“Thou speakst of me as if I were a gossip or a shopkeeper,”—­[This nickname, which Darius afterwards earned, is more fully spoken of]—­answered the son of Hystaspes.  “Be it so; I have been burning all this time to defend the customs of our country.  Know then, Ladice, that if Auramazda dispose the heart of our king in his own good ways, your daughter will not be his slave, but his friend.  Know also, that in Persia, though certainly only at high festivals, the king’s wives have their places at the men’s table, and that we pay the highest reverence to our wives and mothers.  A king of Babylon once took a Persian wife; in the broad plains of the Euphrates she fell sick of longing for her native mountains; he caused a gigantic structure to be raised on arches, and the summit thereof to be covered with a depth of rich earth; caused the choicest trees and flowers to be planted there, and watered by artificial machinery.  This wonder completed, he led his wife thither; from its top she could look down into the plains below, as from the heights of Rachined, and with this costly gift he presented her.  Tell me, could even an Egyptian give more?”

[This stupendous erection is said to have been constructed by Nebuchadnezzar for his Persian wife Amytis.  Curtius V. 5.  Josephus contra Apion.  I. 19.  Antiquities X. II. 1.  Diod.  II. 10.  For further particulars relative to the hanging-gardens, see later notes.]

“And did she recover?” asked Nitetis, without raising her eyes.

“She recovered health and happiness; and you too will soon feel well and happy in our country.”

“And now,” said Ladice with a smile, what, think you, contributed most to the young queen’s recovery? the beautiful mountain or the love of the husband, who erected it for her sake?”

“Her husband’s love,” cried the young girls.

“But Nitetis would not disdain the mountain either,” maintained Bartja, “and I shall make it my care that whenever the court is at Babylon, she has the hanging-gardens for her residence.”

“But now come,” exclaimed Amasis, “unless you wish to see the city in darkness.  Two secretaries have been awaiting me yonder for the last two hours.  Ho!  Sachons! give orders to the captain of the guard to accompany our noble guests with a hundred men.”

“But why? a single guide, perhaps one of the Greek officers, would be amply sufficient.”

“No, my young friends, it is better so.  Foreigners can never be too prudent in Egypt.  Do not forget this, and especially be careful not to ridicule the sacred animals.  And now farewell, my young heroes, till we meet again this evening over a merry wine-cup.”

The Persians then quitted the palace, accompanied by their interpreter, a Greek, but who had been brought up in Egypt, and spoke both languages with equal facility.