“I do not speak Armenian,” a commander under Eupator answered in Greek.
In an instance, the expression on Tigranes’ face changed. In terrible anger, he jumped off from the throne and began to pace in the throne room, not looking around. Then, as if calmed down, he again sat on the throne and asked in Greek:
“Are you Armenian?”
“Yes, the King of Kings.”
“What is your name?”
“Hector.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-seven.”
“You lived in this world for twenty-seven years without learning the Armenian language?”
“King of the Kings, in Ponte, people speak Greek.”
“Yes, but you’re an Armenian?!”
“Yes, and yet, in Ponte, you can live without knowing the Armenian language.”
“Do all Armenians living in Ponte really think this way?”
“Probably not all. But if I knew the language, I would not be able to become appointed a commander under Mithridates Eupator.
“To curry favor with a foreign king, you forgot your native language?
“I do not know if I was right, but I did it.”
“Where were you born?”
“In Lesser Armenia.”
“That is why Eupator so firmly grasped onto Lesser Armenia. You see, Mamik, how terribly late we are. In Lesser Armenia, Armenians renounce their native language and, in order to attain high positions and be secured, only speak Greek. They even change their ancestral names. Why did they call you Hector?”
“I do not know, that’s what my father called me.”
“Did you not think that one day, the gods would punish you for your betrayal?”
“And whom did I betray, the King of Kings?”
“Armenia.”
“But I have never had anything to do with Armenia. Together with Eupator, I fought only against the Romans.”
“You did not betray Armenia?”
“No. And deep down, I was always glad that Armenia is more powerful than any country in Asia, and there is no greater human in the whole world than the great King of Kings Tigranes.”
“Your flattering speech does not please me. If any Armenian does not speak his native language, they should be punished in fairness.”
“By what law, King of Kings?”
“According to our Armenian law. We came to this world with our Armenian, and we have to say goodbye to this world in Armenian.”
“Tigranes the Great”, Hayk Khachatryan
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