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Updated: June 29, 2025
"Let him be counselor; if he is not the pharaoh, what do I care?" said the banker. Rabsun rose from his chair, and threatening Dagon with his fist under the nose, cried, "Thou wild boar, fatted on the pharaoh's swill, Phoenicia concerns thee as much as Egypt concerns me. Thou wouldst sell thy country for a drachma hadst Thou the chance, leprous cur that Thou art!"
Dagon grew pale and answered with a calm voice, "What is that huckster saying? In Tyre my sons are learning navigation; in Sidon lives my daughter with her husband. I have lent half my property to the supreme council, though I do not receive even ten per cent for it. And this huckster says that Phoenicia does not concern me!" "Rabsun, listen to me," added he, after a while.
"Enough!" interrupted Rabsun; "talk of Phoenicia." "Through whom wilt Thou learn of Beroes and the treaty?" asked Hiram of Dagon. "Let that drop. It is dangerous to speak of it, for priests will be involved in the matter." "And through whom couldst Thou ruin the treaty?" "I think I think that perhaps through the heir to the throne. I have many notes of his." Hiram raised his hand, and replied,
"What good is a treaty made by Beroes with Egyptian priests?" put in Rabsun, thinking deeply. "Thou art dull!" answered Dagon. "Pharaoh does nothing except what the priests ordain." "There will be a treaty with the pharaoh, never fear!" interrupted Hiram. "We know to a certainty in Tyre that the Assyrian ambassador Sargon is coming to Egypt with gifts and with a great retinue.
"But I may find a priest who will tell me." "Thou canst prevent at the court of the pharaoh a treaty with Sargon," continued Hiram. "It is very difficult. I could not do that unassisted." "I will be with thee, and Phoenicia will find the gold. A tax is in course of collection at present." "I have given two talents!" whispered Rabsun. "I will give ten," added Dagon.
"Your worthinesses are destroying this business and all Phoenicia," said Rabsun, with a voice which was loud now. Hiram balled his fists, but was silent. "Thou must confess, worthiness," said he, after a while, "that of those twenty thousand towns his holiness owns few in reality."
Rabsun began without prelude, "Dost thou know, worthiness, that Prince Hiram has come from Tyre?" Dagon sprang up from the couch. "May the leprosy seize him and his princeship!" shouted the banker. "He has just reminded me," continued the guest, calmly, "that there is a misunderstanding between him and thee." "What misunderstanding?" cried Dagon. "That thief has robbed, destroyed, ruined me.
"Poison," whispered Dagon. "A knife is a very rude weapon," concluded Hiram. He stroked his beard, thought awhile; at last he rose, took from his bosom a purple ribbon on which were fastened three golden amulets with a portrait of the goddess Astaroth. He drew from his girdle a knife, cut the ribbon into three parts, and gave two of these with the amulets to Dagon and Rabsun.
Thou shouldst clean my stables a couple of years." "Enough of this!" cried Hiram, striking the table with his fist. "We never shall finish with this Chaldean priest," muttered Rabsun, with as much calmness as if he had not been insulted a moment before. Hiram coughed, and said, "That man has a house and land really in Harran, and he is called Phut there.
After that, Rabsun placed on the steps of the throne a tray with the papyrus by which the Phoenicians bound themselves to give all things necessary for the army to the amount of two thousand talents. That was a considerable gift, since all that the Phoenicians had brought represented a sum of three thousand talents.
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