LETTER VII.
AARON TO KING SESOSTRIS.
City of Raamses, Egypt.
To Sesostris, King of Tyre, Aaron the Hebrew, greeting:
Pardon, O king, thy servant, for addressing an epistle to thee; but when thou art informed of the reason which has led me to take this liberty, thou wilt, I feel, acquit me of too great boldness.
Know, O King Sesostris, that my brother, thy beloved friend, who wrote the letter which I send to thee with this epistle (and which he himself would have forwarded, but for what I am about to relate), has fled from Egypt, pursued by the vindictive power of Pharaoh. I will, as briefly as I can, make known to thee the painful circumstances which led to this result.
The morning after he had completed his letter to thee, O king, he said to me, "I will go forth and see my brethren who are at work on Lake Mœris, that I may talk also with the old and young men, and inspire their heavy hearts with hope." So he departed, and, crossing the river, disguised as an Egyptian,—for no Hebrew dare now be seen walking alone for fear of being challenged by the soldiers, who garrison all the country, and stand guard at every corner, and at every gate,—he came to the shores of Lake Amense, the beauty of which, with its garden and palace-lined shores, so much pleased thee, O king, when, five years ago, thou wast in Egypt. There he saw King Mœris clothed in scarlet, a chain of gold across his breast, standing in his chariot, as he slowly drove around the lake, giving directions to the chief captains over the works. My brother was not recognized by him, however, and went on his way, observing the severe labors of his brethren. In the two hours that he was there, he saw three strong men lie down in the foul water and die! At length, coming to a place where several young and old men were working together, he beheld such cruelty exercised upon them, that he groaned in spirit, and prayed the Almighty to shorten the days of the four hundred years, and come to their deliverance. Unable longer to behold sufferings that he could not relieve, he walked sadly away, deeply meditating upon the mysterious providence of the Almighty, in His dealings with the seed of His servant Abraham. After a little time he found himself in a narrow, sand-drifted lane, between two walls, when he was suddenly aroused from his reflections by a cry of pain, accompanied by sharp blows with a stick. He looked up, and spied an Egyptian taskmaster dragging by the hair Izhur, a youth whom he greatly loved. The Egyptian had pursued him, as he fled up the lane from his blows, and was now plainly intent, in his great wrath, upon putting him to death.
My brother, indignant and grieved, commanded him in a tone of authority to release him; whereupon the Egyptian, cursing him by his gods, drew his knife from its sheath and would in revenge have driven it into the heart of Izhur, when Moses caught his arm, and bade the young man fly. The Egyptian, thereupon, would have slain my brother, who, looking this way and that, and seeing they were alone, struck him to the earth with one blow of his hand, in the name of the God of Abraham, the Avenger of his people, so that he died on the spot! He then hid the body in the sand, and returned home, where he made known to me what he had done.
"Surely," I said, in amazement, "thou art the first Hebrew, my brother, who hath slain an Egyptian. A divine motion must have moved thee! Peradventure it is by thy arm that he will yet deliver his people!"