On the 21st of July the army came within sight of the Pyramids, which, but for their regularity of outline might have been taken for a distant ridge of rocky mountains. While every eye was fixed on these hoary monuments of the past, the troops gained the brow of a gentle eminence, and saw at length spread out before them the vast armies of the Beys, its right, posted on an intrenched camp by the Nile, its centre and left composed of that brilliant cavalry with which they were by this time acquainted. Napoleon, riding forward to reconnoitre, perceived, what escaped the observation of all his staff, that the guns of the entrenched camp were not provided with carriages; and instantly decided on his plan of attack. He prepared to throw his force on the left, where the guns could not be made available. “Soldiers,” said Napoleon, “from the summit of yonder pyramid, forty ages behold you;” and the battle began.