The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 01 : $b Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia
History
The historians' history of the world in twenty-five volumes, volume 01 : $b Prolegomena; Egypt, Mesopotamia
World history
The south of Memphis was the final scene of struggle against the new
dynasty, but after the surrender of the fortified town of Titui, the
whole of Egypt surrendered to the sway of Amenemhat, who now devoted
himself to the reparation of the evils of war and to expeditions
against the Libyans, Nubians, and Asiatics, whose invasions were so
ruinous to the country. “I caused the mourner,” says the king in the
same _Instructions_, “to mourn no longer, and his lamentation was no
longer heard. Perpetual fighting was no more seen, whereas, before my
coming, they fought together as bulls who think not of the past, whilst
the welfare of the wise and unwise was equally ignored. I have had the
land tilled as far as Abu [Elephantine]. I have spread joy as far as
Adhu [the Delta]. I am the creator of the three kinds of grain, I am
the friend of Nopu [the god of grain]. In answer to my prayer the Nile
has inundated the fields; nobody hungers or thirsts under my sway,
for my orders have been obeyed. All that I said was a fresh source
of love; I have overthrown the lion and killed the crocodile. I have
conquered the Uauat, I have taken the Mazau captive, and I have forced
the Sati [Asiatics] to follow me like harriers.”
[Sidenote: [_ca._ 2466-2370 B.C.]]
In Nubia the king had the gold mines reopened which had been abandoned
since the time of Pepi.
As Amenemhat was not young when he ascended the throne, he began to
feel the effects of age after reigning nineteen years, and this led to
his making his son, Usertsen I, co-regent with himself with all the
titles and prerogatives of royalty. “I raised thee from a subject,”
he writes in the _Instructions_, “I granted thee the free use of thy
arms that thou mightest be feared on that account. As for me, I arrayed
myself in the fine stuffs of my palace so as to look like one of the
flowers of my garden. I perfumed myself as freely as if the essences
were drawn like water from the cisterns.”
At the end of some years the king took so little active part in the
government, that his name was often omitted in the monuments beside
that of his son; but he still gave wise counsels from the palace
where he lived in retirement. To the wisdom of his advice much of the
prosperity of Egypt was due, and such a reputation for ruling did the
old king acquire, that in a treatise, composed by a contemporary, on
the art of governing, the writer represents him rising like a god and
addressing his son: “Thou reignest over two worlds, thou dost govern
three regions. Act better than thy predecessors, maintain harmony
between thy subjects and thyself lest they succumb to fear; sit not
by thyself in their midst, do not take to thy heart and treat as thy
brother only him that is rich and of high degree, neither accord thy
friendship to newcomers whose devotion is not proved.”
[Illustration: AMENEMHAT WORSHIPPED AS A GOD BY A SUBJUGATED PRINCE]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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