CHAPTER FOUR
DISPATCHING RUNNERS TO THE YO-SEMITE
The Servitors of Tlamco were held strictly responsible for the conduct of their respective offices. Promotion and preference did not depend upon birth but on deeds.
“What has he done?” was the question propounded when a candidate presented himself for an office of public trust, and the same query met his lifeless body when it was offered for burial. Socially, and in the temples the same rule followed; so that distinctive service was the mainspring of their civilization.
Next to the priestly office, agriculture ranked highest in the choice of occupations. Men profoundly learned in every branch of it were continually in attendance at Iaqua. There were stations devoted to observation of climatic conditions; to the reclamation of wild fruits and cereals, or the propagation of new ones for food; to the surveying and proper distribution of lands; to the building of aqueducts, canals, bridges, granaries and public highways—to say nothing of the research in the extraction of dye stuffs from both vegetable and mineral substances.
Nearly all of the cereals and fruits known to man were reclaimed from a wild state by the contemporaneous inspiration of these times.
The surrounding country was divided into four sections or provinces, while the populace was grouped into tens, having an official who attended to minor details. Every thousand of the population had a magistrate. Each ten thousand, or fraction thereof, had a governor, who was one of the Counselors of State.
Orondo was at the head of the Civil Counselors, and it was to him, as first judge, that all questions of moment were submitted. Monthly reports were made to him by inspectors sent out for this purpose—men who served a lifetime without any other remuneration than the medals and prestige their positions insured. The priests owned nothing for themselves or their temples, nor did the advocates or healers receive recompense for service.
The community was superior to the individual, and the government provided for the needs of all its people. The land was divided into three parts; that belonging to the sun supported the priesthood, and built and maintained its temples.
Education was in the hands of the warrior-priests and the Virgins of the Sun; so the universities and schools drew their support from the same source. The next third belonged to the government and was cultivated for its benefit.
The unit of value was a day’s labor, and all the taxes were paid in this way. When the people had planted the remaining third of the land for their own use, they worked alternately for the government (constructing public roads) and on the sun lands.
Hospitals for the aged, for orphans, and for the sick were a part of the government expense, institutions universally copied from, but seldom accredited to the Aztecs and Peruvians by modern civilization.
No man was allowed to take advantage in a barter. Disputes arose every day among the guilds in the bazaars, but there was the same clannish feeling among them that has since made and maintained the family. Each trade was loyal to its own. They were ashamed to have a neighboring guild know that they quarreled, and it was a very aggravated case which invoked the law.
When planting-time came, Orondo turned the first furrow of sod, and the Virgins of the Sun dropped the seeds, while Akaza commended the undertaking to the four elements.
There were songs of rejoicing, and much exhibition of skill in cultivation, which at the close of the season, was rewarded by prizes and medals from Yermah’s own hand. There were no idle men and women, and no paupers in these communities, while to be accused of laziness was a great disgrace.
The private houses in Tlamco were of sun-dried bricks, covered with stucco, elaborately ornamented and delicately tinted. They were seldom more than one story high, with ceilings of ornamental woods, while the walls were tinted or hung with simple cotton tapestries. The flat-roofs were often bright with potted plants, and these dwellings were invariably surrounded by flowers and a stretch of greensward.
The hospitals, the barracks, the Brotherhood houses and those occupied by the priestesses faced the cardinal points and were the squares within the circular streets. They were uniformly four stories high, with truncated sloping roofs, and terraced grounds, forming ornamental bits of landscape among the trees, and commanding a fine view of bay and harbor.
Clusters of sunflowers grew here and there in out-of-the-way places. Free use was made of cherry, laurel, clove and lavender plants along the highways, because they were known to produce ozone; and the gardens contained their favorite flowers—narcissus, hyacinth and mignonette in abundance.
Orondo was giving an audience to the mathematicians who were employed in the Hall of Quippos, at Iaqua, where the government accounts were kept. And when it was known that Alcamayn had arrived Orondo sent and begged his presence. When the jeweler stepped into the hall, he found the place littered with quippos of all kinds. They were scattered about on chairs, on the tables, and some were hanging upon the walls, while clerks called the numbers and tallied the curiously knotted cords in a monotonous drone.
There were intricate estimates for the warriors shown by the red cords and fringes; yellow denoted the gold used in the mechanical arts and industries and in the temples; but these were few and simple in combination compared with the white ones, indicating the enormous amount of civil transactions for the current month.
Silver was used for state accounts, and its knots were curious little buttons, full of meaning for the men who mastered the art of the quippos. The largest bundle of all was the green, which, by its varying shades and fanciful combinations recorded the amount of wheat, corn and all agricultural produce owned or used by the pueblo city of Tlamco.
“One knot! Red signal corps,” called the teller.
“Signal corps, ten,” answered the tally.
“Two single knots, and one knot doubly intertwined, silver, Alcamayn.”
“Two knots, twenty; one doubly intertwined, one hundred,” repeated the tally.
“One knot, triply intertwined, yellow, Alcamayn.”
“Hold!” cried Orondo. “Alcamayn, hast thou made requisition for a thousand grains of gold? Thy parchment is not properly stamped, and we cannot give thee so much treasure on irregular demand.”
“Wilt thou grant me to see it?” said Alcamayn, reaching out for the document. “I must have both gold and silver quickly. There will scarce be time enough to prepare the gifts needed because of thy going to the Monbas.”
“It grieves me that I cannot aid thee; but thou must have recourse to the Dorado.”
“A foolish blunder leaves it without number, also,” said Alcamayn, with a frown, handing the order to a tamane. “Yermah is engrossed with the priestesses caring for the fatherless. Dost thou know that he has issued an edict that all guilds and communes must sup together once in each lunation?”
“The Azes are grown lax in hospitality, and we must give them an example,” responded Orondo.
The tamane returned with the parchment properly numbered and viséed.
“He whom we delight to serve bids thee follow me. He would fain have counsel with thee.”
In obedience to the message, Orondo crossed the hall, and passed to the right, avoiding the audience chambers.
Yermah had risen and was dismissing the priestesses, after issuing orders on the state granaries for their requirements.
“Spare no efforts to make these flowers of humanity happy as birds of air,” he said. “I charge thee to give them plenty of sweets, music and games for their amusement.”
“Wilt thou not lend us thy presence?”
“Affairs of urgency prevent indulgence of personal desires, but I shall not forget to send best thoughts.”
“May Jupiter the beneficent be in the ascendant throughout thy journey.”
He made the sign of submission and bent the knee in courtly fashion.
“May his jovial and benign rays descend on all thy efforts. Success be with thee and thy wards,” was Yermah’s reply.
“The secret of happiness,” said Setos, sententiously, “is in having constant employment for both body and mind. I shall advise—”
“What wilt thou advise, Setos?” asked Yermah, as he seated himself at the council table in his private office, where Alcamayn and Orondo had been waiting for him.
“Duty compels me to suggest severe measures for women neglecting their households and allowing their children to be seen in filthy rags. Near the Temple of Neptune I complain of three houses unlawfully dirty. It surprised me that Akaza made no mention of this in conference to-day.”
“It were possible that he saw them not. He would be for mercy; and so am I.”
Yermah was in a genial mood as his voice and manner indicated.
“What hast thou done with the offenders?” asked Orondo, quietly.
“The first family was warned; the second are now being paraded up and down the street. They have been admonished once before, and if it were in my discretion, they would be soundly whipped. Humiliation may serve with some natures, but corporal punishment is better for others.”
“Thou sayest they. Whom dost thou mean?”
“The father and mother, and two young girls. The law is no respecter of persons.”
“And, in addition, thou wouldst have me order them whipped?”
“N-o-o; I only wish thy consent to propose the measure at the next council meeting.”
Yermah made a gesture of dissent, and asked pointedly:
“What punishment hast thou meted out to the third offense?”
“I have application here, awaiting thy signet, that I may take the children away from the shiftless sloven who gave them ingress to light.”
“Is she widowed?”
“Yes; but she has been found guilty the third time.”
“The application is denied for the present. Alcamayn will be guardian of streets in our absence. Upon returning, I shall lend mine ear to domestic affairs. Of late disturbances and complaints have been frequent from that quarter.”
Touchy, vain-glorious Setos nettled at this.
“Do my fellows think me unmindful of duty?”
“No; only over-zealous. It is not in the province of good government to meddle with private affairs. The best interests of posterity and the economic use of sustenance, with care of the person, are all that can be demanded.”
“Akaza is competent to advise thee,” interposed Orondo. “These matters properly come under his dominion.”
“Akaza will undoubtedly agree with me,” said Setos, catching at a straw for justification. “The first evidence of initiation is a sensitive condition of the organs of smell. The novitiate is required to discover the deadly effects of putrescent gases, and even children are taught that whatever offends the nostrils injures the body.”
They rose simultaneously, and Orondo opened the door leading into the public reception hall.
“The runners are here, waiting to carry our greetings to the Monbas and their high priestess.”
“Go and dispatch them, Orondo. I trust thee to lay the lash on them lightly. Go, thou, also, Setos, to see that they get the regulation stripes before setting forth.”
The Dorado picked up the parchments signed and sealed earlier in the day, and locking them in a strong box of curious design, dismissed the two courtiers with a nod and a smile.
“I pray thee return quickly. Alcamayn needs advice from thee respecting thy special departments of service.”