at his
wits' end to know how to deliver at the royal storehouses the various
wares with which he calculated to pay his taxes. No sooner had the
Court arrived at some place than the servants scoured the neighbourhood,
confiscating the land produce, and seizing upon slaves, under pretence
that they were acting for the king, while they had only their personal
ends in view. Soldiers appropriated all the hides of animals with the
object, doubtless, of making from them leather jackets and helmets, or
of duplicating their shields, with the result that when the treasury
made its claim for leather, none was to be found. It was hardly
possible, moreover, to bring the culprits to justice, for the chief men
of the towns and villages, the prophets, and all those who ought to
have looked after the interests of the taxpayer, took money from the
criminals for protecting them from justice, and compelled the innocent
victims also to purchase their protection. Harmhabi, who was continually
looking for opportunities to put down injustice and to punish deceit,
at length decided to pro-mulgate a very severe edict against the
magistrates and the double-dealing officials: any of them who was found
to have neglected his duty was to have his nose cut off, and was to
be sent into perpetual exile to Zalu, on the eastern frontier. His
commands, faithfully carried out, soon produced a salutary effect, and
as he would on no account relax the severity of the sentence, exactions
were no longer heard of, to the advantage of the revenue of the State.
On the last day of each month the gates of his palace were open to every
one.

[Illustration: 127.jpg AMENOTHES IV. FROM A FRAGMENT USED AGAIN BY
HARMHABI]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a sketch by Prisse d'Avennes.

Any one on giving his name to the guard could enter the court of honour,
where he would find food in abundance to satisfy his hunger while he was
awaiting an audience. The king all the while was seated in the sight
of all at the tribune, whence he would throw among his faithful friends
necklaces and bracelets of gold: he inquired into complaints one after
another, heard every case, announced his judgments in brief words, and
dismissed his subjects, who went away proud and happy at having had
their affairs dealt with by the sovereign himself.*

* All these details are taken from a stele discovered in
1882. The text is so mutilated that it is impossible to give
a literal r