XXVII. THE WIFE OF PYTHES Cf. Polyaenus, Strategemata, viii. 42; Herodotus, vii. 27-29 and 38-39, where the name is given as Pythius.
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It is said the wife of Pythes, contemporary with Xerxes, was wise and good. Pythes himself, as it appears, came by chance upon some gold mines,On the source of the gold of Pythes see T. Leslie Shear in the Classical Weekly, xvii. p. 186. and, delighting in the wealth from them not with moderation, but insatiably and beyond measure, he himself spent all his time over them, and put the citizens down there also, and compelled all alike to dig or carry or wash out the gold, performing no other work and carrying on no other activity. Many perished and all were completely exhausted, when the women, coming to the door of the wife of Pythes, made supplication. She bade them depart and not lose heart; then she summoned the goldsmiths whom she trusted most, secluded them, and ordered them to make golden loaves of bread, cakes of all sorts, fruit, and whatever else in the way of dainties and food she knew Pythes liked best. When these had all been made, Pythes arrived home from abroad; for he had been travelling. And when he called for dinner, his wife caused a golden table to be set before him which contained nothing edible, but everything of gold. At first Pythes was delighted with the mimic food, but when he had gazed his fill, he called for something to eat; and she served to him a golden replica of whatever he chanced to express a desire for. By this time he was in a high dudgeon and shouted out that he was hungry, whereupon she said, But it is you who have created for us a plentiful supply of these things, and of nothing else; for all skill in the trades has disappeared from among us; no one tills the soil, but we have forsaken the sowing and planting of crops in the soil and the sustaining food that comes from it, and we dig and delve for useless things, wasting our own strength and that of our people.
