herodotus

ule men and not men the accidents. Now having told thee of one of thetwo things, I am about to tell thee of the other. The land, I say,becomes hostile to thee in this way:--if nothing shall come to opposethee, the land is hostile to thee by so much the more in proportion asthou shalt advance more, ever stealing on further and further,[49] forthere is no satiety of good fortune felt by men: and this I say, thatwith no one to stand against thee the country traversed, growing moreand more as time goes on, will produce for thee famine. Man, however,will be in the best condition, if when he is taking counsel he feelsfear, reckoning to suffer everything that can possibly come, but indoing the deed he is bold." 50. Xerxes made answer in these words:"Artabanos, reasonably dost thou set forth these matters; but do notthou fear everything nor reckon equally for everything: for if thoushouldest set thyself with regard to all matters which come on at anytime, to reckon for everything equally, thou wouldest never performany deed. It is better to have good courage about everything and tosuffer half the evils which threaten, than to have fear beforehandabout everything and not to suffer any evil at all: and if, whilecontending against everything which is said, thou omit to declare thecourse which is safe, thou dost incur in these matters the reproach offailure equally with him who says the opposite to this. This then, Isay, is evenly balanced: but how should one who is but man know thecourse which is safe? I think, in no way. To those then who choose toact, for the most part gain is wont to come; but to those who reckonfor everything and shrink back, it is not much wont to come. Thouseest the power of the Persians, to what great might it has advanced:if then those who came to be kings before me had had opinions like tothine, or, though not having such opinions, had had such counsellorsas thou, thou wouldest never have seen it brought forward to thispoint. As it is however, by running risks they conducted it on tothis: for great power is in general gained by running great risks. Wetherefore, following their example, are making our march now duringthe fairest season of the year; and after we have subdued all Europewe shall return back home, neither having met with famine anywhere norhaving suffered any other thing which is unpleasant. For first wemarch bearing with us ourselves great store of food, and secondly weshall possess the corn-crops of all the peoples to whose land andnation we come; and we are making a march now against men who ploughthe soil, and not against nomad tribes." 51. After this Artabanossaid: "O king, since thou dost urge us not to have fear of anything,do thou I pray thee accept a counsel from me; for when speaking ofmany things it is necessary to extend speech to a greater length.Cyrus the son of Cambyses subdued all Ionia except the Athenians, sothat it was tributary to the Persians. These men therefore I counselthee by no means to lead against their parent stock, seeing that evenwithout these we are able to get the advantage over our enemies. For