e neighbouring governors.
They had at their disposal a large body of "plunderers," or Beduin from
the eastern desert, and Rib-Hadad accuses them of forming secret
alliances with the kings of Babylonia, of Mitanni and of the Hittites.
The authority of Aziru extended to the northern frontier of the empire;
we find him sent with the Egyptian general Khatip, or Hotep, to oppose
the Hittite invasion, and writing to the king as well as to the prime
minister Dudu to explain why they had not succeeded in doing so. Tunip
had been invested by the enemy, and Aziru fears that it may fall into
their hands. The Hittites had already made their way into the land of
Nukhasse, and were from thence marching up into the land of the
Amorites.

On the heels of these despatches came a long letter from the people of
Tunip, complaining of the conduct of Aziru, and protesting against his
doing to them what he had done to the city of Ni. He was at the time in
the land of the Hittites, doubtless carrying on the war against the
general enemy.

To these accusations Aziru made a full reply. "O my lord," he begins,
"hearken not to the wicked men who slander me before the king my lord: I
am thy servant for ever." He had been charged with want of respect to
the Pharaoh, on the ground that he had not received the royal
commissioner Khani on his arrival at Tunip. But, he replies, he did not
know that the commissioner was coming, and as soon as he heard that he
was on the road he "followed him, but failed to overtake him." In his
absence Khani was duly received by the brethren of Aziru, and Belti-el
(or Bethuel) furnished him with meat and bread and wine. Moreover, on
his way home he was met by Aziru himself, who provided the commissioner
with horses and mules. A more serious charge was that of seizing the
city of Zemar. To this Aziru answers that it was done in self-defence,
as the kings of Nukhasse had always been hostile to him, and had robbed
him of his cities at the instigation of Khatip, who had also carried
away all the silver and gold which the king had placed under his care.
Moreover he had not really seized Zemar, but had won the people over to
himself by means of gifts. Lastly, he denied the accusation that he had
received the envoy of the king of the Hittites and refused to receive
the Egyptian messenger, although the country he governed belonged to the
king, and the king had appointed him over it. Let the Egyptian envoy
make inquiries, he ur