The Good Book_ A Secular Bible - A. C. Grayling [158]
Chapter 60
1. While the host of Xerxes was approaching the bridge at Abydos the sun, shining in a clear sky, was suddenly eclipsed, causing momentary consternation to Xerxes himself and all his men.
2. But the one most unnerved was Pythius, who had royally entertained Xerxes on arriving in Lydia;
3. And he asked him if, of the five sons marching with the army, he might be spared just one to stay at home and guard his old age and wealth.
4. Angered, Xerxes said, ‘All my kin and people are marching to this war with me, yet you wish to have a son exempted from the duty!
5. ‘That son forfeits his life as your punishment for asking!’ At this he ordered the youth to be killed and cut in two,
6. One half of the corpse being placed on one side, and the other on the other side of the road along which the army marched towards the Hellespont.
7. On arriving at Abydos, Xerxes had a throne of white marble set on a hill so that he could overlook the Hellespont, the bridge, the great host of his army and his fleet on the waters, all in one sweeping view from this vantage point.
8. He ordered a sailing race among the fleet, which the Phoenicians won; and he was delighted with the sight of such a mighty host and armament.
9. But as he looked at so many ships, and the plains thronging with men as far as the eye could see, he suddenly began to weep.
10. Then Artabanus, his uncle, asked him: ‘Why do you weep, who were rejoicing just now at the sight of such a magnificent host bent on securing kingship of the world for you?’
11. And Xerxes said, ‘There came on me a sudden pity, when I thought of the brevity of men’s lives, and considered that of all this host, so numerous as it is, not one will be alive a hundred years from now.’
12. To which Artabanus replied, ‘And yet there are sadder things than that. Short as our time is, there is no man, whether here among this multitude or elsewhere,
13. ‘Who is so happy, as not to have felt the wish – I will not say once, but many a time – that he were dead rather than alive.
14. ‘Calamities fall upon us; sicknesses vex and harass us, and make life weary even though short.
15. ‘So death, through the wretchedness of our life, is a most sweet refuge to our kind.’
16. ‘You speak the truth,’ said Xerxes, ‘and so let us turn our thoughts from it, because the truth is sad.
17. ‘And tell me, uncle, whether the sight of this great army and navy here before us pleases you as it does me.’
18. Artabanus replied, ‘No one could feel otherwise, if he is on the same side as such a host!
19. ‘But I worry about two dangers that are especially difficult to overcome.’
20. ‘Can any dangers withstand an army and a navy so great as these?’ asked Xerxes, astonished.
21. ‘Precisely because they are so great in number and extent, these dangers – one can say: these enemies to you – are the greater,’ replied Artabanus.
22. ‘They are: the land, and the sea. Nowhere on the margins of the sea is there a harbour big enough for your fleet;
23. ‘If a storm arises, there is no way the whole fleet can find protection together.
24. ‘And the land: by distance, increasing as you go further from home, and by becoming quickly insufficient to provide food and fodder for such a huge army and its animals, it will contrive to defeat you.’
25. Xerxes said, ‘There is good sense in what you say. But do not fear everything alike, or count every risk.
26. ‘If we thought only of difficulties we would never venture anything. Far better to have a stout heart, and accept the possibility of evils, than to step timidly and travel nowhere.
27. ‘Success for the most part attends those who act boldly, not those who weigh everything.
28. ‘You see the height the power of Persia has reached – never would it have grown to this point if they who sat on the throne before me had thought like you, or listened to councillors of such a mind.’
29. And Xerxes sent Artabanus home to Susa, tired of his caution and opposition.
Chapter 61
1. The next day, when the sun rose, Xerxes ordered the