their recriminations were then most
amusing: "From the time when my father and thine entered into friendly
relations, they loaded each other with presents, and never waited to be
asked to exchange amenities;* and now my brother sends me two minas of
gold as a gift! Send me abundance of gold, as much as thy father sent,
and even, for so it must be, more than thy father."** Pretexts
were never wanting to give reasonable weight to such demands: one
correspondent had begun to build a temple or a palace in one of his
capitals,*** another was reserving his fairest daughter for the Pharaoh,
and he gave him to understand that anything he might receive would help
to complete the bride's trousseau.****

* Burnaburiash complains that the king's messengers had only
brought him on one occasion two minas of gold, on another
occasion twenty minas; moreover, that the quality of the
metal was so bad that hardly five minas of pure gold could
be extracted from it.

** Literally, "and they would never make each other a fair
request." The meaning I propose is doubtful, but it appears
to be required by the context. The letter from which this
passage was taken is from Burnaburiash, King of Babylon, to
Amenothes IV.

*** This is the pretext advanced by Burnaburiash in the
letter just cited.

**** This seems to have been the motive in a somewhat
embarrassing letter which Dushratta, King of Mitanni, wrote
to the Pharaoh Amenothes III. on the occasion of his fixing
the dowry of his daughter.

The princesses thus sent from Babylon or Mitanni to the court of Thebes
enjoyed on their arrival a more honourable welcome, and were assigned
a more exalted rank than those who came from Kharu and Phoenicia. As a
matter of fact, they were not hostages given over to the conqueror to be
disposed of at will, but queens who were united in legal marriage to an
ally.* Once admitted to the Pharaoh's court, they retained their full
rights as his wife, as well as their own fortune and mode of life. Some
would bring to their betrothed chests of jewels, utensils, and stuffs,
the enumeration of which would cover both sides of a large tablet;
others would arrive escorted by several hundred slaves or matrons as
personal attendants.** A few of them preserved their original name,***
many assumed an Egyptian designation,**** and so far adapted themselves
to the costumes, manners, and lang