le is esteemed sacred by some of the Egyptians, by others
he is treated as an enemy. Those who live near Thebes, and those who
dwell around Lake Moeris, regard them with especial veneration. In
each of these places they keep one crocodile in particular, who is
taught to be tame and tractable. They adorn his ears with ear-rings of
molten stone or gold, and put bracelets on his fore-paws, giving him
daily a set portion of bread, with a certain number of victims; and,
after having thus treated him with the greatest possible attention
while alive, they embalm him when he dies and bury him in a sacred
repository. The people of Elephantine, on the other hand, are so far
from considering these animals as sacred that they even eat their
flesh.

The modes of catching the crocodile are many and various. I shall only
describe the one which seems to me most worthy of mention. They bait a
hook with a chine of pork and let the meat be carried out into the
middle of the stream, while the hunter upon the bank holds a living
pig, which he belabors. The crocodile hears its cries and, making for
the sound, encounters the pork, which he instantly swallows down. The
men on the shore haul, and when they have got him to land, the first
thing the hunter does is to plaster his eyes with mud. This once
accomplished, the animal is dispatched with ease, otherwise he gives
great trouble.

ARTABANUS DISSUADES XERXES.

(_By Herodotus._)

The other Persians were silent, for all feared to raise their voice
against the plan proposed to them. But Artabanus, the son of
Hystaspes, and uncle of Xerxes, trusting to his relationship, was bold
to speak: "O King," he said, "it is impossible, if no more than one
opinion is uttered, to make choice of the best; a man is forced then
to follow whatever advice may have been given him, but if opposite
speeches are delivered, then choice can be exercised. In like manner
pure gold is not recognized by itself, but when we test it along with
baser ore, we perceive which is the better. I counseled thy father,
Darius, who was my own brother, not to attack the Scyths, a race of
people who had no town in their own land. He thought, however, to
subdue those wandering tribes, and would not listen to me, but marched
an army against them, and ere he returned home lost many of his
bravest warriors. Thou art about, O King, to attack a people far
superior to the Scyths, a people distinguished above others both by
land and se