"I awoke to fight; I was alone. I found that it was the stroke of an
ally. If I had taken swiftly the arms from his hand I should have caused
the cowards to retreat, by dint of smiting round. But there is not a man
of valor at night; there is no fighting single-handed; there happens not
a successful bout in ignorance. Behold thou me.[250]
8. [Usertesen's association the only safeguard. Amenemhat is not stern
enough to rule Egypt longer, but he offers to assist with his counsel.]
"Behold thou, [then?] abominable things came to pass when I was without
thee, because the courtiers had not heard that I had handed on to thee
[the kingdom], because I had not sat with thee [on the throne]. Let me
[then] make thy arrangements,[251] for I do not confound them.[252] I am
not ignorant of them, but my heart does not remember the slackness of
servants.
9. [The conspiracy was hatched in the palace itself; the commons were
hoodwinked; there was no ground for discontent.]
"Is it the function of women to captain assassins? Is the interior of a
house the nursery of insurgents? Is mining done by dint of cutting
through the snow?[253] The underlings were kept ignorant of what they
were doing. Ill fortunes have not come behind me[254] since my birth;
there has not been success like mine in working to the measure of my
ability.