 | LETTER VII. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage |  |
7. LETTER VII.
I will now continue the narrative of my interview
with the venerable bond-servant at the fountain or
“well of strangers,” near the treasure-city Raamses.
After the youth had recovered his senses, I was for a
few moments an object of profound surprise to him. He
surveyed me with mingled fear and wonder.
“My lord is good, fear him not, Israel,” said the old
man. The youth looked incredulous, and, had his
strength permitted, would have fled away from me. I
said—
“I am not thy taskmaster! Dread not my presence!”
The tone of my voice reassured him. He smiled gently,
and an expression of gladness lighted up his eyes. A
drop of blood trickled down his forehead and increased
the paleness of his skin.
“What is thy name?” I asked the old man, speaking
in Syriac, for in that tongue I had heard him murmur
the name of his son; and I have since found that all
Hebrews of the older class speak this language, or
rather Syro-Chaldaic. They also understand and speak
the Egyptian vernacular.
“Ben Isaac, my lord!” he answered.
“Art thou in bondage?”
“I and my children, as my fathers were!”
“What brought thee and thy people into this servitude?”
“It is a sad history, my lord! Art thou then a
stranger in Egypt, that thou art ignorant of the story
of the Hebrew?”
“I am a Phœnician. I have been but a few weeks in
Egypt.”
“Phœnicia! That is beyond Edom; nay, beyond
Philistia,” he said musingly. “Our fathers came farther,
even from Palestine.”
“Who were your fathers?”
“Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
“I have heard of them, three princes of Syria, many
generations past!”
“Yes, my lord of Phœnicia,” said the venerable
man, his eyes lighting up; “they were princes in
their land! But, lo! this day behold their children
in bondage! And such a servitude!” he cried, raising
his withered hands heavenward. “Death, my lord,
is preferable to it! How long must we groan in slavery?
How long our little ones bear the yoke of Egypt?”
At this moment one of the footmen of Prince Remeses
found me and said:
“My lord prince seeks for thee!”
I put money in the hands of the venerable Hebrew
and his son, and left them amid their expressions of
grateful surprise. When I rejoined Remeses, he was
already in his chariot. Having placed myself by his
side, he said that he would now drive me around the
walls of the new city, and show me its general plan.
they were to commence the erection of the palace of the
governor the following week.
The wide circuit we made along the plain afforded
me a commanding view of the treasure-city in its progress.
The walls at one part were literally black with
slaves, who like ants traversed them, carrying their
burdens of bricks to those who laid the courses. A
vast pile, built more for strength than beauty, attracted
my notice. “That is one of the twelve great granaries
of the Prince Joseph, which he built one hundred and
fourscore years ago, in the twelve districts of Egypt.
It is still in use as such.” As we passed the gateway, I
perceived that the cartouch was defaced. Remeses said
that this was the act of Amunophis, when he came to
the throne, whose policy was to remove not only every
trace of the rule of the Palestinian kings, but all the
memorials which brought their dynasty to remembrance;
and these granaries of Pharaoh's prime minister,
Iosepf or Joseph, were among the noblest monuments
of the reign of the last of the foreign rulers, the
father of the Princess Ephtha, from whom Remeses is
descended, in the fourth generation only, I believe.
At length we stopped at a beautiful gate of a small
temple dedicated to Apis. Every part of it was minutely
and exquisitely sculptured. It contained a single
shrine, within which was the effigy of the sacred bull,
a cubit in length, of solid gold. Boys dressed in the
finest white linen were the officiating priests. While I
was admiring this miniature edifice and the richness of
all its appointments, Remeses said:—
“This is an affectionate tribute of a mother's love.
in honor of the event. Here she consecrated me
as a boy to the youthful god Horus. I remember
perfectly, the solemn impression the whole scene made
upon my heart and imagination. Once a year I come
hither and pass a night watching before its altar and in
prayer, rather in filial acquiescence with her wishes,
which to me are laws, than from reverence for the
god!”
We had already alighted, and were standing on the
portico of the temple, which was of crescent shape, and
bordered by a row of elegantly veined alabaster columns
from Alabastron, rich quarries of the Pharaohs near the
Cataracts. After examining the temple, and expressing
the admiration which it merited, we were going out,
when I saw a young Hebrew girl flying from the pursuit
of one of the taskmasters. Just as we were entering
the temple, I had seen her passing with many other
females, some laden with straw, others with bunches of
leeks and garlic, which they were taking to the fields
for the dinner of the laborers, who were not permitted
to go to their huts until dark, having left them at the
first blush of dawn to commence their ceaseless toils.
Those women who worked not in the brick-fields were
the providers of food for the rest. This young girl I
had noticed was bending painfully under an intolerable
load of garlic and leeks, which she bore upon her head,
and yet assisting a tottering woman, who was walking
by her side with an equally heavy burden of provisions,
in a coarse wicker-basket. I was struck with the elegance
of her figure and with the beauty of her face, as
well as with her kindness to her companion, when she
have said, when I beheld her flying. As she came near,
she saw the prince, and cast herself at his feet, embracing
them, and exclaiming—
“O my lord—O great and mighty god! mercy!—
save me!”
Remeses regarded her with surprise, and said, sternly,
yet not cruelly—
“What dost thou wish? Why dost thou fly from thy
taskmaster?”
“When I cast down my load and took up my mother's,
who was ready to die, he struck me because I could
not take both together. I would have done it, O lord
prince, but had not the strength.”
“Go back to thy task, young woman. Thou shalt not
be punished for a kind act to thy mother. The gods forbid
we should destroy all filial ties, even among our
slaves.” This last sentence was spoken rather with his
own mind than addressed to any one. “What is this I
hear?” he continued, speaking to the sub-officer, who,
seeing his slave seek the protection of Remeses, had
stopped, a short distance off, expecting to have her sent
back to him. “Didst thou strike this Hebrew girl?”
“She is wilful and intractable, your highness,” answered
the man humbly, “and—”
“Is there not a law forbidding blows to be given to
the females of this people? You will deliver your rod
of office to my chief servant here, and are no longer a
taskmaster. It shall be known, that it is the will of the
queen that women shall have light tasks, that they be
treated leniently, and not made to suffer the punishment
of blows.”
The man, with a downcast face, came forward, and
placed his rod in the hands of the chief servant, who was
the captain of the twelve footmen of the prince's chariot,
and who, at a glance from his master, broke it, and cast
the pieces upon the ground. “Now go, and bring hither
the basket. I will see what are the burdens you place
upon the weak, and, henceforth, they shall be proportioned
to the strength of the bearer.”
The man returned several hundred yards along the
road, and after several strenuous efforts, with great
difficulty lifted the basket, and placed it at the prince's
feet. To the amazement of all about him he stooped
to raise the wicker-basket of leeks from the ground.
Putting forth his strength he lifted it, for he is a man
of great vigor, but immediately setting it down again,
he said, with indignation flashing from his eyes, as he
addressed the disgraced taskmaster—
“Seest thou what thou wouldst compel this frail child
to bear upon her head? Thou art cruel and barbarous!
Bind him! He shall go to prison.”
“My lord, I am not alone—”
“So much the worse. If the abuse is wide-spread, it
is time to correct it, and see that the law of the realm is
observed. Take him away!”
Two of the servants seized him, and, tying his hands
behind him with the thong of one of his own sandals,
led him away into the citadel of Raamses. The Hebrew
girl still kneeled, trembling and wondering. Remeses
spoke to her kindly, no doubt moved by her tears and
extraordinary beauty, and said—
“Go in peace, child. Return to thy mother. Fear
no more the rod of thy taskmasters. The hand of the
with a sword.”
The young girl kissed the sandaled feet of the prince,
and hastened to the spot where she had left her mother
seated on the ground. Remeses, with his eyes, followed
her, and sighed. Who can tell what heavy thoughts
were passing in his mind! When he comes to the
throne, I know him not, my mother, if the condition of
the Hebrews will not be greatly ameliorated, and their
lot rendered far happier. I saw the girl embrace and
raise her mother from the earth, and then supporting
her affectionately, lead her away towards a group of
huts, not far off, in one of which, probably, was their
abode.
“My Sesostris,” said the prince, “walk with me along
this terrace. I have yet to see the governor of the queen's
granaries, and will converse with thee until he arrives.”
The terrace ran along the south side of the low pyramidal
area on which the temple was elevated. From it
there was a lovely view of fields, and gardens, and
groves of palm and orange trees, extending over the land
of Goshen, which is the most fertile and highly-cultivated
portion of Egypt that I have seen. From the terrace,
steps of polished porphyry led to a garden fragrant
with flowers, which were cultivated alongside of the
temple, in order to make of them offerings of chaplets
to the god, who was crowned with them every morning
by the “flower priest.” The office of this dignitary was
as sacred as his who offered incense, which indeed is but
the fragrance of flowers in another form, purified by fire.
In this garden I saw the myrobalanum, with its rich
fruit, out of which a rare ointment is extracted for
an intoxicating fruit, and gives to the priests who eat of
it divining powers; the graceful palma, or sheath for the
palm-flowers; the almond-tree, brilliant with its flowering
branches; the wine-giving myxa; the ivory-palm
fruit, of which censers are made; the mimosa Nilotica,
and the golden olive of Arsinoë. All these grew on one
path, which traversed the garden close to the terrace,
and I enumerate them, dear mother, as I know your horticultural
taste, and that any thing about the plants of
Egypt will gratify you. I have already selected several
of the most beautiful, and intend, by the first ship that
sails for Tyre from the Nile, to forward them to you.
That they may be cared for, and rightly managed when
you receive them, I shall send with them an Egyptian
gardener. I have seen no oaks in Egypt, nor does our
majestic Libanian cedar grow here. It is a land rather
of flowers than of trees. The myrtle is everywhere
seen as an ornamental tree, and is highly odoriferous
in this climate. Here, I saw also the endive, and
the Amaracus, from the latter of which the celebrated
Amaracine ointment, used to anoint the Pharaohs, is expressed.
One bed of variegated flowers, at the end of
the terrace, attracted my attention from their combined
splendor. There were the edthbah, with its proud purple
flower; the ivy-shaped-leaved dulcamara, used by the
priests for sacred chaplets; also the acinos, of which
wreaths are made by maidens, to wear intermingled with
their braided tresses. Above all towered the heliochrysum,
with which the gods are crowned, and by it grew
its rival, the sacred palm, the branches of which are
borne at the feasts of Isis.
There were many other rare and beautiful plants, but
I have enumerated these to show you what a land of
flowers is this sunny land of Osiris and Isis.
The prince, after we had once traversed the terrace in
silence, turned his thoughtful face towards me and said,
betraying what was upon his thoughts—
“Prince, this is the problem of Egypt. Its solution
calls for greater wisdom than belongs to man!”
“You mean the bondage of the Hebrew people?” I
answered, at once perceiving the meaning of his words.
“Yes,” he replied, with a sigh and a grave brow. “I
have promised to acquaint you with their history.
Listen, and as far as I know it you shall have it given
to you. Our records, kept and preserved by the priests
in the Hall of Books in the Temple of the Sun, give the
following account of the origin of this race, which, allowing
for the errors that are interwoven in all mere
tradition, is, no doubt, worthy of credit.
“About four hundred years ago,” says the History of
the Priests, “there arrived in the land of Palestine a
Syrian prince from Mesopotamia or Assyria, with large
flocks and herds; having formed an alliance with Melchisedec,
king of Salem, the two dwelt near one another
in peace and friendship,—for not only was the Assyrian
wise and upright, but the gods were with him, and blessed
and prospered him in all that he did.”
“This Melchisedec the king,” I said, “was also favored
of his god; and his virtues have come down to us fragrant
with the beauty of piety and good deeds.”
“Tradition has been faithful to him,” answered Remeses.
“Among the Arabian priests of Petra he is held as
a god, who came down on earth to show kings how to
Assyria, Abram, was on terms of the closest friendship.
At length a famine arising in the land where he dwelt,
he came down into Egypt just after the invading hosts
of Phœnicia and Palestine had inundated our kingdom,
and conquering On and Memphis, had subdued Lower
Egypt, and set up their foreign dynasty, known as that
of the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings.”
“This history is well known to our archives kept in
the temple of Astarte at Tyre,” I answered; “and therein
we learn that the hero Saites, who had a warlike spirit
which could not find field in Lower Syria, was threatened
by famine, and hearing of the abundance in Egypt
and the splendor of its cities, combined with the enervating
habits which grow out of luxury and unbroken
peace, he conceived the idea of its invasion; and at the
head of an undisciplined but brave army of one hundred
and seventy thousand men, horsemen and footmen, with
three hundred chariots of iron, he descended through
Arabia Deserta, and entered Egypt by the desert of the
sea, capturing and fortifying Ezion-Geber on his march.”
“These particulars are not so fully given by our historians,”
answered Remeses. “This ambitious warrior
having entered the Sethroite country, encamped and
founded a city which he made his arsenal of war; and
from it he sent out his armies and conquered Memphis
and the whole of Lower Egypt. The kings of Egypt,
abandoning to him Lower Egypt, retired with their
court and army to the Thebaïd, and were content to
reign there over half the kingdom, while the haughty
conquerors established their foreign throne at Memphis.
“It was,” continued Remeses, “during the reign of
Bnon, the first Phœnician Pharaoh after the death of
the conqueror, that Abram came into Egypt. He had
known this prince in Palestine when he was in his youth,
and the king gladly welcomed so powerful a lord and
warrior, who had in battle overthrown Chedorlaomer,
the mighty King of Elam, and whose language was
nearly similar to his own. This Prince Abram dwelt in
Egypt during the continuance of the famine in Syria,
and near the court of the king, who not only took him
into his counsels, but lavished upon him great riches.
`But the king,' says the history, `becoming enamored of
the beautiful Princess Sara, the wife of the Lord of
Palestine, Abram removed from his court; and with
great riches of gold, silver, cattle, and servants, marched
out of Egypt into Arabia of the South, and so to his
own city.”'
“It is probably,” I said, “from this fact of Prince
Abram's coming into Egypt about the time that the
Phœnicians came, that some traditions have made him
its conqueror and the founder of the dynasty of the
Shepherd Kings.”
“Yes; for this Abram was not only eminent as a warlike
prince, but his usual retinue was an army, wherever
he moved; and no doubt Bnon, the king, willingly let
him depart when he had offended him, rather than meet
the valor of the arm which had already slain five kings
of the East, and taken their spoil. At length Prince
Abram died and left a son, who succeeded him not
only in his riches but his wisdom. After a time he also
died and left a son, Prince Jacob, who had twelve sons,
all princes of valor—but who, like the Arabians of today,
beloved of his father more than the others; and, moved
by envy, they seized upon him and sold him to a caravan
of the bands of Ishmael, the robber king of Idumea,
as it was on its way to Egypt. These barbarians sold
the young Prince Joseph to an officer of the king's palace,
Potipharis, captain of the guard, whose descendant,
Potiphar-Meses, is the general of cavalry you met at the
queen's banquet. This officer became the friend of the
young Syrian, and raised him to a place of honor in his
household. In the course of time the king, who was
the eminent Pharaoh-Apophis, dreamed a dream which
greatly troubled his mind, and which neither his soothsayers,
magicians, nor the priests could interpret. Joseph,
who was eminent for his piety, love of truth, and
devotion to his God, being in prison—to which, on some
false charge of seeking the love of his master's wife, he
had been committed—had interpreted the dreams of
two prisoners, one of whom, being released and hearing
of the king's dream, sent him word that while in prison
the Hebrew captive had truly interpreted a dream, which
both he and his companion had dreamed. Thereupon
Pharaoh sent for the Hebrew, who interpreted his dream,
which prophesied seven years of great plenty, such as
was never known in Egypt, and seven years to follow
them of such scarcity as no kingdom on earth had ever
suffered from. And when the Hebrew had recommended
the king to appoint an officer to gather in the
corn during the years of plenty, and to husband it in
treasure-houses against the seven years of scarcity, Apophis
at once elevated him to that high position. Removing
from his hand his own signet ring, he placed it
vestures of fine linen and placed a gold chain about his
neck, presented him with the second state-chariot to ride
in, and made him ruler over all his realm, commanding
all men to bow the knee before him as to a prince of the
blood, and second in power only to himself.”
“And these,” I said, glancing at a group of Hebrew
laborers not far off, who were seated upon a ruin eating
garlic and coarse bread for their noon-day meal—“and
these are of the same blood?”
“Yes, Sesostris! But you shall hear their history.
This Joseph reigned in Egypt above threescore years,
holding in his hand the supreme power, save only that
he wore not the crown of Apophis, who, given up to
pleasure or to war, gladly relieved himself of the active
cares of state. But while he was early in power, and
yet a young man, his father and brothers were driven
into Egypt by the seven years' famine, which followed
the seven years of plenty?”
“Then,” I interrupted, “the dream of Pharaoh was
rightly read by the Hebrew youth?”
“In all particulars he interpreted it with the wisdom
of a god, who sees into the future as into the past! But,
to resume my narrative—he recognized his father, Jacob,
and his brethren.”
“Did he make use of his power to punish the latter
for their cruelty in selling him into bondage?”
“On the contrary, he forgave them! At first they
did not recognize their shepherd brother in the powerful
and splendid prince of Egypt, before whom they
came under his name of Hermes-Osiris, which Pharaoh
had conferred upon him.”
“It must have been both a wonderful surprise and a
source of terror to them when they at length found in
whose presence they bowed,” I said, picturing in my
mind the scene when they perceived who he was. I
imagined not only the trembling fear of the men, but
the joy of the venerable father.
“Doubtless a most touching and interesting interview,”
answered Remeses. “Instead of avenging their
cruelty he entertained them in his palace with a banquet,
and afterwards solicited of Pharaoh, who refused
him no request, that his father and brethren might dwell
in the land.”
At this moment a tall Hebrew young man passed,
returning with a proud, free step, having carried his burden
and placed it by a well, which some workmen were
repairing. I gazed upon him with interest, fancying I
beheld in his face the lineaments of the prince of whom
Remeses was talking. I thought, too, the eyes of my
companion followed the youthful bondman, as he went
away, with something like a kindred sentiment; for; as
he discoursed of the glory and virtues of Prince Joseph,
it was impossible that we should not be drawn nearer, as
it were, to these hapless captives of his race.
“It was in this part of Egypt where the Syrian patriarch
dwelt. This very temple is erected upon the site
of his habitation, and from here, as far as you can
see, stretched the rich fields and fertile plains occupied
by him, his sons, and their descendants. Here
they erected cities, most of which were destroyed by the
subsequent dynasty, with all the monuments of Joseph's
power; and here they dwelt for seventy years in peace
and plenty, increasing in numbers, wealth, and intelligence—their
state, and commanding the respect and confidence not
only of the king, but of the Egyptians.”
But, my dear mother, it is time I close this letter.
Until I again take up my pen to write you, remain assured,
I pray you, of my filial reverence and love.
| LETTER VII. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage | |