cannot awake to see their brethren, they cannot look upon their fathers and mothers, and they are unmindful of wives and children. The living water which the earth hath for its dwellers is stagnant water for me.... I no longer know where I am, now that I have arrived in this valley [of the dead]. Would that I had water to drink from a running stream, and one to say to me, ‘Remove not thy pitcher from the stream’! O that my face were turned towards the north wind on the river bank that the coolness thereof might quiet the anguish which is in my heart! “He whose name is Universal Death calleth everyone to him; and they come unto him with quaking hearts, and they are terrified through their fear of him. With him is no distinction made between gods and men, and the great are even as the little in his sight. He showeth no favour to those who long for him; for he carrieth away the babe from his mother, as well as the aged man. As he goeth about on his way, all men fear him, and, though all make supplication before him, he turneth not his face towards them. Entreaty reacheth not unto him, for he will not hearken unto him that maketh supplication, and him who presenteth unto him offerings and funerary, he will not regard.” The ideas expressed in the above extract have their origin in the materialism which found its way into Egypt under the rule of the Ptolemies. THE ROMAN PERIOD. [Illustration: The building at Philae commonly known as “Pharaoh’s Bed.” Roman Period.] Egypt, having become a province of the Roman Empire on the death of Cleopatra, B.C. 30, was forthwith placed under the rule of a Prefect, and administered like any other Roman Province. Under the strict but just rule of her new masters Egypt prospered, for trade flourished, and life and property were, on the whole, well protected by the laws of Rome. Reference has already been made (see page 255) to the Nubian kingdom founded by Piānkhi, who made Napata his capital; it must also be noted that at the same period, between B.C. 500 and the end of the Ptolemaïc rule, a second Nubian kingdom was founded by some unknown Sûdânî chief on the Island of Meroë, with a capital at Meroë, on the Nile, about 50 miles south of its junction with the Atbara. When the Romans began to rule over Egypt the =Meroïtic Kingdom= was in a flourishing state, and the authority of its sovereign, who appears to have been =Queen Ȧmenṭārit=[40] (having also the title =Candace=, which was common to all the Queens of Meroë), probably extended northwards as far as the First Cataract. In B.C. 29 Candace made a treaty with =Cornelius Gallus=, the first prefect of Egypt; but, five years later, when =Ælius Gallus= was prefect, she invaded Egyptian territory and slew the Roman garrisons of Philae and Syene. In revenge the Romans invaded Nubia and marched to Napata, which they sacked and burned; and Candace was forced to submit. From that time onward little is heard of the Kingdom of Meroë; but the