Cleopatra: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

OF THE DEPARTURE OF HARMACHIS AND OF HIS MEETING WITH HIS UNCLE SEPA,
THE HIGH PRIEST OF ANNU EL RA; OF HIS LIFE AT ANNU, AND OF THE WORDS OF
SEPA

At the dawning of the next day I was awakened by a priest of the temple,
who brought word to me to make ready for the journey of which my father
had spoken, inasmuch as there was an occasion for me to pass down the
river to Annu el Ra. Now this is the Heliopolis of the Greeks, whither I
should go in the company of some priests of Ptah at Memphis who had come
hither to Abouthis to lay the body of one of their great men in the tomb
that had been prepared near the resting place of the blessed Osiris.

So I made ready, and the same evening, having received letters and
embraced my father and those about the temple who were dear to me, I
passed down the banks of Sihor, and we sailed with the south wind.
As the pilot stood upon the prow and with a rod in his hand bade the
sailor-men loosen the stakes by which the vessel was moored to the
banks, the old wife, Atoua, hobbled up, her basket of simples in her
hand, and, calling out farewell, threw a sandal after me for good
chance, which sandal I kept for many years.

So we sailed, and for six days passed down the wonderful river, making
fast each night at some convenient spot. But when I lost sight of the
familiar things that I had seen day by day since I had eyes to see, and
found myself alone among strange faces, I felt very sore at heart, and
would have wept had I not been ashamed. And of all the wonderful things
I saw I will not write here, for, though they were new to me, have they
not been known to men since such time as the Gods ruled in Egypt? But
the priests who were with me showed me no little honour and expounded to
me what were the things I saw.

On the morning of the seventh day we came to Memphis, the city of
the White Hall. Here, for three days I rested from my journey and was
entertained of the priests of the wonderful Temple of Ptah the Creator,
and shown the beauties of the great and marvellous city. Also I was led
in secret by the High Priest and two others into the holy presence of
the God Apis, the Ptah who deigns to dwell among men in the form of a
bull. The God was black, and on his forehead there was a white square,
on his back was a white mark shaped like an eagle, beneath his tongue
was the likeness of a scarab�us, in his tail were double hairs, and a
plate of pure gold hung between his horns. I entered the place of the
God and worshipped, while the High Priest and those with him stood
aside, watching earnestly. And when I had worshipped, saying the words
which had been told me, the God knelt, and lay down before me. Then
the High Priest and those with him, who, as I heard in after time, were
great men of Upper Egypt, approached wondering, and, saying no word,
made obeisance to me because of the omen. And many other things I saw in
Memphis that are too long to write of here.

On the fourth day some priests of Annu came to lead me to Sepa, my
uncle, the High Priest of Annu. So, having bidden farewell to those of
Memphis, we crossed the river and rode on asses two parts of a day's
journey through many villages, which we found in great poverty because
of the oppression of the tax-gatherers. Also, as we went, I saw for
the first time the great pyramids that are beyond the image of the God
Horemkhu, that Sphinx whom the Greeks name Harmachis, and the Temples of
the Divine Mother Isis, Queen of the Memnonia, and the God Osiris, Lord
of Rosatou, of which temples, together with the Temple of the worship
of the Divine Menkau-ra, I, Harmachis, am by right Divine the Hereditary
High Priest. I saw them and marvelled at their greatness and the white
carven limestone, and red granite of Syene, that flashed the sun's rays
back to heaven. But at this time I knew nothing of the treasure that was
hid in _Her_, which is the third among the pyramids--would I had never
known of it!

And so at last we came within sight of Annu, which after Memphis has
been seen is no large town, but stands on raised ground, before which
are lakes fed by a canal. Behind the town is the inclosed field of the
Temple of the God Ra.

We dismounted at the pylon, and were met beneath the portico by a man
not great of stature, but of noble aspect, having his head shaven, and
with dark eyes that twinkled like the further stars.

"Hold!" he cried, in a great voice which fitted his weak body but ill.
"Hold! I am Sepa, who opens the mouth of the Gods!"

"And I," I said, "am Harmachis, son of Amenemhat, Hereditary High Priest
and Ruler of the Holy City Abouthis; and I bear letters to thee, O
Sepa!"

"Enter," he said. "Enter!" scanning me all the while with his twinkling
eyes. "Enter, my son!" And he took me and led me to a chamber in the
inner hall, closed to the door, and then, having glanced at the letters
that I brought, of a sudden he fell upon my neck and embraced me.

"Welcome," he cried, "welcome, son of my own sister, and hope of Khem!
Not in vain have I prayed the Gods that I might live to look upon thy
face and impart to thee the wisdom which perchance I alone have mastered
of those who are left alive in Egypt. There are few whom it is lawful
that I should teach. But thine is the great destiny, and thine shall be
the ears to hear the lessons of the Gods."

And he embraced me once more and bade me go bathe and eat, saying that
on the morrow he would speak with me further.

This of a truth he did, and at such length that I will forbear to set
down all he said both then and afterwards, for if I did so there would
be no papyrus left in Egypt when the task was ended. Therefore, having
much to tell and but little time to tell it, I will pass over the events
of the years that followed.

For this was the manner of my life. I rose early, I attended the worship
of the Temple, and I gave my days to study. I learnt of the rites of
religion and their meaning, and of the beginning of the Gods and the
beginning of the Upper World. I learnt of the mystery of the movements
of the stars, and of how the earth rolls on among them. I was instructed
in that ancient knowledge which is called magic, and in the way of
interpretation of dreams, and of the drawing nigh to God. I was taught
the language of symbols and their outer and inner secrets. I became
acquainted with the eternal laws of Good and Evil, and with the mystery
of that trust which is held of man; also I learnt the secrets of the
pyramids--which I would that I had never known. Further, I read the
records of the past, and of the acts and words of the ancient kings who
were before me since the rule of Horus upon earth; and I was made to
know all craft of state, the lore of earth, and with it the history of
Greece and Rome. Also I learnt the Grecian and Roman tongues, of which
indeed I already had some knowledge--and all this while, for five long
years, I kept my hands clean and my heart pure, and did no evil in the
sight of God or man; but laboured heavily to acquire all things, and to
prepare myself for the destiny that awaited me.

Twice every year greetings and letters came from my father Amenemhat,
and twice every year I sent back my answers asking if the time had come
to cease from labour. And so the days of my probation sped away till I
grew faint and weary at heart, for being now a man, ay and learned, I
longed to make a beginning of the life of men. And often I wondered if
this talk and prophecy of the things that were to be was but a dream
born of the brains of men whose wish ran before their thought. I was,
indeed, of the Royal blood, that I knew: for my uncle, Sepa the Priest,
showed me a secret record of the descent, traced without break from
father to son, and graven in mystic symbols on a tablet of the stone
of Syene. But of what avail was it to be Royal by right when Egypt, my
heritage, was a slave--a slave to do the pleasure and minister to the
luxury of the Macedonian Lagid�--ay, and when she had been so long a
serf that, perchance, she had forgotten how to put off the servile smile
of Bondage and once more to look across the world with Freedom's happy
eyes?

Then I bethought me of my prayer upon the pylon tower of Abouthis and of
the answer given to my prayer, and wondered if that, too, were a dream.

And one night, as, weary with study, I walked within the sacred grove
that is in the garden of the temple, and mused thus, I met my uncle
Sepa, who also was walking and thinking.

"Hold!" he cried in his great voice; "why is thy face so sad, Harmachis?
Has the last problem that we studied overwhelmed thee?"

"Nay, my uncle," I answered, "I am overwhelmed indeed, but not of the
problem; it was a light one. My heart is heavy, for I am weary of life
within these cloisters, and the piled-up weight of knowledge crushes me.
It is of no avail to store up force which cannot be used."

"Ah, thou art impatient, Harmachis," he answered; "it is ever the way
of foolish youth. Thou wouldst taste of the battle; thou dost tire of
watching the breakers fall upon the beach, thou wouldst plunge into
them and venture the desperate hazard of the war. And so thou wouldst be
going, Harmachis? The bird would fly the nest as, when they are grown,
the swallows fly from the eaves of the Temple. Well, it shall be as
thou desirest; the hour is at hand. I have taught thee all that I have
learned, and methinks that the pupil has outrun his master," and he
paused and wiped his bright black eyes, for he was very sad at the
thought of my departure.

"And whither shall I go, my uncle?" I asked rejoicing; "back to Abouthis
to be initiated into the mysteries of the Gods?"

"Ay, back to Abouthis, and from Abouthis to Alexandria, and from
Alexandria to the Throne of thy fathers, Harmachis! Listen, now; things
are thus: Thou knowest how Cleopatra, the Queen, fled into Syria when
that false eunuch Pothinus set the will of her father Aul�tes at naught
and raised her brother Ptolemy to the sole lordship of Egypt. Thou
knowest also how she came back, like a Queen indeed, with a great army
in her train, and lay at Pelusium, and how at this juncture the mighty
C�sar, that great man, that greatest of all men, sailed with a weak
company hither to Alexandria from Pharsalia's bloody field in hot
pursuit of Pompey. But he found Pompey already dead, having been basely
murdered by Achillas, the General, and Lucius Septimius, the chief of
the Roman legions in Egypt, and thou knowest how the Alexandrians were
troubled at his coming and would have slain his lictors. Then, as
thou hast heard, C�sar seized Ptolemy, the young King, and his sister
Arsino�, and bade the army of Cleopatra and the army of Ptolemy, under
Achillas, which lay facing each other at Pelusium, disband and go
their ways. And for answer Achillas marched on C�sar, and besieged him
straitly in the Bruchium at Alexandria, and so, for a while, things
were, and none knew who should reign in Egypt. But then Cleopatra took
up the dice, and threw them, and this was the throw she made--in truth,
it was a bold one. For, leaving the army at Pelusium, she came at dusk
to the harbour of Alexandria, and alone with the Sicilian Apollodorus
entered and landed. Then Apollodorus bound her in a bale of rich rugs,
such as are made in Syria, and sent the rugs as a present to C�sar. And
when the rugs were unbound in the palace, behold! within them was the
fairest girl on all the earth--ay, and the most witty and the most
learned. And she seduced the great C�sar--even his weight of years did
not avail to protect him from her charms--so that, as a fruit of his
folly, he wellnigh lost his life, and all the glory he had gained in a
hundred wars."

"The fool!" I broke in--"the fool! Thou callest him great; but how can
the man be truly great who has no strength to stand against a woman's
wiles? C�sar, with the world hanging on his word! C�sar, at whose breath
forty legions marched and changed the fate of peoples! C�sar the cold!
the far-seeing! the hero!--C�sar to fall like a ripe fruit into a false
girl's lap! Why, in the issue, of what common clay was this Roman C�sar,
and how poor a thing!"

But Sepa looked at me and shook his head. "Be not so rash, Harmachis,
and talk not with so proud a voice. Knowest thou not that in every suit
of mail there is a joint, and woe to him who wears the harness if the
sword should search it out! For Woman, in her weakness, is yet the
strongest force upon the earth. She is the helm of all things human; she
comes in many shapes and knocks at many doors; she is quick and patient,
and her passion is not ungovernable like that of man, but as a gentle
steed that she can guide e'en where she will, and as occasion offers can
now bit up and now give rein. She has a captain's eye, and stout must be
that fortress of the heart in which she finds no place of vantage. Does
thy blood beat fast in youth? She will outrun it, nor will her kisses
tire. Art thou set toward ambition? She will unlock thy inner heart,
and show thee roads that lead to glory. Art thou worn and weary? She has
comfort in her breast. Art thou fallen? She can lift thee up, and to the
illusion of thy sense gild defeat with triumph. Ay, Harmachis, she can
do these things, for Nature ever fights upon her side; and while she
does them she can deceive and shape a secret end in which thou hast
no part. And thus Woman rules the world. For her are wars; for her men
spend their strength in gathering gains; for her they do well and ill,
and seek for greatness, to find oblivion. But still she sits like yonder
Sphinx, and smiles; and no man has ever read all the riddle of her
smile, or known all the mystery of her heart. Mock not! mock not!
Harmachis; for he must be great indeed who can defy the power of Woman,
which, pressing round him like the invisible air, is often strongest
when the senses least discover it."

I laughed aloud. "Thou speakest earnestly, my uncle Sepa," I said;
"one might almost think that thou hadst not come unscathed through this
fierce fire of temptation. Well, for myself, I fear not woman and her
wiles; I know naught of them, and naught do I wish to know; and I still
hold that this C�sar was a fool. Had I stood where C�sar stood, to cool
its wantonness that bale of rugs should have been rolled down the palace
steps, into the harbour mud."

"Nay, cease! cease!" he cried aloud. "It is evil to speak thus; may the
Gods avert the omen and preserve to thee this cold strength of which
thou boastest. Oh! man, thou knowest not!--thou in thy strength and
beauty that is without compare, in the power of thy learning and the
sweetness of thy tongue--thou knowest not! The world where thou must mix
is not a sanctuary as that of the Divine Isis. But there--it may be so!
Pray that thy heart's ice may never melt, so thou shalt be great and
happy and Egypt shall be delivered. And now let me take up my tale--thou
seest, Harmachis, even in so grave a story woman claims her place. The
young Ptolemy, Cleopatra's brother, being loosed of C�sar, treacherously
turned on him. Then C�sar and Mithridates stormed the camp of Ptolemy,
who took to flight across the river. But his boat was sunk by the
fugitives who pressed upon it, and such was the miserable end of
Ptolemy.

"Thereon, the war being ended, though she had but then borne him a son,
C�sarion, C�sar appointed the younger Ptolemy to rule with Cleopatra,
and be her husband in name, and he himself departed for Rome, bearing
with him the beautiful Princess Arsino� to follow his triumph in her
chains. But the great C�sar is no more. He died as he had lived, in
blood, and right royally. And but now Cleopatra, the Queen, if my
tidings may be trusted, has slain Ptolemy, her brother and husband, by
poison, and taken the child C�sarion to be her fellow on the throne,
which she holds by the help of the Roman legions, and, as they say,
of young Sextus Pompeius, who has succeeded C�sar in her love. But,
Harmachis, the whole land boils and seethes against her. In every city
the children of Khem talk of the deliverer who is to come--and thou art
he, Harmachis. The time is almost ripe. The hour is nigh at hand. Go
thou back to Abouthis and learn the last secrets of the Gods, and
meet those who shall direct the bursting of the storm. Then act,
Harmachis--act, I say, and strike home for Khem, rid the land of the
Roman and the Greek, and take thy place upon the throne of thy divine
fathers and be a King of men. For to this end thou wast born, O Prince!"

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