"Your presence," said Persina, "will avert every threatening presage, and change it into good; I will take care to inform you when Hydaspes arrives."
"You will have no occasion to do that," replied Sisimithres: "he will arrive to-morrow, and you will presently receive letters to that effect." His prediction was fulfilled. Persina, on her return to the palace, found a messenger with letters from the king, announcing his intended arrival for the following day.
The heralds dispersed the news through the city, and at the same time, made proclamation, that the men alone should be suffered to go out and meet him, but that the women should keep within their houses; for, as the sacrifice was destined to be offered to the purest of all deities—the Sun and Moon—the presence of females was forbidden, lest the victims should acquire even an involuntary contamination.
The priestess of the Moon was the only woman suffered to attend the ceremony, and she was Persina; for by the law and custom of the country, the queens of Ethiopia are always priestesses of that divinity, as the kings are of the Sun. Chariclea, also was to be present at the ceremonial, not as a spectatress, but as a victim to the Moon.
The eagerness and curiosity of the citizens was incredible. Before they knew the appointed day, they poured in multitudes out of the city, crossed the river Astabora, some over the bridge; some who dwelt at a distance from it, in boats made of canes, many of which lay near the banks, affording an expeditious means of passage.
These little skiffs are very swift, both on account of the materials of which they are composed, and the slight burden which they carry, which never exceeds two or three men: for one cane is split in two, and each section forms a boat.[3]
Meröe, the metropolis of Ethiopia, is situated in a sort of triangular island, formed by the confluence of three navigable rivers; the Nile, the Astabora, and the Asasoba. The former flows towards it from above, where it forms two branches; the others, flowing round it on either side, unite their waters, and hasten to mingle their stream, and lose their names, in the channel of the Nile.
This island, which is almost a continent, (being in length three thousand furlongs, in width one thousand), abounds in animals of every kind, and, among the rest, with elephants. It is especially fertile in producing trees. The palm trees rise to an unusual height, bearing dates of large size and delicious flavour. The stalks of wheat and barley are so tall, as to cover and conceal a man when mounted on a horse or camel, and they multiply their fruit three hundred fold. The canes are of the size which I have before mentioned.
All the night were the inhabitants employed in crossing the river; they met, received, and congratulated Hydaspes, extolling him as a god. They had gone a considerable way to meet him. The Gymnosophists went only a little beyond the sacred field, when, taking his hand, they kissed him. Next appeared Persina at the vestibule, and within the precincts of the temple.
After worshipping the gods, and returning thanks for his victory and safety, they left the precincts, and prepared to attend the approaching sacrifice, repairing for that purpose to a tent, which had been erected for them on the plain. Four canes, newly cut down, were fixed in the ground, one at each corner, serving as a pillar, supported the vaulted roof, which was covered with the branches of palm and other trees. Near this another tent was erected, raised considerably from the ground, in which were placed the images of the gods of the country—Memnon, Perseus, and Andromeda—whom the kings of Ethiopia boasted to be the founders of their race: under these, on a lower story, having their gods above them, sat the Gymnosophists. A large portion of the ground was surrounded by the soldiers; who in close order, and with their shields joined, kept off the multitude, and afforded a clear space sufficient for the priests to perform their sacrifice, without confusion or disturbance.