ak, and he answered
laughing: "Let us follow the advice of both these noble old men. We will
do as Croesus bids us and not go out to seek an enemy, but at the
same time we will follow Hystaspes' advice by raising our claims and
pronouncing every one our enemy, who does not cheerfully consent to
become a member of the kingdom founded by our great father Cyrus. For
instance, we will ask the Indians if they would feel proud to obey your
sceptre, Cambyses. If they answer no, it is a sign that they do not love
us, and whoever does not love us, must be our enemy."

"That won't do," cried Zopyrus. "We must have war at any price."

"I vote for Croesus," said Gobryas. "And I too," said the noble
Artabazus.

"We are for Hystaspes," shouted the warrior Araspes, the old
Intaphernes, and some more of Cyrus's old companions-in-arms.

"War we must have at any price," roared the general Megabyzus, the
father of Zopyrus, striking the table so sharply with his heavy fist,
that the golden vessels rang again, and some goblets even fell; "but not
with the Massagetac--not with a flying foe."

"There must be no war with the Massagetae," said the high-priest
Oropastes. "The gods themselves have avenged Cyrus's death upon them."

Cambyses sat for some moments, quietly and coldly watching the
unrestrained enthusiasm of his warriors, and then, rising from his seat,
thundered out the words: "Silence, and listen to your king!"

The words worked like magic on this multitude of drunken men. Even those
who were most under the influence of wine, listened to their king in a
kind of unconscious obedience. He lowered his voice and went on: "I did
not ask whether you wished for peace or war--I know that every Persian
prefers the labor of war to an inglorious idleness--but I wished to know
what answer you would give the Massagetan warriors. Do you consider
that the soul of my father--of the man to whom you owe all your
greatness--has been sufficiently avenged?"

A dull murmur in the affirmative, interrupted by some violent voices
in the negative, was the answer. The king then asked a second question:
"Shall we accept the conditions proposed by their envoys, and grant
peace to this nation, already so scourged and desolated by the gods?" To
this they all agreed eagerly.

"That is what I wished to know," continued Cambyses. "To-morrow, when
we are sober, we will follow the old custom and reconsider what has been
resolved on during our intoxication. D