effect; and Pinetem's concession to the prejudices which formed the
stock-in-trade of his opponents only exasperated them and urged them to
greater efforts. The focus of the conspiracy passed from the Oasis to
Thebes, which had grown disaffected because Pinetem had removed the seat
of government to Tanis in the Delta, which was the birthplace of his
grandfather, Herhor. So threatening had become the general aspect of
affairs, that the king thought it prudent to send his son, Ra-men-khepr
or Men-khepr-ra, the existing high-priest of the Temple of Ammon at
Thebes, from Tanis to the southern capital, in order that he should make
himself acquainted with the secret strength, and with the designs of the
disaffected, and see whether he could not either persuade or coerce
them. It was a curious part for the Priest of Ammon to play. Ordinarily
an absentee from Thebes and from the duties of his office, he visits the
place as Royal Commissioner, entrusted with plenary powers to punish or
forgive offenders at his pleasure. His fellow-townsmen are in the main
hostile to him; but the terror of the king's name is such that they do
not dare to offer him any resistance, and he singles out those who
appear to him most guilty for punishment, and has them executed, while
he grants the royal pardon to others without any let or hindrance on the
part of the civic authorities. Finally, having removed all those whom he
regarded as really dangerous, he ventured to conclude his commission by
granting a general amnesty to all persons implicated in the conspiracy,
and allowing the political refugees to return from the Oasis to Thebes
and to live there unmolested.

Men-khepr-ra soon afterwards became king. He married a wife named
Hesi-em-Kheb, who is thought to have been a descendant of Seti L, and
thus gave an additional legitimacy to the dynasty of Priest-Kings. He
also adorned the city of Kheb, the native place of his wife, with public
buildings; but otherwise nothing is known of the events of his reign. As
a general rule, the priest-kings were no more active or enterprizing
than their predecessors, the Ramessides of the twentieth dynasty. They
were content to rule Egypt in peace, and enjoy the delights of
sovereignty, without fatiguing themselves either with the construction
of great works or the conduct of military expeditions. If the people
that has no history is rightly pronounced happy, Egypt may have
prospered under their rule; but the hist