The Old and the Restless - The Egyptians and the Scythians in Herodotus' Histories by Robert J. Hagan

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Despite his sensitivity, Xerxes does not retain his father Darius’ careful use of tolerance
as a political tool. Having occupied Athens and killed the last defenders of the city on the
acropolis, the Persians plunder and burn the entire precinct. The psychological effect is such that
upon hearing the news, some Athenian commanders on Salamis are eager to return to Athens to
defend the city (8.53-56). If the Persians had a chance at forcing the Athenians to treat with
them, it was destroyed in the fires on the acropolis.
In the vein of his predecessors Cambyses and Darius, Xerxes seems not to value the truth
as useful. Although he accepts advice from his advisors when he is indecisive, as when
Artabanus initially convinces him not to invade Greece, it is apparent that, once he makes his
mind up about something, he will not be swayed by honest words. In Book Seven, as Xerxes
reviews his troops and ships, he approaches Demaratus, the former co-king of Sparta and asks in
a seeming moment of doubt if the Greeks will resist his grand army. Demaratus responds,
“Would you like a truthful answer, my lord, or a comforting one?” and Xerxes accedes to the
former. His answer indeed offers no comfort; Demaratus tells him “the kind of truth that you will
not be able to prove false at a later date” that “If there are in fact only a thousand men to march
out against you…then a thousand men will fight you.” Although he should have been gulping,
Xerxes laughs this off and tells him that the Greeks’ freedom inhibits them from fighting well,
whereas the Persian whip would drive them to excel. Xerxes dismisses the former king: “But
you’re just talking rubbish from a position of ignorance” (7.102-104).
Cambyses’ contempt for the Persian nomos of truth-telling results in the crazed murder of
his wine-server (3.34); Darius has his co-conspirator and his family executed after he protests the
king’s secrecy and sets a definitive precedent for royal prerogative over Persian traditions.
However, in keeping with the finality that Xerxes’ reign represents in the Histories, Xerxes’