THE VEILED QUEEN
In all her reflected splendour as the wife of the great conqueror--in
her richest lustre of youthful beauty--in her noblest state of royal
magnificence while she administered for an absent husband the affairs of
his boundless empire--never did Semiramis appear so glorious, so
beautiful, or so queenly, as when she passed in review, on the frontiers
of the land of Shinar, the innumerable forces she had collected, less,
indeed, to gratify the cravings of ambition than of a softer yet more
engrossing sentiment, which in her woman's heart predominated over
desire of conquest and love of war.
Even with her untold resources, unscrupulous strength of will, and
unquestioned power, it was no light task for the Great Queen to muster
such a host as might invade the strange and distant regions for which it
was destined, if not with certainty of victory, at least, without
prospect of defeat. To the haughty Assyrian, polished and luxurious,
though fierce and warlike, that rude inhospitable country, from which he
was fenced by his northern mountains, seemed awful as the land beyond
the grave. For him, the word "Armenia" meant a place of horror, mystery,
and romance. With Egypt he was familiar as with the sandy desert that
parted him from his ancient enemy. Of Ethiopia, notwithstanding its
scorching suns and endless wastes, he had formed his own ideas,
sufficiently extravagant, attributing to its burning clime many demons,
monsters, and other prodigies, yet wholly satisfied that all the powers
of the south, in or out of nature, were as nothing before the face of
Baal and the might of Ashur. The warlike Philistine tribes, even the
redoubtable children of Anak, he had fought against, with varying
success, gradually absorbing them in his own dominion or pushing them
farther into the wilderness. It was his custom to conquer wherever he
found room to drive his chariots and wheel his horsemen; but he had
never yet penetrated beyond the Zagros range to the snowy peaks, the
shaggy woods, the dreary wilds of the North. That he should meet with
peril and adventure such as the veterans of Ninus had not even dreamed,
he was fully persuaded; that he should overcome all obstacles, he had
been no son of Ashur had he not implicitly believed; but that he was
engaged in a formidable undertaking, and would encounter a powerful foe,
seemed obvious from the enormous levies collected, and the gigantic
preparations made to carry out the war.
The whole expedition was commanded to assemble within a few days' march
of the frontier, there to receive final orders, and pass in review under
the eyes of the Great Queen.
Wearing a dazzling harness of steel inlaid with gold, and a burnished
helmet, on which blazed a ruby of such size and splendour that its rays
seemed to play round her head like a plume of fire, Semiramis, standing
in a war-chariot, revealed to her assembled host a beauty brighter than
the metal, richer and more lustrous than the gem. Close by her wheel, so
that she could mount him at a moment's notice, was led Merodach,
caparisoned with crimson and gold. Not a warrior in the host who looked
on him but swore that white horse with his eyes of fire was well worthy
to carry so precious a burden. She seemed to prize him dearly, laying
her hand on his smooth and swelling neck in frequent caresses, which the
horse acknowledged with arching crest, brightened eye, and quivering
ear, looking about him, nevertheless, as if not wholly satisfied, and
neighing loudly on occasion when a burst of martial music, or the tramp
of an armed column, seemed to wake in him certain memories of the heart,
so faithful and so touching in that creation man is pleased to call the
brute. Though Semiramis had broke him to her hand, and tamed him to her
will, she could not teach the horse to forget his rider. Perhaps she
loved him none the less that ear and eye seemed always on the watch for
his absent lord.
Hanging diagonally against the panel of her chariot, within ready reach
of her royal hand, swung a quiver of sandal-wood, containing but the two
arrows which the Comely King had sent in answer to her haughty demand.
She had sworn by Ashtaroth never to draw bow till she came face to face
with Aryas, and then to return him his own warlike tokens in deadly
quittance, accompanied each with five hundred thousand men.
Flashing back the light from its polished surface like a mirror of
steel, the queen's shield, all chased and embossed with gold, was
suspended at the back of her chariot. As the coveted office remained
unfilled, every mighty man of war in the host had in turn believed he
would be selected to bear it before her in battle; but Semiramis, having
long since made her choice, kept her own counsel, determining to face
the weapons of her enemies unfenced until she had set _him_ free to
protect her person, who was never out of her thoughts; who had obtained,
perhaps from his very indifference, so strange an ascendency over her
wild and wilful heart.
Assarac, the eunuch, well pleased to accompany the expedition, coveted
more than others this honourable post. When captain after captain had
been passed over, a sweet intoxicating hope bade the priest's brain
swim, and so changed his character that in a transport of enthusiasm he
could forget alike the exigencies of policy and the dictates of common
sense.
Descending from his chariot, he approached the position Semiramis had
taken up, while the flower of her armies passed by in countless
thousands, and, making his obeisance, proffered a request that he might
be permitted to guard her safely with his life, in terms of the humblest
devotion ever offered by a subject to a queen.
She laughed in his face--a kind frank hearty laugh, that stung him to
the quick.
"What are you thinking of," said she, "my trusty sage and counsellor?
Surely that weight of steel on your brow has disordered the workings of
your keen and subtle brain. Know you not, that when Semiramis mounts her
war-chariot, she drives in the fore-front of the battle? I tell you,
man, I have had shafts and javelins flying round me as thick as locusts
on a field of barley in the blade! I have seen the stoutest captains of
Ashur cower beneath that deadly hail! What would a priest of Baal do in
such a storm?"
He was deeply hurt, and showed it. Had not he, the priest, the eunuch,
confronted dangers in her interests at home to which the reddest
battlefield that ever ran with blood was but a game of play? He felt
within him a spirit of fierce and reckless daring far above the animal
courage of the spearman, but he only answered sadly,
"I could at least die at the feet of my queen, making of my body a
pedestal for her to crush and trample, if it raised her but an inch!"
With a cruelty, the more pitiless that it seemed so utterly unconscious,
she turned on him her soft alluring glance, her sweet bewildering smile.
Perhaps, because of his very nature, she was more lavish of such
endearments to _him_ than to others; perhaps, in sheer wantonness of
beauty, she cared not what they were, nor how many, whom she scorched
to death with the fire she thus flung carelessly about; but the avowed
regard, the frank kindness with which she treated her devoted servant,
were at once the provocatives and the punishment of his presumption.
Meanwhile he, the counsellor, the reader of the stars, the man of
statecraft, of wisdom, the priest, the eunuch, was blindly, madly, in
love with his queen!
"Could I spare you?" said she earnestly, even tenderly. "Where should
stand the pedestal from which Semiramis may look over a conquered world,
but on the far-sighted wisdom, the unshaken fidelity of her best and
truest servant? I tell you, Assarac, that you and I, beardless though we
be, have more skill of war than all the captains of all this marching
host, that rather than lose your counsel, I would send the half of mine
armies, bows, spears, and auxiliaries, back to the homes they quitted at
my command. And yet look on them, priest. By the beauty of Ashtaroth,
these are not men to be despised!"
While she spoke, the chariots of Assyria were filing past her, two by
two. Each, drawn by its three horses, contained its complement of
warriors--its heavily armed bowman, his charioteer, and shield-bearer,
all of whom were on occasion formidable foot-soldiers, strong, fierce,
and skilled in the use of deadly weapons. In their midst waved the
scarlet-and-gold banner of Ashur, representing Merodach, god of war,
standing on a bull, with a drawn bow in his hand. Their appointments,
their discipline, their very looks seemed to ensure victory. The queen's
eye sparkled, and the colour rose in her delicate cheek.
"'Tis a gallant show!" she murmured; "each comelier than his comrade,
and every captain of ten thousand fit to mate a queen. Is it worth while
to hazard all for one so little different from the rest? Yes; I hold
that man was made for woman's pleasure, to destroy him how and when she
will!"
The eunuch, hearing her last sentence, smiled sadly. "So be it!" he
answered. "The altar must have its victim and the flame its fuel, but
the votary is none the less destroyed that he is consumed in sacred
fire."
She heeded him not. The war-chariots had passed on, and all her
faculties were concentrated on a troop of mounted auxiliaries, small
indeed in number, but of gigantic stature, riding on horses strong,
swift, and terrible as the desert wind with which they were accustomed
to compete. "What have we here?" exclaimed Semiramis, holding her bow
above her head, and thus bringing the whole array to a halt. "Have the
winged bulls of Ashur come down from their pedestals to march into
Armenia? Are these riders men or giants? Were their horses bred on
earthly plains or are they born from the fire and the simoon? Behold!
Surely they are led by a woman! As I live by bread, another
warrior-queen! but veiled and shrouded like a housewife in Babylon,
stealing out at night to the feast of Dagon. Halt them, I say! And,
Assarac, command her hither to my chariot-wheels forthwith!"
The eunuch made haste to obey, and the small column formed line at once,
facing Semiramis, man and beast quivering with repressed strength and
spirit, held in subjection by the habit of warlike discipline. Their
veiled leader took her place in the centre, sitting her horse tranquil
and immovable as a statue.
A tall well-armed warrior rode out, however, from her ranks, and
dismounting, prostrated himself before the queen, while his horse,
waiting for him, watched his motions like a dog. Rising erect, it did
not escape the notice of Semiramis, that his lofty head was on a level
with her shoulder, as she stood above him in the war-chariot.
"Whence come ye?" asked the queen, "and wherefore are ye ranged under
the banner of Ashur, commanded by a woman like myself?"
"Thy servants are children of Anak," answered the leader. "They are free
as the wild ass of the desert, paying tribute and owing subjection to
none. They came out of the wilderness at the summons of the Great Queen,
neither for gold nor spoil, but by _her_ bidding whom their prophets
foretold, a daughter of the stars, who has come down to lead her chosen
tribe into the North."
"Doubtless, from her seat on high she could see far and wide," replied
Semiramis with grave irony; "and she has made no idle choice. By the
beard of Nimrod, I have never set eyes on such men! And she, that veiled
woman on the black horse, is your captain, then? How are ye assured she
is indeed a daughter of the stars?"
"By the light in her eyes," said he simply. "Once before she appeared
among us, and we knew her not, but suffered her to depart in peace,
according to the prophecy--nevertheless, when she came a second time,
the fire-god cleared our sight, and we beheld in her face the glory of
those whom earthly mothers bore on the mountains to the sons of heaven.
Our fathers looked for her in vain; but she has descended for us, their
sons; therefore at her behest have we gathered under the banner of
Ashur, in the service of the Great Queen."
"Trust me, you shall not be idle!" exclaimed Semiramis: adding, with
some curiosity, "And this queen of yours? Is she then always thus
shrouded and invisible?"
"It is death to look on her face," answered the son of Anak. "When she
unveils before the enemy, behold, he will be consumed and waste away
like water spilt on the sand. May the queen live for ever!"
Semiramis scarce concealed a smile.
"It is well," said she graciously, making him a sign to retire. "When
the time comes, I doubt not you will quit you like men! Like men!" she
repeated, turning to the eunuch; "rather like the giants of our fathers'
time, whom ye equal in size and strength. Surely, Assarac, we may take
the Comely King by the beard with warriors like these--tall as camels,
strong as wild bulls, fierce as lions, foolish as the ostrich, true
slaves of Ashtaroth, veiled or unveiled, eager to ride to death at the
wave of a woman's hand!"
He looked wistfully after the stalwart forms, sitting their horses so
proudly, as they trampled on in a cloud of dust; and his heart swelled
with bitter sadness while he asked himself, which of these lusty
champions would pour out his life for her so freely, so gladly as he,
the eunuch, the priest. Must he always be tongue-tied? Would he never
have courage to tell her? Could she not guess it, see it, feel it? O, if
she knew! If she only knew!