by the Jewish priests, day and night, and without LETTER ever being suffered to go out 26.

After Cyrus had issued his memorable decree, for rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem, and taken other salutary measures for the ease and comforts of all his subjects, he spent his whole time in regu lating the government of that great empire of which he was become the head; passing seven months of the year at Babylon, in the heart of his dominions; three at Susa, on the frontier of Persia; and two at Ecbatana, the capital of Media; as well as for the sake of variety of climate, as to endear himself to the various nations under his sway, and hold them in more perfect obedience". But as we know not distinctly what regulations were framed by Cyrus, and what by his immediate successors, I shall reserve my account of the government and police of the Persian empire till a subsequent period, when it became better known to the Greeks; to whom we are indebted for our information on these important subjects.

X.

529. Olymp. lxii. 4.

The Persian empire, at the death of Cyrus, extended from the frontiers of India to those of Egypt, and from the Caspian and Euxine seas, to the Persian and Arabian gulfs 28. Cambyses, his eldest son, Ant. Chr. who succeeded him in the government of this immense empire, began his reign with projecting the conquest of Egypt"; a circumstance which incontestibly proves, that Cyrus did not lose his army, and his life, as commonly reported, in an unsuccessful expedition against the Massagetæ, a barbarous nation on the frontiers of Asiatic Scythia3".

For,

26. Prideaux, Connect, part i, book iii. et auct. cit.

27. Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. viii.

28. Id. ibid.

29. Herodot. lib. li. cap. i.

30. Herodot. lib. i. Justin. lib. i. An extract from Ctesias, pre

PART I. For, in that event, his successor could not have been in a condition to prosecute conquests of any kind; and would have had too much danger to apprehend from the east, to think of enlarging his empire to the west.

These considerations, my lord, must induce you to prefer the more consistent, and probable narration of Xenophon, who informs us that Cyrus died in his native kingdom, at an advanced age; in the bosom of his family, and surrounded by his kindred and courtiers; when his empire was in the most prosperous state, and his affairs in the best order31 And the judicious Strabo, not only tells us, that no regard is due to what historians have invented, concerning the war of Cyrus with the Massagetæ, but that his tomb was to be seen, as late as the time of Alexander the Great, in a garden at Pasargada, the royal residence of the ancient kings of Persia, with an inscription to the following purport; "I am "Cyrus the founder of the Persian empire, and who "was lord of Asia. Envy me not this memorial52.

Cambyses, though a less politic prince than his father, pursued his true interest in undertaking the conquest of Egypt. The experience of ages had evinced, that the humiliation of that kingdom was necessary to the peace and security of the western provinces of the Assyrian empire, which had been subjected to the Persian sway 33. But Egypt was then flourishing in arts and arms, under the wise government of Amasis.

served by Photius, countenances the same tradition, with some variation in regard to the issue of the war. But Ctesias is an author of

too little credit to deserve refutation.

31. Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. viii.

32. Strabo, Geog. lib. xi. p. 507, et lib. xv. p. 730, edit. Lutet. Paris. Typ. Reg. 1620.

33. See Lett. ix. et auct. cit.

X.

This prince, whom we have seen assume the LETTE Egyptian sceptre34, after dethroning his tyrannical master, Apries, was worthy of the exalted station to which he had attained. He greatly improved the internal prosperity of Egypt, by facilitating the communication between the country and the Nile, at the same time that he adorned his kingdom with many magnificent buildings 35. He maintained the respect due to the throne, while he indulged himself in mirth and jollity with his former companions; devoting only the morning to public business, or the affairs of the cabinet. He preserved good order among his subjects by salutary laws, and secured his sway by a body of regular troops, which he posted in the neighbourhood of Memphis37. And he pursued th eliberal policy of Psammitichus, in encouraging foreign commerce 38.

Amasis more especially favoured the Asiatic Greeks, whom he encouraged to settle in his dominions, and indulged with immunities both civil and religious. He permitted as many Grecian emigrants as thought proper to remove into Egypt to inhabit the city of Naucratis, on the western or Canopian branch of the Nile, where they were allowed the exercise of their religion3. And to such Grecian adventurers as did not choose to reside there, or to abandon their native country, but who resorted to Egypt for the purpose of trade, he granted the extraordinary

34. Ibid.

35. Herodot. lib. ii. cap. clxxv.-clxxvii.

36. Id. lib. ii. cap. clxxiii. In apology for this conduct, he replied to his more austere courtiers, who blamed him for it, as unsuitable to the character of a king, "An archer, when he proposes to shoot, "braces his bow; and when he has done, unbends it. For if always

"

kept bent, it would become unfit for shooting, when he should "have occasion to use it. Such is the condition of mankind. He "that intensely applies to study, without allowing himself any inter"val of recreation, must gradually break the vigour either of his "body or mind." Id ibid.

37. Herodot. lib. ii. cap. cliv. 39. Id. ibid.

38. Id. lib. ii. cap. clxxviii.

privilege

PART I. privilege of erecting temples, and consecrating altars to their gods, in different parts of his kingdom, where their factories were established4°. A magnificent repository for the Grecian deities was accordingly raised on the Egyptian shore, at the common expense of the Ionians, Dorians, and Eolians. The people of Ægina built a separate temple to Jupiter, the Samians one to Juno, and the Milesians one to Apollo 11.

But Amasis, notwithstanding his high prosperity, was by no means in a condition to resist the Persian power. He, therefore, seems to have made submissions to Cyrus, when that great warrior appeared on the frontiers of Egypt, after the conquest of Syria 42. And the withdrawing of this homage or tribute, on the death of the founder of the Persian empire, is the best reason that can be assigned for the hostile purpose of Cambyses, though Herodotus has ascribed it to other causes 43 too frivolous to be mentioned.

Be the motives of the Persian monarch, however, what they might, for undertaking the conquest of Egypt, the enterprise was truly political; and the measures which he took, for carrying it into execution, were adequate to the end he had in view. Being absolute master of Asia Minor, he compelled the Ionians and Eolians to attend him in his expedition, with their whole naval and military strength44. The Samians, though not under his dominion, supplied him with forty gallies 45. The Cyprians and Phoenicians, who had voluntarily submitted to his sway, furnished him with a great marine force 46: he therefore justly boasted, that he was lord of the sea 47.

40. Herodot. lib. ii. cap. Ixxviii.

41. Id. ibid.

42. Xenoph. Cyropæd. lib. vii. 43. Historiar. lib. iii. cap. i. et seq.
44. Id. ibid.
45. Herodot. Historiar. lib. iii. cap. xliv.

46. Id. lib. ii. cap. xix.

47. Herodot. lib. iii. cap. xxxiv. The

The army of Cambyses, which consisted of the veteran troops of Cyrus, reinforced with a body of Asiatic Greeks, marched toward Egypt by land. In this march, and in his whole expedition, the Persian monarch was much assisted by the counsel and military skill of Phanes, an Halicarnassean by birth, and lately one of the Grecian mercenaries in the service of the king of Egypt48. This experienced officer, disgusted at Amasis, for reasons not known, had made his escape by sea49; and arriving in the Persian camp, before Cambyses began his march, offered his service to that prince, and informed him of the state of the kingdom he was preparing to invade 5o. The advances of Phanes were readily accepted: and, through his means, the hostile army was safely conducted to the frontiers of Egypt; being supplied with water by an Arabian chief in passing through the desert5'.

LETTER

X.

Ant. Chr.

526. Olymp lxiii. 3.

525.

Olymp. lxiii. 4

Cambyses, on entering the threatened territory, Ant. Chr. was informed of the death of Amasis, in the fortyfourth year of his reign; and that his son, Psammenitus, had succeeded him in the Egyptian throne52. This prince lay encamped with his army near the Pelusian mount of the Nile, expecting the enemy53.

48. Herodotus, Historiar. lib. iii. cap. iv. et seq.

49. Id. ibid. It is not a little surprising, that both Mr. Mitford and Dr. Gillies should ascribe the desertion of this Greek to the im. politic conduct of Psammenitus, the son and successor of Amasis; whereas Herodotus, whom they quote, as their authority for so say. ing, expressly tells us, that Phanes was disgusted at Amasis, though he owns himself ignorant of the cause (Historiar. lib. iii. cap. iv.). And it is evident from chronology, that Amasis could not be dead, when Phanes left Egypt, as his son Psammenitus reigned only six months (Herodot. lib. iii. cap. xiv.); a space of time too short for the voyage of Phanes, and the operations of Cambyses, before he accomplished the conquest of Egypt.