University of Virginia Library

2. LETTER II.

Think not that the splendors of the Court of
“Pharaoh's Daughter,” as the Egyptians still love
to call their queen, will lead me to forget my own
royal home and the dear scenes in which I have passed
my life—scenes that memory will ever cherish, as they
are associated with the love and care of a mother, such
as a prince was never before blessed with by the gods.
Think not, my queenly mother, that while I describe
with pleasure the magnificence of Queen Amense's
realm, I think less of your own kingdom; but, rather,
all I behold only causes me to love my native land the
more; for the glory of Tyre, my home, is my mother's
presence—and my mother is not here! Queen Amense
may have the homage of my intellect, but that of my
heart is reserved only for thee!

I have prefaced my letter in this manner, dear mother,
lest you should jealously read the glowing descriptions
I give of what I behold, and may fear that the luxuries
and grandeur of Egypt will make me dissatisfied with
the lesser splendor of the Court of Phœnicia. Fear not.
I shall bring back to thee a son's faithful love, and to my
people the loyal affection due to them from their prince.

I closed my letter to you in sight, as I thought, of the
City of the Sun. But what I believed to be the capital
of the gods, was but the colossal gateway leading from
the river to the city, which is half an hour's ride inland.
Yet from the Nile to the city there is a continuous
avenue of temples, such as earth has never beheld—not
even Nineveh or Babylon, in all their glory. For a
mile fronting the river extends a row of palaces, which,
stupendous as they are, form but wings to a central temple
of vaster dimensions. The palaces that guard it, as
it were, are adorned with sculptured columns of the
most elegant description. They are three hundred in
number, covered with gorgeous paintings in the richest
tints, and carved with the most finished art. The beautiful
capitals of these columns are shaped alternately
like a flower-bud, not yet expanded, or like the open
flower of the lotus, and the sides formed of imitations,
by the wonderful artist, of leaves and flowers indigenous
to Egypt. The columns and capitals, thus exquisitely
fashioned, are gigantic in size, and of the grandest
altitude.

The central temple is a lofty and wonderful edifice of
brilliant red sandstone, with sixty columns of marble
enriching its façades; these, with the three hundred,
representing the three hundred and sixty days of the
ancient Egyptian year. The front of this sublime temple
is pierced by three colossal gateways, broad enough for
four chariots to pass abreast. These gateways are
adorned with paintings, in the brightest tints, representing
processions of priests, sacrifices, offering of incense,
and all the imposing religious ceremonies appertaining
to the worship of the Sun.

Above the centre gateway, between the noble wings
of the propyla which flank it, is a representative emblem
of Osiris, in the shape of a splendid shield of the
sun, a half-sphere of gold, from which extend wings for
many yards, each feather glittering with precious stones.
Around the globe are entwined two brazen asps, emblems
of which I have not yet learned the signification.

Imagine, my dear mother, this stupendous and noble
temple, with its vast wings facing the river, and reflected
upon its sunny surface. Fancy the river itself, flowing
laterally through these gateways into an artificial
canal, lined with trees, and bordered by lesser temples,
which recede in long lines of diminishing columns.
Behold oranges swinging in clusters from branches bending
over the water, while scarlet pomegranates, figs, and
olives fill trees innumerable that shade the terraces; and
vines, either gorgeous with flowers of wonderful beauty
and form, or pendent with purple grapes, entwine the
columns, and depend from the carved abacus of the
capitals.

Into this canal my beautiful galley was received, in
the sight of thousands of admiring gazers standing upon
the steps of the terrace which led down to the entrance,
and on which I had landed to pay my homage to the
chief captain at the propylon, who, magnificently attired,
waited, by the queen's command, to receive me
and conduct me to the city.

Returning with me on board my galley, he gave orders
for it to be taken in charge by two royal barges,
with prows of silver, and golden banners waving above
the heads of the rowers, who were Nubian slaves clothed
in scarlet tunics. Thus, in state, my dear mother, as

became a prince, was I borne along this avenue of
palaces and fanes, and fragrant gardens. The vanishing
line of columns was, at short intervals, interrupted by
gateways, above which were statues of Osiris and Isis.

I was almost bewildered by the novelty and splendor
of these varied scenes, and was thinking that nothing
could surpass in magnificence this mighty avenue to
a city, when all at once the canal expanded into a circular
lake completely inclosed by columns, forming
majestic colonnades on all sides, in which were walking
and conversing innumerable richly dressed persons,
while others were grouped around noble-looking
ancient men, listening to their discourses. The chief
captain, who was with me in my galley, informed me
that these columned halls were the favorite resort of
the eminent philosophers and scholars of all lands, who
came hither to be taught in the learning and wisdom of
the Egyptians. I then looked a little closer, when he
was pleased to point out to me several great philosophers,
who, called wise men in their own kingdom, yet
had come hither to learn at the feet of these masters of the
world's wisdom, the wise men of Egypt. As we were
rowed past and around this majestic circle of columns,
I saw two noble youths from Damascus, who came last
year to Tyre, in order to embark for Memphis. I beheld
also Prince Melchor of the City of Salem, in Syria, the
descendant of the great king Melchisedec, whose wise
reign, about three centuries ago, is still remembered
with glory and honor to his name. The prince recognized
me, and returned my salutation, and leaving the
group with which he stood, hastened around the terrace
to meet me at the place of debarkation; for this

delightful lake, dear mother, terminated the noble canal
which united it with the river. Beyond it, the galleys
and barges did not go. Instead of water, this mighty
avenue to On was now to be continued by land. At
the place opposite the inlet rose two lofty obelisks a hundred
feet in the air, of incomparable elegance and
beauty. They were dedicated to Osiris and Isis. Elevated
upon pedestals of porphyry, they formed the
graceful entrance to a semicircular flight of marble
steps which led from the lake to a broad terrace interlaid
with parti-colored marbles, in every variety of device
which taste could conceive, or art execute. Landing
upon these steps, I ascended to the terrace, and was
there met and embraced by the Prince of Salem. Here
the chief captain took leave of me, and immediately
there advanced towards me a noble person, wearing a
chain of gold about his neck, and clothed in purple silk,
richly embroidered, and who carried in his right hand a
long silver wand, with the head of an ibis, cut out of a
precious stone, upon it. He said that he was an officer
of the court of the queen, and had come to conduct me
on my way to the city.

“Her majesty,” he said, with dignity becoming one
who served so mighty a monarch, “has received your
letter, royal prince, and has directed her servants to pay
you all honor!”

I acknowledged the grace of the queenly Amense in
this courteous reception of a stranger, and followed him
across the terrace, which I perceived was encircled by
statues of all the divinities of the earth; and I was
gratified to see that Io, and Hercules, and the favored
deity of Phœnicia, Athyris, had conspicuous pedestals

allotted to their sacred images, near the Theban god
Amun.

Indeed, dear mother, this fact, and the manner of my
reception, shows that the present dynasty has graciously
forgotten the conquest of Egypt by the warlike hosts of
Phœnicia. But when we recollect that the first Amosis
of the present house of Pharaohs had for his queen the
beautiful Ephtha, daughter of the last Phœnician Pharaoh,
taking her captive when he expelled the father
from the throne of Memphis, we need not be surprised
at the favor shown us by the noble Queen Amense, for,
fourth only in descent from the fair Phœnician, who was
of our own blood, she is our cousin by just hereditary
lineage.

When I had traversed the “Hall of the Gods,” we
came to a lofty two-leaved gate of brass, which stood
between two sculptured propyla of Libyan stone. At
a wave of the wand of my escorter, they flew wide
open, and revealed the most magnificent and awe-inspiring
spectacle that it was possible to conceive the world
could present.

Before me was revealed an avenue, more than a mile
in length to the eye, leading straight to the City of
the Sun, which rose, temple rising beyond temple,
shining like gold in the sunbeams, a mountain of architecture,
fashioned as if by the hands of gods rather than
of men. In the midst stood, elevated above all surrounding
edifices, the great temple of Osiris itself, encircled
by a belt of twelve glittering obelisks, representing
the twelve months. In the centre of this wonderful
girdle, upon the apex of a pyramid rising within the
walls of the temple, two hundred feet high, blazed that

sacred gold shield of the sun—the shield of Osiris—the
fame of which has filled the world. It was like the sun
itself for glory and splendor! Oh, how can I describe
all this! My pen refuses to find language to record
what I wish to write.

But I will be brief, lest I overpower you with
gorgeousness, and blind you with glory. Verily, the
Egyptians seem resolved to rob the heavens of their
celestial architecture, and set up a rival heaven on
earth!

From the open gateway of brass I beheld the city
thus described, with its temple, obelisks, pyramid, and
countless palaces, while the whole was encircled by a
green belt of gardens, which shut it in from the desert,
like a setting of Indian diamonds in a bed of Assyrian
emeralds.

The avenue itself was paved with red-colored Syene
stones from the isles of the Cataracts, and on each side
was a gigantic row of sphinxes, reposing on broad, elevated
dromoi. Some of these represented lions, leopards,
and other beasts of the African and Nubian deserts.
Some of them had the head of a ram, with the body of
a lion, the fore-paws extended upon the terrace, the vast
body resting upon the hind-paws, all presenting aspects
of majestic repose. There were one hundred of these
stone effigies, in a double row twenty feet apart, facing
the avenue, and fastening upon the passer-by their stony
eyes in immovable watchfulness. This avenue I walked
up, preceded by the queen's officer, and escorted by a
retinue, which fell in behind me.

Having passed this row of crio-sphinxes we ascended
three broad steps, on each side of which towered a lofty

pylon, elaborately adorned with costly paintings of
colossal size, representing sacred scenes. Another
dromo bordered with fourscore andro-sphinxes, having
alternate faces of Osiris and Isis, the one stamped with
majesty, the other with beauty, now began, and passing
this solemn and awful range of gigantic faces we came
to another ascent of marble steps, flanked by obelisks:
four lofty pylones, and three spacious courts were at
the end of the dromos of sphinxes, also a vast arena
inclosed by palaces. Crossing this noble square, we
came to two colossi of granite, representing Cheops and
Nilus, their shields covered with hieroglyphics wrought
with the highest degree of perfection, each cartouch
recording their titles and deeds.

At this point there met me a superbly caparisoned
Arabian charger, held by two pages; while a young
noble, bearing upon his breast the insignia of a prince
of the queen's palace, addressed me, and invited me to
mount the beautiful and fiery animal.

I obeyed, leaping into the saddle with delight at once
more being upon horseback. Scarcely had I pressed
the bit with the gilded bridle, ere a score of horsemen,
in splendid armor, issued from the propylon on my left,
in two columns, and, melosing me between them, escorted
me through several magnificent courts, in which
I caught glimpses of obelisks, monoliths of kings, pylones
sixty feet in height with pyramidal wings, giving entrance
to courts each more magnificent than the last.

At length I saw before me the great and splendid
pylon which gives admission to the city. In front of
it, raised upon a throne of crimson stone, stood, with
his ibis head fifty feet in the air, a monolith statue of

Thoth. In his outstretched right hand he held a pair of
scales, and in his left a tablet.

At this gate, the city is entered in its central point.
Two obelisks, ninety feet in height, towered on each side
of the entrance. Here I was received by a venerable
noble, who was mounted upon a snow-white horse, and
attended by a brilliant retinue, all superbly mounted.
This personage extended to me the same hospitable and
courteous welcome from his queen, which had been presented
to me from the others. He rode by my side,
and we took our way at a rapid trot along an avenue of
alternate obelisks and sphinxes, until we passed through
a pylon which opened into the streets of the city. The
splendor around bewildered me. Palaces, with gorgeous
façades and triple stories of colonnades, composed
street after street, while fountains and statues and propyla,
temples, monoliths, andro-sphinxes and crio-sphinxes
presented, as I rode along through this superb “City of
the Sun,” an endless spectacle of architectural grandeur
and marble magnificence. The streets were thronged
with handsomely attired citizens, either in the pursuit of
pleasure or business, while priestly processions, festival
parties crowned with flowers and attended by musicians,
and bodies of horse, were met by us. Gilded chariots,
palanquins, and vehicles of rare and graceful forms, were
numerous. The whole city wore an air of pleasure and
life, and impressed me with the idea that the Egyptians
are not only master-builders in architecture, but know
how to enjoy the splendid cities they erect with such
costly care.

My senses sated with luxury, I was not unwilling to
alight at the entrance of a beautiful palace, which the

venerable horseman said the queen had placed at my
service. Upon its portico I was met by my private
secretary, Acherres, who, in his joy at beholding me
again, forgot for a moment my rank, and embraced me
with tears of delight; for, in this foreign land, he saw
in me alone the link which bound him to his native
country.

I have now been two days in this palace, wherein
is furnished me, by the queen, the attendance of
slaves; and every luxury of Egypt is at my command.
As I said to you, dear mother, in my first letter, I have
yet only seen the Queen of Egypt at a distance, as she
was ascending the steps of her palace, but to-morrow I
am formally to be presented to her, for on that day of
the week alone she receives princes and ambassadors.
She had returned four days before to Memphis, from
Philæ, with a great retinue of the lords and officers of
her realm, and yesterday, crossing the Nile in her barge
of state, she entered this sacred city, which she visits for
three days every month to perform in the great temple
the sacred rites of her gorgeous religion. Of this worship
I will soon write you more fully. It is an error,
however, to suppose that these enlightened Egyptians
worship the sun, or any other objects, as such, of mere
matter. Their fundamental doctrine is the unity of the
deity, whose attributes are represented under positive
and material forms. The common people perhaps never
go beyond these forms, and their minds never are admitted
to a knowledge of the truth of the mysteries; but
the priests, and the high in rank, look upon the sun, and
moon, and animals, and the fecund Nile, only as so
many attributes of a one infinite deity. The sun—

believed to possess much of the divine influence in its
vivifying power and its various other effects—is regarded
as one of the grandest agents of the one deity. The
moon is another direct manifestation of the invisible
author, and as the regulator of time, say their sacred
books, is figured in painting and sculpture as the ibisheaded
Thoth, and the deity who records, as time flies,
the actions of men's lives. Osiris, if I understand their
mythology, is this supreme god (symbolized here by the
sun), who is also the judge of the souls of the dead, rewarding
or punishing hereafter the creatures he has created,
according to their lives. But when I learn more
fully their system of religion, I will explain it to you,
dear mother.

Although I have not seen, to speak with her, the
august lady who reigns over Egypt, I have been visited
by her son, the lord Prince Remeses. I have already
written of him. He is in his thirty-fourth year, and the
noblest appearing man my eyes ever beheld. Upon his
brow the gods have set the seal and impress of command.
I will narrate the manner of our first intercourse.

I was standing by the window of the stately apartment,
which overlooks one of the squares of the city,
interested in watching the toils of several hundred men,
coarsely attired in blue aprons or loin-cloths, and gray
breeches reaching only to the knee, the upper part of
their bodies being naked, who were at work constructing
a wall which was to inclose a new lake before the
temple of Apis, in the midst of the square; for On is a
city of alternate lakes (all of great beauty and adorned
with trees), temples, squares, and palaces, interspersed

with dromos of sphinxes connecting court after court,
through lofty pylones; while obelisks, statues, and fountains
fill up the interspaces.

My window not only commanded a view of these laborers
with their heavy burdens of bricks, borne on their
shoulders to the top of the wall they were building, but
also, beyond the wall and distant temples, a glimpse of the
yellow expanse of the desert. How mighty, and grand,
and solemn it looked in its loneliness and ocean-like
vastness! A faint dark line that I at length perceived
in motion, was, doubtless, a caravan coming from the
haven of the Red Sea, where the galleys from Farther
Ind land their precious freights of untold wealth. This
caravan seeks the port of On, six miles below on the Nile,
whence sail ships, laden with the treasures of the caravan,
to all parts of the known earth. Sesostris, Thothmes,
Menes, all planned a canal from the Nile to this
sea; but the camels are the only ships, to this day, that
cross this desert waste. Again my eyes rested upon the
laborers, seeing that they were sorely pressed by cruel
task-masters, who, with long rods, urged them to their
ceaseless toil. I perceived, then, that they were men
with Syrian features, arched eagle noses, long black
beards, and narrow but fine eyes, which seemed to have
a strange expression of tears in them There were
among them noble and manly men, handsome youths,
though pale with toil, and bent forms of aged men. I
marvelled to see so fine a race thus in bondage, as slaves
under task-masters, for in the day of the Phœnician
Pharaohs, there were no such bondmen in the land of
Egypt. From their remarkable likeness to some natives
of Mesopotamia I had seen in Tyre, I judged that they

must be captives of that ancient Orient people, taken in
the wars of Amunoph.

While I was regarding them, and especially an interesting
youth, whose dark eyes, as he staggered under a
heavy burden of bricks, were turned up to me as if seeking
sympathy, Acherres entered and said:

“My lord Sesostris, the mighty Prince Remeses is
alighting from his chariot upon the steps of your palace!”

Upon hearing this news I hastened to the portico,
wondering if I were to be honored with a personal visit
from the lord of Egypt, ere the queen mother should receive
me in state.

Upon reaching the circular peristyle hall within the
portico, the ædile of my palace opened the gilded
doors, and there stood before me the Prince of Egypt.
I have already described his noble presence and personal
appearance. Upon seeing me he advanced, waving
his attendants to withdraw, and with mingled dignity
and sweetness, that at once won my heart, said:

“I welcome you, noble Prince of Tyre, to Egypt! I
have been engaged in reviewing the army of the Nile,
a day's march hence, and heard but yesterday of your
arrival. I hail you, not as a stranger, but as cousin,
dear Sesostris; for are we not allied by blood?”

“You, my lord prince,” I said, “are descended from
two lines of kings—the Syrian and Theban—I from but
one. But by that one we are indeed of the same blood.
But what is a prince of Tyre, compared with the heir to
the throne of Egypt?”

“We are to be friends and equals,” he said, smiling,
as he pressed my hands. I accepted this pledge of

friendship with grateful emotion, my dear mother; and
from that moment we became as brothers,—he the elder,
I the younger, and looking up to him with admiration
and pride, as henceforth my model of what a prince
should be.

He remained with me three hours. We discoursed of
you, of Tyre, of the beautiful city of Damascus,—my
sword of Damascene steel attracting his notice (for he
is a famous soldier), and leading to the mention of
this city. We talked also of Egypt, and her glory, and
her power; of the queen, his mother, and the manners,
religion, and policy of the kingdom.

But, my dear mother, I will here close this letter, and
in another relate to you what passed at our interview,
and the most interesting portion of his conversation.