and the lord of many men, so shalt thou in a short space be brought low.”
When Xerxes heard these words he was much dismayed, and leaped up from his bed and sent a messenger to call Artabanus. And when he was come, Xerxes said to him, “Artabanus, I was not well advised, speaking to thee unseemly words when thou hadst given me good counsel. But in a short time I repented me purposing to do the things which thou didst counsel me. But though this is my purpose, I am not able to follow it; for now that I am changed and have repented of my folly, there appears to me a vision haunting me, and in nowise consenting to my resolve. And even now it has threatened me and departed. If therefore it be God that sends this vision to me, and if it be altogether according to his will that I should make this expedition against Greece, then the same vision will come to thee, and command thee the same things that it commanded me. And this, I think, will most surely happen if thou wilt take all my royal apparel and put it on thee, and so sit on my seat, and afterward sleep in my bed.”