He set out on his march towards the end of the IVth year of the Pharaoh’s reign, or the beginning of his Vth, surrounded by the elite of his troops, “the first choice from among all the soldiers and all the heroes in each land.”  The announcement of their approach spread terror among the Egyptians.  The peace which they had enjoyed for fifty years had cooled their warlike ardour, and the machinery of their military organisation had become somewhat rusty.  The standing army had almost melted away; the regiments of archers and charioteers were no longer effective, and the neglected fortresses were not strong enough to protect the frontier.  As a consequence, the oases of Farafrah and of the Natron lakes fell into the hands of the enemy at the first attack, and the eastern provinces of the Delta became the possession of the invader before any steps could be taken for their defence.  Memphis, which realised the imminent danger, broke out into open murmurs against the negligent rulers who had given no heed to the country’s ramparts, and had allowed the garrisons of its fortresses to dwindle away.  Fortunately Syria remained quiet.  The Khati, in return for the aid afforded them by Minephtah during the famine, observed a friendly attitude, and the Pharaoh was thus enabled to withdraw the troops from his Asiatic provinces.  He could with perfect security take the necessary measures for ensuring “Heliopolis, the city of Tumu,” against surprise, “for arming Memphis, the citadel of Phtah-Tonen, and for restoring all things which were in disorder:  he fortified Pibalisit, in the neighbourhood of the Shakana canal, on a branch of that of Heliopolis,” and he rapidly concentrated his forces behind these quickly organised lines.*

     * Chabas would identify Pibalisit with Bubastis; I agree
     with Brugsch in placing it at Belbeis.

Maraiu, however, continued to advance; in the early months of the summer he had crossed the Canopic branch of the Nile, and was now about to encamp not far from the town of Pirici.  When the king heard of this “he became furious against them as a lion that fascinates its victim; he called his officers together and addressed them:  ’I am about to make you hear the words of your master, and to teach you this:  I am the sovereign shepherd who feeds you; I pass my days in seeking out that which is useful for you:  I am your father; is there among you a father like me who makes his children live?  You are trembling like geese, you do not know what is good to do:  no one gives an answer to the enemy, and our desolated land is abandoned to the incursions of all nations.  The barbarians harass the frontier, rebels violate it every day, every one robs it, enemies devastate our seaports, they penetrate into the fields of Egypt; if there is an arm of a river they halt there, they stay for days, for months; they come as numerous as reptiles, and no one is able to sweep them back, these wretches who love death and hate life, whose