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Now, whether it is true that Xerxes sent a herald with such a message to Argos [22.7333,37.6417] (Perseus) Argos, and that the Argive envoys came up to Shush [48.333,32.2] (inhabited place), Khuzestan, Iran, AsiaSusa and questioned Artoxerxes about their friendship, I cannot say with exactness, nor do I now declare that I consider anything true except what the Argives themselves say.
Now, whether it is true that Xerxes sent a herald with such a message to Argos [22.7333,37.6417] (Perseus) Argos, and that the Argive envoys came up to Shush [48.333,32.2] (inhabited place), Khuzestan, Iran, AsiaSusa and questioned Artoxerxes about their friendship, I cannot say with exactness, nor do I now declare that I consider anything true except what the Argives themselves say.
[2] This, however, I know full well, namely if all men should carry their own private troubles to market for barter with their neighbors, there would not be a single one who, when he had looked into the troubles of other men, would not be glad to carry home again what he had brought.
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[3] The conduct of the
Argives was accordingly not utterly shameful. As for myself, although it is my business to set down that which is told me, to believe it is none at all of my business. This I ask the reader to hold true for the whole of my history, for there is another tale current, according to which it would seem that it was the
Argives who invited the
Persian into
Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas, because the war with the
Lacedaemonians was going badly, and they would prefer anything to their present distresses.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
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