So the old men chanted their hymn.  To Earth they cried and to Hermes that they would send up the spirit of King Darius; also to the King himself they cried, that he would come and give them counsel in their need.

And after a while the spirit of the King rose up from his sepulchre, having a royal crown upon his head, and a purple robe about him, and sandals of saffron upon his feet.  And the spirit spake, saying, “What trouble is this that seemeth to have come upon the land?  For my wife standeth near to my tomb with offerings; and ye have called me with the cries that raise the dead.  Of a truth this is a hard journey to take; for they that bear rule below are more ready to take than to give back.  Yet am I come, for I have power among them.  Yet hasten, for my time is short.  Tell me, what trouble hath come upon the land of Persia?”

But the old men could not answer him for fear.  Whereupon he turned him to the Queen, and said, “My wife that was in time past, cease awhile from these lamentations and tell me what hath befallen this land.”

And when she had told him all, he said, “Truly the Gods have brought speedy fulfilment to the oracles, which I had hoped might yet be delayed for many years.  But what madness was this in Xerxes my son!  Much do I fear lest our wealth be the prey of the spoiler.”

Then the Queen made reply, “O my lord, Xerxes hath been taught by evil counsellors; for they told him that thou didst win great wealth for thy country by thy spear, but that he sat idly at home; wherefore he planned this thing that hath now had so ill an end.”

With this the old men, taking heart, would know of the King what counsel he gave them for the time to come.  And he said, “Take heed that ye make not war again upon these men of Greece.”  And when they doubted whether they might not yet prevail, he said, “Listen, for ye know not yet all that shall be.  When the King, my son, departed, he took not with him his whole army, but left behind him many chosen men of war in the land of Boeotia by the river AEsopus.  And for these there is a grievous fate in store.  For they shall suffer punishment for all that they have done against Gods and men, seeing that they spared not the temples of the Gods, but threw down their altars, and brake their images in pieces.  Wherefore they shall perish miserably, for the spear of the Greeks shall slay them in the land of Plataea.  For the Gods will not that a man should have thoughts that are above the measure of a man.  Also full-flowered insolence groweth to the fruit of destructions, and men reap from it a harvest of many tears.  Do ye then bear Athens and the land of Greece in mind, and let no man, despising what is his and coveting another man’s goods, so bring great wealth to ruin.  For Zeus is ever ready to punish them that think more highly than they ought to think, and taketh a stern account.  Wherefore do ye instruct the King with counsels that he cease to sin against the Gods in the pride of his