d the
Shephelah, the obstinate persistence with which Ramses and his army
returned year after year to the attack, the presence of the enemy at
Tunipa, on the banks of the Euphrates, and in the provinces then forming
the very centre of the Hittite kingdom--in short, all the incidents of
this long struggle--at length convinced Khatusaru that he was powerless
to extend his rule in this direction at the expense of Egypt. Moreover,
we have no knowledge of the events which occupied him on the other
frontiers of his kingdom, where he may have been engaged at the same
time in a conflict with Assyria, or in repelling an incursion of the
tribes on the Black Sea. The treaty with Pharaoh, if made in good faith
and likely to be lasting, would protect the southern extremities of his
kingdom, and allow of his removing the main body of his forces to the
north and east in case of attack from either of these quarters. The
security which such an alliance would ensure made it, therefore, worth
his while to sue for peace, even if the Egyptians should construe his
overtures as an acknowledgment of exhausted supplies or of inferiority
of strength. Ramses doubtless took it as such, and openly displayed
on the walls at Karnak and in the Eamesseum a copy of the treaty so
flattering to his pride, but the indomitable resistance which he had
encountered had doubtless given rise to reflections resembling those of
Khatusaru, and he had come to realise that it was his own interest not
to lightly forego the good will of the Khati. Egypt had neighbours
in Africa who were troublesome though not dangerous: the Timihu, the
Tihonu, the Mashuasha, the negroes of Kush and of Puanit, might be a
continual source of annoyance and disturbance, even though they were
incapable of disturbing her supremacy. The coast of the Delta, it is
true, was exposed to the piracy of northern nations, but up to that time
this had been merely a local trouble, easy to meet if not to obviate
altogether. The only real danger was on the Asiatic side, arising
from empires of ancient constitution like Chaldaea, or from hordes who,
arriving at irregular intervals from the north, and carrying all before
them, threatened, after the example of the Hyksos, to enter the Delta.
The Hittite kingdom acted as a kind of buffer between the Nile valley
and these nations, both civilized and barbarous; it was a strongly armed
force on the route of the invaders, and would henceforth serve as a
protectin