but the stem and stern were 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 Zamaru and Zautmaru, had strongly urged them to attack Egypt and to carry fire before them from one end of it to the other.”—­“Their warriors confided to each other in their counsels, and their hearts were full:  ‘We will be drunk!’ and their princes said within their breasts:  ‘We will fill our hearts with violence!’ But their plans were overthrown, thwarted, broken against the heart of the god, and the prayer of their chief, which their lips repeated, was not granted by the god.”  They met the Egyptians at a