_Ni_(196):
they have rebelled; and I repeat that thirty chiefs push on against me ...
land of Egypt he remains ... my Lord to _Aziru_ ... soldiers ...
_Marhasse_."

34 B.--"To the King my Lord my God my Sun thus (says) this _Aziru_ thy
servant: seven times and seven times at the feet of my Lord I bow. Now
what you wish is desirable. Sun God my Lord I am thy servant forever; and
my sons serve thee.... Now two men ... I have commanded as envoys ... what
he says ... and let him rule ... in the land of the Amorites."

34a B.--The salutation of the usual type is here injured. The letter
continues: "My Lord my God my Sun, I am thy servant and my sons and my
brethren, to serve the King my Lord forever. Now all my Lord's wishes, and
what he causes to be despatched, duly ... the King my Lord having
despatched. Now eight chiefs who are great, and many (decrees?) we ... all
of which ... from ... the King my Lord ... And the Kings of the Land of
_Marhasse_ will follow with ... and are these not promised (or leagued) to
the city _Simyra_ these thirty years? I turn me to the city _Simyra_. My
Lord I am thy servant forever, and a King of men who are friends; will not
my (agents?) ... my Lord (wilt not thou hear?). And the King is my Lord my
God and my Sun: let him send his messenger with my messenger, and let them
go up who serve the King ..."

36 B.--"To the King ... thus _Aziru_: seven times and seven times at ... of
my God and Sun. Behold truly thou hast known this, O King my Lord; behold
I am thy servant forever; from my Lord's commands I never rebel: my Lord
from of old (it has been) thus. I am kind to the men who are servants of
my King; but the chiefs of the city _Simyra_ have not kept faith
righteously with us; and behold neither one nor all are with us: my Lord
the King did not you cause to be asked? The King my Lord has known that
the chiefs are sinful; and why ask, 'What does he contend for?' I say nay
..."

From these letters by Aziru, we must conclude either that he was a great
liar or that he was induced to change sides later. The other
correspondents seem to have believed that he had long deceived the King of
Egypt; but, in the end, his invasion of Phoenicia--perhaps cloaked by
pretences of hostility to the Hittite league--caused him, as we shall see,
to be proclaimed a rebel. The quarrel with Simyra may have been due to his
being pushed south, out of his dominions, but is here said to be due to a
Phoenician league