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"Knowest thou, I am today convinced that our priests have concluded an infamous treaty with Assyria; without war, without demands even from the other side! Canst Thou imagine what we are losing?" "Dagon told me that the Assyrians wished to take Phoenicia. But the Phoenicians are now less alarmed, for King Assar has a war on the northeastern boundaries.
I have come to visit thee and inquire if Thou hast need of anything, also to learn if time and desire will permit thee to ride in my company on a horse from my father's stables, surrounded by our suites in a manner becoming an ambassador of the mighty Assar, may he live through eternity!" Sargon listened as he lay there, without understanding a syllable.
I shall build a temple, not to Osiris or Isis, but to the One God in whom all believe: the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, and the Jews. I wish that temple to be like the palace of King Assar, the model of which Sargon brought to my father." "Those are great plans," said the high priest, shaking his head, "but it is impossible to execute them.
"But say, in conclusion, that the wisdom of my father excels that of all men, therefore I shall do whatsoever he commands, if only he gives not Phoenicia to King Assar; if he gives it, we are ruined. Phoenicia is the bronze door of our treasure-house, and where is the man who would yield his door to a robber?"
Sargon, a relative of King Assar, has become all at once such a devotee that for whole months he goes on a difficult journey only to do honor in Pi-Bast to the goddess Astaroth. But in Nineveh he could have found greater gods and more learned priests. Ha! ha! ha!" Tutmosis looked at the prince with astonishment. "What has happened to thee, Erpatr?" asked he.
And were we to attack Assyria at the right season, in Nineveh alone, in the single palace of Assar, we should find inexhaustible treasures. Think how many slaves we could take, half a million a million, people of gigantic strength, and so wild that captivity in Egypt with the hardest labor on canals or in quarries would seem play to them.
Those were the same dignitaries who, giddy with pride, had the past year refused him the corps of Memphis, and who had made him viceroy only when it seemed to them that he had performed an act of penitence by withdrawing from the palace the very same who watched every movement of his, made reports regarding him, but did not tell him, the heir to the throne, even of the treaty with Assar, the very same dignitaries who had employed deceit against him in the temple of Hator, and who at the Soda Lakes slaughtered prisoners to whom he had promised freedom.
The prince desired to tell Mentezufis the reason of Istubar's coming, but he bit his lips and was silent. "The renowned Istubar," continued the priest, "has brought documents in virtue of which the worthy Sargon, a satrap, and a relative of King Assar, remains with us as ambassador of that mighty sovereign." The prince was near bursting into laughter.
"With Beroes, the high priest of Chaldea, at commission of King Assar," said Hiram. "And who from your side? I will not state to a certainty. But it seems to me that his worthiness Herhor, his worthiness Mefres, and the holy prophet Pentuer." The prince became pale. "Consider, Phoenician," said he, "that Thou art accusing of treason the highest dignitaries of Egypt."
When he had greeted the prince, with an official mien, the prophet took the seat indicated, and began, "From the Memphis palace of the lord of eternity they have informed me that in recent days the Chaldean high priest Istubar, the court astrologer and counselor of his grace King Assar, has come to Pi-Bast."
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