Part 15 (1/2)
Do not, therefore, allege another God of your own invention totheir appointed work
Your pretext of sacrifice is plain,--you wish to flee Withdraw from before me, and continue to s, for my pyramids, my palaces, andthat he could not move the Pharaoh's heart, and that if he insisted he would excite his wrath, withdrew in silence, followed by Aharon in dismay
”I have obeyed the Lord God,” said Mosche to his companion when they had crossed the pylon, ”but the Pharaoh reranite figures seated upon thrones at the palace gates, or to those idols with heads of dogs, monkeys, or hawks to which the priests burn incense within the depths of the sanctuaries
What shall we reply to the people when they question us on the result of ourlest the Hebrews should bethink theestions of Mosche, made them work more severely than before, and refused them straw to make their bricks Thenceforth the children of Israel spread throughout Egypt, plucking the stubble and cursing their tyrants; for they were very unhappy, and they said that the advice of Mosche had increased their misery
One day Mosche and Aharon reappeared in the palace, and once again called upon the King to let the Hebrews go to sacrifice unto the Lord in the wilderness
”What proof have I,” replied the Pharaoh, ”that it is the Lord who sends you to s, and that you are not, as I fancy, vile i, and the wood began to twist, to curl, to grow scales, to move its head and tail, to rise up, and to utter horrible hissings: the wand had been changed into a serpent Its rings grated over the flags, it swelled its hood, it whipped out its forked tongue, and rolling its red eyes, seemed to select the victim which it was about to bite
The officers and servants ranged around the throne reht of this prodigy; the bravest half drew their swords
But the Pharaoh was in no wise moved A disdainful smile flitted over his lips, and he said,--
”Is that all you can do? The y poor
Send for icians”
They came They were men of venerable andsandals of byblos, dressed in long linen robes, holding in their hands wands on which were engraved hieroglyphs They were yellow and dried up like ue entailed by successive initiations could be read upon their faces, in which their eyes alone seemed to retain life
They drew up in a line before the throne of the Pharaoh without paying the least attention to the serpent, which wriggled, crawled, and hissed
”Can you,” said the King, ”change your wands into reptiles as Aharon has done?”
”O King, is it for such child's play,” said the oldest of the band, ”that you have sent for us from the recesses of the secret chaht of the la over undecipherable papyri, kneeling before the hieroglyphic stelae with theirthe secrets of nature, calculating the power of nu hand to the border of the veil of the great Isis? Let us go back, for life is short, and the wise man has scarce tio back to our laboratories The ler, the first charmer of serpents who plays the flute on the public squares, will suffice to satisfy you”
”Ennana, do what I wish,” said the Pharaoh to the chief of the wise icians
Old Ennana turned towards the band of sages, who reain in deep meditations
”Cast down every ic word”
The rods fell together with a sharp sound upon the stone slabs, and the wise men resuainst the pillars of the ton to look at their feet to see if the ht, so sure were they of the power of their forht The rods twisted like branches of green wood in the fire, the ends flattened out into the shape of heads, thinned out into the shape of tails So to the kind of serpent All these swarmed and crawled and hissed, interlaced and knotted into hideous knots There were vipers bearing the mark of the spearhead upon their los, horned snakes with reenish, viscous hydras, asps with onocephalae, orvets or blind serpents, crotalidae with short heads, black skins, and rattles on their tails, a h to s an ox, serpents with eyes surrounded with discs like those of owls;--the pavement of the hall was covered with them
Tahoser, who shared the throne of the Pharaoh, raised her beautiful bare feet and pulled them back under her, pale with terror
”Well,” said the Pharaoh to Mosche, ”you see that the skill of icians equals, and even surpasses yours; their rods have turned into serpents like that of Aharon Invent another prodigy if you seek to convince me”
Mosche stretched forth his hand, and Aharon's serpent glided towards the twenty-four reptiles The struggle was not long; it soon had sed the hideous things, real or seeypt
Then it resumed its former wand shape
This result seeht for a : ”I shall find the word and the sign I have interpreted wrongly the fourth hieroglyph of the fifth perpendicular line in which is the spell of serpents O King, do you still need us?” said the chief of the wise istus, which contains ht-of-hand tricks”
The Pharaoh signed to the old ht withdraw, and the silent procession returned to the depths of the palace