During this time Prince Rameses, who was hidden in his cell, gave himself up to prayer and fasting. At last on a certain date about three hours after midday a number of priests, arrayed in two ranks, came and invited him to the solemnity.

In the vestibule of the temple the high priest greeted the prince, and with him burned incense before the great statue of Hator. Then they turned to a low, narrow corridor, at the end of which a fire was burning. The air of the corridor was filled with the odor of pitch which was boiling in a kettle. Near the kettle, through an opening in the pavement, rose dreadful groans and curses.

"What does that mean?" inquired Rameses of a priest among those attending him.

The priest gave no answer; on the faces as far as could be seen emotion and terror were evident.

At this moment the high priest Mefres seized a great ladle, took boiling pitch from the kettle, and said in loud accents,--

"May all perish thus who divulge temple secrets!"

Next he poured pitch into the opening in the pavement, and from below came a roar,--

"Ye are killing me. Oh, if ye have in your hearts even a trace of compa.s.sion," groaned a voice.

"May the worms gnaw thy body," said Mentezufis, as he poured melted pitch into the opening.

"Dogs--jackals!" groaned the voice.

"May thy heart be consumed by fire and its ashes be hurled into the desert," said the next priest, repeating the ceremony.

"O G.o.ds! is it possible to suffer as I do?" was the answer from beneath the pavement.

"May thy soul, with the image of its shame and its crime, wander onward through places where live happy people," said a second priest; and he poured another ladle of burning pitch into the aperture.

"Oh, may the earth devour you!--mercy!--let me breathe!"

Before the turn came to Rameses the voice underground was silent.

"So do the G.o.ds punish traitors," said the high priest of the temple to the viceroy.

The prince halted, and fixed on him eyes full of anger. It seemed to Rameses that he would burst out with indignation, and leave that a.s.sembly of executioners; but he felt a fear of the G.o.ds and advanced behind others in silence.

The haughty heir understood now that there was a power before which the pharaohs incline. He was seized by despair almost; he wished to flee, to renounce the throne. Meanwhile he held silence and walked on, surrounded by priests chanting prayers.

"Now I know," thought he, "where people go who are unpleasant to the servants of divinity." But this thought did not decrease his horror.

Leaving the narrow corridor full of smoke, the procession found itself on an elevation beneath the open sky. Below was an immense court surrounded on three sides by low buildings instead of a wall. From the place where the priests halted was a kind of amphitheatre with five broad platforms by which it was possible to pa.s.s along the whole court or to descend to the bottom.

In the court no one was present, but certain people were looking out of buildings.

The high priest Mefres, as chief dignitary in the a.s.sembly, presented Pentuer to the viceroy. The mild face of the ascetic did not harmonize with the horrors which had taken place in the corridor; so the prince wondered. To say something, he said to Pentuer,--

"It seems to me that I have met thee somewhere, pious father?"

"The past year at the manuvres near Pi-Bailos. I was there with his worthiness Herhor."

The resonant and calm voice of Pentuer arrested the prince. He had heard that voice on some uncommon occasion. But where and when had he heard it?

In every case the priest made an agreeable impression. If he could only forget the cries of that man whom they had covered with boiling pitch!

"We may begin," said Mefres.

Pentuer went to the middle of the amphitheatre and clapped his hands.

From the low buildings a crowd of female dancers issued forth, and priests came out with music, also with a small statue of the G.o.ddess Hator. The musicians preceded, the dancers followed, performing a sacred dance; finally the statue moved on surrounded by the smoke of censers. In this way they went around the court and stopping after every few steps, implored the divinity for a blessing, and asked evil spirits to leave the enclosure, where there was to be a solemnity full of secrets.

When the procession had returned to the buildings, Pentuer stepped forward. Dignitaries present to the number of two or three hundred gathered round him.

"By the will of his holiness the pharaoh," began Pentuer, "and with consent of the supreme priestly power, we are to initiate the heir to the throne, Rameses, into some details of life in Egypt, details known only to the divinities who govern the country and the temples. I know, worthy fathers, that each of you would enlighten the young prince better in these things than I can; ye are full of wisdom, and the G.o.ddess Mut speaks through you. But since the duty has fallen on me, who in presence of you am but dust and a pupil, permit me to accomplish it under your worthy inspection and guidance."

A murmur of satisfaction was heard among the learned priests at this manner. Pentuer turned to the viceroy.

"For some months, O servant of the G.o.ds, Rameses, as a traveller lost in the desert seeks a road, so thou art seeking an answer to the question: Why has the income of the holy pharaoh diminished, and why is it decreasing? Thou hast asked the nomarchs, and though they explained according to their power, thou wert not satisfied, though the highest human wisdom belongs to those dignitaries. Thou didst turn to the chief scribes, but in spite of their efforts these men were like birds in a net, unable to free themselves without a.s.sistance, for the reason of man, though trained in the school of scribes, is not in a position to take in the immensity of these questions. At last, wearied by barren explanations, thou didst examine the lands of the provinces, their people, the works of their hands, but didst arrive at nothing. For there are things of which people are silent as stones, but concerning which even stones will give answer if light from the G.o.ds only falls on them.

"When in this manner all these earthly powers and wisdoms disappointed thee, thou didst turn to the G.o.ds. Barefoot, thy head sprinkled with ashes, thou didst come in the guise of a penitent to this great sanctuary, where by means of suffering and prayer thou hast purified thy body and strengthened thy spirit. The G.o.ds--but especially the mighty Hator--listened to thy prayers, and through my unworthy lips give an answer, and mayst thou write it down in thy heart profoundly."

"Whence does he know," thought the prince, meanwhile, "that I asked the scribes and nomarchs? Aha! Mefres and Mentezufis told him. For that matter, they know everything."

"Listen," continued Pentuer, "and I will discover to thee, with permission of these dignitaries, what Egypt was four hundred years ago in the reign of the most glorious and pious nineteenth Theban dynasty, and what it is at present.

"When the first pharaoh of that dynasty, Ramen-Pehuti-Ramessu, a.s.sumed power over the country, the income of the treasury in wheat, cattle, beer, skins, vessels, and various articles rose to a hundred and thirty thousand talents. If a people had existed who could exchange gold for all these goods, the pharaoh would have had yearly one hundred and thirty-three thousand minas of gold.[15] And since one warrior can carry on his shoulders the weight of twenty-six minas, about five thousand warriors would have been needed to carry that treasure."

[15] Mina = one and a half kilograms.

The priests whispered to one another without hiding their wonder. Even the prince forgot the man tortured to death beneath the pavement.

"To-day," said Pentuer, "the yearly income of his holiness for all products of his land is worth only ninety-eight thousand talents. For these it would be possible to obtain as much gold as four thousand warriors could carry."

"That the income of the state has decreased greatly, I know," said Rameses, "but what is the cause of this?"

"Be patient, O servant of the G.o.ds," replied Pentuer. "It is not the income of his holiness alone that is subject to decrease. During the nineteenth dynasty Egypt had under arms one hundred and eighty thousand warriors. If by the action of the G.o.ds every soldier of that time had been turned into a pebble the size of a grape--"

"That cannot be!" said Rameses.

"The G.o.ds can do anything," answered Mefres, the high priest, severely.

"But better," continued Pentuer, "if each soldier were to place on the ground one pebble, there would be one hundred and eighty thousand pebbles; and, look, worthy fathers, these pebbles would occupy so much s.p.a.ce." He pointed to a quadrangle of reddish color in the court. "In this figure the pebbles deposited by warriors of the time of Rameses I. would find their places. This figure is nine yards long and about five wide. This figure is ruddy; it has the color of Egyptian bodies, for in those days all our warriors were Egyptian exclusively."

The priests began to whisper a second time. The prince frowned, for that seemed to him a reprimand, since he loved foreign soldiers.

"To-day," said Pentuer, "we a.s.semble one hundred and twenty thousand warriors with great difficulty. If each one of those cast his pebble on the ground, they would form a figure of this sort. Look this way, worthiness." At the side of the first quadrangle lay a second of the same width, but considerably shorter; its color was not uniform either, but was composed of a number of colors. "This figure," said Pentuer, "is about five yards wide, but is only six yards in length.

An immense number of men is now lacking,--our army has lost one-third of its warriors."

"Wisdom of men like thee, O prophet, will bring more good to the state than an army," interrupted the high priest.

Pentuer bent before him and continued,--

"In this new figure which represents the present army of the pharaoh ye see, worthy men, besides the ruddy color which designates Egyptians by blood, three other stripes,--black, white, and yellow. They represent mercenary divisions,--Ethiopians, Asiatics, Greeks, and Libyans. There are thirty thousand of them altogether, but they cost as much as fifty thousand Egyptians."