Nectanebus would have attacked the enemy before his works (which were begun in order to surround the city) were advanced; but Agesilaus would not listen to his proposals. But at length, when he saw these works in a sufficient state of forwardness, and that there remained only as much ground between the two ends of the line as the troops within the city might occupy, he told Nectanebus that it was time to attack the enemy. The attack was conducted by Agesilaus, and success attended all his operations, so that the Mendesian prince was always overcome, and at length taken prisoner.

NECTANEBUS.

was now, B. c. 361, left in possession of the throne of Egypt. But he did not long enjoy it in peace. Darius Ochus, who had succeeded to the kingdom of Persia, dissatisfied with the failures of his lieutenants, invaded Egypt with a numerous force, resolving to reduce it entirely to his allegiance. Upon his arrival there, he encamped before Pelusium, from whence he detached three bodies of troops, each of them commanded by a Greek and a Persian, to whom he assigned equal authority. Darius himself remained with the main body of the army in the camp, to wait the event, and to be ready to support these detachments in an emergency, or to improve the advantages they might gain.

Nectanebus had long expected this invasion,-for the preparations had been going forward some years, and he therefore was prepared to meet the Persian forces. He had, it is said, an army of 100,000 men, 20,000 of whom were Greek, and 20,000 Libyan mercenaries. Part of this army he disposed on the frontiers of Egypt, and the rest he headed at the passes, to dispute the enemy's entrance.

The first detachment of Ochus was sent against Pelusium, were there was a garrison of 5,000 Greeks. Lachares the Theban, who headed this detachment, besieged the city, while that under Nicostratus the Argive, going on board a squadron of fourscore ships of the Persian fleet, entered one of the mouths of the Nile at the same time, and sailed into the heart of Egypt, where they landed, and fortified themselves in a camp advantageously situated. The Egyptian troops in these parts were immediately drawn together under Clinias, a Greek, and prepared to repel the enemy. An action ensued, in which Clinias and 5,000 of his troops were killed, and the rest dispersed.

This action decided the fate of Egypt. Nectanebus, apprehending that the Persian army would embark again upon the Nile, and take Memphis, the capital of his kingdom, abandoned the passes, and hastened thither to defend it, thus leaving the country open to the enemy. Mentor, indeed, who commanded the third detachment, finding the passes clear and unguarded, entered the country, and made himself master of it without opposition. He caused a report to be spread, that Darius had given orders that all those who would submit should be treated with favour, and that such as made resistance should be destroyed; and the whole country upon this report, Greeks as well as Egyptians, strove which should be foremost in their submission.

The overthrow of Nectanebus occurred B. c. 350. He was the last native king of Egypt, and since his time, Egypt has been, and still continues to be "the basest of the kingdoms," according to the prophecy of Ezekiel, chap. xxix. 15. It has, indeed, says an acute writer, been an independent kingdom under the Ptolemies and the Saracens, and it may be possible that the present ruler should establish its independence. But this matters not; for these independent sovereigns in Egypt were foreigners, surrounded by people of their own nation, who engrossed all wealth, power, and distinction; leaving Egypt as a country, and the proper Egyptians as a people, oppressed and miserable. This is, surely, a marked fulfil ment of prophecy, delivered at a time when Egypt, under its own kings, great and magnificent, took no second place among the nations. In this event, therefore, we may trace the finger of God, and say that he ruleth among the nations, and hath done whatsoever he pleased, Psa. xxii. 28; cxv. 3.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT.

PERSIAN ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

DARIUS OCHUS.

Ir has been recorded, that during the previous occupation of Egypt by the Persian troops, the inbabitants had been exposed to much persecution. They were now doomed to severer sufferings. Darius, the king of Persia, as soon as he had conquered Egypt, commenced a fearful work of slaughter and destruction throughout the country. If Cambyses had committed unheard-of enormities-if he had derided the religion and insulted the various deities of Egypt-if, as Herodotus affirms, he had ordered their bull-god Apis to be brought before him, and had stabbed it with his dagger-if he had been guilty of every species of oppression; he was still surpassed in acts of barbarity by Ochus. Wanton injustice, murders, profanation of religious rites, and continual persecutions were his delight. One of the most flagrant insults which Darius put upon their established religion, towards which their minds were strongly affected, though it is not possible to conceive one more absurd and grossly idolatrous, was, not only that he caused the sacred Apis to be slaughtered, but also he caused it to be served up at a banquet, of which he and his friends partook.

After these insults, Darius returned in triumph to Babylon, laden with the spoils of Egypt. He left the government of Egypt to Pherendates, a Persian of the first rank, who carried on the work of demolition his master had commenced. All Egypt groaned under the tyranny of Ochus. His reign, however, was not of long duration: in two years the Egyptians were relieved from his yoke by his death; and to show

their hatred of him, they substituted for his reign the representation of a sword, the emblem of destruction, in their catalogue of kings.

Ochus was succeeded in his empire, B. c. 348, by

ARSES,

in whose reign nothing transpired concerning Egypt worthy of notice. To Arses succeeded, B. c. 335,

DARIUS CODOMANUS,

who seems to have followed the line of policy upon which Ochus acted towards Egypt.

But Egypt did not continue long under the Persian sway. Alexander the Great, having conquered the whole of Asia Minor, and Syria, resolved to invade Egypt also, and to wrest it out of the hands of Darius. Accordingly, he marched thither with an army flushed with successive victories, and hence almost irresistible.

The Egyptians were at this time ripe for rebellion, and cared little who ruled over them, so that they were freed from the Persians. They were incensed by their continual oppressions to the utmost; and the knowledge of this combined with a circumstance here narrated, might have had the effect upon the mind of Alexander of bringing him to the resolve of invading Egypt.

One Amyntas, a general in the service of Alexander, had deserted from him, and had joined the interest of Darius. But there was no bond in those days of paganism to bind men together in love and fealty. Amyntas had proved faithless to Alexander, and he rebelled against Darius also. He had commanded the Grecian forces in the service of the Persians at the battle of Issus, and having escaped into Syria by the way of Tripoli, with 4,000 men, had there seized upon as many vessels as he wanted, burned the rest, and set sail for Cyprus. He afterwards marched towards Pelusium, and upon feigning that he had a commission from Darius, appointing him governor in the room of Sabaces, who was killed in the battle of Issus, he took that city. This accomplished, he threw off the mask, claiming the crown of Egypt, and declaring that the motive of his coming was to expel the Persians. Upon this declaration, great numbers of the Egyptians went over to him, and Amyntas having his forces thus augmented, marched directly for Memphis, the capital of the

kingdom. Here he fought a battle with and defeated the Persians, shutting them up in Memphis; but after he had gained this victory, having neglected to keep his soldiers in a body, the Persians sallied forth, and destroyed them, with Amyntas their leader.

If this circumstance did not give rise to Alexander's invasion of Egypt, it increased the aversion which the Egyptians entertained for the Persians, so that, when Alexander reached that country, he was hailed by the natives as their deliverer from bondage. His arrival, at the head of a powerful army, presented them with sure protection, which Amyntas could not offer them; and from this consideration, they unanimously declared in his favour; and Mazaus, who com manded in Memphis, finding that he could not resist so powerful a force, and that Darius was not able to succour him, set open the gates to the conqueror, and gave him all the treasures which Darius possessed in that city. Thus Alexander possessed himself of all Egypt without a single conflict. The period at which this event occurred is dated B. C. 332.