"What shall I do with him when he has been captured?" Darius asked.
"O king, may you live forever!" Oxathres exclaimed. "Many have fallen this day. Crucify him beside his fellow-robbers on the shore as a warning to all the world."
"Could I so treat a king?" Darius asked doubtfully.
"Thou couldst treat him so, for he is no true king," Oxathres urged. "Thou knowest the stories of his birth."
"So then shall it be," Darius said. "Give the necessary orders."
At that moment the steward of the king's household forced his way through the nobles and prostrated himself, kissing the dust before the chariot.
"Speak," Darius commanded.
"O king of kings!" the man said, "Sisygambis, thy mother, and the Queen Statira sent me to know if thou wert safe, and to ask when thou wilt return to them."
"Tell them to have no fear," Darius said confidently. "Let them make ready to attend the banquet in my pavilion at the going down of the sun."
Darius glanced again at the Companions, who were forming for the charge under cover of the advancing phalanx, and let his eyes sweep slowly over his own forces. Around him stood princes and governors of provinces, satraps, viceroys, and generals. His personal guard of ten thousand horse was drawn up on either side, while in front of him, so disposed as not to obstruct his view of the battle, were ranged the Immortals, ten thousand of the bravest soldiers of his empire.