They were conducted to an antechamber of the council room to await their turn. They found themselves surrounded by a throng in which the Greeks far outnumbered the barbarians. Sullen looks were levelled at them by the officers who came and went. Ephialtes, who had been exiled from Athens, smiled at them mockingly. Neoptolemus, the Lyncestian, and Amyntas, son of Antiochus, who had been concerned in the murder of Philip, Thrasybulus, and others who had become exiles from their native land for various crimes, passed them in the crowd of civil and military officials whose faces and garb indicated the widely scattered races that they represented.
"See," Clearchus said to Chares. "There goes the Tyrian!"
Phradates was making his way through the hall, holding his head high and ignoring the salutes that were offered to him. He wore a magnificent cloak of purple, under which he concealed his maimed right arm, and his spurs clanked on the marble floor.
"They are the same spurs he used to get away with from the battle," Chares observed. "He seems to be a person of some importance here, and that will do us no good."
"He has us this time safely enough," Clearchus said bitterly.
"That is true," Chares replied. "I wish I had struck him harder! His head must be of iron."
"Do you think the oracle was accomplished when we found Artemisia?" Clearchus inquired anxiously.
"I do not know," the Theban replied, "but only Ph[oe]bus can save us now."
"Come along," the captain of the guard said roughly, "the general is waiting for you."
He led them into the council room, where Memnon sat behind a table littered with documents. With him were Orontobates, Phradates, and a few of the higher officers. The famous Rhodian raised his head from the letter that he had been reading and looked keenly at the two young men.
"You are charged with being spies of the Macedonian," he said abruptly. "What have you to reply?"
"It is not true," Chares answered. "We are here on private business alone."
"He lies!" Phradates broke in. "I saw them both at Thebes in the army of Alexander, and again in the battle of the Granicus. They are spies!"
"What he says is partly true," Chares replied coolly, "but it also true that we are not spies and that he knows it. We have left the army of Alexander."