herodotus

out to receive the wine he proceeded to make libation: likewise allthe other kings were wont to wear helmets and they happened to havethem then. Now Psammetichos held out his helmet with no treacherousmeaning; but they taking note of that which had been done byPsammetichos and of the oracle, namely how it had been declared tothem that whosoever of them should make libation with a bronze cupshould be sole king of Egypt, recollecting, I say, the saying of theOracle, they did not indeed deem it right to slay Psammetichos, sincethey found by examination that he had not done it with anyforethought, but they determined to strip him of almost all his powerand to drive him away into the fen-country, and that from the fencountryhe should not hold any dealings with the rest of Egypt. 152.This Psammetichos had formerly been a fugitive from the EthiopianSabacos who had killed his father Necos, from him, I say, he had thenbeen a fugitive in Syria; and when the Ethiopian had departed inconsequence of the vision of the dream, the Egyptians who were of thedistrict of Saïs brought him back to his own country. Then afterwards,when he was king, it was his fate to be a fugitive a second time onaccount of the helmet, being driven by the eleven kings into the fencountry.So then holding that he had been grievously wronged by them,he thought how he might take vengeance on those who had driven himout: and when he had sent to the Oracle of Leto in the city of Buto,where the Egyptians have their most truthful Oracle, there was givento him the reply that vengeance would come when men of bronze appearedfrom the sea. And he was strongly disposed not to believe that bronzemen would come to help him; but after no long time had passed, certainIonians and Carians who had sailed forth for plunder were compelled tocome to shore in Egypt, and they having landed and being clad inbronze armour, one of the Egyptians, not having before seen men cladin bronze armour, came to the fen-land and brought a report toPsammetichos that bronze men had come from the sea and were plunderingthe plain. So he, perceiving that the saying of the Oracle was comingto pass, dealt in a friendly manner with the Ionians and Carians, andwith large promises he persuaded them to take his part. Then when hehad persuaded them, with the help of those Egyptians who favoured hiscause and of these foreign mercenaries he overthrew the kings. 153.Having thus got power over all Egypt, Psammetichos made for Hephaistosthat gateway of the temple at Memphis which is turned towards theSouth Wind; and he built a court for Apis, in which Apis is kept whenhe appears, opposite to the gateway of the temple, surrounded all withpillars and covered with figures; and instead of columns there standto support the roof of the court colossal statues twelve cubits high.Now Apis is in the tongue of the Hellenes Epaphos. 154. To the Ioniansand to the Carians who had helped him Psammetichos granted portions ofland to dwell in, opposite to one another with the river Nile between,and these were called "Encampments":[133] these portions of land he