d
those persons who were admitted to his table, used to wash their feet,
he melted it down, and had it cast into a statue, and then exposed the
new god to public worship. The people hastened in crowds to pay their
adorations to the statue. The king, having assembled the people,
informed them of the vile uses to which this statue had once been put,
which nevertheless was now the object of their religious prostrations;
the application was easy, and had the desired success; the people
thenceforward paid the king all the respect that is due to majesty.

He always used to devote the whole morning to public affairs, in order
to receive petitions, give audience, pronounce sentences, and hold his
councils; the rest of the day was given to pleasure, and as Amasis, in
hours of diversion, was extremely gay, and seemed to carry his mirth
beyond due bounds, his courtiers took the liberty to represent to him
the unsuitableness of such a behaviour; when he answered that it was
impossible for the mind to be always serious and intent upon business,
as for a bow to continue always bent.

It was this king who obliged the inhabitants of every town to enter
their names in a book kept by the magistrates for that purpose, with
their profession and manner of living. Solon inserted this custom
among his laws.

He built many magnificent temples, especially at Sais the place of his
birth. Herodotus admired especially a chapel there, formed of one
single stone, and which was twenty-one cubits in front, fourteen in
depth, and eight in height; its dimensions within were not quite so
large; it had been brought from Elephantina, and two thousand men were
employed three years in conveying it along the Nile.

_Amasis_ had a great esteem for the Greeks. He granted them large
privileges; and permitted such of them as were desirous of settling in
Egypt to live in the city of Naucratis, so famous for its harbour.
When the rebuilding of the temple of Delphi, which had been burnt, was
debated on, and the expense was computed at three hundred talents,
Amasis furnished the Delphians with a very considerable sum towards
discharging their quota, which was the fourth part of the whole
charge.

He made an alliance with the Cyrenians, and married a wife from among
them. He is the only king of Egypt who conquered the island of Cyprus,
and made it tributary. Under his reign Pythagorus came into Egypt,
being recommended to that monarch by the famous Polycrates, t