The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [117]
34. Tomyris collected all the forces of her kingdom and gave battle. Of all the combats in which the barbarians have engaged among themselves, this was the fiercest.
35. The Massagetae prevailed; the greater part of the army of the Persians was destroyed, and Cyrus himself was killed, after reigning twenty-nine years.
36. By order of the queen a search was made among the slain for Cyrus’ body, and when it was found she took a skin, and, filling it full of human blood, she dipped the head of Cyrus in the gore, saying,
37. ‘I live and have conquered you, and yet I am ruined by you, for you took my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat, and give you your fill of blood.’
Chapter 22
1. On the death of Cyrus, Cambyses his son by Cassandane daughter of Pharnaspes inherited the kingdom, and immediately began a campaign to capture Egypt.
2. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of Cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had commanded all the subjects of his empire to do likewise.
3. Cambyses, regarding the Ionian and Aeolian Greeks as vassals of his father, took them with him in his expedition against Egypt among the other nations under his sway.
4. His war of conquest against Egypt began when Amasis was king of that ancient and wealthy land astride the Nile.
5. But by the time Cambyses arrived with his army in Egypt, Amasis had died at the end of his forty-four-year reign, to be succeeded by his son Psammenitus.
6. At the first battle Cambyses defeated the armies of Psammenitus, whose soldiers fled the battlefield and took refuge behind the walls of Memphis.
7. Cambyses besieged the city for ten days, whereupon it fell; and Psammenitus was taken prisoner and brought to Cambyses’ camp.
8. The Persian king resolved to test the fortitude of Psammenitus to see what manner of man he was.
9. He placed him on a seat in the suburb of the vanquished city, his captured nobles with him,
10. And forced him to watch his daughter manhandled along the street, dressed as a slave, and with her the daughters of the Egyptian nobles; and all were subjected to mistreatment.
11. The nobles of Psammenitus wept to see their daughters in this plight, carrying pitchers of water and pushed by soldiers in the dust of the street; but Psammenitus did not weep.
12. Next came Psammenitus’ son, and two thousand young men of the same age as he, with ropes around their necks and bridles in their mouths, being driven like beasts to a place of execution outside the city.
13. While the other Egyptians around him wept and tore their clothes at this sight, Psammenitus still did not weep, but remained silent and still.
14. But then it chanced that an old man who had been a boyhood friend of Psammenitus came into view, hobbling along the ranks of onlookers begging for alms.
15. At this sight the Egyptian king burst into tears, and wept, and called out to the old man by name.
16. Some of the guards watching over Psammenitus went to Cambyses and described what had happened; and Cambyses was astonished, and sent a messenger to Psammenitus,
17. To ask for an explanation of why he had not wept at the disgrace and tribulation of his daughter and son, but had wept so copiously at sight of the old man.
18. To which Psammenitus answered, ‘Oh conqueror, my own misfortunes and the loss of my children are too great for tears.
19. ‘But the woe of my old friend deserved them. When a man falls into beggary in old age, one may well weep for him.’
20. When Cambyses heard this answer he recognised that it was just, and those who stood about him in his royal tent wept to hear what Psammenitus had said.
21. So he was touched with pity likewise, and sent an order that Psammenitus’ son and daughter were to be spared.
22. Alas, it was to late to save Psammenitus’ son; he had been the first who was cut to pieces on the execution ground, and lived no more.
23. But Psammenitus was brought to Cambyses’ court, and remained there, no longer a prisoner but a guest; for the justice of his pity had earned him a reprieve, and with it the