“To Amanappa, my father; Rib-Addi, thy son! At my father’s feet I fall. Again and again I asked thee, ‘Canst thou not rescue me from the hand of Abd-Ashera? All the Habiri are on his side; the princes will hear no remonstrances, but are in alliance with him; thereby is he become mighty.’ But thou hast answered me, ‘Send thy messenger with me to Court, and then will I, if nothing be said against it (_i.e._, by the king), send him again and again with royal troops to thee till the Pidati march forth to secure thy life.’ Then I answered thee, ‘I will not delay to send the man, but nothing of this must come to the ears of Abd-Ashera, for [Yanhamu has] taken [silver] from his hand.’ (As much as to say that if Abd-Ashera gives Yanhamu a hint, the messenger will never get beyond Lower Egypt.) But thou hast said, ‘Fear not, but send a ship to the Yarimuta, and money and garments will come to thee thence.’ Now, behold, the troops which thou hast given me have fled, because thou hast neglected me, while I have obeyed thee. He hath spoken with the official (Yanhamu?) nine times [in vain]. Behold, thou art delaying with regard to this offence as with the others. What then can save me? If I receive no troops I shall forsake my city, and flee, doing that which seems good to me to preserve my life.” Yanhamu’s bias against Rib-Addi is made evident in many other letters which the poor wretch addressed to the Court: “If I should make a treaty with Abd-Ashera as did Yap-Addi and Zimrida, then I should be safe. Furthermore, since Simyra is indeed lost to me, and Yanhamu hath received Bit-Arti, he ought to send me provision of grain that I may defend the king’s city for him. Thou, oh king, speak to Yanhamu; ‘Behold, Rib-Addi is in thy hand, and all injury done to him falls on thee.’ ” This desire was not complied with, for the Phœnician vassal was at length robbed of all his cities and possessions, so that even the callous Egyptian Government felt obliged at last to send a threatening embassy to Aziru, the son of Abd-Ashera, and the real author of the difficulties in Gebal. At the same time the surrender was demanded of certain “enemies of the king,” who were in all probability principal adherents of Aziru. When the messenger Hani arrived with this note, Aziru, evidently warned in good time, had promptly vanished over the hills, and none of the royal commands could be carried out. He pretends to have settled down in Tunip, which he must previously have seized, but at once returned home on hearing of Hani’s arrival. Unfortunately it was too late. The cunning Amorite brought forward one excuse after another. “Even if thy actions be just, yet if thou dissemble in thy letters at thy pleasure, the king must at length come to think that thou liest in every case,” is a passage in the letter brought by Hani. Aziru replies in a tone of injured innocence: