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egypt-第27部分

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and we long to return to the open air; which was burning indeed; but

was at least the air of life。



Hastily we descend: by steep staircases; by passages which slope so

rapidly that they hurry us along of themselves; like slides; and it

seems that we shall never ascend again; any more than the great mummy

who passed here so long ago on his way to his eternal chamber。 All

this brings us; first of all; to a deep welldug there to swallow up

the desecrators in their passageand it is on one of the sides of

this oubliette; behind a casual stone carefully sealed; that the

continuation of these funeral galleries was discovered。 Then; when we

have passed the well; by a narrow bridge that has been thrown across

it; the stairs begin again; and the steep passages that almost make

you run; but now; by a sharp bend; they have changed their direction。

And still we descend; descend。 Heavens! how deep down this king

dwells! And at each step of our descent we feel more and more

imprisoned under the sovereign mass of stone; in the centre of all

this compact and silent thickness。



*****



The little electric globes; placed apart like a garland; suffice now

for our eyes which have forgotten the sun。 And we can distinguish

around us myriad figures inviting us to solemnity and silence。 They

are inscribed everywhere on the smooth; spotless walls of the colour

of old ivory。 They follow one another in regular order; repeating

themselves obstinately in parallel rows; as if the better to impose

upon our spirit; with gestures and symbols that are eternally the

same。 The gods and demons; the representatives of Anubis; with his

black jackal's head and his long erect ears; seem to make signs to us

with their long arms and long fingers: 〃No noise! Look; there are

mummies here!〃 The wonderful preservation of all this; the vivid

colours; the clearness of the outlines; begin to cause a kind of

stupor and bewilderment。 Verily you would think that the painter of

these figures of the shades had only just quitted the hypogeum。 All

this past seems to draw you to itself like an abyss to which you have

approached too closely。 It surrounds you; and little by little masters

you。 It is so much at home here that it has /remained the present/。

Over and above the mere descent into the secret bowels of the rock

there has been a kind of seizure with vertigo; which we had not

anticipated and which has whirled us far away into the depths of the

ages。



These interminable; oppressive passages; by which we have crawled to

the innermost depths of the mountain; lead at length to something

vast; the walls divide; the vault expands and we are in the great

funeral hall; of which the blue ceiling; all bestrewn with stars like

the sky; is supported by six pillars hewn in the rock itself。 On

either side open other chambers into which the electricity permits us

to see quite clearly; and opposite; at the end of the hall; a large

crypt is revealed; which one divines instinctively must be the

resting…place of the Pharaoh。 What a prodigious labour must have been

entailed by this perforation of the living rock! And this hypogeum is

not unique。 All along the 〃Valley of the Kings〃 little insignificant

doorswhich to the initiated reveal the 〃Sign of the Shadow;〃

inscribed on their lintelslead to other subterranean places; just as

sumptuous and perfidiously profound; with their snares; their hidden

wells; their oubliettes and the bewildering multiplicity of their

mural figures。 And all these tombs this morning were full of people;

and; if we had not had the good fortune to arrive after the usual

hour; we should have met here; even in this dwelling of Amenophis; a

battalion equipped by Messrs。 Cook。



In this hall; with its blue ceiling; the frescoes multiply their

riddles: scenes from the book of Hades; all the funeral ritual

translated into pictures。 On the pillars and walls crowd the different

demons that an Egyptian soul was likely to meet in its passage through

the country of shadows; and underneath the passwords which were to be

given to each of them are recapitulated so as not to be forgotten。



For the soul used to depart simultaneously under the two forms of a

flame'*' and a falcon'+' respectively。 And this country of shadows;

called also the west; to which it had to render itself; was that where

the moon sinks and where each evening the sun goes down; a country to

which the living were never able to attain; because it fled before

them; however fast they might travel across the sands or over the

waters。 On its arrival there; the scared soul had to parley

successively with the fearsome demons who lay in wait for it along its

route。 If at last it was judged worthy to approach Osiris; the great

Dead Sun; it was subsumed in him and reappeared; shining over the

world the next morning and on all succeeding mornings until the

consummation of timea vague survival in the solar splendour; a

continuation without personality; of which one is scarcely able to say

whether or not it was more desirable than eternal non…existence。



'*' The Khou; which never returned to our world。



'+' The Bai; which might; at its will; revisit the tomb。



And; moreover; it was necessary to preserve the body at whatever cost;

for a certain /double/ of the dead man continued to dwell in the dry

flesh; and retained a kind of half life; barely conscious。 Lying at

the bottom of the sarcophagus it was able to see; by virtue of those

two eyes; which were painted on the lid; always in the same axis as

the empty eyes of the mummy。 Sometimes; too; this /double/; escaping

from the mummy and its box; used to wander like a phantom about the

hypogeum。 And; in order that at such times it might be able to obtain

nourishment; a mass of mummified viands wrapped in bandages were

amongst the thousand and one things buried at its side。 Even natron

and oils were left; so that it might re…embalm itself; if the worms

came to life in its members。




Oh! the persistence of this /double/; sealed there in the tomb; a prey

to anxiety; lest corruption should take hold of it; which had to serve

its long duration in suffocating darkness; in absolute silence;

without anything to mark the days and nights; or the seasons or the

centuries; or the tens of centuries without end! It was with such a

terrible conception of death as this that each one in those days was

absorbed in the preparation of his eternal chamber。



And for Amenophis II。 this more or less is what happened to his

/double/。 Unaccustomed to any kind of noise; after three or four

hundred years passed in the company of certain familiars; lulled in

the same heavy slumber as himself; he heard the sound of muffled blows

in the distance; by the side of the hidden well。 The secret entrance

was discovered: men were breaking through its walls! Living beings

were about to appear; pillagers of tombs; no doubt; come to unswathe

them all! But no! Only some priests of Osiris; advancing with fear in

a funeral procession。 They brought nine great coffins containing the

mummies of nine kings; his sons; grandsons and other unknown

successors; down to that King Setnakht; who governed Egypt two and a

half centuries after him。 It was simply to hide them better that they

brought them hither; and placed them all together in a chamber that

was immediately walled up。 Then they departed。 The stones of the door

were sealed afresh; and everything fell again into the old mournful

and burning darkness。



Slowly the centuries rolled onperhaps ten; perhaps twentyin a

silence no longer even disturbed by the scratchings of the worms; long

since dead。 And a day came when; at the side of the entrance; the same

blows were heard again。 。 。 。 And this time it was the robbers。

Carrying torches in their hands; they rushed headlong in; with shouts

and cries and; except in the safe hiding…place of the nine coffins;

everything was plundered; the bandages torn off; the golden trinkets

snatched from the necks of the mummies。 Then; when they had sorted

their booty; they walled up the entrance as before; and went their

way; leaving an inextricable confusion of shrouds; of human bodies; of

entrails issuing from shattered vases; of broken gods and emblems。



Afterwards; for long centuries; there was silence again; and finally;

in our days; the /double/; then in its last weakness and almost non…

existent; perceived the same noise of stones being unsealed by blows

of pickaxes。 The third time; the living men who entered were of a race

never seen before。 At first they seemed respectful and pious; only

touching things gently。 But they came to plunder everything; even the

nine coffins in their still inviolate hiding…place。 They gathered the

smallest fragments with a solicitude almost religious。 That they might

lose nothing they even sifted the rubbish and the dust。 But; as for

Amenophis; who was already nothing more than a lamentable mummy;

without jewels or bandages; they left him at the bottom of his

sarcophagus of sandstone。 And since that day; doomed to receive each

morning numerous people of a strange aspect; he dwells alone in his

hypogeum; where there is now neither a being nor a thing belonging to

his time。



But yes; there is! We had not looked all round。 There in one of the

lateral chambers some bodies are lying; dead bodiesthree corpses

(unswathed at the time of the pillage); side by side on their rags。

First; a woman; the queen probably; with loosened hair。 Her profile

has preserved its exquisite lines。 How beautiful she still is! And

then a young boy with the little greyish face of a doll。 His head is

shaved; except for that long curl at the right side; which denotes a

prince of the royal blood。 And the third a man。 Ugh! How terrible he

islooking as if he found death a thing irresistibly comical。 He even

writhes with laughter; and eats a corner of his shroud as if to

prevent h
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