[Diodorus (III. 12.) describes the compulsory work in the gold mines with great minuteness.  The convicts were either prisoners taken in war, or people whom despotism in its blind fury found it expedient to put out of the way.  The mines lay in the plain of Koptos, not far from the Red Sea.  Traces of them have been discovered in modern times.  Interesting inscriptions of the time of Rameses the Great, (14 centuries B. C.) referring to the gold-mines, have been found, one at Radesich, the other at Kubnn, and have been published and deciphered in Europe.]

“My companions,” continued Aristomachus, “were either condemned murderers to whom mercy had been granted, or men guilty of high treason whose tongues had been cut out, and others such as myself whom the king had reason to fear.  Three months I worked among this set, submitting to the strokes of the overseer, fainting under the fearful heat, and stiffening under the cold dews of night.  I felt as if picked out for death and only kept alive by the hope of vengeance.  It happened, however, by the mercy of the gods, that at the feast of Pacht, our guards, as is the custom of the Egyptians, drank so freely as to fall into a deep sleep, during which I and a young Jew who had been deprived of his right hand for having used false weights in trade, managed to escape unperceived; Zeus Lacedaemonius and the great God whom this young man worshipped helped us in our need, and, though we often heard the voices of our pursuers, they never succeeded in capturing us.  I had taken a bow from one of our guards; with this we obtained food, and when no game was to be found we lived on roots, fruits and birds’ eggs.  The sun and stars showed us our road.  We knew that the gold-mines were not far from the Red Sea and lay to the south of Memphis.  It was not long before we reached the coast; and then, pressing onwards in a northerly direction, we fell in with some friendly mariners, who took care of us until we were taken up by an Arabian boat.  The young Jew understood the language spoken by the crew, and in their care we came to Eziongeber in the land of Edom.  There we heard that Cambyses was coming with an immense army against Egypt, and travelled as far as Harma under the protection of an Amalekite caravan bringing water to the Persian army.  From thence I went on to Pelusium in the company of some stragglers from the Asiatic army, who now and then allowed me a seat on their horses, and here I heard that you had accepted a high command in Cambyses’ army.  I have kept my vow, I have been true to my nation in Egypt; now it is your turn to help old Aristomachus in gaining the only thing he still cares for—­revenge on his persecutors.”

“And that you shall have!” cried Phanes, grasping the old man’s hand.  “You shall have the command of the heavy-armed Milesian troops, and liberty to commit what carnage you like among the ranks of our enemies.  This, however, is only paying half the debt I owe you.  Praised be the gods, who have put it in my power to make you happy by one single sentence.  Know then, Aristomachus, that, only a few days after your disappearance, a ship arrived in the harbor of Naukratis from Sparta.  It was guided by your own noble son and expressly sent by the Ephori in your honor—­to bring the father of two Olympic victors back to his native land.”