brethren, who were shepherds
(Gen. xlvi. 32), is consonant at any rate with the tradition that it was
a "Shepherd King" who held the throne at the time of their arrival. A
priest of Heliopolis, moreover, would scarcely have given Joseph his
daughter in marriage unless at a time when the priesthood was in a state
of depression. Add to this that the Pharaoh of Joseph is evidently
resident in Lower Egypt, not at Thebes, which was the seat of government
for many hundred years both before and after the Hyksos rule.

If, however, we are to place Joseph under one of the "Shepherd Kings,"
there can be no reason why we should not accept the tradition which
connects him with Apepi. Apepi was dominant over the whole of Egypt, as
Joseph's Pharaoh seems to have been. He acknowledged a single god, as
did that monarch (Gen. xli. 38, 39). He was a thoroughly Egyptianized
king. He had a council of learned scribes, a magnificent court, and a
peaceful reign until towards its close. His residence was in the Delta,
either at Tanis or Auaris. He was a prince of a strong will, firm and
determined; one who did not shrink from initiating great changes, and
who carried out his resolves in a somewhat arbitrary way. The arguments
in favour of his identity with Joseph's master are, perhaps, not wholly
conclusive; but they raise a presumption, which may well incline us,
with most modern historians of Egypt, to assign the touching story of
Joseph to the reign of the last of the Shepherds.

FOOTNOTES:

[15] "Manuel d'Histoire Ancienne de l'Orient," vol i. p. 360.

IX.

HOW THE HYKSOS WERE EXPELLED FROM EGYPT.

At first sight it seems strange that the terrible warriors who, under
Set or Saites, so easily reduced Egypt to subjection, and then still
further weakened the population by massacre and oppression, should have
been got rid of, after two centuries or two centuries and a half, with
such comparative ease. But the rapid deterioration of conquering races
under certain circumstances is a fact familiar to the historian.
Elamites, Babylonians, Assyrians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, rapidly
succeeded each other as the dominant power in Western Asia, each race
growing weaker and becoming exhausted, after a longer or a shorter
interval, through nearly the same causes. Nor are the reasons for the
deterioration far to seek. Each race when it sets out upon its career of
conquest is active, energetic, inured to warlike habits, simple in its
ma