[Illustration: She had come into the lion's very lair. (Page 143)]
Copyright, 1907 BY MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY
Published August, 1907 Reprinted, November, 1907
I. The Raising of the Siege II. The Building of a City III. The Governor of Syria IV. The Fish Goddess V. A Prayer to Dagon VI. The Daughter of Derketo VII. A Master's Kiss VIII. They that Depart and He that is Left Behind IX. The Eaglet Nursed by Doves X. The Lifting of a Tax XI. The Sandal and the Straws XII. The Sorrows of a King XIII. The Skin of a One-Eyed Lion XIV. The Turn of a Woman's Tongue XV. An Army on the March XVI. The Pass of the Wedge XVII. In the Shadow of Zariaspa XVIII. The Raisin in a Skin of Vinegar XIX. The Stratagem XX. The Flight XXI. The Riddle of the Secret Way XXII. Who Ruleth, First Must Rise XXIII. The Siege XXIV. The Citadel XXV. Shifting the Burden XXVI. The Passing of a Man XXVII. A Path Which Led to Its Starting Point XXVIII. The Cry of the Tigress to her Mate XXIX. When a Woman Ruled the World XXX. The Desert and the King XXXI. The Crowning of the Dead XXXII. A War Queen's Prophecy
The existing history of Assyria's greatest ruler, Semiramis, is so confounded with the religions and superstitions of the ancients that little or no authentic fact may be gleaned therefrom. Again, these legends were handed down from father to son among the Syrians and imaginative Persians, till finally recorded by the more imaginative Greeks. These latter gentlemen seemed seldom to allow mere truth to stand as a stumbling block in their literary paths, but leaped it nimbly for the entertainment of an admiring world.
As for poets, they ever sing of Queen Semiramis at a period of her seasoned age and wickedness, though her "devilish beauty" continued to abide with her, being wielded as an evil scepter o'er the souls of men; yet much must be forgiven in a poet, because of that strange inaptitude of truth for a friendly relationship with meter and with rhyme.
In every human, however bad, there exists a trace of virtue, even as, on the other hand, no mortal yet has lived without some blemish of flesh or mind or heart; thus Nature balances her weird accounts, leaving the extremes of vice or purity to mythical ideals.