Here in Abouthis I was born, I, Harmachis, and my father, the justifiedin Osiris, was High Priest of the Temple of Sethi. And on that same dayof my birth Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, was born also. I passed myyouth in yonder fields watching the baser people at their labours andgoing in and out at will among the great courts of the temples. Of mymother I knew naught, for she died when I yet hung at the breast. Butbefore 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, thesnake symbol of our Royalty of Egypt, from a coffer of ivory and laidit on my brow. And those who saw her do this believed that she wasdistraught of the Divinity, and in her madness foreshadowed that the dayof the Macedonian Lagidae was ended, and that Egypt's sceptre should passagain 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 hiswife before my mother having been, for what crime I know not, cursedwith barrenness by Sekhet: I say when my father came in and saw what thedying woman had done, he lifted up his hands towards the vault of heavenand adored the Invisible, because of the sign that had been sent. Andas he adored, the Hathors[*] filled my dying mother with the Spirit ofProphecy, and she rose in strength from the couch and prostrated herselfthrice 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 tothee, Pharaoh that shalt be! Hail to thee, God that shalt purge theland, 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 thoudost fail in thy hour of trial, then may the curse of all the Godsof Egypt rest upon thee, and the curse of thy Royal forefathers, thejustified, who ruled the land before thee from the age of Horus. Then inlife mayst thou be wretched, and after death may Osiris refuse thee,and the judges of Amenti give judgment against thee, and Set and Sekhettorment thee, till such time as thy sin is purged, and the Gods ofEgypt, called by strange names, are once more worshipped in the Templesof Egypt, and the staff of the Oppressor is broken, and the footsteps ofthe Foreigner are swept clean, and the thing is accomplished as thou inthy weakness shalt cause it to be done."
When she had spoken thus, the Spirit of Prophecy went out of her, andshe fell dead across the cradle where I slept, so that I awoke with acry.
But my father, Amenemhat, the High Priest, trembled, and was veryfearful, both because of the words which had been said by the Spirit ofthe Hathors through the mouth of my mother, and because what had beenuttered was treason against Ptolemy. For he knew that, if the mattershould come to the ears of Ptolemy, Pharaoh would send his guardsto destroy the life of the child concerning whom such things wereprophesied. Therefore, my father shut the doors, and caused all thosewho stood by to swear upon the holy symbol of his office, and by thename of the Divine Three, and by the Soul of her who lay dead upon thestones beside them, that nothing of what they had seen and heard shouldpass their lips.
Now among the company was the old wife, Atoua, who had been the nurse ofmy mother, and loved her well; and in these days, though I know not howit had been in the past, nor how it shall be in the future, there isno oath that can bind a woman's tongue. And so it came about thatby-and-by, when the matter had become homely in her mind, and her fearhad fallen from her, she spoke of the prophecy to her daughter, whonursed me at the breast now that my mother was dead. She did this asthey walked together in the desert carrying food to the husband of thedaughter, who was a sculptor, and shaped effigies of the holy Godsin the tombs that are fashioned in the rock--telling the daughter, mynurse, how great must be her care and love toward the child thatshould one day be Pharaoh, and drive the Ptolemies from Egypt. But thedaughter, my nurse, was so filled with wonder at what she heard that shecould not keep the tale locked within her breast, and in the night sheawoke her husband, and, in her turn, whispered it to him, and therebycompassed her own destruction, and the destruction of her child, myfoster-brother. For the man told his friend, and the friend was a spy ofPtolemy's, and thus the tale came to Pharaoh's ears.
Now, Pharaoh was much troubled thereat, for though when he was full ofwine he would make a mock of the God of the Egyptians, and swear thatthe Roman Senate was the only God to whom he bowed the knee, yet in hisheart he was terribly afraid, as I have learned from one who was hisphysician. For when he was alone at night he would scream and cry aloudto 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 thetormentors. Also, when he felt his throne tremble under him, he wouldsend large presents to the temples, asking a message from the oracles,and more especially from the oracle that is at Philae. Therefore, whenit came to his ears that the wife of the High Priest of the great andancient Temple of Abouthis had been filled with the Spirit of Prophecybefore she died, and foretold that her son should be Pharaoh, he wasmuch afraid, and summoning some trusty guards--who, being Greeks, didnot fear to do sacrilege--he despatched them by boat up the Nile, withorders to come to Abouthis and cut off the head of the child of the HighPriest and bring it to him in a basket.
But, as it chanced, the boat in which the guards came was of deepdraught, and, the time of their coming being at the lowest ebb of theriver, it struck and remained fast upon a bank of mud that is oppositethe mouth of the road running across the plains to Abouthis, and, as thenorth wind was blowing very fiercely, it was like to sink. Thereonthe guards of Pharaoh called out to the common people, who laboured atlifting water along the banks of the river, to come with boats and takethem off; but, seeing that they were Greeks of Alexandria, the peoplewould not, for the Egyptians do not love the Greeks. Then the guardscried that they were on Pharaoh's business, and still the people wouldnot, asking what was their business. Whereon a eunuch among them whohad made himself drunk in his fear, told them that they came to slay thechild of Amenemhat, the High Priest, of whom it was prophesied that heshould be Pharaoh and sweep the Greeks from Egypt. And then the peoplefeared to stand longer in doubt, but brought boats, not knowing whatmight be meant by the man's words. But there was one amongst them--afarmer and an overseer of canals--who was a kinsman of my mother's andhad been present when she prophesied; and he turned and ran swiftly forthree parts of an hour, till he came to where I lay in the house thatis without the north wall of the great Temple. Now, as it chanced, myfather was away in that part of the Place of Tombs which is to the leftof the large fortress, and Pharaoh's guards, mounted on asses, were hardupon us. Then the messenger cried to the old wife, Atoua, whose tonguehad brought about the evil, and told how the soldiers drew near to slayme. And they looked at each other, not knowing what to do; for, had theyhid 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 PrinceHarmachis; the child to whose mother we owe this evil case."
"Woman," he said, "thou knowest thy duty, do it!" and he again pointedat 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 silkupon him, and laid him on my cradle. And me she took and smeared withmud to make my fair skin darker, and, drawing my garment from me, set meto play in the dirt of the yard, which I did right gladly.
Then the man hid himself, and presently the soldiers rode up and askedof 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 andmilk, for they were thirsty.
When they had drunk, the eunuch who was with them asked if that werethe 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 beenprophesied of him that he should one day rule them all.
But the
Greek guards laughed, and one of them, seizing the child, smoteoff his head with a sword; and the eunuch drew forth the signet ofPharaoh 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 ahead.
And as they went one of their number saw me playing in the dirt andcalled out that there was more breeding in yonder brat than in thePrince Harmachis; and for a moment they wavered, thinking to slayme also, but in the end they passed on, bearing the head of myfoster-brother, for they loved not to murder little children.
After a while, the mother of the dead child returned from themarket-place, and when she found what had been done, she and her husbandwould have killed Atoua the old wife, her mother, and given me up to thesoldiers 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 awayin 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 beenslain of the soldiers and not the innocent child.
Thereafter it was given out that the High Priest Amenemhat had taken meto be as a son to him in the place of that Harmachis who was slain ofPharaoh.