ABSTRACT
I. On succeeding to the throne of the East, Xerxes found the mighty army collected by his father prepared to execute his designs of conquest or revenge. In the greatness of that army, in the youth of that prince, various parties beheld the instrument of interest or ambition. Mardonius, warlike and enterprising, desired the subjugation of Greece, and the command of the Persian forces. And to the nobles of the Pasargadæ an expedition into Europe could not but present a dazzling prospect of spoil and power-of satrapies as yet unexhausted of treasure-of garrisons and troops remote from the eye of the monarch, and the domination of the capital.
