28 Artabanus, must be informed of this before the king himself." Thus Phanias relates; to which Eratosthenes, in his treatise on Riches, adds, that it was by the means of a woman of Eretria, who was kept by Artabanus, that he obtained this audience and interview with him. When he was introduced to the king, and had fallen down before him, he stood silent, till the king commanding the interpreter to ask him who he was?— he replied, "O king, I am Themistocles the Athenian, driven into banishment by the Greeks. The evils that I have done to the Persians are numerous; but my benefits to them yet greater, in withholding the Greeks from pursuit, so soon as the deliverance of my own country allowed me to show kindness also to you. I come with a mind suited to my present calamities; prepared alike for favours and for anger; to welcome your gracious reconciliation, and to deprecate your wrath. Take my own countrymen for witnesses of the services I have done for Persia, and make use of this occasion to show the world your virtue, rather than to satisfy your indignation. If you save me, you will save your suppliant; if otherwise, will destroy an enemy of the Greeks." He talked also of divine admonitions, such as the vision which he saw at Nicogenes's house, and the direction given him by the oracle of Dodona, where Jupiter commanded him to go to him that had a name like his, by which he understood that he was sent from Jupiter hither to him, seeing they both were, and had the name of being, great kings.* The king heard him * The Great King was the usual title by which the king of Persia was spoken of among the Greeks. attentively, and though he admired his temper and courage, gave him no answer at that time; but when he was with his friends, rejoiced in his great good fortune, and prayed that Arimanius* might give to all his enemies the same mind, to abuse and expel the bravest men amongst them. Then, it is said, he sacrificed to the gods, and presently fell to drinking, and was so well pleased that, in the night, in the middle of his sleep, he cried out for joy three times, "I have Themistocles, the Athenian." In the morning, calling together the chief of his court, 29 he had Themistocles brought before him, who expected no good of it, when he saw, for example, the officers at the door, when they heard who it was, looking fiercely at him, and giving him ill language. As he came forward towards the king, who was seated, the rest keeping silence, passing by Roxanes, a commander of a thousand men, he heard him, with a slight groan, say, without stirring out of his place, "Thou subtle Greek serpent, the king's good genius hath brought thee hither." Yet when he came into the presence, and again fell down, the king saluted him, and spoke to him kindly, telling him he was now indebted to him two hundred talents; for it was just and reasonable that he should receive the reward which was proposed to whosoever should bring Themistocles; and promising much more, and encouraging him, he commanded him to speak freely what he would concerning the affairs of Greece. Themistocles replied, that a man's discourse was like a rich Persian carpet, the beautiful figures and patterns of which can only be shown by spreading and extending it out; when it is contracted * Arimanius (Ahriman) the Evil Power, as Oromasdes (or Ormuzd) is the Good Power, in the ancient Persian theology. and folded up, they are obscured and lost: and, therefore, he desired time. The king being pleased with the comparison, and bidding him take what time he would, he desired a year; in which time, having learnt the Persian language sufficiently, he spoke with the king by himself without the help of an interpreter, it being supposed that he discoursed only about the affairs of Greece; but there happening, at the same time, great alterations at court, and removals of the king's favourites, he drew upon himself the envy of the great people, who imagined that he had taken the boldness to speak concerning them. For the favours shown to other strangers were nothing in comparison with the honours conferred on him; the king invited him to partake of his own pastimes and recreations both at home and abroad, carrying him with him a-hunting, and made him his intimate so far, that he permitted him to see the queen-mother, and converse frequently with her, and by the king's command he was also made acquainted with the Magian learning. When Demaratus the Lacedæmonian, being ordered by the king to ask whatsoever he pleased and it should immediately be granted him, desired that he might make his The Cidaris, or royal bonnet, worn by Persian Kings. public entrance, and be carried in state through the city of Sardis, with the royal Cidaris upon his head, Mithropaustes, cousin to the king, took his hand and told him, that the Cidaris had no brains in the inside of it; and if Jupiter should give him his lightning and thunder, he would not any the more be Jupiter for that; the king also repulsed him with anger, and seemed determined to be inexorable to all supplications on his behalf. Nevertheless Themistocles succeeded, and prevailed upon him to forgive him. And it is reported that the succeeding kings, in whose reigns there was a greater communication between the Greeks and Persians, when they invited any considerable Greek into their service, to encourage him, would write and promise him that he should be greater with them than Themistocles had been. They relate, also, how Themistocles, when he was in great prosperity and courted by many, seeing himself splendidly served at his table, turned to his children, and said, "Children, we had been ruined if we had not been ruined." Most writers say that he had three cities given him, Magnesia, Myus, and Lampsacus, to maintain him in bread, wine, and meat. Neanthes of Cyzicus, and Phanias, add two more, Palæscepsis, to provide him with clothes, and Percote, with bedding and furniture for his house. As he was going down towards the sea-coast, to take 30 measures against Greece, a Persian, whose name was Epixyes, governor of the upper Phrygia, laid wait to kill him, having for that purpose provided a long time before a number of Pisidians, who were to set upon him when he should stop to rest at a city that is called Lion's-head. But Themistocles, sleeping in the middle of the day, saw the Mother of the gods appear to him 31 in a dream and say to him, "Themistocles, keep back from the Lion's-head, for fear you fall into the lion's jaws; for this advice I expect that your daughter Mnesiptolema should be my servant." Themistocles was much astonished, and when he had made his vows to the goddess, left the broad road, and making a circuit, went another way, changing his intended station to avoid that place, and at night took up his rest in the fields. One of the sumpter-horses, which carried the furniture for his tent, having fallen that day into the river, his servants spread out the curtains, which were wet, and hung them up to dry. In the mean time the Pisidians made towards them with their swords drawn, and not discerning exactly by the moon what it was that was stretched out, thought it to be the tent of Themistocles, and that they should find him resting himself within it; but when they came near, and lifted up the hangings, those who watched there fell upon them and took them. Themistocles, having escaped this danger, in admiration of the goodness of the goddess that appeared to him, built, in memory of it, a temple in the city of Magnesia, which he dedicated to Dindymene, Mother of the gods, and made his daughter, Mnesiptolema, her priestess. When he came to Sardis, he visited the temples of the gods, and observing, at his leisure, their buildings, ornaments, and the number of their offerings, he saw in the temple of the Mother of the gods, the statue of a virgin in brass, two cubits high, called the Waterbringer. Themistocles had caused this to be made and set up when he was surveyor of waters at Athens, out of the fines of those whom he detected in drawing off |