river is blood, and men drink it; they cease to be men who thirst for water. Gates and their buildings are consumed with fire, yet the palace is stable and nourishing. The boats of the peoples of the South have failed to arrive, the towns are destroyed, and Upper Egypt is desert. The crocodiles are sated with their prey, for men willingly go to them. The desert hath covered the land, the Nomes are destroyed, and there are foreign troops in Egypt. People come hither [from everywhere], there are no Egyptians left in the land. On the necks of the women slaves [hang ornaments of] gold, lapis-lazuli, silver, turquoise, carnelian, bronze, and _abhet_ stone. There is good food everywhere, and yet mistresses of houses say, 'Would that we had something to eat.' The skilled masons who build pyramids have become hinds on farms, and those who tended the Boat of the god are yoked together [in ploughing]. Men do not go on voyages to Kepuna (Byblos in Syria) to-day. What shall we do for cedar wood for our mummies, in coffins of which priests are buried, and with the oil of which men are embalmed? They come no longer. There is no gold, the handicrafts languish. What is the good of a treasury if we have nothing to put in it? Everything is in ruins. Laughter is dead, no one can laugh. Groaning and lamentation are everywhere in the land. Egyptians have turned into foreigners. The hair hath fallen out of the head of every man. A gentleman cannot be distinguished from a nobody. Every man saith, 'I would that I were dead,' and children say, '[My father] ought not to have begotten me.' Children of princes are dashed against the walls, the children of desire are cast out into the desert, and Khnemu[1] groaneth in sheer exhaustion. The Asiatics have become workmen in the Delta. Noble ladies and slave girls suffer alike. The women who used to sing songs now sing dirges. Female slaves speak as they like, and when their mistress commandeth they are aggrieved. Princes go hungry and weep. The hasty man saith, 'If I only knew where God was I would make offerings to Him.' The hearts of the flocks weep, and the cattle groan because of the condition of the land. A man striketh his own brother. What is to be done? The roads are watched by robbers, who hide in the bushes until a benighted traveller cometh, when they rob him. They seize his goods, and beat him to death with cudgels. Would that the human race might perish, and there be no more conceiving or bringing to the birth! If only the earth could be quiet, and revolts cease! Men eat herbs and drink water, and there is no food for the birds, and even the swill is taken from the mouths of the swine. There is no grain anywhere, and people lack clothes, unguents, and oil. Every man saith, 'There is none.' The storehouse is destroyed, and its keeper lieth prone on the ground. The documents have been filched from their august chambers, and the shrine is desecrated. Words of power are unravelled, and spells made powerless.