Ramses was touched disagreeably by this outburst. "His holiness, my father," said he, after a while, "presented these things to me differently; when we were here five years ago, the sacred lord told me the following narrative:
"During the reign of the pharaoh Tutmosis I, Ethiopian ambassadors came to negotiate touching the tribute to be paid by them. They were all arrogant people. They said that the loss of one war was nothing, that fate might favor them in a second; and for a couple of months they disputed about tribute.
"In vain did the wise pharaoh, in his wish to enlighten the men mildly, show our roads and canals to them. They replied that in their country they had water for nothing wherever they wanted it. In vain he showed them the treasures of the temples; they said that their country concealed more gold and jewels by far than were possessed by all Egypt. In vain did the lord review his armies before them, for they asserted that Ethiopia had incomparably more warriors' than his holiness.
"The pharaoh brought those people at last to these places where we are standing and showed them those structures.
"The Ethiopian ambassadors went around the pyramids, read the inscriptions, and next day they concluded the treaty required of them.
"Since I did not understand the heart of the matter," continued Ramses, "my holy father explained it.
"'My son,' said he, 'these pyramids are an eternal proof of superhuman power in Egypt. If any man wished to raise to himself a pyramid he would pile up a small heap of stones and abandon his labor after some hours had passed, asking: 'What good is this to me?' Ten, one hundred, one thousand men would pile up a few more stones. They would throw them down without order, and leave the work after a few days, for what good would it be to them?
"'But when a pharaoh of Egypt decides, when the Egyptian state has decided to rear a pile of stones, thousands of legions of men are sent out, and for a number of tens of years they build, till the work is completed. For the question is not this: Are the pyramids needed, but this is the will of the pharaoh to be accomplished, once it is uttered.' So, Pentuer, this pyramid is not the tomb of Cheops, but the will of Cheops, a will which had more men to carry it out than had any king on earth, and which was as orderly and enduring in action as the gods are.
"While I was yet at school they taught me that the will of the people was a great power, the greatest power under the sun. And still the will of the people can raise one stone barely. How great, then, must be the will of the pharaoh who has raised a mountain of stones only because it pleased him, only because he wished thus, even were it without an object."
"Wouldst thou, lord, wish to show thy power in such fashion?" inquired
Pentuer, suddenly.