alive one hundred years hence.” Then said Artabanus, “We men have to endure in life things more piteous than this. For in this life, for all its shortness, there is no man so happy but that he will wish, and this not once but many times, to die rather than to live. For misfortunes come upon us, and diseases harass us, so that life, though it be short, yet seems to be overlong, and death, so full of trouble is life, to be the best refuge to which a man can fly. For the Gods that give us a taste of the sweetness of life, yet are jealous so that we may not enjoy it to the full.” To this Xerxes made answer, “Let us not so think of human life, though it be such as thou sayest, nor keep evil things in our minds when we have good things in our hands. But come now tell me, if thou hadst not seen that vision wouldst thou have been still of the same opinion, advising me that I should not make war against the Greeks?” Artabanus answered, “O King, may the vision which we saw be accomplished as we would have it. Yet am I full of fear, seeing that there are two things, and these the greatest of all, that are against us.” And the King said, “What are these two? Thinkest thou that the Greeks will bring against us more men or more ships?” Then said Artabanus, “No man that had any understanding could find any thing that he might blame either in thy host or thy fleet. Yet are two things against us, even the land and the sea. For there is, I suppose, no harbor in the sea so great that it could receive all this great multitude of ships; and yet we should have not one harbor, but many, one after the other, along the whole coast of the land. Seeing then that such harbors are not to be found, remember that chances are rulers of men rather than men of chances. And if the sea be hostile, much more is the land, and not the less so if none seek to withstand thee, seeing that the further thou shalt go the greater will be the danger of famine. This I say thinking it best for men to fear all things when they take counsel, and to fear nothing when they are in action.”
Then said the King, “What thou sayest, Artabanus, thou sayest not without reason. Yet if a man will always look to all chances that may happen he will never accomplish great deeds. Thou seest to what