Section 16: Porus Answers the Letter

When mighty Porus read that letter through, that great and famous king flared up in rage. At once he wrote a harsh reply, planting a tree of hatred in the garden of his heart. He opened the letter: In the name of the pure Lord, we should all live in awe and fear of Him. Let us not spill out so many empty words, for a man of hollow boasts is helpless in the end. You summon me before you and feel no shame; your mind holds no respect for good sense. If Philip wrote such things to Porus, then you take up his manner too, and stir the same clamor. Have you grown this bold from beating Darius, the man before whom the turning sky itself grew weary? When time wears down a royal line, they no longer heed a wise teacher's counsel. Now that treachery's war has come to you as a feast, you think all kings will fall as your prey. Such a preamble, such talk as this, never reached us from those ancient royal houses. I am Porus, born of the line of Porus, a line that never once bowed to any Caesar. When Darius wanted me as an ally, I did not find his heart and fortune sound. I kept sending him great war elephants, yet time gave him over as if it were a game, so that he was killed at the hand of a mere servant, and the fortune of the Persians was overturned. If evil came to him through a treacherous minister, why has your wits vanished from your own head? Do not be so reckless and bold in war, for with your death your words will fall silent. Soon you will see war elephants and an army that will block your path and scatter you to the wind. Your only aim is to rise above all others; what you hide within is the color of a demon. Do not sow only the seed of cruelty in the world; fear harm and the turning of ill fortune. With this letter we wished you well, and we adorned your painted heart with good advice.