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Article THE CONTEST. ← Page 5 of 6 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Contest.
whilst the customary victim was led before the altar ; the high priest laid !\ is hands upon its head , and loaded the animal widi fearful imnrecations , whilst every voice joined in loud prayer to the gods , entreating them to cast on the head of the sacrifice all the calamity which threatened the land . It was then slaughtered , and the blood being caught in a golden cup , was sprinkled over the fatal urn . The high priest then advancedand the females sank upon their knees as be proceeded to draw
, the fatal scroll . It would have been a study to a painter to have watched the expression of two countenances in the vast assembly—the vindictive Hierophant , all hate and triumph , the youthful stranger , who held his place amongst the nobles nearest the throne , all eagerness and hope . "A miracle ! " exclaimed the disappointed and vindictive lover of Nementbis , as he drew from the urn a lotus of pure gold ; " Tbe god hath proclaimed ba miracle his will ! Seeon this mystic flower is
y , engraved the name of tbe happy fair one destined to be bis bride Read , O king ! and let the people hear—the happy , the chosen , the immortal . " Nicoris , the chief of the forty judges of Egypt , approached , and , according to ancient custom , received from the hands of the high priest the sacred flower . As he received it , a smile of peculiar meaning passed
between him and the stranger . As he reached the throne , his foot slipped in the blood of the newly slain victim , and the aged bearer fell , his loose robes covering the fatal symbol . Eager eyes had watched him , and ready hands were at his side : in an instant the youth darted from the rank of nobles by whom he was surrounded , and raised his venerable parent , for such was the relationship between them . The next instant Nicoris was at the foot of the throne , and the lotus in the hand of the
monarch , who , with a faltering voice , read aloud , " Nementbis must become the bride of the Nile , or the wife of him who fulfils the conditions of the oracle . ' In an instant all was confusion . The nobles and priests shouted aloud , " A miracle—a miracle ! Who shall impeach the judgment of the gods ? " The affrighted females rushed through the arcades of the temple , or sank upon the ground , uttering wild cries of terror ; aud the
trembling Nementbis , overcome with sudden terror and surprise , sank fainting in the arms of her distracted parent . But who can picture the rage and the despair of the high priest . He doubted , and was confounded . Had a miracle really intervened to snatch his victim from his grasp ? for he suspected not that the virtuous Nicoris had changed the golden lotus during his pretended fall , moved by the prayers of his only son , who had penetrated the high priest ' s design , and thus prepared to baffle it .
The terrified monarch , trembling for the safety of his beloved child , hastened to make proclamation through the land , that he would bestow his only child and crown upon him who should fulfil the will of the gods , by producing a plan of the mysterious building necessary to make perfect the gorgeous City of Memphis . The appointed day at length arrived , when the architects were to present the last , the proudest efforts of their skill . Mycerinus gazed coldly upon them as they were unrolled before him . One projected a pyramid , upon a scale so gigantic that it
should form the gnomon of a dial , of which Egypt should be the face . Others multiplied palaces upon palaces , terrace upon tower , but the monarch turned from them with a despairing eye ; such he felt was not , could not , be the mystic pile intended . Even the plan of the high
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Contest.
whilst the customary victim was led before the altar ; the high priest laid !\ is hands upon its head , and loaded the animal widi fearful imnrecations , whilst every voice joined in loud prayer to the gods , entreating them to cast on the head of the sacrifice all the calamity which threatened the land . It was then slaughtered , and the blood being caught in a golden cup , was sprinkled over the fatal urn . The high priest then advancedand the females sank upon their knees as be proceeded to draw
, the fatal scroll . It would have been a study to a painter to have watched the expression of two countenances in the vast assembly—the vindictive Hierophant , all hate and triumph , the youthful stranger , who held his place amongst the nobles nearest the throne , all eagerness and hope . "A miracle ! " exclaimed the disappointed and vindictive lover of Nementbis , as he drew from the urn a lotus of pure gold ; " Tbe god hath proclaimed ba miracle his will ! Seeon this mystic flower is
y , engraved the name of tbe happy fair one destined to be bis bride Read , O king ! and let the people hear—the happy , the chosen , the immortal . " Nicoris , the chief of the forty judges of Egypt , approached , and , according to ancient custom , received from the hands of the high priest the sacred flower . As he received it , a smile of peculiar meaning passed
between him and the stranger . As he reached the throne , his foot slipped in the blood of the newly slain victim , and the aged bearer fell , his loose robes covering the fatal symbol . Eager eyes had watched him , and ready hands were at his side : in an instant the youth darted from the rank of nobles by whom he was surrounded , and raised his venerable parent , for such was the relationship between them . The next instant Nicoris was at the foot of the throne , and the lotus in the hand of the
monarch , who , with a faltering voice , read aloud , " Nementbis must become the bride of the Nile , or the wife of him who fulfils the conditions of the oracle . ' In an instant all was confusion . The nobles and priests shouted aloud , " A miracle—a miracle ! Who shall impeach the judgment of the gods ? " The affrighted females rushed through the arcades of the temple , or sank upon the ground , uttering wild cries of terror ; aud the
trembling Nementbis , overcome with sudden terror and surprise , sank fainting in the arms of her distracted parent . But who can picture the rage and the despair of the high priest . He doubted , and was confounded . Had a miracle really intervened to snatch his victim from his grasp ? for he suspected not that the virtuous Nicoris had changed the golden lotus during his pretended fall , moved by the prayers of his only son , who had penetrated the high priest ' s design , and thus prepared to baffle it .
The terrified monarch , trembling for the safety of his beloved child , hastened to make proclamation through the land , that he would bestow his only child and crown upon him who should fulfil the will of the gods , by producing a plan of the mysterious building necessary to make perfect the gorgeous City of Memphis . The appointed day at length arrived , when the architects were to present the last , the proudest efforts of their skill . Mycerinus gazed coldly upon them as they were unrolled before him . One projected a pyramid , upon a scale so gigantic that it
should form the gnomon of a dial , of which Egypt should be the face . Others multiplied palaces upon palaces , terrace upon tower , but the monarch turned from them with a despairing eye ; such he felt was not , could not , be the mystic pile intended . Even the plan of the high