were too
divergent in language and origin, too widely separated by manners and
customs, and too long in a state of hostility to each other, to draw
together and to become easily welded into a single nation. As soon as
the hand which held them together relaxed its hold for a moment, discord
crept in everywhere, among individuals as well as among the tribes, and
the empire of yesterday resolved itself into its original elements
even more rapidly than it had been formed. The clash of arms which had
inaugurated its brief existence died quickly away, the remembrance of
its short-lived glory was lost after two or three generations in the
horrors of a fresh invasion: its name vanished without leaving a trace
behind. The occupation of Nubia brought Egypt into contact with this
horde of incongruous peoples, and the contact soon entailed a struggle.
It is futile for a civilized state to think of dwelling peacefully with
any barbarous nation with which it is in close proximity. Should it
decide to check its own advances, and impose limits upon itself which
it shall not pass over, its moderation is mistaken for feebleness and
impotence; the vanquished again take up the offensive, and either
force the civilized power to retire, or compel it to cross its former
boundary. The Pharaohs did not escape this inevitable consequence of
conquest: their southern frontier advanced continually higher and higher
up the Nile, without ever becoming fixed in a position sufficiently
strong to defy the attacks of the Barbarians. Usirtasen I. had subdued
the countries of Hahu, of Khonthanunofir, and Shaad, and had beaten in
battle the Shemik, the Khasa, the Sus, the Aqin, the Anu, the Sabiri,
and the people of Akiti and Makisa. Amenemhait II., Usirtasen II., and
Usirtasen III. never hesitated to "strike the humbled Kush" whenever
the opportunity presented itself. The last-mentioned king in particular
chastised them severely in his VIIIth, XIIth, XVIth, and XIXth years,
and his victories made him so popular, that the Egyptians of the Greek
period, identifying him with the Sesostris of Herodotus, attributed to
him the possession of the universe. On the base of a colossal statue of
rose granite which he erected in the temple of Tanis, we find preserved
a list of the tribes which he conquered: the names of them appear to
us most outlandish--Alaka, Matakarau, Turasu, Pamaika, Uaraki,
Paramaka--and we have no clue as to their position on the map. We know
me