The Greatest Historical Novels of Georg Ebers. Georg Ebers

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СКАЧАТЬ style. The latter seem to have served as a model for the earliest

       pictures of the Madonna holding the infant Christ.]

      The police kept order among this huge crowd with long staves, on the metal heads of which the king’s name was inscribed. Their care was especially needed to prevent any of the people from being pushed into the swollen Nile, an arm of which, in the season of the inundations, washes the walls of Sais.

      On the broad flight of steps which led between two rows of sphinxes down to the landing-place of the royal boats, was a very different kind of assembly.

      The priests of the highest rank were seated there on stone benches. Many wore long, white robes, others were clad in aprons, broad jewelled collars, and garments of panther skins. Some had fillets adorned with plumes that waved around brows, temples, and the stiff structures of false curls that floated over their shoulders; others displayed the glistening bareness of their smoothly-shaven skulls. The supreme judge was distinguished by the possession of the longest and handsomest plume in his head-dress, and a costly sapphire amulet, which, suspended by a gold chain, hung on his breast.

      The highest officers of the Egyptian army wore uniforms of gay colors,97 and carried short swords in their girdles. On the right side of the steps a division of the body-guard was stationed, armed with battleaxes, daggers, bows, and large shields; on the left, were the Greek mercenaries, armed in Ionian fashion. Their new leader, our friend Aristomachus, stood with a few of his own officers apart from the Egyptians, by the colossal statues of Psamtik I., which had been erected on the space above the steps, their faces towards the river.

      In front of these statues, on a silver chair, sat Psamtik, the heir to the throne: He wore a close-fitting garment of many colors, interwoven with gold, and was surrounded by the most distinguished among the king’s courtiers, chamberlains, counsellors, and friends, all bearing staves with ostrich feathers and lotus-flowers.

      The multitude gave vent to their impatience by shouting, singing, and quarrelling; but the priests and magnates on the steps preserved a dignified and solemn silence. Each, with his steady, unmoved gaze, his stiffly-curled false wig and beard, and his solemn, deliberate manner, resembled the two huge statues, which, the one precisely similar to the other, stood also motionless in their respective places, gazing calmly into the stream.

      At last silken sails, chequered with purple and blue, appeared in sight.

      The crowd shouted with delight. Cries of, “They are coming! Here they are!” “Take care, or you’ll tread on that kitten,” “Nurse, hold the child higher that she may see something of the sight.” “You are pushing me into the water, Sebak!” “Have a care Phoenician, the boys are throwing burs into your long beard.” “Now, now, you Greek fellow, don’t fancy that all Egypt belongs to you, because Amasis allows you to live on the shores of the sacred river!” “Shameless set, these Greeks, down with them!” shouted a priest, and the cry was at once echoed from many mouths. “Down with the eaters of swine’s flesh and despisers of the gods!”

      [The Egyptians, like the Jews, were forbidden to eat swine’s flesh.

       This prohibition is mentioned in the Ritual of the Dead, found in a

       grave in Abd-el-Qurnah, and also in other places. Porphyr de

       Abstin. IV. The swine was considered an especially unclean animal

       pertaining to Typhon (Egyptian, Set) as the boar to Ares, and

       swineherds were an especially despised race. Animals with bristles

       were only sacrificed at the feasts of Osiris and Eileithyia. Herod.

       I. 2. 47. It is probable that Moses borrowed his prohibition of

       swine’s flesh from the Egyptian laws with regard to unclean

       animals.]

      From words they were proceeding to deeds, but the police were not to be trifled with, and by a vigorous use of their staves, the tumult was soon stilled. The large, gay sails, easily to be distinguished among the brown, white and blue ones of the smaller Nile-boats which swarmed around them, came nearer and nearer to the expectant throng. Then at last the crown-prince and the dignitaries arose from their seats. The royal band of trumpeters blew a shrill and piercing blast of welcome, and the first of the expected boats stopped at the landing-place.

      It was a rather long, richly-gilded vessel, and bore a silver sparrow-hawk as figure-head. In its midst rose a golden canopy with a purple covering, beneath which cushions were conveniently arranged. On each deck in the forepart of the ship sat twelve rowers, their aprons attached by costly fastenings.

      [Splendid Nile-boats were possessed, in greater or less numbers, by

       all the men of high rank. Even in the tomb of Ti at Sakkara, which

       dates from the time of the Pyramids, we meet with a chief overseer

       of the vessels belonging to a wealthy Egyptian.]

      Beneath the canopy lay six fine-looking men in glorious apparel; and before the ship had touched the shore the youngest of these, a beautiful fair-haired youth, sprang on to the steps.

      Many an Egyptian girl’s mouth uttered a lengthened “Ah” at this glorious sight, and even the grave faces of some of the dignitaries brightened into a friendly smile.

      The name of this much-admired youth was Bartja.

      [This Bartja is better known under the name of Smerdis, but on what

       account the Greeks gave him this name is not clear. In the

       cuneiform inscriptions of Bisitun or Behistun, he is called Bartja,

       or, according to Spiegel, Bardiya. We have chosen, for the sake of

       the easy pronunciation, the former, which is Rawlinson’s simplified

       reading of the name.]

      He was the son of the late, and brother of the reigning king of Persia, and had been endowed by nature with every gift that a youth of twenty years could desire for himself.

      Around his tiara was wound a blue and white turban, beneath which hung fair, golden curls of beautiful, abundant hair; his blue eyes sparkled with life and joy, kindness and high spirits, almost with sauciness; his noble features, around which the down of a manly beard was already visible, were worthy of a Grecian sculptor’s chisel, and his slender but muscular figure told of strength and activity. The splendor of his apparel was proportioned to his personal beauty. A brilliant star of diamonds and turquoises glittered in the front of his tiara. An upper garment of rich white and gold brocade reaching just below the knees, was fastened round the waist with a girdle of blue and white, the royal colors of Persia. In this girdle gleamed a short, golden sword, its hilt and scabbard thickly studded with opals and sky-blue turquoises. The trousers were of the same rich material as the robe, fitting closely at the ankle, and ending within a pair of short boots of light-blue leather.

      The long, wide sleeves of his robe displayed a pair of vigorous arms, adorned with many costly bracelets of gold and jewels; round his slender neck and on his broad chest lay a golden chain.

      Such was the youth who first sprang on shore. He was followed by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, a young Persian of the blood royal, similar in person to Bartja, and scarcely less gorgeously apparelled than he. The СКАЧАТЬ