Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/141

 dexterous fingers; their overseers show themselves in sight. They obey the words of the great skilful lord who directs them. They are rewarded with wine, and all kinds of good things. They are building a sanctuary for the god. The overseer says thus to the labourers: "The stick is in my hand: be not idle."'

Severe oversight, tempered by free access to the 'flesh-pots of Egypt' was then, as at a later date, the portion of those to whom the land of Egypt was the 'house of bondage.'

There can be little doubt that the waste of life upon distant battle-fields, the employment of foreign slave labour, and the luxury born of immense accession of wealth, all combined to produce a demoralisation and a weakening of the Egyptian people in due course of time. For the present, however, all was joy and exultation. The king was never weary of extolling the gods who had shown him such distinguished favour, and their good-will and his devotion are depicted in every possible way. On one obelisk (the obelisk of the Lateran), we