"While I sleep among the Greeks, I am not afraid of the vengeance of night gods. And while I am on the alert they will do nothing in the daytime."
"Go to sleep! go among thy Greeks, drunkard," said Mentezufis, "lest a thunderbolt fall on our heads because of thy offenses."
"On thy shaven head, Thou soul worth a copper, it will not fall, for it would think thy head something else," said the Greek, half unconscious. But seeing that the prince did not support him, he withdrew to his camp ground.
"Didst Thou really command to kill the prisoners in spite of my promise that they should have pardon?" asked the prince.
"Thou wert not in camp, worthiness," replied Mentezufis, "hence responsibility falls not on thee for that deed: while I observe our military laws, which command to destroy traitorous warriors. The man who served his holiness once and joins his enemies afterward is to be slain immediately that is the law."
"But if I had been here?"
"As supreme leader and a son of the pharaoh Thou couldst suspend the execution of certain laws which I must obey," replied Mentezufis.
"Couldst Thou not have waited till my return?"
"The law commands to kill immediately, so I carried out its provisions."
The prince was so stunned that he interrupted conversation and withdrew to his tent. There falling into a seat he said to Tutmosis,