Cleopatra: Chapter 7

Chapter 7

OF THE AWAKING OF HARMACHIS; OF THE CEREMONY OF HIS CROWNING AS PHARAOH
OF THE UPPER AND THE LOWER LAND; AND OF THE OFFERINGS MADE TO PHARAOH

Once again I woke--to find myself stretched at length upon the stone
flooring of the Holy Place of Isis that is at Abouthis. By me stood the
old Priest of the Mysteries, and in his hand was a lamp. He bent over
me, and gazed earnestly upon my face.

"It is day--the day of thy new birth, and thou hast lived to see
it, Harmachis!" he said at length. "I give thanks. Arise, royal
Harmachis--nay, tell me naught of that which has befallen thee. Arise,
beloved of the Holy Mother. Come forth, thou who hast passed the fire
and learned what lies behind the darkness--come forth, O newly-born!"

I rose and, walking faintly, went with him, and, passing out of the
darkness of the Shrines filled with thought and wonder, came once more
into the pure light of the morning. And then I went to my own chamber
and slept; nor did any dreams come to trouble me. But no man--not even
my father--asked me aught of what I saw upon that dread night, or after
what fashion I had communed with the Goddess.

After these things which have been written, I applied myself for a
space to the worship of the Mother Isis, and to the further study of the
outward forms of those mysteries to which I now held the key. Moreover,
I was instructed in matters politic, for many great men of our following
came secretly to see me from all quarters of Egypt, and told me much
of the hatred of the people towards Cleopatra, the Queen, and of other
things. At last the hour drew nigh; it was three months and ten days
from the night when, for a while, I left the flesh, and yet living with
our life, was gathered to the breast of Isis, on which it was agreed
that with due and customary rites, although in utter secrecy, I should
be called to the throne of the Upper and the Lower Land. So it came
about that, as the solemn time drew nigh, great men of the party of
Egypt gathered to the number of thirty-seven from every nome, and each
great city of their nome, meeting together at Abouthis. They came in
every guise--some as priests, some as pilgrims to the Shrine, and some
as beggars. Among them was my uncle, Sepa, who, though he clad himself
as a travelling doctor, had much ado to keep his loud voice from
betraying him. Indeed, I myself knew him by it, meeting him as I walked
in thought upon the banks of the canal, although it was then dusk and
the great cape, which, after the fashion of such doctors, he had thrown
about his head, half hid his face.

"A pest on thee!" he cried, when I greeted him by his name. "Cannot a
man cease to be himself for a single hour? Didst thou but know the pains
that it has cost me to learn to play this part--and now thou readest who
I am even in the dark!"

And then, still talking in his loud voice, he told me how he had
travelled hither on foot, the better to escape the spies who ply to and
fro upon the river. But he said he should return by the water, or take
another guise; for since he had come as a doctor he had been forced to
play a doctor's part, knowing but little of the arts of medicine; and,
as he greatly feared, there were many between Annu and Abouthis who had
suffered from it.[*] And he laughed loudly and embraced me, forgetting
his part. For he was too whole at heart to be an actor and other than
himself, and would have entered Abouthis with me holding my hand, had I
not chid him for his folly.

[*] In Ancient Egypt an unskilful or negligent physician was
liable to very heavy penalties.--Editor.

At length all were gathered.

It was night, and the gates of the temple were shut. None were left
within them, except the thirty-seven; my father, the High Priest
Amenemhat; that aged priest who had led me to the Shrine of Isis; the
old wife, Atoua, who, according to ancient custom, was to prepare me
for the anointing; and some five other priests, sworn to secrecy by that
oath which none may break. They gathered in the second hall of the great
temple; but I remained alone, clad in my white robe, in the passage
where are the names of six-and-seventy ancient Kings, who were before
the day of the divine Sethi. There I rested in darkness, till at length
my father, Amenemhat, came, bearing a lamp, and, bowing low before me,
led me by the hand forth into the great hall. Here and there, between
its mighty pillars, lights were burning that dimly showed the sculptured
images upon the walls, and dimly fell upon the long line of the
seven-and-thirty Lords, Priests, and Princes, who, seated upon carven
chairs, awaited my coming in silence. Before them, facing away from
the seven Sanctuaries, a throne was set, around which stood the priests
holding the sacred images and banners. As I came into the dim and holy
place, the Dignitaries rose, and bowed before me, speaking no word;
while my father led me to the steps of the throne, and in a low voice
bade me stand before it.

Then he spoke:

"Lords, Priests, and Princes of the ancient orders of the land of
Khem--Nobles from the Upper and the Lower Country, have gathered
in answer to my summons, hear me: I present to you, with such scant
formality as the occasion can afford, the Prince Harmachis, by right and
true descent of blood the descendant and heir of the ancient Pharaohs
of our most unhappy land. He is priest of the inmost circle of the
Mysteries of the Divine Isis, Master of the Mysteries--Hereditary Priest
of the Pyramids, which are by Memphis, Instructed in the Solemn Rites
of the Holy Osiris. Is there any among you who has aught to urge against
the true line of his blood?"

He paused, and my uncle Sepa, rising from his chair, spoke: "We have
made examination of the records and there is none, O Amenemhat. He is of
the Royal blood, his descent is true."

"Is there any among you," went on my father, "who can deny that this
royal Harmachis, by sanction of the very Gods, has been gathered
to Isis, been shown the way of the Osiris, been admitted to be the
Hereditary High Priest of the Pyramids which are by Memphis, and of the
Temples of the Pyramids?"

Then that old priest rose who had been my guide in the Sanctuary of the
Mother and made answer: "There is none; O Amenemhat; I know these things
of my own knowledge."

Once more my father spoke: "Is there any among you who has aught to urge
against this royal Harmachis, in that by wickedness of heart or life, by
uncleanliness or falsity, it is not fit or meet that we should crown him
Lord of all the Lands?"

Then an aged Prince of Memphis arose and made answer:

"We have inquired of these matters: there is none, O Amenemhat."

"It is well," said my father; "then naught is wanting in the Prince
Harmachis, seed of Nekt-nebf, the Osirian. Let the woman Atoua stand
forth and tell this company those things that came to pass when, at
the hour of her death, she who was my wife prophesied over this Prince,
being filled with the Spirit of the Hathors."

Thereon old Atoua crept forward from the shadow of the columns, and
earnestly told those things that have been written.

"Ye have heard," said my father: "do you believe that the woman who was
my wife spake with the Divine voice?"

"We do," they answered.

Now my uncle Sepa rose and spoke:

"Royal Harmachis, thou hast heard. Know now that we are gathered here
to crown thee King of the Upper and the Lower Lands--thy holy father,
Amenemhat, renouncing all his right on thy behalf. We are met, not,
indeed, in that pomp and ceremony which is due to the occasion--for what
we do must be done in secret, lest our lives, and the cause that is more
dear to us than life, should pay the forfeit--but yet with such dignity
and observance of the ancient rites as our circumstance may command.
Learn, now, how this matter hangs, and if, after learning, thy mind
consents thereto, then mount thy throne, O Pharaoh--and swear the oath!

"Long has Khemi groaned beneath the mailed heel of the Greek, and
trembled at the shadow of the Roman's spear; long has the ancient
worship of its Gods been desecrated, and its people crushed with
oppression. But we believe that the hour of deliverance is at hand,
and with the solemn voice of Egypt and by the ancient Gods of Egypt, to
whose cause thou art of all men bound, we call upon thee, Prince, to be
the sword of our deliverance. Hearken! Twenty thousand good and leal men
are sworn to wait upon thy word, and at thy signal to rise as one, to
put the Grecian to the sword, and with their blood and substance to
build thee a throne set more surely on the soil of Khem than are its
ancient pyramids--such a throne as shall even roll the Roman legions
back. And for the signal, it shall be the death of that bold harlot,
Cleopatra. Thou must compass her death, Harmachis, in such fashion as
shall be shown to thee, and with her blood anoint the Royal throne of
Egypt.

"Canst thou refuse, O our Hope? Doth not the holy love of country swell
within thy heart? Canst thou dash the cup of Freedom from thy lips and
bear to drink the bitter draught of slaves? The emprise is great; maybe
it shall fail, and thou with thy life, as we with ours, shalt pay the
price of our endeavour. But what of it, Harmachis? Is life, then,
so sweet? Are we so softly cushioned on the stony bed of earth? Is
bitterness and sorrow in its sum so small and scant a thing? Do we here
breathe so divine an air that we should fear to face the passage of
our breath? What have we here but hope and memory? What see we here but
shadows? Shall we then fear to pass pure-handed where Fulfilment is and
memory is lost in its own source, and shadows die in the light which
cast them? O Harmachis, that man alone is truly blest who crowns his
life with Fame's most splendid wreath. For, since to all the Brood of
Earth Death hands his poppy-flowers, he indeed is happy to whom there is
occasion given to weave them in a crown of glory. And how can a man die
better than in a great endeavour to strike the gyves from his Country's
limbs so that she again may stand in the face of Heaven and raise the
shrill shout of Freedom, and, clad once more in a panoply of strength,
trample under foot the fetters of her servitude, defying the tyrant
nations of the earth to set their seal upon her brow?

"Khem calls thee, Harmachis. Come then, thou Deliverer; leap like Horus
from the firmament, break her chains, scatter her foes, and rule a
Pharaoh on Pharaoh's Throne----"

"Enough, enough!" I cried, while the long murmur of applause swept about
the columns and up the massy walls. "Enough; is there any need to adjure
me thus? Had I a hundred lives, would I not most gladly lay them down
for Egypt?"

"Well said, well said!" answered Sepa. "Now go forth with the woman
yonder, that she may make thy hands clean before they touch the sacred
emblems, and anoint thy brow before it is encircled of the diadem."

And so I went into a chamber apart with the old wife, Atoua. There,
muttering prayers, she poured pure water over my hands into a ewer of
gold, and having dipped a fine cloth into oil wiped my brow with it.

"O happy Egypt!" she said; "O happy Prince, that art come to rule in
Egypt! O Royal youth!--too Royal to be a priest--so shall many a fair
woman think; but, perchance, for thee they will relax the priestly rule,
else how shall the race of Pharaoh be carried on? O happy I, who dandled
thee and gave my flesh and blood to save thee! O royal and beautiful
Harmachis, born for splendour, happiness, and love!"

"Cease, cease," I said, for her talk jarred upon me; "call me not happy
till thou knowest my end, and speak not to me of love, for with love
comes sorrow, and mine is another and a higher way."

"Ay, ay, so thou sayest--and joy, too, that comes with love! Never talk
lightly of love, my King, for it brought thee here! _La! la!_ but it is
always the way--'The goose on the wing laughs at crocodiles,' so goes
their saying down at Alexandria; 'but when the goose is asleep on the
water, it is the crocodiles that laugh.' Not but what women are pretty
crocodiles. Men worship the crocodiles at Anthribis--Crocodilopolis they
call it now, don't they?--but they worship women all the world over!
_La!_ how my tongue runs on, and thou about to be crowned Pharaoh! Did I
not prophesy it to thee? Well, thou art clean, Lord of the Double Crown.
Go forth!"

So I went from the chamber with the old wife's foolish talk ringing in
my ears, though of a truth her folly had ever a grain of wit in it.

As I came, the Dignitaries rose once more and bowed before me. Then my
father, without delay, drew near me, and placed in my hands a golden
image of the divine Ma, the Goddess of Truth, and golden images of the
arks of the God Amen-Ra, of the divine Mout, and the divine Khons, and
spoke solemnly:

"Thou swearest by the living majesty of Ma, by the majesty of Amen-Ra,
of Mout, and of Khons?"

"I swear," I said.

"Thou swearest by the holy land of Khem, by Sihor's flood, by the
Temples of the Gods and the eternal Pyramids?"

"I swear."

"Remembering thy hideous doom if thou shouldst fail therein, thou
swearest that thou wilt in all things govern Egypt according to its
ancient laws, that thou wilt preserve the worship of its Gods, that thou
wilt do equal justice, that thou wilt not oppress, that thou wilt not
betray, that thou wilt make no alliance with the Roman or the Greek,
that thou wilt cast out the foreign Idols, that thou wilt devote thy
life to the liberty of the land of Khem?"

"I swear."

"It is well. Mount, then, the throne, that in the presence of these thy
subjects, I may name thee Pharaoh."

I mounted upon the throne, of which the footstool is a Sphinx, and the
canopy the overshadowing wings of Ma. Then Amenemhat drew nigh once
again and placed the Pshent upon my brow, and on my head the Double
Crown, and the Royal Robe about my shoulders, and in my hands the
Sceptre and the Scourge.

"Royal Harmachis," he cried, "by these outward signs and tokens, I, the
High Priest of the Temple of Ra-Men-Ma at Abouthis, crown thee Pharaoh
of the Upper and Lower Land. Reign and prosper, O Hope of Khemi!"

"Reign and prosper, Pharaoh!" echoed the Dignitaries, bowing down before
me.

Then, one by one, they swore allegiance, till all had sworn. And, having
sworn, my father took me by the hand; he led me in solemn procession
into each of the seven Sanctuaries that are in this Temple of Ra-Men-Ma,
and in each I made offerings, swung incense, and officiated as priest.
Clad in the Royal robes I made offerings in the Shrine of Horus, in the
Shrine of Isis, in the Shrine of Osiris, in the Shrine of Amen-Ra, in
the Shrine of Horemku, in the Shrine of Ptah, till at length I reached
the Shrine of the King's Chamber.

Here they made their offering to me, as the Divine Pharaoh, and left me
very weary--but a King.

[Here the first and smallest of the papyrus rolls comes to an end.]

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