But the worst that came to pass was leaving the corpses to lie and rot on the square in front of the Temple for everyone pretended to know nothing about them since Pharaoh had been told only a few had got killed. The relatives were not allowed to take their loved ones from the square, except the richest whom the Sherdens sold some bodies during the first day, but on the following day, the reek made even the Sherdens flee from the square. The sugary stink of corpses poisoned the city and the water of the river, and it was not many days later when the diseases started raging in the city, and there was nothing against them as the House of Life and its storages were inside the Temple walls.
Every night fires raged in the city, houses were plundered, painted black men drank wine from golden cups, and Sherdens lay in soft beds under canopies. Day and night the priests shouted from the Temple walls cursing the false Pharaoh and everyone who disavowed Amun. From the darkness came forth all the scum of the city, all thieves, tomb robbers and footpads who had no fear of the gods, not even of Amun. Piously they blessed the name of Aten and entered his temple, which had been hastily cleansed, receiving the cross of life at the hands of the surviving priests and hung this about their necks as a protecting talisman which would enable them to steal, murder and rape at their ease under cover of night. After those days and nights, Thebes did not return to normal for many years, but power and wealth drained away from it like blood from many wounds in a fat body.
3
Horemheb stayed at my house where he stayed awake and lost weight, and his eyes grew more sombre every day; and he didn’t care for the food Muti tried serving him from dawn till dusk, for Muti, like many other women, was greatly taken with Horemheb and had more respect for him than for myself since I was weak and had no muscles even if my knowledge was great. And Horemheb said, “What do I care for either
381
Amun or Aten, but they have let my men run wild so that many backs must come under my lash and heads must fall before I can bring them to their senses. This is a great pity, for I know many of them by name and I know their merits, and they are good fighting men when disciplined and reproached enough.”
But Kaptah grew richer every day, and his face shone with grease, and he even spent his nights at The Crocodile’s Tail, for the officers and sergeants of the Sherdens paid for their drams with gold, and in the back rooms of the tavern lay ever growing heaps of stolen treasure: jewels and coffers and carpets, which they gave in exchange for wine without asking about the price. No one attacked that house, and thieves walked wide of it, for it was guarded by Horemheb’s soldiers, and Kaptah kept them drunk throughout the day so that they guarded the house faithfully and called the gods to bless his name and they hung the head of a street robber who was caught in the act over the door as a sign and warning to rioters.
By the third day, my stock of medicines was already exhausted, and it was impossible to buy more even for gold, and my arts were vain in the face of the disease that spread through the poor quarter from the foul water and corpses. I was tired, and my heart was like a wound in my breast, and my eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep. I was sickened with everything, sickened with the poor and with wounds and with Aten, and I went to The Crocodile’s Tail where I drank mixed wine until I fell asleep, and in the morning Merit woke me up, and I was lying on her mat with her beside me. Deeply ashamed, I said to her:
“Life is like a cold night, truly it is sweet when two lonely ones keep one another warm, though their hands and eyes tell lies for the sake of their friendship.”
She yawned sleepily and said, “How do you know that my hands and eyes are lying? I am indeed weary of smiting soldiers over the fingers and kicking their shins, and here by your side, Sinuhe, is the only safe place in the city where no one will lay a hand on me. Why this should be, I really cannot say, and I am almost offended, for I am said to be a beautiful woman, and is there nothing amiss with my belly, though you have not wanted to look at it.”
382
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384