The main part of their revenues was derived from commerce in silphium and woollen goods, and even the kings themselves did not deem it beneath their dignity to preside in person at the weighing of the crop, and the storing of the trusses in their magazines.  The rapid increase in the wealth of the city having shortly brought about a breach in the friendly relations hitherto maintained between it and its neighbours, Battos the Fortunate, the son of Arkesilas I., sent for colonists from Greece:  numbers answered to his call, on the faith of a second oracular prediction, and in order to provide them with the necessary land, Battos did not hesitate to dispossess his native allies.  The latter appealed to Adikran, king of the confederacy, and this prince, persuaded that this irregular militia would not be able to withstand the charge of the hoplites, thereupon applied in his turn to Apries for assistance.

[Illustration:  443b.jpg the Silphium ]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from the cast of a coin of Cyrene.

There was much tempting spoil to be had in Cyrene, and Apries was fully aware of the fact, from the accounts of the Libyans and the Greeks.  His covetousness must have been aroused at the prospect of such rich booty, and perhaps he would have thought of appropriating it sooner, had he not been deterred from the attempt by his knowledge of the superiority of the Greek fleets, and of the dangers attendant on a long and painful march over an almost desert country through disaffected tribes.

[Illustration:  444.jpg WEIGHING SILPHIUM IN PRESENCE OF KING ARKESILAS]

     Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph of the original in
     the Coin Room in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris.  The
     king here represented is Arkesilas II. the Bad.

Now that he could rely on the support of the Libyans, he hesitated no longer to run these risks.  Deeming it imprudent, with good reason, to employ his mercenary troops against their own compatriots, Apries mobilised for his encounter with Battos an army exclusively recruited from among his native reserves.  The troops set out full of confidence in themselves and of disdain for the enemy, delighted moreover at an opportunity for at length convincing their kings of their error in preferring barbarian to native forces.  But the engagement brought to nought all their boastings.  The Egyptians were defeated in the first encounter near Irasa, hard by the fountain of Theste, near the spot where the high plateaus of Cyrene proper terminate in the low cliffs of Marmarica:  and the troops suffered so severely during the subsequent retreat that only a small remnant of the army regained in safety the frontier of the Delta.*