followers. The Pharaoh was surrounded by two thousand five hundred
chariots, and his retreat was cut off by the warriors of the "perverse"
Khati and of the other nations who accompanied them--the peoples of
Arvad, Mysia, and Pedasos; each of their chariots contained three men,
and the ranks were so serried that they formed but one dense mass. "No
other prince was with me, no general officers, no one in command of the
archers or chariots. My foot-soldiers deserted me, my charioteers
fled before the foe, and not one of them stood firm beside me to fight
against them." Then said His Majesty: "Who art thou, then, my father
Amon? A father who forgets his son? Or have I committed aught against
thee? Have I not marched and halted according to thy command? When he
does not violate thy orders, the lord of Egypt is indeed great, and he
overthrows the barbarians in his path! What are these Asiatics to
thy heart? Amon will humiliate those who know not the god. Have I
not consecrated innumerable offerings to thee? Filling thy holy
dwelling-place with my prisoners, I build thee a temple for millions of
years, I lavish all my goods on thy storehouses, I offer thee the whole
world to enrich thy domains.... A miserable fate indeed awaits him who
sets himself against thy will, but happy is he who finds favour with
thee by deeds done for thee with a loving heart. I invoke thee, O my
father Amon! Here am I in the midst of people so numerous that it cannot
be known who are the nations joined together against me, and I am alone
among them, none other is with me. My many soldiers have forsaken me,
none of my charioteers looked towards me when I called them, not one of
them heard my voice when I cried to them. But I find that Amon is more
to me than a million soldiers, than a hundred thousand charioteers, than
a myriad of brothers or young sons, joined all together, for the number
of men is as nothing, Amon is greater than all of them. Each time I have
accomplished these things, Amon, by the counsel of thy mouth, as I do
not transgress thy orders, I rendered thee glory even to the ends of the
earth." So calm an invocation in the thick of the battle would appear
misplaced in the mouth of an ordinary man, but Pharaoh was a god, and
the son of a god, and his actions and speeches cannot be measured by
the same standard as that of a common mortal. He was possessed by the
religious spirit in the hour of danger, and while his body continued
to fight,