CHAPTER V
OF THE RETURN OF HARMACHIS TO ABOUTHIS; OF THE CELEBRATION OF THEMYSTERIES; OF THE CHANT OF ISIS; AND OF THE WARNING OF AMENEMHAT
On the next day I embraced my uncle Sepa, and with an eager heartdeparted from Annu back to Abouthis. To be short, I came thither insafety, having been absent five years and a month, being now no morea boy but a man full grown and having my mind well stocked with theknowledge of men and the ancient wisdom of Egypt. So once again Isaw the old lands, and the known faces, though of these some few werewanting, having been gathered to Osiris. Now, as, riding across thefields, I came nigh to the enclosure of the Temple, the priests andpeople issued forth to bid me welcome, and with them the old wife,Atoua, who, but for a few added wrinkles that Time had cut upon herforehead, was just as she had been when she threw the sandal after mefive long years before.
"_La! la! la!_" she cried; "and there thou art, my bonny lad; more bonnyeven than thou wert! _La!_ what a man! what shoulders! and what a faceand form! Ah, it does an old woman credit to have dandled thee! Butthou art over-pale; those priests down there at Annu have starved thee,surely? Starve not thyself: the Gods love not a skeleton. 'Empty stomachmakes empty head' as they say at Alexandria. But this is a glad hour;ay, a joyous hour. Come in--come in!" and as I lighted down she embracedme.
But I thrust her aside. "My father! where is my father?" I cried; "I seehim not!"
"Nay, nay, have no fear," she answered; "his Holiness is well; he waitsthee in his chamber. There, pass on. O happy day! O happy Abouthis!"
So I went, or rather ran, and reached the chamber of which I havewritten, and there at the table sat my father, Amenemhat, the same as hehad been, but very old. I came to him and, kneeling before him, kissedhis hand, and he blessed me.
"Look up, my son," he said, "let my old eyes gaze upon thy face, that Imay read thy heart."
So I lifted up my head, and he looked upon me long and earnestly.
"I read thee," he said at length; "thou art pure and strong in wisdom;I have not been deceived in thee. Oh, the years have been lonely; but Idid well to send thee hence. Now, tell me of thy life; for thy lettershave told me little, and thou canst not know, my son, how hungry is afather's heart."
And so I told him; we sat far into the night and talked together. Andin the end he bade me know that I must now prepare to be initiated intothose last mysteries that are learned of the chosen of the Gods.
And so it came about that for a space of three months I prepared myselfaccording to the holy customs. I ate no meat. I was constant in thesanctuaries, in the study of the secrets of the Great Sacrifice and ofthe woe of the Holy Mother. I watched and prayed before the altars. Ilifted up my soul to God; ay, in dreams I communed with the Invisible,till at length earth and earth's desires seemed to pass from me. Ilonged no more for the glory of this world, my heart hung above it asan eagle on his outstretched wings, and the voice of the world's blamecould not stir it, and the vision of its beauty brought no delight. Forabove me was the vast vault of heaven, where in unalterable processionthe stars pass on, drawing after them the destinies of men; where theHoly Ones sit upon their burning thrones, and watch the chariot-wheelsof Fate as they roll from sphere to sphere. O hours of holycontemplation! who, having once tasted of your joy could wish again togrovel on the earth? O vile flesh to drag us down! I would that thouhadst then altogether fallen from me, and left my spirit free to seekOsiris!
The months of probation passed but too swiftly, and now the holy daydrew near when I was in truth to be united to the universal Mother.Never hath Night so longed for the promise of the Dawn; never hath theheart of a lover so passionately desired the sweet coming of his bride,as I longed to see Thy glorious face, O Isis! Even now that I have beenfaithless to Thee, and Thou art far from me, O Divine! my soul goes outto Thee, and once more I know----But as it is bidden that I shoulddraw the veil, and speak of things which have not been told since thebeginning of this world, let me pass on and reverently set down thehistory of that holy morn.
For seven days the great festival had been celebrated, the suffering ofthe Lord Osiris had been commemorated, the grief of the Mother Isis hadbeen sung and glory had been done to the memory of the coming of theDivine Child Horus, the Son, the Avenger, the God-begot. All thesethings had been carried out according to the ancient rites. The boatshad floated on the sacred lake, the priests had scourged themselvesbefore the sanctuaries, and the images had been borne through thestreets at night.
And now, as the sun sank on the seventh day, once more the greatprocession gathered to chant the woes of Isis and tell how the evil wasavenged. We went in silence from the temple, and passed through the cityways. First came those who clear the path, then my father Amenemhat inall his priestly robes, and the wand of cedar in his hand. Then, cladin pure linen, I, the neophyte, followed alone; and after me thewhite-robed priests, holding aloft banners and emblems of the Gods. Nextcame those who bear the sacred boat, and after them the singers andthe mourners; while, stretching as far as the eye could reach, all thepeople marched, clad in melancholy black because Osiris was no more. Wewent in silence through the city streets till at length we came to thewall of the temple and passed in. And as my father, the High Priest,entered beneath the gateway of the outer pylon, a sweet-voiced womansinger began to sing the Holy Chant, and thus she sang:
"Sing we Osiris dead, Lament the fallen head: The light has left the world, the world is grey. Athwart the starry skies The web of Darkness flies, And Isis weeps Osiris passed away. Your tears, ye stars, ye fires, ye rivers, shed, Weep, children of the Nile, weep for your Lord is dead!"
She paused in her most sweet song, and the whole multitude took up themelancholy dirge:
"Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold; Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling: 'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold! Return to them that worship thee of old!'"
The chorus ceased, and once again she sang:
"Within the court divine The Sevenfold sacred shrine We pass, while echoes of the Temple walls Repeat the long lament The sound of sorrow sent Far up within the imperishable halls, Where, each in the other's arms, the Sisters weep, Isis and Nephthys, o'er His unawaking sleep."
And then again rolled forth the solemn chorus of a thousand voices:
"Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold; Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling: 'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold! Return to them that worship thee of old!'"It ceased, and sweetly she took up the song:
"O dweller in the West, Lover and Lordliest, Thy love, thy Sister Isis, calls thee home! Come from thy chamber dun Thou Master of the Sun, Thy shadowy chamber far below the foam! With weary wings and spent Through all the firmament, Through all the horror-haunted ways of Hell, I seek thee near and far, From star to wandering star, Free with the dead that in Amenti dwell. I search the height, the deep, the lands, the skies, Rise from the dead and live, our Lord Osiris, rise!"
"Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold; Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling: 'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold! Return to them that worship thee of old!'"
Now in a strain more high and glad the singer sang:
"He wakes--from forth the prison We sing Osiris risen, We sing the child that Nout conceived and bare. Thine own love, Isis, waits The Warden of the Gates, She breathes the breath of Life on breast and hair, And in her breast and breath Behold! he waketh, Behold! at length he riseth out of rest; Touched with her holy hands, The Lord of all the Lands, He stirs, he rises from her breath, her breast! But thou, fell Typhon, fly, The judgment day drawn nigh, Fleet on thy track as flame speeds Horus from the sky."
"Softly we tread, our measured foot
steps falling Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold; Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling: 'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold! Return to them that worship thee of old!'"
Once more, as we bowed before the Holy, she sang, and sent the fullbreath of her glad music ringing up the everlasting walls till thesilence quivered with her round notes of melody, and the hearts of thosewho hearkened stirred strangely in the breast. And thus, as we walked,she sang the song of Osiris risen, the song of Hope, the song ofVictory:
"Sing we the Trinity, Sing we the Holy Three, Sing we, and praise we and worship the Throne, Throne that our Lord hath set-- There peace and truth are met There in the Halls of the Holy alone! There in the shadowings Faint of the folded wings, There shall we dwell and rejoice in our rest, We that thy servants are! Horus drive ill afar! Far in the folds of the dark of the West!"
Again, as her notes died away, thundered forth the chorus of all thevoices:
"Softly we tread, our measured footsteps falling Within the Sanctuary Sevenfold; Soft on the Dead that liveth are we calling: 'Return, Osiris, from thy Kingdom cold! Return to them that worship thee of old!'"
The chanting ceased, and as the sun sank the High Priest raised thestatue of the living God and held it before the multitude that was nowgathered in the court of the temple. Then, with a mighty and joyfulshout of:
"_Osiris our hope! Osiris! Osiris!_"
the people tore their black wrappings from their dress, revealing thewhite robes they wore beneath, and, as one man, they bowed before theGod, and the feast was ended.
But for me the ceremony was only begun, for to-night was the night of myinitiation. Leaving the inner court I bathed myself, and, clad in purelinen, passed, as it is ordained, into an inner, but not the inmost,sanctuary, and laid the accustomed offerings on the altar. Then,lifting my hands to heaven, I remained for many hours in contemplation,striving, by holy thoughts and prayer, to gather up my strength againstthe mighty moment of my trial.
The hours sped slowly in the silence of the temple, till at length thedoor opened and my father Amenemhat, the High Priest, came in, cladin white, and leading by the hand the Priest of Isis. For, having beenmarried, he did not himself enter into the mysteries of the Holy Mother.
I rose to my feet and stood humbly before them.
"Art thou ready?" said the priest, lifting the lamp he held so that itslight fell upon my face. "O thou chosen one, art thou ready to see theglory of the Goddess face to face?"
"I am ready," I answered.
"Behold thee," he said again, in solemn tones, "it is no small thing. Ifthou wilt carry out this thy last desire, understand, royal Harmachis,that now this very night thou must die for a while in the flesh, whattime thy soul shall look on spiritual things. And if thou diest and anyevil shall be found within thy heart, when thou comest at last into thatawful presence, woe unto thee, Harmachis, for the breath of life shallno more enter in at the gateway of thy mouth, thy body shall utterlyperish, and what shall befall thy other parts, if I know, I may notsay.[*] Art thou prepared to be taken to the breast of Her who Was andIs and Shall Be, and in all things to do Her holy will; for Her, whileshe shall so command, to put away the thought of earthly woman; and tolabour always for Her glory till at the end thy life is gathered to Hereternal life?"
[*] According to the Egyptian religion the being Man is composed of four parts: the body, the double or astral shape (_ka_), the soul (_bi_), and the spark of life sprung from the Godhead (_khou_).--Editor.
"I am," I answered; "lead on."
"It is well," said the priest. "Noble Amenemhat, we go hence alone."
"Farewell, my son," said my father; "be firm and triumph over thingsspiritual as thou shalt triumph over things earthly. He who would trulyrule the world must first be lifted up above the world. He must be atone with God, for thus only shall he learn the secrets of the Divine.But beware! The Gods demand much of those who dare to enter the circleof their Divinity. If they go back therefrom, they shall be judged of asharper law, and scourged with a heavier rod, for as their glory is, soshall their shame be. Therefore, make thy heart strong, royal Harmachis!And when thou speedest down the ways of Night and enterest the Holies,remember that from him to whom great gifts have been given shall giftsbe required again. And now--if, indeed, thy mind be fixed--go whither itis not as yet given me to follow thee. Farewell!"
For a moment as my heart weighed these heavy words, I wavered, as wellas I might. But I was filled with longing to be gathered to the companyof the Divine ones, and I knew that I had no evil in me, and desired todo only the thing that is just. Therefore, having with so much labourdrawn the bowstring to my ear, I was fain to let fly the shaft. "Leadon," I cried with a loud voice; "lead on, thou holy Priest! I followthee!"
And we went forth.