XV
SIPPAR
Sippar, the northernmost city of Babylonia, lay a day's journey from thecapital. Although five Sippars could have been placed within thetowering circuit of Nimitti-Bel, and room have been left for Ur besides,still, thirty thousand people, besides Shamash the sun-god, made ittheir home. Nebuchadrezzar, the great king, had thought it a town of nolittle importance; for he had expended upon it as much money as thetreasury held and his conquered nations would give for tribute, inmaking those vast reservoirs and the machinery by means of which thecourse of the river Euphrates could be turned out of its channel andinto Sippar, and thence sent forth into a thousand cross-country canals,leaving the river-bed, for the rest of its southward course, as dry as abrick. On account of these vast works of primitive engineers, the littleplace had for the past fifty years been famous from Agade to Terredou,from Kutha to the desert; till, from being a dilapidated mud-village,its pilgrim visitors had turned it, with their yearly wealth, into awell-built and well-kept city clustered round three celebratedbuildings--the astronomical ziggurat, the temple of the sun, and thecollege of the Chaldees.
These last could be grouped under one head, since all three of them wereruled by one master--not Shamash, but the high-priest of Shamash, thefirst astronomer of the kingdom and the president of this college ofsciences, and these combined dignities caused him to be known as thefirst priest in the kingdom. As a matter of fact, the religious houseand its attachments were as old as--a little older than--the city ofSippar. Sun-worship had been instituted here as long ago as traditionknew; just as moon-worship began in Ur, according to Berossus, aboutthirty thousand years before the day of the Mighty Hunter! The houseattached to the temple for the purpose of training its priests hadgradually, through three or four centuries, come to be the great schoolof education for the priests of all Babylonia. It was the home oftradition and of sedition; the breeder of anti-monarchical ideas, theadvocate of a hierarchical government. Nabonidus' father, a member ofthis college and high-priest of a Babylonian temple, having married thedaughter of Nebuchadrezzar, made double claim to the throne of Chaldea;and, though he never came into the place of his mighty father-in-law,yet his son, the young Nabu-Nahid, educated in his father's college andearly admitted to the priesthood, was brought up in the full belief thathe was king by right of Heaven. Five years on the throne had changed himin many respects. Amraphel had come down from Sippar to administer toBel-Marduk, and to keep watch over the general priesthood and the rulerof the Great City; and Nabu-Nahid had grown more accustomed to the crownthan to the goat-skin. Moreover, the education of the prince royal wascontinued along very unpriestly lines. Therefore, though the king hadnever entirely severed his connection with the great institution wherehe had spent his youth, his attitude towards it was indeterminate, andits feeling for him one of well-disguised but none the less bitterhostility.
At this time of the middle of June in the seventeenth year of the king'sreign, Sippar was in a frenzy of excitement. The town was filled tooverflowing with troops assembled a month ago from every city andvillage within a radius of sixty miles. Nana-Babilu, commander-in-chiefof the army, was lodged with Sharrukin, governor of the city; and thesetwo men were loyal, heart and soul, to the king. As a consequence, theywere also bitterly inimical to the priesthood. The college, on thecontrary, bristling as it was with full-fledged priests and half-fledgedstudents, waited to give Cyrus himself, or Gobryas by proxy, a royalwelcome. The men of the army were divided into factions. As for the restof the city, it was a little Babylon in its general uneasiness anddisturbance.
Three weeks after the home army occupied Sippar, came word of the rapidadvancement of Gobryas from the northeast; and the town was hurriedlyprepared for a siege. Finally, on the night of the thirteenth, thearrival of two despatches, one from the north, the other from the south,brought consternation to the far-seeing mind of Nana-Babilu, and adramatic sense of triumph to the members of the college. As the newsbecame known in the city, the town quickly took on an air of festivity.The night was lighted by bonfires. The streets were alive with people. Agreat clamor of singing, of shouting, of drinking, and general riot rangthrough the twisting streets. And men, women, and children, soldiers andcitizens, were still up and dressed in holiday garments, when, at dawnon the morning of the fourteenth of the month, Nabu-Nahid drove in atthe southern gate of the city.
Sharrukin the governor, Nana-Babilu, and Ludar Bit-Shamash, thesun-priest, each in his state chariot, each the acme of stiff courtesy,came together at the gate to greet the king their lord. The governor andthe general regarded the arrival of the high-priest with no littlesurprise and some resentment. Sharrukin's palace had been carefullyprepared for the reception of the royal master; and his chagrin at theidea of Nabonidus' going to lodge at the college of the Chaldees,overcame his appreciation of the policy and the daring of that act.
Nabonidus came attended by a very small suite. He had travelled fromBabylon with no more pretension than any petty nobleman. A charioteerdrove him, but he himself held his umbrella over his head. He wasdressed in the same simple white robes in which he had bidden his sonfarewell. His retinue consisted of two chariots, containing hissecretaries and his favorite slave, while a group of six horsemenfollowed. His manner, on arriving, was as simple as his dress. SeeingSharrukin and Nana-Babilu, his mild eyes lighted with pleasure; but itwas to Ludar that he gave his first greeting. The little party proceededslowly through the principal streets of Sippar on its way to thecollege, Nabonidus and Ludar first, side by side in their chariots, thegovernor and general just behind. Nabonidus' manner was unemotional,rather matter-of-fact. Ludar himself never dreamed how closely the kingwas watching the effect of his coming on the people, and the nature ofhis reception by them. Certainly his path was thronged--and by townsmenonly. The soldiers had been ordered to their barracks and were not toappear till the afternoon's review. As they proceeded, however, Nanabegan bitterly to regret that at least one loyal regiment had not beenscattered among the people with the command to force their neighborsinto giving the customary loyal greeting to the king. Silence, utter,unbreakable, significant, reigned over the crowd. A thousand black eyeswere every moment fixed unwinkingly on Nabonidus, but not a mouth wasopened to speak a welcome to him. Here and there, indeed, was thesuggestion of a muttered threat that came quickly to the ears of Ludar.But whether the king heard, or, hearing, understood these expressions,no one could tell.
Shamash was scarcely an hour up the sky when the four chariots and thelittle guard drew rein before the gate of the great college, andNabonidus entered the institution between two long lines of white-robedpriests, who gave the salute to Patesi when he passed.
Nana and the governor left their lord at the gate, with the understandingthat they should return to escort him to the review of troopsearly in the afternoon. Ludar alone accompanied the king to theroom assigned to him--the room in which he had passed his youth--asmall, oblong, white-tiled place, with a high image of Shamash at oneend of it, and two tiny, square windows high in the opposite wall. Anarrow bed, two stools, an ivory chair, and an immovable table,furnished the little place; and the king, seeing it again after someyears, looked about him with a faint smile of pleasure.
"Is it pleasing to the king that he should be thus humbly lodged?"inquired Ludar, behind him. "Or will he choose to occupy the royalapartments that are at his command?"
"The king, Ludar, is no less a king because he lives humbly. Let thispleasant place be my abode while I am here."
Ludar wondered for a moment whether the king had intended the doublemeaning in his words; and, not knowing, he yet resented the possibility.His voice, however, was no less smooth and quiet when he said again: "Itis near the hour of sacrifice in the great temple, father king. Will youattend it, or is it fitting that you sleep after the journey?"
Nabonidus sighed inaudibly, but his eyes never strayed to the couch. "Icome to the sacrifice, Ludar. Yet first bid them bring me milk from thegoat to be offered for sacrifice, for I
need refreshment after the wearynight. Then let my slave bring to me two jars of water, that I may makemy ablutions, removing from my body the dust of the way and the sandblown up from the desert. Then I will come to the sacrifice."
Ludar, unsuccessful in his scheme of petty torment, left the room,smarting under the indignity of being asked to carry orders to aslave--orders that, for reasons of policy, he could not disobey. Hisonly method of revenge was to prolong the sacrifice for two weary hours,while Nabonidus, faint for food and dropping with weariness, was obligedto stand over the sacrificial altar, chanting Sumerian prayers andfeeding the flames with oil, while the savory goat's flesh slowlybroiled before him.
At ten o'clock, however, he was able to make a dignified retreat fromhis religious duties; and then, reaching his own room, and putting hisfaithful eunuch on guard at the door, he left an order that he should beawakened only on the arrival of Nana-Babilu, when that dignitary came toescort him to the review of troops. This would be about two hours aftermidday; and until that time Nabonidus threw himself down upon his couch.The tired eyelids closed over the tired eyes. For a little timeearth-troubles faded from him, while in his dreams the beloved dead wererestored to him again.
When he awoke, Nana was at his side, looking down at him solemnly, hisarms folded across his breast. The king started up, annoyed at havingbeen left undisturbed for so long. The room was wrapped in twilight, andthe face of the visitor was in shadow. Something in his general'smanner, or perhaps in his attitude, caught Nabonidus' attention, andpresently, having risen from his couch, he said, tentatively:
"You are late--very late, Nana. Evening is upon us. Surely the review--"
"There was no review, Nabu-Nahid, my lord. I bade thy servant notdisturb thy rest. There was no need. I came to quiet thy fears--if,indeed, there is fear in thee. Yet Chaldea knows thy race for a braveone."
"Speak, Nana--speak! These words of thine come strangely to me. Or do Idream?"
Nana smiled grimly. "There is no dream in this, O king, that Gobryas andhis army of Medes and Persians are encamped before the city, and thathalf my troops refuse to obey my commands."
Nabonidus went back to his couch and seated himself on the edge of it."At what hour did the enemy come?" he asked, quietly.
"At four hours after sunrise, about the time for the close of thesacrifice, they were observed by the men in the north watch-towers. Theymarched around the city, out of the reach of arrows, and are nowencamped before the south gate."
"And there has been no move to draw them into battle? There has been nosortie? The old form of war--"
Nana-Babilu bent his head upon his breast, and all of a sudden Naboniduscame to himself and realized their situation. Before the slow, orderlyprocession of thoughts that passed through his mind he did not lower hishead nor take his eyes from the form of his general. After a littlewhile he rose again, without any appearance of agitation, crossed theroom, pushed aside the curtain of the door, and gave certain orders tothe statue-like eunuch who waited before it. Then, returning, he satdown in the ivory chair to wait, while, in obedience to a gesture, Nanatook one of the tabourets at a little distance from the bed. Then thetwo men sat together, waiting silently. Presently a slave entered theroom bearing two lighted lamps, which he hung upon their accustomedhooks in the wall. In the new light the king turned to his officer.
"When have you eaten?" he said, kindly.
"A little before dawn to-day, lord," was the reply.
"Bring thou food and wine for both, then," commanded the king; and theeunuch, bowing, left the room.
When they were alone Nana's figure drooped back into its place; but theking, with a sudden nervous spasm, got up and began jerkily to pace theroom. The general's eyes followed his movements questioningly, but forsome moments Nabonidus did not speak. Then, very suddenly, so that hiscompanion started, he burst out:
"Thou, too, Nana! Thou, too, Nana-Babilu! Dost thou also betray me?"
"My lord!" The commander sprang to his feet. "My lord!" he said again.
"Tell me truly, tell me plainly," went on the king, tumultuously, "isthere left in my kingdom one man that I dare trust? Is there still onethat I know to be true?"
Nana-Babilu looked at his king straightforwardly, grimly, honestly. "Mylife belongs to the kingdom, to thy house," he said. "And in my ranks ofmen there are many to be trusted. But there are also those that havetaken the bribes of Ludar and the college. Therefore the true from thefalse among my own I cannot tell. How many there are of the one, howmany of the other, I do not know. When it is necessary we will strivewith our lives to defend the city; but how it will go with us, only thegreat gods know."
Nabonidus heard him and sighed. He could not but believe this man, thisfriend, this faithful servant of his; and his moment of passion wasover. As he came back to his chair three slaves entered the room,bringing with them trays of food and a jar of wine. These were placed onthe fixed table, and a light couch was brought in and set before it forthe king. Nana was supposed to sit in his lord's presence. When atlength the slaves had been dismissed, Nabonidus lay down at table withan air of mild pleasure at which Nana stared a little. Nabonidus had,indeed, a reputation for courage principally because of the apatheticmanner that invariably came to him in times of real stress. And yetNabonidus realized to the full the gravity of his position.
"Nana," and there was the shadow of a smile in the king's face--"Nana,if it comes that the city should fall, how wilt thou defend me from theblood-thirsty Gobryas?"
"O King, I would have spoken with thee on this matter, for thou, likeall those in Babylonia, art in great danger. If Gobryas knows that thouart in Sippar the city will surely be assaulted, and will as surelyfall. Therefore it is Sharrukin's wish, and mine, that, for thine ownsake, thou shouldst leave Sippar secretly as soon as possible--to-night,if thou wilt. A disguise may be sent here to thee. Thine own guard shallfollow thee; and I think thou canst still take the road to Babylonwithout undue risk. But if thou wait--wait till Gobryas learns thypresence here--thou and Sippar, ay, and thus Babylonia, are lost."
"I and Sippar, but not Babylonia, Nana. Bel-shar-uzzur rules over theGreat City now, and he is stronger than I. He will make a good king forthis troubled land. For me--ehu! I am full of years, and weary--wearyfor the silver sky. Matters it greatly how soon I go? Nay! Speak no moreof it. I forbid it, and I am the king. Tell Sharrukin that I remain inSippar--until the end."
Nana, daring to say no more, looked regretfully into the faded eyes ofthe old man before him. Of every one that he had ever known, Naboniduswas the last whom he would have expected to take this attitude. Buteddying shallows sometimes hide treasures as rare and as beautiful asthose that lie in the deep, smooth-flowing waters of greater streams.This little pearl of courage, then, was not less admirable because itwas the treasure of a brook rather than of deep river or the sea. AndNana tried no more to persuade the king to leave Sippar, though, indeed,he felt what the end must be.
The conversation, when it revived between them, strayed away intowinding paths, through Nabonidus' fads of poetry, archaeology, andarchitecture, to the inevitable highway of priestcraft. With this roadNana was as familiar as the king, knowing more of its detail in thispart of the land than his master.
"Let it be forgiven that I ask of thee a question, O king! Hast thoufaith in thy safety in this house? Dost thou believe that Ludar may betrusted to keep thy person from harm?"
Nabonidus looked at his companion thoughtfully. "To this house I came,"he said, "because I would have defied its dwellers. Now, indeed, thatGobryas is before the city, my safety is not assured. Yet here I willremain."
"Ludar--knows he that I am here?"
"I do not know. Let us call Ludar hither, Nana, and speak with him ofGobryas."
"Thou wilt never read Ludar's mind by his words, O king. Yet--let him besummoned."
"Kudashu!" shouted the king, accordingly, and at the cry the waitingeunuch came quickly in. "Kudashu, bear word to the priest Ludar that Iwould talk with
him. Let him return with thee here."
There was a prostration and an exit, and then silence. Neither the kingnor Nana said anything till, ten minutes later, the slave returnedalone.
"Ludar follows thee?" asked Nabonidus, quickly.
"May the king regard me with favor--Ludar is not in the college. He isgone forth into the city, none knows why."
The man was dismissed with a nod, and the two were left alone again.Presently Nana rose and made his obeisance.
"Lord king, I must go forth. The hour is late, and I have not yetnumbered the night-guards. Before I go--let it please thee to take upthy abode from to-morrow in the palace of Sharrukin. Everything therewas prepared for thee. Here, with Ludar, thou art not safe. If thou wiltnot escape from Sippar, come thou and take up thy dwelling with thosethat regard thee with loyalty and devotion." Nana was not an emotionalman, but the feeling in these words was genuine, and Nabonidus wastouched.
"The gods send thee peace of heart," he said, gently.
"My lord king will not come?" persisted the soldier.
Nabonidus shook his head with a faint, stubborn smile, and, a momentlater, he was alone. For some time after his general's departure theking sat looking vaguely into space, his lips straightening more andmore and the lines round his mouth growing stern. Presently the eunuchglided quietly into the room and took up his position by the door,standing there as he was trained to do when the king was alone.Nabu-Nahid regarded him reflectively for a moment and then said:
"Kudashu, Ludar and Nana are gone into the city. I also will go. Bringto me my mantle, and come thou behind me. I will behold Sippar bynight."
Kudashu obeyed promptly, but a few seconds later, as the king wasdonning his white coronet and cloak, he ventured to say: "O king, liveforever! Let me summon for thee some of the soldiers of thy guard, thatthey may follow thee on thy way."
"Is thy body weary, Kudashu?"
"Nay, lord my king; but my arms are weak to strike for thee."
"By Ninip! is the whole world waiting to slay me? Stay thou here, then,with thy arm, weak one! I will go alone."
"Nay, nay, father of Babylon! I go gladly. Yet, fearing for thy safety,I--"
"Be silent, foolish one. I go alone. Behold, I have spoken. It is mywill."
And in the face of plea, protest, and remonstrance, go forth aloneNabonidus did, into the city of Sippar.
The streets were quiet. Early though it was, lacking yet two hours tomidnight, few towns-people were moving about. A general weariness hadfollowed the merry-making of the past night, and this, added tothe feeling of solemnity attendant on the actual arrival of thelong-expected invading army, had closed the doors of many a house at anunwonted hour, and caused citizens of an ordinarily convivialtemperament to betake themselves to an early couch. Most of those abroadin the streets were soldiers, on their way to or from the watch-towers.It was a curious condition for the first night of a siege, and Naboniduscould not but wonder, as he proceeded, at the extraordinary calm of thepeople; for he had known many a beleaguered city, but never one thatpresented a spectacle of such quiet on its first night of defence.
The night was fair, and with the coming of darkness there had sprung upa faint breeze that came from the east, across two rivers, bearing withit a breath of cooling fragrance. The moon was just past its secondquarter and hung suspended, in a soft, golden aureole, over the westernwalls of the city. By its light the houses and towers of the town stoodout in wavering outlines against the grayish, star-strewn sky. Thestillness that wrapped the city trembled, when, occasionally, it waspierced by a distant shout of laughter or a command called out by one ofthe guards on the walls.
Nabonidus went on and on, unheeding the distance that he traversed,allowing himself to be permeated with the night. The spotless white ofhis robes caused him to be taken for a priest by the few whom he passed.None offered to molest him. None gave him more than a fleeting glance ashe went along. After what he could hardly realize had been an hour ofwalking, he found himself standing before the great south gate of thecity, through which he had come that morning. It was closed now, andguarded with soldiers, some of whom stood or lay on the ground beforeit, while others could be seen on top of the wall, walking to and fromthe watch-tower, whence the confused camp of Gobryas' army could be madeout across the plain. No hostility had as yet passed between besiegedand besiegers. Not an arrow had been shot, not a javelin hurled.
The king stood off at a little distance from the gate, reflecting on thescene before him. Presently there came a shout from some one outside thegate, a word that was heard and answered from inside. There was aquestion from the captain of the watch, to which an answer, inaudible toNabonidus, was returned. Then the small door in the gate opened. Afigure appeared from outside, and at sight of it Nabonidus moved swiftlyback into the shadow of the wall. The door was closed and barred again.He who had come in paused to place something in the hand of one of thesoldiers. Then, without a word, he moved rapidly off in the directionfrom which, a little while before, the king had come. Nabonidus staredafter him for a moment. His thoughts were in a whirl. Considering allthat he had known before, this incident had an unnecessarily strongeffect on him. It was only by means of a physical effort that he finallypulled himself together and started on his return, a hundred paces backof that other. In this fashion the two traversed the length of the city,arriving at the college of the Chaldees in the same relative positionsas those in which they had started.
When, a few minutes after midnight, the king re-entered the building andturned up the passage leading to his room, he found Ludar, wrapped in agray cloak, standing in the door-way talking with Kudashu. He hailedNabu-Nahid's appearance rather effusively.
"O king, live forever. What imprudence does he commit that wandersabroad at night in the city streets!"
"And thou--wast thou guarded on thy way?" inquired the king, rathersharply.
"Nay, truly. But for me there is no danger. I am--"
"You say well, Ludar. For you, indeed, there is no danger! Shamash guardyour sleep!" And with this curt good-night, Nabonidus brushed past thepriest, closed the curtain of his room, flung off his mantle andcoronet, and threw himself down upon the chair that still stoodbefore the brick table. He was in a state of tremulous anger, ofdiscouragement, of heart-sickness, and his head drooped lower and lower,and his hands clasped themselves on the table before him in thetightness of mental pain. The light from the still burning lamp abovehis head fell over his white figure, and a ray of it glinted off a jewelthat hung on a thin, golden chain from his neck. A refracted ray of thispresently shone in his eye and caused him to look down upon the gem thathe was accustomed to wear inside his tunic, next his skin. It was acharm--a holy charm, blessed and consecrated to be a sure protectionagainst all bodily disease or danger. In some way, the fact that it cameto his sight now, unexpectedly, seemed an omen of good-fortune; and witha brow less clouded, the old man rose, took the jewel in his hands, and,falling on his knees before the image of the sun-god in his room, pouredforth a piteous prayer for rest and peace. And the sun-god heard himdoubly well.
It was not till early dawn began to peer from the east that the greatking, seeking his narrow couch, dropped into an untroubled sleep.
The following day, the fourteenth of the month, was a busy one.Nabonidus again conducted the sacrifice. Then he returned to the collegeand spent two or three long hours with a class of acolytes of thehighest order of embryonic priesthood. The noon meal he partook withLudar, and immediately afterwards was driven in his chariot to the houseof Sharrukin, where the afternoon passed quickly in a council overmilitary affairs.
It was half an hour to sunset when the king returned to his room in thecollege and commanded his evening meal. He was drooping with fatigue, asthe result of his short night and his crowded day. Kudashu, therefore,was ordered to refuse admittance to any one that should seek audiencewith the king that night. After a change of garments, a bath, and moreprayers to Shamash, the king lay down on his couch, much refresh
ed inbody and mind, and eager for the food that was presently brought him. Heate in the twilight, for that hour of the day always brought calm to hisspirit, and even at the close of the meal, when the room was nearlydark, he still refused lights, but lay, immovable and alone, with theghost of the dead day whose golden bier had been borne across theshadowy threshold of the night.
Gradually the king sank into a profound and vividly imaged reverie. Histhoughts went back into many long-past scenes of his youth and youngmanhood; and, as he afterwards remembered, the last of these wassomething apart from his own life. In the twilight there rose before himclearly and distinctly the room in which he had said farewell to hisson. Here, under the glow of the hanging-lamp, clad in her crimson andgold, with the veil of black hair drawn back from her face, was Istar ofBabylon, Belshazzar's wife. Beside her, transformed by the new power ofhis life and love, was the storm-eyed prince, holding Istar's infant inhis arms. Nabonidus' eyes looked again into those of his son, and foundthere something that now only he understood. A smile stole over thechildlike face of the old man. Belshazzar had found a heart-home.Belshazzar was a king in spirit. What mattered it how soon in truth? Thevision grew brighter still, till the three figures were aureoled with adivine light. Istar spoke to her husband, held out her arms for thechild. Then suddenly there came, from the passage outside the door, alow murmur of voices and a quick cry. The vision crumbled. Nabonidusstarted up. His ears were pierced by the sound of a shrill scream, andthe words spoken by Kudashu: "My lord! My king! Save thys--" Then came aheavy thud as of a body fallen, and Nabu-Nahid leaped to his feet asthree men burst into the room.
Two of them were soldiers in armor. The third, who carried a lightedtorch, was in the garb of a priest. It was Ludar, the president of thecollege.
"How do ye thus enter my presence?" demanded Nabonidus, glaring abouthim wrathfully.
Ludar shot a sharp glance at him, and the hands of the soldierstightened on their dripping pikes.
Nabonidus' question was fully answered, and he asked no more; but hismanner did not change. Perhaps he drew himself up a little, became alittle more royal, a little more angry, a little brighter of eye, alittle whiter of face. The soldiers stood mute and motionless, waitingevidently for their next move to be ordered by Ludar, their leader. He,after a moment or two, nodded to them.
"Do what is commanded to be done," he said.
In a breath Nabonidus of Babylon lay on his back on the floor, while thetwo soldiers worked to bind him about with heavy thongs till he wasunable to move so much as a finger alone. Lastly the gag was put uponhim; but there was no need of it. During the whole business the old manremained perfectly passive, perfectly still, gazing steadily up into theface of Ludar, who presently refused to meet his glance, though he couldnot, in that small room, get out of range of the pale, fixed eyes.
When their captive was perfectly secure, the soldiers lifted him intheir arms and carried him roughly out of the room, past the bloody bodyof Kudashu, along the silent passage and out into the night, where,before the door of the college, waited a cart, one of the rude vehiclesof the common people, drawn by a water-buffalo. Into this lowliest ofall conveyances the king was lifted and laid down. There was a word ofcommand from the soldier that clambered in beside him. The driver gave along shout, and the cart clattered away from the door of the college inwhich, with his still burning torch, stood white-robed Ludar, left alonewith his triumph.
As they went along, the king, his gaze turned upward to the sky, couldsee nothing of what was happening in the streets around him. But thatsomething unusual had occurred was only too apparent, and what thatsomething was, was not difficult to surmise. The city was filled withsoldiers, half of them in the uniform of the Babylonish guards, and halfof them in the dress of those that had entered the presence of the king.Yet there was very evidently no hostility between them. Men, women, andchildren were also in the streets, the last making an especial clamorover this unexpected holiday night. Here and there bonfires burned inthe heat. In every direction torches flitted through the moonlight. Andstill to the strained ears of the king came not one sound of combat, nosingle clash of swords or whistling of stones from the sling. No. Sipparhad fallen, had fallen to Elam, without blood, without a suggestion ofdefence, without one blow for this, Nabu-Nahid's, country, the countryover which he had ruled as justly and as gently as he could forseventeen proud years. No. He had been left alone, utterly alone,without a single hand to hold him back when others pushed him ruthlesslyforward to face the rainbow gates of the silver sky.
Through the city and out of the gate of Babylon and over the shadowyplain for half a mile or more, the slow cart passed till it came to ahalt in the camp of the invader, in front of a great, crimson tent thatstood in the midst of a host of smaller ones, and on top of which, fromthe head of a spear fastened to the central pole, hung suspended thePersian sun-standard. Nabonidus saw this, rising against the shadowysky; and seeing it, he realized where they were.
There were two soldiers guarding the door of this tent; and, as the carthalted before it, a short colloquy passed between them and Nabonidus'captors. Then one of the soldiers disappeared inside, to come forthagain an instant later with an order. Nabonidus was lifted from thevehicle and carried inside the temporary domicile of the general. He wasgreeted by a glare of light so bright that, involuntarily, his weak eyesclosed before it. When he opened them again to look about, he had beenplaced on his feet, and found himself facing a tall, heavily armored,black-bearded fellow, with piercing eyes and an air of undeniabledignity, who performed an obeisance due from a nobleman of rank to asovereign.
"Lord Nabonidus of Babylon, I bid you welcome to my tent in the name ofBel, your god. I am Gobryas, general of the army of Kurush of Elam."
Nabonidus slowly bent his head. "I am your prisoner. Do your will withme," he said, faintly.
"It is my wish, O king, that you sleep here to-night in peace. By ruleof war you are my prisoner. Yet know that I and all that is mine togive, save only freedom, are at the king's command."
Again Nabonidus bowed his head; and then, lifting it slowly, he gazed atGobryas with a question in his eyes.
"I ask of you to speak, lord king!" said the general, with all courtesyin his tone.
Nabonidus drew a quick breath. Then, with an effort, he said:"Sippar--is fallen--to you?"
Gobryas bowed, with regret in his attitude.
"And my servants--Nana-Babilu, and Sharrukin, the former governor of thecity, where are they?"
"O king, they have suffered the fate of the conquered. They alone, outof all Sippar, were killed in defending their palaces."
"They alone," whispered the king to himself, wearily. "They alone? Nay,there was one other--one other faithful servant had I in my kingdom. Ipray that Bel--re--ceive--" The old man reeled where he stood. Gobryassprang quickly forward, catching him before he fell. And as he gazedupon the helpless, innocent face of the fallen king, Gobryas wasconstrained to wonder a little whether the part he had played in thisgame of unwarlike war were quite worth the suffering it inflicted uponothers.
Istar of Babylon: A Phantasy Page 25
