Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/237

 RAMBYSES INVADES EGYPT. 219 Greeks, JEolic as well as Ionic, 1 insular as well as continental, nearly all the maritime force and skill of the JEgean sea. He was apprized by a Greek deserter from the mercenaries in Egypt, named Phanes, of the difficulties of the march, and the best method of surmounting them ; especially the three days of sandy desert, altogether without water, which lay between Egypt and Judaea. By the aid of the neighboring Arabians, with whom he concluded a treaty, and who were requited for this ser- vice with the title of equal allies, free from all tribute, he was enabled to surmount this serious difficulty, and to reach Pelusium at the eastern mouth of the Nile, where the Ionian and Karian troops in the Egyptian service, as well as the Egyptian military, were assembled to oppose him. 2 Fortunately for himself, the Egyptian king Amasis had died during the interval of the Persian preparations, a few months before the expedition took place, after forty-four years of un- abated prosperity. His death, at this critical moment, was prob- ably the main cause of the easy conquest which followed ; his son Psammenitus succeeding to his crown, but neither to his abilities nor his influence. The result of the invasion was fore- shadowed, as usual, by a menacing prodigy, rain falling at Thebes in Upper Egypt ; and was brought about by a single victory, though bravely disputed, at Pelusium, followed by the capture of Memphis, with the person of king Psammenitus, after a siege of some duration. Kambyses had sent forward a Mitylenasan ship to Memphis, with heralds to summon the city ; but the Egyptians, in a paroxysm of fury, rushed out of the walls, destroyed the vessel, and tore the crew into pieces, a savage proceeding, which drew upon them severe retribution after the capture. Psammenitus, after being at first treated with harshness and insult, was at length released, and even allowed to 1 Herodot. iii, 1,19, 44. and to the other incidents of Persian history, quite different in its details from that of Herodotus, agreeing only in the main events (Ktesias, Persico, c. 7). To blend the two together is impossible. Tacitus (Histor. i, 11) notes the difficulty of approach for -an invading army to Egypt: "Egyptum, provinciam aditu difficilcm, annonae fecundam, mperstitione ac lascivia discordem et mobilcm," etc.
 * The narrative of Ktesias is, in respect both to the Egyptian expedition