in peace to look upon the [Theban]
Amon in his festivals at Thebes, and when I shall have carried his image
in procession to Luxor, in the festival celebrated in his honour among
the festivals of Thebes, on the night of the feast appointed in the
Thebaid, established by Ra at the creation, when I have led him in the
procession and brought him unto his throne, on the day for introducing
the god, even the second of Athyr, then will I make the enemy taste the
savour of my claws.'"

* The ancient geographers looked upon the nome of
Heraoleopolis as a large island, its southern boundary
being, probably, the canal of Harabshent: the end of the
island, which the Egyptians called "the forepart of
Khninsu," was probably Harabshent and its environs.

** Pi-puga is probably El-Foka, on the Nile, to the north of
Harabshent.

*** The king does not mention his adversary by name in the
text; he is content to indicate him by a pronoun in the
third person--"that which he hath done... then will I make
him taste," etc.

The generals did their very utmost to appease their master's wrath
before he appeared on the scene. They told off a force to keep watch
over Hermopolis while they themselves marched against the nome of Uabu;
they took Oxyrrhynchos by storm, with "the fury of a water-spout," and
informed the king of this achievement; but "his heart was not softened
thereby." They crossed over to the right bank; they crushed the people
of the north under the walls of Tatehni,* they forced the walls of the
town with the battering-ram, and killed many of the inhabitants, amongst
others a son of Tafnakhti, whose body they sent to the king; but "his
heart was not softened thereby."

They then pushed on as far as Hait Bonua** and sacked it, but still
failed to regain favour. On the 9th of Thoth, Pionkhi came down to
Thebes, and after hasty attendance at the services to Amon, went to
rejoin the vanguard of his army under the walls of Hermopolis.

* The modern Tehneh, on the right bank of the Nile, a little
below Minieh.

** Hait-Bonu, or Habonu, is the Hipponon of the Greco-Roman
geographers.

[Illustration: 266.jpg KING NAMROTI LEADING A HORSE TO PIONKHI]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from an impression of the stele in
the Gizeh Museum.

"No sooner had his Majesty quitted the cabin of his ship, than the
horses were harnessed and the charioteers in their