A time quickly came when a vestige of fear alone constrained them to conceal their wish for liberty; the most trivial incident then sufficed to give them the necessary encouragement, and decided them to throw off the mask, a repulse or the report of a repulse suffered by the Egyptians, the news of a popular rising in some neighbouring state, the passing visit of a Chaldaean emissary who left behind him the hope of support and perhaps of subsidies from Babylon, and the unexpected arrival of a troop of mercenaries whose services might be hired for the occasion.* A rising of this sort usually brought about the most disastrous results. The native prince or the town itself could keep back the tribute and own allegiance to no one during the few months required to convince Pharaoh of their defection and to allow him to prepare the necessary means of vengeance; the advent of the Egyptians followed, and the work of repression was systematically set in hand. They destroyed the harvests, whether green or ready for the sickle, they cut down the palms and olive trees, they tore up the vines, seized on the flocks, dismantled the strongholds, and took the inhabitants prisoners.** * Burnaburiash, King of Babylon, speaks of Syrian agents who had come to ask for support from his father, Kurigalzu, and adds that the latter had counselled submission. In one of the letters preserved in the British Museum, Aziru defends himself for having received an emissary of the King of the Khati. ** Cf. the raiding, for instance, of the regions of Arvad and of the Zahi by Thutmosis III., described in the Annals, 11. 4, 5. We are still in possession of the threats which the messenger Khani made against the rebellious chief of a province of the Zahi--possibly Aziru. The rebellious prince had to deliver up his silver and gold, the contents of his palace, even his children,* and when he had finally obtained peace by means of endless sacrifices, he found himself a vassal as before, but with an empty treasury, a wasted country, and a decimated people. * See, in the accounts of the campaigns of Thutmosis, the record of the spoils, as well as the mention of the children of the chiefs brought as prisoners into Egypt. [Illustration: 015.jpg A SYRIAN TOWN AND ITS OUTSKIRTS AFTER AN EGYPTIAN ARMY HAD PASSED THROUGH IT] Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gayet.