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Updated: June 29, 2025
At the right hand of the throne stood Hystaspes, Darius's grey-haired father, Gobryas, his future father-in-law, the aged Intaphernes, the grandfather of that Phaedime whose place in the king's favor had been given to Nitetis, Oropastes the high-priest, Croesus, and behind them Boges, the chief of the eunuchs.
After Cambyses' death the heads of the seven Persian tribes held a council, and resolved, as a first measure, on obtaining certain information as to the person of the usurper. With this view, Otanes sent a confidential eunuch to his daughter Phaedime, who, as they knew, had come into the possession of the new king with the rest of Cambyses' harem.
The influence of the king's mother had suffered a severe shock; and lastly, he had the pleasure of knowing, not only that he had outwitted every one and succeeded in all his plans, but that through his favorite Phaedime he might hope once more to become the all-powerful favorite of former days.
When this was over he left the hall and went to Phaedime, who as one of the king's lawful wives, had a private room, separated from those allotted to the concubines. This former favorite, this humbled daughter of the Achaemenidae, had been expecting him already some time. She was magnificently dressed, and almost overloaded with jewels.
At last, however, the long-expected messenger came back and brought for answer, that the new king had only visited Phaedime once, but that during that visit she had, at great personal risk, discovered that he had lost both ears.
"That is unjust; Phaedime, as daughter of the Achaemenidae, has an older and better right." "No doubt, but whatever the king wishes, must be right." "The ruler's will is the will of God." "Well said! A true Persian will kiss his king's hand, even when dripping with the blood of his own child."
"True grace is lovely even in rags." "The Egyptian will completely eclipse me." "Yes, every one must see that you have not the slightest intention of comparing yourself with her. Then people will say: 'Would not Phaedime be as beautiful as this proud woman, if she had taken the same pains to make herself so?" "But I cannot bow down to her." "You must." "You only want to humble and ruin me."
While saying this the creature rubbed his fat, soft hands, and, with his perpetual fulsome smile, looked as if he were feasting on some good deed performed. He did not, however, give Phaedime the faintest idea of the nature of his "little plan," and only answered her pressing questions with the words: "Better lay your head in a lion's jaws, than your secret in the ears of a woman.
Not a day passed on which the mortified official did not consult with the supplanted favorite Phaedime, as to the best means of ruining Nitetis, but their most finely spun intrigues and artifices were baffled by the strength of king's love and the blameless life of his royal bride.
How deeply rooted must have been the faithlessness of this clever hypocrite, if the mere news that his brother loved some one else could not only destroy all her powers of dissimulation, but actually deprive her of consciousness! When Nitetis left the hall, Otanes, the father of Phaedime had called out: "The Egyptian women seem to take great interest in the love-affairs of their brothers-in-law.
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