The Pharaoh and the Priest. Bolesław Prus

ass is bent. My neck became stiff, like an ass's neck, and the joints of my back swelled. I drank rotten water, I was like a captive bird in the face of the enemy.

      "I returned to Egypt, but here I am like a tree into which a worm is boring always. For any trifle they put me on the ground and beat me till I am breaking. I am sick and must lie at full length; they carry me in a car, meanwhile serving men steal my mantle and escape with it.

      "So change thy mind, O scribe, about the happiness of officers."

       [Authentic]

      Thus sang the brave Eunana; and his tearful song has outlived the

       Egyptian kingdom.

CHAPTER V

       Table of Contents

      AS the suite of the heir approached Memphis, the sun was near its setting, while from countless canals and the distant sea came a wind filled with cool moisture. The road descended again to the fertile region, where on fields and among bushes continuous ranks of people were working, a rosy gleam was falling on the desert, and the mountain summits were in a blaze of sunlight.

      Ramses halted and turned his horse. His suite surrounded him quickly, the higher officers approached with some leisure, while the marching regiments drew nearer slowly and with even tread. In the purple rays of the setting sun, the prince had the seeming of a divinity, the soldiers gazed at him with affection and pride, the chiefs looked admiringly.

      He raised his hand. All were silent.

      "Worthy leaders," began he, "brave officers, obedient soldiers! Today the gods have given me the pleasure of commanding you. Delight has filled my heart. And since it is my will that leaders, officers, and soldiers should share my happiness at all times, I assign one drachma to each soldier of those who have gone to the east, and to those who return with us from the eastern boundary; also one drachma each to the Greek soldiers who today, under my command, opened a passage out of the ravine; and one drachma to each man in the regiments of the worthy Nitager who wished to cut off the way to us."

      There was a shout in the army.

      "Be well, our leader! Be well, successor of the pharaoh, may he live eternally!" cried the soldiers; and the Greeks cried the loudest.

      The prince continued,

      "I assign five talents to be divided among the lower officers of my army and that of the worthy Nitager. And finally I assign ten talents to be divided between his worthiness the minister and the chief leaders."

      "I yield ray part for the benefit of the army," answered Herhor.

      "Be well, O heir! be well, O minister!" cried the officers and the soldiers.

      The ruddy circle of the sun had touched the sands of the western desert. Ramses took farewell of the army and galloped towards Memphis; but his worthiness Herhor, amid joyous shouts, took a seat in his litter and commanded also to go in advance of the marching divisions.

      When they had gone so far that single voices were merged into one immense murmur, like the sound of a cataract, the minister, bending toward the secretary, asked of him,

      "Dost Thou remember everything?"

      "Yes, worthy lord."

      "Thy memory is like granite on which we write history, and thy wisdom like the Nile, which covers all the country and enriches it," said Herhor. "Besides, the gods have granted thee the greatest of virtues, wise obedience."

      The secretary was silent.

      "Hence Thou mayest estimate more accurately than others the acts and reasons of the heir, may he live through eternity!"

      The minister stopped awhile, and then added,

      "It has not been his custom to speak so much. Tell me then, Pentuer, and record this: Is it proper that the heir to the throne should express his will before the army? Only a pharaoh may act thus, or a traitor, or a frivolous stripling, who with the same heedlessness will do hasty deeds or belch forth words of blasphemy."

      The sun went down, and soon after a starry night appeared. Above the countless canals of Lower Egypt a silvery mist began to thicken, a mist which, borne to the desert by a gentle wind, freshened the wearied warriors, and revived vegetation which had been dying through lack of moisture.

      "Or tell me, Pentuer," continued the minister, "and inquire: whence will the heir get his twenty talents to keep the promise which he made this day to the army with such improvidence? Besides, it seems to me, and certainly to thee, a dangerous step for an heir to make presents to the army, especially now, when his holiness has nothing with which to pay Nitager's regiments returning from the Orient. I do not ask what thy opinions are, for I know them, as Thou knowest my most secret thoughts. I only ask thee to the end that Thou remember what Thou hast seen, so as to tell it to the priests in council."

      "Will they meet soon?" inquired Pentuer.

      "There is no reason yet to summon them. I shall try first to calm this wild young bull through the fatherly hand of his holiness. It would be a pity to lose the boy, for he has much ability and the energy of a southern whirlwind. But if the whirlwind, instead of blowing away Egypt's enemies, blows down its wheat and tears up its palm-trees!"

      The minister stopped conversation, and his retinue vanished in the dark alley of trees which led to Memphis.

      Meanwhile Ramses reached the palace of the pharaoh.

      This edifice stood on an elevation in a park outside the city. Peculiar trees grew there: baobabs from the south; pines, oaks, and cedars from the north. Thanks to the art of gardeners, these trees lived some tens of years and reached a considerable height.

      The shady alley led to a gate which was as high as a house of three stories. From each side of the gate rose a solid building like a tower in the form of a truncated pyramid, forty yards in width with the height of five stories. In the night they seemed like two immense tents made of sandstone. These peculiar buildings had on the ground and the upper stories square windows, and the roofs were flat. From the top of one of these pyramids without apex, a watch looked at the country; from the other the priest on duty observed the stars.

      At the right and left of these towers, called pylons, extended walls, or rather long structures of one story, with narrow windows and flat roofs, on which sentries paced back and forth. On both sides of the main gate were two sitting statues fifteen feet in height. In front of these statues moved other sentries.

      When the prince, with a number of horsemen, approached the palace, the sentry knew him in spite of the darkness. Soon an official of the court ran out of the pylon. He was clothed in a white skirt and dark mantle, and wore a wig as large as a headdress.

      "Is the palace closed already?" inquired the prince.

      "Thou art speaking truth, worthy lord," said the official. "His holiness is preparing the god for sleep."

      "What will he do after that?"

      "He will be pleased to receive the war minister, Herhor."

      "Well, and later?"

      "Later his holiness will look at the ballet in the great hall, then he will bathe and recite evening prayers."

      "Has he not commanded to receive me?" inquired Ramses.

      "Tomorrow morning after the military council."

      "What are the queens doing?"

      "The first queen is praying in the chamber of her dead son, and thy worthy mother is receiving the Phoenician ambassador, who has brought her gifts from the women of Tyre."

      "Did he bring maidens?"

      "A number of them. Each has on her person treasures to the value of ten talents."

      "Who is moving about down there with torches?" asked the prince,