Part 39 (2/2)
”Thou hast said it,” continued Otoes. ”But now I will answer that which thou hast asked of me.
”Thou hast asked what I do in this province? I guard the property of Osiris, the pharaoh, and my own part in it. Look at those flocks; thou seest various animals. Some give milk, others flesh, others wool and skins. The people of Egypt give wheat, wine, woollen stuffs, vessels, houses. My affair is to take from each what he should give, and lay it down at the feet of the pharaoh.
”In watching over the numerous herds I could not succeed alone; so I have chosen watchful dogs and wise shepherds. Some of my servants milk animals, shear them, remove their skins; others watch them so that thieves may not steal or the plunderer injure. So with the province. I could not collect all the taxes and guard men from evil; hence I have officials who do what is proper, and render account of their action--”
”All this is true,” interrupted the prince. ”I know and understand what thou sayest. But I cannot comprehend why the income of his holiness decreases, though guarded well, as thou hast told me.”
”Be pleased to remember,” continued the nomarch, ”that Set, though a full brother of the radiant Osiris, hates that G.o.d, wars with him, and deforms all his labors. He sends deadly diseases on beasts and on men; he causes the overflow of the Nile to be scant or over-violent, and he hurls clouds of sand in time of heat upon Egypt.
”When a year is good, the Nile reaches the desert; when it is bad, the desert comes down to the Nile, and then the royal income decreases.
”Look!” continued he, pointing at the meadow. ”The flocks there are numerous, but in my youth they were greater in number. But who is the cause of this? No other than Set, whom human power cannot vanquish.
This meadow, great to-day, was once greater, and from this spot they could not see the desert, which now is a terror.
”When the G.o.ds are battling, men can do nothing; where Set conquers Osiris, who can bar the way to him?”
The worthy Otoes finished; the prince hung his head. In school he had heard not a little about the love of Osiris and the malice of Set, and while still a child he was angry that no one had forced Set to a final reckoning.
”When I grow up,” thought he at that time, ”and carry a javelin, I will seek out Set and we will make a trial.”
And he was looking now at that measureless sand s.p.a.ce, that kingdom of the ominous G.o.dhead which was decreasing the income of Egypt; but he had no thought to do battle with Set. For how can man fight with the desert? Man can only avoid it or perish.
CHAPTER XXII
His stay in Aa had so wearied Rameses that to seek rest and rally his thoughts he commanded to stop all solemnities in his honor, and directed that during his journey people should never come forth to greet him.
The prince's retinue were astonished, even somewhat offended; but they carried out the command, and Rameses again found some quiet. He had time to review his troops, which was his most agreeable occupation, and he could collect his scattered thoughts in some measure.
Shut up in the remotest corner of the palace, the prince began to consider how far he had carried out the commands of the pharaoh his father.
He had surveyed Aa with his own eyes,--its fields, towns, population, officials. He had verified the fact that the eastern edge of the province was yielding to the advance of the desert. He had observed that laborers were indifferent and stupid; that they did only what was commanded, and that with unwillingness. Finally, he had convinced himself that really faithful and loving subjects were to be found only among the aristocracy, for they were related to the family of the pharaohs, or were of the n.o.ble order, and were grandsons of the men who had fought under the great Rameses.
In every case those people rallied to the dynasty heartily, and were ready to serve it with genuine readiness; not like the low people, who when they had shouted a greeting ran back with all speed to their pigs and their oxen.
But the chief object of his mission was not explained yet. Rameses not only did not see clearly causes for the decrease of the royal income, but he did not know how to formulate this question: Why is there evil, and how can we correct it? He only felt that the legendary war of the G.o.d Set with Osiris furnished no true explanation, and gave no means of cure whatever.
But the prince, as the coming pharaoh, wished to have a great income, like that of former rulers in Egypt. He was boiling with anger at the very thought that when he had mounted the throne he would be as poor as his father and perhaps even poorer.
”Never!” cried the prince, balling his fists.
To increase the royal property he was ready to rush sword in hand against Set and hew that G.o.d into pieces, as Set had hewn his own brother Osiris. But instead of the cruel divinity and his legions he saw around him ignorance, the desert, and silence.
Under the influence of these struggles with his own thoughts, he seized once the high priest Mefres.
”Tell me, holy father, to whom all wisdom is familiar, why does the income of the state decrease, and in what manner can we add to it?”
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