been killed that there is
a savour of death in the air. It is amazing how much trouble people will
give themselves about the question of sacrificing a horse to the sun, or
a calf to Auramazda, or an Ethiopian to Nabon or Ashtaroth! And these
Magians! They are really no more descendants of the priests in the Aryan
home than I am a Greek. Half of them are nearly black--they are Hindus
and speak Persian with an accent. They believe in a vast number of gods
of all sizes and descriptions, and they sing hymns, in which they say that
all these gods are the same. It is most confusing, and as the principal
part of their chief sacrifice consists in making themselves exceedingly
drunk with the detestable milkweed juice of which they are so fond, the
performance is disgusting. The Great King began by saying that if they
wished to sacrifice to their deities, they might do so, provided no one
could find them doing it; and if they wished to be drunk, they might be
drunk when and where they pleased; but that if they did the two together,
he would crucify every Magian in Persia. His argument was very amusing.
He said that a man who is drunk naturally speaks the truth, whereas a man
who sacrifices to false gods inevitably tells lies; wherefore a man who
sacrifices to false gods when he is drunk, runs the risk of telling lies
and speaking the truth at the same time, and is consequently a creature
revolting to logic, and must be immediately destroyed for the good of
the whole race of mankind."

Nehushta had listened with varying attention to the queen's account of
the religious difficulties in the kingdom, and she laughed at the
Megoeric puzzle by which Darius justified the death of the Magians. But
in her heart she longed to see Zoroaster, and was weary of entertaining
her royal guest. By way of diversion she clapped her hands, and ordered
the slaves who came at her summons to bring sweetmeats and sherbet of
crushed fruit and snow.

"Are you fond of hunting?" asked Atossa, delicately taking a little
piece of white fig-paste.

"I have never been allowed to hunt," answered Nehushta. "Besides, it
must be very tiring."

"I delight in it--the fig-paste is not so good as it used to be--there
is a new confectioner. Darius considered that the former one had
religious convictions involving the telling of lies--and this is the
result! We are fallen low indeed when we cannot eat a Magian's pastry! I
am passionately fond of hunting, but it is fa