at Ephesus.

After having rewarded him with a present of money, as soon as he
received some from his friends at Athens and from his secret hoards at
Argos, Themistocles started inland with one of the coast Persians, and
sent a letter to King Artaxerxes, Xerxes's son, who had just come to the
throne. Its contents were as follows: "I, Themistocles, am come to
you, who did your house more harm than any of the Hellenes, when I
was compelled to defend myself against your father's invasion--harm,
however, far surpassed by the good that I did him during his retreat,
which brought no danger for me but much for him. For the past, you are a
good turn in my debt"--here he mentioned the warning sent to Xerxes from
Salamis to retreat, as well as his finding the bridges unbroken, which,
as he falsely pretended, was due to him--"for the present, able to do
you great service, I am here, pursued by the Hellenes for my friendship
for you. However, I desire a year's grace, when I shall be able to
declare in person the objects of my coming."

It is said that the King approved his intention, and told him to do as
he said. He employed the interval in making what progress he could in
the study of the Persian tongue, and of the customs of the country.
Arrived at court at the end of the year, he attained to very high
consideration there, such as no Hellene has ever possessed before or
since; partly from his splendid antecedents, partly from the hopes
which he held out of effecting for him the subjugation of Hellas, but
principally by the proof which experience daily gave of his capacity.
For Themistocles was a man who exhibited the most indubitable signs
of genius; indeed, in this particular he has a claim on our admiration
quite extraordinary and unparalleled. By his own native capacity, alike
unformed and unsupplemented by study, he was at once the best judge in
those sudden crises which admit of little or of no deliberation, and the
best prophet of the future, even to its most distant possibilities. An
able theoretical expositor of all that came within the sphere of his
practice, he was not without the power of passing an adequate judgment
in matters in which he had no experience. He could also excellently
divine the good and evil which lay hid in the unseen future. In fine,
whether we consider the extent of his natural powers, or the slightness
of his application, this extraordinary man must be allowed to have
surpassed all others in the