 | LETTER XI. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage |  |
11. LETTER XI.
In my last letter I narrated a conversation between
Prince Remeses and myself, upon the myths of
Egypt and Phœnicia, and other subjects, while being
borne in his galley from the Memphis bank of the river
down to the Island of Rhoda. I have already described
this beautiful isle, and spoken of it as the favorite residence
of the queen. It is situated nearly midway
between her two chief cities, On and Memphis, both of
which—one on the west and the other on the east—are
in sight from the top of the central pylon of her palace,
that divides the “court of fountains and statues” from
her gardens.
Also from this point the queen commands, at one
view, the noble spectacle of her navy anchored in the
river, and her armies encamped, the one on the plain of
Memphis, and the other upon that of Raamses.
I wrote you a letter day before yesterday, my dear
mother, after my return from a very interesting visit to
the plain of Memphis, whither the prince went in his
state barge to review the 80,000 soldiers encamped
there. I will devote this letter to an account of a
and a narration of the events which transpired.
Early this morning, when the queen and Remeses
and I were about to be seated at our repast; and, as the
pious custom of the Egyptians of all ranks is, Remeses
having just asked the blessing of the gods before partaking,
lo! Prince Mœris, lord of the Thebaïd, came in
unannounced, accompanied by his favorite lion, which
always follows his steps or stalks by his side, and said,
with bluntness unsuited to the presence—
“Your majesty, I have come to say to you that I am
ready to weigh anchor and commence my voyage to the
Cataracts! I await your orders and pleasure!”
Thus speaking, he stood with his head-admiral and
half a dozen of his chief officers behind him in the
entrance, his sword at his side, and his gold helm with
its nodding plumes towering proudly. His whole appearance
was singularly splendid and martial, and he
seemed to be conscious of the effect the striking elegance
and brilliancy of his costume produced upon me;
for, though brave as Osirtasen the Conqueror, he is as
vain as ever was the fair Princess Nitocris.
Queen Amense, who enjoined the strictest etiquette
in her court, frowned at this discourteous intrusion; for
the nobles of Lower Egypt are remarkable by the grace
and refinement of their manners, and the court of the
Pharaohs has for ages been distinguished for the high
tone of its polite observances. From portico to saloon,
from saloon to ante-room, from ante-room to reception-room,
and so onward to the deepest recesses of the
palace or house, the guest is ushered by successive
pages, until the chief steward or grand-chamberlain
who already, by a swift page, has been informed of the
advance of the visitor. In no case are these formalities
dispensed with by persons of high breeding. Breaking
through all such ancient and social ceremonies, the rude
Theban viceroy came before her as I have described.
The brow of Remeses darkened, but he preserved silence.
“I am glad, prince, that you have been so diligent,”
said Amense, coldly. “When will you depart?”
“Within the hour, my royal aunt. If Remeses, my
warlike cousin, wishes to co-operate with me at Thebes,
he will not long delay marching his army forward. I
hear, by a swift galley just arrived, that the fierce Ethiopian
king, Occhoris, with half his mighty host, has
already dared to enter the Thinite province, and menaces
Thebes!”
“There is no time for delay, then,” cried Remeses,
rising from the table, leaving the grapes, figs, and
wheaten rolls untouched. “Farewell, my mother!” he
said, embracing her. “In a few weeks I shall return to
you with tidings that the scourge of your kingdom has
perished with his armies!”
I will not describe the tenderness of the parting between
the queen and Remeses, whom she would have
held, refusing to release him, if he had not gently disengaged
himself, taken up his sword and helmet, and
hastened from the apartment. Prince Mœris, with a
haughty bow to the queen, for whom he seems to entertain
bitter dislike, had already taken his departure with
his captains at his heels. I followed Remeses, and
together we crossed to the shore on the side of On, and
there meeting chariots, we were in a short time in the
were encamped several stadia south of On, on the plain
beyond Raamses. Here, in the little Temple of Horus,
on the terrace of which we held our conversation about
the Hebrews as we paced its long pavement (and
which I have already repeated to you), the prince
with his chief captains offered libations and burned incense,
invoking the favor and aid of Heaven on the
expedition. He then gave his orders to his generals of
division, chiefs of legions, and captains; and the whole
host, forming in column of march, moved forward towards
the south, with trumpets sounding and the rumbling
thunder of thousands of wheels of iron. Seeing
that they were all in motion—each battalion under its
own head-captain—the prince took boat to cross the Nile
to the plain of Memphis, in order to put in motion the
army of horse and foot there encamped. On our way
over, we saw the van of the fleet of the Prince of Thebes
coming up the broad river in stately style, fifty abreast,
propelled by innumerable oars. It was a brave and
battle-like front, and what with pennons flying, spears
and shields gleaming from their poop-decks and masttowers,
and the brazen or gilt insignia of hawks', eagles',
lions', or ibis' heads rising upon a thousand topmasts,
and all catching the sunbeams, the spectacle was singularly
impressive.
“There comes a prince, my Sesostris,” said Remeses
to me, as he surveyed the advancing front of war,
“who, if I should fall in this Ethiopian expedition, will
be Pharaoh of Egypt when my mother dies.”
“The gods forbid!” I exclaimed with warmth.
“He is the next of blood. It is true, my mother
sceptre upon any one she chose to adopt. Indeed, I
now remember that, by our laws, it would be necessary
for her publicly and ceremoniously to adopt him as her
son before he could reign—since a nephew, by the ancient
Memphitic law regulating succession, cannot inherit.
Mœris would, therefore, have to be adopted.”
“Then he would never reign,” I said.
Remeses remained silent a moment. Resuming, he
said, with a tone of indignant emotion—
“Sesostris, my mother fears that evil young prince.
He possesses over her an inexplicable power. To this
influence he owes his elevation, from being a mere governor
of Saïs, to the viceroyalty of Upper Egypt. He
would not fail, should I fall, to exert his mysterious
power over her mind, and his ambition would prompt
him to aim at even the throne of all Egypt. But let us
mount!” he added, as we touched the shore.
A score of horsemen, armed with long spears, were in
waiting. Remeses and I mounted horses already provided;
and, at a wave of his hand, the whole party
dashed off along the avenue of the aqueduct, a magnificent
thoroughfare, two miles in length, bordered by palm-trees,
with, at intervals, a monolith statue of red Syenite
granite, or an obelisk, casting its needle-like shadow
across the wide, paved road. At the end of this avenue,
which leads straight from the river to the pyramids, we
turned south, and before us beheld, spread out as far
as the eye could reach, the tented field of the vast
Egyptian host, cavalry and footmen of all arms, languages,
and costumes, belonging to the nations tributary
to Egypt. I had visited this vast camp the preceding
of tents, banners, plumes, spears, and shining helms.
As we came in sight, a trumpeter sounded a few loud
notes to proclaim the presence of the prince-general.
We dashed up to the central pavilion, on the summit of
which the winged sun of burnished gold showed that the
army was to march under the particular guardianship of
the god. From the summit of the staff of other handsome
tents, the emblems of generals and chiefs of battalions
were displayed in the form of silver hawks' heads,
the brazen head of a lion or wolf, or the heads of the
ibis, crocodile, and vulture. Each phalanx thus marched
under and knew its peculiar emblem, following its lead
in the column of advance on the march, and rallying
around it in the midst of battle.
Prince Remeses was in a few moments surrounded by
his generals and chief warriors, to whom he made known
the advance of the Ethiopian king, Occhoris, upon
Thebes,—intelligence of which he and the queen had
received by a mounted messenger, while Prince Mœris,
who had come to announce it also, was in her apartment.
In a few words he made known his orders to each general
in succession, who, making a low military obeisance,
by bowing the head and turning the sword-point
to the earth, instantly departed to their divisions. The
general-in-chief in immediate command he retained by
his side, with his gorgeous staff of officers. In a few
minutes all was life and movement throughout the tented
field. In four hours the whole army—their tents
struck and conveyed to barges, together with all other
military impediments not necessary for the soldiers
on their march—was formed into a hollow square on
inward to a temple of their war-god, Ranpo-re, which
stood on the plain. This was a small but beautiful
temple, or marble pavilion, in the form of a peristyle,
with brazen columns, dedicated to the Egyptian Mars.
It was erected in this martial plain by Amunophis I.,
for the purpose of sacrifices and oblations, and of offering
libations and incense for armies assembled about it
before marching on warlike expeditions. The circle of
columns was cast from the shields and weapons which
he had taken in his Arabian and Asiatic wars.
The chief priest of Mars, who is a prince in rank, and
allied to the throne, attended by more than one hundred
inferior priests, advanced from the inner shrine upon a
marble terrace, in the centre of which stood the iron-columned
pavilion that inclosed the shrine of the god.
He was attired in a grand and imposing costume, having
a tiara, adorned by a winged sun sparkling with jewels,
and the sacred uræus, encircling his brows. He wore a
flowing robe of the whitest linen, descending to his feet.
A loose upper cape of crimson, embroidered with gold,
and having flowing sleeves, was put on over the robe.
Still above this was a breastplate of precious stones, in
the form of a corselet, while the tiara partook also of
the martial form, being shaped like a helmet, with the
sacred asp of gold projecting in front as a visor. Above
all this, hanging from his left shoulder, was a splendid
leopard's skin, heavy with a border of closely woven
rings of gold. As he advanced, he extended in his right
hand a short sword, the hilt of which was a crux, or
the sacred cross-shaped Tau, surmounted by a ball, the
whole being an emblem of life; while in his helmet
feathers—the evenness and symmetry with which the
feathery filaments grow on each side of their stem having
suggested to the Egyptians the adoption of this
emblem; for order and truth, according to Egyptian
philosophy, are the foundation and preservation of the
universe.
Having reached the front of the lofty terrace, upon
which was an altar of brass, he raised his left arm by
throwing back the superb leopard-skin mantle; and, elevating
his commanding form to its full grandeur, he
turned slowly round, pointing heavenward with his left
hand, and holding his sword, as it were, over the army
as he turned, until with it he had swept the circle of
the horizon. This was an invocation to all the gods
for a blessing upon the assembled hosts. During the
act, every general bowed his head as if to receive it,
every soldier lowered his weapon, and at its conclusion,
all the music bands in the army before him simultaneously
burst into an overwhelming sound—drums, trumpets,
cornets, cymbals, filling the air with their mingled
roll! Silence deep as night then succeeded; and the
high-priest, facing the shrine, stood while a company of
priests rolled out from the door of the temple the statue
of the god, clad in full armor of steel, inlaid with gold,
a jewelled helmet upon his head, and a spear in his right
hand. It was of gigantic size, and standing in an attitude
of battle, upon a lofty chariot of burnished brass,
with wheels of iron. It was an imposing and splendid
figure, and a just image of war. The priests, who
wheeled the car out of the temple, having drawn it once
all around the terrace, so that the whole army could behold
hailed by striking their swords upon their shields, or
swords against swords), stopped in front of the prince-priest.
He then prostrated himself before it, the profoundest
silence and awe prevailing during the few moments
he remained upon his face at the feet of the deity.
When he rose and turned to the west, the Prince Remeses
and all his captains advanced to the steps of the
pyramidal base on which the temple was elevated. Each
captain was followed by a Nubian slave, bearing in a
sacred vase the offering of his own phalanx of soldiers.
Remeses bore in his hand a costly necklace, dazzling
with precious stones, the offering of his mother. The
generals and captains came with flowers, chains of gold,
the lotus-leaf made of ivory, and sparkling with jewels
scattered upon it in imitation of dewdrops. Some bore
swords, and spears, and plumes.
Remeses, at the head of his officers, ascended the
steps and presented to the priest his mother's offering,
which he placed over the head of the god. He then
laid a sword, brought for the purpose, at the feet of the
statue; but, as he afterwards explained to me, and as I
understood, not as an offering to a mythical Mars, but to
the Infinite God of armies, whom the statue symbolized;
yet I could see that the greater part of his officers paid
their homage and made their offerings to the mere
material statue. Such is the twofold idea attached,
either by one or another class of devotees, dear mother,
to all worship in Egypt. They do one thing and mean
another; of course I speak of the priests, princes, and
philosophers. As for the people, they mean what they
do when they offer a libation or an invocation to a statue.
When the chief captains had presented their offerings,
and the high-priest had either decorated the god with
them, or laid them upon the altar of brass, then came
the Nubian slaves, laden with the gifts of the soldiers.
There were sixty of these offering-bearers, and in procession
they ascended the terrace, each with a painted
earthen vase upon his shoulder. One after another
they deposited them around the over-burdened altar
and descended to the plain, not daring to lift their eyes
to the god, so near to whose presence they came. It
was my privilege to stand always by the side of Remeses,
who desired me to witness the scene.
The vases contained every imaginable article that, at
the moment, a common soldier might have about his
person. There were rings of silver, of copper, of wood,
of glass; dried figs, tamarinds, dates, and raisins; garlics,
leeks, onions, bits of inscribed papyrus, palm-leaves,
flowers innumerable, scarabæi of burnt clay, pebbles,
and metal; seeds of the melon and radish, and incensegum;
little clay images of Mars, of various weapons,
and of Osiris. There were also myrrh, resin, and small
pots of ointment; pieces of iron, fragments of weapons,
locks of hair, shreds of linen, and bits of ostrich feathers;
beans, sandal-clasps, charms, amulets, and even tiny
bottles of wine. Indeed, to enumerate what met my
eyes in the vases, which the common soldiers in their
piety voted to the god, praying for a successful campaign,
would fill the page on which I write, and give
you the name of nearly every thing to be found in
Egypt.
When all these offerings had been received by the
high-priest, and while the prince and his officers stood
one article from each vase being brought to him, he
laid it upon the altar, and then, in a solemn manner, invoked
the god, asking him to accept the offerings of this
great army, and of its prince and captains, and to grant
them victories over their foes, and a return to their
queen crowned with conquest and glory.
In his prayer I could see that he elevated his noble
countenance to the heavens, as if, in his mind, mentally
overlooking the inanimate statue before him, and directing
his thoughts to the Invisible and Supreme Dweller
in the secret places of His universe beyond the sun!
Remeses stood in a devotional attitude, but with his
thoughtful brow bent to the ground. I could perceive,
now that we had conversed so much together upon these
divine things, that he was worshipping, in the depths
of his heart, the God of gods, wherever that Dread and
Mighty Power is enthroned on the height of His universe,
or the wings of the imagination can go out to
Him and find Him.
The great invocatory prayer ended, the high-priest received
from Remeses a votive crystal box of the fragrant
Ameracine ointment—a gift so costly and precious that
only the princes and the priests are permitted to possess
it—and broke it upon the breast of the god, anointing
him in the name of the people of Egypt. The odor
filled all the air. A priest then handed to him a golden
cup richly chased with sacred symbols, and another,
filling it from a vase of wine, the offering of the chief
Archencherses, who is next in military rank to Remeses,
he elevated it a moment, and poured it out at the feet of
the god as a libation for the hosts. Some other interesting
a sword to the prince, and the touching of the altar
by all the chiefs with the points of their weapons as they
passed it in descending to the field, the high-priest
sprinkling each one of them with sacred water from the
Nile. The last act of sacrifice—for, though bloodless,
the Egyptians term the whole rite a sacrifice to the god
—was by Remeses. The high-priest placed in his hands
a censer—for the prince, by virtue of his rank, is a royal
priest; and Remeses, accepting it with reverence, cast
upon the live coals of palm-wood a quantity of incense.
Then approaching the altar, he waved it before it until
clouds of smoke rose into the air and enveloped his
head.
At this moment, the most sacred one of the whole
scene, there appeared advancing from the pavilion-temple
a beautiful maiden, the daughter of the high-priest.
She was arrayed in a pure white robe, which floated
about her in the wind like a cloud. Over her shoulders
was thrown a crimson scarf, on which was embroidered
the cartouch of the god. Her rich, flowing hair was
bound about her stately brow by a crown of flowers,
above which rose a silver helm with a crest of emeralds
and sapphires, in imitation of the feathery coronet of the
bird-of-paradise. Her face was wonderfully beautiful,
her dark eyes beamed with love and joy, and her form
was the impersonation of grace.
As she advanced, the priests on either side drew back
with their hands crossed upon their foreheads, and their
heads bent lowly before her presence. Coming forward
between the two rows of officials, she shook in the air
above her head a small temple bell called the sistrum,
little musical instrument is sacred to the services of the
temples, and the sound of it is the signal for the beginning
or ending of every rite. That which was now
borne by the high-priest's daughter consisted of a cylindrical
handle of pearl, surmounted by a double-faced
head of ivory, one side being that of Isis, the other of
Nephthys. From this twofold head rose a silver almond-shaped
bow about five inches high, inlaid with gold and
precious stones. In this bended loop of metal were inserted
four metallic bars in the shape of asps, upon the
body of which were loosely strung several silver rings.
As the maiden held this beautiful instrument in the air,
and shook it, the rings, moving to and fro upon the bars,
produced the clear bell-like sounds I have mentioned.
In ancient times so great was the privilege of holding the
sacred sistrum in the temple, it was given to the queens;
and on great occasions Amense has performed this
high office. On an obelisk, now old, the daughter of
Cheops is represented holding the sistrum while the
king is sacrificing to Thoth. Though I have said little
about the Egyptian females, as in truth I have seen but
little of them, yet I ought not to omit to tell you that
some of the most sacred offices are intrusted to distinguished
women, in the services of temples. I have seen
not only priests' daughters, but ladies of rank and
eminent beauty, holding these places; and in On there
is a band of noble young ladies having the distinguished
title of “Virgins of the Sun,” who devote their lives
until they are thirty years of age, to certain principal
services of the temples of Osiris and Isis. Indeed, my
dear mother, in Egypt woman is singularly free, and
and honored, both as wife and mother, and
her social relations are of the most unrestrained and
agreeable kind. In all houses, she is prepared gracefully
to do honor to her lord's guests; and while she is
devoted to domestic duties, prides herself upon her skill
and taste at home; abroad, at banquets and evening
festivals, which are frequent, and where there is music
and dancing, she shines with all the charms she can
borrow from splendor of attire, or derive from inherent
loveliness of person; while a profusion of jewels upon
her hands and neck reveal her wealth and rank.
When the prince saw her advancing, he approached
the statue with his censer, and waving it once in the
sight of the army, hung it upon the spear of the god.
The sistrum sounded as the incense rose, and every man
of that vast host bent his knee for a moment! Then the
high-priest commenced a verse of a loud chant in a
sonorous voice. The one hundred priests marching, in
procession around the god, answered antiphonally with
one voice in a part; and, the whole army catching up
the hymn, the very pyramids seemed to tremble at the
thunder of eighty thousand deep voices of men rolling
along the air. Then Remeses chanted a few stirring words
of this national and sacred war-hymn, the high-priest
answered, the maiden's clear voice rose in a melodious
solo, the hundred priests caught up the ravishing strain
as it melted from her lips in the skies, and again the
great army uttered its voice! My heart was oppressed
by the sublimity. Tears of emotion filled my eyes. I
never was more deeply impressed with the majesty of
the human voice, united in a vast multitude, uttered as
human race—if such a thing could be—must be like the
voice of God when He speaks!
The invocation and sacrifice were over. Remeses
embraced the priest, and receiving his blessing, in a few
minutes every chief captain had joined his battalion,
and at the cry of trumpets and cornets, sounded all over
the plain, and echoed back from Cheops, the whole host
formed in columns of march. Remeses, I being in his
company, galloped forward and took a position on an
elevation, from which he reviewed the whole army as it
tramped by. The fleet was in parallel motion at the
same time, and I saw the splendid galley of the Prince
Mœris, with its colored silken sails, and golden beak,
gallantly ascending the river. He stood upon the poop;
a tame lion crouched by his side, on the tawny shoulders
of which he rested one foot as he gazed at us. The
division of cavalry was the last in moving, and trotted
past us in splendid array. This arm of the service is
not large, nor much relied on in Egypt. The chariots of
iron, to the hubs of which terrible scythes are sometimes
fastened on the eve of battle, and the bowmen and spearmen,
have always been the main dependence of the
kings in their wars.
Ethiopia, against which this great army is moving by
water and land, is in a state of civilization and political
power not greatly inferior to Egypt. It has vast cities,
noble temples, extensive cultivated regions, adorned
with palaces and villas; it has a gorgeous but semi-barbaric
court, a well-disciplined army, and skilful generals.
It is a race allied by blood and lineage to that of Egypt,
and is not to be confounded with Nubia and the pure
hostile to the worship of Egypt. A supposed title, by a
former conquest, to the crown of Thebes, has made
Ethiopia for three centuries the hereditary foe of
Egypt.
The Egyptian army is divided into sections, formed
and distinguished according to the arms they bear.
They consist, like ours, of bowmen, spearmen, swordsmen,
macemen, slingers, and other corps. There are
captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, fifties, and
tens. When in battle-array, the heavy foot-soldiers, or
infantry armed with spears, and a falchion, or other
similar weapon, are drawn up in the form of an impenetrable
phalanx; and once this massive wall of ten thousand
men formed, it is fixed and unchangeable; and such
is its strength, one hundred men on each front, and one
hundred deep, no efforts of any of the enemies of Egypt
have been able to break it. Presenting a wall of huge
shields lapping and interlocked, resting on the ground,
and reaching to their heads, the missiles of the foe rattle
against it as against the steel-sheathed side of one of
their battle-ships. The bowmen, slingers, javelin-men,
and lighter troops act in line, or dispose themselves according
to the nature of the ground, or the exigency of
the moment. There is a corps armed with battle-axes
and pole-axes, having bronze blades ornamented with
heads of animals. These wear quilted helmets, without
crests, which effectually protect the head. The chariot
battalions are drawn up to charge and rout the enemy's
line, and the cavalry follow to slay the resisting, and pursue
the flying. Each battalion has its particular standard,
which represents a sacred subject—either a king's
a hawk, or a feather. The chief standard-bearer is a
man of approved valor, and an officer of the greatest
dignity, and stands next to the chief in rank. He is distinguished
by a gold necklace collar, on which are represented
two lions and an eagle—emblems of courage. The
troops are summoned to all movements by the sound of
the trumpet and the long drum, with other instruments.
The offensive weapons of the army are the bow, spear,
javelin, sling, a short, straight sword, a dagger, broad
knife, falchion, battle-axe, spear-axe, iron-headed mace,
and a curved club adopted from the Ethiopians. Their
defensive arms consist of the helmet, either of iron,
bronze, brass, silver, or plaited gold, according to the
rank of the wearer; usually without a crest, and extending
to the shoulders, in a collar or hood of chain-mail,
protecting the neck; they wear also a cuirass of metal
plates, or quilted with bands of polished iron, and an
ample shield, of various forms, but usually that of a
funeral tablet, or a long and narrow horseshoe. This
piece of armor is the chief defence. It is a frame covered
with bull's or lion's hide, bound with a rim of metal,
and studded with iron pins. The archers wear no
bucklers, but corselets of scale-armor.
I will now end this long letter, my dear mother, and
my description of Egyptian armies, by naming the
nations of which it was made up. As I sat upon my
horse by the side of the prince, surveying the marching
columns as they moved southward, I distinguished the
tall, Asiatic-looking Sharetanian by his helmet ornamented
with bull's horns, and a red ball for a crest, his
round shield, and large ear-rings—a fierce race, once the
from beyond the horns of the Arabian Sea, armed with
a pointed knife, and short, straight sword, with arched
noses and eagle eyes,—also once enemies of the queen,
but now added to her armies; an unknown people, with
tall caps, short kilt and knife-girdle of lion's hide, an
amulet of agate on the neck of every man—strangers,
with wild, restless eyes, and fierce looks; the swarthy
Rebos, with his naked breast and shoulders, and long
two-headed javelin; the Pouonti, with faces painted
with vermilion, and cross-bows with iron-headed arrows,
archers that never miss their mark. There marched by,
also, the relentless Shari, who neither ask nor give
quarter to their enemies, their masses of black hair
bound up in fillets of leather, and skull-caps of bull's
hide on their heads, whose weapons are clubs and short
daggers. Other bands, differing in costume and appearance,
continued to pass, until it seemed that the queen's
army had in it representatives of all nations tributary to
Egypt.
Continuing with Remeses a day's march, I then parted
from him to return to the palace, promising, as soon as
I had seen Lower Egypt, I would ascend the Nile and
meet him at Thebes.
Farewell, dearest mother; may the gods of our country
preserve you in health.
| LETTER XI. The pillar of fire, or, Israel in bondage | |