=12.= REIGN OF CAMBYSES. B. C. 529-522. Without the ability of his father, Cambyses inherited his warlike ambition, and soon proceeded to execute the plans of African conquest long cherished by Cyrus. He was a man of violent passions, which his unlimited power left without their just restraint, and many of his acts are more like those of a willful and ignorant child than of a reasonable man. =13.= Egypt, now governed by Ama´sis, was the only part of the Babylonian dominion which had not yielded to Cyrus. Amasis had begun his reign as viceroy of Nebuchadnezzar, but during the decline of the empire he had become independent. Cambyses prepared for his Egyptian campaign by the conquest of Phœnicia and Cyprus, the two naval powers of western Asia. He then marched into Egypt with a great force of Persians and Greeks. Amasis had recently died, but his son Psammen´itus awaited the invader near the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile. A single battle decided the fate of Egypt. Psammenitus was defeated, and with his surviving followers shut himself up in Memphis. The siege was short, and at its termination all Egypt submitted to Cambyses, who assumed the full dignity of the Pharaohs as “Lord of the Upper and Lower Countries.” The neighboring Libyans and the two Greek cities, Cyre´ne and Barca, also sent in their submission and offered gifts. =14.= Cambyses now meditated three expeditions: one by sea against the great commercial empire of Carthage; one against the Ammonians of the desert; and a third against the long-lived Ethiopians,[24] whose country was reputed to be rich in gold. The first was abandoned, because the Phœnicians refused to serve against one of their own colonies. To the last-named people Cambyses sent an embassy of the Ich´thyoph´agi, who lived upon the borders of the Red Sea and understood their language. These were charged to carry presents to the Macrobian king, and assure him that the Persian monarch desired his friendship. The Ethiopian replied in plain terms: “Neither has the king of Persia sent you because he valued my alliance, nor do you speak the truth, for you are come as spies of my kingdom. Nor is he a just man; for if he were just, he would not desire any land but his own, nor would he reduce people to servitude who have done him no harm. However, give him this bow, and say these words to him: The king of the Ethiopians advises the king of the Persians, when his Persians can thus easily draw a bow of this size, then to make war upon the long-lived Ethiopians with a more numerous army; but until that time let him thank the gods, who have not inspired the sons of the Ethiopians with a desire of adding another land to their own.”