Georg Moritz Ebers, a great Orientalist and Egyptologist, was
born in Berlin on March 1, 1837, received his first
instruction at Keilhau in Thuringen, then attended a college
at Quedlinburg, and finally took up the study of law at
Göttingen University. In 1858, when his feet became lame, he
abandoned this study, and took up philology and archæology.
After 1859 he devoted himself almost exclusively to
Egyptology. Having recovered from his long illness, he visited
the most important European museums, and in 1869 he travelled
to Egypt, Nubia, and Arabia. On his return he took the chair
of Egyptology at Leipzig University. He went back to Egypt in
1872, and discovered, besides many other important
inscriptions, the famous papyrus which bears his name. "An
Egyptian Princess" is his first important novel, written
during his illness, and published in 1864. It has gone through
numerous editions, and has been translated into most European
languages. It was followed by several other similar works of
fiction, of which "Serapis" achieved wide popularity. Ebers
died on August 7, 1898.
_I.--The Royal Bride_
A cavalcade of dazzling splendour was moving along the high road towards
Babylon. The embassy sent by Cambyses, the mighty King of the East, had
accomplished its mission, and now Nitetis, the daughter of Amasis, King
of Egypt, was on the way to meet her future spouse. At the head of the
sumptuous escort were Bartja, Cambyses' handsome golden-haired younger
brother; his kinsman Darius; Croesus, the dethroned King of Lydia, and
his son Gyges; Prexaspes, the king's ambassador, and Zopyrus, the son of
Megabyzus, a Persian noble.
A few miles before the gates of Babylon they perceived a troop of
horsemen galloping towards them. Cambyses himself came to honour his
bride. His pale face, framed by an immense black beard, expressed great
power and unbounded pride. Deep pallor and bright colour flitted by
turns across the face of Nitetis, as his fiery eyes fixed her with a
piercing gaze. Then he waved a welcome, sprang from his horse, shook
Croesus by the hand, and asked him to act as interpreter. "She is
beautiful and pleases me well," said the king. And Nitetis, who had
begun to learn the language of her new home on the long journey, blushed
deeply and began softly in broken Persian, "Blessed be the gods, who
have caused me to find favour in thine eyes."
Cambyses was delighted with her desire to win his approbation and with
her industry and intellect, so different from the indolence and idleness
of the Persian women in his harem. His wonder and satisfaction increased
when, after recommending her to obey the orders of Boges, the eunuch,
who was head over the house of women, she reminded him that she was a
king's daughter, bound to obey the commands of her lord, but unable to
bow to a venal servant.
Her pride found an echo in his own haughty disposition. "You have spoken
well. A separate dwelling shall be appointed you. I, and no one else,
will prescribe your rules of life and conduct. Tell me now, how my
messengers pleased you and your countrymen?"
"Who could know the noble Croesus without loving him? Who could fail to
admire the beauty of the young heroes, your friends, and especially of
your handsome brother Bartja? The Egyptians have no love for strangers,
but he won all hearts."
At these words the king's brows darkened, he struck his horse so that
the creature reared, and then, turning it quickly round, he galloped
towards Babylon. He decided in his mind to give Bartja the command of an
expedition against the Tapuri, and to make him marry Rosana, the
daughter of a Persian noble. He also determined to make Nitetis his real
queen and adviser. She was to be to him what his mother Kassandane had
been to Cyrus, his great father. Not even Phædime, his favourite wife,
had occupied such a position. And as for Bartja, "he had better take
care," he murmured, "or he shall know the fate that awaits the man who
dares to cross my path."
_II.--The Plot_
According to Persian custom a year had to pass before Nitetis could
become Cambyses' lawful wife, but, conscious of his despotic power, he
had decided to reduce this term to a few months. Meanwhile, he only saw
the fair Egyptian in the presence of his blind mother or of his sister
Atossa, both of whom became Nitetis' devoted friends. Meanwhile, Boges,
the eunuch, sank in public estimation, since it was known that Cambyses
had ceased to visit the harem, and he began to conspire with Phædime as
to the best way of ruining Nitetis, who had come to love Cambyses with
ever growing passion.
The Egyptian princess's happiness was seriously disturbed by the arrival
of a letter from her mother, which brought her naught but sad news. Her
father, Amasis, had been struck with blindness on the very day she had
reached Babylon; and her frail twin-sister Tachot, after falling into a
violent fever, was wasting away for love of Bartja, whose beauty had
captured her heart at the time of his mission in Sais. His name had been
even on her lips in her delirium, and the only hope for her was to see
him again.
Nitetis' whole happiness was destroyed in one moment. She wept and
sighed, until she fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. When her maid
Mandane came to put a last touch to her dress for the banquet, she found
her sleeping, and as there was ample time she went out into the garden,
where she met the eunuch Boges. He was the bearer of good news. Mandane
had been brought up with the children of a Magian, one of whom was now
the high-priest Oropastes. Love had sprung up between her and his
handsome brother Gaumata; and Oropastes, who had ambitious schemes, had
sent his brother to Rhagæ and procured her a situation at court, so that
they might forget one another. And now Gaumata had come and begged her
to meet him next evening in the hanging gardens. Mandane consented after
a hard struggle.
Boges hurried away with malicious pleasure in the near success of his
scheme. He met one of the gardeners, whom he promised to bring some of
the nobles to inspect a special kind of blue lily, in which the gardener
took great pride. He then hurried to the harem, to make sure that the
king's wives should look their best, and insisted upon Phædime painting
her face white, and putting on a simple, dark dress without ornament,
except the chain given her by Cambyses on her marriage, to arouse the
pity of the Achæmenidæ, to which family she herself belonged.
The eunuch's cunning scheme succeeded but too well. At the end of the
great banquet Bartja, to whom Cambyses had promised to grant a favour on
his victorious return from the war, confessed to him his love for
Sappho, a charming and cultured Greek maiden of noble descent, whom he
wished to make his wife. Cambyses was delighted at this proof of the
injustice of his jealous suspicions, and announced aloud that Bartja
would in a few days depart to bring home a bride. At these words
Nitetis, thinking of her poor sister's misery, fainted.
Cambyses sprang up pale as death; his lips trembled and his fist was
clenched. Nitetis looked at him imploringly, but he commanded Boges to
take the women back to their apartments. "Sleep well, Egyptian, and pray
to the gods to give you the power of dissembling your feelings. Here,
give me wine; but taste it well, for to-day, for the first time, I fear
poison. Do you hear, Egyptian? Yes, all the poison, as well as the
medicine, comes from Egypt."
Boges gave strict orders that nobody--not even the queen-mother or
Croesus--was to have access to the hanging gardens, whither he had
conducted Nitetis. Cambyses, meanwhile, continued the drinking bout,
thinking the while of punishment for the false woman. Bartja could have
had no share in her perfidy, or he would have killed him on the spot;
but he would send him away. And Nitetis should be handed to Boges, to be
made the servant of his concubines and thus to atone for her crimes.
When the king left the hall, Boges, who had slipped out before him,
intercepted one of the gardener's boys with a letter for Prince Bartja.
The boy refused to hand it over, as Nitetis had instructed him to hand
it only to the prince; and on Cambyses' approach the boy fell on his
knees, touching the ground with his forehead. Cambyses snatched the
papyrus roll from his hand, and stamped furiously on the ground at
seeing that the letter was written in Greek, which he could not read. He
went to his own apartments, followed by Boges, whom he instructed to
keep a strict watch over the Egyptian and the hanging gardens. "If a
single human being or a message reach her without my knowledge, your
life will be the forfeit."
Boges, pleading a burning fever, begged that Kandaules, the Lydian
captain of eunuchs, who was true as gold and inflexibly severe, should
relieve him on the morrow. On the king's consent, he begged furthermore
that Oropastes, Croesus, and three other nobles should be allowed to
witness the opening of the blue lily in the hanging gardens. Kandaules
would see that they enter into no communication with the Egyptian.
"Kandaules must keep his eyes open, if he values his own life--go!"
_III.--Conflicting Evidence_
The hunt was over, and Bartja, who had invited his bosom friends,
Darius, Gyges, Zopyrus, and Croesus, to drink a parting-cup with him,
sat with the first three in the bower of the royal gardens. They talked
long of love, of their ambitions, of the influence of stars on human
destinies, when Croesus rapidly approached the arbour. When he beheld
Bartja, he stood transfixed, then whispered to him, "Unhappy boy, you
are still here? Fly for your life! The whip-bearers are close on my
heels."
"What do you mean?"
"Fly, I tell you, even if your visit to the hanging gardens was
innocently meant. You know Cambyses' violent temper. You know his
jealousy of you; and your visit to the Egyptian to-night...."
"My visit? I have never left this garden!"
"Don't add a lie to your offense. Save yourself, quickly."
"I speak the truth, and I shall remain."
"You are infatuated. We saw you in the hanging-gardens not an hour ago."
Bartja appealed to his friends, who confirmed on oath the truth of his
assertion; and before Croesus could arrive at a solution of the mystery,
the soldiers had arrived, led by an officer who had served under Bartja.
He had orders to arrest everybody found in the suspect's company, but at
the risk of his life urged Bartja to escape the king's fury. His men
would blindly follow his command. But Bartja steadfastly refused. He was
innocent, and knew that Cambyses, though hasty, was not unjust.
Two hours later Bartja and his friends stood before the king who had
just recovered from an epileptic fit. A few hours earlier he would have
killed Bartja with his own hands. Now he was ready to lend an ear to
both sides. Boges first related that he was with the Achæmenidæ, looking
at the blue lily, and called Kandaules to inquire if everything was in
order. On being told that Nitetis had not tasted food or drink all day,
he sent Kandaules to fetch a physician. It was then that he saw Bartja
by the princess's window. She herself came out of the sleep-room.
Croesus called to Bartja, and the two figures disappeared behind a
cypress. He went to search the house and found Nitetis lying unconscious
on a couch. Hystaspes and the other nobles confirmed the eunuch's words,
and even Croesus had to admit their substantial truth, but added that
they must have been deceived by some remarkable likeness--at which Boges
grew pale.
Bartja's friends were equally definite in their evidence for the
accused. Cambyses looked first on the one, then on the other party of
these strange witnesses. Then Bartja begged permission to speak.
"A son of Cyrus," he said, "would rather die than lie. I confess no
judge was ever placed in so perplexing a position. But were the entire
Persian nation to rise up against you, and swear that Cambyses had
committed an evil deed, and you were to say, 'I did not commit it,' I,
Bartja, would give all Persia the lie and exclaim, 'Ye are all false
witnesses! A son of Cyrus cannot allow his mouth to deal in lies.' I
swear to you that I am innocent. I have not once set foot in the hanging
gardens since my return."
Cambyses' looks grew milder on hearing these words, and when Oropastes
suggested that an evil spirit must have taken Bartja's form to ruin him,
he nodded assent and stretched out his hand towards Bartja. At this
moment a staff-bearer came in and gave the king a dagger found by a
eunuch under Nitetis' window. Cambyses examined it, dashed the dagger
violently to the ground, and shrieked, "This is your dagger! At last you
are convicted, you liar! Ah, you are feeling in your girdle! You may
well turn pale, your dagger is gone! Seize him, put on his fetters! He
shall be strangled to-morrow! Away with you, you perjured villains! They
shall all die to-morrow! And the Egyptian--at noon she shall be flogged
through the streets. Then I'll----"
But here he was stopped by another fit of epilepsy, and sank down in
convulsions.
The fate of the unfortunates was sealed when, afterwards, Cambyses made
Croesus read to him Nitetis' Greek letter to Bartja.
"Nitetis, daughter of Amasis of Egypt, to Bartja, son of the great
Cyrus.
"I have something important to tell you; I can tell it to no one but
yourself. To-morrow I hope to meet you in your mother's rooms. It lies
in your power to comfort a sad and loving heart, and to give it one
happy moment before death. I repeat that I must see you soon."
Croesus, who tried to intercede on behalf of the condemned, was
sentenced to share their fate. In his heart even he was now convinced of
Bartja's guilt, and of the perjury of his own son and of Darius.
_IV.--The Unexpected Witness_
Nitetis had passed many a wretched hour since the great banquet. All day
long she was kept in strict seclusion, and in the twilight Boges came to
her to tell her jeeringly that her letter had fallen into the king's
hand, and that its bearer had been executed. The princess swooned away,
and Boges carried her to her sleeping-room, the door of which he barred
carefully. When, later, Mandane left her lover Gaumata, the maid hurried
into her mistress's room, found her in a faint, and used every remedy to
restore her to consciousness.
Then Boges came with two eunuchs, loaded the princess's arms with
fetters, and gave vent to his long-nourished spite, telling her of the
awful fate that was in store for her. Nitetis resolved to swallow a
poisonous ointment for the complexion directly the executioner should
draw near her. Then, in spite of her fetters, she managed to write to
Cambyses, to assure him once more of her love and to explain her
innocence. "I commit this crime against myself, Cambyses, to save you
from doing a disgraceful deed."
Meanwhile, Boges, after exciting Phædime's curiosity by many vague
hints, divulged to her the nature of his infamous scheme. When Gaumata
had come to Babylon for the New Year's festival, Boges had discovered
his remarkable likeness to Bartja. He knew of his love for Mandane,
gained his confidence, and arranged the nocturnal meeting under Nitetis'
bedroom window. In return he exacted the promise of the lover's
immediate departure after the meeting. He helped him to escape through a
trap-door. To get Bartja out of the way, he had induced a Greek merchant
to dispatch a letter to the prince, asking him, in the name of her he
loved best, to come alone in the evening to the first station outside
the Euphrates gate. Unfortunately, the messenger managed the matter
clumsily, and apparently gave the letter to Gaumata. But to counteract
Bartja's proof of innocence, Boges had managed to get hold of his
dagger, which was conclusive evidence. And now Nitetis was sentenced to
be set astride upon an ass and led through the streets of Babylon. As
for Gaumata, three men were lying in wait for him to throw him into the
Euphrates before he could get back to Rhagae. Phædime joined in Boges'
laughter, and hung a heavy jewel-studded chain round his neck.
* * * * *
A few hours only were wanted for the time fixed for Nitetis' disgrace,
and the streets of Babylon were thronged with a dense crowd of
sightseers, when a small caravan approached the Bel gate. In the first
carriage was a fine, handsome man of about fifty, of commanding aspect,
and dressed as a Persian courtier. With difficulty the driver cleared a
passage through the crowd. "Make way for us! The royal post has no time
to lose, and I am driving some one who will make you repent every
minute's delay." They arrived at the palace, and the stranger's
insistence succeeded in gaining admission to the king. The Greek--for
such the stranger had declared himself--affirmed that he could prove the
condemned men's innocence.
"Call him in!" exclaimed Cambyses. "But if he wants to deceive me, let
him remember that where the head of a son of Cyrus is about to fall, a
Greek head has but very little chance." The Greek's calm and noble
manner impressed Cambyses favourably, and his hostility was entirely
overcome when the stranger revealed to him that he was Phanes, the
famous commander of the Greek mercenaries in Egypt, and that he had come
to offer his service to Cambyses.
Phanes now related how, on approaching Babylon by the royal post, just
before midnight, they heard some cries of distress, and found three
fierce-looking fellows dragging a youth towards the river; how with his
Greek war-cry he had rushed on the murderers, slain one of them, and put
the others to flight; and how he discovered--so he thought--the youth to
be none other but Bartja, whom he had met at the Egyptian court.
They took him to the nearest station, bled him, and bound up his wounds.
When he regained consciousness, he told them his name was Gaumata. Then
he was seized by fever, during which he constantly spoke of the hanging
gardens and of his Mandane.
"Set the prisoners free, my king. I will answer for it with my own head,
that Bartja was not in the hanging gardens."
The king was surprised at this speech, but not angry. Phanes then
advised him to send for Oropastes and Mandane, whose examination
elicited the full truth. Boges, who was also sent for, had disappeared.
Cambyses had all the prisoners set free, gave Phanes his hand to kiss--a
rare honour--and, greater honour still, invited him to eat at the king's
table. Then he went to the rooms of his mother, who had sent for him.
Nitetis had been carried insensible to the queen-mother's apartments.
When she opened her eyes, her head was resting on the blind queen's lap,
she felt Atossa's warm kisses on her forehead, and Cambyses was standing
by her side. She gazed around, and smiled as she recognised them one by
one. She raised herself with difficulty. "How could you believe such a
thing of me, my king?" she asked. There was no reproach in her tone, but
deep sadness; Cambyses replied, "Forgive me."
Nitetis then gave them the letter she had received from her mother,
which would explain all, and begged them not to scorn her poor sister.
"When an Egyptian girl once loves, she cannot forget. But I feel so
frightened. The end must be near. That horrible man, Boges, read me the
fearful sentence, and it was that which forced the poison into my hand."
The physician rushed forward. "I thought so! She has taken a poison
which results in certain death. She is lost!"
On hearing this, the king exclaimed in anguish, "She _shall_ live; it is
my will! Summon all the physicians in Babylon. Assemble the priests. She
is not to die! She must live! I am the king, and I command it!"
Nitetis opened her eyes as if endeavouring to obey her lord. She looked
upon her lover, who was pressing his burning lips to her right hand. She
murmured, with a smile, "Oh, this great happiness!" Then she closed her
eyes and was seized with fever.
* * * * *
All efforts to save Nitetis' life were fruitless. Cambyses fell into the
deepest gloom, and wanted action, war, to dispel his sad thoughts.
Phanes gave him the pretext. As commander of the Greek mercenaries in
Egypt, he had enjoyed Amasis' confidence. He alone, with the
high-priest, shared Amasis' secret about the birth of Nitetus, who was
not the daughter of Amasis, but of Hophra, his predecessor, whose throne
Amasis had usurped. When, owing to the intrigues of Psamtik, Amasis'
son, Phanes fell into disgrace and had to fly for his life, his little
son was seized and cruelly murdered by his persecutors. Phanes had sworn
revenge. He now persuaded Cambyses to wage war upon Egypt, and to claim
Amasis' throne as the husband of Hophra's daughter.
The rest is known to all students of history--how Cambyses, with the
help of Phanes, defeated Psamtik's host at Pelusium and took possession
of the whole Egyptian Empire; how, given more and more to drink and
fearful excesses, he set up a rule of untold terror, had his brother
Bartja murdered in another fit of jealousy, and finally suffered defeat
at the hands of the Ethiopians. They will also know how, on his death,
Gaumata, the "pseudo-Smerdis" of the Greeks, was urged by his ambitious
brother, Oropastes, to seize the throne by impersonating the dead
Bartja; how, finally, the pretender was defeated and had to pay for his
attempt with his life; and how Persia rose again to unity and greatness
under the rule of the noble Darius, Bartja's faithful kinsman and
friend.
* * * * *