Nobody may enter these gardens without express permission from my own mouth.

I think you know me.

Here, take these gold staters, your work will be heavier now; but remember, I swear by Plithras not to spare one of you who is careless or disobedient." The men made a due obeisance and determined to obey; they knew that Boges' threats were never meant in joke, and fancied something great must be coming to pass, as the stingy eunuch never spent his staters without good reason.
Boges was carried back to the banqueting-hall in the same litter, which had brought Nitetis away.
The king's wives had left, but the concubines were all standing in their appointed place, singing their monotonous songs, though quite unheard by the uproarious men.
The drinkers had already long forgotten the fainting woman.

The uproar and confusion rose with every fresh wine-cup.

They forgot the dignity of the place where they were assembled, and the presence of their mighty ruler.
They shouted in their drunken joy; warriors embraced one another with a tenderness only excited by wine, here and there a novice was carried away in the arms of a pair of sturdy attendants, while an old hand at the work would seize a wine-jug instead of a goblet, and drain it at a draught amid the cheers of the lookers-on.
The king sat on at the head of the table, pale as death, staring into the wine-cup as if unconscious of what was going on around hint.