“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.’”