e subject was an
acceptable one, and they approved it. No state affair was settled
without asking their advice, and without their giving it in one way or
another.

The monuments, which throw full light on the supernatural character
of the Pharaohs in general, tell us but little of the individual
disposition of any king in particular, or of their everyday life. When
by chance we come into closer intimacy for a moment with the sovereign,
he is revealed to us as being less divine and majestic than we might
have been led to believe, had we judged him only by his impassive
expression and by the pomp with which he was surrounded in public. Not
that he ever quite laid aside his grandeur; even in his home life,
in his chamber or his garden, during those hours when he felt himself
withdrawn from public gaze, those highest in rank might never forget
when they approached him that he was a god. He showed himself to be a
kind father, a good-natured husband,* ready to dally with his wives and
caress them on the cheek as they offered him a flower, or moved a piece
upon the draught-board.

* As a literary example of what the conduct of a king was
like in his family circle, we may quote the description of
King Minibphtah, in the story of Satni-Khamois. The pictures
of the tombs at Tel-el-Amarna show us the intimate terms on
which King Khuniaton lived with his wife and daughters, both
big and little.

He took an interest in those who waited on him, allowed them certain
breaches of etiquette when he was pleased with them, and was indulgent
to their little failings. If they had just returned from foreign lands,
a little countrified after a lengthy exile from the court, he would
break out into pleasantries over their embarrassment and their
unfashionable costume,--kingly pleasantries which excited the forced
mirth of the bystanders, but which soon fell flat and had no meaning for
those outside the palace. The Pharaoh was fond of laughing and drinking;
indeed, if we may believe evil tongues, he took so much at times as to
incapacitate him for business. The chase was not always a pleasure
to him, hunting in the desert, at least, where the lions evinced a
provoking tendency to show as little respect for the divinity of the
prince as for his mortal subjects; but, like the chiefs of old, he felt
it a duty to his people to destroy wild beasts, and he ended by counting
the slain in hundreds, however short his reig