Part 18 (2/2)
”Just as the Tistar-star was rising, I came into the garden, and staid some time there with these n.o.ble Achaemenidae, the high-priest and the king Croesus, looking at the blue lily, which was marvellously beautiful. I then called my colleague Kandaules and asked him, in the presence of these n.o.ble witnesses, if everything was in order. He affirmed that this was the case and added, that he had just come from Nitetis, that she had wept the whole day, and neither tasted food nor drink. Feeling anxious lest my n.o.ble mistress should become worse, I commissioned Kandaules to fetch a physician, and was just on the point of leaving the n.o.ble Achaemenidae, in order in person to ascertain my mistress's state of health, when I saw in the moon-light the figure of a man. I was so ill and weak, that I could hardly stand and had no one near to help me, except the gardener.
”My men were on guard at the different entrances, some distance from us.
”I clapped my hands to call some of them, but, as they did not come, I went nearer to the house myself, under the protection of these n.o.blemen.-The man was standing by the window of the Egyptian Princess's apartment, and uttered a low whistle when he heard us coming up. Another figure appeared directly-clearly recognizable in the bright moonlight-sprang out of the sleeping-room window and came towards us with her companion.
”I could hardly believe my eyes on discovering that the intruder was no other than the n.o.ble Bartja. A fig-tree concealed us from the fugitives, but we could distinctly see them, as they pa.s.sed us at a distance of not more than four steps. While I was thinking whether I should be justified in arresting a son of Cyrus, Croesus called to Bartja, and the two figures suddenly disappeared behind a cypress. No one but your brother himself can possibly explain the strange way in which he disappeared. I went at once to search the house, and found the Egyptian lying unconscious on the couch in her sleeping-room.”
Every one listened to this story in the greatest suspense. Cambyses ground his teeth and asked in a voice of great emotion: ”Can you testify to the words of the eunuch, Hystaspes?”
”Yes.”
”Why did you not lay hands on the offender?”
”We are soldiers, not policemen.”
”Or rather you care for every knave more than for your king.”
”We honor our king, and abhor the criminal just as we formerly loved the innocent son of Cyrus.”
”Did you recognize Bartja distinctly?”
”Yes.”
”And you, Croesus, can you too give no other answer?”
”No! I fancied I saw your brother in the moonlight then, as clearly as I see him now; but I believe we must have been deceived by some remarkable likeness.” Boges grew pale at these words; Cambyses, however, shook his head as if the idea did not please him, and said: ”Whom am I to believe then, if the eyes of my best warriors fail them? and who would wish to be a judge, if testimony such as yours is not to be considered valid?”
”Evidence quite as weighty as ours, will prove that we must have been in error.”
”Will any one dare to give evidence in favor of such an outrageous criminal?” asked Cambyses, springing up and stamping his foot.
”We will,” ”I,” ”we,” shouted Araspes, Darius, Gyges and Zopyrus with one voice.
”Traitors, knaves!” cried the king. But as he caught sight of Croesus' warning eye fixed upon him, he lowered his voice, and said: ”What have you to bring forward in favor of this fellow? Take care what you say, and consider well what punishment awaits perjurers.”
”We know that well enough,” said Araspes, ”and yet we are ready to swear by Mithras, that we have not left Bartja or his garden one moment since we came back from hunting.”
”As for me,” said Darius, ”I, the son of Hystaspes, have especially convincing evidence to give in favor of your brother's innocence; I watched the rising of the Tistar-star with him; and this, according to Boges, was the very star that shone on his flight.”
Hystaspes gazed on his son in astonishment and doubt at hearing these words, and Cambyses turned a scrutinizing eye first on the one and then on the other party of these strange witnesses, who wished so much, and yet found it so impossible, to believe one another, himself unable to come to a decision.
Bartja, who till now had remained perfectly silent, looking down sadly at his chained hands, took advantage of the silence to say, making at the same time a deep obeisance: ”May I be allowed to speak a few words, my King?”
”Speak!”
”From our father we learnt to strive after that which was pure and good only; so up to this time my life has been unstained. If you have ever known me take part in an evil deed, you have a right not to believe me, but if you find no fault in me then trust to what I say, and remember that a son of Cyrus would rather die than tell a lie. I confess that no judge was ever placed in such a perplexing position. The best men in your kingdom testify against one another, friend against friend, father against son. But I tell you that were the entire Persian nation to rise up against you, and swear that Cambyses had committed this or that evil deed, and you were to say, 'I did not commit it,' I, Bartja, would give all Persia the lie and exclaim, 'Ye are all false witnesses; sooner could the sea cast up fire than a son of Cyrus allow his mouth to deal in lies.' No, Cambyses, you and I are so high-born that no one but yourself can bear evidence against me; and you can only be judged out of your own mouth.”
Cambyses' looks grew a little milder on hearing these words, and his brother went on: ”So I swear to you by Mithras, and by all pure spirits, that I am innocent. May my life become extinct and my race perish from off the earth, if I tell you a lie, when I say that I have not once set foot in the hanging-gardens since my return!”
Bartja's voice was so firm and his tone so full of a.s.surance, as he uttered this oath that Cambyses ordered his chains to be loosened, and, after a few moments' thought, said: ”I should like to believe you, for I cannot bear to imagine you the worst and most abandoned of men. To-morrow we will summon the astrologers, soothsayers and priests. Perhaps they may be able to discover the truth. Can you see any light in this darkness, Oropastes?”
”Thy servant supposes, that a Div has taken upon him the form of Bartja, in order to ruin the king's brother and stain thine own royal soul with the blood of thy father's son.”
Cambyses and every one present nodded their a.s.sent to this proposition, and the king was just going to offer his hand to Bartja, when a staff-bearer came in and gave the king a dagger. A eunuch had found it under the windows of Nitetis' sleeping-apartment.
Cambyses examined the weapon carefully. Its costly hilt was thickly set with rubies and turquoises. As he looked he turned pale, and dashed the dagger on the ground before Bartja with such violence, that the stones fell out of their setting.
”This is your dagger, you wretch!” he shrieked, seized by the same violent pa.s.sion as before. ”This very morning you used it to give the last thrust to the wild boar, that I had mortally wounded. Croesus, you ought to know it too, for my father brought it from your treasure-house at Sardis. At last you are really convicted, you liar!-you impostor! The Divs require no weapons, and such a dagger as this is not to be picked up everywhere. Ah, ha! you are feeling in your girdle! You may well turn pale; your dagger is gone!”
”Yes, it is gone. I must have lost it, and some enemy...”
”Seize him, Bischen, put on his fetters! Take him to prison-the traitor, the perjurer! He shall be strangled to-morrow. Death is the penalty of perjury. Your heads for theirs, you guards, if they escape. Not one word more will I hear; away with you, you perjured villains! Boges, go at once to the hanging-gardens and bring the Egyptian to me. Yet no, I won't see that serpent again. It is very near dawn now, and at noon she shall be flogged through the streets. Then I'll...”
But here he was stopped by another fit of epilepsy, and sank down on to the marble floor in convulsions. At this fearful moment Ka.s.sandane was led into the hall by the old general Megabyzus. The news of what had happened had found its way to her solitary apartments, and, notwithstanding the hour, she had risen in order to try and discover the truth and warn her son against p.r.o.nouncing a too hasty decision. She believed firmly that Bartja and Nitetis were innocent, though she could not explain to herself what had happened. Several times she had tried to put herself in communication with Nitetis, but without avail. At last she had been herself to the hanging-gardens, but the guards had actually had the hardihood to refuse her admission.
Croesus went at once to meet her, told her what had happened, suppressing as many painful details as possible, confirmed her in her belief of the innocence of the accused, and then took her to the bedside of the king.
The convulsions had not lasted long this time. He lay on his golden bed under purple silk coverlets, pale and exhausted. His blind mother seated herself at his side, Croesus and Oropastes took their station at the foot of the bell, and in another part of the room, four physicians discussed the patient's condition in low whispers.
[It was natural, that medicine should be carefully studied among a people who set such a high value upon life as did the Persians.
Pliny indeed, (x.x.x. I.) maintains, that the whole of Zoroaster's religion was founded on the science of medicine, and it is true that there are a great many medical directions to be found in the Avesta.
In the Vendidad, Farg. VII. there is a detailed list of medical fees. ”The physician shall treat a priest for a pious blessing or spell, the master of a house for a small draught animal, etc., the lord of a district for a team of four oxen. If the physician cures the mistress of the house, a female a.s.s shall be his fee, etc., etc.” We read in the same Fargard, that the physician had to pa.s.s a kind of examination. If he had operated thrice successfully on bad men, on whose bodies he had been permitted to try his skill, he was p.r.o.nounced ”capable for ever.” If, on the other hand, three evil Daevayacna (wors.h.i.+ppers of the Divs) died under his hands, he was p.r.o.nounced ”incapable of healing for evermore.”]
Ka.s.sandane was very gentle with her son; she begged him not to yield to pa.s.sionate anger, and to remember what a sad effect every such outburst had on his health.
”Yes, mother, you are right,” answered the king, smiling bitterly; ”I see that I must get rid of everything that rouses my anger. The Egyptian must die, and my perfidious brother shall follow his mistress.”
Ka.s.sandane used all her eloquence to convince him of the innocence of the accused, and to pacify his anger, but neither prayers, tears, nor her motherly exhortations, could in the least alter his resolution to rid himself of these murderers of his happiness and peace.
At last he interrupted her lamentations by saying: ”I feel fearfully exhausted; I cannot bear these sobs and lamentations any longer. Nitetis has been proved guilty. A man was seen to leave her sleeping-apartment in the night, and that man was not a thief, but the handsomest man in Persia, and one to whom she had dared to send a letter yesterday evening.”
”Do you know the contents of that letter?” asked Croesus, coming up to the bed.
”No; it was written in Greek. The faithless creature made use of characters, which no one at this court can read.”
”Will you permit me to translate the letter?” Cambyses pointed to a small ivory box in which the ominous piece of writing lay, saying: ”There it is; read it; but do not hide or alter a single word, for to-morrow I shall have it read over again by one of the merchants from Sinope.”
Croesus' hopes revived; he seemed to breathe again as he took the paper. But when he had read it over, his eyes filled with tears and he murmured: ”The fable of Pandora is only too true; I dare not be angry any longer with those poets who have written severely against women. Alas, they are all false and faithless! O Ka.s.sandane, how the G.o.ds deceive us! they grant us the gift of old age, only to strip us bare like trees in winter, and show us that all our fancied gold was dross and all our pleasant and refres.h.i.+ng drinks poison!”
Ka.s.sandane wept aloud and tore her costly robes; but Cambyses clenched his fist while Croesus was reading the following words: ”Nitetis, daughter of Amasis of Egypt, to Bartja, son of the great Cyrus: ”I have something important to tell you; I can tell it to no one but yourself. To-morrow I hope I shall meet you in your mother's apartments. It lies in your power to comfort a sad and loving heart, and to give it one happy moment before death. I have a great deal to tell you, and some very sad news; I repeat that I must see you soon.”
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