4 HISTORY OF GREECE. ing, and delivering out, prophetic verses passing under the name of the ancient seer or poet Musfeus. Thirty years before, in the flourjsliing days of the Peisistratids, he had lived at Athens, en- joying the confidence of Hipparchus, and consulted by him as the expositor of these venerated documents. But having been de- tected by the poet Lasus of Hermione, in the very act of inter- polating them with new matter of his own, Hipparchus banished him with indignation. The Peisistratids, however, now in banish- ment themselves, forgot or forgave this offence, and carried Onomakritus with his prophecies to Susa, announcing him as a person of oracular authority, to assist in working on the mind of Xerxes. To this purpose his interpolations, or his omissions^ "were now directed : for when introduced to the Persian monarch, he recited emphatically various encouraging predictions wherein the bridging of the Hellespont and the triumphant march of a barbaric host into Greece, appeared as predestined ; while he carefully kept back all those of a contrary tenor, which portended calamity and disgrace. So at least Herodotus,' strenuous in up- holding the credit of Bakis, Musteus, and other Grecian prophets whose verses were in circulation, expressly assures us. The religious encouragements of Onomakritus, and the political co- operation proffered by the Aleuadse, enabled Mardonius effectu- ally to overcome the reluctance of his master. Nor indeed was it difficult to show, according to the feelings then prevalent, that a new king of Persia was in honor obliged to enlarge the boundaries of the empire.2 The conquering impulse springing from the first founder was as yet unexhausted ; the insults offered by the Athenians remained still unavenged : and in addition to this double stimulus to action, Mardonius drew a captivating pic- ture of Europe as an acquisition ; — "it was the finest land in the world, produced every variety of fruit-bearing trees, and was » Herodot. vii, 6 ; viii, 20, 96, 77. 'Ovo/^uKpiroc — Kare?.ry£ riJv xpv^^/^^v' ei UEV TL kveoi (T(j)u'Xiiia tpipov ru JlEpari, ruv fzlv ITieye ovdev ■ 6 6e tu evtV' Xtarara eK?.E-y6fiEvoc, i^sys rov te 'Ellr/aTrovTOV lo^ ^Evx^vvai xp^ov elv ^^ uvSpdc TlipaEO), tt^v te ITiaaiv l^riyEOfiEvn^, etc. An intimation somewhat curious respecting this collection of prophecies; it was of an extremely varied character, and contained promises or threats to meet any emergency which might arise. • -ffischylus, Pers. 761.
