negotiate [nɪˈɡəuʃɪˌ eɪt], occasion [əˈkeɪʒən], allow [əˈlau], legitimate [lɪˈʤɪtɪmɪt]

The wall was high but not impossible to negotiate. Nabonidus did not put his trust in mere barriers of stone. It was what was inside the wall that was to be feared. What these things were Murilo did not know precisely. He knew there was at least a huge savage dog that roamed the gardens and had on occasion torn an intruder to pieces as a hound rends a rabbit. What else there might be he did not care to conjecture. Men who had been allowed to enter the house on brief, legitimate business, reported that Nabonidus dwelt among rich furnishings, yet simply, attended by a surprisingly small number of servants.

Indeed, they mentioned only one as having been visible (действительно, они упоминали лишь одного, которого видели) — a tall, silent man called Joka (высокого, молчаливого мужчину по имени Джока). Some one else, presumably a slave, had been heard moving about in the recesses of the house (слышали, как кто-то еще, предположительно раб, двигался в отдаленных уголках дома; recess — перерыв в работе; уединенное, укромное место; тихий уголок; окраина; углубление; ниша), but this person no one had ever seen (но этого человека никогда никто не видел). The greatest mystery of the mysterious house was Nabonidus himself (величайшей тайной этого таинственного дома был сам Набонидус), whose power of intrigue and grasp on international politics had made him the strongest man in the kingdom (умение которого /плести/ интриги и управлять международной политикой сделали его самым сильным человеком в королевстве; power — сила; способность; intrigue — интрига; плетение интриг; grasp on — управление, контроль за). People, chancellor and king moved puppetlike on the strings he worked (народ, канцлер и король двигались как марионетки на ниточках, которыми он управлял; to work — работать; управлять, осуществлять управление).