ng continuous
vigilance and firmness. The invasions of the peoples of the sea, the
rivalry of the claimants to the throne, and the intrigues of ministers
had, one after the other, served to break the bonds which fettered them,
and in one generation they were able to regain that liberty of action
of which they had been deprived for centuries. To this state of
things Egypt had been drifting from the earliest times. Unity could be
maintained only by a continuous effort, and once this became relaxed,
the ties which bound the whole country together were soon broken. There
was another danger threatening the country beside that arising from
the weakening of the hands of the sovereign, and the turbulence of the
barons. For some three centuries the Theban Pharaohs were accustomed to
bring into the country after each victorious campaign many thousands of
captives. The number of foreigners around them had, therefore, increased
in a striking manner. The majority of these strangers either died
without issue, or their posterity became assimilated to the indigenous
inhabitants. In many places, however, they had accumulated in such
proportions that they were able to retain among themselves the
remembrance of their origin, their religion, and their customs, and with
these the natural desire to leave the country of their exile for their
former fatherland. As long as a strict watch was kept over them they
remained peaceful subjects, but as soon as this vigilance was relaxed
rebellion was likely to break out, especially amongst those who worked
in the quarries. Traditions of the Greek period contain certain romantic
episodes in the history of these captives. Some Babylonian prisoners
brought back by Sesostris, these traditions tell us, unable to endure
any longer the fatiguing work to which they were condemned, broke out
into open revolt.

[Illustration: 268.jpg AMENMESIS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, after a picture in Rosellini.

They made themselves masters of a position almost opposite Memphis, and
commanding the river, and held their ground there with such obstinacy
that it was found necessary to give up to them the province which they
occupied: they built here a town, which they afterwards called Babylon.
A similar legend attributes the building of the neighbouring village of
Troiu to captives from Troy.*

The scattered barbarian tribes of the Delta, whether Hebrews or the
remnant of the iiyksos, had endured there a miserable lo