The Bow and the Sword. A romance ... Illustrated, etc

Front matter

THE BOW AND THE SWORD a Page 25. before king astyages. The Bow and The Sword a IRomance BV E. C. ADAMS, M.A. Late Fellow, etc., Worcester College, Oxford ILLUSTRATED BY MATTHEW STRETCH LONDON DIGBY, LONG & CO., PUBLISHERS 18 BOUVERIE STREET, FLEET STREET, E.C. [All Rights reserved'] Deoicateo TO MY DEAR WIFE AND CHILDREN Bexhill, CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE Prefacf, ...... ix Introduction, ..... xiii 1.— The Bow, . . . . . .1 II.— Babylon, ...... 6 III. — The House of Egibi, . . . .14 IV. — The Journey, . . • • .18 V. — Agbatana and Media, . . . .25 VI.— Gaza, ...... 32 VII.— Tigranes, ...... 39 VIII.— The Finding of the Rubies, . . . -45 IX.— The Sword, . . ■ . ■ • -49 X.— The Island Fortress, . . . -55 XI.— The Saving of Mandane, . . . .61 XII.— Mardes, ...... 65 XIII.— Ahriman, . . . ■ • 71 XIV.— The Javelin Contest, . . • -76 XV.— The Discovery, . • ■ ■ .80 XVI.— The Trial for Treason, . . . 84 XVII.— The Games, 93 XVIII.— The Plot against Mandane, . ■ -99 XIX.— Love, . • • • ■ .116 XX.— The Attack upon and Defence of the Island, . 128 XXI.— The Escape to the Sea, . . • • 141 XXII.— The Fight with the Pirates— Greece, . .

IS1 XXIII.— The Isthmian Games, . • • .160 Contents. VIII CHAP. PAGE XXIV.— Sparta, . * . .. . . .168 XXV.— The Second Sea Fight, . . . .178 XXVI. -Egypt, . . . . . .184 XXVII.— The Battle of Momemphis, . . . .192 XXVIII. -After the Battle, . . . . .202 XXIX.— No-Ammon (Thebes), . . . .209 XXX.— Elephant Hunting, . . . .• -215 XXXI.— The Lion Hunt— The Death of Grim, . . 219 XXXII.— In the Sphinx, '. . . . - 230 XXXIII.— From the Great to the Red Sea, . . . 246 XXXIV.— The Pigmies, . . . . . 254 XXXV.— The Sea Serpent, . . . . .265 XXXVI.— Death of Masistes— Home, . . . .270 XXXVII.— Visit to Nebuchadrezzar, . . . .283 XXXVIII.— Our Gifts to the King and Queen, . . .290 XXXIX.— Conclusion, ......

Preface

. ■0 Having been attached to the British Consul ate at Bussorah, as resident medical adviser, I, after some time, gave up my post, and, having some little means of my own, con tinued to live there. I often took excursions, and went shooting, across the river, in the Baktihari country ; and, having made the acquaintance of the supreme chief, had the good fortune to save the life of his favourite wife, when ill of the prevalent fever of the country. Nothing could exceed his gratitude, and, as I refused all remuneration, he was ever planning how he could please me. Knowing that I was deeply interested in the discoveries which have been made at X

PREFACE.

. ancient Nineveh and Babylon, and that I had made some fruitless excavations myself at the latter place, he took me, one day, into a large shed 'There,' he said, pointing to a number of bricks or cylinders — similar to the Babylonian ones — ' are some ancient remains, which some of my men, when seeking for building materials, un earthed at Shushan. As you refuse all I offer you, I have had these preserved for you, for this your visit, in case you might like to try and decipher them, as I am aware that you are acquainted with the language on them (cuneiform). Examine them, and, if they are worth deciphering, stay with us, till you have read them all. Make what use of them you like.' I took up one, and, to my great astonishment and delight, read the word ' Astyages,' while on another was ' Nebuchadrezzar.' I at once perceived that, in all probability, this was a find of the greatest value and importance.

PREFACE.

. XI I gadly accepted my friend's kind offer, and, with a few preliminary and explanatory remarks, lay the result before my readers, piecing where there was a hiatus. The tablets, while they differ, in a few points, from ancient historians, wonderfully confirm them in others. I have, of course, altered the archaisms and quaintness of the ancient original, and adapted it to suit the taste of modern readers. (Signed) HAKIM EFFENDI.

Introduction

. The narrative is of events of ancient date, of the sixth century B.C. : and of Eastern Lands. It tells the early history of the father of one of the greatest con querors who ever lived — a father who had much to do with the moulding of his son's character and the preparing his success. Before we commence the narrative, which the wonderful cylinders of Shushan have preserved for us, it will be necessary to say a few words respecting the nation to which this Prince Cambyses belonged, and the surrounding peoples; as well as their relations to each other in his time. In the latter part of the sixth century B.C., the follow ing nations were lying between, or adjacent to the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The people lying to the extreme south, on the Persian Gulf, were chiefly Turanians, and probably

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV descendants of Cain, undestroyed by the flood, which was merely local. Further north, between the two rivers, came their conquerors and rulers, the Baby lonians (chiefly sprung from Shem), whose capital was Babylon on the Euphrates. To the north of Babylon, on the Tigris, were to be seen the ruins of the lately destroyed Nineveh, capital of that great kingdom Assyria, which had lately ruled all Western Asia, and even part of Africa. But, a few years before this, the old Assyrian lion, worn out by its mighty efforts to retain its ancient sway, and bleeding with the wounds given it by its once subject nations, had succumbed (608 B.C.) to the united attack of the Medes, under the warlike Cyaxares, from the north east, and the Babylonians, under Nebuchadrezzar, Nabopolazzar's son, from the south.

Babylon had succeeded to its empire in the west, the Medes to all east of the Tigris. When our narrative commences, B.C. 573, Nebuchad rezzar was king of Babylon. He was then contenting himself with chastising rebellious feudatory princes, but entered on no new adventures. His chief aim was to defend and secure Babylon from the attack of the Medes and their kindred tribes ; an attack, which might be deferred, but which must come sooner or later. Had it come in his time (and not in that of a feeble successor) he might have repelled it. It tarried, how-

INTRODUCTION.

. XV ever, till 539 B.C., and Nebuchadrezzar died in 561 B.C. In 573 B.C. Cyaxares had been succeeded by his son Astyages. Cyaxares we know to have been a most able and far-seeing ruler. He had long been solicitous about the growing power of the subject Persians — men of the same stock as the Medes — and on his death-bed he had warned Astyages to take every means to keep them dependent. The Persians at this time were under a double government. The eastern Persians occupied the country afterwards called Persis, with the capital Persepolis ; the western Persians were in possession of the country west of this — that which had been previously called Elam — and which they had seized upon, after its depopulation by the Assyrians, and called Anshan, with its capital Susa or Shushan, whose north frontier was what is now called the Baktihari Mountains. ' In the celebrated Behistun inscription there was a passage which once puzzled everyone. ' Says Darius the king : " There have been eight of my race who have been kings before me.

I am the ninth. In a double line we have been kings." ' The puzzle has been cleared up by an inscription on a cylinder found at Babylon, from which we find that one of Darius's predecessors divided his kingdom between his two sons (it may have been by the command of 1 See Layard's Early Travels.

INTRODUCTION.

. XVI the Median king), Cyrus I., to whom was given Anshan, and Ariaramnes, who received Persis.1 So in numbering those Persian kings who had reigned before him, Darius of the Persis family clearly includes those of the Anshan line, thus: — I. Achæmenes, founder ofthe Persian royalty. 2. Teispes, annexer of Anshan. Line of Anshan — Line of Persis — 3. Cyrus I. 4. Ariaramnes. 5. Cambyses I. (our Hero). 6. Arsames. 7. Cyrus II. (The Great). /Re-unites Anshan and Persis I to the exclusion of (Hystaspes) 8. Cambyses II. ends the Anshan or elder line and is succeeded by . .9. Darius. It should be added that the Persians, as well as the Medes, were of the Aryan stock, from Central Asia, and sprung from Japhet. Our narrative commences with the mission of the Mede, Harpagus, sent by Astyages to demand the presence at his court of the heir-apparent of Anshan (our hero), Cambyses, father of Cyrus the Great. Let Cambyses now tell his own story, from the cylinders. 1 See Ragozin's Media.

Chapter I. The

bow. ' Says Astyages, the great king, king of kings, the son of Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, to Cyrus king of Anshan : Having heard many things in praise of thy son Cambyses we greatly desire to see him at our court, where he shall be treated with all honour, and whence he shall return unto you in due time.' Signed with the king's seal. My father saw that such a message was in reality a command, and that I was to be a hostage for his fidelity. To disobey would have been madness ; and he was all the more inclined to comply with the king's mandate that Ariaramnes of Persia, his brother, was at that time at variance with him, and that my tutor, Isak, enjoined compliance. He had often experienced the wisdom of his advice and his more than human intelligence and knowledge, and he and my mother Atossa fully trusted to his words, that all would eventu ally turn out well This remarkab'e man was a Jew, A taken captive by Nebuchadrezzar's captains, 586 B.C., at their third taking of Jerusalem, and brought by them to Babylon.

When my father (who wished me, his son, to be instructed in other matters besides those known to my native tutors) had asked the great banker at Babylon, Egibi,1 with whom he had dealings, if he could recommend any suitable tutor for this pur pose, Isak the Jew was suggested to him in terms of the highest praise. Isak was not only versed in all the wisdom and lore of his own nation, but when a youth had gone with Necho into Egypt and had been initiated into all the Egyptian magic and mysteries. He returned to Jerusalem just in time to be carried captive to Babylon, where, by the influence of the great Belteshazzer and of Egibi, he obtained every facility for carrying on, to an even greater extent, his mystic and occult researches. He thus knew all that could be taught by Jew. Egyptian, or Babylonian adept.

The Babylonian and Egyptian languages he spoke as if he were a native, and besides these he was well acquainted with Persian and Greek. The virtues of plants, the different kinds of precious stones and minerals, diseases and their remedies, were al' familiar to him ; geography and history also. His life was one of extreme ascetism. Though living merely on pulse and water he was, at this time of his life (43), a model of aciivity and endurance. Rising I ng before daybreak he spent much time in prayer to his Great God, and then, in the study of his sacred See Ragosin's Media, manuscripts, of which he had a store. Next came our work together, and then, when that was done, he would often come hunting with me, and I found that even in this his advice was by no means to be despised. He was indeed of the tribe of Benjamin, the archer-tribe of his nation, and had been celebrated as a youth for his skill with the bow.

By the purity, honesty, and in fact the whole tenor of his daily life, he had gained the respect and admiration, not merely of my father and mother and myself, but of everyone with whom he came in contact. Those in difficulties had recourse to him for advice. Those who had differences sought him as arbiter. His knowledge and intelligence were clearly superhuman. Such was the man who advised my parents to comply with the mandate of Astyages ; and, as Harpagus said, that two attendants might accompany me, Isak proposed that he himself and my foster-brother Gatis should be the two. This proposal my parents gladly accepted. For myself I was at this time, 573 B.C., twenty years of age, tall in stature (6ft. 2ins.), and of bodily strength greater than ordinary, gained by incessant exercise and training.

As a Persian I had been taught the three matters most highly thought of by my nation, ' To speak the truth, to ride, and to shoot straight' But under Isak's teaching, and by the aid of a bow which he had given me, I had attained to an excellence, surprising to myself, in the use of that weapon. So much so that I never seemed to doubt about hitting the object aimed at. The Bow was one of steel and had belonged, Isak said, ages before, to a great archer and prince of his nation and tribe named Jonathan. It had been recovered from the battle field where Jonathan had fallen, and handed down in the same family, till it at last came into the hands of Isak. He had been allowed to retain it simply because none of his Babylonian captors could bend it. He had brought it from Babylon as a present for me.

It required not only strength but a special knack also to draw it ; this latter Isak, who was able to bend and draw it, imparted to me. At first I could not bend it in the least, but, as I grew older and stronger, by constant practice and by imitating Isak, I at last, little by little, managed to bend, and then to draw an arrow on it, to its full length, and finally to use it with the same facility as an ordinary bow. Owing to its great power far surpassing other bows, I was enabled to shoot distances nearly double that of any other archer, and to make practice which seemed incredible and impossible. Isak was also ' ambidexter,' as most of his tribe, and he taught me to use both my hands alike. I have found this of the greatest service, and consider it a pity that all children are not taught to do the same.

After a most tender leave-taking by my beloved parents, and their committal of me to the protection of Ormuzd 1 we started. We did not go by the direct road, due north, to Media, by which Harpagus had come, but first, westward, through Babylon. He 1 Ormuzd— the good and supreme God. Ahriman — the evil one. had been directed by Astyages to convey despatches to Nebuchadrezzar and to Queen Amytis, sister of Astyages, and also to arrange a loan with the house of Egibi. Harpagus had with him a guard of ioo horse-archers, and, as his lieutenant, a young noble Mede, named Masistes, with whom I soon formed a close friendship. From Shushan we floated down the River Ulai in a vessel of my father's, till we reached the Tigris and Euphrates, and then rowed up the latter to Babylon.

Chapter II. Babylon

Ox our arrival there, Harpagus had audience of Nebuchadrezzar, to whom he introduced me, and who received me most kindly, prepossessed in my favour, I cannot but think, by some kind words of his prime minister Belteshazzar. Finding I was very fond of horses, and had had to leave my favourite steed at home, he told me I might choose any horse from the royal stables, except those which he used in his ov/n chariots. 1 went through the stables and was much struck by the appearance of a very powerful jet-black stallion, which the grooms said they had been unable to break for the king's chariots. When harnessed it had destroyed both harness and chariot, and caused grievous harm to the drivers. It was use less for the king, they said, and they would be truly glad to be rid of it. I looked it carefully over, and noted' with admiration its surpassing beauty of form and the signs of strength and endurance.

Its eyes showed no sign of vice, and, to the astonishment of the grooms, it seemed to listen to my voice with pleasure and allowed me to pat it. It was by an Arab sire of old lineage, out of a celebrated Ar menian mare, sent as a present to Nebuchadrezzar by the king of Armenia. Harpagus had not been able to allow me to bring my own horse, but he could not help my accepting this present ofthe great king. ' Lightning,' as I called the horse on account of his great speed, soon learned to know and love me. He would obey my slightest word, follow me like a dog, and on several occasions was the means of saving my life. We next went to pay our respects to Queen Amytis, whom her father, Cyaxares, had given as wife to Nebuchadrezzar, to cement the alliance between Media and Babylon. She received Harpagus with great pleasure, as bringing her news from her old home and country — me courteously but somewhat haughtily, as it beseemed a Median princess to receive a Persian !

It was my first lesson, one often after wards repeated in Media. She gave us audience in what were called The Hanging Gardens (in the north of the city), one of the wonders of the world. The queen had pined for the cool breezes of her own northern and mountainous land, and Nebuchadrezzar, in his devotion, to please her, and as far as he could compensate her for the loss of these, had built these wonderful gardens. Terrace had been raised on terrace, resting on arched vaults supported by pillars sixty feet apart and twenty-two feet in circumference, till they far over topped the lofty walls of the city. At the back we looked down a sheer descent of 400 feet. In the front the ascent was made by inclines from terrace to terrace, up which the queen could be carried. The whole structure was bound together by a wall of many feet in thickness.

The level of each terrace was thus formed. The top of the piers was first over laid with flat stones. On these were spread beds of matting, then a thick layer of bitumen, then two courses of bricks, which were covered with sheets of solid lead. Over all the earth was heaped, and, in order to admit the roots of large trees, prodigious hollow piers were built and filled with mould. On the topmost terrace was the pump-house, with machinery which raised abundant supplies of water from canals from the Euphrates. This was used not only for irrigating the various terraces, but also for supplying the numerous fountains, which, by their continual play, cooled the air and gratified the eye. The Gardens from a distance had the appearance of woods overhanging mountains. Their aspect, close at hand, with their trees and shrubs, foreign, strange, and various, and flowers exquisite with their divers colours, equally delighted and amazed us.

The top most storey was a square of but 500 feet, and on this was the miniature palace of Amytis, adorned with the most costly magnificence of material and decoration. Hence she could gaze, as we were told she often did, on the summits of the Zagros Mountains, which shut off from her to the north-east her own beloved land. Masistes told me that he had heard that nothing pleased her more than the present of some new tree and strange flower. Masistes had been in Babylon once before and knew the city well. He took me to see most of the important sights ; amongst others the grand palace of Nebuchadrezzar, built near the river, on its east side, not only a palace but a strong fortress. The stupendous walls of the city next challenged our admiration. These were double, an outer and an inner wall.

The outer extending over fifty miles enclosed an irregular square, cut in two by the Euphrates. It was said to be 300 feet high, and it certainly was wide enough for a chariot and four horses to turn between the inner and outer parapets. The inner wall was nearly as strong. The object of enclosing so large a space was not merely the pro tection of the inhabitants, but that there might be room for the war-horses and cattle, and land for sup plying food and fodder in case of siege ; and the last time Babylon had been taken, it was by famine. The gates were of brass, with brazen lintels and side-posts. We crossed the river by the great bridge lately constructed by Nebuchadrezzar, and gazed with inter est down upon the mighty stream swirling along be tween its brick-lined banks, and with its many land ing-places.

Thousands of pleasure boats, or others on business intent, were darting up and down, or across from side to side, intermingled with heavily laden barges, and even rafts resting on inflated skins. Other vessels there were, circular in shape, with willow ribs covered with skins, and lined with reeds throughout. These, freighted with merchandise, and especially with casks of palm wine, were being floated down all the way from Armenia. Each vessel was steered by two spars, and by two men standing up right. I was much astonished at seeing that every such circular vessel (some of which were very large) had an ass on board (the larger ones more). I asked Masistes if he knew the reason. ' Oh, yes,' said he, ' the reason is easy to give. After these people arrive in Babylon and sell their cargo, they dispose of the ribs of the boat and the reeds by public auction.

Then, having piled the skins on their asses, they return by land to Armenia. The current is too strong to allow their return by the river.' We then passed through the western city to its extreme south-western side (a distance of six miles from the bridge), to visit the far-famed Temple of the Seven Spheres, which Nebuchadrezzar had lately restored and beautified in honour of his favourite god, Nebo. This was also a wonder almost equal to that of The Hanging Gardens, and surpassing even Nebuchadrezzar's palace. On a low, wide platform rose seven other platforms — platform upon platform — square in shape, each somewhat smaller than the preceding one ; and on the highest stood the Temple of Nebo.1 It was a pyramidal construction of brick, 1 See Ragozin's Chaldcea, p. 279, plan. Also Pierrot. The temple of Nebo = Borsippa = Birs Nimrud. feet high, of seven stages, with ascent by stairs to each succeeding stage.

Each stage or platform was coloured with a planetary colour. The basement platform was that of Saturn, coated with black bitumen. The second, that of Jupiter, was coloured orange. The third, that of Mars, was coloured blood-red. The fourth, that of the Sun, was covered with plates oi gold. The fifth, that of Venus, was coloured pale yellow. The sixth, that of Mercury, was coloured blue. The seventh, that of Moon, was covered with plates of silver. And on this last was the shrine or chapel of the God. The ascent was by outside staircases. The effect of this mighty mass rising up to heaven from the plain, gleaming beneath the midday sun with its vari-coloured stages and plates of silver and gold, was to fill our minds with astonishment at the mind of the man who could conceive it, and the power of the king who could rear it.

We ascended to the top and there read this inscription — ' The Temple of the Seven Spheres. The tower of Borsip, which a former king had built but had not finished, and which had fallen into decay, I, Nebuchadrezzar the king, repaired and reconstructed.' Masistes and I often walked through the streets of the city and observed the dress, appearance, and customs of the natives. For their dress they wear a linen tunic reaching down to their feet, over this another garment of wool, and over all a short white cloak. On their feet were very peculiar sandals. They wear long hair, with turbans wound round their heads. They passionately delight in perfumes, with which they anoint the whole body. I noticed with much interest that every man had a seal-ring, and a staff curiously wrought, and on every staff was carved an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something of this kind ; in fact, it was unlawful to have a stick without a device.

On one occasion, as we were passing through a market-place, we saw a number of persons, sick with all manner of diseases and ailments, laid on couches. None were allowed to pass by any one of these in silence, without inquiring into the nature of his illness and suggesting (if he knew it), a remedy. Another and very singular custom we were told of but did not see. On a certain day in every year, in every town and village, the* marriageable maidens are collected in a body. Around them stand a crowd of men. Then a crier offers them for sale, beginning with the most beautiful, and when she has been sold for a large sum, then the next in beauty is offered. They were sold on the express condition that they should be married. Such Babylonians, as were rich and desirous of marrying, bid against one another and purchase the handsomest.

The poorer classes did not desire beauty, but preferred plainer damsels with a sum of money. So, when the crier has finished selling the handsomest ones, he makes the ugliest stand up, or one that is a cripple, and puts her up to auction for the person who would marry her for the least sum. Thus money was obtained from the sale of the handsome maidens, and thus the beautiful ones portioned out the ugly and the crippled. Isak passed a good deal of his time with Belte shazzar. He now, on entering Babylon, informed me, that on my life great interests depended, and that, indeed, he had from the very first been ap pointed by ' The Master ' ' to have me in his care ; that our enemies were mighty, and that much de pended on my living a pure and God-fearing life. He exhorted me to ever have in my memory the thought of my father and mother, and also my country, whose hopes, he assured me, rested on me. He begged me, in every temptation to ask aid from Heaven, and always to come to him for advice if I required it. 1 Viz., Belteshazzar = Daniel.

Chapter III. The House Of Egibi

1 One day he proposed to take and introduce me to the head of the great business house of Egibi, with whom he had business, and who also wished to make my acquaintance. This was a house of bankers, farmers general and public contractors, first established in Babylon (Isaac told me), more than 100 years before this, by a countryman of his named Yakub (Jacob), who had for politic reasons modified his name to the Babylonian form Egibi. Yakub was one of those Israelites carried into captivity to Babylon by Sargon, its then overlord. The need of such a house was so great, and its business had been carried on with such probity and discretion by the first founder and suc ceeding generations of Egibis, that the house had now attained to immense wealth and influence, and, if Belteshazzar was first in Nebuchadrezzar's savour, the present Egibi was certainly second.

This house carried on not merely the ordinary business of a bank, but advanced large loans to kings (on the security, sometimes, even of a province, whose taxes they collected), to nobles and others. They con- 1 See Ragozin's Media — Story os lite Nations, tracted often for work to be done — public or private. To all who wanted temporary advances of money, from the prince to the peasant, they were indispens able, and, as their terms were moderate and their honesty indisputable, they had become a veritable power in the land. They had branch houses even in distant lands. Their seat of business was an enormous palace. We passed through gates of brass of surprising beauty of workmanship into a spacious quadrangle. The building rose to four stories high, each story was full of rooms with their respective clerks and business occupants.

We made our way with difficulty through the struggling multitude which filled the quadrangle, either hastening in on business intent, or just leaving. There were men of every race — not Babylonians only, but Medes, Armenians, swarthy Arabs, Egyptians, men of Syria and of Tyre, and not a few of Isak's countrymen, each with his distinctive national attire. And they were of every class and condition, from prince and noble and merchant to peasant. Women even were there — one in widow's garb I noticed. Passing through these, we traversed an archway having rooms on each side, and in one of these, on the ground floor, I saw7 what was being there carried on. A farmer had just received a bag of money, probably on mortgage of part of his farm or its produce, and was signing his name to the deed. The agreement had been inscribed on a small soft cake or tablet of clay of about six inches by four inches, and he was just then signing his name with a little iron rod a few inches long.