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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5453.txt b/5453.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c98555e --- /dev/null +++ b/5453.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2538 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook An Egyptian Princess, by Georg Ebers, v4 +#15 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: An Egyptian Princess, Volume 4. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5453] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 7, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS, BY EBERS, V4 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS, Part 1. + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 4. + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Three days before the time fixed for the departure of Nitetis, Rhodopis +had invited a large number of guests to her house at Naukratis, amongst +whom Croesus and Gyges were included. + +The two lovers had agreed to meet in the garden, protected by the +darkness and the old slave, while the guests were occupied at the +banquet. Melitta, therefore, having convinced herself that the guests +were thoroughly absorbed in conversation, opened the garden-gate, +admitted the prince, brought Sappho to him, and then retired, promising +to warn them of any intruder by clapping her hands. + +"I shall only have you near me three days longer," whispered Sappho. +"Do you know, sometimes it seems to me as if I had only seen you +yesterday for the first time; but generally I feel as if you had belonged +to me for a whole eternity, and I had loved you all my life." + +"To me too it seems as if you had always been mine, for I cannot imagine +how I could ever have existed without you. If only the parting were over +and we were together again!" + +"Oh, believe me, that will pass more quickly than you fancy. Of course +it will seem long to wait--very long; but when it is over, and we are +together again, I think it will seem as if we had never been parted. So +it has been with me every day. How I have longed for the morning to come +and bring you with it! but when it came and you were sitting by my side, +I felt as if I had had you all the time and your hand had never left my +head." + +"And yet a strange feeling of fear comes over me, when I think of our +parting hour." + +"I do not fear it so very much. I know my heart will bleed when you say +farewell, but I am sure you will come back and will not have forgotten +me. Melitta wanted to enquire of the Oracle whether you would remain +faithful; and to question an old woman who has just come from Phrygia and +can conjure by night from drawn cords, with incense, styrax, moon-shaped +cakes, and wild-briar leaves; but I would have none of this, for my heart +knows better than the Pythia, the cords, or the smoke of sacrifice, that +you will be true to me, and love me always." + +"And your heart speaks the truth." + +"But I have sometimes been afraid; and have blown into a poppy-leaf, +and struck it, as the young girls here do. If it broke with a loud crack +I was very happy, and cried, 'Ah! he will not forget!' but if the leaf +tore without a sound I felt sad. I dare say I did this a hundred times, +but generally the leaf gave the wished-for sound, and I had much oftener +reason to be joyful than sad." + +"May it be ever thus!" + +"It must be! but dearest, do not speak so loudly; I see Knakias going +down to the Nile for water and he will hear us." + +"Well, I will speak low. There, I will stroke back your silky hair and +whisper in your ear 'I love you.' Could you understand?" + +"My grandmother says that it is easy to understand what we like to hear; +but if you had just whispered, 'I hate you,' your eyes would have told me +with a thousand glad voices that you loved me. Silent eyes are much more +eloquent than all the tongues in the world." + +"If I could only speak the beautiful Greek language as you do, I would.." + +"Oh, I am so glad you cannot, for if you could tell me all you feel, I +think you would not look into my eyes so lovingly. Words are nothing. +Listen to the nightingale yonder! She never had the gift of speech and +yet I think I can understand her." + +"Will you confide her secret to me? I should like to know what Gulgul, +as we Persians call the nightingale, has to talk about to her mate in the +rose-bush. May you betray her secret?" + +"I will whisper it softly. Philomel sings to her mate 'I love thee,' and +he answers, (don't you hear him?), 'Itys, ito, itys.'" + +"And what does that mean, 'Ito, ito?'" + +"I accept it." + +"And Itys?" + +"Oh, that must be explained, to be rightly understood. Itys is a circle; +and a circle, I was always taught, is the symbol of eternity, having +neither beginning nor end; so the nightingale sings, 'I accept it for +eternity.'" + +"And if I say to you, 'I love thee?'" + +"Then I shall answer gladly, like the sweet nightingale, 'I accept it for +to-day, to-morrow, for all eternity!'" + +"What a wonderful night it is! everything so still and silent; I do not +even hear the nightingale now; she is sitting in the acacia-tree among +the bunches of sweet blossoms. I can see the tops of the palm-trees in +the Nile, and the moon's reflection between them, glistening like a white +swan." + +"Yes, her rays are over every living thing like silver fetters, and the +whole world lies motionless beneath them like a captive woman. Happy as +I feel now, yet I could not even laugh, and still less speak in a loud +voice." + +"Then whisper, or sing!" + +"Yes, that is the best. Give me a lyre. Thank you. Now I will lean my +head on your breast, and sing you a little, quiet, peaceful song. It was +written by Alkman, the Lydian, who lived in Sparta, in praise of night +and her stillness. You must listen though, for this low, sweet slumber- +song must only leave the lips like a gentle wind. Do not kiss me any +more, please, till I have finished; then I will ask you to thank me with +a kiss: + + "Now o'er the drowsy earth still night prevails, + Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales, + The rugged cliffs and hollow glens; + + The wild beasts slumber in their dens; + The cattle on the bill. Deep in the sea + The countless finny race and monster brood + Tranquil repose. Even the busy bee + Forgets her daily toil. The silent wood + No more with noisy hum of insect rings; + And all the feathered tribe, by gentle sleep subdued, + Roost in the glade and hang their drooping wings." + --Translation by Colonel Mure. + +"Now, dearest, where is my kiss?" + +"I had forgotten it in listening, just as before I forgot to listen in +kissing." + +"You are too bad. But tell me, is not my song lovely?" + +"Yes, beautiful, like everything else you sing." + +"And the Greek poets write?" + +"Yes, there you are right too, I admit." + +"Are there no poets in Persia?" + +"How can you ask such a question? How could a nation, who despised song, +pretend to any nobility of feeling?" + +"But you have some very bad customs." + +"Well?" + +"You take so many wives." + +"My Sappho . . ." + +"Do not misunderstand me. I love you so much, that I have no other wish +than to see you happy and be allowed to be always with you. If, by +taking me for your only wife, you would outrage the laws of your country, +if you would thereby expose yourself to contempt, or even blame, (for who +could dare to despise my Bartja!) then take other wives; but let me have +you, for myself alone, at least two, or perhaps even three years. Will +you promise this, Bartja?" + +"I will." + +"And then, when my time has passed, and you must yield to the customs of +your country (for it will not be love that leads you to bring home a +second wife), then let me be the first among your slaves. Oh! I have +pictured that so delightfully to myself. When you go to war I shall set +the tiara on your head, gird on the sword, and place the lance in your +hand; and when you return a conqueror, I shall be the first to crown you +with the wreath of victory. When you ride out to the chase, mine will be +the duty of buckling on your spurs, and when you go to the banquet, of +adorning and anointing you, winding the garlands of poplar and roses and +twining them around your forehead and shoulders. If wounded, I will be +your nurse; will never stir from your side if you are ill, and when I see +you happy will retire, and feast my eyes from afar on your glory and +happiness. Then perchance you will call me to your side, and your kiss +will say, 'I am content with my Sappho, I love her still.'" + +"O Sappho, wert thou only my wife now!--to-day! The man who possesses +such a treasure as I have in thee, will guard it carefully, but never +care to seek for others which, by its side, can only show their miserable +poverty. He who has once loved thee, can never love another: I know it +is the custom in my country to have many wives, but this is only allowed; +there is no law to enjoin it. My father had, it is true, a hundred +female slaves, but only one real, true wife, our mother Kassandane." + +"And I will be your Kassandane." + +"No, my Sappho, for what you will be to me, no woman ever yet was to her +husband." + +"When shall you come to fetch me?" + +"As soon as I can, and am permitted to do so." + +"Then I ought to be able to wait patiently." + +"And shall I ever hear from you?" + +"Oh, I shall write long, long letters, and charge every wind with loving +messages for you." + +"Yes, do so, my darling; and as to the letters, give them to the +messenger who will bring Nitetis tidings from Egypt from time to time." + +"Where shall I find him?" + +"I will see that a man is stationed at Naukratis, to take charge of +everything you send to him. All this I will settle with Melitta." + +"Yes, we can trust her, she is prudent and faithful; but I have another +friend, who is dearer to me than any one else excepting you, and who +loves me too better than any one else does, but you--" + +"You mean your grandmother Rhodopis." + +"Yes, my faithful guardian and teacher." + +"Ah, she is a noble woman. Croesus considers her the most excellent +among women, and he has studied mankind as the physicians do plants and +herbs. He knows that rank poison lies hidden in some, in others healing +cordials, and often says that Rhodopis is like a rose which, while fading +away herself, and dropping leaf after leaf, continues to shed perfume and +quickening balsam for the sick and weak, and awaits in patience the wind +which at last shall waft her from us." + +"The gods grant that she may be with us for a long time yet! Dearest, +will you grant me one great favor?" + +"It is granted before I hear it." + +"When you take me home, do not leave Rhodopis here. She must come with +us. She is so kind and loves me so fervently, that what makes me happy +will make her so too, and whatever is dear to me, will seem to her worthy +of being loved." + +"She shall be the first among our guests." + +"Now I am quite happy and satisfied, for I am necessary to my +grandmother; she could not live without her child. I laugh her cares and +sorrows away, and when she is singing to me, or teaching me how to guide +the style, or strike the lute, a clearer light beams from her brow, the +furrows ploughed by grief disappear, her gentle eyes laugh, and she seems +to forget the evil past in the happy present." + +"Before we part, I will ask her whether she will follow us home." + +"Oh, how glad that makes me! and do you know, the first days of our +absence from each other do not seem so very dreadful to me. Now you are +to be my husband, I may surely tell you everything that pains or pleases +me, even when I dare not tell any one else, and so you must know, that, +when you leave, we expect two little visitors; they are the children of +the kind Phanes, whom your friend Gyges saved so nobly. I mean to be +like a mother to the little creatures, and when they have been good I +shall sing them a story of a prince, a brave hero, who took a simple +maiden to be his wife; and when I describe the prince I shall have you in +my mind, and though my little listeners will not guess it, I shall be +describing you from head to foot. My prince shall be tall like you, +shall have your golden curls and blue eyes, and your rich, royal dress +shall adorn his noble figure. Your generous heart, your love of truth, +and your beautiful reverence for the gods, your courage and heroism, in +short, every thing that I love and honor in you, I shall give to the hero +of my tale. How the children will listen! and when they cry, 'Oh, how we +love the prince, how good and beautiful he must be! if we could only see +him? then I shall press them close to my heart and kiss them as I kiss +you now, and so they will have gained their wish, for as you are +enthroned in my heart, you must be living within me and therefore +near to them, and when they embrace me they will embrace you too." + +"And I shall go to my little sister Atossa and tell her all I have seen +on my journey, and when I speak of the Greeks, their grace, their +glorious works of art, and their beautiful women, I shall describe the +golden Aphrodite in your lovely likeness. I shall tell her of your +virtue, your beauty and modesty, of your singing, which is so sweet that +even the nightingale is silent in order to listen to it, of your love and +tenderness. But all this I shall tell her belongs to the divine Cypris, +and when she cries, 'O Aphrodite, could I but see thee!' I too shall kiss +my sister." + +"Hark, what was that? Melitta surely clapped her hands. Farewell, we +must not stay! but we shall soon see each other again." + +"One more kiss!" + +"Farewell!" + +Melitta had fallen asleep at her post, overcome by age and weariness. +Her dreams were suddenly disturbed by a loud noise, and she clapped her +hands directly to warn the lovers and call Sappho, as she perceived by +the stars that the dawn was not far off. + +As the two approached the house, they discovered that the noise which had +awakened the old slave, proceeded from the guests, who were preparing for +departure. + +Urging her to make the greatest haste, Melitta pushed the frightened girl +into the house, took her at once to her sleeping-room, and was beginning +to undress her when Rhodopis entered. + +"You are still up, Sappho?" she asked. + +"What is this, my child?" + +Melitta trembled and had a falsehood ready on her lips, but Sappho, +throwing herself into her grandmother's arms, embraced her tenderly and +told the whole story of her love. + +Rhodopis turned pale, ordered Melitta to leave the chamber, and, placing +herself in front of her grandchild, laid both hands on her shoulders and +said earnestly, "Look into my eyes, Sappho. Canst thou look at me as +happily and as innocently, as thou couldst before this Persian came to +us?" + +The girl raised her eyes at once with a joyful smile; then Rhodopis +clasped her to her bosom, kissed her and continued: "Since thou wert a +little child my constant effort has been to train thee to a noble +maidenhood and guard thee from the approach of love. I had intended, in +accordance with the customs of our country, to choose a fitting husband +for thee shortly myself, to whose care I should have committed thee; but +the gods willed differently. + + [The Spartans married for love, but the Athenians were accustomed to + negotiate their marriages with the parents of the bride alone.] + +Eros mocks all human efforts to resist or confine him; warm AEolian blood +runs in thy veins and demands love; the passionate heart of thy Lesbian +forefathers beats in thy breast. + + [Charaxus, the grandfather of our heroine, and brother of the + poetess Sappho, was, as a Lesbian, an AEolian Greek.] + +What has happened cannot now be undone. Treasure these happy hours of a +first, pure love; hold them fast in the chambers of memory, for to every +human being there must come, sooner or later, a present so sad and +desolate, that the beautiful past is all he has to live upon. Remember +this handsome prince in silence, bid him farewell when he departs to his +native country, but beware of hoping to see him again. The Persians are +fickle and inconstant, lovers of everything new and foreign. The prince +has been fascinated by thy sweetness and grace. He loves thee ardently +now, but remember, he is young and handsome, courted by every one, and a +Persian. Give him up that he may not abandon thee!" + +"But how can I, grandmother? I have sworn to be faithful to him for +ever." + +"Oh, children! Ye play with eternity as if it were but a passing moment! +I could blame thee for thus plighting thy troth, but I rejoice that thou +regardest the oath as binding. I detest the blasphemous proverb: 'Zeus +pays no heed to lovers' oaths.' Why should an oath touching the best and +holiest feelings of humanity be regarded by the Deity, as inferior in +importance to asseverations respecting the trifling questions of mine and +thine? Keep thy promise then,--hold fast thy love, but prepare to +renounce thy lover." + +"Never, grandmother! could I ever have loved Bartja, if I had not trusted +him? Just because he is a Persian and holds truth to be the highest +virtue, I may venture to hope that he will remember his oath, and, +notwithstanding those evil customs of the Asiatics, will take and keep me +as his only wife." + +"But if he should forget, thy youth will be passed in mourning, and with +an embittered heart . . ." + +"O, dear kind grandmother, pray do not speak of such dreadful things. +If you knew him as well as I do, you would rejoice with me, and would +tell me I was right to believe that the Nile may dry up and the Pyramids +crumble into ruins, before my Bartja can ever deceive me!" + +The girl spoke these words with such a joyful, perfect confidence, and +her eyes, though filled with tears, were so brilliant with happiness and +warmth of feeling, that Rhodopis' face grew cheerful too. + +Sappho threw her arms again round her grandmother, told her every word +that Bartja had said to her, and ended the long account by exclaiming: +"Oh, grandmother, I am so happy, so very happy, and if you will come with +us to Persia, I shall have nothing more to wish from the Immortals." + +"That will not last long," said Rhodopis. "The gods cast envious glances +at the happiness of mortals; they measure our portion of evil with lavish +hands, and give us but a scanty allowance of good. But now go to bed, my +child, and let us pray together that all may end happily. I met thee +this morning as a child, I part from thee to-night a woman; and, when +thou art a wife, may thy kiss be as joyful as the one thou givest me now. +To-morrow I will talk the matter over with Croesus. He must decide +whether I dare allow thee to await the return of the Persian prince, or +whether I must entreat thee to forget him and become the domestic wife of +a Greek husband. Sleep well, my darling, thy grandmother will wake and +watch for thee." + +Sappho's happy fancies soon cradled her to sleep; but Rhodopis remained +awake watching the day dawn, and the sun rise, her mind occupied with +thoughts which brought smiles and frowns across her countenance in rapid +succession. + +The next morning she sent to Croesus, begging him to grant her an hour's +interview, acquainted him with every particular she had heard from +Sappho, and concluded her tale with these words: "I know not what demands +may be made on the consort of a Persian king, but I can truly say that I +believe Sappho to be worthy of the first monarch of the world. Her +father was free and of noble birth, and I have heard that, by Persian +law, the descent of a child is determined by the rank of the father only. +In Egypt, too, the descendants of a female slave enjoy the same rights as +those of a princess, if they owe their existence to the same father." + +"I have listened to you in silence," answered Croesus, "and must confess, +that, like yourself, I do not know in this moment whether to be glad or +sorry for this attachment. Cambyses and Kassandane (the king's and +Bartja's mother) wished to see the prince married before we left Persia, +for the king has no children, and should he remain childless, the only +hope for the family of Cyrus rests on Bartja, as the great founder of the +Persian empire left but two sons,--Cambyses, and him who is now the +suitor of your granddaughter. The latter is the hope and pride of the +entire Persian nation, high and low; the darling of the people; generous, +and noble, handsome, virtuous, and worthy of their love. It is indeed +expected that the princes shall marry in their own family, the +Achaemenidae; but the Persians have an unbounded predilection for +everything foreign. Enchanted with the beauty of your granddaughter, and +rendered indulgent by their partiality for Bartja, they would easily +forgive this breach of an ancient custom. Indeed, if the king gives his +approval, no objection on the part of his subjects can be entertained. +The history of Iran too offers a sufficient number of examples, in which +even slaves became the mothers of kings. The queen mother, whose +position, in the eyes of the people, is nearly as high as that of the +monarch himself, will do nothing to thwart the happiness of her youngest +and favorite son. When she sees that he will not give up Sappho,--that +his smiling face, in which she adores the image of her great husband +Cyrus, becomes clouded, I verily believe she would be ready to sanction +his taking even a Scythian woman to wife, if it could restore him to +cheerfulness. Neither will Cambyses himself refuse his consent if his +mother press the point at a right moment." + +"In that case every difficulty is set aside," cried Rhodopis joyfully. + +"It is not the marriage itself, but the time that must follow, which +causes me uneasiness," answered Croesus. + +"Do you think then that Bartja . . . ?" + +"From him I fear nothing. He has a pure heart, and has been so long +proof against love, that now he has once yielded, he will love long and +ardently." + +"What then do you fear?" + +"You must remember that, though the charming wife of their favorite will +be warmly received by all his friends of his own sex, there are thousands +of idle women in the harems of the Persian nobles, who will endeavor, by +every artifice and intrigue in their power, to injure the newly-risen +star; and whose greatest joy it will be to ruin such an inexperienced +child and make her unhappy." + +"You have a very bad opinion of the Persian women." + +"They are but women, and will naturally envy her, who has gained the +husband they all desired either for themselves or for their daughters. +In their monotonous life, devoid of occupation, envy easily becomes +hatred, and the gratification of these evil passions is the only +compensation which the poor creatures can obtain for the total absence of +love and loss of freedom. I repeat, the more beautiful Sappho is, the +more malicious they will feel towards her, and, even if Bartja should +love her so fervently as not to take a second wife for two or three +years, she will still have such heavy hours to encounter, that I really +do not know whether I dare congratulate you on her apparently brilliant +future." + +"That is quite my own feeling. A simple Greek would be more welcome to +me than this son of a mighty monarch." + +In this moment Knakias brought Bartja into the room. He went to Rhodopis +at once, besought her not to refuse him the hand of her granddaughter, +spoke of his ardent love, and assured her that his happiness would be +doubled, if she would consent to accompany them to Persia. Then turning +to Croesus, he seized his hand and entreated forgiveness for having so +long concealed his great happiness from one who had been like a father to +him, at the same time begging him to second his suit with Rhodopis. + +The old man listened to the youth's passionate language with a smile, and +said: "Ah, Bartja, how often have I warned thee against love! It is a +scorching fire." + +"But its flame is bright and beautiful." + +"It causes pain." + +"But such pain is sweet." + +"It leads the mind astray." + +"But it strengthens the heart." + +"Oh, this love!" cried Rhodopis. "Inspired by Eros, the boy speaks as +if he had been all his life studying under an Attic orator!" + +"And yet," answered Croesus, "these lovers are the most unteachable of +pupils. Convince them as clearly as you will, that their passion is only +another word for poison, fire, folly, death, they still cry, 'Tis sweet,' +and will not be hindered in their course." + +As he was speaking Sappho came in. A white festal robe, with wide +sleeves, and borders of purple embroidery, fell in graceful folds round +her delicate figure, and was confined at the waist by a golden girdle. +Her hair was adorned with fresh roses, and on her bosom lay her lover's +first gift, the flashing diamond star. + +She came up modestly and gracefully, and made a low obeisance to the aged +Croesus. His eyes rested long on the maidenly and lovely countenance, +and the longer he gazed the kindlier became his gaze. For a moment he +seemed to grow young again in the visions conjured up by memory, and +involuntarily he went up to the young girl, kissed her affectionately on +the forehead, and, taking her by the hand, led her to Bartja with the +words: "Take her, thy wife she must be, if the entire race of the +Achaemenidae were to conspire against us!" + +"Have I no voice in the matter?" said Rhodopis, smiling through her +tears. + +On hearing these words, Bartja and Sappho each took one of her hands, and +gazed entreatingly into her face. She rose to her full stature, and like +a prophetess exclaimed: "Eros, who brought you to each other, Zeus and +Apollo defend and protect you. I see you now like two fair roses on one +stem, loving and happy in the spring of life. What summer, autumn and +winter may have in store for you, lies hidden with the gods. May the +shades of thy departed parents, Sappho, smile approvingly when these +tidings of their child shall reach them in the nether world." + + ................................. + +Three days later a densely packed crowd was once more surging round the +Sais landing-place. This time they had assembled to bid a last farewell +to their king's daughter, and in this hour the people gave clear tokens +that, in spite of all the efforts of the priestly caste, their hearts +remained loyal to their monarch and his house. For when Amasis and +Ladice embraced Nitetis for the last time with tears--when Tachot, in +presence of all the inhabitants of Sais, following her sister down the +broad flight of steps that led to the river, threw her arms round her +neck once more and burst into sobs--when at last the wind filled the +sails of the royal boat and bore the princess, destined to be the great +king's bride, from their sight, few eyes among that vast crowd remained +dry. + +The priests alone looked on at this sad scene with unmoved gravity and +coldness; but when the south wind at last bore away the strangers who had +robbed them of their princess, many a curse and execration followed from +the Egyptians on the shore; Tachot alone stood weeping there and waving +her veil to them. For whom were these tears? for the play-fellow of her +youth, or for the handsome, beloved prince? + +Amasis embraced his wife and daughter in the eyes of all his people; and +held up his little grandson, Prince Necho, to their gaze, the sight +eliciting cries of joy on all sides. But Psamtik, the child's own +father, stood by the while, tearless and motionless. The king appeared +not to observe him, until Neithotep approached, and leading him to his +father, joined their hands and called down the blessing of the gods upon +the royal house. + +At this the Egyptians fell on their knees with uplifted hands. Amasis +clasped his son to his heart, and when the high-priest had concluded his +prayer, the following colloquy between the latter and Amasis took place +in low tones: + +"Let peace be between us for our own and Egypt's sake!" + +"Hast thou received Nebenchari's letter?" + +"A Samian pirate-vessel is in pursuit of Phanes' trireme." + +"Behold the child of thy predecessor Hophra, the rightful heiress of the +Egyptian throne, departing unhindered to a distant land!" + +"The works of the Greek temple now building in Memphis shall be +discontinued." + +"May Isis grant us peace, and may prosperity and happiness increase in +our land!" + + ............................ + +The Greek colonists in Naukratis had prepared a feast to celebrate the +departure of their protector's daughter. + +Numerous animals had been slaughtered in sacrifice on the altars of the +Greek divinities, and the Nile-boats were greeted with a loud cry of +"Ailinos" on their arrival in the harbor. + +A bridal wreath, composed of a hoop of gold wound round with scented +violets, was presented to Nitetis by a troop of young girls in holiday +dresses, the act of presentation being performed by Sappho, as the most +beautiful among the maidens of Naukratis. + +On accepting the gift Nitetis kissed her forehead in token of gratitude. +The triremes were already waiting; she went on board, the rowers took +their oars and began the Keleusma. + + [The measure of the Keleusma was generally given by a flute-player, + the Trieraules. AEschylus, Persians 403. Laert. Diog. IV. 22. In + the Frogs of Aristophanes the inhabitants of the marshes are made to + sing the Keleusma, v. 205. The melody, to the measure of which the + Greek boatmen usually timed their strokes.] + +Ailinos rang across the water from a thousand voices. Bartja stood on +the deck, and waved a last loving farewell to his betrothed; while Sappho +prayed in silence to Aphrodite Euploia, the protectress of those who go +down to the sea in ships. A tear rolled down her cheek, but around her +lips played a smile of love and hope, though her old slave Melitta, who +accompanied her to carry her parasol, was weeping as if her heart would +break. On seeing, however, a few leaves fall from her darling's wreath, +she forgot her tears for a moment and whispered softly: "Yes, dear heart, +it is easy to see that you are in love; when the leaves fall from a +maiden's wreath, 'tis a sure sign that her heart has been touched by +Eros. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Seven weeks after Nitetis had quitted her native country, a long train of +equipages and horsemen was to be seen on the king's highway from the west +to Babylon, moving steadily towards that gigantic city, whose towers +might already be descried in the far distance. + + [The great road called the "king's road," of which we shall have + more to say, was made by Cyrus and carefully kept up by Darius.] + +The principal object in this caravan was a richly-gilded, four-wheeled +carriage, closed in at the sides by curtains, and above by a roof +supported on wooden pillars. In this vehicle, called the Harmamaxa, +resting on rich cushions of gold brocade, sat our Egyptian Princess. + + [Harmamaxa--An Asiatic travelling carriage. The first mention of + these is in Xenophon's Anabasis, where we find a queen travelling in + such a vehicle. They were later adopted by the Romans and used for + the same object.] + +On either side rode her escort, viz.: the Persian princes and nobles whom +we have already learnt to know during their visit to Egypt, Croesus and +his son. + +Behind these, a long train, consisting of fifty vehicles of different +kinds and six hundred beasts of burden, stretched away into the distance, +and the royal carriage was preceded by a troop of splendidly-mounted +Persian cavalry. + +The high-road followed the course of the Euphrates, passing through +luxuriant fields of wheat, barley and sesame yielding fruit two, and +sometimes even three, hundred-fold. Slender date-palms covered with +golden fruit were scattered in every direction over the fields, which +were thoroughly irrigated by means of canals and ditches. + +It was winter, but the sun shone warm and bright from a cloudless sky. +The mighty river swarmed with craft of all sizes, either transporting the +products of Upper Armenia to the plains of Mesopotamia, or the wares of +Greece and Asia Minor from Thapsakus to Babylon. + + [Thapsakus--An important commercial town on the Euphrates, and the + point of observation from which Eratosthenes took his measurements + of the earth.] + +Pumps and water-wheels poured refreshing streams over the thirsty land, +and pretty villages ornamented the shores of the river. Indeed every +object gave evidence that our caravan was approaching the metropolis of +a carefully governed and civilized state. + +Nitetis and her retinue now halted at a long brick house, roofed with +asphalte, and surrounded by a grove of plane-trees. + + [Asphalte--Nearly all authorities, ancient as well as modern, report + that bitumen, which is still plentifully found in the neighborhood + of Babylon, was used by the Babylonians as mortar. See, besides the + accounts of ancient writers, W. Vaux, 'Nineveh and Persepolis'. + Burnt bitumen was used by Assyrians for cement in building.] + +Here Croesus was lifted from his horse, and approaching the carriage, +exclaimed: "Here we are at length at the last station! That high tower +which you see on the horizon is the celebrated temple of Bel, next to the +Pyramids, one of the most gigantic works ever constructed by human hands. +Before sunset we shall have reached the brazen gates of Babylon. And now +I would ask you to alight, and let me send your maidens into the house; +for here you must put on Persian apparel, to appear well-pleasing in the +eyes of Cambyses. In a few hours you will stand before your future +husband. But you are pale! Permit your maidens to adorn your cheeks +with a color that shall look like the excitement of joy. A first +impression is often a final one, and this is especially true with regard +to Cambyses. If, which I doubt not, you are pleasing in his eyes at +first, then you have won his love for ever; but if you should displease +him to-day he will never look kindly on you again, for he is rough and +harsh. But take courage, my daughter, and above all, do not forget the +advice I have given you." Nitetis dried her tears as she answered: "How +can I ever thank you, O Croesus, my second father, my protector and +adviser, for all your goodness? Oh, forsake me not in the days to come! +and if the path of my life should lead through grief and care, be near to +help and guide me as you did on the mountain-passes of this long and +dangerous journey. A thousand times I thank thee, O my father!" + +And, as she said these words, the young girl threw her arms around the +old man's neck and kissed him tenderly. + +On entering the court-yard, a tall stout man, followed by a train of +Asiatic serving-maidens, came forward to meet them. This was Boges, the +chief of the eunuchs, an important official at the Persian court. His +beardless face wore a smile of fulsome sweetness; in his ears hung costly +jewelled pendents; his neck, arms, legs and his effeminately long +garments glittered all over with gold chains and rings, and his crisp, +stiff curls, bound round by a purple fillet, streamed with powerful and +penetrating perfumes. + +Making a low and reverential obeisance before Nitetis, and holding, the +while, his fat hands overloaded with rings before his mouth, he thus +addressed her: "Cambyses, lord of the world, hath sent me to thee, O +Queen, that I may refresh thy heart with the dew of his salutations. He +sendeth thee likewise by me, even by me the lowest of his servants, +Persian raiment, that thou, as befitteth the consort of the mightiest of +all rulers, mayest approach the gates of the Achaemenidae in Median +garments. These women whom thou seest are thy handmaidens, and only +await thy bidding to transform thee from an Egyptian jewel into a Persian +pearl." + +The master of the caravansary then appeared, bearing, in token of +welcome, a basket of fruits arranged with great taste. + +Nitetis returned her thanks to both these men in kind and friendly words; +then entering the house laid aside the dress and ornaments of her native +land, weeping as she did so, allowed the strangers to unloose the plait +of hair which hung down at the left side of her head, and was the +distinctive mark of an Egyptian princess, and to array her in Median +garments. + + [In almost all the Egyptian pictures, the daughters and sons of the + Pharaohs are represented with these locks of hair, plaited and + reaching from the forehead to the neck. Rosellini, Mon. stor. II. + 123. Lepsius, Denkmaler. The daughter of Rameses II. is drawn + thus, and we have examples of the same in many other pictures.] + +In the meantime, a repast had been commanded by the princes who +accompanied her. Eager and agile attendants rushed to the baggage- +waggons, fetching thence, in a few moments, seats, tables, and golden +utensils of all kinds. The cooks vied with them and with each other, and +as if by magic, in a short space of time a richly-adorned banquet for the +hungry guests appeared, at which even the flowers were not wanting. + +During the entire journey our travellers had lived in a similar luxury, +as their beasts of burden carried every imaginable convenience, from +tents of water-proof materials inwrought with gold, down to silver foot- +stools; and in the vehicles which composed their train were not only +bakers, cooks, cup-bearers and carvers, but perfumers, hair-dressers and +weavers of garlands. Beside these conveniences, a well-fitted up +caravansary, or inn, was to be found about every eighteen miles along the +whole route, where disabled horses could be replaced, the plantations +around which afforded a refreshing shelter from the noonday heat, or +their hearths a refuge from the snow and cold on the mountain-passes. + +The kingdom of Persia was indebted for these inns (similar to the post- +stations of modern days) to Cyrus, who had endeavored to connect the +widely-distant provinces of his immense dominions by a system of well- +kept roads, and a regular postal service. At each of these stations the +horseman carrying the letter-bag was relieved by a fresh man on a fresh +steed, to whom the letters were transferred, and who, in his turn, darted +off like the wind, to be again replaced at a similar distance by another +rider. These couriers, called Angari, were considered the swiftest +horsemen in the world. + + [Herodotus V. 14. 49-52. Persian milestones are still to be found + among the ruins of the old king's road, which led from Nineveh to + Ecbatana. The Kurds call them keli-Shin (blue pillars).] + +Just as the banqueters, amongst whom Boges had taken his seat, were +rising from table, the door opened, and a vision appeared, which drew +prolonged exclamation of surprise from all the Persians present. +Nitetis, clad in the glorious apparel of a Median princess, proud in the +consciousness of her triumphant beauty, and yet blushing like a young +girl at the wondering admiration of her friends, stood before them. + +The attendants involuntarily fell on their faces before her, according to +the custom of the Asiatics, and the noble Achaemenidae bowed low and +reverentially; for it seemed as if Nitetis has laid aside all her former +bashfulness and timidity with her simple Egyptian dress, and with the +splendid silken garments of a Persian princess, flashing as they were +with gold and jewels, had clothed herself in the majesty of a queen. + +The deep reverence paid by all present seemed agreeable to her, and +thanking her admiring friends by a gracious wave of the hand, she turned +to the chief of the eunuchs and said in a kind tone but mingled with a +touch of pride; "Thou hast performed thy mission well; I am content with +the raiment and the slaves that thou hast provided and shall commend thy +circumspection to the king, my husband. Receive this gold chain in the +meanwhile, as a token of my gratitude." + +The eunuch kissed the hem of her garment, and accepted the gift in +silence. This man, hitherto omnipotent in his office, had never before +encountered such pride in any of the women committed to his charge. Up +to the present time all Cambyses' wives had been Asiatics, and, well +aware of the unlimited power of the chief of the eunuchs, had used every +means within their reach to secure his favor by flattery and submission. + +Boges now made a second obeisance before Nitetis, of which, however, she +took no notice, and turning to Croesus said: "Neither words nor gifts +could ever suffice to express my gratitude to you, kindest of friends, +for, if my future life at the court of Persia prove, I will not venture +to say a happy, but even a peaceful one, it is to you alone that I shall +owe it. Still, take this ring. It has never left my finger since I +quitted Egypt, and it has a significance far beyond its outward worth. +Pythagoras, the noblest of the Greeks, gave it to my mother, when he was +tarrying in Egypt to learn the wisdom of our priests, and it was her +parting gift to me. The number seven is engraved upon the simple stone. +This indivisible number represents perfect health, both to soul and body +for health is likewise one and indivisible. + + [Seven, the "motherless" number, which has no factor below ten.] + +The sickness of one member is the sickness of all; one evil thought, +allowed to take up its abode within our heart, destroys the entire +harmony of the soul. When you see this seven therefore, let it recall my +heart's wish that you may ever enjoy undisturbed bodily health, and long +retain that loving gentleness which has made you the most virtuous, and +therefore the healthiest of men. No thanks, my father, for even if I +could restore to Croesus all the treasures that he once possessed, I +should still retrain his debtor. Gyges, to you I give this Lydian lyre; +let its tones recall the giver to your memory. For you, Zopyrus, I have +a golden chain; I have witnessed that you are the most faithful of +friends; and we Egyptians are accustomed to place cords and bands in the +hands of our lovely Hathor, the goddess of love and friendship, as +symbols of her captivating and enchaining attributes. As Darius has +studied the wisdom of Egypt and the signs of the starry heavens, I beg +him to take this circlet of gold, on which a skilful hand has traced the +signs of the Zodiac. + + [Diodorus (I. 49.) tells, that in the tomb of Osymandyas (palace of + Rameses II. at Thebes) there lay a circle of gold, one ell thick and + 365 ells in circumference, containing a complete astronomical + calendar. The circle of the zodiac from Dendera, which is now in + Paris,--an astronomical ceiling painting, which was believed at the + time of its discovery to be of great age, is not nearly so ancient + as was supposed, dating only from the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty. + Letronne was the first to estimate it correctly. See Lepsius, + Chron. p.63. and Lauth, 'les zodiaques de Dendera'. Munich 1865.] + +And lastly, to my dear brother-in-law Bartja I commit the most precious +jewel in my possession--this amulet of blue stone. My sister Tachot hung +it round my neck as I kissed her on the last night before we parted; she +told me it could bring to its wearer the sweet bliss of love. And then, +Bartja, she wept! I do not know of whom she was thinking in that moment, +but I hope I am acting according to her wishes in giving you her precious +jewel. Take it as a gift from Tachot, and sometimes call to mind our +games in the Sais gardens." + +Thus far she had been speaking Greek, but now, addressing the attendants +who remained standing in an attitude of deep reverence, she began in +broken Persian: "Accept my thanks also. In Babylon you shall receive a +thousand gold staters." Then turning to Boges, she added: "Let this sum +be distributed among the attendants at latest by the day after to-morrow. +Take me to my carriage, Croesus." + +The old king hastened to do her bidding, and as he was leading her +thither she pressed his arm and whispered gently, "Are you pleased with +me, my father?" + +"I tell you, girl," the old man answered, "that no one but the king's +mother can ever be your equal at this court, for a true and queenly pride +reigns on your brow, and you have the power of using small means to +effect great ends. Believe me, the smallest gift, chosen and bestowed as +you can choose and bestow, gives more pleasure to a noble mind than heaps +of treasure merely cast down at his feet. The Persians are accustomed to +present and receive costly gifts. They understand already how to enrich +their friends, but you can teach them to impart a joy with every gift. +How beautiful you are to-day! Are your cushions to your mind, or would +you like a higher seat? But what is that? There are clouds of dust in +the direction of the city. Cambyses is surely coming to meet you! +Courage, my daughter. Above all try to meet his gaze and respond to it. +Very few can bear the lightning glance of those eyes, but, if you can +return it freely and fearlessly, you have conquered. Fear nothing, my +child, and may Aphrodite adorn you with her most glorious beauty! My +friends, we must start, I think the king himself is coming." Nitetis sat +erect in her splendid, gilded carriage; her hands were pressed on her +throbbing heart. The clouds of dust came nearer and nearer, her eye +caught the flash of weapons like lightning across a stormy sky. The +clouds parted, she could see single figures for a moment, but soon lost +them as the road wound behind some thickets and shrubs. Suddenly the +troop of horsemen appeared in full gallop only a hundred paces before +her, and distinctly visible. + +Her first impression was of a motley mass of steeds and men, glittering +in purple, gold, silver and jewels. It consisted in reality of a troop +of more than two hundred horsemen mounted on pure white Nicaean horses, +whose bridles and saddle-cloths were covered with bells and bosses, +feathers, fringes, and embroidery. Their leader rode a powerful coal- +black charger, which even the strong will and hand of his rider could not +always curb, though in the end his enormous strength proved him the man +to tame even this fiery animal. This rider, beneath whose weight the +powerful steed trembled and panted, wore a vesture of scarlet and white, +thickly embroidered with eagles and falcons in silver. + + [Curtius III. 3. Xenoph. Cyrap, VIII. 3. 7. Aeschylus, Persians + 835. 836. The king's dress and ornaments were worth 12,000 talents, + or L2,250,000 (estimate of 1880) according to Plutarch, Artaxerxes + 24.] + +The lower part of his dress was purple, and his boots of yellow leather. +He wore a golden girdle; in this hung a short dagger-like sword, the hilt +and scabbard of which were thickly studded with jewels. The remaining +ornaments of his dress resembled those we have described as worn by +Bartja, and the blue and white fillet of the Achaemenidae was bound +around the tiara, which surmounted a mass of thick curls, black as ebony. +The lower part of his face was concealed by an immense beard. His +features were pale and immovable, but the eyes, (more intensely black, if +possible, than either hair or beard), glowed with a fire that was rather +scorching than warming. A deep, fiery-red scar, given by the sword of a +Massagetan warrior, crossed his high forehead, arched nose and thin upper +lip. His whole demeanor expressed great power and unbounded pride. + +Nitetis' gaze was at once riveted by this man. She had never seen any +one like him before, and he exercised a strange fascination over her. +The expression of indomitable pride, worn by his features, seemed to her +to represent a manly nature which the whole world, but she herself above +all others, was created to serve. She felt afraid, and yet her true +woman's heart longed to lean upon his strength as the vine upon the elm. +She could not be quite sure whether she had thus pictured to herself the +father of all evil, the fearful Seth, or the great god Ammon, the giver +of light. + +The deepest pallor and the brightest color flitted by turns across her +lovely face, like the light and shadow when clouds pass swiftly over a +sunny noonday sky. She had quite forgotten the advice of her fatherly +old friend, and yet, when Cambyses brought his unruly, chafing steed to a +stand by the side of her carriage, she gazed breathless into the fiery +eyes of this man and felt at once that he was the king, though no one had +told her so. + +The stern face of this ruler of half the known world relaxed, as Nitetis, +moved by an unaccountable impulse, continued to bear his piercing gaze. +At last he waved his hand to her in token of welcome, and then rode on to +her escort, who had alighted from their horses and were awaiting him, +some having cast themselves down in the dust, and others, after the +Persian manner, standing in an attitude of deep reverence, their hands +concealed in the wide sleeves of their robes. + +He sprang from his horse, an example which was followed at once by his +entire suite. The attendants, with the speed of thought, spread a rich +purple carpet on the highway, lest the foot of the king should come in +contact with the dust of the earth, and then Cambyses proceeded to salute +his friends and relations by offering them his mouth to kiss. + +He shook Croesus by the right hand, commanding him to remount and +accompany him to the carriage, as interpreter between himself and +Nitetis. + +In an instant his highest office-bearers were at hand to lift the king +once more on to his horse, and at a single nod from their lord, the train +was again in motion. + +Cambyses and Croesus rode by the side of the carriage. + +"She is beautiful, and pleases me well," began the king. "Interpret +faithfully all her answers, for I understand only the Persian, Assyrian +and Median tongues." + +Nitetis caught and understood these words. A feeling of intense joy +stole into her heart, and before Croesus could answer, she began softly +in broken Persian and blushing deeply: "Blessed be the gods, who have +caused me to find favor in thine eyes. I am not ignorant of the speech +of my lord, for the noble Croesus has instructed me in the Persian +language during our long journey. Forgive, if my sentences be broken and +imperfect; the time was short, and my capacity only that of a poor and +simple maiden." + + [Diodorus tells us that Themistocles learnt the Persian language + during the journey to Susa. We are not, therefore, requiring an + impossibility of Nitetis.] + +A smile passed over the usually serious mouth of Cambyses. His vanity +was flattered by Nitetis' desire to win his approbation, and, accustomed +as he was to see women grow up in idleness and ignorance, thinking of +nothing but finery and intrigue, her persevering industry seemed to him +both wonderful and praise worthy. So he answered with evident +satisfaction: "I rejoice that we can speak without an interpreter. +Persevere in learning the beautiful language of my forefathers. Croesus, +who sits at my table, shall still remain your instructor." + +"Your command confers happiness!" exclaimed the old man. "No more eager +or thankful pupil could be found, than the daughter of Amasis." + +"She justifies the ancient report of the wisdom of Egypt," answered the +king, "and I can believe that she will quickly understand and receive +into her soul the religious instructions of our Magi." + +Nitetis dropped her earnest gaze. Her fears were being realized. She +would be compelled to serve strange gods. + +But her emotion passed unnoticed by Cambyses, who went on speaking: "My +mother Kassandane will tell you the duties expected from my wives. To- +morrow I myself will lead you to her. The words, which you innocently +chanced to hear, I now repeat; you please me well. Do nothing to +alienate my affection. We will try to make our country agreeable, and, +as your friend, I counsel you to treat Boges whom I sent as my +forerunner, in a kind and friendly manner. As head over the house +of the women, you will have to conform to his will in many things." + +"Though he be head over the house of the women," answered Nitetis, +"surely your wife is bound to obey no other earthly will than yours. +Your slightest look shall be for me a command; but remember that I am a +king's daughter, that in my native land the weaker and the stronger sex +have equal rights, and that the same pride reigns in my breast, which I +see kindling in your eyes, my lord and king! My obedience to you, my +husband and my ruler, shall be that of a slave, but I can never stoop to +sue for the favor, or obey the orders of a venal servant, the most +unmanly of his kind!" + +Cambyses' wonder and satisfaction increased. He had never heard any +woman speak in this way before, except his mother; the clever way in +which Nitetis acknowledged, and laid stress on, his right to command her +every act, was very flattering to his self-love, and her pride found an +echo in his own haughty disposition. He nodded approvingly and answered: +"You have spoken well. A separate dwelling shall be appointed you. +I, and no one else, will prescribe your rules of life and conduct. This +day the pleasant palace on the hanging-gardens shall be prepared for your +reception." + +"A thousand, thousand thanks," cried Nitetis. "You little know the +blessing you are bestowing in this permission. Again and again I have +begged your brother Bartja to repeat the story of these gardens, and the +love of the king who raised that verdant and blooming hill, pleased us +better than all the other glories of your vast domains." + +"To-morrow," answered the king, "you can enter your new abode. But tell +me now how my messengers pleased you and your countrymen." + +"How can you ask? Who could know the noble Croesus without loving him? +Who could fail to admire the beauty of the young heroes, your friends? +They have all become dear to us, but your handsome brother Bartja +especially, won all hearts. The Egyptians have no love for strangers, +and yet the gaping crowd would burst into a murmur of admiration, when +his beautiful face appeared among them." + +At these words the king's brow darkened; he struck his horse so sharply +that the creature reared, and then turning it quickly round he gallopped +to the front and soon reached the walls of Babylon. + + ........................... + +Though Nitetis had been brought up among the huge temples and palaces of +Egypt, she was still astonished at the size and grandeur of this gigantic +city. + +Its walls seemed impregnable; they measured more than seventy-five feet +--[Fifty ells. The Greek ell is equal to one foot and a half English.]-- +in height and their breadth was so great, that two chariots could +conveniently drive abreast upon them. These mighty defences were crowned +and strengthened by two hundred and fifty high towers, and even these +would have been insufficient, if Babylon had not been protected on one +side by impassable morasses. The gigantic city lay on both +shores of the Euphrates. It was more than forty miles in circumference, +and its walls enclosed buildings surpassing in size and grandeur even the +Pyramids and the temples of Thebes. + + [These numbers and measurements are taken partly from Herodotus, + partly from Diodorus, Strabo and Arrian. And even the ruins of this + giant city, writes Lavard, are such as to allow a very fair + conclusion of its enormous size. Aristotle (Polit. III. I.) says + Babylon's dimensions were not those of a city, but of a nation.] + +The mighty gates of brass, through which the royal train entered the +city, had opened wide to receive this noble company. This entrance was +defended on each side by a strong tower, and before each of these towers +lay, as warder, a gigantic winged bull carved in stone, with a human +head, bearded and solemn. Nitetis gazed at these gates in astonishment, +and then a joyful smile lighted up her face, as she looked up the long +broad street so brightly and beautifully decorated to welcome her. + +The moment they beheld the king and the gilded carriage, the multitude +burst into loud shouts of joy, but when Bartja, the people's darling, +came in sight, the shouts rose to thunder-peals and shrieks of delight, +which seemed as if they would never end. It was long since the populace +had seen Cambyses, for in accordance with Median customs the king seldom +appeared in public. Like the Deity, he was to govern invisibly, and his +occasional appearance before the nation to be looked upon as a festival +and occasion of rejoicing. Thus all Babylon had come out to-day to look +upon their awful ruler and to welcome their favorite Bartja on his +return. The windows were crowded with eager, curious women, who threw +flowers before the approaching train, or poured sweet perfumes from above +as they passed by. The pavement was thickly strewn with myrtle and palm +branches, trees of different kinds had been placed before the house- +doors, carpets and gay cloths hung from the windows, garlands of flowers +were wreathed from house to house, fragrant odors of incense and sandal- +wood perfumed the air, and the way was lined with thousands of gaping +Babylonians dressed in white linen shirts, gaily-colored woollen +petticoats and short cloaks, and carrying long staves headed with +pomegranates, birds, or roses, of gold or silver. + +The streets through which the procession moved were broad and straight, +the houses on either side, built of brick, tall and handsome. Towering +above every thing else, and visible from all points, rose the gigantic +temple of Bel. Its colossal staircase, like a huge serpent, wound round +and round the ever-diminishing series of stories composing the tower, +until it reached the summit crowned by the sanctuary itself. + + [This temple of Bel, which many consider may have been the tower of + Babel of Genesis XI., is mentioned by Herodotus I. 181. 182. 183. + Diodorus II. 8. 9. (Ktesias), Strabo 738 and many other ancient + writers. The people living in its neighborhood now call the ruins + Birs Nimrod, the castle of Nimrod. In the text we have + reconstructed it as far as possible from the accounts of classical + writers. The first story, which is still standing, in the midst of + a heap of ruins, is 260 feet high. The walls surrounding the tower + are said to be still clearly recognizable, and were 4000 feet long + and 3000 broad. ] + +The procession approached the royal palace. This corresponded in its +enormous size to the rest of the vast city. The walls surrounding it +were covered with gaily-colored and glazed representations of strange +figures made up of human beings, birds, quadrupeds and fishes; hunting- +scenes, battles and solemn processions. By the side of the river towards +the north, rose the hanging-gardens, and the smaller palace lay toward +the east on the other bank of the Euphrates, connected with the larger +one by the wondrous erection, a firm bridge of stone. + +Our train passed on through the brazen gates of three of the walls +surrounding the palace, and then halted. Nitetis was lifted from her +carriage by bearers; she was at last in her new home, and soon after in +the apartments of the women's house assigned to her temporary use. + +Cambyses, Bartja and their friends already known to us, were still +standing in the gaily-carpeted court of the palace, surrounded by at +least a hundred splendid dignitaries in magnificent dresses, when +suddenly a sound of loud female voices was heard, and a lovely Persian +girl richly dressed, her thick fair hair profusely wreathed with pearls, +rushed into the court, pursued by several women older than herself. She +ran up to the group of men; Cambyses with a smile placed himself in her +path, but the impetuous girl slipped adroitly past him, and in another +moment was hanging on Bartja's neck, crying and laughing by turns. + +The attendants in pursuit prostrated themselves at a respectful distance, +but Cambyses, on seeing the caresses lavished by the young girl on her +newly-returned brother, cried: "For shame, Atossa! remember that since +you began to wear ear-rings you have ceased to be a child! + + [Ear-rings were given to the Persian girls in their fifteenth year, + the marriageable age. Vendid. Farlard XIV. 66. At this age too + boys as well as girls were obliged to wear the sacred cord, Kuctl or + Kosti as a girdle; and were only allowed to unloose it in the night. + The making of this cord is attended with many ceremonies, even among + the Persians of our own day. Seventy-two threads must be employed, + but black wool is prohibited.] + +It is right that you should rejoice to see your brother again, but a +king's daughter must never forget what is due to her rank, even in her +greatest joy. Go back to your mother directly. I see your attendants +waiting yonder. Go and tell them, that as this is a day of rejoicing I +will allow your heedless conduct to pass unpunished, but the next time +you appear unbidden in these apartments, which none may enter without +permission, I shall tell Boges to keep you twelve days in confinement. +Remember this, thoughtless child, and tell our mother, Bartja and I are +coming to visit her. Now give me a kiss. You will not? We shall see, +capricious little one!" And so saying the king sprang towards his +refractory little sister, and seizing both her hands in one of his own, +bent back her charming head with the other and kissed her in spite of +her resistance. She screamed from the violence of his grasp, and ran +away crying to her attendants, who took her back to her apartments. + +When Atossa had disappeared, Bartja said; "You were too rough with the +little one, Cambyses. She screamed with pain!" + +Once more the king's face clouded, but suppressing the harsh words which +trembled on his lips, he only answered, turning towards the house: "Let +us come to our mother now; she begged me to bring you as soon as you +arrived. The women, as usual, are all impatience. Nitetis told me your +rosy cheeks and fair curls had bewitched the Egyptian women too. I would +advise you to pray betimes to Mithras for eternal youth, and for his +protection against the wrinkles of age!" + +"Do you mean to imply by these words that I have no virtues which could +make an old age beautiful?" asked Bartja. + +"I explain my words to no one. Come." + +"But I ask for an opportunity of proving, that I am inferior to none of +my nation in manly qualities." + +"For that matter, the shouts of the Babylonians today will have been +proof enough, that deeds are not wanted from you, in order to win their +admiration." + +"Cambyses!" + +"Now come! We are just on the eve of a war with the Massagetae; there +you will have a good opportunity of proving what you are worth." + +A few minutes later, and Bartja was in the arms of his blind mother. +She had been waiting for her darling's arrival with a beating heart, and +in the joy of hearing his voice once more, and of being able to lay her +hands again on that beloved head, she forgot everything else--even her +first-born son who stood by smiling bitterly, as he watched the rich and +boundless stream of a mother's love flowing out to his younger brother. + +Cambyses had been spoiled from his earliest infancy. Every wish had been +fulfilled, every look regarded as a command; and thus he grew up totally +unable to brook contradiction, giving way to the most violent anger if +any of his subjects (and he knew no human beings who were not his +subjects) dared to oppose him. + +His father Cyrus, conqueror of half the world--the man whose genius had +raised Persia from a small nation to the summit of earthly greatness--who +had secured for himself the reverence and admiration of countless +subjugated tribes--this great king was incapable of carrying out in his +own small family-circle the system of education he had so successfully +adopted towards entire countries. He could see nought else in Cambyses +but the future king of Persia, and commanded his subjects to pay him an +unquestioning obedience, entirely forgetful of the fact that he who is to +govern well must begin by learning to obey. + +Cambyses had been the first-born son of Kassandane, the wife whom Cyrus +had loved and married young; three daughters followed, and at last, +fifteen years later, Bartja had come into the world. Their eldest son +had already outgrown his parents' caresses, when this little child +appeared to engross all their care and love. His gentle, affectionate +and clinging nature made him the darling of both father and mother: +Cambyses was treated with consideration by his parents, but their love +was for Bartja. Cambyses was brave; he distinguished himself often in +the field, but his disposition was haughty and imperious; men served him +with fear and trembling, while Bartja, ever sociable and sympathizing, +converted all his companions into loving friends. As to the mass of +the people, they feared the king, and trembled when he drew near, +notwithstanding the lavish manner in which he showered rich gifts around +him; but they loved Bartja, and believed they saw in him the image of the +great Cyrus the "Father of his people." + +Cambyses knew well that all this love, so freely given to Bartja, was not +to be bought. He did not hate his younger brother, but he felt annoyed +that a youth who had as yet done nothing to distinguish himself, should +be honored and revered as if he were already a hero and public +benefactor. Whatever annoyed or displeased him he considered must be +wrong; where he disapproved he did not spare his censures, and from his +very childhood, Cambyses' reproofs had been dreaded even by the mighty. + +The enthusiastic shouts of the populace, the overflowing love of his +mother and sister, and above all, the warm encomiums expressed by +Nitetis, had excited a jealousy which his pride had never allowed +hitherto. Nitetis had taken his fancy in a remarkable degree. This +daughter of a powerful monarch, like himself disdaining everything mean +and inferior, had yet acknowledged him to be her superior, and to win his +favor had not shrunk from the laborious task of mastering his native +language. These qualities, added to her peculiar style of beauty, which +excited his admiration from its rare novelty, half Egyptian half Greek, +(her mother having been a Greek), had not failed to make a deep +impression on him. But she had been liberal in her praise of Bartja; +that was enough to disturb Cambyses' mind and prepare the way for +jealousy. + +As he and his brother were leaving the women's apartments, Cambyses +adopted a hasty resolution and exclaimed: "You asked me just now for an +opportunity of proving your courage. I will not refuse. The Tapuri have +risen; I have sent troops to the frontier. Go to Rhagae, take the +command and show what you are worth." + +"Thanks, brother," cried Bartja. "May I take my friends, Darius, Gyges +and Zopyrus with me?" + +"That favor shall be granted too. I hope you will all do your duty +bravely and promptly, that you may be back in three months to join the +main army in the expedition of revenge on the Massagetae. It will take +place in spring." + +"I will start to-morrow." + +"Then farewell." + +"If Auramazda should spare my life and I should return victorious, will +you promise to grant me one favor?" + +"Yes, I will." + +"Now, then, I feel confident of victory, even if I should have to stand +with a thousand men against ten thousand of the enemy." Bartja's eyes +sparkled, he was thinking of Sappho. + +"Well," answered his brother, "I shall be very glad if your actions bear +out these glowing words. But stop; I have something more to say. You +are now twenty years of age; you must marry. Roxana, daughter of the +noble Hydarnes, is marriageable, and is said to be beautiful. Her birth +makes her a fitting bride for you." + +"Oh! brother, do not speak of marriage; I . . ." "You must marry, for +I have no children." + +"But you are still young; you will not remain childless. Besides, I do +not say that I will never marry. Do not be angry, but just now, when I +am to prove my courage, I would rather hear nothing about women." + +"Well, then, you must marry Roxana when you return from the North. But I +should advise you to take her with you to the field. A Persian generally +fights better if he knows that, beside his most precious treasures, he +has a beautiful woman in his tent to defend." + +"Spare me this one command, my brother. I conjure thee, by the soul of +our father, not to inflict on me a wife of whom I know nothing, and never +wish to know. Give Roxana to Zopyrus, who is so fond of women, or to +Darius or Bessus, who are related to her father Hydarnes. I cannot love +her, and should be miserable . . ." + +Cambyses interrupted him with a laugh, exclaiming: "Did you learn these +notions in Egypt, where it is the custom to be contented with one wife? +In truth, I have long repented having sent a boy like you abroad. I am +not accustomed to bear contradiction, and shall listen to no excuses +after the war. This once I will allow you to go to the field without a +wife. I will not force you to do what, in your opinion, might endanger +your valor. But it seems to me that you have other and more secret +reasons for refusing my brotherly proposal. If that is the case, I am +sorry for you. However, for the present, you can depart, but after the +war I will hear no remonstrances. You know me." + +"Perhaps after the war I may ask for the very thing, which I am refusing +now--but never for Roxana! It is just as unwise to try to make a man +happy by force as it is wicked to compel him to be unhappy, and I thank +you for granting my request." + +"Don't try my powers of yielding too often!--How happy you look! +I really believe you are in love with some one woman by whose side all +the others have lost their charms." + +Bartja blushed to his temples, and seizing his brother's hand, exclaimed: +"Ask no further now, accept my thanks once more, and farewell. May I bid +Nitetis farewell too, when I have taken leave of our mother and Atossa?" + +Cambyses bit his lip, looked searchingly into Bartja's face, and finding +that the boy grew uneasy under his glance, exclaimed abruptly and +angrily: "Your first business is to hasten to the Tapuri. My wife needs +your care no longer; she has other protectors now." So saying he turned +his back on his brother and passed on into the great hall, blazing with +gold, purple and jewels, where the chiefs of the army, satraps, judges, +treasurers, secretaries, counsellors, eunuchs, door-keepers, introducers +of strangers, chamberlains, keepers of the wardrobe, dressers, cup- +bearers, equerries, masters of the chase, physicians, eyes and ears of +the king, ambassadors and plenipotentiaries of all descriptions--were in +waiting for him. + + [The "eyes and ears" of the king may be compared to our police- + ministers. Darius may have borrowed the name from Egypt, where such + titles as "the 2 eyes of the king for Upper Egypt, the 2 ears of the + king for Lower Egypt" are to be found on the earlier monuments, for + instance in the tomb of Amen en, heb at Abd el Qurnah. And in + Herodotus II. 114. the boy Cyrus calls one of his playfellows "the + eye of the king," Herod. (I, 100.)] + +The king was preceded by heralds bearing staves, and followed by a host +of fan, sedan and footstool-bearers, men carrying carpets, and +secretaries who the moment he uttered a command, or even indicated a +concession, a punishment or a reward, hastened to note it down and at +once hand it over to the officials empowered to execute his decrees. + +In the middle of the brilliantly-lighted hall stood a gilded table, which +looked as if it must give way beneath the mass of gold and silver +vessels, plates, cups and bowls which were arranged with great order upon +it. The king's private table, the service on which was of immense worth +and beauty, was placed in an apartment opening out of the large hall, and +separated from it by purple hangings. These concealed him from the gaze +of the revellers, but did not prevent their every movement from being +watched by his eye. It was an object of the highest ambition to be one +of those who ate at the king's table, and even he to whom a portion was +sent might deem himself a highly-favored man. + +As Cambyses entered the hall, nearly every one present prostrated +themselves before him; his relations alone, distinguished by the blue and +white fillet on the tiara, contented themselves with a deferential +obeisance. + +After the king had seated himself in his private apartment, the rest of +the company took their places, and then a tremendous revel began. +Animals, roasted whole, were placed on the table, and, when hunger was +appeased, several courses of the rarest delicacies followed, celebrated +in later times even among the Greeks under the name of "Persian dessert." + + [Herodotus (I. 133.) writes that the Persians fancied the Greeks' + hunger was never satisfied, because nothing special was brought to + the table at the end of the meal.] + +Slaves then entered to remove the remains of the food. Others brought in +immense jugs of wine, the king left his own apartment, took his seat at +the head of the table, numerous cup-bearers filled the golden drinking- +cups in the most graceful manner, first tasting the wine to prove that it +was free from poison, and soon one of those drinking-bouts had begun +under the best auspices, at which, a century or two later, Alexander the +Great, forgot not only moderation but even friendship itself. + +Cambyses was unwontedly silent. The suspicion had entered his mind, that +Bartja loved Nitetis. Why had he, contrary to all custom, so decidedly +refused to marry a noble and beautiful girl, when his brother's +childlessness rendered marriage an evident and urgent duty for him? Why +had he wished to see the Egyptian princess again before leaving Babylon? +and blushed as he expressed that wish? and why had she, almost without +being asked, praised him so warmly? + +It is well that he is going, thought the king; at least he shall not rob +me of her love. If he were not my brother I would send him to a place +from whence none can return. + +After midnight he broke up the banquet. Boges appeared to conduct him to +the Harem, which he was accustomed to visit at this hour, when +sufficiently sober. + +"Phaedime awaits you with impatience," said the eunuch. + +"Let her wait!" was the king's answer. "Have you given orders that the +palace on the hanging-gardens shall be set in order?" + +"It will be ready for occupation to-morrow." + +"What apartments have been assigned to the Egyptian Princess?" + +"Those formerly occupied by the second wife of your father Cyrus, the +deceased Amytis." + +"That is well. Nitetis is to be treated with the greatest respect, and +to receive no commands even from yourself, but such as I give you for +her." + +Boges bowed low. + +"See that no one, not even Croesus, has admission to her before my..... +before I give further orders." + +"Croesus was with her this evening." + +"What may have been his business with my wife?" + +"I do not know, for I do not understand the Greek language, but I heard +the name of Bartja several times, and it seemed to me that the Egyptian +had received sorrowful intelligence. She was looking very sad when I +came, after Croesus had left, to inquire if she had any commands for me." + +"May Ahriman blast thy tongue," muttered the king, and then turning his +back on the eunuch he followed the torch-bearers and attendants, who were +in waiting to disrobe him, to his own private apartments. + +At noon on the following clay, Bartja, accompanied by his friends and a +troop of attendants, started on horseback for the frontier. Croesus went +with the young warriors as far as the city gates, and as their last +farewells and embraces were being exchanged, Bartja whispered to his old +friend: "If the messenger from Egypt should have a letter for me in his +bag, will you send it on?" + +"Shall you be able to decipher the Greek writing?" + +"Gyges and love will help me!" + +"When I told Nitetis of your departure she begged me to wish you +farewell, and tell you not to forget Egypt." + +"I am not likely to do that." + +"The gods take thee into their care, my son. Be prudent, do not risk +your life heedlessly, but remember that it is no longer only your own. +Exercise the gentleness of a father towards the rebels; they did not rise +in mere self-will, but to gain their freedom, the most precious +possession of mankind. Remember, too, that to shew mercy is better than +to shed blood; the sword killeth, but the favor of the ruler bringeth joy +and happiness. Conclude the war as speedily as possible, for war is a +perversion of nature; in peace the sons outlive the fathers, but in war +the fathers live to mourn for their slain sons. Farewell, my young +heroes, go forward and conquer!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Cambyses passed a sleepless night. The feeling of jealousy, so totally +new to him, increased his desire to possess Nitetis, but he dared not +take her as his wife yet, as the Persian law forbade the king to marry a +foreign wife, until she had become familiar with the customs of Iran and +confessed herself a disciple of Zoroaster. + + [Zoroaster, really Zarathustra or Zerethoschtro, was one of the + `greatest among founders of new religions and lawgivers. His name + signified "golden star" according to Anquetil du Perron. But this + interpretation is as doubtful, as the many others which have been + attempted. An appropriate one is given in the essay by Kern quoted + below, from zara golden, and thwistra glittering; thus "the gold + glittering one." It is uncertain whether he was born in Bactria, + Media or Persia, Anquetil thinks in Urmi, a town in Aderbaijan. His + father's name was Porosehasp, his mother's Dogdo, and his family + boasted of royal descent. The time of his birth is very,--Spiegel + says "hopelessly"--dark. Anquetil, and many other scholars would + place it in the reign of Darius, a view which has been proved to be + incorrect by Spiegel, Duncker and v. Schack in his introduction.] + +According to this law a whole year must pass before Nitetis could become +the wife of a Persian monarch? but what was the law to Cambyses? In his +eyes the law was embodied in his own person, and in his opinion three +months would be amply sufficient to initiate Nitetis in the Magian +mysteries, after which process she could become his bride. + +To-day his other wives seemed hateful, even loathsome, to him. From +Cambyses' earliest youth his house had been carefully provided with +women. Beautiful girls from all parts of Asia, black-eyed Armenians, +dazzlingly fair maidens from the Caucasus, delicate girls from the shores +of the Ganges, luxurious Babylonian women, golden-haired Persians and the +effeminate daughters of the Median plains; indeed many of the noblest +Achaemenidae had given him their daughters in marriage. + +Phaedime, the daughter of Otanes, and niece of his own mother Kassandane, +had been Cambyses' favorite wife hitherto, or at least the only one of +whom it could be said that she was more to him than a purchased slave +would have been. But even she, in his present sated and disgusted state +of feeling, seemed vulgar and contemptible, especially when he thought of +Nitetis. + +The Egyptian seemed formed of nobler, better stuff than they all. They +were flattering, coaxing girls; Nitetis was a queen. They humbled +themselves in the dust at his feet; but when he thought of Nitetis, he +beheld her erect, standing before him, on the same proud level as +himself. He determined that from henceforth she should not only occupy +Phaedime's place, but should be to him what Kassandane had been to his +father Cyrus. + +She was the only one of his wives who could assist him by her knowledge +and advice; the others were all like children, ignorant, and caring for +nothing but dress and finery: living only for petty intrigues and useless +trifles. This Egyptian girl would be obliged to love him, for he would +be her protector, her lord, her father and brother in this foreign land. + +"She must," he said to himself, and to this despot to wish for a thing +and to possess it seemed one and the same. "Bartja had better take +care," he murmured, "or he shall know what fate awaits the man who dares +to cross my path." + +Nitetis too had passed a restless night. + +The common apartment of the women was next to her own, and the noise and +singing there had not ceased until nearly midnight. She could often +distinguish the shrill voice of Boges joking and laughing with these +women, who were under his charge. At last all was quiet in the wide +palace halls and then her thoughts turned to her distant home and her +poor sister Tachot, longing for her and for the beautiful Bartja, who, +Croesus had told her, was going to-morrow to the war and possibly to +death. At last she fell asleep, overcome by the fatigue of the journey +and dreaming of her future husband. She saw him on his black charger. +The foaming animal shied at Bartja who was lying in the road, threw his +rider and dragged him into the Nile, whose waves became blood-red. In +her terror she screamed for help; her cries were echoed back from the +Pyramids in such loud and fearful tones that she awoke. + +But hark! what could that be? That wailing, shrill cry which she had +heard in her dream,--she could hear it still. + +Hastily drawing aside the shutters from one of the openings which served +as windows, she looked out. A large and beautiful garden, laid out with +fountains and shady avenues, lay before her, glittering with the early +dew. + + [The Persian gardens were celebrated throughout the old world, and + seem to have been laid out much less stiffly than the Egyptian. + Even the kings of Persia did not consider horticulture beneath their + notice, and the highest among the Achaemenidae took an especial + pleasure in laying out parks, called in Persian Paradises. Their + admiration for well-grown trees went so far, that Xerxes, finding on + his way to Greece a singularly beautiful tree, hung ornaments of + gold upon its branches. Firdusi, the great Persian epic poet, + compares human beauty to the growth of the cypress, as the highest + praise he can give. Indeed some trees were worshipped by the + Persians; and as the tree of life in the Hebrew and Egyptian, so we + find sacred trees in their Paradise.] + +No sound was to be heard except the one which had alarmed her, and this +too died away at last on the morning breeze. After a few minutes she +heard cries and noise in the distance, then the great city awaking to its +daily work, which soon settled down into a deep, dull murmur like the +roaring of the sea. + +Nitetis was by this time so thoroughly awakened from the effect of the +fresh morning air, that she did not care to lie down again. She went +once more to the window and perceived two figures coming out of the +house. One she recognized as the eunuch Boges; he was talking to a +beautiful Persian woman carelessly dressed. They approached her window. +Nitetis hid herself behind the half-opened shutter and listened, for she +fancied she heard her own name. + +"The Egyptian is still asleep." said Boges. "She must be much fatigued +by the journey. I see too that one of her windows is still firmly +closed." + +"Then tell me quickly," said the Persian. "Do you really think that this +stranger's coming can injure me in any way?" + +"Certainly, I do, my pretty one." + +"But what leads you to suppose this?" + +"She is only to obey the king's commands, not mine." + +"Is that all?" + +"No, my treasure. I know the king. I can read his features as the Magi +read the sacred books." + +"Then we must ruin her." + +"More easily said than done, my little bird." + +"Leave me alone! you are insolent." + +"Well, but nobody can see us, and you know you can do nothing without my +help." + +"Very well then, I don't care. But tell me quickly what we can do." + +"Thanks, my sweet Phaedime. Well, for the present we must be patient +and wait our time. That detestable hypocrite Croesus seems to have +established himself as protector of the Egyptian; when he is away, we +must set our snares." + +The speakers were by this time at such a distance, that Nitetis could not +understand what they said. In silent indignation she closed the shutter, +and called her maidens to dress her. She knew her enemies now--she knew +that a thousand dangers surrounded her, and yet she felt proud and happy, +for was she not chosen to be the real wife of Cambyses? Her own worth +seemed clearer to her than ever before, from a comparison with these +miserable creatures, and a wonderful certainty of ultimate victory stole +into her heart, for Nitetis was a firm believer in the magic power of +virtue. + +"What was that dreadful sound I heard so early?" she asked of her +principal waiting-woman, who was arranging her hair. + +"Do you mean the sounding brass, lady?" + +"Scarcely two hours ago I was awakened by a strange and frightful sound." + +"That was the sounding brass, lady. It is used to awaken the young sons +of the Persian nobles, who are brought up at the gate of the king. You +will soon become accustomed to it. We have long ceased even to hear it, +and indeed on great festivals, when it is not sounded, we awake from the +unaccustomed stillness. From the hanging-gardens you will be able to see +how the boys are taken to bathe every morning, whatever the weather may +be. The poor little ones are taken from their mothers when they are six +years old, to be brought up with the other boys of their own rank under +the king's eye." + +"Are they to begin learning the luxurious manners of the court so early?" + +"Oh no! the poor boys lead a terrible life. They are obliged to sleep on +the hard ground, to rise before the sun. Their food is bread and water, +with very little meat, and they are never allowed to taste wine or +vegetables. Indeed at times they are deprived of food and drink for some +days, simply to accustom them to privations. When the court is at +Ecbatana or Pasargadae, and the weather is bitterly cold, they are sure +to be taken out to bathe, and here in Susa, the hotter the sun, the +longer and more difficult the marches they are compelled to take." + + [The summer residences of the kings cf Persia, where it is sometimes + very cold. Ecbatana lies at the foot of the high Elburs (Orontes) + range of mountains in the neighborhood of the modern Hamadan; + Pasargadae not far from Rachmet in the highlands of Iran] + +"And these boys, so simply and severely brought up, become in after life +such luxurious men?" + +"Yes, that is always the case. A meal that has been waited for is all +the more relished when it comes. These boys see splendor and +magnificence around them daily; they know how rich they are in reality, +and yet have to suffer from hunger and privation. Who can wonder, if, +when at last they gain their liberty, they plunge into the pleasures of +life with a tenfold eagerness? But on the other hand, in time of war, or +when going to the chase, they never murmur at hunger or thirst, spring +with a laugh into the mud regardless of their thin boots and purple +trousers, and sleep as soundly on a rock as on their beds of delicate +Arabian wool. You must see the feats these boys perform, especially when +the king is watching them! Cambyses will certainly take you if you ask +him." + +"I know those exercises already. In Egypt the girls as well as the boys +are kept to such gymnastic exercises. My limbs were trained to +flexibility by running, postures, and games with hoops and balls. + +"How strange! Here, we women grow up just as we please, and are taught +nothing but a little spinning and weaving. Is it true that most of the +Egyptian women can read and write?" + +"Yes, nearly all." + +"By Mithras, you must be a clever people! Scarcely any of the Persians, +except the Magi and the scribes, learn these difficult arts. The sons of +the nobles are taught to speak the truth, to be courageous, obedient, and +to reverence the gods; to hunt, ride, plant trees and discern between +herbs; but whoever, like the noble Darius, wishes to learn the art of +writing, must apply to the Magi. Women are forbidden to turn their minds +to such studies.--Now your dress is complete. This string of pearls, +which the king sent this morning, looks magnificent in your raven-black +hair, but it is easy to see that you are not accustomed to the full silk +trousers and high-heeled boots. If, however, you walk two or three times +up and down the room you will surpass all the Persian ladies even in your +walk!" + +At this moment a knock was heard and Boges entered. He had come to +conduct Nitetis to Kassandane's apartments, where Cambyses was waiting +for her. + +The eunuch affected an abject humility, and poured forth a stream of +flattering words, in which he likened the princess to the sun, the starry +heavens, a pure fount of happiness, and a garden of roses. Nitetis +deigned him not a word in reply, but followed, with a beating heart, to +the queen's apartment. + +In order to keep out the noonday sun and produce a salutary half-light +for the blind queen's eyes, her windows were shaded by curtains of green +Indian silk. The floor was covered with a thick Babylonian carpet, soft +as moss under the foot. The walls were faced with a mosaic of ivory, +tortoise-shell, gold, silver, malachite, lapis-lazuli, ebony and amber. +The seats and couches were of gold covered with lions' skins, and a table +of silver stood by the side of the blind queen. Kassandane was seated in +a costly arm-chair. She wore a robe of violet-blue, embroidered with +silver, and over her snow-white hair lay a long veil of delicate lace, +woven in Egypt, the ends of which were wound round her neck and tied in a +large bow beneath her chin. She was between sixty and seventy years old; +her face, framed, as it were, into a picture by the lace veil, was +exquisitely symmetrical in its form, intellectual, kind and benevolent +in its expression. + +The blind eyes were closed, but those who gazed on her felt that, +if open, they would shine with the gentle light of stars. Even when +sitting, her attitude and height showed a tall and stately figure. +Indeed her entire appearance was worthy the widow of the great and +good Cyrus. + +On a low seat at her feet, drawing long threads from a golden spindle, +sat the queen's youngest child Atossa, born to her late in life. +Cambyses was standing before her, and behind, hardly visible in the dim +light, Nebenchari, the Egyptian oculist. + +As Nitetis entered, Cambyses came towards her and led her to his mother. +The daughter of Amasis fell on her knees before this venerable woman, and +kissed her hand with real affection. + +"Be welcome here!" exclaimed the blind queen, feeling her way to the +young girl's head, on which she laid her hand, "I have heard much in your +praise, and hope to gain in you a dear and loving daughter." + +Nitetis kissed the gentle, delicate hand again, saying in a low voice: +"O how I thank you for these words! Will you, the wife of the great +Cyrus, permit me to call you mother? My tongue has been so long +accustomed to this sweet word; and now after long weeks of silence, +I tremble with joy at the thought that I may say 'my mother' once more! +I will indeed try to deserve your love and kindness; and you--you will be +to me all that your loving countenance seems to promise? Advise and +teach me; let me find a refuge at your feet, if sometimes the longing for +home becomes too strong, and my poor heart too weak to bear its grief or +joy alone. Oh, be my mother! that one word includes all else!" + +The blind queen felt the warm tears fall on her hand; she pressed her +lips kindly on the weeping girl's forehead, and answered: "I can +understand your feelings. My apartments shall be always open to you, +my heart ready to welcome you here. Come when you will, and call me your +mother with the same perfect confidence with which I, from my whole +heart, name you my daughter. In a few months you will be my son's wife, +and then the gods may grant you that gift, which, by implanting within +you the feelings of a mother, will prevent you from feeling the need of +one." + +"May Ormuszd hear and give his blessing!" said Cambyses. "I rejoice, +mother, that my wife pleases you, and I know that when once she becomes +familiar with our manners and customs she will be happy here. If Nitetis +pay due heed, our marriage can be celebrated in four months." + +"But the law--" began his mother. + +"I command--in four months, and should like to see him who dare raise an +objection. Farewell! Nebenchari, use your best skill for the queen's +eyes, and if my wife permit, you, as her countryman, may visit her +to-morrow. Farewell! Bartja sends his parting greetings. He is on the +road to the Tapuri." + +Atossa wiped away a tear in silence, but Kassandane answered: "You would +have done well to allow the boy to remain here a few months longer. Your +commander, Megabyzus, could have subdued that small nation alone." + +"Of that I have no doubt," replied the king, "but Bartja desired an +opportunity of distinguishing himself in the field; and for that reason +I sent him." + +"Would he not gladly have waited until the war with the Massageta; where +more glory might be gained?" asked the blind woman. + +"Yes," said Atossa, "and if he should fall in this war, you will have +deprived him of the power of fulfilling his most sacred duty, of avenging +the soul of our father!" + +"Be silent!" cried Cambyses in an overbearing tone, "or I shall have to +teach you what is becoming in women and children. Bartja is on far too +good terms with fortune to fall in the war. He will live, I hope, to +deserve the love which is now so freely flung into his lap like an alms." + +"How canst thou speak thus?" cried Kassandane. "In what manly virtue is +Bartja wanting? Is it his fault, that he has had no such opportunity of +distinguishing himself in the field as thou hast had? You are the king +and I am bound to respect your commands, but I blame my son for depriving +his blind mother of the greatest joy left to her in her old age. Bartja +would have gladly remained here until the Massagetan war, if your self- +will had not determined otherwise." + +"And what I will is good!" exclaimed Cambyses interrupting his mother, +and pale with anger, "I desire that this subject be not mentioned again." + +So saying, he left the room abruptly and went into the reception-hall, +followed by the immense retinue which never quitted him, whithersoever he +might direct his steps. + +An hour passed, and still Nitetis and the lovely Atossa were sitting side +by side, at the feet of the queen. The Persian women listened eagerly to +all their new friend could tell them about Egypt and its wonders. + +"Oh! how I should like to visit your home!" exclaimed Atossa. "It must +be quite, quite different from Persia and everything else that I have +seen yet. The fruitful shores of your great river, larger even than the +Euphrates, the temples with their painted columns, those huge artificial +mountains, the Pyramids, where the ancient kings be buried--it must all +be wonderfully beautiful. But what pleases me best of all is your +description of the entertainments, where men and women converse together +as they like. The only meals we are allowed to take in the society of +men are on New Year's Day and the king's birthday, and then we are +forbidden to speak; indeed it is not thought right for us even to raise +our eyes. How different it is with you! By Mithras! mother, I should +like to be an Egyptian, for we poor creatures are in reality nothing but +miserable slaves; and yet I feel that the great Cyrus was my father too, +and that I am worth quite as much as most men. Do I not speak the truth? +can I not obey as well as command? have I not the same thirst and +longing for glory? could not I learn to ride, to string a bow, to fight +and swim, if I were taught and inured to such exercises?" + +The girl had sprung from her seat while speaking, her eyes flashed and +she swung her spindle in the air, quite unconscious that in so doing she +was breaking the thread and entangling the flax. + +"Remember what is fitting," reminded Kassandane. "A woman must submit +with humility to her quiet destiny, and not aspire to imitate the deeds +of men." + +"But there are women who lead the same lives as men," cried Atossa. +"There are the Amazons who live on the shores of the Thermodon in +Themiscyra, and at Comana on the Iris; they have waged great wars, and +even to this day wear men's armor." + +"Who told you this?" + +"My old nurse, Stephanion, whom my father brought a captive from Sinope +to Pasargadae." + +"But I can teach you better," said Nitetis. "It is true that in +Themiscyra and Comana there are a number of women who wear soldier's +armor; but they are only priestesses, and clothe themselves like the +warlike goddess they serve, in order to present to the worshippers a +manifestation of the divinity in human form. Croesus says that an army +of Amazons has never existed, but that the Greeks, (always ready and able +to turn anything into a beautiful myth), having seen these priestesses, +at once transformed the armed virgins dedicated to the goddess into a +nation of fighting women." + +"Then they are liars!" exclaimed the disappointed girl. + +"It is true, that the Greeks have not the same reverence for truth as you +have," answered Nitetis, "but they do not call the men who invent these +beautiful stories liars; they are called poets." + +"Just as it is with ourselves," said Kassandane. "The poets, who sing +the praises of my husband, have altered and adorned his early life in a +marvellous manner; yet no one calls them liars. But tell me, my +daughter, is it true that these Greeks are more beautiful than other men, +and understand art better even than the Egyptians?" + +"On that subject I should not venture to pronounce a judgment. There is +such a great difference between the Greek and Egyptian works of art. +When I went into our own gigantic temples to pray, I always felt as if I +must prostrate myself in the dust before the greatness of the gods, and +entreat them not to crush so insignificant a worm; but in the temple of +Hera at Samos, I could only raise my hands to heaven in joyful +thanksgiving, that the gods had made the earth so beautiful. In Egypt I +always believed as I had been taught: 'Life is asleep; we shall not awake +to our true existence in the kingdom of Osiris till the hour of death;' +but in Greece I thought: 'I am born to live and to enjoy this cheerful, +bright and blooming world.'" + +"Ah! tell us something more about Greece," cried Atossa; "but first +Nebenchari must put a fresh bandage on my mother's eyes." + +The oculist, a tall, grave man in the white robes of an Egyptian priest, +came forward to perform the necessary operation, and after being kindly +greeted by Nitetis, withdrew once more silently into the background. At +the same time a eunuch entered to enquire whether Croesus might be +allowed to pay his respectful homage to the king's mother. + +The aged king soon appeared, and was welcomed as the old and tried friend +of the Persian royal family. Atossa, with her usual impetuosity, fell on +the neck of the friend she had so sorely missed during his absence; the +queen gave him her hand, and Nitetis met him like a loving daughter. + +"I thank the gods, that I am permitted to see you again," said Croesus. +"The young can look at life as a possession, as a thing understood and +sure, but at my age every year must be accepted as an undeserved gift +from the gods, for which a man must be thankful." + +"I could envy you for this happy view of life," sighed Kassandane. +"My years are fewer than yours, and yet every new day seems to me a +punishment sent by the Immortals." + +"Can I be listening to the wife of the great Cyrus?" asked Croesus. +"How long is it since courage and confidence left that brave heart? +I tell you, you will recover sight, and once more thank the gods for a +good old age. The man who recovers, after a serious illness, values +health a hundred-fold more than before; and he who regains sight after +blindness, must be an especial favorite of the gods. Imagine to yourself +the delight of that first moment when your eyes behold once more the +bright shining of the sun, the faces of your loved ones, the beauty of +all created things, and tell me, would not that outweigh even a whole +life of blindness and dark night? In the day of healing, even if that +come in old age, a new life will begin and I shall hear you confess that +my friend Solon was right." + +"In what respect?" asked Atossa. + +"In wishing that Mimnermos, the Colophonian poet, would correct the poem +in which he has assigned sixty years as the limit of a happy life, and +would change the sixty into eighty." + +"Oh no!" exclaimed Kassandane. "Even were Mithras to restore my sight, +such a long life would be dreadful. Without my husband I seem to myself +like a wanderer in the desert, aimless and without a guide." + +"Are your children then nothing to you, and this kingdom, of which you +have watched the rise and growth?" + +"No indeed! but my children need me no longer, and the ruler of this +kingdom is too proud to listen to a woman's advice." + +On hearing these words Atossa and Nitetis seized each one of the queen's +hands, and Nitetis cried: "You ought to desire a long life for our sakes. +What should we be without your help and protection?" + +Kassandane smiled again, murmuring in a scarcely audible voice: "You are +right, my children, you will stand in need of your mother." + +"Now you are speaking once more like the wife of the great Cyrus," cried +Croesus, kissing the robe of the blind woman. "Your presence will indeed +be needed, who can say how soon? Cambyses is like hard steel; sparks +fly wherever he strikes. You can hinder these sparks from kindling a +destroying fire among your loved ones, and this should be your duty. +You alone can dare to admonish the king in the violence of his passion. +He regards you as his equal, and, while despising the opinion of others, +feels wounded by his mother's disapproval. Is it not then your duty to +abide patiently as mediator between the king, the kingdom and your loved +ones, and so, by your own timely reproofs, to humble the pride of your +son, that he may be spared that deeper humiliation which, if not thus +averted, the gods will surely inflict." + +"You are right," answered the blind woman, "but I feel only too well that +my influence over him is but small. He has been so much accustomed to +have his own will, that he will follow no advice, even if it come from +his mother's lips." + +"But he must at least hear it," answered Croesus, "and that is much, +for even if he refuse to obey, your counsels will, like divine voices, +continue to make themselves heard within him, and will keep him back +from many a sinful act. I will remain your ally in this matter; for, +as Cambyses' dying father appointed me the counsellor of his son in word +and deed, I venture occasionally a bold word to arrest his excesses. +Ours is the only blame from which he shrinks: we alone can dare to speak +our opinion to him. Let us courageously do our duty in this our office: +you, moved by love to Persia and your son, and I by thankfulness to that +great man to whom I owe life and freedom, and whose son Cambyses is. I +know that you bemoan the manner in which he has been brought up; but such +late repentance must be avoided like poison. For the errors of the wise +the remedy is reparation, not regret; regret consumes the heart, but the +effort to repair an error causes it to throb with a noble pride." + +"In Egypt," said Nitetis, "regret is numbered among the forty-two +deadly sins. One of our principal commandments is, 'Thou shalt not +consume thine heart.'" + + [In the Ritual of the Dead (indeed in almost every Papyrus of the + Dead) we meet with a representation of the soul, whose heart is + being weighed and judged. The speech made by the soul is called the + negative justification, in which she assures the 42 judges of the + dead, that she has not committed the 42 deadly sins which she + enumerates. This justification is doubly interesting because it + contains nearly the entire moral law of Moses, which last, apart + from all national peculiarities and habits of mind, seems to contain + the quintessence of human morality--and this we find ready + paragraphed in our negative justification. Todtenbuch ed. Lepsius. + 125. We cannot discuss this question philosophically here, but the + law of Pythagoras, who borrowed so much from Egypt, and the contents + of which are the same, speaks for our view. It is similar in form + to the Egyptian.] + +"There you remind me," said Croesus "that I have undertaken to arrange +for your instruction in the Persian customs, religion and language. I +had intended to withdraw to Barene, the town which I received as a gift +from Cyrus, and there, in that most lovely mountain valley, to take my +rest; but for your sake and for the king's, I will remain here and +continue to give you instruction in the Persian tongue. Kassandane +herself will initiate you in the customs peculiar to women at the Persian +court, and Oropastes, the high-priest, has been ordered by the king to +make you acquainted with the religion of Iran. He will be your +spiritual, and I your secular guardian." + +At these words Nitetis, who had been smiling happily, cast down her eyes +and asked in a low voice: "Am I to become unfaithful to the gods of my +fathers, who have never failed to hear my prayers? Can I, ought I to +forget them?" + +"Yes," said Kassandane decidedly, "thou canst, and it is thy bounden +duty, for a wife ought to have no friends but those her husband calls +such. The gods are a man's earliest, mightiest and most faithful +friends, and it therefore becomes thy duty, as a wife, to honor them, +and to close thine heart against strange gods and superstitions, +as thou wouldst close it against strange lovers." + +"And," added Croesus, "we will not rob you of your deities; we will only +give them to you under other names. As Truth remains eternally the same, +whether called 'maa', as by the Egyptians, or 'Aletheia' as by the +Greeks, so the essence of the Deity continues unchanged in all places and +times. Listen, my daughter: I myself, while still king of Lydia, often +sacrificed in sincere devotion to the Apollo of the Greeks, without a +fear that in so doing I should offend the Lydian sun-god Sandon; the +Ionians pay their worship to the Asiatic Cybele, and, now that I have +become a Persian, I raise my hands adoringly to Mithras, Ormuzd and the +lovely Anahita. Pythagoras too, whose teaching is not new to you, +worships one god only, whom he calls Apollo; because, like the Greek sun- +god, he is the source of light and of those harmonies which Pythagoras +holds to be higher than all else. And lastly, Xenophanes of Colophon +laughs at the many and divers gods of Homer and sets one single deity on +high--the ceaselessly creative might of nature, whose essence consists of +thought, reason and eternity. + + [A celebrated freethinker, who indulged in bold and independent + speculations, and suffered much persecution for his ridicule of the + Homeric deities. He flourished at the time of our history and lived + to a great age, far on into the fifth century. We have quoted some + fragments of his writings above. He committed his speculations also + to verse.] + +"In this power everything has its rise, and it alone remains unchanged, +while all created matter must be continually renewed and perfected. The +ardent longing for some being above us, on whom we can lean when our own +powers fail,--the wonderful instinct which desires a faithful friend to +whom we can tell every joy and sorrow without fear of disclosure, the +thankfulness with which we behold this beautiful world and all the rich +blessings we have received--these are the feelings which we call piety-- +devotion. + +"These you must hold fast; remembering, however, at the same time, that +the world is ruled neither by the Egyptian, the Persian, nor the Greek +divinities apart from each other, but that all these are one; and that +one indivisible Deity, how different soever may be the names and +characters under which He is represented, guides the fate of men and +nations." + +The two Persian women listened to the old man in amazement. Their +unpractised powers were unable to follow the course of his thoughts. +Nitetis, however, had understood him thoroughly, and answered: "My mother +Ladice was the pupil of Pythagoras, and has told me something like this +already; but the Egyptian priests consider such views to be sacrilegious, +and call their originators despisers of the gods. So I tried to repress +such thoughts; but now I will resist them no longer. What the good and +wise Croesus believes cannot possibly be evil or impious! Let Oropastes +come! I am ready to listen to his teaching. The god of Thebes, our +Ammon, shall be transformed into Ormuzd,--Isis or Hathor, into Anahita, +and those among our gods for whom I can find no likeness in the Persian +religion, I shall designate by the name of 'the Deity.'" + +Croesus smiled. He had fancied, knowing how obstinately the Egyptians +clung to all they had received from tradition and education, that it +would have been more difficult for Nitetis to give up the gods of her +native land. He had forgotten that her mother was a Greek, and that the +daughters of Amasis had studied the doctrines of Pythagoras. Neither was +he aware how ardently Nitetis longed to please her proud lord and master. +Even Amasis, who so revered the Samian philosopher, who had so often +yielded to Hellenic influence, and who with good reason might be called a +free-thinking Egyptian, would sooner have exchanged life for death, than +his multiform gods for the one idea "Deity." + +"You are a teachable pupil," said Croesus, laying his hand on her head, +"and as a reward, you shall be allowed either to visit Kassandane, or to +receive Atossa in the hanging-gardens, every morning, and every afternoon +until sunset." + +This joyful news was received with loud rejoicings by Atossa, and with a +grateful smile by the Egyptian girl. + +"And lastly," said Croesus, "I have brought some balls and hoops with me +from Sais, that you may be able to amuse yourselves in Egyptian fashion." + +"Balls?" asked Atossa in amazement; "what can we do with the heavy wooden +things?" + +"That need not trouble you," answered Croesus, laughing. "The balls I +speak of are pretty little things made of the skins of fish filled with +air, or of leather. A child of two years old can throw these, but you +would find it no easy matter even to lift one of those wooden balls with +which the Persian boys play. Are you content with me, Nitetis?" + + [In Persia games with balls are still reckoned among the amusements + of the men. One player drives a wooden hall to the other, as in the + English game of cricket. Chardin (Voyage en Perse. III. p. 226.) + saw the game played by 300 players.] + +"How can I thank you enough, my father?" + +"And now listen to my plan for the division of your time. In the morning +you will visit Kassandane, chat with Atossa, and listen to the teaching +of your noble mother." + +Here the blind woman bent her head in approval. "Towards noon I shall +come to teach you, and we can talk sometimes about Egypt and your loved +ones there, but always in Persian. You would like this, would you not?" + +Nitetis smiled. + +"Every second day, Oropastes will be in attendance to initiate you in the +Persian religion." + +"I will take the greatest pains to comprehend him quickly." + +"In the afternoon you can be with Atossa as long as you like. Does that +please you too?" + +"O Croesus!" cried the young girl and kissed the old man's hand. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A first impression is often a final one +Assigned sixty years as the limit of a happy life +At my age every year must be accepted as an undeserved gift +Cambyses had been spoiled from his earliest infancy +Devoid of occupation, envy easily becomes hatred +Easy to understand what we like to hear +Eros mocks all human efforts to resist or confine him +Eyes are much more eloquent than all the tongues in the world +For the errors of the wise the remedy is reparation, not regret +Greeks have not the same reverence for truth +He who is to govern well must begin by learning to obey +In war the fathers live to mourn for their slain sons +Inn, was to be found about every eighteen miles +Lovers are the most unteachable of pupils +The beautiful past is all he has to live upon +The gods cast envious glances at the happiness of mortals +Unwise to try to make a man happy by force +War is a perversion of nature +Ye play with eternity as if it were but a passing moment +Zeus pays no heed to lovers' oaths + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS, BY EBERS, V4 *** + +************This file should be named 5453.txt or 5453.zip ************ + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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