"And yet my wings have never appeared."
"No bodily ones, certainly; but mental ones, likely enough. Young man, young man, you're on a dangerous road."
"Have winged creatures any need to be afraid of precipices?"
"Certainly; when their strength fails them."
"But I am strong."
"Stronger creatures than you will try to break your pinions."
"Let them. I want nothing but what is right, and shall trust to my star."
"Do you know its name?"
"It ruled in the hour of my birth, and its name is Anahita."
"I think I know better. A burning ambition is the sun, whose rays guide all your actions. Take care; I tried that way myself once; it leads to fame or to disgrace, but very seldom to happiness. Fame to the ambitious is like salt water to the thirsty; the more he gets, the more he wants. I was once only a poor soldier, and am now Cambyses' ambassador. But you, what can you have to strive for? There is no man in the kingdom greater than yourself, after the sons of Cyrus . . . Do my eyes deceive me? Surely those two men riding to meet us with a troop of horsemen must be Gyges and Zopyrus. The Angare, who left the inn before us, must have told them of our coming."