"I," said he to him, "now that I have obtained the object of my going to war, feel not the common passion of ambitious minds. I am not going to make my good fortune the minister of covetousness; my victory creates in me no wish to extend my empire. I am content with the limits which nature seems to have placed between Egypt and Ethiopia--the cataracts. Having recovered then what I think my right, I revere what is just and equitable, and shall return peacefully to my own dominions. Do you, if your life be spared, remain viceroy of the same province as before: and write to your master, the Persian king, to this effect, 'Thy brother Hydaspes has conquered by might of hand; but restores all through moderation of mind; he wishes to preserve thy friendship, esteeming it the most valuable of all possessions: at the same time, if desirous of renewing the contest, thou wilt not find him backward.' As to the Syenæans I remit their tribute for ten years; and command thee to do the same." Loud acclamations, both from the soldiers and citizens, followed his last words. Oroondates crossing his hands, and inclining his body, adored him; a compliment not usual for a Persian to pay to any prince, except his own.--"Ο ye who hear me," said he, "I do not think that I violate the customs of my country, as to my own sovereign, in adoring the most just of kings, who has restored to me my government; who instead of putting me to death has granted me my life; who, able to act as a despotic lord, permits me to remain a viceroy. Should I recover, I pledge myself to promote a solid peace and lasting friendship between the Persians and Ethiopians, and to procure for the Syenæans that remission of tribute which has been enjoined; but should I not survive, may the gods recompense Hydaspes, his family, and remotest descendants, for all the benefits which he has conferred upon me!" [Footnote 1: "πᾶν μοι φοβερὸν ὸ προσέρπον."--Æsch. P. V. 127.] [Footnote 2: See note to vol. i., p. 265, of Blakesley's Herodotus.] [Footnote 3: The brother and murderer of Osiris, whose death was avenged by his son Horus.] [Footnote 4: Literally--"more clearly initiating them with the fiery torch of realities."--Tῇ πυρφόρῳ τῶν ὂντων λαμπάδι φaνότερoν τελoύντων.] [Footnote 5: Δεκαδάρχος.] [Footnote 6: The following passage in Ammianus Marcellinus illustrates the account here given of the Καταφράκτοι ἳπποι--or barbed cavalry of the Persians. "Erant autem omnes catervæ ferratæ, ita per singula membra densis laminis tectæ, ut juncturæ rigentes compagibus artuum convenirent: humanorumque vultuum sumulacra ita capitibus diligenter aptata, ut imbracteatis corporibus solidis, ibi tantum incidentia tela possint hærere, quà per cavernas minutas et orbibus oculorum affixas, parcius visitur, vel per supremitates narium angusti spiritus emittuntur. Quorum pars contis dimicatura, stabat immobilis, ut retinaculis æreis fixam existimares."--Book xxv.