Never had they seemed so grand to me as in that hour--those eternal shrines, before whose walls Time himself shall wither.

And it was to be mine to rule this moonlit land; mine to preserve those sacred shrines, and cherish the honour of their Gods; mine to cast out the Ptolemy and free Egypt from the foreign yoke! In my veins ran the blood of those great Kings who await the day of Resurrection, sleeping in the tombs of the valley of Thebes.
My spirit swelled within me as I dreamed upon this glorious destiny, I closed my hands, and there, upon the pylon, I prayed as I had never prayed before to the Godhead, who is called by many names, and in many forms made manifest.
"O Amen," I prayed, "God of Gods, who hast been from the beginning; Lord of Truth, who art, and of whom all are, who givest out thy Godhead and gatherest it up again; in the circle of whom the Divine ones move and are, who wast from all time the Self-begot, and who shalt be till time--hearken unto me.[*] [*] For a somewhat similar definition of the Godhead see the funeral papyrus of Nesikhonsu, a Princess of the Twenty- first Dynasty .-- Editor.
"O Amen--Osiris, the sacrifice by whom we are justified, Lord of the Region of the Winds, Ruler of the Ages, Dweller in the West, the Supreme in Amenti, hearken unto me.
"O Isis, great Mother Goddess, mother of the Horus--mysterious Mother, Sister, Spouse, hearken unto me.

If, indeed, I am the chosen of the Gods to carry out the purpose of the Gods, let a sign be given me, even now, to seal my life to the life above.

Stretch out your arms towards me, O ye Gods, and uncover the glory of your countenance.

Hear! ah, hear me!" And I cast myself upon my knees and lifted up my eyes to heaven.
And as I knelt, a cloud grew upon the face of the moon covering it up, so that the night became dark, and the silence deepened all around--even the dogs far below in the city ceased to howl, while the silence grew and grew till it was heavy as death.