resolved to offer a human sacrifice to a certain god
whom the Persians believed to reside in the interior of the earth. The
mode of sacrificing to this god was to bury the wretched victims alive.
The Persians seized, accordingly, by Xerxes's orders, nine young men and
nine girls from among the people of the country, and buried them alive!

Marching slowly on in this manner, the army at length reached the point
upon the coast where the canal had been cut across the isthmus of Mount
Athos. The town which was nearest to this spot was Acanthus, the
situation of which, together with that of the canal, will be found upon
the map. The fleet arrived at this point by sea nearly at the same time
with the army coming by land. Xerxes examined the canal, and was
extremely well satisfied with its construction. He commended the chief
engineer, whose name was Artachaees, in the highest terms, for the
successful manner in which he had executed the work, and rendered him
very distinguished honors.

It unfortunately happened, however, that, a few days after the arrival
of the fleet and the army at the canal, and before the fleet had
commenced the passage of it, that Artachaees died. The king considered
this event as a serious calamity to him, as he expected that other
occasions would arrive on which he would have occasion to avail himself
of the engineer's talents and skill. He ordered preparations to be made
for a most magnificent burial, and the body was in due time deposited in
the grave with imposing funeral solemnities. A very splendid monument,
too, was raised upon the spot, which employed, for some time, all the
mechanical force of the army in its erection.

While Xerxes remained at Acanthus, he required the people of the
neighboring country to entertain his army at a grand feast, the cost of
which totally ruined them. Not only was all the food of the vicinity
consumed, but all the means and resources of the inhabitants, of every
kind, were exhausted in the additional supplies which they had to
procure from the surrounding regions. At this feast the army in general
ate, seated in groups upon the ground, in the open air; but for Xerxes
and the nobles of the court a great pavilion was built, where tables
were spread, and vessels and furniture of silver and gold, suitable to
the dignity of the occasion, were provided. Almost all the property
which the people of the region had accumulated by years of patient
industry was consumed at