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Then the Lacedaemonians made ready and set forth to the attack of
Samos, from a motive of gratitude, if we may believe the Samians,
because the Samians had once sent ships to their aid against the
Messenians; but as the Spartans themselves say, not so much from any
wish to assist the Samians who begged their help, as from a desire to
punish the people who had seized the bowl which they sent to Croesus,
and the corselet which Amasis, king of Egypt, sent as a present to
them. The Samians made prize of this corselet the year before they
took the bowl - it was of linen, and had a vast number of figures of
animals inwoven into its fabric, and was likewise embroidered with gold
and tree-wool. What is most worthy of admiration in it is that each
of the twists, although of fine texture, contains within it three
hundred and sixty threads, all of them clearly visible. The corselet
which Amasis gave to the temple of Minerva in Lindus is just such another.
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