Long files of the ministers of the god-representing the five phyla or orders of the priesthood of the whole country—­were marching, in holiday attire, along the harbor-road in the direction of the palace, and the jostling crowd respectfully made way for them to pass.  The gleams of festal splendor seemed interwoven with the laborious bustle on the quay like scraps of gold thread in a dull work-a-day garment.

Euergetes, brother of the king, was keeping his birthday in Memphis to-day, and all the city was to take part in the festivities.

At the first hour after sunrise victims had been sacrificed in the temple of Ptah, the most ancient, and most vast of the sanctuaries of the venerable capital of the Pharaohs; the sacred Apis-bull, but recently introduced into the temple, was hung all over with golden ornaments; early in the morning Euergetes had paid his devotions to the sacred beast—­which had eaten out of his hand, a favorable augury of success for his plans; and the building in which the Apis lived, as well as the stalls of his mother and of the cows kept for him, had been splendidly decked with flowers.

The citizens of Memphis were not permitted to pursue their avocations or ply their trades beyond the hour of noon; then the markets, the booths, the workshops and schools were to be closed, and on the great square in front of the temple of Ptah, where the annual fair was held, dramas both sacred and profane, and shows of all sorts were to be seen, heard and admired by men, women and children—­provided at the expense of the two kings.

Two men of Alexandria, one an AEolian of Lesbos, and the other a Hebrew belonging to the Jewish community, but who was not distinguishable by dress or accent from his Greek fellow-citizens, greeted each other on the quay opposite the landing-place for the king’s vessels, some of which were putting out into the stream, spreading their purple sails and dipping their prows inlaid with ivory and heavily gilt.

“In a couple of hours,” said the Jew, “I shall be travelling homewards.  May I offer you a place in my boat, or do you propose remaining here to assist at the festival and not starting till to-morrow morning?  There are all kinds of spectacles to be seen, and when it is dark a grand illumination is to take place.”

“What do I care for their barbarian rubbish?” answered the Lesbian.  “Why, the Egyptian music alone drives me to distraction.  My business is concluded.  I had inspected the goods brought from Arabia and India by way of Berenice and Coptos, and had selected those I needed before the vessel that brought them had moored in the Mariotic harbor, and other goods will have reached Alexandria before me.  I will not stay an hour longer than is necessary in this horrible place, which is as dismal as it is huge.  Yesterday I visited the gymnasium and the better class of baths—­wretched, I call them!  It is an insult to the fish-market and the horse-ponds of Alexandria to compare them with them.”