Cleopatra / Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925

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Title: Cleopatra

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Release Date: March 28, 2006 [EBook #2769]

Language: English

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Produced by John Bickers; Dagny; Emma Dudding





CLEOPATRA

by H. Rider Haggard




DEDICATION

My dear Mother,

I have for a long while hoped to be allowed to dedicate some book
of mine to you, and now I bring you this work, because whatever its
shortcomings, and whatever judgment may be passed upon it by yourself
and others, it is yet the one I should wish you to accept.

I trust that you will receive from my romance of "Cleopatra" some such
pleasure as lightened the labour of its building up; and that it
may convey to your mind a picture, however imperfect, of the old and
mysterious Egypt in whose lost glories you are so deeply interested.

Your affectionate and dutiful Son,

H. Rider Haggard.

January 21, 1889.




AUTHOR'S NOTE

The history of the ruin of Antony and Cleopatra must have struck many
students of the records of their age as one of the most inexplicable
of tragic tales. What malign influence and secret hates were at work,
continually sapping their prosperity and blinding their judgment? Why
did Cleopatra fly at Actium, and why did Antony follow her, leaving his
fleet and army to destruction? An attempt is made in this romance to
suggest a possible answer to these and some other questions.

The reader is asked to bear in mind, however, that the story is told,
not from the modern point of view, but as from the broken heart and
with the lips of an Egyptian patriot of royal blood; no mere
beast-worshipper, but a priest instructed in the inmost mysteries, who
believed firmly in the personal existence of the gods of Khem, in the
possibility of communion with them, and in the certainty of immortal
life with its rewards and punishments; to whom also the bewildering and
often gross symbolism of the Osirian Faith was nothing but a veil woven
to obscure secrets of the Sanctuary. Whatever proportion of truth there
may have been in their spiritual claims and imaginings, if indeed there
was any, such men as the Prince Harmachis have been told of in the
annals of every great religion, and, as is shown by the testimony of
monumental and sacred inscriptions, they were not unknown among the
worshippers of the Egyptian Gods, and more especially of Isis.

Unfortunately it is scarcely possible to write a book of this nature and
period without introducing a certain amount of illustrative matter, for
by no other means can the long dead past be made to live again before
the reader's eyes with all its accessories of faded pomp and forgotten
mystery. To such students as seek a story only, and are not interested
in the faith, ceremonies, or customs of the Mother of Religion and
Civilisation, ancient Egypt, it is, however, respectfully suggested
that they should exercise the art of skipping, and open this tale at its
Second Book.

That version of the death of Cleopatra has been preferred which
attributes her end to poison. According to Plutarch its actual manner is
very uncertain, though popular rumour ascribed it to the bite of an asp.
She seems, however, to have carried out her design under the advice
of that shadowy personage, her physician, Olympus, and it is more than
doubtful if he would have resorted to such a fantastic and uncertain
method of destroying life.

It may be mentioned that so late as the reign of Ptolemy Epiphanes,
pretenders of native blood, one of whom was named Harmachis, are known
to have advanced their claims to the throne of Egypt. Moreover, there
was a book of prophecy current among the priesthood which declared that
after the nations of the Greeks the God Harsefi would create the "chief
who is to come." It will therefore be seen that, although it lacks
historical confirmation, the story of the great plot formed to stamp out
the dynasty of the Macedonian Lagidae and place Harmachis on the throne
is not in itself improbable. Indeed, it is possible that many such plots
were entered into by Egyptian patriots during the long ages of their
country's bondage. But ancient history tells us little of the abortive
struggles of a fallen race.

The Chant of Isis and the Song of Cleopatra, which appear in these
pages, are done into verse from the writer's prose by Mr. Andrew Lang,
and the dirge sung by Charmion is translated by the same hand from the
Greek of the Syrian Meleager.





CLEOPATRA




INTRODUCTION

In the recesses of the desolate Libyan mountains that lie behind the
temple and city of Abydus, the supposed burying place of the holy
Osiris, a tomb was recently discovered, among the contents of which were
the papyrus rolls whereupon this history is written. The tomb itself is
spacious, but otherwise remarkable only for the depth of the shaft which
descends vertically from the rock-hewn cave, that once served as the
mortuary chapel for the friends and relatives of the departed, to the
coffin-chamber beneath. This shaft is no less than eighty-nine feet in
depth. The chamber at its foot was found to contain three coffins only,
though it is large enough for many more. Two of these, which in all
probability inclosed the bodies of the High Priest, Amenemhat, and of
his wife, father and mother of Harmachis, the hero of this history, the
shameless Arabs who discovered them there and then broke up.

The Arabs broke the bodies up. With unhallowed hands they tore the holy
Amenemhat and the frame of her who had, as it is written, been filled
with the spirit of the Hathors--tore them limb from limb, searching for
treasure amidst their bones--perhaps, as is their custom, selling the
very bones for a few piastres to the last ignorant tourist who came
their way, seeking what he might destroy. For in Egypt the unhappy, the
living find their bread in the tombs of the great men who were before
them.

But as it chanced, some little while afterwards, one who is known to
this writer, and a doctor by profession, passed up the Nile to Abydus,
and became acquainted with the men who had done this thing. They
revealed to him the secret of the place, telling him that one coffin
yet remained entombed. It seemed to be the coffin of a poor person,
they said, and therefore, being pressed for time, they had left it
unviolated. Moved by curiosity to explore the recesses of a tomb as yet
unprofaned by tourists, my friend bribed the Arabs to show it to him.
What ensued I will give in his own words, exactly as he wrote it to me:

"I slept that night near the Temple of Seti, and started before daybreak
on the following morning. With me were a cross-eyed rascal named
Ali--Ali Baba I named him--the man from whom I got the ring which I am
sending you, and a small but choice assortment of his fellow thieves.
Within an hour after sunrise we reached the valley where the tomb is. It
is a desolate place, into which the sun pours his scorching heat all
the long day through, till the huge brown rocks which are strewn about
become so hot that one can scarcely bear to touch them, and the sand
scorches the feet. It was already too hot to walk, so we rode on
donkeys, some way up the valley--where a vulture floating far in the
blue overhead was the only other visitor--till we came to an enormous
boulder polished by centuries of action of sun and sand. Here Ali
halted, saying that the tomb was under the stone. Accordingly, we
dismounted, and, leaving the donkeys in charge of a fellah boy, went up
to the rock. Beneath it was a small hole, barely large enough for a man
to creep through. Indeed it had been dug by jackals, for the doorway and
some part of the cave were entirely silted up, and it was by means of
this jackal hole that the tomb had been discovered. Ali crept in on his
hands and knees, and I followed, to find myself in a place cold after
the hot outside air, and, in contrast with the light, filled with a
dazzling darkness. We lit our candles, and, the select body of thieves
having arrived, I made an examination. We were in a cave the size of
a large room, and hollowed by hand, the further part of the cave being
almost free from drift-dust. On the walls are religious paintings of the
usual Ptolemaic character, and among them one of a majestic old man with
a long white beard, who is seated in a carved chair holding a wand in
his hand.[*] Before him passes a procession of priests bearing sacred
images. In the right hand corner of the tomb is the shaft of the
mummy-pit, a square-mouthed well cut in the black rock. We had brought a
beam of thorn-wood, and this was now laid across the pit and a rope
made fast to it. Then Ali--who, to do him justice, is a courageous
thief--took hold of the rope, and, putting some candles into the breast
of his robe, placed his bare feet against the smooth sides of the well
and began to descent with great rapidity. Very soon he had vanished into
blackness, and the agitation of the cord alone told us that anything was
going on below. At last the rope ceased shaking and a faint shout came
rumbling up the well, announcing Ali's safe arrival. Then, far below, a
tiny star of light appeared. He had lit the candle, thereby disturbing
hundreds of bats that flitted up in an endless stream and as silently as
spirits. The rope was hauled up again, and now it was my turn; but, as
I declined to trust my neck to the hand-over-hand method of descent, the
end of the cord was made fast round my middle and I was lowered bodily
into those sacred depths. Nor was it a pleasant journey, for, if the
masters of the situation above had made any mistake, I should have been
dashed to pieces. Also, the bats continually flew into my face and clung
to my hair, and I have a great dislike of bats. At last, after some
minutes of jerking and dangling, I found myself standing in a
narrow passage by the side of the worthy Ali, covered with bats and
perspiration, and with the skin rubbed off my knees and knuckles. Then
another man came down, hand over hand like a sailor, and as the rest
were told to stop above we were ready to go on. Ali went first with
his candle--of course we each had a candle--leading the way down a long
passage about five feet high. At length the passage widened out, and we
were in the tomb-chamber: I think the hottest and most silent place that
I ever entered. It was simply stifling. This chamber is a square room
cut in the rock and totally devoid of paintings or sculpture. I held
up the candles and looked round. About the place were strewn the coffin
lids and the mummied remains of the two bodies that the Arabs had
previously violated. The paintings on the former were, I noticed, of
great beauty, though, having no knowledge of hieroglyphics, I could not
decipher them. Beads and spicy wrappings lay around the remains, which,
I saw, were those of a man and a woman.[+] The head had been broken off
the body of the man. I took it up and looked at it. It had been closely
shaved--after death, I should say, from the general indications--and the
features were disfigured with gold leaf. But notwithstanding this,
and the shrinkage of the flesh, I think the face was one of the most
imposing and beautiful that I ever saw. It was that of a very old man,
and his dead countenance still wore so calm and solemn, indeed, so awful
a look, that I grew quite superstitious (though as you know, I am pretty
well accustomed to dead people), and put the head down in a hurry. There
were still some wrappings left upon the face of the second body, and I
did not remove them; but she must have been a fine large woman in her
day.

     [*] This, I take it, is a portrait of Amenemhat himself.--
     Editor.

     [+] Doubtless Amenemhat and his wife.--Editor.

"'There the other mummy,' said Ali, pointing to a large and solid case
that seemed to have been carelessly thrown down in a corner, for it was
lying on its side.

"I went up to it and carefully examined it. It was well made, but of
perfectly plain cedar-wood--not an inscription, not a solitary God on
it.

"'Never see one like him before,' said Ali. 'Bury great hurry, he no
"mafish," no "fineesh." Throw him down here on side.'

"I looked at the plain case till at last my interest was thoroughly
aroused. I was so shocked by the sight of the scattered dust of
the departed that I had made up my mind not to touch the remaining
coffin--but now my curiosity overcame me, and we set to work.

"Ali had brought a mallet and a cold chisel with him, and, having
set the coffin straight, he began upon it with all the zeal of an
experienced tomb-breaker. And then he pointed out another thing. Most
mummy-cases are fastened by four little tongues of wood, two on either
side, which are fixed in the upper half, and, passing into mortices cut
to receive them in the thickness of the lower half, are there held
fast by pegs of hard wood. But this mummy case had eight such tongues.
Evidently it had been thought well to secure it firmly. At last, with
great difficulty, we raised the massive lid, which was nearly three
inches thick, and there, covered over with a deep layer of loose spices
(a very unusual thing), was the body.

"Ali looked at it with open eyes--and no wonder. For this mummy was not
as other mummies are. Mummies in general lie upon their backs, as stiff
and calm as though they were cut from wood; but this mummy lay upon its
side, and, the wrappings notwithstanding, its knees were slightly bent.
More than that, indeed, the gold mask, which, after the fashion of the
Ptolemaic period, had been set upon the face, had worked down, and was
literally pounded up beneath the hooded head.

"It was impossible, seeing these things, to avoid the conclusion that
the mummy before us had moved with violence _since it was put in the
coffin_.

"'Him very funny mummy. Him not "mafish" when him go in there,' said
Ali.

"'Nonsense!' I said. 'Who ever heard of a live mummy?'

"We lifted the body out of the coffin, nearly choking ourselves with
mummy dust in the process, and there beneath it half hidden among the
spices, we made our first find. It was a roll of papyrus, carelessly
fastened and wrapped in a piece of mummy cloth, having to all appearance
been thrown into the coffin at the moment of closing.[*]

     [*] This roll contained the third unfinished book of the
     history. The other two rolls were neatly fastened in the
     usual fashion. All three are written by one hand in the
     Demotic character.--Editor.

"Ali eyed the papyrus greedily, but I seized it and put it in my pocket,
for it was agreed that I was to have all that might be discovered.
Then we began to unwrap the body. It was covered with very broad strong
bandages, thickly wound and roughly tied, sometimes by means of simple
knots, the whole working the appearance of having been executed in
great haste and with difficulty. Just over the head was a large lump.
Presently, the bandages covering it were off, and there, on the face,
lay a second roll of papyrus. I put down my hand to lift it, but it
would not come away. It appeared to be fixed to the stout seamless
shroud which was drawn over the whole body, and tied beneath the
feet--as a farmer ties sacks. This shroud, which was also thickly waxed,
was in one piece, being made to fit the form like a garment. I took a
candle and examined the roll and then I saw why it was fast. The spices
had congealed and glued it to the sack-like shroud. It was impossible to
get it away without tearing the outer sheets of papyrus.[*]

     [*] This accounts for the gaps in the last sheets of the
     second roll. --Editor.

"At last, however, I wrenched it loose and put it with the other in my
pocket.

"Then we went on with our dreadful task in silence. With much care we
ripped loose the sack-like garment, and at last the body of a man lay
before us. Between his knees was a third roll of papyrus. I secured it,
then held down the light and looked at him. One glance at his face was
enough to tell a doctor how he had died.

"This body was not much dried up. Evidently it had not passed the
allotted seventy days in natron, and therefore the expression and
likeness were better preserved than is usual. Without entering into
particulars, I will only say that I hope I shall never see such another
look as that which was frozen on this dead man's face. Even the Arabs
recoiled from it in horror and began to mutter prayers.

"For the rest, the usual opening on the left side through which the
embalmers did their work was absent; the finely-cut features were those
of a person of middle age, although the hair was already grey, and
the frame was that of a very powerful man, the shoulders being of an
extraordinary width. I had not time to examine very closely, however,
for within a few seconds from its uncovering, the unembalmed body began
to crumble now that it was exposed to the action of the air. In five or
six minutes there was literally nothing left of it but a wisp of hair,
the skull, and a few of the larger bones. I noticed that one of the
tibiae--I forget if it was the right or the left--had been fractured and
very badly set. It must have been quite an inch shorter than the other.

"Well, there was nothing more to find, and now that the excitement was
over, what between the heat, the exertion, and the smell of mummy dust
and spices, I felt more dead than alive.

"I am tired of writing, and this ship rolls. This letter, of course,
goes overland, and I am coming by 'long sea,' but I hope to be in London
within ten days after you get it. Then I will tell you of my pleasing
experiences in the course of the ascent from the tomb-chamber, and of
how that prince of rascals, Ali Baba, and his thieves tried to frighten
me into handing over the papyri, and how I worsted them. Then, too, we
will get the rolls deciphered. I expect that they only contain the usual
thing, copies of the 'Book of the Dead,' but there _may_ be something
else in them. Needless to say, I did not narrate this little adventure
in Egypt, or I should have had the Boulac Museum people on my track.
Good-bye, 'Mafish Fineesh,' as Ali Baba always said."


In due course, my friend, the writer of the letter from which I have
quoted, arrived in London, and on the very next day we paid a visit to
a learned acquaintance well versed in Hieroglyphics and Demotic writing.
The anxiety with which we watched him skilfully damping and unfolding
one of the rolls and peering through his gold-rimmed glasses at the
mysterious characters may well be imagined.

"Hum," he said, "whatever it is, this is _not_ a copy of the 'Book of
the Dead.' By George, what's this? Cle--Cleo--Cleopatra----Why, my dear
Sirs, as I am a living man, this is the history of somebody who lived
in the days of Cleopatra, _the_ Cleopatra, for here's Antony's name with
hers! Well, there's six months' work before me here--six months, at
the very least!" And in that joyful prospect he fairly lost control of
himself, and skipped about the room, shaking hands with us at intervals,
and saying "I'll translate--I'll translate it if it kills me, and
we will publish it; and, by the living Osiris, it shall drive every
Egyptologist in Europe mad with envy! Oh, what a find! what a most
glorious find!"


And O you whose eyes fall upon these pages, see, they have been
translated, and they have been printed, and here they lie before you--an
undiscovered land wherein you are free to travel!

Harmachis speaks to you from his forgotten tomb. The walls of Time fall
down, and, as at the lightning's leap, a picture from the past starts
upon your view, framed in the darkness of the ages.

He shows you those two Egypts which the silent pyramids looked down upon
long centuries ago--the Egypt of the Greek, the Roman, and the Ptolemy,
and that other outworn Egypt of the Hierophant, hoary with years, heavy
with the legends of antiquity and the memory of long-lost honours.

He tells you how the smouldering loyalty of the land of Khem blazed
up before it died, and how fiercely the old Time-consecrated Faith
struggled against the conquering tide of Change that rose, like Nile at
flood, and drowned the ancient Gods of Egypt.

Here, in his pages, you shall learn the glory of Isis the Many-shaped,
the Executrix of Decrees. Here you shall make acquaintance with the
shade of Cleopatra, that "Thing of Flame," whose passion-breathing
beauty shaped the destiny of Empires. Here you shall read how the soul
of Charmion was slain of the sword her vengeance smithied.

Here Harmachis, the doomed Egyptian, being about to die, salutes you who
follow on the path he trod. In the story of his broken years he shows to
you what may in its degree be the story of your own. Crying aloud from
that dim Amenti[*] where to-day he wears out his long atoning time, he
tells, in the history of his fall, the fate of him who, however sorely
tried, forgets his God, his Honour, and his Country.

     [*] The Egyptian Hades or Purgatory.--Editor.





BOOK I--THE PREPARATION OF HARMACHIS



CHAPTER I

OF THE BIRTH OF HARMACHIS; THE PROPHECY OF THE HATHORS; AND THE SLAYING
OF THE INNOCENT CHILD

By Osiris who sleeps at Abouthis, I write the truth.

I, Harmachis, Hereditary Priest of the Temple, reared by the divine
Sethi, aforetime a Pharaoh of Egypt, and now justified in Osiris and
ruling in Amenti. I, Harmachis, by right Divine and by true descent of
blood King of the Double Crown, and Pharaoh of the Upper and Lower Land.
I, Harmachis, who cast aside the opening flower of our hope, who turned
from the glorious path, who forgot the voice of God in hearkening to the
voice of woman. I, Harmachis, the fallen, in whom are gathered up all
woes as waters are gathered in a desert well, who have tasted of every
shame, who through betrayal have betrayed, who in losing the glory that
is here have lost the glory which is to be, who am utterly undone--I
write, and, by Him who sleeps at Abouthis, I write the truth.

O Egypt!--dear land of Khem, whose black soil nourished up my mortal
part--land that I have betrayed--O Osiris!--Isis!--Horus!--ye Gods of
Egypt whom I have betrayed!--O ye temples whose pylons strike the sky,
whose faith I have betrayed!--O Royal blood of the Pharaohs of eld, that
yet runs within these withered veins--whose virtue I have betrayed!--O
Invisible Essence of all Good! and O Fate, whose balance rested on my
hand--hear me; and, to the day of utter doom, bear me witness that I
write the truth.



Even while I write, beyond the fertile fields, the Nile is running red,
as though with blood. Before me the sunlight beats upon the far Arabian
hills, and falls upon the piles of Abouthis. Still the priests make
orison within the temples at Abouthis that know me no more; still
the sacrifice is offered, and the stony roofs echo back the people's
prayers. Still from this lone cell within my prison-tower, I, the Word
of Shame, watch thy fluttering banners, Abouthis, flaunting from thy
pylon walls, and hear the chants as the long procession winds from
sanctuary to sanctuary.

Abouthis, lost Abouthis! my heart goes out toward thee! For the day
comes when the desert sands shall fill thy secret places! Thy Gods are
doomed, O Abouthis! New Faiths shall make a mock of all thy Holies, and
Centurion shall call upon Centurion across thy fortress-walls. I weep--I
weep tears of blood: for mine is the sin that brought about these evils
and mine for ever is their shame.

Behold, it is written hereafter.



Here in Abouthis I was born, I, Harmachis, and my father, the justified
in Osiris, was High Priest of the Temple of Sethi. And on that same day
of my birth Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, was born also. I passed my
youth in yonder fields watching the baser people at their labours and
going in and out at will among the great courts of the temples. Of my
mother I knew naught, for she died when I yet hung at the breast. But
before she died in the reign of Ptolemy Auletes, who is named the Piper,
so did the old wife, Atoua, told me, my mother took a golden uraeus, the
snake symbol of our Royalty of Egypt, from a coffer of ivory and laid
it on my brow. And those who saw her do this believed that she was
distraught of the Divinity, and in her madness foreshadowed that the day
of the Macedonian Lagidae was ended, and that Egypt's sceptre should pass
again to the hand of Egypt's true and Royal race. But when my father,
the old High Priest Amenemhat, whose only child I was, she who was his
wife before my mother having been, for what crime I know not, cursed
with barrenness by Sekhet: I say when my father came in and saw what the
dying woman had done, he lifted up his hands towards the vault of heaven
and adored the Invisible, because of the sign that had been sent. And
as he adored, the Hathors[*] filled my dying mother with the Spirit of
Prophecy, and she rose in strength from the couch and prostrated herself
thrice before the cradle where I lay asleep, the Royal asp upon my brow,
crying aloud:

     [*] The Egyptian _Parcae_ or _Fates_.--Editor.

"Hail to thee, fruit of my womb! Hail to thee, Royal child! Hail to
thee, Pharaoh that shalt be! Hail to thee, God that shalt purge the
land, Divine seed of Nekt-nebf, the descended from Isis. Keep thee pure,
and thou shalt rule and deliver Egypt and not be broken. But if thou
dost fail in thy hour of trial, then may the curse of all the Gods
of Egypt rest upon thee, and the curse of thy Royal forefathers, the
justified, who ruled the land before thee from the age of Horus. Then in
life mayst thou be wretched, and after death may Osiris refuse thee,
and the judges of Amenti give judgment against thee, and Set and Sekhet
torment thee, till such time as thy sin is purged, and the Gods of
Egypt, called by strange names, are once more worshipped in the Temples
of Egypt, and the staff of the Oppressor is broken, and the footsteps of
the Foreigner are swept clean, and the thing is accomplished as thou in
thy weakness shalt cause it to be done."

When she had spoken thus, the Spirit of Prophecy went out of her, and
she fell dead across the cradle where I slept, so that I awoke with a
cry.

But my father, Amenemhat, the High Priest, trembled, and was very
fearful, both because of the words which had been said by the Spirit of
the Hathors through the mouth of my mother, and because what had been
uttered was treason against Ptolemy. For he knew that, if the matter
should come to the ears of Ptolemy, Pharaoh would send his guards
to destroy the life of the child concerning whom such things were
prophesied. Therefore, my father shut the doors, and caused all those
who stood by to swear upon the holy symbol of his office, and by the
name of the Divine Three, and by the Soul of her who lay dead upon the
stones beside them, that nothing of what they had seen and heard should
pass their lips.

Now among the company was the old wife, Atoua, who had been the nurse of
my mother, and loved her well; and in these days, though I know not how
it had been in the past, nor how it shall be in the future, there is
no oath that can bind a woman's tongue. And so it came about that
by-and-by, when the matter had become homely in her mind, and her fear
had fallen from her, she spoke of the prophecy to her daughter, who
nursed me at the breast now that my mother was dead. She did this as
they walked together in the desert carrying food to the husband of the
daughter, who was a sculptor, and shaped effigies of the holy Gods
in the tombs that are fashioned in the rock--telling the daughter, my
nurse, how great must be her care and love toward the child that
should one day be Pharaoh, and drive the Ptolemies from Egypt. But the
daughter, my nurse, was so filled with wonder at what she heard that she
could not keep the tale locked within her breast, and in the night she
awoke her husband, and, in her turn, whispered it to him, and thereby
compassed her own destruction, and the destruction of her child, my
foster-brother. For the man told his friend, and the friend was a spy of
Ptolemy's, and thus the tale came to Pharaoh's ears.

Now, Pharaoh was much troubled thereat, for though when he was full of
wine he would make a mock of the God of the Egyptians, and swear that
the Roman Senate was the only God to whom he bowed the knee, yet in his
heart he was terribly afraid, as I have learned from one who was his
physician. For when he was alone at night he would scream and cry aloud
to the great Serapis, who indeed is no true God, and to other Gods,
fearing lest he should be murdered and his soul handed over to the
tormentors. Also, when he felt his throne tremble under him, he would
send large presents to the temples, asking a message from the oracles,
and more especially from the oracle that is at Philae. Therefore, when
it came to his ears that the wife of the High Priest of the great and
ancient Temple of Abouthis had been filled with the Spirit of Prophecy
before she died, and foretold that her son should be Pharaoh, he was
much afraid, and summoning some trusty guards--who, being Greeks, did
not fear to do sacrilege--he despatched them by boat up the Nile, with
orders to come to Abouthis and cut off the head of the child of the High
Priest and bring it to him in a basket.

But, as it chanced, the boat in which the guards came was of deep
draught, and, the time of their coming being at the lowest ebb of the
river, it struck and remained fast upon a bank of mud that is opposite
the mouth of the road running across the plains to Abouthis, and, as the
north wind was blowing very fiercely, it was like to sink. Thereon
the guards of Pharaoh called out to the common people, who laboured at
lifting water along the banks of the river, to come with boats and take
them off; but, seeing that they were Greeks of Alexandria, the people
would not, for the Egyptians do not love the Greeks. Then the guards
cried that they were on Pharaoh's business, and still the people would
not, asking what was their business. Whereon a eunuch among them who
had made himself drunk in his fear, told them that they came to slay the
child of Amenemhat, the High Priest, of whom it was prophesied that he
should be Pharaoh and sweep the Greeks from Egypt. And then the people
feared to stand longer in doubt, but brought boats, not knowing what
might be meant by the man's words. But there was one amongst them--a
farmer and an overseer of canals--who was a kinsman of my mother's and
had been present when she prophesied; and he turned and ran swiftly for
three parts of an hour, till he came to where I lay in the house that
is without the north wall of the great Temple. Now, as it chanced, my
father was away in that part of the Place of Tombs which is to the left
of the large fortress, and Pharaoh's guards, mounted on asses, were hard
upon us. Then the messenger cried to the old wife, Atoua, whose tongue
had brought about the evil, and told how the soldiers drew near to slay
me. And they looked at each other, not knowing what to do; for, had they
hid me, the guards would not have stayed their search till I was found.
But the man, gazing through the doorway, saw a little child at play:

"Woman," he said, "whose is that child?"

"It is my grandchild," she answered, "the foster-brother of the Prince
Harmachis; the child to whose mother we owe this evil case."

"Woman," he said, "thou knowest thy duty, do it!" and he again pointed
at the child. "I command thee, by the Holy Name!"

Atoua trembled exceedingly, because the child was of her own blood; but,
nevertheless, she took the boy and washed him and set a robe of silk
upon him, and laid him on my cradle. And me she took and smeared with
mud to make my fair skin darker, and, drawing my garment from me, set me
to play in the dirt of the yard, which I did right gladly.

Then the man hid himself, and presently the soldiers rode up and asked
of the old wife if this were the dwelling of the High Priest Amenemhat?
And she told them yea, and, bidding them enter, offered them honey and
milk, for they were thirsty.

When they had drunk, the eunuch who was with them asked if that were
the son of Amenemhat who lay in the cradle; and she said "Yea--yea,"
and began to tell the guards how he would be great, for it had been
prophesied of him that he should one day rule them all.

But the Greek guards laughed, and one of them, seizing the child, smote
off his head with a sword; and the eunuch drew forth the signet of
Pharaoh as warrant for the deed and showed it to the old wife, Atoua,
bidding her tell the High Priest that his son should be King without a
head.

And as they went one of their number saw me playing in the dirt and
called out that there was more breeding in yonder brat than in the
Prince Harmachis; and for a moment they wavered, thinking to slay
me also, but in the end they passed on, bearing the head of my
foster-brother, for they loved not to murder little children.

After a while, the mother of the dead child returned from the
market-place, and when she found what had been done, she and her husband
would have killed Atoua the old wife, her mother, and given me up to the
soldiers of Pharaoh. But my father came in also and learned the truth,
and he caused the man and his wife to be seized by night and hidden away
in the dark places of the temple, so that none saw them more.

But I would to-day that it had been the will of the Gods that I had been
slain of the soldiers and not the innocent child.



Thereafter it was given out that the High Priest Amenemhat had taken me
to be as a son to him in the place of that Harmachis who was slain of
Pharaoh.



CHAPTER II

OF THE DISOBEDIENCE OF HARMACHIS; OF THE SLAYING OF THE LION; AND OF THE
SPEECH OF THE OLD WIFE, ATOUA

And after these things Ptolemy the Piper troubled us no more, nor did he
again send his soldiers to seek for him of whom it was prophesied that
he should be Pharaoh. For the head of the child, my foster-brother,
was brought to him by the eunuch as he sat in his palace of marble at
Alexandria, flushed with Cyprian wine, and played upon the flute before
his women. And at his bidding the eunuch lifted up the head by the hair
for him to look on. Then he laughed and smote it on the cheek with his
sandal, bidding one of the girls crown Pharaoh with flowers. And he
bowed the knee, and mocked the head of the innocent child. But the girl,
who was sharp of tongue--for all of this I heard in after years--said
to him that "he did well to bow the knee, for this child was indeed
Pharaoh, the greatest of Pharaohs, and his name was the _Osiris_ and his
throne was _Death_."

Auletes was much troubled at these words, and trembled, for, being a
wicked man, he greatly feared entering into Amenti. So he caused the
girl to be slain because of the evil omen of her saying; crying that he
would send her to worship that Pharaoh whom she had named. And the other
women he sent away, and played no more upon the flute till he was once
again drunk on the morrow. But the Alexandrians made a song on the
matter, which is still sung about the streets. And this is the beginning
of it--

     Ptolemy the Piper played
     Over dead and dying;
     Piped and played he well.
     Sure that flute of his was made
     Of the dank reed sighing
     O'er the streams of Hell.
     There beneath the shadows grey,
     With the sisters three,
     Shall he pipe for many a day.
     May the Frog his butler be!
     And his wine the water of that countrie--
     Ptolemy the Piper!

After this the years passed on, nor did I, being very little, know
anything of the great things that came to pass in Egypt; nor is it my
purpose to set them out here. For I, Harmachis, having little time left
to me, will only speak of those things with which I have been concerned.

And as the time went on, my father and the teachers instructed me in the
ancient learning of our people, and in such matters appertaining to
the Gods as it is meet that children should know. So I grew strong and
comely, for my hair was black as the hair of the divine Nout, and my
eyes were blue as the blue lotus, and my skin was like the alabaster
within the sanctuaries. For now that these glories have passed from me
I may speak of them without shame. I was strong also. There was no youth
of my years in Abouthis who could stand against me to wrestle with me,
nor could any throw so far with the sling or spear. And I much yearned
to hunt the lion; but he whom I called my father forbade me, telling me
that my life was of too great worth to be so lightly hazarded. But when
I bowed before him and prayed he would make his meaning clear to me,
the old man frowned and answered that the Gods made all things clear in
their own season. For my part, however, I went away in wroth, for there
was a youth in Abouthis who with others had slain a lion which fell upon
his father's herds, and, being envious of my strength and beauty, he set
it about that I was cowardly at heart, in that when I went out to hunt
I only slew jackals and gazelles. Now, this was when I had reached my
seventeenth year and was a man grown.

It chanced, therefore, that as I went sore at heart from the presence
of the High Priest, I met this youth, who called to me and mocked me,
bidding me know the country people had told him that a great lion was
down among the rushes by the banks of the canal which runs past the
Temple, lying at a distance of thirty stadia from Abouthis. And, still
mocking me, he asked me if I would come and help him slay this lion, or
would I go and sit among the old women and bid them comb my side lock?
This bitter word so angered me that I was near to falling on him; but
in place therefore, forgetting my father's saying, I answered that if he
would come alone, I would go with him and seek this lion, and he should
learn if I were indeed a coward. And at first he would not, for, as men
know, it is our custom to hunt the lion in companies; so it was my hour
to mock. Then he went and fetched his bow and arrows and a sharp knife.
And I brought forth my heavy spear, which had a shaft of thorn-wood, and
at its end a pomegranate in silver, to hold the hand from slipping; and,
in silence, we went, side by side, to where the lion lay. When we
came to the place, it was near sundown; and there, upon the mud of the
canal-bank, we found the lion's slot, which ran into a thick clump of
reeds.

"Now, thou boaster," I said, "wilt thou lead the way into yonder reeds,
or shall I?" And I made as though I would lead the way.

"Nay, nay," he answered, "be not so mad! The brute will spring upon
thee and rend thee. See! I will shoot among the reeds. Perchance, if he
sleeps, it will arouse him." And he drew his bow at a venture.

How it chanced I know not, but the arrow struck the sleeping lion, and,
like a flash of light from the belly of a cloud, he bounded from the
shelter of the reeds, and stood before us with bristling mane and yellow
eyes, the arrow quivering in his flank. He roared aloud in fury, and the
earth shook.

"Shoot with the bow," I cried, "shoot swiftly ere he spring!"

But courage had left the breast of the boaster, his jaw dropped down and
his fingers unloosed their hold so that the bow fell from them; then,
with a loud cry he turned and fled behind me, leaving the lion in my
path. But while I stood waiting my doom, for though I was sore afraid
I would not fly, the lion crouched himself, and turning not aside, with
one great bound swept over me, touching me not. He lit, and again he
bounded full upon the boaster's back, striking him such a blow with his
great paw that his head was crushed as an egg thrown against a stone. He
fell down dead, and the lion stood and roared over him. Then I was mad
with horror, and, scarce knowing what I did, I grasped my spear and with
a shout I charged. As I charged the lion lifted himself up above me.
He smote at me with his paw; but with all my strength I drove the broad
spear into his throat, and, shrinking from the agony of the steel, his
blow fell short and did no more than rip my skin. Back he fell, the
great spear far in his throat; then rising, he roared in pain and leapt
twice the height of a man straight into the air, smiting at the spear
with his forepaws. Twice he leapt thus, horrible to see, and twice he
fell upon his back. Then his strength spent itself with his rushing
blood, and, groaning like a bull, he died; while I, being but a lad,
stood and trembled with fear now that all cause of fear had passed.

But as I stood and gazed at the body of him who had taunted me, and at
the carcass of the lion, a woman came running towards me, even the same
old wife, Atoua, who, though I knew it not as yet, had offered up her
flesh and blood that I might be saved alive. For she had been gathering
simples, in which she had great skill, by the water's edge, not knowing
that there was a lion near (and, indeed, the lions, for the most part,
are not found in the tilled land, but rather in the desert and the
Libyan mountains), and had seen from a distance that which I have set
down. Now, when she was come, she knew me for Harmachis, and, bending
herself, she made obeisance to me, and saluted me, calling me Royal, and
worthy of all honour, and beloved, and chosen of the Holy Three, ay, and
by the name of the Pharaoh! the Deliverer!

But I, thinking that terror had made her sick of mind, asked her of what
she would speak.

"Is it a great thing," I asked, "that I should slay a lion? Is it a
matter worthy of such talk as thine? There live, and have lived, men who
have slain many lions. Did not the Divine Amen-hetep the Osirian slay
with his own hand more than a hundred lions? Is it not written on the
scarabaeus that hangs within my father's chamber, that he slew lions
aforetime? And have not others done likewise? Why then, speakest thou
thus, O foolish woman?"

All of which I said, because, having now slain the lion, I was minded,
after the manner of youth, to hold it as a thing of no account. But she
did not cease to make obeisance, and to call me by names that are too
high to be written.

"O Royal One," she cried, "wisely did thy mother prophecy. Surely the
Holy Spirit, the Knepth, was in her, O thou conceived by a God! See the
omen. The lion there--he growls within the Capitol at Rome--and the dead
man, he is the Ptolemy--the Macedonian spawn that, like a foreign weed,
hath overgrown the land of Nile; with the Macedonian Lagidae thou shalt
go to smite the lion of Rome. But the Macedonian cur shall fly, and the
Roman lion shall strike him down, and thou shalt strike down the lion,
and the land of Khem shall once more be free! free! Keep thyself but
pure, according to the commandment of the Gods, O son of the Royal
House; O hope of Khemi! be but ware of Woman the Destroyer, and as I
have said, so shall it be. I am poor and wretched; yea, stricken with
sorrow. I have sinned in speaking of what should be hid, and for my sin
I have paid in the coin of that which was born of my womb; willingly
have I paid for thee. But I have still of the wisdom of our people, nor
do the Gods, in whose eyes all are equal, turn their countenance from
the poor; the Divine Mother Isis hath spoken to me--but last night she
spake--bidding me come hither to gather herbs, and read to thee the
signs that I should see. And as I have said, so it shall come to pass,
if thou canst but endure the weight of the great temptation. Come
hither, Royal One!" and she led me to the edge of the canal, where the
water was deep, and still and blue. "Now gaze upon that face as the
water throws it back. Is not that brow fitted to bear the double crown?
Do not those gentle eyes mirror the majesty of kings? Hath not the Ptah,
the Creator, fashioned that form to fit the Imperial garb, and awe the
glance of multitudes looking through thee to God?

"Nay, nay!" she went on in another voice--a shrill old wife's voice--"I
will--be not so foolish, boy--the scratch of a lion is a venomous thing,
a terrible thing; yea, as bad as the bite of an asp--it must be treated,
else it will fester, and all thy days thou shalt dream of lions; ay, and
snakes; and, also, it will break out in sores. But I know of it--I know.
I am not crazed for nothing. For mark! everything has its balance--in
madness is much wisdom, and in wisdom much madness. _La! la! la!_
Pharaoh himself can't say where the one begins and the other ends. Now,
don't stand gazing there, looking as silly as a cat in a crocus-coloured
robe, as they say in Alexandria; but just let me stick these green
things on the place, and in six days you'll heal up as white as a
three-year-child. Never mind the smart of it, lad. By Him who sleeps
at Philae, or at Abouthis, or at Abydus--as our divine masters have it
now--or wherever He does sleep, which is a thing we shall all find out
before we want to--by Osiris, I say, you'll live to be as clean from
scars as a sacrifice to Isis at the new moon, if you'll but let me put
it on.

"Is it not so, good folk?"--and she turned to address some people who,
while she prophesied, had assembled unseen by me--"I've been speaking a
spell over him, just to make a way for the virtue of my medicine--_la!
la!_ there's nothing like a spell. If you don't believe it, just you
come to me next time your wives are barren; it's better than scraping
every pillar in the Temple of Osiris, I'll warrant. I'll make 'em bear
like a twenty-year-old palm. But then, you see, you must know what to
say--that's the point--everything comes to a point at last. _La! la!_"

Now, when I heard all this, I, Harmachis, put my hand to my head, not
knowing if I dreamed. But presently looking up, I saw a grey-haired
man among those who were gathered together, who watched us sharply, and
afterwards I learned that this man was the spy of Ptolemy, the very man,
indeed, who had wellnigh caused me to be slain of Pharaoh when I was in
my cradle. Then I understood why Atoua spoke so foolishly.

"Thine are strange spells, old wife," the spy said. "Thou didst speak of
Pharaoh and the double crown and of the form fashioned by Ptah to bear
it; is it not so?"

"Yea, yea--part of the spell, thou fool; and what can one swear by
better nowadays than by the Divine Pharaoh the Piper, whom, and whose
music, may the Gods preserve to charm this happy land?--what better than
by the double crown he wears--grace to great Alexander of Macedonia? By
the way, you know about everything: have they got back his chlamys yet,
which Mithridates took to Cos? Pompey wore it last, didn't he?--in his
triumph, too--just fancy Pompey in the cloak of Alexander!--a puppy-dog
in a lion's skin! And talking of lions--look what this lad hath
done--slain a lion with his own spear; and right glad you village folks
should be to see it, for it was a very fierce lion--just see his teeth
and his claws--his claws!--they are enough to make a poor silly old
woman like me shriek to look at them! And the body there, the dead
body--the lion slew it. Alack! he's an Osiris[*] now, the body--and to
think of it, but an hour ago he was an everyday mortal like you or me!
Well, away with him to the embalmers. He'll soon swell in the sun and
burst, and that will save them the trouble of cutting him open. Not
that they will spend a talent of silver over him anyway. Seventy days in
natron--that's all he's likely to get. _La! la!_ how my tongue does run,
and it's getting dark. Come, aren't you going to take away the body of
that poor lad, and the lion, too? There, my boy, you keep those herbs
on, and you'll never feel your scratches. I know a thing or two for all
I'm crazy, and you, my own grandson! Dear, dear, I'm glad his Holiness
the High Priest adopted you when Pharaoh--Osiris bless his holy
name--made an end of his son; you look so bonny. I warrant the real
Harmachis could not have killed a lion like that. Give me the common
blood, I say--it's so lusty."

     [*] The soul when it has been absorbed in the Godhead.--
     Editor.

"You know too much and talk too fast," grumbled the spy, now quite
deceived. "Well, he is a brave youth. Here, you men, bear this body back
to Abouthis, and some of you stop and help me skin the lion. We'll send
the skin to you, young man," he went on; "not that you deserve it: to
attack a lion like that was the act of a fool, and a fool deserves what
he gets--destruction. Never attack the strong until you are stronger."

But for my part I went home wondering.



CHAPTER III

OF THE REBUKE OF AMENEMHAT; OF THE PRAYER OF HARMACHIS; AND OF THE SIGN
GIVEN BY THE HOLY GODS

For a while as I, Harmachis, went, the juice of the green herbs which
the old wife, Atoua, had placed upon my wounds caused me much smart,
but presently the pain ceased. And, of a truth, I believe that there was
virtue in them, for within two days my flesh healed up, so that after a
time no marks remained. But I bethought me that I had disobeyed the word
of the old High Priest, Amenemhat, who was called my father. For till
this day I knew not that he was in truth my father according to the
flesh, having been taught that his own son was slain as I have written;
and that he had been pleased, with the sanction of the Divine ones, to
take me as an adopted son and rear me up, that I might in due season
fulfil an office about the Temple. Therefore I was much troubled, for I
feared the old man, who was very terrible in his anger, and ever spoke
with the cold voice of Wisdom. Nevertheless, I determined to go in
to him and confess my fault and bear such punishment as he should be
pleased to put upon me. So with the red spear in my hand, and the red
wounds on my breast, I passed through the outer court of the great
temple and came to the door of the place where the High Priest dwelt. It
is a great chamber, sculptured round about with the images of the solemn
Gods, and the sunlight comes to it in the daytime by an opening cut
through the stones of the massy roof. But at night it was lit by a
swinging lamp of bronze. I passed in without noise, for the door was
not altogether shut, and, pushing my way through the heavy curtains that
were beyond, I stood with a beating heart within the chamber.

The lamp was lit, for the darkness had fallen, and by its light I saw
the old man seated in a chair of ivory and ebony at a table of stone on
which were spread mystic writings of the words of Life and Death. But
he read no more, for he slept, and his long white beard rested upon the
table like the beard of a dead man. The soft light from the lamp fell
on him, on the papyri and the gold ring upon his hand, where were graven
the symbols of the Invisible One, but all around was shadow. It fell on
the shaven head, on the white robe, on the cedar staff of priesthood
at his side, and on the ivory of the lion-footed chair; it showed
the mighty brow of power, the features cut in kingly mould, the white
eyebrows, and the dark hollows of the deep-set eyes. I looked and
trembled, for there was about him that which was more than the dignity
of man. He had lived so long with the Gods, and so long kept company
with them and with thoughts divine, he was so deeply versed in all those
mysteries which we do but faintly discern, here in this upper air, that
even now, before his time, he partook of the nature of the Osiris, and
was a thing to shake humanity with fear.

I stood and gazed, and as I stood he opened his dark eyes, but looked
not on me, nor turned his head; and yet he saw me and spoke.

"Why hast thou been disobedient to me, my son?" he said. "How came it
that thou wentest forth against the lion when I bade thee not?"

"How knowest thou, my father, that I went forth?" I asked in fear.

"How know I? Are there, then, no other ways of knowledge than by the
senses? Ah, ignorant child! was not my Spirit with thee when the lion
sprang upon thy companion? Did I not pray Those set about thee to
protect thee, to make sure thy thrust when thou didst drive the spear
into the lion's throat! How came it that thou wentest forth, my son?"

"The boaster taunted me," I answered, "and I went."

"Yes, I know it; and, because of the hot blood of youth, I forgive thee,
Harmachis. But now listen to me, and let my words sink into thy
heart like the waters of Sihor into the thirsty sand at the rising of
Sirius.[*] Listen to me. The boaster was sent to thee as a temptation,
he was sent as a trial of thy strength, and see! it has not been equal
to the burden. Therefore thy hour is put back. Hadst thou been strong
in this matter, the path had been made plain to thee even now. But thou
hast failed, and therefore thy hour is put back."

     [*] The dog-star, whose appearance marked the commencement
     of the overflow of the Nile.--Editor.

"I understand thee not, my father," I answered.

"What was it, then, my son, that the old wife, Atoua, said to thee down
by the bank of the canal?"

Then I told him all that the old wife had said.

"And thou believest, Harmachis, my son?"

"Nay," I answered; "how should I believe such tales? Surely she is mad.
All the people know her for mad."

Now for the first time he looked towards me, who was standing in the
shadow.

"My son! my son!" he cried; "thou art wrong. She is not mad. The woman
spoke the truth; she spoke not of herself, but of the voice within her
that cannot lie. For this Atoua is a prophetess and holy. Now learn thou
the destiny that the Gods of Egypt have given to thee to fulfil, and woe
be unto thee if by any weakness thou dost fail therein! Listen: thou art
no stranger adopted into my house and the worship of the Temple; thou
art my very son, saved to me by this same woman. But, Harmachis, thou
art more than this, for in thee and me alone yet flows the Imperial
blood of Egypt. Thou and I alone of men alive are descended, without
break or flaw, from that Pharaoh Nekt-nebf whom Ochus the Persian drove
from Egypt. The Persian came and the Persian went, and after the Persian
came the Macedonian, and now for nigh upon three hundred years the
Lagidae have usurped the double crown, defiling the land of Khem and
corrupting the worship of its Gods. And mark thou this: but now, two
weeks since, Ptolemy Neus Dionysus, Ptolemy Auletes the Piper, who would
have slain thee, is dead; and but now hath the Eunuch Pothinus, that
very eunuch who came hither, years ago, to cut thee off, set at naught
the will of his master, the dead Auletes, and placed the boy Ptolemy
upon the throne. And therefore his sister Cleopatra, that fierce and
beautiful girl, has fled into Syria; and there, if I err not, she will
gather her armies and make war upon her brother Ptolemy: for by her
father's will she was left joint-sovereign with him. And, meanwhile,
mark thou this, my son: the Roman eagle hangs on high, waiting with
ready talons till such time as he may fall upon the fat wether Egypt and
rend him. And mark again: the people of Egypt are weary of the foreign
yoke, they hate the memory of the Persians, and they are sick at heart
of being named 'Men of Macedonia' in the markets of Alexandria. The
whole land mutters and murmurs beneath the yoke of the Greek and the
shadow of the Roman.

"Have we not been oppressed? Have not our children been butchered and
our gains wrung from us to fill the bottomless greed and lust of the
Lagidae? Have not the temples been forsaken?--ay, have not the majesties
of the Eternal Gods been set at naught by these Grecian babblers, who
have dared to meddle with the immortal truths, and name the Most High by
another name--by the name of Serapis--confounding the substance of the
Invisible? Does not Egypt cry aloud for freedom?--and shall she cry in
vain? Nay, nay, for thou, my son, art the appointed way of deliverance.
To thee, being sunk in eld, I have decreed my rights. Already thy name
is whispered in many a sanctuary, from Abu to Athu; already priests and
people swear allegiance, even by the sacred symbols, unto him who shall
be declared to them. Still, the time is not yet; thou art too green a
sapling to bear the weight of such a storm. But to-day thou wast tried
and found wanting.

"He who would serve the Gods, Harmachis, must put aside the failings of
the flesh. Taunts must not move him, nor any lusts of man. Thine is a
high mission, but this thou must learn. If thou learn it not, thou shalt
fail therein; and then, my curse be on thee! and the curse of Egypt,
and the curse of Egypt's broken Gods! For know thou this, that even the
Gods, who are immortal, may, in the interwoven scheme of things, lean
upon the man who is their instrument, as a warrior on his sword. And woe
be to the sword that snaps in the hour of battle, for it shall be thrown
aside to rust or perchance be melted with fire! Therefore, make thy
heart pure and high and strong; for thine is no common lot, and thine
no mortal meed. Triumph, Harmachis, and in glory thou shalt go--in glory
here and hereafter! Fail, and woe--woe be on thee!"

He paused and bowed his head, and then went on:

"Of these matters thou shalt hear more hereafter. Meanwhile, thou
hast much to learn. To-morrow I will give thee letters, and thou shalt
journey down the Nile, past white-walled Memphis to Annu. There thou
shalt sojourn certain years, and learn more of our ancient wisdom
beneath the shadow of those secret pyramids of which thou, too, art the
Hereditary High Priest that is to be. And meanwhile, I will sit here and
watch, for my hour is not yet, and, by the help of the Gods, spin the
web of Death wherein thou shalt catch and hold the wasp of Macedonia.

"Come hither, my son; come hither and kiss me on the brow, for thou art
my hope, and all the hope of Egypt. Be but true, soar to the eagle crest
of destiny, and thou shalt be glorious here and hereafter. Be false,
fail, and I will spit upon thee, and thou shalt be accursed, and thy
soul shall remain in bondage till that hour when, in the slow flight
of time, the evil shall once more grow to good and Egypt shall again be
free."

I drew near, trembling, and kissed him on the brow. "May all these
things come upon me, and more," I said, "if I fail thee, my father!"

"Nay!" he cried, "not me, not me; but rather those whose will I do. And
now go, my son, and ponder in thy heart, and in thy secret heart digest
my words; mark what thou shalt see, and gather up the dew of wisdom,
making thee ready for the battle. Fear not for thyself, thou art
protected from all ill. No harm may touch thee from without; thyself
alone can be thine own enemy. I have said."

Then I went forth with a full heart. The night was very still, and none
were stirring in the temple courts. I hurried through them, and reached
the entrance to the pylon that is at the outer gate. Then, seeking
solitude, and, as it were, to draw near to heaven, I climbed the pylon's
two hundred steps, until at length I reached the massive roof. Here I
leaned my breast against the parapet, and looked forth. As I looked,
the red edge of the full moon floated up over the Arabian hills, and
her rays fell upon the pylon where I stood and the temple walls beyond,
lighting the visages of the carven Gods. Then the cold light struck the
stretch of well-tilled lands, now whitening to the harvest, and as the
heavenly lamp of Isis passed up to the sky, her rays crept slowly down
to the valley, where Sihor, father of the land of Khem, rolls on toward
the sea.

Now the bright beams kissed the water that smiled an answer back, and
now mountain and valley, river, temple, town, and plain were flooded
with white light, for Mother Isis was arisen, and threw her gleaming
robe across the bosom of the earth. It was beautiful, with the beauty
of a dream, and solemn as the hour after death. Mightily, indeed, the
temples towered up against the face of night. Never had they seemed so
grand to me as in that hour--those eternal shrines, before whose walls
Time himself shall wither. And it was to be mine to rule this moonlit
land; mine to preserve those sacred shrines, and cherish the honour of
their Gods; mine to cast out the Ptolemy and free Egypt from the foreign
yoke! In my veins ran the blood of those great Kings who await the
day of Resurrection, sleeping in the tombs of the valley of Thebes.
My spirit swelled within me as I dreamed upon this glorious destiny,
I closed my hands, and there, upon the pylon, I prayed as I had never
prayed before to the Godhead, who is called by many names, and in many
forms made manifest.

"O Amen," I prayed, "God of Gods, who hast been from the beginning; Lord
of Truth, who art, and of whom all are, who givest out thy Godhead and
gatherest it up again; in the circle of whom the Divine ones move
and are, who wast from all time the Self-begot, and who shalt be till
time--hearken unto me.[*]

     [*] For a somewhat similar definition of the Godhead see the
     funeral papyrus of Nesikhonsu, a Princess of the Twenty-
     first Dynasty.--Editor.

"O Amen--Osiris, the sacrifice by whom we are justified, Lord of the
Region of the Winds, Ruler of the Ages, Dweller in the West, the Supreme
in Amenti, hearken unto me.

"O Isis, great Mother Goddess, mother of the Horus--mysterious Mother,
Sister, Spouse, hearken unto me. If, indeed, I am the chosen of the Gods
to carry out the purpose of the Gods, let a sign be given me, even now,
to seal my life to the life above. Stretch out your arms towards me, O
ye Gods, and uncover the glory of your countenance. Hear! ah, hear me!"
And I cast myself upon my knees and lifted up my eyes to heaven.

And as I knelt, a cloud grew upon the face of the moon covering it up,
so that the night became dark, and the silence deepened all around--even
the dogs far below in the city ceased to howl, while the silence grew
and grew till it was heavy as death. I felt my spirit lifted up within
me, and my hair rose upon my head. Then of a sudden the mighty pylon
seemed to rock beneath my feet, a great wind beat about my brows and a
voice spoke within my heart:

"Behold a sign! Possess thyself in patience, O Harmachis!"

And as the voice spoke, a cold hand touched my hand, and left somewhat
within it. Then the cloud rolled from the face of the moon, the wind
passed, the pylon ceased to tremble, and the night was as the night had
been.

As the light came back, I gazed upon that which had been left within my
hand. It was a bud of the holy lotus new breaking into bloom, and from
it came a most sweet scent.

And while I gazed behold! the lotus passed from my grasp and was gone,
leaving me astonished.



CHAPTER IV

OF THE DEPARTURE OF HARMACHIS AND OF HIS MEETING WITH HIS UNCLE SEPA,
THE HIGH PRIEST OF ANNU EL RA; OF HIS LIFE AT ANNU, AND OF THE WORDS OF
SEPA

At the dawning of the next day I was awakened by a priest of the temple,
who brought word to me to make ready for the journey of which my father
had spoken, inasmuch as there was an occasion for me to pass down the
river to Annu el Ra. Now this is the Heliopolis of the Greeks, whither I
should go in the company of some priests of Ptah at Memphis who had come
hither to Abouthis to lay the body of one of their great men in the tomb
that had been prepared near the resting place of the blessed Osiris.

So I made ready, and the same evening, having received letters and
embraced my father and those about the temple who were dear to me, I
passed down the banks of Sihor, and we sailed with the south wind.
As the pilot stood upon the prow and with a rod in his hand bade the
sailor-men loosen the stakes by which the vessel was moored to the
banks, the old wife, Atoua, hobbled up, her basket of simples in her
hand, and, calling out farewell, threw a sandal after me for good
chance, which sandal I kept for many years.

So we sailed, and for six days passed down the wonderful river, making
fast each night at some convenient spot. But when I lost sight of the
familiar things that I had seen day by day since I had eyes to see, and
found myself alone among strange faces, I felt very sore at heart, and
would have wept had I not been ashamed. And of all the wonderful things
I saw I will not write here, for, though they were new to me, have they
not been known to men since such time as the Gods ruled in Egypt? But
the priests who were with me showed me no little honour and expounded to
me what were the things I saw.

On the morning of the seventh day we came to Memphis, the city of
the White Hall. Here, for three days I rested from my journey and was
entertained of the priests of the wonderful Temple of Ptah the Creator,
and shown the beauties of the great and marvellous city. Also I was led
in secret by the High Priest and two others into the holy presence of
the God Apis, the Ptah who deigns to dwell among men in the form of a
bull. The God was black, and on his forehead there was a white square,
on his back was a white mark shaped like an eagle, beneath his tongue
was the likeness of a scarabaeus, in his tail were double hairs, and a
plate of pure gold hung between his horns. I entered the place of the
God and worshipped, while the High Priest and those with him stood
aside, watching earnestly. And when I had worshipped, saying the words
which had been told me, the God knelt, and lay down before me. Then
the High Priest and those with him, who, as I heard in after time, were
great men of Upper Egypt, approached wondering, and, saying no word,
made obeisance to me because of the omen. And many other things I saw in
Memphis that are too long to write of here.

On the fourth day some priests of Annu came to lead me to Sepa, my
uncle, the High Priest of Annu. So, having bidden farewell to those of
Memphis, we crossed the river and rode on asses two parts of a day's
journey through many villages, which we found in great poverty because
of the oppression of the tax-gatherers. Also, as we went, I saw for
the first time the great pyramids that are beyond the image of the God
Horemkhu, that Sphinx whom the Greeks name Harmachis, and the Temples of
the Divine Mother Isis, Queen of the Memnonia, and the God Osiris, Lord
of Rosatou, of which temples, together with the Temple of the worship
of the Divine Menkau-ra, I, Harmachis, am by right Divine the Hereditary
High Priest. I saw them and marvelled at their greatness and the white
carven limestone, and red granite of Syene, that flashed the sun's rays
back to heaven. But at this time I knew nothing of the treasure that was
hid in _Her_, which is the third among the pyramids--would I had never
known of it!

And so at last we came within sight of Annu, which after Memphis has
been seen is no large town, but stands on raised ground, before which
are lakes fed by a canal. Behind the town is the inclosed field of the
Temple of the God Ra.

We dismounted at the pylon, and were met beneath the portico by a man
not great of stature, but of noble aspect, having his head shaven, and
with dark eyes that twinkled like the further stars.

"Hold!" he cried, in a great voice which fitted his weak body but ill.
"Hold! I am Sepa, who opens the mouth of the Gods!"

"And I," I said, "am Harmachis, son of Amenemhat, Hereditary High Priest
and Ruler of the Holy City Abouthis; and I bear letters to thee, O
Sepa!"

"Enter," he said. "Enter!" scanning me all the while with his twinkling
eyes. "Enter, my son!" And he took me and led me to a chamber in the
inner hall, closed to the door, and then, having glanced at the letters
that I brought, of a sudden he fell upon my neck and embraced me.

"Welcome," he cried, "welcome, son of my own sister, and hope of Khem!
Not in vain have I prayed the Gods that I might live to look upon thy
face and impart to thee the wisdom which perchance I alone have mastered
of those who are left alive in Egypt. There are few whom it is lawful
that I should teach. But thine is the great destiny, and thine shall be
the ears to hear the lessons of the Gods."

And he embraced me once more and bade me go bathe and eat, saying that
on the morrow he would speak with me further.

This of a truth he did, and at such length that I will forbear to set
down all he said both then and afterwards, for if I did so there would
be no papyrus left in Egypt when the task was ended. Therefore, having
much to tell and but little time to tell it, I will pass over the events
of the years that followed.

For this was the manner of my life. I rose early, I attended the worship
of the Temple, and I gave my days to study. I learnt of the rites of
religion and their meaning, and of the beginning of the Gods and the
beginning of the Upper World. I learnt of the mystery of the movements
of the stars, and of how the earth rolls on among them. I was instructed
in that ancient knowledge which is called magic, and in the way of
interpretation of dreams, and of the drawing nigh to God. I was taught
the language of symbols and their outer and inner secrets. I became
acquainted with the eternal laws of Good and Evil, and with the mystery
of that trust which is held of man; also I learnt the secrets of the
pyramids--which I would that I had never known. Further, I read the
records of the past, and of the acts and words of the ancient kings who
were before me since the rule of Horus upon earth; and I was made to
know all craft of state, the lore of earth, and with it the history of
Greece and Rome. Also I learnt the Grecian and Roman tongues, of which
indeed I already had some knowledge--and all this while, for five long
years, I kept my hands clean and my heart pure, and did no evil in the
sight of God or man; but laboured heavily to acquire all things, and to
prepare myself for the destiny that awaited me.

Twice every year greetings and letters came from my father Amenemhat,
and twice every year I sent back my answers asking if the time had come
to cease from labour. And so the days of my probation sped away till I
grew faint and weary at heart, for being now a man, ay and learned, I
longed to make a beginning of the life of men. And often I wondered if
this talk and prophecy of the things that were to be was but a dream
born of the brains of men whose wish ran before their thought. I was,
indeed, of the Royal blood, that I knew: for my uncle, Sepa the Priest,
showed me a secret record of the descent, traced without break from
father to son, and graven in mystic symbols on a tablet of the stone
of Syene. But of what avail was it to be Royal by right when Egypt, my
heritage, was a slave--a slave to do the pleasure and minister to the
luxury of the Macedonian Lagidae--ay, and when she had been so long a
serf that, perchance, she had forgotten how to put off the servile smile
of Bondage and once more to look across the world with Freedom's happy
eyes?

Then I bethought me of my prayer upon the pylon tower of Abouthis and of
the answer given to my prayer, and wondered if that, too, were a dream.

And one night, as, weary with study, I walked within the sacred grove
that is in the garden of the temple, and mused thus, I met my uncle
Sepa, who also was walking and thinking.

"Hold!" he cried in his great voice; "why is thy face so sad, Harmachis?
Has the last problem that we studied overwhelmed thee?"

"Nay, my uncle," I answered, "I am overwhelmed indeed, but not of the
problem; it was a light one. My heart is heavy, for I am weary of life
within these cloisters, and the piled-up weight of knowledge crushes me.
It is of no avail to store up force which cannot be used."

"Ah, thou art impatient, Harmachis," he answered; "it is ever the way
of foolish youth. Thou wouldst taste of the battle; thou dost tire of
watching the breakers fall upon the beach, thou wouldst plunge into
them and venture the desperate hazard of the war. And so thou wouldst be
going, Harmachis? The bird would fly the nest as, when they are grown,
the swallows fly from the eaves of the Temple. Well, it shall be as
thou desirest; the hour is at hand. I have taught thee all that I have
learned, and methinks that the pupil has outrun his master," and he
paused and wiped his bright black eyes, for he was very sad at the
thought of my departure.

"And whither shall I go, my uncle?" I asked rejoicing; "back to Abouthis
to be initiated into the mysteries of the Gods?"

"Ay, back to Abouthis, and from Abouthis to Alexandria, and from
Alexandria to the Throne of thy fathers, Harmachis! Listen, now; things
are thus: Thou knowest how Cleopatra, the Queen, fled into Syria when
that false eunuch Pothinus set the will of her father Auletes at naught
and raised her brother Ptolemy to the sole lordship of Egypt. Thou
knowest also how she came back, like a Queen indeed, with a great army
in her train, and lay at Pelusium, and how at this juncture the mighty
Caesar, that great man, that greatest of all men, sailed with a weak
company hither to Alexandria from Pharsalia's bloody field in hot
pursuit of Pompey. But he found Pompey already dead, having been basely
murdered by Achillas, the General, and Lucius Septimius, the chief of
the Roman legions in Egypt, and thou knowest how the Alexandrians were
troubled at his coming and would have slain his lictors. Then, as
thou hast heard, Caesar seized Ptolemy, the young King, and his sister
Arsinoe, and bade the army of Cleopatra and the army of Ptolemy, under
Achillas, which lay facing each other at Pelusium, disband and go
their ways. And for answer Achillas marched on Caesar, and besieged him
straitly in the Bruchium at Alexandria, and so, for a while, things
were, and none knew who should reign in Egypt. But then Cleopatra took
up the dice, and threw them, and this was the throw she made--in truth,
it was a bold one. For, leaving the army at Pelusium, she came at dusk
to the harbour of Alexandria, and alone with the Sicilian Apollodorus
entered and landed. Then Apollodorus bound her in a bale of rich rugs,
such as are made in Syria, and sent the rugs as a present to Caesar. And
when the rugs were unbound in the palace, behold! within them was the
fairest girl on all the earth--ay, and the most witty and the most
learned. And she seduced the great Caesar--even his weight of years did
not avail to protect him from her charms--so that, as a fruit of his
folly, he wellnigh lost his life, and all the glory he had gained in a
hundred wars."

"The fool!" I broke in--"the fool! Thou callest him great; but how can
the man be truly great who has no strength to stand against a woman's
wiles? Caesar, with the world hanging on his word! Caesar, at whose breath
forty legions marched and changed the fate of peoples! Caesar the cold!
the far-seeing! the hero!--Caesar to fall like a ripe fruit into a false
girl's lap! Why, in the issue, of what common clay was this Roman Caesar,
and how poor a thing!"

But Sepa looked at me and shook his head. "Be not so rash, Harmachis,
and talk not with so proud a voice. Knowest thou not that in every suit
of mail there is a joint, and woe to him who wears the harness if the
sword should search it out! For Woman, in her weakness, is yet the
strongest force upon the earth. She is the helm of all things human; she
comes in many shapes and knocks at many doors; she is quick and patient,
and her passion is not ungovernable like that of man, but as a gentle
steed that she can guide e'en where she will, and as occasion offers can
now bit up and now give rein. She has a captain's eye, and stout must be
that fortress of the heart in which she finds no place of vantage. Does
thy blood beat fast in youth? She will outrun it, nor will her kisses
tire. Art thou set toward ambition? She will unlock thy inner heart,
and show thee roads that lead to glory. Art thou worn and weary? She has
comfort in her breast. Art thou fallen? She can lift thee up, and to the
illusion of thy sense gild defeat with triumph. Ay, Harmachis, she can
do these things, for Nature ever fights upon her side; and while she
does them she can deceive and shape a secret end in which thou hast
no part. And thus Woman rules the world. For her are wars; for her men
spend their strength in gathering gains; for her they do well and ill,
and seek for greatness, to find oblivion. But still she sits like yonder
Sphinx, and smiles; and no man has ever read all the riddle of her
smile, or known all the mystery of her heart. Mock not! mock not!
Harmachis; for he must be great indeed who can defy the power of Woman,
which, pressing round him like the invisible air, is often strongest
when the senses least discover it."

I laughed aloud. "Thou speakest earnestly, my uncle Sepa," I said;
"one might almost think that thou hadst not come unscathed through this
fierce fire of temptation. Well, for myself, I fear not woman and her
wiles; I know naught of them, and naught do I wish to know; and I still
hold that this Caesar was a fool. Had I stood where Caesar stood, to cool
its wantonness that bale of rugs should have been rolled down the palace
steps, into the harbour mud."

"Nay, cease! cease!" he cried aloud. "It is evil to speak thus; may the
Gods avert the omen and preserve to thee this cold strength of which
thou boastest. Oh! man, thou knowest not!--thou in thy strength and
beauty that is without compare, in the power of thy learning and the
sweetness of thy tongue--thou knowest not! The world where thou must mix
is not a sanctuary as that of the Divine Isis. But there--it may be so!
Pray that thy heart's ice may never melt, so thou shalt be great and
happy and Egypt shall be delivered. And now let me take up my tale--thou
seest, Harmachis, even in so grave a story woman claims her place. The
young Ptolemy, Cleopatra's brother, being loosed of Caesar, treacherously
turned on him. Then Caesar and Mithridates stormed the camp of Ptolemy,
who took to flight across the river. But his boat was sunk by the
fugitives who pressed upon it, and such was the miserable end of
Ptolemy.

"Thereon, the war being ended, though she had but then borne him a son,
Caesarion, Caesar appointed the younger Ptolemy to rule with Cleopatra,
and be her husband in name, and he himself departed for Rome, bearing
with him the beautiful Princess Arsinoe to follow his triumph in her
chains. But the great Caesar is no more. He died as he had lived, in
blood, and right royally. And but now Cleopatra, the Queen, if my
tidings may be trusted, has slain Ptolemy, her brother and husband, by
poison, and taken the child Caesarion to be her fellow on the throne,
which she holds by the help of the Roman legions, and, as they say,
of young Sextus Pompeius, who has succeeded Caesar in her love. But,
Harmachis, the whole land boils and seethes against her. In every city
the children of Khem talk of the deliverer who is to come--and thou art
he, Harmachis. The time is almost ripe. The hour is nigh at hand. Go
thou back to Abouthis and learn the last secrets of the Gods, and
meet those who shall direct the bursting of the storm. Then act,
Harmachis--act, I say, and strike home for Khem, rid the land of the
Roman and the Greek, and take thy place upon the throne of thy divine
fathers and be a King of men. For to this end thou wast born, O Prince!"



CHAPTER V

OF THE RETURN OF HARMACHIS TO ABOUTHIS; OF THE CELEBRATION OF THE
MYSTERIES; OF THE CHANT OF ISIS; AND OF THE WARNING OF AMENEMHAT

On the next day I embraced my uncle Sepa, and with an eager heart
departed from Annu back to Abouthis. To be short, I came thither in
safety, having been absent five years and a month, being now no more
a boy but a man full grown and having my mind well stocked with the
knowledge of men and the ancient wisdom of Egypt. So once again I
saw the old lands, and the known faces, though of these some few were
wanting, having been gathered to Osiris. Now, as, riding across the
fields, I came nigh to the enclosure of the Temple, the priests and
people issued forth to bid me welcome, and with them the old wife,
Atoua, who, but for a few added wrinkles that Time had cut upon her
forehead, was just as she had been when she threw the sandal after me
five long years before.

"_La! la! la!_" she cried; "and there thou art, my bonny lad; more bonny
even than thou wert! _La!_ what a man! what shoulders! and what a face
and form! Ah, it does an old woman credit to have dandled thee! But
thou art over-pale; those priests down there at Annu have starved thee,
surely? Starve not thyself: the Gods love not a skeleton. 'Empty stomach
makes empty head' as they say at Alexandria. But this is a glad hour;
ay, a joyous hour. Come in--come in!" and as I lighted down she embraced
me.

But I thrust her aside. "My father! where is my father?" I cried; "I see
him not!"

"Nay, nay, have no fear," she answered; "his Holiness is well; he waits
thee in his chamber. There, pass on. O happy day! O happy Abouthis!"

So I went, or rather ran, and reached the chamber of which I have
written, and there at the table sat my father, Amenemhat, the same as he
had been, but very old. I came to him and, kneeling before him, kissed
his hand, and he blessed me.

"Look up, my son," he said, "let my old eyes gaze upon thy face, that I
may read thy heart."

So I lifted up my head, and he looked upon me long and earnestly.

"I read thee," he said at length; "thou art pure and strong in wisdom;
I have not been deceived in thee. Oh, the years have been lonely; but I
did well to send thee hence. Now, tell me of thy life; for thy letters
have told me little, and thou canst not know, my son, how hungry is a
father's heart."

And so I told him; we sat far into the night and talked together. And
in the end he bade me know that I must now prepare to be initiated into
those last mysteries that are learned of the chosen of the Gods.

And so it came about that for a space of three months I prepared myself
according to the holy customs. I ate no meat. I was constant in the
sanctuaries, in the study of the secrets of the Great Sacrifice and of
the woe of the Holy Mother. I watched and prayed before the altars. I
lifted up my soul to God; ay, in dreams I communed with the Invisible,
till at length earth and earth's desires seemed to pass from me. I
longed no more for the glory of this world, my heart hung above it as
an eagle on his outstretched wings, and the voice of the world's blame
could not stir it, and the vision of its beauty brought no delight. For
above me was the vast vault of heaven, where in unalterable procession
the stars pass on, drawing after them the destinies of men; where the
Holy Ones sit upon their burning thrones, and watch the chariot-wheels
of Fate as they roll from sphere to sphere. O hours of holy
contemplation! who, having once tasted of your joy could wish again to
grovel on the earth? O vile flesh to drag us down! I would that thou
hadst then altogether fallen from me, and left my spirit free to seek
Osiris!

The months of probation passed but too swiftly, and now the holy day
drew near when I was in truth to be united to the universal Mother.
Never hath Night so longed for the promise of the Dawn; never hath the
heart of a lover so passionately desired the sweet coming of his bride,
as I longed to see Thy glorious face, O Isis! Even now that I have been
faithless to Thee, and Thou art far from me, O Divine! my soul goes out
to Thee, and once more I know----But as it is bidden that I should
draw the veil, and speak of things which have not been told since the
beginning of this world, let me pass on and reverently set down the
history of that holy morn.

For seven days the great festival had been celebrated, the suffering of
the Lord Osiris had been commemorated, the grief of the Mother Isis had
been sung and glory had been done to the memory of the coming of the
Divine Child Horus, the Son, the Avenger, the God-begot. All these
things had been carried out according to the ancient rites. The boats
had floated on the sacred lake, the priests had scourged themselves
before the sanctuaries, and the images had been borne through the
streets at night.

And now, as the sun sank on the seventh day, once more the great
procession gathered to chant the woes of Isis and tell how the evil was
avenged. We went in silence from the temple, and passed through the city
ways. First came those who clear the path, then my father Amenemhat in
all his priestly robes, and the wand of cedar in his hand. Then, clad
in pure linen, I, the neophyte, followed alone; and after me the
white-robed priests, holding aloft banners and emblems of the Gods. Next
came those who bear the sacred boat, and after them the singers and
the mourners; while, stretching as far as the eye could reach, all the
people marched, clad in melancholy black because Osiris was no more. We
went in silence through the city streets till at length we came to the
wall of the temple and passed in. And as my father, the High Priest,
entered beneath the gateway of the outer pylon, a sweet-voiced woman
singer began to sing the Holy Chant, and thus she sang:

     "Sing we Osiris dead,
     Lament the fallen head:
     The light has left the world, the world is grey.
     Athwart the starry skies
     The web of Darkness flies,
     And Isis weeps Osiris passed away.
     Your tears, ye stars, ye fires, ye rivers, shed,
     Weep, children of the Nile, weep for your Lord is dead!"

She paused in her most sweet song, and the whole multitude took up the
melancholy dirge:

     "Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling
     Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold;
     Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling:
     'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold!
     Return to them that worship thee of old!'"

The chorus ceased, and once again she sang:

     "Within the court divine
     The Sevenfold sacred shrine
     We pass, while echoes of the Temple walls
     Repeat the long lament
     The sound of sorrow sent
     Far up within the imperishable halls,
     Where, each in the other's arms, the Sisters weep,
     Isis and Nephthys, o'er His unawaking sleep."

And then again rolled forth the solemn chorus of a thousand voices:

     "Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling
     Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold;
     Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling:
     'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold!
     Return to them that worship thee of old!'"
It ceased, and sweetly she took up the song:

     "O dweller in the West,
     Lover and Lordliest,
     Thy love, thy Sister Isis, calls thee home!
     Come from thy chamber dun
     Thou Master of the Sun,
     Thy shadowy chamber far below the foam!
     With weary wings and spent
     Through all the firmament,
     Through all the horror-haunted ways of Hell,
     I seek thee near and far,
     From star to wandering star,
     Free with the dead that in Amenti dwell.
     I search the height, the deep, the lands, the skies,
     Rise from the dead and live, our Lord Osiris, rise!"

     "Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling
     Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold;
     Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling:
     'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold!
     Return to them that worship thee of old!'"

Now in a strain more high and glad the singer sang:

     "He wakes--from forth the prison
     We sing Osiris risen,
     We sing the child that Nout conceived and bare.
     Thine own love, Isis, waits
     The Warden of the Gates,
     She breathes the breath of Life on breast and hair,
     And in her breast and breath
     Behold! he waketh,
     Behold! at length he riseth out of rest;
     Touched with her holy hands,
     The Lord of all the Lands,
     He stirs, he rises from her breath, her breast!
     But thou, fell Typhon, fly,
     The judgment day drawn nigh,
     Fleet on thy track as flame speeds Horus from the sky."

     "Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling
     Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold;
     Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling:
     'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold!
     Return to them that worship thee of old!'"

Once more, as we bowed before the Holy, she sang, and sent the full
breath of her glad music ringing up the everlasting walls till the
silence quivered with her round notes of melody, and the hearts of those
who hearkened stirred strangely in the breast. And thus, as we walked,
she sang the song of Osiris risen, the song of Hope, the song of
Victory:

     "Sing we the Trinity,
     Sing we the Holy Three,
     Sing we, and praise we and worship the Throne,
     Throne that our Lord hath set--
     There peace and truth are met
     There in the Halls of the Holy alone!
     There in the shadowings
     Faint of the folded wings,
     There shall we dwell and rejoice in our rest,
     We that thy servants are!
     Horus drive ill afar!
     Far in the folds of the dark of the West!"

Again, as her notes died away, thundered forth the chorus of all the
voices:

     "Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling
     Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold;
     Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling:
     'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold!
     Return to them that worship thee of old!'"

The chanting ceased, and as the sun sank the High Priest raised the
statue of the living God and held it before the multitude that was now
gathered in the court of the temple. Then, with a mighty and joyful
shout of:

"_Osiris our hope! Osiris! Osiris!_"

the people tore their black wrappings from their dress, revealing the
white robes they wore beneath, and, as one man, they bowed before the
God, and the feast was ended.


But for me the ceremony was only begun, for to-night was the night of my
initiation. Leaving the inner court I bathed myself, and, clad in pure
linen, passed, as it is ordained, into an inner, but not the inmost,
sanctuary, and laid the accustomed offerings on the altar. Then,
lifting my hands to heaven, I remained for many hours in contemplation,
striving, by holy thoughts and prayer, to gather up my strength against
the mighty moment of my trial.

The hours sped slowly in the silence of the temple, till at length the
door opened and my father Amenemhat, the High Priest, came in, clad
in white, and leading by the hand the Priest of Isis. For, having been
married, he did not himself enter into the mysteries of the Holy Mother.

I rose to my feet and stood humbly before them.

"Art thou ready?" said the priest, lifting the lamp he held so that its
light fell upon my face. "O thou chosen one, art thou ready to see the
glory of the Goddess face to face?"

"I am ready," I answered.

"Behold thee," he said again, in solemn tones, "it is no small thing. If
thou wilt carry out this thy last desire, understand, royal Harmachis,
that now this very night thou must die for a while in the flesh, what
time thy soul shall look on spiritual things. And if thou diest and any
evil shall be found within thy heart, when thou comest at last into that
awful presence, woe unto thee, Harmachis, for the breath of life shall
no more enter in at the gateway of thy mouth, thy body shall utterly
perish, and what shall befall thy other parts, if I know, I may not
say.[*] Art thou prepared to be taken to the breast of Her who Was and
Is and Shall Be, and in all things to do Her holy will; for Her, while
she shall so command, to put away the thought of earthly woman; and to
labour always for Her glory till at the end thy life is gathered to Her
eternal life?"

     [*] According to the Egyptian religion the being Man is
     composed of four parts: the body, the double or astral shape
     (_ka_), the soul (_bi_), and the spark of life sprung from
     the Godhead (_khou_).--Editor.

"I am," I answered; "lead on."

"It is well," said the priest. "Noble Amenemhat, we go hence alone."

"Farewell, my son," said my father; "be firm and triumph over things
spiritual as thou shalt triumph over things earthly. He who would truly
rule the world must first be lifted up above the world. He must be at
one with God, for thus only shall he learn the secrets of the Divine.
But beware! The Gods demand much of those who dare to enter the circle
of their Divinity. If they go back therefrom, they shall be judged of a
sharper law, and scourged with a heavier rod, for as their glory is, so
shall their shame be. Therefore, make thy heart strong, royal Harmachis!
And when thou speedest down the ways of Night and enterest the Holies,
remember that from him to whom great gifts have been given shall gifts
be required again. And now--if, indeed, thy mind be fixed--go whither it
is not as yet given me to follow thee. Farewell!"

For a moment as my heart weighed these heavy words, I wavered, as well
as I might. But I was filled with longing to be gathered to the company
of the Divine ones, and I knew that I had no evil in me, and desired to
do only the thing that is just. Therefore, having with so much labour
drawn the bowstring to my ear, I was fain to let fly the shaft. "Lead
on," I cried with a loud voice; "lead on, thou holy Priest! I follow
thee!"

And we went forth.



CHAPTER VI

OF THE INITIATION OF HARMACHIS; OF HIS VISIONS; OF HIS PASSING TO THE
CITY THAT IS IN THE PLACE OF DEATH; AND OF THE DECLARATIONS OF ISIS, THE
MESSENGER

In silence we passed into the Shrine of Isis. It was dark and bare--only
the feeble light from the lamp gleamed faintly upon the sculptured
walls, where, in a hundred effigies, the Holy Mother suckled the Holy
Child.

The priest closed the doors and bolted them. "Once again," he said, "art
thou ready, Harmachis?"

"Once again," I answered, "I am ready."

He spoke no more; but, having lifted up his hands in prayer, led me to
the centre of the Holy, and with a swift motion put out the lamp.

"Look before thee, Harmachis!" he cried; and his voice sounded hollow in
the solemn place.

I gazed and saw nothing. But from the niche that is high in the wall,
where is hid that sacred symbol of the Goddess on which few may look,
there came a sound as of the rattling rods of the sistrum.[*] And as I
listened, awestruck, behold! I saw the outline of the symbol drawn as
with fire upon the blackness of the air. It hung above my head, and
rattled while it hung. And, as it turned, I clearly saw the face of
the Mother Isis that is graven on the one side, and signifies unending
Birth, and the face of her holy sister, Nephthys, that is graven on the
other, and signifies the ending of all birth in Death.

     [*] A musical instrument peculiarly sacred to Isis of which
     the shape and rods had a mystic significance.--Editor.

Slowly it turned and swung as though some mystic dancer trod the air
above me, and shook it in her hand. But at length the light went out,
and the rattling ceased.

Then of a sudden the end of the chamber became luminous, and in that
white light I beheld picture after picture. I saw the ancient Nile
rolling through deserts to the sea. There were no men upon its banks,
nor any signs of man, nor any temples to the Gods. Only wild birds moved
on Sihor's lonely face, and monstrous brutes plunged and wallowed in his
waters. The sun sank in majesty behind the Libyan Desert and stained
the waters red; the mountains towered up towards the silent sky; but in
mountain, desert, and river there was no sign of human life. Then I knew
that I saw the world as it had been before man was, and a terror of its
loneliness entered my soul.

The picture passed and another rose up in its place. Once again I saw
the banks of Sihor, and on them crowded wild-faced creatures, partaking
of the nature of the ape more than of the nature of mankind. They fought
and slew each other. The wild birds sprang up in affright as the fire
leapt from reed huts given by foemen's hands to flame and pillage. They
stole and rent and murdered, dashing out the brains of children with
axes of stone. And, though no voice told me, I knew that I saw man as
he was tens of thousands of years ago, when first he marched across the
earth.

Yet another picture. Again I beheld the banks of Sihor; but on them fair
cities bloomed like flowers. In and out their gates went men and women,
passing to and fro from wide, well-tilled lands. But I saw no guards or
armies, and no weapons of war. All was wisdom, prosperity, and peace.
And while I wondered, a glorious Figure, clad in raiment that shone
as flame, came from the gates of a shrine, and the sound of music went
before and followed after him. He mounted an ivory throne which was set
in a market-place facing the water: and as the sun sank called in
all the multitudes to prayer. With one voice they prayed, bending in
adoration. And I understood that herein was shown the reign of the Gods
on earth, which was long before the days of Menes.

A change came over the dream. Still the same fair city, but other
men--men with greed and evil on their faces--who hated the bonds of
righteous doing, and set their hearts on sin. The evening came; the
glorious Figure mounted the throne and called to prayer, but none bowed
themselves in adoration.

"We are aweary of thee!" they cried. "Make Evil King! Slay him! slay
him! and loose the bonds of Evil! Make Evil King!"

The glorious Shape rose up, gazing with mild eyes upon those wicked men.

"Ye know not what ye ask," he cried; "but as ye will, so be it! For if
I die, by me, after much travail, shall ye once again find a path to the
Kingdom of Good!"

Even as he spoke, a Form, foul and hideous to behold, leapt upon him,
cursing, slew him, tore him limb from limb, and amidst the clamour of
the people sat himself upon the throne and ruled. But a Shape whose
face was veiled passed down from heaven on shadowy wings, and with
lamentations gathered up the rent fragments of the Being. A moment she
bent herself upon them, then lifted up her hands and wept. And as she
wept, behold! from her side there sprang a warrior armed and with a
face like the face of Ra at noon. He, the Avenger, hurled himself with
a shout upon the Monster who had usurped the throne, and they closed in
battle, and, struggling ever in a strait embrace, passed upward to the
skies.

Then came picture after picture. I saw Powers and Peoples clad in
various robes and speaking many tongues. I saw them pass and pass in
millions--loving, hating, struggling, dying. Some few were happy and
some had woe stamped upon their faces; but most bore not the seal of
happiness nor of woe, but rather that of patience. And ever as they
passed from age to age, high above in the heavens the Avenger fought
on with the Evil Thing, while the scale of victory swung now here now
there. But neither conquered, nor was it given to me to know how the
battle ended.

And I understood that what I had beheld was the holy vision of the
struggle between the Good and the Evil Powers. I saw that man was
created vile, but Those who are above took pity on him, and came down
to him to make him good and happy, for the two things are one thing. But
man returned to his wicked way, and then the bright Spirit of Good, who
is of us called Osiris, but who has many names, offered himself up for
the evil-doing of the race that had dethroned him. And from him and the
Divine Mother, of whom all nature is, sprang another spirit who is the
Protector of us on earth, as Osiris is our justifier in Amenti.

For this is the mystery of the Osiris.

Of a sudden, as I saw the visions, these things became clear to me. The
mummy cloths of symbol and of ceremony that wrap Osiris round fell from
him, and I understood the secret of religion, which is Sacrifice.

The pictures passed, and again the priest, my guide, spoke to me.

"Hast thou understood, Harmachis, those things which it has been granted
thee to see?"

"I have," I said. "Are the rites ended?"

"Nay, they are but begun. That which follows thou must endure alone!
Behold I leave thee, to return at the morning light. Once more I warn
thee. That which thou shalt see, few may look upon and live. In all my
days I have known but three who dared to face this dread hour, and of
those three at dawn but one was found alive. Myself, I have not trod
this path. It is too high for me."

"Depart," I said; "my soul is athirst for knowledge. I will dare it."

He laid his hand upon my shoulder and blessed me. He went. I heard the
door shut to behind him, the echoes of his footsteps slowly died away.

Then I felt that I was alone, alone in the Holy Place with Things
which are not of the earth. Silence fell--silence deep and black as the
darkness which was around me. The silence fell, it gathered as the cloud
gathered on the face of the moon that night when, a lad, I prayed upon
the pylon towers. It gathered denser and yet more dense till it seemed
to creep into my heart and call aloud therein; for utter silence has
a voice that is more terrible than any cry. I spoke; the echoes of my
words came back upon me from the walls and seemed to beat me down. The
stillness was lighter to endure than an echo such as this. What was I
about to see? Should I die, even now, in the fulness of my youth and
strength? Terrible were the warnings that had been given to me. I was
fear-stricken, and bethought me that I would fly. Fly!--fly whither? The
temple door was barred; I could not fly. I was alone with the Godhead,
alone with the Power that I had invoked. Nay, my heart was pure--my
heart was pure. I would face the terror that was to come, ay, even
though I died.

"Isis, Holy Mother," I prayed. "Isis, Spouse of Heaven, come unto me, be
with me now; I faint! be with me now."

And then I knew that things were not as things had been. The air around
me began to stir, it rustled as the wings of eagles rustle, it took
life. Bright eyes gazed upon me, strange whispers shook my soul. Upon
the darkness were bars of light. They changed and interchanged, they
moved to and fro and wove mystic symbols which I could not read.
Swifter and swifter flew that shuttle of the light: the symbols grouped,
gathered, faded, gathered yet again, faster and still more fast, till my
eyes could count them no more. Now I was afloat upon a sea of glory; it
surged and rolled, as the ocean rolls; it tossed me high, it brought me
low. Glory was piled on glory, splendour heaped on splendour's head, and
I rode above it all!

Soon the lights began to pale in the rolling sea of air. Great shadows
shot across it, lines of darkness pierced it and rushed together on its
breast, till, at length, I was only a Shape of Flame set like a star on
the bosom of immeasurable night. Bursts of awful music gathered from far
away. Miles and miles away I heard them, thrilling faintly through the
gloom. On they came, nearer and more near, louder and more loud, till
they swept past, above, below, around me, swept on rushing pinions,
terrifying and enchanting me. They floated by, ever growing fainter,
till they died in space. Then others came, and no two were akin. Some
rattled as ten thousand sistra shaken all to tune. Some rank from the
brazen throats of unnumbered clarions. Some pealed with a loud, sweet
chant of voices that were more than human; and some rolled along in the
slow thunder of a million drums. They passed; their notes were lost in
dying echoes; and the silence once more pressed in upon me and overcame
me.

The strength within me began to fail. I felt my life ebbing at its
springs. Death drew near to me and his shape was _Silence_. He entered
at my heart, entered with a sense of numbing cold, but my brain was
still alive, I could yet think. I knew that I was drawing near the
confines of the Dead. Nay, I was dying fast, and oh, the horror of it!
I strove to pray and could not; there was no more time for prayer. One
struggle and the stillness crept into my brain. The terror passed; an
unfathomable weight of sleep pressed me down. I was dying, I was dying,
and then--nothingness!

_I was dead!_

A change--life came back to me, but between the new life and the life
that had been was a gulf and difference. Once again I stood in the
darkness of the shrine, but it blinded me no more. It was clear as the
light of day, although it still was black. I stood; and yet it was not
I who stood, but rather my spiritual part, for at my feet lay my dead
Self. There it lay, rigid and still, a stamp of awful calm sealed upon
its face, while I gazed on it.

And as I gazed, filled with wonder, I was caught up on the Wings of
Flame and whirled away! away! faster than the lightnings flash. Down I
fell, through depths of empty space set here and there with glittering
crowns of stars. Down for ten million miles and ten times ten million,
till at length I hovered over a place of soft, unchanging light, wherein
were Temples, Palaces, and Abodes, such as no man ever saw in the
visions of his sleep. They were built of Flame, and they were built of
Blackness. Their spires pierced up and up; their great courts stretched
around. Even as I hovered they changed continually to the eye; what was
Flame became Blackness, what was Blackness became Flame. Here was the
flash of crystal, and there the blaze of gems shone even through the
glory that rolls around the city which is in the Place of Death. There
were trees, and their voice as they rustled was the voice of music;
there was air, and, as it blew, its breath was the sobbing notes of
song.

Shapes, changing, mysterious, wonderful, rushed up to meet me, and bore
me down till I seemed to stand upon another earth.

"Who comes?" cried a great Voice.

"Harmachis," answered the Shapes, that changed continually. "Harmachis
who hath been summoned from the earth to look upon the face of Her that
Was and Is and Shall Be. Harmachis, Child of Earth!"

"Throw back the Gates and open wide the Doors!" pealed the awful Voice.
"Throw back the Gates and open wide the Doors; seal up his lips in
silence, lest his voice jar upon the harmonies of Heaven, take away his
sight lest he see that which may not be seen, and let Harmachis, who
hath been summoned, pass down the path that leads to the place of the
Unchanging. Pass on, Child of Earth; but before thou goest, look up that
thou mayest learn how far thou art removed from Earth."

I looked up. Beyond the glory that shone about the city was black night,
and high on its bosom twinkled one tiny star.

"Behold the world that thou hast left," said the Voice, "behold and
tremble."

Then my lips and eyes were sealed with silence and with darkness, so
that I was dumb and blind. The Gates rolled back, the Doors swung wide,
and I was swept into the city that is in the Place of Death. I was swept
swiftly I know not whither, till at length I stood upon my feet. Again
the great Voice pealed:

"Draw the veil of blackness from his eyes, unseal the silence on his
lips, that Harmachis, Child of Earth, may see, hear, and understand, and
make adoration at the Shrine of Her that Was and Is and Shall Be."

And my lips and eyes were touched once more, so that my sight and speech
came back.

Behold! I stood within a hall of blackest marble, so lofty that even
in the rosy light scarce could my vision reach the great groins of the
roof. Music wailed about its spaces, and all adown its length stood
winged Spirits fashioned in living fire, and such was the brightness of
their forms that I could not look on them. In its centre was an altar,
small and square, and I stood before the empty altar. Then again the
Voice cried:

"O Thou that hast been, art, and shalt be; Thou who, having many names,
art yet without a name; Measurer of Time; Messenger of God; Guardian of
the Worlds and the Races that dwell thereon; Universal Mother born of
Nothingness; Creatix uncreated; Living Splendour without Form, Living
Form without Substance; Servant of the Invisible; Child of Law; Holder
of the Scales and Sword of Fate; Vessel of Life, through whom all Life
flows, to whom it again is gathered; Recorder of Things Done; Executrix
of Decrees--_Hear!_

"Harmachis the Egyptian, who by Thy will hath been summoned from
the earth, waits before Thine Altar, with ears unstopped, with
eyes unsealed, and with an open heart. Hear and descend! Descend, O
Many-shaped! Descend in Flame! Descend in Sound! Descend in Spirit! Hear
and descend!"



The Voice ceased and there was silence. Then through the silence came
a sound like the booming of the sea. It passed and presently, moved
thereto by I know not what, I raised my eyes from my hands with which I
had covered them, and saw a small dark cloud hanging over the Altar in
and out of which a fiery Serpent climbed.

Then all the Spirits clad in light fell upon the marble floor, and with
a loud voice adored; but what they said I could not understand. Behold!
the dark cloud came down and rested on the Altar, the Serpent of fire
stretched itself towards me, touched me on the forehead with its forky
tongue and was gone. From within the cloud a Voice sweet and low and
clear spoke in heavenly accents:

"Depart, ye Ministers, leave Me with my son whom I have summoned."

Then like arrows rushing from a bow the flame-clad Spirits leapt from
the ground and sped away.

"O Harmachis," said the Voice, "be not afraid, I am She whom thou dost
know as Isis of the Egyptians; but what else I am strive not thou
to learn, it is beyond thy strength. For I am all things, Life is my
spirit, and Nature is my raiment. I am the laughter of the babe, I am
the maiden's love, I am the mother's kiss. I am the Child and Servant of
the Invisible that is God, that is Law, that is Fate--though myself I be
not God and Fate and Law. When winds blow and oceans roar upon the
face of the Earth thou hearest my voice; when thou gazest on the starry
firmament thou seest my countenance; when the spring blooms out in
flowers, that is my smile, Harmachis. For I am Nature's self, and all
her shapes are shapes of Me. I breathe in all that breathes. I wax and
wane in the changeful moon: I grow and gather in the tides: I rise with
the suns: I flash with the lightning and thunder in the storms. Nothing
is too great for the measure of my majesty, nothing is so small that
I cannot find a home therein. I am in thee and thou art in Me, O
Harmachis. That which bade thee be bade Me also be. Therefore, though I
am great and thou art little, have no fear. For we are bound together
by the common bond of life--that life which flows through suns and stars
and spaces, through Spirits and the souls of men, welding all Nature to
a whole that, changing ever, is yet eternally the same."

I bowed my head--I could not speak, for I was afraid.

"Faithfully hast thou served Me, O my son," went on the low sweet Voice;
"greatly thou hast longed to be brought face to face with Me here in
Amenti; and greatly hast thou dared to accomplish thy desire. For it is
no small thing to cast off the tabernacle of the Flesh and before the
appointed time, if only for an hour, put on the raiment of the Spirit.
And greatly, O my servant and my son, have I, too, desired to look on
thee there where I am. For the Gods love those who love them, but with a
wider and deeper love, and under One who is as far from Me as I am from
thee, mortal, I am a God of Gods. Therefore I have caused thee to be
brought hither, Harmachis; and therefore I speak to thee, my son, and
bid thee commune with Me now face to face, as thou didst commune that
night upon the temple towers of Abouthis. For I was there with thee,
Harmachis, as I was in ten thousand other worlds. It was I, O Harmachis,
who laid the lotus in thy hand, giving thee the sign which thou didst
seek. For thou art of the kingly blood of my children who served Me from
age to age. And if thou dost not fail thou shalt sit upon that kingly
throne and restore my ancient worship in its purity, and sweep my
temples from their defilements. But if thou dost fail, then shall the
eternal Spirit Isis become but a memory in Egypt."

The Voice paused; and, gathering up my strength, at length I spoke
aloud:

"Tell me, O Holy," I said, "shall I then fail?"

"Ask Me not," answered the Voice, "that which it is not lawful that I
should answer thee. Perchance I can read that which shall befall thee,
perchance it doth not please Me so to read. What can it profit the
Divine, that hath all time wherein to await the issues, to be eager to
look upon the blossom that is not blown, but which, lying a seed in the
bosom of the earth, shall blow in its season? Know, Harmachis, that I
do not shape the Future; the Future is to thee and not to Me; for it is
born of Law and of the rule ordained of the Invisible. Yet thou art free
to act therein, and thou shalt win or thou shalt fail according to thy
strength and the measure of thy heart's purity. Thine be the burden,
Harmachis, as thine in the event shall be the glory or the shame. Little
do I reck of the issue, I who am but the Minister of what is written.
Now hear me: I will always be with thee, my son, for my love once
given can never be taken away, though by sin it may seem lost to thee.
Remember then this: if thou dost triumph, thy guerdon shall be great; if
thou dost fail, heavy indeed shall be thy punishment both in the flesh
and in the land that thou callest Amenti. Yet this for thy comfort:
shame and agony shall not be eternal. For however deep the fall from
righteousness, if but repentance holds the heart, there is a path--a
stony and a cruel path--whereby the height may be climbed again. Let it
not be thy lot to follow it, Harmachis!

"And now, because thou hast loved Me, my son, and, wandering through the
maze of fable, wherein men lose themselves upon the earth, mistaking the
substance for the Spirit, and the Altar for the God, hast yet grasped a
clue of Truth the Many-faced; and because I love thee and look on to
the day that, perchance, shall come when thou shalt dwell blessed in my
light and in the doing of my tasks: because of this, I say, it shall be
given to thee, O Harmachis, to hear the Word whereby I may be summoned
from the Uttermost, by one who hath communed with Me, and to look upon
the face of Isis--even into the eyes of the Messenger, and not die the
death.

"_Behold!_"

The sweet Voice ceased; the dark cloud upon the altar changed and
changed--it grew white, it shone, and seemed at length to take the
shrouded shape of a woman. Then the golden Snake crept from its heart
once more, and, like a living diadem, twined itself about the cloudy
brows.

Now suddenly a Voice called aloud the awful Word, then the vapours burst
and melted, and with my eyes I saw that Glory, at the very thought of
which my spirit faints. But what I saw it is not lawful to utter. For,
though I have been bidden to write what I have written of this matter,
perchance that a record may remain, thereon I have been warned--ay, even
now, after these many years. I saw, and what I saw cannot be imagined;
for there are Glories and there are Shapes which are beyond the reach
of man's imagination. I saw--then, with the echo of that Word, and the
memory of that sight stamped for ever on my heart, my spirit failed me,
and I sank down before the Glory.

And, as I fell, it seemed that the great hall burst open and crumbled
into flakes of fire round me. Then a great wind blew: there was a sound
as the sound of Worlds rushing down the flood of Time--and I knew no
more!



CHAPTER VII

OF THE AWAKING OF HARMACHIS; OF THE CEREMONY OF HIS CROWNING AS PHARAOH
OF THE UPPER AND THE LOWER LAND; AND OF THE OFFERINGS MADE TO PHARAOH

Once again I woke--to find myself stretched at length upon the stone
flooring of the Holy Place of Isis that is at Abouthis. By me stood the
old Priest of the Mysteries, and in his hand was a lamp. He bent over
me, and gazed earnestly upon my face.

"It is day--the day of thy new birth, and thou hast lived to see
it, Harmachis!" he said at length. "I give thanks. Arise, royal
Harmachis--nay, tell me naught of that which has befallen thee. Arise,
beloved of the Holy Mother. Come forth, thou who hast passed the fire
and learned what lies behind the darkness--come forth, O newly-born!"

I rose and, walking faintly, went with him, and, passing out of the
darkness of the Shrines filled with thought and wonder, came once more
into the pure light of the morning. And then I went to my own chamber
and slept; nor did any dreams come to trouble me. But no man--not even
my father--asked me aught of what I saw upon that dread night, or after
what fashion I had communed with the Goddess.

After these things which have been written, I applied myself for a
space to the worship of the Mother Isis, and to the further study of the
outward forms of those mysteries to which I now held the key. Moreover,
I was instructed in matters politic, for many great men of our following
came secretly to see me from all quarters of Egypt, and told me much
of the hatred of the people towards Cleopatra, the Queen, and of other
things. At last the hour drew nigh; it was three months and ten days
from the night when, for a while, I left the flesh, and yet living with
our life, was gathered to the breast of Isis, on which it was agreed
that with due and customary rites, although in utter secrecy, I should
be called to the throne of the Upper and the Lower Land. So it came
about that, as the solemn time drew nigh, great men of the party of
Egypt gathered to the number of thirty-seven from every nome, and each
great city of their nome, meeting together at Abouthis. They came in
every guise--some as priests, some as pilgrims to the Shrine, and some
as beggars. Among them was my uncle, Sepa, who, though he clad himself
as a travelling doctor, had much ado to keep his loud voice from
betraying him. Indeed, I myself knew him by it, meeting him as I walked
in thought upon the banks of the canal, although it was then dusk and
the great cape, which, after the fashion of such doctors, he had thrown
about his head, half hid his face.

"A pest on thee!" he cried, when I greeted him by his name. "Cannot a
man cease to be himself for a single hour? Didst thou but know the pains
that it has cost me to learn to play this part--and now thou readest who
I am even in the dark!"

And then, still talking in his loud voice, he told me how he had
travelled hither on foot, the better to escape the spies who ply to and
fro upon the river. But he said he should return by the water, or take
another guise; for since he had come as a doctor he had been forced to
play a doctor's part, knowing but little of the arts of medicine; and,
as he greatly feared, there were many between Annu and Abouthis who had
suffered from it.[*] And he laughed loudly and embraced me, forgetting
his part. For he was too whole at heart to be an actor and other than
himself, and would have entered Abouthis with me holding my hand, had I
not chid him for his folly.

     [*] In Ancient Egypt an unskilful or negligent physician was
     liable to very heavy penalties.--Editor.

At length all were gathered.

It was night, and the gates of the temple were shut. None were left
within them, except the thirty-seven; my father, the High Priest
Amenemhat; that aged priest who had led me to the Shrine of Isis; the
old wife, Atoua, who, according to ancient custom, was to prepare me
for the anointing; and some five other priests, sworn to secrecy by that
oath which none may break. They gathered in the second hall of the great
temple; but I remained alone, clad in my white robe, in the passage
where are the names of six-and-seventy ancient Kings, who were before
the day of the divine Sethi. There I rested in darkness, till at length
my father, Amenemhat, came, bearing a lamp, and, bowing low before me,
led me by the hand forth into the great hall. Here and there, between
its mighty pillars, lights were burning that dimly showed the sculptured
images upon the walls, and dimly fell upon the long line of the
seven-and-thirty Lords, Priests, and Princes, who, seated upon carven
chairs, awaited my coming in silence. Before them, facing away from
the seven Sanctuaries, a throne was set, around which stood the priests
holding the sacred images and banners. As I came into the dim and holy
place, the Dignitaries rose, and bowed before me, speaking no word;
while my father led me to the steps of the throne, and in a low voice
bade me stand before it.

Then he spoke:

"Lords, Priests, and Princes of the ancient orders of the land of
Khem--Nobles from the Upper and the Lower Country, have gathered
in answer to my summons, hear me: I present to you, with such scant
formality as the occasion can afford, the Prince Harmachis, by right and
true descent of blood the descendant and heir of the ancient Pharaohs
of our most unhappy land. He is priest of the inmost circle of the
Mysteries of the Divine Isis, Master of the Mysteries--Hereditary Priest
of the Pyramids, which are by Memphis, Instructed in the Solemn Rites
of the Holy Osiris. Is there any among you who has aught to urge against
the true line of his blood?"

He paused, and my uncle Sepa, rising from his chair, spoke: "We have
made examination of the records and there is none, O Amenemhat. He is of
the Royal blood, his descent is true."

"Is there any among you," went on my father, "who can deny that this
royal Harmachis, by sanction of the very Gods, has been gathered
to Isis, been shown the way of the Osiris, been admitted to be the
Hereditary High Priest of the Pyramids which are by Memphis, and of the
Temples of the Pyramids?"

Then that old priest rose who had been my guide in the Sanctuary of the
Mother and made answer: "There is none; O Amenemhat; I know these things
of my own knowledge."

Once more my father spoke: "Is there any among you who has aught to urge
against this royal Harmachis, in that by wickedness of heart or life, by
uncleanliness or falsity, it is not fit or meet that we should crown him
Lord of all the Lands?"

Then an aged Prince of Memphis arose and made answer:

"We have inquired of these matters: there is none, O Amenemhat."

"It is well," said my father; "then naught is wanting in the Prince
Harmachis, seed of Nekt-nebf, the Osirian. Let the woman Atoua stand
forth and tell this company those things that came to pass when, at
the hour of her death, she who was my wife prophesied over this Prince,
being filled with the Spirit of the Hathors."

Thereon old Atoua crept forward from the shadow of the columns, and
earnestly told those things that have been written.

"Ye have heard," said my father: "do you believe that the woman who was
my wife spake with the Divine voice?"

"We do," they answered.

Now my uncle Sepa rose and spoke:

"Royal Harmachis, thou hast heard. Know now that we are gathered here
to crown thee King of the Upper and the Lower Lands--thy holy father,
Amenemhat, renouncing all his right on thy behalf. We are met, not,
indeed, in that pomp and ceremony which is due to the occasion--for what
we do must be done in secret, lest our lives, and the cause that is more
dear to us than life, should pay the forfeit--but yet with such dignity
and observance of the ancient rites as our circumstance may command.
Learn, now, how this matter hangs, and if, after learning, thy mind
consents thereto, then mount thy throne, O Pharaoh--and swear the oath!

"Long has Khemi groaned beneath the mailed heel of the Greek, and
trembled at the shadow of the Roman's spear; long has the ancient
worship of its Gods been desecrated, and its people crushed with
oppression. But we believe that the hour of deliverance is at hand,
and with the solemn voice of Egypt and by the ancient Gods of Egypt, to
whose cause thou art of all men bound, we call upon thee, Prince, to be
the sword of our deliverance. Hearken! Twenty thousand good and leal men
are sworn to wait upon thy word, and at thy signal to rise as one, to
put the Grecian to the sword, and with their blood and substance to
build thee a throne set more surely on the soil of Khem than are its
ancient pyramids--such a throne as shall even roll the Roman legions
back. And for the signal, it shall be the death of that bold harlot,
Cleopatra. Thou must compass her death, Harmachis, in such fashion as
shall be shown to thee, and with her blood anoint the Royal throne of
Egypt.

"Canst thou refuse, O our Hope? Doth not the holy love of country swell
within thy heart? Canst thou dash the cup of Freedom from thy lips and
bear to drink the bitter draught of slaves? The emprise is great; maybe
it shall fail, and thou with thy life, as we with ours, shalt pay the
price of our endeavour. But what of it, Harmachis? Is life, then,
so sweet? Are we so softly cushioned on the stony bed of earth? Is
bitterness and sorrow in its sum so small and scant a thing? Do we here
breathe so divine an air that we should fear to face the passage of
our breath? What have we here but hope and memory? What see we here but
shadows? Shall we then fear to pass pure-handed where Fulfilment is and
memory is lost in its own source, and shadows die in the light which
cast them? O Harmachis, that man alone is truly blest who crowns his
life with Fame's most splendid wreath. For, since to all the Brood of
Earth Death hands his poppy-flowers, he indeed is happy to whom there is
occasion given to weave them in a crown of glory. And how can a man die
better than in a great endeavour to strike the gyves from his Country's
limbs so that she again may stand in the face of Heaven and raise the
shrill shout of Freedom, and, clad once more in a panoply of strength,
trample under foot the fetters of her servitude, defying the tyrant
nations of the earth to set their seal upon her brow?

"Khem calls thee, Harmachis. Come then, thou Deliverer; leap like Horus
from the firmament, break her chains, scatter her foes, and rule a
Pharaoh on Pharaoh's Throne----"

"Enough, enough!" I cried, while the long murmur of applause swept about
the columns and up the massy walls. "Enough; is there any need to adjure
me thus? Had I a hundred lives, would I not most gladly lay them down
for Egypt?"

"Well said, well said!" answered Sepa. "Now go forth with the woman
yonder, that she may make thy hands clean before they touch the sacred
emblems, and anoint thy brow before it is encircled of the diadem."

And so I went into a chamber apart with the old wife, Atoua. There,
muttering prayers, she poured pure water over my hands into a ewer of
gold, and having dipped a fine cloth into oil wiped my brow with it.

"O happy Egypt!" she said; "O happy Prince, that art come to rule in
Egypt! O Royal yout