The power of Pharaoh and his barons rested entirely upon these two classes, the priests and the soldiers; the remainder, the commonalty and the peasantry, were, in their hands, merely an inert mass, to be taxed and subjected to forced labour at will.  The slaves were probably regarded as of little importance; the bulk of the people consisted of free families who were at liberty to dispose of themselves and their goods.  Every fellah and townsman in the service of the king, or of one of his great nobles, could leave his work and his village when he pleased, could pass from the domain in which he was born into a different one, and could traverse the country from one end to the other, as the Egyptians of to-day still do.

His absence entailed neither loss of goods, nor persecution of the relatives he left behind, and he himself had punishment to fear only when he left the Nile Valley without permission, to reside for some time in a foreign land.* But although this independence and liberty were in accordance with the laws and customs of the land, yet they gave rise to inconveniences from which it was difficult to escape in practical life.  Every Egyptian, the King excepted, was obliged, in order to get on in life, to depend on one more powerful than himself, whom he called his master.  The feudal lord was proud to recognize Pharaoh as his master, and he himself was master of the soldiers and priests in his own petty state.

* The treaty between Ramses and the Prince of Khiti contains a formal extradition clause in reference to Egyptians or Hittites, who had quitted their native country, of course without the permission of their sovereign.  The two contracting parties expressly stipulate that persons extradited on one side or the other shall not be punished for having emigrated, that their property is not to be confiscated, nor are their families to be held responsible for their flight.  From this clause it follows that in ordinary times unauthorized emigration brought upon the culprit corporal punishment and the confiscation of his goods, as well as various penalties on his family.  The way in which Sinuhit makes excuses for his flight, the fact of his asking pardon before returning to Egypt, the very terms of the letter in which the king recalls him and assures him of impunity, show us that the laws against emigration were in full force under the XIIth dynasty.

** The expressions which bear witness to this fact are very numerous:  Miri nibuf = “He who loves his master;” Aqu haiti ni nibuf = “He who enters into the heart of his master,” etc.  They recur so frequently in the texts in the case of persons of all ranks, that it was thought no importance ought to be attached to them.  But the constant repetition of the word NIB, “master,” shows that we must alter this view, and give these phrases their full meaning.

From the top to the bottom of the social scale every free man acknowledged a master, who secured to him justice and protection in exchange for his obedience and fealty.  The moment an Egyptian tried to withdraw himself from this subjection, the peace of his life was at an end; he became a man without a master, and therefore without a recognized protector.*