shes leaping through the Hittite
land; he is a grim lion exploring the hidden ways of all regions; he is
a powerful bull with a pair of sharpened horns. He has struck down the
Asiatics; he has thrown to the ground the Khita; he has slain their
princes; he has overwhelmed them in their own blood; he has passed among
them as a flame of fire; he has brought them to nought."

The victory thus gained was followed by a treaty of peace. Mautenar and
Seti agreed to be henceforth friends and allies, Southern Syria being
restored to Egypt, and Northern Syria remaining under the dominion of
the Hittites, probably as far as the sources of the Orontes river. A
line of communication must, however, have been left open between Egypt
and Mesopotamia, for Seti still exercised authority over the Nairi, and
received tribute from their chiefs. He was also, by the terms of the
treaty, at liberty to make war on the nations of the Upper Syrian
coast, for we find him reducing the Tahai, who bordered on Cilicia,
without any disturbance of his relations with Mautenar. The second act
in the war between the Egyptians and the Hittites thus terminated with
an advantage to the Egyptians, who recovered most of their Asiatic
possessions, and had, besides, the prestige of a great victory.

The third act was deferred for a space of some thirty-five years, and
fell into the reign of Ramesses II., Seti's son and successor. Before
giving an account of it, we must briefly touch the other wars of Seti,
to show how great a warrior he was, and mention one further fact in his
warlike policy indicative of the commencement of Egypt's decline as a
military power. Seti, then, had no sooner concluded his peace with the
great power of the North, than he turned his arms against the West and
South, invading, first of all, "the blue-eyed, fair-skinned nation of
the Tahennu," who inhabited the North African coast from the borders of
Egypt to about Cyrene, and engaging in a sharp contest with them. The
Tahennu were a wild, uncivilized people, dwelling in caves, and having
no other arms besides bows and arrows. For dress they wore a long cloak
or tunic, open in front; and they are distinguished on the Egyptian
monuments by wearing two ostrich feathers and having all their hair
shaved excepting one large lock, which is plaited and hangs down on the
right side of the head. This unfortunate people could make only a poor
resistance to the Egyptian trained infantry and powerful c