bad, and he felt crushed by the awful task allotted to him. He knew that
his refusal to execute it would bring death or disgrace on himself and on
his family; but he loved Bartja, and besides, his whole nature revolted
at the thought of becoming a common, hired murderer. A fearful struggle
began in his mind, and raged long after he left the palace. On the way
home he met Croesus and Darius. He fancied they would see from his looks
that he was already on the way to a great crime, and hid himself behind
the projecting gate of a large Egyptian house. As they passed, he heard
Croesus say: "I reproached him bitterly, little as he deserves reproach
in general, for having given such an inopportune proof of his great
strength. We may really thank the gods, that Cambyses did not lay
violent hands on him in a fit of passion. He has followed my advice now
and gone with his wife to Sais. For the next few days Bartja must not
come near the king; the mere sight of him might rouse his anger again,
and a monarch can always find unprincipled servants . . ."

The rest of the sentence died away in the distance, but the words he had
heard were enough to make Prexaspes start, as if Croesus had accused him
of the shameful deed. He resolved in that moment that, come what would,
his hands should not be stained with the blood of a friend. This
resolution restored him his old erect bearing and firm gait for the time,
but when he reached the dwelling which had been assigned as his abode in
Sais his two boys ran to the door to meet him. They had stolen away from
the play-ground of the sons of the Achaemenidae, (who, as was always the
case, had accompanied the king and the army), to see their father for a
moment. He felt a strange tenderness, which he could not explain to
himself, on taking them in his arms, and kissed the beautiful boys once
more on their telling him that they must go back to their play-ground
again, or they should be punished. Within, he found his favorite wife
playing with their youngest child, a sweet little girl. Again the same