about twenty-two. It is erroneous to describe their turbans as reaching to the ceiling; since they have no turbans, but a mitre, which does not rise above the columns, and is separated from the ceiling by the whole depth of the enormous stone beams, which, passing from the front to the back of the apartment, appear to support the roof. The effect they produce must depend upon the imagination of the traveller. CCCXXXIX. The designs upon the walls of this hall would seem, from a circumstance which shall presently be mentioned, to represent the wars of that Memnon, or Osymandyas, the magnificent ruins of whose palace we had seen at Abydos. They are conceived with much boldness and fire, and, although the material embodying corresponds but ill with the original idea, the narrative is conducted with ability; the rapid succession of events which compose this sanguinary drama being most distinctly unfolded. The action commences about the centre of the northern wall; where Memnon, seated on his throne, is represented in the act of issuing those commands in which all this warlike movement originates. Before him are his principal satraps and great military officers, each receiving the orders and learning the part he is to perform in the coming struggle. A chariot waits in readiness for the hero of the campaign; and the grooms, standing by the horses' necks, have their faces turned towards the palace, as if every moment expecting to behold the warlike king issuing forth. The charioteer, likewise, in the same 458 POMP OF MEMNON. expectation, holds the long reins in one hand, and looks back, fearing or hoping for the sudden appearance of the monarch. Memnon, surrounded by all the pomp and circumstance of barbaric grandeur, grasps the lotus-headed sceptre in one hand, while the other is extended as in the act of speaking; but, with the pride of an Oriental despot, he harangues sitting*; while the great men of the kingdom, who compose his auditory, stand humbly to catch the import of his royal eloquence. Behind the throne are two sumptuously attired attendants, one of whom bears a sort of fan of feathers, mounted on a handle as long as the staff of a spear, and somewhat resembling the sikra, or royal fan, of the Rajpoot sovereigns of Méwar. The other, who holds the monarch's bow in his hands, seems to be seated in a chair; from which he may be supposed to be a person of some consequence. CCCXL. The next scene represents the army already in the field, and the commencement of the first battle. In these wars little account appears to have been made of infantry. Chariots, with several riders in each, drawn up in long crowded lines, seem to cover a vast space of ground, wheeling about and scouring the field in all directions. The charioteer * The affectation of similar haughtiness in a free state, was one of the circumstances which hastened the fate of Julius Cæsar, who received a deputation from the senate seated in his chair. He, indeed, pleaded, in apology, the pressure of a troublesome complaint; but the senators, accustomed to other manners, discovered in this action a manifestation of royal pride that severely wounded their own. SPIRIT OF ANCIENT WARFARE. 459 is always depicted with a large shield, apparently of wicker-work, which he extends before the combatants, whose principal arms are the bow and arrow, and the light javelin. Some of these chariots are seen falling over the edges of high cliffs, down which their riders, with their shields and arms, have been already precipitated, and are beheld tumbling among the rocks. Others, with the arrows in their hearts, are reeling in death, and falling under their own chariot wheels, while a third party, defeated and flying, drive at full speed over the plain, looking fearfully behind them, or drawing an unavailing bow at their pursuers. A little farther we behold a pause in the work of death. A parley takes place. Two personages of high rank, with circular bucklers, and round crests upon their helmets, attended by a number of followers with long tabular shields, meet in front of their respective armies. On one side an empty chariot stands behind in waiting; which, from the royal canopy, adorned with the sacred vulture with outspread wings, and the magnificent plume on the horses' heads, we know to be that of Osymandyas. CCCXLI. From the scenes following next in succession, we discover that the results of the parley were not pacific. On this portion of the wall, indeed, "the whole war comes out and meets the eye;' soldiers spearing men upon their knees — killing suppliantsgiving no quarter; others engaged in deadly struggle, or falling wounded from their chariots, or lying, the struggle ended, dead upon the 460 ACTIONS OF THE KING. ground. On a distant part of the field we observe rows of captives on their knees; while others, with their arms bound, are led away to servitude or to execution : for such were the barbarous practices of the times. Close to these wretched groups, in whom the passion for glory has been satiated, the battle in all its fury continues. Here chariot urges on chariot, and horse, horse. They throng, push, struggle, conquer, perish. Death, the true hero of the field, strides from rank to rank, and urges them with shouts and laughter to the combat. The warriors, in some chariots, cover their bodies with long shields, in others with round. Farther off, we find the infantry marching forward to battle, in serried ranks, armed with long spears, and large bucklers covering the whole body. CCCXLII. There is an epic variety in these representations of carnage, the eye, as it wanders along the walls, beholding at each shifting, as it were, of the scene, new images of death, new actors, surrounded with increasing terrors, paving with more sanguinary energy the way to the final catastrophe. The artist, with adulatory skill, has contrived to crowd and multiply around the king images of confusion and slaughter. Wherever he moves, rout and perdition attend him; and, in proceeding into his presence, we pass by a soldier, apparently his armour-bearer, who is grasping an enemy by the arm, and driving a spear into his breast, while he tramples under his feet the dead body of a fallen foe. Close at hand is the king in his chariot, urging forward his fiery steed ; SIEGE OF A CITY. 461 dealing destruction with his vast arrows; driving over the wounded and the dying, his flying wheels, dyed with brains and gore, crushing out their souls. He is represented in the act of drawing his bow: the arrow, not yet sped, is richly ornamented near the barb, exactly resembling in form a small copper arrow-head which I bought at Elephantine. The artist committed some blunder in forming this royal bow; and, having been compelled to correct his error, the yew appears double in the upper part. Here, as elsewhere, the horses of the hero's chariot are adorned with waving plumes, and the figure of a globe seems to be suspended over their necks. CCCXLIII. The enemy, unable to resist the prowess of Memnon, retreat, and take refuge within the walls of their capital, whither the monarch, ambitious and implacable, still pursues them; and, the tediousness of a siege not suiting the purpose of the artist, the place is stormed. In their appearance and architecture, the fortifications exactly resemble the clay forts found at this day in Nubia; where the events commemorated most probably took place. Sculpture, however, like poetry, knows how to cast the mantle of grandeur over small things, so as to make them appear great, and the reduction of a few Nubian villages, which an enthusiastic bard would denominate "the conquest of Ethiopia," seems, in this dumb epopœa, to rival the siege of Troy. The sack of the capital is accompanied by several affecting and wellimagined circumstances. We beheld on the walls sol |