As he walked with swinging gait toward the Persian encampment, he turned his gaze in the direction of the ridge of Oeta whose northern slope silhouetted against the ruddy glow of an evening sky, approached the Malaic gulf. At any other period in his life the beauty of his surroundings would have called forth his admiration, but the scenes of the past two days which had been here enacted, had completely quelled the natural æsthetic tendencies of his soul. Here he had been a witness to the slaughter of Persian and Greek; he in whose veins flowed the blood of both peoples.
As he neared the encampment another officer clad in the familiar close-fitting leathern tunic of the Persian army hailed him. He was a giant in stature, a man born to command. It was he who had charge of the cavalry. Zopyrus recognized him at once.
“Ho, Masistius! Does this beautiful June evening summon you forth too? Truly a fair land is Hellas. Amid such surroundings as these the annals of Persia had been different!”
By this time darkness had descended and as Masistius surveyed the landscape an exclamation of spontaneous admiration burst from his lips, soldier though he was and unused to the gentler phases of life. Oeta cast its purple shadows across the Malaic gulf, whose waters now reflected countless stars, and in the shrubbery about the two soldiers were heard the mournful notes of the little owls, so common in this strange land. Occasionally the call of birds of prey grated on their ears and brought to their minds the loathsome fact that amidst all this entrancing loveliness of nature, death had come to hundreds of their countrymen and allies.
“Friend Zopyrus, although I am a soldier through and through, I am not blind to the beauties of this land of Greece, but sterner things brought me out tonight. I came to summon you to the presence of the king who wishes to speak with you. Artabazus and I were in the royal tent talking over the plans of the morrow when Xerxes suddenly commanded a slave to summon you to his presence. The order took both Artabazus and myself quite by surprise, for we have not been blind to the fact that Xerxes has avoided you since the very beginning of this campaign. Why he should do so, I cannot imagine. It has always seemed to me that the king has quite overlooked the physical prowess and ability of his cousin Zopyrus.”
Zopyrus shrugged his shoulders. “True my father was Artaphernes, satrap of Sardis and brother of Darius Hystaspis, but you must remember my mother was only a Greek from Miletus, although her parents were both Athenians of noble blood.”
“But you can subdue the Greek within you, for surely the influence of your royal father is the stronger,” said Masistius.
Zopyrus turned his gaze to the bejeweled vault of the heaven. A lie is an unpardonable sin to a Persian, and to that extent Zopyrus displayed his paternal heritage, but there rose before his eyes the vision of a beautiful woman with classic features whose last words to him before her death had been: “Zopyrus, it is my earnest desire that sometime you go to Greece, to Athens, and there acquire some of the culture of that freedom-loving people in that fair land. Here in Persia you will always be the victim of oriental despotism.” As he grew older Zopyrus realized that his mother’s words and the past influence of her life had been instrumental in causing him to hate not only the vain-glorious idolatry of the Persian court, but the weakness, licentiousness and tyranny of the Persian king. Zopyrus looked again at his companion.
“I will go at once to Xerxes,” he said, completely ignoring the other’s remark.
The tent of Xerxes was in the center of the encampment to insure its protection in case of an unexpected attack from the enemy. An Ethiopian slave parted the hanging folds as Zopyrus approached and held them as he passed into the interior. Seated upon a throne covered with richly woven tapestry and surrounded by slaves and courtiers sat the monarch of Persia.