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egypt-第21部分

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aviary。 It is the kingdom of the sparrows; who have built their nests

in thousands in this temple of the complaisant goddess。 They twitter

now all together and with all their might out of very joy of living。

It is an esplanade; this roofa solitude paved with gigantic

flagstones。 From it we see; beyond the heaps of ruins; those happy

plains; which are spread out with such a perfect serenity on the very

ground where once stood the town of Denderah; beloved of Hathor and

one of the most famous of Upper Egypt。 Exquisitely green are these

plains with the new growth of wheat and lucerne and bean; and the

herds that are grouped here and there on the fresh verdure of the

level pastures; swaying now and undulating in the wind; look like so

many dark patches。 And the two chains of mountains of rose…coloured

stone; that run parallelon the east that of the desert of Arabia; on

the west that of the Libyan desertenclose; in the distance; this

valley of the Nile; this land of plenty; which; alike in antiquity as

in our days; has excited the greed of predatory races。 The temple has

also some underground dependencies or crypts into which you descend by

staircases as of dungeons; sometimes even you have to crawl through

holes to reach them。 Long superposed galleries which might serve as

hiding…places for treasure; long corridors recalling those which; in

bad dreams; threaten to close in and bury you。 And the innumerable

figures; of course; are here too; gesticulating on the walls; and

endless representations of the lovely goddess; whose swelling bosom;

which has preserved almost intact the flesh colour applied in the

times of the Ptolemies; we have perforce to graze as we pass。



*****



In one of the vestibules that we have to traverse on our way out of

the sanctuary; amongst the numerous bas…reliefs representing various

sovereigns paying homage to the beautiful Hathor; is one of a young

man; crowned with a royal tiara shaped like the head of a uraeus。 He

is shown seated in the traditional Pharaonic pose and is none other

than the Emperor Nero!



The hieroglyphs of the cartouche are there to affirm his identity;

albeit the sculptor; not knowing his actual physiognomy; has given him

the traditional features; regular as those of the god Horus。 During

the centuries of the Roman domination the Western emperors used to

send from home instructions that their likeness should be placed on

the walls of the temples; and that offerings should be made in their

name to the Egyptian divinitiesand this notwithstanding that in

their eyes Egypt must have seemed so far away; a colony almost at the

end of the earth。 (And it was such a goddess as this; of secondary

rank in the times of the Pharaohs; that was singled out as the

favourite of the Romans of the decadence。)



The Emperor Nero! As a matter of fact at the very time these bas…

reliefsalmost the lastand these expiring hieroglyphics were being

inscribed; the confused primitive theogonies had almost reached their

end and the days of the Goddess of Joy were numbered。 There had been

conceived in Judaea symbols more lofty and more pure; which were to

rule a great part of the world for two thousand yearsafterwards;

alas; to decline in their turn; and men were about to throw themselves

passionately into renunciation; asceticism and fraternal pity。



How strange it is to say! Even while the sculptor was carving this

archaic bas…relief; and was using; for the engraving of its name;

characters that dated back to the night of the ages; there were

already Christians assembled in the catacombs at Rome and dying in

ecstasy in the arena!







CHAPTER XIII



MODERN LUXOR



The waters of the Nile being already low my dahabiyadelayed by

strandingshad not been able to reach Luxor; and we had moored

ourselves; as the darkness began to fall; at a casual spot on the

bank。



〃We are quite near;〃 the pilot had told me before departing to make

his evening prayer; 〃in an hour; to…morrow; we shall be there。〃



And the gentle night descended upon us in this spot which did not seem

to differ at all from so any others where; for a month past now; we

had moored our boat at hazard to await the daybreak。 On the banks were

dark confused masses of foliage; above which here and there a high

date…palm outlined its black plumes。 The air was filled with the

multitudinous chirpings of the crickets of Upper Egypt; which make

their music here almost throughout the year in the odorous warmth of

the grass。 And; presently; in the midst of the silence; rose the cries

of the night birds; like the mournful mewings of cats。 And that was

allsave for the infinite calm of the desert that is always present;

dominating everything; although scarcely noticed and; as it were;

latent。



*****



And this morning; at the rising of the sun; is pure and splendid as

all other mornings。 A tint of rosy coral comes gradually to life on

the summit of the Libyan mountains; standing out from the gridelin

shadows which; in the heavens; were the rearguard of the night。



But my eyes; grown accustomed during the last few weeks to this

glorious spectacle of the dawn; turn themselves; as if by force of

some attraction; towards a strange and quite unusual thing; which;

less than a mile away along the river; on the Arabian bank; rises

upright in the midst of the mournful plains。 At first it looks like a

mass of towering rocks; which in this hour of twilight magic have

taken on a pale violet colour; and seem almost transparent。 And the

sun; scarcely emerged from the desert; lights them in a curious

gradation; and orders their contours with a fringe of fresh rose…

colour。 And they are not rocks; in fact; for as we look more closely;

they show us lines symmetrical and straight。 Not rocks; but

architectural masses; tremendous and superhuman; placed there in

attitudes of quasi…eternal stability。 And out of them rise the points

of two obelisks; sharp as the blade of a lance。 And then; at once; I

understandThebes!



Thebes! Last evening it was hidden in the shadow and I did not know it

was so near。 But Thebes assuredly it is; for nothing else in the world

could produce such an apparition。 And I salute with a kind of shudder

of respect this unique and sovereign ruin; which had haunted me for

many years; but which until now life had not left me time to visit。



And now for Luxor; which in the epoch of the Pharaohs was a suburb of

the royal town; and is still its port。 It is there; it seems; where we

must stop our dahabiya in order to proceed to the fabulous palace

which the rising sun has just disclosed to us。



And while my equipage of bronzeintoning that song; as old as Egypt

and everlastingly the same; which seems to help the men in their

arduous workis busy unfastening the chain which binds us to the

bank; I continue to watch the distant apparition。 It emerges gradually

from the light morning mists which; perhaps; made it seem even larger

than it is。 The clear light of the ascending sun shows it now in

detail; and reveals it as all battered; broken and ruinous in the

midst of a silent plain; on the yellow carpet of the desert。 And how

this sun; rising in its clear splendour; seems to crush it with its

youth and stupendous duration。 This same sun had attained to its

present round form; had acquired the clear precision of its disc; and

begun its daily promenade over the country of the sands; countless

centuries of centuries; before it saw; as it might be yesterday; this

town of Thebes arise; an attempt at magnificence which seemed to

promise for the human pygmies a sufficiently interesting future; but

which; in the event; we have not been able even to equal。 And it

proved; too; a thing quite puny and derisory; since here it is laid

low; after having subsisted barely four negligible thousands of years。



*****



An hour later we arrive at Luxor; and what a surprise awaits us there!



The thing which dominates the whole town; and may be seen five or six

miles away; is the Winter Palace; a hasty modern production which has

grown on the border of the Nile during the past year: a colossal

hotel; obviously sham; made of plaster and mud; on a framework of

iron。 Twice or three times as high as the admirable Pharaonic Temple;

its impudent facade rises there; painted a dirty yellow。 One such

thing; it will readily be understood; is sufficient to disfigure

pitiably the whole of the surroundings。 The old Arab town; with its

little white houses; its minarets and its palm…trees; might as well

not exist。 The famous temple and the forest of heavy Osiridean columns

admire themselves in vain in the waters of the river。 It is the end of

Luxor。



And what a crowd of people is here! While; on the contrary; the

opposite bank seems so absolutely desertlike; with its stretches of

golden sand and; on the horizon; its mountains of the colour of

glowing embers; which
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