Histories

When the hour came for dinner, the real trouble for the hosts began. When they had eaten their fill and passed the night there, the army tore down the tent on the next day and marched off with all the movables, leaving nothing but carrying all with them.

It was then that a very apt saying was uttered by one Megacreon of +Abdera [24.9667,40.9833] (Perseus) Abdera. He advised his townsmen, men and women alike, to gather at their temples, and there in all humility to entreat the gods to defend them in the future from half of every threatened ill. They should also, he said, thank the gods heartily for their previous show of favor, for it was Xerxes' custom to take a meal only once a day. Otherwise they would have been commanded to furnish a breakfast similar to the dinner.

The people of +Abdera [24.9667,40.9833] (Perseus) Abdera would then have had no choice but to flee before Xerxes' coming, or to perish most miserably if they awaited him.