revented a catastrophe, and Xerxes was moved by two motives,
pleasure at meeting a fellow-mortal who could look him in the eye without
servility or fear, delight at the beautiful features and figure of the
Athenian. For an instant monarch and fugitive looked face to face, then
Xerxes stretched out, not his hand, but the gold tip of his ivory baton.
Glaucon had wisdom enough to touch it,--a token that he was admitted to
audience with the king.

"You are from Athens, beautiful Hellene," spoke Xerxes, still admiring the
stranger. "I will question you. Let Mardonius interpret."

"I have learned Persian, great sir," interposed Glaucon, never waiting for
the bow-bearer.

"You have done well," rejoined the smiling monarch; "yet better had you
learned our Aryan manners of courtliness. No matter--you will learn them
likewise in good time. Now tell me your name and parentage."

"I am Glaucon, son of Conon, of the house of the Alcmaeonidae."

"Great nobles, Omnipotence," interposed Mardonius, "so far as nobility can
be reckoned among the Greeks."

"I have yet to learn their genealogies," remarked Xerxes, dryly; then he
turned back to Glaucon. "And do your parents yet live, and have you any
brethren?" The question was a natural one for an Oriental. Glaucon's
answer came with increased pride.

"I am a child of my parent's old age. My mother is dead. My father is
feeble. I have no brethren. Two older brothers I had. One fell here at
Sardis, when we Athenians sacked the city. One fell victorious at
Marathon, while he burned a Persian ship. Therefore I am not ashamed of
their fates."

"Your tongue is bold, Hellene," said the good-natured king; "you are but a
lame courtier. No matter. Tell me, nevertheless, why you churlishly refuse
to do me reverence. Do you set yourself above all these princes of the
Persians who bow before me?"

"Not so, great sir. But I was born at Athens, not at Susa. We Hellenes
pray standing even to Zeus, stretching forth our hands and looking upward.
Can I honour the lord of all the satrapies above the highest god?"

"A nimble tongue you have, Athenian, though an unbending neck." Xerxes sat
and stroked his beard, pleased at the frank reply. "Mardonius has told how
you saved his and my sister's lives, and that you are an outlaw from
Athens."

"The last is all too true, great sir."

"Which means you will not pray your gods too hard for my defeat? ha?"

Glaucon blushed, then looked up boldly.

"A P