“Was it a vision, O Prince of God?” he demanded, “or was it a man? Was it a spirit, or did I dream?”
Belteshazzer answered somewhat reproachfully: “My son, this was no dream! You have seen a veritable spirit, one who lived in the flesh and reigned in Iran centuries ago. Under him marched a great army from Bactra to Rhages and thence south into Fars, driving out the ancient peoples and there establishing his kingdom. I have seen this great Spirit before, when Cyrus was King.”
The Prince exclaimed fervently: “Then it is no fable that men who die shall live again! That which I have heard and doubted, now I know!”
“Truly you have spoken! Death is but a change, the taking off of a worn-out garment, this body of earth. It is the release of the soul, that glorious body within, from the trammels of mortality.”
“To be so glorious, it were better to die!”
“Nay, not till your work is done! The life now given you is but a training for the future and should be lived by you in such manner that men will rise up and call you blessed.”
They turned towards the camp, and, walking slowly, continued to converse upon the mysteries of life. They passed the sentinels and soon came to the Prince’s pavilion, where the cooks anxiously awaited their master’s coming to his supper, long since ready. While they supped, they continued the discussion and, long after their meal, they sat together as teacher and pupil, the one pouring forth wisdom from his vast store of knowledge, the other receiving and storing it in his mind.
CHAPTER X
A FAREWELL FEAST
CAMBYSES, the King of Kings, King of the World, made a feast at his palace in Hamadan in honor of his brother Bardya, who, as the order announcing the feast declared, was about to return to his future capital and home in Bactra. All the rulers and notables of Persia and Medea were commanded to be present on a certain day to meet the departing Prince and to say farewell.
Forty days and more had passed since the funeral of Cyrus. The King accompanied by his brother and sisters, had departed with all his retinue from Pasargadæ and returned to Hamadan. Cambyses had no love for the Persian capital, but he did love Hamadan. At the latter city resided his boon companions, and there the moral laws were less observed and the people cared little what their rulers did so long as they themselves were allowed some license.