"I need not describe to you, O my friend, the nature of the rites and ceremonies, nor the character of the mysteries which I have been in contact with, for five-and-thirty days; let it be enough for your curiosity to know, that beneath all the splendor of our polytheism is hidden the mystery, known to the 'sons of the Lord of heaven, of One God. This truth is guarded by the mystics, as a mystery, not as a doctrine; and is of no value to them nor to the world: it is as if the sun were forever shrouded in impenetrable clouds. I have learned it only darkly; but this is not to my purpose now, my friend: perhaps at another time we will discourse of these things. I had passed my decreed days and nights, at all the shrines which the laws for kings direct when, last night, I was borne across the Nile by a company of the mystics, who left me at the entrance of the avenue leading to the sphinx that is before Cheops and Chephres. There twelve other ecclesiastical mystics took me in charge. We marched together, six on each side of me, in profound silence; till, on passing the lion facing the sphinx, their leader cried—
"'Let the king be as a lion in strength and majesty!'
"The rest answered with one voice—
"'And may his enemies be as lambs beneath his paws!'
"At the small temple, between the feet of the sphinx, three priests stood, one of whom sprinkled my head with sacred water; the second, with his little finger that had been dipped in the blood of a cock which he had sacrificed, touched my forehead; and the third waved incense before me;—while from within came a low, plaintive chant of voices and instruments, invoking the gods in a hymn on my behalf. The whole scene was solemn and impressive.
"I was then conducted to the pylon of the great temple before the pyramids. As I passed beneath the gate, the twelve priests left me; and twenty-four others, dressed in white robes and bearing torches, took me in charge, and conducted me at a slow march across the great quadrangle, leading me to a dark portal which descended, as I was told, to the base of the pyramid, down to the 'hall of all the mysteries of the earth.'"
"Is not this the temple of the magicians?" I asked, gratified to see, that Remeses could for a moment so far forget his great sorrow, as to enter into these details, for my gratification.
"Yes, the place where the sorcerers and soothsayers hold their mystic and fearful rites. For ages, this subterranean temple, under the earth between the two pyramids, but no part of the pyramidal structure itself, has been their place of solemn assembly. Into this region I descended, led by only two men, who received me at the head of the stairs of stone.
"But I may not describe, more particularly, the progress of my mysterious journey through subterranean passages, which I had no conception existed beneath the space between the two pyramids; although tradition has it, that the whole territory underneath both is a labyrinthine catacomb, which assertion I have now no reason to doubt. After traversing vast gloomy corridors of pillars hewn from the solid rock, and a succession of chambers dedicated to mysteries, I was ushered, by the sound of awful music, from an unseen source, into a great central temple, so large that the torches borne by my guides, could not penetrate its outer blackness. In the centre of this solemn hall stood an altar of black marble. We approached it, when suddenly from it soared aloft a bright flame which illumined the temple, to its remotest obscurities, with a light like the moon when it is full. revealing in the height above, a firmament with its thousand stars reflecting the light. I had already, my Sesostris, passed through such varied and surprising scenes, in the progress of my initiation, that I was not surprised at this, for the arts of the priestly magicians seem to embrace a knowledge of all the secret alchemy of nature; and they possess wisdom and skill to control her wonderful powers. While this brilliant flame burned from a brazen vase which stood upon the altar, a procession of figures entered by a distant door, and slowly made the circuit of the massive corridor. I perceived at once that they were attired symbolically, representing the powers of nature, and were preceded by five stately and imposing forms standing for fire, water, earth, air, and the Nile; symbols of which were worn upon their heads, and carried in their hands. Behind these came seven persons, each crowned with a star, the whole representing the seven stars. Then advanced Orion, belted and armed; Arcturus, Aldebaran, Procyon, Rigel, and Antares, each with a blazing coronet above his brow, and carrying the symbols and wearing the dress of the god. These, with an interval of space between, were followed by the twelve constellations of the zodiac; each zodiac consisting of twelve bands of men, subdivided into twenty-four smaller companies, and so moving, each in a place assigned him, as to show the position of every star of the constellation, which he was appointed to aid in illustrating. Each individual carried above his head a starry light, inclosed in a crystal cup.
"This imposing and magnificent representation and illustration of the march of Time through the heavens, with all the movements of the heavenly orbs, presented a spectacle of splendor unsurpassed by any human display. Solemn as the march of the stars themselves, this procession of constellations moved once around the grand circuit of the temple, and then the five leaders advanced towards the altar, by which I stood alone, deserted by those who had led me thither. Every one of these symbolic persons in succession bent the knee before me, in token that the powers of the earth, air, fire, and water, with the great Nile itself, were submissive to my will. Ah, Sesostris," interspoke Remeses here, "how little did they suspect, when paying me this customary homage, that I was a mere Hebrew slave, who could make use of the air, of fire, of water, of the earth, or of the Nile, only by the permission of my Egyptian masters!