f the money-making, political priesthood of Amon-Ra. But who can say
that the spirit of Akhnaton is dead to-day? Who can tell that the seed
of his mission bore no fruit? Thought never dies."

"As you like. Anyhow, even before he was buried--embalming was a
lengthy process--his religion as a state religion, as anything at all
of any influence, or as a power in the land, was doomed."

"You don't admire him as Mike does," Margaret said. "He seems to have
been almost as perfect as a human being could be--the first living
being to realize the divinity of God."

"As a religious _devoue_, he was, as you say, almost a saint. He spent
his life throwing pearls before swine--you might as well try to make a
charity-school class see the beauty of Virgil in the original--and
letting his kingdom go to rack and ruin."

"Oh," Margaret said, "you didn't tell me that." Her eyes searched
Mike's. "Did he let Egypt go to pieces?"

"He was anti-war, as I am," Mike said, "as all lovers of God and of
mankind ought to be. He was perhaps foolish in his belief that if the
world could be converted to the great religion of Aton, which meant
perfect love for everything that God had created and absolute reverence
for everything because He created it, then there would be no wars. If
God is love and we believe in God, how can we kill each other?
Akhnaton's idea of the duty of a king was the improvement of mankind.
He tried to give men a new understanding of life and of God. The moral
welfare of the human race was more to him than the aggrandizement of
its emperors."

"I've no patience with all that," Freddy said. "He inherited a
magnificent kingdom; he let it dwindle almost to ruin. If you could
read some of the letters of Horemheb, the commander-in-chief of his
army, begging him to send reinforcements to Syria, imploring him to
realize the danger that menaced Asia, you would feel as impatient as I
do with his mission work at Tel-el-Amarna, his cult of flowers and his
new-fangled art."

"A man can't go against his own conscience. He didn't approve of war.
It's an interesting fact that the only one of the old gods he
recognized was Mait--he built a fine new temple to the goddess of truth
at Tel-el-Amarna. He carried his enthusiasm too far," Mike said, "I
grant that, but from his point of view these things were of little
account. If he could have turned the heart of Egypt from the worship
of false gods, if he could have imparted un