The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-02-21

And once more he embraced me and babe
me go and battle and eat, saying that on tie
morrow he would speak with me further.
And Of a truth he did, and at such length
| that I will forbear to set down all he said
both then and afterward, for il ! did so
there would be no papyrus left in Egypt
| when the task was ended. Therefore, hav-
ing much to tell, and perchance but little
| time TO tell it, will / pass over the events of
| the years that followed.
For this was the manner of my life. !
rose early, attended the worship of The
Temple, and gave my days to study. /
learned of the rites Of religion and their sig
nificance, and of the beginning of the gods
and the beginning Of the Upper World. /
learned Of the mystery of the movements
Of the stars, and of how the earth rolls on
among them. Twas instructed in that an
cient knowledge which is called magic, and
in the way of Interpretation of dreams, and
Of the drawing nigh to God. l was taught
the language Of symbols and the outer and
inner secrets thereof. became acquainted
with the internal laws of good and evil, and
with the mystery of that trust which is
held of man; also / learned the secrets Of
the pyramids-which 1 would that had
never known. Further, read the records
Of the past, and of the acts and words of
the ancient kings who were before me
since the rule of Horus upon earth; and
was made to learn all craft of state, the
lore of earth, and with it the records of
Greece and Rome. Also l learned the Gre
clan and the Roman tongues, Of which in
deed already had some acknowledgement
all this while, even for five years, kept my
hands clean and my heart pure, and did no
evil in the sight of God or man; but Ia
bored heavily to acquire all things, and to
prepare myself for the destiny that await
ed me.
Twice every year came greetings and let
tiers from my father, Amenemhat, and twice
every year sent back my answers asking
II the time had come to cease from labor.
And SO the days of my probation sped away
till grew faint and weary at heart, for be-
ing now a man, ay, and learned, l longed to
make a beginning of the life Of men. And
ofttimes 1 wondered if this talk and prophe-
cy Of the things there were to be was but a
dream born of the brains of men whose
wish ran before their thought. l was, in
deed, Of the royal blood, that knew; for
NY uncle, Sepa, the Priest, showed me the
secret record of the descent, traced without
break from father unto son, and craven In
mystic symbols upon tablet of the stone Of
Syene. But of what avail was it to be royal
by right when Egypt, my heritage, was a
slave-a slave to do the pleasure and minis
ter to the luxury of the Macedonian Lagide
-ay, and when she had been so long a serf
that, perchance, she had forgot how to put
off the servile smile of bondage and once
more to look across the world with free
dom's glorious eyesl
And then I bethought me of my prayer
upon the pylon tower of Abouthis and of
the answer to my prayer, and wondered If
that, too, were dream.
And one night, as, weary with study,
walked within the sacred grove that is in
| the temenos of the Temple, and thought
such thoughts as these, l met my Uncle
Sepa, who also was walking and thinking.
'HoldI" he cried, in his great voice;
"why is thy face SO sad, Harmachisa Hath
the last problem that we studied over
whelmed theel"
"Nay, my uncle" 1 answered. 81 am
overwhelmed, indeed, but not Of the
problem; it was light one. My heart is
heavy within me, for / am awcary of life
within these cloisters, and the piled-up
no avail to store up force which can not be
used"
"Ahi thou art impatient, Harmachis," he
answered; sit is ever the way OF foolish
youth. Thou wouldst taste of the battle;
thou dost weary of watching the breakers
fall upon the shore, thou wouldst plunge
therein and venture the desperate hazard
of the war And so thou wouldst be going,
Harmachisl The bird would fly the nest
as, when they are grown, the swallows fly
from beneath the caves of the Temple.
Well, it shall be as thou desirest; the hour
is at hand. l have taught thee all that /
have learned, and methinbs that the pupil
hath outrun his master" And he paused
and wiped his bright, black eyes, for he
was very sad at the thought of my depart
ure.
And whittier shall 1 go, my unclew /
asked, rejoicing; shack to Abouthis to be
initiated in the mystery of the Gods."
LAY, back to Abouthis, and from Atouthis
to Alexandria, and from Alexandria to the
throne of thy fathers, o Harmachis! Listen,
now; things are thus: Thou knowest how
Cleopatra, the Queen, fled into Syria when
that false eunuch Pothinus set the will of
Athletes at naught and raised her brother
Ptolemy to the sole lordship Of Egypt. Thou
knowest also how she came back, like
Queen indeed, with great army in her
train, and lay at Peluslm, and how at this
juncture the mighty Cesar, that great man,
that greatest of all men, sailed with a weak
company hither to Alexandria from Phar-
salia's bloody field in hot pursuit Of Pompey.
But he found Pompey already dead, having
been basely murdered by Achillas, the Gen.
eral, and Lueius Septimius, the chief Of the
Roman legions in Egypt; and thou knowest
how the Alcxandrians were troubled at his
coming and would have slain bis lictors.
Then, as thou hast heard, Caesar seized
Ptolemy, the young King, and his sister
Arsinoe, and babe the army Of Cleopatra
and the army of Ptolemy, under Achillas,
which lay facing each other at Pelusim, dis
band and go their ways. And for
answer Achillas marched on Caesar and be-