1^ DISCOVERIES OF THE ANCIENTS. 
voyage round Africa, which was represented as a 
still severer punishment. Sataspes, accordingly, 
having procured a vessel and mariners in the ports 
of Egypt, set out on this formidable expedition. 
He passed the Straits, and sailed along the w^estern 
coast for several months, which would probably 
bring him as far as the desert. The view of those 
frightful and desolate shores, and of the immense 
ocean which dashed against them, might well in- 
timidate a navigator, bred in the luxurious indo- 
lence of the Persian court. Sataspes, struck with 
panic, turned the vessel, and measured back his 
w^ay to the Straits. He did not even hesitate to 
present himself before Xerxes, conceiving, proba- 
bly, that the series of adventures and sufferings 
through which he had passed, might obliterate the 
recollection, both of the crime he had committed, 
and of the part of his task which he had left un- 
performed. He stated, that, after having, in de- 
fiance of every difficulty, navigated an immense 
extent of coast, he had arrived at an obstacle (of 
what nature is not specified) which rendered his 
further progress altogether impossible. To a mo- 
narch like Xerxes, who expected that all nature 
would obey his jiat^ such an excuse was not likely 
to appear very satisfactory. He considered only 
that his mandate had been unfulfilled, and order- 
ed the original sentence to be immediately exe- 
cuted. Sataspes avoided it by making his escape 
