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But I, Sinuhe, said to the people, "It may be that wrong has trampled on right during these days and that many an innocent man has suffered for the guilty. Nevertheless, Ammon is still the god of darkness and terror and rules men through their foolishness. Aton is the only god, for he dwells within us and without, and there are no others. Fight for Aton, all you poor people and slaves, you bearers and servants, for you have no more to lose, and should Ammon win you would indeed taste slavery and death. Fight for Pharaoh Akhnaton's sake, for his like has never been seen on earth, and the god speaks through his mouth. Never has there been such an opportunity to renew the world; never will it be offered to you again!"
But the slaves and porters laughed aloud and said, "Do not prattle to us of Aton, Sinuhe, for all gods are alike and all Pharaohs are alike. But you are a good man, Sinuhe, although very simple, and you have bound our crushed arms and healed our broken knees without requiring gifts. Lay aside your club since in any case you lack the strength to swing it. You will never make a warrior, and the horns will slay you if they see the club in your hands. It matters little if we die, for we have soiled our hands with blood and lived well, sleeping beneath brilliant canopies and drinking from golden cups. Our feast is now at an end, and we mean to die with our weapons in our hands. Having tasted freedom and high living, we find slavery no longer to our liking."
Their talk made me ashamed. I threw aside my club and went to fetch the medicine chest from my house. For three days and three nights there was fighting in Thebes; many exchanged cross for horn and many more laid down their arms and hid in houses and wine cellars, in granaries and in empty baskets in the harbor. But the slaves and porters of the harbor fought on bravely. Three days and three nights they fought; they set fire to houses and at night fought by the light of the flames. Negroes and Shardanas set buildings alight also and robbed and knocked down all the folk they met, whether cross or horn. Their commander was that same Pepitaton who had allowed the slaughter in the Avenue of Rams, but now his name was Pepitamon again. He had been chosen by Eie because of his high rank and because he was the most learned of Pharaoh's officers.
I bound up the wounds of slaves and treated their broken heads at the Crocodile's Tail, while Merit tore up my clothes and Kaptah's and her own also to make bandages for them, and little Thoth carried wine to those whose pain must be soothed. On the last day the fighting was confined to the harbor and the poor quarter, where the war-skilled Negroes and Shardanas mowed down the people like standing crops, so that blood flowed along the narrow streets and over the quays into the river. Death never reaped so abundant a harvest in the land of Kem as it did on that day.
The leaders of the slaves came to the Crocodile's Tail while the conflict was raging, to refresh themselves with wine. They were drunk already with blood and the heat of battle. Smiting me on the shoulders with their hard fists, they said, "We have prepared for you a comfortable basket in the harbor where you can hide, Sinuhe, for doubtless you have no desire to hang head downward beside us on the wall this evening? Is it not time for you to hide, Sinuhe? It is in vain you bind up wounds which are instantly open again."
But I told them, "I am a physician to the household, and none dare raise a hand against me."
At this they laughed, drank copiously, and returned to the fighting.
At length Kaptah came to me and said, "Your house is burning, Sinuhe, and the horns have stabbed Muti because she threatened them with her washing club. Now is the time for you to array yourself in the finest linen and assume all the emblems of your dignity. Leave these wounded slaves and robbers and follow me to an inner room, where we may prepare ourselves to receive the priests …
