I protested vigorously.
“Pharaoh Akhnaton, send your gold to Horemheb and he will swiftly buy peace with spears and chariots, and Egypt need suffer no disgrace.”
He clutched his head.
“By Aton, Sinuhe! Can you not see that hate engenders hate, and vengeance sows vengeance, and blood breeds blood until we drown in blood? How are the victims served if their sufferings be avenged by the infliction of suffering on others? This talk of disgrace is but prejudice. I command you: Go to Aziru and buy me peace.”
I was aghast.
“Pharaoh Akhnaton, they will put out my eyes and tear out my tongue before I can approach Aziru to speak with him, and his friendship will avail me nothing for he will assuredly have forgotten it by now. I am unaccustomed to the exertions of war, which I greatly fear. My limbs are stiff, my movements slower than they were, nor can I order my phrases as glibly as others who have been trained to lies since childhood and who serve you at the courts of foreign kings. Send another if you would purchase peace.”
He insisted stubbornly, “Go as I command you. Pharaoh has spoken.”
But I had seen the fugitives in the courtyard of the palace. I had seen their broken mouths, their empty eye sockets, and the stumps of their arms. I felt strongly disinclined for the journey and went home with the intention of taking to my bed and feigning sickness until Pharaoh should have forgotten this fancy of his.
On the way I met my servant, who said to me in some astonishment, “It is well that you have come, my lord Sinuhe, for a ship has just arrived from Thebes bringing a woman whose name is Mehunefer; she says she is your friend. She awaits you in your house, arrayed like a bride, and the house is fragrant with her ointments.”
I turned swiftly about and ran to the golden house.
“Be it as you say, Pharaoh. I will go to Syria, and may my blood be upon your head. But if I am to go, let me depart at once. Let your scribes prepare the necessary tablets, certifying my rank and authority, for Aziru has great respect for tablets.”
While the scribes were busy with these, I hastened to the workshop of my friend Thothmes. I had discovered he was a sculptor in Akhetaton. He was my friend and did not spurn me in my hour of need. He had just completed a statue of Horemheb to be set up in Hetnet- sut, which was the warrior’s birthplace. It was of brown sandstone and fashioned according to the new rules, very lifelike, although to my mind Thothmes had exaggerated the bulk of the arm muscles and the breadth of the chest so that Horemheb appeared more like a wrestler than the commander-in-chief of Pharaoh’s forces. But it was the custom in this new art to exaggerate all things even to ugliness, that truth be not slighted. Thothmes wiped the image with a wet rag to show me how beautiful was the sheen on Horemheb’s muscles and how well the color of the stone matched that of his skin.
He said to me, “I think I will travel with you as far as Hetnetsut and take this figure with me, to insure that it is set up in the temple there in a position befitting Horemheb’s rank and my own. Yes, I will come with you, Sinuhe, and let the river wind blow the wine fumes of Akhetaton from my head. My hands tremble with the weight of hammer and chisel, and fever frets at my heart.”
The scribes brought me the clay tablets, with Pharaoh’s blessing, and when Horemheb’s statue had been carried aboard, we set sail down the river. My servant had orders to tell Mehunefer that I had gone to the war in Syria and there perished. I felt there was but little falsehood in this, for I feared that I should indeed die a hideous death on this journey. I had further bidden my servant convey Mehunefer aboard some vessel bound for Thebes, with all due honor and if need be by force. “For,” said I, “should I, against all expectations, return and find Mehunefer in my house, I will have all my slaves and servants beaten, I will have their ears and noses cut off, and send them to the mines for the rest of their lives.”
My servant looked me in the eye and, seeing that I was in earnest, was duly frightened and promised to obey my orders. So with a mind relieved, I sailed down the river with Thothmes. Being convinced that I was bound for certain death at the hands of Aziru’s men and of the Hittites, we did not spare the wine. Thothmes declared that it was not the custom to be sparing of wine when going to war, and he could speak with authority having been born in barracks.
BOOK 12
The Water Clock Measures Time
1
In my official capacity I was received with full honors by Horemheb at Memphis, but as soon as we were alone together, he began slapping his leg with his whip, and he asked impatiently, “What ill wind blows you hither as Pharaoh’s envoy, and what new maggot has hatched out in his brain?”
I told him that my mission was to journey to Syria and buy peace at any price from Aziru. Horemheb swore bitterly at this.
“Did I not guess that he would ruin all the plans I have laid with such care and cost? Know that thanks to me Gaza is still in our hands, so that Egypt holds one bridgehead in Syria for military operations. Moreover, by means of gifts and threats I have induced the Cretan battle fleet to guard our sea communications with Gaza, this being partly in Crete’s own interest since a strong and independent Syrian federation would threaten its naval supremacy. Know also that King Aziru has much ado to control his own allies, and many Syrian cities are at war with one another now that the Egyptians have been expelled. Those Syrians who have lost home and possessions have joined guerrilla forces, which are in control of the desert from Gaza to Tanis and are now in conflict with Aziru’s troops. I have armed them with Egyptian weapons, and many valiant men from Egypt-former soldiers, robbers, and runaways from the mines-have joined them. Most important of all, the Hittites have at last invaded Mitanni with their full strength; they have wiped out the people and the Mitannian kingdom is no more. The Hittite forces are detained there by this victory; Babylon grows uneasy and is equipping troops to defend its boundaries, and the Hittites have now no time to give Aziru adequate support. If he is wise, Aziru will go in fear of them since their conquest of Mitanni, which was Syria’s shield against them. The peace Pharaoh offers would be most welcome, for it. would allow him time to consolidate his position and look about him. Give me half a year, or even less, and I will buy an honorable peace for Egypt; with singing arrows and thundering chariots I will force Aziru to fear the gods of Egypt.”
But I objected, “You cannot make war, Horemheb, for Pharaoh has forbidden it and allows you no gold for such a purpose.”
“I spit on his gold! I have borrowed right and left-borrowed myself into beggary to equip an army for Tanis. By my falcon, Sinuhe! You could not mean to ruin everything and journey to Syria as a peace maker?”
I told him that Pharaoh had already given me his commands and furnished me with all necessary tablets for the conclusion of peace. It was useful to know that Aziru himself desired it, for in that case he would be willing to concede it cheaply.
At this Horemheb flew into a rage; he kicked over his seat and shouted, “Now in truth if you buy peace from him, to Egypt’s shame, I will have you flayed alive and thrown to the crocodiles when you return, friend though you may be; this I swear! Go then, speak to Aziru of Aton. Be simple, tell him that Pharaoh of his infinite goodness will have mercy on him! Aziru will never believe you, for he is a crafty man, but he will puzzle himself into a fit before he lets you go; he will bargain and haggle and stuff you to the teeth with lies. But on no account are you to yield Gaza. Tell him also that Pharaoh cannot answer for the guerrillas and their plundering-for these free forces will in no circumstances lay down their arms; they give not a rap for Pharaoh’s tablets-I see to that! You need not tell Aziru this of course. Tell him that they are gentle, patient men whom sorrow has blinded but who will assuredly exchange their spears for shepherds’ crooks as soon as peace has been signed. But do not yield Gaza, or I will flay you with my own hand: so much anguish have I suffered, so much gold have I scattered in the sand, so many of my best spies have I sacrificed in order to open the gates of Gaza to Egypt.”
I remained in Memphis for several days, debating the terms of peace with Horemheb and disputing with him. I met envoys from Crete and Babylon, also distinguished fugitives from Mitanni. From their talk I formed a picture of all that had happened, and I was filled with ambition, aware for the first time of being an important factor in the
