Egyptians, however, though
beaten, persisted, established communication with Bagoas, and fixed a
day on which they would receive his forces into the town. Mentor, who
wished to secure to himself the credit of the surrender, hereupon
exhorted his Greek friends to be on the watch, and, when the time came,
to resist the movement. This they did with such success that they not
only frustrated the attempt, but captured Bagoas himself, who had
ventured within the walls. Bagoas had to implore the interference of his
colleague on his behalf, and was obliged to promise that henceforth he
would attempt nothing without Mentor's knowledge and consent. Mentor
gained his ends, had the credit of being the person to whom the town
surrendered itself, and at the same time established his ascendancy over
Bagoas. It is clear that had the Egyptians possessed an active and able
commander, advantage might have been taken of the jealousies which
divided the Persian generals from their Greek colleagues, to bring the
expedition into difficulties.

Unfortunately, the Egyptian monarch, alike pusillanimous and incapable,
was so far from making any offensive effort, that he was not prepared
even to defend his capital against the invaders. When he found that
Pelusium and Bubastis had both fallen, and that the way lay open for the
Persians to march upon Memphis and invest it, he left the city with all
the wealth on which he could lay his hands, and fled away into Ethiopia.
Ochus did not pursue him. He was content to have regained a valuable
province, which for above fifty years had been lost to the Persian
crown, without even having had to fight a single pitched battle, or to
engage in one difficult siege. According to the Greek writers, he showed
his contempt of the Egyptian religion after his conquest by stabbing an
Apis-Bull, and violating the sanctity of a number of the most holy
shrines; but the story of the Apis-Bull is probably a fiction, and it
was to obtain the plunder of the temples, not to insult the Egyptian
gods, that he violated the shrines. There is no trace of his having
treated the conquered people with cruelty, or even with severity.
Prudence induced him to destroy the walls and other fortifications of
the chief Egyptian towns; and cupidity led him to carry off into Persia
all the treasures that Nekht-nebf had left behind. Even the sacred
books, of which he is said to have robbed the temples, may have been
taken on account of their v