This man had saved Assyria's vanguard from defeat, aye, even the life of Ninus he had saved, and thereby won the love of a multitude who were witness to the deed. Justice cried out for the King's forgiveness, yet it cried in vain, for justice is ever a feather-weight in the scale of jealousy.
"Nay," the monarch muttered, sullenly, "him may I not forgive; yet, lest these foolish chieftains murmur among themselves, I will keep my covenants."
Therefore he summoned Menon to his tent, dismissing the guard so that none might overhear his words, and spoke:
"In Syria I set thee to a task and bade thee wed Sozana when all things were accomplished in that land. A servant thou art, and the price of disobedience is the heaviest debt a servant needs must pay. If, therefore, thou judgest me because I withhold my love, think then of the trust I placed in thee and the manner in which my faith hath been deceived."
"My lord," replied the Prince, "I pray thee suffer me to speak as in other days thine ear was turned in patience to my words." Ninus nodded, and the youth went on: "In all things, save one alone, I have set the King's desires above the yearnings of my will. In childhood I bore his wine cup, obedient to his lightest nod. From him I learned the arts of war, and served him through conquests of four score lands, sparing neither strength nor blood to bring him victory. When Nineveh was rising from the earth I journeyed down into Arabia, measured my sword with the Prince Boabdul, and sealed a treaty which gave Assyria peace along the border lands. It bringeth thee stallions from the plains of Barbary, and an army of mounted Bedouins; it bringeth thee peace of heart, for thine enemies are now thy friends. In Syria I ruled till summer for the third time came, nor grudged the ceaseless labor of my hands. For my master's needs at Nineveh I sapped the wealth of every Syrian tribe, save the Sons of Israel alone, whose grip on treasure no mortal man hath yet been born to loose with profit unto himself."
"Ah, good my lord, I have no will to wag a boastful tongue, yet man to man I give thee simple truth, urging that a life's devotion outcount the grave displeasure of my King."
Ninus was moved. In his heart he loved this youth as he loved no other throughout the kingdom of Assyria, and now he sat in reverie, his chin upon his hand, with eyes that gazed upon the armies at his feet and saw them not. Full well he knew the value of a servant's deeds; full well he knew the power of Menon's sway among the soldiery, who, since the battle in the mountain pass, had set him upon a perch of fame. In the siege of the city Menon's sword would rise as a tower of strength, yet might it not outshine the King's? What profited the fall of Zariaspa if the name of Menon rolled on the tongue of victory? Could a single chariot hold two gods of war? Nay, not so; for one must drive while the other smote the enemy. Who, then, should ply the whip and who the spear? By Gibil, it were better far that the grapes of triumph hung unplucked than to watch a rival make merry on their juice! Yet Ninus was Ninus, and what had he to fear from a beardless under-chief?