"See there, worthy fathers," said he, pointing to a part of the court which was better lighted. "That square of land one hundred and ten yards in length and as wide signifies two measures; the men, women, and children of that crowd mean eight families. All that together: people and land pass for three years into dreadful captivity. During that time their owner, the pharaoh or a nomarch, has no profit at all from them; at the end of that term he receives the land back exhausted, and of the people, twenty in number at the very highest, the rest have died under torture!"
Those present shuddered with horror.
"I have said that the Phoenician takes two measures of land and thirty- two people for three years in exchange for one talent. See what a space of laud and what a crowd of people; look now at my hand.
"This piece of gold which I grasp here, this lump, less than a hen's egg in size, is a talent.
"Can you estimate the complete insignificance of the Phoenicians in this commerce? This small lump of gold has no real value: it is yellow, it is heavy, a man cannot eat it, and that is the end of the matter. A man does not clothe himself with gold and he cannot stop his hunger or thirst with it. If he had a lump of gold as big as the pyramid, he would be as poor at the foot of it as a Libyan wandering through the western desert where there is neither a date nor a drop of water.
"And see, for a piece of this barren metal a Phoenician takes a piece of land which suffices to feed and clothe thirty-two people, and besides that he takes the people. For three years he exercises power over beings who know how to cultivate land, gather in grain, make flour and beer, weave garments, build houses, and make furniture.
"At the same time the pharaoh or the nomarch is deprived for three years of the services of those people. They pay him no tribute, they carry no burdens for the army, but they toil to give income to the greedy Phoenician.
"Ye know, worthy fathers, that at present there is not a year during which in this or that province an insurrection does not break out among laborers exhausted by hunger, borne down by toil, or beaten with sticks. And some of those men perish, others are sent to the quarries, while the country is depopulated more and more for this reason only, that the Phoenician gave a lump of gold to some land-owner! Is it possible to imagine greater misery? And is Egypt not to lose land and people yearly under such conditions? Victorious wars undermined Egypt, but Phoenician gold-dealers are finishing it."
On the faces of the priests satisfaction was depicted; they were more willing to hear of the guile of Phoenicians than the excesses of scribes throughout Egypt.
Pentuer rested awhile, then he turned to the viceroy.