for Nitetis' sake. Cambyses is preparing to make war on us. He will
sweep down on Egypt like a scorching wind from the desert. Much, which I
have staked my nightly sleep and the very marrow of my existence to bring
into existence, will be annihilated. Still I have not lived in vain. For
forty years I have been the careful father and benefactor of a great
nation. Children and children's children will speak of Amasis as a great,
wise and humane king; they will read my name on the great works which I
have built in Sais and Thebes, and will praise the greatness of my power.
Neither shall I be condemned by Osiris and the forty-two judges of the
nether world; the goddess of truth, who holds the balances, will find
that my good deeds outweigh my bad."--Here the king sighed deeply and
remained silent for some time. Then, looking tenderly at his wife, he
said: "Ladice, thou hast been a faithful, virtuous wife to me. For this I
thank thee, and ask thy forgiveness for much. We have often misunderstood
one another. Indeed it was easier for me to accustom myself to the Greek
modes of thought, than for a Greek to understand our Egyptian ideas. Thou
know'st my love of Greek art,--thou know'st how I enjoyed the society of
thy friend Pythagoras, who was thoroughly initiated in all that we
believe and know, and adopted much from us. He comprehended the deep
wisdom which lies in the doctrines that I reverence most, and he took
care not to speak lightly of truths which our priests are perhaps too
careful to hide from the people; for though the many bow down before that
which they cannot understand, they would be raised and upheld by those
very truths, if explained to them. To a Greek mind our worship of animals
presents the greatest difficulty, but to my own the worship of the
Creator in his creatures seems more just and more worthy of a human
being, than the worship of his likeness in stone. The Greek deities are
moreover subject to every human infirmity; indeed I should have made my
queen very unhappy by living in the same manner as her great god Zeus."

At these words the king smiled, and then went on: "And what has given
rise to this? The Hellenic love of beauty in form, which, in the eye of a
Greek, is superior to every thing else. He cannot separate the body from
the soul, because he holds it to be the most glorious of formed things,
and indeed, believes that a beautiful spirit must necessarily inhabit a
beautiful body. Their gods, the