er of the only enemy
yet left to him in the old world, a small band, devoted perforce to his
interests, and whose very existence depended entirely on that of his
empire. He no doubt extended the same favour to the other exiles in
Chaldaea who demanded it of him, but we do not know how many of them
took advantage of the occasion to return to their native countries, and
this exodus of the Jews still remains, so far as we know, a unique
fact. The administration continued the same as it had been under the
Chaldaeans; Aramaean was still the official language in the provincial
dependencies, and the only change effected was the placing of Persians
at the head of public offices, as in Asia Minor, and allowing them a
body of troops to support their authority.*

* The presence of Persian troops in Asia Minor is proved by
the passage in Herodotus where he says that Orotes had with
him 1000 Persians as his body-guard.

One great state alone remained of all those who had played a prominent
part in the history of the East. This was Egypt; and the policy which
her rulers had pursued since the development of the Iranian power
apparently rendered a struggle with it inevitable. Amasis had taken part
in all the coalitions which had as their object the perpetuation of
the balance of the powers in Western Asia; he had made a treaty with
Croesus, and it is possible that his contingents had fought in the
battles before Sardes; Lydia having fallen, he did all in his power to
encourage Nabonidus in his resistance. As soon as he found himself face
to face with Cyrus, he understood that a collision was imminent, and
did his best in preparing to meet it. Even if Cyrus had forgotten the
support which had been freely given to his rivals, the wealth of Egypt
was in itself sufficient to attract the Persian hordes to her frontiers.

A century later, the Egyptians, looking back on the past with a
melancholy retrospection, confessed that "never had the valley been
more flourishing or happier than under Amasis; never had the river
shown itself more beneficent to the soil, nor the soil more fertile
for mankind, and the inhabitated towns might be reckoned at 20,000 in
number." The widespread activity exhibited under Psammetichus II., and
Apries, was redoubled under the usurper, and the quarries of Turah,*
Silsileh,** Assuan, and even those of Hammamat, were worked as in the
palmy days of the Theban dynasties. The island of Philae, whose pos