Cambyses was too proud to let it be seen that he had heard these words; like the ostrich, he feigned deafness and blindness in order not to seem aware of the looks and murmurs of his guests, which all went to prove that he had been deceived.

Bartja could have had no share in her perfidy; she had loved this handsome youth, and perhaps all the more because she had not been able to hope for a return of her love.  If he had had the slightest suspicion of his brother, he would have killed him on the spot.  Bartja was certainly innocent of any share in the deception and in his brother’s misery, but still he was the cause of all; so the old grudge, which had only just been allowed to slumber, woke again; and, as a relapse is always more dangerous than the original illness, the newly-roused anger was more violent than what he had formerly felt.

He thought and thought, but he could not devise a fitting punishment for this false woman.  Her death would not content his vengeance, she must suffer something worse than mere death!

Should he send her back to Egypt, disgraced and shamed?  Oh, no! she loved her country, and she would be received by her parents with open arms.  Should he, after she had confessed her guilt, (for he was determined to force a confession from her) shut her up in a solitary dungeon? or should he deliver her over to Boges, to be the servant of his concubines?  Yes! now he had hit upon the right punishment.  Thus the faithless creature should be disciplined, and the hypocrite, who had dared to make sport of him—­the All-powerful—­forced to atone for her crimes.

Then he said to himself:  “Bartja must not stay here; fire and water have more in common than we two—­he always fortunate and happy, and I so miserable.  Some day or other his descendants will divide my treasures, and wear my crown; but as yet I am king, and I will show that I am.”

The thought of his proud, powerful position flashed through him like lightning.  He woke from his dreams into new life, flung his golden goblet far into the hall, so that the wine flew round like rain, and cried:  “We have had enough of this idle talk and useless noise.  Let us hold a council of war, drunken as we are, and consider what answer we ought to give the Massagetae.  Hystaspes, you are the eldest, give us your opinion first.”

[Herod.  I. 134.  The Persians deliberated and resolved when they were intoxicated, and when they were sober reconsidered their determinations.  Tacitus tells the same of the old Germans.  Germ, c. 22.]

Hystaspes, the father of Darius, was an old man.  He answered:  “It seems to me, that the messengers of this wandering tribe have left us no choice.  We cannot go to war against desert wastes; but as our host is already under arms and our swords have lain long in their scabbards, war we must have.  We only want a few good enemies, and I know no easier work than to make them.”