然而波斯人在居鲁士的统率下因其机谋和勇敢精神却终于成功了。

And so Cyrus became lord of that great realm.

于是居鲁士便成为统治整个国家的君主，

His first act was to free all the peoples held in captivity by the Babylonians.

而他所做的第一件事便是释放被巴比伦人监禁的人们。

Among them were the Jews, who went home to Jerusalem (that was, as you remember, in 538 BC).

其中有犹太人，他们回到家乡耶路撒冷（这是，就像你记得的，在公元前538年。）

Not content with his great kingdom, however, Cyrus marched on to conquer Egypt, only to die on the way.

然而居鲁士还不满足于他的大帝国的疆域，他继续挺进，向埃及进军，他在进军途中死去。

But his son, Cambyses, succeeded. Egypt fell and the pharaoh was deposed.

但是他的儿子冈比西斯成功了。他征服了埃及并推翻了法老的统治。

That was the end of the Egyptian empire, which had lasted almost 3,000 years!

这便是存在了将近3000年之久的埃及帝国的灭亡！

And with its end, this little Persian tribe became master of nearly all the known world.

这样，这个波斯小民族几乎成为整个当时为人们所知的世界的统治者。

But only nearly: they hadn't yet swallowed up Greece. That was still to come.

但是还差一点儿，因为他们还没有把希腊吞下。现在该轮到与希腊人的斗争了。