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egypt-第17部分

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appears; and shows quite brown by contrast; one sees the great yellow

swell of sand and stones above the pictures of these decapitated

people。 It rises like a colossal wave and stretches out to bathe the

foot of the Libyan mountains beyond。 Towards the north and west of the

solitudes; shapeless ruins of tawny…coloured blocks follow one another

in the sands until the dazzling distance ends in a clear…cut line

against the sky。 Apart from this temple of Ramses; where we now stand;

and that of Seti in the vicinity; where the enterprise of Thomas Cook

& Son flourishes; there is nothing around us but ruins; crumbled and

pulverised beyond all possible redemption。 But they give us pause;

these disappearing ruins; for they are the debris of that ageless

temple; where sleeps the head of the god; the debris of the tombs of

the Middle and Ancient Empires; and they indicate still the wide

extent and development of the necropoles of Abydos; so old that it

almost makes one giddy to think of their beginning。



Here; as at Thebes and Memphis; the tombs of the Egyptians are met

with only amongst the sands and the parched rocks。 The great ancestral

people; who would have shuddered at our black trees; and the

corruption of the damp graves; liked to place its embalmed dead in the

midst of this luminous; changeless splendour of death; which men call

the desert。



*****



And what is this now that is happening in the holy neighbourhood of

unhappy Osiris? A troupe of donkeys; belaboured by Bedouin drivers; is

being driven in the direction of the adjacent temple; dedicated to the

god by Seti! The luncheon no doubt is over and the band about to

depart; sharp to the appointed hour of the programme。 Let us watch

them from a prudent distance。



To be brief; they all mount into their saddles; these Cooks and

Cookesses; and opening; not without a conscious air of majesty; their

white cotton parasols; take themselves off in the direction of the

Nile。 They disappear and the place belongs to us。



When we venture at last to return to the first sanctuary; where they

had lunched their fill in the shade; the guardians are busy clearing

away the leavings and the dirty paper。 And they pack the dubious

crockery; which will be required for to…morrow's luncheon; into large

chests on which may be read in large letters of glory the names of the

veritable sovereigns of modern Egypt: 〃Thomas Cook & Son (Egypt

Ltd。)。〃



All this happily ends with the first hypostyle。 Nothing dishonours the

halls of the interior; where silence has again descended; the vast

silence of the noon of the desert。



In the reign of the Emperor Tiberius; men already marvelled at this

temple; as at a relic of the most distant and nebulous past。 The

geographer Strabo wrote in those days: 〃It is an admirable palace

built in the fashion of the Labyrinth save that it has fewer

galleries。〃 There are galleries enough however; and one can readily

lose oneself in its mazy turnings。 Seven chapels; consecrated to

Osiris and to different gods and goddesses of his suite; seven vaulted

chambers; seven doors for the processions of kings and multitudes;

and; at the sides; numberless halls; corridors; secondary chapels;

dark chambers and hidden doorways。 That very primitive column;

suggestive of reeds; which is called in architecture the 〃plant

column〃 and resembles a monstrous stem of papyrus; rises here in a

thick forest; to support the stones of the blue ceilings; which are

strewn with stars; in the likeness of the sky of this country。 In many

cases these stones are missing and leave large openings on to the real

sky above。 Their massiveness; which one might have thought would

secure them an endless duration; has availed them nothing; the sun of

so many centuries has cracked them; and their own weight; then; has

brought them headlong to the ground。 And floods of light now enter

through the gaps; into the very chapels where the men of old had

thought to ensure a holy gloom。



Despite the disaster which has overtaken the ceilings; this is

nevertheless one of the most perfect of the sanctuaries of ancient

Egypt。 The sands; those gentle sextons; have here succeeded

miraculously in their work of preservation。 They might have been

carved yesterday; these innumerable people; who; everywhereon the

walls; on this forest of columnsgesticulate and; with their arms and

long hands; continue with animation their eternal mute conversation。

The whole temple; with the openings which give it light; is more

beautiful perhaps than in the time of the Pharaohs。 In place of the

old…time darkness; a transparent gloom now alternates with shafts of

sunlight。 Here and there the subjects of the bas…reliefs; so long

buried in the darkness; are deluged with burning rays which detail

their attitudes; their muscles; their scarcely altered colours; and

endow them again with life and youth。 There is no part of the wall; in

this immense place; but is covered with divinities; with hieroglyphs

and emblems。 Osiris in high coiffure; the beautiful Isis in the helmet

of a bird; jackal…headed Anubis; falcon…headed Horus; and ibis…headed

Thoth are repeated a thousand times; welcoming with strange gestures

the kings and priests who are rendering them homage。



The bodies; almost nude; with broad shoulders and slim waist; have a

slenderness; a grace; infinitely chaste; and the features of the faces

are of an exquisite purity。 The artists who carved these charming

heads; with their long eyes; full of the ancient dream; were already

skilled in their art; but through a deficiency; which puzzles us; they

were only able to draw them in profile。 All the legs; all the feet are

in profile too; although the bodies; on the other hand; face us fully。

Men needed yet some centuries of study before they understood

perspectivewhich to us now seems so simpleand the foreshortening

of figures; and were able to render the impression of them on a plane

surface。



Many of the pictures represent King Seti; drawn without doubt from

life; for they show us almost the very features of his mummy;

exhibited now in the museum at Cairo。 At his side he holds

affectionately his son; the prince…royal; Ramses (later on Ramses II。;

the great Sesostris of the Greeks)。 They have given the latter quite a

frank air; and he wears a curl on the side of his head; as was the

fashion then in childhood。 He; also; has his mummy in a glass case in

the museum; and anyone who has seen that toothless; sinister wreck;

who had already attained the age of nearly a hundred years before

death delivered him to the embalmers of Thebes; will find it difficult

to believe that he could ever have been young; and worn his hair

curled so; that he could ever have played and been a child。



*****



We thought we had finished with the Cooks and Cookesses of the

luncheon。 But alas! our horses; faster than their donkeys; overtake

them in the return journey amongst the green cornfields of Abydos; and

in a stoppage in the narrow roadway; caused by a meeting with a number

of camels laden with lucerne; we are brought to a halt in their midst。

Almost touching me is a dear little white donkey; who looks at me

pensively and in such a way that we at once understand each other。 A

mutual sympathy unites us。 A Cookess in spectacles surmounts himthe

most hideous of them all; bony and severe。 Over her travelling

costume; already sufficiently repulsive; she wears a tennis jersey;

which accentuates the angularity of her figure; and in her person she

seems the very incarnation of the respectability of the British Isles。

It would be more equitable; tooso long are those legs of hers;

which; to be sure; have scant interest for the touristif she carried

the donkey。



The poor little white thing regards me with melancholy。 His ears

twitch restlessly and his beautiful eyes; so fine; so observant of

everything; say to me as plain as words:



〃She is a beauty; isn't she?〃



〃She is; indeed; my poor little donkey。 But think of this: fixed on

thy back as she is; thou hast this advantage over methou seest her

not!〃



But my reflection; though judicious enough; does not console him; and

his look answers me that he would be much prouder if he carried; like

so many of his comrades; a simple pack of sugarcanes。







CHAPTER XI



THE DOWNFALL OF THE NILE



Some thousands of years ago; at the beginning of our geological

period; when the continents had taken; in the last great upheaval;

almost the forms by which we now know them; and when the rivers began

to trace their hesitating courses; it happened that the rains of a

whole watershed of Africa were precipitated in one formidable torrent

across the uninhabitable region which stretches from the Atlantic to

the Indian Ocean; and is called the region of the deserts。 And this

enormous waterway; lost as it was in the sands; by…and…by regulated

its course: it bec
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