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