nd
mounted his war chariot; he was furiously angry because his troops had
not destroyed the enemy utterly, and he growled at them like a panther.
Having pitched his camp to the south-west of the city, he began to
besiege it. He threw up a mound round about the city, he built wooden
stages on it which he filled with archers and slingers, and these
succeeded in killing the people of the city daily. After three days "the
city stank," and envoys came bearing rich gifts to sue for peace. With
the envoys came the wife of Nemart and her ladies, who cast themselves
flat on their faces before the ladies of Piankhi's palace, saying, "We
come to you, O ye royal wives, ye royal daughters, and royal sisters.
Pacify ye for us Horus (_i.e._ the King), the Lord of the Palace, whose
Souls are mighty, and whose word of truth is great." A break of fifteen
lines occurs in the text here, and the words that immediately follow the
break indicate that Piankhi is upbraiding Nemart for his folly and
wickedness in destroying his country, wherein "not a full-grown son is
seen with his father, all the districts round about being filled with
children." Nemart acknowledged his folly, and then swore fealty to
Piankhi, promising to give him more gifts than any other prince in the
country. Gold, silver, lapis-lazuli, turquoise, copper, and precious
stones of all kinds were then presented, and Nemart himself led a horse
with his right hand, and held a sistrum made of gold and lapis-lazuli in
his left.

Piankhi then arose and went into the temple of Thoth, and offered up
oxen, and calves, and geese to the god, and to the Eight Gods of the
city. After this he went through Nemart's palace, and then visited the
stables "where the horses were, and the stalls of the young horses, and
he perceived that they had been suffering from hunger. And he said, 'I
swear by my own life, and by the love which I have for Ra, who reneweth
the breath of life in my nostrils, that, in my opinion, to have allowed
my horses to suffer hunger is the worst of all the evil things which
thou hast done in the perversity of thy heart.'" A list was made of the
goods that were handed over to Piankhi, and a portion of them was
reserved for the temple of Amen at Thebes.

The next prince to submit was the Governor of Herakleopolis, and when
he had laid before Piankhi his gifts he said: "Homage to thee, Horus,
mighty king, Bull, conqueror of bulls. I was in a pit in hell. I was
sunk deep in