Egypt and its monuments . , you perceive the fig-ure of a young man singing. A young man singing! Let him be the tutelary godof this place, whoever he be, whether only some humble,happy slave, or the superintendent of song and of therecreation of the king. Rather even than Amun-Ralet him be the god. For there is something noblyjoyous in this architecture, a dignity that sings. It has been said, but not established, that Ramesesthe Great was buried in the Ramesseum, and whenfirst I entered it the Lay of the Harper came to mymind, with the sadness that attends the passing awayof glory into the s
Egypt and its monuments . , you perceive the fig-ure of a young man singing. A young man singing! Let him be the tutelary godof this place, whoever he be, whether only some humble,happy slave, or the superintendent of song and of therecreation of the king. Rather even than Amun-Ralet him be the god. For there is something noblyjoyous in this architecture, a dignity that sings. It has been said, but not established, that Ramesesthe Great was buried in the Ramesseum, and whenfirst I entered it the Lay of the Harper came to mymind, with the sadness that attends the passing awayof glory into the shades of death. But an optimismalmost as determined as Emersons was quickly bredin me there. I could not be sad, though I could behappily thoughtful, in the light of the even when I left the thinking place, and, comingdown the central aisle, saw in the immersing sunshineof the Osiride Court the fallen colossus of the king, Iwas not struck to sadness. Imagine the greatest figure in the world,—such a fig-144. ipli, copiTiglil by UlulcrwiMiil & Uiiik THE RAMESSEUM ure as this Rameses was in his day,— with all might,all glory, all climbing power, all vigor, tenacity ofpurpose, and granite strength of will concentratedwithin it, struck suddenly down, and falling backward ina collapse of which the thunder might shake the vitals ofthe earth, and you have this prostrate colossus. Evennow one seems to hear it fall, to feel the warm soiltrembling beneath ones feet as one approaches it. Arow of statues of enormous size, with arms crossed as ifin resignation, glowing in the sun, in color not gold oramber, but a delicate, desert yellow, watch near it likeservants of the dead. On a slightly lower level thantheirs it lies, and a little nearer the Nile. Only theupper half of the figure is left, but its size is really ter-rific. This colossus was fifty-seven feet high. Itweighed eight hundred tons. Eight hundred tons ofsyenite went to its making, and across the shoulders itsbr
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