Herodotus

“ O king, having seen, as much as a man may, how the greater has often been brought low by the less, I was loath that you should always give the rein to your youthful spirit; for I knew how evil a thing it was to have many desires, remembering the end of Cyrus’ expedition against the Massagetae and Cambyses’ against the Ethiopians, and having myself marched with Darius against the Scythians. Knowing this, I judged that you had but to abide in peace for all men to deem you fortunate. ”

“ Even though the Laconian should suffer you to command it, not so will we; for the command of the fleet is ours, the Lacedaemonians desire it not for themselves. If they desire to lead it, we withstand them not; but none other will we suffer to be admiral. For it were vain that we should possess the greatest multitude of sea-faring men in Hellas, if, being Athenians, we yield up our command to Syracusans,—we who can show of all the longest lineage, and who alone among Greeks have never changed our dwelling ”

“ It is my intent to bridge the Hellespont and lead my army through Europe to Hellas, that I may punish the Athenians for what they have done to the Persians and to my father. You saw that Darius my father was minded to make an expedition against these men. But he is dead, and it was not granted him to punish them; and I, on his and all the Persians’ behalf, will never rest till I have taken and burnt Athens, for the unprovoked wrong that its people did to my father and me; first they came to Sardis with our slave Aristagoras the Milesian, and burnt the groves and the temples ”

“ The Greek custom, then, is no good one; and when I marched as far as the land of Macedonia, it came not into their thoughts to fight. But against you, O king! who shall make war? For you will have at your back the multitudes of Asia, and all your ships; for myself, I think there is not so much boldness in Hellas as that; but if time should show me wrong in my judgment, and those men were foolhardy enough to do battle with us, they would be taught that we are the greatest warriors no earth. ”

“ Xerxes was very angry, and thus replied: “Villain, you see me myself marching against Hellas, and taking with me my sons and brothers and kinsfolk and friends; and do you, my slave—who should have followed me with all your household and your very wife—speak to me of your son? Then be well assured of this, that a man’s spirit dwells in his ears; when it hears good words it fills the whole body with delight, but when it hears the contrary thereto it swells with anger. ”

“ To these the Thessalian messengers came, and said, “Men of Hellas, the pass of Olympus must be guarded, that Thessaly and all Hellas may be sheltered from the war. Now we are ready to guard it with you; but you too must send a great force; if you will not send it, be assured that we shall make terms with the Persian; for it is not right that we should be left to stand alone for an outpost of Hellas and so perish for your sakes. If you will not send help, there is no constraint that you can put upon us; for no necessity can prevail over lack of ability. ”

“ In this town sat awaiting them a Lydian, Pythius, son of Atys; he entertained Xerxes himself and all the king’s army with the best of good cheer, and declared himself willing to provide money for the war. Pythius thus offering money, Xerxes asked the Persians that were about him who this Pythius was that offered it and how much wealth he possessed: “O king,” said they, “this is he who gave your father Darius that gift of a golden plane-tree and vine; and now he is, next to yourself, the richest man of whom we have knowledge.” ”

“ Yet wars the Greeks do wage, and, as I learn, most senselessly they do it, in their wrongheadedness and folly. When they have declared war against each other, they come down to the fairest and most level ground that they can find and there they fight, so that the victors come not off without great harm; and of the vanquished I say not so much as a word, for they are utterly destroyed. Yet speaking as they do the same language, they should end their disputes by the means of heralds and messengers, and by any way rather than fighting ”

“ Now, tell me this: how many are the Lacedaemonians that are left, and how many of them are warriors like these? or is it so with them all?” “O king,” said Demaratus, “the Lacedaemonians altogether are many in number, and their cities are many. But what you would know, I will tell you: there is in Lacedaemon a city called Sparta, a city of about eight thousand men, all of them equal to those who have here fought; the rest of the Lacedaemonians are not equal to these; yet they are valiant men.” “And how, Demaratus,” answered Xerxes, “shall we with least ado master those men? ”

“ Thus a numerous host is destroyed by one that is lesser, the god of his jealousy sending panic fear or thunderbolt among them, whereby they do unworthily perish; for the god suffers pride in none but himself. Now haste is ever the parent of failure, whereof grievous hurts are apt to come; but in waiting there is good, which in due time shall appear, though in the present it seem not so. This, O king, is my counsel to you. But to you I say, Mardonius son of Gobryas! cease from foolish speaking about the Greeks, for they deserve not to be maligned. ”

“ He that utters the calumny wrongs another, accusing an absent man, and the other does a wrong likewise in that he is overpersuaded before he has learnt the whole truth; and he that is absent and hears not what is said of him suffers wrong in the matter, being maligned by the one and condemned by the other. Nay, if an army must by all means be sent against these Greeks, hear me now: Let the king himself abide in the Persian land, and let us two stake our children’s lives upon it; then do you lead out the army, choosing what men you will and taking as great an armament as you desire ”

“ Then said Artabanus: “O king, I see that you will not suffer us to fear any danger; yet take from me this counsel: for needs must there be much speaking when our businesses are so many. Cyrus son of Cambyses subdued and made tributary to Persia all Ionians save only the Athenians. It is my counsel, then, that you do by no means lead these Ionians against the land of their fathers; even without their aid we are well able to overcome our enemies; for if they come with our army, they must behave either very unjustly by enslaving their parent state or very justly by aiding it to be free. ”

“ These are the ways that are dear to the hearts of all Greeks: they are jealous of success and they hate power. Nay, if after the late calamity which has wrecked four hundred of your ships you send away three hundred more from your fleet to sail round the Peloponnese, your enemies will be enough to do battle with you; but while your fleet is united, it is thereby invincible, and your enemies will not so much as be enough to fight; moreover, all your navy will be a help to your army and your army to your navy, both moving together ”

“ Hellas sends us to you to ask not for a leader but for an army; and you say no word of sending an army save and except you can be the leader of Hellas; it is for the command that all your desire is. Now as long as you sought the leadership of the whole armament, we Athenians were content to hold our peace, knowing that the Laconian was well able to answer for both of us; but since, failing to win the whole, you would fain command the fleet, we would have you know how the matter stands. ”

“ Men of Hellas, it is with a self-seeking plea that you have made bold to come hither and invite me to be your ally against the foreigners; yet what of yourselves? When I was at feud with the Carchedonians, and prayed you to stand my comrades against a foreign army, and when I was instant that you should avenge the slaying of Dorieus son of Anaxandrides by the men of Egesta, and when I promised to free those trading ports whence great advantage and profit have accrued to you,—then neither for my sake would you come to aid nor to avenge the slaying of Dorieus ”

“ Now the mountain-side where the Persians ascended was all covered by oak woods, and the Phocians knew nothing of their coming till they were warned of it, in the still weather, by the much noise of the enemy’s tread on the leaves that lay strewn underfoot; whereupon they sprang up and began to arm, and in a moment the foreigners were upon them. These were amazed at the sight of men putting on armour; for they had supposed that no one would withstand them, and now they fell in with an army. Hydarnes feared that the Phocians might be Lacedaemonians, and asked Epialtes of what country they were ”

“ Thus said Xerxes; Artabanus would not obey the first command, thinking it was not for him to sit on the royal throne; at last he was compelled, and did as he was bidden, saying first: “O king, I judge it of equal worth whether a man be wise, or be willing to obey good counsel; to both of these you have attained, but evil communications are your bane; even as the sea, who is of all creatures the most serviceable to men, is hindered (they say) from following his natural bent by the blasts of winds that fall upon him. ”

“ Now I forbade Darius, your father and my brother, to lead his army against the Scythians, who have no cities anywhere to dwell in. But he, in his hope to subdue the nomad Scythians, would not be guided by me; he led his army, and returned from that expedition with the loss of many gallant men of his host. You, O king! are purposing to lead your armies against men far better than the Scythians—men who are said to be most doughty warriors by sea and land ”

“ Presently, learning that Xerxes was at Sardis with his army, they planned to send men into Asia to spy out the king’s doings, and to despatch messengers, some to Argos, who should make the Argives their brothers in arms against the Persian, some to Gelon son of Dinomenes in Sicily, some to Corcyra, praying aid for Hellas, and some to Crete; for they hoped that since the danger threatened all Greeks alike, all of Greek blood might unite and work jointly for one common end. ”

“ A well-laid plan is ever to my mind most profitable; for even though it be thwarted later, yet none the less has the plan been good, and it is but chance that has baffled the design; but he that has made a sorry plan has gotten, if fortune favour him, but a chance prize, and none the less has his plan been evil. You see how the god smites with his thunderbolt creatures of greatness more than common, nor suffers them to display their pride, but such as are little move him not to anger ”

“ Now you are rich in power, and being lord of Sicily you rule thereby what is not the least part of Hellas; wherefore, we pray you, send help to them that would free Hellas, and aid them in so doing. For the uniting of all of Greek stock is the mustering of a mighty host, able to meet our invaders in the field; but if some of us play false, and others will not come to our aid, and the sound part of Hellas be but small, then it is to be feared that all Greek lands alike will be undone. ”

“ Free they are, yet not wholly free; for law is their master, whom they fear much more than your men fear you. This is my proof—what their law bids them, that they do; and its bidding is ever the same, that they must never flee from the battle before whatsoever odds, but abide at their post and there conquer or die. ”

“ Now, if it be true that Xerxes sent a herald with the aforesaid message to Argos, and that the Argive envoys came up to Susa and questioned Artoxerxes about their friendship, I cannot with exactness say; nor do I now declare that I hold aught for truth but what the Argives themselves say. But this I know full well,—if all men should carry their own private troubles to market for barter with their neighbours, not one but when he had looked into the troubles of other men would be right glad to carry home again what he had brought. ”

“ Now, therefore, since you are turned to the better opinion, you say that while you would renounce your expedition against the Greeks you are haunted by a dream sent by some god, which forbids you to leave off from the expedition. But you err again, my son; this is none of heaven’s working. The roving dreams that visit men are of such nature as you shall learn of me, that am many years older than you. Those visions that rove about us in dreams are for the most part the thoughts of the day; and in these latter days we have been very earnestly busied about this expedition. ”

“ What they did, therefore, was done of set purpose, that they might be able to say to the Persian, “O king, we whose power is as great as any, and who could have furnished as many ships as any state save Athens,—we, when the Greeks essayed to gain our aid in this war, would not resist you nor do aught displeasing to you.” ”

“ Sire, you surpass not only all Persians that have been but also all that shall be; for besides that you have dealt excellently and truly with all other matters, you will not suffer the Ionians that dwell in Europe to make a mock of us, which thing they have no right to do. ”

“ Many of them were thrust into the sea and there drowned, and more by far were trodden down bodily by each other, none regarding who it was that perished; for inasmuch as the Greeks knew that they must die by the hands of those who came round the mountain, they put forth the very utmost of their strength against the foreigners, in their recklessness and frenzy. ”

“ Yea, Xerxes the king will pass over thee, whether thou wilt or no; it is but just that no man offers thee sacrifice, for thou art a turbid and a briny river.” Thus he commanded that the sea should be punished, and that they who had been overseers of the bridging of the Hellespont should be beheaded. ”

“ The Greeks had of their own motion summoned these to their aid, telling them by their messengers that they themselves had come for an advance guard of the rest, that the coming of the remnant of the allies was to be looked for every day, and that the sea was strictly watched by them, being guarded by the Athenians and Aeginetans and all that were enrolled in the fleet; there was nought (they said) for them to fear; for the invader of Hellas was no god, but a mortal man, and there was no mortal, nor ever would be, to whom at birth some admixture of misfortune was not allotted ”