A silence of no short duration followed. This fever, the general Hydarnes ventured at last, has dulled Your Majesty's edge of command and compromised its keenness. I beg Your Majesty speak no more in this manner.
Yes, yes, you're right, my friend, His Majesty replied. As you are always.
The commanders turned their attention to matters military and diplomatic. Reports mere delivered. The advance force of Persian infantry and cavalry, fifty thousand strong, had entered Athens and taken possession of the city. The Athenian citizenry had abandoned the place utterly, betaking themselves, with only those goods which they could bear upon their persons, by sail across the strait to Troezen and the island of Salamis, inhere they now held themselves as refugees, huddling about fires upon the hillsides and bewailing their sorrows.
The city itself had offered no resistance, save that of a small band of fanatics who occupied the High City, the Acropolis, whose precincts in ancient times had been bounded by a wooden palisade. These desperate defenders had fortified themselves in this site, placing, it seems, their faith in the oracle of Apollo which some weeks previous had declared,… the wooden wall alone shall not fail you.
These lamentable remnants were routed easily by imperial archers, who slew them at a distance.
So much, Mardonius decreed, for the prophecy. The bivouac fires of the Empire now burned upon the Athenian acropolis. Tomorrow His Majesty Himself would enter the city. Plans were approved for the racing of all temples and sanctuaries of the Hellenic gods and the torching of the remainder of the city. The smoke and flames, it was reported by the intelligence officer, would be visible across the strait to the Athenian populace now cowering in the high goat pastures upon the island of Salamis. They will have a front-row seat, the lieutenant said with a smile, at the annihilation of their universe.
The hour had now grown late, and His Majesty had begun to display indications of fatigue. The Magus, observing, suggested that the evening might now profitably be brought to a close. All rose from their couches, prostrated themselves and made their exit, save the general Mardonius and Artemisia, whom by subtle gesture of His Majesty's hand were bade to stay. His Majesty indicated that His historian would remain as well, to record [he proceedings. Clearly His Majesty's peace was troubled.
Now alone in the tent with His two closest confidants, He spoke, relaying a dream.
I was on a battlefield, which seemed to extend to infinity, and oner which the corpses of the slam spread beyond sight. Cries of victory filled the air; generals and men were vaunting triumphantly. Abruptly I espied the corpse of Leonidas, decapitated, •with its head impaled upon a spike, as we had done at Thermopylae, the body itself nailed as a trophy to a single barren tree in the midst of the plain. I was seized with grief and shame. I raced toward the tree, shouting to my men to cut the Spartan down. In the dream it seemed that, if I could only reaffix the king's head, all would be well. He would revive, and even befriend me, which outcome I dearly desired, I reached to the spike, upon which the severed head sat impaled…
And the head was His Majesty's own, the lady Artemisia broke in.
Is the dream that transparent? His Majesty inquired.
It is nothing and signifies nothing, the warrioress declared emphatically, continuing in a tone that deliberately made light of the matter and urged His Majesty with all speed to put it from his mind. It means only that His Majesty, who is a king, recognizes the mortality of all kings, Himself included. This is wisdom, as Cyrus the Great Himself expressed when he spared the life of Croesus of Lydia.
His Majesty considered Artemisia's words for long moments. He unshed by them to be convinced, yet, it was apparent, they had not succeeded entirely in stanching His concern.
Victory is yours, Your Majesty, and nothing can take it from you, the general Mardonius now spoke. Tomorrow we will hum Athens, which was the goal of your father, Darius, and your own and the reason you have assembled this magnificent army and navy and hate toiled and struggled for so long and overcome so many obstacles. Rejoice, my lord! All Greece lies prostrate before you, You have defeated the Spartans and skin their king. The Athenians you have driven before you like cattle, compelling them to abandon the temples of their gods and all their lands and possessions. You stand triumphant, Sire, with the sole of your slipper upon the throat of Greece.
So complete was His Majesty's victory, Mardonius declared, that the Royal Person need detain Itself not one hour longer here in these hellish precincts at the antipodes of the earth. Leave the dirty work to me, Your Majesty. You yourself take ship home for Susa, tomorrow, there to receive the worship and adulation of your subjects, and to attend to the far more pressing matters of the Empire, which have been in favor of this Hellenic nuisance too long neglected. I will mop up for you. What your forces do in your name is done by you.
And the Peloponnese? the warrioress Artemisia put in, cit-ing the southern peninsula of Greece, which atone of the whole country remained unsubdued. What would you do with it, Mardonius?
The Peloponnese is a goat pasture, the general responded. A desert of rocks and sheep dung, with neither riches nor spoil, nor a single port possessed of haven for more than a dozen garbage scows. It is nothing and contains nothing which His Majesty needs.
Except Sparta.
Sparta? Mardonius replied contemptuously, and not without heat. Sparta is a village. The whole stinking place would fit, with room to spare, within His Majesty's strolling garden at Persepolis. It is an up-country burg, a pile of stones. It contains no temples or treasures of note, no gold; it is a barnyard of leeks and onions, with soil so thin a man may kick through it with one strike of his foot.
It contains the Spartans, the lady Artemisia spoke.
Whom we have crushed, Mardonius replied, and whose king His Majesty's forces have slain.
We slew three hundred of them, replied Artemisia, and it took two million of us to do it.
These words so incensed Mardonius that he seemed upon the point of rising from his couch to confront Artemisia physically. My friends, my friends. His Majesty's conciliating tone made to quell the momentary upset, We are here to take counsel, not brawl with each other like schoolchildren.
Yet the lady's fervor still burned. What is that between your legs, Mardonius, a turnip? You speak like a man with balls the size of chickpeas.
She addressed Mardonius directly, controlling her anger and speaking with precision and clarity.
His Majesty's forces have not even sighted, let alone confronted or defeated, the main force of the Spartan army, which remains intact within the Peloponnese and no doubt in full preparedness, and eagerness, for war. Yes, we have killed a Spartan king. But they, as you know, have two;
Leotychides now reigns, and Leonidas' son, the boy Pleistarchus; his uncle and regent, Pausanias, who will lead the army and whom I know, is every inch the equal of Leonidas in courage and sagacity. So the loss of a king means nothing to them, other than to harden their resolve and inspire them to yet greater prodigies of valor as they seek to emulate his glory.
Now consider their numbers. The Spartiate Peers alone comprise eight thousand heavy infantry.
Add the Gentleman-Rankers and the perioikoi and the tally multiplies by five. Arm their helots, which they mast certainty will do, and the total swells by another forty thousand. To this stew toss in the Corinthians, Tegeates, Eleans, Mantineans, Plataeans and Megarians, and the Argives, whom these others will compel into alliance if they have not done so already, not to mention the Athenians, whose backs we have driven to the wall and whose hearts are primed with the valor of desperation.