Chapter 54

During seventy days, in the course of which the revered remains were steeping in the solution of soda, Egypt was in mourning.

The temples were closed; there were no processions. All music ceased; no feasts were given. Dancing women became wailers; instead of dancing they tore their hair; this also brought them income.

No one drank wine, no one ate meat. The highest dignitaries went in coarse garments and barefoot. No one shaved (with the exception of priests); the most devoted did not wash, they smeared their faces with mud, and scattered ashes on their hair.

From the Mediterranean to the first cataract of the Nile, from the Libyan desert to the peninsula of Sinai reigned sadness and silence. The sun of Egypt had quenched, had gone to the West, the giver of life and gladness had deserted his servants.

In the highest circles the most fashionable conversation touched the universal sorrow, which was communicated even to nature.

"Hast Thou not observed," said one dignitary to another, "that the days are shorter and darker?"

"I did not wish to unburden myself of this before thee," replied the other, "but it is so in reality. I have even noticed that fewer stars shine at night, and that the full moon lasts a shorter time, and the new moon longer than usual."

"The shepherds say that cattle at pasture will not eat, they only bellow."

"And I have heard from hunters that lions are reduced by weeping; they do not attack deer, for lions eat no meat at present."

"A terrible time! Come to me this evening and we will drink a glass of mourning liquor which my cellarer has invented."

"Thou hast, I suppose, dark beer of Sidon?"

"May the gods forbid that at this time we should use drinks which rejoice people. The liquor which my cellarer has invented is not beer; it is more like wine mixed with musk and fragrant plants."

"A very proper drink when our lord is sojourning in the quarter of the dead, where the odor of musk and embalming herbs is always prevalent."

Thus during seventy days did dignitaries mortify themselves.

The first quiver of delight ran through Egypt when it was announced from the quarter of the dead that the body of the sovereign had been taken from the soda bath, and that embalmers and priests were performing ceremonies over it.

That day for the first time people cut their hair and whoso had the wish washed himself. But in fact there was no need of mortification, since Horus had found the remains of Osiris. The ruler of Egypt, thanks to the art of embalmers, had received life, and, thanks to the prayers of the priests and the Book of the Dead, he had become equal to the gods.

From that moment on, the late pharaoh, Mer-Amen-Ramses, was called "Osiris" officially; unofficially, he had been called that since his death.

The innate joyfulness of the Egyptian people began to gain the victory over mourning, especially among warriors, artisans, and laborers. Delight took on, among common people, forms which at times were inappropriate. Reports began to circulate, it was unknown where they had originated, that the new pharaoh, whom the whole people loved instinctively, intended to occupy himself with improving the condition of earth-tillers, laborers, and even captives. For this cause it happened, an unheard-of thing, that masons, cabinet makers, potters, instead of drinking quietly and speaking of their own occupation, or family interests, dared to complain in dramshops, not only of taxes, but even to complain of the power of the priesthood. And earth-tillers, instead of devoting time free of labor to prayers and the memory of their ancestors, told one another how well it would be if each man had some bit of land as his own, and could rest one day in seven.

Of the army, and especially foreign regiments, nothing was to be said. Those men imagined that they were the most noted class in Egypt, and if they were not, they would soon be, after some fortunate war in the near future.

But the nomarchs, the nobility living on estates, and above all, the high priests of various temples mourned their deceased lord with solemnity, though they might have rejoiced, since the pharaoh had become Osiris.

Taking things as they were, the new ruler had interfered with no one thus far, hence the cause of grief for dignitaries lay in those same reports which delighted common people. The nomarchs and the nobility grieved at the thought that their earth-tillers might be idle fifty days in a year, and, what was worse, possess land, though even of an extent on which a tomb might be erected. Priests grew pale and gritted their teeth when they saw the management of Ramses XIII and the way in which he treated them.

In fact, immense changes had taken place in the pharaoh's palace.

The pharaoh had transferred his residence to one of the wing buildings, in which almost all the chambers were occupied by generals. In the cellars Greek warriors were quartered, on the first story the guard, in the chambers along the wall, Ethiopians. Guard around the building was kept by Asiatics, and near the chambers of his holiness was quartered that squadron from which were selected the warriors who had accompanied their lord when he hunted Tehenna through the desert.

What was worse, his holiness, in spite of the recent rebellion of the Libyans restored to them his favor; he condemned none to punishment, and gave them his confidence.

That corps of priests who had been in the main palace remained with him it is true, and performed religious ceremonies under the direction of his worthiness Sera. But as the priests did not accompany the pharaoh to meals, to dinners and suppers, their food was far from exquisite.

In vain did the holy men declare that they must feed the representatives of nineteen dynasties, and a multitude of gods. The treasurer, noting the intention of the pharaoh, answered that flowers and perfumes were sufficient for gods and ancestors, and that prophets like themselves, as morality commanded, should eat barley cakes and drink beer or water. To support these rude theories the treasurer referred to the example of Sem, the holy high priest, who lived like a penitent, and what was worse, he told them that his holiness, with the generals, had a military kitchen.

In view of this, the priests of the palace began to consider whether they had not better leave the stinted house of the pharaoh and go to their own dwellings at temples where their duties would be easier, and where hunger would not twist their entrails.

They would have done this before, had not the worthy Herhor and Mefres commanded them to remain in their places.

But the position of Herhor near the new pharaoh was not favorable. The all-powerful minister, who had till of late almost never left the chambers of the pharaoh, sat now alone in his villa, and frequently he did not see the new ruler for ten days in succession. He was still minister of war, but he gave out almost no orders. The pharaoh himself settled all military questions. He alone read reports of generals; he alone decided doubtful questions, while his adjutants took from the minister of war the necessary documents.

If his worthiness Herhor was ever called before the sovereign it was only to be reprimanded.

Nevertheless, all dignitaries acknowledged that the new pharaoh worked with great diligence.

Ramses XIII rose before sunrise, he bathed and burnt incense before the statue of Osiris. Immediately afterward he heard the reports of the supreme judge, the chief scribe of the granaries and stables in the whole country, the high treasurer, finally, the chief of his palaces. This last dignitary suffered most, for there was no day when his lord did not tell him that the court cost too much, and kept too many persons.

In the palace dwelt several hundred women of the late pharaoh with a corresponding number of servants and children. The chief of the palace, being reproached continually, dismissed from day to day a number of persons, and limited the allowances of others. At the end of a month, therefore, all the ladies of the court ran weeping and wailing to Queen Niort's, and begged her to rescue them.

The worthy lady betook herself to the pharaoh, and, falling on her face, begged him to take compassion on the women of his father, and not let them die in destitution.

The pharaoh listened to her with frowning brows and commanded the chief of the court not to extend his saving farther. But at the same time he told the most worthy lady that after the funeral of his father the women would be removed from the palace and sent to the country.

"Our court," said he, "costs about thirty thousand talents yearly, or once and a half as much as the whole army. I cannot expend such a sum without ruining myself and the kingdom."

"Do as may please thee," answered the queen. "Egypt is thine. But I fear that the persons rejected from the court will become thy enemies."

At this he took his mother by the hand, led her to the window, and pointed to a forest of spears held by infantry drilling in the courtyard.

This act of the pharaoh produced an unexpected effect. The queen's eyes, which a moment before gleamed with pride, were filled with tears. All at once she bent and kissed her son's hand, saying with emotion,

"Thou art, indeed, the son of Isis and Osiris, and I did well when I yielded thee to the goddess. Egypt at last has a ruler."

From that time the worthy lady never appealed to her son in any question. And when she was asked for protection, she answered,

"I am the servant of his holiness and I advise you to carry out his commands without resistance. All he does comes from inspiration of the gods. And who can oppose the gods?"

After breakfast the pharaoh was occupied in affairs of the ministry of war, and the treasury; about three in the afternoon, surrounded by a great suite, he went to the troops encamped outside Memphis, and reviewed them.

Indeed, the greatest changes had taken place in the military condition.

In less than two months his holiness had organized five new regiments, or rather he had reestablished those disbanded during the reign of his father. He dismissed officers addicted to drunkenness and gambling, also those who tortured warriors.

Into the military bureaus, where priests alone had held office, he introduced his most capable adjutants, who very soon mastered important documents relative to the army. He commanded to make a list of all men in the state who belonged to the military order, but who for years had not fulfilled any duty. He opened two new schools, one for the education of officers, and one for children of twelve years, and renewed a custom then in abeyance, that youths in the army should receive breakfast only after three hours' marching in line and in column.

Finally, no division of the army was permitted to dwell in villages, all must live in camps or in barracks. Each regiment had its fixed field of exercise, where for whole days the warriors hurled stones from slings or shot arrows from bows at marks from one to two hundred yards distant.

A command was issued to all families of military rank that the men should exercise themselves in hurling missiles under direction of officers and decurions of the army. The command was carried out straightway, therefore Egypt looked like a camp in no longer than two months after the death of the twelfth Ramses. For even village or city children, who before had played as scribes and priests, now, imitating their elders, began to play as warriors. So on every square and in every garden, from morning till evening, stones and arrows were whistling, and the courts were filled with complaints about bodily injuries.

Egypt was transformed, as it were, and in spite of complaints a great movement reigned in it, and all because of the new ruler.

The pharaoh himself was pleased and his pride increased, seeing that the whole state arranged itself to his wishes.

But a moment arrived when he became gloomy.

On the very day that the embalmers took the body of Ramses XII from the soda bath, the chief treasurer, when making his usual report, said to the pharaoh,

"I know not what to do. We have two thousand talents in the treasury, and for the funeral of the dead pharaoh we need at least one thousand."

"How, two thousand?" asked Ramses, with astonishment. "When I assumed power Thou didst tell me that we had twenty thousand."

"We have expended eighteen."

"In two months?"

"Our outlays are enormous."

"True, but new taxes come in every day."

"The taxes, I know not why, have decreased again, and do not come in so plentifully as I expected. But they too are expended. Be pleased to remember, holiness, that we have five new regiments; hence, about eight thousand men have left their occupations and live at the cost of the treasury."

The pharaoh grew thoughtful.

"We must," said he, "make a new loan. Come to an understanding with Herhor and Mefres, so that the temples may lend to us."

"I have spoken with them. The temples will lend us nothing."

"The prophets are offended," said the pharaoh, smiling. "In that case we must call in unbelievers. Send to me Dagon."

Toward evening the pharaoh's banker came. He fell on the pavement before Ramses and offered him a golden goblet set with jewels.

"Now I can die!" said Dagon, "since my most gracious sovereign has mounted the throne."

"But before thy death, find me a few thousand talents," said his holiness to the kneeling banker.

The Phoenician was alarmed. Could he feign great embarrassment?

"Rather command me, holiness, to seek pearls in the Nile, for I shall perish at once, and my lord will not suspect me of ill-will toward him. But to find such a sum today!"

Ramses XIII was astounded.

"How is this?" inquired he. "Then have the Phoenicians no money for me?"

"Our blood, our lives, our children we will give thee, holiness. But money where can we find it?

"Formerly the temples gave us loans at fifteen or twenty per cent yearly, but since, as heir to the throne, Thou wert in the temple of Hator at Pi-Bast the priests have refused us every credit.

"If they could they would expel us from Egypt, or, more gladly, they would destroy us. Ah, what we suffer because of them. The earth-tillers do what they like and whenever they like. As rent they give us what drops from their noses. If we strike one of them they rebel to the last man, and if an unfortunate Phoenician goes for redress to a court he either loses his case or pays terribly.

"Our hours in this land are numbered," wailed Dagon.

The pharaoh frowned.

"I will take up these matters," answered he, "and the courts will give thee justice. Meanwhile, I need about five thousand talents."

"Where shall we get them, O lord?" groaned out Dagon. "Find us purchasers, holiness, and we will sell all our property movable and immovable, only to carry out thy commands. But where are the purchasers? There are none except the priests, who would value our property at a trifle, and then not pay ready money."

"Send to Tyre, to Sidon," interrupted Ramses. "Each of those cities might lend, not five, but a hundred thousand talents."

"Tyre and Sidon!" repeated Dagon. "Today all Phoenicia is collecting gold and jewels to pay the Assyrians. Envoys of King Assar are circling about through our country and they say that if we pay a liberal sum yearly the King and the satraps not only will not oppress us, but will offer us more profits than those which we have now in Egypt, O holiness, through thy favor."

The pharaoh grew pale and set his teeth. The banker noted this and added, quickly,

"But why should I waste thy time, holiness, with my stupid talk? Here in Memphis is Prince Hiram; he perhaps will explain all this to my lord far better than I can, for he is a sage and a member of the supreme council in our cities."

"Send him hither quickly," replied Ramses, "for thy conversation with me, Dagon, is not that of a banker, but of a wailing woman at a funeral."

The Phoenician touched the floor once again with his forehead, and inquired,

"What if the worthy Hiram cannot come immediately? It is late now, it is true. But he is in such fear of the priests that he would rather come at night to do homage, O holiness."

The pharaoh bit his lips, but agreed to that project; so he sent Tutmosis with the banker to conduct Hiram to the palace by secret passages.