A circumstance that few of those who have made voyages to Egypt have noticed, I shall now proceed to mention. From every part of Greece, and also from Phœnicia, earthen vessels filled with wine are imported into Egypt twice every year, and yet not a single one of these wine jars is afterward to be seen. In what way, then, you may ask, are they disposed of? Every magistrate is obliged to collect all the vessels from his own city, and send them to Memphis; the people of that city fill them with water, and convey them to the arid parts of Syria; so that the earthen vessels continually imported and landed in Egypt, are added to those already in Syria. The Persians, as soon as they became masters of Egypt, facilitated the passage into that country, by supplying it with water in this manner. But as, at that time, water was not provided, Cambyses, by the advice of a Halicarnassian stranger, sent ambassadors to the Arabian, and requested a safe passage, which he obtained, giving to, and receiving from him, pledges of faith.
The Arabians observe pledges as religiously as any people: when any wish to pledge their faith, a third person, standing between the two parties, makes an incision with a sharp stone in the palm of the hand, near the longest fingers, of both the contractors; then taking some of the nap from the garment of each, he smears seven stones, placed between them, with the blood; and as he does this, he invokes Bacchus and Urania. When this ceremony is completed, the person who pledges his faith, binds his friends as sureties to the stranger, or the citizen, if the contract be made with a citizen, and the friends also hold themselves obliged to observe the engagement. They acknowledge no other gods than Bacchus and Urania, and they say that their hair is cut in the same way as Bacchus' is cut, in a circular form, banged round the temples. They call Bacchus, Orotal; and Urania, Alilat. When the Arabian had exchanged pledges with the ambassadors who came from Cambyses, he filled camels' skins with water, loaded them on all his living camels, and drove them to the arid region, and there awaited the army of Cambyses. This is the most credible of the accounts that are given; yet it is right that one less credible should be mentioned, since it is likewise affirmed. There is a large river in Arabia called Corys, which discharges itself into the Red Sea. From this river it is said that the king of the Arabians, having sewn together a pipe of ox-hides and other skins, reaching in length to the desert, conveyed the water through it; and that in the arid region he dug large reservoirs, to receive and preserve the water. It is a twelve days' journey from the river to the desert, yet he conveyed water through three pipes into three different places.
Amasis died after a reign of forty-four years, during which no great calamity had befallen him. He was embalmed and buried in the sepulchre within the sacred precinct, which he himself had built. During the reign of Psammenitus, son of Amasis, a most remarkable prodigy befell the Egyptians; rain fell at Egyptian Thebes, which had never happened before, nor since, to my time, as the Thebans themselves affirm. For no rain ever falls in the upper regions of Egypt; but at that time rain fell in drops at Thebes. The Persians, having marched through the arid region, halted near the Egyptians, as if with a design of engaging; there the auxiliaries of the Egyptians, consisting of Greeks and Carians, condemning Phanes because he had led a foreign army against Egypt, adopted the following expedient against him: Phanes had left his sons in Egypt; these they brought to the camp, within sight of their father, placed a bowl midway between the two armies, then dragging the children one by one, they slew them over the bowl, into which they also poured wine and water; then all the auxiliaries drank of the blood, and immediately joined battle. After a hard fight, when great numbers had fallen on both sides, the Egyptians were put to flight. Here I saw a very surprising fact, of which the people of the country informed me. As the bones of those who were killed in that battle lie scattered about separately, the bones of the Persians in one place, and those of the Egyptians in another, the skulls of the Persians were so weak that if you should hit one with a single pebble, you would break a hole in it; whereas those of the Egyptians are so hard, that you could scarcely fracture them by striking them with a stone. The cause of this, they told me (and I readily assented), is that the Egyptians begin from childhood to shave their heads, and the bone is thickened by exposure to the sun; from the same cause also they are less subject to baldness, and one sees fewer persons bald in Egypt than in any other country. But the Persians have weak skulls, because they shade them from the first, wearing tiaras for hats.
The Egyptians fled in complete disorder from the battle. When they had shut themselves up in Memphis, Cambyses sent a Mitylenæan bark up the river, with a Persian herald on board, to invite the Egyptians to terms. But when they saw the bark entering Memphis they rushed in a mass from the wall, destroyed the ship, and having torn the crew to pieces, limb by limb, they carried them into the citadel. After this the Egyptians were besieged, and at length surrounded. The neighboring Libyans, fearing what had befallen Egypt, gave themselves up without resistance, submitted to pay a tribute, and sent presents, which Cambyses received very graciously.
On the tenth day after Cambyses had taken the citadel of Memphis, he seated Psammenitus, the King of the Egyptians, who had reigned only six months, at the entrance of the city. And by way of insult, he dressed his daughter in the habit of a slave, and sent her with a pitcher to fetch water, with other maidens selected from the principal families, dressed in the same manner. As the girls, with loud lamentation and weeping, came into the presence of their fathers, all the other fathers answered them with wailing and weeping, when they beheld their children thus humiliated. But Psammenitus only bent his eyes to the ground. When these water-carriers had passed by, he next sent his son, with two thousand Egyptians of the same age, with halters about their necks, and a bridle in their mouths; and they were led out to suffer retribution for those Mitylenæans who had perished at Memphis with the ship. For the royal judges had given sentence, that for each man ten of the principal Egyptians should be put to death. Yet, when he saw them passing by, and knew that his son was being led out to death, though all the rest of the Egyptians who sat round him wept and made loud lamentations, he did the same as he had done in his daughter's case. But just then it happened that one of his boon-companions, a man somewhat advanced in years, who had lost his all, and possessed nothing but such things as a beggar has, asking alms of the soldiery, passed by Psammenitus, and the Egyptians seated in the suburbs. Then, indeed, he wept bitterly, and calling his companion by name, smote his head. Cambyses, surprised at this behavior, sent a messenger to say: "Psammenitus, your master Cambyses inquires why, when you saw your daughter humiliated and your son led to execution, you did not bewail or lament; and have been so highly concerned for a beggar, who is no way related to you, as he is informed." Psammenitus answered: "Son of Cyrus, the calamities of my family are too great to be expressed by lamentation; but the griefs of my friend were worthy of tears, who, having fallen from abundance and prosperity, has come to beggary on the threshold of old age." When this answer was brought back by the messenger, it appeared to Cambyses to be well said; and, as the Egyptians relate, Crœsus wept, for he had attended Cambyses into Egypt, and the Persians that were present wept also; Cambyses himself, touched with pity, gave immediate orders to preserve his son out of those who were to perish, but those who were sent found the son no longer alive, having been the first that suffered; but Psammenitus himself they conducted to Cambyses, with whom he afterward lived, without experiencing any violence. And had it not been suspected that he was planning innovations, he would probably have recovered Egypt, so as to have the government intrusted to him. For the Persians are accustomed to honor the sons of kings, and even if they have revolted from them, sometimes bestow the government upon their children. Psammenitus, devising mischief, received his reward, for he was discovered inciting the Egyptians to revolt; and when he was detected by Cambyses he was compelled to drink the blood of a bull, and died immediately.
Cambyses proceeded from Memphis to the city of Sais, and entering the palace of Amasis, commanded the dead body of Amasis to be brought out of the sepulchre; he gave orders then to scourge it, to pull off the hair, to prick it, and to abuse it in every possible manner. But when they were wearied with this employment, for the dead body, since it was embalmed, resisted, and did not at all fall in pieces, Cambyses gave orders to burn it, commanding what is impious. For to burn the dead is on no account allowed by either nation: not by the Persians, for they consider fire to be a god, and say it is not right to offer to a god the dead body of a man; nor by the Egyptians, as fire is held by them to be a living beast, which devours every thing it can lay hold of, and when it is glutted with food it expires with what it has consumed; therefore, as it is their law on no account to give a dead body to wild beasts, for that reason they embalm them, that they may not lie and be eaten by worms.
Cambyses determined to send to Elephantine for some of the Ichthyophagi, who understood the Ethiopian language, that he might despatch them as spies to Ethiopia. When the Ichthyophagi came, he despatched them to the Ethiopians, having instructed them what to say, carrying presents, consisting of a purple cloak, a golden necklace, bracelets, an alabaster box of ointment, and a cask of palm wine. These Ethiopians, to whom Cambyses sent, are said to be the tallest and handsomest of all men; and have customs different from those of other nations, especially with regard to the regal power; for they confer the sovereignty upon the man whom they consider to be of the largest stature, and to possess strength proportionate to his size.
When the Ichthyophagi arrived among this people, they gave the presents to the king, and addressed him as follows: "Cambyses, King of the Persians, desirous of becoming your friend and ally, has sent us to confer with you, and he presents you with these gifts, which are such as he himself most delights in." But the Ethiopian, knowing that they came as spies, spoke thus to them: "Neither has the king of the Persians sent you with presents to me, because he valued my alliance; nor do you speak the truth; for ye are come as spies of my kingdom. Nor is he a just man; for if he were just, he would not desire any other territory than his own; nor would he reduce people into servitude who have done him no injury. However, give him this bow, and say these words to him: 'The king of the Ethiopians advises the king of the Persians, when the Persians can thus easily draw a bow of this size, then to make war on the Macrobian Ethiopians with more numerous forces; but until that time let him thank the gods, who have not inspired the sons of the Ethiopians with a desire of adding another land to their own.'" Having spoken thus and unstrung the bow, he delivered it to the comers. Then taking up the purple cloak, he asked what it was, and how made; and when the Ichthyophagi told him the truth respecting the purple, and the manner of dyeing, he said that the men are deceptive, and their garments are deceptive also. Next he inquired about the necklace and bracelets, and when the Ichthyophagi explained to him their use as ornaments, the king, laughing, and supposing them to be fetters, said that they have stronger fetters than these. Thirdly, he inquired about the ointment; and when they told him about its composition and use, he made the same remark as he had on the cloak. But when he came to the wine, and inquired how it was made, being very much delighted with the draught, he further asked what food the king made use of, and what was the longest age to which a Persian lived. They answered, that he fed on bread, describing the nature of wheat; and that the longest period of the life of a Persian was eighty years. Upon this the Ethiopian said, that he was not at all surprised if men who fed on earth lived so few years; and he was sure they would not be able to live even so many years, if they did not refresh themselves with this beverage, showing the wine to the Ichthyophagi: for in this he admitted they were surpassed by the Persians. The Ichthyophagi inquiring in turn of the king concerning the life and diet of the Ethiopians, he said, that most of them attained to a hundred and twenty years, and some even exceeded that term, and that their food was boiled flesh, and their drink milk. When the spies expressed their astonishment at the number of years, he led them to a fountain, by washing in which they became more sleek, as if it had been of oil, and an odor proceeded from it as of violets. The water of this fountain, the spies said, is so weak, that nothing is able to float upon it, neither wood, nor such things as are lighter than wood; but every thing sinks to the bottom. If this water is truly such as it is said to be, it may be they are long-lived by reason of the abundant use of it. Leaving this fountain, he conducted them to the common prison, where all were fettered with golden chains; for among these Ethiopians bronze is the most rare and precious of all metals. After this, they visited last of all their sepulchres, which are said to be prepared from crystal in the following manner. When they have dried the body, either as the Egyptians do, or in some other way, they plaster it all over with gypsum, and paint it, making it as much as possible to resemble real life; they then put round it a hollow column made of crystal, which they dig up in abundance, and is easily wrought. The body being in the middle of the column is plainly seen, and it does not emit an unpleasant smell, nor is it in any way offensive; and it is all visible[16] as the body itself. The nearest relations keep the column in their houses for a year, offering to it the first-fruits of all, and performing sacrifices; after that time they carry it out and place it somewhere near the city.
When the spies returned home and reported all that had passed, Cambyses, in a great rage, immediately marched against the Ethiopians, without making any provision for the subsistence of his army, or once considering that he was going to carry his arms to the remotest parts of the world; but, as a madman, and not in possession of his senses, as soon as he heard the report of the Icthyophagi, he set out on his march, ordering the Greeks who were present to stay behind, and taking with him all his land forces. When the army reached Thebes, he detached about fifty thousand men, and ordered them to reduce the Ammonians to slavery, and to burn the oracular temple of Jupiter, while he with the rest of his army marched against the Ethiopians. But before the army had passed over a fifth part of the way, all the provisions that they had were exhausted, and the beasts of burden themselves were eaten. Now if Cambyses had at this juncture altered his purpose, and had led back his army, he would have proved himself to be a wise man. But he obstinately continued advancing. The soldiers supported life by eating herbs as long as they could gather any from the ground; but when they reached the sands, some of them had recourse to a dreadful expedient, for taking one man in ten by lot, they devoured him: when Cambyses heard this, shocked at their eating one another, he abandoned his expedition against the Ethiopians, marched back and reached Thebes, after losing a great part of his army. From Thebes he went down to Memphis, and suffered the Greeks to sail away. Thus ended the expedition against the Ethiopians. Those who had been sent against the Ammonians, after having set out from Thebes, under the conduct of guides, are known to have reached the city Oasis, which is inhabited by Samians, distant seven days' march from Thebes, across the sands. This country in the Greek language is called the Island of the Blessed. But afterward none, except the Ammonians and those who have heard their report, are able to give any account of them; for they neither reached the Ammonians, nor returned back. But the Ammonians make the following report: When they had advanced from this Oasis toward them across the sands, and were about half-way between them and Oasis, as they were taking dinner, a vehement south wind blew, carrying with it heaps of sand, and completely destroyed the whole army.