The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians

by Sir E. A. Wallis Budge

[1] i.e. the figure of Amen-ta-mat.

And the superintendent of the harbour turned away and departed, and told the governor what I had said. And the governor sent a message to the captain of the ship bound for Egypt, saying, "Tarry till the morning; these are the orders of the governor." And when the morning had come, the governor sent a messenger, who took me to the place where offerings were being made to the god in the fortress wherein the governor lived on the sea coast. And I found him seated in his upper chamber, and he was reclining with his back towards an opening in the wall, and the waves of the great Syrian sea were rolling in from seawards and breaking on the shore behind him. And I said unto him, "The grace of Amen [be with thee]!" And he said unto me, "Including this day, how long is it since thou camest from the place where Amen is?" And I said unto him, "Five months and one day, including to-day." And he said unto me, "Verily if that which thou sayest is true, where are the letters of Amen which ought to be in thy hand? Where are the letters of the high priest of Amen which ought to be in thy hand?"

And I said unto him, "I gave them to Nessubanebtet and Thent-Amen." Then was he very angry indeed, and he said unto me, "Verily, there are neither letters nor writings in thy hands for us! Where is the ship made of acacia wood which Nessubanebtet gave unto thee? Where are his Syrian sailors? Did he not hand thee over to the captain of the ship so that after thou hadst started on thy journey they might kill thee and cast thee into the sea? Whose permission did they seek to attack the god? And indeed whose permission were they seeking before they attacked thee?" This is what he said unto me.

And I said unto him, "The ship [wherein I sailed] was in very truth an Egyptian ship, and it had a crew of Egyptian sailors who sailed it on behalf of Nessubanebtet. There were no Syrian sailors placed on board of it by him." He said unto me, "I swear that there are twenty ships lying in my harbour, the captains of which are in partnership with Nessubanebtet. And as for the city of Sidon, whereto thou wishest to travel, I swear that there are there ten thousand other ships, the captains of which are in partnership with Uarkathar, and they are sailed for the benefit of his house." At this grave moment I held my peace. And he answered and said unto me, "On what matter of business hast thou come hither?" And I said unto him, "The matter concerning which I have come is wood for the great and holy Boat of Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods. What thy father did [for the god], and what thy father's father did for him, do thou also." That was what I said unto him. And he said unto me, "They certainly did do work for it (i.e. the boat). Give me a gift for my work for the boat, and then I also will work for it. Assuredly my father and my grandfather did do the work that was demanded of them, and Pharaoh, life, strength, and health be to him! caused six ships laden with the products of Egypt to come hither, and the contents thereof were unloaded into their storehouses. Now, thou must most certainly cause some goods to be brought and given to me for myself."

Then he caused to be brought the books which his father had kept day by day, and he had them read out before me, and it was found that one thousand teben of silver of all kinds were [entered] in his books. And he said unto me, "If the Ruler of Egypt had been the lord of my possessions, and if I had indeed been his servant, he would never have had silver and gold brought [to pay my father and my father's father] when he told them to carry out the commands of Amen. The instructions which they (i.e. Pharaoh) gave to my father were by no means the command of one who was their king. As for me, I am assuredly not thy servant, and indeed I am not the servant of him that made thee to set out on thy way. If I were to cry out now, and to shout to the cedars of Lebanon, the heavens would open, and the trees would be lying spread out on the sea-shore. I ask thee now to show me the sails which thou hast brought to carry thy ships which shall be loaded with thy timber to Egypt. And show me also the tackle with which thou wilt transfer to thy ships the trees which I shall cut down for thee for.... [Unless I make for thee the tackle] and the sails of thy ships, the tops will be too heavy, and they will snap off, and thou wilt perish in the midst of the sea, [especially if] Amen uttereth his voice in the sky,[1] and he unfettereth Sutekh[2] at the moment when he rageth. Now Amen hath assumed the overlordship of all lands, and he hath made himself their master, but first and foremost he is the overlord of Egypt, whence thou hast come. Excellent things have come forth from Egypt, and have reached even unto this place wherein I am; and moreover, knowledge (or learning) hath come forth therefrom, and hath reached even unto this place wherein I am. But of what use is this beggarly journey of thine which thou hast been made to take?"

[1] i.e. if there is thunder.

[2] Here the Storm-god.

And I said unto him, "What a shameful thing [to say]! It is not a beggarly journey whereon I have been despatched by those among whom I live. And besides, assuredly there is not a single boat that floateth that doth not belong to Amen. To him belong the sea and the cedars of Lebanon, concerning which thou sayest, 'They are my property.' In Lebanon groweth [the wood] for the Boat Amen-userhat, the lord of boats. Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, spake and told Her-Heru, my lord, to send me forth; and therefore he caused me to set out on my journey together with this great god.[1] Now behold, thou hast caused this great god to pass nine and twenty days here in a boat that is lying at anchor in thy harbour, for most assuredly thou didst know that he was resting here. Amen is now what he hath always been, and yet thou wouldst dare to stand up and haggle about the [cedars of] Lebanon with the god who is their lord! And as concerning what thou hast spoken, saying, 'The kings of Egypt in former times caused silver and gold to be brought [to my father and father's father, thou art mistaken].' Since they had bestowed upon them life and health, they would never have caused gold and silver to be brought to them; but they might have caused gold and silver to be brought to thy fathers instead of life and health. And Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, is the Lord of life and health. He was the god of thy fathers, and they served him all their lives, and made offerings unto him, and indeed thou thyself art a servant of Amen. If now thou wilt say unto Amen, 'I will perform thy commands, I will perform thy commands,' and wilt bring this business to a prosperous ending, thou shalt live, thou shalt be strong, thou shalt be healthy, and thou shalt rule thy country to its uttermost limits wisely and well, and thou shalt do good to thy people. But take good heed that thou lovest not the possessions of Amen-Rā, the King of the Gods, for the lion loveth the things that belong unto him. And now, I pray thee to allow my scribe to be summoned to me, and I will send him to Nessubanebtet and Thent-Amen, the local governors whom Amen hath appointed to rule the northern portion of his land, and they will send to me everything which I shall tell them to send to me, saying, 'Let such and such a thing be brought,' until such time as I can make the journey to the South (i.e. to Egypt), when I will have thy miserable dross brought to thee, even to the uttermost portion thereof, in very truth." That was what I said unto him.

[1] i.e. the figure of Amen already referred to.

And he gave my letter into the hand of his ambassador. And he loaded up on a ship wood for the fore part and wood for the hind part [of the Boat of Amen], and four other trunks of cedar trees which had been cut down, in all seven trunks, and he despatched them to Egypt. And his ambassador departed to Egypt, and he returned to me in Syria in the first month of the winter season (November-December). And Nessubanebtet and Thent-Amen sent to me five vessels of gold, five vessels of silver, ten pieces of byssus, each sufficiently large to make a suit of raiment, five hundred rolls of fine papyrus, five hundred hides of oxen, five hundred ropes, twenty sacks of lentils, and thirty vessels full of dried fish. And for my personal use they sent to me five pieces of byssus, each sufficiently large to make a suit of raiment, a sack of lentils, and five vessels full of dried fish. Then the Governor was exceedingly glad and rejoiced greatly, and he sent three hundred men and three hundred oxen [to Lebanon] to cut down the cedar trees, and he appointed overseers to direct them. And they cut down the trees, the trunks of which lay there during the whole of the winter season. And when the third month of the summer season had come, they dragged the tree trunks down to the sea-shore. And the Governor came out of his palace, and took up his stand before the trunks, and he sent a message to me, saying, "Come." Now as I was passing close by him, the shadow of his umbrella fell upon me, whereupon Pen-Amen, an officer of his bodyguard, placed himself between him and me, saying, "The shadow of Pharaoh, life, strength, and health, be to him! thy Lord, falleth upon thee."[1] And the Governor was wroth with Pen-Amen, and he said, "Let him alone." Therefore I walked close to him.