with an
echo."

"I say to thee, Pentuer, that Thou thinkest too much over dangerous
subjects. It is impossible to walk safely along precipices of the
eastern mountains, for Thou mayst fall at any moment; or to wander
through the western desert, where hungry lions are prowling, and where
the raging simoom springs up unexpectedly."

Meanwhile the valiant Eunana moved on in the vehicle, which only added
to his pain. But to show that he was valiant he requested food and
drink; and when he had eaten a dry cake rubbed with garlic and had
drunk some beer from a thick-bellied pot, he begged the driver to take
a branch and drive the flies from his wounded body.

Thus lying on the bags and packs in that squeaking car, with his face
toward the earth, the unfortunate Eunana sang with a groaning voice the
grievous lot of the inferior officer,

"Why dost Thou say that the scribe's lot is worse than the officer's?
Come and see my blue stripes and swollen body; meanwhile I will tell
thee the tale of a downtrodden officer.

"I was a boy when they brought me to the barracks. For breakfast I had
blows of fists in the belly, till I fainted; for dinner fists in the
eyes, till my mouth gaped; and for supper I had a head covered with
wounds and almost split open.

"Goon! let me tell how I made the campaign to Syria. Food and drink I
had to carry on my back, I was bent down with weight as an ass is bent.
My neck became stiff, like an ass's neck, and the joints of my back
swelled. I drank rotten water, I was like a captive bird in the face of
the enemy.

"I returned to Egypt, but here I am like a tree into which a worm is
boring always. For any trifle they put me on the ground and beat me
till I am breaking. I am sick and must lie at full length; they carry
me in a car, meanwhile serving men steal my mantle and escape with it.

"So change thy mind, O scribe, about the happiness of officers."
[Authentic]

Thus sang the brave Eunana; and his tearful song has outlived the
Egyptian kingdom.

CHAPTER V

AS the suite of the heir approached Memphis, the sun was near its
setting, while from countless canals and the distant sea came a wind
filled with cool moisture. The road descended again to the fertile
region, where on fields and among bushes continuous ranks of people
were working, a rosy gleam was falling on the desert, and the mountain
summits were in a blaze of sunlight.

Ramses halted and turned his horse. His suite surround