Polymnia   

one place, they would not be able to abide my onset, not being
really of one mind. But I would fain know what thou thinkest hereon."
Thus Xerxes questioned; and the other replied in his turn,- "O
king! is it thy will that I give thee a true answer, or dost thou wish
for a pleasant one?"
Then the king bade him speak the plain truth, and promised that he
would not on that account hold him in less favour than heretofore.
So Demaratus, when he heard the promise, spake as follows:-
"O king! since thou biddest me at all risks speak the truth, and
not say what will one day prove me to have lied to thee, thus I
answer. Want has at all times been a fellow-dweller with us in our
land, while Valour is an ally whom we have gained by dint of wisdom
and strict laws. Her aid enables us to drive out want and escape
thraldom. Brave are all the Greeks who dwell in any Dorian land; but
what I am about to say does not concern all, but only the
Lacedaemonians. First then, come what may, they will never accept
thy terms, which would reduce Greece to slavery; and further, they are
sure to join battle with thee, though all the rest of the Greeks
should submit to thy will. As for their numbers, do not ask how many
they are, that their resistance should be a possible thing; for if a
thousand of them should take the field, they will meet thee in battle,
and so will any number, be it less than this, or be it more."
When Xerxes heard this answer of Demaratus, he laughed and
answered:-
"What wild words, Demaratus! A thousand men join battle with
such an army as this! Come then, wilt thou- who wert once, as thou
sayest, their king- engage to fight this very day with ten men? I trow
not. And yet, if all thy fellow-citizens be indeed such as thou sayest
they are, thou oughtest, as their king, by thine own country's usages,
to be ready to fight with twice the number. If then each one of them
be a match for ten of my soldiers, I may well call upon thee to be a
match for twenty. So wouldest thou assure the truth of what thou
hast now said. If, however, you Greeks, who vaunt yourselves so
much, are of a truth men like those whom I have seen about my court,
as thyself, Demaratus, and the others with whom I am wont to converse-
if, I say, you are really men of this sort and size, how is the speech
that thou hast uttered more than a mere empty boast? For, to go to the
very verge of likelihood- how could a thousand men, or ten thousand,
or even fifty thousand, particularly if they were all alike free,
and not under one lord- how could such a force, I say, stand against
an army like mine? Let them be five thousand, and we shall have more
than a thousand men to each one of theirs. If, indeed, like our
troops, they had a single master, their fear of him might make them
courageous beyond their natural bent; or they might be urged by lashes
against an enemy which far outnumbered them. But left to their own
free choice, assuredly they will act differently. For mine own part, I
believe, that if the Greeks had to contend with the Persians only, and
the numbers were equal on both sides, the Greeks would find it hard to
stand their ground. We too have among us such men as those of whom
thou spakest- not many indeed, but still we possess a few. For
instance, some of my bodyguard would be willing to engage singly
with three Greeks. But this thou didst not know; and therefore it
was thou talkedst so foolishly."
Demaratus answered him- "I knew, O king! at the outset, that if
I told thee the truth, my speech would displease thine ears. But as
thou didst require me to answer thee with all possible truthfulness, I
informed thee what the Spartans will do. And in this I spake not
from any love that I bear them- for none knows better than thou what
my love towards them is likely to be at the present time, when they
have robbed me of my rank and my ancestral honours, and made me a
homeless exile, whom thy father did receive, bestowing on me both
shelter and sustenance. What likelihood is there that a man of
understanding should be unthankful for kindness shown him, and not
cherish it in his heart? For mine own self, I pretend not to cope with