Romantic love, as we know it, a result of Christianity
True host puts an end to the banquet
Whether the historical romance is ever justifiable




AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS.

By Georg Ebers

Volume 2.




CHAPTER III.

The guests were all gone. Their departing mirth and joy had been smitten
down by the drunkard's abusive words, like fresh young corn beneath a
hail storm. Rhodopis was left standing alone in the empty, brightly
decorated (supper-room). Knakias extinguished the colored lamps on the
walls, and a dull, mysterious half-light took the place of their
brilliant rays, falling scantily and gloomily on the piled-up plates and
dishes, the remnants of the meal, and the seats and cushions, pushed out
of their places by the retiring guests. A cold breeze came through the
open door, for the dawn was at hand, and just before sunrise, the air is
generally unpleasantly cool in Egypt. A cold chill struck the limbs of
the aged woman through her light garments. She stood gazing tearlessly
and fixedly into the desolate room, whose walls but a few minutes before
had been echoing with joy and gladness, and it seemed to her that the
deserted guest-chamber must be like her own heart. She felt as if a worm
were gnawing there, and the warm blood congealing into ice.

Lost in these thoughts, she remained standing till at last her old female
slave appeared to light her to her sleeping apartment.

Silently Rhodopis allowed herself to be undressed, and then, as silently,
lifted the curtain which separated a second sleeping apartment from her
own. In the middle of this second room stood a bedstead of maplewood, and
there, on white sheets spread over a mattress of fine sheep's wool, and
protected from the cold by bright blue coverlets's, lay a graceful,
lovely girl asleep; this was Rhodopis' granddaughter, Sappho. The rounded
form and delicate figure seemed to denote one already in opening
maidenhood, but the peaceful, blissful smile could only belong to a
harmless, happy child.

One hand lay under her head, hidden among the thick dark brown hair, the
other clasped unconsciously a little amulet of green stone, which hung
round her neck. Over her closed eyes the long lashes trembled almost
imperceptibly, and a delicate pink flush came and went on the cheek of
the slumberer. The finely-cut nostrils rose and fell with her regular
breathing, and she lay there, a picture of innocence, of peace, smiling
in dreams, and of the slumber that the gods bestow on early youth, when
care has not yet come.

Softly and carefully, crossing the thick carpets on tiptoe, the
grey-haired woman approached, looked with unutterable tenderness into the
smiling, childish face, and, kneeling down silently by the side of the
bed, buried her face in its soft coverings, so that the girl's hand just
came in contact with her hair. Then she wept, and without intermission;
as though she hoped with this flood of tears to wash away not only her
recent humiliation, but with it all other sorrow from her mind.

At length she rose, breathed a light kiss on the sleeping girl's
forehead, raised her hands in prayer towards heaven, and returned to her
own room, gently and carefully as she had come.

At her own bedside she found the old slave-woman, still waiting for her.

"What do you want so late, Melitta?" said Rhodopis, kindly, under her
breath. "Go to bed; at your age it is not good to remain up late, and you
know that I do not require you any longer. Good night! and do not come
to-morrow until I send for you. I shall not be able to sleep much
to-night, and shall be thankful if the morning brings me a short repose."

The woman hesitated; it seemed that she had some thing on her mind which
she feared to utter.

"There is something you want to ask me?" said Rhodopis.

Still the old slave hesitated.

"Speak!" said Rhodopis, "speak at once, and quickly."

"I saw you weeping," said the slave-woman, "you seem ill or sad; let me
watch this night by your bedside. Will you not tell me what ails you? You
have often found that to tell a sorrow lightens the heart and lessens the
pain. Then tell me your grief to-day too; it will do you good, it will
bring back peace to your mind."

"No," answered the other, "I cannot utter it." And then she continued,
smiling bitterly: "I have once more experienced that no one, not even a
god, has power to cancel the past of any human being, and that, in this
world, misfortune and disgrace are one and the same. Good night, leave
me; Melitta!"

At noon on the following day, the same boat, which, the evening before,
had carried the Athenian and the Spartan, stopped once more before
Rhodopis' garden.

The sun was shining so brightly, so warmly and genially in the dark blue
Egyptian sky, the air was so pure and light, the beetles were humming so
merrily, the boatmen singing so lustily and happily, the shores of the
Nile bloomed in such gay, variegated beauty, and were so thickly peopled,
the palm-trees, sycamores, bananas and acacias were so luxuriant in
foliage and blossom, and over the whole landscape the rarest and most
glorious gifts seemed to have been poured out with such divine
munificence, that a passer-by must have pronounced it the very home of
joy and gladness, a place from which sadness and sorrow had been forever
banished.

How often we fancy, in passing a quiet village hidden among its orchards,
that this at least must be the abode of peace, and unambitious
contentment! But alas! when we enter the cottages, what do we find?
there, as everywhere else, distress and need, passion and unsatisfied
longing, fear and remorse, pain and misery; and by the side of these, Ah!
how few joys! Who would have imagined on coming to Egypt, that this
luxuriant, laughing sunny land, whose sky is always unclouded, could
possibly produce and nourish men given to bitterness and severity? that
within the charming, hospitable house of the fortunate Rhodopis, covered
and surrounded, as it was, with sweet flowers, a heart could have been
beating in the deepest sadness? And, still more, who among all the guests
of that honored, admired Thracian woman, would have believed that this
sad heart belonged to her? to the gracious, smiling matron, Rhodopis
herself?

She was sitting with Phanes in a shady arbor near the cooling spray of a
fountain. One could see that she had been weeping again, but her face was
beautiful and kind as ever. The Athenian was holding her hand and trying
to comfort her.

Rhodopis listened patiently, and smiled the while; at times her smile was
bitter, at others it gave assent to his words. At last however she
interrupted her well-intentioned friend, by saying:

"Phanes, I thank you. Sooner or later this last disgrace must be
forgotten too. Time is clever in the healing art. If I were weak I should
leave Naukratis and live in retirement for my grandchild alone; a whole
world, believe me, lies slumbering in that young creature. Many and many
a time already I have longed to leave Egypt, and as often have conquered
the wish. Not because I cannot live without the homage of your sex; of
that I have already had more than enough in my life, but because I feel
that I, the slave-girl and the despised woman once, am now useful,
necessary, almost indispensable indeed, to many free and noble men.
Accustomed as I am, to an extended sphere of work, in its nature
resembling a man's, I could not content myself in living for one being
alone, however dear. I should dry up like a plant removed from a rich
soil into the desert, and should leave my grandchild desolate indeed,
three times orphaned, and alone in the world. No! I shall remain in
Egypt.

"Now that you are leaving, I shall be really indispensable to our friends
here. Amasis is old; when Psamtik comes to the throne we shall have
infinitely greater difficulties to contend with than heretofore. I must
remain and fight on in the fore-front of our battle for the freedom and
welfare of the Hellenic race. Let them call my efforts unwomanly if they
will. This is, and shall be, the purpose of my life, a purpose to which I
will remain all the more faithful, because it is one of those to which a
woman rarely dares devote her life. During this last night of tears I
have felt that much, very much of that womanly weakness still lingers in
me which forms at once the happiness and misery of our sex. To preserve
this feminine weakness in my granddaughter, united with perfect womanly
delicacy, has been my first duty; my second to free myself entirely from
it. But a war against one's own nature cannot be carried on without
occasional defeat, even if ultimately successful. When grief and pain are
gaining the upperhand and I am well nigh in despair, my only help lies in
remembering my friend Pythagoras, that noblest among men, and his words:
'Observe a due proportion in all things, avoid excessive joy as well as
complaining grief, and seek to keep thy soul in tune and harmony like a
well-toned harp.'"

[There is no question that Pythagoras visited Egypt during the reign
of Amasis, probably towards the middle of the 6th century (according
to our reckoning, about 536 B. C.) Herod. II. 81-123. Diod. I. 98.
Rich information about Pythagoras is to be found in the works of the
very learned scholar Roeth, who is however occasionally much too
bold in his conjectures. Pythagoras was the first among Greek
thinkers (speculators). He would not take the name of a wise man or
"sage," but called himself "Philosophos," or a "friend of wisdom."]

"This Pythagorean inward peace, this deep, untroubled calm, I see daily
before me in my Sappho; and struggle to attain it myself, though many a
stroke of fate untunes the chords of my poor heart. I am calm now! You
would hardly believe what power the mere thought of that first of all
thinkers, that calm, deliberate man, whose life acted on mine like sweet,
soft music, has over me. You knew him, you can understand what I mean.
Now, mention your wish; my heart is as calmly quiet as the Nile waters
which are flowing by so quietly, and I am ready to hear it, be it good or
evil."

"I am glad to see you thus," said the Athenian. "If you had remembered
the noble friend of wisdom, as Pythagoras was wont to call himself a
little sooner, your soul would have regained its balance yesterday. The
master enjoins us to look back every evening on the events, feelings and
actions of the day just past.

"Now had you done this, you would have felt that the unfeigned admiration
of all your guests, among whom were men of distinguished merit,
outweighed a thousandfold the injurious words of a drunken libertine; you
would have felt too that you were a friend of the gods, for was it not in
your house that the immortals gave that noble old man at last, after his
long years of misfortune, the greatest joy that can fall to the lot of
any human being? and did they not take from you one friend only in order
to replace him in the same moment, by another and a better? Come, I will
hear no contradiction. Now for my request.

"You know that people sometimes call me an Athenian, sometimes a
Halikarnassian. Now, as the Ionian, AEolian and Dorian mercenaries have
never been on good terms with the Karians, my almost triple descent (if I
may call it so) has proved very useful to me as commander of both these
divisions. Well qualified as Aristomachus may be for the command, yet in
this one point Amasis will miss me; for I found it an easy matter to
settle the differences among the troops and keep them at peace, while he,
as a Spartan, will find it very difficult to keep right with the Karian
soldiers.

"This double nationality of mine arises from the fact that my father
married a Halikarnassian wife out of a noble Dorian family, and, at the
time of my birth, was staying with her in Halikarnassus, having come
thither in order to take possession of her parental inheritance. So,
though I was taken back to Athens before I was three months old, I must
still be called a Karian, as a man's native land is decided by his
birthplace.

"In Athens, as a young nobleman, belonging to that most aristocratic and
ancient family, the Philaidae, I was reared and educated in all the pride
of an Attic noble. Pisistratus, brave and clever, and though of equal,
yet by no means of higher birth, than ourselves, for there exists no
family more aristocratic than my father's, gained possession of the
supreme authority. Twice, the nobles, by uniting all their strength,
succeeded in overthrowing him, and when, the third time, assisted by
Lygdamis of Naxos, the Argives and Eretrians, he attempted to return, we
opposed him again. We had encamped by the temple of Minerva at Pallene,
and were engaged in sacrificing to the goddess, early, before our first
meal, when we were suddenly surprised by the clever tyrant, who gained an
easy, bloodless victory over our unarmed troops. As half of the entire
army opposed to the tyrant was under my command, I determined rather to
die than yield, fought with my whole strength, implored the soldiers to
remain steadfast, resisted without yielding a point, but fell at last
with a spear in my shoulder.

"The Pisistratidae became lords of Athens. I fled to Halikarnassus, my
second home, accompanied by my wife and children. There, my name being
known through some daring military exploits, and, through my having once
conquered in the Pythian games, I was appointed to a command in the
mercenary troops of the King of Egypt; accompanied the expedition to
Cyprus, shared with Aristomachus the renown of having conquered the
birthplace of Aphrodite for Amasis, and finally was named
commander-in-chief of all the mercenaries in Egypt.

"Last summer my wife died; our children, a boy of eleven and a girl of
ten years, remained with an aunt in Halikarnassus. But she too has
followed to the inexorable Hades, and so, only a few days ago I sent for
the little ones here. They cannot, however, possibly reach Naukratis in
less than three weeks, and yet they will already have set out on their
journey before a letter to countermand my first order could reach them.

"I must leave Egypt in fourteen days, and cannot therefore receive them
myself.

"My own intentions are to go to the Thracian Chersonese, where my uncle,
as you know, has been called to fill a high office among the Dolonki. The
children shall follow me thither; my faithful old slave Korax will remain
in Naukratis on purpose to bring them to me.

"Now, if you will show to me that you are in deed and truth my friend,
will you receive the little ones and take care of them till the next ship
sails for Thrace? But above all, will you carefully conceal them from the
eyes of the crown-prince's spies? You know that Psamtik hates me
mortally, and he could easily revenge himself on the father through the
children. I ask you for this great favor, first, because I know your
kindness by experience; and secondly, because your house has been made
secure by the king's letter of guarantee, and they will therefore be safe
here from the inquiries of the police; notwithstanding that, by the laws
of this most formal country, all strangers, children not excepted, must
give up their names to the officer of the district.

"You can now judge of the depth of my esteem, Rhodopis; I am committing
into your hands all that makes life precious to me; for even my native
land has ceased to be dear while she submits so ignominiously to her
tyrants. Will you then restore tranquillity to an anxious father's heart,
will you--?"

"I will, Phanes, I will!" cried the aged woman in undisguised delight.
"You are not asking me for any thing, you are presenting me with a gift.
Oh, how I look forward already to their arrival! And how glad Sappho will
be, when the little creatures come and enliven her solitude! But this I
can assure you, Phanes, I shall not let my little guests depart with the
first Thracian ship. You can surely afford to be separated from them one
short half-year longer, and I promise you they shall receive the best
lessons, and be guided to all that is good and beautiful."

"On that head I have no fear," answered Phanes, with a thankful smile.
"But still you must send off the two little plagues by the first ship; my
anxiety as to Psamtik's revenge is only too well grounded. Take my most
heartfelt thanks beforehand for all the love and kindness which you will
show to my children. I too hope and believe, that the merry little
creatures will be an amusement and pleasure to Sappho in her lonely
life."

"And more," interrupted Rhodopis looking down; "this proof of confidence
repays a thousand-fold the disgrace inflicted on me last night in a
moment of intoxication.--But here comes Sappho!"




CHAPTER IV.

Five days after the evening we have just described at Rhodopis' house, an
immense multitude was to be seen assembled at the harbor of Sais.

Egyptians of both sexes, and of every age and class were thronging to the
water's edge.

Soldiers and merchants, whose various ranks in society were betokened by
the length of their white garments, bordered with colored fringes, were
interspersed among the crowd of half-naked, sinewy men, whose only
clothing consisted of an apron, the costume of the lower classes. Naked
children crowded, pushed and fought to get the best places. Mothers in
short cloaks were holding their little ones up to see the sight, which by
this means they entirely lost themselves; and a troop of dogs and cats
were playing and fighting at the feet of these eager sight-seers, who
took the greatest pains not to tread on, or in any way injure the sacred
animals.

[According to various pictures on the Egyptian monuments. The
mothers are from Wilkinson III. 363. Isis and Hathor, with the
child Horus in her lap or at her breast, are found in a thousand
representations, dating both from more modern times and in the Greek
style. The latter seem to have served as a model for the earliest
pictures of the Madonna holding the infant Christ.]

The police kept order among this huge crowd with long staves, on the
metal heads of which the king's name was inscribed. Their care was
especially needed to prevent any of the people from being pushed into the
swollen Nile, an arm of which, in the season of the inundations, washes
the walls of Sais.

On the broad flight of steps which led between two rows of sphinxes down
to the landing-place of the royal boats, was a very different kind of
assembly.

The priests of the highest rank were seated there on stone benches. Many
wore long, white robes, others were clad in aprons, broad jewelled
collars, and garments of panther skins. Some had fillets adorned with
plumes that waved around brows, temples, and the stiff structures of
false curls that floated over their shoulders; others displayed the
glistening bareness of their smoothly-shaven skulls. The supreme judge
was distinguished by the possession of the longest and handsomest plume
in his head-dress, and a costly sapphire amulet, which, suspended by a
gold chain, hung on his breast.

The highest officers of the Egyptian army wore uniforms of gay colors,97
and carried short swords in their girdles. On the right side of the steps
a division of the body-guard was stationed, armed with battleaxes,
daggers, bows, and large shields; on the left, were the Greek
mercenaries, armed in Ionian fashion. Their new leader, our friend
Aristomachus, stood with a few of his own officers apart from the
Egyptians, by the colossal statues of Psamtik I., which had been erected
on the space above the steps, their faces towards the river.

In front of these statues, on a silver chair, sat Psamtik, the heir to
the throne: He wore a close-fitting garment of many colors, interwoven
with gold, and was surrounded by the most distinguished among the king's
courtiers, chamberlains, counsellors, and friends, all bearing staves
with ostrich feathers and lotus-flowers.

The multitude gave vent to their impatience by shouting, singing, and
quarrelling; but the priests and magnates on the steps preserved a
dignified and solemn silence. Each, with his steady, unmoved gaze, his
stiffly-curled false wig and beard, and his solemn, deliberate manner,
resembled the two huge statues, which, the one precisely similar to the
other, stood also motionless in their respective places, gazing calmly
into the stream.

At last silken sails, chequered with purple and blue, appeared in sight.

The crowd shouted with delight. Cries of, "They are coming! Here they
are!" "Take care, or you'll tread on that kitten," "Nurse, hold the child
higher that she may see something of the sight." "You are pushing me into
the water, Sebak!" "Have a care Phoenician, the boys are throwing burs
into your long beard." "Now, now, you Greek fellow, don't fancy that all
Egypt belongs to you, because Amasis allows you to live on the shores of
the sacred river!" "Shameless set, these Greeks, down with them!" shouted
a priest, and the cry was at once echoed from many mouths. "Down with the
eaters of swine's flesh and despisers of the gods!"

[The Egyptians, like the Jews, were forbidden to eat swine's flesh.
This prohibition is mentioned in the Ritual of the Dead, found in a
grave in Abd-el-Qurnah, and also in other places. Porphyr. de
Abstin. IV. The swine was considered an especially unclean animal
pertaining to Typhon (Egyptian, Set) as the boar to Ares, and
swineherds were an especially despised race. Animals with bristles
were only sacrificed at the feasts of Osiris and Eileithyia. Herod.
I. 2. 47. It is probable that Moses borrowed his prohibition of
swine's flesh from the Egyptian laws with regard to unclean
animals.]

From words they were proceeding to deeds, but the police were not to be
trifled with, and by a vigorous use of their staves, the tumult was soon
stilled. The large, gay sails, easily to be distinguished among the
brown, white and blue ones of the smaller Nile-boats which swarmed around
them, came nearer and nearer to the expectant throng. Then at last the
crown-prince and the dignitaries arose from their seats. The royal band
of trumpeters blew a shrill and piercing blast of welcome, and the first
of the expected boats stopped at the landing-place.

It was a rather long, richly-gilded vessel, and bore a silver
sparrow-hawk as figure-head. In its midst rose a golden canopy with a
purple covering, beneath which cushions were conveniently arranged. On
each deck in the forepart of the ship sat twelve rowers, their aprons
attached by costly fastenings.

[Splendid Nile-boats were possessed, in greater or less numbers, by
all the men of high rank. Even in the tomb of Ti at Sakkara, which
dates from the time of the Pyramids, we meet with a chief overseer
of the vessels belonging to a wealthy Egyptian.]

Beneath the canopy lay six fine-looking men in glorious apparel; and
before the ship had touched the shore the youngest of these, a beautiful
fair-haired youth, sprang on to the steps.

Many an Egyptian girl's mouth uttered a lengthened "Ah" at this glorious
sight, and even the grave faces of some of the dignitaries brightened
into a friendly smile.

The name of this much-admired youth was Bartja.

[This Bartja is better known under the name of Smerdis, but on what
account the Greeks gave him this name is not clear. In the
cuneiform inscriptions of Bisitun or Behistun, he is called Bartja,
or, according to Spiegel, Bardiya. We have chosen, for the sake of
the easy pronunciation, the former, which is Rawlinson's simplified
reading of the name.]

He was the son of the late, and brother of the reigning king of Persia,
and had been endowed by nature with every gift that a youth of twenty
years could desire for himself.

Around his tiara was wound a blue and white turban, beneath which hung
fair, golden curls of beautiful, abundant hair; his blue eyes sparkled
with life and joy, kindness and high spirits, almost with sauciness; his
noble features, around which the down of a manly beard was already
visible, were worthy of a Grecian sculptor's chisel, and his slender but
muscular figure told of strength and activity. The splendor of his
apparel was proportioned to his personal beauty. A brilliant star of
diamonds and turquoises glittered in the front of his tiara. An upper
garment of rich white and gold brocade reaching just below the knees, was
fastened round the waist with a girdle of blue and white, the royal
colors of Persia. In this girdle gleamed a short, golden sword, its hilt
and scabbard thickly studded with opals and sky-blue turquoises. The
trousers were of the same rich material as the robe, fitting closely at
the ankle, and ending within a pair of short boots of light-blue leather.

The long, wide sleeves of his robe displayed a pair of vigorous arms,
adorned with many costly bracelets of gold and jewels; round his slender
neck and on his broad chest lay a golden chain.

Such was the youth who first sprang on shore. He was followed by Darius,
the son of Hystaspes, a young Persian of the blood royal, similar in
person to Bartja, and scarcely less gorgeously apparelled than he. The
third to disembark was an aged man with snow-white hair, in whose face
the gentle and kind expression of childhood was united, with the
intellect of a man, and the experience of old age. His dress consisted of
a long purple robe with sleeves, and the yellow boots worn by the
Lydians;--his whole appearance produced an impression of the greatest
modesty and a total absence of pretension.

[On account of these boots, which are constantly mentioned, Croesus
was named by the oracle "soft-footed."]

Yet this simple old man had been, but a few years before, the most envied
of his race and age; and even in our day at two thousand years' interval,
his name is used as a synonyme for the highest point of worldly riches
attainable by mankind. The old man to whom we are now introduced is no
other than Croesus, the dethroned king of Lydia, who was then living at
the court of Cambyses, as his friend and counsellor, and had accompanied
the young Bartja to Egypt, in the capacity of Mentor.

Croesus was followed by Prexaspes, the king's Ambassador, Zopyrus, the
son of Megabyzus, a Persian noble, the friend of Bartja and Darius; and,
lastly, by his own son, the slender, pale Gyges, who after having become
dumb in his fourth year through the fearful anguish he had suffered on
his father's account at the taking of Sardis, had now recovered the power
of speech.

Psamtik descended the steps to welcome the strangers. His austere, sallow
face endeavored to assume a smile. The high officials in his train bowed
down nearly to the ground, allowing their arms to hang loosely at their
sides. The Persians, crossing their hands on their breasts, cast
themselves on the earth before the heir to the Egyptian throne. When the
first formalities were over, Bartja, according to the custom of his
native country, but greatly to the astonishment of the populace, who were
totally unaccustomed to such a sight, kissed the sallow cheek of the
Egyptian prince; who shuddered at the touch of a stranger's unclean lips,
then took his way to the litters waiting to convey him and his escort to
the dwelling designed for them by the king, in the palace at Sais.

A portion of the crowd streamed after the strangers, but the larger
number remained at their places, knowing that many a new and wonderful
sight yet awaited them.

"Are you going to run after those dressed-up monkeys and children of
Typhon, too?" asked an angry priest of his neighbor, a respectable tailor
of Sais. "I tell you, Puhor, and the high-priest says so too, that these
strangers can bring no good to the black land! I am for the good old
times, when no one who cared for his life dared set foot on Egyptian
soil. Now our streets are literally swarming with cheating Hebrews, and
above all with those insolent Greeks whom may the gods destroy!

[The Jews were called Hebrews (Apuriu) by the Egyptians; as brought
to light by Chabas. See Ebers, Aegypten I. p. 316. H. Brugsch
opposes this opinion.]

"Only look, there is the third boat full of strangers! And do you know
what kind of people these Persians are? The high-priest says that in the
whole of their kingdom, which is as large as half the world, there is not
a single temple to the gods; and that instead of giving decent burial to
the dead, they leave them to be torn in pieces by dogs and vultures."

[These statements are correct, as the Persians, at the time of the
dynasty of the Achaemenidae, had no temples, but used fire-altars
and exposed their dead to the dogs and vultures. An impure corpse
was not permitted to defile the pure earth by its decay; nor might
it be committed to the fire or water for destruction, as their
purity would be equally polluted by such an act. But as it was
impossible to cause the dead bodies to vanish, Dakhmas or burying-
places were laid out, which had to be covered with pavement and
cement not less than four inches thick, and surrounded by cords to
denote that the whole structure was as it were suspended in the air,
and did not come in contact with the pure earth. Spiegel, Avesta
II.]

"The tailor's indignation at hearing this was even greater than his
astonishment, and pointing to the landing-steps, he cried:

"It is really too bad; see, there is the sixth boat full of these
foreigners!"

"Yes, it is hard indeed!" sighed the priest, "one might fancy a whole
army arriving. Amasis will go on in this manner until the strangers drive
him from his throne and country, and plunder and make slaves of us poor
creatures, as the evil Hyksos, those scourges of Egypt, and the black
Ethiopians did, in the days of old."

"The seventh boat!" shouted the tailor.

"May my protectress Neith, the great goddess of Sais, destroy me, if I
can understand the king," complained the priest. "He sent three barks to
Naukratis, that poisonous nest hated of the gods, to fetch the servants
and baggage of these Persians; but instead of three, eight had to be
procured, for these despisers of the gods and profaners of dead bodies
have not only brought kitchen utensils, dogs, horses, carriages, chests,
baskets and bales, but have dragged with them, thousands of miles, a
whole host of servants. They tell me that some of them have no other work
than twining of garlands and preparing ointments. Their priests too, whom
they call Magi, are here with them. I should like to know what they are
for? of what use is a priest where there is no temple?"

The old King Amasis received the Persian embassy shortly after their
arrival with all the amiability and kindness peculiar to him.

Four days later, after having attended to the affairs of state, a duty
punctually fulfilled by him every morning without exception, he went
forth to walk with Croesus in the royal gardens. The remaining members of
the embassy, accompanied by the crown-prince, were engaged in an
excursion up the Nile to the city of Memphis.

The palace-gardens, of a royal magnificence, yet similar in their
arrangement to those of Rhodopis, lay in the north-west part of Sais,
near the royal citadel.

Here, under the shadow of a spreading plane-tree, and near a gigantic
basin of red granite, into which an abundance of clear water flowed
perpetually through the jaws of black basalt crocodiles, the two old men
seated themselves.

The dethroned king, though in reality some years the elder of the two,
looked far fresher and more vigorous than the powerful monarch at his
side. Amasis was tall, but his neck was bent; his corpulent body was
supported by weak and slender legs: and his face, though well-formed, was
lined and furrowed. But a vigorous spirit sparkled in the small, flashing
eyes, and an expression of raillery, sly banter, and at times, even of
irony, played around his remarkably full lips. The low, broad brow, the
large and beautifully-arched head bespoke great mental power, and in the
changing color of his eyes one seemed to read that neither wit nor
passion were wanting in the man, who, from his simple place as soldier in
the ranks, had worked his way up to the throne of the Pharaohs. His voice
was sharp and hard, and his movements, in comparison with the
deliberation of the other members of the Egyptian court, appeared almost
morbidly active.

The attitude and bearing of his neighbor Croesus were graceful, and in
every way worthy of a king. His whole manner showed that he had lived in
frequent intercourse with the highest and noblest minds of Greece.
Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes of Miletus, Bias of Priene, Solon of
Athens, Pittakus of Lesbos, the most celebrated Hellenic philosophers,
had in former and happier days been guests at the court of Croesus in
Sardis. His full clear voice sounded like pure song when compared with
the shrill tones of Amasis.

[Bias, a philosopher of Ionian origin, flourished about 560 B. C.
and was especially celebrated for his wise maxims on morals and law.
After his death, which took place during his defence of a friend in
the public court, a temple was erected to him by his countrymen.
Laert. Diog. I. 88.]

"Now tell me openly," began king Pharaoh--[In English "great house," the
high gate or "sublime porte."]--in tolerably fluent Greek, "what opinion
hast thou formed of Egypt? Thy judgment possesses for me more worth than
that of any other man, for three reasons: thou art better acquainted with
most of the countries and nations of this earth; the gods have not only
allowed thee to ascend the ladder of fortune to its utmost summit, but
also to descend it, and thirdly, thou hast long been the first counsellor
to the mightiest of kings. Would that my kingdom might please thee so
well that thou wouldst remain here and become to me a brother. Verily,
Croesus, my friend hast thou long been, though my eyes beheld thee
yesterday for the first time!"

"And thou mine," interrupted the Lydian. "I admire the courage with which
thou hast accomplished that which seemed right and good in thine eyes, in
spite of opposition near and around thee. I am thankful for the favor
shown to the Hellenes, my friends, and I regard thee as related to me by
fortune, for hast thou not also passed through all the extremes of good
and evil that this life can offer?"

"With this difference," said Amasis smiling, "that we started from
opposite points; in thy lot the good came first, the evil later; whereas
in my own this order has been reversed. In saying this, however," he
added, "I am supposing that my present fortune is a good for me, and that
I enjoy it."

"And I, in that case," answered Croesus, "must be assuming that I am
unhappy in what men call my present ill-fortune."

"How can it possibly be otherwise after the loss of such enormous
possessions?"

"Does happiness consist then in possession?" asked Croesus. "Is happiness
itself a thing to be possessed? Nay, by no means! It is nothing but a
feeling, a sensation, which the envious gods vouchsafe more often to the
needy than to the mighty. The clear sight of the latter becomes dazzled
by the glittering treasure, and they cannot but suffer continual
humiliation, because, conscious of possessing power to obtain much, they
wage an eager war for all, and therein are continually defeated."

Amasis sighed, and answered: "I would I could prove thee in the wrong;
but in looking back on my past life I am fain to confess that its cares
began with that very hour which brought me what men call my good
fortune."--"And I," interrupted Croesus, "can assure thee that I am
thankful thou delayedst to come to my help, inasmuch as the hour of my
overthrow was the beginning of true, unsullied happiness. When I beheld
the first Persians scale the walls of Sardis, I execrated myself and the
gods, life appeared odious to me, existence a curse. Fighting on, but in
heart despairing, I and my people were forced to yield. A Persian raised
his sword to cleave my skull--in an instant my poor dumb son had thrown
himself between his father and the murderer, and for the first time after
long years of silence, I heard him speak. Terror had loosened his tongue;
in that dreadful hour Gyges learnt once more to speak, and I, who but the
moment before had been cursing the gods, bowed down before their power. I
had commanded a slave to kill me the moment I should be taken prisoner by
the Persians, but now I deprived him of his sword. I was a changed man,
and by degrees learnt ever more and more to subdue the rage and
indignation which yet from time to time would boil up again within my
soul, rebellious against my fate and my noble enemies. Thou knowest that
at last I became the friend of Cyrus, and that my son grew up at his
court, a free man at my side, having entirely regained the use of his
speech. Everything beautiful and good that I had heard, seen or thought
during my long life I treasured up now for him; he was my kingdom, my
crown, my treasure. Cyrus's days of care, his nights so reft of sleep,
reminded me with horror of my own former greatness, and from day to day
it became more evident to me that happiness has nothing to do with our
outward circumstances. Each man possesses the hidden germ in his own
heart. A contented, patient mind, rejoicing much in all that is great and
beautiful and yet despising not the day of small things; bearing sorrow
without a murmur and sweetening it by calling to remembrance former joy;
moderation in all things; a firm trust in the favor of the gods and a
conviction that, all things being subject to change, so with us too the
worst must pass in due season; all this helps to mature the germ of
happiness, and gives us power to smile, where the man undisciplined by
fate might yield to despair and fear."

Amasis listened attentively, drawing figures the while in the sand with
the golden flower on his staff. At last he spoke:

"Verily, Croesus, I the great god, the 'sun of righteousness,' 'the son
of Neith,' 'the lord of warlike glory,' as the Egyptians call me, am
tempted to envy thee, dethroned and plundered as thou art. I have been as
happy as thou art now. Once I was known through all Egypt, though only
the poor son of a captain, for my light heart, happy temper, fun and high
spirits. The common soldiers would do anything for me, my superior
officers could have found much fault, but in the mad Amasis, as they
called me, all was overlooked, and among my equals, (the other