The Pharaoh And The Priest Part 96

In this way the state secured peace on the western boundary. To keep single Libyan robbers in order police were sufficient, with a field guard and a few regiments of regulars disposed along the Canopus arm of the great river.

Such a condition of affairs lasted almost two centuries; the last war with the Libyans was carried on by Rameses III., who cut enormous piles of hands from his slain enemies, and brought thirteen thousand slaves home to Egypt. From that time forth no one feared attack on the Libyan boundary, and only toward the end of the reign of Rameses XII.

did the strange policy of the priests kindle the flame of war again in those regions.

It burst out through the following causes:--

His worthiness, Herhor, the minister of war, and high priest of Amon, because of resistance from his holiness the pharaoh, was unable to conclude with a.s.syria a treaty for the division of Asia. But wishing, as Beroes had forewarned him, to keep a more continued peace with a.s.syria, Herhor a.s.sured Sargon that Egypt would not hinder them from carrying on a war with eastern and northern Asiatics.

And since Sargon, the amba.s.sador of King a.s.sar, seemed not to trust their oaths, Herhor decided to give him a material proof of friendly feeling, and, with this object, ordered to disband at once twenty thousand mercenaries, mainly Libyans.

For those disbanded warriors, who were in no way guilty and had been always loyal, this decision almost equalled a death sentence. Before Egypt appeared the danger of a war with Libya, which could in no case give refuge to men in such numbers,--men accustomed only to comforts and military exercise, not to poverty and labor. But in view of great questions of state, Herhor and the priests did not hesitate at trifles.

Indeed, the disbanding of the Libyans brought them much advantage.

First of all, Sargon and his a.s.sociates signed and swore to a treaty of ten years with the pharaoh, during which time, according to predictions of priests in Chaldea, evil fates were impending over Egypt.

Second, the disbanding of twenty thousand men spared four thousand talents to the treasury; this was greatly important.

Third, a war with Libya on the western boundary was an outlet for the heroic instincts of the viceroy, and might turn his attention from Asiatic questions and the eastern boundary for a long time. His worthiness Herhor and the supreme council had calculated very keenly that some years would pa.s.s before the Libyans, trained in petty warfare, would ask for peace with Egypt.

The plan was well constructed, but the authors of it failed in one point; they had not found Rameses a military genius.

The disbanded Libyan regiments robbed along the way, and reached their birthplace very quickly,--all the more quickly since Herhor had given no command to place obstacles before them. The very first of the disbanded men, when they stood on Libyan soil, told wonders to their relatives.

According to their stories, dictated by anger and personal interest, Egypt was then as weak as when the Hyksos invaded it nine hundred years earlier. The pharaoh's treasury was so poor that he, the equal of the G.o.ds, had to disband them, the Libyans, who were the chief, if not the only honor of the army. Moreover, there was hardly any army unless a mere band on the eastern boundary, and that was formed of warriors of a common order.

Besides, there was dissension between the priesthood and his holiness.

The laborers had not received their wages, and the earth tillers were simply killed through taxes, therefore ma.s.ses of men were ready to rebel if they could only find a.s.sistance. And that was not the whole case, for the nomarchs, who ruled once independently, and who from time to time demanded their rights again, seeing now the weakness of the government, were preparing to overturn both the pharaoh and the supreme priestly council.

These tidings flew, like a flock of birds, along the Libyan boundary, and found credit quickly. Those barbarians and bandits ever ready to attack, were all the more ready then, when ex-warriors and officers of his holiness a.s.sured them that to plunder Egypt was easy.

Rich and thoughtful Libyans believed the disbanded men also; for during many years it had been to them no secret that Egyptian n.o.bles were losing wealth yearly, that the pharaoh had no power, and that earth-tillers and laborers rebelled because they suffered.

And so excitement burst out through all Libya. People greeted the disbanded warriors and officers as heralds of good tidings. And since the country was poor, and had no supplies to nourish visitors, a war with Egypt was decided on straightway, so as to send off the new arrivals at the earliest.

Even the wise and crafty Libyan prince, Musawasa, let himself be swept away by the general current. It was not, however, the disbanded warriors who had convinced him, but certain grave and weighty persons who, in every likelihood, were agents of the chief Egyptian council.

These dignitaries, as if dissatisfied with things in Egypt, or offended at the pharaoh and the priesthood, had come to Libya from the seash.o.r.e; they took no part in conversations, they avoided meetings with disbanded warriors, and explained to Musawasa, as the greatest secret, and with proofs in hand, that that was just his time to fall on Egypt.

"Thou wilt find there endless wealth," said they, "and granaries for thyself, thy people, and the grandsons of thy grandsons."

Musawasa, though a skilful diplomat and leader, let himself be caught in that way. Like a man of energy, he declared a sacred war at once, and, as he had valiant warriors in thousands, he hurried off the first corps eastward. His son, Tehenna, who was twenty years of age at that time, led it.

The old barbarian knew what war was, and understood that he who plans to conquer must act with speed and give the first blows in the struggle.

Libyan preparations were very brief. The former warriors of his holiness had no weapons, it is true, but they knew their trade, and it was not difficult in those days to find weapons for an army. A few straps, or pieces of rope for a sling, a dart or a sharpened stick, an axe, or a heavy club, a bag of stones, and another of dates,--that was the whole problem.

So Musawasa gave two thousand men, ex-warriors of the pharaoh, and four thousand of the Libyan rabble to Tehenna, commanding him to fall on Egypt at the earliest, seize whatever he could find, and collect provisions for the real army. a.s.sembling for himself the most important forces, he sent swift runners through the oases and summoned to his standard all who had no property.

There had not been such a movement in the desert for a long time. From each oasis came crowd after crowd, such a proletariat, that, though almost naked, they deserved to be called a tattered rabble. Relying on the opinion of his counsellors, who a month earlier had been officers of his holiness, Musawasa supposed, with perfect judgment, that his son would plunder hundreds of villages and small places from Terenuthis to Senti-Nofer, before he would meet important Egyptian forces. Finally they reported to him, that at the first news of a movement among the Libyans, not only had all laborers fled from the gla.s.s works, but that even the troops had withdrawn from fortresses in Sochet-Heman on the Soda Lakes.

This was of very good import to the barbarians, since those gla.s.s works were an important source of income to the pharaoh's treasury.

Musawasa had made the same mistake as the supreme priestly council. He had not foreseen military genius in Rameses. And an uncommon thing happened: before the first Libyan corps had reached the neighborhood of the Soda Lakes the viceroy's army was there, and was twice as numerous as its enemies.

No man could reproach the Libyans with lack of foresight. Tehenna and his staff had a very well-organized service. Their spies had made frequent visits to Melcatis, Naucratis, Sai, Menuf, and Terenuthis, and had sailed across the Canopus and Bolbita arms of the Nile.

Nowhere did they meet troops; the movements of troops would have been paralyzed in those places by the overflow, but they did see almost everywhere the alarm of settled populations which were simply fleeing from border villages. So they brought their leader exact intelligence.

Meanwhile the viceroy's army, in spite of the overflow, had reached the edge of the desert in nine days after it was mobilized, and now, furnished with water and provisions, it vanished among the hills of the Soda Lakes.

If Tehenna could have risen like an eagle above the camp of his warriors, he would have been frightened at seeing that Egyptian regiments were hidden in all the ravines of that district, and that his corps might be surrounded at any instant.

CHAPTER XLIII

From the moment when the troops of Lower Egypt marched out of Pi-Bast, the prophet, Mentezufis, who accompanied the prince, received and sent away despatches daily.

One correspondence he conducted with the minister Herhor; Mentezufis sent reports to Memphis touching the advance of the troops, and the activity of the viceroy; of this activity he did not conceal his admiration. On his part, the worthy Herhor stated that every freedom was to be left to the heir, and that if Rameses lost his first battle, the supreme council would not feel angry.

"A slight defeat," said Herhor, "would be a lesson in humility and caution to the viceroy, who even now, though as yet he has done nothing, considers himself as equal to the most experienced warriors."

When Mentezufis answered that one could not easily suppose that the heir would meet defeat, Herhor let him understand that in that case the triumph should not be over brilliant.

"The state," continued he, "will not lose in any way if the warriors and the impulsive heir find amus.e.m.e.nt for some years along the western border. He will gain skill himself in warfare, while the idle warriors will find their own proper work to do."

The other correspondence Mentezufis carried on with the holy father Mefres and that seemed to him of more importance. Mefres, offended formerly by the prince, had recently, in the case of Sarah's child, accused the prince directly of infanticide, committed under Kama's influence.

When a week had pa.s.sed, and the viceroy's innocence was manifest, the high priest grew still more irate, and did not cease his efforts. The prince, he said, was capable of anything; he was hostile to the country's G.o.ds, he was an ally of the vile Phnicians.

The murder of Sarah's child seemed so suspicious in the earlier days, that even the supreme council asked Mentezufis what he thought of it.

Mentezufis answered that he had watched the prince for days, and did not think the man a murderer.

Such were the letters which, like birds of prey, whirled around Rameses, while he was sending scouts against the enemy, consulting leaders, or urging on his warriors.

On the fourteenth day the whole army was concentrated on the south of Terenuthis. To the great delight of the heir, Patrokles came with the Greek regiment, and with him the priest Pentuer, sent by Herhor as another guardian near the viceroy.

The mult.i.tude of priests in the camp (for there were still others) did not enchant Rameses. But he resolved not to turn attention to the holy men or ask advice of them.

Relations were regulated in some way, for Mentezufis, according to instructions from Herhor, did not force himself on the prince, while Pentuer occupied himself with organizing medical aid for the wounded.

The military game began.

First of all Rameses, through his agents, had spread a report in many boundary villages that the Libyans were pushing forward in great ma.s.ses, and would destroy and murder. Because of this the terrified inhabitants fled eastward and met the Egyptian warriors. The prince took them in to carry burdens for the army, the women and children he conveyed to the interior of Egypt. Next the commander sent spies to meet the approaching Libyans and discover their number and disposition. These spies returned soon, bringing accurate indications as to where the Libyans were and very exaggerated accounts as to their numbers. They a.s.serted, too, mistakenly, though in great confidence, that at the head of the Libyan columns marched Musawasa with his son Tehenna.

The princely leader was flushed with delight that in his first war he would have such an experienced enemy as Musawasa.