CHAPTER IV.

       Table of Contents

      Five days after the evening we have just described at Rhodopis’ house, an immense multitude was to be seen assembled at the harbor of Sais.

      Egyptians of both sexes, and of every age and class were thronging to the water’s edge.

      Soldiers and merchants, whose various ranks in society were betokened by the length of their white garments, bordered with colored fringes, were interspersed among the crowd of half-naked, sinewy men, whose only clothing consisted of an apron, the costume of the lower classes. Naked children crowded, pushed and fought to get the best places. Mothers in short cloaks were holding their little ones up to see the sight, which by this means they entirely lost themselves; and a troop of dogs and cats were playing and fighting at the feet of these eager sight-seers, who took the greatest pains not to tread on, or in any way injure the sacred animals.

      [According to various pictures on the Egyptian monuments. The

       mothers are from Wilkinson III. 363. Isis and Hathor, with the

       child Horus in her lap or at her breast, are found in a thousand

       representations, dating both from more modern times and in the Greek

       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.]

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