Initial commit of ebook 78980 filesHEADmain

1 files changed, 5121 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/78980-0.txt b/78980-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..191bfe2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/78980-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5121 @@
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78980 ***
+
+
+
+
+                             Stories of the
+
+                              Persian Wars
+
+                                 CHURCH
+
+                     H. M. CALDWELL CO., PUBLISHERS
+
+                          NEW YORK AND BOSTON
+
+
+
+
+                               CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER                                 PAGE
+      I.  OF THE REVOLT OF MILETUS          7
+     II.  OF THE TAKING OF MILETUS         16
+    III.  OF THE FIRST WAR AGAINST GREECE  31
+     IV.  OF THE BATTLE OF MARATHON        39
+      V.  OF THE SONS OF ALCMÆON AND THE
+          END OF MILTIADES                 49
+     VI.  HOW PREPARATION WAS MADE FOR THE
+          SECOND WAR AGAINST THE GREEKS    57
+    VII.  OF THE SETTING FORTH OF XERXES   71
+   VIII.  OF THE MARCH OF XERXES           79
+     IX.  HOW XERXES CROSSED OVER INTO
+          EUROPE AND OF HIS ARMY           89
+      X.  OF THE MARCH OF XERXES           99
+     XI.  OF THE PREPARATIONS OF THE
+          GREEKS                          108
+    XII.  OF THE ARMY AND THE SHIPS OF
+          XERXES, AND OF THE FIRST
+          FIGHTING WITH THE GREEKS        119
+   XIII.  OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ     124
+    XIV.  OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ
+          (_Cont’d_)                      135
+     XV.  OF THE SHIPS OF THE GREEKS AT
+          ARTEMISIUM                      144
+    XVI.  OF THE DEPARTURE OF THE GREEKS
+          FROM ARTEMISIUM AND OF THE
+          ADVANCE OF XERXES               152
+   XVII.  OF THE GREEKS AT SALAMIS AND OF
+          THE CITY OF ATHENS              159
+  XVIII.  OF THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS        170
+    XIX.  OF THE FLIGHT OF XERXES         180
+     XX.  OF THE PREPARING OF THE
+          PERSIANS AND OF THE GREEKS
+          FOR THE WAR                     188
+    XXI.  OF THE BATTLE OF PLATÆA         197
+   XXII.  OF THE BATTLE OF MYCALE         214
+
+
+
+
+                                  THE
+
+                       STORY OF THE PERSIAN WAR.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+OF THE REVOLT OF MILETUS.
+
+
+King Darius gave Myrcinus that is on the river Strymon, in the land of
+Thrace, to Histiæus, lord of Miletus, for a reward; for Histiæus had
+done him good service in his warfare against the Scythians. But when
+the man began to build a wall about the place, one said to the King,
+“O King, what is this that thou hast done, giving this city in Thrace
+to a man that is a Greek, and wise moreover and crafty? For in that
+country is great store of timber for ship-building, and mines also of
+silver and there are many inhabitants, both Greeks and barbarians,
+who will take this fellow for a leader, and will do what he shall bid
+them, working day and night. Do thou therefore stay him in this work;
+but stay him with soft words. Bid him come to thee, and when he is
+come, take good care that he never go among the Greeks any more.” This
+counsel seemed good to the King. Wherefore he sent a messenger to
+Histiæus, saying, “Thus saith the King, I am persuaded that there is no
+man better disposed to me and to my kingdom than thou. Come therefore
+to me, for I have great matters in hand and would fain ask thy counsel
+about them.” So Histiæus, taking these words to be true, and counting
+it a great thing to be the King’s counselor, came to Sardis to Darius.
+And when he was come, Darius said to him, “Hear now the cause wherefore
+I have sent for thee. Since the day that thou didst depart from me I
+have desired nothing so much as to see thee and talk with thee; for
+in my judgment there is nothing so precious as a friend that is both
+faithful and wise; and this I know thee to be. Leave now thy city of
+Miletus, and that also which thou art building in Thrace, and come with
+me to Susa, for all that I have is thine, and thou shalt live with me,
+and be my counselor.”
+
+After this the King went up to Susa, taking Histiæus with him. And he
+left Otanes to be captain of them that dwell by the sea. This Otanes
+was the son of a certain Sisamnes whom, being one of the royal judges,
+and having given unrighteous judgment for money, King Cambyses slew;
+and having slain him, he flayed off his skin, and cutting it into
+strips stretched them on the judgment-seat. And making the son of
+Sisamnes to be judge in his father’s room, he bade him remember on what
+manner of seat he sat.
+
+In these days Miletus was the most prosperous of all the cities of
+Ionia, though it had been brought very low in the second generation
+before by strife among its citizens. This strife was healed after this
+fashion by the Parians, whom the men of Miletus chose out of all the
+Greeks to be judges in their case. These Parians went through the land
+of Miletus, and wheresoever they saw in the country, which was for most
+part desolate, any field well tilled, they wrote down the name of the
+master of the field. And when they had traversed the whole, and found
+not many such, so soon as they were come back to the city, they called
+an assembly, and made this award, that the men whose fields they had
+seen to be well tilled should bear rule, for they judged that such as
+managed well their own affairs would manage well the affairs of the
+State also. But now from this city of Miletus, and from the island
+of Naxos, which was the richest of all the islands, there came great
+damage to the men of Ionia. It happened on this wise. Certain of the
+rich men of Naxos, being banished by the commons, fled to Miletus, of
+which city one Aristagoras was lord in those days, being son-in-law
+to Histiæus. And when the exiles prayed him for help that they might
+come back to their own country, Aristagoras, thinking that if they
+should come back by his help, he should be lord of Naxos, said to them
+(and he had this pretext for helping them that they had been long time
+friends of his father in-law) “I cannot bring you back to Naxos against
+the will of the city, for I hear that they have eight thousand men at
+arms, and many ships of war. But I have a friendship with Otanes, that
+is brother to King Darius, and captain of them that dwell by the sea,
+and has many soldiers and ships. I will work with him that he shall do
+what ye wish.” To this the exiles agreed, saying that they would find
+pay for the army. Then went Aristagoras to Otanes and said to him,
+“There is a certain island of Naxos, not very great, but a good land
+and fair, and near to Ionia, and having in it much wealth and many
+slaves. If thou wilt make war upon this island, bringing back to it
+certain men that have been banished, thou shalt receive much wealth
+from me, over and above the cost of the war, for this it is just that
+we who desire it should pay; also thou wilt win for the King Naxos
+and the islands that are subject to it, and from thence thou wilt be
+able to make war on Eubœa, a great island and a rich, being not less
+than Cyprus, and easy to be subdued. For all this a hundred ships will
+be sufficient.” To this Otanes made answer, “Truly thou bringest a
+matter that may advantage the house of the King, and thy counsel is
+good, save as to the number of the ships. There shall be ready not
+one hundred, but two hundred in the spring season. Only the King must
+approve of the undertaking.” And when he had sent to the King and had
+his assent, he made ready two hundred ships of war, putting on them a
+great multitude of Persians and allies, and setting Megabates, that was
+nephew to him and to the King, to command them. (It was the daughter
+of this Megabates that Pausanias the Spartan would have taken to wife,
+if indeed the story be true, when he sought to make himself lord of
+Greece.) Megabates took with him Aristagoras, and many soldiers from
+Miletus, and the exiles, and sailed towards the Hellespont. But when he
+came to Chios he cast anchor, waiting for a north wind that he might
+sail to Naxos. And here--for it was not to be that Naxos should perish
+at this time--there befell this thing.
+
+As Megabates went about visiting the watches of the fleet, he found
+a ship of Myndus in Caria that had no watch set. Being very wroth
+at this, he bade his guards find the captain of the ship (the man’s
+name was Scylax,) and bind him in one of the tholes of the oars, so
+that his head should be without the ship and his body within. When
+the man had been so bound, there came one to Aristagoras saying that
+Megabates had bound Scylax of Mindus in a shameful fashion. Then
+Aristagoras entreated of Megabates that he would loose him; but, as he
+could not prevail, he loosed the man himself. When Megabates heard it
+he was very wroth with Aristagoras, who said to him, “What hast thou
+to do with these things? Wast thou not sent to do my pleasure, and
+to sail whithersoever I should bid thee? Meddle not then with other
+men’s matters.” Then Megabates, in his anger, sent a messenger to the
+Naxians, so soon as it was night, telling them what was preparing
+against them. Now these had not thought of any such thing; but when
+they heard it, forthwith they carried their goods from out of the
+fields into the city, and prepared themselves for a siege, making
+provision of food and drink. When therefore the Persians were come
+from Chios, they found the city of the Naxians defended against them;
+and having besieged it to no purpose for four months, when now all
+the money they had brought with them was spent, and much also that
+Aristagoras had furnished, they departed, having first built forts
+for the exiles. Then Aristagoras was in a great strait, for he could
+not fulfill the promise that he had made to the servants of the King,
+neither could he pay the money that had been spent upon the war, and he
+feared lest, falling into ill-favor with the Persians, being already
+at enmity with Megabates, he should loose the lordship of Miletus.
+For these causes he had it in his mind to revolt from the King. And
+while he thought thereon there came to him the man with the branded
+head from Histiæus at Susa, with a message that he should do this very
+thing. For Histiæus, seeking to send word to Aristagoras, yet not
+being able to send it safely, because the roads were guarded, devised
+this thing. He took the most faithful of his slaves and, shaving the
+man’s head, branded on it certain letters. And when the hair was grown
+again he sent him to Aristagoras with a message, “Look on this man’s
+head when thou hast shaven it.” Now the marks signified that he should
+revolt. And this Histiæus did, counting it a grievous thing that he
+was constrained to tarry at Susa; for he said to himself, “If there
+be rebellion at Miletus, doubtless I shall be sent down to the sea;
+but if not, I shall go there no more.” Then Aristagoras took counsel
+with his fellows, declaring to them his own judgment and the message
+that had come to him from Susa. To them spake Hecatæus, the writer of
+chronicles. First he counseled them not to make war against the King,
+telling them of all the nations that he ruled and of his might. And
+when he could not persuade them, he said that they should certainly
+make themselves masters of the sea, and that this they could do only
+by laying hands on the treasures that had been given by Crœsus the
+Lydian to the temple of Apollo at Branchidæ, for these were very great,
+“since I have good hope,” said he, “that by help of these ye may have
+the upper hand at sea; any how, ye will have the using of them, and
+they will not be a spoil to the enemy.” But neither in this could he
+prevail. Nevertheless they made ready to revolt. And first of all they
+sent and laid hands by guile on the captains of the ships that had
+sailed against Naxos. Such of these men as were lords of their cities
+Aristagoras gave into the hands of their citizens to do with them as
+they would. And he gave up his own lordship at Miletus. Thus lordship
+ceased out of all the cities of Ionia.
+
+After this Aristagoras sailed to Sparta, for he had need to make
+alliance with some city that could help him. Now Cleomenes was King at
+Sparta in those days; to him therefore Aristagoras opened the matter,
+saying, “Marvel not, Cleomenes, that I have been at the pain to come
+hither. That we men of Ionia should be slaves and not free is a shame
+and grief, first indeed to us, but next to you more than all others,
+seeing that ye have the pre-eminence in Greece. Do ye therefore
+deliver us from slavery, seeing that we are of the same blood with
+you. And this ye can easily do, for these barbarians have but small
+courage, in which ye, I know, excel. Their manner of fighting is this.
+They have bows and short spears, and for clothing they have loose
+tunics and turbans on their heads. Think then how easily ye can subdue
+them.” After this Aristagoras showed to the King the divers nations and
+countries that were obedient to the Persians, for he had a tablet of
+brass on which was engraven the whole compass of the world, with the
+sea and all the rivers. And he set forth to him in what things each
+was excellent, till he came at the last to the city of Susa. “Here,”
+he said, “is the river Choaspes with the great city of Susa, where
+the King has his palace. Here also are his treasures, on which if ye
+can lay your hands ye may without fear compare yourselves for riches
+to Zeus himself. What profit is there to fight, and that many times,
+for a few furlongs of barren land, with Messenians, men that are your
+match, or with Arcadians or Argives that have not gold or silver or any
+such thing, for the getting of which a man might willingly go in peril
+of his life, and this when ye might be lords of all Asia?” Then said
+Cleomenes, “Man of Miletus, I will give thee an answer in this matter
+on the third day.” And on the third, when they came together as had
+been appointed, the King said, “Tell me, Aristagoras, of how many days
+is the journey from the sea to this city of Susa?” Now in every thing
+else Aristagoras had answered him craftily; but in this he was taken
+unawares. For if he would have had the Spartans come to Asia, he should
+not have told the truth; but this he did tell, for he said, “It is a
+journey of three months.” But when the King heard this he would not
+suffer Aristagoras to say what he would have told about the journey,
+but cried, “Man of Miletus, depart from Sparta before the setting of
+the sun; for thou hast nothing to say that can profit the Spartans if
+thou wouldst take them a journey of three months from the sea.” When he
+had said this, the King departed to his house. Then Aristagoras taking
+the garb of a suppliant, went to him and besought him, as he had regard
+to a suppliant, to listen to him. “But first,” he said, “send away the
+child;” for there stood by the King his little daughter, whose name
+was Gorgo. This Gorgo was his only child, being now of eight or nine
+years. But Cleomenes bade him say what he would, and stay not for the
+child. Then Aristagoras began with ten talents, promising that he would
+give him so much if he would help him to that which he desired. And
+when Cleomenes would not, he promised yet more, till he came to fifty
+talents. Then the child spake, “Father, this stranger will corrupt thee
+unless thou rise up and depart.” This counsel of the child greatly
+pleased Cleomenes, so that he rose up from his place and went into
+another chamber. After this Aristagoras departed from Sparta, and came
+to Athens, knowing that this city held the next place for power.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+OF THE TAKING OF MILETUS.
+
+
+The city of Athens had greatly increased in might since it was rid
+of its lords. The manner of the riddance was this. For a while after
+Hipparchus had been slain--this Hipparchus, with Hippias his brother,
+had received the lordship from Pisistratus his father, and he had been
+slain at the festival of Athene--the tyranny was more grievous than
+before. Now there was in Athens a great house, the sons of Alcmæon,
+and these had been banished by the children of Pisistratus. At the
+first indeed joining with others who were in like cause, they sought
+to obtain their return by force, building a fort on Mount Parnes,
+whence they might attack the city; but they accomplish nothing. Then
+they devised this device. They made a covenant with the council of
+the Amphictyons that they would build the temple of Apollo that is in
+Delphi for a certain sum of money. But in the building they made all
+things fairer than according to the letter of the covenant--and this
+they could do by reason of their great wealth--and especially, when
+it had been agreed that they should use common stone in the building
+of the temple, they used for the front thereof marble of Paros. After
+this they persuaded the Pythia with a sum of money that whenever
+any men from Sparta came to ask counsel of the oracle, whether they
+came on their own affairs or the affairs of the State, she should
+bid them set free the city of Athens. When this message had come to
+the Lacedæmonians many times, they sent one of their chief citizens
+with an army to drive out the children of Pisistratus from Athens.
+And this they did, though the men were dear friends to them, for they
+judged it well to prefer the bidding of the Gods to the friendship
+of men. This army came by sea and landed at Phalerus. And when the
+sons of Pisistratus heard of it, they sent for help to Thessaly, with
+which country they had alliance, and there came to them from Thessaly
+a thousand horsemen, under Cineas, King of Thessaly. With them they
+assailed the camp of the Lacedæmonians, and slew not a few of them,
+among whom was the captain of the army, and drove such as were left
+into their ships. After this the Lacedæmonians sent another army,
+greater than before, under King Cleomenes, sending them not in ships,
+but by land. These also, so soon as they had crossed the borders, the
+horsemen of the Thessalians attacked, but could not stand before them,
+but fled back without delay into their own land. Then Cleomenes, coming
+to the city and taking to him such as were minded to drive out from
+Athens its lords, besieged the sons of Pisistratus in the Pelasgian
+fort; but they would not have accomplished their purpose--for they had
+no mind to make a long siege of the fort, and the sons of Pisistratus
+had meat and drink in abundance--but would have tarried a few days,
+and so departed, but for this chance. The sons of Pisistratus sought
+to send their children out of the country secretly; but the children
+were taken. Then they made a covenant with the Athenians that, if the
+children should be given back to them, they would depart out of the
+country within the space of five days. And this they did, their house
+having had the lordship for thirty years and six. Thus was Athens rid
+of its lords.
+
+Aristagoras then coming to this city of Athens presented himself before
+the people, and said the same words that he had said before in Sparta,
+about the good things in Asia, and about the manner of fighting of the
+Persians, how they had neither spear nor shield, and were therefore
+easily to be conquered. Also he said that the Milesians were colonists
+from Athens, and that it was just that the Athenians, being so mighty,
+should deliver them from slavery. And because his need was great, there
+was nothing that he did not promise, till at the last he persuaded
+them. For it is easier, it seems, to deceive a multitude than to
+deceive one man. Cleomenes the Spartan, being but one man, Aristagoras
+could not deceive; but he brought over to his purpose the people of
+Athens, being thirty thousand. So the Athenians, being persuaded, made
+a decree to send twenty ships to help the men of Ionia, and appointed
+one Melanthius, a man of reputation among them, to be captain. These
+ships were the beginning of trouble both to the Greeks and the
+barbarians.
+
+After this Aristagoras sailed to Miletus; and as soon as he was
+gone there he did a thing which could be of no profit to the men of
+Ionia, but vexed King Darius. He sent a messenger to the Pæonians,
+whom Megabazus had carried away captive from the river Strymon and set
+down in Phrygia, saying, “Thus saith Aristagoras, lord of Miletus, If
+ye will obey him, ye shall have deliverance. All Ionia hath rebelled
+against the King. Now therefore ye can depart in safety to your own
+land. How ye shall get to the sea ye must order for yourselves; but
+when ye come thither, we will see to the matter.” The Pæonians heard
+this with great gladness; and taking with them their wives and their
+children, they fled to the sea. Yet some of them were afraid and
+remained behind. And when they had come to the sea, they crossed over
+to Chios. And when they were already in Chios there came a multitude of
+the horsemen of the Persians, pursuing them, who, as they had not been
+able to overtake them, sent messengers to them in Chios, bidding them
+return to the land of Phrygia. But the Pæonians would not hearken to
+them. And the people of Chios carried them thence to Lesbos, and the
+Lesbians carried them to Doriscus; and from Doriscus they returned on
+foot to their own land of Pæonia.
+
+When the twenty ships of the Athenians were arrived, and with them five
+ships of the Eretrians, which came, not for any love of the Athenians,
+but because the Milesians had helped them in old time against the men
+of Chalcis, Aristagoras sent an army against Sardis, but he himself
+abode in Miletus. This army, crossing Mount Tmolus, took the city
+of Sardis without any hindrance; but the citadel they took not, for
+Artaphernes held it with a great force of soldiers. But though they
+took the city they had not the plunder of it, and for this reason.
+The houses in Sardis were for the most part built of reeds, and such
+as were built of bricks had their roofs of reeds; and when a certain
+soldier set fire to one of these houses, the fire ran quickly from
+house to house till the whole city was consumed. And while the city
+was burning, such Lydians and Persians as were in it, seeing that
+they were cut off from escape (for the fire was in all the outskirts
+of the city), gathered together in haste to the market-place. Through
+this market-place flows the river Pactolus, which comes down from
+Mount Tmolus, having gold in its sands, and when it has passed out of
+the city it flows into the Hermus which flows into the sea. Here then
+the Lydians and Persians were gathered together, being constrained to
+defend themselves. And when the men of Ionia saw their enemies how
+many they were, and that these were preparing to give battle, they
+were stricken with fear, and fled out of the city to Mount Tmolus, and
+thence, when it was night, they went back to the sea. In this manner
+was burned the city of Sardis, and in it the great temple of the
+goddess Cybele, the burning of which temple was the cause, as said the
+Persians, for which afterward they burned the temples in Greece. Not
+long after came a host of Persians from beyond the river Halys; and
+when they found that the men of Ionia had departed from Sardis, they
+followed hard upon their track and came up with them at Ephesus. And
+when the battle was joined, the men of Ionia fled before them. Many
+indeed were slain, and such as escaped were scattered, every man to his
+own city.
+
+After this the ships of the Athenians departed and would not help
+the men of Ionia any more, though Aristagoras besought them to stay.
+Nevertheless the Ionians ceased not from making preparations of war
+against the King, making to themselves allies, some by force and some
+by persuasion, as the cities of the Hellespont and many of the Carians
+and the island of Cyprus. For all Cyprus, save Amathus only, revolted
+from the King under Onesilus, brother of King Gorgus.
+
+When King Darius heard that Sardis had been taken and burned with
+fire by the Ionians and the Athenians, with Aristagoras for leader,
+at the first he took no heed of the Ionians, as knowing that they
+would surely suffer for their deed, but he asked, “Who are these
+Athenians?” And when they told him he took a bow and shot an arrow
+into the air, saying, “O Zeus, grant that I may avenge myself on these
+Athenians.” And he commanded his servant that every day, when his
+dinner was served, he should say three times, “Master remember the
+Athenians.” After this he called for Histiæus of Miletus, and said to
+him, “Histiæus, I hear that thy deputy to whom thou gavest over Miletus
+has rebelled, and has brought men from over the sea to help him, and,
+taking with him also certain of the Ionians (who verily shall suffer
+for their wrong-doing), has taken from me the city of Sardis. How can
+this have been done without thy counsel? Take heed lest the blame fall
+on thee.” Then answered Histiæus, “What is this that thou hast said,
+that I should devise any evil against thee? For what do I lack being
+here with thee? If my deputy has done such things, he has done them of
+his own counsel. Yet do I scarce believe that he has done them. But if
+so, see what a thing thou hast done in taking me away from the coast
+country. Surely had I been yet there, no city had been troubled. But
+now send me as speedily as may be to the land of the Ionians, that I
+may set all things in order as they were aforetime, and also deliver
+up this deputy, if he has so done, into thy hands. Verily, I swear by
+thy Gods, O King, that I will not put off the tunic which I shall wear
+on the day when I go down to the land of the Ionians, before I make
+the great island of Sardinia tributary to thee.” So Darius let him go,
+commanding him when he had accomplished these things to come back to
+him at Susa.
+
+Meanwhile the Persians took not a few cities of the Ionians and
+Æolians. But while they were busy about these, the Carians revolted
+from the King; whereupon the captains of the Persians led their army
+into Caria, and the men of Caria came out to meet them; and they met
+them at a certain place which is called the White Pillars, near to the
+river Mæander. Then there were many counsels among the Carians whereof
+the best was this, that they should cross the river and so contend
+with the Persians, having the river behind them, that so there being no
+escape for them if they fled, they might surpass themselves in courage.
+But this counsel did not prevail. Nevertheless, when the Persians had
+crossed the Mæander, the Carians fought against them, and the battle
+was exceedingly long and fierce. But at the last the Carians were
+vanquished, being overborne by numbers, so that there fell of them ten
+thousand. And when they that escaped--for many had fled to Labranda,
+where there is a great temple of Zeus and a grove of plane trees--were
+doubting whether they should yield themselves to the King or depart
+altogether from Asia, there came to their help the men of Miletus
+with their allies. Thereupon the Carians, putting away their doubts
+altogether, fought with the Persians a second time, and were vanquished
+yet more grievously than before. But on this day the men of Miletus
+suffered the chief damage. And the Carians fought with the Persians yet
+again a third time; for, hearing that these were about to attack their
+cities one by one, they laid an ambush for them on the road to Pedasus.
+And the Persians, marching by night, fell into the ambush, and were
+utterly destroyed, they and their captains.
+
+After these things, Aristagoras, seeing the power of the Persians, and
+having no more any hope to prevail over them--and indeed, for all that
+he had brought about so much trouble, he was of a poor spirit--called
+together his friends and said to them, “We must needs have some place
+of refuge, if we be driven out of Miletus. Shall we therefore go to
+Sardinia, or to Myrcinus on the river Strymon, which King Darius gave
+to Histiæus?”
+
+To this Hecateus, the writer of chronicles, made answer, “Let
+Aristagoras build a fort in Leros (this Leros is an island thirty miles
+distant from Miletus) and dwell there quietly, if he be driven from
+Miletus. And hereafter he can come from Leros and set himself up again
+in Miletus.”
+
+But Aristagoras went to Myrcinus, and not long afterwards was slain
+while he besieged a certain city of the Thracians.
+
+And now Histiæus came down from Susa to Sardis. When he was come to
+Sardis, Artaphernes, the governor, inquired of him the cause why the
+Ionians had rebelled, and when Histiæus said that he could not tell,
+Artaphernes said, for indeed he knew the whole matter, “The matter
+stands thus, Histiæus. Thou hast stitched the shoe and Aristagoras has
+put it on.” When Histiæus heard this, and perceived that the thing was
+known, he fled to the coast. And first he went to Chios, where the
+people cast him into prison, but finding that he had rebelled against
+the King set him at liberty; and from Chios he went to Miletus; but
+the men of Miletus, being rid of one lord, even Aristagoras, were
+not minded to take to themselves another, and when he sought to make
+an entrance by night, they fought against him and wounded him in the
+thigh. After this, having got ships from the Lesbians, he laid wait at
+the Hellespont and seized all the ships that came forth from the Black
+Sea unless they would take service with him.
+
+Now the Persians had gathered together a great host and a fleet also
+against Miletus; and the men of Miletus sent deputies to the Great
+Ionian Council. And the council resolved that they would not send an
+army to fight against the Persians, but that the cities should send all
+their ships, not leaving one behind, and that they should be assembled
+at Lade, which is an island near Miletus. So all the Ionians sent their
+ships, a hundred coming from Chios, and eighty from Miletus, and sixty
+from Lesbos. The number of the whole was three hundred and fifty and
+three. But the number of the ships of the barbarians was six hundred.
+
+First the Persian captains sent for the lords of the Ionian cities
+whom Aristagoras had driven out, and said to them, “Now can ye do good
+service to the house of the King. Let each seek to draw away his own
+countrymen from the alliance of the Ionians; and let him tell them that
+they shall suffer no harm by reason of their revolt, but shall be in
+all points even as they were in former days. But if they be stubborn
+then shall they and their children be sold into slavery, and their land
+shall be given unto strangers.” Then the lords sent messengers to tell
+these words to their countrymen; but these would not hearken or betray
+their allies. And each people thought that these promises were made to
+them only and not to the others.
+
+Afterwards divers councils were held by the captains of the fleet, in
+which, after others had set forth their opinions, Dionysius of Phocæa
+thus spake, “Ye men of Ionia, now are our fortunes on the razor’s
+edge, whether we shall be free men or slaves, and slaves that are also
+runaways. If ye will endure for the time some hardness, ye will be able
+to prevail over your enemies and so be free forever; but if ye continue
+in your present slothfulness and disorder, there is no hope but that
+ye will suffer the wrath of the King when he shall avenge himself on
+you for your revolt. Be therefore persuaded by me and yield yourselves
+to my commands; for if ye fulfill these faithfully either will the
+Persians fly before us, or if they fight, will be utterly vanquished.”
+
+The Ionians hearkened to these words and committed themselves to
+Dionysius. And he every day made them move their ships in column, and
+practice with their oars, and exercise themselves in breaking the line.
+And the fighting men were kept under arms, and the ships remained on
+their anchors, so that the men had toil without ceasing from morning
+until night. These things the Ionians endured for seven days, but on
+the eighth--for they were not accustomed to such toil--being worn out
+with labor and with the heat of the sun, they began to say to each
+other, “Against what god have we sinned that we suffer such things?
+Surely we were mad that we gave ourselves to this boaster from Phocæa
+that has brought but three ships only. For he has taken us and plagued
+us with trouble that cannot be endured, so that many of us have already
+fallen sick, and many will soon fall. Surely it were better to endure
+anything rather than these hardships. Even slavery were better than
+this servitude. Let us therefore yield him obedience no more.”
+
+After this they would not obey him, but pitched their tents upon the
+island, as though they had been soldiers, and lay in the shade, and
+would not practice themselves on their ships, which when the captains
+of the Samians perceived, they were more ready to receive the offer
+which the Persians had made to them. For they saw that there was no
+order among the Ionians, nor did they hope to prevail over the King,
+knowing that if they could vanquish this present fleet that was arrayed
+against them, there would come another five times as great. For this
+cause the Samians made an agreement with the King.
+
+Now many days afterwards the ships of the Phœnicians sailed out to do
+battle, and the Ionians sailed against them. Who indeed bare themselves
+bravely and who played the coward that day is not certainly known,
+for the Ionians accused one another. But it is said that the Samians,
+according to the agreement that they had made, hoisted their sails and
+departed to Samos, but that eleven ships remained in their place and
+fought, for that the captains would not obey the leaders. For this deed
+the state of Samos granted them this honor, that their names should
+be written on a pillar, and that the pillar should be set up in the
+market-place of Samos. And this was done. Also the men of Lesbos, when
+they saw what their neighbors did, left also their place in the line;
+and indeed the greater part of the Ionians followed in the same way.
+Of them that remained the men of Chios were the most roughly handled.
+These had come with a hundred ships, on each of which were forty picked
+men at arms. Nor would they follow an ill example when they saw others
+play the coward, but behaved very valiantly, and though they were left
+well-nigh alone, yet broke many times through the lines of the enemy,
+and took many ships. And at the last, such as were able fled to Chios;
+and such as had their ships so sorely wounded that they could not
+return, beached their ships at this isle, and marched into the country
+of the Ephesians. This they did in the night, and the Ephesians,
+thinking that they were robbers that had come to steal away their
+women--for they were keeping a festival--marched out against them with
+their whole force and slew them.
+
+As for Dionysius of Phocæa, when he saw that the Ionians were
+conquered, he would not return to Phocæa, for he knew that it must
+certainly fall into the hands of the Persians, but sailed away with his
+own ships and those that he had taken, and came to Phœnicia. There he
+sank certain merchantmen and took out of them a great booty. Afterwards
+he sailed to Sicily, and became a pirate, sparing indeed Greek ships,
+but taking ships of the Carthaginians and Tuscans.
+
+The Persians besieged Miletus both by land and sea, digging mines
+under the walls, and using against it all manner of devices. And they
+took it in the sixth year from the time when Aristagoras caused it to
+revolt from the King. Most of the men they slew, and all the women and
+the children they made slaves; and the temple of Apollo at Branchidæ,
+to which, as has been said before, King Crœsus made many gifts, they
+burned with fire. Such of the inhabitants of Miletus as were not slain
+were sent up to Susa. The King did them no further harm, but settled
+in the city of Ampe, which is near to the Red Sea, by the mouth of the
+river Tigris.
+
+The Athenians showed what great sorrow they had at the taking of
+Miletus by many other proofs, and especially by this. The poet
+Phrynichus made a play, “The Taking of Miletus;” but when he showed
+it on the stage the whole multitude in the theatre wept. And they
+put a fine of a thousand drachmas upon him because he had called to
+mind, they said, their own misfortune. And they made a law that no one
+thereafter should show this play.
+
+Not many days afterwards Histiæus was taken prisoner by the Persians.
+Doubtless, had he been sent to Susa, King Darius would have pardoned
+him. And indeed, for fear of this, Artaphernes, governor of Sardis,
+commanded him to be slain. His body he fastened on a stake, and his
+head he embalmed and sent it on to the King. When the King heard it, he
+greatly blamed the governor, because he had not sent him up alive; and
+he commanded that they should take the head and dress it with all care,
+and so bury it, for that this man had been a great benefactor to the
+Persians.
+
+After this the Persians took all the towns of the Greeks on the
+mainland of Asia, and they netted the islands. Now the manner of
+netting was this. The men joined hands, making a line across the island
+from north to south, and so passed through it from end to end, hunting
+out all the inhabitants. Thus were the cities of the Ionians enslaved
+for the third time, once by Crœsus, King of the Lydians, and twice by
+the Persians.
+
+After this the King, having conquered the Ionians, bided his time till
+he should avenge himself upon the Athenians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+OF THE FIRST WAR AGAINST GREECE.
+
+
+Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, came down from Susa, and he had a great
+army and many ships. He was a young man, and he had newly married the
+daughter of King Darius. When he was come to the land of Cilicia, he
+took ship and sailed to the coast of Ionia, the other ships following
+him. And being in Ionia he did this thing (a marvelous thing,
+doubtless, in the eyes of them that believe not the story of Otanes,
+how he would have set up among the Persians the rule of the people);
+he cast down from their place all the lords of the Ionians, setting up
+in every city the rule of the people. When he had done this he went
+with all haste to the Hellespont, whither was gathered together a
+great multitude of ships and many thousands of men. These crossed the
+Hellespont in the ships, and so marched through the land of Europe. And
+their purpose was, as they said, to have vengeance on the cities of
+Athens and Eretria; but in truth they had it in their minds to subdue
+as many as they should be able of the cities of the Greeks. First,
+then, they subdued the Thracians. These did not so much as lift a hand
+against the Persians, and so were added to the nations whom they had in
+slavery. From Thasos they went to Acanthus, and leaving Acanthus they
+sought to pass round Mount Athos, which is a great promontory, running
+far out into the sea. Here there fell upon the ships a very mighty
+wind, such as they could in no wise bear up against, and did them much
+damage. Men say indeed that there perished of the ships three hundred,
+and of men more than twenty thousand. For the sea in these parts is
+full of great monsters, which laid hold on many of the men; many also
+were dashed against the rocks, and were so destroyed; and some perished
+because they could not swim, and some from cold. Thus it fared with the
+ships. As for Mardonius and his army, the Brygi, that are a tribe of
+Thracians, assailed him in his camp by night and slew many of his men,
+and wounded Mardonius himself. Notwithstanding, the Brygi escaped not
+the doom of slavery, for Mardonius left not this region till he had
+utterly subdued them. But when he had done this he went back to Asia,
+for his army had suffered much from the Thracians, and his ships from
+the storm at Mount Athos. Thus did this great undertaking come to an
+end with little honor.
+
+For all this Darius changed not his purpose concerning Athens and the
+other cities of Greece. For every day, at his bidding, did his servant
+say to him, “O King, remember the Athenians.” Also the children of
+Pisistratus ceased not to speak against the city. The King indeed
+desired, having for a pretense his quarrel against the Athenians, to
+subdue all the Greeks that would not give him earth and water; for
+the giving of these things is to the Persians a token of submission.
+Mardonius, seeing that he had fared badly in his undertaking, the King
+discharged of his office, appointing thereto Datis, that was a Mede,
+and Artaphernes his brother’s son. These then he sent on the same
+errand on which he had sent Mardonius, saying to them, “Make slaves
+of the men of Eretria and of the men of Athens, and bring them to me
+that I may see them.” So these two went down from the city of Susa to
+Cilicia, having with them a very great army and well-appointed; and
+while they were encamped here in a plain that is called the Aleian
+plain, there came also to that country the whole array of ships as had
+been commanded, and with the rest ships designed for the carriage of
+horses, for in the year before the King had commanded the inhabitants
+that such should be built. On these ships, therefore, they embarked
+their horses, and on the other ships the rest of the army, and so set
+sail to Ionia, having in all six hundred ships of war.
+
+But they sailed not along the coast after the former manner, going
+northwards to the Hellespont and to Thrace, but voyaged through the
+islands, beginning with Samos; and this they did, as it seems, because
+they feared the going round Mount Athos, remembering what loss and
+damage they had suffered at this place in the former expedition. Also
+they had Naxos in their mind, for this had not as yet been conquered.
+They sailed, therefore, first to Naxos, and the people of the island
+did not abide their coming, but fled forthwith to the mountains. And
+the Persians made slaves of all on whom they could lay their hands,
+and burned the temples and the city with fire, and so departed. While
+they were doing these things the men of Delos left their island of
+Delos and fled to Tenos. But Datis suffered not the ships of the
+Persians to come to anchor at Delos, but bade them tarry over against
+it in Rhenea; and having heard where the men of Delos had bestowed
+themselves, he sent an herald, saying, “Holy men, why have ye fled
+from your dwelling-place, and have thought that which is not fitting
+concerning me? For indeed my own purpose and the commandment also which
+has been laid upon me by the King is this, that we should do no harm to
+the land in which the two Great Ones, Apollo and Artemis, were born,
+neither to it nor to the inhabitants thereof. Return ye therefore to
+your own dwellings and inhabit your island.” This was the message which
+Datis sent to the men of Delos; and afterward he burned three hundred
+talents’ weight of frankincense upon the altar of their temple. And
+it came to pass that when he had departed from Delos, the island was
+shaken by an earthquake. Now it had never been so shaken before, nor
+hath been since. This thing, without doubt, happened for a sign to the
+sons of men of the evils that were coming upon them. And indeed, in the
+days of Darius the son of Hystaspes, and Xerxes the son of Darius, and
+Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes, that were kings of Persia, the one after
+the other, there befell the Greeks worse evils than had befallen them
+for twenty generations before the days of Darius, of which evils some
+indeed came from the Persians and some from the chief among themselves
+when they contended together for the pre-eminence. Therefore it may
+well be believed that Delos had never been shaken before as it was
+shaken in these days.
+
+From Delos the barbarians sailed to the other islands of that sea.
+And whithersoever they came they took some of the islanders to serve
+in the army and the ships, and of their children some to be hostages.
+But when they came to Carystus, the people of the land would not give
+hostages, neither were they willing to help in making war upon the
+cities of their neighbors, meaning thereby Eretria and Athens. Then the
+Persians besieged their town and laid waste their country till the men
+of Carystus agreed to do as had been required of them.
+
+When the Eretrians heard that the Persians were coming against them
+with a great host and many ships, they sent to the Athenians praying
+for help. This the Athenians refused not to give, but sent to such of
+their citizens as had had land allotted to them in the country of the
+horse-breeding Chalcidians that they should go to the help of the men
+of Eretria. But these, though they sent this message to the Athenians,
+had no steadfast or worthy purpose in the matter. Some of them indeed
+were for leaving the city, that they might flee to the hill country
+of Eubœa, but others, looking only to their own gain, and thinking
+that they should best get this from the Persians, made ready to betray
+their country. This, when Æschines the son of Nothus, than whom there
+was none greater in Eretria, heard, he told to the Athenians that had
+come the whole matter, and said to them: “Depart ye straightway to
+your own country, lest ye also perish.” And the Athenians hearkened
+to the counsel of Æschines and departed, crossing the Oropus, and so
+got safe away. After this the ships of the Persians came to the land
+of Eretria, and put out the horses that they carried, and made ready
+as if they would fight with the enemy. But the Eretrians had no mind
+to come out of their walls and fight; only they hoped that they might
+perchance keep these against the enemy, for as to the counsel of
+leaving their city and fleeing to the hills, this they had given up.
+Then the Persians attacked the wall with great fury; and for six days
+they fought, many being slain on both sides; but on the seventh day,
+two men, of good repute among the citizens, whose names were Euphorbus
+and Philagrus, betrayed Eretria to the Persians; and these entering
+into the city, first burned the temples, thereby revenging the burning
+of the temples of Sardis, and next made slaves of all the people,
+according as King Darius had given them commandment.
+
+When they had thus dealt with Eretria, they sailed against Athens,
+having no doubt that they should speedily deal with this also after
+the same fashion. And seeing that Marathon was the most convenient for
+their purpose, and nearest also to Eretria, thither did Hippias the son
+of Pisistratus lead them. And the Athenians, so soon as they heard of
+their coming, marched with their whole force to Marathon. Ten generals
+they had, of whom the tenth was Miltiades the son of Cimon, the son of
+Stesagoras.
+
+This Cimon had been banished from Athens by Pisistratus. And it chanced
+to him that as he went into banishment he won the prize at Olympia
+for the race of four-horse chariots. This same prize his half-brother
+Miltiades had also won. And in the next games at Olympia, being five
+years afterwards, he won again with the same mares; but granted to
+Pisistratus that his name should be proclaimed as the winner. Because
+he did this he came back to Athens under safe-conduct. And yet again
+he won the same prize with the same mares at the games next following;
+and having done this he was slain by the sons of Pisistratus, for
+Pisistratus himself was not yet alive. In the common hall was he slain
+by men that were sent against him at night. He is buried before the
+City, beyond the road that is called the Hollow Road; and over against
+him are buried the mares that won for him these prizes. This same thing
+was done by other four mares, belonging to Evagoras the Lacedæmonian,
+but besides these none other have done it. This Cimon had two sons,
+of whom the elder, Stesagoras, was brought up by his friends in the
+Chersonese, and the younger, being named Miltiades, after this same
+uncle, was with his father in Athens.
+
+This Miltiades then the Athenians had chosen with nine others to be
+general. But before this he had but narrowly escaped death. For first
+the Phœnicians pursued him as far as Imbros, being very desirous to
+lay hands upon him and to take him to the King. And when he had escaped
+from these, and, coming to his own country, believed that he was now in
+safety, his enemies brought him into judgment by reason of the lordship
+which he had had in the Chersonese. But these, too, he escaped, and the
+people chose him for their general.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+OF THE BATTLE OF MARATHON.
+
+
+First of all the generals, before they led forth their army out of
+the city, sent a herald to Sparta, Pheidippides by name, who was
+an Athenian by birth, and by profession a runner, and one who had
+diligently exercised himself, and was very swift of foot. This man
+affirmed and declared to the Athenians that when he came in his running
+to Mount Parthenius, which is above Tegea, there met him the god Pan,
+and that Pan called him by his name, Pheidippides, and said to him:
+“Say to the Athenians, Why do they take no heed of me, though I am
+their friend, and have often done them good service in time past,
+and will do so hereafter?” The Athenians, believing that this story
+was true, afterwards, when things had gone well with them, built a
+temple to the god Pan under the Acropolis, and honored him with yearly
+sacrifices and a procession of torches. Pheidippides then, being thus
+sent by the generals, came to Sparta on the next day. (Between Athens
+and Sparta there are one hundred and thirty and seven miles.) And so
+soon as he was come he went to the rulers and said: “O men of Sparta,
+the Athenians pray you that ye come and help them, and suffer not the
+most ancient city in the land of Greece to be brought into slavery by
+the barbarians. Already have they brought men of Eretria into slavery,
+and Greece hath become the weaker by a famous city.” This message did
+Pheidippides deliver to the Spartans. And to them when they heard it
+seemed good that they should help the men of Athens. Only they could
+not go to their help forthwith, because they would not break the law.
+For it was then but the ninth day of the moon; and on the ninth day it
+was unlawful for them, they said, to march, because the moon was not
+yet full. Therefore they waited for the full moon.
+
+In the meantime Hippias the son of Pisistratus led the Persians to
+Marathon; and the prisoners from Eretria he landed on the island that
+is called Ægileia. And when the barbarians had disembarked from the
+ships he busied himself with the setting of them in order. In the doing
+of this it happened to him to sneeze and cough with much violence;
+and, he being an old man, his teeth for the most part were grievously
+shaken, and one of them he spat forth. This tooth fell into the sand,
+and he made much ado to find it, but could not. Seeing this he groaned,
+and said to them that stood by: “This land is not ours, neither shall
+we be able to subdue it; as for the share of it that was mine this
+tooth has taken it.”
+
+By this time the army of the Athenians was drawn up in the precinct
+of Hercules. To them being there there came the men of Platæa, every
+man that was able to bear arms. For the Platæans had before this given
+themselves over to Athens, and the Athenians had by this time had no
+small trouble on their behalf.
+
+The cause of the Platæans so giving themselves over was this. At the
+first, when they were pressed hard by the Thebans, they came to King
+Cleomenes, who chanced to be in their country, and would have given
+themselves over to him and the Lacedæmonians. But Cleomenes and his
+people would not receive them, saying: “We dwell in a country that is
+very far from you, and our help would be but of small avail to you.
+For indeed it might happen to you, and not once only, that ye should
+be made slaves before any of us could so much as hear of the matter.
+Therefore we counsel you to give yourselves over to the men of Athens;
+seeing that they dwell close at hand and are good to help.” This was
+the counsel of the Lacedæmonians, which they gave, not because they
+had any love for the men of Platæa, but thinking that the Athenians
+would have trouble without end if by these means they should be set at
+enmity with the Thebans. The men of Platæa willingly hearkened to their
+counsel, and sent envoys, who, journeying to Athens, sat themselves
+down on the altar and surrendered themselves, the Athenians keeping
+at this time the festival of the twelve gods. When the Thebans heard
+what had been done they marched against the men of Platæa; and on the
+other hand the Athenians came to their help. When these were now about
+to join battle, the Corinthians--for they chanced to be there--would
+not suffer them so to do, but made an agreement between them, both
+consenting thereunto. This agreement was that if any of the dwellers
+in Bœotia wished not to come into the league of Thebes, it should be
+lawful for them to stand aloof. When the Corinthians had given this
+sentence they departed to their own city. The Athenians also departed;
+but as they were on their way, the Thebans set upon them, but were
+worsted in the battle. Then the Athenians were no longer willing to
+abide by the boundaries which the Corinthians had determined for the
+men of Platæa, but took instead the river Asopus to be the boundary
+between them and the Thebans. So now the men of Platæa, being willing
+to make a return to the Athenians for the benefit which they had
+received, came to their help at Marathon.
+
+The generals of the Athenians were divided in their opinion, some being
+unwilling that they should join battle with the Persians, for they
+considered how few in numbers they were to stand against so great a
+host; but others, among whom was Miltiades, were for joining battle.
+Then, there being this division, as it seemed likely that the worse
+counsel would prevail, Miltiades went to the war-archon, whose name
+was Callimachus, a man of Aphidnæ. The war-archon among the Athenians
+was appointed by lot, and in former days it was the custom that he
+should vote together with the ten generals. To him therefore went
+Miltiades, and spake to him these words: “Thou hast it in thine hands,
+O Callimachus, either to bring Athens under the yoke of slavery, or
+to make it free for evermore, and in so doing to gain for thyself a
+name that shall never die, and glory such that not even Harmodius and
+Aristogeiton won for themselves. For indeed never since Athens was a
+city has it come into such danger as that wherein it now stands. For
+if it bow its neck to the yoke of the barbarian and be given over to
+this Hippias, what it will suffer thou knowest very well; but if it
+escape this danger, then will it become the very first city in the
+land of Greece. And now I will set forth to thee how these things may
+pass, and also how it lies with thee to determine whether they shall
+turn out for the better or the worse. We generals are ten in number,
+and our opinions are divided, for some would have us join the battle
+with the Persians, and others would not. Now hear what will take place
+if we join not battle with these strangers forthwith. There will be a
+great dispute in the city, and the counsels of men will be turned aside
+from the right, so that the party of the Persians will prevail. But
+if we join battle before this evil begin to show itself, then I doubt
+not, if the Gods deal fairly with us, that we shall prevail in battle,
+and so be safe. And now all this lies upon thee, whether it shall be
+so or no. If thou wilt add thy vote to my vote, then shall this thy
+native country be free, and shall be the first city in all Greece. But
+if, on the other hand, they that be unwilling to fight shall gain the
+day, then shall happen to us the contrary of all the good things of
+which I have spoken.” With these words Miltiades persuaded Callimachus;
+and when the vote of the war-archon was given to them that counseled
+battle, it was agreed that battle should be given. After this, each
+one of those generals that had given his vote for joining battle, when
+his turn of command came round--for each man commanded in turn day by
+day--gave up his turn to Miltiades. Nevertheless Miltiades made not
+use of any of their turns, but waited till his own proper turn came
+round. And when this was come then the Athenians were drawn up in order
+of battle; their right wing was led by Callimachus--for in those days
+it was the custom among the Athenians that the war-archon should lead
+the right wing--and after him came the tribes of the Athenians, one
+after the other, in their order, according to their numbers, and last
+of all, upon the left wing, were the men of Platæa. And ever since the
+battle that was fought upon this day it has been the custom among the
+Athenians, when they hold their sacrifice and solemn convocation in
+the fifth year, that the herald of the Athenians should pray aloud in
+these words: “May the Gods send all blessings to the men of Athens and
+to the men of Platæa.” Now the Athenians sought to make their line of
+battle equal to the line of the Persians; and that they might do so
+they took away men from the center, so that this was the weakest part
+of the army, the wings being the strongest. And so, so soon as the
+battle had been set in array, and the sacrifice being made appeared to
+be favorable, then the Athenians, being let go, charged the Persians at
+a running pace, the space between the two armies being eight furlongs
+or thereabouts. And the Persians, when they saw them coming against
+them at a run, made ready to receive them, but thought that they must
+be possessed with utter madness and frenzy, seeing that they were so
+few in number and yet were running to meet them, and this though they
+had neither horsemen nor archers. So the barbarians judged; but not
+the less the Athenians, joining battle in one body with their enemies,
+quitted themselves in a manner worthy of all praise. For indeed never
+before had Greeks so charged against their enemies in battle at a
+running pace, nor had any before endured to see without fear men clad
+and armed in the fashion of the Medes. For indeed before that day the
+very name of the Medes had been a terror to the Greeks to hear. Long
+time did the barbarians and Athenians fight together in Marathon.
+In the middle of the line the barbarians prevailed, for there the
+Persians and the Sacæ had their place. These broke the line of the
+Greeks, and pursued them for some space toward the mountains. But on
+each of the two wings the Greeks prevailed, the Athenians being on the
+one wing and the men of Platæa upon the other. These, having broken
+their enemies, suffered them to flee, and then wheeling round the two
+wings upon the barbarians that had broken the middle of the line, they
+prevailed over these also. Then the Persians fled to their ships, and
+the Athenians pursued them, smiting them and slaying them; and when
+they, pursuing them, came to the sea, they called for fire and would
+have burned the ships. In this part of the battle fell Callimachus,
+the war-archon, who had shown himself that day a man of valor. Also
+there fell Stesilaus, son of Thrasilaus, being one of the ten generals.
+Also Cynægirus, son to Euphorion, whose brother was Æschylus the poet,
+was slain at this time; for, laying hold of the stern ornament of one
+of the ships of the Persians, he had his hand cut off by the blow of an
+axe; and there perished with him other Athenians also of note and name.
+Nevertheless the Athenians took seven of the ships at this time. With
+the rest the barbarians pushed off from the shore, and having taken up
+the prisoners from Eretria from the island whereon they had left them,
+they sailed round the promontory of Sunium, hoping that they should
+come to the city before that the army of the Athenians should be able
+to return thither. In this matter the house of the sons of Alcmæon were
+accused by their fellow-countrymen, who said that they had held up a
+shield for a signal to the Persians; and that it had been covenanted
+that they should do so, that the Persians might take the city unawares
+and empty of men. So the Persians sailed round Cape Sunium; and the
+Athenians marched with all the speed that they could that they might
+defend the city; and when they were come they encamped in the precinct
+of Hercules, that is at Cynosargæ; and it so chanced that they came
+from the precinct of Hercules that is in Marathon. For a while the
+ships of the barbarians lay off Phalerum, which was in those days the
+port of Athens, but in no long time sailed back to Asia.
+
+In this battle that was fought at Marathon there were slain of the
+barbarians six thousand and four hundred or thereabouts, and of the
+Athenians one hundred and ninety and two. In the battle also there
+happened this marvel. A man of Athens, Epizelus by name, the son of
+Couphagoras, fighting in the press, and bearing himself bravely, was
+of a sudden smitten with blindness, and this without being wounded
+any where in the body or stricken at all. And he was blind for the
+remainder of his days. Now the story which this man told about the
+matter was this. “I saw,” he said, “a man of great stature fully armed
+stand over against me, and he had a great beard that covered his whole
+shield. Me indeed he passed by, but the man that stood next to me he
+smote and slew.”
+
+When Datis was on his way to Asia, being at Myconos, he saw a vision
+in his sleep. What this vision was no man knows; but this is certain
+that so soon as the day dawned he caused a search to be made in all the
+ships; and in a certain Phœnician ship he found an image of Apollo that
+was covered with gold, and would know whence it had been brought. And
+when he knew from what temple it had been taken, he sailed with his own
+ship to Delos. And he put the image in the temple and laid a command
+upon the men of Delos--for they had by this time come back to their
+island--that they should carry back the image to the Delian temple
+of the Thebans. (This temple stands on the sea shore over against
+Chalcis.) When he had given these commands Datis departed, but the men
+of Delos neglected to do as he had said; but twenty years after the
+Thebans, having been warned by an oracle, fetched it themselves.
+
+When Datis and Artaphernes were come to Asia they took the people of
+Eretria whom they had carried away captive and brought them up to Susa,
+to King Darius. Now King Darius had before this been greatly enraged
+against the people of Eretria, holding that they had done him wrong
+without provocation; but when he saw them thus brought before him and
+in his power, he did them no harm, but settled them in a station of his
+own in the land of the Cissia. This station was called Ardericca, and
+it is distant from Susa twenty and six miles or thereabouts. Five miles
+from this Ardericca is a great well whence they got three things, to
+wit, bitumen, salt and oil. Here then King Darius settled the people of
+Eretria, and here they remained many years afterwards, still speaking
+their own language.
+
+When the full moon was past there came to Athens two thousand
+Lacedæmonians, having marched with all speed, so that they came to
+Athens on the third day after they had set out from Sparta. These,
+though they had come too late for the battle, much desired to see the
+Persians that had been slain. So they went to Marathon, and when they
+had seen them and had greatly praised the Athenians and their valor,
+they departed to their own home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+OF THE SONS OF ALCMÆON AND THE END OF MILTIADES.
+
+
+This story that they tell of the sons of Alcmæon, how they held up a
+shield to the Persians seeking to destroy the city, that it might be
+under the lordship of Hippias, is passing strange, seeing that the
+house of Alcmæon had showed itself an enemy to tyrants not less than
+any other house among the Greeks. And indeed so long as the lordship of
+the sons of Pisistratus endured at Athens, so long did they remain in
+exile; and as for the ending of this lordship, they are to be praised
+for it rather than are Harmodius and Aristogeiton, for these did but
+make the sons of Pisistratus the more cruel by slaying Hipparchus;
+but as for making their tyranny to cease they did nothing. This was
+the work of the sons of Alcmæon if it be true, as has been told, that
+they had persuaded the Pythia for money to lay this charge upon the
+Lacedæmonians that they should cause Athens to be free. Nor indeed is
+it to be thought that the sons of Alcmæon betrayed their country by
+reason of anger against their countrymen; for there were none in those
+days of greater reputation than were these men, nor any that were more
+honored. That a shield was held up is certain; but as to who it was
+that held it up, this no man knows.
+
+As for the house of Alcmæon it was famous in Athens from the beginning;
+but there were two men that more than all others made it to be of great
+renown; and these two were Alcmæon and Megacles. As for Alcmæon, how he
+got him great riches from Crœsus, King of Lydia, has been told already;
+and as for Megacles the matter stands thus.
+
+Cleisthenes, son of Aristonymus, being lord of Sicyon, would have for
+his daughter’s husband that man whom he should find to be noblest
+of all the Greeks. The name of this daughter was Agarista. For this
+purpose he caused proclamation to be made at the festival of Olympia,
+where he had won a victory with a chariot of four horses. And the
+proclamation was this: “Let any Greek who holds himself to be worthy
+of being son-in-law to Cleisthenes come on the sixtieth day, or before
+it if he will, to the city of Sicyon, for Cleisthenes will determine
+in the space of a year, beginning with the sixtieth day, to whom he
+should give his daughter in marriage.” To Cleisthenes therefore came
+so many of the Greeks as thought much of themselves or of their house;
+and he had prepared a course for foot-racing and a wrestling ground
+to make trial of them. From Italy came Smindyrides of Sybaris, that
+was the most luxurious liver of all the men of his day. And those
+were the times when the city of Sybaris was at the very height of its
+prosperity. And from Ætolia there came Males brother of Titormus.
+This Titormus excelled all men in strength. He it was that seeking
+to withdraw himself altogether from the sight of men fled into the
+furthest parts of Ætolia. There came also Leocedes, son of Pheidon,
+that was lord of Argos. This was that Pheidon who brought in the
+weights and measures that the dwellers in Peloponnese use. No man was
+more arrogant than he. He drove out the men of Elis from being masters
+of the festivals of Olympia and was master himself. Also among the
+suitors was Laphanes the Arcadian, the son of Euphorion, who, so say
+the Arcadians, received in his house the Twin-Brethren, and ever after
+used hospitality to all comers. From Athens there came Hippoclides, the
+son of Tisander, who excelled all the Athenians in riches and beauty;
+and also Megacles, being son to that Alcmæon whom King Crœsus had made
+rich. These and others also came to Sicyon as suitors for Agarista on
+the sixtieth day, as had been appointed. Then Cleisthenes first of all
+inquired of each his country and his father’s house; and afterwards,
+for the space of a whole year, made trial of their courage and their
+temper and their training and their behavior, having converse with them
+sometimes one by one and sometimes altogether. Such as were younger
+among them he would send to the place of games; but chiefly he made
+trial of all at the banqueting table. Thus he behaved himself with
+them for the space of a whole year entertaining them right splendidly
+the whole year. And of all the suitors none pleased him so well as the
+two that came from Athens, and of these two he inclined the rather to
+Hippoclides, not only for his high carriage, but also because he was of
+kin to the house of Cypselus that had had the lordship of Corinth.
+
+When the day came for the espousals, and for Cleisthenes to declare
+his mind whom he chose out of the suitors for his daughter’s husband,
+he sacrificed a hundred oxen and made a great feast to the suitors
+and to all the people of Sicyon. And after the feast the suitors
+contended with each other in music and in speaking on some subject
+that was proposed to them. And as the drinking went on, Hippoclides,
+all the others wondering much at him, bade the flute-player play
+music to him; and when the flute-player did so, he danced. And in
+this dancing he pleased himself marvelously, but Cleisthenes looked
+askance on the whole business. Again, after resting awhile, Hippoclides
+bade them bring a table; and when the table was brought, he mounted
+upon it, and danced, first certain Spartan figures, and then certain
+Athenian; and at the last, with his head upon the table, he began to
+toss his legs about in the air. During the first dancing, and during
+the second, Cleisthenes held his peace, not wishing to break out upon
+the man, though indeed he loathed to think of having Hippoclides for
+a son-in-law, so much did he hate the man’s passion for dancing and
+his shamelessness. But when he saw him tossing his legs in the air he
+could restrain himself no longer, but cried aloud: “Son of Tisander,
+thou hast danced away thy wife!” And the young man said: “Hippoclides
+does not care!” which words have become a proverb among the Greeks.
+After this Cleisthenes commanded silence, and spake thus in the midst
+of the suitors: “My friends that are come to be suitors of my daughter,
+I am well pleased with all of you, and gladly would I content you all,
+if it were possible, and not choose out one from among you and reject
+the rest. But this, seeing that I have to dispose of a single maiden in
+marriage, I cannot do. To you therefore who are disappointed in your
+suit I give a gift, a talent of silver to each man, because ye have
+done me honor in seeking to take a wife from my house, and because
+ye have been at charge, living away from your homes. But my daughter
+Agarista I betroth to Megacles, the son of Alcmæon, after the custom
+of the land of Attica.” And when Megacles had also plighted his troth,
+the marriage was made. Thus did the house of Alcmæon become famous
+throughout the land of Greece. To these two, Megacles and Agarista,
+was born Cleisthenes, the same that divided the Athenians into tribes
+and set up also the rule of the people. This name he had from his
+grandfather of Sicyon. Also there was born another son, Hippocrates,
+and Hippocrates had a son Megacles and a daughter Agarista. This
+Agarista was married to Xanthippus the son of Ariphon; and being with
+child, she had a vision in her sleep, and dreamed that she brought
+forth a lion. Not many days afterwards she bore a son whose name was
+Pericles.
+
+Now shall be told the end of Miltiades. This man, after the battle
+that was fought at Marathon, having been held before in high esteem
+among his countrymen, increased yet more in reputation. This being so,
+he asked of the Athenians seventy ships and an army and money. He told
+them not to what place he purposed to take the ships, saying only that
+if they would hearken to him he would greatly enrich them; for he would
+take them to a land whence they might easily get gold without stint. In
+this way he asked for the ships, and the Athenians, being carried away
+by what they heard, gave him that which he asked for. Then Miltiades,
+having got the ships and the army, sailed to the island of Paros. And
+the cause which he pretended for so doing was that the Parians had
+first made war against Athens, for that they had sent a ship of war
+with the Persians. This cause indeed he pretended; but in truth he had
+a grudge against a certain man of Paros, Lysagoras by name, because
+he had slandered him to Hydarnes the Persian. When Miltiades was come
+to Paros, the Parians took refuge within their walls; and a siege was
+begun. Then he sent a herald to the city, and demanded of the Parians
+a hundred talents, saying that he would not take his army thence till
+he had destroyed them, if they would not pay the money. Now the Parians
+had no thought of paying the money to Miltiades; but they did their
+utmost to strengthen their city against him, contriving many devices,
+among which was this, that where the wall was weakest there they built
+it up to twice the height that it had before.
+
+So far in the story are the Greeks agreed. But what happened after this
+is thus told by the men of Paros. To Miltiades, being in great straits,
+there came a woman that was a priestess, a Parian by birth, whose name
+was Timo; and she was a priestess of the lower gods, but one of the
+meaner sort. This woman came to Miltiades and said to him: “If thou
+hast set thy mind on taking Paros, do what I shall tell thee and thou
+shalt have thy wish.” And when she had unfolded to him her counsel,
+he went to the hill that is before the city and leaped over the fence
+that is about the precinct of Demeter the Lawgiver, for the door he
+was not able to open. And after leaping over the fence, he went to the
+sanctuary; and what he purposed to do therein, whether to move any of
+the things that may not be touched, or any other thing, no man can say;
+but when he was come to the door there fell suddenly upon him a great
+horror, so that he went back by the way by which he had come. But
+as he leaped over the fence he strained his thigh, or, as some say, he
+bruised his knee upon the ground.
+
+After this Miltiades, being in evil case, went back to Athens, but he
+brought the people no money, neither had he conquered Paros for them.
+Only he had besieged the city for twenty and six days, and had laid
+waste the island. And when the men of Paros knew of the priestess,
+that she had led Miltiades into the temple, so soon as the siege was
+at an end they sent worshippers to Delphi who should inquire whether
+they should not slay the priestess that had meditated the betraying
+of the country, and had caused Miltiades to see the holy things which
+it is not lawful for any man to behold. But the Pythia answered: “Slay
+her not; for it was the will of the Gods that Miltiades should come to
+an evil end, and this woman led him unto the same.” As for Miltiades,
+when he was come back to Athens the Athenians had much talk about him;
+and the chief of his enemies was Xanthippus. This man brought him to
+trial for his life before the people, whom, he said, he had deceived.
+And Miltiades, though he was present at his trial, could not plead for
+himself because his thigh was sorely diseased, but lay there upon a
+couch, while his friends pleaded earnestly on his behalf, saying much
+about the battle of Marathon and how he had taken the island of Lemnos.
+And the favor of the people was with him, so that they did not take
+away his life; yet was he condemned for his wrong-doing in a fine of
+fifty talents. After this Miltiades died in his prison, for the bone of
+his thigh had splintered, and the flesh was mortified. And the fine was
+paid by Cimon his son.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+HOW PREPARATION WAS MADE FOR THE SECOND WAR AGAINST THE GREEKS.
+
+
+When King Darius heard tidings of the battle at Marathon, his wrath,
+which was already hot against the Athenians by reason of their doings
+at Sardis, waxed yet more fierce, so that he was more earnest than ever
+to make war against Greece. And straightway he sent messengers to all
+the cities in his dominions, bidding them gather together soldiers--and
+of these many more than he had commanded before--and with these, ships
+and horsemen and food and vessels of transport. And for the space of
+three years after these commands had been given, all Asia was in an
+uproar, seeing that the bravest of her children were being chosen to
+march against the Greeks, and were making ready to go. But in the
+fourth year the Egyptians, who had been enslaved by Cambyses, revolted.
+Then was Darius more zealous than before to march both against the
+Athenians and the Egyptians. But while he was making ready so to do,
+there came a great disputing among his sons who should be King after
+him; for the law of the Persians is that the King declares who shall
+reign after him before he goes to the war. Now Darius had had three
+sons born to him by his wife the daughter of Gobryas; and these were
+born before that he was made King: and after that he was made King he
+had four others born to him of Atossa that was the daughter of Cyrus.
+Of the first three Artabazanes was the eldest, and of the four Xerxes.
+These disputed among themselves, and Artabazanes claimed the kingdom
+because he was the eldest of all, and because it was the custom over
+all the world that the eldest should have the pre-eminence; but Xerxes
+claimed it because his mother was daughter to Cyrus, and it was Cyrus
+that had established the kingdom of the Persians. Now while Darius
+doubted about the matter, there came up to Susa Demaratus the son of
+Ariston. The same had been deprived of his kingdom in Sparta and had
+fled from the city. When this man knew what it was that the sons of
+Darius disputed about, he came forward, according to report, and gave
+counsel to Xerxes that over and above the words that he had said he
+should say also this, that he had been born when Darius was already
+King and had dominion over all the Persians, but that Darius was a
+subject only when Artabazanes was born. “And indeed at Sparta,” said
+Demaratus, “the law is this, that if a king have children that are born
+before he be made King, and also a child that is born after, then he
+that is born after is preferred.” Of these words of Demaratus Xerxes
+made such use that King Darius declared that he should be King in his
+room. But in the year after it so befell that while he was preparing to
+make war both against the Greeks and against the Egyptians, King Darius
+died, having reigned over the Persians thirty and six years in all;
+and Xerxes his son reigned in his stead. Now at the first Xerxes by no
+means desired to make war against the Greeks, but against the Egyptians
+he made great preparations. Then said Mardonius the son of Gobryas, who
+was cousin to the King, being sister’s son to King Darius, “My lord, it
+is by no means fitting that the Athenians, seeing that they have done
+grievous wrong to the Persians, should thus go unpunished. Do therefore
+first the thing that thou hast now in hand, and when thou hast humbled
+the Egyptians go forth against the Greeks. So shalt thou have great
+renown throughout the world, and men shall fear hereafter to trouble
+thy land.” And besides thus speaking of vengeance, Mardonius would
+also add that Europe was a very beautiful land, bearing all manner of
+fruitful trees, and of an excellent fertility, and altogether such that
+no man but the King was worthy to possess it. All this he said because
+he was a lover of change and adventure; also he hoped to be made ruler
+over the land of Greece. And at last he had his way, persuading Xerxes
+to take the matter in hand. There were other things that helped him
+persuading Xerxes to this act. First there came envoys from the house
+of Aleuas, that was King in Thessaly, who would fain have the King come
+against the land of Greece, and showed all zeal in his cause. Also
+certain of the house of Pisistratus that had come up to Susa held the
+same language. These had with them one Onomacritus, a man of Athens,
+that was a soothsayer, and one that had set in order the prophecies
+of Musæus. Once, indeed, there had been enmity between the son of
+Pisistratus and this Onomacritus; for Hipparchus had banished him from
+Athens, having found that he had added to the prophecies of Musæus a
+certain prophecy how that an island which lies near unto Lemnos should
+one day be swallowed up in the sea. A certain Leros had found him out
+in this, and Hipparchus banished him, having been wont to consult him
+continually. But now the sons of Pisistratus were reconciled to him,
+and took him in their company to Susa, and talked much of him and of
+his wisdom. And so soon as he was brought before the King, he repeated
+to him certain of the prophecies. If there were any prophecy that spake
+of disaster to the Persians, of this he would make no mention, but such
+as seemed to promise them success he would set forth, how that it was
+in the fates that a Persian should bridge over the Hellespont. Thus did
+Onomacritus make much of his prophecies, and the sons of Pisistratus
+and the sons of Aleuas set forth their opinions to the same purpose.
+
+So King Xerxes was persuaded to make war upon the Greeks. And first,
+in the second year after the death of Darius, he marched into the
+land of Egypt, and having enslaved it more than it had been enslaved
+before, he gave it over to Achæmenes his brother, and son to Darius.
+(This Achæmenes was afterward slain by Inaros, the son of Psammeticus,
+a Nubian.) And after this, being now about to lead his army against
+Athens, he called an assembly of the noblest of the Persians, that he
+might hear what they thought, and might himself say what he would
+have them hear. And when they were gathered together he spake, saying,
+“There is a custom, which, indeed, I did not first establish, but
+received it from the kings before me, that we Persians have never
+rested since the day when we took this kingdom from the Medes. So the
+Gods will have it, and in so doing have we greatly prospered. What
+nations Cyrus and Cambyses and Darius my father subdued ye know well.
+And since I came to this kingdom I have studied how I might show myself
+to be not behind them, and might not the less increase our Empire.
+And now I will set before you what I purpose. I will bridge over the
+Hellespont and cross into Europe that I may avenge my father and this
+nation upon the Athenians for all the wrong that they have done,
+burning their city with fire. Nor shall we get vengeance only, but
+this good also, that conquering the Athenians and their neighbors that
+dwell in the island of Pelops, we shall have the whole earth subject
+to us, for I take it that when these Greeks have been subdued there is
+no city or nation that shall be able to stand against us. This then
+is my judgment, but I would have you say what is your minds. Speak,
+therefore.”
+
+Then spake Mardonius: “O my lord, thou showest thyself to be the
+noblest of the Persians, not of those only that have been in former
+times, but also of all that shall be hereafter, when thou settest forth
+such good counsels in such excellent words. Surely it is not well that
+these men of Ionia should laugh at us and go unpunished, and that
+when we have subdued Indians and Assyrians and Ethiopians, not because
+they had done us wrong, but because we would enlarge our borders, we
+should leave these Greeks unharmed after that they have done us wrongs
+grievous and many. And that we may easily vanquish them, I doubt not at
+all. For I myself, at the bidding of my father Darius, marched against
+them, and went so far as the land of Macedonia, and indeed had come to
+the city of Athens itself, nor did I find any that dared meet me in
+battle. And yet, as I hear, these Greeks are wont to fight in a most
+foolish and ignorant fashion. For when they have declared war against
+one another, then they choose out the fairest and smoothest plot that
+they can find, and come down to this, and so fight that they who have
+the better in the battle yet depart not without great loss; as for them
+that are worsted there is nothing to be said, for they are utterly
+destroyed. For why, seeing that they are all of them one language, do
+they not send heralds and messengers and so compose their differences
+peaceably, rather than settle them by fighting? And, if they must needs
+fight, why do they not make the best each of them of that which they
+have, and so join in battle? And yet, notwithstanding this their folly,
+when I marched so far as Macedonia, not one of them dared to meet me.
+And now, O King, who will stand up against thee when thou bringest with
+thee all the warriors out of the land of Asia and the ships also? And
+if they be so mad as to stand, then shall they learn that we Persians
+are the greatest warriors on the face of the earth.”
+
+When Mardonius had thus spoken all the other Persians kept silence;
+but at the last Artabanus, the son of Hystaspes, being uncle to King
+Xerxes, and so taking courage to speak, put forth a contrary opinion
+in these words: “O King, if there be not set forth opinions that are
+contrary the one to the other, thou canst not choose the better, but
+must follow the one which thou hearest. For it is with opinions as it
+is with gold. Pure gold we know not so long as it is left by itself,
+but when we rub it against that which is not pure, then we know it.
+I counseled thy father Darius that he should not make war on the
+Scythians, men that have no city to dwell in; but he, thinking to
+subdue them, would not hearken to me, but marched against them, and
+lost many and brave soldiers. And now thou hast it in thy heart to
+make war against men that are far better than the Scythians, being
+mighty both by sea and land. Hear, therefore, into what danger thou art
+moving. Thou wilt bridge over the Hellespont, and march into the land
+of Greece. Suppose that thou suffer defeat whether it be by sea or by
+land, or, haply, by both, for the men are valiant (and, indeed, what
+they can do we know full well, for Datis and Artaphernes, when they led
+a mighty host into Attica, the Athenians alone defeated). But suppose
+they get the mastery by sea only, and so, sailing to the Hellespont,
+break down the bridge. This surely, O King, would be a terrible thing.
+Nor is this thing that I say of my own devising. For thy father Darius
+bridged over the Thracian Bosphorus and the Danube, and so marched
+against the Scythians. And when the Scythians used all manner of
+entreaties to the Ionians, to whom indeed the King had entrusted the
+charge of the bridge, if Histiæus of Miletus had followed the judgment
+of the other lords of the Ionians in this and had set himself against
+us, then had the power of the Persians been utterly destroyed. Surely
+it is a dreadful thing even to speak of, that the fortunes of the King
+should have rested upon the will of one man. Put away, therefore, O
+King, I beseech thee, this thy purpose to run without any need into
+this great danger, and hearken unto me. Break up this council and think
+over this matter in thine heart, and afterward declare unto us thy
+purpose, and remember this also, that God smites with his thunder such
+creatures as are tall and strong, passing by them that are smaller and
+weaker, and that it is on the tallest houses and trees that his bolts
+for the most part fall. For he is wont to bring down all high things.
+So otherwise a very great host is often put to flight by a few men, God
+sending upon it some storm or panic, for he will not suffer any but
+himself to have high thoughts. And as to thee, Mardonius, thou doest
+ill, speaking lightly against the Greeks, and persuading the King to
+head his army against them; for this thou manifestly wishest. God grant
+that thou succeed not in thy purpose. But if it must needs be that we
+march against the Greeks, then at the least let the King remain here
+safe at home. And let us make this wager between ourselves. Choose out
+for thyself such men as thou wilt have, and take with thee an army so
+great as thou desirest, and if things go as thou sayest that they will,
+according to the pleasure of the King, then let my children be slain,
+and I also with them. But if things go not so, then shall thy children
+be slain, and thou also with them, if indeed thou shalt ever come back.
+But if thou shalt not take this wager, and wilt still march against
+the Greeks, then am I sure that they who are left in this land will
+hear that Mardonius has perished, having first worked great harm to the
+Persians, and lies torn by dogs and birds in the land of the Athenians,
+or, it may be, of the Lacedæmonians, having so learned what manner of
+men they are against whom thou persuadest the King to make war.”
+
+When Artabanus had thus spoken, Xerxes was very wroth, and cried,
+“Artabanus, thou art brother to my father, and this kinship shall save
+thee, so that thou shalt not receive the due reward of thy folly.
+Nevertheless, this disgrace I ordain for thee, for thy evil-mindedness
+and cowardice; thou shalt not march with me against this land of
+Greece, but shalt remain here with the women, and I without thee
+will accomplish that I have said. For let me not be said to be the
+son of Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsemes, the son of
+Ariaramness, the son of Teispes, the son of Cyrus, the son of Cambyses,
+the son of Teispes, the son of Achæmenes, if I avenge not myself on
+these Athenians. Verily I believe that if I do not so they will come
+against this land, so bold have they shown themselves in time past, so
+that if we subdue them not, then will they subdue us, for indeed there
+is nothing between these two things. Rightly then shall I make war
+against these men, and so learn what is this great danger that lies in
+dealing with them, for are they not the same whom Pelops the Phrygian,
+that was servant to the kings my fathers, subdued so utterly, that
+their land is called the Island of Pelops to this day?”
+
+But when it was night the King was much troubled by the words of
+Artabanus; and taking counsel with himself, he judged that it would
+not be well to make war against the Greeks, and so fell asleep. But in
+the night, so say the Persians, he saw a vision. There stood over him
+a man tall and fair, who spake to him, saying, “Man of Persia, dost
+thou then change thy purpose so that after bidding the Persians gather
+together a great army, now thou wilt not lead it against the Greeks?
+Thou dost not well so to change. Go rather on the way whereon thou hast
+set out.” When the man had said so much he vanished out of the King’s
+sight. But when the day dawned Xerxes made no account of the vision
+that he had seen, but called together the Persians, as he had done the
+day before, and spake to them, saying, “Forgive me, men of Persia, if
+I change the purpose that I had yesterday; for I am not yet grown to
+the full height of my understanding, and they that give me this counsel
+cease not urging me. When therefore I heard the words of Artabanus the
+spirit of youth grew hot within me, and I spake to him such words as I
+should not have spoken, seeing that he is an old man. But now I confess
+my fault and yield myself to his judgment. Rest therefore in peace,
+knowing that I have changed my purpose, and will not make war against
+the Greeks.”
+
+When the Persians heard these words they rejoiced greatly and worshiped
+the King. But when it was night there came again the same vision to
+Xerxes, and stood over him, and spake, saying, “Son of Darius, thou
+hast declared thyself openly before all the Persians, changing thy
+purpose about this expedition, and taking no account of my words. Know
+this, therefore, that if thou do not go straightway on this journey,
+there shall rise out of the matter this ending. As thou didst become in
+a short space great and the lord of many men, so shalt thou in a short
+space be brought low.”
+
+When Xerxes heard these words he was much dismayed, and leaped up from
+his bed and sent a messenger to call Artabanus. And when he was come,
+Xerxes said to him, “Artabanus, I was not well advised, speaking to
+thee unseemly words when thou hadst given me good counsel. But in a
+short time I repented me purposing to do the things which thou didst
+counsel me. But though this is my purpose, I am not able to follow it;
+for now that I am changed and have repented of my folly, there appears
+to me a vision haunting me, and in nowise consenting to my resolve. And
+even now it has threatened me and departed. If therefore it be God that
+sends this vision to me, and if it be altogether according to his will
+that I should make this expedition against Greece, then the same vision
+will come to thee, and command thee the same things that it commanded
+me. And this, I think, will most surely happen if thou wilt take all my
+royal apparel and put it on thee, and so sit on my seat, and afterward
+sleep in my bed.”
+
+This at the first Artabanus was loth to do, but at the last moment
+consented to it. But first he spake to the King, saying, “When thou
+didst reproach me, O King, this troubled me not, but rather to see that
+when there were set before the Persians two counsels, whereof the one
+tended to increase their pride, and the other to prudence, thou didst
+choose the worse. And now that thou hast turned to wiser counsels thou
+sayest that there came a vision that will not suffer thee to cease from
+this purpose of war, and that it comes by the sending of a god. Now
+as to dreams and visions, know that there is nothing divine in them,
+but that they wander about at random. For I am much older than thou,
+and know more of such things. Now men are wont to dream of such things
+as they have been concerned with in the day; and we have been much
+concerned with this matter of the war. But if this vision be not such
+as I think, but rather as thou sayest, of the sending of a god, then
+will it appear and lay its commands upon me even as it did upon thee;
+nor should it appear to me at all the more because I wear thy clothing
+or sit upon thy seat. For this thing, whatever it be, that thou seest
+in thy dreams can not be so foolish as to think that I am thou,
+because I wear thy clothing. Now if it takes no heed of me, and still
+appear to thee saying the same things, then shall I myself judge it to
+be of God. For the rest, if it be thy purpose that I wear thy apparel,
+and sleep in thy bed, be it so; let the vision appear to me. But for
+the present I hold to my own opinion.”
+
+So much said Artabanus, hoping to persuade Xerxes that the thing was
+naught. He put on the King’s apparel, and sat on his throne, and
+afterward lay down to sleep in his bed. And when he was asleep there
+came to him the same vision that had come to Xerxes, and stood over him
+and spake, saying, “Thou art he that persuadeth Xerxes not to make war
+against the Greeks, having, thou sayest, a care for him. Verily thou
+shalt not go unpunished, either now or hereafter, seeking to hinder
+that which it is the purpose of God to bring to pass. And as for what
+Xerxes shall suffer if he be disobedient in this matter, it has been
+declared to him already.”
+
+When the vision had thus spoken it seemed to Artabanus to make as if it
+were about to burn out his eyes with hot irons. Then he cried aloud,
+and leaped up from the bed, and sat him down by Xerxes and told him all
+that he had seen. And afterward he said to the King, “I am one, O King,
+that has seen strong things overthrown by the weak, and so I would not
+have thee yield to thy desires, knowing that it was an evil thing to
+covet great possessions, and remembering how ill Cyrus fared when he
+made war against the Massagetæ, and Cambyses against the Ethiopians,
+and having myself gone with Darius against the Scythians. But now since
+this inspiration comes from God, who is preparing, it seems, utter
+destruction against the Greeks, I change my counsel. Do thou therefore
+declare to the Persians the purpose of God, and take good care that if
+God give thee this opportunity, thou shalt not fail any thing on thy
+part.”
+
+So soon therefore as it was day Xerxes told the whole matter to the
+Persians, and Artabanus, who had been the only one to speak against the
+war, was now the foremost in urging it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+OF THE SETTING FORTH OF XERXES.
+
+
+For the space of four years from the subduing of Egypt did the servants
+of King Xerxes gather together the host and all such things as were
+needful for it. And in the beginning of the fifth year the King set out
+upon his march, having such an army as had never before been seen. For
+indeed that which Darius led against the Scythians was as nothing in
+comparison of this, neither was that wherewith the Scythians invaded
+the land of Asia, and subdued the northern parts thereof (this was
+the cause why Darius invaded the land of the Scythians), nor that
+which the sons of Atreus led against Troy, nor that of the Mysians and
+Teucrians, who, in the days before the Trojan war, conquered the land
+of Thrace, and came as far as the river Peneus that is in the land of
+Thessaly. Not one of these armies is worthy to be compared with the
+army of Xerxes. For what people of Asia did he not lead against Greece?
+And what stream, saving only the great rivers, was not drunk up by his
+armies? Some were bidden to furnish foot soldiers, and some horsemen,
+and some ships for carrying of horses and men at arms, and some ships
+of war for the bridges, and others food and ships. First of all, seeing
+that they who had first sailed against Greece had suffered great loss
+at Mount Athos, Xerxes caused that there should be a fleet of ships of
+war at Elæus, and that men from the ships, taking turn by turn, should
+dig a great trench, digging under the lash of taskmasters, in which
+work the people of the country also took their part.
+
+Now this Athos is a great and famous mountain, that stretches out
+into the sea, and the land by which it is joined to the continent is
+narrow, being of the breadth of a mile and a half. Across this Xerxes
+would have them dig a trench. And the men dug it after this fashion. A
+line was drawn across by city Sane, and the nations divided the work
+among themselves. When the trench was now deep, some stood below and
+dug, and others handed up the earth to men that stood on ladders, and
+these again to others, till it was brought to the top, and so carried
+away. The greater part had double trouble with the digging, the sides
+breaking away continually; nor indeed could it have been otherwise,
+seeing that they made the measure of the top and the measure of the
+bottom to be the same. But with the Phœnicians it was not so, for they
+showed their wisdom in this as they commonly do in other things. When
+they had had their part allotted to them, they made their digging at
+the top twice as broad as was needed for the trench; but as they went
+down they made it narrower, till at the bottom it was of the same width
+as the rest. Near to the trench was a plain wherein there was a market
+and a place for buying and selling; and much corn, ready ground, was
+brought to the place from Asia.
+
+This work, it would seem, Xerxes did from pride, wishing to show his
+might, and to leave a memorial of himself. For when he might without
+trouble have had his ships drawn across the isthmus, he commanded that
+a trench should be made from one sea to the other, and this of such a
+breadth that two ships of war could pass. And he also commanded them
+that had the business of digging this trench that they should build a
+bridge over the river Strymon. Other preparations also were made, ropes
+of papyrus and of white flax for the bridges, and stores of food for
+the army and for the beasts of burden.
+
+The place of gathering for the armies was Critalla in Cappadocia.
+Setting out thence, it marched through the land of Phrygia to the city
+of Celænæ, which is on the river Mæander. Here in the market-place is
+hung out the skin of Marsyas the Satyr, whom Apollo flayed, when he had
+vanquished him in a conquest of singing.
+
+In this city there dwelt a certain Pythius, the son of Atys, a Lydian.
+This man entertained Xerxes and his whole army with very great
+hospitality, and said also that he was willing to give him money for
+the war. And when the King heard this talk of money, he asked them that
+stood by, saying, “Who is this Pythius, and what wealth has he that he
+makes such promises?” And they said, “O King, this is the man that gave
+the golden plane-tree to King Darius thy father, and the vine also; and
+he surpasses all men there are in wealth, thou only being excepted, O
+King.” At the last words Xerxes marveled much; and he called Pythius
+and asked him, saying, “What is the sum of thy wealth?” And Pythius
+made answer, “I will hide nothing from thee, nor will I make any
+pretense that I do not know the sum of my substance. I know it, and
+will declare it truly to you. So soon as I knew that you were purposing
+to come down with your army to the sea of the Greeks, because I wished
+to furnish you with some money for the war, I reckoned up all that
+belongs to me, and found that I have two thousand talents of silver and
+four millions of gold darics, wanting seven thousand only. All this I
+willingly give thee for a gift; and I shall still have sufficient from
+my fields and from my slaves.”
+
+These words pleased King Xerxes much, and he said, “Since I came out
+from the laud of Persia I have not found a man who was willing to give
+entertainment to my whole army, and also to furnish money for the war,
+saving thee only. But thou hast entertained my army in royal fashion,
+and now makest offer of much money. Now for all this I will make thee
+this return. First of all thou shalt be my friend from this time forth,
+and thy four millions of darics I will complete out of my own treasury,
+giving thee the seven thousand that thou lackest, that the tale may
+be completed. Do thou therefore keep for thyself that which thou hast
+gained. And remember to be such always as thou hast shown thyself
+to-day, for he that doeth such things will in no wise repent himself
+of them either now or in the time to come.”
+
+When he had said this, and had made good his promises, he went on his
+way. And he came to Colossæ, a great city of Phrygia, where the river
+Lycus entering a great gulf flows for five furlongs under the earth,
+and from Colossæ to Cydrara, where King Crœsus had set up a pillar to
+mark the boundaries of Lydia. After this he saw a plane-tree which was
+so fair that for the sake of its beauty he gave it ornaments of gold,
+and appointed one of the Immortals to have the charge of it. So he came
+to the city of Sardis.
+
+Being arrived at this city he straightway sent heralds to Greece who
+should ask for earth and water, as tokens that they gave themselves and
+their country to the King. To Athens, indeed, and to Sparta he sent
+not, but to all other cities he sent, for he thought that they who had
+refused to give them on the sending of King Darius would now give them
+for fear of his host.
+
+Now the cause why he sent not heralds to Athens and Sparta was this,
+that these cities had dealt evilly with the heralds which King Darius
+had sent on this errand, the Athenians throwing them down into the pit,
+which is the place of punishment for such as are appointed to die, and
+the Spartans casting them into a well and bidding them take earth and
+water for themselves. What ill thing befell the Athenians by reason of
+their having dealt so unrighteously with the heralds it is not possible
+to discern, unless indeed it be that their city and country were laid
+waste; but for this laying waste there was doubtless another cause.
+But on the Spartans there came trouble from the wrath of Talthybius,
+the same that was herald to King Agamemnon. (There is a temple of this
+Talthybius in Sparta, and when there is any sending of heralds from
+Sparta, his descendants, who are called the sons of Talthybius, are
+sent.) After the doing of this deed the Spartans found no good tokens
+in their sacrifices. And when this had been so for many days, the
+Spartans were much troubled, and called many assemblies of the people
+about this matter. At the last they made proclamation inquiring whether
+any Spartan were willing to die for his country. Whereupon two men,
+Sperthias the son of Aneristus, and Bulis the son of Nicolaus, nobles
+both of them, and than whom there were none more wealthy in Sparta,
+of their own free-will offered themselves as an offering of atonement
+to Xerxes, and the Spartans sent them to the Persians as men that
+were doomed to die. In their journey to Susa they came to Hydarnes.
+This Hydarnes was a Persian, and governor of all them that dwelt on
+the sea-coast of Asia. This man showed them hospitality; and as they
+sat at the banquet, he said to them, “Men of Sparta, why are you not
+willing to be friends with the King? Ye see that the King knows how to
+honor good men, for consider me and my fortune. And ye also, if you
+would give yourselves to the King--for the King knows that ye are good
+men--would be rulers of the land of Greece by the King’s favor.” To
+this the men answered, “Thy counsel, Hydarnes, is not the counsel of
+one that knows the whole matter. Thou knowest indeed what it is to be a
+slave, but of freedom thou hast never made trial, whether it be sweet
+or no. Surely if thou hadst made such trial thou wouldst counsel us to
+fight for it, not with the spear only, but also with the battle-axe.”
+
+Such was the answer which the men made to Hydarnes. After this they
+went unto Susa, and came before the King. And when the guards would
+have had them fall down before the King and do obeisance, these two
+Spartans refused. “We will not do it,” said they; “no, not if ye thrust
+our heads down to the ground, for it is not our custom to fall down
+before any man, neither are we come hither for any such thing.” In this
+manner they escaped the doing such obeisance. Afterward they spake to
+the King, saying, “King of the Medes, the Lacedæmonians have sent us to
+make atonement for thy heralds that were slain in Sparta.” But Xerxes,
+for greatness of heart, would not take such atonement. “The Spartans,”
+he said, “when they do such things overthrow all law and justice among
+men; but I will not make myself like unto them. I will neither do the
+thing for the doing of which I reproach them, nor will I loose them
+from their guilt by slaying the men that they have sent to me.”
+
+By these means the anger of Talthybius was staid awhile, and this
+though Sperthias and Bulis came back safe to Sparta. Nevertheless many
+years afterward it fell on the Spartans, as they themselves say, in
+the great war that was waged between them and the Athenians. That this
+wrath should fall on envoys of the Spartans, and should not cease till
+it was satisfied, seems to be just; but that the men on whom it fell
+should be children of these same two that were sent to the King at
+Susa, this is passing strange. Yet so it fell out. For Nicolaüs the
+son of Bulis, and Aneristus the son of Sperthias, having been sent as
+ambassadors to Asia, were betrayed by Sitalces, King of Thrace, to the
+Athenians, and being carried to Attica, there perished, and with them
+Aristeas of Corinth. These things came to pass many years after the
+expedition of King Xerxes.
+
+When the messengers, then, had been sent to the cities of the Greeks,
+the King prepared to march to Abydos, purposing to pass over thence
+into Europe.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+OF THE MARCH OF XERXES.
+
+
+While Xerxes tarried at Sardis, they that were appointed to this
+business made a bridge over the Hellespont, from Abydos to a certain
+rocky land that runs out into the sea on the other side, the space
+between being seven furlongs. One line the Phœnicians made with cables
+of white flax, and the other the Egyptians, with cables of papyrus.
+But when the work was finished there arose a great storm and brake it
+all to pieces. So soon as Xerxes heard what had befallen, he was very
+wroth, and commanded that they should lay three hundred lashes of the
+whip upon the Hellespont, and should also throw into the sea a pair
+of fetters. It has been said that he even sent branders to brand the
+Hellespont. Certainly he commanded them that laid the stripes on the
+water to say therewith barbarous and impious words: “O evil water, thy
+master putteth this punishment on thee because thou hast worked him
+harm that had worked no harm to thee. Know that King Xerxes will cross
+thee whether thou will or no. Rightly doth no man offer sacrifice to
+thee, deceitful and salt river as thou art.” This punishment he bade
+them put upon the sea, and he cut off the heads of them that were set
+over the making of the bridge. Then they that had this thankless
+office put upon them fulfilled their task; and afterward other builders
+set about the work and accomplished it. They joined together ships of
+war, three hundred and sixty on the one side toward the Black Sea, and
+three hundred and fourteen on the other, mooring them with very great
+anchors that they might not be moved by the winds that blow either way.
+And they left three spaces that such as would pass by in light vessels,
+to or from the Black Sea, might do so without let. And when the bridge
+was finished, they made planks of wood of the same breadth as was the
+bridge, and laid them on the top; and on the planks they put brushwood,
+and on the brushwood earth; and when they had trodden this down they
+set up a barrier on either side, that the beasts of burden and the
+horses might not be afraid looking upon the sea.
+
+But when the bridge had been finished, and the trench by Mount Athos,
+and the breakwater about the mouth of the trench--for they had made
+breakwaters by reason of the surf, that the mouth of the trench might
+not be filled up--it was now winter. Xerxes therefore passed the winter
+in Sardis; and when it was spring the army set forth.
+
+On the very day of its setting forth the sun left its place in the
+heavens; and though there were no clouds, but the sky was at its
+clearest, the day was turned into night. When Xerxes saw this he
+was not a little troubled, and asked the Magians what this sight
+might mean. And the Magians made answer that the things signified
+to the Greeks the leaving of their cities; for that the sun was
+the foreteller to the Greeks and the moon to the Persians. But when
+Pythius the Lydian saw this marvel that had happened in the heavens,
+being emboldened by the gifts that he made to the King, he stood
+before Xerxes and said: “O my lord, I pray thee that thou grant me a
+certain thing which is of small account to thee, but to me very much
+to be desired.” And Xerxes, not thinking what he had in his mind, made
+answer, “Speak on and I will do for thee whatsoever thou desirest.”
+When Pythius heard these words he took courage and said, “O my lord,
+I have five sons, and thou art taking them all with thee for this war
+which thou makest against the Greeks. Have pity, therefore, on me, O
+King, remembering my old age, and release from this service one of
+my sons, even the eldest, that he may have me and my possessions in
+charge.” When Xerxes heard this he was very wroth, and made answer,
+“Vile fellow, hast thou dared, even when I am myself going against
+Greece, and bringing with me my sons and my brethren, and my ministers
+and friends, to make mention of thy sons, thou that art my slave, and
+art bound to follow me with thy whole household, and even with thy
+wife? When thou didst well and madest to me offers of good things, thou
+couldst not surpass the King in bounty, and now that thou doest ill,
+thou shalt have less than thy desert. Thy hospitality shall save thee
+and four of thy sons; but the life of him whom thou lovest above the
+rest is the forfeit.” So soon as Xerxes had said this, forthwith he
+gave command to them that had the charge of such things to search out
+the eldest of the sons of Pythius and cut him in twain; and when they
+had cut him in twain to put the two halves one on the right hand of the
+way and the other on the left. And he bade the army pass between the
+two. So the army passed between the two halves. First came they that
+bare the baggage, and the beasts of burden, and after them a great army
+of many nations, without any space between the nations, in all more
+than half of the whole. Then there was left a space between the host
+and the King. Afterward there came a thousand horsemen, chosen out of
+all the Persians, and after the horsemen a thousand spearmen, these too
+being chosen men, bearing their spear-points turned toward the ground,
+and after the spearmen ten horses of Nisa, having very fair trappings.
+These horses came from the plain of Nisa in the land of Media, and are
+very great. Behind the horses came the sacred chariot of Zeus, drawn by
+eight white horses, and after the horses there walked the charioteer on
+foot, holding the reins in his hand, for on the seat of this chariot
+no man may sit. After this came Xerxes himself, on a chariot drawn
+by horses of Nisa, and by his side was a charioteer, Patiramphes the
+son of Otanes. And whenever the wish took him he would change from
+his chariot to a litter. Behind the King came a thousand spearmen,
+the noblest and bravest of the Persians, holding their spears in the
+usual fashion; and after these a thousand chosen horsemen; and after
+the horsemen ten thousand chosen men on foot. A thousand of these had
+golden pomegranates instead of spikes at the shafts of their spears.
+These compassed about the other nine thousand, who had their spears
+with pomegranates of silver. The spearmen that pointed their spears
+to the ground had also pomegranates of gold, and those that came next
+after the King had apples of gold. After the ten thousand that were on
+foot came ten thousand horsemen of the Persians. Behind the horsemen
+was a space of two furlongs, after which came the remainder of the
+host, mingled in one crowd.
+
+As the host passed by Mount Ida there fell upon it a great storm of
+thunder and lightning, and slew many men. After this it came to the
+river Scamander; this was the first of the rivers that failed, being
+drunk up by the army and the horses and the beasts of burden. Here the
+King went up into the citadel of Priam, desiring to see the place; and
+when he had seen and heard every thing he sacrificed a thousand heifers
+to Athene of Troy; and the Magi poured out libations to the heroes.
+That night a panic fell upon the host; and so soon as it was day they
+departed and came to Abydos.
+
+When he was come to Abydos Xerxes greatly desired to see his army. Now
+there had been prepared beforehand for him by the men of Abydos a seat
+of white marble on a hill that was nigh unto the city, for so he had
+bidden them. On this therefore he sat, and looking down upon the shore
+saw his army and his ships. And as he looked upon them he had a desire
+to see a race of ships; and there was made a race, and the Phœnicians
+of Sidon prevailed. Xerxes was greatly delighted with the contest and
+with the sight of his army. For when he saw all the Hellespont covered
+with ships, and all the shores and all the plains of Abydos filled with
+men, he counted himself a happy man. But afterward he wept.
+
+And Artabanus, his uncle, the same that at the first spake boldly to
+the King that he should not make war against the Greeks, when he knew
+that Xerxes wept, went to him, and said, “O King, how different is this
+that thou doest now from that which thou didst but a short time ago?
+For then thou calledest thyself happy, but now thou weepest.” Then
+said the King, “There come upon me of a sudden a thought of pity how
+short is the whole life of man, seeing that of all this great army not
+one shall be alive one hundred years hence.” Then said Artabanus, “We
+men have to endure in life things more piteous than this. For in this
+life, for all its shortness, there is no man so happy but that he will
+wish, and this not once but many times, to die rather than to live.
+For misfortunes come upon us, and diseases harass us, so that life,
+though it be short, yet seems to be overlong, and death, so full of
+trouble is life, to be the best refuge to which a man can fly. For the
+Gods that give us a taste of the sweetness of life, yet are jealous so
+that we may not enjoy it to the full.” To this Xerxes made answer, “Let
+us not so think of human life, though it be such as thou sayest, nor
+keep evil things in our minds when we have good things in our hands.
+But come now tell me, if thou hadst not seen that vision wouldst thou
+have been still of the same opinion, advising me that I should not make
+war against the Greeks?” Artabanus answered, “O King, may the vision
+which we saw be accomplished as we would have it. Yet am I full of
+fear, seeing that there are two things, and these the greatest of all,
+that are against us.” And the King said, “What are these two? Thinkest
+thou that the Greeks will bring against us more men or more ships?”
+Then said Artabanus, “No man that had any understanding could find any
+thing that he might blame either in thy host or thy fleet. Yet are two
+things against us, even the land and the sea. For there is, I suppose,
+no harbor in the sea so great that it could receive all this great
+multitude of ships; and yet we should have not one harbor, but many,
+one after the other, along the whole coast of the land. Seeing then
+that such harbors are not to be found, remember that chances are rulers
+of men rather than men of chances. And if the sea be hostile, much
+more is the land, and not the less so if none seek to withstand thee,
+seeing that the further thou shalt go the greater will be the danger
+of famine. This I say thinking it best for men to fear all things when
+they take counsel, and to fear nothing when they are in action.”
+
+Then said the King, “What thou sayest, Artabanus, thou sayest not
+without reason. Yet if a man will always look to all chances that
+may happen he will never accomplish great deeds. Thou seest to what
+greatness this realm of Persia has grown. Yet if the kings that were
+before me had followed such counsel as thine it had never grown in such
+a fashion. Not without peril did they attain this glory, for great
+things are achieved by great dangers. We therefore follow in their
+steps, and having now set forth in the fairest season of the year, will
+return safe, when we have subdued all Europe; neither shall we meet
+with famine nor any evil thing whatsoever. For much food we carry with
+us, and we shall have the food of such nations as we shall subdue. And
+remember that it is against men that till the earth and not against
+wanderers that we go.”
+
+To this Artabanus made answer, “At the least, O King, hearken to one
+counsel which I would give thee. Cyrus the son of Cambyses subdued all
+the Ionians, save the Athenians only. I counsel thee, therefore, that
+thou do not by any means compel these Ionians to fight against their
+fathers. Surely without them we shall be stronger than our enemies. But
+if thou compel them, then must they either do a great wrong in fighting
+against the land that sent them forth, or do a righteous act going over
+from us to our enemies and thereby greatly injuring us.”
+
+To this Xerxes answered, “There is naught, Artabanus, in which thou
+hast gone further from the truth than in this judgment of thine
+concerning the Ionians. Have we not a sure proof of their truth--a
+thing of which both thou and all they that went with King Darius
+against the Scythians are witnesses--that it was in their hands to
+destroy the army of the Persians or to save it alive. And they behaved
+themselves righteously, and did nothing unjust. And besides this, they
+have left their wives and children in our land. Why then should they
+think to rebel against us? But be of good heart; and go, take charge
+of my house and my kingdom. For to thee only of all the Persians do I
+commit my scepter.”
+
+So Xerxes sent Artabanus to Susa. And when he was departed he called
+together the noblest of the Persians, and said to them, “Men of
+Persia, I have called you together that I may bid you bear yourselves
+bravely, and do no shame to the deeds which the Persians in former days
+have wrought, for these have been great and worthy of renown. Do ye
+therefore one and all be zealous in this war, for we seek that which
+concerns us all. And, indeed, I am told that they are good men against
+whom we make war, and that if we conquer them there are none on earth
+who can resist them. And now let us pray to the gods that have rule
+over Persia, and pass over the bridge.”
+
+So all that day they made preparations for the passing over; and the
+next day they waited for the rising of the sun, desiring to see it
+before they should begin to cross. And when the sun was risen, Xerxes,
+pouring drink offerings into the sea from a cup of gold, made his
+prayer with his face turned to the sun, that no misfortune might befall
+him before he should conquer all Europe, even to the uttermost borders.
+And when he had finished praying, he cast the cup into the Hellespont,
+and also a mixing bowl of gold, and a Persian sword which they call
+a cimeter. But whether he cast these things into the sea because he
+would offer them to the sun, or whether he repented him of having laid
+stripes upon the Hellespont and gave these gifts in atonement to the
+sea, can not certainly be known.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+HOW XERXES CROSSED OVER INTO EUROPE, AND OF HIS ARMY.
+
+
+All things being now ready, the host of Xerxes crossed over from Asia
+into Europe, the foot soldiers and the horsemen going over the bridge
+that was toward the Black Sea, and the servants of the army and the
+beasts of burden the bridge that was toward the Ægean. First came the
+Ten Thousand, all of them wearing crowns; and after them came a mixed
+host of all nations. These passed over on the first day; and on the
+next day passed over the horsemen, and they that carried their spears
+turned toward the ground. These also had crowns on their heads. After
+these came the sacred horses and the sacred chariot; and next to these
+Xerxes and the spearmen and the thousand horsemen, and after these the
+rest of the army. And all the ships sailed to the shore over against
+Abydos.
+
+When Xerxes had crossed over, he watched his army crossing over under
+the lash, and this they did without pause or rest for seven days and
+seven nights. It is reported that when Xerxes had passed over a man
+that dwelt in these parts cried out, “O Zeus, why art thou come in the
+likeness of a Persian, and calling thyself Xerxes and not Zeus, with
+the whole race of men following thee, to destroy the Greeks when thou
+couldst have destroyed them without so doing?”
+
+When they had all crossed over there happened a great marvel, of which
+Xerxes took no account, though indeed it was easy to understand. The
+marvel was this, that a mare brought forth a hare. And what was to be
+understood from it was this--that Xerxes was leading against the Greeks
+a great host and splendidly equipped, and yet before many days he would
+come again to the same place as one that fled for life.
+
+Then Xerxes went on his way, the fleet sailing along by the coast.
+And when he came to Doriscus he had a desire to know the number of
+his army. What indeed were the numbers of the several nations can not
+be said; but the number of the whole host was found to be a thousand
+thousand and seven hundred thousands. These were numbered in a way that
+shall now be told. They brought ten thousand men into one place; these
+they placed together as closely as they could, and having done this,
+they drew a circle about them; and when they had done this circle and
+let the ten thousand go, they made a heap about the circle, so high as
+the middle of a man. When they had so done they brought others into the
+place that was thus hedged about till they had filled it. When they had
+numbered the host they set it in order nation by nation.
+
+These nations were many in number. First of all were the Persians,
+wearing turbans on their heads and about their bodies tunics with
+sleeves of divers colors, having iron scales like to the scales of a
+fish. On their legs they had trews, and their shields were of wicker.
+For arms they had short spears and long bows and arrows of reed; also
+they had daggers hanging from their girdles by the right thigh. The
+Medes were accoutered in the same way; and indeed this fashion of armor
+is Median rather than Persian.
+
+The Assyrians had helmets of brass, wrought in a strange fashion. These
+had shields and spears and daggers like to the Egyptians; and besides
+they had clubs of wood with knots of iron and linen corslets.
+
+The Scythians had trews. These carried bows and daggers, and
+battle-axes also. The Indians were clad in cotton, with bows of cane,
+and arrows also of cane pointed with iron. As for the Arabians they
+had long cloaks bound about the waist with girdles, and at their right
+side they carried bows bending backward. They that came from Ethiopia
+were clad in skins of panthers and lions. Their bows were of the stems
+of palm leaves, four cubits and more in length; their arrows were
+small and of reed, having heads of stone for iron. (This same stone is
+used for engraving of seals.) They had spears also, with the horns of
+antelopes made sharp for spear-heads, and knotted clubs also. When they
+were about to go into battle they would paint the one-half of their
+bodies with chalk and the other with vermilion. There were also Eastern
+Ethiopians (these had straight hair, while they of the West had hair
+more woolly than the hair of other men) equipped like to the others,
+but having the scalps of horses on their heads. These they flay off
+with the ears and mane. The ears stand upright and the mane is for a
+crest. For shields they have bucklers made of the skins of cranes.
+
+Many nations came from the Lower Asia, as Phrygians and Paphlagonians,
+and Lydians, these last being clad and armed very much in Greek
+fashion. There were also Mysians (who in old time came forth from
+Lydia, but then dwelt in the Mysian Olympus). These had helmets and
+bucklers and staves of wood with one end hardened in the fire. Also
+the Bithynians came from this land, having before dwelt about the
+Strymon, in Thrace. These had skins of foxes on their heads, and tunics
+with long cloaks of many colors about their bodies, and buskins of
+fawn skins about their legs and feet; and for arms javelins and light
+shields and short daggers.
+
+From these and many other nations of Asia and Africa came the footmen
+of the host. They had captains of tens and of hundreds and of
+thousands and of ten thousands; and over all six generals, Mardonius,
+Tritantæchmes, son of Artabanus, Megabyzus, son of Zopyrus, the same
+that took the city of Babylon for King Darius, and three others.
+
+These six commanded all the footmen save only the Ten Thousand. These
+Ten Thousand were Persians all of them, chosen men. These Hydarnes led,
+and they were called the Immortals, because if any man among them die
+or fall sick, straightway another is chosen into his place, so that
+they are ten thousand always, neither more nor less. Of all the host
+the Persians were the bravest and most splendidly equipped.
+
+The horsemen came from many nations. Among these were the Sagartians,
+a wandering people. These are wont to have no arms either of iron or
+bronze, save only a dirk. But they have lassoes of leathern thongs and
+trust to these. They fight in this fashion. When they go into battle,
+they cast their lassoes having nooses at the end; and that which is
+entangled in the noose they draw toward them, be it man or horse, and
+slay it.
+
+Of the Indians some rode in chariots drawn by wild asses. The Arabians
+rode on camels that were not less swift than horses. These were set
+last in order because the horses could not endure the sight of the
+camels. Of horsemen there were in all eighty thousand.
+
+The number of the ships of war was one thousand and two hundred
+and seven. Of these the Phœnicians furnished three hundred and the
+Egyptians two hundred, and the men of Cyprus one hundred and fifty, and
+the men of Cilicia one hundred. The Ionians and the Æolians and the
+Greeks that dwelt about the Hellespont and the Black Sea furnished two
+hundred and sixty and seven. And on all the ships there were fighting
+men, Persians and Medes and Sacæ. The best of all the ships were the
+Phœnician, and of the Phœnician ships the best they that came from
+Sidon.
+
+As to the names of them that commanded the ships, there is no need to
+tell them. For indeed they were not commanders, but slaves, even as the
+others. But the Persians that commanded were Ariabignes son of Darius,
+and Megabazus, with two others. Of smaller ships and transports and the
+like there were three thousand in all.
+
+One of the generals must needs be mentioned, namely Artemisia, the
+daughter of Lygdamis. She, her husband being dead and her son but a
+lad, had the lordship of her city, even Halicarnassus; and she went
+with Xerxes against Greece, not of necessity, but of her own free will,
+so valiant was she and of so manlike a spirit. She furnished five
+ships to the King, and in all the fleet there were none better, save
+only those of the Sidonians; nor was there one of the allies that gave
+better counsel to the King than did this Artemisia.
+
+When Xerxes had numbered the host and the fleet, and had set them
+in order, it seemed good to him to go through them and see them for
+himself. This therefore he did. First he rode on a chariot, driving
+from nation to nation, and inquiring about each many things; and there
+followed scribes, who wrote down that which was answered. This he did
+till he came to the very end of the footmen and of the horsemen. After
+this he left his chariot and embarked on a ship of Sidon, and sitting
+under a tent of gold sailed along by the prows of the ships, these
+all having been launched and being drawn up about four hundred feet
+from the shore, and the fighting men upon them, some ready armed as
+for battle. The King sailed between the ships and the shore; and the
+scribes followed him and wrote as before.
+
+When he had ended these things he sent for Demaratus, the son of
+Ariston, that had been King in Sparta, and had been banished thence,
+and asked him, saying, “Demaratus, it is my pleasure to ask thee a
+certain question. Thou art a Greek; and as I hear from thee and from
+other of thy people, thou comest of a city that is by no means the
+least or weakest in the land of Greece. Tell me, then, will the Greeks
+abide our coming, and lift a hand against us? For, as it seems to me,
+not all the Greeks, nor all the barbarians of the west, if they were
+gathered together, could stand up against me when I come against them,
+if they were not of one mind. But tell me, what thinkest thou?”
+
+Then said Demaratus, “Shall I answer thee that which is true or that
+which is pleasant?”
+
+The King said, “Speak that which is true. It shall not be the worse for
+thee.”
+
+When Demaratus heard this, he said, “O King, thou biddest me speak
+the truth, so that I may not be found hereafter to have lied unto
+thee. With us Greeks poverty is born and bred; and we have gotten
+for ourselves valor by help of wisdom and law, and by valor we keep
+ourselves both from poverty and from servitude. Now that which I am
+about to say regards the Spartans only, though indeed I honor all the
+Greeks that dwell in the Dorian country. Know then, in the first place,
+that the Spartans will receive no conditions from thee that shall bring
+slavery upon Greece; and in the second, that they will surely come
+forth to meet thee in battle, yea, though all the Greeks besides be on
+thy side. But as to their number there is no need to inquire; for if
+there be a thousand that shall march out to battle, or if there be more
+or less these will surely fight.”
+
+When Xerxes heard this he laughed, and said, “What is this that thou
+hast said, Demaratus? Shall a thousand men fight with a whole army?
+Tell me now. Thou hast been, thou sayest, King of these Spartans. Wilt
+thou then forthwith fight singly with ten men? Yet if all thy nation
+be such as thou sayest, thou being their King shouldst, according to
+your custom, contend against as many again; so that if a common man be
+a match for ten men of my army thou shouldst be a match for twenty. But
+if they that so boast themselves are no bigger or stronger than the
+Greeks that I have seen, thyself, to wit, and others, then is this talk
+but empty words. Consider now the likelihood of the thing. How could
+a thousand, or ten thousand, or even fifty thousand, stand up against
+such an army, the more so if they be free and not under the rule of one
+man? For say that there be five thousand of them, yet shall we have
+more than a thousand to one. If, indeed, they were under the rule of
+one man after our fashion, then might they for fear of him be valiant
+even beyond their nature, and fight few against many, being driven
+thereto by the lash. But being free, and left to choose, they will do
+neither the one nor the other. I verily believe that Greeks could
+scarce stand up in battle against Persians, the number being equal.
+But as to this, that one man can fight against many, we have indeed a
+few such in our army, but a few only, for some of my spearmen would
+not refuse to fight one man against three Greeks. But about this thou
+knowest nothing, and so talkest idly.”
+
+To this Demaratus made answer, “O King, I knew at the beginning that if
+I should speak the truth I should not please thee. But the truth thou
+wouldst have me speak; therefore I told thee the things that concerned
+the Spartans. And yet I love them not, as thou knowest very well,
+seeing that they took from me the place and dignity that came to me
+from my father, and drave me out into banishment, whereas thy father
+Darius received me and gave me sustenance and a home to dwell in; and
+it is not to be believed that a wise man would scorn such kindness, but
+rather that he would cherish it in his heart. For myself I engage not
+to fight with ten men, nor yet with two, nor indeed would I willingly
+fight with one; yet if there should be any necessity or great cause,
+I would gladly fight with any of the men who say they are a match for
+three Greeks. And as for the Spartans, when they fight singly they are
+as good as any men in the world; and when they fight together they are
+better than any. For though they be free, yet are they not wholly free.
+For they have a master over them, even Law, whom they fear more than
+thy people fear thee. Whatsoever this master commands, that they do.
+And he commands them that they turn not their backs in battle, how
+many soever be their enemies, but abide in their place, and conquer or
+die. If thou thinkest that these things that I say are naught, then
+will I hold my peace hereafter. Howbeit, I pray that all things may be
+as thou wouldst have them, O King.”
+
+This was the answer of Demaratus. And the King laughed, and sent him
+away in peace.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+OF THE MARCH OF XERXES.
+
+
+Xerxes made Mascames governor of the fort of Doricus. This man he
+esteemed very highly, sending him gifts every year; and Artaxerxes
+after him sent gifts to the children of Mascames. Nor, indeed, was any
+of the Persian governors held in greater honor, save Boges only. This
+Boges was besieged in Eion that is on the river Strymon by Cimou and
+the Athenians. And though he might have made an agreement with them
+and come out from Eion and returned safe to Asia, he would not, lest
+he should seem to the King to have failed in valor, but held out to
+the last. And when there was no food remaining in the fort, he caused
+a great pile of wood to be built, and slew his children and his wife
+and his concubines and his slaves, and cast them into the fire. After
+this he threw all the gold and silver that was in the fort into the
+river: and last of all he cast himself into the fire. With good cause,
+therefore, do the Persians honor him to this day.
+
+Then Xerxes went on his way from Doricus westward; and whomsoever he
+found he compelled to take service with him. The road by which he went
+the Thracians in after time held in great honor, and did not plow it or
+sow it.
+
+When the King came to Acanthus that is by Mount Athos, and saw what had
+been done with the trench, and knew that the people of Acanthus had
+been very zealous in the work, he sent them a Persian dress for a gift,
+and praised them much. While he tarried here Artachæes, a Persian, and
+of the royal house, who had been set over the digging of the trench,
+fell sick and died. He excelled in stature all the Persians, being but
+five fingers short of five cubits of the royal measure, and his voice
+surpassed that of other men. Wherefore the King was much troubled at
+his death, and buried him with great honor, and all the host made a
+mound over his grave. Afterward the people of Acanthus sacrificed to
+this man as to a hero, being bidden so to do by an oracle.
+
+As for the Greeks that fed the army and entertained Xerxes, they were
+brought to great poverty, so that many of them were driven to forsake
+their homes. For when the people of Thasos, having possessions on the
+mainland, were commanded so to entertain the army of Xerxes, a certain
+Antipater, one of the chiefest of the citizens, having the charge of
+the matter, showed that there were expended on the meal four hundred
+talents of silver. In other cities also they that had this charge
+made the same reckoning. And, indeed, this entertainment was ordered
+many days beforehand, and was a matter of no small preparation. The
+manner of it was this. So soon as they received the commandment from
+the heralds that were sent to give them warning, then the citizens
+set about grinding wheat and barley. This they did for many months.
+Also they fatted beasts, finding the best that they could buy; and
+they reared birds, both land-birds and water-birds, in buildings and
+ponds for the entertaining of the army. Also they prepared cups and
+bowls of gold and silver and all other things for the furniture of the
+table. This indeed they did for the King and for them that sat at meat
+with him only; but for the rest of the army they made ready only such
+food as had been commanded. For Xerxes a tent was made ready wherein
+he might lodge; but the rest of the army lodged without shelter. So
+soon as the time of eating came they that entertained had great toil
+and trouble; and the soldiers ate their fill and staid that night in
+the same place. The next day they tare down the tent and took all the
+furniture, leaving nothing, but carrying all away with them. Well
+therefore did Megacreon of Abdera speak when he counseled the men of
+Abdera to go with their wives and children to the temples, and after
+putting up prayers for the time to come, thank the Gods that it was
+not the pleasure of King Xerxes to have two meals in the day, for that
+verily if he had desired not only dinner, but breakfast also, then must
+the people of Abdera have either fled from before the King or, waiting
+his coming, have been utterly ruined.
+
+At this town of Acanthus Xerxes commanded the fleet that it should
+sail through the trench by Mount Athos and should await his coming at
+Therma; but he himself led his army through the land of Pæonia. Here
+the camels that carried the victuals for the host were set upon by
+lions, which coming by night from their dens touched neither man nor
+beast, but the camels only; but what it was that drave them to this,
+considering that they had never before seen the beast, or made any
+trial of it, no man can say. There are many lions in this country, and
+wild oxen also with very long horns, which are brought into Greece. So
+Xerxes came to Therma; and being at Therma he saw the two mountains
+Olympus and Ossa, which are indeed marvelously high. And when he heard
+that there was between these mountains a narrow pass through which
+ran a river, and that this was the road into Thessaly, he conceived a
+desire to go on shipboard and see the place where the river flowed into
+the sea. Wherefore he embarked on a ship of Sidon, the same that he was
+wont to use when he would go on such a journey, and gave the signal for
+the others to set sail also. And when he came to the place, he marveled
+much at the outflow of the rivers, and calling to him the guide would
+fain know whether it were possible to bring the rivers into the sea by
+any other way.
+
+Men say that in old time Thessaly was a great lake, being shut in on
+every side by high mountains. And indeed toward the east Ossa and
+Pelion are joined together at the base, and on the north is Olympus,
+and on the west Pindus, and on the south Othrys. In this land there
+are many rivers which all make their way into the sea by one channel,
+even the Peneus. But they say that in old time this channel was not,
+but that afterward Poseidon made it; which may well be if Poseidon
+brings earthquakes to pass, and if chasms are his handiwork. For it
+is manifest that the hills have been torn asunder by an earthquake.
+When therefore Xerxes asked the guides whether the water could pass by
+any other outlet into the sea, the men, as knowing the nature of the
+place, made answer, “There is no other way, O King, by which this water
+can pass into the sea save this which thou now seest; for Thessaly is
+girded about with hills.”
+
+Then said Xerxes, “The men of Thessaly are wise. Good reason had they
+to change their minds in time and to make provision for their safety.
+For, not to speak of other things, they knew that they dwelt in a land
+which it was easy to subdue. For nothing was needed save to turn the
+river upon their lands, building up a mound in this channel, and so
+turning the stream from its course. So would all Thessaly be changed
+into a lake.”
+
+When the King said this he thought of the sons of Aleuas, who had made
+their submission to him first of all the Greeks, being Thessalians. And
+he thought that they had done this in the name of the whole people.
+After this the King went back to Therma. And here there came to him the
+heralds whom he had sent to the Greek cities demanding earth and water,
+some being empty-handed and some carrying that for which they had been
+sent. Many nations gave earth and water, as the Thessalians and the
+Locrians and the Bœotians; only the men of Platæa and Thespiæ, that
+are towns of the Bœotians, gave them not. Against all such the Greeks
+that stood up against the barbarians sware this oath: “From all people
+who being Greeks have given themselves up to the Persians, without
+necessity compelling, we will take a tithe of their goods, and offer it
+to the god at Delphi.”
+
+Now it must be remembered that Xerxes, though he said that he was
+marching against Athens, had it in his mind to subdue all Greece. And
+this the Greeks knew beforehand, though indeed they did not all regard
+the matter in the same way. For some had no fear of the barbarians, as
+having given them earth and water, and thinking therefore that they
+should receive from them no harm; but others, having not given these
+things, were in great fear. For whereas they thought that all the ships
+in Greece were not enough to meet the Persians, so also they knew that
+the greater part of the cities would take no part in the war, but
+greatly favored the enemy.
+
+And here must be said a thing which because it is true ought to be
+said, though most men will mislike it. If the Athenians, for fear of
+the danger that was coming upon them, had left their country, or, not
+leaving it, had submitted themselves to Xerxes, then certainly none
+would have sought to withstand the Persians by sea; and if none had
+withstood the Persians by sea, then there would have come to pass on
+the land what shall now be set forth. Though many breastworks had
+been built across the Isthmus, yet would the Lacedæmonians have been
+betrayed by their allies; not of their free will, indeed, but because
+their cities would have been taken, one after the other, by the fleet
+of the barbarians. So would they in the end have been left alone, and
+being so left alone, after many deeds of valor, would have perished
+with great glory. Or if not, then seeing beforehand that all the other
+Greeks were submitting themselves to the Persians, they also would
+have made an agreement with Xerxes. So, in either case, would Greece
+have been made subject to the barbarians. For what would have been the
+profit of walls built across the Isthmus while the King had the mastery
+by sea? If a man then should say that in truth the Athenians were the
+saviours of Greece, he would speak truly; for to whichever side they
+had inclined that would have been the weightier. And they, having a
+fixed purpose that Greece should be free, stirred up all the nations
+that had not submitted themselves to the Persians, and so, next to the
+Gods, drave back the enemy.
+
+And this they did though they were sorely terrified by the oracle.
+For when they sent messengers to inquire of the god at Delphi, and
+these had offered sacrifices after the custom, and were now come into
+the shrine, the priestess gave to them this answer. (The name of the
+priestess was Aristonice.)
+
+    “Why sit ye still? Fly, wretched race,
+    To earth’s far bounds the fatal place.
+    Fly hearth and home and craggy hill,
+      Round which the wheel-like city stands;
+    Through all her being fares she ill,
+      Body, and head, and feet, and hands.
+    The fire consumes them, and from far,
+    Wild Ares drives his Syrian car.
+
+    Full many a tower, both fair and tall,
+    Not thine alone, before him fall;
+    Full many a holy place and shrine
+      The fire’s devouring flames shall seize;
+    Cold stands the sweat on face divine,
+      And shake with fear the trembling knees;
+    From high-pitched roof the blood-drops fall,
+      Fell signs of storm and coming woe;
+    Leave, suppliant band, Apollo’s hall,
+      Prepare you for the fate ye know.”
+
+When the messengers from Athens heard these words they were greatly
+troubled. But Timon the son of Androbulus, a chief man among the
+citizens of Delphi, seeing how utterly cast down they were by the evil
+that was prophesied concerning their country, counseled them that they
+should take tokens of suppliants in their hands, and in this guise go
+and inquire of the oracle once more. This then the Athenians did, and
+spake, saying, “O King, prophesy unto us some better thing about our
+country, having regard to these tokens of suppliants which we bring
+into thy presence. Else will we not depart from thy sanctuary, but will
+abide here till the day of our death.” Then the priestess prophesied to
+them a second time, using these words:
+
+    “Pallas desires with deep desire
+    To change the purpose of her sire.
+    Again entreats him, and again;
+    But vain her prayers, her counsel vain.
+    Yet sons of Athens, hear once more
+      The firm, unyielding word of fate;
+      Whene’er the fair Cecropian state,
+    From bound to bound and shore to shore.
+
+    Before the foeman’s might shall bow,
+    One boon will Zeus All-wise allow
+    To Pallas’ prayer--that ne’er shall fall
+    Fair Athens’ stay, her wooden wall:
+    Think not to wait that evil hour
+    Horsemen or footmen’s dark array;
+    Fly, fly their host; yet comes the hour
+    Ye stand to meet the foemen’s power.
+    Thou, holy Salamis, shalt bring
+      Dark death to sons of women born,
+    Or when abroad the seed they fling,
+      Or when they pluck the ripened corn.”
+
+These words seemed to be, as indeed they were, milder than the former
+words. So the envoys wrote them down, and returned with them to Athens.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+OF THE PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS.
+
+
+When the messengers told the words that they had heard and written
+down to the people, there were many and various opinions among those
+who sought to interpret the oracle. Some of the older men said that it
+seemed to them that the god bade them fortify the citadel, for that in
+old time the citadel of Athens had been surrounded with a fence. And
+this fence they supposed to be the “wooden wall.” And there were others
+that said the “wooden wall” signified their ships; but these were
+confounded by the last words of the oracle:
+
+    “Thou, holy Salamis, shalt bring
+      Dark death to sons of women born,
+    Or when abroad the seed they fling,
+      Or when they pluck the ripened corn.”
+
+These words troubled them much, for the readers of oracles declared
+that it was signified by them that they should fight in ships and be
+worsted at Salamis.
+
+Now there was at Athens a certain man that was but newly risen into
+the front rank of the citizens. This was Themistocles the son of
+Neocles. He then coming forward affirmed that the oracle-readers did
+not read the words aright, for that, if they had been really spoken
+concerning the Athenians, the god would have said, “Sad Salamis,”
+rather than “Holy Salamis,” it being decreed that the dwellers in the
+land should die there. It was manifest, therefore, he said, to one
+that interpreted the words aright that they were spoken concerning the
+barbarians, and not concerning the Athenians. Wherefore he advised his
+fellow-citizens that they should make ready to fight in ships, for that
+these were their “wooden wall.” When Themistocles had set forth these
+opinions, the Athenians judged them to be better than the opinions of
+the oracle-readers. For these would have hindered them from fighting
+in ships, yea, from so much as lifting up their hands against the
+enemy; and would have had them leave their country, and find some other
+wherein to dwell.
+
+Before this, another counsel of this same Themistocles had been given
+excellently in season. It so chanced that the Athenians had much
+money in their public treasury, having received it from their mines
+at Laurium. This they were about to divide among the citizens, man by
+man, so that each should have ten drachmæ; but Themistocles persuaded
+the Athenians that this division should not be made, but that they
+should use the money for the building of two hundred ships for the war
+that they had on hand, that is to say, the war against Ægina. This
+war indeed it was that was the saving of Greece, for it compelled the
+Athenians to become seafaring men. As for the two hundred ships, they
+were not used for the end for the which they were made; but they were
+a help to Greece when she most needed them. So many ships had the
+Athenians ready before the war; and they began to build others. And
+now, after hearing the oracle and consulting thereupon, they judged it
+well to put their whole force on shipboard, even as the god commanded
+them; and so, together with such of the Greeks as were of the same
+mind, to give battle to the barbarians.
+
+So soon as the Greeks that followed the good cause, even the cause of
+Greece, were assembled together, they took counsel and pledged their
+faith one to the other. This being done, they agreed in this, that,
+first of all, all feuds that there were of nation against nation should
+be appeased. Many such there were; but the greatest of all was that
+between the men of Athens and the men of Ægina. Afterward, when they
+knew that King Xerxes had come down to Sardis with his host, they
+thought it good to send spies to see how matters stood with the King in
+Asia; also they sent embassadors, some to Argos, to make an alliance
+against the Persians; and others to Sicily, to Gelon, lord of Syracuse;
+and to Corcyra, to ask for help; and others again to Crete. For they
+desired to bind together into one all that bare the Greek name, so that
+they might strive with one heart against him that was the enemy of all.
+Now the power of Syracuse was said to be greater than the power of any
+other city among the Greeks.
+
+When they had thus taken counsel together, and had caused all such as
+were at enmity to be reconciled, they sent three men into Asia to be
+spies. These came to Sardis and learned what was to be known about
+the King’s army. But being discovered, they were questioned by the
+generals and condemned to die. But when Xerxes heard this he blamed the
+purpose of the generals, and sent some of his own spearmen, commanding
+that if they found the spies yet alive they should bring them into his
+presence. So the spearmen went, and finding them yet alive brought them
+into the presence of the King. And when the King saw them, he inquired
+of them wherefore they had come; and afterward commanded the spearmen
+that they should show them the whole army, both horse and foot, and all
+the power of the King, and that when the men had had their fill of this
+sight, they should send them away unhurt whithersoever they would. And
+the cause, he said, why he gave this commandment about the spies was
+this. If these spies be put to death, the Greeks will not know that my
+power is greater by far than all that they have heard, nor shall we
+harm them much slaying three of their men. But if these spies return to
+Greece, then will the Greeks hear the truth about this my host, and of
+their own free will they will give themselves to us and surrender their
+freedom, and we shall be spared the trouble of this great business. At
+another time, also, Xerxes spake much in the same fashion. When he was
+in Abydos he saw three corn ships coming from the Black Sea and sailing
+down the Hellespont, carrying wheat to Ægina and the Peloponnesus.
+And they that sat by him when they knew that the ships belonged to
+the enemy had thought of taking them, and looked to the King that he
+should give the word. Then said Xerxes, “Whither do these ships sail?”
+And the men answered, “To thy enemies, O King, carrying corn to them.”
+Then the King said, “And are we not sailing to the same place, taking
+with us corn as well as many other things? What wrong therefore do
+these men carrying food for us?” So it came to pass that the spies
+returned safe to Greece.
+
+After this the Greeks sent messengers to divers cities, asking help.
+First they sent them to Argos. Now the Argives had been warned by an
+oracle that they should sit quiet, being indeed greatly weakened by
+that which they had suffered at the hands of the Spartans, for these,
+under King Cleomenes, had slain six thousand citizens. Nevertheless
+they bade the messengers come into their council chamber and declare
+their message. And when they had heard it they answered, “We will help
+you if the Spartans will give us a truce for thirty years, and will
+also divide with us the command of the army. This indeed we should
+by rights have altogether, but we will divide it with Sparta.” The
+truce they asked that, their children having grown to man’s estate,
+they might be able to make head against Sparta, if need should be. The
+Spartans answered, “As for the truce, we will bring the matter before
+the people, but the leadership we can not divide as ye would have it.
+For we have two kings and ye only one. But your King shall have one
+vote.” This the Argives could not endure. Whereupon they said to the
+messengers, “Depart out of our borders before the sun be set, or we
+will deal with you as with enemies.”
+
+This is the story of the Argives, but the other Greeks affirm that
+Xerxes sent a messenger to them, saying, “We Persians are your kinsmen,
+for Perses, who is our father, was son to Perseus that was the son of
+Danae, that was the daughter of Acrisius your King. Wherefore neither
+should we fight against you, nor ye against us. Do ye, therefore, keep
+quiet, and there shall be none whom we will honor more than you.” With
+this message the Argives were greatly pleased; and they asked for
+a share in the leadership for a pretense only, as knowing that the
+Spartans would not yield it.
+
+Many years after it chanced that while certain ambassadors from Athens
+were at Susa, there came up also an embassy from Argos, who inquired
+of King Artaxerxes, that was son to Xerxes, “Does the friendship that
+Xerxes thy father made with us still remain, or dost thou count us as
+enemies?” To this Artaxerxes answered that the friendship remained, and
+that he held no city dearer to him than Argos.
+
+The truth of these matters can not certainly be known. Yet so much may
+be affirmed without doubt, that if all men were to bring their own
+misdeeds into one place, as wishing to exchange them for the misdeeds
+of their neighbors, when they came to look close into the misdeeds of
+their neighbors, they would be right glad to carry back their own.
+
+Other messengers, among whom was one Syagrus of Sparta, were sent to
+speak with Gelon, lord of Syracuse. These, when they were come into
+his presence, spake, saying, “The Spartans and the Athenians and their
+allies have sent us to tell thee that the Persians are marching into
+Europe, giving out indeed that they make war upon Athens only, but
+proposing to subdue the whole land of Greece. Do thou therefore--for
+thou has great power, being lord of Sicily--help us that we may keep
+our freedom. And be sure that if thou suffer us to perish these
+barbarians will fall next upon thee, and that if thou helpest us
+thou helpest thyself.” To this Gelon made answer, “Men of Greece, ye
+think only of yourselves when ye ask my help against the Persians.
+Did ye help me when I would have had you for my allies against the
+Carthaginians? Nevertheless I will not render evil for evil, but will
+help you, sending two hundred ships, and twenty thousand footmen, and
+two thousand horsemen, and archers and slingers and light horsemen,
+of each two thousand. Also I will promise meat for the whole host of
+the forces so long as the war shall continue. Only ye must make me
+commander.”
+
+Therefore Syagrus the Spartan burst forth, “Surely now Agamemnon son of
+Pelops would groan to hear that Gelon and the men of Syracuse had taken
+the leadership from Sparta. If thou wilt help the Greeks, O King, know
+that thou must follow the leading of the Spartans.”
+
+Then said Gelon, “For all thy evil words, man of Sparta, thou shalt
+not persuade me to answer thee evil. Yet if ye put such store by this
+command, how much more should I, that can bring with me so great an
+army! Howbeit I will yield to you so much as this. If ye will take the
+rule of the army, then will I command the ships; or, if ye choose the
+ships, yield the army to me. But if this please you not, then ye must
+depart without my alliance.”
+
+Then said the ambassador from Athens, making haste before the Spartan
+can speak, “The Greeks have sent me, O King, to ask not for a leader,
+but for an army; but thou sayest little of an army, but art over-eager
+for the leadership. As to the army, we were willing that the Spartan
+should answer; but as to the fleet, hear this. If the Spartans will
+have the command, we yield it to them; but if not, then it comes to us,
+and we give it to no man. For why should we yield, who are the most
+ancient nation of all the Greeks, and of whom came the most skillful to
+order an army of all the chieftains that fought against Troy?”
+
+Then said Gelon, “Man of Athens, ye seem to have commanders more than
+enough, but of them that should be commanded a few only. Go ye back
+then to Greece with all haste, and say that she has lost the spring out
+of the year.” For he likened himself and his power to the spring, which
+is the best season of the year.
+
+When the Greeks had departed, Gelon sent three small ships, and with
+them one Cadmus, who should watch the issue of the war. And the man had
+with him many gifts and earth and water. These Gelon commanded him to
+give to King Xerxes if he should get the upper hand, and if not, to
+bring back again. This Cadmus had received the lordship of Cos from his
+father, yet for love of right and justice gave it up to the people.
+And in this manner also he showed himself to be a righteous man; for
+when the Greeks had prevailed, and Xerxes had departed, he kept not the
+gifts, as he might have done, but carried them back to Gelon.
+
+Nevertheless some say that, notwithstanding the matter of the
+leadership, Gelon would have helped the Greeks, but that there came
+to Sicily about this time a great army of Phœnicians and Libyans and
+Sardinians under Hamilcar, King of Carthage. They say also that he
+conquered this army on the very same day on which the Greeks conquered
+the Persians at Salamis.
+
+Envoys went also to the Corcyreans, who spake them fair, saying that
+they would send sixty ships. But these ships were long delayed;
+and after they had set forth they lingered about the coast of the
+Peloponnese, waiting for the end, even as did Gelon. But when the
+Greeks reproached them, the Corcyreans answered that the Etesian winds
+had not suffered them to round Cape Malea.
+
+The Cretans inquired of the god of Delphi whether they should help
+the Greeks; and the god answered them, “Do ye not remember, ye fools,
+how that Minos was wroth with your nation because ye went to help the
+Greeks against Troy, because forsooth a barbarian had carried off a
+woman from Sparta, yet cared not to avenge him when he perished at
+Camicus?” Wherefore the men of Crete sat still.
+
+While these things were being done the men of Thessaly sent to the
+Greeks, saying, “Come ye and guard the pass of Olympus, so shall ye
+preserve both our country and the rest of Greece also. But if ye will
+not, then must we yield to the Persians, lest we be left alone and so
+perish on your behalf.”
+
+Then the Greeks sent an army, even ten thousand men at arms, to the
+Pass of Olympus. But when they had been there a few days only there
+came messengers from Alexander, King of Macedon, saying, “Depart from
+this place lest ye be trampled underfoot by your enemies.” And he
+told them of the number of the army and of the ships. So the Greeks
+departed and returned to the Isthmus; and having taken counsel again,
+they determined to send an army to Thermopylæ, which is the Pass from
+Thessaly into Greece. And the fleet they sent to Artemisium, which is
+in the island of Eubœa. As for the Pass it is but fifty feet wide, and
+westward there is a high mountain which no man can climb, but to the
+eastward is the sea and the marshes of the river Peneus. And across
+this Pass there had been built a wall in old time. The Phocians built
+it for fear of the men of Thessaly. And now the Greeks repaired the
+breaches, for it was broken down.
+
+In the meanwhile the men of Delphi inquired of the god what they should
+do, being in great fear of the barbarians. And the god said to them
+that they should pray to the winds. To the Athenians also there came
+an oracle that they should seek help from their son-in-law. Now their
+son-in-law was Boreas, the northwind; for Boreas, being a prince of
+Thrace, took to wife, as say the Greeks, Orithyia, the daughter of
+Erechtheus, that was King of Athens.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+OF THE ARMY AND THE SHIPS OF XERXES, AND OF THE FIRST FIGHTING WITH THE
+GREEKS.
+
+
+King Xerxes brought with him from Asia twelve hundred and seven great
+ships; and in each ship there were two hundred rowers and thirty
+fighting men. Also he had of smaller ships, having fifty oars or under,
+three thousand, and in each of these, taking one with another, there
+were eighty men. Therefore the whole number of the men that served on
+the ships was five hundred and seventeen thousand and six hundred. Of
+foot soldiers there were seventeen hundred thousand, and of horsemen
+eighty thousand, and of Arabs riding on camels and of Libyans that
+fought from chariots twenty thousand. There were also one hundred and
+twenty ships of Greeks that dwelt in Thrace and in the islands thereof,
+and in these twenty and four thousand men. To these must be added foot
+soldiers of the Thracians, the Pæonians, the Macedonians, and others.
+And the sum of the whole was two million six hundred and forty-one
+thousand six hundred and ten. And of all this great host there was none
+fitter to be the ruler for beauty and great stature than King Xerxes
+himself. Of those that followed the camp, and of the crews of the
+provision ships and other vessels of transport, the number was more
+rather than less the number of the fighting men. As for the women that
+ground the corn, and others that came with the army, and the horses,
+and the beasts of burden, and the dogs, their number can not be told.
+
+The fleet, departing from Therma, came to the country of Magnesia
+and there cast anchor. But ten of the swiftest ships sailed down the
+gulf of Therma straight to the island of Sciathos, which lies to the
+northward of Eubœa. Here were three ships of the Greeks, whereof one
+was from Athens, and one from Ægina, and one from Trœzen; these were
+looking out for the coming of the barbarians. And when they spied the
+ships of the barbarians they fled with all speed, and the barbarians
+pursued them, and overtook the ship of Trœzen. Then they took the
+most beautiful of the fighting men and sacrificed him at the prow of
+the ship, thinking that this was an omen of good to them, for the man
+was very beautiful, and was the first captive they had taken from the
+Greeks. Also his name was Leo, that is to say, Lion; and this was
+another cause for which they sacrificed him.
+
+The ship of Ægina gave the Persians no small trouble, a certain
+Pytheas, who was a fighting man thereon, bearing himself very bravely.
+For when the ship was taken he did not cease to contend with the
+enemies, until he fell, being covered with wounds from head to foot.
+But the Persian soldiers, finding that he was not dead, but still
+breathed, made much of him, seeking to keep him alive. His wounds they
+dressed with myrrh and bound with bandages of cotton; and when they
+came back to their encampment they showed the man to the host, admiring
+him and dealing with him kindly. But with the rest of the crew they
+dealt as with slaves.
+
+As for the Athenian ship, it was run aground at the mouth of the river
+Peneus. The men leaped ashore and escaped through Thessaly, but the
+ship was taken by the barbarians. When the rest of the Greeks knew of
+the coming of the barbarians they were sore afraid, and departed from
+Artemisium, intending to defend the Euripus. Now the Euripus lies to
+the southward, where the strait between the island of Eubœa and the
+mainland is the narrowest.
+
+And now there befell the first disaster that came upon the Persians.
+When the fleet cast anchor on the coast of Magnesia, the first row of
+ships was anchored to the shore, and the next row was without these,
+and the whole number of the rows was eight, one after the other, for
+the beach was very small. The night indeed was calm; but at dawn there
+fell upon them a strong wind from the east, which the dwellers in these
+parts call the wind of the Hellespont. Such as knew the storm coming,
+and were able to drag their ships on to the shore, saved themselves,
+but of the others many were broken to pieces. Thus it was, say the
+Athenians, that Boreas, their son-in-law, helped them; and when they
+returned to their country they built a temple to him on the banks of
+the river Ilissus. Of the Persian ships there were broken, at the
+least, four hundred. There were drowned also men without number, and
+much treasure was lost. Of this treasure, indeed, one Ameinocles, a
+Magnesian, made much gain, gathering gold and silver cups which were
+washed up by the sea, and treasure boxes of the Persians, and articles
+of gold without number. Thus he became very rich, but had trouble
+withal, losing his children by violence.
+
+For three days the storm endured. But the Magians offering victims and
+using incantations and doing sacrifices to Thetis and the nymphs of
+the sea, laid it on the fourth day, or, may be, it ceased of its own
+accord. The cause wherefore they offered sacrifices to Thetis was that
+here Peleus carried her off to be his wife.
+
+When the Greeks heard from their watchers--for they had all watchers on
+the hills of Eubœa--of the storms and of the breaking of the Persian
+ships, they hastened back with all speed to Artemisium, thinking to
+find a few ships only to fight with. And ever after they were wont to
+speak of Poseidon as the Preserver.
+
+When the storm had ceased, the barbarians sailed to Aphetæ, that is
+a harbor on the mainland over against Artemisium. But fifteen ships
+having lagged behind, fell into the hands of the Greeks, for they took
+the Greek ships for their own, and sailed into the midst of them:
+a certain Sandoces was commander of the fifteen. This man had been
+governor of Cumæ in Æolia, and being one of the royal judges had been
+crucified by King Darius because he had taken a bribe. But while he
+hung upon the cross, the King found that the good deeds which he had
+done to the King’s house were more than his evil deeds, and commanded
+that he should be taken down. Thus he escaped with his life; but this
+second peril he did not escape.
+
+In the meanwhile Xerxes with the host passed through the land of
+Thessaly. Here he matched his horses with the horses of Thessaly,
+hearing that these were the swiftest in all Greece; and the horses of
+Thessaly were far outstripped. And having passed through Thessaly he
+came to Trachis.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ.
+
+
+King Xerxes pitched his camp in the region of Trachis, and the Greeks
+pitched their camp in the Pass. (This Pass is called Thermopylæ, that
+is to say, the Hot Gates, by the greater part of the Greeks, but the
+inhabitants of the country call it Pylæ, that is to say, the Gates.)
+Here then the two armies were set over against each other, the one
+being master of all the country from the Pass northward, and the other
+having that which lay to the southward. Now the Greeks that abode
+the coming of the Persians in this place were these--three hundred
+Spartans, heavy-armed men; and men of Tegea and Matinea a thousand,
+from each five hundred, and from Orchomenus one hundred and twenty,
+and from the rest of Arcadia a thousand. From Corinth there came four
+hundred, and from Phlius two hundred, and from Mycenæ eighty. So many
+came from the Peloponnesus; of the Bœotians there came seven hundred
+from Thespiæ and four hundred from Thebes. Besides these there had
+come at the summons the Locrians of Opus with all the men that they
+had, and a thousand Phocians. For these the other Greeks had summoned
+to their help, saying to them by messengers, “We all that are here
+are come but as the vanguard of the host; as for the others we look
+for their coming day by day. The sea also is in safe keeping, being
+watched by the men of Athens and the men of Ægina, and such others as
+have been appointed to this work. Remember also that he who now comes
+against Greece is no god, but a man only; nor is there any mortal, nor
+ever will be, with whom from the very day of his birth misfortune is
+not always close at hand, and the greater the man the greater also the
+misfortune. Wherefore it may be believed that he who now comes against
+us, being but a mortal man, may fail of his purpose.” When the Phocians
+and Locrians heard these words, they came to the help of the Greeks
+at Trachis. All of these had commanders of their own, for every city
+one; but he that was most admired and had the chief command of the army
+was a Spartan, Leonidas by name, being the twenty-first in descent
+from Hercules, and having obtained the kingdom in Sparta contrary
+to expectation. For he had two brothers that were older than he, to
+wit, Cleomenes and Dorieus, and so had no thoughts of the kingdom.
+Nevertheless, when Cleomenes died without male offspring, and Dorieus
+also was dead, having perished in Sicily, the kingdom came to Leonidas,
+for he was older than Cleombrotus. (This Cleombrotus was the youngest
+of the sons of Anaxandrides.) This Leonidas had to wife Gorgo, the
+daughter of Cleomenes; and now he went to Thermopylæ, taking with him
+three hundred men according to the custom of the kings of Sparta. These
+three hundred he had chosen from such as had male children. On his
+way he took with him the four hundred men of Thebes, their commander
+being Leontiades. Now the cause why Leonidas made much account of
+taking these men rather than any other of the Greeks was this. It was
+commonly laid to the charge of the Thebans that they favored the cause
+of the Persians. For this cause he summoned them to the war, seeking
+to know whether they would send the men or would plainly refuse the
+alliance of the Greeks. And the Thebans, though they wished otherwise,
+nevertheless sent the men. The Spartans indeed sent on Leonidas and his
+company beforehand, purposing themselves to follow. For they thought
+that when the allies knew that these were already gone, they would
+also make ready; and they feared lest these should favor the Persians,
+if they themselves should be seen to linger. And they purposed, when
+they should have kept the feast--for it chanced to be the feast of the
+Carneia--to leave a garrison in Sparta, and to follow with their whole
+force. And the rest of the allies were minded to do the same thing; and
+it so befell that the festival of Olympia was being kept at this time.
+But when they sent these men before them, they had no thought that
+matters at Thermopylæ would be brought to an end so speedily.
+
+Now the Greeks that were at Thermopylæ, when they saw that the Persians
+were now near to the mouth of the Pass, were sore afraid, and took
+counsel together whether they should not depart. The Peloponnesians,
+for the most part, desired to return to the Peloponnesus and guard
+the Isthmus; but Leonidas, seeing that the Phocians and Locrians were
+greatly vexed at this counsel, gave his sentence that they should
+remain, and should send messengers to the cities of the Greeks, bidding
+them send all the help that they could, for that they were over few to
+stand up against so great a host.
+
+While the Greeks were holding a council on this matter, Xerxes sent a
+scout, a horseman, to see how many in number they were, and what they
+were doing. Now the man heard, while he was yet in Thessaly, that a
+small company of men were gathered together in this place, the chief
+of them being Spartans, and the leader King Leonidas, of the house
+and lineage of Hercules. And when he rode up to the place where the
+army was encamped, he saw a part of the men. The whole army he saw
+not, for they had built again the wall that was across the Pass, and
+were guarding it; and they that were within the wall he saw not; but
+they that were without the wall, having their arms piled besides them,
+he saw. Now it so chanced that they who had their place at the time
+without the wall were the Spartans. These the horseman saw busy with
+exercises and combing their hair. All this he much marveled to see,
+finding also how few they were in number. And when he had learned every
+thing for certain, he rode back again in peace; for no one pursued
+after him, or indeed paid him any heed whatsoever. And when he was come
+back he told Xerxes all the things that he had seen. But when Xerxes
+heard these things he could by no means understand that which was
+indeed the truth; how these men were making ready to slay as many as
+might be of their enemy, and so perish. Thinking therefore that the
+whole thing was but foolishness, he sent for Demaratus, for the man was
+yet with the army. And when Demaratus stood before him he asked him
+about these things, desiring to know what they signified. And Demaratus
+said, “Thou hast heard from me, O King, the truth concerning these men
+before this, even when we were first beginning this war; but when thou
+heardest it thou didst but laugh at me, though I told thee that which
+I knew would surely come to pass. For indeed, O King, I strive always
+with my whole heart to tell thee the truth. Hear, therefore, yet again
+what I say. These men are come hither to contend with us for the Pass;
+and this they now prepare to do; and they have this custom among them,
+that when they are about to put their lives in peril they adorn their
+heads with exceeding care. Know, also, O King, that if thou canst
+subdue these men, and such others of their nation as have been left
+behind in Sparta, there is no nation upon the earth that will abide
+thy coming or lift up a hand against thee; for this city that thou now
+fightest against is the most honorable in all Greece, and these men are
+the bravest.”
+
+But these things seemed to Xerxes to be wholly beyond belief; and he
+asked again the second time, “In what manner will these men, being so
+few, as we know them to be, fight with my great army?”
+
+But Demaratus answered this only, “O King, deal with me as with a liar
+if every thing fall not out even as I have said.” Notwithstanding, he
+could not persuade the King that it was so in truth.
+
+Four days, therefore, did the King suffer to pass, hoping always that
+the Greeks would flee away from their place. But on the fifth day,
+seeing that they were not departed, but were full, as it seemed to him,
+of impudence and folly, he grew angry, and sent against them the Medes
+and the Cissians, giving them a command that they should take these
+Greeks alive and bring them before him. But when these men came up and
+fell upon the Greeks, many of them were slain. Then others came up into
+their places and ceased not from fighting, though indeed they suffered
+a very grievous slaughter, so that it was manifest to all men, and more
+especially to the King, that though he had very many that bore arms,
+yet had he but few men of war. And this battle endured throughout the
+whole day.
+
+The Medes, having been thus roughly handled, fell back and the Persians
+took up the fighting in their place, even the Ten Thousand that had the
+name of the Immortals, whom Hydarnes commanded. These men thought to
+finish the matter very speedily. Nevertheless, when they came to deal
+with the Greeks, they accomplished nothing more than had the Medes, but
+fared just as ill, for indeed they fought in a narrow place, and their
+spears were shorter than the spears of the Greeks, and their numbers
+availed them not at all. As for the Spartans, they fought in a notable
+way, showing themselves more skillful by far in battle than were their
+enemies. Then they would sometimes turn their backs, and make as though
+they were all fled; and when the barbarians saw them flee they would
+pursue after them with much shouting and uproar. Then the Spartans
+would turn again and stand face to face with the barbarians; and when
+they turned they would slay such multitudes as could not be counted.
+Here also there fell certain of the Spartans, but a few only. In the
+end, when the Persians after many trials could not by any means gain
+the Pass, neither by attacking in division nor by any other means, they
+went back to their camp. And twice, while these battles were being
+fought, did Xerxes leap from his seat in great fear for his army.
+
+The next day also the barbarians fought, but fared no better than
+before; for they hoped that the Greeks, being few in number, had been
+overcome with their wounds, and would not be able any more to stand up
+against them. But these had been ordered in companies, according to
+their nations, and so fought, the one coming in the place of another.
+Only the Phocians did not fight, being set over the mountain that
+they might guard the path. Wherefore the Persians, finding that they
+prevailed not one whit more than before, turned back to the camp.
+
+The King, therefore, was greatly perplexed what he should do. But while
+he considered there came to him a certain Ephialtes, a man of Malea,
+and desired to talk with him. This man, hoping to receive a great
+reward from the King, discovered to him the path that led over the
+mountain to Thermopylæ. Thus did he bring to destruction the Greeks
+that abode in the Pass. In after time, for fear of the Spartans, this
+man fled into Thessaly. And when he fled the wardens of the Pass put a
+price upon his life. This they did when the Amphictyons met at Pylæ.
+And as time went on Ephialtes came back from banishment and went to
+Anticyra. There a certain Athenades slew him, not for this treachery,
+but for some other cause. But the Spartans honored Athenades not the
+less on this account. This was the end of Ephialtes. As for the other
+story, that there were two others, to wit, Phanagoras and Corydallus,
+that led the Persians by this path, it is not to be believed. For the
+wardens of the Pass set a price not on these two, but on Ephialtes,
+having without doubt a perfect knowledge of the whole matter. Also it
+is well known that Ephialtes went into banishment for this cause. Let
+him therefore be named as having done this great wickedness.
+
+The King was greatly pleased at the thing which this man undertook,
+that is to say, the showing of the path; and he sent Hydarnes and the
+Ten Thousand that were called the Immortals. These setting out from
+the camp about the time of the lighting of the lamps, crossed over the
+river Asopus, and marched all night, having Œta on their right and
+Trachis on their left. And when it was morning they were found close to
+the top of the mountain. At the first, indeed, the Phocians that had
+been set to guard the path knew not of their coming, for the whole
+of the mountain was covered with a wood of oak trees. But when they
+came near, the morning being calm, there was heard a loud rustling, as
+indeed could not but be, the Persians treading the leaves under their
+feet. Then the Phocians leaped up and took their arms, and forthwith
+the barbarians appeared; and the Phocians, when they saw the armed men,
+were greatly astonished; for when they had not thought to deal with any
+enemy whatsoever, lo! there was an army at hand. Hydarnes indeed was
+much troubled, fearing that the men that he saw were Spartans. And he
+inquired of Ephialtes who they might be; and when he knew the certainty
+of the matter he commanded the Persians to make them ready for battle.
+Then the Phocians, finding that the arrows fell very thickly upon them,
+and thinking that the Persians were set upon their destruction, fled to
+the top of the mountain, and prepared to meet their death. But Hydarnes
+and Ephialtes took no heed of them, and went down the side of the
+mountain with all the speed they could.
+
+As for the Greeks that were in the Pass, they knew of the doom that
+should come upon them so soon as the day appeared, first of all
+from the soothsayer Megistias (for Megistias learned it from the
+sacrifices). Afterward came in certain deserters with tidings that the
+Persians had made a compass by the path across the mountains; lastly,
+when the day was breaking, came the scouts running down from the hills.
+Then the Greeks held a council, considering what they should do; and
+they were divided; for some would not leave the post where they had
+been set, and others were very eager to depart. And when the council
+was broken up, some departed going each to their own cities, and others
+made ready to abide in the Pass with Leonidas. Some say, indeed, that
+Leonidas sent away them that departed, having a care for their safety;
+but it did not become him and the Spartans that were with him, he said,
+to leave their post that they had come to keep at the first. And indeed
+it seems fit to be believed that Leonidas, seeing that the others were
+faint-hearted and would not willingly abide the peril, bade them go,
+but that he himself held it to be a shameful thing to depart. For he
+knew that he should get for himself great glory by abiding at his post,
+and that the prosperity of Sparta should not be destroyed. For when
+the Spartans at the very beginning of the war sent to inquire of the
+Pythia, seeking to know what should befall them, there was given to
+them an oracle, that one of two things must come to pass, to wit, that
+Sparta must perish, or that one of their kings must fall in battle.
+
+And that oracle was this--
+
+    “Dwellers in Sparta’s proud domains,
+    Hear what the will of fate ordains:
+    Or falls your noble city low
+    Beneath the feet of Persian foe;
+    Or all your borders shall bewail
+      A Zeus-descended monarch slain;
+    Nor bull nor lion shall avail
+      The foe’s fierce onset to restrain;
+    Lo! onward moves his dark array,
+    Mighty as Zeus, and will not stay
+    Till King or city be his prey.”
+
+Remembering therefore this oracle, and desiring to get for the Spartans
+all the glory of this matter Leonidas sent away the others. This is
+rather to be believed than that they had a controversy in the council,
+and so departed in an unseemly fashion and without order.
+
+And that this was so is manifest both from other things and also from
+what befell Megistias the soothsayer. This Megistias was an Acarnanian
+and of the house, it was reported, of Melampus; and Leonidas would have
+sent him away together with the others, lest he should perish with
+them. Megistias indeed would not depart, but he sent away his son who
+chanced to be with the army; for indeed he had no other son but him
+only.
+
+The others thereupon hearkened to the words of Leonidas and departed;
+but the Thespians and the Thebans only abode with the Spartans. This
+the Thebans indeed did against their will, for Leonidas kept these to
+be as hostages; but the Thespians remained of their own free will,
+affirming that they would not leave Leonidas and his companions.
+Wherefore they abode in the Pass and perished together with the
+Spartans. Their leader was Demophilus.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ.--(_Continued._)
+
+
+So soon as the sun was risen Xerxes made libations; and about the
+time when the market begins to fill he commanded that the army should
+advance. This he had been bidden to do by Ephialtes, because the way
+for them that descended the mountain was shorter by far than the way
+for them that ascended. Now when the Persians were seen to approach,
+Leonidas and his companions, as knowing that their end was near, went
+further than they had gone on the days before into that part which is
+broader. For before they had been wont to guard the wall, and advancing
+therefrom to fight in the narrows of the Pass. But now they joined
+battle with the barbarians in the open space, slaying great multitudes
+of them. As for these indeed the captains of their companies standing
+behind them and having great whips, drave them forward. And many were
+thrust into the sea by the press and so perished; and many were trodden
+down by their companions. Nor did any one take any count of them that
+perished. And the Greeks, knowing that death was at hand, now that
+the barbarians had come round over the mountains, recked not of their
+lives, but fought with rage that was beyond all measure. By this time
+the spears of the greater part were already broken, so that they
+smote down the Persians with their swords. While they thus fought King
+Leonidas was slain, having done many deeds of valor; and there fell
+many other Spartans with him, men of renown. Many famous Persians also
+were slain at this time, and among them were two sons of Darius. And
+there was an exceeding fierce fight between the Spartans and Persians
+concerning the body of Leonidas; but in the end the Spartans prevailed,
+so great was their valor, and carried it away, and they drave back the
+Persians four times. But when the Greeks perceived that the Persians
+that followed Ephialtes were at hand, they returned to the narrows of
+the Pass, beyond the wall, and gathered themselves together in the
+company on the mound that is at the entering in of the Pass, where
+in aftertime there was set a lion of stone over the grave of King
+Leonidas. Here such as had swords yet remaining to them unbroken,
+defended themselves with them; and the rest fought with their hands and
+teeth, till at the last the barbarians, some pulling down the walls
+and assailing them in front and others surrounding them on every side,
+overwhelmed them with stones and arrows and the like.
+
+All the Spartans and Thespians showed themselves right valiant; but the
+bravest of all was Dieneces a Spartan. It was this Dieneces that spake
+a very noteworthy saying before the Spartans joined battle with the
+Persians. And the saying was this. A man of Trachis affirmed that when
+the Persians shot off their arrows the sun was darkened by the number
+of them. But Dieneces was not one whit astonished at the matter, but,
+taking no heed at all of the multitude of the Persians, made answer,
+saying, “This is good news that the stranger from Trachis brings us,
+for if the Persians so hide the sun then shall we fight in the shade.”
+Many such like sayings did this Dieneces speak. Next after this
+Dieneces were two brothers, Alpheus and Maron; and of the Thespians the
+bravest was one Dithyrambus.
+
+All these were buried even where they were slain. On them that died
+before that Leonidas had sent away a part of his army, there was
+written this epitaph--
+
+    “Four times a thousand men from Pelops’ land
+    Three thousand times a thousand did withstand.”
+
+But over the Spartans by themselves there was written--
+
+    “Go, tell the Spartans, thou that passest by,
+    That here, obedient to their laws, we lie.”
+
+And over the soothsayer was this--
+
+    “Here lies the great Megistias, whom of yore
+    The Persian host, from swift Asopus shore
+    Ascending, slew. The seer his doom could read,
+    Yet left not Sparta’s chieftains in their need.”
+
+The other columns indeed and that which was written upon them did
+the Amphictyons set up; but the column of Megistias the seer and the
+inscription thereon Simonides set up for friendship’s sake.
+
+Of the three hundred two, Eurytus and Aristodemus, were absent from
+their companions on the day of the battle. Now these two might, if they
+had been willing to agree, either have returned both of them to Sparta,
+for Leonidas had sent them away from the army and they lay at Alpeni,
+grievously afflicted with sickness of the eyes, or if they were not
+willing so to return, have died along with the others. As for Eurytus,
+when he knew that the Persians had come round by the path, he called
+for his arms and put them on him, and bade his helot lead him into
+the battle. So the helot led him to the battle, and then turned and
+fled, and Eurytus thrust himself into the press of the battle, and so
+perished. But as for Aristodemus his courage failed him, and he tarried
+at Alpeni. Now if Aristodemus only had been sick and so returned alive
+to Sparta, or if they two had so returned together, it may well be
+believed that the Spartans would have had no indignation against them;
+but seeing that, both being in the same case, one perished, but the
+other was not willing to die, it could not but be that they should have
+great indignation against him that still lived.
+
+Such is the story that some tell about Aristodemus; but others say
+that having been sent as a messenger from the army, when he might have
+returned before the battle, he lingered on the way of set purpose, but
+that his fellow messenger returned and was slain. This Aristodemus,
+going back to Sparta, was held in great shame and dishonor. For no
+Spartan would give him fire, nor would any talk with him, but they
+called him “Aristodemus the Coward.” Notwithstanding at the battle of
+Platæa he did away with all his disgrace.
+
+As for the Thebans that were with Leonidas, for a while they fought
+together with the other Greeks against the Persians, doing this
+by compulsion. But when the barbarians prevailed, and the Greeks
+gathered themselves together at the mound, then the Thebans separated
+themselves from them, and stretching forth their hands came near to
+the barbarians, and cried, speaking indeed the veriest truth, that
+they had yielded themselves to the Persians, and had given earth and
+water to the King, none sooner, and that they had come to Thermopylæ
+under compulsion, and were without guilt for the loss that had befallen
+the King’s army. Thus they were saved alive, and indeed they had the
+Thessalians to witness for them that they spake the truth. Nevertheless
+they were not altogether fortunate, for some of them were slain by
+the barbarians as they approached, and the others were branded with
+the King’s mark, for such was the command of Xerxes. The first that
+suffered this was their general Leontiades. The son of this Leontiades,
+Eurymachus, was afterward slain by the men of Platæa when he came with
+four hundred other Thebans seeking to take their city.
+
+These things being finished, the King sent for Demaratus and spake
+to him, saying, “Demaratus, thou art a good man, as I know by thy
+speaking of the truth, for indeed all things have turned out according
+to thy saying. Tell me now how many in number are the Spartans that
+yet remain? and how many of them are such as they that have now fought
+against us?”
+
+Then said Demaratus, “O King, there are many Lacedæmonians; but in this
+country of Lacedæmon there is a certain city, Sparta, wherein are, as
+near as may be, eight thousand men as brave as them that fought in the
+Pass. The other Lacedæmonians are not a match for these; nevertheless
+they are brave men.”
+
+Xerxes said, “Tell me now, Demaratus, how shall we best get the mastery
+over these men? Speak, for that wast a King among them and must need
+know all their counsels.”
+
+Demaratus made answer, “Since thou seekest counsel of me so earnestly,
+O King, I will tell thee, as is right, the best thing thou canst do.
+Send three hundred of thy ships against the land of the Lacedæmonians.
+Now there lieth over against this land a certain island, Cythera,
+concerning which island one Chilon, a very wise man that once dwelt
+among us, was wont to say that it would be far better for the Spartans
+that it should be sunk under the sea than that it should be
+above the sea. This he said because he feared always lest some such
+thing should be done as I am now about to tell thee. And he said it
+knowing nothing of thy coming against Greece, but fearing all coming
+of strangers to this place. Send men therefore to this island, and let
+them harass the Spartans from thence. And it shall be that if they have
+a war of their own close at home they will not be a trouble to thee,
+so as to help the other Greeks when thy army seeks to subdue them.
+And when thou hast subdued the rest of Greece, the Spartans, being
+left alone, will be feeble. But if thou wilt not follow this counsel
+then know that there shall come to pass that which I now tell thee.
+When thou comest to the Peloponnesus thou wilt find a narrow neck of
+land: and at this neck all the men of the Peloponnesus that are leagued
+together against thee will be gathered together, and there wilt thou
+have to fight battles fiercer by far than that which thou hast now
+seen.”
+
+Now it is so chanced that Achæmenes, who was brother to King Xerxes,
+and had command of the fleet, was present when Demaratus thus spake.
+Fearing then that the King might follow this counsel, he brake in, “I
+see, O King, that thou listenest to the counsels of a man that envies
+thy good fortune, and seeks to betray thee. This indeed is ever the
+manner of the Greeks; they envy good fortune, and hate that which is
+stronger than themselves. If now, when we have lost four hundred ships
+by shipwreck, three hundred more shall be sent away from the fleet to
+sail round the Peloponnesus, then will our enemies be a match for us.
+But if we keep our whole fleet together, then will it be such as they
+will not dare to encounter. Consider also that if that which we have
+on the land and that which we have on the sea advance together, the
+one will be able to help the other. But if thou part them asunder, the
+fleet will not be able to help thee, nor thou to help the fleet. Only
+order thine own affairs well, and take no thought about thine enemies,
+whether they will join battle with thee, or what they will do, or how
+many they be in number. Surely they without us can manage their own
+affairs and we ours without them. As to the Spartans, if they come out
+to fight against us, they will in no wise heal this great wound that
+they have now received at our hands.”
+
+To this the King made answer, “This is well said, Achæmenes, and I will
+follow thy counsel. For though Demaratus saith what he deems the best
+for me, his judgment is worse than thine. But this I will not believe,
+that he has not good will for me and my fortunes. So much I know from
+the counsel that he has given me before, and also from his own affairs.
+For that a man may envy a fellow-citizen that is more fortunate than
+he, and may hate him secretly, and if he be asked for counsel will
+not speak the thing that is best, is to be believed, unless indeed
+he be of a very rare and excellent virtue. But a friend rejoices in
+the prosperity of a friend that is of another country, and gives him
+counsel according to the best of his power. Now this Demaratus is my
+friend, and I warn all men that hereafter they keep themselves from
+speaking evil of him.”
+
+When Xerxes had thus spoken, he went to see the bodies of them that
+had been slain. And when he came to the body of Leonidas, knowing him
+to have been the captain and King of the Spartans, he commanded that
+they should cut the head from it and put it on a cross, which may be
+taken for a proof that there was no man that Xerxes hated so much as
+he hated Leonidas while he was yet alive; for else he had not done
+this dishonor to his dead body. For the Persians are wont, for the
+most part, more than other men, to show honor to them that have shown
+themselves good men in war.
+
+It must yet be told how the Spartans first knew that the King had it
+in his mind to bring an army against Greece. This Demaratus, of whom
+mention has been made, was not friendly, it would appear, to them that
+had driven him forth. Wherefore it may be doubted whether he did this
+thing that shall now be told from goodwill or from insolence. So soon
+as Xerxes had fixed it in his mind to march against Greece, Demaratus,
+being then in the city of Susa, and hearing the matter, desired to send
+tidings of it to the Spartans. And the way which he devised of sending
+them was this, for there was great peril lest he should be discovered.
+This therefore was his contrivance. He took a tablet that had two
+leaves, and having cleared away from it the wax, he wrote upon the wood
+the purpose of the King. And having done this he melted the wax again
+over the writing knowing that the guards of the road would not trouble
+themselves about a tablet that was seen to be empty. But when the
+tablet was brought to Sparta no one could understand the matter, till
+Gorgo, that was daughter to Cleomenes and wife to Leonidas, discovered
+it to them, for she said, “Scrape the wax from off the tablet and you
+will of a surety find writing upon the wood.” Thus did the Spartans
+hear of the coming of the King, and forthwith sent tidings of it to the
+other Greeks.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+OF THE SHIPS OF THE GREEKS AT ARTEMISIUM.
+
+
+The Greeks had in all two hundred and seventy and one ships of war
+having three banks of oars, and of smaller ships a few. Of these the
+Athenians furnished one hundred and twenty and seven, certain of these
+being manned by the men of Platæa, who, though they had no knowledge
+of the seaman’s art, yet of their valor and zeal took their part in
+the business. Also the Athenians supplied twenty ships to the men of
+Chalcis. The Spartans sent ten ships only; nevertheless, the commander
+of the fleet was a Spartan, Eurybiades by name, for the allies had
+said, “Unless a Spartan be commander we will break up the fleet, for an
+Athenian we will not serve.”
+
+Now there had been talk, even before the sending of the ambassadors
+to Sicily for help, how that it would be well to hand over to the
+Athenians the command of the fleet. But when the allies set themselves
+against the thing, then the Athenians gave place, for they desired
+above all things that Greece should be saved, and judged, and
+that right truly, that if there should be a strife concerning the
+pre-eminence, it would surely perish. And indeed a strife between
+kindred is as much worse than war, wherein all have one mind, as war
+itself is worse than peace. The Athenians, knowing this, did not hold
+out for themselves, but gave place. Only afterward, when the occasion
+served, they showed their thoughts. For when the Greeks had driven back
+the Persians, so that they had now to fight for their own country, then
+finding occasion in the insolence of Pausanias, they took away the
+chief command from the Spartans. But this happened afterward.
+
+When the Greeks that assembled at Artemisium saw the ships of the
+barbarians how many in number they were, and how the whole country was
+filled with their armament, and saw that the Persians had prospered
+in their undertaking beyond what they had thought, they were in great
+fear, and took counsel together whether they should not depart from
+Artemisium and betake themselves to the inner parts of their country.
+Now when the men of Eubœa were aware that the Greeks had such a purpose
+in their minds, they came to Eurybiades, and besought him to remain a
+while, till they should have removed their children and their slaves
+to a place of safety. And when they could not persuade Eurybiades
+they departed from him and went to Themistocles, the commander of
+the Athenians, and persuaded him to do this thing, giving him thirty
+talents of silver. And the manner in which Themistocles caused the
+Greeks to tarry at Artemisium was this. First he sent to Eurybiades
+five talents of the thirty, making as though they came from himself.
+Thus was Eurybiades persuaded. Then to Adeimantus of Corinth--for this
+man still opposed, affirming that he would sail away from Artemisium
+and would by no means tarry--he said with an oath, “Surely thou wilt
+not forsake us. I will give thee greater gifts if thou abide with us
+than the King would give thee for going over to him.” And when he had
+said this he sent three talents to the Corinthian’s ship. Thus these
+two were won over by gifts, and the men of Eubœa had what they desired.
+As for Themistocles, he made no small gain in this matter, for he kept
+that which was left for himself, none knowing of it. They that had a
+share in the money believed that it had been sent from Athens for this
+very end. Thus did it come to pass that the Greeks fought with the
+barbarians at Artemisium.
+
+As for the battle, it was in this wise. When the barbarians saw that
+the ships of the Greeks were few in number they were desirous to fight
+without delay, hoping that they might take them before they could
+escape, and fearing lest they should flee. But they judged it better
+not to sail straight against them, lest the Greeks seeing them so
+advance should take to flight, for that if night should fall while
+they fled they would clean escape out of their hands. Now the desire
+of the Persians was that not even the torch-bearer, as men say, should
+escape. (When the Spartans go forth to war they have with them one
+who keeps the sacred fire for the sacrifices. Him they defend with
+all their might; nor is he killed unless the whole army perish.) They
+contrived therefore this plan. They separated two hundred ships from
+the whole fleet, and sent them around the island of Eubœa, commanding
+them to make a very wide circuit, lest the Greeks should see them. And
+their purpose was that the two hundred ships should bar the way by the
+Euripus (the Euripus is the channel at the extremity of the island
+southward), and that so the Greeks might be shut in on either side,
+for the two hundred ships would be behind them, and the remainder of
+the fleet would attack them from before. Having so done they remained
+in their place, till they should know by a signal that the two hundred
+ships had accomplished their voyage.
+
+Now there was among the Persians a certain Scyllias of Scione, than
+whom there was in those days no more skillful diver. This man had saved
+much treasure for the Persians after the great storm that fell on the
+fleet from Mount Pelion, getting also no small portion for himself.
+He had been minded for some time to go over to the Greeks, but had
+not before found occasion. And indeed how he passed from the Persians
+to the Greeks is not certainly known; but marvelous things are told
+about it. For some say that diving into the sea at Aphetæ he did not
+come up to the top of the water so much as once till he was arrived at
+Artemisium, so passing through eighty furlongs of sea or thereabouts.
+Many other things are told about this man that are manifestly false,
+and some that are true. But as to his coming from Aphetæ to Artemisium,
+doubtless he came in a boat. And so soon as he was come he told the
+commanders of the fleet of the damage done to the Persians, and also
+of the two hundred ships that had been sent round Eubœa.
+
+When the commanders heard these things they took counsel what they
+should do. At the first they proposed to remain in their place till
+midnight, and then sail to meet the two hundred ships; but afterward,
+changing their purpose, they set sail, not long after noonday, toward
+the fleet of the barbarians, desiring to make a trial of their manner
+of fighting and of their skill.
+
+Now when the Persians perceived the Greeks thus sailing against them,
+and saw how few ships they had, they thought that they were mad, and
+went out to meet them, not doubting that they should easily take them
+all; for their ships were many more in number and also sailed better.
+And such of the Ionians as wished well to the Greeks, and served with
+the Persians against their will, were much troubled to see the fleet
+of the Greeks surrounded, thinking it certain that none of them would
+escape; but they that had no love for the Greeks rejoiced, and strove
+with each other who should first take an Athenian ship, and gain
+for himself great gifts from the King. For the Athenians were most
+accounted of both among the Persians and the Greeks.
+
+The Greeks, when the first signal was given, brought the sterns of
+their ships together and turned their prows toward their enemies; and
+on the second signal they joined battle; and though they were shut
+into a narrow space they bare themselves bravely and took twenty ships
+of the barbarians, and with them Philaon, brother to Gorgus King of
+Salamis, a man held in much respect. And the first of the Greeks that
+took a ship of the Persians was Lycomedes of Athens, to whom was given
+the prize of valor. But while they still fought, and victory was yet
+doubtful, the night fell. So the Greeks sailed back to their place, and
+the Persians also, marveling much at what had befallen them, for it was
+far otherwise than what they had hoped. In this battle one only of the
+Greeks came over from the Persians to the Greeks, a man of Lesbos, to
+whom the Athenians gave afterward certain lands in Salamis for a reward.
+
+But before night a great rain, with thunder and lightning from Mount
+Pelion, fell upon the Persians; and the dead corpses of them that had
+been slain in the battle, and broken pieces of the ships, were floated
+into the midst of the ships and hindered the oars. And the Persians
+were greatly afraid, thinking that there was no end of their perils,
+first the storm, and then the battle, and now this great storm of rain.
+But as for them that were sent round the island they fared much worse,
+for the storm fell upon them while they were in the open sea. They were
+near to the Hollows of Eubœa when the wind and the rain overtook them;
+nor could they hold up against the storm, but being driven they knew
+not whither, fell among rocks, and so were utterly destroyed. Thus did
+the Gods contrive that the number of the Persian ships should be made
+equal to the number of the ships of the Greeks.
+
+Right glad were the barbarians when the morning was come; and that day
+they tarried in their place, being well content to be quiet after all
+their troubles. And to the Greeks there came fifty and three ships of
+the Athenians. Tidings also were brought how that all the ships of the
+barbarians that had sought to sail round Eubœa had perished by reason
+of the storm. All this put them in good heart; and at the same hour at
+which they had sailed the day before, they went forth and fell on some
+Cilician ships and destroyed them, and so, at nightfall, sailed back to
+Artemisium.
+
+The third day the barbarians took it much to heart that so few ships
+of the Greeks should work them such injury. They feared also what
+Xerxes would do to them; therefore they did not tarry till the Greeks
+should begin the battle, but bidding each other be of good heart, about
+noonday they sailed out. Now it so fell out that these three days
+were the very days on which the Persians and the Greeks had fought
+in the Pass. For the Greeks at Artemisium sought to keep the Euripus
+even as Leonidas and his comrades sought to keep the Pass. So the
+Greeks strengthened each other, saying that they should not suffer the
+barbarians to go from thence into their land, and the Persians were
+fain to destroy the fleet of their enemies and so get the mastery of
+the strait. This day then the barbarians set themselves in order of
+battle and sailed against the Greeks, and these kept in their place
+at Artemisium. But when the Persians, having their ships in the shape
+of a crescent, made as if they would take the Greeks on both sides,
+then these sailed out and joined battle. This day neither the one
+nor the other had the upper hand, for the fleet of Xerxes was damaged
+not a little by reason of the multitude of the ships, these falling
+into confusion and striking the one against the other; nevertheless it
+held out and gave no place to the enemy, for the Persians counted it a
+grievous thing that they should be put to flight by a few. Thus it came
+to pass that many of the ships of the Greeks were broken, and many of
+the men perished. But of the barbarians there perished more by a great
+many both of ships and of men. And after they had fought together for a
+long time they parted asunder, going right gladly to their own place.
+In this battle of all the men of Xerxes none bare themselves more
+bravely than the Egyptians, and of all the Greeks none more than the
+Athenians, and among these than Cleinias, the son of Alcibiades. This
+Cleinias served at his own charges, having two hundred men and his own
+ship.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+OF THE DEPARTURE OF THE GREEKS FROM ARTEMISIUM AND OF THE ADVANCE OF
+XERXES.
+
+
+The battle being ended, the Greeks got possession of the broken ships
+and of the dead bodies of the slain; but seeing that they had been
+roughly handled, the Athenians not less than the others--for the half
+of their ships had suffered damage--they purposed to depart. Then
+Themistocles, thinking that if he could divide the men of Ionia and the
+men of Caria from the barbarians, the Greeks could have the mastery
+of the rest, gathered together the commanders, while the Eubœans
+were driving down their sheep to the sea, and told them that he had
+conceived a device by which he could divide from the King the bravest
+of his allies. Also he said that they should kill as many as they would
+of the sheep of the Eubœans, for that it was better that they should
+have them than that they should fall into the hands of the barbarians;
+also he would have the camp-fire according to custom. “And I will take
+care,” he said, “that you shall get back to Greece without any damage.”
+
+Now the people of Eubœa had paid no regard to the oracle of Bacis,
+making light of it altogether, and neither removing their goods from
+the island, nor yet putting them into their strong places. And the
+oracle was this:
+
+    Ye sons of fair Eubœa heed:
+      Whene’er the strangers’ dark array
+    Shall bridge the sea with ropes of reed,
+      Drive ye your bleating flocks away.
+
+And by this neglect they were brought to ruin.
+
+By this time there was come a messenger from Thermopylæ. For the Greeks
+had set a man in Trachis to tell them that fought in the Pass how it
+fared with the ships at Artemisium, and there was another man with
+King Leonidas who was to bring news to Artemisium of the doings of the
+Spartans. This man was now come, telling all that had befallen the
+Greeks in the Pass; which when the commanders of the fleet had heard,
+they delayed no longer, but departed, each in their order, first the
+Corinthians, and last of all the Athenians. But Themistocles chose the
+swiftest of the Athenian ships, and going to the places for watering,
+engraved there upon the rocks certain words which the Ionians coming
+the next day to Artemisium read. And the words were these, “Men of
+Ionia, ye do wrong making war against your fathers and seeking to
+enslave the land of Greece. Of right ye should be on our side. But if
+this be not possible to you, yet stand ye aloof from the battle, and
+entreat the Carians also that they do likewise. And if so be that ye
+can not either help us or stand aloof, being under such constraint
+that ye cannot revolt against the barbarians, yet, when the battle
+is joined, ye should hold your hands, remembering that ye are of our
+blood, and that for your sake we first prevoked the barbarians to
+wrath.” For Themistocles said to himself, “Either this writing will not
+come to the knowledge of the King, and the Ionians will perchance be
+persuaded to help us; or, coming to his knowledge, it will cause him to
+have doubts of them, and he will not suffer them to come into battle
+together with his ships.”
+
+Now when the barbarians heard that the Greeks had fled from Artemisium,
+at the first they would not believe it, but afterward, finding it to be
+so, they sailed thither. And when they were arrived at the place there
+came a herald from King Xerxes, saying, “Comrades, the King permits
+any that will to leave his place and see for himself how he fights
+against the foolish men that thought to resist his might.” But before
+that he sent the herald he had ordered matters in this wise. He took of
+them that had been slain of his army at the Pass one thousand (but the
+number of the whole was twenty thousand), and left them to be seen; but
+the rest he hid away, digging two great trenches for them and covering
+them with leaves, and heaping earth upon them. Now when the herald had
+made this proclamation there could scarcely be found a boat, so many
+desired to see the sight. So they crossed over and saw it, passing
+among the dead bodies; all these they thought to be either Spartans or
+men of Thespiæ, though indeed there were many helots among the slain.
+Nevertheless they that crossed over perceived what Xerxes had done
+with the dead of his own army. And indeed it was a foolish device, for
+on the one side were to be seen the thousand men, and on the other
+four thousand, gathered together all of them into one place. This day
+therefore they spent in this fashion, and in the next the seamen went
+back to their ships and Xerxes with his army went forward.
+
+About this time there came to the Persians certain men from Arcadia,
+poor men that sought for a livelihood. When these were brought before
+the King, one of the Persians asked them, saying, “What do the Greeks
+at this season?” The Arcadians answered, “They hold the games at
+Olympia, looking on the sports and on the races of chariots.” Then
+said the Persian, “What is the prize for which they contend?” And when
+the Arcadians answered, “They contend for a wreath of olive leaves,”
+Tritantæchmes, that was the son of Artabanus, cried out, “Now, by the
+Gods, O Mardonius, what manner of men are these against whom thou
+bringest us, that they contend with each other, not for money, but
+for glory only?” This was in truth a noble thing that he said, but it
+angered the King, so that he charged Tritantæchmes with cowardice.
+
+From Trachis the Persians marched into Doris, and from Doris into
+Phocis. This they laid waste, burning the towns and the temples. As for
+the Phocians themselves, they escaped, for the most part, with their
+wives and children, to the heights of Mount Parnassus. When they had
+passed through the land of Phocis the barbarians divided their army
+into two parts, whereof the one, with King Xerxes, marched toward
+Athens through the land of Bœotia, and the other, having taken to
+themselves guides, marched toward the temple at Delphi. This they did
+purposing to spoil the temple, and to bring the treasure to the King;
+and indeed the King knew all the notable things that were laid up in
+the treasury at Delphi better than he knew the things that he had left
+in his own house; for there was continually much talk about them, and
+especially about the offering which Crœsus, King of the Lydians, had
+made to the god.
+
+The men of Delphi, when they knew of the coming of the Persians, were
+in great fear; therefore they inquired of the oracle what they should
+do with the treasures of the temple, whether they should bury them in
+the earth, or take them away to some other land. But the god answered
+them in these words, “Move them not, for I am sufficient to defend that
+which is mine own.” When the men of Delphi heard these words, they took
+counsel about themselves. First they carried their women and children
+across the gulf of Corinth to the land of Achaia, and after that they
+fled, for the most part, to the heights of Parnassus, and their goods
+they hid in the Corycian cave; but some of them escaped to Amphissa, a
+city of the Locrians; of all the men of Delphi there were left in the
+city sixty only, and the prophet.
+
+So soon as the barbarians were come near so that they could see the
+temple, the prophet (his name was Acetatus) espied the holy arms which
+it is not lawful for a man to touch, lying without the temple. And
+while he went to tell this marvel to them that were in the city, and
+the barbarians were coming up with all speed, and were now near to
+the temple of Athene, there befel marvels greater by far than that
+which has been told. A great marvel indeed is it that arms should move
+of their own accord so as to be seen lying without the temple, but
+the things that befell afterward are greater by far, and such indeed
+that nothing can be compared with them. First of all, so soon as the
+barbarians, coming up the road, were now hard by the temple of Athene,
+there fell on them great thunderbolts from heaven, and two great
+rocks brake off from the top of Mount Parnassus, and rolled down upon
+them with a great crash, and slew many of them, and there was heard
+also from the temple a war-cry and a shout of victory. And when the
+barbarians saw and heard all these things, great fear came upon them,
+so that they turned their backs and fled. And when the men of Delphi
+perceived that they fled, they came down and pursued after them, and
+slew not a few of them. And they that escaped fled into Bœotia, turning
+neither to the right hand nor to the left. They said also that, over
+and above the other marvels that have been told, they saw two men at
+arms, whose stature exceeded the stature of a man, following after
+them and slaying them. These two men the men of Delphi affirm to have
+been heroes of the country, Phylacus and Autonous. These two have
+each a temple and a precinct near to the city of Delphi. As for the
+rocks that fell from Parnassus, they are to be seen to this day in the
+precinct of Athene, in which they lodged after that they had passed
+through the host of the barbarians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+OF THE GREEKS AT SALAMIS AND OF THE CITY OF ATHENS.
+
+
+The ships of the Greeks, having departed from Artemisium, came to
+Salamis. The Athenians had besought them to do this that they might
+carry their women and children out of their country, and might also
+take counsel together what was best to be done. For indeed things had
+not happened according to their expectations. For they had thought to
+find the men of the Peloponnese drawn up with their whole force in the
+land of Bœotia to do battle with the barbarians. But now they heard
+that these purposed to build a wall across the Isthmus, and so defend
+their own country, suffering the rest of Greece to take thought for
+itself. And this the Greeks did. And so soon as they were come thither
+there flowed to them no small force that had been gathered together at
+Pogon, the haven of the Trœzenians. For the word had gone forth that
+all who would fight for Greece should be gathered together at Pogon.
+All these the same Euribiades that was at Artemisium commanded, being
+a Spartan, but not of the house of the Kings. Of all the ships the
+best were the ships of the Athenians, being in number one hundred and
+eighty. These were now altogether manned by their own people, for the
+men of Platæa had gone to carry away their wives and children from
+their city. The men of Ægina sent thirty ships, leaving certain others
+to defend their city. From the island of Naxos there came four. These
+indeed had been sent by their people to help the Persians, but they
+made light of the command and helped the Greeks. This they did at the
+instance of Democritus, a notable man among the Naxians and captain
+of a ship. The men of Seriphos and Siphnos and Melos also helped the
+Greeks, being the only islanders that had not given earth and water to
+the barbarians. These three sent in all four ships of fifty oars. And
+of all the countries beyond the sea the men of Crotona only came to
+the help of the Greeks in their great peril. These sent one ship which
+Phayllus, a man that had been crowned at the Pythians games, commanded.
+Now the number of the ships in all was three hundred and seventy and
+eight; but in this number the ships of fifty oars were not reckoned.
+
+Meanwhile there had been made a proclamation among the Athenians that
+each man should save his children and his household as best he could.
+The most part sent them away to Trœzen; but some sent them to Ægina,
+and some to Salamis. This they did with all speed, desiring to obey
+the words of the oracle, and also for another reason which shall now
+be told. The Athenians say that in their citadel in the temple there
+dwells a great snake that is the guardian of the place. And indeed they
+set out for this snake a monthly provision of food, as for a veritable
+creature; and the monthly provision is a honey cake. This honey cake
+which before had always been eaten, was now seen to be untouched.
+When the priestess told these things to the people they were more
+earnest than before to leave the city, as thinking that the goddess
+Athene had deserted the citadel. Nevertheless they did not all depart,
+for the Persians, when they came, found the city indeed desolate of
+inhabitants, but in the citadel certain men, that were either ministers
+of the temple or of the poorer sort that for lack of means had not
+departed with the rest of the people to Salamis. But some of them went
+not, thinking that they rightly understood the oracle of the Pythia
+when she said, “The wooden wall shall not be taken;” for that by this
+wall was signified, not the ships, but a veritable wall of wood. These
+therefore had fenced about the citadel with doors and pieces of wood,
+and so awaited the coming of the Persians.
+
+The Persians indeed encamped on the hill that is over against the
+citadel (this hill the Athenians call the hill of Ares) and began
+the siege, shooting at the Greeks arrows with burning tow upon them
+that so they might set fire to the barricade. Nevertheless the men
+held out, though indeed they were in evil case, and their wooden wall
+had failed them; nor would they hearken to the words of the sons of
+Pisistratus when these would have them surrender, but they rolled down
+great stones upon the barbarians as these came up to the gates, and so
+kept the place. And for many days Xerxes was in great doubt, and knew
+not how he should prevail over them; but at last they discovered a way
+of access. For it must needs be that the oracle should be fulfilled,
+that all the country of the Athenians upon the mainland should be
+conquered by the barbarians. Certain Persians climbed up the hill where
+there was no watch, no one believing that any man could mount by that
+way, so steep was it. (The place is on the face of the cliff, behind
+the gates and the way by which men commonly ascend.) So soon as the
+Athenians saw them now already on the top, some threw themselves from
+the wall and so perished; and some fled for refuge to the sanctuary.
+But the Persians, when they had opened the gates of the citadel for
+their fellows, slew all them that had taken sanctuary; and afterward
+they plundered the temple and burned all the citadel with fire. Then
+Xerxes, being now wholly master of Athens, sent off a messenger, a
+horseman, to Artabanus, to tell him of his good success. Also, on the
+second day after the sending of the herald, he commanded the Athenian
+exiles that had followed in his train to go up to the citadel and do
+sacrifice in the place according to the custom of their country. This
+he did either by reason of a dream, or because it repented him that
+he had burned the temple. And the exiles did as the King commanded.
+And when they were come to the citadel they found a marvelous thing.
+There was in the citadel a temple of Erectheus, whom the Athenians call
+the “earth-born,” and in the temple an olive tree, which Athene left
+for a memorial of her when she contended with Poseidon for the land
+of the Athenians. Now this olive had been burned with other things in
+the temple, but when the Athenians went up according to the King’s
+commandment, they found that there had sprung forth from the trunk a
+fresh shoot of a cubit in length.
+
+So soon as tidings came to the Greeks of Salamis of the things that had
+befallen Athens and its citadel, there came upon them such fear that
+some of the captains would not wait till the council should have voted,
+but embarked in their vessels with all haste, and hoisted up their
+sails, as though they would fly without delay. And such as stayed at
+the council voted that the fleet should give battle to the Persians at
+the Isthmus. Afterward, it being now night, the captains departed, each
+man to his own vessel.
+
+And when Themistocles was come to his ship there met him a certain
+Mnesiphilus, an Athenian, who asked him what the council had decreed.
+And when Themistocles said, “They have decreed that we should sail to
+the Isthmus, and there fight for the Peloponnese,” Mnesiphilus made
+answer, “If these men take away their ships from Salamis, there will
+be no one country for which ye may fight. For the Greeks will depart
+each to his own city, and neither Eurybiades nor any other man shall
+be able to hinder them from so scattering themselves. So shall Greece
+perish by the folly of their children. If therefore there be any device
+by which thou canst deliver us from this end, haste and make trial of
+it. Happily thou mayest persuade Eurybiades to change his purpose and
+remain in this place.”
+
+This counsel pleased Themistocles well. To Mnesiphilus indeed he
+answered nothing, but he went straightway to the ship of Eurybiades,
+and said that he had a matter concerning the common weal about which
+he would speak with him. Then said Eurybiades, “Come into my ship if
+thou hast aught to say.” So Themistocles sat by his side and told him
+all that he had heard from Mnesiphilus--only he said these things as
+if from himself--and added also many other things. So urgent was he
+that at the last Eurybiades went forth and gathered together the other
+captains to council. So soon then as these were gathered together,
+before that Eurybiades had set forth the matter wherefore they were
+assembled, Themistocles, as one that was wholly intent on his purpose,
+said many things, so that Adeimantus of Corinth cried out to him,
+“Themistocles, in the games they that start too soon are scourged.”
+“Yea,” said Themistocles, excusing himself, “but they that linger are
+not crowned.” Thus he answered the Corinthian softly. And to Eurybiades
+he spake, not indeed after his former manner how that the ships would
+be scattered from where he should have sailed to the Isthmus, for the
+allies were present, and he thought it not seemly to say this thing
+in their ears, but rather in some such fashion as this: “It is in thy
+hands to save Greece, if thou wilt hearken unto me and abide in this
+place, and so give battle to the barbarians, not heeding those who
+would have thee depart hence to the Isthmus with thy ships. For hear
+now, and set these two things one against the other. If the host give
+battle at the Isthmus, then shall we fight in the open sea, than which
+there could be nothing less to our advantage, seeing that our ships
+are fewer in number and these heavier. Also we shall lose Salamis and
+Megara and Ægina, though we prosper in the battle. For remember that
+the army of the barbarians will follow, together with their fleet,
+and that thou wilt thus bring both the one and the other to the
+Peloponnesus, and so put all Greece upon the hazard. But if thou wilt
+hearken unto me, see what we shall gain. First we shall do battle in
+a narrow space, a thing much to our advantage and to the harm of our
+enemies. And secondly, we shall yet keep Salamis, where we have put our
+wives and children, and Megara also and Ægina. And at Salamis, saith
+the oracle, we shall prevail over the barbarians.”
+
+When Themistocles had thus spoken, Adeimantus of Corinth reproached
+him again, bidding him be silent, because he was a man without a city
+(for Athens had been destroyed by the barbarians). Then Themistocles
+brake out against him and the Corinthians with many bitter words, and
+saying, “Nay, but we have a city and a land greater than yours, for we
+have two hundred ships well manned, whose attack no city of the Greeks
+would be able to withstand.” Then he turned to Eurybiades, and said
+with all earnestness, “If thou wilt abide here and bear thyself bravely
+all will be well; but if not, then wilt thou bring Greece to ruin. For
+verily we will take our wives and children and go straightway to Siris
+in Italy, which is ours. Verily, when ye have lost our help, ye will
+remember what I have said this day.”
+
+When Eurybiades heard these words, he changed his purpose, knowing
+that if the Athenians should depart, the rest of the fleet should not
+be able to withstand the Persians. Wherefore he made his resolve that
+he would stay and give battle at Salamis. Then all the captains made
+ready for battle. After this, at daybreak there was an earthquake, and
+it seemed good to the Greeks to make supplications to the Gods, and to
+call the sons of Æacus to their help. And this they did, for they put
+up prayers, and sent a ship to Salamis to fetch Æacus and his children.
+
+A certain Dicæus, an exile of Athens and a man of repute among the
+barbarians, told this tale of what he saw about this time. He chanced
+to be with Demaratus the Spartan in the plain of Thria, the land of
+Attica having been by this time laid waste by the army of Xerxes,
+and he saw coming from Eleusis a great cloud of dust, such as a host
+of thirty thousand men might make in their march. And while the two
+marveled who these could be that could cause such dust, he heard
+voices and the sound, as it seemed to him, of the hymn to Bacchus.
+Now Demaratus heard the voices, and asked what they were saying, for
+he knew nothing of the mysteries of Eleusis. Then said Dicæus, “O
+Demaratus, of a truth, some great trouble will overtake the army of the
+King. For seeing that Attica is void of inhabitants, these that sing
+are surely gods, and they come from Eleusis to help the Athenians and
+their allies. If therefore this that we see turn to the Peloponnese,
+there will be peril to the King and to his army, but if to Salamis,
+then there will be peril to the fleet. For know that year by year the
+Athenians keep a feast to the Mother and Daughter, and the voices which
+thou heardst were singing the hymn of the feast.” Then said Demaratus,
+“See that thou tell the matter to no man. For if the King hear it, thou
+wilt surely perish. Hold thou thy peace therefore; the Gods will order
+as they please with the army of the King.”
+
+By this time the ships of the barbarians were come to Phalerum, which
+is a haven of Athens. And it seemed good to Xerxes to learn the
+judgment of them that had command in the fleet. Wherefore he went on
+board and sat on a seat of honor, and all the kings and the captains
+sat before him, each in his place, after the pleasure of the King. The
+King of Sidon sat in the first place, and in the second the King of
+Tyre. Then Xerxes sent Mardonius, bidding him ask each in his order
+what he counseled, whether they should fight or no. To this all made
+answer in the same words that they should fight, save Artemisia of
+Halicarnassus only, who spake after this fashion, “Say to the King, O
+Mardonius, what I now say to thee. Seeing that I bare myself not less
+bravely than the others in the battles at the island of Eubœa. I have
+the right to speak what I judge to be most for thy advantage. I say
+then spare thy ships and fight not. These men are better than thine
+upon the sea, even as men are better than women. Art thou not master
+of Athens, for which thou camest hither? Doth any man resist thee? Or
+if thou art not yet satisfied, thou canst easily accomplish all that
+is in thine heart to do. These men will not long abide in their place,
+and indeed they have, I fear, no store of food in the island; and if
+thou goest forward toward the Peloponnese, they will be scattered each
+to his own city, for the men of the Peloponnese will not care to fight
+for the Athenians. But I fear me much that some great evil will befall
+thee, if thou art resolved to join battle with the Greeks by sea. For
+remember that good masters have ever evil servants, and evil masters
+good servants; thou indeed art the best of men, but thy servants are
+evil. For these thy allies, as they are called, these men of Egypt and
+of Cyprus and of Cilicia and of Pamphylia, are of no account.”
+
+When Artemisia spake these words all that wished her well were much
+troubled, for they thought that she would surely be cruelly dealt with
+by the King, because she counseled him not to give battle; but all that
+were enemies to her rejoiced, and they that envied her for the honor
+which the King had done to her beyond all the allies, thinking that she
+would perish. Nevertheless Xerxes, when the words of all the kings and
+the captains were told to him, was not pleased with any so much as with
+the words of Artemisia. Nevertheless it seemed good to him to follow
+the counsel of the greater number, and to give battle; for he thought
+that the ships had not done their best at Eubœa because he himself had
+been absent, and was minded to see the battle that should now be fought
+with his own eyes.
+
+So the ships of the barbarians sailed to Salamis and took their places,
+as they had been commanded, no man hindering them; for the Greeks,
+especially the men of the Peloponnese, were greatly troubled, fearing
+lest they should be shut up in Salamis while their own country was left
+without defense.
+
+The same night the army of the barbarians went forwards to the
+Peloponnese. There indeed all things had been done that the Persians
+might not be able to come into the country. For so soon as there came
+the tidings how that Leonidas and his companions had fallen at the
+Pass, straightway the inhabitants assembled from their cities and
+pitched their camp at the Isthmus, their commander being Cleombrotus,
+who was brother to Leonidas. First they blocked up the way of Susa,
+that leads from Magara to Corinth; and afterwards they built a wall
+across the Isthmus. This work they wrought in a few days only, for
+there were many thousands of men, and they worked without ceasing
+either by night or by day. Now the nations that were gathered at
+the Isthmus were these: the Lacedæmonians, all the Arcadians, the
+Corinthians, the men of Elis, the men of Sicyon, and of Epidaurus, and
+of Phlius, and of Trœzen, and of Hermione. But the other nations, as
+the Achæans and the Argives, came not to the Isthmus, nor gave help to
+the Greeks, but rather, if the truth is to be told, gave help to the
+Persians.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+OF THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS.
+
+
+Meanwhile there was much doubt and fear among the Greeks at Salamis.
+For a time indeed the captains talked privately the one with the other,
+marveling at the ill counsel of Eurybiades that he left the Peloponnese
+without defense; but at the last their discontent brake forth, and the
+assembly was called together, in which many things were said to the
+same purpose as in the former assembly, some affirming that they ought
+to sail away to the Peloponnese that they might defend it, it being a
+vain thing, they said, to remain at Salamis and fight for that which
+was already in the power of their enemies, and the men of Athens and
+of Ægina and of Megara being urgent that they should remain and give
+battle.
+
+Then Themistocles, perceiving that his counsel should not prevail
+against the counsel of the men of the Peloponnese, went out secretly
+from the assembly, and sent straightway a messenger in a boat to the
+camp of the Persians. (The name of the messenger was Sicinnus, he
+was servant to Themistocles and tutor to his children; and after the
+war Themistocles caused him to become a citizen of Thespiæ, for the
+Thespians were admitting strangers to citizenship, and gave him great
+riches.) This Sicinnus therefore, going in a boat to the camp of the
+barbarians, spake to their captains, saying, “The commander of the
+Athenians has sent me, without the knowledge of the rest of the Greeks,
+to say that the Greeks are in great fear and purpose to fly from their
+place, and that ye have a great occasion of destroying them utterly,
+if only ye will not suffer them to escape. For indeed they are not of
+one mind, nor will they withstand you any more, but ye will see them
+fighting the one against the other, they that are on your side being
+opposed to them that are against you. And this my master does because
+he is a friend to the King, and because he would rather that you should
+prevail than that the Greeks should have the mastery.”
+
+When Sicinnus had thus spoken he departed straightway. And the
+Persians, because they believed what Sicinnus had told them, first
+landed many of their men on Psyttaleia, which is a little island
+between Salamis and the mainland; and next, about midnight, they moved
+the westernmost wing of their ships to Salamis, and those that were
+posted at Ceos and Cynosura set sail also, and filled all the strait
+even as far as Munychia. This they did that the Greeks might not be
+able to escape, but might be shut up within Salamis, and so pay the
+penalty of what they had done at Artemisium. As for the landing of
+the Persians at Psyttaleia, it was done for this cause, that when the
+battle was joined, and the broken ships and shipwrecked men should be
+carried down by the current to the island--which must needs be the
+case, seeing that it was in the very way of the battle that should be
+fought--these soldiers might be able to save their friends and slay
+their enemies. All this the barbarians did in silence, lest haply the
+Greeks should hear of the thing that had been done. So the Persians
+made ready for the battle, taking no rest, but toiling through all the
+night.
+
+Meanwhile there was much angry talk among the captains at Salamis, for
+they knew not yet that they were shut in by the barbarians. But while
+they were assembled there came over from Ægina a certain Aristides, a
+man of Athens, that had been banished by the people (yet was he the
+best and most righteous man in Athens). This Aristides, coming to the
+council, would have Themistocles called out to speak with him. Now
+Themistocles was no friend to Aristides, but an enemy and very bitter
+against him; nevertheless, for the great trouble that had come upon
+the land, he took no count of this enmity, but came and called for
+him, wishing to speak with him. And when Themistocles was come forth,
+Aristides said to him, “We two, O Themistocles, have contended together
+aforetime concerning other things, but now let us contend who shall do
+the better service to his country. What I am now come to say is this:
+Let the men of the Peloponnese say little or say much about sailing
+hence, it is all one. For I affirm, of my own knowledge, that the
+Corinthians and Eurybiades himself cannot now depart, if they would,
+for that the barbarians have closed us in. But go thou and tell this
+thing to the captains.” And Themistocles made answer, “This is good
+news thou hast brought, telling of your own knowledge the things that
+I greatly desired should come to pass. What the barbarians have done
+was indeed of my doing, because if the Greeks would not fight of their
+free will there was a necessity that they should be made to fight
+against their will. But as thou hast brought good news, tell it to the
+captains thyself, for if I tell it they will deem that I am lying to
+them. Tell it therefore thyself, and if they believe thee, well; but
+if not, yet can they not escape, if as thou sayest, the Persians have
+closed us in.”
+
+Then Aristides went in to the assembly and told them that he was come
+from Ægina, having barely escaped the watch ships of the barbarians;
+and that they were closed in by the Persians. And he counseled them to
+make ready for the battle. Having so spoken he departed. Then there
+arose a great disputing, the greater part of the captains not believing
+these tidings. But while they doubted there came a ship of war from
+Tenos, which a certain Panætius commanded. This man told them the whole
+truth of the matter. For this cause the men of Tenos were written on
+the offering among them that destroyed the barbarians. And now the
+number of the ships of the Greeks was made up to three hundred and
+eighty.
+
+The Greeks, learning that the words of the men of Tenos were true, made
+themselves ready for battle. And when it was morning there was called
+an assembly of the crews, and Themistocles spake to them very noble
+words, how that men should always choose good rather than evil, and
+honorable things rather than base things. When he had ended his speech
+he bade them embark on their ships; and while they were embarking
+there came from Ægina the ships that brought the children of Æacus.
+Then all the Greeks began to move their ships from their place. But so
+soon as they began to move them, the Persians advanced against them,
+and the Greeks backed their oars, so that they would have beached the
+ships, only one Ameinias, a man of Athens, bade his men row forward,
+and coming forth before the line, drave his ship against a ship of the
+barbarians. Then others went to the help of Ameinias, and so the battle
+was begun. This is what the Athenians say; but the men of Ægina affirm
+that the ship that went to fetch the children of Æacus first began the
+battle. Also this story is told, that there was seen the likeness of a
+woman who cried with a loud voice, so that all the Greeks could hear
+her, “How long, ye simple ones, will ye back your oars?”
+
+The order of the battle was this. The Phœnicians were on the right
+wing, towards the west and towards Eleusis, and the Athenians were
+ranged over against them; and the Ionians were on the left, towards
+the east and towards the Piræus, having the Lacedæmonians over against
+them. Of the Ionians a few only followed the counsel of Themistocles,
+and held back from the fighting; for many of their captains took ships
+of the Greeks, of whom was Theomestor, that for this service was made
+lord of Samos by the Persians, and Phylacus, who also was of Samos,
+that had lands given to him and was written among the benefactors
+of the King. But for the most part the ships of the Persians were
+destroyed by the Greeks, and especially by the Athenians and the men of
+Ægina. For the Greeks fought in good order and kept their plans, but
+the barbarians were without order, neither had they any purpose in what
+they did. Wherefore they must needs have been worsted in the battle.
+Nevertheless they this day surpassed themselves, bearing themselves
+more bravely than at Eubœa; for every man was very zealous, having the
+fear of the King before his eyes, and deeming that the King saw what he
+did.
+
+How the rest of the Greeks and of the barbarians behaved themselves
+cannot be described, but of Artemisia of Halicarnassus this story is
+told. The fleet of the King being now in great confusion, it so chanced
+that the ship of Artemisia was pursued by an Athenian ship. And she,
+not being able to escape, for she was the nearest of all to the ships
+of the enemy, and had many of her own friends in front of her, devised
+this means of saving herself, and also accomplished it. She drave her
+ship against the ship of the lord of Calyndus, being one of the fleet
+of the King (whether she had a quarrel against this man, or the ship
+chanced to be in her way is not known for certain), and had the good
+fortune to sink it. And thus she gained a double gain. For when the
+captain of the Athenian ship saw what she did, judging that her ship
+was of the fleet of the Greeks, or that it had deserted from the King,
+he left pursuing her; and also, having done this ill service to the
+Persians, yet she got the greatest glory from the King. For Xerxes,
+as he looked upon the battle, saw not her ship smite another. And one
+said to him, “O King, seest thou how bravely Queen Artemisia bears
+herself, sinking a ship of the enemies?” Then said the King, “Was this
+verily the doing of Artemisia?” And they affirmed that it was, knowing
+the token of her ship; but the ship that was sunk they judged to be
+one of the Greeks. It so chanced also, that her good fortune might be
+complete, that not a man of the ship of Calyndus was left to tell the
+truth. As for Xerxes, he is reported to have said, “My men have become
+women, and my women have become men.”
+
+In this battle fell Ariabignes, being brother to the King, and also
+many other famous men of the Medes and the Persians. Of the Greeks
+indeed there perished not many; for even though their ships were
+destroyed, yet being able to swim they saved themselves; but of the
+barbarians the greater part perished, for they were not able to swim.
+And so soon as the first of the Persian ships began to fly before the
+Greeks then there followed a great destruction. For they that were
+behind pressed forward, seeking to show some deed of valor before the
+eyes of the King, and drave against the ships that fled, and so both
+did and received great damage. This thing also happened. Certain of
+the Phœnicians, whose ships had perished, came to the King and made a
+complaint against the Ionians that they had betrayed them. But while
+they were yet speaking, a ship of Samothrace drave against an Athenian
+ship and sank it; then there came a ship of Ægina against the ship of
+Samothrace and wounded it sorely; notwithstanding, while it was sinking
+the Samothracians, being throwers of javelins, smote down the men of
+Ægina, and boarded their ship and took possession of it. This thing was
+the salvation of the Ionians. For Xerxes, seeing that these Greeks had
+wrought a great deed and being in great vexation of spirit, and ready
+to blame all men, commanded that they should cut off the heads of the
+Phœnician captains, that they might not any more bring accusations
+against men that were better than they. All the time of the battle the
+King sat on the hill that is over against Salamis, and when any deed of
+valor was done by his ships, he would ask the name of the captain, and
+the scribes wrote it down, with the names also of his father and of his
+city.
+
+Such of the ships of the barbarians as sought to escape by way of
+Phalerum the men of Ægina dealt with, waiting in the strait, and
+behaving themselves most valorously. For the Athenians destroyed such
+as yet fought and such as fled, and the men of Ægina fell upon them
+that would sail out, so that if any escaped from the Athenians they
+fell into the hands of the men of Ægina.
+
+In this battle the men of Ægina were judged to have shown most valor,
+and next to them the Athenians; and among the men of Ægina Polycritus,
+and among the Athenians Eumenes and Ameinias. It was this Ameinias
+that pursued Artemisia. And indeed, had he known whom he pursued, he
+would not have left following her till he had taken her, or himself
+been taken; for there was proclaimed a reward of ten thousand drachmas
+to the man that should take Artemisia alive, the Athenians being very
+wroth that a woman should presume to bear arms against their city.
+
+Of Adeimantus the Corinthian the Athenians tell this story, that in
+the very beginning of the battle, being wholly mastered with fear,
+he hoisted his sails and fled; and that the other Corinthian ships,
+seeing the ship of their commander flying, fled also; and that when
+they were come in their flight over against the temple of Athene of
+Sciron, they met there a pinnace, that came not by any bidding of
+men; and that when it was close to their ships the men in the pinnace
+cried out, “Thou indeed art flying, O Adeimantus, and showing thyself
+traitor to the Greeks; but they are winning the victory over their
+enemies.” When Adeimantus would not believe, the men said that they
+were willing to answer for it with their lives that their words were
+true. Then Adeimantus turned back his ship, and he and his companions
+came to Salamis when the battle was now finished. This is the story
+of the Athenians concerning the Corinthians; but the Corinthians deny
+it, affirming that they fought among the first. And in this they are
+confirmed by the testimony of the other Greeks.
+
+On that day Aristides the Athenian did good service. He took with him
+many men at arms, Athenians, that had been drawn up along the shore of
+Salamis, and landed them on the island of Psyttaleia, so that they
+slew all the Persians that had been set to keep the place.
+
+When the battle was ended the Greeks drew to Salamis such of the
+broken ships as yet floated, and prepared to fight yet again, for they
+thought that the King would not fail to use the ships that remained
+to him. But many of the wrecks the wind--for it chanced to blow from
+the west--carried to the shore of Attica, which is called the shore of
+Colias. Thus was fulfilled a certain oracle of Lysistratus the Athenian.
+
+    “That Colian dames their bread may bake,
+    Full many an oar that day shall break.”
+
+And this came to pass after the King had departed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+OF THE FLIGHT OF XERXES.
+
+
+When King Xerxes perceived what damage his ships had suffered he
+resolved that he would flee without delay to Persia. Yet, to hide this
+purpose, he made as if he would carry on the war, making a mound across
+the channel that is between Salamis and the mainland, and doing other
+things. But though he deceived others he did not deceive Mardonius.
+
+In the meanwhile he sent a messenger to Susa, whither he had before
+sent the tidings of how he was master of Athens, and as before the
+people had rejoiced, strewing myrtle boughs in the streets, and burning
+incense, and feasting and making merry, so now they were greatly
+troubled, rending their garments, and making much ado with weeping and
+wailing. Nor was it for the damage of the ship that they lamented, but
+for fear lest the King himself should suffer harm. Nor would they be
+comforted till he came back in safety.
+
+Now when Mardonius saw that the King purposed to flee, fearing lest he
+should suffer punishment for that he had advised the marching against
+Greece, he made this resolve, that either he would himself conquer
+Greece--and this indeed he hoped to do--or perish honorably. Wherefore
+he said to Xerxes, “Trouble not thyself overmuch, O master, for this
+loss that has befallen us; for these fellows, whom thou thinkest to
+have conquered us, will not dare to stand against us. And, if we wish,
+we may deal with them without delay, or, if we will, we may wait
+awhile. But if, O King, thou art minded to depart straightway, hear my
+counsel. Make not thy Persians a laughing-stock to the Greeks. For if
+the Phœnicians and Egyptians and the like have played the coward, yet
+have not the Persians so done. Depart then, therefore, if thou art so
+minded, but let me choose out three hundred thousand men of the army,
+with whom I may conquer these Greeks.”
+
+Xerxes when he heard these words was very glad, and made answer to
+Mardonius that he would deliberate about these things. And because
+before Artemisia only had perceived what should be done, he sent
+for her, and when she was come, sent away his other counselors, and
+inquired of her what he should do, setting before her the counsel of
+Mardonius. To this she made answer in these words: “I counsel thee to
+depart straightway, O King. And if Mardonius promises to conquer Greece
+for thee, let him stay behind and do it. For if he succeed, thine will
+be the gain; and if he fail, there will follow no great damage, so that
+thou and thy house be safe. For of a surety, so long as these remain,
+the Greeks will often be in peril of their lives. And if they prevail
+over this Mardonius, he is nothing more than thy slave.” This counsel
+seemed very good to the King, being altogether to his mind, and if
+all the men and women in the world had counseled him to remain, hardly
+would he have done it, so terrified was he. He commended therefore
+Artemisia, and sent her on to Ephesus with certain of his children in
+her charge, in which charge was joined also one Hermotimus of Pedasus.
+The people of Pedasus say that when a mischance is about to befall any
+of their neighbors the priestess of Athene in their city has a beard,
+and that this has happened twice.
+
+The next day Xerxes commanded the ships to sail with all speed to the
+Hellespont, that they might guard the bridges against his coming. So
+they departed; and sailing by Cape Zoster, where certain rocks jut out
+from the land, they took the rocks for ships, and fled far away. But
+afterward, when they knew the truth, they gathered themselves together
+again.
+
+For awhile the Greeks, seeing the army of the barbarians in the same
+place, supposed that the ships also remained, and made ready for
+battle. But when they knew the truth, they pursued after them; but
+having sailed as far as Andros, and not seeing them, they held a
+council of war. Then Themistocles would have had them make with all
+speed for the Hellespont that they might break down the bridges, but
+Eurybiades was of the contrary opinion, saying, “There can no worse
+thing befall the Greeks than that we should break down the bridges. For
+if the Persians be thus cut off and driven to remain, see what will
+follow. If they be quiet they must come to ruin, for their host will
+perish of hunger; but if they bestir themselves they will conquer all
+Europe, city by city, and for food they will have our harvests. Now,
+indeed, because his ships have been vanquished, he is minded to depart;
+and this we should suffer him to do. Only when he has departed, we may,
+if we will, strive with him for the mastery of his own country.”
+
+To this counsel the other leaders of the Peloponnesians consented. And
+when Themistocles saw that he could not persuade them, he changed his
+purpose, and said to the Athenians, for these were vexed beyond all
+the rest that the Persians were suffered to escape, “Often have I seen
+with my own eyes or heard from others that men having been worsted and
+driven to despair have recovered their own and become conquerors in
+their turn. Now we have found great good fortune, saving ourselves and
+Greece from this mighty host of men. Let us therefore be content and
+not pursue them when they flee. For we have not done this of our own
+might. The Gods and the heroes have done it, having jealousy that one
+man should be lord both of Asia and Europe, and he, too, a destroyer of
+images and temples, and that scourged the sea and threw fetters into
+it. Let us, therefore, now that the barbarians have departed, return
+each man to his home and sow our land, and in the spring will we sail
+to the Hellespont!”
+
+With these words he persuaded the Athenians; but he did it that he
+might bind the King to him by this service, desiring to have a
+refuge, if any evil should come upon him at Athens. Wherefore he sent
+certain men to Attica, faithful men that would not betray him even
+under torture, and among them the man Sicinnus. This Sicinnus went to
+the King and said, “Themistocles the Athenian, wishing to do thee a
+service, has sent me to tell thee that he has restrained the Greeks who
+would have broken the bridges of the Hellespont, and that thou mayest
+return at thy leisure.”
+
+After this the Greeks laid siege to Andros. For Themistocles had
+demanded money of this city for the Greeks, saying, “You must needs pay
+the money, for we come bringing with us two great gods, even Persuasion
+and Necessity.” But the Andrians made answer, “Well may Athens be great
+and happy, seeing that it has such gods; but we have two that are
+unprofitable, yet dwell with us and will not leave us, even Poverty
+and Helplessness.” For this cause the Greeks besieged their city. As
+for Themistocles, he ceased not to get riches for himself, without the
+knowledge of the others, taking money from the islanders and others
+that the fleet should not sail against them.
+
+Meanwhile Mardonius chose out of the host such as he would have for
+his army. All the Immortals he chose, save Hydarnes, who was not
+willing to leave the King, and such of the Persians as wore corslets,
+and the thousand horsemen, and the Medes and the Sacæ and Bactrians
+and the Indians, both horse and foot. These nations he took wholly,
+and out of the rest of the host he chose such as excelled in stature
+or had done some valiant deed. The number was three hundred thousand
+in all. This choosing was done in Thessaly; and before it was finished
+there came a herald from Sparta, seeking satisfaction from the King for
+the death of Leonidas and his companions, for the god at Delphi had
+bidden the Spartans seek for it. The herald stood before Xerxes and
+said, “King of the Medes, the Spartans and the sons of Hercules ask of
+thee satisfaction for blood-guiltiness, because thou didst slay their
+King Leonidas when he defended Greece.” The King laughed; but after a
+while he pointed to Mardonius, who chanced to be present, and said,
+“This man will give such satisfaction as is due.” And the herald said,
+“I accept the satisfaction,” and so departed.
+
+After this Xerxes, leaving Mardonius in Thessaly, made for the
+Hellespont with all haste. In forty and five days he came to it, having
+but a small part of his army. These had laid their hands on all the
+corn in the countries through which they passed; and where corn was
+wanting they had devoured the bark and the leaves of all manner of
+trees, leaving nothing at all, so that many died of sundry diseases,
+and some were left behind sick in the cities on the way. When they came
+to the Hellespont they found the bridges broken, and crossed over in
+ships as they best could. And many, when they had abundance of food and
+drink, using these without measure, so died.
+
+There is told another tale of the flight of Xerxes. He left Hydarnes,
+it is said, to have charge of the army, and himself embarked on a
+Phœnician ship, and so sailed to Asia. But as he sailed there fell
+upon the ship a great wind from the north; and, being overladen, it
+was ready to sink, for there were many Persians with the King upon the
+deck. Then Xerxes cried aloud to the helmsman, saying, “Is there any
+help?” And the helmsman answered, “There is no help except we be rid
+of these many passengers.” Then said Xerxes to the Persians, “Let now
+any that will, show that he cares for his King, for my life is in your
+hands.” Then the Persians made obeisance to him and leaped into the
+sea; so the ship being lightened came safe to Asia. And when Xerxes
+was come to the shore he dealt thus with the helmsman. For that he had
+saved the life of the King he gave him a crown of gold; but for that
+he had caused the death of many Persians, he commanded that he should
+be beheaded. But this story is scarcely to be believed. For why did
+not the King rather send down these Persians, being the first men in
+the realm, into the lower part of the ship, and cause the like number
+of rowers, being Phœnicians, to leap into the sea? But in truth Xerxes
+returned by way of the land, whereof we have a proof that he passed
+through Abdera, and making a covenant with the people of that city,
+gave them a cimeter of gold and a turban broidered with gold.
+
+And now the Greeks were assembled at the Isthmus that they might
+adjudge the prize of valor to him that of all the Greeks had shown
+himself most worthy in the war. The captains then being met laid
+their votes on the altar of Poseidon, a vote for the first place and a
+vote for the second. Each man gave the first place to himself, but the
+greater part gave the second to Themistocles. But though the captains
+could not agree for jealousy, yet was Themistocles commonly reported
+among the Greeks to have shown himself by far the wisest man of all
+in the war. And when he went to Sparta the Spartans received him with
+great honor. The prize of valor, indeed, which was a crown of olive,
+they gave to Eurybiades; but the prize of wisdom and dexterity, also
+a crown of olive, they gave to Themistocles. Also they gave him the
+fairest chariot that was in all Sparta; and when he departed three
+hundred chosen men, that are called the Knights, went with him so far
+as the borders of Tegea. Nor has any man, save Themistocles only, been
+so sent out of their country by the Spartans.
+
+When he came back to Athens a certain citizen of Aphidnæ, that came
+from Belbis, being his enemy, a man of no repute, reproached him,
+saying, “Thou hast these honors from the Spartans for Athens’ sake, not
+for thine own.” And when the man said this many times, Themistocles
+answered him, “Surely I had not been so honored had I been of Belbis,
+nor thou hadst thou been of Athens.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+OF THE PREPARING OF THE PERSIANS AND OF THE GREEKS FOR THE WAR.
+
+
+Mardonius and his host had their winter quarters in Thessaly. When
+he was now about to leave them, he sent one Mys, a man of Caria,
+to inquire of the oracles. This Mys inquired of the oracles and of
+Amphiaraus in Thebes. (No Theban may inquire of Amphiaraus, for he gave
+them their choice whether they would have him for their prophet or
+their helper; and they chose to have him for their helper.) But when
+Mardonius read the answer that had been given to Mys, he sent an envoy
+to Athens, even Alexander of Macedon, choosing him because his sister
+was married to a Persian, and because he was a friend to the Athenians.
+
+Of the ancestors of Alexander there is told this story. Three brothers
+of the royal house of Argos came into the land of Macedonia and took
+service with the King, one tending the horses, and one the cows, and
+one the smaller cattle. In those days not the people only, but the
+kings also were poor, so that the King’s wife was wont to bake the
+bread. And when she baked it she saw that the loaf of Perdiccas, that
+was the youngest of the brothers, grew to be twice as large as the
+other loaves. And as this happened day after day she told it to her
+husband. Then the man perceiving that it was a miracle, and signified
+no small matter, bade the three depart out of the country. But when
+they would have had their wages, he said to them, for it chanced that
+the sun was shining down the chimney into the house, “Here are your
+fit wages. This I give you;” and he pointed to the sunshine, for the
+Gods had taken his wits from him. The two elder stood astonished and
+said nothing, but the youngest, having a knife in his hand, drew a line
+with it on the floor round the sunshine, and made as if he would draw
+it up into his bosom three times, and so departed and his brothers
+with him. Now when they were gone, one went and told to the King what
+the youngest had done; and the King, when he heard it, was angry, and
+sent horsemen after them to slay them. But a certain river swelled so
+high when the three brothers of Argos had safely crossed it, that the
+horsemen could not follow. (Their descendants yet do sacrifice to this
+river as to their saviour.) The brothers took up their abode in a place
+which they call the Gardens of Midas. (Here are roses so great as can
+not be found elsewhere, having each sixty leaves, and over the gardens
+a mountain so cold that none can climb to the top.) From this place
+they went forth till they had conquered the whole land of Macedonia.
+From this Perdiccas came Alexander the Macedonian in the seventh
+generation.
+
+Alexander said, “Men of Athens, Mardonius bids me say that there has
+come to him this message from the King, ‘I forgive the Athenians all
+their trespasses against me. And do thou this, Mardonius. Give them
+back their land and add to it any other that they will, and build again
+the temples that I burned with fire, if they will make agreement with
+me. And they shall live under their own laws.’ Mardonius also says,
+‘This will I do unless ye on your part hinder me. And why do ye stand
+out against the King? Do ye not know his might? See this great host
+that I have. If so be that ye prevail over this, which indeed ye can
+not hope to do, there will come against ye a host many times greater.
+Why then will ye resist, losing your country and going always in danger
+of your lives?’ These are the words of Mardonius; and I, Alexander,
+for that I am your friend, beseech you to give ear to him, and to make
+agreement with the King, who has chosen you out of all the Greeks to
+make friendship and alliance with you.”
+
+Now the Spartans knew that Alexander had been sent by Mardonius to
+Athens. Whereupon they also sent ambassadors; and it was ordered that
+they should have audience of the people on the self-same day. When
+therefore Alexander had spoken, the Spartans stood forth, and urged
+them that they should not listen to the words of Mardonius, nor betray
+the Greeks. Also they promised that they would give sustenance to their
+women and children so long as the war should continue. To Alexander
+the Athenians made this answer: “We know how great is the power of the
+barbarians, yet will we resist it to the uttermost, holding fast to
+our freedom. Seek not then to persuade us, but say to Mardonius, ‘So
+long as the sun shall go by the path which now he goeth, we make no
+agreement with Xerxes, but will stand against him, the Gods and heroes
+whose temples he has burned with fire helping us.’ And thou, Alexander,
+come not again to Athens with such words as these, for thou art our
+friend and we would not willingly do thee hurt.”
+
+To the Spartans they said, “It is like enough that ye should be fearful
+about this thing. Nevertheless, ye, knowing what manner of men we are,
+did us great wrong. Know then there is no store of gold in all the
+world, nor land so fair that would tempt us to make agreement with the
+Persians. For first we can have no peace with them that have burned
+with fire our temples and the images of our Gods. And next we can not
+betray our brethren the Greeks that have one tongue with us and worship
+the same Gods. Know therefore that so long as one Athenian shall remain
+alive we will make no agreement with Xerxes. As for your kindness to
+us, we thank you; but we will not be burdensome to you. Only lead out
+your army with all speed. For we doubt not that the barbarians will
+invade our land a second time. Therefore should we meet him in Bœotia,
+and there join battle with him.”
+
+When Mardonius heard the words of the Athenians he marched forthwith
+into Attica, nor would he hearken to the Thebans when they counseled
+him to tarry in Bœotia and seek to divide the Greeks against
+themselves. For they said, “If the Greeks be at one no power on earth
+can subdue them; but if thou wilt send gifts to the chief men in each
+state, thou wilt easily prevail.” But Mardonius greatly desired to be
+master of Athens a second time. This he did, but the Athenians had
+departed, some to their ships, but the greater part to Salamis.
+
+After this he sent another messenger with the same words that Alexander
+of Macedonia had brought, for he thought, “Now that they have lost
+their country a second time they will surely listen to him.” When the
+man--he was a Greek from the Hellespont--was brought into the council,
+a certain councilor, Lycidas, said, “Let us bring this matter before an
+assembly of the people.” But when the Athenians, both the councilors
+and they that stood without, heard these words, they were full of
+wrath, and rose up against Lycidas, and stoned him with stones that he
+died. And the women ran with one accord to his house and slew his wife
+and his children in the same fashion. But the messenger the Athenians
+sent away without hurt.
+
+Meanwhile the Athenians had sent ambassadors to Sparta, complaining
+that the Spartans had not sent an army to defend Attica from the
+barbarians. Now the Spartans were keeping holiday, for it was the feast
+of Hyacinthus, and had no thought for any thing besides. Also the wall
+which they were building across the Isthmus was now well advanced,
+so that they were putting on it the battlements. The ambassadors
+therefore, being brought in before the Ephors, said, “The King was
+willing to make peace with us, and to give us back our country, and
+to add to it any other country that we would. But we would not betray
+Greece, though we knew that it should be more to our profit to make
+peace with the Persians than to continue fighting against them. We
+therefore have been true to you, but ye have been false to us, caring
+nothing for us now that ye have come near to finish your wall across
+the Isthmus. But come; now that Bœotia is lost we shall best fight in
+the plain of Thria.”
+
+To these words the Ephors made no answer, but put off the matter to the
+morrow; and on the morrow they did likewise, and so for ten days.
+
+But on the tenth day there came to the Ephors a man of Tegea, one
+Chileus, that had more weight with the Spartans than any other
+stranger. This Chileus said, “The matter stands thus, ye Ephors. If the
+Athenians be not your friends, but make agreement with the Persians,
+then how strong soever shall be your wall across the Isthmus, there
+will be many doors open into the Peloponnese. Hearken therefore to what
+these men say while it is time.”
+
+This counsel they took to heart. To the ambassadors they said nothing,
+but that same night they sent five thousand Spartans, and with each
+seven helots, their captain being Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus.
+The next day the ambassadors came unto the Ephors, being minded to
+depart to their own country, and said, “Ye Spartans stay at home and
+keep holiday and leave the Greeks to perish. We Athenians will make
+agreement with the King, and will go with him whithersoever he will
+lead us.”
+
+To this the Ephors made answer with an oath, “The men are gone against
+the strangers (for they called the barbarians _strangers_), and are
+now in Oresteum of Arcadia.” When the ambassadors heard this they also
+departed; and at the same time there went five thousand men of Laconia,
+chosen men and fully armed.
+
+When the men of Argos knew that the Spartans had departed they sent a
+messenger to Mardonius, the swiftest runner they could find--for they
+had promised to keep the Spartans from coming--saying, “The Spartans
+have set forth, neither could we stay them. Take heed therefore to
+thyself.” When Mardonius heard this he would tarry no longer in Attica,
+but departed straightway, having first burned with fire and destroyed
+all that yet stood, whether house or temple. For Attica was not fit
+for horsemen, and if he should be worsted in the battle, there was no
+escape save by one narrow pass only. Wherefore he was minded to go
+back into Bœotia, for this country was fit for horsemen, and also was
+the country of friends. But while he was on his way there came another
+messenger saying that there was a thousand Spartans in the land of
+Megara, having come in advance of the army; and, thinking that he might
+cut them off, he changed his purpose and marched toward Megara, while
+the horsemen ravaged the country. Nor did the Persians make their way
+toward the setting sun further than this. And now there came another
+messenger saying that the whole army of the Peloponnesians was at the
+Isthmus. Therefore he turned his course, and came into the territory
+of the Thebans. And here he encamped his army along the river Asopus
+from Erythræ to Platæa. And though the Thebans were friends to the
+Persians, he cut down all the trees in the country, not from hatred but
+from need, because he would have a rampart and a place of refuge if the
+battle should go against him. Such a rampart he made of ten furlongs
+every way.
+
+While the Persians were building this defense a certain Theban made
+a great feast to Mardonius and the Persians. Concerning this feast
+Thersander, a notable citizen of Orchomenus, told this story to
+Herodotus: “I was called to this feast with other Thebans, fifty in
+all, and there were called also fifty Persians. We were not set apart,
+but on each crouch a Persian and a Theban; and when we had dined and
+were now drinking, the Persian that was on the same couch said to me in
+the Greek tongue, ‘Whence art thou?’ and I said, ‘I am of Orchomenus.’
+Then said he, ‘Since thou hast eaten with me from the same table and
+poured out a libation from the same cup, I will leave with thee a
+memorial of my belief, and this the more that thou mayest look after
+thine own life. Thou seest these Persians that are feasting with us
+and this army that we left encamped on the river. Of all these thou
+shalt see in a short time but few remaining.’ And when the Persian had
+so spoken he wept bitterly. And I said to him, for I marveled much
+at his words, ‘Shouldst thou not tell this to Mardonius and to the
+Persians that are in high place with him?’ But the Persian answered, ‘O
+my friend, that which the Gods order a man can not change, for though
+he speak the truth no one will hearken to him. Many of the Persians
+know these things that I have said unto thee, but are constrained by
+necessity to follow whither we are led. But of all the griefs in man’s
+life none is so sore as this, to know much and to have power to do
+nothing.’”
+
+This story did Thersander tell to Herodotus, as he told it to many
+others also, even before the battle of Platæa.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+OF THE BATTLE OF PLATÆA.
+
+
+The Spartans pitched their camp at the Isthmus, whither came the other
+men of the Peloponnese also, so many as followed the good cause, not
+being willing to be left behind when the Spartans went forth to the
+war. And from the Isthmus they marched to Eleusis. Here the Athenians,
+having crossed over from Salamis, came up with him. When they saw that
+the barbarians were encamped on the Asopus, they ranged themselves over
+against them on the slope of Mount Cithæron. Here Mardonius sent his
+cavalry under Masistius their captain to attack them. This Masistius
+was in great repute among the Persians, and he rode on a horse of Nisa,
+that had a bit of gold, and was otherwise richly adorned. The horsemen
+charged the Greeks by squadrons, and did them much damage.
+
+Now it so chanced that the men of Megara had been set in the place
+where the cavalry could most easily approach; and these, as they
+received much damage, sent a message to Pausanias, saying, “Send
+over and help us, for without help we can not hold our place.” Then
+Pausanias inquired whether any would take the place of the men of
+Megara, but none were willing, save the Athenians only. Of these,
+three hundred chosen men, having with them the archers, took the place
+of the men of Megara. And after a while, the barbarians still charging
+by squadrons it chanced that an arrow struck the horse of Masistius on
+the flank, he being a long way in front of the others. And the horse
+reared by reason of the pain and threw off its rider; which when the
+Athenians saw, they ran forward and slew Masistius where he lay. For
+a while they could not kill him, for he had a breast-plate of scales
+of gold and a tunic of scarlet over it, and this could not be broken
+through by any blows; which when one of the soldiers perceived he
+drave his weapon into the man’s eye and so slew him. When the Persians
+saw that he was dead they charged with their whole force, seeking to
+get back his dead body, and the Athenians, on the other hand, called
+to their comrades to help them. So the battle waxed hot; and while
+the three hundred were alone they could not hold their ground; but
+the others coming up the Persians turned their backs, and, being now
+without a leader, returned to the camp.
+
+Mardonius and the Persians made a great lamentation over Masistius,
+cutting the hair from their heads, and the manes from their horses and
+beasts of burden, and making all Bœotia resound with their crying, for
+they had lost a man whom the army honored next after Mardonius himself.
+But the Greeks put the dead body in a cart, and caused it to be carried
+through the army, and indeed it was worthy to be looked at, both for
+beauty and for stature. The cause why it was thus carried was that the
+men would leave their ranks to look at it.
+
+After this it seemed good to the Greeks to leave their place on the
+slopes of Cithæron and to come down to the territory of the Platæans.
+Here they set themselves in array, nation by nation, nigh to the
+fountain of Gargaphia and the precincts of the hero Andocrates, and
+they stood partly on certain small hillocks and partly on the plain.
+
+But while the army was being set in array there arose a very sharp
+contention between the Athenians and the men of Tegea, who should be
+set on the left wing. The men of Tegea affirmed that this place had
+always been theirs of right, saying, “When first the sons of Hercules
+came back to the Peloponnese we, with others that then dwelt therein,
+went forth to meet them.” Then Hyllus the son of Hercules said,
+“There is no need to put these two armies in peril. Let the men of
+the Peloponnese choose a champion that he may fight with me.” And an
+agreement was made, “If Hyllus slay the champion of the Peloponnesians,
+the children of Hercules shall return to their inheritance; but if the
+champion of the Peloponnesians slay Hyllus, then will the children of
+Hercules swear an oath that they will not again seek to return for
+the space of a hundred years. Then Echemus, that was King of Tegea,
+offered himself for champion, and slew Hyllus in battle. For this cause
+we have always had our place in one of the wings when the men of the
+Peloponnese go forth to battle.”
+
+To this the Athenians made answer, “We are come hither not to make
+speeches, but to fight against the barbarians. But as the men of
+Tegea will have a comparison of deeds we must of necessity set forth
+our claims. To the children of Hercules, whose leader they affirm
+themselves to have slain, we alone of all the Greeks gave shelter; and
+when the Thebans would not give up for burial the bodies of the Argives
+that had been slain in the siege of their city, we took them and buried
+them at Eleusis, and we fought against the Amazons, and in the war of
+Troy were not one whit behind any. But why should we speak of ancient
+things? Surely for what we did at Marathon, when we, alone of all the
+Greeks, fought against the Persians, and conquered them, putting to
+flight forty and six nations, we are worthy to have this honor, yea,
+and many other honors also. Nevertheless--for at such a time it is not
+fitting to dispute about places--we are ready to do as ye command, ye
+men of Sparta, and take our place wheresoever ye will, and there quit
+ourselves like men.”
+
+Then all the Spartans cried out with one voice that the Athenians were
+the more worthy to have the place.
+
+The whole number of the Greeks was of heavy-armed men thirty-eight
+thousand and seven thousand, and of light-armed sixty and nine thousand.
+
+Mardonius also set his battle in array. Over against the Spartans
+he set the Persians; and since these far excelled the Spartans in
+number he drew them up with their ranks deeper than common, and also
+so ordered it that they stood opposite to the men of Tegea; only the
+best of them he set to deal with the Spartans. Next to the Persians
+he set the Medes, and next to the Medes the Bactrians. These stood
+over against the other dwellers in the Peloponnese. But against the
+Athenians he set such of the Greeks and Macedonians as had joined
+themselves to him.
+
+Both armies being now ready for battle, the soothsayers offered
+sacrifice. The Spartans had with them one Tisamenus, a man of Elis. To
+this Tisamenus, inquiring about his childlessness, there was given an
+oracle that he should be the winner in five very great contests. This
+he understood of the contests of the games. But when he had exercised
+himself for the fivefold contests at Olympia but had failed, being
+vanquished in wrestling by a man of Andros, the Spartans perceived that
+the oracle spake not of contests in sport but, of contests in battle.
+Then they sought to hire the man that he might go with them to battle.
+But he said, “Give me the citizenship of your city.” This they could
+not endure, but when the fear of the Persians hung over them they sent
+to him again. And Tisamenus, perceiving that they were changed, said,
+“Ye must give the citizenship not to me only but to my brother also.”
+To them only have the Spartans given their citizenship. So Tisamenus
+offered sacrifice, and the signs were for good luck if the Greeks
+stayed in their place, but for bad if they crossed the Asopus.
+
+To Mardonius also were given the same signs when he sacrificed before
+the battle. For he too had a soothsayer, who divined after the Greek
+manner, a certain Hegistratus of Elis. This man had been taken by the
+Spartans and condemned to die, but set himself free in a marvelous way.
+The Spartans had set him with one foot in the stocks, these being of
+wood, but bound with iron. But some one giving him a tool of iron, he
+cut off with his own hand so much of his foot that he could draw that
+which was left through the hole. And after making his way through the
+woods, for he was watched by watch-men, he escaped to Tegea, traveling
+by night and hiding himself in the woods by day. And though the whole
+people of the Spartans sought for him he came safe on the third night
+to Tegea; for Tegea was in those days at enmity with Sparta. And now
+he served Mardonius right willingly, partly for gain, and partly for
+hatred of the Spartans.
+
+And for eight days the two armies sat over against each other doing
+nothing, save that the horsemen of the Persians laid hands on a convoy
+of five hundred beasts that brought food from the Peloponnese to the
+Greeks.
+
+Again they sat quiet for two days. On the eleventh day the Persians
+held a council. Then Artabazus, a man held in high esteem among the
+Persians, said, “Let us break up our camp, and bring our army to
+Thebes, where is a fenced city, and food in plenty for ourselves and
+our beasts. And when we are there, seeing we have gold, coined and
+uncoined, in abundance, and silver, and cups, let us take of these
+without stinting and send gifts to the Greeks, especially to them that
+bear rule in the cities. Speedily will they give up their freedom.”
+
+But Mardonius, being of a contrary opinion, was very fierce and
+obstinate, saying, “We are much stronger than they. Therefore let us
+fight as speedily as may be. As for the signs of the soothsayer we will
+not heed them, but will give battle as the Persians are wont to do.”
+And the opinion of Mardonius prevailed, for it was he that was captain
+of the host.
+
+That night came Alexander of Macedon to the camp of the Greeks and
+desired to speak with the generals. Then ran some of the guards and
+said, “Here is come a horseman from the camp of the Persians, who would
+speak with the generals, naming them by name.” And when these had
+gone to the outposts they found Alexander, who said to them, “Men of
+Athens, tell to no man, save to Pausanias only, what I shall say unto
+you. For surely I had not come but that I had a great love for Greece;
+and indeed I am a Greek by descent, but would fain see this land free
+rather than enslaved. Hear, therefore. Mardonius can not get the signs
+as he would have them; else he would have given battle long since. But
+now he is minded not to heed the signs any more but to fight. Be ye not
+then taken unawares, but make ready to receive him. But if he still
+delay, then abide in your place, for he can not long hold out, having
+but a few days’ provision. And if the end of this war be as ye would
+have it, remember me and the kindness I have done you. I am Alexander
+the Macedonian.” When he had so spoken he rode back to his own people.
+
+After this Pausanias said to the Athenians, “It would be well that you
+should deal with the Persians, of whom ye have had experience, having
+prevailed over them at Marathon, and we with the Bœotians and the other
+Greeks. For we know nothing of the Persians and of their manner of
+fighting, but the Greeks we know well. Let us therefore go to our place
+in the line, and ye shall come to yours.”
+
+The Athenians answered, “We had this very thing in our minds, and would
+have spoken ourselves, but that we doubted whether it would please you.
+But now let it be done.”
+
+So Pausanias, it being now morning, began to lead his men to the left
+wing. But the Thebans perceiving it, told it to Mardonius, who changed
+his order also, which, when Pausanias saw, he led the Spartans back and
+stood as before. Then Mardonius sent a herald to the Spartans, saying,
+“Ye said that ye are braver than other men, never leaving your place,
+but remaining till ye slay your enemies or are yourselves slain. But
+this we now see to be false; for ye leave your place before ever the
+battle is joined. But come now. Will ye fight with an equal number of
+Persians, ye for the Greeks and they for the King?” When the herald had
+waited a while, and no man answered him a word, he departed.
+
+Then Mardonius, being greatly puffed up by this victory of words,
+commanded his horsemen that they should charge the Greeks. This they
+did, doing much damage with the throwing of javelins and the shooting
+of arrows, for they used the bow while they rode, so that the Greeks
+could not deal with them hand to hand. Also they choked the fountain
+of Gargaphia, from which all the Greeks drew water. The Spartans only
+had their place near to the fountain, but all the Greeks used it, for
+the horsemen and the archers of the barbarians kept them from the
+river. Then the captains held a council; and it seemed good to them,
+if the Persians should not fight that day, to change the place of
+their camp to the Island. This is before the city of Platæa, and men
+call it the Island because a certain river, coming down from Mount
+Cithæron, divides here into two streams which flow for a space three
+furlongs apart, and after join together again. So all that day they
+stood in their place, suffering grievously from the horsemen of the
+barbarians, and when it was night they began to change their place. And
+when the greater part of the Greeks had departed--but they went not to
+the Island, but fled straight to Platæa, and encamped by the temple
+of Here, which is before the city--Pausanias commanded the Spartans
+that they also should depart. The rest of the captains were willing to
+obey, but one Amompharetus, that led the men of Pitana, would not move,
+saying, “I will not fly from the strangers, nor bring disgrace upon
+Sparta.” Pausanias took it very ill that the man should not obey his
+command, yet he would not leave him and his company alone, lest they
+should be destroyed. For this cause he kept the Spartans and their
+army in its place, and sought to persuade Amompharetus. And when the
+Athenians saw that the rest of the Greeks had departed, but that the
+Spartans remained, knowing that it was their custom to think one thing
+and say another, they sent a horseman to inquire whether they were
+minded to go or to remain. When the horseman came he found them in the
+very heat of the dispute, for Amompharetus took up a very great stone
+with both his hands and laid it at the feet of Pausanias, saying, “With
+this pebble I vote not to fly from the strangers” (for the Greeks give
+their votes with pebbles), and Pausanias affirmed that he was a fool
+and mad. And turning himself to the Athenian horseman, he said, “Ye see
+how things are with us; go and tell this to your captains.” So the men
+departed; but the Spartans ceased not to dispute till the day began
+to dawn. And then Pausanias gave the signal to depart, expecting that
+Amompharetus, when he found that they had departed, would also leave
+his place and follow them. And in this he judged rightly, for the man,
+thinking that he had been in truth forsaken, commanded his men that
+they should take their arms and follow the rest of the army. This they
+did, and came up with them in the space of ten furlongs, near to the
+temple of Demeter of Eleusis; for the army had waited for them there.
+The Athenians also left their place, but these marched all along the
+plain, while the Spartans kept to the hill for fear of the horsemen of
+the Persians.
+
+When Mardonius heard that the Greeks had departed in the night, and
+beheld their place that it was empty, he called the sons of Aleuas, and
+said to them, “What say ye now, seeing this place is empty? Ye would
+have it that the Spartans fled from no man; yet ye saw before how they
+would have left their station, and now in this night now passed they
+have fled altogether. You indeed I can excuse, for ye know nothing of
+the Persians; but I marvel at Artabanus that he feared these men, and
+would have had us follow a coward’s counsel, even to break up our camp,
+and to suffer ourselves to be besieged in the city of Thebes. Verily
+the King shall hear of this matter. And indeed we must not suffer them
+to do as they would, but must pursue after them till we overtake them,
+and exact punishment for all the wrong that they have done.”
+
+When he had thus spoken he led the Persians across the Asopus, and
+followed the Spartans at full speed, as if they were verily flying from
+him; the Athenians he saw not, for they were hidden from him by the
+hills. And the other barbarians, when they saw the Persians moving,
+took up their standards and came after them, as quickly as they could,
+without any order, as though they would have swallowed up the Greeks.
+
+When Pausanias saw that the horsemen of the Persians were pressing him
+hard, he sent a messenger to the Athenians, saying, “Now that the hour
+is come when we must fight for Greece, whether she shall be enslaved or
+free, we and you, men of Athens, are all alone, for our allies have
+fled. We must therefore help the one the other as best we may. If these
+horsemen had fallen on you, then had we and the men of Tegea--for they
+are faithful to Greece--have helped you; and now must ye help us; and
+because we know that ye have been more zealous than any other nation in
+this present war, we ask you with the more confidence.”
+
+When the Athenians heard these words they made ready to go to the
+help of the Spartans; but the Greeks that fought for the King fell on
+them and hindered them. The Spartans therefore being left alone, made
+ready to fight against Mardonius and the Persians. But for a while
+the signs did not favor them, and while they tarried many fell, and
+many more were wounded, for the Persians had made a rampart of wicker
+shields and shot their arrows from behind it, troubling the Spartans
+grievously. But still the signs were evil, till Pausanias, lifting up
+his eyes to the temple of Here of Platæa, cried aloud, “O goddess,
+disappoint not the hopes of the Greeks.” And as he prayed, the men of
+Tegea ran forward, and the Spartans--for at the last the signs favored
+them--advanced also. The Persians left shooting and came to meet
+them. First there was fighting at the rampart of the wicker shields;
+and when this was broken down a very fierce battle by the temple of
+Demeter, wherein they fought against each other hand to hand. Many a
+time did the barbarians lay hold of the spears of the Greeks, seeking
+to break them; for in courage and strength the Persians were not one
+whit behind the Greeks, only they had not armor of defense, and were
+unused to battle, nor any match for their enemies in skill; but running
+forward, now one by one, and now in companies of ten, or, it might be,
+of more or less, threw themselves upon the Spartans, and so perished.
+Where Mardonius himself fought, riding on a white horse, having about
+him the thousand who were the bravest of all the Persians, the Greeks
+were hardest pressed. So long indeed as Mardonius lived his men held
+out, and smote down a few of the Spartans; but when he had fallen
+and his companions with him, the rest of the Persians fled before
+the Greeks, for their equipment, being without armor, was a grievous
+hindrance to them. And indeed they were light-armed men, fighting with
+heavy-armed.
+
+Thus did Mardonius and his host pay due penalty for the death of
+Leonidas, and Pausanias won a victory more glorious than any man
+had ever won before. As for Mardonius himself, he was slain by one
+Æimnestus, that perished afterward, he and three hundred Spartans with
+him, fighting against the whole host of the Messenians.
+
+The Persians, being now put to flight by the Spartans, fled without
+any order to their camp, to the defense of trees which they had made.
+As to the precinct of Demeter, though many fell round about it, none
+fell within it, or so much as entered it, the goddess, it is to be
+supposed--if it is lawful to suppose any thing about the Gods--herself
+keeping them from it, because they had burned her dwelling at Eleusis.
+
+Artabazus having sought to hinder Mardonius from giving battle, when
+he found that he could not prevail, took counsel for his own safety.
+He commanded his men, of whom he had forty thousand, to follow at such
+speed as they should perceive him to use. Then he made as if he would
+have joined the battle, but seeing the Persians already in fight, he
+turned round and made with all speed for the Hellespont.
+
+As for the Greeks that fought for the King, they all played the coward
+of set purpose, saving the Bœotians. These fought very fiercely with
+the Athenians, so that three hundred of them were slain.
+
+Of the rest of the barbarians some stood against the Greeks, but fled
+so soon as they saw the Persians giving way. Nevertheless the horsemen,
+both Persian and Theban, did good service, coming between them that
+fled and the Greeks.
+
+As for the rest of the Greeks, none did good service save the Spartans,
+and the Athenians, and the men of Tegea only. For when they heard
+that Pausanias prevailed, they hastened from Platæa with great haste
+and without order, which a captain of the Theban horsemen perceiving,
+he charged the men of Megara and of Phlius, that were marching along
+the plain, and slew six hundred of them, and drave the rest to Mount
+Cithæron. So these men perished without honor.
+
+The men of Mantinea and of Elis came when the battle was now finished,
+greatly lamenting that they were late. These, when they had returned to
+their cities, banished their captains.
+
+For none of the Greeks fought in this battle of Platæa save the
+Spartans and the Athenians and the men of Tegea only.
+
+Now the Persians that had fled to the camp were able to climb into
+the towers before the Spartans came up; and being there, they held
+the wall as best they could. And indeed before the coming of the
+Athenians the barbarians kept back the Spartans, who are but little
+skilled in fighting against fortified places. But after the coming of
+the Athenians the wall was attacked yet more fiercely than before.
+These after a while prevailed, climbing to the top of the wall, and
+making a breach, so that the Greeks could enter in. And of all the
+Greeks the first to enter were the men of Tegea. These spoiled the tent
+of Mardonius, taking therefrom the mangers of brass from which his
+horses had eaten. And so the barbarians held out no longer, but were
+slaughtered as sheep, so that of the whole host there were left three
+thousand only. But Artabazus had taken with him forty thousand. Of the
+Spartans there perished ninety and one; of the men of Tegea sixteen; of
+the Athenians fifty and two.
+
+Of the barbarians the bravest were the Persians among the foot
+soldiers, and the Sacæ among the horsemen; but of all Mardonius
+fought the best. Among the Greeks the Spartans excelled, and among
+the Spartans Aristodemus, that had come back from Thermopylæ, and
+Posidonius and Philocyon and Amompharetus. But of Aristodemus the
+Spartans said that he had manifestly sought for death by reason of his
+disgrace, and they paid no honor to him; but to the others that had not
+desired to die they paid honor.
+
+As for Callicrates, that was the goodliest man not among the Spartans
+only, but among all the Greeks, he was slain, but not in the battle.
+For while Pausanias was sacrificing, and he sat in his place in the
+ranks, an arrow smote him in the side. Therefore, when his comrades
+went forward to the battle, men carried him out of the battle, being
+very loth to die, for he said to a Platæan that stood by, “It does not
+trouble me that I die for Greece, but that I die without putting my
+hand to the fight, or doing such worthy deeds as I had desired.” Of the
+Athenians the bravest was Sophanes of Decelea, of whom they say that he
+had an anchor fastened to his belt by a chain of brass; and that when
+he came near to the enemy, he threw out his anchor so that he might not
+be able to be driven from his post; and that when the enemy fled, he
+took up his anchor and pursued. But others say he had the device of an
+anchor on his shield.
+
+Of Pausanias they tell this story, that coming into the camp of the
+Persians, he found the war-tent of Xerxes, for Xerxes had left it with
+Mardonius. And when he saw it with its furniture of gold and silver,
+and adorned with hangings of divers colors, he commanded the bakers and
+the cooks that they should prepare a feast as they were wont to do for
+Mardonius. And when he saw the couches of gold and silver with their
+dainty coverlets, and tables of gold and silver, and all the furniture
+of the feast very rich, he was astonished; and for mirth’s sake bade
+his servants prepare a dinner in the Spartan fashion. When they had so
+done, Pausanias laughed, seeing how great was the difference between
+them; and, sending for the other captains of the Greeks, he said to
+them, “I have brought you here that I may show you the folly of these
+Persians, who, having such fare as this, came to rob us of our poverty.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+OF THE BATTLE AT MYCALE.
+
+
+While these things were being done in the land of Bœotia, the fleet
+of the Greeks lay at Delos, Leotychides of Sparta being its chief
+captain; but the fleet of the Persians was at Samos. And there came
+from Samos three men whom the people of the land sent to the captains
+of the Greeks; but neither did the Persians know of their going, nor
+Theomestor the lord of the land, for the Persians had made him lord.
+
+When these men were come into the presence of the captains, they were
+very urgent with them, saying, “If the Ionians do but see you, they
+will revolt from the Persians; nor will these abide your coming; or, if
+they abide it, ye will find such a prey as ye could not find elsewhere.
+It is right that ye should help men that are Greeks and worship the
+same gods. Right is it and easy withal, for the ships of the Persians
+are no match for yours. And if ye doubt whether we come in good faith,
+take us with you in your ships as hostages.”
+
+Then Leotychides asked the chief speaker of the three, “Man of Samos,
+what is thy name?” asking either because he sought for a sign or by
+chance and by inspiration of God. And the man said, “Hegesistratus,”
+which is by interpretation “Leader of armies.” Then said Leotychides,
+“I accept the sign of this word--leader of armies. Only you must
+pledge your word, you and these others, that the men of Samos will be
+zealous and true.” Then the three pledged their word with an oath. And
+the Greeks sailed to Samos, taking with them Hegesistratus, for they
+took his name for a good sign. Also they had with them a soothsayer,
+one Deiphonus, the son of Evenius of Apollonia. Of Evenius they tell
+this story. The men of Apollonia have a flock of sheep that are sacred
+to the sun. And these feed by day by the river that flows from Mount
+Lacmon, and by night they are kept by men wealthy and noble, chosen
+from among the citizens, each man keeping them a year; for the men of
+Apollonia by reason of a certain oracle make much account of these
+sheep. They are folded by night in a cave that is far distant from the
+city; and it chanced that this Evenius, having the charge of them on a
+certain night, fell asleep, and that while he slept wolves entered into
+the caves and devoured sixty of them. Evenius indeed sought to keep the
+matter secret, purposing to put another sixty in the place of these,
+but it came to the knowledge of the people; and they brought him to
+judgment for his misdeed and condemned him to lose his eyes. But lo!
+after they had blinded him, the sheep bare no more any young, nor the
+land its wonted increase. And when the men of Apollonia inquired the
+cause of the oracle of Dodona, the prophet answered them, “Ye have done
+wickedly, blinding Evenius, the keeper of the sheep. The Gods sent
+these wolves; nor will they cease to avenge the man’s cause till ye
+shall make him such satisfaction as he shall himself demand of you. And
+when ye have done this, then will the Gods themselves give him such a
+gift that all men shall call him blessed.”
+
+When this oracle came to them, the men of Apollonia kept the matter
+close, and sent certain citizens to make an agreement with Evenius.
+This agreement they made in this wise. They found Evenius sitting on
+a bench. Then they sat down by him, and when they had spoken of other
+things, came at the last to condole with him for his mishap. And they
+asked him, saying, “Evenius, if the men of Apollonia were minded to
+give thee satisfaction for this injury, what wouldst thou demand?”
+Now Evenius had not heard of the oracle, and he said, “If they will
+give me such and such lands,” and he named the two citizens that he
+knew to have the best lands in the country, “and such a house,” and
+he named a house that he knew to be the fairest in the whole city, “I
+will lay aside my wrath, holding that I have had due satisfaction.”
+Then they that sat by him answered, “Evenius, the men of Apollonia give
+thee the satisfaction that thou demandest, according to the words of
+the oracle.” Evenius, indeed, was very wroth when he heard the whole
+matter, and knew how he had been deceived; but the men of Apollonia
+bought the lands and the house from them that possessed them and gave
+to Evenius the things which he had desired. Immediately after this
+there fell upon him a gift of prophecy, so that he became famous
+throughout Greece. Deiphonus, son of this Evenius, was now soothsayer
+to the Greeks. But some say that Deiphonus was not truly his son, but
+had taken his name and plied the trade of a soothsayer for hire.
+
+The Greeks, finding the signs to be good, sailed to Samos; but when the
+Persians knew of their coming they left their place and sailed to the
+mainland, having first sent away the ships of the Phœnicians, for they
+judged that they could not meet the Greeks in battle, and they desired
+to have the help of their army that was on the mainland; for Xerxes had
+left at Mycale, that is over against Samos, sixty thousand men, under
+Tigranes, a Persian of notable beauty and stature, to keep guard over
+Ionia.
+
+So the captains of the Persian ships came to Mycale, and drew their
+ships up on the shore and made a fence round them of stones and wood,
+cutting down the fruit trees that were in the place, and setting stakes
+in the ground about the fence.
+
+When the Greeks knew that the barbarians had fled to the mainland, they
+were greatly troubled that the men had escaped out of their hands, and
+doubted whether they should go home or sail to the Hellespont. But
+in the end they did neither the one thing nor the other, but sailed
+to the mainland, having got ready boarding bridges and other things
+needful for a sea-fight. But when they were come to the place, there
+were none to meet them, but they saw the ships drawn up within the
+ramparts, and a great army sat in array along the shore. First of all
+Leotychides sailed in his ship along the shore, keeping as close to the
+shore as might be, and crying with a loud voice, “Men of Ionia that
+chance to hear me, listen to that which I now say, for the Persians
+will understand none of my words. When we join battle, remember all
+of you first Freedom, and then our watchword, and this is Hebe. And
+if there are any that chance not to hear me, let others tell my words
+to them.” Now the purpose of these words was the same as of the words
+which Themistocles wrote upon the rocks at Artemisium. If they came not
+to the knowledge of the Persians, then they might persuade the Ionians;
+but if they came to their knowledge they would cause the Persians to
+put no trust in their allies. When Leotychides had ended speaking these
+words, the allies brought their ships to the land and disembarked, and
+set themselves in array for the battle.
+
+But the Persians, when they saw how the Greeks set themselves in array,
+considered the words which had been spoken to the Ionians. And first of
+all they took away from the men of Samos their arms, suspecting that
+they favored the Greeks. This they did because the men of Samos had
+paid the ransom of five hundred Athenians whom the armies of the King
+had found lingering in the land of Attica, and had carried away captive
+into Asia. Next after this they sent the men of Miletus to keep the
+ways that led to the heights of Mycale, for they knew the country. This
+they said, but in truth they desired to keep them outside the camp.
+Thus did the Persians seek to guard themselves against the Ionians,
+if these were minded to help the Greeks; and after this they made a
+rampart of wicker shields to be a defence against the enemy.
+
+And now the Greeks, all things being ready, began to go forward against
+the barbarians. And lo! as they went there ran a rumor through the
+whole army and at the same time they saw a herald’s staff lying on the
+sea-shore. And the rumor was this, that the Greeks were doing battle
+in the land of Bœotia with the army of Mardonius, and were prevailing
+over it. And this is one of the many proofs that the gods have a
+thought for the affairs of men; for how else, when it had chanced that
+this battle at Mycale and the ruin that fell on the Persians at Platæa
+should fall out on the self-same day, came this rumor to the Greeks
+making them to be of a good courage and willing to put their lives in
+jeopardy? At Platæa the battle was in the morning, and at Mycale it was
+toward evening. And before the rumor came they had been fearful, not
+so much for themselves as for the Greeks, lest they should flee before
+Mardonius. But now their fear ceased, and they ran forward both quicker
+and with better courage. And indeed both the barbarians and the Greeks
+had much eagerness for the battle, whereof the prize was the Hellespont
+and the islands.
+
+Now the Athenians and they that were with them, being altogether
+one-half the army, marched along the shore where the way was level,
+but the Lacedæmonians with the rest of the army marched over hills
+and the channel of a stream. And thus it came to pass that while
+these were making their compass the Athenians had now joined battle.
+So long as the wicker rampart was standing the Persians held their own
+and were not worsted in the fight; but when the Athenians and their
+fellows, desiring to have the victory for themselves, encouraged each
+other and attacked the Persians more fiercely, things went otherwise.
+For the Greeks burst through the rampart and fell in one body upon the
+Persians. These indeed awaited their coming and held out for a time,
+but at last fled into the fort. And the Athenians with the men of
+Corinth and of Sicyon and of Trœzen--for these had been set next to the
+Athenians--entered into the fort along with them. And now when their
+fort was taken, the barbarians made no more resistance, but fled all of
+them, save the Persians only. But while these still held out against
+the Greeks, a few fighting together, there came up the Lacedæmonians
+and the others, and slew them all. Not a few of the Greeks fell in this
+battle, especially among the men of Sicyon.
+
+The men of Samos, from whom the Persians had taken their arms, did
+good service to the Greeks while they were fighting. As for the men
+of Miletus, they did not what had been commanded them, but led the
+Persians astray, so that they went into the hands of the enemy, and at
+last fell upon them with their own hands. Thus did Ionia revolt that
+day a second time from the King.
+
+
+
+
+                          Transcriber’s Notes
+
+  Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
+
+  Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78980 ***