or even with severity.  Prudence induced him to destroy the walls and other fortifications of the chief Egyptian towns; and cupidity led him to carry off into Persia all the treasures that Nekht-nebf had left behind.  Even the sacred books, of which he is said to have robbed the temples, may have been taken on account of their value.  We do not hear of his having dragged off any prisoners, or inflicted any punishment on the country for its rebellion.  Even the tribute is not said to have been increased.

There is nothing surprising in the fact that, when once Persia took resolutely in hand the subjugation of the revolted province, a few months sufficed for its accomplishment.  The resources of Persia were out of all comparison with those of Egypt; alike in respect of men and of money, there was an extreme disparity.  What had protected Egypt so long was the multiplicity of Persia’s enemies, the large number of wars that were continually being waged and the want of a bold, energetic, and warlike monarch.  As soon as the full power of the vast empire of the Achaemenidae was directed against the little country which had detached itself, and pretended to a separate existence, the result was certain.  Egypt could no more maintain a struggle against Persia in full force than a lynx could contend with a lion.  But while all this is indubitably true, the end of Egypt might have been more dignified and more honourable than it was.  Nekht-nebf, the last king, was a poor specimen of the Pharaonic type of monarch.  He had none of the qualities of a great king.  He did not even know how to fall with dignity.  Had he gathered together all the troops that he could anyhow muster, and met Ochus in the open field, and fallen fighting for his crown, or had he even defended Memphis to the last, and only yielded himself when he could resist no longer, a certain halo of glory would have surrounded him.  As it was, Egypt sank ingloriously at the last—­her art, her literature, her national spirit decayed and almost extinct—­paying, by her early disappearance from among the nations of the earth, the penalty of her extraordinarily precocious greatness.

[Illustration:  MAP OF THE FAYOUM SHOWING THE BIRKET-EL-KEROUN AND THE ARTIFICIAL LAKE ‘MOERIS’.

LONDON:  T. FISHER UNWIN.  PATERNOSTER SQUARE.  E.C.]

INDEX.

A

Aahmes I., 152
“Aa-khepr-ka-ra, Abode of,” 168
“Abode of Aa-khepr-ka-ra,” 168
Abraham, deceit of, 127, 129
Abraham in Egypt, 125
Abyssinia, rainfall in, 113
Alliance with Babylon and Lydia, 371
Amasis, prosperity under, 367
Amenemhat I., 101
Amenemhat I., hunting prowess of, 103
Amenemhat III., 109
“Amenemhat the Good,” 116
Amenemhat’s Labyrinth, 121
Amenemhat’s Reservoir, 118
Amenhotep II., conquests of, 206
Amenhotep II., cruelty of, 207
Amenhotep III., colossi of, 208
Amenhotep III., lion-hunting of, 220