Brugsch, Heinrich: Egypt under the pharaohs: a history derived entirely from the monuments (London, 1891)

330 BATTLES BY LAND AND SEA ch. xiv..

forth. I had guarded well my boundary up to Zahi (Philistia)..
There stood in ambush over against them the chief leaders, the-
governors, the noble marinas,1 and the chief people of the warriors..
[A defence] was built on the water, like a strong wall, of ships of
war, of merchantmen, of boats and skiffs. They were manned from
the forepart to the hindpart with the bravest warriors, who bore-
their arms, and with the best life-guards of the land of Egypt. They
were like roaring lions on the mountain. The knights were of the
swiftest in the race, and the most distinguished horsemen of a.
skilful hand. Their horses quivered in all their limbs, ready to
trample the nations under their hoofs. I was like the war-god
Mentu, the strong. I held my ground before them. They beheld
the battle of my hands. I, King Ra-messu III., I went far forward
in the van, conscious of my might, strong of arm, protecting my
soldiers in the day of battle. They who had reached the boundary
of my country never more reaped harvest. Their soul and their spirit
passed away for ever. They who had assembled themselves over
against the others on the great sea, a mighty firebrand lightened
before them, in front of the mouths of the river. A wall of iron
shut them in upon the lake. They were driven away, dashed to the
ground, hewn down on the bank of the water. They were slain by
hundreds of heaps of corpses. The end was a new beginning. Their
ships and all their possessions lay strewn on the mirror of the
water. Thus have I taken from the nations the desire to direct
their thoughts against Egypt. They exalt my name in their country;,
yea, their heart is on fire for me so long as I shall sit on the throne-
of Horemkhu.

A trembling seized the inhabitants of the northern regions in.
their body, because of the Purosatha and the Zakkar, because they
plundered their land. If they went out to meet them, their spirit
failed. Some were brave people by land, others on the sea. Those who-
came by way of the land, Amen-Ra pursued them and annihilated
them. Those who entered into the mouths of the Nile were caught
like birds in nets. They were made prisoners.

It came to pass that the people of the northern regions, who-
reside in their islands and on their coasts, shuddered in their bodies.
They entered into the lakes of the mouths of the Nile. Their noses,
snuffed the wind : their desire was to breathe a soft air. The king
broke forth like a whirlwind upon them, to fight them in the battle-
field, like all his heroes. Their spirit was annihilated where they
stood, their soul was taken from them ; a stronger than they came
upon them.

In the 11th year of Ehampsinitus, a new struggle

1 See p. 138.