battle yet depart not without great loss; as for them that are worsted there is nothing to be said, for they are utterly destroyed. For why, seeing that they are all of them one language, do they not send heralds and messengers and so compose their differences peaceably, rather than settle them by fighting? And, if they must needs fight, why do they not make the best each of them of that which they have, and so join in battle? And yet, notwithstanding this their folly, when I marched so far as Macedonia, not one of them dared to meet me. And now, O King, who will stand up against thee when thou bringest with thee all the warriors out of the land of Asia and the ships also? And if they be so mad as to stand, then shall they learn that we Persians are the greatest warriors on the face of the earth.”
When Mardonius had thus spoken all the other Persians kept silence; but at the last Artabanus, the son of Hystaspes, being uncle to King Xerxes, and so taking courage to speak, put forth a contrary opinion in these words: “O King, if there be not set forth opinions that are contrary the one to the other, thou canst not choose the better, but must follow the one which thou hearest. For it is with opinions as it is with gold. Pure gold we know not so long as it is left by itself, but when we rub it against that which is not pure, then we know it. I counseled thy father Darius that he should not make war on the Scythians, men that have no city to dwell in; but he, thinking to subdue them, would not hearken to me, but marched against them, and lost many and brave soldiers. And now thou hast it in thy heart to make war against men that are far better than the Scythians, being mighty both by sea and land. Hear, therefore, into what danger thou art moving. Thou wilt bridge over the Hellespont, and march into the land of Greece. Suppose that thou suffer defeat whether it be by sea or by land, or, haply, by both, for the men are valiant (and, indeed, what they can do we know full well, for Datis and Artaphernes, when they led a mighty host into Attica, the Athenians alone defeated). But suppose they get the mastery by sea only, and so, sailing to the Hellespont, break down the bridge. This surely, O King, would be a