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The above-mentioned Amasis was the Egyptian king against whom
Cambyses, son of Cyrus, made his expedition; and with him went an
army composed of the many nations under his rule, among them being
included both Ionic and Aeolic Greeks. The reason of the invasion
was the following. Cambyses, by the advice of a certain Egyptian,
who was angry with Amasis for having torn him from his wife and
children and given him over to the Persians, had sent a herald to
Amasis to ask his daughter in marriage. His adviser was a physician,
whom Amasis, when Cyrus had requested that he would send him the most
skilful of all the Egyptian eye-doctors, singled out as the best from
the whole number. Therefore the Egyptian bore Amasis a grudge, and
his reason for urging Cambyses to ask the hand of the king's daughter
was, that if he complied, it might cause him annoyance; if he
refused, it might make Cambyses his enemy. When the message came,
Amasis, who much dreaded the power of the Persians, was greatly
perplexed whether to give his daughter or no; for that Cambyses did
not intend to make her his wife, but would only receive her as his
concubine, he knew for certain. He therefore cast the matter in his
mind, and finally resolved what he would do. There was a daughter of
the late king Apries, named Nitetis, a tall and beautiful woman,
the last survivor of that royal house. Amasis took this woman, and
decking her out with gold and costly garments, sent her to Persia as
if she had been his own child. Some time afterwards, Cambyses, as
he gave her an embrace, happened to call her by her father's name,
whereupon she said to him, "I see, O king, thou knowest not how
thou has been cheated by Amasis; who took me, and, tricking me out
with gauds, sent me to thee as his own daughter. But I am in truth
the child of Apries, who was his lord and master, until he rebelled
against him, together with the rest of the Egyptians, and put him to
death." It was this speech, and the cause of quarrel it disclosed,
which roused the anger of Cambyses, son of Cyrus, and brought his
arms upon Egypt. Such is the Persian story.
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