HERODOTUS.

BOOK III.-THALIA.'

CHAP. I. AGAINST this Amasis Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, led an army, composed as well of his other subjects, as of the Ionic and Eolic Greeks. His inducements were these: by an ambassador whom he despatched for this purpose into Egypt, he demanded the daughter of Amasis, which he did at the suggestion

1 On the commencement of his observations on this book M. Larcher remarks that the names of the muses were only affixed to the books of Herodotus at a subsequent and later period. Porphyry does not distinguish the second book of our historian by the name of Euterpe, but is satisfied with calling it the book which treats of the affairs of Egypt. Athenæus also says, the first or the second book of the histories of Herodotus.

I am nevertheless rather inclined to believe that these names were annexed to the books of Herodotus from the spontaneous impulse of admiration which was excited amongst the first hearers of them at the Olympic games.

According to Pausanias, there were originally no more than three muses, whose names were Melete, Mneme, and Aoide. Their number was afterwards increased to nine, their residence confined to Parnassus, and the direction or patronage of them, if these be not improper terms, assigned to Apollo. Their contest for superiority with the nine daughters of Evippe, and consequent victory, is agreeably described by Ovid, Met. book v. Their order and influence seem in a great measure to have been arbitrary. The names of the books of Herodotus have been generally adopted as determinate with respect to their order. This was, however, without any assigned motive, perverted by Ausonius.

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VOL. II.

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of a certain Egyptian who had entertained an enmity against his master. This man was a physician, and when Cyrus had once requested of Amasis the best medical advice which Egypt could afford for a disorder in his eyes, the king had forced him, in preference to all others, from his wife and family, and sent him into Persia. In revenge for which treatment this Egyptian instigated Cambyses to require the daughter of Amasis, that he might either suffer affliction from the loss of his child, or by refusing to send her, provoke the resentment of Cambyses. Amasis both dreaded and detested the power of Persia, and was unwilling to accept, though fearful of refusing the overture. But he well knew that his daughter was meant to be not the wife but the concubine of Cambyses, and therefore he determined on this mode of conduct: Apries, the former king, had left an only daughter: her name was Nitetis, and she was possessed of much elegance and beauty. The king, having decorated her with great splendor of dress, sent her into Persia as his own child. Not long after, when Cambyses occasionally addressed her as the daughter of Amasis, 'Sir,' said she, you are greatly mistaken, and Amasis has deceived you: he has adorned my person, and sent me to you as his daughter; but Apries was my father, whom he, with his other rebellious subjects, dethroned and put to death.' This speech and this occasion immediately prompted Cambyses in great wrath, to commence hostilities against Egypt.-Such is the Persian account of the story.

II. The Egyptians claim Cambyses as their own, by asserting that this incident did not happen to him, but to Cyrus,' from whom, and from this daughter of

1 They speak with more probability, who say it was Cyrus,

Apries, they say he was born.' This, however, is certainly not true. The Egyptians are of all mankind the best conversant with the Persian manners, and they must have known that a natural child could never succeed to the throne of Persia whilst a legitimate one was alive. And it was equally certain that Cambyses was not born of an Egyptian woman, but was the son of Cassandane, the daughter of Pharnaspes, of the race of the Achæmenides. This story therefore was invented by the Egyptians, that they might from this pretence claim a connexion with the house of Cyrus.

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III. Another story also is asserted, which to me seems improbable. They say that a Persian lady once visiting the wives of Cyrus, saw standing near their mother the children of Cassandane, whom she complimented in high terms on their superior excellence of form and person. Me,' replied Cassandane, who am the mother of these children, Cyrus neglects, and despises; all his kindness is bestowed on this Egyptian female.' This she said from resentment against Nitetis. They add that Cambyses, her eldest son, instantly exclaimed, Mother, as soon as I am a man I will effect the utter destruction of Egypt." These and not Cambyses, to whom this daughter of Apries was sent.-Prideaux.

1 Polyænus, in his Stratagemata, relates the affair in this manner:-. -Nitetis, who was in reality the daughter of Apries, lived a long time with Cyrus as the daughter of Amasis. After having many children by Cyrus, she disclosed to him who she really was; for though Amasis was dead, she wished to revenge herself on his son Psammenitus. Cyrus acceded to her wishes, but died in the midst of his preparations for an Egyptian war. This, Cambyses was persuaded by his mother to undertake, and revenged on the Egyptians the cause of the family of Apries.-T.

2 Literally, I will turn Egypt upside down.

M. Larcher enumerates, from Athenæus, the various and

words, from a prince who was then only ten years of age, surprised and delighted the woman; and as soon as he became a man, and succeeded to the throne, he remembered the incident, and commenced hostilities against Egypt.

IV. He had another inducement to this undertaking. Among the auxiliaries of Amasis was a man named Phanes, a native of Halicarnassus, and greatly distinguished by his mental as well as military accomplishments. This person being, for I know not what reason, incensed against Amasis, fled in a vessel from Egypt to have a conference with Cambyses. As he possessed great influence amongst the auxiliaries, and was perfectly acquainted with the affairs of Egypt, Amasis ordered him to be rigorously pursued, and for this purpose equipped, under the care of the most faithful of his eunuchs, a three-banked galley. The pursuit was successful, and Phanes was taken in Lydia; but he was not carried back to Egypt, for he circumvented his guards, and by making them drunk effected his escape. He fled instantly to Persia. Cambyses was then meditating the expedition against

destructive wars which had originated on account of women: he adds, what a number of illustrious families had from a similar cause been utterly extinguished. The impression of this idea, added to the vexations which he had himself experienced in domestic life, probably extorted from our great poet Milton the following energetic lines:

Oh, why did God,

Creator wise, that peopled highest heaven
With spirits masculine, create at last

This novelty on earth, this fair defect

Of nature, and not fill the world at once
With men as angels, without feminine,
Or find some other way to generate

Mankind? This mischief had not then befall'n,
And more that shall befall, innumerable

Disturbances on earth through female snares!-T.

Egypt, but was deterred by the difficulty of marching an army over the deserts, where so little water was to be procured. Phanes explained to the king all the concerns of Amasis; and to obviate the above difficulty, advised him to send and ask of the king of the Arabs a safe passage through his territories.

V. This is indeed the only avenue by which Egypt can possibly be entered. The whole country, from Phoenicia to Cadytis, a city which belongs to the Syrians of Palestine, and in my opinion equal to Sardis, together with all the commercial towns as far as Jenysus, belong to the Arabians. This is also the case with that space of land which from the Syrian Jenysus extends to the lake of Serbonis, from the vicinity of which Mount Casius stretches to the sea. At this lake, where, as was reported, Typhon was concealed, Egypt commences. This tract, which comprehends the city Jenysus, Mount Casius, and the lake of Serbonis, is of no trifling extent; it is a three days' journey over a very dry and parched desert.

VI. I shall now explain what is known to very few of those who travel into Egypt by sea. Twice in every year there are exported from different parts of Greece to Egypt, and from Phoenicia in particular, wine secured in earthen jars, not one of which jars is afterwards to be seen. I shall describe to what purpose they are applied: the principal magistrate of every town is obliged to collect all the earthen vessels imported to the place where he resides, and send them to Memphis. The Memphians fill them with water,' and

1 The water of the Nile never becomes impure, whether reserved at home, or exported abroad. On board the vessels which pass from Egypt to Italy, this water, which remains at the end of the voyage, is good, whilst what they happen to take in during their voyage corrupts. The Egyptians are the only people we know who preserve this water in jars, as