famine. He gathered up all the grain, and in the city situated
in the middle of each district he laid up the produce
from round about, and had ashes and earth strewn on the
garnered food from the very soil on which it had been
grown;[193] also he preserved the grain in the ear; all these
being precautions taken to guard against rot and mildew.
The inhabitants of Egypt also tried, on their own account,
to put aside a portion of the superabundant harvest of the
seven fruitful years against the need of the future, but when
the grievous time of dearth came, and they went to their
storehouses to bring forth the treasured grain, behold, it
had rotted, and become unfit for food.[194] The famine broke
in upon the people with such suddenness that the bread gave
out unexpectedly as they sat at their tables, they had not
even a bite of bran bread.