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14.
On the tenth day after the surrender of the walled city of Memphis, Cambyses took Psammenitus king of Egypt, who had reigned for six months, and confined him in the outer part of the city with other Egyptians, to insult him; having confined him there, he tried Psammenitus' spirit, as I shall show.
[2]
He dressed the daughter of the king as a slave and sent her out with a pitcher to fetch water, together with other girls from the families of the leading men, dressed like the daughter of the king.
[3]
So when the girls went out before their fathers' eyes crying and lamenting, all the rest answered with cries and weeping, seeing their children abused; but Psammenitus, having seen with his own eyes and learned all, bowed himself to the ground.
[4]
After the water-carriers had passed by, Cambyses next made Psammenitus' son go out before him with two thousand Egyptians of the same age, all with ropes bound round their necks and bridle-bits in their mouths;
[5]
they were led out to be punished for those Mytileneans who had perished with their boat at Memphis; for such was the judgment of the royal judges, that every man's death be paid for by the deaths of ten noble Egyptians.
[6]
When Psammenitus saw them passing and perceived that his son was being led out to die, and all the Egyptians who sat with him wept and showed their affliction, he did as he had done at the sight of his daughter.
[7]
After these too had gone out, it happened that there was one of his companions, a man past his prime, who had lost all his possessions, and had only what a poor man might have, and begged of the army; this man now went out before Psammenitus son of Amasis and the Egyptians confined in the outer part of the city. When Psammenitus saw him, he broke into loud weeping, striking his head and calling on his companion by name.
[8]
Now there were men set to watch Psammenitus, who told Cambyses all that he did as each went forth. Wondering at what the king did, Cambyses made this inquiry of him by a messenger:
[9]
“Psammenitus, Lord Cambyses wants to know why, seeing your daughter abused and your son going to his death, you did not cry out or weep, yet you showed such feeling for the beggar, who (as Cambyses learns from others) is not one of your kindred?” So the messenger inquired. Psammenitus answered:
[10]
“Son of Cyrus, my private grief was too great for weeping; but the unhappiness of my companion deserves tears—a man fallen from abundance and prosperity to beggary come to the threshold of old age.” When the messenger reported this, Cambyses and his court, it is said, thought the answer good.
[11]
And, the Egyptians say, Croesus wept (for it happened that he too had come with Cambyses to Egypt) and the Persians that were there wept; Cambyses himself felt some pity, and he ordered that Psammenitus' son be spared from those that were to be executed, and that Psammenitus himself be brought in from the outer part of the city and brought before him.
Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.
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References (52 total)
- Commentary references to this page
(6):
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax, 498
- Thomas W. Allen, E. E. Sikes, Commentary on the Homeric Hymns, HYMN TO DEMETER
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.13
- E.C. Marchant, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 7, 7.75
- W. Walter Merry, James Riddell, D. B. Monro, Commentary on the Odyssey (1886), 10.398
- Walter Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900), 22.60
- Cross-references to this page
(6):
- Raphael Kühner, Friedrich Blass, Ausführliche Grammatik der Griechischen Sprache, Von den Adjektiven und Participien insbesondere.
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 1.3.2
- Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache, KG 3.2.4
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HALICARNASSUS
- Sir Richard C. Jebb, Selections from the Attic Orators, 1.63
- Smith's Bio, Croesus
- Cross-references in notes to this page
(1):
- Aristotle, Rhetoric, Aristot. Rh. 2.8
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(39):
- LSJ, ἀφῆλιξ
- LSJ, ἀνακλαίω
- LSJ, ἀνταπόλλυ_μι
- LSJ, ἀντικλαίω
- LSJ, ἀπό
- LSJ, ἀπολέγω
- LSJ, δεινός
- LSJ, διαπειράομαι
- LSJ, δι^κάζω
- LSJ, δι^καστ-ής
- LSJ, δούλ-ιος
- LSJ, ἔξοδος
- LSJ, ἐφέπω
- LSJ, ἐγχα^λι_νόω
- LSJ, ἐκπίπτω
- LSJ, εἰσέρχομαι
- LSJ, ἡγέομαι
- LSJ, κλαυθμ-ός
- LSJ, κύπτω
- LSJ, οὐδός
- LSJ, πάρειμι
- LSJ, παρέξ-ειμι
- LSJ, πένθος
- LSJ, περικάθ-ημαι
- LSJ, πλήσσω
- LSJ, προεῖδον
- LSJ, προσαιτ-έω
- LSJ, πτωχ-εία
- LSJ, πτωχός
- LSJ, θάνα^τος
- LSJ, στέλλω
- LSJ, στείχω
- LSJ, τεῖχος
- LSJ, τίνω
- LSJ, τυγχάνω
- LSJ, ὑδρ-εῖον
- LSJ, ὑδρόφορ-ος
- LSJ, ὥστε
- LSJ, ψυ_χ-ή
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