BOOK II
THE FALL OF HARMACHIS
CHAPTER I
OF THE FAREWELL OF AMENEMHAT TO HARMACHIS; OF THE COMING
OF HARMACHIS TO ALEXANDRIA; OF THE EXHORTATION OF SEPA; OF
THE PASSING OF CLEOPATRA ROBED AS ISIS; AND OF THE OVERTHROW
OF THE GLADIATOR BY HARMACHIS
Now the long days of preparation had passed, and the time was at hand.
I was initiated, and I was crowned; so that although the common folk
knew me not, or knew me only as Priest of Isis, there were in Egypt
thousands who at heart bowed down to me as Pharaoh. The hour was at
hand, and my soul went forth to meet it. For I longed to overthrow the
foreigner, to set Egypt free, to mount the throne that was my
heritage, and cleanse the temples of my Gods. I was fain for the
struggle, and I never doubted of its end. I looked into the mirror,
and saw triumph written on my brows. The future stretched a path of
glory from my feet--ay, glittering with glory like Sihor in the sun. I
communed with my Mother Isis; I sat within my chamber and took counsel
with my heart; I planned new temples; I revolved great laws that I
would put forth for my people's weal; and in my ears rang the shouts
of exultation which should greet victorious Pharaoh on his throne.
But still I tarried a little while at Abouthis, and, having been
commanded to do so, let my hair, that had been shorn, grow again long
and black as the raven's wing, instructing myself meanwhile in all
manly exercises and feats of arms. Also, for a purpose which shall be
seen, I perfected myself in the magic art of the Egyptians, and in the
reading of the stars, in which things, indeed, I already have great
skill.
Now, this was the plan that had been built up. My uncle Sepa had, for
a while, left the Temple of Annu, giving out that his health had
failed him. Thence he had moved down to a house in Alexandria, to
gather strength, as he said, from the breath of the sea, and also to
learn for himself the wonders of the great Museum and the glory of
Cleopatra's Court. There it was planned that I should join him, for
there, at Alexandria, the egg of the plot was hatching. Accordingly,
when at last the summons came, all things being prepared, I made ready
for the journey, and passed into my father's chamber to receive his
blessing before I went. There sat the old man, as once before he sat
when he had rebuked me because I went out to slay the lion, his long
white beard resting on the table of stone and sacred writings in his
hand. When I came in he rose from his seat and would have knelt before
me, crying "Hail, Pharaoh!" but I caught him by the hand.
"It is not meet, my father," I said.
"It is meet," he answered, "it is meet that I should bow before my
King; but be it as thou wilt. And so thou goest, Harmachis; my
blessings go with thee, O my son! And may Those whom I serve grant to
me that my old eyes may, indeed, behold thee on the throne! I have
searched long, striving, Harmachis, to read the future that shall be;
but I can learn naught by all my wisdom. It is hid from me, and at
times my heart fails. But hear this, there is danger in thy path, and
it comes in the form of Woman. I have known it long, and therefore
thou hast been called to the worship of the heavenly Isis, who bids
her votaries put away the thought of woman till such time as she shall
think well to slacken the rule. Oh, my son, I would that thou wert not
so strong and fair--stronger and fairer, indeed, than any man in
Egypt, as a King should be--for in that strength and beauty may lie a
cause of stumbling. Beware, then, of those witches of Alexandria,
lest, like a worm, some one of them creep into my heart and eat its
secret out."
"Have no fear, my father," I answered, frowning, "my thought is set on
other things than red lips and smiling eyes."
"It is good," he answered; "so may it befall. And now farewell. When
next we meet, may it be in that happy hour when, with all the priests
of the Upper Land, I move down from Abouthis to do my homage to
Pharaoh on his throne."
So I embraced him, and went. Alas! I little thought how we should meet
again.
Thus it came about that once more I passed down the Nile travelling as
a man of no estate. And to such as were curious about me it was given
out that I was the adopted son of the High Priest of Abouthis, having
been brought up to the priesthood, and that I had at the last refused
the service of the Gods, and chosen to go to Alexandria, to seek my
fortune. For, be it remembered, I was still held to be the grandson of
the old wife, Atoua, by all those who did not know the truth.
On the tenth night, sailing with the wind, we reached the mighty city
of Alexandria, the city of a thousand lights. Above them all towered
the white Pharos, that wonder of the world, from the crown of which a
light like the light of the sun blazed out across the waters of the
harbour to guide mariners on their way across the sea. The vessel
having been cautiously made fast to the quay, for it was night, I
disembarked and stood wondering at the vast mass of houses, and
confused by the clamour of many tongues. For here all peoples seemed
to be gathered together, each speaking after the fashion of his own
land. And as I stood a young man came and touched me on the shoulder,
asking me if I was from Abouthis and named Harmachis. I said "Yea."
Then, bending over me, he whispered the secret pass-word into my ear,
and, beckoning to two slaves, bade them bring my baggage from the
ship. This they did, fighting their way through the crowd of porters
who were clamouring for hire. Then I followed him down the quay, which
was bordered with drinking-places, where all sorts of men were
gathered, tippling wine and watching the dancing of women, some of
whom were but scantily arrayed, and some not arrayed at all.
And so we went through the lamp-lit houses till at last we reached the
shore of the great harbour, and turned to the right along a wide way
paved with granite and bordered by strong houses, having cloisters in
front of them, the like of which I had never seen. Turning once more
to the right we came to a quieter portion of the city, where, except
for parties of strolling revellers, the streets were still. Presently
my guide halted at a house built of white stone. We passed in, and,
crossing a small courtyard, entered a chamber where there was a light.
And here, at last, I found my uncle Sepa, most glad to see me safe.
When I had washed and eaten, he told me that all things went well, and
that as yet there was no thought of evil at the Court. Further, he
said, it having come to the ears of the Queen that the Priest of Annu
was sojourning at Alexandria, she sent for him and closely questioned
him--not as to any plot, for of that she never thought, but as to the
rumour which had reached her, that there was treasure hid in the Great
Pyramid which is by Annu. For, being ever wasteful, she was ever in
want of money, and had bethought her of opening the Pyramid. But he
laughed at her, telling her the Pyramid was the burying-place of the
divine Khufu, and that he knew nothing of its secrets. Then she was
angered, and swore that so surely as she ruled in Egypt she would tear
it down, stone by stone, and discover the secret at its heart. Again
he laughed, and, in the words of the proverb which they have at
Alexandria, told her that "Mountains live longer than Kings." Thereon
she smiled at his ready answer, and let him go. Also my uncle Sepa
told me that on the morrow I should see this Cleopatra. For it was her
birthday (as, indeed, it was also mine), and, dressed in the robes of
the Holy Isis, she would pass in state from her palace on the Lochias
to the Serapeum to offer a sacrifice at the Shrine of the false God
who sits in the Temple. And he said that thereafter the fashion by
which I should gain entrance to the household of the Queen should be
contrived.
Then, being very weary, I went to rest, but could sleep little for the
strangeness of the place, the noises in the streets, and the thought
of the morrow. While it was yet dark, I rose, climbed the stair to the
roof of the house, and waited. Presently, the sun's rays shot out like
arrows, and lit upon the white wonder of the marble Pharos, whose
light instantly sank and died, as though, indeed, the sun had killed
it. Now the rays fell upon the palaces of the Lochias where Cleopatra
lay, and lit them up till they flamed like a jewel set on the dark,
cool bosom of the sea. Away the light flew, kissing the Soma's sacred
dome, beneath which Alexander sleeps, touching the high tops of a
thousand palaces and temples; past the porticoes of the great museum
that loomed near at hand, striking the lofty Shrine, where, carved of
ivory, is the image of the false God Serapis, and at last seeming to
lose itself in the vast and gloomy Necropolis. Then, as the dawn
gathered into day, the flood of brightness, overbrimming the bowl of
night, flowed into the lower lands and streets, and showed Alexandria
red in the sunrise as the mantle of a king, and shaped as a mantle.
The Etesian wind came up from the north, and swept away the vapour
from the harbours, so that I saw their blue waters rocking a thousand
ships. I saw, too, that mighty mole the Heptastadium; I saw the
hundreds of streets, the countless houses, the innumerable wealth and
splendour of Alexandria set like a queen between lake Mareotis and the
ocean, and dominating both, and I was filled with wonder. This, then,
was one city in my heritage of lands and cities! Well, it was worth
the grasping. And having looked my full and fed my heart, as it were,
with the sight of splendour, I communed with the Holy Isis and came
down from the roof.
In the chamber beneath was my uncle Sepa. I told him that I had been
watching the sun rise over the city of Alexandria.
"So!" he said, looking at me from beneath his shaggy eyebrows; "and
what thinkest thou of Alexandria?"
"I think it is like some city of the Gods," I answered.
"Ay!" he replied fiercely, "a city of the infernal Gods--a sink of
corruption, a bubbling well of iniquity, a home of false faith
springing from false hearts. I would that not one stone of it was left
upon another stone, and that its wealth lay deep beneath yonder
waters! I would that the gulls were screaming across its site, and
that the wind, untainted by a Grecian breath, swept through its ruins
from the ocean to Mareotis! O royal Harmachis, let not the luxury and
beauty of Alexandria poison thy sense; for in their deadly air, Faith
perishes, and Religion cannot spread her heavenly wings. When the hour
comes for thee to rule, Harmachis, cast down this accursed city and,
as thy fathers did, set up thy throne in the white walls of Memphis.
For I tell thee that, for Egypt, Alexandria is but a splendid gate of
ruin, and, while it endures, all nations of the earth shall march
through it, to the plunder of the land, and all false Faiths shall
nestle in it and breed the overthrow of Egypt's Gods."
I made no answer, for there was truth in his words. And yet to me the
city seemed very fair to look on. After we had eaten, my uncle told me
it was now time to set out to view the march of Cleopatra, as she went
in triumph to the Shrine of Serapis. For although she would not pass
till within two hours of the midday, yet these people of Alexandria
have so great a love of shows and idling that had we not presently set
forth, by no means could we have come through the press of the
multitudes who were already gathering along the highways where the
Queen must ride. So we went out to take our places upon a stand, built
of timber, that had been set up at the side of the great road which
pierces through the city, to the Canopic Gate. For my uncle had
already purchased a right to enter there, and that dearly.
We won our way with much struggle through the great crowds that were
already gathered in the streets till we reached the scaffolding of
timber, which was roofed in with an awning and gaily hung with scarlet
cloths. Here we seated ourselves upon a bench and waited for some
hours, watching the multitude press past shouting, singing, and
talking loudly in many tongues. At length soldiers came to clear the
road, clad, after the Roman fashion, in breast-plates of chain-armour.
After them marched heralds enjoining silence (at which the population
sung and shouted all the more loudly), and crying that Cleopatra, the
Queen, was coming. Then followed a thousand Cilician skirmishers, a
thousand Thracians, a thousand Macedonians, and a thousand Gauls, each
armed after the fashion of their country. Then passed five hundred men
of those who are called the Fenced Horsemen, for both men and horses
were altogether covered with mail. Next came youths and maidens
sumptuously draped and wearing golden crowns, and with them images
symbolising Day and Night, Morning and Noon, the Heavens and the
Earth. After these walked many fair women, pouring perfumes on the
road, and others scattering blooming flowers. Now there rose a great
shout of "Cleopatra! Cleopatra!" and I held my breath and bent forward
to see her who dared to put on the robes of Isis.
But at that moment the multitude so gathered and thickened in front of
where I was that I could no longer clearly see. So in my eagerness I
leapt over the barrier of the scaffolding, and, being very strong,
pushed my way through the crowd till I reached the foremost rank. And
as I did so, Nubian slaves armed with thick staves and crowned with
ivy-leaves ran up, striking the people. One man I noted more
especially, for he was a giant, and, being strong, was insolent beyond
measure, smiting the people without cause, as, indeed, is the wont of
low persons set in authority. For a woman stood near to me, an
Egyptian by her face, bearing a child in her arms, whom the man,
seeing that she was weak, struck on the head with his rod so that she
fell prone, and the people murmured. But at the sight my blood rushed
of a sudden through my veins and drowned my reason. I held in my hand
a staff of olive-wood from Cyprus, and as the black brute laughed at
the sight of the stricken woman and her babe rolling on the ground, I
swung the staff aloft and smote. So shrewdly did I strike, that the
tough rod split upon the giant's shoulders and the blood spurted
forth, staining his trailing leaves of ivy.
Then, with a shriek of pain and fury--for those who smite love not
that they be smitten--he turned and sprang at me! And all the people
round gave back, save only the woman who could not rise, leaving us
two in a ring as it were. On he came with a rush, and, as he came,
being now mad, I smote him with my clenched fist between the eyes,
having nothing else with which to smite, and he staggered like an ox
beneath the first blow of the priest's axe. Then the people shouted,
for they love to see a fight, and the man was known to them as a
gladiator victorious in the games. Gathering up his strength, the
knave came on with an oath, and, whirling his heavy staff on high,
struck me in such a fashion that, had I not avoided the blow by
nimbleness, I had surely been slain. But, as it chanced, the staff hit
upon the ground, and so heavily that it flew in fragments. Thereon the
multitude shouted again, and the great man, blind with fury, rushed at
me to smite me down. But with a cry I sprang straight at his throat--
for he was so heavy a man that I knew I could not hope to throw him by
strength--ay, and gripped it. There I clung, though his fists battered
me like bludgeons, driving my thumbs into his throat. Round and round
we turned, till at length he flung himself to the earth, trusting thus
to shake me off. But I held on fast as we rolled over and over on the
ground, till at last he grew faint for want of breath. Then I, being
uppermost, drove my knee down upon his chest, and, as I believe,
should thus have slain him in my rage had not my uncle, and others
there gathered, fallen upon me and dragged me from him.
And meanwhile, though I know it not, the chariot in which the Queen
sat, with elephants going before and lions led after it, had reached
the spot, and had been halted because of the tumult. I looked up, and
thus torn, panting, my white garments stained with the blood that had
rushed from the mouth and nostrils of the mighty Nubian, I for the
first time saw Cleopatra face to face. Her chariot was all of gold,
and drawn by milk-white steeds. She sat in it with two fair girls,
clad in Greek attire, standing one on either side, fanning her with
glittering fans. On her head was the covering of Isis, the golden
horns between which rested the moon's round disk and the emblem of
Osiris' throne, with the uræus twined around. Beneath this covering
was the vulture cap of gold, the blue enamelled wings and the vulture
head with gemmy eyes, under which her long dark tresses flowed towards
her feet. About her rounded neck was a broad collar of gold studded
with emeralds and coral. Round her arms and wrists were bracelets of
gold studded with emeralds and coral, and in one hand she held the
holy cross of Life fashioned of crystal, and in the other the golden
rod of royalty. Her breast was bare, but under it was a garment that
glistened like the scaly covering of a snake, everywhere sewn with
gems. Beneath this robe was a skirt of golden cloth, half hidden by a
scarf of the broidered silk of Cos, falling in folds to the sandals
that, fastened with great pearls, adorned her white and tiny feet.
All this I discerned at a glance, as it were. Then I looked upon the
face--that face which seduced Cæsar, ruined Egypt, and was doomed to
give Octavian the sceptre of the world. I looked upon the flawless
Grecian features, the rounded chin, the full, rich lips, the chiselled
nostrils, and the ears fashioned like delicate shells. I saw the
forehead, low, broad, and lovely, the crisped, dark hair falling in
heavy waves that sparkled in the sun, the arched eyebrows, and the
long, bent lashes. There before me was the grandeur of her Imperial
shape. There burnt the wonderful eyes, hued like the Cyprian violet--
eyes that seemed to sleep and brood on secret things as night broods
upon the desert, and yet as the night to shift, change, and be
illumined by gleams of sudden splendour born within their starry
depths. All those wonders I saw, though I have small skill in telling
them. But even then I knew that it was not in these charms alone that
the might of Cleopatra's beauty lay. It was rather in a glory and a
radiance cast through the fleshly covering from the fierce soul
within. For she was a Thing of Flame like unto which no woman has ever
been or ever will be. Even when she brooded, the fire of her quick
heart shone through her. But when she woke, and the lightning leapt
suddenly from her eyes, and the passion-laden music of her speech
chimed upon her lips, ah! then, who can tell how Cleopatra seemed? For
in her met all the splendours that have been given to woman for her
glory, and all the genius which man has won from heaven. And with them
dwelt every evil of that greater sort, which fearing nothing, and
making a mock of laws, has taken empires for its place of play, and,
smiling, watered the growth of its desires with the rich blood of men.
In her breast they gathered, together fashioning that Cleopatra whom
no man may draw, and yet whom no man, having seen, ever can forget.
They fashioned her grand as the Spirit of Storm, lovely as Lightning,
cruel as Pestilence, yet with a heart; and what she did is known. Woe
to the world when such another comes to curse it!
For a moment I met Cleopatra's eyes as she idly bent herself to find
the tumult's cause. At first they were sombre and dark, as though they
saw indeed, but the brain read nothing. Then they awoke, and their
very colour seemed to change as the colour of the sea changes when the
water is shaken. First, there was anger written in them; next an idle
noting; then, when she looked upon the huge bulk of the man whom I had
overcome, and knew him for the gladiator, something, perchance, that
was not far from wonder. At the least they softened, though, indeed,
her face changed no whit. But he who would read Cleopatra's mind had
need to watch her eyes, for her countenance varied but a little.
Turning, she said some word to her guards. They came forward and led
me to her, while all the multitude waited silently to see me slain.
I stood before her, my arms folded on my breast. Overcome though I was
by the wonder of her loveliness I hated her in my heart, this woman
who dared to clothe herself in the dress of Isis, this usurper who sat
upon my throne, this wanton squandering the wealth of Egypt in
chariots and perfumes. When she had looked me over from head to the
feet, she spake in a low full voice and in the tongue of Khemi which
she alone had learned of all the Lagidæ:
"And who and what art thou, Egyptian--for Egyptian I see thou art--who
darest to smite my slave when I make progress through my city?"
"I am Harmachis," I answered boldly. "Harmachis, the astrologer,
adopted son of the High Priest and Governor of Abouthis, who am come
hither to seek my fortune. I smote thy slave, O Queen, because for no
fault he struck down the woman yonder. Ask of those who saw, royal
Egypt."
"Harmachis," she said, "the name has a high sound--and thou hast a
high look;" and then, speaking to a soldier who had seen all, she bade
him tell her what had come to pass. This he did truthfully, being
friendly disposed towards me because I had overcome the Nubian.
Thereon she turned and spoke to the girl bearing the fan who stood
beside her--a woman with curling hair and shy dark eyes, very
beautiful to see. The girl answered somewhat. Then Cleopatra bade them
bring the slave to her. So they led forward the giant, who had found
his breath again, and with him the woman whom he had smitten down.
"Thou dog!" she said, in the same low voice; "thou coward! who, being
strong, didst smite down this woman, and, being a coward, wast
overthrown of this young man. See, thou, I will teach thee manners.
Henceforth, when thou smitest women it shall be with thy left arm. Ho,
guards, seize this black slave and strike off his right hand."
Her command given, she sank back in her golden chariot, and again the
cloud gathered in her eyes. But the guards seized the giant, and,
notwithstanding his cries and prayers for mercy, struck off his hand
with a sword upon the wood of the scaffolding and he was carried away
groaning. Then the procession moved on again. As it went the fair
woman with the fan turned her head, caught my eye, and smiled and
nodded as though she rejoiced, at which I wondered somewhat.
The people cheered also and made jests, saying that I should soon
practice astrology in the palace. But, as soon as we might, I and my
uncle escaped, and made our way back to the house. All the while he
rated me for my rashness; but when we came to the chamber of the house
he embraced me and rejoiced greatly, because I had overthrown the
giant with so little hurt to myself.
