of the hour. +Looking fixedly at the pavilion,--as if once more to assure my senses, that +I was not already in a dream, but that the young Egyptian was really +there,--I felt my eyes close as I looked, and in a few minutes sunk into a +profound sleep. + + + + + + CHAP. XII. + + +It was by the canal through which we now sailed, that, in the more +prosperous days of Memphis, the commerce of Upper Egypt and Nubia was +transported to her magnificent Lake, and from thence, having paid tribute +to the queen of cities, was poured out again, through the Nile, into the +ocean. The course of this canal to the river was not direct, but ascending +in a south-easterly direction towards the Said; and in calms, or with +adverse winds, the passage was tedious. But as the breeze was now blowing +freshly from the north, there was every prospect of our reaching the river +before night-fall. Rapidly, too, as our galley swept along the flood, its +motion was so smooth as to be hardly felt; and the quiet gurgle of the +waters underneath, and the drowsy song of the boatman at the prow, alone +disturbed the deep silence that prevailed. + +The sun, indeed, had nearly sunk behind the Libyan hills, before the +sleep, in which these sounds lulled me, was broken; and the first object, +on which my eyes rested, in waking, was that fair young Priestess,--seated +under a porch by which the door of the pavilion was shaded, and bending +intently over a small volume that lay unrolled on her lap. + +Her face was but half turned towards me, and as, once or twice, she raised +her eyes to the warm sky, whose light fell, softened through the trellis, +over her cheek, I found every feeling of reverence, with which she had +inspired me in the chapel, return. There was even a purer and holier charm +around her countenance, thus seen by the natural light of day, than in +those dim and unhallowed regions below. She could now, too, look direct to +the glorious sky, and that heaven and her eyes, so worthy of each other, +met. + +After contemplating her for a few moments, with little less than +adoration, I rose gently from my resting-place, and approached the +pavilion. But the mere movement had startled her from her devotion, and, +blushing and confused, she covered the volume with the folds of her robe. + +In the art of winning upon female confidence, I had long been schooled; +and, now that to the lessons of gallantry the inspiration of love was +added, my ambition to please and to interest could hardly, it may be +supposed, fail of success. I soon found, however, how much less fluent is +the heart than the fancy, and how very distinct are the operations of +making love and feeling it. In the few words of greeting now exchanged +between us, it was evident that the gay, the enterprising Epicurean was +little less embarrassed than the secluded Priestess;--and, after one or two +ineffectual efforts to bring our voices acquainted with each other, the +eyes of both turned bashfully away, and we relapsed into silence. + +From this situation--the result of timidity on one side, and of a feeling +altogether new, on the other--we were, at length, after an interval of +estrangement, relieved, by the boatmen announcing that the Nile was in +sight. The countenance of the young Egyptian brightened at this +intelligence; and the smile with which I congratulated her on the speed of +our voyage was answered by another, so full of gratitude, that already an +instinctive sympathy seemed established between us. + +We were now on the point of entering that sacred river, of whose sweet +waters the exile drinks in his dreams,--for a draught of whose flood the +daughters of the Ptolemies, when wedded to foreign kings, sighed in the +midst of their splendour. As our boat, with slackened sail, glided into +the current, an enquiry from the boatmen, whether they should anchor for +the night in the Nile, first reminded me of the ignorance, in which I +still remained, with respect to either the motive or destination of our +voyage. Embarrassed by their question I directed my eyes towards the +Priestess, whom I saw waiting for my answer with a look of anxiety, which +this silent reference to her wishes at once dispelled. Eagerly unfolding +the volume with which I had seen her occupied, she took from its folds a +small leaf of papyrus, on which there appeared to be some faint lines of +drawing, and after thoughtfully looking upon it, herself, for a moment, +placed it, with an agitated hand, in mine. + +In the mean time, the boatmen had taken in their sail, and the yacht drove +slowly down the river with the current, while, by a light which had been +kindled at sunset on the deck, I stood examining the leaf that the +Priestess had given me,--her dark eyes fixed anxiously on my countenance +all the while. The lines traced upon the papyrus were so faint as to be +almost invisible, and I was for some time at a loss to divine their +import. At length, I could perceive that they were the outlines, or +map--traced slightly and unsteadily with a Memphian reed--of a part of that +mountainous ridge by which Upper Egypt is bounded to the east, together +with the names, or rather emblems, of the chief towns in the +neighbourhood. + +It was thither, I could not doubt, that the young Priestess wished to +pursue her course. Without a moment's delay, therefore, I gave orders to +the boatmen to set our yacht before the wind and ascend the current. My +command was promptly obeyed: the white sail again rose into the region of +the breeze, and the satisfaction that beamed in every feature of the fair +Egyptian showed that the quickness with which I had obeyed her wishes was +not unfelt by her. The moon had now risen; and though the current was +against us, the Etesian wind of the season blew strongly up the river, and +we were soon floating before it, through the rich plains and groves of the +Said. + +The love, with which this simple girl had inspired me, was--possibly from +the mystic scenes and situations in which I had seen her--not unmingled +with a tinge of superstitious awe, under the influence of which I felt the +buoyancy of my spirit checked. The few words that had passed between us on +the subject of our route had somewhat loosened this spell; and what I +wanted of vivacity and confidence was more than made up by the tone of +deep sensibility which love had awakened in their place. + +We had not proceeded far before the glittering of lights at a distance, +and the shooting up of fireworks, at intervals, into the air, apprised us +that we were approaching one of those night-fairs, or marts, which it is +the custom, at this season, to hold upon the Nile. To me the scene was +familiar; but to my young companion it was evidently a new world; and the +mixture of alarm and delight with which she gazed, from under her veil, +upon the busy scene into which we now sailed, gave an air of innocence to +her beauty, which still more heightened its every charm. + +It was one of the widest parts of the river; and the whole surface, from +one bank to the other, was covered with boats. Along the banks of a green +island, in the middle of the stream, lay anchored the galleys of the +principal traders,--large floating bazaars, bearing each the name of its +owner, emblazoned in letters of flame, upon the stern. Over their decks +were spread out, in gay confusion, the products of the loom and needle of +Egypt,--rich carpets of Memphis, and those variegated veils, for which the +female embroiderers of the Nile are so celebrated, and to which the name +of Cleopatra lends a traditional value. In each of the other galleys was +exhibited some branch of Egyptian workmanship,--vases of the fragrant +porcelain of On,--cups of that frail crystal, whose hues change like those +of the pigeon's plumage,--enamelled amulets graven with the head of Anubis, +and necklaces and bracelets of the black beans of Abyssinia. + +While Commerce thus displayed her luxuries in one quarter, in every other +direction Pleasure, multiplied into her thousand shapes, swarmed over the +waters. Nor was the festivity confined to the river only. All along the +banks of the island and on the shores, lighted up mansions were seen +through the trees, from which sounds of music and merriment came. In some +of the boats were bands of minstrels, who, from time to time, answered +each other, like echoes, across the wave; and the notes of the lyre, the +flageolet, and the sweet lotus-wood flute, were heard, in the pauses of +revelry, dying along the waters. + +Meanwhile, from other boats stationed in the least lighted places, the +workers of fire sent forth their wonders into the air. Bursting out from +time to time, as if in the very exuberance of joy, these sallies of flame +seemed to reach the sky, and there breaking into a shower of sparkles, +shed such a splendour round, as brightened even the white Arabian +hills,--making them shine like the brow of Mount Atlas at night, when the +fire from his own bosom is playing around its snows. + +The opportunity which this luxurious mart afforded us, of providing +ourselves with other and less remarkable habiliments than those in which +we had escaped from that nether world, was too seasonable not to be gladly +taken advantage of by both. For myself, the strange mystic garb that I +wore was sufficiently concealed by my Grecian mantle, which I had luckily +thrown round me on the night of my watch. But the thin veil of my +companion was a far less efficient disguise. She had, indeed, flung away +the golden beetles from her hair; but the sacred robe of her order was +still too visible, and the stars of the bandelet shone brightly through +her veil. + +Most gladly, therefore, did she avail herself of this opportunity of a +change; and, as she took from a casket--which, with the volume I had seen +her reading, appeared to be her only treasure--a small jewel, to exchange +for the simple garments she had chosen, there fell out, at the same time, +the very cross of silver, which I had seen her kiss, as may be remembered, +in the monumental chapel, and which was afterwards pressed to my own lips. +This link (for such it appeared to my imagination) between us, now revived +in my heart all the burning feelings of that moment;--and, had I not +abruptly turned away, my agitation would, but too plainly, have betrayed +itself. + +The object, for which we had delayed in this gay scene, being +accomplished, the sail was again spread, and we proceeded on our course up +the river. The sounds and the lights we left behind died gradually away, +and we now floated along in moonlight and silence once more. Sweet dews, +worthy of being called "the tears of Isis," fell through the air, and +every plant and flower sent its fragrance to meet them. The wind, just +strong enough to bear us smoothly against the current, scarcely stirred +the shadow of the tamarisks on the water. As the inhabitants from all +quarters were collected at the night-fair, the Nile was more than usually +still and solitary. Such a silence, indeed, prevailed, that, as we glided +near the shore, we could hear the rustling of the acacias, as the +chameleons ran up their stems. It was, altogether, a night such as only +the clime of Egypt can boast, when every thing lies lulled in that sort of +bright tranquillity, which, we may imagine, shines over the sleep of those +happy spirits, who are supposed to rest in the Valley of the Moon, on +their way to heaven. + +By such a light, and at such an hour, seated, side by side, on the deck of +that bark, did we pursue our course up the lonely Nile--each a mystery to +the other--our thoughts, our objects, our very names a secret;--separated, +too, till now, by destinies so different, the one, a gay voluptuary of the +Garden of Athens, the other, a secluded Priestess of the Temples of +Memphis;--and the only relation yet established between us being that +dangerous one of love, passionate love, on one side, and the most feminine +and confiding dependence on the other. + +The passing adventure of the night-fair had not only dispelled still more +our mutual reserve, but had supplied us with a subject on which we could +converse without embarrassment. From this topic I took care to lead on, +without interruption, to others,--fearful lest our former silence should +return, and the music of her voice again be lost to me. It was, indeed, +only by thus indirectly unburdening my heart that I was enabled to refrain +from the full utterance of all I thought and felt; and the restless +rapidity with which I flew from subject to subject was but an effort to +escape from the only one in which my heart was interested. + +"How bright and happy," said I,--pointing up to Sothis, the fair Star of +the Waters, which was just then sparkling brilliantly over our heads,--"How +bright and happy this world ought to be, if--as your Egyptian sages +assert--yon pure and beautiful luminary was its birth-star!" Then, still +leaning back, and letting my eyes wander over the firmament, as if seeking +to disengage them from the fascination which they dreaded--"To the study (I +said), for ages, of skies like this, may the pensive and mystic character +of your nation be traced. That mixture of pride and melancholy which +naturally arises, at the sight of those eternal lights shining out of +darkness;--that sublime, but saddened, anticipation of a Future, which +comes over the soul in the silence of such an hour, when, though Death +seems to reign in the repose of earth, there are those beacons of +Immortality burning in the sky--" + +Pausing, as I uttered the word "immortality," with a sigh to think how +little my heart echoed to my lips, I looked in the face of the maiden, and +saw that it had lighted up, as I spoke, into a glow of holy animation, +such as Faith alone gives--such as Hope herself wears, when she is dreaming +of heaven. Touched by the contrast, and gazing upon her with mournful +tenderness, I found my arms half opened, to clasp her to my heart, while +the words died away inaudibly upon my lips,--"thou, too, beautiful maiden! +must thou, too, die for ever?" + +My self-command, I felt, had nearly deserted me. Rising abruptly from my +seat, I walked to the middle of the deck, and stood, for some moments, +unconsciously gazing upon one of those fires, which,--as is the custom of +all who travel by night upon the Nile,--our boatmen had just kindled, to +scare away the crocodiles from the vessel. But it was in vain that I +endeavoured to compose my spirit. Every effort I made but more deeply +convinced me, that, till the mystery which hung round that maiden should +be solved--till the secret, with which my own bosom laboured, should be +disclosed--it was fruitless to attempt even a semblance of tranquillity. + +My resolution was therefore taken;--to lay open, at least, my own heart, as +far as such a revelation might be risked, without startling the timid +innocence of my companion. Thus resolved, I returned, with more composure, +to my seat by her side, and taking from my bosom the small mirror which +she had dropped in the Temple, and which I had ever since worn suspended +round my neck, with a trembling hand presented it to her view. The boatmen +had just kindled one of their night-fires near us, and its light, as she +leaned forward towards the mirror, fell on her face. + +The quick blush of surprise with which she recognised it to be hers, and +her look of bashful, yet eager, inquiry, in raising her eyes to mine, were +appeals to which I was not, of course, slow in answering. Beginning with +the first moment when I saw her in the Temple, and passing hastily, but +with words that burned as they went, over the impression which she had +then left upon my heart and fancy, I proceeded to describe the particulars +of my descent into the pyramid--my surprise and adoration at the door of +the chapel--my encounter with the Trials of Initiation, so mysteriously +prepared for me, and all the various visionary wonders I had witnessed in +that region, till the moment when I had seen her stealing from under the +Veils to approach me. + +Though, in detailing these events, I had said but little of the feelings +they had awakened in me,--though my lips had sent back many a sentence, +unuttered, there was still enough that could neither be subdued or +disguised, and which, like that light from under the veils of her own +Isis, glowed through every word that I spoke. When I told of the scene in +the chapel,--of the silent interview which I had witnessed between the dead +and the living,--the maiden leaned down her head and wept, as from a heart +full of tears. It seemed a pleasure to her, however, to listen; and, when +she looked at me again, there was an earnest and affectionate cordiality +in her eyes, as if the knowledge of my having been present at that +mournful scene had opened a new source of sympathy and intelligence +between us. So neighbouring are the fountains of Love and of Sorrow, and +so imperceptibly do they often mingle their streams. + +Little, indeed, as I was guided by art or design, in my manner and conduct +to this innocent girl, not all the most experienced gallantry of the +Garden could have dictated a policy half so seductive as that which my new +master, Love, now taught me. The ardour which, shown at once, and without +reserve, might have startled a heart so little prepared for it, thus +checked and softened by the timidity of real love, won its way without +alarm, and, when most diffident of success, most triumphed. Like one whose +sleep is gradually broken by music, the maiden's heart was awakened +without being disturbed. She followed the charm, unconscious whither it +led, nor was aware of the flame she had lighted in another's bosom, till +she perceived the reflection of it glimmering in her own. + +Impatient as I was to appeal to her generosity and sympathy, for a similar +proof of confidence to that which I had just given, the night was now too +far advanced for me to impose such a task upon her. After exchanging a few +words, in which, though little was said, there was a tone and manner that +spoke far more than language, we took a lingering leave of each other for +the night, with every prospect of still being together in our dreams. + + + + + + CHAP. XIII. + + +It was so near the dawn of day when we parted, that we again found the sun +sinking westward when we rejoined each other. The smile with which she met +me,--so frankly cordial,--might have been taken for the greeting of a long +mellowed friendship, did not the blush and the castdown eyelid, that +followed, give symptoms of a feeling newer and less calm. For myself, +lightened as I was, in some degree, by the confession which I had made, I +was yet too conscious of the new aspect thus given to our intercourse, to +feel altogether unembarrassed at the prospect of returning to the theme. +It was, therefore, willingly we both suffered our attention to be +diverted, by the variety of objects that presented themselves on the way, +from a subject that both equally trembled to approach. + +The river was now full of life and motion. Every moment we met with boats +descending the current, so independent of aid from sail or oar, that the +sailors sat idly upon the deck as they shot along, singing or playing upon +their double-reeded pipes. Of these boats, the greater number came loaded +with merchandise from Coptos,--some with those large emeralds, from the +mine in the desert, whose colours, it is said, are brightest at the full +of the moon, and some laden with frankincense from the acacia-groves near +the Red Sea. On the decks of others, that had been to the Golden Mountains +beyond Syene, were heaped blocks and fragments of that sweet-smelling +wood, which the Green Nile of Nubia washes down in the season of the +floods. + +Our companions up the stream were far less numerous. Occasionally a boat, +returning lightened from the fair of last night, with those high sails +that catch every breeze from over the hills, shot past us;--while, now and +then, we overtook one of those barges full of bees, that at this season of +the year, are sent to colonise the gardens of the south, and take +advantage of the first flowers after the inundation has passed away. + +By these various objects we were, for a short time, enabled to divert the +conversation from lighting and settling upon the one subject, round which +it continually hovered. But the effort, as might be expected, was not long +successful. As evening advanced, the whole scene became more solitary. We +less frequently ventured to look upon each other, and our intervals of +silence grew more long. + +It was near sunset, when, in passing a small temple on the shore, whose +porticoes were now full of the evening light, we saw, issuing from a +thicket of acanthus near it, a train of young maids linked together in the +dance by lotus-stems, held at arms' length between them. Their tresses +were also wreathed with this emblem of the season, and such a profusion of +the white flowers were twisted round their waists and arms, that they +might have been taken, as they gracefully bounded along the bank, for +Nymphs of the Nile, risen freshly from their gardens under the wave. + +After looking for a few moments at this sacred dance, the maid turned away +her eyes, with a look of pain, as if the remembrances it recalled were of +no welcome nature. This momentary retrospect, this glimpse into the past, +seemed to offer a sort of clue to the secret for which I panted;--and, +gradually and delicately as my impatience would allow, I availed myself of +it. Her frankness, however, saved me the embarrassment of much +questioning. She even seemed to feel that the confidence I sought was due +to me, and beyond the natural hesitation of maidenly modesty, not a shade +of reserve or evasion appeared. + +To attempt to repeat, in her own touching words, the simple story which +she now related to me, would be like endeavouring to note down some strain +of unpremeditated music, with those fugitive graces, those felicities of +the moment, which no art can restore, as they first met the ear. From a +feeling, too, of humility, she had omitted in her narrative some +particulars relating to herself, which I afterwards learned;--while others, +not less important, she but slightly passed over, from a fear of wounding +the prejudices of her heathen hearer. + +I shall, therefore, give her story, as the outline which she, herself, +sketched was afterwards filled up by a pious and venerable hand,--far, far +more worthy than mine of being associated with the memory of such purity. + + + + + + STORY OF ALETHE. + + +"The mother of this maiden was the beautiful Theora of Alexandria, who, +though a native of that city, was descended from Grecian parents. When +very young, Theora was one of the seven maidens selected, to note down the +discourses of the eloquent Origen, who, at that period, presided over the +School of Alexandria, and was in all the fulness of his fame, both among +Pagans and Christians. Endowed richly with the learning of both creeds, he +brought the natural light of philosophy to elucidate the mysteries of +faith, and was only proud of his knowledge of the wisdom of this world, +inasmuch as it ministered to the triumph of divine truth. + +"Though he had courted in vain the crown of martyrdom, it was held, +throughout his life, suspended over his head, and in more than one +persecution, he had evinced his readiness to die for that faith which he +lived but to testify and adorn. On one of these occasions, his tormentors, +having habited him like an Egyptian priest, placed him upon the steps of +the Temple of Serapis, and commanded that he should, in the manner of the +Pagan ministers, present palm-branches to the multitude who went up to the +shrine. But the courageous Christian disappointed their views. Holding +forth the branches with an unshrinking hand, he cried aloud, 'Come hither +and take the branch, not of an Idol Temple, but of Christ.' + +"So indefatigable was this learned Father in his studies, that, while +composing his Commentary on the Scriptures, he was attended by seven +scribes or notaries, who relieved each other in taking down the dictates +of his eloquent tongue; while the same number of young females, selected +for the beauty of their penmanship, were employed in arranging and +transcribing the precious leaves. + +"Among the scribes so selected, was the fair young Theora, whose parents, +though attached to the Pagan worship, were not unwilling to profit by the +accomplishments of their daughter, thus devoted to a task which they +considered purely mechanical. To the maid herself, however, her task +brought far other feelings and consequences. She read anxiously as she +wrote, and the divine truths, so eloquently illustrated, found their way, +by degrees, from the page to her heart. Deeply, too, as the written words +affected her, the discourses from the lips of the great teacher himself, +which she had frequent opportunities of hearing, sunk still more deeply +into her mind. There was, at once, a sublimity and gentleness in his views +of religion, which, to the tender hearts and lively imaginations of women, +never failed to appeal with convincing power. Accordingly, the list of his +female pupils was numerous; and the names of Barbara, Juliana, Herais, and +others, bear honourable testimony to his influence over that sex. + +"To Theora the feeling, with which his discourses inspired her, was like a +new soul,--a consciousness of spiritual existence, unfelt before. By the +eloquence of the comment she was awakened into admiration of the text; and +when, by the kindness of a Catechumen of the school, who had been struck +by her innocent zeal, she, for the first time, became possessor of a copy +of the Scriptures, she could not sleep for thinking of her sacred +treasure. With a mixture of pleasure and fear she hid it from all eyes, +and was like one who had received a divine guest under her roof, and felt +fearful of betraying its divinity to the world. + +"A heart so awake would have been easily secured to the faith, had her +opportunities of hearing the sacred word continued. But circumstances +arose to deprive her of this advantage. The mild Origen, long harassed and +thwarted in his labours by the tyranny of the Bishop of Alexandria, +Demetrius, was obliged to relinquish his school and fly from Egypt. The +occupation of the fair scribe was, therefore, at an end: her intercourse +with the followers of the new faith ceased; and the growing enthusiasm of +her heart gave way to more worldly impressions. + +"Love, among the rest, had its share in alienating her thoughts from +religion. While still very young, she became the wife of a Greek +adventurer, who had come to Egypt as a purchaser of that rich tapestry, in +which the needles of Persia are rivalled by the looms of the Nile. Having +taken his young bride to Memphis, which was still the great mart of this +merchandise, he there, in the midst of his speculations, died,--leaving his +widow on the point of becoming a mother, while, as yet, but in her +nineteenth year. + +"For single and unprotected females, it has been, at all times, a +favourite resource, to seek admission into the service of some of those +great temples, which absorb so much of the wealth and power of Egypt. In +most of these institutions there exists an order of Priestesses, which, +though not hereditary, like that of the Priests, is provided for by ample +endowments, and confers that rank and station, with which, in a government +so theocratic, Religion is sure to invest even her humblest handmaids. +From the general policy of the Sacred College of Memphis, it may be +concluded, that an accomplished female, like Theora, found but little +difficulty in being chosen one of the Priestesses of Isis; and it was in +the service of the subterranean shrines that her ministry chiefly lay. + +"Here, a month or two after her admission, she gave birth to Alethe, who +first opened her eyes among the unholy pomps and specious miracles of this +mysterious region. Though Theora, as we have seen, had been diverted by +other feelings from her first enthusiasm for the Christian faith, she had +never wholly forgot the impression then made upon her. The sacred volume, +which the pious Catechumen had given her, was still treasured with care; +and, though she seldom opened its pages, there was an idea of sanctity +associated with it in her memory, and often would she sit to look upon it +with reverential pleasure, recalling the happiness she felt when it was +first made her own. + +"The leisure of her new retreat, and the lone melancholy of widowhood, led +her still more frequently to indulge in such thoughts, and to recur to +those consoling truths which she had heard in the school of Alexandria. +She now began to peruse eagerly the sacred book, drinking deep of the +fountain of which she before but tasted, and feeling--what thousands of +mourners, since her, have felt--that Christianity is the true religion of +the sorrowful. + +"This study of her secret hours became still more dear to her, from the +peril with which, at that period, it was attended, and the necessity she +was under of concealing from those around her the precious light that had +been kindled in her heart. Too timid to encounter the fierce persecution, +which awaited all who were suspected of a leaning to Christianity, she +continued to officiate in the pomps and ceremonies of the Temple;--though, +often, with such remorse of soul, that she would pause, in the midst of +the rites, and pray inwardly to God, that he would forgive this +profanation of his Spirit. + +"In the mean time her daughter, the young Alethe, grew up still lovelier +than herself, and added, every hour, to her happiness and her fears. When +arrived at a sufficient age, she was taught, like the other children of +the priestesses, to take a share in the service and ceremonies of the +shrines. The duty of some of these young servitors was to look after the +flowers for the altar;--of others, to take care that the sacred vases were +filled every day with fresh water from the Nile. The task of some was to +preserve, in perfect polish, those silver images of the moon which the +priests carried in processions; while others were, as we have seen, +employed in feeding the consecrated animals, and in keeping their plumes +and scales bright, for the admiring eyes of their worshippers. + +"The office allotted to Alethe--the most honourable of these minor +ministries--was to wait upon the sacred birds of the Moon, to feed them +with those eggs from the Nile which they loved, and provide for their use +that purest water, which alone these delicate birds will touch. This +employment was the delight of her childish hours; and that ibis, which +Alciphron (the Epicurean) saw her dance round in the Temple, was her +favourite, of all the sacred flock, and had been daily fondled and fed by +her from infancy. + +"Music, as being one of the chief spells of this enchanted region, was an +accomplishment required of all its ministrants; and the harp, the lyre, +and the sacred flute, sounded nowhere so sweetly as that through these +subterranean gardens. The chief object, indeed, in the education of the +youth of the Temple, was to fit them, by every grace of art and nature, to +give effect to the illusion of those shows and phantasms, in which the +whole charm and secret of Initiation lay. + +"Among the means employed to support the old system of superstition, +against the infidelity and, still more, the new Faith that menaced it, was +an increased display of splendour and marvels in those Mysteries for which +Egypt has so long been celebrated. Of these ceremonies so many imitations +had, under various names, been multiplied through Europe, that the parent +superstition ran a risk of being eclipsed by its progeny; and, in order +still to retain their rank of the first Priesthood in the world, those of +Egypt found it necessary to continue still the best impostors. + +"Accordingly, every contrivance that art could devise, or labour +execute--every resource that the wonderful knowledge of the Priests, in +pyrotechny, mechanics, and dioptrics, could command, was brought into +action to heighten the effect of their Mysteries, and give an air of +enchantment to every thing connected with them. + +"The final scene of beatification--the Elysium, into which the Initiate was +received,--formed, of course, the leading attraction of these ceremonies; +and to render it captivating alike to the senses of the man of pleasure, +and the imagination of the spiritualist, was the object to which the whole +skill and attention of the Sacred College were devoted. By the influence +of the Priests of Memphis over those of the other Temples they had +succeeded in extending their subterranean frontier, both to the north and +south, so as to include, within their ever-lighted Paradise, some of the +gardens excavated for the use of the other Twelve Shrines. + +"The beauty of the young Alethe, the touching sweetness of her voice, and +the sensibility that breathed throughout her every look and movement, +rendered her a powerful auxiliary in such appeals to the imagination. She +was, accordingly, from her childhood, selected from among her fair +companions, as the most worthy representative of spiritual loveliness, in +those pictures of Elysium--those scenes of another world--by which not only +the fancy, but the reason, of the excited Aspirants was dazzled. + +"To the innocent child herself these shows were pastime. But to Theora, +who knew too well the imposition to which they were subservient, this +profanation of all that she loved was a perpetual source of horror and +remorse. Often would she--when Alethe stood smiling before her, arrayed, +perhaps, as a spirit of the Elysian world,--turn away, with a shudder, from +the happy child, almost fancying that she already saw the shadows of sin +descending over that innocent brow, as she gazed on it. + +"As the intellect of the young maid became more active and inquiring, the +apprehensions and difficulties of the mother increased. Afraid to +communicate her own precious secret, lest she should involve her child in +the dangers that encompassed it, she yet felt it to be no less a cruelty +than a crime to leave her wholly immersed in the darkness of Paganism. In +this dilemma, the only resource that remained to her was to select, and +disengage from the dross that surrounded them, those pure particles of +truth which lie at the bottom of all religions;--those feelings, rather +than doctrines, which God has never left his creatures without, and which, +in all ages, have furnished, to those who sought it, some clue to his +glory. + +"The unity and perfect goodness of the Creator; the fall of the human soul +into corruption; its struggles with the darkness of this world, and its +final redemption and re-ascent to the source of all spirit;--these natural +solutions of the problem of our existence, these elementary grounds of all +religion and virtue, which Theora had heard illustrated by her Christian +teacher, lay also, she knew, veiled under the theology of Egypt; and to +impress them, in all their abstract purity, upon the mind of her +susceptible pupil, was, in default of more heavenly lights, her sole +ambition and care. + +"It was their habit, after devoting their mornings to the service of the +Temple, to pass their evenings and nights in one of those small mansions +above ground, allotted to some of the most favoured Priestesses, in the +precincts of the Sacred College. Here, out of the reach of those gross +superstitions, which pursued them, at every step, below, she endeavoured +to inform, as far as she might, the mind of her beloved girl; and found it +lean as naturally and instinctively to truth, as plants that have been +long shut up in darkness will, when light is let in, incline themselves to +its ray. + +"Frequently, as they sat together on the terrace at night, contemplating +that assembly of glorious stars, whose beauty first misled mankind into +idolatry, she would explain to the young listener by what gradations it +was that the worship, thus transferred from the Creator to the creature, +sunk lower and lower in the scale of being, till man, at length, presumed +to deify man, and by the most monstrous of inversions, heaven was made the +mirror of earth, reflecting all its most earthly features. + +"Even in the Temple itself, the anxious mother would endeavour to +interpose her purer lessons among the idolatrous ceremonies in which they +were engaged. When the favourite ibis of Alethe took its station on the +shrine, and the young maiden was seen approaching, with all the gravity of +worship, the very bird which she had played with but an hour before,--when +the acacia-bough, which she herself had plucked, seemed to acquire a +sudden sacredness in her eyes, as soon as the priest had breathed on +it,--on all such occasions Theora, though with fear and trembling, would +venture to suggest to the youthful worshipper the distinction that should +be drawn between the sensible object of adoration, and that spiritual, +unseen Deity, of which it was but the remembrancer or type. + +"With sorrow, however, she soon discovered that, in thus but partially +enlightening a mind too ardent to be satisfied with such glimmerings, she +only bewildered the heart that she meant to guide, and cut down the hope +round which its faith twined, without substituting any other support in +its place. As the beauty, too, of Alethe began to attract all eyes, new +fears crowded upon the mother's heart;--fears, in which she was but too +much justified by the characters of some of those around her. + +"In this sacred abode, as may easily be conceived, morality did not always +go hand in hand with religion. The hypocritical and ambitious Orcus, who +was, at this period, High Priest of Memphis, was a man, in every respect, +qualified to preside over a system of such splendid fraud. He had reached +that effective time of life, when enough of the warmth of youth remains to +give animation to the counsels of age. But, in his instance, youth had +only the baser passions to bequeath, while age but contributed a more +refined maturity of mischief. The advantages of a faith appealing so +wholly to the senses, were well understood by him; nor was he ignorant +that the only way of making religion subservient to his own interests was +by shaping it adroitly to the passions of others. + +"The state of misery and remorse in which the mind of Theora was kept by +the scenes, however veiled by hypocrisy, which she witnessed around her, +became at length intolerable. No perils that the cause of truth could +bring with it would be half so dreadful as this endurance of sinfulness +and deceit. Her child was, as yet, pure and innocent;--but, without that +sentinel of the soul, Religion, how long might she continue so? + +"This thought at once decided her;--all other fears vanished before it. She +resolved instantly to lay open to Alethe the whole secret of her soul; to +make her, who was her only hope on earth, the sharer of all her hopes in +heaven, and then fly with her, as soon as possible, from this unhallowed +place, to the desert--to the mountains--to any place, however desolate, +where God and the consciousness of innocence might be with them. + +"The promptitude with which her young pupil caught from her the divine +truths, was even beyond what she expected. It was like the lighting of one +torch at another,--so prepared was Alethe's mind for the illumination. +Amply was the mother now repaid for all her misery, by this perfect +communion of love and faith, and by the delight with which she saw her +beloved child--like the young antelope, when first led by her dam to the +well,--drink thirstily by her side, at the source of all life and truth. + +"But such happiness was not long to last. The anxieties that Theora had +suffered preyed upon her health. She felt her strength daily decline; and +the thoughts of leaving, alone and unguarded in the world, that treasure +which she had just devoted to heaven, gave her a feeling of despair which +but hastened the ebb of life. Had she put in practice her resolution of +flying from this place, her child might have been now beyond the reach of +all she dreaded, and in the solitude of the wilderness would have found at +least safety from wrong. But the very happiness she had felt in her new +task diverted her from this project;--and it was now too late, for she was +already dying. + +"She concealed, however, her state from the tender and sanguine girl, who, +though she saw the traces of disease on her mother's cheek, little knew +that they were the hastening footsteps of death, nor thought even of the +possibility of losing what was so dear to her. Too soon, however, the +moment of separation arrived; and while the anguish and dismay of Alethe +were in proportion to the security in which she had indulged, Theora, too, +felt, with bitter regret, that she had sacrificed to her fond +consideration much precious time, and that there now remained but a few +brief and painful moments, for the communication of all those wishes and +instructions, on which the future destiny of the young orphan depended. + +"She had, indeed, time for little more than to place the sacred volume +solemnly in her hands, to implore that she would, at all risks, fly from +this unholy place, and, pointing in the direction of the mountains of the +Said, to name, with her last breath, the holy man, to whom, under heaven, +she trusted for the protection and salvation of her child. + +"The first violence of feeling to which Alethe gave way was succeeded by a +fixed and tearless grief, which rendered her insensible, for some time, to +the dangers of her situation. Her only comfort was in visiting that +monumental chapel, where the beautiful remains of Theora lay. There, night +after night, in contemplation of those placid features, and in prayers for +the peace of the departed spirit, did she pass her lonely, and--sad as they +were--happiest hours. Though the mystic emblems that decorated that chapel +were but ill suited to the slumber of a Christian saint, there was one +among them, the Cross, which, by a remarkable coincidence, is an emblem +common alike to the Gentile and the Christian,--being, to the former, a +shadowy type of that immortality, of which, to the latter, it is a +substantial and assuring pledge. + +"Nightly, upon this cross, which she had often seen her lost mother kiss, +did she breathe forth a solemn and heartfelt vow, never to abandon the +faith which that departed spirit had bequeathed to her. To such +enthusiasm, indeed, did her heart at such moments rise, that, but for the +last injunctions from those pallid lips, she would, at once, have avowed +her perilous secret, and spoken out the words, 'I am a Christian,' among +those benighted shrines! + +"But the will of her, to whom she owed more than life, was to be obeyed. +To escape from this haunt of superstition must now, she felt, be her first +object; and, in devising the means of effecting it, her mind, day and +night, was employed. It was with a loathing not to be concealed she now +found herself compelled to resume her idolatrous services at the shrine. +To some of the offices of Theora she succeeded, as is the custom, by +inheritance; and in the performance of these--sanctified as they were in +her eyes by the pure spirit she had seen engaged in them--there was a sort +of melancholy pleasure in which her sorrow found relief. But the part she +was again forced to take, in the scenic shows of the Mysteries, brought +with it a sense of wrong and degradation which she could no longer bear. + +"She had already formed, in her own mind, a plan of escape, in which her +knowledge of all the windings of this subterranean realm gave her +confidence, when the reception of Alciphron, as an Initiate, took place. + +"From the first moment of the landing of that philosopher at Alexandria, +he had become an object of suspicion and watchfulness to the inquisitorial +Orcus, whom philosophy, in any shape, naturally alarmed, but to whom the +sect over which the young Athenian presided was particularly obnoxious. +The accomplishments of Alciphron, his popularity, wherever he went, and +the freedom with which he indulged his wit at the expense of religion, was +all faithfully reported to the High Priest by his spies, and stirred up +within him no kindly feelings towards the stranger. In dealing with an +infidel, such a personage as Orcus could know no alternative but that of +either converting or destroying him; and though his spite, as a man, would +have been more gratified by the latter proceeding, his pride, as a priest, +led him to prefer the triumph of the former. + +"The first descent of the Epicurean into the pyramid was speedily known, +and the alarm immediately given to the Priests below. As soon as it was +discovered that the young philosopher of Athens was the intruder, and that +he still continued to linger round the pyramid, looking often and +wistfully towards the portal, it was concluded that his curiosity would +impel him to try a second descent; and Orcus, blessing the good chance +which had thus brought the wild bird to his net, determined not to allow +an opportunity so precious to be wasted. + +"Instantly, the whole of that wonderful machinery, by which the phantasms +and illusions of Initiation are produced, were put in active preparation +throughout that subterranean realm; and the increased stir and +watchfulness excited among its inmates, by this more than ordinary display +of all the resources of priestcraft, rendered the accomplishment of +Alethe's design, at such a moment, peculiarly difficult. Wholly ignorant +of the share which had fallen to herself in attracting the young +philosopher down to this region, she but heard of him vaguely, as the +Chief of a great Grecian sect, who had been led, by either curiosity or +accident, to expose himself to the first trials of Initiation, and whom +the priests, she saw, were endeavouring to ensnare in their toils, by +every art and skill with which their science of darkness had gifted them. + +"To her mind, the image of a philosopher, such as Alciphron had been +represented to her, came associated with ideas of age and reverence; and, +more than once, the possibility of his being made instrumental to her +deliverance flashed a hope across her heart in which she could not help +indulging. Often had she been told by Theora of the many Gentile sages, +who had laid their wisdom down humbly at the foot of the Cross; and though +this Initiate, she feared, could hardly be among the number, yet the +rumours which she had gathered from the servants of the Temple, of his +undisguised contempt for the errors of heathenism, led her to hope she +might find tolerance, if not sympathy, in her appeal to him. + +"Nor was it solely with a view to her own chance of deliverance that she +thus connected him in her thoughts with the plan which she meditated. The +look of proud and self-gratulating malice, with which the High Priest had +mentioned this 'infidel,' as he styled him, when instructing her in the +scene she was to enact before the philosopher in the valley, but too +plainly informed her of the destiny that hung over him. She knew how many +were the hapless candidates for Initiation, who had been doomed to a +durance worse than that of the grave, for but a word, a whisper breathed +against the sacred absurdities which they witnessed; and it was evident to +her that the venerable Greek (for such her fancy represented Alciphron) +was no less interested in escaping from this region than herself. + +"Her own resolution was, at all events, fixed. That visionary scene, in +which she had appeared before Alciphron,--little knowing how ardent were +the heart and imagination, over which her beauty, at that moment, shed its +whole influence,--was, she solemnly resolved, the very last unholy service, +that superstition or imposture should ever command of her. + +"On the following night the Aspirant was to watch in the Great Temple of +Isis. Such an opportunity of approaching and addressing him might never +come again. Should he, from compassion for her situation, or a sense of +the danger of his own, consent to lend his aid to her flight, most gladly +would she accept it,--assured that no danger or treachery she might risk +could be half so dreadful as those she left behind. Should he, on the +contrary, refuse, her determination was equally fixed--to trust to that +God, who watches over the innocent, and go forth alone. + +"To reach the island in Lake Moeris was her first object, and there +occurred luckily, at this time, a mode of accomplishing it, by which the +difficulty and dangers of the attempt would be, in a great degree, +diminished. The day of the annual visitation of the High Priest to the +Place of Weeping--as that island in the centre of the lake is called--was +now fast approaching; and Alethe well knew that the self-moving car, by +which the High Priest and one of the Hierophants are conveyed to the +chambers under the lake, stood waiting in readiness. By availing herself +of this expedient, she would gain the double advantage both of +facilitating her own flight and retarding the speed of her pursuers. + +"Having paid a last visit to the tomb of her beloved mother, and wept +there, long and passionately, till her heart almost failed in the +struggle,--having paused, too, to give a kiss to her favourite ibis, which, +though too much a Christian to worship, she was still child enough to +love,--with a trembling step she went early to the Sanctuary, and hid +herself in one of the recesses of the Shrine. Her intention was to steal +out from thence to Alciphron, while it was yet dark, and before the +illumination of the great Statue behind the Veils had begun. But her fears +delayed her till it was almost too late;--already was the image lighted up, +and still she remained trembling in her hiding place. + +"In a few minutes more the mighty Veils would have been withdrawn, and the +glories of that scene of enchantment laid open,--when, at length, summoning +up courage, and taking advantage of a momentary absence of those employed +in the preparations of this splendid mockery, she stole from under the +Veil and found her way, through the gloom, to the Epicurean. There was +then no time for explanation;--she had but to trust to the simple words, +'Follow, and be silent;' and the implicit readiness with which she found +them obeyed filled her with no less surprise than the philosopher himself +felt in hearing them. + +"In a second or two they were on their way through the subterranean +windings, leaving the ministers of Isis to waste their splendours on +vacancy, through a long series of miracles and visions which they now +exhibited,--unconscious that he, whom they took such pains to dazzle, was +already, under the guidance of the young Christian, removed beyond the +reach of their spells." + + + + + + CHAP. XIV. + + +Such was the story, of which this innocent girl gave me, in her own +touching language, the outline. + +The sun was just rising as she finished her narrative. Fearful of +encountering the expression of those feelings with which, she could not +but observe, I was affected by her recital, scarcely had she concluded the +last sentence, when, rising abruptly from her seat, she hurried into the +pavilion, leaving me with the words already crowding for utterance to my +lips. + +Oppressed by the various emotions, thus sent back upon my heart, I lay +down on the deck in a state of agitation, that defied even the most +distant approaches of sleep. While every word she had uttered, every +feeling she expressed, but ministered new fuel to that flame within me, to +describe which, passion is too weak a word, there was also much of her +recital that disheartened, that alarmed me. To find a Christian thus under +the garb of a Memphian Priestess, was a discovery that, had my heart been +less deeply interested, would but have more powerfully stimulated my +imagination and pride. But, when I recollected the austerity of the faith +she had embraced,--the tender and sacred tie, associated with it in her +memory, and the devotion of woman's heart to objects thus consecrated,--her +very perfections but widened the distance between us, and all that most +kindled my passion at the same time chilled my hopes. + +Were we left to each other, as on this silent river, in this undisturbed +communion of thoughts and feelings, I knew too well, I thought, both her +sex's nature and my own, to feel a doubt that love would ultimately +triumph. But the severity of the guardianship to which I must resign +her,--some monk of the desert, some stern Solitary,--the influence such a +monitor would gain over her mind, and the horror with which, ere long, she +would be taught to regard the reprobate infidel on whom she now smiled,--in +all this prospect I saw nothing but despair. After a few short hours, my +happiness would be at an end, and such a dark chasm open between our +fates, as must sever them, far as earth is from heaven, asunder. + +It was true, she was now wholly in my power. I feared no witnesses but +those of earth, and the solitude of the desert was at hand. But though I +acknowledged not a heaven, I worshipped her who was, to me, its type and +substitute. If, at any moment, a single thought of wrong or deceit, +towards a creature so sacred, arose in my mind, one look from her innocent +eyes averted the sacrilege. Even passion itself felt a holy fear in her +presence,--like the flame trembling in the breeze of the sanctuary,--and +Love, pure Love, stood in place of Religion. + +As long as I knew not her story, I might indulge, at least, in dreams of +the future. But, now--what hope, what prospect remained? My sole chance of +happiness lay in the feeble hope of beguiling away her thoughts from the +plan which she meditated; of weaning her, by persuasion, from that austere +faith, which I had before hated and now feared, and of--attaching her, +perhaps, alone and unlinked as she was in the world, to my own fortunes +for ever! + +In the agitation of these thoughts, I had started from my resting-place, +and continued to pace up and down, under a burning sun, till, exhausted +both by thought and feeling, I sunk down, amid its blaze, into a sleep, +which, to my fevered brain, seemed a sleep of fire. + +On awaking, I found the veil of Alethe laid carefully over my brow, while +she, herself, sat near me, under the shadow of the sail, looking anxiously +at that leaf, which her mother had given her, and apparently employed in +comparing its outlines with the course of the river and the forms of the +rocky hills by which we passed. She looked pale and troubled, and rose +eagerly to meet me, as if she had long and impatiently waited for my +waking. + +Her heart, it was plain, had been disturbed from its security, and was +beginning to take alarm at its own feelings. But, though vaguely conscious +of the peril to which she was exposed, her reliance, as is usually the +case, increased with her danger, and on me, far more than on herself, did +she depend for saving her from it. To reach, as soon as possible, her +asylum in the desert, was now the urgent object of her entreaties and +wishes; and the self-reproach she expressed at having permitted her +thoughts to be diverted, for a single moment, from this sacred purpose, +not only revealed the truth, that she had forgotten it, but betrayed even +a glimmering consciousness of the cause. + +Her sleep, she said, had been broken by ill-omened dreams. Every moment +the shade of her mother had stood before her, rebuking her, with mournful +looks, for her delay, and pointing, as she had done in death, to the +eastern hills. Bursting into tears at this accusing recollection, she +hastily placed the leaf, which she had been examining, in my hands, and +implored that I would ascertain, without a moment's delay, what portion of +our voyage was still unperformed, and in what space of time we might hope +to accomplish it. + +I had, still less than herself, taken note of either place or distance; +and, had we been left to glide on in this dream of happiness, should never +have thought of pausing to ask where it would end. But such confidence, I +felt, was too sacred to be deceived. Reluctant as I was, naturally, to +enter on an inquiry, which might so soon dissipate even my last hope, her +wish was sufficient to supersede even the selfishness of love, and on the +instant I proceeded to obey her will. + +There is, on the eastern bank of the Nile, to the north of Antinoee, a high +and steep rock, impending over the flood, which for ages, from a prodigy +connected with it, has borne the name of the Mountain of the Birds. +Yearly, it is said, at a certain season and hour, large flocks of birds +assemble in the ravine, of which this rocky mountain forms one of the +sides, and are there observed to go through the mysterious ceremony of +inserting each its beak into a particular cleft of the rock, till the +cleft closes upon one of their number, when the rest, taking wing, leave +the selected victim to die. + +Through the ravine where this charm--for such the multitude consider it--is +worked, there ran, in ancient times, a canal from the Nile, to some great +and forgotten city that now lies buried in the desert. To a short distance +from the river this canal still exists, but, soon after having passed +through the defile, its scanty waters disappear altogether, and are lost +under the sands. + +It was in the neighbourhood of this place, as I could collect from the +delineations on the leaf,--where a flight of birds represented the name of +the mountain,--that the dwelling of the Solitary, to whom Alethe was +bequeathed, lay. Imperfect as was my knowledge of the geography of Egypt, +it at once struck me, that we had long since left this mountain behind; +and, on inquiring of our boatmen, I found my conjecture confirmed. We had, +indeed, passed it, as appeared, on the preceding night; and, as the wind +had, ever since, blown strongly from the north, and the sun was already +declining towards the horizon, we must now be, at least, an ordinary day's +sail to the southward of the spot. + +At this discovery, I own, my heart felt a joy which I could with +difficulty conceal. It seemed to me as if fortune was conspiring with +love, and, by thus delaying the moment of our separation, afforded me at +least a chance of happiness. Her look, too, and manner, when informed of +our mistake, rather encouraged than chilled this secret hope. In the first +moment of astonishment, her eyes opened upon me with a suddenness of +splendour, under which I felt my own wink, as if lightning had crossed +them. But she again, as suddenly, let their lids fall, and, after a quiver +of her lip, which showed the conflict of feeling within, crossed her arms +upon her bosom, and looked silently down upon the deck;--her whole +countenance sinking into an expression, sad, but resigned, as if she felt, +with me, that fate was on the side of wrong, and saw Love already stealing +between her soul and heaven. + +I was not slow in availing myself of what I fancied to be the irresolution +of her mind. But, fearful of exciting alarm by any appeal to tenderer +feelings, I but addressed myself to her imagination, and to that love of +novelty, which is for ever fresh in the youthful breast. We were now +approaching that region of wonders, Thebes. "In a day or two," said I, "we +shall see, towering above the waters, the colossal Avenue of Sphinxes, and +the bright Obelisks of the Sun. We shall visit the plain of Memnon, and +those mighty statues, that fling their shadows at sunrise over the Libyan +hills. We shall hear the image of the Son of the Morning answering to the +first touch of light. From thence, in a few hours, a breeze like this will +transport us to those sunny islands near the cataracts; there, to wander, +among the sacred palm-groves of Philae, or sit, at noon-tide hour, in those +cool alcoves, which the waterfall of Syene shadows under its arch. Oh, +who, with such scenes of loveliness within reach, would turn coldly away +to the bleak desert, and leave this fair world, with all its enchantments, +shining behind them, unseen and unenjoyed? At least,"--I added, tenderly +taking her by the hand,--"at least, let a few more days be stolen from the +dreary fate to which thou hast devoted thyself, and then----" + +She had heard but the last few words;--the rest had been lost upon her. +Startled by the tone of tenderness, into which, in spite of all my +resolves, my voice had softened, she looked for an instant in my face, +with passionate earnestness;--then, dropping upon her knees with her +clasped hands upraised, exclaimed--"Tempt me not, in the name of God I +implore thee, tempt me not to swerve from my sacred duty. Oh, take me +instantly to that desert mountain, and I will bless thee for ever." + +This appeal, I felt, _could not_ be resisted,--though my heart were to +break for it. Having silently expressed my assent to her prayer, by a +pressure of her hand as I raised her from the deck, I hastened, as we were +still in full career for the south, to give orders that our sail should be +instantly lowered, and not a moment lost in retracing our course. + +In proceeding, however, to give these directions, it, for the first time, +occurred to me, that, as I had hired this yacht in the neighbourhood of +Memphis, where it was probable that the flight of the young fugitive would +be most vigilantly tracked, we should act imprudently in betraying to the +boatmen the place of her retreat;--and the present seemed the most +favourable opportunity of evading such a danger. Desiring, therefore, that +we should be landed at a small village on the shore, under pretence of +paying a visit to some shrine in the neighbourhood, I there dismissed our +barge, and was relieved from fear of further observation, by seeing it +again set sail, and resume its course fleetly up the current. + +From the boats of all descriptions that lay idle beside the bank, I now +selected one, which, in every respect, suited my purpose,--being, in its +shape and accommodations, a miniature of our former vessel, but so small +and light as to be manageable by myself alone, and, with the advantage of +the current, requiring little more than a hand to steer it. This boat I +succeeded, without much difficulty, in purchasing, and, after a short +delay, we were again afloat down the current;--the sun just then sinking, +in conscious glory, over his own golden shrines in the Libyan waste. + +The evening was more calm and lovely than any that yet had smiled upon our +voyage; and, as we left the bank, there came soothingly over our ears a +strain of sweet, rustic melody from the shore. It was the voice of a young +Nubian girl, whom we saw kneeling on the bank before an acacia, and +singing, while her companions stood round, the wild song of invocation, +which, in her country, they address to that enchanted tree:-- + + "Oh! Abyssinian tree, + We pray, we pray, to thee; + By the glow of thy golden fruit, + And the violet hue of thy flower, + And the greeting mute + Of thy bough's salute + To the stranger who seeks thy bower.(6) + + II. + + "Oh! Abyssinian tree, + How the traveller blesses thee, + When the night no moon allows, + And the sun-set hour is near, + And thou bend'st thy boughs + To kiss his brows, + Saying, 'Come rest thee here.' + Oh! Abyssinian tree, + Thus bow thy head to me!" + +In the burden of this song the companions of the young Nubian joined; and +we heard the words, "Oh! Abyssinian tree," dying away on the breeze, long +after the whole group had been lost to our eyes. + +Whether, in this new arrangement which I had made for our voyage, any +motive, besides those which I professed, had a share, I can scarcely, even +myself, so bewildered were my feelings, determine. But no sooner had the +current borne us away from all human dwellings, and we were alone on the +waters, with not a soul near, than I felt how closely such solitude draws +hearts together, and how much more we seemed to belong to each other, than +when there were eyes around. + +The same feeling, but without the same sense of its danger, was manifest +in every look and word of Alethe. The consciousness of the one great +effort she had made appeared to have satisfied her heart on the score of +duty,--while the devotedness with which she saw I attended to her every +wish, was felt with all that gratitude which, in woman, is the day-spring +of love. She was, therefore, happy, innocently happy; and the confiding, +and even affectionate, unreserve of her manner, while it rendered my trust +more sacred, made it also far more difficult. + +It was only, however, on subjects unconnected with our situation or fate, +that she yielded to such interchange of thought, or that her voice +ventured to answer mine. The moment I alluded to the destiny that awaited +us, all her cheerfulness fled, and she became saddened and silent. When I +described to her the beauty of my own native land--its founts of +inspiration and fields of glory--her eyes sparkled with sympathy, and +sometimes even softened into fondness. But when I ventured to whisper, +that, in that glorious country, a life full of love and liberty awaited +her; when I proceeded to contrast the adoration and bliss she might +command, with the gloomy austerities of the life to which she was +hastening,--it was like the coming of a sudden cloud over a summer sky. Her +head sunk, as she listened;--I waited in vain for an answer; and when, half +playfully reproaching her for this silence, I stooped to take her hand, I +could feel the warm tears fast falling over it. + +But even this--little hope as it held out--was happiness. Though it +foreboded that I should lose her, it also whispered that I was loved. Like +that lake, in the Land of Roses(7), whose waters are half sweet, half +bitter, I felt my fate to be a compound of bliss and pain,--but the very +pain well worth all ordinary bliss. + +And thus did the hours of that night pass along; while every moment +shortened our happy dream, and the current seemed to flow with a swifter +pace than any that ever yet hurried to the sea. Not a feature of the whole +scene but is, at this moment, freshly in my memory;--the broken star-light +on the water;--the rippling sound of the boat, as, without oar or sail, it +went, like a thing of enchantment, down the stream;--the scented fire, +burning beside us on the deck, and, oh, that face, on which its light +fell, still revealing, as it turned, some new charm, some blush or look, +more beautiful than the last. + +Often, while I sat gazing, forgetful of all else in this world, our boat, +left wholly to itself, would drive from its course, and, bearing us to the +bank, get entangled in the water-flowers, or be caught in some eddy, ere I +perceived where we were. Once, too, when the rustling of my oar among the +flowers had startled away from the bank some wild antelopes, that had +stolen, at that still hour, to drink of the Nile, what an emblem I thought +it of the young heart beside me,--tasting, for the first time, of hope and +love, and so soon, alas, to be scared from their sweetness for ever! + + + + + + CHAP. XV. + + +The night was now far advanced;--the bend of our course towards the left, +and the closing in of the eastern hills upon the river, gave warning of +our approach to the hermit's dwelling. Every minute now seemed like the +last of existence; and I felt a sinking of despair at my heart, which +would have been intolerable, had not a resolution that suddenly, and as if +by inspiration, occurred to me, presented a glimpse of hope which, in some +degree, calmed my feelings. + +Much as I had, all my life, despised hypocrisy,--the very sect I had +embraced being chiefly recommended to me by the war which they waged on +the cant of all others,--it was, nevertheless, in hypocrisy that I now +scrupled not to take refuge from, what I dreaded more than shame or death, +my separation from Alethe. In my despair, I adopted the humiliating +plan--deeply humiliating as I felt it to be, even amid the joy with which I +welcomed it--of offering myself to this hermit, as a convert to his faith, +and thus becoming the fellow-disciple of Alethe under his care! + +From the moment I resolved upon this plan, my spirit felt lightened. +Though having fully before my eyes the labyrinth of imposture into which +it would lead me, I thought of nothing but the chance of our being still +together;--in this hope, all pride, all philosophy was forgotten, and every +thing seemed tolerable, but the prospect of losing her. + +Thus resolved, it was with somewhat less reluctant feelings, that I now +undertook, at the anxious desire of Alethe, to ascertain the site of that +well-known mountain, in the neighbourhood of which the dwelling of the +anchoret lay. We had already passed one or two stupendous rocks, which +stood, detached, like fortresses, over the river's brink, and which, in +some degree, corresponded with the description on the leaf. So little was +there of life now stirring along the shores, that I had begun almost to +despair of any assistance from inquiry, when, on looking to the western +bank, I saw a boatman among the sedges, towing his small boat, with some +difficulty, up the current. Hailing him, as we passed, I asked, "Where +stands the Mountain of the Birds?"--and he had hardly time to answer, +pointing above our heads, "There," when we perceived that we were just +then entering into the shadow, which this mighty rock flings across the +whole of the flood. + +In a few moments we had reached the mouth of the ravine, of which the +Mountain of the Birds forms one of the sides, and through which the scanty +canal from the Nile flows. At the sight of this chasm, in some of whose +gloomy recesses--if we had rightly interpreted the leaf--the dwelling of the +Solitary lay, our voices, at once, sunk into a low whisper, while Alethe +looked round upon me with a superstitious fearfulness, as if doubtful +whether I had not already disappeared from her side. A quick movement, +however, of her hand towards the ravine, told too plainly that her purpose +was still unchanged. With my oars, therefore, checking the career of our +boat, I succeeded, after no small exertion, in turning it out of the +current of the river, and steering into this bleak and stagnant canal. + +Our transition from life and bloom to the very depth of desolation, was +immediate. While the water and one side of the ravine lay buried in +shadow, the white, skeleton-like crags of the other stood aloft in the +pale glare of moonlight. The sluggish stream through which we moved, +yielded sullenly to the oar, and the shriek of a few water-birds, which we +had roused from their fastnesses, was succeeded by a silence, so dead and +awful, that our lips seemed afraid to disturb it by a breath; and half- +whispered exclamations, "How dreary!"--"How dismal!"--were almost the only +words exchanged between us. + +We had proceeded for some time through this gloomy defile, when, at a +distance before us, among the rocks on which the moonlight fell, we +perceived, upon a ledge but little elevated above the canal, a small hut +or cave, which, from a tree or two planted around it, had some appearance +of being the abode of a human being. "This, then," thought I, "is the home +to which Alethe is destined!"--A chill of despair came again over my heart, +and the oars, as I gazed, lay motionless in my hands. + +I found Alethe, too, whose eyes had caught the same object, drawing closer +to my side than she had yet ventured. Laying her hand agitatedly upon +mine, "We must here," she said, "part for ever." I turned to her, as she +spoke: there was a tenderness, a despondency in her countenance, that at +once saddened and inflamed my soul. "Part!" I exclaimed +passionately,--"No!--the same God shall receive us both. Thy faith, Alethe, +shall, from this hour, be mine, and I will live and die in this desert +with thee!" + +Her surprise, her delight, at these words, was like a momentary delirium. +The wild, anxious smile, with which she looked into my face, as if to +ascertain whether she had, indeed, heard my words aright, bespoke a +happiness too much for reason to bear. At length the fulness of her heart +found relief in tears; and, murmuring forth an incoherent blessing on my +name, she let her head fall languidly and powerlessly on my arm. The light +from our boat-fire shone upon her face. I saw her eyes, which she had +closed for a moment, again opening upon me with the same tenderness, +and--merciful Providence, how I remember that moment!--was on the point of +bending down my lips towards hers, when, suddenly, in the air above our +heads, as if it came from heaven, there burst forth a strain from a choir +of voices, that with its solemn sweetness filled the whole valley. + +Breaking away from my caress at these supernatural sounds, the maiden +threw herself trembling upon her knees, and, not daring to look up, +exclaimed wildly, "My mother, oh my mother!" + +It was the Christian's morning hymn that we heard;--the same, as I learned +afterwards, that, on their high terrace at Memphis, Alethe had been often +taught by her mother to sing to the rising sun. + +Scarcely less startled than my companion, I looked up, and, at the very +summit of the rock above us, saw a light, appearing to come from a small +opening or window, through which also the sounds, that had appeared so +supernatural, issued. There could be no doubt, that we had now found--if +not the dwelling of the anchoret--at least, the haunt of some of the +Christian brotherhood of these rocks, by whose assistance we could not +fail to find the place of his retreat. + +The agitation, into which Alethe had been thrown by the first burst of +that psalmody, soon yielded to the softening recollections which it +brought back; and a calm came over her brow, such as it had never before +worn, since our meeting. She seemed to feel that she had now reached her +destined haven, and to hail, as the voice of heaven itself, those sounds +by which she was welcomed to it. + +In her tranquillity, however, I could not now sympathize. Impatient to +know all that awaited her and myself, I pushed our boat close to the base +of the rock,--directly under that lighted window on the summit, to find my +way up to which was my first object. Having hastily received my +instructions from Alethe, and made her repeat again the name of the +Christian whom we sought, I sprang upon the bank, and was not long in +discovering a sort of rude stair-way, cut out of the rock, but leading, I +found, by easy windings, up the steep. + +After ascending for some time, I arrived at a level space or ledge, which +the hand of labour had succeeded in converting into a garden, and which +was planted, here and there, with fig-trees and palms. Around it, too, I +could perceive, through the glimmering light, a number of small caves or +grottos, into some of which, human beings might find entrance, while +others appeared no larger than the tombs of the Sacred Birds round Lake +Moeris. + +I was still, I found, but half-way up the ascent to the summit, nor could +perceive any further means of continuing my course, as the mountain from +hence rose, almost perpendicularly, like a wall. At length, however, on +exploring around, I discovered behind the shade of a sycamore a large +ladder of wood, resting firmly against the rock, and affording an easy and +secure ascent up the steep. + +Having ascertained thus far, I again descended to the boat for +Alethe,--whom I found trembling already at her short solitude,--and having +led her up the steps to this quiet garden, left her safely lodged, amid +its holy silence, while I pursued my way upward to the light on the rock. + +At the top of the long ladder I found myself on another ledge or platform, +somewhat smaller than the first, but planted in the same manner, with +trees, and, as I could perceive by the mingled light of morning and the +moon, embellished with flowers. I was now near the summit;--there remained +but another short ascent, and, as a ladder against the rock, as before, +supplied the means of scaling it, I was in a few minutes at the opening +from which the light issued. + +I had ascended gently, as well from a feeling of awe at the whole scene, +as from an unwillingness to disturb too rudely the rites on which I +intruded. My approach was, therefore, unheard, and an opportunity, during +some moments, afforded me of observing the group within, before my +appearance at the window was discovered. + +In the middle of the apartment, which seemed once to have been a Pagan +oratory, there was an assembly of seven or eight persons, some male, some +female, kneeling in silence round a small altar;--while, among them, as if +presiding over their ceremony, stood an aged man, who, at the moment of my +arrival, was presenting to one of the female worshippers an alabaster cup, +which she applied, with much reverence, to her lips. On the countenance of +the venerable minister, as he pronounced a short prayer over her head, +there was an expression of profound feeling that showed how wholly he was +absorbed in that rite; and when she had drank of the cup,--which I saw had +engraven on its side the image of a head, with a glory round it,--the holy +man bent down and kissed her forehead. + +After this parting salutation, the whole group rose silently from their +knees; and it was then, for the first time, that, by a cry of terror from +one of the women, the appearance of a stranger at the window was +discovered. The whole assembly seemed startled and alarmed, except him, +that superior person, who, advancing from the altar, with an unmoved look, +raised the latch of the door, which was adjoining to the window, and +admitted me. + +There was, in this old man's features, a mixture of elevation and +sweetness, of simplicity and energy, which commanded at once attachment +and homage; and half hoping, half fearing to find in him the destined +guardian of Alethe, I looked anxiously in his face, as I entered, and +pronounced the name "Melanius!" "Melanius is my name, young stranger," he +answered; "and whether in friendship or in enmity thou comest, Melanius +blesses thee." Thus saying, he made a sign with his right hand above my +head, while, with involuntary respect, I bowed beneath the benediction. + +"Let this volume," I replied, "answer for the peacefulness of my +mission,"--at the same time, placing in his hands the copy of the +Scriptures, which had been his own gift to the mother of Alethe, and which +her child now brought as the credential of her claims on his protection. +At the sight of this sacred pledge, which he recognized instantly, the +solemnity that had marked his first reception of me softened into +tenderness. Thoughts of other times seemed to pass through his mind, and +as, with a sigh of recollection, he took the book from my hands, some +words on the outer leaf caught his eye. They were few,--but contained, +perhaps, the last wishes of the dying Theora, for as he eagerly read them +over, I saw the tears in his aged eyes. "The trust," he said, with a +faltering voice, "is sacred, and God will, I hope, enable his servant to +guard it faithfully." + +During this short dialogue, the other persons of the assembly had +departed--being, as I afterwards learned, brethren from the neighbouring +bank of the Nile, who came thus secretly before day-break, to join in +worshipping God. Fearful lest their descent down the rock might alarm +Alethe, I hurried briefly over the few words of explanation that remained, +and, leaving the venerable Christian to follow at his leisure, hastened +anxiously down to rejoin the maiden. + + + + + + CHAP. XVI. + + +Melanius was among the first of those Christians of Egypt, who, after the +recent example of the hermit, Paul, renouncing all the comforts of social +existence, betook themselves to a life of contemplation in the desert. +Less selfish, however, in his piety, than most of these ascetics, Melanius +forgot not the world, in leaving it. He knew that man was not born to live +wholly for himself; that his relation to human kind was that of the link +to the chain, and that even his solitude should be turned to the advantage +of others. In flying, therefore, from the din and disturbance of life, he +sought not to place himself beyond the reach of its sympathies, but +selected a retreat, where he could combine the advantage of solitude with +those opportunities of serving his fellow-men, which a neighbourhood to +their haunts would afford. + +That taste for the gloom of subterranean recesses, which the race of +Misraim inherit from their Ethiopian ancestors, had, by hollowing out all +Egypt into caverns and crypts, furnished these Christian anchorets with a +choice of retreats. Accordingly, some found a shelter in the grottos of +Elethya;--others, among the royal tombs of the Thebaid. In the middle of +the Seven Valleys, where the sun rarely shines, a few have fixed their dim +and melancholy retreat, while others have sought the neighbourhood of the +red Lakes of Nitria, and there,--like those Pagan solitaries of old, who +dwelt among the palm-trees near the Dead Sea,--muse amid the sterility of +nature, and seem to find, in her desolation, peace. + +It was on one of the mountains of the Said, to the east of the river, that +Melanius, as we have seen, chose his place of seclusion,--between the life +and fertility of the Nile on the one side, and the lone, dismal barrenness +of the desert on the other. Half-way down this mountain, where it impends +over the ravine, he found a series of caves or grottos dug out of the +rock, which had, in other times, ministered to some purpose of mystery, +but whose use had been long forgotten, and their recesses abandoned. + +To this place, after the banishment of his great master, Origen, Melanius, +with a few faithful followers, retired, and, by the example of his +innocent life, no less than by his fervid eloquence, succeeded in winning +crowds of converts to his faith. Placed, as he was, in the neighbourhood +of the rich city, Antinoe, though he mingled not with its multitude, his +name and his fame were among them, and, to all who sought instruction or +consolation, the cell of the hermit was ever open. + +Notwithstanding the rigid abstinence of his own habits, he was yet careful +to provide for the comforts of others. Contented with a rude bed of straw, +himself, for the stranger he had always a less homely resting-place. From +his grotto, the wayfaring and the indigent never went unrefreshed; and, +with the assistance of some of his brethren, he had formed gardens along +the ledges of the mountain, which gave an air of cheerfulness to his rocky +dwelling, and supplied him with the chief necessaries of such a climate, +fruit and shade. + +Though the acquaintance which he had formed with the mother of Alethe, +during the short period of her attendance at the school of Origen, was +soon interrupted, and never afterwards renewed, the interest which he had +then taken in her fate was too lively to be forgotten. He had seen the +zeal with which her young heart welcomed instruction; and the thought that +such a candidate for heaven should have relapsed into idolatry, came +often, with disquieting apprehension, over his mind. + +It was, therefore, with true pleasure, that, but a year or two before her +death, he had learned, by a private communication from Theora, transmitted +through a Christian embalmer of Memphis, that "not only her own heart had +taken root in the faith, but that a new bud had flowered with the same +divine hope, and that, ere long, he might see them both transplanted to +the desert." + +The coming, therefore, of Alethe was far less a surprise to him, than her +coming thus alone was a shock and a sorrow; and the silence of their +meeting showed how deeply each remembered that the tie which had brought +them together was no longer of this world,--that the hand, which should +have been joined with theirs, was in the tomb. I now saw that not even +religion was proof against the sadness of mortality. For, as the old man +put the ringlets aside from her forehead, and contemplated in that clear +countenance the reflection of what her mother had been, there was a +mournfulness mingled with his piety, as he said, "Heaven rest her soul!" +which showed how little even the certainty of a heaven for those we love +can subdue our regret for having lost them on earth. + +The full light of day had now risen upon the desert, and our host, +reminded, by the faint looks of Alethe, of the many anxious hours we had +passed without sleep, proposed that we should seek, in the chambers of the +rock, such rest as the dwelling of a hermit could offer. Pointing to one +of the largest openings, as he addressed me,--"Thou wilt find," he said, +"in that grotto a bed of fresh doum leaves, and may the consciousness of +having protected the orphan sweeten thy sleep!" + +I felt how dearly this praise had been earned, and already almost repented +of having deserved it. There was a sadness in the countenance of Alethe, +as I took leave of her, to which the forebodings of my own heart but too +faithfully responded; nor could I help fearing, as her hand parted +lingeringly from mine, that I had, by this sacrifice, placed her beyond my +reach for ever. + +Having lighted me a lamp, which, in these recesses, even at noon, is +necessary, the holy man led me to the entrance of the grotto;--and here, I +blush to say, my career of hypocrisy began. With the sole view of +obtaining another glance at Alethe, I turned humbly to solicit the +benediction of the Christian, and, having conveyed to her, as I bent +reverently down, as much of the deep feeling of my soul as looks could +express, with a desponding spirit I hurried into the cavern. + +A short passage led me to the chamber within,--the walls of which I found +covered, like those of the grottos of Lycopolis, with paintings, which, +though executed long ages ago, looked fresh as if their colours were but +laid on yesterday. They were, all of them, representations of rural and +domestic scenes; and, in the greater number, the melancholy imagination of +the artist had called Death in, as usual, to throw his shadow over the +picture. + +My attention was particularly drawn to one series of subjects, throughout +the whole of which the same group--a youth, a maiden, and two aged persons, +who appeared to be the father and mother of the girl,--were represented in +all the details of their daily life. The looks and attitudes of the young +people denoted that they were lovers; and, sometimes, they were seen +sitting under a canopy of flowers, with their eyes fixed on each other's +faces, as though they could never look away; sometimes, they appeared +walking along the banks of the Nile, + + ----on one of those sweet nights + When Isis, the pure star of lovers, lights + Her bridal crescent o'er the holy stream,-- + When wandering youths and maidens watch her beam, + And number o'er the nights she hath to run, + Ere she again embrace her bridegroom sun. + +Through all these scenes of endearment the two elder persons stood +by;--their calm countenances touched with a share of that bliss, in whose +perfect light the young lovers were basking. Thus far, all was +happiness,--but the sad lesson of mortality was to come. In the last +picture of the series, one of the figures was missing. It was that of the +young maiden, who had disappeared from among them. On the brink of a dark +lake stood the three who remained; while a boat, just departing for the +City of the Dead, told too plainly the end of their dream of happiness. + +This memorial of a sorrow of other times--of a sorrow, ancient as death +itself,--was not wanting to deepen the melancholy of my mind, or to add to +the weight of the many bodings that pressed on it. + +After a night, as it seemed, of anxious and unsleeping thought, I rose +from my bed and returned to the garden. I found the Christian +alone,--seated, under the shade of one of his trees, at a small table, with +a volume unrolled before him, while a beautiful antelope lay sleeping at +his feet. Struck forcibly by the contrast which he presented to those +haughty priests, whom I had seen surrounded by the pomp and gorgeousness +of temples, "Is this, then," thought I, "the faith, before which the world +trembles--its temple the desert, its treasury a book, and its High Priest +the solitary dweller of the rock!" + +He had prepared for me a simple, but hospitable, repast, of which fruits +from his own garden, the white bread of Olyra, and the juice of the honey- +cane were the most costly luxuries. His manner to me was even more cordial +than before; but the absence of Alethe, and, still more, the ominous +reserve, with which he not only, himself, refrained from all mention of +her name, but eluded the few inquiries, by which I sought to lead to it, +seemed to confirm all the fears I had felt in parting from her. + +She had acquainted him, it was evident, with the whole history of our +flight. My reputation as a philosopher--my desire to become a Christian--all +was already known to the zealous Anchoret, and the subject of my +conversion was the very first on which he entered. O pride of philosophy, +how wert thou then humbled, and with what shame did I stand, casting down +my eyes, before that venerable man, as, with ingenuous trust in the +sincerity of my intention, he welcomed me to a participation of his holy +hope, and imprinted the Kiss of Charity on my infidel brow! + +Embarrassed as I felt by the consciousness of hypocrisy, I was even still +more perplexed by my total ignorance of the real tenets of the faith to +which I professed myself a convert. Abashed and confused, and with a heart +sick at its own deceit, I heard the animated and eloquent gratulations of +the Christian, as though they were words in a dream, without link or +meaning; nor could disguise but by the mockery of a reverential bow, at +every pause, the entire want of self-possession, and even of speech, under +which I laboured. + +A few minutes more of such trial, and I must have avowed my imposture. But +the holy man saw my embarrassment;--and, whether mistaking it for awe, or +knowing it to be ignorance, relieved me from my perplexity by, at once, +changing the theme. Having gently awakened his antelope from its sleep, +"You have heard," he said, "I doubt not, of my brother-anchoret, Paul, +who, from his cave in the marble mountains, near the Red Sea, sends hourly +'the sacrifice of thanksgiving' to heaven. Of _his_ walks, they tell me, a +lion is the companion; but, for me," he added, with a playful and +significant smile, "who try my powers of taming but on the gentler +animals, this feeble child of the desert is a far fitter play-mate." Then, +taking his staff, and putting the time-worn volume which he had been +reading into a large goat-skin pouch, that hung by his side, "I will now," +said he, "lead thee over my rocky kingdom,--that thou mayst see in what +drear and barren places, that 'fruit of the spirit,' Peace, may be +gathered." + +To speak of peace to a heart like mine, at that moment, was like talking +of some distant harbour to the mariner sinking at sea. In vain did I look +round for some sign of Alethe;--in vain make an effort even to utter her +name. Consciousness of my own deceit, as well as a fear of awakening in +Melanius any suspicion that might frustrate my only hope, threw a fetter +over my spirit and checked my tongue. In silence, therefore, I followed, +while the cheerful old man, with slow, but firm, step, ascended the rock, +by the same ladders which I had mounted on the preceding night. + +During the time when the Decian Persecution was raging, many Christians of +this neighbourhood, he informed me, had taken refuge under his protection, +in these grottos; and the chapel on the summit, where I had found them at +prayer, was, in those times of danger, their place of retreat, where, by +drawing up these ladders, they were enabled to secure themselves from +pursuit. + +From the top of the rock, the view, on either side, embraced the two +extremes of fertility and desolation; nor could the Epicurean and the +Anchoret, who now gazed from that height, be at any loss to indulge their +respective tastes, between the living luxuriance of the world on one side, +and the dead repose of the desert on the other. When we turned to the +river, what a picture of animation presented itself! Near us, to the +south, were the graceful colonnades of Antinoe, its proud, populous +streets, and triumphal monuments. On the opposite shore, rich plains, +teeming with cultivation to the water's edge, offered up, as from verdant +altars, their fruits to the sun; while, beneath us, the Nile, + + ----the glorious stream, + That late between its banks was seen to glide,-- + With shrines and marble cities, on each side, + Glittering, like jewels strung along a chain,-- + Had now sent forth its waters, and o'er plain + And valley, like a giant from his bed + Rising with outstretch'd limbs, superbly spread. + +From this scene, on one side of the mountain, we had but to turn round our +eyes, and it was as if nature herself had become suddenly extinct;--a wide +waste of sands, bleak and interminable, wearying out the sun with its +sameness of desolation;--black, burnt-up rocks, that stood as barriers, at +which life stopped;--while the only signs of animation, past or present, +were the foot-prints, here and there, of an antelope or ostrich, or the +bones of dead camels, as they lay whitening at a distance, marking out the +track of the caravans over the waste. + +After listening, while he contrasted, in a few eloquent words, the two +regions of life and death on whose confines we stood, I again descended +with my guide to the garden we had left. From thence, turning into a path +along the mountain-side, he conducted me to another row of grottos, facing +the desert, which had once, he said, been the abode of those brethren in +Christ, who had fled with him to this solitude from the crowded world,--but +which death had, within a few months, rendered tenantless. A cross of red +stone, and a few faded trees, were the only traces these solitaries had +left behind. + +A silence of some minutes succeeded, while we descended to the edge of the +canal; and I saw opposite, among the rocks, that solitary cave, which had +so chilled me with its aspect on the preceding night. By the bank we found +one of those rustic boats, which the Egyptians construct of planks of wild +thorn, bound rudely together with bands of papyrus. Placing ourselves in +this boat, and rather impelling than rowing it across, we made our way +through the foul and shallow flood, and landed directly under the site of +the cave. + +This dwelling, as I have already mentioned, was situated upon a ledge of +the rock; and, being provided with a sort of window or aperture to admit +the light of heaven, was accounted, I found, more cheerful than the +grottos on the other side of the ravine. But there was a dreariness in the +whole region around, to which light only lent more horror. The dead +whiteness of the rocks, as they stood, like ghosts, in the sunshine;--that +melancholy pool, half lost in the sands;--all gave me the idea of a wasting +world. To dwell in such a place seemed to me like a living death; and when +the Christian, as we entered the cave, said, "Here is to be thy home," +prepared as I was for the worst, my resolution gave way;--every feeling of +disappointed passion and humbled pride, which had been gathering round my +heart for the last few hours, found a vent at once, and I burst into +tears! + +Well accustomed to human weakness, and perhaps guessing at some of the +sources of mine, the good Hermit, without appearing to notice this +emotion, expatiated, with a cheerful air, on, what he called, the many +comforts of my dwelling. Sheltered, he said, from the dry, burning wind of +the south, my porch would inhale the fresh breeze of the Dog-star. Fruits +from his own mountain-garden should furnish my repast. The well of the +neighbouring rock would supply my beverage; and, "here," he +continued,--lowering his voice into a more solemn tone, as he placed upon +the table the volume which he had brought,--"here, my son, is that 'well of +living waters,' in which alone thou wilt find lasting refreshment or +peace!" Thus saying, he descended the rock to his boat, and after a few +plashes of his oar had died upon my ear, the solitude and silence around +me was complete. + + + + + + CHAP. XVII. + + +What a fate was mine!--but a few weeks since, presiding over that splendid +Festival of the Garden, with all the luxuries of existence tributary in my +train; and now,--self-humbled into a solitary outcast,--the hypocritical +pupil of a Christian anchoret,--without even the excuse of fanaticism, or +of any other madness, but that of love, wild love, to extenuate my fall! +Were there a hope that, by this humiliating waste of existence, I might +purchase but a glimpse, now and then, of Alethe, even the depths of the +desert, with such a chance, would be welcome. But to live--and live +thus--_without_ her, was a misery which I neither foresaw nor could endure. + +Hating even to look upon the den to which I was doomed, I hurried out into +the air, and found my way, along the rocks, to the desert. The sun was +going down, with that blood-red hue, which he so frequently wears, in this +clime, at his setting. I saw the sands, stretching out, like a sea, to the +horizon, as if their waste extended to the very verge of the world,--and, +in the bitterness of my feelings, rejoiced to see so much of creation +rescued, even by this barren liberty, from the grasp of man. The thought +seemed to relieve my wounded pride, and, as I wandered over the dim and +boundless solitude, to be thus free, even amid blight and desolation, +appeared a blessing. + +The only living thing I saw was a restless swallow, whose wings were of +the hue of the grey sands over which he fluttered. "Why may not the mind, +like this bird, take the colour of the desert, and sympathise in its +austerity, its freedom, and its calm?"--thus, between despondence and +defiance, did I ask myself, endeavouring to face with fortitude what yet +my heart sickened to contemplate. But the effort was unavailing. Overcome +by that vast solitude, whose repose was not the slumber of peace, but the +sullen and burning silence of hate, I felt my spirit give way, and even +love itself yield to despair. + +Seating myself on a fragment of a rock, and covering my eyes with my +hands, I made an effort to shut out the overwhelming prospect. But in +vain--it was still before me, deepened by all that fancy could add; and +when, again looking up, I saw the last red ray of the sun, shooting across +that melancholy and lifeless waste, it seemed to me like the light of the +comet that once desolated this world, shining out luridly over the ruin +that it had made! + +Appalled by my own gloomy imaginations, I turned towards the ravine; and, +notwithstanding the disgust with which I had left my dwelling, was not ill +pleased to find my way, over the rocks, to it again. On approaching the +cave, to my astonishment, I saw a light within. At such a moment, any +vestige of life was welcome, and I hailed the unexpected appearance with +pleasure. On entering, however, I found the chamber as lonely as I had +left it. The light came from a lamp that burned brightly on the table; +beside it was unfolded the volume which Melanius had brought, and upon the +leaves--oh, joy and surprise--lay the well-known cross of Alethe! + +What hand, but her own, could have prepared this reception for me?--The +very thought sent a hope into my heart, before which all despondency fled. +Even the gloom of the desert was forgotten, and my cave at once brightened +into a bower. She had here reminded me, herself, by this sacred memorial, +of the vow which I had pledged to her under the Hermit's rock; and I now +scrupled not to reiterate the same daring promise, though conscious that +through hypocrisy alone I could fulfil it. + +Eager to prepare myself for my task of imposture, I sat down to the +volume, which I now found to be the Hebrew Scriptures; and the first +sentence, on which my eyes fell, was--"The Lord hath commanded the +blessing, even Life for evermore!" Startled by these words, in which the +Spirit of my dream seemed again to pronounce his assuring prediction, I +raised my eyes from the page, and repeated the sentence over and over, as +if to try whether the sounds had any charm or spell, to reawaken that +faded illusion in my soul. But, no--the rank frauds of the Memphian +priesthood had dispelled all my trust in the promises of religion. My +heart had again relapsed into its gloom of scepticism, and, to the word of +"Life," the only answer it sent back was, "Death!" + +Impatient, however, to possess myself of the elements of a faith, on +which,--whatever it might promise for hereafter,--I felt that my happiness +here depended, I turned over the pages with an earnestness and avidity, +such as never even the most favourite of my studies had awakened in me. +Though, like all, who seek but the surface of learning, I flew desultorily +over the leaves, lighting only on the more prominent and shining points, I +yet found myself, even in this undisciplined career, arrested, at every +page, by the awful, the supernatural sublimity, the alternate melancholy +and grandeur of the images that crowded upon me. + +I had, till now, known the Hebrew theology but through the platonising +refinements of Philo;--as, in like manner, for my knowledge of the +Christian doctrine I was indebted to my brother Epicureans, Lucian and +Celsus. Little, therefore, was I prepared for the simple majesty, the high +tone of inspiration,--the poetry, in short, of heaven that breathed +throughout these oracles. Could admiration have kindled faith, I should, +that night, have been a believer; so elevated, so awed was my imagination +by that wonderful book,--its warnings of woe, its announcements of glory, +and its unrivalled strains of adoration and sorrow. + +Hour after hour, with the same eager and desultory curiosity, did I turn +over the leaves;--and when, at length, I lay down to rest, my fancy was +still haunted by the impressions it had received. I went again through the +various scenes of which I had read; again called up, in sleep, the bright +images that had charmed me, and, when wakened at day-break by the Hymn +from the chapel, fancied myself still listening to the sound of the winds, +sighing mournfully through the harps of Israel on the willows. + +Starting from my bed, I hurried out upon the rock, with a hope that, among +the tones of that morning choir, I might be able to distinguish the sweet +voice of Alethe. But the strain had ceased;--I caught only the last notes +of the Hymn, as, echoing up that lonely valley, they died away into the +silence of the desert. + +With the first glimpse of light I was again at my study, and, +notwithstanding the distraction both of my thoughts and looks towards the +half-seen grottos of the Anchoret, pursued it perseveringly through the +day. Still alive, however, but to the eloquence, the poetry of what I +read, of its connection or authenticity, as a history, I never paused to +consider. My fancy being alone interested by it, to fancy I referred all +it contained; and, passing rapidly from annals to prophecy, from narration +to song, regarded the whole but as a tissue of splendid allegories, in +which the melancholy of Egyptian associations was interwoven with the rich +imagery of the East. + +Towards sunset I saw the boat of Melanius on its way, across the canal, to +my cave. Though he had no other companion than his graceful antelope, that +stood snuffing the wild air of the desert, as if scenting its home, I felt +his visit, even thus, to be a most welcome relief. It was the hour, he +said, of his evening ramble up the mountain,--of his accustomed visit to +those cisterns of the rock, from which he nightly drew his most precious +beverage. While he spoke, I observed in his hand one of those earthen +cups, in which the inhabitants of the wilderness are accustomed to collect +the fresh dew among the rocks. Having proposed that I should accompany him +in his walk, he led me, in the direction of the desert, up the side of the +mountain that rose above my dwelling, and which formed the southern wall +or screen of the defile. + +Near the summit we found a seat, where the old man paused to rest. It +commanded a full view over the desert, and was by the side of one of those +hollows in the rock, those natural reservoirs, in which the dews of night +are treasured up for the refreshment of the dwellers in the wilderness. +Having learned from me how far I had proceeded in my study, "In that +light," said he, pointing to a small cloud in the east, which had been +formed on the horizon by the haze of the desert, and was now faintly +reflecting the splendours of sunset,--"in that light stands Mount Sinai, of +whose glory thou hast read; on whose summit was the scene of one of those +awful revelations, in which the Almighty has, from time to time, renewed +his communication with Man, and kept alive the remembrance of his own +Providence in this world." + +After a pause, as if absorbed in the immensity of the subject, the holy +man continued his sublime theme. Looking back to the earliest annals of +time, he showed how constantly every relapse of the human race into +idolatry has been followed by some manifestation of divine power, +chastening the proud by punishment, and winning back the humble by love. +It was to preserve, he said, unextinguished upon earth, that vital +truth,--the Creation of the world by one Supreme Being,--that God chose, +from among the nations, an humble and enslaved race;--that he brought them +out of their captivity "on eagles' wings," and, surrounding every step of +their course with miracles, placed them before the eyes of all succeeding +generations, as the depositaries of his will, and the ever-during +memorials of his power. + +Passing, then, in review the long train of inspired interpreters, whose +pens and whose tongues were made the echoes of the Divine voice, he +traced(8), through the events of successive ages, the gradual unfolding of +the dark scheme of Providence--darkness without, but all light and glory +within. The glimpses of a coming redemption, visible even through the +wrath of heaven;--the long series of prophecy, through which this hope +runs, burning and alive, like a spark through a chain;--the merciful +preparation of the hearts of mankind for the great trial of their faith +and obedience that was at hand, not only by miracles that appealed to the +living, but by predictions launched into futurity to carry conviction to +the yet unborn;--"through all these glorious and beneficent gradations we +may track," said he, "the manifest footsteps of a Creator, advancing to +his grand, ultimate end, the salvation of his creatures." + +After some hours devoted to these holy instructions, we returned to the +ravine, and Melanius left me at my cave; praying, as he parted from +me,--with a benevolence I but ill, alas! deserved,--that my soul, under +these lessons, might be "as a watered garden," and, ere long, bear "fruit +unto life eternal." + +Next morning, I was again at my study, and even more eager in the task +than before. With the commentary of the Hermit freshly in my memory, I +again read through, with attention, the Book of the Law. But in vain did I +seek the promise of immortality in its pages. "It tells me," said I, "of a +God coming down to earth, but of the ascent of Man to heaven it speaks +not. The rewards, the punishments it announces, lie all on this side of +the grave; nor did even the Omnipotent offer to his own chosen servants a +hope beyond the impassable limits of this world. Where, then, is the +salvation of which the Christian spoke? or, if Death be at the root of the +faith, can Life spring out of it!" + +Again, in the bitterness of disappointment, did I mock at my own willing +self-delusion,--again rail at the arts of that traitress, Fancy, ever +ready, like the Delilah of this book, to steal upon the slumbers of +Reason, and deliver him up, shorn and powerless, to his foes. If +deception--thought I, with a sigh--be necessary, at least let me not +practise it on myself;--in the desperate alternative before me, let me +rather be even hypocrite than dupe. + +These self-accusing reflections, cheerless as they rendered my task, did +not abate, for a single moment, my industry in pursuing it. I read on and +on, with a sort of sullen apathy, neither charmed by style, nor +transported by imagery,--that fatal blight in my heart having communicated +itself to my fancy and taste. The curses and the blessings, the glory and +the ruin, which the historian recorded and the prophet predicted, seemed +all of this world,--all, temporal and earthly. That mortality, of which the +fountain-head had tasted, tinged the whole stream; and when I read the +words, "all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again," a feeling, like +the wind of the desert, came witheringly over me. Love, Beauty, Glory, +every thing most bright upon earth, appeared sinking before my eyes, under +this dreadful doom, into one general mass of corruption and silence. + +Possessed by the image of desolation I had called up, I laid my head on +the book, in a paroxysm of despair. Death, in all his most ghastly +varieties, passed before me; and I had continued thus for some time, as +under the influence of a fearful vision, when the touch of a hand upon my +shoulder roused me. Looking up, I saw the Anchoret standing by my +side;--his countenance beaming with that sublime tranquillity, which a +hope, beyond this earth, alone can bestow. How I envied him! + +We again took our way to the seat upon the mountain,--the gloom in my own +mind making every thing around me more gloomy. Forgetting my hypocrisy in +my feelings, I, at once, avowed to him all the doubts and fears which my +study of the morning had awakened. + +"Thou art yet, my son," he answered, "but on the threshold of our faith. +Thou hast seen but the first rudiments of the Divine plan;--its full and +consummate perfection hath not yet opened upon thee. However glorious that +manifestation of Divinity on Mount Sinai, it was but the forerunner of +another, still more glorious, that, in the fulness of time, was to burst +upon the world; when all, that had seemed dim and incomplete, was to be +perfected, and the promises, shadowed out by the 'spirit of prophecy,' +realized;--when the silence, that lay, as a seal, on the future, was to be +broken, and the glad tidings of life and immortality proclaimed to the +world!" + +Observing my features brighten at these words, the pious man continued. +Anticipating some of the holy knowledge that was in store for me, he +traced, through all its wonders and mercies, the great work of Redemption, +dwelling on every miraculous circumstance connected with it;--the exalted +nature of the Being, by whose ministry it was accomplished, the noblest +and first created of the Sons of God, inferior only to the one, self- +existent Father;--the mysterious incarnation of this heavenly +messenger;--the miracles that authenticated his divine mission;--the example +of obedience to God and love to man, which he set, as a shining light, +before the world for ever;--and, lastly and chiefly, his death and +resurrection, by which the covenant of mercy was sealed, and "life and +immortality brought to light." + +"Such," continued the Hermit, "was the Mediator, promised through all +time, to 'make reconciliation for iniquity,' to change death into life, +and bring 'healing on his wings' to a darkened world. Such was the last +crowning dispensation of that God of benevolence, in whose hands sin and +death are but instruments of everlasting good, and who, through apparent +evil and temporary retribution, bringing all things 'out of darkness into +his marvellous light,' proceeds watchfully and unchangingly to the great, +final object of his providence,--the restoration of the whole human race to +purity and happiness!" + +With a mind astonished, if not touched, by these discourses, I returned to +my cave; and found the lamp, as before, ready lighted to receive me. The +volume which I had been reading was replaced by another, which lay open +upon the table, with a branch of fresh palm between its leaves. Though I +could not have a doubt to whose gentle hand I was indebted for this +invisible superintendence over my studies, there was yet a something in +it, so like spiritual interposition, that it awed me;--and never more than +at this moment, when, on approaching the volume, I saw, as the light +glistened over its silver letters, that it was the very Book of Life of +which the Hermit had spoken! + +The orison of the Christians had sounded through the valley, before I +raised my eyes from that sacred volume; and the second hour of the sun +found me again over its pages. + + + + + + CHAP. XVIII. + + +In this mode of existence did I pass some days;--my mornings devoted to +reading, my nights to listening, under the canopy of heaven, to the holy +eloquence of Melanius. The perseverance with which I enquired, and the +quickness with which I learned, soon succeeded in deceiving my benevolent +instructor, who mistook curiosity for zeal and knowledge for belief. Alas! +cold, and barren, and earthly was that knowledge,--the word, without the +spirit, the shape, without the life. Even when, as a relief from +hypocrisy, I persuaded myself that I believed, it was but a brief +delusion, a faith, whose hope crumbled at the touch,--like the fruit of the +desert-shrub, shining and empty! + +But, though my soul was still dark, the good Hermit saw not into its +depths. The very facility of my belief, which might have suggested some +doubt of its sincerity, was but regarded by his innocent zeal, as a more +signal triumph of the truth. His own ingenuousness led him to a ready +trust in others; and the examples of such conversion as that of the +philosopher, Justin, who received the light into his soul during a walk by +the sea-shore, had prepared him for illuminations of the spirit, even more +rapid than mine. + +During this time, I neither saw nor heard of Alethe;--nor could my patience +have endured so long a privation, had not those mute vestiges of her +presence, that welcomed me every night on my return, made me feel that I +was still living under her gentle influence, and that her sympathy hung +round every step of my progress. Once, too, when I ventured to speak her +name to Melanius, though he answered not my enquiry, there was a smile, I +thought, of promise upon his countenance, which love, more alive than +faith, interpreted as it wished. + +At length,--it was on the sixth or seventh evening of my solitude, when I +lay resting at the door of my cave, alter the study of the day,--I was +startled by hearing my name called loudly from the opposite rocks, and +looking up, saw, on the cliff near the deserted grottos, Melanius and--oh, +I could not doubt--my Alethe by his side! + +Though I had never ceased, since the first night of my return from the +desert, to flatter myself with the fancy that I was still living in her +presence, the actual sight of her again made me feel what an age we had +been separated. She was clothed all in white, and, as she stood in the +last remains of the sunshine, appeared to my too prophetic fancy like a +parting spirit, whose last footsteps on earth that glory encircled. + +With a delight only to be imagined, I saw them descend the rocks, and +placing themselves in the boat, proceed towards my cave. To disguise from +Melanius the feelings with which we met was impossible;--nor did Alethe +even attempt to make a secret of her innocent joy. Though blushing at her +own happiness, she could as little conceal it, as the clear waters of +Ethiopia can hide their gold. Every look, too, every word, spoke a fulness +of affection, to which, doubtful as I was of our tenure of happiness, I +knew not how to answer. + +I was not long, however, left ignorant of the bright fate that awaited me; +but, as we wandered or rested among the rocks, learned every thing that +had been arranged since our parting. She had made the Hermit, I found, +acquainted with all that had passed between us; had told him, without +reserve, every incident of our voyage,--the avowals, the demonstrations of +affection on one side, and the deep sentiment that gratitude had awakened +on the other. Too wise to regard feelings, so natural, with +severity,--knowing that they were of heaven, and but made evil by man,--the +good Hermit had heard of our attachment with pleasure; and, proved as he +thought the purity of my views had been, by the fidelity with which I had +delivered up my trust into his hands, saw, in my affection for the young +orphan, but a providential resource against that friendless solitude in +which his death must soon leave her. + +As I collected these particulars from their discourse, I could hardly +trust my ears. It seemed too much happiness to be real; nor can words give +an idea of the joy--the shame--the wonder with which I listened, while the +holy man himself declared, that he awaited but the moment, when he should +find me worthy of becoming a member of the Christian Church, to give me +also the hand of Alethe in that sacred union, which alone sanctifies love, +and makes the faith, which it pledges, heavenly. It was but yesterday, he +added, that his young charge, herself, after a preparation of prayer and +repentance, such as even her pure spirit required, had been admitted, by +the sacred ordinance of baptism, into the bosom of the faith;--and the +white garment she wore, and the ring of gold on her finger, "were +symbols," he said, "of that New Life into which she had been initiated." + +I raised my eyes to her as he spoke, but withdrew them again, dazzled and +confused. Even her beauty, to my imagination, seemed to have undergone +some brightening change; and the contrast between that open and happy +countenance, and the unblest brow of the infidel that stood before her, +abashed me into a sense of unworthiness, and almost checked my rapture. + +To that night, however, I look back, as an epoch in my existence. It +proved that sorrow is not the only awakener of devotion, but that joy may +sometimes call the holy spark into life. Returning to my cave, with a +heart full, even to oppression, of its happiness, I knew no other relief +to my overcharged feelings than that of throwing myself on my knees, and, +for the first time in my life, uttering a prayer, that if, indeed, there +were a Being who watched over mankind, he would send down one ray of his +truth into my soul, and make it worthy of the blessings, both here and +hereafter, proffered to me! + +My days now rolled on in a perfect dream of happiness. Every hour of the +morning was welcomed as bringing nearer and nearer the blest time of +sunset, when the Hermit and Alethe never failed to pay their visit to my +now charmed cave, where her smile left a light, at each parting, that +lasted till her return. Then, our rambles, by star-light, over the +mountain;--our pauses, on the way, to contemplate the bright wonders of +that heaven above us;--our repose by the cistern of the rock, and our +silent listening, through hours that seemed minutes, to the holy eloquence +of our teacher;--all, all was happiness of the most heartfelt kind, and +such as even the doubts, the cold, lingering doubts, that still hung, like +a mist, around my heart, could neither cloud nor chill. + +When the moonlight nights returned, we used to venture into the desert; +and those sands, which but lately had appeared to me so desolate, now wore +even a cheerful and smiling aspect. To the light, innocent heart of Alethe +every thing was a source of enjoyment. For her, even the desert had its +jewels and flowers; and, sometimes, her delight was to search among the +sands for those beautiful pebbles of jasper that abound in +them;--sometimes, her eyes sparkled on finding, perhaps, a stunted +marigold, or one of those bitter, scarlet flowers, that lend their mockery +of ornament to the desert. In all these pursuits and pleasures the good +Hermit took a share,--mingling with them occasionally the reflections of a +benevolent piety, that lent its own cheerful hue to all the works of +creation, and saw the consoling truth "God is Love," written legibly every +where. + +Such was, for a few weeks, my blissful life. Oh mornings of hope, oh +nights of happiness, with what mournful pleasure do I retrace your flight, +and how reluctantly pass to the sad events that followed! + +During this time, in compliance with the wishes of Melanius, who seemed +unwilling that I should become wholly estranged from the world, I +occasionally paid a visit to the neighbouring city, Antinoe, which, as the +capital of the Thebaid, is the centre of all the luxury of Upper Egypt. +Here,--so changed was my every feeling by the all-transforming passion that +possessed me,--I wandered, unamused and uninterested by either the scenes +or the people that surrounded me, and, sighing for that rocky solitude +where Alethe breathed, felt _this_ to be the wilderness, and _that_, the +world. + +Even the thoughts of my own native Athens, that were called up, at every +step, by the light, Grecian architecture of this imperial city, did not +awaken one single regret in my heart--one wish to exchange even an hour of +my desert for the best luxuries and honours that awaited me in the Garden. +I saw the arches of triumph;--I walked under the superb portico, which +encircles the whole city with its marble shade;--I stood in the Circus of +the Sun, by whose rose-coloured pillars the mysterious movements of the +Nile are measured;--all these bright ornaments of glory and art, as well as +the gay multitude that enlivened them, I saw with an unheeding eye. If +they awakened in me any thought, it was the mournful idea, that, one day, +like Thebes and Heliopolis, this pageant would pass away, leaving nothing +behind but a few mouldering ruins,--like the sea-shells found where the +ocean has been,--to tell that the great tide of Life was once there! + +But, though indifferent thus to all that had formerly attracted me, there +were subjects, once alien to my heart, on which it was now most +tremblingly alive; and some rumours which had reached me, in one of my +visits to the city, of an expected change in the policy of the Emperor +towards the Christians, filled me with apprehensions as new as they were +dreadful to me. + +The peace and even favour which the Christians enjoyed, during the first +four years of the reign of Valerian, had removed from them all fear of a +renewal of those horrors, which they had experienced under the rule of his +predecessor, Decius. Of late, however, some less friendly dispositions had +manifested themselves. The bigots of the court, taking alarm at the spread +of the new faith, had succeeded in filling the mind of the monarch with +that religious jealousy, which is the ever-ready parent of cruelty and +injustice. Among these counsellors of evil was Macrianus, the Praetorian +Prefect, who was, by birth, an Egyptian, and--so akin is superstition to +intolerance--had long made himself notorious by his addiction to the dark +practices of demon-worship and magic. + +From this minister, who was now high in the favour of Valerian, the +expected measures of severity against the Christians, it was supposed, +would emanate. All tongues, in all quarters, were busy with the news. In +the streets, in the public gardens, on the steps of the temples, I saw, +every where, groups of enquirers collected, and heard the name of +Macrianus upon every tongue. It was dreadful, too, to observe, in the +countenances of those who spoke, the variety of feeling with which the +rumour was discussed, according as they desired or dreaded its +truth,--according as they were likely to be among the torturers or the +victims. + +Alarmed, though still ignorant of the whole extent of the danger, I +hurried back to the ravine, and, going at once to the grotto of Melanius, +detailed to him every particular of the intelligence I had collected. He +heard me with a composure, which I mistook, alas, for confidence in his +security; and, naming the hour for our evening walk, retired into his +grotto. + +At the accustomed time Alethe and he were at my cave. It was evident that +he had not communicated to her the intelligence which I had brought, for +never did brow wear such a happiness as that which now played round +hers;--it was, alas, _not_ of this earth! Melanius, himself, though +composed, was thoughtful; and the solemnity, almost approaching to +melancholy, with which he placed the hand of Alethe in mine--in the +performance, too, of a ceremony that _ought_ to have filled my heart with +joy--saddened and alarmed me. This ceremony was our betrothment,--the +plighting of our faith to each other,--which we now solemnized on the rock +before the door of my cave, in the face of that sunset heaven, with its +one star standing as witness. After a blessing from the Hermit on our +spousal pledge, I placed the ring,--the earnest of our future union--on her +finger, and, in the blush, with which she surrendered her whole heart to +me at that instant, forgot every thing but my happiness, and felt secure, +even against fate! + +We took our accustomed walk over the rocks and on the desert. The moon was +so bright,--like the daylight, indeed, of other climes--that we could see +plainly the tracks of the wild antelopes in the sand; and it was not +without a slight tremble of feeling in his voice, as if some melancholy +analogy occurred to him as he spoke, that the good Hermit said, "I have +observed in my walks, that where-ever the track of that gentle animal is +seen, there is, almost always, the foot-print of a beast of prey near it." +He regained, however, his usual cheerfulness before we parted, and fixed +the following evening for an excursion, on the other side of the ravine, +to a point, looking, he said, "towards that northern region of the desert, +where the hosts of the Lord encamped in their departure out of bondage." + +Though, in the presence of Alethe, my fears, even for herself, were +forgotten in that perpetual element of happiness, which encircled her like +the air that she breathed, no sooner was I alone than vague terrors and +bodings crowded upon me. In vain did I try to reason myself out of my +fears by dwelling on the most cheering circumstances,--the reverence with +which Melanius was regarded, even by the Pagans, and the inviolate +security with which he had lived through the most perilous periods, not +only safe himself, but affording sanctuary in his grottos to others. When, +somewhat calmed by these considerations, I sunk off to sleep, dark, +horrible dreams took possession of my mind. Scenes of death and of torment +passed confusedly before me, and, when I awoke, it was with the fearful +impression that all these horrors were real. + + + + + + CHAP. XIX. + + +At length, the day dawned,--that dreadful day. Impatient to be relieved +from my suspense, I threw myself into my boat,--the same in which we had +performed our happy voyage,--and, as fast as oars could speed me, hurried +away to the city. I found the suburbs silent and solitary, but, as I +approached the Forum, loud yells, like those of barbarians in combat, +struck on my ear, and, when I entered it,--great God, what a spectacle +presented itself! The imperial edict against the Christians had arrived +during the night, and already the wild fury of bigotry was let loose. + +Under a canopy, in the middle of the Forum, was the tribunal of the +Governor. Two statues, one of Apollo, the other of Osiris, stood at the +bottom of the steps that led up to his judgment-seat. Before these idols +were shrines, to which the devoted Christians were dragged from all +quarters by the soldiers and mob, and there compelled to recant, by +throwing incense into the flame, or, on their refusal, hurried away to +torture and death. It was an appalling scene;--the consternation, the cries +of some of the victims,--the pale, silent resolution of others;--the fierce +shouts of laughter that broke from the multitude, when the frankincense, +dropped on the altar, proclaimed some denier of Christ; and the fiend-like +triumph with which the courageous Confessors, who avowed their faith, were +led away to the flames;--never could I have conceived such an assemblage of +horrors! + +Though I gazed but for a few minutes, in those minutes I felt enough for +years. Already did the form of Alethe flit before me through that +tumult;--I heard them shout her name;--her shriek fell on my ear; and the +very thought so palsied me with terror, that I stood fixed and statue-like +on the spot. + +Recollecting, however, the fearful preciousness of every moment, and +that--perhaps, at this very instant--some emissaries of blood might be on +their way to the grottos, I rushed wildly out of the Forum, and made my +way to the quay. + +The streets were now crowded; but I ran headlong through the multitude, +and was already under the portico leading down to the river,--already saw +the boat that was to bear me to Alethe,--when a Centurion stood sternly in +my path, and I was surrounded and arrested by soldiers! It was in vain +that I implored, that I struggled with them as for life, assuring them +that I was a stranger,--that I was an Athenian,--that I was--_not_ a +Christian. The precipitation of my flight was sufficient evidence against +me, and unrelentingly, and by force, they bore me away to the quarters of +their Chief. + +It was enough to drive me to madness! Two hours, two frightful hours, was +I kept waiting the arrival of the Tribune of their Legion(9),--my brain +burning with a thousand fears and imaginations, which every passing minute +made more likely to be realised. Every thing, too, that I could collect +from the conversations around me but added to the agonising apprehensions +with which I was racked. Troops, it was said, had been sent in all +directions through the neighbourhood, to bring in the rebellious +Christians, and make them bow before the Gods of the Empire. With horror, +too, I heard of Orcus,--Orcus, the High Priest of Memphis,--as one of the +principal instigators of this sanguinary edict, and as here present in +Antinoe, animating and directing its execution. + +In this state of torture I remained till the arrival of the Tribune. +Absorbed in my own thoughts, I had not perceived his entrance;--till, +hearing a voice, in a tone of friendly surprise, exclaim, "Alciphron!" I +looked up, and in this legionary Chief recognised a young Roman of rank, +who had held a military command, the year before, at Athens, and was one +of the most distinguished visitors of the Garden. It was no time, however, +for courtesies;--he was proceeding with cordiality to greet me, but, having +heard him order my instant release, I could wait for no more. +Acknowledging his kindness but by a grasp of the hand, I flew off, like +one frantic, through the streets, and, in a few minutes, was on the river. + +My sole hope had been to reach the grottos before any of the detached +parties should arrive, and, by a timely flight across the desert, rescue, +at least, Alethe from their fury. The ill-fated delay that had occurred +rendered this hope almost desperate; but the tranquillity I found every +where as I proceeded down the river, and the fond confidence I still +cherished in the sacredness of the Hermit's retreat, kept my heart from +giving way altogether under its terrors. + +Between the current and my oars, the boat flew, like wind, along the +waters; and I was already near the rocks of the ravine, when I saw, +turning out of the canal into the river, a barge crowded with people, and +glittering with arms! How did I ever survive the shock of that sight? The +oars dropped, as if struck out of my hands, into the water, and I sat, +helplessly gazing, as that terrific vision approached. In a few minutes, +the current brought us together;--and I saw, on the deck of the barge, +Alethe and the Hermit surrounded by soldiers! + +We were already passing each other when, with a desperate effort, I sprang +from my boat and lighted upon the edge of their vessel. I knew not what I +did, for despair was my only prompter. Snatching at the sword of one of +the soldiers, as I stood tottering on the edge, I had succeeded in +wresting it out of his hands, when, at the same moment, I received a +thrust of a lance from one of his comrades, and fell backward into the +river. I can just remember rising again and making a grasp at the side of +the vessel;--but the shock, the faintness from my wound, deprived me of all +consciousness, and a shriek from Alethe, as I sunk, is all I can recollect +of what followed. + +Would I had then died!--Yet, no, Almighty Being,--I should have died in +darkness, and I have lived to know Thee! + +On returning to my senses, I found myself reclined on a couch, in a +splendid apartment, the whole appearance of which being Grecian, I, for a +moment, forgot all that had passed, and imagined myself in my own home at +Athens. But too soon the whole dreadful certainty flashed upon me; and, +starting wildly--disabled as I was--from my couch, I called loudly, and with +the shriek of a maniac, on Alethe. + +I was in the house, I found, of my friend and disciple, the young Tribune, +who had made the Governor acquainted with my name and condition, and had +received me under his roof, when brought, bleeding and insensible, to +Antinoe. From him I now learned at once,--for I could not wait for +details,--the sum of all that had happened in that dreadful interval. +Melanius was no more,--Alethe, still alive, but in prison! + +"Take me to her"--I had but time to say--"take me to her instantly, and let +me die by her side,"--when, nature again failing under such shocks, I +relapsed into insensibility. In this state I continued for near an hour, +and, on recovering, found the Tribune by my side. The horrors, he said, of +the Forum were, for that day, over,--but what the morrow might bring, he +shuddered to contemplate. His nature, it was plain, revolted from the +inhuman duties in which he was engaged. Touched by the agonies he saw me +suffer, he, in some degree, relieved them, by promising that I should, at +night-fall, be conveyed to the prison, and, if possible, through his +influence, gain access to Alethe. She might yet, he added, be saved, could +I succeed in persuading her to comply with the terms of the edict, and +make sacrifice to the Gods.--"Otherwise," said he, "there is no hope;--the +vindictive Orcus, who has resisted even this short respite of mercy, will, +to-morrow, inexorably demand his prey." + +He then related to me, at my own request,--though every word was +torture,--all the harrowing details of the proceeding before the Tribunal. +"I have seen courage," said he, "in its noblest forms, in the field; but +the calm intrepidity with which that aged Hermit endured torments--which it +was hardly less torment to witness--surpassed all that I could have +conceived of human fortitude!" + +My poor Alethe, too,--in describing to me her conduct, the brave man wept +like a child. Overwhelmed, he said, at first by her apprehensions for my +safety, she had given way to a full burst of womanly weakness. But no +sooner was she brought before the Tribunal, and the declaration of her +faith was demanded of her, than a spirit almost supernatural seemed to +animate her whole form. "She raised her eyes," said he, "calmly, but with +fervour, to heaven, while a blush was the only sign of mortal feeling on +her features;--and the clear, sweet, and untrembling voice, with which she +pronounced her dooming words, 'I am a Christian!' sent a thrill of +admiration and pity throughout the multitude. Her youth, her loveliness, +affected all hearts, and a cry of 'Save the young maiden!' was heard in +all directions." + +The implacable Orcus, however, would not hear of mercy. Resenting, as it +appeared, with all his deadliest rancour, not only her own escape from his +toils, but the aid with which, so fatally to his views, she had assisted +mine, he demanded loudly, and in the name of the insulted sanctuary of +Isis, her instant death. It was but by the firm intervention of the +Governor, who shared the general sympathy in her fate, that the delay of +another day was accorded, to give a chance to the young maiden of yet +recalling her confession, and thus affording some pretext for saving her. + +Even in yielding reluctantly to this brief respite, the inhuman Priest +would accompany it with some mark of his vengeance. Whether for the +pleasure (observed the Tribune) of mingling mockery with his cruelty, or +as a warning to her of the doom she must ultimately expect, he gave orders +that there should be tied round her brow one of those chaplets of +coral(10), with which it is the custom of young Christian maidens to array +themselves on the day of their martyrdom;--"and, thus fearfully adorned," +said he, "she was led away, amid the gaze of the pitying multitude, to +prison." + +With these details the short interval till night-fall,--every minute of +which seemed an age,--was occupied. As soon as it grew dark, I was placed +upon a litter,--my wound, though not dangerous, requiring such a +conveyance,--and conducted, under the guidance of my friend, to the prison. +Through his interest with the guard, we were without difficulty admitted, +and I was borne into the chamber where the maiden lay immured. Even the +veteran guardian of the place seemed touched with compassion for his +prisoner, and supposing her to be asleep, had the litter placed gently +near her. + +She was half reclining, with her face hid in her hands, upon a couch,--at +the foot of which stood an idol, over whose hideous features a lamp of +naptha, hanging from the ceiling, shed a wild and ghastly glare. On a +table before the image stood a censer, with a small vessel of incense +beside it,--one grain of which, thrown voluntarily into the flame, would, +even now, save that precious life. So strange, so fearful was the whole +scene, that I almost doubted its reality. Alethe! my own, happy Alethe! +_can_ it, I thought, be thou that I look upon? + +She now, slowly and with difficulty, raised her head from the couch; on +observing which, the kind Tribune withdrew, and we were left alone. There +was a paleness, as of death, over her features; and those eyes, which when +last I saw them, were but too bright, too happy for this world, looked dim +and sunken. In raising herself up, she put her hand, as if from pain, to +her forehead, whose marble hue but appeared more death-like from those red +bands that lay so awfully across it. + +After wandering vaguely for a minute, her eyes rested upon me,--and, with a +shriek, half terror, half joy, she sprung from the couch, and sunk upon +her knees by my side. She had believed me dead; and, even now, scarcely +trusted her senses. "My husband! my love!" she exclaimed; "oh, if thou +comest to call me from this world, behold I am ready!" In saying thus, she +pointed wildly to that ominous wreath, and then dropped her head down upon +my knee, as if an arrow had pierced it. + +"Alethe!"--I cried, terrified to the very soul by that mysterious pang,--and +the sound of my voice seemed to reanimate her;--she looked up, with a faint +smile, in my face. Her thoughts, which had evidently been wandering, +became collected; and in her joy at my safety, her sorrow at my suffering, +she forgot wholly the fate that impended over herself. Love, innocent +love, alone occupied all her thoughts; and the tenderness with which she +spoke,--oh, at any other moment, how I would have listened, have lingered +upon, have blessed every word! + +But the time flew fast--the dreadful morrow was approaching. Already I saw +her writhing in the hands of the torturer,--the flames, the racks, the +wheels were before my eyes! Half frantic with the fear that her resolution +was fixed, I flung myself from the litter, in an agony of weeping, and +supplicated her, by the love she bore me, by the happiness that awaited +us, by her own merciful God, who was too good to require such a +sacrifice,--by all that the most passionate anxiety could dictate, I +implored that she would avert from us the doom that was coming, and--but +for once--comply with the vain ceremony demanded of her. + +Shrinking from me, as I spoke,--but with a look more of sorrow than +reproach,--"What, thou, too!" she said mournfully,--"thou, into whose spirit +I had fondly hoped the same heavenly truth had descended as into my own! +Oh, be not thou leagued with those who would tempt me to 'make shipwreck +of my faith!' Thou, who couldst alone bind me to life, use not thy power; +but let me die, as He I serve hath commanded,--die for the Truth. Remember +the holy lessons we heard on those nights, those happy nights, when both +the Present and Future smiled upon us,--when even the gift of eternal life +came more welcome to my soul, from the blessed conviction that thou wert +to be a sharer in it;--shall I forfeit now that divine privilege? shall I +deny the true God, whom we then learned to love? + +"No, my own betrothed," she continued,--pointing to the two rings on her +finger,--"behold these pledges,--they are both sacred. I should have been as +true to thee as I am now to heaven,--nor in that life to which I am +hastening shall our love be forgotten. Should the baptism of fire, through +which I shall pass to-morrow, make me worthy to be heard before the Throne +of Grace, I will intercede for thy soul--I will pray that it may yet share +with mine that 'inheritance, immortal and undefiled,' which Mercy offers, +and that thou,--my dear mother,--and I--" + +She here dropped her voice; the momentary animation, with which devotion +and affection had inspired her, vanished;--and a darkness overspread all +her features, a livid darkness,--like the coming of death--that made me +shudder through every limb. Seizing my hand convulsively, and looking at +me with a fearful eagerness, as if anxious to hear some consoling +assurance from my own lips,--"Believe me," she continued, "not all the +torments they are preparing for me,--not even this deep, burning pain in my +brow, which they will hardly equal,--could be half so dreadful to me, as +the thought that I leave thee--" + +Here, her voice again failed; her head sunk upon my arm, and--merciful God, +let me forget what I then felt,--I saw that she was dying! Whether I +uttered any cry, I know not;--but the Tribune came rushing into the +chamber, and, looking on the maiden, said, with a face full of horror, "It +is but too true!" + +He then told me in a low voice, what he had just learned from the guardian +of the prison, that the band round the young Christian's brow was--oh +horrible cruelty!--a compound of the most deadly poison,--the hellish +invention of Orcus, to satiate his vengeance, and make the fate of his +poor victim secure. My first movement was to untie that fatal wreath,--but +it would not come away--it would not come away! + +Roused by the pain, she again looked in my face; but, unable to speak, +took hastily from her bosom the small silver cross which she had brought +with her from my cave. Having prest it to her own lips, she held it +anxiously to mine, and seeing me kiss the holy symbol with fervour, looked +happy, and smiled. The agony of death seemed to have passed away;--there +came suddenly over her features a heavenly light, some share of which I +felt descending into my own soul, and, in a few minutes more, she expired +in my arms. + + ------------------------------------- + +_Here ends the Manuscript; but, on the outer cover there is, in the hand- +writing of a much later period, the following Notice, extracted, as it +appears, from some Egyptian martyrology:--_ + +"Alciphron,--an Epicurean philosopher, converted to Christianity A. D. 257, +by a young Egyptian maiden, who suffered martyrdom in that year. +Immediately upon her death he betook himself to the desert, and lived a +life, it is said, of much holiness and penitence. During the persecution +under Dioclesian, his sufferings for the faith were most exemplary; and, +being at length, at an advanced age, condemned to hard labour, for +refusing to comply with an Imperial edict, he died at the brass mines of +Palestine, A. D. 297.-- + +"As Alciphron held the opinions maintained since by Arius, his memory has +not been spared by Athanasian writers, who, among other charges, accuse +him of having been addicted to the superstitions of Egypt. For this +calumny, however, there appears to be no better foundation than a +circumstance, recorded by one of his brother monks, that there was found, +after his death, a small metal mirror, like those used in the ceremonies +of Isis, suspended round his neck." + + + + + + + NOTES. + + +Page 17.--For the importance attached to dreams by the ancients, see +_Jortin_, Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1. p. 90. + + +Page 22.--"_The Pillar of Pillars_"--more properly, perhaps, "the column of +the pillars." v. _Abdallatif_, Relation de l'Egypte, and the notes of _M. +de Sacy_. The great portico round this column (formerly designated +Pompey's, but now known to have been erected in honour of Dioclesian) was +still standing, M. de Sacy says, in the time of Saladin. v. _Lord +Valentia's Travels_. + + +Page 23.--Ammianus thus speaks of the state of Alexandria in his time, +which was, I believe, as late as the end of the fourth century:--"Ne nunc +quidem in eadem urbe Doctrinae variae silent, non apud nos exaruit Musica +nec Harmonia conticuit." Lib. 22. + + +Page 25.--From the character of the features of the Sphinx, and a passage +in Herodotus, describing the Egyptians as _{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}_, +Volney, Bruce, and a few others, have concluded that the ancient +inhabitants of Egypt were negroes. But this opinion is contradicted by a +host of authorities. See _Castera_'s notes upon _Browne's Travels_, for +the result of Blumenbach's dissection of a variety of mummies. Denon, +speaking of the character of the heads represented in the ancient +sculpture and painting of Egypt, says, "Celle des femmes ressemble encore +a la figure des jolies femmes d'aujourd'hui: de la rondeur, de la volupte, +le nez petit, les yeux longs, peu ouverts," &c. &c. He could judge, too, +he says, from the female mummies, "que leurs cheveux etoient longs et +lisses, que le caractere de tete de la plupart tenoit du beau style"--"Je +raportai," he adds, "une tete de vieille femme qui etoit aussi belle que +celles de Michel Ange, et leur ressembloit beaucoup." + +In a "_Description generale de Thebes_" by _Messrs. Jollois et +Desvilliers_, they say, "Toutes les sculptures Egyptiennes, depuis les +plus grands colosses de Thebes jusqu'aux plus petites idoles, ne +rappellent en aucune maniere les traits de la figure des negres; outre que +les tetes des momies des catacombs de Thebes presentent des profils +droits." See also _M. Jomard_'s "Description of Syene and the Cataracts," +_Baron Larrey_, on the "conformation physique" of the Egyptians, &c. + +De Pauw, the great depreciator of every thing Egyptian, has, on the +authority of a passage in AElian, presumed to affix to the countrywomen of +Cleopatra the stigma of complete and unredeemed ugliness. The following +line of Euripides, however, is an answer to such charges:-- + + _{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}._ + +In addition to the celebrated instances of Cleopatra, Rhodope, &c. we are +told, on the authority of Manetho (as given by Zoega from Georgius +Syncellus), of a beautiful queen of Memphis, Nitocris, of the sixth +dynasty, who, in addition to other charms and perfections, was (rather +inconsistently with the negro hypothesis) _{~GREEK SMALL LETTER XI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}_. + +See, for a tribute to the beauty of the Egyptian women, Montesquieu's +Temple de Gnide. + + +Page 35.--"_Among beds of lotus flowers._"--v. _Strabo_. + + +Page 36.--"_Isle of the golden Venus._"--"On trouve une ile appelee Venus- +Doree, ou le champ d'or, avant de remonter jusqu'a Memphis." _Voyages de +Pythagore._ + + +Page 39.--For an account of the Table of Emerald, v. _Lettres sur l'Origine +des Dieux d'Egypte_. _De Pauw_ supposes it to be a modern fiction of the +Arabs. Many writers have fancied that the art of making gold was the great +secret that lay hid under the forms of Egyptian theology. "La science +Hermetique," says the Benedictine, Pernetz, "l'art sacerdotal etoit la +source de toutes les richesses des Rois d'Egypte, et l'objet de ces +mysteres si caches sous le voile du leur pretendu Religion." _Fables +Egyptiennes._ The hieroglyphs, that formerly covered the Pyramids, are +supposed by some of these writers to relate to the same art. See _Mutus +liber, Rupellae_. + + +Page 40.--"By reflecting the sun's rays," says _Clarke_, speaking of the +Pyramids, "they appeared white as snow." + + +Page 41.--For Bubastis, the Diana of the Egyptians, v. _Jablonski_, lib. 3. +c. 4. + + +Page 43.--"_The light coracle_," _&c._--v. _Amuilhon_, "_Histoire de la +Navigation et du Commerce des Egyptiens sous les Ptolemees_." See also, +for a description of the various kinds of boats used on the Nile, +_Maillet_, tom. i. p. 98. + + +Page 44.--v. _Maurice_, Appendix to "Ruins of Babylon." Another reason, he +says, for their worship of the Ibis, "founded on their love of geometry, +was (according to Plutarch) that the space between its legs, when parted +asunder, as it walks, together with its beak, forms a complete equilateral +triangle." From the examination of the embalmed birds, found in the +Catacombs of Saccara, there seems to be no doubt that the Ibis was the +same kind of bird as that described by Bruce, under the Arabian name of +Abou Hannes. + + +Ib.--"_The sistrum_," _&c._--"Isis est genius," says _Servius_, "AEgypti, qui +per sistri motum, quod gerit in dextra, Nili accessus recessusque +significat." + + +Page 48.--"_The ivy encircled it_," _&c._--The ivy was consecrated to +Osiris. v. _Diodor. Sic._ 1. 10. + + +Ib.--"_The small mirror._"--"Quelques unes," says _Dupuis_, describing the +processions of Isis, "portoient des miroirs attaches a leurs epaules, afin +de multiplier et de porter dans tous les sens les images de la Deesse." +_Origine des Cultes_, tom. 8. p. 847. A mirror, it appears, was also one +of the emblems in the mysteries of Bacchus. + + +Page 49.--"_There__ is, to the north of Memphis_," _&c._--"Tout prouve que +la territoire de Sakkarah etoit la Necropolis au sud de Memphis, et le +faubourg oppose a celui-ci, ou sont les pyramides de Gizeh, une autre +Ville des Morts, qui terminoit Memphis au nord." _Denon._ + +There is nothing known with certainty as to the site of Memphis, but it +will be perceived that the description of its position given by the +Epicurean corresponds, in almost every particular, with that which M. +Maillet (the French consul, for many years, at Cairo) has left us. It must +be always borne in mind, too, that of the distances between the respective +places here mentioned, we have no longer any accurate means of judging. + + +Page 49.--"_Pyramid beyond pyramid._"--"Multas olim pyramidas fuisse e +ruinis arguitur." _Zoega._--_Vansleb_, who visited more than ten of the +small pyramids, is of opinion that there must have originally been a +hundred in this place. + +See, for the lake to the northward of Memphis, _Shaw's Travels_, p. 302. + + +Page 57.--"_The Theban beetle._"--"On voit en Egypte, apres la retraite du +Nil et la fecondation des terres, le limon couvert d'une multitude de +scarabees. Un pareil phenomene a du sembler aux Egyptiens le plus propre a +peindre une nouvelle existence." _M. Jomard._--Partly for the same reason, +and partly for another, still more fanciful, the early Christians used to +apply this emblem to Christ. "Bonus ille scarabaeus meus," says St. +Augustine "non ea tantum de causa quod unigenitus, quod ipsemet sui auctor +mortalium speciem induerit, sed quod in hac nostra faece sese volutaverit +et ex hac ipsa nasci voluerit." + + +Ib.--"_Enshrined within a case of crystal._"--"Les Egyptiens ont fait aussi, +pour conserver leurs morts, des caisses de verre." _De Pauw._--He mentions, +in another place, a sort of transparent substance, which the Ethiopians +used for the same purpose, and which was frequently mistaken by the Greeks +for glass. + + +Page 58.--"_Among the emblems of death._"--"Un pretre, qui brise la tige +d'une fleur, des oiseaux qui s'envolent sont les emblemes de la morte et +de l'ame qui se separe du corps." _Denon._ + +Theseus employs the same image in the Phaedra:-- + + _{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}_ + _{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}' {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}._ + + +Page 59.--"The singular appearance of a Cross so frequently recurring among +the hieroglyphics of Egypt, had excited the curiosity of the Christians at +a very early period of ecclesiastical history; and as some of the Priests, +who were acquainted with the meaning of the hieroglyphics, became +converted to Christianity the secret transpired. 'The converted heathens,' +says Socrates Scholasticus, 'explained the symbol, and declared that it +signified Life to Come.'" _Clarke._ + +Lipsius, therefore, erroneously supposes the Cross to have been an emblem +peculiar to the Christians. See, on this subject, _L'Histoire des Juifs_, +liv. 9. c. 16. + +It is singular enough that while the Cross was held sacred among the +Egyptians, not only the custom of marking the forehead with the sign of +the Cross, but Baptism and the consecration of the bread in the Eucharist +were imitated in the mysterious ceremonies of Mithra. _Tertull. de +Proscriptione Hereticorum._ + +Zoega is of opinion that the Cross found (for the first time, it is said) +on the destruction of the temple of Serapis, by the Christians, could have +not been the crux ansata; as nothing is more common than this emblem on +all the Egyptian monuments. + + +Page 62.--"_Stood shadowless._"--It was an idea entertained among the +ancients that the Pyramids were so constructed ("mecanica constructione," +says _Ammianus Marcellinus_) as never to cast any shadow. + + +Page 64.--"_Rhodope._"--From the story of Rhodope, Zoega thinks, "videntur +Arabes ansam arripuisse ut in una ex pyramidibus, genii loco, habitare +dicerent mulierem nudam insignis pulchritudinis quae aspectu suo homines +insanire faciat." _De Usu Obeliscorum._ See also _L'Egypte de Murtadi par +Vattier_. + + +Page 66.--"_The Gates of Oblivion._"--"Apud Memphim aeneas quasdam portas, +quae Lethes et Cocyti (hoc est oblivionis et lamentationis) appellenter +aperiri, gravem asperumque edentes sonum." _Zoega._ + + +Page 69.--"_A pile of lifeless bodies._"--See, for the custom of burying the +dead upright ("post funus stantia busto corpora," as Statius describes +it), Dr. Clarke's preface to the 2d section of his fifth volume. They used +to insert precious stones in the place of the eyes. "Les yeux etoient +formes d'emeraudes, de turquoises," &c.--v. _Masoudy_, quoted by +_Quatremere_. + + +Page 72.--"_It seemed as if every echo._"--See, for the echoes in the +pyramids, _Plutarch, de Placitis Philosoph._ + + +Page 74.--"_Pale phantom-like shapes._"--"Ce moment heureux (de l'Autopsie) +etoit prepare par des scenes effrayantes, par des alternatives de crainte +et de joie, de lumiere et des tenebres, par la lueur des eclairs, par le +bruit terrible de la foudre, qu'on imitoit, et par des apparitions de +spectres, des illusions magiques, qui frappoient les yeux et les oreilles +tout ensemble." _Dupuis._ + + +Page 77.--"_Serpents of fire._"--"Ces considerations me portent a penser +que, dans les mysteres, ces phenomenes etoient beaucoup mieux executees et +sans comparison plus terribles a l'aide de quelque composition pyrique, +qui est restee cachee, comme celle du feu Gregeois." _De Pauw._ + + +Page 78.--"_The burning of the reed-beds of Ethiopia._"--"Il n'y a point +d'autre moyen que de porter le feu dans ces forets de roseaux, qui +repandent alors dans tout le pais une lumiere aussi considerable que celle +du jour meme." _Maillet_, tom. 1. p. 63. + + +Page 79.--"_The sound of torrents._"--The Nile, _Pliny_ tells us, was +admitted into the Pyramid. + + +Page 81.--"_I had almost given myself up._"--"On exercoit," says _Dupuis_, +"les recipiendaires, pendant plusieurs jours, a traverser, a la nage, une +grande etendue d'eau. On les y jettoit et ce n'etoit que avec peine qu' +ils s'en retiroient. On appliquoit le fer et le feu sur leurs membres. On +les faisoit passer a travers les flammes." + +The aspirants were often in considerable danger, and Pythagoras, we are +told, nearly lost his life in the trials. v. _Recherches sur les +Initiations, par Robin_. + + +Page 90.--For the two cups used in the mysteries, see _L'Histoire des +Juifs_, liv. 9. c. 16. + + +Ib.--"_Osiris._"--Osiris, under the name of Serapis, was supposed to rule +over the subterranean world; and performed the office of Pluto, in the +mythology of the Egyptians. "They believed," says Dr. Pritchard, "that +Serapis presided over the region of departed souls, during the period of +their absence, when languishing without bodies, and that the dead were +deposited in his palace." _Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology._ + + +Ib.--"_To cool the lips of the dead._"--"Frigidam illam aquam post mortem, +tanquam Hebes poculum, expetitam." _Zoega._--The Lethe of the Egyptians was +called Ameles. See _Dupuis_, tom. 8. p. 651. + + +Page 90.--"_A draught divine._"--_Diodor. Sicul._ + + +Page 93.--"_Grasshopper, symbol of initiation._"--_Hor. Apoll._--The +grasshopper was also consecrated to the sun as being musical. + + +Page 94.--"_Isle of gardens._"--The isle Antirrhodus near Alexandria. +_Maillet._ + + +Ib.--"_Vineyard at Anthylla._"--See _Athen. Deipnos._ + + +Page 97.--"_We can see those stars._"--"On voyoit en plein jour par ces +ouvertures les etoiles, et meme quelques planetes en leur plus grande +latitude septentrionale; et les pretres avoient bientot profite de ce +phenomene pour observer a diverses heures la passage des etoiles." +_Sethos._--_Strabo_ mentions certain caves or pits, constructed for the +purpose of astronomical observations, which lay in the Zelopolitan +prefecture, beyond Heliopolis. + + +Page 98.--"_A plantain._"--This tree was dedicated to the Genii of the +Shades, from its being an emblem of repose and cooling airs. "Cui imminet +musae folium, quod ab Iside infera geniisque ei addictis manu geri solitum, +umbram requiemque et auras frigidas subindigitare videtur." _Zoega._ + + +Page 107.--"_He spoke of the preexistence of the soul_," _&c._--For a full +account of the doctrines which are here represented as having been taught +to the initiated in the Egyptian mysteries, the reader may consult +_Dupuis_, _Pritchard's Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology_, &c. &c. "L'on +decouvroit l'origine de l'ame, sa chute sur la terre, a travers les +spheres et les elemens, et son retour au lieu de sa origine ... c'etoit +ici la partie la plus metaphysique, et que ne pourroit guere entendre le +commun des Inities, mais dont on lui donnoit le spectacle par des figures +et des spectres allegoriques." _Dupuis._ + + +Page 108.--"_Those fields of radiance._"--See _Beausobre_, liv. 3. c. 4. for +the "terre bienheureuse et lumineuse" which the Manicheans supposed God to +inhabit. Plato, too, speaks (in Phaed.) of a "pure land lying in the pure +sky (_{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}_), the abode of divinity, +of innocence, and of life." + + +Page 110.--"_Tracing it from the first moment of earthward desire._"--In the +original construction of this work, there was an episode introduced here, +(which I have since published in another form,) illustrating the doctrine +of the fall of the soul by the Oriental fable of the Loves of the Angels. + + +Page 111.--"_Restoring her lost wings._"--_Damascius_ in his Life of +Isidorus, says, "Ex antiquissimis Philosophis Pythagoram et Platonem +Isidorus ut Deos coluit, et _eorum animas alatas esse_ dixit quas in locum +supercoelestem inque campum veritatis et pratum elevatas, divinis putavit +ideis pasci." _Apud Phot. Bibliothec._ + + +Page 112.--"_A pale, moonlike meteor._"--_Apuleius_, in describing the +miraculous appearances exhibited in the mysteries, says, "Nocte media vidi +solem candido coruscantem lumine." _Metamorphos._ lib. 11. + + +Page 113.--"_So entirely did the illusion of the scene_," _&c._--In tracing +the early connection of spectacles with the ceremonies of religion, +Voltaire says, "Il y a bien plus; les veritables grandes tragedies, les +representations imposantes et terribles, etoient les mysteres sacres, +qu'on celebroit dans les plus vastes temples du monde, en presence des +seuls Inities; c'etoit la que les habits, les decorations, les machines +etoient propres au sujet; et le sujet etoit la vie presente et la vie +future." _Des divers changemens arrives a l'art tragique._ + +To these scenic representations in the Egyptian mysteries, there is +evidently an allusion in the vision of Ezekiel, where the spirit shows him +the abominations which the Israelites learned in Egypt:--"Then said he unto +me, 'Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel +do in the dark, every man in _the chambers of his imagery_.'" Chap. 8. + + +Page 118.--"_The seven tables of stone._"--"Bernard, Comte de la Marche +Trevisane, instruit par la lecture des livres anciens, dit qu' Hermes +trouva sept tables dans la vallee d'Hebron, sur lesquelles etoient graves +les principes des arts liberaux." _Fables Egyptiennes._ See _Jablonski de +stelis Herm._ + + +Page 119.--"_Beside the goat of Mendes._"--For an account of the animal +worship of the Egyptians, see _De Pauw_, tom. 2. + + +Ib.--"_The Isiac serpents._"--"On auguroit bien des serpens Isiaques, +lorsqu'ils goutoient l'offrande et se trainoient lentement autour de +l'autel." _De Pauw._ + + +Page 121.--"_Hence the festivals and hymns_," _&c._--For an account of the +various festivals at the different periods of the sun's progress, in the +spring, and in the autumn, see _Dupuis_ and _Pritchard_. + + +Ib.--"_The mysteries of the night._"--v. _Athenag. Leg. pro Christ._ p. 133. + + +Page 125.--"_A peal like that of thunder._"--See, for some curious remarks +on the mode of imitating thunder and lightning in the ancient mysteries, +_De Pauw_, tom. 1. p. 323. The machine with which these effects were +produced on the stage was called a ceraunoscope. + + +Page 131.--"_Windings, capriciously intricate._"--In addition to the +accounts which the ancients have left us of the prodigious excavations in +all parts of Egypt,--the fifteen hundred chambers under the Labyrinth--the +subterranean stables of the Thebaid, containing a thousand horses--the +crypts of Upper Egypt passing under the bed of the Nile, &c. &c.--the +stories and traditions current among the Arabs still preserve the memory +of those wonderful substructions. "Un Arabe," says Paul Lucas, "qui etoit +avec nous, m'assura qu'etant entre autrefois dans le Labyrinthe, il avoit +marche dans les chambres souterraines jusqu'en un lieu ou il y avoit une +grande place environnee de plusieurs niches qui ressembloit a de petites +boutiques, d'ou l'on entroit dans d'autres allees et dans des chambres, +sans pouvoir en trouver la fin." In speaking, too, of the arcades along +the Nile, near Cosseir, "Ils me dirent meme que ces souterrains etoient si +profondes qu'il y en avoient qui alloient a trois journees de la, et +qu'ils conduisoient dans un pays ou l'on voyoit de beaux jardins, qu'on y +trouvoit de belles maisons," &c. &c. + +See also in _M. Quatremere's Memoires sur l'Egypte_, tom. 1. p. 142., an +account of a subterranean reservoir, said to have been discovered at Kais, +and of the expedition undertaken by a party of persons, in a long narrow +boat, for the purpose of exploring it. "Leur voyage avoit ete de six +jours, dont les quatre premiers furent employes a penetrer les bords; les +deux autres a revenir au lieu d'ou ils etoient partis: Pendant tout cet +intervalle ils ne purent atteindre l'extremite du bassin. L'emir Ala- +eddin-Tamboga, gouverneur de Behnesa, ecrivit ces details au sultan, qui +en fut extremement surpris." + + +Page 136.--"_A small island in the centre of Lake Moeris._"--The position +here given to Lake Moeris, in making it the immediate boundary of the city +of Memphis to the south, corresponds exactly with the site assigned to it +by Maillet:--"Memphis avoit encore a son midi un vaste reservoir, par ou +tout ce qui peut servir a la commodite et a l'agrement de la vie lui etoit +voiture abondamment de toutes les parties de l'Egypte. Ce lac qui la +terminoit de ce cote-la," &c. &c. Tom. 2. p. 7. + + +Ib.--"_Ruins rising blackly above the wave._"--"On voit sur la rive +orientale des antiquites qui sont presque entierement sous les eaux." +_Belzoni._ + + +Page 137.--"_Its thundering portals._"--"Quorundam autem domorum (in +Labyrintho) talis est situs, ut adaperientibus foris tonitru intus +terribile existat." _Pliny._ + + +Page 138.--"_Leaves that serve as cups._"--_Strabo._ According to the French +translator of Strabo, it was the fruit of the _faba AEgyptiaca_, not the +leaf, that was used for this purpose. "Le _{~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}_," he says, "devoit +s'entendre de la capsule ou fruit de cette plante, dont les Egyptiens se +servoient comme d'un vase, imaginant que l'eau du Nil y devenoit +delicieuse." + + +Page 142.--"_The fish of these waters_," _&c._--_AElian_, lib. 6. 32. + + +Ib.--"_Pleasure boats or yachts._"--Called Thalamages, from the pavilion on +the deck. v. _Strabo_. + + +Page 144.--"_Covered with beds of those pale, sweet roses._"--As April is +the season for gathering these roses (See _Malte-brun's Economical +Calendar_), the Epicurean could not, of course, mean to say that he saw +them actually in flower. + + +Page 146.--"_The lizards upon the bank._"--"L'or et l'azur brillent en +bandes longitudinales sur leur corps entier, et leur queue est du plus +beau bleu celeste." _Sonnini._ + + +Page 147.--"_The canal through which we now sailed._"--"Un canal," says +_Maillet_, "tres profond et tres large y voituroit les eaux du Nil." + + +Page 150.--"_For a draught of whose flood_," _&c._--"Anciennement on portoit +les eaux du Nil jusqu'au des contrees fort eloignees, et surtout chez les +princesses du sang des Ptolomees, mariees dans des families etrangeres." +_De Pauw._ + + +Page 154.--"_Bearing each the name of its owner._"--"Le nom du maitre y +etoit ecrit, pendant la nuit en lettres de feu." _Maillet._ + + +Page 155.--"_Cups of that frail crystal_"--called Alassontes. For their +brittleness _Martial_ is an authority:-- + + Tolle, puer, calices, tepidique toreumata Nili, + Et mihi secura pocula trade manu. + + +Ib.--"_Bracelets of the black beans of Abyssinia._"--The bean of the +Glycyne, which is so beautiful as to be strung into necklaces and +bracelets, is generally known by the name of the black bean of Abyssinia. +_Niebhur._ + + +Ib.--"_Sweet lotus-wood flute._"--See _M. Villoteau on the musical +instruments of the Egyptians_. + + +Page 156.--"_Shine like the brow of Mount Atlas at night._"--_Solinus_ +speaks of the snowy summit of Mount Atlas glittering with flames at night. +In the account of the Periplus of Hanno, as well as in that of Eudoxus, we +read that as those navigators were coasting this part of Africa, torrents +of light were seen to fall on the sea. + + +Page 158.--"_The tears of Isis._"--"Per lacrymas, vero, Isidis intelligo +effluvia quaedam Lunae, quibus tantam vim videntur tribuisse AEgypti." +_Jablonski._--He is of opinion that the superstition of the _Nucta_, or +miraculous drop, is of a relic of the veneration paid to the dews, as the +tears of Isis. + + +Page 158.--"_The rustling of the acacias_," _&c._--_Travels of Captain +Mangles._ + + +Ib.--"_Supposed to rest in the valley of the moon._"--_Plutarch._ _Dupuis_, +tom. 10. The Manicheans held the same belief. See _Beausobre_, p. 565. + + +Page 160.--"_Sothis, the fair star of the waters._"--_{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER DELTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}_ is the +epithet applied to this star by _Plutarch_, _de Isid._ + + +Ib.--"_Was its birth-star._"--_{~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER ETA WITH DASIA~} {~GREEK CAPITAL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} +{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}_. _Porphyr. de Antro Nymph._ + + +Page 168.--"_Golden Mountains._"--v. _Wilford on Egypt and the Nile_, +Asiatic Researches. + + +Ib.--"_Sweet-smelling wood._"--"'A l'epoque de la crue le Nil Vert charie +les planches d'un bois qui a une odeur semblable a celle de l'encens." +_Quatremere._ + + +Page 169.--"_Barges full of bees._"--_Maillet._ + + +Page 170.--"_Such a profusion of the white flowers_," _&c._--"On les voit +comme jadis cueillir dans les champs des tiges du lotus, signes du +debordement et presages de l'abondance; ils s'enveloppent les bras et le +corps avec les longues tiges fleuries, et parcourent les rues," &c. +_Description des Tombeaux des Rois, par M. Costaz._ + + +Page 173.--"_While composing his commentary on the scriptures._"--It was +during the composition of his great critical work, the Hexapla, that +Origen employed these female scribes. + + +Page 176.--"_That rich tapestry_," _&c._ + + Non ego praetulerim Babylonica picta superbe + Texta, Semiramia quae variantur acu. + + _Martial._ + + +Page 200.--"_The Place of Weeping._"--v. _Wilford_, _Asiatic Researches_, +vol. 3. p. 340. + + +Page 210.--"_We had long since left this mountain behind._"--The voyages on +the Nile are, under favourable circumstances, performed with considerable +rapidity. "En cinq ou six jours," says _Maillet_, "on pourroit aisement +remonter de l'embouchure du Nil a ses cataractes, ou descendre des +cataractes jusqu'a la mer." The great uncertainty of the navigation is +proved by what _Belzoni_ tells us:--"Nous ne mimes cette fois que deux +jours et demi pour faire le trajet du Caire a Melawi, auquel, dans notre +second voyage, nous avions employes dix-huit jours." + + +Page 212.--"_Those mighty statues, that fling their shadows._"--"Elles out +pres de vingt metres (61 pieds) d'elevation; et au lever du soleil, leurs +ombres immenses s'etendent au loin sur la chaine Libyen." _Description +generale de Thebes, par Messrs. Jollois et Desvilliers._ + + +Ib.--"_Those cool alcoves._"--_Paul Lucas._ + + +Page 219.--"_Whose waters are half sweet, half bitter._"--_Paul Lucas._ + + +Page 224.--"_The Mountain of the Birds._"--There has been much controversy +among the Arabian writers, with respect to the site of this mountain, for +which see _Quatremere_, tom. 1. art. _Amoun_. + + +Page 230.--"_The hand of labour had succeeded_," _&c._--The monks of Mount +Sinai (_Shaw_ says) have covered over near four acres of the naked rocks +with fruitful gardens and orchards. + + +Page 233.--"_The image of a head._"--There was usually, Tertullian tells us, +the image of Christ on the communion-cups. + + +Ib.--"_Kissed her forehead._"--"We are rather disposed to infer," says the +present Bishop of Lincoln, in his very sensible work on Tertullian, "that, +at the conclusion of all their meetings for the purpose of devotion, the +early Christians were accustomed to give the kiss of peace, in token of +the brotherly love subsisting between them." + + +Page 237.--"_In the middle of the seven valleys._"--See Macrizy's account of +these valleys, given by Quatremere, tom. 1. p. 450. + + +Ib.--"_Red lakes of Nitria._"--For a striking description of this region, +see "_Rameses_,"--a work which, though, in general, too technical and +elaborate, shows, in many passages, to what picturesque effects the +scenery and mythology of Egypt may be made subservient. + + +Page 238.--"_In the neighbourhood of Antinoe._"--From the position assigned +to Antinoe in this work, we should conclude that it extended much farther +to the north, than these few ruins of it that remain would seem to +indicate; so as to render the distance between the city and the Mountain +of the Birds considerably less than what it appears to be at present. + + +Page 243.--"_When Isis, the pure star of lovers._"--v. _Plutarch de Isid._ + + +Ib.--"_Ere she again embrace her bridegroom sun._"--"Conjunctio solis cum +luna, quod est veluti utriusque connubium." _Jablonski._ + + +Page 247.--"_Of his walks a lion is the companion._"--M. Chateaubriand has +introduced Paul and his lion into the "_Martyrs_," liv. 11. + + +Page 235.--"_Come thus secretly before day-break._"--It was among the +accusations of Celsus against the Christians, that they held their +assemblies privately and contrary to law; and one of the speakers in the +curious work of Minucius Felix calls the Christians "latebrosa et +lucifugax natio." + + +Page 256.--"_A swallow_," _&c._--"Je vis dans le desert des hirondelles d'un +gris clair comme le sable sur lequel elles volent."--_Denon._ + + +Page 257.--"_The comet that once desolated this world._"--In alluding to +Whiston's idea of a comet having caused the deluge, _M. Girard_, having +remarked that the word Typhon means a deluge, adds, "On ne peut entendre +par le tems du regne de Typhon que celui pendant lequel le deluge inonda +la terre, tems pendant lequel on dut observer la comete qui l'occasionna, +et dont l'apparition fut, non seulement pour les peuples de l'Egypte, et +de l'Ethiopie, mais encore pour tous les peuples le presage funeste de +leur destruction presque totale." _Description de la Vallee de +l'E'garement._ + + +Page 259.--"_In which the spirit of my dream_," _&c._--"Many people," said +_Origen_, "have been brought over to Christianity by the Spirit of God +giving a sudden turn to their minds, and offering visions to them either +by day or night." On this _Jortin_ remarks:--"Why should it be thought +improbable that Pagans of good dispositions, but not free from prejudices, +should have been called by divine admonitions, by dreams or visions, which +might be a support to Christianity in those days of distress." + + +Page 263.--"_One of those earthen cups._"--_Palladius_, who lived some time +in Egypt, describes the monk Ptolemaeus, who inhabited the desert of Scete, +as collecting in earthen cups the abundant dew from the +rocks.--_Bibliothec. Pat._ tom. 13. + + +Page 264.--"_It was to preserve, he said_," _&c._--The brief sketch here +given of the Jewish dispensation agrees very much with the view taken of +it by Dr. Sumner, the present Bishop of Llandaff, in the first chapters of +his eloquent and luminous work, the "Records of the Creation." + + +Page 266.--"_In vain did I seek the promise of immortality._"--"It is +impossible to deny," says the Bishop of Llandaff, "that the sanctions of +the Mosaic Law are altogether temporal.... It is, indeed, one of the facts +that can only be explained by acknowledging that he really acted under a +divine commission, promulgating a temporary law for a peculiar purpose,"--a +much more candid and sensible way of treating this very difficult point, +than by either endeavouring, like Warburton, to escape from it into a +paradox, or still worse, contriving, like Dr. Graves, to increase its +difficulty by explanation. v. "_On the Pentateuch_." See also _Horne's +Introduction_, _&c._ vol. I. p. 226. + + +Page 268.--"_All are of the dust_," _&c._--While Voltaire, Volney, &c. refer +to the Ecclesiastes, as abounding with tenets of materialism and +Epicurism, Mr. Des Voeux and others find in it strong proofs of belief in +a future state. The chief difficulty lies in the chapter from which this +text is quoted; and the mode of construction by which some writers attempt +to get rid of it,--namely, by putting these texts into the mouth of a +foolish reasoner,--appears forced and gratuitous. v. _Dr. Hales's +Analysis_. + + +Page 270.--"_The noblest and first-created_," _&c._--This opinion of the +Hermit may be supposed to have been derived from his master, Origen; but +it is not easy to ascertain the exact doctrine of Origen on this subject. +In the Treatise on Prayer attributed to him, he asserts that God the +Father alone should be invoked,--which, says Bayle, is "encherir sur les +Heresies des Sociniens." Notwithstanding this, however, and some other +indications of, what was afterwards called, Arianism, (such as the opinion +of the divinity being received by _communication_, which _Milner_ asserts +to have been held by this Father,) Origen was one of the authorities +quoted by Athanasius in support of his high doctrines of co-eternity and +co-essentiality. What Priestley says is, perhaps, the best solution of +these inconsistencies;--"Origen, as well as Clemens Alexandrinus, has been +thought to favour the Arian principle; but he did it only in words and not +in ideas." _Early Opinions_, _&c._ Whatever uncertainty, however, there +may exist with respect to the opinion of Origen himself on this subject, +there is no doubt that the doctrines of his immediate followers were, at +least, Anti-Athanasian. "So many Bishops of Africa," says Priestley, +"were, at this period (between the years 255 and 258), Unitarians, that +Athanasius says, 'The Son of God,'--meaning his divinity,--'was scarcely any +longer preached in the churches.'" + + +Page 271.--"_The restoration of the whole human race to purity and +happiness._"--This benevolent doctrine,--which not only goes far to solve +the great problem of moral and physical evil, but which would, if received +more generally, tend to soften the spirit of uncharitableness, so fatally +prevalent among Christian sects,--was maintained by that great light of the +early Church, Origen, and has not wanted supporters among more modern +Theologians. That Tillotson was inclined to the opinion appears from his +sermon preached before the queen. Paley is supposed to have held the same +amiable doctrine; and Newton (the author of the work on the Prophecies) is +also among the supporters of it. For a full account of the arguments in +favour of this opinion, derived both from reason and the express language +of Scripture, see Dr. Southwood Smith's very interesting work, "On the +Divine Government." See also _Magee on the Atonement_, where the doctrine +of the advocates of Universal Restoration is thus briefly and fairly +explained:--"Beginning with the existence of an infinitely powerful, wise, +and good Being, as the first and fundamental principle of rational +religion, they pronounce the essence of this Being to be _love_, and from +this infer, as a demonstrable consequence, that none of the creatures +formed by such a Being will ever be made eternally miserable.... Since God +(they say) would act unjustly in inflicting eternal misery for temporary +crimes, the sufferings of the wicked can be but remedial, and will +terminate in a complete purification from moral disorder, and in their +ultimate restoration to virtue and happiness." + + +Page 273.--"_Fruit of the desert shrub._"--v. _Hamilton's AEgyptiaca_. + + +Page 278.--"_The white garment she wore, and the ring of gold on her +finger._"--See, for the custom among the early Christians of wearing white +for a few days after baptism, _Ambros. de Myst._--With respect to the ring, +the Bishop of Lincoln says, in his work on Tertullian, "The natural +inference from these words (_Tertull. de Pudicitia_) appears to be that a +ring used to be given in baptism; but I have found no other trace of such +a custom." + + +Page 280.--"_Pebbles of jasper._"--v. _Clarke_. + + +Ib.--"_Stunted marigold_," _&c._--"Les _Mesembryanthemum nodiflorum_ et +_Zygophyllum coccineum_, plantes grasses des deserts, rejetees a cause de +leur acrete par les chameaux, les chevres, et les gazelles." _M. Delile +upon the plants of Egypt._ + + +Page 281.--"_Antinoe._"--v. _Savary_ and _Quatremere_. + + +Page 286.--"_I have observed in my walks._"--"Je remarquai avec une +reflexion triste, qu'un animal de proie accompagne presque toujours les +pas de ce joli et frele individu." + + +Page 272.--"_Glistened over its silver letters._"--The Codex Cottonianus of +the New Testament is written in silver letters on a purple ground. The +Codex Cottonianus of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament is +supposed to be the identical copy that belonged to Origen. + + +Page 289.--"_Some denier of Christ._"--Those Christians who sacrificed to +idols to save themselves were called by various names, _Thurificati_, +_Sacrificati_, _Mittentes_, _Negatores_, &c. Baronius mentions a bishop of +this period (253), Marcellinus, who, yielding to the threats of the +Gentiles, threw incense upon the altar. v. _Arnob. contra Gent._ lib. 7. + + +Page 297.--"_The clear voice with which_," _&c._--The merit of the +confession "Christianus sum," or "Christiana sum," was considerably +enhanced by the clearness and distinctness with which it was pronounced. +_Eusebius_ mentions the martyr Vetius as making it _{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~} {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PHI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}_. + + +Page 304.--"_The band round the young Christian's brow._"--We find poisonous +crowns mentioned by _Pliny_, under the designation of "coronae ferales." +_Paschalius_, too, gives the following account of these "deadly garlands," +as he calls them:--"Sed mirum est tam salutare inventum humanam nequitiam +reperisse, quomodo ad nefarios usus traducent. Nempe, repertae sunt nefandae +coronae harum, quas dixi, tam salubrium per nomen quidem et speciem +imitatrices, at re et effectu ferales, atque adeo capitis, cui imponuntur, +interfectrices." _De Coronis._ + + + + + + THE END. + + + + + + LONDON: + Printed by A. & R. Spottiswoode, + New-Street-Square. + + + + + + FOOTNOTES + + + 1 The description, here alluded to, may also be found, copied + _verbatim_ from Sethos, in the "Voyages d'Antenor."--"In that + philosophical romance, called 'La Vie de Sethos,'" says Warburton, + "we find a much juster account of old Egyptian wisdom, than in all + the pretended 'Histoire du Ciel.'" _Div. Leg._ book 4. sect. 14. + + 2 A cross was, among the Egyptians, the emblem of a future life. + + 3 "On s'etoit meme avise, depuis la premiere construction de ces + demeures, de percer en plusieurs endroits jusq'au haut les terres + qui les couvroient; non pas, a la verite, pour tirer un jour qui + n'auroit jamais ete suffisant, mais pour recevoir un air salutaire, + &c."--_Sethos._ + + 4 Osiris. + + 5 In the language of Plato, Hierocles, &c. to "restore to the soul its + wings," is the main object both of religion and philosophy. + + 6 See an account of this sensitive tree, which bends down its branches + to those who approach it, in M. Jomard's Description of Syene and + the Cataracts. + + 7 The province of Arsinoe, now Fioum. + + 8 In the original the discourses of the Hermit are given much more at + length. + + 9 A rank, resembling that of Colonel. + + 10 "Une de ces couronnes de grain de corail, dont les vierges martyres + ornoient leurs cheveaux en allant a la mort." _Les Martyrs._ + + + + + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE + + +Variations in hyphenation (e.g. "daybreak", "day-break", "overhead", +"over-head") have not been changed. + +In the notes, some references are to the wrong pages or out of sequence. + +Other changes, which have been made to the text: + + page 32, "alrea d" changed to "already" + page 81, "stirke" changed to "strike" + page 93, "grashopper" changed to "grasshopper" + page 188, quote mark added before "The state of misery" + page 194, "decome" changed to "become" + page 312, quote mark added before "There is, to the north of + Memphis" + + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EPICUREAN*** + + + + CREDITS + + +June 29, 2015 + + Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1 + Produced by Shaun Pinder, Stefan Cramme and the Online + Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This + file was produced from images generously made available by The + Internet Archive) + + + + A WORD FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG + + +This file should be named 49332.txt or 49332.zip. + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + + + http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/9/3/3/49332/ + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one -- the old editions will be +renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law +means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the +Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States +without permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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