regarded as really dangerous, he ventured to conclude his commission by
granting a general amnesty to all persons implicated in the conspiracy,
and allowing the political refugees to return from the Oasis to Thebes
and to live there unmolested.

Men-khepr-ra soon afterwards became king. He married a wife named
Hesi-em-Kheb, who is thought to have been a descendant of Seti L, and
thus gave an additional legitimacy to the dynasty of Priest-Kings. He
also adorned the city of Kheb, the native place of his wife, with public
buildings; but otherwise nothing is known of the events of his reign. As
a general rule, the priest-kings were no more active or enterprizing
than their predecessors, the Ramessides of the twentieth dynasty. They
were content to rule Egypt in peace, and enjoy the delights of
sovereignty, without fatiguing themselves either with the construction
of great works or the conduct of military expeditions. If the people
that has no history is rightly pronounced happy, Egypt may have
prospered under their rule; but the historian can scarcely be expected
to appreciate a period which supplies him with no materials to work
upon.

The inaction of Egypt was favourable to the growth and spread of other
kingdoms and empires. Towards the close of the Ramesside period Assyria
had greatly increased in power, and extended her authority beyond the
Euphrates as far as the Mediterranean. After this, causes that are still
obscure had caused her to decline, and, Syria being left to itself, a
new power grew up in it. In the later half of the eleventh century,
probably during the reign of Men-khepr-ra in Egypt, David began that
series of conquests by which he gradually built up an empire, uniting in
one all the countries and tribes between the river of Egypt
(Wady-el-Arish) and the Euphrates. Egypt made no attempt to interfere