herodotus

more if I take my rest in thy bed than if I am in thy own; forassuredly this thing, whatever it may be, which appears to thee in thysleep, is not so foolish as to suppose, when it sees me, that it isthou, judging so because the garments are thine. That however which wemust find out now is this, namely if it will hold me in no account,and not think fit to appear to me, whether I have my own garments orwhether I have thine, but continue still to haunt thee;[19] for if itshall indeed haunt thee perpetually, I shall myself also be disposedto say that it is of the Deity. But if thou hast resolved that itshall be so, and it is not possible to turn aside this thy resolution,but I must go to sleep in thy bed, then let it appear to me also, whenI perform these things: but until then I shall hold to the opinionwhich I now have." 17. Having thus said Artabanos, expecting that hewould prove that Xerxes was speaking folly, did that which wascommanded him; and having put on the garments of Xerxes and seatedhimself in the royal throne, he afterwards went to bed: and when hehad fallen asleep, the same dream came to him which used to come toXerxes, and standing over Artabanos spoke these words: "Art thouindeed he who endeavours to dissuade Xerxes from making a marchagainst Hellas, pretending to have a care of him? However, neither inthe future nor now at the present shalt thou escape unpunished fortrying to turn away that which is destined to come to pass: and as forXerxes, that which he must suffer if he disobeys, hath been shownalready to the man himself." 18. Thus it seemed to Artabanos that thedream threatened him, and at the same time was just about to burn outhis eyes with hot irons; and with a loud cry he started up from hisbed, and sitting down beside Xerxes he related to him throughout thevision of the dream, and then said to him as follows: "I, O king, asone who has seen before now many great things brought to their fall bythings less, urged thee not to yield in all things to the inclinationof thy youth, since I knew that it was evil to have desire after manythings; remembering on the one hand the march of Cyrus against theMassagetai, what fortune it had, and also that of Cambyses against theEthiopians; and being myself one who took part with Dareios in thecampaign against the Scythians. Knowing these things I had the opinionthat thou wert to be envied of all men, so long as thou shouldest keepstill. Since however there comes a divine impulse, and, as it seems, adestruction sent by heaven is taking hold of the Hellenes, I for mypart am both changed in myself and also I reverse my opinions; and dothou signify to the Persians the message which is sent to thee fromGod, bidding them follow the commands which were given by thee atfirst with regard to the preparations to be made; and endeavour thaton thy side nothing may be wanting, since God delivers the matter intothy hands." These things having been said, both were excited toconfidence by the vision, and so soon as it became day, Xerxescommunicated the matter to the Persians, and Artabanos, who before was