, 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 n