 | LETTER X. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage |  |
10. LETTER X.
It is with heartfelt pleasure I assure you of the
recovery of the queen. The heart of the noble and devoted
Remeses is lightened of a heavy weight of solicitude.
Smiles once more revisit his features, and cheerfulness
replaces his late depression.
“Sesostris,” said he to me this morning, as we were
returning in his galley from a visit to the pyramids
and vast city of tombs that stretch between Memphis
and the Libyan hills, “if my excellent and dear mother
had died, I should have been made one of the most unhappy
of men. I shall to-morrow, in testimony of my
gratitude, offer in the Temple of Osiris a libation and incense
to the God of Health and Life, wherever in his
illimitable universe such a Being may dwell.”
“Then you would not, my dear Remeses, offer it to
Osiris himself?” I said.
“You have heard, my friend,” he replied, “my views
of these mysteries of faith: that I look, through all material
and vicarious representatives, onward and upward
to the Infinite and Supreme Essence of Life—the Generator,
Upholder, and Guide of the worlds and all that
dwell upon them. From a child I have never entered,
worship. There is something within me which tells me
that we consist of a twofold being—a soul within a body.
The soul must have had a Soul as its creator; therefore,
O Sesostris, do I believe in a Supreme Soul of the universe—the
Fountain of all souls; a Being of thought,
invisibility, intelligence, and reason, each supreme and
eternal; for I can conceive no creator of a Soul, nor end
of its existence. Before all things that actually exist,
and before all beings, there is One Being whom I would
designate, for want of another term, God of gods, prior
to the first god or king of earth, remaining unmoved and
unapproachable in the singleness of His own unity. He
is greater than, as He was prior to, all material things, of
which He is the sole fountain; and He is also the foundation
of things conceived by the intellect, and from His
intellect spring the spirits of the gods and the souls of
men.”
“Then,” said I to the prince, to whom I had listened
with surprise and pleasure—for, mother, similar to these
are the deep mysteries taught by our most sacred priests
of Io, into which I was initiated when I became twenty-five
years of age—“then you believe that God is Intellect
conceiving itself, and that the creation of man was but
the beginning of an infinite series of resistless conceptions
of Himself?”
“Not resistless, but voluntary. Finding Himself existing,
He multiplied Himself, for His own glory and delight
primarily; and secondly, for the happiness of the
offspring of His Intellect.”
“We are then His offspring, that is, our souls?”
“Without doubt, if my theories be founded in truth,”
and the forty-four rowers of our gilded barge were slowly
dipping their brazen-mounted oars into the glassy water,
while with gentle motion we were borne towards the
isle of palaces and terraces. Our heads were shaded from
the sun by a silken pavilion stretched above the stern
of the galley, under which we reclined upon sumptuous
cushions as we conversed. Remeses, however, is by no
means a voluntary seeker of luxurious ease; but in
Egypt, where splendor and voluptuous furniture everywhere
invite to indulgence, one must either deprive himself
of all comforts, for the sake of enduring hardship, or
yield unchallenging to the countless seductive forms of
couches, lounges, chairs, and sofas, which everywhere,
on the galleys and in houses, offer themselves to his
use.
The air was balmy and soft, and fanned our faces;
while the beautiful shores, lined with villas of the chief
men of the court, afforded a grateful picture to the
eye. Our rowers let their sweeps fall and rise to the
low and harmonious time of a river chant, which, while
it inspired conversation between the prince and myself,
did not disturb, but rather veiled our subdued voices.
“Do you believe there are lesser gods?” I asked.
“Do you mean, Sesostris, beings higher in rank than
men, and so created, to whom the Supreme Intellect of
the Universe delegates a part of His authority and power
over man and nature? Such, in its purity, is our Egyptian
idea of gods.”
“Such is not the Phœnician,” I answered, hesitatingly;
for I felt how far in advance of the hero demigods
of our Assyrio-Median mythology was the Egyptian theological
idea held by Remeses, that they are celestial princes
under the Supreme Prince, created as his servants, yet
so far above men as to be as gods to us, took fast hold of
my imagination, and commended itself to my intellect.
“What, my dear Sesostris, is the mythology of your
country?” he asked, with a look of deep interest. “I
have read some of your sacred books, and from them I
perceive we obtain our myths of Isis, Mars, Hercules,
Vulcan, and even Venus, who is your Astarte and our
Athor. We owe much of our religion and learning to
you Tyrians, my Sesostris.”
“The recipient has become mightier than the giver,”
I replied. “Without doubt you have received from us
the great invention of the phonetic alphabet, which your
scholars are already making use of, though I learn the
priests oppose it as an invasion upon the sacred writing
of the hieroglyphic representations. I have seen here
many rolls of papyrus written in our Phœnician letter,
in the vernacular Koptic words, and executed with taste
and beauty.”
“It is not pictorial, and therefore the priests, who
are all artists and lovers of colors, reject it. It will be
slowly introduced. Upon obelisks and tombs the brilliant
and varied hieroglyphic writing will continue, even
though the records and rolls may by and by be written
with the Tyrian alphabet. You have seen my Chaldaic
letter, which I have formed partly on the model of your
great Kadmus, and partly on the sacred characters, reducing
forms of things to outlines and strokes of the
stylus. This I invented, hoping to introduce it into
Egypt, if the Tyrian letter is opposed by our priests, on
see fit to regard them, and speak of them. But, my Sesostris,
let me learn of you something of your mythology.”
I was about to reply, when my attention was attracted
to a “procession of the dead” crossing the river just
above us, the body being placed in a gorgeous car
which stood in a richly painted and gilded baris, with a
curved prow carved with the head of Osiris. It was
tied to a barge, with twenty rowers, which moved to
a slow and solemn strain of music that came wildly
floating across the waters to our ears, mingled with the
wails of mourners who crowded the deck of the galley;
chiefly women with long dishevelled hair and naked
breasts, which they beat frantically at times, with piercing
cries. Through a small window in the ark or car I
could see the painted visage upon the head of the mummy
case.
It soon landed, and we resumed our conversation.
“You are aware, O prince,” I said, turning to him,
“that Phœnicia was settled among the first of the nations,
after Typhon sent the flood of waters to destroy
Osiris upon earth. Of course you Egyptians believe in
the universal inundation of the earth?”
“The tradition is well-founded,” he answered. “We
believe that mighty nations existed aforetime, beyond
the history of any kingdom, and that for their evils the
Divine Creator of men brought upon them as punishment
a mighty unknown sea, which drowned the world:
that Menes, a great and good king, also called Noe-Menes,
was spared by the gods, he with all his family
being saved in a ship of the old world, which sailed to
the mountains of Arabia Deserta, where, guided by a
Menes, descending from the mountain, founded Egypt,
first building This, or Thebis, and then Memphthis, dividing
Egypt into the Thinite and Memphite provinces;
and so from Egypt all the world was repeopled.
“Such is our tradition, O Remeses,” I said, smiling,
“only instead of a mountain in Arabia, it was Libanus,
in Syria, to which his galley was guided, not by a dove,
but by a raven; and that his name was Ammon, or
Hammun; and that the first city built was Sidon, and
the next the city of the Island of Tyre.”
Remeses returned my smile and said, “No doubt there
was a disposition in all our forefathers to give the honor
of being the oldest nation to their own. Ham-mun is
also a person in our Egyptian tradition, but is called
the son of Menes; who, rebelling against his father,
was driven from This or Thebis into Africa, where he
founded Libya, and erected to himself, as a god, the ancient
temple and worship of Ammon. From him come
the Nubians and Ethiopians.”
“Then I will claim no traditionary alliance with him,”
I answered good-humoredly. “Our Ammon was called
also Hercules, and the first temple of the earth was built
to him on the rocky isle of ancient Tyre. Then Belus, the
hero and warrior-god, and founder of Babylon, became
the patron of Tyre; and a noble temple was also erected
to Nimrod, who slew the wild beasts that swarmed in
ancient Syria, and who became the protector of shepherds
and agriculture. Thus came our first gods, being men
deified; while yours are but attributes, or created celestial
powers, high above men; or animated forms representing
the Deity incarnate and comprehensible to the
like your Osiris, is the symbol of the sun, which, of
burnished gold, he displayed upon his shield in battle.
In Phœnicia we call him `the Lord of the Sun,' and the
`Sun-God.' We pay him divine honors by sacrifices,
libations, and offerings of incense. And this recalls a discovery
I recently made in On, that the true meaning of
Re and of On is not `the City of the Sun,' but the `Lord
of the Sun's' city; that is, the city of Osiris, who is the
lord of the sun. This meaning of the name at once removes
from On the impression which was at first made
upon my mind, that you, and the queen, and your whole
court, worshipped the sun as the Persic and Parthian
nations do; whereas it is Osiris, the Lord of the Sun, that
is the Supreme god, generator, producer, and creator of
the sun and all things that are. No sooner had I made
this discovery, which I did by conversing with the high-priest
of On, than I perceived that whatsoever grossness
may be found in the religion of the lower castes of the
people, who seldom see beyond the symbol, the theology
of the wise and great is free from idolatry.”
“I am glad you justify us in this matter, dear Sesostris,”
answered the prince. “We are not idolaters like
the Persian and Barbara kings. Our sacred books teach
an intellectual and spiritual theology. But, as I have
before said to you, the Invisible is so veiled from the
people, by the visible forms under which he is offered to
them by the priesthood, that while we adore the God of
power and strength in Apis, they worship the bull himself:
while we in the form of Horus, with his uræus and
disk, adore Him who made him a benefactor to men and
a pursuer of evil, they bow down to the hawk-headed
of stone. But I interrupt you. Proceed, if you please,
with the account of the origin of your country's religion.”
“I have not much more to add of interest,” I answered,
“save of Adonis and Astarte.”
“Are not these your Osiris and Isis?” asked the prince
readily.
“I will first explain,” said I, not immediately answering
his question, “what we in Phœnicia think of Isis.
The priests teach that the identity of the goddess Io, who
is worshipped with rites unusually imposing at Byblos,
is one with Isis.”
“What is your opinion, Sesostris?”
“There is,” I answered, “a close resemblance between
the rites which relate to the death and revival of
Adonis at Byblos, and of your divinity Osiris in Egypt.
Indeed the priests at Byblos claim to have the sepulchre
of Osiris among them, and maintain that all the rites
which are commonly referred to Adonis properly relate
to Osiris.”
“Then Egypt derives Osiris from Phœnicia?” remarked
Remeses, with a slight movement of the brows,
and a smile.
“Without doubt,” I replied. “In Tyre we call Egypt
the daughter of Phœnicia.”
“The daughter has out-grown the mother, dear Sesostris.
We are proud of our parentage. We bow to
Phœnicia as the mistress of letters and queen of the
merchants of the earth. But what think the priests of
Baalbec of Osiris and Isis?”
“It is the tradition of those haughty priests that they
are distinct persons,” I replied. “The ceremonies and
magnificent, and are invested with every form of the
beautiful and gorgeous. Ours, as I have said, in some
points resemble your Egyptian rites in honoring Osiris
and Isis; but while you Egyptians, Remeses, adore only
an abstract attribute of the deity, we adore the hero
and the heroic woman—Adonis and Astarte. We rise
not beyond them. We elevate them to the heavens and
to the moon, and call them our gods. Truly, in the
presence of the sublimer, purer myth which is the element
of your faith, O Remeses, I feel that I am not far
above the Barbara kings of Southern Africa, who deify
each his predecessor. The priests of Isis, when they
were in Phœnicia, attempted to elevate our worship;
but we are still idolaters, that is, mere men-worshippers.
Or, where we do not pay them divine honors, we offer
them to the sun, and moon, and stars. I must be
initiated, O Remeses, into the profounder intellectual
mysteries of your spiritual myth, now that I am in
Egypt.”
“You shall have your wish gratified. The high
priest of On shall receive orders to open to you (what
is closed to all strangers) the sacred and mystic rites of
our faith.”
“I have alluded to the mysteries of the temple at
Tyre,” I added. “Initiated thereinto, I was taught that
religion had a higher object than human heroes, and
that in Astarte is worshipped the daughter of Heaven
and Light, who is LIFE, and that Adonis, her son by the
Earth, signifies Truth. Thus from heaven spring Light,
Life, and Truth. These three, say the mystic books
which I studied, constitute the Trinity of God, who consists
unit; not Light alone, not Life alone, nor Truth alone;
but One in Three. That these three are not three
deities, just as in geometry the three sides and three
angles are not three triangles, but one triangle. That in
order to bring this mystery to a level with the minds of
men, light was symbolized by the sun, life by Astarte,
truth by Adonis. In the temple of Bel-Pheor, in Cœle-Syria,
the sun itself is worshipped as light, life, and truth
in one; his rays representing light, his heat life, his
material disk or body truth.”
“This is interesting to me, Sesostris,” said Remeses.
“It explains to me what I did not before understand,
why the Syrians worship the sun. To them it is the
majestic symbol of the trinity of deity. But I fear that
in Egypt he is worshipped as an idol; for he, doubtless,
is worshipped by many, and in many cities are temples
to him. But this material worship, which separates the
symbol from the truth behind it, was introduced by the
Palestinian dynasty, and it is almost the only trace it
has left in Egypt of its presence. The worship of Osiris,
rightly understood, is the worship of the deity, as revealed
in our sacred books. But the mystery of his
trinity is unknown to our theology. Have you many
temples of the sun in Tyre?”
“One only,” was my answer, “but worthy, if I may
so say, from its splendor, to stand in your city of `the
Lord of the Sun,' as I must call it.”
“Is there not a city of your kingdom called Baal-phegor,
in which is a famous sun-temple?”
“You mean Baalbec, the same words, only changed
slightly. This city deserves its great fame, so grand are
the sun before its altars, so gorgeous the interiors of its
temples, so rich the apparel of its priests, so sublime its
choral worship. It is in Syrio-Euphrates, and is so shaded
by palms that it has the aspect, in approaching it across
the desert, of being an oasis filled with temples.”
“Is not Phœnicia a lovely land, Sesostris?” he asked,
at the same time returning the salutation of the admiral,
Pathromenes, who passed in his war-galley, on his way
to join the Prince Mœris, whose fleet sails to-morrow on
its expedition. I was glad, also, to behold again my courteous
friend of the Pelusian coast, and cordially received
and answered his polite and pleased recognition of my
person.
“It is indeed a lovely land, with its verdant plains,
majestic mountains clothed with cedar, and beautiful
but narrow rivers. It is covered with fair cities from
the peninsula of Tyre to the further limits of Cœle-Syria,
and is a rich and lovely kingdom, populous and happy.
Its two great cities, Tyre and Sidon, are called the eyes
of the world.”
“I have so heard,” he answered, “and when this Ethiopian
war ends, and I find time to be absent, I hope to
cross the sea to your kingdom and see `the mother of
Egypt,' as she also calls herself; `the merchant of the
seas,' whose galleys have discovered in unknown oceans,
beyond the Pillars of the West, the isles of the blessed.”
“So report our bold and venturous mariners,” I answered.
“We who stay at home, know not, Sesostris, what
marvels lie beyond the seas at the extremity of the plane
of the earth's vast area. It is possible that islands and
wheels over the West to return to his rising in the Orient;
and if we credit mariners who follow the shores
of the Arabian and Indian seas, there are fair shores
from whence come off to them breezes laden with fragrance
of unknown flowers, while birds of rare melody
fill the air with their songs by day; but at night the
odorant forests echo with the dread roar of fierce
monsters, that guard the shores from the invasion of
man!”
“I have sailed along those shores, if I may be so bold
as to speak in such a presence, my lord prince,” interrupted
the captain of the galley, who had stood by listening
to our discourse.
“Say on, Rathos,” answered the prince courteously.
“What have you to tell of marvels on foreign seas?”
“The lands at the earth's end, your excellency, are
not like ours of Egypt. I have seen isles where the
men are like larger monkeys, and have a language no
one understands, and build their houses in the trees.
Evil demons I doubt not, or else souls sent back to earth
from Amenthe, by Osiris, to atone for crimes in monstrous
forms, neither human nor beast!”
“I have heard of these creatures,” said I. “How far
hast thou sailed, O Rathos?”
“To the very edge of the world, my lord of Tyre,” he
answered quietly. “I was in a ship going to Farther
Ind. In sailing round the end of the earth we lost the
shore in a dark storm; and when day came we saw only
sky and water. All were in consternation to be thus
between heaven and sea, and no land to guide our course.
To add to our terror, I perceived that we were borne
in velocity, and I soon saw that we must be approaching
the verge of the vast and horrid gulf, over which
the full ocean plunges, a thousand leagues in breadth,
prone into chaos and the regions of the lost spirits of the
unburied souls of men! But by the interposition of the
god of winds, to whom I vowed a libation and a bale of
the richest spices of Bengal, a great storm swept over
the sea against us, and before it we fled as with wings,
until we came to a great island, under the shelter of
which we anchored, rejoicing in our safety.”
“Verily, brave Rathos, thou wert in a great peril,” I
said. “Thinkest thou it was at the world's end?”
“So said the king of the island, and he congratulated
us on our escape; saying that few ships, when once
upon that downward tide, ever returned again to the top
of the earth.”
“Thinkest thou the earth is square, Rathos, from what
voyages thou hast made?” I asked of the gray-haired
captain, whose silvery locks were braided around his
head, and covered by a green embroidered bonnet, with
a fringed cape falling to his neck.
“Or a triangle, my lord prince; but some say four
square, with a burning mountain at each angle.”
“Which is thine own opinion, Rathos?” asked the
prince, who had been listening to our conversation.
“That it is irregular and jagged, my lord of Egypt,
in shape not unlike this fair Isle of Rhoda, at which we
are about to land.”
“And what thinkest thou, Rathos, is its foundation?”
continued the prince.
“The Indian wise men say it is held up on the back of a
vast ocean; while in Jaffa they teach that it floats on a
boundless sea of fire. I know not, my lord prince. I
leave knowledge of such wisdom to the great philosophers;
and for my part am content to live upon our fair
earth as long as the gods will, be it fire, or tortoise, or
even though it stand on nothing, as the people in Persia
hold that it does. But we are at the terrace-steps, my
lord of Memphis!”
Here he bowed low, holding his hand to his heart,
and left us to superintend the landing of the galley, at
the porphyry staircase of the propylæum of the palace.
“Sesostris,” said the prince to me, “has the idea occurred
to you that this world may be a globe, suspended
in subtle ether, and in diurnal revolution around the
fixed sun?”
“Never, Remeses!” I cried, with a look of amazement
at this bold and original thought. “It is impossible
it should be so!”
“Nothing is impossible with the Author of creation!”
said Remeses, with great solemnity. And, then, after
an instant's pause, he added pleasantly—“On what does
the sea of fire or the tortoise rest, my dear prince?
Which theory is the most difficult to receive? But I
have given astrology considerable attention, and if you
will examine with me some observations and calculations
that I have made, I think you will be with me in
my novel opinion, that this earth may prove to be a
sphere and in orbitual motion, with its seven planets,
about the sun; its annual progress in its circuit giving
us seasons, its diurnal motion night and day! But
I see you stand perplexed and amazed. By and by
Let us land!”
Farewell, dear mother. The great length of this letter
renders it necessary that I should close it abruptly,
but believe me ever
| LETTER X. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage | |