hy," as
Herodotus was "the father of history." He improved the map made by
Anaximander, and his great work, "the journey round the world," was
much prized by the ancients; but unfortunately, with the exception
of some very small fragments, has now perished. Herodotus assures
us, (V. 36.) that Hekataeus was intimately acquainted with every
part of the Persian empire, and had also travelled over Egypt. he
lived at the date of our narrative, having been born at Miletus 550
B. C. He lived to see the fall of his native city in 4966 B. C.
His map has been restored by Klausen and can be seen also in Mure's
Lan. and Lit. of Ancient Greece. Vol. IV. Maps existed, however,
much earlier, the earliest known being one of the gold-mines, drawn
very cleverly by an Egyptian priest, and so well sketched as to give
a pretty clear idea of the part of the country intended. It is
preserved in the Egyptian Museum at Turin.]

"What notions these Greeks have in their heads!" exclaimed Zopyrus,
who could not explain to himself what a picture of the world could look
like.

"To-morrow I will show you my copper tablet, said Oroetes, but now we
must allow Darius to go on."

"So Phanes has gone to Arabia," continued Darius, "and Prexaspes was
sent hither not only to command you, Oroetes, to raise as many forces as
possible, especially Ionians and Carians, of whom Phanes has offered
to undertake the command, but also to propose terms of alliance to
Polykrates."

"To that pirate!" asked Oroetes, and his face darkened.

"The very same," answered Prexaspes, not appearing to notice the change
in Oroetes' face. "Phanes has already received assurances from this
important naval power, which sound as if we might expect a favorable
answer to my proposal."

"The Phoenician, Syrian and Ionian ships of war would be quite
sufficient to cope with the Egyptian fleet."

"There you are right; but if Polykrates were to declare against us, we
should not be able to hold our own at sea; you say yourself that he is
all-powerful in the AEgean."

"Still I decidedly disapprove of entering into treaty with such a
robber."

"We want powerful allies, and Polykrates is very powerful at sea.
It will be time to humble him, when we have used him to help us in
conquering Egypt. For the present I entreat you to suppress all personal
feeling, and keep the success of our great plan alone in view. I am
empowered to say this in the k