“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.