Thus your mind is armed in various ways and often campaigns with its reasonings, using clemency rather than the sword and drawing the faithless barbarians to itself. And these things were done by you with prudence; but the opposite by the general of error, whose business was the unseemly sound of instruments and cymbals and the outrageous dance of women provoked to nakedness. But you, O general of the wise panoply, delighted in psalms from mystical instruments, placing the divine sound in your heart, and you had the modest leapings of virgins, the chaste hopes of your thoughts. He had the moon for his hope, but when your sun shone upon him more swiftly, he himself quickly suffered an eclipse. He had the fire that was worshipped, but you, most excellent one, had the wood that was lifted up. And it is clear that when this was raised on high, the Persian fire was kindled in vain. For when the barbarian, having spent the winter near the Pontic climate, quickly arrived and seized the passes of the road, and your army, having been once anticipated, had difficult passes towards the sun, you then devised a most swift counter-maneuver and a formation of praiseworthy artifice, O most excellent one, showing to the barbarians the appearance of a feigned retreat, but sharpening your mind so that also the reason [...] <! ! ! ! !> your, that having ingeniously turned, you might seize the roads from them. But when the impious one was quickly deceived by crooked and diverted paths and had rushed towards your position, you counter-marched in a two-faced formation and the second one was immediately found to be the first; thus thinking to happily outrun you, tripped up by you, he unhappily retreats. Thus acting as general, you alone achieve both a wise artifice and a wise pretense; and this variety of purpose, especially, threw the barbarians into carelessness. For no one has ever passed by a fiercely raging beast with a contrary course in this way, nor does another charioteer, showing the reins aslant, pass straight by, as you, holding the reins of the army, running secretly, passed by from the opposite direction, and confronting the transgressor with a strange feint before the battle, you left him in opposition. And so when the sixth day had passed, he had tidings of his own misfortunes from unexpected reports. And great care for his shaken wits possessed him, and confusion of his reasonings darkened his beclouded mind. For it is no small matter but a critical one if the army deviates even a little, with many difficulties arising in between, reasonably so, for the foreign troops.

For from this there was danger for them of famine and destruction of many kinds and of hidden things concealed for their harm and of the best positions for battle being preoccupied; but even more it stung them to see the sun, whom they worship as the god of Persia, opposite them in the battle line. They say, then, that Xerxes in a frenzied manner wished to mix separate natures, to turn water to stone and earth to sea. And this man seems to me most simple-minded, who, thinking to change substances with disorderly alterations, wrought confusion, who, having set out to terrify the Laconians, as a wonder-worker of contradictions, makes streams into dry land, and stones into streams, and stirring up all things and turning and reversing them produced not astonishment but madness; who hastened to rearrange the foundations of the established and fixed boundaries; who went to such an extreme that he scourged the water that was sacred to him, and dear, and ancestral, having no way to quench his own surging madness. And what force impelled him to these things? So that water might be cut by a land-course and land might be crossed by a sea-passage, so that, having then traversed a swifter and easier road, he might overtake his enemies; but for a small and easy matter of labor he exchanged so many labors in vain. But you, most excellent one, without disturbing natures, nor shaking the fixed boundaries, advancing without toil and marching gently, easily passed by your enemies. And so no resource was left for the barbarian in the anxieties of

οὕτως ὁ νοῦς σου ποικίλως ὁπλίζεται καὶ τοῖς λογισμοῖς πολλάκις στρατεύεται, φειδοῖ δὲ μᾶλλον ἢ ξίφει κεχρημένος καὶ τοὺς ἀπίστους βαρβάρους ἐφέλκεται. καὶ ταῦτα μέν σοι σωφρόνως ἐπράττετο· τῷ δὲ στρατηγῷ τῆς πλάνης τἀναντία, ὃς ἔργον εἶχεν ὀργάνων καὶ κυμβάλων ἄσεμνον ἦχον καὶ γυναικῶν ἔκτοπον ὄρχησιν εἰς γύμνωσιν ἠρεθισμένων. σὺ δέ, στρατηγὲ τῆς σοφῆς πανοπλίας, ψαλμοῖς ἐτέρπου μυστικῶν ἐξ ὀργάνων τὸν θεῖον ἦχον ἐντιθεὶς τῇ καρδίᾳ, εἶχες δὲ σεμνὰ παρθένων σκιρτήματα τῶν σῶν λογισμῶν τὰς ἀπόρνους ἐλπίδας. ἐκεῖνος εἶχε τὴν σελήνην ἐλπίδα, τοῦ σοῦ δὲ θᾶττον προσβαλόντος ἡλίου ἔκλειψιν αὐτὸς ὀξέως ὑφίστατο. τὸ πῦρ ἐκεῖνος εἶχε προσκυνούμενον, ὑψούμενον δὲ σύ, κράτιστε, τὸ ξύλον. τούτου δὲ δῆλον ὡς πρὸς ὕψος ἠρμένου τὸ Περσικὸν πῦρ εἰς μάτην ἀνήπτετο. ἐπεὶ γὰρ εἰς χειμῶνα πρὸς τὸ Πόντιον κλίμα διατρίψας συντόμως ὁ βάρβαρος τὰς εἰσβολὰς κατέσχε τῆς ὁδοῦ φθάσας, ὁ δὲ στρατός σου δυσχερεῖς τὰς εἰσβάσεις ἅπαξ προληφθεὶς εἶχε τὰς πρὸς ἥλιον, ἀντιστροφὴν ἐνταῦθα συντομωτάτην καὶ σχηματισμὸν ἐπαινετῆς πλαστουργίας ἐξεῦρες, ὦ κράτιστε, τοῖς μὲν βαρβάροις δείξας πρόσωπον ἐκδρομῆς ἐψευσμένης, θήγων δὲ τὸν νοῦν ὥστε καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν [...] <! ! ! ! !> τὸν σόν, ὡς εὐμηχάνως στραφεὶς ἐκείνοις τὰς ὁδοὺς ὑφαρπάσῃς. τοῦ δυσσεβοῦς δὲ θᾶττον ἠπατημένου τρίβοις τε λοξαῖς καὶ παρεκτετραμμέναις ὡς πρὸς τὸ σὸν πρόσωπον ἐξωρμηκότος, ἀντιστρέφεις σὺ διπροσώπῳ σχήματι καὶ πρῶτος εὐθὺς εὑρέθης ὁ δεύτερος· οὕτω νομίζων εὐτυχῶς προεκτρέχειν ἐκ σοῦ σκελισθεὶς δυστυχῶς ὑποστρέφει. οὕτω στρατηγῶν καὶ σοφὴν πλαστουργίαν μόνος κατορθοῖς καὶ σοφὴν ὑπόκρισιν· καὶ τοῦτο μᾶλλον τοῦ σκοποῦ τὸ ποικίλον τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐνῆκεν εἰς ῥαθυμίαν. οὐ γάρ τις οὕτως ἀγρίως θυμούμενον ἀντιστρόφῳ παρῆλθε θηρίον δρόμῳ, οὐδ' ἄλλος ἵππους ἡνιοχῶν τὰς ἡνίας λοξὰς προδεικνὺς ὀρθίως παρέρχεται, ὡς σὺ κρατήσας τοῦ στρατοῦ τὰς ἡνίας ὑποτρέχων παρῆλθες ἐξ ἀντιστρόφου, καὶ τὸν παραβάτην παραβαλὼν πλασμῷ ξένῳ πρὸ τῆς μάχης ἀφῆκας εἰς ἀντιστάδην. ἕκτης δὲ λοιπὸν ἐκδραμούσης ἡμέρας, τὰ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ συμφορῶν μηνύματα ἀπροσδοκήτων εἶχεν ἐξ ἀκουσμάτων. πολλὴ δὲ φροντὶς τῶν φρενῶν κλονουμένων κατεῖχεν αὐτόν, καὶ λογισμῶν συγχύσεις τὸν νοῦν ἐπεγνόφωσαν ἐσκοτισμένον. οὐ γάρ τι μικρόν ἐστιν ἀλλὰ καίριον εἰ καί τι μικρὸν ὁ στρατὸς παρεκτρέχει, πολλῶν μεταξὺ δυσχερῶν κινουμένων τοῖς ἀλλοφύλοις εἰκότως στρατεύμασι.

λιμοῦ γὰρ αὐτοῖς καὶ φθορᾶς πολυτρόπου καὶ τῶν ἀδήλων εἰς βλάβην ἐγκρυμμάτων καὶ τῶν ἀρίστων εἰς μάχην προλημμάτων ἐντεῦθεν ἦν κίνδυνος· ἀλλ' ἔτι πλέον ἔδακνεν αὐτοὺς τὸ βλέπειν τὸν ἥλιον, ὃν προσκυνοῦσιν ὡς θεὸν τῆς Περσίδος, ἐν τῇ παρατάξει τῆς μάχης ἐναντίον. Ξέρξην μὲν οὖν λέγουσι λυσσώδει τρόπῳ μῖξαι θέλοντα τὰς διεστώσας φύσεις ὕδωρ πετρῶσαι καὶ θαλαττῶσαι χθόνα. καί μοι δοκεῖ τις οὗτος εὐηθέστατος, ὃς ταῖς ἀτάκτοις μεταβολαῖς τὰς οὐσίας τρέπειν νομίζων συγχύσεις εἰργάζετο, ὃς ἐκφοβῆσαι τοὺς Λάκωνας ἠρμένος, ὡς θαυματουργὸς τῶν ἐναντιώσεων, χερσοῖ τὰ ῥεῖθρα, ῥευματοῖ δὲ τοὺς λίθους, κυκῶν τε πάντα καὶ στρέφων κἀντιστρέφων ἔτικτεν οὐκ ἔκπληξιν ἀλλ' ἐμπληξίαν· ὃς τῶν τεθέντων καὶ πεπηγμένων ὅρων ἀνθοροθετῆσαι τὰς βάσεις ἠπείγετο· ὃς πρὸς τοσαύτην ἦλθεν ἐκτροπὴν ὅτι τὸ σεπτὸν αὑτῷ καὶ φίλον καὶ πάτριον ὕδωρ ἐμαστίγωσεν, οὐκ ἔχων ὅθεν τὴν λύτταν αὑτοῦ τὴν ἀνᾴττουσαν σβέσοι. καὶ ταῦτα ποίας αὐτὸν ὠθούσης βίας; ὕδωρ ὅπως τέμνοιτο χερσαίῳ δρόμῳ καὶ γῆ περῷτο τῷ θαλαττίῳ πόρῳ, ὅπως γε θᾶττον εὐκολωτέραν τότε ὁδὸν διελθὼν τοὺς ἐναντίους φθάσοι· πόνου δὲ σμικροῦ ῥᾳδίου τε πράγματος πόνους τοσούτους εἰς μάτην ἠλλάξατο. σὺ δέ, κράτιστε, μὴ ταράξας τὰς φύσεις, μηδ' αὖ σαλεύσας τοὺς πεπηγμένους ὅρους, βαίνων ἀμόχθως καὶ βαδίζων ἠρέμα τοὺς σοὺς παρῆλθες εὐχερῶς ἐναντίους. οὐδεὶς δὲ λοιπὸν εὔπορος τῷ βαρβάρῳ ἐν ταῖς μερίμναις τῆς