“Let every order given by the Prince of Iran be obeyed,” said the King to Prexaspes.
The latter bowed low, and, followed by the Prince, departed immediately to release the imprisoned officers, and in a few moments these went forth to join the rejoicing troops. The palace gates were thrown open, its defenders marched out and departed to a distant garrison, and a new guard of Persians was placed in charge. The Prince of Iran, having secured the decrees and published them, assumed charge of the King’s affairs. Thirty days of mourning for Artistone were observed. Compensation for the death of those slain by the King’s orders and banishment of the Magi from affairs of state followed.
King Cambyses determined to return to Medea in order to complete the work of restoring to power the Persian faction. Aryandes, a noble Persian, was appointed satrap of Egypt and the bulk of the army was left with him. The King, with a guard of ten thousand Persians and an army of fifty thousand mixed troops, escorting a vast train loaded with the wealth of Egypt, marched by easy stages out of the latter country, through Canaan, along the shore of the Great Sea, to a point near Mount Carmel, where he turned towards Damascus. The curses of Egypt went with him. Her priests, under the milder rule of the sane Aryandes, then returned to her deserted temples. But so broken were the Egyptians and so strong was the Persian hold that no rebellion occurred. The Egyptian people, having learned that while the Persian King might be harsh yet his rule in the main was just, did no more than dream of revolution; and for a century Egypt slept peacefully beneath the paw of the Persian lion.
CHAPTER XVI
THE END OF OATH-KEEPING
AFTER resting some days by the sea near Mount Carmel, the King’s army moved eastward towards Damascus, passing north of Lake Chinneroth and south of Mount Hermon, through the ancient land of Bashan, and so came to the small city of Hamath near the head-waters of the Jordan.
Since leaving Egypt the King had kept himself secluded, either riding in a closed litter carried on the shoulders of stout slaves, or staying within his tent. He was gloomy and morose. He brooded much alone, and when in his darkest moods was a savage and unreasonable maniac. The Persian cavalry, of which his body-guard was composed, regarded him with ill-suppressed hatred. The remainder of the army was disaffected and mutinous. A factional spirit had sprung up among the soldiers. The different nationalities and religions clashed. Especially did the Aryan monotheists despise the worshipers of many gods and the devil-worship of the Magi. Only the strong hand of the Prince of Iran, for whom all had respect, could repress disorder and enforce discipline.
The King halted a day at Hamath and allowed the army to rest before entering the desert road for Damascus. The Prince of Iran mounted his favorite horse and, accompanied by Gobryas and a score of men, rode out towards Mount Hermon. As they were about to ascend the lower hills, they met a runner or message-bearer, coming down from the mountain, who, when he saw the Prince, stopped running and bowed himself to the earth. The Prince halted. He saw that the man was a Hebrew.
“Do not mine eyes behold the great lord, the mighty Prince of Iran?” asked the runner.
“I am he,” answered the Prince.
The man produced a roll from his close-fitting tunic and handed it to the Prince, who, greatly surprised, opened and read: