in the dungeon. Therefore, I must discharge my debt to him.”
Then my eyes were opened, and I understood that it was Kaptah who had been Horemheb’s best agent in Syria and his chief spy-had not the thirsty wretch who visited Horemheb’s tent by night covered one eye as a sign that he had been sent by a one-eyed man? I perceived that no other could have performed such wonders, for in guile Kaptah had no peer.
I said to him, “What if Horemheb does owe you much gold? You know very well that he never pays his debts.”
“That is so; he is a hardhearted and ungrateful man, more ungrateful even than this mad commander, to whom I conveyed grain in sealed jars. The Hittites fancied that the jars were full of venomous serpents, for in proof of this I broke one of the jars and the serpents bit three Hittite soldiers so that they died. After this the Hittites felt no desire to open further jars. Failing a recompense in gold, Horemheb shall appoint me receiver of harbor dues and of similar contributions in the captured cities. He shall turn the whole of the Syrian salt trade over to me, and much else, and by this means afford me satisfaction.”
There was sense in what he said, and yet I marveled.
“Do you then intend to toil all your life to pay this old lunatic who is making such a to-do behind my door?”
Kaptah drank wine and smacked his lips, saying, “Truly it is worth languishing for a week or two in a dark hole, with hard stones beneath one and foul water to drink, to enjoy the full delight of soft seats, good light, and the taste of wine. No, Sinuhe, I am not as mad as you suppose. Nevertheless, my word is my bond, for which reason you must restore his sight according to my promise, that he may learn to dice with me. He was an eager gambler before his blindness came on him-and if he should lose to me, what can I do? You understand, o? course, that I mean to play for very high stakes.”
I saw that this was indeed the only honorable way for Kaptah to discharge his huge debt, for Kaptah was a skillful player-with dice of his own choosing. I promised to devote all my arts to restoring the old man’s sight, or at least so much of it as would enable him to distinguish the pips. In return, Kaptah undertook to send Muti enough silver to rebuild the copperfounder’s house in Thebes and to maintain herself there in comfort during my absence. I called the old man in, and Kaptah assured him he would pay off the debt if given a little time. I examined his eyes and found that the blindness was not a result of living in the dark but of an old, neglected disease. On the following day I cured it by means of the needle, according to the method I had perfected in Mitanni. How long his sight would last I could not say, for eyes that have been so treated are apt to scar within a short space of time, and the resulting loss of sight can be neither prevented nor cured.
I brought Kaptah to Horemheb, who rejoiced to see him. He embraced him and called him a brave man, assuring him that all Egypt was thankful to him for his great achievements.
But Kaptah’s face fell, and he began to weep, saying, “Behold my belly, which has shrunk to an empty bag from my exertions on your behalf. Cast your eye upon my lacerated rear and on my ears, which the dungeon rats of Gaza have nibbled into rags! You talk to me of gratitude, which puts not a grain of corn into my mouth nor so much as moistens my throat. Nowhere do I see the bags of gold you have promised me! No, Horemheb, I ask for no thanks. I ask you to pay what you owe me, like a man of honor, since I also have debts to discharge. Indeed I stand very deeply in debt-more deeply than you dream of.”
Horemheb scowled, and smiting his leg impatiently with his whip he said, “Your talk is that of a fool, Kaptah. You know very well that I have no plunder to share with you and that I use all the gold I can lay hands on to prosecute the war against the Hittites. I myself am a poor man, and glory alone is my reward. This much I can do for you: I can imprison your creditors, accuse them of many crimes, and hang them from the walls, and so acquit you of your debts.”
To this Kaptah would not agree. Horemheb laughed harshly and said, “Kaptah, how did you come to be bound to the wheel as a Syrian spy and cast into the dungeons? Mad though Roju is, yet he is a fine warrior and must have had some reason for his action.”
Kaptah tore his fine garment in token of innocence, beat his breast, and cried, “Horemheb, Horemheb! Was it you who but now spoke to me of gratitude, only to insult me with false accusations? Didn’t I poison the horses of the Hittites and smuggle corn into Gaza? When you lay encamped in the wilderness, didn’t I hire bold men to bring you details of enemy dispositions? Didn’t I hire slaves to slit the water skins in the chariots with which the Hittites attacked you? All this I did for you and for Egypt without thought of gain. It was but fair and right that I should perform certain harmless services for the Hittites and for Aziru. For this reason, when I fled to Gaza, I had about me a tablet of safe-conduct from Aziru. A wise man protects himself at every point and carries many arrows in his quiver. Neither to you nor to Egypt should I be of the smallest use were my carcass now hanging out to dry upon the wall. I carried the safe-conduct with me, for had you tarried too long, Gaza might have fallen. But Roju is a suspicious man, and it was in vain I covered my blind eye and spoke of venomous beetles as we had agreed. He believed in no passwords but stretched me out on the wheel until I bellowed like a bull and said that I was a spy of Aziru’s.”
Horemheb laughed and said, “What you have undergone shall be your reward, my good Kaptah. I know you, and you know me. Pester me no longer in this matter of gold, for such talk vexes me and puts me out of temper.”
But Kaptah persisted until at last he had extracted from Horemheb the sole right to buy and sell all war plunder in Syria. He could purchase, gamble for, or barter for beer, wine, and women any spoils that had been shared out among the soldiers. He was also authorized to sell Pharaoh’s share of the booty, or Horemheb’s-or exchange it-for goods of which the army stood in need. This right alone would have made him a rich man; nevertheless, he demanded the same conditions for all Syrian plunder whatsoever that Horemheb’s army might come by in the future. Horemheb agreed since it cost him nothing, and in return for this concession Kaptah promised him liberal gifts.
3
When Horemheb had repaired all his chariots, summoned auxiliary forces from Egypt, assembled in Gaza all the horses of southern Egypt, and exercised his troops, he issued a proclamation declaring that he came as liberator to Syria and in no way as conqueror. Under the kindly protection of Egypt, said he, all the Syrian cities had enjoyed freedom and unrestricted trade, each under its own king. By the villainous treachery of Aziru these cities had been forced to yield to his tyranny. Aziru had bereft the kings of their lineal crowns and oppressed the cities with burdensome taxation. In his greed he had sold Syria to the Hittites, of whose cruelty and evil practices the Syrians had daily proof. Therefore he, Horemheb the Invincible, Son of the Falcon, came to liberate Syria from the yoke of slavery, to encourage trade, and to reinstate the former kings so that under the protection of Egypt the land might flourish and prosper as before. He promised his help to every city that expelled the Hittites and closed its gates to Aziru. Those cides that continued to resist he would burn, plunder, and destroy, level their walls forever and carry away the citizens into slavery.
Finally Horemheb marched on Joppa and sent his fleet to close the harbor. With the help of his spies he noised abroad his proclamation, which aroused much uneasiness and indecision among the cities and disputes among his enemies, which was indeed its sole purpose. But Kaptah, like the cautious man he was, remained within the walls of Gaza in case Horemheb should suffer defeat, for both Aziru and the Hittites were gathering together a mighty force inland.
Roju Bull-Neck was reconciled with Kaptah, who cured him of his delusion by explaining that the soldiers, ravenous during the siege, had stolen the four hundred cruppers from the harness store and eaten them, for they were of soft leather and could be chewed to dull the edge of hunger. When Roju heard this, his frenzy subsided so that he could be loosed from his bonds, and he forgave his comrades the theft because of their great valor.
When Horemheb had departed with his men, Roju closed the gates of Gaza, vowing that never again would he admit any troops into the city. He drank wine and watched Kaptah’s play with the guard. At the time of Horemheb’s departure, Kaptah had won back from the old man only one and a half million deben of gold. They drank and threw dice from morning till night; they quarreled and hurled the dice in each others’ faces; they spat in their palms and cast the dice from the cup so that they rolled on the floor. The old man was miserly and desired to play
