Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse/From the Legends of Ancient Egypt

BOLESLAW PRUS: FROM THE LEGENDS OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
Behold, how vain are human hopes before the dispensation of the world! Behold how vain they are before the decrees which the Omnipotent has inscribed with fiery signs upon the heavens.
The aged Rameses, the mighty ruler of Egypt, ​was on the point of death. On the breast of the monarch, before whose voice millions had trembled for half a century, had fallen a stifling phantom which was draining the blood from his heart, the strength from his arms, and, at intervals, even the consciousness from his brain. Like a fallen cedar the great Pharaoh lay upon the skin of an Indian tiger, his feet covered with the triumphal robe of the King of Ethiopia. And stern even to himself, he summoned the wisest physician from the temple at Carnac, and said:
"I know that thou art acquainted with potent mmedicines, which either slay or heal forthwith. Prepare one of them meet for my sickness, and let me end at once . . . thus or otherwise."
The physician hesitated.
"Consider, O Rameses," he whispered, "that from the moment of thy descending out of the high heavens, the Nile has ebbed a hundred times; can I then administer to thee a medicine, uncertain e

Đọc bản gốc tại Wikisource tiếng Anh