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 under-
officers) there could be no fun or merry-making unless I took a share in
it.  My predecessor king Hophra sent us against Cyrene.  Seized with
thirst in the desert, we refused to go on; and a suspicion that the king
intended to sacrifice us to the Greek mercenaries drove the army to open
mutiny.  In my usual joking manner I called out to my friends: 'You can
never get on without a king, take me for your ruler; a merrier you will
never find!'  The soldiers caught the words.  'Amasis will be our king,'
ran through the ranks from man to man, and, in a few hours more, they
came to me with shouts, and acclamations of 'The good, jovial Amasis for
our King!'  One of my boon companions set a field-marshal's helmet on my
head: I made the joke earnest, and we defeated Hophra at Momempliis.
The people joined in the conspiracy, I ascended the throne, and men
pronounced me fortunate.  Up to that time I had been every Egyptian's
friend, and now I was the enemy of the best men in the nation.

"The priests swore allegiance to me, and accepted me as a member of their
caste, but only in the hope of guiding me at their will.  My former
superiors in command either envied me, or wished to remain on the same
terms of intercourse as formerly.  But this would have been inconsistent
with my new position, and have undermined my authority.  One day,
therefore, when the officers of the host were at one of my banquets and
attempting, as usual, to maintain their old convivial footing, I showed
them the golden basin in which their feet had been washed before sitting
down to meat; five days later, as they were again drinking at one of my
revels, I caused a golden image of the great god Ra be placed upon the
richly-ornamented banqueting-table.

[Ra, with the masculine article Phra, must be regarded as the
central point of the sun-worship of the Egyptians, which we consider
to have been the foundation of their entire religion.  He was more
especially worshipped at Heliopolis.  Plato, Eudoxus, and probably
Pythagoras also, profited by the teaching of his priests.  The
obelisks, serving also as memorial monuments on which the names and
deeds of great kings were recorded, were sacred to him, and Pliny
remarks of them that they represented the rays of the sun.  He was
regarded as the god of light, the director of the entire visible
creation, over which he reigned, as Osiris over the world of
spirits.]

"On perceiving it, they fell down to worship.  As they rose from their
knees, I took the sceptre, and holding it up on high with much solemnity,
exclaimed: 'In five days an artificer has transformed the despised vessel
into which ye spat and in which men washed your feet, into this divine
image.  Such a vessel was I, but the Deity, which can fashion better and
more quickly than a goldsmith, has made me your king.  Bow down then
before me and worship.  He who henceforth refuses to obey, or is
unmindful of the reverence due to the king, is guilty of death!'

"They fell down before me, every one, and I saved my authority, but lost
my friends.  As I now stood in need of some other prop, I fixed on the
Hellenes, knowing that in all military qualifications one Greek is worth
more than five Egyptians, and that with this assistance I should be able
to carry out those measures which I thought beneficial.

"I kept the Greek mercenaries always round me, I learnt their language,
and it was they who brought to me the noblest human being I ever met,
Pythagoras.  I endeavored to introduce Greek art and manners among
ourselves, seeing what folly lay in a self-willed adherence to that which
has been handed down to us, when it is in itself bad and unworthy, while
the good seed lay on our Egyptian soil, only waiting to be sown.

"I portioned out the whole land to suit my purposes, appointed the best
police in the world, and accomplished much; but my highest aim, namely:
to infuse into this country, at once so gay and so gloomy, the spirit and
intellect of the Greeks, their sense of beauty in form, their love of
life and joy in it, this all was shivered on the same rock which
threatens me with overthrow and ruin whenever I attempt to accomplish
anything new.  The priests are my opponents, my masters, they hang like a
dead weight upon me.  Clinging with superstitious awe to all that is old
and traditionary, abominating everything foreign, and regarding every
stranger as the natural enemy of their authority and their teaching, they
can lead the most devout and religious of all nations with a power that
has scarcely any limits.  For this I am forced to sacrifice all my plans,
for this I see my life passing away in bondage to their severe
ordinances, this will rob my death-bed of peace, and I cannot be secure
that this host of proud mediators between god and man will allow me to
rest even in my grave!"

"By Zeus our saviour, with all thy good fortune, thou art to be pitied!"
interrupted Croesus sympathetically, "I understand thy misery; for though
I have met with many an individual who passed through life darkly and
gloomily, I could not have believed that an entire race of human beings
existed, to whom a gloomy, sullen heart was as natural as a poisonous
tooth to the serpent.  Yet it is true, that on my journey hither and
during my residence at this court I have seen none but morose and gloomy
countenances among the priesthood.  Even the youths, thy immediate
attendants, are never seen to smile; though cheerfulness, that sweet gift
of the gods, usually belongs to the young, as flowers to spring."

"Thou errest," answered Amasis, "in believing this gloom to be a
universal characteristic of the Egyptians.  It is true that our religion
requires much serious thought.  There are few nations, however, who have
so largely the gift of bantering fun and joke: or who on the occasion of
a festival, can so entirely forget themselves and everything else but the
enjoyments of the moment; but the very sight of a stranger is odious to
the priests, and the moroseness which thou observest is intended as
retaliation on me for my alliance with the strangers.  Those very boys,
of whom thou spakest, are the greatest torment of my life.  They perform
for me the service of slaves, and obey my slightest nod.  One might
imagine that the parents who devote their children to this service, and
who are the highest in rank among the priesthood, would be the most
obedient and reverential servants of the king whom they profess to honor
as divine; but believe me, Croesus, just in this very act of devotion,
which no ruler can refuse to accept without giving offence, lies the most
crafty, scandalous calculation.  Each of these youths is my keeper, my
spy.  They watch my smallest actions and report them at once to the
priests."

"But how canst thou endure such an existence?  Why not banish these spies
and select servants from the military caste, for instance?  They would be
quite as useful as the priests."

"Ah! if I only could, if I dared!"  exclaimed Amasis loudly.  And then,
as if frightened at his own rashness, he continued in a low voice, "I
believe that even here I am being watched.  To-morrow I will have that
grove of fig-trees yonder uprooted.  The young priest there, who seems so
fond of gardening, has other fruit in his mind besides the half-ripe figs
that he is so slowly dropping into his basket.  While his hand is
plucking the figs, his ear gathers the words that fall from the mouth of
his king."

"But, by our father Zeus, and by Apollo--"

"Yes, I understand thy indignation and I share it; but every position has
its duties, and as a king of a people who venerate tradition as the
highest divinity, I must submit, at least in the main, to the ceremonies
handed down through thousands of years.  Were I to burst these fetters,
I know positively that at my death my body would remain unburied; for,
know that the priests sit in judgment over every corpse, and deprive the
condemned of rest, even in the grave."

[This well-known custom among the ancient Egyptians is confirmed,
not only by many Greek narrators, but by the laboriously erased
inscriptions discovered in the chambers of some tombs.]

"Why care about the grave?"  cried Croesus, becoming angry.  "We live for
life, not for death!"

"Say rather," answered Amasis rising from his seat, "we, with our Greek
minds, believe a beautiful life to be the highest good.  But Croesus, I
was begotten and nursed by Egyptian parents, nourished on Egyptian food,
and though I have accepted much that is Greek, am still, in my innermost
being, an Egyptian.  What has been sung to us in our childhood, and
praised as sacred in our youth, lingers on in the heart until the day
which sees us embalmed as mummies.  I am an old man and have but a short
span yet to run, before I reach the landmark which separates us from that
farther country.  For the sake of life's few remaining days, shall I
willingly mar Death's thousands of years?  No, my friend, in this point
at least I have remained an Egyptian, in believing, like the rest of my
countrymen, that the happiness of a future life in the kingdom of
Osiris, depends on the preservation of my body, the habitation of the
soul.

[Each human soul was considered as a part of the world-soul Osiris,
was united to him after the death of the body, and thenceforth took
the name of Osiris.  The Egyptian Cosmos consisted of the three
great realms, the Heavens, the Earth and the Depths.  Over the vast
ocean which girdles the vault of heaven, the sun moves in a boat or
car drawn by the planets and fixed stars.  On this ocean too the
great constellations circle in their ships, and there is the kingdom
of the blissful gods, who sit enthroned above this heavenly ocean
under a canopy of stars.  The mouth of this great stream is in the
East, where the sun-god rises from the mists and is born again as a
child every morning.  The surface of the earth is inhabited by human
beings having a share in the three great cosmic kingdoms.  They
receive their soul from the heights of heaven, the seat and source
of light; their material body is of the earth; and the appearance or
outward form by which one human being is distinguished from another
at sight--his phantom or shadow--belongs to the depths.  At death,
soul, body, and shadow separate from one another.  The soul to
return to the place from whence it came, to Heaven, for it is a part
of God (of Osiris); the body, to be committed to the earth from
which it was formed in the image of its creator; the phantom or
shadow, to descend into the depths, the kingdom of shadows.  The
gate to this kingdom was placed in the West among the sunset hills,
where the sun goes down daily,--where he dies.  Thence arise the
changeful and corresponding conceptions connected with rising and
setting, arriving and departing, being born and dying.  The careful
preservation of the body after death from destruction, not only
through the process of inward decay, but also through violence or
accident, was in the religion of ancient Egypt a principal condition
(perhaps introduced by the priests on sanitary grounds) on which
depended the speedy deliverance of the soul, and with this her
early, appointed union with the source of Light and Good, which two
properties were, in idea, one and indivisible.  In the Egyptian
conceptions the soul was supposed to remain, in a certain sense,
connected with the body during a long cycle of solar years.  She
could, however, quit the body from time to time at will, and could
appear to mortals in various forms and places; these appearances
differed according to the hour, and were prescribed in exact words
and delineations.]

"But enough of these matters; thou wilt find it difficult to enter into
such thoughts.  Tell me rather what thou thinkest of our temples and
pyramids."

Croesus, after reflecting a moment, answered with a smile: "Those huge
pyramidal masses of stone seem to me creations of the boundless desert,
the gaily painted temple colonnades to be the children of the Spring; but
though the sphinxes lead up to your temple gates, and seem to point the
way into the very shrines themselves, the sloping fortress-like walls of
the Pylons, those huge isolated portals, appear as if placed there to
repel entrance.  Your many-colored hieroglyphics likewise attract the
gaze, but baffle the inquiring spirit by the mystery that lies within
their characters.  The images of your manifold gods are everywhere to be
seen; they crowd on our gaze, and yet who knows not that their real is
not their apparent significance? that they are mere outward images of
thoughts accessible only to the few, and, as I have heard, almost
incomprehensible in their depth?  My curiosity is excited everywhere,
and my interest awakened, but my warm love of the beautiful feels itself
in no way attracted.  My intellect might strain to penetrate the secrets
of your sages, but my heart and mind can never be at home in a creed
which views life as a short pilgrimage to the grave, and death as the
only true life!"

"And yet," said Amasis, "Death has for us too his terrors, and we do all
in our power to evade his grasp.  Our physicians would not be celebrated
and esteemed as they are, if we did not believe that their skill could
prolong our earthly existence.  This reminds me of the oculist Nebenchari
whom I sent to Susa, to the king.  Does he maintain his reputation? is
the king content with him?"

"Very much so," answered Croesus.  "He has been of use to many of the
blind; but the king's mother is alas! still sightless.  It was Nebenchari
who first spoke to Cambyses of the charms of thy daughter Tachot.  But we
deplore that he understands diseases of the eye alone.  When the Princess
Atossa lay ill of fever, he was not to be induced to bestow a word of
counsel."

"That is very natural; our physicians are only permitted to treat one
part of the body.  We have aurists, dentists and oculists, surgeons for
fractures of the bone, and others for internal diseases.  By the ancient
priestly law a dentist is not allowed to treat a deaf man, nor a surgeon
for broken bones a patient who is suffering from a disease of the bowels,
even though he should have a first rate knowledge of internal complaints.
This law aims at securing a great degree of real and thorough knowledge;
an aim indeed, pursued by the priests (to whose caste the physicians
belong) with a most praiseworthy earnestness in all branches of science.
Yonder lies the house of the high-priest Neithotep, whose knowledge of
astronomy and geometry was so highly praised, even by Pythagoras.  It
lies next to the porch leading into the temple of the goddess Neith, the
protectress of Sais.  Would I could show thee the sacred grove with its
magnificent trees, the splendid pillars of the temple with capitals
modelled from the lotus-flower, and the colossal chapel which I caused to
be wrought from a single piece of granite, as an offering to the goddess;
but alas! entrance is strictly refused to strangers by the priests.
Come, let us seek my wife and daughter; they have conceived an affection
for thee, and indeed it is my wish that thou shouldst gain a friendly
feeling towards this poor maiden before she goes forth with thee to the
strange land, and to the strange nation whose princess she is to become.
Wilt thou not adopt and take her under thy care?"

"On that thou may'st with fullest confidence rely," replied Croesus with
warmth, returning the pressure of Amasis' hand.  "I will protect thy
Nitetis as if I were her father; and she will need my help, for the
apartments of the women in the Persian palaces are dangerous ground.
But she will meet with great consideration.  Cambyses may be contented
with his choice, and will be highly gratified that thou hast entrusted
him with thy fairest child.  Nebenchari had only spoken of Tachot, thy
second daughter."

"Nevertheless  I  will send my beautiful  Nitetis.  Tachot is so tender,
that she could scarcely endure the fatigues of the journey and the pain
of separation.  Indeed were I to follow the dictates of my own heart,
Nitetis should never leave us for Persia.  But Egypt stands in need of
peace, and I was a king before I became a father!"




CHAPTER V.

The other members of the Persian embassy had returned to Sais from their
excursion up the Nile to the pyramids.  Prexaspes alone, the ambassador
from Cambyses, had already set out for Persia, in order to inform the
king of the successful issue of his suit.

The palace of Amasis was full of life and stir.  The huge building was
filled in all parts by the followers of the embassy, nearly three hundred
in number, and by the high guests themselves, to whom every possible
attention was paid.  The courts of the palace swarmed with guards and
officials, with young priests and slaves, all in splendid festal raiment.

On this day it was the king's intention to make an especial display of
the wealth and splendor of his court, at a festival arranged in honor of
his daughter's betrothal.

The lofty reception-hall opening on to the gardens, with its ceiling sown
with thousands of golden stars and supported by gaily-painted columns,
presented a magic appearance.  Lamps of colored papyrus hung against the
walls and threw a strange light on the scene, something like that when
the sun's rays strike through colored glass.  The space between the
columns and the walls was filled with choice plants, palms, oleanders,
pomegranates, oranges and roses, behind which an invisible band of harp
and flute-players was stationed, who received the guests with strains of
monotonous, solemn music.

The floor of this hall was paved in black and white, and in the middle
stood elegant tables covered with dishes of all kinds, cold roast meats,
sweets, well-arranged baskets of fruit and cake, golden jugs of wine,
glass drinking-cups and artistic flower-vases.

A multitude of richly-dressed slaves under direction of the high-steward,
busied themselves in handing these dishes to the guests, who, either
standing around, or reclining on sumptuous seats, entertained themselves
in conversation with their friends.

Both sexes and all ages were to be found in this assembly.  As the women
entered, they received charming little nosegays from the young priests
in the personal service of the king, and many a youth of high degree
appeared in the hall with flowers, which he not only offered to her he
loved best, but held up for her to smell.

The Egyptian men, who were dressed as we have already seen them at the
reception of the Persian embassy, behaved towards the women with a
politeness that might almost be termed submissive.  Among the latter few
could pretend to remarkable beauty, though there were many bewitching
almond-shaped eyes, whose loveliness was heightened by having their lids
dyed with the eye-paint called "mestem."  The majority wore their hair
arranged in the same manner; the wealth of waving brown locks floated
back over the shoulders and was brushed behind the ears, one braid being
left on each side to hang over the temples to the breast.  A broad diadem
confined these locks, which as the maids knew, were quite as often the
wig-maker's work as Nature's.  Many ladies of the court wore above their
foreheads a lotus-flower, whose stem drooped on the hair at the back.

They carried fans of bright feathers in their delicate hands.  These were
loaded with rings; the finger-nails were stained red, according to
Egyptian custom, and gold or silver bands were worn above the elbow, and
at the wrists and ankles.

[This custom (of staining finger-nails) is still prevalent in the
East; the plant Shenna, Laosonia spinosa, called by Pliny XIII.
Cyprus, being used for the purpose.  The Egyptian government has
prohibited the dye, but it will be difficult to uproot the ancient
custom.  The pigment for coloring the eyelids, mentioned in the
text, is also still employed.  The Papyrus Ebers alludes to the
Arabian kohl or antimony, which is frequently mentioned under the
name of "mestem" on monuments belonging to the time of the
Pharaohs.]

Their robes were beautiful and costly, and in many cases so cut as to
leave the right breast uncovered.  Bartja, the young Persian prince,
among the men, and Nitetis, the Pharaoh's daughter, among the women, were
equally conspicuous for their superior beauty, grace and charms.  The
royal maiden wore a transparent rose-colored robe, in her black hair were
fresh roses, she walked by the side of her sister, the two robed alike,
but Nitetis pale as the lotus-flower in her mother's hair.

Ladice, the queen, by birth a Greek, and daughter of Battus of Cyrene,
walked by the side of Amasis and presented the young Persians to her
children.  A light lace robe was thrown over her garment of purple,
embroidered with gold; and on her beautiful Grecian head she wore the
Urmus serpent, the ornament peculiar to Egyptian queens.

Her countenance was noble yet charming, and every movement betrayed the
grace only to be imparted by a Greek education.

Amasis, in making choice of this queen, after the death of his second
wife, (the Egyptian Tentcheta, mother of Psamtik the heir to the throne,)
had followed his prepossession in favor of the Greek nation and defied
the wrath of the priests.

The two girls at Ladice's side, Tachot and Nitetis, were called twin-
sisters, but showed no signs of that resemblance usually to be found in
twins.

Tachot was a fair, blue-eyed girl, small, and delicately built; Nitetis,
on the other hand, tall and majestic, with black hair and eyes, evinced
in every action that she was of royal blood.

"How pale thou look'st, my child!"  said Ladice, kissing Nitetis' cheek.
"Be of good courage, and meet thy future bravely.  Here is the noble
Bartja, the brother of thy future husband."

Nitetis raised her dark, thoughtful eyes and fixed them long and
enquiringly on the beautiful youth.  He bowed low before the blushing
maiden, kissed her garment, and said:

"I salute thee, as my future queen and sister!  I can believe that thy
heart is sore at parting from thy home, thy parents, brethren and
sisters; but be of good courage; thy husband is a great hero, and a
powerful king; our mother is the noblest of women, and among the Persians
the beauty and virtue of woman is as much revered as the life-giving
light of the sun.  Of thee, thou sister of the lily Nitetis, whom, by her
side I might venture to call the rose, I beg forgiveness, for robbing
thee of thy dearest friend."

As he said these words he looked eagerly into Tachot's beautiful blue
eyes; she bent low, pressing her hand upon her heart, and gazed on him
long after Amasis had drawn him away to a seat immediately opposite the
dancing-girls, who were just about to display their skill for the
entertainment of the guests.  A thin petticoat was the only clothing of
these girls, who threw and wound their flexible limbs to a measure played
on harp and tambourine.  After the dance appeared Egyptian singers and
buffoons for the further amusement of the company.

At length some of the courtiers forsook the hall, their grave demeanor
being somewhat overcome by intoxication.

[Unfortunately women, as well as men, are to be seen depicted on the
monuments in an intoxicated condition.  One man is being carried
home, like a log of wood, on the heads of his servants.  Wilkinson
II. 168.  Another is standing on his head II. 169. and several
ladies are in the act of returning the excessive quantity which they
have drunk.  Wilkinson II. 167.  At the great Techu-festival at
Dendera intoxication seems to have been as much commanded as at the
festivals of Dionysus under the Ptolemies, one of whom (Ptolemy
Dionysus) threatened those who remained sober with the punishment of
death.  But intoxication was in general looked upon by the Egyptians
as a forbidden and despicable vice.  In the Papyrus Anastasi IV.,
for instance, we read these words on a drunkard: "Thou art as a
sanctuary without a divinity, as a house without bread," and
further: "How careftilly should men avoid beer (hek)."  A number of
passages in the Papyrus denounce drunkards.]

The women were carried home in gay litters by slaves with torches; and
only the highest military commanders, the Persian ambassadors and a few
officials, especial friends of Amasis, remained behind.  These were
retained by the master of the ceremonies, and conducted to a richly-
ornamented saloon, where a gigantic wine-bowl standing on a table adorned
in the Greek fashion, invited to a drinking-bout.

Amasis was seated on a high arm-chair at the head of the table; at his
left the youthful Bartja, at his right the aged Croesus.  Besides these
and the other Persians, Theodorus and Ibykus, the friends of Polykrates,
already known to us, and Aristomachus, now commander of the Greek body-
guard, were among the king's guests.

Amasis, whom we have just heard in such grave discourse with Croesus, now
indulged in jest and satire.  He seemed once more the wild officer, the
bold reveller of the olden days.

His sparkling, clever jokes, at times playful, at times scornful, flew
round among the revellers.  The guests responded in loud, perhaps often
artificial laughter, to their king's jokes, goblet after goblet was
emptied, and the rejoicings had reached their highest point, when
suddenly the master of the ceremonies appeared, bearing a small gilded
mummy; and displaying it to the gaze of the assembly, exclaimed.  "Drink,
jest, and be merry, for all too soon ye shall become like unto this!"

[Wilkinson gives drawings of these mummies (II. 410.) hundreds of
which were placed in the tombs, and have been preserved to us.
Lucian was present at a banquet, when they were handed round.  The
Greeks seem to have adopted this custom, but with their usual talent
for beautifying all they touched, substituted a winged figure of
death for the mummy. Maxims similar to the following one are by no
means rare.  "Cast off all care; be mindful only of pleasure until
the day cometh when then must depart on the journey, whose goal is
the realm of silence!"  Copied from the tomb of Neferhotep to Abd-
el-Qurnah.]

"Is it your custom thus to introduce death at all your banquets?"  said
Bartja, becoming serious, "or is this only a jest devised for to-day by
your master of the ceremonies?"

"Since the earliest ages," answered Amasis, "it has been our custom to
display these mummies at banquets, in order to increase the mirth of the
revellers, by reminding them that one must enjoy the time while it is
here.  Thou, young butterfly, hast still many a long and joyful year
before thee; but we, Croesus, we old men, must hold by this firmly.  Fill
the goblets, cup-bearer, let not one moment of our lives be wasted!  Thou
canst drink well, thou golden-haired Persian!  Truly the great gods have
endowed thee not only with beautiful eyes, and blooming beauty, but with
a good throat!  Let me embrace thee, thou glorious youth, thou rogue!
What thinkest thou Croesus? my daughter Tachot can speak of nothing else
than of this beardless youth, who seems to have quite turned her little
head with his sweet looks and words.  Thou needest not to blush, young
madcap!  A man such as thou art, may well look at king's daughters; but
wert thou thy father Cyrus himself, I could not allow my Tachot to leave
me for Persia!"

"Father!"  whispered the crown-prince Psamtik, interrupting this
conversation.  "Father, take care what you say, and remember Phanes."
The king turned a frowning glance on his son; but following his advice,
took much less part in the conversation, which now became more general.

The seat at the banquet-table, occupied by Aristomachus, placed him
nearly opposite to Croesus, on whom, in total silence and without once
indulging in a smile at the king's jests, his eyes had been fixed from
the beginning of the revel.  When the Pharaoh ceased to speak, he
accosted Croesus suddenly with the following question: "I would know,
Lydian, whether the snow still covered the mountains, when ye left
Persia."

Smiling, and a little surprised at this strange speech, Croesus answered:
"Most of the Persian mountains were green when we started for Egypt four
months ago; but there are heights in the land of Cambyses on which, even
in the hottest seasons, the snow never melts, and the glimmer of their
white crests we could still perceive, as we descended into the plains."

The Spartan's face brightened visibly, and Croesus, attracted by this
serious, earnest man, asked his name.  "My name is Aristomachus."

"That name seems known to me."

"You were acquainted with many Hellenes, and my name is common among
them."

"Your dialect would bespeak you my opinion a Spartan."

"I was one once."

"And now no more?"

"He who forsakes his native land without permission, is worthy of death."

"Have you forsaken it with your own free-will?"

"Yes."

"For what reason?"

"To escape dishonor."

"What was your crime?"

"I had committed none."

"You were accused unjustly?"

"Yes."

"Who was the author of your ill-fortune?"

"Yourself."

Croesus started from his seat.  The serious tone and gloomy face of
the Spartan proved that this was no jest, and those who sat near the
speakers, and had been following this strange dialogue, were alarmed and
begged Aristomachus to explain his words.

He hesitated and seemed unwilling to speak; at last, however, at the
king's summons, he began thus:

"In obedience to the oracle, you, Croesus, had chosen us Lacedaemonians,
as the most powerful among the Hellenes, to be your allies against the
might of Persia; and you gave us gold for the statue of Apollo on Mount
Thornax.  The ephori, on this, resolved to present you with a gigantic
bronze wine-bowl, richly wrought.  I was chosen as bearer of this gift.
Before reaching Sardis our ship was wrecked in a storm.  The wine-cup
sank with it, and we reached Samos with nothing but our lives.  On
returning home I was accused by enemies, and those who grudged my good
fortune, of having sold both ship and wine-vessel to the Samians.  As
they could not convict me of the crime, and had yet determined on my
ruin, I was sentenced to two days' and nights' exposure on the pillory.
My foot was chained to it during the night; but before the morning of
disgrace dawned, my brother brought me secretly a sword, that my honor
might he saved, though at the expense of my life.  But I could not die
before revenging myself on the men who had worked my ruin; and therefore,
cutting the manacled foot from my leg, I escaped, and hid in the rushes
on the banks of the Furotas.  My brother brought me food and drink in
secret; and after two months I was able to walk on the wooden leg you now
see.  Apollo undertook my revenge; he never misses his mark, and my two
worst opponents died of the plague.  Still I durst not return home, and
at length took ship from Gythium to fight against the Persians under you,
Croesus.  On landing at Teos, I heard that you were king no longer, that
the mighty Cyrus, the father of yonder beautiful youth, had conquered the
powerful province of Lydia in a few weeks, and reduced the richest of
kings to beggary."

Every guest gazed at Aristomachus in admiration.  Croesus shook his hard
hand; and Bartja exclaimed: "Spartan, I would I could take you back with
me to Susa, that my friends there might see what I have seen myself, the
most courageous, the most honorable of men!"

"Believe me, boy," returned Aristomachus smiling, every Spartan would
have done the same.  In our country it needs more courage to be a coward
than a brave man."

"And you, Bartja," cried Darius, the Persian king's cousin, "could you
have borne to stand at the pillory?"  Bartja reddened, but it was easy to
see that he too preferred death to disgrace.

"Zopyrus, what say you?"  asked Darius of the third young Persian.

"I could mutilate my own limbs for love of you two," answered he,
grasping unobserved the hands of his two friends.

With an ironical smile Psamtik sat watching this scene--the pleased faces
of Amasis, Croesus and Gyges, the meaning glances of the Egyptians, and
the contented looks with which Aristomachus gazed on the young heroes.

Ibykus now told of the oracle which had promised Aristomachus a return to
his native land, on the approach of the men from the snowy mountains, and
at the same time, mentioned the hospitable house of Rhodopis.

On hearing this name Psamtik grew restless; Croesus expressed a wish to
form the acquaintance of the Thracian matron, of whom AEsop had related
so much that was praiseworthy; and, as the other guests, many of whom had
lost consciousness through excessive drinking, were leaving the hall, the
dethroned monarch, the poet, the sculptor and the Spartan hero made an
agreement to go to Naukratis the next day, and there enjoy the
conversation of Rhodopis.




CHAPTER VI.