is absurd and insipid religion--a
religion which appears doubly sacred to its adherents simply because it
has existed in this eccentric land--unchanged for thousands of years.
These priests make the king's life burdensome to him; they persecute and
injure us in every possible way; and indeed, if it had not been for
the king's protection, I should long ago have been a dead man. But I
am wandering from my tale! As I said before, Rhodopis was received
at Naukratis with open arms by all, and loaded with marks of favor by
Amasis, who formed her acquaintance. Her daughter Kleis, as is the case
with the little Sappho now--was never allowed to appear in the society
which assembled every evening at her mother's house, and indeed was even
more strictly brought up than the other young girls in Naukratis. She
married Glaucus, a rich Phocaean merchant of noble family, who had
defended his native town with great bravery against the Persians, and
with him departed to the newly-founded Massalia, on the Celtic coast.
There, however, the young couple both fell victims to the climate, and
died, leaving a little daughter, Sappho. Rhodopis at once undertook the
long journey westward, brought the orphan child back to live with her,
spent the utmost care on her education, and now that she is grown up,
forbids her the society of men, still feeling the stains of her own
youth so keenly that she would fain keep her granddaughter (and this in
Sappho's case is not difficult), at a greater distance from contact
with our sex than is rendered necessary, by the customs of Egypt. To my
friend herself society is as indispensable as water to the fish or air
to the bird. Her house is frequented by all the strangers here, and
whoever has once experienced her hospitality and has the time at command
will never after be found absent when the flag announces an evening of
reception. Every Greek of mark is to be found here, as it is in this
house that we consult on the wisest measures for encountering the hatred
of the priests and bringing the king round to our own views. Here you
can obtain not only the latest news from home, but from the rest of the
world, and this house is an inviolable sanctuary for the persecuted,
Rhodopis possessing a royal warrant which secures her from every
molestation on the part of the police.

[A very active and strict police-force existed in Egypt, the
organization of which is said to have owed much to Amasis' care. We
also