Thalia   

The Third Book, Entitled
THALIA

The above-mentioned Amasis was the Egyptian king against whom
Cambyses, son of Cyrus, made his expedition; and with him went an army
composed of the many nations under his rule, among them being included
both Ionic and Aeolic Greeks. The reason of the invasion was the
following. Cambyses, by the advice of a certain Egyptian, who was
angry with Amasis for having torn him from his wife and children and
given him over to the Persians, had sent a herald to Amasis to ask his
daughter in marriage. His adviser was a physician, whom Amasis, when
Cyrus had requested that he would send him the most skilful of all the
Egyptian eye-doctors, singled out as the best from the whole number.
Therefore the Egyptian bore Amasis a grudge, and his reason for urging
Cambyses to ask the hand of the king's daughter was, that if he
complied, it might cause him annoyance; if he refused, it might make
Cambyses his enemy. When the message came, Amasis, who much dreaded
the power of the Persians, was greatly perplexed whether to give his
daughter or no; for that Cambyses did not intend to make her his wife,
but would only receive her as his concubine, he knew for certain. He
therefore cast the matter in his mind, and finally resolved what he
would do. There was a daughter of the late king Apries, named Nitetis,
a tall and beautiful woman, the last survivor of that royal house.
Amasis took this woman, and decking her out with gold and costly
garments, sent her to Persia as if she had been his own child. Some
time afterwards, Cambyses, as he gave her an embrace, happened to call
her by her father's name, whereupon she said to him, "I see, O king,
thou knowest not how thou has been cheated by Amasis; who took me,
and, tricking me out with gauds, sent me to thee as his own
daughter. But I am in truth the child of Apries, who was his lord
and master, until he rebelled against him, together with the rest of
the Egyptians, and put him to death." It was this speech, and the
cause of quarrel it disclosed, which roused the anger of Cambyses, son
of Cyrus, and brought his arms upon Egypt. Such is the Persian story.
The Egyptians, however, claim Cambyses as belonging to them,
declaring that he was the son of this Nitetis. It was Cyrus, they say,
and not Cambyses, who sent to Amasis for his daughter. But here they
mis-state the truth. Acquainted as they are beyond all other men
with the laws and customs of the Persians, they cannot but be well
aware, first, that it is not the Persian wont to allow a bastard to
reign when there is a legitimate heir; and next, that Cambyses was the
son of Cassandane, the daughter of Pharnaspes, an Achaemenian, and not
of this Egyptian. But the fact is that they pervert history in order
to claim relationship with the house of Cyrus. Such is the truth of
this matter.
I have also heard another account, which I do not at all
believe: that a Persian lady came to visit the wives of Cyrus, and
seeing how tall and beautiful were the children of Cassandane, then
standing by, broke out into loud praise of them, and admired them
exceedingly. But Cassandane, wife of Cyrus, answered, "Though such the
children I have borne him, yet Cyrus slights me and gives all his
regard to the new-comer from Egypt." Thus did she express her vexation
on account of Nitetis: whereupon Cambyses, the eldest of her boys,
exclaimed, "Mother, when I am a man, I will turn Egypt upside down for
you." He was but ten years old, as the tale runs, when he said this,
and astonished all the women, yet he never forgot it afterwards; and
on this account, they say, when he came to be a man, and mounted the
throne, he made his expedition against Egypt.
There was another matter, quite distinct, which helped to bring
about the expedition. One of the mercenaries of Amasis, a
Halicarnassian, Phanes by name, a man of good judgment, and a brave
warrior, dissatisfied for some reason or other with his master,
deserted the service, and taking ship, fled to Cambyses, wishing to
get speech with him. As he was a person of no small account among