He smote his palms together. His chest heaved with mighty emotions. The world seemed rocking to its dissolution and he about to fall with it.
Gobryas placed one arm around his friend and compelled him to walk slowly back and forth. He feared for a moment that the Prince’s reason was tottering. Never had he seen him so moved. He sought for words to comfort him.
“Beloved Prince,” he said, “listen to me! Athura is not one who will tamely submit to such wrong. She has not submitted. She has escaped or she has slain herself. But let us hear further from the messenger. Let us read these other letters. Then let us take counsel so that we may not fail. We who have not taken an oath to Cyrus will pull Cambyses down from his throne and slay him like a dog! Have good courage, brother! Let me depart this night for Persia. There I will gather the lords of Persia and with an army march up to your aid when you cross the Tigris. Athura and Artistone may have perished, but vengeance remains. Let us make Bardya King. Forbid it not! I will depart this night. Three months from now a hundred thousand Persians will be camped around the royal palace at Hamadan.”
The Prince sat down on a bench beneath the awning and buried his face in his hands. He was silent for some moments, while Gobryas nervously paced back and forth. After a while, the Prince again arose, pallid but calm. He said, speaking argumentatively: “He is King. My loyalty is to the King, though my hatred is towards the man. Must we not put aside personal wrongs, Gobryas, and trust that God will avenge us? No Achæmenian has ever broken an oath, but has kept it in spirit as well as in letter. It is hard to serve such a King, but let us consider well before we start civil war. If what he has decreed has been accomplished, then am I absolved from my oath. But I must wait until I know what has occurred. We will send a dispatch to my father, seeking his counsel. Shall I plunge the world into war because of my personal wrong?”
“I had not considered that,” answered Gobryas. “I am not oath-bound. I dreamed of Artistone; and lo, this cursed maniac has spoiled my dream! But I shall be guided by you.”
The Prince went to the table on which the other letters lay, and took up the one sealed with the seal of Otanes. He read it aloud:
“To the royal Prince of Iran, son of Hystaspis, the King, greeting:
“I have intrusted this letter to your servant, knowing his fidelity, and have instructed him to deliver it to you alone and not to let it pass from his hands to any other while he lives. Know that the King has broken all the ancient laws and customs of Persia; and we, as one of the seven families of Persia, are calling to the other six for counsel. We have sent letters to your beloved father, begging him to consent to reign.
“This Cambyses has proven that he is no longer sane. He is possessed of devils. His debaucheries have weakened his mind, while sharpening his appetite for doing evil. He has advanced the Magi to the choicest places in the realm. He has failed to remember that the seven noble families of Persia are entitled to the chief places under him, as in the time of Cyrus. He is a worshiper of the Lie and not of the Truth. He has forgotten the religion of the Aryans and has fallen into the hands of the fire-worshiping Magi, devil-worshipers of the hills. He has slain without cause many who have displeased him, even Persians of high rank. He has disregarded all laws and customs. The last and most infamous thing is this marriage with his two sisters which he purposes to accomplish. He has declared that he as King is above all laws and customs, that Aryan laws are not binding on him. Knowing by common report that you and the royal Princess Athura are promised to each other, all Persia is in a ferment of discontent over the gross insult shown you in thus taking your promised wife by force to his own vile harem.
“Prince Bardya left Hamadan ten months ago for Bactra. But it is reported that robbers set upon and captured him just after he left Rhages. He has disappeared. I think the robbers were the men of Cambyses and that Bardya has been slain.