Page:From Constantinople to the home of Omar Khayyam.djvu/55

 Persian satrap, who died in 328 B.C. Mazaeus held a post as governor of Babylon under Darius, and was therefore first the foe of Alexander, though he became the conqueror's friend after the downfall of the Achaemenian fortunes. According to this view, the central figure of a Persian in three of the sculptured groups would be taken as an effigy of Mazaeus. If such an explanation be accepted, it must be said that the Persian gov- ernor had certainly the richest funeral casket that the world has ever seen. But again we must confess that the hypothe- sis is merely guessing, even though it be ingenious guess- ing, and we must await the acquisition of more material or of greater knowledge than our present archaeological grasp has at command, before we can be at all sure ; and it may be that we shall never know definitely about the real ownership of the wonderful cenotaph.

If, therefore, we must conclude, as Keats did with the Grecian Urn, to allow ' this foster-child of Silence and slow Time ' to ' tease us out of thought,' we may equally concede that the for all time the early tale of conflict and union between West and East ; and from the elements blended so truly and so ex- quisitely in this monument of death we may repeat with the poet : —
 * Attic shape ' of the marble at Constantinople mutely records

' Beauty is truth, truth beauty — that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

�� �