The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 147

"But what good will that do the people?" insisted Pentuer.

"Woe is me!" exclaimed Menes, seizing his head. "I know not whether it is because thou hast grown old, or dull; 'the people' have hidden the whole world from thee and darkened thy mind. If sages had only the people in mind they would be forced to throw away their books and calculations and become shepherds."

"But everything must be of some use," said Pentuer, now grown timid.

"Ye court people," replied Menes with vexation, "use two measures frequently. When a Phnician brings a ruby or a sapphire ye do not inquire what its use is; ye buy the jewel and shut it up in a casket.

But if a sage comes to you with an invention which might change the face of the world, ye ask straightway: 'What is the use of this?' It is clear that ye are frightened lest the investigator might ask a handful of barley for a thing the sense of which your mind does not fathom."

"Art thou angry, father? Have I wished to offend thee?"

"I am not angry, but I am pained. Twenty years ago there were five men in this temple working over the discovery of new secrets. To-day I am alone. And, by the G.o.ds, I am unable to find not merely a successor, but even a man who is able to understand me."

"Beyond doubt I would remain here till death so as to learn thy G.o.dlike thoughts," said Pentuer. "But tell me, can I shut myself up to-day in a temple when the fate of the kingdom and the future of the people are wavering in the balance, and when my a.s.sistance--"

"May influence the fate of the kingdom and of some millions of people!" interrupted Menes, jeeringly. "O ye grown-up children in the mitres and chains of office. Because ye are free to draw water from the Nile it seems to you that ye may stop the rise or the fall of the river. Not otherwise, surely, thinks the sheep, which following the herd imagines that she is directing it."

"But think, the young pharaoh has a heart full of n.o.bleness; he wishes to give the seventh day for rest, just courts, and even land."

"All those things are vanis.h.i.+ng," said Menes, shaking his head. "The young pharaoh will grow old, while the people,--well, the people have had the seventh day for rest more than one time, and they have had land--but afterward they lost both! Ah, if that were all that changed!

During three thousand years how many dynasties have pa.s.sed over Egypt, and priests, how many cities and temples have fallen into ruins; nay more! how many new strata of earth have overlaid the country.

Everything has changed except this, that two and two are four, that a triangle is half a quadrangle, that the moon may hide the sun, and boiling water hurl a stone through the air.

"In this transitory world wisdom alone is enduring and permanent. And woe to him who deserts the eternal for things as fleeting as clouds are. His heart will never know peace, and his mind will dance like a boat in a whirlwind."

"The G.o.ds speak through thy lips," replied Pentuer, after some thought, "but barely one man in millions may serve them directly. And well that it is so, for what would happen if laborers gazed for whole nights at the firmament, if warriors made reckonings, and officials and the pharaoh, instead of ruling the people, hurled stones by means of boiling water? Before the moon could go once round the earth all would die of hunger. No wheel or cattle would defend the land from barbarians, or give justice to those who were injured by wrong-doers.

"Hence," ended Pentuer, "though wisdom is like the sun, blood and breath, we cannot all be sages."

To these words Menes made no answer.

Pentuer pa.s.sed some days in the temple of the divine Nut; he admired at one time the view of the sandy ocean, at another the fertile valley of the Nile. In company with Menes he looked at the stars, examined the wheel for raising water, and walked at times toward the pyramids.

He admired the poverty and the genius of his teacher, but said in spirit,--

"Menes is a G.o.d in human form, surely, and hence he has no care for common matters. His wheel to raise water will not be accepted in Egypt, for first we lack timber, and second to move such wheels one hundred thousand oxen would be needed. Where is there pasture for them even in Upper Egypt?"

CHAPTER LXI

While Pentuer was going around the country and choosing out delegates, Rameses XIII. tarried in Thebes, arranging the marriage of his favorite, Tutmosis.

First of all, the ruler of two worlds, surrounded by a grand retinue, drove in a golden chariot to the palace of the most worthy Antefa.

This magnate hurried forth to meet his sovereign before the gate, and, taking the costly sandals from his feet he knelt and a.s.sisted Rameses to alight from the chariot.

In return for this homage the pharaoh gave him his hand to kiss, and declared that thenceforth Antefa was his friend, and might enter even the throne hall in sandals.

When they were in an immense chamber of Antefa's palace the sovereign said before the whole retinue,--

"I know, worthy Antefa, that as thy revered ancestors occupy the most beautiful of tombs, thou, their descendant, art foremost among nomarchs in Egypt. To thee it is known surely that in my court and army, as in my heart, the first place is held by Tutmosis, chief of the guard, and my favorite.

"According to the opinion of sages the rich man does ill who does not put his most precious jewel into the most beautiful setting. And, since thy family is most precious to me, and Tutmosis is most dear, I have conceived the idea of connecting thee with myself, as thou wilt be, if thy daughter, the wise and beautiful Hebron, accepts Tutmosis as husband."

To this the worthy Antefa replied,--

"Holiness, sovereign of the western world, and of living men! As Egypt, and all that is in it belongs to thee, so this house and all its inhabitants are thy possession. Since it is thy desire that my daughter should be the wife of thy favorite, let it be so."

Now the pharaoh declared to Antefa that Tutmosis had twenty talents of yearly salary, and considerable estates in various provinces.

Thereupon the worthy Antefa declared that his daughter Hebron would have fifty talents a year, also the right to make use of the estates of her father in those provinces in which the pharaoh's court sojourned for a season. And since he had no son, his immense property, which was free of debt, would pa.s.s to Tutmosis some time, together with the office of nomarch of Thebes, in so far as that transfer might coincide with the will of the pharaoh.

After concluding the conditions Tutmosis entered the court, thanked Antefa first for giving his daughter to one so unworthy, and second, because he had reared her so beautifully. It was arranged then that the ceremony of marriage would take place in a few days, since Tutmosis, as leader of the guard, had no time for protracted preliminaries.

"I wish thee happiness, my son," said Antefa, smiling, "and also great patience, because my beloved daughter, now twenty years old, is the first exquisite in Thebes, and has had her will always. By the G.o.ds, I tell thee that my command over Thebes always ends at the gate of her garden. And I fear that thy military command will go no farther."

Next the n.o.ble Antefa invited his guests to a splendid banquet, in the course of which the beautiful Hebron showed herself with a great retinue of damsels.

In the dining-hall were numbers of small tables for two or four persons, also a larger table, on a loftier place, for the pharaoh. To show honor to Antefa and his favorite, Tutmosis, Rameses approached Hebron and invited her to his table.

The young lady was really beautiful, and as it seemed had experience, a thing not exceptional in Egypt. Rameses soon noticed that the betrothed turned no attention whatever toward Tutmosis, but to make up for this she turned eloquent glances toward him, the pharaoh.

That also was no wonder in Egypt.

When the guests had taken their places, when music sounded and female dancers began to bring fruit and wine to the tables, Rameses said to Hebron,--

"The longer I look at thee, the more I am astonished. Were some stranger to enter he might consider thee a high priestess or a G.o.ddess, but never a woman at the time of happy betrothal."

"I am happy," said she, "at this moment, though not because of betrothal."

"How is that?" interrupted the pharaoh.

"Marriage does not entice me, and surely I should rather be the high priestess of Isis than be married."

"Then why marry?"

"I marry because it is the absolute wish of my father to have an heir to his glory, but mainly because it is thy wish, my sovereign."

"Can it be that Tutmosis does not please thee?"

"I will not say that he does not please me. Tutmosis is fine-looking; he is the first exquisite in Egypt, he plays well, and takes prizes at games. His position, as commander of thy guard, is one of the highest.

Still, were it not for the prayers of my father, and thy command I should not marry Tutmosis. Even as it is, I shall not be his wife. My property will suffice Tutmosis and the t.i.tles after my father; the rest he can find among dancing girls."

"But does he know of his misfortune?"

Hebron smiled.

"He knows this long time that even were I not the daughter of Antefa, but of the lowest dissector, I would not give myself to a man unless I loved him. I could love only a man who is above me."