n of the Pharaoh.

Papi took him into his friendship at the beginning of his reign, and
conferred upon him the title of "friend," and the office of head of
the cabinet, in which position he acquitted himself with credit. Alone,
without other help than that of a subordinate scribe, he transacted all
the business and drew up all the documents connected with the harem and
the privy council. He obtained an ample reward for his services. Pharaoh
granted to him, as a proof of his complete satisfaction, the furniture
of a tomb in choice white limestone; one of the officials of the
necropolis was sent to obtain from the quarries at Troiu the blocks
required, and brought back with him a sarcophagus and its lid, a
door-shaped stele with its setting and a table of offerings. He affirms
with much self-satisfaction that never before had such a thing happened
to any one; moreover, he adds, "my wisdom charmed his Majesty, my zeal
pleased him, and his Majesty's heart was delighted with me." All this
is pure hyperbole, but no one was surprised at it in Egypt; etiquette
required that a faithful subject should declare the favours of his
sovereign to be something new and unprecedented, even when they
presented nothing extraordinary or out of the common. Gifts of
sepulchral furniture were of frequent occurrence, and we know of more
than one instance of them previous to the VIth dynasty--for example,
the case of the physician Sokhit-nionkhu, whose tomb still exists at
Saqqara, and whom Pharaoh Sahuri rewarded by presenting him with a
monumental stele in stone from Turah. Henceforth Uni could face without
apprehension the future which awaited him in the other world; at the
same time, he continued to make his way no less quickly in this, and was
soon afterwards promoted to the rank of "sole friend" and superintendent
of the irrigated lands of the king. The "sole friends" were closely
attached to the person of their master. In all ceremonies, their
appointed place was immediately behind him, a place of the highest
honour and trust, for those who occupied it literally held his life
in their hands. They made all the arrangements for his processions and
journeys, and saw that the proper ceremonial was everywhere observed,
and that no accident was allowed to interrupt the progress of his train.
Lastly, they had to take care that none of the nobles ever departed from
the precise position to which his birth or office entitled him. This was
a task whi