net.
He came to me and embraced me, saying, “I am distressed that my men have treated you ill. You should have told them your name and explained that you were Pharaoh’s envoy and my friend. You should also have waved a palm branch over your head as a token of peace, as good custom requires. My men tell me that you rushed at them brandishing your knife, so that in self-defense they were compelled to seize you.”
My knees burned as with fire, and my wrists ached. Consumed with bitterness I replied, “Look at me and see if your men were in danger! They broke my palm branch and robbed me, and they trampled on Pharaoh’s tablets. You should have them flogged to teach them respect for Pharaoh’s envoy.”
But Aziru threw open his garment in mockery and raised his hands.
“You must certainly have had some evil dream, Sinuhe! Can I help it if you have hurt your knees on the stones in the course of your wearisome journey? I should not dream of flogging my best men for the sake of a miserable Egyptian, and the words of Pharaoh’s envoy are as the buzz of flies in my ear.”
“Aziru, king of many kings, order at least that man to be flogged who shamefully jabbed my behind in many places as I ran after the chariots. Have him flogged, and I shall be content. Know that I bring peace as a gift to you and to Syria!”
Aziru laughed aloud and smote his breast.
“What is it to me if that pitiful Pharaoh crawl before me in the dust, begging for peace? Yet your words are reasonable. Since you are my friend and the friend of my consort and my son, I will have that man flogged who speared you in the backside to hasten you, for that was at variance with good custom. As you know, I fight with clean weapons for lofty aims.”
So I had the pleasure of seeing my worst tormentor flogged in the sight of the assembled troops before Aziru’s rent. His comrades had no pity but mocked him and howled with laughter when he shrieked, for they were warriors and glad of any break in their life of tedium. Without doubt Aziru would have let them beat the man to death, but when I saw the blood flow and the flesh loosen from his ribs, I raised my hands and gave him back his life. I then had him carried to the tent Aziru had set aside for me-to the indignation of the officers who had been quartered there-and his comrades began to acclaim me with enthusiasm, fancying that I intended to follow up the whipping with many ingenious tortures. But I anointed his back with the same salves I had rubbed into my own knees and buttocks, and I bound up his wounds and let him drink his fill of beer. The man thought I was mad and lost all respect for me.
In the evening Aziru invited me to a meal of roast mutton and rice cooked in fat, which I ate in his tent with him and his officers, and with such Hittite officers as there were in the camp. The mantles and breastplates of these were adorned with designs of double-headed axes and winged suns. We drank wine together, and all treated me with kindness and good will, as a simpleton who came to offer peace just when they most needed it. They talked loudly of Syria’s freedom and future power and of the yoke of the oppressor, which they had lifted from their shoulders. But when they had drunk sufficiently, they began to quarrel among themselves, and at last a man from Joppa drew his knife and stabbed a man from Amurru in the neck. No great harm was done, for the artery was not severed and I was able to treat the wound effectively, in acknowledgment of which he gave me many fine presents. For this act also I was held by all to be of feeble intellect.
2
When the meal was over, Aziru dismissed his officers and the Hittites, that they might pursue their quarrels in their own tents. He showed me his son, who accompanied him on his campaigns, although he was but seven years old, and had grown into a fine boy with cheeks like downy peaches and brilliant black eyes. His hair was as black and curly as his father’s beard, and he had his mother’s fair complexion.
Aziru said to me as he stroked the child’s hair, “Have you ever seen a finer boy? I have won many crowns for him, and he shall be a great ruler. So far shall his sovereignty extend that I hardly dare think of it. Already with his own sword he has slit the belly of a slave who insulted him; he can read and write and has no fear of battle-for I have taken him into battle also though only when quelling rebellion in the villages where his young life was not in danger.”
Keftiu remained in Amurru while Aziru was at the wars, and Aziru longed for her sorely and told me that he had tried in vain to still his longing with women prisoners and with the temple virgins who followed the army; whoever had once tasted Keftiu’s love could never forget her. And she had bloomed yet more luxuriantly with the years, he told me, so that were I to see her now I should not believe my eyes. But he carried his son with him, not daring to leave him in Amurru because one day the boy would bear the united crowns of Syria.
During our conversation there came to our ears the sound of shrieks. Aziru became exceedingly angry and said, “The Hittite officers are torturing their women again. I can do nothing to stop them, for I depend on their prowess in the field; nevertheless, I am unwilling that they should teach my men these evil practices.”
I knew the Hittites; I knew what one might expect of them. Grasping the opportunity, I said, “Aziru, king of kings, break with these Hittites in time, before they crush the crowns on your head-and your head likewise! There is no trusting them. Make peace with Pharaoh while the Hittites are yet bound by the campaign in Mitanni. Babylon is arming against them as you know and will send no more grain if you remain their friend. When winter comes, famine will prowl the land like a ravening wolf unless you make peace with Pharaoh so that he may send corn to your cities as before.”
He replied, “You talk foolishly, for the Hittites are good to their friends, but to their foes they are terrible. Yet I am not bound to them by any treaty-although they send me beautiful gifts and shining breastplates-and I am free to make a separate peace. I love peace better than war and fight only to gain a peace that will be honorable. I will be reconciled with Pharaoh if he will restore Gaza, which he took from me by treachery, and if he will disarm the robber horde amp; of the desert and make reparation with grain and oil and gold for all the devastation the Syrian cities have suffered during the conflict. Egypt alone is to blame for this war, as you know.”
He stared at me impudently and smiled behind his hand, but I answered him with heat.
“Aziru, you bandit, you cattle thief, you butcher of the innocent! Don’t you know that in every smithy throughout the Lower Kingdom spearheads are being forged, and the number of Horemheb’s chariots is already greater than that of the fleas in your bed? And these fleas will bite you sorely once the harvest has ripened. This Horemheb, whose fame is known to you, spat on my feet when I spoke to him of peace. For the sake of his god, Pharaoh desires peace rather than the shedding of blood. I give you one last chance, Aziru. Egypt will keep Gaza, and you must scatter the desert hordes yourself, for Egypt is in no way answerable for their deeds. Your own cruelty has forced these Syrians to flee into the desert, there to take arms against you. Furthermore, you shall release all Egyptian prisoners and pay compensation for the losses Egyptian traders have sustained in Syrian cities and restore to them their property.”
Aziru tore his clothes and his beard and cried aloud in his resentment, “Have you been bitten by a mad dog, Sinuhe, that you rave thus? Gaza must be ceded to Syria, the Egyptian traders shall answer for their own losses, and the prisoners shall be sold as slaves as custom requires. Nothing prevents Pharaoh from buying their freedom if he has gold enough for the purpose.”
I said to him, “If you make peace you can build massive, lofty towers for your cities so that you need no longer fear the Hittites, and Egypt will support you. The merchants of those cities will grow rich when they can trade with Egypt free of tribute, and the Hittites, having no warships, cannot hinder your commerce. All the advantages will be on your side, Aziru, if you make peace. Pharaoh’s terms are moderate, and I can make no concessions.”
Day after day we debated, and many times Aziru tore his clothes, and poured ash on his hair, and called me a shameless robber, and wept over the fate of his son, who would certainly die in a ditch, beggared by Egypt. Once I even left his tent and called for chair and escort to Gaza. I had stepped up into the chair before Aziru called me back. Yet I think he delighted in this haggling, being a Syrian, and fancied he had got the better of me when I yielded certain points. He can never have suspected my mandate from Pharaoh to buy peace at any price, even to the ruination of Egypt.
Thus I maintained my self-assurance and through my negotiating won terms that were very advantageous to Pharaoh. Time was on my side, for conflict within Aziru’s camp was intensifying. Every day more men departed for