h proceeds from his will. Herhor is a
servant of the pharaoh and does what his lord enjoins on him. If Thou
wilt convince thyself oh, that my words be not ill understood."

The prince grew so gloomy that Tutmosis broke off the conversation and
took farewell of his friend at the earliest. When he sat down in his
boat, which was furnished with a baldachin and curtains, he drew a deep
breath and draining a large goblet of wine, thought,

"Brr! I thank the gods for not giving me such a character as that which
Ramses has. He is a most unhappy man in the happiest conditions. He
might have the most beautiful women in Memphis, but he sticks to one to
annoy his mother. Meanwhile it is not his mother that he annoys, but
all the virtuous virgins and faithful wives who are withering from
sadness that the heir to the throne, and moreover a youth of great
comeliness, does not snatch from them virtue or force them to
unfaithfulness. He might not only drink but even swim in the best wine;
meanwhile he prefers the wretched camp beer, and bread rubbed with
garlic. Whence came these low inclinations? I cannot imagine. Or was it
that the worthy Nikotris in her critical period looked at workmen while
they were eating?

"He might do nothing from daylight till darkness. If he wished, the
most famous lords, with their wives, sisters, and daughters, would
serve food to him. He not only stretches forth his own hands to take
food, but, to the torment of our noble youths, he washes himself,
dresses himself, and his barber spends whole days in snaring birds and
thus wastes his abilities.

"O Ramses, Ramses!" sighed the exquisite. "Is it possible that fashion
should be developed in the time of such a prince? We wear the same
aprons from one year to another, and we retain wigs, only thanks to
court dignitaries, for Ramses will not wear any wig. This is a great
offence to the whole order of nobles. And all brought about by cursed
politics, brr! Oh, how happy I am that I need not divine what they are
thinking of in Tyre or Nineveh; break my head over wages for the army;
calculate how many people have been added to Egypt or taken from it,
and what rents must be collected. It is a terrible thing to say to
one's self, 'My tenant does not pay what I need and expend, but what
the increase of the Nile permits.'."

Thus meditated the exquisite Tutmosis, while he strengthened his
anxious soul with golden wine. Before the boat had sailed up to
Memphis, he