righteous, we have determined to disfigure him in such wise, that in the
time to come it will be a light matter to discern between this, the most
worthless subject of the realm, and him who is most worthy.  We
therefore, by the royal Will and command, pronounce sentence, that both
the ears of Gaumata be cut off, for the honor of the righteous and shame
of the impure."

Cambyses confirmed this sentence at once, and it was executed the same
day.

[With reference to Gaumata's punishment, the same which Herodotus
says was inflicted on the pretended Smerdis, we would observe that
even Persians of high rank were sometimes deprived of their ears.
In the Behistan inscription (Spiegel p. 15 and 21.) the ears, tongue
and nose of the man highest in rank among the rebels, were cut off.
Similar punishments are quoted by Brisson.]

Oropastes did not dare to intercede for his brother, though this
ignominious punishment mortified his ambitious mind more than even a
sentence of death could have done.  As he was afraid that his own
influence and consideration might suffer through this mutilated brother,
he ordered him to leave Babylon at once for a country-house of his own on
Mount Arakadris.

During the few days which had just passed, a shabbily-dressed and
closely-veiled woman had watched day and night at the great gate of the
palace; neither the threats of the sentries nor the coarse jests of the
palace-servants could drive her from her post.  She never allowed one of
the less important officials to pass without eagerly questioning him,
first as to the state of the Egyptian Princess, and then what had become
of Gaumata.  When his sentence was told her as a good joke by a
chattering lamp-lighter, she went off into the strangest excitement, and
astonished the poor man so much by kissing his robe, that he thought she
must be crazed, and gave her an alms.  She refused the money, but
remained at her post, subsisting on the bread which was given her by the
compassionate distributors of food.  Three days later Gaumata himself,
with his head bound up, was driven out in a closed harmamaxa.  She rushed
to the carriage and ran screaming by the side of it, until the driver
stopped his mules and asked what she wanted.  She threw back her veil and
showed the poor, suffering youth her pretty face covered with deep
blushes.  Gaumata uttered a low cry as he recognized her, collected
himself, however, in a moment, and said: "What do you want with me,
Mandane?"

The wretched girl raised her hands beseechingly to him, crying: "Oh, do
not leave me, Gaumata!  Take me with you!  I forgive you all the misery
you have brought on me and my poor mistress.  I love you so much, I will
take care of you and nurse you as if I were the lowest servant-girl."

A short struggle passed in Gaumata's mind.  He was just going to open the
carriage-door and clasp Mandane-his earliest love-in his arms, when the
sound of horses' hoofs coming nearer struck on his ear, and looking round
he saw, a carriage full of Magi, among whom were several who had been his
companions at the school for priests.  He felt ashamed and afraid of
being seen by the very youths, whom he had often treated proudly and
haughtily because he was the brother of the high-priest, threw Mandane a
purse of gold, which his brother had given him at parting, and ordered
the driver to go on as fast as possible.  The mules galloped off.
Mandane kicked the purse away, rushed after the carriage and clung to it
firmly.  One of the wheels caught her dress and dragged her down.  With
the strength of despair she sprang up, ran after the mules, overtook them
on a slight ascent which had lessened their speed, and seized the reins.
The driver used his three-lashed whip, or scourge, the creatures reared,
pulled the girl down and rushed on.  Her last cry of agony pierced the
wounds of the mutilated man like a sharp lance-thrust.

.....................

On the twelfth day after Nitetis' death Cambyses went out hunting, in the
hope that the danger and excitement of the sport might divert his mind.
The magnates and men of high rank at his court received him with thunders
of applause, for which he returned cordial thanks.  These few days of
grief had worked a great change in a man so unaccustomed to suffering as
Cambyses.  His face was pale, his raven-black hair and beard had grown
grey, and the consciousness of victory which usually shone in his eyes
was dimmed.  Had he not, only too painfully, experienced that there was a
stronger will than his own, and that, easily as he could destroy, it did
not he in his power to preserve the life of the meanest creature?  Before
starting, Cambyses mustered his troop of sportsmen, and calling Gobryas,
asked why Phanes was not there.

"My King did not order .  .  ."

"He is my guest and companion, once for all; call him and follow us."

Gobryas bowed, dashed back to the palace, and in half an hour reappeared
among the royal retinue with Phanes.

The Athenian was warmly welcomed by many of the group, a fact which seems
strange when we remember that courtiers are of all men the most prone to
envy, and a royal favorite always the most likely object to excite their
ill will.  But Phanes seemed a rare exception to this rule.  He had met
the Achaemenidae in so frank and winning a manner, had excited so many
hopes by the hints he had thrown out of an expected and important war,
and had aroused so much merriment by well-told jests, such as the
Persians had never heard before, that there were very few who did not
welcome his appearance gladly, and when--in company with the king--he
separated from the rest in chase of a wild ass, they openly confessed to
one another, that they had never before seen so perfect a man.  The
clever way in which he had brought the innocence of the accused to light,
the finesse which he had shown in securing the king's favor, and the ease
with which he had learnt the Persian language in so short a time, were
all subjects of admiration.  Neither was there one even of the
Achaemenidae themselves, who exceeded him in beauty of face or symmetry
of figure.  In the chase he proved himself a perfect horseman, and in a
conflict with a bear an exceptionally courageous and skilful sportsman.
On the way home, as the courtiers were extolling all the wonderful
qualities possessed by the king's favorite, old Araspes exclaimed,
"I quite agree with you that this Greek, who by the way has proved
himself a better soldier than anything else, is no common man, but I am
sure you would not praise him half as much, if he were not a foreigner
and a novelty."

Phanes happened to be only separated from the speaker by some thick
bushes, and heard these words.  When the other had finished, he went up
and said, smiling: "I understood what you said and feel obliged to you
for your kind opinion.  The last sentence, however, gave me even more
pleasure than the first, because it confirmed my own idea that the
Persians are the most generous people in the world--they praise the
virtues of other nations as much, or even more, than their own."

His hearers smiled, well pleased at this flattering remark, and Phanes
went on: "How different the Jews are now, for instance!  They fancy
themselves the exclusive favorites of the gods, and by so doing incur the
contempt of all wise men, and the hatred of the whole world.  And then
the Egyptians!  You have no idea of the perversity of that people.  Why,
if the priests could have their way entirely, (and they have a great deal
of power in their hands) not a foreigner would be left alive in Egypt,
nor a single stranger allowed to enter the country.  A true Egyptian
would rather starve, than eat out of the same dish with one of us.  There
are more strange, astonishing and wonderful things to be seen in that
country than anywhere else in the world.  And yet, to do it justice,
I must say that Egypt has been well spoken of as the richest and most
highly cultivated land under the sun.  The man who possesses that kingdom
need not envy the very gods themselves.  It would be mere child's play to
conquer that beautiful country.  Ten years there gave me a perfect
insight into the condition of things, and I know that their entire
military caste would not be sufficient to resist one such troop as your
Immortals.  Well, who knows what the future may bring!  Perhaps we may
all make a little trip together to the Nile some day.  In my opinion,
your good swords have been rather long idle."  These well-calculated
words were received with such shouts of applause, that the king turned
his horse to enquire the cause.  Phanes answered quickly that the
Achaemenidae were rejoicing in the thought that a war might possibly be
near at hand.

"What war?"  asked the king, with the first smile that had been seen on
his face for many days.

"We were only speaking in general of the possibility of such a thing,"
answered Phanes carelessly; then, riding up to the king's side, his voice
took an impressive tone full of feeling, and looking earnestly into his
face, he began: "It is true, my Sovereign, that I was not born in this
beautiful country as one of your subjects, nor can I boast of a long
acquaintance with the most powerful of monarchs, but yet I cannot resist
the presumptuous, perhaps criminal thought, that the gods at my birth
appointed me to be your real friend.  It is not your rich gifts that have
drawn me to you.  I did not need them, for I belong to the wealthier
class of my countrymen, and I have no son,--no heir,--to whom I can
bequeath my treasures.  Once I had a boy--a beautiful, gentle child;
--but I was not going to speak of that,--I .  .  .  Are you offended at
my freedom of speech, my Sovereign?"

"What is there to offend me?"  answered the king, who had never been
spoken to in this manner before, and felt strongly attracted to the
original foreigner.

"Till to-day I felt that your grief was too sacred to be disturbed, but
now the time has come to rouse you from it and to make your heart glow
once more.  You will have to hear what must be very painful to you."

"There is nothing more now, that can grieve me."

"What I am going to tell you will not give you pain; on the contrary, it
will rouse your anger."

"You make me curious."

"You have been shamefully deceived; you and that lovely creature, who
died such an early death a few days ago."

Cambyses' eyes flashed a demand for further information.

"Amasis, the King of Egypt, has dared to make sport of you, the lord of
the world.  That gentle girl was not his daughter, though she herself
believed that she was; she .  .  ."

"Impossible!"

"It would seem so, and yet I am speaking the simple truth.  Amasis spun a
web of lies, in which he managed to entrap, not only the whole world, but
you too, my Sovereign.  Nitetis, the most lovely creature ever born of
woman, was the daughter of a king, but not of the usurper Amasis.
Hophra, the rightful king of Egypt, was the father of this pearl among
women.  You may well frown, my Sovereign.  It is a cruel thing to be
betrayed by one's friends and allies."

Cambyses spurred his horse, and after a silence of some moments, kept by
Phanes purposely, that his words might make a deeper impression, cried,
"Tell me more!  I wish to know everything."

"Hophra had been living twenty years in easy captivity in Sais after his
dethronement, when his wife, who had borne him three children and buried
them all, felt that she was about to give birth to a fourth.  Hophra, in
his joy, determined to offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the temple of
Pacht, the Egyptian goddess supposed to confer the blessing of children,
when, on his way thither, a former magnate of his court, named
Patarbemis, whom, in a fit of unjust anger, he had ignominiously
mutilated, fell upon him with a troop of slaves and massacred him.
Amasis had the unhappy widow brought to his palace at once, and assigned
her an apartment next to the one occupied by his own queen Ladice, who
was also expecting soon to give birth to a child.  A girl was born to
Hophra's widow, but the mother died in the same hour, and two days later
Ladice bore a child also.--But I see we are in the court of the palace.
If you allow, I will have the report of the physician, by whom this
imposture was effected, read before you.  Several of his notes have,
by a remarkable conjuncture of circumstances, which I will explain to you
later, fallen into my hands.  A former high-priest of Heliopolis,
Onuphis, is now living in Babylon, and understands all the different
styles of writing in use among his countrymen.  Nebenchari will, of
course, refuse to help in disclosing an imposture, which must inevitably
lead to the ruin of his country."

"In an hour I expect to see you here with the man you have just spoken
of.  Croesus, Nebenchari, and all the Achaemenidae who were in Egypt,
will have to appear also.  I must have certainty before I can act, and
your testimony alone is not sufficient, because I know from Amasis, that
you have cause to feel a grudge against his house."

At the time appointed all were assembled before the king in obedience to
his command.

Onuphis, the former high-priest, was an old man of eighty.  A pair of
large, clear, intelligent, grey eyes looked out of a head so worn and
wasted, as to be more like a mere skull than the head of a living man.
He held a large papyrus-roll in his gaunt hand, and was seated in an easy
chair, as his paralyzed limbs did not allow of his standing, even in the
king's presence.  His dress was snow-white, as beseemed a priest, but
there were patches and rents to be seen here and there.  His figure might
perhaps once have been tall and slender, but it was now so bent and
shrunk by age, privation and suffering, as to look unnatural and
dwarfish, in comparison with the size of his head.

Nebenchari, who revered Onuphis, not only as a high-priest deeply
initiated in the most solemn mysteries, but also on account of his great
age, stood by his side and arranged his cushions.  At his left stood
Phanes, and then Croesus, Darius and Prexaspes.

The king sat upon his throne.  His face was dark and stern as he broke
the silence with the following words:--"This noble Greek, who, I am
inclined to believe, is my friend, has brought me strange tidings.  He
says that I have been basely deceived by Amasis, that my deceased wife
was not his, but his predecessor's daughter."

A murmur of astonishment ran through the assembly.  "This old man is here
to prove the imposture."  Onuphis gave a sign of assent.

"Prexaspes, my first question is to you.  When Nitetis was entrusted to
your care, was it expressly said that she was the daughter of Amasis?"

"Expressly.  Nebenchari had, it is true, praised Tachot to the noble
Kassandane as the most beautiful of the twin sisters; but Amasis insisted
on sending Nitetis to Persia.  I imagined that, by confiding his most
precious jewel to your care, he meant to put you under a special
obligation; and as it seemed to me that Nitetis surpassed her sister, not
only in beauty but in dignity of character, I ceased to sue for the hand
of Tachot.  In his letter to you too, as you will remember, he spoke of
confiding to you his most beautiful, his dearest child."

"Those were his words."

"And Nitetis was, without question, the more beautiful and the nobler of
the two sisters," said Croesus in confirmation of the envoy's remark.
"But it certainly did strike me that Tachot was her royal parents'
favorite."

"Yes," said Darius, "without doubt.  Once, at a revel, Amasis joked
Bartja in these words: "Don't look too deep into Tachot's eyes, for if
you were a god, I could not allow you to take her to Persia!  Psamtik
was evidently annoyed at this remark and said to the king, 'Father,
remember Phanes.'"

"Phanes!"

"Yes, my Sovereign," answered the Athenian.  "Once, when he was
intoxicated, Amasis let out his secret to me, and Psamtik was warning him
not to forget himself a second time."

"Tell the story as it occurred."

"On my return from Cyprus to Sais as a conqueror, a great entertainment
was given at court.  Amasis distinguished me in every way, as having won
a rich province for him, and even, to the dismay of his own countrymen,
embraced me.  His affection increased with his intoxication, and at last,
as Psamtik and I were leading him to his private apartments, he stopped
at the door of his daughter's room, and said: 'The girls sleep there.  If
you will put away your own wife, Athenian, I will give you Nitetis.  I
should like to have you for a son-in-law.  There's a secret about that
girl, Phanes; she's not my own child.'  Before his drunken father could
say more, Psamtik laid his hand before his mouth, and sent me roughly
away to my lodging, where I thought the matter over and conjectured what
I now, from reliable sources, know to be the truth.  I entreat you,
command this old man to translate those parts of the physician
Sonnophre's journal, which allude to this story."

Cambyses nodded his consent, and the old man began to read in a voice far
louder than any one could have supposed possible from his infirm
appearance "On the fifth day of the month Thoth, I was sent for by the
king.  I had expected this, as the queen was near her confinement.  With
my assistance she was easily and safely delivered of a child--a weakly
girl.  As soon as the nurse had taken charge of this child, Amasis led me
behind a curtain which ran across his wife's sleeping-apartment.  There
lay another infant, which I recognized as the child of Hophra's widow,
who herself had died under my hands on the third day of the same month.
The king then said, pointing to this strong child, 'This little creature
has no parents, but, as it is written in the law that we are to show
mercy to the desolate orphans, Ladice and I have determined to bring her
up as our own daughter.  We do not, however, wish that this deed should
be made known, either to the world or to the child herself, and I ask you
to keep the secret and spread a report that Ladice has given birth to
twins.  If you accomplish this according to our wish, you shall receive
to-day five thousand rings of gold, and the fifth part of this sum
yearly, during your life.  I made my obeisance in silence, ordered every
one to leave the sick room, and, when I again called them in, announced
that Ladice had given birth to a second girl.  Amasis' real child
received the name of Tachot, the spurious one was called Nitetis."

At these words Cambyses rose from his seat, and strode through the hall;
but Onuphis continued, without allowing himself to be disturbed: "Sixth
day of the month Thoth.  This morning I had just lain down to rest after
the fatigues of the night, when a servant appeared with the promised gold
and a letter from the king, asking me to procure a dead child, to be
buried with great ceremony as the deceased daughter of King Hophra.
After a great deal of trouble I succeeded, an hour ago, in obtaining one
from a poor girl who had given birth to a child secretly in the house of
the old woman, who lives at the entrance to the City of the Dead.  The
little one had caused her shame and sorrow enough, but she would not be
persuaded to give up the body of her darling, until I promised that it
should be embalmed and buried in the most splendid manner.  We put the
little corpse into my large medicine-chest, my son Nebenchari carried it
this time instead of my servant Hib, and so it was introduced into the
room where Hophra's widow had died.  The poor girl's baby will receive a
magnificent funeral.  I wish I might venture to tell her, what a glorious
lot awaits her darling after death.  Nebenchari has just been sent for by
the king."

At the second mention of this name, Cambyses stopped in his walk, and
said: "Is our oculist Nebenchari the man whose name is mentioned in this
manuscript?"

"Nebenchari," returned Phanes, "is the son of this very Sonnophre who
changed the children."

The physician did not raise his eyes; his face was gloomy and sullen.

Cambyses took the roll of papyrus out of Onuphis' band, looked at the
characters with which it was covered, shook his head, went up to
Nebenchari and said:

"Look at these characters and tell me if it is your father's writing."

Nebenchari fell on his knees and raised his hands.

"I ask, did your father paint these signs?"

"I do not know-whether .  .  .  Indeed .  .  ."

"I will know the truth.  Yes or no?"

"Yes, my King; but .  .  ."

"Rise, and be assured of my favor.  Faithfulness to his ruler is the
ornament of a subject; but do not forget that I am your king now.
Kassandane tells me, that you are going to undertake a delicate operation
to-morrow in order to restore her sight.  Are you not venturing too
much?"

"I can depend on my own skill, my Sovereign."

"One more question.  Did you know of this fraud?"

"Yes."

"And you allowed me to remain in error?"

"I had been compelled to swear secrecy and an oath .  .  ."

"An oath is sacred.  Gobryas, see that both these Egyptians receive a
portion from my table.  Old man, you seem to require better food."

"I need nothing beyond air to breathe, a morsel of bread and a draught of
water to preserve me from dying of hunger and thirst, a clean robe, that
I may be pleasing in the eyes of the gods and in my own, and a small
chamber for myself, that I may be a hindrance to no man.  I have never
been richer than to-day."

"How so?"

"I am about to give away a kingdom."

"You speak in enigmas."

"By my translation of to-day I have proved, that your deceased consort
was the child of Hophra.  Now, our law allows the daughter of a king to
succeed to the throne, when there is neither son nor brother living; if
she should die childless, her husband becomes her legitimate successor.
Amasis is a usurper, but the throne of Egypt is the lawful birthright of
Hophra and his descendants.  Psamtik forfeits every right to the crown
the moment that a brother, son, daughter or son-in-law of Hophra appears.
I can, therefore, salute my present sovereign as the future monarch of my
own beautiful native land."

Cambyses smiled self-complacently, and Onuphis went on: "I have read in
the stars too, that Psamtik's ruin and your own accession to the throne
of Egypt have been fore-ordained."

"We'll show that the stars were right," cried the king, "and as for you,
you liberal old fellow, I command you to ask me any wish you like."

"Give me a conveyance, and let me follow your army to Egypt.  I long to
close my eyes on the Nile."

"Your wish is granted.  Now, my friends, leave me, and see that all those
who usually eat at my table are present at this evening's revel.  We will
hold a council of war over the luscious wine.  Methinks a campaign in
Egypt will pay better than a contest with the Massagetae."

He was answered by a joyful shout of "Victory to the king!"  They all
then left the hall, and Cambyses, summoning his dressers, proceeded for
the first time to exchange his mourning garments for the splendid royal
robes.

Croesus and Phanes went into the green and pleasant garden lying on the
eastern side of the royal palace, which abounded in groves of trees,
shrubberies, fountains and flower-beds.  Phanes was radiant with delight;
Croesus full of care and thought.

"Have you duly reflected," said the latter, "on the burning brand that
you have just flung out into the world?"

"It is only children and fools that act without reflection," was the
answer.

"You forget those who are deluded by passion."

"I do not belong to that number."

"And yet revenge is the most fearful of all the passions."

"Only when it is practised in the heat of feeling.  My revenge is as cool
as this piece of iron; but I know my duty."

"The highest duty of a good man, is to subordinate his own welfare to
that of his country."

"That I know."

"You seem to forget, however, that with Egypt you are delivering your own
country over to the Persians."

"I do not agree with you there."

"Do you believe, that when all the rest of the Mediterranean coasts
belong to Persia, she will leave your beautiful Greece untouched?"

"Certainly not, but I know my own countrymen; I believe them fully
capable of a victorious resistance to the hosts of the barbarians, and am
confident that their courage and greatness will rise with the nearness of
the danger.  It will unite our divided tribes into one great nation, and
be the ruin of the tyrants."

"I cannot argue with you, for I am no longer acquainted with the state of
things in your native country, and besides, I believe you to be a wise
man--not one who would plunge a nation into ruin merely for the
gratification of his own ambition.  It is a fearful thing that entire
nations should have to suffer for the guilt of one man, if that man be
one who wears a crown.  And now, if my opinion is of any importance to
you, tell me what the deed was which has roused your desire of
vengeance."

"Listen then, and never try again to turn me from my purpose.  You know
the heir to the Egyptian throne, and you know Rhodopis too.  The former
was, for many reasons, my mortal enemy, the latter the friend of every
Greek, but mine especially.  When I was obliged to leave Egypt, Psamtik
threatened me with his vengeance; your son Gyges saved my life.  A few
weeks later my two children came to Naukratis, in order to follow me out
to Sigeum.  Rhodopis took them kindly under her protection, but some
wretch had discovered the secret and betrayed it to the prince.  The very
next night her house was surrounded and searched,--my children found and
taken captive.  Amasis had meanwhile become blind, and allowed his
miserable son to do what he liked; the wretch dared to .  .  ."

"Kill your only son?"

"You have said it."

"And your other child?"

"The girl is still in their hands."

"They will do her an injury when they hear .  .  ."

"Let her die.  Better go to one's grave childless, than unrevenged."

"I understand.  I cannot blame you any longer.  The boy's blood must be
revenged."

And so saying, the old man pressed the Athenian's right hand.  The latter
dried his tears, mastered his emotion, and cried: "Let us go to the
council of war now.  No one can be so thankful for Psamtik's infamous
deeds as Cambyses.  That man with his hasty passions was never made to be
a prince of peace."

"And yet it seems to me the highest duty of a king is to work for the
inner welfare of his kingdom.  But human beings are strange creatures;
they praise their butchers more than their benefactors.  How many poems
have been written on Achilles!  but did any one ever dream of writing
songs on the wise government of Pittakus?"

"More courage is required to shed blood, than to plant trees."

"But much more kindness and wisdom to heal wounds, than to make them.--
I have still one question which I should very much like to ask you,
before we go into the hall.  Will Bartja be able to stay at Naukratis
when Amasis is aware of the king's intentions?"

"Certainly not.  I have prepared him for this, and advised his assuming a
disguise and a false name."

"Did he agree?"

"He seemed willing to follow my advice."

"But at all events it would be well to send a messenger to put him on his
guard."

"We will ask the king's permission."

"Now we must go.  I see the wagons containing the viands of the royal
household just driving away from the kitchen."

"How many people are maintained from the king's table daily?"

"About fifteen thousand."

"Then the Persians may thank the gods, that their king only takes one meal
a day."

[This immense royal household is said to have cost 400 talents, that
is (L90,000.) daily.  Athenaus, Deipn.  p. 607.]




CHAPTER IX.

Six weeks after these events a little troop of horsemen might have been
seen riding towards the gates of Sardis.  The horses and their riders
were covered with sweat and dust.  The former knew that they were drawing
near a town, where there would be stables and mangers, and exerted all
their remaining powers; but yet their pace did not seem nearly fast
enough to satisfy the impatience of two men, dressed in Persian costume,
who rode at the head of the troop.

The well-kept royal road ran through fields of good black, arable land,
planted with trees of many different kinds.  It crossed the outlying
spurs of the Tmolus range of mountains.  At their foot stretched rows of
olive, citron and plane-trees, plantations of mulberries and vines; at a
higher level grew firs, cypresses and nut-tree copses.  Fig-trees and
date-palms, covered with fruit, stood sprinkled over the fields; and the
woods and meadows were carpeted with brightly-colored and sweetly-scented
flowers.  The road led over ravines and brooks, now half dried up by the
heat of summer, and here and there the traveller came upon a well at the
side of the road, carefully enclosed, with seats for the weary,
and sheltering shrubs.  Oleanders bloomed in the more damp and shady
places; slender palms waved wherever the sun was hottest.  Over this rich
landscape hung a deep blue, perfectly cloudless sky, bounded on its
southern horizon by the snowy peaks of the Tmolus mountains, and on the
west by the Sipylus range of hills, which gave a bluish shimmer in the
distance.

The road went down into the valley, passing through a little wood of
birches, the stems of which, up to the very tree-top, were twined with
vines covered with bunches of grapes.

The horsemen stopped at a bend in the road, for there, before them, in
the celebrated valley of the Hermus, lay the golden Sardis, formerly the
capital of the Lydian kingdom and residence of its king, Croesus.

Above the reed-thatched roofs of its numerous houses rose a black, steep
rock; the white marble buildings on its summit could be seen from a great
distance.  These buildings formed the citadel, round the threefold walls
of which, many centuries before, King Meles had carried a lion in order
to render them impregnable.  On its southern side the citadel-rock was
not so steep, and houses had been built upon it.  Croesus' former palace
lay to the north, on the golden-sanded Pactolus.  This reddish-colored
river flowed above the market-place, (which, to our admiring travellers,
looked like a barren spot in the midst of a blooming meadow), ran on in a
westerly direction, and then entered a narrow mountain valley, where it
washed the walls of the temple of Cybele.

Large gardens stretched away towards the east, and in the midst of them
lay the lake Gygaeus, covered with gay boats and snowy swans, and
sparkling like a mirror.

A short distance from the lake were a great number of artificial mounds,
three of which were especially noticeable from their size and height.

[See also Hamilton's Asia Minor, I.  P. 145. Herodotus (I. 93.)
calls the tombs of the Lydian kings the largest works of human
hands, next to the Egyptian and Babylonian.  These cone-shaped hills
can be seen to this day, standing near the ruins of Sardis, not far
from the lake of Gygaea.  Hamilton (Asia Minor, I.  p. i) counted
some sixty of them, and could not ride round the hill of Alayattes
in less than ten minutes.  Prokesch saw l00 such tumuli. The
largest, tomb of Alyattes, still measures 3400 feet in
circumference, and the length of its slope is 650 feet.  According
to Prokesch, gigantic Phallus columns lie on some of these graves.]

"What can those strange-looking earth-heaps mean?"  said Darius, the
leader of the troop, to Prexaspes, Cambyses' envoy, who rode at his side.

"They are the graves of former Lydian kings," was the answer.  "The
middle one is in memory of the princely pair Panthea and Abradatas, and
the largest, that one to the left, was erected to the father of Croesus,
Alyattes.  It was raised by the tradesmen, mechanics, and girls, to their
late king, and on the five columns, which stand on its summit, you can
read how much each of these classes contributed to the work.  The girls
were the most industrious.  Gyges' grandfather is said to have been their
especial friend."

"Then the grandson must have degenerated very much from the old stock."

"Yes, and that seems the more remarkable, because Croesus himself in his
youth was by no means averse to women, and the Lydians generally are
devoted to such pleasures.  You see the white walls of that temple yonder
in the midst of its sacred grove.  That is the temple of the goddess of
Sardis, Cybele or Ma, as they call her.  In that grove there is many a
sheltered spot where the young people of Sardis meet, as they say, in
honor of their goddess."

"Just as in Babylon, at the festival of Mylitta."

"There is the same custom too on the coast of Cyprus.  When I landed
there on the way back from Egypt, I was met by a troop of lovely girls,
who, with songs, dances, and the clang of cymbals, conducted me to the
sacred grove of their goddess."

"Well, Zopyrus will not grumble at Bartja's illness."

"He will spend more of his time in the grove of Cybele, than at his
patient's bedside.  How glad I shall be to see that jolly fellow again!"

"Yes, he'll keep you from falling into those melancholy fits that you
have been so subject to lately."  "You are quite right to blame me for
those fits, and I must not yield to them, but they are not without
ground.  Croesus says we only get low-spirited, when we are either too
lazy or too weak to struggle against annoyances, and I believe he is
right.  But no one shall dare to accuse Darius of weakness or idleness.
If I can't rule the world, at least I will be my own master."  And as he
said these words, the handsome youth drew himself up, and sat erect in
his saddle.  His companion gazed in wonder at him.

"Really, you son of Hystaspes," he said, "I believe you must be meant for
something great.  It was not by chance that, when you were still a mere
child, the gods sent their favorite Cyrus that dream which induced him to
order you into safe keeping."

"And yet my wings have never appeared."