st, where the spirit of rebellion was still
active in the countries bordering on the African frontier. Sabaco, now
undisputed master of Egypt, was not content, like Pionkhi, to bring
Egypt proper into a position of dependence, and govern it at a distance,
by means of his generals. He took up his residence within it, at least
during part of every year, and played the role of Pharaoh so well that
his Egyptian subjects, both at Thebes and in the Delta, were obliged to
acknowledge his sovereignty and recognise him as the founder of a
new dynasty. He kept a close watch over the vassal princes, placing
garrisons in Memphis and the other principal citadels, and throughout
the country he took in hand public works which had been almost
completely interrupted for more than a century owing to the civil wars:
the highways were repaired, the canals cleaned out and enlarged, and
the foundations of the towns raised above the level of the inundation.
Bubastis especially profited under his rule, and regained the ascendency
it had lost ever since the accession of the second Tanite dynasty; but
this partiality was not to the detriment of other cities. Several of the
temples at Memphis were restored, and the inscriptions effaced by time
were re-engraved. Thebes, happy under the government of Amenertas and
her husband Pionkhi, profited largely by the liberality of its Ethiopian
rulers. At Luxor Sabaco restored the decoration of the principal gateway
between the two pylons, and repaired several portions of the temple of
Amon at Karnak. History subsequently related that, in order to obtain
sufficient workmen, he substituted forced labour for the penalty of
death: a policy which, beside being profitable, would win for him a
reputation for clemency. Egypt, at length reduced to peace and order,
began once more to flourish, and to display that inherent vitality
of which she had so often given proof, and her reviving prosperity
attracted as of old the attention of foreign powers. At the beginning of
his reign, Sabaco had attempted to meddle in the intrigues of Syria, but
the ease with which Sargon had quelled the revolt of Ashdod had inspired
the Egyptian monarch with salutary distrust in his own power; he had
sent presents to the conqueror and received gifts in exchange, which
furnished him with a pretext for enrolling the Asiatic peoples among
the tributary nations whose names he inscribed on his triumphal lists.*
Since then he had had some diplom