The Pharaoh and the Priest: An Historical Novel of Ancient Egypt

by Bolesław Prus

  CHAPTER XI

  The month Thoth has ended and the month Paofi (the second half ofJuly) has begun. The water of the Nile, from being greenish and thenwhite, has become ruddy and is rising continually. The royal indicatorin Memphis is filled to the height of two men almost, and the Nilerises two hands daily. The lowest land is inundated; from higherground people are removing hastily flax, grapes, and cotton of acertain species. Over places which were dry in the early morning,waves plash as evening approaches. A mighty, unseen whirlwind seems toblow in the depth of the Nile. This wind ploughs up broad spaces onthe river, tills the furrows with foam, then smooths for a moment thesurface, and after a time twists it into deep eddies. Again the hiddenwind ploughs, again it smooths out, whirls, pushes forward new hillsof water, new rows of foam, and raises the rustling river, winswithout ceasing new platforms of land. Sometimes the water, afterreaching a certain boundary, leaps across in a twinkle, pours into alow place, and makes a shining pond where a moment earlier witheredgrass was breaking up into dust heaps.

  Though the rise of the river has reached barely one third of itsheight, the whole region near the banks is under water. Every hoursome little height takes on the semblance of an island, divided fromothers by a narrow channel, which widens gradually and cuts off thehouse more and more from its neighbors. Very often he who walked outto work comes home in a boat from his labor.

  Boats and rafts appear more and more frequently on the river. Fromsome of them men are catching fish in nets; on others they bring theharvest to granaries, or bellowing cattle to their stables. With otherboats visits are made to acquaintances to inform them amid shouts andlaughter that the river is rising. Sometimes boats gather in oneplace, like a flock of daws, and then shoot apart on all sides beforea broad raft bearing down from Upper Egypt immense blocks of stonehewn out in quarries near the river.

  In the air, as far as the ear can hear, extend the roar of the risingwater, the cries of frightened birds, and the gladsome songs ofpeople. The Nile is rising, there will be bread in abundance.

  During a whole month investigation continued in the affair of theattack on the house of Rameses. Each morning a boat with officials andwarriors came to some small estate. People were snatched from theirlabor, overwhelmed with treacherous questions, beaten with sticks.Toward evening two boats returned to Memphis: one brought officials,the other brought prisoners.

  In this way some hundreds of men were caught, of whom one half knewnothing, the other half were threatened by imprisonment or toil for anumber of years in the quarries. But nothing was learned of those wholed the attack, or of that priest who had persuaded the people toleave the place. Prince Rameses had qualities which were uncommonlycontradictory. He was as impetuous as a lion and as stubborn as abullock, but he had a keen understanding and a deep sense of justice.

  Seeing that this investigation by officials gave no result whatever,he sailed on a certain day to Memphis and commanded to open theprison.

  The prison was built on an eminence surrounded by a lofty wall, andwas composed of a great number of stone, brick, and wooden buildings.These buildings for the main part were merely the dwellings ofoverseers. Prisoners were placed in subterranean dens hewn out in acliff of limestone.

  When Prince Rameses passed the gate, he saw a crowd of women washingand feeding some prisoner. This naked man, who resembled a skeleton,was sitting on the ground, having his hands and feet in four openingsof a square plank which took the place of fetters.

  "Has this man suffered long in this way?" asked Rameses.

  "Two months," said the overseer.

  "And must he sit here much longer?"

  "A month."

  "What did he do?"

  "He was insolent to a tax gatherer."

  The prince turned and saw another crowd, composed of women andchildren. Among them was an old man.

  "Are these prisoners?"

  "No, most worthy lord. That is a family waiting for the body of acriminal who is to be strangled--oh, they are taking him already tothe chamber," said the overseer.

  Then, turning to the crowd, he said,--

  "Be patient a short time, dear people. Ye will get the body soon."

  "We thank thee greatly, worthy lord," answered an old man, doubtlessthe father of the delinquent. "We left home yesterday evening, ourflax is in the field, and the river is rising."

  The prince grew pale, and halted.

  "Dost thou know," asked he of the overseer, "that I have the right ofpardon?"

  "Erpatr, thou hast that right," answered the overseer, bowing; andthen he added: "The law declares, O child of the sun, that in memoryof thy presence men condemned for offences against the state andreligion, but who conduct themselves properly, should receive someabatement. A list of such persons will be placed at thy feet within amonth."

  "But he who is to be strangled this moment, has he not the right to mygrace?"

  The overseer opened his arms, and bent forward in silence.

  They moved from place to place, and passed a number of courts. Inwooden cases on the bare ground were crowded men sentenced toimprisonment. In one building were heard awful screams; they wereclubbing prisoners to force confession.

  "I wish to see those accused of attacking my house," said the heir,deeply moved.

  "Of those there are more than three hundred," said the overseer.

  "Select according to thy own judgment the most guilty, and questionthem in my presence. I do not wish, though, to be known to them."

  They opened to Rameses a chamber in which the investigating officialwas occupied. The prince commanded him to take his usual place, butsat himself behind a pillar.

  The accused appeared one by one. All were lean; much hair had grownout on them, and their eyes had the expression of settledbewilderment.

  "Dutmoses," said the official, "tell how ye attacked the house of themost worthy erpatr."

  "I will tell truth, as at the judgment seat of Osiris. It was theevening of that day when the Nile was to begin rising. My wife said tome, 'Come, father, let us go up on the hills, where we can have anearlier sight of the signal in Memphis.' Then we went up where wecould see the signal in Memphis more easily. Some warrior came to mywife and said, 'Come with me into that garden. We will find grapesthere, and something else also.' Then my wife went into the gardenwith that warrior. I fell into great rage, and I looked at themthrough the wall. But whether stones were thrown at the prince's houseor not I cannot tell, for because of the trees and darkness I couldnot see anything."

  "But how couldst thou let thy wife go with a warrior?" asked theofficial.

  "With permission, worthiness, what was I to do? I am only anearth-worker, and he is a warrior and soldier of his holiness."

  "But didst thou see the priest who spoke to you?"

  "That was not a priest," said the man, with conviction. "That musthave been the god Num himself, for he came out of a fig-tree and hehad a ram's head on him."

  "But didst thou see that he had a ram's head?"

  "With permission I do not remember well whether I saw myself orwhether people told me. My eyes were affected by anxiety for my wife."

  "Didst thou throw stones at the garden?"

  "Why should I throw stones, lord of life and death? If I had hit mywife, I should have made trouble for a week. If I had hit the warrior,I should have got a blow of a fist in the belly that would have mademy tongue stick out, for I am nothing but an earth-worker, and he is awarrior of our lord who lives through eternity."

  The heir leaned out from behind the column. They led away Dutmoses,and brought in Anup. He was a short fellow. On his shoulders werescars from club-strokes.

  "Tell me, Anup," began the official again, "how was it about thatattack on the garden of the heir to the throne?"

  "Eye of the sun," said the man, "vessel of wisdom, thou knowest bestof all that I did not make the attack, only a neighbor comes to me andsays he, 'Anup, come up, for the Nile is rising.' And I say to him,'Is it rising?' And he says to me,
'Thou art duller than an ass, foran ass would hear music on a hill, and thou dost not hear it.' 'But,'says I, 'I am dull, for I did not learn writing; but with permissionmusic is one thing and the rise of the river is another.' 'If therewere not a rise,' says he, 'people would not have anything to be gladabout and play and sing.' So I say to thy justice, we went to thehill, and they had driven away the music there and were throwingstones at the garden."

  "Who threw stones?"

  "I could not tell. The men did not look like earth-workers, but morelike unclean dissectors who open dead bodies for embalming."

  "And didst thou see the priest?"

  "With thy permission, O watchfulness, that was not a priest, but somespirit that guards the house of the erpatr--may he live througheternity!"

  "Why a spirit?"

  "For at moments I saw him and at moments he went somewhere."

  "Perhaps he was behind the people?"

  "Indeed the people sometimes were in front of him. But at one time hewas higher and at another time lower--"

  "Maybe he went up on the hill and came down from it?"

  "He must have gone up and come down, but maybe he stretched andshortened himself, for he was a great wonder-worker. Barely had hesaid, 'The Nile will rise,' and that minute the Nile began to rise."

  "And didst thou throw stones, Anup?"

  "How should I dare to throw stones into the garden of the erpatr? I ama simple fellow, my hand would wither to the elbow for suchsacrilege."

  The prince gave command to stop the examination, and when they hadled away the accused, he asked the official,--

  "Are these of the most guilty?"

  "Thou hast said it, lord," answered the official.

  "In that case all must be liberated to-day. We should not imprisonpeople because they wished to convince themselves that the holy Nilewas rising or for listening to music."

  "The highest wisdom is speaking through thy lips, erpatr," said theofficial. "I was commanded to find the most guilty, hence I havesummoned those whom I have found so; but it is not in my power toreturn them liberty."

  "Why?"

  "Look, most worthy, on that box. It is full of papyruses on which arewritten the details of the case. A judge in Memphis receives a reporton the progress of the case daily, and reports to his holiness. Whatwould become of the labor of so many learned scribes and great men ifthe accused were set free?"

  "But they are innocent!" cried the prince.

  "There was an attack, therefore an offence. Where there is an offencethere must be offenders. Whoever has fallen once into the hands ofpower, and is described in acts, cannot get free without some result.In an inn a man drinks and pays; at a fair he sells something andreceives; in a field he sows and harvests; at graves he receivesblessings from his deceased ancestors. How, then, could any one afterhe has come to a court return with nothing, like a traveller stoppinghalf-way on his journey and turning back his steps homeward withoutattaining his object?"

  "Thou speakest wisely," answered the heir. "But tell me, has not hisholiness the right to free these people?"

  The official crossed his arms on his breast and bent his head,--

  "He is equal to the gods, he can do what he wishes; liberate accused,nay, condemned men, and destroy even the documents of a case,--thingswhich if done by a common man would be sacrilege."

  The prince took farewell of the official, and said to the overseer,"Give the accused better food at my expense." Then he sailed, greatlyirritated, to the other bank, stretching forth his hands toward thepalace continually, as if begging the pharaoh to destroy the case.

  But that day his holiness had many religious ceremonies and a counselwith the ministers, hence the heir could not see him. The prince wentimmediately to the grand secretary, who next to the minister of warhad most significance at the court of the pharaoh. That ancientofficial, a priest at one of the temples in Memphis, received theprince politely but coldly, and when he had heard him he answered,--

  "It is a marvel to me that thou wishest, worthiness, to disturb ourlord with such questions. It is as if thou wert to beg him not todestroy locusts which devour what is on the fields."

  "But they are innocent people."

  "We, worthy lord, cannot know that, for law and the courts decide asto guilt and innocence. One thing is clear to me, the state cannotsuffer an attack on any one's garden, and especially cannot sufferthat hands should be raised against property of the erpatr."

  "Thou speakest justly, but where are the guilty?" answered Rameses.

  "Where there are no guilty there must at least be men who arepunished. Not the guilt of a man, but the punishment which follows acrime, teaches others that they are not to commit the crime inquestion."

  "I see," interrupted the heir, "that your worthiness will not supportmy prayer."

  "Wisdom flows from thy lips, erpatr," answered the priest. "Nevershall I give my lord a counsel which would expose the dignity of powerto a blow."

  The prince returned home pained and astonished. He felt that an injuryhad been done to some hundreds of people, and he saw that he could notsave them any more than he could rescue a man on whom an obelisk orthe column of a temple had fallen.

  "My hands are too weak to rear this edifice," thought the prince, withanguish of spirit.

  For the first time he felt that there was a power infinitely greaterthan his will,--the interest of the state, which even theall-powerful pharaoh acknowledges and before which he the erpatr mustbend himself.

  Night had fallen. Rameses commanded his servants to admit no one, andwalked in loneliness on the terrace of his villa, thinking,--

  "A wonderful thing! Down there at Pi-Bailos the invincible regimentsof Nitager opened before me, while in Memphis an overseer of prisons,an investigating official, and a scribe bar the way to me. What arethey? Mere servants of my father,--may he live through eternity!--whocan cast them down to the rank of slaves at any moment and send themto the quarries. But why should not my father pardon the innocent? Thestate does not wish him to do so. And what is the state? Does it eat?where does it sleep? where are its hands and its sword, of which allare in terror?"

  He looked into the garden, and among the trees on the summit of aneminence he saw two immense silhouettes of pylons, on which sentrylights were burning. The thought came to him that that watch neverslept, those pylons never ate, but still they existed. Those pylonshad existed for ages, mighty, like Rameses the Great, that potentatewho had reared them.

  Could he lift those edifices and hundreds of similar grandeur; couldhe escape those guards and thousands of others who watch over thesafety of Egypt; could he disobey laws established by Rameses theGreat and other preceding pharaohs still greater, laws which twentydynasties had consecrated by their reverence?

  In the soul of the prince for the first time in life a certain idea,dim but gigantic, began to fix itself in outline,--the idea of thestate. The state is something more magnificent than the temple inThebes, something grander than the pyramid of Cheops, something moreancient than the subterranean temple of the Sphinx, something moreenduring than granite--in that immense though invisible edifice peopleare like ants in some cranny of a cliff, and the pharaoh a meretravelling architect who is barely able to lay one stone in the wallof the edifice and then go on farther. But the walls increase fromgeneration to generation and the edifice continues.

  He, the son of the pharaoh, had never felt yet his littleness as inthat moment, when his glance in the midst of the night was wanderingbeyond the Nile among pylons of the pharaoh's palace, and theindefinite but imposing outlines of the Memphis temples.

  At that moment from among the trees whose branches touched theterrace, he heard a voice.

  "I know thy anxiety and I bless thee. The court will not free theprisoners. But the case will drop, and they may return to their housesif the overseer of thy land does not support the complaint of attack."

  "Then did my overseer make the charge?" asked the astonished prince.

  "Thou hast
spoken truth. He made the charge in thy name. But if hedoes not go to the court, there will be no injured person; and thereis no offence if there is no injured person."

  The thicket rustled.

  "Stop!" cried Rameses; "who art thou?"

  No one gave answer. But it seemed to the prince that in a streak oflight from a torch burning on the lower floor a naked head was visiblefor an instant, and also a panther skin.

  "A priest," whispered the heir. "Why does he hide himself?"

  But at that moment it occurred to him that the priest might answergrievously for giving counsel which stopped the dispensation ofjustice.