ons that surround them. Instead of
this, they are divided into a multitude of petty states and kingdoms,
and all their resources and power are exhausted in fruitless contentions
with each other. I am convinced that, once across the Hellespont, we can
march to Athens without finding any enemy to oppose our progress; or, if
we should encounter any resisting force, it will be so small and
insignificant as to be instantly overwhelmed."

In one point Mardonius was nearly right in his predictions, since it
proved subsequently, as will hereafter be seen, that when the Persian
army reached the pass of Thermopylae, which was the great avenue of
entrance, on the north, into the territories of the Greeks, they found
only three hundred men ready there to oppose their passage!

When Mardonius had concluded his speech, he sat down, and quite a solemn
pause ensued. The nobles and chieftains generally were less ready than
he to encounter the hazards and uncertainties of so distant a campaign.
Xerxes would acquire, by the success of the enterprise, a great
accession to his wealth and to his dominion, and Mardonius, too, might
expect to reap very rich rewards; but what were they themselves to
gain? They did not dare, however, to seem to oppose the wishes of the
king, and, notwithstanding the invitation which he had given them to
speak, they remained silent, not knowing, in fact, exactly what to say.

All this time Artabanus, the venerable uncle of Xerxes, sat silent like
the rest, hesitating whether his years, his rank, and the relation which
he sustained to the young monarch would justify his interposing, and
make it prudent and safe for him to attempt to warn his nephew of the
consequences which he would hazard by indulging his dangerous ambition.
At length he determined to speak.

"I hope," said he, addressing the king, "that it will not displease you
to have other views presented in addition to those which have already
been expressed. It is better that all opinions should be heard; the just
and the true will then appear the more just and true by comparison with
others. It seems to me that the enterprise which you contemplate is full
of danger, and should be well considered before it is undertaken. When
Darius, your father, conceived of the plan of his invasion of the
country of the Scythians beyond the Danube, I counseled him against the
attempt. The benefits to be secured by such an undertaking seemed to me
wholly insufficient to