herodotus

zealous to serve him in the war and hearing of that which had beendug. 117. And while Xerxes was in Acanthos, it happened that he whohad been set over the making of the channel, Artachaies by name, diedof sickness, a man who was highly esteemed by Xerxes and belonged tothe Achaimenid family; also he was in stature the tallest of all thePersians, falling short by only four fingers of being five royalcubits[108] in height, and he had a voice the loudest of all men; sothat Xerxes was greatly grieved at the loss of him, and carried himforth and buried him with great honour, and the whole army joined inthrowing up a mound for him. To this Artachaies the Acanthians by thebidding of an oracle do sacrifice as a hero, calling upon his name inworship.118. King Xerxes, I say, was greatly grieved at the loss ofArtachaies: and meanwhile the Hellenes who were entertaining his armyand providing Xerxes with dinners had been brought to utter ruin, sothat they were being driven from house and home; seeing that when theThasians, for example, entertained the army of Xerxes and provided himwith a dinner on behalf of their towns upon the mainland, Antipaterthe son of Orgeus, who had been appointed for this purpose, a man ofrepute among the citizens equal to the best, reported that fourhundred talents of silver had been spent upon the dinner. 119. Just soor nearly so in the other cities also those who were set over thebusiness reported the reckoning to be: for the dinner was given asfollows, having been ordered a long time beforehand, and being countedby them a matter of great importance:--In the first place, so soon asthey heard of it from the heralds who carried round the proclamation,the citizens in the various cities distributed corn among theirseveral households, and all continued to make wheat and barley mealfor many months; then they fed cattle, finding out and obtaining thefinest animals for a high price; and they kept birds both of the landand of the water, in cages or in pools, all for the entertainment ofthe army. Then again they had drinking-cups and mixing-bowls made ofgold and of silver, and all the other things which are placed upon thetable: these were made for the king himself and for those who ate athis table; but for the rest of the army only the things appointed forfood were provided. Then whenever the army came to any place, therewas a tent pitched ready wherein Xerxes himself made his stay, whilethe rest of the army remained out in the open air; and when it came tobe time for dinner, then the entertainers had labour; but the others,after they had been satiated with food and had spent the night there,on the next day tore up the tent and taking with them all the movablefurniture proceeded on their march, leaving nothing, but carrying allaway with them. 120. Then was uttered a word well spoken by Megacreon,a man of Abdera, who advised those of Abdera to go in a body, boththemselves and their wives, to their temples, and to sit down as