ἐν δὲ τῷ Πηλουσίῳ καλεομένῳ στόματι τοῦ Νείλου ἐστρατοπεδεύετο Ψαμμήνιτος ὁ Ἀμάσιος παῖς ὑπομένων Καμβύσεα.
Ἄμασιν γὰρ οὐ κατέλαβε ζῶντα Καμβύσης ἐλάσας ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον, ἀλλὰ βασιλεύσας ὁ Ἄμασις τέσσερα καὶ τεσσεράκοντα ἔτεα ἀπέθανε, ἐν τοῖσι οὐδέν οἱ μέγα ἀνάρσιον πρῆγμα συνηνείχθη· ἀποθανὼν δὲ καὶ ταριχευθεὶς ἐτάφη ἐν τῇσι ταφῇσι ἐν τῷ ἱρῷ, τὰς αὐτὸς οἰκοδομήσατο.
ἐπὶ Ψαμμηνίτου δὲ τοῦ Ἀμάσιος βασιλεύοντος Αἰγύπτου φάσμα Αἰγυπτίοισι μέγιστον δὴ ἐγένετο· ὕσθησαν γὰρ Θῆβαι αἱ Αἰγύπτιαι, οὔτε πρότερον οὐδαμὰ ὑσθεῖσαι οὔτε ὕστερον τὸ μέχρι ἐμεῦ, ὡς λέγουσι αὐτοὶ Θηβαῖοι· οὐ γὰρ δὴ ὕεται τὰ ἄνω τῆς Αἰγύπτου τὸ παράπαν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τότε ὕσθησαν αἱ Θῆβαι ψακάδι.
Meanwhile Psammenitos the son of Amasis was encamped at the Pelusian mouth of the Nile waiting for the coming of Cambyses: for Cambyses did not find Amasis yet living when he marched upon Egypt, but Amasis had died after having reigned forty and four years during which no great misfortune had befallen him: and when he had died and had been embalmed he was buried in the burial-place in the temple, which he had built for himself. Now when Psammenitos son of Amasis was reigning as king, there happened to the Egyptians a prodigy, the greatest that had ever happened: for rain fell at Thebes in Egypt, where never before had rain fallen nor afterwards down to my time, as the Thebans themselves say; for in the upper parts of Egypt no rain falls at all: but at the time of which I speak rain fell at Thebes in a drizzling shower.
οἱ δὲ Πέρσαι ἐπείτε διεξελάσαντες τὴν ἄνυδρον ἵζοντο πέλας τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ὡς συμβαλέοντες, ἐνθαῦτα οἱ ἐπίκουροι οἱ τοῦ Αἰγυπτίου, ἐόντες ἄνδρες Ἕλληνές τε καὶ Κᾶρες, μεμφόμενοι τῷ Φάνῃ ὅτι στρατὸν ἤγαγε ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀλλόθροον, μηχανῶνται πρῆγμα ἐς αὐτὸν τοιόνδε.
ἦσαν τῷ Φάνῃ παῖδες ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καταλελειμμένοι· τοὺς ἀγαγόντες ἐς τὸ στρατόπεδον καὶ ἐς ὄψιν τοῦ πατρὸς κρητῆρα ἐν μέσῳ ἔστησαν ἀμφοτέρων τῶν στρατοπέδων, μετὰ δὲ ἀγινέοντες κατὰ ἕνα ἕκαστον τῶν παίδων ἔσφαζον ἐς τὸν κρητῆρα·
διὰ πάντων δὲ διεξελθόντες τῶν παίδων οἶνόν τε καὶ ὕδωρ ἐσεφόρεον ἐς αὐτόν, ἐμπιόντες δὲ τοῦ αἵματος πάντες οἱ ἐπίκουροι οὕτω δὴ συνέβαλον. μάχης δὲ γενομένης καρτερῆς καὶ πεσόντων ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν στρατοπέδων πλήθεϊ πολλῶν ἐτράποντο οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι.
Now when the Persians had marched quite through the waterless region and were encamped near the Egyptians with design to engage battle, then the foreign mercenaries of the Egyptian king, who were Hellenes and Carians, having a quarrel with Phanes because he had brought against Egypt an army of foreign speech, contrived against him as follows:—Phanes had children whom he had left behind in Egypt: these they brought to their camp and into the sight of their father, and they set up a mixing-bowl between the two camps, and after that they brought up the children one by one and cut their throats so that the blood ran into the bowl. Then when they had gone through the whole number of the children, they brought and poured into the bowl both wine and water, and not until the mercenaries had all drunk of the blood, did they engage battle. Then after a battle had been fought with great stubbornness, and very many had fallen of both the armies, the Egyptians at length turned to flight.
θῶμα δὲ μέγα εἶδον πυθόμενος παρὰ τῶν ἐπιχωρίων· τῶν γὰρ ὀστέων περικεχυμένων χωρὶς ἑκατέρων τῶν ἐν τῇ μάχῃ ταύτῃ πεσόντων (χωρὶς μὲν γὰρ τῶν Περσέων ἔκειτο τὰ ὀστέα, ὡς ἐχωρίσθη κατʼ ἀρχάς, ἑτέρωθι δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων), αἱ μὲν τῶν Περσέων κεφαλαί εἰσι ἀσθενέες οὕτω ὥστε, εἰ θέλεις ψήφῳ μούνῃ βαλεῖν, διατετρανέεις, αἱ δὲ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων οὕτω δή τι ἰσχυραί, μόγις ἂν λίθῳ παίσας διαρρήξειας.
αἴτιον δὲ τούτου τόδε ἔλεγον, καὶ ἐμέ γʼ εὐπετέως ἔπειθον, ὅτι Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν αὐτίκα ἀπὸ παιδίων ἀρξάμενοι ξυρῶνται τὰς κεφαλὰς καὶ πρὸς τὸν ἥλιον παχύνεται τὸ ὀστέον.
τὠυτὸ δὲ τοῦτο καὶ τοῦ μὴ φαλακροῦσθαι αἴτιον ἐστί· Αἰγυπτίων γὰρ ἄν τις ἐλαχίστους ἴδοιτο φαλακροὺς πάντων ἀνθρώπων.
τούτοισι μὲν δὴ τοῦτο ἐστὶ αἴτιον ἰσχυρὰς φορέειν τὰς κεφαλάς, τοῖσι δὲ Πέρσῃσι ὅτι ἀσθενέας φορέουσι τὰς κεφαλὰς αἴτιον τόδε· σκιητροφέουσι ἐξ ἀρχῆς πίλους τιάρας φορέοντες. ταῦτα μέν νυν τοιαῦτα· εἶδον δὲ καὶ ἄλλα ὅμοια τούτοισι ἐν Παπρήμι τῶν ἅμα Ἀχαιμένεϊ τῷ Δαρείου διαφθαρέντων ὑπὸ Ἰνάρω τοῦ Λίβυος.
I was witness moreover of a great marvel, being informed of it by the natives of the place; for of the bones scattered about of those who fell in this fight, each side separately, since the bones of the Persians were lying apart on one side according as they were divided at first, and those of the Egyptians on the other, the skulls of the Persians are so weak that if you shall hit them only with a pebble you will make a hole in them, while those of the Egyptians are so exceedingly strong that you would hardly break them if you struck them with a large stone. The cause of it, they say, was this, and I for my part readily believe them, namely that the Egyptians beginning from their early childhood shave their heads, and the bone is thickened by exposure to the sun: and this is also the cause of their not becoming bald-headed; for among the Egyptians you see fewer bald-headed men than among any other race. This then is the reason why these have their skulls strong; and the reason why the Persians have theirs weak is that they keep them delicately in the shade from the first by wearing tiaras, that is felt caps. So far of this: and I saw also a similar thing to this at Papremis, in the case of those who were slain together with Achaimenes the son of Dareios, by Inaros the Libyan.
οἱ δὲ Αἰγύπτιοι ἐκ τῆς μάχης ὡς ἐτράποντο, ἔφευγον οὐδενὶ κόσμῳ· κατειληθέντων δὲ ἐς Μέμφιν, ἔπεμπε ἀνὰ ποταμὸν Καμβύσης νέα Μυτιληναίην κήρυκα ἄγουσαν ἄνδρα Πέρσην, ἐς ὁμολογίην προκαλεόμενος Αἰγυπτίους.
οἳ δὲ ἐπείτε τὴν νέα εἶδον ἐσελθοῦσαν ἐς τὴν Μέμφιν, ἐκχυθέντες ἁλέες ἐκ τοῦ τείχεος τήν τε νέα διέφθειραν καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας κρεουργηδὸν διασπάσαντες ἐφόρεον ἐς τὸ τεῖχος.
καὶ Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν μετὰ τοῦτο πολιορκεύμενοι χρόνῳ παρέστησαν, οἱ δὲ προσεχέες Λίβυες δείσαντες τὰ περὶ τὴν Αἴγυπτον γεγονότα παρέδοσαν σφέας αὐτοὺς ἀμαχητὶ καὶ φόρον τε ἐτάξαντο καὶ δῶρα ἔπεμπον. ὣς δὲ Κυρηναῖοι καὶ Βαρκαῖοι, δείσαντες ὁμοίως καὶ οἱ Λίβυες, τοιαῦτα ἐποίησαν.
Καμβύσης δὲ τὰ μὲν παρὰ Λιβύων ἐλθόντα δῶρα φιλοφρόνως ἐδέξατο· τὰ δὲ παρὰ Κυρηναίων ἀπικόμενα μεμφθείς, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκέει, ὅτι ἦν ὀλίγα· ἔπεμψαν γὰρ δὴ πεντακοσίας μνέας ἀργυρίου οἱ Κυρηναῖοι· ταύτας δρασσόμενος αὐτοχειρίῃ διέσπειρε τῇ στρατιῇ.
The Egyptians when they turned to flight from the battle fled in disorder: and they being shut up in Memphis, Cambyses sent a ship of Mytilene up the river bearing a Persian herald, to summon the Egyptians to make terms of surrender; but they, when they saw the ship had entered into Memphis, pouring forth in a body from the fortress both destroyed the ship and also tore the men in it limb from limb, and so bore them into the fortress. After this the Egyptians being besieged, in course of time surrendered themselves; and the Libyans who dwell on the borders of Egypt, being struck with terror by that which had happened to Egypt, delivered themselves up without resistance, and they both laid on themselves a tribute and sent presents: likewise also those of Kyrene and Barca, being struck with terror equally with the Libyans, acted in a similar manner: and Cambyses accepted graciously the gifts which came from the Libyans, but as for those which came from the men of Kyrene, finding fault with them, as I suppose, because they were too small in amount (for the Kyrenians sent in fact five hundred pounds’ weight of silver), he took the silver by handfuls and scattered it with his own hand among his soldiers.
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