bian exiles were recalled to their native land by Pittakus. He then
started homeward with his wife, but fell ill on the journey, and died
soon after his arrival at Mitylene. Sappho, who had derided her brother
for marrying one beneath him, soon became an enthusiastic admirer of the
beautiful widow and rivalled Alcaeus in passionate songs to her praise.

After the death of the poetess, Rhodopis returned, with her little
daughter, to Naukratis, where she was welcomed as a goddess. During this
interval Amasis, the present king of Egypt, had usurped the throne of
the Pharaohs, and was maintaining himself in its possession by help of
the army, to which caste he belonged.

[Amasis, of whom much will be said in our text, reigned 570-526 B.
C. His name, in the hieroglyphic signs, was Aahmes or young moon
but the name by which he was commonly called was Sa-Nit "Son of
Neith." His name, and pictures of him are to be found on stones in
the fortress of Cairo, on a relief in Florence, a statue in the
Vatican, on sarcophagi in Stockholm and London, a statue in the
Villa Albani and on a little temple of red granite at Leyden. A
beautiful bust of gray-wacke in our possession probably represents
the same king.]

As his predecessor Hophra had accelerated his fall, and brought the
army and priesthood to open rebellion by his predilection for the
Greek nation, and for intercourse with foreigners generally, (always
an abomination in the eyes of the Egyptians), men felt confident that
Amasis would return to the old ways, would rigorously exclude foreigners
from the country, dismiss the Greek mercenaries, and instead of taking
counsel from the Greeks, would hearken only to the commands of the
priesthood. But in this, as you must see yourself, the prudent Egyptians
had guessed wide of the mark in their choice of a ruler; they fell from
Scylla into Charybdis. If Hophra was called the Greeks' friend, Amasis
must be named our lover. The Egyptians, especially the priests and the
army, breathe fire and flame, and would fain strangle us one and all,
off hand, This feeling on the part of the soldiery does not disturb
Amasis, for he knows too well the comparative value of their and our
services; but with the priests it is another and more serious matter,
for two reasons: first, they possess an unbounded influence over the
people; and secondly. Amasis himself retains more affection than he
likes to acknowledge to us, for th