more efficient army of the two, since, had it been
otherwise, Hrihor would never have consented to yield him the priority.

The unity of Egypt was, to outward appearances, preserved, through the
nominal possession by Smendes of the suzerainty; but, as a matter of
fact, it had ceased to exist, and the fiction of the two kingdoms
had become a reality for the first time within the range of history.
Henceforward there were two Egypts, governed by different constitutions
and from widely remote centres. Theban Egypt was, before all things,
a community recognizing a theocratic government, in which the kingly
office was merged in that of the high priest. Separated from Asia by the
length of the Delta, it turned its attention, like the Pharaohs of the
VIth and XIIth dynasties, to Ethiopia, and owing to its distance from
the Mediterranean, and from the new civilization developed on its
shores, it became more and more isolated, till at length it was reduced
to a purely African state. Northern Egypt, on the contrary, maintained
contact with European and Asiatic nations; it took an interest in their
future, it borrowed from them to a certain extent whatever struck it as
being useful or beautiful, and when the occasion presented itself, it
acted in concert with Mediterranean powers. There was an almost constant
struggle between these two divisions of the empire, at times
breaking out into an open rupture, to end as often in a temporary
re-establishment of unity. At one time Ethiopia would succeed in
annexing Egypt, and again Egypt would seize some part of Ethiopia; but
the settlement of affairs was never final, and the conflicting elements,
brought with difficulty into harmony, relapsed into their usual
condition at the end of a few years. A kingdom thus divided against
itself could never succeed in maintaining its authority over those
provinces which, even in the heyday of its power, had proved impatient
of its yoke.

Asia was associated henceforward in the minds of the Egyptians with
painful memories of thwarted ambitions, rather than as offering a field
for present conquest. They were pursued by the memories of their former
triumphs, and the very monuments of their cities recalled what they
were anxious to forget. Wherever they looked within their towns they
encountered the representation of some Asiatic scene; they read the
names of the cities of Syria on the walls of their temples; they saw
depicted on them its princes and its