ten these verses on
the gigantic sphinx near the Pyramids.

"The gods erewhile created these far-shining forms, wisely sparing the
fields and fertile corn-bearing plain."

The moderns had forgotten thus to spare the arable land, and they had
also neglected to make good use of the desert. The dead and
plague-stricken must not be allowed to endanger the living; they must
therefore be lodged away from the town, in the Necropolis in the desert.

"But we cannot let them be under the broiling sun," cried the president.

"Still less," added another, "can we build a house for them in a day."

To this Horapollo replied:

"And who would be so foolish as to ask you to do either? But there are
linen and posts to be had in Memphis. Have some large tents pitched in
the Necropolis, and all who fall sick of the pestilence removed there at
the expense of the city and tended under their shade. Appoint three or
four of your number to carry this into execution and there will be a
shelter for the roofless sick in a few hours. How many boatmen and
shipwrights are standing idle on the quays! Call them together and in an
hour they will be at work."

This suggestion was approved. A linen-merchant present exclaimed: "I can
supply what is needed," and another who dealt in the same wares, and
exported this famous Egyptian manufacture to remote places, also put in a
word, desiring that his house might have the order as he could sell
cheaper. This squabble might have absorbed the attention of the meeting
till it rose, and perhaps have been renewed the next day, if Horapollo's
proposal that they should divide the commission equally had not been
hastily adopted.

The populace hailed the announcement that tents would be erected for the
sick in the desert, with applause from a thousand voices. The deputies
chosen to superintend the task set to work at once, and by night the most
destitute were safe under the first large hospital tent.

The old man settled some other important questions in the same way,
always appealing to the lore of the ancients.

At length he spoke of the chief subject, and he did so with great caution
and tact.

All the events of the last few weeks, he said, pointed to the conclusion
that Heaven was wroth with the hapless land of their fathers. As a sign
of their anger the Immortals had sent the comet, that terrible star whose
ominous splendor was increasing daily. To make the Nile rise was not in
the power of men; but t