CAMBYSES ALEXANDER. 
33 
the desperate extremity of devouring each other. 
Cambyses, struck at length with just horror, de- 
sisted, and returned to Thebes, but not till he 
had lost a large proportion of his army. Of the 
other expedition, which had gone against the 
Ammonians, the fate remained for ever buried in 
impenetrable mystery. It could only be known, 
that it never either reached Ammon, or returned 
to Egypt. It was hence inferred, that the whole 
must have found a grave in the vast ocean of sand 
which intervened. These examples proved an 
awful beacon to future conquerors and explorers ; 
they heightened the mingled sentiment of vene- 
ration and terror with which these interior abodes 
were contemplated. This desert seemed as a bar- 
rier fixed by nature, which she Vv^ould never per- 
mit any mortal to pass with impunity. These re- 
gions remained, therefore, undisturbed till the ar- 
rival of a new conqueror, who was not wont to be 
deterred by any common obstacles. Alexander,* 
when the career of conquest carried him to Mem- 
phis, determined to proceed, and visit the temple 
of Jupiter Ammon. With the frantic wish of be- 
ing owned as the offspring of that Deity, was pro- 
bably mingled a romantic curiosity to behold the 
mysteries that were hid in the depth of these 
awful solitudes. He viewed himself probably as 
VOL. I. 
* Curtius, IV. 7. 
' c 
