Page:The Hittites - the Story of a Forgotten Empire.djvu/30

28 was for the Pharaoh to upbraid his army for their cowardice and sloth. 'Have I not given what is good to each of you,' he exclaims, 'that ye have left me, so that I was alone in the midst of hostile hosts? Forsaken by you, my life was in peril, and you breathed tranquilly, and I was alone. Could you not have said in your hearts that I was a rampart of iron to you?' It was the horses of the royal chariot and not the troops who deserved reward, and who would obtain it when the king arrived safely home. So Ramses 'returned in victory and strength; he had smitten hundreds of thousands all together in one place with his arm.'

At daybreak the following morning he desired to renew the conflict. The serpent that glowed on the front of his diadem 'spat fire' in the face of his enemies. They were overawed by the deeds of valour he had accomplished single-handed the day before, and feared to resume the fight. 'They remained afar off, and threw themselves down on the earth, to entreat the king in the sight [of his army]. And the king had power over them and slew them without their being able to escape. As bodies tumbled before his horses, so they lay there stretched out all together in their blood. Then the king of the hostile people of the Hittites sent a messenger to pray piteously to the great name of the king, speaking thus: "Thou art Ra-Hormakhis. Thy terror is upon the land of the Hittites, for thou hast broken the neck of the Hittites for ever and ever.

The army of Ramses seconded the prayer of the herald that the Egyptians and Hittites should henceforward be 'brothers together.' A treaty was accordingly made; but it was soon broken, and it was not