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When Cambyses had made up his mind that the spies should go, he
forthwith sent to Elephantine for certain of the Icthyophagi who were
acquainted with the Ethiopian tongue; and, while they were being
fetched, issued orders to his fleet to sail against Carthage. But
the Phoenicians said they would not go, since they were bound to the
Carthaginians by solemn oaths, and since besides it would be wicked in
them to make war on their own children. Now when the Phoenicians
refused, the rest of the fleet was unequal to the undertaking; and so
it was that the Carthaginians escaped, and were not enslaved by the
Persians. Cambyses thought it not right to force the war upon the
Phoenicians, because they had yielded themselves to the Persians,
and because upon the Phoenicians all his sea-service depended. The
Cyprians had also joined the Persians of their own accord, and took
part with them in the expedition against Egypt.
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