HERODOTUS

BOOK VIII.loo-ioiDo not, O king, make the Persians a laugh-plan.ing-stock to the Greeks ;for if you have sufferedharm, it is by no fault of the Persians, nor can yousay that we have anywhere done less than bravemen should ;and if Phoenicians and Egyptiansand Cyprians and Cilicians have so done, it is notthe Persians who have any part in this disaster.Wherefore since the Persians are nowise to blame,be guided by me ;ifyou are resolved that you willnot remain, do you march away homewards withthe greater part of your army;but it is for meto enslave and deliver Hellas to you. with threehundred thousand of your host whom I willchoose."101. When Xerxes heard that, he was as gladand joyful as a man in his evil case might be,and said to Mardonius that he would answer himwhen he had first taken counsel which of the twoplans he would follow ;and as he consulted withthose Persians whom he summoned, he was fainto bid Artemisia too to the council, becausehe saw that she alone at the former sitting haddiscerned what was best to do. When Artemisiacame, Xerxes bade all others withdraw, both Persiancouncillors and guards, and said to her ": It is Mardonius'counsel that I should abide here and attackthe Peloponnese for the Persians, he ;says, and theland army are nowise to blame for our disaster, andof that they would willingly give proof. Whereforeit is his counsel that I should do this ; else he offersto choose out three hundred thousand men of thearmy and deliver Hellas to me enslaved, while Imyself by his counsel march away homeward withthe rest of the host. Now therefore I ask of you :101