herodotus

slaughter of them, and he might the more securely rule over the otherEgyptians. Being indignant at this, both these men who had returnedfrom the expedition and also the friends of those who had perishedmade revolt openly. 162. Hearing this Apries sent to them Amasis, tocause them to cease by persuasion; and when he had come and wasseeking to restrain the Egyptians, as he was speaking and telling themnot to do so, one of the Egyptians stood up behind him and put ahelmet[139] upon his head, saying as he did so that he put it on tocrown him king. And to him this that was done was in some degree notunwelcome, as he proved by his behaviour; for as soon as the revoltedEgyptians had set him up as king, he prepared to march against Apries:and Apries hearing this sent to Amasis one of the Egyptians who wereabout his own person, a man of reputation, whose name was Patarbemis,enjoining him to bring Amasis alive into his presence. When thisPatarbemis came and summoned Amasis, the latter, who happened to besitting on horseback, lifted up his leg and behaved in an unseemlymanner,[140] bidding him take that back to Apries. Nevertheless, theysay, Patarbemis made demand of him that he should go to the king,seeing that the king had sent to summon him; and he answered him thathe had for some time past been preparing to do so, and that Aprieswould have no occasion to find fault with him. Then Patarbemis bothperceiving his intention from that which he said, and also seeing hispreparations, departed in haste, desiring to make known as quickly aspossible to the king the things which were being done: and when hecame back to Apries not bringing Amasis, the king paying no regard tothat which he said,[141] but being moved by violent anger, ordered hisears and his nose to be cut off. And the rest of the Egyptians whostill remained on his side, when they saw the man of most repute amongthem thus suffering shameful outrage, waited no longer but joined theothers in revolt, and delivered themselves over to Amasis. 163. ThenApries having heard this also, armed his foreign mercenaries andmarched against the Egyptians: now he had about him Carian and Ionianmercenaries to the number of thirty thousand; and his royal palace wasin the city of Saïs, of great size and worthy to be seen. So Apriesand his army were going against the Egyptians, and Amasis and thosewith him were going against the mercenaries; and both sides came tothe city of Momemphis and were about to make trial of one another infight.164. Now of the Egyptians there are seven classes, and of these oneclass is called that of the priests, and another that of the warriors,while the others are the cowherds, swineherds, shopkeepers,interpreters, and boatmen. This is the number of the classes of theEgyptians, and their names are given them from the occupations whichthey follow. Of them the warriors are called Calasirians andHermotybians, and they are of the following districts,[142]--for all