So saying, he left the room abruptly and went into the reception-hall,
followed by the immense retinue which never quitted him, whithersoever he
might direct his steps.

An hour passed, and still Nitetis and the lovely Atossa were sitting side
by side, at the feet of the queen. The Persian women listened eagerly to
all their new friend could tell them about Egypt and its wonders.

"Oh! how I should like to visit your home!" exclaimed Atossa. "It must be
quite, quite different from Persia and everything else that I have seen
yet. The fruitful shores of your great river, larger even than the
Euphrates, the temples with their painted columns, those huge artificial
mountains, the Pyramids, where the ancient kings be buried--it must all
be wonderfully beautiful. But what pleases me best of all is your
description of the entertainments, where men and women converse together
as they like. The only meals we are allowed to take in the society of men
are on New Year's Day and the king's birthday, and then we are forbidden
to speak; indeed it is not thought right for us even to raise our eyes.
How different it is with you! By Mithras! mother, I should like to be an
Egyptian, for we poor creatures are in reality nothing but miserable
slaves; and yet I feel that the great Cyrus was my father too, and that I
am worth quite as much as most men. Do I not speak the truth? can I not
obey as well as command? have I not the same thirst and longing for
glory? could not I learn to ride, to string a bow, to fight and swim, if
I were taught and inured to such exercises?"

The girl had sprung from her seat while speaking, her eyes flashed and
she swung her spindle in the air, quite unconscious that in so doing she
was breaking the thread and entangling the flax.

"Remember what is fitting," reminded Kassandane. "A woman must submit
with humility to her quiet destiny, and not aspire to imitate the deeds
of men."

"But there are women who lead the same lives as men," cried Atossa.
"There are the Amazons who live on the shores of the Thermodon in
Themiscyra, and at Comana on the Iris; they have waged great wars, and
even to this day wear men's armor."

"Who told you this?"

"My old nurse, Stephanion, whom my father brought a captive from Sinope
to Pasargadae."

"But I can teach you better," said Nitetis. "It is true that in
Themiscyra and Comana there are a number of women who wear soldier's
armor; but they are only priestesses, and clothe themselves like the
warlike goddess they serve, in order to present to the worshippers a
manifestation of the divinity in human form. Croesus says that an army of
Amazons has never existed, but that the Greeks, (always ready and able to
turn anything into a beautiful myth), having seen these priestesses, at
once transformed the armed virgins dedicated to the goddess into a nation
of fighting women."

"Then they are liars!" exclaimed the disappointed girl.

"It is true, that the Greeks have not the same reverence for truth as you
have," answered Nitetis, "but they do not call the men who invent these
beautiful stories liars; they are called poets."

"Just as it is with ourselves," said Kassandane. "The poets, who sing the
praises of my husband, have altered and adorned his early life in a
marvellous manner; yet no one calls them liars. But tell me, my daughter,
is it true that these Greeks are more beautiful than other men, and
understand art better even than the Egyptians?"

"On that subject I should not venture to pronounce a judgment. There is
such a great difference between the Greek and Egyptian works of art. When
I went into our own gigantic temples to pray, I always felt as if I must
prostrate myself in the dust before the greatness of the gods, and
entreat them not to crush so insignificant a worm; but in the temple of
Hera at Samos, I could only raise my hands to heaven in joyful
thanksgiving, that the gods had made the earth so beautiful. In Egypt I
always believed as I had been taught: 'Life is asleep; we shall not awake
to our true existence in the kingdom of Osiris till the hour of death;'
but in Greece I thought: 'I am born to live and to enjoy this cheerful,
bright and blooming world.'"

"Ah! tell us something more about Greece," cried Atossa; "but first
Nebenchari must put a fresh bandage on my mother's eyes."

The oculist, a tall, grave man in the white robes of an Egyptian priest,
came forward to perform the necessary operation, and after being kindly
greeted by Nitetis, withdrew once more silently into the background. At
the same time a eunuch entered to enquire whether Croesus might be
allowed to pay his respectful homage to the king's mother.

The aged king soon appeared, and was welcomed as the old and tried friend
of the Persian royal family. Atossa, with her usual impetuosity, fell on
the neck of the friend she had so sorely missed during his absence; the
queen gave him her hand, and Nitetis met him like a loving daughter.

"I thank the gods, that I am permitted to see you again," said Croesus.
"The young can look at life as a possession, as a thing understood and
sure, but at my age every year must be accepted as an undeserved gift
from the gods, for which a man must be thankful."

"I could envy you for this happy view of life," sighed Kassandane. "My
years are fewer than yours, and yet every new day seems to me a
punishment sent by the Immortals."

"Can I be listening to the wife of the great Cyrus?" asked Croesus. "How
long is it since courage and confidence left that brave heart? I tell
you, you will recover sight, and once more thank the gods for a good old
age. The man who recovers, after a serious illness, values health a
hundred-fold more than before; and he who regains sight after blindness,
must be an especial favorite of the gods. Imagine to yourself the delight
of that first moment when your eyes behold once more the bright shining
of the sun, the faces of your loved ones, the beauty of all created
things, and tell me, would not that outweigh even a whole life of
blindness and dark night? In the day of healing, even if that come in old
age, a new life will begin and I shall hear you confess that my friend
Solon was right."

"In what respect?" asked Atossa.

"In wishing that Mimnermos, the Colophonian poet, would correct the poem
in which he has assigned sixty years as the limit of a happy life, and
would change the sixty into eighty."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Kassandane. "Even were Mithras to restore my sight,
such a long life would be dreadful. Without my husband I seem to myself
like a wanderer in the desert, aimless and without a guide."

"Are your children then nothing to you, and this kingdom, of which you
have watched the rise and growth?"

"No indeed! but my children need me no longer, and the ruler of this
kingdom is too proud to listen to a woman's advice."

On hearing these words Atossa and Nitetis seized each one of the queen's
hands, and Nitetis cried: "You ought to desire a long life for our sakes.
What should we be without your help and protection?"

Kassandane smiled again, murmuring in a scarcely audible voice: "You are
right, my children, you will stand in need of your mother."

"Now you are speaking once more like the wife of the great Cyrus," cried
Croesus, kissing the robe of the blind woman. "Your presence will indeed
be needed, who can say how soon? Cambyses is like hard steel; sparks fly
wherever he strikes. You can hinder these sparks from kindling a
destroying fire among your loved ones, and this should be your duty. You
alone can dare to admonish the king in the violence of his passion. He
regards you as his equal, and, while despising the opinion of others,
feels wounded by his mother's disapproval. Is it not then your duty to
abide patiently as mediator between the king, the kingdom and your loved
ones, and so, by your own timely reproofs, to humble the pride of your
son, that he may be spared that deeper humiliation which, if not thus
averted, the gods will surely inflict."

"You are right," answered the blind woman, "but I feel only too well that
my influence over him is but small. He has been so much accustomed to
have his own will, that he will follow no advice, even if it come from
his mother's lips."

"But he must at least hear it," answered Croesus, "and that is much, for
even if he refuse to obey, your counsels will, like divine voices,
continue to make themselves heard within him, and will keep him back from
many a sinful act. I will remain your ally in this matter; for, as
Cambyses' dying father appointed me the counsellor of his son in word and
deed, I venture occasionally a bold word to arrest his excesses. Ours is
the only blame from which he shrinks: we alone can dare to speak our
opinion to him. Let us courageously do our duty in this our office: you,
moved by love to Persia and your son, and I by thankfulness to that great
man to whom I owe life and freedom, and whose son Cambyses is. I know
that you bemoan the manner in which he has been brought up; but such late
repentance must be avoided like poison. For the errors of the wise the
remedy is reparation, not regret; regret consumes the heart, but the
effort to repair an error causes it to throb with a noble pride."

"In Egypt," said Nitetis, "regret is numbered among the forty-two deadly
sins. One of our principal commandments is, 'Thou shalt not consume thine
heart.'"

[In the Ritual of the Dead (indeed in almost every Papyrus of the
Dead) we meet with a representation of the soul, whose heart is
being weighed and judged. The speech made by the soul is called the
negative justification, in which she assures the 42 judges of the
dead, that she has not committed the 42 deadly sins which she
enumerates. This justification is doubly interesting because it
contains nearly the entire moral law of Moses, which last, apart
from all national peculiarities and habits of mind, seems to contain
the quintessence of human morality--and this we find ready
paragraphed in our negative justification. Todtenbuch ed. Lepsius.
125. We cannot discuss this question philosophically here, but the
law of Pythagoras, who borrowed so much from Egypt, and the contents
of which are the same, speaks for our view. It is similar in form
to the Egyptian.]

"There you remind me," said Croesus "that I have undertaken to arrange
for your instruction in the Persian customs, religion and language. I had
intended to withdraw to Barene, the town which I received as a gift from
Cyrus, and there, in that most lovely mountain valley, to take my rest;
but for your sake and for the king's, I will remain here and continue to
give you instruction in the Persian tongue. Kassandane herself will
initiate you in the customs peculiar to women at the Persian court, and
Oropastes, the high-priest, has been ordered by the king to make you
acquainted with the religion of Iran. He will be your spiritual, and I
your secular guardian."

At these words Nitetis, who had been smiling happily, cast down her eyes
and asked in a low voice: "Am I to become unfaithful to the gods of my
fathers, who have never failed to hear my prayers? Can I, ought I to
forget them?"

"Yes," said Kassandane decidedly, "thou canst, and it is thy bounden
duty, for a wife ought to have no friends but those her husband calls
such. The gods are a man's earliest, mightiest and most faithful friends,
and it therefore becomes thy duty, as a wife, to honor them, and to close
thine heart against strange gods and superstitions, as thou wouldst close
it against strange lovers."

"And," added Croesus, "we will not rob you of your deities; we will only
give them to you under other names. As Truth remains eternally the same,
whether called 'maa', as by the Egyptians, or 'Aletheia' as by the
Greeks, so the essence of the Deity continues unchanged in all places and
times. Listen, my daughter: I myself, while still king of Lydia, often
sacrificed in sincere devotion to the Apollo of the Greeks, without a
fear that in so doing I should offend the Lydian sun-god Sandon; the
Ionians pay their worship to the Asiatic Cybele, and, now that I have
become a Persian, I raise my hands adoringly to Mithras, Ormuzd and the
lovely Anahita. Pythagoras too, whose teaching is not new to you,
worships one god only, whom he calls Apollo; because, like the Greek
sun-god, he is the source of light and of those harmonies which
Pythagoras holds to be higher than all else. And lastly, Xenophanes of
Colophon laughs at the many and divers gods of Homer and sets one single
deity on high--the ceaselessly creative might of nature, whose essence
consists of thought, reason and eternity.

[A celebrated freethinker, who indulged in bold and independent
speculations, and suffered much persecution for his ridicule of the
Homeric deities. He flourished at the time of our history and lived
to a great age, far on into the fifth century. We have quoted some
fragments of his writings above. He committed his speculations also
to verse.]

"In this power everything has its rise, and it alone remains unchanged,
while all created matter must be continually renewed and perfected. The
ardent longing for some being above us, on whom we can lean when our own
powers fail,--the wonderful instinct which desires a faithful friend to
whom we can tell every joy and sorrow without fear of disclosure, the
thankfulness with which we behold this beautiful world and all the rich
blessings we have received--these are the feelings which we call
piety--devotion.

"These you must hold fast; remembering, however, at the same time, that
the world is ruled neither by the Egyptian, the Persian, nor the Greek
divinities apart from each other, but that all these are one; and that
one indivisible Deity, how different soever may be the names and
characters under which He is represented, guides the fate of men and
nations."

The two Persian women listened to the old man in amazement. Their
unpractised powers were unable to follow the course of his thoughts.
Nitetis, however, had understood him thoroughly, and answered: "My mother
Ladice was the pupil of Pythagoras, and has told me something like this
already; but the Egyptian priests consider such views to be sacrilegious,
and call their originators despisers of the gods. So I tried to repress
such thoughts; but now I will resist them no longer. What the good and
wise Croesus believes cannot possibly be evil or impious! Let Oropastes
come! I am ready to listen to his teaching. The god of Thebes, our Ammon,
shall be transformed into Ormuzd,--Isis or Hathor, into Anahita, and
those among our gods for whom I can find no likeness in the Persian
religion, I shall designate by the name of 'the Deity.'"

Croesus smiled. He had fancied, knowing how obstinately the Egyptians
clung to all they had received from tradition and education, that it
would have been more difficult for Nitetis to give up the gods of her
native land. He had forgotten that her mother was a Greek, and that the
daughters of Amasis had studied the doctrines of Pythagoras. Neither was
he aware how ardently Nitetis longed to please her proud lord and master.
Even Amasis, who so revered the Samian philosopher, who had so often
yielded to Hellenic influence, and who with good reason might be called a
free-thinking Egyptian, would sooner have exchanged life for death, than
his multiform gods for the one idea "Deity."

"You are a teachable pupil," said Croesus, laying his hand on her head,
"and as a reward, you shall be allowed either to visit Kassandane, or to
receive Atossa in the hanging-gardens, every morning, and every afternoon
until sunset."

This joyful news was received with loud rejoicings by Atossa, and with a
grateful smile by the Egyptian girl.

"And lastly," said Croesus, "I have brought some balls and hoops with me
from Sais, that you may be able to amuse yourselves in Egyptian fashion."

"Balls?" asked Atossa in amazement; "what can we do with the heavy wooden
things?"

"That need not trouble you," answered Croesus, laughing. "The balls I
speak of are pretty little things made of the skins of fish filled with
air, or of leather. A child of two years old can throw these, but you
would find it no easy matter even to lift one of those wooden balls with
which the Persian boys play. Are you content with me, Nitetis?"

[In Persia games with balls are still reckoned among the amusements
of the men. One player drives a wooden hall to the other, as in the
English game of cricket. Chardin (Voyage en Perse. III. p. 226.)
saw the game played by 300 players.]

"How can I thank you enough, my father?"

"And now listen to my plan for the division of your time. In the morning
you will visit Kassandane, chat with Atossa, and listen to the teaching
of your noble mother."

Here the blind woman bent her head in approval. "Towards noon I shall
come to teach you, and we can talk sometimes about Egypt and your loved
ones there, but always in Persian. You would like this, would you not?"

Nitetis smiled.

"Every second day, Oropastes will be in attendance to initiate you in the
Persian religion."

"I will take the greatest pains to comprehend him quickly."

"In the afternoon you can be with Atossa as long as you like. Does that
please you too?"

"O Croesus!" cried the young girl and kissed the old man's hand.



ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

A first impression is often a final one
Assigned sixty years as the limit of a happy life
At my age every year must be accepted as an undeserved gift
Cambyses had been spoiled from his earliest infancy
Devoid of occupation, envy easily becomes hatred
Easy to understand what we like to hear
Eros mocks all human efforts to resist or confine him
Eyes are much more eloquent than all the tongues in the world
For the errors of the wise the remedy is reparation, not regret
Greeks have not the same reverence for truth
He who is to govern well must begin by learning to obey
In war the fathers live to mourn for their slain sons
Inn, was to be found about every eighteen miles
Lovers are the most unteachable of pupils
The beautiful past is all he has to live upon
The gods cast envious glances at the happiness of mortals
Unwise to try to make a man happy by force
War is a perversion of nature
Ye play with eternity as if it were but a passing moment
Zeus pays no heed to lovers' oaths




AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS.

By Georg Ebers

Volume 5.




CHAPTER XIV.

The next day Nitetis removed to the country-house in the hanging-gardens,
and began a monotonous, but happy and industrious life there, according
to the rules laid down by Croesus. Every day she was carried to
Kassandane and Atossa in a closely shut-up litter. Nitetis soon began to
look upon the blind queen as a beloved and loving mother, and the merry,
spirited Atossa nearly made up to her for the loss of her sister Tachot,
so far away on the distant Nile. She could not have desired a better
companion than this gay, cheerful girl, whose wit and merriment
effectually prevented homesickness or discontent from settling in her
friend's heart. The gravity and earnestness of Nitetis' character were
brightened by Atossa's gaiety, and Atossa's exuberant spirits calmed and
regulated by the thoughtful nature of Nitetis.

Both Croesus and Kassandane were pleased and satisfied with their new
daughter and pupil, and Oropastes extolled her talents and industry daily
to Cambyses. She learnt the Persian language unusually well and quickly;
Cambyses only visited his mother when he hoped to find Nitetis there, and
presented her continually with rich dresses and costly jewels. But the
highest proof of his favor consisted in his abstaining from visiting her
at her house in the hanging-gardens, a line of conduct which proved that
he meant to include Nitetis in the small number of his real and lawful
wives, a privilege of which many a princess in his harem could not boast.

The grave, beautiful girl threw a strange spell over this strong,
turbulent man. Her presence alone seemed enough to soften his stubborn
will, and he would watch their games for hours, his eyes fixed on her
graceful movements. Once, when the ball had fallen into the water, the
king sprang in after it, regardless of his costly apparel. Nitetis
screamed on seeing his intention, but Cambyses handed her the dripping
toy with the words: "Take care or I shall be obliged to frighten you
again." At the same time he drew from his neck a gold chain set with
jewels and gave it to the blushing girl, who thanked him with a look
which fully revealed her feelings for her future husband.

Croesus, Kassandane and Atossa soon noticed that Nitetis loved the king.
Her former fear of this proud and powerful being had indeed changed into
a passionate admiration. She felt as if she must die if deprived of his
presence. He seemed to her like a, glorious and omnipotent divinity, and
her wish to possess him presumptuous and sacrilegious; but its fulfilment
shone before her as an idea more beautiful even than return to her native
land and reunion with those who, till now, had been her only loved ones.

Nitetis herself was hardly conscious of the strength of her feelings, and
believed that when she trembled before the king's arrival it was from
fear, and not from her longing to behold him once more. Croesus, however,
had soon discovered the truth, and brought a deep blush to his favorite's
cheek by singing to her, old as he was, Anacreon's newest song, which he
had learnt at Sais from Ibykus

"We read the flying courser's name
Upon his side in marks of flame;
And by their turban'd brows alone
The warriors of the East are known.
But in the lover's glowing eyes,
The inlet to his bosom lies;
Through them we see the tiny mark,
Where Love has dropp'd his burning spark"
--Paegnion 15

And thus, in work and amusement, jest, earnest, and mutual love, the
weeks and months passed with Nitetis. Cambyses' command that she was to
be happy in his land had fulfilled itself, and by the time the
Mesopotamian spring-tide (January, February and March), which succeeds
the rainy month of December, was over, and the principal festival of the
Asiatics, the New Year, had been solemnized at the equinox, and the May
sun had begun to glow in the heavens, Nitetis felt quite at home in
Babylon, and all the Persians knew that the young Egyptian princess had
quite displaced Phaedime, the daughter of Otanes, in the king's favor,
and would certainly become his first and favorite wife.

Boges sank considerably in public estimation, for it was known that
Cambyses had ceased to visit the harem, and the chief of the eunuchs had
owed all his importance to the women, who were compelled to coax from
Cambyses whatever Boges desired for himself or others. Not a day passed
on which the mortified official did not consult with the supplanted
favorite Phaedime, as to the best means of ruining Nitetis, but their
most finely spun intrigues and artifices were baffled by the strength of
king's love and the blameless life of his royal bride.

Phaedime, impatient, mortified, and thirsting for vengeance, was
perpetually urging Boges to some decided act; he, on the contrary,
advised patience.

At last, however, after many weeks, he came to her full of joy,
exclaiming: "I have devised a little plan which must ruin the Egyptian
woman as surely as my name is Boges. When Bartja comes back, my treasure,
our hour will have arrived."

While saying this the creature rubbed his fat, soft hands, and, with his
perpetual fulsome smile, looked as if he were feasting on some good deed
performed. He did not, however, give Phaedime the faintest idea of the
nature of his "little plan," and only answered her pressing questions
with the words: "Better lay your head in a lion's jaws, than your secret
in the ears of a woman. I fully acknowledge your courage, but at the same
time advise you to remember that, though a man proves his courage in
action, a woman's is shown in obedience. Obey my words and await the
issue in patience." Nebenchari, the oculist, continued to attend the
queen, but so carefully abstained from all intercourse with the Persians,
that he became a proverb among them for his gloomy, silent ways. During
the day he was to be found in the queen's apartments, silently examining
large rolls of papyri, which he called the book of Athotes and the sacred
Ambres; at night, by permission of the king and the satraps of Babylon,
he often ascended one of the high towers on the walls, called
Tritantaechmes, in order to observe the stars.

The Chaldaean priests, the earliest astronomers, would have allowed him
to take his observations from the summit of the great temple of Bel,
their own observatory, but he refused this offer decidedly, and persisted
in his haughty reserve. When Oropastes attempted to explain to him the
celebrated Babylonian sun-dial, introduced by Anaximander of Miletus into
Greece, he turned from the Magian with a scornful laugh, saying: "We knew
all this, before you knew the meaning of an hour."

Nitetis had shown Nebenchari much kindness, yet he took no interest in
her, seemed indeed to avoid her purposely, and on her asking whether she
had displeased or offended him, answered: "For me you are a stranger. How
can I reckon those my friends, who can so gladly and so quickly forget
those they loved best, their gods, and the customs of their native land?"

Boges quickly discovered this state of feeling on the part of Nebenchari,
and took much pains to secure him as an ally, but the physician rejected
the eunuch's flatteries, gifts, and attentions with dignity.

No sooner did an Angare appear in the court of the palace with despatches
for the king, than Boges hastened to enquire whether news from the Tapuri
had arrived.

At length the desired messenger appeared, bringing word that the rebels
were subdued, and Bartja on the point of returning.

Three weeks passed--fresh messengers arrived from day to day announcing
the approach of the victorious prince; the streets glittered once more in
festal array, the army entered the gates of Babylon, Bartja thanked the
rejoicing multitude, and a short time after was in the arms of his blind
mother.

Cambyses received his brother with undisguised warmth, and took him to
the queen's apartments, when he knew that Nitetis would be there.

For he was sure the Egyptian girl loved him; his previous jealousy seemed
a silly fancy now, and he wished to give Bartja an opportunity of seeing
how entirely he trusted his bride.

Cambyses' love had made him mild and gentle, unwearied in giving and in
doing good. His wrath slumbered for a season, and around the spot where
the heads of those who had suffered capital punishment were exhibited as
a warning to their fellow-men, the hungry, screeching crows now wheeled,
in vain.

The influence of the insinuating eunuchs (a race who had never been seen
within the gates of Cyrus until the incorporation of Media, Lydia and
Babylon, in which countries they had filled many of the highest offices
at court and in the state), was now waning, and the importance of the
noble Achaemenidae increasing in proportion; for Cambyses applied oftener
to the latter than to the former for advice in matters relating to the
welfare of the country.

The aged Hystaspes, father of Darius, governor of Persia proper and
cousin to the king; Pharnaspes, Cambyses' grandfather on the mother's
side; Otanes, his uncle and father-in-law. Intaphernes, Aspathines,
Gobryas, Hydarnes, the general Megabyzus, father of Zopyrus, the envoy
Prexaspes, the noble Croesus, and the old warrior Araspes; in short, the
flower of the ancient Persian aristocracy, were now at the court of
Cambyses.

To this must be added that the entire nobility of the realm, the satraps
or governors of the provinces, and the chief priests from every town were
also assembled at Babylon to celebrate the king's birthday.

[The king's birthday was the principal feast among the Persians, and
called "the perfect feast." Herod. I. 133. Birthdays were held in
much honor by the ancients, and more especially those of their
kings. Both the great bilingual Egyptian tablets, which we possess
(the Rosetta stone, line 10 of hieroglyphic text; Gr. text, line 46.
and the edict of Canopus ed. Lepsius, hieroglyphic text 1. 3. Gr.
text 1. 5.) mention the celebration of the birthday of one of the
Ptolemies; and even of Rameses II., so early as the 14th century B.
C. we read: "There was joy in heaven on his birthday."]

The entire body of officials and deputies streamed from the provinces up
to the royal city, bringing presents to their ruler and good wishes; they
came also to take part in the great sacrifices at which horses, stags,
bulls and asses were slaughtered in thousands as offerings to the gods.

At this festival all the Persians received gifts, every man was allowed
to ask a petition of the king, which seldom remained unfulfilled, and in
every city the people were feasted at the royal expense. Cambyses had
commanded that his marriage with Nitetis should be celebrated eight days
after the birthday, and all the magnates of the realms should be invited
to the ceremony.

The streets of Babylon swarmed with strangers, the colossal palaces on
both shores of the Euphrates were overfilled, and all the houses stood
adorned in festal brightness.

The zeal thus displayed by his people, this vast throng of human beings,
--representing and bringing around him, as it were, his entire kingdom,
contributed not a little to raise the king's spirits.

His pride was gratified; and the only longing left in his heart had been
stilled by Nitetis' love. For the first time in his life he believed
himself completely happy, and bestowed his gifts, not only from a sense
of his duty as king of Persia, but because the act of giving was in
itself a pleasure.

Megabyzus could not extol the deeds of Bartja and his friends too highly.
Cambyses embraced the young warriors, gave them horses and gold chains,
called them "brothers" and reminded Bartja, that he had promised to grant
him a petition if he returned victorious.

At this Bartja cast down his eyes, not knowing at first in what form to
begin his request, and the king answered laughing: "Look, my friends; our
young hero is blushing like a girl! It seems I shall have to grant
something important; so he had better wait until my birthday, and then,
at supper, when the wine has given him courage, he shall whisper in my
ear what he is now afraid to utter. Ask much, Bartja, I am happy myself,
and wish all my friends to be happy too." Bartja only smiled in answer
and went to his mother; for he had not yet opened his heart to her on the
matter which lay so near it.

He was afraid of meeting with decided opposition; but Croesus had cleared
the way far him by telling Kassandane so much in praise of Sappho, her
virtues and her graces, her talents and skill, that Nitetis and Atossa
maintained she must have given the old man a magic potion, and
Kassandane, after a short resistance, yielded to her darling's
entreaties.

"A Greek woman the lawful wife of a Persian prince of the blood!" cried
the blind woman. "Unheard of! What will Cambyses say? How can we gain his
consent?"

"On that matter you may be at ease, my mother," answered Bartja, "I am as
certain that my brother will give his consent, as I am that Sappho will
prove an ornament and honor to our house."

"Croesus has already told me much in favor of this maiden," answered
Kassandane, "and it pleases me that thou hast at last resolved to marry;
but never-the-less this alliance does not seem suitable for a son of
Cyrus. And have you forgotten that the Achaemenidae; will probably refuse
to recognize the child of a Greek mother as their future king, if
Cambyses should remain childless?"

"Mother, I fear nothing; for my heart is not set upon the crown. And
indeed many a king of Persia has had a mother of far lower parentage than
my Sappho." I feel persuaded that when my relations see the precious
jewel I have won on the Nile, not one of them will chide me."

"The gods grant that Sappho may be equal to our Nitetis!" answered
Kassandane, "I love her as if she were my own child, and bless the day
which brought her to Persia. The warm light of her eyes has melted your
brother's hard heart; her kindness and gentleness bring beauty into the
night of my blind old age, and her sweet earnestness and gravity have
changed your sister Atossa from an unruly child into a gentle maiden. But
now call them, (they are playing in the garden), and we will tell them of
the new friend they are to gain through you."

"Pardon me, my mother," answered Bartja, "but I must beg you not to tell
my sister until we are sure of the king's consent."

"You are right, my son. We must conceal your wish, to save Nitetis and
Atossa from a possible disappointment. A bright hope unfulfilled is
harder to bear than an unexpected sorrow. So let us wait for your
brother's consent, and may the gods give their blessing!" Early in the
morning of the king's birthday the Persians offered their sacrifices on
the shores of the Euphrates. A huge altar of silver had been raised on an
artificial hill. On this a mighty fire had been kindled, from which
flames and sweet odors rose towards heaven. White-robed magi fed the fire
with pieces of daintily-cut sandal-wood, and stirred it with bundles of
rods.

A cloth, the Paiti-dhana, was bound round the heads of the priests, the
ends of which covered the mouth, and thus preserved the pure fire from
pollution by human breath.

[The Persians were ordered to hold this little square piece of cloth
before their mouths when they prayed. It was from 2 to 7 fingers
broad. Anquetil gives a drawing of it in his Zend-Avesia. Strabo
speaks of the Paiti-dhana p. 733. He says the ends of the cloth
used as a covering for the head hung down over the mouth.]

The victims had been slaughtered in a meadow near the river, the flesh
cut into pieces, sprinkled with salt, and laid out on tender grasses,
sprouts of clover, myrtle-blossoms, and laurel-leaves, that the beautiful
daughter of Ormuzd, the patient, sacred Earth, might not be touched by
aught that was dead or bleeding.

Oropastes, the chief Destur,--[Priest]--now drew near the fire and cast
fresh butter into it. The flames leapt up into the air and all the
Persians fell on their knees and hid their faces, in the belief that the
fire was now ascending to their great god and father. The Magian then
took a mortar, laid some leaves and stalks of the sacred herb Haomas
within it, crushed them and poured the ruddy juice, the food of the gods,
into the flames.

After this he raised his hands to heaven, and, while the other priests
continually fed the flames into a wilder blaze by casting in fresh
butter, sang a long prayer out of the sacred books. In this prayer the
blessing of the gods was called down on everything pure and good, but
principally on the king and his entire realm. The good spirits of light,
life and truth; of all noble deeds; of the Earth, the universal giver; of
the refreshing waters, the shining metals, the pastures, trees and
innocent creatures, were praised: the evil spirits of darkness; of lying,
the deceiver of mankind; of disease, death and sin; of the rigid cold;
the desolating heat; of all odious dirt and vermin, were cursed, together
with their father the malignant Ahriman. At the end all present joined in
singing the festival prayer: "Purity and glory are sown for them that are
pure and upright in heart."

The sacrificial ceremony was concluded with the king's prayer, and then
Cambyses, arrayed in his richest robes, ascended a splendid chariot drawn
by four snow-white Nicoean horses, and studded with topazes, cornelian
and amber, and was conveyed to the great reception-hall, where the
deputies and officers from the provinces awaited him.

As soon as the king and his retinue had departed, the priests selected,
for themselves, the best pieces of the flesh which had been offered in
sacrifice, and allowed the thronging crowd to take the rest.

The Persian divinities disdained sacrifices in the light of food,
requiring only the souls of the slaughtered animals, and many a poor man,
especially among the priests, subsisted on the flesh of the abundant
royal sacrifices.

The prayer offered up by the Magian was a model for those of the Persian