The Persians pressed on into the heart of Greece. Athens was abandoned,
and then burnt by the conquerors. What made the cause of Greece still more
desperate was the dissensions between the Athenians and the Spartans, who
insisted upon concentrating their forces to guard their own Peloponnesus.
But finally all united in a great battle at Salamis.

The fate of Greece was now to be decided. Xerxes, seated on a jewelled
throne that he might witness the victory of his arms, to his bitter dismay
saw the terrible and overwhelming rout of his entire army, and returned to
Persia with only a ragged remnant of his great host.

Now shall I tell you something more about this great King, and who it was
who became his wife after he went back to Persia?

You all know the story. It is one of the most thrilling and dramatic that
was ever written. You know about the lovely Jewish maiden who was chosen
by the great King to be his wife in the place of Vashti, and how a wicked
minister or adviser to the King plotted the downfall of Mordecai, and was
then after all compelled to lead him in triumph through the streets,
crying, "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the King delighteth to
honor!" And how the brave Queen, at the risk of her own life, saved her
people from extermination. Well, this great King was Xerxes, and his wife
was Queen Esther. And after the war with the Greeks was over, her uncle,
Mordecai, was chief officer to the King, and wisely managed the affairs of
his great kingdom.

And shall I tell you what sort of place Europe was at the time of this
Persian invasion of Greece, and while Queen Esther was pleading for the
life of her people?