The Great
Situation, Wealth and Population of Egypt, on the Accession of Rameses. The plausible Motives for his Expeditions.- -Two Razzias at an Interval of Thirty-three Centuries. - Departure of Rameses for Asia. - His Army. - Testimony of Tacitus, Herodotus, Strabo and the Monuments. - A Bulletin of Victory, and a Poet Laureate of the Fourteenth Century before our Era. -The Battle of Atesh. - The return of Rameses.
I.
WHEN Rameses ascended the throne, more than two centuries had elapsed since the expulsion of the Hycsos. The almost uninterrupted succession of a decade of memorable reigns had raised the internal prosperity of the empire, as well as its influence outside, to the highest pitch. The advantages resulting naturally from a long period of security; an administration equal to the needs of the epoch; the multiplication and good management of the canals, those peaceful conquerors of arable land won by them from the desert, were