Cleopatra

  CHAPTER III

  OF THE REBUKE OF AMENEMHAT; OF THE PRAYER OF HARMACHIS; AND OF THE SIGNGIVEN BY THE HOLY GODS

  For a while as I, Harmachis, went, the juice of the green herbs whichthe old wife, Atoua, had placed upon my wounds caused me much smart,but presently the pain ceased. And, of a truth, I believe that there wasvirtue in them, for within two days my flesh healed up, so that after atime no marks remained. But I bethought me that I had disobeyed the wordof the old High Priest, Amenemhat, who was called my father. For tillthis day I knew not that he was in truth my father according to theflesh, having been taught that his own son was slain as I have written;and that he had been pleased, with the sanction of the Divine ones, totake me as an adopted son and rear me up, that I might in due seasonfulfil an office about the Temple. Therefore I was much troubled, for Ifeared the old man, who was very terrible in his anger, and ever spokewith the cold voice of Wisdom. Nevertheless, I determined to go into him and confess my fault and bear such punishment as he should bepleased to put upon me. So with the red spear in my hand, and the redwounds on my breast, I passed through the outer court of the greattemple and came to the door of the place where the High Priest dwelt. Itis a great chamber, sculptured round about with the images of the solemnGods, and the sunlight comes to it in the daytime by an opening cutthrough the stones of the massy roof. But at night it was lit by aswinging lamp of bronze. I passed in without noise, for the door wasnot altogether shut, and, pushing my way through the heavy curtains thatwere beyond, I stood with a beating heart within the chamber.

  The lamp was lit, for the darkness had fallen, and by its light I sawthe old man seated in a chair of ivory and ebony at a table of stone onwhich were spread mystic writings of the words of Life and Death. Buthe read no more, for he slept, and his long white beard rested upon thetable like the beard of a dead man. The soft light from the lamp fellon him, on the papyri and the gold ring upon his hand, where were graventhe symbols of the Invisible One, but all around was shadow. It fell onthe shaven head, on the white robe, on the cedar staff of priesthoodat his side, and on the ivory of the lion-footed chair; it showedthe mighty brow of power, the features cut in kingly mould, the whiteeyebrows, and the dark hollows of the deep-set eyes. I looked andtrembled, for there was about him that which was more than the dignityof man. He had lived so long with the Gods, and so long kept companywith them and with thoughts divine, he was so deeply versed in all thosemysteries which we do but faintly discern, here in this upper air, thateven now, before his time, he partook of the nature of the Osiris, andwas a thing to shake humanity with fear.

  I stood and gazed, and as I stood he opened his dark eyes, but lookednot on me, nor turned his head; and yet he saw me and spoke.

  "Why hast thou been disobedient to me, my son?" he said. "How came itthat thou wentest forth against the lion when I bade thee not?"

  "How knowest thou, my father, that I went forth?" I asked in fear.

  "How know I? Are there, then, no other ways of knowledge than by thesenses? Ah, ignorant child! was not my Spirit with thee when the lionsprang upon thy companion? Did I not pray Those set about thee toprotect thee, to make sure thy thrust when thou didst drive the spearinto the lion's throat! How came it that thou wentest forth, my son?"

  "The boaster taunted me," I answered, "and I went."

  "Yes, I know it; and, because of the hot blood of youth, I forgive thee,Harmachis. But now listen to me, and let my words sink into thyheart like the waters of Sihor into the thirsty sand at the rising ofSirius.[*] Listen to me. The boaster was sent to thee as a temptation,he was sent as a trial of thy strength, and see! it has not been equalto the burden. Therefore thy hour is put back. Hadst thou been strongin this matter, the path had been made plain to thee even now. But thouhast failed, and therefore thy hour is put back."

  [*] The dog-star, whose appearance marked the commencement of the overflow of the Nile.--Editor.

  "I understand thee not, my father," I answered.

  "What was it, then, my son, that the old wife, Atoua, said to thee downby the bank of the canal?"

  Then I told him all that the old wife had said.

  "And thou believest, Harmachis, my son?"

  "Nay," I answered; "how should I believe such tales? Surely she is mad.All the people know her for mad."

  Now for the first time he looked towards me, who was standing in theshadow.

  "My son! my son!" he cried; "thou art wrong. She is not mad. The womanspoke the truth; she spoke not of herself, but of the voice within herthat cannot lie. For this Atoua is a prophetess and holy. Now learn thouthe destiny that the Gods of Egypt have given to thee to fulfil, and woebe unto thee if by any weakness thou dost fail therein! Listen: thou artno stranger adopted into my house and the worship of the Temple; thouart my very son, saved to me by this same woman. But, Harmachis, thouart more than this, for in thee and me alone yet flows the Imperialblood of Egypt. Thou and I alone of men alive are descended, withoutbreak or flaw, from that Pharaoh Nekt-nebf whom Ochus the Persian drovefrom Egypt. The Persian came and the Persian went, and after the Persiancame the Macedonian, and now for nigh upon three hundred years theLagidae have usurped the double crown, defiling the land of Khem andcorrupting the worship of its Gods. And mark thou this: but now, twoweeks since, Ptolemy Neus Dionysus, Ptolemy Auletes the Piper, who wouldhave slain thee, is dead; and but now hath the Eunuch Pothinus, thatvery eunuch who came hither, years ago, to cut thee off, set at naughtthe will of his master, the dead Auletes, and placed the boy Ptolemyupon the throne. And therefore his sister Cleopatra, that fierce andbeautiful girl, has fled into Syria; and there, if I err not, she willgather her armies and make war upon her brother Ptolemy: for by herfather's will she was left joint-sovereign with him. And, meanwhile,mark thou this, my son: the Roman eagle hangs on high, waiting withready talons till such time as he may fall upon the fat wether Egypt andrend him. And mark again: the people of Egypt are weary of the foreignyoke, they hate the memory of the Persians, and they are sick at heartof being named 'Men of Macedonia' in the markets of Alexandria. Thewhole land mutters and murmurs beneath the yoke of the Greek and theshadow of the Roman.

  "Have we not been oppressed? Have not our children been butchered andour gains wrung from us to fill the bottomless greed and lust of theLagidae? Have not the temples been forsaken?--ay, have not the majestiesof the Eternal Gods been set at naught by these Grecian babblers, whohave dared to meddle with the immortal truths, and name the Most High byanother name--by the name of Serapis--confounding the substance of theInvisible? Does not Egypt cry aloud for freedom?--and shall she cry invain? Nay, nay, for thou, my son, art the appointed way of deliverance.To thee, being sunk in eld, I have decreed my rights. Already thy nameis whispered in many a sanctuary, from Abu to Athu; already priests andpeople swear allegiance, even by the sacred symbols, unto him who shallbe declared to them. Still, the time is not yet; thou art too green asapling to bear the weight of such a storm. But to-day thou wast triedand found wanting.

  "He who would serve the Gods, Harmachis, must put aside the failings ofthe flesh. Taunts must not move him, nor any lusts of man. Thine is ahigh mission, but this thou must learn. If thou learn it not, thou shaltfail therein; and then, my curse be on thee! and the curse of Egypt,and the curse of Egypt's broken Gods! For know thou this, that even theGods, who are immortal, may, in the interwoven scheme of things, leanupon the man who is their instrument, as a warrior on his sword. And woebe to the sword that snaps in the hour of battle, for it shall be thrownaside to rust or perchance be melted with fire! Therefore, make thyheart pure and high and strong; for thine is no common lot, and thineno mortal meed. Triumph, Harmachis, and in glory thou shalt go--in gloryhere and hereafter! Fail, and woe--woe be on thee!"

  He paused and bowed his head, and then went on:

  "Of these matters thou shalt hear more hereafter. Meanwhile, thouhast much to learn. To-morrow I will give thee letters, and thou shaltjourney down the Nile, past white-walled Memphis to Annu. The
re thoushalt sojourn certain years, and learn more of our ancient wisdombeneath the shadow of those secret pyramids of which thou, too, art theHereditary High Priest that is to be. And meanwhile, I will sit here andwatch, for my hour is not yet, and, by the help of the Gods, spin theweb of Death wherein thou shalt catch and hold the wasp of Macedonia.

  "Come hither, my son; come hither and kiss me on the brow, for thou artmy hope, and all the hope of Egypt. Be but true, soar to the eagle crestof destiny, and thou shalt be glorious here and hereafter. Be false,fail, and I will spit upon thee, and thou shalt be accursed, and thysoul shall remain in bondage till that hour when, in the slow flightof time, the evil shall once more grow to good and Egypt shall again befree."

  I drew near, trembling, and kissed him on the brow. "May all thesethings come upon me, and more," I said, "if I fail thee, my father!"

  "Nay!" he cried, "not me, not me; but rather those whose will I do. Andnow go, my son, and ponder in thy heart, and in thy secret heart digestmy words; mark what thou shalt see, and gather up the dew of wisdom,making thee ready for the battle. Fear not for thyself, thou artprotected from all ill. No harm may touch thee from without; thyselfalone can be thine own enemy. I have said."

  Then I went forth with a full heart. The night was very still, and nonewere stirring in the temple courts. I hurried through them, and reachedthe entrance to the pylon that is at the outer gate. Then, seekingsolitude, and, as it were, to draw near to heaven, I climbed the pylon'stwo hundred steps, until at length I reached the massive roof. Here Ileaned my breast against the parapet, and looked forth. As I looked,the red edge of the full moon floated up over the Arabian hills, andher rays fell upon the pylon where I stood and the temple walls beyond,lighting the visages of the carven Gods. Then the cold light struck thestretch of well-tilled lands, now whitening to the harvest, and as theheavenly lamp of Isis passed up to the sky, her rays crept slowly downto the valley, where Sihor, father of the land of Khem, rolls on towardthe sea.

  Now the bright beams kissed the water that smiled an answer back, andnow mountain and valley, river, temple, town, and plain were floodedwith white light, for Mother Isis was arisen, and threw her gleamingrobe across the bosom of the earth. It was beautiful, with the beautyof a dream, and solemn as the hour after death. Mightily, indeed, thetemples towered up against the face of night. Never had they seemed sogrand to me as in that hour--those eternal shrines, before whose wallsTime himself shall wither. And it was to be mine to rule this moonlitland; mine to preserve those sacred shrines, and cherish the honour oftheir Gods; mine to cast out the Ptolemy and free Egypt from the foreignyoke! In my veins ran the blood of those great Kings who await theday of Resurrection, sleeping in the tombs of the valley of Thebes.My spirit swelled within me as I dreamed upon this glorious destiny,I closed my hands, and there, upon the pylon, I prayed as I had neverprayed before to the Godhead, who is called by many names, and in manyforms made manifest.

  "O Amen," I prayed, "God of Gods, who hast been from the beginning; Lordof Truth, who art, and of whom all are, who givest out thy Godhead andgatherest it up again; in the circle of whom the Divine ones moveand are, who wast from all time the Self-begot, and who shalt be tilltime--hearken unto me.[*]

  [*] For a somewhat similar definition of the Godhead see the funeral papyrus of Nesikhonsu, a Princess of the Twenty- first Dynasty.--Editor.

  "O Amen--Osiris, the sacrifice by whom we are justified, Lord of theRegion of the Winds, Ruler of the Ages, Dweller in the West, the Supremein Amenti, hearken unto me.

  "O Isis, great Mother Goddess, mother of the Horus--mysterious Mother,Sister, Spouse, hearken unto me. If, indeed, I am the chosen of the Godsto carry out the purpose of the Gods, let a sign be given me, even now,to seal my life to the life above. Stretch out your arms towards me, Oye Gods, and uncover the glory of your countenance. Hear! ah, hear me!"And I cast myself upon my knees and lifted up my eyes to heaven.

  And as I knelt, a cloud grew upon the face of the moon covering it up,so that the night became dark, and the silence deepened all around--eventhe dogs far below in the city ceased to howl, while the silence grewand grew till it was heavy as death. I felt my spirit lifted up withinme, and my hair rose upon my head. Then of a sudden the mighty pylonseemed to rock beneath my feet, a great wind beat about my brows and avoice spoke within my heart:

  "Behold a sign! Possess thyself in patience, O Harmachis!"

  And as the voice spoke, a cold hand touched my hand, and left somewhatwithin it. Then the cloud rolled from the face of the moon, the windpassed, the pylon ceased to tremble, and the night was as the night hadbeen.

  As the light came back, I gazed upon that which had been left within myhand. It was a bud of the holy lotus new breaking into bloom, and fromit came a most sweet scent.

  And while I gazed behold! the lotus passed from my grasp and was gone,leaving me astonished.