Page 354 - Four Thousand Years Ago by Geoffrey Bibby

[lyiHFuayu b.u.j 301
with its chariots flung forward in advance, and with the infantry
coming on at the double behind. With trumpets braying, they

threw themselves into the battle—and turned the day. As dusk
fell, the Hittites broke off the engagement and retired within the
walls of Cadesh.
The teen-agers of Ascalon cheered the couriers as they drove
away, completely forgetful of their old enmity with the Egyptian

garrison troops. Now they identified themselves with the gallant
army that so lately had passed through the town, and rejoiced
over the victory of its arms.

Their elders were more reserved. It sounded as though the
“victory” had been by no means complete; Rameses had held the
field, but his losses must have been immense. And the Hittites had
clearly still an army in being, capable of taking the field again.
Canaan could, of course, be indifferent to which of the two great

powers won the war, but not to the worst that could happen—
that the war should drag on indecisively, with armies marching
and countermarching over the length of the country, pillaging

and requisitioning, and at the same time strangling commerce.
The elders of Ascalon, and no less those of the other market
towns, desired neither to be protected nor to be liberated.
As further news came through, it was clear that there was
to be no quick victory. Casualties coming down the line showed

all too clearly that the losses in the battle had been severe. The
two advance regiments had been practically destroyed, and the
mercenaries and the third regiment, who had turned the tide of

battle, had suffered heavily. There were many homes in mourning
in Ascalon in those days. Neither power was now willing to risk
its remaining reserves in another pitched battle, and the war
developed into an affair of skirmishes and raids. With the onset of

winter Rameses passed through again, this time on his way back
to Egypt. And the crowds that lined the streets to watch him pass
were silent.

The armies remained in Syria. The following spring rein­
forcements went up the road to the front, and there was a
summer offensive of a sort. Villages were sacked, prisoners taken,
crops destroyed. But the main armies avoided battle.

In the following years the war in the north was an ever­

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