BABYLON AND PERSIA

XII.kambyses, 529-522 B.C.1. Kambyses was the eldest son of Kyros theGreat and his Persian queen, Kassandane, and assuch the undisputed heir to the crown ofPersiaproper and of the vast empire created by hisfather.One Greek writer, it is true, calls him theson of Amytis, but it is a fiction which, it is easy tosee, came from a Median source.Had his motherbeen a foreigner, he could not have reigned, still lesshave succeeded so smoothly and quietly, as a matterof course.Pie was not a novice in statecraft, havinghad several years' practice as viceroy at Babylon,where several Egibi tablets have been found, datedfrom that time, Kambyses being " entitled King ofBabel " and Kyros " King of the Countries,"a morecomprehensive title.2. Kambyses probably was honestly desirous ofgoverning well and justly, and on several occasionscan be shown to have tried to follow in his father'sfootsteps.For he was not devoid of fine qualities,;but he lacked the self-control and admirable balancewhich made the chief greatness of his. father's char¬acter.So he suffered his faults to obscure and de¬grade his better self, and unfortunately they were344