"What if we should be sacrificed," returned Theagenes; "or, presented to some one as a gift, how shall we ever get into Ethiopia?"—"Nothing is less likely," said Chariclea. "Our guards have told us that we are to be reserved as victims, to be offered to the deities of Meröe. There is no likelihood that we, who are solemnly devoted to the gods, should be destroyed, or otherwise disposed of; such a vow no religious mind would break. Were we to give way to the incautious joy with which this sudden gleam of good fortune transports us, and discover our condition, and relate our adventures, in the absence of those who alone can acknowledge us, and confirm what we say, we run the greatest risk of raising the indignation of the king; who would regard it as a mockery and insult, that we, captives and slaves as we are, should endeavour to pass ourselves off upon him, as his children."
"But the tokens," said Theagenes, "which I know you always carry about you, will give credit to our relation, and shew that we are not impostors."—"These things," replied Chariclea, "are real tokens to those who know them, and who exposed them with me; but to those who are ignorant of this, they are nothing but bracelets, and precious stones; and may possibly induce a suspicion of our having stolen them. Supposing even that Hydaspes should recollect any of these trinkets, who shall persuade him that they were presented to me by Persina, and still more, that they were the gifts of a mother to her daughter? The most incontrovertible token, my dear Theagenes, is a mother's nature, through which the parent at first sight feels affection towards her offspring,—an affection stirred up by secret sympathy. Shall we deprive ourselves, then, by our precipitation, of this most favourable opening, upon which depends the credit of all we have to say?"
Discoursing in this manner, they arrived near the tribunal of the king. Bagoas was led after them. When Hydaspes saw them, rising suddenly from his throne—"May the gods be propitious to me!" he exclaimed, and sat down again, lost in thought. They who were near him inquired the reason of this sudden emotion. Recollecting himself, he said—"Methought that I had a daughter born to me this day, who at once reached her prime, and perfectly resembled this young maiden, whom I see before me. I disregarded, and had almost forgotten my dream, when this remarkable resemblance recalled it to my memory."
His officers replied—"That it was some fancy of the mind bodying forth future events;" upon which the king, laying aside for the present any farther thought upon the subject, proceeded to examine his prisoners. He asked them—"Who, and from whence, they were?" Chariclea was silent. Theagenes replied, "That they were Grecians, and that the maiden was his sister."
"All honour to Greece," said Hydaspes—"the mother of brave and beautiful mortals, for affording us such noble victims for the celebration of our triumphal sacrifices." And turning to his attendants, he said—"Why had I not a son as well as a daughter born to me in my dream, since this youth, being the maiden's brother, ought according to your observation, to have been shadowed forth to me in my vision?"
He then directed his discourse to Chariclea, speaking in Greek; a language known and studied by the Gymnosophists, and kings of Ethiopia—"And you, Ο maiden," said he, "why do you make no answer to my questions?"—"At the altars of the gods," replied she, "to whom we are destined as victims, you shall know who I am, and who are my parents."
"And what part of the world do they inhabit?" said the king.—"They are present now," said she, "and will assuredly be present, when we are sacrificed." Again Hydaspes smiled.—"This dream-born daughter of mine," he observed, "is certainly herself dreaming, when she imagines that her parents are to be brought from the middle of Greece into Meröe. Let them be taken away and served with the usual care and abundance, to fit them for the sacrifices. But who is this standing near, and in person like an eunuch?"[21]—"He is an eunuch," replied one of the bystanders; "his name is Bagoas; he was in great favour with Oroondates."
"Let him too," said the king, "follow and be kept with the Grecian pair; not as a future victim, but that he may attend upon, and watch over the virgin victim, whom it is necessary to preserve in the utmost purity for the sacrifice; and whose beauty is such, that her virtue, unguarded, may be exposed to much danger and temptation. Eunuchs are a jealous race; and fitly employed for debarring others from the enjoyments of which they are themselves deprived." He then proceeded to examine and decide the fate of the remaining prisoners, who appeared in order; distributing among his followers those who were slaves before; dismissing with liberty those who were free and noble: but he selected ten young men, and as many virgins, in the bloom of youth and beauty, whom he ordered to be preserved for the same purpose to which he had destined Theagenes and Chariclea. And having answered every complaint and application, at last he sent for Oroondates, who was brought in lying on a litter.
"I," said he to him, "now that I have obtained the object of my going to war, feel not the common passion of ambitious minds. I am not going to make my good fortune the minister of covetousness; my victory creates in me no wish to extend my empire. I am content with the limits which nature seems to have placed between Egypt and Ethiopia—the cataracts. Having recovered then what I think my right, I revere what is just and equitable, and shall return peacefully to my own dominions. Do you, if your life be spared, remain viceroy of the same province as before: and write to your master, the Persian king, to this effect, 'Thy brother Hydaspes has conquered by might of hand; but restores all through moderation of mind; he wishes to preserve thy friendship, esteeming it the most valuable of all possessions: at the same time, if desirous of renewing the contest, thou wilt not find him backward.' As to the Syenæans I remit their tribute for ten years; and command thee to do the same." Loud acclamations, both from the soldiers and citizens, followed his last words.
Oroondates crossing his hands, and inclining his body, adored him; a compliment not usual for a Persian to pay to any prince, except his own.—"Ο ye who hear me," said he, "I do not think that I violate the customs of my country, as to my own sovereign, in adoring the most just of kings, who has restored to me my government; who instead of putting me to death has granted me my life; who, able to act as a despotic lord, permits me to remain a viceroy. Should I recover, I pledge myself to promote a solid peace and lasting friendship between the Persians and Ethiopians, and to procure for the Syenæans that remission of tribute which has been enjoined; but should I not survive, may the gods recompense Hydaspes, his family, and remotest descendants, for all the benefits which he has conferred upon me!"