ned his nerves, and
at moments he did not understand what people said when they talked to
him.

In this position Herhor came again to assist the viceroy. He commanded
to inform the wealthy that the prince would not receive any more
persons on questions of interest; and against common people, who, in
spite of repeated invitations to disperse, were still waiting, he sent
a company of Numidians with clubs. These succeeded with incomparably
more ease than Ramses in meeting popular wishes, for before an hour had
passed the petitioners had vanished from the square, like mist, while
one and another of them for a couple of succeeding days poured water on
their heads, or other bruised parts of their bodies.

After this trial of supreme power the prince felt profound contempt for
men and became apathetic. He lay two days on a couch with his hands
beneath his head gazing vacantly at the ceiling. He did not wonder that
his sacred father passed his time at the altars of the gods, but he
could not understand how Herhor was able to manage the avalanche of
business, which, like a storm, not only surpassed the strength of a
man, but might even crush him.

"How carry out plans in this case when a throng of petitions fetter our
will, devour our thoughts, drink our blood? At the end of ten days I am
sick, at the end of a year I should be an idiot. In this office it is
impossible to carry out any plan; a man can just defend himself from
madness."

He was so alarmed by his weakness in the position of ruler that he
summoned Herhor, and with a complaining voice told of his suffering.

The statesman listened with a smile to the complaints of the young
steersman of the ship of state, and at last said in answer,

"Knowest thou, lord, that this immense palace in which we dwell was
reared by one architect, named Senebi, who moreover died before it was
finished? And to a certainty Thou wilt understand how this famous
architect could carry out his plan without weariness and be always in a
cheerful temper."

"I am curious."

"Well, he did not do everything himself; he did not hew the beams or
cut the stones, he did not make the bricks, he did not carry them to
the scaffolding. He did not lay them into the wall and fasten them
together. He only drew the plan, and moreover he had assistants. But
thou, prince, hadst the wish to do all things thyself, to listen in
person and transact every business. That goes beyond human strength."

"How shou