no children."

"But you are still young; you will not remain childless. Besides, I do
not say that I will never marry. Do not be angry, but just now, when I am
to prove my courage, I would rather hear nothing about women."

"Well, then, you must marry Roxana when you return from the North. But I
should advise you to take her with you to the field. A Persian generally
fights better if he knows that, beside his most precious treasures, he
has a beautiful woman in his tent to defend."

"Spare me this one command, my brother. I conjure thee, by the soul of
our father, not to inflict on me a wife of whom I know nothing, and never
wish to know. Give Roxana to Zopyrus, who is so fond of women, or to
Darius or Bessus, who are related to her father Hydarnes. I cannot love
her, and should be miserable . . ."

Cambyses interrupted him with a laugh, exclaiming: "Did you learn these
notions in Egypt, where it is the custom to be contented with one wife?
In truth, I have long repented having sent a boy like you abroad. I am
not accustomed to bear contradiction, and shall listen to no excuses
after the war. This once I will allow you to go to the field without a
wife. I will not force you to do what, in your opinion, might endanger
your valor. But it seems to me that you have other and more secret
reasons for refusing my brotherly proposal. If that is the case, I am
sorry for you. However, for the present, you can depart, but after the
war I will hear no remonstrances. You know me."

"Perhaps after the war I may ask for the very thing, which I am refusing
now--but never for Roxana! It is just as unwise to try to make a man
happy by force as it is wicked to compel him to be unhappy, and I thank
you for granting my request."

"Don't try my powers of yielding too often!--How happy you look! I really
believe you are in love with some one woman by whose side all the others
have lost their charms."

Bartja blushed to his temples, and seizing his brother's hand, exclaimed:
"Ask no further now, accept my thanks once more, and farewell. May I bid
Nitetis farewell too, when I have taken leave of our mother and Atossa?"

Cambyses bit his lip, looked searchingly into Bartja's face, and finding
that the boy grew uneasy under his glance, exclaimed abruptly and
angrily: "Your first business is to hasten to the Tapuri. My wife needs
your care no longer; she has other protectors now." So saying he turned
his back on his brother and passed on i