"Ladice the wife of Amasis and Queen of Upper and Lower Egypt, to her
daughter Nitetis, consort of the great King of Persia.

"It has not been our fault, my beloved daughter, that you have remained
so long without news from home.  The trireme by which we sent our letters
for you to AEgae was detained by Samian ships of war, or rather pirate
vessels, and towed into the harbor of Astypalaea.

"Polykrates' presumption increases with the continual success of his
undertakings, and since his victory over the Lesbians and Milesians, who
endeavored to put a stop to his depredations, not a ship is safe from the
attacks of his pirate vessels.

"Pisistratus is dead," but his sons are friendly to Polykrates.  Lygdamis
is under obligations to him, and cannot hold his own in Naxos without
Samian help.  He has won over the Amphiktyonic council to his side by
presenting the Apollo of Delos with the neighboring island of Rhenea.
His fifty-oared vessels, requiring to be manned by twenty-thousand men,
do immense damage to all the seafaring nations; yet not one dares to
attack him, as the fortifications of his citadel and his splendid harbor
are almost impregnable, and he himself always surrounded by a well-
drilled body-guard.

"Through the traders, who followed the fortunate Kolxus to the far west,
and these pirate ships, Samos will become the richest of islands and
Polykrates the most powerful of men, unless, as your father says, the
gods become envious of such unchanging good fortune and prepare him a
sudden and speedy downfall.

"In this fear Amasis advised Polykrates as his old friend, to put away
from him the thing he held dearest, and in such a manner that he might be
sure of never receiving it again.  Polykrates adopted this advice and
threw into the sea, from the top of the round tower on his citadel, his
most valuable signet-ring, an unusually large sardonyx held by two
dolphins.  This ring was the work of Theodorus, and a lyre, the symbol of
the ruler, was exquisitely engraved on the stone."

"Six days later, however, the ring was found by Polykrates' cooks in the
body of a fish.  He sent us news at once of this strange occurrence, but
instead of rejoicing your father shook his grey head sadly, saying: 'he
saw now it was impossible for any one to avoid his destiny!'  On the same
day he renounced the friendship of Polykrates and wrote him word, that he
should endeavor to forget him in order to avoid the grief of seeing his
friend in misfortune.

"Polykrates laughed at this message and returned the letters his pirates
had taken from our trireme, with a derisive greeting.  For the future all
your letters will be sent by Syria.

"You will ask me perhaps, why I have told you this long story, which has
so much less interest for you than any other home news.  I answer: to
prepare you for your father's state.  Would you have recognized the
cheerful, happy, careless Amasis in that gloomy answer to his Samian
friend?

"Alas, my husband has good reason to be sad, and since you left us, my
own eyes have seldom been free from tears.  My time is passed either at
the sick-bed of your sister or in comforting your father and guiding his
steps; and though much in need of sleep I am now taking advantage of
night to write these lines.

"Here I was interrupted by the nurses, calling me to your sister Tachot,
your own true friend.

"How often the dear child has called you in her feverish delirium; and
how carefully she treasures your likeness in wax, that wonderful portrait
which bears evidence not only of the height to which Greek art has risen,
but of the master hand of the great Theodorus.  To-morrow it will be sent
to AEgina, to be copied in gold, as the soft wax becomes injured from
frequent contact with your sister's burning hands and lips.

"And now, my daughter, you must summon all your courage to hear what I
need all my strength of mind to tell-the sad story of the fate which the
gods have decreed for our house.

"For three days after you left us Tachot wept incessantly.  Neither our
comforting words nor your father's good advice--neither offerings nor
prayers--could avail to lessen her grief or divert her mind.  At last on
the fourth day she ceased to weep and would answer our questions in a low
voice, as if resigned; but spent the greater part of every day sitting
silently at her wheel.  Her fingers, however, which used to be so
skilful, either broke the threads they tried to spin, or lay for hours
idle in her lap, while she was lost in dreams.  Your father's jokes, at
which she used to laugh so heartily, made no impression on her, and when
I endeavored to reason with her she listened in anxious suspense.

"If I kissed her forehead and begged her to control herself, she would
spring up, blushing deeply, and throw herself into my arms, then sit down
again to her wheel and begin to pull at the threads with almost frantic
eagerness; but in half an hour her hands would be lying idle in her lap
again and her eyes dreamily fixed, either on the ground, or on some spot
in the air.  If we forced her to take part in any entertainment, she
would wander among the guests totally uninterested in everything that was
passing.

"We took her with us on the great pilgrimage to Bubastis, during which
the Egyptians forget their usual gravity, and the shores of the Nile look
like a great stage where the wild games of the satyrs are being performed
by choruses, hurried on in the unrestrained wantonness of intoxication.
When she saw thus for the first time an entire people given up to the
wildest and most unfettered mirth and enjoyment, she woke up from her
silent brooding thoughts and began to weep again, as in the first days
after you went away.

"Sad and perplexed, we brought our poor child back to Sais.

"Her looks were not those of a common mortal.  She grew thinner, and we
all fancied, taller; her complexion was white, and almost transparent,
with a tender bloom on her cheek, which I can only liken to a young rose-
leaf or the first faint blush of sunrise.  Her eyes are still wonderfully
clear and bright.  It always seems to me as if they looked beyond the
heaven and earth which we see.

"As she continued to suffer more and more from heat in the head and
hands, while her tender limbs often shivered with a slight chill, we sent
to Thebes for Thutmes, the most celebrated physician for inward
complaints.

"The experienced priest shook his head on seeing your sister and foretold
a serious illness.  He forbade her to spin or to speak much.  Potions of
all kinds were given her to drink, her illness was discussed and
exorcised, the stars and oracles consulted, rich presents and sacrifices
made to the gods.  The priest of Hathor from the island of Philae sent us
a consecrated amulet, the priest of Osiris in Abydos a lock of hair from
the god himself set in gold, and Neithotep, the high-priest of our own
guardian goddess, set on foot a great sacrifice, which was to restore
your sister to health.

"But neither physicians nor charms were of any avail, and at last
Neithotep confessed that Tachot's stars gave but little ground for hope.
Just then, too, the sacred bull at Memphis died and the priests could
discover no heart in his entrails, which they interpreted as
prognosticating evil to our country.  They have not yet succeeded in
finding a new Apis, and believe that the gods are wroth with your
father's kingdom.  Indeed the oracle of Buto has declared that the
Immortals will show no favor to Egypt, until all the temples that have
been built in the black land for the worship of false gods are destroyed
and their worshippers banished.

[Egypt was called by its ancient inhabitants Cham, the black,
or black-earthed.]

"These evil omens have proved, alas, only too true.  Tachot fell ill of a
dreadful fever and lay for nine days hovering between life and death; she
is still so weak that she must be carried, and can move neither hand nor
foot.

"During the journey to Bubastis, Amasis' eyes, as so often happens here,
became inflamed.  Instead of sparing them, he continued to work as usual
from sunrise until mid-day, and while your sister was so ill he never
left her bed, notwithstanding all our entreaties.  But I will not enter
into particulars, my child.  His eyes grew worse, and on the very day
which brought us the news of your safe arrival in Babylon, Amasis became
totally blind.

"The cheerful, active man has become old, gloomy and decrepit since that
day.  The death of Apis, and the unfavorable constellations and oracles
weigh on his mind; his happy temper is clouded by the unbroken night in
which he lives; and the consciousness that he cannot stir a step alone
causes indecision and uncertainty.  The daring and independent ruler will
soon become a mere tool, by means of which the priests can work their
will.

"He spends hours in the temple of Neith, praying and offering sacrifices;
a number of workmen are employed there in building a tomb for his mummy,
and the same number at Memphis in levelling the temple which the Greeks
have begun building to Apollo.  He speaks of his own and Tachot's
misfortunes as a just punishment from the Immortals.

"His visits to Tachot's sick-bed are not the least comfort to her, for
instead of encouraging her kindly, he endeavors to convince her that she
too deserves punishinent from the gods.  He spends all his remarkable
eloquence in trying to persuade her, that she must forget this world
entirely and only try to gain the favor of Osiris and the judges of the
nether world by ceaseless prayers and sacrifices.  In this manner he only
tortures our poor sick child, for she has not lost her love of life.
Perhaps I have still too much of the Greek left in me for a queen of
Egypt; but really, death is so long and life so short, that I cannot help
calling even wise men foolish, when they devote the half of even this
short term to a perpetual meditation on the gloomy Hades.

"I have just been interrupted again.  Our great physician, Thutmes, came
to enquire after his patient.  He gives very little hope, and seems
surprised that her delicate frame has been able to resist death so long.
He said yesterday: 'She would have sunk long ago if not kept up by her
determined will, and a longing which gives her no rest.  If she ceased to
care for life, she could allow death to take her, just as we dream
ourselves asleep.  If, on the other hand, her wish could be gratified,
she might, (though this is hardly probable) live some years yet, but if
it remain but a short time longer unfulfilled, it will certainly wear her
to death.

"Have you any idea for whom she longs so eagerly?  Our Tachot has allowed
herself to be fascinated by the beautiful Bartja, the brother of your
future husband.  I do not mean to say by this that he has employed magic,
as the priest Ameneman believes, to gain her love; for a youth might be
far less handsome and agreeable than Bartja, and yet take the heart of an
innocent girl, still half a child.  But her passionate feeling is so
strong, and the change in her whole being so great, that sometimes I too
am tempted to believe in the use of supernatural influence.  A short time
before you left I noticed that Tachot was fond of Bartja.  Her distress
at first we thought could only be for you, but when she sank into that
dreamy state, Ibykus, who was still at our court, said she must have been
seized by some strong passion.

"Once when she was sitting dreaming at her wheel, I heard him singing
softly Sappho's little love-song to her:

"I cannot, my sweet mother,
Throw shuttle any more;
My heart is full of longing,
My spirit troubled sore,
All for a love of yesterday
A boy not seen before."

[Sappho ed. Neue XXXII.  Translation from Edwin Arnold's
Poets of Greece.]

"She turned pale and asked him: 'Is that your own song?'

"'No,' said he, 'Sappho wrote it fifty years ago.'

"'Fifty years ago,' echoed Tachot musingly.

"'Love is always the same,' interrupted the poet; 'women loved centuries
ago, and will love thousands of years to come, just as Sappho loved fifty
years back.'

"The sick girl smiled in assent, and from that time I often heard her
humming the little song as she sat at her wheel.  But we carefully
avoided every question, that could remind her of him she loved.  In the
delirium of fever, however, Bartja's name was always on her burning lips.
When she recovered consciousness we told her what she had said in her
delirium; then she opened her heart to me, and raising her eyes to heaven
like a prophetess, exclaimed solemnly: 'I know, that I shall not die till
I have seen him again.'

"A short time ago we had her carried into the temple, as she longed to
worship there again.  When the service was over and we were crossing the
temple-court, we passed some children at play, and Tachot noticed a
little girl telling something very eagerly to her companions.  She told
the bearers to put down the litter and call the child to her.

"'What were you saying?' she asked the little one.

"I was telling the others something about my eldest sister.'

"'May I hear it too?' said Tachot so kindly, that the little girl began
at once without fear: "Batau, who is betrothed to my sister, came back
from Thebes quite unexpectedly yesterday evening.  Just as the Isis-star
was rising, he came suddenly on to our roof where Kerimama was playing at
draughts with my father; and he brought her such a beutiful goldeng
bridal wreath.'

[Among the Egyptians the planet Venus bore the name of the goddess
Isis.  Pliny II. 6.  Arist  De mundo II. 7.  Early monuments prove
that they were acquainted with the identity of the morning and
evening star.  Lepsius, Chronologie p. 94.]

"Tachot kissed the child and gave her her own costly fan.  When we were
at home again she smiled archly at me and said: 'You know, mother dear,
that the words children say in the temple-courts are believed to be
oracles.'  So, if the little one spoke the truth, he must come; and did
not you hear that he is to bring the bridal-wreath?  O mother, I am sure,
quite sure, that I shall see him again.'

"I asked her yesterday if she had any message for you, and she begged me
to say that she sent you thousands of kisses, and messages of love, and
that when she was stronger she meant to write, as she had a great deal to
tell you.  She has just brought me the little note which I enclose; it is
for you alone, and has cost her much fatigue to write.

"But now I must finish my letter, as the messenger has been waiting for
it some time.

"I wish I could give you some joyful news, but sadness and sorrow meet me
whichever way I turn.  Your brother yields more and more to the priests'
tyranny, and manages the affairs of state for your poor blind father
under Neithotep's guidance.

"Amasis does not interfere, and says it matters little whether his place
be filled a few days sooner or later by his successor.

"He did not attempt to prevent Psamtik from seizing the children of
Phanes in Rhodopis' house, and actually allowed his son to enter into a
negotiation with the descendants of those two hundred thousand soldiers,
who emigrated to Ethiopia in the reign of Psamtik I. on account of the
preference shown to the Greek mercenaries.  In case they declared
themselves willing to return to their native land, the Greek mercenaries
were to have been dismissed.  The negotiation failed entirely, but
Psamtik's treatment of the children of Phanes has given bitter offence to
the Greeks.  Aristomachus threatened to leave Egypt, taking with him ten
thousand of his best troops, and on hearing that Phanes' son had been
murdered at Psamtik's command applied for his discharge.  From that time
the Spartan disappeared, no one knows whither; but the Greek troops
allowed themselves to be bribed by immense sums and are still in Egypt.

"Amasis said nothing to all this, and looked on silently from the midst
of his prayers and sacrifices, while your brother was either offending
every class of his subjects or attempting to pacify them by means beneath
the dignity of a ruler.  The commanders of the Egyptian and Greek troops,
and the governors of different provinces have all alike assured me that
the present state of things is intolerable.  No one knows what to expect
from this new ruler; he commands today the very thing, which he angrily
forbade the day before.  Such a government must soon snap the beautiful
bond, which has hitherto united the Fgyptian people to their king.

"Farewell, my child, think of your poor friend, your mother; and forgive
your parents when you hear what they have so long kept secret from you.
Pray for Tachot, and remember us to Croesus and the young Persians whom
we know.  Give a special message too from Tachot to Bartja; I beg him to
think of it as the last legacy of one very near death.  If you could only
send her some proof, that he has not forgotten her!  Farewell, once more
farewell and be happy in your new and blooming home."




CHAPTER XVI.

Sad realities follow bright anticipations nearly as surely as a rainy day
succeeds a golden sunrise.  Nitetis had been so happy in the thought of
reading the very letter, which poured such bitter drops of wormwood into
her cup of happiness.

One beautiful element in her life, the remembrance of her dear home and
the companions of her happy childhood, had been destroyed in one moment,
as if by the touch of a magician's wand.

She sat there in her royal purple, weeping, forgetful of everything but
her mother's grief, her father's misfortunes and her sister's illness.
The joyful future, full of love, joy, and happiness, which had been
beckoning her forward only a few minutes before, had vanished.  Cambyses'
chosen bride forgot her waiting, longing lover, and the future queen of
Persia could think of nothing but the sorrows of Egypt's royal house.

It was long past mid-day, when the attendant Mandane came to put a last
touch to Nitetis' dress and ornaments.

"She is asleep," thought the girl.  "I can let her rest another quarter
of an hour; the sacrifice this morning has tired her, and we must have
her fresh and beautiful for the evening banquet; then she will outshine
the others as the moon does the stars."

Unnoticed by her mistress she slipped out of the room, the windows of
which commanded a splendid view over the hanging-gardens, the immense
city beneath, the river, and the rich and fruitful Babylonian plain, and
went into the garden.

Without looking round she ran to a flower-bed, to pluck some roses.  Her
eyes were fixed on her new bracelet, the stones of which sparkled in the
sun, and she did not notice a richly-dressed man peering in at one of the
windows of the room where Nitetis lay weeping.  On being disturbed in his
watching and listening, he turned at once to the girl and greeted her in
a high treble voice.

She started, and on recognizing the eunuch Boges, answered: "It is not
polite, sir, to frighten a poor girl in this way.  By Mithras, if I had
seen you before I heard you, I think I should have fainted.  A woman's
voice does not take me by surprise, but to see a man here is as rare as
to find a swan in the desert."

Boges laughed good-humoredly, though he well understood her saucy
allusion to his high voice, and answered, rubbing his fat hands: "Yes,
it is very hard for a young and pretty bird like you, to have to live in
such a lonely corner, but be patient, sweetheart.  Your mistress will
soon be queen, and then she will look out a handsome young husband for
you.  Ah, ha!  you will find it pleasanter to live here alone with him,
than with your beautiful Egyptian."

"My mistress is too beautiful for some people's fancy, and I have never
asked any one to look out a husband for me," she answered pertly.  "I can
find one without your help either."

"Who could doubt it?  Such a pretty face is as good a bait for a man, as
a worm for a fish."

"But I am not trying to catch a husband, and least of all one like you."

"That I can easily believe," he answered laughing.  But tell me, my
treasure, why are you so hard on me?  Have I done anything to vex you?
Wasn't it through me, that you obtained this good appointment, and are
not we both Medes?"

"You might just as well say that we are both human beings, and have five
fingers on each hand and a nose in the middle of our faces.  Half the
people here are Medes, and if I had as many friends as I have countrymen,
I might be queen to-morrow.  And as to my situation here, it was not you,
but the high-priest Oropastes who recommended me to the great queen
Kassandane.  Your will is not law here,"

"What are you talking about, my sweet one?  don't you know, that not a
single waiting-woman can be engaged without my consent?"

"Oh, yes, I know that as well as you do, but .  .  ."

"But you women are an unthankful race, and don't deserve our kindness."

"Please not to forget, that you are speaking to a girl of good family."

"I know that very well, my little one.  I know that your father was a
Magian and your mother a Magian's daughter; that they both died early and
you were placed under the care of the Destur Ixabates, the father of
Oropastes, and grew up with his children.  I know too that when you had
received the ear-rings, Oropastes' brother Gaumata, (you need not blush,
Gaumata is a pretty name) fell in love with your rosy face, and wanted to
marry you, though he was only nineteen.  Gaumata and Mandane, how well
the two names sound together!  Mandane and Gaumata!  If I were a poet I
should call my hero Gaumata and his lady-love Mandane."

"I insist on your ceasing to jest in this way," cried Mandane, blushing
deeply and stamping her foot.

"What, are you angry because I say the names sound well together?  You
ought rather to be angry with the proud Oropastes, who sent his younger
brother to Rhagar and you to the court, that you might forget one
another."

"That is a slander on my benefactor."

"Let my tongue wither away, if I am not speaking the truth and nothing
but the truth!  Oropastes separated you and his brother because he had
higher intentions for the handsome Gaumata, than a marriage with the
orphan daughter of an inferior Magian.  He would have been satisfied with
Amytis or Menische for a sister-in-law, but a poor girl like you, who
owed everything to his bounty, would only have stood in the way of his
ambitious plans.  Between ourselves, he would like to be appointed regent
of Persia while the king is away at the Massagetan war, and would
therefore give a great deal to connect himself by marriage in some way
or other with the Archemenidae.  At his age a new wife is not to be
thought of; but his brother is young and handsome, indeed people go so
far as to say, that he is like the Prince Bartja."

"That is true," exclaimed the girl.  "Only think, when we went out to
meet my mistress, and I saw Bartja for the first time from the window of
the station-house, I thought he was Gaumata.  They are so like one
another that they might be twins, and they are the handsomest men in the
kingdom."

"How you are blushing, my pretty rose-bud!  But the likeness between them
is not quite so great as all that.  When I spoke to the high-priest's
brother this morning .  .  ."

"Gaumata is here?"  interrupted the girl passionately.  "Have you really
seen him or are you trying to draw me out and make fun of me?"

"By Mithras!  my sweet one, I kissed his forehead this very morning, and
he made me tell him a great deal about his darling.  Indeed his blue
eyes, his golden curls and his lovely complexion, like the bloom on a
peach, were so irresistible that I felt inclined to try and work
impossibilities for him.  Spare your blushes, my little pomegranate-
blossom, till I have told you all; and then perhaps in future you will
not be so hard upon poor Boges; you will see that he has a good heart,
full of kindness for his beautiful, saucy little countrywoman."

"I do not trust you," she answered, interrupting these assurances.
"I have been warned against your smooth tongue, and I do not know what I
have done to deserve this kind interest."

"Do you know this?"  he asked, showing her a white ribbon embroidered all
over with little golden flames.

"It is the last present I worked for him," exclaimed Mandane.

"I asked him for this token, because I knew you would not trust me.  Who
ever heard of a prisoner loving his jailer?"

"But tell me at once, quickly--what does my old playfellow want me to do?
Look, the-western sky is beginning to glow.  Evening is coming on, and I
must arrange my mistress's dress and ornaments for the banquet."

"Well, I will not keep you long," said the eunuch, becoming so serious
that Mandane was frightened.  "If you do not choose to believe that I
would run into any risk out of friendship to you, then fancy that I
forward your love affair to humble the pride of Oropastes.  He threatens
to supplant me in the king's favor, and I am determined, let him plot and
intrigue as he likes, that you shall marry Gaumata.  To-morrow evening,
after the Tistar-star has risen, your lover shall come to see you.  I
will see that all the guards are away, so that he can come without
danger, stay one hour and talk over the future with you; but remember,
only one hour.  I see clearly that your mistress will be Cambyses'
favorite wife, and will then forward your marriage, for she is very fond
of you, and thinks no praise too high for your fidelity and skill.  So
to-morrow evening," he continued, falling back into the jesting tone
peculiar to him, "when the Tistar-star rises, fortune will begin to shine
on you.  Why do you look down?  Why don't you answer?  Gratitude stops
your pretty little mouth, eh? is that the reason?  Well, my little bird,
I hope you won't be quite so silent, if you should ever have a chance of
praising poor Boges to your powerful mistress.  And what message shall I
bring to the handsome Gaumata?  May I say that you have not forgotten him
and will be delighted to see him again?  You hesitate?  Well, I am very
sorry, but it is getting dark and I must go.  I have to inspect the
women's dresses for the birthday banquet.  Ah! one thing I forgot to
mention.  Gaumata must leave Babylon to-morrow.  Oropastes is afraid,
that he may chance to see you, and told him to return to Rhage directly
the festival was over.  What! still silent?  Well then, I really cannot
help you or that poor fellow either.  But I shall gain my ends quite as
well without you, and perhaps after all it is better that you should
forget one another.  Good-bye."

It was a hard struggle for the girl.  She felt nearly sure that Boges was
deceiving her, and a voice within warned her that it would be better to
refuse her lover this meeting.  Duty and prudence gained the upper hand,
and she was just going to exclaim: "Tell him I cannot see him," when her
eye caught the ribbon she had once embroidered for her handsome
playfellow.  Bright pictures from her childhood flashed through her mind,
short moments of intoxicating happiness; love, recklessness and longing
gained the day in their turn over her sense of right, her misgivings and
her prudence, and before Boges could finish his farewell, she called out,
almost in spite of herself and flying towards the house like a frightened
fawn: "I shall expect him."

Boges passed quickly through the flowery paths of the hanging-gardens.
He stopped at the parapet end cautiously opened a hidden trap-door,
admitting to a secret staircase which wound down through one of the huge
pillars supporting the hanging-gardens, and which had probably been
intended by their original designer as a means of reaching his wife's
apartments unobserved from the shores of the river.  The door moved
easily on its hinges, and when Boges had shut it again and strewed a few
of the river-shells from the garden walks over it, it would have been
difficult to find, even for any one who had come with that purpose.  The
eunuch rubbed his jeweled hands, smiling the while as was his custom, and
murmured: "It can't fail to succeed now; the girl is caught, her lover is
at my beck and call, the old secret flight of steps is in good order,
Nitetis has been weeping bitterly on a day of universal rejoicing, and
the blue lily opens to-morrow night.  Ah, ha! my little plan can't
possibly fail now.  And to-morrow, my pretty Egyptian kitten, your little
velvet paw will be fast in a trap set by the poor despised eunuch, who
was not allowed, forsooth, to give you any orders."

His eyes gleamed maliciously as he said these words and hurried from the
garden.

At the great flight of steps he met another eunuch, named Neriglissar,
who held the office of head-gardener, and lived at the hanging-gardens.

"How is the blue lily going on?"  asked Boges.

"It is unfolding magnificently!"  cried the gardener, in enthusiasm at
the mere mention of his cherished flower.  "To-morrow, as I promised,
when the Tistar-star rises, it will be in all its beauty.  My Egyptian
mistress will be delighted, for she is very fond of flowers, and may I
ask you to tell the king and the Achaemenidae, that under my care this
rare plant has at last flowered?  It is to be seen in full beauty only
once in every ten years.  Tell the noble Achaemenidae; this, and bring
them here."

"Your wish shall be granted," said Boges smiling, "but I think you must
not reckon on the king, as I do not expect he will visit the hanging-
gardens before his marriage with the Egyptian.  Some of the Archimenidae,
however, will be sure to come; they are such lovers of horticulture that
they would not like to miss this rare sight.  Perhaps, too, I may succeed
in bringing Croesus.  It is true that he does not understand flowers or
doat on them as the Persians do, but he makes amends for this by his
thorough appreciation of everything beautiful."

"Yes, yes, bring him too," exclaimed the gardener.  "He will really be
grateful to you, for my queen of the night is the most beautiful flower,
that has ever bloomed in a royal garden.  You saw the bud in the clear
waters of the reservoir surrounded by its green leaves; that bud will
open into a gigantic rose, blue as the sky.  My flower .  .  ."

The enthusiastic gardener would have said much more in praise of his
flower, but Boges left him with a friendly nod, and went down the flight
of steps.  A two-wheeled wooden carriage was waiting for him there; he
took his seat by the driver, the horses, decked out with bells and
tassels, were urged into a sharp trot and quickly brought him to the gate
of the harem-garden.

That day was a busy, stirring one in Cambyses' harem.  In order that the
women might look their very best, Boges had commanded that they should
all be taken to the bath before the banquet.  He therefore went at once
to that wing of the palace, which contained the baths for the women.

While he was still at some distance a confused noise of screaming,
laughing, chattering and tittering reached his ears.  In the broad porch
of the large bathing-room, which had been almost overheated, more than
three hundred women were moving about in a dense cloud of steam.

[We read in Diodorus XVII. 77. that the king of Persia had as many
wives as there are days in the year.  At the battle of Issus,
Alexander the Great took 329 concubines, of the last Darius,
captive.]

The half-naked forms floated over the warm pavement like a motley crowd
of phantoms.  Their thin silken garments were wet through and clung to
their delicate figures, and a warm rain descended upon them from the roof
of the bath, rising up again in vapor when it reached the floor.

Groups of handsome women, ten or twenty together, lay gossiping saucily
in one part of the room; in another two king's wives were quarrelling
like naughty children.  One beauty was screaming at the top of her voice
because she had received a blow from her neighbor's dainty little
slipper, while another was lying in lazy contemplation, still as death,
on the damp, warm floor.  Six Armenians were standing together, singing a
saucy love-song in their native language with clear-toned voices, and a
little knot of fair-haired Persians were slandering Nitetis so fearfully,
that a by-stander would have fancied our beautiful Egyptian was some
awful monster, like those nurses used to frighten children.

Naked female slaves moved about through the crowd, carrying on their
heads well-warmed cloths to throw over their mistresses.  The cries of
the eunuchs, who held the office of door-keepers, and were continually
urging the women to greater haste,--the screeching calls of those whose
slaves had not yet arrived,--the penetrating perfumes and the warm vapor
combined to produce a motley, strange and stupefying scene.

A quarter of an hour later, however, the king's wives presented a very
different spectacle.

They lay like roses steeped in dew, not asleep, but quite still and
dreaming, on soft cushions placed along the walls of an immense room.
The wet perfumes still lay on their undried and flowing hair, and nimble
female slaves were busied in carefully wiping away, with little bags made
of soft camels' hair, the slightest outward trace of the moisture which
penetrated deep into the pores of the skin.

Silken coverlets were spread over their weary, beautiful limbs, and a
troop of eunuchs took good care that the dreamy repose of the entire body
should not be disturbed by quarrelsome or petulant individuals.  Their
efforts, however, were seldom so successful as to-day, when every one
knew that a disturbance of the peace would be punished by exclusion from
the banquet.  They had probably been lying a full hour in this dreamy
silence, when the sound of a gong produced another transformation.

The reposing figures sprang from their cushions, a troop of female slaves
pressed into the hall, the beauties were annointed and perfumed, their
luxuriant hair ingeniously braided, plaited, and adorned with precious
stones.  Costly ornaments and silken and woolen robes in all the colors
of the rainbow were brought in, shoes stiff with rich embroidery of
pearls and jewels were tied on to their tender feet, and golden girdles
fastened round their waists.

[Some kings gave their wives the revenues of entire cities as
"girdle-money" (pin-money).]

By the time Boges came in, the greater number of the women were already
fully adorned in their costly jewelry, which would have represented
probably, when taken together, the riches of a large kingdom.

He was greeted by a shrill cry of joy from many voices.  Twenty of the
women joined hands and danced round their smiling keeper, singing a
simple song which had been composed in the harem in praise of his
virtues.  On this day it was customary for the king to grant each of his
wives one reasonable petition.  So when the ring of dancers had loosed
hands, a troop of petitioners rushed in upon Boges, kissing his hands,
stroking his cheeks, whispering in his ear all kinds of requests, and
trying by flattery to gain his intercession with the king.  The woman's
tyrant smiled at it all, stopped his ears and pushed them all back with
jests and laughter, promising Amytis the Median that Esther the
Phoenician should be punished, and Esther the same of Amytis,--that
Parmys should have a handsomer set of jewels than Parisatys, and
Parisatys a more costly one than Parmys, but finding it impossible to get
rid of these importunate petitioners, he blew a little golden whistle.
Its shrill tones acted like magic on the eager crowd; the raised hands
fell in a moment, the little tripping feet stood still, the opening lips
closed and the eager tumult was turned into a dead silence.

Whoever disobeyed the sound of this little whistle, was certain of
punishment.  It was as important as the words "Silence, in the king's
name!" or the reading of the riot-act.  To-day it worked even more
effectually than usual.  Boges' self-satisfied smile showed that he had
noticed this; he then favored the assembly with a look expressive of his
contentment with their conduct, promised in a flowery speech to exert all
his influence with the king in behalf of his dear little white doves, and
wound up by telling them to arrange themselves in two long rows.

The women obeyed and submitted to his scrutiny like soldiers on drill, or
slaves being examined by their buyer.

With the dress and ornaments of most he was satisfied, ordering, however,
to one a little more rouge, to another a little white powder to subdue a
too healthy color, here a different arrangement of the hair--there a
deeper tinge to the eyebrows, or more pains to be taken in anointing the
lips.

When this was over he left the hall and went to Phaedime, who as one of
the king's lawful wives, had a private room, separated from those
allotted to the concubines.

This former favorite,--this humbled daughter of the Achaemenidae, had
been expecting him already some time.

She was magnificently dressed, and almost overloaded with jewels.  A
thick veil of gauze inwrought with gold hung from her little tiara, and
interlaced with this was the blue and white band of the Achaemenidae.