A poem by C.K. Williams

Allies: According to Herodotus

“Just how much are you worth?” Xerxes asks Pythius, reputedly the richest man in Lydia,

at the entertainment Pythius was holding in his palace for Xerxes and his chiefs of staff.

“Exactly three million nine hundred and ninety-three thousand golden darics,” Pythius answers,

“and all of it yours, my humble contribution towards your glorious war against the Greeks.”

Xerxes is pleased: since he’s left Persia with his troops, only Pythius along their route

has offered hospitality without being compelled to; all this might indicate a welcome drift.

“Consider yourself my personal friend,” he says to Pythius: “Keep your fortune, you’ve earned it,

and furthermore I’m awarding you another seven thousand darics of my own to round it off.”

Later, as Xerxes is preparing to go on, an eclipse is sighted, which irrationally alarms Pythius,

but also encourages him to ask Xerxes for a favor. “Anything you want, just ask,” says Xerxes.

“I have five sons,” Pythius replies, “and all of them are leaving to take part in your campaign.

I’m getting on: let me keep my eldest here, to help take care of me and see to my estates.”

Xerxes is incensed. “You ungrateful scum,” he snarls, “you have the gall to talk about your son,

when I myself, Xerxes himself, is going off to fight with all my sons and friends and relatives?

It would have pleased my ears if you’d offered me your wife, and thrown in your old carcass.

You saved yourself by your generosity the other night, but now you’ll know a real king’s rage.”

Some ancients doubt Herodotus, but not in this; Xerxes, after all, angry at the Hellespont,

had it lashed and branded; we can trust therefore that near the moment when history begins,

Xerxes commanded that the beloved eldest son of Pythius be brought to him and cut in half,

and that the halves be placed along the roadside for his army to march out towards Greece between.

C.K. Williams (1936-2015) was an American poet who won a raft of awards throughout his lifetime, including the National Book Critics Award (1987), the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (2000), the National Book Award (2003) and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2005). He was also a critic and translator, providing fresh English renderings of ancient Greek plays by Sophocles and Euripides. With a nod to Walt Whitman, Williams rejuvenated the long line in modern poetry and defined his style in the process—conversational, prose-like with an emphasis on characterization and dramatic development.