several centuries without encroaching seriously on the resources of the
country, or endangering its prosperity. When, however, some province
ventured to break away from the control of Egypt, the whole mechanism
of the government was put into operation to provide soldiers and the
necessary means for an expedition. Each stage of the advance beyond the
frontier demanded a greater expenditure of energy, which, with prolonged
distances, would naturally become exhausted. The expedition would
scarcely have reached the Taurus or the Euphrates, before the force
of circumstances would bring about its recall homewards, leaving but a
slight bond of vassalage between the recently subdued countries and the
conqueror, which would speedily be cast off or give place to relations
dictated by interest or courtesy. Thûtmosis III. had to submit to this
sort of necessary law; a further extension of territory had hardly
been gained when his dominion began to shrink within the frontiers that
appeared to have been prescribed by nature for an empire like that
of Egypt. Kharû and Phoenicia proper paid him their tithes with due
regularity; the cities of the Amurru and of Zahi, of Damascus, Qodshû,
Hamath, and even of Tunipa, lying on the outskirts of these two subject
nations, formed an ill-defined borderland, kept in a state of perpetual
disturbance by the secret intrigues or open rebellions of the native
princes. The kings of Alasia, Naharaim, and Mitanni preserved their
independence in spite of repeated reverses, and they treated with the
conqueror on equal terms.*

* The difference of tone between the letters of these kings
and those of the other princes, as well as the consequences
arising from it, has been clearly defined by Delattre.

The tone of their letters to the Pharaoh, the polite formulas with which
they addressed him, the special protocol which the Egyptian ministry had