The echoing and deserted temples of
Aton in Thebes, and El Amarna, however, were now pulled down, and the
blocks were used for the enlarging of the temple of Amon,--a fact which
indicates that their original dedication to Aton had not caused them to
be accursed.

The process of restoration was so gradual that it could not have much
disturbed the country. Horemheb's hand was firm but soothing in these
matters, and the revolution seems to have been killed as much by
kindness as by force. It was probably not till quite the end of his
reign that he showed any tendency to revile the memory of Akhnaton; and
the high feeling which at length brought the revolutionary king the name
of "that criminal of El Amarna" did not rise till half a century later.
The difficulties experienced by Horemheb in steering his course between
Amon and Aton, in quietly restoring the old equilibrium without in any
way persecuting those who by religious convictions were
Aton-worshippers, must have been immense; and one cannot but feel that
the King must have been a diplomatist of the highest standing. His
unaffected simplicity won all hearts to him; his toleration and
broadness of mind brought all thoughtful men to his train; and his
strong will led them and guided them from chaos to order, from fantastic
Utopia to the solid old Egypt of the past. Horemheb was the preacher of
Sanity, the apostle of the Normal, and Order was his watchword.

The inscriptions tell us that it was his custom to give public
audiences to his subjects, and there was not a man amongst those persons
whom he interviewed whose name he did not know, nor one who did not
leave his presence rejoicing. Up and down the Nile he sailed a hundred
times, until he was able truly to say, "I have improved this entire
land; I have learned its whole interior; I have travelled it entirely in
its midst." We are told that "his Majesty took counsel with his heart
how he might expel evil and suppress lying. The plans of his Majesty
were an excellent refuge, repelling violence and delivering the
Egyptians from the oppressions which were around them. Behold, his
Majesty spent the whole time seeking the welfare of Egypt, and searching
out instances of oppression in the land."

It is interesting, by the way, to note that in his eighth year the King
restored the tomb of Thutmosis IV., which had been robbed during the
revolution; and the inscription which the inspectors left behind them
was found on th