Thermuthis, an officer under Thyamis
Oroondates, viceroy of the Great King of the Persians
Mithranes, viceroy of Oroondates
Arsace, wife of Oroondates
Cybele, the maid of Arsace
Achaemenes, son of Cybele
Euphrates, the chief eunuch of Oroondates
Sisimithres, an Ethiopian Gymnosophist
Meroebus, nephew of Hydaspes
The opening scene of the romance is startling and mysterious. In Egypt, from a mountain near the mouth of the Nile a band of pirates get a view of the seashore. They behold a heavily laden ship without a crew, a plain strewn with dead bodies and the remains of an ill-fated banquet. A wounded youth is lying on the ground. He is being cared for by a beautiful young woman dressed in a religious garb which makes her seem a priestess or a goddess, Diana or Isis. Indeed a divine effulgence emanates from her. The pirates though at first overawed descend and collect rich booty. Their captain then courteously conveys the maiden and the youth to their pirate home. This was called “The Pasture” and was a sort of island in a delta of the Nile. Some of the pirates lived in huts made of reeds, some in boats. The water was their fortification. Their streets were winding water-ways cut through the reeds.