Phraortes, trembling with fear and excessive fatigue, fell upon his knees before Atossa, and touched the floor with his forehead.

“Get upon thy feet, man,” said the king shortly, “and render an account of the queen’s affairs.”

“Stay,” said Atossa, calmly; “for what purpose has the Great King brought this man before me?”

“For my pleasure,” answered Darius.  “Speak fellow!  Render thy account, and if I like not the manner of thy counting, I will crucify thee.”

“The king liveth for ever,” said Phraortes feebly, his flaccid cheeks trembling, as his limbs moved uneasily.

“The queen also liveth for ever,” remarked Darius.  “What is the state of the queen’s lands at Ecbatana?”

At this question Phraortes seemed to take courage, and began a rapid enumeration of the goods, cattle and slaves.

“This year I have sown two thousand acres of wheat which will soon be ripe for the harvest.  I have sown also a thousand acres with other grain.  The fields of water-melons are yielding with amazing abundance since I caused the great ditches to be dug last winter towards the road.  As for the fruit trees and the vinelands, they are prospering; but at present we have not had rain to push the first budding of the grapes.  The olives will doubtless be very abundant this year, for last year there were few, as is the manner with that fruit.  As for the yielding of these harvests of grain and wine and oil and fruit, I doubt not that the whole sales will amount to an hundred talents of gold.”

“Last year they only yielded eighty-five,” remarked the queen, who had affected to listen to the whole account with the greatest interest.  “I am well pleased, Phraortes.  Tell me of the cattle and sheep—­and of the slaves; whether many have died this year.”

“There are five hundred head of cattle, and one hundred calves dropped in the last two months.  From the scarcity of rain this year, the fodder has been almost destroyed, and there is little hay from the winter.  I have, therefore, sent great numbers of slaves with camels to the farther plains to eastward, whence they return daily with great loads of hay—­of a coarse kind, but serviceable.  As for the flocks, they are now pasturing for the summer upon the slopes of the Zagros mountains.  There were six thousand head of sheep and two thousand head of goats at the shearing in the spring, and the wool is already sold for eight talents.  As for the slaves, I have provided for them after a new fashion.  There were many young men from the captives that came after the war two years ago.  For these I have purchased wives of the dealers from Scythia.  These Scythians sell all their women at a low price.  They are hideous barbarians, speaking a strange tongue, but they are very strong and enduring, and I doubt not they will multiply exceedingly and bring large profits—­”

“Thou art extraordinarily fluent in thy speech,” interrupted the king.  “But there are details that the queen wishes to know.  Thou art aware that in a frontier country like the province of Ecbatana, it is often necessary to protect the crops and the flocks from robbers.  Hast thou therefore thought of arming any of these slaves for this purpose?”