AFTER AN INTERVAL OF FORTY YEARS,
REMESES, PRINCE OF TYRE AND OF DAMASCUS,
SON OF SESOSTRIS,
VISITS EGYPT, AND ADDRESSES THE FOLLOWING
Series of Letters to his Father.
LETTERS
OF REMESES OF DAMASCUS TO HIS FATHER, KING SESOSTRIS.
LETTER I.
Palace of Pharaoh, Lake Mœris
My dear Father and King:
It is with emotions of no ordinary kind, that I find myself amid the scenes familiar to your eyes, when forty-six years ago, a young man, you visited Egypt. Every object upon which I gaze is invested with new interest as I reflect—"And this my father also saw. On this pylon he has stood and surveyed the landscape; and along these corridors, his feet have awakened the echoes which respond to mine."
The letters which you wrote from Egypt, during the reign of the wise Queen Amense, addressed to my royal grandmother, and which are now in my possession, early familiarized my mind with this wonderful land; and I recognize every place of interest, from your descriptions.
There are, however, some changes. Pharaoh-Mœris, who has been long dead, and his son Meiphra-Thothmes, Thothmeses his grandson, and Thothmeses IV., the present king, all inaugurated their reigns by laying the foundations of temples, palaces, and pyramids; while the ruins of others have been repaired. Mœris restored the ancient temple of Thoth, in the Island of Rhoda, where Prince Remeses was hidden three months, and also all other temples in Egypt. His reign, though tyrannical, was distinguished by improvement in arts, in letters, in astronomy, architecture, and arms. His pyramid is an imposing one, and singularly pre-eminent, by having an obelisk at each angle. His lake, however, is this Pharaoh's greatest monument, if I may so term it.