e old official
style. Thothmes declares that "he has taken tribute from the nations of
the North, and from the nations of the South, as well as from _those of
the whole earth_; he has laid hold of the barbarians; he has not let a
single one of them escape his gripe upon their hair; the Petti of Nubia
have fallen beneath his blows; he has made their waters to flow
backwards; he has overflowed their valleys like a deluge, like waters
which mount and mount. He has resembled Horus, when he took possession
of his eternal kingdom; all the countries included within the
circumference of the entire earth are prostrate under his feet." Having
effected his conquest, Thothmes sought to secure it by the appointment
of a new officer, who was to govern the newly-annexed country under the
title of "Prince of Cush," and was to have his ordinary residence at
Semneh.

[Illustration: BUST OF THOTHMES I.]

Flushed with his victories in this quarter, and intoxicated with the
delight of conquest, Thothmes, on his return to Thebes, raised his
thoughts to a still grander and more adventurous enterprize. Egypt had
a great wrong to avenge, a huge disgrace to wipe out. She had been
Invaded, conquered, plundered, by an enemy whom she had not provoked by
any aggression; she had seen her cities laid in ashes, her temples torn
down and demolished, the images of her gods broken to pieces, her soil
dyed with her children's blood; she had been trampled under the iron
heel of the conqueror for centuries; she had been exhausted by the
payment of taxes and tribute; she had had to bow the knee, and lick the
dust under the conqueror's feet--was not retribution needed for all
this? True, she had at last risen up and expelled her enemy, she had
driven him beyond her borders, and he seemed content to acquiesce in his
defeat, and to trouble her no more; but was this enough? Did not the law
of eternal justice require something more:

"Nec lex justior ulla est,
Quam necis artifices arte perire sua."

Was it not proper, fitting, requisite for the honour of Egypt, that
there should be retaliation, that the aggressor should suffer what he
had inflicted, should be attacked in his own country, should be made to
feel the grief, the despair, the rage, the shame, that he had forced
Egypt to feel for so many years; should expiate his guilt by a penalty,
not only proportioned to the offence, but Its exact counterpart? Such
thoughts, we may be sure, burned in th