of importance, whether civil or military, to the princes of the blood royal.  A son of the reigning Pharaoh, most commonly his eldest son, held the office of High-Priest of Ammon and Governor of Thebes; another commanded at Sessoun (Hermopolis); another at Hakhensu, others in all the large towns of the Delta and of Upper Egypt.  Each of them had with him several battalions of those Libyan soldiers—­Matsiou and Mashuash—­who formed at this time the strength of the Egyptian army, and on whose fidelity it was always safe to count.  Ere long these commands became hereditary, and the feudal system, which had anciently prevailed among the chiefs of nomes or cantons, re-established itself for the advantage of the members of the reigning house.  The Pharaoh of the time continued to reside at Memphis, or at Bubastis, to receive the taxes, to direct as far as was possible the central administration, and to preside at the grand ceremonies of religion, such as the enthronement or the burial of an Apis-Bull; but, in point of fact, Egypt found itself divided into a certain number of principalities, some of which comprised only a few towns, while others extended over several continuous cantons.  After a time the chiefs of these principalities were emboldened to reject the sovereignty of the Pharaoh altogether; relying on their bands of Libyan mercenaries, they usurped, not only the functions of royalty, but even the title of king, while the legitimate dynasty, cooped up in a corner of the Delta, with difficulty preserved a certain remnant of authority.”

Upon disintegration followed, as a natural consequence, quarrel and disturbance.  In the reign of Takelut II., the grandson of Osorkon II., troubles broke out both in the north and in the south.  Takelut’s eldest son, Osorkon, who was High-Priest of Ammon, and held the government of Thebes and the other provinces of the south, was only able to maintain the integrity of the kingdom by means of perpetual civil wars.  Under his successors, Sheshonk III., Pamai, and Sheshonk IV., the revolts became more and more serious.  Rival dynasties established themselves at Thebes, Tanis, Memphis, and elsewhere.  Ethiopia grew more powerful as Egypt declined, and threatened ere long to establish a preponderating influence over the entire Nile valley.  But the Egyptian princes were too jealous of each other to appreciate the danger which threatened them.  A very epidemic of decentralization set in; and by the middle of the eighth century, just at the time when Assyria was uniting together and blending into one all the long-divided tribes and nations of Western Asia, Egypt suicidally broke itself up into no fewer than twenty governments!