CHAPTER I.

EXPEDITIONS OF CAMBYSES.

Cambyses, son of Cyrus, made war against Amasis, leading with him his own subjects, together with Greeks, Ionians and Æolians. The cause of the war was this: Cambyses sent a herald into Egypt to demand the daughter of Amasis. The suggestion was made by an Egyptian physician, who out of spite served Amasis in this manner, because Amasis had selected him out of all the physicians in Egypt, torn him from his wife and children, and sent him as a present to the Persians, when Cyrus had sent to Amasis, and required of him the best oculist in Egypt. The Egyptian therefore, having this spite against him, urged on Cambyses by his suggestions, bidding him demand the daughter of Amasis, in order that if he should comply he might be grieved, or if he refused he might incur the hatred of Cambyses. But Amasis, dreading the power of the Persians, resorted to a piece of deceit. There was a daughter of Apries, the former king, very tall and beautiful, the only survivor of the family, named Nitetis. This damsel, Amasis adorned with cloth of gold, and sent to Persia as his own daughter. After a time, when Cambyses saluted her, addressing her by her father's name, the damsel said to him: "O king, you do not perceive that you have been imposed upon by Amasis, who dressed me in rich attire, and sent me to you, presenting me as his own daughter; whereas, I am really the daughter of Apries, whom he put to death, after he had incited the Egyptians to revolt." These words enraged Cambyses, and led him to invade Egypt.

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.

When Cambyses arrived at Memphis, Apis, whom the Greeks call Epaphus, appeared to the Egyptians; and when this manifestation took place, the Egyptians immediately put on their richest apparel, and kept festive holiday. Cambyses, seeing them thus occupied, and concluding that they made these rejoicings on account of his ill success, summoned the magistrates of Memphis; and when they came into his presence, he asked "why the Egyptians had done nothing of the kind when he was at Memphis before, but did so now, when he had returned with the loss of a great part of his army." They answered, that their god appeared to them, who was accustomed to manifest himself at intervals, and that when he did appear, then all the Egyptians were accustomed to rejoice and keep a feast. Cambyses, having heard this, said they were liars, and put them to death. Then he summoned the priests into his presence, and when the priests gave the same account, he said, that he would find out whether a god so tractable had come among the Egyptians; and commanded the priests to bring Apis to him. This Apis, or Epaphus, the Egyptians say, is the calf of a cow upon which the lightning has descended from heaven. It is black, and has a square spot of white on the forehead; on the back the figure of an eagle; and in the tail double hairs; and on the tongue a beetle. When the priests brought Apis, Cambyses, like one almost out of his senses, drew his dagger, meaning to strike the belly of Apis, but hit the thigh; then falling into a fit of laughter, he said to the priests: "Ye blockheads, are there such gods as these, consisting of blood and flesh, and sensible of steel? This, truly, is a god worthy of the Egyptians. But you shall not mock me with impunity." Then he gave orders to scourge the priests, and kill all the Egyptians who should be found feasting. Apis, wounded in the thigh, lay and languished in the temple; and at length, when he had died of the wound, the priests buried him without the knowledge of Cambyses.

But Cambyses, as the Egyptians say, immediately became mad in consequence of this atrocity, though he really was not of sound mind before. His first crime he committed against his brother Smerdis, who was born of the same father and mother; him he sent back from Egypt to Persia through envy, because he alone of all the Persians had drawn the bow, which the Ichthyophagi brought from the Ethiopian, within two fingers' breadth; of the other Persians no one was able to do this. After the departure of Smerdis for Persia, Cambyses saw the following vision in his sleep: he imagined that a messenger arrived from Persia and informed him that Smerdis was seated on the royal throne, and touched the heavens with his head. Upon this, fearing for himself, lest his brother should kill him, and reign, he sent Prexaspes, the most faithful to him of the Persians, to Persia, with orders to kill Smerdis. Having gone up to Susa, he killed Smerdis; some say, when he had taken him out to hunt; but others, that he led him to the Red Sea and drowned him. This they say was the first of the crimes of Cambyses; the second was that of marrying his own sister, who had accompanied him into Egypt.

The Greeks say, that one day Cambyses made the whelp of a lion fight with a young dog; and this wife was also looking on; the dog being over-matched, another puppy of the same litter broke his chain, and came to his assistance, and thus the two dogs united got the better of the whelp. Cambyses was delighted at the sight, but she, sitting by him, shed tears. Cambyses, observing this, asked her why she wept. She answered, that she wept seeing the puppy come to the assistance of his brother, remembering Smerdis, and knowing that there was no one to avenge him. The Greeks say, that for this speech she was put to death by Cambyses. But the Egyptians say, that as they were sitting at table, his wife took a lettuce, stripped off its leaves, and then asked her husband "whether the lettuce stripped of its leaves, or thick with foliage, was the handsomer." He said: "When thick with foliage." Whereupon she remarked: "Then you have imitated this lettuce, in dismembering the house of Cyrus." Whereupon he, in rage, kicked her and inflicted such injuries that she died.

Thus madly did Cambyses behave toward his own family; whether on account of Apis, or from some other cause, from which, in many ways, misfortunes are wont to befall mankind. For Cambyses is said, even from infancy, to have been afflicted with a certain severe malady, which some called the sacred disease.[17] In that case, it was not at all surprising that, when his body was so diseased, his mind should not be sound. And toward the other Persians he behaved madly in the following instances: for it is reported that he said to Prexaspes, whom he highly honored, and whose office it was to bring messages to him, whose son was cupbearer to Cambyses, no trifling honor by any means, he is reported to have said: "Prexaspes, what sort of a man do the Persians think me? and what remarks do they make about me?" He answered: "Sir, you are highly extolled in every other respect, but they say you are too much addicted to wine." The king enraged cried out: "Do the Persians indeed say that, by being addicted to wine, I am beside myself, and am not in my senses? then their former words were not true." For, on a former occasion, when the Persians and Crœsus were sitting with him, Cambyses asked, what sort of a man he appeared to be in comparison with his father Cyrus; they answered, that he was superior to his father, because he held all that Cyrus possessed, and had acquired besides Egypt and the empire of the sea. Crœsus, who was not pleased with this decision, spoke thus to Cambyses: "To me, O son of Cyrus, you do not appear comparable to your father, for you have not yet such a son as he left behind him." Cambyses was delighted at hearing this, and commended the judgment of Crœsus. So, remembering this, he said in anger to Prexaspes: "Observe now yourself, whether the Persians have spoken the truth, or whether they who say such things are not out of their senses: for if I shoot that son of yours who stands under the portico, and hit him in the heart, the Persians will appear to have said nothing to the purpose; but if I miss, then say that the Persians have spoken the truth, and that I am not of sound mind." Having said this, and bent his bow, he hit the boy; and when the boy had fallen, he ordered them to open him and examine the wound; and when the arrow was found in the heart, he said to the boy's father, laughing: "Prexaspes, it has been clearly shown to you that I am not mad, but that the Persians are out of their senses. Now tell me, did you ever see a man take so true an aim?" But Prexaspes, perceiving him to be out of his mind, and being in fear for his own life, said: "Sir, I believe that a god himself could not have shot so well." At another time, having, without any just cause, seized twelve Persians of the first rank, he had them buried alive up to the head.

While he was acting in this manner, Crœsus the Lydian thought fit to admonish him in the following terms: "O king, do not yield entirely to your youthful impulses and anger, but possess and restrain yourself. It is a good thing to be provident, and wise to have forethought. You put men to death who are your own subjects, having seized them without any just cause; and you slay their children. If you persist in such a course, beware lest the Persians revolt from you. Your father Cyrus strictly charged me to admonish you, and suggest whatever I might discover for your good." He thus manifested his good-will, in giving this advice; but Cambyses answered: "Do you presume to give me advice, you, who so wisely managed your own country; and so well advised my father, when you persuaded him to pass the river Araxes, and advance against the Massagetæ, when they were willing to cross over into our territory? You have first ruined yourself by badly governing your own country, and then ruined Cyrus, who was persuaded by your advice. But you shall have no reason to rejoice; for I have long wanted to find a pretext against you." So saying, he took up his bow for the purpose of shooting him; but Crœsus jumped up and ran out. Cambyses, unable to shoot him, commanded his attendants to seize him, and put him to death. But the attendants, knowing his temper, concealed Crœsus for the following reason, that if Cambyses should repent, and inquire for Crœsus, they, by producing him, might receive rewards for preserving him alive; or if he should not repent, or sorrow for him, then they would put him to death. Not long afterward Cambyses did regret the loss of Crœsus, whereupon the attendants acquainted him that he was still living; on which Cambyses said: "I am rejoiced that Crœsus is still alive; they, however, who disobeyed my orders and saved him, shall not escape with impunity, but I will have them put to death." And he made good his word.

He committed many such mad actions, both against the Persians and his allies, while he stayed at Memphis opening ancient sepulchres, and examining the dead bodies; he also entered the temple of Vulcan, and derided the image, for the image of Vulcan is very much like the Phœnician Pataici, which the Phœnicians place at the prows of their triremes, and is a representation of a pigmy. He likewise entered the temple of the Cabeiri, (into which it is unlawful for any one except the priest to enter) and these images he burnt, after he had ridiculed them in various ways: these also are like that of Vulcan; and they say that they are the sons of this latter. It is in every way clear to me that Cambyses was outrageously mad; otherwise he would not have attempted to deride sacred things and established customs. For if any one should propose to all men, to select the best institutions of all that exist, each, after considering them all, would choose his own; so certain is it that each thinks his own institutions by far the best. It is not therefore probable, that any but a madman would make such things the subject of ridicule. That all men are of this mind respecting their own institutions may be inferred from many proofs, but is well illustrated by the following incident: Darius once summoned some Greeks under his sway, and asked them "for what sum they would feed upon the dead bodies of their parents." They answered, that they would not do it for any sum. Then Darius called to him some of the Indians called Callatians, who are accustomed to eat their parents, and asked them, in the presence of the Greeks, "for what sum they would consent to burn their fathers when they die." But they made loud exclamations and begged he would speak words of good omen. Such then is the effect of custom: and Pindar appears to me to have said rightly "that custom is the king of all men."

Whilst Cambyses was invading Egypt, the Lacedæmonians made an expedition against Polycrates, who had made an insurrection and seized on Samos. At first, having divided the state into three parts, he had shared it with his brothers Pantagnotus and Syloson; but afterward, having put one of them to death, and expelled Syloson, the younger, he held the whole of Samos, and made a treaty of friendship with Amasis, King of Egypt, sending presents, and receiving others from him in return. In a very short time the power of Polycrates increased, and was noised abroad throughout Ionia and the rest of Greece; for wherever he turned his arms, everything turned out prosperously. He had a hundred fifty-oared galleys, and a thousand archers. And he plundered all without distinction; for he said that he gratified a friend more by restoring what he had seized, than by taking nothing at all. He accordingly took many of the islands, and many cities on the continent; he moreover overcame in a sea-fight, and took prisoners, the Lesbians, who came to assist the Milesians with all their forces; these, being put in chains, dug the whole trench that surrounds the walls of Samos.

The Lacedæmonians, arriving with a great armament, besieged Samos, attacked the fortifications, and passed beyond the tower that faced the sea near the suburbs; but afterward, when Polycrates himself advanced with a large force, they were driven back, and after forty days had been spent in besieging Samos, finding their affairs were not at all advanced, they returned to Peloponnesus; though a groundless report got abroad, that Polycrates coined a large quantity of the money of the country in lead, had it gilt, and gave it to them; whereupon they took their departure. This was the first expedition that the Lacedæmonian Dorians undertook against Asia.

Those of the Samians who had fomented the war against Polycrates set sail for Siphnus when the Lacedæmonians were about to abandon them, for they were in want of money. The Siphnians were at that time the richest of all the islanders, having such gold and silver mines, that from the tenth of the money accruing from them, a treasure was laid up at Delphi equal to the richest; and they used every year to divide the product of the mines. When they established this treasure, they asked the oracle, whether their present prosperity would continue with them for a long time; but the Pythian answered as follows: "When the Prytaneum in Siphnus shall be white, and the market white-fronted, then shall there be need of a prudent man to guard against a wooden ambush and a crimson herald." The market and Prytaneum of the Siphnians were then adorned with Parian marble. As soon as the Samians reached Siphnus, they sent ambassadors to the city in a ship which, like all ships at that time, was painted red. And this was what the Pythian meant by a wooden ambush and a crimson herald. These ambassadors requested the Siphnians to lend them ten talents; the Siphnians refused the loan, and the Samians proceeded to ravage their territory. The Siphnians were beaten, and compelled to give a hundred talents.

I have dwelt longer on the affairs of the Samians, because they have the three greatest works that have been accomplished by all the Greeks. The first is a mountain, one hundred and fifty orgyæ in height, in which is dug a tunnel, beginning from the base, with an opening at each side. The length of the excavation is seven stades, and the height and breadth eight feet each; through the whole length of it is dug another excavation twenty cubits deep, and three feet broad, through which the water conveyed by pipes reaches the city, drawn from a copious fountain. The architect of this excavation was a Megarian, Eupalinus, son of Naustrophus. The second work is a mound in the sea round the harbor, in depth about one hundred orgyæ; and in length more than two stades. The third is a temple, the largest of all we have ever seen; of this, the architect was Rhœcus, son of Phileus, a native.