ast he spoke:
"Verily, Croesus, I the great god, the 'sun of righteousness,' 'the son
of Neith,' 'the lord of warlike glory,' as the Egyptians call me, am
tempted to envy thee, dethroned and plundered as thou art. I have been
as happy as thou art now. Once I was known through all Egypt, though
only the poor son of a captain, for my light heart, happy temper, fun
and high spirits. The common soldiers would do anything for me, my
superior officers could have found much fault, but in the mad Amasis,
as they called me, all was overlooked, and among my equals, (the other
under-officers) there could be no fun or merry-making unless I took a
share in it. My predecessor king Hophra sent us against Cyrene. Seized
with thirst in the desert, we refused to go on; and a suspicion that the
king intended to sacrifice us to the Greek mercenaries drove the army to
open mutiny. In my usual joking manner I called out to my friends: 'You
can never get on without a king, take me for your ruler; a merrier you
will never find!' The soldiers caught the words. 'Amasis will be our
king,' ran through the ranks from man to man, and, in a few hours more,
they came to me with shouts, and acclamations of 'The good, jovial
Amasis for our King!' One of my boon companions set a field-marshal's
helmet on my head: I made the joke earnest, and we defeated Hophra at
Momempliis. The people joined in the conspiracy, I ascended the throne,
and men pronounced me fortunate. Up to that time I had been every
Egyptian's friend, and now I was the enemy of the best men in the
nation.
"The priests swore allegiance to me, and accepted me as a member of
their caste, but only in the hope of guiding me at their will. My former
superiors in command either envied me, or wished to remain on the same
terms of intercourse as formerly. But this would have been inconsistent
with my new position, and have undermined my authority. One day,
therefore, when the officers of the host were at one of my banquets and
attempting, as usual, to maintain their old convivial footing, I showed
them the golden basin in which their feet had been washed before sitting
down to meat; five days later, as they were again drinking at one of my
revels, I caused a golden image of the great god Ra be placed upon the
richly-ornamented banqueting-table.
[Ra, with the masculine article Phra, must be regarded as the
central point of the sun-worship of the Egyptians, which we consider
to have b
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