me, bidding me put away a wife, by whom I have three young sons, and daughters, of whom you have married one to your own son, and this wife too is very much to my mind; you bid me put away her, and marry your own daughter? I, however, O king, though I deem it a great honour to be thought worthy of your daughter, will do neither of these things; and do not you use force in your desire to accomplish this end. Some other man, not inferior to me, will be found for your daughter; but let me cohabit with my own wife." Such was the answer he gave; but Xerxes in a rage replied, "Masistes, you have thus done for yourself; for neither will I give you my daughter in marriage, nor shall you any longer cohabit with your present one; that so you may learn to accept what is offered." He, when he heard this, withdrew, having said this much: "Sire, you have not yet taken away my life." 112. In the intermediate time, while Xerxes was in conference with his brother, Amestris, having sent for the body-guards of Xerxes, mutilated the wife of Masistes: having cut off her breasts, she threw them to the dogs, and also her nose, ears, and lips; and then, having cut out her tongue, she sent her home thus mutilated. 113. Masistes, who had not yet heard any thing of this, but suspecting some evil had befallen him, rushed home in great haste; and seeing his wife utterly destroyed, he thereupon consulted with his sons, and set out with them and some others for Bactria, designing to induce the Bactrian district to revolt, and to do the king all the mischief he could; which, in my opinion, would have happened, if he had been beforehand in going up to the Bactrians and Sacæ; for they were attached to him, and he was governor of the Bactrians. But Xerxes, being informed of his intentions, sent an army after him, and slew him, and his sons, and his forces upon the way. Such were the circumstances respecting the amour of Xerxes and the death of Masistes.

114. The Greeks having set out from Mycale towards the Hellespont, being overtaken by a storm, anchored near Lectis, and from thence they went to Abydos, and found the bridges broken in pieces, which they expected to find stretched across; and for this reason chiefly they came to the Hellespont. Upon this the Peloponnesians with Leotychides determined to sail back to Greece; but the Athenians and their

commander Xanthippus resolved to stay there and make an attempt on the Chersonesus. The former therefore sailed away; but the Athenians, having crossed over from Abydos to Chersonesus, besieged Sestos. 115. To this Sestos, as being the strongest fortress in these parts, when they heard that the Greeks were arrived in the Hellespont, there came together men from other neighbouring places, and among others, Eobazus a Persian from Cardia, who had had all the materials of the bridges conveyed thither. Native Æolians occupied it, and there were with them Persians, and a great body of other allies. 116. Xerxes' viceroy Artayctes ruled over this district, a Persian wicked and impious, who had even deceived the king, on his march to Athens, by secretly taking away from Elæus the treasures of Protesilaus, son of Ĭphiclus. For in Elæus of the Chersonesus is a sepulchre of Protesilaus, and a precinct around it, where were great treasures, both gold and silver vessels, and brass, and robes, and other offerings, which Artayctes plundered by permission of the king. By speaking as follows, he deceived Xerxes: "Sire, there is here the habitation of a certain Grecian, who having carried arms in your territories, met with a just punishment and perished. Give me this man's house, that every one may learn not to carry arms against your territory." By saying this he would easily persuade Xerxes to give him the man's house, as he had no suspicion of his intentions. He said that Protesilaus had carried arms against the king's territory, thinking thus; the Persians consider that all Asia belongs to them and the reigning monarch. When, however, the treasures were granted he carried them away from Elæus to Sestos, and sowed part of the precinct, and pastured it; and whenever he went to Elæus, he used to lie with women in the sanctuary. At this time he was besieged by the Athenians, neither being prepared for a siege, nor expecting the Greeks; so that they fell upon him somewhat unawares. 117. But when autumn came on, as they were engaged in the siege, and the Athenians were impatient at being absent from their own country, and not able to take the fortification, they besought their leaders to take them back; they, however, refused, until either they should take the place, or the people of Athens should recal them; accordingly, they acquiesced in the present state of things.

118. In the mean while those who were within the fortification were reduced to the last extremity, so that they boiled and ate the cords of their beds; and when they had these no longer, then the Persians, and Artayctes and Eobazus, made their escape by night, descending by the back of the fortification, where it was most deserted by the enemy. When it was day, the Chersonesians from the towers made known to the Athenians what had happened, and opened the gates; and the greater part of them went in pursuit, but some took possession of the city. 119. As Eobazus was fleeing into Thrace, the Apsinthian Thracians seized him, and sacrificed him to Plistorus, a god of the country, according to their custom; but those who were with him they slaughtered in another manner. Those with Artayctes, who had taken to flight the last, when they were overtaken a little above Ægos-Potami, having defended themselves for a considerable time, some were killed, and others taken alive, and the Greeks, having put them in bonds, conveyed them to Sestos; and with them they took Artayctes bound, himself and his son. 120. It is related by the Chersonitæ, that the following prodigy occurred to one of the guards as he was broiling salt-fish; the salt-fish lying on the fire leapt and quivered like fish just caught; and the persons who stood around were amazed; but Artayctes, when he saw the prodigy, having called the man who was broiling the salt-fish, said, "Athenian friend, be not afraid of this prodigy, for it has not appeared to you; but Protesilaus, who is in Elæus, intimates to me, that though dead and salted, he has power from the gods to avenge himself on the person that has injured him. Now, therefore, I wish to make him reparation, and instead of the riches which I took out of his temple, to repay one hundred talents to the god; and for myself and my children, I will pay two hundred talents to the Athenians, if I survive." By offering this, he did not persuade the general, Xanthippus; for the Eleans, wishing to avenge Protesilaus, begged that he might be put to death, and the mind of the general himself inclined that way. Having, therefore, conducted him to that part of the shore where Xerxes bridged over the pass, or, as others say, to a hill above the city of Madytus, they nailed him to a plank and hoisted him aloft, and his son they stoned before the eyes of Artayctes. 121. Having done these things, they sailed back to Greece; taking

with them other treasures and the materials of the bridges, in order to dedicate them in the temples; and during this year nothing more was done.

122. Artembares, the grandfather of this Artayctes who was hoisted aloft, was the person who originated a remark which the Persians adopted and conveyed to Cyrus, in these terms: "Since Jupiter has given the sovereign power to the Persians, and among men, to you, O Cyrus, by overthrowing Astyages; as we possess a small territory, and that rugged, come, let us remove from this, and take possession of another, better. There are many near our confines, and many at a distance. By possessing one of these, we shall be more admired by most men; and it is right that those who bear rule should do so; and when shall we have a better opportunity, than when we have the command of many nations, and of all Asia?" Cyrus having heard these words, and not admiring the proposal, bade them do so; but when he bade them he warned them to prepare henceforward not to rule, but to be ruled over; for that delicate men spring from delicate countries, for that it is not given to the same land to produce excellent fruits and men valiant in war. So that the Persians, perceiving their error, withdrew and yielded to the opinion of Cyrus ; and they chose rather to live in a barren country, and to command, than to cultivate fertile plains, and be the slaves of others.

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