tending the empire, the regions of Europe and
Africa must be the theatre of it. Egypt seemed the most accessible and
vulnerable point beyond the confines of Asia; and thus, though Cyrus
himself, being advanced somewhat in years, and interested, moreover,
in other projects, was not prepared to undertake an enterprise into
Africa himself, he was very willing that such plans should be
cherished by his son.

Cambyses was an ardent, impetuous, and self-willed boy, such as the
sons of rich and powerful men are very apt to become. They imbibe, by
a sort of sympathy, the ambitious and aspiring spirit of their
fathers; and as all their childish caprices and passions are generally
indulged, they never learn to submit to control. They become vain,
self-conceited, reckless, and cruel. The conqueror who founds an
empire, although even his character generally deteriorates very
seriously toward the close of his career, still usually knows
something of moderation and generosity. His son, however, who inherits
his father's power, seldom inherits the virtues by which the power
was acquired. These truths, which we see continually exemplified all
around us, on a small scale, in the families of the wealthy and the
powerful, were illustrated most conspicuously, in the view of all
mankind, in the case of Cyrus and Cambyses. The father was prudent,
cautious, wise, and often generous and forbearing. The son grew up
headstrong, impetuous, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable. He had the
most lofty ideas of his own greatness and power, and he felt a supreme
contempt for the rights, and indifference to the happiness of all the
world besides. His history gives us an illustration of the worst which
the principle of hereditary sovereignty can do, as the best is
exemplified in the case of Alfred of England.

Cambyses, immediately after his father's death, began to make
arrangements for the Egyptian invasion. The first thing to be
determined was the mode of transporting his armies thither. Egypt is a
long and narrow valley, with the rocks and deserts of Arabia on one
side, and those of Sahara on the other. There is no convenient mode of
access to it except by sea, and Cambyses had no naval force sufficient
for a maritime expedition.

While he was revolving the subject in his mind, there arrived in his
capital of Susa, where he was then residing, a deserter from the army
of Amasis in Egypt. The name of this deserter was Phanes. He was a
Greek, having be