An Egyptian Princess — Volume 05 by Georg Ebers
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page 3 of 61 (04%)
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Nitetis herself was hardly conscious of the strength of her feelings,
and believed that when she trembled before the king's arrival it was from fear, and not from her longing to behold him once more. Croesus, however, had soon discovered the truth, and brought a deep blush to his favorite's cheek by singing to her, old as he was, Anacreon's newest song, which he had learnt at Sais from Ibykus "We read the flying courser's name Upon his side in marks of flame; And by their turban'd brows alone The warriors of the East are known. But in the lover's glowing eyes, The inlet to his bosom lies; Through them we see the tiny mark, Where Love has dropp'd his burning spark" --Paegnion 15 And thus, in work and amusement, jest, earnest, and mutual love, the weeks and months passed with Nitetis. Cambyses' command that she was to be happy in his land had fulfilled itself, and by the time the Mesopotamian spring-tide (January, February and March), which succeeds the rainy month of December, was over, and the principal festival of the Asiatics, the New Year, had been solemnized at the equinox, and the May sun had begun to glow in the heavens, Nitetis felt quite at home in Babylon, and all the Persians knew that the young Egyptian princess had quite displaced Phaedime, the daughter of Otanes, in the king's favor, and would certainly become his first and favorite wife. Boges sank considerably in public estimation, for it was known that Cambyses had ceased to visit the harem, and the chief of the eunuchs had |
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