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τὰ τόξα κτλ.: this saying has become a proverb—‘Neque semper arcum tendit Apollo’ (Hor. Odes, ii. 10. 19). Greek fancy wove a web of legends round Amasis, as round Croesus and many other historical persons of the sixth century (cf. i. 29. 1; App. I, § 9). H. as usual avoids the exaggerations of later writers, e. g. that Amasis was a great magician. His account is confirmed by a fragmentary demotic chronicle (cf. 154 n. and R. E. i. 66 seq.). The character of Amasis would appear the more shocking to his subjects, as the Egyptian king was a religious person, whose life was a round of regular routine (cf. Diod. i. 70 for his obligations, a sketch which Diodorus rightly says (69 ad fin.) is based on native records).

The repetition of the subject γε is Homeric.

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