Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 2.djvu/40

 24 A History of Art in Sardinia and ]jdjea. the second day their Hnes were forced at all points and completely broken. The account of the tnore than heroic courage displayed by Ramses on this occasion must be received with a large grain of salt or rather salinus. He is represented rushing single-handed among the serrated ranks of the Kheta, and to have hewn them down : *' I was alone," he declares ; '* none of you stood by me when I was surrounded by thousands of chariots; but, with the help of Ammon, I destroyed them all " (Fig. 259). Then Kheta-Sira, after twenty years of struggle with Ramses, concluded a treaty of peace upon equal terms with the Egyptian king. A marriage with the daughter of the Hittite prince contri- buted no doubt to the maintenance of friendship between the two nations, Kheta-Sira soon after conducting his daughter to Egypt, to be present at the celebration of her marriage, w^hich took place in the thirty-fourth year of Ramses' reign (Fig. 260). The astonishment of the population at the strange dress and different cast of countenance of the Kheta gave way to feelings of gratitude when they beheld their late bitter foe turned into a friend and staunch ally of their monarch. The treaty was maintained by his successor, Menephtah H. ; but his feeble successors were obliged to relinquish Syria, or at least only to retain the southern provinces. A stela, recording the alliance entered into between Ramses and Kheta-Sira, was discovered by ChampoUion on the outer wall of the temple at Karnac. From it we learn — albeit some lines have disappeared — that the treaty was offensive and defensive, it pro- vided for the extradition of criminals and deserters, and may be considered as the earliest diplomatic document that has come down to us.^ The natural boundaries of Egypt, which keep her separated from the rest of the world, cannot but have had a large share in moulding the character of her inhabitants, which were as sharply divided by castes as though oceans and sandy wastes had interposed, rendering them little prone to stretch out the hand of fellowship or to assimilate with aliens. Hence it came to pass that the hold of Egypt upon Syria was precarious and loose at best ; for the moment the back of the conqueror was turned the 1 A translation of this treaty by De Rouge may be read in Egger's work entitled, Etudes historiques sur les traites publics chez les Grecs et les Ro??iains, pp. 243-252, 1886, in-8°. See also JKecords of the Past, vol. iv. p. 27, containing a translation by Mr. Goodwin. — Editor.