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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5440.txt b/5440.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..afb33e3 --- /dev/null +++ b/5440.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2964 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook Uarda by Georg Ebers, Volume 2. +#2 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: Uarda, Volume 2. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5440] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 29, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UARDA BY GEORG EBERS, V2 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +UARDA + +Volume 2. + +By Georg Ebers + + + +CHAPTER V. + +The night during which the Princess Bent-Anat and her followers had +knocked at the gate of the House of Seti was past. + +The fruitful freshness of the dawn gave way to the heat, which began to +pour down from the deep blue cloudless vault of heaven. The eye could no +longer gaze at the mighty globe of light whose rays pierced the fine +white dust which hung over the declivity of the hills that enclosed the +city of the dead on the west. The limestone rocks showed with blinding +clearness, the atmosphere quivered as if heated over a flame; each minute +the shadows grew shorter and their outlines sharper. + +All the beasts which we saw peopling the Necropolis in the evening had +now withdrawn into their lurking places; only man defied the heat of the +summer day. Undisturbed he accomplished his daily work, and only laid +his tools aside for a moment, with a sigh, when a cooling breath blew +across the overflowing stream and fanned his brow. + +The harbor or clock where those landed who crossed from eastern Thebes +was crowded with barks and boats waiting to return. + +The crews of rowers and steersmen who were attached to priestly +brotherhoods or noble houses, were enjoying a rest till the parties they +had brought across the Nile drew towards them again in long processions. + +Under a wide-spreading sycamore a vendor of eatables, spirituous drinks, +and acids for cooling the water, had set up his stall, and close to him, +a crowd of boatmen, and drivers shouted and disputed as they passed the +time in eager games at morra. + + [In Latin "micare digitis." A game still constantly played in the + south of Europe, and frequently represented by the Egyptians. The + games depicted in the monuments are collected by Minutoli, in the + Leipziger Illustrirte Zeitung, 1852.] + +Many sailors lay on the decks of the vessels, others on the shore; here +in the thin shade of a palm tree, there in the full blaze of the sun, +from those burning rays they protected themselves by spreading the cotton +cloths, which served them for cloaks, over their faces. + +Between the sleepers passed bondmen and slaves, brown and black, in long +files one behind the other, bending under the weight of heavy burdens, +which had to be conveyed to their destination at the temples for +sacrifice, or to the dealers in various wares. Builders dragged blocks +of stone, which had come from the quarries of Chennu and Suan, + + [The Syene of the Greeks, non, called Assouan at the first + cataract.] + +on sledges to the site of a new temple; laborers poured water under the +runners, that the heavily loaded and dried wood should not take fire. + +All these working men were driven with sticks by their overseers, and +sang at their labor; but the voices of the leaders sounded muffled and +hoarse, though, when after their frugal meal they enjoyed an hour of +repose, they might be heard loud enough. Their parched throats refused +to sing in the noontide of their labor. + +Thick clouds of gnats followed these tormented gangs, who with dull and +spirit-broken endurance suffered alike the stings of the insects and the +blows of their driver. The gnats pursued them to the very heart of the +City of the dead, where they joined themselves to the flies and wasps, +which swarmed in countless crowds around the slaughter houses, cooks' +shops, stalls of fried fish, and booths of meat, vegetable, honey, cakes +and drinks, which were doing a brisk business in spite of the noontide +heat and the oppressive atmosphere heated and filled with a mixture of +odors. + +The nearer one got to the Libyan frontier, the quieter it became, and the +silence of death reigned in the broad north-west valley, where in the +southern slope the father of the reigning king had caused his tomb to be +hewn, and where the stone-mason of the Pharaoh had prepared a rock tomb +for him. + +A newly made road led into this rocky gorge, whose steep yellow and brown +walls seemed scorched by the sun in many blackened spots, and looked like +a ghostly array of shades that had risen from the tombs in the night and +remained there. + +At the entrance of this valley some blocks of stone formed a sort of +doorway, and through this, indifferent to the heat of day, a small but +brilliant troop of the men was passing. + +Four slender youths as staff bearers led the procession, each clothed +only with an apron and a flowing head-cloth of gold brocade; the mid-day +sun played on their smooth, moist, red-brown skins, and their supple +naked feet hardly stirred the stones on the road. + +Behind them followed an elegant, two-wheeled chariot, with two prancing +brown horses bearing tufts of red and blue feathers on their noble heads, +and seeming by the bearing of their arched necks and flowing tails to +express their pride in the gorgeous housings, richly embroidered in +silver, purple, and blue and golden ornaments, which they wore--and even +more in their beautiful, royal charioteer, Bent-Anat, the daughter of +Rameses, at whose lightest word they pricked their ears, and whose little +hand guided them with a scarcely perceptible touch. + +Two young men dressed like the other runners followed the chariot, and +kept the rays of the sun off the face of their mistress with large fans +of snow-white ostrich feathers fastened to long wands. + +By the side of Bent-Anat, so long as the road was wide enough to allow +of it, was carried Nefert, the wife of Mena, in her gilt litter, borne by +eight tawny bearers, who, running with a swift and equally measured step, +did not remain far behind the trotting horses of the princess and her +fan-bearers. + +Both the women, whom we now see for the first time in daylight, were of +remarkable but altogether different beauty. + +The wife of Mena had preserved the appearance of a maiden; her large +almond-shaped eyes had a dreamy surprised look out from under her long +eyelashes, and her figure of hardly the middle-height had acquired a +little stoutness without losing its youthful grace. No drop of foreign +blood flowed in her veins, as could be seen in the color of her skin, +which was of that fresh and equal line which holds a medium between +golden yellow and bronze brown--and which to this day is so charming in +the maidens of Abyssinia--in her straight nose, her well-formed brow, in +her smooth but thick black hair, and in the fineness of her hands and +feet, which were ornamented with circles of gold. + +The maiden princess next to her had hardly reached her nineteenth year, +and yet something of a womanly self-consciousness betrayed itself in her +demeanor. Her stature was by almost a head taller than that of her +friend, her skin was fairer, her blue eyes kind and frank, without tricks +of glance, but clear and honest, her profile was noble but sharply cut, +and resembled that of her father, as a landscape in the mild and +softening light of the moon resembles the same landscape in the broad +clear light of day. The scarcely perceptible aquiline of her nose, she +inherited from her Semitic ancestors, + + [Many portraits have come down to us of Rameses: the finest is the + noble statue preserved at Turin. A likeness has been detected + between its profile, with its slightly aquiline nose, and that of + Napoleon I.] + +as well as the slightly waving abundance of her brown hair, over which +she wore a blue and white striped silk kerchief; its carefully-pleated +folds were held in place by a gold ring, from which in front a horned +urarus + + [A venomous Egyptian serpent which was adopted as the symbol of + sovereign power, in consequence of its swift effects for life or + death. It is never wanting to the diadem of the Pharaohs.] + +raised its head crowned with a disk of rubies. From her left temple a +large tress, plaited with gold thread, hung down to her waist, the sign +of her royal birth. She wore a purple dress of fine, almost transparent +stuff, that was confined with a gold belt and straps. Round her throat +was fastened a necklace like a collar, made of pearls and costly stones, +and hanging low down on her well-formed bosom. + +Behind the princess stood her charioteer, an old officer of noble birth. + +Three litters followed the chariot of the princess, and in each sat two +officers of the court; then came a dozen of slaves ready for any service, +and lastly a crowd of wand-bearers to drive off the idle populace, and of +lightly-armed soldiers, who--dressed only in the apron and head-cloth-- +each bore a dagger-shaped sword in his girdle, an axe in his right hand, +and in his left; in token of his peaceful service, a palm-branch. + +Like dolphins round a ship, little girls in long shirt-shaped garments +swarmed round the whole length of the advancing procession, bearing +water-jars on their steady heads, and at a sign from any one who was +thirsty were ready to give him a drink. With steps as light as the +gazelle they often outran the horses, and nothing could be more graceful +than the action with which the taller ones bent over with the water-jars +held in both arms to the drinker. + +The courtiers, cooled and shaded by waving fans, and hardly perceiving +the noontide heat, conversed at their ease about indifferent matters, and +the princess pitied the poor horses, who were tormented as they ran, by +annoying gadflies; while the runners and soldiers, the litter-bearers and +fan-bearers, the girls with their jars and the panting slaves, were +compelled to exert themselves under the rays of the mid-day sun in the +service of their masters, till their sinews threatened to crack and their +lungs to burst their bodies. + +At a spot where the road widened, and where, to the right, lay the steep +cross-valley where the last kings of the dethroned race were interred, +the procession stopped at a sign from Paaker, who preceded the princess, +and who drove his fiery black Syrian horses with so heavy a hand that the +bloody foam fell from their bits. + +When the Mohar had given the reins into the hand of a servant, he sprang +from his chariot, and after the usual form of obeisance said to the +princess: + +"In this valley lies the loathsome den of the people, to whom thou, O +princess, dost deign to do such high honor. Permit me to go forward as +guide to thy party." + +"We will go on foot," said the princess, "and leave our followers behind +here," + +Paaker bowed, Bent-Anat threw the reins to her charioteer and sprang to +the ground, the wife of Mena and the courtiers left their litters, and +the fan-bearers and chamberlains were about to accompany their mistress +on foot into the little valley, when she turned round and ordered, +"Remain behind, all of you. Only Paaker and Nefert need go with me." + +The princess hastened forward into the gorge, which was oppressive with +the noon-tide heat; but she moderated her steps as soon as she observed +that the frailer Nefert found it difficult to follow her. + +At a bend in the road Paaker stood still, and with him Bent-Anat and +Nefert. Neither of them had spoken a word during their walk. The valley +was perfectly still and deserted; on the highest pinnacles of the cliff, +which rose perpendicularly to the right, sat a long row of vultures, as +motionless as if the mid-day heat had taken all strength out of their +wings. + +Paaker bowed before them as being the sacred animals of the Great Goddess +of Thebes, + + [She formed a triad with Anion and Chunsu under the name of Muth. + The great "Sanctuary of the kingdom"--the temple of Karnak--was + dedicated to them.] + +and the two women silently followed his example. + +"There," said the Mohar, pointing to two huts close to the left cliff of +the valley, built of bricks made of dried Nile-mud, "there, the neatest, +next the cave in the rock." + +Bent-Anat went towards the solitary hovel with a beating heart; Paaker +let the ladies go first. A few steps brought them to an ill-constructed +fence of canestalks, palm-branches, briars and straw, roughly thrown +together. A heart-rending cry of pain from within the hut trembled in +the air and arrested the steps of the two women. Nefert staggered and +clung to her stronger companion, whose beating heart she seemed to hear. +Both stood a few minutes as if spellbound, then the princess called +Paaker, and said: + +"You go first into the house." + +Paaker bowed to the ground. + +"I will call the man out," he said, "but how dare we step over his +threshold. Thou knowest such a proceeding will defile us." + +Nefert looked pleadingly at Bent-Anat, but the princess repeated her +command. + +"Go before me; I have no fear of defilement." The Mohar still hesitated. + +"Wilt thou provoke the Gods?--and defile thyself?" But the princess let +him say no more; she signed to Nefert, who raised her hands in horror and +aversion; so, with a shrug of her shoulders, she left her companion +behind with the Mohar, and stepped through an opening in the hedge into a +little court, where lay two brown goats; a donkey with his forelegs tied +together stood by, and a few hens were scattering the dust about in a +vain search for food. + +Soon she stood, alone, before the door of the paraschites' hovel. No one +perceived her, but she could not take her eyes-accustomed only to scenes +of order and splendor--from the gloomy but wonderfully strange picture, +which riveted her attention and her sympathy. At last she went up to the +doorway, which was too low for her tall figure. Her heart shrunk +painfully within her, and she would have wished to grow smaller, and, +instead of shining in splendor, to have found herself wrapped in a +beggar's robe. + +Could she step into this hovel decked with gold and jewels as if in +mockery?--like a tyrant who should feast at a groaning table and compel +the starving to look on at the banquet. Her delicate perception made her +feel what trenchant discord her appearance offered to all that surrounded +her, and the discord pained her; for she could not conceal from herself +that misery and external meanness were here entitled to give the key-note +and that her magnificence derived no especial grandeur from contrast with +all these modest accessories, amid dust, gloom, and suffering, but rather +became disproportionate and hideous, like a giant among pigmies. + +She had already gone too far to turn back, or she would willingly have +done so. The longer she gazed into the but, the more deeply she felt the +impotence of her princely power, the nothingness of the splendid gifts +with which she approached it, and that she might not tread the dusty +floor of this wretched hovel but in all humility, and to crave a pardon. + +The room into which she looked was low but not very small, and obtained +from two cross lights a strange and unequal illumination; on one side the +light came through the door, and on the other through an opening in the +time-worn ceiling of the room, which had never before harbored so many +and such different guests. + +All attention was concentrated on a group, which was clearly lighted up +from the doorway. + +On the dusty floor of the room cowered an old woman, with dark weather- +beaten features and tangled hair that had long been grey. Her black-blue +cotton shirt was open over her withered bosom, and showed a blue star +tattooed upon it. + +In her lap she supported with her hands the head of a girl, whose slender +body lay motionless on a narrow, ragged mat. The little white feet of +the sick girl almost touched the threshold. Near to them squatted a +benevolent-looking old man, who wore only a coarse apron, and sitting all +in a heap, bent forward now and then, rubbing the child's feet with his +lean hands and muttering a few words to himself. + +The sufferer wore nothing but a short petticoat of coarse light-blue +stuff. Her face, half resting on the lap of the old woman, was graceful +and regular in form, her eyes were half shut-like those of a child, whose +soul is wrapped in some sweet dream-but from her finely chiselled lips +there escaped from time to time a painful, almost convulsive sob. + +An abundance of soft, but disordered reddish fair hair, in which clung a +few withered flowers, fell over the lap of the old woman and on to the +mat where she lay. Her cheeks were white and rosy-red, and when the +young surgeon Nebsecht--who sat by her side, near his blind, stupid +companion, the litany-singer--lifted the ragged cloth that had been +thrown over her bosom, which had been crushed by the chariot wheel, or +when she lifted her slender arm, it was seen that she had the shining +fairness of those daughters of the north who not unfrequently came to +Thebes among the king's prisoners of war. + +The two physicians sent hither from the House of Seti sat on the left +side of the maiden on a little carpet. From time to time one or the +other laid his hand over the heart of the sufferer, or listened to her +breathing, or opened his case of medicaments, and moistened the compress +on her wounded breast with a white ointment. + +In a wide circle close to the wall of the room crouched several women, +young and old, friends of the paraschites, who from time to time gave +expression to their deep sympathy by a piercing cry of lamentation. One +of them rose at regular intervals to fill the earthen bowl by the side of +the physician with fresh water. As often as the sudden coolness of a +fresh compress on her hot bosom startled the sick girl, she opened her +eyes, but always soon to close them again for longer interval, and turned +them at first in surprise, and then with gentle reverence, towards a +particular spot. + +These glances had hitherto been unobserved by him to whom they were +directed. + +Leaning against the wall on the right hand side of the room, dressed in +his long, snow-white priest's robe, Pentaur stood awaiting the princess. +His head-dress touched the ceiling, and the narrow streak of light, which +fell through the opening in the roof, streamed on his handsome head and +his breast, while all around him was veiled in twilight gloom. + +Once more the suffering girl looked up, and her glance this time met the +eye of the young priest, who immediately raised his hand, and half- +mechanically, in a low voice, uttered the words of blessing; and then +once more fixed his gaze on the dingy floor, and pursued his own +reflections. + +Some hours since he had come hither, obedient to the orders of Ameni, +to impress on the princess that she had defiled herself by touching a +paraschites, and could only be cleansed again by the hand of the priests. + +He had crossed the threshold of the paraschites most reluctantly, and the +thought that he, of all men, had been selected to censure a deed of the +noblest humanity, and to bring her who had done it to judgment, weighed +upon him as a calamity. + +In his intercourse with his friend Nebsecht, Pentaur had thrown off many +fetters, and given place to many thoughts that his master would have held +sinful and presumptuous; but at the same time he acknowledged the +sanctity of the old institutions, which were upheld by those whom lie had +learned to regard as the divinely-appointed guardians of the spiritual +possessions of God's people; nor was he wholly free from the pride of +caste and the haughtiness which, with prudent intent, were inculcated in +the priests. He held the common man, who put forth his strength to win a +maintenance for his belongings by honest bodily labor--the merchant--the +artizan--the peasant, nay even the warrior, as far beneath the godly +brotherhood who strove for only spiritual ends; and most of all he +scorned the idler, given up to sensual enjoyments. + +He held him unclean who had been branded by the law; and how should it +have been otherwise? These people, who at the embalming of the dead +opened the body of the deceased, had become despised for their office of +mutilating the sacred temple of the soul; but no paraschites chose his +calling of his own free will.--[Diodorus I, 91]--It was handed down from +father to son, and he who was born a paraschites--so he was taught--had +to expiate an old guilt with which his soul had long ago burdened itself +in a former existence, within another body, and which had deprived it of +absolution in the nether world. It had passed through various animal +forms, and now began a new human course in the body of a paraschites, +once more to stand after death in the presence of the judges of the +under-world. + +Pentaur had crossed the threshold of the man he despised with aversion; +the man himself, sitting at the feet of the suffering girl, had exclaimed +as he saw the priest approaching the hovel: + +"Yet another white robe! Does misfortune cleanse the unclean?" + +Pentaur had not answered the old man, who on his part took no further +notice of him, while he rubbed the girl's feet by order of the leech; and +his hands impelled by tender anxiety untiringly continued the same +movement, as the water-wheel in the Nile keeps up without intermission +its steady motion in the stream. + +"Does misfortune cleanse the unclean?" Pentaur asked himself. "Does it +indeed possess a purifying efficacy, and is it possible that the Gods, +who gave to fire the power of refining metals and to the winds power to +sweep the clouds from the sky, should desire that a man--made in their +own image--that a man should be tainted from his birth to his death with +an indelible stain?" + +He looked at the face of the paraschites, and it seemed to him to +resemble that of his father. + +This startled him! + +And when he noticed how the woman, in whose lap the girl's head was +resting, bent over the injured bosom of the child to catch her breathing, +which she feared had come to a stand-still--with the anguish of a dove +that is struck down by a hawk--he remembered a moment in his own +childhood, when he had lain trembling with fever on his little bed. +What then had happened to him, or had gone on around him, he had long +forgotten, but one image was deeply imprinted on his soul, that of the +face of his mother bending over him in deadly anguish, but who had gazed +on her sick boy not more tenderly, or more anxiously, than this despised +woman on her suffering child. + +"There is only one utterly unselfish, utterly pure and utterly divine +love," said he to himself, "and that is the love of Isis for Horus--the +love of a mother for her child. If these people were indeed so foul as +to defile every thing they touch, how would this pure, this tender, holy +impulse show itself even in them in all its beauty and perfection?" + +"Still," he continued, "the Celestials have implanted maternal love in +the breast of the lioness, of the typhonic river-horse of the Nile." + +He looked compassionately at the wife of the paraschites. + +He saw her dark face as she turned it away from the sick girl. She had +felt her breathe, and a smile of happiness lighted up her old features; +she nodded first to the surgeon, and then with a deep sigh of relief to +her husband, who, while he did not cease the movement of his left hand, +held up his right hand in prayer to heaven, and his wife did the same. + +It seemed to Pentaur that he could see the souls of these two, floating +above the youthful creature in holy union as they joined their hands; and +again he thought of his parents' house, of the hour when his sweet, only +sister died. His mother had thrown herself weeping on the pale form, but +his father had stamped his foot and had thrown back his head, sobbing and +striking his forehead with his fist. + +"How piously submissive and thankful are these unclean ones!" thought +Pentaur; and repugnance for the old laws began to take root in his heart. +"Maternal love may exist in the hyaena, but to seek and find God pertains +only to man, who has a noble aim. Up to the limits of eternity--and God +is eternal!--thought is denied to animals; they cannot even smile. Even +men cannot smile at first, for only physical life--an animal soul--dwells +in them; but soon a share of the world's soul--beaming intelligence-- +works within them, and first shows itself in the smile of a child, which +is as pure as the light and the truth from which it comes. The child of +the paraschites smiles like any other creature born of woman, but how few +aged men there are, even among the initiated, who can smile as innocently +and brightly as this woman who has grown grey under open ill-treatment." + +Deep sympathy began to fill his heart, and he knelt down by the side of +the poor child, raised her arm, and prayed fervently to that One who had +created the heavens and who rules the world--to that One, whom the +mysteries of faith forbade him to name; and not to the innumerable gods, +whom the people worshipped, and who to him were nothing but incarnations +of the attributes of the One and only God of the initiated--of whom he +was one--who was thus brought down to the comprehension of the laity. + +He raised his soul to God in passionate emotion; but he prayed, not for +the child before him and for her recovery, but rather for the whole +despised race, and for its release from the old ban, for the +enlightenment of his own soul, imprisoned in doubts, and for +strength to fulfil his hard task with discretion. + +The gaze of the sufferer followed him as he took up his former position. + +The prayer had refreshed his soul and restored him to cheerfulness of +spirit. He began to reflect what conduct he must observe towards the +princess. + +He had not met Bent-Anat for the first time yesterday; on the contrary, +he had frequently seen her in holiday processions, and at the high +festivals in the Necropolis, and like all his young companions had +admired her proud beauty--admired it as the distant light of the stars, +or the evening-glow on the horizon. + +Now he must approach this lady with words of reproof. + +He pictured to himself the moment when he must advance to meet her, and +could not help thinking of his little tutor Chufu, above whom he towered +by two heads while he was still a boy, and who used to call up his +admonitions to him from below. It was true, he himself was tall and +slim, but he felt as if to-day he were to play the part towards Bent-Anat +of the much-laughed-at little tutor. + +His sense of the comic was touched, and asserted itself at this serious +moment, and with such melancholy surroundings. Life is rich in +contrasts, and a susceptible and highly-strung human soul would break +down like a bridge under the measured tread of soldiers, if it were +allowed to let the burden of the heaviest thoughts and strongest feelings +work upon it in undisturbed monotony; but just as in music every key-note +has its harmonies, so when we cause one chord of our heart to vibrate for +long, all sorts of strange notes respond and clang, often those which we +least expect. + +Pentaur's glance flew round the one low, over-filled room of the +paraschites' hut, and like a lightning flash the thought, "How will the +princess and her train find room here?" flew through his mind. + +His fancy was lively, and vividly brought before him how the daughter of +the Pharaoh with a crown on her proud head would bustle into the silent +chamber, how the chattering courtiers would follow her, and how the women +by the walls, the physicians by the side of the sick girl, the sleek +white cat from the chest where she sat, would rise and throng round her. +There must be frightful confusion. Then he imagined how the smart lords +and ladies would keep themselves far from the unclean, hold their slender +hands over their mouths and noses, and suggest to the old folks how they +ought to behave to the princess who condescended to bless them with her +presence. The old woman must lay down the head that rested in her bosom, +the paraschites must drop the feet he so anxiously rubbed, on the floor, +to rise and kiss the dust before Bent-Anat. Whereupon--the "mind's eye" +of the young priest seemed to see it all--the courtiers fled before him, +pushing each other, and all crowded together into a corner, and at last +the princess threw a few silver or gold rings into the laps of the father +and mother, and perhaps to the girl too, and he seemed to hear the +courtiers all cry out: "Hail to the gracious daughter of the Sun!"--to +hear the joyful exclamations of the crowd of women--to see the gorgeous +apparition leave the hut of the despised people, and then to see, instead +of the lovely sick child who still breathed audibly, a silent corpse on +the crumpled mat, and in the place of the two tender nurses at her head +and feet, two heart-broken, loud-lamenting wretches. + +Pentaur's hot spirit was full of wrath. As soon as the noisy cortege +appeared actually in sight he would place himself in the doorway, forbid +the princess to enter, and receive her with strong words. + +She could hardly come hither out of human kindness. + +"She wants variety," said he to himself, "something new at Court; for +there is little going on there now the king tarries with the troops in a +distant country; it tickles the vanity of the great to find themselves +once in a while in contact with the small, and it is well to have your +goodness of heart spoken of by the people. If a little misfortune +opportunely happens, it is not worth the trouble to inquire whether the +form of our benevolence does more good or mischief to such wretched +people." + +He ground his teeth angrily, and thought no more of the defilement which +might threaten Bent-Anat from the paraschites, but exclusively, on the +contrary, of the impending desecration by the princess of the holy +feelings astir in this silent room. + +Excited as he was to fanaticism, his condemning lips could not fail to +find vigorous and impressive words. + +He stood drawn to his full height and drawing his breath deeply, like a +spirit of light who holds his weapon raised to annihilate a demon of +darkness, and he looked out into the valley to perceive from afar the cry +of the runners and the rattle of the wheels of the gay train he expected. + +And he saw the doorway darkened by a lowly, bending figure, who, with +folded arms, glided into the room and sank down silently by the side of +the sick girl. The physicians and the old people moved as if to rise; +but she signed to them without opening her lips, and with moist, +expressive eyes, to keep their places; she looked long and lovingly in +the face of the wounded girl, stroked her white arm, and turning to the +old woman softly whispered to her + +"How pretty she is!" + +The paraschites' wife nodded assent, and the girl smiled and moved her +lips as though she had caught the words and wished to speak. + +Bent-Anat took a rose from her hair and laid it on her bosom. + +The paraschites, who had not taken his hands from the feet of the sick +child, but who had followed every movement of the princess, now +whispered, "May Hathor requite thee, who gave thee thy beauty." + +The princess turned to him and said, "Forgive the sorrow, I have caused +you." + +The old man stood up, letting the feet of the sick girl fall, and asked +in a clear loud voice: + +"Art thou Bent-Anat?" + +"Yes, I am," replied the princess, bowing her head low, and in so gentle +a voice, that it seemed as though she were ashamed of her proud name. + +The eyes of the old man flashed. Then he said softly but decisively: + +"Leave my hut then, it will defile thee." + +"Not till you have forgiven me for that which I did unintentionally." + +"Unintentionally! I believe thee," replied the paraschites. "The hoofs +of thy horse became unclean when they trod on this white breast. Look +here--" and he lifted the cloth from the girl's bosom, and showed her the +deep red wound, "Look here--here is the first rose you laid on my +grandchild's bosom, and the second--there it goes." + +The paraschites raised his arm to fling the flower through the door of +his hut. But Pentaur had approached him, and with a grasp of iron held +the old man's hand. + +"Stay," he cried in an eager tone, moderated however for the sake of the +sick girl. "The third rose, which this noble hand has offered you, your +sick heart and silly head have not even perceived. And yet you must know +it if only from your need, your longing for it. The fair blossom of pure +benevolence is laid on your child's heart, and at your very feet, by this +proud princess. Not with gold, but with humility. And whoever the +daughter of Rameses approaches as her equal, bows before her, even if he +were the first prince in the Land of Egypt. Indeed, the Gods shall not +forget this deed of Bent-Anat. And you--forgive, if you desire to be +forgiven that guilt, which you bear as an inheritance from your fathers, +and for your own sins." + +The paraschites bowed his head at these words, and when he raised it the +anger had vanished from his well-cut features. He rubbed his wrist, +which had been squeezed by Pentaur's iron fingers, and said in a tone +which betrayed all the bitterness of his feelings: + +"Thy hand is hard, Priest, and thy words hit like the strokes of a +hammer. This fair lady is good and loving, and I know; that she did not +drive her horse intentionally over this poor girl, who is my grandchild +and not my daughter. If she were thy wife or the wife of the leech +there, or the child of the poor woman yonder, who supports life by +collecting the feet and feathers of the fowls that are slaughtered for +sacrifice, I would not only forgive her, but console her for having made +herself like to me; fate would have made her a murderess without any +fault of her own, just as it stamped me as unclean while I was still at +my mother's breast. Aye--I would comfort her; and yet I am not very +sensitive. Ye holy three of Thebes!--[The triad of Thebes: Anion, Muth +and Chunsu.]--how should I be? Great and small get out of my way that I +may not touch them, and every day when I have done what it is my business +to do they throw stones at me. + + [The paraschites, with an Ethiopian knife, cuts the flesh of the + corpse as deeply as the law requires: but instantly takes to flight, + while the relatives of the deceased pursue him with stones, and + curses, as if they wished to throw the blame on him.] + +"The fulfilment of duty--which brings a living to other men, which makes +their happiness, and at the same time earns them honor, brings me every +day fresh disgrace and painful sores. But I complain to no man, and must +forgive--forgive--forgive, till at last all that men do to me seems quite +natural and unavoidable, and I take it all like the scorching of the sun +in summer, and the dust that the west wind blows into my face. It does +not make me happy, but what can I do? I forgive all--" + +The voice of the paraschites had softened, and Bent-Anat, who looked down +on him with emotion, interrupted him, exclaiming with deep feeling: + +"And so you will forgive me?--poor man!" + +The old man looked steadily, not at her, but at Pentaur, while he +replied: "Poor man! aye, truly, poor man. You have driven me out of the +world in which you live, and so I made a world for myself in this hut. +I do not belong to you, and if I forget it, you drive me out as an +intruder--nay as a wolf, who breaks into your fold; but you belong just +as little to me, only when you play the wolf and fall upon me, I must +bear it!" + +"The princess came to your hut as a suppliant, and with the wish of doing +you some good," said Pentaur. + +"May the avenging Gods reckon it to her, when they visit on her the +crimes of her father against me! Perhaps it may bring me to prison, but +it must come out. Seven sons were mine, and Rameses took them all from +me and sent them to death; the child of the youngest, this girl, the +light of my eyes, his daughter has brought to her death. Three of my +boys the king left to die of thirst by the Tenat, + + [Literally the "cutting" which, under Seti I., the father of + Rameses, was the first Suez Canal; a representation of it is found + on the northern outer wall of the temple of Karnak. It followed + nearly the same direction as the Fresh-water canal of Lesseps, and + fertilized the land of Goshen.] + +which is to join the Nile to the Red Sea, three were killed by the +Ethiopians, and the last, the star of my hopes, by this time is eaten by +the hyaenas of the north." + +At these words the old woman, in whose lap the head of the girl rested, +broke out into a loud cry, in which she was joined by all the other +women. + +The sufferer started up frightened, and opened her eyes. + +"For whom are you wailing?" she asked feebly. "For your poor father," +said the old woman. + +The girl smiled like a child who detects some well-meant deceit, +and said: + +"Was not my father here, with you? He is here, in Thebes, and looked at +me, and kissed me, and said that he is bringing home plunder, and that a +good time is coming for you. The gold ring that he gave me I was +fastening into my dress, when the chariot passed over me. I was just +pulling the knots, when all grew black before my eyes, and I saw and +heard nothing more. Undo it, grandmother, the ring is for you; I meant +to bring it to you. You must buy a beast for sacrifice with it, and wine +for grandfather, and eye salve + + [The Egyptian mestem, that is stibium or antimony, which was + introduced into Egypt by the Asiatics at a very early period and + universally used.] + +for yourself, and sticks of mastic, + + [At the present day the Egyptian women are fond of chewing them, on + account of their pleasant taste. The ancient Egyptians used various + pills. Receipts for such things are found in the Ebers Papyrus.] + +which you have so long lead to do without." + +The paraschites seemed to drink these words from the mouth of his +grandchild. Again he lifted his hand in prayer, again Pentaur observed +that his glance met that of his wife, and a large, warm tear fell from +his old eyes on to his callous hand. Then he sank down, for he thought +the sick child was deluded by a dream. But there were the knots in her +dress. + +With a trembling hand he untied them, and a gold ring rolled out on the +floor. + +Bent-Anat picked it up, and gave it to the paraschites. "I came here in +a lucky hour," she said, "for you have recovered your son and your child +will live." + +"She will live," repeated the surgeon, who had remained a silent witness +of all that had occurred. + +"She will stay with us," murmured the old man, and then said, as he +approached the princess on his knees, and looked up at her beseechingly +with tearful eyes: + +"Pardon me as I pardon thee; and if a pious wish may not turn to a curse +from the lips of the unclean, let me bless thee." + +"I thank you," said Bent-Anat, towards whom the old man raised his hand +in blessing. + +Then she turned to Nebsecht, and ordered him to take anxious care of the +sick girl; she bent over her, kissed her forehead, laid her gold bracelet +by her side, and signing to Pentaur left the hut with him. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +During the occurrence we have described, the king's pioneer and the young +wife of Mena were obliged to wait for the princess. + +The sun stood in the meridian, when Bent-Anat had gone into the hovel of +the paraschites. + +The bare limestone rocks on each side of the valley and the sandy soil +between, shone with a vivid whiteness that hurt the eyes; not a hand's +breadth of shade was anywhere to be seen, and the fan-beaters of the two, +who were waiting there, had, by command of the princess, staid behind +with the chariot and litters. + +For a time they stood silently near each other, then the fair Nefert +said, wearily closing her almond-shaped eyes: + +"How long Bent-Anat stays in the but of the unclean! I am perishing +here. What shall we do?" + +"Stay!" said Paaker, turning his back on the lady; and mounting a block +of stone by the side of the gorge, he cast a practised glance all round, +and returned to Nefert: "I have found a shady spot," he said, "out +there." + +Mena's wife followed with her eyes the indication of his hand, and shook +her head. The gold ornaments on her head-dress rattled gently as she did +so, and a cold shiver passed over her slim body in spite of the midday +heat. + +"Sechet is raging in the sky," said Paaker. + + [A goddess with the head of a lioness or a cat, over which the Sun- + disk is usually found. She was the daughter of Ra, and in the form + of the Uraeus on her father's crown personified the murderous heat + of the star of day. She incites man to the hot and wild passion of + love, and as a cat or lioness tears burning wounds in the limbs of + the guilty in the nether world; drunkenness and pleasure are her + gifts She was also named Bast and Astarte after her sister-divinity + among the Phoenicians.] + +"Let us avail ourselves of the shady spot, small though it be. At this +hour of the day many are struck with sickness." + +"I know it," said Nefert, covering her neck with her hand. Then she went +towards two blocks of stone which leaned against each other, and between +them afforded the spot of shade, not many feet wide, which Paaker had +pointed out as a shelter from the sun. Paaker preceded her, and rolled a +flat piece of limestone, inlaid by nature with nodules of flint, under +the stone pavilion, crushed a few scorpions which had taken refuge there, +spread his head-cloth over the hard seat, and said, "Here you are +sheltered." + +Nefert sank down on the stone and watched the Mohar, who slowly and +silently paced backwards and forward in front of her. This incessant to +and fro of her companion at last became unendurable to her sensitive and +irritated nerves, and suddenly raising her head from her hand, on which +she had rested it, she exclaimed + +"Pray stand still." + +The pioneer obeyed instantly, and looked, as he stood with his back to +her, towards the hovel of the paraschites. + +After a short time Nefert said, "Say something to me!" + +The Mohar turned his full face towards her, and she was frightened at the +wild fire that glowed in the glance with which he gazed at her. + +Nefert's eyes fell, and Paaker, saying: + +"I would rather remain silent," recommenced his walk, till Nefert called +to him again and said, + +"I know you are angry with me; but I was but a child when I was betrothed +to you. I liked you too, and when in our games your mother called me +your little wife, I was really glad, and used to think how fine it would +be when I might call all your possessions mine, the house you would have +so splendidly restored for me after your father's death, the noble +gardens, the fine horses in their stables, and all the male and female +slaves!" + +Paaker laughed, but the laugh sounded so forced and scornful that it cut +Nefert to the heart, and she went on, as if begging for indulgence: + +"It was said that you were angry with us; and now you will take my words +as if I had cared only for your wealth; but I said, I liked you. Do you +no longer remember how I cried with you over your tales of the bad boys +in the school; and over your father's severity? Then my uncle died;-- +then you went to Asia." + +And you," interrupted Paaker, hardly and drily, "you broke your +bethrothal vows, and became the wife of the charioteer Mena. I know it +all; of what use is talking?" + +"Because it grieves me that you should be angry, and your good mother +avoid our house. If only you could know what it is when love seizes one, +and one can no longer even think alone, but only near, and with, and in +the very arms of another; when one's beating heart throbs in one's very +temples, and even in one's dreams one sees nothing--but one only." + +"And do I not know it?" cried Paaker, placing himself close before her +with his arms crossed. "Do I not know it? and you it was who taught me +to know it. When I thought of you, not blood, but burning fire, coursed +in my veins, and now you have filled them with poison; and here in this +breast, in which your image dwelt, as lovely as that of Hathor in her +holy of holies, all is like that sea in Syria which is called the Dead +Sea, in which every thing that tries to live presently dies and +perishes." + +Paaker's eyes rolled as he spoke, and his voice sounded hoarsely as he +went on. + +"But Mena was near to the king--nearer than I, and your mother--" + +"My mother!"--Nefert interrupted the angry Mohar. "My mother did not +choose my husband. I saw him driving the chariot, and to me he resembled +the Sun God, and he observed me, and looked at me, and his glance pierced +deep into my heart like a spear; and when, at the festival of the king's +birthday, he spoke to me, it was just as if Hathor had thrown round me +a web of sweet, sounding sunbeams. And it was the same with Mena; he +himself has told me so since I have been his wife. For your sake my +mother rejected his suit, but I grew pale and dull with longing for him, +and he lost his bright spirit, and was so melancholy that the king +remarked it, and asked what weighed on his heart--for Rameses loves him +as his own son. Then Mena confessed to the Pharaoh that it was love that +dimmed his eye and weakened his strong hand; and then the king himself +courted me for his faithful servant, and my mother gave way, and we were +made man and wife, and all the joys of the justified in the fields of +Aalu + + [The fields of the blest, which were opened to glorified souls. In + the Book of the Dead it is shown that in them men linger, and sow + and reap by cool waters.] + +are shallow and feeble by the side of the bliss which we two have known-- +not like mortal men, but like the celestial gods." + +Up to this point Nefert had fixed her large eyes on the sky, like a +glorified soul; but now her gaze fell, and she said softly-- + +"But the Cheta + + [An Aramaean race, according to Schrader's excellent judgment. At + the time of our story the peoples of western Asia had allied + themselves to them.] + +disturbed our happiness, for the king took Mena with him to the war. +Fifteen times did the moon, rise upon our happiness, and then--" + +"And then the Gods heard my prayer, and accepted my offerings," said +Paaker, with a trembling voice, "and tore the robber of my joys from you, +and scorched your heart and his with desire. Do you think you can tell +me anything I do not know? Once again for fifteen days was Mena yours, +and now he has not returned again from the war which is raging hotly in +Asia." + +"But he will return," cried the young wife. + +"Or possibly not," laughed Paaker. "The Cheta, carry sharp weapons, and +there are many vultures in Lebanon, who perhaps at this hour are tearing +his flesh as he tore my heart." + +Nefert rose at these words, her sensitive spirit bruised as with stones +thrown by a brutal hand, and attempted to leave her shady refuge to +follow the princess into the house of the parascllites; but her feet +refused to bear her, and she sank back trembling on her stone seat. She +tried to find words, but her tongue was powerless. Her powers of +resistance forsook her in her unutterable and soul-felt distress--heart- +wrung, forsaken and provoked. + +A variety of painful sensations raised a hot vehement storm in her bosom, +which checked her breath, and at last found relief in a passionate and +convulsive weeping that shook her whole body. She saw nothing more, she +heard nothing more, she only shed tears and felt herself miserable. + +Paaker stood over her in silence. + +There are trees in the tropics, on which white blossoms hang close by the +withered fruit, there are days when the pale moon shows itself near the +clear bright sun;--and it is given to the soul of man to feel love and +hatred, both at the same time, and to direct both to the same end. + +Nefert's tears fell as dew, her sobs as manna on the soul of Paaker, +which hungered and thirsted for revenge. Her pain was joy to him, and +yet the sight of her beauty filled him with passion, his gaze lingered +spell-bound on her graceful form; he would have given all the bliss of +heaven once, only once, to hold her in his arms--once, only once, to hear +a word of love from her lips. + +After some minutes Nefert's tears grew less violent. With a weary, +almost indifferent gaze she looked at the Mohar, still standing before +her, and said in a soft tone of entreaty: + +'My tongue is parched, fetch me a little water." + +"The princess may come out at any moment," replied Paaker. + +"But I am fainting," said Nefert, and began again to cry gently. + +Paaker shrugged his shoulders, and went farther into the valley, which he +knew as well as his father's house; for in it was the tomb of his +mother's ancestors, in which, as a boy, he had put up prayers at every +full and new moon, and laid gifts on the altar. + +The hut of the paraschites was prohibited to him, but he knew that +scarcely a hundred paces from the spot where Nefert was sitting, lived an +old woman of evil repute, in whose hole in the rock he could not fail to +find a drink of water. + +He hastened forward, half intoxicated with had seen and felt within the +last few minutes. + +The door, which at night closed the cave against the intrusions of the +plunder-seeking jackals, was wide open, and the old woman sat outside +under a ragged piece of brown sail-cloth, fastened at one end to the rock +and at the other to two posts of rough wood. She was sorting a heap of +dark and light-colored roots, which lay in her lap. Near her was a +wheel, which turned in a high wooden fork. A wryneck made fast to it by +a little chain, and by springing from spoke to spoke kept it in continual +motion.--[From Theocritus' idyl: The Sorceress.]--A large black cat +crouched beside her, and smelt at some ravens' and owls' heads, from +which the eyes had not long since been extracted. + +Two sparrow-hawks sat huddled up over the door of the cave, out of which +came the sharp odor of burning juniper-berries; this was intended to +render the various emanations rising from the different strange +substances, which were collected and preserved there, innocuous. + +As Paaker approached the cavern the old woman called out to some one +within: + +"Is the wax cooking?" + +An unintelligible murmur was heard in answer. + +Then throw in the ape's eyes, + + [The sentences and mediums employed by the witches, according to + papyrus-rolls which remain. I have availed myself of the Magic + papyrus of Harris, and of two in the Berlin collection, one of which + is in Greek. ] + +and the ibis feathers, and the scraps of linen with the black signs on +them. Stir it all a little; now put out the fire, + +"Take the jug and fetch some water--make haste, here comes a stranger." + +A sooty-black negro woman, with a piece of torn colorless stuff hanging +round her hips, set a large clay-jar on her grey woolly matted hair, and +without looking at him, went past Paaker, who was now close to the cave. + +The old woman, a tall figure bent with years, with a sharply-cut and +wrinkled face, that might once have been handsome, made her preparations +for receiving the visitor by tying a gaudy kerchief over her head, +fastening her blue cotton garment round her throat, and flinging a fibre +mat over the birds' heads. + +Paaker called out to her, but she feigned to be deaf and not to hear his +voice. Only when he stood quite close to her, did she raise her shrewd, +twinkling eyes, and cry out: + +"A lucky day! a white day that brings a noble guest and high honor." + +"Get up," commanded Paaker, not giving her any greeting, but throwing a +silver ring among the roots that lay in her lap, + + [The Egyptians had no coins before Alexander and the Ptolemies, but + used metals for exchange, usually in the form of rings.] + +"and give me in exchange for good money some water in a clean vessel." + +"Fine pure silver," said the old woman, while she held the ring, which +she had quickly picked out from the roots, close to her eyes; "it is too +much for mere water, and too little for my good liquors." + +"Don't chatter, hussy, but make haste," cried Paaker, taking another ring +from his money-bag and throwing it into her lap. + +"Thou hast an open hand," said the old woman, speaking in the dialect of +the upper classes; "many doors must be open to thee, for money is a pass- +key that turns any lock. Would'st thou have water for thy good money? +Shall it protect thee against noxious beasts?--shall it help thee to +reach down a star? Shall it guide thee to secret paths?--It is thy duty +to lead the way. Shall it make heat cold, or cold warm? Shall it give +thee the power of reading hearts, or shall it beget beautiful dreams? +Wilt thou drink of the water of knowledge and see whether thy friend or +thine enemy--ha! if thine enemy shall die? Would'st thou a drink to +strengthen thy memory? Shall the water make thee invisible? or remove +the 6th toe from thy left foot?" + +"You know me?" asked Paaker. + +"How should I?" said the old woman, "but my eyes are sharp, and I can +prepare good waters for great and small." + +"Mere babble!" exclaimed Paaker, impatiently clutching at the whip in +his girdle; "make haste, for the lady for whom--" + +"Dost thou want the water for a lady?" interrupted the old woman. "Who +would have thought it?--old men certainly ask for my philters much +oftener than young ones--but I can serve thee." + +With these words the old woman went into the cave, and soon returned with +a thin cylindrical flask of alabaster in her hand. + +"This is the drink," she said, giving the phial to Paaker. "Pour half +into water, and offer it to the lady. If it does not succeed at first, +it is certain the second time. A child may drink the water and it will +not hurt him, or if an old man takes it, it makes him gay. Ah, I know +the taste of it!" and she moistened her lips with the white fluid. +"It can hurt no one, but I will take no more of it, or old Hekt will be +tormented with love and longing for thee; and that would ill please the +rich young lord, ha! ha! If the drink is in vain I am paid enough, if it +takes effect thou shalt bring me three more gold rings; and thou wilt +return, I know it well." + +Paaker had listened motionless to the old woman, and siezed the flask +eagerly, as if bidding defiance to some adversary; he put it in his money +bag, threw a few more rings at the feet of the witch, and once more +hastily demanded a bowl of Nile-water. + +"Is my lord in such a hurry?" muttered the old woman, once more going +into the cave. "He asks if I know him? him certainly I do? but the +darling? who can it be hereabouts? perhaps little Uarda at the +paraschites yonder. She is pretty enough; but she is lying on a mat, run +over and dying. We must see what my lord means. He would have pleased +me well enough, if I were young; but he will reach the goal, for he is +resolute and spares no one." + +While she muttered these and similar words, she filled a graceful cup of +glazed earthenware with filtered Nile-water, which she poured out of a +large porous clay jar, and laid a laurel leaf, on which was scratched two +hearts linked together by seven strokes, on the surface of the limpid +fluid. Then she stepped out into the air again. + +As Paaker took the vessel from her looked at the laurel leaf, she said: + +"This indeed binds hearts; three is the husband, four is the wife, seven +is the chachach, charcharachacha."--[This jargon is fund in a magic- +papyrus at Berlin.] + +The old woman sang this spell not without skill; but the Mohar appeared +not to listen to her jargon. He descended carefully into the valley, and +directed his steps to the resting place of the wife of Mena. + +By the side of a rock, which hill him from Nefert, he paused, set the cup +on a flat block of stone, and drew the flask with the philter out of his +girdle. + +His fingers trembled, but a thousand voices seemed to surge up and cry: + +"Take it!--do it!--put in the drink!--now or never." He felt like a +solitary traveller, who finds on his road the last will of a relation +whose possessions he had hoped for, but which disinherits him. Shall he +surrender it to the judge, or shall he destroy it. + +Paaker was not merely outwardly devout; hitherto he had in everything +intended to act according to the prescriptions of the religion of his +fathers. Adultery was a heavy sin; but had not he an older right to +Nefert than the king's charioteer? + +He who followed the black arts of magic, should, according to the law, be +punished by death, and the old woman had a bad name for her evil arts; +but he had not sought her for the sake of the philter. Was it not +possible that the Manes of his forefathers, that the Gods themselves, +moved by his prayers and offerings, had put him in possession by an +accident--which was almost a miracle--of the magic potion efficacy he +never for an instant doubted? + +Paaker's associates held him to be a man of quick decision, and, in fact, +in difficult cases he could act with unusual rapidity, but what guided +him in these cases, was not the swift-winged judgment of a prepared and +well-schooled brain, but usually only resulted from the outcome of a play +of question and answer. + +Amulets of the most various kinds hung round his neck, and from his +girdle, all consecrated by priests, and of special sanctity or the +highest efficacy. + +There was the lapis lazuli eye, which hung to his girdle by a gold chain; +When he threw it on the ground, so as to lie on the earth, if its +engraved side turned to heaven, and its smooth side lay on the ground, he +said "yes;" in the other case, on the contrary, "no." In his purse lay +always a statuette of the god Apheru, who opened roads; this he threw +down at cross-roads, and followed the direction which the pointed snout +of the image indicated. He frequently called into council the seal-ring +of his deceased father, an old family possession, which the chief priests +of Abydos had laid upon the holiest of the fourteen graves of Osiris, and +endowed with miraculous power. It consisted of a gold ring with a broad +signet, on which could be read the name of Thotmes III., who had long +since been deified, and from whom Paaker's ancestors had derived it. If +it were desirable to consult the ring, the Mohar touched with the point +of his bronze dagger the engraved sign of the name, below which were +represented three objects sacred to the Gods, and three that were, on the +contrary, profane. If he hit one of the former, he concluded that his +father--who was gone to Osiris--concurred in his design; in the contrary +case he was careful to postpone it. Often he pressed the ring to his +heart, and awaited the first living creature that he might meet, +regarding it as a messenger from his father;--if it came to him from +the right hand as an encouragement, if from the left as a warning. + +By degrees he had reduced these questionings to a system. All that he +found in nature he referred to himself and the current of his life. It +was at once touching, and pitiful, to see how closely he lived with the +Manes of his dead. His lively, but not exalted fancy, wherever he gave +it play, presented to the eye of his soul the image of his father and of +an elder brother who had died early, always in the same spot, and almost +tangibly distinct. + +But he never conjured up the remembrance of the beloved dead in order to +think of them in silent melancholy--that sweet blossom of the thorny +wreath of sorrow; only for selfish ends. The appeal to the Manes of his +father he had found especially efficacious in certain desires and +difficulties; calling on the Manes of his brother was potent in certain +others; and so he turned from one to the other with the precision of a +carpenter, who rarely doubts whether he should give the preference to a +hatchet or a saw. + +These doings he held to be well pleasing to the Gods, and as he was +convinced that the spirits of his dead had, after their justification, +passed into Osiris that is to say, as atoms forming part of the great +world-soul, at this time had a share in the direction of the universe-- +he sacrificed to them not only in the family catacomb, but also in the +temples of the Necropolis dedicated to the worship of ancestors, and with +special preference in the House of Seti. + +He accepted advice, nay even blame, from Ameni and the other priests +under his direction; and so lived full of a virtuous pride in being one +of the most zealous devotees in the land, and one of the most pleasing to +the Gods, a belief on which his pastors never threw any doubt. + +Attended and guided at every step by supernatural powers, he wanted no +friend and no confidant. In the fleld, as in Thebes, he stood apart, and +passed among his comrades for a reserved man, rough and proud, but with a +strong will. + +He had the power of calling up the image of his lost love with as much +vividness as the forms of the dead, and indulged in this magic, not only +through a hundred still nights, but in long rides and drives through +silent wastes. + +Such visions were commonly followed by a vehement and boiling overflow of +his hatred against the charioteer, and a whole series of fervent prayers +for his destruction. + +When Paaker set the cup of water for Nefert on the flat stone and felt +for the philter, his soul was so full of desire that there was no room +for hatred; still he could not altogether exclude the idea that he would +commit a great crime by making use of a magic drink. Before pouring the +fateful drops into the water, he would consult the oracle of the ring. +The dagger touched none of the holy symbols of the inscription on the +signet, and in other circumstances he would, without going any farther, +have given up his project. + +But this time he unwillingly returned it to its sheath, pressed the gold +ring to his heart, muttered the name of his brother in Osiris, and +awaited the first living creature that might come towards him. + +He had not long to wait, from the mountain slope opposite to him rose, +with heavy, slow wing-strokes, two light-colored vultures. + +In anxious suspense he followed their flight, as they rose, higher and +higher. For a moment they poised motionless, borne up by the air, +circled round each other, then wheeled to the left and vanished behind +the mountains, denying him the fulfilment of his desire. + +He hastily grasped the phial to fling it from him, but the surging +passion in his veins had deprived him of his self-control. Nefert's +image stood before him as if beckoning him; a mysterious power clenched +his fingers close and yet closer round the phial, and with the same +defiance which he showed to his associates, he poured half of the philter +into the cup and approached his victim. + +Nefert had meanwhile left her shady retreat and come towards him. + +She silently accepted the water he offered her, and drank it with +delight, to the very dregs. + +"'Thank you," she said, when she had recovered breath after her eager +draught. + +"That has done me good! How fresh and acid the water tastes; but your +hand shakes, and you are heated by your quick run for me--poor man." + +With these words she looked at him with a peculiar expressive glance of +her large eyes, and gave him her right hand, which he pressed wildly to +his lips. + +"That will do," she said smiling; "here comes the princess with a priest, +out of the hovel of the unclean. With what frightful words you terrified +me just now. It is true I gave you just cause to be angry with me; but +now you are kind again--do you hear?--and will bring your mother again to +see mine. Not a word. I shall see, whether cousin Paaker refuses me +obedience." + +She threatened him playfully with her finger, and then growing grave she +added, with a look that pierced Paaker's heart with pain, and yet with +ecstasy, "Let us leave off quarrelling. It is so much better when people +are kind to each other." + +After these words she walked towards the house of the paraschites, while +Paaker pressed his hands to his breast, and murmured: + +"The drink is working, and she will be mine. I thank ye--ye Immortals!" + +But this thanksgiving, which hitherto he had never failed to utter when +any good fortune had befallen him, to-day died on his lips. Close before +him he saw the goal of his desires; there, under his eyes, lay the magic +spring longed for for years. A few steps farther, and he might slake at +its copious stream his thirst both for love and for revenge. + +While he followed the wife of Mena, and replaced the phial carefully in +his girdle, so as to lose no drop of the precious fluid which, according +to the prescription of the old woman, he needed to use again, warning +voices spoke in his breast, to which he usually listened as to a fatherly +admonition; but at this moment he mocked at them, and even gave outward +expression to the mood that ruled him--for he flung up his right hand +like a drunken man, who turns away from the preacher of morality on his +way to the wine-cask; and yet passion held him so closely ensnared, that +the thought that he should live through the swift moments which would +change him from an honest man into a criminal, hardly dawned, darkly on +his soul. He had hitherto dared to indulge his desire for love and +revenge in thought only, and had left it to the Gods to act for +themselves; now he had taken his cause out of the hand of the Celestials, +and gone into action without them, and in spite of them. + +The sorceress Hekt passed him; she wanted to see the woman for whom she +had given him the philter. He perceived her and shuddered, but soon the +old woman vanished among the rocks muttering. + +"Look at the fellow with six toes. He makes himself comfortable with the +heritage of Assa." + +In the middle of the valley walked Nefert and the pioneer, with the +princess Bent-Anat and Pentaur who accompanied her. + +When these two had come out of the hut of the paraschites, they stood +opposite each other in silence. The royal maiden pressed her hand to her +heart, and, like one who is thirsty, drank in the pure air of the +mountain valley with deeply drawn breath; she felt as if released from +some overwhelming burden, as if delivered from some frightful danger. + +At last she turned to her companion, who gazed earnestly at the ground. + +"What an hour!" she said. + +Pentaur's tall figure did not move, but he bowed his head in assent, as +if he were in a dream. Bent-Anat now saw him for the first time in fall +daylight; her large eyes rested on him with admiration, and she asked: + +"Art thou the priest, who yesterday, after my first visit to this house, +so readily restored me to cleanness?" + +"I am he," replied Pentaur. + +"I recognized thy voice, and I am grateful to thee, for it was thou that +didst strengthen my courage to follow the impulse of my heart, in spite +of my spiritual guides, and to come here again. Thou wilt defend me if +others blame me." + +"I came here to pronounce thee unclean." + +"Then thou hast changed thy mind?" asked Bent-Anat, and a smile of +contempt curled her lips. + +"I follow a high injunction, that commands us to keep the old +institutions sacred. If touching a paraschites, it is said, does not +defile a princess, whom then can it defile? for whose garment is more +spotless than hers?" + +"But this is a good man with all his meanness," interrupted Bent-Anat, +"and in spite of the disgrace, which is the bread of life to him as honor +is to us. May the nine great Gods forgive me! but he who is in there is +loving, pious and brave, and pleases me--and thou, thou, who didst think +yesterday to purge away the taint of his touch with a word--what prompts +thee today to cast him with the lepers?" + +"The admonition of an enlightened man, never to give up any link of the +old institutions; because thereby the already weakened chain may be +broken, and fall rattling to the ground." + +"Then thou condemnest me to uncleanness for the sake of all old +superstition, and of the populace, but not for my actions? Thou art +silent? Answer me now, if thou art such a one as I took the for, freely +and sincerely; for it concerns the peace of my soul." Pentaur breathed +hard; and then from the depths of his soul, tormented by doubts, these +deeply-felt words forced themselves as if wrung from him; at first +softly, but louder as he went on. + +"Thou dost compel me to say what I had better not even think; but rather +will I sin against obedience than against truth, the pure daughter of the +Sun, whose aspect, Bent-Anat, thou dost wear. Whether the paraschites is +unclean by birth or not, who am I that I should decide? But to me this +man appeared--as to thee--as one moved by the same pure and holy emotions +as stir and bless me and mine, and thee and every soul born of woman; and +I believe that the impressions of this hour have touched thy soul as well +as mine, not to taint, but to purify. If I am wrong, may the many-named +Gods forgive me, Whose breath lives and works in the paraschites as well +as in thee and me, in Whom I believe, and to Whom I will ever address my +humble songs, louder and more joyfully, as I learn that all that lives +and breathes, that weeps and rejoices, is the image of their sublime +nature, and born to equal joy and equal sorrow." + +Pentaur had raised his eyes to heaven; now they met the proud and joyful +radiance of the princess' glance, while she frankly offered him her hand. +He humbly kissed her robe, but she said: + +"Nay--not so. Lay thy hand in blessing on mine. Thou art a man and a +true priest. Now I can be satisfied to be regarded as unclean, for my +father also desires that, by us especially, the institutions of the past +that have so long continued should be respected, for the sake of the +people. Let us pray in common to the Gods, that these poor people may be +released from the old ban. How beautiful the world might be, if men +would but let man remain what the Celestials have made him. But Paaker +and poor Nefert are waiting in the scorching sun-come, follow me." + +She went forward, but after a few steps she turned round to him, and +asked: + +"What is thy name?" + +"Pentaur." + +"Thou then art the poet of the House of Seti?" + +"They call me so." + +Bent-Anat stood still a moment, gazing full at him as at a kinsman whom +we meet for the first time face to face, and said: + +"The Gods have given thee great gifts, for thy glance reaches farther and +pierces deeper than that of other men; and thou canst say in words what +we can only feel--I follow thee willingly!" + +Pentaur blushed like a boy, and said, while Paaker and Nefert came nearer +to them: + +"Till to-day life lay before me as if in twilight; but this moment shows +it me in another light. I have seen its deepest shadows; and," he added +in a low tone "how glorious its light can be." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +An hour later, Bent-Anat and her train of followers stood before the gate +of the House of Seti. + +Swift as a ball thrown from a man's hand, a runner had sprung forward and +hurried on to announce the approach of the princess to the chief priest. +She stood alone in her chariot, in advance of all her companions, for +Pentaur had found a place with Paaker. At the gate of the temple they +were met by the head of the haruspices. + +The great doors of the pylon were wide open, and afforded a view into the +forecourt of the sanctuary, paved with polished squares of stone, and +surrounded on three sides with colonnades. The walls and architraves, +the pillars and the fluted cornice, which slightly curved in over the +court, were gorgeous with many colored figures and painted decorations. +In the middle stood a great sacrificial altar, on which burned logs of +cedar wood, whilst fragrant balls of Kyphi + + [Kyphi was a celebrated Egyptian incense. Recipes for its + preparation have been preserved in the papyrus of Ebers, in the + laboratories of the temples, and elsewhere. Parthey had three + different varieties prepared by the chemist, L. Voigt, in Berlin. + Kyphi after the formula of Dioskorides was the best. It consisted + of rosin, wine, rad, galangae, juniper berries, the root of the + aromatic rush, asphalte, mastic, myrrh, Burgundy grapes, and honey.] + +were consumed by the flames, filling the wide space with their heavy +perfume. Around, in semi-circular array, stood more than a hundred +white-robed priests, who all turned to face the approaching princess, +and sang heart-rending songs of lamentation. + +Many of the inhabitants of the Necropolis had collected on either side of +the lines of sphinxes, between which the princess drove up to the +Sanctuary. But none asked what these songs of lamentation might signify, +for about this sacred place lamentation and mystery for ever lingered. +"Hail to the child of Rameses!"--"All hail to the daughter of the Sun!" +rang from a thousand throats; and the assembled multitude bowed almost to +the earth at the approach of the royal maiden. + +At the pylon, the princess descended from her chariot, and preceded by +the chief of the haruspices, who had gravely and silently greeted her, +passed on to the door of the temple. But as she prepared to cross the +forecourt, suddenly, without warning, the priests' chant swelled to a +terrible, almost thundering loudness, the clear, shrill voice of the +Temple scholars rising in passionate lament, supported by the deep and +threatening roll of the basses. + +Bent-Anat started and checked her steps. Then she walked on again. + +But on the threshold of the door, Ameni, in full pontifical robes, stood +before her in the way, his crozier extended as though to forbid her +entrance. + +"The advent of the daughter of Rameses in her purity," he cried in loud +and passionate tones, "augurs blessing to this sanctuary; but this abode +of the Gods closes its portals on the unclean, be they slaves or princes. +In the name of the Immortals, from whom thou art descended, I ask thee, +Bent-Anat, art thou clean, or hast thou, through the touch of the +unclean, defiled thyself and contaminated thy royal hand?" + +Deep scarlet flushed the maiden's cheeks, there was a rushing sound in +her ears as of a stormy sea surging close beside her, and her bosom rose +and fell in passionate emotion. The kingly blood in her veins boiled +wildly; she felt that an unworthy part had been assigned to her in a +carefully-premeditated scene; she forgot her resolution to accuse herself +of uncleanness, and already her lips were parted in vehement protest +against the priestly assumption that so deeply stirred her to rebellion, +when Ameni, who placed himself directly in front of the Princess, raised +his eyes, and turned them full upon her with all the depths of their +indwelling earnestness. + +The words died away, and Bent-Anat stood silent, but she endured the +gaze, and returned it proudly and defiantly. + +The blue veins started in Ameni's forehead; yet he repressed the +resentment which was gathering like thunder clouds in his soul, and said, +with a voice that gradually deviated more and more from its usual +moderation: + +"For the second time the Gods demand through me, their representative: +Hast thou entered this holy place in order that the Celestials may purge +thee of the defilement that stains thy body and soul?" + +"My father will communicate the answer to thee," replied Bent-Anat +shortly and proudly. + +"Not to me," returned Ameni, "but to the Gods, in whose name I now command +thee to quit this sanctuary, which is defiled by thy presence." + +Bent-Anat's whole form quivered. "I will go," she said with sullen +dignity. + +She turned to recross the gateway of the Pylon. At the first step her +glance met the eye of the poet. As one to whom it is vouchsafed to stand +and gaze at some great prodigy, so Pentaur had stood opposite the royal +maiden, uneasy and yet fascinated, agitated, yet with secretly uplifted +soul. Her deed seemed to him of boundless audacity, and yet one suited +to her true and noble nature. By her side, Ameni, his revered and +admired master, sank into insignificance; and when she turned to leave +the temple, his hand was raised indeed to hold her back, but as his +glance met hers, his hand refused its office, and sought instead to still +the throbbing of his overflowing heart. + +The experienced priest, meanwhile, read the features of these two +guileless beings like an open book. A quickly-formed tie, he felt, +linked their souls, and the look which he saw them exchange startled him. +The rebellious princess had glanced at the poet as though claiming +approbation for her triumph, and Pentaur's eyes had responded to the +appeal. + +One instant Ameni paused. Then he cried: "Bent-Anat!" + +The princess turned to the priest, and looked at him gravely and +enquiringly. + +Ameni took a step forward, and stood between her and the poet. + +"Thou wouldst challenge the Gods to combat," he said sternly. "That is +bold; but such daring it seems to me has grown up in thee because thou +canst count on an ally, who stands scarcely farther from the Immortals +than I myself. Hear this:--to thee, the misguided child, much may be +forgiven. But a servant of the Divinity," and with these words he turned +a threatening glance on Pentaur--"a priest, who in the war of free-will +against law becomes a deserter, who forgets his duty and his oath--he +will not long stand beside thee to support thee, for he--even though +every God had blessed him with the richest gifts--he is damned. We drive +him from among us, we curse him, we--" + +At these words Bent-Anat looked now at Ameni, trembling with excitement, +now at Pentaur standing opposite to her. Her face was red and white by +turns, as light and shade chase each other on the ground when at noon-day +a palm-grove is stirred by a storm. + +The poet took a step towards her. + +She felt that if he spoke it would be to defend all that she had done, +and to ruin himself. A deep sympathy, a nameless anguish seized her +soul, and before Pentaur could open his lips, she had sunk slowly down +before Ameni, saying in low tones: + +"I have sinned and defiled myself; thou hast said it--as Pentaur said it +by the hut of the paraschites. Restore me to cleanness, Ameni, for I am +unclean." + +Like a flame that is crushed out by a hand, so the fire in the high- +priest's eye was extinguished. Graciously, almost lovingly, he looked +down on the princess, blessed her and conducted her before the holy of +holies, there had clouds of incense wafted round her, anointed her with +the nine holy oils, and commanded her to return to the royal castle. + +Yet, said he, her guilt was not expiated; she should shortly learn by +what prayers and exercises she might attain once more to perfect purity +before the Gods, of whom he purposed to enquire in the holy place. + +During all these ceremonies the priests stationed in the forecourt +continued their lamentations. + +The people standing before the temple listened to the priest's chant, +and interrupted it from time to time with ringing cries of wailing, for +already a dark rumor of what was going on within had spread among the +multitude. + +The sun was going down. The visitors to the Necropolis must soon be +leaving it, and Bent-Anat, for whose appearance the people impatiently +waited, would not show herself. One and another said the princess had +been cursed, because she had taken remedies to the fair and injured +Uarda, who was known to many of them. + +Among the curious who had flocked together were many embalmers, laborers, +and humble folk, who lived in the Necropolis. The mutinous and +refractory temper of the Egyptians, which brought such heavy suffering +on them under their later foreign rulers, was aroused, and rising with +every minute. They reviled the pride of the priests, and their +senseless, worthless, institutions. A drunken soldier, who soon reeled +back into the tavern which he had but just left, distinguished himself as +ringleader, and was the first to pick up a heavy stone to fling at the +huge brass-plated temple gates. A few boys followed his example with +shouts, and law-abiding men even, urged by the clamor of fanatical women, +let themselves be led away to stone-flinging and words of abuse. + +Within the House of Seti the priests' chant went on uninterruptedly; but +at last, when the noise of the crowd grew louder, the great gate was +thrown open, and with a solemn step Ameni, in full robes, and followed by +twenty pastophori--[An order of priests]--who bore images of the Gods and +holy symbols on their shoulders--Ameni walked into the midst of the +crowd. + +All were silent. + +"Wherefore do you disturb our worship?" he asked loudly and calmly. + +A roar of confused cries answered him, in which the frequently repeated +name of Bent-Anat could alone be distinguished. + +Ameni preserved his immoveable composure, and, raising his crozier, he +cried-- + +"Make way for the daughter of Rameses, who sought and has found +purification from the Gods, who behold the guilt of the highest as of the +lowest among you. They reward the pious, but they punish the offender. +Kneel down and let us pray that they may forgive you, and bless both you +and your children." + +Ameni took the holy Sistrum + + [A rattling metal instrument used by the Egyptians in the service of + the Gods. Many specimens are extant in Museums. Plutarch describes + it correctly, thus: "The Sistrum is rounded above, and the loop + holds the four bars which are shaken." On the bend of the Sistrum + they often set the head of a cat with a human face.] + +from one of the attendant pastophori, and held it on high; the priests +behind him raised a solemn hymn, and the crowd sank on their knees; nor +did they move till the chant ceased and the high-priest again cried out: + +"The Immortals bless you by me their servant. Leave this spot and make +way for the daughter of Rameses." + +With these words he withdrew into the temple, and the patrol, without +meeting with any opposition, cleared the road guarded by Sphinxes which +led to the Nile. + +As Bent-Anat mounted her chariot Ameni said "Thou art the child of kings. +The house of thy father rests on the shoulders of the people. Loosen the +old laws which hold them subject, and the people will conduct themselves +like these fools." + +Ameni retired. Bent-Anat slowly arranged the reins in her hand, her eyes +resting the while on the poet, who, leaning against a door-post, gazed at +her in beatitude. She let her whip fall to the ground, that he might +pick it up and restore it to her, but he did not observe it. A runner +sprang forward and handed it to the princess, whose horses started off, +tossing themselves and neighing. + +Pentaur remained as if spell-bound, standing by the pillar, till the +rattle of the departing wheels on the flag-way of the Avenue of Sphinxes +had altogether died away, and the reflection of the glowing sunset +painted the eastern hills with soft and rosy hues. + +The far-sounding clang of a brass gong roused the poet from his ecstasy. +It was the tomtom calling him to duty, to the lecture on rhetoric which +at this hour he had to deliver to the young priests. He laid his left +hand to his heart, and pressed his right hand to his forehead, as if to +collect in its grasp his wandering thoughts; then silently and +mechanically he went towards the open court in which his disciples +awaited him. But instead of, as usual, considering on the way the +subject he was to treat, his spirit and heart were occupied with the +occurrences of the last few hours. One image reigned supreme in his +imagination, filling it with delight--it was that of the fairest woman, +who, radiant in her royal dignity and trembling with pride, had thrown +herself in the dust for his sake. He felt as if her action had invested +her whole being with a new and princely worth, as if her glance had +brought light to his inmost soul, he seemed to breathe a freer air, to be +borne onward on winged feet. + +In such a mood he appeared before his hearers. When he found himself +confronting all the the well-known faces, he remembered what it was he +was called upon to do. He supported himself against the wall of the +court, and opened the papyrus-roll handed to him by his favorite pupil, +the young Anana. It was the book which twenty-four hours ago he had +promised to begin upon. He looked now upon the characters that covered +it, and felt that he was unable to read a word. + +With a powerful effort he collected himself, and looking upwards tried +to find the thread he had cut at the end of yesterday's lecture, and +intended to resume to-day; but between yesterday and to-day, as it seemed +to him, lay a vast sea whose roaring surges stunned his memory and powers +of thought. + +His scholars, squatting cross-legged on reed mats before him, gazed in +astonishment on their silent master who was usually so ready of speech, +and looked enquiringly at each other. A young priest whispered to his +neighbor, "He is praying--" and Anana noticed with silent anxiety the +strong hand of his teacher clutching the manuscript so tightly that the +slight material of which it consisted threatened to split. + +At last Pentaur looked down; he had found a subject. While he was +looking upwards his gaze fell on the opposite wall, and the painted name +of the king with the accompanying title "the good God" met his eye. +Starting from these words he put this question to his hearers, "How do we +apprehend the Goodness of the Divinity?" + +He challenged one priest after another to treat this subject as if he +were standing before his future congregation. + +Several disciples rose, and spoke with more or less truth and feeling. +At last it came to Anana's turn, who, in well-chosen words, praised the +purpose-full beauty of animate and inanimate creation, in which the +goodness of Amon + + [Amon, that is to say, "the hidden one." He was the God of Thebes, + which was under his aegis, and after the Hykssos were expelled from + the Nile-valley, he was united with Ra of Heliopolis and endowed + with the attributes of all the remaining Gods. His nature was more + and more spiritualized, till in the esoteric philosophy of the time + of the Rameses he is compared to the All filling and All guiding + intelligence. He is "the husband of his mother, his own father, and + his own son," As the living Osiris, he is the soul and spirit of all + creation.] + +of Ra, + + [Ra, originally the Sun-God; later his name was introduced into the + pantheistic mystic philosophy for that of the God who is the + Universe.] + +and Ptah, + + [Ptah is the Greek Henhaistas, the oldest of the Gods, the great + maker of the material for the creation, the "first beginner," by + whose side the seven Chnemu stand, as architects, to help him, and + who was named "the lord of truth," because the laws and conditions + of being proceeded from him. He created also the germ of light, he + stood therefore at the head of the solar Gods, and was called the + creator of ice, from which, when he had cleft it, the sun and the + moan came forth. Hence his name "the opener."] + +as well as of the other Gods, finds expression. + +Pentaur listened to the youth with folded arms, now looking at him +enquiringly, now adding approbation. Then taking up the thread of the, +discourse when it was ended, he began himself to speak. + +Like obedient falcons at the call of the falconer, thoughts rushed down +into his mind, and the divine passion awakened in his breast glowed and +shone through his inspired language that soared every moment on freer and +stronger wings. Melting into pathos, exulting in rapture, he praised the +splendor of nature; and the words flowed from his lips like a limpid +crystal-clear stream as he glorified the eternal order of things, and the +incomprehensible wisdom and care of the Creator--the One, who is one +alone, and great and without equal. + +"So incomparable," he said in conclusion, "is the home which God has +given us. All that He--the One--has created is penetrated with His own +essence, and bears witness to His Goodness. He who knows how to find Him +sees Him everywhere, and lives at every instant in the enjoyment of His +glory. Seek Him, and when ye have found Him fall down and sing praises +before Him. But praise the Highest, not only in gratitude for the +splendor of that which he has created, but for having given us the +capacity for delight in his work. Ascend the mountain peaks and look on +the distant country, worship when the sunset glows with rubies, and the +dawn with roses, go out in the nighttime, and look at the stars as they +travel in eternal, unerring, immeasurable, and endless circles on silver +barks through the blue vault of heaven, stand by the cradle of the child, +by the buds of the flowers, and see how the mother bends over the one, +and the bright dew-drops fall on the other. But would you know where the +stream of divine goodness is most freely poured out, where the grace of +the Creator bestows the richest gifts, and where His holiest altars are +prepared? In your own heart; so long as it is pure and full of love. +In such a heart, nature is reflected as in a magic mirror, on whose +surface the Beautiful shines in three-fold beauty. There the eye can +reach far away over stream, and meadow, and hill, and take in the whole +circle of the earth; there the morning and evening-red shine, not like +roses and rubies, but like the very cheeks of the Goddess of Beauty; +there the stars circle on, not in silence, but with the mighty voices of +the pure eternal harmonies of heaven; there the child smiles like an +infant-god, and the bud unfolds to magic flowers; finally, there +thankfulness grows broader and devotion grows deeper, and we throw +ourselves into the arms of a God, who--as I imagine his glory--is a God +to whom the sublime nine great Gods pray as miserable and helpless +suppliants." + +The tomtom which announced the end of the hour interrupted him. + +Pentaur ceased speaking with a deep sigh, and for a minute not a scholar +moved. + +At last the poet laid the papyrus roll out of his hand, wiped the sweat +from his hot brow, and walked slowly towards the gate of the court, which +led into the sacred grove of the temple. He had hardly crossed the +threshold when he felt a hand laid upon his shoulder. + +He looked round. Behind him stood Ameni. "You fascinated your hearers, +my friend," said the high-priest, coldly; "it is a pity that only the +Harp was wanting." + +Ameni's words fell on the agitated spirit of the poet like ice on the +breast of a man in fever. He knew this tone in his master's voice, for +thus he was accustomed to reprove bad scholars and erring priests; but to +him he had never yet so spoken. + +"It certainly would seem," continued the high-priest, bitterly, "as if in +your intoxication you had forgotten what it becomes the teacher to utter +in the lecture-hall. Only a few weeks since you swore on my hands to +guard the mysteries, and this day you have offered the great secret of +the Unnameable one, the most sacred possession of the initiated, like +some cheap ware in the open market." + +"Thou cuttest with knives," said Pentaur. + +"May they prove sharp, and extirpate the undeveloped canker, the rank +weed from your soul," cried the high-priest. "You are young, too young; +not like the tender fruit-tree that lets itself be trained aright, and +brought to perfection, but like the green fruit on the ground, which will +turn to poison for the children who pick it up--yea even though it fall +from a sacred tree. Gagabu and I received you among us, against the +opinion of the majority of the initiated. We gainsaid all those who +doubted your ripeness because of your youth; and you swore to me, +gratefully and enthusiastically, to guard the mysteries and the law. +To-day for the first time I set you on the battle-field of life beyond +the peaceful shelter of the schools. And how have you defended the +standard that it was incumbent on you to uphold and maintain?" + +"I did that which seemed to me to be right and true," answered Pentaur +deeply moved. + +"Right is the same for you as for us--what the law prescribes; and what +is truth?" + +"None has lifted her veil," said Pentaur, "but my soul is the offspring +of the soul-filled body of the All; a portion of the infallible spirit of +the Divinity stirs in my breast, and if it shows itself potent in me--" + +"How easily we may mistake the flattering voice of self-love for that of +the Divinity!" + +"Cannot the Divinity which works and speaks in me--as in thee--as in each +of us--recognize himself and his own voice?" + +"If the crowd were to hear you," Ameni interrupted him, "each would set +himself on his little throne, would proclaim the voice of the god within +him as his guide, tear the law to shreds, and let the fragments fly to +the desert on the east wind." + +"I am one of the elect whom thou thyself hast taught to seek and to find +the One. The light which I gaze on and am blest, would strike the crowd +--I do not deny it--with blindness--" + +"And nevertheless you blind our disciples with the dangerous glare-" + +"I am educating them for future sages." + +"And that with the hot overflow of a heart intoxicated with love!" + +"Ameni!" + +"I stand before you, uninvited, as your teacher, who reproves you out of +the law, which always and everywhere is wiser than the individual, +whose defender the king--among his highest titles--boasts of being, and +to which the sage bows as much as the common man whom we bring up to +blind belief--I stand before you as your father, who has loved you from a +child, and expected from none of his disciples more than from you; and +who will therefore neither lose you nor abandon the hope he has set upon +you-- + +"Make ready to leave our quiet house early tomorrow morning. You have +forfeited your office of teacher. You shall now go into the school of +life, and make yourself fit for the honored rank of the initiated which, +by my error, was bestowed on you too soon. You must leave your scholars +without any leave-taking, however hard it may appear to you. After the +star of Sothis + + [The holy star of Isis, Sirius or the dog star, whose course in the + time of the Pharaohs coincided with the exact Solar year, and served + at a very early date as a foundation for the reckoning of time among + the Egyptians.] + +has risen come for your instructions. You must in these next months try +to lead the priesthood in the temple of Hatasu, and in that post to win +back my confidence which you have thrown away. No remonstrance; to-night +you will receive my blessing, and our authority--you must greet the +rising sun from the terrace of the new scene of your labors. May the +Unnameable stamp the law upon your soul!" + + + +Ameni returned to his room. + +He walked restlessly to and fro. + +On a little table lay a mirror; he looked into the clear metal pane, and +laid it back in its place again, as if he had seen some strange and +displeasing countenance. + +The events of the last few hours had moved him deeply, and shaken his +confidence in his unerring judgment of men and things. + +The priests on the other bank of the Nile were Bent-Anat's counsellors, +and he had heard the princess spoken of as a devout and gifted maiden. +Her incautious breach of the sacred institutions had seemed to him to +offer a welcome opportunity for humiliating--a member of the royal +family. + +Now he told himself that he had undervalued this young creature that he +had behaved clumsily, perhaps foolishly, to her; for he did not for a +moment conceal from himself that her sudden change of demeanor resulted +much more from the warm flow of her sympathy, or perhaps of her, +affection, than from any recognition of her guilt, and he could not +utilize her transgression with safety to himself, unless she felt +herself guilty. + +Nor was he of so great a nature as to be wholly free from vanity, and his +vanity had been deeply wounded by the haughty resistance of the princess. + +When he commanded Pentaur to meet the princess with words of reproof, he +had hoped to awaken his ambition through the proud sense of power over +the mighty ones of the earth. + +And now? + +How had his gifted admirer, the most hopeful of all his disciples, stood +the test. + +The one ideal of his life, the unlimited dominion of the priestly idea +over the minds of men, and of the priesthood over the king himself, had +hitherto remained unintelligible to this singular young man. + +He must learn to understand it. + +"Here, as the least among a hundred who are his superiors, all the powers +of resistance of his soaring soul have been roused," said Ameni to +himself. "In the temple of Hatasu he will have to rule over the inferior +orders of slaughterers of victims and incense-burners; and, by requiring +obedience, will learn to estimate the necessity of it. The rebel, to +whom a throne devolves, becomes a tyrant!" + +"Pentuar's poet soul," so he continued to reflect "has quickly yielded +itself a prisoner to the charm of Bent-Anat; and what woman could resist +this highly favored being, who is radiant in beauty as Ra-Harmachis, and +from whose lips flows speech as sweet as Techuti's. They ought never to +meet again, for no tie must bind him to the house of Rameses." + +Again he paced to and fro, and murmured: + +"How is this? Two of my disciples have towered above their fellows, in +genius and gifts, like palm trees above their undergrowth. I brought +them up to succeed me, to inherit my labors and my hopes. + +"Mesu fell away; + + [Mesu is the Egyptian name of Moses, whom we may consider as a + contemporary of Rameses, under whose successor the exodus of the + Jews from Egypt took place.] + +and Pentaur may follow him. Must my aim be an unworthy one because it +does not attract the noblest? Not so. Each feels himself made of better +stuff than his companions in destiny, constitutes his own law, and fears +to see the great expended in trifles; but I think otherwise; like a brook +of ferruginous water from Lebanon, I mix with the great stream, and tinge +it with my color." + +Thinking thus Ameni stood still. + +Then he called to one of the so-called "holy fathers," his private +secretary, and said: + +"Draw up at once a document, to be sent to all the priests'-colleges in +the land. Inform them that the daughter of Rameses has lapsed seriously +from the law, and defiled herself, and direct that public--you hear me +public--prayers shall be put up for her purification in every temple. +Lay the letter before me to be signed within in hour. But no! Give me +your reed and palette; I will myself draw up the instructions." + +The "holy father" gave him writing materials, and retired into the +background. Ameni muttered: "The King will do us some unheard-of +violence! Well, this writing may be the first arrow in opposition +to his lance." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +The moon was risen over the city of the living that lay opposite the +Necropolis of Thebes. + +The evening song had died away in the temples, that stood about a mile +from the Nile, connected with each other by avenues of sphinxes and +pylons; but in the streets of the city life seemed only just really +awake. + +The coolness, which had succeeded the heat of the summer day, tempted the +citizens out into the air, in front of their doors or on the roofs and +turrets of their houses; or at the tavern-tables, where they listened to +the tales of the story-tellers while they refreshed them selves with +beer, wine, and the sweet juice of fruits. Many simple folks squatted in +circular groups on the ground, and joined in the burden of songs which +were led by an appointed singer, to the sound of a tabor and flute. + +To the south of the temple of Amon stood the king's palace, and near it, +in more or less extensive gardens, rose the houses of the magnates of the +kingdom, among which, one was distinguished by it splendor and extent. + +Paaker, the king's pioneer, had caused it to be erected after the death +of his father, in the place of the more homely dwelling of his ancestors, +when he hoped to bring home his cousin, and install her as its mistress. +A few yards further to the east was another stately though older and less +splendid house, which Mena, the king's charioteer, had inherited from his +father, and which was inhabited by his wife Nefert and her mother +Isatuti, while he himself, in the distant Syrian land, shared the tent of +the king, as being his body-guard. Before the door of each house stood +servants bearing torches, and awaiting the long deferred return home of +their masters. + +The gate, which gave admission to Paaker's plot of ground through the +wall which surrounded it, was disproportionately, almost ostentatiously, +high and decorated with various paintings. On the right hand and on the +left, two cedar-trunks were erected as masts to carry standards; he had +had them felled for the purpose on Lebanon, and forwarded by ship to +Pelusium on the north-east coast of Egypt. Thence they were conveyed by +the Nile to Thebes. + +On passing through the gate one entered a wide, paved court-yard, at the +sides of which walks extended, closed in at the back, and with roofs +supported on slender painted wooden columns. Here stood the pioneer's +horses and chariots, here dwelt his slaves, and here the necessary store +of produce for the month's requirements was kept. + +In the farther wall of this store-court was a very high doorway, that led +into a large garden with rows of well-tended trees and trellised vines, +clumps of shrubs, flowers, and beds of vegetables. Palms, sycamores, and +acacia-trees, figs, pomegranates, and jasmine throve here particularly +well--for Paaker's mother, Setchem, superintended the labors of the +gardeners; and in the large tank in the midst there was never any lack of +water for watering the beds and the roots of the trees, as it was always +supplied by two canals, into which wheels turned by oxen poured water day +and night from the Nile-stream. + +On the right side of this plot of ground rose the one-storied dwelling +house, its length stretching into distant perspective, as it consisted of +a single row of living and bedrooms. Almost every room had its own door, +that opened into a veranda supported by colored wooden columns, and which +extended the whole length of the garden side of the house. This building +was joined at a right angle by a row of store-rooms, in which the garden- +produce in fruits and vegetables, the wine-jars, and the possessions of +the house in woven stuffs, skins, leather, and other property were kept. + +In a chamber of strong masonry lay safely locked up the vast riches +accumulated by Paaker's father and by himself, in gold and silver rings, +vessels and figures of beasts. Nor was there lack of bars of copper and +of precious stones, particularly of lapis-lazuli and malachite. + +In the middle of the garden stood a handsomely decorated kiosk, and a +chapel with images of the Gods; in the background stood the statues of +Paaker's ancestors in the form of Osiris wrapped in mummy-cloths. + + [The justified dead became Osiris; that is to say, attained to the + fullest union (Henosis) with the divinity.] + +The faces, which were likenesses, alone distinguished these statues from +each other. + +The left side of the store-yard was veiled in gloom, yet the moonlight +revealed numerous dark figures clothed only with aprons, the slaves of +the king's pioneer, who squatted on the ground in groups of five or six, +or lay near each other on thin mats of palm-bast, their hard beds. + +Not far from the gate, on the right side of the court, a few lamps +lighted up a group of dusky men, the officers of Paaker's household, who +wore short, shirt-shaped, white garments, and who sat on a carpet round a +table hardly two feet high. They were eating their evening-meal, +consisting of a roasted antelope, and large flat cakes of bread. Slaves +waited on them, and filled their earthen beakers with yellow beer. The +steward cut up the great roast on the table, offered the intendant of the +gardens a piece of antelope-leg, and said: + + [The Greeks and Romans report that the Egyptians were so addicted to + satire and pungent witticisms that they would hazard property and + life to gratify their love of mockery. The scandalous pictures in + the so-called kiosk of Medinet Habu, the caricatures in an + indescribable papyrus at Turin, confirm these statements. There is + a noteworthy passage in Flavius Vopiscus, that compares the + Egyptians to the French.] + +"My arms ache; the mob of slaves get more and more dirty and refractory." + +"I notice it in the palm-trees," said the gardener, "you want so many +cudgels that their crowns will soon be as bare as a moulting bird." + +"We should do as the master does," said the head-groom, "and get sticks +of ebony--they last a hundred years." + +"At any rate longer than men's bones," laughed the chief neat-herd, who +had come in to town from the pioneer's country estate, bringing with him +animals for sacrifices, butter and cheese. "If we were all to follow the +master's example, we should soon have none but cripples in the servant's +house." + +"Out there lies the lad whose collar-bone he broke yesterday," said the +steward, "it is a pity, for he was a clever mat-platter. The old lord +hit softer." + +"You ought to know!" cried a small voice, that sounded mockingly behind +the feasters. + +They looked and laughed when they recognized the strange guest, who had +approached them unobserved. + +The new comer was a deformed little man about as big as a five-year-old +boy, with a big head and oldish but uncommonly sharply-cut features. + +The noblest Egyptians kept house-dwarfs for sport, and this little wight +served the wife of Mena in this capacity. He was called Nemu, or "the +dwarf," and his sharp tongue made him much feared, though he was a +favorite, for he passed for a very clever fellow and was a good tale- +teller. + +"Make room for me, my lords," said the little man. "I take very little +room, and your beer and roast is in little danger from me, for my maw is +no bigger than a fly's head." + +"But your gall is as big as that of a Nile-horse," cried the cook. + +"It grows," said the dwarf laughing, "when a turn-spit and spoon- +wielder like you turns up. There--I will sit here." + +"You are welcome," said the steward, "what do you bring?" + +"Myself." + +"Then you bring nothing great." + +"Else I should not suit you either!" retorted the dwarf. "But +seriously, my lady mother, the noble Katuti, and the Regent, who just now +is visiting us, sent me here to ask you whether Paaker is not yet +returned. He accompanied the princess and Nefert to the City of the +Dead, and the ladies are not yet come in. We begin to be anxious, for it +is already late." + +The steward looked up at the starry sky and said: "The moon is already +tolerably high, and my lord meant to be home before sun-down." + +"The meal was ready," sighed the cook. "I shall have to go to work again +if he does not remain all night." + +"How should he?" asked the steward. "He is with the princess Bent- +Anat." + +"And my mistress," added the dwarf. + +"What will they say to each other," laughed gardener; "your chief litter- +bearer declared that yesterday on the way to the City of the Dead they +did not speak a word to each other." + +"Can you blame the lord if he is angry with the lady who was betrothed to +him, and then was wed to another? When I think of the moment when he +learnt Nefert's breach of faith I turn hot and cold." + +"Care the less for that," sneered the dwarf, "since you must be hot in +summer and cold in winter." + +"It is not evening all day," cried the head groom. "Paaker never forgets +an injury, and we shall live to see him pay Mena--high as he is--for the +affront he has offered him. + +"My lady Katuti," interrupted Nemu, "stores up the arrears of her son-in- +law." + +Besides, she has long wished to renew the old friendship with your house, +and the Regent too preaches peace. Give me a piece of bread, steward. +I am hungry!" + +"The sacks, into which Mena's arrears flow seem to be empty," laughed the +cook. + +"Empty! empty! much like your wit!" answered the dwarf. "Give me a bit +of roast meat, steward; and you slaves bring me a drink of beer." + +"You just now said your maw was no bigger than a fly's head," cried the +cook, "and now you devour meat like the crocodiles in the sacred tank of +Seeland. You must come from a world of upside-down, where the men are as +small as flies, and the flies as big as the giants of the past." + +"Yet, I might be much bigger," mumbled the dwarf while he munched on +unconcernedly, "perhaps as big as your spite which grudges me the third +bit of meat, which the steward--may Zefa bless him with great possessions +--is cutting out of the back of the antelope." + +"There, take it, you glutton, but let out your girdle," said the steward +laughing, "I had cut the slice for myself, and admire your sharp nose." + +"All noses," said the dwarf, "they teach the knowing better than any +haruspex what is inside a man." + +"How is that?" cried the gardener. + +"Only try to display your wisdom," laughed the steward; for, if you want +to talk, you must at last leave off eating." + +"The two may be combined," said the dwarf. "Listen then! A hooked nose, +which I compare to a vulture's beak, is never found together with a +submissive spirit. Think of the Pharaoh and all his haughty race. The +Regent, on the contrary, has a straight, well-shaped, medium-sized nose, +like the statue of Amon in the temple, and he is an upright soul, and as +good as the Gods. He is neither overbearing nor submissive beyond just +what is right; he holds neither with the great nor yet with the mean, but +with men of our stamp. There's the king for us!" + +"A king of noses!" exclaimed the cook, "I prefer the eagle Rameses. +But what do you say to the nose of your mistress Nefert?" + +"It is delicate and slender and moves with every thought like the leaves +of flowers in a breath of wind, and her heart is exactly like it." + +"And Paaker?" asked the head groom. + +"He has a large short nose with wide open nostrils. When Seth whirls up +the sand, and a grain of it flies up his nose, he waxes angry--so it is +Paaker's nose, and that only, which is answerable for all your blue +bruises. His mother Setchem, the sister of my lady Katuti, has a little +roundish soft--" + +"You pigmy," cried the steward interrupting the speaker, "we have fed you +and let you abuse people to your heart's content, but if you wag your +sharp tongue against our mistress, I will take you by the girdle and +fling you to the sky, so that the stars may remain sticking to your +crooked hump." + +At these words the dwarf rose, turned to go, and said indifferently: "I +would pick the stars carefully off my back, and send you the finest of +the planets in return for your juicy bit of roast. But here come the +chariots. Farewell! my lords, when the vulture's beak seizes one of you +and carries you off to the war in Syria, remember the words of the little +Nemu who knows men and noses." + +The pioneer's chariot rattled through the high gates into the court of +his house, the dogs in their leashes howled joyfully, the head groom +hastened towards Paaker and took the reins in his charge, the steward +accompanied him, and the head cook retired into the kitchen to make ready +a fresh meal for his master. + +Before Paaker had reached the garden-gate, from the pylon of the enormous +temple of Amon, was heard first the far-sounding clang of hard-struck +plates of brass, and then the many-voiced chant of a solemn hymn. + +The Mohar stood still, looked up to heaven, called to his servants--"The +divine star Sothis is risen!" threw himself on the earth, and lifted his +wards the star in prayer. + +The slaves and officers immediately followed his example. + +No circumstance in nature remained unobserved by the priestly guides of +the Egyptian people. Every phenomenon on earth or in the starry heavens +was greeted by them as the manifestation of a divinity, and they +surrounded the life of the inhabitants of the Nile-valley--from morning +to evening--from the beginning of the inundation to the days of drought-- +with a web of chants and sacrifices, of processions and festivals, which +inseparably knit the human individual to the Divinity and its earthly +representatives the priesthood. + +For many minutes the lord and his servants remained on their knees in +silence, their eyes fixed on the sacred star, and listening to the pious +chant of the priests. + +As it died away Paaker rose. All around him still lay on the earth; only +one naked figure, strongly lighted by the clear moonlight, stood +motionless by a pillar near the slaves' quarters. + +The pioneer gave a sign, the attendants rose; but Paaker went with hasty +steps to the man who had disdained the act of devotion, which he had so +earnestly performed, and cried: + +"Steward, a hundred strokes on the soles of the feet of this scoffer." + +The officer thus addressed bowed and said: "My lord, the surgeon +commanded the mat-weaver not to move and he cannot lift his arm. He is +suffering great pain. Thou didst break his collar-bone yesterday. + +"It served him right!" said Paaker, raising his voice so much that the +injured man could not fail to hear it. Then he turned his back upon him, +and entered the garden; here he called the chief butler, and said: "Give +the slaves beer for their night draught--to all of them, and plenty." + +A few minutes later he stood before his mother, whom he found on the roof +of the house, which was decorated with leafy plants, just as she gave her +two-years'-old grand daughter, the child of her youngest son, into the +arms of her nurse, that she might take her to bed. + +Paaker greeted the worthy matron with reverence. She was a woman of a +friendly, homely aspect; several little dogs were fawning at her feet. +Her son put aside the leaping favorites of the widow, whom they amused +through many long hours of loneliness, and turned to take the child in +his arms from those of the attendant. But the little one struggled with +such loud cries, and could not be pacified, that Paaker set it down on +the ground, and involuntarily exclaimed: + +"The naughty little thing!" + +"She has been sweet and good the whole afternoon," said his mother +Setchem. "She sees you so seldom." + +"May be," replied Paaker; "still I know this--the dogs love me, but no +child will come to me." + +"You have such hard hands." + +"Take the squalling brat away," said Paaker to the nurse. "Mother, I +want to speak to you." + +Setchem quieted the child, gave it many kisses, and sent it to bed; then +she went up to her son, stroked his cheeks, and said: + +"If the little one were your own, she would go to you at once, and teach +you that a child is the greatest blessing which the Gods bestow on us +mortals." Paaker smiled and said: "I know what you are aiming at--but +leave it for the present, for I have something important to communicate +to you." + +"Well?" asked Setchem. + +"To-day for the first time since--you know when, I have spoken to Nefert. +The past may be forgotten. You long for your sister; go to her, I have +nothing more to say against it." + +Setchem looked at her son with undisguised astonishment; her eyes which +easily filled with tears, now overflowed, and she hesitatingly asked: +"Can I believe my ears; child, have you?--" + +"I have a wish," said Paaker firmly, "that you should knit once more the +old ties of affection with your relations; the estrangement has lasted +long enough." + +"Much too long!" cried Setchem. + +The pioneer looked in silence at the ground, and obeyed his mother's sign +to sit down beside her. + +"I knew," she said, taking his hand, "that this day would bring us joy; +for I dreamt of your father in Osiris, and when I was being carried to +the temple, I was met, first by a white cow, and then by a wedding +procession. The white ram of Anion, too, touched the wheat-cakes that I +offered him."--[It boded death to Germanicus when the Apis refused to eat +out of his hand.] + +"Those are lucky presages," said Paaker in a tone of conviction. + +"And let us hasten to seize with gratitude that which the Gods set before +us," cried Setchem with joyful emotion. "I will go to-morrow to my +sister and tell her that we shall live together in our old affection, and +share both good and evil; we are both of the same race, and I know that, +as order and cleanliness preserve a house from ruin and rejoice the +stranger, so nothing but unity can keep up the happiness of the family +and its appearance before people. What is bygone is bygone, and let it +be forgotten. There are many women in Thebes besides Nefert, and a +hundred nobles in the land would esteem themselves happy to win you for a +son-in-law." + +Paaker rose, and began thoughtfully pacing the broad space, while Setchem +went on speaking. + +"I know," she said, that I have touched a wound in thy heart; but it is +already closing, and it will heal when you are happier even than the +charioteer Mena, and need no longer hate him. Nefert is good, but she is +delicate and not clever, and scarcely equal to the management of so large +a household as ours. Ere long I too shall be wrapped in mummy-cloths, +and then if duty calls you into Syria some prudent housewife must take my +place. It is no small matter. Your grandfather Assa often would say +that a house well-conducted in every detail was a mark of a family owning +an unspotted name, and living with wise liberality and secure solidity, +in which each had his assigned place, his allotted duty to fulfil, and +his fixed rights to demand. How often have I prayed to the Hathors that +they may send you a wife after my own heart." + +"A Setchem I shall never find!" said Paaker kissing his mother's +forehead, "women of your sort are dying out." + +"Flatterer!" laughed Setchem, shaking her finger at her son. But it is +true. Those who are now growing up dress and smarten themselves with +stuffs from Kaft,--[Phoenicia]--mix their language with Syrian words, and +leave the steward and housekeeper free when they themselves ought to +command. Even my sister Katuti, and Nefert-- + +"Nefert is different from other women," interrupted Paaker, "and if you +had brought her up she would know how to manage a house as well as how to +ornament it." + +Setchem looked at her son in surprise; then she said, half to herself: +"Yes, yes, she is a sweet child; it is impossible for any one to be angry +with her who looks into her eyes. And yet I was cruel to her because you +were hurt by her, and because--but you know. But now you have forgiven, +I forgive her, willingly, her and her husband." + +Paaker's brow clouded, and while he paused in front of his mother he said +with all the peculiar harshness of his voice: + +"He shall pine away in the desert, and the hyaenas of the North shall +tear his unburied corpse." + +At these words Setchem covered her face with her veil, and clasped her +hands tightly over the amulets hanging round her neck. Then she said +softly: + +"How terrible you can be! I know well that you hate the charioteer, for +I have seen the seven arrows over your couch over which is written 'Death +to Mena.' + +"That is a Syrian charm which a man turns against any one whom he desires +to destroy. How black you look! Yes, it is a charm that is hateful to +the Gods, and that gives the evil one power over him that uses it. Leave +it to them to punish the criminal, for Osiris withdraws his favor from +those who choose the fiend for their ally." + +"My sacrifices," replied Paaker, "secure me the favor of the Gods; but +Mena behaved to me like a vile robber, and I only return to him the evil +that belongs to him. Enough of this! and if you love me, never again +utter the name of my enemy before me. I have forgiven Nefert and her +mother--that may satisfy you." + +Setchem shook her head, and said: "What will it lead to! The war cannot +last for ever, and if Mena returns the reconciliation of to-day will turn +to all the more bitter enmity. I see only one remedy. Follow my advice, +and let me find you a wife worthy of you." + +"Not now!" exclaimed Paaker impatiently. "In a few days I must go again +into the enemy's country, and do not wish to leave my wife, like Mena, to +lead the life of a widow during my existence. Why urge it? my brother's +wife and children are with you--that might satisfy you." + +"The Gods know how I love them," answered Setchem; "but your brother +Horns is the younger, and you the elder, to whom the inheritance belongs. +Your little niece is a delightful plaything, but in your son I should see +at once the future stay of our race, the future head of the family; +brought up to my mind and your father's; for all is sacred to me that my +dead husband wished. He rejoiced in your early betrothal to Nefert, and +hoped that a son of his eldest son should continue the race of Assa." + +"It shall be by no fault of mine that any wish of his remains +unfulfilled. The stars are high, mother; sleep well, and if to-morrow +you visit Nefert and your sister, say to them that the doors of my house +are open to them. But stay! Katuti's steward has offered to sell a herd +of cattle to ours, although the stock on Mena's land can be but small. +What does this mean?" + +"You know my sister," replied Setchem. "She manages Mena's possessions, +has many requirements, tries to vie with the greatest in splendor, sees +the governor often in her house, her son is no doubt extravagant--and so +the most necessary things may often be wanting." + +Paaker shrugged his shoulders, once more embraced his mother and left +her. + +Soon after, he was standing in the spacious room in which he was +accustomed to sit and to sleep when he was in Thebes. The walls of this +room were whitewashed and decorated with pious glyphic writing, which +framed in the door and the windows opening into the garden. + +In the middle of the farther wall was a couch in the form of a lion. The +upper end of it imitated a lion's head, and the foot, its curling tail; a +finely dressed lion's skin was spread over the bell, and a headrest of +ebony, decorated with pious texts, stood on a high foot-step, ready for +the sleeper. + +Above the bed various costly weapons and whips were elegantly displayed, +and below them the seven arrows over which Setchem had read the words +"Death to Mena." They were written across a sentence which enjoined +feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and clothing the naked; +with loving-kindness, alike to the great and the humble. + +A niche by the side of the bed-head was closed with a curtain of purple +stuff. + +In each corner of the room stood a statue; three of them symbolized the +triad of Thebes-Anion, Muth, and Chunsu--and the fourth the dead father +of the pioneer. In front of each was a small altar for offerings, with a +hollow in it, in which was an odoriferous essence. On a wooden stand +were little images of the Gods and amulets in great number, and in +several painted chests lay the clothes, the ornaments and the papers of +the master. In the midst of the chamber stood a table and several stool- +shaped seats. + +When Paaker entered the room he found it lighted with lamps, and a large +dog sprang joyfully to meet him. He let him spring upon him, threw him +to the ground, let him once more rush upon him, and then kissed his +clever head. + +Before his bed an old negro of powerful build lay in deep sleep. Paaker +shoved him with his foot and called to him as he awoke-- + +"I am hungry." + +The grey-headed black man rose slowly, and left the room. + +As soon as he was alone Paaker drew the philter from his girdle, looked +at it tenderly, and put it in a box, in which there were several flasks +of holy oils for sacrifice. He was accustomed every evening to fill the +hollows in the altars with fresh essences, and to prostrate himself in +prayer before the images of the Gods. To-day he stood before the statue +of his father, kissed its feet, and murmured: "Thy will shall be done.-- +The woman whom thou didst intend for me shall indeed be mine--thy eldest +son's." + +Then he walked to and fro and thought over the events of the day. + +At last he stood still, with his arms crossed, and looked defiantly at +the holy images; like a traveller who drives away a false guide, and +thinks to find the road by himself. + +His eye fell on the arrows over his bed; he smiled, and striking his +broad breast with his fist, he exclaimed, "I--I--I--" + +His hound, who thought his master meant to call him, rushed up to him. +He pushed him off and said--"If you meet a hyaena in the desert, you fall +upon it without waiting till it is touched by my lance--and if the Gods, +my masters, delay, I myself will defend my right; but thou," he continued +turning to the image of his father, "thou wilt support me." + +This soliloquy was interrupted by the slaves who brought in his meal. + +Paaker glanced at the various dishes which the cook had prepared for him, +and asked: "How often shall I command that not a variety, but only one +large dish shall be dressed for me? And the wine?" + +"Thou art used never to touch it?" answered the old negro. + +"But to-day I wish for some," said the pioneer." Bring one of the old +jars of red wine of Kakem." + +The slaves looked at each other in astonishment; the wine was brought, +and Paaker emptied beaker after beaker. When the servants had left him, +the boldest among them said: "Usually the master eats like a lion, and +drinks like a midge, but to-day--" + +"Hold your tongue!" cried his companion, "and come into the court, for +Paaker has sent us out beer. The Hathors must have met him." + +The occurrences of the day must indeed have taken deep hold on the inmost +soul of the pioneer; for he, the most sober of all the warriors of +Rameses, to whom intoxication was unknown, and who avoided the banquets +of his associates--now sat at the midnight hours, alone at his table, and +toped till his weary head grew heavy. + +He collected himself, went towards his couch and drew the curtain which +concealed the niche at the head of the bed. A female figure, with the +head-dress and attributes of the Goddess Hathor, made of painted +limestone, revealed itself. + +Her countenance had the features of the wife of Mena. + +The king, four years since, had ordered a sculptor to execute a sacred +image with the lovely features of the newly-married bride of his +charioteer, and Paaker had succeeded in having a duplicate made. + +He now knelt down on the couch, gazed on the image with moist eyes, +looked cautiously around to see if he was alone, leaned forward, pressed +a kiss to the delicate, cold stone lips; laid down and went to sleep +without undressing himself, and leaving the lamps to burn themselves out. + +Restless dreams disturbed his spirit, and when the dawn grew grey, he +screamed out, tormented by a hideous vision, so pitifully, that the old +negro, who had laid himself near the dog at the foot of his bed, sprang +up alarmed, and while the dog howled, called him by his name to wake him. + +Paaker awoke with a dull head-ache. The vision which had tormented him +stood vividly before his mind, and he endeavored to retain it that he +might summon a haruspex to interpret it. After the morbid fancies of the +preceding evening he felt sad and depressed. + +The morning-hymn rang into his room with a warning voice from the temple +of Amon; he cast off evil thoughts, and resolved once more to resign the +conduct of his fate to the Gods, and to renounce all the arts of magic. + +As he was accustomed, he got into the bath that was ready for him. While +splashing in the tepid water he thought with ever increasing eagerness of +Nefert and of the philter which at first he had meant not to offer to +her, but which actually was given to her by his hand, and which might by +this time have begun to exercise its charm. + +Love placed rosy pictures--hatred set blood-red images before his eyes. +He strove to free himself from the temptations, which more and more +tightly closed in upon him, but it was with him as with a man who has +fallen into a bog, who, the more vehemently he tries to escape from the +mire, sinks the deeper. + +As the sun rose, so rose his vital energy and his self-confidence, and +when he prepared to quit his dwelling, in his most costly clothing, he +had arrived once more at the decision of the night before, and had again +resolved to fight for his purpose, without--and if need were--against the +Gods. + +The Mohar had chosen his road, and he never turned back when once he had +begun a journey. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Blossom of the thorny wreath of sorrow +Eyes kind and frank, without tricks of glance +Money is a pass-key that turns any lock +Repugnance for the old laws began to take root in his heart +Thou canst say in words what we can only feel +Whether the form of our benevolence does more good or mischief + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK UARDA BY GEORG EBERS, V2 *** + +******This file should be named 5440.txt or 5440.zip ******** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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