herodotus

as one goes up the river there is country which slopes steeply; sothat here one must attach ropes to the vessel on both sides, as onefastens an ox, and so make one's way onward; and if the rope break,the vessel is gone at once, carried away by the violence of thestream. Through this country it is a voyage of about four days inlength, and in this part the Nile is winding like the river Maiander,and the distance amounts to twelve /schoines/, which one must traversein this manner. Then you will come to a level plain, in which the Nileflows round an island named Tachompso. (Now in the regions aboveElephantine there dwell Ethiopians at once succeeding, who also occupyhalf of the island,[37] and Egyptians the other half.) Adjoining thisisland there is a great lake, round which dwell Ethiopian nomadtribes; and when you have sailed through this you will come to thestream of the Nile again, which flows into this lake. After this youwill disembark and make a journey by land of forty days; for in theNile sharp rocks stand forth out of the water, and there are manyreefs, by which it is not possible for a vessel to pass. Then afterhaving passed through this country in the forty days which I havesaid, you will embark again in another vessel and sail for twelvedays; and after this you will come to a great city called Meroe. Thiscity is said to be the mother-city of all the other Ethiopians: andthey who dwell in it reverence of the gods Zeus and Dionysos alone,and these they greatly honour; and they have an Oracle of Zeusestablished, and make warlike marches whensoever this god commandsthem by prophesyings and to whatsoever place he commands. 30. Sailingfrom this city you will come to the "Deserters" in another period oftime equal to that in which you came from Elephantine to the mothercityof the Ethiopians. Now the name of these "Deserters" is /Asmach/,and this word signifies, when translated into the tongue of theHellenes, "those who stand on the left hand of the king." These weretwo hundred and forty thousand Egyptians of the warrior class, whorevolted and went over to the Ethiopians for the following cause:--Inthe reign of Psammetichos garrisons were set, one towards theEthiopians at the city of Elephantine, another towards the Arabiansand Assyrians at Daphnai of Pelusion, and another towards Libya atMarea: and even in my own time the garrisons of the Persians too areordered in the same manner as these were in the reign of Psammetichos,for both at Elephantine and at Daphnai the Persians have outposts. TheEgyptians then of whom I speak had served as outposts for three yearsand no one relieved them from their guard; accordingly they tookcounsel together, and adopting a common plan they all in a bodyrevolted from Psammetichos and set out for Ethiopia. Hearing thisPsammetichos set forth in pursuit, and when he came up with them heentreated them much and endeavoured to persuade them not to desert thegods of their country and their children and wives: upon which it issaid that one of them pointed to his privy member and said that