stead of the friendly
look of the preceding night, a new and stern expression of displeasure.
Pointing menacingly at the frightened monarch with his finger, he
exclaimed, "You have rejected my advice; you have abandoned your plan;
and now I declare to you that, unless you immediately resume your
enterprise and carry it forward to the end, short as has been the time
since you were raised to your present elevation, a still shorter period
shall elapse before your downfall and destruction."

The spirit then disappeared as suddenly as it came, leaving Xerxes to
awake in an agony of terror.

As soon as it was day, Xerxes sent for Artabanus, and related to him his
dreams. "I was willing," said he, "after hearing what you said, and
maturely considering the subject, to give up my plan; but these dreams,
I can not but think, are intimations from Heaven that I ought to
proceed."

Artabanus attempted to combat this idea by representing to Xerxes that
dreams were not to be regarded as indications of the will of Heaven, but
only as a vague and disordered reproduction of the waking thoughts,
while the regular action of the reason and the judgment by which they
were ordinarily controlled was suspended or disturbed by the influence
of slumber. Xerxes maintained, on the other hand, that, though this view
of the case might explain his first vision, the solemn repetition of the
warning proved that it was supernatural and divine. He proposed that, to
put the reality of the apparition still further to the test, Artabanus
should take his place on the royal couch the next night, to see if the
specter would not appear to him. "You shall clothe yourself," said he,
"in my robes, put the crown upon your head, and take your seat upon the
throne. After that, you shall retire to my apartment, lie down upon the
couch, and go to sleep. If the vision is supernatural, it will
undoubtedly appear to you. If it does not so appear, I will admit that
it was nothing but a dream."

Artabanus made some objection, at first, to the details of the
arrangement which Xerxes proposed, as he did not see, he said, of what
advantage it could be for him to assume the guise and habiliments of the
king. If the vision was divine, it could not be deceived by such
artifices as those. Xerxes, however, insisted on his proposition, and
Artabanus yielded. He assumed for an hour the dress and the station of
the king, and then retired to the king's apartment, and laid himself
d