noon
The mercenaries flung the child 's dead body on to the ground ; drunk with her blood , they raised their battle-song , and rushed into the strife far ahead of their Egyptian comrades . But now the Persian ranks began to move . Phanes , furious with pain and rage , led on his heavy-armed troops , indignant too at the brutal barbarity of their countrymen , and dashed into the ranks of those very soldiers , whose love he had tried to deserve during ten years of faithful leadership . At noon , fortune seemed to be favoring the Egyptians ; but at sunset the Persians had the advantage , and when the full-moon rose , the Egyptians were flying wildly from the battle-field , perishing in the marshes and in the arm of the Nile which flowed behind their position , or being cut to pieces by the swords of their enemies . Twenty thousand Persians and fifty thousand Egyptians lay dead on the blood-stained sea-sand . The wounded , drowned , and prisoners could scarcely be numbered . -LSB- Herod .