In his domestic affairs Cyrus appears to have shown the same moderation and simplicity which we observe in his general conduct.  He married, as it would seem, one wife only, Cassandane, the daughter of Pharnaspes, who was a member of the royal family.  By her he had issue two sons and at least three daughters.  The sons were Cambyses and Smerdis; the daughters Atossa, Artystone, and one whose name is unknown to us.  Cassandane died before her husband, and was deeply mourned by him.  Shortly before his own death he took the precaution formally to settle the succession.  Leaving the general inheritance of his vast dominions to his elder son, Cambyses, he declared it to be his will that the younger should be entrusted with the actual government of several large and important provinces.  He thought by this plan to secure the well-being of both the youths, never suspecting that he was in reality consigning both to untimely ends, and even preparing the way for an extraordinary revolution.

The ill effect of the unfortunate arrangement thus made appeared almost immediately.  Cambyses was scarcely settled upon the throne before he grew jealous of his brother, and ordered him to be privately put to death.  His cruel orders were obeyed, and with so much secrecy that neither the mode of the death, nor even the fact, was known to more than a few.  Smerdis was generally believed to be still alive; and thus an opportunity was presented for personation—­a form of imposture very congenial to Orientals, and one which has often had very disastrous consequences.  We shall find in the sequel this opportunity embraced, and results follow of a most stirring and exciting character.

It required time, however, to bring to maturity the fruits of the crime so rashly committed.  Cambyses, in the meanwhile, quite unconscious of danger, turned his attention to military matters, and determined on endeavoring to complete his father’s scheme of conquest by the reduction of Egypt.  Desirous of obtaining a ground of quarrel less antiquated than the alliance, a quarter of a century earlier, between Amasis and Croesus, he demanded that a daughter of the Egyptian king should be sent to him as a secondary wife.  Amasis, too timid to refuse, sent a damsel named Nitetis, who was not his daughter; and she, soon after her arrival, made Cambyses acquainted with the fraud.  A ground of quarrel was thus secured, which might be put forward when it suited his purpose; and meanwhile every nerve was being strained to prepare effectually for the expedition.  The difficulty of a war with Egypt lay in her inaccessibility.  She was protected on all sides by seas or deserts; and, for a successful advance upon her from the direction of Asia, it was desirable both to obtain a quiet passage for a large army through the desert of El-Tij, and also to have the support of a powerful fleet in the Mediterranean.  This latter was the paramount consideration.  An army well supplied with camels might carry its