Before the Throne

13

HORUS HERALDED, “King Amenhotep the First!”

A stout, broad-shouldered man came in and stood humbly in his shroud before the throne.

Thoth then read from the book of the gods, “At the start of his reign, the Libyans crept into the west of the country. He threw them out after dealing them grievous losses, just as he expanded Egypt’s southern borders, and invaded a wide swath of Syria.”

Osiris invited him to speak, so he replied, “I took the throne with Egypt’s past, both recent and distant, very much in mind. The elders had not forgotten the ghosts of the Hyksos and their humiliation of them, while the young reveled in the victories of Ahmose I and demanded to see more of such things. First, I strove to organize the administration by spreading the protection of the law and security and the proper supervision of those in the civil service. At that moment, the western borders were broached by the Libyans, to which I reacted swiftly. I exceeded the enemy’s expectation and brought down upon him a shocking defeat. The fire of passion in the hearts of the commanders and officers set me aflame, so I undertook a successful attack in the unexplored regions of Nubia.

“Then my spies among the Hyksos informed me they were gathering with the ambition of gaining back what they had lost in our nation. So I set out at the head of a campaign and declared my rule over Palestine without having to engage in combat. I assailed the assembled Shepherds in the west of Syria, broke up their ranks, and destroyed the rest of what remained of them. I ordered the reconstruction of the temple of Amun, then returned the prisoners of war and captured livestock. I compelled the entire country to pay a head tax, and the nation’s resources increased and the markets boomed.”

“Everything you did was right,” Ahmose I enthused, “for Egypt’s southern borders are not secure without possessing Nubia, while the pivot of defense on our eastern borders lies in Syria.”

“This means that Egypt’s security was not truly established except by launching two different random aggressions outside our borders!” exclaimed the Sage Ptahhotep.

“I have learned that life is but a continuous conflict, in which the human being finds no rest,” Ahmose I replied. “Whoever neglects to prepare his forces makes himself an easy prey to beasts who know nothing of mercy.”

“I did not stint,” said Amenhotep I, “on the most lavish of offerings in the temples to procure the blessings of the gods, for within their holy confines lies the first and last guarantee of Egypt’s survival.”

“This son’s works are his testament,” Isis opined.

“Go to your seat among the Immortals,” ordered Osiris.