thou be of service to them nor they to thee. My determination is
rather to set thy affairs in good order[238] and not to consider the
affairs of the enemy, either where they will set on foot the war or
what they will do or how many in number they are; for it is sufficient
that they should themselves take thought for themselves, and we for
ourselves likewise: and if the Lacedemonians come to stand against the
Persians in fight, they will assuredly not heal the wound from which
they are now suffering."[239] 237. To him Xerxes made answer as
follows: "Achaimenes, I think that thou speakest well, and so will I
do; but Demaratos speaks that which he believes to be best for me,
though his opinion is defeated by thine: for I will not certainly
admit that which thou saidest, namely that he is not well-disposed to
my cause, judging both by what was said by him before this, and also
by that which is the truth, namely that though one citizen envies
another for his good fortune and shows enmity to him by his
silence,[240] nor would a citizen when a fellow-citizen consulted him
suggest that which seemed to him the best, unless he had attained to a
great height of virtue, and such men doubtless are few; yet guest-
friend to guest-friend in prosperity is well-disposed as nothing else
on earth, and if his friend should consult him, he would give him the
best counsel. Thus then as regards the evil-speaking against
Demaratos, that is to say about one who is my guest-friend, I bid
every one abstain from it in the future."

238. Having thus said Xerxes passed in review the bodies of the dead;
and as for Leonidas, hearing that he had been the king and commander
of the Lacedemonians he bade them cut off his head and crucify him.
And it has been made plain to me by many proofs besides, but by none
more strongly than by this, that king Xerxes was enraged with Leonidas
while alive more than with any other man on earth; for otherwise he