re finer, and not so high out of the water; the
bow ended, moreover, in a lion's head of metal, which rose above
the cut-water. A wooden structure running between the forecastle and
quarter-deck protected the rowers during the fight, their heads alone
being exposed. The mast had only one curved yard, to which the sail was
fastened; this was run up from the deck by halyards when the sailors
wanted to make sail, and thus differed from the Egyptian arrangement,
where the sail was fastened to a fixed upper yard. At least half of the
crews consisted of Libyan prisoners, who were branded with a hot iron
like cattle, to prevent desertion; the remaining half was drawn from
the Syrian or Asiatic coast, or else were natives of Egypt. In order
to bring the army into better condition, Ramses revived the system of
classes, which empowered him to compel all Egyptians of unmixed race to
take personal service, while he hired mercenaries from Libya, Phoenicia,
Asia Minor, and wherever he could get them, and divided them into
regular regiments, according to their extraction and the arms that they
bore. In the field, the archers always headed the column, to meet the
advance of the foe with their arrows; they were followed by the Egyptian
lancers--the Shardana and the Tyrseni with their short spears and heavy
bronze swords--while a corps of veterans, armed with heavy maces,
brought up the rear.* In an engagement, these various troops formed
three lines of infantry disposed one behind the other--the light brigade
in front to engage the adversary, the swordsmen and lancers who were to
come into close quarters with the foe, and the mace-bearers in reserve,
ready to advance on any threatened point, or to await the critical
moment when their intervention would decide the victory: as in the times
of Thutmosis and Ramses II. the chariotry covered the two wings.

* This is the order of march represented during the Syrian
campaign, as gathered from the arrangement observed in the
pictures at Medinet-Habu.

It was well for Ramses that on ascending the throne he had devoted
himself to the task of recruiting the Egyptian army, and of personally
and carefully superintending the instruction and equipment of his men;
for it was thanks to these precautions that, when the confederated
Libyans attacked the country about the Vth year of his reign, he was
enabled to repulse them with complete success. "Didi, Mashaknu, Maraiu,
together with Zam