El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-05-28
PHARAOH.
Condition of His Kingdom on his Aces


Prof. Flinders Petrie contributes an
account of his discovery of a tablet
which gtves the first historic account
of the, oppression of the children of
Israel Concerning the character of
"Pharaoh OF the Hard Heart Prof.
Petrie writes as follows: A melancholy
prospect he had seen "a he grew up.
His father had been active IN the
earlier wears of the reign: but after
about 20 years he ceased all personal
labor. and seems to have sunk in his
| fatuous pride into mere despOt, de-
voted to perpetuating his effigies on
the monuments, and his family in the
| harem. The kingdom went steadily
into decay year after year, aud the old
man became more INDECENT and more
| fatuous, while none of his sons seems
to have been allowei to take up the
reins and save the country. Egypt
is desolated. and abandoned to lnva-
sion from all lands: the barb arians
overrun it's frontier, the revolters in
wade it daily, every country is pillag-
ing its cities, raidlng its dwellings in
the fields and on the river. They abide
and settle there for days and months
seated in the land: they reach the hills
of M ddle Egypt. They search
for the corn land, seeking TO fill their
bellies: they come to Egypt to find pro-
vision for their mouths.
Such is the melancholy picture
drawn by Merrenptah of the state of
the country on his accessiOn-a strik- |
ing contrast to the work of the really |
O eat kings of Egypt, of the AmenhO-
tep and Thothmes line. who had hand |
ed down the rule of Syria from father |
TO son unbrOken. The continuous re-
cord that we have OF ThOthmes Ill. |
shows that every year regularly he |
went through Syria to receive tribute
and maintain h s power, taking all the
young princess to be educated in Egypt |
before they came to act as vassal5 in
their own country. Until he was over
80 this annual outing was kept up, and
his children to the third and fourth
generation received this dominion in
peaceful succession. But under Ra
meses all this stability had vanished:
a few raids which did not cover half
the previous c0nquests of Syria,
treaty on equal terms with the foe, and
the boastfui king sunk into an inglori=
Gus lethargy, in which even Egypt it
self was largely given up to the for
eigners.
And this decay was what had eaten
into the soul of MereDptah during all
his youth and vigor: until he was at
least 40 nothing could be done by him.
1t was not until he old king had come to
that condition which we can now see
before our eyes in the Cairo museum
a withered mummy, which seems as if
still dwelt in and half alive with spirit
of insensative pride-it was not until
this evil genius OF the land was in his ]
tomb that stroke could be struck for {
the freedom of the country.
Then began careful preparation. For {
four years Merenptah was consolidat- I
ing his power, with apparently one
to Syria, up the coast to {
the plain of E5draelon and Tyre: this
reconquest we have learned of Oaly
since finding the new tablet But it
did not do more than secure the prin-
cipal fortresses near the coast, and
command the corn districts of PILLS
tia and EsdraelOn, which were cult
waited by the people of Israel, among
others. 1t is evident that organization
had been going on, strengthening the
resistance of the country, by the vigor
with which the great Libyan invasion
was REPEALED, after the country had
been long submitting to miuor attacks.
At the end of March, in his fifth
year, Merenptah had dream. Ptah, {
the greas sol of Memphis, appeared {
TO him, and warned him to be ready a 3
fortnight hence. This is doubt ess a :
priestly way of putting some warnings
from spies or travellers who reported
the preparations in progress. Then,
early in April the great tempest of
foreign lnVaSlOl burst IN from the west, | {
Just when all the harvests were gath r
cred in, the fields stripped bare, the {
whole land naked and open, and canals 7
1ried up: in short, just when the great {
est facilities existed for invasion, and t
the full granaries, tempted the desert t
people. The warnings had not been III /
vain. Merenptah was prepared and
attacked the assembled hosts with his e
the gods fought with them, a
and for one long afternoon, from mid c
lay till dark, they slew, and slew, and V
lew. for six hours slaughteriug the L
multitude. The defeat was utter. c
The king, MaurY, son OF Dad, escaped, e
thanks to the darkness; but he did not
even secure a horse or provisions, and I
led from the fight on foot, complet ly t
terrified. His wives and his rich equi- Il
page, his silver and gold and bronze t
vessels, the ornaments of his wife, his 5
thrones, his bows, his weapons, and all C
hat he had were prey to the Egvp- \
jians. Some 10000 bodies lay on the s
ield of battIe, and 1900 prisoners were O
aken.-Ccntury. l