‘I did.’
‘Did you then come to the altar of Artemis, and say that you repented of your misdoings? And did you swear that you would in the future be always my friend and helper?’
‘I did.’
‘Have I since then done you any wrong, that you have turned traitor for the third time?’
‘You have given me no cause.’
‘Do you think that from henceforth you can be to my brother an enemy, but to me a true friend?’
‘If I were, you would not trust me.’
The questioning over, Cyrus turned to the judges, and said to them, ‘Thus has Orontes spoken, thus has he done. Speak then, and you first, Clearchus, say what he deserves.’
‘My advice,’ answered Clearchus, ‘is to put this man out of the way, so that we need not have to watch him.’
The Persians, even the relations of Orontes, concurred in the opinion of Clearchus, and each in turn seized the prisoner by the girdle, which was the Persian manner of pronouncing the sentence of death.