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Such is the account which is given of these matters by the Argives
themselves. There is another story, which is told generally through
Greece, of a different tenor. Xerxes, it is said, before he set
forth on his expedition against Greece, sent a herald to Argos, who
on his arrival spoke as follows: "Men of Argos, King Xerxes
speaks thus to you. We Persians deem that the Perses from whom we
descend was the child of Perseus the son of Danae, and of Andromeda
the daughter of Cepheus. Hereby it would seem that we come of your
stock and lineage. So then it neither befits us to make war upon those
from whom we spring; nor can it be right for you to fight, on behalf
of others, against us. Your place is to keep quiet and hold yourself
aloof. Only let matters proceed as I wish, and there is no people
whom I shall have in higher esteem than you."
This address, says the story, was highly valued by the Argives, who
therefore at the first neither gave a promise to the Greeks nor yet put
forward a demand. Afterwards, however, when the Greeks called upon
them to give their aid, they made the claim which has been mentioned,
because they knew well that the Lacedaemonians would never yield it,
and so they would have a pretext for taking no part in the war.
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