The rebellious prince had to deliver up his silver and gold, the
contents of his palace, even his children,* and when he had finally
obtained peace by means of endless sacrifices, he found himself a vassal
as before, but with an empty treasury, a wasted country, and a decimated
people.

* See, in the accounts of the campaigns of Thûtmosis, the
record of the spoils, as well as the mention of the children
of the chiefs brought as prisoners into Egypt.

[Illustration: 015.jpg A SYRIAN TOWN AND ITS OUTSKIRTS AFTER AN EGYPTIAN
ARMY HAD PASSED THROUGH IT]

Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by Gayet.

In spite of all this, some head-strong native princes never relinquished
the hope of freedom, and no sooner had they made good the breaches in
their walls as far as they were able, than they entered once more
on this unequal contest, though at the risk of bringing irreparable
disaster on their country. The majority of them, after one such
struggle, resigned themselves to the inevitable, and fulfilled their
feudal obligations regularly. They paid their fixed contribution,
furnished rations and stores to the army when passing through their
territory, and informed the ministers at Thebes of any intrigues among
their neighbours.* Years elapsed before they could so far forget the
failure of their first attempt to regain independence, as to venture to
make a second, and expose themselves to fresh reverses.

The administration of so vast an empire entailed but a small
expenditure on the Egyptians, and required the offices of merely a few