too obedient husband. But now farewell, my children; our young heroes
must look at this our city of Sais; before parting, however, I will
repeat to them what the malicious Siuionides has sung of a good wife:

"Dear to her spouse from youth to age she grows;
Fills with fair girls and sturdy boys his house;
Among all women womanliest seems,
And heavenly grace about her mild brow gleams.
A gentle wife, a noble spouse she walks,
Nor ever with the gossip mongers talks.
Such women sometimes Zeus to mortals gives,
The glory and the solace of their lives."

"Such is my Ladice! now farewell!"

"Not yet!" cried Bartja. "Let me first speak in defence of our poor
Persia and instil fresh courage into my future sister-in-law; but no!
Darius, thou must speak, thine eloquence is as great as thy skill in
figures and swordsmanship!"

"Thou speakst of me as if I were a gossip or a shopkeeper,"--[This
nickname, which Darius afterwards earned, is more fully spoken
of]--answered the son of Hystaspes. "Be it so; I have been burning all
this time to defend the customs of our country. Know then, Ladice, that
if Auramazda dispose the heart of our king in his own good ways, your
daughter will not be his slave, but his friend. Know also, that in
Persia, though certainly only at high festivals, the king's wives have
their places at the men's table, and that we pay the highest reverence to
our wives and mothers. A king of Babylon once took a Persian wife; in the
broad plains of the Euphrates she fell sick of longing for her native
mountains; he caused a gigantic structure to be raised on arches, and the
summit thereof to be covered with a depth of rich earth; caused the
choicest trees and flowers to be planted there, and watered by artificial
machinery. This wonder completed, he led his wife thither; from its top
she could look down into the plains below, as from the heights of
Rachined, and with this costly gift he presented her. Tell me, could even
an Egyptian give more?"

[This stupendous erection is said to have been constructed by
Nebuchadnezzar for his Persian wife Amytis. Curtius V. 5.
Josephus contra Apion. I. 19. Antiquities X. II. 1. Diod. II. 10.
For further particulars relative to the hanging-gardens, see later
notes.]

"And did she recover?" asked Nitetis, without raising her eyes.

"She recovered health and happiness; and you too will soon feel well and
happy in our country."

"And now," said Ladice with a smile, what, think you, contributed most to
the young queen's recovery? the beautiful mountain or the love of the
husband, who erected it for her sake?"

"Her husband's love," cried the young girls.

"But Nitetis would not disdain the mountain either," maintained Bartja,
"and I shall make it my care that whenever the court is at Babylon, she
has the hanging-gardens for her residence."

"But now come," exclaimed Amasis, "unless you wish to see the city in
darkness. Two secretaries have been awaiting me yonder for the last two
hours. Ho! Sachons! give orders to the captain of the guard to accompany
our noble guests with a hundred men."

"But why? a single guide, perhaps one of the Greek officers, would be
amply sufficient."

"No, my young friends, it is better so. Foreigners can never be too
prudent in Egypt. Do not forget this, and especially be careful not to
ridicule the sacred animals. And now farewell, my young heroes, till we
meet again this evening over a merry wine-cup."

The Persians then quitted the palace, accompanied by their interpreter, a
Greek, but who had been brought up in Egypt, and spoke both languages
with equal facility.

[Psamtik I. is said to have formed a new caste, viz.: the caste of
Interpreters, out of those Greeks who had been born and bred up in
Egypt. Herod. II. 154. Herodotus himself was probably conducted by
such a "Dragoman."]

Those streets of Sais which lay near the palace wore a pleasant aspect.
The houses, many of which were five stories high, were generally covered
with pictures or hieroglyphics; galleries with balustrades of carved and
gaily-painted wood-work, supported by columns also brightly painted, ran
round the walls surrounding the courts. In many cases the proprietor's
name and rank was to be read on the door, which was, however, well closed
and locked. Flowers and shrubs ornamented the flat roofs, on which the
Egyptians loved to spend the evening hours, unless indeed, they preferred
ascending the mosquito-tower with which nearly every house was provided.
These troublesome insects, engendered by the Nile, fly low, and these
little watch-towers were built as a protection from them.

The young Persians admired the great, almost excessive cleanliness, with
which each house, nay, even the streets themselves, literally shone. The
door-plates and knockers sparkled in the sun; paintings, balconies and
columns all had the appearance of having been only just finished, and
even the street-pavement looked as if it were often scoured.

[The streets of Egyptian towns seem to have been paved, judging from
the ruins of Alabastron and Memphis. We know at least with
certainty that this was the case with those leading to the temples.]

But as the Persians left the neighborhood of the Nile and the palace, the
streets became smaller. Sais was built on the slope of a moderately high
hill, and had only been the residence of the Pharaohs for two centuries
and a half, but, during that comparatively short interval, had risen from
an unimportant place into a town of considerable magnitude.

On its river-side the houses and streets were brilliant, but on the
hill-slope lay, with but few more respectable exceptions, miserable,
poverty-stricken huts constructed of acacia-boughs and Nile-mud. On the
north-west rose the royal citadel.

"Let us turn back here," exclaimed Gyges to his young companions. During
his father's absence he was responsible as their guide and protector, and
now perceived that the crowd of curious spectators, which had hitherto
followed them, was increasing at every step.

"I obey your orders," replied the interpreter, "but yonder in the valley,
at the foot of that hill, lies the Saitic city of the dead, and for
foreigners I should think that would be of great interest."

"Go forward!" cried Bartja. "For what did we leave Persia, if not to
behold these remarkable objects?"

On arriving at an open kind of square surrounded by workmen's booths, and
not far from the city of the dead, confused cries rose among the crowd
behind them.

[Artisans, as well among the ancient as the modern Egyptians, were
accustomed to work in the open air.]

The children shouted for joy, the women called out, and one voice louder
than the rest was heard exclaiming: "Come hither to the fore-court of the
temple, and see the works of the great magician, who comes from the
western oases of Libya and is endowed with miraculous gifts by Chunsu,
the giver of good counsels, and by the great goddess Hekt."

"Follow me to the small temple yonder," said the interpreter, "and you
will behold a strange spectacle." He pushed a way for himself and the
Persians through the crowd, obstructed in his course by many a sallow
woman and naked child; and at length came back with a priest, who
conducted the strangers into the fore-court of the temple. Here,
surrounded by various chests and boxes, stood a man in the dress of a
priest; beside him on the earth knelt two negroes. The Libyan was a man
of gigantic stature, with great suppleness of limb and a pair of piercing
black eyes. In his hand he held a wind-instrument resembling a modern
clarionet, and a number of snakes, known in Egypt to be poisonous, lay
coiling themselves over his breast and arms.

On finding himself in the presence of the Persians he bowed low, inviting
them by a solemn gesture to gaze at his performances; he then cast off
his white robe and began all kinds of tricks with the snakes.

He allowed them to bite him, till the blood trickled down his cheeks;
compelled them by the notes of his flute to assume an erect position and
perform a kind of dancing evolution; by spitting into their jaws he
transformed them to all appearance into motionless rods; and then,
dashing them all on to the earth, performed a wild dance in their midst,
yet without once touching a single snake.

Like one possessed, he contorted his pliant limbs until his eyes seemed
starting from his head and a bloody foam issued from his lips.

Suddenly he fell to the ground, apparently lifeless. A slight movement of
the lips and a low hissing whistle were the only signs of life; but, on
hearing the latter, the snakes crept up and twined themselves like living
rings around his neck, legs and body. At last he rose, sang a hymn in
praise of the divine power which had made him a magician, and then laid
the greater number of his snakes in one of the chests, retaining a few,
probably his favorites, to serve as ornaments for his neck and arms.

The second part of this performance consisted of clever conjuring-tricks,
in which he swallowed burning flax, balanced swords while dancing, their
points standing in the hollow of his eye; drew long strings and ribbons
out of the noses of the Egyptian children, exhibited the well-known
cup-and-ball trick, and, at length, raised the admiration of the
spectators to its highest pitch, by producing five living rabbits from as
many ostrich-eggs.

The Persians formed no unthankful portion of the assembled crowd; on the
contrary, this scene, so totally new, impressed them deeply.

They felt as if in the realm of miracles, and fancied they had now seen
the rarest of all Egyptian rarities. In silence they took their way back
to the handsomer streets of Sais, without noticing how many mutilated
Egyptians crossed their path. These poor disfigured creatures were indeed
no unusual sight for Asiatics, who punished many crimes by the amputation
of a limb. Had they enquired however, they would have heard that, in
Egypt, the man deprived of his hand was a convicted forger, the woman of
her nose, an adulteress; that the man without a tongue had been found
guilty of high treason or false witness; that the loss of the ears
denoted a spy, and that the pale, idiotic-looking woman yonder had been
guilty of infanticide, and had been condemned to hold the little corpse
three days and three nights in her arms. What woman could retain her
senses after these hours of torture?--[Diodorus I. 77.]

The greater number of the Egyptian penal laws not only secured the
punishment of the criminal, but rendered a repetition of the offence
impossible.

The Persian party now met with a hindrance, a large crowd having
assembled before one of the handsomest houses in the street leading to
the temple of Neith. The few windows of this house that could be seen
(the greater number opening on the garden and court) were closed with
shutters, and at the door stood an old man, dressed in the plain white
robe of a priest's servant. He was endeavoring, with loud cries, to
prevent a number of men of his own class from carrying a large chest out
of the house.

"What right have you to rob my master?" he shrieked indignantly. "I am
the guardian of this house, and when my master left for Persia (may the
gods destroy that land!) he bade me take especial care of this chest in
which his manuscripts lay."

"Compose yourself, old Hib!" shouted one of these inferior priests, the
same whose acquaintance we made on the arrival of the Asiatic Embassy.
"We are here in the name of the high-priest of the great Neith, your
master's master. There must be queer papers in this box, or Neithotep
would not have honored us with his commands to fetch them."

"But I will not allow my master's papers to be stolen," shrieked the old
man. "My master is the great physician Nebenchari, and I will secure his
rights, even if I must appeal to the king himself."

"There," cried the other, "that will do; out with the chest, you fellows.
Carry it at once to the high-priest; and you, old man, would do more
wisely to hold your tongue and remember that the high-priest is your
master as well as mine. Get into the house as quick as you can, or
to-morrow we shall have to drag you off as we did the chest to-day!" So
saying, he slammed the heavy door, the old man was flung backward into
the house and the crowd saw him no more.

The Persians had watched this scene and obtained an explanation of its
meaning from their interpreter. Zopyrus laughed on hearing that the
possessor of the stolen chest was the oculist Nebenchari, the same who
had been sent to Persia to restore the sight of the king's mother, and
whose grave, even morose temper had procured him but little love at the
court of Cambyses.

Bartja wished to ask Amasis the meaning of this strange robbery, but
Gyges begged him not to interfere in matters with which he had no
concern. Just as they reached the palace, and darkness, which in Egypt so
quickly succeeds the daylight, was already stealing over the city, Gyges
felt himself hindered from proceeding further by a firm hand on his robe,
and perceived a stranger holding his finger on his lips in token of
silence.

"When can I speak with you alone and unobserved?" he whispered.

"What do you wish from me?"

"Ask no questions, but answer me quickly. By Mithras," I have weighty
matters to disclose."

"You speak Persian, but your garments would proclaim you an Egyptian."

"I am a Persian, but answer me quickly or we shall be noticed. When can I
speak to you alone?"

"To-morrow morning."

"That is too late."

"Well then, in a quarter of an hour, when it is quite dark, at this gate
of the palace."

"I shall expect you."

So saying the man vanished. Once within the palace, Gyges left Bartja and
Zopyrus, fastened his sword into his girdle, begged Darius to do the same
and to follow him, and was soon standing again under the great portico
with the stranger, but this time in total darkness.

"Auramazda be praised that you are there!" cried the latter in Persian to
the young Lydian; "but who is that with you?"

"Darius, the son of Hystaspes, one of the Achaemenidae; and my friend."

The stranger bowed low and answered, "It is well, I feared an Egyptian
had accompanied you."

"No, we are alone and willing to hear you; but be brief. Who are you and
what do you want?"

"My name is Bubares. I served as a poor captain under the great Cyrus. At
the taking of your father's city, Sardis, the soldiers were at first
allowed to plunder freely; but on your wise father's representing to
Cyrus that to plunder a city already taken was an injury to the present,
and not to the former, possessor, they were commanded on pain of death to
deliver up their booty to their captains, and the latter to cause
everything of worth, when brought to them, to be collected in the
market-place. Gold and silver trappings lay there in abundance, costly
articles of attire studded with precious stones . . ."

"Quick, quick, our time is short," interrupted Gyges.

"You are right. I must be more brief. By keeping for myself an
ointment-box sparkling with jewels, taken from your father's palace, I
forfeited my life. Croesus, however, pleaded for me with his conqueror
Cyrus; my life and liberty were granted me, but I was declared a
dishonored man. Life in Persia became impossible with disgrace lying
heavily on my soul; I took ship from Smyrna to Cyprus, entered the army
there, fought against Amasis, and was brought hither by Phanes as a
prisoner-of-war. Having always served as a horse-soldier, I was placed
among those slaves who had charge of the king's horses, and in six years
became an overseer. Never have I forgotten the debt of gratitude I owe to
your father; and now my turn has come to render him a service."

"The matter concerns my father? then speak--tell me, I beseech you!"

"Immediately. Has Croesus offended the crown prince?"

"Not that I am aware of."

"Your father is on a visit to Rhodopis this evening, at Naukratis?"

"How did you hear this?"

"From himself. I followed him to the boat this morning and sought to cast
myself at his feet."

"And did you succeed?"

"Certainly. He spoke a few gracious words with me, but could not wait to
hear what I would say, as his companions were already on board when he
arrived. His slave Sandon, whom I know, told me that they were going to
Naukratis, and would visit the Greek woman whom they call Rhodopis."

"He spoke truly."

"Then you must speed to the rescue. At the time that the market-place was
full."

[The forenoon among the Greeks was regulated by the business of the
market. "When the market-place begins to fill, when it is full,
when it becomes empty." It would be impossible to define this
division of time exactly according to our modern methods of
computation, but it seems certain that the market was over by the
afternoon. The busiest hours were probably from 10 till 1. At the
present day the streets of Athens are crowded during those hours;
but in Summer from two to four o'clock are utterly deserted.]

"Ten carriages and two boats, full of Ethiopian soldiers under the
command of an Egyptian captain, were sent off to Naukratis to surround
the house of Rhodopis and make captives of her guests."

"Ha, treachery!" exclaimed Gyges.

"But how can they wish to injure your father?" said Darius. "They know
that the vengeance of Cambyses--"

"I only know," repeated Bubares, "that this night the house of Rhodopis,
in which your father is, will be surrounded by Ethiopian soldiers. I
myself saw to the horses which transport them thither and heard Pentaur,
one of the crown-prince's fan-bearers, call to them, 'Keep eyes and ears
open, and let the house of Rhodopis be surrounded, lest he should escape
by the back door. If possible spare his life, and kill him only if he
resist. Bring him alive to Sais, and you shall receive twenty rings of
gold.'"

[It is no longer a matter of question, that before the time of the
Persians, and therefore at this point of our history, no money had
been coined in Egypt. The precious metals were weighed out and used
as money in the shape of rings, animals, etc. On many of the
monuments we see people purchasing goods and weighing out the gold
in payment; while others are paying their tribute in gold rings.
These rings were in use as a medium of payment up to the time of the
Ptolemies. Pliny XXXIII. I. Balances with weights in the form of
animals may be seen in Wilkinson. During the reigns of the
Ptolemies many coins were struck.]

"But could that allude to my father?"

"Certainly not," cried Darius.

"It is impossible to say," murmured Bubares. "In this country one can
never know what may happen."

"How long does it take for a good horse to reach Naukratis?"

"Three hours, if he can go so long, and the Nile has not overflowed the
road too much."

"I will be there in two."

"I shall ride with you," said Darius.

"No, you must remain here with Zopyrus for Bartja's protection. Tell the
servants to get ready."

"But Gyges--"

"Yes, you will stay here and excuse me to Amasis. Say I could not come to
the evening revel on account of headache, toothache, sickness, anything
you like."

"I shall ride Bartja's Nicaean horse; and you, Bubares, will follow me on
Darius's. You will lend him, my brother?"

"If I had ten thousand, you should have them all."

"Do you know the way to Naukratis, Bubares?"

"Blindfold."

"Then go, Darius, and tell them to get your horse and Bartja's ready! To
linger would be sin. Farewell Darius, perhaps forever! Protect Bartja!
Once more, farewell!"




CHAPTER VIII.

It wanted two hours of midnight. Bright light was streaming through the
open windows of Rhodopis' house, and sounds of mirth and gaiety fell on
the ear. Her table had been adorned with special care in Croesus' honor.

On the cushions around it lay the guests with whom we are already
acquainted: Theodorus, Ibykus, Phanes, Aristomachus, the merchant
Theopompus of Miletus, Croesus and others, crowned with chaplets of
poplar and roses.

Theodorus the sculptor was speaking: "Egypt seems to me," he said, "like
a girl who persists in wearing a tight and painful shoe only because it
is of gold, while within her reach he beautiful and well-fitting slippers
in which she could move at ease, if she only would."

"You refer to the Egyptians' pertinacity in retaining traditional forms
and customs?" asked Croesus.

"Certainly I do," answered the sculptor. "Two centuries ago Egypt was
unquestionably the first of the nations. In Art and Science she far
excelled us; but we learnt their methods of working, improved on them,
held firm to no prescribed proportions, but to the natural types alone,
gave freedom and beauty to their unbending outlines, and now have left
our masters far behind us. But how was this possible? simply because the
Egyptians, bound by unalterable laws, could make no progress; we, on the
contrary, were free to pursue our course in the wide arena of art as far
as will and power would allow."

"But how can an artist be compelled to fashion statues alike, which are
meant to differ from each other in what they represent?"

"In this case that can be easily explained. The entire human body is
divided by the Egyptians into 21 1/4 parts, in accordance with which
division the proportion of each separate limb is regulated. I, myself,
have laid a wager with Amasis, in presence of the first Egyptian
sculptor, (a priest of Thebes), that, if I send my brother Telekles, in
Ephesus, dimensions, proportion and attitude, according to the Egyptian
method, he and I together can produce a statue which shall look as if
sculptured from one block and by one hand, though Telekles is to carve
the lower half at Ephesus, and I the upper here in Sais, and under the
eye of Amasis."

[These numbers, and the story which immediately follows, are taken
from Diodorus I. 98. Plato tells us that, in his time, a law
existed binding the Egyptian artists to execute their works with
exactly the same amount of beauty or its reverse, as those which had
been made more than a thousand years before. This statement is
confirmed by the monuments; but any one well acquainted with
Egyptian art can discern a marked difference in the style of each
epoch. At the time of the ancient kingdom the forms were compressed
and stunted; under Seti I. beauty of proportion reached its highest
point. During, and after the 20th dynasty, the style declined in
beauty; in the 26th, under the descendants of Psammetichus, we meet
with a last revival of art, but the ancient purity of form was never
again attained.]

"And shall you win your wager?"

"Undoubtedly. I am just going to begin this trick of art; it will as
little deserve the name of a work of art, as any Egyptian statue."

"And yet there are single sculptures here which are of exquisite
workmanship; such, for instance, as the one Amasis sent to Samos as a
present to Polykrates. In Memphis I saw a statue said to be about three
thousand years old, and to represent a king who built the great Pyramid,
which excited my admiration in every respect. With what certainty and
precision that unusually hard stone has been wrought! the muscles, how
carefully carved! especially in the breast, legs and feet; the harmony of
the features too, and, above all, the polish of the whole, leave nothing
to be desired."

"Unquestionably. In all the mechanism of art, such as precision and
certainty in working even the hardest materials, the Egyptians, though
they have so long stood still in other points, are still far before us;
but to model form with freedom, to breathe, like Prometheus, a soul into
the stone, they will never learn until their old notions on this subject
have been entirely abandoned. Even the pleasing varieties of corporeal
life cannot be represented by a system of mere proportions, much less
those which are inner and spiritual. Look at the countless statues which
have been erected during the last three thousand years, in all the
temples and palaces from Naukratis up to the Cataracts. They are all of
one type, and represent men of middle age, with grave but benevolent
countenances. Yet they are intended, some as statues of aged monarchs,
others to perpetuate the memory of young princes. The warrior and the
lawgiver, the blood-thirsty tyrant and the philanthropist are only
distinguished from each other by a difference in size, by which the
Egyptian sculptor expresses the idea of power and strength. Amasis orders
a statue just as I should a sword. Breadth and length being specified, we
both of us know quite well, before the master has begun his work, what we
shall receive when it is finished. How could I possibly fashion an infirm
old man like an eager youth? a pugilist like a runner in the foot-race? a
poet like a warrior? Put Ibykus and our Spartan friend side by side, and
tell me what you would say, were I to give to the stern warrior the
gentle features and gestures of our heart-ensnaring poet."

"Well, and how does Amasis answer your remarks on this stagnation in
art?"

"He deplores it; but does not feel himself strong enough to abolish the
restrictive laws of the priests."

"And yet," said the Delphian, "he has given a large sum towards the
embellishment of our new temple, expressly, (I use his own words) for the
promotion of Hellenic art!"

"That is admirable in him," exclaimed Croesus. "Will the Alkmaeonidae
soon have collected the three hundred talents necessary for the
completion of the temple? Were I as rich as formerly I would gladly
undertake the entire cost; notwithstanding that your malicious god so
cruelly deceived me, after all my offerings at his shrine. For when I
sent to ask whether I should begin the war with Cyrus, he returned this
answer: I should destroy a mighty kingdom by crossing the river Halys. I
trusted the god, secured the friendship of Sparta according to his
commands, crossed the boundary stream, and, in so doing, did indeed
destroy a mighty kingdom; not however that of the Medes and Persians, but
my own poor Lydia, which, as a satrapy of Cambyses, finds its loss of
independence a hard and uncongenial yoke."

"You blame the god unjustly," answered Phryxus. It cannot be his fault
that you, in your human conceit, should have misinterpreted his oracle.
The answer did not say 'the kingdom of Persia,' but 'a kingdom' should be
destroyed through your desire for war. Why did you not enquire what
kingdom was meant? Was not your son's fate truly prophesied by the
oracle? and also that on the day of misfortune he would regain his
speech? And when, after the fall of Sardis, Cyrus granted your wish to
enquire at Delphi whether the Greek gods made a rule of requiting their
benefactors by ingratitude, Loxias answered that he had willed the best
for you, but was controlled by a mightier power than himself, by that
inexorable fate which had foretold to thy great ancestor, that his fifth
successor was doomed to destruction."

"In the first days of my adversity I needed those words far more than
now," interrupted Croesus. "There was a time when I cursed your god and
his oracles; but later, when with my riches my flatterers had left me,
and I became accustomed to pronounce judgment on my own actions, I saw
clearly that not Apollo, but my own vanity had been the cause of my ruin.
How could 'the kingdom to be destroyed' possibly mean mine, the mighty
realm of the powerful Croesus, the friend of the gods, the hitherto
unconquered leader? Had a friend hinted at this interpretation of the
ambiguous oracle, I should have derided, nay, probably caused him to be
punished. For a despotic ruler is like a fiery steed; the latter
endeavors to kick him who touches his wounds with intent to heal; the
former punishes him who lays a hand on the weak or failing points of his
diseased mind. Thus I missed what, if my eyes had not been dazzled, I
might easily have seen; and now that my vision is clearer, though I have
nothing to lose, I am far more often anxious than in the days when none
could possibly lose more than I. In comparison with those days, Phryxus,
I may be called a poor man now, but Cambyses does not leave me to famish,
and I can still raise a talent for your temple."

Phryxus expressed his thanks, and Phanes remarked "The Alkmaeonida; will
be sure to erect a beautiful edifice, for they are rich and ambitious,
and desirous of gaining favor with the Amphiktyons, in order, by their
aid, to overthrow the tyrants, secure to themselves a higher position
than that of the family to which I belong, and with this, the guidance of
state-affairs."

"Is it true, as people say," asked Ibykus, "that next to Agarista with
whom Megakles received so rich a dowry, you, Croesus, have been the
largest contributor to the wealth of the Alkmaeonidae?"

"True enough," answered Croesus laughing.

"Tell us the story, I beg," said Rhodopis.

"Well," answered Croesus, "Alkmaeon of Athens once appeared at my court;
his cheerfulness and cultivation pleased me well, and I retained him near
me for some time. One day I showed him my treasure-chambers, at the sight
of which he fell into despair, called himself a common beggar and
declared that one good handful of these precious things would make him a
happy man. I at once allowed him to take as much gold away as he could
carry. What think you did Alkaemmon on this? sent for high Lydian
riding-boots, an apron and a basket, had the one secured behind him, put
the others on, and filled them all with gold, till they could hold no
more. Not content with this, he strewed gold-dust in his hair and beard
and filled his mouth to that extent that he appeared in the act of
choking. In each hand he grasped a golden dish, and thus laden dragged
himself out of the treasure-house, falling exhausted as he crossed the
threshold. Never have I laughed so heartily as at this sight."

"But did you grant him all these treasures?" said Rhodopis.

"Yes, yes, my friend; and did not think even then, that I had paid too
dearly for the experience that gold can make fools even of clever men."

"You were the most generous of monarchs," cried Phanes.

"And make a tolerably contented beggar," answered Croesus. "But tell me,
Phryxus, how much has Amasis contributed to your collection?"

"He gave fifty tons of alum."

"A royal gift!"

"And the prince Psamtik?"

"On my appealing to him by his father's munificence, he turned his back
on me, and answered with a bitter laugh: 'Collect money for the
destruction of your temple, and I am ready to double my father's
donation!'"

"The wretch!"

"Say rather: the true Egyptian! to Psamtik everything foreign is an
abomination."

"How much have the Greeks in Naukratis contributed?"

"Beside munificent private donations, each community has given twenty
minae."

"That is much."

"Philoinus, the Sybarite, alone sent me a thousand drachmm," and
accompanied his gift with a most singular epistle. May I read it aloud,
Rhodopis?"

"Certainly," answered she, "it will show you that the drunkard has
repented of his late behaviour."

The Delphian began: "Philoinus to Phryxus: It grieves me that at
Rhodopis' house the other night I did not drink more; for had I done so I
should have lost consciousness entirely, and so have been unable to
offend even the smallest insect. My confounded abstemiousness is
therefore to blame, that I can no longer enjoy a place at the best table
in all Egypt. I am thankful, however, to Rhodopis for past enjoyment, and
in memory of her glorious roastbeef (which has bred in me the wish to buy
her cook at any price) I send twelve large spits for roasting
oxen,--[Rhodopis is said to have sent such a gift to Delphi. Herod.]--and
beg they may be placed in some treasure-house at Delphi as an offering
from Rhodopis. As for myself, being a rich man, I sign my name for a
thousand drachmae, and beg that my gift may be publicly announced at the
next Pythian games. To that rude fellow, Aristomachus of Sparta, express
my thanks for the effectual manner in which he fulfilled my intention in
coming to Egypt. I came hither for the purpose of having a tooth
extracted by an Egyptian dentist said to take out teeth without causing
much pain.

[The Egyptian dentists must have been very skilful. Artificial
teeth have been discovered in the jaws of mummies. See Blumenbach
on the teeth of the ancient Egyptians, and on mummies.]

Aristomachus, however, knocked out the defective tooth and so saved me
from an operation, the thought of which had often made me tremble. On
recovering consciousness, I found that three teeth had been knocked into
my mouth, the diseased one and two others, which though healthy, would
probably at some future time have caused me pain. Salute Rhodopis and the
handsome Phanes from me. You I invite to an entertainment at my house in
Sybaris, this day year. We are accustomed to issue invitations somewhat
early, on account of my necessary preparations. I have caused this