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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Xerxes, by Jacob Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Xerxes
+       Makers of History
+
+Author: Jacob Abbott
+
+Release Date: May 6, 2008 [EBook #25351]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK XERXES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Makers of History
+
+ Xerxes
+
+ BY JACOB ABBOTT
+
+ WITH ENGRAVINGS
+
+ NEW YORK AND LONDON
+ HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+ 1902
+
+
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS,
+
+In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York.
+
+Copyright, 1878, by JACOB ABBOTT
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+One special object which the author of this series has had in view, in
+the plan and method which he has followed in the preparation of the
+successive volumes, has been to adapt them to the purposes of text-books
+in schools. The study of a _general compend_ of history, such as is
+frequently used as a text-book, is highly useful, if it comes in at the
+right stage of education, when the mind is sufficiently matured, and has
+acquired sufficient preliminary knowledge to understand and appreciate
+so condensed a generalization as a summary of the whole history of a
+nation contained in an ordinary volume must necessarily be. Without this
+degree of maturity of mind, and this preparation, the study of such a
+work will be, as it too frequently is, a mere mechanical committing to
+memory of names, and dates, and phrases, which awaken no interest,
+communicate no ideas, and impart no useful knowledge to the mind.
+
+A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet become much acquainted with
+history, would, accordingly, be more benefited by having their attention
+concentrated, at first, on detached and separate topics, such as those
+which form the subjects, respectively, of these volumes. By studying
+thus fully the history of individual monarchs, or the narratives of
+single events, they can go more fully into detail; they conceive of the
+transactions described as realities; their reflecting and reasoning
+powers are occupied on what they read; they take notice of the motives
+of conduct, of the gradual development of character, the good or ill
+desert of actions, and of the connection of causes and consequences,
+both in respect to the influence of wisdom and virtue on the one hand,
+and, on the other, of folly and crime. In a word, their _minds_ and
+_hearts_ are occupied instead of merely their memories. They reason,
+they sympathize, they pity, they approve, and they condemn. They enjoy
+the real and true pleasure which constitutes the charm of historical
+study for minds that are mature; and they acquire a taste for truth
+instead of fiction, which will tend to direct their reading into proper
+channels in all future years.
+
+The use of these works, therefore, as text-books in classes, has been
+kept continually in mind in the preparation of them. The running index
+on the tops of the pages is intended to serve instead of questions.
+These captions can be used in their present form as _topics_, in respect
+to which, when announced in the class, the pupils are to repeat
+substantially what is said on the page; or, on the other hand, questions
+in form, if that mode is preferred, can be readily framed from them by
+the teacher. In all the volumes, a very regular system of division is
+observed, which will greatly facilitate the assignment of lessons.
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS.
+
+
+ Chapter                                                    Page
+
+    I. THE MOTHER OF XERXES                                   13
+
+   II. EGYPT AND GREECE                                       33
+
+  III. DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE              56
+
+   IV. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE                78
+
+    V. THE CROSSING OF THE HELLESPONT                        100
+
+   VI. THE REVIEW OF THE ARMY AT DORISCUS                    125
+
+  VII. PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE                151
+
+ VIII. THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE                     178
+
+   IX. THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ                              201
+
+    X. THE BURNING OF ATHENS                                 224
+
+   XI. THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS                                 245
+
+  XII. THE RETURN TO PERSIA                                  284
+
+
+
+
+ ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+                                                            Page
+
+ ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST                         _Frontispiece._
+
+ MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE                                   xii
+
+ PHERON DEFYING THE NILE                                      48
+
+ MAP OF GREECE                                               101
+
+ XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT                              121
+
+ FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA                   160
+
+ CITADEL AT ATHENS                                           241
+
+ RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA                                  297
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE]
+
+
+
+
+XERXES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MOTHER OF XERXES.
+
+B.C. 522-484
+
+Persian magnificence.--The mother of Xerxes.--Cambyses.--Ambition and
+selfishness of kings.--General influence exerted by great sovereigns
+upon the community.--Labors of great
+conquerors.--Cæsar.--Darius.--William the Conqueror.--Napoleon.--Heroes
+and conquerors.--The main spring of their actions.--Cyrus.--Character
+and career of Cambyses.--Wives of Cambyses.--He marries his
+sister.--Death of Cambyses.--Smerdis the magian.--Cunning of
+Smerdis.--His feeling of insecurity.--Smerdis suspected.--His imposture
+discovered.--Death of Smerdis.--Succession of Darius.--Atossa's
+sickness.--The Greek physician.--Atossa's promise.--Atossa's
+conversation with Darius.--Success of her plans.--The expedition to
+Greece.--Escape of the physician.--Atossa's four
+sons.--Artobazanes.--Dispute about the succession.--Xerxes and
+Artobazanes.--The arguments.--Influence of Atossa.--The Spartan
+fugitive.--His views of the succession.--The decision.--Death of Darius.
+
+
+The name of Xerxes is associated in the minds of men with the idea of
+the highest attainable elevation of human magnificence and grandeur.
+This monarch was the sovereign of the ancient Persian empire when it was
+at the height of its prosperity and power. It is probable, however, that
+his greatness and fame lose nothing by the manner in which his story
+comes down to us through the Greek historians. The Greeks conquered
+Xerxes, and, in relating his history, they magnify the wealth, the
+power, and the resources of his empire, by way of exalting the greatness
+and renown of their own exploits in subduing him.
+
+The mother of Xerxes was Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great, who was
+the founder of the Persian empire. Cyrus was killed in Scythia, a wild
+and barbarous region lying north of the Black and Caspian Seas. His son
+Cambyses succeeded him.
+
+A kingdom, or an empire, was regarded, in ancient days, much in the
+light of an estate, which the sovereign held as a species of property,
+and which he was to manage mainly with a view to the promotion of his
+own personal aggrandizement and pleasure. A king or an emperor could
+have more palaces, more money, and more wives than other men; and if he
+was of an overbearing or ambitious spirit, he could march into his
+neighbors' territories, and after gratifying his love of adventure with
+various romantic exploits, and gaining great renown by his ferocious
+impetuosity in battle, he could end his expedition, perhaps, by adding
+his neighbors' palaces, and treasures, and wives to his own.
+
+Divine Providence, however, the mysterious power that overrules all the
+passions and impulses of men, and brings extended and general good out
+of local and particular evil, has made the ambition and the selfishness
+of princes the great means of preserving order and government among men.
+These great ancient despots, for example, would not have been able to
+collect their revenues, or enlist their armies, or procure supplies for
+their campaigns, unless their dominions were under a regular and
+complete system of social organization, such as should allow all the
+industrial pursuits of commerce and of agriculture, throughout the mass
+of the community, to go regularly on. Thus absolute monarchs, however
+ambitious, and selfish, and domineering in their characters, have a
+strong personal interest in the establishment of order and of justice
+between man and man throughout all the regions which are under their
+sway. In fact, the greater their ambition, their selfishness, and their
+pride, the stronger will this interest be; for, just in proportion as
+order, industry, and internal tranquillity prevail in a country, just in
+that proportion can revenues be collected from it, and armies raised and
+maintained.
+
+It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose of the great heroes, and
+sovereigns, and conquerors that have appeared from time to time among
+mankind, that the usual and ordinary result of their influence and
+action has been that of disturbance and disorganization. It is true that
+a vast amount of disturbance and disorganization has often followed from
+the march of their armies, their sieges, their invasions, and the other
+local and temporary acts of violence which they commit; but these are
+the exceptions, not the rule. It must be that such things are
+exceptions, since, in any extended and general view of the subject, a
+much greater amount of social organization, industry, and peace is
+necessary to raise and maintain an army, than that army can itself
+destroy. The deeds of destruction which great conquerors perform attract
+more attention and make a greater impression upon mankind than the
+quiet, patient, and long-continued labors by which they perfect and
+extend the general organization of the social state. But these labors,
+though less noticed by men, have really employed the energies of great
+sovereigns in a far greater degree than mankind have generally imagined.
+Thus we should describe the work of Cæsar's life in a single word more
+truly by saying that he _organized_ Europe, than that he conquered it.
+His bridges, his roads, his systems of jurisprudence, his coinage, his
+calendar, and other similar means and instruments of social arrangement,
+and facilities for promoting the pursuits of industry and peace, mark,
+far more properly, the real work which that great conqueror performed
+among mankind, than his battles and his victories. Darius was, in the
+same way, the organizer of Asia. William the Conqueror completed, or,
+rather, advanced very far toward completing, the social organization of
+England; and even in respect to Napoleon, the true and proper memorial
+of his career is the successful working of the institutions, the
+systems, and the codes which he perfected and introduced into the social
+state, and not the brazen column, formed from captured cannon, which
+stands in the Place Vendôme.
+
+These considerations, obviously true, though not always borne in mind,
+are, however, to be considered as making the characters of the great
+sovereigns, in a moral point of view, neither the worse nor the better.
+In all that they did, whether in arranging and systematizing the
+functions of social life, or in ruthless deeds of conquest and
+destruction, they were actuated, in a great measure, by selfish
+ambition. They arranged and organized the social state in order to form
+a more compact and solid pedestal for the foundation of their power.
+They maintained peace and order among their people, just as a master
+would suppress quarrels among his slaves, because peace among laborers
+is essential to productive results. They fixed and defined legal
+rights, and established courts to determine and enforce them; they
+protected property; they counted and classified men; they opened roads;
+they built bridges; they encouraged commerce; they hung robbers, and
+exterminated pirates--all, that the collection of their revenues and the
+enlistment of their armies might go on without hinderance or
+restriction. Many of them, indeed, may have been animated, in some
+degree, by a higher and nobler sentiment than this. Some may have felt a
+sort of pride in the contemplation of a great, and prosperous, and
+wealthy empire, analogous to that which a proprietor feels in surveying
+a well-conditioned, successful, and productive estate. Others, like
+Alfred, may have felt a sincere and honest interest in the welfare of
+their fellow-men, and the promotion of human happiness may have been, in
+a greater or less degree, the direct object of their aim. Still, it can
+not be denied that a selfish and reckless ambition has been, in general,
+the main spring of action with heroes and conquerors, which, while it
+aimed only at personal aggrandizement, has been made to operate, through
+the peculiar mechanism of the social state which the Divine wisdom has
+contrived, as a means, in the main of preserving and extending peace
+and order among mankind, and not of destroying them.
+
+But to return to Atossa. Her father Cyrus, who laid the foundation of
+the great Persian empire, was, for a hero and conqueror, tolerably
+considerate and just, and he desired, probably, to promote the welfare
+and happiness of his millions of subjects; but his son Cambyses,
+Atossa's brother, having been brought up in expectation of succeeding to
+vast wealth and power, and having been, as the sons of the wealthy and
+the powerful often are in all ages of the world, wholly neglected by his
+father during the early part of his life, and entirely unaccustomed to
+control, became a wild, reckless, proud, selfish, and ungovernable young
+man. His father was killed suddenly in battle, as has already been
+stated, and Cambyses succeeded him. Cambyses's career was short,
+desperate, and most tragical in its end.[A] In fact, he was one of the
+most savage, reckless, and abominable monsters that have ever lived.
+
+[Footnote A: His history in given in the first chapter of DARIUS THE
+GREAT.]
+
+It was the custom in those days for the Persian monarchs to have many
+wives, and, what is still more remarkable, whenever any monarch died,
+his successor inherited his predecessor's family as well as his throne.
+Cyrus had several children by his various wives. Cambyses and Smerdis
+were the only sons, but there were daughters, among whom Atossa was the
+most distinguished. The ladies of the court were accustomed to reside in
+different palaces, or in different suites of apartments in the same
+palace, so that they lived in a great measure isolated from each other.
+When Cambyses came to the throne, and thus entered into possession of
+his father's palaces, he saw and fell in love with one of his father's
+daughters. He wished to make her one of his wives. He was accustomed to
+the unrestricted indulgence of every appetite and passion, but he seems
+to have had some slight misgivings in regard to such a step as this. He
+consulted the Persian judges. They conferred upon the subject, and then
+replied that they had searched among the laws of the realm, and though
+they found no law allowing a man to marry his sister, they found many
+which authorized a Persian king to do whatever he pleased.
+
+Cambyses therefore added the princess to the number of his wives, and
+not long afterward he married another of his father's daughters in the
+same way. One of these princesses was Atossa.
+
+Cambyses invaded Egypt, and in the course of his mad career in that
+country he killed his brother Smerdis and one of his sisters, and at
+length was killed himself. Atossa escaped the dangers of this stormy and
+terrible reign, and returned safely to Susa after Cambyses's death.
+
+Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses, would have been Cambyses's successor
+if he had survived him; but he had been privately assassinated by
+Cambyses's orders, though his death had been kept profoundly secret by
+those who had perpetrated the deed. There was another Smerdis in Susa,
+the Persian capital, who was a magian--that is, a sort of priest--in
+whose hands, as regent, Cambyses had left the government while he was
+absent on his campaigns. This magian Smerdis accordingly conceived the
+plan of usurping the throne, as if he were Smerdis the prince, resorting
+to a great many ingenious and cunning schemes to conceal his deception.
+Among his other plans, one was to keep himself wholly sequestered from
+public view, with a few favorites, such, especially, as had not
+personally known Smerdis the prince. In the same manner he secluded from
+each other and from himself all who had known Smerdis, in order to
+prevent their conferring with one another, or communicating to each
+other any suspicions which they might chance to entertain. Such
+seclusion, so far as related to the ladies of the royal family, was not
+unusual after the death of a king, and Smerdis did not deviate from the
+ordinary custom, except to make the isolation and confinement of the
+princesses and queens more rigorous and strict than common. By means of
+this policy he was enabled to go on for some months without detection,
+living all the while in the greatest luxury and splendor, but at the
+same time in absolute seclusion, and in unceasing anxiety and fear.
+
+One chief source of his solicitude was lest he should be detected by
+means of his _ears_! Some years before, when he was in a comparatively
+obscure position, he had in some way or other offended his sovereign,
+and was punished by having his ears cut off. It was necessary,
+therefore, to keep the marks of this mutilation carefully concealed by
+means of his hair and his head-dress, and even with these precautions he
+could never feel perfectly secure.
+
+At last one of the nobles of the court, a sagacious and observing man,
+suspected the imposture. He had no access to Smerdis himself, but his
+daughter, whose name was Phædyma, was one of Smerdis's wives. The
+nobleman was excluded from all direct intercourse with Smerdis, and even
+with his daughter; but he contrived to send word to his daughter,
+inquiring whether her husband was the true Smerdis or not. She replied
+that she did not know, inasmuch as she had never seen any other Smerdis,
+if, indeed, there had been another. The nobleman then attempted to
+communicate with Atossa, but he found it impossible to do so. Atossa
+had, of course, known her brother well, and was on that very account
+very closely secluded by the magian. As a last resort, the nobleman sent
+to his daughter a request that she would watch for an opportunity to
+feel for her husband's ears while he was asleep. He admitted that this
+would be a dangerous attempt, but his daughter, he said, ought to be
+willing to make it, since, if her pretended husband were really an
+impostor, she ought to take even a stronger interest than others in his
+detection. Phædyma was at first afraid to undertake so dangerous a
+commission; but she at length ventured to do so, and, by passing her
+hand under his turban one night, while he was sleeping on his couch,
+she found that the ears were gone.[B]
+
+[Footnote B: For a more particular account of the transaction, and for
+an engraving illustrating this scene, see the history of Darius.]
+
+The consequence of this discovery was, that a conspiracy was formed to
+dethrone and destroy the usurper. The plot was successful. Smerdis was
+killed; his imprisoned queens were set free, and Darius was raised to
+the throne in his stead.
+
+Atossa now, by that strange principle of succession which has been
+already alluded to, became the wife of Darius, and she figures
+frequently and conspicuously in history during his long and splendid
+reign.
+
+Her name is brought into notice in one case in a remarkable manner, in
+connection with an expedition which Darius sent on an exploring tour
+into Greece and Italy. She was herself the means, in fact, of sending
+the expedition. She was sick; and after suffering secretly and in
+silence as long as possible--the nature of her complaint being such as
+to make her unwilling to speak of it to others--she at length determined
+to consult a Greek physician who had been brought to Persia as a
+captive, and had acquired great celebrity at Susa by his medical science
+and skill. The physician said that he would undertake her case on
+condition that she would promise to grant him a certain request that he
+would make. She wished to know what it was beforehand, but the physician
+would not tell her. He said, however, that it was nothing that it would
+be in any way derogatory to her honor to grant him.
+
+On these conditions Atossa concluded to agree to the physician's
+proposals. He made her take a solemn oath that, if he cured her of her
+malady, she would do whatever he required of her, provided that it was
+consistent with honor and propriety. He then took her case under his
+charge, prescribed for her and attended her, and in due time she was
+cured. The physician then told her that what he wished her to do for him
+was to find some means to persuade Darius to send him home to his native
+land.
+
+Atossa was faithful in fulfilling her promise. She took a private
+opportunity, when she was alone with Darius, to propose that he should
+engage in some plans of foreign conquest. She reminded him of the
+vastness of the military power which was at his disposal, and of the
+facility with which, by means of it, he might extend his dominions. She
+extolled, too, his genius and energy, and endeavored to inspire in his
+mind some ambitious desires to distinguish himself in the estimation of
+mankind by bringing his capacities for the performance of great deeds
+into action.
+
+Darius listened to these suggestions of Atossa with interest and with
+evident pleasure. He said that he had been forming some such plans
+himself. He was going to build a bridge across the Hellespont or the
+Bosporus, to unite Europe and Asia; and he was also going to make an
+incursion into the country of the Scythians, the people by whom Cyrus,
+his great predecessor, had been defeated and slain. It would be a great
+glory for him, he said, to succeed in a conquest in which Cyrus had so
+totally failed.
+
+But these plans would not answer the purpose which Atossa had in view.
+She urged her husband, therefore, to postpone his invasion of the
+Scythians till some future time, and first conquer the Greeks, and annex
+their territory to his dominions. The Scythians, she said, were savages,
+and their country not worth the cost of conquering it, while Greece
+would constitute a noble prize. She urged the invasion of Greece, too,
+rather than Scythia, as a personal favor to herself, for she had been
+wanting, she said, some slaves from Greece for a long time--some of the
+women of Sparta, of Corinth, and of Athens, of whose graces and
+accomplishments she had heard so much.
+
+There was something gratifying to the military vanity of Darius in being
+thus requested to make an incursion to another continent, and undertake
+the conquest of the mightiest nation of the earth, for the purpose of
+procuring accomplished waiting-maids to offer as a present to his queen.
+He became restless and excited while listening to Atossa's proposals,
+and to the arguments with which she enforced them, and it was obvious
+that he was very strongly inclined to accede to her views. He finally
+concluded to send a commission into Greece to explore the country, and
+to bring back a report on their return; and as he decided to make the
+Greek physician the guide of the expedition, Atossa gained her end.
+
+A full account of this expedition, and of the various adventures which
+the party met with on their voyage, is given in our history of Darius.
+It may be proper to say here, however, that the physician fully
+succeeded in his plans of making his escape. He pretended, at first, to
+be unwilling to go, and he made only the most temporary arrangements in
+respect to the conduct of his affairs while he should be gone, in order
+to deceive the king in regard to his intentions of not returning. The
+king, on his part, resorted to some stratagems to ascertain whether the
+physician was sincere in his professions, but he did not succeed in
+detecting the artifice, and so the party went away. The physician never
+returned.
+
+Atossa had four sons. Xerxes was the eldest of them. He was not,
+however, the eldest of the sons of Darius, as there were other sons, the
+children of another wife, whom Darius had married before he ascended the
+throne. The oldest of these children was named Artobazanes. Artobazanes
+seems to have been a prince of an amiable and virtuous character, and
+not particularly ambitious and aspiring in his disposition, although, as
+he was the eldest son of his father, he claimed to be his heir. Atossa
+did not admit the validity of this claim, but maintained that the oldest
+of _her_ children was entitled to the inheritance.
+
+It became necessary to decide this question before Darius's death; for
+Darius, in the prosecution of a war in which he was engaged, formed the
+design of accompanying his army on an expedition into Greece, and,
+before doing this, he was bound, according to the laws and usages of the
+Persian realm, to regulate the succession.
+
+There immediately arose an earnest dispute between the friends and
+partisans of Artobazanes and Xerxes, each side urging very eagerly the
+claims of its own candidate. The mother and the friends of Artobazanes
+maintained that he was the oldest son, and, consequently, the heir.
+Atossa, on the other hand, contended that Xerxes was the grandson of
+Cyrus, and that he derived from that circumstance the highest possible
+hereditary rights to the Persian throne.
+
+This was in some respects true, for Cyrus had been the founder of the
+empire and the legitimate monarch, while Darius had no hereditary
+claims. He was originally a noble, of high rank, indeed, but not of the
+royal line; and he had been designated as Cyrus's successor in a time of
+revolution, because there was, at that time, no prince of the royal
+family who could take the inheritance. Those, therefore, who were
+disposed to insist on the claims of a legitimate hereditary succession,
+might very plausibly claim that Darius's government had been a regency
+rather than a reign; that Xerxes, being the oldest son of Atossa,
+Cyrus's daughter, was the true representative of the royal line; and
+that, although it might not be expedient to disturb the possession of
+Darius during his lifetime, yet that, at his death, Xerxes was
+unquestionably entitled to the throne.
+
+There was obviously a great deal of truth and justice in this reasoning,
+and yet it was a view of the subject not likely to be very agreeable to
+Darius, since it seemed to deny the existence of any real and valid
+title to the sovereignty in him. It assigned the crown, at his death,
+not to his son as such, but to his predecessor's grandson; for though
+Xerxes was both the son of Darius and the grandson of Cyrus, it was in
+the latter capacity that he was regarded as entitled to the crown in the
+argument referred to above. The doctrine was very gratifying to the
+pride of Atossa, for it made Xerxes the successor to the crown as her
+son and heir, and not as the son and heir of her husband. For this very
+reason it was likely to be not very gratifying to Darius. He hesitated
+very much in respect to adopting it. Atossa's ascendency over his mind,
+and her influence generally in the Persian court, was almost
+overwhelming, and yet Darius was very unwilling to seem, by giving to
+the oldest grandson of Cyrus the precedence over his own eldest son, to
+admit that he himself had no legitimate and proper title to the throne.
+
+While things were in this state, a Greek, named Demaratus, arrived at
+Susa. He was a dethroned prince from Sparta, and had fled from the
+political storms of his own country to seek refuge in Darius's capital.
+Demaratus found a way to reconcile Darius's pride as a sovereign with
+his personal preferences as a husband and a father. He told the king
+that, according to the principles of hereditary succession which were
+adopted in Greece, Xerxes was his heir as well as Cyrus's, for he was
+the oldest son who was born _after his accession_. A son, he said,
+according to the Greek ideas on the subject, was entitled to inherit
+only such rank as his father held when the son was born; and that,
+consequently, none of his children who had been born before his
+accession could have any claims to the Persian throne. Artobazanes, in a
+word, was to be regarded, he said, only as the son of Darius the noble,
+while Xerxes was the son of Darius the king.
+
+In the end Darius adopted this view, and designated Xerxes as his
+successor in case he should not return from his distant expedition. He
+did not return. He did not even live to set out upon it. Perhaps the
+question of the succession had not been absolutely and finally settled,
+for it arose again and was discussed anew when the death of Darius
+occurred. The manner in which it was finally disposed of will be
+described in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+EGYPT AND GREECE.
+
+B.C. 484
+
+Xerxes assumes the crown.--His message to Artobazanes.--Question of the
+succession again debated.--Advice of Atossa.--Decision of
+Artabanus.--Unfinished wars of Darius.--Egypt and Greece.--Character of
+the Egyptians.--Character of the Greeks.--Architecture.--Monuments of
+Greece.--Egyptian architecture.--Form of Egypt.--Delta of the
+Nile.--Fertility of Egypt.--No rain in Egypt.--Rising of the
+Nile.--Preparations for the inundation.--Gradual rise of the
+water.--Appearance of the country during an inundation.--The three
+theories.--Objections to the first.--Second and third theories.--Reasons
+against them.--Ideas of the common people in regard to the
+inundation.--Story of King Pheron.--His punishment.--Sequel of the story
+of King Pheron.--Nilometers.--Use of Nilometers.--Enormous structures of
+Egypt.--Comparative antiquity of various objects.--Great age of the
+Pyramids.--Egypt a mark for the conqueror.--Its relation to
+Persia.--Xerxes resolves to subdue Egypt first.--The Jews.--The
+Egyptians subdued.--Return to Susa.
+
+
+The arrangements which Darius had made to fix and determine the
+succession, before his death, did not entirely prevent the question from
+arising again when his death occurred. Xerxes was on the spot at the
+time, and at once assumed the royal functions. His brother was absent.
+Xerxes sent a messenger to Artobazanes[C] informing him of their
+father's death, and of his intention of assuming the crown. He said,
+however, that if he did so, he should give his brother the second rank,
+making him, in all respects, next to himself in office and honor. He
+sent, moreover, a great many splendid presents to Artobazanes, to evince
+the friendly regard which he felt for him, and to propitiate his favor.
+
+[Footnote C: Plutarch, who gives an account of these occurrences, varies
+the orthography of the name. We, however, retain the name as given by
+Herodotus.]
+
+Artobazanes sent back word to Xerxes that he thanked him for his
+presents, and that he accepted them with pleasure. He said that he
+considered himself, nevertheless, as justly entitled to the crown,
+though he should, in the event of his accession, treat all his brothers,
+and especially Xerxes, with the utmost consideration and respect.
+
+Soon after these occurrences, Artobazanes came to Media, where Xerxes
+was, and the question which of them should be the king was agitated anew
+among the nobles of the court. In the end, a public hearing of the cause
+was had before Artabanus, a brother of Darius, and, of course, an uncle
+of the contending princes. The question seems to have been referred to
+him, either because he held some public office which made it his duty to
+consider and decide such a question, or else because he had been
+specially commissioned to act as judge in this particular case. Xerxes
+was at first quite unwilling to submit his claims to the decision of
+such a tribunal. The crown was, as he maintained, rightfully his. He
+thought that the public voice was generally in his favor. Then, besides,
+he was already in possession of the throne, and by consenting to plead
+his cause before his uncle, he seemed to be virtually abandoning all
+this vantage ground, and trusting instead to the mere chance of
+Artabanus's decision.
+
+Atossa, however, recommended to him to accede to the plan of referring
+the question to Artabanus. He would consider the subject, she said, with
+fairness and impartiality, and decide it right. She had no doubt that he
+would decide it in Xerxes's favor; "and if he does not," she added, "and
+you lose your cause, you only become the second man in the kingdom
+instead of the first, and the difference is not so very great, after
+all."
+
+Atossa may have had some secret intimation how Artabanus would decide.
+
+However this may be, Xerxes at length concluded to submit the question.
+A solemn court was held, and the case was argued in the presence of all
+the nobles and great officers of state. A throne was at hand to which
+the successful competitor was to be conducted as soon as the decision
+should be made. Artabanus heard the arguments, and decided in favor of
+Xerxes. Artobazanes, his brother, acquiesced in the decision with the
+utmost readiness and good humor. He was the first to bow before the king
+in token of homage, and conducted him, himself, to the throne.
+
+Xerxes kept his promise faithfully of making his brother the second in
+his kingdom. He appointed him to a very high command in the army, and
+Artobazanes, on his part, served the king with great zeal and fidelity,
+until he was at last killed in battle, in the manner hereafter to be
+described.
+
+As soon as Xerxes found himself established on his throne, he was called
+upon to decide immediately a great question, namely, which of two
+important wars in which his father had been engaged he should first
+undertake to prosecute, the war in Egypt or the war in Greece.
+
+By referring to the map, the reader will see that, as the Persian empire
+extended westward to Asia Minor and to the coasts of the Mediterranean
+Sea, the great countries which bordered upon it in this direction were,
+on the north Greece, and on the south, Egypt; the one in Europe, and the
+other in Africa. The Greeks and the Egyptians were both wealthy and
+powerful, and the countries which they respectively inhabited were
+fertile and beautiful beyond expression, and yet in all their essential
+features and characteristics they were extremely dissimilar. Egypt was a
+long and narrow inland valley. Greece reposed, as it were, in the bosom
+of the sea, consisting, as it did, of an endless number of islands,
+promontories, peninsulas, and winding coasts, laved on every side by
+the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Egypt was a plain, diversified
+only by the varieties of vegetation, and by the towns and villages, and
+the enormous monumental structures which had been erected by man. Greece
+was a picturesque and ever-changing scene of mountains and valleys; of
+precipitous cliffs, winding beaches, rocky capes, and lofty headlands.
+The character and genius of the inhabitants of these two countries took
+their cast, in each case, from the physical conformations of the soil.
+The Egyptians were a quiet, gentle, and harmless race of tillers of the
+ground. They spent their lives in pumping water from the river, in the
+patient, persevering toil of sowing smooth and mellow fields, or in
+reaping the waving grain. The Greeks drove flocks and herds up and down
+the declivities of the mountains, or hunted wild beasts in forests and
+fastnesses. They constructed galleys for navigating the seas; they
+worked the mines and manufactured metals. They built bridges, citadels,
+temples, and towns, and sculptured statuary from marble blocks which
+they chiseled from the strata of the mountains. It is surprising what a
+difference is made in the genius and character of man by elevations,
+here and there, of a few thousand feet in the country where his genius
+and character are formed.
+
+The architectural wonders of Egypt and of Greece were as diverse from
+each other as the natural features of the soil, and in each case the
+structures were in keeping and in harmony with the character of the
+landscape which they respectively adorned. The harmony was, however,
+that of contrast, and not of correspondence. In Greece, where the
+landscape itself was grand and sublime, the architect aimed only at
+beauty. To have aimed at magnitude and grandeur in human structures
+among the mountains, the cliffs, the cataracts, and the resounding ocean
+shores of Greece, would have been absurd. The Grecian artists were
+deterred by their unerring instincts from the attempt. They accordingly
+built beautiful temples, whose white and symmetrical colonnades adorned
+the declivities, or crowned the summits of the hills. They sculptured
+statues, to be placed on pedestals in groves and gardens; they
+constructed fountains; they raised bridges and aqueducts on long ranges
+of arches and piers; and the summits of ragged rocks crystallized, as it
+were, under their hands into towers, battlements, and walls. In Egypt,
+on the other hand, where the country itself was a level and unvarying
+plain, the architecture took forms of prodigious magnitude, of lofty
+elevation, and of vast extent. There were ranges of enormous columns,
+colossal statues, towering obelisks, and pyramids rising like mountains
+from the verdure of the plain. Thus, while nature gave to the country
+its elements of beauty, man completed the landscape by adding to it the
+grand and the sublime.
+
+The shape and proportions of Egypt would be represented by a green
+ribbon an inch wide and a yard long, lying upon the ground in a
+serpentine form; and to complete the model, we might imagine a silver
+filament passing along the center of the green to denote the Nile. The
+real valley of verdure, however, is not of uniform breadth, like the
+ribbon so representing it, but widens as it approaches the sea, as if
+there had been originally a gulf or estuary there, which the sediment
+from the river had filled.
+
+In fact, the rich and fertile plain which the alluvial deposits of the
+Nile have formed, has been protruded for some distance into the sea, and
+the stream divides itself into three great branches about a hundred
+miles from its mouth, two outermost of which, with the sea-coast in
+front, inclose a vast triangle, which was called the Delta, from the
+Greek letter _delta_, (Greek: D), which is of a triangular form. In
+ascending the river beyond the Delta, the fertile plain, at first
+twenty-five or thirty miles wide, grows gradually narrower, as the
+ranges of barren hills and tracts of sandy deserts on either hand draw
+nearer and nearer to the river. Thus the country consists of two long
+lines of rich and fertile intervals, one on each side of the stream. In
+the time of Xerxes the whole extent was densely populated, every little
+elevation of the land being covered with a village or a town. The
+inhabitants tilled the land, raising upon it vast stores of corn, much
+of which was floated down the river to its mouth, and taken thence to
+various countries of Europe and Asia, in merchant ships, over the
+Mediterranean Sea. Caravans, too, sometimes came across the neighboring
+deserts to obtain supplies of Egyptian corn. This was done by the sons
+of Jacob when the crops failed them in the land of Canaan, as related in
+the sacred Scriptures.
+
+There were two great natural wonders in Egypt in ancient times as now:
+first, it never rained there, or, at least, so seldom, that rain was
+regarded as a marvelous phenomenon, interrupting the ordinary course of
+nature, like an earthquake in England or America. The falling of drops
+of water out of clouds in the sky was an occurrence so strange, so
+unaccountable, that the whole population regarded it with astonishment
+and awe. With the exception of these rare and wonder-exciting instances,
+there was no rain, no snow, no hail, no clouds in the sky. The sun was
+always shining, and the heavens were always serene. These meteorological
+characteristics of the country, resulting, as they do, from permanent
+natural causes, continue, of course, unchanged to the present day; and
+the Arabs who live now along the banks of the river, keep their crops,
+when harvested, in heaps in the open air, and require no roofs to their
+huts except a light covering of sheaves to protect the inmates from the
+sun.
+
+The other natural wonder of Egypt was the annual rising of the Nile.
+About midsummer, the peasantry who lived along the banks would find the
+river gradually beginning to rise. The stream became more turbid, too,
+as the bosom of the waters swelled. No cause for this mysterious
+increase appeared, as the sky remained as blue and serene as before, and
+the sun, then nearly vertical, continued to shine with even more than
+its wonted splendor. The inhabitants however, felt no surprise, and
+asked for no explanation of the phenomenon. It was the common course of
+nature at that season. They had all witnessed it, year after year, from
+childhood. They, of course, looked for it when the proper month came
+round, and, though they would have been amazed if the annual flood had
+failed, they thought nothing extraordinary of its coming.
+
+When the swelling of the waters and the gradual filling of the channels
+and low grounds in the neighborhood of the river warned the people that
+the flood was at hand, they all engaged busily in the work of completing
+their preparations. The harvests were all gathered from the fields, and
+the vast stores of fruit and corn which they yielded were piled in
+roofless granaries, built on every elevated spot of ground, where they
+would be safe from the approaching inundation. The rise of the water was
+very gradual and slow. Streams began to flow in all directions over the
+land. Ponds and lakes, growing every day more and more extended, spread
+mysteriously over the surface of the meadows; and all the time while
+this deluge of water was rising to submerge the land, the air continued
+dry, the sun was sultry, and the sky was without a cloud.
+
+As the flood continued to rise, the proportion of land and water, and
+the conformation of the irregular and temporary shores which separated
+them, were changed continually, from day to day. The inhabitants
+assembled in their villages, which were built on rising grounds, some
+natural, others artificially formed. The waters rose more and more,
+until only these crowded islands appeared above its surface--when, at
+length, the valley presented to the view the spectacle of a vast expanse
+of water, calm as a summer's sea, brilliant with the reflected rays of a
+tropical sun, and canopied by a sky, which, displaying its spotless blue
+by day and its countless stars at night, was always cloudless and
+serene.
+
+The inundation was at its height in October. After that period the
+waters gradually subsided, leaving a slimy and very fertilizing deposit
+all over the lands which they had covered. Though the inhabitants
+themselves, who had been accustomed to this overflow from infancy, felt
+no wonder or curiosity about its cause, the philosophers of the day, and
+travelers from other countries who visited Egypt, made many attempts to
+seek an explanation of the phenomenon. They had three theories on the
+subject, which Herodotus mentions and discusses.
+
+The first explanation was, that the rising of the river was occasioned
+by the prevalence of northerly winds on the Mediterranean at that time
+of the year, which drove back the waters at the mouth of the river, and
+so caused the accumulation of the water in the upper parts of the
+valley. Herodotus thought that this was not a satisfactory explanation;
+for sometimes, as he said, these northerly winds did not blow, and yet
+the rising of the river took place none the less when the appointed
+season came. Besides, there were other rivers similarly situated in
+respect to the influence of prevailing winds at sea in driving in the
+waters at their mouths, which were, nevertheless, not subject to
+inundations like the Nile.
+
+The second theory was, that the Nile took its rise, not, like other
+rivers, in inland lakes, or among inland mountains, but in some remote
+and unknown ocean on the other side of the continent, which ocean the
+advocates of this theory supposed might be subject to some great annual
+ebb and flow; and from this it might result that at stated periods an
+unusual tide of waters might be poured into the channel of the river.
+This, however, could not be true, for the waters of the inundation were
+fresh, not salt, which proved that they were not furnished by any ocean.
+
+A third hypothesis was, that the rising of the water was occasioned by
+the melting of the snows in summer on the mountains from which the
+sources of the river came. Against this supposition Herodotus found more
+numerous and more satisfactory reasons even than he had advanced against
+the others. In the first place the river came from the south--a
+direction in which the heat increased in intensity with every league, as
+far as travelers had explored it; and beyond those limits, they supposed
+that the burning sun made the country uninhabitable. It was preposterous
+to suppose that there could be snow and ice there. Then, besides, the
+Nile had been ascended to a great distance, and reports from the natives
+had been brought down from regions still more remote, and no tidings had
+ever been brought of ice and snow. It was unreasonable, therefore, to
+suppose that the inundations could arise from such a cause.
+
+These scientific theories, however, were discussed only among
+philosophers and learned men. The common people had a much more simple
+and satisfactory mode of disposing of the subject. They, in their
+imaginations, invested the beneficent river with a sort of life and
+personality, and when they saw its waters rising so gently but yet
+surely, to overflow their whole land, leaving it, as they withdrew
+again, endued with a new and exuberant fertility, they imagined it a
+living and acting intelligence, that in the exercise of some mysterious
+and inscrutable powers, the nature of which was to them unknown, and
+impelled by a kind and friendly regard for the country and its
+inhabitants, came annually, of its own accord, to spread over the land
+the blessings of fertility and abundance. The mysterious stream being
+viewed in this light, its wonderful powers awakened their veneration and
+awe, and its boundless beneficence their gratitude.
+
+[Illustration: PHERON DEFYING THE NILE.]
+
+Among the ancient Egyptian legends, there is one relating to a certain
+King Pheron which strikingly illustrates this feeling. It seems that
+during one of the inundations, while he was standing with his courtiers
+and watching the flow of the water, the commotion in the stream was much
+greater than usual on account of a strong wind which was blowing at
+that time, and which greatly increased the violence of the whirlpools,
+and the force and swell of the boiling eddies. There was given, in fact,
+to the appearance of the river an expression of anger, and Pheron, who
+was of a proud and haughty character, like most of the Egyptian kings,
+threw his javelin into one of the wildest of the whirlpools, as a token
+of his defiance of its rage. He was instantly struck blind!
+
+The sequel of the story is curious, though it has no connection with the
+personality of the Nile. Pheron remained blind for ten years. At the end
+of that time it was announced to him, by some supernatural
+communication, that the period of his punishment had expired, and that
+his sight might be brought back to him by the employment of a certain
+designated means of restoration, which was the bathing of his eyes by a
+strictly virtuous woman. Pheron undertook compliance with the
+requisition, without any idea that the finding of a virtuous woman would
+be a difficult task. He first tried his own wife, but her bathing
+produced no effect. He then tried, one after another, various ladies of
+his court, and afterward others of different rank and station, selecting
+those who were most distinguished for the excellence of their
+characters. He was disappointed, however, in them all. The blindness
+continued unchanged. At last, however, he found the wife of a peasant,
+whose bathing produced the effect. The monarch's sight was suddenly
+restored. The king rewarded the peasant woman, whose virtuous character
+was established by this indisputable test, with the highest honors. The
+others he collected together, and then shut them up in one of his towns.
+When they were all thus safely imprisoned, he set the town on fire, and
+burned them all up together.
+
+To return to the Nile. Certain columns were erected in different parts
+of the valley, on which cubits and the subdivisions of cubits were
+marked and numbered, for the purpose of ascertaining precisely the rise
+of the water. Such a column was called a Nilometer. There was one near
+Memphis, which was at the upper point of the Delta, and others further
+up the river. Such pillars continue to be used to mark the height of the
+inundations to the present day.
+
+The object of thus accurately ascertaining the rise of the water was not
+mere curiosity, for there were certain important business operations
+which depended upon the results. The fertility and productiveness of
+the soil each year were determined almost wholly by the extent of the
+inundation; and as the ability of the people to pay tribute depended
+upon their crops, the Nilometer furnished the government with a
+criterion by which they regulated the annual assessments of the taxes.
+There were certain canals, too, made to convey the water to distant
+tracts of land, which were opened or kept closed according as the water
+rose to a higher or lower point. All these things were regulated by the
+indications of the Nilometer.
+
+Egypt was famed in the days of Xerxes for those enormous structures and
+ruins of structures whose origin was then, as now, lost in a remote
+antiquity. Herodotus found the Pyramids standing in his day, and
+presenting the same spectacle of mysterious and solitary grandeur which
+they exhibited to Napoleon. He speculated on their origin and their
+history, just as the philosophers and travelers of our day do. In fact,
+he knew less and could learn less about them than is known now. It helps
+to impress our minds with an idea of the extreme antiquity of these and
+the other architectural wonders of Egypt, to compare them with things
+which are considered old in the Western world. The ancient and
+venerable colleges and halls of Oxford and Cambridge are, many of them,
+two or three hundred years old. There are remains of the old wall of the
+city of London which has been standing seven hundred years. This is
+considered a great antiquity. There are, however, Roman ruins in
+Britain, and in various parts of Europe, more ancient still. They have
+been standing eighteen hundred years! People look upon these with a
+species of wonder and awe that they have withstood the destructive
+influences of time so long. But as to the Pyramids, if we go back
+_twenty-five hundred_ years, we find travelers visiting and describing
+them then--monuments as ancient, as venerable, as mysterious and unknown
+in their eyes, as they appear now in ours. We judge that a mountain is
+very distant when, after traveling many miles toward it, it seems still
+as distant as ever. Now, in tracing the history of the pyramids, the
+obelisks, the gigantic statues, and the vast columnar ruins of the Nile,
+we may go back twenty-five hundred years, without, apparently, making
+any progress whatever toward reaching their origin.
+
+Such was Egypt. Isolated as it was from the rest of the world, and full
+of fertility and riches, it offered a marked and definite object to the
+ambition of a conqueror. In fact, on account of the peculiar interest
+which this long and narrow valley of verdure, with its wonderful
+structures, the strange and anomalous course of nature which prevails in
+it, and the extraordinary phases which human life, in consequence,
+exhibits there, has always excited among mankind, heroes and conquerors
+have generally considered it a peculiarly glorious field for their
+exploits. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, contemplated the
+subjugation of it. He did not carry his designs into effect, but left
+them for Cambyses his son. Darius held the country as a dependency
+during his reign, though, near the close of his life, it revolted. This
+revolt took place while he was preparing for his grand expedition
+against Greece, and he was perplexed with the question which of the two
+undertakings, the subjugation of the Egyptians or the invasion of
+Greece, he should first engage in. In the midst of this uncertainty he
+suddenly died, leaving both the wars themselves and the perplexity of
+deciding between them as a part of the royal inheritance falling to his
+son.
+
+Xerxes decided to prosecute the Egyptian campaign first, intending to
+postpone the conquest of Greece till he had brought the valley of the
+Nile once more under Persian sway. He deemed it dangerous to leave a
+province of his father's empire in a state of successful rebellion,
+while leading his armies off to new undertakings. Mardonius, who was the
+commander-in-chief of the army, and the great general on whom Xerxes
+mainly relied for the execution of his schemes, was very reluctant to
+consent to this plan. He was impatient for the conquest of Greece. There
+was little glory for him to acquire in merely suppressing a revolt, and
+reconquering what had been already once subdued. He was eager to enter
+upon a new field. Xerxes, however, overruled his wishes, and the armies
+commenced their march for Egypt. They passed the land of Judea on their
+way, where the captives who had returned from Babylon, and their
+successors, were rebuilding the cities and reoccupying the country.
+Xerxes confirmed them in the privileges which Cyrus and Darius had
+granted them, and aided them in their work. He then went on toward the
+Nile. The rebellion was easily put down. In less than a year from the
+time of leaving Susa, he had reconquered the whole land of Egypt,
+punished the leaders of the revolt, established his brother as viceroy
+of the country, and returned in safety to Susa.
+
+All this took place in the second year of his reign.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE.
+
+B.C. 481
+
+Counselors of Xerxes.--Age and character of Mardonius.--The avenues to
+renown.--Blood inherited and blood shed.--Character of Artabanus.--His
+advice to Xerxes.--The Ionian rebellion.--First invasion of
+Greece.--Xerxes convenes a public council.--His speech.--Xerxes recounts
+the aggressions of the Athenians.--Xerxes proposes to build a bridge
+over the Hellespont.--Excitement of Mardonius.--His speech.--Mardonius
+expresses his contempt of the Greeks.--Predictions of Mardonius.--Pause
+in the assembly.--Speech of Artabanus.--His apologies.--Artabanus
+opposes the war.--Repulse of Datis.--Artabanus warns Xerxes of the
+danger of the expedition.--Artabanus vindicates the character of the
+Greeks.--Xerxes's displeasure.--His angry reply to Artabanus.--Xerxes's
+anxiety.--He determines to abandon his project.--Xerxes sees a vision in
+the night.--The spirit appears a second time to Xerxes.--Xerxes relates
+his dreams to Artabanus.--Opinion of the latter.--Artabanus takes
+Xerxes's place.--The spirit appears a third time.--Artabanus is
+convinced.--The invasion decided upon.--Mardonius probably the ghost.
+
+
+The two great counselors on whose judgment Xerxes mainly relied, so far
+as he looked to any other judgment than his own in the formation of his
+plans, were Artabanus, the uncle by whose decision the throne had been
+awarded to him, and Mardonius, the commander-in-chief of his armies.
+Xerxes himself was quite a young man, of a proud and lofty, yet generous
+character, and full of self-confidence and hope. Mardonius was much
+older, but he was a soldier by profession, and was eager to distinguish
+himself in some great military campaign. It has always been unfortunate
+for the peace and happiness of mankind, under all monarchical and
+despotic governments, in every age of the world, that, through some
+depraved and unaccountable perversion of public sentiment, those who are
+not born to greatness have had no means of attaining to it except as
+heroes in war. Many men have, indeed, by their mental powers or their
+moral excellences, acquired an extended and lasting _posthumous_ fame;
+but in respect to all immediate and exalted distinction and honor, it
+will be found, on reviewing the history of the human race, that there
+have generally been but two possible avenues to them: on the one hand,
+high birth, and on the other, the performance of great deeds of carnage
+and destruction. There must be, it seems, as the only valid claim to
+renown, either blood inherited or blood shed. The glory of the latter is
+second, indeed, to that of the former, but it is _only_ second. He who
+has sacked a city stands very high in the estimation of his fellows. He
+yields precedence only to him whose grandfather sacked one.
+
+This state of things is now, it is true, rapidly undergoing a change.
+The age of chivalry, of military murder and robbery, and of the glory of
+great deeds of carnage and blood, is passing away, and that of peace, of
+industry, and of achievements for promoting the comfort and happiness of
+mankind is coming. The men who are now advancing to the notice of the
+world are those who, through their commerce or their manufactures, feed
+and clothe their fellow-men by millions, or, by opening new channels or
+new means for international intercourse, civilize savages, and people
+deserts; while the glory of killing and destroying is less and less
+regarded, and more and more readily forgotten.
+
+In the days of Xerxes, however, there was no road to honor but by war,
+and Mardonius found that his only hope of rising to distinction was by
+conducting a vast torrent of military devastation over some portion of
+the globe; and the fairer, the richer, the happier the scene which he
+was thus to inundate and overwhelm, the greater would be the glory. He
+was very much disposed, therefore, to urge on the invasion of Greece by
+every means in his power.
+
+Artabanus, on the other hand, the uncle of Xerxes, was a man advanced in
+years, and of a calm and cautious disposition. He was better aware than
+younger men of the vicissitudes and hazards of war, and was much more
+inclined to restrain than to urge on the youthful ambition of his
+nephew. Xerxes had been able to present some show of reason for his
+campaign in Egypt, by calling the resistance which that country offered
+to his power a rebellion. There was, however, no such reason in the case
+of Greece. There had been two wars between Persia and the Athenians
+already, it is true. In the first, the Athenians had aided their
+countrymen in Asia Minor in a fruitless attempt to recover their
+independence. This the Persian government considered as aiding and
+abetting a rebellion. In the second, the Persians under Datis, one of
+Darius's generals, had undertaken a grand invasion of Greece, and, after
+landing in the neighborhood of Athens, were beaten, with immense
+slaughter, at the great battle of Marathon, near that city. The former
+of these wars is known in history as the Ionian rebellion; the latter as
+the first Persian invasion of Greece. They had both occurred during the
+reign of Darius, and the invasion under Datis had taken place not many
+years before the accession of Xerxes, so that a great number of the
+officers who had served in that campaign were still remaining in the
+court and army of Xerxes at Susa. These wars had, however, both been
+terminated, and Artabanus was very little inclined to have the contests
+renewed.
+
+Xerxes, however, was bent upon making one more attempt to conquer
+Greece, and when the time arrived for commencing his preparations, he
+called a grand council of the generals, the nobles, and the potentates
+of the realm, to lay his plans before them. The historian who narrated
+these proceedings recorded the debate that ensued in the following
+manner.
+
+Xerxes himself first addressed the assembly, to announce and explain his
+designs.
+
+"The enterprise, my friends," said he, "in which I propose now to
+engage, and in which I am about to ask your co-operation, is no new
+scheme of my own devising. What I design to do is, on the other hand,
+only the carrying forward of the grand course of measures marked out by
+my predecessors, and pursued by them with steadiness and energy, so long
+as the power remained in their hands. That power has now descended to
+me, and with it has devolved the responsibility of finishing the work
+which they so successfully began.
+
+"It is the manifest destiny of Persia to rule the world. From the time
+that Cyrus first commenced the work of conquest by subduing Media, to
+the present day, the extent of our empire has been continually widening,
+until now it covers all of Asia and Africa, with the exception of the
+remote and barbarous tribes, that, like the wild beasts which share
+their forests with them, are not worth the trouble of subduing. These
+vast conquests have been made by the courage, the energy, and the
+military power of Cyrus, Darius, and Cambyses, my renowned
+predecessors. They, on their part, have subdued Asia and Africa; Europe
+remains. It devolves on me to finish what they have begun. Had my father
+lived, he would, himself, have completed the work. He had already made
+great preparations for the undertaking; but he died, leaving the task to
+me, and it is plain that I can not hesitate to undertake it without a
+manifest dereliction of duty.
+
+"You all remember the unprovoked and wanton aggressions which the
+Athenians committed against us in the time of the Ionian rebellion,
+taking part against us with rebels and enemies. They crossed the Ægean
+Sea on that occasion, invaded our territories, and at last captured and
+burned the city of Sardis, the principal capital of our Western empire.
+I will never rest until I have had my revenge by burning Athens. Many of
+you, too, who are here present, remember the fate of the expedition
+under Datis. Those of you who were attached to that expedition will have
+no need that I should urge you to seek revenge for your own wrongs. I am
+sure that you will all second my undertaking with the utmost fidelity
+and zeal.
+
+"My plan for gaining access to the Grecian territories is not, as
+before, to convey the troops by a fleet of galleys over the Ægean Sea,
+but to build a bridge across the Hellespont, and march the army to
+Greece by land. This course, which I am well convinced is practicable,
+will be more safe than the other, and the bridging of the Hellespont
+will be of itself a glorious deed. The Greeks will be utterly unable to
+resist the enormous force which we shall be able to pour upon them. We
+can not but conquer; and inasmuch as beyond the Greek territories there
+is, as I am informed, no other power at all able to cope with us, we
+shall easily extend our empire on every side to the sea, and thus the
+Persian dominion will cover the whole habitable world.
+
+"I am sure that I can rely on your cordial and faithful co-operation in
+these plans, and that each one of you will bring me, from his own
+province or territories, as large a quota of men, and of supplies for
+the war, as is in his power. They who contribute thus most liberally I
+shall consider as entitled to the highest honors and rewards."
+
+Such was, in substance, the address of Xerxes to his council. He
+concluded by saying that it was not his wish to act in the affair in an
+arbitrary or absolute manner, and he invited all present to express,
+with perfect freedom, any opinions or views which they entertained in
+respect to the enterprise.
+
+While Xerxes had been speaking, the soul of Mardonius had been on fire
+with excitement and enthusiasm, and every word which the king had
+uttered only fanned the flame. He rose immediately when the king gave
+permission to the counselors to speak, and earnestly seconded the
+monarch's proposals in the following words:
+
+"For my part, sire, I can not refrain from expressing my high admiration
+of the lofty spirit and purpose on your part, which leads you to propose
+to us an enterprise so worthy of your illustrious station and exalted
+personal renown. Your position and power at the present time are higher
+than those ever attained by any human sovereign that has ever lived; and
+it is easy to foresee that there is a career of glory before you which
+no future monarch can ever surpass. You are about to complete the
+conquest of the world! That exploit can, of course, never be exceeded.
+We all admire the proud spirit on your part which will not submit tamely
+to the aggressions and insults which we have received from the Greeks.
+We have conquered the people of India, of Egypt, of Ethiopia, and of
+Assyria, and that, too, without having previously suffered any injury
+from them, but solely from a noble love of dominion; and shall we tamely
+stop in our career when we see nations opposed to us from whom we have
+received so many insults, and endured so many wrongs? Every
+consideration of honor and manliness forbids it.
+
+"We have nothing to fear in respect to the success of the enterprise in
+which you invite us to engage. I know the Greeks, and I know that they
+can not stand against our arms. I have encountered them many times and
+in various ways. I met them in the provinces of Asia Minor, and you all
+know the result. I met them during the reign of Darius your father, in
+Macedon and Thrace--or, rather, sought to meet them; for, though I
+marched through the country, the enemy always avoided me. They could not
+be found. They have a great name, it is true; but, in fact, all their
+plans and arrangements are governed by imbecility and folly. They are
+not ever united among themselves. As they speak one common language, any
+ordinary prudence and sagacity would lead them to combine together, and
+make common cause against the nations that surround them. Instead of
+this, they are divided into a multitude of petty states and kingdoms,
+and all their resources and power are exhausted in fruitless contentions
+with each other. I am convinced that, once across the Hellespont, we can
+march to Athens without finding any enemy to oppose our progress; or, if
+we should encounter any resisting force, it will be so small and
+insignificant as to be instantly overwhelmed."
+
+In one point Mardonius was nearly right in his predictions, since it
+proved subsequently, as will hereafter be seen, that when the Persian
+army reached the pass of Thermopylæ, which was the great avenue of
+entrance, on the north, into the territories of the Greeks, they found
+only three hundred men ready there to oppose their passage!
+
+When Mardonius had concluded his speech, he sat down, and quite a solemn
+pause ensued. The nobles and chieftains generally were less ready than
+he to encounter the hazards and uncertainties of so distant a campaign.
+Xerxes would acquire, by the success of the enterprise, a great
+accession to his wealth and to his dominion, and Mardonius, too, might
+expect to reap very rich rewards; but what were they themselves to
+gain? They did not dare, however, to seem to oppose the wishes of the
+king, and, notwithstanding the invitation which he had given them to
+speak, they remained silent, not knowing, in fact, exactly what to say.
+
+All this time Artabanus, the venerable uncle of Xerxes, sat silent like
+the rest, hesitating whether his years, his rank, and the relation which
+he sustained to the young monarch would justify his interposing, and
+make it prudent and safe for him to attempt to warn his nephew of the
+consequences which he would hazard by indulging his dangerous ambition.
+At length he determined to speak.
+
+"I hope," said he, addressing the king, "that it will not displease you
+to have other views presented in addition to those which have already
+been expressed. It is better that all opinions should be heard; the just
+and the true will then appear the more just and true by comparison with
+others. It seems to me that the enterprise which you contemplate is full
+of danger, and should be well considered before it is undertaken. When
+Darius, your father, conceived of the plan of his invasion of the
+country of the Scythians beyond the Danube, I counseled him against the
+attempt. The benefits to be secured by such an undertaking seemed to me
+wholly insufficient to compensate for the expense, the difficulties, and
+the dangers of it. My counsels were, however, overruled. Your father
+proceeded on the enterprise. He crossed the Bosporus, traversed Thrace,
+and then crossed the Danube; but, after a long and weary contest with
+the hordes of savages which he found in those trackless wilds, he was
+forced to abandon the undertaking, and return, with the loss of half his
+army. The plan which you propose seems to me to be liable to the same
+dangers, and I fear very much that it will lead to the same results.
+
+"The Greeks have the name of being a valiant and formidable foe. It may
+prove in the end that they are so. They certainly repulsed Datis and all
+his forces, vast as they were, and compelled them to retire with an
+enormous loss. Your invasion, I grant, will be more formidable than his.
+You will throw a bridge across the Hellespont, so as to take your troops
+round through the northern parts of Europe into Greece, and you will
+also, at the same time, have a powerful fleet in the Ægean Sea. But it
+must be remembered that the naval armaments of the Greeks in all those
+waters are very formidable. They may attack and destroy your fleet.
+Suppose that they should do so, and that then, proceeding to the
+northward in triumph, they should enter the Hellespont and destroy your
+bridge? Your retreat would be cut off, and, in case of a reverse of
+fortune, your army would be exposed to total ruin.
+
+"Your father, in fact, very narrowly escaped precisely this fate. The
+Scythians came to destroy his bridge across the Danube while his forces
+were still beyond the river, and, had it not been for the very
+extraordinary fidelity and zeal of Histiæus, who had been left to guard
+the post, they would have succeeded in doing it. It is frightful to
+think that the whole Persian army, with the sovereign of the empire at
+their head, were placed in a position where their being saved from
+overwhelming and total destruction depended solely on the fidelity and
+firmness of a single man! Should you place your forces and your own
+person in the same danger, can you safely calculate upon the same
+fortunate escape?
+
+"Even the very vastness of your force may be the means of insuring and
+accelerating its destruction, since whatever rises to extraordinary
+elevation and greatness is always exposed to dangers correspondingly
+extraordinary and great. Thus tall trees and lofty towers seem always
+specially to invite the thunderbolts of Heaven.
+
+"Mardonius charges the Greeks with a want of sagacity, efficiency, and
+valor, and speaks contemptuously of them, as soldiers, in every respect.
+I do not think that such imputations are just to the people against whom
+they are directed, or honorable to him who makes them. To disparage the
+absent, especially an absent enemy, is not magnanimous or wise; and I
+very much fear that it will be found in the end that the conduct of the
+Greeks will evince very different military qualities from those which
+Mardonius has assigned them. They are represented by common fame as
+sagacious, hardy, efficient, and brave, and it may prove that these
+representations are true.
+
+"My counsel therefore is, that you dismiss this assembly, and take
+further time to consider this subject before coming to a final decision.
+Perhaps, on more mature reflection, you will conclude to abandon the
+project altogether. If you should not conclude to abandon it, but should
+decide, on the other hand, that it must be prosecuted, let me entreat
+you not to go yourself in company with the expedition. Let Mardonius
+take the charge and the responsibility. If he does so, I predict that he
+will leave the dead bodies of the soldiers that you intrust to him, to
+be devoured by dogs on the plains of Athens or Lacedæmon."
+
+Xerxes was exceedingly displeased at hearing such a speech as this from
+his uncle, and he made a very angry reply. He accused Artabanus of
+meanness of spirit, and of a cowardice disgraceful to his rank and
+station, in thus advocating a tame submission to the arrogant
+pretensions of the Greeks. Were it not, he said, for the respect which
+he felt for Artabanus, as his father's brother, he would punish him
+severely for his presumption in thus basely opposing his sovereign's
+plans. "As it is," continued he, "I will carry my plans into effect, but
+you shall not have the honor of accompanying me. You shall remain at
+Susa with the women and children of the palace, and spend your time in
+the effeminate and ignoble pleasures suited to a spirit so mean. As for
+myself, I must and will carry my designs into execution. I could not, in
+fact, long avoid a contest with the Greeks, even if I were to adopt the
+cowardly and degrading policy which you recommend; for I am confident
+that they will very soon invade my dominions, if I do not anticipate
+them by invading theirs."
+
+So saying, Xerxes dismissed the assembly.
+
+His mind, however, was not at ease. Though he had so indignantly
+rejected the counsel which Artabanus had offered him, yet the impressive
+words in which it had been uttered, and the arguments with which it had
+been enforced, weighed upon his spirit, and oppressed and dejected him.
+The longer he considered the subject, the more serious his doubts and
+fears became, until at length, as the night approached, he became
+convinced that Artabanus was right, and that he himself was wrong. His
+mind found no rest until he came to the determination to abandon the
+project after all. He resolved to make this change in his resolution
+known to Artabanus and his nobles in the morning, and to countermand the
+orders which he had given for the assembling of the troops. Having by
+this decision restored something like repose to his agitated mind, he
+laid himself down upon his couch and went to sleep.
+
+In the night he saw a vision. It seemed to him that a resplendent and
+beautiful form appeared before him, and after regarding him a moment
+with an earnest look, addressed him as follows:
+
+"And do you really intend to abandon your deliberate design of leading
+an array into Greece, after having formally announced it to the realm
+and issued your orders? Such fickleness is absurd, and will greatly
+dishonor you. Resume your plan, and go on boldly and perseveringly to
+the execution of it."
+
+So saying, the vision disappeared.
+
+When Xerxes awoke in the morning, and the remembrance of the events of
+the preceding day returned, mingling itself with the new impressions
+which had been made by the dream, he was again agitated and perplexed.
+As, however, the various influences which pressed upon him settled to
+their final equilibrium, the fears produced by Artabanus's substantial
+arguments and warnings on the preceding day proved to be of greater
+weight than the empty appeal to his pride which had been made by the
+phantom of the night. He resolved to persist in the abandonment of his
+scheme. He called his council, accordingly, together again, and told
+them that, on more mature reflection, he had become convinced that his
+uncle was right and that he himself had been wrong. The project,
+therefore, was for the present suspended, and the orders for the
+assembling of the forces were revoked. The announcement was received by
+the members of the council with the most tumultuous joy.
+
+That night Xerxes had another dream. The same spirit appeared to him
+again, his countenance, however, bearing now, instead of the friendly
+look of the preceding night, a new and stern expression of displeasure.
+Pointing menacingly at the frightened monarch with his finger, he
+exclaimed, "You have rejected my advice; you have abandoned your plan;
+and now I declare to you that, unless you immediately resume your
+enterprise and carry it forward to the end, short as has been the time
+since you were raised to your present elevation, a still shorter period
+shall elapse before your downfall and destruction."
+
+The spirit then disappeared as suddenly as it came, leaving Xerxes to
+awake in an agony of terror.
+
+As soon as it was day, Xerxes sent for Artabanus, and related to him his
+dreams. "I was willing," said he, "after hearing what you said, and
+maturely considering the subject, to give up my plan; but these dreams,
+I can not but think, are intimations from Heaven that I ought to
+proceed."
+
+Artabanus attempted to combat this idea by representing to Xerxes that
+dreams were not to be regarded as indications of the will of Heaven, but
+only as a vague and disordered reproduction of the waking thoughts,
+while the regular action of the reason and the judgment by which they
+were ordinarily controlled was suspended or disturbed by the influence
+of slumber. Xerxes maintained, on the other hand, that, though this view
+of the case might explain his first vision, the solemn repetition of the
+warning proved that it was supernatural and divine. He proposed that, to
+put the reality of the apparition still further to the test, Artabanus
+should take his place on the royal couch the next night, to see if the
+specter would not appear to him. "You shall clothe yourself," said he,
+"in my robes, put the crown upon your head, and take your seat upon the
+throne. After that, you shall retire to my apartment, lie down upon the
+couch, and go to sleep. If the vision is supernatural, it will
+undoubtedly appear to you. If it does not so appear, I will admit that
+it was nothing but a dream."
+
+Artabanus made some objection, at first, to the details of the
+arrangement which Xerxes proposed, as he did not see, he said, of what
+advantage it could be for him to assume the guise and habiliments of the
+king. If the vision was divine, it could not be deceived by such
+artifices as those. Xerxes, however, insisted on his proposition, and
+Artabanus yielded. He assumed for an hour the dress and the station of
+the king, and then retired to the king's apartment, and laid himself
+down upon the couch under the royal pavilion. As he had no faith in the
+reality of the vision, his mind was quiet and composed, and he soon fell
+asleep.
+
+At midnight, Xerxes, who was lying in an adjoining apartment, was
+suddenly aroused by a loud and piercing cry from the room where
+Artabanus was sleeping, and in a moment afterward Artabanus himself
+rushed in, perfectly wild with terror. He had seen the vision. It had
+appeared before him with a countenance and gestures expressive of great
+displeasure, and after loading him with reproaches for having attempted
+to keep Xerxes back from his proposed expedition into Greece, it
+attempted to bore out his eyes with a red-hot iron with which it was
+armed. Artabanus had barely succeeded in escaping by leaping from his
+couch and rushing precipitately out of the room.[D]
+
+[Footnote D: See Frontispiece.]
+
+Artabanus said that he was now convinced and satisfied. It was plainly
+the divine will that Xerxes should undertake his projected invasion, and
+he would himself, thenceforth, aid the enterprise by every means in his
+power. The council was, accordingly, once more convened. The story of
+the three apparitions was related to them, and the final decision
+announced that the armies were to be assembled for the march without any
+further delay.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is proper here to repeat, once for all in this volume, a remark which
+has elsewhere often been made in the various works of this series, that
+in studying ancient history at the present day, it is less important now
+to know, in regard to transactions so remote, what the facts actually
+were which really occurred, than it is to know the story respecting
+them, which, for the last two thousand years, has been in circulation
+among mankind. It is now, for example, of very little consequence
+whether there ever was or never was such a personage as Hercules, but it
+is essential that every educated man should know the story which
+ancient writers tell in relating his doings. In this view of the case,
+our object, in this volume, is simply to give the history of Xerxes just
+as it stands, without stopping to separate the false from the true. In
+relating the occurrences, therefore, which have been described in this
+chapter, we simply give the alleged facts to our readers precisely as
+the ancient historians give them to us, leaving each reader to decide
+for himself how far he will believe the narrative. In respect to this
+particular story, we will add, that some people think that Mardonius was
+really the ghost by whose appearance Artabanus and Xerxes were so
+dreadfully frightened.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE.
+
+B.C. 481
+
+Orders to the provinces.--Mode of raising money.--Modern mode of
+securing supplies of arms and money.--Xerxes's preparations.--Four years
+allotted to them.--Arms.--Provisions.--Building of ships.--Persian
+possessions on the north of the Ægean Sea.--Promontory of Mount
+Athos.--Dangerous navigation.--Plan of Xerxes for the march of his
+expedition.--Former shipwreck of Mardonius.--Terrible gale.--Destruction
+of Mardonius's fleet at Mount Athos.--Plan of a canal.--The Greeks do
+not interfere.--Plans of the engineers.--Prosecution of the work.--The
+Strymon bridged.--Granaries and store-houses.--Xerxes leaves Susa, and
+begins his march.--The Meander.--Celænæ.--Pythius.--The wealth of
+Pythius.--His interview with Xerxes.--The amount of Pythius's
+wealth.--His offer to Xerxes.--Gratification of Xerxes.--His reply to
+Pythius's offer.--Real character of Pythius.--The entertainment of
+silver and gold.--Xerxes's gratitude put to the test.--He murders
+Pythius's son.--Various objects of interest observed by the army.--The
+plane-tree.--Artificial honey.--Salt lake.--Gold and silver
+mines.--Xerxes summons the Greeks to surrender.--They indignantly
+refuse.
+
+
+As soon as the invasion of Greece was finally decided upon, the orders
+were transmitted to all the provinces of the empire, requiring the
+various authorities and powers to make the necessary preparations. There
+were men to be levied, arms to be manufactured, ships to be built, and
+stores of food to be provided. The expenditures, too, of so vast an
+armament as Xerxes was intending to organize, would require a large
+supply of money. For all these things Xerxes relied on the revenues and
+the contributions of the provinces, and orders, very full and very
+imperative, were transmitted, accordingly, to all the governors and
+satraps of Asia, and especially to those who ruled over the countries
+which lay near the western confines of the empire, and consequently near
+the Greek frontiers.
+
+In modern times it is the practice of powerful nations to accumulate
+arms and munitions of war on storage in arsenals and naval depôts, so
+that the necessary supplies for very extended operations, whether of
+attack or defense, can be procured in a very short period of time. In
+respect to funds, too, modern nations have a great advantage over those
+of former days, in case of any sudden emergency arising to call for
+great and unusual expenditures. In consequence of the vast accumulation
+of capital in the hands of private individuals, and the confidence which
+is felt in the mercantile honor and good faith of most established
+governments at the present day, these governments can procure indefinite
+supplies of gold and silver at any time, by promising to pay an annual
+interest in lieu of the principal borrowed. It is true that, in these
+cases, a stipulation is made, by which the government may, at a certain
+specified period, pay back the principal, and so extinguish the annuity;
+but in respect to a vast portion of the amount so borrowed, it is not
+expected that this repayment will ever be made. The creditors, in fact,
+do not desire that it should be, as owners of property always prefer a
+safe annual income from it to the custody of the principal; and thus
+governments in good credit have sometimes induced their creditors to
+abate the rate of interest which they were receiving, by threatening
+otherwise to pay the debt in full.
+
+These inventions, however, by which a government in one generation may
+enjoy the pleasure and reap the glory of waging war, and throw the
+burden of the expense on another, were not known in ancient times.
+Xerxes did not understand the art of funding a national debt, and there
+would, besides, have probably been very little confidence in Persian
+stocks, if any had been issued. He had to raise all his funds by actual
+taxation, and to have his arms, and his ships and chariots of war,
+manufactured express. The food, too, to sustain the immense army which
+he was to raise, was all to be produced, and store-houses were to be
+built for the accumulation and custody of it. All this, as might
+naturally be expected, would require time; and the vastness of the scale
+on which these immense preparations were made is evinced by the fact
+that _four years_ were the time allotted for completing them. This
+period includes, however, a considerable time before the great debate on
+the subject described in the last chapter.
+
+The chief scene of activity, during all this time, was the tract of
+country in the western part of Asia Minor, and along the shores of the
+Ægean Sea. Taxes and contributions were raised from all parts of the
+empire, but the actual material of war was furnished mainly from those
+provinces which were nearest to the future scene of it. Each district
+provided such things as it naturally and most easily produced. One
+contributed horses, another arms and ammunition, another ships, and
+another provisions. The ships which were built were of various forms and
+modes of construction, according to the purposes which they were
+respectively intended to serve. Some were strictly ships of war,
+intended for actual combat; others were transports, their destination
+being simply the conveyance of troops or of military stores. There were
+also a large number of vessels, which were built on a peculiar model,
+prescribed by the engineers, being very long and straight-sided, and
+smooth and flat upon their decks. These were intended for the bridge
+across the Hellespont. They were made long, so that, when placed side by
+side across the stream, a greater breadth might be given to the platform
+of the bridge. All these things were very deliberately and carefully
+planned.
+
+Although it was generally on the Asiatic side of the Ægean Sea that
+these vast works of preparation were going on, and the crossing of the
+Hellespont was to be the first great movement of the Persian army, the
+reader must not suppose that, even at this time, the European shores
+were wholly in the hands of the Greeks. The Persians had, long before,
+conquered Thrace and a part of Macedon; and thus the northern shores of
+the Ægean Sea, and many of the islands, were already in Xerxes's hands.
+The Greek dominions lay further south, and Xerxes did not anticipate any
+opposition from the enemy, until his army, after crossing the strait,
+should have advanced to the neighborhood of Athens. In fact, all the
+northern country through which his route would lie was already in his
+hands, and in passing through it he anticipated no difficulties except
+such as should arise from the elements themselves, and the physical
+obstacles of the way. The Hellespont itself was, of course, one
+principal point of danger. The difficulty here was to be surmounted by
+the bridge of boats. There was, however, another point, which was, in
+some respects, still more formidable: it was the promontory of Mount
+Athos.
+
+By looking at the map of Greece, placed at the commencement of the next
+chapter, the reader will see that there are two or three singular
+promontories jutting out from the main land in the northwestern part of
+the Ægean Sea. The most northerly and the largest of these was formed by
+an immense mountainous mass rising out of the water, and connected by a
+narrow isthmus with the main land. The highest summit of this rocky pile
+was called Mount Athos in ancient times, and is so marked upon the map.
+In modern days it is called Monte Santo, or Holy Mountain, being covered
+with monasteries, and convents, and other ecclesiastical establishments
+built in the Middle Ages.
+
+Mount Athos is very celebrated in ancient history. It extended along the
+promontory for many miles, and terminated abruptly in lofty cliffs and
+precipices toward the sea, where it was so high that its shadow, as was
+said, was thrown, at sunset, across the water to the island of Lemnos, a
+distance of twenty leagues. It was a frightful specter in the eyes of
+the ancient navigators, when, as they came coasting along from the north
+in their frail galleys, on their voyages to Greece and Italy, they saw
+it frowning defiance to them as they came, with threatening clouds
+hanging upon its summit, and the surges and surf of the Ægean
+perpetually thundering upon its base below. To make this stormy
+promontory the more terrible, it was believed to be the haunt of
+innumerable uncouth and misshapen monsters of the sea, that lived by
+devouring the hapless seamen who were thrown upon the rocks from their
+wrecked vessels by the merciless tumult of the waves.
+
+The plan which Xerxes had formed for the advance of his expedition was,
+that the army which was to cross the Hellespont by the bridge should
+advance thence through Macedonia and Thessaly, by land, attended by a
+squadron of ships, transports, and galleys, which was to accompany the
+expedition along the coast by sea. The _men_ could be marched more
+conveniently to their place of destination by land. The stores, on the
+other hand, the arms, the supplies, and the baggage of every
+description, could be transported more easily by sea. Mardonius was
+somewhat solicitous in respect to the safety of the great squadron which
+would be required for this latter service, in doubling the promontory of
+Mount Athos.
+
+In fact, he had special and personal reason for his solicitude, for he
+had himself, some years before, met with a terrible disaster at this
+very spot. It was during the reign of Darius that this disaster
+occurred. On one of the expeditions which Darius had intrusted to his
+charge, he was conducting a very large fleet along the coast, when a
+sudden storm arose just as he was approaching this terrible promontory.
+
+He was on the northern side of the promontory when the storm came on,
+and as the wind was from the north, it blew directly upon the shore. For
+the fleet to make its escape from the impending danger, it seemed
+necessary, therefore, to turn the course of the ships back against the
+wind; but this, on account of the sudden and terrific violence of the
+gale, it was impossible to do. The sails, when they attempted to use
+them, were blown away by the howling gusts, and the oars were broken to
+pieces by the tremendous dashing of the sea. It soon appeared that the
+only hope of escape for the squadron was to press on in the desperate
+attempt to double the promontory, and thus gain, if possible, the
+sheltered water under its lee. The galleys, accordingly, went on, the
+pilots and the seamen exerting their utmost to keep them away from the
+shore.
+
+All their efforts, however, to do this, were vain. The merciless gales
+drove the vessels, one after another, upon the rocks, and dashed them to
+pieces, while the raging sea wrenched the wretched mariners from the
+wrecks to which they attempted to cling, and tossed them out into the
+boiling whirlpools around, to the monsters that were ready there to
+devour them, as if she were herself some ferocious monster, feeding her
+offspring with their proper prey. A few, it is true, of the hapless
+wretches succeeded in extricating themselves from the surf, by crawling
+up upon the rocks, through the tangled sea-weed, until they were above
+the reach of the surges; but when they had done so, they found
+themselves hopelessly imprisoned between the impending precipices which
+frowned above them and the frantic billows which were raging and roaring
+below. They gained, of course, by their apparent escape, only a brief
+prolongation of suffering, for they all soon miserably perished from
+exhaustion, exposure, and cold.
+
+Mardonius had no desire to encounter this danger again. Now the
+promontory of Mount Athos, though high and rocky itself, was connected
+with the main land by an isthmus level and low, and not very broad.
+Xerxes determined on cutting a canal through this isthmus, so as to take
+his fleet of galleys across the neck, and thus avoid the stormy
+navigation of the outward passage. Such a canal would be of service not
+merely for the passage of the great fleet, but for the constant
+communication which it would be necessary for Xerxes to maintain with
+his own dominions during the whole period of the invasion.
+
+It might have been expected that the Greeks would have interfered to
+prevent the execution of such a work as this; but it seems that they did
+not, and yet there was a considerable Greek population in that vicinity.
+The promontory of Athos itself was quite extensive, being about thirty
+miles long and four or five wide, and it had several towns upon it. The
+canal which Xerxes was to cut across the neck of this peninsula was to
+be wide enough for two triremes to pass each other. Triremes were
+galleys propelled by three banks of oars, and were vessels of the
+largest class ordinarily employed; and as the oars by which they were
+impelled required almost as great a breadth of water as the vessels
+themselves, the canal was, consequently, to be very wide.
+
+The engineers, accordingly, laid out the ground, and, marking the
+boundaries by stakes and lines, as guides to the workmen, the excavation
+was commenced. Immense numbers of men were set at work, arranged
+regularly in gangs, according to the various nations which furnished
+them. As the excavation gradually proceeded, and the trench began to
+grow deep, they placed ladders against the sides, and stationed a series
+of men upon them; then the earth dug from the bottom was hauled up from
+one to another, in a sort of basket or hod, until it reached the top,
+where it was taken by other men and conveyed away.
+
+The work was very much interrupted and impeded, in many parts of the
+line, by the continual caving in of the banks, on account of the workmen
+attempting to dig perpendicularly down. In one section--the one which
+had been assigned to the Phoenicians--this difficulty did not occur; for
+the Phoenicians, more considerate than the rest, had taken the
+precaution to make the breadth of their part of the trench twice as
+great at the top as it was below. By this means the banks on each side
+were formed to a gradual slope, and consequently stood firm. The canal
+was at length completed, and the water was let in.
+
+North of the promontory of Mount Athos the reader will find upon the map
+the River Strymon, flowing south, not far from the boundary between
+Macedon and Thrace, into the Ægean Sea. The army of Xerxes, in its march
+from the Hellespont, would, of course, have to cross this river; and
+Xerxes having, by cutting the canal across the isthmus of Mount Athos,
+removed an obstacle in the way of his fleet, resolved next to facilitate
+the progress of his army by bridging the Strymon.
+
+The king also ordered a great number of granaries and store-houses to be
+built at various points along the route which it was intended that his
+army should pursue. Some of these were on the coasts of Macedonia and
+Thrace, and some on the banks of the Strymon. To these magazines the
+corn raised in Asia for the use of the expedition was conveyed, from
+time to time, in transport ships, as fast as it was ready, and, being
+safely deposited, was protected by a guard. No very extraordinary means
+of defense seems to have been thought necessary at these points, for,
+although the scene of all these preliminary arrangements was on the
+European side of the line, and in what was called Greek territory, still
+this part of the country had been long under Persian dominion. The
+independent states and cities of Greece were all further south, and the
+people who inhabited them did not seem disposed to interrupt these
+preparations. Perhaps they were not aware to what object and end all
+these formidable movements on their northern frontier were tending.
+
+Xerxes, during all this time, had remained in Persia. The period at
+length arrived when, his preparations on the frontiers being far
+advanced toward completion, he concluded to move forward at the head of
+his forces to Sardis. Sardis was the great capital of the western part
+of his dominions, and was situated not far from the frontier. He
+accordingly assembled his forces, and, taking leave of his capital of
+Susa with much parade and many ceremonies, he advanced toward Asia
+Minor. Entering and traversing Asia Minor, he crossed the Halys, which
+had been, in former times, the western boundary of the empire, though
+its limits had now been extended very far beyond. Having crossed the
+Halys, the immense procession advanced into Phrygia.
+
+A very romantic tale is told of an interview between Xerxes and a
+certain nobleman named Pythius, who resided in one of the Phrygian
+towns. The circumstances were these: After crossing the Halys, which
+river flows north into the Euxine Sea, the army went on to the westward
+through nearly the whole extent of Phrygia, until at length they came to
+the sources of the streams which flowed west into the Ægean Sea. One of
+the most remarkable of these rivers was the Meander. There was a town
+built exactly at the source of the Meander--so exactly, in fact, that
+the fountain from which the stream took its rise was situated in the
+public square of the town, walled in and ornamented like an artificial
+fountain in a modern city. The name of this town was Celænæ.
+
+When the army reached Celænæ and encamped there, Pythius made a great
+entertainment for the officers, which, as the number was very large, was
+of course attended with an enormous expense. Not satisfied with this,
+Pythius sent word to the king that if he was, in any respect, in want of
+funds for his approaching campaign, he, Pythius, would take great
+pleasure in supplying him.
+
+Xerxes was surprised at such proofs of wealth and munificence from a
+man in comparatively a private station. He inquired of his attendants
+who Pythius was. They replied that, next to Xerxes himself, he was the
+richest man in the world. They said, moreover, that he was as generous
+as he was rich. He had made Darius a present of a beautiful model of a
+fruit-tree and of a vine, of solid gold. He was by birth, they added, a
+Lydian.
+
+Lydia was west of Phrygia, and was famous for its wealth. The River
+Pactolus, which was so celebrated for its golden sands, flowed through
+the country, and as the princes and nobles contrived to monopolize the
+treasures which were found, both in the river itself and in the
+mountains from which it flowed, some of them became immensely wealthy.
+
+Xerxes was astonished at the accounts which he heard of Pythius's
+fortune. He sent for him, and asked him what was the amount of his
+treasures. This was rather an ominous question; for, under such despotic
+governments as those of the Persian kings, the only real safeguard of
+wealth was, often, the concealment of it. Inquiry on the part of a
+government, in respect to treasures accumulated by a subject, was,
+often, only a preliminary to the seizure and confiscation of them.
+
+Pythius, however, in reply to the king's question, said that he had no
+hesitation in giving his majesty full information in respect to his
+fortune. He had been making, he said, a careful calculation of the
+amount of it, with a view of determining how much he could offer to
+contribute in aid of the Persian campaign. He found, he said, that he
+had two thousand talents of silver, and four millions, wanting seven
+thousand, of _staters_ of gold.
+
+The stater was a Persian coin. Even if we knew, at the present day, its
+exact value, we could not determine the precise amount denoted by the
+sum which Pythius named, the value of money being subject to such vast
+fluctuations in different ages of the world. Scholars who have taken an
+interest in inquiring into such points as these, have come to the
+conclusion that the amount of gold and silver coin which Pythius thus
+reported to Xerxes was equal to about thirty millions of dollars.
+
+Pythius added, after stating the amount of the gold and silver which he
+had at command, that it was all at the service of the king for the
+purpose of carrying on the war. He had, he said, besides his money,
+slaves and farms enough for his own maintenance.
+
+Xerxes was extremely gratified at this generosity, and at the proof
+which it afforded of the interest which Pythius felt in the cause of the
+king. "You are the only man," said he, "who has offered hospitality to
+me or to my army since I set out upon this march, and, in addition to
+your hospitality, you tender me your whole fortune. I will not, however,
+deprive you of your treasure. I will, on the contrary, order my
+treasurer to pay to you the seven thousand staters necessary to make
+your four millions complete. I offer you also my friendship, and will do
+any thing in my power, now and hereafter, to serve you. Continue to live
+in the enjoyment of your fortune. If you always act under the influence
+of the noble and generous impulses which govern you now, you will never
+cease to be prosperous and happy."
+
+If we could end the account of Pythius and Xerxes here, what generous
+and noble-minded men we might suppose them to be! But alas! how large a
+portion of the apparent generosity and nobleness which shows itself
+among potentates and kings, turns into selfishness and hypocrisy when
+closely examined. Pythius was one of the most merciless tyrants that
+ever lived. He held all the people that lived upon his vast estates in
+a condition of abject slavery, compelling them to toil continually in
+his mines, in destitution and wretchedness, in order to add more and
+more to his treasures. The people came to his wife with their bitter
+complaints. She pitied them, but could not relieve them. One day, it is
+said that, in order to show her husband the vanity and folly of living
+only to amass silver and gold, and to convince him how little real power
+such treasures have to satisfy the wants of the human soul, she made him
+a great entertainment, in which there was a boundless profusion of
+wealth in the way of vessels and furniture of silver and gold, but
+scarcely any food. There was every thing to satisfy the eye with the
+sight of magnificence, but nothing to satisfy hunger. The noble guest
+sat starving in the midst of a scene of unexampled riches and splendor,
+because it was not possible to _eat_ silver and gold.
+
+And as for Xerxes's professions of gratitude and friendship for Pythius,
+they were put to the test, a short time after the transactions which we
+have above described, in a remarkable manner. Pythius had five sons.
+They were all in Xerxes's army. By their departure on the distant and
+dangerous expedition on which Xerxes was to lead them, their father
+would be left alone. Pythius, under these circumstances, resolved to
+venture so far on the sincerity of his sovereign's professions of regard
+as to request permission to retain one of his sons at home with his
+father, on condition of freely giving up the rest.
+
+Xerxes, on hearing this proposal, was greatly enraged. "How dare you,"
+said he, "come to me with such a demand? You and all that pertain to you
+are my slaves, and are bound to do my bidding without a murmur. You
+deserve the severest punishment for such an insolent request. In
+consideration, however, of your past good behavior, I will not inflict
+upon you what you deserve. I will only kill one of your sons--the one
+that you seem to cling to so fondly. I will spare the rest." So saying,
+the enraged king ordered the son whom Pythius had endeavored to retain
+to be slain before his eyes, and then directed that the dead body should
+be split in two, and the two halves thrown, the one on the right side of
+the road and the other on the left, that his army, as he said, might
+"march between them."
+
+On leaving Phrygia, the army moved on toward the west. Their immediate
+destination as has already been said, was Sardis, where they were to
+remain until the ensuing spring. The historian mentions a number of
+objects of interest which attracted the attention of Xerxes and his
+officers on this march, which mark the geographical peculiarities of the
+country, or illustrate, in some degree, the ideas and manners of the
+times.
+
+There was one town, for example, situated, not like Celænæ, where a
+river had its origin, but where one disappeared. The stream was a branch
+of the Meander. It came down from the mountains like any other mountain
+torrent, and then, at the town in question, it plunged suddenly down
+into a gulf or chasm and disappeared. It rose again at a considerable
+distance below, and thence flowed on, without any further evasions, to
+the Meander.
+
+On the confines between Phrygia and Lydia the army came to a place where
+the road divided. One branch turned toward the north, and led to Lydia;
+the other inclined to the south, and conducted to Caria. Here, too, on
+the frontier, was a monument which had been erected by Croesus, the
+great king of Lydia, who lived in Cyrus's day, to mark the eastern
+boundaries of his kingdom. The Persians were, of course, much
+interested in looking upon this ancient landmark, which designated not
+only the eastern limit of Croesus's empire, but also what was, in
+ancient times, the western limit of their own.
+
+There was a certain species of tree which grew in these countries called
+the plane-tree. Xerxes found one of these trees so large and beautiful
+that it attracted his special admiration. He took possession of it in
+his own name, and adorned it with golden chains, and set a guard over
+it. This idolization of a tree was a striking instance of the childish
+caprice and folly by which the actions of the ancient despots were so
+often governed.
+
+As the army advanced, they came to other places of interest and objects
+of curiosity and wonder. There was a district where the people made a
+sort of artificial honey from grain, and a lake from which the
+inhabitants procured salt by evaporation, and mines, too, of silver and
+of gold. These objects interested and amused the minds of the Persians
+as they moved along, without, however, at all retarding or interrupting
+their progress. In due time they reached the great city of Sardis in
+safety, and here Xerxes established his head-quarters, and awaited the
+coming of spring.
+
+In the mean time, however, he sent heralds into Greece to summon the
+country to surrender to him. This is a common formality when an army is
+about to attack either a town, a castle, or a kingdom. Xerxes's heralds
+crossed the Ægean Sea, and made their demands, in Xerxes's name, upon
+the Greek authorities. As might have been expected, the embassage was
+fruitless; and the heralds returned, bringing with them, from the
+Greeks, not acts or proffers of submission, but stern expressions of
+hostility and defiance. Nothing, of course, now remained, but that both
+parties should prepare for the impending crisis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CROSSING THE HELLESPONT.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Winter in Asia Minor.--Destruction of the bridge.--Indignation of
+Xerxes.--His ridiculous punishment of the sea.--Xerxes orders a new
+bridge to be made.--Its construction.--Mode of securing the boats.--The
+bridge finished.--Eclipse of the sun.--March from Sardis.--Order of
+march.--Car of Jupiter.--Chariot of Xerxes.--Camp followers.--Arrival at
+the plain of Troy.--The grand sacrifice.--Dejection of the army.--Mode
+of enlistment.--Condition of the soldiers.--Privations and
+hardships.--Storm on Mount Ida.--Abydos.--Parade of the troops.--Xerxes
+weeps.--The reason of it.--Comments of writers.--Remarks of
+Artabanus.--Conversation with Artabanus.--He renews his
+warnings.--Anxiety of Artabanus.--Xerxes is not convinced.--Advice of
+Artabanus in respect to employing the Ionians.--Xerxes's opinion of the
+Ionians.--Artabanus is permitted to return.--Sham sea fight.--Xerxes's
+address.--Crossing the bridge.--Preliminary ceremonies.--The order of
+march.--Movement of the fleet.--Time occupied in the passage.--Scene of
+confusion.
+
+
+Although the ancient Asia Minor was in the same latitude as New York,
+there was yet very little winter there. Snows fell, indeed, upon the
+summits of the mountains, and ice formed occasionally upon quiet
+streams, and yet, in general, the imaginations of the inhabitants, in
+forming mental images of frost and snow, sought them not in their own
+winters, but in the cold and icy regions of the north, of which,
+however, scarcely any thing was known to them except what was disclosed
+by wild and exaggerated rumors and legends.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF GREECE.]
+
+There was, however, a period of blustering winds and chilly rains which
+was called winter, and Xerxes was compelled to wait, before commencing
+his invasion, until the inclement season had passed. As it was, he did
+not wholly escape the disastrous effects of the wintery gales. A violent
+storm arose while he was at Sardis, and broke up the bridge which he had
+built across the Hellespont. When the tidings of this disaster were
+brought to Xerxes at his winter quarters, he was very much enraged.
+He was angry both with the sea for having destroyed the structure, and
+with the architects who had built it for not having made it strong
+enough to stand against its fury. He determined to punish both the waves
+and the workmen. He ordered the sea to be scourged with a monstrous
+whip, and directed that heavy chains should be thrown into it, as
+symbols of his defiance of its power, and of his determination to
+subject it to his control. The men who administered this senseless
+discipline cried out to the sea, as they did it, in the following words,
+which Xerxes had dictated to them: "Miserable monster! this is the
+punishment which Xerxes your master inflicts upon you, on account of the
+unprovoked and wanton injury you have done him. Be assured that he will
+pass over you, whether you will or no. He hates and defies you, object
+as you are, through your insatiable cruelty, and the nauseous bitterness
+of your waters, of the common abomination of mankind."
+
+As for the men who had built the bridge, which had been found thus
+inadequate to withstand the force of a wintery tempest, he ordered every
+one of them to be beheaded.
+
+The vengeance of the king being thus satisfied, a new set of engineers
+and workmen were designated and ordered to build another bridge.
+Knowing, as, of course, they now did, that their lives depended upon the
+stability of their structure, they omitted no possible precaution which
+could tend to secure it. They selected the strongest ships, and arranged
+them in positions which would best enable them to withstand the pressure
+of the current. Each vessel was secured in its place by strong anchors,
+placed scientifically in such a manner as to resist, to the best
+advantage, the force of the strain to which they would be exposed. There
+were two ranges of these vessels, extending from shore to shore,
+containing over three hundred in each. In each range one or two vessels
+were omitted, on the Asiatic side, to allow boats and galleys to pass
+through, in order to keep the communication open. These omissions did
+not interfere with the use of the bridge, as the superstructure and the
+roadway above was continued over them.
+
+The vessels which were to serve for the foundation of the bridge being
+thus arranged and secured in their places, two immense cables were made
+and stretched from shore to shore, each being fastened, at the ends,
+securely to the banks, and resting in the middle on the decks of the
+vessels. For the fastenings of these cables on the shore there were
+immense piles driven into the ground, and huge rings attached to the
+piles. The cables, as they passed along the decks of the vessels over
+the water, were secured to them all by strong cordage, so that each
+vessel was firmly and indissolubly bound to all the rest.
+
+Over these cables a platform was made of trunks of trees, with branches
+placed upon them to fill the interstices and level the surface. The
+whole was then covered with a thick stratum of earth, which made a firm
+and substantial road like that of a public highway. A high and close
+fence was also erected on each side, so as to shut off the view of the
+water, which might otherwise alarm the horses and the beasts of burden
+that were to cross with the army.
+
+When the news was brought to Xerxes at Sardis that the bridge was
+completed, and that all things were ready for the passage, he made
+arrangements for commencing his march. A circumstance, however, here
+occurred that at first alarmed him. It was no less a phenomenon than an
+eclipse of the sun. Eclipses were considered in those days as
+extraordinary and supernatural omens, and Xerxes was naturally anxious
+to know what this sudden darkness was meant to portend. He directed the
+magi to consider the subject, and to give him their opinion. Their
+answer was, that, as the sun was the guardian divinity of the Greeks,
+and the moon that of the Persians, the meaning of the sudden withdrawal
+of the light of day doubtless was, that Heaven was about to withhold its
+protection from the Greeks in the approaching struggle. Xerxes was
+satisfied with this explanation, and the preparations for the march went
+on.
+
+The movement of the grand procession from the city of Sardis was
+inconceivably splendid. First came the long trains of baggage, on mules,
+and camels, and horses, and other beasts of burden, attended by the
+drivers, and the men who had the baggage in charge. Next came an immense
+body of troops of all nations, marching irregularly, but under the
+command of the proper officers. Then, after a considerable interval,
+came a body of a thousand horse, splendidly caparisoned, and followed by
+a thousand spearmen, who marched trailing their spears upon the ground,
+in token of respect and submission to the king who was coming behind
+them.
+
+Next to these troops, and immediately in advance of the king, were
+certain religious and sacred objects and personages, on which the people
+who gazed upon this gorgeous spectacle looked with the utmost awe and
+veneration. There were, first, ten sacred horses, splendidly
+caparisoned, each led by his groom, who was clothed in appropriate
+robes, as a sort of priest officiating in the service of a god. Behind
+these came the sacred car of Jupiter. This car was very large, and
+elaborately worked, and was profusely ornamented with gold. It was drawn
+by eight white horses. No human being was allowed to set his foot upon
+any part of it, and, consequently, the reins of the horses were carried
+back, under the car, to the charioteer, who walked behind. Xerxes's own
+chariot came next, drawn by very splendid horses, selected especially
+for their size and beauty. His charioteer, a young Persian noble, sat by
+his side.
+
+Then came great bodies of troops. There was one corps of two thousand
+men, the life-guards of the king, who were armed in a very splendid and
+costly manner, to designate their high rank in the army, and the exalted
+nature of their duty as personal attendants on the sovereign. One
+thousand of these life-guards were foot soldiers, and the other
+thousand horsemen. After the life-guards came a body of ten thousand
+infantry, and after them ten thousand cavalry. This completed what was
+strictly the Persian part of the army. There was an interval of about a
+quarter of a mile in the rear of these bodies of troops, and then came a
+vast and countless multitude of servants, attendants, adventurers, and
+camp followers of every description--a confused, promiscuous,
+disorderly, and noisy throng.
+
+The immediate destination of this vast horde was Abydos; for it was
+between Sestos, on the European shore, and Abydos, on the Asiatic, that
+the bridge had been built. To reach Abydos, the route was north, through
+the province of Mysia. In their progress the guides of the army kept
+well inland, so as to avoid the indentations of the coast, and the
+various small rivers which here flow westward toward the sea. Thus
+advancing, the army passed to the right of Mount Ida, and arrived at
+last on the bank of the Scamander. Here they encamped. They were upon
+the plain of Troy.
+
+The world was filled, in those days, with the glory of the military
+exploits which had been performed, some ages before, in the siege and
+capture of Troy; and it was the custom for every military hero who
+passed the site of the city to pause in his march and spend some time
+amid the scenes of those ancient conflicts, that he might inspirit and
+invigorate his own ambition by the associations of the spot, and also
+render suitable honors to the memories of those that fell there. Xerxes
+did this. Alexander subsequently did it. Xerxes examined the various
+localities, ascended the ruins of the citadel of Priam, walked over the
+ancient battle fields, and at length, when his curiosity had thus been
+satisfied, he ordered a grand sacrifice of a thousand oxen to be made,
+and a libation of corresponding magnitude to be offered, in honor of the
+shades of the dead heroes whose deeds had consecrated the spot.
+
+Whatever excitement and exhilaration, however, Xerxes himself may have
+felt, in approaching, under these circumstances, the transit of the
+stream, where the real labors and dangers of his expedition were to
+commence, his miserable and helpless soldiers did not share them. Their
+condition and prospects were wretched in the extreme. In the first
+place, none of them went willingly. In modern times, at least in England
+and America, armies are recruited by enticing the depraved and the
+miserable to enlist, by tendering them a bounty, as it is called, that
+is, a sum of ready money, which, as a means of temporary and often
+vicious pleasure, presents a temptation they can not resist. The act of
+enlistment is, however, in a sense voluntary, so that those who have
+homes, and friends, and useful pursuits in which they are peacefully
+engaged, are not disturbed. It was not so with the soldiers of Xerxes.
+They were slaves, and had been torn from their rural homes all over the
+empire by a merciless conscription, from which there was no possible
+escape. Their life in camp, too, was comfortless and wretched. At the
+present day, when it is so much more difficult than it then was to
+obtain soldiers, and when so much more time and attention are required
+to train them to their work in the modern art of war, soldiers must be
+taken care of when obtained; but in Xerxes's day it was much easier to
+get new supplies of recruits than to incur any great expense in
+providing for the health and comfort of those already in the service.
+The arms and trappings, it is true, of such troops as were in immediate
+attendance on the king, were very splendid and gay, though this was only
+decoration, after all, and the king's decoration too, not theirs. In
+respect, however, to every thing like personal comfort, whether of food
+and of clothing, or the means of shelter and repose, the common soldiers
+were utterly destitute and wretched. They felt no interest in the
+campaign; they had nothing to hope for from its success, but a
+continuance, if their lives were spared, of the same miserable bondage
+which they had always endured. There was, however, little probability
+even of this; for whether, in the case of such an invasion, the
+aggressor was to succeed or to fail, the destiny of the soldiers
+personally was almost inevitable destruction. The mass of Xerxes's army
+was thus a mere herd of slaves, driven along by the whips of their
+officers, reluctant, wretched, and despairing.
+
+This helpless mass was overtaken one night, among the gloomy and rugged
+defiles and passes of Mount Ida, by a dreadful storm of wind and rain,
+accompanied by thunder and lightning. Unprovided as they were with the
+means of protection against such tempests, they were thrown into
+confusion, and spent the night in terror. Great numbers perished, struck
+by the lightning, or exhausted by the cold and exposure; and afterward,
+when they encamped on the plains of Troy, near the Scamander, the whole
+of the water of the stream was not enough to supply the wants of the
+soldiers and the immense herds of beasts of burden, so that many
+thousands suffered severely from thirst.
+
+All these things conspired greatly to depress the spirits of the men, so
+that, at last, when they arrived in the vicinity of Abydos, the whole
+army was in a state of extreme dejection and despair. This, however, was
+of little consequence. The repose of a master so despotic and lofty as
+Xerxes is very little disturbed by the mental sorrows of his slaves.
+Xerxes reached Abydos, and prepared to make the passage of the strait in
+a manner worthy of the grandeur of the occasion.
+
+The first thing was to make arrangements for a great parade of his
+forces, not, apparently, for the purpose of accomplishing any useful end
+of military organization in the arrangement of the troops, but to
+gratify the pride and pleasure of the sovereign with an opportunity of
+surveying them. A great white throne of marble was accordingly erected
+on an eminence not far from the shore of the Hellespont, from which
+Xerxes looked down with great complacency and pleasure, on the one hand,
+upon the long lines of troops, the countless squadrons of horsemen, the
+ranges of tents, and the vast herds of beasts of burden which were
+assembled on the land, and, on the other hand, upon the fleets of ships,
+and boats, and galleys at anchor upon the sea; while the shores of
+Europe were smiling in the distance, and the long and magnificent
+roadway which he had made lay floating upon the water, all ready to take
+his enormous armament across whenever he should issue the command.
+
+Any deep emotion of the human soul, in persons of a sensitive physical
+organization, tends to tears; and Xerxes's heart, being filled with
+exultation and pride, and with a sense of inexpressible grandeur and
+sublimity as he looked upon this scene, was softened by the pleasurable
+excitements of the hour, and though, at first his countenance was
+beaming with satisfaction and pleasure, his uncle Artabanus, who stood
+by his side, soon perceived that tears were standing in his eyes.
+Artabanus asked him what this meant. It made him sad, Xerxes replied, to
+reflect that, immensely vast as the countless multitude before him was,
+in one hundred years from that time not one of them all would be alive.
+
+The tender-heartedness which Xerxes manifested on this occasion, taken
+in connection with the stern and unrelenting tyranny which he was
+exercising over the mighty mass of humanity whose mortality he mourned,
+has drawn forth a great variety of comments from writers of every age
+who have repeated the story. Artabanus replied to it on the spot by
+saying that he did not think that the king ought to give himself too
+much uneasiness on the subject of human liability to death, for it
+happened, in a vast number of cases, that the privations and sufferings
+of men were so great, that often, in the course of their lives, they
+rather wished to die than to live; and that death was, consequently, in
+some respects, to be regarded, not as in itself a woe, but rather as the
+relief and remedy for woe.
+
+There is no doubt that this theory of Artabanus, so far as it applied to
+the unhappy soldiers of Xerxes, all marshaled before him when he uttered
+it, was eminently true.
+
+Xerxes admitted that what his uncle said was just, but it was, he said,
+a melancholy subject, and so he changed the conversation. He asked his
+uncle whether he still entertained the same doubts and fears in respect
+to the expedition that he had expressed at Susa when the plan was first
+proposed in the council. Artabanus replied that he most sincerely hoped
+that the prognostications of the vision would prove true, but that he
+had still great apprehensions of the result. "I have been reflecting,"
+continued he, "with great care on the whole subject, and it seems to me
+that there are two dangers of very serious character to which your
+expedition will be imminently exposed."
+
+Xerxes wished to know what they were.
+
+"They both arise," said Artabanus, "from the immense magnitude of your
+operations. In the first place, you have so large a number of ships,
+galleys, and transports in your fleet, that I do not see how, when you
+have gone down upon the Greek coast, if a storm should arise, you are
+going to find shelter for them. There are no harbors there large enough
+to afford anchorage ground for such an immense number of vessels."
+
+"And what is the other danger?" asked Xerxes.
+
+"The other is the difficulty of finding food for such a vast multitude
+of _men_ as you have brought together in your armies. The quantity of
+food necessary to supply such countless numbers is almost incalculable.
+Your granaries and magazines will soon be exhausted, and then, as no
+country whatever that you can pass through will have resources of food
+adequate for such a multitude of mouths, it seems to me that your march
+must inevitably end in a famine. The less resistance you meet with, and
+the further you consequently advance, the worse it will be for you. I do
+not see how this fatal result can possibly be avoided; and so uneasy and
+anxious am I on the subject, that I have no rest or peace."
+
+"I admit," said Xerxes, in reply, "that what you say is not wholly
+unreasonable; but in great undertakings it will never do to take counsel
+wholly of our fears. I am willing to submit to a very large portion of
+the evils to which I expose myself on this expedition, rather than not
+accomplish the end which I have in view. Besides, the most prudent and
+cautious counsels are not always the best. He who hazards nothing gains
+nothing. I have always observed that in all the affairs of human life,
+those who exhibit some enterprise and courage in what they undertake are
+far more likely to be successful than those who weigh every thing and
+consider every thing, and will not advance where they can see any
+remote prospect of danger. If my predecessors had acted on the
+principles which you recommend, the Persian empire would never have
+acquired the greatness to which it has now attained. In continuing to
+act on the same principles which governed them, I confidently expect the
+same success. We shall conquer Europe, and then return in peace, I feel
+assured, without encountering the famine which you dread so much, or any
+other great calamity."
+
+On hearing these words, and observing how fixed and settled the
+determinations of Xerxes were, Artabanus said no more on the general
+subject, but on one point he ventured to offer his counsel to his
+nephew, and that was on the subject of employing the Ionians in the war.
+The Ionians were Greeks by descent. Their ancestors had crossed the
+Ægean Sea, and settled at various places along the coast of Asia Minor,
+in the western part of the provinces of Caria, Lydia, and Mysia.
+Artabanus thought it was dangerous to take these men to fight against
+their countrymen. However faithfully disposed they might be in
+commencing the enterprise, a thousand circumstances might occur to shake
+their fidelity and lead them to revolt, when they found themselves in
+the land of their forefathers, and heard the enemies against whom they
+had been brought to contend speaking their own mother tongue.
+
+Xerxes, however, was not convinced by Artabanus's arguments. He thought
+that the employment of the Ionians was perfectly safe. They had been
+eminently faithful and firm, he said, under Histiæus, in the time of
+Darius's invasion of Scythia, when Darius had left them to guard his
+bridge over the Danube. They had proved themselves trustworthy then, and
+he would, he said, accordingly trust them now. "Besides," he added,
+"they have left their property, their wives and their children, and all
+else that they hold dear, in our hands in Asia, and they will not dare,
+while we retain such hostages, to do any thing against us."
+
+Xerxes said, however, that since Artabanus was so much concerned in
+respect to the result of the expedition, he should not be compelled to
+accompany it any further, but that he might return to Susa instead, and
+take charge of the government there until Xerxes should return.
+
+A part of the celebration on the great day of parade, on which this
+conversation between the king and his uncle was held, consisted of a
+naval sea fight, waged on the Hellespont, between two of the nations of
+his army, for the king's amusement. The Phoenicians were the victors in
+this combat. Xerxes was greatly delighted with the combat, and, in fact,
+with the whole of the magnificent spectacle which the day had displayed.
+
+Soon after this, Xerxes dismissed Artabanus, ordering him to return to
+Susa, and to assume the regency of the empire. He convened, also,
+another general council of the nobles of his court and the officers of
+the army, to announce to them that the time had arrived for crossing the
+bridge, and to make his farewell address to them before they should take
+their final departure from Asia. He exhorted them to enter upon the
+great work before them with a determined and resolute spirit, saying
+that if the Greeks were once subdued, no other enemies able at all to
+cope with the Persians would be left on the habitable globe.
+
+On the dismission of the council, orders were given to commence the
+crossing of the bridge the next day at sunrise. The preparations were
+made accordingly. In the morning, as soon as it was light, and while
+waiting for the rising of the sun, they burned upon the bridge all
+manner of perfumes, and strewed the way with branches of myrtle, the
+emblem of triumph and joy. As the time for the rising of the sun drew
+nigh, Xerxes stood with a golden vessel full of wine, which he was to
+pour out as a libation as soon as the first dazzling beams should appear
+above the horizon. When, at length, the moment arrived, he poured out
+the wine into the sea, throwing the vessel in which it had been
+contained after it as an offering. He also threw in, at the same time, a
+golden goblet of great value, and a Persian cimeter. The ancient
+historian who records these facts was uncertain whether these offerings
+were intended as acts of adoration addressed to the sun, or as oblations
+presented to the sea--a sort of peace offering, perhaps, to soothe the
+feelings of the mighty monster, irritated and chafed by the chastisement
+which it had previously received.
+
+[Illustration: XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT.]
+
+One circumstance indicated that the offering was intended for the sun,
+for, at the time of making it, Xerxes addressed to the great luminary a
+sort of petition, which might be considered either an apostrophe or a
+prayer, imploring its protection. He called upon the sun to accompany
+and defend the expedition, and to preserve it from every calamity until
+it should have accomplished its mission of subjecting all Europe to
+the Persian sway.
+
+The army then commenced its march. The order of march was very much the
+same as that which had been observed in the departure from Sardis. The
+beasts of burden and the baggage were preceded and followed by immense
+bodies of troops of all nations. The whole of the first day was occupied
+by the passing of this part of the army. Xerxes himself, and the sacred
+portion of the train, were to follow them on the second day.
+Accordingly, there came, on the second day, first, an immense squadron
+of horse, with garlands on the heads of the horsemen; next, the sacred
+horses and the sacred car of Jupiter. Then came Xerxes himself, in his
+war chariot, with trumpets sounding, and banners waving in the air. At
+the moment when Xerxes's chariot entered upon the bridge, the fleet of
+galleys, which had been drawn up in preparation near the Asiatic shore,
+were set in motion, and moved in a long and majestic line across the
+strait to the European side, accompanying and keeping pace with their
+mighty master in his progress. Thus was spent the second day.
+
+Five more days were consumed in getting over the remainder of the army,
+and the immense trains of beasts and of baggage which followed. The
+officers urged the work forward as rapidly as possible, and, toward the
+end, as is always the case in the movement of such enormous masses, it
+became a scene of inconceivable noise, terror, and confusion. The
+officers drove forward men and beasts alike by the lashes of their
+whips--every one struggling, under the influence of such stimulants, to
+get forward--while fallen animals, broken wagons, and the bodies of
+those exhausted and dying with excitement and fatigue, choked the way.
+The mighty mass was, however, at last transferred to the European
+continent, full of anxious fears in respect to what awaited them, but
+yet having very faint and feeble conceptions of the awful scenes in
+which the enterprise of their reckless leader was to end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE REVIEW OF THE TROOPS AT DORISCUS.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The fleet and the army separate.--The Chersonesus.--Sufferings from
+thirst.--The Hebrus.--Plain of Doriscus.--Preparations for the great
+review.--Mode of taking a census.--Immense numbers of the troops.--The
+cavalry.--Corps of Arabs and Egyptians.--Sum total of the army.--Various
+nations.--Dress and equipments.--Uncouth costumes.--Various
+weapons.--The lasso.--Dresses of various kinds.--The
+Immortals.--Privileges of the Immortals.--The fleet.--Xerxes reviews the
+troops.--He reviews the fleet.--A lady admiral.--Her abilities.--Number
+of vessels in the fleet.--Demaratus the Greek.--Story of
+Demaratus.--Childhood of his mother.--The change.--Ariston, king of
+Sparta.--The agreement.--Birth of Demaratus.--Demaratus disowned.--His
+flight.--Question of Xerxes.--Perplexity of Demaratus.--Demaratus
+describes the Spartans.--Surprise of Xerxes.--Reply of Xerxes.--His
+displeasure.--Demaratus's apology.--His gratitude to
+Darius.--Demaratus's defense of the Spartans.--They are governed by
+law.--Xerxes resumes his march.--Division of the army.--The
+Strymon.--Human sacrifices.--Arrival at the canal.--Death of the
+engineer.--Burial of the engineer.--A grand feast.--Scene of
+revelry.--Desolation and depopulation of the country.
+
+
+As soon as the expedition of Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont and
+arrived safely on the European side, as narrated in the last chapter, it
+became necessary for the fleet and the army to separate, and to move,
+for a time, in opposite directions from each other. The reader will
+observe, by examining the map, that the army, on reaching the European
+shore, at the point to which they would be conducted by a bridge at
+Abydos, would find themselves in the middle of a long and narrow
+peninsula called the Chersonesus, and that, before commencing its
+regular march along the northern coast of the Ægean Sea, it would be
+necessary first to proceed for fifteen or twenty miles to the eastward,
+in order to get round the bay by which the peninsula is bounded on the
+north and west. While, therefore, the fleet went directly westward along
+the coast, the army turned to the eastward, a place of rendezvous having
+been appointed on the northern coast of the sea, where they were all
+soon to meet again.
+
+The army moved on by a slow and toilsome progress until it reached the
+neck of the peninsula, and then turning at the head of the bay, it moved
+westward again, following the direction of the coast. The line of march
+was, however, laid at some distance from the shore, partly for the sake
+of avoiding the indentations made in the land by gulfs and bays, and
+partly for the sake of crossing the streams from the interior at points
+so far inland that the water found in them should be fresh and pure.
+Notwithstanding these precautions, however, the water often failed. So
+immense were the multitudes of men and of beasts, and so craving was the
+thirst which the heat and the fatigues of the march engendered, that, in
+several instances, they drank the little rivers dry.
+
+The first great and important river which the army had to pass after
+entering Europe was the Hebrus. Not far from the mouth of the Hebrus,
+where it emptied into the Ægean Sea, was a great plain, which was called
+the plain of Doriscus. There was an extensive fortress here, which had
+been erected by the orders of Darius when he had subjugated this part of
+the country. The position of this fortress was an important one,
+because it commanded the whole region watered by the Hebrus, which was a
+very fruitful and populous district. Xerxes had been intending to have a
+grand review and enumeration of his forces on entering the European
+territories, and he judged Doriscus to be a very suitable place for his
+purpose. He could establish his own head-quarters in the fortress, while
+his armies could be marshaled and reviewed on the plain. The fleet, too,
+had been ordered to draw up to the shore at the same spot, and when the
+army reached the ground, they found the vessels already in the offing.
+
+The army accordingly halted, and the necessary arrangements were made
+for the review. The first thing was to ascertain the numbers of the
+troops; and as the soldiers were too numerous to be counted, Xerxes
+determined to _measure_ the mighty mass as so much bulk, and then
+ascertain the numbers by a computation. They made the measure itself in
+the following manner: They counted off, first, ten thousand men, and
+brought them together in a compact circular mass, in the middle of the
+plain, and then marked a line upon the ground inclosing them. Upon this
+line, thus determined, they built a stone wall, about four feet high,
+with openings on opposite sides of it, by which men might enter and go
+out. When the wall was built, soldiers were sent into the
+inclosure--just as corn would be poured by a husbandman into a wooden
+peck--until it was full. The mass thus required to fill the inclosure
+was deemed and taken to be ten thousand men. This was the first filling
+of the measure. These men were then ordered to retire, and a fresh mass
+was introduced, and so on until the whole army was measured. The
+inclosure was filled one hundred and seventy times with the foot
+soldiers before the process was completed, indicating, as the total
+amount of the infantry of the army, a force of one million seven hundred
+thousand men. This enumeration, it must be remembered, included the land
+forces alone.
+
+This method of measuring the army in bulk was applied only to the foot
+soldiers; they constituted the great mass of the forces convened. There
+were, however, various other bodies of troops in the army, which, from
+their nature, were more systematically organized than the common foot
+soldiers, and so their numbers were known by the regular enrollment.
+There was, for example, a cavalry force of eighty thousand men. There
+was also a corps of Arabs, on camels, and another of Egyptians, in war
+chariots, which together amounted to twenty thousand. Then, besides
+these land forces, there were half a million of men in the fleet.
+Immense as these numbers are, they were still further increased, as the
+army moved on, by Xerxes's system of compelling the forces of every
+kingdom and province through which he passed to join the expedition; so
+that, at length, when the Persian king fairly entered the heart of the
+Greek territory, Herodotus, the great narrator of his history, in
+summing up the whole number of men regularly connected with the army,
+makes a total of about five millions of men. One hundred thousand men,
+which is but one fiftieth part of five millions, is considered, in
+modern times, an immense army; and, in fact, half even of that number
+was thought, in the time of the American Revolution, a sufficient force
+to threaten the colonies with overwhelming destruction. "If ten thousand
+men will not do to put down the rebellion," said an orator in the House
+of Commons, "fifty thousand _shall_."
+
+Herodotus adds that, besides the five millions regularly connected with
+the army, there was an immense and promiscuous mass of women, slaves,
+cooks, bakers, and camp followers of every description, that no human
+powers could estimate or number.
+
+But to return to the review. The numbers of the army having been
+ascertained, the next thing was to marshal and arrange the men by
+nations under their respective leaders, to be reviewed by the king. A
+very full enumeration of these divisions of the army is given by the
+historians of the day, with minute descriptions of the kind of armor
+which the troops of the several nations wore. There were more than fifty
+of these nations in all. Some of them were highly civilized, others were
+semi-barbarous tribes; and, of course, they presented, as marshaled in
+long array upon the plain, every possible variety of dress and
+equipment. Some were armed with brazen helmets, and coats of mail formed
+of plates of iron; others wore linen tunics, or rude garments made of
+the skins of beasts. The troops of one nation had their heads covered
+with helmets, those of another with miters, and of a third with tiaras.
+There was one savage-looking horde that had caps made of the skin of the
+upper part of a horse's head, in its natural form, with the ears
+standing up erect at the top, and the mane flowing down behind. These
+men held the skins of cranes before them instead of shields, so that
+they looked like horned monsters, half beast and half bird, endeavoring
+to assume the guise and attitude of men. There was another corps whose
+men were really horned, since they wore caps made from the skins of the
+heads of oxen, with the horns standing. Wild beasts were personated,
+too, as well as tame; for some nations were clothed in lions' skins, and
+others in panthers' skins--the clothing being considered, apparently,
+the more honorable, in proportion to the ferocity of the brute to which
+it had originally belonged.
+
+The weapons, too, were of every possible form and guise. Spears--some
+pointed with iron, some with stone, and others shaped simply by being
+burned to a point in the fire; bows and arrows, of every variety of
+material and form, swords, daggers, slings, clubs, darts, javelins, and
+every other imaginable species of weapon which human ingenuity, savage
+or civilized, had then conceived. Even the lasso--the weapon of the
+American aborigines of modern times--was there. It is described by the
+ancient historian as a long thong of leather wound into a coil, and
+finished in a noose at the end, which noose the rude warrior who used
+the implement launched through the air at the enemy, and entangling
+rider and horse together by means of it, brought them both to the
+ground.
+
+There was every variety of taste, too, in the fashion and the colors of
+the dresses which were worn. Some were of artificial fabrics, and dyed
+in various and splendid hues. Some were very plain, the wearers of them
+affecting a simple and savage ferocity in the fashion of their vesture.
+Some tribes had painted skins--beauty, in their view, consisting,
+apparently, in hideousness. There was one barbarian horde who wore very
+little clothing of any kind. They had knotty clubs for weapons, and, in
+lieu of a dress, they had painted their naked bodies half white and half
+a bright vermilion.
+
+In all this vast array, the corps which stood at the head, in respect to
+their rank and the costliness and elegance of their equipment, was a
+Persian squadron of ten thousand men, called the Immortals. They had
+received this designation from the fact that the body was kept always
+exactly full, as, whenever any one of the number died, another soldier
+was instantly put into his place, whose life was considered in some
+respects a continuation of the existence of the man who had fallen.
+Thus, by a fiction somewhat analogous to that by which the king, in
+England, never dies, these ten thousand Persians were an immortal band.
+They were all carefully-selected soldiers, and they enjoyed very unusual
+privileges and honors. They were mounted troops, and their dress and
+their armor were richly decorated with gold. They were accompanied in
+their campaigns by their wives and families, for whose use carriages
+were provided which followed the camp, and there was a long train of
+camels besides, attached to the service of the corps, to carry their
+provisions and their baggage.
+
+While all these countless varieties of land troops were marshaling and
+arranging themselves upon the plain, each under its own officers and
+around its own standards, the naval commanders were employed in bringing
+up the fleet of galleys to the shore, where they were anchored in a long
+line not far from the beach, and with their prows toward the land. Thus
+there was a space of open water left between the line of vessels and the
+beach, along which Xerxes's barge was to pass when the time for the
+naval part of the review should arrive.
+
+When all things were ready, Xerxes mounted his war chariot and rode
+slowly around the plain, surveying attentively, and with great interest
+and pleasure, the long lines of soldiers, in all their variety of
+equipment and costume, as they stood displayed before him. It required a
+progress of many miles to see them all. When this review of the land
+forces was concluded, the king went to the shore, and embarked on board
+a royal galley which had been prepared for him, and there, seated upon
+the deck under a gilded canopy, he was rowed by the oarsmen along the
+line of ships, between their prows and the land. The ships were from
+many nations as well as the soldiers, and exhibited the same variety of
+fashion and equipment. The land troops had come from the inland realms
+and provinces which occupied the heart of Asia, while the ships and the
+seamen had been furnished by the maritime regions which extended along
+the coasts of the Black, and the Ægean, and the Mediterranean Seas. Thus
+the people of Egypt had furnished two hundred ships, the Phoenicians
+three hundred, Cyprus fifty, the Cilicians and the Ionians one hundred
+each, and so with a great many other nations and tribes.
+
+The various squadrons which were thus combined in forming this immense
+fleet were manned and officered, of course, from the nations that
+severally furnished them, and one of them was actually commanded in
+person by a queen. The name of this lady admiral was Artemisia. She was
+the Queen of Caria, a small province in the southwestern part of Asia
+Minor, having Halicarnassus for its capital. Artemisia, though in
+history called a queen, was, in reality, more properly a regent, as she
+governed in the name of her son, who was yet a child. The quota of ships
+which Caria was to furnish was five. Artemisia, being a lady of
+ambitious and masculine turn of mind, and fond of adventure, determined
+to accompany the expedition. Not only her own vessels, but also those
+from some neighboring islands, were placed under her charge, so that she
+commanded quite an important division of the fleet. She proved, also, in
+the course of the voyage, to be abundantly qualified for the discharge
+of her duties. She became, in fact, one of the ablest and most efficient
+commanders in the fleet, not only maneuvering and managing her own
+particular division in a very successful manner, but also taking a very
+active and important part in the general consultations, where what she
+said was listened to with great respect, and always had great weight in
+determining the decisions. In the great battle of Salamis she acted a
+very conspicuous part, as will hereafter appear.
+
+The whole number of galleys of the first class in Xerxes's fleet was
+more than twelve hundred, a number abundantly sufficient to justify the
+apprehensions of Artabanus that no harbor would be found capacious
+enough to shelter them in the event of a sudden storm. The line which
+they formed on this occasion, when drawn up side by side upon the shore
+for review, must have extended many miles.
+
+Xerxes moved slowly along this line in his barge, attended by the
+officers of his court and the great generals of his army, who surveyed
+the various ships as they passed them, and noted the diverse national
+costumes and equipments of the men with curiosity and pleasure. Among
+those who attended the king on this occasion was a certain Greek named
+Demaratus, an exile from his native land, who had fled to Persia, and
+had been kindly received by Darius some years before. Having remained in
+the Persian court until Xerxes succeeded to the throne and undertook the
+invasion of Greece, he concluded to accompany the expedition.
+
+The story of the political difficulties in which Demaratus became
+involved in his native land, and which led to his flight from Greece,
+was very extraordinary. It was this:
+
+The mother of Demaratus was the daughter of parents of high rank and
+great affluence in Sparta, but in her childhood her features were
+extremely plain and repulsive. Now there was a temple in the
+neighborhood of the place where her parents resided, consecrated to
+Helen, a princess who, while she lived, enjoyed the fame of being the
+most beautiful woman in the world. The nurse recommended that the child
+should be taken every day to this temple, and that petitions should be
+offered there at the shrine of Helen that the repulsive deformity of her
+features might be removed. The mother consented to this plan, only
+enjoining upon the nurse not to let any one see the face of her
+unfortunate offspring in going and returning. The nurse accordingly
+carried the child to the temple day after day, and holding it in her
+arms before the shrine, implored the mercy of Heaven for her helpless
+charge, and the bestowal upon it of the boon of beauty.
+
+These petitions were, it seems, at length heard, for one day, when the
+nurse was coming down from the temple, after offering her customary
+prayer, she was met and accosted by a mysterious-looking woman, who
+asked her what it was that she was carrying in her arms. The nurse
+replied that it was a child. The woman wanted to look at it. The nurse
+refused to show the face of the child, saying that she had been
+forbidden to do so. The woman, however, insisted upon seeing its face,
+and at last the nurse consented and removed the coverings. The stranger
+stroked down the face of the child, saying, at the same time, that now
+that child should become the most beautiful woman of Sparta.
+
+Her words proved true. The features of the young girl rapidly changed,
+and her countenance soon became as wonderful for its loveliness as it
+had been before for its hideous deformity. When she arrived at a proper
+age, a certain Spartan nobleman named Agetus, a particular friend of the
+king's, made her his wife.
+
+The name of the king of Sparta at that time was Ariston. He had been
+twice married, and his second wife was still living, but he had no
+children. When he came to see and to know the beautiful wife of Agetus,
+he wished to obtain her for himself, and began to revolve the subject
+in his mind, with a view to discover some method by which he might hope
+to accomplish his purpose. He decided at length upon the following plan.
+He proposed to Agetus to make an exchange of gifts, offering to give to
+him any one object which he might choose from all his, that is,
+Ariston's effects, provided that Agetus would, in the same manner, give
+to Ariston whatever Ariston might choose. Agetus consented to the
+proposal, without, however, giving it any serious consideration. As
+Ariston was already married, he did not for a moment imagine that his
+wife could be the object which the king would demand. The parties to
+this foolish agreement confirmed the obligation of it by a solemn oath,
+and then each made known to the other what he had selected. Agetus
+gained some jewel, or costly garment, or perhaps a gilded and
+embellished weapon, and lost forever his beautiful wife. Ariston
+repudiated his own second wife, and put the prize which he had thus
+surreptitiously acquired in her place as a third.
+
+About seven or eight months after this time Demaratus was born. The
+intelligence was brought to Ariston one day by a slave, when he was
+sitting at a public tribunal. Ariston seemed surprised at the
+intelligence, and exclaimed that the child was not his. He, however,
+afterward retracted this disavowal, and owned Demaratus as his son. The
+child grew up, and in process of time, when his father died, he
+succeeded to the throne. The magistrates, however, who had heard the
+declaration of his father at the time of his birth, remembered it, and
+reported it to others; and when Ariston died and Demaratus assumed the
+supreme power, the next heir denied his right to the succession, and in
+process of time formed a strong party against him. A long series of
+civil dissensions arose, and at length the claims of Demaratus were
+defeated, his enemies triumphed, and he fled from the country to save
+his life. He arrived at Susa near the close of Darius's reign, and it
+was his counsel which led the king to decide the contest among his sons
+for the right of succession, in favor of Xerxes, as described at the
+close of the first chapter. Xerxes had remembered his obligations to
+Demaratus for this interposition. He had retained him in the royal court
+after his accession to the throne, and had bestowed upon him many marks
+of distinction and honor.
+
+Demaratus had decided to accompany Xerxes on his expedition into
+Greece, and now, while the Persian officers were looking with so much
+pride and pleasure on the immense preparations which they were making
+for the subjugation of a foreign and hostile state, Demaratus, too, was
+in the midst of the scene, regarding the spectacle with no less of
+interest, probably, and yet, doubtless, with very different feelings,
+since the country upon which this dreadful cloud of gloom and
+destruction was about to burst was his own native land.
+
+After the review was ended, Xerxes sent for Demaratus to come to the
+castle. When he arrived, the king addressed him as follows:
+
+"You are a Greek, Demaratus, and you know your countrymen well; and now,
+as you have seen the fleet and the army that have been displayed here
+to-day, tell me what is your opinion. Do you think that the Greeks will
+undertake to defend themselves against such a force, or will they submit
+at once without attempting any resistance?"
+
+Demaratus seemed at first perplexed and uncertain, as if not knowing
+exactly what answer to make to the question. At length he asked the king
+whether it was his wish that he should respond by speaking the blunt and
+honest truth, or by saying what would be polite and agreeable.
+
+Xerxes replied that he wished him, of course, to speak the truth. The
+truth itself would be what he should consider the most agreeable.
+
+"Since you desire it, then," said Demaratus, "I will speak the exact
+truth. Greece is the child of poverty. The inhabitants of the land have
+learned wisdom and discipline in the severe school of adversity, and
+their resolution and courage are absolutely indomitable. They all
+deserve this praise; but I speak more particularly of my own countrymen,
+the people of Sparta. I am sure that they will reject any proposal which
+you may make to them for submission to your power, and that they will
+resist you to the last extremity. The disparity of numbers will have no
+influence whatever on their decision. If all the rest of Greece were to
+submit to you, leaving the Spartans alone, and if they should find
+themselves unable to muster more than a thousand men, they would give
+you battle."
+
+Xerxes expressed great surprise at this assertion, and thought that
+Demaratus could not possibly mean what he seemed to say. "I appeal to
+yourself," said he; "would _you_ dare to encounter, alone, ten men? You
+have been the prince of the Spartans, and a prince ought, at least, to
+be equal to two common men; so that to show that the Spartans in general
+could be brought to fight a superiority of force of even ten to one, it
+ought to appear that you would dare to engage twenty. This is manifestly
+absurd. In fact, for any person to pretend to be able or willing to
+fight under such a disparity of numbers, evinces only pride and insolent
+presumption. And even this proportion of ten to one, or even twenty to
+one, is nothing compared to the real disparity; for, even if we grant to
+the Spartans as large a force as there is any possibility of their
+obtaining, I shall then have _a thousand_ to one against them.
+
+"Besides," continued the king, "there is a great difference in the
+character of the troops. The Greeks are all freemen, while my soldiers
+are all slaves--bound absolutely to do my bidding, without complaint or
+murmur. Such soldiers as mine, who are habituated to submit entirely to
+the will of another, and who live under the continual fear of the lash,
+might, perhaps, be forced to go into battle against a great superiority
+of numbers, or under other manifest disadvantages; but free men, never.
+I do not believe that a body of Greeks could be brought to engage a
+body of Persians, man for man. Every consideration shows, thus, that the
+opinion which you have expressed is unfounded. You could only have been
+led to entertain such an opinion through ignorance and unaccountable
+presumption."
+
+"I was afraid," replied Demaratus, "from the first, that, by speaking
+the truth, I should offend you. I should not have given you my real
+opinion of the Spartans if you had not ordered me to speak without
+reserve. You certainly can not suppose me to have been influenced by a
+feeling of undue partiality for the men whom I commended, since they
+have been my most implacable and bitter enemies, and have driven me into
+hopeless exile from my native land. Your father, on the other hand,
+received and protected me, and the sincere gratitude which I feel for
+the favors which I have received from him and from you incline me to
+take the most favorable view possible of the Persian cause.
+
+"I certainly should not be willing, as you justly suppose, to engage,
+alone, twenty men, or ten, or even one, unless there was an absolute
+necessity for it. I do not say that any single Lacedæmonian could
+successfully encounter ten or twenty Persians, although in personal
+conflicts they are certainly not inferior to other men. It is when they
+are combined in a body even though that body be small, that their great
+superiority is seen.
+
+"As to their being free, and thus not easily led into battle in
+circumstances of imminent danger, it must be considered that their
+freedom is not absolute, like that of savages in a fray, where each acts
+according to his own individual will and pleasure, but it is qualified
+and controlled by law. The Spartan soldiers are not personal slaves,
+governed by the lash of a master, it is true; but they have certain
+principles of obligation and duty which they all feel most solemnly
+bound to obey. They stand in greater awe of the authority of this law
+than your subjects do of the lash. It commands them never to fly from
+the field of battle, whatever may be the number of their adversaries. It
+commands them to preserve their ranks, to stand firm at the posts
+assigned them, and there to conquer or die.
+
+"This is the truth in respect to them. If what I say seems to you
+absurd, I will in future be silent. I have spoken honestly what I
+think, because your majesty commanded me to do so; and, notwithstanding
+what I have said, I sincerely wish that all your majesty's desires and
+expectations may be fulfilled."
+
+The ideas which Demaratus thus appeared to entertain of danger to the
+countless and formidable hosts of Xerxes's army, from so small and
+insignificant a power as that of Sparta, seemed to Xerxes too absurd to
+awaken any serious displeasure in his mind. He only smiled, therefore,
+at Demaratus's fears, and dismissed him.
+
+Leaving a garrison and a governor in possession of the castle of
+Doriscus, Xerxes resumed his march along the northern shores of the
+Ægean Sea, the immense swarms of men filling all the roads, devouring
+every thing capable of being used as food, either for beast or man, and
+drinking all the brooks and smaller rivers dry. Even with this total
+consumption of the food and the water which they obtained on the march,
+the supplies would have been found insufficient if the whole army had
+advanced through one tract of country. They accordingly divided the host
+into three great columns, one of which kept near the shore; the other
+marched far in the interior, and the third in the intermediate space.
+They thus exhausted the resources of a very wide region. All the men,
+too, that were capable of bearing arms in the nations that these several
+divisions passed on the way, they compelled to join them, so that the
+army left, as it moved along, a very broad extent of country trampled
+down, impoverished, desolate, and full of lamentation and woe. The whole
+march was perhaps the most gigantic crime against the rights and the
+happiness of man that human wickedness has ever been able to commit.
+
+The army halted, from time to time, for various purposes, sometimes for
+the performance of what they considered religions ceremonies, which were
+intended to propitiate the supernatural powers of the earth and of the
+air. When they reached the Strymon, where, it will be recollected, a
+bridge had been previously built, so as to be ready for the army when it
+should arrive, they offered a sacrifice of five white horses to the
+river. In the same region, too, they halted at a place called the Nine
+Ways, where Xerxes resolved to offer a human sacrifice to a certain god
+whom the Persians believed to reside in the interior of the earth. The
+mode of sacrificing to this god was to bury the wretched victims alive.
+The Persians seized, accordingly, by Xerxes's orders, nine young men and
+nine girls from among the people of the country, and buried them alive!
+
+Marching slowly on in this manner, the army at length reached the point
+upon the coast where the canal had been cut across the isthmus of Mount
+Athos. The town which was nearest to this spot was Acanthus, the
+situation of which, together with that of the canal, will be found upon
+the map. The fleet arrived at this point by sea nearly at the same time
+with the army coming by land. Xerxes examined the canal, and was
+extremely well satisfied with its construction. He commended the chief
+engineer, whose name was Artachæes, in the highest terms, for the
+successful manner in which he had executed the work, and rendered him
+very distinguished honors.
+
+It unfortunately happened, however, that, a few days after the arrival
+of the fleet and the army at the canal, and before the fleet had
+commenced the passage of it, that Artachæes died. The king considered
+this event as a serious calamity to him, as he expected that other
+occasions would arrive on which he would have occasion to avail himself
+of the engineer's talents and skill. He ordered preparations to be made
+for a most magnificent burial, and the body was in due time deposited in
+the grave with imposing funeral solemnities. A very splendid monument,
+too, was raised upon the spot, which employed, for some time, all the
+mechanical force of the army in its erection.
+
+While Xerxes remained at Acanthus, he required the people of the
+neighboring country to entertain his army at a grand feast, the cost of
+which totally ruined them. Not only was all the food of the vicinity
+consumed, but all the means and resources of the inhabitants, of every
+kind, were exhausted in the additional supplies which they had to
+procure from the surrounding regions. At this feast the army in general
+ate, seated in groups upon the ground, in the open air; but for Xerxes
+and the nobles of the court a great pavilion was built, where tables
+were spread, and vessels and furniture of silver and gold, suitable to
+the dignity of the occasion, were provided. Almost all the property
+which the people of the region had accumulated by years of patient
+industry was consumed at once in furnishing the vast amount of food
+which was required for this feast, and the gold and silver plate which
+was to be used in the pavilion. During the entertainment, the
+inhabitants of the country waited upon their exacting and insatiable
+guests until they were utterly exhausted by the fatigues of the service.
+When, at length, the feast was ended, and Xerxes and his company left
+the pavilion, the vast assembly outside broke up in disorder, pulled the
+pavilion to pieces, plundered the tables of the gold and silver plate,
+and departed to their several encampments, leaving nothing behind them.
+
+The inhabitants of the country were so completely impoverished and
+ruined by these exactions, that those who were not impressed into
+Xerxes's service and compelled to follow his army, abandoned their
+homes, and roamed away in the hope of finding elsewhere the means of
+subsistence which it was no longer possible to obtain on their own
+lands; and thus, when Xerxes at last gave orders to the fleet to pass
+through the canal, and to his army to resume its march, he left the
+whole region utterly depopulated and desolate.
+
+He went on to Therma, a port situated on the northwestern corner of the
+Ægean Sea, which was the last of his places of rendezvous before his
+actual advance into Greece.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The Greeks.--The two prominent states of Greece.--Greek kings.--The two
+kings of Sparta.--Origin of the custom of two kings.--The twins.--The
+Delphic oracle consulted.--Plan for ascertaining the eldest.--Civil
+dissensions.--Two lines established.--Character of the Spartans.--Their
+lofty spirit.--The Athenians.--The city of Athens.--Sparta and Athens
+defy the Persians.--Earth and water.--Spirit of the Spartans.--The blank
+tablets.--Leonidas.--His wife discovers the writing on the tablets.--The
+three spies.--Alarm at Athens.--The Greeks consult the Delphic
+oracle.--The responses.--Various interpretations of the oracle.--The
+Athenian fleet.--Themistocles.--Proposed confederation.--Council of
+Spartans and Athenians.--The Argives reject the propositions of the
+Spartans.--Embassy to Sicily.--Demands of Gelon.--The embassadors go to
+Corcyra.--The River Peneus.--The Vale of Tempe.--Straits of
+Thermopylæ.--Question to be decided.--Messengers from
+Thessaly.--Negotiations.--Decision to defend the Olympic
+Straits.--Sailing of the fleet.--Advice of the King of Macedon.--The
+Greeks fall back to Thermopylæ.--Xerxes visits Thessaly.--Beautiful
+rural scene.--Conversation of Xerxes at the Olympic Pass.
+
+
+We must now leave, for a time, the operations of Xerxes and his army,
+and turn our attention to the Greeks, and to the preparations which they
+were making to meet the emergency.
+
+The two states of Greece which were most prominent in the transactions
+connected with the invasion of Xerxes were Athens and Sparta. By
+referring to the map, Athens will be found to have been situated upon a
+promontory just without the Peloponnesus, while Sparta, on the other
+hand, was in the center of a valley which lay in the southern part of
+the peninsula. Each of these cities was the center and strong-hold of a
+small but very energetic and powerful commonwealth. The two states were
+entirely independent of each other, and each had its own peculiar system
+of government, of usages, and of laws. These systems, and, in fact, the
+characters of the two communities, in all respects, were extremely
+dissimilar.
+
+Both these states, though in name republics, had certain magistrates,
+called commonly, in history, kings. These kings were, however, in fact,
+only military chieftains, commanders of the armies rather than sovereign
+rulers of the state. The name by which such a chieftain was actually
+called by the people themselves, in those days, was _tyrannus_, the name
+from which our word _tyrant_ is derived. As, however, the word
+_tyrannus_ had none of that opprobrious import which is associated with
+its English derivative, the latter is not now a suitable substitute for
+the former. Historians, therefore, commonly use the word king instead,
+though that word does not properly express the idea. They were
+commanders, chieftains, hereditary generals, but not strictly kings. We
+shall, however, often call them kings, in these narratives, in
+conformity with the general usage. Demaratus, who had fled from Sparta
+to seek refuge with Darius, and who was now accompanying Xerxes on his
+march to Greece, was one of these kings.
+
+It was a peculiarity in the constitution of Sparta that, from a very
+early period of its history, there had been always two kings, who had
+held the supreme command in conjunction with each other, like the Roman
+consuls in later times. This custom was sustained partly by the idea
+that by this division of the executive power of the state, the exercise
+of the power was less likely to become despotic or tyrannical. It had
+its origin, however, according to the ancient legends, in the following
+singular occurrences:
+
+At a very early period in the history of Sparta, when the people had
+always been accustomed, like other states, to have one prince or
+chieftain, a certain prince died, leaving his wife, whose name was
+Argia, and two infant children, as his survivors. The children were
+twins, and the father had died almost immediately after they were born.
+Now the office of king was in a certain sense hereditary, and yet not
+absolutely so; for the people were accustomed to assemble on the death
+of the king, and determine who should be his successor, choosing always,
+however, the oldest son of the former monarch, unless there was some
+very extraordinary and imperious reason for not doing so. In this case
+they decided, as usual, that the oldest son should be king.
+
+But here a very serious difficulty arose, which was, to determine which
+of the twins was the oldest son. They resembled each other so closely
+that no stranger could distinguish one from the other at all. The mother
+said that she could not distinguish them, and that she did not know
+which was the first-born. This was not strictly true; for she did, in
+fact, know, and only denied her power to decide the question because she
+wished to have both of her children kings.
+
+In this perplexity the Spartans sent to the oracle at Delphi to know
+what they were to do. The oracle gave, as usual, an ambiguous and
+unsatisfactory response. It directed the people to make both the
+children kings, but to render the highest honors to the first-born. When
+this answer was reported at Sparta, it only increased the difficulty;
+for how were they to render peculiar honors to the first-born unless
+they could ascertain which the first-born was?
+
+In this dilemma, some person suggested to the magistrates that perhaps
+Argia really knew which was the eldest child, and that if so, by
+watching her, to see whether she washed and fed one, uniformly, before
+the other, or gave it precedence in any other way, by which her latent
+maternal instinct or partiality might appear, the question might
+possibly be determined. This plan was accordingly adopted. The
+magistrates contrived means to place a servant maid in the house to
+watch the mother in the way proposed, and the result was that the true
+order of birth was revealed. From that time forward, while they were
+both considered as princes, the one now supposed to be the first-born
+took precedence of the other.
+
+When, however, the children arrived at an age to assume the exercise of
+the governmental power, as there was no perceptible difference between
+them in age, or strength, or accomplishments, the one who had been
+decided to be the younger was little disposed to submit to the other.
+Each had his friends and adherents, parties were formed, and a long and
+angry civil dissension ensued. In the end the question was compromised,
+the command was divided, and the system of having two chief magistrates
+became gradually established, the power descending in two lines, from
+father to son, through many generations. Of course there was perpetual
+jealousy and dissension, and often open and terrible conflicts, between
+these two rival lines.
+
+The Spartans were an agricultural people, cultivating the valley in the
+southeastern part of the Peloponnesus, the waters of which were
+collected and conveyed to the sea by the River Eurotas and its branches.
+They lived in the plainest possible manner, and prided themselves on the
+stern and stoical resolution with which they rejected all the
+refinements and luxuries of society. Courage, hardihood, indifference to
+life, and the power to endure without a murmur the most severe and
+protracted sufferings, were the qualities which they valued. They
+despised wealth just as other nations despise effeminacy and foppery.
+Their laws discouraged commerce, lest it should make some of the people
+rich. Their clothes were scanty and plain, their houses were
+comfortless, their food was a coarse bread, hard and brown, and their
+money was of iron. With all this, however, they were the most ferocious
+and terrible soldiers in the world.
+
+They were, moreover, with all their plainness of manners and of life, of
+a very proud and lofty spirit. All agricultural toil, and every other
+species of manual labor in their state, were performed by a servile
+peasantry, while the free citizens, whose profession was exclusively
+that of arms, were as aristocratic and exalted in soul as any nobles on
+earth. People are sometimes, in our day, when money is so much valued,
+proud, notwithstanding their poverty. The Spartans were proud of their
+poverty itself. They could be rich if they chose, but they despised
+riches. They looked down on all the refinements and delicacies of dress
+and of living from an elevation far above them. They looked down on
+labor, too, with the same contempt. They were yet very nice and
+particular about their dress and military appearance, though every thing
+pertaining to both was coarse and simple, and they had slaves to wait
+upon them even in their campaigns.
+
+The Athenians were a totally different people. The leading classes in
+their commonwealth were cultivated, intellectual, and refined. The city
+of Athens was renowned for the splendor of its architecture, its
+temples, its citadels, its statues, and its various public institutions,
+which in subsequent times made it the great intellectual center of
+Europe. It was populous and wealthy. It had a great commerce and a
+powerful fleet. The Spartan character, in a word, was stern, gloomy,
+indomitable, and wholly unadorned. The Athenians were rich,
+intellectual, and refined. The two nations were nearly equal in power,
+and were engaged in a perpetual and incessant rivalry.
+
+[Illustration: FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA.]
+
+There were various other states and cities in Greece, but Athens and
+Sparta were at this time the most considerable, and they were altogether
+the most resolute and determined in their refusal to submit to the
+Persian sway. In fact, so well known and understood was the spirit of
+defiance with which these two powers were disposed to regard the Persian
+invasion, that when Xerxes sent his summons demanding submission, to the
+other states of Greece, he did not send any to these. When Darius
+invaded Greece some years before, he had summoned Athens and Sparta as
+well as the others, but his demands were indignantly rejected. It seems
+that the custom was for a government or a prince, when acknowledging the
+dominion of a superior power, to send, as a token of territorial
+submission, a little earth and water, which was a sort of legal form of
+giving up possession of their country to the sovereign who claimed it.
+Accordingly, when Darius sent his embassadors into Greece to summon the
+country to surrender, the embassadors, according to the usual form,
+called upon the governments of the several states to send earth and
+water to the king. The Athenians, as has been already said, indignantly
+refused to comply with this demand. The Spartans, not content with a
+simple refusal, seized the embassadors and threw them into a well,
+telling them, as they went down, that if they wanted earth and water for
+the King of Persia, they might get it there.
+
+The Greeks had obtained some information of Xerxes's designs against
+them before they received his summons. The first intelligence was
+communicated to the Spartans by Demaratus himself, while he was at Susa,
+in the following singular manner. It was the custom, in those days, to
+write with a steel point on a smooth surface of wax. The wax was spread
+for this purpose on a board or tablet of metal, in a very thin stratum,
+forming a ground upon which the letters traced with the point were
+easily legible. Demaratus took two writing-tablets such as these, and
+removing the wax from them, he wrote a brief account of the proposed
+Persian invasion, by tracing the characters upon the surface of the wood
+or metal itself, beneath; then, restoring the wax so as to conceal the
+letters, he sent the two tablets, seemingly blank, to Leonidas, king of
+Sparta. The messengers who bore them had other pretexts for their
+journey, and they had various other articles to carry. The Persian
+guards who stopped and examined the messengers from time to time along
+the route, thought nothing of the blank tablets, and so they reached
+Leonidas in safety.
+
+Leonidas being a blunt, rough soldier, and not much accustomed to
+cunning contrivances himself, was not usually much upon the watch for
+them from others, and when he saw no obvious communication upon the
+tablets, he threw them aside, not knowing what the sending of them could
+mean, and not feeling any strong interest in ascertaining. His wife,
+however--her name was Gorgo--had more curiosity. There was something
+mysterious about the affair, and she wished to solve it. She examined
+the tablets attentively in every part, and at length removed cautiously
+a little of the wax. The letters began to appear. Full of excitement and
+pleasure, she proceeded with the work until the whole cereous coating
+was removed. The result was, that the communication was revealed, and
+Greece received the warning.
+
+When the Greeks heard that Xerxes was at Sardis, they sent three
+messengers in disguise, to ascertain the facts in respect to the Persian
+army assembled there, and, so far as possible, to learn the plans and
+designs of the king. Notwithstanding all the efforts of these men to
+preserve their concealment and disguise, they were discovered, seized,
+and tortured by the Persian officer who took them, until they confessed
+that they were spies. The officer was about to put them to death, when
+Xerxes himself received information of the circumstances. He forbade the
+execution, and directed, on the other hand, that the men should be
+conducted through all his encampments, and be allowed to view and
+examine every thing. He then dismissed them, with orders to return to
+Greece and report what they had seen. He thought, he said, that the
+Greeks would be more likely to surrender if they knew how immense his
+preparations were for effectually vanquishing them if they attempted
+resistance.
+
+The city of Athens, being farther north than Sparta, would be the one
+first exposed to danger from the invasion, and when the people heard of
+Xerxes's approach, the whole city was filled with anxiety and alarm.
+Some of the inhabitants were panic-stricken, and wished to submit;
+others were enraged, and uttered nothing but threats and defiance. A
+thousand different plans of defense were proposed and eagerly
+discussed. At length the government sent messengers to the oracle at
+Delphi, to learn what their destiny was to be, and to obtain, if
+possible, divine direction in respect to the best mode of averting the
+danger. The messengers received an awful response, portending, in wild
+and solemn, though dark and mysterious language, the most dreadful
+calamities to the ill-fated city. The messengers were filled with alarm
+at hearing this reply. One of the inhabitants of Delphi, the city in
+which the oracle was situated, proposed to them to make a second
+application, in the character of the most humble supplicants, and to
+implore that the oracle would give them some directions in respect to
+the best course for them to pursue in order to avoid, or, at least, to
+mitigate the impending danger. They did so, and after a time they
+received an answer, vague, mysterious, and almost unintelligible, but
+which seemed to denote that the safety of the city was connected in some
+manner with Salamis, and with certain "wooden walls," to which the
+inspired distich of the response obscurely alluded.
+
+The messengers returned to Athens and reported the answer which they had
+received. The people were puzzled and perplexed in their attempts to
+understand it. It seems that the citadel of Athens had been formerly
+surrounded by a wooden palisade. Some thought that this was what was
+referred to by the "wooden walls," and that the meaning of the oracle
+was that they must rebuild the palisade, and then retreat to the citadel
+when the Persians should approach, and defend themselves there.
+
+Others conceived that the phrase referred to ships, and that the oracle
+meant to direct them to meet their enemies with a fleet upon the sea.
+Salamis, which was also mentioned by the oracle, was an island not far
+from Athens, being west of the city, between it and the Isthmus of
+Corinth. Those who supposed that by the "wooden walls" was denoted the
+fleet, thought that Salamis might have been alluded to as the place near
+which the great naval battle was to be fought. This was the
+interpretation which seemed finally to prevail.
+
+The Athenians had a fleet of about two hundred galleys. These vessels
+had been purchased and built, some time before this, for the Athenian
+government, through the influence of a certain public officer of high
+rank and influence, named Themistocles. It seems that a large sum had
+accumulated in the public treasury, the produce of certain mines
+belonging to the city, and a proposal was made to divide it among the
+citizens, which would have given a small sum to each man. Themistocles
+opposed this proposition, and urged instead that the government should
+build and equip a fleet with the money. This plan was finally adopted.
+The fleet was built, and it was now determined to call it into active
+service to meet and repel the Persians, though the naval armament of
+Xerxes was six times as large.
+
+The next measure was to establish a confederation, if possible, of the
+Grecian states, or at least of all those who were willing to combine,
+and thus to form an allied army to resist the invader. The smaller
+states were very generally panic-stricken, and had either already
+signified their submission to the Persian rule, or were timidly
+hesitating, in doubt whether it would be safer for them to submit to the
+overwhelming force which was advancing against them, or to join the
+Athenians and the Spartans in their almost desperate attempts to resist
+it. The Athenians and Spartans settled, for the time, their own
+quarrels, and held a council to take the necessary measures for forming
+a more extended confederation.
+
+All this took place while Xerxes was slowly advancing from Sardis to the
+Hellespont, and from the Hellespont to Doriscus, as described in the
+preceding chapter.
+
+The council resolved on dispatching an embassy at once to all the states
+of Greece, as well as to some of the remoter neighboring powers, asking
+them to join the alliance.
+
+The first Greek city to which these embassadors came was Argos, which
+was the capital of a kingdom or state lying between Athens and Sparta,
+though within the Peloponnesus. The states of Argos and of Sparta, being
+neighbors, had been constantly at war. Argos had recently lost six
+thousand men in a battle with the Spartans, and were, consequently, not
+likely to be in a very favorable mood for a treaty of friendship and
+alliance.
+
+When the embassadors had delivered their message, the Argolians replied
+that they had anticipated such a proposal from the time that they had
+heard that Xerxes had commenced his march toward Greece, and that they
+had applied, accordingly, to the oracle at Delphi, to know what it would
+be best for them to do in case the proposal were made. The answer of the
+oracle had been, they said, unfavorable to their entering into an
+alliance with the Greeks. They were willing, however, they added,
+notwithstanding this, to enter into an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, with the Spartans, for thirty years, on condition that they
+should themselves have the command of half the Peloponnesian troops.
+They were entitled to the command of the whole, being, as they
+contended, the superior nation in rank, but they would waive their just
+claim, and be satisfied with half, if the Spartans would agree to that
+arrangement.
+
+The Spartans replied that they could not agree to those conditions. They
+were themselves, they said, the superior nation in rank, and entitled to
+the whole command; and as they had two kings, and Argos but one, there
+was a double difficulty in complying with the Argive demand. They could
+not surrender one half of the command without depriving one of their
+kings of his rightful power.
+
+Thus the proposed alliance failed entirely, the people of Argos saying
+that they would as willingly submit to the dominion of Xerxes as to the
+insolent demands and assumptions of superiority made by the government
+of Sparta.
+
+The embassadors among other countries which they visited in their
+attempts to obtain alliance and aid, went to Sicily. Gelon was the King
+of Sicily, and Syracuse was his capital. Here the same difficulty
+occurred which had broken up the negotiations at Argos. The embassadors,
+when they arrived at Syracuse, represented to Gelon that, if the
+Persians subdued Greece, they would come to Sicily next, and that it was
+better for him and for his countrymen that they should meet the enemy
+while he was still at a distance, rather than to wait until he came
+near. Gelon admitted the justice of this reasoning, and said that he
+would furnish a large force, both of ships and men, for carrying on the
+war, provided that he might have the command of the combined army. To
+this, of course, the Spartans would not agree. He then asked that he
+might command the fleet, on condition of giving up his claim to the land
+forces. This proposition the Athenian embassadors rejected, saying to
+Gelon that what they were in need of, and came to him to obtain, was a
+supply of troops, not of leaders. The Athenians, they said, were to
+command the fleet, being not only the most ancient nation of Greece, but
+also the most immediately exposed to the invasion, so that they were
+doubly entitled to be considered as the principals and leaders in the
+war.
+
+Gelon then told the embassadors that, since they wished to obtain every
+thing and to concede nothing, they had better leave his dominions
+without delay, and report to their countrymen that they had nothing to
+expect from Sicily.
+
+The embassadors went then to Corcyra, a large island on the western
+coast of Greece, in the Adriatic Sea. It is now called Corfu. Here they
+seemed to meet with their first success. The people of Corcyra acceded
+to the proposals made to them, and promised at once to equip and man
+their fleet, and send it round into the Ægean Sea. They immediately
+engaged in the work, and seemed to be honestly intent on fulfilling
+their promises. They were, however, in fact, only pretending. They were
+really undecided which cause to espouse, the Greek or the Persian, and
+kept their promised squadron back by means of various delays, until its
+aid was no longer needed.
+
+But the most important of all these negotiations of the Athenians and
+Spartans with the neighboring states were those opened with Thessaly.
+Thessaly was a kingdom in the northern part of Greece. It was,
+therefore, the territory which the Persian armies would first enter, on
+turning the northwestern corner of the Ægean Sea. There were, moreover,
+certain points in its geographical position, and in the physical
+conformation of the country, that gave it a peculiar importance in
+respect to the approaching conflict.
+
+By referring to the map placed at the commencement of the fifth chapter,
+it will be seen that Thessaly was a vast valley, surrounded on all sides
+by mountainous land, and drained by the River Peneus and its branches.
+The Peneus flows eastwardly to the Ægean Sea, and escapes from the great
+valley through a narrow and romantic pass lying between the Mountains
+Olympus and Ossa. This pass was called in ancient times the Olympic
+Straits, and a part of it formed a romantic and beautiful glen called
+the Vale of Tempe. There was a road through this pass, which was the
+only access by which Thessaly could be entered from the eastward.
+
+To the south of the Vale of Tempe, the mountains, as will appear from
+the map, crowded so hard upon the sea as not to allow any passage to the
+eastward of them. The natural route of Xerxes, therefore, in descending
+into Greece, would be to come down along the coast until he reached the
+mouth of the Peneus, and then, following the river up through the Vale
+of Tempe into Thessaly, to pass down toward the Peloponnesus on the
+western side of Ossa and Pelion, and of the other mountains near the
+sea. If he could get through the Olympic Straits and the Vale of Tempe,
+the way would be open and unobstructed until he should reach the
+southern frontier of Thessaly, where there was another narrow pass
+leading from Thessaly into Greece. This last defile was close to the
+sea, and was called the Straits of Thermopylæ.
+
+Thus Xerxes and his hosts, in continuing their march to the southward,
+must necessarily traverse Thessaly, and in doing so they would have two
+narrow and dangerous defiles to pass--one at Mount Olympus, to get into
+the country, and the other at Thermopylæ, to get out of it. It
+consequently became a point of great importance to the Greeks to
+determine at which of these two passes they should make their stand
+against the torrent which was coming down upon them.
+
+This question would, of course, depend very much upon the disposition of
+Thessaly herself. The government of that country, understanding the
+critical situation in which they were placed, had not waited for the
+Athenians and Spartans to send embassadors to them, but, at a very early
+period of the war--before, in fact, Xerxes had yet crossed the
+Hellespont, had sent messengers to Athens to concert some plan of
+action. These messengers were to say to the Athenians that the
+government of Thessaly were expecting every day to receive a summons
+from Xerxes, and that they must speedily decide what they were to do;
+that they themselves were very unwilling to submit to him, but they
+could not undertake to make a stand against his immense host alone; that
+the southern Greeks might include Thessaly in their plan of defense, or
+exclude it, just as they thought best. If they decided to include it,
+then they must make a stand at the Olympic Straits, that is, at the pass
+between Olympus and Ossa; and to do that, it would be necessary to send
+a strong force immediately to take possession of the pass. If, on the
+contrary, they decided _not_ to defend Thessaly, then the pass of
+Thermopylæ would be the point at which they must make their stand, and
+in that case Thessaly must be at liberty to submit on the first Persian
+summons.
+
+The Greeks, after consultation on the subject, decided that it would be
+best for them to defend Thessaly, and to take their stand, accordingly,
+at the Straits of Olympus. They immediately put a large force on board
+their fleet, armed and equipped for the expedition. This was at the time
+when Xerxes was just about crossing the Hellespont. The fleet sailed
+from the port of Athens, passed up through the narrow strait called
+Euripus, lying between the island of Euboea and the main land, and
+finally landed at a favorable point of disembarkation, south of
+Thessaly. From this point the forces marched to the northward until they
+reached the Peneus, and then established themselves at the narrowest
+part of the passage between the mountains, strengthened their position
+there as much as possible, and awaited the coming of the enemy. The
+amount of the force was ten thousand men.
+
+They had not been here many days before a messenger came to them from
+the King of Macedon, which country, it will be seen, lies immediately
+north of Thessaly, earnestly dissuading them from attempting to make a
+stand at the Vale of Tempe. Xerxes was coming on, he said, with an
+immense and overwhelming force, one against which it would be utterly
+impossible for them to make good their defense at such a point as that.
+It would be far better for them to fall back to Thermopylæ, which, being
+a narrower and more rugged pass, could be more easily defended.
+
+Besides this, the messenger said that it was possible for Xerxes to
+enter Thessaly without going through the Vale of Tempe at all. The
+country between Thessaly and Macedon was mountainous, but it was not
+impassable, and Xerxes would very probably come by that way. The only
+security, therefore, for the Greeks, would be to fall back and intrench
+themselves at Thermopylæ. Nor was there any time to be lost. Xerxes was
+crossing the Hellespont, and the whole country was full of excitement
+and terror.
+
+The Greeks determined to act on this advice. They broke up their
+encampment at the Olympic Straits, and, retreating to the southward,
+established themselves at Thermopylæ, to await there the coming of the
+conqueror. The people of Thessaly then surrendered to Xerxes as soon as
+they received his summons.
+
+Xerxes, from his encampment at Therma, where we left him at the close of
+the last chapter, saw the peaks of Olympus and Ossa in the southern
+horizon. They were distant perhaps fifty miles from where he stood. He
+inquired about them, and was told that the River Peneus flowed between
+them to the sea, and that through the same defile there lay the main
+entrance to Thessaly. He had previously determined to march his army
+round the other way, as the King of Macedon had suggested, but he said
+that he should like to see this defile. So he ordered a swift Sidonian
+galley to be prepared, and, taking with him suitable guides, and a fleet
+of other vessels in attendance on his galley, he sailed to the mouth of
+the Peneus, and, entering that river, he ascended it until he came to
+the defile.
+
+Seen from any of the lower elevations which projected from the bases of
+the mountains at the head of this defile, Thessaly lay spread out before
+the eye as one vast valley--level, verdant, fertile, and bounded by
+distant groups and ranges of mountains, which formed a blue and
+beautiful horizon on every side. Through the midst of this scene of
+rural loveliness the Peneus, with its countless branches, gracefully
+meandered, gathering the water from every part of the valley, and then
+pouring it forth in a deep and calm current through the gap in the
+mountains at the observer's feet. Xerxes asked his guides if it would be
+possible to find any other place where the waters of the Peneus could be
+conducted to the sea. They replied that it would not be, for the valley
+was bounded on every side by ranges of mountainous land.
+
+"Then," said Xerxes, "the Thessalians were wise in submitting at once to
+my summons; for, if they had not done so, I would have raised a vast
+embankment across the valley here, and thus stopped the river, turned
+their country into a lake, and drowned them all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Advance of the army.--Sailing of the fleet.--Sciathus.--Euboea.--Straits
+of Artemisium and Euripus.--Attica.--Saronic Gulf.--Island of
+Salamis.--Excitement of the country.--Signals.--Sentinels.--Movement of
+the fleet.--The ten reconnoitering galleys.--Guard-ships
+captured.--Barbarous ceremony.--A heroic Greek.--One crew escape.--The
+alarm spread.--Return of the Persian galleys.--The monument of
+stones.--Progress of the fleet.--The fleet anchors in a bay.--A coming
+storm.--The storm rages.--Destruction of many vessels.--Plunder of the
+wrecks.--Scyllias, the famous diver.--Dissensions in the Greek
+fleet.--Jealousy of the Athenians.--Situation of the
+Athenians.--Eurybiades appointed commander.--Debates in the Greek
+council.--Dismay of the Euboeans.--The Greek leaders
+bribed.--Precautions of the Persians.--Designs of the Persians
+discovered.--The Greeks decide to give battle.--Euripus and
+Artemisium.--Advance of the Greeks.--The battle.--A stormy night.--Scene
+of terror.--A calm after the storm.--Terror of the Euboeans.--Their
+plans.--The Greeks retire.--Inscription on the rocks.--The commanders of
+the Persian fleet summoned to Thermopylæ.
+
+
+From Therma--the last of the great stations at which the Persian army
+halted before its final descent upon Greece--the army commenced its
+march, and the fleet set sail, nearly at the same time, which was early
+in the summer. The army advanced slowly, meeting with the usual
+difficulties and delays, but without encountering any special or
+extraordinary occurrences, until, after having passed through Macedon
+into Thessaly, and through Thessaly to the northern frontier of Phocis,
+they began to approach the Straits of Thermopylæ. What took place at
+Thermopylæ will be made the subject of the next chapter. The movements
+of the fleet are to be narrated in this.
+
+In order distinctly to understand these movements, it is necessary
+that the reader should first have a clear conception of the geographical
+conformation of the coasts and seas along which the path of the
+expedition lay. By referring to the map of Greece, we shall see that the
+course which the fleet would naturally take from Therma to the
+southeastward, along the coast, was unobstructed and clear for about a
+hundred miles. We then come to a group of four islands, extending in a
+range at right angles to the coast. The only one of these islands with
+which we have particularly to do in this history is the innermost of
+them, which was named Sciathus. Opposite to these islands the line of
+the coast, having passed around the point of a mountainous and rocky
+promontory called Magnesia, turns suddenly to the westward, and runs in
+that direction for about thirty miles, when it again turns to the
+southward and eastward as before. In the sort of corner thus cut off by
+the deflection of the coast lies the long island of Euboea, which may be
+considered, in fact, as almost a continuation of the continent, as it is
+a part of the same conformation of country, and is separated from the
+main land only by submerged valleys on the north and on the east. Into
+these sunken valleys the sea of course flows, forming straits or
+channels. The one on the north was, in ancient times, called Artemisium,
+and the one on the west, at its narrowest point, Euripus. All these
+islands and coasts were high and picturesque. They were also, in the
+days of Xerxes, densely populated, and adorned profusely with temples,
+citadels, and towns.
+
+On passing the southernmost extremity of the island of Euboea, and
+turning to the westward, we come to a promontory of the main land, which
+constituted Attica, and in the middle of which the city of Athens was
+situated. Beyond this is a capacious gulf, called the Saronian Gulf. It
+lies between Attica and the Peloponnesus. In the middle of the Saronian
+Gulf lies the island of Ægina, and in the northern part of it the island
+of Salamis. The progress of the Persian fleet was from Therma down the
+coast to Sciathus, thence along the shores of Euboea to its southern
+point, and so round into the Saronian Gulf to the island of Salamis. The
+distance of this voyage was perhaps two hundred and fifty miles. In
+accomplishing it the fleet encountered many dangers, and met with a
+variety of incidents and events, which we shall now proceed to describe.
+
+The country, of course, was every where in a state of the greatest
+excitement and terror. The immense army was slowly coming down by land,
+and the fleet, scarcely less terrible, since its descents upon the coast
+would be so fearfully sudden and overwhelming when they were made, was
+advancing by sea. The inhabitants of the country were consequently in a
+state of extreme agitation. The sick and the infirm, who were, of
+course, utterly helpless in such a danger, exhibited every where the
+spectacle of silent dismay. Mothers, wives, maidens, and children, on
+the other hand, were wild with excitement and terror. The men, too full
+of passion to fear, or too full of pride to allow their fears to be
+seen, were gathering in arms, or hurrying to and fro with intelligence,
+or making hasty arrangements to remove their wives and children from the
+scenes of cruel suffering which were to ensue. They stationed watchmen
+on the hills to give warning of the approach of the enemy. They agreed
+upon signals, and raised piles of wood for beacon fires on every
+commanding elevation along the coast; while all the roads leading from
+the threatened provinces to other regions more remote from the danger
+were covered with flying parties, endeavoring to make their escape, and
+carrying, wearily and in sorrow, whatever they valued most and were most
+anxious to save. Mothers bore their children, men their gold and silver,
+and sisters aided their sick or feeble brothers to sustain the toil and
+terror of the flight.
+
+All this time Xerxes was sitting in his war chariot, in the midst of his
+advancing army, full of exultation, happiness, and pride at the thoughts
+of the vast harvest of glory which all this panic and suffering were
+bringing him in.
+
+The fleet, at length--which was under the command of Xerxes's brothers
+and cousins, whom he had appointed the admirals of it--began to move
+down the coast from Therma, with the intention of first sweeping the
+seas clear of any naval force which the Greeks might have sent forward
+there to act against them, and then of landing upon some point on the
+coast, wherever they could do so most advantageously for co-operation
+with the army on the land. The advance of the ships was necessarily
+slow. So immense a flotilla could not have been otherwise kept together.
+The admirals, however, selected ten of the swiftest of the galleys, and,
+after manning and arming them in the most perfect manner, sent them
+forward to reconnoiter. The ten galleys were ordered to advance rapidly,
+but with the greatest circumspection. They were not to incur any
+needless danger, but, if they met with any detached ships of the enemy,
+they were to capture them, if possible. They were, moreover, to be
+constantly on the alert, to observe every thing, and to send back to
+the fleet all important intelligence which they could obtain.
+
+The ten galleys went on without observing any thing remarkable until
+they reached the island of Sciathus. Here they came in sight of three
+Greek ships, a sort of advanced guard, which had been stationed there to
+watch the movements of the enemy.
+
+The Greek galleys immediately hoisted their anchors and fled; the
+Persian galleys manned their oars, and pressed on after them.
+
+They overtook one of the guard-ships very soon, and, after a short
+conflict, they succeeded in capturing it. The Persians made prisoners of
+the officers and crew, and then, selecting from among them the fairest
+and most noble-looking man, just as they would have selected a bullock
+from a herd, they sacrificed him to one of their deities on the prow of
+the captured ship. This was a religious ceremony, intended to signalize
+and sanctify their victory.
+
+The second vessel they also overtook and captured. The crew of this ship
+were easily subdued, as the overwhelming superiority of their enemies
+appeared to convince them that all resistance was hopeless, and to
+plunge them into despair. There was one man, however, who, it seems,
+could not be conquered. He fought like a tiger to the last, and only
+ceased to deal his furious thrusts and blows at the enemies that
+surrounded him when, after being entirely covered with wounds, he fell
+faint and nearly lifeless upon the bloody deck. When the conflict with
+him was thus ended, the murderous hostility of his enemies seemed
+suddenly to be changed into pity for his sufferings and admiration of
+his valor. They gathered around him, bathed and bound up his wounds,
+gave him cordials, and at length restored him to life. Finally, when the
+detachment returned to the fleet, some days afterward, they carried this
+man with them, and presented him to the commanders as a hero worthy of
+the highest admiration and honor. The rest of the crew were made slaves.
+
+The third of the Greek guard-ships contrived to escape, or, rather, the
+crew escaped, while the vessel itself was taken. This ship, in its
+flight, had gone toward the north, and the crew at last succeeded in
+running it on shore on the coast of Thessaly, so as to escape,
+themselves, by abandoning the vessel to the enemy. The officers and
+crew, thus escaping to the shore, went through Thessaly into Greece,
+spreading the tidings every where that the Persians were at hand. This
+intelligence was communicated, also, along the coast, by beacon fires
+which the people of Sciathus built upon the heights of the island as a
+signal, to give the alarm to the country southward of them, according to
+the preconcerted plan. The alarm was communicated by other fires built
+on other heights, and sentinels were stationed on every commanding
+eminence on the highlands of Euboea toward the south, to watch for the
+first appearance of the enemy.
+
+The Persian galleys that had been sent forward having taken the three
+Greek guard-ships, and finding the sea before them now clear of all
+appearances of an enemy, concluded to return to the fleet with their
+prizes and their report. They had been directed, when they were
+dispatched from the fleet, to lay up a monument of stones at the
+furthest point which they should reach in their cruise: a measure often
+resorted to in similar cases, by way of furnishing proof that a party
+thus sent forward have really advanced as far as they pretend on their
+return. The Persian detachment had actually brought the stones for the
+erection of their landmark with them in one of their galleys. The
+galley containing the stones, and two others to aid it, pushed on beyond
+Sciathus to a small rocky islet standing in a conspicuous position in
+the sea, and there they built their monument or cairn. The detachment
+then returned to meet the fleet. The time occupied by this whole
+expedition was eleven days.
+
+The fleet was, in the mean time, coming down along the coast of
+Magnesia. The whole company of ships had advanced safely and
+prosperously thus far, but now a great calamity was about to befall
+them--the first of the series of disasters by which the expedition was
+ultimately ruined. It was a storm at sea.
+
+The fleet had drawn up for the night in a long and shallow bay on the
+coast. There was a rocky promontory at one end of this bay and a cape on
+the other, with a long beach between them. It was a very good place of
+refuge and rest for the night in calm weather, but such a bay afforded
+very little shelter against a tempestuous wind, or even against the surf
+and swell of the sea, which were sometimes produced by a distant storm.
+When the fleet entered this bay in the evening, the sea was calm and the
+sky serene. The commanders expected to remain there for the night, and
+to proceed on the voyage on the following day.
+
+The bay was not sufficiently extensive to allow of the drawing up of so
+large a fleet in a single line along the shore. The ships were
+accordingly arranged in several lines, eight in all. The innermost of
+these lines was close to the shore; the others were at different
+distances from it, and every separate ship was held to the place
+assigned it by its anchors. In this position the fleet passed the night
+in safety, but before morning there were indications of a storm. The sky
+looked wild and lurid. A heavy swell came rolling in from the offing.
+The wind began to rise, and to blow in fitful gusts. Its direction was
+from the eastward, so that its tendency was to drive the fleet upon the
+shore. The seamen were anxious and afraid, and the commanders of the
+several ships began to devise, each for his own vessel, the best means
+of safety. Some, whose vessels were small, drew them up upon the sand,
+above the reach of the swell. Others strengthened the anchoring tackle,
+or added new anchors to those already down. Others raised their anchors
+altogether, and attempted to row their galleys away, up or down the
+coast, in hope of finding some better place of shelter. Thus all was
+excitement and confusion in the fleet, through the eager efforts made by
+every separate crew to escape the impending danger.
+
+In the mean time, the storm came on apace. The rising and roughening sea
+made the oars useless, and the wind howled frightfully through the
+cordage and the rigging. The galleys soon began to be forced away from
+their moorings. Some were driven upon the beach and dashed to pieces by
+the waves. Some were wrecked on the rocks at one or the other of the
+projecting points which bounded the bay on either hand. Some foundered
+at their place of anchorage. Vast numbers of men were drowned. Those who
+escaped to the shore were in hourly dread of an attack from the
+inhabitants of the country. To save themselves, if possible, from this
+danger, they dragged up the fragments of the wrecked vessels upon the
+beach, and built a fort with them on the shore. Here they intrenched
+themselves, and then prepared to defend their lives, armed with the
+weapons which, like the materials for their fort, were washed up, from
+time to time, by the sea.
+
+The storm continued for three days. It destroyed about three hundred
+galleys, besides an immense number of provision transports and other
+smaller vessels. Great numbers of seamen, also, were drowned. The
+inhabitants of the country along the coast enriched themselves with the
+plunder which they obtained from the wrecks, and from the treasures, and
+the gold and silver vessels, which continued for some time to be driven
+up upon the beach by the waves. The Persians themselves recovered, it
+was said, a great deal of valuable treasure, by employing a certain
+Greek diver, whom they had in their fleet, to dive for it after the
+storm was over. This diver, whose name was Scyllias, was famed far and
+wide for his power of remaining under water. As an instance of what they
+believed him capable of performing, they said that when, at a certain
+period subsequent to these transactions, he determined to desert to the
+Greeks, he accomplished his design by diving into the sea from the deck
+of a Persian galley, and coming up again in the midst of the Greek
+fleet, ten miles distant!
+
+After three days the storm subsided. The Persians then repaired the
+damages which had been sustained, so far as it was now possible to
+repair them, collected what remained of the fleet, took the shipwrecked
+mariners from their rude fortification on the beach, and set sail again
+on their voyage to the southward.
+
+In the mean time, the Greek fleet had assembled in the arm of the sea
+lying north of Euboea, and between Euboea and the main land. It was an
+allied fleet, made up of contributions from various states that had
+finally agreed to come into the confederacy. As is usually the case,
+however, with allied or confederate forces, they were not well agreed
+among themselves. The Athenians had furnished far the greater number of
+ships, and they considered themselves, therefore, entitled to the
+command; but the other allies were envious and jealous of them on
+account of that very superiority of wealth and power which enabled them
+to supply a greater portion of the naval force than the rest. They were
+willing that one of the Spartans should command, but they would not
+consent to put themselves under an Athenian. If an Athenian leader were
+chosen, they would disperse, they said, and the various portions of the
+fleet return to their respective homes.
+
+The Athenians, though burning with resentment at this unjust
+declaration, were compelled to submit to the necessity of the case. They
+could not take the confederates at their word, and allow the fleet to
+be broken up, for the defense of Athens was the great object for which
+it was assembled. The other states might make their peace with the
+conqueror by submission, but the Athenians could not do so. In respect
+to the rest of Greece, Xerxes wished only for dominion. In respect to
+Athens, he wished for vengeance. The Athenians had burned the Persian
+city of Sardis, and he had determined to give himself no rest until he
+had burned Athens in return.
+
+It was well understood, therefore, that the assembling of the fleet, and
+giving battle to the Persians where they now were, was a plan adopted
+mainly for the defense and benefit of the Athenians. The Athenians,
+accordingly, waived their claim to command, secretly resolving that,
+when the war was over, they would have their revenge for the insult and
+injury.
+
+A Spartan was accordingly appointed commander of the fleet. His name was
+Eurybiades.
+
+Things were in this state when the two fleets came in sight of each
+other in the strait between the northern end of Euboea and the main
+land. Fifteen of the Persian galleys, advancing incautiously some miles
+in front of the rest, came suddenly upon the Greek fleet, and were all
+captured. The crews were made prisoners and sent into Greece. The
+remainder of the fleet entered the strait, and anchored at the eastern
+extremity of it, sheltered by the promontory of Magnesia, which now lay
+to the north of them.
+
+The Greeks were amazed at the immense magnitude of the Persian fleet,
+and the first opinion of the commanders was, that it was wholly useless
+for them to attempt to engage them. A council was convened, and, after a
+long and anxious debate, they decided that it was best to retire to the
+southward. The inhabitants of Euboea, who had been already in a state of
+great excitement and terror at the near approach of so formidable an
+enemy, were thrown, by this decision of the allies, into a state of
+absolute dismay. It was abandoning them to irremediable and hopeless
+destruction.
+
+The government of the island immediately raised a very large sum of
+money, and went with it to Themistocles, one of the most influential of
+the Athenian leaders, and offered it to him if he would contrive any way
+to persuade the commanders of the fleet to remain and give the Persians
+battle where they were. Themistocles took the money, and agreed to the
+condition. He went with a small part of it--though this part was a very
+considerable sum--to Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, and offered it
+to him if he would retain the fleet in its present position. There were
+some other similar offerings made to other influential men, judiciously
+selected. All this was done in a very private manner, and, of course,
+Themistocles took care to reserve to himself the lion's share of the
+Euboean contribution. The effect of this money in altering the opinions
+of the naval officers was marvelous. A new council was called, the
+former decision was annulled, and the Greeks determined to give their
+enemies battle where they were.
+
+The Persians had not been unmindful of the danger that the Greeks might
+retreat by retiring through the Euripus, and so escape them. In order to
+prevent this, they secretly sent off a fleet of two hundred of their
+strongest and fleetest galleys, with orders to sail round Euboea and
+enter the Euripus from the south, so as to cut off the retreat of the
+Greeks in that quarter. They thought that by this plan the Greek fleet
+would be surrounded, and could have no possible mode of escape. They
+remained, therefore, with the principal fleet, at the outer entrance of
+the northern strait for some days, before attacking the Greeks, in order
+to give time for the detachment to pass round the island.
+
+The Persians sent off the two hundred galleys with great secrecy, not
+desiring that the Greeks should discover their design of thus
+intercepting their retreat. They did discover it, however, for this was
+the occasion on which the great diver, Scyllias, made his escape from
+one fleet to the other by swimming under water ten miles, and he brought
+the Greeks the tidings.[E]
+
+[Footnote E: There is reason to suppose that Scyllias made his escape by
+night in a boat, managing the circumstances, however, in such a way as
+to cause the story to be circulated that he swam.]
+
+The Greeks dispatched a small squadron of ships with orders to proceed
+southward into the Euripus, to meet this detachment which the Persians
+sent round; and, in the mean time, they determined themselves to attack
+the main Persian fleet without any delay. Notwithstanding their absurd
+dissensions and jealousies, and the extent to which the leaders were
+influenced by intrigues and bribes, the Greeks always evinced an
+undaunted and indomitable spirit when the day of battle came. It was,
+moreover, in this case, exceedingly important to defend the position
+which they had taken. By referring to the map once more, it will be seen
+that the Euripus was the great highway to Athens by sea, as the pass of
+Thermopylæ was by land. Thermopylæ was west of Artemisium, where the
+fleet was now stationed, and not many miles from it. The Greek army had
+made its great stand at Thermopylæ, and Xerxes was fast coming down the
+country with all his forces to endeavor to force a passage there. The
+Persian fleet, in entering Artemisium, was making the same attempt by
+sea in respect to the narrow passage of Euripus; and for either of the
+two forces, the fleet or the army, to fail of making good the defense of
+its position, without a desperate effort to do so, would justly be
+considered a base betrayal and abandonment of the other.
+
+The Greeks therefore advanced, one morning, to the attack of the
+Persians, to the utter astonishment of the latter, who believed that
+their enemies were insane when they thus saw them coming into the jaws,
+as they thought, of certain destruction. Before night, however, they
+were to change their opinions in respect to the insanity of their foes.
+The Greeks pushed boldly on into the midst of the Persian fleet, where
+they were soon surrounded. They then formed themselves into a circle,
+with the prows of the vessels outward, and the sterns toward the center
+within, and fought in this manner with the utmost desperation all the
+day. With the night a storm came on, or, rather, a series of
+thunder-showers and gusts of wind, so severe that both fleets were glad
+to retire from the scene of contest. The Persians went back toward the
+east, the Greeks to the westward, toward Thermopylæ--each party busy in
+repairing their wrecks, taking care of their wounded, and saving their
+vessels from the tempest. It was a dreadful night. The Persians,
+particularly, spent it in the midst of scenes of horror. The wind and
+the current, it seems, set outward, toward the sea, and carried the
+masses and fragments of the wrecked vessels, and the swollen and ghastly
+bodies of the dead, in among the Persian fleet, and so choked up the
+surface of the water that the oars became entangled and useless. The
+whole mass of seamen in the Persian fleet, during this terrible night,
+were panic-stricken and filled with horror. The wind, the perpetual
+thunder, the concussions of the vessels with the wrecks and with one
+another, and the heavy shocks of the seas, kept them in continual
+alarm; and the black and inscrutable darkness was rendered the more
+dreadful, while it prevailed, by the hideous spectacle which, at every
+flash of lightning, glared brilliantly upon every eye from the wide
+surface of the sea. The shouts and cries of officers vociferating
+orders, of wounded men writhing in agony, of watchmen and sentinels in
+fear of collisions, mingled with the howling wind and roaring seas,
+created a scene of indescribable terror and confusion.
+
+The violence of the sudden gale was still greater further out at sea,
+and the detachment of ships which had been sent around Euboea was wholly
+dispersed and destroyed by it.
+
+The storm was, however, after all, only a series of summer evening
+showers, such as to the inhabitants of peaceful dwellings on the land
+have no terror, but only come to clear the sultry atmosphere in the
+night, and in the morning are gone. When the sun rose, accordingly, upon
+the Greeks and Persians on the morning after their conflict, the air was
+calm, the sky serene, and the sea as blue and pure as ever. The bodies
+and the wrecks had been floated away into the offing. The courage or the
+ferocity, whichever we choose to call it, of the combatants, returned,
+and they renewed the conflict. It continued, with varying success, for
+two more days.
+
+During all this time the inhabitants of the island of Euboea were in the
+greatest distress and terror. They watched these dreadful conflicts from
+the heights, uncertain how the struggle would end, but fearing lest
+their defenders should be beaten, in which case the whole force of the
+Persian fleet would be landed on their island, to sweep it with pillage
+and destruction. They soon began to anticipate the worst, and, in
+preparation for it, they removed their goods--all that could be
+removed--and drove their cattle down to the southern part of the island,
+so as to be ready to escape to the main land. The Greek commanders,
+finding that the fleet would probably be compelled to retreat in the
+end, sent to them here, recommending that they should kill their cattle
+and eat them, roasting the flesh at fires which they should kindle on
+the plain. The cattle could not be transported, they said, across the
+channel, and it was better that the flying population should be fed,
+than that the food should fall into Persian hands. If they would dispose
+of their cattle in this manner, Eurybiades would endeavor, he said, to
+transport the people themselves and their valuable goods across into
+Attica.
+
+How many thousand peaceful and happy homes were broken up and destroyed
+forever by this ruthless invasion!
+
+In the mean time, the Persians, irritated by the obstinate resistance of
+the Greeks, were, on the fourth day, preparing for some more vigorous
+measures, when they saw a small boat coming toward the fleet from down
+the channel. It proved to contain a countryman, who came to tell them
+that the Greeks had gone away. The whole fleet, he said, had sailed off
+to the southward, and abandoned those seas altogether. The Persians did
+not, at first, believe this intelligence. They suspected some ambuscade
+or stratagem. They advanced slowly and cautiously down the channel. When
+they had gone half down to Thermopylæ, they stopped at a place called
+Histiæa, where, upon the rocks on the shore, they found an inscription
+addressed to the Ionians--who, it will be recollected, had been brought
+by Xerxes as auxiliaries, contrary to the advice of
+Artabanus--entreating them not to fight against their countrymen. This
+inscription was written in large and conspicuous characters on the face
+of the cliff, so that it could be read by the Ionian seamen as they
+passed in their galleys.
+
+The fleet anchored at Histiæa, the commanders being somewhat uncertain
+in respect to what it was best to do. Their suspense was very soon
+relieved by a messenger from Xerxes, who came in a galley up the channel
+from Thermopylæ, with the news that Xerxes had arrived at Thermopylæ,
+had fought a great battle there, defeated the Greeks, and obtained
+possession of the pass, and that any of the officers of the fleet who
+chose to do so might come and view the battle ground. This intelligence
+and invitation produced, throughout the fleet, a scene of the wildest
+excitement, enthusiasm, and joy. All the boats and smaller vessels of
+the fleet were put into requisition to carry the officers down. When
+they arrived at Thermopylæ the tidings all proved true. Xerxes was in
+possession of the pass, and the Greek fleet was gone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The pass of Thermopylæ.--Its situation.--Ancient intrenchments.--View at
+Thermopylæ.--The allied forces.--Leonidas the Spartan.--Debate in regard
+to defending Thermopylæ.--The decision.--Character of the
+Spartans.--Their pride.--The Spartans adorn themselves for the
+battle.--Approach of Xerxes.--The Persian horseman.--His
+observation.--Report of the horseman.--Conversation with
+Demaratus.--Xerxes encamps at the pass.--Troops sent into the
+pass.--Defeat of the Persian detachment.--The Immortals called out.--The
+Immortals advance to the charge.--Valor of the Greeks.--The Immortals
+repulsed.--Treachery of Ephialtes.--Joy of Xerxes.--Course of the
+path.--A Persian detachment sent up the path.--The Phocæans
+retreat.--The Greeks surrounded.--Resolution of Leonidas.--Leonidas
+dismisses the other Greeks.--His noble generosity.--Leonidas retains the
+Thebans.--Xerxes attacks him.--Terrible combat.--Death of
+Leonidas.--Stories of the battle.--The two invalids.--Xerxes views the
+ground.--His treatment of the body of Leonidas.--Message to the
+fleet.--Xerxes sends for Demaratus.--Conversation with Demaratus.--Plans
+proposed by him.--Opposition of the admiral.--Decision of Xerxes.
+
+
+The pass of Thermopylæ was not a ravine among mountains, but a narrow
+space between mountains and the sea. The mountains landward were steep
+and inaccessible; the sea was shoal. The passage between them was narrow
+for many miles along the shore, being narrowest at the ingress and
+egress. In the middle the space was broader. The place was celebrated
+for certain warm springs which here issued from the rocks, and which had
+been used in former times for baths.
+
+The position had been considered, long before Xerxes's day, a very
+important one in a military point of view, as it was upon the frontier
+between two Greek states that were frequently at war. One of these
+states, of course, was Thessaly. The other was Phocis, which lay south
+of Thessaly. The general boundary between these two states was
+mountainous, and impassable for troops, so that each could invade the
+territories of the other only by passing round between the mountains
+and the shore at Thermopylæ.
+
+The Phocæans, in order to keep the Thessalians out, had, in former
+times, built a wall across the way, and put up gates there, which they
+strongly fortified. In order still further to increase the difficulty of
+forcing a passage, they conducted the water of the warm springs over the
+ground without the wall, in such a way as to make the surface
+continually wet and miry. The old wall had now fallen to ruins, but the
+miry ground remained. The place was solitary and desolate, and overgrown
+with a confused and wild vegetation. On one side the view extended far
+and wide over the sea, with the highlands of Euboea in the distance, and
+on the other dark and inaccessible mountains rose, covered with forests,
+indented with mysterious and unexplored ravines, and frowning in a wild
+and gloomy majesty over the narrow passway which crept along the shore
+below.
+
+The Greeks, when they retired from Thessaly, fell back upon Thermopylæ,
+and established themselves there. They had a force variously estimated,
+from three to four thousand men. These were from the different states of
+Greece, some within and some without the Peloponnesus--a few hundred
+men only being furnished, in general, from each state or kingdom. Each
+of these bodies of troops had its own officers, though there was one
+general-in-chief, who commanded the whole. This was Leonidas the
+Spartan. He had brought with him three hundred Spartans, as the quota
+furnished by that city. These men he had specially selected himself, one
+by one, from among the troops of the city, as men on whom he could rely.
+
+It will be seen from the map that Thermopylæ is at some distance from
+the Isthmus of Corinth, and that of the states which would be protected
+by making a stand at the pass, some were without the isthmus and some
+within. These states, in sending each a few hundred men only to
+Thermopylæ, did not consider that they were making their full
+contribution to the army, but only sending forward for the emergency
+those that could be dispatched at once; and they were all making
+arrangements to supply more troops as soon as they could be raised and
+equipped for the service. In the mean time, however, Xerxes and his
+immense hordes came on faster than they had expected, and the news at
+length came to Leonidas, in the pass, that the Persians, with one or two
+millions of men, were at hand, while he had only three or four thousand
+at Thermopylæ to oppose them. The question arose, What was to be done?
+
+Those of the Greeks who came from the Peloponnesus were in favor of
+abandoning Thermopylæ, and falling back to the isthmus. The isthmus,
+they maintained, was as strong and as favorable a position as the place
+where they were; and, by the time they had reached it, they would have
+received great re-enforcements; whereas, with so small a force as they
+had then at command, it was madness to attempt to resist the Persian
+millions. This plan, however, was strongly opposed by all those Greeks
+who represented countries _without_ the Peloponnesus; for, by abandoning
+Thermopylæ, and falling back to the isthmus, their states would be left
+wholly at the mercy of the enemy. After some consultation and debate, it
+was decided to remain at Thermopylæ. The troops accordingly took up
+their positions in a deliberate and formal manner, and, intrenching
+themselves as strongly as possible, began to await the onset of the
+enemy. Leonidas and his three hundred were foremost in the defile, so as
+to be the first exposed to the attack. The rest occupied various
+positions along the passage, except one corps, which was stationed on
+the mountains above, to guard the pass in that direction. This corps was
+from Phocis, which, being the state nearest to the scene of conflict,
+had furnished a larger number of soldiers than any other. Their division
+numbered a thousand men. These being stationed on the declivity of the
+mountain, left only two or three thousand in the defile below.
+
+From what has been said of the stern and savage character of the
+Spartans, one would scarcely expect in them any indications or displays
+of personal vanity. There was one particular, it seems, however, in
+regard to which they were vain, and that was in respect to their hair.
+They wore it very long. In fact, the length of the hair was, in their
+commonwealth, a mark of distinction between freemen and slaves. All the
+agricultural and mechanical labors were performed, as has already been
+stated, by the slaves, a body which constituted, in fact, the mass of
+the population; and the Spartan freemen, though very stern in their
+manners, and extremely simple and plain in their habits of life, were,
+it must be remembered, as proud and lofty in spirit as they were plain
+and poor. They constituted a military aristocracy, and a military
+aristocracy is always more proud and overbearing than any other.
+
+It must be understood, therefore, that these Spartan soldiers were
+entirely above the performance of any useful labors; and while they
+prized, in character, the savage ferocity of the tiger, they had a
+taste, in person, for something like his savage beauty too. They were
+never, moreover, more particular and careful in respect to their
+personal appearance than when they were going into battle. The field of
+battle was their particular theater of display, not only of the
+substantial qualities of strength, fortitude, and valor, but also of
+such personal adornments as were consistent with the plainness and
+severity of their attire, and could be appreciated by a taste as rude
+and savage as theirs. They proceeded, therefore, when established at
+their post in the throat of the pass, to adorn themselves for the
+approaching battle.
+
+In the mean time the armies of Xerxes were approaching. Xerxes himself,
+though he did not think it possible that the Greeks could have a
+sufficient force to offer him any effectual resistance, thought it
+probable that they would attempt to make a stand at the pass, and, when
+he began to draw near to it, he sent forward a horseman to reconnoiter
+the ground. The horseman rode into the pass a little way, until he came
+in sight of the enemy. He stopped upon an eminence to survey the scene,
+being all ready to turn in an instant, and fly at the top of his speed,
+in case he should be pursued. The Spartans looked upon him as he stood
+there, but seemed to consider his appearance as a circumstance of no
+moment, and then went on with their avocations. The horseman found, as
+he leisurely observed them, that there was an intrenchment thrown across
+the straits, and that the Spartans were in front of it. There were other
+forces behind, but these the horseman could not see. The Spartans were
+engaged, some of them in athletic sports and gymnastic exercises, and
+the rest in nicely arranging their dress, which was red and showy in
+color, though simple and plain in form, and in smoothing, adjusting, and
+curling their hair. In fact, they seemed to be, one and all, preparing
+for an entertainment.
+
+And yet these men were actually preparing themselves to be slaughtered,
+to be butchered, one by one, by slow degrees, and in the most horrible
+and cruel manner; and they knew perfectly well that it was so. The
+adorning of themselves was for this express and particular end.
+
+The horseman, when he had attentively noticed all that was to be seen,
+rode slowly back to Xerxes, and reported the result. The king was much
+amused at hearing such an account from his messenger. He sent for
+Demaratus, the Spartan refugee, with whom, the reader will recollect, he
+held a long conversation in respect to the Greeks at the close of the
+great review at Doriscus. When Demaratus came, Xerxes related to him
+what the messenger had reported. "The Spartans in the pass," said he,
+"present, in their encampment, the appearance of being out on a party of
+pleasure. What does it mean? You will admit now, I suppose, that they do
+not intend to resist us."
+
+Demaratus shook his head. "Your majesty does not know the Greeks," said
+he, "and I am very much afraid that, if I state what I know respecting
+them, I shall offend you. These appearances which your messenger
+observed indicate to me that the men he saw were a body of Spartans, and
+that they supposed themselves on the eve of a desperate conflict. Those
+are the men, practicing athletic feats, and smoothing and adorning their
+hair, that are the most to be feared of all the soldiers of Greece. If
+you can conquer them, you will have nothing beyond to fear."
+
+Xerxes thought this opinion of Demaratus extremely absurd. He was
+convinced that the party in the pass was some small detachment that
+could not possibly be thinking of serious resistance. They would, he was
+satisfied, now that they found that the Persians were at hand,
+immediately retire down the pass, and leave the way clear. He advanced,
+therefore, up to the entrance of the pass, encamped there, and waited
+several days for the Greeks to clear the way. The Greeks remained
+quietly in their places, paying apparently no attention whatever to the
+impending and threatening presence of their formidable foes.
+
+At length Xerxes concluded that it was time for him to act. On the
+morning, therefore, of the fifth day, he called out a detachment of his
+troops, sufficient, as he thought, for the purpose, and sent them down
+the pass, with orders to seize all the Greeks that were there, and bring
+them, _alive_, to him. The detachment that he sent was a body of Medes,
+who were considered as the best troops in the army, excepting always the
+Immortals, who, as has been before stated, were entirely superior to the
+rest. The Medes, however, Xerxes supposed, would find no difficulty in
+executing his orders.
+
+The detachment marched, accordingly, into the pass. In a few hours a
+spent and breathless messenger came from them, asking for
+re-enforcements. The re-enforcements were sent. Toward night a remnant
+of the whole body came back, faint and exhausted with a long and
+fruitless combat, and bringing many of their wounded and bleeding
+comrades with them. The rest they had left dead in the defile.
+
+Xerxes was both astonished and enraged at these results. He determined
+that this trifling should continue no longer. He ordered the Immortals
+themselves to be called out on the following morning, and then, placing
+himself at the head of them, he advanced to the vicinity of the Greek
+intrenchments. Here he ordered a seat or throne to be placed for him
+upon an eminence, and, taking his seat upon it, prepared to witness the
+conflict. The Greeks, in the mean time, calmly arranged themselves on
+the line which they had undertaken to defend, and awaited the charge.
+Upon the ground, on every side, were lying the mangled bodies of the
+Persians slain the day before, some exposed fully to view, ghastly and
+horrid spectacles, others trampled down and half buried in the mire.
+
+The Immortals advanced to the attack, but they made no impression. Their
+superior numbers gave them no advantage, on account of the narrowness of
+the defile. The Greeks stood, each corps at its own assigned station on
+the line, forming a mass so firm and immovable that the charge of the
+Persians was arrested on encountering it as by a wall. In fact, as the
+spears of the Greeks were longer than those of the Persians, and their
+muscular and athletic strength and skill were greater, it was found that
+in the desperate conflict which raged, hour after hour, along the line,
+the Persians were continually falling, while the Greek ranks continued
+entire. Sometimes the Greeks would retire for a space, falling back with
+the utmost coolness, regularity, and order; and then, when the Persians
+pressed on in pursuit, supposing that they were gaining the victory, the
+Greeks would turn so soon as they found that the ardor of pursuit had
+thrown the enemies' lines somewhat into confusion, and, presenting the
+same firm and terrible front as before, would press again upon the
+offensive, and cut down their enemies with redoubled slaughter. Xerxes,
+who witnessed all these things from among the group of officers around
+him upon the eminence, was kept continually in a state of excitement
+and irritation. Three times he leaped from his throne, with loud
+exclamations of vexation and rage.
+
+All, however, was of no avail. When night came the Immortals were
+compelled to withdraw, and leave the Greeks in possession of their
+intrenchments.
+
+Things continued substantially in this state for one or two days longer,
+when one morning a Greek countryman appeared at the tent of Xerxes, and
+asked an audience of the king. He had something, he said, of great
+importance to communicate to him. The king ordered him to be admitted.
+The Greek said that his name was Ephialtes, and that he came to inform
+the king that there was a secret path leading along a wild and hidden
+chasm in the mountains, by which he could guide a body of Persians to
+the summit of the hills overhanging the pass at a point below the Greek
+intrenchment. This point being once attained, it would be easy,
+Ephialtes said, for the Persian forces to descend into the pass below
+the Greeks, and thus to surround them and shut them in, and that the
+conquest of them would then be easy. The path was a secret one, and
+known to very few. He knew it, however, and was willing to conduct a
+detachment of troops through it, on condition of receiving a suitable
+reward.
+
+The king was greatly surprised and delighted at this intelligence. He
+immediately acceded to Ephialtes's proposals, and organized a strong
+force to be sent up the path that very night.
+
+On the north of Thermopylæ there was a small stream, which came down
+through a chasm in the mountains to the sea. The path which Ephialtes
+was to show commenced here, and following the bed of this stream up the
+chasm, it at length turned to the southward through a succession of wild
+and trackless ravines, till it came out at last on the declivities of
+the mountains near the lower part of the pass, at a place where it was
+possible to descend to the defile below. This was the point which the
+thousand Phocæans had been ordered to take possession of and guard, when
+the plan for the defense of the pass was first organized. They were
+posted here, not with the idea of repelling any attack from the
+mountains behind them--for the existence of the path was wholly unknown
+to them--but only that they might command the defile below, and aid in
+preventing the Persians from going through, even if those who were in
+the defile were defeated or slain.
+
+The Persian detachment toiled all night up the steep and dangerous
+pathway, among rocks, chasms, and precipices, frightful by day, and now
+made still more frightful by the gloom of the night. They came out at
+last, in the dawn of the morning, into valleys and glens high up the
+declivity of the mountain, and in the immediate vicinity of the Phocæan
+encampment. The Persians were concealed, as they advanced, by the groves
+and thickets of stunted oaks which grew here, but the morning air was so
+calm and still, that the Phocæan sentinels heard the noise made by their
+trampling upon the leaves as they came up the glen. The Phocæans
+immediately gave the alarm. Both parties were completely surprised. The
+Persians had not expected to find a foe at this elevation, and the
+Greeks who had ascended there had supposed that all beyond and above
+them was an impassable and trackless desolation.
+
+There was a short conflict, The Phocæans were driven off their ground.
+They retreated up the mountain, and toward the southward. The Persians
+decided not to pursue them. On the other hand, they descended toward the
+defile, and took up a position on the lower declivities of the mountain,
+which enabled them to command the pass below; there they paused, and
+awaited Xerxes's orders.
+
+The Greeks in the defile perceived at once that they were now wholly at
+the mercy of their enemies. They might yet retreat, it is true, for the
+Persian detachment had not yet descended to intercept them; but, if they
+remained where they were, they would, in a few hours, be hemmed in by
+their foes; and even if they could resist, for a little time, the double
+onset which would then be made upon them, their supplies would be cut
+off, and there would be nothing before them but immediate starvation.
+They held hurried councils to determine what to do.
+
+There is some doubt as to what took place at these councils, though the
+prevailing testimony is, that Leonidas recommended that they should
+retire--that is, that all except himself and the three hundred Spartans
+should do so. "You," said he, addressing the other Greeks, "are at
+liberty, by your laws, to consider, in such cases as this, the question
+of expediency, and to withdraw from a position which you have taken, or
+stand and maintain it, according as you judge best. But by our laws,
+such a question, in such a case, is not to be entertained. Wherever we
+are posted, there we stand, come life or death, to the end. We have been
+sent here from Sparta to defend the pass of Thermopylæ. We have received
+no orders to withdraw. Here, therefore, we must remain; and the
+Persians, if they go through the pass at all, must go through it over
+our graves. It is, therefore, your duty to retire. Our duty is here, and
+we will remain and do it."
+
+After all that may be said of the absurdity and folly of throwing away
+the lives of three hundred men in a case like this, so utterly and
+hopelessly desperate, there is still something in the noble generosity
+with which Leonidas dismissed the other Greeks, and in the undaunted
+resolution with which he determined himself to maintain his ground,
+which has always strongly excited the admiration of mankind. It was
+undoubtedly carrying the point of honor to a wholly unjustifiable
+extreme, and yet all the world, for the twenty centuries which have
+intervened since these transactions occurred, while they have
+unanimously disapproved, in theory, of the course which Leonidas
+pursued, have none the less unanimously admired and applauded it.
+
+In dismissing the other Greeks, Leonidas retained with him a body of
+Thebans, whom he suspected of a design of revolting to the enemy.
+Whether he considered his decision to keep them in the pass equivalent
+to a sentence of death, and intended it as a punishment for their
+supposed treason, or only that he wished to secure their continued
+fidelity by keeping them closely to their duty, does not appear. At all
+events, he retained them, and dismissed the other allies. Those
+dismissed retreated to the open country below. The Spartans and the
+Thebans remained in the pass. There were also, it was said, some other
+troops, who, not willing to leave the Spartans alone in this danger,
+chose to remain with them and share their fate. The Thebans remained
+very unwillingly.
+
+The next morning Xerxes prepared for his final effort. He began by
+solemn religious services, in the presence of his army, at an early
+hour; and then, after breakfasting quietly, as usual, and waiting, in
+fact, until the business part of the day had arrived, he gave orders to
+advance. His troops found Leonidas and his party not at their
+intrenchments, as before, but far in advance of them. They had come out
+and forward into a more open part of the defile, as if to court and
+anticipate their inevitable and dreaded fate. Here a most terrible
+combat ensued; one which, for a time, seemed to have no other object
+than mutual destruction, until at length Leonidas himself fell, and then
+the contest for the possession of his body superseded the unthinking and
+desperate struggles of mere hatred and rage. Four times the body, having
+been taken by the Persians, was retaken by the Greeks: at last the
+latter retreated, bearing the dead body with them past their
+intrenchment, until they gained a small eminence in the rear of it, at a
+point where the pass was wider. Here the few that were still left
+gathered together. The detachment which Ephialtes had guided were coming
+up from below. The Spartans were faint and exhausted with their
+desperate efforts, and were bleeding from the wounds they had received;
+their swords and spears were broken to pieces, their leader and nearly
+all their company were slain. But the savage and tiger-like ferocity
+which animated them continued unabated till the last. They fought with
+tooth and nail when all other weapons failed them, and bit the dust at
+last, as they fell, in convulsive and unyielding despair. The struggle
+did not cease till they were all slain, and every limb of every man
+ceased to quiver.
+
+There were stories in circulation among mankind after this battle,
+importing that one or two of the corps escaped the fate of the rest.
+There were two soldiers, it was said, that had been left in a town near
+the pass, as invalids, being afflicted with a severe inflammation of the
+eyes. One of them, when he heard that the Spartans were to be left in
+the pass, went in, of his own accord, and joined them, choosing to share
+the fate of his comrades. It was said that he ordered his servant to
+conduct him to the place. The servant did so, and then fled himself, in
+great terror. The sick soldier remained and fought with the rest. The
+other of the invalids was saved, but, on his return to Sparta, he was
+considered as stained with indelible disgrace for what his countrymen
+regarded a base dereliction from duty in not sharing his comrade's fate.
+
+There was also a story of another man, who had been sent away on some
+mission into Thessaly, and who did not return until all was over; and
+also of two others who had been sent to Sparta, and were returning when
+they heard of the approaching conflict. One of them hastened into the
+pass, and was killed with his companions. The other delayed, and was
+saved. Whether any or all of these rumors were true, is not now
+certain; there is, however, no doubt that, with at most a few exceptions
+such as these, the whole three hundred were slain.
+
+The Thebans, early in the conflict, went over in a body to the enemy.
+
+Xerxes came after the battle to view the ground. It was covered with
+many thousands of dead bodies, nearly all of whom, of course, were
+Persians. The wall of the intrenchment was broken down, and the breaches
+in it choked up by the bodies. The morasses made by the water of the
+springs were trampled into deep mire, and were full of the mutilated
+forms of men and of broken weapons. When Xerxes came at last to the body
+of Leonidas, and was told that that was the man who had been the leader
+of the band, he gloried over it in great exaltation and triumph. At
+length he ordered the body to be decapitated, and the headless trunk to
+be nailed to a cross.
+
+Xerxes then commanded that a great hole should be dug, and ordered all
+the bodies of the Persians that had been killed to be buried in it,
+except only about a thousand, which he left upon the ground. The object
+of this was to conceal the extent of the loss which his army had
+sustained. The more perfectly to accomplish this end, he caused the
+great grave, when it was filled up, to be strewed over with leaves, so
+as to cover and conceal all indications of what had been done. This
+having been carefully effected, he sent the message to the fleet, which
+was alluded to at the close of the last chapter, inviting the officers
+to come and view the ground.
+
+The operations of the fleet described in the last chapter, and those of
+the army narrated in this, took place, it will be remembered, at the
+same time, and in the same vicinity too; for, by referring to the map,
+it will appear that Thermopylæ was upon the coast, exactly opposite to
+the channel or arm of the sea lying north of Euboea, where the naval
+contests had been waged; so that, while Xerxes had been making his
+desperate efforts to get through the pass, his fleet had been engaged in
+a similar conflict with the squadrons of the Greeks, directly opposite
+to him, twenty or thirty miles in the offing.
+
+After the battle of Thermopylæ was over, Xerxes sent for Demaratus, and
+inquired of him how many more such soldiers there were in Greece as
+Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans. Demaratus replied that he could
+not say how many precisely there were in Greece, but that there were
+eight thousand such in Sparta alone. Xerxes then asked the opinion of
+Demaratus as to the course best to be pursued for making the conquest of
+the country. This conversation was held in the presence of various
+nobles and officers, among whom was the admiral of the fleet, who had
+come, with the various other naval commanders, as was stated in the last
+chapter, to view the battle-field.
+
+Demaratus said that he did not think that the king could easily get
+possession of the Peloponnesus by marching to it directly, so formidable
+would be the opposition that he would encounter at the isthmus. There
+was, however, he said, an island called Cythera, opposite to the
+territories of Sparta, and not far from the shore, of which he thought
+that the king could easily get possession, and which, once fully in his
+power, might be made the base of future operations for the reduction of
+the whole peninsula, as bodies of troops could be dispatched from it to
+the main land in any numbers and at any time. He recommended, therefore,
+that three hundred ships, with a proper complement of men, should be
+detached from the fleet, and sent round at once to take possession of
+that island.
+
+To this plan the admiral of the fleet was totally opposed. It was
+natural that he should be so, since the detaching of three hundred
+ships for this enterprise would greatly weaken the force under his
+command. It would leave the fleet, he told the king, a miserable
+remnant, not superior to that of the enemy, for they had already lost
+four hundred ships by storms. He thought it infinitely preferable that
+the fleet and the army should advance together, the one by sea and the
+other on the land, and complete their conquests as they went along. He
+advised the king, too, to beware of Demaratus's advice. He was a Greek,
+and, as such, his object was, the admiral believed, to betray and ruin
+the expedition.
+
+After hearing these conflicting opinions, the king decided to follow the
+admiral's advice. "I will adopt your counsel," said he, "but I will not
+hear any thing said against Demaratus, for I am convinced that he is a
+true and faithful friend to me." Saying this, he dismissed the council.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE BURNING OF ATHENS.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The officers return to their vessels.--The Greek fleet retire to
+Salamis.--The Thessalians.--Their hostility to the Phocæans.--Defeat of
+the Thessalians.--Phocæan stratagem.--A spectral army.--Thessalian
+cavalry.--Pitfall for the cavalry.--They are caught in it.--Advance of
+the army.--Cruelties and atrocities.--The sacred town of Delphi.--Mount
+Parnassus.--Summit of Parnassus.--The Castalian spring.--The
+oracle.--Architectural structures.--Works of art.--Inspiration of the
+oracle.--Its discovery.--Panic of the Delphians.--They apply to the
+oracle.--Response of the oracle.--The prodigy in the
+temple.--Discomfiture of the Persians.--The spirit
+warriors.--Consternation at Athens.--The inhabitants advised to
+fly.--Scenes of misery.--Some of the inhabitants remain.--Situation of
+the Acropolis.--Magnificent architectural structures.--Statue of
+Minerva.--The Parthenon.--Xerxes at Athens.--Athens burned.--The citadel
+taken and fired.--Exaltation of Xerxes.--Messenger sent to Susa.
+
+
+When the officers of the Persian fleet had satisfied themselves with
+examining the battle-field at Thermopylæ, and had heard the narrations
+given by the soldiers of the terrible combats that had been fought with
+the desperate garrison which had been stationed to defend the pass, they
+went back to their vessels, and prepared to make sail to the southward,
+in pursuit of the Greek fleet. The Greek fleet had gone to Salamis. The
+Persians in due time overtook them there, and a great naval conflict
+occurred, which is known in history as the battle of Salamis, and was
+one of the most celebrated naval battles of ancient times. An account of
+this battle will form the subject of the next chapter. In this we are to
+follow the operations of the army on the land.
+
+As the Pass of Thermopylæ was now in Xerxes's possession, the way was
+open before him to all that portion of the great territory which lay
+north of the Peloponnesus. Of course, before he could enter the
+peninsula itself, he must pass the Isthmus of Corinth, where he might,
+perhaps, encounter some concentrated resistance. North of the isthmus,
+however, there was no place where the Greeks could make a stand. The
+country was all open, or, rather, there were a thousand ways open
+through the various valleys and glens, and along the banks of the
+rivers. All that was necessary was to procure guides and proceed.
+
+The Thessalians were very ready to furnish guides. They had submitted to
+Xerxes before the battle of Thermopylæ, and they considered themselves,
+accordingly, as his allies. They had, besides, a special interest in
+conducting the Persian army, on account of the hostile feelings which
+they entertained toward the people immediately south of the pass, into
+whose territories Xerxes would first carry his ravages. This people were
+the Phocæans. Their country, as has already been stated, was separated
+from Thessaly by impassable mountains, except where the Straits of
+Thermopylæ opened a passage; and through this pass both nations had been
+continually making hostile incursions into the territory of the other
+for many years before the Persian invasion. The Thessalians had
+surrendered readily to the summons of Xerxes, while the Phocæans had
+determined to resist him, and adhere to the cause of the Greeks in the
+struggle. They were suspected of having been influenced, in a great
+measure, in their determination to resist, by the fact that the
+Thessalians had decided to surrender. They were resolved that they would
+not, on any account, be upon the same side with their ancient and
+inveterate foes.
+
+The hostility of the Thessalians to the Phocæans was equally implacable.
+At the last incursion which they had made into the Phocæan territory,
+they had been defeated by means of stratagems in a manner which tended
+greatly to vex and irritate them. There were two of these stratagems,
+which were both completely successful, and both of a very extraordinary
+character.
+
+The first was this. The Thessalians were in the Phocæan country in great
+force, and the Phocæans had found themselves utterly unable to expel
+them. Under these circumstances, a body of the Phocæans, six hundred in
+number, one day whitened their faces, their arms and hands, their
+clothes, and all their weapons, with chalk, and then, at the dead of
+night--perhaps, however, when the moon was shining--made an onset upon
+the camp of the enemy. The Thessalian sentinels were terrified and ran
+away, and the soldiers, awakened from their slumbers by these
+unearthly-looking troops, screamed with fright, and fled in all
+directions, in utter confusion and dismay. A night attack is usually a
+dangerous attempt, even if the assaulting party is the strongest, as, in
+the darkness and confusion which then prevail, the assailants can not
+ordinarily distinguish friends from foes, and so are in great danger,
+amid the tumult and obscurity, of slaying one another. That difficulty
+was obviated in this case by the strange disguise which the Phocæans had
+assumed. They knew that all were Thessalians who were not whitened like
+themselves. The Thessalians were totally discomfited and dispersed by
+this encounter.
+
+The other stratagem was of a different character, and was directed
+against a troop of cavalry. The Thessalian cavalry were renowned
+throughout the world. The broad plains extending through the heart of
+their country contained excellent fields for training and exercising
+such troops, and the mountains which surrounded it furnished grassy
+slopes and verdant valleys, that supplied excellent pasturage for the
+rearing of horses. The nation was very strong, therefore, in this
+species of force, and many of the states and kingdoms of Greece, when
+planning their means of internal defense, and potentates and conquerors,
+when going forth on great campaigns, often considered their armies
+incomplete unless there was included in them a corps of Thessalian
+cavalry.
+
+A troop of this cavalry had invaded Phocis, and the Phocæans, conscious
+of their inability to resist them in open war, contrived to entrap them
+in the following manner. They dug a long trench in the ground, and then
+putting in baskets or casks sufficient nearly to fill the space, they
+spread over the top a thin layer of soil. They then concealed all
+indications that the ground had been disturbed, by spreading leaves over
+the surface. The trap being thus prepared, they contrived to entice the
+Thessalians to the spot by a series of retreats, and at length led them
+into the pitfall thus provided for them. The substructure of casks was
+strong enough to sustain the Phocæans, who went over it as footmen, but
+was too fragile to bear the weight of the mounted troops. The horses
+broke through, and the squadron was thrown into such confusion by so
+unexpected a disaster, that, when the Phocæans turned and fell upon
+them, they were easily overcome.
+
+These things had irritated and vexed the Thessalians very much. They
+were eager for revenge, and they were very ready to guide the armies of
+Xerxes into the country of their enemies in order to obtain it.
+
+The troops advanced accordingly, awakening every where, as they came on,
+the greatest consternation and terror among the inhabitants, and
+producing on all sides scenes of indescribable anguish and suffering.
+They came into the valley of the Cephisus, a beautiful river flowing
+through a delightful and fertile region, which contained many cities and
+towns, and was filled every where with an industrious rural population.
+Through this scene of peace, and happiness, and plenty, the vast horde
+of invaders swept on with the destructive force of a tornado. They
+plundered the towns of every thing which could be carried away, and
+destroyed what they were compelled to leave behind them. There is a
+catalogue of twelve cities in this valley which they burned. The
+inhabitants, too, were treated with the utmost cruelty. Some were
+seized, and compelled to follow the army as slaves; others were slain;
+and others still were subjected to nameless cruelties and atrocities,
+worse sometimes than death. Many of the women, both mothers and maidens,
+died in consequence of the brutal violence with which the soldiers
+treated them.
+
+The most remarkable of the transactions connected with Xerxes's advance
+through the country of Phocis, on his way to Athens, were those
+connected with his attack upon Delphi. Delphi was a sacred town, the
+seat of the oracle. It was in the vicinity of Mount Parnassus and of the
+Castalian spring, places of very great renown in the Greek mythology.
+
+Parnassus was the name of a short mountainous range rather than of a
+single peak, though the loftiest summit of the range was called
+Parnassus too. This summit is found, by modern measurement, to be about
+eight thousand feet high, and it is covered with snow nearly all the
+year. When bare it consists only of a desolate range of rocks, with
+mosses and a few Alpine plants growing on the sheltered and sunny sides
+of them. From the top of Parnassus travelers who now visit it look down
+upon almost all of Greece as upon a map. The Gulf of Corinth is a silver
+lake at their feet, and the plains of Thessaly are seen extending far
+and wide to the northward, with Olympus, Pelion, and Ossa, blue and
+distant peaks, bounding the view.
+
+Parnassus has, in fact, a double summit, between the peaks of which a
+sort of ravine commences, which, as it extends down the mountain,
+becomes a beautiful valley, shaded with rows of trees, and adorned with
+slopes of verdure and banks of flowers. In a glen connected with this
+valley there is a fountain of water springing copiously from among the
+rocks, in a grove of laurels. This fountain gives rise to a stream,
+which, after bounding over the rocks, and meandering between mossy banks
+for a long distance down the mountain glens, becomes a quiet lowland
+stream, and flows gently through a fertile and undulating country to the
+sea. This fountain was the famous Castalian spring. It was, as the
+ancient Greek legends said, the favorite resort and residence of Apollo
+and the Muses, and its waters became, accordingly, the symbol and the
+emblem of poetical inspiration.
+
+The city of Delphi was built upon the lower declivities of the
+Parnassian ranges, and yet high above the surrounding country. It was
+built in the form of an amphitheater, in a sort of _lap_ in the hill
+where it stood, with steep precipices descending to a great depth on
+either side. It was thus a position of difficult access, and was
+considered almost impregnable in respect to its military strength.
+Besides its natural defenses, it was considered as under the special
+protection of Apollo.
+
+Delphi was celebrated throughout the world, in ancient times, not only
+for the oracle itself, but for the magnificence of the architectural
+structures, the boundless profusion of the works of art, and the immense
+value of the treasures which, in process of time, had been accumulated
+there. The various powers and potentates that had resorted to it to
+obtain the responses of the oracle, had brought rich presents, or made
+costly contributions in some way, to the service of the shrine. Some had
+built temples, others had constructed porches or colonnades. Some had
+adorned the streets of the city with architectural embellishments;
+others had caused statues to be erected; and others had made splendid
+donations of vessels of gold and silver, until at length the wealth and
+magnificence of Delphi was the wonder of the world. All nations resorted
+to it, some to see its splendors, and others to obtain the counsel and
+direction of the oracle in emergencies of difficulty or danger.
+
+In the time of Xerxes, Delphi had been for several hundred years in the
+enjoyment of its fame as a place of divine inspiration. It was said to
+have been originally discovered in the following manner. Some herdsmen
+on the mountains, watching their flocks, observed one day a number of
+goats performing very strange and unaccountable antics among some
+crevices in the rocks, and, going to the place, they found that a
+mysterious wind was issuing from the crevices, which produced an
+extraordinary exhilaration on all who breathed it. Every thing
+extraordinary was thought, in those days, to be supernatural and divine,
+and the fame of this discovery was spread every where, the people
+supposing that the effect produced upon the men and animals by breathing
+the mysterious air was a divine inspiration. A temple was built over the
+spot, priests and priestesses were installed, a city began to rise, and
+in process of time Delphi became the most celebrated oracle in the
+world; and as the vast treasures which had been accumulated there
+consisted mainly of gifts and offerings consecrated to a divine and
+sacred service, they were all understood to be under divine protection.
+They were defended, it is true, in part by the inaccessibleness of the
+position of Delphi, and by the artificial fortifications which had been
+added from time to time to increase the security, but still more by the
+feeling which every where prevailed, that any violence offered to such a
+shrine would be punished by the gods as sacrilege. The account of the
+manner in which Xerxes was repulsed, as related by the ancient
+historians, is somewhat marvelous. We, however, in this case, as in all
+others, transmit the story to our readers as the ancient historians give
+it to us.
+
+The main body of the army pursued its way directly southward toward the
+city of Athens, which was now the great object at which Xerxes aimed. A
+large detachment, however, separating from the main body, moved more to
+the westward, toward Delphi. Their plan was to plunder the temples and
+the city, and send the treasures to the king. The Delphians, on hearing
+this, were seized with consternation. They made application themselves
+to the oracle, to know what they were to do in respect to the sacred
+treasures. They could not defend them, they said, against such a host,
+and they inquired whether they should bury them in the earth, or attempt
+to remove them to some distant place of safety.
+
+The oracle replied that they were to do nothing at all in respect to the
+sacred treasures. The divinity, it said, was able to protect what was
+its own. They, on their part, had only to provide for themselves, their
+wives, and their children.
+
+On hearing this response, the people dismissed all care in respect to
+the treasures of the temple and of the shrine, and made arrangements for
+removing their families and their own effects to some place of safety
+toward the southward. The military force of the city and a small number
+of the inhabitants alone remained.
+
+When the Persians began to draw near, a prodigy occurred in the temple,
+which seemed intended to warn the profane invaders away. It seems that
+there was a suit of arms, of a costly character doubtless, and highly
+decorated with gold and gems--the present, probably, of some Grecian
+state or king--which were hung in an inner and sacred apartment of the
+temple, and which it was sacrilegious for any human hand to touch. These
+arms were found, on the day when the Persians were approaching, removed
+to the outward front of the temple. The priest who first observed them
+was struck with amazement and awe. He spread the intelligence among the
+soldiers and the people that remained, and the circumstance awakened in
+them great animation and courage.
+
+Nor were the hopes of divine interposition which this wonder awakened
+disappointed in the end; for, as soon as the detachment of Persians came
+near the hill on which Delphi was situated, loud thunder burst from the
+sky, and a bolt, descending upon the precipices near the town, detached
+two enormous masses of rock, which rolled down upon the ranks of the
+invaders. The Delphian soldiers, taking advantage of the scene of panic
+and confusion which this awful visitation produced, rushed down upon
+their enemies and completed their discomfiture. They were led on and
+assisted in this attack by the spirits of two ancient heroes, who had
+been natives of the country, and to whom two of the temples of Delphi
+had been consecrated. These spirits appeared in the form of tall and
+full-armed warriors, who led the attack, and performed prodigies of
+strength and valor in the onset upon the Persians; and then, when the
+battle was over, disappeared as mysteriously as they came.
+
+In the mean time the great body of the army of Xerxes, with the monarch
+at their head, was advancing on Athens. During his advance the city had
+been in a continual state of panic and confusion. In the first place,
+when the Greek fleet had concluded to give up the contest in the
+Artemisian Channel, before the battle of Thermopylæ, and had passed
+around to Salamis, the commanders in the city of Athens had given up the
+hope of making any effectual defense, and had given orders that the
+inhabitants should save themselves by seeking a refuge wherever they
+could find it. This annunciation, of course, filled the city with
+dismay, and the preparations for a general flight opened every where
+scenes of terror and distress, of which those who have never witnessed
+the evacuation of a city by its inhabitants can scarcely conceive.
+
+The immediate object of the general terror was, at this time, the
+Persian fleet; for the Greek fleet, having determined to abandon the
+waters on that side of Attica, left the whole coast exposed, and the
+Persians might be expected at any hour to make a landing within a few
+miles of the city. Scarcely, however, had the impending of this danger
+been made known to the city, before the tidings of one still more
+imminent reached it, in the news that the Pass of Thermopylæ had been
+carried, and that, in addition to the peril with which the Athenians
+were threatened by the fleet on the side of the sea, the whole Persian
+army was coming down upon them by land. This fresh alarm greatly
+increased, of course, the general consternation. All the roads leading
+from the city toward the south and west were soon covered with parties
+of wretched fugitives, exhibiting as they pressed forward, weary and
+wayworn, on their toilsome and almost hopeless flight, every possible
+phase of misery, destitution, and despair. The army fell back to the
+isthmus, intending to make a stand, if possible, there, to defend the
+Peloponnesus. The fugitives made the best of their way to the sea-coast,
+where they were received on board transport ships sent thither from the
+fleet, and conveyed, some to Ægina, some to Salamis, and others to other
+points on the coasts and islands to the south, wherever the terrified
+exiles thought there was the best prospect of safety.
+
+Some, however, remained at Athens. There was a part of the population
+who believed that the phrase "wooden walls," used by the oracle,
+referred, not to the ships of the fleet, but to the wooden palisade
+around the citadel. They accordingly repaired and strengthened the
+palisade, and established themselves in the fortress with a small
+garrison which undertook to defend it.
+
+The citadel of Athens, or the Acropolis, as it was called, was the
+richest, and most splendid, and magnificent fortress in the world. It
+was built upon an oblong rocky hill, the sides of which were
+perpendicular cliffs, except at one end, where alone the summit was
+accessible. This summit presented an area of an oval form, about a
+thousand feet in length and five hundred broad, thus containing a space
+of about ten acres. This area upon the summit, and also the approaches
+at the western end, were covered with the most grand, imposing, and
+costly architectural structures that then existed in the whole European
+world. There were temples, colonnades, gateways, stairways, porticoes,
+towers, and walls, which, viewed as a whole, presented a most
+magnificent spectacle, that excited universal admiration, and which,
+when examined in detail, awakened a greater degree of wonder still by
+the costliness of the materials, the beauty and perfection of the
+workmanship, and the richness and profusion of the decorations, which
+were seen on every hand. The number and variety of statues of bronze and
+of marble which had been erected in the various temples and upon the
+different platforms were very great. There was one, a statue of Minerva,
+which was executed by Phidias, the great Athenian sculptor, after the
+celebrated battle of Marathon, in the days of Darius, which, with its
+pedestal, was sixty feet high. It stood on the left of the grand
+entrance, towering above the buildings in full view from the country
+below, and leaning upon its long spear like a colossal sentinel on
+guard. In the distance, on the right, from the same point of view, the
+great temple called the Parthenon was to be seen, a temple which was, in
+some respects, the most celebrated in the world. The ruins of these
+edifices remain to the present day, standing in desolate and solitary
+grandeur on the rocky hill which they once so richly adorned.
+
+When Xerxes arrived at Athens, he found, of course, no difficulty in
+obtaining possession of the city itself, since it had been deserted by
+its inhabitants, and left defenseless. The people that remained had all
+crowded into the citadel. They had built the wooden palisade across the
+only approach by which it was possible to get near the gates, and they
+had collected large stones on the tops of the rocks, to roll down upon
+their assailants if they should attempt to ascend.
+
+[Illustration: THE CITADEL AT ATHENS.]
+
+Xerxes, after ravaging and burning the town, took up a position upon a
+hill opposite to the citadel, and there he had engines constructed to
+throw enormous arrows, on which tow that had been dipped in pitch was
+wound. This combustible envelopment of the arrows was set on fire before
+the weapon was discharged, and a shower of the burning missiles thus
+formed was directed toward the palisade. The wooden walls were soon set
+on fire by them, and totally consumed. The access to the Acropolis was,
+however, still difficult, being by a steep acclivity, up which it was
+very dangerous to ascend so long as the besiegers were ready to roll
+down rocks upon their assailants from above.
+
+At last, however, after a long conflict and much slaughter, Xerxes
+succeeded in forcing his way into the citadel. Some of his troops
+contrived to find a path by which they could climb up to the walls.
+Here, after a desperate combat with those who were stationed to guard
+the place, they succeeded in gaining admission, and then opened the
+gates to their comrades below. The Persian soldiers, exasperated with
+the resistance which they had encountered, slew the soldiers of the
+garrison, perpetrated every imaginable violence on the wretched
+inhabitants who had fled there for shelter, and then plundered the
+citadel and set it on fire.
+
+The heart of Xerxes was filled with exultation and joy as he thus
+arrived at the attainment of what had been the chief and prominent
+object of his campaign. To plunder and destroy the city of Athens had
+been the great pleasure that he had promised himself in all the mighty
+preparations that he had made. This result was now realized, and he
+dispatched a special messenger immediately to Susa with the triumphant
+tidings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Situation of Salamis.--Movements of the fleet and the army.--Policy of
+the Greeks.--Reasons for retreating to Salamis.--A council of
+war.--Consultations and debates.--Conflicting views.--The council breaks
+up in confusion.--Themistocles.--Interview with
+Mnesiphilus.--Themistocles seeks Eurybiades.--Urges a new council.--The
+council convened again.--Themistocles rebuked.--Themistocles's arguments
+for remaining at Salamis.--Fugitives at Salamis.--Views of the
+Corinthians.--Excitement in the council.--Indignation of
+Themistocles.--Eurybiades decides to remain at Salamis.--An
+earthquake.--Advance of the Persians.--Perilous situation of the
+Greeks.--Xerxes summons a council of war.--Pompous preparations.--Views
+of the Persian officers.--Views of Queen Artemisia.--Artemisa's
+arguments against attacking the Greek fleet.--Effect of Artemisia's
+speech.--Feelings of the council.--Discontent among the
+Greeks.--Sicinnus.--Bold stratagem of Themistocles.--He sends Sicinnus
+to the Persians.--Message of Themistocles.--Measures of the
+Persians.--The Persians take possession of the Psyttalia.--The Greeks
+hemmed in.--Aristides.--He makes his way through the Persian
+fleet.--Interview between Aristides and Themistocles.--Their
+conversation.--Aristides communicates his intelligence to the
+assembly.--Effect of Aristides intelligence.--Further news.--Adventurous
+courage of Parætius.--Gratitude of the Greeks.--Final preparations for
+battle.--Friendly offices.--Xerxes's throne.--His scribes.--Summary
+punishment.--Speech of Themistocles.--He embarks his men.--Excitement
+and confusion.--Commencement of the battle.--Fury of the
+conflict.--Modern naval battles.--Observations of
+Xerxes.--Artemisia.--Enemies of Artemisia.--Her quarrel with
+Damasithymus.--Stratagem of Artemisia.--She attacks
+Damasithymus.--Artemisia kills Damasithymus.--Xerxes's opinion of her
+valor.--Progress of the battle.--The Persians give way.--Heroism of
+Aristides.--He captures Psyttalia.--The Greeks victorious.--Repairing
+damages.--Xerxes resolves on flight.--The sea after the
+battle.--Fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.
+
+
+Salamis is an island of a very irregular form, lying in the Saronian
+Gulf, north of Ægina, and to the westward of Athens. What was called the
+Port of Athens was on the shore opposite to Salamis, the city itself
+being situated on elevated land four or five miles back from the sea.
+From this port to the bay on the southern side of Salamis, where the
+Greek fleet was lying, it was only four or five miles more, so that,
+when Xerxes burned the city, the people on board the galleys in the
+fleet might easily see the smoke of the conflagration.
+
+The Isthmus of Corinth was west of Salamis, some fifteen miles, across
+the bay. The army, in retreating from Athens toward the isthmus, would
+have necessarily to pass round the bay in a course somewhat circuitous,
+while the fleet, in following them, would pass in a direct line across
+it. The geographical relations of these places, a knowledge of which is
+necessary to a full understanding of the operations of the Greek and
+Persian forces, will be distinctly seen by comparing the above
+description with the map placed at the commencement of the fifth
+chapter.
+
+It had been the policy of the Greeks to keep the fleet and army as much
+as possible together, and thus, during the time in which the troops were
+attempting a concentration at Thermopylæ, the ships made their
+rendezvous in the Artemisian Strait or Channel, directly opposite to
+that point of the coast. There they fought, maintaining their position
+desperately, day after day, as long as Leonidas and his Spartans held
+their ground on the shore. Their sudden disappearance from those waters,
+by which the Persians had been so much surprised, was caused by their
+having received intelligence that the pass had been carried and Leonidas
+destroyed. They knew then that Athens would be the next point of
+resistance by the land forces. They therefore fell back to Salamis, or,
+rather, to the bay lying between Salamis and the Athenian shore, that
+being the nearest position that they could take to support the
+operations of the army in their attempts to defend the capital. When,
+however, the tidings came to them that Athens had fallen, and that what
+remained of the army had retreated to the isthmus, the question at once
+arose whether the fleet should retreat too, across the bay, to the
+isthmus shore, with a view to co-operate more fully with the army in the
+new position which the latter had taken, or whether it should remain
+where it was, and defend itself as it best could against the Persian
+squadrons which would soon be drawing near. The commanders of the fleet
+held a consultation to consider this question.
+
+In this consultation the Athenian and the Corinthian leaders took
+different views. In fact, they were very near coming into open
+collision. Such a difference of opinion, considering the circumstances
+of the case, was not at all surprising. It might, indeed, have naturally
+been expected to arise, from the relative situation of the two cities,
+in respect to the danger which threatened them. If the Greek fleet were
+to withdraw from Salamis to the isthmus, it might be in a better
+position to defend Corinth, but it would, by such a movement, be
+withdrawing from the Athenian territories, and abandoning what remained
+in Attica wholly to the conqueror. The Athenians were, therefore, in
+favor of maintaining the position at Salamis, while the Corinthians were
+disposed to retire to the shores of the isthmus, and co-operate with
+the army there.
+
+The council was convened to deliberate on this subject before the news
+arrived of the actual fall of Athens, although, inasmuch as the Persians
+were advancing into Attica in immense numbers, and there was no Greek
+force left to defend the city, they considered its fall as all but
+inevitable. The tidings of the capture and destruction of Athens came
+while the council was in session. This seemed to determine the question.
+The Corinthian commanders, and those from the other Peloponnesian
+cities, declared that it was perfectly absurd to remain any longer at
+Salamis, in a vain attempt to defend a country already conquered. The
+council was broken up in confusion, each commander retiring to his own
+ship, and the Peloponnesians resolving to withdraw on the following
+morning. Eurybiades, who, it will be recollected, was the
+commander-in-chief of all the Greek fleet, finding thus that it was
+impossible any longer to keep the ships together at Salamis, since a
+part of them would, at all events, withdraw, concluded to yield to the
+necessity of the case and to conduct the whole fleet to the isthmus. He
+issued his orders accordingly, and the several commanders repaired to
+their respective ships to make the preparations. It was night when the
+council was dismissed, and the fleet was to move in the morning.
+
+One of the most influential and distinguished of the Athenian officers
+was a general named Themistocles. Very soon after he had returned to his
+ship from this council, he was visited by another Athenian named
+Mnesiphilus, who, uneasy and anxious in the momentous crisis, had come
+in his boat, in the darkness of the night, to Themistocles's ship, to
+converse with him on the plans of the morrow. Mnesiphilus asked
+Themistocles what was the decision of the council.
+
+"To abandon Salamis," said Themistocles, "and retire to the isthmus."
+
+"Then," said Mnesiphilus, "we shall never have an opportunity to meet
+the enemy. I am sure that if we leave this position the fleet will be
+wholly broken up, and that each portion will go, under its own
+commander, to defend its own state or seek its own safety, independently
+of the rest. We shall never be able to concentrate our forces again. The
+result will be the inevitable dissolution of the fleet as a combined and
+allied force, in spite of all that Eurybiades or any one else can do to
+prevent it."
+
+Mnesiphilus urged this danger with so much earnestness and eloquence as
+to make a very considerable impression on the mind of Themistocles.
+Themistocles said nothing, but his countenance indicated that he was
+very strongly inclined to adopt Mnesiphilus's views. Mnesiphilus urged
+him to go immediately to Eurybiades, and endeavor to induce him to
+obtain a reversal of the decision of the council. Themistocles, without
+expressing either assent or dissent, took his boat, and ordered the
+oarsmen to row him to the galley of Eurybiades. Mnesiphilus, having so
+far accomplished his object, went away.
+
+Themistocles came in his boat to the side of Eurybiades's galley. He
+said that he wished to speak with the general on a subject of great
+importance. Eurybiades, when this was reported to him, sent to invite
+Themistocles to come on board. Themistocles did so, and he urged upon
+the general the same arguments that Mnesiphilus had pressed upon him,
+namely, that if the fleet were once to move from their actual position,
+the different squadrons would inevitably separate, and could never be
+assembled again. He urged Eurybiades, therefore, very strenuously to
+call a new council, with a view of reversing the decision that had been
+made to retire, and of resolving instead to give battle to the Persians
+at Salamis.
+
+Eurybiades was persuaded, and immediately took measures for convening
+the council again. The summons, sent around thus at midnight, calling
+upon the principal officers of the fleet to repair again in haste to the
+commander's galley, when they had only a short time before been
+dismissed from it, produced great excitement. The Corinthians, who had
+been in favor of the plan of abandoning Salamis, conjectured that the
+design might be to endeavor to reverse that decision, and they came to
+the council determined to resist any such attempt, if one should be
+made.
+
+When the officers had arrived, Themistocles began immediately to open
+the discussion, before, in fact, Eurybiades had stated why he had called
+them together. A Corinthian officer interrupted and rebuked him for
+presuming to speak before his time. Themistocles retorted upon the
+Corinthian, and continued his harangue. He urged the council to review
+their former decision, and to determine, after all, to remain at
+Salamis. He, however, now used different arguments from those which he
+had employed when speaking to Eurybiades alone; for to have directly
+charged the officers themselves with the design of which he had accused
+them to Eurybiades, namely, that of abandoning their allies, and
+retiring with their respective ships, each to his own coast, in case the
+position at Salamis were to be given up, would only incense them, and
+arouse a hostility which would determine them against any thing that he
+might propose.
+
+He therefore urged the expediency of remaining at Salamis on other
+grounds. Salamis was a much more advantageous position, he said, than
+the coast of the isthmus, for a small fleet to occupy in awaiting an
+attack from a large one. At Salamis they were defended in part by the
+projections of the land, which protected their flanks, and prevented
+their being assailed, except in front, and their front they might make a
+very narrow one. At the isthmus, on the contrary, there was a long,
+unvaried, and unsheltered coast, with no salient points to give strength
+or protection to their position there. They could not expect to derive
+serious advantage from any degree of co-operation with the army on the
+land which would be practicable at the isthmus, while their situation at
+sea there would be far more exposed and dangerous than where they then
+were. Besides, many thousands of the people had fled to Salamis for
+refuge and protection, and the fleet, by leaving its present position,
+would be guilty of basely abandoning them all to hopeless destruction,
+without even making an effort to save them.
+
+This last was, in fact, the great reason why the Athenians were so
+unwilling to abandon Salamis. The unhappy fugitives with which the
+island was thronged were their wives and children, and they were
+extremely unwilling to go away and leave them to so cruel a fate as they
+knew would await them if the fleet were to be withdrawn. The
+Corinthians, on the other hand, considered Athens as already lost, and
+it seemed madness to them to linger uselessly in the vicinity of the
+ruin which had been made, while there were other states and cities in
+other quarters of Greece yet to be saved. The Corinthian speaker who had
+rebuked Themistocles at first, interrupted him again, angrily, before he
+finished his appeal.
+
+"You have no right to speak," said he. "You have no longer a country.
+When you cease to represent a power, you have no right to take a part in
+our councils."
+
+This cruel retort aroused in the mind of Themistocles a strong feeling
+of indignation and anger against the Corinthian. He loaded his opponent,
+in return, with bitter reproaches, and said, in conclusion, that as long
+as the Athenians had two hundred ships in the fleet, they had still a
+country--one, too, of sufficient importance to the general defense to
+give them a much better title to be heard in the common consultations
+than any Corinthian could presume to claim.
+
+Then turning to Eurybiades again, Themistocles implored him to remain at
+Salamis, and give battle to the Persians there, as that was, he said,
+the only course by which any hope remained to them of the salvation of
+Greece. He declared that the Athenian part of the fleet would never go
+to the isthmus. If the others decided on going there, they, the
+Athenians, would gather all the fugitives they could from the island of
+Salamis and from the coasts of Attica, and make the best of their way to
+Italy, where there was a territory to which they had some claim, and,
+abandoning Greece forever, they would found a new kingdom there.
+
+Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, if he was not convinced by the
+arguments that Themistocles had offered, was alarmed at his declaration
+that the Athenian ships would abandon the cause of the Greeks if the
+fleet abandoned Salamis; he accordingly gave his voice very decidedly
+for remaining where they were. The rest of the officers finally
+acquiesced in this decision, and the council broke up, the various
+members of it returning each to his own command. It was now nearly
+morning. The whole fleet had been, necessarily, during the night in a
+state of great excitement and suspense, all anxious to learn the result
+of these deliberations. The awe and solemnity which would, of course,
+pervade the minds of men at midnight, while such momentous questions
+were pending, were changed to an appalling sense of terror, toward the
+dawn, by an earthquake which then took place, and which, as is usually
+the case with such convulsions, not only shook the land, but was felt by
+vessels on the sea. The men considered this phenomenon as a solemn
+warning from heaven, and measures were immediately adopted for
+appeasing, by certain special sacrifices and ceremonies, the divine
+displeasure which the shock seemed to portend.
+
+In the mean time, the Persian fleet, which we left, it will be
+recollected, in the channels between Euboea and the main land, near to
+Thermopylæ, had advanced when they found that the Greeks had left those
+waters, and, following their enemies to the southward through the
+channel called the Euripus, had doubled the promontory called Sunium,
+which is the southern promontory of Attica, and then, moving northward
+again along the western coast of Attica, had approached Phalerum, which
+was not far from Salamis. Xerxes, having concluded his operations at
+Athens, advanced to the same point by land.
+
+The final and complete success of the Persian expedition seemed now
+almost sure. All the country north of the peninsula had fallen. The
+Greek army had retreated to the isthmus, having been driven from every
+other post, and its last forlorn hope of being able to resist the
+advance of its victorious enemies was depending there. And the
+commanders of the Persian fleet, having driven the Greek squadrons in
+the same manner from strait to strait and from sea to sea, saw the
+discomfited galleys drawn up, in apparently their last place of refuge,
+in the Bay of Salamis, and only waiting to be captured and destroyed.
+
+In a word, every thing seemed ready for the decisive and final blow,
+and Xerxes summoned a grand council of war on board one of the vessels
+of the fleet as soon as he arrived at Phalerum, to decide upon the time
+and manner of striking it.
+
+The convening of this council was arranged, and the deliberations
+themselves conducted, with great parade and ceremony. The princes of the
+various nations represented in the army and in the fleet, and the
+leading Persian officers and nobles, were summoned to attend it. It was
+held on board one of the principal galleys, where great preparations had
+been made for receiving so august an assemblage. A throne was provided
+for the king, and seats for the various commanders according to their
+respective ranks, and a conspicuous place was assigned to Artemisia, the
+Carian queen, who, the reader will perhaps recollect, was described as
+one of the prominent naval commanders, in the account given of the great
+review at Doriscus. Mardonius appeared at the council as the king's
+representative and the conductor of the deliberations, there being
+required, according to the parliamentary etiquette of those days, in
+such royal councils as these, a sort of mediator, to stand between the
+king and his counselors, as if the monarch himself was on too sublime
+an elevation of dignity and grandeur to be directly addressed even by
+princes and nobles.
+
+Accordingly, when the council was convened and the time arrived for
+opening the deliberations, the king directed Mardonius to call upon the
+commanders present, one by one, for their sentiments on the question
+whether it were advisable or not to attack the Greek fleet at Salamis.
+Mardonius did so. They all advised that the attack should be made,
+urging severally various considerations to enforce their opinions, and
+all evincing a great deal of zeal and ardor in the cause, and an
+impatient desire that the great final conflict should come on.
+
+When, however, it came to Artemisia's turn to speak, it appeared that
+she was of a different sentiment from the rest. She commenced her speech
+with something like an apology for presuming to give the king her
+council. She said that, notwithstanding her sex, she had performed her
+part, with other commanders, in the battles which had already occurred,
+and that she was, perhaps, entitled accordingly, in the consultations
+which were held, to express her opinion. "Say, then, to the king," she
+continued, addressing Mardonius, as all the others had done, "that my
+judgment is, that we should not attack the Greek fleet at Salamis, but,
+on the contrary, that we should avoid a battle. It seems to me that we
+have nothing to gain, but should put a great deal at hazard by a general
+naval conflict at the present time. The truth is, that the Greeks,
+always terrible as combatants, are rendered desperate now by the straits
+to which they are reduced and the losses that they have sustained. The
+seamen of our fleet are as inferior to them in strength and courage as
+women are to men. I am sure that it will be a very dangerous thing to
+encounter them in their present chafed and irritated temper. Whatever
+others may think, I myself should not dare to answer for the result.
+
+"Besides, situated as they are," continued Artemisia, "a battle is what
+_they_ must most desire, and, of course, it is adverse to our interest
+to accord it to them. I have ascertained that they have but a small
+supply of food, either in their fleet or upon the island of Salamis,
+while they have, besides their troops, a great multitude of destitute
+and helpless fugitives to be fed. If we simply leave them to themselves
+under the blockade in which our position here now places them, they will
+soon be reduced to great distress. Or, if we withdraw from them, and
+proceed at once to the Peloponnesus, to co-operate with the army there,
+we shall avoid all the risk of a battle, and I am sure that the Greek
+fleet will never dare to follow or to molest us."
+
+The several members of the council listened to this unexpected address
+of Artemisia with great attention and interest, but with very different
+feelings. She had many friends among the counselors, and _they_ were
+anxious and uneasy at hearing her speak in this manner, for they knew
+very well that it was the king's decided intention that a battle should
+be fought, and they feared that, by this bold and strenuous opposition
+to it, Artemisia would incur the mighty monarch's displeasure. There
+were others who were jealous of the influence which Artemisia enjoyed,
+and envious of the favor with which they knew that Xerxes regarded her.
+These men were secretly pleased to hear her uttering sentiments by which
+they confidently believed that she would excite the anger of the king,
+and wholly lose her advantageous position. Both the hopes and the fears,
+however, entertained respectively by the queen's enemies and friends,
+proved altogether groundless. Xerxes was not displeased. On the
+contrary, he applauded Artemisia's ingenuity and eloquence in the
+highest terms, though he said, nevertheless, that he would follow the
+advice of the other counselors. He dismissed the assembly, and gave
+orders to prepare for battle.
+
+In the mean time a day or two had passed away, and the Greeks, who had
+been originally very little inclined to acquiesce in the decision which
+Eurybiades had made, under the influence of Themistocles, to remain at
+Salamis and give the Persians battle, became more and more dissatisfied
+and uneasy as the great crisis drew nigh. In fact, the discontent and
+disaffection which appeared in certain portions of the fleet became so
+decided and so open, that Themistocles feared that some of the
+commanders would actually revolt, and go away with their squadrons in a
+body, in defiance of the general decision to remain. To prevent such a
+desertion as this, he contrived the following very desperate stratagem.
+
+He had a slave in his family named Sicinnus, who was an intelligent and
+educated man, though a slave. In fact, he was the teacher of
+Themistocles's children. Instances of this kind, in which slaves were
+refined and cultivated men, were not uncommon in ancient times, as
+slaves were, in many instances, captives taken in war, who before their
+captivity had occupied as high social positions as their masters.
+Themistocles determined to send Sicinnus to the Persian fleet with a
+message from him, which should induce the Persians themselves to take
+measures to prevent the dispersion of the Greek fleet. Having given the
+slave, therefore, his secret instructions, he put him into a boat when
+night came on, with oarsmen who were directed to row him wherever he
+should require them to go. The boat pushed off stealthily from
+Themistocles's galley, and, taking care to keep clear of the Greek ships
+which lay at anchor near them, went southward toward the Persian fleet.
+When the boat reached the Persian galleys, Sicinnus asked to see the
+commander, and, on being admitted to an interview with him, he informed
+him that he came from Themistocles, who was the leader, he said, of the
+Athenian portion of the Greek fleet.
+
+"I am charged," he added, "to say to you from Themistocles that he
+considers the cause of the Greeks as wholly lost, and he is now,
+accordingly, desirous himself of coming over to the Persian side. This,
+however, he can not actually and openly do, on account of the situation
+in which he is placed in respect to the rest of the fleet. He has,
+however, sent me to inform you that the Greek fleet is in a very
+disordered and helpless condition, being distracted by the dissensions
+of the commanders, and the general discouragement and despair of the
+men; that some divisions are secretly intending to make their escape;
+and that, if you can prevent this by surrounding them, or by taking such
+positions as to intercept any who may attempt to withdraw, the whole
+squadron will inevitably fall into your hands."
+
+Having made this communication, Sicinnus went on board his boat again,
+and returned to the Greek fleet as secretly and stealthily as he came.
+
+The Persians immediately determined to resort to the measures which
+Themistocles had recommended to prevent the escape of any part of the
+Greek fleet. There was a small island between Salamis and the coast of
+Attica, that is, on the eastern side of Salamis, called Psyttalia, which
+was in such a position as to command, in a great measure, the channel of
+water between Salamis and the main land on this side. The Persians sent
+forward a detachment of galleys to take possession of this island in the
+night. By this means they hoped to prevent the escape of any part of
+the Greek squadron in that direction. Besides, they foresaw that in the
+approaching battle the principal scene of the conflict must be in that
+vicinity, and that, consequently, the island would become the great
+resort of the disabled ships and the wounded men, since they would
+naturally seek refuge on the nearest land. To preoccupy this ground,
+therefore, seemed an important step. It would enable them, when the
+terrible conflict should come on, to drive back any wretched refugees
+who might attempt to escape from destruction by seeking the shore.
+
+By taking possession of this island, and stationing galleys in the
+vicinity of it, all which was done secretly in the night, the Persians
+cut off all possibility of escape for the Greeks in that direction. At
+the same time, they sent another considerable detachment of their fleet
+to the westward, which was the direction toward the isthmus, ordering
+the galleys thus sent to station themselves in such a manner as to
+prevent any portion of the Greek fleet from going round the island of
+Salamis, and making their escape through the northwestern channel. By
+this means the Greek fleet was environed on every side--hemmed in,
+though they were not aware of it, in such a way as to defeat any
+attempt which any division might make to retire from the scene.
+
+The first intelligence which the Greeks received of their being thus
+surrounded was from an Athenian general named Aristides, who came one
+night from the island of Ægina to the Greek fleet, making his way with
+great difficulty through the lines of Persian galleys. Aristides had
+been, in the political conflicts which had taken place in former years
+at Athens, Themistocles's great rival and enemy. He had been defeated in
+the contests which had taken place, and had been banished from Athens.
+He now, however, made his way through the enemy's lines, incurring, in
+doing it, extreme difficulty and danger, in order to inform his
+countrymen of their peril, and to assist, if possible, in saving them.
+
+When he reached the Greek fleet, the commanders were in council,
+agitating, in angry and incriminating debates, the perpetually recurring
+question whether they should retire to the isthmus, or remain where they
+were. Aristides called Themistocles out of the council. Themistocles was
+very much surprised at seeing his ancient enemy thus unexpectedly
+appear. Aristides introduced the conversation by saying that he thought
+that at such a crisis they ought to lay aside every private animosity,
+and only emulate each other in the efforts and sacrifices which they
+could respectively make to defend their country; that he had,
+accordingly, come from Ægina to join the fleet, with a view of rendering
+any aid that it might be in his power to afford; that it was now wholly
+useless to debate the question of retiring to the isthmus, for such a
+movement was no longer possible. "The fleet is surrounded," said he.
+"The Persian galleys are stationed on every side. It was with the utmost
+difficulty that I could make my way through the lines. Even if the whole
+assembly, and Eurybiades himself, were resolved on withdrawing to the
+isthmus, the thing could not now be done. Return, therefore, and tell
+them this, and say that to defend themselves where they are is the only
+alternative that now remains."
+
+In reply to this communication, Themistocles said that nothing could
+give him greater pleasure than to learn what Aristides had stated. "The
+movement which the Persians have made," he said, "was in consequence of
+a communication which I myself sent to them. I sent it, in order that
+some of our Greeks, who seem so very reluctant to fight, might be
+compelled to do so. But you must come yourself into the assembly," he
+added, "and make your statement directly to the commanders. They will
+not believe it if they hear it from me. Come in, and state what you have
+seen."
+
+Aristides accordingly entered the assembly, and informed the officers
+who were convened that to retire from their present position was no
+longer possible, since the sea to the west was fully guarded by lines of
+Persian ships, which had been stationed there to intercept them. He had
+just come in himself, he said, from Ægina, and had found great
+difficulty in passing through the lines, though he had only a single
+small boat, and was favored by the darkness of the night. He was
+convinced that the Greek fleet was entirely surrounded.
+
+Having said this, Aristides withdrew. Although he could come, as a
+witness, to give his testimony in respect to facts, he was not entitled
+to take any part in the deliberations.
+
+The assembly was thrown into a state of the greatest possible excitement
+by the intelligence which Aristides had communicated. Instead of
+producing harmony among them, it made the discord more violent and
+uncontrollable. Of those who had before wished to retire, some were now
+enraged that they had not been allowed to do so while the opportunity
+remained; others disbelieved Aristides's statements, and were still
+eager to go; while the rest, confirmed in their previous determination
+to remain where they were, rejoiced to find that retreat was no longer
+possible. The debate was confused and violent. It turned, in a great
+measure, on the degree of credibility to be attached to the account
+which Aristides had given them. Many of the assembly wholly disbelieved
+it. It was a stratagem, they maintained, contrived by the Athenian
+party, and those who wished to remain, in order to accomplish their end
+of keeping the fleet from changing its position.
+
+The doubts, however, which the assembly felt in respect to the truth of
+Aristides's tidings were soon dispelled by new and incontestable
+evidence; for, while the debate was going on, it was announced that a
+large galley--a trireme, as it was called--had come in from the Persian
+fleet. This galley proved to be a Greek ship from the island of Tenos,
+one which Xerxes, in prosecution of his plan of compelling those
+portions of the Grecian territories that he had conquered, or that had
+surrendered to him, to furnish forces to aid him in subduing the rest,
+had pressed into his service. The commander of this galley, unwilling to
+take part against his countrymen in the conflict, had decided to desert
+the Persian fleet by taking advantage of the night, and to come over to
+the Greeks. The name of the commander of this trireme was Parætius. He
+confirmed fully all that Aristides had said. He assured the Greeks that
+they were completely surrounded, and that nothing remained for them but
+to prepare, where they were, to meet the attack which would certainly be
+made upon them in the morning. The arrival of this trireme was thus of
+very essential service to the Greeks. It put an end to their discordant
+debates, and united them, one and all, in the work of making resolute
+preparations for action. This vessel was also of very essential service
+in the conflict itself which ensued; and the Greeks were so grateful to
+Parætius and to his comrades for the adventurous courage which they
+displayed in coming over under such circumstances, in such a night, to
+espouse the cause and to share the dangers of their countrymen, that
+after the battle they caused all their names to be engraved upon a
+sacred tripod, made in the most costly manner for the purpose, and then
+sent the tripod to be deposited at the oracle of Delphi, where it long
+remained a monument of this example of Delian patriotism and fidelity.
+
+As the morning approached, the preparations were carried forward with
+ardor and energy, on board both fleets, for the great struggle which was
+to ensue. Plans were formed; orders were given; arms were examined and
+placed on the decks of the galleys, where they would be most ready at
+hand. The officers and soldiers gave mutual charges and instructions to
+each other in respect to the care of their friends and the disposal of
+their effects--charges and instructions which each one undertook to
+execute for his friend in case he should survive him. The commanders
+endeavored to animate and encourage their men by cheerful looks, and by
+words of confidence and encouragement. They who felt resolute and strong
+endeavored to inspirit the weak and irresolute, while those who shrank
+from the approaching contest, and dreaded the result of it, concealed
+their fears, and endeavored to appear impatient for the battle.
+
+Xerxes caused an elevated seat or throne to be prepared for himself on
+an eminence near the shore, upon the main land, in order that he might
+be a personal witness of the battle. He had a guard and other attendants
+around him. Among these were a number of scribes or secretaries, who
+were prepared with writing materials to record the events which might
+take place, as they occurred, and especially to register the names of
+those whom Xerxes should see distinguishing themselves by their courage
+or by their achievements. He justly supposed that these arrangements,
+the whole fleet being fully informed in regard to them, would animate
+the several commanders with strong emulation, and excite them to make
+redoubled exertions to perform their part well. The record which was
+thus to be kept, under the personal supervision of the sovereign, was
+with a view to punishments too, as well as to honors and rewards; and it
+happened in many instances during the battle that ensued, that
+commanders, who, after losing their ships, escaped to the shore, were
+brought up before Xerxes's throne, and there expiated their fault or
+their misfortune, whichever it might have been, by being beheaded on the
+spot, without mercy. Some of the officers thus executed were Greeks,
+brutally slaughtered for not being successful in fighting, by
+compulsion, against their own countrymen.
+
+As the dawn approached, Themistocles called together as many of the
+Athenian forces as it was possible to convene, assembling them at a
+place upon the shore of Salamis where he could conveniently address
+them, and there made a speech to them, as was customary with the Greek
+commanders before going into battle. He told them that, in such contests
+as that in which they were about to engage, the result depended, not on
+the relative numbers of the combatants, but on the resolution and
+activity which they displayed. He reminded them of the instances in
+which small bodies of men, firmly banded together by a strict
+discipline, and animated by courage and energy, had overthrown enemies
+whose numbers far exceeded their own. The Persians were more numerous,
+he admitted, than they, but still the Greeks would conquer them. If they
+faithfully obeyed their orders, and acted strictly and perseveringly in
+concert, according to the plans formed by the commanders, and displayed
+the usual courage and resolution of Greeks, he was sure of victory.
+
+As soon as Themistocles had finished his speech, he ordered his men to
+embark, and the fleet immediately afterward formed itself in battle
+array.
+
+Notwithstanding the strictness of the order and discipline which
+generally prevailed in Greek armaments of every kind, there was great
+excitement and much confusion in the fleet while making all these
+preparations, and this excitement and confusion increased continually as
+the morning advanced and the hour for the conflict drew nigh. The
+passing of boats to and fro, the dashing of the oars, the clangor of the
+weapons, the vociferations of orders by the officers and of responses by
+the men, mingled with each other in dreadful turmoil, while all the time
+the vast squadrons were advancing toward each other, each party of
+combatants eager to begin the contest. In fact, so full of wild
+excitement was the scene, that at length the battle was found to be
+raging on every side, while no one knew or could remember how it began.
+Some said that a ship, which had been sent away a short time before to
+Ægina to obtain succors, was returning that morning, and that she
+commenced the action as she came through the Persian lines. Others said
+the Greek squadron advanced as soon as they could see, and attacked the
+Persians; and there were some whose imaginations were so much excited by
+the scene that they saw a female form portrayed among the dim mists of
+the morning, that urged the Greeks onward by beckonings and calls. They
+heard her voice, they said, crying to them, "Come on! come on! this is
+no time to linger on your oars."
+
+However this may be, the battle was soon furiously raging on every part
+of the Bay of Salamis, exhibiting a wide-spread scene of conflict, fury,
+rage, despair, and death, such as had then been seldom witnessed in any
+naval conflict, and such as human eyes can now never look upon again. In
+modern warfare the smoke of the guns soon draws an impenetrable veil
+over the scene of horror, and the perpetual thunder of the artillery
+overpowers the general din. In a modern battle, therefore, none of the
+real horrors of the conflict can either be heard or seen by any
+spectator placed beyond the immediate scene of it. The sights and the
+sounds are alike buried and concealed beneath the smoke and the noise of
+the cannonading. There were, however, no such causes in this case to
+obstruct the observations which Xerxes was making from his throne on the
+shore. The air was calm, the sky serene, the water was smooth, and the
+atmosphere was as transparent and clear at the end of the battle as at
+the beginning. Xerxes could discern every ship, and follow it with his
+eye in all its motions. He could see who advanced and who retreated. Out
+of the hundreds of separate conflicts he could choose any one, and watch
+the progress of it from the commencement to the termination. He could
+see the combats on the decks, the falling of repulsed assailants into
+the water, the weapons broken, the wounded carried away, and swimmers
+struggling like insects on the smooth surface of the sea. He could see
+the wrecks, too, which were drifted upon the shores, and the captured
+galleys, which, after those who defended them had been vanquished--some
+killed, others thrown overboard, and others made prisoners--were slowly
+towed away by the victors to a place of safety.
+
+There was one incident which occurred in this scene, as Xerxes looked
+down upon it from the eminence where he sat, which greatly interested
+and excited him, though he was deceived in respect to the true nature of
+it. The incident was one of Artemisia's stratagems. It must be premised,
+in relating the story, that Artemisia was not without enemies among the
+officers of the Persian fleet. Many of them were envious of the high
+distinction which she enjoyed, and jealous of the attention which she
+received from the king, and of the influence which she possessed over
+him. This feeling showed itself very distinctly at the grand council,
+when she gave her advice, in connection with that of the other
+commanders, to the king. Among the most decided of her enemies was a
+certain captain named Damasithymus. Artemisia had had a special quarrel
+with him while the fleet was coming through the Hellespont, which,
+though settled for the time, left the minds of both parties in a state
+of great hostility toward each other.
+
+It happened, in the course of the battle, that the ship which Artemisia
+personally commanded and that of Damasithymus were engaged, together
+with other Persian vessels, in the same part of the bay; and at a time
+when the ardor and confusion of the conflict was at its height, the
+galley of Artemisia, and some others that were in company with hers,
+became separated from the rest, perhaps by the too eager pursuit of an
+enemy, and as other Greek ships came up suddenly to the assistance of
+their comrades, the Persian vessels found themselves in great danger,
+and began to retreat, followed by their enemies. We speak of the
+retreating galleys as Persian, because they were on the Persian side in
+the contest, though it happened that they were really ships from Greek
+nations, which Xerxes had bribed or forced into his service. The Greeks
+knew them to be enemies, by the Persian flag which they bore.
+
+In the retreat, and while the ships were more or less mingled together
+in the confusion, Artemisia perceived that the Persian galley nearest
+her was that of Damasithymus. She immediately caused her own Persian
+flag to be pulled down, and, resorting to such other artifices as might
+tend to make her vessel appear to be a Greek galley, she began to act as
+if she were one of the pursuers instead of one of the pursued. She bore
+down upon the ship of Damasithymus, saying to her crew that to attack
+and sink that ship was the only way to save their own lives. They
+accordingly attacked it with the utmost fury. The Athenian ships which
+were near, seeing Artemisia's galley thus engaged, supposed that it was
+one of their own, and pressed on, leaving the vessel of Damasithymus at
+Artemisia's mercy. It was such mercy as would be expected of a woman who
+would volunteer to take command of a squadron of ships of war, and go
+forth on an active campaign to fight for her life among such ferocious
+tigers as Greek soldiers always were, considering it all an excursion of
+pleasure. Artemisia killed Damasithymus and all of his crew, and sunk
+his ship, and then, the crisis of danger being past, she made good her
+retreat back to the Persian lines. She probably felt no special
+animosity against the crew of this ill-fated vessel, but she thought it
+most prudent to leave no man alive to tell the story.
+
+Xerxes watched this transaction from his place on the hill with extreme
+interest and pleasure. He saw the vessel of Artemisia bearing down upon
+the other, which last he supposed, of course, from Artemisia's attacking
+it, was a vessel of the enemy. The only subject of doubt was whether the
+attacking ship was really that of Artemisia. The officers who stood
+about Xerxes at the time that the transaction occurred assured him that
+it was. They knew it well by certain peculiarities in its construction.
+Xerxes then watched the progress of the contest with the most eager
+interest, and, when he saw the result of it, he praised Artemisia in the
+highest terms, saying that the men in his fleet behaved like women,
+while the only woman in it behaved like a man.
+
+Thus Artemisia's exploit operated like a double stratagem. Both the
+Greeks and the Persians were deceived, and she gained an advantage by
+both the deceptions. She saved her life by leading the Greeks to believe
+that her galley was their friend, and she gained great glory and renown
+among the Persians by making them believe that the vessel which she sunk
+was that of an enemy.
+
+Though these and some of the other scenes and incidents which Xerxes
+witnessed as he looked down upon the battle gave him pleasure, yet the
+curiosity and interest with which he surveyed the opening of the contest
+were gradually changed to impatience, vexation, and rage as he saw in
+its progress that the Greeks were every where gaining the victory.
+Notwithstanding the discord and animosity which had reigned among the
+commanders in their councils and debates, the men were united, resolute,
+and firm when the time arrived for action; and they fought with such
+desperate courage and activity, and, at the same time, with so much
+coolness, circumspection, and discipline, that the Persian lines were,
+before many hours, every where compelled to give way. A striking example
+of the indomitable and efficient resolution which, on such occasions,
+always characterized the Greeks, was shown in the conduct of Aristides.
+The reader will recollect that the Persians, on the night before the
+battle, had taken possession of the island of Psyttalia--which was near
+the center of the scene of contest--for the double purpose of enabling
+themselves to use it as a place of refuge and retreat during the battle,
+and of preventing their enemies from doing so. Now Aristides had no
+command. He had been expelled from Athens by the influence of
+Themistocles and his other enemies. He had come across from Ægina to the
+fleet at Salamis, alone, to give his countrymen information of the
+dispositions which the Persians had made for surrounding them. When the
+battle began, he had been left, it seems, on the shore of Salamis a
+spectator. There was a small body of troops left there also, as a guard
+to the shore. In the course of the combat, when Aristides found that the
+services of this guard were no longer likely to be required where they
+were, he placed himself at the head of them, obtained possession of
+boats or a galley, transported the men across the channel, landed them
+on the island of Psyttalia, conquered the post, and killed every man
+that the Persians had stationed there.
+
+When the day was spent, and the evening came on, it was found that the
+result of the battle was a Greek victory, and yet it was not a victory
+so decisive as to compel the Persians wholly to retire. Vast numbers of
+the Persian ships were destroyed, but still so many remained, that when
+at night they drew back from the scene of the conflict, toward their
+anchorage ground at Phalerum, the Greeks were very willing to leave them
+unmolested there. The Greeks, in fact, had full employment on the
+following day in reassembling the scattered remnants of their own fleet,
+repairing the damages that they had sustained, taking care of their
+wounded men, and, in a word, attending to the thousand urgent and
+pressing exigencies always arising in the service of a fleet after a
+battle, even when it has been victorious in the contest. They did not
+know in exactly what condition the Persian fleet had been left, nor how
+far there might be danger of a renewal of the conflict on the following
+day. They devoted all their time and attention, therefore, to
+strengthening their defenses and reorganizing the fleet, so as to be
+ready in case a new assault should be made upon them.
+
+But Xerxes had no intention of any new attack. The loss of this battle
+gave a final blow to his expectations of being able to carry his
+conquests in Greece any further. He too, like the Greeks, employed his
+men in industrious and vigorous efforts to repair the damages which had
+been done, and to reassemble and reorganize that portion of the fleet
+which had not been destroyed. While, however, his men were doing this,
+he was himself revolving in his mind, moodily and despairingly, plans,
+not for new conflicts, but for the safest and speediest way of making
+his own personal escape from the dangers around him, back to his home in
+Susa.
+
+In the mean time, the surface of the sea, far and wide in every
+direction, was covered with the wrecks, and remnants, and fragments
+strewed over it by the battle. Dismantled hulks, masses of entangled
+spars and rigging, broken oars, weapons of every description, and the
+swollen and ghastly bodies of the dead, floated on the rolling swell of
+the sea wherever the winds or the currents carried them. At length many
+of these mournful memorials of the strife found their way across the
+whole breadth of the Mediterranean, and were driven up upon the beach on
+the coast of Africa, at a barbarous country called Colias. The savages
+dragged the fragments up out of the sand to use as fuel for their
+fires, pleased with their unexpected acquisitions, but wholly ignorant,
+of course, of the nature of the dreadful tragedy to which their coming
+was due. The circumstance, however, explained to the Greeks an ancient
+prophecy which had been uttered long before in Athens, and which the
+interpreters of such mysteries had never been able to understand. The
+prophecy was this:
+
+     The Colian dames on Afric's shores
+     Shall roast their food with Persian oars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Mardonius.--His apprehensions after the battle.--Depression of
+Xerxes.--Mardonius's address to him.--Mardonius offers to complete the
+conquest of Greece.--Effect of Mardonius's address.--Xerxes consults
+Artemisia.--Artemisia hesitates.--Her advice to Xerxes.--Xerxes adopts
+Artemesia's advice.--His anxiety increases.--Xerxes commences his
+retreat.--He sends his family to Ephesus.--Excitement in the Greek
+fleet.--The Persians pursued.--Debate among the generals.--Themistocles
+outvoted.--Another stratagem of Themistocles.--His message to
+Xerxes.--Duplicity of Themistocles.--Retreat of Xerxes.--Horrors of the
+retreat.--Sufferings from hunger.--Famine and disease.--Xerxes crosses
+the Hellespont.--Fate of Mardonius.--Xerxes arrives at Susa.--Xerxes's
+dissolute life.--His three sons.--Artabanus, captain of the guard.--He
+assassinates Xerxes.--Artaxerxes kills his brother.--He succeeds to the
+throne.
+
+
+Mardonius, it will be recollected, was the commander-in-chief of the
+forces of Xerxes, and thus, next to Xerxes himself, he was the officer
+highest in rank of all those who attended the expedition. He was, in
+fact, a sort of prime minister, on whom the responsibility for almost
+all the measures for the government and conduct of the expedition had
+been thrown. Men in such positions, while they may expect the highest
+rewards and honors from their sovereign in case of success, have always
+reason to apprehend the worst of consequences to themselves in case of
+failure. The night after the battle of Salamis, accordingly, Mardonius
+was in great fear. He did not distrust the future success of the
+expedition if it were allowed to go on; but, knowing the character of
+such despots as those who ruled great nations in that age of the world,
+he was well aware that he might reasonably expect, at any moment, the
+appearance of officers sent from Xerxes to cut off his head.
+
+His anxiety was increased by observing that Xerxes seemed very much
+depressed, and very restless and uneasy, after the battle, as if he were
+revolving in his mind some extraordinary design. He presently thought
+that he perceived indications that the king was planning a retreat.
+Mardonius, after much hesitation, concluded to speak to him, and
+endeavor to dispel his anxieties and fears, and lead him to take a more
+favorable view of the prospects of the expedition. He accordingly
+accosted him on the subject somewhat as follows:
+
+"It is true," said he, "that we were not as successful in the combat
+yesterday as we desired to be; but this reverse, as well as all the
+preceding disasters that we have met with, is, after all, of
+comparatively little moment. Your majesty has gone steadily on,
+accomplishing most triumphantly all the substantial objects aimed at in
+undertaking the expedition. Your troops have advanced successfully by
+land against all opposition. With them you have traversed Thrace,
+Macedon, and Thessaly. You have fought your way, against the most
+desperate resistance, through the Pass of Thermopylæ. You have overrun
+all Northern Greece. You have burned Athens. Thus, far from there being
+any uncertainty or doubt in respect to the success of the expedition, we
+see that all the great objects which you proposed by it are already
+accomplished. The fleet, it is true, has now suffered extensive damage;
+but we must remember that it is upon the army, not upon the fleet, that
+our hopes and expectations mainly depend. The army is safe; and it can
+not be possible that the Greeks can hereafter bring any force into the
+field by which it can be seriously endangered."
+
+By these and similar sentiments, Mardonius endeavored to revive and
+restore the failing courage and resolution of the king. He found,
+however, that he met with very partial success. Xerxes was silent,
+thoughtful, and oppressed apparently with a sense of anxious concern.
+Mardonius finally proposed that, even if the king should think it best
+to return himself to Susa, he should not abandon the enterprise of
+subduing Greece, but that he should leave a portion of the army under
+his (Mardonius's) charge, and he would undertake, he said, to complete
+the work which had been so successfully begun. Three hundred thousand
+men, he was convinced, would be sufficient for the purpose.
+
+This suggestion seems to have made a favorable impression on the mind
+of Xerxes. He was disposed, in fact, to be pleased with any plan,
+provided it opened the way for his own escape from the dangers in which
+he imagined that he was entangled. He said that he would consult some of
+the other commanders upon the subject. He did so, and then, before
+coming to a final decision, he determined to confer with Artemisia. He
+remembered that she had counseled him not to attack the Greeks at
+Salamis, and, as the result had proved that counsel to be eminently
+wise, he felt the greater confidence in asking her judgment again.
+
+He accordingly sent for Artemisia, and, directing all the officers, as
+well as his own attendants, to retire, he held a private consultation
+with her in respect to his plans.
+
+"Mardonius proposes," said he, "that the expedition should on no account
+be abandoned in consequence of this disaster, for he says that the fleet
+is a very unimportant part of our force, and that the army still remains
+unharmed. He proposes that, if I should decide myself to return to
+Persia, I should leave three hundred thousand men with him, and he
+undertakes, if I will do so, to complete, with them, the subjugation of
+Greece. Tell me what you think of this plan. You evinced so much
+sagacity in foreseeing the result of this engagement at Salamis, that I
+particularly wish to know your opinion."
+
+Artemisia, after pausing a little to reflect upon the subject, saying,
+as she hesitated, that it was rather difficult to decide, under the
+extraordinary circumstances in which they were placed, what it really
+was best to do, came at length to the conclusion that it would be wisest
+for the king to accede to Mardonius's proposal. "Since he offers, of his
+own accord, to remain and undertake to complete the subjugation of
+Greece, you can, very safely to yourself, allow him to make the
+experiment. The great object which was announced as the one which you
+had chiefly in view in the invasion of Greece, was the burning of
+Athens. This is already accomplished. You have done, therefore, what you
+undertook to do, and can, consequently, now return yourself, without
+dishonor. If Mardonius succeeds in his attempt, the glory of it will
+redound to you. His victories will be considered as only the successful
+completion of what you began. On the other hand, if he fails, the
+disgrace of failure will be his alone, and the injury will be confined
+to his destruction. In any event, your person, your interests, and your
+honor are safe, and if Mardonius is willing to take the responsibility
+and incur the danger involved in the plan that he proposes, I would give
+him the opportunity."
+
+Xerxes adopted the view of the subject which Artemisia thus presented
+with the utmost readiness and pleasure. That advice is always very
+welcome which makes the course that we had previously decided upon as
+the most agreeable seem the most wise. Xerxes immediately determined on
+returning to Persia himself, and leaving Mardonius to complete the
+conquest. In carrying out this design, he concluded to march to the
+northward by land, accompanied by a large portion of his army and by all
+his principal officers, until he reached the Hellespont. Then he was to
+give up to Mardonius the command of such troops as should be selected to
+remain in Greece, and, crossing the Hellespont, return himself to Persia
+with the remainder.
+
+If, as is generally the case, it is a panic that causes a flight, a
+flight, in its turn, always increases a panic. It happened, in
+accordance with this general law, that, as soon as the thoughts of
+Xerxes were once turned toward an escape from Greece, his fears
+increased, and his mind became more and more the prey of a restless
+uneasiness and anxiety lest he should not be able to effect his escape.
+He feared that the bridge of boats would have been broken down, and then
+how would he be able to cross the Hellespont? To prevent the Greek fleet
+from proceeding to the northward, and thus intercepting his passage by
+destroying the bridge, he determined to conceal, as long as possible,
+his own departure. Accordingly, while he was making the most efficient
+and rapid arrangements on the land for abandoning the whole region, he
+brought up his fleet by sea, and began to build, by means of the ships,
+a floating bridge from the main land to the island of Salamis, as if he
+were intent only on advancing. He continued this work all day,
+postponing his intended retreat until the night should come, in order to
+conceal his movements. In the course of the day he placed all his family
+and family relatives on board of Artemisia's ship, under the charge of a
+tried and faithful domestic. Artemisia was to convey them, as rapidly as
+possible, to Ephesus, a strong city in Asia Minor, where Xerxes supposed
+that they would be safe.
+
+In the night the fleet, in obedience to the orders which Xerxes had
+given them, abandoned their bridge and all their other undertakings,
+and set sail. They were to make the best of their way to the Hellespont,
+and post themselves there to defend the bridge of boats until Xerxes
+should arrive. On the following morning, accordingly, when the sun rose,
+the Greeks found, to their utter astonishment, that their enemies were
+gone.
+
+A scene of the greatest animation and excitement on board the Greek
+fleet at once ensued. The commanders resolved on an immediate pursuit.
+The seamen hoisted their sails, raised their anchors, and manned their
+oars, and the whole squadron was soon in rapid motion. The fleet went as
+far as to the island of Andros, looking eagerly all around the horizon,
+in every direction, as they advanced, but no signs of the fugitives were
+to be seen. The ships then drew up to the shore, and the commanders were
+convened in an assembly, summoned by Eurybiades, on the land, for
+consultation.
+
+A debate ensued, in which the eternal enmity and dissension between the
+Athenian and Peloponnesian Greeks broke out anew. There was, however,
+now some reason for the disagreement. The Athenian cause was already
+ruined. Their capital had been burned, their country ravaged, and their
+wives and children driven forth to exile and misery. Nothing remained
+now for them but hopes of revenge. They were eager, therefore, to press
+on, and overtake the Persian galleys in their flight, or, if this could
+not be done, to reach the Hellespont before Xerxes should arrive there,
+and intercept his passage by destroying the bridge. This was the policy
+which Themistocles advocated. Eurybiades, on the other hand, and the
+Peloponnesian commanders, urged the expediency of not driving the
+Persians to desperation by harassing them too closely on their retreat.
+They were formidable enemies after all, and, if they were now disposed
+to retire and leave the country, it was the true policy of the Greeks to
+allow them to do so. To destroy the bridge of boats would only be to
+take effectual measures for keeping the pest among them. Themistocles
+was outvoted. It was determined best to allow the Persian forces to
+retire.
+
+Themistocles, when he found that his counsels were overruled, resorted
+to another of the audacious stratagems that marked his career, which was
+to send a second pretended message of friendship to the Persian king. He
+employed the same Sicinnus on this occasion that he had sent before into
+the Persian fleet, on the eve of the battle of Salamis. A galley was
+given to Sicinnus, with a select crew of faithful men. They were all put
+under the most solemn oaths never to divulge to any person, under any
+circumstances, the nature and object of their commission. With this
+company, Sicinnus left the fleet secretly in the night, and went to the
+coast of Attica. Landing here, he left the galley, with the crew in
+charge of it, upon the shore, and, with one or two select attendants, he
+made his way to the Persian camp, and desired an interview with the
+king. On being admitted to an audience, he said to Xerxes that he had
+been sent to him by Themistocles, whom he represented as altogether the
+most prominent man among the Greek commanders, to say that the Greeks
+had resolved on pressing forward to the Hellespont, to intercept him on
+his return, but that he, Themistocles, had dissuaded them from it, under
+the influence of the same friendship for Xerxes which had led him to
+send a friendly communication to the Persians before the late battle;
+that, in consequence of the arguments and persuasions of Themistocles,
+the Greek squadrons would remain where they then were, on the southern
+coasts, leaving Xerxes to retire without molestation.
+
+All this was false, but Themistocles thought it would serve his purpose
+well to make the statement; for, in case he should, at any future time,
+in following the ordinary fate of the bravest and most successful Greek
+generals, be obliged to fly in exile from his country to save his life,
+it might be important for him to have a good understanding beforehand
+with the King of Persia, though a good understanding, founded on
+pretensions so hypocritical and empty as these, would seem to be worthy
+of very little reliance. In fact, for a Greek general, discomfited in
+the councils of his own nation, to turn to the Persian king with such
+prompt and cool assurance, for the purpose of gaining his friendship by
+tendering falsehoods so bare and professions so hollow, was an instance
+of audacious treachery so original and lofty as to be almost sublime.
+
+Xerxes pressed on with the utmost diligence toward the north. The
+country had been ravaged and exhausted by his march through it in coming
+down, and now, in returning, he found infinite difficulty in obtaining
+supplies of food and water for his army. Forty-five days were consumed
+in getting back to the Hellespont. During all this time the privations
+and sufferings of the troops increased every day. The soldiers were
+spent with fatigue, exhausted with hunger, and harassed with incessant
+apprehensions of attacks from their enemies. Thousands of the sick and
+wounded that attempted at first to follow the army, gave out by degrees
+as the columns moved on. Some were left at the encampments; others lay
+down by the road-sides, in the midst of the day's march, wherever their
+waning strength finally failed them; and every where broken chariots,
+dead and dying beasts of burden, and the bodies of soldiers, that lay
+neglected where they fell, encumbered and choked the way. In a word, all
+the roads leading toward the northern provinces exhibited in full
+perfection those awful scenes which usually mark the track of a great
+army retreating from an invasion.
+
+The men were at length reduced to extreme distress for food. They ate
+the roots and stems of the herbage, and finally stripped the very bark
+from the trees and devoured it, in the vain hope that it might afford
+some nutriment to re-enforce the vital principle, for a little time at
+least, in the dreadful struggle which it was waging within them. There
+are certain forms of pestilential disease which, in cases like this,
+always set in to hasten the work which famine alone would be too slow
+in performing. Accordingly, as was to have been expected, camp fevers,
+choleras, and other corrupt and infectious maladies, broke out with
+great violence as the army advanced along the northern shores of the
+Ægean Sea; and as every victim to these dreadful and hopeless disorders
+helped, by his own dissolution, to taint the air for all the rest, the
+wretched crowd was, in the end, reduced to the last extreme of misery
+and terror.
+
+At length Xerxes, with a miserable remnant of his troops, arrived at
+Abydos, on the shores of the Hellespont. He found the bridge broken
+down. The winds and storms had demolished what the Greeks had determined
+to spare. The immense structure, which it had cost so much toil and time
+to rear, had wholly disappeared, leaving no traces of its existence,
+except the wrecks which lay here and there half buried in the sand along
+the shore. There were some small boats at hand, and Xerxes, embarking in
+one of them, with a few attendants in the others, and leaving the
+exhausted and wretched remnant of his army behind, was rowed across the
+strait, and landed at last safely again on the Asiatic shores.
+
+[Illustration: THE RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA.]
+
+The place of his landing was Sestos. From Sestos he went to Sardis,
+and from Sardis he proceeded, in a short time, to Susa. Mardonius was
+left in Greece. Mardonius was a general of great military experience and
+skill, and, when left to himself, he found no great difficulty in
+reorganizing the army, and in putting it again in an efficient
+condition. He was not able, however, to accomplish the undertaking which
+he had engaged to perform. After various adventures, prosperous and
+adverse, which it would be foreign to our purpose here to detail, he was
+at last defeated in a great battle, and killed on the field. The Persian
+army was now obliged to give up the contest, and was expelled from
+Greece finally and forever.
+
+When Xerxes reached Susa, he felt overjoyed to find himself once more
+safe, as he thought, in his own palaces. He looked back upon the
+hardships, exposures, and perils through which he had passed, and,
+thankful for having so narrowly escaped from them, he determined to
+encounter no such hazards again. He had had enough of ambition and
+glory. He was now going to devote himself to ease and pleasure. Such a
+man would not naturally be expected to be very scrupulous in respect to
+the means of enjoyment, or to the character of the companions whom he
+would select to share his pleasures, and the life of the king soon
+presented one continual scene of dissipation, revelry, and vice. He gave
+himself up to such prolonged carousals, that one night was sometimes
+protracted through the following day into another. The administration of
+his government was left wholly to his ministers, and every personal duty
+was neglected, that he might give himself to the most abandoned and
+profligate indulgence of his appetites and passions.
+
+He had three sons who might be considered as heirs to his
+throne--Darius, Hystaspes, and Artaxerxes. Hystaspes was absent in a
+neighboring province. The others were at home. He had also a very
+prominent officer in his court, whose name, Artabanus, was the same with
+that of the uncle who had so strongly attempted to dissuade him from
+undertaking the conquest of Greece. Artabanus the uncle disappears
+finally from view at the time when Xerxes dismissed him to return to
+Susa at the first crossing of the Hellespont. This second Artabanus was
+the captain of the king's body-guard and, consequently, the common
+executioner of the despot's decrees. Being thus established in his
+palace, surrounded by his family, and protected by Artabanus and his
+guard, the monarch felt that all his toils and dangers were over, and
+that there was nothing now before him but a life of ease, of pleasure,
+and of safety. Instead of this, he was, in fact, in the most imminent
+danger. Artabanus was already plotting his destruction.
+
+One day, in the midst of one of his carousals, he became angry with his
+oldest son Darius for some cause, and gave Artabanus an order to kill
+him. Artabanus neglected to obey this order. The king had been excited
+with wine when he gave it, and Artabanus supposed that all recollection
+of the command would pass away from his mind with the excitement that
+occasioned it. The king did not, however, so readily forget. The next
+day he demanded why his order had not been obeyed. Artabanus now began
+to fear for his own safety, and he determined to proceed at once to the
+execution of a plan which he had long been revolving, of destroying the
+whole of Xerxes's family, and placing himself on the throne in their
+stead. He contrived to bring the king's chamberlain into his schemes,
+and, with the connivance and aid of this officer, he went at night into
+the king's bed-chamber, and murdered the monarch in his sleep.
+
+Leaving the bloody weapon with which the deed had been perpetrated by
+the side of the victim, Artabanus went immediately into the bed-chamber
+of Artaxerxes, the youngest son, and, awaking him suddenly, he told him,
+with tones of voice and looks expressive of great excitement and alarm,
+that his father had been killed, and that it was his brother Darius that
+had killed him. "His motive is," continued Artabanus, "to obtain the
+throne, and, to make the more sure of an undisturbed possession of it,
+he is intending to murder you next. Rise, therefore, and defend your
+life."
+
+Artaxerxes was aroused to a sudden and uncontrollable paroxysm of anger
+at this intelligence. He seized his weapon, and rushed into the
+apartment of his innocent brother, and slew him on the spot. Other
+summary assassinations of a similar kind followed in this complicated
+tragedy. Among the victims, Artabanus and all his adherents were slain,
+and at length Artaxerxes took quiet possession of the throne, and
+reigned in his father's stead.
+
+                         THE END.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
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+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Xerxes, Makers Of History, by Jacob Abbott.
+    </title>
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Xerxes, by Jacob Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Xerxes
+       Makers of History
+
+Author: Jacob Abbott
+
+Release Date: May 6, 2008 [EBook #25351]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK XERXES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h2>Makers of History</h2>
+
+<h1>Xerxes</h1>
+
+<h3>BY JACOB ABBOTT</h3>
+
+<p class="center">WITH ENGRAVINGS</p>
+
+<p class="gap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 124px;">
+<img src="images/i001.jpg" class="ispace" width="124" height="150" alt="logo" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="smallgap">&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="center">NEW YORK AND LONDON</p>
+<p class="center">HARPER &amp; BROTHERS PUBLISHERS</p>
+<p class="center">1902</p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+
+<p class="center">Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by</p>
+
+<p class="center">HARPER &amp; BROTHERS,</p>
+
+<p class="center">In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York.</p>
+
+<p class="center">Copyright, 1878, by <span class="smcap">Jacob Abbott</span></p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<p><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i003.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="301" alt="Artabanus and the Ghost" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Artabanus and the Ghost</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2>
+
+<p>One special object which the author of this series has had in view, in
+the plan and method which he has followed in the preparation of the
+successive volumes, has been to adapt them to the purposes of text-books
+in schools. The study of a <i>general compend</i> of history, such as is
+frequently used as a text-book, is highly useful, if it comes in at the
+right stage of education, when the mind is sufficiently matured, and has
+acquired sufficient preliminary knowledge to understand and appreciate
+so condensed a generalization as a summary of the whole history of a
+nation contained in an ordinary volume must necessarily be. Without this
+degree of maturity of mind, and this preparation, the study of such a
+work will be, as it too frequently is, a mere mechanical committing to
+memory of names, and dates, and phrases, which awaken no interest,
+communicate no ideas, and impart no useful knowledge to the mind.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span></p><p>A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet become much acquainted with
+history, would, accordingly, be more benefited by having their attention
+concentrated, at first, on detached and separate topics, such as those
+which form the subjects, respectively, of these volumes. By studying
+thus fully the history of individual monarchs, or the narratives of
+single events, they can go more fully into detail; they conceive of the
+transactions described as realities; their reflecting and reasoning
+powers are occupied on what they read; they take notice of the motives
+of conduct, of the gradual development of character, the good or ill
+desert of actions, and of the connection of causes and consequences,
+both in respect to the influence of wisdom and virtue on the one hand,
+and, on the other, of folly and crime. In a word, their <i>minds</i> and
+<i>hearts</i> are occupied instead of merely their memories. They reason,
+they sympathize, they pity, they approve, and they condemn. They enjoy
+the real and true pleasure which constitutes the charm of historical
+study for minds that are mature; and they acquire a taste for truth
+instead of fiction, which will tend to direct their reading into proper
+channels in all future years.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p><p>The use of these works, therefore, as text-books in classes, has been
+kept continually in mind in the preparation of them. The running index
+on the tops of the pages is intended to serve instead of questions.
+These captions can be used in their present form as <i>topics</i>, in respect
+to which, when announced in the class, the pupils are to repeat
+substantially what is said on the page; or, on the other hand, questions
+in form, if that mode is preferred, can be readily framed from them by
+the teacher. In all the volumes, a very regular system of division is
+observed, which will greatly facilitate the assignment of lessons.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg viii-ix]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS">
+
+<tr>
+<td>Chapter</td>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right">Page</td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I.</td>
+<td align="left">THE MOTHER OF XERXES</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#XERXES">13</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II.</td>
+<td align="left">EGYPT AND GREECE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_II">33</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III.</td>
+<td align="left">DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_III">56</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV.</td>
+<td align="left">PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_IV">78</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V.</td>
+<td align="left">THE CROSSING OF THE HELLESPONT</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_V">100</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI.</td>
+<td align="left">THE REVIEW OF THE ARMY AT DORISCUS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_VI">125</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII.</td>
+<td align="left">PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_VII">151</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII.</td>
+<td align="left">THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_VIII">178</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX.</td>
+<td align="left">THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYL&AElig;</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_IX">201</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X.</td>
+<td align="left">THE BURNING OF ATHENS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_X">224</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XI.</td>
+<td align="left">THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_XI">245</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XII.</td>
+<td align="left">THE RETURN TO PERSIA</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Chapter_XII">284</a></td></tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="ENGRAVINGS" id="ENGRAVINGS"></a>ENGRAVINGS.</h2>
+
+<div class="centered">
+<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="ENGRAVINGS">
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece.</i></a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_xii">xii</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">PHERON DEFYING THE NILE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_48">48</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">MAP OF GREECE</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">CITADEL AT ATHENS</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_241">241</a></td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_297">297</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xi-xii]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i011.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="305" alt="Map of the Persian Empire " title="" />
+<span class="caption">Map of the Persian Empire </span>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="XERXES" id="XERXES"></a>XERXES.</h2>
+
+<h2><a name="Chapter_I" id="Chapter_I"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter I.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Mother of Xerxes.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 522&ndash;484</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Persian magnificence.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> name
+of Xerxes is associated in the minds of men with the idea of
+the highest attainable elevation of human magnificence and grandeur.
+This monarch was the sovereign of the ancient Persian empire when it was
+at the height of its prosperity and power. It is probable, however, that
+his greatness and fame lose nothing by the manner in which his story
+comes down to us through the Greek historians. The Greeks conquered
+Xerxes, and, in relating his history, they magnify the wealth, the
+power, and the resources of his empire, by way of exalting the greatness
+and renown of their own exploits in subduing him.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The mother of Xerxes.<br /> Cambyses.</div>
+
+<p>The mother of Xerxes was Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great, who was
+the founder of the Persian empire. Cyrus was killed in Scythia, a wild
+and barbarous region lying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>north of the Black and Caspian Seas. His son
+Cambyses succeeded him.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Ambition and selfishness of kings.</div>
+
+<p>A kingdom, or an empire, was regarded, in ancient days, much in the
+light of an estate, which the sovereign held as a species of property,
+and which he was to manage mainly with a view to the promotion of his
+own personal aggrandizement and pleasure. A king or an emperor could
+have more palaces, more money, and more wives than other men; and if he
+was of an overbearing or ambitious spirit, he could march into his
+neighbors' territories, and after gratifying his love of adventure with
+various romantic exploits, and gaining great renown by his ferocious
+impetuosity in battle, he could end his expedition, perhaps, by adding
+his neighbors' palaces, and treasures, and wives to his own.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">General influence exerted by great sovereigns upon the
+community.</div>
+
+<p>Divine Providence, however, the mysterious power that overrules all the
+passions and impulses of men, and brings extended and general good out
+of local and particular evil, has made the ambition and the selfishness
+of princes the great means of preserving order and government among men.
+These great ancient despots, for example, would not have been able to
+collect their revenues, or enlist their armies, or procure <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>supplies for
+their campaigns, unless their dominions were under a regular and
+complete system of social organization, such as should allow all the
+industrial pursuits of commerce and of agriculture, throughout the mass
+of the community, to go regularly on. Thus absolute monarchs, however
+ambitious, and selfish, and domineering in their characters, have a
+strong personal interest in the establishment of order and of justice
+between man and man throughout all the regions which are under their
+sway. In fact, the greater their ambition, their selfishness, and their
+pride, the stronger will this interest be; for, just in proportion as
+order, industry, and internal tranquillity prevail in a country, just in
+that proportion can revenues be collected from it, and armies raised and
+maintained.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Labors of great conquerors.<br /> C&aelig;sar.<br /> Darius.<br /> William the Conqueror.<br /> Napoleon.</div>
+
+<p>It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose of the great heroes, and
+sovereigns, and conquerors that have appeared from time to time among
+mankind, that the usual and ordinary result of their influence and
+action has been that of disturbance and disorganization. It is true that
+a vast amount of disturbance and disorganization has often followed from
+the march of their armies, their sieges, their invasions, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>other
+local and temporary acts of violence which they commit; but these are
+the exceptions, not the rule. It must be that such things are
+exceptions, since, in any extended and general view of the subject, a
+much greater amount of social organization, industry, and peace is
+necessary to raise and maintain an army, than that army can itself
+destroy. The deeds of destruction which great conquerors perform attract
+more attention and make a greater impression upon mankind than the
+quiet, patient, and long-continued labors by which they perfect and
+extend the general organization of the social state. But these labors,
+though less noticed by men, have really employed the energies of great
+sovereigns in a far greater degree than mankind have generally imagined.
+Thus we should describe the work of C&aelig;sar's life in a single word more
+truly by saying that he <i>organized</i> Europe, than that he conquered it.
+His bridges, his roads, his systems of jurisprudence, his coinage, his
+calendar, and other similar means and instruments of social arrangement,
+and facilities for promoting the pursuits of industry and peace, mark,
+far more properly, the real work which that great conqueror performed
+among mankind, than his battles and his victories. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>Darius was, in the
+same way, the organizer of Asia. William the Conqueror completed, or,
+rather, advanced very far toward completing, the social organization of
+England; and even in respect to Napoleon, the true and proper memorial
+of his career is the successful working of the institutions, the
+systems, and the codes which he perfected and introduced into the social
+state, and not the brazen column, formed from captured cannon, which
+stands in the Place Vend&ocirc;me.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Heroes and conquerors.<br /> The main spring of their actions.</div>
+
+<p>These considerations, obviously true, though not always borne in mind,
+are, however, to be considered as making the characters of the great
+sovereigns, in a moral point of view, neither the worse nor the better.
+In all that they did, whether in arranging and systematizing the
+functions of social life, or in ruthless deeds of conquest and
+destruction, they were actuated, in a great measure, by selfish
+ambition. They arranged and organized the social state in order to form
+a more compact and solid pedestal for the foundation of their power.
+They maintained peace and order among their people, just as a master
+would suppress quarrels among his slaves, because peace among laborers
+is essential to productive results. They fixed and defined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>legal
+rights, and established courts to determine and enforce them; they
+protected property; they counted and classified men; they opened roads;
+they built bridges; they encouraged commerce; they hung robbers, and
+exterminated pirates&mdash;all, that the collection of their revenues and the
+enlistment of their armies might go on without hinderance or
+restriction. Many of them, indeed, may have been animated, in some
+degree, by a higher and nobler sentiment than this. Some may have felt a
+sort of pride in the contemplation of a great, and prosperous, and
+wealthy empire, analogous to that which a proprietor feels in surveying
+a well-conditioned, successful, and productive estate. Others, like
+Alfred, may have felt a sincere and honest interest in the welfare of
+their fellow-men, and the promotion of human happiness may have been, in
+a greater or less degree, the direct object of their aim. Still, it can
+not be denied that a selfish and reckless ambition has been, in general,
+the main spring of action with heroes and conquerors, which, while it
+aimed only at personal aggrandizement, has been made to operate, through
+the peculiar mechanism of the social state which the Divine wisdom has
+contrived, as a means, in the main <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>of preserving and extending peace
+and order among mankind, and not of destroying them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Cyrus.<br /> Character and career of Cambyses.</div>
+
+<p>But to return to Atossa. Her father Cyrus, who laid the foundation of
+the great Persian empire, was, for a hero and conqueror, tolerably
+considerate and just, and he desired, probably, to promote the welfare
+and happiness of his millions of subjects; but his son Cambyses,
+Atossa's brother, having been brought up in expectation of succeeding to
+vast wealth and power, and having been, as the sons of the wealthy and
+the powerful often are in all ages of the world, wholly neglected by his
+father during the early part of his life, and entirely unaccustomed to
+control, became a wild, reckless, proud, selfish, and ungovernable young
+man. His father was killed suddenly in battle, as has already been
+stated, and Cambyses succeeded him. Cambyses's career was short,
+desperate, and most tragical in its end.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> In fact, he was one of the
+most savage, reckless, and abominable monsters that have ever lived.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Wives of Cambyses.</div>
+
+<p>It was the custom in those days for the Persian monarchs to have many
+wives, and, what is still more remarkable, whenever any monarch <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>died,
+his successor inherited his predecessor's family as well as his throne.
+Cyrus had several children by his various wives. Cambyses and Smerdis
+were the only sons, but there were daughters, among whom Atossa was the
+most distinguished. The ladies of the court were accustomed to reside in
+different palaces, or in different suites of apartments in the same
+palace, so that they lived in a great measure isolated from each other.
+When Cambyses came to the throne, and thus entered into possession of
+his father's palaces, he saw and fell in love with one of his father's
+daughters. He wished to make her one of his wives. He was accustomed to
+the unrestricted indulgence of every appetite and passion, but he seems
+to have had some slight misgivings in regard to such a step as this. He
+consulted the Persian judges. They conferred upon the subject, and then
+replied that they had searched among the laws of the realm, and though
+they found no law allowing a man to marry his sister, they found many
+which authorized a Persian king to do whatever he
+pleased.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">He marries his sister.</div>
+
+<p>Cambyses therefore added the princess to the number of his wives, and
+not long afterward he married another of his father's daughters <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>in the
+same way. One of these princesses was Atossa.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Death of Cambyses.</div>
+
+<p>Cambyses invaded Egypt, and in the course of his mad career in that
+country he killed his brother Smerdis and one of his sisters, and at
+length was killed himself. Atossa escaped the dangers of this stormy and
+terrible reign, and returned safely to Susa after Cambyses's death.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Smerdis the magian.<br /> Cunning of Smerdis.</div>
+
+<p>Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses, would have been Cambyses's successor
+if he had survived him; but he had been privately assassinated by
+Cambyses's orders, though his death had been kept profoundly secret by
+those who had perpetrated the deed. There was another Smerdis in Susa,
+the Persian capital, who was a magian&mdash;that is, a sort of priest&mdash;in
+whose hands, as regent, Cambyses had left the government while he was
+absent on his campaigns. This magian Smerdis accordingly conceived the
+plan of usurping the throne, as if he were Smerdis the prince, resorting
+to a great many ingenious and cunning schemes to conceal his deception.
+Among his other plans, one was to keep himself wholly sequestered from
+public view, with a few favorites, such, especially, as had not
+personally known Smerdis the prince. In the same manner he secluded from
+each other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>and from himself all who had known Smerdis, in order to
+prevent their conferring with one another, or communicating to each
+other any suspicions which they might chance to entertain. Such
+seclusion, so far as related to the ladies of the royal family, was not
+unusual after the death of a king, and Smerdis did not deviate from the
+ordinary custom, except to make the isolation and confinement of the
+princesses and queens more rigorous and strict than common. By means of
+this policy he was enabled to go on for some months without detection,
+living all the while in the greatest luxury and splendor, but at the
+same time in absolute seclusion, and in unceasing anxiety and fear.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His feeling of insecurity.</div>
+
+<p>One chief source of his solicitude was lest he should be detected by
+means of his <i>ears</i>! Some years before, when he was in a comparatively
+obscure position, he had in some way or other offended his sovereign,
+and was punished by having his ears cut off. It was necessary,
+therefore, to keep the marks of this mutilation carefully concealed by
+means of his hair and his head-dress, and even with these precautions he
+could never feel perfectly secure.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Smerdis suspected.<br />His imposture discovered.</div>
+
+<p>At last one of the nobles of the court, a sagacious and observing man,
+suspected the imposture. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>He had no access to Smerdis himself, but his
+daughter, whose name was Ph&aelig;dyma, was one of Smerdis's wives. The
+nobleman was excluded from all direct intercourse with Smerdis, and even
+with his daughter; but he contrived to send word to his daughter,
+inquiring whether her husband was the true Smerdis or not. She replied
+that she did not know, inasmuch as she had never seen any other Smerdis,
+if, indeed, there had been another. The nobleman then attempted to
+communicate with Atossa, but he found it impossible to do so. Atossa
+had, of course, known her brother well, and was on that very account
+very closely secluded by the magian. As a last resort, the nobleman sent
+to his daughter a request that she would watch for an opportunity to
+feel for her husband's ears while he was asleep. He admitted that this
+would be a dangerous attempt, but his daughter, he said, ought to be
+willing to make it, since, if her pretended husband were really an
+impostor, she ought to take even a stronger interest than others in his
+detection. Ph&aelig;dyma was at first afraid to undertake so dangerous a
+commission; but she at length ventured to do so, and, by passing her
+hand under his turban one night, while he was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>sleeping on his couch,
+she found that the ears were gone.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Death of Smerdis.<br />Succession of Darius.</div>
+
+<p>The consequence of this discovery was, that a conspiracy was formed to
+dethrone and destroy the usurper. The plot was successful. Smerdis was
+killed; his imprisoned queens were set free, and Darius was raised to
+the throne in his stead.</p>
+
+<p>Atossa now, by that strange principle of succession which has been
+already alluded to, became the wife of Darius, and she figures
+frequently and conspicuously in history during his long and splendid
+reign.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Atossa's sickness.<br /> The Greek physician.</div>
+
+<p>Her name is brought into notice in one case in a remarkable manner, in
+connection with an expedition which Darius sent on an exploring tour
+into Greece and Italy. She was herself the means, in fact, of sending
+the expedition. She was sick; and after suffering secretly and in
+silence as long as possible&mdash;the nature of her complaint being such as
+to make her unwilling to speak of it to others&mdash;she at length determined
+to consult a Greek physician who had been brought to Persia as a
+captive, and had acquired great celebrity at Susa by his medical science
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>and skill. The physician said that he would undertake her case on
+condition that she would promise to grant him a certain request that he
+would make. She wished to know what it was beforehand, but the physician
+would not tell her. He said, however, that it was nothing that it would
+be in any way derogatory to her honor to grant him.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Atossa's promise.</div>
+
+<p>On these conditions Atossa concluded to agree to the physician's
+proposals. He made her take a solemn oath that, if he cured her of her
+malady, she would do whatever he required of her, provided that it was
+consistent with honor and propriety. He then took her case under his
+charge, prescribed for her and attended her, and in due time she was
+cured. The physician then told her that what he wished her to do for him
+was to find some means to persuade Darius to send him home to his native
+land.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Atossa's conversation with Darius.</div>
+
+<p>Atossa was faithful in fulfilling her promise. She took a private
+opportunity, when she was alone with Darius, to propose that he should
+engage in some plans of foreign conquest. She reminded him of the
+vastness of the military power which was at his disposal, and of the
+facility with which, by means of it, he might extend his dominions. She
+extolled, too, his genius <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>and energy, and endeavored to inspire in his
+mind some ambitious desires to distinguish himself in the estimation of
+mankind by bringing his capacities for the performance of great deeds
+into action.</p>
+
+<p>Darius listened to these suggestions of Atossa with interest and with
+evident pleasure. He said that he had been forming some such plans
+himself. He was going to build a bridge across the Hellespont or the
+Bosporus, to unite Europe and Asia; and he was also going to make an
+incursion into the country of the Scythians, the people by whom Cyrus,
+his great predecessor, had been defeated and slain. It would be a great
+glory for him, he said, to succeed in a conquest in which Cyrus had so
+totally failed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Success of her plans.</div>
+
+<p>But these plans would not answer the purpose which Atossa had in view.
+She urged her husband, therefore, to postpone his invasion of the
+Scythians till some future time, and first conquer the Greeks, and annex
+their territory to his dominions. The Scythians, she said, were savages,
+and their country not worth the cost of conquering it, while Greece
+would constitute a noble prize. She urged the invasion of Greece, too,
+rather than Scythia, as a personal favor to herself, for she had been
+wanting, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>she said, some slaves from Greece for a long time&mdash;some of the
+women of Sparta, of Corinth, and of Athens, of whose graces and
+accomplishments she had heard so much.</p>
+
+<p>There was something gratifying to the military vanity of Darius in being
+thus requested to make an incursion to another continent, and undertake
+the conquest of the mightiest nation of the earth, for the purpose of
+procuring accomplished waiting-maids to offer as a present to his queen.
+He became restless and excited while listening to Atossa's proposals,
+and to the arguments with which she enforced them, and it was obvious
+that he was very strongly inclined to accede to her views. He finally
+concluded to send a commission into Greece to explore the country, and
+to bring back a report on their return; and as he decided to make the
+Greek physician the guide of the expedition, Atossa gained her end.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The expedition to Greece.<br />Escape of the physician.</div>
+
+<p>A full account of this expedition, and of the various adventures which
+the party met with on their voyage, is given in our history of Darius.
+It may be proper to say here, however, that the physician fully
+succeeded in his plans of making his escape. He pretended, at first, to
+be unwilling to go, and he made only <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>the most temporary arrangements in
+respect to the conduct of his affairs while he should be gone, in order
+to deceive the king in regard to his intentions of not returning. The
+king, on his part, resorted to some stratagems to ascertain whether the
+physician was sincere in his professions, but he did not succeed in
+detecting the artifice, and so the party went away. The physician never
+returned.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Atossa's four sons.<br />Artobazanes.</div>
+
+<p>Atossa had four sons. Xerxes was the eldest of them. He was not,
+however, the eldest of the sons of Darius, as there were other sons, the
+children of another wife, whom Darius had married before he ascended the
+throne. The oldest of these children was named Artobazanes. Artobazanes
+seems to have been a prince of an amiable and virtuous character, and
+not particularly ambitious and aspiring in his disposition, although, as
+he was the eldest son of his father, he claimed to be his heir. Atossa
+did not admit the validity of this claim, but maintained that the oldest
+of <i>her</i> children was entitled to the inheritance.</p>
+
+<p>It became necessary to decide this question before Darius's death; for
+Darius, in the prosecution of a war in which he was engaged, formed the
+design of accompanying his army <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>on an expedition into Greece, and,
+before doing this, he was bound, according to the laws and usages of the
+Persian realm, to regulate the succession.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dispute about the succession.<br />Xerxes and Artobazanes.</div>
+
+<p>There immediately arose an earnest dispute between the friends and
+partisans of Artobazanes and Xerxes, each side urging very eagerly the
+claims of its own candidate. The mother and the friends of Artobazanes
+maintained that he was the oldest son, and, consequently, the heir.
+Atossa, on the other hand, contended that Xerxes was the grandson of
+Cyrus, and that he derived from that circumstance the highest possible
+hereditary rights to the Persian throne.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The arguments.</div>
+
+<p>This was in some respects true, for Cyrus had been the founder of the
+empire and the legitimate monarch, while Darius had no hereditary
+claims. He was originally a noble, of high rank, indeed, but not of the
+royal line; and he had been designated as Cyrus's successor in a time of
+revolution, because there was, at that time, no prince of the royal
+family who could take the inheritance. Those, therefore, who were
+disposed to insist on the claims of a legitimate hereditary succession,
+might very plausibly claim that Darius's government had been <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>a regency
+rather than a reign; that Xerxes, being the oldest son of Atossa,
+Cyrus's daughter, was the true representative of the royal line; and
+that, although it might not be expedient to disturb the possession of
+Darius during his lifetime, yet that, at his death, Xerxes was
+unquestionably entitled to the throne.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Influence of Atossa.</div>
+
+<p>There was obviously a great deal of truth and justice in this reasoning,
+and yet it was a view of the subject not likely to be very agreeable to
+Darius, since it seemed to deny the existence of any real and valid
+title to the sovereignty in him. It assigned the crown, at his death,
+not to his son as such, but to his predecessor's grandson; for though
+Xerxes was both the son of Darius and the grandson of Cyrus, it was in
+the latter capacity that he was regarded as entitled to the crown in the
+argument referred to above. The doctrine was very gratifying to the
+pride of Atossa, for it made Xerxes the successor to the crown as her
+son and heir, and not as the son and heir of her husband. For this very
+reason it was likely to be not very gratifying to Darius. He hesitated
+very much in respect to adopting it. Atossa's ascendency over his mind,
+and her influence generally in the Persian court, was almost
+overwhelming, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>and yet Darius was very unwilling to seem, by giving to
+the oldest grandson of Cyrus the precedence over his own eldest son, to
+admit that he himself had no legitimate and proper title to the throne.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Spartan fugitive.<br />His views of the succession.</div>
+
+<p>While things were in this state, a Greek, named Demaratus, arrived at
+Susa. He was a dethroned prince from Sparta, and had fled from the
+political storms of his own country to seek refuge in Darius's capital.
+Demaratus found a way to reconcile Darius's pride as a sovereign with
+his personal preferences as a husband and a father. He told the king
+that, according to the principles of hereditary succession which were
+adopted in Greece, Xerxes was his heir as well as Cyrus's, for he was
+the oldest son who was born <i>after his accession</i>. A son, he said,
+according to the Greek ideas on the subject, was entitled to inherit
+only such rank as his father held when the son was born; and that,
+consequently, none of his children who had been born before his
+accession could have any claims to the Persian throne. Artobazanes, in a
+word, was to be regarded, he said, only as the son of Darius the noble,
+while Xerxes was the son of Darius the king.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The decision.<br />Death of Darius.</div>
+
+<p>In the end Darius adopted this view, and designated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>Xerxes as his
+successor in case he should not return from his distant expedition. He
+did not return. He did not even live to set out upon it. Perhaps the
+question of the succession had not been absolutely and finally settled,
+for it arose again and was discussed anew when the death of Darius
+occurred. The manner in which it was finally disposed of will be
+described in the next chapter.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_II" id="Chapter_II"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter II.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Egypt and Greece.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 484</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes assumes the crown.<br />His message to Artobazanes.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span>
+arrangements which Darius had made to fix and determine the
+succession, before his death, did not entirely prevent the question from
+arising again when his death occurred. Xerxes was on the spot at the
+time, and at once assumed the royal functions. His brother was absent.
+Xerxes sent a messenger to Artobazanes<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> informing him of their
+father's death, and of his intention of assuming the crown. He said,
+however, that if he did so, he should give his brother the second rank,
+making him, in all respects, next to himself in office and honor. He
+sent, moreover, a great many splendid presents to Artobazanes, to evince
+the friendly regard which he felt for him, and to propitiate his favor.</p>
+
+<p>Artobazanes sent back word to Xerxes that he thanked him for his
+presents, and that he accepted them with pleasure. He said that he
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>considered himself, nevertheless, as justly entitled to the crown,
+though he should, in the event of his accession, treat all his brothers,
+and especially Xerxes, with the utmost consideration and respect.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Question of the succession again debated.</div>
+
+<p>Soon after these occurrences, Artobazanes came to Media, where Xerxes
+was, and the question which of them should be the king was agitated anew
+among the nobles of the court. In the end, a public hearing of the cause
+was had before Artabanus, a brother of Darius, and, of course, an uncle
+of the contending princes. The question seems to have been referred to
+him, either because he held some public office which made it his duty to
+consider and decide such a question, or else because he had been
+specially commissioned to act as judge in this particular case. Xerxes
+was at first quite unwilling to submit his claims to the decision of
+such a tribunal. The crown was, as he maintained, rightfully his. He
+thought that the public voice was generally in his favor. Then, besides,
+he was already in possession of the throne, and by consenting to plead
+his cause before his uncle, he seemed to be virtually abandoning all
+this vantage ground, and trusting instead to the mere chance of
+Artabanus's decision.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advice of Atossa.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p><p>Atossa, however, recommended to him to accede to the plan of referring
+the question to Artabanus. He would consider the subject, she said, with
+fairness and impartiality, and decide it right. She had no doubt that he
+would decide it in Xerxes's favor; "and if he does not," she added, "and
+you lose your cause, you only become the second man in the kingdom
+instead of the first, and the difference is not so very great, after
+all."</p>
+
+<p>Atossa may have had some secret intimation how Artabanus would decide.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Decision of Artabanus.</div>
+
+<p>However this may be, Xerxes at length concluded to submit the question.
+A solemn court was held, and the case was argued in the presence of all
+the nobles and great officers of state. A throne was at hand to which
+the successful competitor was to be conducted as soon as the decision
+should be made. Artabanus heard the arguments, and decided in favor of
+Xerxes. Artobazanes, his brother, acquiesced in the decision with the
+utmost readiness and good humor. He was the first to bow before the king
+in token of homage, and conducted him, himself, to the throne.</p>
+
+<p>Xerxes kept his promise faithfully of making his brother the second in
+his kingdom. He appointed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>him to a very high command in the army, and
+Artobazanes, on his part, served the king with great zeal and fidelity,
+until he was at last killed in battle, in the manner hereafter to be
+described.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Unfinished wars of Darius.</div>
+
+<p>As soon as Xerxes found himself established on his throne, he was called
+upon to decide immediately a great question, namely, which of two
+important wars in which his father had been engaged he should first
+undertake to prosecute, the war in Egypt or the war in Greece.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Egypt and Greece.<br />Character of the Egyptians.<br />Character of the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>By referring to the map, the reader will see that, as the Persian empire
+extended westward to Asia Minor and to the coasts of the Mediterranean
+Sea, the great countries which bordered upon it in this direction were,
+on the north Greece, and on the south, Egypt; the one in Europe, and the
+other in Africa. The Greeks and the Egyptians were both wealthy and
+powerful, and the countries which they respectively inhabited were
+fertile and beautiful beyond expression, and yet in all their essential
+features and characteristics they were extremely dissimilar. Egypt was a
+long and narrow inland valley. Greece reposed, as it were, in the bosom
+of the sea, consisting, as it did, of an endless number of islands,
+promontories, peninsulas, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>and winding coasts, laved on every side by
+the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Egypt was a plain, diversified
+only by the varieties of vegetation, and by the towns and villages, and
+the enormous monumental structures which had been erected by man. Greece
+was a picturesque and ever-changing scene of mountains and valleys; of
+precipitous cliffs, winding beaches, rocky capes, and lofty headlands.
+The character and genius of the inhabitants of these two countries took
+their cast, in each case, from the physical conformations of the soil.
+The Egyptians were a quiet, gentle, and harmless race of tillers of the
+ground. They spent their lives in pumping water from the river, in the
+patient, persevering toil of sowing smooth and mellow fields, or in
+reaping the waving grain. The Greeks drove flocks and herds up and down
+the declivities of the mountains, or hunted wild beasts in forests and
+fastnesses. They constructed galleys for navigating the seas; they
+worked the mines and manufactured metals. They built bridges, citadels,
+temples, and towns, and sculptured statuary from marble blocks which
+they chiseled from the strata of the mountains. It is surprising what a
+difference is made in the genius and character of man by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>elevations,
+here and there, of a few thousand feet in the country where his genius
+and character are formed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Architecture.<br />Monuments of Greece.<br />Egyptian architecture.</div>
+
+<p>The architectural wonders of Egypt and of Greece were as diverse from
+each other as the natural features of the soil, and in each case the
+structures were in keeping and in harmony with the character of the
+landscape which they respectively adorned. The harmony was, however,
+that of contrast, and not of correspondence. In Greece, where the
+landscape itself was grand and sublime, the architect aimed only at
+beauty. To have aimed at magnitude and grandeur in human structures
+among the mountains, the cliffs, the cataracts, and the resounding ocean
+shores of Greece, would have been absurd. The Grecian artists were
+deterred by their unerring instincts from the attempt. They accordingly
+built beautiful temples, whose white and symmetrical colonnades adorned
+the declivities, or crowned the summits of the hills. They sculptured
+statues, to be placed on pedestals in groves and gardens; they
+constructed fountains; they raised bridges and aqueducts on long ranges
+of arches and piers; and the summits of ragged rocks crystallized, as it
+were, under their hands into towers, battlements, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>and walls. In Egypt,
+on the other hand, where the country itself was a level and unvarying
+plain, the architecture took forms of prodigious magnitude, of lofty
+elevation, and of vast extent. There were ranges of enormous columns,
+colossal statues, towering obelisks, and pyramids rising like mountains
+from the verdure of the plain. Thus, while nature gave to the country
+its elements of beauty, man completed the landscape by adding to it the
+grand and the sublime.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Form of Egypt.</div>
+
+<p>The shape and proportions of Egypt would be represented by a green
+ribbon an inch wide and a yard long, lying upon the ground in a
+serpentine form; and to complete the model, we might imagine a silver
+filament passing along the center of the green to denote the Nile. The
+real valley of verdure, however, is not of uniform breadth, like the
+ribbon so representing it, but widens as it approaches the sea, as if
+there had been originally a gulf or estuary there, which the sediment
+from the river had filled.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Delta of the Nile.<br />Fertility of Egypt.</div>
+
+<p>In fact, the rich and fertile plain which the alluvial deposits of the
+Nile have formed, has been protruded for some distance into the sea, and
+the stream divides itself into three great branches about a hundred
+miles from its mouth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>two outermost of which, with the sea-coast in
+front, inclose a vast triangle, which was called the Delta, from the
+Greek letter <i>delta</i>, &#916;, which is of a triangular form. In
+ascending the river beyond the Delta, the fertile plain, at first
+twenty-five or thirty miles wide, grows gradually narrower, as the
+ranges of barren hills and tracts of sandy deserts on either hand draw
+nearer and nearer to the river. Thus the country consists of two long
+lines of rich and fertile intervals, one on each side of the stream. In
+the time of Xerxes the whole extent was densely populated, every little
+elevation of the land being covered with a village or a town. The
+inhabitants tilled the land, raising upon it vast stores of corn, much
+of which was floated down the river to its mouth, and taken thence to
+various countries of Europe and Asia, in merchant ships, over the
+Mediterranean Sea. Caravans, too, sometimes came across the neighboring
+deserts to obtain supplies of Egyptian corn. This was done by the sons
+of Jacob when the crops failed them in the land of Canaan, as related in
+the sacred Scriptures.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">No rain in Egypt.</div>
+
+<p>There were two great natural wonders in Egypt in ancient times as now:
+first, it never rained there, or, at least, so seldom, that rain <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>was
+regarded as a marvelous phenomenon, interrupting the ordinary course of
+nature, like an earthquake in England or America. The falling of drops
+of water out of clouds in the sky was an occurrence so strange, so
+unaccountable, that the whole population regarded it with astonishment
+and awe. With the exception of these rare and wonder-exciting instances,
+there was no rain, no snow, no hail, no clouds in the sky. The sun was
+always shining, and the heavens were always serene. These meteorological
+characteristics of the country, resulting, as they do, from permanent
+natural causes, continue, of course, unchanged to the present day; and
+the Arabs who live now along the banks of the river, keep their crops,
+when harvested, in heaps in the open air, and require no roofs to their
+huts except a light covering of sheaves to protect the inmates from the
+sun.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Rising of the Nile.</div>
+
+<p>The other natural wonder of Egypt was the annual rising of the Nile.
+About midsummer, the peasantry who lived along the banks would find the
+river gradually beginning to rise. The stream became more turbid, too,
+as the bosom of the waters swelled. No cause for this mysterious
+increase appeared, as the sky remained as blue and serene as before, and
+the sun, then <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>nearly vertical, continued to shine with even more than
+its wonted splendor. The inhabitants however, felt no surprise, and
+asked for no explanation of the phenomenon. It was the common course of
+nature at that season. They had all witnessed it, year after year, from
+childhood. They, of course, looked for it when the proper month came
+round, and, though they would have been amazed if the annual flood had
+failed, they thought nothing extraordinary of its coming.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Preparations for the inundation.<br />Gradual rise of the water.</div>
+
+<p>When the swelling of the waters and the gradual filling of the channels
+and low grounds in the neighborhood of the river warned the people that
+the flood was at hand, they all engaged busily in the work of completing
+their preparations. The harvests were all gathered from the fields, and
+the vast stores of fruit and corn which they yielded were piled in
+roofless granaries, built on every elevated spot of ground, where they
+would be safe from the approaching inundation. The rise of the water was
+very gradual and slow. Streams began to flow in all directions over the
+land. Ponds and lakes, growing every day more and more extended, spread
+mysteriously over the surface of the meadows; and all the time while
+this deluge <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>of water was rising to submerge the land, the air continued
+dry, the sun was sultry, and the sky was without a cloud.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Appearance of the country during an inundation.</div>
+
+<p>As the flood continued to rise, the proportion of land and water, and
+the conformation of the irregular and temporary shores which separated
+them, were changed continually, from day to day. The inhabitants
+assembled in their villages, which were built on rising grounds, some
+natural, others artificially formed. The waters rose more and more,
+until only these crowded islands appeared above its surface&mdash;when, at
+length, the valley presented to the view the spectacle of a vast expanse
+of water, calm as a summer's sea, brilliant with the reflected rays of a
+tropical sun, and canopied by a sky, which, displaying its spotless blue
+by day and its countless stars at night, was always cloudless and
+serene.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The three theories.</div>
+
+<p>The inundation was at its height in October. After that period the
+waters gradually subsided, leaving a slimy and very fertilizing deposit
+all over the lands which they had covered. Though the inhabitants
+themselves, who had been accustomed to this overflow from infancy, felt
+no wonder or curiosity about its cause, the philosophers of the day, and
+travelers from other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>countries who visited Egypt, made many attempts to
+seek an explanation of the phenomenon. They had three theories on the
+subject, which Herodotus mentions and discusses.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Objections to the first.</div>
+
+<p>The first explanation was, that the rising of the river was occasioned
+by the prevalence of northerly winds on the Mediterranean at that time
+of the year, which drove back the waters at the mouth of the river, and
+so caused the accumulation of the water in the upper parts of the
+valley. Herodotus thought that this was not a satisfactory explanation;
+for sometimes, as he said, these northerly winds did not blow, and yet
+the rising of the river took place none the less when the appointed
+season came. Besides, there were other rivers similarly situated in
+respect to the influence of prevailing winds at sea in driving in the
+waters at their mouths, which were, nevertheless, not subject to
+inundations like the Nile.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Second and third theories.<br />Reasons against them.</div>
+
+<p>The second theory was, that the Nile took its rise, not, like other
+rivers, in inland lakes, or among inland mountains, but in some remote
+and unknown ocean on the other side of the continent, which ocean the
+advocates of this theory supposed might be subject to some great annual
+ebb and flow; and from this it might <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>result that at stated periods an
+unusual tide of waters might be poured into the channel of the river.
+This, however, could not be true, for the waters of the inundation were
+fresh, not salt, which proved that they were not furnished by any ocean.</p>
+
+<p>A third hypothesis was, that the rising of the water was occasioned by
+the melting of the snows in summer on the mountains from which the
+sources of the river came. Against this supposition Herodotus found more
+numerous and more satisfactory reasons even than he had advanced against
+the others. In the first place the river came from the south&mdash;a
+direction in which the heat increased in intensity with every league, as
+far as travelers had explored it; and beyond those limits, they supposed
+that the burning sun made the country uninhabitable. It was preposterous
+to suppose that there could be snow and ice there. Then, besides, the
+Nile had been ascended to a great distance, and reports from the natives
+had been brought down from regions still more remote, and no tidings had
+ever been brought of ice and snow. It was unreasonable, therefore, to
+suppose that the inundations could arise from such a cause.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Ideas of the common people in regard to the inundation.</div>
+
+<p>These scientific theories, however, were discussed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>only among philosophers and learned men. The common people had a much
+more simple and satisfactory mode of disposing of the subject. They, in
+their imaginations, invested the beneficent river with a sort of life
+and personality, and when they saw its waters rising so gently but yet
+surely, to overflow their whole land, leaving it, as they withdrew
+again, endued with a new and exuberant fertility, they imagined it a
+living and acting intelligence, that in the exercise of some mysterious
+and inscrutable powers, the nature of which was to them unknown, and
+impelled by a kind and friendly regard for the country and its
+inhabitants, came annually, of its own accord, to spread over the land
+the blessings of fertility and abundance. The mysterious stream being
+viewed in this light, its wonderful powers awakened their veneration and
+awe, and its boundless beneficence their gratitude.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 47-8]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i047.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="300" alt="Pheron defying the Nile." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Pheron defying the Nile.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Story of King Pheron.<br />His punishment.</div>
+
+<p>Among the ancient Egyptian legends, there is one relating to a certain
+King Pheron which strikingly illustrates this feeling. It seems that
+during one of the inundations, while he was standing with his courtiers
+and watching the flow of the water, the commotion in the stream was much
+greater than usual on account of a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>strong wind which was blowing at
+that time, and which greatly increased the violence of the whirlpools,
+and the force and swell of the boiling eddies. There was given, in fact,
+to the appearance of the river an expression of anger, and Pheron, who
+was of a proud and haughty character, like most of the Egyptian kings,
+threw his javelin into one of the wildest of the whirlpools, as a token
+of his defiance of its rage. He was instantly struck blind!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sequel of the story of King Pheron.</div>
+
+<p>The sequel of the story is curious, though it has no connection with the
+personality of the Nile. Pheron remained blind for ten years. At the end
+of that time it was announced to him, by some supernatural
+communication, that the period of his punishment had expired, and that
+his sight might be brought back to him by the employment of a certain
+designated means of restoration, which was the bathing of his eyes by a
+strictly virtuous woman. Pheron undertook compliance with the
+requisition, without any idea that the finding of a virtuous woman would
+be a difficult task. He first tried his own wife, but her bathing
+produced no effect. He then tried, one after another, various ladies of
+his court, and afterward others of different rank and station, selecting
+those <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>who were most distinguished for the excellence of their
+characters. He was disappointed, however, in them all. The blindness
+continued unchanged. At last, however, he found the wife of a peasant,
+whose bathing produced the effect. The monarch's sight was suddenly
+restored. The king rewarded the peasant woman, whose virtuous character
+was established by this indisputable test, with the highest honors. The
+others he collected together, and then shut them up in one of his towns.
+When they were all thus safely imprisoned, he set the town on fire, and
+burned them all up together.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Nilometers.</div>
+
+<p>To return to the Nile. Certain columns were erected in different parts
+of the valley, on which cubits and the subdivisions of cubits were
+marked and numbered, for the purpose of ascertaining precisely the rise
+of the water. Such a column was called a Nilometer. There was one near
+Memphis, which was at the upper point of the Delta, and others further
+up the river. Such pillars continue to be used to mark the height of the
+inundations to the present day.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Use of Nilometers.</div>
+
+<p>The object of thus accurately ascertaining the rise of the water was not
+mere curiosity, for there were certain important business operations
+which depended upon the results. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>fertility and productiveness of
+the soil each year were determined almost wholly by the extent of the
+inundation; and as the ability of the people to pay tribute depended
+upon their crops, the Nilometer furnished the government with a
+criterion by which they regulated the annual assessments of the taxes.
+There were certain canals, too, made to convey the water to distant
+tracts of land, which were opened or kept closed according as the water
+rose to a higher or lower point. All these things were regulated by the
+indications of the Nilometer.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Enormous structures of Egypt.<br />Comparative antiquity of various objects.<br />Great age of the Pyramids.</div>
+
+<p>Egypt was famed in the days of Xerxes for those enormous structures and
+ruins of structures whose origin was then, as now, lost in a remote
+antiquity. Herodotus found the Pyramids standing in his day, and
+presenting the same spectacle of mysterious and solitary grandeur which
+they exhibited to Napoleon. He speculated on their origin and their
+history, just as the philosophers and travelers of our day do. In fact,
+he knew less and could learn less about them than is known now. It helps
+to impress our minds with an idea of the extreme antiquity of these and
+the other architectural wonders of Egypt, to compare them with things
+which are considered old in the Western world. The <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>ancient and
+venerable colleges and halls of Oxford and Cambridge are, many of them,
+two or three hundred years old. There are remains of the old wall of the
+city of London which has been standing seven hundred years. This is
+considered a great antiquity. There are, however, Roman ruins in
+Britain, and in various parts of Europe, more ancient still. They have
+been standing eighteen hundred years! People look upon these with a
+species of wonder and awe that they have withstood the destructive
+influences of time so long. But as to the Pyramids, if we go back
+<i>twenty-five hundred</i> years, we find travelers visiting and describing
+them then&mdash;monuments as ancient, as venerable, as mysterious and unknown
+in their eyes, as they appear now in ours. We judge that a mountain is
+very distant when, after traveling many miles toward it, it seems still
+as distant as ever. Now, in tracing the history of the pyramids, the
+obelisks, the gigantic statues, and the vast columnar ruins of the Nile,
+we may go back twenty-five hundred years, without, apparently, making
+any progress whatever toward reaching their origin.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Egypt a mark for the conqueror.<br />Its relation to Persia.</div>
+
+<p>Such was Egypt. Isolated as it was from the rest of the world, and full
+of fertility and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>riches, it offered a marked and definite object to the
+ambition of a conqueror. In fact, on account of the peculiar interest
+which this long and narrow valley of verdure, with its wonderful
+structures, the strange and anomalous course of nature which prevails in
+it, and the extraordinary phases which human life, in consequence,
+exhibits there, has always excited among mankind, heroes and conquerors
+have generally considered it a peculiarly glorious field for their
+exploits. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, contemplated the
+subjugation of it. He did not carry his designs into effect, but left
+them for Cambyses his son. Darius held the country as a dependency
+during his reign, though, near the close of his life, it revolted. This
+revolt took place while he was preparing for his grand expedition
+against Greece, and he was perplexed with the question which of the two
+undertakings, the subjugation of the Egyptians or the invasion of
+Greece, he should first engage in. In the midst of this uncertainty he
+suddenly died, leaving both the wars themselves and the perplexity of
+deciding between them as a part of the royal inheritance falling to his
+son.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes resolves to subdue Egypt first.<br />The Jews.<br />The Egyptians subdued.<br />Return to Susa.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes decided to prosecute the Egyptian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>campaign first, intending to
+postpone the conquest of Greece till he had brought the valley of the
+Nile once more under Persian sway. He deemed it dangerous to leave a
+province of his father's empire in a state of successful rebellion,
+while leading his armies off to new undertakings. Mardonius, who was the
+commander-in-chief of the army, and the great general on whom Xerxes
+mainly relied for the execution of his schemes, was very reluctant to
+consent to this plan. He was impatient for the conquest of Greece. There
+was little glory for him to acquire in merely suppressing a revolt, and
+reconquering what had been already once subdued. He was eager to enter
+upon a new field. Xerxes, however, overruled his wishes, and the armies
+commenced their march for Egypt. They passed the land of Judea on their
+way, where the captives who had returned from Babylon, and their
+successors, were rebuilding the cities and reoccupying the country.
+Xerxes confirmed them in the privileges which Cyrus and Darius had
+granted them, and aided them in their work. He then went on toward the
+Nile. The rebellion was easily put down. In less than a year from the
+time of leaving Susa, he had reconquered the whole land of Egypt,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>punished the leaders of the revolt, established his brother as viceroy
+of the country, and returned in safety to Susa.</p>
+
+<p>All this took place in the second year of his reign.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_III" id="Chapter_III"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter III.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Debate on the Proposed Invasion Of Greece.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 481</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Counselors of Xerxes.<br />Age and character of Mardonius.<br />The avenues to renown.<br />Blood inherited and blood shed.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span>
+two great counselors on whose judgment Xerxes mainly relied, so far
+as he looked to any other judgment than his own in the formation of his
+plans, were Artabanus, the uncle by whose decision the throne had been
+awarded to him, and Mardonius, the commander-in-chief of his armies.
+Xerxes himself was quite a young man, of a proud and lofty, yet generous
+character, and full of self-confidence and hope. Mardonius was much
+older, but he was a soldier by profession, and was eager to distinguish
+himself in some great military campaign. It has always been unfortunate
+for the peace and happiness of mankind, under all monarchical and
+despotic governments, in every age of the world, that, through some
+depraved and unaccountable perversion of public sentiment, those who are
+not born to greatness have had no means of attaining to it except as
+heroes in war. Many men have, indeed, by their mental <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>powers or their
+moral excellences, acquired an extended and lasting <i>posthumous</i> fame;
+but in respect to all immediate and exalted distinction and honor, it
+will be found, on reviewing the history of the human race, that there
+have generally been but two possible avenues to them: on the one hand,
+high birth, and on the other, the performance of great deeds of carnage
+and destruction. There must be, it seems, as the only valid claim to
+renown, either blood inherited or blood shed. The glory of the latter is
+second, indeed, to that of the former, but it is <i>only</i> second. He who
+has sacked a city stands very high in the estimation of his fellows. He
+yields precedence only to him whose grandfather sacked one.</p>
+
+<p>This state of things is now, it is true, rapidly undergoing a change.
+The age of chivalry, of military murder and robbery, and of the glory of
+great deeds of carnage and blood, is passing away, and that of peace, of
+industry, and of achievements for promoting the comfort and happiness of
+mankind is coming. The men who are now advancing to the notice of the
+world are those who, through their commerce or their manufactures, feed
+and clothe their fellow-men by millions, or, by opening new channels <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>or
+new means for international intercourse, civilize savages, and people
+deserts; while the glory of killing and destroying is less and less
+regarded, and more and more readily forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>In the days of Xerxes, however, there was no road to honor but by war,
+and Mardonius found that his only hope of rising to distinction was by
+conducting a vast torrent of military devastation over some portion of
+the globe; and the fairer, the richer, the happier the scene which he
+was thus to inundate and overwhelm, the greater would be the glory. He
+was very much disposed, therefore, to urge on the invasion of Greece by
+every means in his power.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Character of Artabanus.<br />His advice to Xerxes.<br />The Ionian rebellion.<br />First invasion of Greece.</div>
+
+<p>Artabanus, on the other hand, the uncle of Xerxes, was a man advanced in
+years, and of a calm and cautious disposition. He was better aware than
+younger men of the vicissitudes and hazards of war, and was much more
+inclined to restrain than to urge on the youthful ambition of his
+nephew. Xerxes had been able to present some show of reason for his
+campaign in Egypt, by calling the resistance which that country offered
+to his power a rebellion. There was, however, no such reason in the case
+of Greece. There had been two wars between Persia and the Athenians
+already, it is true. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>In the first, the Athenians had aided their
+countrymen in Asia Minor in a fruitless attempt to recover their
+independence. This the Persian government considered as aiding and
+abetting a rebellion. In the second, the Persians under Datis, one of
+Darius's generals, had undertaken a grand invasion of Greece, and, after
+landing in the neighborhood of Athens, were beaten, with immense
+slaughter, at the great battle of Marathon, near that city. The former
+of these wars is known in history as the Ionian rebellion; the latter as
+the first Persian invasion of Greece. They had both occurred during the
+reign of Darius, and the invasion under Datis had taken place not many
+years before the accession of Xerxes, so that a great number of the
+officers who had served in that campaign were still remaining in the
+court and army of Xerxes at Susa. These wars had, however, both been
+terminated, and Artabanus was very little inclined to have the contests
+renewed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes convenes a public council.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes, however, was bent upon making one more attempt to conquer
+Greece, and when the time arrived for commencing his preparations, he
+called a grand council of the generals, the nobles, and the potentates
+of the realm, to lay his plans before them. The historian who narrated
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>these proceedings recorded the debate that ensued in the following
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>Xerxes himself first addressed the assembly, to announce and explain his
+designs.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His speech.</div>
+
+<p>"The enterprise, my friends," said he, "in which I propose now to
+engage, and in which I am about to ask your co-operation, is no new
+scheme of my own devising. What I design to do is, on the other hand,
+only the carrying forward of the grand course of measures marked out by
+my predecessors, and pursued by them with steadiness and energy, so long
+as the power remained in their hands. That power has now descended to
+me, and with it has devolved the responsibility of finishing the work
+which they so successfully began.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the manifest destiny of Persia to rule the world. From the time
+that Cyrus first commenced the work of conquest by subduing Media, to
+the present day, the extent of our empire has been continually widening,
+until now it covers all of Asia and Africa, with the exception of the
+remote and barbarous tribes, that, like the wild beasts which share
+their forests with them, are not worth the trouble of subduing. These
+vast conquests have been made by the courage, the energy, and the
+military power <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>of Cyrus, Darius, and Cambyses, my renowned
+predecessors. They, on their part, have subdued Asia and Africa; Europe
+remains. It devolves on me to finish what they have begun. Had my father
+lived, he would, himself, have completed the work. He had already made
+great preparations for the undertaking; but he died, leaving the task to
+me, and it is plain that I can not hesitate to undertake it without a
+manifest dereliction of duty.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes recounts the aggressions of the Athenians.</div>
+
+<p>"You all remember the unprovoked and wanton aggressions which the
+Athenians committed against us in the time of the Ionian rebellion,
+taking part against us with rebels and enemies. They crossed the &AElig;gean
+Sea on that occasion, invaded our territories, and at last captured and
+burned the city of Sardis, the principal capital of our Western empire.
+I will never rest until I have had my revenge by burning Athens. Many of
+you, too, who are here present, remember the fate of the expedition
+under Datis. Those of you who were attached to that expedition will have
+no need that I should urge you to seek revenge for your own wrongs. I am
+sure that you will all second my undertaking with the utmost fidelity
+and zeal.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes proposes to build a bridge over the Hellespont.</div>
+
+<p>"My plan for gaining access to the Grecian <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>territories is not, as
+before, to convey the troops by a fleet of galleys over the &AElig;gean Sea,
+but to build a bridge across the Hellespont, and march the army to
+Greece by land. This course, which I am well convinced is practicable,
+will be more safe than the other, and the bridging of the Hellespont
+will be of itself a glorious deed. The Greeks will be utterly unable to
+resist the enormous force which we shall be able to pour upon them. We
+can not but conquer; and inasmuch as beyond the Greek territories there
+is, as I am informed, no other power at all able to cope with us, we
+shall easily extend our empire on every side to the sea, and thus the
+Persian dominion will cover the whole habitable world.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure that I can rely on your cordial and faithful co-operation in
+these plans, and that each one of you will bring me, from his own
+province or territories, as large a quota of men, and of supplies for
+the war, as is in his power. They who contribute thus most liberally I
+shall consider as entitled to the highest honors and rewards."</p>
+
+<p>Such was, in substance, the address of Xerxes to his council. He
+concluded by saying that it was not his wish to act in the affair in an
+arbitrary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>or absolute manner, and he invited all present to express,
+with perfect freedom, any opinions or views which they entertained in
+respect to the enterprise.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Excitement of Mardonius.</div>
+
+<p>While Xerxes had been speaking, the soul of Mardonius had been on fire
+with excitement and enthusiasm, and every word which the king had
+uttered only fanned the flame. He rose immediately when the king gave
+permission to the counselors to speak, and earnestly seconded the
+monarch's proposals in the following words:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His speech.</div>
+
+<p>"For my part, sire, I can not refrain from expressing my high admiration
+of the lofty spirit and purpose on your part, which leads you to propose
+to us an enterprise so worthy of your illustrious station and exalted
+personal renown. Your position and power at the present time are higher
+than those ever attained by any human sovereign that has ever lived; and
+it is easy to foresee that there is a career of glory before you which
+no future monarch can ever surpass. You are about to complete the
+conquest of the world! That exploit can, of course, never be exceeded.
+We all admire the proud spirit on your part which will not submit tamely
+to the aggressions and insults which we have received from the Greeks.
+We have conquered <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>the people of India, of Egypt, of Ethiopia, and of
+Assyria, and that, too, without having previously suffered any injury
+from them, but solely from a noble love of dominion; and shall we tamely
+stop in our career when we see nations opposed to us from whom we have
+received so many insults, and endured so many wrongs? Every
+consideration of honor and manliness forbids it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mardonius expresses his contempt of the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>"We have nothing to fear in respect to the success of the enterprise in
+which you invite us to engage. I know the Greeks, and I know that they
+can not stand against our arms. I have encountered them many times and
+in various ways. I met them in the provinces of Asia Minor, and you all
+know the result. I met them during the reign of Darius your father, in
+Macedon and Thrace&mdash;or, rather, sought to meet them; for, though I
+marched through the country, the enemy always avoided me. They could not
+be found. They have a great name, it is true; but, in fact, all their
+plans and arrangements are governed by imbecility and folly. They are
+not ever united among themselves. As they speak one common language, any
+ordinary prudence and sagacity would lead them to combine together, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>and
+make common cause against the nations that surround them. Instead of
+this, they are divided into a multitude of petty states and kingdoms,
+and all their resources and power are exhausted in fruitless contentions
+with each other. I am convinced that, once across the Hellespont, we can
+march to Athens without finding any enemy to oppose our progress; or, if
+we should encounter any resisting force, it will be so small and
+insignificant as to be instantly overwhelmed."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Predictions of Mardonius.</div>
+
+<p>In one point Mardonius was nearly right in his predictions, since it
+proved subsequently, as will hereafter be seen, that when the Persian
+army reached the pass of Thermopyl&aelig;, which was the great avenue of
+entrance, on the north, into the territories of the Greeks, they found
+only three hundred men ready there to oppose their passage!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Pause in the assembly.</div>
+
+<p>When Mardonius had concluded his speech, he sat down, and quite a solemn
+pause ensued. The nobles and chieftains generally were less ready than
+he to encounter the hazards and uncertainties of so distant a campaign.
+Xerxes would acquire, by the success of the enterprise, a great
+accession to his wealth and to his dominion, and Mardonius, too, might
+expect to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>reap very rich rewards; but what were they themselves to
+gain? They did not dare, however, to seem to oppose the wishes of the
+king, and, notwithstanding the invitation which he had given them to
+speak, they remained silent, not knowing, in fact, exactly what to say.</p>
+
+<p>All this time Artabanus, the venerable uncle of Xerxes, sat silent like
+the rest, hesitating whether his years, his rank, and the relation which
+he sustained to the young monarch would justify his interposing, and
+make it prudent and safe for him to attempt to warn his nephew of the
+consequences which he would hazard by indulging his dangerous ambition.
+At length he determined to speak.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Speech of Artabanus.<br />His apologies.<br />Artabanus opposes the war.</div>
+
+<p>"I hope," said he, addressing the king, "that it will not displease you
+to have other views presented in addition to those which have already
+been expressed. It is better that all opinions should be heard; the just
+and the true will then appear the more just and true by comparison with
+others. It seems to me that the enterprise which you contemplate is full
+of danger, and should be well considered before it is undertaken. When
+Darius, your father, conceived of the plan of his invasion of the
+country of the Scythians beyond the Danube, I counseled
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>him against the attempt. The benefits to be secured by such an
+undertaking seemed to me wholly insufficient to compensate for the
+expense, the difficulties, and the dangers of it. My counsels were,
+however, overruled. Your father proceeded on the enterprise. He crossed
+the Bosporus, traversed Thrace, and then crossed the Danube; but, after
+a long and weary contest with the hordes of savages which he found in
+those trackless wilds, he was forced to abandon the undertaking, and
+return, with the loss of half his army. The plan which you propose seems
+to me to be liable to the same dangers, and I fear very much that it
+will lead to the same results.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Repulse of Datis.<br />Artabanus warns Xerxes of the danger of the expedition.</div>
+
+<p>"The Greeks have the name of being a valiant and formidable foe. It may
+prove in the end that they are so. They certainly repulsed Datis and all
+his forces, vast as they were, and compelled them to retire with an
+enormous loss. Your invasion, I grant, will be more formidable than his.
+You will throw a bridge across the Hellespont, so as to take your troops
+round through the northern parts of Europe into Greece, and you will
+also, at the same time, have a powerful fleet in the &AElig;gean Sea. But it
+must be remembered that the naval armaments <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>of the Greeks in all those
+waters are very formidable. They may attack and destroy your fleet.
+Suppose that they should do so, and that then, proceeding to the
+northward in triumph, they should enter the Hellespont and destroy your
+bridge? Your retreat would be cut off, and, in case of a reverse of
+fortune, your army would be exposed to total ruin.</p>
+
+<p>"Your father, in fact, very narrowly escaped precisely this fate. The
+Scythians came to destroy his bridge across the Danube while his forces
+were still beyond the river, and, had it not been for the very
+extraordinary fidelity and zeal of Histi&aelig;us, who had been left to guard
+the post, they would have succeeded in doing it. It is frightful to
+think that the whole Persian army, with the sovereign of the empire at
+their head, were placed in a position where their being saved from
+overwhelming and total destruction depended solely on the fidelity and
+firmness of a single man! Should you place your forces and your own
+person in the same danger, can you safely calculate upon the same
+fortunate escape?</p>
+
+<p>"Even the very vastness of your force may be the means of insuring and
+accelerating its destruction, since whatever rises to extraordinary
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>elevation and greatness is always exposed to dangers correspondingly
+extraordinary and great. Thus tall trees and lofty towers seem always
+specially to invite the thunderbolts of Heaven.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artabanus vindicates the character of the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>"Mardonius charges the Greeks with a want of sagacity, efficiency, and
+valor, and speaks contemptuously of them, as soldiers, in every respect.
+I do not think that such imputations are just to the people against whom
+they are directed, or honorable to him who makes them. To disparage the
+absent, especially an absent enemy, is not magnanimous or wise; and I
+very much fear that it will be found in the end that the conduct of the
+Greeks will evince very different military qualities from those which
+Mardonius has assigned them. They are represented by common fame as
+sagacious, hardy, efficient, and brave, and it may prove that these
+representations are true.</p>
+
+<p>"My counsel therefore is, that you dismiss this assembly, and take
+further time to consider this subject before coming to a final decision.
+Perhaps, on more mature reflection, you will conclude to abandon the
+project altogether. If you should not conclude to abandon it, but should
+decide, on the other hand, that it must <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>be prosecuted, let me entreat
+you not to go yourself in company with the expedition. Let Mardonius
+take the charge and the responsibility. If he does so, I predict that he
+will leave the dead bodies of the soldiers that you intrust to him, to
+be devoured by dogs on the plains of Athens or Laced&aelig;mon."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's displeasure.<br />His angry reply to Artabanus.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes was exceedingly displeased at hearing such a speech as this from
+his uncle, and he made a very angry reply. He accused Artabanus of
+meanness of spirit, and of a cowardice disgraceful to his rank and
+station, in thus advocating a tame submission to the arrogant
+pretensions of the Greeks. Were it not, he said, for the respect which
+he felt for Artabanus, as his father's brother, he would punish him
+severely for his presumption in thus basely opposing his sovereign's
+plans. "As it is," continued he, "I will carry my plans into effect, but
+you shall not have the honor of accompanying me. You shall remain at
+Susa with the women and children of the palace, and spend your time in
+the effeminate and ignoble pleasures suited to a spirit so mean. As for
+myself, I must and will carry my designs into execution. I could not, in
+fact, long avoid a contest with the Greeks, even if I were to adopt the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>cowardly and degrading policy which you recommend; for I am confident
+that they will very soon invade my dominions, if I do not anticipate
+them by invading theirs."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, Xerxes dismissed the assembly.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's anxiety.<br />He determines to abandon his project.</div>
+
+<p>His mind, however, was not at ease. Though he had so indignantly
+rejected the counsel which Artabanus had offered him, yet the impressive
+words in which it had been uttered, and the arguments with which it had
+been enforced, weighed upon his spirit, and oppressed and dejected him.
+The longer he considered the subject, the more serious his doubts and
+fears became, until at length, as the night approached, he became
+convinced that Artabanus was right, and that he himself was wrong. His
+mind found no rest until he came to the determination to abandon the
+project after all. He resolved to make this change in his resolution
+known to Artabanus and his nobles in the morning, and to countermand the
+orders which he had given for the assembling of the troops. Having by
+this decision restored something like repose to his agitated mind, he
+laid himself down upon his couch and went to sleep.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes sees a vision in the night.</div>
+
+<p>In the night he saw a vision. It seemed to him that a resplendent and
+beautiful form appeared <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>before him, and after regarding him a moment
+with an earnest look, addressed him as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"And do you really intend to abandon your deliberate design of leading
+an array into Greece, after having formally announced it to the realm
+and issued your orders? Such fickleness is absurd, and will greatly
+dishonor you. Resume your plan, and go on boldly and perseveringly to
+the execution of it."</p>
+
+<p>So saying, the vision disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>When Xerxes awoke in the morning, and the remembrance of the events of
+the preceding day returned, mingling itself with the new impressions
+which had been made by the dream, he was again agitated and perplexed.
+As, however, the various influences which pressed upon him settled to
+their final equilibrium, the fears produced by Artabanus's substantial
+arguments and warnings on the preceding day proved to be of greater
+weight than the empty appeal to his pride which had been made by the
+phantom of the night. He resolved to persist in the abandonment of his
+scheme. He called his council, accordingly, together again, and told
+them that, on more mature reflection, he had become convinced that his
+uncle was right and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>that he himself had been wrong. The project,
+therefore, was for the present suspended, and the orders for the
+assembling of the forces were revoked. The announcement was received by
+the members of the council with the most tumultuous joy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The spirit appears a second time to Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>That night Xerxes had another dream. The same spirit appeared to him
+again, his countenance, however, bearing now, instead of the friendly
+look of the preceding night, a new and stern expression of displeasure.
+Pointing menacingly at the frightened monarch with his finger, he
+exclaimed, "You have rejected my advice; you have abandoned your plan;
+and now I declare to you that, unless you immediately resume your
+enterprise and carry it forward to the end, short as has been the time
+since you were raised to your present elevation, a still shorter period
+shall elapse before your downfall and destruction."</p>
+
+<p>The spirit then disappeared as suddenly as it came, leaving Xerxes to
+awake in an agony of terror.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes relates his dreams to Artabanus.</div>
+
+<p>As soon as it was day, Xerxes sent for Artabanus, and related to him his
+dreams. "I was willing," said he, "after hearing what you said, and
+maturely considering the subject, to give <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>up my plan; but these dreams,
+I can not but think, are intimations from Heaven that I ought to
+proceed."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Opinion of the latter.</div>
+
+<p>Artabanus attempted to combat this idea by representing to Xerxes that
+dreams were not to be regarded as indications of the will of Heaven, but
+only as a vague and disordered reproduction of the waking thoughts,
+while the regular action of the reason and the judgment by which they
+were ordinarily controlled was suspended or disturbed by the influence
+of slumber. Xerxes maintained, on the other hand, that, though this view
+of the case might explain his first vision, the solemn repetition of the
+warning proved that it was supernatural and divine. He proposed that, to
+put the reality of the apparition still further to the test, Artabanus
+should take his place on the royal couch the next night, to see if the
+specter would not appear to him. "You shall clothe yourself," said he,
+"in my robes, put the crown upon your head, and take your seat upon the
+throne. After that, you shall retire to my apartment, lie down upon the
+couch, and go to sleep. If the vision is supernatural, it will
+undoubtedly appear to you. If it does not so appear, I will admit that
+it was nothing but a dream."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artabanus takes Xerxes's place.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p><p>Artabanus made some objection, at first, to the details of the
+arrangement which Xerxes proposed, as he did not see, he said, of what
+advantage it could be for him to assume the guise and habiliments of the
+king. If the vision was divine, it could not be deceived by such
+artifices as those. Xerxes, however, insisted on his proposition, and
+Artabanus yielded. He assumed for an hour the dress and the station of
+the king, and then retired to the king's apartment, and laid himself
+down upon the couch under the royal pavilion. As he had no faith in the
+reality of the vision, his mind was quiet and composed, and he soon fell
+asleep.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The spirit appears a third time.</div>
+
+<p>At midnight, Xerxes, who was lying in an adjoining apartment, was
+suddenly aroused by a loud and piercing cry from the room where
+Artabanus was sleeping, and in a moment afterward Artabanus himself
+rushed in, perfectly wild with terror. He had seen the vision. It had
+appeared before him with a countenance and gestures expressive of great
+displeasure, and after loading him with reproaches for having attempted
+to keep Xerxes back from his proposed expedition into Greece, it
+attempted to bore out his eyes with a red-hot iron with which it was
+armed. Artabanus had barely <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>succeeded in escaping by leaping from his
+couch and rushing precipitately out of the room.<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artabanus is convinced.<br />The invasion decided upon.</div>
+
+<p>Artabanus said that he was now convinced and satisfied. It was plainly
+the divine will that Xerxes should undertake his projected invasion, and
+he would himself, thenceforth, aid the enterprise by every means in his
+power. The council was, accordingly, once more convened. The story of
+the three apparitions was related to them, and the final decision
+announced that the armies were to be assembled for the march without any
+further delay.</p>
+
+<hr class="small" />
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mardonius probably the ghost.</div>
+
+<p>It is proper here to repeat, once for all in this volume, a remark which
+has elsewhere often been made in the various works of this series, that
+in studying ancient history at the present day, it is less important now
+to know, in regard to transactions so remote, what the facts actually
+were which really occurred, than it is to know the story respecting
+them, which, for the last two thousand years, has been in circulation
+among mankind. It is now, for example, of very little consequence
+whether there ever was or never was such a personage as Hercules, but it
+is essential that every educated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>man should know the story which
+ancient writers tell in relating his doings. In this view of the case,
+our object, in this volume, is simply to give the history of Xerxes just
+as it stands, without stopping to separate the false from the true. In
+relating the occurrences, therefore, which have been described in this
+chapter, we simply give the alleged facts to our readers precisely as
+the ancient historians give them to us, leaving each reader to decide
+for himself how far he will believe the narrative. In respect to this
+particular story, we will add, that some people think that Mardonius was
+really the ghost by whose appearance Artabanus and Xerxes were so
+dreadfully frightened.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_IV" id="Chapter_IV"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter IV.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Preparations for the Invasion Of Greece.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 481</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Orders to the provinces.<br />Mode of raising money.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">s</span>
+soon as the invasion of Greece was finally decided upon, the orders
+were transmitted to all the provinces of the empire, requiring the
+various authorities and powers to make the necessary preparations. There
+were men to be levied, arms to be manufactured, ships to be built, and
+stores of food to be provided. The expenditures, too, of so vast an
+armament as Xerxes was intending to organize, would require a large
+supply of money. For all these things Xerxes relied on the revenues and
+the contributions of the provinces, and orders, very full and very
+imperative, were transmitted, accordingly, to all the governors and
+satraps of Asia, and especially to those who ruled over the countries
+which lay near the western confines of the empire, and consequently near
+the Greek frontiers.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Modern mode of securing supplies of arms and money.</div>
+
+<p>In modern times it is the practice of powerful nations to accumulate
+arms and munitions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>of war on storage in arsenals and naval dep&ocirc;ts, so
+that the necessary supplies for very extended operations, whether of
+attack or defense, can be procured in a very short period of time. In
+respect to funds, too, modern nations have a great advantage over those
+of former days, in case of any sudden emergency arising to call for
+great and unusual expenditures. In consequence of the vast accumulation
+of capital in the hands of private individuals, and the confidence which
+is felt in the mercantile honor and good faith of most established
+governments at the present day, these governments can procure indefinite
+supplies of gold and silver at any time, by promising to pay an annual
+interest in lieu of the principal borrowed. It is true that, in these
+cases, a stipulation is made, by which the government may, at a certain
+specified period, pay back the principal, and so extinguish the annuity;
+but in respect to a vast portion of the amount so borrowed, it is not
+expected that this repayment will ever be made. The creditors, in fact,
+do not desire that it should be, as owners of property always prefer a
+safe annual income from it to the custody of the principal; and thus
+governments in good credit have sometimes induced their creditors <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>to
+abate the rate of interest which they were receiving, by threatening
+otherwise to pay the debt in full.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's preparations.<br />Four years allotted to them.</div>
+
+<p>These inventions, however, by which a government in one generation may
+enjoy the pleasure and reap the glory of waging war, and throw the
+burden of the expense on another, were not known in ancient times.
+Xerxes did not understand the art of funding a national debt, and there
+would, besides, have probably been very little confidence in Persian
+stocks, if any had been issued. He had to raise all his funds by actual
+taxation, and to have his arms, and his ships and chariots of war,
+manufactured express. The food, too, to sustain the immense army which
+he was to raise, was all to be produced, and store-houses were to be
+built for the accumulation and custody of it. All this, as might
+naturally be expected, would require time; and the vastness of the scale
+on which these immense preparations were made is evinced by the fact
+that <i>four years</i> were the time allotted for completing them. This
+period includes, however, a considerable time before the great debate on
+the subject described in the last chapter.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Arms.<br />Provisions.<br />Building of ships.</div>
+
+<p>The chief scene of activity, during all this
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>time, was the tract of country in the western part of Asia Minor, and
+along the shores of the &AElig;gean Sea. Taxes and contributions were raised
+from all parts of the empire, but the actual material of war was
+furnished mainly from those provinces which were nearest to the future
+scene of it. Each district provided such things as it naturally and most
+easily produced. One contributed horses, another arms and ammunition,
+another ships, and another provisions. The ships which were built were
+of various forms and modes of construction, according to the purposes
+which they were respectively intended to serve. Some were strictly ships
+of war, intended for actual combat; others were transports, their
+destination being simply the conveyance of troops or of military stores.
+There were also a large number of vessels, which were built on a
+peculiar model, prescribed by the engineers, being very long and
+straight-sided, and smooth and flat upon their decks. These were
+intended for the bridge across the Hellespont. They were made long, so
+that, when placed side by side across the stream, a greater breadth
+might be given to the platform of the bridge. All these things were very
+deliberately and carefully planned.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Persian possessions on the north of the &AElig;gean Sea.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p><p>Although it was generally on the Asiatic side of the &AElig;gean Sea that
+these vast works of preparation were going on, and the crossing of the
+Hellespont was to be the first great movement of the Persian army, the
+reader must not suppose that, even at this time, the European shores
+were wholly in the hands of the Greeks. The Persians had, long before,
+conquered Thrace and a part of Macedon; and thus the northern shores of
+the &AElig;gean Sea, and many of the islands, were already in Xerxes's hands.
+The Greek dominions lay further south, and Xerxes did not anticipate any
+opposition from the enemy, until his army, after crossing the strait,
+should have advanced to the neighborhood of Athens. In fact, all the
+northern country through which his route would lie was already in his
+hands, and in passing through it he anticipated no difficulties except
+such as should arise from the elements themselves, and the physical
+obstacles of the way. The Hellespont itself was, of course, one
+principal point of danger. The difficulty here was to be surmounted by
+the bridge of boats. There was, however, another point, which was, in
+some respects, still more formidable: it was the promontory of Mount
+Athos.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Promontory of Mount Athos.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p><p>By looking at the map of Greece, placed at the commencement of the next
+chapter, the reader will see that there are two or three singular
+promontories jutting out from the main land in the northwestern part of
+the &AElig;gean Sea. The most northerly and the largest of these was formed by
+an immense mountainous mass rising out of the water, and connected by a
+narrow isthmus with the main land. The highest summit of this rocky pile
+was called Mount Athos in ancient times, and is so marked upon the map.
+In modern days it is called Monte Santo, or Holy Mountain, being covered
+with monasteries, and convents, and other ecclesiastical establishments
+built in the Middle Ages.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dangerous navigation.</div>
+
+<p>Mount Athos is very celebrated in ancient history. It extended along the
+promontory for many miles, and terminated abruptly in lofty cliffs and
+precipices toward the sea, where it was so high that its shadow, as was
+said, was thrown, at sunset, across the water to the island of Lemnos, a
+distance of twenty leagues. It was a frightful specter in the eyes of
+the ancient navigators, when, as they came coasting along from the north
+in their frail galleys, on their voyages to Greece and Italy, they saw
+it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>frowning defiance to them as they came, with threatening clouds
+hanging upon its summit, and the surges and surf of the &AElig;gean
+perpetually thundering upon its base below. To make this stormy
+promontory the more terrible, it was believed to be the haunt of
+innumerable uncouth and misshapen monsters of the sea, that lived by
+devouring the hapless seamen who were thrown upon the rocks from their
+wrecked vessels by the merciless tumult of the waves.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plan of Xerxes for the march of his expedition.</div>
+
+<p>The plan which Xerxes had formed for the advance of his expedition was,
+that the army which was to cross the Hellespont by the bridge should
+advance thence through Macedonia and Thessaly, by land, attended by a
+squadron of ships, transports, and galleys, which was to accompany the
+expedition along the coast by sea. The <i>men</i> could be marched more
+conveniently to their place of destination by land. The stores, on the
+other hand, the arms, the supplies, and the baggage of every
+description, could be transported more easily by sea. Mardonius was
+somewhat solicitous in respect to the safety of the great squadron which
+would be required for this latter service, in doubling the promontory of
+Mount Athos.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Former shipwreck of Mardonius. </div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>In fact, he had special and personal reason for his solicitude, for he
+had himself, some years before, met with a terrible disaster at this
+very spot. It was during the reign of Darius that this disaster
+occurred. On one of the expeditions which Darius had intrusted to his
+charge, he was conducting a very large fleet along the coast, when a
+sudden storm arose just as he was approaching this terrible promontory.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Terrible gale.</div>
+
+<p>He was on the northern side of the promontory when the storm came on,
+and as the wind was from the north, it blew directly upon the shore. For
+the fleet to make its escape from the impending danger, it seemed
+necessary, therefore, to turn the course of the ships back against the
+wind; but this, on account of the sudden and terrific violence of the
+gale, it was impossible to do. The sails, when they attempted to use
+them, were blown away by the howling gusts, and the oars were broken to
+pieces by the tremendous dashing of the sea. It soon appeared that the
+only hope of escape for the squadron was to press on in the desperate
+attempt to double the promontory, and thus gain, if possible, the
+sheltered water under its lee. The galleys, accordingly, went on, the
+pilots and the seamen exerting their utmost to keep them away from the
+shore.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Destruction of Mardonius's fleet at Mount Athos.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>All their efforts, however, to do this, were vain. The merciless gales
+drove the vessels, one after another, upon the rocks, and dashed them to
+pieces, while the raging sea wrenched the wretched mariners from the
+wrecks to which they attempted to cling, and tossed them out into the
+boiling whirlpools around, to the monsters that were ready there to
+devour them, as if she were herself some ferocious monster, feeding her
+offspring with their proper prey. A few, it is true, of the hapless
+wretches succeeded in extricating themselves from the surf, by crawling
+up upon the rocks, through the tangled sea-weed, until they were above
+the reach of the surges; but when they had done so, they found
+themselves hopelessly imprisoned between the impending precipices which
+frowned above them and the frantic billows which were raging and roaring
+below. They gained, of course, by their apparent escape, only a brief
+prolongation of suffering, for they all soon miserably perished from
+exhaustion, exposure, and cold.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plan of a canal.</div>
+
+<p>Mardonius had no desire to encounter this danger again. Now the
+promontory of Mount <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>Athos, though high and rocky itself, was connected
+with the main land by an isthmus level and low, and not very broad.
+Xerxes determined on cutting a canal through this isthmus, so as to take
+his fleet of galleys across the neck, and thus avoid the stormy
+navigation of the outward passage. Such a canal would be of service not
+merely for the passage of the great fleet, but for the constant
+communication which it would be necessary for Xerxes to maintain with
+his own dominions during the whole period of the invasion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks do not interfere.</div>
+
+<p>It might have been expected that the Greeks would have interfered to
+prevent the execution of such a work as this; but it seems that they did
+not, and yet there was a considerable Greek population in that vicinity.
+The promontory of Athos itself was quite extensive, being about thirty
+miles long and four or five wide, and it had several towns upon it. The
+canal which Xerxes was to cut across the neck of this peninsula was to
+be wide enough for two triremes to pass each other. Triremes were
+galleys propelled by three banks of oars, and were vessels of the
+largest class ordinarily employed; and as the oars by which they were
+impelled required almost as great a breadth of water as the vessels
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>themselves, the canal was, consequently, to be very wide.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plans of the engineers.</div>
+
+<p>The engineers, accordingly, laid out the ground, and, marking the
+boundaries by stakes and lines, as guides to the workmen, the excavation
+was commenced. Immense numbers of men were set at work, arranged
+regularly in gangs, according to the various nations which furnished
+them. As the excavation gradually proceeded, and the trench began to
+grow deep, they placed ladders against the sides, and stationed a series
+of men upon them; then the earth dug from the bottom was hauled up from
+one to another, in a sort of basket or hod, until it reached the top,
+where it was taken by other men and conveyed away.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Prosecution of the work.</div>
+
+<p>The work was very much interrupted and impeded, in many parts of the
+line, by the continual caving in of the banks, on account of the workmen
+attempting to dig perpendicularly down. In one section&mdash;the one which
+had been assigned to the Ph&oelig;nicians&mdash;this difficulty did not occur;
+for the Ph&oelig;nicians, more considerate than the rest, had taken the
+precaution to make the breadth of their part of the trench twice as
+great at the top as it was below. By this means the banks on each side
+were formed to a gradual slope, a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>nd consequently stood firm. The canal
+was at length completed, and the water was let in.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Strymon bridged.</div>
+
+<p>North of the promontory of Mount Athos the reader will find upon the map
+the River Strymon, flowing south, not far from the boundary between
+Macedon and Thrace, into the &AElig;gean Sea. The army of Xerxes, in its march
+from the Hellespont, would, of course, have to cross this river; and
+Xerxes having, by cutting the canal across the isthmus of Mount Athos,
+removed an obstacle in the way of his fleet, resolved next to facilitate
+the progress of his army by bridging the Strymon.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Granaries and store-houses.</div>
+
+<p>The king also ordered a great number of granaries and store-houses to be
+built at various points along the route which it was intended that his
+army should pursue. Some of these were on the coasts of Macedonia and
+Thrace, and some on the banks of the Strymon. To these magazines the
+corn raised in Asia for the use of the expedition was conveyed, from
+time to time, in transport ships, as fast as it was ready, and, being
+safely deposited, was protected by a guard. No very extraordinary means
+of defense seems to have been thought necessary at these points, for,
+although the scene of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>all these preliminary arrangements was on the
+European side of the line, and in what was called Greek territory, still
+this part of the country had been long under Persian dominion. The
+independent states and cities of Greece were all further south, and the
+people who inhabited them did not seem disposed to interrupt these
+preparations. Perhaps they were not aware to what object and end all
+these formidable movements on their northern frontier were tending.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes leaves Susa, and begins his march.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes, during all this time, had remained in Persia. The period at
+length arrived when, his preparations on the frontiers being far
+advanced toward completion, he concluded to move forward at the head of
+his forces to Sardis. Sardis was the great capital of the western part
+of his dominions, and was situated not far from the frontier. He
+accordingly assembled his forces, and, taking leave of his capital of
+Susa with much parade and many ceremonies, he advanced toward Asia
+Minor. Entering and traversing Asia Minor, he crossed the Halys, which
+had been, in former times, the western boundary of the empire, though
+its limits had now been extended very far beyond. Having crossed the
+Halys, the immense procession advanced into Phrygia.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Meander.<br />Cel&aelig;n&aelig;.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>A very romantic tale is told of an interview between Xerxes and a
+certain nobleman named Pythius, who resided in one of the Phrygian
+towns. The circumstances were these: After crossing the Halys, which
+river flows north into the Euxine Sea, the army went on to the westward
+through nearly the whole extent of Phrygia, until at length they came to
+the sources of the streams which flowed west into the &AElig;gean Sea. One of
+the most remarkable of these rivers was the Meander. There was a town
+built exactly at the source of the Meander&mdash;so exactly, in fact, that
+the fountain from which the stream took its rise was situated in the
+public square of the town, walled in and ornamented like an artificial
+fountain in a modern city. The name of this town was Cel&aelig;n&aelig;.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Pythius.</div>
+
+<p>When the army reached Cel&aelig;n&aelig; and encamped there, Pythius made a great
+entertainment for the officers, which, as the number was very large, was
+of course attended with an enormous expense. Not satisfied with this,
+Pythius sent word to the king that if he was, in any respect, in want of
+funds for his approaching campaign, he, Pythius, would take great
+pleasure in supplying him.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The wealth of Pythius.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes was surprised at such proofs of wealth <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>and munificence from a
+man in comparatively a private station. He inquired of his attendants
+who Pythius was. They replied that, next to Xerxes himself, he was the
+richest man in the world. They said, moreover, that he was as generous
+as he was rich. He had made Darius a present of a beautiful model of a
+fruit-tree and of a vine, of solid gold. He was by birth, they added, a
+Lydian.</p>
+
+<p>Lydia was west of Phrygia, and was famous for its wealth. The River
+Pactolus, which was so celebrated for its golden sands, flowed through
+the country, and as the princes and nobles contrived to monopolize the
+treasures which were found, both in the river itself and in the
+mountains from which it flowed, some of them became immensely wealthy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His interview with Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes was astonished at the accounts which he heard of Pythius's
+fortune. He sent for him, and asked him what was the amount of his
+treasures. This was rather an ominous question; for, under such despotic
+governments as those of the Persian kings, the only real safeguard of
+wealth was, often, the concealment of it. Inquiry on the part of a
+government, in respect to treasures accumulated by a subject, was,
+often, only a preliminary to the seizure and confiscation of them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The amount of Pythius's wealth.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p><p>Pythius, however, in reply to the king's question, said that he had no
+hesitation in giving his majesty full information in respect to his
+fortune. He had been making, he said, a careful calculation of the
+amount of it, with a view of determining how much he could offer to
+contribute in aid of the Persian campaign. He found, he said, that he
+had two thousand talents of silver, and four millions, wanting seven
+thousand, of <i>staters</i> of gold.</p>
+
+<p>The stater was a Persian coin. Even if we knew, at the present day, its
+exact value, we could not determine the precise amount denoted by the
+sum which Pythius named, the value of money being subject to such vast
+fluctuations in different ages of the world. Scholars who have taken an
+interest in inquiring into such points as these, have come to the
+conclusion that the amount of gold and silver coin which Pythius thus
+reported to Xerxes was equal to about thirty millions of dollars.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His offer to Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>Pythius added, after stating the amount of the gold and silver which he
+had at command, that it was all at the service of the king for the
+purpose of carrying on the war. He had, he said, besides his money,
+slaves and farms enough for his own maintenance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Gratification of Xerxes.<br />His reply to Pythius's offer.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p><p>Xerxes was extremely gratified at this generosity, and at the proof
+which it afforded of the interest which Pythius felt in the cause of the
+king. "You are the only man," said he, "who has offered hospitality to
+me or to my army since I set out upon this march, and, in addition to
+your hospitality, you tender me your whole fortune. I will not, however,
+deprive you of your treasure. I will, on the contrary, order my
+treasurer to pay to you the seven thousand staters necessary to make
+your four millions complete. I offer you also my friendship, and will do
+any thing in my power, now and hereafter, to serve you. Continue to live
+in the enjoyment of your fortune. If you always act under the influence
+of the noble and generous impulses which govern you now, you will never
+cease to be prosperous and happy."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Real character of Pythius.<br />The entertainment of silver and gold.</div>
+
+<p>If we could end the account of Pythius and Xerxes here, what generous
+and noble-minded men we might suppose them to be! But alas! how large a
+portion of the apparent generosity and nobleness which shows itself
+among potentates and kings, turns into selfishness and hypocrisy when
+closely examined. Pythius was one of the most merciless tyrants that
+ever lived. He held all the people that lived upon his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>vast estates in
+a condition of abject slavery, compelling them to toil continually in
+his mines, in destitution and wretchedness, in order to add more and
+more to his treasures. The people came to his wife with their bitter
+complaints. She pitied them, but could not relieve them. One day, it is
+said that, in order to show her husband the vanity and folly of living
+only to amass silver and gold, and to convince him how little real power
+such treasures have to satisfy the wants of the human soul, she made him
+a great entertainment, in which there was a boundless profusion of
+wealth in the way of vessels and furniture of silver and gold, but
+scarcely any food. There was every thing to satisfy the eye with the
+sight of magnificence, but nothing to satisfy hunger. The noble guest
+sat starving in the midst of a scene of unexampled riches and splendor,
+because it was not possible to <i>eat</i> silver and gold.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's gratitude put to the test.</div>
+
+<p>And as for Xerxes's professions of gratitude and friendship for Pythius,
+they were put to the test, a short time after the transactions which we
+have above described, in a remarkable manner. Pythius had five sons.
+They were all in Xerxes's army. By their departure on the distant and
+dangerous expedition on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>which Xerxes was to lead them, their father
+would be left alone. Pythius, under these circumstances, resolved to
+venture so far on the sincerity of his sovereign's professions of regard
+as to request permission to retain one of his sons at home with his
+father, on condition of freely giving up the rest.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">He murders Pythius's son.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes, on hearing this proposal, was greatly enraged. "How dare you,"
+said he, "come to me with such a demand? You and all that pertain to you
+are my slaves, and are bound to do my bidding without a murmur. You
+deserve the severest punishment for such an insolent request. In
+consideration, however, of your past good behavior, I will not inflict
+upon you what you deserve. I will only kill one of your sons&mdash;the one
+that you seem to cling to so fondly. I will spare the rest." So saying,
+the enraged king ordered the son whom Pythius had endeavored to retain
+to be slain before his eyes, and then directed that the dead body should
+be split in two, and the two halves thrown, the one on the right side of
+the road and the other on the left, that his army, as he said, might
+"march between them."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Various objects of interest observed by the army.</div>
+
+<p>On leaving Phrygia, the army moved on toward the west. Their immediate
+destination <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>as has already been said, was Sardis, where they were to
+remain until the ensuing spring. The historian mentions a number of
+objects of interest which attracted the attention of Xerxes and his
+officers on this march, which mark the geographical peculiarities of the
+country, or illustrate, in some degree, the ideas and manners of the
+times.</p>
+
+<p>There was one town, for example, situated, not like Cel&aelig;n&aelig;, where a
+river had its origin, but where one disappeared. The stream was a branch
+of the Meander. It came down from the mountains like any other mountain
+torrent, and then, at the town in question, it plunged suddenly down
+into a gulf or chasm and disappeared. It rose again at a considerable
+distance below, and thence flowed on, without any further evasions, to
+the Meander.</p>
+
+<p>On the confines between Phrygia and Lydia the army came to a place where
+the road divided. One branch turned toward the north, and led to Lydia;
+the other inclined to the south, and conducted to Caria. Here, too, on
+the frontier, was a monument which had been erected by Cr&oelig;sus, the
+great king of Lydia, who lived in Cyrus's day, to mark the eastern
+boundaries of his kingdom. The Persians were, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>of course, much
+interested in looking upon this ancient landmark, which designated not
+only the eastern limit of Cr&oelig;sus's empire, but also what was, in
+ancient times, the western limit of their own.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The plane-tree.</div>
+
+<p>There was a certain species of tree which grew in these countries called
+the plane-tree. Xerxes found one of these trees so large and beautiful
+that it attracted his special admiration. He took possession of it in
+his own name, and adorned it with golden chains, and set a guard over
+it. This idolization of a tree was a striking instance of the childish
+caprice and folly by which the actions of the ancient despots were so
+often governed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artificial honey.<br />Salt lake.<br />Gold and silver mines.</div>
+
+<p>As the army advanced, they came to other places of interest and objects
+of curiosity and wonder. There was a district where the people made a
+sort of artificial honey from grain, and a lake from which the
+inhabitants procured salt by evaporation, and mines, too, of silver and
+of gold. These objects interested and amused the minds of the Persians
+as they moved along, without, however, at all retarding or interrupting
+their progress. In due time they reached the great city of Sardis in
+safety, and here Xerxes established his head-quarters, and awaited the
+coming of spring.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes summons the Greeks to surrender.<br />They indignantly refuse.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p><p>In the mean time, however, he sent heralds into Greece to summon the
+country to surrender to him. This is a common formality when an army is
+about to attack either a town, a castle, or a kingdom. Xerxes's heralds
+crossed the &AElig;gean Sea, and made their demands, in Xerxes's name, upon
+the Greek authorities. As might have been expected, the embassage was
+fruitless; and the heralds returned, bringing with them, from the
+Greeks, not acts or proffers of submission, but stern expressions of
+hostility and defiance. Nothing, of course, now remained, but that both
+parties should prepare for the impending crisis.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_V" id="Chapter_V"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter V.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">Crossing the Hellespont.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Winter in Asia Minor.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">lthough</span>
+the ancient Asia Minor was in the same latitude as New York,
+there was yet very little winter there. Snows fell, indeed, upon the
+summits of the mountains, and ice formed occasionally upon quiet
+streams, and yet, in general, the imaginations of the inhabitants, in
+forming mental images of frost and snow, sought them not in their own
+winters, but in the cold and icy regions of the north, of which,
+however, scarcely any thing was known to them except what was disclosed
+by wild and exaggerated rumors and legends.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101-2]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i100.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="290" alt="Map of the Grecian Empire." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Map of the Grecian Empire.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Destruction of the bridge.<br />Indignation of Xerxes.<br />His ridiculous punishment of the sea.</div>
+
+<p>There was, however, a period of blustering winds and chilly rains which
+was called winter, and Xerxes was compelled to wait, before commencing
+his invasion, until the inclement season had passed. As it was, he did
+not wholly escape the disastrous effects of the wintery gales. A violent
+storm arose while he was at Sardis, and broke up the bridge which he had
+built across the Hellespont. When the tidings of this disaster were
+brought to Xerxes at his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>winter quarters, he was very much enraged.
+He was angry both with the sea for having destroyed the structure, and
+with the architects who had built it for not having made it strong
+enough to stand against its fury. He determined to punish both the waves
+and the workmen. He ordered the sea to be scourged with a monstrous
+whip, and directed that heavy chains should be thrown into it, as
+symbols of his defiance of its power, and of his determination to
+subject it to his control. The men who administered this senseless
+discipline cried out to the sea, as they did it, in the following words,
+which Xerxes had dictated to them: "Miserable monster! this is the
+punishment which Xerxes your master inflicts upon you, on account of the
+unprovoked and wanton injury you have done him. Be assured that he will
+pass over you, whether you will or no. He hates and defies you, object
+as you are, through your insatiable cruelty, and the nauseous bitterness
+of your waters, of the common abomination of mankind."</p>
+
+<p>As for the men who had built the bridge, which had been found thus
+inadequate to withstand the force of a wintery tempest, he ordered every
+one of them to be beheaded.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes orders a new bridge to be made.<br />Its construction.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p><p>The vengeance of the king being thus satisfied, a new set of engineers
+and workmen were designated and ordered to build another bridge.
+Knowing, as, of course, they now did, that their lives depended upon the
+stability of their structure, they omitted no possible precaution which
+could tend to secure it. They selected the strongest ships, and arranged
+them in positions which would best enable them to withstand the pressure
+of the current. Each vessel was secured in its place by strong anchors,
+placed scientifically in such a manner as to resist, to the best
+advantage, the force of the strain to which they would be exposed. There
+were two ranges of these vessels, extending from shore to shore,
+containing over three hundred in each. In each range one or two vessels
+were omitted, on the Asiatic side, to allow boats and galleys to pass
+through, in order to keep the communication open. These omissions did
+not interfere with the use of the bridge, as the superstructure and the
+roadway above was continued over them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mode of securing the boats.</div>
+
+<p>The vessels which were to serve for the foundation of the bridge being
+thus arranged and secured in their places, two immense cables were made
+and stretched from shore to shore, each being fastened, at the ends,
+securely to the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>banks, and resting in the middle on the decks of the
+vessels. For the fastenings of these cables on the shore there were
+immense piles driven into the ground, and huge rings attached to the
+piles. The cables, as they passed along the decks of the vessels over
+the water, were secured to them all by strong cordage, so that each
+vessel was firmly and indissolubly bound to all the rest.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The bridge finished.</div>
+
+<p>Over these cables a platform was made of trunks of trees, with branches
+placed upon them to fill the interstices and level the surface. The
+whole was then covered with a thick stratum of earth, which made a firm
+and substantial road like that of a public highway. A high and close
+fence was also erected on each side, so as to shut off the view of the
+water, which might otherwise alarm the horses and the beasts of burden
+that were to cross with the army.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Eclipse of the sun.</div>
+
+<p>When the news was brought to Xerxes at Sardis that the bridge was
+completed, and that all things were ready for the passage, he made
+arrangements for commencing his march. A circumstance, however, here
+occurred that at first alarmed him. It was no less a phenomenon than an
+eclipse of the sun. Eclipses were considered in those days as
+extraordinary and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>supernatural omens, and Xerxes was naturally anxious
+to know what this sudden darkness was meant to portend. He directed the
+magi to consider the subject, and to give him their opinion. Their
+answer was, that, as the sun was the guardian divinity of the Greeks,
+and the moon that of the Persians, the meaning of the sudden withdrawal
+of the light of day doubtless was, that Heaven was about to withhold its
+protection from the Greeks in the approaching struggle. Xerxes was
+satisfied with this explanation, and the preparations for the march went
+on.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">March from Sardis.</div>
+
+<p>The movement of the grand procession from the city of Sardis was
+inconceivably splendid. First came the long trains of baggage, on mules,
+and camels, and horses, and other beasts of burden, attended by the
+drivers, and the men who had the baggage in charge. Next came an immense
+body of troops of all nations, marching irregularly, but under the
+command of the proper officers. Then, after a considerable interval,
+came a body of a thousand horse, splendidly caparisoned, and followed by
+a thousand spearmen, who marched trailing their spears upon the ground,
+in token of respect and submission to the king who was coming behind
+them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Order of march.<br />Car of Jupiter.<br />Chariot of Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p><p>Next to these troops, and immediately in advance of the king, were
+certain religious and sacred objects and personages, on which the people
+who gazed upon this gorgeous spectacle looked with the utmost awe and
+veneration. There were, first, ten sacred horses, splendidly
+caparisoned, each led by his groom, who was clothed in appropriate
+robes, as a sort of priest officiating in the service of a god. Behind
+these came the sacred car of Jupiter. This car was very large, and
+elaborately worked, and was profusely ornamented with gold. It was drawn
+by eight white horses. No human being was allowed to set his foot upon
+any part of it, and, consequently, the reins of the horses were carried
+back, under the car, to the charioteer, who walked behind. Xerxes's own
+chariot came next, drawn by very splendid horses, selected especially
+for their size and beauty. His charioteer, a young Persian noble, sat by
+his side.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Camp followers.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p><p>Then came great bodies of troops. There was one corps of two thousand
+men, the life-guards of the king, who were armed in a very splendid and
+costly manner, to designate their high rank in the army, and the exalted
+nature of their duty as personal attendants on the sovereign. One
+thousand of these life-guards were foot soldiers, and the other thousand
+horsemen. After the life-guards came a body of ten thousand infantry,
+and after them ten thousand cavalry. This completed what was strictly
+the Persian part of the army. There was an interval of about a quarter
+of a mile in the rear of these bodies of troops, and then came a vast
+and countless multitude of servants, attendants, adventurers, and camp
+followers of every description&mdash;a confused, promiscuous, disorderly, and
+noisy throng.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Arrival at the plain of Troy.</div>
+
+<p>The immediate destination of this vast horde was Abydos; for it was
+between Sestos, on the European shore, and Abydos, on the Asiatic, that
+the bridge had been built. To reach Abydos, the route was north, through
+the province of Mysia. In their progress the guides of the army kept
+well inland, so as to avoid the indentations of the coast, and the
+various small rivers which here flow westward toward the sea. Thus
+advancing, the army passed to the right of Mount Ida, and arrived at
+last on the bank of the Scamander. Here they encamped. They were upon
+the plain of Troy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The grand sacrifice.</div>
+
+<p>The world was filled, in those days, with the glory of the military
+exploits which had been performed, some ages before, in the siege and
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>capture of Troy; and it was the custom for every military hero who
+passed the site of the city to pause in his march and spend some time
+amid the scenes of those ancient conflicts, that he might inspirit and
+invigorate his own ambition by the associations of the spot, and also
+render suitable honors to the memories of those that fell there. Xerxes
+did this. Alexander subsequently did it. Xerxes examined the various
+localities, ascended the ruins of the citadel of Priam, walked over the
+ancient battle fields, and at length, when his curiosity had thus been
+satisfied, he ordered a grand sacrifice of a thousand oxen to be made,
+and a libation of corresponding magnitude to be offered, in honor of the
+shades of the dead heroes whose deeds had consecrated the spot.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dejection of the army.<br />Mode of enlistment.<br />Condition of the soldiers.<br />Privations and hardships.</div>
+
+<p>Whatever excitement and exhilaration, however, Xerxes himself may have
+felt, in approaching, under these circumstances, the transit of the
+stream, where the real labors and dangers of his expedition were to
+commence, his miserable and helpless soldiers did not share them. Their
+condition and prospects were wretched in the extreme. In the first
+place, none of them went willingly. In modern times, at least in England
+and America, armies are recruited by <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>enticing the depraved and the
+miserable to enlist, by tendering them a bounty, as it is called, that
+is, a sum of ready money, which, as a means of temporary and often
+vicious pleasure, presents a temptation they can not resist. The act of
+enlistment is, however, in a sense voluntary, so that those who have
+homes, and friends, and useful pursuits in which they are peacefully
+engaged, are not disturbed. It was not so with the soldiers of Xerxes.
+They were slaves, and had been torn from their rural homes all over the
+empire by a merciless conscription, from which there was no possible
+escape. Their life in camp, too, was comfortless and wretched. At the
+present day, when it is so much more difficult than it then was to
+obtain soldiers, and when so much more time and attention are required
+to train them to their work in the modern art of war, soldiers must be
+taken care of when obtained; but in Xerxes's day it was much easier to
+get new supplies of recruits than to incur any great expense in
+providing for the health and comfort of those already in the service.
+The arms and trappings, it is true, of such troops as were in immediate
+attendance on the king, were very splendid and gay, though this was only
+decoration, after all, and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>king's decoration too, not theirs. In
+respect, however, to every thing like personal comfort, whether of food
+and of clothing, or the means of shelter and repose, the common soldiers
+were utterly destitute and wretched. They felt no interest in the
+campaign; they had nothing to hope for from its success, but a
+continuance, if their lives were spared, of the same miserable bondage
+which they had always endured. There was, however, little probability
+even of this; for whether, in the case of such an invasion, the
+aggressor was to succeed or to fail, the destiny of the soldiers
+personally was almost inevitable destruction. The mass of Xerxes's army
+was thus a mere herd of slaves, driven along by the whips of their
+officers, reluctant, wretched, and despairing.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Storm on Mount Ida.</div>
+
+<p>This helpless mass was overtaken one night, among the gloomy and rugged
+defiles and passes of Mount Ida, by a dreadful storm of wind and rain,
+accompanied by thunder and lightning. Unprovided as they were with the
+means of protection against such tempests, they were thrown into
+confusion, and spent the night in terror. Great numbers perished, struck
+by the lightning, or exhausted by the cold and exposure; and afterward,
+when they encamped on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>the plains of Troy, near the Scamander, the whole
+of the water of the stream was not enough to supply the wants of the
+soldiers and the immense herds of beasts of burden, so that many
+thousands suffered severely from thirst.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Abydos.</div>
+
+<p>All these things conspired greatly to depress the spirits of the men, so
+that, at last, when they arrived in the vicinity of Abydos, the whole
+army was in a state of extreme dejection and despair. This, however, was
+of little consequence. The repose of a master so despotic and lofty as
+Xerxes is very little disturbed by the mental sorrows of his slaves.
+Xerxes reached Abydos, and prepared to make the passage of the strait in
+a manner worthy of the grandeur of the occasion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Parade of the troops.</div>
+
+<p>The first thing was to make arrangements for a great parade of his
+forces, not, apparently, for the purpose of accomplishing any useful end
+of military organization in the arrangement of the troops, but to
+gratify the pride and pleasure of the sovereign with an opportunity of
+surveying them. A great white throne of marble was accordingly erected
+on an eminence not far from the shore of the Hellespont, from which
+Xerxes looked down with great complacency and pleasure, on the one hand,
+upon the long <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>lines of troops, the countless squadrons of horsemen, the
+ranges of tents, and the vast herds of beasts of burden which were
+assembled on the land, and, on the other hand, upon the fleets of ships,
+and boats, and galleys at anchor upon the sea; while the shores of
+Europe were smiling in the distance, and the long and magnificent
+roadway which he had made lay floating upon the water, all ready to take
+his enormous armament across whenever he should issue the command.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes weeps.<br />The reason of it.</div>
+
+<p>Any deep emotion of the human soul, in persons of a sensitive physical
+organization, tends to tears; and Xerxes's heart, being filled with
+exultation and pride, and with a sense of inexpressible grandeur and
+sublimity as he looked upon this scene, was softened by the pleasurable
+excitements of the hour, and though, at first his countenance was
+beaming with satisfaction and pleasure, his uncle Artabanus, who stood
+by his side, soon perceived that tears were standing in his eyes.
+Artabanus asked him what this meant. It made him sad, Xerxes replied, to
+reflect that, immensely vast as the countless multitude before him was,
+in one hundred years from that time not one of them all would be alive.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Comments of writers.<br />Remarks of Artabanus.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p><p>The tender-heartedness which Xerxes manifested on this occasion, taken
+in connection with the stern and unrelenting tyranny which he was
+exercising over the mighty mass of humanity whose mortality he mourned,
+has drawn forth a great variety of comments from writers of every age
+who have repeated the story. Artabanus replied to it on the spot by
+saying that he did not think that the king ought to give himself too
+much uneasiness on the subject of human liability to death, for it
+happened, in a vast number of cases, that the privations and sufferings
+of men were so great, that often, in the course of their lives, they
+rather wished to die than to live; and that death was, consequently, in
+some respects, to be regarded, not as in itself a woe, but rather as the
+relief and remedy for woe.</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt that this theory of Artabanus, so far as it applied to
+the unhappy soldiers of Xerxes, all marshaled before him when he uttered
+it, was eminently true.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Conversation with Artabanus.<br />He renews his warnings.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes admitted that what his uncle said was just, but it was, he said,
+a melancholy subject, and so he changed the conversation. He asked his
+uncle whether he still entertained the same doubts and fears in respect
+to the expedition <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>that he had expressed at Susa when the plan was first
+proposed in the council. Artabanus replied that he most sincerely hoped
+that the prognostications of the vision would prove true, but that he
+had still great apprehensions of the result. "I have been reflecting,"
+continued he, "with great care on the whole subject, and it seems to me
+that there are two dangers of very serious character to which your
+expedition will be imminently exposed."</p>
+
+<p>Xerxes wished to know what they were.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Anxiety of Artabanus.</div>
+
+<p>"They both arise," said Artabanus, "from the immense magnitude of your
+operations. In the first place, you have so large a number of ships,
+galleys, and transports in your fleet, that I do not see how, when you
+have gone down upon the Greek coast, if a storm should arise, you are
+going to find shelter for them. There are no harbors there large enough
+to afford anchorage ground for such an immense number of vessels."</p>
+
+<p>"And what is the other danger?" asked Xerxes.</p>
+
+<p>"The other is the difficulty of finding food for such a vast multitude
+of <i>men</i> as you have brought together in your armies. The quantity of
+food necessary to supply such countless <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>numbers is almost incalculable.
+Your granaries and magazines will soon be exhausted, and then, as no
+country whatever that you can pass through will have resources of food
+adequate for such a multitude of mouths, it seems to me that your march
+must inevitably end in a famine. The less resistance you meet with, and
+the further you consequently advance, the worse it will be for you. I do
+not see how this fatal result can possibly be avoided; and so uneasy and
+anxious am I on the subject, that I have no rest or peace."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes is not convinced.</div>
+
+<p>"I admit," said Xerxes, in reply, "that what you say is not wholly
+unreasonable; but in great undertakings it will never do to take counsel
+wholly of our fears. I am willing to submit to a very large portion of
+the evils to which I expose myself on this expedition, rather than not
+accomplish the end which I have in view. Besides, the most prudent and
+cautious counsels are not always the best. He who hazards nothing gains
+nothing. I have always observed that in all the affairs of human life,
+those who exhibit some enterprise and courage in what they undertake are
+far more likely to be successful than those who weigh every thing and
+consider every thing, and will not advance <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>where they can see any
+remote prospect of danger. If my predecessors had acted on the
+principles which you recommend, the Persian empire would never have
+acquired the greatness to which it has now attained. In continuing to
+act on the same principles which governed them, I confidently expect the
+same success. We shall conquer Europe, and then return in peace, I feel
+assured, without encountering the famine which you dread so much, or any
+other great calamity."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advice of Artabanus in respect to employing the Ionians.</div>
+
+<p>On hearing these words, and observing how fixed and settled the
+determinations of Xerxes were, Artabanus said no more on the general
+subject, but on one point he ventured to offer his counsel to his
+nephew, and that was on the subject of employing the Ionians in the war.
+The Ionians were Greeks by descent. Their ancestors had crossed the
+&AElig;gean Sea, and settled at various places along the coast of Asia Minor,
+in the western part of the provinces of Caria, Lydia, and Mysia.
+Artabanus thought it was dangerous to take these men to fight against
+their countrymen. However faithfully disposed they might be in
+commencing the enterprise, a thousand circumstances might occur to shake
+their fidelity and lead them to revolt, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>when they found themselves in
+the land of their forefathers, and heard the enemies against whom they
+had been brought to contend speaking their own mother tongue.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's opinion of the Ionians.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes, however, was not convinced by Artabanus's arguments. He thought
+that the employment of the Ionians was perfectly safe. They had been
+eminently faithful and firm, he said, under Histi&aelig;us, in the time of
+Darius's invasion of Scythia, when Darius had left them to guard his
+bridge over the Danube. They had proved themselves trustworthy then, and
+he would, he said, accordingly trust them now. "Besides," he added,
+"they have left their property, their wives and their children, and all
+else that they hold dear, in our hands in Asia, and they will not dare,
+while we retain such hostages, to do any thing against us."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artabanus is permitted to return.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes said, however, that since Artabanus was so much concerned in
+respect to the result of the expedition, he should not be compelled to
+accompany it any further, but that he might return to Susa instead, and
+take charge of the government there until Xerxes should return.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sham sea fight.</div>
+
+<p>A part of the celebration on the great day of parade, on which this
+conversation between the king and his uncle was held, consisted of a
+naval <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>sea fight, waged on the Hellespont, between two of the nations of
+his army, for the king's amusement. The Ph&oelig;nicians were the victors
+in this combat. Xerxes was greatly delighted with the combat, and, in
+fact, with the whole of the magnificent spectacle which the day had
+displayed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's address.</div>
+
+<p>Soon after this, Xerxes dismissed Artabanus, ordering him to return to
+Susa, and to assume the regency of the empire. He convened, also,
+another general council of the nobles of his court and the officers of
+the army, to announce to them that the time had arrived for crossing the
+bridge, and to make his farewell address to them before they should take
+their final departure from Asia. He exhorted them to enter upon the
+great work before them with a determined and resolute spirit, saying
+that if the Greeks were once subdued, no other enemies able at all to
+cope with the Persians would be left on the habitable globe.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Crossing the bridge.</div>
+
+<p>On the dismission of the council, orders were given to commence the
+crossing of the bridge the next day at sunrise. The preparations were
+made accordingly. In the morning, as soon as it was light, and while
+waiting for the rising of the sun, they burned upon the bridge <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>all
+manner of perfumes, and strewed the way with branches of myrtle, the
+emblem of triumph and joy. As the time for the rising of the sun drew
+nigh, Xerxes stood with a golden vessel full of wine, which he was to
+pour out as a libation as soon as the first dazzling beams should appear
+above the horizon. When, at length, the moment arrived, he poured out
+the wine into the sea, throwing the vessel in which it had been
+contained after it as an offering. He also threw in, at the same time, a
+golden goblet of great value, and a Persian cimeter. The ancient
+historian who records these facts was uncertain whether these offerings
+were intended as acts of adoration addressed to the sun, or as oblations
+presented to the sea&mdash;a sort of peace offering, perhaps, to soothe the
+feelings of the mighty monster, irritated and chafed by the chastisement
+which it had previously received.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121-2]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i120.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="295" alt="Xerxes crossing the Hellespont." title="" />
+<span class="caption">Xerxes crossing the Hellespont.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Preliminary ceremonies.</div>
+
+<p>One circumstance indicated that the offering was intended for the sun,
+for, at the time of making it, Xerxes addressed to the great luminary a
+sort of petition, which might be considered either an apostrophe or a
+prayer, imploring its protection. He called upon the sun to accompany
+and defend the expedition, and to preserve it from every calamity until
+it should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>have accomplished its mission of subjecting all Europe to
+the Persian sway.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The order of march.<br />Movement of the fleet.</div>
+
+<p>The army then commenced its march. The order of march was very much the
+same as that which had been observed in the departure from Sardis. The
+beasts of burden and the baggage were preceded and followed by immense
+bodies of troops of all nations. The whole of the first day was occupied
+by the passing of this part of the army. Xerxes himself, and the sacred
+portion of the train, were to follow them on the second day.
+Accordingly, there came, on the second day, first, an immense squadron
+of horse, with garlands on the heads of the horsemen; next, the sacred
+horses and the sacred car of Jupiter. Then came Xerxes himself, in his
+war chariot, with trumpets sounding, and banners waving in the air. At
+the moment when Xerxes's chariot entered upon the bridge, the fleet of
+galleys, which had been drawn up in preparation near the Asiatic shore,
+were set in motion, and moved in a long and majestic line across the
+strait to the European side, accompanying and keeping pace with their
+mighty master in his progress. Thus was spent the second day.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Time occupied in the passage.<br />Scene of confusion.</div>
+
+<p>Five more days were consumed in getting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>over the remainder of the army,
+and the immense trains of beasts and of baggage which followed. The
+officers urged the work forward as rapidly as possible, and, toward the
+end, as is always the case in the movement of such enormous masses, it
+became a scene of inconceivable noise, terror, and confusion. The
+officers drove forward men and beasts alike by the lashes of their
+whips&mdash;every one struggling, under the influence of such stimulants, to
+get forward&mdash;while fallen animals, broken wagons, and the bodies of
+those exhausted and dying with excitement and fatigue, choked the way.
+The mighty mass was, however, at last transferred to the European
+continent, full of anxious fears in respect to what awaited them, but
+yet having very faint and feeble conceptions of the awful scenes in
+which the enterprise of their reckless leader was to end.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VI" id="Chapter_VI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VI.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Review of the Troops at Doriscus.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The fleet and the army separate.<br />The Chersonesus.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">s</span>
+soon as the expedition of Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont and
+arrived safely on the European side, as narrated in the last chapter, it
+became necessary for the fleet and the army to separate, and to move,
+for a time, in opposite directions from each other. The reader will
+observe, by examining the map, that the army, on reaching the European
+shore, at the point to which they would be conducted by a bridge at
+Abydos, would find themselves in the middle of a long and narrow
+peninsula called the Chersonesus, and that, before commencing its
+regular march along the northern coast of the &AElig;gean Sea, it would be
+necessary first to proceed for fifteen or twenty miles to the eastward,
+in order to get round the bay by which the peninsula is bounded on the
+north and west. While, therefore, the fleet went directly westward along
+the coast, the army turned to the eastward, a place of rendezvous having
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>been appointed on the northern coast of the sea, where they were all
+soon to meet again.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sufferings from thirst.</div>
+
+<p>The army moved on by a slow and toilsome progress until it reached the
+neck of the peninsula, and then turning at the head of the bay, it moved
+westward again, following the direction of the coast. The line of march
+was, however, laid at some distance from the shore, partly for the sake
+of avoiding the indentations made in the land by gulfs and bays, and
+partly for the sake of crossing the streams from the interior at points
+so far inland that the water found in them should be fresh and pure.
+Notwithstanding these precautions, however, the water often failed. So
+immense were the multitudes of men and of beasts, and so craving was the
+thirst which the heat and the fatigues of the march engendered, that, in
+several instances, they drank the little rivers dry.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Hebrus.<br />Plain of Doriscus.</div>
+
+<p>The first great and important river which the army had to pass after
+entering Europe was the Hebrus. Not far from the mouth of the Hebrus,
+where it emptied into the &AElig;gean Sea, was a great plain, which was called
+the plain of Doriscus. There was an extensive fortress here, which had
+been erected by the orders of Darius when he had subjugated this part of
+the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>country. The position of this fortress was an important one,
+because it commanded the whole region watered by the Hebrus, which was a
+very fruitful and populous district. Xerxes had been intending to have a
+grand review and enumeration of his forces on entering the European
+territories, and he judged Doriscus to be a very suitable place for his
+purpose. He could establish his own head-quarters in the fortress, while
+his armies could be marshaled and reviewed on the plain. The fleet, too,
+had been ordered to draw up to the shore at the same spot, and when the
+army reached the ground, they found the vessels already in the offing.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Preparations for the great review.<br />Mode of taking a census.<br />Immense numbers of the troops.</div>
+
+<p>The army accordingly halted, and the necessary arrangements were made
+for the review. The first thing was to ascertain the numbers of the
+troops; and as the soldiers were too numerous to be counted, Xerxes
+determined to <i>measure</i> the mighty mass as so much bulk, and then
+ascertain the numbers by a computation. They made the measure itself in
+the following manner: They counted off, first, ten thousand men, and
+brought them together in a compact circular mass, in the middle of the
+plain, and then marked a line upon the ground inclosing them. Upon this
+line, thus determined, they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>built a stone wall, about four feet high,
+with openings on opposite sides of it, by which men might enter and go
+out. When the wall was built, soldiers were sent into the
+inclosure&mdash;just as corn would be poured by a husbandman into a wooden
+peck&mdash;until it was full. The mass thus required to fill the inclosure
+was deemed and taken to be ten thousand men. This was the first filling
+of the measure. These men were then ordered to retire, and a fresh mass
+was introduced, and so on until the whole army was measured. The
+inclosure was filled one hundred and seventy times with the foot
+soldiers before the process was completed, indicating, as the total
+amount of the infantry of the army, a force of one million seven hundred
+thousand men. This enumeration, it must be remembered, included the land
+forces alone.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The cavalry.<br />Corps of Arabs and Egyptians.<br />Sum total of the army.</div>
+
+<p>This method of measuring the army in bulk was applied only to the foot
+soldiers; they constituted the great mass of the forces convened. There
+were, however, various other bodies of troops in the army, which, from
+their nature, were more systematically organized than the common foot
+soldiers, and so their numbers were known by the regular enrollment.
+There was, for example, a cavalry force of eighty thousand <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>men. There
+was also a corps of Arabs, on camels, and another of Egyptians, in war
+chariots, which together amounted to twenty thousand. Then, besides
+these land forces, there were half a million of men in the fleet.
+Immense as these numbers are, they were still further increased, as the
+army moved on, by Xerxes's system of compelling the forces of every
+kingdom and province through which he passed to join the expedition; so
+that, at length, when the Persian king fairly entered the heart of the
+Greek territory, Herodotus, the great narrator of his history, in
+summing up the whole number of men regularly connected with the army,
+makes a total of about five millions of men. One hundred thousand men,
+which is but one fiftieth part of five millions, is considered, in
+modern times, an immense army; and, in fact, half even of that number
+was thought, in the time of the American Revolution, a sufficient force
+to threaten the colonies with overwhelming destruction. "If ten thousand
+men will not do to put down the rebellion," said an orator in the House
+of Commons, "fifty thousand <i>shall</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Herodotus adds that, besides the five millions regularly connected with
+the army, there was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>an immense and promiscuous mass of women, slaves,
+cooks, bakers, and camp followers of every description, that no human
+powers could estimate or number.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Various nations.<br />Dress and equipments.<br />Uncouth costumes.</div>
+
+<p>But to return to the review. The numbers of the army having been
+ascertained, the next thing was to marshal and arrange the men by
+nations under their respective leaders, to be reviewed by the king. A
+very full enumeration of these divisions of the army is given by the
+historians of the day, with minute descriptions of the kind of armor
+which the troops of the several nations wore. There were more than fifty
+of these nations in all. Some of them were highly civilized, others were
+semi-barbarous tribes; and, of course, they presented, as marshaled in
+long array upon the plain, every possible variety of dress and
+equipment. Some were armed with brazen helmets, and coats of mail formed
+of plates of iron; others wore linen tunics, or rude garments made of
+the skins of beasts. The troops of one nation had their heads covered
+with helmets, those of another with miters, and of a third with tiaras.
+There was one savage-looking horde that had caps made of the skin of the
+upper part of a horse's head, in its natural form, with the ears
+standing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>up erect at the top, and the mane flowing down behind. These
+men held the skins of cranes before them instead of shields, so that
+they looked like horned monsters, half beast and half bird, endeavoring
+to assume the guise and attitude of men. There was another corps whose
+men were really horned, since they wore caps made from the skins of the
+heads of oxen, with the horns standing. Wild beasts were personated,
+too, as well as tame; for some nations were clothed in lions' skins, and
+others in panthers' skins&mdash;the clothing being considered, apparently,
+the more honorable, in proportion to the ferocity of the brute to which
+it had originally belonged.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Various weapons.<br />The lasso.</div>
+
+<p>The weapons, too, were of every possible form and guise. Spears&mdash;some
+pointed with iron, some with stone, and others shaped simply by being
+burned to a point in the fire; bows and arrows, of every variety of
+material and form, swords, daggers, slings, clubs, darts, javelins, and
+every other imaginable species of weapon which human ingenuity, savage
+or civilized, had then conceived. Even the lasso&mdash;the weapon of the
+American aborigines of modern times&mdash;was there. It is described by the
+ancient historian as a long thong of leather wound into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>a coil, and
+finished in a noose at the end, which noose the rude warrior who used
+the implement launched through the air at the enemy, and entangling
+rider and horse together by means of it, brought them both to the
+ground.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dresses of various kinds.</div>
+
+<p>There was every variety of taste, too, in the fashion and the colors of
+the dresses which were worn. Some were of artificial fabrics, and dyed
+in various and splendid hues. Some were very plain, the wearers of them
+affecting a simple and savage ferocity in the fashion of their vesture.
+Some tribes had painted skins&mdash;beauty, in their view, consisting,
+apparently, in hideousness. There was one barbarian horde who wore very
+little clothing of any kind. They had knotty clubs for weapons, and, in
+lieu of a dress, they had painted their naked bodies half white and half
+a bright vermilion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Immortals.<br />Privileges of the Immortals.</div>
+
+<p>In all this vast array, the corps which stood at the head, in respect to
+their rank and the costliness and elegance of their equipment, was a
+Persian squadron of ten thousand men, called the Immortals. They had
+received this designation from the fact that the body was kept always
+exactly full, as, whenever any one of the number died, another soldier
+was instantly put into his place, whose life was considered in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>some
+respects a continuation of the existence of the man who had fallen.
+Thus, by a fiction somewhat analogous to that by which the king, in
+England, never dies, these ten thousand Persians were an immortal band.
+They were all carefully-selected soldiers, and they enjoyed very unusual
+privileges and honors. They were mounted troops, and their dress and
+their armor were richly decorated with gold. They were accompanied in
+their campaigns by their wives and families, for whose use carriages
+were provided which followed the camp, and there was a long train of
+camels besides, attached to the service of the corps, to carry their
+provisions and their baggage.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The fleet.</div>
+
+<p>While all these countless varieties of land troops were marshaling and
+arranging themselves upon the plain, each under its own officers and
+around its own standards, the naval commanders were employed in bringing
+up the fleet of galleys to the shore, where they were anchored in a long
+line not far from the beach, and with their prows toward the land. Thus
+there was a space of open water left between the line of vessels and the
+beach, along which Xerxes's barge was to pass when the time for the
+naval part of the review should arrive.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes reviews the troops.<br />He reviews the fleet.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p><p>When all things were ready, Xerxes mounted his war chariot and rode
+slowly around the plain, surveying attentively, and with great interest
+and pleasure, the long lines of soldiers, in all their variety of
+equipment and costume, as they stood displayed before him. It required a
+progress of many miles to see them all. When this review of the land
+forces was concluded, the king went to the shore, and embarked on board
+a royal galley which had been prepared for him, and there, seated upon
+the deck under a gilded canopy, he was rowed by the oarsmen along the
+line of ships, between their prows and the land. The ships were from
+many nations as well as the soldiers, and exhibited the same variety of
+fashion and equipment. The land troops had come from the inland realms
+and provinces which occupied the heart of Asia, while the ships and the
+seamen had been furnished by the maritime regions which extended along
+the coasts of the Black, and the &AElig;gean, and the Mediterranean Seas. Thus
+the people of Egypt had furnished two hundred ships, the Ph&oelig;nicians
+three hundred, Cyprus fifty, the Cilicians and the Ionians one hundred
+each, and so with a great many other nations and tribes.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A lady admiral.<br />Her abilities.</div>
+
+<p>The various squadrons which were thus combined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>in forming this immense
+fleet were manned and officered, of course, from the nations that
+severally furnished them, and one of them was actually commanded in
+person by a queen. The name of this lady admiral was Artemisia. She was
+the Queen of Caria, a small province in the southwestern part of Asia
+Minor, having Halicarnassus for its capital. Artemisia, though in
+history called a queen, was, in reality, more properly a regent, as she
+governed in the name of her son, who was yet a child. The quota of ships
+which Caria was to furnish was five. Artemisia, being a lady of
+ambitious and masculine turn of mind, and fond of adventure, determined
+to accompany the expedition. Not only her own vessels, but also those
+from some neighboring islands, were placed under her charge, so that she
+commanded quite an important division of the fleet. She proved, also, in
+the course of the voyage, to be abundantly qualified for the discharge
+of her duties. She became, in fact, one of the ablest and most efficient
+commanders in the fleet, not only maneuvering and managing her own
+particular division in a very successful manner, but also taking a very
+active and important part in the general consultations, where what she
+said was <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>listened to with great respect, and always had great weight in
+determining the decisions. In the great battle of Salamis she acted a
+very conspicuous part, as will hereafter appear.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Number of vessels in the fleet.</div>
+
+<p>The whole number of galleys of the first class in Xerxes's fleet was
+more than twelve hundred, a number abundantly sufficient to justify the
+apprehensions of Artabanus that no harbor would be found capacious
+enough to shelter them in the event of a sudden storm. The line which
+they formed on this occasion, when drawn up side by side upon the shore
+for review, must have extended many miles.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Demaratus the Greek.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes moved slowly along this line in his barge, attended by the
+officers of his court and the great generals of his army, who surveyed
+the various ships as they passed them, and noted the diverse national
+costumes and equipments of the men with curiosity and pleasure. Among
+those who attended the king on this occasion was a certain Greek named
+Demaratus, an exile from his native land, who had fled to Persia, and
+had been kindly received by Darius some years before. Having remained in
+the Persian court until Xerxes succeeded to the throne and undertook the
+invasion of Greece, he concluded to accompany the expedition.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Story of Demaratus.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p><p>The story of the political difficulties in which Demaratus became
+involved in his native land, and which led to his flight from Greece,
+was very extraordinary. It was this:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Childhood of his mother.</div>
+
+<p>The mother of Demaratus was the daughter of parents of high rank and
+great affluence in Sparta, but in her childhood her features were
+extremely plain and repulsive. Now there was a temple in the
+neighborhood of the place where her parents resided, consecrated to
+Helen, a princess who, while she lived, enjoyed the fame of being the
+most beautiful woman in the world. The nurse recommended that the child
+should be taken every day to this temple, and that petitions should be
+offered there at the shrine of Helen that the repulsive deformity of her
+features might be removed. The mother consented to this plan, only
+enjoining upon the nurse not to let any one see the face of her
+unfortunate offspring in going and returning. The nurse accordingly
+carried the child to the temple day after day, and holding it in her
+arms before the shrine, implored the mercy of Heaven for her helpless
+charge, and the bestowal upon it of the boon of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>These petitions were, it seems, at length heard, for one day, when the
+nurse was coming <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>down from the temple, after offering her customary
+prayer, she was met and accosted by a mysterious-looking woman, who
+asked her what it was that she was carrying in her arms. The nurse
+replied that it was a child. The woman wanted to look at it. The nurse
+refused to show the face of the child, saying that she had been
+forbidden to do so. The woman, however, insisted upon seeing its face,
+and at last the nurse consented and removed the coverings. The stranger
+stroked down the face of the child, saying, at the same time, that now
+that child should become the most beautiful woman of Sparta.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The change.</div>
+
+<p>Her words proved true. The features of the young girl rapidly changed,
+and her countenance soon became as wonderful for its loveliness as it
+had been before for its hideous deformity. When she arrived at a proper
+age, a certain Spartan nobleman named Agetus, a particular friend of the
+king's, made her his wife.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Ariston, king of Sparta.<br />The agreement.</div>
+
+<p>The name of the king of Sparta at that time was Ariston. He had been
+twice married, and his second wife was still living, but he had no
+children. When he came to see and to know the beautiful wife of Agetus,
+he wished to obtain her for himself, and began to revolve the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>subject
+in his mind, with a view to discover some method by which he might hope
+to accomplish his purpose. He decided at length upon the following plan.
+He proposed to Agetus to make an exchange of gifts, offering to give to
+him any one object which he might choose from all his, that is,
+Ariston's effects, provided that Agetus would, in the same manner, give
+to Ariston whatever Ariston might choose. Agetus consented to the
+proposal, without, however, giving it any serious consideration. As
+Ariston was already married, he did not for a moment imagine that his
+wife could be the object which the king would demand. The parties to
+this foolish agreement confirmed the obligation of it by a solemn oath,
+and then each made known to the other what he had selected. Agetus
+gained some jewel, or costly garment, or perhaps a gilded and
+embellished weapon, and lost forever his beautiful wife. Ariston
+repudiated his own second wife, and put the prize which he had thus
+surreptitiously acquired in her place as a third.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Birth of Demaratus.<br />Demaratus disowned.<br />His flight.</div>
+
+<p>About seven or eight months after this time Demaratus was born. The
+intelligence was brought to Ariston one day by a slave, when he was
+sitting at a public tribunal. Ariston seemed
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>surprised at the intelligence, and exclaimed that the child was not his.
+He, however, afterward retracted this disavowal, and owned Demaratus as
+his son. The child grew up, and in process of time, when his father
+died, he succeeded to the throne. The magistrates, however, who had
+heard the declaration of his father at the time of his birth, remembered
+it, and reported it to others; and when Ariston died and Demaratus
+assumed the supreme power, the next heir denied his right to the
+succession, and in process of time formed a strong party against him. A
+long series of civil dissensions arose, and at length the claims of
+Demaratus were defeated, his enemies triumphed, and he fled from the
+country to save his life. He arrived at Susa near the close of Darius's
+reign, and it was his counsel which led the king to decide the contest
+among his sons for the right of succession, in favor of Xerxes, as
+described at the close of the first chapter. Xerxes had remembered his
+obligations to Demaratus for this interposition. He had retained him in
+the royal court after his accession to the throne, and had bestowed upon
+him many marks of distinction and honor.</p>
+
+<p>Demaratus had decided to accompany Xerxes <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>on his expedition into
+Greece, and now, while the Persian officers were looking with so much
+pride and pleasure on the immense preparations which they were making
+for the subjugation of a foreign and hostile state, Demaratus, too, was
+in the midst of the scene, regarding the spectacle with no less of
+interest, probably, and yet, doubtless, with very different feelings,
+since the country upon which this dreadful cloud of gloom and
+destruction was about to burst was his own native land.</p>
+
+<p>After the review was ended, Xerxes sent for Demaratus to come to the
+castle. When he arrived, the king addressed him as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Question of Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>"You are a Greek, Demaratus, and you know your countrymen well; and now,
+as you have seen the fleet and the army that have been displayed here
+to-day, tell me what is your opinion. Do you think that the Greeks will
+undertake to defend themselves against such a force, or will they submit
+at once without attempting any resistance?"</p>
+
+<p>Demaratus seemed at first perplexed and uncertain, as if not knowing
+exactly what answer to make to the question. At length he asked the king
+whether it was his wish that he should respond by speaking the blunt and
+honest truth, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>or by saying what would be polite and agreeable.</p>
+
+<p>Xerxes replied that he wished him, of course, to speak the truth. The
+truth itself would be what he should consider the most agreeable.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Demaratus describes the Spartans.</div>
+
+<p>"Since you desire it, then," said Demaratus, "I will speak the exact
+truth. Greece is the child of poverty. The inhabitants of the land have
+learned wisdom and discipline in the severe school of adversity, and
+their resolution and courage are absolutely indomitable. They all
+deserve this praise; but I speak more particularly of my own countrymen,
+the people of Sparta. I am sure that they will reject any proposal which
+you may make to them for submission to your power, and that they will
+resist you to the last extremity. The disparity of numbers will have no
+influence whatever on their decision. If all the rest of Greece were to
+submit to you, leaving the Spartans alone, and if they should find
+themselves unable to muster more than a thousand men, they would give
+you battle."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Surprise of Xerxes. </div>
+
+<p>Xerxes expressed great surprise at this assertion, and thought that
+Demaratus could not possibly mean what he seemed to say. "I appeal to
+yourself," said he; "would <i>you</i> dare to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>encounter, alone, ten men? You
+have been the prince of the Spartans, and a prince ought, at least, to
+be equal to two common men; so that to show that the Spartans in general
+could be brought to fight a superiority of force of even ten to one, it
+ought to appear that you would dare to engage twenty. This is manifestly
+absurd. In fact, for any person to pretend to be able or willing to
+fight under such a disparity of numbers, evinces only pride and insolent
+presumption. And even this proportion of ten to one, or even twenty to
+one, is nothing compared to the real disparity; for, even if we grant to
+the Spartans as large a force as there is any possibility of their
+obtaining, I shall then have <i>a thousand</i> to one against them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His displeasure.</div>
+
+<p>"Besides," continued the king, "there is a great difference in the
+character of the troops. The Greeks are all freemen, while my soldiers
+are all slaves&mdash;bound absolutely to do my bidding, without complaint or
+murmur. Such soldiers as mine, who are habituated to submit entirely to
+the will of another, and who live under the continual fear of the lash,
+might, perhaps, be forced to go into battle against a great superiority
+of numbers, or under other manifest disadvantages; but free men, never.
+I do not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>believe that a body of Greeks could be brought to engage a
+body of Persians, man for man. Every consideration shows, thus, that the
+opinion which you have expressed is unfounded. You could only have been
+led to entertain such an opinion through ignorance and unaccountable
+presumption."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Demaratus's apology.<br />His gratitude to Darius.</div>
+
+<p>"I was afraid," replied Demaratus, "from the first, that, by speaking
+the truth, I should offend you. I should not have given you my real
+opinion of the Spartans if you had not ordered me to speak without
+reserve. You certainly can not suppose me to have been influenced by a
+feeling of undue partiality for the men whom I commended, since they
+have been my most implacable and bitter enemies, and have driven me into
+hopeless exile from my native land. Your father, on the other hand,
+received and protected me, and the sincere gratitude which I feel for
+the favors which I have received from him and from you incline me to
+take the most favorable view possible of the Persian cause.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Demaratus's defense of the Spartans.</div>
+
+<p>"I certainly should not be willing, as you justly suppose, to engage,
+alone, twenty men, or ten, or even one, unless there was an absolute
+necessity for it. I do not say that any single <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>Laced&aelig;monian could
+successfully encounter ten or twenty Persians, although in personal
+conflicts they are certainly not inferior to other men. It is when they
+are combined in a body even though that body be small, that their great
+superiority is seen.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">They are governed by law.</div>
+
+<p>"As to their being free, and thus not easily led into battle in
+circumstances of imminent danger, it must be considered that their
+freedom is not absolute, like that of savages in a fray, where each acts
+according to his own individual will and pleasure, but it is qualified
+and controlled by law. The Spartan soldiers are not personal slaves,
+governed by the lash of a master, it is true; but they have certain
+principles of obligation and duty which they all feel most solemnly
+bound to obey. They stand in greater awe of the authority of this law
+than your subjects do of the lash. It commands them never to fly from
+the field of battle, whatever may be the number of their adversaries. It
+commands them to preserve their ranks, to stand firm at the posts
+assigned them, and there to conquer or die.</p>
+
+<p>"This is the truth in respect to them. If what I say seems to you
+absurd, I will in future be silent. I have spoken honestly what I
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>think, because your majesty commanded me to do so; and, notwithstanding
+what I have said, I sincerely wish that all your majesty's desires and
+expectations may be fulfilled."</p>
+
+<p>The ideas which Demaratus thus appeared to entertain of danger to the
+countless and formidable hosts of Xerxes's army, from so small and
+insignificant a power as that of Sparta, seemed to Xerxes too absurd to
+awaken any serious displeasure in his mind. He only smiled, therefore,
+at Demaratus's fears, and dismissed him.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes resumes his march.<br />Division of the army.</div>
+
+<p>Leaving a garrison and a governor in possession of the castle of
+Doriscus, Xerxes resumed his march along the northern shores of the
+&AElig;gean Sea, the immense swarms of men filling all the roads, devouring
+every thing capable of being used as food, either for beast or man, and
+drinking all the brooks and smaller rivers dry. Even with this total
+consumption of the food and the water which they obtained on the march,
+the supplies would have been found insufficient if the whole army had
+advanced through one tract of country. They accordingly divided the host
+into three great columns, one of which kept near the shore; the other
+marched far in the interior, and the third in the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>intermediate space.
+They thus exhausted the resources of a very wide region. All the men,
+too, that were capable of bearing arms in the nations that these several
+divisions passed on the way, they compelled to join them, so that the
+army left, as it moved along, a very broad extent of country trampled
+down, impoverished, desolate, and full of lamentation and woe. The whole
+march was perhaps the most gigantic crime against the rights and the
+happiness of man that human wickedness has ever been able to commit.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Strymon.<br />Human sacrifices.</div>
+
+<p>The army halted, from time to time, for various purposes, sometimes for
+the performance of what they considered religions ceremonies, which were
+intended to propitiate the supernatural powers of the earth and of the
+air. When they reached the Strymon, where, it will be recollected, a
+bridge had been previously built, so as to be ready for the army when it
+should arrive, they offered a sacrifice of five white horses to the
+river. In the same region, too, they halted at a place called the Nine
+Ways, where Xerxes resolved to offer a human sacrifice to a certain god
+whom the Persians believed to reside in the interior of the earth. The
+mode of sacrificing to this god was to bury the wretched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>victims alive.
+The Persians seized, accordingly, by Xerxes's orders, nine young men and
+nine girls from among the people of the country, and buried them alive!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Arrival at the canal.</div>
+
+<p>Marching slowly on in this manner, the army at length reached the point
+upon the coast where the canal had been cut across the isthmus of Mount
+Athos. The town which was nearest to this spot was Acanthus, the
+situation of which, together with that of the canal, will be found upon
+the map. The fleet arrived at this point by sea nearly at the same time
+with the army coming by land. Xerxes examined the canal, and was
+extremely well satisfied with its construction. He commended the chief
+engineer, whose name was Artach&aelig;es, in the highest terms, for the
+successful manner in which he had executed the work, and rendered him
+very distinguished honors.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Death of the engineer.<br />Burial of the engineer.</div>
+
+<p>It unfortunately happened, however, that, a few days after the arrival
+of the fleet and the army at the canal, and before the fleet had
+commenced the passage of it, that Artach&aelig;es died. The king considered
+this event as a serious calamity to him, as he expected that other
+occasions would arrive on which he would have occasion to avail himself
+of the engineer's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>talents and skill. He ordered preparations to be made
+for a most magnificent burial, and the body was in due time deposited in
+the grave with imposing funeral solemnities. A very splendid monument,
+too, was raised upon the spot, which employed, for some time, all the
+mechanical force of the army in its erection.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A grand feast.<br />Scene of revelry.</div>
+
+<p>While Xerxes remained at Acanthus, he required the people of the
+neighboring country to entertain his army at a grand feast, the cost of
+which totally ruined them. Not only was all the food of the vicinity
+consumed, but all the means and resources of the inhabitants, of every
+kind, were exhausted in the additional supplies which they had to
+procure from the surrounding regions. At this feast the army in general
+ate, seated in groups upon the ground, in the open air; but for Xerxes
+and the nobles of the court a great pavilion was built, where tables
+were spread, and vessels and furniture of silver and gold, suitable to
+the dignity of the occasion, were provided. Almost all the property
+which the people of the region had accumulated by years of patient
+industry was consumed at once in furnishing the vast amount of food
+which was required for this feast, and the gold and silver plate which
+was to be used <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>in the pavilion. During the entertainment, the
+inhabitants of the country waited upon their exacting and insatiable
+guests until they were utterly exhausted by the fatigues of the service.
+When, at length, the feast was ended, and Xerxes and his company left
+the pavilion, the vast assembly outside broke up in disorder, pulled the
+pavilion to pieces, plundered the tables of the gold and silver plate,
+and departed to their several encampments, leaving nothing behind them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Desolation and depopulation of the country.</div>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of the country were so completely impoverished and
+ruined by these exactions, that those who were not impressed into
+Xerxes's service and compelled to follow his army, abandoned their
+homes, and roamed away in the hope of finding elsewhere the means of
+subsistence which it was no longer possible to obtain on their own
+lands; and thus, when Xerxes at last gave orders to the fleet to pass
+through the canal, and to his army to resume its march, he left the
+whole region utterly depopulated and desolate.</p>
+
+<p>He went on to Therma, a port situated on the northwestern corner of the
+&AElig;gean Sea, which was the last of his places of rendezvous before his
+actual advance into Greece.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VII" id="Chapter_VII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VII.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Preparations of the Greeks for Defense.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">e</span>
+must now leave, for a time, the operations of Xerxes and his army,
+and turn our attention to the Greeks, and to the preparations which they
+were making to meet the emergency.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The two prominent states of Greece.</div>
+
+<p>The two states of Greece which were most prominent in the transactions
+connected with the invasion of Xerxes were Athens and Sparta. By
+referring to the map, Athens will be found to have been situated upon a
+promontory just without the Peloponnesus, while Sparta, on the other
+hand, was in the center of a valley which lay in the southern part of
+the peninsula. Each of these cities was the center and strong-hold of a
+small but very energetic and powerful commonwealth. The two states were
+entirely independent of each other, and each had its own peculiar system
+of government, of usages, and of laws. These systems, and, in fact, the
+characters of the two communities, in all respects, were extremely
+dissimilar.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Greek kings.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p><p>Both these states, though in name republics, had certain magistrates,
+called commonly, in history, kings. These kings were, however, in fact,
+only military chieftains, commanders of the armies rather than sovereign
+rulers of the state. The name by which such a chieftain was actually
+called by the people themselves, in those days, was <i>tyrannus</i>, the name
+from which our word <i>tyrant</i> is derived. As, however, the word
+<i>tyrannus</i> had none of that opprobrious import which is associated with
+its English derivative, the latter is not now a suitable substitute for
+the former. Historians, therefore, commonly use the word king instead,
+though that word does not properly express the idea. They were
+commanders, chieftains, hereditary generals, but not strictly kings. We
+shall, however, often call them kings, in these narratives, in
+conformity with the general usage. Demaratus, who had fled from Sparta
+to seek refuge with Darius, and who was now accompanying Xerxes on his
+march to Greece, was one of these kings.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The two kings of Sparta.</div>
+
+<p>It was a peculiarity in the constitution of Sparta that, from a very
+early period of its history, there had been always two kings, who had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>each other, like the Roman consuls in later times. This custom was
+sustained partly by the idea that by this division of the executive
+power of the state, the exercise of the power was less likely to become
+despotic or tyrannical. It had its origin, however, according to the
+ancient legends, in the following singular occurrences:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Origin of the custom of two kings.<br />The twins.</div>
+
+<p>At a very early period in the history of Sparta, when the people had
+always been accustomed, like other states, to have one prince or
+chieftain, a certain prince died, leaving his wife, whose name was
+Argia, and two infant children, as his survivors. The children were
+twins, and the father had died almost immediately after they were born.
+Now the office of king was in a certain sense hereditary, and yet not
+absolutely so; for the people were accustomed to assemble on the death
+of the king, and determine who should be his successor, choosing always,
+however, the oldest son of the former monarch, unless there was some
+very extraordinary and imperious reason for not doing so. In this case
+they decided, as usual, that the oldest son should be king.</p>
+
+<p>But here a very serious difficulty arose, which was, to determine which
+of the twins was the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>oldest son. They resembled each other so closely
+that no stranger could distinguish one from the other at all. The mother
+said that she could not distinguish them, and that she did not know
+which was the first-born. This was not strictly true; for she did, in
+fact, know, and only denied her power to decide the question because she
+wished to have both of her children kings.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Delphic oracle consulted.</div>
+
+<p>In this perplexity the Spartans sent to the oracle at Delphi to know
+what they were to do. The oracle gave, as usual, an ambiguous and
+unsatisfactory response. It directed the people to make both the
+children kings, but to render the highest honors to the first-born. When
+this answer was reported at Sparta, it only increased the difficulty;
+for how were they to render peculiar honors to the first-born unless
+they could ascertain which the first-born was?</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plan for ascertaining the eldest.</div>
+
+<p>In this dilemma, some person suggested to the magistrates that perhaps
+Argia really knew which was the eldest child, and that if so, by
+watching her, to see whether she washed and fed one, uniformly, before
+the other, or gave it precedence in any other way, by which her latent
+maternal instinct or partiality might appear, the question might
+possibly be determined. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>This plan was accordingly adopted. The
+magistrates contrived means to place a servant maid in the house to
+watch the mother in the way proposed, and the result was that the true
+order of birth was revealed. From that time forward, while they were
+both considered as princes, the one now supposed to be the first-born
+took precedence of the other.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Civil dissensions.<br />Two lines established.</div>
+
+<p>When, however, the children arrived at an age to assume the exercise of
+the governmental power, as there was no perceptible difference between
+them in age, or strength, or accomplishments, the one who had been
+decided to be the younger was little disposed to submit to the other.
+Each had his friends and adherents, parties were formed, and a long and
+angry civil dissension ensued. In the end the question was compromised,
+the command was divided, and the system of having two chief magistrates
+became gradually established, the power descending in two lines, from
+father to son, through many generations. Of course there was perpetual
+jealousy and dissension, and often open and terrible conflicts, between
+these two rival lines.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Character of the Spartans.</div>
+
+<p>The Spartans were an agricultural people, cultivating the valley in the
+southeastern part <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>of the Peloponnesus, the waters of which were
+collected and conveyed to the sea by the River Eurotas and its branches.
+They lived in the plainest possible manner, and prided themselves on the
+stern and stoical resolution with which they rejected all the
+refinements and luxuries of society. Courage, hardihood, indifference to
+life, and the power to endure without a murmur the most severe and
+protracted sufferings, were the qualities which they valued. They
+despised wealth just as other nations despise effeminacy and foppery.
+Their laws discouraged commerce, lest it should make some of the people
+rich. Their clothes were scanty and plain, their houses were
+comfortless, their food was a coarse bread, hard and brown, and their
+money was of iron. With all this, however, they were the most ferocious
+and terrible soldiers in the world.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Their lofty spirit.</div>
+
+<p>They were, moreover, with all their plainness of manners and of life, of
+a very proud and lofty spirit. All agricultural toil, and every other
+species of manual labor in their state, were performed by a servile
+peasantry, while the free citizens, whose profession was exclusively
+that of arms, were as aristocratic and exalted in soul as any nobles on
+earth. People are sometimes, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>in our day, when money is so much valued,
+proud, notwithstanding their poverty. The Spartans were proud of their
+poverty itself. They could be rich if they chose, but they despised
+riches. They looked down on all the refinements and delicacies of dress
+and of living from an elevation far above them. They looked down on
+labor, too, with the same contempt. They were yet very nice and
+particular about their dress and military appearance, though every thing
+pertaining to both was coarse and simple, and they had slaves to wait
+upon them even in their campaigns.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Athenians.<br />The city of Athens.</div>
+
+<p>The Athenians were a totally different people. The leading classes in
+their commonwealth were cultivated, intellectual, and refined. The city
+of Athens was renowned for the splendor of its architecture, its
+temples, its citadels, its statues, and its various public institutions,
+which in subsequent times made it the great intellectual center of
+Europe. It was populous and wealthy. It had a great commerce and a
+powerful fleet. The Spartan character, in a word, was stern, gloomy,
+indomitable, and wholly unadorned. The Athenians were rich,
+intellectual, and refined. The two nations were nearly equal in power,
+and were engaged in a perpetual and incessant rivalry.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158-9]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i159.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="296" alt="Fate of the Persian Embassadors at Sparta" title="" />
+<span class="caption">Fate of the Persian Embassadors at Sparta</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sparta and Athens defy the Persians.<br />Earth and water.<br />Spirit of the Spartans.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>There were various other states and cities in Greece, but Athens and
+Sparta were at this time the most considerable, and they were altogether
+the most resolute and determined in their refusal to submit to the
+Persian sway. In fact, so well known and understood was the spirit of
+defiance with which these two powers were disposed to regard the Persian
+invasion, that when Xerxes sent his summons demanding submission, to the
+other states of Greece, he did not send any to these. When Darius
+invaded Greece some years before, he had summoned Athens and Sparta as
+well as the others, but his demands were indignantly rejected. It seems
+that the custom was for a government or a prince, when acknowledging the
+dominion of a superior power, to send, as a token of territorial
+submission, a little earth and water, which was a sort of legal form of
+giving up possession of their country to the sovereign who claimed it.
+Accordingly, when Darius sent his embassadors into Greece to summon the
+country to surrender, the embassadors, according to the usual form,
+called upon the governments of the several states to send earth and
+water to the king. The Athenians, as has been already said, indignantly
+refused to comply with this <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>demand. The Spartans, not content with a
+simple refusal, seized the embassadors and threw them into a well,
+telling them, as they went down, that if they wanted earth and water for
+the King of Persia, they might get it there.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The blank tablets.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks had obtained some information of Xerxes's designs against
+them before they received his summons. The first intelligence was
+communicated to the Spartans by Demaratus himself, while he was at Susa,
+in the following singular manner. It was the custom, in those days, to
+write with a steel point on a smooth surface of wax. The wax was spread
+for this purpose on a board or tablet of metal, in a very thin stratum,
+forming a ground upon which the letters traced with the point were
+easily legible. Demaratus took two writing-tablets such as these, and
+removing the wax from them, he wrote a brief account of the proposed
+Persian invasion, by tracing the characters upon the surface of the wood
+or metal itself, beneath; then, restoring the wax so as to conceal the
+letters, he sent the two tablets, seemingly blank, to Leonidas, king of
+Sparta. The messengers who bore them had other pretexts for their
+journey, and they had various <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>other articles to carry. The Persian
+guards who stopped and examined the messengers from time to time along
+the route, thought nothing of the blank tablets, and so they reached
+Leonidas in safety.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Leonidas.<br />His wife discovers the writing on the tablets.</div>
+
+<p>Leonidas being a blunt, rough soldier, and not much accustomed to
+cunning contrivances himself, was not usually much upon the watch for
+them from others, and when he saw no obvious communication upon the
+tablets, he threw them aside, not knowing what the sending of them could
+mean, and not feeling any strong interest in ascertaining. His wife,
+however&mdash;her name was Gorgo&mdash;had more curiosity. There was something
+mysterious about the affair, and she wished to solve it. She examined
+the tablets attentively in every part, and at length removed cautiously
+a little of the wax. The letters began to appear. Full of excitement and
+pleasure, she proceeded with the work until the whole cereous coating
+was removed. The result was, that the communication was revealed, and
+Greece received the warning.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The three spies.</div>
+
+<p>When the Greeks heard that Xerxes was at Sardis, they sent three
+messengers in disguise, to ascertain the facts in respect to the Persian
+army assembled there, and, so far as possible, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>to learn the plans and
+designs of the king. Notwithstanding all the efforts of these men to
+preserve their concealment and disguise, they were discovered, seized,
+and tortured by the Persian officer who took them, until they confessed
+that they were spies. The officer was about to put them to death, when
+Xerxes himself received information of the circumstances. He forbade the
+execution, and directed, on the other hand, that the men should be
+conducted through all his encampments, and be allowed to view and
+examine every thing. He then dismissed them, with orders to return to
+Greece and report what they had seen. He thought, he said, that the
+Greeks would be more likely to surrender if they knew how immense his
+preparations were for effectually vanquishing them if they attempted
+resistance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Alarm at Athens.<br />The Greeks consult the Delphic oracle.<br />The responses.</div>
+
+<p>The city of Athens, being farther north than Sparta, would be the one
+first exposed to danger from the invasion, and when the people heard of
+Xerxes's approach, the whole city was filled with anxiety and alarm.
+Some of the inhabitants were panic-stricken, and wished to submit;
+others were enraged, and uttered nothing but threats and defiance. A
+thousand different plans of defense were proposed and eagerly
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>discussed. At length the government sent messengers to the oracle at
+Delphi, to learn what their destiny was to be, and to obtain, if
+possible, divine direction in respect to the best mode of averting the
+danger. The messengers received an awful response, portending, in wild
+and solemn, though dark and mysterious language, the most dreadful
+calamities to the ill-fated city. The messengers were filled with alarm
+at hearing this reply. One of the inhabitants of Delphi, the city in
+which the oracle was situated, proposed to them to make a second
+application, in the character of the most humble supplicants, and to
+implore that the oracle would give them some directions in respect to
+the best course for them to pursue in order to avoid, or, at least, to
+mitigate the impending danger. They did so, and after a time they
+received an answer, vague, mysterious, and almost unintelligible, but
+which seemed to denote that the safety of the city was connected in some
+manner with Salamis, and with certain "wooden walls," to which the
+inspired distich of the response obscurely alluded.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Various interpretations of the oracle.</div>
+
+<p>The messengers returned to Athens and reported the answer which they had
+received. The people were puzzled and perplexed in their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>attempts to
+understand it. It seems that the citadel of Athens had been formerly
+surrounded by a wooden palisade. Some thought that this was what was
+referred to by the "wooden walls," and that the meaning of the oracle
+was that they must rebuild the palisade, and then retreat to the citadel
+when the Persians should approach, and defend themselves there.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Athenian fleet.</div>
+
+<p>Others conceived that the phrase referred to ships, and that the oracle
+meant to direct them to meet their enemies with a fleet upon the sea.
+Salamis, which was also mentioned by the oracle, was an island not far
+from Athens, being west of the city, between it and the Isthmus of
+Corinth. Those who supposed that by the "wooden walls" was denoted the
+fleet, thought that Salamis might have been alluded to as the place near
+which the great naval battle was to be fought. This was the
+interpretation which seemed finally to prevail.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Themistocles.</div>
+
+<p>The Athenians had a fleet of about two hundred galleys. These vessels
+had been purchased and built, some time before this, for the Athenian
+government, through the influence of a certain public officer of high
+rank and influence, named Themistocles. It seems that a large sum had
+accumulated in the public treasury, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>the produce of certain mines
+belonging to the city, and a proposal was made to divide it among the
+citizens, which would have given a small sum to each man. Themistocles
+opposed this proposition, and urged instead that the government should
+build and equip a fleet with the money. This plan was finally adopted.
+The fleet was built, and it was now determined to call it into active
+service to meet and repel the Persians, though the naval armament of
+Xerxes was six times as large.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Proposed confederation.<br />Council of Spartans and Athenians.</div>
+
+<p>The next measure was to establish a confederation, if possible, of the
+Grecian states, or at least of all those who were willing to combine,
+and thus to form an allied army to resist the invader. The smaller
+states were very generally panic-stricken, and had either already
+signified their submission to the Persian rule, or were timidly
+hesitating, in doubt whether it would be safer for them to submit to the
+overwhelming force which was advancing against them, or to join the
+Athenians and the Spartans in their almost desperate attempts to resist
+it. The Athenians and Spartans settled, for the time, their own
+quarrels, and held a council to take the necessary measures for forming
+a more extended confederation.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>All this took place while Xerxes was slowly advancing from Sardis to the
+Hellespont, and from the Hellespont to Doriscus, as described in the
+preceding chapter.</p>
+
+<p>The council resolved on dispatching an embassy at once to all the states
+of Greece, as well as to some of the remoter neighboring powers, asking
+them to join the alliance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Embassy to Argos.</div>
+
+<p>The first Greek city to which these embassadors came was Argos, which
+was the capital of a kingdom or state lying between Athens and Sparta,
+though within the Peloponnesus. The states of Argos and of Sparta, being
+neighbors, had been constantly at war. Argos had recently lost six
+thousand men in a battle with the Spartans, and were, consequently, not
+likely to be in a very favorable mood for a treaty of friendship and
+alliance.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Argives reject the propositions of the Spartans.</div>
+
+<p>When the embassadors had delivered their message, the Argolians replied
+that they had anticipated such a proposal from the time that they had
+heard that Xerxes had commenced his march toward Greece, and that they
+had applied, accordingly, to the oracle at Delphi, to know what it would
+be best for them to do in case the proposal were made. The answer of the
+oracle had been, they said, unfavorable to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>their entering into an
+alliance with the Greeks. They were willing, however, they added,
+notwithstanding this, to enter into an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, with the Spartans, for thirty years, on condition that they
+should themselves have the command of half the Peloponnesian troops.
+They were entitled to the command of the whole, being, as they
+contended, the superior nation in rank, but they would waive their just
+claim, and be satisfied with half, if the Spartans would agree to that
+arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>The Spartans replied that they could not agree to those conditions. They
+were themselves, they said, the superior nation in rank, and entitled to
+the whole command; and as they had two kings, and Argos but one, there
+was a double difficulty in complying with the Argive demand. They could
+not surrender one half of the command without depriving one of their
+kings of his rightful power.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the proposed alliance failed entirely, the people of Argos saying
+that they would as willingly submit to the dominion of Xerxes as to the
+insolent demands and assumptions of superiority made by the government
+of Sparta.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Embassy to Sicily.<br />Demands of Gelon.</div>
+
+<p>The embassadors among other countries <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>which they visited in their
+attempts to obtain alliance and aid, went to Sicily. Gelon was the King
+of Sicily, and Syracuse was his capital. Here the same difficulty
+occurred which had broken up the negotiations at Argos. The embassadors,
+when they arrived at Syracuse, represented to Gelon that, if the
+Persians subdued Greece, they would come to Sicily next, and that it was
+better for him and for his countrymen that they should meet the enemy
+while he was still at a distance, rather than to wait until he came
+near. Gelon admitted the justice of this reasoning, and said that he
+would furnish a large force, both of ships and men, for carrying on the
+war, provided that he might have the command of the combined army. To
+this, of course, the Spartans would not agree. He then asked that he
+might command the fleet, on condition of giving up his claim to the land
+forces. This proposition the Athenian embassadors rejected, saying to
+Gelon that what they were in need of, and came to him to obtain, was a
+supply of troops, not of leaders. The Athenians, they said, were to
+command the fleet, being not only the most ancient nation of Greece, but
+also the most immediately exposed to the invasion, so that they were
+doubly entitled <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>to be considered as the principals and leaders in the
+war.</p>
+
+<p>Gelon then told the embassadors that, since they wished to obtain every
+thing and to concede nothing, they had better leave his dominions
+without delay, and report to their countrymen that they had nothing to
+expect from Sicily.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The embassadors go to Corcyra.</div>
+
+<p>The embassadors went then to Corcyra, a large island on the western
+coast of Greece, in the Adriatic Sea. It is now called Corfu. Here they
+seemed to meet with their first success. The people of Corcyra acceded
+to the proposals made to them, and promised at once to equip and man
+their fleet, and send it round into the &AElig;gean Sea. They immediately
+engaged in the work, and seemed to be honestly intent on fulfilling
+their promises. They were, however, in fact, only pretending. They were
+really undecided which cause to espouse, the Greek or the Persian, and
+kept their promised squadron back by means of various delays, until its
+aid was no longer needed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Thessaly.</div>
+
+<p>But the most important of all these negotiations of the Athenians and
+Spartans with the neighboring states were those opened with Thessaly.
+Thessaly was a kingdom in the northern <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>part of Greece. It was,
+therefore, the territory which the Persian armies would first enter, on
+turning the northwestern corner of the &AElig;gean Sea. There were, moreover,
+certain points in its geographical position, and in the physical
+conformation of the country, that gave it a peculiar importance in
+respect to the approaching conflict.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The River Peneus.<br />The Vale of Tempe.</div>
+
+<p>By referring to the map placed at the commencement of the fifth chapter,
+it will be seen that Thessaly was a vast valley, surrounded on all sides
+by mountainous land, and drained by the River Peneus and its branches.
+The Peneus flows eastwardly to the &AElig;gean Sea, and escapes from the great
+valley through a narrow and romantic pass lying between the Mountains
+Olympus and Ossa. This pass was called in ancient times the Olympic
+Straits, and a part of it formed a romantic and beautiful glen called
+the Vale of Tempe. There was a road through this pass, which was the
+only access by which Thessaly could be entered from the eastward.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Straits of Thermopyl&aelig;.</div>
+
+<p>To the south of the Vale of Tempe, the mountains, as will appear from
+the map, crowded so hard upon the sea as not to allow any passage to the
+eastward of them. The natural <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>route of Xerxes, therefore, in descending
+into Greece, would be to come down along the coast until he reached the
+mouth of the Peneus, and then, following the river up through the Vale
+of Tempe into Thessaly, to pass down toward the Peloponnesus on the
+western side of Ossa and Pelion, and of the other mountains near the
+sea. If he could get through the Olympic Straits and the Vale of Tempe,
+the way would be open and unobstructed until he should reach the
+southern frontier of Thessaly, where there was another narrow pass
+leading from Thessaly into Greece. This last defile was close to the
+sea, and was called the Straits of Thermopyl&aelig;.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Question to be decided.</div>
+
+<p>Thus Xerxes and his hosts, in continuing their march to the southward,
+must necessarily traverse Thessaly, and in doing so they would have two
+narrow and dangerous defiles to pass&mdash;one at Mount Olympus, to get into
+the country, and the other at Thermopyl&aelig;, to get out of it. It
+consequently became a point of great importance to the Greeks to
+determine at which of these two passes they should make their stand
+against the torrent which was coming down upon them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Messengers from Thessaly.<br />Negotiations.</div>
+
+<p>This question would, of course, depend very much upon the disposition of
+Thessaly herself. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>The government of that country, understanding the
+critical situation in which they were placed, had not waited for the
+Athenians and Spartans to send embassadors to them, but, at a very early
+period of the war&mdash;before, in fact, Xerxes had yet crossed the
+Hellespont, had sent messengers to Athens to concert some plan of
+action. These messengers were to say to the Athenians that the
+government of Thessaly were expecting every day to receive a summons
+from Xerxes, and that they must speedily decide what they were to do;
+that they themselves were very unwilling to submit to him, but they
+could not undertake to make a stand against his immense host alone; that
+the southern Greeks might include Thessaly in their plan of defense, or
+exclude it, just as they thought best. If they decided to include it,
+then they must make a stand at the Olympic Straits, that is, at the pass
+between Olympus and Ossa; and to do that, it would be necessary to send
+a strong force immediately to take possession of the pass. If, on the
+contrary, they decided <i>not</i> to defend Thessaly, then the pass of
+Thermopyl&aelig; would be the point at which they must make their stand, and
+in that case Thessaly must be at liberty to submit on the first Persian
+summons.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Decision to defend the Olympic Straits.<br />Sailing of the fleet.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span></p><p>The Greeks, after consultation on the subject, decided that it would be
+best for them to defend Thessaly, and to take their stand, accordingly,
+at the Straits of Olympus. They immediately put a large force on board
+their fleet, armed and equipped for the expedition. This was at the time
+when Xerxes was just about crossing the Hellespont. The fleet sailed
+from the port of Athens, passed up through the narrow strait called
+Euripus, lying between the island of Eub&oelig;a and the main land, and
+finally landed at a favorable point of disembarkation, south of
+Thessaly. From this point the forces marched to the northward until they
+reached the Peneus, and then established themselves at the narrowest
+part of the passage between the mountains, strengthened their position
+there as much as possible, and awaited the coming of the enemy. The
+amount of the force was ten thousand men.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advice of the King of Macedon.</div>
+
+<p>They had not been here many days before a messenger came to them from
+the King of Macedon, which country, it will be seen, lies immediately
+north of Thessaly, earnestly dissuading them from attempting to make a
+stand at the Vale of Tempe. Xerxes was coming on, he said, with an
+immense and overwhelming force, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>one against which it would be utterly
+impossible for them to make good their defense at such a point as that.
+It would be far better for them to fall back to Thermopyl&aelig;, which, being
+a narrower and more rugged pass, could be more easily defended.</p>
+
+<p>Besides this, the messenger said that it was possible for Xerxes to
+enter Thessaly without going through the Vale of Tempe at all. The
+country between Thessaly and Macedon was mountainous, but it was not
+impassable, and Xerxes would very probably come by that way. The only
+security, therefore, for the Greeks, would be to fall back and intrench
+themselves at Thermopyl&aelig;. Nor was there any time to be lost. Xerxes was
+crossing the Hellespont, and the whole country was full of excitement
+and terror.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks fall back to Thermopyl&aelig;.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks determined to act on this advice. They broke up their
+encampment at the Olympic Straits, and, retreating to the southward,
+established themselves at Thermopyl&aelig;, to await there the coming of the
+conqueror. The people of Thessaly then surrendered to Xerxes as soon as
+they received his summons.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes visits Thessaly.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes, from his encampment at Therma, where we left him at the close of
+the last chapter, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>saw the peaks of Olympus and Ossa in the southern
+horizon. They were distant perhaps fifty miles from where he stood. He
+inquired about them, and was told that the River Peneus flowed between
+them to the sea, and that through the same defile there lay the main
+entrance to Thessaly. He had previously determined to march his army
+round the other way, as the King of Macedon had suggested, but he said
+that he should like to see this defile. So he ordered a swift Sidonian
+galley to be prepared, and, taking with him suitable guides, and a fleet
+of other vessels in attendance on his galley, he sailed to the mouth of
+the Peneus, and, entering that river, he ascended it until he came to
+the defile.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Beautiful rural scene.</div>
+
+<p>Seen from any of the lower elevations which projected from the bases of
+the mountains at the head of this defile, Thessaly lay spread out before
+the eye as one vast valley&mdash;level, verdant, fertile, and bounded by
+distant groups and ranges of mountains, which formed a blue and
+beautiful horizon on every side. Through the midst of this scene of
+rural loveliness the Peneus, with its countless branches, gracefully
+meandered, gathering the water from every part of the valley, and then
+pouring it forth in a deep <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>and calm current through the gap in the
+mountains at the observer's feet. Xerxes asked his guides if it would be
+possible to find any other place where the waters of the Peneus could be
+conducted to the sea. They replied that it would not be, for the valley
+was bounded on every side by ranges of mountainous land.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Conversation of Xerxes at the Olympic Pass.</div>
+
+<p>"Then," said Xerxes, "the Thessalians were wise in submitting at once to
+my summons; for, if they had not done so, I would have raised a vast
+embankment across the valley here, and thus stopped the river, turned
+their country into a lake, and drowned them all."</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_VIII" id="Chapter_VIII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter VIII.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Advance of Xerxes into Greece.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advance of the army.<br />Sailing of the fleet.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">F</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">rom</span>
+Therma&mdash;the last of the great stations at which the Persian army
+halted before its final descent upon Greece&mdash;the army commenced its
+march, and the fleet set sail, nearly at the same time, which was early
+in the summer. The army advanced slowly, meeting with the usual
+difficulties and delays, but without encountering any special or
+extraordinary occurrences, until, after having passed through Macedon
+into Thessaly, and through Thessaly to the northern frontier of Phocis,
+they began to approach the Straits of Thermopyl&aelig;. What took place at
+Thermopyl&aelig; will be made the subject of the next chapter. The movements
+of the fleet are to be narrated in this.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sciathus.<br />Eub&oelig;a.<br />Straits of Artemisium and Euripus.</div>
+
+<p>In order distinctly to understand these movements, it is necessary that
+the reader should first have a clear conception of the geographical
+conformation of the coasts and seas along which the path of the
+expedition lay. By referring to the map of Greece, we shall see that the
+course which the fleet would naturally take from Therma <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>to the
+southeastward, along the coast, was unobstructed and clear for about a
+hundred miles. We then come to a group of four islands, extending in a
+range at right angles to the coast. The only one of these islands with
+which we have particularly to do in this history is the innermost of
+them, which was named Sciathus. Opposite to these islands the line of
+the coast, having passed around the point of a mountainous and rocky
+promontory called Magnesia, turns suddenly to the westward, and runs in
+that direction for about thirty miles, when it again turns to the
+southward and eastward as before. In the sort of corner thus cut off by
+the deflection of the coast lies the long island of Eub&oelig;a, which may
+be considered, in fact, as almost a continuation of the continent, as it
+is a part of the same conformation of country, and is separated from the
+main land only by submerged valleys on the north and on the east. Into
+these sunken valleys the sea of course flows, forming straits or
+channels. The one on the north was, in ancient times, called Artemisium,
+and the one on the west, at its narrowest point, Euripus. All these
+islands and coasts were high and picturesque. They were also, in the
+days of Xerxes, densely populated, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>adorned profusely with temples,
+citadels, and towns.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Attica.<br />Saronic Gulf.<br />Island of Salamis.</div>
+
+<p>On passing the southernmost extremity of the island of Eub&oelig;a, and
+turning to the westward, we come to a promontory of the main land, which
+constituted Attica, and in the middle of which the city of Athens was
+situated. Beyond this is a capacious gulf, called the Saronian Gulf. It
+lies between Attica and the Peloponnesus. In the middle of the Saronian
+Gulf lies the island of &AElig;gina, and in the northern part of it the island
+of Salamis. The progress of the Persian fleet was from Therma down the
+coast to Sciathus, thence along the shores of Eub&oelig;a to its southern
+point, and so round into the Saronian Gulf to the island of Salamis. The
+distance of this voyage was perhaps two hundred and fifty miles. In
+accomplishing it the fleet encountered many dangers, and met with a
+variety of incidents and events, which we shall now proceed to describe.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Excitement of the country.<br />Signals.<br />Sentinels.</div>
+
+<p>The country, of course, was every where in a state of the greatest
+excitement and terror. The immense army was slowly coming down by land,
+and the fleet, scarcely less terrible, since its descents upon the coast
+would be so fearfully sudden and overwhelming when they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>were made, was
+advancing by sea. The inhabitants of the country were consequently in a
+state of extreme agitation. The sick and the infirm, who were, of
+course, utterly helpless in such a danger, exhibited every where the
+spectacle of silent dismay. Mothers, wives, maidens, and children, on
+the other hand, were wild with excitement and terror. The men, too full
+of passion to fear, or too full of pride to allow their fears to be
+seen, were gathering in arms, or hurrying to and fro with intelligence,
+or making hasty arrangements to remove their wives and children from the
+scenes of cruel suffering which were to ensue. They stationed watchmen
+on the hills to give warning of the approach of the enemy. They agreed
+upon signals, and raised piles of wood for beacon fires on every
+commanding elevation along the coast; while all the roads leading from
+the threatened provinces to other regions more remote from the danger
+were covered with flying parties, endeavoring to make their escape, and
+carrying, wearily and in sorrow, whatever they valued most and were most
+anxious to save. Mothers bore their children, men their gold and silver,
+and sisters aided their sick or feeble brothers to sustain the toil and
+terror of the flight.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p><p>All this time Xerxes was sitting in his war chariot, in the midst of his
+advancing army, full of exultation, happiness, and pride at the thoughts
+of the vast harvest of glory which all this panic and suffering were
+bringing him in.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Movement of the fleet.<br />The ten reconnoitering galleys.</div>
+
+<p>The fleet, at length&mdash;which was under the command of Xerxes's brothers
+and cousins, whom he had appointed the admirals of it&mdash;began to move
+down the coast from Therma, with the intention of first sweeping the
+seas clear of any naval force which the Greeks might have sent forward
+there to act against them, and then of landing upon some point on the
+coast, wherever they could do so most advantageously for co-operation
+with the army on the land. The advance of the ships was necessarily
+slow. So immense a flotilla could not have been otherwise kept together.
+The admirals, however, selected ten of the swiftest of the galleys, and,
+after manning and arming them in the most perfect manner, sent them
+forward to reconnoiter. The ten galleys were ordered to advance rapidly,
+but with the greatest circumspection. They were not to incur any
+needless danger, but, if they met with any detached ships of the enemy,
+they were to capture them, if possible. They were, moreover, to be
+constantly on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>alert, to observe every thing, and to send back to
+the fleet all important intelligence which they could obtain.</p>
+
+<p>The ten galleys went on without observing any thing remarkable until
+they reached the island of Sciathus. Here they came in sight of three
+Greek ships, a sort of advanced guard, which had been stationed there to
+watch the movements of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>The Greek galleys immediately hoisted their anchors and fled; the
+Persian galleys manned their oars, and pressed on after them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Guard-ships captured.<br />Barbarous ceremony.</div>
+
+<p>They overtook one of the guard-ships very soon, and, after a short
+conflict, they succeeded in capturing it. The Persians made prisoners of
+the officers and crew, and then, selecting from among them the fairest
+and most noble-looking man, just as they would have selected a bullock
+from a herd, they sacrificed him to one of their deities on the prow of
+the captured ship. This was a religious ceremony, intended to signalize
+and sanctify their victory.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A heroic Greek.</div>
+
+<p>The second vessel they also overtook and captured. The crew of this ship
+were easily subdued, as the overwhelming superiority of their enemies
+appeared to convince them that all resistance was hopeless, and to
+plunge them into <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>despair. There was one man, however, who, it seems,
+could not be conquered. He fought like a tiger to the last, and only
+ceased to deal his furious thrusts and blows at the enemies that
+surrounded him when, after being entirely covered with wounds, he fell
+faint and nearly lifeless upon the bloody deck. When the conflict with
+him was thus ended, the murderous hostility of his enemies seemed
+suddenly to be changed into pity for his sufferings and admiration of
+his valor. They gathered around him, bathed and bound up his wounds,
+gave him cordials, and at length restored him to life. Finally, when the
+detachment returned to the fleet, some days afterward, they carried this
+man with them, and presented him to the commanders as a hero worthy of
+the highest admiration and honor. The rest of the crew were made slaves.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">One crew escape.<br />The alarm spread.</div>
+
+<p>The third of the Greek guard-ships contrived to escape, or, rather, the
+crew escaped, while the vessel itself was taken. This ship, in its
+flight, had gone toward the north, and the crew at last succeeded in
+running it on shore on the coast of Thessaly, so as to escape,
+themselves, by abandoning the vessel to the enemy. The officers and
+crew, thus escaping to the shore, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>went through Thessaly into Greece,
+spreading the tidings every where that the Persians were at hand. This
+intelligence was communicated, also, along the coast, by beacon fires
+which the people of Sciathus built upon the heights of the island as a
+signal, to give the alarm to the country southward of them, according to
+the preconcerted plan. The alarm was communicated by other fires built
+on other heights, and sentinels were stationed on every commanding
+eminence on the highlands of Eub&oelig;a toward the south, to watch for the
+first appearance of the enemy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Return of the Persian galleys.<br />The monument of stones.</div>
+
+<p>The Persian galleys that had been sent forward having taken the three
+Greek guard-ships, and finding the sea before them now clear of all
+appearances of an enemy, concluded to return to the fleet with their
+prizes and their report. They had been directed, when they were
+dispatched from the fleet, to lay up a monument of stones at the
+furthest point which they should reach in their cruise: a measure often
+resorted to in similar cases, by way of furnishing proof that a party
+thus sent forward have really advanced as far as they pretend on their
+return. The Persian detachment had actually brought the stones for the
+erection of their landmark <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>with them in one of their galleys. The
+galley containing the stones, and two others to aid it, pushed on beyond
+Sciathus to a small rocky islet standing in a conspicuous position in
+the sea, and there they built their monument or cairn. The detachment
+then returned to meet the fleet. The time occupied by this whole
+expedition was eleven days.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Progress of the fleet.</div>
+
+<p>The fleet was, in the mean time, coming down along the coast of
+Magnesia. The whole company of ships had advanced safely and
+prosperously thus far, but now a great calamity was about to befall
+them&mdash;the first of the series of disasters by which the expedition was
+ultimately ruined. It was a storm at sea.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The fleet anchors in a bay.</div>
+
+<p>The fleet had drawn up for the night in a long and shallow bay on the
+coast. There was a rocky promontory at one end of this bay and a cape on
+the other, with a long beach between them. It was a very good place of
+refuge and rest for the night in calm weather, but such a bay afforded
+very little shelter against a tempestuous wind, or even against the surf
+and swell of the sea, which were sometimes produced by a distant storm.
+When the fleet entered this bay in the evening, the sea was calm and the
+sky serene. The commanders expected to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>remain there for the night, and
+to proceed on the voyage on the following day.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A coming storm.</div>
+
+<p>The bay was not sufficiently extensive to allow of the drawing up of so
+large a fleet in a single line along the shore. The ships were
+accordingly arranged in several lines, eight in all. The innermost of
+these lines was close to the shore; the others were at different
+distances from it, and every separate ship was held to the place
+assigned it by its anchors. In this position the fleet passed the night
+in safety, but before morning there were indications of a storm. The sky
+looked wild and lurid. A heavy swell came rolling in from the offing.
+The wind began to rise, and to blow in fitful gusts. Its direction was
+from the eastward, so that its tendency was to drive the fleet upon the
+shore. The seamen were anxious and afraid, and the commanders of the
+several ships began to devise, each for his own vessel, the best means
+of safety. Some, whose vessels were small, drew them up upon the sand,
+above the reach of the swell. Others strengthened the anchoring tackle,
+or added new anchors to those already down. Others raised their anchors
+altogether, and attempted to row their galleys away, up or down the
+coast, in hope of finding some better <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>place of shelter. Thus all was
+excitement and confusion in the fleet, through the eager efforts made by
+every separate crew to escape the impending danger.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The storm rages.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the storm came on apace. The rising and roughening sea
+made the oars useless, and the wind howled frightfully through the
+cordage and the rigging. The galleys soon began to be forced away from
+their moorings. Some were driven upon the beach and dashed to pieces by
+the waves. Some were wrecked on the rocks at one or the other of the
+projecting points which bounded the bay on either hand. Some foundered
+at their place of anchorage. Vast numbers of men were drowned. Those who
+escaped to the shore were in hourly dread of an attack from the
+inhabitants of the country. To save themselves, if possible, from this
+danger, they dragged up the fragments of the wrecked vessels upon the
+beach, and built a fort with them on the shore. Here they intrenched
+themselves, and then prepared to defend their lives, armed with the
+weapons which, like the materials for their fort, were washed up, from
+time to time, by the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Destruction of many vessels.<br />Plunder of the wrecks.<br />Scyllias, the famous diver.</div>
+
+<p>The storm continued for three days. It destroyed about three hundred
+galleys, besides an <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>immense number of provision transports and other
+smaller vessels. Great numbers of seamen, also, were drowned. The
+inhabitants of the country along the coast enriched themselves with the
+plunder which they obtained from the wrecks, and from the treasures, and
+the gold and silver vessels, which continued for some time to be driven
+up upon the beach by the waves. The Persians themselves recovered, it
+was said, a great deal of valuable treasure, by employing a certain
+Greek diver, whom they had in their fleet, to dive for it after the
+storm was over. This diver, whose name was Scyllias, was famed far and
+wide for his power of remaining under water. As an instance of what they
+believed him capable of performing, they said that when, at a certain
+period subsequent to these transactions, he determined to desert to the
+Greeks, he accomplished his design by diving into the sea from the deck
+of a Persian galley, and coming up again in the midst of the Greek
+fleet, ten miles distant!</p>
+
+<p>After three days the storm subsided. The Persians then repaired the
+damages which had been sustained, so far as it was now possible to
+repair them, collected what remained of the fleet, took the shipwrecked
+mariners from their <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>rude fortification on the beach, and set sail again
+on their voyage to the southward.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Dissensions in the Greek fleet.<br />Jealousy of the Athenians.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the Greek fleet had assembled in the arm of the sea
+lying north of Eub&oelig;a, and between Eub&oelig;a and the main land. It was
+an allied fleet, made up of contributions from various states that had
+finally agreed to come into the confederacy. As is usually the case,
+however, with allied or confederate forces, they were not well agreed
+among themselves. The Athenians had furnished far the greater number of
+ships, and they considered themselves, therefore, entitled to the
+command; but the other allies were envious and jealous of them on
+account of that very superiority of wealth and power which enabled them
+to supply a greater portion of the naval force than the rest. They were
+willing that one of the Spartans should command, but they would not
+consent to put themselves under an Athenian. If an Athenian leader were
+chosen, they would disperse, they said, and the various portions of the
+fleet return to their respective homes.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Situation of the Athenians.</div>
+
+<p>The Athenians, though burning with resentment at this unjust
+declaration, were compelled to submit to the necessity of the case. They
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>could not take the confederates at their word, and allow the fleet to
+be broken up, for the defense of Athens was the great object for which
+it was assembled. The other states might make their peace with the
+conqueror by submission, but the Athenians could not do so. In respect
+to the rest of Greece, Xerxes wished only for dominion. In respect to
+Athens, he wished for vengeance. The Athenians had burned the Persian
+city of Sardis, and he had determined to give himself no rest until he
+had burned Athens in return.</p>
+
+<p>It was well understood, therefore, that the assembling of the fleet, and
+giving battle to the Persians where they now were, was a plan adopted
+mainly for the defense and benefit of the Athenians. The Athenians,
+accordingly, waived their claim to command, secretly resolving that,
+when the war was over, they would have their revenge for the insult and
+injury.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Eurybiades appointed commander.</div>
+
+<p>A Spartan was accordingly appointed commander of the fleet. His name was
+Eurybiades.</p>
+
+<p>Things were in this state when the two fleets came in sight of each
+other in the strait between the northern end of Eub&oelig;a and the main
+land. Fifteen of the Persian galleys, advancing incautiously some miles
+in front of the rest, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>came suddenly upon the Greek fleet, and were all
+captured. The crews were made prisoners and sent into Greece. The
+remainder of the fleet entered the strait, and anchored at the eastern
+extremity of it, sheltered by the promontory of Magnesia, which now lay
+to the north of them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Debates in the Greek council.<br />Dismay of the Eub&oelig;ans.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks were amazed at the immense magnitude of the Persian fleet,
+and the first opinion of the commanders was, that it was wholly useless
+for them to attempt to engage them. A council was convened, and, after a
+long and anxious debate, they decided that it was best to retire to the
+southward. The inhabitants of Eub&oelig;a, who had been already in a state
+of great excitement and terror at the near approach of so formidable an
+enemy, were thrown, by this decision of the allies, into a state of
+absolute dismay. It was abandoning them to irremediable and hopeless
+destruction.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greek leaders bribed.</div>
+
+<p>The government of the island immediately raised a very large sum of
+money, and went with it to Themistocles, one of the most influential of
+the Athenian leaders, and offered it to him if he would contrive any way
+to persuade the commanders of the fleet to remain and give the Persians
+battle where they were. Themistocles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>took the money, and agreed to the
+condition. He went with a small part of it&mdash;though this part was a very
+considerable sum&mdash;to Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, and offered it
+to him if he would retain the fleet in its present position. There were
+some other similar offerings made to other influential men, judiciously
+selected. All this was done in a very private manner, and, of course,
+Themistocles took care to reserve to himself the lion's share of the
+Eub&oelig;an contribution. The effect of this money in altering the
+opinions of the naval officers was marvelous. A new council was called,
+the former decision was annulled, and the Greeks determined to give
+their enemies battle where they were.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Precautions of the Persians.</div>
+
+<p>The Persians had not been unmindful of the danger that the Greeks might
+retreat by retiring through the Euripus, and so escape them. In order to
+prevent this, they secretly sent off a fleet of two hundred of their
+strongest and fleetest galleys, with orders to sail round Eub&oelig;a and
+enter the Euripus from the south, so as to cut off the retreat of the
+Greeks in that quarter. They thought that by this plan the Greek fleet
+would be surrounded, and could have no possible mode of escape. They
+remained, therefore, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>with the principal fleet, at the outer entrance of
+the northern strait for some days, before attacking the Greeks, in order
+to give time for the detachment to pass round the island.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Designs of the Persians discovered.</div>
+
+<p>The Persians sent off the two hundred galleys with great secrecy, not
+desiring that the Greeks should discover their design of thus
+intercepting their retreat. They did discover it, however, for this was
+the occasion on which the great diver, Scyllias, made his escape from
+one fleet to the other by swimming under water ten miles, and he brought
+the Greeks the tidings.<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks decide to give battle.<br />Euripus and Artemisium.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks dispatched a small squadron of ships with orders to proceed
+southward into the Euripus, to meet this detachment which the Persians
+sent round; and, in the mean time, they determined themselves to attack
+the main Persian fleet without any delay. Notwithstanding their absurd
+dissensions and jealousies, and the extent to which the leaders were
+influenced by intrigues and bribes, the Greeks always evinced an
+undaunted and indomitable spirit when the day of battle came. It was,
+moreover, in this case, exceedingly important to defend <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>the position
+which they had taken. By referring to the map once more, it will be seen
+that the Euripus was the great highway to Athens by sea, as the pass of
+Thermopyl&aelig; was by land. Thermopyl&aelig; was west of Artemisium, where the
+fleet was now stationed, and not many miles from it. The Greek army had
+made its great stand at Thermopyl&aelig;, and Xerxes was fast coming down the
+country with all his forces to endeavor to force a passage there. The
+Persian fleet, in entering Artemisium, was making the same attempt by
+sea in respect to the narrow passage of Euripus; and for either of the
+two forces, the fleet or the army, to fail of making good the defense of
+its position, without a desperate effort to do so, would justly be
+considered a base betrayal and abandonment of the other.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advance of the Greeks.<br />The battle.<br />A stormy night.<br />Scene of terror.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks therefore advanced, one morning, to the attack of the
+Persians, to the utter astonishment of the latter, who believed that
+their enemies were insane when they thus saw them coming into the jaws,
+as they thought, of certain destruction. Before night, however, they
+were to change their opinions in respect to the insanity of their foes.
+The Greeks pushed boldly on into the midst of the Persian fleet, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>where
+they were soon surrounded. They then formed themselves into a circle,
+with the prows of the vessels outward, and the sterns toward the center
+within, and fought in this manner with the utmost desperation all the
+day. With the night a storm came on, or, rather, a series of
+thunder-showers and gusts of wind, so severe that both fleets were glad
+to retire from the scene of contest. The Persians went back toward the
+east, the Greeks to the westward, toward Thermopyl&aelig;&mdash;each party busy in
+repairing their wrecks, taking care of their wounded, and saving their
+vessels from the tempest. It was a dreadful night. The Persians,
+particularly, spent it in the midst of scenes of horror. The wind and
+the current, it seems, set outward, toward the sea, and carried the
+masses and fragments of the wrecked vessels, and the swollen and ghastly
+bodies of the dead, in among the Persian fleet, and so choked up the
+surface of the water that the oars became entangled and useless. The
+whole mass of seamen in the Persian fleet, during this terrible night,
+were panic-stricken and filled with horror. The wind, the perpetual
+thunder, the concussions of the vessels with the wrecks and with one
+another, and the heavy shocks of the seas, kept them in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>continual
+alarm; and the black and inscrutable darkness was rendered the more
+dreadful, while it prevailed, by the hideous spectacle which, at every
+flash of lightning, glared brilliantly upon every eye from the wide
+surface of the sea. The shouts and cries of officers vociferating
+orders, of wounded men writhing in agony, of watchmen and sentinels in
+fear of collisions, mingled with the howling wind and roaring seas,
+created a scene of indescribable terror and confusion.</p>
+
+<p>The violence of the sudden gale was still greater further out at sea,
+and the detachment of ships which had been sent around Eub&oelig;a was
+wholly dispersed and destroyed by it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A calm after the storm.</div>
+
+<p>The storm was, however, after all, only a series of summer evening
+showers, such as to the inhabitants of peaceful dwellings on the land
+have no terror, but only come to clear the sultry atmosphere in the
+night, and in the morning are gone. When the sun rose, accordingly, upon
+the Greeks and Persians on the morning after their conflict, the air was
+calm, the sky serene, and the sea as blue and pure as ever. The bodies
+and the wrecks had been floated away into the offing. The courage or the
+ferocity, whichever we choose to call it, of the combatants, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>returned,
+and they renewed the conflict. It continued, with varying success, for
+two more days.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Terror of the Eub&oelig;ans.<br />Their plans.</div>
+
+<p>During all this time the inhabitants of the island of Eub&oelig;a were in
+the greatest distress and terror. They watched these dreadful conflicts
+from the heights, uncertain how the struggle would end, but fearing lest
+their defenders should be beaten, in which case the whole force of the
+Persian fleet would be landed on their island, to sweep it with pillage
+and destruction. They soon began to anticipate the worst, and, in
+preparation for it, they removed their goods&mdash;all that could be
+removed&mdash;and drove their cattle down to the southern part of the island,
+so as to be ready to escape to the main land. The Greek commanders,
+finding that the fleet would probably be compelled to retreat in the
+end, sent to them here, recommending that they should kill their cattle
+and eat them, roasting the flesh at fires which they should kindle on
+the plain. The cattle could not be transported, they said, across the
+channel, and it was better that the flying population should be fed,
+than that the food should fall into Persian hands. If they would dispose
+of their cattle in this manner, Eurybiades would endeavor, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>said, to
+transport the people themselves and their valuable goods across into
+Attica.</p>
+
+<p>How many thousand peaceful and happy homes were broken up and destroyed
+forever by this ruthless invasion!</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks retire.<br />Inscription on the rocks.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the Persians, irritated by the obstinate resistance of
+the Greeks, were, on the fourth day, preparing for some more vigorous
+measures, when they saw a small boat coming toward the fleet from down
+the channel. It proved to contain a countryman, who came to tell them
+that the Greeks had gone away. The whole fleet, he said, had sailed off
+to the southward, and abandoned those seas altogether. The Persians did
+not, at first, believe this intelligence. They suspected some ambuscade
+or stratagem. They advanced slowly and cautiously down the channel. When
+they had gone half down to Thermopyl&aelig;, they stopped at a place called
+Histi&aelig;a, where, upon the rocks on the shore, they found an inscription
+addressed to the Ionians&mdash;who, it will be recollected, had been brought
+by Xerxes as auxiliaries, contrary to the advice of
+Artabanus&mdash;entreating them not to fight against their countrymen. This
+inscription was written in large and conspicuous characters on the face
+of the cliff, so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>that it could be read by the Ionian seamen as they
+passed in their galleys.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The commanders of the Persian fleet summoned to Thermopyl&aelig;.</div>
+
+<p>The fleet anchored at Histi&aelig;a, the commanders being somewhat uncertain
+in respect to what it was best to do. Their suspense was very soon
+relieved by a messenger from Xerxes, who came in a galley up the channel
+from Thermopyl&aelig;, with the news that Xerxes had arrived at Thermopyl&aelig;,
+had fought a great battle there, defeated the Greeks, and obtained
+possession of the pass, and that any of the officers of the fleet who
+chose to do so might come and view the battle ground. This intelligence
+and invitation produced, throughout the fleet, a scene of the wildest
+excitement, enthusiasm, and joy. All the boats and smaller vessels of
+the fleet were put into requisition to carry the officers down. When
+they arrived at Thermopyl&aelig; the tidings all proved true. Xerxes was in
+possession of the pass, and the Greek fleet was gone.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_IX" id="Chapter_IX"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter IX.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Battle of Thermopyl&aelig;.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The pass of Thermopyl&aelig;.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span>
+pass of Thermopyl&aelig; was not a ravine among mountains, but a narrow
+space between mountains and the sea. The mountains landward were steep
+and inaccessible; the sea was shoal. The passage between them was narrow
+for many miles along the shore, being narrowest at the ingress and
+egress. In the middle the space was broader. The place was celebrated
+for certain warm springs which here issued from the rocks, and which had
+been used in former times for baths.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Its situation.</div>
+
+<p>The position had been considered, long before Xerxes's day, a very
+important one in a military point of view, as it was upon the frontier
+between two Greek states that were frequently at war. One of these
+states, of course, was Thessaly. The other was Phocis, which lay south
+of Thessaly. The general boundary between these two states was
+mountainous, and impassable for troops, so that each could invade the
+territories of the other only by passing round between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>the mountains
+and the shore at Thermopyl&aelig;.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Ancient intrenchments.<br />View at Thermopyl&aelig;.</div>
+
+<p>The Phoc&aelig;ans, in order to keep the Thessalians out, had, in former
+times, built a wall across the way, and put up gates there, which they
+strongly fortified. In order still further to increase the difficulty of
+forcing a passage, they conducted the water of the warm springs over the
+ground without the wall, in such a way as to make the surface
+continually wet and miry. The old wall had now fallen to ruins, but the
+miry ground remained. The place was solitary and desolate, and overgrown
+with a confused and wild vegetation. On one side the view extended far
+and wide over the sea, with the highlands of Eub&oelig;a in the distance,
+and on the other dark and inaccessible mountains rose, covered with
+forests, indented with mysterious and unexplored ravines, and frowning
+in a wild and gloomy majesty over the narrow passway which crept along
+the shore below.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The allied forces.<br />Leonidas the Spartan.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks, when they retired from Thessaly, fell back upon Thermopyl&aelig;,
+and established themselves there. They had a force variously estimated,
+from three to four thousand men. These were from the different states of
+Greece, some within and some without the Peloponnesus&mdash;a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>few hundred
+men only being furnished, in general, from each state or kingdom. Each
+of these bodies of troops had its own officers, though there was one
+general-in-chief, who commanded the whole. This was Leonidas the
+Spartan. He had brought with him three hundred Spartans, as the quota
+furnished by that city. These men he had specially selected himself, one
+by one, from among the troops of the city, as men on whom he could rely.</p>
+
+<p>It will be seen from the map that Thermopyl&aelig; is at some distance from
+the Isthmus of Corinth, and that of the states which would be protected
+by making a stand at the pass, some were without the isthmus and some
+within. These states, in sending each a few hundred men only to
+Thermopyl&aelig;, did not consider that they were making their full
+contribution to the army, but only sending forward for the emergency
+those that could be dispatched at once; and they were all making
+arrangements to supply more troops as soon as they could be raised and
+equipped for the service. In the mean time, however, Xerxes and his
+immense hordes came on faster than they had expected, and the news at
+length came to Leonidas, in the pass, that the Persians, with one or two
+millions of men, were at hand, while <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>he had only three or four thousand
+at Thermopyl&aelig; to oppose them. The question arose, What was to be done?</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Debate in regard to defending Thermopyl&aelig;.<br />The decision.</div>
+
+<p>Those of the Greeks who came from the Peloponnesus were in favor of
+abandoning Thermopyl&aelig;, and falling back to the isthmus. The isthmus,
+they maintained, was as strong and as favorable a position as the place
+where they were; and, by the time they had reached it, they would have
+received great re-enforcements; whereas, with so small a force as they
+had then at command, it was madness to attempt to resist the Persian
+millions. This plan, however, was strongly opposed by all those Greeks
+who represented countries <i>without</i> the Peloponnesus; for, by abandoning
+Thermopyl&aelig;, and falling back to the isthmus, their states would be left
+wholly at the mercy of the enemy. After some consultation and debate, it
+was decided to remain at Thermopyl&aelig;. The troops accordingly took up
+their positions in a deliberate and formal manner, and, intrenching
+themselves as strongly as possible, began to await the onset of the
+enemy. Leonidas and his three hundred were foremost in the defile, so as
+to be the first exposed to the attack. The rest occupied various
+positions along the passage, except one corps, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>which was stationed on
+the mountains above, to guard the pass in that direction. This corps was
+from Phocis, which, being the state nearest to the scene of conflict,
+had furnished a larger number of soldiers than any other. Their division
+numbered a thousand men. These being stationed on the declivity of the
+mountain, left only two or three thousand in the defile below.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Character of the Spartans.<br />Their pride.</div>
+
+<p>From what has been said of the stern and savage character of the
+Spartans, one would scarcely expect in them any indications or displays
+of personal vanity. There was one particular, it seems, however, in
+regard to which they were vain, and that was in respect to their hair.
+They wore it very long. In fact, the length of the hair was, in their
+commonwealth, a mark of distinction between freemen and slaves. All the
+agricultural and mechanical labors were performed, as has already been
+stated, by the slaves, a body which constituted, in fact, the mass of
+the population; and the Spartan freemen, though very stern in their
+manners, and extremely simple and plain in their habits of life, were,
+it must be remembered, as proud and lofty in spirit as they were plain
+and poor. They constituted a military aristocracy, and a military
+aristocracy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>is always more proud and overbearing than any other.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Spartans adorn themselves for the battle.</div>
+
+<p>It must be understood, therefore, that these Spartan soldiers were
+entirely above the performance of any useful labors; and while they
+prized, in character, the savage ferocity of the tiger, they had a
+taste, in person, for something like his savage beauty too. They were
+never, moreover, more particular and careful in respect to their
+personal appearance than when they were going into battle. The field of
+battle was their particular theater of display, not only of the
+substantial qualities of strength, fortitude, and valor, but also of
+such personal adornments as were consistent with the plainness and
+severity of their attire, and could be appreciated by a taste as rude
+and savage as theirs. They proceeded, therefore, when established at
+their post in the throat of the pass, to adorn themselves for the
+approaching battle.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Approach of Xerxes.<br />The Persian horseman.<br />His observation.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time the armies of Xerxes were approaching. Xerxes himself,
+though he did not think it possible that the Greeks could have a
+sufficient force to offer him any effectual resistance, thought it
+probable that they would attempt to make a stand at the pass, and, when
+he began to draw near to it, he sent forward a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>horseman to reconnoiter
+the ground. The horseman rode into the pass a little way, until he came
+in sight of the enemy. He stopped upon an eminence to survey the scene,
+being all ready to turn in an instant, and fly at the top of his speed,
+in case he should be pursued. The Spartans looked upon him as he stood
+there, but seemed to consider his appearance as a circumstance of no
+moment, and then went on with their avocations. The horseman found, as
+he leisurely observed them, that there was an intrenchment thrown across
+the straits, and that the Spartans were in front of it. There were other
+forces behind, but these the horseman could not see. The Spartans were
+engaged, some of them in athletic sports and gymnastic exercises, and
+the rest in nicely arranging their dress, which was red and showy in
+color, though simple and plain in form, and in smoothing, adjusting, and
+curling their hair. In fact, they seemed to be, one and all, preparing
+for an entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>And yet these men were actually preparing themselves to be slaughtered,
+to be butchered, one by one, by slow degrees, and in the most horrible
+and cruel manner; and they knew perfectly well that it was so. The
+adorning of themselves was for this express and particular end.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Report of the horseman.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p><p>The horseman, when he had attentively noticed all that was to be seen,
+rode slowly back to Xerxes, and reported the result. The king was much
+amused at hearing such an account from his messenger. He sent for
+Demaratus, the Spartan refugee, with whom, the reader will recollect, he
+held a long conversation in respect to the Greeks at the close of the
+great review at Doriscus. When Demaratus came, Xerxes related to him
+what the messenger had reported. "The Spartans in the pass," said he,
+"present, in their encampment, the appearance of being out on a party of
+pleasure. What does it mean? You will admit now, I suppose, that they do
+not intend to resist us."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Conversation with Demaratus.</div>
+
+<p>Demaratus shook his head. "Your majesty does not know the Greeks," said
+he, "and I am very much afraid that, if I state what I know respecting
+them, I shall offend you. These appearances which your messenger
+observed indicate to me that the men he saw were a body of Spartans, and
+that they supposed themselves on the eve of a desperate conflict. Those
+are the men, practicing athletic feats, and smoothing and adorning their
+hair, that are the most to be feared of all the soldiers of Greece. If
+you can conquer them, you will have nothing beyond to fear."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes encamps at the pass.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p><p>Xerxes thought this opinion of Demaratus extremely absurd. He was
+convinced that the party in the pass was some small detachment that
+could not possibly be thinking of serious resistance. They would, he was
+satisfied, now that they found that the Persians were at hand,
+immediately retire down the pass, and leave the way clear. He advanced,
+therefore, up to the entrance of the pass, encamped there, and waited
+several days for the Greeks to clear the way. The Greeks remained
+quietly in their places, paying apparently no attention whatever to the
+impending and threatening presence of their formidable foes.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Troops sent into the pass.</div>
+
+<p>At length Xerxes concluded that it was time for him to act. On the
+morning, therefore, of the fifth day, he called out a detachment of his
+troops, sufficient, as he thought, for the purpose, and sent them down
+the pass, with orders to seize all the Greeks that were there, and bring
+them, <i>alive</i>, to him. The detachment that he sent was a body of Medes,
+who were considered as the best troops in the army, excepting always the
+Immortals, who, as has been before stated, were entirely superior to the
+rest. The Medes, however, Xerxes supposed, would find no difficulty in
+executing his orders.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Defeat of the Persian detachment.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span></p><p>The detachment marched, accordingly, into the pass. In a few hours a
+spent and breathless messenger came from them, asking for
+re-enforcements. The re-enforcements were sent. Toward night a remnant
+of the whole body came back, faint and exhausted with a long and
+fruitless combat, and bringing many of their wounded and bleeding
+comrades with them. The rest they had left dead in the defile.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Immortals called out.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes was both astonished and enraged at these results. He determined
+that this trifling should continue no longer. He ordered the Immortals
+themselves to be called out on the following morning, and then, placing
+himself at the head of them, he advanced to the vicinity of the Greek
+intrenchments. Here he ordered a seat or throne to be placed for him
+upon an eminence, and, taking his seat upon it, prepared to witness the
+conflict. The Greeks, in the mean time, calmly arranged themselves on
+the line which they had undertaken to defend, and awaited the charge.
+Upon the ground, on every side, were lying the mangled bodies of the
+Persians slain the day before, some exposed fully to view, ghastly and
+horrid spectacles, others trampled down and half buried in the mire.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Immortals advance to the charge.<br />Valor of the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>The Immortals advanced to the attack, but they made no impression.
+Their superior numbers gave them no advantage, on account of the
+narrowness of the defile. The Greeks stood, each corps at its own
+assigned station on the line, forming a mass so firm and immovable that
+the charge of the Persians was arrested on encountering it as by a wall.
+In fact, as the spears of the Greeks were longer than those of the
+Persians, and their muscular and athletic strength and skill were
+greater, it was found that in the desperate conflict which raged, hour
+after hour, along the line, the Persians were continually falling, while
+the Greek ranks continued entire. Sometimes the Greeks would retire for
+a space, falling back with the utmost coolness, regularity, and order;
+and then, when the Persians pressed on in pursuit, supposing that they
+were gaining the victory, the Greeks would turn so soon as they found
+that the ardor of pursuit had thrown the enemies' lines somewhat into
+confusion, and, presenting the same firm and terrible front as before,
+would press again upon the offensive, and cut down their enemies with
+redoubled slaughter. Xerxes, who witnessed all these things from among
+the group of officers around him upon the eminence, was kept continually
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>in a state of excitement and irritation. Three times he leaped from his
+throne, with loud exclamations of vexation and rage.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Immortals repulsed.</div>
+
+<p>All, however, was of no avail. When night came the Immortals were
+compelled to withdraw, and leave the Greeks in possession of their
+intrenchments.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Treachery of Ephialtes.</div>
+
+<p>Things continued substantially in this state for one or two days longer,
+when one morning a Greek countryman appeared at the tent of Xerxes, and
+asked an audience of the king. He had something, he said, of great
+importance to communicate to him. The king ordered him to be admitted.
+The Greek said that his name was Ephialtes, and that he came to inform
+the king that there was a secret path leading along a wild and hidden
+chasm in the mountains, by which he could guide a body of Persians to
+the summit of the hills overhanging the pass at a point below the Greek
+intrenchment. This point being once attained, it would be easy,
+Ephialtes said, for the Persian forces to descend into the pass below
+the Greeks, and thus to surround them and shut them in, and that the
+conquest of them would then be easy. The path was a secret one, and
+known to very few. He knew it, however, and was willing to conduct a
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>detachment of troops through it, on condition of receiving a suitable
+reward.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Joy of Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>The king was greatly surprised and delighted at this intelligence. He
+immediately acceded to Ephialtes's proposals, and organized a strong
+force to be sent up the path that very night.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Course of the path.</div>
+
+<p>On the north of Thermopyl&aelig; there was a small stream, which came down
+through a chasm in the mountains to the sea. The path which Ephialtes
+was to show commenced here, and following the bed of this stream up the
+chasm, it at length turned to the southward through a succession of wild
+and trackless ravines, till it came out at last on the declivities of
+the mountains near the lower part of the pass, at a place where it was
+possible to descend to the defile below. This was the point which the
+thousand Phoc&aelig;ans had been ordered to take possession of and guard, when
+the plan for the defense of the pass was first organized. They were
+posted here, not with the idea of repelling any attack from the
+mountains behind them&mdash;for the existence of the path was wholly unknown
+to them&mdash;but only that they might command the defile below, and aid in
+preventing the Persians from going through, even if those who were in
+the defile were defeated or slain.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">A Persian detachment sent up the path.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p><p>The Persian detachment toiled all night up the steep and dangerous
+pathway, among rocks, chasms, and precipices, frightful by day, and now
+made still more frightful by the gloom of the night. They came out at
+last, in the dawn of the morning, into valleys and glens high up the
+declivity of the mountain, and in the immediate vicinity of the Phoc&aelig;an
+encampment. The Persians were concealed, as they advanced, by the groves
+and thickets of stunted oaks which grew here, but the morning air was so
+calm and still, that the Phoc&aelig;an sentinels heard the noise made by their
+trampling upon the leaves as they came up the glen. The Phoc&aelig;ans
+immediately gave the alarm. Both parties were completely surprised. The
+Persians had not expected to find a foe at this elevation, and the
+Greeks who had ascended there had supposed that all beyond and above
+them was an impassable and trackless desolation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Phoc&aelig;ans retreat.</div>
+
+<p>There was a short conflict, The Phoc&aelig;ans were driven off their ground.
+They retreated up the mountain, and toward the southward. The Persians
+decided not to pursue them. On the other hand, they descended toward the
+defile, and took up a position on the lower declivities of the mountain,
+which enabled them to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>command the pass below; there they paused, and
+awaited Xerxes's orders.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks surrounded.</div>
+
+<p>The Greeks in the defile perceived at once that they were now wholly at
+the mercy of their enemies. They might yet retreat, it is true, for the
+Persian detachment had not yet descended to intercept them; but, if they
+remained where they were, they would, in a few hours, be hemmed in by
+their foes; and even if they could resist, for a little time, the double
+onset which would then be made upon them, their supplies would be cut
+off, and there would be nothing before them but immediate starvation.
+They held hurried councils to determine what to do.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Resolution of Leonidas.<br />Leonidas dismisses the other Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>There is some doubt as to what took place at these councils, though the
+prevailing testimony is, that Leonidas recommended that they should
+retire&mdash;that is, that all except himself and the three hundred Spartans
+should do so. "You," said he, addressing the other Greeks, "are at
+liberty, by your laws, to consider, in such cases as this, the question
+of expediency, and to withdraw from a position which you have taken, or
+stand and maintain it, according as you judge best. But by our laws,
+such a question, in such a case, is not to be entertained. Wherever we
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>are posted, there we stand, come life or death, to the end. We have
+been sent here from Sparta to defend the pass of Thermopyl&aelig;. We have
+received no orders to withdraw. Here, therefore, we must remain; and the
+Persians, if they go through the pass at all, must go through it over
+our graves. It is, therefore, your duty to retire. Our duty is here, and
+we will remain and do it."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His noble generosity.</div>
+
+<p>After all that may be said of the absurdity and folly of throwing away
+the lives of three hundred men in a case like this, so utterly and
+hopelessly desperate, there is still something in the noble generosity
+with which Leonidas dismissed the other Greeks, and in the undaunted
+resolution with which he determined himself to maintain his ground,
+which has always strongly excited the admiration of mankind. It was
+undoubtedly carrying the point of honor to a wholly unjustifiable
+extreme, and yet all the world, for the twenty centuries which have
+intervened since these transactions occurred, while they have
+unanimously disapproved, in theory, of the course which Leonidas
+pursued, have none the less unanimously admired and applauded it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Leonidas retains the Thebans.</div>
+
+<p>In dismissing the other Greeks, Leonidas retained with him a body of
+Thebans, whom he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>suspected of a design of revolting to the enemy.
+Whether he considered his decision to keep them in the pass equivalent
+to a sentence of death, and intended it as a punishment for their
+supposed treason, or only that he wished to secure their continued
+fidelity by keeping them closely to their duty, does not appear. At all
+events, he retained them, and dismissed the other allies. Those
+dismissed retreated to the open country below. The Spartans and the
+Thebans remained in the pass. There were also, it was said, some other
+troops, who, not willing to leave the Spartans alone in this danger,
+chose to remain with them and share their fate. The Thebans remained
+very unwillingly.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes attacks him.<br />Terrible combat.<br />Death of Leonidas.</div>
+
+<p>The next morning Xerxes prepared for his final effort. He began by
+solemn religious services, in the presence of his army, at an early
+hour; and then, after breakfasting quietly, as usual, and waiting, in
+fact, until the business part of the day had arrived, he gave orders to
+advance. His troops found Leonidas and his party not at their
+intrenchments, as before, but far in advance of them. They had come out
+and forward into a more open part of the defile, as if to court and
+anticipate their inevitable and dreaded fate. Here a most terrible
+combat ensued; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>one which, for a time, seemed to have no other object
+than mutual destruction, until at length Leonidas himself fell, and then
+the contest for the possession of his body superseded the unthinking and
+desperate struggles of mere hatred and rage. Four times the body, having
+been taken by the Persians, was retaken by the Greeks: at last the
+latter retreated, bearing the dead body with them past their
+intrenchment, until they gained a small eminence in the rear of it, at a
+point where the pass was wider. Here the few that were still left
+gathered together. The detachment which Ephialtes had guided were coming
+up from below. The Spartans were faint and exhausted with their
+desperate efforts, and were bleeding from the wounds they had received;
+their swords and spears were broken to pieces, their leader and nearly
+all their company were slain. But the savage and tiger-like ferocity
+which animated them continued unabated till the last. They fought with
+tooth and nail when all other weapons failed them, and bit the dust at
+last, as they fell, in convulsive and unyielding despair. The struggle
+did not cease till they were all slain, and every limb of every man
+ceased to quiver.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Stories of the battle.<br />The two invalids.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>There were stories in circulation among mankind after this battle,
+importing that one or two of the corps escaped the fate of the rest.
+There were two soldiers, it was said, that had been left in a town near
+the pass, as invalids, being afflicted with a severe inflammation of the
+eyes. One of them, when he heard that the Spartans were to be left in
+the pass, went in, of his own accord, and joined them, choosing to share
+the fate of his comrades. It was said that he ordered his servant to
+conduct him to the place. The servant did so, and then fled himself, in
+great terror. The sick soldier remained and fought with the rest. The
+other of the invalids was saved, but, on his return to Sparta, he was
+considered as stained with indelible disgrace for what his countrymen
+regarded a base dereliction from duty in not sharing his comrade's fate.</p>
+
+<p>There was also a story of another man, who had been sent away on some
+mission into Thessaly, and who did not return until all was over; and
+also of two others who had been sent to Sparta, and were returning when
+they heard of the approaching conflict. One of them hastened into the
+pass, and was killed with his companions. The other delayed, and was
+saved. Whether any or all of these rumors were true,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>is not now certain; there is, however, no doubt that, with at most a few
+exceptions such as these, the whole three hundred were slain.</p>
+
+<p>The Thebans, early in the conflict, went over in a body to the enemy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes views the ground.<br />His treatment of the body of Leonidas.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes came after the battle to view the ground. It was covered with
+many thousands of dead bodies, nearly all of whom, of course, were
+Persians. The wall of the intrenchment was broken down, and the breaches
+in it choked up by the bodies. The morasses made by the water of the
+springs were trampled into deep mire, and were full of the mutilated
+forms of men and of broken weapons. When Xerxes came at last to the body
+of Leonidas, and was told that that was the man who had been the leader
+of the band, he gloried over it in great exaltation and triumph. At
+length he ordered the body to be decapitated, and the headless trunk to
+be nailed to a cross.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Message to the fleet.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p><p>Xerxes then commanded that a great hole should be dug, and ordered all
+the bodies of the Persians that had been killed to be buried in it,
+except only about a thousand, which he left upon the ground. The object
+of this was to conceal the extent of the loss which his army had
+sustained. The more perfectly to accomplish this
+end, he caused the great grave, when it was filled up, to be strewed
+over with leaves, so as to cover and conceal all indications of what had
+been done. This having been carefully effected, he sent the message to
+the fleet, which was alluded to at the close of the last chapter,
+inviting the officers to come and view the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The operations of the fleet described in the last chapter, and those of
+the army narrated in this, took place, it will be remembered, at the
+same time, and in the same vicinity too; for, by referring to the map,
+it will appear that Thermopyl&aelig; was upon the coast, exactly opposite to
+the channel or arm of the sea lying north of Eub&oelig;a, where the naval
+contests had been waged; so that, while Xerxes had been making his
+desperate efforts to get through the pass, his fleet had been engaged in
+a similar conflict with the squadrons of the Greeks, directly opposite
+to him, twenty or thirty miles in the offing.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes sends for Demaratus.<br />Conversation with Demaratus.</div>
+
+<p>After the battle of Thermopyl&aelig; was over, Xerxes sent for Demaratus, and
+inquired of him how many more such soldiers there were in Greece as
+Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans. Demaratus replied that he could
+not say how many precisely there were in Greece, but that there were
+eight thousand such in Sparta <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span>alone. Xerxes then asked the opinion of
+Demaratus as to the course best to be pursued for making the conquest of
+the country. This conversation was held in the presence of various
+nobles and officers, among whom was the admiral of the fleet, who had
+come, with the various other naval commanders, as was stated in the last
+chapter, to view the battle-field.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Plans proposed by him.</div>
+
+<p>Demaratus said that he did not think that the king could easily get
+possession of the Peloponnesus by marching to it directly, so formidable
+would be the opposition that he would encounter at the isthmus. There
+was, however, he said, an island called Cythera, opposite to the
+territories of Sparta, and not far from the shore, of which he thought
+that the king could easily get possession, and which, once fully in his
+power, might be made the base of future operations for the reduction of
+the whole peninsula, as bodies of troops could be dispatched from it to
+the main land in any numbers and at any time. He recommended, therefore,
+that three hundred ships, with a proper complement of men, should be
+detached from the fleet, and sent round at once to take possession of
+that island.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Opposition of the admiral.</div>
+
+<p>To this plan the admiral of the fleet was totally opposed. It was
+natural that he should <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>be so, since the detaching of three hundred
+ships for this enterprise would greatly weaken the force under his
+command. It would leave the fleet, he told the king, a miserable
+remnant, not superior to that of the enemy, for they had already lost
+four hundred ships by storms. He thought it infinitely preferable that
+the fleet and the army should advance together, the one by sea and the
+other on the land, and complete their conquests as they went along. He
+advised the king, too, to beware of Demaratus's advice. He was a Greek,
+and, as such, his object was, the admiral believed, to betray and ruin
+the expedition.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Decision of Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>After hearing these conflicting opinions, the king decided to follow the
+admiral's advice. "I will adopt your counsel," said he, "but I will not
+hear any thing said against Demaratus, for I am convinced that he is a
+true and faithful friend to me." Saying this, he dismissed the council.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_X" id="Chapter_X"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter X.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Burning of Athens.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The officers return to their vessels.<br />The Greek fleet retire to Salamis.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">W</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">hen</span>
+the officers of the Persian fleet had satisfied themselves with
+examining the battle-field at Thermopyl&aelig;, and had heard the narrations
+given by the soldiers of the terrible combats that had been fought with
+the desperate garrison which had been stationed to defend the pass, they
+went back to their vessels, and prepared to make sail to the southward,
+in pursuit of the Greek fleet. The Greek fleet had gone to Salamis. The
+Persians in due time overtook them there, and a great naval conflict
+occurred, which is known in history as the battle of Salamis, and was
+one of the most celebrated naval battles of ancient times. An account of
+this battle will form the subject of the next chapter. In this we are to
+follow the operations of the army on the land.</p>
+
+<p>As the Pass of Thermopyl&aelig; was now in Xerxes's possession, the way was
+open before him to all that portion of the great territory which lay
+north of the Peloponnesus. Of course, before <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>he could enter the
+peninsula itself, he must pass the Isthmus of Corinth, where he might,
+perhaps, encounter some concentrated resistance. North of the isthmus,
+however, there was no place where the Greeks could make a stand. The
+country was all open, or, rather, there were a thousand ways open
+through the various valleys and glens, and along the banks of the
+rivers. All that was necessary was to procure guides and proceed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Thessalians.<br />Their hostility to the Phoc&aelig;ans.</div>
+
+<p>The Thessalians were very ready to furnish guides. They had submitted to
+Xerxes before the battle of Thermopyl&aelig;, and they considered themselves,
+accordingly, as his allies. They had, besides, a special interest in
+conducting the Persian army, on account of the hostile feelings which
+they entertained toward the people immediately south of the pass, into
+whose territories Xerxes would first carry his ravages. This people were
+the Phoc&aelig;ans. Their country, as has already been stated, was separated
+from Thessaly by impassable mountains, except where the Straits of
+Thermopyl&aelig; opened a passage; and through this pass both nations had been
+continually making hostile incursions into the territory of the other
+for many years before the Persian invasion. The Thessalians had
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>surrendered readily to the summons of Xerxes, while the Phoc&aelig;ans had
+determined to resist him, and adhere to the cause of the Greeks in the
+struggle. They were suspected of having been influenced, in a great
+measure, in their determination to resist, by the fact that the
+Thessalians had decided to surrender. They were resolved that they would
+not, on any account, be upon the same side with their ancient and
+inveterate foes.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Defeat of the Thessalians.</div>
+
+<p>The hostility of the Thessalians to the Phoc&aelig;ans was equally implacable.
+At the last incursion which they had made into the Phoc&aelig;an territory,
+they had been defeated by means of stratagems in a manner which tended
+greatly to vex and irritate them. There were two of these stratagems,
+which were both completely successful, and both of a very extraordinary
+character.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Phoc&aelig;an stratagem.<br />A spectral army.</div>
+
+<p>The first was this. The Thessalians were in the Phoc&aelig;an country in great
+force, and the Phoc&aelig;ans had found themselves utterly unable to expel
+them. Under these circumstances, a body of the Phoc&aelig;ans, six hundred in
+number, one day whitened their faces, their arms and hands, their
+clothes, and all their weapons, with chalk, and then, at the dead of
+night&mdash;perhaps, however, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>when the moon was shining&mdash;made an onset upon
+the camp of the enemy. The Thessalian sentinels were terrified and ran
+away, and the soldiers, awakened from their slumbers by these
+unearthly-looking troops, screamed with fright, and fled in all
+directions, in utter confusion and dismay. A night attack is usually a
+dangerous attempt, even if the assaulting party is the strongest, as, in
+the darkness and confusion which then prevail, the assailants can not
+ordinarily distinguish friends from foes, and so are in great danger,
+amid the tumult and obscurity, of slaying one another. That difficulty
+was obviated in this case by the strange disguise which the Phoc&aelig;ans had
+assumed. They knew that all were Thessalians who were not whitened like
+themselves. The Thessalians were totally discomfited and dispersed by
+this encounter.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Thessalian cavalry.</div>
+
+<p>The other stratagem was of a different character, and was directed
+against a troop of cavalry. The Thessalian cavalry were renowned
+throughout the world. The broad plains extending through the heart of
+their country contained excellent fields for training and exercising
+such troops, and the mountains which surrounded it furnished grassy
+slopes and verdant valleys, that supplied excellent pasturage for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>the
+rearing of horses. The nation was very strong, therefore, in this
+species of force, and many of the states and kingdoms of Greece, when
+planning their means of internal defense, and potentates and conquerors,
+when going forth on great campaigns, often considered their armies
+incomplete unless there was included in them a corps of Thessalian
+cavalry.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Pitfall for the cavalry.<br />They are caught in it.</div>
+
+<p>A troop of this cavalry had invaded Phocis, and the Phoc&aelig;ans, conscious
+of their inability to resist them in open war, contrived to entrap them
+in the following manner. They dug a long trench in the ground, and then
+putting in baskets or casks sufficient nearly to fill the space, they
+spread over the top a thin layer of soil. They then concealed all
+indications that the ground had been disturbed, by spreading leaves over
+the surface. The trap being thus prepared, they contrived to entice the
+Thessalians to the spot by a series of retreats, and at length led them
+into the pitfall thus provided for them. The substructure of casks was
+strong enough to sustain the Phoc&aelig;ans, who went over it as footmen, but
+was too fragile to bear the weight of the mounted troops. The horses
+broke through, and the squadron was thrown into such confusion by so
+unexpected a disaster, that, when <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>the Phoc&aelig;ans turned and fell upon
+them, they were easily overcome.</p>
+
+<p>These things had irritated and vexed the Thessalians very much. They
+were eager for revenge, and they were very ready to guide the armies of
+Xerxes into the country of their enemies in order to obtain it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advance of the army.<br />Cruelties and atrocities.</div>
+
+<p>The troops advanced accordingly, awakening every where, as they came on,
+the greatest consternation and terror among the inhabitants, and
+producing on all sides scenes of indescribable anguish and suffering.
+They came into the valley of the Cephisus, a beautiful river flowing
+through a delightful and fertile region, which contained many cities and
+towns, and was filled every where with an industrious rural population.
+Through this scene of peace, and happiness, and plenty, the vast horde
+of invaders swept on with the destructive force of a tornado. They
+plundered the towns of every thing which could be carried away, and
+destroyed what they were compelled to leave behind them. There is a
+catalogue of twelve cities in this valley which they burned. The
+inhabitants, too, were treated with the utmost cruelty. Some were
+seized, and compelled to follow the army as slaves; others were slain;
+and others still were subjected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>to nameless cruelties and atrocities,
+worse sometimes than death. Many of the women, both mothers and maidens,
+died in consequence of the brutal violence with which the soldiers
+treated them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The sacred town of Delphi.</div>
+
+<p>The most remarkable of the transactions connected with Xerxes's advance
+through the country of Phocis, on his way to Athens, were those
+connected with his attack upon Delphi. Delphi was a sacred town, the
+seat of the oracle. It was in the vicinity of Mount Parnassus and of the
+Castalian spring, places of very great renown in the Greek mythology.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mount Parnassus.</div>
+
+<p>Parnassus was the name of a short mountainous range rather than of a
+single peak, though the loftiest summit of the range was called
+Parnassus too. This summit is found, by modern measurement, to be about
+eight thousand feet high, and it is covered with snow nearly all the
+year. When bare it consists only of a desolate range of rocks, with
+mosses and a few Alpine plants growing on the sheltered and sunny sides
+of them. From the top of Parnassus travelers who now visit it look down
+upon almost all of Greece as upon a map. The Gulf of Corinth is a silver
+lake at their feet, and the plains of Thessaly are seen extending far
+and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>wide to the northward, with Olympus, Pelion, and Ossa, blue and
+distant peaks, bounding the view.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Summit of Parnassus.<br />The Castalian spring.</div>
+
+<p>Parnassus has, in fact, a double summit, between the peaks of which a
+sort of ravine commences, which, as it extends down the mountain,
+becomes a beautiful valley, shaded with rows of trees, and adorned with
+slopes of verdure and banks of flowers. In a glen connected with this
+valley there is a fountain of water springing copiously from among the
+rocks, in a grove of laurels. This fountain gives rise to a stream,
+which, after bounding over the rocks, and meandering between mossy banks
+for a long distance down the mountain glens, becomes a quiet lowland
+stream, and flows gently through a fertile and undulating country to the
+sea. This fountain was the famous Castalian spring. It was, as the
+ancient Greek legends said, the favorite resort and residence of Apollo
+and the Muses, and its waters became, accordingly, the symbol and the
+emblem of poetical inspiration.</p>
+
+<p>The city of Delphi was built upon the lower declivities of the
+Parnassian ranges, and yet high above the surrounding country. It was
+built in the form of an amphitheater, in a sort of <i>lap</i> in the hill
+where it stood, with steep precipices <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>descending to a great depth on
+either side. It was thus a position of difficult access, and was
+considered almost impregnable in respect to its military strength.
+Besides its natural defenses, it was considered as under the special
+protection of Apollo.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The oracle.<br />Architectural structures.<br />Works of art.</div>
+
+<p>Delphi was celebrated throughout the world, in ancient times, not only
+for the oracle itself, but for the magnificence of the architectural
+structures, the boundless profusion of the works of art, and the immense
+value of the treasures which, in process of time, had been accumulated
+there. The various powers and potentates that had resorted to it to
+obtain the responses of the oracle, had brought rich presents, or made
+costly contributions in some way, to the service of the shrine. Some had
+built temples, others had constructed porches or colonnades. Some had
+adorned the streets of the city with architectural embellishments;
+others had caused statues to be erected; and others had made splendid
+donations of vessels of gold and silver, until at length the wealth and
+magnificence of Delphi was the wonder of the world. All nations resorted
+to it, some to see its splendors, and others to obtain the counsel and
+direction of the oracle in emergencies of difficulty or danger.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Inspiration of the oracle.<br />Its discovery.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span></p><p>In the time of Xerxes, Delphi had been for several hundred years in the
+enjoyment of its fame as a place of divine inspiration. It was said to
+have been originally discovered in the following manner. Some herdsmen
+on the mountains, watching their flocks, observed one day a number of
+goats performing very strange and unaccountable antics among some
+crevices in the rocks, and, going to the place, they found that a
+mysterious wind was issuing from the crevices, which produced an
+extraordinary exhilaration on all who breathed it. Every thing
+extraordinary was thought, in those days, to be supernatural and divine,
+and the fame of this discovery was spread every where, the people
+supposing that the effect produced upon the men and animals by breathing
+the mysterious air was a divine inspiration. A temple was built over the
+spot, priests and priestesses were installed, a city began to rise, and
+in process of time Delphi became the most celebrated oracle in the
+world; and as the vast treasures which had been accumulated there
+consisted mainly of gifts and offerings consecrated to a divine and
+sacred service, they were all understood to be under divine protection.
+They were defended, it is true, in part by the inaccessibleness of the
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>position of Delphi, and by the artificial fortifications which had been
+added from time to time to increase the security, but still more by the
+feeling which every where prevailed, that any violence offered to such a
+shrine would be punished by the gods as sacrilege. The account of the
+manner in which Xerxes was repulsed, as related by the ancient
+historians, is somewhat marvelous. We, however, in this case, as in all
+others, transmit the story to our readers as the ancient historians give
+it to us.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Panic of the Delphians.<br />They apply to the oracle.</div>
+
+<p>The main body of the army pursued its way directly southward toward the
+city of Athens, which was now the great object at which Xerxes aimed. A
+large detachment, however, separating from the main body, moved more to
+the westward, toward Delphi. Their plan was to plunder the temples and
+the city, and send the treasures to the king. The Delphians, on hearing
+this, were seized with consternation. They made application themselves
+to the oracle, to know what they were to do in respect to the sacred
+treasures. They could not defend them, they said, against such a host,
+and they inquired whether they should bury them in the earth, or attempt
+to remove them to some distant place of safety.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Response of the oracle.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>The oracle replied that they were to do nothing at all in respect to the
+sacred treasures. The divinity, it said, was able to protect what was
+its own. They, on their part, had only to provide for themselves, their
+wives, and their children.</p>
+
+<p>On hearing this response, the people dismissed all care in respect to
+the treasures of the temple and of the shrine, and made arrangements for
+removing their families and their own effects to some place of safety
+toward the southward. The military force of the city and a small number
+of the inhabitants alone remained.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The prodigy in the temple.</div>
+
+<p>When the Persians began to draw near, a prodigy occurred in the temple,
+which seemed intended to warn the profane invaders away. It seems that
+there was a suit of arms, of a costly character doubtless, and highly
+decorated with gold and gems&mdash;the present, probably, of some Grecian
+state or king&mdash;which were hung in an inner and sacred apartment of the
+temple, and which it was sacrilegious for any human hand to touch. These
+arms were found, on the day when the Persians were approaching, removed
+to the outward front of the temple. The priest who first observed them
+was struck with amazement and awe. He spread the intelligence among the
+soldiers and the people that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>remained, and the circumstance awakened in
+them great animation and courage.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Discomfiture of the Persians.<br />The spirit warriors.</div>
+
+<p>Nor were the hopes of divine interposition which this wonder awakened
+disappointed in the end; for, as soon as the detachment of Persians came
+near the hill on which Delphi was situated, loud thunder burst from the
+sky, and a bolt, descending upon the precipices near the town, detached
+two enormous masses of rock, which rolled down upon the ranks of the
+invaders. The Delphian soldiers, taking advantage of the scene of panic
+and confusion which this awful visitation produced, rushed down upon
+their enemies and completed their discomfiture. They were led on and
+assisted in this attack by the spirits of two ancient heroes, who had
+been natives of the country, and to whom two of the temples of Delphi
+had been consecrated. These spirits appeared in the form of tall and
+full-armed warriors, who led the attack, and performed prodigies of
+strength and valor in the onset upon the Persians; and then, when the
+battle was over, disappeared as mysteriously as they came.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Consternation at Athens.<br />The inhabitants advised to fly.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time the great body of the army of Xerxes, with the monarch
+at their head, was advancing on Athens. During his advance the city had
+been in a continual state of panic and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>confusion. In the first place,
+when the Greek fleet had concluded to give up the contest in the
+Artemisian Channel, before the battle of Thermopyl&aelig;, and had passed
+around to Salamis, the commanders in the city of Athens had given up the
+hope of making any effectual defense, and had given orders that the
+inhabitants should save themselves by seeking a refuge wherever they
+could find it. This annunciation, of course, filled the city with
+dismay, and the preparations for a general flight opened every where
+scenes of terror and distress, of which those who have never witnessed
+the evacuation of a city by its inhabitants can scarcely conceive.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Scenes of misery.</div>
+
+<p>The immediate object of the general terror was, at this time, the
+Persian fleet; for the Greek fleet, having determined to abandon the
+waters on that side of Attica, left the whole coast exposed, and the
+Persians might be expected at any hour to make a landing within a few
+miles of the city. Scarcely, however, had the impending of this danger
+been made known to the city, before the tidings of one still more
+imminent reached it, in the news that the Pass of Thermopyl&aelig; had been
+carried, and that, in addition to the peril with which the Athenians
+were threatened by the fleet on the side of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>sea, the whole Persian
+army was coming down upon them by land. This fresh alarm greatly
+increased, of course, the general consternation. All the roads leading
+from the city toward the south and west were soon covered with parties
+of wretched fugitives, exhibiting as they pressed forward, weary and
+wayworn, on their toilsome and almost hopeless flight, every possible
+phase of misery, destitution, and despair. The army fell back to the
+isthmus, intending to make a stand, if possible, there, to defend the
+Peloponnesus. The fugitives made the best of their way to the sea-coast,
+where they were received on board transport ships sent thither from the
+fleet, and conveyed, some to &AElig;gina, some to Salamis, and others to other
+points on the coasts and islands to the south, wherever the terrified
+exiles thought there was the best prospect of safety.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Some of the inhabitants remain.</div>
+
+<p>Some, however, remained at Athens. There was a part of the population
+who believed that the phrase "wooden walls," used by the oracle,
+referred, not to the ships of the fleet, but to the wooden palisade
+around the citadel. They accordingly repaired and strengthened the
+palisade, and established themselves in the fortress with a small
+garrison which undertook to defend it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Situation of the Acropolis.<br />Magnificent architectural structures.<br />Statue of Minerva.<br />The Parthenon.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p><p>The citadel of Athens, or the Acropolis, as it was called, was the
+richest, and most splendid, and magnificent fortress in the world. It
+was built upon an oblong rocky hill, the sides of which were
+perpendicular cliffs, except at one end, where alone the summit was
+accessible. This summit presented an area of an oval form, about a
+thousand feet in length and five hundred broad, thus containing a space
+of about ten acres. This area upon the summit, and also the approaches
+at the western end, were covered with the most grand, imposing, and
+costly architectural structures that then existed in the whole European
+world. There were temples, colonnades, gateways, stairways, porticoes,
+towers, and walls, which, viewed as a whole, presented a most
+magnificent spectacle, that excited universal admiration, and which,
+when examined in detail, awakened a greater degree of wonder still by
+the costliness of the materials, the beauty and perfection of the
+workmanship, and the richness and profusion of the decorations, which
+were seen on every hand. The number and variety of statues of bronze and
+of marble which had been erected in the various temples and upon the
+different platforms were very great. There was one, a statue of Minerva,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>which was executed by Phidias, the great Athenian sculptor, after the
+celebrated battle of Marathon, in the days of Darius, which, with its
+pedestal, was sixty feet high. It stood on the left of the grand
+entrance, towering above the buildings in full view from the country
+below, and leaning upon its long spear like a colossal sentinel on
+guard. In the distance, on the right, from the same point of view, the
+great temple called the Parthenon was to be seen, a temple which was, in
+some respects, the most celebrated in the world. The ruins of these
+edifices remain to the present day, standing in desolate and solitary
+grandeur on the rocky hill which they once so richly adorned.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes at Athens.</div>
+
+<p>When Xerxes arrived at Athens, he found, of course, no difficulty in
+obtaining possession of the city itself, since it had been deserted by
+its inhabitants, and left defenseless. The people that remained had all
+crowded into the citadel. They had built the wooden palisade across the
+only approach by which it was possible to get near the gates, and they
+had collected large stones on the tops of the rocks, to roll down upon
+their assailants if they should attempt to ascend.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241-2]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i240.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="292" alt="The Citadel at Athens." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Citadel at Athens.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Athens burned.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes, after ravaging and burning the town, took up a position upon a
+hill opposite to the citadel, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>and there he had engines constructed to
+throw enormous arrows, on which tow that had been dipped in pitch was
+wound. This combustible envelopment of the arrows was set on fire before
+the weapon was discharged, and a shower of the burning missiles thus
+formed was directed toward the palisade. The wooden walls were soon set
+on fire by them, and totally consumed. The access to the Acropolis was,
+however, still difficult, being by a steep acclivity, up which it was
+very dangerous to ascend so long as the besiegers were ready to roll
+down rocks upon their assailants from above.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The citadel taken and fired.</div>
+
+<p>At last, however, after a long conflict and much slaughter, Xerxes
+succeeded in forcing his way into the citadel. Some of his troops
+contrived to find a path by which they could climb up to the walls.
+Here, after a desperate combat with those who were stationed to guard
+the place, they succeeded in gaining admission, and then opened the
+gates to their comrades below. The Persian soldiers, exasperated with
+the resistance which they had encountered, slew the soldiers of the
+garrison, perpetrated every imaginable violence on the wretched
+inhabitants who had fled there for shelter, and then plundered the
+citadel and set it on fire.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Exaltation of Xerxes.<br />Messenger sent to Susa.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p><p>The heart of Xerxes was filled with exultation and joy as he thus
+arrived at the attainment of what had been the chief and prominent
+object of his campaign. To plunder and destroy the city of Athens had
+been the great pleasure that he had promised himself in all the mighty
+preparations that he had made. This result was now realized, and he
+dispatched a special messenger immediately to Susa with the triumphant
+tidings.</p>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XI" id="Chapter_XI"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XI.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Battle of Salamis.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Situation of Salamis.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">S</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">alamis</span>
+is an island of a very irregular form, lying in the Saronian
+Gulf, north of &AElig;gina, and to the westward of Athens. What was called the
+Port of Athens was on the shore opposite to Salamis, the city itself
+being situated on elevated land four or five miles back from the sea.
+From this port to the bay on the southern side of Salamis, where the
+Greek fleet was lying, it was only four or five miles more, so that,
+when Xerxes burned the city, the people on board the galleys in the
+fleet might easily see the smoke of the conflagration.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Movements of the fleet and the army.</div>
+
+<p>The Isthmus of Corinth was west of Salamis, some fifteen miles, across
+the bay. The army, in retreating from Athens toward the isthmus, would
+have necessarily to pass round the bay in a course somewhat circuitous,
+while the fleet, in following them, would pass in a direct line across
+it. The geographical relations of these places, a knowledge of which is
+necessary to a full understanding of the operations of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>Greek and
+Persian forces, will be distinctly seen by comparing the above
+description with the map placed at the commencement of the fifth
+chapter.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Policy of the Greeks.<br />Reasons for retreating to Salamis.<br />A council of war.</div>
+
+<p>It had been the policy of the Greeks to keep the fleet and army as much
+as possible together, and thus, during the time in which the troops were
+attempting a concentration at Thermopyl&aelig;, the ships made their
+rendezvous in the Artemisian Strait or Channel, directly opposite to
+that point of the coast. There they fought, maintaining their position
+desperately, day after day, as long as Leonidas and his Spartans held
+their ground on the shore. Their sudden disappearance from those waters,
+by which the Persians had been so much surprised, was caused by their
+having received intelligence that the pass had been carried and Leonidas
+destroyed. They knew then that Athens would be the next point of
+resistance by the land forces. They therefore fell back to Salamis, or,
+rather, to the bay lying between Salamis and the Athenian shore, that
+being the nearest position that they could take to support the
+operations of the army in their attempts to defend the capital. When,
+however, the tidings came to them that Athens had fallen, and that what
+remained of the army <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>had retreated to the isthmus, the question at once
+arose whether the fleet should retreat too, across the bay, to the
+isthmus shore, with a view to co-operate more fully with the army in the
+new position which the latter had taken, or whether it should remain
+where it was, and defend itself as it best could against the Persian
+squadrons which would soon be drawing near. The commanders of the fleet
+held a consultation to consider this question.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Consultations and debates.<br />Conflicting views.</div>
+
+<p>In this consultation the Athenian and the Corinthian leaders took
+different views. In fact, they were very near coming into open
+collision. Such a difference of opinion, considering the circumstances
+of the case, was not at all surprising. It might, indeed, have naturally
+been expected to arise, from the relative situation of the two cities,
+in respect to the danger which threatened them. If the Greek fleet were
+to withdraw from Salamis to the isthmus, it might be in a better
+position to defend Corinth, but it would, by such a movement, be
+withdrawing from the Athenian territories, and abandoning what remained
+in Attica wholly to the conqueror. The Athenians were, therefore, in
+favor of maintaining the position at Salamis, while the Corinthians were
+disposed to retire to the shores <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>of the isthmus, and co-operate with
+the army there.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The council breaks up in confusion.</div>
+
+<p>The council was convened to deliberate on this subject before the news
+arrived of the actual fall of Athens, although, inasmuch as the Persians
+were advancing into Attica in immense numbers, and there was no Greek
+force left to defend the city, they considered its fall as all but
+inevitable. The tidings of the capture and destruction of Athens came
+while the council was in session. This seemed to determine the question.
+The Corinthian commanders, and those from the other Peloponnesian
+cities, declared that it was perfectly absurd to remain any longer at
+Salamis, in a vain attempt to defend a country already conquered. The
+council was broken up in confusion, each commander retiring to his own
+ship, and the Peloponnesians resolving to withdraw on the following
+morning. Eurybiades, who, it will be recollected, was the
+commander-in-chief of all the Greek fleet, finding thus that it was
+impossible any longer to keep the ships together at Salamis, since a
+part of them would, at all events, withdraw, concluded to yield to the
+necessity of the case and to conduct the whole fleet to the isthmus. He
+issued his orders accordingly, and the several <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>commanders repaired to
+their respective ships to make the preparations. It was night when the
+council was dismissed, and the fleet was to move in the morning.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Themistocles.<br />Interview with Mnesiphilus.</div>
+
+<p>One of the most influential and distinguished of the Athenian officers
+was a general named Themistocles. Very soon after he had returned to his
+ship from this council, he was visited by another Athenian named
+Mnesiphilus, who, uneasy and anxious in the momentous crisis, had come
+in his boat, in the darkness of the night, to Themistocles's ship, to
+converse with him on the plans of the morrow. Mnesiphilus asked
+Themistocles what was the decision of the council.</p>
+
+<p>"To abandon Salamis," said Themistocles, "and retire to the isthmus."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Mnesiphilus, "we shall never have an opportunity to meet
+the enemy. I am sure that if we leave this position the fleet will be
+wholly broken up, and that each portion will go, under its own
+commander, to defend its own state or seek its own safety, independently
+of the rest. We shall never be able to concentrate our forces again. The
+result will be the inevitable dissolution of the fleet as a combined and
+allied force, in spite of all that Eurybiades or any one else can do to
+prevent it."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Themistocles seeks Eurybiades.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p><p>Mnesiphilus urged this danger with so much earnestness and eloquence as
+to make a very considerable impression on the mind of Themistocles.
+Themistocles said nothing, but his countenance indicated that he was
+very strongly inclined to adopt Mnesiphilus's views. Mnesiphilus urged
+him to go immediately to Eurybiades, and endeavor to induce him to
+obtain a reversal of the decision of the council. Themistocles, without
+expressing either assent or dissent, took his boat, and ordered the
+oarsmen to row him to the galley of Eurybiades. Mnesiphilus, having so
+far accomplished his object, went away.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Urges a new council.</div>
+
+<p>Themistocles came in his boat to the side of Eurybiades's galley. He
+said that he wished to speak with the general on a subject of great
+importance. Eurybiades, when this was reported to him, sent to invite
+Themistocles to come on board. Themistocles did so, and he urged upon
+the general the same arguments that Mnesiphilus had pressed upon him,
+namely, that if the fleet were once to move from their actual position,
+the different squadrons would inevitably separate, and could never be
+assembled again. He urged Eurybiades, therefore, very strenuously to
+call a new council, with a view <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>of reversing the decision that had been
+made to retire, and of resolving instead to give battle to the Persians
+at Salamis.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The council convened again.</div>
+
+<p>Eurybiades was persuaded, and immediately took measures for convening
+the council again. The summons, sent around thus at midnight, calling
+upon the principal officers of the fleet to repair again in haste to the
+commander's galley, when they had only a short time before been
+dismissed from it, produced great excitement. The Corinthians, who had
+been in favor of the plan of abandoning Salamis, conjectured that the
+design might be to endeavor to reverse that decision, and they came to
+the council determined to resist any such attempt, if one should be
+made.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Themistocles rebuked.</div>
+
+<p>When the officers had arrived, Themistocles began immediately to open
+the discussion, before, in fact, Eurybiades had stated why he had called
+them together. A Corinthian officer interrupted and rebuked him for
+presuming to speak before his time. Themistocles retorted upon the
+Corinthian, and continued his harangue. He urged the council to review
+their former decision, and to determine, after all, to remain at
+Salamis. He, however, now used different arguments from those which he
+had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>employed when speaking to Eurybiades alone; for to have directly
+charged the officers themselves with the design of which he had accused
+them to Eurybiades, namely, that of abandoning their allies, and
+retiring with their respective ships, each to his own coast, in case the
+position at Salamis were to be given up, would only incense them, and
+arouse a hostility which would determine them against any thing that he
+might propose.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Themistocles's arguments for remaining at Salamis.</div>
+
+<p>He therefore urged the expediency of remaining at Salamis on other
+grounds. Salamis was a much more advantageous position, he said, than
+the coast of the isthmus, for a small fleet to occupy in awaiting an
+attack from a large one. At Salamis they were defended in part by the
+projections of the land, which protected their flanks, and prevented
+their being assailed, except in front, and their front they might make a
+very narrow one. At the isthmus, on the contrary, there was a long,
+unvaried, and unsheltered coast, with no salient points to give strength
+or protection to their position there. They could not expect to derive
+serious advantage from any degree of co-operation with the army on the
+land which would be practicable at the isthmus, while their situation at
+sea there would be far more exposed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>and dangerous than where they then
+were. Besides, many thousands of the people had fled to Salamis for
+refuge and protection, and the fleet, by leaving its present position,
+would be guilty of basely abandoning them all to hopeless destruction,
+without even making an effort to save them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fugitives at Salamis.<br />Views of the Corinthians.</div>
+
+<p>This last was, in fact, the great reason why the Athenians were so
+unwilling to abandon Salamis. The unhappy fugitives with which the
+island was thronged were their wives and children, and they were
+extremely unwilling to go away and leave them to so cruel a fate as they
+knew would await them if the fleet were to be withdrawn. The
+Corinthians, on the other hand, considered Athens as already lost, and
+it seemed madness to them to linger uselessly in the vicinity of the
+ruin which had been made, while there were other states and cities in
+other quarters of Greece yet to be saved. The Corinthian speaker who had
+rebuked Themistocles at first, interrupted him again, angrily, before he
+finished his appeal.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Excitement in the council.</div>
+
+<p>"You have no right to speak," said he. "You have no longer a country.
+When you cease to represent a power, you have no right to take a part in
+our councils."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Indignation of Themistocles.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>This cruel retort aroused in the mind of Themistocles a strong feeling
+of indignation and anger against the Corinthian. He loaded his opponent,
+in return, with bitter reproaches, and said, in conclusion, that as long
+as the Athenians had two hundred ships in the fleet, they had still a
+country&mdash;one, too, of sufficient importance to the general defense to
+give them a much better title to be heard in the common consultations
+than any Corinthian could presume to claim.</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to Eurybiades again, Themistocles implored him to remain at
+Salamis, and give battle to the Persians there, as that was, he said,
+the only course by which any hope remained to them of the salvation of
+Greece. He declared that the Athenian part of the fleet would never go
+to the isthmus. If the others decided on going there, they, the
+Athenians, would gather all the fugitives they could from the island of
+Salamis and from the coasts of Attica, and make the best of their way to
+Italy, where there was a territory to which they had some claim, and,
+abandoning Greece forever, they would found a new kingdom there.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Eurybiades decides to remain at Salamis.<br />An earthquake.</div>
+
+<p>Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, if he was not convinced by the
+arguments that Themistocles <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>had offered, was alarmed at his declaration
+that the Athenian ships would abandon the cause of the Greeks if the
+fleet abandoned Salamis; he accordingly gave his voice very decidedly
+for remaining where they were. The rest of the officers finally
+acquiesced in this decision, and the council broke up, the various
+members of it returning each to his own command. It was now nearly
+morning. The whole fleet had been, necessarily, during the night in a
+state of great excitement and suspense, all anxious to learn the result
+of these deliberations. The awe and solemnity which would, of course,
+pervade the minds of men at midnight, while such momentous questions
+were pending, were changed to an appalling sense of terror, toward the
+dawn, by an earthquake which then took place, and which, as is usually
+the case with such convulsions, not only shook the land, but was felt by
+vessels on the sea. The men considered this phenomenon as a solemn
+warning from heaven, and measures were immediately adopted for
+appeasing, by certain special sacrifices and ceremonies, the divine
+displeasure which the shock seemed to portend.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Advance of the Persians.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the Persian fleet, which we left, it will be
+recollected, in the channels between <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>Eub&oelig;a and the main land, near
+to Thermopyl&aelig;, had advanced when they found that the Greeks had left
+those waters, and, following their enemies to the southward through the
+channel called the Euripus, had doubled the promontory called Sunium,
+which is the southern promontory of Attica, and then, moving northward
+again along the western coast of Attica, had approached Phalerum, which
+was not far from Salamis. Xerxes, having concluded his operations at
+Athens, advanced to the same point by land.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Perilous situation of the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>The final and complete success of the Persian expedition seemed now
+almost sure. All the country north of the peninsula had fallen. The
+Greek army had retreated to the isthmus, having been driven from every
+other post, and its last forlorn hope of being able to resist the
+advance of its victorious enemies was depending there. And the
+commanders of the Persian fleet, having driven the Greek squadrons in
+the same manner from strait to strait and from sea to sea, saw the
+discomfited galleys drawn up, in apparently their last place of refuge,
+in the Bay of Salamis, and only waiting to be captured and destroyed.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes summons a council of war.</div>
+
+<p>In a word, every thing seemed ready for the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>decisive and final blow,
+and Xerxes summoned a grand council of war on board one of the vessels
+of the fleet as soon as he arrived at Phalerum, to decide upon the time
+and manner of striking it.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Pompous preparations.</div>
+
+<p>The convening of this council was arranged, and the deliberations
+themselves conducted, with great parade and ceremony. The princes of the
+various nations represented in the army and in the fleet, and the
+leading Persian officers and nobles, were summoned to attend it. It was
+held on board one of the principal galleys, where great preparations had
+been made for receiving so august an assemblage. A throne was provided
+for the king, and seats for the various commanders according to their
+respective ranks, and a conspicuous place was assigned to Artemisia, the
+Carian queen, who, the reader will perhaps recollect, was described as
+one of the prominent naval commanders, in the account given of the great
+review at Doriscus. Mardonius appeared at the council as the king's
+representative and the conductor of the deliberations, there being
+required, according to the parliamentary etiquette of those days, in
+such royal councils as these, a sort of mediator, to stand between the
+king and his counselors, as <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>if the monarch himself was on too sublime
+an elevation of dignity and grandeur to be directly addressed even by
+princes and nobles.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Views of the Persian officers.</div>
+
+<p>Accordingly, when the council was convened and the time arrived for
+opening the deliberations, the king directed Mardonius to call upon the
+commanders present, one by one, for their sentiments on the question
+whether it were advisable or not to attack the Greek fleet at Salamis.
+Mardonius did so. They all advised that the attack should be made,
+urging severally various considerations to enforce their opinions, and
+all evincing a great deal of zeal and ardor in the cause, and an
+impatient desire that the great final conflict should come on.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Views of Queen Artemisia.<br />Artemisa's arguments against attacking the Greek fleet.</div>
+
+<p>When, however, it came to Artemisia's turn to speak, it appeared that
+she was of a different sentiment from the rest. She commenced her speech
+with something like an apology for presuming to give the king her
+council. She said that, notwithstanding her sex, she had performed her
+part, with other commanders, in the battles which had already occurred,
+and that she was, perhaps, entitled accordingly, in the consultations
+which were held, to express her opinion. "Say, then, to the king," she
+continued, addressing Mardonius, as all the others had done, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>"that my
+judgment is, that we should not attack the Greek fleet at Salamis, but,
+on the contrary, that we should avoid a battle. It seems to me that we
+have nothing to gain, but should put a great deal at hazard by a general
+naval conflict at the present time. The truth is, that the Greeks,
+always terrible as combatants, are rendered desperate now by the straits
+to which they are reduced and the losses that they have sustained. The
+seamen of our fleet are as inferior to them in strength and courage as
+women are to men. I am sure that it will be a very dangerous thing to
+encounter them in their present chafed and irritated temper. Whatever
+others may think, I myself should not dare to answer for the result.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides, situated as they are," continued Artemisia, "a battle is what
+<i>they</i> must most desire, and, of course, it is adverse to our interest
+to accord it to them. I have ascertained that they have but a small
+supply of food, either in their fleet or upon the island of Salamis,
+while they have, besides their troops, a great multitude of destitute
+and helpless fugitives to be fed. If we simply leave them to themselves
+under the blockade in which our position here now places them, they will
+soon be reduced to great distress. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>Or, if we withdraw from them, and
+proceed at once to the Peloponnesus, to co-operate with the army there,
+we shall avoid all the risk of a battle, and I am sure that the Greek
+fleet will never dare to follow or to molest us."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Effect of Artemisia's speech.<br />Feelings of the council.</div>
+
+<p>The several members of the council listened to this unexpected address
+of Artemisia with great attention and interest, but with very different
+feelings. She had many friends among the counselors, and <i>they</i> were
+anxious and uneasy at hearing her speak in this manner, for they knew
+very well that it was the king's decided intention that a battle should
+be fought, and they feared that, by this bold and strenuous opposition
+to it, Artemisia would incur the mighty monarch's displeasure. There
+were others who were jealous of the influence which Artemisia enjoyed,
+and envious of the favor with which they knew that Xerxes regarded her.
+These men were secretly pleased to hear her uttering sentiments by which
+they confidently believed that she would excite the anger of the king,
+and wholly lose her advantageous position. Both the hopes and the fears,
+however, entertained respectively by the queen's enemies and friends,
+proved altogether groundless. Xerxes was not displeased. On the
+contrary, he applauded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>Artemisia's ingenuity and eloquence in the
+highest terms, though he said, nevertheless, that he would follow the
+advice of the other counselors. He dismissed the assembly, and gave
+orders to prepare for battle.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Discontent among the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time a day or two had passed away, and the Greeks, who had
+been originally very little inclined to acquiesce in the decision which
+Eurybiades had made, under the influence of Themistocles, to remain at
+Salamis and give the Persians battle, became more and more dissatisfied
+and uneasy as the great crisis drew nigh. In fact, the discontent and
+disaffection which appeared in certain portions of the fleet became so
+decided and so open, that Themistocles feared that some of the
+commanders would actually revolt, and go away with their squadrons in a
+body, in defiance of the general decision to remain. To prevent such a
+desertion as this, he contrived the following very desperate stratagem.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sicinnus.<br />Bold stratagem of Themistocles.<br />He sends Sicinnus to the Persians.</div>
+
+<p>He had a slave in his family named Sicinnus, who was an intelligent and
+educated man, though a slave. In fact, he was the teacher of
+Themistocles's children. Instances of this kind, in which slaves were
+refined and cultivated men, were not uncommon in ancient times, as
+slaves <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>were, in many instances, captives taken in war, who before their
+captivity had occupied as high social positions as their masters.
+Themistocles determined to send Sicinnus to the Persian fleet with a
+message from him, which should induce the Persians themselves to take
+measures to prevent the dispersion of the Greek fleet. Having given the
+slave, therefore, his secret instructions, he put him into a boat when
+night came on, with oarsmen who were directed to row him wherever he
+should require them to go. The boat pushed off stealthily from
+Themistocles's galley, and, taking care to keep clear of the Greek ships
+which lay at anchor near them, went southward toward the Persian fleet.
+When the boat reached the Persian galleys, Sicinnus asked to see the
+commander, and, on being admitted to an interview with him, he informed
+him that he came from Themistocles, who was the leader, he said, of the
+Athenian portion of the Greek fleet.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Message of Themistocles.</div>
+
+<p>"I am charged," he added, "to say to you from Themistocles that he
+considers the cause of the Greeks as wholly lost, and he is now,
+accordingly, desirous himself of coming over to the Persian side. This,
+however, he can not actually and openly do, on account of the situation
+in which he is placed in respect to the rest of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>the fleet. He has,
+however, sent me to inform you that the Greek fleet is in a very
+disordered and helpless condition, being distracted by the dissensions
+of the commanders, and the general discouragement and despair of the
+men; that some divisions are secretly intending to make their escape;
+and that, if you can prevent this by surrounding them, or by taking such
+positions as to intercept any who may attempt to withdraw, the whole
+squadron will inevitably fall into your hands."</p>
+
+<p>Having made this communication, Sicinnus went on board his boat again,
+and returned to the Greek fleet as secretly and stealthily as he came.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Measures of the Persians.<br />The Persians take possession of the Psyttalia.</div>
+
+<p>The Persians immediately determined to resort to the measures which
+Themistocles had recommended to prevent the escape of any part of the
+Greek fleet. There was a small island between Salamis and the coast of
+Attica, that is, on the eastern side of Salamis, called Psyttalia, which
+was in such a position as to command, in a great measure, the channel of
+water between Salamis and the main land on this side. The Persians sent
+forward a detachment of galleys to take possession of this island in the
+night. By this means they hoped to prevent the escape <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>of any part of
+the Greek squadron in that direction. Besides, they foresaw that in the
+approaching battle the principal scene of the conflict must be in that
+vicinity, and that, consequently, the island would become the great
+resort of the disabled ships and the wounded men, since they would
+naturally seek refuge on the nearest land. To preoccupy this ground,
+therefore, seemed an important step. It would enable them, when the
+terrible conflict should come on, to drive back any wretched refugees
+who might attempt to escape from destruction by seeking the shore.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks hemmed in.</div>
+
+<p>By taking possession of this island, and stationing galleys in the
+vicinity of it, all which was done secretly in the night, the Persians
+cut off all possibility of escape for the Greeks in that direction. At
+the same time, they sent another considerable detachment of their fleet
+to the westward, which was the direction toward the isthmus, ordering
+the galleys thus sent to station themselves in such a manner as to
+prevent any portion of the Greek fleet from going round the island of
+Salamis, and making their escape through the northwestern channel. By
+this means the Greek fleet was environed on every side&mdash;hemmed in,
+though they were not aware <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>of it, in such a way as to defeat any
+attempt which any division might make to retire from the scene.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Aristides.</div>
+
+<p>The first intelligence which the Greeks received of their being thus
+surrounded was from an Athenian general named Aristides, who came one
+night from the island of &AElig;gina to the Greek fleet, making his way with
+great difficulty through the lines of Persian galleys. Aristides had
+been, in the political conflicts which had taken place in former years
+at Athens, Themistocles's great rival and enemy. He had been defeated in
+the contests which had taken place, and had been banished from Athens.
+He now, however, made his way through the enemy's lines, incurring, in
+doing it, extreme difficulty and danger, in order to inform his
+countrymen of their peril, and to assist, if possible, in saving them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">He makes his way through the Persian fleet.</div>
+
+<p>When he reached the Greek fleet, the commanders were in council,
+agitating, in angry and incriminating debates, the perpetually recurring
+question whether they should retire to the isthmus, or remain where they
+were. Aristides called Themistocles out of the council. Themistocles was
+very much surprised at seeing his ancient enemy thus unexpectedly
+appear.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Interview between Aristides and Themistocles.<br />Their conversation.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p><p>Aristides introduced the conversation by saying that he thought that at
+such a crisis they ought to lay aside every private animosity, and only
+emulate each other in the efforts and sacrifices which they could
+respectively make to defend their country; that he had, accordingly,
+come from &AElig;gina to join the fleet, with a view of rendering any aid that
+it might be in his power to afford; that it was now wholly useless to
+debate the question of retiring to the isthmus, for such a movement was
+no longer possible. "The fleet is surrounded," said he. "The Persian
+galleys are stationed on every side. It was with the utmost difficulty
+that I could make my way through the lines. Even if the whole assembly,
+and Eurybiades himself, were resolved on withdrawing to the isthmus, the
+thing could not now be done. Return, therefore, and tell them this, and
+say that to defend themselves where they are is the only alternative
+that now remains."</p>
+
+<p>In reply to this communication, Themistocles said that nothing could
+give him greater pleasure than to learn what Aristides had stated. "The
+movement which the Persians have made," he said, "was in consequence of
+a communication which I myself sent to them. I sent <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>it, in order that
+some of our Greeks, who seem so very reluctant to fight, might be
+compelled to do so. But you must come yourself into the assembly," he
+added, "and make your statement directly to the commanders. They will
+not believe it if they hear it from me. Come in, and state what you have
+seen."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Aristides communicates his intelligence to the assembly.</div>
+
+<p>Aristides accordingly entered the assembly, and informed the officers
+who were convened that to retire from their present position was no
+longer possible, since the sea to the west was fully guarded by lines of
+Persian ships, which had been stationed there to intercept them. He had
+just come in himself, he said, from &AElig;gina, and had found great
+difficulty in passing through the lines, though he had only a single
+small boat, and was favored by the darkness of the night. He was
+convinced that the Greek fleet was entirely surrounded.</p>
+
+<p>Having said this, Aristides withdrew. Although he could come, as a
+witness, to give his testimony in respect to facts, he was not entitled
+to take any part in the deliberations.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Effect of Aristides intelligence.</div>
+
+<p>The assembly was thrown into a state of the greatest possible excitement
+by the intelligence which Aristides had communicated. Instead of
+producing harmony among them, it made the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>discord more violent and
+uncontrollable. Of those who had before wished to retire, some were now
+enraged that they had not been allowed to do so while the opportunity
+remained; others disbelieved Aristides's statements, and were still
+eager to go; while the rest, confirmed in their previous determination
+to remain where they were, rejoiced to find that retreat was no longer
+possible. The debate was confused and violent. It turned, in a great
+measure, on the degree of credibility to be attached to the account
+which Aristides had given them. Many of the assembly wholly disbelieved
+it. It was a stratagem, they maintained, contrived by the Athenian
+party, and those who wished to remain, in order to accomplish their end
+of keeping the fleet from changing its position.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Further news.<br />Adventurous courage of Par&aelig;tius.<br />Gratitude of the Greeks.</div>
+
+<p>The doubts, however, which the assembly felt in respect to the truth of
+Aristides's tidings were soon dispelled by new and incontestable
+evidence; for, while the debate was going on, it was announced that a
+large galley&mdash;a trireme, as it was called&mdash;had come in from the Persian
+fleet. This galley proved to be a Greek ship from the island of Tenos,
+one which Xerxes, in prosecution of his plan of compelling those
+portions of the Grecian territories that he had conquered, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>or that had
+surrendered to him, to furnish forces to aid him in subduing the rest,
+had pressed into his service. The commander of this galley, unwilling to
+take part against his countrymen in the conflict, had decided to desert
+the Persian fleet by taking advantage of the night, and to come over to
+the Greeks. The name of the commander of this trireme was Par&aelig;tius. He
+confirmed fully all that Aristides had said. He assured the Greeks that
+they were completely surrounded, and that nothing remained for them but
+to prepare, where they were, to meet the attack which would certainly be
+made upon them in the morning. The arrival of this trireme was thus of
+very essential service to the Greeks. It put an end to their discordant
+debates, and united them, one and all, in the work of making resolute
+preparations for action. This vessel was also of very essential service
+in the conflict itself which ensued; and the Greeks were so grateful to
+Par&aelig;tius and to his comrades for the adventurous courage which they
+displayed in coming over under such circumstances, in such a night, to
+espouse the cause and to share the dangers of their countrymen, that
+after the battle they caused all their names to be engraved upon a
+sacred tripod, made <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>in the most costly manner for the purpose, and then
+sent the tripod to be deposited at the oracle of Delphi, where it long
+remained a monument of this example of Delian patriotism and fidelity.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Final preparations for battle.</div>
+
+<p>As the morning approached, the preparations were carried forward with
+ardor and energy, on board both fleets, for the great struggle which was
+to ensue. Plans were formed; orders were given; arms were examined and
+placed on the decks of the galleys, where they would be most ready at
+hand. The officers and soldiers gave mutual charges and instructions to
+each other in respect to the care of their friends and the disposal of
+their effects&mdash;charges and instructions which each one undertook to
+execute for his friend in case he should survive him. The commanders
+endeavored to animate and encourage their men by cheerful looks, and by
+words of confidence and encouragement. They who felt resolute and strong
+endeavored to inspirit the weak and irresolute, while those who shrank
+from the approaching contest, and dreaded the result of it, concealed
+their fears, and endeavored to appear impatient for the battle.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's throne.<br />His scribes.<br />Summary punishment.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes caused an elevated seat or throne to be prepared for himself on
+an eminence near the shore, upon the main land, in order that he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>might
+be a personal witness of the battle. He had a guard and other attendants
+around him. Among these were a number of scribes or secretaries, who
+were prepared with writing materials to record the events which might
+take place, as they occurred, and especially to register the names of
+those whom Xerxes should see distinguishing themselves by their courage
+or by their achievements. He justly supposed that these arrangements,
+the whole fleet being fully informed in regard to them, would animate
+the several commanders with strong emulation, and excite them to make
+redoubled exertions to perform their part well. The record which was
+thus to be kept, under the personal supervision of the sovereign, was
+with a view to punishments too, as well as to honors and rewards; and it
+happened in many instances during the battle that ensued, that
+commanders, who, after losing their ships, escaped to the shore, were
+brought up before Xerxes's throne, and there expiated their fault or
+their misfortune, whichever it might have been, by being beheaded on the
+spot, without mercy. Some of the officers thus executed were Greeks,
+brutally slaughtered for not being successful in fighting, by
+compulsion, against their own countrymen.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Speech of Themistocles.<br />He embarks his men.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p><p>As the dawn approached, Themistocles called together as many of the
+Athenian forces as it was possible to convene, assembling them at a
+place upon the shore of Salamis where he could conveniently address
+them, and there made a speech to them, as was customary with the Greek
+commanders before going into battle. He told them that, in such contests
+as that in which they were about to engage, the result depended, not on
+the relative numbers of the combatants, but on the resolution and
+activity which they displayed. He reminded them of the instances in
+which small bodies of men, firmly banded together by a strict
+discipline, and animated by courage and energy, had overthrown enemies
+whose numbers far exceeded their own. The Persians were more numerous,
+he admitted, than they, but still the Greeks would conquer them. If they
+faithfully obeyed their orders, and acted strictly and perseveringly in
+concert, according to the plans formed by the commanders, and displayed
+the usual courage and resolution of Greeks, he was sure of victory.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as Themistocles had finished his speech, he ordered his men to
+embark, and the fleet immediately afterward formed itself in battle
+array.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Excitement and confusion.<br />Commencement of the battle.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p><p>Notwithstanding the strictness of the order and discipline which
+generally prevailed in Greek armaments of every kind, there was great
+excitement and much confusion in the fleet while making all these
+preparations, and this excitement and confusion increased continually as
+the morning advanced and the hour for the conflict drew nigh. The
+passing of boats to and fro, the dashing of the oars, the clangor of the
+weapons, the vociferations of orders by the officers and of responses by
+the men, mingled with each other in dreadful turmoil, while all the time
+the vast squadrons were advancing toward each other, each party of
+combatants eager to begin the contest. In fact, so full of wild
+excitement was the scene, that at length the battle was found to be
+raging on every side, while no one knew or could remember how it began.
+Some said that a ship, which had been sent away a short time before to
+&AElig;gina to obtain succors, was returning that morning, and that she
+commenced the action as she came through the Persian lines. Others said
+the Greek squadron advanced as soon as they could see, and attacked the
+Persians; and there were some whose imaginations were so much excited by
+the scene that they saw a female form portrayed among <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>the dim mists of
+the morning, that urged the Greeks onward by beckonings and calls. They
+heard her voice, they said, crying to them, "Come on! come on! this is
+no time to linger on your oars."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fury of the conflict.<br />Modern naval battles.<br />Observations of Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>However this may be, the battle was soon furiously raging on every part
+of the Bay of Salamis, exhibiting a wide-spread scene of conflict, fury,
+rage, despair, and death, such as had then been seldom witnessed in any
+naval conflict, and such as human eyes can now never look upon again. In
+modern warfare the smoke of the guns soon draws an impenetrable veil
+over the scene of horror, and the perpetual thunder of the artillery
+overpowers the general din. In a modern battle, therefore, none of the
+real horrors of the conflict can either be heard or seen by any
+spectator placed beyond the immediate scene of it. The sights and the
+sounds are alike buried and concealed beneath the smoke and the noise of
+the cannonading. There were, however, no such causes in this case to
+obstruct the observations which Xerxes was making from his throne on the
+shore. The air was calm, the sky serene, the water was smooth, and the
+atmosphere was as transparent and clear at the end of the battle as at
+the beginning. Xerxes could discern <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>every ship, and follow it with his
+eye in all its motions. He could see who advanced and who retreated. Out
+of the hundreds of separate conflicts he could choose any one, and watch
+the progress of it from the commencement to the termination. He could
+see the combats on the decks, the falling of repulsed assailants into
+the water, the weapons broken, the wounded carried away, and swimmers
+struggling like insects on the smooth surface of the sea. He could see
+the wrecks, too, which were drifted upon the shores, and the captured
+galleys, which, after those who defended them had been vanquished&mdash;some
+killed, others thrown overboard, and others made prisoners&mdash;were slowly
+towed away by the victors to a place of safety.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artemisia.<br />Enemies of Artemisia.</div>
+
+<p>There was one incident which occurred in this scene, as Xerxes looked
+down upon it from the eminence where he sat, which greatly interested
+and excited him, though he was deceived in respect to the true nature of
+it. The incident was one of Artemisia's stratagems. It must be premised,
+in relating the story, that Artemisia was not without enemies among the
+officers of the Persian fleet. Many of them were envious of the high
+distinction which she enjoyed, and jealous of the attention which she
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>received from the king, and of the influence which she possessed over
+him. This feeling showed itself very distinctly at the grand council,
+when she gave her advice, in connection with that of the other
+commanders, to the king. Among the most decided of her enemies was a
+certain captain named Damasithymus. Artemisia had had a special quarrel
+with him while the fleet was coming through the Hellespont, which,
+though settled for the time, left the minds of both parties in a state
+of great hostility toward each other.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Stratagem of Artemisia.</div>
+
+<p>It happened, in the course of the battle, that the ship which Artemisia
+personally commanded and that of Damasithymus were engaged, together
+with other Persian vessels, in the same part of the bay; and at a time
+when the ardor and confusion of the conflict was at its height, the
+galley of Artemisia, and some others that were in company with hers,
+became separated from the rest, perhaps by the too eager pursuit of an
+enemy, and as other Greek ships came up suddenly to the assistance of
+their comrades, the Persian vessels found themselves in great danger,
+and began to retreat, followed by their enemies. We speak of the
+retreating galleys as Persian, because they were on the Persian side <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>in
+the contest, though it happened that they were really ships from Greek
+nations, which Xerxes had bribed or forced into his service. The Greeks
+knew them to be enemies, by the Persian flag which they bore.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">She attacks Damasithymus.<br />Artemisia kills Damasithymus.</div>
+
+<p>In the retreat, and while the ships were more or less mingled together
+in the confusion, Artemisia perceived that the Persian galley nearest
+her was that of Damasithymus. She immediately caused her own Persian
+flag to be pulled down, and, resorting to such other artifices as might
+tend to make her vessel appear to be a Greek galley, she began to act as
+if she were one of the pursuers instead of one of the pursued. She bore
+down upon the ship of Damasithymus, saying to her crew that to attack
+and sink that ship was the only way to save their own lives. They
+accordingly attacked it with the utmost fury. The Athenian ships which
+were near, seeing Artemisia's galley thus engaged, supposed that it was
+one of their own, and pressed on, leaving the vessel of Damasithymus at
+Artemisia's mercy. It was such mercy as would be expected of a woman who
+would volunteer to take command of a squadron of ships of war, and go
+forth on an active campaign to fight for her life among such ferocious
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>tigers as Greek soldiers always were, considering it all an excursion
+of pleasure. Artemisia killed Damasithymus and all of his crew, and sunk
+his ship, and then, the crisis of danger being past, she made good her
+retreat back to the Persian lines. She probably felt no special
+animosity against the crew of this ill-fated vessel, but she thought it
+most prudent to leave no man alive to tell the story.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes's opinion of her valor.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes watched this transaction from his place on the hill with extreme
+interest and pleasure. He saw the vessel of Artemisia bearing down upon
+the other, which last he supposed, of course, from Artemisia's attacking
+it, was a vessel of the enemy. The only subject of doubt was whether the
+attacking ship was really that of Artemisia. The officers who stood
+about Xerxes at the time that the transaction occurred assured him that
+it was. They knew it well by certain peculiarities in its construction.
+Xerxes then watched the progress of the contest with the most eager
+interest, and, when he saw the result of it, he praised Artemisia in the
+highest terms, saying that the men in his fleet behaved like women,
+while the only woman in it behaved like a man.</p>
+
+<p>Thus Artemisia's exploit operated like a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>double stratagem. Both the
+Greeks and the Persians were deceived, and she gained an advantage by
+both the deceptions. She saved her life by leading the Greeks to believe
+that her galley was their friend, and she gained great glory and renown
+among the Persians by making them believe that the vessel which she sunk
+was that of an enemy.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Progress of the battle.<br />The Persians give way.<br />Heroism of Aristides.<br />He captures Psyttalia.</div>
+
+<p>Though these and some of the other scenes and incidents which Xerxes
+witnessed as he looked down upon the battle gave him pleasure, yet the
+curiosity and interest with which he surveyed the opening of the contest
+were gradually changed to impatience, vexation, and rage as he saw in
+its progress that the Greeks were every where gaining the victory.
+Notwithstanding the discord and animosity which had reigned among the
+commanders in their councils and debates, the men were united, resolute,
+and firm when the time arrived for action; and they fought with such
+desperate courage and activity, and, at the same time, with so much
+coolness, circumspection, and discipline, that the Persian lines were,
+before many hours, every where compelled to give way. A striking example
+of the indomitable and efficient resolution which, on such occasions,
+always characterized <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>the Greeks, was shown in the conduct of Aristides.
+The reader will recollect that the Persians, on the night before the
+battle, had taken possession of the island of Psyttalia&mdash;which was near
+the center of the scene of contest&mdash;for the double purpose of enabling
+themselves to use it as a place of refuge and retreat during the battle,
+and of preventing their enemies from doing so. Now Aristides had no
+command. He had been expelled from Athens by the influence of
+Themistocles and his other enemies. He had come across from &AElig;gina to the
+fleet at Salamis, alone, to give his countrymen information of the
+dispositions which the Persians had made for surrounding them. When the
+battle began, he had been left, it seems, on the shore of Salamis a
+spectator. There was a small body of troops left there also, as a guard
+to the shore. In the course of the combat, when Aristides found that the
+services of this guard were no longer likely to be required where they
+were, he placed himself at the head of them, obtained possession of
+boats or a galley, transported the men across the channel, landed them
+on the island of Psyttalia, conquered the post, and killed every man
+that the Persians had stationed there.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The Greeks victorious.<br />Repairing damages.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span></p><p>When the day was spent, and the evening came on, it was found that the
+result of the battle was a Greek victory, and yet it was not a victory
+so decisive as to compel the Persians wholly to retire. Vast numbers of
+the Persian ships were destroyed, but still so many remained, that when
+at night they drew back from the scene of the conflict, toward their
+anchorage ground at Phalerum, the Greeks were very willing to leave them
+unmolested there. The Greeks, in fact, had full employment on the
+following day in reassembling the scattered remnants of their own fleet,
+repairing the damages that they had sustained, taking care of their
+wounded men, and, in a word, attending to the thousand urgent and
+pressing exigencies always arising in the service of a fleet after a
+battle, even when it has been victorious in the contest. They did not
+know in exactly what condition the Persian fleet had been left, nor how
+far there might be danger of a renewal of the conflict on the following
+day. They devoted all their time and attention, therefore, to
+strengthening their defenses and reorganizing the fleet, so as to be
+ready in case a new assault should be made upon them.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes resolves on flight.</div>
+
+<p>But Xerxes had no intention of any new attack. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>The loss of this battle
+gave a final blow to his expectations of being able to carry his
+conquests in Greece any further. He too, like the Greeks, employed his
+men in industrious and vigorous efforts to repair the damages which had
+been done, and to reassemble and reorganize that portion of the fleet
+which had not been destroyed. While, however, his men were doing this,
+he was himself revolving in his mind, moodily and despairingly, plans,
+not for new conflicts, but for the safest and speediest way of making
+his own personal escape from the dangers around him, back to his home in
+Susa.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">The sea after the battle.<br />Fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.</div>
+
+<p>In the mean time, the surface of the sea, far and wide in every
+direction, was covered with the wrecks, and remnants, and fragments
+strewed over it by the battle. Dismantled hulks, masses of entangled
+spars and rigging, broken oars, weapons of every description, and the
+swollen and ghastly bodies of the dead, floated on the rolling swell of
+the sea wherever the winds or the currents carried them. At length many
+of these mournful memorials of the strife found their way across the
+whole breadth of the Mediterranean, and were driven up upon the beach on
+the coast of Africa, at a barbarous country called Colias. The savages
+dragged <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>the fragments up out of the sand to use as fuel for their
+fires, pleased with their unexpected acquisitions, but wholly ignorant,
+of course, of the nature of the dreadful tragedy to which their coming
+was due. The circumstance, however, explained to the Greeks an ancient
+prophecy which had been uttered long before in Athens, and which the
+interpreters of such mysteries had never been able to understand. The
+prophecy was this:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">The Colian dames on Afric's shores<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Shall roast their food with Persian oars.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr class="large" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="Chapter_XII" id="Chapter_XII"></a><span class="smcap">Chapter XII.</span></h2>
+
+<h2><span class="smcap">The Return of Xerxes To Persia.</span></h2>
+
+<h3>B.C. 480</h3>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mardonius.<br />His apprehensions after the battle.</div>
+
+<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ardonius,</span>
+it will be recollected, was the commander-in-chief of the
+forces of Xerxes, and thus, next to Xerxes himself, he was the officer
+highest in rank of all those who attended the expedition. He was, in
+fact, a sort of prime minister, on whom the responsibility for almost
+all the measures for the government and conduct of the expedition had
+been thrown. Men in such positions, while they may expect the highest
+rewards and honors from their sovereign in case of success, have always
+reason to apprehend the worst of consequences to themselves in case of
+failure. The night after the battle of Salamis, accordingly, Mardonius
+was in great fear. He did not distrust the future success of the
+expedition if it were allowed to go on; but, knowing the character of
+such despots as those who ruled great nations in that age of the world,
+he was well aware that he might reasonably expect, at any moment, the
+appearance of officers sent from Xerxes to cut off his head.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Depression of Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p><p>His anxiety was increased by observing that Xerxes seemed very much
+depressed, and very restless and uneasy, after the battle, as if he were
+revolving in his mind some extraordinary design. He presently thought
+that he perceived indications that the king was planning a retreat.
+Mardonius, after much hesitation, concluded to speak to him, and
+endeavor to dispel his anxieties and fears, and lead him to take a more
+favorable view of the prospects of the expedition. He accordingly
+accosted him on the subject somewhat as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mardonius's address to him.</div>
+
+<p>"It is true," said he, "that we were not as successful in the combat
+yesterday as we desired to be; but this reverse, as well as all the
+preceding disasters that we have met with, is, after all, of
+comparatively little moment. Your majesty has gone steadily on,
+accomplishing most triumphantly all the substantial objects aimed at in
+undertaking the expedition. Your troops have advanced successfully by
+land against all opposition. With them you have traversed Thrace,
+Macedon, and Thessaly. You have fought your way, against the most
+desperate resistance, through the Pass of Thermopyl&aelig;. You have overrun
+all Northern Greece. You have burned Athens. Thus, far from there <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>being
+any uncertainty or doubt in respect to the success of the expedition, we
+see that all the great objects which you proposed by it are already
+accomplished. The fleet, it is true, has now suffered extensive damage;
+but we must remember that it is upon the army, not upon the fleet, that
+our hopes and expectations mainly depend. The army is safe; and it can
+not be possible that the Greeks can hereafter bring any force into the
+field by which it can be seriously endangered."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Mardonius offers to complete the conquest of Greece.</div>
+
+<p>By these and similar sentiments, Mardonius endeavored to revive and
+restore the failing courage and resolution of the king. He found,
+however, that he met with very partial success. Xerxes was silent,
+thoughtful, and oppressed apparently with a sense of anxious concern.
+Mardonius finally proposed that, even if the king should think it best
+to return himself to Susa, he should not abandon the enterprise of
+subduing Greece, but that he should leave a portion of the army under
+his (Mardonius's) charge, and he would undertake, he said, to complete
+the work which had been so successfully begun. Three hundred thousand
+men, he was convinced, would be sufficient for the purpose.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Effect of Mardonius's address.</div>
+
+<p>This suggestion seems to have made a favorable <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>impression on the mind
+of Xerxes. He was disposed, in fact, to be pleased with any plan,
+provided it opened the way for his own escape from the dangers in which
+he imagined that he was entangled. He said that he would consult some of
+the other commanders upon the subject. He did so, and then, before
+coming to a final decision, he determined to confer with Artemisia. He
+remembered that she had counseled him not to attack the Greeks at
+Salamis, and, as the result had proved that counsel to be eminently
+wise, he felt the greater confidence in asking her judgment again.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes consults Artemisia.</div>
+
+<p>He accordingly sent for Artemisia, and, directing all the officers, as
+well as his own attendants, to retire, he held a private consultation
+with her in respect to his plans.</p>
+
+<p>"Mardonius proposes," said he, "that the expedition should on no account
+be abandoned in consequence of this disaster, for he says that the fleet
+is a very unimportant part of our force, and that the army still remains
+unharmed. He proposes that, if I should decide myself to return to
+Persia, I should leave three hundred thousand men with him, and he
+undertakes, if I will do so, to complete, with them, the subjugation of
+Greece. Tell me what you think of this plan. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>You evinced so much
+sagacity in foreseeing the result of this engagement at Salamis, that I
+particularly wish to know your opinion."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artemisia hesitates.<br />Her advice to Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>Artemisia, after pausing a little to reflect upon the subject, saying,
+as she hesitated, that it was rather difficult to decide, under the
+extraordinary circumstances in which they were placed, what it really
+was best to do, came at length to the conclusion that it would be wisest
+for the king to accede to Mardonius's proposal. "Since he offers, of his
+own accord, to remain and undertake to complete the subjugation of
+Greece, you can, very safely to yourself, allow him to make the
+experiment. The great object which was announced as the one which you
+had chiefly in view in the invasion of Greece, was the burning of
+Athens. This is already accomplished. You have done, therefore, what you
+undertook to do, and can, consequently, now return yourself, without
+dishonor. If Mardonius succeeds in his attempt, the glory of it will
+redound to you. His victories will be considered as only the successful
+completion of what you began. On the other hand, if he fails, the
+disgrace of failure will be his alone, and the injury will be confined
+to his destruction. In any event, your person, your interests, and your
+honor are safe, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>and if Mardonius is willing to take the responsibility
+and incur the danger involved in the plan that he proposes, I would give
+him the opportunity."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes adopts Artemesia's advice.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes adopted the view of the subject which Artemisia thus presented
+with the utmost readiness and pleasure. That advice is always very
+welcome which makes the course that we had previously decided upon as
+the most agreeable seem the most wise. Xerxes immediately determined on
+returning to Persia himself, and leaving Mardonius to complete the
+conquest. In carrying out this design, he concluded to march to the
+northward by land, accompanied by a large portion of his army and by all
+his principal officers, until he reached the Hellespont. Then he was to
+give up to Mardonius the command of such troops as should be selected to
+remain in Greece, and, crossing the Hellespont, return himself to Persia
+with the remainder.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His anxiety increases.<br />Xerxes commences his retreat.<br />He sends his family to Ephesus.</div>
+
+<p>If, as is generally the case, it is a panic that causes a flight, a
+flight, in its turn, always increases a panic. It happened, in
+accordance with this general law, that, as soon as the thoughts of
+Xerxes were once turned toward an escape from Greece, his fears
+increased, and his mind became more and more the prey of a restless
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span>uneasiness and anxiety lest he should not be able to effect his escape.
+He feared that the bridge of boats would have been broken down, and then
+how would he be able to cross the Hellespont? To prevent the Greek fleet
+from proceeding to the northward, and thus intercepting his passage by
+destroying the bridge, he determined to conceal, as long as possible,
+his own departure. Accordingly, while he was making the most efficient
+and rapid arrangements on the land for abandoning the whole region, he
+brought up his fleet by sea, and began to build, by means of the ships,
+a floating bridge from the main land to the island of Salamis, as if he
+were intent only on advancing. He continued this work all day,
+postponing his intended retreat until the night should come, in order to
+conceal his movements. In the course of the day he placed all his family
+and family relatives on board of Artemisia's ship, under the charge of a
+tried and faithful domestic. Artemisia was to convey them, as rapidly as
+possible, to Ephesus, a strong city in Asia Minor, where Xerxes supposed
+that they would be safe.</p>
+
+<p>In the night the fleet, in obedience to the orders which Xerxes had
+given them, abandoned their bridge and all their other undertakings,
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>and set sail. They were to make the best of their way to the
+Hellespont, and post themselves there to defend the bridge of boats
+until Xerxes should arrive. On the following morning, accordingly, when
+the sun rose, the Greeks found, to their utter astonishment, that their
+enemies were gone.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Excitement in the Greek fleet.<br />The Persians pursued.</div>
+
+<p>A scene of the greatest animation and excitement on board the Greek
+fleet at once ensued. The commanders resolved on an immediate pursuit.
+The seamen hoisted their sails, raised their anchors, and manned their
+oars, and the whole squadron was soon in rapid motion. The fleet went as
+far as to the island of Andros, looking eagerly all around the horizon,
+in every direction, as they advanced, but no signs of the fugitives were
+to be seen. The ships then drew up to the shore, and the commanders were
+convened in an assembly, summoned by Eurybiades, on the land, for
+consultation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Debate among the generals.</div>
+
+<p>A debate ensued, in which the eternal enmity and dissension between the
+Athenian and Peloponnesian Greeks broke out anew. There was, however,
+now some reason for the disagreement. The Athenian cause was already
+ruined. Their capital had been burned, their country ravaged, and their
+wives and children driven <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>forth to exile and misery. Nothing remained
+now for them but hopes of revenge. They were eager, therefore, to press
+on, and overtake the Persian galleys in their flight, or, if this could
+not be done, to reach the Hellespont before Xerxes should arrive there,
+and intercept his passage by destroying the bridge. This was the policy
+which Themistocles advocated. Eurybiades, on the other hand, and the
+Peloponnesian commanders, urged the expediency of not driving the
+Persians to desperation by harassing them too closely on their retreat.
+They were formidable enemies after all, and, if they were now disposed
+to retire and leave the country, it was the true policy of the Greeks to
+allow them to do so. To destroy the bridge of boats would only be to
+take effectual measures for keeping the pest among them. Themistocles
+was outvoted. It was determined best to allow the Persian forces to
+retire.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Themistocles outvoted.<br />Another stratagem of Themistocles.<br />His message to Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>Themistocles, when he found that his counsels were overruled, resorted
+to another of the audacious stratagems that marked his career, which was
+to send a second pretended message of friendship to the Persian king. He
+employed the same Sicinnus on this occasion that he had sent before into
+the Persian fleet, on the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>eve of the battle of Salamis. A galley was
+given to Sicinnus, with a select crew of faithful men. They were all put
+under the most solemn oaths never to divulge to any person, under any
+circumstances, the nature and object of their commission. With this
+company, Sicinnus left the fleet secretly in the night, and went to the
+coast of Attica. Landing here, he left the galley, with the crew in
+charge of it, upon the shore, and, with one or two select attendants, he
+made his way to the Persian camp, and desired an interview with the
+king. On being admitted to an audience, he said to Xerxes that he had
+been sent to him by Themistocles, whom he represented as altogether the
+most prominent man among the Greek commanders, to say that the Greeks
+had resolved on pressing forward to the Hellespont, to intercept him on
+his return, but that he, Themistocles, had dissuaded them from it, under
+the influence of the same friendship for Xerxes which had led him to
+send a friendly communication to the Persians before the late battle;
+that, in consequence of the arguments and persuasions of Themistocles,
+the Greek squadrons would remain where they then were, on the southern
+coasts, leaving Xerxes to retire without molestation.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Duplicity of Themistocles.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p><p>All this was false, but Themistocles thought it would serve his purpose
+well to make the statement; for, in case he should, at any future time,
+in following the ordinary fate of the bravest and most successful Greek
+generals, be obliged to fly in exile from his country to save his life,
+it might be important for him to have a good understanding beforehand
+with the King of Persia, though a good understanding, founded on
+pretensions so hypocritical and empty as these, would seem to be worthy
+of very little reliance. In fact, for a Greek general, discomfited in
+the councils of his own nation, to turn to the Persian king with such
+prompt and cool assurance, for the purpose of gaining his friendship by
+tendering falsehoods so bare and professions so hollow, was an instance
+of audacious treachery so original and lofty as to be almost sublime.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Retreat of Xerxes.<br />Horrors of the retreat.</div>
+
+<p>Xerxes pressed on with the utmost diligence toward the north. The
+country had been ravaged and exhausted by his march through it in coming
+down, and now, in returning, he found infinite difficulty in obtaining
+supplies of food and water for his army. Forty-five days were consumed
+in getting back to the Hellespont. During all this time the privations
+and sufferings of the troops increased every day. The soldiers <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>were
+spent with fatigue, exhausted with hunger, and harassed with incessant
+apprehensions of attacks from their enemies. Thousands of the sick and
+wounded that attempted at first to follow the army, gave out by degrees
+as the columns moved on. Some were left at the encampments; others lay
+down by the road-sides, in the midst of the day's march, wherever their
+waning strength finally failed them; and every where broken chariots,
+dead and dying beasts of burden, and the bodies of soldiers, that lay
+neglected where they fell, encumbered and choked the way. In a word, all
+the roads leading toward the northern provinces exhibited in full
+perfection those awful scenes which usually mark the track of a great
+army retreating from an invasion.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Sufferings from hunger.<br />Famine and disease.</div>
+
+<p>The men were at length reduced to extreme distress for food. They ate
+the roots and stems of the herbage, and finally stripped the very bark
+from the trees and devoured it, in the vain hope that it might afford
+some nutriment to re-enforce the vital principle, for a little time at
+least, in the dreadful struggle which it was waging within them. There
+are certain forms of pestilential disease which, in cases like this,
+always set in to hasten the work which famine alone <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>would be too slow
+in performing. Accordingly, as was to have been expected, camp fevers,
+choleras, and other corrupt and infectious maladies, broke out with
+great violence as the army advanced along the northern shores of the
+&AElig;gean Sea; and as every victim to these dreadful and hopeless disorders
+helped, by his own dissolution, to taint the air for all the rest, the
+wretched crowd was, in the end, reduced to the last extreme of misery
+and terror.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes crosses the Hellespont.</div>
+
+<p>At length Xerxes, with a miserable remnant of his troops, arrived at
+Abydos, on the shores of the Hellespont. He found the bridge broken
+down. The winds and storms had demolished what the Greeks had determined
+to spare. The immense structure, which it had cost so much toil and time
+to rear, had wholly disappeared, leaving no traces of its existence,
+except the wrecks which lay here and there half buried in the sand along
+the shore. There were some small boats at hand, and Xerxes, embarking in
+one of them, with a few attendants in the others, and leaving the
+exhausted and wretched remnant of his army behind, was rowed across the
+strait, and landed at last safely again on the Asiatic shores.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297-8]</a></span></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/i296.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="294" alt="The Return of Xerxes To Persia." title="" />
+<span class="caption">The Return of Xerxes To Persia.</span>
+</div>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Fate of Mardonius.</div>
+
+<p>The place of his landing was Sestos. From <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>Sestos he went to Sardis,
+and from Sardis he proceeded, in a short time, to Susa. Mardonius was
+left in Greece. Mardonius was a general of great military experience and
+skill, and, when left to himself, he found no great difficulty in
+reorganizing the army, and in putting it again in an efficient
+condition. He was not able, however, to accomplish the undertaking which
+he had engaged to perform. After various adventures, prosperous and
+adverse, which it would be foreign to our purpose here to detail, he was
+at last defeated in a great battle, and killed on the field. The Persian
+army was now obliged to give up the contest, and was expelled from
+Greece finally and forever.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Xerxes arrives at Susa.<br />Xerxes's dissolute life.</div>
+
+<p>When Xerxes reached Susa, he felt overjoyed to find himself once more
+safe, as he thought, in his own palaces. He looked back upon the
+hardships, exposures, and perils through which he had passed, and,
+thankful for having so narrowly escaped from them, he determined to
+encounter no such hazards again. He had had enough of ambition and
+glory. He was now going to devote himself to ease and pleasure. Such a
+man would not naturally be expected to be very scrupulous in respect to
+the means of enjoyment, or to the character of the companions <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>whom he
+would select to share his pleasures, and the life of the king soon
+presented one continual scene of dissipation, revelry, and vice. He gave
+himself up to such prolonged carousals, that one night was sometimes
+protracted through the following day into another. The administration of
+his government was left wholly to his ministers, and every personal duty
+was neglected, that he might give himself to the most abandoned and
+profligate indulgence of his appetites and passions.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">His three sons.<br />Artabanus, captain of the guard.</div>
+
+<p>He had three sons who might be considered as heirs to his
+throne&mdash;Darius, Hystaspes, and Artaxerxes. Hystaspes was absent in a
+neighboring province. The others were at home. He had also a very
+prominent officer in his court, whose name, Artabanus, was the same with
+that of the uncle who had so strongly attempted to dissuade him from
+undertaking the conquest of Greece. Artabanus the uncle disappears
+finally from view at the time when Xerxes dismissed him to return to
+Susa at the first crossing of the Hellespont. This second Artabanus was
+the captain of the king's body-guard and, consequently, the common
+executioner of the despot's decrees. Being thus established in his
+palace, surrounded by his family, and protected <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>by Artabanus and his
+guard, the monarch felt that all his toils and dangers were over, and
+that there was nothing now before him but a life of ease, of pleasure,
+and of safety. Instead of this, he was, in fact, in the most imminent
+danger. Artabanus was already plotting his destruction.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">He assassinates Xerxes.</div>
+
+<p>One day, in the midst of one of his carousals, he became angry with his
+oldest son Darius for some cause, and gave Artabanus an order to kill
+him. Artabanus neglected to obey this order. The king had been excited
+with wine when he gave it, and Artabanus supposed that all recollection
+of the command would pass away from his mind with the excitement that
+occasioned it. The king did not, however, so readily forget. The next
+day he demanded why his order had not been obeyed. Artabanus now began
+to fear for his own safety, and he determined to proceed at once to the
+execution of a plan which he had long been revolving, of destroying the
+whole of Xerxes's family, and placing himself on the throne in their
+stead. He contrived to bring the king's chamberlain into his schemes,
+and, with the connivance and aid of this officer, he went at night into
+the king's bed-chamber, and murdered the monarch in his sleep.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">Artaxerxes kills his brother.</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p><p>Leaving the bloody weapon with which the deed had been perpetrated by
+the side of the victim, Artabanus went immediately into the bed-chamber
+of Artaxerxes, the youngest son, and, awaking him suddenly, he told him,
+with tones of voice and looks expressive of great excitement and alarm,
+that his father had been killed, and that it was his brother Darius that
+had killed him. "His motive is," continued Artabanus, "to obtain the
+throne, and, to make the more sure of an undisturbed possession of it,
+he is intending to murder you next. Rise, therefore, and defend your
+life."</p>
+
+<div class="sidenote">He succeeds to the throne.</div>
+
+<p>Artaxerxes was aroused to a sudden and uncontrollable paroxysm of anger
+at this intelligence. He seized his weapon, and rushed into the
+apartment of his innocent brother, and slew him on the spot. Other
+summary assassinations of a similar kind followed in this complicated
+tragedy. Among the victims, Artabanus and all his adherents were slain,
+and at length Artaxerxes took quiet possession of the throne, and
+reigned in his father's stead.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">The End.</span></p>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h2><span class="smcap">Footnotes</span></h2>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> His history in given in the first chapter of <span class="smcap">Darius the
+Great</span>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> For a more particular account of the transaction, and for
+an engraving illustrating this scene, see the history of Darius.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> Plutarch, who gives an account of these occurrences, varies
+the orthography of the name. We, however, retain the name as given by
+Herodotus.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> See <a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece.</a></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> There is reason to suppose that Scyllias made his escape by
+night in a boat, managing the circumstances, however, in such a way as
+to cause the story to be circulated that he swam.</p></div>
+
+<hr class="large" />
+<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber's Notes</span></h3>
+
+<p>1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters errors, and to ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise,
+every effort has been made to remain true to the original book.</p>
+
+<p>2. The sidenotes used in this text were originally published as banners in the page headers, and have been moved to the relevant paragraph
+for the reader's convenience.</p>
+
+<p>3. Page numbering for pages 158 thru 160 has been rearranged, to allow numbering of an illustration that originally placed within a paragraph that
+spanned three pages.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Xerxes, by Jacob Abbott
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+</body>
+</html>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Xerxes, by Jacob Abbott
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Xerxes
+       Makers of History
+
+Author: Jacob Abbott
+
+Release Date: May 6, 2008 [EBook #25351]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK XERXES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ Makers of History
+
+ Xerxes
+
+ BY JACOB ABBOTT
+
+ WITH ENGRAVINGS
+
+ NEW YORK AND LONDON
+ HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
+ 1902
+
+
+
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
+
+HARPER & BROTHERS,
+
+In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York.
+
+Copyright, 1878, by JACOB ABBOTT
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+One special object which the author of this series has had in view, in
+the plan and method which he has followed in the preparation of the
+successive volumes, has been to adapt them to the purposes of text-books
+in schools. The study of a _general compend_ of history, such as is
+frequently used as a text-book, is highly useful, if it comes in at the
+right stage of education, when the mind is sufficiently matured, and has
+acquired sufficient preliminary knowledge to understand and appreciate
+so condensed a generalization as a summary of the whole history of a
+nation contained in an ordinary volume must necessarily be. Without this
+degree of maturity of mind, and this preparation, the study of such a
+work will be, as it too frequently is, a mere mechanical committing to
+memory of names, and dates, and phrases, which awaken no interest,
+communicate no ideas, and impart no useful knowledge to the mind.
+
+A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet become much acquainted with
+history, would, accordingly, be more benefited by having their attention
+concentrated, at first, on detached and separate topics, such as those
+which form the subjects, respectively, of these volumes. By studying
+thus fully the history of individual monarchs, or the narratives of
+single events, they can go more fully into detail; they conceive of the
+transactions described as realities; their reflecting and reasoning
+powers are occupied on what they read; they take notice of the motives
+of conduct, of the gradual development of character, the good or ill
+desert of actions, and of the connection of causes and consequences,
+both in respect to the influence of wisdom and virtue on the one hand,
+and, on the other, of folly and crime. In a word, their _minds_ and
+_hearts_ are occupied instead of merely their memories. They reason,
+they sympathize, they pity, they approve, and they condemn. They enjoy
+the real and true pleasure which constitutes the charm of historical
+study for minds that are mature; and they acquire a taste for truth
+instead of fiction, which will tend to direct their reading into proper
+channels in all future years.
+
+The use of these works, therefore, as text-books in classes, has been
+kept continually in mind in the preparation of them. The running index
+on the tops of the pages is intended to serve instead of questions.
+These captions can be used in their present form as _topics_, in respect
+to which, when announced in the class, the pupils are to repeat
+substantially what is said on the page; or, on the other hand, questions
+in form, if that mode is preferred, can be readily framed from them by
+the teacher. In all the volumes, a very regular system of division is
+observed, which will greatly facilitate the assignment of lessons.
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS.
+
+
+ Chapter                                                    Page
+
+    I. THE MOTHER OF XERXES                                   13
+
+   II. EGYPT AND GREECE                                       33
+
+  III. DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE              56
+
+   IV. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE                78
+
+    V. THE CROSSING OF THE HELLESPONT                        100
+
+   VI. THE REVIEW OF THE ARMY AT DORISCUS                    125
+
+  VII. PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE                151
+
+ VIII. THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE                     178
+
+   IX. THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE                              201
+
+    X. THE BURNING OF ATHENS                                 224
+
+   XI. THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS                                 245
+
+  XII. THE RETURN TO PERSIA                                  284
+
+
+
+
+ ENGRAVINGS.
+
+
+                                                            Page
+
+ ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST                         _Frontispiece._
+
+ MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE                                   xii
+
+ PHERON DEFYING THE NILE                                      48
+
+ MAP OF GREECE                                               101
+
+ XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT                              121
+
+ FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA                   160
+
+ CITADEL AT ATHENS                                           241
+
+ RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA                                  297
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE]
+
+
+
+
+XERXES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MOTHER OF XERXES.
+
+B.C. 522-484
+
+Persian magnificence.--The mother of Xerxes.--Cambyses.--Ambition and
+selfishness of kings.--General influence exerted by great sovereigns
+upon the community.--Labors of great
+conquerors.--Caesar.--Darius.--William the Conqueror.--Napoleon.--Heroes
+and conquerors.--The main spring of their actions.--Cyrus.--Character
+and career of Cambyses.--Wives of Cambyses.--He marries his
+sister.--Death of Cambyses.--Smerdis the magian.--Cunning of
+Smerdis.--His feeling of insecurity.--Smerdis suspected.--His imposture
+discovered.--Death of Smerdis.--Succession of Darius.--Atossa's
+sickness.--The Greek physician.--Atossa's promise.--Atossa's
+conversation with Darius.--Success of her plans.--The expedition to
+Greece.--Escape of the physician.--Atossa's four
+sons.--Artobazanes.--Dispute about the succession.--Xerxes and
+Artobazanes.--The arguments.--Influence of Atossa.--The Spartan
+fugitive.--His views of the succession.--The decision.--Death of Darius.
+
+
+The name of Xerxes is associated in the minds of men with the idea of
+the highest attainable elevation of human magnificence and grandeur.
+This monarch was the sovereign of the ancient Persian empire when it was
+at the height of its prosperity and power. It is probable, however, that
+his greatness and fame lose nothing by the manner in which his story
+comes down to us through the Greek historians. The Greeks conquered
+Xerxes, and, in relating his history, they magnify the wealth, the
+power, and the resources of his empire, by way of exalting the greatness
+and renown of their own exploits in subduing him.
+
+The mother of Xerxes was Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great, who was
+the founder of the Persian empire. Cyrus was killed in Scythia, a wild
+and barbarous region lying north of the Black and Caspian Seas. His son
+Cambyses succeeded him.
+
+A kingdom, or an empire, was regarded, in ancient days, much in the
+light of an estate, which the sovereign held as a species of property,
+and which he was to manage mainly with a view to the promotion of his
+own personal aggrandizement and pleasure. A king or an emperor could
+have more palaces, more money, and more wives than other men; and if he
+was of an overbearing or ambitious spirit, he could march into his
+neighbors' territories, and after gratifying his love of adventure with
+various romantic exploits, and gaining great renown by his ferocious
+impetuosity in battle, he could end his expedition, perhaps, by adding
+his neighbors' palaces, and treasures, and wives to his own.
+
+Divine Providence, however, the mysterious power that overrules all the
+passions and impulses of men, and brings extended and general good out
+of local and particular evil, has made the ambition and the selfishness
+of princes the great means of preserving order and government among men.
+These great ancient despots, for example, would not have been able to
+collect their revenues, or enlist their armies, or procure supplies for
+their campaigns, unless their dominions were under a regular and
+complete system of social organization, such as should allow all the
+industrial pursuits of commerce and of agriculture, throughout the mass
+of the community, to go regularly on. Thus absolute monarchs, however
+ambitious, and selfish, and domineering in their characters, have a
+strong personal interest in the establishment of order and of justice
+between man and man throughout all the regions which are under their
+sway. In fact, the greater their ambition, their selfishness, and their
+pride, the stronger will this interest be; for, just in proportion as
+order, industry, and internal tranquillity prevail in a country, just in
+that proportion can revenues be collected from it, and armies raised and
+maintained.
+
+It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose of the great heroes, and
+sovereigns, and conquerors that have appeared from time to time among
+mankind, that the usual and ordinary result of their influence and
+action has been that of disturbance and disorganization. It is true that
+a vast amount of disturbance and disorganization has often followed from
+the march of their armies, their sieges, their invasions, and the other
+local and temporary acts of violence which they commit; but these are
+the exceptions, not the rule. It must be that such things are
+exceptions, since, in any extended and general view of the subject, a
+much greater amount of social organization, industry, and peace is
+necessary to raise and maintain an army, than that army can itself
+destroy. The deeds of destruction which great conquerors perform attract
+more attention and make a greater impression upon mankind than the
+quiet, patient, and long-continued labors by which they perfect and
+extend the general organization of the social state. But these labors,
+though less noticed by men, have really employed the energies of great
+sovereigns in a far greater degree than mankind have generally imagined.
+Thus we should describe the work of Caesar's life in a single word more
+truly by saying that he _organized_ Europe, than that he conquered it.
+His bridges, his roads, his systems of jurisprudence, his coinage, his
+calendar, and other similar means and instruments of social arrangement,
+and facilities for promoting the pursuits of industry and peace, mark,
+far more properly, the real work which that great conqueror performed
+among mankind, than his battles and his victories. Darius was, in the
+same way, the organizer of Asia. William the Conqueror completed, or,
+rather, advanced very far toward completing, the social organization of
+England; and even in respect to Napoleon, the true and proper memorial
+of his career is the successful working of the institutions, the
+systems, and the codes which he perfected and introduced into the social
+state, and not the brazen column, formed from captured cannon, which
+stands in the Place Vendome.
+
+These considerations, obviously true, though not always borne in mind,
+are, however, to be considered as making the characters of the great
+sovereigns, in a moral point of view, neither the worse nor the better.
+In all that they did, whether in arranging and systematizing the
+functions of social life, or in ruthless deeds of conquest and
+destruction, they were actuated, in a great measure, by selfish
+ambition. They arranged and organized the social state in order to form
+a more compact and solid pedestal for the foundation of their power.
+They maintained peace and order among their people, just as a master
+would suppress quarrels among his slaves, because peace among laborers
+is essential to productive results. They fixed and defined legal
+rights, and established courts to determine and enforce them; they
+protected property; they counted and classified men; they opened roads;
+they built bridges; they encouraged commerce; they hung robbers, and
+exterminated pirates--all, that the collection of their revenues and the
+enlistment of their armies might go on without hinderance or
+restriction. Many of them, indeed, may have been animated, in some
+degree, by a higher and nobler sentiment than this. Some may have felt a
+sort of pride in the contemplation of a great, and prosperous, and
+wealthy empire, analogous to that which a proprietor feels in surveying
+a well-conditioned, successful, and productive estate. Others, like
+Alfred, may have felt a sincere and honest interest in the welfare of
+their fellow-men, and the promotion of human happiness may have been, in
+a greater or less degree, the direct object of their aim. Still, it can
+not be denied that a selfish and reckless ambition has been, in general,
+the main spring of action with heroes and conquerors, which, while it
+aimed only at personal aggrandizement, has been made to operate, through
+the peculiar mechanism of the social state which the Divine wisdom has
+contrived, as a means, in the main of preserving and extending peace
+and order among mankind, and not of destroying them.
+
+But to return to Atossa. Her father Cyrus, who laid the foundation of
+the great Persian empire, was, for a hero and conqueror, tolerably
+considerate and just, and he desired, probably, to promote the welfare
+and happiness of his millions of subjects; but his son Cambyses,
+Atossa's brother, having been brought up in expectation of succeeding to
+vast wealth and power, and having been, as the sons of the wealthy and
+the powerful often are in all ages of the world, wholly neglected by his
+father during the early part of his life, and entirely unaccustomed to
+control, became a wild, reckless, proud, selfish, and ungovernable young
+man. His father was killed suddenly in battle, as has already been
+stated, and Cambyses succeeded him. Cambyses's career was short,
+desperate, and most tragical in its end.[A] In fact, he was one of the
+most savage, reckless, and abominable monsters that have ever lived.
+
+[Footnote A: His history in given in the first chapter of DARIUS THE
+GREAT.]
+
+It was the custom in those days for the Persian monarchs to have many
+wives, and, what is still more remarkable, whenever any monarch died,
+his successor inherited his predecessor's family as well as his throne.
+Cyrus had several children by his various wives. Cambyses and Smerdis
+were the only sons, but there were daughters, among whom Atossa was the
+most distinguished. The ladies of the court were accustomed to reside in
+different palaces, or in different suites of apartments in the same
+palace, so that they lived in a great measure isolated from each other.
+When Cambyses came to the throne, and thus entered into possession of
+his father's palaces, he saw and fell in love with one of his father's
+daughters. He wished to make her one of his wives. He was accustomed to
+the unrestricted indulgence of every appetite and passion, but he seems
+to have had some slight misgivings in regard to such a step as this. He
+consulted the Persian judges. They conferred upon the subject, and then
+replied that they had searched among the laws of the realm, and though
+they found no law allowing a man to marry his sister, they found many
+which authorized a Persian king to do whatever he pleased.
+
+Cambyses therefore added the princess to the number of his wives, and
+not long afterward he married another of his father's daughters in the
+same way. One of these princesses was Atossa.
+
+Cambyses invaded Egypt, and in the course of his mad career in that
+country he killed his brother Smerdis and one of his sisters, and at
+length was killed himself. Atossa escaped the dangers of this stormy and
+terrible reign, and returned safely to Susa after Cambyses's death.
+
+Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses, would have been Cambyses's successor
+if he had survived him; but he had been privately assassinated by
+Cambyses's orders, though his death had been kept profoundly secret by
+those who had perpetrated the deed. There was another Smerdis in Susa,
+the Persian capital, who was a magian--that is, a sort of priest--in
+whose hands, as regent, Cambyses had left the government while he was
+absent on his campaigns. This magian Smerdis accordingly conceived the
+plan of usurping the throne, as if he were Smerdis the prince, resorting
+to a great many ingenious and cunning schemes to conceal his deception.
+Among his other plans, one was to keep himself wholly sequestered from
+public view, with a few favorites, such, especially, as had not
+personally known Smerdis the prince. In the same manner he secluded from
+each other and from himself all who had known Smerdis, in order to
+prevent their conferring with one another, or communicating to each
+other any suspicions which they might chance to entertain. Such
+seclusion, so far as related to the ladies of the royal family, was not
+unusual after the death of a king, and Smerdis did not deviate from the
+ordinary custom, except to make the isolation and confinement of the
+princesses and queens more rigorous and strict than common. By means of
+this policy he was enabled to go on for some months without detection,
+living all the while in the greatest luxury and splendor, but at the
+same time in absolute seclusion, and in unceasing anxiety and fear.
+
+One chief source of his solicitude was lest he should be detected by
+means of his _ears_! Some years before, when he was in a comparatively
+obscure position, he had in some way or other offended his sovereign,
+and was punished by having his ears cut off. It was necessary,
+therefore, to keep the marks of this mutilation carefully concealed by
+means of his hair and his head-dress, and even with these precautions he
+could never feel perfectly secure.
+
+At last one of the nobles of the court, a sagacious and observing man,
+suspected the imposture. He had no access to Smerdis himself, but his
+daughter, whose name was Phaedyma, was one of Smerdis's wives. The
+nobleman was excluded from all direct intercourse with Smerdis, and even
+with his daughter; but he contrived to send word to his daughter,
+inquiring whether her husband was the true Smerdis or not. She replied
+that she did not know, inasmuch as she had never seen any other Smerdis,
+if, indeed, there had been another. The nobleman then attempted to
+communicate with Atossa, but he found it impossible to do so. Atossa
+had, of course, known her brother well, and was on that very account
+very closely secluded by the magian. As a last resort, the nobleman sent
+to his daughter a request that she would watch for an opportunity to
+feel for her husband's ears while he was asleep. He admitted that this
+would be a dangerous attempt, but his daughter, he said, ought to be
+willing to make it, since, if her pretended husband were really an
+impostor, she ought to take even a stronger interest than others in his
+detection. Phaedyma was at first afraid to undertake so dangerous a
+commission; but she at length ventured to do so, and, by passing her
+hand under his turban one night, while he was sleeping on his couch,
+she found that the ears were gone.[B]
+
+[Footnote B: For a more particular account of the transaction, and for
+an engraving illustrating this scene, see the history of Darius.]
+
+The consequence of this discovery was, that a conspiracy was formed to
+dethrone and destroy the usurper. The plot was successful. Smerdis was
+killed; his imprisoned queens were set free, and Darius was raised to
+the throne in his stead.
+
+Atossa now, by that strange principle of succession which has been
+already alluded to, became the wife of Darius, and she figures
+frequently and conspicuously in history during his long and splendid
+reign.
+
+Her name is brought into notice in one case in a remarkable manner, in
+connection with an expedition which Darius sent on an exploring tour
+into Greece and Italy. She was herself the means, in fact, of sending
+the expedition. She was sick; and after suffering secretly and in
+silence as long as possible--the nature of her complaint being such as
+to make her unwilling to speak of it to others--she at length determined
+to consult a Greek physician who had been brought to Persia as a
+captive, and had acquired great celebrity at Susa by his medical science
+and skill. The physician said that he would undertake her case on
+condition that she would promise to grant him a certain request that he
+would make. She wished to know what it was beforehand, but the physician
+would not tell her. He said, however, that it was nothing that it would
+be in any way derogatory to her honor to grant him.
+
+On these conditions Atossa concluded to agree to the physician's
+proposals. He made her take a solemn oath that, if he cured her of her
+malady, she would do whatever he required of her, provided that it was
+consistent with honor and propriety. He then took her case under his
+charge, prescribed for her and attended her, and in due time she was
+cured. The physician then told her that what he wished her to do for him
+was to find some means to persuade Darius to send him home to his native
+land.
+
+Atossa was faithful in fulfilling her promise. She took a private
+opportunity, when she was alone with Darius, to propose that he should
+engage in some plans of foreign conquest. She reminded him of the
+vastness of the military power which was at his disposal, and of the
+facility with which, by means of it, he might extend his dominions. She
+extolled, too, his genius and energy, and endeavored to inspire in his
+mind some ambitious desires to distinguish himself in the estimation of
+mankind by bringing his capacities for the performance of great deeds
+into action.
+
+Darius listened to these suggestions of Atossa with interest and with
+evident pleasure. He said that he had been forming some such plans
+himself. He was going to build a bridge across the Hellespont or the
+Bosporus, to unite Europe and Asia; and he was also going to make an
+incursion into the country of the Scythians, the people by whom Cyrus,
+his great predecessor, had been defeated and slain. It would be a great
+glory for him, he said, to succeed in a conquest in which Cyrus had so
+totally failed.
+
+But these plans would not answer the purpose which Atossa had in view.
+She urged her husband, therefore, to postpone his invasion of the
+Scythians till some future time, and first conquer the Greeks, and annex
+their territory to his dominions. The Scythians, she said, were savages,
+and their country not worth the cost of conquering it, while Greece
+would constitute a noble prize. She urged the invasion of Greece, too,
+rather than Scythia, as a personal favor to herself, for she had been
+wanting, she said, some slaves from Greece for a long time--some of the
+women of Sparta, of Corinth, and of Athens, of whose graces and
+accomplishments she had heard so much.
+
+There was something gratifying to the military vanity of Darius in being
+thus requested to make an incursion to another continent, and undertake
+the conquest of the mightiest nation of the earth, for the purpose of
+procuring accomplished waiting-maids to offer as a present to his queen.
+He became restless and excited while listening to Atossa's proposals,
+and to the arguments with which she enforced them, and it was obvious
+that he was very strongly inclined to accede to her views. He finally
+concluded to send a commission into Greece to explore the country, and
+to bring back a report on their return; and as he decided to make the
+Greek physician the guide of the expedition, Atossa gained her end.
+
+A full account of this expedition, and of the various adventures which
+the party met with on their voyage, is given in our history of Darius.
+It may be proper to say here, however, that the physician fully
+succeeded in his plans of making his escape. He pretended, at first, to
+be unwilling to go, and he made only the most temporary arrangements in
+respect to the conduct of his affairs while he should be gone, in order
+to deceive the king in regard to his intentions of not returning. The
+king, on his part, resorted to some stratagems to ascertain whether the
+physician was sincere in his professions, but he did not succeed in
+detecting the artifice, and so the party went away. The physician never
+returned.
+
+Atossa had four sons. Xerxes was the eldest of them. He was not,
+however, the eldest of the sons of Darius, as there were other sons, the
+children of another wife, whom Darius had married before he ascended the
+throne. The oldest of these children was named Artobazanes. Artobazanes
+seems to have been a prince of an amiable and virtuous character, and
+not particularly ambitious and aspiring in his disposition, although, as
+he was the eldest son of his father, he claimed to be his heir. Atossa
+did not admit the validity of this claim, but maintained that the oldest
+of _her_ children was entitled to the inheritance.
+
+It became necessary to decide this question before Darius's death; for
+Darius, in the prosecution of a war in which he was engaged, formed the
+design of accompanying his army on an expedition into Greece, and,
+before doing this, he was bound, according to the laws and usages of the
+Persian realm, to regulate the succession.
+
+There immediately arose an earnest dispute between the friends and
+partisans of Artobazanes and Xerxes, each side urging very eagerly the
+claims of its own candidate. The mother and the friends of Artobazanes
+maintained that he was the oldest son, and, consequently, the heir.
+Atossa, on the other hand, contended that Xerxes was the grandson of
+Cyrus, and that he derived from that circumstance the highest possible
+hereditary rights to the Persian throne.
+
+This was in some respects true, for Cyrus had been the founder of the
+empire and the legitimate monarch, while Darius had no hereditary
+claims. He was originally a noble, of high rank, indeed, but not of the
+royal line; and he had been designated as Cyrus's successor in a time of
+revolution, because there was, at that time, no prince of the royal
+family who could take the inheritance. Those, therefore, who were
+disposed to insist on the claims of a legitimate hereditary succession,
+might very plausibly claim that Darius's government had been a regency
+rather than a reign; that Xerxes, being the oldest son of Atossa,
+Cyrus's daughter, was the true representative of the royal line; and
+that, although it might not be expedient to disturb the possession of
+Darius during his lifetime, yet that, at his death, Xerxes was
+unquestionably entitled to the throne.
+
+There was obviously a great deal of truth and justice in this reasoning,
+and yet it was a view of the subject not likely to be very agreeable to
+Darius, since it seemed to deny the existence of any real and valid
+title to the sovereignty in him. It assigned the crown, at his death,
+not to his son as such, but to his predecessor's grandson; for though
+Xerxes was both the son of Darius and the grandson of Cyrus, it was in
+the latter capacity that he was regarded as entitled to the crown in the
+argument referred to above. The doctrine was very gratifying to the
+pride of Atossa, for it made Xerxes the successor to the crown as her
+son and heir, and not as the son and heir of her husband. For this very
+reason it was likely to be not very gratifying to Darius. He hesitated
+very much in respect to adopting it. Atossa's ascendency over his mind,
+and her influence generally in the Persian court, was almost
+overwhelming, and yet Darius was very unwilling to seem, by giving to
+the oldest grandson of Cyrus the precedence over his own eldest son, to
+admit that he himself had no legitimate and proper title to the throne.
+
+While things were in this state, a Greek, named Demaratus, arrived at
+Susa. He was a dethroned prince from Sparta, and had fled from the
+political storms of his own country to seek refuge in Darius's capital.
+Demaratus found a way to reconcile Darius's pride as a sovereign with
+his personal preferences as a husband and a father. He told the king
+that, according to the principles of hereditary succession which were
+adopted in Greece, Xerxes was his heir as well as Cyrus's, for he was
+the oldest son who was born _after his accession_. A son, he said,
+according to the Greek ideas on the subject, was entitled to inherit
+only such rank as his father held when the son was born; and that,
+consequently, none of his children who had been born before his
+accession could have any claims to the Persian throne. Artobazanes, in a
+word, was to be regarded, he said, only as the son of Darius the noble,
+while Xerxes was the son of Darius the king.
+
+In the end Darius adopted this view, and designated Xerxes as his
+successor in case he should not return from his distant expedition. He
+did not return. He did not even live to set out upon it. Perhaps the
+question of the succession had not been absolutely and finally settled,
+for it arose again and was discussed anew when the death of Darius
+occurred. The manner in which it was finally disposed of will be
+described in the next chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+EGYPT AND GREECE.
+
+B.C. 484
+
+Xerxes assumes the crown.--His message to Artobazanes.--Question of the
+succession again debated.--Advice of Atossa.--Decision of
+Artabanus.--Unfinished wars of Darius.--Egypt and Greece.--Character of
+the Egyptians.--Character of the Greeks.--Architecture.--Monuments of
+Greece.--Egyptian architecture.--Form of Egypt.--Delta of the
+Nile.--Fertility of Egypt.--No rain in Egypt.--Rising of the
+Nile.--Preparations for the inundation.--Gradual rise of the
+water.--Appearance of the country during an inundation.--The three
+theories.--Objections to the first.--Second and third theories.--Reasons
+against them.--Ideas of the common people in regard to the
+inundation.--Story of King Pheron.--His punishment.--Sequel of the story
+of King Pheron.--Nilometers.--Use of Nilometers.--Enormous structures of
+Egypt.--Comparative antiquity of various objects.--Great age of the
+Pyramids.--Egypt a mark for the conqueror.--Its relation to
+Persia.--Xerxes resolves to subdue Egypt first.--The Jews.--The
+Egyptians subdued.--Return to Susa.
+
+
+The arrangements which Darius had made to fix and determine the
+succession, before his death, did not entirely prevent the question from
+arising again when his death occurred. Xerxes was on the spot at the
+time, and at once assumed the royal functions. His brother was absent.
+Xerxes sent a messenger to Artobazanes[C] informing him of their
+father's death, and of his intention of assuming the crown. He said,
+however, that if he did so, he should give his brother the second rank,
+making him, in all respects, next to himself in office and honor. He
+sent, moreover, a great many splendid presents to Artobazanes, to evince
+the friendly regard which he felt for him, and to propitiate his favor.
+
+[Footnote C: Plutarch, who gives an account of these occurrences, varies
+the orthography of the name. We, however, retain the name as given by
+Herodotus.]
+
+Artobazanes sent back word to Xerxes that he thanked him for his
+presents, and that he accepted them with pleasure. He said that he
+considered himself, nevertheless, as justly entitled to the crown,
+though he should, in the event of his accession, treat all his brothers,
+and especially Xerxes, with the utmost consideration and respect.
+
+Soon after these occurrences, Artobazanes came to Media, where Xerxes
+was, and the question which of them should be the king was agitated anew
+among the nobles of the court. In the end, a public hearing of the cause
+was had before Artabanus, a brother of Darius, and, of course, an uncle
+of the contending princes. The question seems to have been referred to
+him, either because he held some public office which made it his duty to
+consider and decide such a question, or else because he had been
+specially commissioned to act as judge in this particular case. Xerxes
+was at first quite unwilling to submit his claims to the decision of
+such a tribunal. The crown was, as he maintained, rightfully his. He
+thought that the public voice was generally in his favor. Then, besides,
+he was already in possession of the throne, and by consenting to plead
+his cause before his uncle, he seemed to be virtually abandoning all
+this vantage ground, and trusting instead to the mere chance of
+Artabanus's decision.
+
+Atossa, however, recommended to him to accede to the plan of referring
+the question to Artabanus. He would consider the subject, she said, with
+fairness and impartiality, and decide it right. She had no doubt that he
+would decide it in Xerxes's favor; "and if he does not," she added, "and
+you lose your cause, you only become the second man in the kingdom
+instead of the first, and the difference is not so very great, after
+all."
+
+Atossa may have had some secret intimation how Artabanus would decide.
+
+However this may be, Xerxes at length concluded to submit the question.
+A solemn court was held, and the case was argued in the presence of all
+the nobles and great officers of state. A throne was at hand to which
+the successful competitor was to be conducted as soon as the decision
+should be made. Artabanus heard the arguments, and decided in favor of
+Xerxes. Artobazanes, his brother, acquiesced in the decision with the
+utmost readiness and good humor. He was the first to bow before the king
+in token of homage, and conducted him, himself, to the throne.
+
+Xerxes kept his promise faithfully of making his brother the second in
+his kingdom. He appointed him to a very high command in the army, and
+Artobazanes, on his part, served the king with great zeal and fidelity,
+until he was at last killed in battle, in the manner hereafter to be
+described.
+
+As soon as Xerxes found himself established on his throne, he was called
+upon to decide immediately a great question, namely, which of two
+important wars in which his father had been engaged he should first
+undertake to prosecute, the war in Egypt or the war in Greece.
+
+By referring to the map, the reader will see that, as the Persian empire
+extended westward to Asia Minor and to the coasts of the Mediterranean
+Sea, the great countries which bordered upon it in this direction were,
+on the north Greece, and on the south, Egypt; the one in Europe, and the
+other in Africa. The Greeks and the Egyptians were both wealthy and
+powerful, and the countries which they respectively inhabited were
+fertile and beautiful beyond expression, and yet in all their essential
+features and characteristics they were extremely dissimilar. Egypt was a
+long and narrow inland valley. Greece reposed, as it were, in the bosom
+of the sea, consisting, as it did, of an endless number of islands,
+promontories, peninsulas, and winding coasts, laved on every side by
+the blue waters of the Mediterranean. Egypt was a plain, diversified
+only by the varieties of vegetation, and by the towns and villages, and
+the enormous monumental structures which had been erected by man. Greece
+was a picturesque and ever-changing scene of mountains and valleys; of
+precipitous cliffs, winding beaches, rocky capes, and lofty headlands.
+The character and genius of the inhabitants of these two countries took
+their cast, in each case, from the physical conformations of the soil.
+The Egyptians were a quiet, gentle, and harmless race of tillers of the
+ground. They spent their lives in pumping water from the river, in the
+patient, persevering toil of sowing smooth and mellow fields, or in
+reaping the waving grain. The Greeks drove flocks and herds up and down
+the declivities of the mountains, or hunted wild beasts in forests and
+fastnesses. They constructed galleys for navigating the seas; they
+worked the mines and manufactured metals. They built bridges, citadels,
+temples, and towns, and sculptured statuary from marble blocks which
+they chiseled from the strata of the mountains. It is surprising what a
+difference is made in the genius and character of man by elevations,
+here and there, of a few thousand feet in the country where his genius
+and character are formed.
+
+The architectural wonders of Egypt and of Greece were as diverse from
+each other as the natural features of the soil, and in each case the
+structures were in keeping and in harmony with the character of the
+landscape which they respectively adorned. The harmony was, however,
+that of contrast, and not of correspondence. In Greece, where the
+landscape itself was grand and sublime, the architect aimed only at
+beauty. To have aimed at magnitude and grandeur in human structures
+among the mountains, the cliffs, the cataracts, and the resounding ocean
+shores of Greece, would have been absurd. The Grecian artists were
+deterred by their unerring instincts from the attempt. They accordingly
+built beautiful temples, whose white and symmetrical colonnades adorned
+the declivities, or crowned the summits of the hills. They sculptured
+statues, to be placed on pedestals in groves and gardens; they
+constructed fountains; they raised bridges and aqueducts on long ranges
+of arches and piers; and the summits of ragged rocks crystallized, as it
+were, under their hands into towers, battlements, and walls. In Egypt,
+on the other hand, where the country itself was a level and unvarying
+plain, the architecture took forms of prodigious magnitude, of lofty
+elevation, and of vast extent. There were ranges of enormous columns,
+colossal statues, towering obelisks, and pyramids rising like mountains
+from the verdure of the plain. Thus, while nature gave to the country
+its elements of beauty, man completed the landscape by adding to it the
+grand and the sublime.
+
+The shape and proportions of Egypt would be represented by a green
+ribbon an inch wide and a yard long, lying upon the ground in a
+serpentine form; and to complete the model, we might imagine a silver
+filament passing along the center of the green to denote the Nile. The
+real valley of verdure, however, is not of uniform breadth, like the
+ribbon so representing it, but widens as it approaches the sea, as if
+there had been originally a gulf or estuary there, which the sediment
+from the river had filled.
+
+In fact, the rich and fertile plain which the alluvial deposits of the
+Nile have formed, has been protruded for some distance into the sea, and
+the stream divides itself into three great branches about a hundred
+miles from its mouth, two outermost of which, with the sea-coast in
+front, inclose a vast triangle, which was called the Delta, from the
+Greek letter _delta_, (Greek: D), which is of a triangular form. In
+ascending the river beyond the Delta, the fertile plain, at first
+twenty-five or thirty miles wide, grows gradually narrower, as the
+ranges of barren hills and tracts of sandy deserts on either hand draw
+nearer and nearer to the river. Thus the country consists of two long
+lines of rich and fertile intervals, one on each side of the stream. In
+the time of Xerxes the whole extent was densely populated, every little
+elevation of the land being covered with a village or a town. The
+inhabitants tilled the land, raising upon it vast stores of corn, much
+of which was floated down the river to its mouth, and taken thence to
+various countries of Europe and Asia, in merchant ships, over the
+Mediterranean Sea. Caravans, too, sometimes came across the neighboring
+deserts to obtain supplies of Egyptian corn. This was done by the sons
+of Jacob when the crops failed them in the land of Canaan, as related in
+the sacred Scriptures.
+
+There were two great natural wonders in Egypt in ancient times as now:
+first, it never rained there, or, at least, so seldom, that rain was
+regarded as a marvelous phenomenon, interrupting the ordinary course of
+nature, like an earthquake in England or America. The falling of drops
+of water out of clouds in the sky was an occurrence so strange, so
+unaccountable, that the whole population regarded it with astonishment
+and awe. With the exception of these rare and wonder-exciting instances,
+there was no rain, no snow, no hail, no clouds in the sky. The sun was
+always shining, and the heavens were always serene. These meteorological
+characteristics of the country, resulting, as they do, from permanent
+natural causes, continue, of course, unchanged to the present day; and
+the Arabs who live now along the banks of the river, keep their crops,
+when harvested, in heaps in the open air, and require no roofs to their
+huts except a light covering of sheaves to protect the inmates from the
+sun.
+
+The other natural wonder of Egypt was the annual rising of the Nile.
+About midsummer, the peasantry who lived along the banks would find the
+river gradually beginning to rise. The stream became more turbid, too,
+as the bosom of the waters swelled. No cause for this mysterious
+increase appeared, as the sky remained as blue and serene as before, and
+the sun, then nearly vertical, continued to shine with even more than
+its wonted splendor. The inhabitants however, felt no surprise, and
+asked for no explanation of the phenomenon. It was the common course of
+nature at that season. They had all witnessed it, year after year, from
+childhood. They, of course, looked for it when the proper month came
+round, and, though they would have been amazed if the annual flood had
+failed, they thought nothing extraordinary of its coming.
+
+When the swelling of the waters and the gradual filling of the channels
+and low grounds in the neighborhood of the river warned the people that
+the flood was at hand, they all engaged busily in the work of completing
+their preparations. The harvests were all gathered from the fields, and
+the vast stores of fruit and corn which they yielded were piled in
+roofless granaries, built on every elevated spot of ground, where they
+would be safe from the approaching inundation. The rise of the water was
+very gradual and slow. Streams began to flow in all directions over the
+land. Ponds and lakes, growing every day more and more extended, spread
+mysteriously over the surface of the meadows; and all the time while
+this deluge of water was rising to submerge the land, the air continued
+dry, the sun was sultry, and the sky was without a cloud.
+
+As the flood continued to rise, the proportion of land and water, and
+the conformation of the irregular and temporary shores which separated
+them, were changed continually, from day to day. The inhabitants
+assembled in their villages, which were built on rising grounds, some
+natural, others artificially formed. The waters rose more and more,
+until only these crowded islands appeared above its surface--when, at
+length, the valley presented to the view the spectacle of a vast expanse
+of water, calm as a summer's sea, brilliant with the reflected rays of a
+tropical sun, and canopied by a sky, which, displaying its spotless blue
+by day and its countless stars at night, was always cloudless and
+serene.
+
+The inundation was at its height in October. After that period the
+waters gradually subsided, leaving a slimy and very fertilizing deposit
+all over the lands which they had covered. Though the inhabitants
+themselves, who had been accustomed to this overflow from infancy, felt
+no wonder or curiosity about its cause, the philosophers of the day, and
+travelers from other countries who visited Egypt, made many attempts to
+seek an explanation of the phenomenon. They had three theories on the
+subject, which Herodotus mentions and discusses.
+
+The first explanation was, that the rising of the river was occasioned
+by the prevalence of northerly winds on the Mediterranean at that time
+of the year, which drove back the waters at the mouth of the river, and
+so caused the accumulation of the water in the upper parts of the
+valley. Herodotus thought that this was not a satisfactory explanation;
+for sometimes, as he said, these northerly winds did not blow, and yet
+the rising of the river took place none the less when the appointed
+season came. Besides, there were other rivers similarly situated in
+respect to the influence of prevailing winds at sea in driving in the
+waters at their mouths, which were, nevertheless, not subject to
+inundations like the Nile.
+
+The second theory was, that the Nile took its rise, not, like other
+rivers, in inland lakes, or among inland mountains, but in some remote
+and unknown ocean on the other side of the continent, which ocean the
+advocates of this theory supposed might be subject to some great annual
+ebb and flow; and from this it might result that at stated periods an
+unusual tide of waters might be poured into the channel of the river.
+This, however, could not be true, for the waters of the inundation were
+fresh, not salt, which proved that they were not furnished by any ocean.
+
+A third hypothesis was, that the rising of the water was occasioned by
+the melting of the snows in summer on the mountains from which the
+sources of the river came. Against this supposition Herodotus found more
+numerous and more satisfactory reasons even than he had advanced against
+the others. In the first place the river came from the south--a
+direction in which the heat increased in intensity with every league, as
+far as travelers had explored it; and beyond those limits, they supposed
+that the burning sun made the country uninhabitable. It was preposterous
+to suppose that there could be snow and ice there. Then, besides, the
+Nile had been ascended to a great distance, and reports from the natives
+had been brought down from regions still more remote, and no tidings had
+ever been brought of ice and snow. It was unreasonable, therefore, to
+suppose that the inundations could arise from such a cause.
+
+These scientific theories, however, were discussed only among
+philosophers and learned men. The common people had a much more simple
+and satisfactory mode of disposing of the subject. They, in their
+imaginations, invested the beneficent river with a sort of life and
+personality, and when they saw its waters rising so gently but yet
+surely, to overflow their whole land, leaving it, as they withdrew
+again, endued with a new and exuberant fertility, they imagined it a
+living and acting intelligence, that in the exercise of some mysterious
+and inscrutable powers, the nature of which was to them unknown, and
+impelled by a kind and friendly regard for the country and its
+inhabitants, came annually, of its own accord, to spread over the land
+the blessings of fertility and abundance. The mysterious stream being
+viewed in this light, its wonderful powers awakened their veneration and
+awe, and its boundless beneficence their gratitude.
+
+[Illustration: PHERON DEFYING THE NILE.]
+
+Among the ancient Egyptian legends, there is one relating to a certain
+King Pheron which strikingly illustrates this feeling. It seems that
+during one of the inundations, while he was standing with his courtiers
+and watching the flow of the water, the commotion in the stream was much
+greater than usual on account of a strong wind which was blowing at
+that time, and which greatly increased the violence of the whirlpools,
+and the force and swell of the boiling eddies. There was given, in fact,
+to the appearance of the river an expression of anger, and Pheron, who
+was of a proud and haughty character, like most of the Egyptian kings,
+threw his javelin into one of the wildest of the whirlpools, as a token
+of his defiance of its rage. He was instantly struck blind!
+
+The sequel of the story is curious, though it has no connection with the
+personality of the Nile. Pheron remained blind for ten years. At the end
+of that time it was announced to him, by some supernatural
+communication, that the period of his punishment had expired, and that
+his sight might be brought back to him by the employment of a certain
+designated means of restoration, which was the bathing of his eyes by a
+strictly virtuous woman. Pheron undertook compliance with the
+requisition, without any idea that the finding of a virtuous woman would
+be a difficult task. He first tried his own wife, but her bathing
+produced no effect. He then tried, one after another, various ladies of
+his court, and afterward others of different rank and station, selecting
+those who were most distinguished for the excellence of their
+characters. He was disappointed, however, in them all. The blindness
+continued unchanged. At last, however, he found the wife of a peasant,
+whose bathing produced the effect. The monarch's sight was suddenly
+restored. The king rewarded the peasant woman, whose virtuous character
+was established by this indisputable test, with the highest honors. The
+others he collected together, and then shut them up in one of his towns.
+When they were all thus safely imprisoned, he set the town on fire, and
+burned them all up together.
+
+To return to the Nile. Certain columns were erected in different parts
+of the valley, on which cubits and the subdivisions of cubits were
+marked and numbered, for the purpose of ascertaining precisely the rise
+of the water. Such a column was called a Nilometer. There was one near
+Memphis, which was at the upper point of the Delta, and others further
+up the river. Such pillars continue to be used to mark the height of the
+inundations to the present day.
+
+The object of thus accurately ascertaining the rise of the water was not
+mere curiosity, for there were certain important business operations
+which depended upon the results. The fertility and productiveness of
+the soil each year were determined almost wholly by the extent of the
+inundation; and as the ability of the people to pay tribute depended
+upon their crops, the Nilometer furnished the government with a
+criterion by which they regulated the annual assessments of the taxes.
+There were certain canals, too, made to convey the water to distant
+tracts of land, which were opened or kept closed according as the water
+rose to a higher or lower point. All these things were regulated by the
+indications of the Nilometer.
+
+Egypt was famed in the days of Xerxes for those enormous structures and
+ruins of structures whose origin was then, as now, lost in a remote
+antiquity. Herodotus found the Pyramids standing in his day, and
+presenting the same spectacle of mysterious and solitary grandeur which
+they exhibited to Napoleon. He speculated on their origin and their
+history, just as the philosophers and travelers of our day do. In fact,
+he knew less and could learn less about them than is known now. It helps
+to impress our minds with an idea of the extreme antiquity of these and
+the other architectural wonders of Egypt, to compare them with things
+which are considered old in the Western world. The ancient and
+venerable colleges and halls of Oxford and Cambridge are, many of them,
+two or three hundred years old. There are remains of the old wall of the
+city of London which has been standing seven hundred years. This is
+considered a great antiquity. There are, however, Roman ruins in
+Britain, and in various parts of Europe, more ancient still. They have
+been standing eighteen hundred years! People look upon these with a
+species of wonder and awe that they have withstood the destructive
+influences of time so long. But as to the Pyramids, if we go back
+_twenty-five hundred_ years, we find travelers visiting and describing
+them then--monuments as ancient, as venerable, as mysterious and unknown
+in their eyes, as they appear now in ours. We judge that a mountain is
+very distant when, after traveling many miles toward it, it seems still
+as distant as ever. Now, in tracing the history of the pyramids, the
+obelisks, the gigantic statues, and the vast columnar ruins of the Nile,
+we may go back twenty-five hundred years, without, apparently, making
+any progress whatever toward reaching their origin.
+
+Such was Egypt. Isolated as it was from the rest of the world, and full
+of fertility and riches, it offered a marked and definite object to the
+ambition of a conqueror. In fact, on account of the peculiar interest
+which this long and narrow valley of verdure, with its wonderful
+structures, the strange and anomalous course of nature which prevails in
+it, and the extraordinary phases which human life, in consequence,
+exhibits there, has always excited among mankind, heroes and conquerors
+have generally considered it a peculiarly glorious field for their
+exploits. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, contemplated the
+subjugation of it. He did not carry his designs into effect, but left
+them for Cambyses his son. Darius held the country as a dependency
+during his reign, though, near the close of his life, it revolted. This
+revolt took place while he was preparing for his grand expedition
+against Greece, and he was perplexed with the question which of the two
+undertakings, the subjugation of the Egyptians or the invasion of
+Greece, he should first engage in. In the midst of this uncertainty he
+suddenly died, leaving both the wars themselves and the perplexity of
+deciding between them as a part of the royal inheritance falling to his
+son.
+
+Xerxes decided to prosecute the Egyptian campaign first, intending to
+postpone the conquest of Greece till he had brought the valley of the
+Nile once more under Persian sway. He deemed it dangerous to leave a
+province of his father's empire in a state of successful rebellion,
+while leading his armies off to new undertakings. Mardonius, who was the
+commander-in-chief of the army, and the great general on whom Xerxes
+mainly relied for the execution of his schemes, was very reluctant to
+consent to this plan. He was impatient for the conquest of Greece. There
+was little glory for him to acquire in merely suppressing a revolt, and
+reconquering what had been already once subdued. He was eager to enter
+upon a new field. Xerxes, however, overruled his wishes, and the armies
+commenced their march for Egypt. They passed the land of Judea on their
+way, where the captives who had returned from Babylon, and their
+successors, were rebuilding the cities and reoccupying the country.
+Xerxes confirmed them in the privileges which Cyrus and Darius had
+granted them, and aided them in their work. He then went on toward the
+Nile. The rebellion was easily put down. In less than a year from the
+time of leaving Susa, he had reconquered the whole land of Egypt,
+punished the leaders of the revolt, established his brother as viceroy
+of the country, and returned in safety to Susa.
+
+All this took place in the second year of his reign.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE.
+
+B.C. 481
+
+Counselors of Xerxes.--Age and character of Mardonius.--The avenues to
+renown.--Blood inherited and blood shed.--Character of Artabanus.--His
+advice to Xerxes.--The Ionian rebellion.--First invasion of
+Greece.--Xerxes convenes a public council.--His speech.--Xerxes recounts
+the aggressions of the Athenians.--Xerxes proposes to build a bridge
+over the Hellespont.--Excitement of Mardonius.--His speech.--Mardonius
+expresses his contempt of the Greeks.--Predictions of Mardonius.--Pause
+in the assembly.--Speech of Artabanus.--His apologies.--Artabanus
+opposes the war.--Repulse of Datis.--Artabanus warns Xerxes of the
+danger of the expedition.--Artabanus vindicates the character of the
+Greeks.--Xerxes's displeasure.--His angry reply to Artabanus.--Xerxes's
+anxiety.--He determines to abandon his project.--Xerxes sees a vision in
+the night.--The spirit appears a second time to Xerxes.--Xerxes relates
+his dreams to Artabanus.--Opinion of the latter.--Artabanus takes
+Xerxes's place.--The spirit appears a third time.--Artabanus is
+convinced.--The invasion decided upon.--Mardonius probably the ghost.
+
+
+The two great counselors on whose judgment Xerxes mainly relied, so far
+as he looked to any other judgment than his own in the formation of his
+plans, were Artabanus, the uncle by whose decision the throne had been
+awarded to him, and Mardonius, the commander-in-chief of his armies.
+Xerxes himself was quite a young man, of a proud and lofty, yet generous
+character, and full of self-confidence and hope. Mardonius was much
+older, but he was a soldier by profession, and was eager to distinguish
+himself in some great military campaign. It has always been unfortunate
+for the peace and happiness of mankind, under all monarchical and
+despotic governments, in every age of the world, that, through some
+depraved and unaccountable perversion of public sentiment, those who are
+not born to greatness have had no means of attaining to it except as
+heroes in war. Many men have, indeed, by their mental powers or their
+moral excellences, acquired an extended and lasting _posthumous_ fame;
+but in respect to all immediate and exalted distinction and honor, it
+will be found, on reviewing the history of the human race, that there
+have generally been but two possible avenues to them: on the one hand,
+high birth, and on the other, the performance of great deeds of carnage
+and destruction. There must be, it seems, as the only valid claim to
+renown, either blood inherited or blood shed. The glory of the latter is
+second, indeed, to that of the former, but it is _only_ second. He who
+has sacked a city stands very high in the estimation of his fellows. He
+yields precedence only to him whose grandfather sacked one.
+
+This state of things is now, it is true, rapidly undergoing a change.
+The age of chivalry, of military murder and robbery, and of the glory of
+great deeds of carnage and blood, is passing away, and that of peace, of
+industry, and of achievements for promoting the comfort and happiness of
+mankind is coming. The men who are now advancing to the notice of the
+world are those who, through their commerce or their manufactures, feed
+and clothe their fellow-men by millions, or, by opening new channels or
+new means for international intercourse, civilize savages, and people
+deserts; while the glory of killing and destroying is less and less
+regarded, and more and more readily forgotten.
+
+In the days of Xerxes, however, there was no road to honor but by war,
+and Mardonius found that his only hope of rising to distinction was by
+conducting a vast torrent of military devastation over some portion of
+the globe; and the fairer, the richer, the happier the scene which he
+was thus to inundate and overwhelm, the greater would be the glory. He
+was very much disposed, therefore, to urge on the invasion of Greece by
+every means in his power.
+
+Artabanus, on the other hand, the uncle of Xerxes, was a man advanced in
+years, and of a calm and cautious disposition. He was better aware than
+younger men of the vicissitudes and hazards of war, and was much more
+inclined to restrain than to urge on the youthful ambition of his
+nephew. Xerxes had been able to present some show of reason for his
+campaign in Egypt, by calling the resistance which that country offered
+to his power a rebellion. There was, however, no such reason in the case
+of Greece. There had been two wars between Persia and the Athenians
+already, it is true. In the first, the Athenians had aided their
+countrymen in Asia Minor in a fruitless attempt to recover their
+independence. This the Persian government considered as aiding and
+abetting a rebellion. In the second, the Persians under Datis, one of
+Darius's generals, had undertaken a grand invasion of Greece, and, after
+landing in the neighborhood of Athens, were beaten, with immense
+slaughter, at the great battle of Marathon, near that city. The former
+of these wars is known in history as the Ionian rebellion; the latter as
+the first Persian invasion of Greece. They had both occurred during the
+reign of Darius, and the invasion under Datis had taken place not many
+years before the accession of Xerxes, so that a great number of the
+officers who had served in that campaign were still remaining in the
+court and army of Xerxes at Susa. These wars had, however, both been
+terminated, and Artabanus was very little inclined to have the contests
+renewed.
+
+Xerxes, however, was bent upon making one more attempt to conquer
+Greece, and when the time arrived for commencing his preparations, he
+called a grand council of the generals, the nobles, and the potentates
+of the realm, to lay his plans before them. The historian who narrated
+these proceedings recorded the debate that ensued in the following
+manner.
+
+Xerxes himself first addressed the assembly, to announce and explain his
+designs.
+
+"The enterprise, my friends," said he, "in which I propose now to
+engage, and in which I am about to ask your co-operation, is no new
+scheme of my own devising. What I design to do is, on the other hand,
+only the carrying forward of the grand course of measures marked out by
+my predecessors, and pursued by them with steadiness and energy, so long
+as the power remained in their hands. That power has now descended to
+me, and with it has devolved the responsibility of finishing the work
+which they so successfully began.
+
+"It is the manifest destiny of Persia to rule the world. From the time
+that Cyrus first commenced the work of conquest by subduing Media, to
+the present day, the extent of our empire has been continually widening,
+until now it covers all of Asia and Africa, with the exception of the
+remote and barbarous tribes, that, like the wild beasts which share
+their forests with them, are not worth the trouble of subduing. These
+vast conquests have been made by the courage, the energy, and the
+military power of Cyrus, Darius, and Cambyses, my renowned
+predecessors. They, on their part, have subdued Asia and Africa; Europe
+remains. It devolves on me to finish what they have begun. Had my father
+lived, he would, himself, have completed the work. He had already made
+great preparations for the undertaking; but he died, leaving the task to
+me, and it is plain that I can not hesitate to undertake it without a
+manifest dereliction of duty.
+
+"You all remember the unprovoked and wanton aggressions which the
+Athenians committed against us in the time of the Ionian rebellion,
+taking part against us with rebels and enemies. They crossed the AEgean
+Sea on that occasion, invaded our territories, and at last captured and
+burned the city of Sardis, the principal capital of our Western empire.
+I will never rest until I have had my revenge by burning Athens. Many of
+you, too, who are here present, remember the fate of the expedition
+under Datis. Those of you who were attached to that expedition will have
+no need that I should urge you to seek revenge for your own wrongs. I am
+sure that you will all second my undertaking with the utmost fidelity
+and zeal.
+
+"My plan for gaining access to the Grecian territories is not, as
+before, to convey the troops by a fleet of galleys over the AEgean Sea,
+but to build a bridge across the Hellespont, and march the army to
+Greece by land. This course, which I am well convinced is practicable,
+will be more safe than the other, and the bridging of the Hellespont
+will be of itself a glorious deed. The Greeks will be utterly unable to
+resist the enormous force which we shall be able to pour upon them. We
+can not but conquer; and inasmuch as beyond the Greek territories there
+is, as I am informed, no other power at all able to cope with us, we
+shall easily extend our empire on every side to the sea, and thus the
+Persian dominion will cover the whole habitable world.
+
+"I am sure that I can rely on your cordial and faithful co-operation in
+these plans, and that each one of you will bring me, from his own
+province or territories, as large a quota of men, and of supplies for
+the war, as is in his power. They who contribute thus most liberally I
+shall consider as entitled to the highest honors and rewards."
+
+Such was, in substance, the address of Xerxes to his council. He
+concluded by saying that it was not his wish to act in the affair in an
+arbitrary or absolute manner, and he invited all present to express,
+with perfect freedom, any opinions or views which they entertained in
+respect to the enterprise.
+
+While Xerxes had been speaking, the soul of Mardonius had been on fire
+with excitement and enthusiasm, and every word which the king had
+uttered only fanned the flame. He rose immediately when the king gave
+permission to the counselors to speak, and earnestly seconded the
+monarch's proposals in the following words:
+
+"For my part, sire, I can not refrain from expressing my high admiration
+of the lofty spirit and purpose on your part, which leads you to propose
+to us an enterprise so worthy of your illustrious station and exalted
+personal renown. Your position and power at the present time are higher
+than those ever attained by any human sovereign that has ever lived; and
+it is easy to foresee that there is a career of glory before you which
+no future monarch can ever surpass. You are about to complete the
+conquest of the world! That exploit can, of course, never be exceeded.
+We all admire the proud spirit on your part which will not submit tamely
+to the aggressions and insults which we have received from the Greeks.
+We have conquered the people of India, of Egypt, of Ethiopia, and of
+Assyria, and that, too, without having previously suffered any injury
+from them, but solely from a noble love of dominion; and shall we tamely
+stop in our career when we see nations opposed to us from whom we have
+received so many insults, and endured so many wrongs? Every
+consideration of honor and manliness forbids it.
+
+"We have nothing to fear in respect to the success of the enterprise in
+which you invite us to engage. I know the Greeks, and I know that they
+can not stand against our arms. I have encountered them many times and
+in various ways. I met them in the provinces of Asia Minor, and you all
+know the result. I met them during the reign of Darius your father, in
+Macedon and Thrace--or, rather, sought to meet them; for, though I
+marched through the country, the enemy always avoided me. They could not
+be found. They have a great name, it is true; but, in fact, all their
+plans and arrangements are governed by imbecility and folly. They are
+not ever united among themselves. As they speak one common language, any
+ordinary prudence and sagacity would lead them to combine together, and
+make common cause against the nations that surround them. Instead of
+this, they are divided into a multitude of petty states and kingdoms,
+and all their resources and power are exhausted in fruitless contentions
+with each other. I am convinced that, once across the Hellespont, we can
+march to Athens without finding any enemy to oppose our progress; or, if
+we should encounter any resisting force, it will be so small and
+insignificant as to be instantly overwhelmed."
+
+In one point Mardonius was nearly right in his predictions, since it
+proved subsequently, as will hereafter be seen, that when the Persian
+army reached the pass of Thermopylae, which was the great avenue of
+entrance, on the north, into the territories of the Greeks, they found
+only three hundred men ready there to oppose their passage!
+
+When Mardonius had concluded his speech, he sat down, and quite a solemn
+pause ensued. The nobles and chieftains generally were less ready than
+he to encounter the hazards and uncertainties of so distant a campaign.
+Xerxes would acquire, by the success of the enterprise, a great
+accession to his wealth and to his dominion, and Mardonius, too, might
+expect to reap very rich rewards; but what were they themselves to
+gain? They did not dare, however, to seem to oppose the wishes of the
+king, and, notwithstanding the invitation which he had given them to
+speak, they remained silent, not knowing, in fact, exactly what to say.
+
+All this time Artabanus, the venerable uncle of Xerxes, sat silent like
+the rest, hesitating whether his years, his rank, and the relation which
+he sustained to the young monarch would justify his interposing, and
+make it prudent and safe for him to attempt to warn his nephew of the
+consequences which he would hazard by indulging his dangerous ambition.
+At length he determined to speak.
+
+"I hope," said he, addressing the king, "that it will not displease you
+to have other views presented in addition to those which have already
+been expressed. It is better that all opinions should be heard; the just
+and the true will then appear the more just and true by comparison with
+others. It seems to me that the enterprise which you contemplate is full
+of danger, and should be well considered before it is undertaken. When
+Darius, your father, conceived of the plan of his invasion of the
+country of the Scythians beyond the Danube, I counseled him against the
+attempt. The benefits to be secured by such an undertaking seemed to me
+wholly insufficient to compensate for the expense, the difficulties, and
+the dangers of it. My counsels were, however, overruled. Your father
+proceeded on the enterprise. He crossed the Bosporus, traversed Thrace,
+and then crossed the Danube; but, after a long and weary contest with
+the hordes of savages which he found in those trackless wilds, he was
+forced to abandon the undertaking, and return, with the loss of half his
+army. The plan which you propose seems to me to be liable to the same
+dangers, and I fear very much that it will lead to the same results.
+
+"The Greeks have the name of being a valiant and formidable foe. It may
+prove in the end that they are so. They certainly repulsed Datis and all
+his forces, vast as they were, and compelled them to retire with an
+enormous loss. Your invasion, I grant, will be more formidable than his.
+You will throw a bridge across the Hellespont, so as to take your troops
+round through the northern parts of Europe into Greece, and you will
+also, at the same time, have a powerful fleet in the AEgean Sea. But it
+must be remembered that the naval armaments of the Greeks in all those
+waters are very formidable. They may attack and destroy your fleet.
+Suppose that they should do so, and that then, proceeding to the
+northward in triumph, they should enter the Hellespont and destroy your
+bridge? Your retreat would be cut off, and, in case of a reverse of
+fortune, your army would be exposed to total ruin.
+
+"Your father, in fact, very narrowly escaped precisely this fate. The
+Scythians came to destroy his bridge across the Danube while his forces
+were still beyond the river, and, had it not been for the very
+extraordinary fidelity and zeal of Histiaeus, who had been left to guard
+the post, they would have succeeded in doing it. It is frightful to
+think that the whole Persian army, with the sovereign of the empire at
+their head, were placed in a position where their being saved from
+overwhelming and total destruction depended solely on the fidelity and
+firmness of a single man! Should you place your forces and your own
+person in the same danger, can you safely calculate upon the same
+fortunate escape?
+
+"Even the very vastness of your force may be the means of insuring and
+accelerating its destruction, since whatever rises to extraordinary
+elevation and greatness is always exposed to dangers correspondingly
+extraordinary and great. Thus tall trees and lofty towers seem always
+specially to invite the thunderbolts of Heaven.
+
+"Mardonius charges the Greeks with a want of sagacity, efficiency, and
+valor, and speaks contemptuously of them, as soldiers, in every respect.
+I do not think that such imputations are just to the people against whom
+they are directed, or honorable to him who makes them. To disparage the
+absent, especially an absent enemy, is not magnanimous or wise; and I
+very much fear that it will be found in the end that the conduct of the
+Greeks will evince very different military qualities from those which
+Mardonius has assigned them. They are represented by common fame as
+sagacious, hardy, efficient, and brave, and it may prove that these
+representations are true.
+
+"My counsel therefore is, that you dismiss this assembly, and take
+further time to consider this subject before coming to a final decision.
+Perhaps, on more mature reflection, you will conclude to abandon the
+project altogether. If you should not conclude to abandon it, but should
+decide, on the other hand, that it must be prosecuted, let me entreat
+you not to go yourself in company with the expedition. Let Mardonius
+take the charge and the responsibility. If he does so, I predict that he
+will leave the dead bodies of the soldiers that you intrust to him, to
+be devoured by dogs on the plains of Athens or Lacedaemon."
+
+Xerxes was exceedingly displeased at hearing such a speech as this from
+his uncle, and he made a very angry reply. He accused Artabanus of
+meanness of spirit, and of a cowardice disgraceful to his rank and
+station, in thus advocating a tame submission to the arrogant
+pretensions of the Greeks. Were it not, he said, for the respect which
+he felt for Artabanus, as his father's brother, he would punish him
+severely for his presumption in thus basely opposing his sovereign's
+plans. "As it is," continued he, "I will carry my plans into effect, but
+you shall not have the honor of accompanying me. You shall remain at
+Susa with the women and children of the palace, and spend your time in
+the effeminate and ignoble pleasures suited to a spirit so mean. As for
+myself, I must and will carry my designs into execution. I could not, in
+fact, long avoid a contest with the Greeks, even if I were to adopt the
+cowardly and degrading policy which you recommend; for I am confident
+that they will very soon invade my dominions, if I do not anticipate
+them by invading theirs."
+
+So saying, Xerxes dismissed the assembly.
+
+His mind, however, was not at ease. Though he had so indignantly
+rejected the counsel which Artabanus had offered him, yet the impressive
+words in which it had been uttered, and the arguments with which it had
+been enforced, weighed upon his spirit, and oppressed and dejected him.
+The longer he considered the subject, the more serious his doubts and
+fears became, until at length, as the night approached, he became
+convinced that Artabanus was right, and that he himself was wrong. His
+mind found no rest until he came to the determination to abandon the
+project after all. He resolved to make this change in his resolution
+known to Artabanus and his nobles in the morning, and to countermand the
+orders which he had given for the assembling of the troops. Having by
+this decision restored something like repose to his agitated mind, he
+laid himself down upon his couch and went to sleep.
+
+In the night he saw a vision. It seemed to him that a resplendent and
+beautiful form appeared before him, and after regarding him a moment
+with an earnest look, addressed him as follows:
+
+"And do you really intend to abandon your deliberate design of leading
+an array into Greece, after having formally announced it to the realm
+and issued your orders? Such fickleness is absurd, and will greatly
+dishonor you. Resume your plan, and go on boldly and perseveringly to
+the execution of it."
+
+So saying, the vision disappeared.
+
+When Xerxes awoke in the morning, and the remembrance of the events of
+the preceding day returned, mingling itself with the new impressions
+which had been made by the dream, he was again agitated and perplexed.
+As, however, the various influences which pressed upon him settled to
+their final equilibrium, the fears produced by Artabanus's substantial
+arguments and warnings on the preceding day proved to be of greater
+weight than the empty appeal to his pride which had been made by the
+phantom of the night. He resolved to persist in the abandonment of his
+scheme. He called his council, accordingly, together again, and told
+them that, on more mature reflection, he had become convinced that his
+uncle was right and that he himself had been wrong. The project,
+therefore, was for the present suspended, and the orders for the
+assembling of the forces were revoked. The announcement was received by
+the members of the council with the most tumultuous joy.
+
+That night Xerxes had another dream. The same spirit appeared to him
+again, his countenance, however, bearing now, instead of the friendly
+look of the preceding night, a new and stern expression of displeasure.
+Pointing menacingly at the frightened monarch with his finger, he
+exclaimed, "You have rejected my advice; you have abandoned your plan;
+and now I declare to you that, unless you immediately resume your
+enterprise and carry it forward to the end, short as has been the time
+since you were raised to your present elevation, a still shorter period
+shall elapse before your downfall and destruction."
+
+The spirit then disappeared as suddenly as it came, leaving Xerxes to
+awake in an agony of terror.
+
+As soon as it was day, Xerxes sent for Artabanus, and related to him his
+dreams. "I was willing," said he, "after hearing what you said, and
+maturely considering the subject, to give up my plan; but these dreams,
+I can not but think, are intimations from Heaven that I ought to
+proceed."
+
+Artabanus attempted to combat this idea by representing to Xerxes that
+dreams were not to be regarded as indications of the will of Heaven, but
+only as a vague and disordered reproduction of the waking thoughts,
+while the regular action of the reason and the judgment by which they
+were ordinarily controlled was suspended or disturbed by the influence
+of slumber. Xerxes maintained, on the other hand, that, though this view
+of the case might explain his first vision, the solemn repetition of the
+warning proved that it was supernatural and divine. He proposed that, to
+put the reality of the apparition still further to the test, Artabanus
+should take his place on the royal couch the next night, to see if the
+specter would not appear to him. "You shall clothe yourself," said he,
+"in my robes, put the crown upon your head, and take your seat upon the
+throne. After that, you shall retire to my apartment, lie down upon the
+couch, and go to sleep. If the vision is supernatural, it will
+undoubtedly appear to you. If it does not so appear, I will admit that
+it was nothing but a dream."
+
+Artabanus made some objection, at first, to the details of the
+arrangement which Xerxes proposed, as he did not see, he said, of what
+advantage it could be for him to assume the guise and habiliments of the
+king. If the vision was divine, it could not be deceived by such
+artifices as those. Xerxes, however, insisted on his proposition, and
+Artabanus yielded. He assumed for an hour the dress and the station of
+the king, and then retired to the king's apartment, and laid himself
+down upon the couch under the royal pavilion. As he had no faith in the
+reality of the vision, his mind was quiet and composed, and he soon fell
+asleep.
+
+At midnight, Xerxes, who was lying in an adjoining apartment, was
+suddenly aroused by a loud and piercing cry from the room where
+Artabanus was sleeping, and in a moment afterward Artabanus himself
+rushed in, perfectly wild with terror. He had seen the vision. It had
+appeared before him with a countenance and gestures expressive of great
+displeasure, and after loading him with reproaches for having attempted
+to keep Xerxes back from his proposed expedition into Greece, it
+attempted to bore out his eyes with a red-hot iron with which it was
+armed. Artabanus had barely succeeded in escaping by leaping from his
+couch and rushing precipitately out of the room.[D]
+
+[Footnote D: See Frontispiece.]
+
+Artabanus said that he was now convinced and satisfied. It was plainly
+the divine will that Xerxes should undertake his projected invasion, and
+he would himself, thenceforth, aid the enterprise by every means in his
+power. The council was, accordingly, once more convened. The story of
+the three apparitions was related to them, and the final decision
+announced that the armies were to be assembled for the march without any
+further delay.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is proper here to repeat, once for all in this volume, a remark which
+has elsewhere often been made in the various works of this series, that
+in studying ancient history at the present day, it is less important now
+to know, in regard to transactions so remote, what the facts actually
+were which really occurred, than it is to know the story respecting
+them, which, for the last two thousand years, has been in circulation
+among mankind. It is now, for example, of very little consequence
+whether there ever was or never was such a personage as Hercules, but it
+is essential that every educated man should know the story which
+ancient writers tell in relating his doings. In this view of the case,
+our object, in this volume, is simply to give the history of Xerxes just
+as it stands, without stopping to separate the false from the true. In
+relating the occurrences, therefore, which have been described in this
+chapter, we simply give the alleged facts to our readers precisely as
+the ancient historians give them to us, leaving each reader to decide
+for himself how far he will believe the narrative. In respect to this
+particular story, we will add, that some people think that Mardonius was
+really the ghost by whose appearance Artabanus and Xerxes were so
+dreadfully frightened.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE.
+
+B.C. 481
+
+Orders to the provinces.--Mode of raising money.--Modern mode of
+securing supplies of arms and money.--Xerxes's preparations.--Four years
+allotted to them.--Arms.--Provisions.--Building of ships.--Persian
+possessions on the north of the AEgean Sea.--Promontory of Mount
+Athos.--Dangerous navigation.--Plan of Xerxes for the march of his
+expedition.--Former shipwreck of Mardonius.--Terrible gale.--Destruction
+of Mardonius's fleet at Mount Athos.--Plan of a canal.--The Greeks do
+not interfere.--Plans of the engineers.--Prosecution of the work.--The
+Strymon bridged.--Granaries and store-houses.--Xerxes leaves Susa, and
+begins his march.--The Meander.--Celaenae.--Pythius.--The wealth of
+Pythius.--His interview with Xerxes.--The amount of Pythius's
+wealth.--His offer to Xerxes.--Gratification of Xerxes.--His reply to
+Pythius's offer.--Real character of Pythius.--The entertainment of
+silver and gold.--Xerxes's gratitude put to the test.--He murders
+Pythius's son.--Various objects of interest observed by the army.--The
+plane-tree.--Artificial honey.--Salt lake.--Gold and silver
+mines.--Xerxes summons the Greeks to surrender.--They indignantly
+refuse.
+
+
+As soon as the invasion of Greece was finally decided upon, the orders
+were transmitted to all the provinces of the empire, requiring the
+various authorities and powers to make the necessary preparations. There
+were men to be levied, arms to be manufactured, ships to be built, and
+stores of food to be provided. The expenditures, too, of so vast an
+armament as Xerxes was intending to organize, would require a large
+supply of money. For all these things Xerxes relied on the revenues and
+the contributions of the provinces, and orders, very full and very
+imperative, were transmitted, accordingly, to all the governors and
+satraps of Asia, and especially to those who ruled over the countries
+which lay near the western confines of the empire, and consequently near
+the Greek frontiers.
+
+In modern times it is the practice of powerful nations to accumulate
+arms and munitions of war on storage in arsenals and naval depots, so
+that the necessary supplies for very extended operations, whether of
+attack or defense, can be procured in a very short period of time. In
+respect to funds, too, modern nations have a great advantage over those
+of former days, in case of any sudden emergency arising to call for
+great and unusual expenditures. In consequence of the vast accumulation
+of capital in the hands of private individuals, and the confidence which
+is felt in the mercantile honor and good faith of most established
+governments at the present day, these governments can procure indefinite
+supplies of gold and silver at any time, by promising to pay an annual
+interest in lieu of the principal borrowed. It is true that, in these
+cases, a stipulation is made, by which the government may, at a certain
+specified period, pay back the principal, and so extinguish the annuity;
+but in respect to a vast portion of the amount so borrowed, it is not
+expected that this repayment will ever be made. The creditors, in fact,
+do not desire that it should be, as owners of property always prefer a
+safe annual income from it to the custody of the principal; and thus
+governments in good credit have sometimes induced their creditors to
+abate the rate of interest which they were receiving, by threatening
+otherwise to pay the debt in full.
+
+These inventions, however, by which a government in one generation may
+enjoy the pleasure and reap the glory of waging war, and throw the
+burden of the expense on another, were not known in ancient times.
+Xerxes did not understand the art of funding a national debt, and there
+would, besides, have probably been very little confidence in Persian
+stocks, if any had been issued. He had to raise all his funds by actual
+taxation, and to have his arms, and his ships and chariots of war,
+manufactured express. The food, too, to sustain the immense army which
+he was to raise, was all to be produced, and store-houses were to be
+built for the accumulation and custody of it. All this, as might
+naturally be expected, would require time; and the vastness of the scale
+on which these immense preparations were made is evinced by the fact
+that _four years_ were the time allotted for completing them. This
+period includes, however, a considerable time before the great debate on
+the subject described in the last chapter.
+
+The chief scene of activity, during all this time, was the tract of
+country in the western part of Asia Minor, and along the shores of the
+AEgean Sea. Taxes and contributions were raised from all parts of the
+empire, but the actual material of war was furnished mainly from those
+provinces which were nearest to the future scene of it. Each district
+provided such things as it naturally and most easily produced. One
+contributed horses, another arms and ammunition, another ships, and
+another provisions. The ships which were built were of various forms and
+modes of construction, according to the purposes which they were
+respectively intended to serve. Some were strictly ships of war,
+intended for actual combat; others were transports, their destination
+being simply the conveyance of troops or of military stores. There were
+also a large number of vessels, which were built on a peculiar model,
+prescribed by the engineers, being very long and straight-sided, and
+smooth and flat upon their decks. These were intended for the bridge
+across the Hellespont. They were made long, so that, when placed side by
+side across the stream, a greater breadth might be given to the platform
+of the bridge. All these things were very deliberately and carefully
+planned.
+
+Although it was generally on the Asiatic side of the AEgean Sea that
+these vast works of preparation were going on, and the crossing of the
+Hellespont was to be the first great movement of the Persian army, the
+reader must not suppose that, even at this time, the European shores
+were wholly in the hands of the Greeks. The Persians had, long before,
+conquered Thrace and a part of Macedon; and thus the northern shores of
+the AEgean Sea, and many of the islands, were already in Xerxes's hands.
+The Greek dominions lay further south, and Xerxes did not anticipate any
+opposition from the enemy, until his army, after crossing the strait,
+should have advanced to the neighborhood of Athens. In fact, all the
+northern country through which his route would lie was already in his
+hands, and in passing through it he anticipated no difficulties except
+such as should arise from the elements themselves, and the physical
+obstacles of the way. The Hellespont itself was, of course, one
+principal point of danger. The difficulty here was to be surmounted by
+the bridge of boats. There was, however, another point, which was, in
+some respects, still more formidable: it was the promontory of Mount
+Athos.
+
+By looking at the map of Greece, placed at the commencement of the next
+chapter, the reader will see that there are two or three singular
+promontories jutting out from the main land in the northwestern part of
+the AEgean Sea. The most northerly and the largest of these was formed by
+an immense mountainous mass rising out of the water, and connected by a
+narrow isthmus with the main land. The highest summit of this rocky pile
+was called Mount Athos in ancient times, and is so marked upon the map.
+In modern days it is called Monte Santo, or Holy Mountain, being covered
+with monasteries, and convents, and other ecclesiastical establishments
+built in the Middle Ages.
+
+Mount Athos is very celebrated in ancient history. It extended along the
+promontory for many miles, and terminated abruptly in lofty cliffs and
+precipices toward the sea, where it was so high that its shadow, as was
+said, was thrown, at sunset, across the water to the island of Lemnos, a
+distance of twenty leagues. It was a frightful specter in the eyes of
+the ancient navigators, when, as they came coasting along from the north
+in their frail galleys, on their voyages to Greece and Italy, they saw
+it frowning defiance to them as they came, with threatening clouds
+hanging upon its summit, and the surges and surf of the AEgean
+perpetually thundering upon its base below. To make this stormy
+promontory the more terrible, it was believed to be the haunt of
+innumerable uncouth and misshapen monsters of the sea, that lived by
+devouring the hapless seamen who were thrown upon the rocks from their
+wrecked vessels by the merciless tumult of the waves.
+
+The plan which Xerxes had formed for the advance of his expedition was,
+that the army which was to cross the Hellespont by the bridge should
+advance thence through Macedonia and Thessaly, by land, attended by a
+squadron of ships, transports, and galleys, which was to accompany the
+expedition along the coast by sea. The _men_ could be marched more
+conveniently to their place of destination by land. The stores, on the
+other hand, the arms, the supplies, and the baggage of every
+description, could be transported more easily by sea. Mardonius was
+somewhat solicitous in respect to the safety of the great squadron which
+would be required for this latter service, in doubling the promontory of
+Mount Athos.
+
+In fact, he had special and personal reason for his solicitude, for he
+had himself, some years before, met with a terrible disaster at this
+very spot. It was during the reign of Darius that this disaster
+occurred. On one of the expeditions which Darius had intrusted to his
+charge, he was conducting a very large fleet along the coast, when a
+sudden storm arose just as he was approaching this terrible promontory.
+
+He was on the northern side of the promontory when the storm came on,
+and as the wind was from the north, it blew directly upon the shore. For
+the fleet to make its escape from the impending danger, it seemed
+necessary, therefore, to turn the course of the ships back against the
+wind; but this, on account of the sudden and terrific violence of the
+gale, it was impossible to do. The sails, when they attempted to use
+them, were blown away by the howling gusts, and the oars were broken to
+pieces by the tremendous dashing of the sea. It soon appeared that the
+only hope of escape for the squadron was to press on in the desperate
+attempt to double the promontory, and thus gain, if possible, the
+sheltered water under its lee. The galleys, accordingly, went on, the
+pilots and the seamen exerting their utmost to keep them away from the
+shore.
+
+All their efforts, however, to do this, were vain. The merciless gales
+drove the vessels, one after another, upon the rocks, and dashed them to
+pieces, while the raging sea wrenched the wretched mariners from the
+wrecks to which they attempted to cling, and tossed them out into the
+boiling whirlpools around, to the monsters that were ready there to
+devour them, as if she were herself some ferocious monster, feeding her
+offspring with their proper prey. A few, it is true, of the hapless
+wretches succeeded in extricating themselves from the surf, by crawling
+up upon the rocks, through the tangled sea-weed, until they were above
+the reach of the surges; but when they had done so, they found
+themselves hopelessly imprisoned between the impending precipices which
+frowned above them and the frantic billows which were raging and roaring
+below. They gained, of course, by their apparent escape, only a brief
+prolongation of suffering, for they all soon miserably perished from
+exhaustion, exposure, and cold.
+
+Mardonius had no desire to encounter this danger again. Now the
+promontory of Mount Athos, though high and rocky itself, was connected
+with the main land by an isthmus level and low, and not very broad.
+Xerxes determined on cutting a canal through this isthmus, so as to take
+his fleet of galleys across the neck, and thus avoid the stormy
+navigation of the outward passage. Such a canal would be of service not
+merely for the passage of the great fleet, but for the constant
+communication which it would be necessary for Xerxes to maintain with
+his own dominions during the whole period of the invasion.
+
+It might have been expected that the Greeks would have interfered to
+prevent the execution of such a work as this; but it seems that they did
+not, and yet there was a considerable Greek population in that vicinity.
+The promontory of Athos itself was quite extensive, being about thirty
+miles long and four or five wide, and it had several towns upon it. The
+canal which Xerxes was to cut across the neck of this peninsula was to
+be wide enough for two triremes to pass each other. Triremes were
+galleys propelled by three banks of oars, and were vessels of the
+largest class ordinarily employed; and as the oars by which they were
+impelled required almost as great a breadth of water as the vessels
+themselves, the canal was, consequently, to be very wide.
+
+The engineers, accordingly, laid out the ground, and, marking the
+boundaries by stakes and lines, as guides to the workmen, the excavation
+was commenced. Immense numbers of men were set at work, arranged
+regularly in gangs, according to the various nations which furnished
+them. As the excavation gradually proceeded, and the trench began to
+grow deep, they placed ladders against the sides, and stationed a series
+of men upon them; then the earth dug from the bottom was hauled up from
+one to another, in a sort of basket or hod, until it reached the top,
+where it was taken by other men and conveyed away.
+
+The work was very much interrupted and impeded, in many parts of the
+line, by the continual caving in of the banks, on account of the workmen
+attempting to dig perpendicularly down. In one section--the one which
+had been assigned to the Phoenicians--this difficulty did not occur; for
+the Phoenicians, more considerate than the rest, had taken the
+precaution to make the breadth of their part of the trench twice as
+great at the top as it was below. By this means the banks on each side
+were formed to a gradual slope, and consequently stood firm. The canal
+was at length completed, and the water was let in.
+
+North of the promontory of Mount Athos the reader will find upon the map
+the River Strymon, flowing south, not far from the boundary between
+Macedon and Thrace, into the AEgean Sea. The army of Xerxes, in its march
+from the Hellespont, would, of course, have to cross this river; and
+Xerxes having, by cutting the canal across the isthmus of Mount Athos,
+removed an obstacle in the way of his fleet, resolved next to facilitate
+the progress of his army by bridging the Strymon.
+
+The king also ordered a great number of granaries and store-houses to be
+built at various points along the route which it was intended that his
+army should pursue. Some of these were on the coasts of Macedonia and
+Thrace, and some on the banks of the Strymon. To these magazines the
+corn raised in Asia for the use of the expedition was conveyed, from
+time to time, in transport ships, as fast as it was ready, and, being
+safely deposited, was protected by a guard. No very extraordinary means
+of defense seems to have been thought necessary at these points, for,
+although the scene of all these preliminary arrangements was on the
+European side of the line, and in what was called Greek territory, still
+this part of the country had been long under Persian dominion. The
+independent states and cities of Greece were all further south, and the
+people who inhabited them did not seem disposed to interrupt these
+preparations. Perhaps they were not aware to what object and end all
+these formidable movements on their northern frontier were tending.
+
+Xerxes, during all this time, had remained in Persia. The period at
+length arrived when, his preparations on the frontiers being far
+advanced toward completion, he concluded to move forward at the head of
+his forces to Sardis. Sardis was the great capital of the western part
+of his dominions, and was situated not far from the frontier. He
+accordingly assembled his forces, and, taking leave of his capital of
+Susa with much parade and many ceremonies, he advanced toward Asia
+Minor. Entering and traversing Asia Minor, he crossed the Halys, which
+had been, in former times, the western boundary of the empire, though
+its limits had now been extended very far beyond. Having crossed the
+Halys, the immense procession advanced into Phrygia.
+
+A very romantic tale is told of an interview between Xerxes and a
+certain nobleman named Pythius, who resided in one of the Phrygian
+towns. The circumstances were these: After crossing the Halys, which
+river flows north into the Euxine Sea, the army went on to the westward
+through nearly the whole extent of Phrygia, until at length they came to
+the sources of the streams which flowed west into the AEgean Sea. One of
+the most remarkable of these rivers was the Meander. There was a town
+built exactly at the source of the Meander--so exactly, in fact, that
+the fountain from which the stream took its rise was situated in the
+public square of the town, walled in and ornamented like an artificial
+fountain in a modern city. The name of this town was Celaenae.
+
+When the army reached Celaenae and encamped there, Pythius made a great
+entertainment for the officers, which, as the number was very large, was
+of course attended with an enormous expense. Not satisfied with this,
+Pythius sent word to the king that if he was, in any respect, in want of
+funds for his approaching campaign, he, Pythius, would take great
+pleasure in supplying him.
+
+Xerxes was surprised at such proofs of wealth and munificence from a
+man in comparatively a private station. He inquired of his attendants
+who Pythius was. They replied that, next to Xerxes himself, he was the
+richest man in the world. They said, moreover, that he was as generous
+as he was rich. He had made Darius a present of a beautiful model of a
+fruit-tree and of a vine, of solid gold. He was by birth, they added, a
+Lydian.
+
+Lydia was west of Phrygia, and was famous for its wealth. The River
+Pactolus, which was so celebrated for its golden sands, flowed through
+the country, and as the princes and nobles contrived to monopolize the
+treasures which were found, both in the river itself and in the
+mountains from which it flowed, some of them became immensely wealthy.
+
+Xerxes was astonished at the accounts which he heard of Pythius's
+fortune. He sent for him, and asked him what was the amount of his
+treasures. This was rather an ominous question; for, under such despotic
+governments as those of the Persian kings, the only real safeguard of
+wealth was, often, the concealment of it. Inquiry on the part of a
+government, in respect to treasures accumulated by a subject, was,
+often, only a preliminary to the seizure and confiscation of them.
+
+Pythius, however, in reply to the king's question, said that he had no
+hesitation in giving his majesty full information in respect to his
+fortune. He had been making, he said, a careful calculation of the
+amount of it, with a view of determining how much he could offer to
+contribute in aid of the Persian campaign. He found, he said, that he
+had two thousand talents of silver, and four millions, wanting seven
+thousand, of _staters_ of gold.
+
+The stater was a Persian coin. Even if we knew, at the present day, its
+exact value, we could not determine the precise amount denoted by the
+sum which Pythius named, the value of money being subject to such vast
+fluctuations in different ages of the world. Scholars who have taken an
+interest in inquiring into such points as these, have come to the
+conclusion that the amount of gold and silver coin which Pythius thus
+reported to Xerxes was equal to about thirty millions of dollars.
+
+Pythius added, after stating the amount of the gold and silver which he
+had at command, that it was all at the service of the king for the
+purpose of carrying on the war. He had, he said, besides his money,
+slaves and farms enough for his own maintenance.
+
+Xerxes was extremely gratified at this generosity, and at the proof
+which it afforded of the interest which Pythius felt in the cause of the
+king. "You are the only man," said he, "who has offered hospitality to
+me or to my army since I set out upon this march, and, in addition to
+your hospitality, you tender me your whole fortune. I will not, however,
+deprive you of your treasure. I will, on the contrary, order my
+treasurer to pay to you the seven thousand staters necessary to make
+your four millions complete. I offer you also my friendship, and will do
+any thing in my power, now and hereafter, to serve you. Continue to live
+in the enjoyment of your fortune. If you always act under the influence
+of the noble and generous impulses which govern you now, you will never
+cease to be prosperous and happy."
+
+If we could end the account of Pythius and Xerxes here, what generous
+and noble-minded men we might suppose them to be! But alas! how large a
+portion of the apparent generosity and nobleness which shows itself
+among potentates and kings, turns into selfishness and hypocrisy when
+closely examined. Pythius was one of the most merciless tyrants that
+ever lived. He held all the people that lived upon his vast estates in
+a condition of abject slavery, compelling them to toil continually in
+his mines, in destitution and wretchedness, in order to add more and
+more to his treasures. The people came to his wife with their bitter
+complaints. She pitied them, but could not relieve them. One day, it is
+said that, in order to show her husband the vanity and folly of living
+only to amass silver and gold, and to convince him how little real power
+such treasures have to satisfy the wants of the human soul, she made him
+a great entertainment, in which there was a boundless profusion of
+wealth in the way of vessels and furniture of silver and gold, but
+scarcely any food. There was every thing to satisfy the eye with the
+sight of magnificence, but nothing to satisfy hunger. The noble guest
+sat starving in the midst of a scene of unexampled riches and splendor,
+because it was not possible to _eat_ silver and gold.
+
+And as for Xerxes's professions of gratitude and friendship for Pythius,
+they were put to the test, a short time after the transactions which we
+have above described, in a remarkable manner. Pythius had five sons.
+They were all in Xerxes's army. By their departure on the distant and
+dangerous expedition on which Xerxes was to lead them, their father
+would be left alone. Pythius, under these circumstances, resolved to
+venture so far on the sincerity of his sovereign's professions of regard
+as to request permission to retain one of his sons at home with his
+father, on condition of freely giving up the rest.
+
+Xerxes, on hearing this proposal, was greatly enraged. "How dare you,"
+said he, "come to me with such a demand? You and all that pertain to you
+are my slaves, and are bound to do my bidding without a murmur. You
+deserve the severest punishment for such an insolent request. In
+consideration, however, of your past good behavior, I will not inflict
+upon you what you deserve. I will only kill one of your sons--the one
+that you seem to cling to so fondly. I will spare the rest." So saying,
+the enraged king ordered the son whom Pythius had endeavored to retain
+to be slain before his eyes, and then directed that the dead body should
+be split in two, and the two halves thrown, the one on the right side of
+the road and the other on the left, that his army, as he said, might
+"march between them."
+
+On leaving Phrygia, the army moved on toward the west. Their immediate
+destination as has already been said, was Sardis, where they were to
+remain until the ensuing spring. The historian mentions a number of
+objects of interest which attracted the attention of Xerxes and his
+officers on this march, which mark the geographical peculiarities of the
+country, or illustrate, in some degree, the ideas and manners of the
+times.
+
+There was one town, for example, situated, not like Celaenae, where a
+river had its origin, but where one disappeared. The stream was a branch
+of the Meander. It came down from the mountains like any other mountain
+torrent, and then, at the town in question, it plunged suddenly down
+into a gulf or chasm and disappeared. It rose again at a considerable
+distance below, and thence flowed on, without any further evasions, to
+the Meander.
+
+On the confines between Phrygia and Lydia the army came to a place where
+the road divided. One branch turned toward the north, and led to Lydia;
+the other inclined to the south, and conducted to Caria. Here, too, on
+the frontier, was a monument which had been erected by Croesus, the
+great king of Lydia, who lived in Cyrus's day, to mark the eastern
+boundaries of his kingdom. The Persians were, of course, much
+interested in looking upon this ancient landmark, which designated not
+only the eastern limit of Croesus's empire, but also what was, in
+ancient times, the western limit of their own.
+
+There was a certain species of tree which grew in these countries called
+the plane-tree. Xerxes found one of these trees so large and beautiful
+that it attracted his special admiration. He took possession of it in
+his own name, and adorned it with golden chains, and set a guard over
+it. This idolization of a tree was a striking instance of the childish
+caprice and folly by which the actions of the ancient despots were so
+often governed.
+
+As the army advanced, they came to other places of interest and objects
+of curiosity and wonder. There was a district where the people made a
+sort of artificial honey from grain, and a lake from which the
+inhabitants procured salt by evaporation, and mines, too, of silver and
+of gold. These objects interested and amused the minds of the Persians
+as they moved along, without, however, at all retarding or interrupting
+their progress. In due time they reached the great city of Sardis in
+safety, and here Xerxes established his head-quarters, and awaited the
+coming of spring.
+
+In the mean time, however, he sent heralds into Greece to summon the
+country to surrender to him. This is a common formality when an army is
+about to attack either a town, a castle, or a kingdom. Xerxes's heralds
+crossed the AEgean Sea, and made their demands, in Xerxes's name, upon
+the Greek authorities. As might have been expected, the embassage was
+fruitless; and the heralds returned, bringing with them, from the
+Greeks, not acts or proffers of submission, but stern expressions of
+hostility and defiance. Nothing, of course, now remained, but that both
+parties should prepare for the impending crisis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+CROSSING THE HELLESPONT.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Winter in Asia Minor.--Destruction of the bridge.--Indignation of
+Xerxes.--His ridiculous punishment of the sea.--Xerxes orders a new
+bridge to be made.--Its construction.--Mode of securing the boats.--The
+bridge finished.--Eclipse of the sun.--March from Sardis.--Order of
+march.--Car of Jupiter.--Chariot of Xerxes.--Camp followers.--Arrival at
+the plain of Troy.--The grand sacrifice.--Dejection of the army.--Mode
+of enlistment.--Condition of the soldiers.--Privations and
+hardships.--Storm on Mount Ida.--Abydos.--Parade of the troops.--Xerxes
+weeps.--The reason of it.--Comments of writers.--Remarks of
+Artabanus.--Conversation with Artabanus.--He renews his
+warnings.--Anxiety of Artabanus.--Xerxes is not convinced.--Advice of
+Artabanus in respect to employing the Ionians.--Xerxes's opinion of the
+Ionians.--Artabanus is permitted to return.--Sham sea fight.--Xerxes's
+address.--Crossing the bridge.--Preliminary ceremonies.--The order of
+march.--Movement of the fleet.--Time occupied in the passage.--Scene of
+confusion.
+
+
+Although the ancient Asia Minor was in the same latitude as New York,
+there was yet very little winter there. Snows fell, indeed, upon the
+summits of the mountains, and ice formed occasionally upon quiet
+streams, and yet, in general, the imaginations of the inhabitants, in
+forming mental images of frost and snow, sought them not in their own
+winters, but in the cold and icy regions of the north, of which,
+however, scarcely any thing was known to them except what was disclosed
+by wild and exaggerated rumors and legends.
+
+[Illustration: MAP OF GREECE.]
+
+There was, however, a period of blustering winds and chilly rains which
+was called winter, and Xerxes was compelled to wait, before commencing
+his invasion, until the inclement season had passed. As it was, he did
+not wholly escape the disastrous effects of the wintery gales. A violent
+storm arose while he was at Sardis, and broke up the bridge which he had
+built across the Hellespont. When the tidings of this disaster were
+brought to Xerxes at his winter quarters, he was very much enraged.
+He was angry both with the sea for having destroyed the structure, and
+with the architects who had built it for not having made it strong
+enough to stand against its fury. He determined to punish both the waves
+and the workmen. He ordered the sea to be scourged with a monstrous
+whip, and directed that heavy chains should be thrown into it, as
+symbols of his defiance of its power, and of his determination to
+subject it to his control. The men who administered this senseless
+discipline cried out to the sea, as they did it, in the following words,
+which Xerxes had dictated to them: "Miserable monster! this is the
+punishment which Xerxes your master inflicts upon you, on account of the
+unprovoked and wanton injury you have done him. Be assured that he will
+pass over you, whether you will or no. He hates and defies you, object
+as you are, through your insatiable cruelty, and the nauseous bitterness
+of your waters, of the common abomination of mankind."
+
+As for the men who had built the bridge, which had been found thus
+inadequate to withstand the force of a wintery tempest, he ordered every
+one of them to be beheaded.
+
+The vengeance of the king being thus satisfied, a new set of engineers
+and workmen were designated and ordered to build another bridge.
+Knowing, as, of course, they now did, that their lives depended upon the
+stability of their structure, they omitted no possible precaution which
+could tend to secure it. They selected the strongest ships, and arranged
+them in positions which would best enable them to withstand the pressure
+of the current. Each vessel was secured in its place by strong anchors,
+placed scientifically in such a manner as to resist, to the best
+advantage, the force of the strain to which they would be exposed. There
+were two ranges of these vessels, extending from shore to shore,
+containing over three hundred in each. In each range one or two vessels
+were omitted, on the Asiatic side, to allow boats and galleys to pass
+through, in order to keep the communication open. These omissions did
+not interfere with the use of the bridge, as the superstructure and the
+roadway above was continued over them.
+
+The vessels which were to serve for the foundation of the bridge being
+thus arranged and secured in their places, two immense cables were made
+and stretched from shore to shore, each being fastened, at the ends,
+securely to the banks, and resting in the middle on the decks of the
+vessels. For the fastenings of these cables on the shore there were
+immense piles driven into the ground, and huge rings attached to the
+piles. The cables, as they passed along the decks of the vessels over
+the water, were secured to them all by strong cordage, so that each
+vessel was firmly and indissolubly bound to all the rest.
+
+Over these cables a platform was made of trunks of trees, with branches
+placed upon them to fill the interstices and level the surface. The
+whole was then covered with a thick stratum of earth, which made a firm
+and substantial road like that of a public highway. A high and close
+fence was also erected on each side, so as to shut off the view of the
+water, which might otherwise alarm the horses and the beasts of burden
+that were to cross with the army.
+
+When the news was brought to Xerxes at Sardis that the bridge was
+completed, and that all things were ready for the passage, he made
+arrangements for commencing his march. A circumstance, however, here
+occurred that at first alarmed him. It was no less a phenomenon than an
+eclipse of the sun. Eclipses were considered in those days as
+extraordinary and supernatural omens, and Xerxes was naturally anxious
+to know what this sudden darkness was meant to portend. He directed the
+magi to consider the subject, and to give him their opinion. Their
+answer was, that, as the sun was the guardian divinity of the Greeks,
+and the moon that of the Persians, the meaning of the sudden withdrawal
+of the light of day doubtless was, that Heaven was about to withhold its
+protection from the Greeks in the approaching struggle. Xerxes was
+satisfied with this explanation, and the preparations for the march went
+on.
+
+The movement of the grand procession from the city of Sardis was
+inconceivably splendid. First came the long trains of baggage, on mules,
+and camels, and horses, and other beasts of burden, attended by the
+drivers, and the men who had the baggage in charge. Next came an immense
+body of troops of all nations, marching irregularly, but under the
+command of the proper officers. Then, after a considerable interval,
+came a body of a thousand horse, splendidly caparisoned, and followed by
+a thousand spearmen, who marched trailing their spears upon the ground,
+in token of respect and submission to the king who was coming behind
+them.
+
+Next to these troops, and immediately in advance of the king, were
+certain religious and sacred objects and personages, on which the people
+who gazed upon this gorgeous spectacle looked with the utmost awe and
+veneration. There were, first, ten sacred horses, splendidly
+caparisoned, each led by his groom, who was clothed in appropriate
+robes, as a sort of priest officiating in the service of a god. Behind
+these came the sacred car of Jupiter. This car was very large, and
+elaborately worked, and was profusely ornamented with gold. It was drawn
+by eight white horses. No human being was allowed to set his foot upon
+any part of it, and, consequently, the reins of the horses were carried
+back, under the car, to the charioteer, who walked behind. Xerxes's own
+chariot came next, drawn by very splendid horses, selected especially
+for their size and beauty. His charioteer, a young Persian noble, sat by
+his side.
+
+Then came great bodies of troops. There was one corps of two thousand
+men, the life-guards of the king, who were armed in a very splendid and
+costly manner, to designate their high rank in the army, and the exalted
+nature of their duty as personal attendants on the sovereign. One
+thousand of these life-guards were foot soldiers, and the other
+thousand horsemen. After the life-guards came a body of ten thousand
+infantry, and after them ten thousand cavalry. This completed what was
+strictly the Persian part of the army. There was an interval of about a
+quarter of a mile in the rear of these bodies of troops, and then came a
+vast and countless multitude of servants, attendants, adventurers, and
+camp followers of every description--a confused, promiscuous,
+disorderly, and noisy throng.
+
+The immediate destination of this vast horde was Abydos; for it was
+between Sestos, on the European shore, and Abydos, on the Asiatic, that
+the bridge had been built. To reach Abydos, the route was north, through
+the province of Mysia. In their progress the guides of the army kept
+well inland, so as to avoid the indentations of the coast, and the
+various small rivers which here flow westward toward the sea. Thus
+advancing, the army passed to the right of Mount Ida, and arrived at
+last on the bank of the Scamander. Here they encamped. They were upon
+the plain of Troy.
+
+The world was filled, in those days, with the glory of the military
+exploits which had been performed, some ages before, in the siege and
+capture of Troy; and it was the custom for every military hero who
+passed the site of the city to pause in his march and spend some time
+amid the scenes of those ancient conflicts, that he might inspirit and
+invigorate his own ambition by the associations of the spot, and also
+render suitable honors to the memories of those that fell there. Xerxes
+did this. Alexander subsequently did it. Xerxes examined the various
+localities, ascended the ruins of the citadel of Priam, walked over the
+ancient battle fields, and at length, when his curiosity had thus been
+satisfied, he ordered a grand sacrifice of a thousand oxen to be made,
+and a libation of corresponding magnitude to be offered, in honor of the
+shades of the dead heroes whose deeds had consecrated the spot.
+
+Whatever excitement and exhilaration, however, Xerxes himself may have
+felt, in approaching, under these circumstances, the transit of the
+stream, where the real labors and dangers of his expedition were to
+commence, his miserable and helpless soldiers did not share them. Their
+condition and prospects were wretched in the extreme. In the first
+place, none of them went willingly. In modern times, at least in England
+and America, armies are recruited by enticing the depraved and the
+miserable to enlist, by tendering them a bounty, as it is called, that
+is, a sum of ready money, which, as a means of temporary and often
+vicious pleasure, presents a temptation they can not resist. The act of
+enlistment is, however, in a sense voluntary, so that those who have
+homes, and friends, and useful pursuits in which they are peacefully
+engaged, are not disturbed. It was not so with the soldiers of Xerxes.
+They were slaves, and had been torn from their rural homes all over the
+empire by a merciless conscription, from which there was no possible
+escape. Their life in camp, too, was comfortless and wretched. At the
+present day, when it is so much more difficult than it then was to
+obtain soldiers, and when so much more time and attention are required
+to train them to their work in the modern art of war, soldiers must be
+taken care of when obtained; but in Xerxes's day it was much easier to
+get new supplies of recruits than to incur any great expense in
+providing for the health and comfort of those already in the service.
+The arms and trappings, it is true, of such troops as were in immediate
+attendance on the king, were very splendid and gay, though this was only
+decoration, after all, and the king's decoration too, not theirs. In
+respect, however, to every thing like personal comfort, whether of food
+and of clothing, or the means of shelter and repose, the common soldiers
+were utterly destitute and wretched. They felt no interest in the
+campaign; they had nothing to hope for from its success, but a
+continuance, if their lives were spared, of the same miserable bondage
+which they had always endured. There was, however, little probability
+even of this; for whether, in the case of such an invasion, the
+aggressor was to succeed or to fail, the destiny of the soldiers
+personally was almost inevitable destruction. The mass of Xerxes's army
+was thus a mere herd of slaves, driven along by the whips of their
+officers, reluctant, wretched, and despairing.
+
+This helpless mass was overtaken one night, among the gloomy and rugged
+defiles and passes of Mount Ida, by a dreadful storm of wind and rain,
+accompanied by thunder and lightning. Unprovided as they were with the
+means of protection against such tempests, they were thrown into
+confusion, and spent the night in terror. Great numbers perished, struck
+by the lightning, or exhausted by the cold and exposure; and afterward,
+when they encamped on the plains of Troy, near the Scamander, the whole
+of the water of the stream was not enough to supply the wants of the
+soldiers and the immense herds of beasts of burden, so that many
+thousands suffered severely from thirst.
+
+All these things conspired greatly to depress the spirits of the men, so
+that, at last, when they arrived in the vicinity of Abydos, the whole
+army was in a state of extreme dejection and despair. This, however, was
+of little consequence. The repose of a master so despotic and lofty as
+Xerxes is very little disturbed by the mental sorrows of his slaves.
+Xerxes reached Abydos, and prepared to make the passage of the strait in
+a manner worthy of the grandeur of the occasion.
+
+The first thing was to make arrangements for a great parade of his
+forces, not, apparently, for the purpose of accomplishing any useful end
+of military organization in the arrangement of the troops, but to
+gratify the pride and pleasure of the sovereign with an opportunity of
+surveying them. A great white throne of marble was accordingly erected
+on an eminence not far from the shore of the Hellespont, from which
+Xerxes looked down with great complacency and pleasure, on the one hand,
+upon the long lines of troops, the countless squadrons of horsemen, the
+ranges of tents, and the vast herds of beasts of burden which were
+assembled on the land, and, on the other hand, upon the fleets of ships,
+and boats, and galleys at anchor upon the sea; while the shores of
+Europe were smiling in the distance, and the long and magnificent
+roadway which he had made lay floating upon the water, all ready to take
+his enormous armament across whenever he should issue the command.
+
+Any deep emotion of the human soul, in persons of a sensitive physical
+organization, tends to tears; and Xerxes's heart, being filled with
+exultation and pride, and with a sense of inexpressible grandeur and
+sublimity as he looked upon this scene, was softened by the pleasurable
+excitements of the hour, and though, at first his countenance was
+beaming with satisfaction and pleasure, his uncle Artabanus, who stood
+by his side, soon perceived that tears were standing in his eyes.
+Artabanus asked him what this meant. It made him sad, Xerxes replied, to
+reflect that, immensely vast as the countless multitude before him was,
+in one hundred years from that time not one of them all would be alive.
+
+The tender-heartedness which Xerxes manifested on this occasion, taken
+in connection with the stern and unrelenting tyranny which he was
+exercising over the mighty mass of humanity whose mortality he mourned,
+has drawn forth a great variety of comments from writers of every age
+who have repeated the story. Artabanus replied to it on the spot by
+saying that he did not think that the king ought to give himself too
+much uneasiness on the subject of human liability to death, for it
+happened, in a vast number of cases, that the privations and sufferings
+of men were so great, that often, in the course of their lives, they
+rather wished to die than to live; and that death was, consequently, in
+some respects, to be regarded, not as in itself a woe, but rather as the
+relief and remedy for woe.
+
+There is no doubt that this theory of Artabanus, so far as it applied to
+the unhappy soldiers of Xerxes, all marshaled before him when he uttered
+it, was eminently true.
+
+Xerxes admitted that what his uncle said was just, but it was, he said,
+a melancholy subject, and so he changed the conversation. He asked his
+uncle whether he still entertained the same doubts and fears in respect
+to the expedition that he had expressed at Susa when the plan was first
+proposed in the council. Artabanus replied that he most sincerely hoped
+that the prognostications of the vision would prove true, but that he
+had still great apprehensions of the result. "I have been reflecting,"
+continued he, "with great care on the whole subject, and it seems to me
+that there are two dangers of very serious character to which your
+expedition will be imminently exposed."
+
+Xerxes wished to know what they were.
+
+"They both arise," said Artabanus, "from the immense magnitude of your
+operations. In the first place, you have so large a number of ships,
+galleys, and transports in your fleet, that I do not see how, when you
+have gone down upon the Greek coast, if a storm should arise, you are
+going to find shelter for them. There are no harbors there large enough
+to afford anchorage ground for such an immense number of vessels."
+
+"And what is the other danger?" asked Xerxes.
+
+"The other is the difficulty of finding food for such a vast multitude
+of _men_ as you have brought together in your armies. The quantity of
+food necessary to supply such countless numbers is almost incalculable.
+Your granaries and magazines will soon be exhausted, and then, as no
+country whatever that you can pass through will have resources of food
+adequate for such a multitude of mouths, it seems to me that your march
+must inevitably end in a famine. The less resistance you meet with, and
+the further you consequently advance, the worse it will be for you. I do
+not see how this fatal result can possibly be avoided; and so uneasy and
+anxious am I on the subject, that I have no rest or peace."
+
+"I admit," said Xerxes, in reply, "that what you say is not wholly
+unreasonable; but in great undertakings it will never do to take counsel
+wholly of our fears. I am willing to submit to a very large portion of
+the evils to which I expose myself on this expedition, rather than not
+accomplish the end which I have in view. Besides, the most prudent and
+cautious counsels are not always the best. He who hazards nothing gains
+nothing. I have always observed that in all the affairs of human life,
+those who exhibit some enterprise and courage in what they undertake are
+far more likely to be successful than those who weigh every thing and
+consider every thing, and will not advance where they can see any
+remote prospect of danger. If my predecessors had acted on the
+principles which you recommend, the Persian empire would never have
+acquired the greatness to which it has now attained. In continuing to
+act on the same principles which governed them, I confidently expect the
+same success. We shall conquer Europe, and then return in peace, I feel
+assured, without encountering the famine which you dread so much, or any
+other great calamity."
+
+On hearing these words, and observing how fixed and settled the
+determinations of Xerxes were, Artabanus said no more on the general
+subject, but on one point he ventured to offer his counsel to his
+nephew, and that was on the subject of employing the Ionians in the war.
+The Ionians were Greeks by descent. Their ancestors had crossed the
+AEgean Sea, and settled at various places along the coast of Asia Minor,
+in the western part of the provinces of Caria, Lydia, and Mysia.
+Artabanus thought it was dangerous to take these men to fight against
+their countrymen. However faithfully disposed they might be in
+commencing the enterprise, a thousand circumstances might occur to shake
+their fidelity and lead them to revolt, when they found themselves in
+the land of their forefathers, and heard the enemies against whom they
+had been brought to contend speaking their own mother tongue.
+
+Xerxes, however, was not convinced by Artabanus's arguments. He thought
+that the employment of the Ionians was perfectly safe. They had been
+eminently faithful and firm, he said, under Histiaeus, in the time of
+Darius's invasion of Scythia, when Darius had left them to guard his
+bridge over the Danube. They had proved themselves trustworthy then, and
+he would, he said, accordingly trust them now. "Besides," he added,
+"they have left their property, their wives and their children, and all
+else that they hold dear, in our hands in Asia, and they will not dare,
+while we retain such hostages, to do any thing against us."
+
+Xerxes said, however, that since Artabanus was so much concerned in
+respect to the result of the expedition, he should not be compelled to
+accompany it any further, but that he might return to Susa instead, and
+take charge of the government there until Xerxes should return.
+
+A part of the celebration on the great day of parade, on which this
+conversation between the king and his uncle was held, consisted of a
+naval sea fight, waged on the Hellespont, between two of the nations of
+his army, for the king's amusement. The Phoenicians were the victors in
+this combat. Xerxes was greatly delighted with the combat, and, in fact,
+with the whole of the magnificent spectacle which the day had displayed.
+
+Soon after this, Xerxes dismissed Artabanus, ordering him to return to
+Susa, and to assume the regency of the empire. He convened, also,
+another general council of the nobles of his court and the officers of
+the army, to announce to them that the time had arrived for crossing the
+bridge, and to make his farewell address to them before they should take
+their final departure from Asia. He exhorted them to enter upon the
+great work before them with a determined and resolute spirit, saying
+that if the Greeks were once subdued, no other enemies able at all to
+cope with the Persians would be left on the habitable globe.
+
+On the dismission of the council, orders were given to commence the
+crossing of the bridge the next day at sunrise. The preparations were
+made accordingly. In the morning, as soon as it was light, and while
+waiting for the rising of the sun, they burned upon the bridge all
+manner of perfumes, and strewed the way with branches of myrtle, the
+emblem of triumph and joy. As the time for the rising of the sun drew
+nigh, Xerxes stood with a golden vessel full of wine, which he was to
+pour out as a libation as soon as the first dazzling beams should appear
+above the horizon. When, at length, the moment arrived, he poured out
+the wine into the sea, throwing the vessel in which it had been
+contained after it as an offering. He also threw in, at the same time, a
+golden goblet of great value, and a Persian cimeter. The ancient
+historian who records these facts was uncertain whether these offerings
+were intended as acts of adoration addressed to the sun, or as oblations
+presented to the sea--a sort of peace offering, perhaps, to soothe the
+feelings of the mighty monster, irritated and chafed by the chastisement
+which it had previously received.
+
+[Illustration: XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT.]
+
+One circumstance indicated that the offering was intended for the sun,
+for, at the time of making it, Xerxes addressed to the great luminary a
+sort of petition, which might be considered either an apostrophe or a
+prayer, imploring its protection. He called upon the sun to accompany
+and defend the expedition, and to preserve it from every calamity until
+it should have accomplished its mission of subjecting all Europe to
+the Persian sway.
+
+The army then commenced its march. The order of march was very much the
+same as that which had been observed in the departure from Sardis. The
+beasts of burden and the baggage were preceded and followed by immense
+bodies of troops of all nations. The whole of the first day was occupied
+by the passing of this part of the army. Xerxes himself, and the sacred
+portion of the train, were to follow them on the second day.
+Accordingly, there came, on the second day, first, an immense squadron
+of horse, with garlands on the heads of the horsemen; next, the sacred
+horses and the sacred car of Jupiter. Then came Xerxes himself, in his
+war chariot, with trumpets sounding, and banners waving in the air. At
+the moment when Xerxes's chariot entered upon the bridge, the fleet of
+galleys, which had been drawn up in preparation near the Asiatic shore,
+were set in motion, and moved in a long and majestic line across the
+strait to the European side, accompanying and keeping pace with their
+mighty master in his progress. Thus was spent the second day.
+
+Five more days were consumed in getting over the remainder of the army,
+and the immense trains of beasts and of baggage which followed. The
+officers urged the work forward as rapidly as possible, and, toward the
+end, as is always the case in the movement of such enormous masses, it
+became a scene of inconceivable noise, terror, and confusion. The
+officers drove forward men and beasts alike by the lashes of their
+whips--every one struggling, under the influence of such stimulants, to
+get forward--while fallen animals, broken wagons, and the bodies of
+those exhausted and dying with excitement and fatigue, choked the way.
+The mighty mass was, however, at last transferred to the European
+continent, full of anxious fears in respect to what awaited them, but
+yet having very faint and feeble conceptions of the awful scenes in
+which the enterprise of their reckless leader was to end.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE REVIEW OF THE TROOPS AT DORISCUS.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The fleet and the army separate.--The Chersonesus.--Sufferings from
+thirst.--The Hebrus.--Plain of Doriscus.--Preparations for the great
+review.--Mode of taking a census.--Immense numbers of the troops.--The
+cavalry.--Corps of Arabs and Egyptians.--Sum total of the army.--Various
+nations.--Dress and equipments.--Uncouth costumes.--Various
+weapons.--The lasso.--Dresses of various kinds.--The
+Immortals.--Privileges of the Immortals.--The fleet.--Xerxes reviews the
+troops.--He reviews the fleet.--A lady admiral.--Her abilities.--Number
+of vessels in the fleet.--Demaratus the Greek.--Story of
+Demaratus.--Childhood of his mother.--The change.--Ariston, king of
+Sparta.--The agreement.--Birth of Demaratus.--Demaratus disowned.--His
+flight.--Question of Xerxes.--Perplexity of Demaratus.--Demaratus
+describes the Spartans.--Surprise of Xerxes.--Reply of Xerxes.--His
+displeasure.--Demaratus's apology.--His gratitude to
+Darius.--Demaratus's defense of the Spartans.--They are governed by
+law.--Xerxes resumes his march.--Division of the army.--The
+Strymon.--Human sacrifices.--Arrival at the canal.--Death of the
+engineer.--Burial of the engineer.--A grand feast.--Scene of
+revelry.--Desolation and depopulation of the country.
+
+
+As soon as the expedition of Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont and
+arrived safely on the European side, as narrated in the last chapter, it
+became necessary for the fleet and the army to separate, and to move,
+for a time, in opposite directions from each other. The reader will
+observe, by examining the map, that the army, on reaching the European
+shore, at the point to which they would be conducted by a bridge at
+Abydos, would find themselves in the middle of a long and narrow
+peninsula called the Chersonesus, and that, before commencing its
+regular march along the northern coast of the AEgean Sea, it would be
+necessary first to proceed for fifteen or twenty miles to the eastward,
+in order to get round the bay by which the peninsula is bounded on the
+north and west. While, therefore, the fleet went directly westward along
+the coast, the army turned to the eastward, a place of rendezvous having
+been appointed on the northern coast of the sea, where they were all
+soon to meet again.
+
+The army moved on by a slow and toilsome progress until it reached the
+neck of the peninsula, and then turning at the head of the bay, it moved
+westward again, following the direction of the coast. The line of march
+was, however, laid at some distance from the shore, partly for the sake
+of avoiding the indentations made in the land by gulfs and bays, and
+partly for the sake of crossing the streams from the interior at points
+so far inland that the water found in them should be fresh and pure.
+Notwithstanding these precautions, however, the water often failed. So
+immense were the multitudes of men and of beasts, and so craving was the
+thirst which the heat and the fatigues of the march engendered, that, in
+several instances, they drank the little rivers dry.
+
+The first great and important river which the army had to pass after
+entering Europe was the Hebrus. Not far from the mouth of the Hebrus,
+where it emptied into the AEgean Sea, was a great plain, which was called
+the plain of Doriscus. There was an extensive fortress here, which had
+been erected by the orders of Darius when he had subjugated this part of
+the country. The position of this fortress was an important one,
+because it commanded the whole region watered by the Hebrus, which was a
+very fruitful and populous district. Xerxes had been intending to have a
+grand review and enumeration of his forces on entering the European
+territories, and he judged Doriscus to be a very suitable place for his
+purpose. He could establish his own head-quarters in the fortress, while
+his armies could be marshaled and reviewed on the plain. The fleet, too,
+had been ordered to draw up to the shore at the same spot, and when the
+army reached the ground, they found the vessels already in the offing.
+
+The army accordingly halted, and the necessary arrangements were made
+for the review. The first thing was to ascertain the numbers of the
+troops; and as the soldiers were too numerous to be counted, Xerxes
+determined to _measure_ the mighty mass as so much bulk, and then
+ascertain the numbers by a computation. They made the measure itself in
+the following manner: They counted off, first, ten thousand men, and
+brought them together in a compact circular mass, in the middle of the
+plain, and then marked a line upon the ground inclosing them. Upon this
+line, thus determined, they built a stone wall, about four feet high,
+with openings on opposite sides of it, by which men might enter and go
+out. When the wall was built, soldiers were sent into the
+inclosure--just as corn would be poured by a husbandman into a wooden
+peck--until it was full. The mass thus required to fill the inclosure
+was deemed and taken to be ten thousand men. This was the first filling
+of the measure. These men were then ordered to retire, and a fresh mass
+was introduced, and so on until the whole army was measured. The
+inclosure was filled one hundred and seventy times with the foot
+soldiers before the process was completed, indicating, as the total
+amount of the infantry of the army, a force of one million seven hundred
+thousand men. This enumeration, it must be remembered, included the land
+forces alone.
+
+This method of measuring the army in bulk was applied only to the foot
+soldiers; they constituted the great mass of the forces convened. There
+were, however, various other bodies of troops in the army, which, from
+their nature, were more systematically organized than the common foot
+soldiers, and so their numbers were known by the regular enrollment.
+There was, for example, a cavalry force of eighty thousand men. There
+was also a corps of Arabs, on camels, and another of Egyptians, in war
+chariots, which together amounted to twenty thousand. Then, besides
+these land forces, there were half a million of men in the fleet.
+Immense as these numbers are, they were still further increased, as the
+army moved on, by Xerxes's system of compelling the forces of every
+kingdom and province through which he passed to join the expedition; so
+that, at length, when the Persian king fairly entered the heart of the
+Greek territory, Herodotus, the great narrator of his history, in
+summing up the whole number of men regularly connected with the army,
+makes a total of about five millions of men. One hundred thousand men,
+which is but one fiftieth part of five millions, is considered, in
+modern times, an immense army; and, in fact, half even of that number
+was thought, in the time of the American Revolution, a sufficient force
+to threaten the colonies with overwhelming destruction. "If ten thousand
+men will not do to put down the rebellion," said an orator in the House
+of Commons, "fifty thousand _shall_."
+
+Herodotus adds that, besides the five millions regularly connected with
+the army, there was an immense and promiscuous mass of women, slaves,
+cooks, bakers, and camp followers of every description, that no human
+powers could estimate or number.
+
+But to return to the review. The numbers of the army having been
+ascertained, the next thing was to marshal and arrange the men by
+nations under their respective leaders, to be reviewed by the king. A
+very full enumeration of these divisions of the army is given by the
+historians of the day, with minute descriptions of the kind of armor
+which the troops of the several nations wore. There were more than fifty
+of these nations in all. Some of them were highly civilized, others were
+semi-barbarous tribes; and, of course, they presented, as marshaled in
+long array upon the plain, every possible variety of dress and
+equipment. Some were armed with brazen helmets, and coats of mail formed
+of plates of iron; others wore linen tunics, or rude garments made of
+the skins of beasts. The troops of one nation had their heads covered
+with helmets, those of another with miters, and of a third with tiaras.
+There was one savage-looking horde that had caps made of the skin of the
+upper part of a horse's head, in its natural form, with the ears
+standing up erect at the top, and the mane flowing down behind. These
+men held the skins of cranes before them instead of shields, so that
+they looked like horned monsters, half beast and half bird, endeavoring
+to assume the guise and attitude of men. There was another corps whose
+men were really horned, since they wore caps made from the skins of the
+heads of oxen, with the horns standing. Wild beasts were personated,
+too, as well as tame; for some nations were clothed in lions' skins, and
+others in panthers' skins--the clothing being considered, apparently,
+the more honorable, in proportion to the ferocity of the brute to which
+it had originally belonged.
+
+The weapons, too, were of every possible form and guise. Spears--some
+pointed with iron, some with stone, and others shaped simply by being
+burned to a point in the fire; bows and arrows, of every variety of
+material and form, swords, daggers, slings, clubs, darts, javelins, and
+every other imaginable species of weapon which human ingenuity, savage
+or civilized, had then conceived. Even the lasso--the weapon of the
+American aborigines of modern times--was there. It is described by the
+ancient historian as a long thong of leather wound into a coil, and
+finished in a noose at the end, which noose the rude warrior who used
+the implement launched through the air at the enemy, and entangling
+rider and horse together by means of it, brought them both to the
+ground.
+
+There was every variety of taste, too, in the fashion and the colors of
+the dresses which were worn. Some were of artificial fabrics, and dyed
+in various and splendid hues. Some were very plain, the wearers of them
+affecting a simple and savage ferocity in the fashion of their vesture.
+Some tribes had painted skins--beauty, in their view, consisting,
+apparently, in hideousness. There was one barbarian horde who wore very
+little clothing of any kind. They had knotty clubs for weapons, and, in
+lieu of a dress, they had painted their naked bodies half white and half
+a bright vermilion.
+
+In all this vast array, the corps which stood at the head, in respect to
+their rank and the costliness and elegance of their equipment, was a
+Persian squadron of ten thousand men, called the Immortals. They had
+received this designation from the fact that the body was kept always
+exactly full, as, whenever any one of the number died, another soldier
+was instantly put into his place, whose life was considered in some
+respects a continuation of the existence of the man who had fallen.
+Thus, by a fiction somewhat analogous to that by which the king, in
+England, never dies, these ten thousand Persians were an immortal band.
+They were all carefully-selected soldiers, and they enjoyed very unusual
+privileges and honors. They were mounted troops, and their dress and
+their armor were richly decorated with gold. They were accompanied in
+their campaigns by their wives and families, for whose use carriages
+were provided which followed the camp, and there was a long train of
+camels besides, attached to the service of the corps, to carry their
+provisions and their baggage.
+
+While all these countless varieties of land troops were marshaling and
+arranging themselves upon the plain, each under its own officers and
+around its own standards, the naval commanders were employed in bringing
+up the fleet of galleys to the shore, where they were anchored in a long
+line not far from the beach, and with their prows toward the land. Thus
+there was a space of open water left between the line of vessels and the
+beach, along which Xerxes's barge was to pass when the time for the
+naval part of the review should arrive.
+
+When all things were ready, Xerxes mounted his war chariot and rode
+slowly around the plain, surveying attentively, and with great interest
+and pleasure, the long lines of soldiers, in all their variety of
+equipment and costume, as they stood displayed before him. It required a
+progress of many miles to see them all. When this review of the land
+forces was concluded, the king went to the shore, and embarked on board
+a royal galley which had been prepared for him, and there, seated upon
+the deck under a gilded canopy, he was rowed by the oarsmen along the
+line of ships, between their prows and the land. The ships were from
+many nations as well as the soldiers, and exhibited the same variety of
+fashion and equipment. The land troops had come from the inland realms
+and provinces which occupied the heart of Asia, while the ships and the
+seamen had been furnished by the maritime regions which extended along
+the coasts of the Black, and the AEgean, and the Mediterranean Seas. Thus
+the people of Egypt had furnished two hundred ships, the Phoenicians
+three hundred, Cyprus fifty, the Cilicians and the Ionians one hundred
+each, and so with a great many other nations and tribes.
+
+The various squadrons which were thus combined in forming this immense
+fleet were manned and officered, of course, from the nations that
+severally furnished them, and one of them was actually commanded in
+person by a queen. The name of this lady admiral was Artemisia. She was
+the Queen of Caria, a small province in the southwestern part of Asia
+Minor, having Halicarnassus for its capital. Artemisia, though in
+history called a queen, was, in reality, more properly a regent, as she
+governed in the name of her son, who was yet a child. The quota of ships
+which Caria was to furnish was five. Artemisia, being a lady of
+ambitious and masculine turn of mind, and fond of adventure, determined
+to accompany the expedition. Not only her own vessels, but also those
+from some neighboring islands, were placed under her charge, so that she
+commanded quite an important division of the fleet. She proved, also, in
+the course of the voyage, to be abundantly qualified for the discharge
+of her duties. She became, in fact, one of the ablest and most efficient
+commanders in the fleet, not only maneuvering and managing her own
+particular division in a very successful manner, but also taking a very
+active and important part in the general consultations, where what she
+said was listened to with great respect, and always had great weight in
+determining the decisions. In the great battle of Salamis she acted a
+very conspicuous part, as will hereafter appear.
+
+The whole number of galleys of the first class in Xerxes's fleet was
+more than twelve hundred, a number abundantly sufficient to justify the
+apprehensions of Artabanus that no harbor would be found capacious
+enough to shelter them in the event of a sudden storm. The line which
+they formed on this occasion, when drawn up side by side upon the shore
+for review, must have extended many miles.
+
+Xerxes moved slowly along this line in his barge, attended by the
+officers of his court and the great generals of his army, who surveyed
+the various ships as they passed them, and noted the diverse national
+costumes and equipments of the men with curiosity and pleasure. Among
+those who attended the king on this occasion was a certain Greek named
+Demaratus, an exile from his native land, who had fled to Persia, and
+had been kindly received by Darius some years before. Having remained in
+the Persian court until Xerxes succeeded to the throne and undertook the
+invasion of Greece, he concluded to accompany the expedition.
+
+The story of the political difficulties in which Demaratus became
+involved in his native land, and which led to his flight from Greece,
+was very extraordinary. It was this:
+
+The mother of Demaratus was the daughter of parents of high rank and
+great affluence in Sparta, but in her childhood her features were
+extremely plain and repulsive. Now there was a temple in the
+neighborhood of the place where her parents resided, consecrated to
+Helen, a princess who, while she lived, enjoyed the fame of being the
+most beautiful woman in the world. The nurse recommended that the child
+should be taken every day to this temple, and that petitions should be
+offered there at the shrine of Helen that the repulsive deformity of her
+features might be removed. The mother consented to this plan, only
+enjoining upon the nurse not to let any one see the face of her
+unfortunate offspring in going and returning. The nurse accordingly
+carried the child to the temple day after day, and holding it in her
+arms before the shrine, implored the mercy of Heaven for her helpless
+charge, and the bestowal upon it of the boon of beauty.
+
+These petitions were, it seems, at length heard, for one day, when the
+nurse was coming down from the temple, after offering her customary
+prayer, she was met and accosted by a mysterious-looking woman, who
+asked her what it was that she was carrying in her arms. The nurse
+replied that it was a child. The woman wanted to look at it. The nurse
+refused to show the face of the child, saying that she had been
+forbidden to do so. The woman, however, insisted upon seeing its face,
+and at last the nurse consented and removed the coverings. The stranger
+stroked down the face of the child, saying, at the same time, that now
+that child should become the most beautiful woman of Sparta.
+
+Her words proved true. The features of the young girl rapidly changed,
+and her countenance soon became as wonderful for its loveliness as it
+had been before for its hideous deformity. When she arrived at a proper
+age, a certain Spartan nobleman named Agetus, a particular friend of the
+king's, made her his wife.
+
+The name of the king of Sparta at that time was Ariston. He had been
+twice married, and his second wife was still living, but he had no
+children. When he came to see and to know the beautiful wife of Agetus,
+he wished to obtain her for himself, and began to revolve the subject
+in his mind, with a view to discover some method by which he might hope
+to accomplish his purpose. He decided at length upon the following plan.
+He proposed to Agetus to make an exchange of gifts, offering to give to
+him any one object which he might choose from all his, that is,
+Ariston's effects, provided that Agetus would, in the same manner, give
+to Ariston whatever Ariston might choose. Agetus consented to the
+proposal, without, however, giving it any serious consideration. As
+Ariston was already married, he did not for a moment imagine that his
+wife could be the object which the king would demand. The parties to
+this foolish agreement confirmed the obligation of it by a solemn oath,
+and then each made known to the other what he had selected. Agetus
+gained some jewel, or costly garment, or perhaps a gilded and
+embellished weapon, and lost forever his beautiful wife. Ariston
+repudiated his own second wife, and put the prize which he had thus
+surreptitiously acquired in her place as a third.
+
+About seven or eight months after this time Demaratus was born. The
+intelligence was brought to Ariston one day by a slave, when he was
+sitting at a public tribunal. Ariston seemed surprised at the
+intelligence, and exclaimed that the child was not his. He, however,
+afterward retracted this disavowal, and owned Demaratus as his son. The
+child grew up, and in process of time, when his father died, he
+succeeded to the throne. The magistrates, however, who had heard the
+declaration of his father at the time of his birth, remembered it, and
+reported it to others; and when Ariston died and Demaratus assumed the
+supreme power, the next heir denied his right to the succession, and in
+process of time formed a strong party against him. A long series of
+civil dissensions arose, and at length the claims of Demaratus were
+defeated, his enemies triumphed, and he fled from the country to save
+his life. He arrived at Susa near the close of Darius's reign, and it
+was his counsel which led the king to decide the contest among his sons
+for the right of succession, in favor of Xerxes, as described at the
+close of the first chapter. Xerxes had remembered his obligations to
+Demaratus for this interposition. He had retained him in the royal court
+after his accession to the throne, and had bestowed upon him many marks
+of distinction and honor.
+
+Demaratus had decided to accompany Xerxes on his expedition into
+Greece, and now, while the Persian officers were looking with so much
+pride and pleasure on the immense preparations which they were making
+for the subjugation of a foreign and hostile state, Demaratus, too, was
+in the midst of the scene, regarding the spectacle with no less of
+interest, probably, and yet, doubtless, with very different feelings,
+since the country upon which this dreadful cloud of gloom and
+destruction was about to burst was his own native land.
+
+After the review was ended, Xerxes sent for Demaratus to come to the
+castle. When he arrived, the king addressed him as follows:
+
+"You are a Greek, Demaratus, and you know your countrymen well; and now,
+as you have seen the fleet and the army that have been displayed here
+to-day, tell me what is your opinion. Do you think that the Greeks will
+undertake to defend themselves against such a force, or will they submit
+at once without attempting any resistance?"
+
+Demaratus seemed at first perplexed and uncertain, as if not knowing
+exactly what answer to make to the question. At length he asked the king
+whether it was his wish that he should respond by speaking the blunt and
+honest truth, or by saying what would be polite and agreeable.
+
+Xerxes replied that he wished him, of course, to speak the truth. The
+truth itself would be what he should consider the most agreeable.
+
+"Since you desire it, then," said Demaratus, "I will speak the exact
+truth. Greece is the child of poverty. The inhabitants of the land have
+learned wisdom and discipline in the severe school of adversity, and
+their resolution and courage are absolutely indomitable. They all
+deserve this praise; but I speak more particularly of my own countrymen,
+the people of Sparta. I am sure that they will reject any proposal which
+you may make to them for submission to your power, and that they will
+resist you to the last extremity. The disparity of numbers will have no
+influence whatever on their decision. If all the rest of Greece were to
+submit to you, leaving the Spartans alone, and if they should find
+themselves unable to muster more than a thousand men, they would give
+you battle."
+
+Xerxes expressed great surprise at this assertion, and thought that
+Demaratus could not possibly mean what he seemed to say. "I appeal to
+yourself," said he; "would _you_ dare to encounter, alone, ten men? You
+have been the prince of the Spartans, and a prince ought, at least, to
+be equal to two common men; so that to show that the Spartans in general
+could be brought to fight a superiority of force of even ten to one, it
+ought to appear that you would dare to engage twenty. This is manifestly
+absurd. In fact, for any person to pretend to be able or willing to
+fight under such a disparity of numbers, evinces only pride and insolent
+presumption. And even this proportion of ten to one, or even twenty to
+one, is nothing compared to the real disparity; for, even if we grant to
+the Spartans as large a force as there is any possibility of their
+obtaining, I shall then have _a thousand_ to one against them.
+
+"Besides," continued the king, "there is a great difference in the
+character of the troops. The Greeks are all freemen, while my soldiers
+are all slaves--bound absolutely to do my bidding, without complaint or
+murmur. Such soldiers as mine, who are habituated to submit entirely to
+the will of another, and who live under the continual fear of the lash,
+might, perhaps, be forced to go into battle against a great superiority
+of numbers, or under other manifest disadvantages; but free men, never.
+I do not believe that a body of Greeks could be brought to engage a
+body of Persians, man for man. Every consideration shows, thus, that the
+opinion which you have expressed is unfounded. You could only have been
+led to entertain such an opinion through ignorance and unaccountable
+presumption."
+
+"I was afraid," replied Demaratus, "from the first, that, by speaking
+the truth, I should offend you. I should not have given you my real
+opinion of the Spartans if you had not ordered me to speak without
+reserve. You certainly can not suppose me to have been influenced by a
+feeling of undue partiality for the men whom I commended, since they
+have been my most implacable and bitter enemies, and have driven me into
+hopeless exile from my native land. Your father, on the other hand,
+received and protected me, and the sincere gratitude which I feel for
+the favors which I have received from him and from you incline me to
+take the most favorable view possible of the Persian cause.
+
+"I certainly should not be willing, as you justly suppose, to engage,
+alone, twenty men, or ten, or even one, unless there was an absolute
+necessity for it. I do not say that any single Lacedaemonian could
+successfully encounter ten or twenty Persians, although in personal
+conflicts they are certainly not inferior to other men. It is when they
+are combined in a body even though that body be small, that their great
+superiority is seen.
+
+"As to their being free, and thus not easily led into battle in
+circumstances of imminent danger, it must be considered that their
+freedom is not absolute, like that of savages in a fray, where each acts
+according to his own individual will and pleasure, but it is qualified
+and controlled by law. The Spartan soldiers are not personal slaves,
+governed by the lash of a master, it is true; but they have certain
+principles of obligation and duty which they all feel most solemnly
+bound to obey. They stand in greater awe of the authority of this law
+than your subjects do of the lash. It commands them never to fly from
+the field of battle, whatever may be the number of their adversaries. It
+commands them to preserve their ranks, to stand firm at the posts
+assigned them, and there to conquer or die.
+
+"This is the truth in respect to them. If what I say seems to you
+absurd, I will in future be silent. I have spoken honestly what I
+think, because your majesty commanded me to do so; and, notwithstanding
+what I have said, I sincerely wish that all your majesty's desires and
+expectations may be fulfilled."
+
+The ideas which Demaratus thus appeared to entertain of danger to the
+countless and formidable hosts of Xerxes's army, from so small and
+insignificant a power as that of Sparta, seemed to Xerxes too absurd to
+awaken any serious displeasure in his mind. He only smiled, therefore,
+at Demaratus's fears, and dismissed him.
+
+Leaving a garrison and a governor in possession of the castle of
+Doriscus, Xerxes resumed his march along the northern shores of the
+AEgean Sea, the immense swarms of men filling all the roads, devouring
+every thing capable of being used as food, either for beast or man, and
+drinking all the brooks and smaller rivers dry. Even with this total
+consumption of the food and the water which they obtained on the march,
+the supplies would have been found insufficient if the whole army had
+advanced through one tract of country. They accordingly divided the host
+into three great columns, one of which kept near the shore; the other
+marched far in the interior, and the third in the intermediate space.
+They thus exhausted the resources of a very wide region. All the men,
+too, that were capable of bearing arms in the nations that these several
+divisions passed on the way, they compelled to join them, so that the
+army left, as it moved along, a very broad extent of country trampled
+down, impoverished, desolate, and full of lamentation and woe. The whole
+march was perhaps the most gigantic crime against the rights and the
+happiness of man that human wickedness has ever been able to commit.
+
+The army halted, from time to time, for various purposes, sometimes for
+the performance of what they considered religions ceremonies, which were
+intended to propitiate the supernatural powers of the earth and of the
+air. When they reached the Strymon, where, it will be recollected, a
+bridge had been previously built, so as to be ready for the army when it
+should arrive, they offered a sacrifice of five white horses to the
+river. In the same region, too, they halted at a place called the Nine
+Ways, where Xerxes resolved to offer a human sacrifice to a certain god
+whom the Persians believed to reside in the interior of the earth. The
+mode of sacrificing to this god was to bury the wretched victims alive.
+The Persians seized, accordingly, by Xerxes's orders, nine young men and
+nine girls from among the people of the country, and buried them alive!
+
+Marching slowly on in this manner, the army at length reached the point
+upon the coast where the canal had been cut across the isthmus of Mount
+Athos. The town which was nearest to this spot was Acanthus, the
+situation of which, together with that of the canal, will be found upon
+the map. The fleet arrived at this point by sea nearly at the same time
+with the army coming by land. Xerxes examined the canal, and was
+extremely well satisfied with its construction. He commended the chief
+engineer, whose name was Artachaees, in the highest terms, for the
+successful manner in which he had executed the work, and rendered him
+very distinguished honors.
+
+It unfortunately happened, however, that, a few days after the arrival
+of the fleet and the army at the canal, and before the fleet had
+commenced the passage of it, that Artachaees died. The king considered
+this event as a serious calamity to him, as he expected that other
+occasions would arrive on which he would have occasion to avail himself
+of the engineer's talents and skill. He ordered preparations to be made
+for a most magnificent burial, and the body was in due time deposited in
+the grave with imposing funeral solemnities. A very splendid monument,
+too, was raised upon the spot, which employed, for some time, all the
+mechanical force of the army in its erection.
+
+While Xerxes remained at Acanthus, he required the people of the
+neighboring country to entertain his army at a grand feast, the cost of
+which totally ruined them. Not only was all the food of the vicinity
+consumed, but all the means and resources of the inhabitants, of every
+kind, were exhausted in the additional supplies which they had to
+procure from the surrounding regions. At this feast the army in general
+ate, seated in groups upon the ground, in the open air; but for Xerxes
+and the nobles of the court a great pavilion was built, where tables
+were spread, and vessels and furniture of silver and gold, suitable to
+the dignity of the occasion, were provided. Almost all the property
+which the people of the region had accumulated by years of patient
+industry was consumed at once in furnishing the vast amount of food
+which was required for this feast, and the gold and silver plate which
+was to be used in the pavilion. During the entertainment, the
+inhabitants of the country waited upon their exacting and insatiable
+guests until they were utterly exhausted by the fatigues of the service.
+When, at length, the feast was ended, and Xerxes and his company left
+the pavilion, the vast assembly outside broke up in disorder, pulled the
+pavilion to pieces, plundered the tables of the gold and silver plate,
+and departed to their several encampments, leaving nothing behind them.
+
+The inhabitants of the country were so completely impoverished and
+ruined by these exactions, that those who were not impressed into
+Xerxes's service and compelled to follow his army, abandoned their
+homes, and roamed away in the hope of finding elsewhere the means of
+subsistence which it was no longer possible to obtain on their own
+lands; and thus, when Xerxes at last gave orders to the fleet to pass
+through the canal, and to his army to resume its march, he left the
+whole region utterly depopulated and desolate.
+
+He went on to Therma, a port situated on the northwestern corner of the
+AEgean Sea, which was the last of his places of rendezvous before his
+actual advance into Greece.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The Greeks.--The two prominent states of Greece.--Greek kings.--The two
+kings of Sparta.--Origin of the custom of two kings.--The twins.--The
+Delphic oracle consulted.--Plan for ascertaining the eldest.--Civil
+dissensions.--Two lines established.--Character of the Spartans.--Their
+lofty spirit.--The Athenians.--The city of Athens.--Sparta and Athens
+defy the Persians.--Earth and water.--Spirit of the Spartans.--The blank
+tablets.--Leonidas.--His wife discovers the writing on the tablets.--The
+three spies.--Alarm at Athens.--The Greeks consult the Delphic
+oracle.--The responses.--Various interpretations of the oracle.--The
+Athenian fleet.--Themistocles.--Proposed confederation.--Council of
+Spartans and Athenians.--The Argives reject the propositions of the
+Spartans.--Embassy to Sicily.--Demands of Gelon.--The embassadors go to
+Corcyra.--The River Peneus.--The Vale of Tempe.--Straits of
+Thermopylae.--Question to be decided.--Messengers from
+Thessaly.--Negotiations.--Decision to defend the Olympic
+Straits.--Sailing of the fleet.--Advice of the King of Macedon.--The
+Greeks fall back to Thermopylae.--Xerxes visits Thessaly.--Beautiful
+rural scene.--Conversation of Xerxes at the Olympic Pass.
+
+
+We must now leave, for a time, the operations of Xerxes and his army,
+and turn our attention to the Greeks, and to the preparations which they
+were making to meet the emergency.
+
+The two states of Greece which were most prominent in the transactions
+connected with the invasion of Xerxes were Athens and Sparta. By
+referring to the map, Athens will be found to have been situated upon a
+promontory just without the Peloponnesus, while Sparta, on the other
+hand, was in the center of a valley which lay in the southern part of
+the peninsula. Each of these cities was the center and strong-hold of a
+small but very energetic and powerful commonwealth. The two states were
+entirely independent of each other, and each had its own peculiar system
+of government, of usages, and of laws. These systems, and, in fact, the
+characters of the two communities, in all respects, were extremely
+dissimilar.
+
+Both these states, though in name republics, had certain magistrates,
+called commonly, in history, kings. These kings were, however, in fact,
+only military chieftains, commanders of the armies rather than sovereign
+rulers of the state. The name by which such a chieftain was actually
+called by the people themselves, in those days, was _tyrannus_, the name
+from which our word _tyrant_ is derived. As, however, the word
+_tyrannus_ had none of that opprobrious import which is associated with
+its English derivative, the latter is not now a suitable substitute for
+the former. Historians, therefore, commonly use the word king instead,
+though that word does not properly express the idea. They were
+commanders, chieftains, hereditary generals, but not strictly kings. We
+shall, however, often call them kings, in these narratives, in
+conformity with the general usage. Demaratus, who had fled from Sparta
+to seek refuge with Darius, and who was now accompanying Xerxes on his
+march to Greece, was one of these kings.
+
+It was a peculiarity in the constitution of Sparta that, from a very
+early period of its history, there had been always two kings, who had
+held the supreme command in conjunction with each other, like the Roman
+consuls in later times. This custom was sustained partly by the idea
+that by this division of the executive power of the state, the exercise
+of the power was less likely to become despotic or tyrannical. It had
+its origin, however, according to the ancient legends, in the following
+singular occurrences:
+
+At a very early period in the history of Sparta, when the people had
+always been accustomed, like other states, to have one prince or
+chieftain, a certain prince died, leaving his wife, whose name was
+Argia, and two infant children, as his survivors. The children were
+twins, and the father had died almost immediately after they were born.
+Now the office of king was in a certain sense hereditary, and yet not
+absolutely so; for the people were accustomed to assemble on the death
+of the king, and determine who should be his successor, choosing always,
+however, the oldest son of the former monarch, unless there was some
+very extraordinary and imperious reason for not doing so. In this case
+they decided, as usual, that the oldest son should be king.
+
+But here a very serious difficulty arose, which was, to determine which
+of the twins was the oldest son. They resembled each other so closely
+that no stranger could distinguish one from the other at all. The mother
+said that she could not distinguish them, and that she did not know
+which was the first-born. This was not strictly true; for she did, in
+fact, know, and only denied her power to decide the question because she
+wished to have both of her children kings.
+
+In this perplexity the Spartans sent to the oracle at Delphi to know
+what they were to do. The oracle gave, as usual, an ambiguous and
+unsatisfactory response. It directed the people to make both the
+children kings, but to render the highest honors to the first-born. When
+this answer was reported at Sparta, it only increased the difficulty;
+for how were they to render peculiar honors to the first-born unless
+they could ascertain which the first-born was?
+
+In this dilemma, some person suggested to the magistrates that perhaps
+Argia really knew which was the eldest child, and that if so, by
+watching her, to see whether she washed and fed one, uniformly, before
+the other, or gave it precedence in any other way, by which her latent
+maternal instinct or partiality might appear, the question might
+possibly be determined. This plan was accordingly adopted. The
+magistrates contrived means to place a servant maid in the house to
+watch the mother in the way proposed, and the result was that the true
+order of birth was revealed. From that time forward, while they were
+both considered as princes, the one now supposed to be the first-born
+took precedence of the other.
+
+When, however, the children arrived at an age to assume the exercise of
+the governmental power, as there was no perceptible difference between
+them in age, or strength, or accomplishments, the one who had been
+decided to be the younger was little disposed to submit to the other.
+Each had his friends and adherents, parties were formed, and a long and
+angry civil dissension ensued. In the end the question was compromised,
+the command was divided, and the system of having two chief magistrates
+became gradually established, the power descending in two lines, from
+father to son, through many generations. Of course there was perpetual
+jealousy and dissension, and often open and terrible conflicts, between
+these two rival lines.
+
+The Spartans were an agricultural people, cultivating the valley in the
+southeastern part of the Peloponnesus, the waters of which were
+collected and conveyed to the sea by the River Eurotas and its branches.
+They lived in the plainest possible manner, and prided themselves on the
+stern and stoical resolution with which they rejected all the
+refinements and luxuries of society. Courage, hardihood, indifference to
+life, and the power to endure without a murmur the most severe and
+protracted sufferings, were the qualities which they valued. They
+despised wealth just as other nations despise effeminacy and foppery.
+Their laws discouraged commerce, lest it should make some of the people
+rich. Their clothes were scanty and plain, their houses were
+comfortless, their food was a coarse bread, hard and brown, and their
+money was of iron. With all this, however, they were the most ferocious
+and terrible soldiers in the world.
+
+They were, moreover, with all their plainness of manners and of life, of
+a very proud and lofty spirit. All agricultural toil, and every other
+species of manual labor in their state, were performed by a servile
+peasantry, while the free citizens, whose profession was exclusively
+that of arms, were as aristocratic and exalted in soul as any nobles on
+earth. People are sometimes, in our day, when money is so much valued,
+proud, notwithstanding their poverty. The Spartans were proud of their
+poverty itself. They could be rich if they chose, but they despised
+riches. They looked down on all the refinements and delicacies of dress
+and of living from an elevation far above them. They looked down on
+labor, too, with the same contempt. They were yet very nice and
+particular about their dress and military appearance, though every thing
+pertaining to both was coarse and simple, and they had slaves to wait
+upon them even in their campaigns.
+
+The Athenians were a totally different people. The leading classes in
+their commonwealth were cultivated, intellectual, and refined. The city
+of Athens was renowned for the splendor of its architecture, its
+temples, its citadels, its statues, and its various public institutions,
+which in subsequent times made it the great intellectual center of
+Europe. It was populous and wealthy. It had a great commerce and a
+powerful fleet. The Spartan character, in a word, was stern, gloomy,
+indomitable, and wholly unadorned. The Athenians were rich,
+intellectual, and refined. The two nations were nearly equal in power,
+and were engaged in a perpetual and incessant rivalry.
+
+[Illustration: FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA.]
+
+There were various other states and cities in Greece, but Athens and
+Sparta were at this time the most considerable, and they were altogether
+the most resolute and determined in their refusal to submit to the
+Persian sway. In fact, so well known and understood was the spirit of
+defiance with which these two powers were disposed to regard the Persian
+invasion, that when Xerxes sent his summons demanding submission, to the
+other states of Greece, he did not send any to these. When Darius
+invaded Greece some years before, he had summoned Athens and Sparta as
+well as the others, but his demands were indignantly rejected. It seems
+that the custom was for a government or a prince, when acknowledging the
+dominion of a superior power, to send, as a token of territorial
+submission, a little earth and water, which was a sort of legal form of
+giving up possession of their country to the sovereign who claimed it.
+Accordingly, when Darius sent his embassadors into Greece to summon the
+country to surrender, the embassadors, according to the usual form,
+called upon the governments of the several states to send earth and
+water to the king. The Athenians, as has been already said, indignantly
+refused to comply with this demand. The Spartans, not content with a
+simple refusal, seized the embassadors and threw them into a well,
+telling them, as they went down, that if they wanted earth and water for
+the King of Persia, they might get it there.
+
+The Greeks had obtained some information of Xerxes's designs against
+them before they received his summons. The first intelligence was
+communicated to the Spartans by Demaratus himself, while he was at Susa,
+in the following singular manner. It was the custom, in those days, to
+write with a steel point on a smooth surface of wax. The wax was spread
+for this purpose on a board or tablet of metal, in a very thin stratum,
+forming a ground upon which the letters traced with the point were
+easily legible. Demaratus took two writing-tablets such as these, and
+removing the wax from them, he wrote a brief account of the proposed
+Persian invasion, by tracing the characters upon the surface of the wood
+or metal itself, beneath; then, restoring the wax so as to conceal the
+letters, he sent the two tablets, seemingly blank, to Leonidas, king of
+Sparta. The messengers who bore them had other pretexts for their
+journey, and they had various other articles to carry. The Persian
+guards who stopped and examined the messengers from time to time along
+the route, thought nothing of the blank tablets, and so they reached
+Leonidas in safety.
+
+Leonidas being a blunt, rough soldier, and not much accustomed to
+cunning contrivances himself, was not usually much upon the watch for
+them from others, and when he saw no obvious communication upon the
+tablets, he threw them aside, not knowing what the sending of them could
+mean, and not feeling any strong interest in ascertaining. His wife,
+however--her name was Gorgo--had more curiosity. There was something
+mysterious about the affair, and she wished to solve it. She examined
+the tablets attentively in every part, and at length removed cautiously
+a little of the wax. The letters began to appear. Full of excitement and
+pleasure, she proceeded with the work until the whole cereous coating
+was removed. The result was, that the communication was revealed, and
+Greece received the warning.
+
+When the Greeks heard that Xerxes was at Sardis, they sent three
+messengers in disguise, to ascertain the facts in respect to the Persian
+army assembled there, and, so far as possible, to learn the plans and
+designs of the king. Notwithstanding all the efforts of these men to
+preserve their concealment and disguise, they were discovered, seized,
+and tortured by the Persian officer who took them, until they confessed
+that they were spies. The officer was about to put them to death, when
+Xerxes himself received information of the circumstances. He forbade the
+execution, and directed, on the other hand, that the men should be
+conducted through all his encampments, and be allowed to view and
+examine every thing. He then dismissed them, with orders to return to
+Greece and report what they had seen. He thought, he said, that the
+Greeks would be more likely to surrender if they knew how immense his
+preparations were for effectually vanquishing them if they attempted
+resistance.
+
+The city of Athens, being farther north than Sparta, would be the one
+first exposed to danger from the invasion, and when the people heard of
+Xerxes's approach, the whole city was filled with anxiety and alarm.
+Some of the inhabitants were panic-stricken, and wished to submit;
+others were enraged, and uttered nothing but threats and defiance. A
+thousand different plans of defense were proposed and eagerly
+discussed. At length the government sent messengers to the oracle at
+Delphi, to learn what their destiny was to be, and to obtain, if
+possible, divine direction in respect to the best mode of averting the
+danger. The messengers received an awful response, portending, in wild
+and solemn, though dark and mysterious language, the most dreadful
+calamities to the ill-fated city. The messengers were filled with alarm
+at hearing this reply. One of the inhabitants of Delphi, the city in
+which the oracle was situated, proposed to them to make a second
+application, in the character of the most humble supplicants, and to
+implore that the oracle would give them some directions in respect to
+the best course for them to pursue in order to avoid, or, at least, to
+mitigate the impending danger. They did so, and after a time they
+received an answer, vague, mysterious, and almost unintelligible, but
+which seemed to denote that the safety of the city was connected in some
+manner with Salamis, and with certain "wooden walls," to which the
+inspired distich of the response obscurely alluded.
+
+The messengers returned to Athens and reported the answer which they had
+received. The people were puzzled and perplexed in their attempts to
+understand it. It seems that the citadel of Athens had been formerly
+surrounded by a wooden palisade. Some thought that this was what was
+referred to by the "wooden walls," and that the meaning of the oracle
+was that they must rebuild the palisade, and then retreat to the citadel
+when the Persians should approach, and defend themselves there.
+
+Others conceived that the phrase referred to ships, and that the oracle
+meant to direct them to meet their enemies with a fleet upon the sea.
+Salamis, which was also mentioned by the oracle, was an island not far
+from Athens, being west of the city, between it and the Isthmus of
+Corinth. Those who supposed that by the "wooden walls" was denoted the
+fleet, thought that Salamis might have been alluded to as the place near
+which the great naval battle was to be fought. This was the
+interpretation which seemed finally to prevail.
+
+The Athenians had a fleet of about two hundred galleys. These vessels
+had been purchased and built, some time before this, for the Athenian
+government, through the influence of a certain public officer of high
+rank and influence, named Themistocles. It seems that a large sum had
+accumulated in the public treasury, the produce of certain mines
+belonging to the city, and a proposal was made to divide it among the
+citizens, which would have given a small sum to each man. Themistocles
+opposed this proposition, and urged instead that the government should
+build and equip a fleet with the money. This plan was finally adopted.
+The fleet was built, and it was now determined to call it into active
+service to meet and repel the Persians, though the naval armament of
+Xerxes was six times as large.
+
+The next measure was to establish a confederation, if possible, of the
+Grecian states, or at least of all those who were willing to combine,
+and thus to form an allied army to resist the invader. The smaller
+states were very generally panic-stricken, and had either already
+signified their submission to the Persian rule, or were timidly
+hesitating, in doubt whether it would be safer for them to submit to the
+overwhelming force which was advancing against them, or to join the
+Athenians and the Spartans in their almost desperate attempts to resist
+it. The Athenians and Spartans settled, for the time, their own
+quarrels, and held a council to take the necessary measures for forming
+a more extended confederation.
+
+All this took place while Xerxes was slowly advancing from Sardis to the
+Hellespont, and from the Hellespont to Doriscus, as described in the
+preceding chapter.
+
+The council resolved on dispatching an embassy at once to all the states
+of Greece, as well as to some of the remoter neighboring powers, asking
+them to join the alliance.
+
+The first Greek city to which these embassadors came was Argos, which
+was the capital of a kingdom or state lying between Athens and Sparta,
+though within the Peloponnesus. The states of Argos and of Sparta, being
+neighbors, had been constantly at war. Argos had recently lost six
+thousand men in a battle with the Spartans, and were, consequently, not
+likely to be in a very favorable mood for a treaty of friendship and
+alliance.
+
+When the embassadors had delivered their message, the Argolians replied
+that they had anticipated such a proposal from the time that they had
+heard that Xerxes had commenced his march toward Greece, and that they
+had applied, accordingly, to the oracle at Delphi, to know what it would
+be best for them to do in case the proposal were made. The answer of the
+oracle had been, they said, unfavorable to their entering into an
+alliance with the Greeks. They were willing, however, they added,
+notwithstanding this, to enter into an alliance, offensive and
+defensive, with the Spartans, for thirty years, on condition that they
+should themselves have the command of half the Peloponnesian troops.
+They were entitled to the command of the whole, being, as they
+contended, the superior nation in rank, but they would waive their just
+claim, and be satisfied with half, if the Spartans would agree to that
+arrangement.
+
+The Spartans replied that they could not agree to those conditions. They
+were themselves, they said, the superior nation in rank, and entitled to
+the whole command; and as they had two kings, and Argos but one, there
+was a double difficulty in complying with the Argive demand. They could
+not surrender one half of the command without depriving one of their
+kings of his rightful power.
+
+Thus the proposed alliance failed entirely, the people of Argos saying
+that they would as willingly submit to the dominion of Xerxes as to the
+insolent demands and assumptions of superiority made by the government
+of Sparta.
+
+The embassadors among other countries which they visited in their
+attempts to obtain alliance and aid, went to Sicily. Gelon was the King
+of Sicily, and Syracuse was his capital. Here the same difficulty
+occurred which had broken up the negotiations at Argos. The embassadors,
+when they arrived at Syracuse, represented to Gelon that, if the
+Persians subdued Greece, they would come to Sicily next, and that it was
+better for him and for his countrymen that they should meet the enemy
+while he was still at a distance, rather than to wait until he came
+near. Gelon admitted the justice of this reasoning, and said that he
+would furnish a large force, both of ships and men, for carrying on the
+war, provided that he might have the command of the combined army. To
+this, of course, the Spartans would not agree. He then asked that he
+might command the fleet, on condition of giving up his claim to the land
+forces. This proposition the Athenian embassadors rejected, saying to
+Gelon that what they were in need of, and came to him to obtain, was a
+supply of troops, not of leaders. The Athenians, they said, were to
+command the fleet, being not only the most ancient nation of Greece, but
+also the most immediately exposed to the invasion, so that they were
+doubly entitled to be considered as the principals and leaders in the
+war.
+
+Gelon then told the embassadors that, since they wished to obtain every
+thing and to concede nothing, they had better leave his dominions
+without delay, and report to their countrymen that they had nothing to
+expect from Sicily.
+
+The embassadors went then to Corcyra, a large island on the western
+coast of Greece, in the Adriatic Sea. It is now called Corfu. Here they
+seemed to meet with their first success. The people of Corcyra acceded
+to the proposals made to them, and promised at once to equip and man
+their fleet, and send it round into the AEgean Sea. They immediately
+engaged in the work, and seemed to be honestly intent on fulfilling
+their promises. They were, however, in fact, only pretending. They were
+really undecided which cause to espouse, the Greek or the Persian, and
+kept their promised squadron back by means of various delays, until its
+aid was no longer needed.
+
+But the most important of all these negotiations of the Athenians and
+Spartans with the neighboring states were those opened with Thessaly.
+Thessaly was a kingdom in the northern part of Greece. It was,
+therefore, the territory which the Persian armies would first enter, on
+turning the northwestern corner of the AEgean Sea. There were, moreover,
+certain points in its geographical position, and in the physical
+conformation of the country, that gave it a peculiar importance in
+respect to the approaching conflict.
+
+By referring to the map placed at the commencement of the fifth chapter,
+it will be seen that Thessaly was a vast valley, surrounded on all sides
+by mountainous land, and drained by the River Peneus and its branches.
+The Peneus flows eastwardly to the AEgean Sea, and escapes from the great
+valley through a narrow and romantic pass lying between the Mountains
+Olympus and Ossa. This pass was called in ancient times the Olympic
+Straits, and a part of it formed a romantic and beautiful glen called
+the Vale of Tempe. There was a road through this pass, which was the
+only access by which Thessaly could be entered from the eastward.
+
+To the south of the Vale of Tempe, the mountains, as will appear from
+the map, crowded so hard upon the sea as not to allow any passage to the
+eastward of them. The natural route of Xerxes, therefore, in descending
+into Greece, would be to come down along the coast until he reached the
+mouth of the Peneus, and then, following the river up through the Vale
+of Tempe into Thessaly, to pass down toward the Peloponnesus on the
+western side of Ossa and Pelion, and of the other mountains near the
+sea. If he could get through the Olympic Straits and the Vale of Tempe,
+the way would be open and unobstructed until he should reach the
+southern frontier of Thessaly, where there was another narrow pass
+leading from Thessaly into Greece. This last defile was close to the
+sea, and was called the Straits of Thermopylae.
+
+Thus Xerxes and his hosts, in continuing their march to the southward,
+must necessarily traverse Thessaly, and in doing so they would have two
+narrow and dangerous defiles to pass--one at Mount Olympus, to get into
+the country, and the other at Thermopylae, to get out of it. It
+consequently became a point of great importance to the Greeks to
+determine at which of these two passes they should make their stand
+against the torrent which was coming down upon them.
+
+This question would, of course, depend very much upon the disposition of
+Thessaly herself. The government of that country, understanding the
+critical situation in which they were placed, had not waited for the
+Athenians and Spartans to send embassadors to them, but, at a very early
+period of the war--before, in fact, Xerxes had yet crossed the
+Hellespont, had sent messengers to Athens to concert some plan of
+action. These messengers were to say to the Athenians that the
+government of Thessaly were expecting every day to receive a summons
+from Xerxes, and that they must speedily decide what they were to do;
+that they themselves were very unwilling to submit to him, but they
+could not undertake to make a stand against his immense host alone; that
+the southern Greeks might include Thessaly in their plan of defense, or
+exclude it, just as they thought best. If they decided to include it,
+then they must make a stand at the Olympic Straits, that is, at the pass
+between Olympus and Ossa; and to do that, it would be necessary to send
+a strong force immediately to take possession of the pass. If, on the
+contrary, they decided _not_ to defend Thessaly, then the pass of
+Thermopylae would be the point at which they must make their stand, and
+in that case Thessaly must be at liberty to submit on the first Persian
+summons.
+
+The Greeks, after consultation on the subject, decided that it would be
+best for them to defend Thessaly, and to take their stand, accordingly,
+at the Straits of Olympus. They immediately put a large force on board
+their fleet, armed and equipped for the expedition. This was at the time
+when Xerxes was just about crossing the Hellespont. The fleet sailed
+from the port of Athens, passed up through the narrow strait called
+Euripus, lying between the island of Euboea and the main land, and
+finally landed at a favorable point of disembarkation, south of
+Thessaly. From this point the forces marched to the northward until they
+reached the Peneus, and then established themselves at the narrowest
+part of the passage between the mountains, strengthened their position
+there as much as possible, and awaited the coming of the enemy. The
+amount of the force was ten thousand men.
+
+They had not been here many days before a messenger came to them from
+the King of Macedon, which country, it will be seen, lies immediately
+north of Thessaly, earnestly dissuading them from attempting to make a
+stand at the Vale of Tempe. Xerxes was coming on, he said, with an
+immense and overwhelming force, one against which it would be utterly
+impossible for them to make good their defense at such a point as that.
+It would be far better for them to fall back to Thermopylae, which, being
+a narrower and more rugged pass, could be more easily defended.
+
+Besides this, the messenger said that it was possible for Xerxes to
+enter Thessaly without going through the Vale of Tempe at all. The
+country between Thessaly and Macedon was mountainous, but it was not
+impassable, and Xerxes would very probably come by that way. The only
+security, therefore, for the Greeks, would be to fall back and intrench
+themselves at Thermopylae. Nor was there any time to be lost. Xerxes was
+crossing the Hellespont, and the whole country was full of excitement
+and terror.
+
+The Greeks determined to act on this advice. They broke up their
+encampment at the Olympic Straits, and, retreating to the southward,
+established themselves at Thermopylae, to await there the coming of the
+conqueror. The people of Thessaly then surrendered to Xerxes as soon as
+they received his summons.
+
+Xerxes, from his encampment at Therma, where we left him at the close of
+the last chapter, saw the peaks of Olympus and Ossa in the southern
+horizon. They were distant perhaps fifty miles from where he stood. He
+inquired about them, and was told that the River Peneus flowed between
+them to the sea, and that through the same defile there lay the main
+entrance to Thessaly. He had previously determined to march his army
+round the other way, as the King of Macedon had suggested, but he said
+that he should like to see this defile. So he ordered a swift Sidonian
+galley to be prepared, and, taking with him suitable guides, and a fleet
+of other vessels in attendance on his galley, he sailed to the mouth of
+the Peneus, and, entering that river, he ascended it until he came to
+the defile.
+
+Seen from any of the lower elevations which projected from the bases of
+the mountains at the head of this defile, Thessaly lay spread out before
+the eye as one vast valley--level, verdant, fertile, and bounded by
+distant groups and ranges of mountains, which formed a blue and
+beautiful horizon on every side. Through the midst of this scene of
+rural loveliness the Peneus, with its countless branches, gracefully
+meandered, gathering the water from every part of the valley, and then
+pouring it forth in a deep and calm current through the gap in the
+mountains at the observer's feet. Xerxes asked his guides if it would be
+possible to find any other place where the waters of the Peneus could be
+conducted to the sea. They replied that it would not be, for the valley
+was bounded on every side by ranges of mountainous land.
+
+"Then," said Xerxes, "the Thessalians were wise in submitting at once to
+my summons; for, if they had not done so, I would have raised a vast
+embankment across the valley here, and thus stopped the river, turned
+their country into a lake, and drowned them all."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Advance of the army.--Sailing of the fleet.--Sciathus.--Euboea.--Straits
+of Artemisium and Euripus.--Attica.--Saronic Gulf.--Island of
+Salamis.--Excitement of the country.--Signals.--Sentinels.--Movement of
+the fleet.--The ten reconnoitering galleys.--Guard-ships
+captured.--Barbarous ceremony.--A heroic Greek.--One crew escape.--The
+alarm spread.--Return of the Persian galleys.--The monument of
+stones.--Progress of the fleet.--The fleet anchors in a bay.--A coming
+storm.--The storm rages.--Destruction of many vessels.--Plunder of the
+wrecks.--Scyllias, the famous diver.--Dissensions in the Greek
+fleet.--Jealousy of the Athenians.--Situation of the
+Athenians.--Eurybiades appointed commander.--Debates in the Greek
+council.--Dismay of the Euboeans.--The Greek leaders
+bribed.--Precautions of the Persians.--Designs of the Persians
+discovered.--The Greeks decide to give battle.--Euripus and
+Artemisium.--Advance of the Greeks.--The battle.--A stormy night.--Scene
+of terror.--A calm after the storm.--Terror of the Euboeans.--Their
+plans.--The Greeks retire.--Inscription on the rocks.--The commanders of
+the Persian fleet summoned to Thermopylae.
+
+
+From Therma--the last of the great stations at which the Persian army
+halted before its final descent upon Greece--the army commenced its
+march, and the fleet set sail, nearly at the same time, which was early
+in the summer. The army advanced slowly, meeting with the usual
+difficulties and delays, but without encountering any special or
+extraordinary occurrences, until, after having passed through Macedon
+into Thessaly, and through Thessaly to the northern frontier of Phocis,
+they began to approach the Straits of Thermopylae. What took place at
+Thermopylae will be made the subject of the next chapter. The movements
+of the fleet are to be narrated in this.
+
+In order distinctly to understand these movements, it is necessary
+that the reader should first have a clear conception of the geographical
+conformation of the coasts and seas along which the path of the
+expedition lay. By referring to the map of Greece, we shall see that the
+course which the fleet would naturally take from Therma to the
+southeastward, along the coast, was unobstructed and clear for about a
+hundred miles. We then come to a group of four islands, extending in a
+range at right angles to the coast. The only one of these islands with
+which we have particularly to do in this history is the innermost of
+them, which was named Sciathus. Opposite to these islands the line of
+the coast, having passed around the point of a mountainous and rocky
+promontory called Magnesia, turns suddenly to the westward, and runs in
+that direction for about thirty miles, when it again turns to the
+southward and eastward as before. In the sort of corner thus cut off by
+the deflection of the coast lies the long island of Euboea, which may be
+considered, in fact, as almost a continuation of the continent, as it is
+a part of the same conformation of country, and is separated from the
+main land only by submerged valleys on the north and on the east. Into
+these sunken valleys the sea of course flows, forming straits or
+channels. The one on the north was, in ancient times, called Artemisium,
+and the one on the west, at its narrowest point, Euripus. All these
+islands and coasts were high and picturesque. They were also, in the
+days of Xerxes, densely populated, and adorned profusely with temples,
+citadels, and towns.
+
+On passing the southernmost extremity of the island of Euboea, and
+turning to the westward, we come to a promontory of the main land, which
+constituted Attica, and in the middle of which the city of Athens was
+situated. Beyond this is a capacious gulf, called the Saronian Gulf. It
+lies between Attica and the Peloponnesus. In the middle of the Saronian
+Gulf lies the island of AEgina, and in the northern part of it the island
+of Salamis. The progress of the Persian fleet was from Therma down the
+coast to Sciathus, thence along the shores of Euboea to its southern
+point, and so round into the Saronian Gulf to the island of Salamis. The
+distance of this voyage was perhaps two hundred and fifty miles. In
+accomplishing it the fleet encountered many dangers, and met with a
+variety of incidents and events, which we shall now proceed to describe.
+
+The country, of course, was every where in a state of the greatest
+excitement and terror. The immense army was slowly coming down by land,
+and the fleet, scarcely less terrible, since its descents upon the coast
+would be so fearfully sudden and overwhelming when they were made, was
+advancing by sea. The inhabitants of the country were consequently in a
+state of extreme agitation. The sick and the infirm, who were, of
+course, utterly helpless in such a danger, exhibited every where the
+spectacle of silent dismay. Mothers, wives, maidens, and children, on
+the other hand, were wild with excitement and terror. The men, too full
+of passion to fear, or too full of pride to allow their fears to be
+seen, were gathering in arms, or hurrying to and fro with intelligence,
+or making hasty arrangements to remove their wives and children from the
+scenes of cruel suffering which were to ensue. They stationed watchmen
+on the hills to give warning of the approach of the enemy. They agreed
+upon signals, and raised piles of wood for beacon fires on every
+commanding elevation along the coast; while all the roads leading from
+the threatened provinces to other regions more remote from the danger
+were covered with flying parties, endeavoring to make their escape, and
+carrying, wearily and in sorrow, whatever they valued most and were most
+anxious to save. Mothers bore their children, men their gold and silver,
+and sisters aided their sick or feeble brothers to sustain the toil and
+terror of the flight.
+
+All this time Xerxes was sitting in his war chariot, in the midst of his
+advancing army, full of exultation, happiness, and pride at the thoughts
+of the vast harvest of glory which all this panic and suffering were
+bringing him in.
+
+The fleet, at length--which was under the command of Xerxes's brothers
+and cousins, whom he had appointed the admirals of it--began to move
+down the coast from Therma, with the intention of first sweeping the
+seas clear of any naval force which the Greeks might have sent forward
+there to act against them, and then of landing upon some point on the
+coast, wherever they could do so most advantageously for co-operation
+with the army on the land. The advance of the ships was necessarily
+slow. So immense a flotilla could not have been otherwise kept together.
+The admirals, however, selected ten of the swiftest of the galleys, and,
+after manning and arming them in the most perfect manner, sent them
+forward to reconnoiter. The ten galleys were ordered to advance rapidly,
+but with the greatest circumspection. They were not to incur any
+needless danger, but, if they met with any detached ships of the enemy,
+they were to capture them, if possible. They were, moreover, to be
+constantly on the alert, to observe every thing, and to send back to
+the fleet all important intelligence which they could obtain.
+
+The ten galleys went on without observing any thing remarkable until
+they reached the island of Sciathus. Here they came in sight of three
+Greek ships, a sort of advanced guard, which had been stationed there to
+watch the movements of the enemy.
+
+The Greek galleys immediately hoisted their anchors and fled; the
+Persian galleys manned their oars, and pressed on after them.
+
+They overtook one of the guard-ships very soon, and, after a short
+conflict, they succeeded in capturing it. The Persians made prisoners of
+the officers and crew, and then, selecting from among them the fairest
+and most noble-looking man, just as they would have selected a bullock
+from a herd, they sacrificed him to one of their deities on the prow of
+the captured ship. This was a religious ceremony, intended to signalize
+and sanctify their victory.
+
+The second vessel they also overtook and captured. The crew of this ship
+were easily subdued, as the overwhelming superiority of their enemies
+appeared to convince them that all resistance was hopeless, and to
+plunge them into despair. There was one man, however, who, it seems,
+could not be conquered. He fought like a tiger to the last, and only
+ceased to deal his furious thrusts and blows at the enemies that
+surrounded him when, after being entirely covered with wounds, he fell
+faint and nearly lifeless upon the bloody deck. When the conflict with
+him was thus ended, the murderous hostility of his enemies seemed
+suddenly to be changed into pity for his sufferings and admiration of
+his valor. They gathered around him, bathed and bound up his wounds,
+gave him cordials, and at length restored him to life. Finally, when the
+detachment returned to the fleet, some days afterward, they carried this
+man with them, and presented him to the commanders as a hero worthy of
+the highest admiration and honor. The rest of the crew were made slaves.
+
+The third of the Greek guard-ships contrived to escape, or, rather, the
+crew escaped, while the vessel itself was taken. This ship, in its
+flight, had gone toward the north, and the crew at last succeeded in
+running it on shore on the coast of Thessaly, so as to escape,
+themselves, by abandoning the vessel to the enemy. The officers and
+crew, thus escaping to the shore, went through Thessaly into Greece,
+spreading the tidings every where that the Persians were at hand. This
+intelligence was communicated, also, along the coast, by beacon fires
+which the people of Sciathus built upon the heights of the island as a
+signal, to give the alarm to the country southward of them, according to
+the preconcerted plan. The alarm was communicated by other fires built
+on other heights, and sentinels were stationed on every commanding
+eminence on the highlands of Euboea toward the south, to watch for the
+first appearance of the enemy.
+
+The Persian galleys that had been sent forward having taken the three
+Greek guard-ships, and finding the sea before them now clear of all
+appearances of an enemy, concluded to return to the fleet with their
+prizes and their report. They had been directed, when they were
+dispatched from the fleet, to lay up a monument of stones at the
+furthest point which they should reach in their cruise: a measure often
+resorted to in similar cases, by way of furnishing proof that a party
+thus sent forward have really advanced as far as they pretend on their
+return. The Persian detachment had actually brought the stones for the
+erection of their landmark with them in one of their galleys. The
+galley containing the stones, and two others to aid it, pushed on beyond
+Sciathus to a small rocky islet standing in a conspicuous position in
+the sea, and there they built their monument or cairn. The detachment
+then returned to meet the fleet. The time occupied by this whole
+expedition was eleven days.
+
+The fleet was, in the mean time, coming down along the coast of
+Magnesia. The whole company of ships had advanced safely and
+prosperously thus far, but now a great calamity was about to befall
+them--the first of the series of disasters by which the expedition was
+ultimately ruined. It was a storm at sea.
+
+The fleet had drawn up for the night in a long and shallow bay on the
+coast. There was a rocky promontory at one end of this bay and a cape on
+the other, with a long beach between them. It was a very good place of
+refuge and rest for the night in calm weather, but such a bay afforded
+very little shelter against a tempestuous wind, or even against the surf
+and swell of the sea, which were sometimes produced by a distant storm.
+When the fleet entered this bay in the evening, the sea was calm and the
+sky serene. The commanders expected to remain there for the night, and
+to proceed on the voyage on the following day.
+
+The bay was not sufficiently extensive to allow of the drawing up of so
+large a fleet in a single line along the shore. The ships were
+accordingly arranged in several lines, eight in all. The innermost of
+these lines was close to the shore; the others were at different
+distances from it, and every separate ship was held to the place
+assigned it by its anchors. In this position the fleet passed the night
+in safety, but before morning there were indications of a storm. The sky
+looked wild and lurid. A heavy swell came rolling in from the offing.
+The wind began to rise, and to blow in fitful gusts. Its direction was
+from the eastward, so that its tendency was to drive the fleet upon the
+shore. The seamen were anxious and afraid, and the commanders of the
+several ships began to devise, each for his own vessel, the best means
+of safety. Some, whose vessels were small, drew them up upon the sand,
+above the reach of the swell. Others strengthened the anchoring tackle,
+or added new anchors to those already down. Others raised their anchors
+altogether, and attempted to row their galleys away, up or down the
+coast, in hope of finding some better place of shelter. Thus all was
+excitement and confusion in the fleet, through the eager efforts made by
+every separate crew to escape the impending danger.
+
+In the mean time, the storm came on apace. The rising and roughening sea
+made the oars useless, and the wind howled frightfully through the
+cordage and the rigging. The galleys soon began to be forced away from
+their moorings. Some were driven upon the beach and dashed to pieces by
+the waves. Some were wrecked on the rocks at one or the other of the
+projecting points which bounded the bay on either hand. Some foundered
+at their place of anchorage. Vast numbers of men were drowned. Those who
+escaped to the shore were in hourly dread of an attack from the
+inhabitants of the country. To save themselves, if possible, from this
+danger, they dragged up the fragments of the wrecked vessels upon the
+beach, and built a fort with them on the shore. Here they intrenched
+themselves, and then prepared to defend their lives, armed with the
+weapons which, like the materials for their fort, were washed up, from
+time to time, by the sea.
+
+The storm continued for three days. It destroyed about three hundred
+galleys, besides an immense number of provision transports and other
+smaller vessels. Great numbers of seamen, also, were drowned. The
+inhabitants of the country along the coast enriched themselves with the
+plunder which they obtained from the wrecks, and from the treasures, and
+the gold and silver vessels, which continued for some time to be driven
+up upon the beach by the waves. The Persians themselves recovered, it
+was said, a great deal of valuable treasure, by employing a certain
+Greek diver, whom they had in their fleet, to dive for it after the
+storm was over. This diver, whose name was Scyllias, was famed far and
+wide for his power of remaining under water. As an instance of what they
+believed him capable of performing, they said that when, at a certain
+period subsequent to these transactions, he determined to desert to the
+Greeks, he accomplished his design by diving into the sea from the deck
+of a Persian galley, and coming up again in the midst of the Greek
+fleet, ten miles distant!
+
+After three days the storm subsided. The Persians then repaired the
+damages which had been sustained, so far as it was now possible to
+repair them, collected what remained of the fleet, took the shipwrecked
+mariners from their rude fortification on the beach, and set sail again
+on their voyage to the southward.
+
+In the mean time, the Greek fleet had assembled in the arm of the sea
+lying north of Euboea, and between Euboea and the main land. It was an
+allied fleet, made up of contributions from various states that had
+finally agreed to come into the confederacy. As is usually the case,
+however, with allied or confederate forces, they were not well agreed
+among themselves. The Athenians had furnished far the greater number of
+ships, and they considered themselves, therefore, entitled to the
+command; but the other allies were envious and jealous of them on
+account of that very superiority of wealth and power which enabled them
+to supply a greater portion of the naval force than the rest. They were
+willing that one of the Spartans should command, but they would not
+consent to put themselves under an Athenian. If an Athenian leader were
+chosen, they would disperse, they said, and the various portions of the
+fleet return to their respective homes.
+
+The Athenians, though burning with resentment at this unjust
+declaration, were compelled to submit to the necessity of the case. They
+could not take the confederates at their word, and allow the fleet to
+be broken up, for the defense of Athens was the great object for which
+it was assembled. The other states might make their peace with the
+conqueror by submission, but the Athenians could not do so. In respect
+to the rest of Greece, Xerxes wished only for dominion. In respect to
+Athens, he wished for vengeance. The Athenians had burned the Persian
+city of Sardis, and he had determined to give himself no rest until he
+had burned Athens in return.
+
+It was well understood, therefore, that the assembling of the fleet, and
+giving battle to the Persians where they now were, was a plan adopted
+mainly for the defense and benefit of the Athenians. The Athenians,
+accordingly, waived their claim to command, secretly resolving that,
+when the war was over, they would have their revenge for the insult and
+injury.
+
+A Spartan was accordingly appointed commander of the fleet. His name was
+Eurybiades.
+
+Things were in this state when the two fleets came in sight of each
+other in the strait between the northern end of Euboea and the main
+land. Fifteen of the Persian galleys, advancing incautiously some miles
+in front of the rest, came suddenly upon the Greek fleet, and were all
+captured. The crews were made prisoners and sent into Greece. The
+remainder of the fleet entered the strait, and anchored at the eastern
+extremity of it, sheltered by the promontory of Magnesia, which now lay
+to the north of them.
+
+The Greeks were amazed at the immense magnitude of the Persian fleet,
+and the first opinion of the commanders was, that it was wholly useless
+for them to attempt to engage them. A council was convened, and, after a
+long and anxious debate, they decided that it was best to retire to the
+southward. The inhabitants of Euboea, who had been already in a state of
+great excitement and terror at the near approach of so formidable an
+enemy, were thrown, by this decision of the allies, into a state of
+absolute dismay. It was abandoning them to irremediable and hopeless
+destruction.
+
+The government of the island immediately raised a very large sum of
+money, and went with it to Themistocles, one of the most influential of
+the Athenian leaders, and offered it to him if he would contrive any way
+to persuade the commanders of the fleet to remain and give the Persians
+battle where they were. Themistocles took the money, and agreed to the
+condition. He went with a small part of it--though this part was a very
+considerable sum--to Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, and offered it
+to him if he would retain the fleet in its present position. There were
+some other similar offerings made to other influential men, judiciously
+selected. All this was done in a very private manner, and, of course,
+Themistocles took care to reserve to himself the lion's share of the
+Euboean contribution. The effect of this money in altering the opinions
+of the naval officers was marvelous. A new council was called, the
+former decision was annulled, and the Greeks determined to give their
+enemies battle where they were.
+
+The Persians had not been unmindful of the danger that the Greeks might
+retreat by retiring through the Euripus, and so escape them. In order to
+prevent this, they secretly sent off a fleet of two hundred of their
+strongest and fleetest galleys, with orders to sail round Euboea and
+enter the Euripus from the south, so as to cut off the retreat of the
+Greeks in that quarter. They thought that by this plan the Greek fleet
+would be surrounded, and could have no possible mode of escape. They
+remained, therefore, with the principal fleet, at the outer entrance of
+the northern strait for some days, before attacking the Greeks, in order
+to give time for the detachment to pass round the island.
+
+The Persians sent off the two hundred galleys with great secrecy, not
+desiring that the Greeks should discover their design of thus
+intercepting their retreat. They did discover it, however, for this was
+the occasion on which the great diver, Scyllias, made his escape from
+one fleet to the other by swimming under water ten miles, and he brought
+the Greeks the tidings.[E]
+
+[Footnote E: There is reason to suppose that Scyllias made his escape by
+night in a boat, managing the circumstances, however, in such a way as
+to cause the story to be circulated that he swam.]
+
+The Greeks dispatched a small squadron of ships with orders to proceed
+southward into the Euripus, to meet this detachment which the Persians
+sent round; and, in the mean time, they determined themselves to attack
+the main Persian fleet without any delay. Notwithstanding their absurd
+dissensions and jealousies, and the extent to which the leaders were
+influenced by intrigues and bribes, the Greeks always evinced an
+undaunted and indomitable spirit when the day of battle came. It was,
+moreover, in this case, exceedingly important to defend the position
+which they had taken. By referring to the map once more, it will be seen
+that the Euripus was the great highway to Athens by sea, as the pass of
+Thermopylae was by land. Thermopylae was west of Artemisium, where the
+fleet was now stationed, and not many miles from it. The Greek army had
+made its great stand at Thermopylae, and Xerxes was fast coming down the
+country with all his forces to endeavor to force a passage there. The
+Persian fleet, in entering Artemisium, was making the same attempt by
+sea in respect to the narrow passage of Euripus; and for either of the
+two forces, the fleet or the army, to fail of making good the defense of
+its position, without a desperate effort to do so, would justly be
+considered a base betrayal and abandonment of the other.
+
+The Greeks therefore advanced, one morning, to the attack of the
+Persians, to the utter astonishment of the latter, who believed that
+their enemies were insane when they thus saw them coming into the jaws,
+as they thought, of certain destruction. Before night, however, they
+were to change their opinions in respect to the insanity of their foes.
+The Greeks pushed boldly on into the midst of the Persian fleet, where
+they were soon surrounded. They then formed themselves into a circle,
+with the prows of the vessels outward, and the sterns toward the center
+within, and fought in this manner with the utmost desperation all the
+day. With the night a storm came on, or, rather, a series of
+thunder-showers and gusts of wind, so severe that both fleets were glad
+to retire from the scene of contest. The Persians went back toward the
+east, the Greeks to the westward, toward Thermopylae--each party busy in
+repairing their wrecks, taking care of their wounded, and saving their
+vessels from the tempest. It was a dreadful night. The Persians,
+particularly, spent it in the midst of scenes of horror. The wind and
+the current, it seems, set outward, toward the sea, and carried the
+masses and fragments of the wrecked vessels, and the swollen and ghastly
+bodies of the dead, in among the Persian fleet, and so choked up the
+surface of the water that the oars became entangled and useless. The
+whole mass of seamen in the Persian fleet, during this terrible night,
+were panic-stricken and filled with horror. The wind, the perpetual
+thunder, the concussions of the vessels with the wrecks and with one
+another, and the heavy shocks of the seas, kept them in continual
+alarm; and the black and inscrutable darkness was rendered the more
+dreadful, while it prevailed, by the hideous spectacle which, at every
+flash of lightning, glared brilliantly upon every eye from the wide
+surface of the sea. The shouts and cries of officers vociferating
+orders, of wounded men writhing in agony, of watchmen and sentinels in
+fear of collisions, mingled with the howling wind and roaring seas,
+created a scene of indescribable terror and confusion.
+
+The violence of the sudden gale was still greater further out at sea,
+and the detachment of ships which had been sent around Euboea was wholly
+dispersed and destroyed by it.
+
+The storm was, however, after all, only a series of summer evening
+showers, such as to the inhabitants of peaceful dwellings on the land
+have no terror, but only come to clear the sultry atmosphere in the
+night, and in the morning are gone. When the sun rose, accordingly, upon
+the Greeks and Persians on the morning after their conflict, the air was
+calm, the sky serene, and the sea as blue and pure as ever. The bodies
+and the wrecks had been floated away into the offing. The courage or the
+ferocity, whichever we choose to call it, of the combatants, returned,
+and they renewed the conflict. It continued, with varying success, for
+two more days.
+
+During all this time the inhabitants of the island of Euboea were in the
+greatest distress and terror. They watched these dreadful conflicts from
+the heights, uncertain how the struggle would end, but fearing lest
+their defenders should be beaten, in which case the whole force of the
+Persian fleet would be landed on their island, to sweep it with pillage
+and destruction. They soon began to anticipate the worst, and, in
+preparation for it, they removed their goods--all that could be
+removed--and drove their cattle down to the southern part of the island,
+so as to be ready to escape to the main land. The Greek commanders,
+finding that the fleet would probably be compelled to retreat in the
+end, sent to them here, recommending that they should kill their cattle
+and eat them, roasting the flesh at fires which they should kindle on
+the plain. The cattle could not be transported, they said, across the
+channel, and it was better that the flying population should be fed,
+than that the food should fall into Persian hands. If they would dispose
+of their cattle in this manner, Eurybiades would endeavor, he said, to
+transport the people themselves and their valuable goods across into
+Attica.
+
+How many thousand peaceful and happy homes were broken up and destroyed
+forever by this ruthless invasion!
+
+In the mean time, the Persians, irritated by the obstinate resistance of
+the Greeks, were, on the fourth day, preparing for some more vigorous
+measures, when they saw a small boat coming toward the fleet from down
+the channel. It proved to contain a countryman, who came to tell them
+that the Greeks had gone away. The whole fleet, he said, had sailed off
+to the southward, and abandoned those seas altogether. The Persians did
+not, at first, believe this intelligence. They suspected some ambuscade
+or stratagem. They advanced slowly and cautiously down the channel. When
+they had gone half down to Thermopylae, they stopped at a place called
+Histiaea, where, upon the rocks on the shore, they found an inscription
+addressed to the Ionians--who, it will be recollected, had been brought
+by Xerxes as auxiliaries, contrary to the advice of
+Artabanus--entreating them not to fight against their countrymen. This
+inscription was written in large and conspicuous characters on the face
+of the cliff, so that it could be read by the Ionian seamen as they
+passed in their galleys.
+
+The fleet anchored at Histiaea, the commanders being somewhat uncertain
+in respect to what it was best to do. Their suspense was very soon
+relieved by a messenger from Xerxes, who came in a galley up the channel
+from Thermopylae, with the news that Xerxes had arrived at Thermopylae,
+had fought a great battle there, defeated the Greeks, and obtained
+possession of the pass, and that any of the officers of the fleet who
+chose to do so might come and view the battle ground. This intelligence
+and invitation produced, throughout the fleet, a scene of the wildest
+excitement, enthusiasm, and joy. All the boats and smaller vessels of
+the fleet were put into requisition to carry the officers down. When
+they arrived at Thermopylae the tidings all proved true. Xerxes was in
+possession of the pass, and the Greek fleet was gone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The pass of Thermopylae.--Its situation.--Ancient intrenchments.--View at
+Thermopylae.--The allied forces.--Leonidas the Spartan.--Debate in regard
+to defending Thermopylae.--The decision.--Character of the
+Spartans.--Their pride.--The Spartans adorn themselves for the
+battle.--Approach of Xerxes.--The Persian horseman.--His
+observation.--Report of the horseman.--Conversation with
+Demaratus.--Xerxes encamps at the pass.--Troops sent into the
+pass.--Defeat of the Persian detachment.--The Immortals called out.--The
+Immortals advance to the charge.--Valor of the Greeks.--The Immortals
+repulsed.--Treachery of Ephialtes.--Joy of Xerxes.--Course of the
+path.--A Persian detachment sent up the path.--The Phocaeans
+retreat.--The Greeks surrounded.--Resolution of Leonidas.--Leonidas
+dismisses the other Greeks.--His noble generosity.--Leonidas retains the
+Thebans.--Xerxes attacks him.--Terrible combat.--Death of
+Leonidas.--Stories of the battle.--The two invalids.--Xerxes views the
+ground.--His treatment of the body of Leonidas.--Message to the
+fleet.--Xerxes sends for Demaratus.--Conversation with Demaratus.--Plans
+proposed by him.--Opposition of the admiral.--Decision of Xerxes.
+
+
+The pass of Thermopylae was not a ravine among mountains, but a narrow
+space between mountains and the sea. The mountains landward were steep
+and inaccessible; the sea was shoal. The passage between them was narrow
+for many miles along the shore, being narrowest at the ingress and
+egress. In the middle the space was broader. The place was celebrated
+for certain warm springs which here issued from the rocks, and which had
+been used in former times for baths.
+
+The position had been considered, long before Xerxes's day, a very
+important one in a military point of view, as it was upon the frontier
+between two Greek states that were frequently at war. One of these
+states, of course, was Thessaly. The other was Phocis, which lay south
+of Thessaly. The general boundary between these two states was
+mountainous, and impassable for troops, so that each could invade the
+territories of the other only by passing round between the mountains
+and the shore at Thermopylae.
+
+The Phocaeans, in order to keep the Thessalians out, had, in former
+times, built a wall across the way, and put up gates there, which they
+strongly fortified. In order still further to increase the difficulty of
+forcing a passage, they conducted the water of the warm springs over the
+ground without the wall, in such a way as to make the surface
+continually wet and miry. The old wall had now fallen to ruins, but the
+miry ground remained. The place was solitary and desolate, and overgrown
+with a confused and wild vegetation. On one side the view extended far
+and wide over the sea, with the highlands of Euboea in the distance, and
+on the other dark and inaccessible mountains rose, covered with forests,
+indented with mysterious and unexplored ravines, and frowning in a wild
+and gloomy majesty over the narrow passway which crept along the shore
+below.
+
+The Greeks, when they retired from Thessaly, fell back upon Thermopylae,
+and established themselves there. They had a force variously estimated,
+from three to four thousand men. These were from the different states of
+Greece, some within and some without the Peloponnesus--a few hundred
+men only being furnished, in general, from each state or kingdom. Each
+of these bodies of troops had its own officers, though there was one
+general-in-chief, who commanded the whole. This was Leonidas the
+Spartan. He had brought with him three hundred Spartans, as the quota
+furnished by that city. These men he had specially selected himself, one
+by one, from among the troops of the city, as men on whom he could rely.
+
+It will be seen from the map that Thermopylae is at some distance from
+the Isthmus of Corinth, and that of the states which would be protected
+by making a stand at the pass, some were without the isthmus and some
+within. These states, in sending each a few hundred men only to
+Thermopylae, did not consider that they were making their full
+contribution to the army, but only sending forward for the emergency
+those that could be dispatched at once; and they were all making
+arrangements to supply more troops as soon as they could be raised and
+equipped for the service. In the mean time, however, Xerxes and his
+immense hordes came on faster than they had expected, and the news at
+length came to Leonidas, in the pass, that the Persians, with one or two
+millions of men, were at hand, while he had only three or four thousand
+at Thermopylae to oppose them. The question arose, What was to be done?
+
+Those of the Greeks who came from the Peloponnesus were in favor of
+abandoning Thermopylae, and falling back to the isthmus. The isthmus,
+they maintained, was as strong and as favorable a position as the place
+where they were; and, by the time they had reached it, they would have
+received great re-enforcements; whereas, with so small a force as they
+had then at command, it was madness to attempt to resist the Persian
+millions. This plan, however, was strongly opposed by all those Greeks
+who represented countries _without_ the Peloponnesus; for, by abandoning
+Thermopylae, and falling back to the isthmus, their states would be left
+wholly at the mercy of the enemy. After some consultation and debate, it
+was decided to remain at Thermopylae. The troops accordingly took up
+their positions in a deliberate and formal manner, and, intrenching
+themselves as strongly as possible, began to await the onset of the
+enemy. Leonidas and his three hundred were foremost in the defile, so as
+to be the first exposed to the attack. The rest occupied various
+positions along the passage, except one corps, which was stationed on
+the mountains above, to guard the pass in that direction. This corps was
+from Phocis, which, being the state nearest to the scene of conflict,
+had furnished a larger number of soldiers than any other. Their division
+numbered a thousand men. These being stationed on the declivity of the
+mountain, left only two or three thousand in the defile below.
+
+From what has been said of the stern and savage character of the
+Spartans, one would scarcely expect in them any indications or displays
+of personal vanity. There was one particular, it seems, however, in
+regard to which they were vain, and that was in respect to their hair.
+They wore it very long. In fact, the length of the hair was, in their
+commonwealth, a mark of distinction between freemen and slaves. All the
+agricultural and mechanical labors were performed, as has already been
+stated, by the slaves, a body which constituted, in fact, the mass of
+the population; and the Spartan freemen, though very stern in their
+manners, and extremely simple and plain in their habits of life, were,
+it must be remembered, as proud and lofty in spirit as they were plain
+and poor. They constituted a military aristocracy, and a military
+aristocracy is always more proud and overbearing than any other.
+
+It must be understood, therefore, that these Spartan soldiers were
+entirely above the performance of any useful labors; and while they
+prized, in character, the savage ferocity of the tiger, they had a
+taste, in person, for something like his savage beauty too. They were
+never, moreover, more particular and careful in respect to their
+personal appearance than when they were going into battle. The field of
+battle was their particular theater of display, not only of the
+substantial qualities of strength, fortitude, and valor, but also of
+such personal adornments as were consistent with the plainness and
+severity of their attire, and could be appreciated by a taste as rude
+and savage as theirs. They proceeded, therefore, when established at
+their post in the throat of the pass, to adorn themselves for the
+approaching battle.
+
+In the mean time the armies of Xerxes were approaching. Xerxes himself,
+though he did not think it possible that the Greeks could have a
+sufficient force to offer him any effectual resistance, thought it
+probable that they would attempt to make a stand at the pass, and, when
+he began to draw near to it, he sent forward a horseman to reconnoiter
+the ground. The horseman rode into the pass a little way, until he came
+in sight of the enemy. He stopped upon an eminence to survey the scene,
+being all ready to turn in an instant, and fly at the top of his speed,
+in case he should be pursued. The Spartans looked upon him as he stood
+there, but seemed to consider his appearance as a circumstance of no
+moment, and then went on with their avocations. The horseman found, as
+he leisurely observed them, that there was an intrenchment thrown across
+the straits, and that the Spartans were in front of it. There were other
+forces behind, but these the horseman could not see. The Spartans were
+engaged, some of them in athletic sports and gymnastic exercises, and
+the rest in nicely arranging their dress, which was red and showy in
+color, though simple and plain in form, and in smoothing, adjusting, and
+curling their hair. In fact, they seemed to be, one and all, preparing
+for an entertainment.
+
+And yet these men were actually preparing themselves to be slaughtered,
+to be butchered, one by one, by slow degrees, and in the most horrible
+and cruel manner; and they knew perfectly well that it was so. The
+adorning of themselves was for this express and particular end.
+
+The horseman, when he had attentively noticed all that was to be seen,
+rode slowly back to Xerxes, and reported the result. The king was much
+amused at hearing such an account from his messenger. He sent for
+Demaratus, the Spartan refugee, with whom, the reader will recollect, he
+held a long conversation in respect to the Greeks at the close of the
+great review at Doriscus. When Demaratus came, Xerxes related to him
+what the messenger had reported. "The Spartans in the pass," said he,
+"present, in their encampment, the appearance of being out on a party of
+pleasure. What does it mean? You will admit now, I suppose, that they do
+not intend to resist us."
+
+Demaratus shook his head. "Your majesty does not know the Greeks," said
+he, "and I am very much afraid that, if I state what I know respecting
+them, I shall offend you. These appearances which your messenger
+observed indicate to me that the men he saw were a body of Spartans, and
+that they supposed themselves on the eve of a desperate conflict. Those
+are the men, practicing athletic feats, and smoothing and adorning their
+hair, that are the most to be feared of all the soldiers of Greece. If
+you can conquer them, you will have nothing beyond to fear."
+
+Xerxes thought this opinion of Demaratus extremely absurd. He was
+convinced that the party in the pass was some small detachment that
+could not possibly be thinking of serious resistance. They would, he was
+satisfied, now that they found that the Persians were at hand,
+immediately retire down the pass, and leave the way clear. He advanced,
+therefore, up to the entrance of the pass, encamped there, and waited
+several days for the Greeks to clear the way. The Greeks remained
+quietly in their places, paying apparently no attention whatever to the
+impending and threatening presence of their formidable foes.
+
+At length Xerxes concluded that it was time for him to act. On the
+morning, therefore, of the fifth day, he called out a detachment of his
+troops, sufficient, as he thought, for the purpose, and sent them down
+the pass, with orders to seize all the Greeks that were there, and bring
+them, _alive_, to him. The detachment that he sent was a body of Medes,
+who were considered as the best troops in the army, excepting always the
+Immortals, who, as has been before stated, were entirely superior to the
+rest. The Medes, however, Xerxes supposed, would find no difficulty in
+executing his orders.
+
+The detachment marched, accordingly, into the pass. In a few hours a
+spent and breathless messenger came from them, asking for
+re-enforcements. The re-enforcements were sent. Toward night a remnant
+of the whole body came back, faint and exhausted with a long and
+fruitless combat, and bringing many of their wounded and bleeding
+comrades with them. The rest they had left dead in the defile.
+
+Xerxes was both astonished and enraged at these results. He determined
+that this trifling should continue no longer. He ordered the Immortals
+themselves to be called out on the following morning, and then, placing
+himself at the head of them, he advanced to the vicinity of the Greek
+intrenchments. Here he ordered a seat or throne to be placed for him
+upon an eminence, and, taking his seat upon it, prepared to witness the
+conflict. The Greeks, in the mean time, calmly arranged themselves on
+the line which they had undertaken to defend, and awaited the charge.
+Upon the ground, on every side, were lying the mangled bodies of the
+Persians slain the day before, some exposed fully to view, ghastly and
+horrid spectacles, others trampled down and half buried in the mire.
+
+The Immortals advanced to the attack, but they made no impression. Their
+superior numbers gave them no advantage, on account of the narrowness of
+the defile. The Greeks stood, each corps at its own assigned station on
+the line, forming a mass so firm and immovable that the charge of the
+Persians was arrested on encountering it as by a wall. In fact, as the
+spears of the Greeks were longer than those of the Persians, and their
+muscular and athletic strength and skill were greater, it was found that
+in the desperate conflict which raged, hour after hour, along the line,
+the Persians were continually falling, while the Greek ranks continued
+entire. Sometimes the Greeks would retire for a space, falling back with
+the utmost coolness, regularity, and order; and then, when the Persians
+pressed on in pursuit, supposing that they were gaining the victory, the
+Greeks would turn so soon as they found that the ardor of pursuit had
+thrown the enemies' lines somewhat into confusion, and, presenting the
+same firm and terrible front as before, would press again upon the
+offensive, and cut down their enemies with redoubled slaughter. Xerxes,
+who witnessed all these things from among the group of officers around
+him upon the eminence, was kept continually in a state of excitement
+and irritation. Three times he leaped from his throne, with loud
+exclamations of vexation and rage.
+
+All, however, was of no avail. When night came the Immortals were
+compelled to withdraw, and leave the Greeks in possession of their
+intrenchments.
+
+Things continued substantially in this state for one or two days longer,
+when one morning a Greek countryman appeared at the tent of Xerxes, and
+asked an audience of the king. He had something, he said, of great
+importance to communicate to him. The king ordered him to be admitted.
+The Greek said that his name was Ephialtes, and that he came to inform
+the king that there was a secret path leading along a wild and hidden
+chasm in the mountains, by which he could guide a body of Persians to
+the summit of the hills overhanging the pass at a point below the Greek
+intrenchment. This point being once attained, it would be easy,
+Ephialtes said, for the Persian forces to descend into the pass below
+the Greeks, and thus to surround them and shut them in, and that the
+conquest of them would then be easy. The path was a secret one, and
+known to very few. He knew it, however, and was willing to conduct a
+detachment of troops through it, on condition of receiving a suitable
+reward.
+
+The king was greatly surprised and delighted at this intelligence. He
+immediately acceded to Ephialtes's proposals, and organized a strong
+force to be sent up the path that very night.
+
+On the north of Thermopylae there was a small stream, which came down
+through a chasm in the mountains to the sea. The path which Ephialtes
+was to show commenced here, and following the bed of this stream up the
+chasm, it at length turned to the southward through a succession of wild
+and trackless ravines, till it came out at last on the declivities of
+the mountains near the lower part of the pass, at a place where it was
+possible to descend to the defile below. This was the point which the
+thousand Phocaeans had been ordered to take possession of and guard, when
+the plan for the defense of the pass was first organized. They were
+posted here, not with the idea of repelling any attack from the
+mountains behind them--for the existence of the path was wholly unknown
+to them--but only that they might command the defile below, and aid in
+preventing the Persians from going through, even if those who were in
+the defile were defeated or slain.
+
+The Persian detachment toiled all night up the steep and dangerous
+pathway, among rocks, chasms, and precipices, frightful by day, and now
+made still more frightful by the gloom of the night. They came out at
+last, in the dawn of the morning, into valleys and glens high up the
+declivity of the mountain, and in the immediate vicinity of the Phocaean
+encampment. The Persians were concealed, as they advanced, by the groves
+and thickets of stunted oaks which grew here, but the morning air was so
+calm and still, that the Phocaean sentinels heard the noise made by their
+trampling upon the leaves as they came up the glen. The Phocaeans
+immediately gave the alarm. Both parties were completely surprised. The
+Persians had not expected to find a foe at this elevation, and the
+Greeks who had ascended there had supposed that all beyond and above
+them was an impassable and trackless desolation.
+
+There was a short conflict, The Phocaeans were driven off their ground.
+They retreated up the mountain, and toward the southward. The Persians
+decided not to pursue them. On the other hand, they descended toward the
+defile, and took up a position on the lower declivities of the mountain,
+which enabled them to command the pass below; there they paused, and
+awaited Xerxes's orders.
+
+The Greeks in the defile perceived at once that they were now wholly at
+the mercy of their enemies. They might yet retreat, it is true, for the
+Persian detachment had not yet descended to intercept them; but, if they
+remained where they were, they would, in a few hours, be hemmed in by
+their foes; and even if they could resist, for a little time, the double
+onset which would then be made upon them, their supplies would be cut
+off, and there would be nothing before them but immediate starvation.
+They held hurried councils to determine what to do.
+
+There is some doubt as to what took place at these councils, though the
+prevailing testimony is, that Leonidas recommended that they should
+retire--that is, that all except himself and the three hundred Spartans
+should do so. "You," said he, addressing the other Greeks, "are at
+liberty, by your laws, to consider, in such cases as this, the question
+of expediency, and to withdraw from a position which you have taken, or
+stand and maintain it, according as you judge best. But by our laws,
+such a question, in such a case, is not to be entertained. Wherever we
+are posted, there we stand, come life or death, to the end. We have been
+sent here from Sparta to defend the pass of Thermopylae. We have received
+no orders to withdraw. Here, therefore, we must remain; and the
+Persians, if they go through the pass at all, must go through it over
+our graves. It is, therefore, your duty to retire. Our duty is here, and
+we will remain and do it."
+
+After all that may be said of the absurdity and folly of throwing away
+the lives of three hundred men in a case like this, so utterly and
+hopelessly desperate, there is still something in the noble generosity
+with which Leonidas dismissed the other Greeks, and in the undaunted
+resolution with which he determined himself to maintain his ground,
+which has always strongly excited the admiration of mankind. It was
+undoubtedly carrying the point of honor to a wholly unjustifiable
+extreme, and yet all the world, for the twenty centuries which have
+intervened since these transactions occurred, while they have
+unanimously disapproved, in theory, of the course which Leonidas
+pursued, have none the less unanimously admired and applauded it.
+
+In dismissing the other Greeks, Leonidas retained with him a body of
+Thebans, whom he suspected of a design of revolting to the enemy.
+Whether he considered his decision to keep them in the pass equivalent
+to a sentence of death, and intended it as a punishment for their
+supposed treason, or only that he wished to secure their continued
+fidelity by keeping them closely to their duty, does not appear. At all
+events, he retained them, and dismissed the other allies. Those
+dismissed retreated to the open country below. The Spartans and the
+Thebans remained in the pass. There were also, it was said, some other
+troops, who, not willing to leave the Spartans alone in this danger,
+chose to remain with them and share their fate. The Thebans remained
+very unwillingly.
+
+The next morning Xerxes prepared for his final effort. He began by
+solemn religious services, in the presence of his army, at an early
+hour; and then, after breakfasting quietly, as usual, and waiting, in
+fact, until the business part of the day had arrived, he gave orders to
+advance. His troops found Leonidas and his party not at their
+intrenchments, as before, but far in advance of them. They had come out
+and forward into a more open part of the defile, as if to court and
+anticipate their inevitable and dreaded fate. Here a most terrible
+combat ensued; one which, for a time, seemed to have no other object
+than mutual destruction, until at length Leonidas himself fell, and then
+the contest for the possession of his body superseded the unthinking and
+desperate struggles of mere hatred and rage. Four times the body, having
+been taken by the Persians, was retaken by the Greeks: at last the
+latter retreated, bearing the dead body with them past their
+intrenchment, until they gained a small eminence in the rear of it, at a
+point where the pass was wider. Here the few that were still left
+gathered together. The detachment which Ephialtes had guided were coming
+up from below. The Spartans were faint and exhausted with their
+desperate efforts, and were bleeding from the wounds they had received;
+their swords and spears were broken to pieces, their leader and nearly
+all their company were slain. But the savage and tiger-like ferocity
+which animated them continued unabated till the last. They fought with
+tooth and nail when all other weapons failed them, and bit the dust at
+last, as they fell, in convulsive and unyielding despair. The struggle
+did not cease till they were all slain, and every limb of every man
+ceased to quiver.
+
+There were stories in circulation among mankind after this battle,
+importing that one or two of the corps escaped the fate of the rest.
+There were two soldiers, it was said, that had been left in a town near
+the pass, as invalids, being afflicted with a severe inflammation of the
+eyes. One of them, when he heard that the Spartans were to be left in
+the pass, went in, of his own accord, and joined them, choosing to share
+the fate of his comrades. It was said that he ordered his servant to
+conduct him to the place. The servant did so, and then fled himself, in
+great terror. The sick soldier remained and fought with the rest. The
+other of the invalids was saved, but, on his return to Sparta, he was
+considered as stained with indelible disgrace for what his countrymen
+regarded a base dereliction from duty in not sharing his comrade's fate.
+
+There was also a story of another man, who had been sent away on some
+mission into Thessaly, and who did not return until all was over; and
+also of two others who had been sent to Sparta, and were returning when
+they heard of the approaching conflict. One of them hastened into the
+pass, and was killed with his companions. The other delayed, and was
+saved. Whether any or all of these rumors were true, is not now
+certain; there is, however, no doubt that, with at most a few exceptions
+such as these, the whole three hundred were slain.
+
+The Thebans, early in the conflict, went over in a body to the enemy.
+
+Xerxes came after the battle to view the ground. It was covered with
+many thousands of dead bodies, nearly all of whom, of course, were
+Persians. The wall of the intrenchment was broken down, and the breaches
+in it choked up by the bodies. The morasses made by the water of the
+springs were trampled into deep mire, and were full of the mutilated
+forms of men and of broken weapons. When Xerxes came at last to the body
+of Leonidas, and was told that that was the man who had been the leader
+of the band, he gloried over it in great exaltation and triumph. At
+length he ordered the body to be decapitated, and the headless trunk to
+be nailed to a cross.
+
+Xerxes then commanded that a great hole should be dug, and ordered all
+the bodies of the Persians that had been killed to be buried in it,
+except only about a thousand, which he left upon the ground. The object
+of this was to conceal the extent of the loss which his army had
+sustained. The more perfectly to accomplish this end, he caused the
+great grave, when it was filled up, to be strewed over with leaves, so
+as to cover and conceal all indications of what had been done. This
+having been carefully effected, he sent the message to the fleet, which
+was alluded to at the close of the last chapter, inviting the officers
+to come and view the ground.
+
+The operations of the fleet described in the last chapter, and those of
+the army narrated in this, took place, it will be remembered, at the
+same time, and in the same vicinity too; for, by referring to the map,
+it will appear that Thermopylae was upon the coast, exactly opposite to
+the channel or arm of the sea lying north of Euboea, where the naval
+contests had been waged; so that, while Xerxes had been making his
+desperate efforts to get through the pass, his fleet had been engaged in
+a similar conflict with the squadrons of the Greeks, directly opposite
+to him, twenty or thirty miles in the offing.
+
+After the battle of Thermopylae was over, Xerxes sent for Demaratus, and
+inquired of him how many more such soldiers there were in Greece as
+Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans. Demaratus replied that he could
+not say how many precisely there were in Greece, but that there were
+eight thousand such in Sparta alone. Xerxes then asked the opinion of
+Demaratus as to the course best to be pursued for making the conquest of
+the country. This conversation was held in the presence of various
+nobles and officers, among whom was the admiral of the fleet, who had
+come, with the various other naval commanders, as was stated in the last
+chapter, to view the battle-field.
+
+Demaratus said that he did not think that the king could easily get
+possession of the Peloponnesus by marching to it directly, so formidable
+would be the opposition that he would encounter at the isthmus. There
+was, however, he said, an island called Cythera, opposite to the
+territories of Sparta, and not far from the shore, of which he thought
+that the king could easily get possession, and which, once fully in his
+power, might be made the base of future operations for the reduction of
+the whole peninsula, as bodies of troops could be dispatched from it to
+the main land in any numbers and at any time. He recommended, therefore,
+that three hundred ships, with a proper complement of men, should be
+detached from the fleet, and sent round at once to take possession of
+that island.
+
+To this plan the admiral of the fleet was totally opposed. It was
+natural that he should be so, since the detaching of three hundred
+ships for this enterprise would greatly weaken the force under his
+command. It would leave the fleet, he told the king, a miserable
+remnant, not superior to that of the enemy, for they had already lost
+four hundred ships by storms. He thought it infinitely preferable that
+the fleet and the army should advance together, the one by sea and the
+other on the land, and complete their conquests as they went along. He
+advised the king, too, to beware of Demaratus's advice. He was a Greek,
+and, as such, his object was, the admiral believed, to betray and ruin
+the expedition.
+
+After hearing these conflicting opinions, the king decided to follow the
+admiral's advice. "I will adopt your counsel," said he, "but I will not
+hear any thing said against Demaratus, for I am convinced that he is a
+true and faithful friend to me." Saying this, he dismissed the council.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE BURNING OF ATHENS.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+The officers return to their vessels.--The Greek fleet retire to
+Salamis.--The Thessalians.--Their hostility to the Phocaeans.--Defeat of
+the Thessalians.--Phocaean stratagem.--A spectral army.--Thessalian
+cavalry.--Pitfall for the cavalry.--They are caught in it.--Advance of
+the army.--Cruelties and atrocities.--The sacred town of Delphi.--Mount
+Parnassus.--Summit of Parnassus.--The Castalian spring.--The
+oracle.--Architectural structures.--Works of art.--Inspiration of the
+oracle.--Its discovery.--Panic of the Delphians.--They apply to the
+oracle.--Response of the oracle.--The prodigy in the
+temple.--Discomfiture of the Persians.--The spirit
+warriors.--Consternation at Athens.--The inhabitants advised to
+fly.--Scenes of misery.--Some of the inhabitants remain.--Situation of
+the Acropolis.--Magnificent architectural structures.--Statue of
+Minerva.--The Parthenon.--Xerxes at Athens.--Athens burned.--The citadel
+taken and fired.--Exaltation of Xerxes.--Messenger sent to Susa.
+
+
+When the officers of the Persian fleet had satisfied themselves with
+examining the battle-field at Thermopylae, and had heard the narrations
+given by the soldiers of the terrible combats that had been fought with
+the desperate garrison which had been stationed to defend the pass, they
+went back to their vessels, and prepared to make sail to the southward,
+in pursuit of the Greek fleet. The Greek fleet had gone to Salamis. The
+Persians in due time overtook them there, and a great naval conflict
+occurred, which is known in history as the battle of Salamis, and was
+one of the most celebrated naval battles of ancient times. An account of
+this battle will form the subject of the next chapter. In this we are to
+follow the operations of the army on the land.
+
+As the Pass of Thermopylae was now in Xerxes's possession, the way was
+open before him to all that portion of the great territory which lay
+north of the Peloponnesus. Of course, before he could enter the
+peninsula itself, he must pass the Isthmus of Corinth, where he might,
+perhaps, encounter some concentrated resistance. North of the isthmus,
+however, there was no place where the Greeks could make a stand. The
+country was all open, or, rather, there were a thousand ways open
+through the various valleys and glens, and along the banks of the
+rivers. All that was necessary was to procure guides and proceed.
+
+The Thessalians were very ready to furnish guides. They had submitted to
+Xerxes before the battle of Thermopylae, and they considered themselves,
+accordingly, as his allies. They had, besides, a special interest in
+conducting the Persian army, on account of the hostile feelings which
+they entertained toward the people immediately south of the pass, into
+whose territories Xerxes would first carry his ravages. This people were
+the Phocaeans. Their country, as has already been stated, was separated
+from Thessaly by impassable mountains, except where the Straits of
+Thermopylae opened a passage; and through this pass both nations had been
+continually making hostile incursions into the territory of the other
+for many years before the Persian invasion. The Thessalians had
+surrendered readily to the summons of Xerxes, while the Phocaeans had
+determined to resist him, and adhere to the cause of the Greeks in the
+struggle. They were suspected of having been influenced, in a great
+measure, in their determination to resist, by the fact that the
+Thessalians had decided to surrender. They were resolved that they would
+not, on any account, be upon the same side with their ancient and
+inveterate foes.
+
+The hostility of the Thessalians to the Phocaeans was equally implacable.
+At the last incursion which they had made into the Phocaean territory,
+they had been defeated by means of stratagems in a manner which tended
+greatly to vex and irritate them. There were two of these stratagems,
+which were both completely successful, and both of a very extraordinary
+character.
+
+The first was this. The Thessalians were in the Phocaean country in great
+force, and the Phocaeans had found themselves utterly unable to expel
+them. Under these circumstances, a body of the Phocaeans, six hundred in
+number, one day whitened their faces, their arms and hands, their
+clothes, and all their weapons, with chalk, and then, at the dead of
+night--perhaps, however, when the moon was shining--made an onset upon
+the camp of the enemy. The Thessalian sentinels were terrified and ran
+away, and the soldiers, awakened from their slumbers by these
+unearthly-looking troops, screamed with fright, and fled in all
+directions, in utter confusion and dismay. A night attack is usually a
+dangerous attempt, even if the assaulting party is the strongest, as, in
+the darkness and confusion which then prevail, the assailants can not
+ordinarily distinguish friends from foes, and so are in great danger,
+amid the tumult and obscurity, of slaying one another. That difficulty
+was obviated in this case by the strange disguise which the Phocaeans had
+assumed. They knew that all were Thessalians who were not whitened like
+themselves. The Thessalians were totally discomfited and dispersed by
+this encounter.
+
+The other stratagem was of a different character, and was directed
+against a troop of cavalry. The Thessalian cavalry were renowned
+throughout the world. The broad plains extending through the heart of
+their country contained excellent fields for training and exercising
+such troops, and the mountains which surrounded it furnished grassy
+slopes and verdant valleys, that supplied excellent pasturage for the
+rearing of horses. The nation was very strong, therefore, in this
+species of force, and many of the states and kingdoms of Greece, when
+planning their means of internal defense, and potentates and conquerors,
+when going forth on great campaigns, often considered their armies
+incomplete unless there was included in them a corps of Thessalian
+cavalry.
+
+A troop of this cavalry had invaded Phocis, and the Phocaeans, conscious
+of their inability to resist them in open war, contrived to entrap them
+in the following manner. They dug a long trench in the ground, and then
+putting in baskets or casks sufficient nearly to fill the space, they
+spread over the top a thin layer of soil. They then concealed all
+indications that the ground had been disturbed, by spreading leaves over
+the surface. The trap being thus prepared, they contrived to entice the
+Thessalians to the spot by a series of retreats, and at length led them
+into the pitfall thus provided for them. The substructure of casks was
+strong enough to sustain the Phocaeans, who went over it as footmen, but
+was too fragile to bear the weight of the mounted troops. The horses
+broke through, and the squadron was thrown into such confusion by so
+unexpected a disaster, that, when the Phocaeans turned and fell upon
+them, they were easily overcome.
+
+These things had irritated and vexed the Thessalians very much. They
+were eager for revenge, and they were very ready to guide the armies of
+Xerxes into the country of their enemies in order to obtain it.
+
+The troops advanced accordingly, awakening every where, as they came on,
+the greatest consternation and terror among the inhabitants, and
+producing on all sides scenes of indescribable anguish and suffering.
+They came into the valley of the Cephisus, a beautiful river flowing
+through a delightful and fertile region, which contained many cities and
+towns, and was filled every where with an industrious rural population.
+Through this scene of peace, and happiness, and plenty, the vast horde
+of invaders swept on with the destructive force of a tornado. They
+plundered the towns of every thing which could be carried away, and
+destroyed what they were compelled to leave behind them. There is a
+catalogue of twelve cities in this valley which they burned. The
+inhabitants, too, were treated with the utmost cruelty. Some were
+seized, and compelled to follow the army as slaves; others were slain;
+and others still were subjected to nameless cruelties and atrocities,
+worse sometimes than death. Many of the women, both mothers and maidens,
+died in consequence of the brutal violence with which the soldiers
+treated them.
+
+The most remarkable of the transactions connected with Xerxes's advance
+through the country of Phocis, on his way to Athens, were those
+connected with his attack upon Delphi. Delphi was a sacred town, the
+seat of the oracle. It was in the vicinity of Mount Parnassus and of the
+Castalian spring, places of very great renown in the Greek mythology.
+
+Parnassus was the name of a short mountainous range rather than of a
+single peak, though the loftiest summit of the range was called
+Parnassus too. This summit is found, by modern measurement, to be about
+eight thousand feet high, and it is covered with snow nearly all the
+year. When bare it consists only of a desolate range of rocks, with
+mosses and a few Alpine plants growing on the sheltered and sunny sides
+of them. From the top of Parnassus travelers who now visit it look down
+upon almost all of Greece as upon a map. The Gulf of Corinth is a silver
+lake at their feet, and the plains of Thessaly are seen extending far
+and wide to the northward, with Olympus, Pelion, and Ossa, blue and
+distant peaks, bounding the view.
+
+Parnassus has, in fact, a double summit, between the peaks of which a
+sort of ravine commences, which, as it extends down the mountain,
+becomes a beautiful valley, shaded with rows of trees, and adorned with
+slopes of verdure and banks of flowers. In a glen connected with this
+valley there is a fountain of water springing copiously from among the
+rocks, in a grove of laurels. This fountain gives rise to a stream,
+which, after bounding over the rocks, and meandering between mossy banks
+for a long distance down the mountain glens, becomes a quiet lowland
+stream, and flows gently through a fertile and undulating country to the
+sea. This fountain was the famous Castalian spring. It was, as the
+ancient Greek legends said, the favorite resort and residence of Apollo
+and the Muses, and its waters became, accordingly, the symbol and the
+emblem of poetical inspiration.
+
+The city of Delphi was built upon the lower declivities of the
+Parnassian ranges, and yet high above the surrounding country. It was
+built in the form of an amphitheater, in a sort of _lap_ in the hill
+where it stood, with steep precipices descending to a great depth on
+either side. It was thus a position of difficult access, and was
+considered almost impregnable in respect to its military strength.
+Besides its natural defenses, it was considered as under the special
+protection of Apollo.
+
+Delphi was celebrated throughout the world, in ancient times, not only
+for the oracle itself, but for the magnificence of the architectural
+structures, the boundless profusion of the works of art, and the immense
+value of the treasures which, in process of time, had been accumulated
+there. The various powers and potentates that had resorted to it to
+obtain the responses of the oracle, had brought rich presents, or made
+costly contributions in some way, to the service of the shrine. Some had
+built temples, others had constructed porches or colonnades. Some had
+adorned the streets of the city with architectural embellishments;
+others had caused statues to be erected; and others had made splendid
+donations of vessels of gold and silver, until at length the wealth and
+magnificence of Delphi was the wonder of the world. All nations resorted
+to it, some to see its splendors, and others to obtain the counsel and
+direction of the oracle in emergencies of difficulty or danger.
+
+In the time of Xerxes, Delphi had been for several hundred years in the
+enjoyment of its fame as a place of divine inspiration. It was said to
+have been originally discovered in the following manner. Some herdsmen
+on the mountains, watching their flocks, observed one day a number of
+goats performing very strange and unaccountable antics among some
+crevices in the rocks, and, going to the place, they found that a
+mysterious wind was issuing from the crevices, which produced an
+extraordinary exhilaration on all who breathed it. Every thing
+extraordinary was thought, in those days, to be supernatural and divine,
+and the fame of this discovery was spread every where, the people
+supposing that the effect produced upon the men and animals by breathing
+the mysterious air was a divine inspiration. A temple was built over the
+spot, priests and priestesses were installed, a city began to rise, and
+in process of time Delphi became the most celebrated oracle in the
+world; and as the vast treasures which had been accumulated there
+consisted mainly of gifts and offerings consecrated to a divine and
+sacred service, they were all understood to be under divine protection.
+They were defended, it is true, in part by the inaccessibleness of the
+position of Delphi, and by the artificial fortifications which had been
+added from time to time to increase the security, but still more by the
+feeling which every where prevailed, that any violence offered to such a
+shrine would be punished by the gods as sacrilege. The account of the
+manner in which Xerxes was repulsed, as related by the ancient
+historians, is somewhat marvelous. We, however, in this case, as in all
+others, transmit the story to our readers as the ancient historians give
+it to us.
+
+The main body of the army pursued its way directly southward toward the
+city of Athens, which was now the great object at which Xerxes aimed. A
+large detachment, however, separating from the main body, moved more to
+the westward, toward Delphi. Their plan was to plunder the temples and
+the city, and send the treasures to the king. The Delphians, on hearing
+this, were seized with consternation. They made application themselves
+to the oracle, to know what they were to do in respect to the sacred
+treasures. They could not defend them, they said, against such a host,
+and they inquired whether they should bury them in the earth, or attempt
+to remove them to some distant place of safety.
+
+The oracle replied that they were to do nothing at all in respect to the
+sacred treasures. The divinity, it said, was able to protect what was
+its own. They, on their part, had only to provide for themselves, their
+wives, and their children.
+
+On hearing this response, the people dismissed all care in respect to
+the treasures of the temple and of the shrine, and made arrangements for
+removing their families and their own effects to some place of safety
+toward the southward. The military force of the city and a small number
+of the inhabitants alone remained.
+
+When the Persians began to draw near, a prodigy occurred in the temple,
+which seemed intended to warn the profane invaders away. It seems that
+there was a suit of arms, of a costly character doubtless, and highly
+decorated with gold and gems--the present, probably, of some Grecian
+state or king--which were hung in an inner and sacred apartment of the
+temple, and which it was sacrilegious for any human hand to touch. These
+arms were found, on the day when the Persians were approaching, removed
+to the outward front of the temple. The priest who first observed them
+was struck with amazement and awe. He spread the intelligence among the
+soldiers and the people that remained, and the circumstance awakened in
+them great animation and courage.
+
+Nor were the hopes of divine interposition which this wonder awakened
+disappointed in the end; for, as soon as the detachment of Persians came
+near the hill on which Delphi was situated, loud thunder burst from the
+sky, and a bolt, descending upon the precipices near the town, detached
+two enormous masses of rock, which rolled down upon the ranks of the
+invaders. The Delphian soldiers, taking advantage of the scene of panic
+and confusion which this awful visitation produced, rushed down upon
+their enemies and completed their discomfiture. They were led on and
+assisted in this attack by the spirits of two ancient heroes, who had
+been natives of the country, and to whom two of the temples of Delphi
+had been consecrated. These spirits appeared in the form of tall and
+full-armed warriors, who led the attack, and performed prodigies of
+strength and valor in the onset upon the Persians; and then, when the
+battle was over, disappeared as mysteriously as they came.
+
+In the mean time the great body of the army of Xerxes, with the monarch
+at their head, was advancing on Athens. During his advance the city had
+been in a continual state of panic and confusion. In the first place,
+when the Greek fleet had concluded to give up the contest in the
+Artemisian Channel, before the battle of Thermopylae, and had passed
+around to Salamis, the commanders in the city of Athens had given up the
+hope of making any effectual defense, and had given orders that the
+inhabitants should save themselves by seeking a refuge wherever they
+could find it. This annunciation, of course, filled the city with
+dismay, and the preparations for a general flight opened every where
+scenes of terror and distress, of which those who have never witnessed
+the evacuation of a city by its inhabitants can scarcely conceive.
+
+The immediate object of the general terror was, at this time, the
+Persian fleet; for the Greek fleet, having determined to abandon the
+waters on that side of Attica, left the whole coast exposed, and the
+Persians might be expected at any hour to make a landing within a few
+miles of the city. Scarcely, however, had the impending of this danger
+been made known to the city, before the tidings of one still more
+imminent reached it, in the news that the Pass of Thermopylae had been
+carried, and that, in addition to the peril with which the Athenians
+were threatened by the fleet on the side of the sea, the whole Persian
+army was coming down upon them by land. This fresh alarm greatly
+increased, of course, the general consternation. All the roads leading
+from the city toward the south and west were soon covered with parties
+of wretched fugitives, exhibiting as they pressed forward, weary and
+wayworn, on their toilsome and almost hopeless flight, every possible
+phase of misery, destitution, and despair. The army fell back to the
+isthmus, intending to make a stand, if possible, there, to defend the
+Peloponnesus. The fugitives made the best of their way to the sea-coast,
+where they were received on board transport ships sent thither from the
+fleet, and conveyed, some to AEgina, some to Salamis, and others to other
+points on the coasts and islands to the south, wherever the terrified
+exiles thought there was the best prospect of safety.
+
+Some, however, remained at Athens. There was a part of the population
+who believed that the phrase "wooden walls," used by the oracle,
+referred, not to the ships of the fleet, but to the wooden palisade
+around the citadel. They accordingly repaired and strengthened the
+palisade, and established themselves in the fortress with a small
+garrison which undertook to defend it.
+
+The citadel of Athens, or the Acropolis, as it was called, was the
+richest, and most splendid, and magnificent fortress in the world. It
+was built upon an oblong rocky hill, the sides of which were
+perpendicular cliffs, except at one end, where alone the summit was
+accessible. This summit presented an area of an oval form, about a
+thousand feet in length and five hundred broad, thus containing a space
+of about ten acres. This area upon the summit, and also the approaches
+at the western end, were covered with the most grand, imposing, and
+costly architectural structures that then existed in the whole European
+world. There were temples, colonnades, gateways, stairways, porticoes,
+towers, and walls, which, viewed as a whole, presented a most
+magnificent spectacle, that excited universal admiration, and which,
+when examined in detail, awakened a greater degree of wonder still by
+the costliness of the materials, the beauty and perfection of the
+workmanship, and the richness and profusion of the decorations, which
+were seen on every hand. The number and variety of statues of bronze and
+of marble which had been erected in the various temples and upon the
+different platforms were very great. There was one, a statue of Minerva,
+which was executed by Phidias, the great Athenian sculptor, after the
+celebrated battle of Marathon, in the days of Darius, which, with its
+pedestal, was sixty feet high. It stood on the left of the grand
+entrance, towering above the buildings in full view from the country
+below, and leaning upon its long spear like a colossal sentinel on
+guard. In the distance, on the right, from the same point of view, the
+great temple called the Parthenon was to be seen, a temple which was, in
+some respects, the most celebrated in the world. The ruins of these
+edifices remain to the present day, standing in desolate and solitary
+grandeur on the rocky hill which they once so richly adorned.
+
+When Xerxes arrived at Athens, he found, of course, no difficulty in
+obtaining possession of the city itself, since it had been deserted by
+its inhabitants, and left defenseless. The people that remained had all
+crowded into the citadel. They had built the wooden palisade across the
+only approach by which it was possible to get near the gates, and they
+had collected large stones on the tops of the rocks, to roll down upon
+their assailants if they should attempt to ascend.
+
+[Illustration: THE CITADEL AT ATHENS.]
+
+Xerxes, after ravaging and burning the town, took up a position upon a
+hill opposite to the citadel, and there he had engines constructed to
+throw enormous arrows, on which tow that had been dipped in pitch was
+wound. This combustible envelopment of the arrows was set on fire before
+the weapon was discharged, and a shower of the burning missiles thus
+formed was directed toward the palisade. The wooden walls were soon set
+on fire by them, and totally consumed. The access to the Acropolis was,
+however, still difficult, being by a steep acclivity, up which it was
+very dangerous to ascend so long as the besiegers were ready to roll
+down rocks upon their assailants from above.
+
+At last, however, after a long conflict and much slaughter, Xerxes
+succeeded in forcing his way into the citadel. Some of his troops
+contrived to find a path by which they could climb up to the walls.
+Here, after a desperate combat with those who were stationed to guard
+the place, they succeeded in gaining admission, and then opened the
+gates to their comrades below. The Persian soldiers, exasperated with
+the resistance which they had encountered, slew the soldiers of the
+garrison, perpetrated every imaginable violence on the wretched
+inhabitants who had fled there for shelter, and then plundered the
+citadel and set it on fire.
+
+The heart of Xerxes was filled with exultation and joy as he thus
+arrived at the attainment of what had been the chief and prominent
+object of his campaign. To plunder and destroy the city of Athens had
+been the great pleasure that he had promised himself in all the mighty
+preparations that he had made. This result was now realized, and he
+dispatched a special messenger immediately to Susa with the triumphant
+tidings.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Situation of Salamis.--Movements of the fleet and the army.--Policy of
+the Greeks.--Reasons for retreating to Salamis.--A council of
+war.--Consultations and debates.--Conflicting views.--The council breaks
+up in confusion.--Themistocles.--Interview with
+Mnesiphilus.--Themistocles seeks Eurybiades.--Urges a new council.--The
+council convened again.--Themistocles rebuked.--Themistocles's arguments
+for remaining at Salamis.--Fugitives at Salamis.--Views of the
+Corinthians.--Excitement in the council.--Indignation of
+Themistocles.--Eurybiades decides to remain at Salamis.--An
+earthquake.--Advance of the Persians.--Perilous situation of the
+Greeks.--Xerxes summons a council of war.--Pompous preparations.--Views
+of the Persian officers.--Views of Queen Artemisia.--Artemisa's
+arguments against attacking the Greek fleet.--Effect of Artemisia's
+speech.--Feelings of the council.--Discontent among the
+Greeks.--Sicinnus.--Bold stratagem of Themistocles.--He sends Sicinnus
+to the Persians.--Message of Themistocles.--Measures of the
+Persians.--The Persians take possession of the Psyttalia.--The Greeks
+hemmed in.--Aristides.--He makes his way through the Persian
+fleet.--Interview between Aristides and Themistocles.--Their
+conversation.--Aristides communicates his intelligence to the
+assembly.--Effect of Aristides intelligence.--Further news.--Adventurous
+courage of Paraetius.--Gratitude of the Greeks.--Final preparations for
+battle.--Friendly offices.--Xerxes's throne.--His scribes.--Summary
+punishment.--Speech of Themistocles.--He embarks his men.--Excitement
+and confusion.--Commencement of the battle.--Fury of the
+conflict.--Modern naval battles.--Observations of
+Xerxes.--Artemisia.--Enemies of Artemisia.--Her quarrel with
+Damasithymus.--Stratagem of Artemisia.--She attacks
+Damasithymus.--Artemisia kills Damasithymus.--Xerxes's opinion of her
+valor.--Progress of the battle.--The Persians give way.--Heroism of
+Aristides.--He captures Psyttalia.--The Greeks victorious.--Repairing
+damages.--Xerxes resolves on flight.--The sea after the
+battle.--Fulfillment of an ancient prophecy.
+
+
+Salamis is an island of a very irregular form, lying in the Saronian
+Gulf, north of AEgina, and to the westward of Athens. What was called the
+Port of Athens was on the shore opposite to Salamis, the city itself
+being situated on elevated land four or five miles back from the sea.
+From this port to the bay on the southern side of Salamis, where the
+Greek fleet was lying, it was only four or five miles more, so that,
+when Xerxes burned the city, the people on board the galleys in the
+fleet might easily see the smoke of the conflagration.
+
+The Isthmus of Corinth was west of Salamis, some fifteen miles, across
+the bay. The army, in retreating from Athens toward the isthmus, would
+have necessarily to pass round the bay in a course somewhat circuitous,
+while the fleet, in following them, would pass in a direct line across
+it. The geographical relations of these places, a knowledge of which is
+necessary to a full understanding of the operations of the Greek and
+Persian forces, will be distinctly seen by comparing the above
+description with the map placed at the commencement of the fifth
+chapter.
+
+It had been the policy of the Greeks to keep the fleet and army as much
+as possible together, and thus, during the time in which the troops were
+attempting a concentration at Thermopylae, the ships made their
+rendezvous in the Artemisian Strait or Channel, directly opposite to
+that point of the coast. There they fought, maintaining their position
+desperately, day after day, as long as Leonidas and his Spartans held
+their ground on the shore. Their sudden disappearance from those waters,
+by which the Persians had been so much surprised, was caused by their
+having received intelligence that the pass had been carried and Leonidas
+destroyed. They knew then that Athens would be the next point of
+resistance by the land forces. They therefore fell back to Salamis, or,
+rather, to the bay lying between Salamis and the Athenian shore, that
+being the nearest position that they could take to support the
+operations of the army in their attempts to defend the capital. When,
+however, the tidings came to them that Athens had fallen, and that what
+remained of the army had retreated to the isthmus, the question at once
+arose whether the fleet should retreat too, across the bay, to the
+isthmus shore, with a view to co-operate more fully with the army in the
+new position which the latter had taken, or whether it should remain
+where it was, and defend itself as it best could against the Persian
+squadrons which would soon be drawing near. The commanders of the fleet
+held a consultation to consider this question.
+
+In this consultation the Athenian and the Corinthian leaders took
+different views. In fact, they were very near coming into open
+collision. Such a difference of opinion, considering the circumstances
+of the case, was not at all surprising. It might, indeed, have naturally
+been expected to arise, from the relative situation of the two cities,
+in respect to the danger which threatened them. If the Greek fleet were
+to withdraw from Salamis to the isthmus, it might be in a better
+position to defend Corinth, but it would, by such a movement, be
+withdrawing from the Athenian territories, and abandoning what remained
+in Attica wholly to the conqueror. The Athenians were, therefore, in
+favor of maintaining the position at Salamis, while the Corinthians were
+disposed to retire to the shores of the isthmus, and co-operate with
+the army there.
+
+The council was convened to deliberate on this subject before the news
+arrived of the actual fall of Athens, although, inasmuch as the Persians
+were advancing into Attica in immense numbers, and there was no Greek
+force left to defend the city, they considered its fall as all but
+inevitable. The tidings of the capture and destruction of Athens came
+while the council was in session. This seemed to determine the question.
+The Corinthian commanders, and those from the other Peloponnesian
+cities, declared that it was perfectly absurd to remain any longer at
+Salamis, in a vain attempt to defend a country already conquered. The
+council was broken up in confusion, each commander retiring to his own
+ship, and the Peloponnesians resolving to withdraw on the following
+morning. Eurybiades, who, it will be recollected, was the
+commander-in-chief of all the Greek fleet, finding thus that it was
+impossible any longer to keep the ships together at Salamis, since a
+part of them would, at all events, withdraw, concluded to yield to the
+necessity of the case and to conduct the whole fleet to the isthmus. He
+issued his orders accordingly, and the several commanders repaired to
+their respective ships to make the preparations. It was night when the
+council was dismissed, and the fleet was to move in the morning.
+
+One of the most influential and distinguished of the Athenian officers
+was a general named Themistocles. Very soon after he had returned to his
+ship from this council, he was visited by another Athenian named
+Mnesiphilus, who, uneasy and anxious in the momentous crisis, had come
+in his boat, in the darkness of the night, to Themistocles's ship, to
+converse with him on the plans of the morrow. Mnesiphilus asked
+Themistocles what was the decision of the council.
+
+"To abandon Salamis," said Themistocles, "and retire to the isthmus."
+
+"Then," said Mnesiphilus, "we shall never have an opportunity to meet
+the enemy. I am sure that if we leave this position the fleet will be
+wholly broken up, and that each portion will go, under its own
+commander, to defend its own state or seek its own safety, independently
+of the rest. We shall never be able to concentrate our forces again. The
+result will be the inevitable dissolution of the fleet as a combined and
+allied force, in spite of all that Eurybiades or any one else can do to
+prevent it."
+
+Mnesiphilus urged this danger with so much earnestness and eloquence as
+to make a very considerable impression on the mind of Themistocles.
+Themistocles said nothing, but his countenance indicated that he was
+very strongly inclined to adopt Mnesiphilus's views. Mnesiphilus urged
+him to go immediately to Eurybiades, and endeavor to induce him to
+obtain a reversal of the decision of the council. Themistocles, without
+expressing either assent or dissent, took his boat, and ordered the
+oarsmen to row him to the galley of Eurybiades. Mnesiphilus, having so
+far accomplished his object, went away.
+
+Themistocles came in his boat to the side of Eurybiades's galley. He
+said that he wished to speak with the general on a subject of great
+importance. Eurybiades, when this was reported to him, sent to invite
+Themistocles to come on board. Themistocles did so, and he urged upon
+the general the same arguments that Mnesiphilus had pressed upon him,
+namely, that if the fleet were once to move from their actual position,
+the different squadrons would inevitably separate, and could never be
+assembled again. He urged Eurybiades, therefore, very strenuously to
+call a new council, with a view of reversing the decision that had been
+made to retire, and of resolving instead to give battle to the Persians
+at Salamis.
+
+Eurybiades was persuaded, and immediately took measures for convening
+the council again. The summons, sent around thus at midnight, calling
+upon the principal officers of the fleet to repair again in haste to the
+commander's galley, when they had only a short time before been
+dismissed from it, produced great excitement. The Corinthians, who had
+been in favor of the plan of abandoning Salamis, conjectured that the
+design might be to endeavor to reverse that decision, and they came to
+the council determined to resist any such attempt, if one should be
+made.
+
+When the officers had arrived, Themistocles began immediately to open
+the discussion, before, in fact, Eurybiades had stated why he had called
+them together. A Corinthian officer interrupted and rebuked him for
+presuming to speak before his time. Themistocles retorted upon the
+Corinthian, and continued his harangue. He urged the council to review
+their former decision, and to determine, after all, to remain at
+Salamis. He, however, now used different arguments from those which he
+had employed when speaking to Eurybiades alone; for to have directly
+charged the officers themselves with the design of which he had accused
+them to Eurybiades, namely, that of abandoning their allies, and
+retiring with their respective ships, each to his own coast, in case the
+position at Salamis were to be given up, would only incense them, and
+arouse a hostility which would determine them against any thing that he
+might propose.
+
+He therefore urged the expediency of remaining at Salamis on other
+grounds. Salamis was a much more advantageous position, he said, than
+the coast of the isthmus, for a small fleet to occupy in awaiting an
+attack from a large one. At Salamis they were defended in part by the
+projections of the land, which protected their flanks, and prevented
+their being assailed, except in front, and their front they might make a
+very narrow one. At the isthmus, on the contrary, there was a long,
+unvaried, and unsheltered coast, with no salient points to give strength
+or protection to their position there. They could not expect to derive
+serious advantage from any degree of co-operation with the army on the
+land which would be practicable at the isthmus, while their situation at
+sea there would be far more exposed and dangerous than where they then
+were. Besides, many thousands of the people had fled to Salamis for
+refuge and protection, and the fleet, by leaving its present position,
+would be guilty of basely abandoning them all to hopeless destruction,
+without even making an effort to save them.
+
+This last was, in fact, the great reason why the Athenians were so
+unwilling to abandon Salamis. The unhappy fugitives with which the
+island was thronged were their wives and children, and they were
+extremely unwilling to go away and leave them to so cruel a fate as they
+knew would await them if the fleet were to be withdrawn. The
+Corinthians, on the other hand, considered Athens as already lost, and
+it seemed madness to them to linger uselessly in the vicinity of the
+ruin which had been made, while there were other states and cities in
+other quarters of Greece yet to be saved. The Corinthian speaker who had
+rebuked Themistocles at first, interrupted him again, angrily, before he
+finished his appeal.
+
+"You have no right to speak," said he. "You have no longer a country.
+When you cease to represent a power, you have no right to take a part in
+our councils."
+
+This cruel retort aroused in the mind of Themistocles a strong feeling
+of indignation and anger against the Corinthian. He loaded his opponent,
+in return, with bitter reproaches, and said, in conclusion, that as long
+as the Athenians had two hundred ships in the fleet, they had still a
+country--one, too, of sufficient importance to the general defense to
+give them a much better title to be heard in the common consultations
+than any Corinthian could presume to claim.
+
+Then turning to Eurybiades again, Themistocles implored him to remain at
+Salamis, and give battle to the Persians there, as that was, he said,
+the only course by which any hope remained to them of the salvation of
+Greece. He declared that the Athenian part of the fleet would never go
+to the isthmus. If the others decided on going there, they, the
+Athenians, would gather all the fugitives they could from the island of
+Salamis and from the coasts of Attica, and make the best of their way to
+Italy, where there was a territory to which they had some claim, and,
+abandoning Greece forever, they would found a new kingdom there.
+
+Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, if he was not convinced by the
+arguments that Themistocles had offered, was alarmed at his declaration
+that the Athenian ships would abandon the cause of the Greeks if the
+fleet abandoned Salamis; he accordingly gave his voice very decidedly
+for remaining where they were. The rest of the officers finally
+acquiesced in this decision, and the council broke up, the various
+members of it returning each to his own command. It was now nearly
+morning. The whole fleet had been, necessarily, during the night in a
+state of great excitement and suspense, all anxious to learn the result
+of these deliberations. The awe and solemnity which would, of course,
+pervade the minds of men at midnight, while such momentous questions
+were pending, were changed to an appalling sense of terror, toward the
+dawn, by an earthquake which then took place, and which, as is usually
+the case with such convulsions, not only shook the land, but was felt by
+vessels on the sea. The men considered this phenomenon as a solemn
+warning from heaven, and measures were immediately adopted for
+appeasing, by certain special sacrifices and ceremonies, the divine
+displeasure which the shock seemed to portend.
+
+In the mean time, the Persian fleet, which we left, it will be
+recollected, in the channels between Euboea and the main land, near to
+Thermopylae, had advanced when they found that the Greeks had left those
+waters, and, following their enemies to the southward through the
+channel called the Euripus, had doubled the promontory called Sunium,
+which is the southern promontory of Attica, and then, moving northward
+again along the western coast of Attica, had approached Phalerum, which
+was not far from Salamis. Xerxes, having concluded his operations at
+Athens, advanced to the same point by land.
+
+The final and complete success of the Persian expedition seemed now
+almost sure. All the country north of the peninsula had fallen. The
+Greek army had retreated to the isthmus, having been driven from every
+other post, and its last forlorn hope of being able to resist the
+advance of its victorious enemies was depending there. And the
+commanders of the Persian fleet, having driven the Greek squadrons in
+the same manner from strait to strait and from sea to sea, saw the
+discomfited galleys drawn up, in apparently their last place of refuge,
+in the Bay of Salamis, and only waiting to be captured and destroyed.
+
+In a word, every thing seemed ready for the decisive and final blow,
+and Xerxes summoned a grand council of war on board one of the vessels
+of the fleet as soon as he arrived at Phalerum, to decide upon the time
+and manner of striking it.
+
+The convening of this council was arranged, and the deliberations
+themselves conducted, with great parade and ceremony. The princes of the
+various nations represented in the army and in the fleet, and the
+leading Persian officers and nobles, were summoned to attend it. It was
+held on board one of the principal galleys, where great preparations had
+been made for receiving so august an assemblage. A throne was provided
+for the king, and seats for the various commanders according to their
+respective ranks, and a conspicuous place was assigned to Artemisia, the
+Carian queen, who, the reader will perhaps recollect, was described as
+one of the prominent naval commanders, in the account given of the great
+review at Doriscus. Mardonius appeared at the council as the king's
+representative and the conductor of the deliberations, there being
+required, according to the parliamentary etiquette of those days, in
+such royal councils as these, a sort of mediator, to stand between the
+king and his counselors, as if the monarch himself was on too sublime
+an elevation of dignity and grandeur to be directly addressed even by
+princes and nobles.
+
+Accordingly, when the council was convened and the time arrived for
+opening the deliberations, the king directed Mardonius to call upon the
+commanders present, one by one, for their sentiments on the question
+whether it were advisable or not to attack the Greek fleet at Salamis.
+Mardonius did so. They all advised that the attack should be made,
+urging severally various considerations to enforce their opinions, and
+all evincing a great deal of zeal and ardor in the cause, and an
+impatient desire that the great final conflict should come on.
+
+When, however, it came to Artemisia's turn to speak, it appeared that
+she was of a different sentiment from the rest. She commenced her speech
+with something like an apology for presuming to give the king her
+council. She said that, notwithstanding her sex, she had performed her
+part, with other commanders, in the battles which had already occurred,
+and that she was, perhaps, entitled accordingly, in the consultations
+which were held, to express her opinion. "Say, then, to the king," she
+continued, addressing Mardonius, as all the others had done, "that my
+judgment is, that we should not attack the Greek fleet at Salamis, but,
+on the contrary, that we should avoid a battle. It seems to me that we
+have nothing to gain, but should put a great deal at hazard by a general
+naval conflict at the present time. The truth is, that the Greeks,
+always terrible as combatants, are rendered desperate now by the straits
+to which they are reduced and the losses that they have sustained. The
+seamen of our fleet are as inferior to them in strength and courage as
+women are to men. I am sure that it will be a very dangerous thing to
+encounter them in their present chafed and irritated temper. Whatever
+others may think, I myself should not dare to answer for the result.
+
+"Besides, situated as they are," continued Artemisia, "a battle is what
+_they_ must most desire, and, of course, it is adverse to our interest
+to accord it to them. I have ascertained that they have but a small
+supply of food, either in their fleet or upon the island of Salamis,
+while they have, besides their troops, a great multitude of destitute
+and helpless fugitives to be fed. If we simply leave them to themselves
+under the blockade in which our position here now places them, they will
+soon be reduced to great distress. Or, if we withdraw from them, and
+proceed at once to the Peloponnesus, to co-operate with the army there,
+we shall avoid all the risk of a battle, and I am sure that the Greek
+fleet will never dare to follow or to molest us."
+
+The several members of the council listened to this unexpected address
+of Artemisia with great attention and interest, but with very different
+feelings. She had many friends among the counselors, and _they_ were
+anxious and uneasy at hearing her speak in this manner, for they knew
+very well that it was the king's decided intention that a battle should
+be fought, and they feared that, by this bold and strenuous opposition
+to it, Artemisia would incur the mighty monarch's displeasure. There
+were others who were jealous of the influence which Artemisia enjoyed,
+and envious of the favor with which they knew that Xerxes regarded her.
+These men were secretly pleased to hear her uttering sentiments by which
+they confidently believed that she would excite the anger of the king,
+and wholly lose her advantageous position. Both the hopes and the fears,
+however, entertained respectively by the queen's enemies and friends,
+proved altogether groundless. Xerxes was not displeased. On the
+contrary, he applauded Artemisia's ingenuity and eloquence in the
+highest terms, though he said, nevertheless, that he would follow the
+advice of the other counselors. He dismissed the assembly, and gave
+orders to prepare for battle.
+
+In the mean time a day or two had passed away, and the Greeks, who had
+been originally very little inclined to acquiesce in the decision which
+Eurybiades had made, under the influence of Themistocles, to remain at
+Salamis and give the Persians battle, became more and more dissatisfied
+and uneasy as the great crisis drew nigh. In fact, the discontent and
+disaffection which appeared in certain portions of the fleet became so
+decided and so open, that Themistocles feared that some of the
+commanders would actually revolt, and go away with their squadrons in a
+body, in defiance of the general decision to remain. To prevent such a
+desertion as this, he contrived the following very desperate stratagem.
+
+He had a slave in his family named Sicinnus, who was an intelligent and
+educated man, though a slave. In fact, he was the teacher of
+Themistocles's children. Instances of this kind, in which slaves were
+refined and cultivated men, were not uncommon in ancient times, as
+slaves were, in many instances, captives taken in war, who before their
+captivity had occupied as high social positions as their masters.
+Themistocles determined to send Sicinnus to the Persian fleet with a
+message from him, which should induce the Persians themselves to take
+measures to prevent the dispersion of the Greek fleet. Having given the
+slave, therefore, his secret instructions, he put him into a boat when
+night came on, with oarsmen who were directed to row him wherever he
+should require them to go. The boat pushed off stealthily from
+Themistocles's galley, and, taking care to keep clear of the Greek ships
+which lay at anchor near them, went southward toward the Persian fleet.
+When the boat reached the Persian galleys, Sicinnus asked to see the
+commander, and, on being admitted to an interview with him, he informed
+him that he came from Themistocles, who was the leader, he said, of the
+Athenian portion of the Greek fleet.
+
+"I am charged," he added, "to say to you from Themistocles that he
+considers the cause of the Greeks as wholly lost, and he is now,
+accordingly, desirous himself of coming over to the Persian side. This,
+however, he can not actually and openly do, on account of the situation
+in which he is placed in respect to the rest of the fleet. He has,
+however, sent me to inform you that the Greek fleet is in a very
+disordered and helpless condition, being distracted by the dissensions
+of the commanders, and the general discouragement and despair of the
+men; that some divisions are secretly intending to make their escape;
+and that, if you can prevent this by surrounding them, or by taking such
+positions as to intercept any who may attempt to withdraw, the whole
+squadron will inevitably fall into your hands."
+
+Having made this communication, Sicinnus went on board his boat again,
+and returned to the Greek fleet as secretly and stealthily as he came.
+
+The Persians immediately determined to resort to the measures which
+Themistocles had recommended to prevent the escape of any part of the
+Greek fleet. There was a small island between Salamis and the coast of
+Attica, that is, on the eastern side of Salamis, called Psyttalia, which
+was in such a position as to command, in a great measure, the channel of
+water between Salamis and the main land on this side. The Persians sent
+forward a detachment of galleys to take possession of this island in the
+night. By this means they hoped to prevent the escape of any part of
+the Greek squadron in that direction. Besides, they foresaw that in the
+approaching battle the principal scene of the conflict must be in that
+vicinity, and that, consequently, the island would become the great
+resort of the disabled ships and the wounded men, since they would
+naturally seek refuge on the nearest land. To preoccupy this ground,
+therefore, seemed an important step. It would enable them, when the
+terrible conflict should come on, to drive back any wretched refugees
+who might attempt to escape from destruction by seeking the shore.
+
+By taking possession of this island, and stationing galleys in the
+vicinity of it, all which was done secretly in the night, the Persians
+cut off all possibility of escape for the Greeks in that direction. At
+the same time, they sent another considerable detachment of their fleet
+to the westward, which was the direction toward the isthmus, ordering
+the galleys thus sent to station themselves in such a manner as to
+prevent any portion of the Greek fleet from going round the island of
+Salamis, and making their escape through the northwestern channel. By
+this means the Greek fleet was environed on every side--hemmed in,
+though they were not aware of it, in such a way as to defeat any
+attempt which any division might make to retire from the scene.
+
+The first intelligence which the Greeks received of their being thus
+surrounded was from an Athenian general named Aristides, who came one
+night from the island of AEgina to the Greek fleet, making his way with
+great difficulty through the lines of Persian galleys. Aristides had
+been, in the political conflicts which had taken place in former years
+at Athens, Themistocles's great rival and enemy. He had been defeated in
+the contests which had taken place, and had been banished from Athens.
+He now, however, made his way through the enemy's lines, incurring, in
+doing it, extreme difficulty and danger, in order to inform his
+countrymen of their peril, and to assist, if possible, in saving them.
+
+When he reached the Greek fleet, the commanders were in council,
+agitating, in angry and incriminating debates, the perpetually recurring
+question whether they should retire to the isthmus, or remain where they
+were. Aristides called Themistocles out of the council. Themistocles was
+very much surprised at seeing his ancient enemy thus unexpectedly
+appear. Aristides introduced the conversation by saying that he thought
+that at such a crisis they ought to lay aside every private animosity,
+and only emulate each other in the efforts and sacrifices which they
+could respectively make to defend their country; that he had,
+accordingly, come from AEgina to join the fleet, with a view of rendering
+any aid that it might be in his power to afford; that it was now wholly
+useless to debate the question of retiring to the isthmus, for such a
+movement was no longer possible. "The fleet is surrounded," said he.
+"The Persian galleys are stationed on every side. It was with the utmost
+difficulty that I could make my way through the lines. Even if the whole
+assembly, and Eurybiades himself, were resolved on withdrawing to the
+isthmus, the thing could not now be done. Return, therefore, and tell
+them this, and say that to defend themselves where they are is the only
+alternative that now remains."
+
+In reply to this communication, Themistocles said that nothing could
+give him greater pleasure than to learn what Aristides had stated. "The
+movement which the Persians have made," he said, "was in consequence of
+a communication which I myself sent to them. I sent it, in order that
+some of our Greeks, who seem so very reluctant to fight, might be
+compelled to do so. But you must come yourself into the assembly," he
+added, "and make your statement directly to the commanders. They will
+not believe it if they hear it from me. Come in, and state what you have
+seen."
+
+Aristides accordingly entered the assembly, and informed the officers
+who were convened that to retire from their present position was no
+longer possible, since the sea to the west was fully guarded by lines of
+Persian ships, which had been stationed there to intercept them. He had
+just come in himself, he said, from AEgina, and had found great
+difficulty in passing through the lines, though he had only a single
+small boat, and was favored by the darkness of the night. He was
+convinced that the Greek fleet was entirely surrounded.
+
+Having said this, Aristides withdrew. Although he could come, as a
+witness, to give his testimony in respect to facts, he was not entitled
+to take any part in the deliberations.
+
+The assembly was thrown into a state of the greatest possible excitement
+by the intelligence which Aristides had communicated. Instead of
+producing harmony among them, it made the discord more violent and
+uncontrollable. Of those who had before wished to retire, some were now
+enraged that they had not been allowed to do so while the opportunity
+remained; others disbelieved Aristides's statements, and were still
+eager to go; while the rest, confirmed in their previous determination
+to remain where they were, rejoiced to find that retreat was no longer
+possible. The debate was confused and violent. It turned, in a great
+measure, on the degree of credibility to be attached to the account
+which Aristides had given them. Many of the assembly wholly disbelieved
+it. It was a stratagem, they maintained, contrived by the Athenian
+party, and those who wished to remain, in order to accomplish their end
+of keeping the fleet from changing its position.
+
+The doubts, however, which the assembly felt in respect to the truth of
+Aristides's tidings were soon dispelled by new and incontestable
+evidence; for, while the debate was going on, it was announced that a
+large galley--a trireme, as it was called--had come in from the Persian
+fleet. This galley proved to be a Greek ship from the island of Tenos,
+one which Xerxes, in prosecution of his plan of compelling those
+portions of the Grecian territories that he had conquered, or that had
+surrendered to him, to furnish forces to aid him in subduing the rest,
+had pressed into his service. The commander of this galley, unwilling to
+take part against his countrymen in the conflict, had decided to desert
+the Persian fleet by taking advantage of the night, and to come over to
+the Greeks. The name of the commander of this trireme was Paraetius. He
+confirmed fully all that Aristides had said. He assured the Greeks that
+they were completely surrounded, and that nothing remained for them but
+to prepare, where they were, to meet the attack which would certainly be
+made upon them in the morning. The arrival of this trireme was thus of
+very essential service to the Greeks. It put an end to their discordant
+debates, and united them, one and all, in the work of making resolute
+preparations for action. This vessel was also of very essential service
+in the conflict itself which ensued; and the Greeks were so grateful to
+Paraetius and to his comrades for the adventurous courage which they
+displayed in coming over under such circumstances, in such a night, to
+espouse the cause and to share the dangers of their countrymen, that
+after the battle they caused all their names to be engraved upon a
+sacred tripod, made in the most costly manner for the purpose, and then
+sent the tripod to be deposited at the oracle of Delphi, where it long
+remained a monument of this example of Delian patriotism and fidelity.
+
+As the morning approached, the preparations were carried forward with
+ardor and energy, on board both fleets, for the great struggle which was
+to ensue. Plans were formed; orders were given; arms were examined and
+placed on the decks of the galleys, where they would be most ready at
+hand. The officers and soldiers gave mutual charges and instructions to
+each other in respect to the care of their friends and the disposal of
+their effects--charges and instructions which each one undertook to
+execute for his friend in case he should survive him. The commanders
+endeavored to animate and encourage their men by cheerful looks, and by
+words of confidence and encouragement. They who felt resolute and strong
+endeavored to inspirit the weak and irresolute, while those who shrank
+from the approaching contest, and dreaded the result of it, concealed
+their fears, and endeavored to appear impatient for the battle.
+
+Xerxes caused an elevated seat or throne to be prepared for himself on
+an eminence near the shore, upon the main land, in order that he might
+be a personal witness of the battle. He had a guard and other attendants
+around him. Among these were a number of scribes or secretaries, who
+were prepared with writing materials to record the events which might
+take place, as they occurred, and especially to register the names of
+those whom Xerxes should see distinguishing themselves by their courage
+or by their achievements. He justly supposed that these arrangements,
+the whole fleet being fully informed in regard to them, would animate
+the several commanders with strong emulation, and excite them to make
+redoubled exertions to perform their part well. The record which was
+thus to be kept, under the personal supervision of the sovereign, was
+with a view to punishments too, as well as to honors and rewards; and it
+happened in many instances during the battle that ensued, that
+commanders, who, after losing their ships, escaped to the shore, were
+brought up before Xerxes's throne, and there expiated their fault or
+their misfortune, whichever it might have been, by being beheaded on the
+spot, without mercy. Some of the officers thus executed were Greeks,
+brutally slaughtered for not being successful in fighting, by
+compulsion, against their own countrymen.
+
+As the dawn approached, Themistocles called together as many of the
+Athenian forces as it was possible to convene, assembling them at a
+place upon the shore of Salamis where he could conveniently address
+them, and there made a speech to them, as was customary with the Greek
+commanders before going into battle. He told them that, in such contests
+as that in which they were about to engage, the result depended, not on
+the relative numbers of the combatants, but on the resolution and
+activity which they displayed. He reminded them of the instances in
+which small bodies of men, firmly banded together by a strict
+discipline, and animated by courage and energy, had overthrown enemies
+whose numbers far exceeded their own. The Persians were more numerous,
+he admitted, than they, but still the Greeks would conquer them. If they
+faithfully obeyed their orders, and acted strictly and perseveringly in
+concert, according to the plans formed by the commanders, and displayed
+the usual courage and resolution of Greeks, he was sure of victory.
+
+As soon as Themistocles had finished his speech, he ordered his men to
+embark, and the fleet immediately afterward formed itself in battle
+array.
+
+Notwithstanding the strictness of the order and discipline which
+generally prevailed in Greek armaments of every kind, there was great
+excitement and much confusion in the fleet while making all these
+preparations, and this excitement and confusion increased continually as
+the morning advanced and the hour for the conflict drew nigh. The
+passing of boats to and fro, the dashing of the oars, the clangor of the
+weapons, the vociferations of orders by the officers and of responses by
+the men, mingled with each other in dreadful turmoil, while all the time
+the vast squadrons were advancing toward each other, each party of
+combatants eager to begin the contest. In fact, so full of wild
+excitement was the scene, that at length the battle was found to be
+raging on every side, while no one knew or could remember how it began.
+Some said that a ship, which had been sent away a short time before to
+AEgina to obtain succors, was returning that morning, and that she
+commenced the action as she came through the Persian lines. Others said
+the Greek squadron advanced as soon as they could see, and attacked the
+Persians; and there were some whose imaginations were so much excited by
+the scene that they saw a female form portrayed among the dim mists of
+the morning, that urged the Greeks onward by beckonings and calls. They
+heard her voice, they said, crying to them, "Come on! come on! this is
+no time to linger on your oars."
+
+However this may be, the battle was soon furiously raging on every part
+of the Bay of Salamis, exhibiting a wide-spread scene of conflict, fury,
+rage, despair, and death, such as had then been seldom witnessed in any
+naval conflict, and such as human eyes can now never look upon again. In
+modern warfare the smoke of the guns soon draws an impenetrable veil
+over the scene of horror, and the perpetual thunder of the artillery
+overpowers the general din. In a modern battle, therefore, none of the
+real horrors of the conflict can either be heard or seen by any
+spectator placed beyond the immediate scene of it. The sights and the
+sounds are alike buried and concealed beneath the smoke and the noise of
+the cannonading. There were, however, no such causes in this case to
+obstruct the observations which Xerxes was making from his throne on the
+shore. The air was calm, the sky serene, the water was smooth, and the
+atmosphere was as transparent and clear at the end of the battle as at
+the beginning. Xerxes could discern every ship, and follow it with his
+eye in all its motions. He could see who advanced and who retreated. Out
+of the hundreds of separate conflicts he could choose any one, and watch
+the progress of it from the commencement to the termination. He could
+see the combats on the decks, the falling of repulsed assailants into
+the water, the weapons broken, the wounded carried away, and swimmers
+struggling like insects on the smooth surface of the sea. He could see
+the wrecks, too, which were drifted upon the shores, and the captured
+galleys, which, after those who defended them had been vanquished--some
+killed, others thrown overboard, and others made prisoners--were slowly
+towed away by the victors to a place of safety.
+
+There was one incident which occurred in this scene, as Xerxes looked
+down upon it from the eminence where he sat, which greatly interested
+and excited him, though he was deceived in respect to the true nature of
+it. The incident was one of Artemisia's stratagems. It must be premised,
+in relating the story, that Artemisia was not without enemies among the
+officers of the Persian fleet. Many of them were envious of the high
+distinction which she enjoyed, and jealous of the attention which she
+received from the king, and of the influence which she possessed over
+him. This feeling showed itself very distinctly at the grand council,
+when she gave her advice, in connection with that of the other
+commanders, to the king. Among the most decided of her enemies was a
+certain captain named Damasithymus. Artemisia had had a special quarrel
+with him while the fleet was coming through the Hellespont, which,
+though settled for the time, left the minds of both parties in a state
+of great hostility toward each other.
+
+It happened, in the course of the battle, that the ship which Artemisia
+personally commanded and that of Damasithymus were engaged, together
+with other Persian vessels, in the same part of the bay; and at a time
+when the ardor and confusion of the conflict was at its height, the
+galley of Artemisia, and some others that were in company with hers,
+became separated from the rest, perhaps by the too eager pursuit of an
+enemy, and as other Greek ships came up suddenly to the assistance of
+their comrades, the Persian vessels found themselves in great danger,
+and began to retreat, followed by their enemies. We speak of the
+retreating galleys as Persian, because they were on the Persian side in
+the contest, though it happened that they were really ships from Greek
+nations, which Xerxes had bribed or forced into his service. The Greeks
+knew them to be enemies, by the Persian flag which they bore.
+
+In the retreat, and while the ships were more or less mingled together
+in the confusion, Artemisia perceived that the Persian galley nearest
+her was that of Damasithymus. She immediately caused her own Persian
+flag to be pulled down, and, resorting to such other artifices as might
+tend to make her vessel appear to be a Greek galley, she began to act as
+if she were one of the pursuers instead of one of the pursued. She bore
+down upon the ship of Damasithymus, saying to her crew that to attack
+and sink that ship was the only way to save their own lives. They
+accordingly attacked it with the utmost fury. The Athenian ships which
+were near, seeing Artemisia's galley thus engaged, supposed that it was
+one of their own, and pressed on, leaving the vessel of Damasithymus at
+Artemisia's mercy. It was such mercy as would be expected of a woman who
+would volunteer to take command of a squadron of ships of war, and go
+forth on an active campaign to fight for her life among such ferocious
+tigers as Greek soldiers always were, considering it all an excursion of
+pleasure. Artemisia killed Damasithymus and all of his crew, and sunk
+his ship, and then, the crisis of danger being past, she made good her
+retreat back to the Persian lines. She probably felt no special
+animosity against the crew of this ill-fated vessel, but she thought it
+most prudent to leave no man alive to tell the story.
+
+Xerxes watched this transaction from his place on the hill with extreme
+interest and pleasure. He saw the vessel of Artemisia bearing down upon
+the other, which last he supposed, of course, from Artemisia's attacking
+it, was a vessel of the enemy. The only subject of doubt was whether the
+attacking ship was really that of Artemisia. The officers who stood
+about Xerxes at the time that the transaction occurred assured him that
+it was. They knew it well by certain peculiarities in its construction.
+Xerxes then watched the progress of the contest with the most eager
+interest, and, when he saw the result of it, he praised Artemisia in the
+highest terms, saying that the men in his fleet behaved like women,
+while the only woman in it behaved like a man.
+
+Thus Artemisia's exploit operated like a double stratagem. Both the
+Greeks and the Persians were deceived, and she gained an advantage by
+both the deceptions. She saved her life by leading the Greeks to believe
+that her galley was their friend, and she gained great glory and renown
+among the Persians by making them believe that the vessel which she sunk
+was that of an enemy.
+
+Though these and some of the other scenes and incidents which Xerxes
+witnessed as he looked down upon the battle gave him pleasure, yet the
+curiosity and interest with which he surveyed the opening of the contest
+were gradually changed to impatience, vexation, and rage as he saw in
+its progress that the Greeks were every where gaining the victory.
+Notwithstanding the discord and animosity which had reigned among the
+commanders in their councils and debates, the men were united, resolute,
+and firm when the time arrived for action; and they fought with such
+desperate courage and activity, and, at the same time, with so much
+coolness, circumspection, and discipline, that the Persian lines were,
+before many hours, every where compelled to give way. A striking example
+of the indomitable and efficient resolution which, on such occasions,
+always characterized the Greeks, was shown in the conduct of Aristides.
+The reader will recollect that the Persians, on the night before the
+battle, had taken possession of the island of Psyttalia--which was near
+the center of the scene of contest--for the double purpose of enabling
+themselves to use it as a place of refuge and retreat during the battle,
+and of preventing their enemies from doing so. Now Aristides had no
+command. He had been expelled from Athens by the influence of
+Themistocles and his other enemies. He had come across from AEgina to the
+fleet at Salamis, alone, to give his countrymen information of the
+dispositions which the Persians had made for surrounding them. When the
+battle began, he had been left, it seems, on the shore of Salamis a
+spectator. There was a small body of troops left there also, as a guard
+to the shore. In the course of the combat, when Aristides found that the
+services of this guard were no longer likely to be required where they
+were, he placed himself at the head of them, obtained possession of
+boats or a galley, transported the men across the channel, landed them
+on the island of Psyttalia, conquered the post, and killed every man
+that the Persians had stationed there.
+
+When the day was spent, and the evening came on, it was found that the
+result of the battle was a Greek victory, and yet it was not a victory
+so decisive as to compel the Persians wholly to retire. Vast numbers of
+the Persian ships were destroyed, but still so many remained, that when
+at night they drew back from the scene of the conflict, toward their
+anchorage ground at Phalerum, the Greeks were very willing to leave them
+unmolested there. The Greeks, in fact, had full employment on the
+following day in reassembling the scattered remnants of their own fleet,
+repairing the damages that they had sustained, taking care of their
+wounded men, and, in a word, attending to the thousand urgent and
+pressing exigencies always arising in the service of a fleet after a
+battle, even when it has been victorious in the contest. They did not
+know in exactly what condition the Persian fleet had been left, nor how
+far there might be danger of a renewal of the conflict on the following
+day. They devoted all their time and attention, therefore, to
+strengthening their defenses and reorganizing the fleet, so as to be
+ready in case a new assault should be made upon them.
+
+But Xerxes had no intention of any new attack. The loss of this battle
+gave a final blow to his expectations of being able to carry his
+conquests in Greece any further. He too, like the Greeks, employed his
+men in industrious and vigorous efforts to repair the damages which had
+been done, and to reassemble and reorganize that portion of the fleet
+which had not been destroyed. While, however, his men were doing this,
+he was himself revolving in his mind, moodily and despairingly, plans,
+not for new conflicts, but for the safest and speediest way of making
+his own personal escape from the dangers around him, back to his home in
+Susa.
+
+In the mean time, the surface of the sea, far and wide in every
+direction, was covered with the wrecks, and remnants, and fragments
+strewed over it by the battle. Dismantled hulks, masses of entangled
+spars and rigging, broken oars, weapons of every description, and the
+swollen and ghastly bodies of the dead, floated on the rolling swell of
+the sea wherever the winds or the currents carried them. At length many
+of these mournful memorials of the strife found their way across the
+whole breadth of the Mediterranean, and were driven up upon the beach on
+the coast of Africa, at a barbarous country called Colias. The savages
+dragged the fragments up out of the sand to use as fuel for their
+fires, pleased with their unexpected acquisitions, but wholly ignorant,
+of course, of the nature of the dreadful tragedy to which their coming
+was due. The circumstance, however, explained to the Greeks an ancient
+prophecy which had been uttered long before in Athens, and which the
+interpreters of such mysteries had never been able to understand. The
+prophecy was this:
+
+     The Colian dames on Afric's shores
+     Shall roast their food with Persian oars.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA.
+
+B.C. 480
+
+Mardonius.--His apprehensions after the battle.--Depression of
+Xerxes.--Mardonius's address to him.--Mardonius offers to complete the
+conquest of Greece.--Effect of Mardonius's address.--Xerxes consults
+Artemisia.--Artemisia hesitates.--Her advice to Xerxes.--Xerxes adopts
+Artemesia's advice.--His anxiety increases.--Xerxes commences his
+retreat.--He sends his family to Ephesus.--Excitement in the Greek
+fleet.--The Persians pursued.--Debate among the generals.--Themistocles
+outvoted.--Another stratagem of Themistocles.--His message to
+Xerxes.--Duplicity of Themistocles.--Retreat of Xerxes.--Horrors of the
+retreat.--Sufferings from hunger.--Famine and disease.--Xerxes crosses
+the Hellespont.--Fate of Mardonius.--Xerxes arrives at Susa.--Xerxes's
+dissolute life.--His three sons.--Artabanus, captain of the guard.--He
+assassinates Xerxes.--Artaxerxes kills his brother.--He succeeds to the
+throne.
+
+
+Mardonius, it will be recollected, was the commander-in-chief of the
+forces of Xerxes, and thus, next to Xerxes himself, he was the officer
+highest in rank of all those who attended the expedition. He was, in
+fact, a sort of prime minister, on whom the responsibility for almost
+all the measures for the government and conduct of the expedition had
+been thrown. Men in such positions, while they may expect the highest
+rewards and honors from their sovereign in case of success, have always
+reason to apprehend the worst of consequences to themselves in case of
+failure. The night after the battle of Salamis, accordingly, Mardonius
+was in great fear. He did not distrust the future success of the
+expedition if it were allowed to go on; but, knowing the character of
+such despots as those who ruled great nations in that age of the world,
+he was well aware that he might reasonably expect, at any moment, the
+appearance of officers sent from Xerxes to cut off his head.
+
+His anxiety was increased by observing that Xerxes seemed very much
+depressed, and very restless and uneasy, after the battle, as if he were
+revolving in his mind some extraordinary design. He presently thought
+that he perceived indications that the king was planning a retreat.
+Mardonius, after much hesitation, concluded to speak to him, and
+endeavor to dispel his anxieties and fears, and lead him to take a more
+favorable view of the prospects of the expedition. He accordingly
+accosted him on the subject somewhat as follows:
+
+"It is true," said he, "that we were not as successful in the combat
+yesterday as we desired to be; but this reverse, as well as all the
+preceding disasters that we have met with, is, after all, of
+comparatively little moment. Your majesty has gone steadily on,
+accomplishing most triumphantly all the substantial objects aimed at in
+undertaking the expedition. Your troops have advanced successfully by
+land against all opposition. With them you have traversed Thrace,
+Macedon, and Thessaly. You have fought your way, against the most
+desperate resistance, through the Pass of Thermopylae. You have overrun
+all Northern Greece. You have burned Athens. Thus, far from there being
+any uncertainty or doubt in respect to the success of the expedition, we
+see that all the great objects which you proposed by it are already
+accomplished. The fleet, it is true, has now suffered extensive damage;
+but we must remember that it is upon the army, not upon the fleet, that
+our hopes and expectations mainly depend. The army is safe; and it can
+not be possible that the Greeks can hereafter bring any force into the
+field by which it can be seriously endangered."
+
+By these and similar sentiments, Mardonius endeavored to revive and
+restore the failing courage and resolution of the king. He found,
+however, that he met with very partial success. Xerxes was silent,
+thoughtful, and oppressed apparently with a sense of anxious concern.
+Mardonius finally proposed that, even if the king should think it best
+to return himself to Susa, he should not abandon the enterprise of
+subduing Greece, but that he should leave a portion of the army under
+his (Mardonius's) charge, and he would undertake, he said, to complete
+the work which had been so successfully begun. Three hundred thousand
+men, he was convinced, would be sufficient for the purpose.
+
+This suggestion seems to have made a favorable impression on the mind
+of Xerxes. He was disposed, in fact, to be pleased with any plan,
+provided it opened the way for his own escape from the dangers in which
+he imagined that he was entangled. He said that he would consult some of
+the other commanders upon the subject. He did so, and then, before
+coming to a final decision, he determined to confer with Artemisia. He
+remembered that she had counseled him not to attack the Greeks at
+Salamis, and, as the result had proved that counsel to be eminently
+wise, he felt the greater confidence in asking her judgment again.
+
+He accordingly sent for Artemisia, and, directing all the officers, as
+well as his own attendants, to retire, he held a private consultation
+with her in respect to his plans.
+
+"Mardonius proposes," said he, "that the expedition should on no account
+be abandoned in consequence of this disaster, for he says that the fleet
+is a very unimportant part of our force, and that the army still remains
+unharmed. He proposes that, if I should decide myself to return to
+Persia, I should leave three hundred thousand men with him, and he
+undertakes, if I will do so, to complete, with them, the subjugation of
+Greece. Tell me what you think of this plan. You evinced so much
+sagacity in foreseeing the result of this engagement at Salamis, that I
+particularly wish to know your opinion."
+
+Artemisia, after pausing a little to reflect upon the subject, saying,
+as she hesitated, that it was rather difficult to decide, under the
+extraordinary circumstances in which they were placed, what it really
+was best to do, came at length to the conclusion that it would be wisest
+for the king to accede to Mardonius's proposal. "Since he offers, of his
+own accord, to remain and undertake to complete the subjugation of
+Greece, you can, very safely to yourself, allow him to make the
+experiment. The great object which was announced as the one which you
+had chiefly in view in the invasion of Greece, was the burning of
+Athens. This is already accomplished. You have done, therefore, what you
+undertook to do, and can, consequently, now return yourself, without
+dishonor. If Mardonius succeeds in his attempt, the glory of it will
+redound to you. His victories will be considered as only the successful
+completion of what you began. On the other hand, if he fails, the
+disgrace of failure will be his alone, and the injury will be confined
+to his destruction. In any event, your person, your interests, and your
+honor are safe, and if Mardonius is willing to take the responsibility
+and incur the danger involved in the plan that he proposes, I would give
+him the opportunity."
+
+Xerxes adopted the view of the subject which Artemisia thus presented
+with the utmost readiness and pleasure. That advice is always very
+welcome which makes the course that we had previously decided upon as
+the most agreeable seem the most wise. Xerxes immediately determined on
+returning to Persia himself, and leaving Mardonius to complete the
+conquest. In carrying out this design, he concluded to march to the
+northward by land, accompanied by a large portion of his army and by all
+his principal officers, until he reached the Hellespont. Then he was to
+give up to Mardonius the command of such troops as should be selected to
+remain in Greece, and, crossing the Hellespont, return himself to Persia
+with the remainder.
+
+If, as is generally the case, it is a panic that causes a flight, a
+flight, in its turn, always increases a panic. It happened, in
+accordance with this general law, that, as soon as the thoughts of
+Xerxes were once turned toward an escape from Greece, his fears
+increased, and his mind became more and more the prey of a restless
+uneasiness and anxiety lest he should not be able to effect his escape.
+He feared that the bridge of boats would have been broken down, and then
+how would he be able to cross the Hellespont? To prevent the Greek fleet
+from proceeding to the northward, and thus intercepting his passage by
+destroying the bridge, he determined to conceal, as long as possible,
+his own departure. Accordingly, while he was making the most efficient
+and rapid arrangements on the land for abandoning the whole region, he
+brought up his fleet by sea, and began to build, by means of the ships,
+a floating bridge from the main land to the island of Salamis, as if he
+were intent only on advancing. He continued this work all day,
+postponing his intended retreat until the night should come, in order to
+conceal his movements. In the course of the day he placed all his family
+and family relatives on board of Artemisia's ship, under the charge of a
+tried and faithful domestic. Artemisia was to convey them, as rapidly as
+possible, to Ephesus, a strong city in Asia Minor, where Xerxes supposed
+that they would be safe.
+
+In the night the fleet, in obedience to the orders which Xerxes had
+given them, abandoned their bridge and all their other undertakings,
+and set sail. They were to make the best of their way to the Hellespont,
+and post themselves there to defend the bridge of boats until Xerxes
+should arrive. On the following morning, accordingly, when the sun rose,
+the Greeks found, to their utter astonishment, that their enemies were
+gone.
+
+A scene of the greatest animation and excitement on board the Greek
+fleet at once ensued. The commanders resolved on an immediate pursuit.
+The seamen hoisted their sails, raised their anchors, and manned their
+oars, and the whole squadron was soon in rapid motion. The fleet went as
+far as to the island of Andros, looking eagerly all around the horizon,
+in every direction, as they advanced, but no signs of the fugitives were
+to be seen. The ships then drew up to the shore, and the commanders were
+convened in an assembly, summoned by Eurybiades, on the land, for
+consultation.
+
+A debate ensued, in which the eternal enmity and dissension between the
+Athenian and Peloponnesian Greeks broke out anew. There was, however,
+now some reason for the disagreement. The Athenian cause was already
+ruined. Their capital had been burned, their country ravaged, and their
+wives and children driven forth to exile and misery. Nothing remained
+now for them but hopes of revenge. They were eager, therefore, to press
+on, and overtake the Persian galleys in their flight, or, if this could
+not be done, to reach the Hellespont before Xerxes should arrive there,
+and intercept his passage by destroying the bridge. This was the policy
+which Themistocles advocated. Eurybiades, on the other hand, and the
+Peloponnesian commanders, urged the expediency of not driving the
+Persians to desperation by harassing them too closely on their retreat.
+They were formidable enemies after all, and, if they were now disposed
+to retire and leave the country, it was the true policy of the Greeks to
+allow them to do so. To destroy the bridge of boats would only be to
+take effectual measures for keeping the pest among them. Themistocles
+was outvoted. It was determined best to allow the Persian forces to
+retire.
+
+Themistocles, when he found that his counsels were overruled, resorted
+to another of the audacious stratagems that marked his career, which was
+to send a second pretended message of friendship to the Persian king. He
+employed the same Sicinnus on this occasion that he had sent before into
+the Persian fleet, on the eve of the battle of Salamis. A galley was
+given to Sicinnus, with a select crew of faithful men. They were all put
+under the most solemn oaths never to divulge to any person, under any
+circumstances, the nature and object of their commission. With this
+company, Sicinnus left the fleet secretly in the night, and went to the
+coast of Attica. Landing here, he left the galley, with the crew in
+charge of it, upon the shore, and, with one or two select attendants, he
+made his way to the Persian camp, and desired an interview with the
+king. On being admitted to an audience, he said to Xerxes that he had
+been sent to him by Themistocles, whom he represented as altogether the
+most prominent man among the Greek commanders, to say that the Greeks
+had resolved on pressing forward to the Hellespont, to intercept him on
+his return, but that he, Themistocles, had dissuaded them from it, under
+the influence of the same friendship for Xerxes which had led him to
+send a friendly communication to the Persians before the late battle;
+that, in consequence of the arguments and persuasions of Themistocles,
+the Greek squadrons would remain where they then were, on the southern
+coasts, leaving Xerxes to retire without molestation.
+
+All this was false, but Themistocles thought it would serve his purpose
+well to make the statement; for, in case he should, at any future time,
+in following the ordinary fate of the bravest and most successful Greek
+generals, be obliged to fly in exile from his country to save his life,
+it might be important for him to have a good understanding beforehand
+with the King of Persia, though a good understanding, founded on
+pretensions so hypocritical and empty as these, would seem to be worthy
+of very little reliance. In fact, for a Greek general, discomfited in
+the councils of his own nation, to turn to the Persian king with such
+prompt and cool assurance, for the purpose of gaining his friendship by
+tendering falsehoods so bare and professions so hollow, was an instance
+of audacious treachery so original and lofty as to be almost sublime.
+
+Xerxes pressed on with the utmost diligence toward the north. The
+country had been ravaged and exhausted by his march through it in coming
+down, and now, in returning, he found infinite difficulty in obtaining
+supplies of food and water for his army. Forty-five days were consumed
+in getting back to the Hellespont. During all this time the privations
+and sufferings of the troops increased every day. The soldiers were
+spent with fatigue, exhausted with hunger, and harassed with incessant
+apprehensions of attacks from their enemies. Thousands of the sick and
+wounded that attempted at first to follow the army, gave out by degrees
+as the columns moved on. Some were left at the encampments; others lay
+down by the road-sides, in the midst of the day's march, wherever their
+waning strength finally failed them; and every where broken chariots,
+dead and dying beasts of burden, and the bodies of soldiers, that lay
+neglected where they fell, encumbered and choked the way. In a word, all
+the roads leading toward the northern provinces exhibited in full
+perfection those awful scenes which usually mark the track of a great
+army retreating from an invasion.
+
+The men were at length reduced to extreme distress for food. They ate
+the roots and stems of the herbage, and finally stripped the very bark
+from the trees and devoured it, in the vain hope that it might afford
+some nutriment to re-enforce the vital principle, for a little time at
+least, in the dreadful struggle which it was waging within them. There
+are certain forms of pestilential disease which, in cases like this,
+always set in to hasten the work which famine alone would be too slow
+in performing. Accordingly, as was to have been expected, camp fevers,
+choleras, and other corrupt and infectious maladies, broke out with
+great violence as the army advanced along the northern shores of the
+AEgean Sea; and as every victim to these dreadful and hopeless disorders
+helped, by his own dissolution, to taint the air for all the rest, the
+wretched crowd was, in the end, reduced to the last extreme of misery
+and terror.
+
+At length Xerxes, with a miserable remnant of his troops, arrived at
+Abydos, on the shores of the Hellespont. He found the bridge broken
+down. The winds and storms had demolished what the Greeks had determined
+to spare. The immense structure, which it had cost so much toil and time
+to rear, had wholly disappeared, leaving no traces of its existence,
+except the wrecks which lay here and there half buried in the sand along
+the shore. There were some small boats at hand, and Xerxes, embarking in
+one of them, with a few attendants in the others, and leaving the
+exhausted and wretched remnant of his army behind, was rowed across the
+strait, and landed at last safely again on the Asiatic shores.
+
+[Illustration: THE RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA.]
+
+The place of his landing was Sestos. From Sestos he went to Sardis,
+and from Sardis he proceeded, in a short time, to Susa. Mardonius was
+left in Greece. Mardonius was a general of great military experience and
+skill, and, when left to himself, he found no great difficulty in
+reorganizing the army, and in putting it again in an efficient
+condition. He was not able, however, to accomplish the undertaking which
+he had engaged to perform. After various adventures, prosperous and
+adverse, which it would be foreign to our purpose here to detail, he was
+at last defeated in a great battle, and killed on the field. The Persian
+army was now obliged to give up the contest, and was expelled from
+Greece finally and forever.
+
+When Xerxes reached Susa, he felt overjoyed to find himself once more
+safe, as he thought, in his own palaces. He looked back upon the
+hardships, exposures, and perils through which he had passed, and,
+thankful for having so narrowly escaped from them, he determined to
+encounter no such hazards again. He had had enough of ambition and
+glory. He was now going to devote himself to ease and pleasure. Such a
+man would not naturally be expected to be very scrupulous in respect to
+the means of enjoyment, or to the character of the companions whom he
+would select to share his pleasures, and the life of the king soon
+presented one continual scene of dissipation, revelry, and vice. He gave
+himself up to such prolonged carousals, that one night was sometimes
+protracted through the following day into another. The administration of
+his government was left wholly to his ministers, and every personal duty
+was neglected, that he might give himself to the most abandoned and
+profligate indulgence of his appetites and passions.
+
+He had three sons who might be considered as heirs to his
+throne--Darius, Hystaspes, and Artaxerxes. Hystaspes was absent in a
+neighboring province. The others were at home. He had also a very
+prominent officer in his court, whose name, Artabanus, was the same with
+that of the uncle who had so strongly attempted to dissuade him from
+undertaking the conquest of Greece. Artabanus the uncle disappears
+finally from view at the time when Xerxes dismissed him to return to
+Susa at the first crossing of the Hellespont. This second Artabanus was
+the captain of the king's body-guard and, consequently, the common
+executioner of the despot's decrees. Being thus established in his
+palace, surrounded by his family, and protected by Artabanus and his
+guard, the monarch felt that all his toils and dangers were over, and
+that there was nothing now before him but a life of ease, of pleasure,
+and of safety. Instead of this, he was, in fact, in the most imminent
+danger. Artabanus was already plotting his destruction.
+
+One day, in the midst of one of his carousals, he became angry with his
+oldest son Darius for some cause, and gave Artabanus an order to kill
+him. Artabanus neglected to obey this order. The king had been excited
+with wine when he gave it, and Artabanus supposed that all recollection
+of the command would pass away from his mind with the excitement that
+occasioned it. The king did not, however, so readily forget. The next
+day he demanded why his order had not been obeyed. Artabanus now began
+to fear for his own safety, and he determined to proceed at once to the
+execution of a plan which he had long been revolving, of destroying the
+whole of Xerxes's family, and placing himself on the throne in their
+stead. He contrived to bring the king's chamberlain into his schemes,
+and, with the connivance and aid of this officer, he went at night into
+the king's bed-chamber, and murdered the monarch in his sleep.
+
+Leaving the bloody weapon with which the deed had been perpetrated by
+the side of the victim, Artabanus went immediately into the bed-chamber
+of Artaxerxes, the youngest son, and, awaking him suddenly, he told him,
+with tones of voice and looks expressive of great excitement and alarm,
+that his father had been killed, and that it was his brother Darius that
+had killed him. "His motive is," continued Artabanus, "to obtain the
+throne, and, to make the more sure of an undisturbed possession of it,
+he is intending to murder you next. Rise, therefore, and defend your
+life."
+
+Artaxerxes was aroused to a sudden and uncontrollable paroxysm of anger
+at this intelligence. He seized his weapon, and rushed into the
+apartment of his innocent brother, and slew him on the spot. Other
+summary assassinations of a similar kind followed in this complicated
+tragedy. Among the victims, Artabanus and all his adherents were slain,
+and at length Artaxerxes took quiet possession of the throne, and
+reigned in his father's stead.
+
+                         THE END.
+
+
+
+
+TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
+
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