present, who Pythios was and how much
money he possessed, that he made this offer. They said: "O king, this is
he who presented thy father Dareios with the golden plane-tree and the
golden vine; and even now he is in wealth the first of all men of whom
we know, excepting thee only."

28. Marvelling at the conclusion of these words Xerxes himself asked of
Pythios then, how much money he had; and he said: "O king, I will not
conceal the truth from thee, nor will I allege as an excuse that I do
not know my own substance, but I will enumerate it to thee exactly,
since I know the truth: for as soon as I heard that thou wert coming
down to the Sea of Hellas, desiring to give thee money for the war I
ascertained the truth, and calculating I found that I had of silver two
thousand talents, and of gold four hundred myriads 29 of daric staters
30 all but seven thousand: and with this money I present thee. For
myself I have sufficient livelihood from my slaves and from my estates
of land."

29. Thus he said; and Xerxes was pleased by the things which he had
spoken, and replied: "Lydian host, ever since I went forth from the
Persian land I have encountered no man up to this time who was desirous
to entertain my army, or who came into my presence and made offer of his
own free will to contribute money to me for the war, except only thee:
and thou not only didst entertain my army magnificently, but also now
dost make offer of great sums of money. To thee therefore in return I
give these rewards,--I make thee my guest-friend, and I will complete
for thee the four hundred myriads of staters by giving from myself the
seven thousand, in order that thy four hundred myriads may not fall
short by seven thousand, but thou mayest have a full sum in thy
reckoning, completed thus by me. Keep possession of that which thou hast
got for thyself, and be sure to act always thus; for if thou doest so,
thou wilt have no cause to repent either at the time or afterwards."

30. Having thus said and having accomplished his promise, he continued
his march onwards; and passing by a city of the Phrygians called Anaua
and a lake whence salt is obtained, he came to Colossai, a great city
of Phrygia, where the river Lycos falls into an opening of the earth and
disappears from view, and then after an interval of about five furlongs
it comes up to view again, and this river also flows into the Maiander.
Setting forth from Colossai towards the boundaries of the