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 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
BEAUTY CROWNED; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE STORY OF ESTHER, 
 
 THE JEWISH MAIDEN 
 
 P o" 
 
 / 
 
 REV. j: N. FRADENBURGH, Ph.D., D.D., 
 
 Member of the American Oriental Society ', the Society of Biblical Archaeology 
 of London^ etc. 
 
 Author of "Witnesses from the Dust," etc. 
 
 OFCO/v G , 
 
 
 WASW 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT. 
 
 CINCTNNA TJ : 
 V PAN ST ON & ST OWE. 
 
 1887. 
 

 Copyright, 1887, hy 
 PHILLIPS & HUNT, 
 
 New York. 
 
TO 
 
 THE QUEENLY WOMEN OF AMERICA, 
 
 THE LIGHT OF HOME, 
 
 THE INSPIRATION OF PATRIOTISM, 
 
 THE HEART OF RELIGION, THE LIFE OF REFORM, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS 
 
 (UtorsInpfuIIs Itittiifafe. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 THE story of Esther possesses a charm peculiarly 
 its own. The style is perfect and the Hebrew 
 pure. There are only enough Persian words to give- 
 it an Oriental flavor, and only enough later Hebrew 
 to suit the date of its composition. There is no 
 affectation, and the only art is the unconscious " art 
 of artlessness." There is no attempt at the sublime, 
 yet the book is not lacking in sublimity. The char- 
 acters stand out in clear light and speak for them- 
 selves. There is no waste of words, yet the whole 
 story is told. Each part fills its own proper place, 
 and the skillfully -planned denouement is most dra- 
 matic. It is altogether a magnificent piece of writ- 
 ing which never fails to fascinate the reader. 
 
 The Book of Esther is an important chapter in 
 the history of the world, and its story moves in the 
 midst of stirring events. The impartial student 
 cannot well afford to neglect this priceless contribu- 
 tion. The deliverance of the people of God from 
 the fury of Hainan the Agagite should be mentioned 
 with the earlier deliverance from Egyptian bondage. 
 
6 Preface. 
 
 This story furnishes glimpses of the court of a 
 Persian king, his harem, and his palace ; it refers 
 to many customs connected with social and domestic 
 life ; it portrays the character of an Oriental despot 
 and outlines the organization of his government ; and 
 it proclaims the queenliness of a beautiful woman 
 when possessed of corresponding graces of mind and 
 heart. The story touches history at so many points, 
 and the references to laws and customs — many of 
 them undesigned — are so numerous, that it were easy 
 to detect a mistake, if the writer were not true to 
 facts. 
 
 In the present work the author has so woven clas- 
 sical and Oriental illustrations into the story that the 
 minute truthfulness of the account may be consid- 
 ered demonstrated beyond successful controversy. 
 The reader will feel confident that it is not mere 
 romance but veritable history, while the charm of the 
 story is greatly heightened by this consideration. 
 
 The questions of temperance and home, brought 
 prominently forward, have received a fair share of 
 consideration, while other lesser but important sub- 
 jects have not been forgotten. 
 
 It is believed that this new dress in which the 
 story of Esther appears will insure new interest in its 
 study. 
 
 July, 1887. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter page 
 
 I. The Vast Kingdom and the Mighty King 9 
 
 II. The Magnificent Palace 24 
 
 III. The Banquet of "Wine 46 
 
 IV. Folly, Anger, Divorce 80 
 
 V. Love and Home 96 
 
 VI. The Queenliness of Beauty 107 
 
 VII. Enthroned and Crowned 129 
 
 VIII. The Conspiracy Discovered 141 
 
 IX. Pride Before a Fall 147 
 
 X. Superstition and Cruelty, Hand in Hand 157 
 
 XL Suspense, Agony, Resolution 176 
 
 XII. Magnificent Heroism, Masterly Delay, Wakeful 
 
 Providence t 192 
 
 XIII. "Wheels "Within "Wheels 205 
 
 XIV. Poetic Justice 216 
 
 XV. The Beginning of the End 224 
 
 XVI. Victory, Peace, Gladness 235 
 
 XVII. Prosperity, Happiness 247 
 
 Index 257 
 
$IIttstr»ti0RS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Tesselated Pavements. 38 
 
 Persian King 49 
 
 Royal Parasol 56 
 
 King with Attendants 57 
 
 Fan, or Fly-chaser 57 
 
 Scent-Bottle 58 
 
 Jewish Captives 108 
 
 Judea Capta 112 
 
 Articles for the Toilet 130 
 
 Ear-drops 132 
 
 Neck Collars 132 
 
 Bracelets 135 
 
 Armlets 136 
 
 Oriental Prostration 151 
 
 Seal-rings 1 69 
 
 King on his Throne 193 
 
 Impalement 223 
 
 Ordinary Persian Costume 230 
 
 Subjects bring Tribute to the King 219 
 
 The Tomb of Mordecai and Esther 254 
 
Beauty Crowned. 
 
 THE YAST KINGDOM AND THE MIGHTY KING. 
 
 " Ahasuerus which reigned from India even unto Ethiopia, over 
 an hundred and seven and twenty provinces." — Esther i, 1. 
 
 Sennacheeib is the most colossal figure in all 
 Assyrian history, in whom more than in any other 
 monarch were impersonated Oriental pride, violence, 
 and power. He defeated a host of Ethiopians and 
 Egyptians at Ekron, and, in order to restore the 
 Ekronite king, who had been deposed and sent to 
 Hezekiah, invaded Judea and took forty-six fenced 
 cities, and of smaller cities and towns "a countless 
 number." Hezekiah sued for peace, and despoiled 
 the temple to pay the heavy tribute imposed by 
 the conqueror. Expecting help from Egypt, he 
 again revolted, and Sennacherib sent him a stern 
 letter demanding unconditional and immediate sur- 
 render. 
 
 The letter was spread before Him who was en- 
 throned above the cherubim, and he answered Sen- 
 
10 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 nacherib : " I will put my hook in thy nose, and my 
 bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the 
 way by which thou earnest." 2 Kings xix, 28. The 
 morning brought these tidings to Jerusalem : " The 
 angel of the Lord went out, and smote in the camp 
 of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thou- 
 sand." 2 Kings xix, 35. 
 
 In the reign of Assurbanipal, grandson of Sennach- 
 erib, Assyria reached her highest glory. " Behold, 
 the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair 
 branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an 
 high stature; and his top was among the thick 
 boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set 
 him up on high with her rivers running round about 
 his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the 
 trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted 
 above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were 
 multiplied, and his branches became long because of 
 the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All 
 the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, 
 and under his branches did all the beasts of the field 
 bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt 
 all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, 
 in the length of his branches : for his root was by 
 great waters. The cedars of the garden of God 
 could not hide him : the fir-trees were not like his 
 boughs, and the chestnut- trees were not like his 
 branches ; not any tree in the garden of God was like 
 
The Yast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 11 
 
 unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by 
 the multitude of his branches; so that all the trees 
 of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied 
 him." Ezek. xxxi, 3-9. 
 
 The Medes and Babylonians invaded the kingdom, 
 and the cedar fell in B.C. 625. 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar was the grandest figure in Baby- 
 lonian history. His siege of Tyre, which lasted thir- 
 teen years, was most memorable. He laid siege to 
 Jerusalem, which endured untold horrors and resisted 
 with the energy of despair, but after eighteen months 
 yielded to the resistless fury of the proud conqueror. 
 
 By the naked physical strength of his captives he 
 was enabled to construct those gigantic works — the 
 great wall of Babylon, the " hanging gardens," mag- 
 nificent palaces, canals, a vast reservoir, quays and 
 breakwaters, temples and embankments — which have 
 done far more to render his name illustrious than all 
 his military exploits. Near the close of his reign he 
 was attacked by a strange malady known to the 
 physicians as lycanthropy. He believed himself a 
 beast ; fled the society of men, discarded clothing, 
 fed on herbs, and became covered with a shaggy coat 
 of hair. After " seven times " he was restored, and 
 praised the God of heaven. He died B.C. 561. 
 
 Cyaxares founded the Median kingdom, and shared 
 with Nabopolassar of Babylon the territory of the 
 conquered Assyrians. He sought occasion to make 
 
12 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 war against most ancient, proud, and unconquered 
 Lydia, a kingdom whose river Pactolus ran with 
 gold, whose people invented coined money, and 
 whose king Gyges was celebrated for his wars, his 
 wealth, and the romance of his history. The war 
 was waged with great fury and varying success. 
 At length, while the two armies were engaged in 
 deadly conflict, darkness fell upon both — it was an 
 eclipse of the sun — and struck all with awe and terror. 
 
 They cease to fight and contemplate the portent. 
 They agree upon an armistice and arrange terms of 
 peace. The two monarchs meet, repeat the terms of 
 the treaty, pierce their arms, and seal the contract by 
 sucking each the other's blood. 
 
 Media was conquered by Cyrus B.C. 558. " The 
 mighty one of the heathen " and the " terrible of the 
 nations,", after an existence of sixty-seven years, 
 passed away. 
 
 Xerxes inherited the broadest empire of kingdoms 
 the world had ever seen — "from India even unto 
 Ethiopia." He was assassinated in his sleeping apart- 
 ment B.C. 465. At the battle of Arbela, B.C. 330, 
 " the crown of Cyrus passed to the Macedonian." 
 
 The Persians were " quick and lively, keen-witted, 
 capable of repartee, ingenious, and, for Orientals, far- 
 sighted." They had fancy and imagination, but with 
 the exuberance of the imaginative faculty there were 
 childishness, extravagance, and grotesqueness. They 
 
The Yast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 13 
 
 had a relish for poetry, and the writings of their bards, 
 with much that is pretty, sparkling, and quaint, are 
 full of Oriental marvels. They were bold and war- 
 like, and in courage stood at the head of the nations 
 of their time. The Greeks defeated them not because 
 of superior bravery in battle, but because of better 
 arms, better equipment, more perfect organization, 
 and severer discipline. The Persians certainly pos- 
 sessed ,more stubbornness in conflict and more endur- 
 ance than any neighboring nation. They were en- 
 dowed with great energy, and waged war after war 
 and conducted expedition after expedition with lit- 
 tle rest, enjoying a career of conquest which has few 
 parallels in history. Falsehood was considered the 
 basest of sins, and self-indulgence and luxury were un- 
 known. Persians were immoderate in the manifesta- 
 tion of joy or sorrow, and " laughed and wept, shout- 
 ed and shrieked, with the unrestraint of children who 
 are not ashamed to lay bare their inmost feelings to the 
 eyes of those about them. Lively and excitable, they 
 loved to give vent to every passion that stirred their 
 hearts, and cared not how many witnessed their lam- 
 entations or their rejoicings." 
 
 The king had absolute control over the property, 
 liberty, and lives of his subjects, and none dared dis- 
 pute his will. His empire was eight times as large 
 as the Babylonian and four times as large as the As- 
 syrian at their widest sway. 
 
14 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 There was nothing in Persia proper to prophesy so 
 magnificent a growth and so glorious a history. It 
 was but one twentieth of the size of the empire in its 
 glory. The warm district of Fars, about one eighth 
 of the whole in area, extends between the mountains 
 and the sea the whole length of the province ; a narrow 
 strip of land, of poor, sandy, and clayey soil, poorly 
 watered, of torrid heat, unpropitious and unpro- 
 ductive. The remainder of the province, though 
 generally sterile and barren, contains not a few richly 
 fertile sections, "picturesque and romantic almost 
 beyond imagination, with lovely wooded dells, green 
 mountain sides, and broad plains suited for the pro- 
 duction of almost any crop." It is poorly watered, 
 the few rivers being generally lost in the sands or salt 
 lakes. The mountain gorges afford the most remark- 
 able feature of the country. Scarped rocks rise sheer 
 on either side of mountain streams sometimes to a 
 height of two thousand feet. Roads are cut on the 
 sides of the precipices, and pass by bridges from side 
 to side over profound chasms, through which angry 
 streams dash and roar and chafe and foam, leaping 
 many a cascade, and fall, restless and furious, rushing 
 to the sea. The country is strongly defended on the 
 north and east by deserts, and on the south by a strong 
 mountain wall. 
 
 The provinces of the Persian monarchy are those 
 which have made the history of the Oriental world. 
 
The Vast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 15 
 
 There is Babylonia, with its great cities, its most 
 ancient literature, its idolatrous worship, its magicians 
 and astrologers, its magnificence and wealth, the home 
 of Abraham and the land of the Jewish captivity. 
 There is Assyria, with its bloody Nineveh, its tem- 
 ples, its fertility, its conquests, its pride, its unspeak- 
 able cruelties, its kings, and its mighty hunters — the 
 land of the captivity of the ten tribes of Israel. 
 There is Susiana, with its ancient Accadian race and 
 religion, and its magnificent court in " Shushan the 
 palace/' There is Asia Minor, with its classic streams, 
 its great nations, its Ionic cities, and its Homeric sites. 
 There are Cyprus, whose rich mines gave the name of 
 copper, cyprium, to the civilized world, and Armenia, 
 the traditional land of the Noachian Ararat. There 
 is Phenicia, one of the pioneer nations in letters and 
 commerce, with its Tyre and Sidon, and its many 
 distant colonies. There is Palestine, the Land of 
 Promise, flowing with milk and honey — the land of 
 the chosen people of God — with its sacred cities, holy 
 shrines, and wonderful history. There is Egypt, the 
 land of the pyramid and the tomb, the obelisk and 
 the sphinx, the idol and the temple, the land of the 
 most ancient hieroglyphic literature, the land of the 
 proud Pharaohs, and of Joseph and Moses, of the 
 famine, the plague, and the pestilence. There are 
 Aria, the primitive home of the Aryan race, and 
 Bactria, the home of Zoroaster. And there is India, 
 
16 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 of inexhaustible resources, of prodigious literature, 
 and of a religion having the most cumbrous ritual of 
 any religion in the world — India promising a most 
 glorious future. 
 
 The account given of the character of Ahasuerus is 
 a life-like picture of a Persian king, and especially of 
 Xerxes as presented by our best authorities. There 
 is abundant proof of this statement. 
 
 The story of Cambyses is characteristic. His cup- 
 bearer was the son of Prexaspes, and Prexaspes had 
 offended the king by telling him that the Persians 
 thought him too much given to wine. Cambyses re- 
 plied : " ' Judge now thyself, Prexaspes, whether the 
 Persians tell the truth, or whether it is not they who 
 are mad for speaking as they do. Look there, now, 
 at thy son standing in the vestibule ; if I shoot and 
 hit him right in the middle of the heart, it will be 
 plain the Persians have no grounds for what they say ; 
 if I miss him, then I allow that the Persians are right, 
 and that I am out of my mind.' So speaking, he 
 drew the bow to the full and struck the boy, who 
 straightway fell down dead. Then Cambyses ordered 
 the body to be opened, and the wound examined ; and, 
 when the arrow was found to have entered the heart, 
 the king was quite overjoyed, and said to the father, 
 with a laugh, 'Now thou seest plainly, Prexaspes, 
 that it is not I who am mad, but the Persians who 
 have lost their senses. I pray thee, tell me, sawest 
 
The Yast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 17 
 
 thou ever mortal man send an arrow with a better 
 aim \ ' Prexaspes, seeing that the king was not in 
 his right mind, and fearing for himself, replied, ' O 
 my lord! I do not think that God himself could shoot 
 so dexterously.' Such was the outrage which Cam- 
 byses committed at this time ; at another, he took 
 twelve of the noblest Persians, and, without bringing 
 any charge worthy of death against them, buried 
 them all up to the neck." * 
 
 Herodotus relates that Cambyses entered the royal 
 palace at Sais, and caused the body of King Amasis 
 to be brought from the sepulcher, scourged, pricked 
 with goads, and subjected to all manner of insult. 
 Having in this inhuman manner satisfied his rage, he 
 ordered its burial. 
 
 Croesus, the Lydian, gave Cambyses valuable ad- 
 vice, but was repaid with the sentence to death. 
 The servants charged with his execution concealed 
 the conquered king, believing that Cambyses would 
 soon repent of his impulsive wickedness. It turned 
 out as they anticipated, but when Cambyses was 
 informed that Croesus was alive, he replied, "I am 
 glad that Croesus lives, but as for you who saved 
 him, ye shall not escape my vengeance, but shall all 
 of you be put to death." So saying, he caused them 
 all to be slain.f 
 
 Astyages had a dream which prophesied ruin to 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 35. f Ibid, iii, 36. 
 
18 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 himself, but honor to Cyrus, the infant son of his 
 daughter Mandane. Moved by terror, he gave Cyrus 
 to Harpagus to be slain. Some time after this, he 
 learned that Cyrus had been spared, and rejoiced, but 
 " took the son of Harpagus, and slew him, after 
 which he cut him in pieces, and roasted some pieces 
 before the fire, and boiled others," and served up to 
 Harpagus the cannibal food at a banquet. Then, ask- 
 ing his guest how he enjoyed the repast, he showed 
 him the head, hands, and feet of his son. 
 
 When Cyrus reached the Gyndes with his army, 
 one of his sacred white horses — the story may be a 
 fable — was swept away by the swift current and 
 drowned. " Cyrus, enraged at the insolence of the 
 river, threatened so to break its strength that in 
 future even women should cross it easily without 
 wetting their knees." Thereupon he dispersed the 
 stream through three hundred and sixty channels.* 
 
 This inconsistent, despotic, and savage trait of char- 
 acter was prominent in Xerxes. When a great storm 
 broke the first bridge which he threw across the Hel- 
 lespont, he " straightway gave orders that the Helles- 
 pont should receive three hundred lashes, and that a 
 pair of fetters should be cast into it. Nay, I have 
 even heard it said that he bade the branders take 
 their irons, and therewith brand the Hellespont." 
 Those who scourged the waters uttered at his com- 
 
 * Herodotus, i, 119, 189, 190. 
 
The Yast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 19 
 
 mand these words: "Thou bitter water, thy lord 
 lays on thee this punishment because thou hast 
 wronged him without a cause, having suffered no evil 
 at his hands. Yerily, King Xerxes will cross thee, 
 whether thou wilt or no. Well dost thou deserve 
 that no man should honor thee with sacrifice; for 
 thou art of a truth a treacherous and unsavory river." 
 He also ordered them who had constructed the bridge 
 to be put to death.* 
 
 Before the battle of Salamis, which decided the 
 fate of Greece, Artemisia advised him not to risk an 
 engagement at sea, and so well was the character of 
 Xerxes known that the friends of the noble and war- 
 like queen feared for her life. During the progress 
 of the battle certain Phenicians whose ships had been 
 sunk accused the Ionians of being traitors. Just 
 then the gallant conduct of a Samothracian vessel 
 contradicted their words. " Xerxes, when he saw the 
 exploit, turned fiercely on the Phenicians (he was 
 ready, in his extreme vexation, to find fault with any 
 one), and ordered their heads to be cut off, to prevent 
 them, he said, from casting the blame of their own 
 misconduct upon braver men." After the battle, 
 Mardonius feared the king's vengeance for having 
 advised the ill-fated expedition. f 
 
 In his retreat from Europe Xerxes embarked in a 
 Phenician vessel. A storm arose, the ship labored 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 35. f Ibid., viii, 69, 90, 100. 
 
20 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 heavily, and the helmsman despaired of saving the 
 king, unless he could get "quit of these too numer- 
 ous passengers." Whereupon the king, addressing 
 the Persians, said, " Men of Persia, now is the time 
 for you to show what love you bear your king. My 
 safety, as it seems, depends wholly upon you." The 
 Persians of his train " instantly made obeisance, and 
 then leaped over into the sea." The ship was light- 
 ened, and the king saved. When Xerxes reached 
 the shore he gave the helmsman a golden crown be- 
 cause he had saved his life, "but, because he had 
 caused the death of a number of Persians, he ordered 
 his head to be struck from his shoulders." This 
 account, however, is not credited by Herodotus, and 
 yet, as Rawlinson says, it is " a striking embodiment 
 of the real Oriental feeling with regard to the person 
 of the monarch." * 
 
 At another time we see him in a different mood. 
 When he looked out upon the Hellespont, covered 
 with his immense fleet ready to proceed upon its ca- 
 reer of expected conquest, he wept at the sight. 
 When asked the cause of his weeping, he replied: 
 " There came upon me a sudden pity when I thought 
 of the shortness of man's life, and considered that of 
 all this host, so numerous as it is, not one will be 
 alive when a hundred years are gone by." f 
 
 Like other Persian kings, Xerxes met with many 
 * Herodotus, viii, 118. \ Ibid., vii, 46. 
 
The Vast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 21 
 
 difficulties in his amours which resulted in rage, cru- 
 elty, and murder. The story of his love of Artaynta, 
 the daughter of Masistes, his brother, will be related 
 in a future chapter. 
 
 Rawlinson sums up the character of Xerxes ; " The 
 character of Xerxes falls below that of any preceding 
 monarch. Excepting that lie was not wholly devoid 
 of a certain magnanimity, which made him listen pa- 
 tiently to those who opposed his views, or gave him 
 unpalatable advice, and which prevented him from 
 exacting vengeance on some occasions, he had scarcely 
 a trait whereon the mind can rest with any satisfac- 
 tion. Weak and easily led, puerile in his gusts of 
 passion, and his complete abandonment of himself to 
 them — selfish, fickle, boastful, cruel, superstitious, li- 
 centious — he exhibits to us the Oriental despot in the 
 most contemptible of all his aspects — that wherein 
 the moral and the intellectual qualities are equally in 
 defect, and the career is one unvarying course of vice 
 and folly. From Xerxes we have to date at once the 
 decline of the empire in respect of territorial great- 
 ness and military strength, and likewise its deteriora- 
 tion in regard to administrative vigor and national 
 spirit. With him commenced the corruption of the 
 court — the fatal evil which almost universally weak- 
 ens and destroys Oriental dynasties. His expedition 
 against Greece exhausted and depopulated the em- 
 pire ; and though, by abstaining from further mili- 
 
22 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 tary enterprises, he did what lay ill his power to re- 
 cruit its strength, still the losses which his expedition 
 caused were certainly not repaired in his life-time." 
 He may, however, be placed "in the foremost rank 
 of Oriental builders." * 
 
 The character of Ahasuerus fits no Persian mon- 
 arch so well as Xerxes, and it fits him exactly. The 
 name is the same. The transliteration of Ahasuerus, 
 Achashverosh of the Hebrew, Khshayarsha of the 
 cuneiform inscriptions, and Xerxes is very close, and 
 no other transliteration is possible. The extent of 
 the empire suits the reign of this monarch. He 
 reigned " from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hun- 
 dred and seven and twenty provinces." According 
 to Daniel, Darius the Mede set over his kingdom a 
 hundred and twenty satraps. Dan. vi, 2. Herodotus 
 says that Darius divided the kingdom into twenty 
 satrapies, but each of these embraced several geo- 
 graphical regions or " provinces." Mardonius names 
 Indians and Ethiopians as subjects of Xerxes. They 
 paid tribute to Persia, and served in the mighty 
 army.f 
 
 In an inscription of Xerxes, at Persepolis, he calls 
 himself "sole king of many kings, sole emperor of 
 many emperors." He says : " I am Xerxes, the great 
 king, the king of kings, the king of the lands where 
 
 * Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii, pp. 410, 471. 
 f Herodotus, iii, 9, 65, 69, 10; vii, 94, 97, 98. 
 
The Yast Kingdom and the Mighty King. 23 
 
 many languages are spoken, the king of this wide 
 earth, afar and near." * 
 
 The chronology of events is perfectly harmonious, 
 while the history of no other Persian monarch can be 
 made to harmonize with the Book of Esther. 
 
 " In the third year of the reign of Xerxes was held 
 an assembly to arrange the Grecian war ; f in the 
 third year of Ahasuerus was held a great feast and 
 assembly in Shushan the palace. Esth. i, 3. In the 
 seventh year of his reign Xerxes returned defeated 
 from Greece, and consoled himself by the pleasures 
 of the harem ; £ in the seventh year of his reign 
 ' fair young virgins were sought ' for Ahasuerus, and 
 he replaced Vashti by marrying Esther. The tribute 
 he ' laid upon the land, and upon the isles of the 
 sea' (Esth. x, 1) may well have been the result of the 
 expenditure and ruin of the Grecian expedition." § 
 
 We may consider the identification of Ahasuerus 
 with Xerxes as settled beyond all dispute. His 
 name, his character, his place in history, and the 
 events themselves are fully satisfied by this identifi- 
 cation. 
 
 * Oppert, Records of the Past, vol. ix, p. 81. 
 
 f Herodotus, vii, 7, sq. % Ibid., ix, 108. 
 
 § McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia, Ahasuerus. 
 
24 Beauty Ceowned. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE MAGNIFICENT PALACE. 
 "Shushan the palace. 1 ' — Esther i, 2. 
 
 Susa, "the city of lilies," " ornate with the gold of 
 Cissia," was the capital of the biblical Elam, the 
 Elyraais of the geographers, the Cissia of the Greeks, 
 the Susis or Susiana of the later Greeks. u This ter- 
 ritory comprised a portion of the mountain country 
 which separates Mesopotamia from Persia ; but is 
 chiefly composed of the broad and rich flats interven- 
 ing between the mountains and the Tigris, alone; the 
 courses of the Kerkhah, Knran, and Jerahi rivers. It 
 w r as a rich and fertile tract, resembling Chaldea in its 
 general character," while " the vicinity of the mount- 
 ains lent it freshness, giving it cooler streams, more 
 frequent rains, and pleasanter breezes." * 
 
 The mountains of Luristan furnish prominent feat- 
 ures in the appearance of the country. " The great 
 range attains an elevation of eight or ten thousand 
 feet above the sea, and bears in a general direction 
 toward' the north-west. Its rocky masses belong 
 entirely to the cetaceous and lower tertiary series, 
 rising in huge, elongated saddles of compact altered 
 
 * Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. i, p. 26. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 25 
 
 limestone parallel to each other. At intervals, where 
 the elevating force which produced the present con- 
 figuration of this region has acted with extreme in- 
 tensity, the continuity of the beds became broken, 
 and masses of rock were left standing isolated, with 
 precipitous escarpments, presenting retreats accessi- 
 ble only to the savage inhabitants. ' Diz ' is the 
 name applied to natural fortresses of this kind, which 
 frequently bear on their summits acres of rich grass 
 and springs of delicious water, whither a native chief 
 with his adherents can retire in safety in times of 
 need, and defend their difficult passes with a handful 
 of men against the whole power of the Persian gov- 
 ernment itself. 
 
 u Superimposed on the harder limestone rocks are 
 beds of a softer nature — marls, rivaling the colored 
 sands of our own Isle of Wight in their brilliant and 
 variegated aspect ; vast piles of amorphous gypsum 
 dazzling the eye with its excessive whiteness, and 
 successive layers of red sands alternating with gravel. 
 These formations follow the contortions of the harder 
 crystalline limestones, lie at extraordinary angles on 
 the slopes of the saddles, and fill up the hot, feverish 
 vallevs between them. Wherever the highlands of 
 Persia are approached from the plains of Mesopota- 
 mia, the same formidable barrier of mountains pre- 
 sents itself. To attain the high level of that garden 
 of roses, which the Persian poet loves to descant 
 
26 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 on, it is necessary to climb the successive ridges by 
 roads scarcely better than goat tracks, which regular 
 gradation of ascents is approximately described by 
 the Greek historians as Mimahes or 4 ladders.' All the 
 great rivers which flow from the east into the Tigris 
 have their sources in these mountains, crossing diag- 
 onally through the intricacies of the chain. Instead 
 of flowing in a south-east direction, along the trough 
 which separates two parallel limestone saddles, and 
 by this means working out its channel in the soft 
 rocks of the gypsiferous and marly series, and round- 
 ing the extremity of the saddle where it dips under 
 the overlying deposits, each of these rivers takes a 
 direction at right angles to its former course, and 
 passes directly through the limestone range by means 
 of a ' tang,' or gorge, apparently formed for this ex- 
 press purpose. On reaching the next succeeding 
 gypsum trough, it follows its original south-east 
 course for a short distance, and again crosses the next 
 chain in the same manner, until it attains the verdant 
 plains of Assyria, or Susiana. Many of these tangs 
 expose a perpendicular section of one thousand feet 
 and upward, and were formed, not by the scooping 
 process which attends river action, but by natural 
 rents produced by the tension of the crystalline mass 
 at the period of its elevation." * 
 
 From the mountains of Susiana the Accadians de- 
 
 * Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, pp. 308, 309. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 27 
 
 scended, and settled in the plains of Chaldea. Susa, 
 the capital, was on " an open gravel plain about thirty 
 miles from the mountains." Three hundred and fifty 
 miles north-west of Susa is Nizir, the Chaldean Ar- 
 arat. "Nowhere have I seen," says Mr. Loftus, 
 " such rich vegetation as that which clothes the ver- 
 dant plains of Shush, interspersed with numerous 
 plants of a sweet-scented and delicate iris." * This 
 flower is one of those called " lily " by the Orientals — 
 it is the Iris sisyrynchium, L. The purple is the 
 royal color of Persia, and it has been thought that 
 the abundance of these flowers , gave the name of 
 " Shushan " to this locality. The Hebrew Shoshan, 
 Arabic Susan, means any large bright flower. There 
 are others, however, who suppose that Shushan is a 
 Pehlevi word and means " pleasant," and the neigh- 
 boring city called Shuster means "more pleasant." 
 This " city of lilies," or " pleasant city," occupied a 
 most beautiful spot. The great mound which marks 
 the site of its citadel rises one hundred and twenty 
 feet above the Shapur. The "tomb of Daniel" is 
 on the west, and the forsaken bed of the Eulseus, the 
 " river Ulai " of the Bible, on the east. 
 
 "It is difficult to conceive a more imposing 
 sight than Susa, as it stood in the days of its Kay- 
 anian splendor — its great citadel and columnar edi- 
 fices raising their stately heads above groves of date, 
 
 * Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 346. 
 
28 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 konar, and lemon-trees, surrounded by rich pastures 
 and golden seas of corn, and backed by the distant 
 snow-clad mountains. Neither Babylon nor Persep- 
 olis could compare with Susa in position — watered 
 by her noble rivers, producing crops without irriga- 
 tion, clothed with grass in spring, and within a mod- 
 erate journey of a delightful summer clime. Susa 
 vied with Babylon in the riches which the Euphrates 
 conveyed to her stores, while Persepolis must have 
 been inferior, both in point of commercial position 
 and picturesque appearance." * 
 
 The heat of summer is very great at Susa. The 
 Greek geographer relates that " lizards and serpents 
 at midday in the summer, when the sun is at its 
 greatest height, cannot cross the streets of the city 
 quick enough to prevent their being burned to death 
 midway by the heat."f The lizards of the country 
 attract the attention of the traveler. Mr. Loftus says : 
 " Clinging to the rocks, basking in the hot sun, or 
 fleetly pursuing smaller reptiles, were numerous huge 
 lizards (Psammosaurus scincus), lashing their long 
 tails and opening their capacious black jaws. . . . 
 They live chiefly on snakes, which they pounce on 
 suddenly, shake as a terrier does a rat, and* cranch 
 from tail to head ; then they suck the mangled body 
 down their throats, somewhat after the manner of a 
 
 * Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 347. 
 f Strabo, vol. iii, p. 134. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 29 
 
 Neapolitan swallowing his national macaroni ! I 
 once saw a lizard of this species attack, kill, and 
 attempt to swallow a serpent six feet long. After 
 gulping for a length of time to get down the tip end 
 of its victim's tail, which hung out of its mouth, it 
 disgorged its meal, repeated the process of mastica- 
 tion, and ultimately, after some hard gasping, suc- 
 ceeded in overcoming its difficulty." * 
 
 Ancient inscriptions are to be found among the 
 ruins of Susa. In Genesis, Elam is the firstborn of 
 Shem. Twice in the fourteenth chapter we find the 
 title " king of Elam " given to Chedorlaomer. Ezra 
 makes Elamites dependents of the Persian empire. 
 Long afterward they appeared among the company 
 which gathered in the upper room on the day of 
 Pentecost. 
 
 Modern research has revealed a great kingdom. 
 In the providence of God this old kingdom has had 
 its resurrection. Elam is thought to be a transla- 
 tion of the old Accadian name of Susiana, and means 
 " highland." The Babylonians, according to tradi- 
 tions from the monuments, were oppressed by the 
 Elamites under Khumbaba, but were delivered by 
 the hero Izdubar, whom the late George Smith iden- 
 tifies with Nimrod. There are other traces of the 
 early power of Elam. When Assurbanipal conquered 
 the country, and took Susa, B. C. 645, he brought 
 
 * Loftus, Chdldea and, Susiana, p. 306. 
 
30 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 back an image of the goddess Nana which Kudur 
 Nakkhunti had carried away when he overran 
 Babylonia, B. C. 2280. Again, Kudur-Mabug, king 
 of Elam, carried his conquests as far as Phenicia, 
 and assumed the titles "Lord of Phenicia" and 
 " Lord of Elam." His son Eriaku, Arioch, was king 
 of Larsa, Ellasar. The land of Shinar, or Sumir 
 of the inscriptions, was under the Septuagint King 
 Amarphal, a name which has been recovered in 
 Amarpal. The Goim, Guti or Gutium of the in- 
 scriptions, at least a part of them, became the As- 
 syrians of later times. Their king was Tidal, Sep- 
 tuagint Thargal, Accadian Tur-gal, or " great chief." 
 Kudur-Mabug is probably Chedorlaomer. He was 
 overlord of the allied kings, mentioned above, when 
 he extended his conquests to Phenicia,- and was de- 
 feated by Abraham. Thus the names of old poten- 
 tates rising from the mists of remote antiquity fur- 
 nish a most powerful confirmation of the Bible 
 records. Elam has demonstrated her right to an his- 
 toric place among the nations of Oriental antiquity. 
 
 Susa was a rival of Nineveh at an early period, and 
 under the Achsemenian dynasty usurped the great- 
 ness of both Nineveh and Babylon. Cleomenes, 
 king of Sparta, wished to engage Aristagoras as an 
 ally of the Ionians against Darius. The Spartan 
 king, in a remarkable speech, said : " Susa, where the 
 Persian monarch occasionally resides, and where his 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 31 
 
 treasures are deposited — make yourself master of 
 this city and you may vie in influence with Jupiter 
 himself." Alexander the Great, after the battle 
 of Arbela, made Susa the depository of the wealth 
 which he had gathered from the conquered world. 
 Upon entering Susa, Alexander found in the treasury 
 immense sums of money, fifty thousand talents of 
 silver in ore and ingots and five thousand quintals 
 of Hermione purple. After this the city main- 
 tained its importance for more than nine hundred 
 years, when it was finally deserted in favor of other 
 rising cities. 
 
 The Kerkhah, orChoaspes, a noble stream near the 
 ancient city, is noted for its pure and sparkling water. 
 It is said that the Persian kings would drink no 
 other, and when on warlike expeditions carried water 
 from this royal stream.* Milton sings of its purity: 
 
 " There Susa by Choaspes' amber stream, 
 The drink of none but kings." 
 
 The rivers, Kerkhah on the west, and the .Dizful on 
 the east — the Choaspes and the Coprates of the an- 
 cients — approach within two and a quarter miles of a 
 junction. At the point of their nearest approxima- 
 tion stand the mounds of Shush, three and a half 
 miles in circumference, or, if various smaller mounds 
 are included, covering the whole visible plain of 
 Shaour. A branch of the Dizful is the Shapur, or 
 * Herodotus, i, 188. 
 
32 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 Eulaeus, tlie Ulaj of Daniel, where lie saw in vision 
 the ram with two horns, and the goat which " came 
 from the west on the face of the whole earth, 
 and touched not the ground." This stream originally 
 passed through Susa, and its ancient bed may still be 
 traced. Here are the ruins of the mighty citadel 
 where so many valiant heroes fought, and the mag- 
 nificent palace where were displayed so much pride, 
 wealth, luxury, cruelty, and sensuality. Now there 
 are no inhabitants. Lions roar around its palaces ; 
 wolves, lynxes, foxes, and jackals prowl amid its 
 ruins ; wild boars and porcupines range the silentness 
 of its approaches, and francolins and partridges find 
 shelter in the deepness of its surrounding coverts. 
 
 The burial-place of the prophet Daniel is acknowl- 
 edged by Jews, Sabgeans, and Mohammedans to be at 
 Shushan. The consecrated spot is visited by many 
 pious pilgrims, who come to offer up prayers and to 
 bury their dead in the holy ground. Many tradi- 
 tions are current concerning the great prophet. 
 
 Benjamin of Tudela, A. D. 1160-1173, states that 
 Shushan then contained " very large and handsome 
 buildings of ancient date. It has seven thousand 
 Jewish inhabitants, with fourteen synagogues, in 
 front of one of which is the sepulcher of Daniel, who 
 rests in peace. The river TJlai divides the city into 
 two parts, which are connected by a bridge ; that 
 portion of it which is inhabited by the Jews contains 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 33 
 
 markets, to which all trade is confined, and there all 
 the rich dwell ; on the other side of the river they are 
 poor, because they are deprived of the above-men- 
 tioned advantages, and have even no gardens or or- 
 chards. These circumstances gave rise to jealousy, 
 which was fostered by the belief that all honor and 
 riches originated in the possession of the remains of 
 the prophet Daniel, who rests in peace, and who was 
 buried on the favored side of the river. A request 
 was made by the poor for permission to remove the 
 sepulcher to the other side, but it was rejected ; upon 
 which a war arose, and w r as carried on between the 
 two parties for a length of time. This strife lasted 
 until ' their souls became loath,' and they came to a 
 mutual agreement, by which it was arranged that the 
 coffin which contained Daniel's bones should be de- 
 posited alternately every year on either side. Both 
 parties faithfully adhered to this arrangement, until 
 it was interrupted by the interference of San jar Shah- 
 ben-Shah, who governs Persia, and holds supreme 
 power over forty-nine of its kings. . . . When this 
 great emperor San jar, king of Persia, came to Shu- 
 shan, and saw that the coffin of Daniel was removed 
 from one side to the other, he crossed the bridge 
 with a very numerous retinue, accompanied by Jews 
 and Mohammedans, and inquired into the reason of 
 these proceedings. Upon being told what we have 
 now related, he declared it to be derogatory to the 
 
34: Beauty Crowned. 
 
 honor of Daniel, and commanded that the distance 
 between the two banks should be exactly measured, 
 that Daniel's coffin should be deposited in another 
 coffin made of glass, and that it should be suspended 
 from the center of the bridge by chains of iron. A 
 place of worship was erected on the spot, open to 
 every one who desires to say his prayers, whether he 
 be Jew or Gentile : and the coffin of Daniel is sus- 
 pended from the bridge unto this very day. The 
 king commanded that, in honor of Daniel, nobody 
 should be allowed to fish in the river one mile on 
 each side of the coffin." 
 
 Other similar traditions are current. The tomb of 
 Daniel, in which, however, his remains do not, in all 
 probability, rest, is a resort not only for pilgrims who 
 lodge there at night, but also for robbers who make it 
 the rendezvous for their plundering expeditions.* 
 
 The palace at Susa, at the summit of the great 
 platform, fronting a little west of north, and com- 
 manding a magnificent view over the Susanian plains 
 to the mountains of Luristan, was exhumed by Mr. 
 Loftus and General Williams. It proved to have 
 been almost an exact duplicate of the Chehl Minar 
 of Persepolis. It consisted of several magnificent 
 groups of columns having a frontage of three hun- 
 dred arid forty-three feet nine inches, and a depth of 
 two hundred and forty-four feet. The central phalanx 
 * Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 317, et seq. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 35 
 
 contained thirty-six columns in six rows. Sixty-four 
 feet two inches from this phalanx, on the west, 
 north, and east, were an equal number of columns 
 arranged in double rows of six each. The capitals of 
 the fluted pillars in the eastern colonnade were two 
 half-griffins looking in opposite directions. Those of 
 the western colonnade were two half-bulls, while those 
 of the northern colonnade and central phalanx were 
 lotus buds, with pendent leaves, volutes, and two 
 half-bulls. The bases of the pillars of the porticoes 
 were bell-shaped, and ornamented with double or 
 triple rows of lotus, while the bases of the central 
 pillar were square. The central pillar cluster and 
 the three porches were separately roofed. Beams 
 stretched from pillar to pillar supported roof and 
 entablature. There were no walls, but the great pal- 
 ace was open to all the winds of heaven. Such ap- 
 pear to have been the main features of the palace. 
 
 "Nothing could be more appropriate than this 
 method at Susa and Persepolis, the spring residences 
 of the Persian monarchs. It must be considered that 
 these columnar halls were the equivalents of the 
 modern throne-rooms, that here all public business 
 was dispatched, and that here the king might sit and 
 enjoy the beauties of the landscape. With the rich 
 plains of Susa and Persepolis before him, he could 
 well, after his winter's residence at Babylon, dispense 
 with massive walls, which would only check the 
 
36 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 warm, fragrant breeze from those verdant prairies 
 adorned with the choicest flowers. A massive roof, 
 covering the whole expanse of columns, would be 
 too cold and dismal, whereas curtains around the cen- 
 tral group would serve to admit both light and 
 warmth. Nothing can be conceived better adapted 
 to the climate or the season." * 
 
 " Such edifices as the Chehl Minar at Persepolis, 
 and its duplicate at Susa — where long vistas of col- 
 umns met the eye on every side, and the great cen- 
 tral cluster was supported by lighter detached groups, 
 combining similarity of form with some variety of 
 ornament, where richly colored drapings contrasted 
 with the cool gray stone of the building, and a golden 
 roof overhung a pavement of many hues — must have 
 been handsome, from whatever side they were con 
 templated, and for general richness and harmony of 
 effect may have compared favorably with any edifices 
 which, up to the time of their construction, had been 
 erected in any country or by any people." f 
 
 To complete the picture of this palace, other 
 ruins, especially those at Persepolis, must be studied. 
 The great palace was situated on a terraced plat- 
 form " composed of solid masses of hewn stone which 
 were united by metal clamps, probably of iron or 
 lead." This platform is ascended by broad stair- 
 
 * Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 315. 
 
 f Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii, p. 328. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 37 
 
 ways elaborately ornamented with mythologic fig- 
 ures of lions devouring bulls, guardsmen, rows of 
 cypress-trees, rosettes, processions of the nations 
 bringing tribute to the great king, attendants carry- 
 ing articles for the table or the toilet, and inscrip- 
 tions commemorating his own glorious deeds or those 
 of his ancestors, and recognizing the gods to whom 
 they owed their conquests and glory. 
 
 On this broad elevated platform were the palaces, 
 for there were several at Persepolis, and probably at 
 the other capitals. The massive walls, the spacious 
 rooms, the reception halls, the throne-room, the guard 
 rooms, the stair-ways, the pillars and colonnades, the 
 bases and capitals, the porticoes and chambers, the 
 entablatures and inscriptions, the sculptures and orna- 
 mentations, the furnishment and garnishment, the 
 throne itself, the plating of gold, the beautiful hang- 
 ings of purple, the display, and magnificence, and 
 glory, and power, and wealth — in all this the palace 
 of Susa far outdoes the palaces of modern times. 
 
 The royal palace was furnished with a magnificence 
 commensurate with the wealth and pride of the king. 
 The floors were paved with precious stones of blue, 
 white, black, and red, so arranged as to form beauti- 
 ful patterns. Richest carpeting was placed here and 
 there so as to add to the appearance of comfort and 
 luxury. Magnificent hangings of white, green, and vio- 
 let, fastened with fine linen and purple cords to silver 
 
38 
 
 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 rings, stretched from pillar of marble to pillar of mar- 
 ble, screening the guests, and at the same time ad- 
 
 TESSELLATED PAVEMENTS. 
 
 mitting the cool breezes of summer. The ceilings 
 of the rooms were covered with plates of gold. 
 
 Four pillars of gold, inlaid with precious stones, 
 supported an embroidered canopy with inwrought 
 mythologic figures of bulls and lions and other ob- 
 jects, under which stood the golden throne of the 
 king. Couches resplendent with silver and gold 
 filled the rooms, on which guests reclined at ease. 
 Over the royal bed in the private chamber of the 
 monarch was the golden vine with the grapes imi- 
 tated by stones of priceless value. It was the work 
 of Theodore the Samian, and the gift of Pythius, a 
 rich Lydian, to Darius. A golden plane-tree, also 
 the gift of Pythius, was the companion of the vine. 
 Here, too, was the celebrated bowl of solid gold. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 39 
 
 All were rare works of the highest metallurgical 
 art. 
 
 The throne was of silver and gold. It was an ele- 
 vated chair, without arms, but with a high back, 
 cushioned and ornamented with a fringe. Along the 
 back and legs were carvings or moldings which ex- 
 hibited little artistic skill. The legs terminated 1 in 
 lions' feet resting on fluted hemispheres. The sides 
 of the chair below the seat were paneled and plain. 
 
 The feet of the monarch rested on a footstool the 
 legs of which terminated in bulls' feet. Perhaps 
 originally a religions meaning attached to this sym- 
 bolism. Winged human-headed bulls and lions of 
 large size guarded the entrances to Assyrian palaces. 
 On the portal was a figure strangling a lion. The 
 winged bull symbolized Ninip, the Chaldean Her- 
 cules, perhaps also represented in the figure stran- 
 gling the lion. He was "the crusher of opponents, 
 he who rolls along the mass of heaven and earth, 
 treader of the wide earth, head of nations, bestower 
 of scepters. Lord of lords, the deity who changes not 
 his purposes, the light of heaven and earth, the hero 
 of the gods, lord over the face of the whirlwind, son 
 of El, the Sublime." 
 
 Nergal was symbolized by the winged human- 
 headed lion. He was " the god of arms and bows, 
 the great hero, king of fight, master of battles, cham- 
 pion of the gods, god of the chase." These gigantic 
 
40 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 figures may have had a talis^nanic value. The Outhae- 
 ans, according to the Bible, worshiped tergal, The 
 natural lion was more frequently used as a symbol of 
 Nergal than the winged lion. These two, then, 
 Ninip and Nergal, the gods of war and of the chase, 
 were the foundation of the Persian throne ; or they 
 remained as survivals of Chaldean and Assyrian sym- 
 bolism. 
 
 The ancient Lydians used the same symbolism. 
 The molten sea of the Hebrews was supported by 
 "twelve oxen," "and on the borders that were be- 
 tween the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubims.'' 
 Solomon made a throne of ivory overlaid with " best 
 gold ; " " two lions stood beside the stays. And 
 twelve lions stood there on the one side and the other 
 upon the six steps." The palace of the Parthian city 
 llatra had upon its south side eight human-headed 
 bulls. The north side is so much in ruins that the 
 character of its ornamentation cannot be determined. 
 
 The kings of Parthia, probably, imitated the Per- 
 sian kings in the magnificence of their palaces, though 
 they must have fallen far behind in the wealth of dis- 
 play. Philostratus says of the royal palace of Baby- 
 lon : " The palace is roofed with brass, and a bright 
 light flashes from it. It has chambers for the women, 
 and chambers for the men, and porticoes, partly glit- 
 tering with silver, partly with cloth-of-gold embroid- 
 eries, partly with solid slabs of gold, let into the 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 41 
 
 walls, like pictures. The subjects of these embroid- 
 eries are taken from the Greek mythology, and in- 
 clude representations of Andromeda, Amymone, and 
 of Orpheus, who is frequently repeated. . . . Datis 
 is, moreover, represented, destroying Naxos with his 
 fleet, and Artaphernes besieging Eretria, and Xerxes 
 gaining his famous victories. You behold the occu- 
 pation of Athens, and the battle of Thermopylae, and 
 other points still more characteristic of the great Per- 
 sian war, rivers drunk up and disappearing from the 
 face of the earth, and a bridge stretched across the 
 sea, and a canal cut through Athos. . . . One chamber 
 for the men has a roof fashioned into a vault like the 
 heaven, composed entirely of sapphires, which are 
 the bluest of stones, and resemble the sky in color. 
 Golden images of the gods whom they worship are 
 set up about the vault, and show like stars in the 
 firmament. This is the chamber in which the king 
 delivers his judgments. Four golden magic-wheels 
 hang from its roof, and threaten the monarch with 
 the Divine Nemesis, if he exalts himself above the 
 condition of man. These wheels are called 'the 
 tongues of the gods,' and are set in their places by 
 the magi who frequent the palace." 
 
 Polybius says that the whole wood-work of the 
 palace at Ecbatana was covered with plates of gold or 
 silver, and that the building was roofed with silver 
 tiles. The temple of Anaitis was in the same man- 
 
42 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 ner richly adorned.* After the successive plunder- 
 ings of Darius, Alexander, and Seleucus Nicator, 
 the tiles and plating of the palace at Ecbatana 
 brought to Antiochus the Great nearly five millions 
 of dollars. f 
 
 This capital city is called " Shushan" seven times, 
 and " the city Shushan " twice, in the Book of Esther. 
 The expression " Shushan the palace" occurs ten times. 
 The latter was the royal quarter, and contained palaces, 
 gardens, areas, residences of the officers of the court 
 with their families and servants, temples, and various 
 dependent buildings. The whole area was encom- 
 passed by a strong wall, and protected by towers and 
 the lofty Acropolis at the western angle. 
 
 " This was Shushan the castle, the upper town, the 
 royal quarter — 'Shushan the palace' of the A. Y. 
 Here Daniel dwelt (Dan. viii, 2), and at the western 
 foot of the Acropolis on the bank of the Shapur is 
 his traditional grave. Here Nehemiah also found a 
 temporary residence. Neh. i, 1. When 'the great 
 king ' sojourned at Shushan, doubtless many thousand 
 people dwelt within this space, just as during the 
 feasts at Jerusalem prodigious multitudes, living as 
 Orientals can, were able to find room in the holy 
 city. Ctesias tells us ;£ that the king of Persia fur- 
 nished provisions daily for twenty-five thousand men, 
 
 * Polybius, x; xxvii, 10-12. f Herodotus, i, 98, note. 
 
 X Barnes upon Dan. v, 1. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 43 
 
 all of whom we presume were never at one time resi- 
 dent in the upper city." * 
 
 The site of " Shushan the palace " is probably the 
 whole diamond-shaped area on the east of the Shapur, 
 with its acute angles fronting north and south, and 
 marked by three mounds. In the northern angle is 
 the palace mound, some four thousand feet in cir- 
 cumference. Here was the palace which we have 
 described. Trilingual inscriptions found upon pedes- 
 tals ascribe its erection to Darius Hystaspis. Like 
 the famous Hall of Xerxes at Persepolis, the Chehl 
 Minar, this was doubtless a Hall of State as distin- 
 guished from the royal residence. It seems also to 
 have been used for religious purposes, for it is called 
 a temple in the inscriptions upon the pedestals, and 
 contained effigies of the gods.f Darius is represented 
 upon the sculptures at Persepolis as a pontiff king. 
 
 In the western angle of the diamond is the citadel 
 mound, the loftiest of all, two thousand eight hun- 
 dred and fifty feet in circuit at the summit. Occu- 
 pying the whole south-eastern side of the diamond is 
 " the great platform," reaching an elevation of from 
 forty to seventy feet. Each side is about three thou- 
 sand feet in length and the area about sixty acres. 
 This diamond-shaped series of mounds includes above 
 one hundred acres. This is " Shushan the palace " 
 
 * The Lowell Hebrew Club, The Boole of Esther, p. 99. 
 f Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, pp. 371, 372. 
 
44: Beauty Crowned. 
 
 as distinguished from "the city Shushan." It was, 
 doubtless, the strong-hold of the city. 
 
 The position and architectural character of the 
 Hall of State have been determined, but we know 
 little of the other buildings of this royal quarter ex- 
 cept by inference from discoveries at other capitals. 
 Among other buildings there must have been a 
 royal palace, and to this palace we must transfer so 
 much of description as evidently belongs to a domi- 
 ciliary residence. Such descriptions have been ap- 
 plied to the single building which has been un- 
 earthed, but certainly without reason. 
 
 Strabo says : " The following mentioned by Poly- 
 cletus are perhaps customary practices : At Snsa 
 each king builds in the citadel, as memorials of the 
 administration of his government, a dwelling for 
 himself, treasure-houses, and magazines for tribute 
 collected (in kind)." * Xerxes had a royal palace at 
 Persepolis, and probably at Susa. 
 
 The Hall of State — the heih'dn — seems to be men- 
 tioned but twice in the story of Esther. The great 
 feast was held in the court of the garden of this hall. 
 The queen's palace, where she entertained the king 
 and Haman was probably south-east of this hall and 
 separated from it by a garden. Esther i, 5 ; vii, 7, 8. 
 The king's palace — the hayith — was a separate build- 
 ing. So likewise the first house of the women and 
 
 * Strabo, vol. iii, p. 139. 
 
The Magnificent Palace. 45 
 
 the second bouse of the women. These several 
 buildings with their courts and gardens were closely 
 connected, and probably all situated in the northern 
 angle of the diamond. Their exact location is conject- 
 ural. The main entrance to this seraglio department 
 of " Shushan the palace" — Shushan the herah — was 
 a gate which was in front and at some distance from 
 the Hall of State. At Persepolis, and doubtless here 
 also, the propylon " consisted of a square hall inclos- 
 ing a group of four pillars." The gate was through 
 this hall, or more probably by its side. At this gate 
 a court was held. Guards and servants were there, 
 and it was perhaps the only public entrance to the 
 seraglio quarter. There may have been another gate 
 on the east in connection with the king's palace, 
 which may be located provisionally in the north-east 
 corner of this palace mound. If so, this second may 
 be " the king's gate." Midway between the king's 
 palace and the Hall of State we may locate the 
 queen's palace, west of which was the second house 
 of the women, and between the last and the king's 
 palace the first house of the women. 
 
46 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE BANQUET OF WINE. 
 
 " The king made a feast." — Esther i, 5. 
 
 " The heart of the king was merry with wine." — Esther i, 10. 
 
 Oriental nations are noted for the hospitality of 
 the people. Abraham made an impromptu feast for 
 the " three men " who tarried with him when on their 
 journey to Sodom. Guests were received and dis- 
 missed with goodly viands, and departed " with mirth, 
 and with songs, and with tabret, and with harp." 
 
 A feast graced seasons of domestic joy. Birthdays 
 and marriages were celebrated with special brilliancy. 
 At sheep-shearing the guests often became " merry 
 with wine." Sacrifices to the gods were accompanied 
 with gladsome feasts. There were vintage feasts, and 
 the solemnity of the funeral was relieved by feasting. 
 Every three years, among the Hebrews, there were 
 charitable feasts, to which they invited the Levite, the 
 stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. The rich 
 vied With each other in the brilliancy of their enter- 
 tainments, and freely poured out their wealth to pro- 
 cure the rarest viands and the products of the highest 
 culinary art. Kings impoverished their subjects that 
 they might feast their favorites and noble guests 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 47 
 
 sumptuously. In luxurious living the later Persians 
 rivaled all other peoples. 
 
 When Darius Codomannus went out with his 
 mighty army to meet Alexander the Great at Issus 
 he was accompanied with his whole family, harem, 
 and court, and all the paraphernalia of wealth, lux- 
 ury, and splendor. In his immense baggage train 
 were six hundred mules and three hundred camels 
 laden with gold and silver. When the conqueror 
 took Persepolis it required five thousand camels and 
 an immense number of mules to convey the royal 
 treasures of the Persian king to Susa and Ecbatana. 
 
 When Cyrus wished to persuade the Persians to 
 revolt he invited them to an assembly, and com- 
 manded them to bring their reaping-hooks. Herod- 
 otus relates : " When, in obedience to the orders 
 which they had received, the Persians came with their 
 reaping-hooks, Cyrus led them to a tract of ground, 
 about eighteen or twenty furlongs each way, covered 
 with thorns, and ordered them to clear it before the 
 day was out. They accomplished their task, upon 
 which he issued a second order to them, to take the 
 bath the day following and again come to him. 
 Meantime he collected together all his father's flocks, 
 both sheep and goats, and all his oxen, and slaugh- 
 tered them, and made ready to give an entertainment 
 to the entire Persian army. Wine, too, and bread of 
 the choicest kinds were prepared for the occasion. 
 
48 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 When the morrow came and the Persians appeared, 
 he bade them recline upon the grass and enjoy them- 
 selves. After the feast was over he requested them 
 to tell him ' which they liked best, to-day's work or 
 yesterday's ? ' They answered that ' the contrast was 
 indeed strong : yesterday brought them nothing but 
 what was bad, to-day every thing that was good.' 
 Cyrus instantly seized on their reply, and laid bare 
 his purpose in these words : ' Ye men of Persia, thus 
 do matters stand with you. If you choose to hearken 
 to my words, you may enjoy these and ten thousand 
 similiar delights, and never condescend to any slavish 
 toil ; but if you will not hearken, prepare yourselves 
 for unnumbered toils as hard as yesterday's. Now, 
 therefore, follow my bidding and be free.' " * Thus 
 Cyrus feasted the whole Persian army and persuaded 
 them to strike for freedom from Median rule. 
 
 In Judith we read of a great feast appointed by 
 Nebuchadnezzar after a signal victory, at which his 
 whole army was royally entertained during one hun- 
 dred and twenty days (Judith i, 16). Belshazzar 
 feasted a thousand lords, and Alexander ten thousand 
 men.. 
 
 Usually the king of Persia dined alone, and only 
 
 on special occasions was he served with his guests. 
 
 Sometimes he admitted the queen, the queen-mother, 
 
 and one or two children — less frequently even his 
 
 * Herodotus, i, 126. 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 
 
 49 
 
 brothers. At a." banquet of wine " his intimate 
 companions were privileged guests. The king re- 
 clined at the feast on a golden-footed couch and drank 
 the wine of Helbon, while his guests, seated on the 
 floor, were less nobly served. At the great banquets 
 the less distinguished of the company were enter- 
 tained in the outer court, accessible to the public, 
 while the more distinguished were admitted to the 
 king's private apartments and feasted in the chamber 
 opposite the king's chamber, from which they were 
 separated by a curtain. On certain great occasions 
 the king threw off his reserve and presided openly at 
 the banquet, talking and drinking with all, and mak- 
 ing merry with his friends, who reclined on couches 
 of silver and gold, and drank u royal 
 wine " from golden cups. Oriental 
 rules of courtesy and the personal 
 will of the monarch were the law at 
 these feasts. 
 
 The king himself had the choicest 
 luxuries, which he did not often 
 share with the multitude. The wheat 
 of Assos, the wine of Helbon, water 
 from distant streams, salt from the 
 oasis of Amnion, and every thing 
 rarest and best, were for his table. 
 The delicacies of the empire were at his command. 
 
 His amusements were few, and not especially en- 
 4 
 
 Persian King. 
 
50 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 nobling. He played at dice with his near relatives. 
 The wager was sometimes very heavy — thousands of 
 gold and valuable slaves. He amused himself by 
 carving in wood. His most noble sport was hunting 
 the lion and the wild boar, but sometimes he stooped 
 to pursue less noble beasts of the chase. 
 
 According to Kawlinson : " At the present day, 
 among the bons vivants of Persia, it is usual to sit 
 for hours before dinner drinking: wine and eatino- 
 dried fruits, such as filberts, almonds, pistachio nuts, 
 melon-seeds, etc. A party, indeed, often sits down at 
 seven o'clock and the dinner is not brought in till 
 eleven. The dessert dishes, intermingled as they are 
 with highly seasoned delicacies, are supposed to have 
 the effect of stimulating the appetite, but, in reality, 
 the solid dishes, which are served up at the end of the 
 feast, are rarely tasted. The passion, too, for wine- 
 drinking is as marked among the Persians of the pres- 
 ent day, notwithstanding the prohibitions of the 
 Prophet, as it was in the time of Herodotus. It is 
 quite appalling, indeed, to see the quantity of liquor 
 which some of these topers habitually consume, and 
 they usually prefer spirits to wine." Herodotus says : 
 "It is also their general practice to deliberate upon 
 affairs of weight when they are drunk ; and then on 
 the morrow, when they are sober, the decision to 
 which they came the night before is put before them 
 by the master of the house in which it was made ; 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 51 
 
 and if it is then approved they act on it ; if not, they 
 set it aside. Sometimes, however, they are sober at 
 their first deliberation, but in this case they always 
 reconsider the matter under the influence of wine." 
 According to Tacitus, who seems to approve the cus- 
 tom, the Germans had a similar practice, and Plato 
 says that it prevailed among the Thracians, the 
 Scythians, the Celts, the Iberians, and the Carthagin- 
 ians. Daris of Samos says that at the feast of Mithras, 
 held once a year, the king was bound to get drunk.* 
 
 Xerxes was ever fond of display. He gave rich 
 presents to a beautiful plane-tree ; he caused to be 
 erected a throne of white marble upon which to sit 
 while reviewing .his army ; the spears of the soldiers 
 who were near his presence were adorned with gold 
 and silver apples and pomegranates ; and every tiling 
 was on a scale of the greatest splendor. The follow- 
 ing circumstance is related. The war-tent of Xerxes 
 was left with Mardonius in Greece, and fell into the 
 hands of the enemy. " When Pausanius, therefore, 
 saw the tent witli its adornments of gold and silver, 
 and its hangings of divers colors, he gave command- 
 ment to the bakers and the cooks to make him ready 
 a banquet in such fashion as was their wont for Mar- 
 donius. Then they made ready as they were bidden, 
 and Pausanius, beholding the couches of gold and 
 silver daintily decked out with their rich covertures, 
 
 * Herodotus, i, 133. 
 
52 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 and the tables of gold and silver laid, and the feast 
 itself prepared with all magnificence, was astonished 
 at the good things which were set before him, and, 
 being in a pleasant mood, gave commandment to his 
 own followers to make ready a Spartan supper. When 
 the suppers were both served, and it was apparent 
 how vast a difference lay between the two, Pausanius 
 laughed and sent his servants to call to him the Greek 
 generals. On their coming he pointed to the two 
 boards and said : i I sent for you, O Greeks, to show 
 you the folly of this Median captain, who, when he 
 enjoyed such fare as this, must needs come here to rob 
 us of our penury.' " * 
 
 The great king had returned from his successful 
 campaign in Egypt. His influential friends urged 
 other and greater conquests. He could extend Ins 
 dominion to the w^est and annex Greece to the vast 
 empire he inherited from his father. He called an 
 assembly to deliberate upon his gigantic scheme. He 
 could take an inventory of his possessions, listen to 
 reports from distant provinces, discuss plans, raise 
 an army and gather munitions of war, and be ready 
 to take the field. He could impress subject princes 
 with his own glorious majesty, exhibit his royal power, 
 display the magnificence of his court, lavish his wealth 
 in the regal splendor of such an entertainment as the 
 world had never seen, and bind powerful friends to 
 * Herodotus, ix, 82. 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 53 
 
 his interests by the distribution of kingly presents. 
 Princes, nobles, warriors, and statesmen came from a 
 hundred and seven and twenty provinces, from India 
 even unto Ethiopia. The elite of the army were 
 there ; the nobles, the magnates, and the grandees of 
 the kingdom were present, " when he showed the 
 riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his 
 excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and 
 four-score days." After this there was a still more 
 royal feast of seven days given to all the people that 
 were present in " Shushan the palace." 
 
 This was the celebrated assembly which discussed 
 the question of the invasion of Greece. At first 
 the king was disposed to follow the advice of 
 Mardonius, who favored the expedition, but upon 
 consideration he yielded to the more sober reasoning 
 of Artabanus, who feared the consequences of an 
 invasion of Europe. Afterward, when they had been 
 deliberating " many days," Xerxes was led to change 
 his mind by a vision which stood over him every 
 night. Then, by his command, Artabanus, clad in the 
 kingfe garments, took his seat upon the royal throne, 
 and then lay down to sleep upon the royal bed, to see 
 whether the same vision would make him a visit. 
 As he fell asleep the same dream appeared to him as 
 had troubled the rest of the king, and addressed him 
 in words of stern rebuke and threatening. " In such 
 words, as Artabanus thought, the vision threatened 
 
54 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 him, and then endeavored to burn out his eyes with 
 red-hot irons. At this he shrieked, and, leaping 
 from his couch, hurried to Xerxes, and sitting down 
 at his side, gave him a full account of the vision." 
 Henceforth active preparations were made for the 
 expedition. 
 
 "This counterfeit phantom frightens Xerxes out 
 of the conclusion of his second thought and his better 
 judgment, and overcomes the maturer wisdom of 
 Artabanus, his uncle. It is this, in fact, that seems 
 to turn the scale, and settle the point that the great 
 expedition shall be undertaken. Superstition is potent 
 in its way ; but that a phantom should have assailed 
 a man of the courage and wisdom of Artabanus with 
 hot irons, and alarmed him with the attempt to burn 
 out his eyes, and actually have succeeded in driving 
 him, with a loud outcry, from his couch and his 
 room, and been regarded by him still without question 
 as a veritable apparition, is strongly suggestive of a 
 brain from which the fumes of the wine-cup have not 
 wholly passed away." * 
 
 This banquet at Susa was doubtless given in the 
 early spring of B. C. 483 — there were thrones of the 
 kingdom also at Ecbatana, Persepolis, and Babylon, 
 where the court was sometimes held — and was a true 
 symposiinn, or drinking feast. After keeping open 
 house for six months, he appointed the crowning 
 
 * Herod., vii, 8-19 ; Loivell Htbrew Club, TJie Book of Esther, p. 20. 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 55 
 
 feast of seven days "in the court of the garden of 
 the King's palace," the paradise, or garden, con- 
 nected with the Hall of State. 
 
 The king himself, a man remarkable for his natu- 
 ral beauty, was the cynosure of all eyes. The whole 
 dress was such as to give grace and dignity to the 
 person. The robe, or "Median garment," was of 
 royal purple, and probably of richest silk and em- 
 broidered with gold. It was close-fitting at the neck 
 and chest, with loose, open sleeves, and with ample 
 long-flowing folds extending below the ankles and 
 confined about the waist with a girdle. The tunic, 
 or under-garment, reached from the neck to the knee 
 and covered the arms tightly to the wrists. It was 
 purple mixed with white — royal colors — and of 
 rich material. The trousers were of crimson, and the 
 long tapering shoes of deep yellow or saffron, but- 
 toned in front and reaching high in the instep. The 
 distinguishing feature of the dress of the king, by 
 which it specially differed from that of the nobles, 
 was the peculiar head-dress. It was " a tall stiff cap, 
 slightly swelling as it ascended, flat at top and termi- 
 nating in a ring or circle which projected beyond the 
 lines of the sides. Round it, probably near the bot- 
 tom, was worn a fillet or band — the diadem proper — 
 which was blue, spotted with white." Such a head- 
 dress would readily distinguish the king from the 
 members of his court. They w T ore simple fillets, or 
 
56 
 
 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 comparatively low caps. The other garments of the 
 king, already described, though of richer material and 
 somewhat different in color, yet closely resembled the 
 dress of the nobles. 
 
 The monarch was further distinguished by the 
 golden scepter which, in the representations which 
 have been discovered, is frequently seen in the king's 
 hand. It was a simple rod five feet long, ornamented 
 by a ball at the 
 top and taper- 
 ing nearly to a 
 point at the bot- 
 tom. The king 
 held it in his 
 right hand near 
 the thick end ; 
 the thin end, 
 whether he sat 
 or walked, he 
 rested on the 
 ground in front 
 of him, the 
 scepter sloping 
 to the ground. 
 
 The use of the 
 parasol was also 
 confined to the R0YAL PARAS0L - 
 
 king. It had a long thick stem terminated by a 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 
 
 57 
 
 peculiar ornament at the top. The shade was 
 tent-like in shape and without curtain or tassel. It 
 was kept open by curved supports, and on great occa- 
 sions was held over the king's head by an attendant 
 who walked behind. 
 
 On all state occasions, when the king received 
 embassadors, royal or noble visi- 
 tors, and high officers of the court, 
 when he received reports from 
 .secretaries or 
 governors of 
 provinces or 
 military lead- 
 ers, when he issued com- 
 mands or royal edicts, the 
 diadem was upon his 
 king with attendants, brow, the golden scepter 
 in his hand, and the royal parasol over 
 his head. 
 
 The king wore golden earrings, often 
 set with precious jewels, bejeweled golden 
 bracelets, and a twisted golden collar. In 
 his girdle he carried a short sword, the 
 sheath of which was formed of a single 
 precious stone, jasper, agate, 
 lazuli. 
 
 The parasol-bearer and the fan-bearer, 
 who also carried " the royal pocket-handkerchief," 
 
 Fan, or Fly- 
 chaser. 
 
58 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 were always near the king. " The fan, or fly-chaser, 
 had a long straight handle ornamented with a sort 
 of beading, which held a brush of some 
 springy fibrous matter. The bearer, whose 
 place was directly behind the monarch, 
 held his implement, which bent forward 
 gracefully, nearly at arm's-length over the 
 master's head." Sometimes the fan-bearer 
 scent-bot- held in his hand a bottle of perfumery. 
 This was probably placed in the water 
 wherewith the king and his guests washed before 
 meals. 
 
 The Persians made great use of perfumeries. When 
 the royal tiara was not in use, it was laid away with 
 a mixture of myrrh and labyzus. The Persians were 
 supposed to have been the inventors of aromatic un- 
 guents. To give himself a beautiful complexion, the 
 king, according to Pliny, anointed his person with 
 an unguent composed of lion's fat, palm wine, saffron, 
 and helianthus. At Arbela, Alexander found among 
 the camp equipage of Darius a case of unguents. The 
 " royal ointment" of the Parthian kings was composed 
 of cinnamon, spikenard, myrrh, cassia, gum styrax, 
 saffron, cardamom, wine, honey, and sixteen other 
 ingredients. 
 
 The tribute of frankincense from Arabia was a 
 thousand talents' weight annually, much of which was 
 doubtless required by the royal court. As was the 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 59 
 
 case in Egypt and Greece, so in Persia, unguent vases 
 were of choicest alabaster. 
 
 There were many other officers of the court less 
 closely attached to the person of the king — the stew- 
 ard of the household, the master of the horse, the 
 chief eunuch, who had charge of the harem ; spies, who 
 kept the king informed concerning all that transpired 
 about the court and in the kingdom, and hence called 
 his "eyes and ears ;" secretaries, who wrote the king's 
 letters, edicts, and books of records ; messengers ; ushers, 
 who introduced with becoming formalities strangers 
 to the king ; " tasters," who tried all the food placed 
 before him to guard against poison ; cup-bearers, who 
 poured out his wine ; chamberlains, who assisted him 
 to retire ; and musicians, who amused him with harp 
 and song. There were also multitudes of guards, 
 door-keepers, huntsmen, grooms, cooks, and various 
 domestic servants. And then we must add visitors 
 and guests, princes and nobles, captives and foreign 
 refugees, hostages, embassadors, and travelers. In- 
 deed, we are informed that the king fed daily at his 
 palace fifteen thousand persons, at a cost of four hun- 
 dred talents. A thousand beasts were slaughtered for 
 each meal, besides poultry, ostriches, and other birds. 
 These estimates, however, may refer to special feasts, 
 and not to the ordinary repasts. The great feast 
 would require an unusually large number of attend- 
 ants. 
 
60 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 " Solomon's provision for one day was thirty meas- 
 ures of fine flour, and three-score measures of meal, 
 ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and 
 a hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and 
 fallow-deer, and fatted fowl." 1 Kings iv, 22, 23. 
 
 Perhaps there were none of the poorer class present 
 at this banquet. The ordinary dress of the poorer 
 class was the tunic and trousers, a felt cap or a mere 
 linen or muslin rag for the head, a strap about the 
 waist, and high shoes upon the feet. The richer class 
 of Persia adopted much of the costume of the court — 
 flowing robes, embroidered tiaras, also drawers, shirts, 
 socks, and gloves. They wore collars and bracelets of 
 gold, while the sheaths and handles of their swords 
 and daggers were also of gold, perhaps adorned with 
 gems. The trappings of their horses were of the 
 richest character, the bit being often of solid gold. 
 Their tables were inlaid with silver and gold ; they 
 had gorgeous couches, soft carpets, and gold and sil- 
 ver plate. 
 
 In their early history the Persians were temperate 
 in eating and drinking. Wheaten bread, barley cakes, 
 meat, and water satisfied them, and they had but one 
 meal each day. The poorer class subsisted largely 
 upon the natural fruits of the soil. Luxury and self- 
 indulgence came in later. Wine became the common 
 beverage, and they prided themselves on the amount 
 they could drink. 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 61 
 
 The usual rules of court etiquette were largely 
 adopted among the people, and they enjoyed the same 
 liberty with respect to wives, concubines, and eunuchs. 
 The education of their sons consisted in those manly 
 exercises by which they would be prepared for war, 
 and certain moral teachings drawn from standard leg- 
 endary poems. They cared naught for trade and 
 commerce, and labor was for slaves. "With the advance 
 of luxury, they curled their hair and beards, or even 
 wore false hair, beards, and mustachios. Cosmetics 
 beautified the complexion, and coloring matter on the 
 eyelids increased the apparent size and brilliancy of 
 their eyes. And there came absolute rule, tyranny, 
 barbarity, a blunted moral sense, horrible punish- 
 ments, treachery, brutality, and nameless crimes. 
 
 The Hall of State, the royal palace, the many build- 
 ings of the northern angle of the diamond, and their 
 surrounding paradises, were the scene of all the 
 beauty, pride, wealth, luxury, and glory of the great 
 empire of kingdoms. Emeralds were gathered from 
 Egypt, Media, and Cyprus ; green rubies from Bac- 
 tria, and red rubies and carbuncles from Caria ; opals 
 and sapphires from Cyprus, and opals also from Egypt 
 and Asia Minor; amethysts from Cyprus, Egypt, 
 Galatia, and Armenia, and sards from Babylonia ; 
 jaspers from Cyprus, Asia Minor, and Persia proper, 
 and the lapis lazuli from Egypt, Cyprus, and Media; 
 agates from Carmania, Susiana, and Armenia, and the 
 
62 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 topaz from Upper Egypt ; jets from Lycia, and gar- 
 nets and beryls from Armenia. These were wrought 
 into most precious jewelry and blazed on the breasts 
 of Persian beauties. They adorned bracelets, armlets, 
 chains for the neck, and sheaths for swords. Pearls 
 from the ocean lent themselves to assist in this display 
 of wealth, beauty, and magnificence. The floors were 
 mosaics of valuable stones. The tables were gold 
 and silver and set with gems. Vases of agate filled 
 with skillfully prepared perfumes steeped the air in 
 fragrance. Flowers of rich colors and sweet aroma 
 smiled in their more modest, winning beauty. The 
 mountains and deserts of Thibet and India were swept 
 for their gold. Rivers of Lydia gave up their wealth. 
 The mines of Kerman, Armenia, Asia Minor, and the 
 Elburz brought their silver. Damascus sent the most 
 valuable marble. Phenicia sent her purple, and 
 Babylonia her embroideries rich in their revelations 
 of mythologic lore. The rich carpets came from 
 the looms of Babylon and Sardis ; the splendid shawls 
 from Kashmir and India ; the fine linen from Bor- 
 sippa and Egypt ; the coverlets from Damascus ; the 
 muslins from Babylonia; and the noble cedar from 
 Lebanon. 
 
 So splendid are the preparations that guest after 
 guest, as they arrive, can but exclaim in astonish- 
 ment and wonder : u White and violet awnings, fast- 
 ened with cords of fine linen and purple to rings of 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 63 
 
 silver and pillars of white marble ; conches of gold and 
 silver on a pavement of blue stone, and white marble, 
 and alabaster, and red stone ! And they gave drink 
 in vessels of gold, even vessels differing from one an- 
 other ; and royal wine was abundant, according to the 
 hand of the king." Esther i, 6, 7. Strabo says of the 
 Persians : " Their couches, drinking-cups, and other 
 articles are so brilliantly ornamented that they gleam 
 with gold and silver." * 
 
 The stones for these columns and pavements must 
 have been brought from a great distance. As speci- 
 mens of the mineral relics of Shushan, Loftus men- 
 tions white marble, red sandstone, Oriental alabaster, 
 polished basalt, blue limestone, and yellow limestone, f 
 
 The king, crowned with the diadem of empire, clad 
 in richest attire, numerously attended, proud and 
 selfish, scepter in hand, " sat on the throne of his 
 kingdom," as he sat to view the battles of Thermopy- 
 lae and Salamis, and " showed the riches of his glo- 
 rious kingdom and the honor of his excellent maj- 
 esty." Nobles and princes from the one hundred and 
 twenty-seven provinces, in Median garments, graced 
 the occasion by their presence. The feast was the 
 grandest held by Xerxes during his reign. It lasted 
 one hundred and eighty days, and culminated in a 
 special seven-days' feast of unexampled magnificence. 
 
 * Strabo, vol. iii, p. 139. 
 
 f Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, pp. 346, 376, 404, 408, 409, 415. 
 
64 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The king drank the wine of Helbon. His guests 
 received " royal wine in abundance," poured into 
 golden goblets from silver decanters. Nuts gathered 
 from many forests were served in dishes of agate and 
 onyx. Luscious tropical fruits, inviting to the palate, 
 were displayed on golden and silver plates. Figs, 
 dates, sweetmeats, and all delicacies were passed again 
 and again. All grains, fowl of every wing, flesh of 
 many kinds of beasts, all foods of the soil — these pre- 
 pared in the highest style of culinary art, the praise 
 of the epicure — were served in many courses. 
 
 Servants hasten to and fro to do their master's bid- 
 ding. The voice of song is heard. The shout of 
 laughter echoes through the halls and gardens. There 
 is many a sally of wit. And still flows the royal 
 wine. Guests come from distant provinces and re- 
 turn. Suns rise and set. Weeks and months pass. 
 There are the same hurry and excitement and prodi- 
 gality and courtesies and compliments and beauty and 
 pride and revelry and boasting of " excellent majes- 
 ty." Outside the palace, throughout the vast empire, 
 there are thousands of men, women, and children 
 starving for want of bread. What cares the king ? 
 Men, women, and children are of no value, except as 
 they administer to his personal enjoyment. And so 
 the feast continues and, as ever, the royal wine flows. 
 Garlands delicately woven by skillful fingers crown 
 those who are mighty to drink wine. Festoons of 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 65 
 
 many flowers and evergreens arch the broad entrances, 
 entwine the pillars, and leap from colonnade to col- 
 onnade. At night lights from Oriental chandeliers, 
 shining upon tables and ceilings of gold, seem to 
 start up ten thousand fires, and to make every pearl 
 and gem and chain and cup and plate of. gold a blaz- 
 ing star. The eye is wearied and almost blinded by 
 the dazzling splendors and blazing beauty. 
 
 But affairs of state must occupy some portion of 
 the time of the king and his counselors. They con- 
 sult concerning the glory of the kingdom, and espe- 
 cially concerning the conquest of Greece, upon which 
 the king is about to enter. They talk of the great 
 Cambvses and the greater Cyrus, and the conversation 
 seems to inspire the king with the determination to 
 excel them all in the glory of his majesty. He will 
 raise an army such as the world has never seen, and 
 conquer Europe and annex it to the empire. He re- 
 ceives reports from all the provinces, issues edicts, and 
 makes requisitions for troops, ships, gold, and sup- 
 plies. He punishes criminals and pardons offenders. 
 lie raises some to positions of honor and reduces oth- 
 ers to poverty. He gives rich presents and grants 
 important privileges to his favorites, and disgraces 
 those who offend him and banishes them from the 
 kingdom. There are, probably, impressive religious 
 services. The magi are invoked to decide important 
 questions, either by lot or by means of magical rites. 
 
66 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 There are, doubtless, many military reviews to feed 
 the excitement of the multitude. The king plays at 
 dice with noble guests for immense stakes. There 
 are royal hunting expeditions in the forests or in some 
 ) of the king's paradises. 
 
 There are trophies of victories and memorials of 
 conquests. The king's word is law. A world lies at 
 his feet, and he stands upon the necks of princes. 
 Wealth is poured into his treasury, tributes and gifts 
 from all the provinces. Like Solomon when visited 
 by the Queen of Sheba, he shows all his treasures — 
 the palaces, his throne, his gold and silver plate, his 
 royal jewelry, his uncounted wealth, his trophies of 
 war and conquest, his eunuchs, his slaves, his noble 
 captives and hostages, and his royal inscriptions. No 
 other monarch has ever ruled over so broad an em- 
 pire, and no other has received so rich a tribute, or 
 the homage of so many kings " from India even unto 
 Ethiopia." 
 
 Still flows wine from the royal cellars. None is 
 compelled to drink more than he wishes. The 
 Greeks at their feasts had a symposiarch, the Romans 
 an arbiter bibendi, the Jews a master of the feast. 
 The drinking was under the direction of the master, 
 who received his orders from the throne. Not so 
 here, but each guest drinks to suit his pleasure. This 
 is provided in a special edict of the king — " No com- 
 pelling." " The wine of the kingdom " flows abun- 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 67 
 
 dantly. Nobles become drunken. Eyes are red, steps 
 unsteady, hands tremble, the tongue is loosened, and 
 pride is fed. 
 
 The " hundred and four-score days " have already 
 passed, and the king has made " a feast unto all the 
 people that are present in Shushan the palace, both 
 unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the 
 garden of the king's palace." The king, inflamed 
 with wine, boasts of the strength of his good right 
 arm, his personal prowess, his bravery in battle, his 
 military renown, the homage and loyalty of his sub- 
 jects, the multitude of his slaves, and the beauty of 
 his queen. And still he drinks the wine of Helbon. 
 The guests vie with each other in feeding his vanity, 
 and praise him in unmeasured terms of flattery. The 
 climax is reached when the king declares that the 
 nobles and princes and guests must themselves see 
 Queen Vashti in order to fully appreciate his hap- 
 piness in her possession. They applaud his sug- 
 gestion. 
 
 Meantime Vashti has been feasting the women in 
 " the royal house." It is the seventh day, the last 
 day of the feast. That the beautiful queen may be 
 ushered into his presence in a manner befitting her 
 dignity and position, he commands the seven cham- 
 berlains, or eunuchs — Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, 
 Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas — " to bring 
 Vashti the queen before the king with the crown 
 
68 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty, 
 for she was fair to look on." 
 
 This is not the only case in. which an Oriental 
 monarch has wished to have his own estimate of his 
 queen's loveliness confirmed by the opinion of other 
 judges of female beauty. Herodotus gives an account 
 of the assassination of Candaules, king of Sardis : "Now 
 it happened that this Candaules was in love with his 
 own wife, and not only so, but thought her the fairest 
 woman in the whole world. This fancy had strange 
 consequences. There was in his body-guard a man 
 whom he specially favored, Gyges, the son of Das- 
 cylus. All affairs of great moment were intrusted 
 by Candaules to this person, and to him he was wont 
 to extol the surpassing beauty of his wife. So mat- 
 ters went on for a while. At length, one day, Can- 
 daules, for he was fated to end ill, thus addressed his 
 follower : ' I see thou dost not credit what I tell thee 
 of my lady's loveliness ; but come now, since men's 
 ears are less credulous than their eyes, contrive some 
 means whereby thou mayest behold her,' " contrary to 
 our customs. Gyges was amazed at the proposition 
 to do the fair lady wrong, and endeavored to persuade 
 the king from such a disgraceful course. He quoted 
 a proverb against the king's proposal, and professed 
 his unlimited confidence in the king's word. The 
 king thereupon became so urgent that Gyges feared 
 to offend him, and yielded to his plan. 
 
 Candaules concealed Gyges in his chamber, but 
 
The Banquet of Wike. 69 
 
 " as he was passing out she saw him, and instantly 
 divining what had happened, she neither screamed, 
 ... nor even appeared to have noticed aught, pur- 
 posing to take vengeance upon the husband who had 
 so affronted her." The next morning, choosing some 
 of the most faithful from among her retinue and dis- 
 closing to them the disgrace to which she had been 
 subjected, and announcing her determination to secure 
 summary vengeance, she summoned Gyges into her 
 presence. He obeyed, supposing that she wished to 
 confer with him, and not suspecting that she knew 
 aught of what had occurred. She addressed him in 
 these words : " Take thy choice, Gyges, of two courses 
 which are open to thee. Slay Candaules and thereby 
 become my lord and obtain the Lydian throne, or die 
 this moment in his room." Gyges besought the 
 queen to release him from so hard a choice, but she 
 remained inexorable. Gyges must slay the king in 
 his own bed. 
 
 " All was then prepared for the attack, and when 
 night fell Gyges, seeing that he had no retreat or 
 escape, but must absolutely either slay Candaules, or 
 himself be slain, followed his mistress into the sleep 
 ing-room. She placed a dagger in his hand and hid 
 him carefully behind the self-same door. Then Gyges, 
 when the king had fallen asleep, entered privily into 
 the chamber and struck him dead. Thus did the wife 
 and kingdom of Candaules pass into the possession of 
 his follower Gyges, of whom Archilochus, the Parian, 
 
70 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 who lived about the same time, made mention in a 
 poem written in iambic trimeter verse." * 
 
 The historian relates how the seven noble embassa- 
 dors of Megabazus to the court of Amyntas the 
 Macedonian lost their lives for the audacity and wan- 
 tonness they displayed at the feast " when the meal 
 was over and they were all set to the drinking." f 
 
 Xerxes, " merry with wine," sent for Queen Vashti 
 — " the best " — that he might dazzle his guests with 
 her beauty. She must come in brilliant attire and 
 with the "crown royal" upon her head, to submit 
 herself to the impudent gaze of half-drunken no- 
 bles. Her " crown " was probably a tall stiff cap 
 set with large jewels like that of Mousa, the Par- 
 thian queen, which appears on a coin of her son 
 Phraataces. £ 
 
 Upon ordinary occasions the queen may have been 
 accustomed to take her meals with the king, § but 
 not at public feasts. She was now presiding at the 
 entertainment of the women in the palace. " The 
 summons probably found her with a crowd of female 
 guests before her. She might have been loath at 
 another time to obey ; but while they looked on, it 
 was a severer trial to be required to abdicate her dig- 
 nity and, confessing her royal state his bounty, to 
 cast, as it were, her crown before his footstool." 
 
 * Herodotus, i, 8-12. f Ibid., v, 8. 
 
 \ Rawliuson, The Sixth Oriental Monarchy, p. 220. 
 
 § Herodotus, ix, 110. || Tyrwhitt. 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 71 
 
 None but a Xerxes would have thus broken in 
 upon the order of the entertainment, and humbled 
 the queen in the eyes of all the noble women of the 
 empire. The command was very inopportune. A 
 more serious objection was that to obey the king's 
 command were to do that which, if not positively for- 
 bidden by law, was certainly forbidden by custom. 
 The social customs of a thousand years cannot be 
 easily broken. If the king were to command, and that 
 without reason and against all law, and she to obey 
 blindly and mechanically, she were not a help-meet, 
 not a woman, but a convenient ornament. to be exhib- 
 ited at the king's pleasure. Such extravagance and 
 folly were not known in history, and they outraged 
 the established customs of the age ! The applause of 
 the revelers would have been her degradation. After 
 this, according to the feelings of the times, she could 
 not have been looked upon as a virtuous matron. 
 Xerxes in his sober moments would have been the 
 first to condemn the folly. Eot only would Yashti 
 have been dishonored as a woman, as a mother, and 
 as a queen, and her reputation threatened, but also 
 her royal husband would have shared the disgrace. 
 
 Was not the king mad to issue such a command ? 
 Yes ; wine had stolen away his brain. " It is not for 
 kings, O Lemuel ! it is not for kings to drink wine ; 
 nor for princes strong drink : lest they drink, and for- 
 get the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the 
 afflicted." Prov. xxxi, 4. Wine was in and wit was 
 
72 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 out. Had there been no wine at the feast the king 
 would have been saved a crying disgrace. 
 
 " The drinking was according to the law ; none did 
 compel : for so the king had appointed to all the offi- 
 cers of his house, that they should do according to 
 every man's pleasure." 
 
 " He respected their national habits, and did not 
 forget that some of the mountaineer Persian tribes, 
 which retained the simplicity and strictness of their 
 ancient customs, were famous for their temperance." * 
 If the king yielded to the wishes of the temperate 
 and issued the irreversible mandate, " No compelling," 
 he also gave full license to the intemperate. "We 
 are not told in the present passage that the king, on 
 this occasion, exceptionally permitted moderation, 
 especially to such of his guests as were, according to 
 their ancestral customs, addicted to moderation, and 
 who would else have been compelled to drink im- 
 moderately. For the words with which this verse 
 concludes, wmile they imply also a permission to each 
 to drink as little as he chose, are specially intended 
 to allow every one to take much." f 
 
 While permitting moderation, the meaning was 
 " that the guests in a courageous and vigorous carous- 
 ing should show their appreciation of the liberal hos- 
 pitality of the king, and at the same time evince their 
 ability to do something in their drinking worthy of 
 the royal table." J 
 
 * Wordsworth. f Bertheau. % Lange. 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 73 
 
 Since the guests doubtless vied with the great king, 
 there must have been at this feast many who were 
 mighty to drink wine. 
 
 Anciently, as in modern times, wine wrought ruin 
 wherever it went. The monuments of Egypt picture 
 the drunkenness of the people. At Denderah was 
 held a drinking feast, and the goddess of drunkenness 
 was worshiped. Drunkenness threatened the ruin of 
 the Chinese empire more than a thousand years before 
 Christ. About B. C. 1116 the emperor of China felt 
 impelled to publish an edict called " The Announce- 
 ment about Drunkenness." The Indians in the time 
 of the Yedas were cursed with this curse. The Assyr- 
 ians drank wine. Babylon fell while her defender 
 and his court were engaged in a drunken carousal. 
 In the time of Christ the Corinthians were usually 
 introduced on the stage in a state of intoxication. 
 Rome was cursed with drunkenness and debauchery. 
 Palestine was swallowed up of strong drink. 
 
 Total abstinence then, as now, was the sovereign 
 remedy. The Institutes of Manu enjoined it upon 
 Brahman priests. It was imperative in Buddhism. 
 It gave strength to the arm of the Lacedaemonians. 
 It organized the Rechabites and ISTazarites of Pales- 
 tine. Total abstinence was the practice of the Essenes 
 of Judea and the Theraputse of Egypt. The Milesian 
 and Cean maidens drank no wine. 
 
 The seeds of intemperance are planted in the 
 home. Wine and brandy are used in modern cookery. 
 
74: Beauty Crowned. 
 
 They find a permanent and prominent place in the 
 book of household receipts. Children are early ac- 
 customed to their flavor. Liquors are always included 
 in the list of family medicines. Patients use alcohol 
 as a remedy long after its necessity, as determined 
 by the judgment of competent medical authority, 
 has ceased. Resort is had to alcohol as the panacea 
 for all ills. Without physicians' prescriptions liquors 
 are freely taken, and recommended to young and old 
 alike. The bill of fare at public houses includes a 
 long wine list. Wine, cider, and other intoxicating 
 beverages are found in the cellar and pantry of pri- 
 vate homes. Wine is placed on the board at fash- 
 ionable suppers, and wine aud beer sparkle and foam 
 on the family table. Thus from his earliest years the 
 child is made familiar with the appearance and pres- 
 ence of wine, becomes acquainted with its taste, takes 
 it in his medicine when sick, and in his food when 
 well, learns to think of it as not only harmless, but 
 positively nutritious and healthful and medicinal ; 
 considers its use as a sure test of manliness ; is urged 
 to drink by all the power of social and parental ex- 
 ample, and is invited to its pleasures by all the fasci- 
 nation of fair promise appealing to the lust of the 
 flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, with 
 a persuasive eloquence most difficult to resist. No 
 wonder that with such a system of education and dis- 
 cipline the thousands fall. Reformation in the home 
 is of prime importance. Wives and mothers share 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 75 
 
 with husbands and fathers the responsibility of the 
 drunkenness that curses the earth. 
 
 Not all the wines of antiquity were intoxicating. 
 Some were certainly sweet, and produced no intoxi- 
 cating effect. The chief butler's dream in Genesis 
 accurately represents one of the ways in which wine 
 w T as made in Egypt. A picture exhumed at Pompeii 
 represents Bacchus squeezing clusters of grapes and 
 catching the juice in a wine -cup. Dr. Ebers found 
 a picture on the walls of the temple of Edfu repre- 
 senting a king standing with a cup in his hand, and 
 this inscription underneath : "They press grapes into 
 the water and the king drinks." The Greeks and 
 Romans were acquainted with the unfermented juice 
 of the grape. The ancients could prevent or arrest 
 fermentation. 
 
 The wines of the Bible are not all intoxicating. But 
 we need not depend on a lexicographical and etymo- 
 logical argument. The Bible is the best text-book on 
 temperance which has ever been published. It fur- 
 nishes the awful examples of Noah, Lot, the carousers 
 at Belshazzar's feast, and at the more brilliant ban- 
 quet of Xerxes, in " Shushan the palace." Nabal the 
 churlish died ten days after a drunken feast. Absalom 
 invited Ammon, the king's son, to a sheep-shearing 
 feast, got him drunk, and then slew him. Joel 
 charges the ungodly with having sold "a girl for 
 wjne, that they might drink." The wine of the hea- 
 then is "the poison of dragons." A woe is pro- 
 
76 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 nounced upon the drunkards of Ephraim. Those 
 who are mighty to drink wine and mingle strong 
 drink, and whoever gives his neighbor drink and 
 makes him drunken, can look for but labor and sorrow 
 and woe. Those who rise early in the morning to 
 drink, and continue late at night in drunken revelry, 
 are under the curse of God. The exhortation is given, 
 ; 'Be not among wine-bibbers," and the Christian is 
 commanded not to eat with one who is called a broth- 
 er, if he be a drunkard. Life-like pictures are given 
 of drunkenness and its fruits. We see the unsteady 
 step, the reeling form, the drunken fall, the feast of 
 wine, the subsequent sickness, and the vomit and filth. 
 We hear the rude joke, the boisterous laugh, and the 
 idiotic shout. We note the disputes, contentions, sense- 
 less babblings, roused passions, street fights, aimless 
 wanderings, uncertain vision, wounds, povertj^, rags, 
 sorrow, and woe. We learn that wine is a mocker, and 
 that strong drink is raging, and that it is the height 
 of folly to be deceived. We hear it declared that no 
 drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. The 
 whole spirit of the Bible is opposed to intemperance. 
 O rum, how dost thou curse the world ! Thou 
 dost devour the wealth of the people. Thou dost 
 undermine the foundations of society, invade and 
 control halls of legislation and justice, and set at de- 
 fiance all laws, human and divine. Thou dost enter 
 the home of peace, purity, and happiness and smite 
 it with thy black wings ; forthwith peace is gone, 
 
The Banquet of Wine. 77 
 
 purity, weeping and heart-broken, disappears, and 
 happiness is seen no more. Thou dost enter the 
 heart of the husband and he becomes a monster ; thou 
 dost enter the heart of the wife and she becomes a 
 demoness. Thou dost steal bread from the mouths 
 of famishing children, snatch clothing from their 
 backs, put out the fire on their hearths, tear down 
 the dwelling from over their heads, paint misery 
 upon their fair features, and turn them out in the 
 fury of the wintry storm to beg in the streets. Thou 
 dost turn joy into sorrow, light into darkness, laugh- 
 ter into mourning, and gladsome songs into the wail 
 of woe, the cry of anguish, the shriek of horror, 
 the sob of grief, the groan of suppressed agony, 
 and loud lamentation — the unavailing remedy of a 
 breaking heart. Thou dost make one an idiot, an- 
 other a pauper, the third a madman, the fourth a 
 murderer, and the fifth a suicide. For one thou dost 
 prepare the assassin's dagger, for another the burglar's 
 tools, for the third the poisoner's cup, and for the 
 fourth the robber's fatal shot. Like some treacher- 
 ous Joab, thou dost feign an interest in the health of 
 Amasa, proffer the kiss of friendship, and then smite 
 him with thy sword in the fifth rib. Like some de- 
 ceitful Delilah, thou dost lull Samson to sleep in thy 
 lap, and then deliver him, shorn of his strength, into 
 the hand of the uncircumcised Philistines. Like 
 some fiery Jael, thou dost allure Sisera by thy bland- 
 
78 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 ishments ; he enters thy tent ; thou dost give him milk 
 to drink; thou dost prepare for him a couch and 
 cover him with a mantle, and then when securely 
 locked in slumber thou with heavy hammer dost send. 
 a nail crashing through his temples. Like some fair 
 siren, thou dost charm by thy songs and win by thy 
 smiles, and when thy victim is tempted to thy em- 
 brace, thou dost leap with him into the black gulf of 
 perdition. Thou art the foe of modesty, chastity, 
 and virtue. Thou clost rob the eye of its brilliancy, 
 the cheek of its healthful hue, the voice of its clarion 
 clearness, the lips of their color, the breath of its 
 sweetness, the tongue of its articulation, the features 
 of their expression, the brain of its intelligence, the 
 right hand of its cunning, the heart of its affections, 
 the blood of its purity, the nerves of their tone, the 
 muscles of their obedience, the step of its elasticity, 
 the sensibilities of their delicacy, the reason of its pow- 
 er, the judgment of its accuracy, the conscience of its 
 command, the will of its strength, and the man of his 
 humanity. Thou dost fill the asylums, poor-houses, 
 prisons, penitentiaries, and jails. Thou dost plant 
 diseases in the human frame, eat away the lives of 
 men, and dig their graves. Inspired by thee, the 
 husband slays the wife of his bosom, and the father 
 his darling only son. Thou hast slain more than 
 famine, war, and pestilence. Thou hast devoured 
 millions of souls, and yet thy cursed maw is insatia- 
 
The Banquet of "Wine. 79 
 
 ble. Thou dost degrade man, created in the image of 
 God, to the level of a brute. Thou dost bar the road 
 to heaven and doom thy victims to everlasting de- 
 spair. Thy awful, thy blood-dripping trophies, dis- 
 played on every hand, strike all the soul with horror. 
 Thou demon of the pit, with ail my being I curse 
 thee! 
 
80 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 IV. 
 
 FOLLY, ANGER, DIVORCE. 
 
 " The queen Yashti refused to come at the king's commandment." 
 — Esther i, 12. 
 
 "If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, 
 and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, 
 that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king 
 Ahasuerus ; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that 
 is better than she. — Esther i, 19. 
 
 " The court of the Sassanian kings, especially in 
 the later period of the empire, was arranged upon a 
 scale of almost unexampled grandeur and magnifi- 
 cence. The robes worn by the great king were beau- 
 tifully embroidered, and covered with gems and 
 pearls, which in some, representations may be 
 counted by hundreds. The royal crown, which could 
 not be worn, but was hung from the ceiling by a 
 gold chain exactly over the head of the king when 
 he took his seat in his throne-room, is said to have 
 been adorned with a thousand pearls, each as large as 
 an egg. The throne itself was of gold, and was sup- 
 ported on four feet, each formed of a single enormous 
 ruby. The great throne-room was ornamented with 
 enormous columns of silver, between which were 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. 81 
 
 hangings of rich silk or brocade. The vaulted roof 
 presented to the eve representations of the heavenly 
 bodies^ the sun, the moon, and the stars; while 
 globes, probably of crystal, or of burnished metal, 
 hung suspended from it at various heights, lighting 
 up the dark space as with a thousand lusters." * 
 
 Accounts of the more modern Persian courts assist 
 us in our estimation of their ancient splendor. Every 
 thing connected with the reign of Xerxes was grand 
 and imposing. The Persians of his army "were 
 adorned with the greatest magnificence." "They 
 glittered all over with gold, vast quantities of which 
 they wore about their persons. They were followed 
 by litters, wherein rode their concubines, and by a 
 numerous train of attendants handsomely dressed. 
 Camels and sumpter-beasts carried their provision, 
 apart from that of the other soldiers." f 
 
 At the close of the battle of Platgea, by order of 
 Pausanius, " the Helots went, and spread themselves 
 through the camp, wherein were found many tents 
 richly adorned with furniture of gold and silver, 
 many couches covered with plates of the same, and 
 many golden bowls, goblets, and other drinking ves- 
 sels. On the carriages were bags containing silver 
 and golden kettles ; and the bodies of the slain fur- 
 nished bracelets and chains, and scimiters with golden 
 
 * Rawlinson, The Seventh Oriental Monarchy, vol. ii, pp. 301, 302. 
 f Herodotus, vii, 83. 
 
 6 
 
82 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 ornaments — not to mention embroidered apparel, of 
 which no one made any account." * 
 
 Xerxes was inspired only by the most selfish and 
 unscrupulous ambition. He sought his own glory, 
 ! and was not careful of the means employed. He 
 sought fame, and fed on flattery and display. He 
 exercised unlimited power, and his riches commanded 
 the worship of his subjects. He lived in extravagant 
 self-complacency. His vanity — swelling, costly, and 
 intolerably burdensome — knew no bounds. 
 
 Excited with wine, he commanded that Queen 
 Vashti be brought into the presence of his half- 
 drunken guests that they might behold her beauty 
 and praise her loveliness, " for she was fair to look 
 upon." It was an outrage on all -the customs of the 
 empire. 
 
 The king awaits the return of the seven chamber- 
 lains. They are called in the Septuagint " deacons." 
 Mehuman, the leader — if the m be omitted — may have 
 been Hainan. They do not return. The guests are 
 in anxious expectancy and are already thinking of 
 proper terms in which to compliment the queenly 
 beauty and flatter her royal husband. And now the 
 chamberlains return, but without Yashti. The king 
 and his guests are amazed. Uncertain of the issue, 
 the chamberlains explain, " the queen Yashti refused 
 to come at the king's commandment." Yashti was 
 
 * Herodotus, ix, 80. 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. S3 
 
 doubtless proud of spirit, and instead of returning " a 
 soft answer," and thus perhaps maintaining both her 
 dignity and queenly relation, she met the command 
 of the king with a flat refusal. " Therefore was the 
 king very wroth, and his anger burned in him." 
 Her refusal is to be highly commended, though it 
 might have been given with more diplomacy. Even 
 at Belshazzar's feast the queen was not present until 
 summoned by the hand on the wall. Dan. v, 3, 4. 
 
 " Take care that thou be not made a fool by flat- 
 terers," says Sir Walter Ealeigh, " for even the wisest 
 men are abused by these. Know, therefore, that flat- 
 terers are the worst kind of traitors ; for they will 
 strengthen thy imperfections, encourage thee in all 
 evils, correct thee in nothing, but so shadow and paint 
 all thy vices and follies as thou shalt never, by their 
 will, discern evil from good, or vice from virtue ; and 
 because all men are apt to flatter themselves, to enter- 
 tain the addition of other men's praises is most peril- 
 ous. Do not, therefore, praise tlryself, except thou 
 wilt be counted a vainglorious fool ; neither take de- 
 light in the praise of other men, except thou deserve 
 it, and receive it from such as are worthy and honest 
 and will withal warn thee of thy faults ; for flatterers 
 have never any virtue ; they are ever base, creeping, 
 cowardly persons. A flatterer is said to be a beast 
 that biteth smiling ; it is said by Isaiah in this man- 
 ner : ' My people, they that praise thee, seduce thee, 
 
84 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 and disorder the paths of thy feet ; ' and David 
 desired God to cut out the tongue of a flatterer.'" 
 
 Xerxes flattered himself so that the Xerxes created 
 by his vanity was quite another person from the real 
 Xerxes. His desire for praise grew and became in- 
 satiable. His courtiers, knowing the only way to 
 royal favor, flattered him in extravagant and most 
 unmeasured terms. They were not sincere, honest, 
 and truthful, for in their hearts they doubtless held 
 him in contempt. But he would listen to nothing save 
 that which fed his vanity. As a slave he was led step 
 by step to the utmost limit of unreasonable and vain 
 self -gratification. He became a fool, and prostituted 
 his crown and his queen to mere low spectacular show. 
 By the queen's refusal, his pride, gratified, encouraged, 
 fed, praised, and pampered, was touched at a most 
 vital point. 
 
 The great king was surrounded by wealth, splendor, 
 and glory. There were gathered to him all that was 
 beautiful to the eye, all that was grateful to the taste, 
 and all that could rejoice the heart. He ruled many 
 powerful, rich, and renowned nations. He dwelt in a 
 great city, his palaces were of surpassing beauty, and 
 he commanded every luxury. Obsequious servants 
 were attentive to do his bidding, the feast was in 
 progress, and all lips were full of his praise. Fair 
 ladies and Persian beauties, gem-adorned and dia- 
 mond-crowned, were entertained right royally by his 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. 85 
 
 matchless queen. But happiness is not found in 
 golden halls. True pleasure flows from a pure heart. 
 The praise of his guests, though without stint, does 
 not satisfy the king. He determines to call forth still 
 higher terms of praise, and all his joy is turned to 
 anger and chagrin. 
 
 The great king is an absolute monarch. He con- 
 trols the vast wealth of one hundred and twenty-seven 
 provinces, possesses the power of life and death over 
 the inhabitants, can call to arms millions of men, and 
 acknowledges no rival. His personal will is the 
 supreme and unquestioned law, vast rivers are insuffi- 
 cient to quench the thirst of his armies, no enemy can 
 escape his power, and he is like a god upon the earth. 
 No more absolute, independent, and commanding a 
 worldly position were possible. This king of absolute 
 power is defeated and humiliated in his own capital, 
 in his own palace, in his own family, and by his own 
 wife. The love and loyalty of one woman alone will 
 bring more true happiness, more sunny contentment, 
 and more wealth of soul than the scepter of a Xerxes. 
 
 " The queen Yashti refused to come at the king's 
 commandment." The king did not dream of such a 
 rebuff, and he has no power to conquer her insubor- 
 dinate spirit. What shall he do ? The eyes of the 
 Persian empire are upon him. He has slain lesser 
 offenders. The seven chamberlains and all the con- 
 vivial company must have expected an explosion of 
 
86 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 Lis wrath and an edict for her immediate execution. 
 Artabanus, at this same feast, advised against the 
 Grecian expedition, and Xerxes, full of wrath, re- 
 plied : "Artabanus, thou art my father's brother — that 
 shall save thee from receiving the doe meed of thy 
 silly words. One shame, however, I will lay upon 
 thee, coward and faint-hearted as thou art — thou shalt 
 not come with me to fight these Greeks, but shalt 
 tarry here with the women." When a great storm 
 broke the bridge of the Hellespont lie " commanded 
 that the overseers of the work should lose their 
 heads." To avenge himself upon Pythius, who had 
 dared to ask for one of his five sons to be dismissed 
 from the army to be the stay of his declining years, 
 Xerxes seized the eldest son, cut his body in twain, 
 and caused the army to march out between the two 
 halves. He most barbarously ill-treated the body 
 of his dead enemy, the brave Leonidas." When 
 Darius was about to set out on an expedition against 
 Scythia, a Persian named (Eobazus, whose three 
 sons were in the army, prayed the king to permit 
 one to remain at home. The king replied " that he 
 would allow them all to remain," and bade his at- 
 tendants put the three sons to death, f It is a danger- 
 ous thino; to arouse the wrath of a Persian kino;. His 
 anger may be unjust, selfish, and cruel, no one can rea- 
 son with him or stay his fury. A brave and spirited 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 11, 35, 38, 238. \ rb ' u U »V. 84. 
 
Folly, Anger, Divokce. 87 
 
 woman was Yashti, to dare the wrath of Xerxes, even 
 to preserve her womanly modesty and dignity. 
 
 A greater man than Xerxes might, under the cir- 
 cumstances, have forgiven the queen. Xerxes could 
 not forgive. He might have postponed the consider- 
 ation of the question till some future time, but his 
 blood was up, and. he determined upon speedy action. 
 Yet he seemed to have been partially sobered by this 
 unexpected turn in the pleasures of the banquet, and 
 would act only under the semblance at least of law. 
 Pie sought counsel, for in the multitude of counselors 
 there is wisdom. A good counselor should be a man 
 of wisdom, experience, and reputation, that confidence 
 may be placed in his judgment. He must advise 
 without fear or flattery. He must be unselfish, just, 
 and reasonable, as seeking the best good of his friend. 
 Such a counselor may be of inestimable value to a 
 ruler who is wise to listen to advice. 
 
 Now below the king, in his court, were six privi- 
 leged families, higher 'in rank than the other nobles. 
 These with the royal family — the Achsemenidse — 
 would make seven great families. They were fellow- 
 conspirators when Darius Hystaspis was raised to the 
 throne.* Only from these seven families could the 
 king select his wives. The Behistun Inscription con- 
 firms Herodotus with respect to those families. They 
 were "the seven princes of Persia and Media, which 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 84. 
 
88 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 saw the king's face," and " the king and his seven 
 counselors." Esther i, 14; Ezra vii, 14. At their 
 pleasure they were privileged to advise and to recom- 
 mend important measures, for the execution of which 
 they became in some degree responsible. When the 
 king was not in the female apartments they could 
 enter his presence without being introduced by an 
 usher.* In all ceremonies they had precedence by 
 virtue of rank. Officers of the court were distin- 
 guished by a wand about three feet long, or by an 
 ornament resembling a lotus blossom, which was also 
 seen sometimes in the hand of the king. They also 
 wore golden collars and golden earrings, and some- 
 times carried a dagger in their girdle. 
 
 These seven distinguished counselors — Carshena, 
 Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and 
 Memucan — who " sat the first in the kingdom," de- 
 scended from the families of the seven conspirators 
 who placed Darius upon the throne, or, at least, stood 
 in a similar relation to the king. They bore names of 
 " a general Persian cast." Marsena may be the famous 
 general, Mardonius, and Admatha may be Artabanus, 
 the uncle of Xerxes. These men were called upon to 
 advise the king in his unexpected difficulty. 
 
 But they were to be associated in their deliberation 
 with others — "the wise men who knew the times." 
 The latter were the astrologers and magi. A sty ages, 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 118. 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. 89 
 
 the son of Cjaxares, consulted the magi concerning a 
 dream which had thrown him into great terror. Ac- 
 cording to these wise men the dream prophesied the 
 birth and empire of Cyrus. Another dream was 
 read in a similar manner. When Cyrus had escaped 
 the plot formed for his destruction, and rejoiced in 
 his young life, Astyages again consulted the magi 
 concerning the probable fulfillment of the dream.*' 
 
 Xerxes had had a dream while celebrating this same 
 feast. " He dreamed that he was crowned with a 
 branch of an olive tree, and that boughs spread out 
 from the olive branch and covered the whole earth ; 
 then suddenly the garland, as it lay upon his brow, 
 vanished." He consulted the magi and was told 
 "that its meaning reached to the whole earth, and 
 that all mankind would become his servants." f 
 When his army began its march from Sardis toward 
 Abydos "the sun suddenly quitted his seat in the 
 heavens and disappeared, though there were no clouds 
 in sight, but the sky was clear and serene." The 
 magi were called upon to interpret the portent. 
 
 During the storm off Artemisium the magi offered 
 victims to the winds, and charmed them by the help 
 of conjurors. ^ Oriental sovereigns frequently sought 
 the interpretation of dreams and prodigies from their 
 priests. Gen. xli, 8 ; Dan. ii, 2 ; iv, 6. The wise 
 men of Babylon gave counsel according to celestial 
 
 * Herodotus, i, 10?, 120. f Ibid., vii, 19. %Ibid., vii, 191. 
 
90 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 phenomena. Dan. ii, 27; v, 15 ; Isa. xliv, 25 ; xlvii, 
 13 ; Jer. 1, 35. " 
 
 Xerxes was fond of asking advice, but would brook 
 nothing which did not coincide with his own inclina- 
 tion.* Though his own will was the supreme law of 
 the empire, yet now he turns to the wise men and 
 counselors, " for so was the king's manner toward all 
 that knew law and judgment," and asks, "What 
 shall we do unto the queen Yashti, according to law, 
 because she hath not performed the commandment 
 of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains 1 " The 
 wise men and counselors retire for consultation. It 
 is a time of anxiety to both king and guests. The 
 queen is in suspense, yet determined and resolute. 
 The noble ladies whom she entertains are in tears. 
 The wine has ceased to flow. A bright morning is 
 often followed by a dark evening. 
 
 The king's advisers have a delicate task to perform. 
 They are placed in a dilemma. Whichever way they 
 turn they are in a perilous position. If they justify, 
 or excuse, or lessen the gravity of the offense of the 
 queen, it will be at the risk of their lives. If they 
 condemn the queen, as they feel compelled to do, 
 what punishment shall they recommend 1 The king 
 passionately loves the beautiful Yashti. They dare 
 not recommend the penalty of death, yet if she live 
 and ever again be brought into a position of authority, 
 * Herodotus, vii, 8, 11, 48, 234; viii, 101. 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. 91 
 
 her judges will in all probability lose their heads. 
 Her character — if she be the same as the Amestris of 
 Herodotus — is equal to any severity of vengeance. 
 
 It were not a light thing to fall into the hands of a 
 Persian queen. When Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus 
 the younger and Artaxerxes II., had secured posses- 
 sion of the Carian who claimed to have slain Cyrus, 
 " She delivered him to the executioner, with orders 
 to torture him for ten days, and then to tear out his 
 eyes, and pour molten brass into his ears, till he ex- 
 pired." Mithridates, when under the influence of 
 wine, confessed to have slain Cyrus, and she con- 
 demned him to the punishment of the boat, which is 
 too horrible to relate. At a game of dice with the 
 king she won a eunuch, and chose Mesabates, who, 
 according to Persian custom, had cut off the head and 
 right hand of Cyrus, and caused this Mesabates to be 
 flayed, his body to be fixed on three stakes, and his 
 skin to be stretched out by itself. 
 
 No counselors were ever called upon to give advice 
 under more perplexing circumstances. The only 
 solution of the difficult problem presented to them 
 is to spare the life of the queen and yet to place her 
 beyond all means of ever doing her judges personal 
 harm. The laws of the Persians and Medes change 
 not. Many allusions in Greek authors confirm this 
 point. They can place her under the ban of this un- 
 changeable law. Having reached this decision they 
 
92 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 appoint Memncan their spokesman and return to the 
 presence of the king. He frames his answer with the 
 skill of a crafty diplomat : 
 
 "Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the 
 king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the 
 people that are in all the provinces of the king 
 Ahasuerus. For this deed of the queen shall come 
 abroad unto all woman, so that they shall despise their 
 husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, 
 The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to 
 be brought in before him, but she came not. Like- 
 wise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day 
 unto all the king's princes, which have heard of the 
 deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much 
 contempt and wrath." 
 
 In this artful exaggeration of the queen's fault 
 powerful testimony is borne to the unmeasured reach 
 of influence. This is a most important truth. No 
 deed which is done ever dies and is forgotten. The 
 words which we speak live on and on after our bodies 
 have turned to ashes. The dusty grave cannot cover 
 a life. Influence is subtle and deep, and travels far 
 and wide. This influence, silent, magnetic, growing, 
 pervadirg, is a wonderful thing. No one can live 
 without exerting an influence which shall work for 
 others either weal or woe, and this influence shall belt 
 the earth. Thoughts, words, acts are immortal. They 
 are all written somewhere, and we shall meet them 
 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. 93 
 
 again. Mighty are the marvels they shall do as they 
 roll onward through the eternities, v widening and 
 deepening in their range and power, blighting or 
 blessing in their course. 
 
 The higher the position, the wider the influence. 
 All eyes look to the queen. There should be purity 
 at the head of a government. The wives and hus- 
 bands of the Persian empire are to be involved in this 
 act of disobedience. 
 
 Weighing the offense, the tribunal advises : " If it 
 please the king, let there go a royal commandment 
 from him, and let it be written among the laws of the 
 Persians and the Medes, tlfdt it be not altered, That 
 Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus ; and let 
 the king give her royal estate unto another that is bet- 
 ter than she. And when the king's decree, which he 
 shall make, shall be published throughout all his em- 
 pire (for it is great), all the wives shall give to their 
 husbands honor, both to great and small." 
 
 Thus the queen's act is made the blackest crime, 
 and the semblance of guarding morality and justice is 
 made to hide hypocrisy, injustice, and violence. 
 
 " Here and in the account of the "honors paid to 
 Mordecai tlie English word 'honor' is not at all 
 adequate to the translating of the Hebrew." The 
 original word " retains its meaning of costliness or 
 preciousness, designating that which is valuable be- 
 cause it is scarce— that which is difficult to get and 
 
94 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 easy to lose. The idea here is that the women will 
 come to regard their husbands as peculiarly valuable 
 and precarious possessions, against the alienation of 
 which they need to guard with peculiar care." * 
 
 "And the saying pleased the king and the princes; 
 and the king did according to the word of Memu- 
 can : for he sent letters into all the king's provinces, 
 into every province according to the writing thereof, 
 and to every people after their language, that every 
 man should bear rule in his own house, and that it 
 should be published according to the, language of 
 every people." 
 
 Much more was doubtl#ss contained in these " let- 
 ters," translated into the various languages f the 
 different satrapies— a custom preserved to us in the 
 bilingual and trilingual inscriptions discovered in 
 eastern lands — but sacred story contains but two im- 
 portant mandates : that the man bear rule in his own 
 house, and that only the language of the husband be 
 used in the family. 
 
 " This decree," says Rawlinson, " has been called 
 c absurd ' and ' quite unnecessary in Persia.' f If the 
 criticism were allowed, it would be sufficient to ob- 
 serve that many absurd things were done by Xerxes.;): 
 But it may be questioned whether the decree was un- 
 necessary. The undue influence of women in domes- 
 tic and even in public affairs is a feature of the 
 
 * Willis J. Beeclier. f Davidson. % Herod., viii, 35 ; ix, 108-111. 
 
Folly, Anger, Divorce. 95 
 
 ancient Persian monarchy. Herodotus tells us that 
 Atossa ' completely ruled ' Darius.* Xerxes himself 
 was, in his later years, shamefully subject to Amestris.f 
 The example of the court would naturally affect the 
 people. The decree, therefore, would seem to have 
 been not so much an idle and superfluous act as an 
 ineffectual protest against a real and growing evil." 
 
 Nehemiah met with a difficulty which the second 
 order was aimed to remove. " In those days also saw 
 I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Am- 
 nion, and of Moab : and their children spake half 
 in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the 
 Jews' language, but according to the language of 
 each people." Neh. xiii, 23, 24. The children nat- 
 urally learning the tongue of the mother, she could 
 wield over them an influence of which the father 
 would be totally ignorant. In Persia man made 
 woman a slave instead of a companion and a help- 
 meet, and was enslaved with a worse slavery in turn. 
 
 Yashti is divorced, the wise men and counselors 
 and princes are satisfied, the wrath of the king is ap- 
 peased, messengers are on their way to carry the 
 edicts of Xerxes to the utmost provinces of the king- 
 dom, the great feast is ended, noble guests return to 
 their homes, affairs of state proceed as usual, and 
 the excitement caused by the disobedient queen has 
 passed away. 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 3. f Ibid., ix, 111. 
 
06 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 LOYE AND HOME. 
 " Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king." — Esther ii, 2. 
 
 " A Church within a Church, a republic within a 
 republic, a world within a world, is spelled by four 
 letters — H-o-m-e ! If things go right there, they go 
 right every- where ; if things go wrong there, they go 
 wrong every-where. The door-sill of the dwelling- 
 house is the foundation of Church and State. A 
 man never gets higher than his own garret or lower 
 than his own cellar. In other words, domestic life 
 overarches and undergirds all other life. The highest 
 house of congress is the domestic circle ; the rocking- 
 chair in the nursery is higher than a throne." * 
 
 " Domestic society is the seminary of social affec- 
 tions, the cradle of sensibility, where the first ele- 
 ments are acquired of that tenderness and humanity 
 which cement society together; and were they en- 
 tirely extinguished the whole fabric of social insti- 
 tutions would be dissolved. Families are so many 
 centers of attraction, which preserve mankind from 
 being scattered and dissipated by the repulsive 
 powers of selfishness." f 
 
 * Talmage. f Robert Hali. 
 
Love and Home. 97 
 
 The true wife and mother is the center around 
 which the family affections twine. Love is the at- 
 tractive power which binds all together in these most 
 holy of all human relations. All forms of socialism, 
 liberalism, and other errors of like character threaten 
 the destruction of the whole social fabric. The 
 position of woman, the sacredness of the marriage 
 relation, and the purity of the home life, measure in 
 all lands, not only the breadth and depth of healthful 
 intellectual culture and the condition of civilization 
 and religious development, but also the stability of 
 government and the sovereignty of law. 
 
 There are two important departures from the 
 model of a true family and home. 
 
 The plurality of husbands is a most ancient institu- 
 tion. An excerpt taken from an old Chinese record, 
 belonging to the archaic period of Chinese history, 
 shows that this custom was then prevalent in the 
 celestial empire : 
 
 4i The husbands of the woman took counsel, and 
 
 said: 'Which of us shall fight the tiger?' Wong;- 
 
 Lee said, ' I am the largest and strongest ; I can best 
 
 fight him. I will go.' Wong-He-Lim said, 'I am 
 
 the weakest : therefore I should go. For if Wong- 
 
 Lee is killed by the tiger, our loss is very great. But 
 
 if I am killed no harm is done.' So Wong-Lee and 
 
 Wong-He-Lim went out together and encountered 
 
 the tiger, and after a terrible fight killed him. And 
 7 
 
98 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 when they came back, the woman and the other hus- 
 bands were glad, and sacrificed chickens and pigs." 
 
 This system of polyandry — which may have grown 
 out of some more primitive condition — has prevailed 
 widely in the early history of the race. In the 
 present age the plurality of wives is more common. 
 Polygamy is still a cancer upon the social organism. 
 
 Roman law gave the wife equal rank with her hus- 
 band, but placed the children under his control. The 
 relation of concubinage was also recognized in law, 
 and it was not till the Council of Trent that the 
 Church dealt with the subject in the spirit of 
 thorough reform. 
 
 The Old Testament recognizes a conjugal relation 
 inferior to the marriage relation. "While it may be 
 said that the position of the wife was less honorable 
 in early Oriental life than in modern western life, it 
 is also true that the position of the concubine was 
 less degraded. 
 
 In early times the Persian kings seem to have had 
 but three or four wives, and but one of those was 
 designated by the title of u queen " and was the wife 
 in the highest meaning of the term. The qtfeen 
 wore a royal crown and was the acknowledged head 
 of the female department of the palace. The other 
 women of the palace recognized her queenly dignity 
 by prostrating themselves in her presence. Her ap- 
 parel was most gorgeous, her ornaments many and 
 
Love and Home. 99 
 
 costly, lier revenues enormous, and her power over 
 the king very great. The other wives were raised 
 little above the concubines. The king could legally 
 marry in but seven of the noble families of Persia, 
 though the royal will was above all law. Each 
 subordinate wife, doubtless, had her own attendants 
 and her own suite of apartments. The royal harem 
 grew in importance in the later history of the 
 Persians. 
 
 The virgins occupied the first house of the women 
 during the twelve months of purification, or until 
 called into the presence of the king. After this 
 they went to the second house of the women. All 
 were placed under the charge of faithful eunuchs, who 
 kept them guarded in strictest seclusion. The king's 
 harem was filled with the most beautiful women of 
 the kingdom, who, sometimes several hundred in 
 number, accompanied their lord both in his wars and 
 in his hunting expeditions. Quintus Curtius tells us 
 that Darius was accompanied in his warlike expedi- 
 tions by three hundred and sixty-five concubines, all 
 with the equipage of queens. 
 
 In Shushan the palace the second house of the 
 women was separated from the king's house by a 
 court. There were separate suites of apartments for 
 the virgins, the concubines, and the queen and other 
 wives. While chamberlains had charge of the first and 
 second, the queen herself was paramount in the third. 
 
100 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The queen-mother was superior in authority even 
 to the queen. She kept her own ensigns of power, 
 and was often proud and domineering. "Whenever 
 the king and queen dined together, the queen-mother 
 sat at the royal table and occupied a position above 
 the monarch, while the queen herself was seated 
 below in a more humble position. She had her own 
 commodious suite of apartments and ample revenues 
 at her disposal. She procured the royal pardon for 
 criminals, or sheltered them in her own apartments, 
 while she secretly poisoned or openly executed those 
 of whom she was jealous, or against whom she was 
 angry. The king himself often fell completely un- 
 der her control, when she would prove herself most 
 dangerous to the peace of the court and of the 
 empire. 
 
 Persian inscriptions and sculptures are silent in re- 
 gard to women. The female form could not be law- 
 fully represented, and women must not be named nor 
 yet seen in public. It was a capital crime to address 
 a royal concubine, or even to pass the litter in which 
 one was borne. Married women were, not permitted 
 to see even their nearest male relatives. In Persia 
 to-day a man is insulted if asked about the health of 
 his wife. Vashti's refusal to obey the command of 
 the king exhibited not only her womanly delicacy, and 
 wifely modesty, and queenly dignity, but also her 
 loyalty to custom. 
 
Love and Home. • 101 
 
 The word eunuch means etymological! j " bed- 
 keeper" — one who lias charge of sleeping apartments. 
 The unnatural and barbarous custom of employing 
 eunuchs could have had its home nowhere save in the 
 despotic East. Beautiful captives, both those of ten- 
 der years and those who had attained maturity, were 
 purchased or capturecl or seized for this office and 
 degradation. 
 
 This class of servants is often represented on the 
 Assyrian monuments — warriors, scribes, priests, full- 
 faced, beardless, double-chinned. These unhappy 
 wretches, having no social interests, no family hopes, 
 and no prospects better than slavery, were the props 
 of absolute government, the tools of despotism, the 
 guardians of the monarch's person, the keepers of the 
 harem, and the sole witnesses of all the private and 
 unguarded acts of their royal master. They frequently 
 rose to positions of great influence, were appointed 
 ambassadors to foreign courts, and became the custo- 
 dians of most important trusts. Treated frequently 
 with aversion and ridicule, they became stern and 
 unfeeling in the exercise of authority, and introduced 
 tyranny and licentiousness. Courage, gentleness, and 
 shame too often gave way to melancholy, malice, and 
 cruelty. Not a few, unable to endure their cruel fate, 
 sought release in self-destruction. 
 
 This unfortunate class, the natural outgrowth of 
 polygamy, was large and powerful in the Persian em- 
 
102 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 pire. The king chose them as chief advisers, officers 
 of his court, generals of his armies, and educators of 
 Ills children. Through their influence were born 
 many dark plots, traitorous conspiracies, and bloody 
 assassinations, which disgrace the pages of history. 
 Barbarous villainies were connected with the nefarious 
 traffic in eunuchs. The story of Panionius of Chios, 
 and the awful revenge of Hermotimus, are too hor- 
 rible to repeat.* 
 
 Such was the family of a Persian king — the king 
 himself, the queen mother, the queen, the other wives, 
 the concubines, the virgins and the chamberlains — 
 while a multitude of servants, guests, visitors, am- 
 bassadors, hostages, travelers, princes, and high officers 
 thronged the royal palace. This was not a family, 
 and the great palace was not a home. Love could not 
 bear sway, nor happiness abide, in " Shnshan the 
 palace." 
 
 A family is one man and one woman united in 
 perpetual wedlock, each giving to the other perma- 
 nent, unchanging, undivided, exclusive, and full affec- 
 tion and devotion, and the children of this relation- 
 ship ; who are the objects of tenderest parental love 
 and care, which they repay with all the warmth of 
 filial affection while they extend to each other full 
 and hearty fraternal love. Conjugal affection is the 
 basis of the family, and there is no family where this 
 
 * Herodotus, viii, 105, 106. 
 
Love and Home. 103 
 
 is absent. Persons united by worldly self-interest do 
 not constitute a family. Neither property, nor posi- 
 tion in society, nor fancy, nor fascination, can take 
 the place of genuine love. Just so far as a man and 
 woman are influenced to marry from any other motive 
 than pure affection, just to that extent the union is 
 contrary to the law of nature, the law of reason, the 
 law of conscience, and the law of God. There should 
 be honesty, and not deception, in the social inter- 
 course preceding marriage. 
 
 The ideal family and the ideal home are pictured 
 only in the Bible and realized only in Christian lands. 
 Such a home is an object-lesson of religious doctrine 
 and practice. Here the truths of Christianity find 
 expression in Christian lives. There is a church in 
 every genuine Christian home. The husband and 
 father is the family priest. The home is the founda- 
 tion of society and of civil government. Christian 
 children are educated for loyal and enlightened citi- 
 zenship. 
 
 The home furnishes us with the very choicest illus- 
 trations and symbols of heaven. Heaven is the home 
 of the Christian. We pray to " Our Father which 
 art in heaven." We are his children and his heirs. 
 In our Father's house are many mansions. 
 
 The existence of such a family as was that of 
 Xerxes is sufficient of itself to explain all his 
 calamities. 
 
104 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The great banquet is ended. The guests from dis- 
 tant provinces have returned to their homes. The 
 beautiful Vashti has retired in disgrace under the 
 royal displeasure. The king is left alone with his 
 court. The excitement of the banquet of wine has 
 worn away. Xerxes reflects upon the feasting and 
 drinking and revelry of one hundred and four score 
 and seven days, and it brings him no pleasure. • His 
 palace has been robbed of its fairest jewel and chief est 
 charm. He recognizes his divorcement of Vashti as 
 inconsiderate, rash, and unwarranted. He has done 
 the fair queen an irreparable injury, and has brought 
 grievous suffering to his own soul. His anger is ap- 
 peased and his old love for his queen has returned. 
 He bitterly laments the wrong to which his despotic 
 ambition and selfish vanity have led him, but he can- 
 not retrace his steps. There is no remedy, for " the 
 laws of the Persians and the Medes" change not, how- 
 ever disastrous may be the consequences. He has 
 done evil and he cannot undo it, and it must stand. 
 lie would gladly efface from his memory the record 
 of the past revelry, but it is impossible. What he 
 has said and what he has enacted as law are irreversi- 
 ble and indelible. 
 
 u He ' remembered Vashti, and what she had done, 
 and what was decreed against her." She was inno- 
 cent ; he was guilty. His repentance was as speedy 
 as his act was rash. Now his heart goes out after 
 
Love and Home. 105 
 
 her whom lie had so deeply and cruelly wronged ! 
 Without her presence the light of his palace is dark- 
 ness. He is seriously considering her recall. What 
 are " the laws of the Persians and the Modes " to him ? 
 His will is a higher law. Vashti must return. 
 
 The wise men and chief councilors read the king's 
 thoughts. They are alarmed. If Vashti be recalled, 
 their own lives will be forfeited to her rage. If she 
 be not recalled, an explosion of the king's wrath may 
 doom them to death. They must at ajl hazards pre- 
 vent the recall of the queen, and at the same time 
 steal away from her the heart of the king. Here is 
 their only safety. Having determined upon their 
 course, they come to the king with the following fair 
 recommendations. " Let there be fair young virgins 
 sought for the king" — those who are beautiful, chaste, 
 young, and marriageable — " and let the king appoint 
 officers in all the provinces of the kingdom, that they 
 may gather together all the fair young virgins unto 
 Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto 
 the custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper* 
 of the women," or of the virgins who have not yet 
 been presented to the king; "and let their things 
 for purification be given them ; and let the maiden 
 which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti." 
 — Esther ii, 2— L 
 
 Here is safety for themselves and solace for their 
 royal master. The whole empire must feed the king's 
 
106 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 harem. No one when bidden dare refuse to yield to 
 the king's officers. No parent, though he knows that 
 he will never again see his daughter, dare utter a 
 word of expostulation. 
 
 " And the thing pleased the king ; and he did so." 
 And now preparations are made in all the prov- 
 inces for the vigorous prosecution of the Grecian war. 
 The governors and generals of military renown have 
 received their orders, and, to merit a kingly reward, 
 are anxious to lead their troops to the general ren- 
 dezvous at Sardis, in " the most gallant array."* 
 Greece is invaded, overwhelming disaster meets the 
 mighty army, the king returns inglorious, and is 
 again in Shushan the palace. 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 26. 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 107 
 
 YI. 
 
 THE QUEENLINESS OP BEAUTY. 
 
 "There was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai." — Esth. ii, 5. 
 " He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter." 
 — Esther ii, 7. 
 
 u The maid was fair and beautiful." — Esther ii, 1. 
 
 The captivity of Jelioiacliin, the last direct heir of 
 the house of David, one whom God had forsaken, was 
 an occasion of great mourning. The captives are 
 hurried away to a distant land that they know not. 
 Dean Stanley, drawing from the Scriptures, is graphic 
 in his description : " From the top of Lebanon, from 
 the heights of Bashan, from the ridges of Abarim, the 
 widowed country shrieked aloud as she saw the train 
 of her captive king and nobles disappearing in the 
 distant East. From the heights of Hermon, from 
 the top of Mizar, it is no improbable conjecture that 
 the departing king poured that exquisitely plaintive 
 song, in which, from the deep disquietude of his heart, 
 he longs after the presence of God in the temple, and 
 pleads his cause against the impious nation, the 
 treacherous and unjust man, who, in spite of plighted 
 faith, had torn him away from his beloved home. 
 With streaming eyes the Jewish people and prophets 
 
108 
 
 T> E A U T Y C RO W N I S D . 
 
 still hung on the hope that their lost prince would he 
 speedily restored to them. The gate through which 
 he had left the city was walled up, like that by which 
 the last Moorish king left Granada, and was long 
 known as the gate of Jeconiah. From his captivity, 
 as from a decisive era, the subsequent years of history 
 were reckoned." 
 
 Exile must have been a severe punishment to the 
 
 Jew, bound as he was to 
 his native land not only 
 by the most enthusiastic 
 patriotism, but also by 
 the strongest religious as- 
 sociations and instincts. 
 
 ^s^i W^L IJ8^^\\ P a ^ es f me was most sacred 
 
 *^r^ Ml INSisVX soil, Jerusalem was the 
 
 center and home of his 
 
 religion, and the temple 
 
 was the most holy place. 
 
 In a strange land the 
 
 Jewish Captives. captive remembered Zion, 
 
 prayed toward Jerusalem, and lovingly and longingly 
 
 thought of his own dear country. 
 
 The exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar led captive to 
 Babylon with Jehoiachin dwelt as a colony on the 
 banks of the Chebar — according to Eawlinson, one 
 of the branches of the Euphrates, near Babylon, but 
 according to Layard the Khabour — and there main- 
 
The Queenllness of Beauty. 109 
 
 tained an organization, consisting of elders and chiefs, 
 with power of acting for the whole body. Most in- 
 fluential among them was Ezekiel, the prophet, the 
 poet, the statesman. Drawing from his surroundings 
 his bold and original figures, luxuriant in eagle- 
 winged lions and human-headed bulls, wheels within 
 wheels, glorious rainbow lights and gigantic forms, 
 now again revealed to our fleshly eyes from the ruins 
 of Nineveh and other -Oriental cities, the prophet 
 moves among his fellow-captives and talks to them 
 about the great events in the midst of which they live 
 and act. 
 
 But across the great Euphrates, across the desert, 
 he looks, and his spirit yearns for his native land. He 
 sees in prophetic vision the war, the carnage, the. de- 
 vastation, the desolation, and a grief deep and terrible 
 weighs down his loyal soul. The burden of the woes 
 of his country' presses heavily upon his heart. Of 
 these things he speaks and writes while he watches 
 anxiously the progress of events. Jerusalem is be- 
 sieged and falls, and his heart almost breaks. 
 
 The prophet, however, was not discouraged. He 
 looked forward to another and better dispensation, 
 when God's spirit should breathe into dry bones and 
 they should live, and stand up, an exceeding great 
 army. He was sure that a greater glory would come 
 to his nation, and there was no cause for despair but 
 rather for good courage. Ezekiel had deep spiritual 
 
110 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 vision. He saw the Gospel truths. If any man turn 
 away from his wickedness " he shall save his soul 
 alive." Each man must live for himself and each 
 man must die for himself. He believes in the gospel 
 of personal responsibility. Wicked nations, one 
 after the other, fall. He sees their doom. They are 
 destroyed because of their sins. But God will not 
 cast off his own people. His eyes are upon them, 
 and they will repent and be saved. 
 
 In Babylon the exiles were educated amid scenes of 
 mighty grandeur and magnificence. The wall of the 
 city is one of the great wonders of the world. The 
 hanging gardens — artificial mountains — are no less 
 wonderful. The great palace of the king is a city 
 within itself. The Temple of Bel, six hundred feet 
 in height, with its seven stages of different colors — 
 black, orange, crimson, gold, deep yellow, brilliant 
 blue, and silver — may well remind them of the Tower 
 of Babel, whose top was to reach to heaven. The 
 magnificent gardens, the gigantic trees, the luxuriant 
 vegetation, the great river, the system of canals, the 
 broad plain carpeted with flowers, the vast commerce, 
 the soldiery with burnished helmet and spear, the 
 officers, "the satraps, captains, pachas, the chief 
 judges, treasurers, judges, counselors, and all the 
 rulers of the provinces," with their splendid costumes 
 and armor — the magicians, sorcerers, astrologers, 
 Chaldeans, the science, the sculpture, the painting, 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. Ill 
 
 the music, " flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, 
 and all kinds of music," the activity of trade, 
 " the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious 
 stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, 
 and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all 
 manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of 
 most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and mar- 
 ble, and cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and 
 frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and 
 wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, 
 and slaves, and souls of men "—these tilings furnish 
 the school in which the exiles are receiving most 
 valuable tuition. And here dwells Nebuchadnezzar, 
 " whose brightness is excellent," a tree " whose 
 leaves are fair and the fruit thereof much, and in it 
 meat for all," under which the beasts of the field 
 dwell, and upon whose branches the fowls of the air 
 have their habitation — a mighty monarch who can say 
 truthfully * " Is not this great Babylon, that I have 
 built for the house of my kingdom, by the might of 
 my power, and for the honor of my majesty ? " 
 
 These first exiles are joined by others under Zede- 
 kiah, and the two groups doubtless soon blend together. 
 They receive a letter of consolation and instruction 
 from Jeremiah. Prophecies are committed to writing 
 and read to the people. The pen becomes a powerful 
 instrument. The word is read and studied, and its 
 spiritual meaning is revealed. Musicians cheer the 
 
112 
 
 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 sad exiles with songs of Zion, but will not play to 
 satisfy the idle curiosity of their masters. A Psaliri 
 commemorates their condition : " By the rivers of 
 Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when- we 
 
 remembered Zion. We 
 hanged our harps upon 
 the willows in the midst 
 thereof. For there they 
 that carried us away 
 captive required of us 
 a song; and they that 
 wasted us required of 
 us mirth, saying, Sing 
 us one of the songs of 
 Zion. How shall we 
 
 JUDEA QAPTA. 
 
 sing the Lord's song in a strange land \ If I forget 
 thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
 cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue 
 cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jeru- 
 salem above my chief joy." Psa. cxxxvii, 1-6. 
 
 The writings which refer to the period of the 
 captivity show quite fully its dark side. The Israel- 
 ites are thrown into dungeons with scanty food, they 
 are shamefully insulted and scourged, they are com- 
 pelled to eat that which to Jewish law is most urn 
 clean, they sing mournful songs, and look forward to 
 the time when all their wrongs shall be made right, 
 they cry for deliverance, with eager longing they 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 113 
 
 watch for the morning of that day of triumph which 
 they believe will come, they pour out their prayers 
 from breaking hearts, their tears fall, and they speak 
 of the wickedness of their captors and look to God to 
 avenge himself upon his enemies. And yet they 
 think hopefully of Zion ! They pray: "Build thou 
 the walls of Jerusalem. O, that salvation would 
 come out of Zion ! When God bringeth back the 
 captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and 
 Israel shall be glad. God will save Zion, and will 
 build the cities of Judah : that they may dwell there, 
 and have it in possession. Redeem Israel, God, out 
 of all his troubles." 
 
 But there was also a bright side to the captivity. 
 There was a wheel within a wheel — God's providence 
 directed to an end. 
 
 When the Babylonian empire fell, the slavery of 
 the captives — it must have been a modified slavery to 
 which some of them had been reduced — this slavery 
 ceased. They were colonists from the beginning. 
 Babylon became the center of Jewish learning and 
 the second capital of their race. Following the advice 
 of their prophets, they acquired homes, property and 
 slaves, and even surrounded themselves with luxuries. 
 Jehoiachin, after a long imprisonment, was released, 
 and maintained with highest honors at public expense. 
 There was even a semblance of independent govern- 
 ment, and the exiles had doubtless synagogues in 
 8 
 
114 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 which to worship. Some were appointed to high 
 offices in the government. 
 
 The captivity seems to have taught the exiles the 
 importance of spiritual worship. They sought God 
 in prayer, and gave themselves to the study of the 
 Holy Scriptures. They must also have recognized 
 the fact that their God was also the God of all the 
 nations of the world. Their hearts went out in love 
 toward humanity, and they hoped for the redemption 
 of the whole human race. 
 
 Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians, takes 
 Babylon, and the great city, " the praise of the whole 
 earth, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the 
 Chaldees' excellency, the lady of kingdoms," is de- 
 stroyed, never to be inhabited "from generation to 
 generation," a prophecy requiring for its complete 
 fulfillment several hundred years, but whose begin- 
 nings were fulfilled before the eyes of the Jewish 
 exiles. And the captive looked for an everlasting 
 kingdom which the Lord of heaven should set up, 
 and which should never be destroyed. 
 
 Cyrus is moved by Jehovah to issue a decree per- 
 mitting the exiles to return to Jerusalem, and many 
 availed themselves of the privilege, though perhaps 
 not more than one sixth of the whole number. 
 Family and business interests influenced the majority 
 to remain. Forty-two thousand besides slaves, un- 
 der the leadership of twelve chiefs, turn their faces 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 115 
 
 toward Zion, returning with songs and everlasting 
 joy upon their heads. Other groups of pious Jews 
 in later years returned to the land of their fa- 
 thers' sepulchers. Among these most prominent 
 were Ezra the scribe, the father of preaching; and 
 Nehemiah, the warrior and statesman ; both noble 
 reformers. 
 
 Of the ten tribes who were carried away into cap- 
 tivity, some returned with the Jews, some embraced 
 the religion of the Assyrians, some amalgamated 
 with the exiles of Judah, and some were scattered 
 abroad and carried the knowledge of the true God to 
 the doors of many heathen nations. The twelve 
 tribes were again united in their exile. 
 
 Before the captivity many Israelites had settled in 
 Egypt, and Jews afterward fled from JSTebuzaradan 
 to Egypt. Still others established themselves in 
 Sheba in Arabia, where their influence became very 
 great. They were literally " dispersed among the 
 people in all the provinces " of the Persian empire. 
 Whether coming from the kingdom of Israel or from 
 the kingdom of Judah, whether going into enforced 
 or voluntary exile, their influence must have been 
 great in preparing the way of the Lord among the 
 heathen. 
 
 Among the noble captives who accompanied Je- 
 hoiachin to Babylon was Kish, a Benjamite, from 
 whom the fourth in descent was Mordecai, "who 
 
116 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's 
 daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and 
 the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, 
 when her father and mother were dead, took for 
 his own daughter." Bawlinson identifies Mordecai, 
 " the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish," 
 with Matacas, whom Ctesias names as the most pow- 
 erful of the eunuchs in the court of the kino- during 
 the latter part of his reign. It has been thought that 
 Jair, Shimei, and Kish were not the immediate an- 
 cestors of Mordecai, but renowned names in the 
 ancestral line. Jair may have been his father, 
 Shimei the son of Gera who cursed David, and 
 Kish the father of Saul.* This would make Mor- 
 decai and his cousin Esther of royal descent. This 
 supposition, however, cannot be pressed. Both were 
 born in exile. Abihail, the father of Esther, was 
 dead. Her mother was also dead, and she was left an 
 orphan in the land of captivity. Fortunate for the 
 beautiful Jewish maiden, she found a protector and 
 fattier in her cousin Mordecai, who took her " for his 
 own daughter." 
 
 " Mordecai was one of those characters which be- 
 speak the hand of a special providence in their forma- 
 tion. Brought up in obscurity, lie possessed talents 
 which fitted him for swaying the scepter of empire — 
 wisdom, public spirit, decision, courage, disinterest- 
 
 * Kcil. 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 117 
 
 edness, self-command. He was also pious, patriotic, 
 and benevolent." * Mordecai saved the beautiful 
 maiden from many temptations and dangers. He 
 showed himself in every respect a man of God. 
 
 " And the maid was fair and beautiful " — gracef til 
 in form and bearing, and beautiful in countenance. 
 
 " She was called Hadassah — meaning ' myrtle ' — 
 because of her sweet disposition and kindly acts, 
 which were compared to the fragrant perfume and 
 ever fresh beauty of the myrtle." It was, doubtless, 
 after she had been introduced to the royal harem that 
 she received, according to the custom of the times, a 
 second, and foreign,, name, Esther, which ever after- 
 ward became her favorite name. Her matchless beauty 
 suggested this second name, meaning " star." The 
 names Estelle or Stella, and the name of the goddess 
 of love, Istar or Ashtoreth, are from the same root. 
 
 The whole universe is bathed in beauty. It gleams 
 in the sea-shell, it glows in the warm sunshine, it 
 plays in the chasing shadows, it toys with the 
 petals of lily and violet, it paints the plumage of 
 bird and the armature of insect, it dances in the hail- 
 shower, it sleeps in the glacier, it is cradled in the 
 silver lake, it sports in the meandering stream, it 
 hides itself in the depths of the ocean and the mount- 
 ain cave, it ushers in the day as the rosy-fingered 
 daughter of the morning, it rejoices in the flowers of 
 
 * McCrie. 
 
118 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 spring and the out-pouring wealth of summer, and 
 in the golden grain and luscious fruits of autumn, it 
 arches the sky with the many-colored iris and lights 
 up the northern night with the brilliant electric dis- 
 play of the aurora, it kisses the rose into blushes and 
 drinks nectar from the fairy cup of the lily of the 
 valley, it touches the autumn foliage with its magic 
 brush, and the whole forest becomes one blaze of 
 glory. The light, fleecy clouds, sailing through the 
 air, the crystal and the pearl, the snow-flake, so deli- 
 cate that it is dissolved by the touch of a fairy's 
 finger, the meadow-grass rolling wave on wave, the 
 tall tree of the forest raising its arms to heaven as if 
 to supplicate blessings, the tearful willow, the stately 
 palm, the confiding vine, the tiny blade of grass, the 
 woody dell — these are most beautiful objects. 
 
 The microscope reveals the beauties of the infinitely 
 small ; the telescope and the spectroscope bring the 
 distant near. Every smallest atom of matter is run- 
 ning, leaping, and dancing with delight; the worlds 
 above us sing as they fly ; galaxies and nebular star- 
 dust proclaim the glory of God. Sun and silver moon 
 adorn the sky. The stars walk out as sentinels on 
 the blue pavement ; their faces are reflected in the 
 mirror of the waters. The curling smoke climbs 
 upward to heaven, the sun chases the mists from the 
 valleys, the world puts on her green robe, the blanket 
 of night is spread and nature sleeps. The bird sings 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 119 
 
 her beautiful song, the breeze whispers soft and low, 
 the leaf rustles a welcome to the forest solitude, the 
 insect flits in the sunlight and is happy, the lambkin 
 skips and plays, the cattle of a thousand hills rejoice. 
 The fish sports in the sea, the bird in the air, the in- 
 sect in the dust. Sweet the song of nature's choris- 
 ters, glad the shout of the waterfall, grand the un- 
 written music that fills creation. The swallow skims 
 meadow and stream, the eagle with outspread wings 
 soars in the upper air, the tireless humming-bird sips 
 honey from the flower, the yellow-bird describes 
 graceful geometric curves in her flight. Unity in 
 variety, gracefulness, harmony, utility every where ! 
 Beautiful colors, beautiful forms, beautiful sounds, 
 beautiful motions the world over ! Nature ever moves 
 in lines of beauty. " Beauty is the moment of tran- 
 sition, as if the form were just ready to flow into 
 other forms." The ocean of beauty in which the 
 world swims to-day is such as was never seen before, 
 nor shall be seen again. With each moment all is 
 changed and all is new. 
 
 Beauty is an expression of God's thought. In its 
 presence a feeling akin to that of worship possesses the 
 soul. There is recognized a beauty far deeper than that 
 which we see — unexplored and unexplorable. What is 
 visible is but the veil which conceals beauty, or through 
 which beauty dimly shines. The most beautiful ob- 
 ject is that from which the divine looks most freely. 
 
120 Beauty Cjrowned. 
 
 There is a boundless and fathomless sea. We gaze 
 and lose ourselves — enjoyment is at its height. It is 
 something within an object which makes it beautiful. 
 The highest kind of beauty belongs to man. Em- 
 erson says : " Every spirit makes its home ; and we 
 can give a shrewd guess from the house to the inhab- 
 itant. But not less does nature furnish us with every 
 sign of grace and goodness. The delicious faces of 
 children, the beauty of school-girls, ' the sweet serious- 
 ness of sixteen,' the lofty air of well-born, well-bred 
 boys, the passionate histories in the looks and manners 
 of youth and early manhood, and the varied power in 
 all that well-known company that escort us through 
 life — we know how these forms thrill, paralyze, pro- 
 voke, inspire, and enlarge us " The loveliness of the 
 hnman form reaches its height in woman. "To Eve," 
 say the Mohammedans, " God gave two thirds of all 
 beauty," and it has not become less among her daugh- 
 ters. The virtuous and accomplished Pauline de 
 Viguiere, of Toulouse, was so enchanting in her love- 
 liness that she quite intoxicated her native city. When 
 she appeared on the balcony twice a week, at the com- 
 mand of the civil authorities, the throng who came to 
 behold her beauty was so great as to endanger life. 
 Walpole says : "The concourse was so great when the 
 Duchess of Hamilton was presented to court, on Fri- 
 day, that even the noble crowd in the drawing-room 
 clambered on chairs and tables to look at her. There 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 121 
 
 are mobs at their doors to see them get into their 
 chairs, and people go early to get places at the theaters 
 Avlien it is known thej will be there." Elsewhere he 
 says : " Such crowds nock to see the Duchess of Ham- 
 ilton that seven hundred people sat up all night, in 
 and about an inn, in Yorkshire, to see her get into 
 her post-chaise next morning." 
 
 Beauty may become a dangerous possession. Cleo- 
 patra was at once the most beautiful and the wickedest 
 of queens. We have little admiration for Judith. 
 Beauty, when sustained by character, thought, and 
 heart, is priceless. Mere beauty of person charms no 
 longer when we miss moral beauty, while an ugly face 
 becomes positively quite tolerable when we discover 
 a pure soul behind the face. " There are faces so 
 fluid with expression, so flushed and rippled by the 
 play of thought, that we can hardly find what the 
 mere features really are." Character throws an im- 
 mortal splendor about a soul. The pure shall shine 
 as stars. A beautiful soul gathers beauties as it passes 
 through the world. 
 
 So far as beauty is not spiritual, so far as it has not its 
 permanent home in the heart and thought of God, it is 
 fleeting indeed. All visible forms are short-lived ; 
 the sweetest songs die in the singing. Yet we in- 
 stinctively recognize true beauty as immortal. When- 
 ever a beautiful form or a beautiful thought is created 
 the world adopts it, locks it up in memory, multiplies 
 
122 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 it, immortalizes it. The beautiful is spiritual aud 
 everlasting. All language recognizes this truth. 
 When we use the word beauty with reference to the 
 invisible and immaterial, we may, after all, be using 
 words in the most just sense. We speak of the beauty 
 of the adaptation of means to an end, the beauty of a 
 mathematical demonstration, a beautiful experiment, 
 a beautiful poem, a beautiful act, a beautiful thought, 
 a beautiful life, a beautiful death. Such beauty 
 abides forever. There are beauties quite near which 
 are immeasurable and divine. It is a part of that 
 which enspheres the earth and bej ewels the sky. All 
 faces and forms would be beautiful had lives been 
 always pure. As it is, a face is a sculptured history, 
 in which, as Emerson says, there are many chapters 
 of foibles, follies, and sins. The art of beauty is to 
 live a beautiful life, to bid the Holy Spirit welcome 
 to come in and beautify his own temple and there 
 abide. 
 
 " Esther, in addition to her outward comeliness, was 
 modest, engaging, contented, and possessed all those 
 amiable qualities which adorn the individual, while 
 they make him useful to society. Beauty is one of 
 the gifts of nature; but if it consist only in symmetry 
 of form and fineness of coloring, it is no more than a 
 beautiful statue ; it can only gratify the eye." * 
 
 We are quite prepared, then, to learn that " when 
 
 * McCrie. 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 123 
 
 the king's commandment and his decree was heard, 
 and when many maidens were gathered together 
 unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, 
 Esther was brought also unto the king's house to the 
 custody of Hegai, keeper of the women." By her 
 gracefulness of person and movement, beauty of 
 face, queenly dignity, and modesty of demeanor, she 
 quickly won the favor of Hegai, who did not fail to 
 advance her interests. 
 
 " He speedily gave her things for purification," that 
 she might be among the first to be presented to the 
 great king. Exod. xxx, 23-25 ; Prov. vii, 17. And 
 he furnished her " such things as belonged to her," or 
 food best adapted to the development of both health 
 and beauty. To each virgin be gave seven maidens 
 from the king's service to keep her company and 
 do her bidding, but the maidens which he assigned 
 Esther were seven picked maidens. To complete the 
 furnishment of his favorite he selected for her use 
 the finest suite of rooms at his command in the whole 
 palace. 
 
 Esther, in obedience to the suggestion of Mordecai, 
 " had not showed her people nor her kindred." Her 
 kindred may have been kept a secret for prudential 
 reasons, for, had her nationality been known, perhaps 
 she would not have been chosen for the royal harem. 
 It will be remembered that the king, according to law, 
 could take a wife from but seven of the leading 
 
124: Beauty Crowned. 
 
 families of Persia. Mordecai may have shrewdly 
 -judged that, were her Jewish extraction known, her 
 hopes of royal favor would have been blasted. In 
 this, however, he would have forgotten the supremacy 
 of despotic will. 
 
 Herodotus relates the following account of the 
 marriage of Cambyses : " It was not the custom of the 
 Persians, before his time, to marry their sisters — but 
 Cambyses, happening to fall in love with one of his, 
 and wishing to take her to wife, as he knew that it 
 was an uncommon thing, called together the royal 
 judges, and put it to them, 'whether there was any 
 law which allowed a brother, if he wished, to marry 
 his sister % ' Now the royal judges are certain picked 
 men among the Persians, who hold their office for 
 life, or until they are found guilty of some miscon- 
 duct. By them justice is administered in Persia, and 
 they are the interpreters of the old laws, all disputes 
 being referred to their decision. When Cambyses, 
 therefore, put his question to these judges, they gave 
 him an answer which was at once true and safe — ' they 
 did not find any law,' they said, ' allowing a brother 
 to take his sister to wife, but they found a law, that 
 the king of the Persians might do what he pleased.' 
 And so they neither warped the law through fear of 
 Cambyses, nor ruined themselves by over stiffly main- 
 taining the law ; but they brought another quite dis- 
 tinct law to the king's help, which allowed him to 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 125 
 
 have his wish. Cambyses, therefore, married the 
 object of his love, and no long time afterward he 
 took to wife another sister. It was the younger of 
 these who went with him into Egypt, and there suf- 
 fered death at his hands." * 
 
 Artaxerxes Memnon married two of his own 
 daughters. In Egypt brother and sister might marry, 
 and in the age of the patriarchs a man might 
 marry his half sister. Gen. xx, 12. Xerxes, then, 
 would not have found the law an insuperable objec- 
 tion to his marriage with the Jewish maiden. Mor- 
 decai may not have known the ease with which a 
 Persian king could circumvent the law " which 
 changeth not." 
 
 " And Mordecai walked every day before the court 
 of the women's house to know how Esther did, and 
 what should become of her." 
 
 " Mordecai occupied, apparently, an humble place 
 in the royal household. He was probaWy one of the 
 porters or door-keepers at the main entrance of the 
 palace. See ver. 21, and comp. chap.iii, 2; v. 13, etc. 
 His position separated him from his adopted daughter, 
 and some effort was needed to keep up communica- 
 tion with her." f 
 
 He " walked " up and down every day. " Morde- 
 cai's fatherly care is beautiful; equaled only by 
 Esther's filial affection and obedience." % 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 31. f Eawlinson. % Greene. 
 
126 Beaoty Ckowned. 
 
 "Indeed, every day hardly does justice to the 
 double emphasis of the original in its expression of 
 Mordecai's intense anxiety." * 
 
 In this life of the beautiful Jewish maiden, which 
 is now opening to our study, we behold the complete 
 consecration of personal qualities to God and his 
 cause. Among the talents with which she was en- 
 dowed may be reckoned her personal beauty. This 
 she counted sacred to the service of her divine king. 
 Every power of mind, every affection of heart, every 
 moral quality, every advantage of social position, 
 every material possession, and every personal attrac- 
 tion are so many talents to be used for God's glory. 
 
 Esther was ever obedient to the calls and indica- 
 tions of Providence. The great man is the man who 
 recognizes providences, yields to the voices which 
 command from the unseen world, and seizes oppor- 
 tunities as they pass. He it is who ever strives to 
 keep near the heart of God. Only the loving and 
 loyal soul can God effectively use as an instrument for 
 the accomplishment of his purposes. Only such a 
 soul lives in harmony with himself, liis surroundings, 
 and his God. He falls naturally into God's plan, and, 
 like every creature in its appropriate place, is omnipo- 
 tent within his sphere. Esther was passive in God's 
 hands to be directed, and active and prompt to obey 
 the will of her Father in heaven. 
 * Alcott. 
 
The Queenliness of Beauty. 127 
 
 The law of providential systems is easily discovera- 
 ble in this history. Around the Israelitish nation as 
 a central sun there revolved, with greater or less regu- 
 larity, the planets of God's providences. Every thing 
 had reference to this central body. It gave out its 
 light to enlighten surrounding peoples ; they in turn 
 worked out God's designs. Wars, revolutions, dis- 
 coveries, centuries, great men, national calamities, 
 natural catastrophies — all, controlled by the Omnipo- 
 tent Hand, worked together for the good of this cen- 
 tral sun. God never lost sight of his own people. 
 Their exile, which threatened destruction to the race, 
 proved a blessing : the heathen influences which sur- 
 rounded them drove the remnant nearer to God. 
 
 Providential systems revolve around the individual 
 who is loyal to the cause of righteousness. God sees 
 the ones. " All things work together for the good of 
 the ones. Things are done as they are in this world 
 with reference to the chosen of God. Israel is safe as 
 a nation so long as it is loyal to Jehovah. Esther is 
 safe in the land of her exile so long as she is true to 
 the God of her fathers. God found her, recognized 
 her worth, and placed her on a throne. She was now 
 in a position to help her people. So ever work God's 
 providences. The world is governed to serve spiritual 
 ends. Each loyal soul is a center around which num- 
 berless providences revolve. These providences work 
 together for the true interests of the soul. 
 
128 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The Christian to-day is watched over, guarded, 
 defended, and delivered. All things are his. He 
 is ensphered in the Lord, and no harm can touch 
 his soul. There are no favorites in God's kingdom. 
 Every daughter of Christ is as dear to him as was 
 Esther ^ and every believer in Christ is a prince of 
 the blood. The kingdoms of to-day are ruled by the 
 Omnipotent for the advancement of his cause and 
 the good of his people. 
 
Enthroned and Crowned. 129 
 
 CHAPTER TIL 
 
 ENTHRONED AND CROWNED. 
 
 " And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained 
 grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he 
 set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of 
 Vashti." — Esther ii, 17. 
 
 Esther was now in the palace of the great king. 
 Her food was the choicest which the king's bounty 
 could supply ; she occupied the most spacious and the 
 most elegantly furnished and at the same time the 
 pleasantest suite of apartments in all "the king's 
 house," and seven maidens rare of beauty and ac- 
 complishments waited to do her bidding while she 
 enjoyed the special favoritism of Hegai, " the king's 
 chamberlain." 
 
 Twelve months preparation were necessary before 
 she could be presented to the king. During this 
 time she was put to the strictest diet and discipline of 
 purification. Luxurious baths were provided with 
 costliest perfumes and unguents. " Six months with 
 oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and 
 with other things " were appointed for her purifica- 
 tion "according to the manner of the women." All 
 
 this was done to insure perfect health of body, the 
 9 
 
130 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 greatest beauty of face and symmetry of form, and 
 
 aoothness and softness of skin. 
 
 The art of beauty among Oriental nations was a 
 most important study. The eyes, the teeth, the lips, 
 the hair, the nails, the arms — the whole body was 
 studied, beautified and adorned. 
 
 Articles for the Toilet. 
 
 Lane describes the process of coloring the eyelids 
 among the Egyptians : " The eyes, with very few ex- 
 ceptions, are black, large, and of a long almond form, 
 with long and beautiful lashes, and an exquisitely soft, 
 bewitching expression ; eyes more beautiful can hardly 
 be conceived; their charming effect is much heightened 
 by the concealment of the other features (however 
 pleasing the latter may be), and is rendered still more 
 striking by a practice universal among the females of 
 
Enthroned and Crowned. 131 
 
 the higher and middle classes, and very common 
 among those of the lower orders, which is that of black- 
 ening the edge of the eye-lids, both above and below 
 the eyes, with a black powder called kohl. This is a 
 collyrium, commonly composed of the smoke-black 
 which is produced by burning a kind of libdm — an 
 aromatic resin — a species of frankincense, used, I am 
 told, in preference to the better kind of frankincense, 
 as being cheaper, and equally good for the purpose. 
 Kohl is also prepared of the smoke-black produced 
 from burning the shells of almonds. These two 
 kinds, though believed to be beneficial to the eyes, 
 are used merely for ornament ; but there are several 
 kinds used for their real or supposed medicinal prop- 
 erties, particularly the powder of several kinds of 
 lead ore, to which are often added sarcocolla, long 
 pepper, sugar-candy, fine dust of Venetian squim, and 
 sometimes powdered pearls. Antimony, it is said, 
 was formerly used for painting the edges of the eyelids. 
 The kohl is applied with a small probe of wood, ivory, 
 or silver, tapering toward the end, but blunt ; this is 
 moistened sometimes with rose-water, then dipped in 
 the powder and drawn along the edges of the eyelids." 
 The sculptures and paintings on temples and tombs 
 show the prevalence of this custom among both sexes 
 in most ancient times. The kohl bottles, still contain- 
 ing some of the paint and the bodkins for applying it, 
 have been found, after a burial of thousands of years. 
 
132 
 
 Beauty Cjrowned. 
 
 Painting the eyes is mentioned in the Scriptures. It 
 prevailed also among the ladies of Greece. 
 
 The number, variety, and weight of the ornaments 
 worn by the Orientals were most extravagant, as meas- 
 ured by modern west- 
 ern ideas. The ladies 
 of ancient Egypt wore 
 earrings of great size, 
 and bracelets, armlets, 
 and anklets of the most 
 ear-drops. varied character. These 
 
 ornaments were frequently richly inlaid with enamel 
 or precious stones. Hand- 
 some and costly goLd or 
 bead necklaces were high- 
 ly esteemed. The modern 
 Egyptians vie with the an- 
 cients in the number, va- 
 riety, beauty, and value of 
 their ornaments. " Most of 
 the women of the lower 
 orders wear a variety of 
 trumpery ornaments," thus rivaling the rich and no- 
 ble in their desire for display. 
 
 The inhabitants of Palestine and the surrounding 
 countries were equally fond of personal adornment. 
 Earrings, nose-rings, bracelets, signets, gold neck- 
 chains, and trinkets of various kinds, both of gold and 
 
 'WWWWW 
 
 Neck Collars. 
 
Enthroned and Crowned. 133 
 
 of silver, were abundant. Such, ornaments supplied 
 the gold from which were made the sacred utensils of 
 the tabernacle. The laver of brass was constructed 
 from the brazen mirrors of the women's toilet. The 
 Israelites gathered from the slain Midianites orna- 
 ments to the amount of sixteen thousand seven hun- 
 dred and fifty shekels ; and again, after the defeat of 
 the same peoj)le by Gideon, there were obtained nose- 
 rings to the amount of one thousand and seven hun- 
 dred shekels of gold, besides collars and earrings. 
 
 The love of ornament is rebuked by Isaiah : " In 
 that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their 
 anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents ; the pendants, 
 and the bracelets, and the mufflers ; the head-tires, and 
 the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume 
 boxes, and the amulets ; the rings, and the nose jewels ; 
 the festival robes, and the mantels, and the shawls, 
 and the satchels ; the hand mirrors, and the fine linen, 
 and the turbans, and the veils." Isa. iii, 18-23. The 
 ankle chains gave the mincing walk supposed to char- 
 acterize the nobility. 
 
 The Mishna, in speaking of proper articles of dress 
 and announcing its law, says : " A woman must not 
 go out (on the Sabbath) with linen or woolen laces, 
 nor with the straps on her head : nor with a frontlet 
 and pendants thereto, unless sown to her cap : nor 
 with a golden tower (that is, an ornament in the 
 shape of a tower) : nor with a tight gold chain : nor 
 
134 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 with nose-rings : nor with finger rings on which there 
 is no seal : nor with a needle without an eye : nor 
 with a finger ring that has a seal on it : nor with a 
 diadem : nor with a smelling bottle or balm flask." 
 A man may go out with knee-buckles, but not with 
 an amulet, nor a step-chain. There was much reason 
 for the apostle Paul's recommending the women to 
 adorn themselves " not with braided hair, or gold, or 
 pearls, or costly array, but with good works," and 
 with " the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
 which is in the sight of God of great price." Orna- 
 ments were most lavishly displayed especially at fes- 
 tivals, when every lady was desirous of appearing at 
 her best. 
 
 The early Chaldean women wore bronze and iron 
 bangles and amulets, and bracelets of rings or beads ; 
 also earrings and rings for the toes. These various 
 rings were shell, bronze, or iron. Strings of gold 
 and agate beads surrounded the neck. The men 
 wore seal-cylinders of agate or other hard stone, and 
 sometimes rings and bracelets, the last being occa- 
 sionally of gold. 
 
 The Assyrians and Babylonians were also doubtless 
 given to extravagant personal adornment, though the 
 monuments afford meager information on this point. 
 The Persians, when the great empire was at the 
 height of its magnificence, lavished upon themselves 
 richest jewelry and most gorgeous attire. The cus- 
 
Enthroned and Crowned. 
 
 135 
 
 toin of using dyes to enhance the brilliancy of the 
 eyes, and give them greater apparent size and soft- 
 ness, was borrowed by the Persians from the Medes. 
 
 After all possible care, few were the fortunate con- 
 cubines who were called the second time to the kind's 
 apartments. " Now when every maid's turn came to 
 go into King Ahasuerus,* in the evening she went, and 
 on the morrow she returned into the second house of 
 the women, to the custody of Shaasiigaz, the king's 
 chamberlain, which kept the king's concubines. She 
 came in unto the king no more, except the king de- 
 lighted in her, and that she were called by name." It 
 is not a matter for wonder that each maid used every 
 art to enhance her beauty, and that " whatever she 
 desired " of ornaments and jewelry were given her 
 by Hegai. 
 
 "■Now when the turn of 
 Esther, the daughter of 
 Abihail, the uncle of Mor- 
 decai, who had taken her 
 for his daughter, was come 
 to go in unto the king, she 
 required nothing but what 
 Hegai, the king's cham- 
 berlain, the keeper of the 
 
 women, appointed." This was quite different from 
 the choice of the other virgins. 
 
 Herodotus refers to the custom iu iii, 69. 
 
136 
 
 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 " IS T o doubt the virgins generally took the opportu- 
 nity — one that would occur but once in their lives — 
 to load themselves with precious ornaments of various 
 kinds, necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, anklets, and the 
 like. Esther allowed Hegai to dress her as he would."* 
 
 "Not, perhaps, because of shrewdness, as if she de- 
 pended on the fact that Hegai understood best the 
 taste of the king ; she did not design to please the 
 king by means of ornamentation, and only put on 
 what was deemed indispensable by Hegai/' f 
 
 "Thus, as ever, it proves 
 that true piety is the highest 
 ornament, even in a heathen's 
 sight, and modesty is the 
 brightest jewel of female 
 beauty." 1 Pet. iii, 3, 44 
 
 There was certainly no inten- 
 tional shrewdness on the part 
 of Esther in leaving her personal adornment to the 
 judgment of Hegai, yet doubtless she was thereby en- 
 abled to appear in dress and ornaments most pleasing 
 to the taste of the king. Her beauty of face and 
 form, her modesty of dress, and her gracefulness of 
 manners, conquered his heart. The riches of her 
 mind and the affections of her gentle heart, her dis- 
 cretion, dutifulness, and integrity, and all fair quali- 
 ties, adorned her pure life. 
 
 * Rawlinson. ' f Schultz. | Strong. 
 
 jwyvw wv -'>_,£ 
 yAAA/jj,/-^/ ;, t: ""■ \,_U 
 
 Armlets. 
 
Enthroned and Crowned. 137 
 
 The preparation which Esther made when called 
 to enter the presence of the king met with the com- 
 mendation of all who knew her. " And Esther ob- 
 tained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon 
 her." 
 
 At length she was ushered into the apartments of 
 her royal lord. It was in the month Tebeth, four 
 years after the divorce of Yashti. The ancient Chal- 
 deans named the month Tebit, " the month of the 
 cave of the rising sun," the month in which the an- 
 cients celebrated the birth of the new sun after his 
 death and concealment amid the fogs and storms of 
 " the month of thick clouds," or Kislev. It corre- 
 sponds with December-January, in which Christians 
 celebrate the birth of the Sun of Righteousness. In 
 this month, then, the Myrtle of Israel went into the 
 house royal, and in this month the star of the exile 
 shone forth. The king was enamored of the beautiful 
 Jewish maiden at the first. Mordecai, whose anxiety 
 was deep and tender, could rejoice in the fortunes of 
 his fair cousin. " The king loved Esther above all 
 the women, and she obtained grace and favor in his 
 sight more than all the virgins ; so that he set the 
 royal crown upon her head, and made her queen in- 
 stead of Yashti." 
 
 The wedding was celebrated with a magnificence 
 commensurate with the greatness, the wealth, and the 
 glory of the kingdom. As a special honor to the 
 
138 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 successful favorite, the feast was called "Esther's 
 feast." Princes, embassadors, nobles, conquerors, 
 and ail great men were present. The king, as ever, 
 was proud and haughty, while Esther, dazzling all 
 with her beauty, charming all with her modesty and 
 grace, and captivating all by her noble and yet gentle 
 bearing, walked a queen. 
 
 It was the custom of Persian kings to dispense 
 royal favors and bounties with an open hand upon 
 all great occasions. The subjects of Pseudo-Smerdis, 
 " while his reign lasted, received great benefits from 
 him, insomuch that, when he died, all the dwellers in 
 Asia mourned his loss exceedingly, except only the 
 Persians. For no sooner did he come to the throne 
 than forthwith he sent round to every nation under 
 his rule and granted them freedom from war-service and 
 from taxes for the space of three years." * Speaking 
 of the Lacedaemonians, Herodotus says : " They hold 
 with the Persians : when the king dies and another 
 comes to the throne, the newly-made monarch forgives 
 all the Spartans the debts they owe, either to the king 
 or to the public treasury. And, in like manner among 
 the Persians, each king, when he begins to reign, re- 
 mits the tribute due from the provinces." f 
 
 So upon this joyous occasion Xerxes " made a re- 
 lease to the provinces." He also " gave gifts," and 
 these gifts were " according to the state of the king," 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 6, 7. f Ibid, vi, 59. 
 
Enthroned and Crowned. 139 
 
 gifts that became " the honor of his excellent maj- 
 esty." 
 
 Persian kings bestowed on their queens and other 
 favorites villages and cities, to supply them with ar- 
 ticles of food, dress, and other conveniences and lux- 
 uries. Certain villages of Syria were given to Pary- 
 satis to furnish her with girdles. Anthylla, in Egypt, 
 under Persian rule, was assigned to the wife of the 
 ruler of Egypt, to keep her in shoes.* 
 
 Socrates says : " I have been informed by a credible 
 person who went up to the king (at Susa) that he 
 passed through a large tract of excellent land, extend- 
 ing for nearly a day's journey, which the people of 
 the country called 'the queen's girdle,' and another 
 which they called her ' veil,' and several other fair 
 and fertile districts, which were reserved for the 
 adornment of the queen, and are named after her sev- 
 eral habiliments." f 
 
 According to Diodorus, the revenues of Lake Moeris 
 were settled on the Queen of Egypt, to supply her 
 with ointments, jewels, and other articles connected 
 with her toilet. 
 
 In like manner Esther and other favorites of the 
 king were royally remembered on this day of happy 
 auspices, and the fair queen doubtless more than all 
 the rest. 
 
 *Xenophon, Anabasis I. iv, 8; Herodotus, ii, 98. 
 f Plato, Alcibiadesl. 123. 
 
110 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 There is another gathering of virgins to replenish 
 the royal harem. Mordecai at this time fills some 
 office at " the king's gate. 1 ' The queen has not fur- 
 gotten her noble cousin and benefactor. ''Esther 
 had not jet showed her kindred nor her people, as 
 Mordecai had charged her : for Esther did the com- 
 mandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought 
 up with him." Esther ii, 20. 
 
 tf We have here a daughter bereft of the protection 
 of man by the death of her parents, but Cod elevated 
 her to great distinction, so that all men gave her 
 honor. Why was she carried into exile, but that she 
 should reign ? Why bereft of parents, unless that she 
 might become the favorite of Cod and man ? " * 
 
 * Brenz. 
 
The Conspiracy Discovered. 141 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE CONSPIRACY DISCOVERED. 
 
 " Two of the king's chamberlains . . . sought to lay hand on the 
 king." — Esther ii, 21. 
 
 " The thing was known to Mordecai, who told it unto Esther." — 
 Esther ii, 22. 
 
 " They were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book 
 of the chronicles before the king." — Esther ii, 23. 
 
 Troubles multiplied in the palace of the king. 
 The sins and excesses which marked his career began 
 to bear their legitimate fruit. Among the king's 
 chamberlains were two men honored with positions 
 near the royal person, and implicitly trusted. These 
 were Bigthan or Bigtha, whose name, of good omen, 
 has been derived from the old Persian Bagaclana, 
 " the God-given," and Teresh, whose name, of doubt- 
 ful omen, may possibly be derived from tars, " to 
 fear." Through anger, or jealousy, or for some 
 other cause, they formed a secret plot to assassinate 
 the king, but Mordecai, who also held some position 
 at the king's gate, discovered the conspiracy and re- 
 ported it to the queen, who at once informed Xerxes. 
 The conspirators were apprehended, tried, found 
 guilty, and condemned to death. 
 
 Such conspiracies inside the palace were frequent 
 
142 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 occurrences in Persia. Xerxes, though escaping 
 from this and doubtless other plots, was ultimately 
 murdered by Artabanus, captain of his guard, and 
 Aspamistras, a chamberlain. Artaxerxes Ochus met 
 the same fate. 
 
 The criminals were hurried away to execution. 
 Various methods of execution are mentioned in the 
 Scriptures, of which the most usual were stoning to 
 death, and slaying with the » sword or with an ax. 
 Executions by means of saws and harrows of iron, 
 and by forcing the criminal through a brick-kiln, 
 were exceptional and barbarous. 
 
 Bigthan and Teresh were executed by " impale- 
 ment." " The punishment inflicted by Xerxes suc- 
 ceeded those with which the Assyrians and the Baby- 
 lonians and the eastern nations generally were familiar. 
 These are exhibited on the marbles and bronzes that 
 have been exhumed from the mounds of Assyria. 
 There has not yet been shown any example of hang- 
 ing by the neck, or of fastening to a cross. There are 
 abundant examples of impalement, of which the most 
 ancient, those of the Balowat gates (850 B.C ), shows 
 the impalement to have been" by passing the stake 
 through the body along the spine, sometimes the en- 
 tire length of the body. " The method of accom- 
 plishing this in modern times, as practiced by the 
 Khan of Khiva, has been to make use of two carriages, 
 binding the victim to the one, and securing the stake 
 
The Conspiracy Discovered. 143 
 
 to the other, and thus readily applying any amount 
 of force that might be required. In some instances 
 cords were bound around the legs of the victim, and 
 thus he was drawn down upon the stake. Instances 
 of impalement by the Turks of Bosnia are given on 
 the best authority as late as 1876." 
 
 In connection with the illustrations of the most 
 ancient impalement " are shown the barbarous ampu- 
 tation of hands and feet, and the impalement of 
 heads. A little later we find numerous impalements 
 from below the breast. One slab shows us three of 
 these, another fourteen. Darius is said to have im- 
 paled three thousand of the nobility of Babylon when 
 he took that city." 
 
 "If we would read the Old Testament aright, we 
 must understand every case of hanging on a tree, 
 except that of Absalom (caught by his hair) as denot- 
 ing impalement on a stake, instead of suspension by 
 a halter." * 
 
 Thus the conspirators were slain, and the king, ac- 
 cording to his custom, caused the name of Mordecai 
 to be recorded among his benefactors. 
 
 When the great and mighty host of Xerxes was 
 marshaled for the invasion of Greece, the king re- 
 viewed his army and fleet. Herodotus gives, the 
 following account : " Accordingly he traversed the 
 
 * The Lowell Hebrew Club, The Book of Esther, pp. 126, 127, 130; 
 Herodotus, iv, 43; iii, 125, 159; Ezra, vi, II. 
 
144 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 ranks, seated in his chariot, and going from nation to 
 nation made manifold inquiries, while his scribes 
 wrote down the answers ; till at last he had passed 
 from end to end of the whole land army, both the 
 horsemen and likewise the foot. This done he ex- 
 changed his chariot for a Sidonian galley, and, seated 
 beneath a golden awning, sailed along the prows of 
 all his vessels (the vessels having now been hauled 
 down and launched into the sea), while he made in- 
 quiries again, as he had done when he reviewed the 
 land-forces, and caused the answers to be recorded by 
 his scribes." 
 
 At the battle of Salainis the king observed care- 
 fully the conduct of his troops, " and whenever he 
 saw any of his own captains perform any worthy ex- 
 ploit, he inquired concerning him ; and the man's 
 name was taken down by his scribes, together with 
 the names of his father and his city." Phylacus, who 
 took a vessel from the Greeks in this great battle, in 
 recognition of this heroic action was enrolled by 
 Xerxes among the " king's benefactors." 
 
 The Persians called the king's benefactors Orosangs, 
 which may mean " those worthy of being recorded." 
 The inscriptions of Assyria and Babylonia repeatedly 
 speak of " recording the name " as the highest honor. 
 The right to have such record made belonged exclu- 
 sively to the king. Josephus mentions this custom, 
 and Thucydides is an authority for its use in Persia. 
 
The Conspiracy Discovered. 145 
 
 Pausanius, the Spartan commander, prosecuting an 
 intrigue with the king., restored certain captives, 
 whereupon Xerxes replied : " Thus saith Xerxes, the 
 king, to Pausanius. The benefit which thou hast 
 done me, in saving the captives who were taken at 
 Byzantium beyond the sea, is recorded in my house 
 forever." * 
 
 These records are made by direction of the king, 
 but probably not by his own hand. He may never 
 have consulted a book, nor studied any branch of 
 learning, and hence would have been incompetent 
 even to record his own edicts. It is quite probable 
 that he would consider such work beneath his kingly 
 dignity. To pass away his time a scribe sometimes 
 read to him from the chronicles of the kings, but he 
 took no further interest in these matters. The court 
 scribe wrote the letters, edicts and inscriptions. 
 The king held councils, reviewed troops, heard com- 
 plaints, rendered decisons, tried causes when not 
 delegated to " royal judges," distributed rewards and 
 punishments, directed the civil administration, led the 
 armies to battle, listened to reports concerning the 
 condition of affairs in the different provinces of the 
 realm, and issued necessary commands. The burden 
 of government, however, was frequently placed upon 
 some favorite. Much of the attention of the king 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 100 ; viii, 85, 90; iii, 140; Josephus, Antiquities, 
 xi, 6 ; Thucydides, i, 129 ; Diodorous, xvii, 14 ; Aelian, Hist. Var. 40. 
 10 
 
146 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 was directed to the preparation of liis own tomb. In 
 his leisure moments he sometimes played dice, carved 
 wood or hunted in his paradises. 
 
 The name of Mordecai, then, by direction of the 
 king, was enrolled among the king's benefactors in 
 "the book of the chronicles." Ctesias claims to have 
 had access to these royal archives in the preparation 
 of his history, They are mentioned in certain books 
 of the Old Testament, and the authors of these books 
 seem to have drawn from such records portions of the 
 material which is woven into their histories. 
 
Pride Before a Fall. 147 
 
 IX. 
 
 PRIDE BEFORE A FALL. 
 
 "And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, 
 and reverenced Haman." — Esther iii, 2. 
 
 "But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence." — Esther iii, 2. 
 
 The early Amalekites were a powerful and fierce 
 people who dwelt in Arabia- Petrsea, between Havilah 
 and Shur, or between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. 
 They were defeated by Chedorlaomer, King of Elam, 
 in the days of Abraham. According to Arabian his- 
 torians, their original home was on the Persian Gulf. 
 The Assyrians pressed upon them, and, yielding before 
 this rising power, they spread over a portion of Arabia 
 before its settlement by the Joktanites. The presence 
 of the names " Amalek," " the mount of the Amalek- 
 ites," and " the tombs of the Amalekites," indicates a 
 permanent occupation of Central Palestine in their 
 migration westward. The oldest Arab traditions 
 make the Amalika descendants from Aram and Lud 
 — the Hamite Lud, son of Mizraim, called in the 
 Egyptian language " Lut " or " Rut." If this tradi- 
 tion be accepted as historic, they were a mixed race 
 of Aramsen and Egyptian blood, uniting Shem and 
 Ham. 
 
148 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The Amalika drove out the Amu from Arabia- 
 Petrsea, where they had dwelt since the third and 
 fourth Egyptian dynasties, and pushed them back to 
 the mountain chain of Sinai. The ancestors of the 
 Amalekites may have been the Herusha, and perhaps 
 also the Shasu, with whom Egypt contended in the 
 early dynasties. " The Saarn of the tribes of Shasu," 
 conquered by Rameses III., Brngseh Bey identifies 
 with the Seirites, a cave- dwelling people in the ridges 
 and concealed places of the wildest mountains. 
 
 It will be remembered that the names of ancient 
 peoples are frequently quite flexible in the geograph- 
 ical and ethnographical denotations. The name Ama- 
 lika may have been used to designate several different 
 tribes. 
 
 When Esau fled to Mount Seir, his grandson, Ama- 
 lek, settled in the midst of the Amalekites, and possibly 
 became the founder of the royal family. This fierce 
 race was the first to make war against the Hebrews 
 upon their deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. 
 They seem at that time to have occupied the whole 
 of J;he northern part of the peninsula — a wild region, 
 suited to a wild race; educating them to freedom, 
 endurance, love of the chase, and war. There they 
 led a roving life, ranging at will amid wildest scenery, 
 over rugged passes and under high cliffs, through 
 gigantic forms and virgin forests, where nature is 
 still fresh from the hand of God. They are " the first 
 
Pride Before a Fall. 149 
 
 of the nations," under the leadership of a king who 
 bore the hereditary name of Agag, " the fiery." 
 
 The battle took place at Rephidim, " the place of 
 rest," the first great halting place, now the valley of 
 Paran. Joshua, the Ephraimite, with a chosen army 
 met the enemy on the field, while Moses, the leader, 
 Aaron, his brother, and Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 
 Moses's brother-in-law, the husband of the prophetess 
 Miriam, went up to the top of the hill to beseech the 
 help of God. " And it came to pass, when Moses 
 held up his hand, that Israel prevailed : and when he 
 let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses's 
 hands were heavy, and they took a stone, and put it 
 under him, and he sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur 
 stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the 
 other on the other side ; and his hands were steady 
 until the going down of the sun. And Joshua dis- 
 comfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the 
 sword." Exod. xvii, 11-13. 
 
 From thenceforth there was deadly hatred between 
 the two nations, and the Amalekites, as the first of 
 heathen nations, were doomed to utter destruction. 
 Because their hand was against the Lord, therefore he 
 will have war with Amalek "from generation to 
 generation." Exod. xvii, 16 ; 1 Sam. xv, 2, 3 ; Num. 
 xxiv, 20. 
 
 The Amalekites formed an alliance with the Canaan- 
 ites and defeated the Israelites at Hormah. During 
 
150 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 the period of the judges they were ever in league 
 with the enemies of Israel. With the Moabites they 
 were defeated by Ehud near Jericho. With the 
 Midianites they were defeated by Gideon in the plain 
 of Esdraelon. By command of Samuel, Saul made 
 war against them, overran their country, overwhelm- 
 ingly defeated them, took the " city of Amalek," and 
 made their king Agag prisoner. This reduced them 
 to " a horde of banditti," but though few in numbers 
 they still thirsted for the blood of Israel. A " troop " 
 came to Ziklag, pillaged the town, and carried off a 
 number of prisoners, among whom were Ahinoam 
 and Abigail, wives of David, to whom the town had 
 been assigned as a residence by Achish, the Phoeni- 
 cian king. David, upon his return home, learned of 
 the calamity, pursued, overtook, and smote them, kill- 
 ing all save four hundred who rode " upon camels and 
 fled." We do not hear of the Amalekites after the 
 time of David, for the " Amalekites " spoken of at a 
 later period seem to have belonged to another race. 
 
 From this general slaughter of the nation there had 
 escaped one Haman, who might have been of royal 
 blood and hence was called "the Agagite." "The 
 name Haman is probably the same which is found in 
 the classical writers under the form of Omanes, and 
 which in ancient Persian would have been TJmana 
 or Umanish, an exact equivalent of the Greek 
 ' Eumenes.' Hammedatha is perhaps the same as 
 
Pkide Before a Fall. 151 
 
 Maddta or Mahadata* an Old Persian name signi- 
 fying ' given by (or to) the moon.' " \ 
 
 If Haman is not a natural descendant of the 
 Amalekites, he is certainly their spiritual descend- 
 ant, and hence a true Agagite and an enemy of the 
 Jews. 
 
 This Haman acquired great influence at the Persian 
 court, and was at last raised to the office of Prime 
 Minister. A distinguished honor was bestowed upon 
 him when the king commanded all his servants to 
 prostrate themselves before him as the representative 
 of his own royalty, and in recognition of his divine 
 character. 
 
 When the six conspirators saw the omens which 
 designated Darius as king, " it seemed as if the 
 heavens conspired with Darius, and hereby inaugu- 
 rated him king ; so the five other nobles leaped with 
 one accord from their steeds, and bowed down before 
 him and owned him for their king." \ 
 
 The Persian king was recognized as a divinity. 
 yEschylus, in " The Persians," makes the " Chorus of 
 Aged Persians " call : " But do thou, O Earth, and ye 
 other rulers of the infernal regions, suffer the illus- 
 trious divinity, the god of the Persians, born in Susa, 
 to pass from your dwellings, and send him into upper 
 air, such an one as never heretofore Persian mold 
 covered. Ay, dear was the man, and dear is his 
 
 * Madates of Q. Curtius. f Rawlinson. % Herodotus, in, 86. 
 
152 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 sepulcher, for dear was the character that it entombs. 
 And thou, Aidoneus, that dost send the shades to this 
 upper world, set at liberty, Aidoneus, Darius, all 
 kingly as he was. Alas ! For as at no time he was 
 the destroyer of men by the wasting calamities of 
 war, so he was called by his Persians, counselor 
 divine ; and counselor divine he was, for he conducted 
 the host well. Lord, ancient lord, come, draw nigh, 
 appear on the topmost peak of the mount, raising the 
 saffron-dyed sandal of thy foot, displaying the crest 
 of thy royal tiara. Come forth, O Darius, author of 
 no ill : Hoa ! Show thyself, sovereign lord, that thou 
 'may est hear the sorrows of our sovereign, strange in 
 their nature, and new."* 
 
 When the embassy of the Lacedaemonians came 
 into the presence of Xerxes they were excused from 
 bowing, for thereby they would have recognised him 
 as a god. " And afterward," history relates, " when 
 they came to Susa into the king's presence, and the 
 guards ordered them to fall down and do obeisance, 
 and went so far as to use force to compel them, they 
 refused, and said they would never do any such thing, 
 even were their heads thrust down to the ground, for 
 it was not their custom to worship men, and they had 
 not come to Persia for that purpose. So they fought 
 off the ceremony." f 
 
 * The Tragedies of sEschylus, Harper's Edition, pp. 83, 84. 
 f Herodotus, vii, 136. 
 
Pride Before a Fall. 153 
 
 Curtius says : " The Persians, not only out of devo- 
 tion, but also from motives of policy, reverenced 
 their kings as gods, for majesty is the safeguard of 
 the empire." * 
 
 Prostrations before officers of rank inferior to the 
 king were common. " When they meet each other 
 in the streets you may know if the persons meeting 
 are of equal rank by the following token : if they are, 
 instead of speaking, they kiss each other on the lips. 
 In the case where one is a little inferior to the other 
 the kiss is given on the cheek ; where the difference 
 of rank is great the inferior prostrates himself upon 
 the ground. "+ Such prostrations were familiar to 
 the Jews, and were sanctified by the example of the 
 fathers. Gen. xxiii, 12 ; xlii, 6 ; 2 Sam. xiv, 4 ; 
 1 Kings i, 16. 
 
 The prostrations required by Xerxes must have 
 been something more than the ordinary courtesies 
 due to the office. No special command would have 
 been required to enforce such courtesies. It is en- 
 tirely consistent with the character of Xerxes to have 
 arrogated to himself full divine honors and to have 
 required worshipful recognition of his chief repre- 
 sentative on the part of all subordinates. 
 
 We are not surprised to learn that when " all the 
 king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, 
 and reverenced Haman," " Mordecai bowed not, nor 
 * Herodotus, viii. 5, 11. f Ibid., i, 134. 
 
154: Beauty Crowned. 
 
 did him reverence." It was not from lack of loyalty 
 to the king's government and the king's person. He 
 had already saved the life of his royal master and 
 was doubtless a faithful servant. It was not from 
 lack of respect for the office 
 and for the officer as such. 
 Nehemiah and Ezra, both ear- 
 nest Jews, found no difficulty 
 
 Oriental Prostration. • ,\ , i • \ 
 
 in serving the great king, and 
 bowed themselves before him as did the Persians. 
 It was not because he did not recognize the king's 
 command as imperative. He knew that to disobey 
 it would peril his life. None but the weightiest 
 reasons could have led him to disobedience. He was 
 called upon to render to a human being that worship 
 which was due to Gcd alone, and to reverence him 
 whom, as an Agagite, God had cursed. 
 
 Haman was so proud in the enjoyment of his 
 newly-acquired honors that for some time he did 
 not notice the disobedience of Mordecai. His atten- 
 tion is probably first called to it by his servants, who 
 have doubtless once and again spoken to the Jew 
 concerning his disregard of the royal will. Mordecai 
 has told them that his religion prevents this act of 
 worship. 
 
 The Talmud has the following account: "The 
 servants of the king's gate said to Mordecai, ' Why 
 wilt thou refuse to bow before Haman, transgressing 
 
Pride Before a Fall. 155 
 
 thus the wishes of the king ? Do we not bow before 
 him?' 
 
 " ' Ye are foolish,' answered Mordecai ; ' aye, want- 
 ing in reason. Listen to me. Shall a mortal, who 
 must return to dust, be glorified ? Shall I bow down 
 before one born of woman, whose days are short? 
 When he is small he cries and weeps as a child ; 
 when he grows older sorrow and sighing are his 
 portion ; his days are full of wrath and anger, and 
 at the end he returns to dust. Shall I bow to one 
 like him % No, I prostrate myself before the Eter- 
 nal God, who lives forever; who dwells in heaven 
 and bears the world in the hollow of his hand. His 
 word changes sunlight to darkness, his command 
 illumines the deepest gloom. His wisdom made 
 the world, he placed the boundaries of the mighty 
 sea ; the waters are his, the sweet and the salt ; 
 to the struggling waves he says, ' Be still ; thus far 
 shalt thou come, no further, that the earth may re- 
 main dry for my people.' To him, the great Crea- 
 tor and Ruler of the Universe, and to no other will 
 I bow." * 
 
 Yashti dared the wrath of the king and was di- 
 vorced. Daniel disobeyed a similar command and 
 was cast into the den of lions. The three Hebrews 
 disobeyed and were cast into the burning furnace. 
 The servants of the king, having reported the disobe- 
 
 *Polauo, Selections from the Talmud, pp. 191, 192. 
 
156 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 dience of Mordecai to Hainan, wait to see if his excuse 
 will be accepted as sufficient. To be sure the Lace- 
 daemonian embassadors were excused for the same 
 reason which Mordecai has urged, but the circum- 
 stances in many respects w T ere quite different. What 
 will be done to Mordecai the Jew ? 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 157 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SUPERSTITION AND CRUELTY, HAND IN HAND. 
 
 Then was Haman full of wrath. — Esther iii, 5. 
 Haman sought to destroy all the Jews. — Esther iii, 6. 
 Let it be written that they may be destroyed. — Esther iii, 9. 
 And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shuslian 
 was perplexed. — Esther iii, 15. 
 
 When Haman was informed of the contumacy of 
 Mordecai he was " full of wrath." He would not 
 allow the fact of his Jewish nationality and religion 
 to be an excuse for such an affront. Mordecai, indeed, 
 was beneath his notice, and he scorned to lay hands 
 on him alone, but he "sought to destroy all the Jews 
 that were throughout the whole kingdom." 
 
 History furnishes illustrious examples of such 
 wholesale massacre. The Scythians had overrun the 
 richest provinces of Asia and held possession of them 
 for some years, till "at length Cyaxares and the 
 Medes invited the greater part of them to a banquet, 
 and made them drunk with wine, after which they 
 were all massacred." * "When the seven conspirators 
 assassinated Pseudo-Smerdis, the Persians began the 
 slaughter of the magi, and " such was their fury, 
 
158 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 that, unless night had closed in, not a single ma- 
 gus would have been left alive." * Mithridates, the 
 Parthian king, "issued orders to all the governors 
 and cities dependent on him to put to death on one 
 and the same day all Italians residing within their 
 bounds, whether free or slaves, without distinction of 
 sex or age, and on no account, under severe penalties, 
 to aid any of the proscribed to escape ; to cast forth 
 the corpses of the slain as a prey to the birds ; to 
 confiscate their property, and to hand over one half of 
 it to the murderers and the other half to the king. 
 The horrible orders were — excepting in a few dis- 
 tricts, such as the island of Cos — punctually executed, 
 and eighty, or, according to other accounts, one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand — if not innocent, at least de- 
 fenseless, men, women, and children were slaughtered 
 in cold blood in one day in Asia Minor."f 
 
 Nothing less than the slaughter of the Jewish 
 nation can expiate the insult offered to the Prime 
 Minister of the empire, soothe his offended pride, and 
 sate his vengeance. He determines upon this bloody 
 course and makes his preparations. 
 
 He can, however, attempt nothing unless it first 
 receive the sanction of his religion. Cruelty and su- 
 perstition are ever inseparably united. 
 
 The religion of the Persians as taught by Zoroaster 
 in the most ancient passages of the Zend-Avesta is 
 
 * Herod., iii, 79. f Mommsen, History of Rome, vol. iii, p. 355. 
 
Superstition and Ckuelty. 159 
 
 one of the purest of ancient faiths, and in its earliest 
 portions dates from about twelve hundred years before 
 Christ. 
 
 It is most intimately connected with the religion 
 of Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament. 
 The magi are mentioned in the Bible, in which the 
 Persians are not classified w T ith idolaters. Cyrus is 
 called " the anointed of the Lord." 
 
 The sacred books of this old religion have but lately 
 been made accessible in modern tongues. The early 
 religion was strictly monotheistic. Ahuramazda was 
 the creator of all things, munificent, righteous, wise, 
 brilliant, glorious, eternal, the essence of truth, faith- 
 ful, " having his own light," " originator of all the 
 best things of the spirit of nature, of righteousness, 
 of the luminaries, and the self-shining brightness 
 which is in the luminaries," giver of immortality, 
 re warder of good, and punisher of evil. 
 
 From this primitive monotheism was developed a 
 dualism of good and bad spirits — God and the devil, 
 each independent and warring against the other. The 
 Zoroastrian believed in " the two-fold nature of man 
 as body and soul, the two-fold origin of knowledge as 
 heavenly and earthly, human responsibility, the value 
 of prayer, angelic mediatorship, heaven and hell, 
 immortality, a general judgment, future rewards and 
 punishments according to the works, the resurrection 
 of the body, the final overthrow of evil, and the reno- 
 
160 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 vation of all things." The good at death enter " the 
 house of Song," the bad are sent to "eternal 
 glooms." 
 
 The modern Parsi worships facing some luminous 
 object, as best symbolizing the divine presence. 
 His creed is, pure thoughts, pure words, and pure 
 deeds. 
 
 Such a religion, in its purity, would not lead the 
 Jewish exile far astray. It would strengthen in him 
 his attachment to strict monotheism and his abhor- 
 rence of idolatry, while it would teach a pure moral- 
 ity and religious doctrines fundamentally correct. 
 The spirit of evil, recognized, in its later development, 
 as independent in origin, would not attract his wor- 
 ship, but would drive him closer to the good Spirit. 
 
 But he would meet with two other religions. The 
 religion of the ancient Chaldeans was a system of 
 nature worship highly sacerdotal in type. It was the 
 religion of the Accadians. The priests claimed su- 
 pernatural powers. 
 
 "They explained omens, expounded dreams, and 
 by means of certain mysterious manipulations of the 
 barsom, or bundle of twigs, arrived at a knowledge of 
 future events, which they communicated to the pious 
 inquirer. With such pretensions, it was natural that 
 the caste should assume a lofty air, a stately dress, and 
 an entourage of ceremonial magnificence. Clad in 
 white robes, and bearing upon their heads tall felt caps, 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 161 
 
 with long lappets at the sides, which concealed the 
 jaw and even the lips, each with his barsom in his 
 hand, they marched in procession to their pyraetheia, 
 or fire-altars, and standing around them performed 
 for an hour at a time their magical incantations. The 
 credulous multitude, impressed by sights of this kind, 
 and imposed on by the claims to supernatural power 
 which the magi advanced, paid them a willing hom- 
 age ; and when the Arian tribes, pressing westward, 
 came into contact with the races professing the 
 Magian religion, they found a sacerdotal caste all- 
 powerful in most of the Scythic nations. v * 
 
 The classic historian says : " Scythia has an abun- 
 dance of soothsayers, who foretell the future by 
 means of a number of willow-wands. A large bundle 
 of these rods is brought and laid on the ground. The 
 soothsayer unties the bundle, and places each wand 
 by itself, at the same time uttering his prophecy ; 
 then, while he is still speaking, he gathers the rods 
 together again, and makes them up once more into a 
 bundle." f 
 
 These wands of different lengths — consisting of 
 some odd number — were always carried by the Magus. 
 The baneful influence of the magi was felt by Cam- 
 byses; they became dominant and aggressive under 
 Pseudo-Smerdis ; they were massacred when the gov- 
 
 * Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii, pp. 348, 349. 
 f Herodotus, iv, 67. 
 11 
 
162 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 eminent was seized by Darius Hystapis; and their re- 
 ligion greatly modified pure Zoroastrianism, and was 
 •an influential element in the time of Xerxes. 
 
 Ezekiel speaks of divination by means of rods or 
 arrows. Ezek. xxi, 21. The arrows of fate are repre- 
 sented on Babylonian cylinders as held in the hand of 
 Marduk or Ishtar, the divinities of Jupiter and Yenus, 
 the most favorable deities, according to the Magians. 
 A tablet in the British Museum shows a method of 
 divination by the magic throwing of dice.* 
 
 Magical rites were multiplied. Purifications, mys- 
 teries, magic knots, magic numbers, incantations, ex- 
 orcisms, sacred names and texts, talismans, amulets, 
 charms, sorceries, witchcraft, magic spells, magic po- 
 tions, imprecations, mysterious rites, powerful secrets 
 — these were all important. Fire was worshiped, 
 hymns were chanted, and prayers were offered. 
 There were gods of the sea, the sky, and the storm. 
 The sun and moon were gods, and there were many 
 planetary divinities. 
 
 Another religion was the Semitic cult of Assyria 
 and Babylonia, into which this elemental system was 
 absorbed. The gods of Assyria were more clearly 
 marked and possessed nobler attributes. Prayers and 
 hymns showed a truer spirit of worship. But there 
 were human sacrifices and unclean rites. Bel, Mer- 
 odach, Eimmin, ISTebo, Nergal, Ishtar, and Assur 
 
 * Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, p. 238. 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 163 
 
 were important gods. Planetary worship continued, 
 and kings were zealous in extending their religion 
 over conquered countries. 
 
 Many of the moral precepts were pure. Temples 
 of worship were multiplied, and books of worship, of 
 magic, of prayer, of praise, and of explanations were 
 prepared. Legends concerning the creation, the 
 flood, and other biblical events were current. The 
 devotees of this religion believed in omens and 
 dreams, and lucky and unlucky days. They prayed 
 for the forgiveness of sins, sacrificed in high places, 
 and expected future retributions. The good, they 
 believed, went to "a place of delights,'' "the land of 
 the silver sky." They had a learned priesthood, 
 imposing ceremonies, brilliant services, magnificent 
 temples, and many and great idols. There were 
 many valuable fragments of truth which remained. 
 
 Xerxes found at Callatebus a plane tree which was 
 so beautiful that he presented it with golden orna- 
 ments and placed it under the care of one of the im- 
 mortals. Ten daintily caparisoned Nisaean horses 
 were in the army of Xerxes ; also, " the holy chariot 
 of Jupiter, drawn by eight milk-white steeds, with 
 the charioteer on foot behind them holding the reins; 
 for no mortal is ever allowed to mount into the car." 
 At the Pergamus of Priam Xerxes made an offering 
 of a thousand oxen to Minerva while the Magians 
 poured out libations to the heroes slain at Troy. The 
 
164 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 Strymon was propitiated by sacrificing white horses ; 
 and at " The Nine Ways " nine youths and nine 
 maidens were buried alive.* 
 
 Strabo says that at the sacrifice to a stream " the 
 flesh of the victim is then placed on myrtle or laurel 
 branches ; the magi touch it with slender twigs, and 
 make incantations, pouring oil mixed with milk and 
 honey, not into the fire, nor into the water, but upon 
 the earth/'f 
 
 Herodotus had heard that Amestris, the wife of 
 Xerxes, " in her old age buried alive seven pairs of 
 Persian youths, sons of illustrious men, as a thank- 
 offering to the god who is supposed to dwell under- 
 neath the earth." The Persians sacrificed the first 
 Greek prisoner. In the midst of the storm which 
 destroyed many Persian ships off Cape Sepias, the 
 magi offered victims to the winds and charmed them 
 with the help of conjurers, while at the same time 
 they sacrificed to Thetis and the Nereids, to whom 
 they had heard the Sepian promontory was sacred.J 
 
 These are the three religious systems which met in 
 Susa. At this time each had received something 
 from the others, so that their elements were mingled 
 and modified, and neither could stand out entirely 
 separate and distinct. Hainan appealed to the lowest 
 form of religious belief — the elemental worship. 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 31, 39, 43, 114. f Strabo. 
 
 % Herodotus, vii, 114, 191. 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 165 
 
 Among the ancients great attention was paid to 
 lucky and unlucky days. The whole year was divided 
 into lucky and unlucky days, and cuneiform tablets 
 have been recovered on which such days are cata- 
 logued. Besides this, special days must be selected 
 for every important enterprise. Hainan could not 
 wreak his vengeance on the Jewish nation for a Jewish 
 insult without first having selected a propitious day 
 for the enterprise. 
 
 This day might have been selected by appealing to 
 the stars, by inspecting the entrails of sacrificial vic- 
 tims, by watching the flight of birds, by casting lots, 
 and by other means. Hainan chose to cast lots. 
 
 The lot was not unknown to the Jews. With them 
 it was an appeal to God without bias or passion. The 
 ancients sometimes represent the gods themselves as 
 resorting to divination by the lot. By lot the tribes 
 of Israel were located in Palestine, levitical cities as- 
 signed, and after their return from the exile settle- 
 ments in their homesteads selected. By lot they dis- 
 posed of prisoners of war and discovered criminals. 
 The sailors cast lots and found Jonah to be the of- 
 fender to be surrendered to appease the sea. Election 
 to important offices and assignment to official duties 
 were determined by lot. In like manner the scape- 
 goat was selected. The Urim, the Thummim, and the 
 Ephod were used in connection with the lot. The 
 soldiers cast the lot for the possession of the seamless 
 
166 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 robe of Christ. An apostle was selected by lot to 
 supply the place of Judas. Elections by lot prevailed 
 in the Church as late as the seventh century. 
 
 It was in the month Nisan — the former Hebrew 
 name was Abib — according to the Babylonian method 
 of reckoning, the first month of the year, correspond- 
 ing with the latter part of March and the early part 
 of April. Haman sent for one or more Magian 
 priests, who came into his presence clothed in splendid 
 vestments and bearing the insignia of their priestly 
 functions. First, the days of the month were tried, 
 and the thirteenth was found to be the most pro- 
 pitious; then the months of the year, and the twelfth 
 month, or Adar, was selected. There was an interval 
 of about eleven months before the massacre. It 
 might give the Jews time to prepare to defend them- 
 selves, but Haman was a religious man and had ap- 
 pealed to the lot and to the lot he must go. What- 
 ever the danger he must abide by the decision. 
 
 His plans having been formed and a propitious day 
 having been selected, lie will have little trouble in 
 gaining the consent of the king to issue a royal decree 
 commanding the slaughter. 
 
 His proposal to the king is very subtilly calculated. 
 He represents the Jews as dwelling alone, and hence 
 open to suspicion, and as having laws of their own, 
 and hence disloyal to the royal authority. " There is 
 a certain people," said he, " scattered abroad, and dis- 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 167 
 
 persed among the people in all the provinces of thy 
 kingdom ; and their laws are diverse from all people, 
 neither keep they the king's laws : therefore it is not 
 for the king's profit to suffer them." Esther iii, 8. 
 
 There was some truth mixed with this falsehood. 
 This, however, rendered the falsehood more danger- 
 ous. ' "So far as regarded religion, it was true that 
 the Jews had laws diverse from all people, neither 
 kept they the king's laws on this head ; but this did 
 not interfere with their civil allegiance, and their 
 enemies belied and calumniated them when they 
 insinuated that they did not yield a thankful obedi- 
 ance to the laws of the empire in secular mat- 
 ters." * The same charge has been the apology for 
 many of the great religious persecutions which dis- 
 grace the pages of history and the annals of the 
 Church. 
 
 " If it please the king, let it be written that they 
 may be destroyed." But the wholesale slaughter of 
 one of the nations of the empire would unfavorably 
 affect the amount of the royal revenues. Hence 
 Hainan calls attention to the Oriental custom of con- 
 fiscating the property of executed criminals, and 
 pledges himself that he will save from the spoils ten 
 thousand talents of silver and pay it over to the king's 
 financiers to be turned into the treasury. This sum 
 of money would ecpal from ten millions to more than 
 
 * McCrie. 
 
168 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 twenty millions of dollars, according as we estimate 
 by the civil or by the Mosaic shekel. Hainan may 
 have expected to pay this at once from his own pri- 
 vate resources and to make all that he could out of 
 the spoils of the massacre. Thus the proposal ap- 
 pealed strongly to the cupidity of both the king and 
 his vizier. 
 
 The king, with Oriental courtesy, while appearing 
 to reject, accepts the bribe and gives to Hainan his 
 signet ring to authenticate any document which he 
 wishes to prepare. 
 
 The use of the seal belonged to remote antiq- 
 uity. No document in the East is regarded as au- 
 thentic unless sealed. In Egypt engraved stones were 
 pierced through lengthwise and hung by a string 
 or chain about the neck or arm, or set in rings to be 
 worn on the finger. An ancient form was the 
 scarabaeus, made of stone or blue pottery or porcelain, 
 with an inscription or device on the flat side. The 
 Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians used cylinder- 
 seals of precious stone, or terra-cotta, which they 
 rolled over the document to be sealed. Among the 
 two latter nations the document was frequently of 
 clay, which was sealed while soft and afterward 
 baked or dried. Sometimes the seal consisted of a 
 lump of clay which was impressed with the seal 
 and attached to the document by a string. Doors 
 of tombs were closed and sealed. The importance 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 
 
 169 
 
 of sealing is evident from its metaphorical use in 
 the Bible. 
 
 
 
 (Si 1 
 
 
 
 
 Seal Rings. 
 
 The ring-seal came into use later. " It consisted of 
 a ring, to one side of which a seal was attached, the 
 seal being sometimes stationary, with the inscription 
 upon the outer side only ; at other times it was so 
 constructed as to revolve upon its axis, and possessed 
 several inscriptions, which might be used at the 
 option of the wearer. Sometimes the seal was a flat 
 oval disk having inscriptions upon the two opposite 
 surfaces, at other times it was in the form of a cube 
 with inscriptions upon the four sides." * 
 
 The custom of using the seal was introduced into 
 Greece and Rome from the East. The importance of 
 the signet-ring illustrates many passages of Scripture. 
 ■ The seals of Osirtasen I., of Sabaco, and of Cheops, 
 the builder of the Great Pyramid, have been recov- 
 ered ; also the seal which it is thought Pharaoh gave 
 to Joseph, and those of Sennacherib and Darius 
 Hystaspis. 
 
 The seal was a symbol of authority, and was part- 
 ed with only upon extraordinary occasions. It was 
 
 * The Lowell Hebrew Club, The Book of Esther, p. 141. 
 
170 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 used in the place of the sign manual and gave the 
 same validity to documents. When Xerxes gave to 
 Hainan his seal he delegated to him supreme 
 authority. 
 
 When Cyrus called for volunteers to bring to him 
 Oroetes, dead or alive, thirty of the chief Persians 
 offered themselves for the work. Lots were cast, and 
 Bagaeus was selected to execute the king's wishes. 
 " Then Bagaeus caused many letters to be written on 
 divers matters, and sealed them all with the king's 
 signet ; after which he took the letters with him and 
 departed for Sardis. On his arrival he was shown 
 into the presence of Oroetes, when he uncovered the 
 letters one by one, and giving them to the king's 
 secretary — every satrap has with him a king's sec- 
 retary — commanded him to read their contents. 
 Herein his design was to try the fidelity of the body- 
 guard, and see if they would be likely to fall away 
 from Oroetes. When, therefore, he saw that they 
 showed ,'the letters all due respect, and even more 
 highly reverenced their contents, he gave the secre- 
 tary a paper on which was written, ' Persians, King 
 Darius forbids you to guard Oroetes.' The soldiers 
 at these words laid aside their spears. So Bagaeus, 
 finding that they obeyed his mandate, took courage, 
 and gave into the secretary's hands the last letter, 
 wherein it was written, ' King Darius commands the 
 Persians who are in Sardis to kill Oroetes. ' Then 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 171 
 
 the guards drew their swords and slew him upon 
 the spot." * 
 
 Haman, armed with supreme authority, hastened 
 his preparations. The king's scribes were called, 
 and at Haman's dictation wrote the edict of exter- 
 mination addressed to the various officers of the prov- 
 inces and sealed with the king's seal. 
 
 " The Jews' enemy " caused the edict to be written 
 in the king's name, thereby rendering it binding and 
 irrevocable. " And the letters were sent by posts 
 into all the king's provinces." 
 
 In so mighty an empire rapidity of communication 
 was necessary that the king might be speedily in- 
 formed concerning the condition of affairs in all its 
 provinces, and that his edicts might be carried as 
 quickly as possible to the utmost limits of the realm. 
 There were then no roads in western Asia ; they may 
 scarcely be said to exist at the present day. They 
 are only routes of travel, with no improvements save 
 where they cross the mountains. 
 
 In mountainous countries fleet footmen were em- 
 ployed as runners to carry royal dispatches. There is 
 the record of a journey from Tyre to Jerusalem which 
 was accomplished in twenty-four hours. The dis- 
 tance is one hundred miles. Even one hundred and 
 fifty miles have been accomplished in the same time. 
 Saul had. an organized body of footmen. Horses, 
 * Herodotus, iii, 12V, 128. 
 
172 - Beauty Crowned. 
 
 camels, and other swift beasts were employed in the 
 less mountainous regions. 
 
 The Persian postal system was established by Cyrus 
 the Great. It was greatly improved by Darius, and 
 afterward by Xerxes. 
 
 "Nothing mortal travels so fast as these Persian 
 messengers. The entire plan is a Persian invention ; 
 and this is the method of it. Along the whole line 
 of road there are men (they say) stationed, with horses, 
 in number equal to the number of days which the 
 journey takes, allowing a man and horse to each day ; 
 and these men will not be hindered from accomplish- 
 ing at their best speed the distance which they have 
 to go, either by snow or rain, or heat, or by the dark- 
 ness of night. The first rider delivers his dispatch to 
 the second, and the second passes it to the third ; and 
 so it is borne from hand to hand along the whole 
 line, like the light in the torch-race which the Greeks 
 celebrated to Vulcan." * 
 
 The post-houses were doubtless still more frequent 
 — at such distances apart that a horse could gallop from 
 one to the next at full speed. Each being provided 
 with several relays of horses and several couriers, the 
 dispatch was forwarded at utmost speed. 
 
 Inns were to be found at every station, bridges and 
 fords crossed the streams, and guard-houses with 
 bodies of soldiery protected the messengers from rob- 
 
 * Herodotus, viii, 98. 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 173 
 
 bery or delays from the attacks of brigands. Men 
 could be pressed into the service in cases of necessity, 
 to hasten the dispatches or to protect the king's mes- 
 sengers. 
 
 " News of the death of Philotus, and orders for the 
 execution of Parmenio, his father, were carried on 
 dromedaries from near Herat to Ecbatana, a distance 
 of eight hundred and fifty miles, in eleven days." * 
 
 This postal system was only for the king's business. 
 The main postal routes in the reign of Xerxes w T ere 
 the route from Susa to Sardis, that from Susa to 
 Babylon, and a branch to Ecbatana. There were less 
 important postal-roads to all parts of the empire. 
 
 The materials used for writing in ancient times 
 were various. Public inscriptions and brief records 
 were placed upon stone, metallic, or clay surfaces. 
 Clay cylinders, papyrus rolls, waxed tablets, and 
 parchment were often used for books. Parchment 
 was employed in western Asia for all missive docu- 
 ments. Sometimes preparations were made from 
 box-wood, palm-leaves, and linen. 
 
 Besides the cuneiform character adapted to the 
 chisel, there probably existed in Persia an alphabet 
 better adapted to the pen. " The pen was usually of 
 reed, with a metallic pointed style for wax, and still 
 harder tools for stone or plaster or metal ; and the 
 prevalent ink was a mixture of gall and lampblack." 
 
 * Strabo, xv, ii, 10. 
 
174 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 The following copy of an ancient letter will be 
 interesting: "Areus, king of the Lacedaemonians, to 
 Onias, sendeth greeting. We have met with a cer- 
 tain writing whereby we have discovered that both 
 the Jews and Lacedaemonians are of one stock, and 
 are derived from the kindred of Abraham. It is 
 but just, therefore, that you, who are our brethren, 
 should send to us about any of your concerns as you 
 please. We will also do the same thing, and esteem 
 your concerns as our own, and will look upon our 
 concerns as in common w r ith yours. Demoteles, who 
 brings you this letter, will bring your answer back 
 to us." This letter is foursquare ; and the seal is an 
 eagle, with a dragon in its claws.* 
 
 The king's scribes soon completed copies of the 
 bloody edict in all the languages of the principal na- 
 tions of the kingdom — "to destroy, to kill, and to 
 cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little 
 children and women, in one day, even upon the thir- 
 teenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month 
 Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey." The 
 scribe certified the writing in the words : " The copy 
 of the writing, for a commandment to be given in 
 every province, was published unto all people, that 
 they should be ready against that day." 
 
 It was entirely consistent with the custom of the 
 Persians and other ancient nations to put to death 
 
 * The Lowell Hebrew Club, The Book of Esther, pp. 121, 122. 
 
Superstition and Cruelty. 175 
 
 not only the criminal himself, but also his wife and 
 children.* 
 
 The couriers received the edict, published it in 
 Susa, and sped in every direction into all the prov- 
 inces of the empire " pressed on by the command of 
 the king." 
 
 Why this so great haste in publishing the edict 
 when it would be eleven months before the day 
 selected by lot for the slaughter ? The Jews would 
 take warning and flee from the kingdom. What 
 cared Haman % He would be well rid of the hated 
 race, and he could see to it that they carried little of 
 their property with them in their flight. 
 
 But the people of " Shushan the palace " and of 
 Susa, the city, were alarmed. The great majority of 
 them were doubtless friendly to the Jews. And 
 then, too, they feared for their own safety. If 
 Xerxes has ordered the massacre of the Jewish 
 nation this year, what nation will be exterminated 
 next year? 
 
 " And the king and Haman sat down to drink ; but 
 the city Shushan was perplexed." 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 119. 
 
176 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 SUSPENSE, AGONY, RESOLUTION. 
 
 " Mordecai rent his clothes." — Esther iv, 1. 
 
 " There was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and 
 weeping and wailing." — Esther iv, 3. 
 
 " Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for sicch a 
 time as this? " — Esther iv, 14. 
 
 " Fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or 
 day: ... if I perish, I perish." — Esther iv, 16. 
 
 The decree of the king will be executed. The 
 annihilation of the Jewish nation is certain. Mon- 
 archs of even later times have shown themselves 
 equal to any atrocity. Tamerlane, in his march against 
 Delhi, massacred one hundred thousand captives, and 
 having stormed Bagdad, piled ninety thousand corpses 
 in public places as a terror to his enemies. He put 
 to death all the inhabitants of Ispahan, except her 
 artists and scholars. Seventy thousand heads were 
 piled up in the form of towers. At Sebsewar two 
 thousand persons were piled up alive, their heads 
 outward and their bodies built up with mortar. The 
 Janizaries in Constantinople were butchered to the 
 number of twenty-five thousand. This was in 1826. 
 In 1821 the Turks, by slaughter and enslavement, 
 destroyed more than one hundred thousand of the 
 
Suspense, Agony, Resolution. 177 
 
 Christian population of Scio. The Koords butchered 
 
 ten thousand of the Nestorians in 1843. It was but in 
 
 the year 1861 that the Turks and Druses slaughtered 
 
 the Christians of Mt. Lebanon — " eleven thousand 
 
 Christians massacred ; one hundred thousand sufferers 
 
 by the civil war ; twenty thousand desolate widows 
 
 and orphans ; three thousand Christian habitations 
 
 burned ; and property to the value of ten millions of 
 
 dollars (gold) destroyed." .Not only is the edict of 
 
 Xerxes itself credible, but it is also certain that such 
 
 an edict would have been executed. 
 
 No wonder that " when Mordecai perceived all 
 
 that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on 
 
 sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of 
 
 the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry." If 
 
 was not because of his fear of personal harm. If the 
 
 royal edict had devoted himself alone to death, he 
 
 could have received it with the silence, the equanimity, 
 
 and the courage of a Daniel. Nor was it because of 
 
 the doom which hung over his royal relative, the 
 
 beautiful queen. That, even, would not have called 
 
 forth such violent expressions of grief. But the 
 
 whole Jewish nation was doomed. And another 
 
 consideration which caused this to weigh more heavily 
 
 was the fact that he himself was instrumental in 
 
 bringing this calamity upon his people. Not that 
 
 he repented because of what he had done. He had 
 
 counted the cost of disobedience, and would stand his 
 12 . * 
 
178 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 ground. But it must have been a most painful re- 
 flection for him to know that he had been the occa- 
 sion of this explosion of the Satanic rage of the Jews' 
 enemy. 
 
 The expression of his grief was in the true Oriental 
 spirit. He rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, sprin- 
 kled ashes upon his person, went out into the streets 
 of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry. 
 This was Jewish ; it was also Persian, and Oriental. 
 
 "At Susa, on the arrival of the first message, 
 which said that Xerxes was master of Athens, such 
 was the delight of the Persians who had remained be- 
 hind, that they forthwith «strewed all the streets with 
 myrtle boughs, and burnt incense, and fell to feasting 
 and merriment. In like manner, when the second 
 message reached them, so sore was their dismay that 
 they all with one accord rent their garments, and 
 cried aloud, and wept and wailed without stint." * 
 
 " When the horse reached the camp, Mardonius 
 and all the Persian army made great lamentation for 
 Masistius. They shaved off all the hair from their 
 own heads, and cut the manes from their war-horses 
 and their sumpter-beasts, while they vented their 
 grief in such loud cries that all Bceotia resounded 
 with the clamor, because they had lost the man who, 
 next to Mardonius, was held in the greatest esteem, 
 both by the king and by the Persians generally." f 
 
 * Herodotus, viii, 99. f Ibid., ix, 24. 
 
Suspense, Agony, Resolution. 179 
 
 When the Persians saw Cambyses at the approach 
 of death bewail his misfortunes, they <k rent the 
 garments that they had on, and uttered lamentable 
 cries." * ^Eschylus in " The Persians " does not 
 exaggerate this grief and its expression, f The 
 Egyptians were equally violent in expressions of 
 mourning. £ 
 
 Esau, like * Mordecai, " cried with a great and ex- 
 ceeding bitter cry." Gen. xxvii, 34. Daniel sought 
 the Lord, clothed in sackcloth and covered with ashes. 
 Dan. ix, 3. All the scriptural modes of expressing 
 grief and mourning are to be found in Job ii, 12, and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Thus Mordecai went forth into the streets of the 
 city, in the intense anguish of his soul, and his pierc- 
 ing cries ceased not to weary the very heavens. The 
 loud wailing called many from their dwellings, and 
 they beheld the object of pity, clothed with a coarse 
 cloth of hair and covered with ashes, passing slowly 
 along the streets, smiting upon his breast or raising 
 his hands to heaven and ever giving utterance to the 
 same piercing cries. As the news of the bloody 
 decree spread, the Jews everywhere joined in the 
 wail of grief, and clothed themselves in the garb of 
 mourning. And with the speed of the king's mes- 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 66. Comp. iii, 64 ; vii, 45. 
 
 f^Eschylus, The Persians, 251-285; 510-585; 702-1045. 
 
 \ Herodotus, ii, 85. 
 
180 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 sengers it extended throughout the provinces of the 
 empire. Ashes were sprinkled upon the ground to 
 become the bed of those whose grief was intense. 
 
 " There was great mourning among the Jews, and 
 fasting, and weeping, and wailing : and many lay in 
 sackcloth and ashes."* 
 
 Mordecai, in his aimless wandering or with some un- 
 defined purpose, approaches the king's gate, but is 
 arrested by the guard, " for none might enter into 
 the king's gate clothed with sackcloth." 
 
 " It was contrary to every established rule, and an 
 offense highly punishable, for any one to appear 
 within the precincts of the palace of the Persian 
 kings in the dress or with the look of a mourner. 
 There must be nothing seen there to remind the 
 sovereign that trouble and suffering are experienced 
 by mortals. With every luxury to gratify his pam- 
 pered appetite, with external splendor to please his 
 eye, and sweet music to soothe his ear, and the flat- 
 tery of courtiers to make him regard himself as some- 
 thing more than mortal, he passed his life in seclusion 
 from all sights and sounds of distress and woe." f 
 
 " But thus to keep out the badges of sorrow, unless 
 they could withal have kept out the causes of sorrow, 
 to forbid sackcloth to enter, unless they could have 
 forbidden sickness and trouble and death to enter, 
 was jest." % 
 
 * Comp. Isaiah lviii, 5 ; Jonah iii, 6. f Davidson. \ Henry. 
 
Suspense, Agony, Kesolution. 181 
 
 The only words joyful to the ear of the monarch 
 would have been, " Let the king live forever." 
 There are scriptural references to this law of the 
 palace. Gen. 1, 4: ; E"eh. ii, 1. How little the king 
 knows of the sorrow of his subject ! how little the 
 rich know of the troubles of the poor ! 
 
 The servants of Esther seem to have learned her 
 relation to Mordecai, though they were not yet in- 
 formed of his nationality. They had observed his 
 profound grief, and reported it to the queen. His 
 royal cousin fell into convulsive anguish at the sad 
 news brought by her servants, but recovering, in a 
 measure, her composure, sent garments to induce him 
 to lay aside his sackcloth, enter the king's gate, and 
 relate to her the cause of his poignant grief. But 
 what was her surprise when she was told that Mor- 
 decai failed to comply with a request which, coming 
 from the queen, should have been his law ! The cir- 
 cumstances must have been most extraordinary which 
 would have justified such a course. Some awful 
 calamity must be impending. 
 
 Esther sends for her most trusted servant, Hatach, 
 and commissions him to go to Mordecai and learn the 
 nature of the trouble. Hatach finds him in the street 
 in front of the gate of the palace. Mordecai reveals 
 to him the whole history — the offense, the sum of 
 money which Haman promised to pay into the treas- 
 ury as the price of blood, the edict of slaughter, the 
 
182 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 day selected for its execution, and its publication 
 throughout all the provinces of the empire by the 
 king's messengers. He gives him also a copy of the 
 decree, that the queen may know the full enormity 
 of its wickedness. In conclusion, he charges him to 
 enjoin upon the queen the duty of going to the king 
 and supplicating him to spare her people. 
 
 This is a dangerous mission. She must reveal her- 
 self as one of the people who have been condemned 
 to death. She must oppose Hainan, the king's most 
 powerful favorite. She must ask him to do some- 
 thing that is impossible — change a law of the Medes 
 and Persians. 
 
 More obvious objections to the course proposed 
 come to her mind. She has reason to doubt whether 
 she is any longer the king's favorite. His affections 
 seem to have been transferred to another. At least 
 she has not been called to come to the king's apart- 
 ments for thirty days.* He would, doubtless, not 
 be in a proper temper to listen to her petition, much 
 less to give a favorable response. An obstacle more 
 formidable still presented itself. "All the king's 
 servants and the people of the king's provinces do 
 know that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall 
 come unto the king into the inner court, who is not 
 called, there is one law of his to put him to death, 
 except such to whom the king shall hold out the 
 * Herodotus, iii, 69. 
 
Suspense, A&ony, Resolution. 183 
 
 golden scepter, that he may live." She cannot hope 
 that the king will hold out the golden SGepter to her, 
 especially if he has transferred his affections to a more 
 favored wife. 
 
 When Hatach presents the urgent request of Mor- 
 decai to Esther, she can only command his return to 
 her cousin to inform him of obstacles in the way 
 which seem to her to be absolutely insurmountable — 
 her want of influence with the king, and the difficulty 
 of access to his presence. 
 
 Among the resolutions adopted by the seven con- 
 spirators who placed Darius upon the throne of Persia 
 was this : " It was to be free to each, whenever he 
 pleased, to enter the palace unannounced, unless the 
 king were in the company of one of his wives." 
 
 " Of the seven Persians who rose up against the 
 Magus, one, Intaphernes, lost his life very shortly 
 after the outbreak for an act of insolence. He wished 
 to enter the palace and transact a certain business 
 with the king. Now the law was that all those who 
 had taken part in the rising against the Magus might 
 enter unannounced into the king's presence, unless 
 he happened to be in private with his wife. So 
 Intaphernes would not have any one announce him, 
 but, as he belonged to the seven, claimed it as his 
 right to go in. The door-keeper, however, and chief 
 usher forbade his entrance, since the king, they said, 
 was with his wife. But Intaphernes thought they 
 
184 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 told lies ; so, drawing his scymitar, he cut off their 
 noses and their ears, and, hanging them on the bridle 
 of his horse, put the bridle round their necks, and so 
 let them go." 
 
 Intaphernes, with all his family and all his rela- 
 tives, save his wife and her brother and eldest son, 
 was slain.* 
 
 Great ceremony was required in all that pertained 
 to the court. When a person was ushered into the 
 royal presence, he must not step on the royal carpet, 
 he must keep his hands concealed in his sleeves, and 
 he must prostrate himself before the king. It was a 
 capital crime to sit on the royal throne, and a high 
 offense to wear the clothing which the king had 
 cast off. ^Z 
 
 " Etiquette was almost as severe" on the monarch 
 himself as on his subjects. He was required to live 
 chiefly in seclusion ; to eat his meals, for the most 
 part, alone ; never to go on foot beyond the palace 
 walls ; never to revoke an order once given, however 
 much he might regret it ; never to draw back from a 
 promise, whatever ill results he might anticipate from 
 its performance. To maintain the quasi-divine char- 
 acter attached to him it was necessary that he should 
 seem infallible, immutable, and wholly free from the 
 weakness of repentance." f 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 84, 118, 119; comp. Josephus, Antiquities, xi, 6, 3. 
 f Rawlinson. 
 
Suspense, Agony, Resolution. 185 
 
 The scepter may have been originally a simple 
 staff on which to lean, or a shepherd's crook. Among 
 nations to whom the agricultural life was the earliest 
 known we do not find the symbolic shepherd's staff. 
 According to Diodorus Sicuius the scepter of the 
 Egyptian kings bore the shape of a plow. Saul car- 
 ried his javelin as a symbol of power. On the monu- 
 ments the king is always represented with scepter in 
 hand. To lean the scepter toward a person was the 
 sign of royal favor ; and to kiss or touch its top was 
 the sign of submission. 
 
 When Hatach presents the message from the 
 queen, reciting to Mordecai the difficulties and dan- 
 gers in the way of obedience to his request, he finds 
 him determined, and ready with new arguments. 
 Mordecai looks to the palace for sympathy, and 
 knows that there is an intercessor at court. God's 
 providence may be active in behalf of the Jews, but 
 it needs Mordecai's faith, and Esthers courage. 
 
 First of all, Mordecai reminds her of her own 
 personal peril. Her high position will be no protec- 
 tion. Her nationality will certainly become known, 
 and there would be found more than one in the 
 king's palace who, from hate or envy or jealousy, 
 would delight to strike so shining a mark. And 
 then again, God will certainly save a remnant of his 
 people. " Then shall there enlargement and deliver- 
 ance arise to the Jews." Other instruments will be 
 
186 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 found if they fail, but for her disobedience to the 
 divine call she shall not escape. These were stout 
 words to speak to a Persian queen, but the necessity 
 was imperative. The Jews who perform their duty 
 will not be destroyed. "We have this noble and 
 clearly heroic faith of Mordecai, which sees the 
 future deliverance, even amid the most immediate 
 and imminent danger." * Only the recreant will 
 suffer. 
 
 The all-convincing argument was still to be given. 
 Esther's history had been remarkable — an orphan in 
 exile, by a wonderful train of providential circum- 
 stances raised to the throne of the mightiest empire 
 in the world. It is not without design that God has 
 so ordered. It must have been to meet some great 
 emergency. The emergency has come. " Who 
 knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for 
 such a time as this ? " 
 
 " The suggestion of Providence being concerned in 
 the matter was like life from the dead to Esther. 
 The idea of Providence having been now some time 
 working up to this point was an immense comfort 
 and impulse to her mind. It was a Hash of light 
 that lit up the whole scene for a moment. And 
 when that one moment was sped, the darkness that 
 returned was not, as before, unrelieved. There was 
 a distinct line of light athwart it. Confidence as to 
 
 * Brenz. 
 
Suspense, Agony, Kesolution. 187 
 
 the final issue of all was far from present. Nothing 
 like absolute conviction that in the end all would be 
 well could Esther boast. Suspense in some shape 
 still prolonged its unwelcome sojourn. But it was no 
 longer the agonized suspense of not knowing what to 
 do, of not knowing whether to move at all. The 
 pent-up heart is bad enough, but solitary confine- 
 ment must make it much worse. Pent-up hope is a 
 terrible strain, but the strain becomes much worse 
 when it must be tolerated without one active effort, 
 one healthy struggle. This phase of things had now 
 passed by for Esther. She had gone faithfully 
 through it, and was none the worse for having 
 treated it as a thing that needed to be gone through 
 faithfully and unhurriedly. Mordecai was not nec- 
 essarily in the right when he seemed to wonder at 
 Esther's hesitation. Though we credit him with 
 being a wise man, a. good man, and very full of pride 
 in Esther and love to her, Esther very likely felt that 
 he had not put himself quite in her position, and 
 could not do so. But it was because she had gone 
 faithfully through the struggle, and well looked at the 
 question on both sides, and considered its alternative 
 difficulties and perils, that when enough light did 
 come she used it in a moment ; and when thought 
 had done its fair amonnt of work, hesitation fled, and 
 determination succeeded to its place. To wearied 
 human inquiry, to exhausted human resources, to 
 
188 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 bewildered human wisdom, comes in most wel- 
 come the ministry, little thought of before, of the 
 Invisible." 
 
 Esther had decided to go into the presence of the 
 king, and thus break a royal law, and to make a re- 
 quest which it was impossible for the king to grant, 
 and which at the same time would reveal her nation- 
 ality, and her hostility to the most powerful royal 
 favorite, and oppose the king's edict, while it would 
 declare herself and all her relatives condemned to 
 death as criminals and traitors by an irreversible 
 sentence. But she would not venture her life upon 
 this perilous mission without special religious prep- 
 aration, and the assistance of the prayers of God's 
 chosen people. 
 
 So great is the influence which she has gained over 
 her maids and the other servants of her palace that 
 she knows that she can depend upon their sympathy, 
 and that they will join with her in a strict fast, which 
 shall have no interruption till the third day. They 
 will spend the time in humiliation, repentance, and 
 supplication before God. She commands Mordecai 
 to assemble the Jews of Shushan, and with them 
 observe a religious fast during the same time. 
 
 The beautiful queen and her maids are in earnest, 
 tearful supplication, Mordecai and the Jews are cry- 
 ing before God, and the city Shushan is perplexed ; 
 but Xerxes and Hainan sit and drink their wine. 
 
Suspense, Agony, Resolution. 189 
 
 The Fast of Esther is observed annually on the 
 thirteenth of the month Adar, to commemorate that 
 dark day. This fast gave way, during the Maccabsean 
 period and for some years later, to a festival celebrat- 
 ing the victory of the Jews under Judas Maccabaeus 
 over Nicanor. This festival ceased to be celebrated, 
 and in the ninth century the Fast of Esther was again 
 instituted and has been celebrated annually since that 
 date. On this day there is neither eating nor drinking, 
 but penitential songs are sung and special prayers 
 offered. When the thirteenth of Adar comes on 
 the Sabbath the fast is observed on Friday. Some 
 Jews, following the example of Esther, fast three days. 
 
 How this fast was observed by the Jews of Shush an 
 may be learned by reference to Jewish customs as 
 . revealed in the Scriptures. 1 Kings xxi, 27-29 ; Neh. 
 i, 4 ; Joel i, 14 ; Jonah iii, 5 et. seq. 
 
 Esther was strengthened in her purpose. Her 
 faith was brighter. She recognized the hand of 
 Providence. She saw her supreme opportunity. 
 She became a magnificent heroine. The conflict 
 of emotions had ceased. Self had uncondition- 
 ally capitulated. She resolved and — "if I per- 
 ish, I perish." These are not the words of despair, 
 not the words of stoicism, not the words of one so 
 exhausted as to become indifferent ; they are the 
 words of heroic resignation. Gen. xliii, 14. 
 
 The real victory of Esther was the victory of faith. 
 
190 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The hand of Hainan had set in motion fearful ma- 
 chinery. The engine of destruction was advancing 
 and would overtake and crush all. Mordecai, with 
 undefined faith and uncertain hope, kept near the 
 palace, as if to remain close as possible to one who 
 must have sadly needed his sympathy, advice, and 
 prayers. He could do nothing more. Esther must, 
 at the last, bear the awful responsibility alone. While 
 on the one hand she was moved by the tenderest 
 considerations, in her love for Mordecai and her 
 loyalty to her own people, on the other hand there 
 were tormenting apprehensions in regard to the issue 
 of the course proposed. Interests of incalculable 
 moment depended upon her decision. Lives and 
 hearts and things most sacred were in her hands — if 
 God but prospered her appeals. How much depended 
 upon one woman ! How valuable appeared then a 
 single life ! She was compelled to contend with the 
 most aggravating contradictions. On the one side, 
 love of kindred, duty to God, the expostulations of 
 Mordecai, his command, the momentum of long obe- 
 dience, fear of personal harm, patriotism, and religion, 
 impelled her to go to the king ; on the other side, 
 possible disgrace and death, with the failure of the 
 whole effort and the occasion for hastening and render- 
 ing more thorough the slaughter of her people. 
 What should Esther do? Never was poor mortal 
 compelled to decide a more difficult question. The 
 
Suspense, Agony, Resolution. 191 
 
 ruling appeal at the last was the religious. " A 
 woman's discernment is notably quick, and her sight 
 intuition, and the eye of Esther opened and met the 
 eye of Heaven falling on her and on all her anxiety." 
 This resolve, this victory of faith, this supreme 
 capitulation of self, made her one of the greatest 
 heroines of sacred history. 
 
192 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 XII. 
 
 MAGNIFICENT HEROISM, MASTERLY DELAY, WAKEFUL 
 PROVIDENCE. 
 
 "The king held out to Esther the golden scepter." — Esther v, 2. 
 " What is thy petition ? and it shall be granted thee." — Esther v, 6. 
 "Let the king and Haman come to the banquet." — Esther v, 8. 
 " Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart." 
 — Esther v, 9. 
 
 "All this availeth me nothing." — Esther v, 13. 
 "Let a gallows be made." — Esther v, 14. 
 
 At the close of the fast, " on the third day," Esther 
 prepared to petition the king. She neglected no 
 precaution that might increase the probabilities of 
 success. She put on her " royal apparel " — the love 
 tokens of her husband — to awaken again his early 
 affections. 
 
 " The hour was one which found incalculable hu- 
 man interests at stake. ■ The blotting out of existence, 
 the swift swallowing up of human lives innumerable, 
 with all their precious freightage of love and joy, of 
 purpose and hope, was no light fancy, no vague fear 
 now. Yet that was the appalling uncertainty be- 
 neath the burden of which the solemn hour bended. 
 It was not dull cloudiness of sky alone, and that 
 made worse by unnecessary apprehension and weak 
 
Magnificent Heroism, 193 
 
 fearf ulness. It was one defined dark mass of cloud. 
 To all human appearance the question of the hour 
 depended on the caprice of one man. It did not re- 
 semble some case of great interest, which was going 
 
 King on his Throne. 
 
 to have the best attention of a select number of the 
 
 best of people, and thereupon a deliberate decision 
 
 be taken. In that hour the momentary whim of a 
 
 capricious despot would decide the question of life 
 13 , 
 
194 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 or death, for the innocent Esther first, and after her 
 for a whole race, of which she was then the head and 
 representative." * 
 
 She " stood in the inner court of the king's house, 
 over against the king's house : and the king sat upon 
 his royal throne in the royal house, over against the 
 gate of the house." Esther v, 1. 
 
 " There she stands, with her jeweled foot upon 
 the grave. A noble spectacle ! not so much for her 
 unrivaled beauty, still less for the splendor of her 
 apparel, as for the resolution to venture life, and 
 either save her nation or perish in the attempt. In 
 her blooming youth, in the admiration of the court, 
 in the affection of her husband, in her lofty rank, in 
 her queenly honor, she has every thing to make life 
 attractive. Hers is a golden cup, and it is foaming 
 with pleasure to the brim. But her mind is made up 
 to die, and so with a silent prayer, and ' If I perish, I 
 perish' on her lips, she passes in, and now stands 
 mute and pallid, yet calm and resolute, outside the 
 ring of nobles to hear her doom. 'Nor has she to en- 
 dure the agony of a long suspense. Her fate, which 
 seems to tremble in the balance, is soon determined. 
 ~No sooner does the monarch catch sight of the beau- 
 tiful woman, and brave and good as beautiful, whom 
 he had raised from slavery to share his bed and 
 throne, than her apprehensions vanish ; the clouds 
 
 - * Barker. 
 
Magnificent Heroism. 195 
 
 break, and she finds, as we often do with Christ, that 
 her fears had wronged her lord. Presently his hand 
 stretches out the golden scepter ; the business of the 
 court is stopped. ' The queen ! the queen ! ' divides 
 the crowd of nobles ; and up that brilliant lane she 
 walks in majesty and in charms that outvie her gems, 
 to hear the blessed words, 4 What wilt thou, Queen 
 Esther ? and what is thy request ? it shall be even 
 given thee to the half of the kingdom.' " * 
 
 The sight of a speaking human face is ever the 
 strongest argument to secure love, sympathy, trust, 
 and help. Personal presence is a powerful indorse- 
 ment to a petition. 
 
 There were many reasons why Esther should not at 
 that time present her petition. She was not sure of 
 the king. She must not interpret too literally his ex- 
 travagant Oriental promise. Such promises were not 
 uncommon, and were fulfilled when the heart of the 
 kin £ was right. 
 
 Herod swore to the daughter of Herodias, " What- 
 soever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto 
 the half of my kingdom.' 1 Mark vi, 23. 
 
 At Sardis Xerxes contracted a passion for the wife 
 of Masistes. His advances were not encouraged by 
 the noble woman, and he had great respect for and 
 fear of Masistes, who was his brother. To accom- 
 plish his ends he betrothed his own son Darius to the 
 
 * Guthrie. 
 
196 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 daughter of Masistes, but upon receiving the newly 
 married couple in his palace at Susa he lost his old 
 love and conceived a passion for Artaynta, the wife 
 of Masistes' son. 
 
 " Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, had woven with her 
 own hands a long robe of many colors, and very 
 curious, which she presented to her husband as a gift. 
 Xerxes, who was greatly pleased with it, forthwith 
 put it on, and went in to visit Artaynta, who hap- 
 pened likewise on this day to please him greatly. He 
 therefore bade her ask him whatever boon she liked, 
 and promised that, whatever it was, he would as- 
 suredly grant her request. Then Artajmta, who was 
 doomed to suffer calamity with all her house, said 
 to him, ' Wilt thou indeed give me whatever I like 
 to ask ? ' So the king, suspecting nothing less than 
 that her choice would fall where it did, pledged his 
 word, and swore to her. She then, as soon as she 
 heard his oath, asked boldly for the robe. Hereupon 
 Xerxes tried all possible means to avoid the gift, not 
 that he grudged to give it, but because he dreaded 
 Amestris, who already suspected, and would now, he 
 feared, detect his love. So he offered her cities in- 
 stead, and heaps of gold, and an army wdiich should 
 obey no other leader. (The last of these is a thor- 
 oughly Persian gift.) But, as nothing could prevail on 
 Artaynta to change her mind, at the last he gave her 
 the robe. Then Artaynta was very greatly rejoiced, 
 
Magnificent Heroism. 197 
 
 and she often wore the garment and was proud of it. 
 And so it came to the ears of Amestris that the robe 
 had been given to her." 
 
 On the king's birthday he gave a great royal ban- 
 quet, as was the custom. The law of such a feast was 
 that no one who asked a boon, whatever it might be, 
 should be denied his request. When, therefore, 
 Amestris asked for the wife of Masistes, whom she 
 justly blamed for the love which Xerxes bore to 
 Artaynta, he could not refuse the boon. " At length, 
 however, wearied by her importunity, and constrained 
 moreover by the law of the feast, which required that 
 ho one who asked a boon that day at the king's board 
 should be denied his request, he yielded, but with a 
 very ill will, and gave the wife of Masistes into her 
 power." Xerxes now endeavored in vain to per- 
 suade Masistes to put away his wife, even promising 
 him his own daughter in marriage. 
 
 " While these things were passing between Xerxes 
 and his brother Masistes, Amestris sent for the spear- 
 men of the royal body-guard, and caused the wife of 
 Masistes to be mutilated in a horrible fashion. Her 
 two breasts, her nose, ears, and lips were cut off and 
 thrown to the dogs ; her tongue was torn out by the 
 roots, and thus disfigured she was sent back to her 
 home." Masistes now hastened to Bactria, over which 
 he was satrap, intending to avenge himself by stirring 
 up a revolt among the Bactrians and Sacans, but 
 
198 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 Xerxes, learning his designs, sent an army which 
 overtook him and slew him and his sons and all his 
 followers. " Such is the tale of king Xerxes' love 
 and of the death of his brother Masistes."* But 
 Esther was to make a larger request than these, and 
 must be sure of her ground. 
 
 Again, it would not be wise to present her petition 
 in the presence of the court. Hainan was the Prime 
 Minister, and had doubtless made many influential 
 friends, who would save him if his life were threat- 
 ened. If the queen could gain a private audience 
 with the king, and have Hainan present, she could 
 then accuse him to his face. Such a course of delay 
 would be in strict accordance with Oriental usage. 
 " In presenting a request to a superior, it is extremely 
 common to begin with an outlying, subordinate 
 matter, and have the answer, the argument, or the 
 battle over that. If the petition is received favorably, 
 it will be easy to ask a little more, and so on up to 
 the thing really desired. Thus the entire matter is 
 not compromised, nor either the petitioner or the 
 petitioned committed finally by the first refusal. Of 
 course the one petitioned often sees through the whole 
 from the start ; but on the one hand it is a form, and 
 on the other hand it is a useful form — two good 
 reasons for keeping it up. Sometimes the petitioned 
 cuts short the petitioner at the start, and goes on 
 
 * Herodotus, ix. 108-113. 
 
Magnificent Heroism. 199 
 
 from his own intuition to grant the whole desired 
 favor." * Solomon had the grace to refuse the final 
 request after the general promise. 1 Kings ii, 13-25. 
 Xerxes may do the same. 
 
 The only safety is for the queen to delay. So she 
 invites the king and Haman on that day to a banquet 
 which she has prepared. The king usually dines 
 alone, or with the queen or queen-mother, or with his 
 children or one or two brothers. It is an extra- 
 ordinary favor to invite a guest who is not a member 
 of the royal family. Haman may well consider him- 
 self highly honored. The king graciously accepts the 
 invitation, and commands notice to be given at once 
 to Haman, w T ho does not seem to be present, that he 
 may hasten his preparations and be at the banquet in 
 due season. 
 
 The king and Haman went to the banquet, and we 
 may be sure that Esther neglected nothing that might 
 give pleasure to her royal husband. The banquet 
 was terminated by a special banquet of wine, at which 
 they sat long ; drinking the wine of Helbon and eating 
 a great variety of highly seasoned delecacies. It was 
 doubtless when the king's heart was " merry " that he 
 repeated his question, " What is thy petition ? and it 
 shall be granted thee." 
 
 Esther began to answer, " My petition and my re- 
 quest" — but her heart failed her. She saw, as by an 
 
 * Isaac H. Hall. 
 
200 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 instantaneous flash of wisdom, that her best hope was 
 in further delay. So she ended by inviting them to 
 a similar banquet which she would prepare for the 
 next day. The inspiration which brought her to 
 this decision was most happy, as we shall see, for 
 events ripened rapidly which led to the climax of the 
 tragedy. 
 
 Haman went out from the banquet "joyful and 
 with a glad heart." He had reached the height of 
 his ambition. He was next to the king. People 
 bowed before him as they did before the monarch 
 himself. His word was law. He, of all the great 
 men of his time, enjoyed the confidence of the queen 
 and was honored by her equally with the king. But 
 in passing the king's gate he saw Mordecai the Jew — 
 who bowed not, neither trembled in his presence. 
 Dignified and self-possessed, he did not notice great 
 Haman. The latter was "full of indignation," but 
 with an effort refrained himself. He might have 
 ordered an attendant to thrust him through with the 
 sword, and it would have been done ; but he medi- 
 tated a sweeter vengeance. 
 
 After having had ample leisure to reflect upon his 
 conduct in refusing homage to Haman, Mordecai was 
 only confirmed in his course. 
 
 " There's a picture ! standing out in bold relief, 
 and contrasted with that of the proud but worthless 
 premier. The one haughty and enraged ; the other 
 
Magnificent Heroism. 201 
 
 humble, but composed and dignified. It is not the 
 port, the state, the pageantry ; it is not the rank, 
 the riches, or power; the mind and spirit — that is the 
 man. The person who occupies the place of a com- 
 mon porter may have within him a sou) that towers 
 in real greatness far above that of the proudest and 
 most titled grandee. He may have that within him 
 which, while it rouses the indignation, quails the 
 courage of him who has armies at his back. He who 
 is conscious of acting rightly has no reason to grow 
 pale at the sight of danger. He who is embarked in 
 the cause of God and his people, and whose conscience 
 acquits him of having failed in his duty to his prince, 
 or of having done evil to any man, feels himself clad in 
 the panoply of heaven ; stands fearless and scathless, 
 is immovable in his purpose, and will not do a mean 
 or unworthy, far less a sinful thing, to save his own 
 life, or the lives of those whom he holds dearest." * 
 
 Reaching home, Haman sends for his friends and 
 flatterers, and when they have gathered, and his wife 
 also is present, he parades before them his fortune 
 and honors. He has amassed great wealth. Evi- 
 dently he had made his position serve his selfishness 
 and covetousness. His magnificent offer of ten 
 thousand talents for the property of the Jews was 
 doubtless in keeping with his shrewd business and 
 avaricious instincts. His second boast w T as his mul- 
 
 ♦M'Crie. 
 
202 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 titude of children — being ten sons. " Next to 
 prowess in arms, it is regarded as the grandest proof 
 of manly excellence to be the father of many sons. 
 Every year the king sends rich gifts to the man who 
 can show the largest number : for they hold that 
 number is strength."* 
 
 " Sheikh Ali Mirza, a son of the well-known 
 Futteli Ali Shah, was accounted the proudest and 
 happiest man in the empire, because, when he rode 
 out on state occasions, he was attended by a body- 
 guard of sixty of his own sons. At the time of 
 Futteli Ali Shah's death his direct decendants 
 amounted to nearly three thousand, some of them 
 being in the fifth degree, and every Persian in con- 
 sequence felt a pride in being the subject of such a 
 king. The greatest misfortune, indeed, that can 
 befall a man in Persia is to be childless. When a 
 chief's ' hearthstone? as it was said, i was dark? he 
 lost all respect, and hence arose the now universal 
 , practice of adoption. "f 
 
 " The kings propose annual prizes for a numerous 
 family of children." J It was a great blessing, among 
 orientals, to possess a large family of sons. 
 
 Again, the king had promoted Hainan to the high- 
 est office in the kingdom, save only the throne itself. 
 This was pleasing not only because of its proof of 
 kingly favor, its honors, and its emoluments, but more 
 * Herodotus, i, 13G. f H. C. Rawlinson. \ Strabo, xv, 3, 17. 
 
Magnificent Heroism. 203 
 
 especially because " lie had advanced him above the 
 princes and servants of the king." He could look 
 down upon all these. 
 
 Finally, he concludes : " Yea, Esther the queen did 
 let no man come in with the king unto the banquet 
 that she had prepared but myself ; and to morrow am 
 I invited unto her also with the king." Esther v, 12. 
 
 No man has ever found happiness in such worldly 
 gifts. The human heart wants something more — 
 something different. The material universe cannot 
 fill one single soul. Haman confesses that all his 
 honors and all his riches give him " no satisfaction." 
 There is one drop of gall in his cap — Mordecai sits 
 at the king's gate. To be sure, he will soon be slain 
 with all his hated race. But how can Haman wait ? 
 
 Haman enjoyed the confidence of his own family. 
 He could rely upon their loyalty. He knew that 
 within his own home and within the circle of his 
 friends he could find sympathy. He opened to them 
 all his heart. • 
 
 Zeresh, his wife, is equal to the emergency. She 
 will remove the difficulty. Like Jezebel, she pro- 
 poses heroic treatment. All his friends second her 
 plan. In her indignation and rage against the Jew 
 she speaks impulsively and to the point. "Let a 
 gallows he made of fifty cubits high, and to-morrow 
 speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be 
 hanged thereon : then go thou in merrily with the 
 
204 Beauty t Crowned. 
 
 king unto the banquet." There is the solution to the 
 problem. .No one will dare thereafter to neglect to 
 pay proper homage to great Hainan. 
 
 The plan commends itself to the judgment of 
 Hainan. It is speedy, effective, and final. Why 
 had he not thought of that before? The carpenters 
 are employed and immediately set to work. The 
 " gallows " is erected. 
 
 The king will grant the reasonable request for 
 permission to put Mordecai to death. We have seen 
 how he gave the life of the wife of JVIasistes to 
 Amestris. He cannot deny Hainan. 
 
Wheels Within Wheels. 205 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 • WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS. 
 
 " On that night could not the king sleep." — Esther yi, 1. 
 " What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to 
 honor? " — Esther vi, 6. 
 
 "Do even so to Mordecai." — Esther vi, 10. 
 
 The king of this vast empire of kingdoms was 
 powerless to command his own sleep. That very 
 night this fickle servant escaped and fled from him, 
 and, pursue as he might, he could not overtake and 
 secure the fugitive. To beguile his weary hours, as 
 he tossed upon his restless couch, a secretary was 
 commanded to bring the record of the daily affairs 
 and to read to him therefrom.* While reading from 
 this official document, the secretary, came to that part 
 of the chronicles in which it was related that Mordecai 
 discovered the conspiracy of Bigthana and Teresh, and 
 saved the king's life. The king became interested in 
 the history, and at the close of the account inquires, 
 " What honor and dignity hath been done to Morde- 
 cai for this % " He learns that the service has received 
 no recognition beyond the mere record of the fact. 
 
 * Esther ii, 23; Ezra iv, 15, 19; Herodotus, vii, 100; viii, 90; 
 Tacitus, Annals xiii, 31. 
 
206 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 From a sense of gratitude, and to more perfectly 
 secure his own personal future safety, the king could 
 not permit such a service to remain unrewarded. 
 Indeed his conscience condemned him for neglecting 
 so imperative an obligation so long. He will attend 
 to the matter as speedily as possible. 
 
 In Persia the king's benefactors were adequately 
 rewarded. Their names were placed on a special 
 roll. Themistocles the Athenian received magnifi- 
 cent recognition from the great king. " The king 
 assigned to him, for bread, Magnesia, which produced 
 a revenue of fifty talents in the year; for wine, 
 Lampsacus, which was considered to be the richest in 
 wine of any district then known ; and Myus for 
 meat." * Xerxes rewarded with rich gifts those of 
 his satraps who brought their troops to Sardis in the 
 most gallant array when the great army gathered for 
 the invasion of Greece.f Darius gave the Demo- 
 cedes who was to act as guide to the fifteen Persians 
 who were sent to explore the sea-coast of Greece, " a 
 merchantship laden with all manner of precious 
 things," for presents to his father and brothers.^ 
 
 Cyrus the younger, wishing to honor Syennesis, 
 king of Cilicia, presented him with " a horse with a 
 golden bit, a golden chain and golden bracelets, and a 
 golden scimetar and a Persian robe." He promised 
 to each of the Greeks who accompanied him on his 
 
 * Thucydides, i, 138. \ Herodotus, vii, 26. \ Ibid., iii, 135. 
 
Wheels Within Wheels. 207 
 
 expedition, besides other rewards, " a golden crown." 
 The retreating Greeks gave him who had guided 
 them to the sea " a horse, a silver cup, a Persian robe, 
 and ten darics." * 
 
 Xerxes on his march to Greece honored the 
 Acanthians by the gift of a Median robe. Tiie con- 
 spirators who slew Pseudo-Smerdis, and placed Darius 
 Hystaspis upon the throne of Persia, gave Otanes, 
 one of their number who withdrew from the candi- 
 dacy, as a special honor, a Median robe each year. 
 Artaxerxes presented to Mithridates, who gave Cyrus 
 his first wound, " a robe embroidered with gold, brace- 
 lets and a chain, and a scimetar." f 
 
 The three young men of the king's body guard ex- 
 pected to receive from Darius, as a gift to him who 
 showed the highest wisdom, " great gifts, and great 
 tokens of victory ; as, to be clothed in purple, and 
 to drink in gold, and to sleep upon gold, and a cha- 
 riot with gold-studded bridles, and a tiara of byssus, 
 and a chain about his neck ; and he shall sit next to 
 Darius because of his wisdom and be called Darius' 
 kinsman." Esdras iii, 6, 7. Joseph gave his brethren 
 changes of raiment. Gen. xl, 22. When the king of 
 Syria sent to the king of Israel Naaman to be re- 
 covered of his leprosy, he accompanied his request 
 
 * Xenophon, Anabasis I, ii, 27 ; I, vii, 5 ; IY, vii, 27. 
 f Herodotus, vii, 116; iii, 83, 84, Xenophon, Anabasis I, ix, 22-26, 
 Plutarch, vol. iii, p. 447. 
 
208 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 with a present of "ten talents of silver, and six thou- 
 sand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment." 
 2 Kings v, 5. Among the presents which " the kings 
 of the earth" brought to Solomon was "raiment." 
 2 Chron. ix, 24. 
 
 Koyalty's benefactors sometimes waited long for 
 their reward. In some cases they were doubtless 
 entirely forgotten.* 
 
 The king's sleepless night was great with issues 
 which were destined to affect the whole empire, and 
 the religious history of the Jews and The World. 
 Providence was also sleepless. The deeds of a good 
 man were not forgotten. Mordecai must receive a 
 kingly reward. The chosen people of God were not 
 forgotten. 
 
 Hainan was stirring early in the morning. The 
 gallows had been finished. He hastened to the royal 
 palace to receive orders for the execution of Mor- 
 decai. On that day he wished to go to the queen's 
 banquet " merrily," with nothing to mar his perfect 
 satisfaction and his perfect happiness. He was now 
 waiting in the court for the announcement to be 
 made that the king was ready for the transaction of 
 business. It would not be many minutes thereafter 
 before Mordecai would be impaled upon a stake so 
 high as to be seen by the whole population of Susa. 
 Then the joy of the king's favorite would be full. 
 
 * Herodotus, v, 11; iii, 138, 140. 
 
Wheels Within Wheels. 209 
 
 No one would dare, after this example of vengeance, 
 to withhold- his homage. 
 
 By some movement on the part of the guard the 
 king learns that some one is in the court, and inquires 
 who it is. He is informed that it is Hainan, and bids 
 him enter. 
 
 " So Haman came in. And the king said unto 
 him, What shall be done unto the man whom the 
 king delighteth to honor % " 
 
 And now we meet with a rare exhibition of su- 
 preme selfishness. The king could be thinking of 
 no one but Haman. It was not possible that there 
 lived a man whom he could delight to honor more 
 than his all-powerful favorite, before whom the people 
 bowed and who alone of all the great men of the 
 empire had been twice invited by the queen to share 
 with her and the king a specially prepared banquet. 
 So thought Haman. 
 
 " It was not only self, but self in the shape of in- 
 sufferable Vanity. It mounted to the pitch of morbid 
 vanity. Some are hurried on by selfishness headlong. 
 But it is a sleek, a smiling, a self-garlanded victim 
 we have here. To the dignity of position already be- 
 longing to him fuller gratification (as has been seen) 
 is offered ; but it is not honor that his eye can see, that 
 his mind can appreciate. The grace and the force of 
 his honored position weigh nothing with him. But 
 
 the most egotistic vanity shuts out, and at a most 
 14 
 
210 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 critical moment, the very idea of the barest possibility 
 of a worthy competitor with himself! He cannot 
 credit the notion of a fellow-creature to compare 
 with himself." * 
 
 Having quickly decided who the person must be 
 whom the king delighted to honor, Hainan looked 
 about for some appropriate recognition of his ex- 
 traordinary virtues. He had a most difficult task. 
 He had already received the highest honors in the 
 gift of both the king and the queen. Nothing higher 
 could be conceived, except to be raised to the throne 
 itself. But Haman had a fertile mind, and was equal 
 to the emergency. He could for a time assume the 
 insignia of royalty and receive the homage due only 
 to the king. 
 
 So Haman answered : " Let the royal apparel be 
 brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse 
 that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which 
 is set upon his head ; and let this apparel and horse 
 be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most 
 noble princes, that they may array the man withal 
 whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him 
 on horseback through the street of the city, and pro- 
 claim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man 
 whom the king delighteth to honor.'' Esther vi, 9. 
 
 This was a higher honour than that which the 
 Pharaoh bestowed upon Joseph. Gen. lxi, 42, 43. 
 * Barker. 
 
Wheels Within Wheels. 211 
 
 To wear a dress which had been previously worn 
 by the king was a capital offense, yet it might be 
 allowed.* 
 
 Arrian tells the story: "That as Alexander was 
 sailing on the Euphrates, and his turban happened to 
 fall off among some reeds, one of his watermen im- 
 mediately jumped in and swam to it ; but as he could 
 not bring it back in his hand without wetting it, 
 he put it upon his head, and so returned with it. 
 Whereupon most historians that have wrote of 
 Alexander (says he) tell us, that he gave him a 
 talent of silver for this expression of his zeal to 
 serve him, but, at the same time, ordered his head 
 to be struck off for presuming to put on the royal 
 diadem." f 
 
 When Demaratus, the Lacedaemonian, had been or- 
 dered by the king to ask whatsoever he pleased and 
 it should be immediately granted him, he desired that 
 he might make his public entrance into Sardis, and 
 be carried in state through the city with the tiara set 
 in the royal manner upon his head. But the cousin 
 to the king touched him on the head, and told him 
 that he had no brains for the royal tiara to cover, 
 and if Jupiter should give him his lightning and 
 thunder, he would not any the more be Jupiter for 
 that ; the king also repulsed him with anger, resolv- 
 
 * Herodotus, vii, 11. 
 
 f Burder, Note in Josephus, Antiquities. 
 
212 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 ing never to be reconciled to him, but to be inexor- 
 able to all supplications on his behalf." * 
 
 Of Artaxerxes the following is related : " Teribazus 
 once, when they were hunting, came up and pointed 
 out to the king that his royal robe was torn; the 
 king asked him what he wished him to do ; and when 
 Taribazus replied, ' May it please you to put on an- 
 other and give me that,' the king did so, saying 
 withal, 'I give it you, Teribazus, but I charge you 
 not to wear it.' He, little regarding the injunction, 
 being not a bad, but a light-headed, thoughtless man, 
 immediately the king took it off, put it on, and be- 
 decked himself further with royal golden necklaces 
 and women's ornaments, to the great scandal of every 
 body, the thing being quite unlawful. But the king 
 laughed, and told him, ' You have my leave to wear the 
 trinkets as a woman, and the robe of state as a fool.' "f 
 
 It was a large request that Hainan presented in 
 behalf of himself. But he felt sure of his ground. 
 He was all-powerful with the king. 
 
 What, then, must have been his feelings when the 
 king commanded him to so honor Mordecai ! " Make 
 haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou 
 hast said, and do even so to Mordecai, the Jew, that 
 sitteth at the king's gate : let nothing fail of all that 
 thou hast spoken." Esther vi, 10. " If the king had 
 
 * Plutarch, Themistocles, vol. i. p. 195. 
 
 f Plutarch. Artaxerxes, vol. iii, pp. 439, 440. 
 
Wheels Within Wheels. 213 
 
 known all his most secret feelings, and had lain on 
 the watch to wound him in the point on which he was 
 most sensitive, and had chosen the most fitting op- 
 portunity to make the wound deep beyond endurance, 
 he could not have issued a command so calculated to 
 make Haman writhe under it as this one. And the 
 command at the same time was so peremptory, that 
 he durst not say nay to it." * 
 
 The account in the Talmud is purely imaginary, 
 and shows little appreciation of the Persian spirit. 
 Haman is represented as pleading with the king and 
 offering many objections to the proposed honors. 
 
 " And Haman answered, i There are many Jews in 
 Shushan who are called Mordecai ; which one is to 
 have the honor % ' 
 
 " i Do all this that thou hast spoken,' replied the 
 king, ' to Mordecai the Jew who lives by the king's 
 gate ; he who hath spoken well to the king and saved 
 his life.' 
 
 "When Haman heard these words the blood seemed 
 to congeal in his heart ; his face grew blanched, his 
 eyes became dim, and his moutlras though paralyzed ; 
 with great effort he said, 
 
 " ' O king, how — how — can I tell which Mordecai 
 thou meanest ? ' 
 
 " ' I have but just said,' returned the king ; i he 
 who dwells at my gate.' 
 
 * Davidson. 
 
214 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 " ' But he hates me,' exclaimed Haman, ' me and 
 my ancestors ; do not force me to do him this honor, 
 and I will pay ten thousand silver talents into thy 
 treasury.' 
 
 " The king answered, ' Though I should give that 
 ten thousand talents to Mordecai, aye, and give him 
 also thy house to rule over it, yet this honor which 
 thou hast spoken shouldest thou also do to him.' 
 
 " ' My ten sons shall run before thy chariot,' plead- 
 ed Haman ; ' they shall be thy slaves, if thou wilt 
 but forego this order.' 
 
 "The king answered, ' Though thou and thy wife 
 and thy ten sons should be slaves to Mordecai, yet 
 this honor should be also his.' 
 
 " But Haman still entreated. ' Lo, Mordecai is but 
 a common subject of the king. Appoint him ruler 
 of a city, a province, or a street — let that be the 
 honor paid him.' 
 
 " And again the king replied : ' Though I should 
 appoint him ruler over all my provinces, though I 
 should cause him to command all who owe me obe- 
 dience on sea and land, still this honor, too, which 
 thou hast spoken, should be done him. Surely he 
 who has spoken to the advantage of his king, he 
 who has preserved the life of his king, deserves all 
 that should belong to the one whom the king most 
 delights to honor. 
 
 " ' But the letters,' continued Haman, ' the letters 
 
Wheels Within Wheels. 215 
 
 winch have been sent to all thy provinces, condemn- 
 ing him and his people to death.' 
 
 " ' Peace, peace ! ' exclaimed the king ; ' though 
 they should be recalled, Mordecai should still be 
 honored as thou hast spoken. Say no more, Haman ; 
 as thon hast spoken, do quickly ; leave out nothing 
 of all that thou hast said.' 
 
 " When Haman saw that all appeal was useless, he 
 obeyed the king's orders with a heavy heart." * 
 
 Haman knew the king too well to have hesitated 
 for a moment, or to have shown the slightest surprise. 
 He went immediately and procured the royal apparel, 
 and the king's horse with the crown upon his head — 
 "there is seen on Assyrian and old Persian monu- 
 ments, not so distinct on the latter, horses of the 
 king, and perhaps also of princes, that wear an orna- 
 ment on their heads terminating in three points, 
 which can easily be taken for a crown " — sought 
 Mordecai, announced the command of the king, 
 placed upon the Jew the royal robe, seated him on 
 the king's horse, brought him through the streets of 
 the city, and proclaimed again and again before him, 
 " Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king 
 delighteth to honor." 
 
 *Polano, Selections from, the Talmud, pp. 207, 208. 
 
216 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 POETIC JUSTICE. 
 
 " We are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to 
 perish." — Esther vii, 4. 
 
 " Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in Ms heart to do 
 so ? " — Esther vii, 5. 
 
 " The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman." — Esther vii, G. 
 
 "Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman hud made 
 for Mordecai." — Esther vii, 9. 
 
 " Hang him thereon." — Esther vii, 9. 
 
 Mordecai returned to his post of duty at the 
 king's gate. Haman hastened to his home, hiding 
 his face so as to avoid recognition, and sought the 
 sympathy of his family and confidential friends. 
 But here he met with a new and unexpected disap- 
 pointment. Greatly dejected, he recounted to his 
 w T ife and friends what had befallen him since his de- 
 parture in the morning. His wise men could dis- 
 cover but an evil omen. They can only say : " If 
 Mordecai he of the seed of"- the Jews, before whotn 
 thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against 
 him, but shalt surely fall before him." There was 
 no time for consultation. There was no time to 
 form any plans. Destiny rushes storming on. "And 
 while they were yet talking with him, came the 
 
Poetic Justice. 217 
 
 king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman 
 unto the banquet that Esther had prepared." He 
 went, but not " merrily." Esther vi, 13, 14 
 
 At the feast every thing looks propitious for Ha- 
 man. The king becomes unusually merry, feeds the 
 pride of Haman, and is ready to bestow upon him 
 every honor. The queen is modest, attractive, beau- 
 tiful, and entertaining, and smiles sweetly. Surely 
 his position and standing with the king and queen 
 are secure. All will soon be bright again. He will 
 yet be avenged upon his enemy. The cloud disap- 
 pears from his mind. He is merry. 
 
 Again, for the third time, the king asked : " "What 
 is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted 
 thee : and what is thy request ? and it shall be per- 
 formed, even to the half of the kingdom." The curi- 
 osity of Xerxes was excited, and she could not trine 
 with his anxiety to know her desire. She had more 
 than regained her place in his affections. He was 
 ready to grant her request. This was her opportu- 
 nity. Her lips are at last unsealed. She speaks, and 
 speaks directly to the point. There are in her words 
 the skill of earnestness and the art of artlessness. In 
 two burning sentences she tells the whole truth. She 
 petitions for her own life and that of her people. 
 If they had been condemned only to be sold into 
 slavery she would have held her peace, although 
 were the enemy to exhaust all his resources the king 
 
218 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 would have been the loser. But she cannot be silent 
 when she and her people have been sold to destroy, 
 to kill, and to cause to perish. She uses the very 
 words of the infamous decree. There can be no mis- 
 taking her meaning. 
 
 Her nationality is revealed. The king sees what he 
 has done. He is aroused and excited. " He throws 
 out his pronouns in a wild confusion of excitement, 
 and then repeats them with the order inverted. ' Who 
 is he, that one — and where is that one, he, whose 
 heart has filled him (with the audacity) to do so ? ' — 
 it is clear that the identification cannot wait. It must 
 be prompt and unmistakable. And the queen is 
 equal to the demand. The queen's blood is up. She 
 sees her advantage ; and she speaks with all the 
 vehemence of one who has deeply felt the monstrous 
 injustice of Hainan's plot. The collocation of the 
 words in the Hebrew leaves no doubt that they were 
 accompanied with a gesture of the hand; her scorn 
 and righteous indignation flashed out, as it were, at 
 her very finger's-end, as she pointed to him. ' The 
 man, adversary, and enemy, is Hainan, the wretch, 
 this (one).' Well might he be terror-stricken in that 
 presence. He reads, in the king's countenance and 
 in his movements, the angry excitement that has 
 taken possession of him." * 
 
 It is a thunder-clap from a clear sky. His favorite 
 * The Lowell Hebrew Club, The Book of Esther, p. 69. 
 
Poetic Justice. 219 
 
 minister of state, whom lie has raised to a position of 
 unexampled dignity and power, has betrayed his con- 
 fidence. His matchless queen stands upon the crum- 
 bling brink of a volcanic crater. A nation of peace- 
 able, law-abiding, and industrious citizens has been 
 doomed to slaughter. He himself has been led to 
 give his royal sanction to the wicked and nefarious 
 plot. The king rises from the table in uncontrolla- 
 ble anger, and goes out into the garden of the palace, 
 not so much to cool his wrath as to collect his 
 thoughts. He walks back and forth in the vain en- 
 deavor to control the whirlwind of passion that rages 
 within his breast. The atrocity of the intended mas- 
 sacre grows upon him, and his soul is set on fire. 
 
 Haman has no hope in the king. Perhaps the heart 
 of the queen can be moved. He pleads before her 
 for his life. His case is most desperate. The mo- 
 ments are precious. He pleads more earnestly. In 
 a frenzy of despair he bows his head upon the couch 
 where the queen reclines at the banquet. In his 
 agony of deadly fear he catches hold upon her robe, 
 and embraces her feet. 
 
 The king returns from the garden. He sees Ha- 
 man in the attitude of supplication at the feet of the 
 queen. The pent-up fires of his wrath must burst 
 forth. Can it be that Haman hopes to force the 
 queen to yield to his petition, and thus save his life, 
 by the very anguish of his mortal terror ? The thought 
 
220 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 feeds his rage. The commandment — not " the word," 
 (the Hebrew ddbhar is rendered " commandment " 
 eight times in the Book of Esther) — the command- 
 ment went forth from the king's mouth. It was Ha- 
 inan's condemnation, and the king's attendants cover 
 his face. He is no longer worthy to behold the light 
 of day. 
 
 "When the last of the Horatii returned from his 
 conquest, carrying the spoils of the Curiatii, " his sis- 
 ter, a maiden who had been betrothed to one of 
 the Curiatii, met him before the gate Capena, 
 and having recognized her lover's military robe, 
 which she herself had wrought, on her brother's 
 shoulders, she tore her hair, and with bitter wailings 
 called by name on her deceased lover. The sister's 
 lamentations in the midst of his own victory, and of 
 such great public rejoicings, raised the indignation of 
 the excited youth. Having, therefore, drawn his 
 sword, he ran the damsel through the body, at the 
 same time chiding her in these words : ' Go hence 
 with thy unseasonable love to thy spouse, forgetful of 
 thy dead brothers, and of him who survives ; forget- 
 ful of thy native country. So perish every Roman 
 woman who shall mourn an enemy.' This action 
 seemed shocking to the fathers and to the people ; 
 but his recent services outweighed its guilt. Never- 
 theless he was carried before the king for judgment. 
 The king, that he himself might not be the author 
 
Poetic Justice. 221 
 
 of a decision so melancholy, and so disagreeable to 
 the people, or of the punishment consequent on that 
 decision, having summoned an assembly of the peo- 
 ple, says, ' I appoint, according to law, duumvirs to 
 pass sentence on Horatius for treason.' The law was 
 of dreadful import. ' Let the duumvirs pass sen- 
 tence for treason. If he appeal from the duumvirs, 
 let him contend by appeal; if they shall gain the 
 cause, cover his head ; hang him by a rope from a 
 gallows ; scourge him either within the Pomoerium 
 or without the Pomoerium.' When the duumvirs 
 appointed by this law, who did not consider that, 
 according to law, they could acquit even an innocent 
 person, had found him guilty, one of them says, i P. 
 Horatius, I judge thee guilty of treason. Go, lictor, 
 bind his hands.' The lictor had approached him, 
 and was fixing the rope. Then Horatius, by the ad- 
 vice of Tullus, a favorable interpreter of the law, 
 says, ' I appeal.' Accordingly, the matter was con- 
 tested by appeal to the people. On that trial persons 
 were much affected, especially by P. Horatius, the 
 father, declaring that he considered his daughter de- 
 servedly slain ; were it not so, that he would, by his 
 authority as a father have inflicted punishment on 
 his son. He then entreated that they would not ren- 
 der childless him whom but a little while ago they 
 had beheld with a fine progeny. During these words 
 the old man, having embraced the youth, pointing to 
 
222 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 the spoils of the Curiatii fixed up in that place which 
 is now called Pila Horatia, ' Roman s,"* said he. 'can 
 you bear to see bound beneath a gallows, amidst 
 scourges and tortures, him whom you just now be- 
 held marching decorated (with spoils) and exulting 
 ui victory ; a sight so shocking as the eyes even of 
 the Albans could scarcely endure. Go, lictor ; bind 
 those hands which but a little while since, being 1 
 armed, established sovereignty for the Roman peo- 
 ple. Go, cover the head of the liberator of this city ; 
 hang him on the gallows ; scourge him, either within 
 the Pornoerium, so it be only amidst those javelins 
 and spoils of the enemy ; or without the Pornoerium, 
 only amidst the graves of the Curiatii. For whither 
 can you bring this youth, where his own glories must 
 not redeem him from such ignominy of punishment.' 
 The people could not withstand the tears of the 
 father or the resolution of the son, so undaunted in 
 every danger; and acquitted him more through ad- 
 miration of his bravery than for the justice of his 
 cause. But that so notorious a murder might be 
 atoned for by some expiation, the father was com- 
 manded to make satisfaction for the son at the public 
 charge. He, having offered certain expiatory sacrifices, 
 which were ever after continued in the Horatian fami- 
 ly, and laid a beam across the street, made his son pass 
 under it as under a yoke, with his head covered." * 
 
 * Livy, i, 26. 
 
Poetic Justice. 
 
 223 
 
 To cover the head was to begin to execute the sen- 
 tence. "Philetas — with covered head they brought 
 into the palace." * " Go, lictor, bind his hands, cover 
 his head, hang him on the hapless tree." f 
 
 The suggestion of Harbonah came just at the right 
 time ; " Behold also the gallows fifty cubits high, 
 which Haman had made for Mor- 
 decai, standeth in the house of 
 Haman." The object of Harbonah 
 may have been merely to point to 
 another evidence of Hainan's mur- 
 derous spirit. The king, however, 
 thought of something further. 
 He commanded sternly, " Hang 
 him thereon." The sentence is quickly executed. 
 Haman is hurried away, and on the gallows erected 
 for Mordecai, high in air, seen by all the inhabitants 
 of Shushan, hangs the lifeless body of the enemy and 
 adversary of the Jews. u Then was the king's wrath 
 pacified." 
 
 °Quintus Curtius, vi, 8, 22. f Cicero, Pro C. Eabiiio, iv, 13. 
 
 Impalement. 
 
22i Beauty Crowned. 
 
 XV. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 
 
 " And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, 
 and gave it unto Mordecai." — Esther viii, 2. 
 
 " The king granted the Jews ..." to stand for their life." — Esther 
 viii, 11. 
 
 "The city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad." — Esther viii, 15. 
 
 " The Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day." — Esther 
 viii, 17. 
 
 Upon the execution of a criminal his property was 
 confiscated to the crown, according to law. Cyrus, in 
 his instructions to the governors that were in Syria, 
 said : " My will is, that those who disobey these in- 
 structions, and make them void, shall be hung upon 
 a cross, and their substance brought into the king's 
 treasury." * "When Oroetes was slain at the command 
 of Darius, his treasures were conveyed to the king at 
 Sardis.f Even when a great man was dismissed in 
 disgrace his property was forfeited to the crown. 
 
 So, on that very day, the king gave Hainan's prop- 
 erty to Esther. The queen now informed Xerxes 
 of her relationship to Mordecai, and what kindness 
 and care he had shown her as her guardian and 
 foster -parent. The king recognized him as a man of 
 * Josephus, Antiquities, xi, 1, 3; 4, 6. f Herodotus, iii, 129. 
 
The Beginning of the End. 225 
 
 worth, and made him the first minister of state. The 
 signet-ring, which had been taken from the hand of 
 Hainan, the king gave to Mordecai, while Esther 
 appointed him administrator of the property of the 
 enemy and adversary of the Jews. 
 
 Haman is indeed dead, but the influence of his 
 life remains. The decree of extermination is still 
 in force against the Jews throughout the whole em- 
 pire. Something more must be done. The newly- 
 created prime minister does not feel sure of his in- 
 fluence with the king. Esther must again inter- 
 cede. She ventures into the royal presence. She 
 does not present her petition in the same manner 
 as formerly. She is now pleading for others. The 
 strain upon her mind and heart has been so great 
 and so long continued that she cannot maintain her 
 former composure. Her womanly tenderness, queenly 
 interest and Christian affection can find expression 
 only in tears. With a heart bleeding for her people 
 she came to the king, " and fell down at his feet, and 
 besought him with tears to put away the mischief of 
 Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had de- 
 vised against the Jews" — "the machination which 
 he machinated." "The Hebrew language has no 
 stronger word to imply that Haman, a man of great 
 powers, put his whole thought and ingenuity into the 
 plot of ruining the people of God." * 
 
 * Greene. 
 15 
 
226 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 The king extended to her the golden scepter as a 
 pledge of favor, and she arose and stood before him 
 and said : " If it please the king, and if I have found 
 favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before 
 the king, and I he pleasing in his eyes, let it be written 
 to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of 
 Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy 
 the Jews which are in all the king's provinces : for 
 how can I endnre to see the evil that shall come unto 
 my people ? or how can I endure to see the destruc- 
 tion of my kindred ? " Esther viii, 5, G. 
 
 This address shows a noble and truly heroic soul. 
 Every respect is shown the king, and she petitions 
 only in subordination to his own personal judgment. 
 She is careful not to charge the king with an injustice. 
 The letters were " devised by Haman." " He wrote " 
 the edict of butchery. The king has already passed 
 judgment on the murderous plot in condemning 
 Haman. He may now complete the work and re- 
 verse, by his higher authority, the edict of slaughter 
 devised by his subordinate. And now the gentle 
 heart of the woman is shown : " How can I endure to 
 see the evil that shall come unto my people ? or how 
 can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred ? " 
 
 "This verse is the irrepressible outcry of true patri- 
 otism. It is the expostulation of vivid and tender 
 sympathy. It is the argument of a forcible principle 
 of our nature, which oversteps the boundaries of the 
 
The Beginning of the End. 2-7 
 
 personal and the domestic in order to travel much 
 further and to embrace the national. It mounts by 
 the stepping-stones of self-love and sacred family 
 love to the love of vast numbers of those never seen 
 nor personally known, yet in some special sense 
 related." * 
 
 The king answers that he has already done enough 
 to convince her of his favorable disposition. He has 
 executed Hainan and has presented her with his 
 vast estate ; and this because Hainan sought the de- 
 struction of the Jews. The decree cannot be recalled, 
 because it was sealed with the king's seal and is 
 hence virtually his own. Something, however, may 
 be done toward its mitigation. He grants to Mordecai 
 and the queen authority to devise some plan, and to 
 issue letters in his name and seal them with his seal. 
 They may adopt any plan which they can devise, 
 provided only they allow the decree of extermina- 
 tion to stand. The fiction of his divine character, and 
 hence infallibility, must be maintained. There must 
 not be the slightest breath of suspicion that The 
 King may possibly make a mistake. The laws of the 
 Medes and Persians change not. 
 
 We have noted the many difficulties connected with 
 this principle. 
 
 " A Persian king who reigned not very many 
 years ago — Aga Mahmed Khan — having set out upon 
 
 * Barker. 
 
228 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 a military expedition, and encamped in a place con- 
 venient for his purpose, gave forth his edict that the 
 encampment should not be removed until the snow 
 had disappeared from the neighboring mountains. 
 The season was severe. The snow clung to the 
 mountains longer than usual, and in the meantime 
 the army became straitened for supplies. Here was 
 an unexpected difficulty. The king's appointment 
 must stand, but the result was likely to be ruinous. 
 To avert the difficulty, then, a vast multitude of 
 laborers were despatched to clear away as far as they 
 could the snow that was visible from the camp ; and 
 with their aid and the help of a few days of sunshine 
 the snow disappeared, and then immediately the army 
 was put in motion." * 
 
 At that very time Mordecai summoned the king's 
 scribes. The} 7 wrote letters to the satraps and pashas, 
 or the principal and subordinate imperial civil magis- 
 trates of the provinces ; to the deputies or native 
 local officers; and to the Jews, who were not ad- 
 dressed in the former edict — to each nation in its 
 own written alphabet and spoken dialect. It was the 
 twenty-third day of the third month, the month 
 Si van. 
 
 The month Sivan is devoted to Sin, the moon-god, 
 and corresponds to May-June. In the symbolic and 
 religious nomenclature it is "the month of brick- 
 
 * Davidson, Lectures on Esther, p. 266. 
 
The Beginning of the End. 229 
 
 making " in which an old ritual ordained the liturgic 
 ceremony to be observed for the molding of bricks 
 for sacred buildings and royal edifices. " Religion in 
 this case consecrated a usage resulting from the phys- 
 ical climatic conditions. In Chaldea and Babylonia 
 the majority of the edifices were built of bricks 
 simply dried in the sun. The third month of the 
 year* coincides with the period when the waters of 
 the Euphrates and Tigris, which have been rising 
 during March and April, begin to fall ; the condition 
 of the soil left by the retreating waters makes it easy 
 to mold the bricks at that particular time, and then 
 to have them dry in the sun, already burning in its 
 heat, though not yet fierce enough to crack the raw 
 brick, which would inevitably happen if they were 
 dried in July or August."f Inasmuch as the build- 
 ing of the first city is connected with the first fratri- 
 cide, this month is called " the month of the twins," 
 and Lenormant thinks that it is also symbolic of that 
 primeval tragedy. 
 
 So the letters were written, and sealed with the 
 king's seal, and hastened with all despatch to all the 
 provinces of the empire by special couriers mounted 
 upon the most swift and famous coursers. Had it 
 not been for these letters the Jews would have been 
 expected to remain passive while their enemies slew 
 
 * Sivan, May-June. 
 
 f Lenormant, Beginnings of History, pp. 147, 148. 
 
230 
 
 Beauty Ceowned. 
 
 the in, but they are now authorized to defend them- 
 selves against violence and death. The support and 
 protection of the government are withdrawn from 
 any who venture by the au- 
 thority of the former edict 
 to attack the Jews, while 
 the whole power of the gov- 
 ernment is pledged to pro- 
 tect the Jews in their strug- 
 gle of self-defense. They 
 may assemble, organize, and 
 prepare for the thirteenth 
 day of the month Adar. 
 Since the edict of slaughter 
 extended only to that one 
 day, the present edict pro- 
 tects them only when their 
 lives would be 
 Any attempt upon 
 
 in danger. 
 
 their 
 
 Ordinary Persian costume. 
 
 lives upon any other day would be unlawful. 
 
 It is probable that much of the Book of Esther- is 
 drawn from the official records of the kingdom, and 
 that we have the very words of the decree : " To as- 
 semble and stand for their lives ; to destroy, to kill, 
 and to cause to perish all the force of people and 
 province assailing them ; [to destroy] little children 
 and women, and [take] their property for spoil, in 
 one day, throughout all the provinces of the king 
 
The Beginning of the End. 231 
 
 Xerxes ; on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, that 
 is, the month Adar." The terms of this edict are as 
 comprehensive as those of the former. The scribes 
 certified the writing : " A copy of the writing to be 
 given as a decree in every province, published to all 
 the peoples : even for the Jews to be ready on that 
 day to be avenged on their enemies." * 
 
 With earnestness and resolution the king has es- 
 poused the cause of the Jews. The decree was doubt- 
 less submitted to the king for his inspection and 
 approval, for the posts were hastened and pressed on 
 by his commandment. 
 
 The month Adar is sacred to the seven great gods, 
 and symbolizes " the deposit of seed time," and is his- 
 torically connected with the return to the cultivation 
 of the earth after the great deluge. The zodiacal 
 sign of this month — the fish — perpetuates the memory 
 of the salvation of the righteous from the Noachian 
 flood. 
 
 Mordecai was now clad in the suitable dress of the 
 prime minister — " in royal apparel of blue and white, 
 and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of 
 fine linen and purple." — R. V. The Persian mon- 
 arch himself wore a purple robe and an inner vest of 
 purple striped with white, f The robes of honor 
 which he gave away were of many different colors, 
 
 * The Lowell Hebrew Club, Tlie Booh of Esther, pp. 77, 78. 
 f Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, vol. iii, pp. 202, 203. 
 
232 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 but generally of a single tint throughout;* but the 
 one given to Mordecai seems to have been blue with 
 white stripes. These were the colors of the royal dia- 
 dem, f The golden crown was not the kingly diadem, 
 but such a crown as might be worn by the greatest 
 nobles. How soon has sackcloth been exchanged for 
 goodly apparel! 
 
 '•'The city of Shushan shouted and was glad." — 
 R. V. When the former decree was issued, "the 
 city Shushan was perplexed." 
 
 Haman was an accomplished courtier, a profusive 
 flatterer, a skillful diplomatist, a wise financier, 
 a successful politician, a royal favorite, and a man 
 fertile in expedients, yet the success of his adminis- 
 tration of the government was only in appearance, 
 An Oriental despotism would tolerate little unfavor- 
 able criticism, but the story of his career leaves no 
 doubt that his acts were offensive to the people. He 
 had, indeed, powerful and influential friends, but 
 neither officially nor socially did he command sincere 
 respect. While his influence was dominant in the 
 capital, the city was perplexed, and there was, doubt- 
 less, little mourning at his death. 
 
 The large majority of the Persians seem to have 
 been friendly to the Jews. Their religion had many 
 points in contact with that of the exiles. The real 
 
 * Xen., Cyrop., viii, 3, § 3. 
 
 f Rawlinson, Q. Curt., Vit. Alex, iii, 3. 
 
The Beginning of the End. 233 
 
 enemies of the Jews were among the distinctively 
 heathen nations. 
 
 It augured well for the new administration of Mor- 
 decai that his first measure was popular and received 
 the enthusiastic support of his people. Happy the 
 ruler whose influence and authority are anchored in 
 the popular heart. The city of Shushan rejoiced. 
 
 And especially to the Jews there were " light, and 
 gladness, and joy, and honor." Not only was this 
 true of the Jews dwelling in Shushan, but as this new 
 decree of the king was published throughout all the 
 provinces of the empire, " whithersoever the king's 
 commandment and his decree came the Jews had joy 
 and gladness, a feast and a good day." Since the 
 queen and the prime minister belonged to the Jewish 
 race, and the king himself was well disposed and had 
 issued a favorable decree, and since the hand of 
 Providence was so manifest in their history, the fear 
 of the Jews fell upon the people, and doubtless many 
 feared their God, and, as a consequence, not a few, 
 either for prudential reasons or from conscientious 
 motives, became proselytes to their faith. Persecu- 
 tion resulted in the spiritual and numerical growth 
 of the Church. 
 
 What a multitude of events have been crowded 
 into a single day ! What a change has been wrought 
 in the interests of the people of God ! The sleepless 
 night, the reading of the records of the kingdom, the 
 
234 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 story of tlie conspiracy against the life of Xerxes, 
 Lis awakened conscience, the early visit of Haraan 
 to obtain an order for the execution of Mordecai, the 
 prime minister summoned into the royal presence, the 
 question proposed, the self-conceit of the grand vizier, 
 the answer to the king's question, the honor con- 
 ferred upon Mordecai, the humiliation and vexation 
 of the royal favorite, the dark forebodings of his wife 
 and his wise men, the queen's banquet, " What is thy 
 petition, Queen Esther ? " the charge against Haman, 
 the king's wrath, the first minister of state pleading 
 for his life, his condemnation and execution upon the 
 gallows erected for Mordecai, the confiscation of his 
 property and its presentation to Esther, her appoint- 
 ment of Mordecai over the estate, his elevation to the 
 office of prime minister, Esther's second petition, the 
 publication of the counter-edict throughout the prov- 
 inces, joy in Shushan and among all the Jews — 
 enough, surely, for one day. 
 
Victory, Peace, Gladness. 235 
 
 XVI. 
 
 VICTORY, PEACE, GLADNESS. 
 
 "The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout 
 all the provinces." — Esther ix, 2. 
 
 " The Jews smote all their enemies." — Esther ix, 5. 
 
 " Days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, 
 and gifts to the poor." — Esther ix, 22. 
 
 On the thirteenth day of the first month the decree 
 of slaughter was sent forth ; on the twenty-third day 
 of the third month a decree was issued permitting 
 the Jews to stand in self-defense ; and the thirteenth 
 day of the twelfth month was fixed for the execution 
 of the bloody decree. ^Nearly nine months gave the 
 Jews ample time to complete their preparation for 
 self-defense. 
 
 In any modern and civilized government a procla- 
 mation might have been made, setting forth that the 
 former decree had been procured upon false informa- 
 tion, declaring it void, and forbidding all persons 
 slaying or injuring the Jews or interfering with 
 their property. But the peculiar Persian constitu- 
 tion did not permit the use of common sense. What- 
 ever passed the royal signet could not be reversed, 
 not even by the monarch himself. The former de- 
 
236 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 cree was still in force. It was lawful to destroy the 
 Jewish nation, so that any one who murdered a Jew 
 or seized his property was secure against punishment. 
 The second decree made it lawful for the Jews to 
 defend themselves, so that any Jew who slew an 
 enemy or seized his property was secure against 
 punishment. It was a proclamation of legalized civil 
 war, a species of judicial combat. 
 
 Had this second edict not been issued the Jews 
 would doubtless in many cases have stood for their 
 lives. The right and duty of self-defense for self- 
 preservation would have been their sufficient justifi- 
 cation. A divine instinct, more commanding than 
 all human law, would have stirred them to fight for 
 their lives wherever their numbers raised them above 
 contempt. 
 
 But the edict permitting them to defend themselves 
 gave them tw T o important advantages. They could 
 prepare for the struggle by gathering together in their 
 villages and strongholds and thoroughly organizing, 
 and the co-operation and protection of the govern- 
 ment were withdrawn from their enemies. 
 
 The decree in behalf of the Jews was as wide in 
 its application as the former decree. Each permitted 
 the slaying of women and children and their seizure 
 of property. The Jews, however, were only to defend 
 themselves against attack and slay those who sought 
 their hurt. But why did not this second decree 
 
Victory, Peace, Gladness. 237 
 
 prevent the war? The enemies of the Jews — largely 
 among the heathen tribes — had often threatened the 
 Jews and reminded them of the day of their doom. 
 They had more than once told them that they were 
 only waiting for the thirteenth day of the month 
 Adar, wdien they would sweep the whole race from 
 the face of the earth. They had gone too far to 
 retreat. They had also stirred the wrath of the Jews, 
 and feared their vengeance. 
 
 The day came, and the Jews assembled in those 
 cities where their numbers were greatest. Their 
 enemies rushed to the attack, but the Jews were 
 mightier than their mightiest foes, and no man could 
 successfully face the people of God. They were also 
 assisted by the government, for " all the rulers of the 
 provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and 
 officers of the king, helped the Jews ; because the 
 fear of Mordecai fell upon all. . . . Thus the Jews 
 sniote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, 
 and slaughter, and destruction." Their courage and 
 united efforts, with the encouragement and assistance 
 of the rulers and the blessing of God, brought them 
 victory. 
 
 The population of Shushan at this time has been 
 estimated at five hundred thousand souls, and the 
 population of the whole Persian empire at one hund- 
 red million. On the day of judicial combat five 
 hundred men were slain in " Shushan the palace " 
 
238 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 and seventy-five thousand in the empire outside the 
 capital. This may be but a rough estimate quickly 
 made from the reports already received. It was the 
 custom in their final reports to make out and record 
 the numbers with extreme exactness. The losses 
 sustained by the Jews, if any there were, are not 
 mentioned. 
 
 The enemies of the Jews were doubtless idolaters 
 and not Persians. Foremost among these in Shushan 
 were the intimate friends of Hainan, who may have 
 been under the immediate leadership of his ten sons, 
 with whom the struggle was most desperate. The 
 writer exultantly records their names — Parshandatha, 
 Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Par- 
 mashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Yajezatha. These names, 
 except Adalia, are readily traceable to Persian roots. 
 It is interesting to note the meanings of these Persian 
 names of a noble and warlike family — " Given to 
 Persia," "Arrogant," ." Horseman," "Having many 
 Chariots," "Liberal," " Yery Greatest," "Mighty 
 Conqueror," " Free Giver," and " Strong as the Wind." 
 Haman had determined to destroy the whole Jewish 
 race. God so overruled in the affairs of men that the 
 Jews were victorious, and the ten sons of Hainan, who 
 were his boast and pride, were slain. 
 
 The Jews acted on the defensive, and hence slew 
 only the armed force of the people. The edict permit- 
 ted them " to destroy, to kill, and cause to perish little 
 
Victory, Peace, Gladness. 239 
 
 children and women," but the history expressly 
 states that they put to death only men. The edict 
 also permitted them to seize the property of their 
 enemies, but three times it is emphatically declared, 
 " on the spoil they laid not their hands." This is an 
 honor to their religion, wisdom, and humanity, and 
 shows that morally they occupied a far higher posi- 
 tion than their enemies. 
 
 The day of conflict is drawing to a close. The 
 number of the slain has been reported to the king. 
 His interest in the cause of the Jews increases, and 
 his anxiety to save and protect them quickens his 
 foresight and decision. He sees that their heathen 
 foes will be driven to more desperate efforts by their 
 uncontrollable rage. He believes that in " Shushan 
 the palace," where the friends of Haman are most 
 bitter, the Jews will need still further protection. 
 He is not sure of the course which he ought to pursue. 
 He will ask Esther : " And the king said unto Esther 
 the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five 
 hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons 
 of Haman ; what have they done in the rest of the 
 king's provinces ? Now what is thy petition % and it 
 shall be granted thee : or what is thy request further ? 
 and it shall be done." Esther ix,JL2. 
 
 The queen had doubtless consulted with Mordecai 
 and other influential Jews who understood the situa- 
 tion and were qualified to advise with full personal 
 
210 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 knowledge of the need. She asks that the privilege 
 of self-defense may be extended to another day, and 
 that the bodies of the ten sons of Hainan may be 
 impaled. The former request being granted, they 
 can defend themselves against attack ; the impalement 
 of the bodies of the ten sons of Haman will strike 
 terror into their enemies and, possibly, prevent any 
 further effusion of blood. The king grants these 
 reasonable requests. The history of the next day 
 proves their wisdom. The Jews are again attacked, 
 and slay three hundred of their enemies who seek 
 their lives ; " but on the spoil they laid not their 
 hands." 
 
 The crisis over, and the danger past, the Jews rest 
 from their troubles and anxiety, and spend a day 
 of " feasting and gladness." The Jews of Shushan, 
 because of the two da} T s' struggle, celebrated the fif- 
 teenth of Adar, while " the Jews of the villages, that 
 dwelt in the un walled towns, made the fourteenth 
 day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feast- 
 ing, and a good day, and of sending portions one to 
 another." The celebration was spontaneous. "No 
 words can describe the solicitude and fear which 
 must have filled the Jews in anticipation of the 
 dreadful day fixed upon for their destruction. But 
 now it was all over; God had appeared as their 
 helper, and their troubles were at an end. Sweet 
 deliverance and rest were now their portion. In 
 
Victoky, Peace, Gladness. 241 
 
 commemoration of their happy state on this day, they 
 made it a day of ' feasting and gladness.' They did 
 not celebrate the slaughter. There was no reminder 
 of the day on which the destruction of their enemies 
 occurred ; but the days on which rest and quiet 
 came to them had a lasting memorial." * 
 
 Mordecai at once recognized the appropriateness 
 and importance of celebrating, by an annual festival, 
 their providential deliverance and rest. To secure 
 uniformity throughout the empire, he sent letters en- 
 joining upon the Jews to celebrate both the four- 
 teenth and the fifteenth of Adar. He seems to have 
 accompanied his recommendation by a history of the 
 great struggle through which his people had passed. 
 To keep alive their sense of gratitude to God for his 
 signal providence the days were to be observed not 
 only as days of joy and gladness, but also as days of 
 good feeling, benevolence, and charity — " days of 
 feasting and gladness, and sending portions every 
 one to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor." 
 
 The Jews adopted the recommendation of Mor- 
 decai. " Now, because of all the words of this letter, 
 and of what they had seen concerning the matter, 
 and what had come to them, the Jews ordained, and 
 took upon themselves, and upon their children, and 
 upon all who should join themselves to them, with- 
 out fail to keep these two days according to the 
 
 * Greene. 
 16 
 
242 Beauty Ckowned. 
 
 writing in respect to them, and according to the time 
 appointed for them each year ; that these days should 
 be remembered and kept in every generation, every 
 family, every province, and every city ; and that 
 i these days of Purim should not fail from the midst 
 of the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from 
 their race." Esther ix, 26-28. 
 
 The queen was deeply interested in this festival. 
 Such were the anxieties, trials, dangers, and agonies 
 through which she had passed that she felt impelled 
 to prepare another letter, which was sent to all the 
 Jews of the one hundred and twenty and seven prov- 
 inces, which, with messages of "peace and truth," 
 enjoined upon them "with all authority" the ob- 
 servance of these days. This "second letter" or- 
 dained fasting and crying — "the fasting and their 
 cry " — in connection with Purim. It is probable 
 that the thirteenth of Adar was the day appointed 
 for this fasting, humiliation, and prayer. It would 
 keep vividly before them the awful peril and the 
 mighty deliverance, and would prepare them for the 
 profitable observance of the days of feasting and glad- 
 ness. It would commemorate both Esther's fasting 
 before going to the king and the dark day of terror 
 and slaughter. Posssibly this day of fasting was 
 originally suggested to the popular heart, and Esther 
 and Mordecai, as was the case in the former edict, 
 merely followed the indications of Providence. This 
 
Yictoey, Peace, Gladness. 243 
 
 second letter, called "the edict of Esther," since it 
 originated with her, was written in the " book," and 
 hence in the highest sense became official. 
 
 Haman cast lots to determine an auspicious day 
 upon which to carry out the bloody decree obtained 
 through his influence against the Jews. In irony the 
 festival which commemorates the deliverance of the 
 Jews is called Lots, or Purim. If the fourteenth 
 happens on the Sabbath, or on the second or fourth 
 day of the week, the festival is deferred till the next 
 day. Jewish tradition says that eighty-five Jewish 
 elders objected to the institution of Purim when it 
 was first proposed by Mordecai. This is quite im- 
 probable. If the thirteenth of Adar is the Sabbath, 
 the fast of Esther is held on the fifth day of the 
 week. It cannot be held on the sixth, since dishes 
 prepared for the Sabbath must be tasted. 
 
 Purim is still celebrated by the Jews. On the 
 fourteenth of Adar, as soon as the stars begin to ap- 
 pear, candles are lighted in token of rejoicing, and 
 the people assemble in the synagogue. The religious 
 exercises begin with prayer and thanksgiving. The 
 Book of Esther, written in a peculiar manner, and 
 called in pre-eminence " The Roll," is now read. The 
 text is translated into the tongue of the people and 
 explained. Whenever the reader pronounces the 
 name of Haman the whole congregation, remembering 
 the king's edict of extermination, with true Jewish 
 
244 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 spirit, cry out, " Let his name be blotted out ; may 
 the name of the wicked rot ; " while the children, 
 with equal vehemence, hiss, make a noise with their 
 hands, strike the wall with mallets, and strike together 
 blocks of wood or pieces of stone, upon which they 
 have written the name of Hainan, so as to rub out 
 the writing. The names of Hainan's ten sons are 
 written in three perpendicular columns, as they are 
 said to have hung on the stake. The Targum of 
 Esther says that they all hung in one line, Hainan at 
 the top, and his sons under him at regular intervals 
 of half a cubit. It is said further that Zeresh and 
 the seventy remaining sons fled, and were compelled 
 to beg their bread from door to door. When the 
 names of the ten sons of Ham an are read they are 
 pronounced in one breath, to express the belief that 
 they all perished at one instant. When the reading 
 is finished the congregation exclaim : " Cursed be 
 Haman ; blessed be Mordecai ; cursed be Zeresh ; 
 blessed be Esther ; cursed be all idolaters ; blessed be 
 all Israelites ; and blessed be Harbonah who hanged 
 Haman." 
 
 All now return to their homes and partake of a 
 meal composed principally of eggs and milk: On 
 the second day of the festival, after the prayers in 
 the synagogue, the passages of Scripture which re- 
 late to the destruction of the Amalekites are read ; 
 and then again the Book of Esther, as on the previous 
 
Victory, Peace, Gladness. 245 
 
 day. All are required to hear the reading on these 
 days. Even cripples, invalids, and idiots are not ex- 
 cused, so important is the service considered by every 
 true Israelite. 
 
 When the service of the synagogue is over, all give 
 themselves to merry-making. They play various 
 games, and dance, while music enlivens the festivi- 
 ties. Frequently dramatic entertainments add to the 
 pleasure of the occasion. They are also at liberty to 
 disregard the rules in regard to dress, and each sex 
 may appear in the attire of the other. Gifts are ex- 
 changed, and the poor are not forgotten. It is writ- 
 ten in the Talmud that at the feast of Purim a man 
 should drink till he cannot tell the words " Cursed 
 be Hainan " from " Blessed be Mordecai." It is cer- 
 tain, however, that the modern Jews, at least, observe 
 the feast with sobriety and temperance. The estima- 
 tion in which Purim has been held may be seen from 
 several proverbs. They say, " The Temple may fail, 
 but Purim never." " The Prophets may fail, but not 
 the Megillah;" "The Koll," or Book of Esther, read 
 at the festival. 
 
 Ezra and Nehemiah mention one Mordecai who 
 was one of the leaders of the captives who returned 
 from Babylon to Judea, and Josephus says that one 
 Mordecai was an ambassador to king Darius from 
 the Jews. 
 
 Ctesias, who claims to have had access to the official 
 
246 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 chronicles of Media and Persia, mentions one Matacas 
 or Natacas, a most powerful favorite of Xerxes, and 
 some authors have identified him with Mordecai. 
 When Megabysus refused to plunder the temple of 
 Apollo at Delphi, Xerxes sent Matacas, who insulted 
 the god, plundered the temple, and thereby fully sat- 
 isfied the king. It has been thought that Xerxes 
 would readily have selected as his prime minister one 
 whose hatred of idolatry would have specially quali- 
 fied him for carrying out the iconoclastic ideas of the 
 Persian king. 
 
Prosperity, Happiness. 247 
 
 XVII. 
 
 PROSPERITY, HAPPINESS. 
 
 "For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great 
 among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seek- 
 ing the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed." — 
 Esther x, hi. 
 
 Darius, after taking possession of the Persian 
 government, " proceeded to establish twenty govern- 
 ments of the kind which the Persians call satrapies, 
 assigning to each its governor, and fixing the tribute 
 which • was to be paid him by the several nations. 
 And generally he joined together in one satrapy the 
 nations that were neighbors, but sometimes he passed 
 over the nearer tribes, and put in their stead those 
 which were more remote. . . . The whole revenue 
 which came in to Darius year by year will be found 
 to be, in Euboic money, fourteen thousand five 
 hundred and sixty talents, not to mention parts of a 
 talent" — an equivalent, in our time, to about two 
 hundred and sixty-two million five hundred thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 " Such was the revenue which Darius derived 
 from Asia and a small part of Libya. Later in his 
 reign the sum was increased by the tribute of the 
 
248 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 islands and of the nations of Europe as far as Thes- 
 saly. The great king stores away the tribute which 
 he receives after this fashion — he melts it down, and 
 while it is in a liquid state runs it into earthen ves- 
 sels, which are afterward removed, leaving the metal 
 in a solid mass. When money is wanted, he coins as 
 much of this bullion as the occasion requires." 
 
 The country of the Persians was altogether ex- 
 empt from taxes. The Ethiopians and their neigh- 
 bors on the borders of Egypt were not taxed, but 
 brought gifts to the king. " Every third year these 
 two nations brought — and they still bring, to my day 
 — two choenices of virgin gold, two hundred logs of 
 ebony, five Ethiopian boys, and twenty elephant 
 tusks. The Colchians, and the neighboring tribes 
 who dwell between them and the Caucasus— for so 
 far the Persian rule reaches, while north of the Cau- 
 casus no one fears them any longer — undertook to 
 furnish a gift, which in my day was still brought 
 every fifth year, consisting of a hundred boys, and 
 the same number of maidens. The Arabs brought 
 every year a thousand talents of frankincense. Such 
 were the gifts which the king received over and 
 above the tribute-money."* 
 
 The rivers of the empire, fisheries, and probably 
 other possessions were crown property, and yielded 
 large revenues to the state..f 
 
 * Herodotus, iii, 89, 95, 96, 97. f Ibid., iii, 117. 
 
mm - 
 
Prosperity, Happiness. 251 
 
 Governors were appointed to the satrapies by the 
 king, and were removed or executed at his pleasure. 
 Their chief duty was to collect and transmit to the 
 capital the tribute. This tribute was only for the 
 royal court. The satraps and other officers must look 
 after their own compensation. 
 
 "As they represented the monarch, their courts 
 were framed upon the royal model ; they had their 
 palaces, surrounded by magnificent parks and hunt- 
 ing grounds — their numerous train of eunuchs and 
 attendants, and their own household troops or body- 
 guard. They assessed the tribute on the several 
 towns and villages within their jurisdiction at their 
 pleasure, and appointed deputies, called sometimes, 
 like themselves, satraps, over cities or districts within 
 their province, whose office was regarded as one of 
 great dignity. So long as they were in favor at 
 court, they ruled their satrapies with an absolute 
 sway, involving no little tyranny and oppression. 
 Besides the fixed tribute which each satrap was 
 obliged to remit to the king, and the amount that he 
 had to collect for the payment of the troops of his 
 province, he might exact, for his own personal ex- 
 penses and the support of his court, whatever sum he 
 considered his province able to furnish. All persons 
 who had any favor, or even justice, to ask approached 
 him with gifts, without which success was not to be 
 looked for ; and hence enormous fortunes were ac- 
 
252 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 cumulated. The sole limit upon the rapacity of the 
 satrap was the fear of removal in case the voice of 
 complaint became so loud as to reach the ears of the 
 monarch."* 
 
 The inhabitants of those provinces through which 
 the king led his armies gave him many valuable 
 presents. 
 
 This system, though a great improvement on the 
 more ancient financial plan of the Assyrian and 
 Babylonian courts, was liable to abuse. The people 
 often suffered under the despotic hand of oppression. 
 Property was insecure, and motives to industry and 
 frugality were few. The resources of the empire 
 could be but imperfectly developed. 
 
 Xerxes made a new assessment of the tribute re- 
 quired for the expenses of his court — tribute of per- 
 sonal service, money, and the productions of the 
 provinces. This tribute he laid both upon the land 
 and upon the islands of the sea — Cyprus, Aradus, 
 the island of Tyre, the maritime tracts of Europe 
 which were occupied by Persian garrisons, and pos- 
 sibly the islands of the ^Egean, whose independence 
 he would be slow to recognize.f Special efforts would 
 be required to replenish the treasury exhausted by 
 his Grecian campaigns. Mordecai seconded the king 
 in this work. Although next to the king he was not 
 
 * Rawlinson, Herodotus, vol. ii, p. 462. 
 f Herodotus, vii, 106, lOt. 
 
Prosperity, Happiness. 253 
 
 forgetful of his own people, for he was "great 
 among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his 
 brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speak- 
 ing peace to all his seed," or to all the Jewish people. 
 " He was not a dumb man, never having any thing to 
 say for God or the Church ; but one of his distin- 
 guishing characteristics was that he spoke peace to 
 his race. Peace is one of the grandest and sweetest 
 words in the Hebrew language. It was used in salu- 
 tations. " Peace be to you," was the Jewish benedic- 
 tion. Peace means welfare, health, prosperity, and 
 all that is good. Mordecai was not a fault-finder, a 
 censurer, but he spoke words of cheer, hope, encour 
 agement, and prosperity to his race." * 
 
 The rabbis have ever honored the memory of Mor- 
 decai. They have praised him in terms of extrav- 
 agant exaggeration. They say that he knew the 
 seventy languages of the nations of the tenth chapter 
 of Genesis. They surname him, and we believe with 
 good reason, The Just. They describe in ample 
 terms his splendid robes, his Persian buskins, and his 
 Median scymetars. They describe the golden crown 
 which he wore, the rich profusion of precious stones 
 and Macedonian gold on which they said there was an 
 engraved view of Jerusalem, and the phylacteries over 
 the crown. They relate how myrtle boughs were 
 strewed in the streets along which he passed. They 
 * Greene. 
 
254 
 
 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 speak with pride of his numerous attendants, the 
 heralds with their trumpets, and the great glory and 
 exaltation of his people. 
 
 The so-called tomb of Modecai and Esther, a place 
 of unusal interest, is at Hamadan or Ecbatana. " The 
 tomb stands on ground somewhat more elevated than 
 
 The Tomb of Mordecai and Esther. 
 
 any in the immediate neighborhood, and is in rather 
 a decayed condition. It occupies a small space in 
 the midst of ruins, in the quarter appropriated to 
 Jewish families. The entrance to the building is by 
 a stone door of small dimensions, the key of which is 
 
Peospekity, Happiness. 255 
 
 always kept by the chief rabbi. This door conducts 
 to the antechamber, which is larger than the outer 
 apartment. In the midst of this stand the two sar- 
 cophagi of Mordecai and Esther, of dark and hard 
 wood, like that of Ezra. They are cenotaphs, stand- 
 ing beside each other, distinguished only by the 
 one (Mordecai' s) being a little larger than the other. 
 They are richly carved, and have a Hebrew inscrip- 
 tion along the upper ledge, taken from Esther ii, 5, 
 and x, 3." 
 
 " The wood is in good preservation, though evident- 
 ly very old. The present building is said to occupy 
 the site of one more magnificent, which was destroyed 
 by Timur Beg, soon after which this humble building 
 was erected in its place, at the expense of certain 
 devout Jews; and it is added that it was fully re- 
 paired about one hundred and sixty years since by a 
 rabbi named Ismael. If this local statement be cor- 
 rect, some of the inscriptions which now appear must, 
 as the resident Jews state, have belonged to the pre- 
 ceding building, which, however, could not have 
 been the original mausoleum, since one of these in- 
 scriptions describes it as having been finished pos- 
 terior to the Christian Era." 
 
 The apocryphal additions to the Book of Esther 
 are by a later hand and possess little value. The 
 author of the canonical work drew from the official 
 records of the kingdom to which he refers for more 
 
256 Beauty Crowned. 
 
 complete historical information. These original 
 records have been lost, but their former existence is 
 without question. 
 
 The name of God is not mentioned in this whole 
 book, but his providence, his power, his grace, 
 and his love for the people are manifest in every 
 line. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aaron, 149. 
 
 Abehail, 116. 
 
 Abib, 166. 
 
 Abigail, 150. 
 
 Abraham entertains angels, 46. 
 
 Acanthians, 207. 
 
 Accadians, 15, 26, 27, 160. 
 
 Adar, 231. 
 
 Advisers, the king's, 90, 91. 
 
 decision of, 92-95. 
 ^Eschylus, 150, 179. 
 Aga Mahmed Khan, 227, 228. 
 A gag, 150. 
 Ahasuerus, 16. 
 
 character fits Xerxes, 22. 
 
 chronology of events, 23. 
 
 transliteration of name, 22. 
 Ahinoam, 150. 
 Ahuramazda, 159. 
 Alexander, 31, 58, 211. 
 
 feast of, 48. 
 Amalekites, Amalika, 147, 148. 
 Amarphal, Amarpal, 30. 
 Amestris, 164, 196, 197. 
 Ammon, salt of, 49. 
 Amu, 148. 
 Amyntas, 70. 
 Anaitis, temple of, 41. 
 Anthylla, 139. 
 
 Arabia, frankincense from, 58, 115. 
 Arabs, gift to the king, 248. 
 Ararat, 15. 
 
 Arbela, battle of, 12, 31. 
 Arbiter bibendi, 66. 
 Archilochus the Parian, 69. 
 Areus, 174. 
 Aria, 15. 
 Arioch, 30. 
 Aristagoras, 30. 
 Armenia, 15. 
 Arrian, 211. 
 Arrows of fate, 162. 
 Artabanus, 53, 142. 
 
 17 
 
 Artaxerxes, 91, 125, 141, 212. 
 Artaynta, 21, 195-198. 
 Artemisia, 19. 
 Ashdod, speech of, 95. 
 Ashtoreth, 111. 
 Asia Minor, 15. 
 Aspamistras, 142. 
 Assembly, 52. 
 Assos, 49. 
 Assurbanipal, 10. 
 
 conquers Elam, 29. 
 Assyria, 9-11, 15, 115. 
 Astyages slays the son of Harpagus, 
 18. 
 
 his dream, 88, 89. 
 
 Babel, tower of, 110. 
 Babylon, royal palace, 40. 
 
 scenes in, 110. 
 Babylonia, 15. 
 Bactria, 15, 197. 
 Bagseus, 170. 
 Bagdad, 176. 
 Balowat gates, 142. 
 Banquet of wine, 49. 
 
 date of the banquet at Shushan, 
 54. 
 Beauty, 117, 118. 
 
 danger of, 121. 
 
 definition of, 119. 
 
 moral, 121, 122. 
 
 of man, 120, 
 
 queenliness of, 107. 
 
 studied in the Orient, 130. 
 Beginning of the end, 224. 
 Behistun inscription, 87. 
 Bel, temple of, 110. 
 Belshazzar, feast of, 48. 
 Benefactors, rewarded, 206-208. 
 Bigthan, Bigtha, 141. 
 Book of Esther drawn from official 
 records, 230, 231. 
 
 apocryphal, 255, 256. 
 
258 
 
 Beauty Crowned— Index. 
 
 Bowing in worship, 151, 152. 
 Brick-making in Chaldea and Baby- 
 lonia, 229. 
 Brilliant entertainments, 46. 
 
 Callatebus, 163. 
 Cambyses, 179. 
 
 marriage, 124. 
 ' slays son of Prexaspes, 16. 
 
 treatment of body of Amasis, 
 17. 
 Candaules, 68. 
 Cape Sepias, 164. 
 Captivity, 111-114. 
 Carthaginians, 51. 
 Caucasus, 248. 
 Celts, 51. 
 
 Chaldeans, priests, 160, 161. 
 Chamberlains, the seven, 67. 
 Chebar, 108. 
 
 Chedorlaomer, 29, 30, 147. 
 Chehl Minar, 34, 36. 
 China polyandry, 97, 98. 
 Choaspes, 31. 
 Cilicia, 206. 
 Cissia, 24. ■ 
 City of lilies, 24. 
 
 Cleomenes, account of Susa, 30, 31. 
 Colchians, gifts to the king, 248. 
 Concubines, 99. 
 Confiscation of property, 224. 
 Conjugal relations in the Old Testa- 
 ment, 98. 
 Consecration to God, 126. 
 Conspiracy discovered, 141, 142. 
 
 conspirators slain, 143. 
 Coprates, 31. 
 Cos, 158. 
 Cosmetics, 61. 
 Council ot Trent, 98. 
 Court of a Persian king, 59. 
 Covering the head, 220-223. 
 Croesus, 17. 
 Crown on horses, 215. 
 Ctesias, 42, 146. 
 Curatii, 220-222. 
 Curtius, 152. 
 Cuthseans, 40. 
 Cyaxares, 11, 89. 
 
 slaughters the Scythians, 159. 
 Cyprus, 15. 
 Cyrus, 12, 18, 91, 114. 
 
 Dabhar, meaning of, 220. 
 Damocedes, 206. 
 
 Daniel, tomb of, 27, 32, 34. 
 as pontiff, 43. 
 dwelt at Shushan, 42. 
 Daris of Samos, 51. 
 Darius, 47, 58, 86, 87, 99, 151, 207, 
 
 224, 247. 
 Dascylus, 68. 
 David, 116. 
 Delhi, 176. 
 Demaratus, 211, 212. 
 Diodorus, 139, 185. 
 Dizful, 31. 
 Divination, 160, 161. 
 Dress, crime of wearing the king's, 
 
 211, 212. 
 Druses slaughter the Christians, 
 
 177. 
 
 Ecbatana, 41, 42. 
 
 Edict of Esther, 242,243. 
 
 Edict of slaughter, 174, 175. 
 
 Education, 61. 
 
 Egypt, 15. 
 
 Ehud, 150. 
 
 Elam, 24, 30. 
 
 meaning of word, 29. 
 Ellasar, 30. 
 Elymais, 24. 
 Eriaku, 30. 
 Esau, 148, 149. 
 Esdraelon, 150. 
 Estelle, 117. 
 Esther, 116. 
 
 again pleads before the king, 
 225, 226. 
 
 apparel, 136. 
 
 appoints a fast, 188. 
 
 appoints Mordecai administra- 
 tor of Hainan's property, 225. 
 
 before the king, 194, 195. 
 
 brought to the king's house, 
 123. 
 
 character, 122. 
 
 commendation, 137. 
 
 consecrated to God, 126. 
 
 difficulties, 190. 
 
 faith, 189-191. 
 
 favored by Hegai, 123. 
 
 her edict, 242, 243. 
 
 in the palace, 129. 
 
 invites the king and Haman to 
 a banquet, 198-200. 
 
 kindred kept secret, 123, 124. 
 
 meaning, 117. 
 
 obedient to Providence, 126. 
 
Beauty Crowned — Index. 
 
 259 
 
 Esther — continued. 
 
 patriotism, 226, 227. 
 
 remembers her benefactor, 140. 
 
 responsibility, 190. 
 
 reveals relations to Mordecai, 
 224. 
 
 reveal's the plot, 217, 218. 
 
 tomb, 254, 255. 
 
 visits the king, 136. 
 
 won the king, marriage, feast, 
 137, 138. 
 Ethiopians not taxed, 248. 
 Etiquette, 61, 184. 
 Eulseus, Ulai, 27, 28. 
 Eunuch, meaning of word, 101. 
 
 influence, 101, 102. 
 Executions, methods of, 142. 
 Exiles, 108. 
 
 employments, 111. 
 
 groups, 111. 
 
 in Egypt, 115. 
 
 number who returned, 114, 115. 
 
 of Judah, 115. 
 Ezekiel, visions, 110, 119. 
 
 mentions divination, 162. 
 Ezra, 115, 154. 
 
 Family, Persian, 102. 
 
 Bible picture, 103. 
 
 model, 102, 103. 
 
 Xerxes', 103. 
 Far.*, 14. 
 
 Fast of Esther, 189. 
 Feast, preparations for, 62, 63. 
 
 deliberations, 65. 
 
 food, 64. 
 
 •'no compelling," 66. 
 
 scenes, 64, 65. 
 Flatterers, 83. 
 Footmen, 171. 
 Futteh Ali Shah, 202. 
 
 Gems, 61, 62. 
 Gera, 116. 
 Germans, 51. 
 Gifts to the king, 248. 
 Goim, 30. 
 Golden bowl, 38. 
 Golden plane-tree, 38. 
 Golden vine, 38. 
 Grecian war, 106. 
 Grief, signs of, 177-180. 
 Guti, Gutium, 30. 
 Gyges, 12, 68. 
 Gyndes, 18. 
 
 Hadassah, 116. 117. 
 Hall of state, 43, 44. 
 
 scene in, 61. 
 Haman, 44, 120, 121. 
 
 casts lots, 166. 
 
 character and government, 225, 
 226, 232. 
 
 children, 201, 202. 
 
 compelled to honor Mordecai, 
 212, 213. 
 
 condemned, 220. 
 
 despair, 219. 
 
 discouraged by his friends, 216. 
 
 great honors, 200. 
 
 bis sons impaled, 244. 
 
 identifications, 150. 
 
 impaled, 223. 
 
 influence at court, 151. 
 
 invited by Esther to a banquet, 
 199, 200. 
 
 kingly honors, 210. 
 
 loyal family, 203. 
 
 names of his sons, 238. 
 
 parades his fortune, 202, 203. 
 
 pleads for his life, 219. 
 
 pride, 154. 
 
 property confiscated, 224. 
 
 religion, 164. 
 
 rises early, 208, 209. 
 
 selfishness, 209, 210. 
 
 unhappy, 203. 
 Hanging, 143. 
 Happiness not in worldly gifts, 84, 
 
 85, 203. 
 Harbonah, 223. 
 Harem, 105, 106. 
 Hatacb, 181-185. 
 Hatra, palace of, 40. 
 Havilah, 147. 
 
 Hebrews, molten sea of the, 40. 
 Hegai, 123, 135. 
 Helbon, wine of, 49. 
 Hellespont scourged and branded,18. 
 Hermotimus, 102. 
 Herod, 195. 
 Herodias, 195. 
 Herusha, 148. 
 Hezekiah, 9. 
 Home, 96. 
 
 Christian, 103. 
 
 symbol of heaven, 103. 
 Horatii, 220-222. 
 Hormah, battle of, 149. 
 Hur. 149. 
 Husbands, plurality of, 97, 98. 
 
260 
 
 Beauty Crowned — Index. 
 
 Iberians, 51. 
 Impalements, 142, 143. 
 
 among the Turks, 143. 
 
 by Darius, 143. 
 India, 15. 
 Influence, 93. 
 Inscriptions, 43. 
 
 Behistun, 87. 
 Intaphernes, 183, 184. 
 Isaiah, 133. 
 Ispahan, 176. 
 Istar, 117. 
 lzdubar, 29. 
 
 J air, 116. 
 
 Janizaries, 176. 
 
 Jehoiakim, captivity of, 107, 113. 
 
 Jeremiah, 111. 
 
 Jews in exile, 107. 
 
 advantages, 113. 
 
 defensive warfare, 238. 
 
 may defend themselves against 
 their enemies, 229-231. 
 
 number of their enemies slain, 
 237, 238. 
 
 organization in exile, 108, 109. 
 
 patriotism and religion, 107. 
 
 second day of their defense, 
 239, 240. 
 
 struggle, 236, et seq. 
 
 touch no spoil, 239, 240. 
 
 victory, joy, and gladness, 240, 
 et seq. 
 Joktanites, 147. 
 Josephus, 144. 
 Joshua, 149. 
 Judas Maccabaeus, 189. 
 Jupiter, chariot of, 163. 
 
 Kerkhah, 31. 
 
 Khabour, 108. 
 
 Khan of Khiva, 142. 
 
 Khumbaba, 29. 
 
 King of Persia at table, 48. 
 
 amusements, 49, 50. 
 
 diadem, 55. 
 
 dress, 55. 
 
 fly-qliaser, 57. 
 
 his court,.59. 
 
 luxuries of, 49. 
 
 number <*& wives, 98. 
 
 ornaments, 57. 
 
 parasol, 56. 
 
 scent bottle, 58. 
 
 scepter, 56. 
 
 King's benefactors, 143-145. 
 
 King's duties, 145, 146. 
 
 Kish, 115. 
 
 Kislev, 137. 
 
 Kohl, 131. 
 
 Koords butcher the Nestorians, 
 
 177. 
 Kudur Mabug, 30. 
 Kudur Nakkhunti, 30. 
 
 Lacedaemonians, 138, 152. 
 
 Lake Moeris, 139. 
 
 Lampsacus, 206. 
 
 Larsa, 30. 
 
 Laws of Medes and Persians, 227, 
 
 228. 
 Legalized war, 236. 
 Leonidas, 86. 
 Letters of Mordecai hastened, 
 
 229. 
 Loftus, 34. 
 Lots, 165, 166. 
 
 Lucky and unlucky days, 165. 
 Lud, 147. 
 
 Luristan, mountains of, 24. 
 Lydia, 12. 
 
 Magabysus, 246. 
 
 Magi, mentioned in Bible, 159. 
 
 influence over Cambyses, 161. 
 
 massacred, 162. 
 
 Pseudo-Smerdis, 161. 
 
 rites, 162. 
 Magnesia, 206. 
 Mardonius, 19, 178. 
 Masistes, 21, 195-198. 
 Masistius, 178. 
 Massacres, 157, 158. 
 Medes, 157. 
 Media conquered, 12. 
 Megabazus, 70. 
 Memucan, 91, 92. 
 Mesabates, 91. 
 Mesha, 133. 
 Midianites, 150. 
 Milton, 31. 
 Miriam, 149. 
 Mithras, feast of. 51. 
 Mithridates gives Cyrus his first 
 
 wound, 207. 
 Mithridates puts Italians to death, 
 
 158. 
 Mizraim, 147. 
 Moabites, 150. 
 Mohammed, 120. 
 
Beauty Crowned — Index. 
 
 261 
 
 Mordecai, 115. 
 
 adopts Esther, 115, 116. 
 
 bowed not, 153, 200, 221. 
 
 care of Esther, 125. 
 
 character, 116. 
 
 charge to Esther, 181, 182. 
 
 convinces Esther, 185, 186. 
 
 fasts with the other Jews, 188. 
 
 his grief, 177, 178. 
 
 his robes and crown, 231-233. 
 
 honored by the rabbis, 253, 254. 
 
 honors await him, 212-215. 
 
 made prime minister, 225. 
 
 popularity of his administra- 
 tion, 233. 
 
 position, 125. 
 
 record read, 205. 
 
 reveals the plot to Esther, 181, 
 182. 
 
 speaks peace to the Jews, 253. 
 
 suggested identifications, 245, 
 246. 
 
 the king's benefactor, 146. 
 
 to be hung, 203, 204, 208, 209. 
 
 tomb of Mordecai and Esther, 
 254, 255. 
 
 writes an edict in the king's 
 name to save the Jews, 228. 
 Mourning, 177-180. 
 
 not permitted in the royal pal- 
 ace, 180, 181. 
 Mousa, the Parthian queen, 70. 
 
 Nabopolassar, 11. 
 Nana, the goddess, 30. 
 Nebuchadnezzar, 11, 111. 
 
 feast of, 48. 
 Nebuzaradan, 115. 
 Nehemiah, 95, 115, 154. 
 
 at Shushan, 42. 
 Nereids, 164. 
 Nergal, 39. 
 
 Nestorians butchered, 177. 
 Nimrod, 29. 
 Nineveh, 15. 
 Ninip, 39. 
 
 Nisasan horses, 163. 
 Nisan, 166. 
 Nizir, 27. 
 
 Obedience to Providence, 126. 
 03obazus, 86. 
 Official records, 230, 231. 
 Oriental hospitality, 46. 
 Oriental promises, 195-198. 
 
 Ornaments, 57. 
 
 among the Midianites, 133. 
 
 in Assyria and Babylonia, 134. 
 
 in Chaldea, 134. 
 
 in Media, 135. 
 
 in Palestine, 131. 
 
 in Persia, 134, 135. 
 
 love of, rebuked, 133. 
 
 Mishna, 133. 
 
 number and variety, 132. 
 Oroetes, 170, 171, 224. 
 Orosangs, 144. 
 Osirtasen I., 169. 
 Otanes, 204. 
 
 Pactolus, 12. 
 Palace platform, 37. 
 
 canopy and couches, 38. 
 
 court of the garden, 44. 
 
 difficulty of gaining entrance, 
 182-184. 
 
 first house of the women, 44. 
 
 furnishment, 37. 
 
 king's palace, 44. 
 
 queen's palace, 44, 45. 
 
 throne, 39. 
 Palestine, i5. 
 Parasol, royal, 56. 
 Parmenio, 173. 
 Parsi, the modern, 160. 
 Parthian kings, 58. 
 Pary satis, 91, 139. 
 Pauline de Viguiere of Toulouse, 
 
 120. 
 Pausanius, 51, 145. 
 Pen, power of, 111. 
 Pentecost, 29. 
 Perfumeries, 59. 
 Pergamus of Priam, 163. 
 Persepolis, 36. 
 
 inscriptions, 22, 23. 
 
 treasures, 47. 
 Persia, extent of empire, 13. 
 
 footmen, 171. 
 
 inns, 172. 
 
 Persia Proper, 14 
 
 postal system, 172. 
 
 post houses, 172. 
 
 post routes, 173. 
 
 provinces, 14. 
 
 sacred books of, 159. [i 
 
 soldiers, 172. 
 
 swift riders, 172. 
 Persian empire, population, 237. 
 Persian gift, 196. 
 
262 
 
 Beauty Crowned — Index. 
 
 Persian king, crime of wearing his 
 
 garments, 211, 212. 
 Persians, character of, 12, 13. 
 
 dress, 60. 
 
 drunkenness, 50. 
 
 early temperance, 60. 
 
 friendly to the Jews, 232, 233. 
 
 power of their king, 13. 
 
 riches of camp, 81, 82. 
 
 sacrifice of prisoners, 164. 
 
 sin of falsehood, 13. 
 
 table customs, 50. 
 Persians and Medes, laws of, 91, 
 
 104, 105. 
 Phenicia, 15. 
 Philetas, 223. 
 Philotus, 173. 
 Phraataces, 70. 
 Plato, 51. 
 Pliny, 58. 
 Poetic justice, 216. 
 Pride before a fall, 147. 
 Property of enemies confiscated, 167, 
 
 168. 
 Prostration, 153. 
 Providence, 186-188. 
 Providential systems, 127. 
 Pseudo-Smerdis, 138. 
 
 assassination of, 157, 207. 
 Purim, 243-245. 
 Pythius the Lydian, 38, 86. 
 
 Queen at meals, 70. 
 Queen-mother, authority of, 100. 
 Quintus Curtius, 99. 
 
 Rameses III., 148. 
 
 Records made by scribes, 145. 
 
 Religion of Persia, 158, 159. 
 
 of Chaldea, 160. 
 Rephidim, battle of, 149. 
 Roads, 171. 
 
 Robes of honor, 231, 232. 
 Royal bounties, 139. 
 Royal judges, 124. 
 
 Sabaco, 169. 
 Sacans, 197. 
 Sacrifices to streams, 164. 
 
 to winds, 89. 
 Salamis, 19, 144. 
 Samuel, 150. 
 
 Sanjur, king of Persia, 33. 
 Sardis. 106. 
 Sassahian king, court of, 80. 
 
 Satrapies, 248-252. 
 Saul, 116, 150, 185. 
 Scent bottle, 58. 
 Scepter, 56. 
 
 forms of the, 185. 
 Scribes, 171. 
 Scythians, 51. 
 
 slaughtered by Cyaxares, 157. 
 Seal, 168. 
 
 of Darius Hystaspis, 169. 
 
 of Joseph. 169. 
 
 of Sennacnerib, 169. 
 
 ring seal, 169. 
 
 symbol, 169, 170. 
 
 use of, 168, 179. 
 Sebsewar, 176. 
 Second edict, 236, 237. 
 Seirites, 148. 
 Semites, cult, 162. 
 
 gods, 162. 
 
 planetary worship, 163. 
 
 precepts of, 163. 
 Sennacherib defeats the Ethiopians 
 
 and the Egyptians, 9. 
 Seven great families of Persia, 
 87. 
 
 privileges of, 88. 
 Shaashgaz, 135. 
 Shapur, 27, 31, 43. 
 Shasu, 148. 
 Sheba, 115. 
 
 Sheikh Ali Mirza, 202. 
 Shimei, 116. 
 Shinar, 30. 
 Shur, 147. 
 Shush, 27. 
 
 mounds of, 31. 
 Shushan, 15, 42. 
 
 joy in, 232. 
 
 palace of, 43, 123, 145. 
 
 population, 237. 
 
 the city, 42. 
 Shuster, 27. 
 Sin, 228. 
 Sivan, 228, 229. 
 Socrates, 139. 
 Solomon, 40, 60, 199, 208. 
 Soothsayers of Scythia, 161. 
 Stanley, 107. 
 Stella, 117. 
 
 Stones of pavement, 63. 
 Strabo, 44, 164. 
 Strymon, 164. 
 Sumir, 30. 
 Superstition and cruelty, 157. 
 
Beauty Ckowned — Index. 
 
 263 
 
 Susa, 24, 30, 178. 
 
 citadel mound, 43. 
 
 city of, 27, 28.' 
 
 heat of, 29. 
 
 inscriptions, 29. 
 
 palace of, 34-37. 
 
 present desolation, 32. 
 
 riches, 31. 
 
 the great platform, 43. 
 Susiana, 15. 
 
 nature of the country, 25, 
 26. 
 
 territory, 24. 
 Susis, 24. 
 
 Tacitus, 51. 
 
 Talmud, accounts in the, 154, 213- 
 
 215. 
 Tamerlane, massacres of, 176. 
 Targum, 244. 
 Tebeth, month of, 137. 
 Temple of Bel, 110. 
 Ten tribes, the, 115. 
 Teresh, 141. 
 Teribazus, 212. 
 The wise men, 88. 
 Themistocles, 206. 
 Theodon the Samian, 38. 
 Thetis, 164. 
 Throne, 39. 
 Thucydides, 144. 
 Thurgal, 30. 
 Tidal, 30. 
 
 Tower of Babel, 110. 
 Tribute, 247, 248. 
 Trouble in the palace, 141. 
 Tur-gal, 30. 
 Turks, their slaughter of Christians, 
 
 176, 177. 
 Turn to be introduced to the king, 
 
 135. 
 
 Ulal, 27, 32. 
 
 Vashti, feast of, 67. 
 
 disgraced, 104. 
 
 disobeys the king, 82, 100. 
 
 divorced, 95. 
 Virgins, 99. 
 
 Walnole, 120. 
 
 Ways, The Nine, 164. 
 
 Wife, 97. 
 
 rank of, in Eome, 98. 
 Williams, General, 34. 
 
 Wine, 71, 72. 
 
 as a medicine, 74. 
 
 at the table, 74. 
 
 Bible, 75. 
 
 in the home, 73, 74. 
 
 the curse of, 76. 
 Winged human-headed bulls and 
 
 lions, 39. 
 Wheels within wheels, 205. 
 Woman, seclusion of, 100. 
 Writing, material, character, the 
 pen, ink ? 173. 
 
 an ancient letter, 174. 
 
 Xerxes, 12. 
 
 absolute power, 85. 
 
 amours, 20, 21. 
 
 assembly of, 52. 
 
 character drawn by Eawlinson, 
 21. 
 
 character fits Ahasuerus, 22. 
 
 chronology of events, 23. 
 
 could not forgive, 87. 
 
 defeated at home, 85. 
 
 diadem, 55. 
 
 dream, 53. 
 
 dress, 55. 
 
 encourages hard drinking, 72. 
 
 extent of empire, 22. 
 
 extravagant promises, 
 197. 
 
 fan or fiy-cbaser, 57. 
 
 feared by Mardonius 19. 
 
 grants Mordecai and Esther au- 
 thority to draw up letters to 
 save the Jews, 227. 
 
 his wrath, 83. 
 
 inflamed with wine, 67. 
 
 listens to the records, 205. 
 
 love for wife of Masistes, 195- 
 198. 
 
 love of display, 51. 
 
 makes a release to the prov- 
 inces, 138. 
 
 master of Athens, 178. 
 
 murdered, 142. 
 
 name, 22. 
 
 obedience of Persians, 20. 
 
 on his throne, 63. 
 
 pacified, 223. 
 
 palace, 44. 
 
 rage against Haman, 218-220. 
 
 rashness, 71. 
 
 repents of rashness, 104. 
 
 retreat from Europe, 19. 
 
264 
 
 Beauty Crowned — Index. 
 
 Xerxes — continued. 
 royal parasol, 56. 
 scepter, 56. 
 
 scourges the Hellespont, 18. 
 seeks advice, 53. 
 selfish, 82. 
 
 sends for Vashti, 70. 
 shows his treasures, 66. 
 slays his helmsman, 20. 
 slays Phenician sailors, 19. 
 
 Xerxes — continued. 
 
 spends a sleepless night,205, 
 title, 22. 
 war tent, 51. 
 
 Zedekiah, 111. 
 
 Zend-Avesta, 158. 
 
 Zeresh, 203. 
 
 Ziklag, 150. 
 
 Zoroastrian belief, 159, 160. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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