Thus the host wound through Thessaly, till before them rose, peak on peak, the jagged mountain wall of Othrys and Œta, fading away in violet distance, the bulwark of central Hellas. Then the king’s smile became a frown, for the Hellenes, undismayed despite his might, were assembling their fleet at northern Eubœa, and at the same time a tempest had shattered a large part of the royal navy. The Magi offered sacrifice to appease Tishtrya, the Prince of the Wind-ruling Stars, but the king’s frown grew blacker at each message. Glaucon was near him when at last the monarch’s thunders broke forth.
A hot, sultry day. The king’s chariot had just crossed the mountain stream of the Sphercus, when a captain of a hundred came galloping, dismounted, and prostrated himself in the dust.
“Your tidings?” demanded Xerxes, sharply.
“Be gracious, Fountain of Mercy,”—the captain evidently disliked his mission,—“I am sent from the van. We came to a place where the mountains thrust down upon the sea and leave but a narrow road by the ocean. Your slaves found certain Hellenes, rebels against your benignant government, holding a wall and barring all passage to your army.”
“And did you not forthwith seize these impudent wretches and drag them hither to be judged by me?”
“Compassion, Omnipotence,”—the messenger trembled,—“they seemed sturdy, well-armed rogues, and the way was narrow and steep where a score can face a thousand. Therefore, your slave came straight with his tidings to the ever gracious king.”
“Dog! Coward!” Xerxes plucked the whip from the charioteer’s hand and lashed it over the wretch’s shoulders. “By the fravashi, the soul of Darius my father, no man shall bring so foul a word to me and live!”
“Compassion, Omnipotence, compassion!” groaned the man, writhing like a worm. Already the master-of-punishments was approaching to cover his face with a towel, preparatory to the bow-string, but the royal anger spent itself just enough to avert a tragedy.
“Your life is forfeit, but I am all too merciful! Take then three hundred stripes on the soles of your feet and live to be braver in the future.”
“A thousand blessings on your benignity,” cried the captain, as they led him away, “I congratulate myself that insignificant as I am the king yet deigns to notice my existence even to recompense my shortcomings.”