The-Egyptian-by-Mika-Waltari

The Egyptian by Mika Waltari

While the escort equipped themselves for the journey and water bags were filled and horses brought in from the grazing ground and smiths reinforced the wheels of the chariots, I looked around, and while I was looking, I realised the secret of all military training and what makes men braver than lions. A proficient commander keeps his soldiers in such a terrifying discipline and burdens them with exercises and makes their lives in every way unbearable so that any other fate, be it war or death, too, is more desirable than life in the barracks. But the strangest thing is that despite all this, the soldiers do not hate their commander, but they admire and praise him and boast about all their hardships and stick marks on their backs. So unexpected and surprising is the nature of man, and pondering this made the city of Akhenaten in my mind like a distant dream and a mirage.

By Horemheb’s command, ten chariots were allotted to me in Tanis, each drawn by two horses and leading a spare along with having, besides the driver, a warrior and a spearman. When the leader of the escort reported to me, he bowed deeply before me and lowered his arms at his knees, and I scanned him very narrowly, for I was entrusting my life to him. His loincloth was as ragged and as dirty as those of his men, and the desert sun had burned his face and body black, and only his silver- braided whip distinguished him from the soldiers. But because of this, I had more confidence in him than if he had worn fine clothes and had an attendant to shield him from the sun. When I spoke of a carrying chair, he forgot his respect and burst out laughing. I believed him when he said that our only safeguard was speed and that I must therefore go with him in his chariot, leaving chairs and other home comforts behind me. He promised that I should sit on a sack of forage if I wished, but assured me that I would do better to stand and learn to balance myself to the motion, or the desert would jolt the breath from my body and crack my bones against the sides of the chariot.

I drew myself up and told him haughtily that this would be by no means my first ride in a chariot but I had once driven from Zemar to Amurru in the shortest possible time so that even Aziru’s men marvelled at my speed, though at that time I had been younger than I

 

 

513

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now was, and my dignity required me to restrain myself from bodily endeavours. The officer, whose name was Juju, listened to me politely, after which I committed my life to the hands of all gods of Egypt and stepped up behind him into the foremost chariot, and he broke out his standard and roared at the horses. Away we went along a caravan route into the desert, and my body bounced about on the forage sacks as I clung to the sides of the chariot with both hands and bumped my nose and bewailed my misery. But my groans were drowned amidst the din of the chariot wheels, and the drivers behind me yelled madly for joy at driving out into the desert away from the scorching hell of the mud huts.

Thus we drove the whole day, and I spent the night on the sacks more dead than alive, bitterly cursing the day of my birth. Next morning, I tried to stand in the chariot, holding Juju’s waist, but after a while, the wheel went over a stone, and I flew out in a high arc, landing on my head in the sand, where prickly plants tore my face. But I was past caring for this. When night came, Juju seemed uneasy about my condition and poured water on my head even if he did not allow his soldiers to drink enough in order to save water. He held my hands and comforted me, saying that the journey had been fortunate so far and that if the voluntary forces did not surprise us on the following day either, the fourth day should bring us up with some of Aziru’s scouts. To comfort me, he told me about his experiences at war and said:

“Frankly, there is nothing more monotonous than war since war is endless waiting. War is useless waiting for the enemy, since the enemy is always late and never appears where he was expected. War is also useless waiting for meals, since at war meals are always late, and nothing is more accursed than the slowness of the food wagon. War is useless movement from one place to another and marching back to where one left from, and marching back and forth until tongue is glued to palate and legs are like dead logs. But all this is military art, and to learn it, officers need to attend military schools and learn to read and write. All this is war, and when the enemy attacks, he attacks when no one expects him to come. The enemy also attacks in a different way than they taught the enemy would attack and in a different order, and during the battle, the commander has no idea where his men are, and the men do not know where their commander is but everyone shouts as

 

 

514 

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

Leave a Reply