Without my husband I seem to myself like a wanderer in the desert, aimless and without a guide." "Are your children then nothing to you, and this kingdom, of which you have watched the rise and growth ?" "No indeed! but my children need me no longer, and the ruler of this kingdom is too proud to listen to a woman's advice." On hearing these words Atossa and Nitetis seized each one of the queen's hands, and Nitetis cried: "You ought to desire a long life for our sakes.

What should we be without your help and protection ?" Kassandane smiled again, murmuring in a scarcely audible voice: "You are right, my children, you will stand in need of your mother." "Now you are speaking once more like the wife of the great Cyrus," cried Croesus, kissing the robe of the blind woman.

"Your presence will indeed be needed, who can say how soon?
Cambyses is like hard steel; sparks fly wherever he strikes.

You can hinder these sparks from kindling a destroying fire among your loved ones, and this should be your duty.

You alone can dare to admonish the king in the violence of his passion.