d the most part of his host. And Cambyses, his son,
reigned in his stead.

_II.--Wars of Egypt and Persia_

Cambyses set out to conquer Egypt, taking in his army certain of the
Greeks. But of all that I shall tell about that land, the most was told
to me by the priests whom I myself visited at Memphis and Thebes and
Heliopolis. They account themselves the most ancient of peoples. If the
Ionians are right, who reckon that Egypt is only the Nile Delta, this
could not be. But I reckon that the whole Egyptian territory is. Egypt,
from the cataracts and Elephantine down to the sea, parted into the
Asiatic part and the Libyan part by the Nile.

For the causes of the rising and falling of the Nile, the reasons that
men give are of no account. And of the sources whence the river springs
are strange stories told of which I say not whether they be true or
false: but the course of it is known for four months' journey by land
and water, and in my opinion it is a river comparable to the Ister.

The priests tell that the first ruler of Egypt was Menes, and after him
were three hundred and thirty kings, counting one queen, who was called
Nitocris. After them came Sesostris, who carried his conquest as far as
the Thracians and Scythians; and later was Rhampsinitus, who married his
daughter to the clever thief who robbed his treasure-house; and after
him Cheops, who built the pyramid, drawing the stones from the Arabian
mountain down to the Nile. Chephren also, and Mycerinus built pyramids,
and the Greeks have a story--which is not true--that another was built
by Rhodopis. And in the reign of Sethon, Egypt was invaded by
Sennacherib the Assyrian, whose army's bowstrings were eaten by
field-mice.

A thing more wonderful than the pyramids is the labyrinth near Lake
Moeris, and still more wonderful is Lake Moeris itself, all which were
made by the twelve kings who ruled at once after Sethon. And after them,
Psammetichus made himself the monarch; and after him his great grandson
Apries prospered greatly, till he was overthrown by Amasis. And Amasis
also prospered, and showed favour to the Greeks. But for whatever
reason, in his day Cambyses made his expedition against Egypt, invading
it just when Amasis had died, and his son Psammenitus was reigning.

Cambyses put the Egyptian army to rout in a great battle, and conquered
the country, making Psammenitus prisoner. Yet he would have set him up
as governor of the province, according