nd the Greeks. His
covetousness must have been aroused at the prospect of such rich booty,
and perhaps he would have thought of appropriating it sooner, had he not
been deterred from the attempt by his knowledge of the superiority of
the Greek fleets, and of the dangers attendant on a long and painful
march over an almost desert country through disaffected tribes.

[Illustration: 444.jpg WEIGHING SILPHIUM IN PRESENCE OF KING ARKESILAS]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph of the original in
the Coin Room in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. The
king here represented is Arkesilas II. the Bad.

Now that he could rely on the support of the Libyans, he hesitated no
longer to run these risks. Deeming it imprudent, with good reason,
to employ his mercenary troops against their own compatriots, Apries
mobilised for his encounter with Battos an army exclusively recruited
from among his native reserves. The troops set out full of confidence
in themselves and of disdain for the enemy, delighted moreover at an
opportunity for at length convincing their kings of their error in
preferring barbarian to native forces. But the engagement brought to
nought all their boastings. The Egyptians were defeated in the first
encounter near Irasa, hard by the fountain of Theste, near the spot
where the high plateaus of Cyrene proper terminate in the low cliffs
of Marmarica: and the troops suffered so severely during the subsequent
retreat that only a small remnant of the army regained in safety the
frontier of the Delta.*

* The interpretation I have given to the sentiments of the
Egyptian army follows clearly enough from the observation of
Herodotus, that "the Egyptians, having never experienced
themselves the power of the Greeks, had felt for them
nothing but contempt." The site of Irasa and the fountain of
Theste has been fixed with much probability in the fertile
district watered still by the fountain of Ersen, Erazem, or
Erasan.

This unexpected reverse was the occasion of the outbreak of a revolution
which had been in preparation for years. The emigration to Ethiopia
of some contingents of the military class had temporarily weakened
the factions hostile to foreign influence; these factions had felt
themselves powerless under the rule of Psammetichus I., and had bowed to
his will, prepared all the while to reassert themselves when they felt
strong enough to do so successf