Persia from the Earliest Period to the Arab

32
HISTORY OF PERSIA.
in Greek history, Smerdis, should receive certain pro-
vinces as his patrimony; a plan, in itself sufficiently
questionable, especially in an empire as yet scarcely
organized, and one therefore promptly put an end to
by Cambyses. Bardes, by his orders, was slain by
Prexaspes at Susa, but in a manner so secret as
to lead to the remarkable impersonation we shall
presently notice.
The first act of Cambyses was to attempt the carry-
ing out of his father's schemes for the conquest of
Egypt ; so, to provoke a quarrel, he demanded of the
weak king of Egypt his daughter as a second wife.
Amasis complied with the request to the letter but not
to the spirit, as, instead of his daughter, he sent another
damsel, who is said herself to have revealed to Cam-
byses the imposition practised on him by the Egyptian
monarch. This was alone a sufficient pretext for war ;
but four years elapsed before Cambyses was able to
secure the naval aid of Tyre and Cyprus.
The Egyptians fought bravely, the more so, perhaps,
that their new ruler, Psammenitus, was largely aided
by Greek and Carian mercenaries ; but, after a decisive
battle fought near Pelusium, the overthrow, perhaps we
ought rather to say the collapse, of Egypt, became
complete. Psammenitus some time after surrendering
at discretion, was kindly treated by the conqueror, and,
but for a subsequent conspiracy, would, like the king
of the Sacae under Cyrus, have probably been permitted
to remain a tributary king, perhaps even as
viceroy of Egypt under Cambyses.
Egypt once subdued, the adjacent
tribes of the
Libyans, with the Greeks of Barca and Cyrene, pro-