Makers of History

 Xerxes

 BY JACOB ABBOTT

 WITH ENGRAVINGS

 NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1902

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by

HARPER & BROTHERS, In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York. 

Copyright, 1878, by JACOB ABBOTT

[Illustration: ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST]

PREFACE. 

One special object which the author of this series has had in view, inthe plan and method which he has followed in the preparation of thesuccessive volumes, has been to adapt them to the purposes of text-booksin schools. The study of a _general compend_ of history, such as isfrequently used as a text-book, is highly useful, if it comes in at theright stage of education, when the mind is sufficiently matured, and hasacquired sufficient preliminary knowledge to understand and appreciateso condensed a generalization as a summary of the whole history of anation contained in an ordinary volume must necessarily be. Without thisdegree of maturity of mind, and this preparation, the study of such awork will be, as it too frequently is, a mere mechanical committing tomemory of names, and dates, and phrases, which awaken no interest, communicate no ideas, and impart no useful knowledge to the mind. 

A class of ordinary pupils, who have not yet become much acquainted withhistory, would, accordingly, be more benefited by having their attentionconcentrated, at first, on detached and separate topics, such as thosewhich form the subjects, respectively, of these volumes. By studyingthus fully the history of individual monarchs, or the narratives ofsingle events, they can go more fully into detail; they conceive of thetransactions described as realities; their reflecting and reasoningpowers are occupied on what they read; they take notice of the motivesof conduct, of the gradual development of character, the good or illdesert of actions, and of the connection of causes and consequences, both in respect to the influence of wisdom and virtue on the one hand, and, on the other, of folly and crime. In a word, their _minds_ and_hearts_ are occupied instead of merely their memories. They reason, they sympathize, they pity, they approve, and they condemn. They enjoythe real and true pleasure which constitutes the charm of historicalstudy for minds that are mature; and they acquire a taste for truthinstead of fiction, which will tend to direct their reading into properchannels in all future years. 

The use of these works, therefore, as text-books in classes, has beenkept continually in mind in the preparation of them. The running indexon the tops of the pages is intended to serve instead of questions. These captions can be used in their present form as _topics_, in respectto which, when announced in the class, the pupils are to repeatsubstantially what is said on the page; or, on the other hand, questionsin form, if that mode is preferred, can be readily framed from them bythe teacher. In all the volumes, a very regular system of division isobserved, which will greatly facilitate the assignment of lessons. 

 CONTENTS. 

 Chapter Page

 I. THE MOTHER OF XERXES 13

 II. EGYPT AND GREECE 33

 III. DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE 56

 IV. PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE 78

 V. THE CROSSING OF THE HELLESPONT 100

 VI. THE REVIEW OF THE ARMY AT DORISCUS 125

 VII. PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE 151

 VIII. THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE 178

 IX. THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ 201

 X. THE BURNING OF ATHENS 224

 XI. THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 245

 XII. THE RETURN TO PERSIA 284

 ENGRAVINGS. 

 Page

 ARTABANUS AND THE GHOST _Frontispiece. _

 MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE xii

 PHERON DEFYING THE NILE 48

 MAP OF GREECE 101

 XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT 121

 FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA 160

 CITADEL AT ATHENS 241

 RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA 297

[Illustration: MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE]

XERXES. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE MOTHER OF XERXES. 

B. C. 522-484

Persian magnificence. --The mother of Xerxes. --Cambyses. --Ambition andselfishness of kings. --General influence exerted by great sovereignsupon the community. --Labors of greatconquerors. --Cæsar. --Darius. --William the Conqueror. --Napoleon. --Heroesand conquerors. --The main spring of their actions. --Cyrus. --Characterand career of Cambyses. --Wives of Cambyses. --He marries hissister. --Death of Cambyses. --Smerdis the magian. --Cunning ofSmerdis. --His feeling of insecurity. --Smerdis suspected. --His imposturediscovered. --Death of Smerdis. --Succession of Darius. --Atossa'ssickness. --The Greek physician. --Atossa's promise. --Atossa'sconversation with Darius. --Success of her plans. --The expedition toGreece. --Escape of the physician. --Atossa's foursons. --Artobazanes. --Dispute about the succession. --Xerxes andArtobazanes. --The arguments. --Influence of Atossa. --The Spartanfugitive. --His views of the succession. --The decision. --Death of Darius. 

The name of Xerxes is associated in the minds of men with the idea ofthe highest attainable elevation of human magnificence and grandeur. This monarch was the sovereign of the ancient Persian empire when it wasat the height of its prosperity and power. It is probable, however, thathis greatness and fame lose nothing by the manner in which his storycomes down to us through the Greek historians. The Greeks conqueredXerxes, and, in relating his history, they magnify the wealth, thepower, and the resources of his empire, by way of exalting the greatnessand renown of their own exploits in subduing him. 

The mother of Xerxes was Atossa, a daughter of Cyrus the Great, who wasthe founder of the Persian empire. Cyrus was killed in Scythia, a wildand barbarous region lying north of the Black and Caspian Seas. His sonCambyses succeeded him. 

A kingdom, or an empire, was regarded, in ancient days, much in thelight of an estate, which the sovereign held as a species of property, and which he was to manage mainly with a view to the promotion of hisown personal aggrandizement and pleasure. A king or an emperor couldhave more palaces, more money, and more wives than other men; and if hewas of an overbearing or ambitious spirit, he could march into hisneighbors' territories, and after gratifying his love of adventure withvarious romantic exploits, and gaining great renown by his ferociousimpetuosity in battle, he could end his expedition, perhaps, by addinghis neighbors' palaces, and treasures, and wives to his own. 

Divine Providence, however, the mysterious power that overrules all thepassions and impulses of men, and brings extended and general good outof local and particular evil, has made the ambition and the selfishnessof princes the great means of preserving order and government among men. These great ancient despots, for example, would not have been able tocollect their revenues, or enlist their armies, or procure supplies fortheir campaigns, unless their dominions were under a regular andcomplete system of social organization, such as should allow all theindustrial pursuits of commerce and of agriculture, throughout the massof the community, to go regularly on. Thus absolute monarchs, howeverambitious, and selfish, and domineering in their characters, have astrong personal interest in the establishment of order and of justicebetween man and man throughout all the regions which are under theirsway. In fact, the greater their ambition, their selfishness, and theirpride, the stronger will this interest be; for, just in proportion asorder, industry, and internal tranquillity prevail in a country, just inthat proportion can revenues be collected from it, and armies raised andmaintained. 

It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose of the great heroes, andsovereigns, and conquerors that have appeared from time to time amongmankind, that the usual and ordinary result of their influence andaction has been that of disturbance and disorganization. It is true thata vast amount of disturbance and disorganization has often followed fromthe march of their armies, their sieges, their invasions, and the otherlocal and temporary acts of violence which they commit; but these arethe exceptions, not the rule. It must be that such things areexceptions, since, in any extended and general view of the subject, amuch greater amount of social organization, industry, and peace isnecessary to raise and maintain an army, than that army can itselfdestroy. The deeds of destruction which great conquerors perform attractmore attention and make a greater impression upon mankind than thequiet, patient, and long-continued labors by which they perfect andextend the general organization of the social state. But these labors, though less noticed by men, have really employed the energies of greatsovereigns in a far greater degree than mankind have generally imagined. Thus we should describe the work of Cæsar's life in a single word moretruly by saying that he _organized_ Europe, than that he conquered it. His bridges, his roads, his systems of jurisprudence, his coinage, hiscalendar, and other similar means and instruments of social arrangement, and facilities for promoting the pursuits of industry and peace, mark, far more properly, the real work which that great conqueror performedamong mankind, than his battles and his victories. Darius was, in thesame way, the organizer of Asia. William the Conqueror completed, or, rather, advanced very far toward completing, the social organization ofEngland; and even in respect to Napoleon, the true and proper memorialof his career is the successful working of the institutions, thesystems, and the codes which he perfected and introduced into the socialstate, and not the brazen column, formed from captured cannon, whichstands in the Place Vendôme. 

These considerations, obviously true, though not always borne in mind, are, however, to be considered as making the characters of the greatsovereigns, in a moral point of view, neither the worse nor the better. In all that they did, whether in arranging and systematizing thefunctions of social life, or in ruthless deeds of conquest anddestruction, they were actuated, in a great measure, by selfishambition. They arranged and organized the social state in order to forma more compact and solid pedestal for the foundation of their power. They maintained peace and order among their people, just as a masterwould suppress quarrels among his slaves, because peace among laborersis essential to productive results. They fixed and defined legalrights, and established courts to determine and enforce them; theyprotected property; they counted and classified men; they opened roads;they built bridges; they encouraged commerce; they hung robbers, andexterminated pirates--all, that the collection of their revenues and theenlistment of their armies might go on without hinderance orrestriction. Many of them, indeed, may have been animated, in somedegree, by a higher and nobler sentiment than this. Some may have felt asort of pride in the contemplation of a great, and prosperous, andwealthy empire, analogous to that which a proprietor feels in surveyinga well-conditioned, successful, and productive estate. Others, likeAlfred, may have felt a sincere and honest interest in the welfare oftheir fellow-men, and the promotion of human happiness may have been, ina greater or less degree, the direct object of their aim. Still, it cannot be denied that a selfish and reckless ambition has been, in general, the main spring of action with heroes and conquerors, which, while itaimed only at personal aggrandizement, has been made to operate, throughthe peculiar mechanism of the social state which the Divine wisdom hascontrived, as a means, in the main of preserving and extending peaceand order among mankind, and not of destroying them. 

But to return to Atossa. Her father Cyrus, who laid the foundation ofthe great Persian empire, was, for a hero and conqueror, tolerablyconsiderate and just, and he desired, probably, to promote the welfareand happiness of his millions of subjects; but his son Cambyses, Atossa's brother, having been brought up in expectation of succeeding tovast wealth and power, and having been, as the sons of the wealthy andthe powerful often are in all ages of the world, wholly neglected by hisfather during the early part of his life, and entirely unaccustomed tocontrol, became a wild, reckless, proud, selfish, and ungovernable youngman. His father was killed suddenly in battle, as has already beenstated, and Cambyses succeeded him. Cambyses's career was short, desperate, and most tragical in its end. [A] In fact, he was one of themost savage, reckless, and abominable monsters that have ever lived. 

[Footnote A: His history in given in the first chapter of DARIUS THEGREAT. ]

It was the custom in those days for the Persian monarchs to have manywives, and, what is still more remarkable, whenever any monarch died, his successor inherited his predecessor's family as well as his throne. Cyrus had several children by his various wives. Cambyses and Smerdiswere the only sons, but there were daughters, among whom Atossa was themost distinguished. The ladies of the court were accustomed to reside indifferent palaces, or in different suites of apartments in the samepalace, so that they lived in a great measure isolated from each other. When Cambyses came to the throne, and thus entered into possession ofhis father's palaces, he saw and fell in love with one of his father'sdaughters. He wished to make her one of his wives. He was accustomed tothe unrestricted indulgence of every appetite and passion, but he seemsto have had some slight misgivings in regard to such a step as this. Heconsulted the Persian judges. They conferred upon the subject, and thenreplied that they had searched among the laws of the realm, and thoughthey found no law allowing a man to marry his sister, they found manywhich authorized a Persian king to do whatever he pleased. 

Cambyses therefore added the princess to the number of his wives, andnot long afterward he married another of his father's daughters in thesame way. One of these princesses was Atossa. 

Cambyses invaded Egypt, and in the course of his mad career in thatcountry he killed his brother Smerdis and one of his sisters, and atlength was killed himself. Atossa escaped the dangers of this stormy andterrible reign, and returned safely to Susa after Cambyses's death. 

Smerdis, the brother of Cambyses, would have been Cambyses's successorif he had survived him; but he had been privately assassinated byCambyses's orders, though his death had been kept profoundly secret bythose who had perpetrated the deed. There was another Smerdis in Susa, the Persian capital, who was a magian--that is, a sort of priest--inwhose hands, as regent, Cambyses had left the government while he wasabsent on his campaigns. This magian Smerdis accordingly conceived theplan of usurping the throne, as if he were Smerdis the prince, resortingto a great many ingenious and cunning schemes to conceal his deception. Among his other plans, one was to keep himself wholly sequestered frompublic view, with a few favorites, such, especially, as had notpersonally known Smerdis the prince. In the same manner he secluded fromeach other and from himself all who had known Smerdis, in order toprevent their conferring with one another, or communicating to eachother any suspicions which they might chance to entertain. Suchseclusion, so far as related to the ladies of the royal family, was notunusual after the death of a king, and Smerdis did not deviate from theordinary custom, except to make the isolation and confinement of theprincesses and queens more rigorous and strict than common. By means ofthis policy he was enabled to go on for some months without detection, living all the while in the greatest luxury and splendor, but at thesame time in absolute seclusion, and in unceasing anxiety and fear. 

One chief source of his solicitude was lest he should be detected bymeans of his _ears_! Some years before, when he was in a comparativelyobscure position, he had in some way or other offended his sovereign, and was punished by having his ears cut off. It was necessary, therefore, to keep the marks of this mutilation carefully concealed bymeans of his hair and his head-dress, and even with these precautions hecould never feel perfectly secure. 

At last one of the nobles of the court, a sagacious and observing man, suspected the imposture. He had no access to Smerdis himself, but hisdaughter, whose name was Phædyma, was one of Smerdis's wives. Thenobleman was excluded from all direct intercourse with Smerdis, and evenwith his daughter; but he contrived to send word to his daughter, inquiring whether her husband was the true Smerdis or not. She repliedthat she did not know, inasmuch as she had never seen any other Smerdis, if, indeed, there had been another. The nobleman then attempted tocommunicate with Atossa, but he found it impossible to do so. Atossahad, of course, known her brother well, and was on that very accountvery closely secluded by the magian. As a last resort, the nobleman sentto his daughter a request that she would watch for an opportunity tofeel for her husband's ears while he was asleep. He admitted that thiswould be a dangerous attempt, but his daughter, he said, ought to bewilling to make it, since, if her pretended husband were really animpostor, she ought to take even a stronger interest than others in hisdetection. Phædyma was at first afraid to undertake so dangerous acommission; but she at length ventured to do so, and, by passing herhand under his turban one night, while he was sleeping on his couch, she found that the ears were gone. [B]

[Footnote B: For a more particular account of the transaction, and foran engraving illustrating this scene, see the history of Darius. ]

The consequence of this discovery was, that a conspiracy was formed todethrone and destroy the usurper. The plot was successful. Smerdis waskilled; his imprisoned queens were set free, and Darius was raised tothe throne in his stead. 

Atossa now, by that strange principle of succession which has beenalready alluded to, became the wife of Darius, and she figuresfrequently and conspicuously in history during his long and splendidreign. 

Her name is brought into notice in one case in a remarkable manner, inconnection with an expedition which Darius sent on an exploring tourinto Greece and Italy. She was herself the means, in fact, of sendingthe expedition. She was sick; and after suffering secretly and insilence as long as possible--the nature of her complaint being such asto make her unwilling to speak of it to others--she at length determinedto consult a Greek physician who had been brought to Persia as acaptive, and had acquired great celebrity at Susa by his medical scienceand skill. The physician said that he would undertake her case oncondition that she would promise to grant him a certain request that hewould make. She wished to know what it was beforehand, but the physicianwould not tell her. He said, however, that it was nothing that it wouldbe in any way derogatory to her honor to grant him. 

On these conditions Atossa concluded to agree to the physician'sproposals. He made her take a solemn oath that, if he cured her of hermalady, she would do whatever he required of her, provided that it wasconsistent with honor and propriety. He then took her case under hischarge, prescribed for her and attended her, and in due time she wascured. The physician then told her that what he wished her to do for himwas to find some means to persuade Darius to send him home to his nativeland. 

Atossa was faithful in fulfilling her promise. She took a privateopportunity, when she was alone with Darius, to propose that he shouldengage in some plans of foreign conquest. She reminded him of thevastness of the military power which was at his disposal, and of thefacility with which, by means of it, he might extend his dominions. Sheextolled, too, his genius and energy, and endeavored to inspire in hismind some ambitious desires to distinguish himself in the estimation ofmankind by bringing his capacities for the performance of great deedsinto action. 

Darius listened to these suggestions of Atossa with interest and withevident pleasure. He said that he had been forming some such planshimself. He was going to build a bridge across the Hellespont or theBosporus, to unite Europe and Asia; and he was also going to make anincursion into the country of the Scythians, the people by whom Cyrus, his great predecessor, had been defeated and slain. It would be a greatglory for him, he said, to succeed in a conquest in which Cyrus had sototally failed. 

But these plans would not answer the purpose which Atossa had in view. She urged her husband, therefore, to postpone his invasion of theScythians till some future time, and first conquer the Greeks, and annextheir territory to his dominions. The Scythians, she said, were savages, and their country not worth the cost of conquering it, while Greecewould constitute a noble prize. She urged the invasion of Greece, too, rather than Scythia, as a personal favor to herself, for she had beenwanting, she said, some slaves from Greece for a long time--some of thewomen of Sparta, of Corinth, and of Athens, of whose graces andaccomplishments she had heard so much. 

There was something gratifying to the military vanity of Darius in beingthus requested to make an incursion to another continent, and undertakethe conquest of the mightiest nation of the earth, for the purpose ofprocuring accomplished waiting-maids to offer as a present to his queen. He became restless and excited while listening to Atossa's proposals, and to the arguments with which she enforced them, and it was obviousthat he was very strongly inclined to accede to her views. He finallyconcluded to send a commission into Greece to explore the country, andto bring back a report on their return; and as he decided to make theGreek physician the guide of the expedition, Atossa gained her end. 

A full account of this expedition, and of the various adventures whichthe party met with on their voyage, is given in our history of Darius. It may be proper to say here, however, that the physician fullysucceeded in his plans of making his escape. He pretended, at first, tobe unwilling to go, and he made only the most temporary arrangements inrespect to the conduct of his affairs while he should be gone, in orderto deceive the king in regard to his intentions of not returning. Theking, on his part, resorted to some stratagems to ascertain whether thephysician was sincere in his professions, but he did not succeed indetecting the artifice, and so the party went away. The physician neverreturned. 

Atossa had four sons. Xerxes was the eldest of them. He was not, however, the eldest of the sons of Darius, as there were other sons, thechildren of another wife, whom Darius had married before he ascended thethrone. The oldest of these children was named Artobazanes. Artobazanesseems to have been a prince of an amiable and virtuous character, andnot particularly ambitious and aspiring in his disposition, although, ashe was the eldest son of his father, he claimed to be his heir. Atossadid not admit the validity of this claim, but maintained that the oldestof _her_ children was entitled to the inheritance. 

It became necessary to decide this question before Darius's death; forDarius, in the prosecution of a war in which he was engaged, formed thedesign of accompanying his army on an expedition into Greece, and, before doing this, he was bound, according to the laws and usages of thePersian realm, to regulate the succession. 

There immediately arose an earnest dispute between the friends andpartisans of Artobazanes and Xerxes, each side urging very eagerly theclaims of its own candidate. The mother and the friends of Artobazanesmaintained that he was the oldest son, and, consequently, the heir. Atossa, on the other hand, contended that Xerxes was the grandson ofCyrus, and that he derived from that circumstance the highest possiblehereditary rights to the Persian throne. 

This was in some respects true, for Cyrus had been the founder of theempire and the legitimate monarch, while Darius had no hereditaryclaims. He was originally a noble, of high rank, indeed, but not of theroyal line; and he had been designated as Cyrus's successor in a time ofrevolution, because there was, at that time, no prince of the royalfamily who could take the inheritance. Those, therefore, who weredisposed to insist on the claims of a legitimate hereditary succession, might very plausibly claim that Darius's government had been a regencyrather than a reign; that Xerxes, being the oldest son of Atossa, Cyrus's daughter, was the true representative of the royal line; andthat, although it might not be expedient to disturb the possession ofDarius during his lifetime, yet that, at his death, Xerxes wasunquestionably entitled to the throne. 

There was obviously a great deal of truth and justice in this reasoning, and yet it was a view of the subject not likely to be very agreeable toDarius, since it seemed to deny the existence of any real and validtitle to the sovereignty in him. It assigned the crown, at his death, not to his son as such, but to his predecessor's grandson; for thoughXerxes was both the son of Darius and the grandson of Cyrus, it was inthe latter capacity that he was regarded as entitled to the crown in theargument referred to above. The doctrine was very gratifying to thepride of Atossa, for it made Xerxes the successor to the crown as herson and heir, and not as the son and heir of her husband. For this veryreason it was likely to be not very gratifying to Darius. He hesitatedvery much in respect to adopting it. Atossa's ascendency over his mind, and her influence generally in the Persian court, was almostoverwhelming, and yet Darius was very unwilling to seem, by giving tothe oldest grandson of Cyrus the precedence over his own eldest son, toadmit that he himself had no legitimate and proper title to the throne. 

While things were in this state, a Greek, named Demaratus, arrived atSusa. He was a dethroned prince from Sparta, and had fled from thepolitical storms of his own country to seek refuge in Darius's capital. Demaratus found a way to reconcile Darius's pride as a sovereign withhis personal preferences as a husband and a father. He told the kingthat, according to the principles of hereditary succession which wereadopted in Greece, Xerxes was his heir as well as Cyrus's, for he wasthe oldest son who was born _after his accession_. A son, he said, according to the Greek ideas on the subject, was entitled to inheritonly such rank as his father held when the son was born; and that, consequently, none of his children who had been born before hisaccession could have any claims to the Persian throne. Artobazanes, in aword, was to be regarded, he said, only as the son of Darius the noble, while Xerxes was the son of Darius the king. 

In the end Darius adopted this view, and designated Xerxes as hissuccessor in case he should not return from his distant expedition. Hedid not return. He did not even live to set out upon it. Perhaps thequestion of the succession had not been absolutely and finally settled, for it arose again and was discussed anew when the death of Dariusoccurred. The manner in which it was finally disposed of will bedescribed in the next chapter. 

CHAPTER II. 

EGYPT AND GREECE. 

B. C. 484

Xerxes assumes the crown. --His message to Artobazanes. --Question of thesuccession again debated. --Advice of Atossa. --Decision ofArtabanus. --Unfinished wars of Darius. --Egypt and Greece. --Character ofthe Egyptians. --Character of the Greeks. --Architecture. --Monuments ofGreece. --Egyptian architecture. --Form of Egypt. --Delta of theNile. --Fertility of Egypt. --No rain in Egypt. --Rising of theNile. --Preparations for the inundation. --Gradual rise of thewater. --Appearance of the country during an inundation. --The threetheories. --Objections to the first. --Second and third theories. --Reasonsagainst them. --Ideas of the common people in regard to theinundation. --Story of King Pheron. --His punishment. --Sequel of the storyof King Pheron. --Nilometers. --Use of Nilometers. --Enormous structures ofEgypt. --Comparative antiquity of various objects. --Great age of thePyramids. --Egypt a mark for the conqueror. --Its relation toPersia. --Xerxes resolves to subdue Egypt first. --The Jews. --TheEgyptians subdued. --Return to Susa. 

The arrangements which Darius had made to fix and determine thesuccession, before his death, did not entirely prevent the question fromarising again when his death occurred. Xerxes was on the spot at thetime, and at once assumed the royal functions. His brother was absent. Xerxes sent a messenger to Artobazanes[C] informing him of theirfather's death, and of his intention of assuming the crown. He said, however, that if he did so, he should give his brother the second rank, making him, in all respects, next to himself in office and honor. Hesent, moreover, a great many splendid presents to Artobazanes, to evincethe friendly regard which he felt for him, and to propitiate his favor. 

[Footnote C: Plutarch, who gives an account of these occurrences, variesthe orthography of the name. We, however, retain the name as given byHerodotus. ]

Artobazanes sent back word to Xerxes that he thanked him for hispresents, and that he accepted them with pleasure. He said that heconsidered himself, nevertheless, as justly entitled to the crown, though he should, in the event of his accession, treat all his brothers, and especially Xerxes, with the utmost consideration and respect. 

Soon after these occurrences, Artobazanes came to Media, where Xerxeswas, and the question which of them should be the king was agitated anewamong the nobles of the court. In the end, a public hearing of the causewas had before Artabanus, a brother of Darius, and, of course, an uncleof the contending princes. The question seems to have been referred tohim, either because he held some public office which made it his duty toconsider and decide such a question, or else because he had beenspecially commissioned to act as judge in this particular case. Xerxeswas at first quite unwilling to submit his claims to the decision ofsuch a tribunal. The crown was, as he maintained, rightfully his. Hethought that the public voice was generally in his favor. Then, besides, he was already in possession of the throne, and by consenting to pleadhis cause before his uncle, he seemed to be virtually abandoning allthis vantage ground, and trusting instead to the mere chance ofArtabanus's decision. 

Atossa, however, recommended to him to accede to the plan of referringthe question to Artabanus. He would consider the subject, she said, withfairness and impartiality, and decide it right. She had no doubt that hewould decide it in Xerxes's favor; "and if he does not, " she added, "andyou lose your cause, you only become the second man in the kingdominstead of the first, and the difference is not so very great, afterall. "

Atossa may have had some secret intimation how Artabanus would decide. 

However this may be, Xerxes at length concluded to submit the question. A solemn court was held, and the case was argued in the presence of allthe nobles and great officers of state. A throne was at hand to whichthe successful competitor was to be conducted as soon as the decisionshould be made. Artabanus heard the arguments, and decided in favor ofXerxes. Artobazanes, his brother, acquiesced in the decision with theutmost readiness and good humor. He was the first to bow before the kingin token of homage, and conducted him, himself, to the throne. 

Xerxes kept his promise faithfully of making his brother the second inhis kingdom. He appointed him to a very high command in the army, andArtobazanes, on his part, served the king with great zeal and fidelity, until he was at last killed in battle, in the manner hereafter to bedescribed. 

As soon as Xerxes found himself established on his throne, he was calledupon to decide immediately a great question, namely, which of twoimportant wars in which his father had been engaged he should firstundertake to prosecute, the war in Egypt or the war in Greece. 

By referring to the map, the reader will see that, as the Persian empireextended westward to Asia Minor and to the coasts of the MediterraneanSea, the great countries which bordered upon it in this direction were, on the north Greece, and on the south, Egypt; the one in Europe, and theother in Africa. The Greeks and the Egyptians were both wealthy andpowerful, and the countries which they respectively inhabited werefertile and beautiful beyond expression, and yet in all their essentialfeatures and characteristics they were extremely dissimilar. Egypt was along and narrow inland valley. Greece reposed, as it were, in the bosomof the sea, consisting, as it did, of an endless number of islands, promontories, peninsulas, and winding coasts, laved on every side bythe blue waters of the Mediterranean. Egypt was a plain, diversifiedonly by the varieties of vegetation, and by the towns and villages, andthe enormous monumental structures which had been erected by man. Greecewas a picturesque and ever-changing scene of mountains and valleys; ofprecipitous cliffs, winding beaches, rocky capes, and lofty headlands. The character and genius of the inhabitants of these two countries tooktheir cast, in each case, from the physical conformations of the soil. The Egyptians were a quiet, gentle, and harmless race of tillers of theground. They spent their lives in pumping water from the river, in thepatient, persevering toil of sowing smooth and mellow fields, or inreaping the waving grain. The Greeks drove flocks and herds up and downthe declivities of the mountains, or hunted wild beasts in forests andfastnesses. They constructed galleys for navigating the seas; theyworked the mines and manufactured metals. They built bridges, citadels, temples, and towns, and sculptured statuary from marble blocks whichthey chiseled from the strata of the mountains. It is surprising what adifference is made in the genius and character of man by elevations, here and there, of a few thousand feet in the country where his geniusand character are formed. 

The architectural wonders of Egypt and of Greece were as diverse fromeach other as the natural features of the soil, and in each case thestructures were in keeping and in harmony with the character of thelandscape which they respectively adorned. The harmony was, however, that of contrast, and not of correspondence. In Greece, where thelandscape itself was grand and sublime, the architect aimed only atbeauty. To have aimed at magnitude and grandeur in human structuresamong the mountains, the cliffs, the cataracts, and the resounding oceanshores of Greece, would have been absurd. The Grecian artists weredeterred by their unerring instincts from the attempt. They accordinglybuilt beautiful temples, whose white and symmetrical colonnades adornedthe declivities, or crowned the summits of the hills. They sculpturedstatues, to be placed on pedestals in groves and gardens; theyconstructed fountains; they raised bridges and aqueducts on long rangesof arches and piers; and the summits of ragged rocks crystallized, as itwere, under their hands into towers, battlements, and walls. In Egypt, on the other hand, where the country itself was a level and unvaryingplain, the architecture took forms of prodigious magnitude, of loftyelevation, and of vast extent. There were ranges of enormous columns, colossal statues, towering obelisks, and pyramids rising like mountainsfrom the verdure of the plain. Thus, while nature gave to the countryits elements of beauty, man completed the landscape by adding to it thegrand and the sublime. 

The shape and proportions of Egypt would be represented by a greenribbon an inch wide and a yard long, lying upon the ground in aserpentine form; and to complete the model, we might imagine a silverfilament passing along the center of the green to denote the Nile. Thereal valley of verdure, however, is not of uniform breadth, like theribbon so representing it, but widens as it approaches the sea, as ifthere had been originally a gulf or estuary there, which the sedimentfrom the river had filled. 

In fact, the rich and fertile plain which the alluvial deposits of theNile have formed, has been protruded for some distance into the sea, andthe stream divides itself into three great branches about a hundredmiles from its mouth, two outermost of which, with the sea-coast infront, inclose a vast triangle, which was called the Delta, from theGreek letter _delta_, (Greek: D), which is of a triangular form. Inascending the river beyond the Delta, the fertile plain, at firsttwenty-five or thirty miles wide, grows gradually narrower, as theranges of barren hills and tracts of sandy deserts on either hand drawnearer and nearer to the river. Thus the country consists of two longlines of rich and fertile intervals, one on each side of the stream. Inthe time of Xerxes the whole extent was densely populated, every littleelevation of the land being covered with a village or a town. Theinhabitants tilled the land, raising upon it vast stores of corn, muchof which was floated down the river to its mouth, and taken thence tovarious countries of Europe and Asia, in merchant ships, over theMediterranean Sea. Caravans, too, sometimes came across the neighboringdeserts to obtain supplies of Egyptian corn. This was done by the sonsof Jacob when the crops failed them in the land of Canaan, as related inthe sacred Scriptures. 

There were two great natural wonders in Egypt in ancient times as now:first, it never rained there, or, at least, so seldom, that rain wasregarded as a marvelous phenomenon, interrupting the ordinary course ofnature, like an earthquake in England or America. The falling of dropsof water out of clouds in the sky was an occurrence so strange, sounaccountable, that the whole population regarded it with astonishmentand awe. With the exception of these rare and wonder-exciting instances, there was no rain, no snow, no hail, no clouds in the sky. The sun wasalways shining, and the heavens were always serene. These meteorologicalcharacteristics of the country, resulting, as they do, from permanentnatural causes, continue, of course, unchanged to the present day; andthe Arabs who live now along the banks of the river, keep their crops, when harvested, in heaps in the open air, and require no roofs to theirhuts except a light covering of sheaves to protect the inmates from thesun. 

The other natural wonder of Egypt was the annual rising of the Nile. About midsummer, the peasantry who lived along the banks would find theriver gradually beginning to rise. The stream became more turbid, too, as the bosom of the waters swelled. No cause for this mysteriousincrease appeared, as the sky remained as blue and serene as before, andthe sun, then nearly vertical, continued to shine with even more thanits wonted splendor. The inhabitants however, felt no surprise, andasked for no explanation of the phenomenon. It was the common course ofnature at that season. They had all witnessed it, year after year, fromchildhood. They, of course, looked for it when the proper month cameround, and, though they would have been amazed if the annual flood hadfailed, they thought nothing extraordinary of its coming. 

When the swelling of the waters and the gradual filling of the channelsand low grounds in the neighborhood of the river warned the people thatthe flood was at hand, they all engaged busily in the work of completingtheir preparations. The harvests were all gathered from the fields, andthe vast stores of fruit and corn which they yielded were piled inroofless granaries, built on every elevated spot of ground, where theywould be safe from the approaching inundation. The rise of the water wasvery gradual and slow. Streams began to flow in all directions over theland. Ponds and lakes, growing every day more and more extended, spreadmysteriously over the surface of the meadows; and all the time whilethis deluge of water was rising to submerge the land, the air continueddry, the sun was sultry, and the sky was without a cloud. 

As the flood continued to rise, the proportion of land and water, andthe conformation of the irregular and temporary shores which separatedthem, were changed continually, from day to day. The inhabitantsassembled in their villages, which were built on rising grounds, somenatural, others artificially formed. The waters rose more and more, until only these crowded islands appeared above its surface--when, atlength, the valley presented to the view the spectacle of a vast expanseof water, calm as a summer's sea, brilliant with the reflected rays of atropical sun, and canopied by a sky, which, displaying its spotless blueby day and its countless stars at night, was always cloudless andserene. 

The inundation was at its height in October. After that period thewaters gradually subsided, leaving a slimy and very fertilizing depositall over the lands which they had covered. Though the inhabitantsthemselves, who had been accustomed to this overflow from infancy, feltno wonder or curiosity about its cause, the philosophers of the day, andtravelers from other countries who visited Egypt, made many attempts toseek an explanation of the phenomenon. They had three theories on thesubject, which Herodotus mentions and discusses. 

The first explanation was, that the rising of the river was occasionedby the prevalence of northerly winds on the Mediterranean at that timeof the year, which drove back the waters at the mouth of the river, andso caused the accumulation of the water in the upper parts of thevalley. Herodotus thought that this was not a satisfactory explanation;for sometimes, as he said, these northerly winds did not blow, and yetthe rising of the river took place none the less when the appointedseason came. Besides, there were other rivers similarly situated inrespect to the influence of prevailing winds at sea in driving in thewaters at their mouths, which were, nevertheless, not subject toinundations like the Nile. 

The second theory was, that the Nile took its rise, not, like otherrivers, in inland lakes, or among inland mountains, but in some remoteand unknown ocean on the other side of the continent, which ocean theadvocates of this theory supposed might be subject to some great annualebb and flow; and from this it might result that at stated periods anunusual tide of waters might be poured into the channel of the river. This, however, could not be true, for the waters of the inundation werefresh, not salt, which proved that they were not furnished by any ocean. 

A third hypothesis was, that the rising of the water was occasioned bythe melting of the snows in summer on the mountains from which thesources of the river came. Against this supposition Herodotus found morenumerous and more satisfactory reasons even than he had advanced againstthe others. In the first place the river came from the south--adirection in which the heat increased in intensity with every league, asfar as travelers had explored it; and beyond those limits, they supposedthat the burning sun made the country uninhabitable. It was preposterousto suppose that there could be snow and ice there. Then, besides, theNile had been ascended to a great distance, and reports from the nativeshad been brought down from regions still more remote, and no tidings hadever been brought of ice and snow. It was unreasonable, therefore, tosuppose that the inundations could arise from such a cause. 

These scientific theories, however, were discussed only amongphilosophers and learned men. The common people had a much more simpleand satisfactory mode of disposing of the subject. They, in theirimaginations, invested the beneficent river with a sort of life andpersonality, and when they saw its waters rising so gently but yetsurely, to overflow their whole land, leaving it, as they withdrewagain, endued with a new and exuberant fertility, they imagined it aliving and acting intelligence, that in the exercise of some mysteriousand inscrutable powers, the nature of which was to them unknown, andimpelled by a kind and friendly regard for the country and itsinhabitants, came annually, of its own accord, to spread over the landthe blessings of fertility and abundance. The mysterious stream beingviewed in this light, its wonderful powers awakened their veneration andawe, and its boundless beneficence their gratitude. 

[Illustration: PHERON DEFYING THE NILE. ]

Among the ancient Egyptian legends, there is one relating to a certainKing Pheron which strikingly illustrates this feeling. It seems thatduring one of the inundations, while he was standing with his courtiersand watching the flow of the water, the commotion in the stream was muchgreater than usual on account of a strong wind which was blowing atthat time, and which greatly increased the violence of the whirlpools, and the force and swell of the boiling eddies. There was given, in fact, to the appearance of the river an expression of anger, and Pheron, whowas of a proud and haughty character, like most of the Egyptian kings, threw his javelin into one of the wildest of the whirlpools, as a tokenof his defiance of its rage. He was instantly struck blind!

The sequel of the story is curious, though it has no connection with thepersonality of the Nile. Pheron remained blind for ten years. At the endof that time it was announced to him, by some supernaturalcommunication, that the period of his punishment had expired, and thathis sight might be brought back to him by the employment of a certaindesignated means of restoration, which was the bathing of his eyes by astrictly virtuous woman. Pheron undertook compliance with therequisition, without any idea that the finding of a virtuous woman wouldbe a difficult task. He first tried his own wife, but her bathingproduced no effect. He then tried, one after another, various ladies ofhis court, and afterward others of different rank and station, selectingthose who were most distinguished for the excellence of theircharacters. He was disappointed, however, in them all. The blindnesscontinued unchanged. At last, however, he found the wife of a peasant, whose bathing produced the effect. The monarch's sight was suddenlyrestored. The king rewarded the peasant woman, whose virtuous characterwas established by this indisputable test, with the highest honors. Theothers he collected together, and then shut them up in one of his towns. When they were all thus safely imprisoned, he set the town on fire, andburned them all up together. 

To return to the Nile. Certain columns were erected in different partsof the valley, on which cubits and the subdivisions of cubits weremarked and numbered, for the purpose of ascertaining precisely the riseof the water. Such a column was called a Nilometer. There was one nearMemphis, which was at the upper point of the Delta, and others furtherup the river. Such pillars continue to be used to mark the height of theinundations to the present day. 

The object of thus accurately ascertaining the rise of the water was notmere curiosity, for there were certain important business operationswhich depended upon the results. The fertility and productiveness ofthe soil each year were determined almost wholly by the extent of theinundation; and as the ability of the people to pay tribute dependedupon their crops, the Nilometer furnished the government with acriterion by which they regulated the annual assessments of the taxes. There were certain canals, too, made to convey the water to distanttracts of land, which were opened or kept closed according as the waterrose to a higher or lower point. All these things were regulated by theindications of the Nilometer. 

Egypt was famed in the days of Xerxes for those enormous structures andruins of structures whose origin was then, as now, lost in a remoteantiquity. Herodotus found the Pyramids standing in his day, andpresenting the same spectacle of mysterious and solitary grandeur whichthey exhibited to Napoleon. He speculated on their origin and theirhistory, just as the philosophers and travelers of our day do. In fact, he knew less and could learn less about them than is known now. It helpsto impress our minds with an idea of the extreme antiquity of these andthe other architectural wonders of Egypt, to compare them with thingswhich are considered old in the Western world. The ancient andvenerable colleges and halls of Oxford and Cambridge are, many of them, two or three hundred years old. There are remains of the old wall of thecity of London which has been standing seven hundred years. This isconsidered a great antiquity. There are, however, Roman ruins inBritain, and in various parts of Europe, more ancient still. They havebeen standing eighteen hundred years! People look upon these with aspecies of wonder and awe that they have withstood the destructiveinfluences of time so long. But as to the Pyramids, if we go back_twenty-five hundred_ years, we find travelers visiting and describingthem then--monuments as ancient, as venerable, as mysterious and unknownin their eyes, as they appear now in ours. We judge that a mountain isvery distant when, after traveling many miles toward it, it seems stillas distant as ever. Now, in tracing the history of the pyramids, theobelisks, the gigantic statues, and the vast columnar ruins of the Nile, we may go back twenty-five hundred years, without, apparently, makingany progress whatever toward reaching their origin. 

Such was Egypt. Isolated as it was from the rest of the world, and fullof fertility and riches, it offered a marked and definite object to theambition of a conqueror. In fact, on account of the peculiar interestwhich this long and narrow valley of verdure, with its wonderfulstructures, the strange and anomalous course of nature which prevails init, and the extraordinary phases which human life, in consequence, exhibits there, has always excited among mankind, heroes and conquerorshave generally considered it a peculiarly glorious field for theirexploits. Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, contemplated thesubjugation of it. He did not carry his designs into effect, but leftthem for Cambyses his son. Darius held the country as a dependencyduring his reign, though, near the close of his life, it revolted. Thisrevolt took place while he was preparing for his grand expeditionagainst Greece, and he was perplexed with the question which of the twoundertakings, the subjugation of the Egyptians or the invasion ofGreece, he should first engage in. In the midst of this uncertainty hesuddenly died, leaving both the wars themselves and the perplexity ofdeciding between them as a part of the royal inheritance falling to hisson. 

Xerxes decided to prosecute the Egyptian campaign first, intending topostpone the conquest of Greece till he had brought the valley of theNile once more under Persian sway. He deemed it dangerous to leave aprovince of his father's empire in a state of successful rebellion, while leading his armies off to new undertakings. Mardonius, who was thecommander-in-chief of the army, and the great general on whom Xerxesmainly relied for the execution of his schemes, was very reluctant toconsent to this plan. He was impatient for the conquest of Greece. Therewas little glory for him to acquire in merely suppressing a revolt, andreconquering what had been already once subdued. He was eager to enterupon a new field. Xerxes, however, overruled his wishes, and the armiescommenced their march for Egypt. They passed the land of Judea on theirway, where the captives who had returned from Babylon, and theirsuccessors, were rebuilding the cities and reoccupying the country. Xerxes confirmed them in the privileges which Cyrus and Darius hadgranted them, and aided them in their work. He then went on toward theNile. The rebellion was easily put down. In less than a year from thetime of leaving Susa, he had reconquered the whole land of Egypt, punished the leaders of the revolt, established his brother as viceroyof the country, and returned in safety to Susa. 

All this took place in the second year of his reign. 

CHAPTER III. 

DEBATE ON THE PROPOSED INVASION OF GREECE. 

B. C. 481

Counselors of Xerxes. --Age and character of Mardonius. --The avenues torenown. --Blood inherited and blood shed. --Character of Artabanus. --Hisadvice to Xerxes. --The Ionian rebellion. --First invasion ofGreece. --Xerxes convenes a public council. --His speech. --Xerxes recountsthe aggressions of the Athenians. --Xerxes proposes to build a bridgeover the Hellespont. --Excitement of Mardonius. --His speech. --Mardoniusexpresses his contempt of the Greeks. --Predictions of Mardonius. --Pausein the assembly. --Speech of Artabanus. --His apologies. --Artabanusopposes the war. --Repulse of Datis. --Artabanus warns Xerxes of thedanger of the expedition. --Artabanus vindicates the character of theGreeks. --Xerxes's displeasure. --His angry reply to Artabanus. --Xerxes'sanxiety. --He determines to abandon his project. --Xerxes sees a vision inthe night. --The spirit appears a second time to Xerxes. --Xerxes relateshis dreams to Artabanus. --Opinion of the latter. --Artabanus takesXerxes's place. --The spirit appears a third time. --Artabanus isconvinced. --The invasion decided upon. --Mardonius probably the ghost. 

The two great counselors on whose judgment Xerxes mainly relied, so faras he looked to any other judgment than his own in the formation of hisplans, were Artabanus, the uncle by whose decision the throne had beenawarded to him, and Mardonius, the commander-in-chief of his armies. Xerxes himself was quite a young man, of a proud and lofty, yet generouscharacter, and full of self-confidence and hope. Mardonius was mucholder, but he was a soldier by profession, and was eager to distinguishhimself in some great military campaign. It has always been unfortunatefor the peace and happiness of mankind, under all monarchical anddespotic governments, in every age of the world, that, through somedepraved and unaccountable perversion of public sentiment, those who arenot born to greatness have had no means of attaining to it except asheroes in war. Many men have, indeed, by their mental powers or theirmoral excellences, acquired an extended and lasting _posthumous_ fame;but in respect to all immediate and exalted distinction and honor, itwill be found, on reviewing the history of the human race, that therehave generally been but two possible avenues to them: on the one hand, high birth, and on the other, the performance of great deeds of carnageand destruction. There must be, it seems, as the only valid claim torenown, either blood inherited or blood shed. The glory of the latter issecond, indeed, to that of the former, but it is _only_ second. He whohas sacked a city stands very high in the estimation of his fellows. Heyields precedence only to him whose grandfather sacked one. 

This state of things is now, it is true, rapidly undergoing a change. The age of chivalry, of military murder and robbery, and of the glory ofgreat deeds of carnage and blood, is passing away, and that of peace, ofindustry, and of achievements for promoting the comfort and happiness ofmankind is coming. The men who are now advancing to the notice of theworld are those who, through their commerce or their manufactures, feedand clothe their fellow-men by millions, or, by opening new channels ornew means for international intercourse, civilize savages, and peopledeserts; while the glory of killing and destroying is less and lessregarded, and more and more readily forgotten. 

In the days of Xerxes, however, there was no road to honor but by war, and Mardonius found that his only hope of rising to distinction was byconducting a vast torrent of military devastation over some portion ofthe globe; and the fairer, the richer, the happier the scene which hewas thus to inundate and overwhelm, the greater would be the glory. Hewas very much disposed, therefore, to urge on the invasion of Greece byevery means in his power. 

Artabanus, on the other hand, the uncle of Xerxes, was a man advanced inyears, and of a calm and cautious disposition. He was better aware thanyounger men of the vicissitudes and hazards of war, and was much moreinclined to restrain than to urge on the youthful ambition of hisnephew. Xerxes had been able to present some show of reason for hiscampaign in Egypt, by calling the resistance which that country offeredto his power a rebellion. There was, however, no such reason in the caseof Greece. There had been two wars between Persia and the Atheniansalready, it is true. In the first, the Athenians had aided theircountrymen in Asia Minor in a fruitless attempt to recover theirindependence. This the Persian government considered as aiding andabetting a rebellion. In the second, the Persians under Datis, one ofDarius's generals, had undertaken a grand invasion of Greece, and, afterlanding in the neighborhood of Athens, were beaten, with immenseslaughter, at the great battle of Marathon, near that city. The formerof these wars is known in history as the Ionian rebellion; the latter asthe first Persian invasion of Greece. They had both occurred during thereign of Darius, and the invasion under Datis had taken place not manyyears before the accession of Xerxes, so that a great number of theofficers who had served in that campaign were still remaining in thecourt and army of Xerxes at Susa. These wars had, however, both beenterminated, and Artabanus was very little inclined to have the contestsrenewed. 

Xerxes, however, was bent upon making one more attempt to conquerGreece, and when the time arrived for commencing his preparations, hecalled a grand council of the generals, the nobles, and the potentatesof the realm, to lay his plans before them. The historian who narratedthese proceedings recorded the debate that ensued in the followingmanner. 

Xerxes himself first addressed the assembly, to announce and explain hisdesigns. 

"The enterprise, my friends, " said he, "in which I propose now toengage, and in which I am about to ask your co-operation, is no newscheme of my own devising. What I design to do is, on the other hand, only the carrying forward of the grand course of measures marked out bymy predecessors, and pursued by them with steadiness and energy, so longas the power remained in their hands. That power has now descended tome, and with it has devolved the responsibility of finishing the workwhich they so successfully began. 

"It is the manifest destiny of Persia to rule the world. From the timethat Cyrus first commenced the work of conquest by subduing Media, tothe present day, the extent of our empire has been continually widening, until now it covers all of Asia and Africa, with the exception of theremote and barbarous tribes, that, like the wild beasts which sharetheir forests with them, are not worth the trouble of subduing. Thesevast conquests have been made by the courage, the energy, and themilitary power of Cyrus, Darius, and Cambyses, my renownedpredecessors. They, on their part, have subdued Asia and Africa; Europeremains. It devolves on me to finish what they have begun. Had my fatherlived, he would, himself, have completed the work. He had already madegreat preparations for the undertaking; but he died, leaving the task tome, and it is plain that I can not hesitate to undertake it without amanifest dereliction of duty. 

"You all remember the unprovoked and wanton aggressions which theAthenians committed against us in the time of the Ionian rebellion, taking part against us with rebels and enemies. They crossed the ÆgeanSea on that occasion, invaded our territories, and at last captured andburned the city of Sardis, the principal capital of our Western empire. I will never rest until I have had my revenge by burning Athens. Many ofyou, too, who are here present, remember the fate of the expeditionunder Datis. Those of you who were attached to that expedition will haveno need that I should urge you to seek revenge for your own wrongs. I amsure that you will all second my undertaking with the utmost fidelityand zeal. 

"My plan for gaining access to the Grecian territories is not, asbefore, to convey the troops by a fleet of galleys over the Ægean Sea, but to build a bridge across the Hellespont, and march the army toGreece by land. This course, which I am well convinced is practicable, will be more safe than the other, and the bridging of the Hellespontwill be of itself a glorious deed. The Greeks will be utterly unable toresist the enormous force which we shall be able to pour upon them. Wecan not but conquer; and inasmuch as beyond the Greek territories thereis, as I am informed, no other power at all able to cope with us, weshall easily extend our empire on every side to the sea, and thus thePersian dominion will cover the whole habitable world. 

"I am sure that I can rely on your cordial and faithful co-operation inthese plans, and that each one of you will bring me, from his ownprovince or territories, as large a quota of men, and of supplies forthe war, as is in his power. They who contribute thus most liberally Ishall consider as entitled to the highest honors and rewards. "

Such was, in substance, the address of Xerxes to his council. Heconcluded by saying that it was not his wish to act in the affair in anarbitrary or absolute manner, and he invited all present to express, with perfect freedom, any opinions or views which they entertained inrespect to the enterprise. 

While Xerxes had been speaking, the soul of Mardonius had been on firewith excitement and enthusiasm, and every word which the king haduttered only fanned the flame. He rose immediately when the king gavepermission to the counselors to speak, and earnestly seconded themonarch's proposals in the following words:

"For my part, sire, I can not refrain from expressing my high admirationof the lofty spirit and purpose on your part, which leads you to proposeto us an enterprise so worthy of your illustrious station and exaltedpersonal renown. Your position and power at the present time are higherthan those ever attained by any human sovereign that has ever lived; andit is easy to foresee that there is a career of glory before you whichno future monarch can ever surpass. You are about to complete theconquest of the world! That exploit can, of course, never be exceeded. We all admire the proud spirit on your part which will not submit tamelyto the aggressions and insults which we have received from the Greeks. We have conquered the people of India, of Egypt, of Ethiopia, and ofAssyria, and that, too, without having previously suffered any injuryfrom them, but solely from a noble love of dominion; and shall we tamelystop in our career when we see nations opposed to us from whom we havereceived so many insults, and endured so many wrongs? Everyconsideration of honor and manliness forbids it. 

"We have nothing to fear in respect to the success of the enterprise inwhich you invite us to engage. I know the Greeks, and I know that theycan not stand against our arms. I have encountered them many times andin various ways. I met them in the provinces of Asia Minor, and you allknow the result. I met them during the reign of Darius your father, inMacedon and Thrace--or, rather, sought to meet them; for, though Imarched through the country, the enemy always avoided me. They could notbe found. They have a great name, it is true; but, in fact, all theirplans and arrangements are governed by imbecility and folly. They arenot ever united among themselves. As they speak one common language, anyordinary prudence and sagacity would lead them to combine together, andmake common cause against the nations that surround them. Instead ofthis, they are divided into a multitude of petty states and kingdoms, and all their resources and power are exhausted in fruitless contentionswith each other. I am convinced that, once across the Hellespont, we canmarch to Athens without finding any enemy to oppose our progress; or, ifwe should encounter any resisting force, it will be so small andinsignificant as to be instantly overwhelmed. "

In one point Mardonius was nearly right in his predictions, since itproved subsequently, as will hereafter be seen, that when the Persianarmy reached the pass of Thermopylæ, which was the great avenue ofentrance, on the north, into the territories of the Greeks, they foundonly three hundred men ready there to oppose their passage!

When Mardonius had concluded his speech, he sat down, and quite a solemnpause ensued. The nobles and chieftains generally were less ready thanhe to encounter the hazards and uncertainties of so distant a campaign. Xerxes would acquire, by the success of the enterprise, a greataccession to his wealth and to his dominion, and Mardonius, too, mightexpect to reap very rich rewards; but what were they themselves togain? They did not dare, however, to seem to oppose the wishes of theking, and, notwithstanding the invitation which he had given them tospeak, they remained silent, not knowing, in fact, exactly what to say. 

All this time Artabanus, the venerable uncle of Xerxes, sat silent likethe rest, hesitating whether his years, his rank, and the relation whichhe sustained to the young monarch would justify his interposing, andmake it prudent and safe for him to attempt to warn his nephew of theconsequences which he would hazard by indulging his dangerous ambition. At length he determined to speak. 

"I hope, " said he, addressing the king, "that it will not displease youto have other views presented in addition to those which have alreadybeen expressed. It is better that all opinions should be heard; the justand the true will then appear the more just and true by comparison withothers. It seems to me that the enterprise which you contemplate is fullof danger, and should be well considered before it is undertaken. WhenDarius, your father, conceived of the plan of his invasion of thecountry of the Scythians beyond the Danube, I counseled him against theattempt. The benefits to be secured by such an undertaking seemed to mewholly insufficient to compensate for the expense, the difficulties, andthe dangers of it. My counsels were, however, overruled. Your fatherproceeded on the enterprise. He crossed the Bosporus, traversed Thrace, and then crossed the Danube; but, after a long and weary contest withthe hordes of savages which he found in those trackless wilds, he wasforced to abandon the undertaking, and return, with the loss of half hisarmy. The plan which you propose seems to me to be liable to the samedangers, and I fear very much that it will lead to the same results. 

"The Greeks have the name of being a valiant and formidable foe. It mayprove in the end that they are so. They certainly repulsed Datis and allhis forces, vast as they were, and compelled them to retire with anenormous loss. Your invasion, I grant, will be more formidable than his. You will throw a bridge across the Hellespont, so as to take your troopsround through the northern parts of Europe into Greece, and you willalso, at the same time, have a powerful fleet in the Ægean Sea. But itmust be remembered that the naval armaments of the Greeks in all thosewaters are very formidable. They may attack and destroy your fleet. Suppose that they should do so, and that then, proceeding to thenorthward in triumph, they should enter the Hellespont and destroy yourbridge? Your retreat would be cut off, and, in case of a reverse offortune, your army would be exposed to total ruin. 

"Your father, in fact, very narrowly escaped precisely this fate. TheScythians came to destroy his bridge across the Danube while his forceswere still beyond the river, and, had it not been for the veryextraordinary fidelity and zeal of Histiæus, who had been left to guardthe post, they would have succeeded in doing it. It is frightful tothink that the whole Persian army, with the sovereign of the empire attheir head, were placed in a position where their being saved fromoverwhelming and total destruction depended solely on the fidelity andfirmness of a single man! Should you place your forces and your ownperson in the same danger, can you safely calculate upon the samefortunate escape?

"Even the very vastness of your force may be the means of insuring andaccelerating its destruction, since whatever rises to extraordinaryelevation and greatness is always exposed to dangers correspondinglyextraordinary and great. Thus tall trees and lofty towers seem alwaysspecially to invite the thunderbolts of Heaven. 

"Mardonius charges the Greeks with a want of sagacity, efficiency, andvalor, and speaks contemptuously of them, as soldiers, in every respect. I do not think that such imputations are just to the people against whomthey are directed, or honorable to him who makes them. To disparage theabsent, especially an absent enemy, is not magnanimous or wise; and Ivery much fear that it will be found in the end that the conduct of theGreeks will evince very different military qualities from those whichMardonius has assigned them. They are represented by common fame assagacious, hardy, efficient, and brave, and it may prove that theserepresentations are true. 

"My counsel therefore is, that you dismiss this assembly, and takefurther time to consider this subject before coming to a final decision. Perhaps, on more mature reflection, you will conclude to abandon theproject altogether. If you should not conclude to abandon it, but shoulddecide, on the other hand, that it must be prosecuted, let me entreatyou not to go yourself in company with the expedition. Let Mardoniustake the charge and the responsibility. If he does so, I predict that hewill leave the dead bodies of the soldiers that you intrust to him, tobe devoured by dogs on the plains of Athens or Lacedæmon. "

Xerxes was exceedingly displeased at hearing such a speech as this fromhis uncle, and he made a very angry reply. He accused Artabanus ofmeanness of spirit, and of a cowardice disgraceful to his rank andstation, in thus advocating a tame submission to the arrogantpretensions of the Greeks. Were it not, he said, for the respect whichhe felt for Artabanus, as his father's brother, he would punish himseverely for his presumption in thus basely opposing his sovereign'splans. "As it is, " continued he, "I will carry my plans into effect, butyou shall not have the honor of accompanying me. You shall remain atSusa with the women and children of the palace, and spend your time inthe effeminate and ignoble pleasures suited to a spirit so mean. As formyself, I must and will carry my designs into execution. I could not, infact, long avoid a contest with the Greeks, even if I were to adopt thecowardly and degrading policy which you recommend; for I am confidentthat they will very soon invade my dominions, if I do not anticipatethem by invading theirs. "

So saying, Xerxes dismissed the assembly. 

His mind, however, was not at ease. Though he had so indignantlyrejected the counsel which Artabanus had offered him, yet the impressivewords in which it had been uttered, and the arguments with which it hadbeen enforced, weighed upon his spirit, and oppressed and dejected him. The longer he considered the subject, the more serious his doubts andfears became, until at length, as the night approached, he becameconvinced that Artabanus was right, and that he himself was wrong. Hismind found no rest until he came to the determination to abandon theproject after all. He resolved to make this change in his resolutionknown to Artabanus and his nobles in the morning, and to countermand theorders which he had given for the assembling of the troops. Having bythis decision restored something like repose to his agitated mind, helaid himself down upon his couch and went to sleep. 

In the night he saw a vision. It seemed to him that a resplendent andbeautiful form appeared before him, and after regarding him a momentwith an earnest look, addressed him as follows:

"And do you really intend to abandon your deliberate design of leadingan array into Greece, after having formally announced it to the realmand issued your orders? Such fickleness is absurd, and will greatlydishonor you. Resume your plan, and go on boldly and perseveringly tothe execution of it. "

So saying, the vision disappeared. 

When Xerxes awoke in the morning, and the remembrance of the events ofthe preceding day returned, mingling itself with the new impressionswhich had been made by the dream, he was again agitated and perplexed. As, however, the various influences which pressed upon him settled totheir final equilibrium, the fears produced by Artabanus's substantialarguments and warnings on the preceding day proved to be of greaterweight than the empty appeal to his pride which had been made by thephantom of the night. He resolved to persist in the abandonment of hisscheme. He called his council, accordingly, together again, and toldthem that, on more mature reflection, he had become convinced that hisuncle was right and that he himself had been wrong. The project, therefore, was for the present suspended, and the orders for theassembling of the forces were revoked. The announcement was received bythe members of the council with the most tumultuous joy. 

That night Xerxes had another dream. The same spirit appeared to himagain, his countenance, however, bearing now, instead of the friendlylook of the preceding night, a new and stern expression of displeasure. Pointing menacingly at the frightened monarch with his finger, heexclaimed, "You have rejected my advice; you have abandoned your plan;and now I declare to you that, unless you immediately resume yourenterprise and carry it forward to the end, short as has been the timesince you were raised to your present elevation, a still shorter periodshall elapse before your downfall and destruction. "

The spirit then disappeared as suddenly as it came, leaving Xerxes toawake in an agony of terror. 

As soon as it was day, Xerxes sent for Artabanus, and related to him hisdreams. "I was willing, " said he, "after hearing what you said, andmaturely considering the subject, to give up my plan; but these dreams, I can not but think, are intimations from Heaven that I ought toproceed. "

Artabanus attempted to combat this idea by representing to Xerxes thatdreams were not to be regarded as indications of the will of Heaven, butonly as a vague and disordered reproduction of the waking thoughts, while the regular action of the reason and the judgment by which theywere ordinarily controlled was suspended or disturbed by the influenceof slumber. Xerxes maintained, on the other hand, that, though this viewof the case might explain his first vision, the solemn repetition of thewarning proved that it was supernatural and divine. He proposed that, toput the reality of the apparition still further to the test, Artabanusshould take his place on the royal couch the next night, to see if thespecter would not appear to him. "You shall clothe yourself, " said he, "in my robes, put the crown upon your head, and take your seat upon thethrone. After that, you shall retire to my apartment, lie down upon thecouch, and go to sleep. If the vision is supernatural, it willundoubtedly appear to you. If it does not so appear, I will admit thatit was nothing but a dream. "

Artabanus made some objection, at first, to the details of thearrangement which Xerxes proposed, as he did not see, he said, of whatadvantage it could be for him to assume the guise and habiliments of theking. If the vision was divine, it could not be deceived by suchartifices as those. Xerxes, however, insisted on his proposition, andArtabanus yielded. He assumed for an hour the dress and the station ofthe king, and then retired to the king's apartment, and laid himselfdown upon the couch under the royal pavilion. As he had no faith in thereality of the vision, his mind was quiet and composed, and he soon fellasleep. 

At midnight, Xerxes, who was lying in an adjoining apartment, wassuddenly aroused by a loud and piercing cry from the room whereArtabanus was sleeping, and in a moment afterward Artabanus himselfrushed in, perfectly wild with terror. He had seen the vision. It hadappeared before him with a countenance and gestures expressive of greatdispleasure, and after loading him with reproaches for having attemptedto keep Xerxes back from his proposed expedition into Greece, itattempted to bore out his eyes with a red-hot iron with which it wasarmed. Artabanus had barely succeeded in escaping by leaping from hiscouch and rushing precipitately out of the room. [D]

[Footnote D: See Frontispiece. ]

Artabanus said that he was now convinced and satisfied. It was plainlythe divine will that Xerxes should undertake his projected invasion, andhe would himself, thenceforth, aid the enterprise by every means in hispower. The council was, accordingly, once more convened. The story ofthe three apparitions was related to them, and the final decisionannounced that the armies were to be assembled for the march without anyfurther delay. 

 * * * * *

It is proper here to repeat, once for all in this volume, a remark whichhas elsewhere often been made in the various works of this series, thatin studying ancient history at the present day, it is less important nowto know, in regard to transactions so remote, what the facts actuallywere which really occurred, than it is to know the story respectingthem, which, for the last two thousand years, has been in circulationamong mankind. It is now, for example, of very little consequencewhether there ever was or never was such a personage as Hercules, but itis essential that every educated man should know the story whichancient writers tell in relating his doings. In this view of the case, our object, in this volume, is simply to give the history of Xerxes justas it stands, without stopping to separate the false from the true. Inrelating the occurrences, therefore, which have been described in thischapter, we simply give the alleged facts to our readers precisely asthe ancient historians give them to us, leaving each reader to decidefor himself how far he will believe the narrative. In respect to thisparticular story, we will add, that some people think that Mardonius wasreally the ghost by whose appearance Artabanus and Xerxes were sodreadfully frightened. 

CHAPTER IV. 

PREPARATIONS FOR THE INVASION OF GREECE. 

B. C. 481

Orders to the provinces. --Mode of raising money. --Modern mode ofsecuring supplies of arms and money. --Xerxes's preparations. --Four yearsallotted to them. --Arms. --Provisions. --Building of ships. --Persianpossessions on the north of the Ægean Sea. --Promontory of MountAthos. --Dangerous navigation. --Plan of Xerxes for the march of hisexpedition. --Former shipwreck of Mardonius. --Terrible gale. --Destructionof Mardonius's fleet at Mount Athos. --Plan of a canal. --The Greeks donot interfere. --Plans of the engineers. --Prosecution of the work. --TheStrymon bridged. --Granaries and store-houses. --Xerxes leaves Susa, andbegins his march. --The Meander. --Celænæ. --Pythius. --The wealth ofPythius. --His interview with Xerxes. --The amount of Pythius'swealth. --His offer to Xerxes. --Gratification of Xerxes. --His reply toPythius's offer. --Real character of Pythius. --The entertainment ofsilver and gold. --Xerxes's gratitude put to the test. --He murdersPythius's son. --Various objects of interest observed by the army. --Theplane-tree. --Artificial honey. --Salt lake. --Gold and silvermines. --Xerxes summons the Greeks to surrender. --They indignantlyrefuse. 

As soon as the invasion of Greece was finally decided upon, the orderswere transmitted to all the provinces of the empire, requiring thevarious authorities and powers to make the necessary preparations. Therewere men to be levied, arms to be manufactured, ships to be built, andstores of food to be provided. The expenditures, too, of so vast anarmament as Xerxes was intending to organize, would require a largesupply of money. For all these things Xerxes relied on the revenues andthe contributions of the provinces, and orders, very full and veryimperative, were transmitted, accordingly, to all the governors andsatraps of Asia, and especially to those who ruled over the countrieswhich lay near the western confines of the empire, and consequently nearthe Greek frontiers. 

In modern times it is the practice of powerful nations to accumulatearms and munitions of war on storage in arsenals and naval depôts, sothat the necessary supplies for very extended operations, whether ofattack or defense, can be procured in a very short period of time. Inrespect to funds, too, modern nations have a great advantage over thoseof former days, in case of any sudden emergency arising to call forgreat and unusual expenditures. In consequence of the vast accumulationof capital in the hands of private individuals, and the confidence whichis felt in the mercantile honor and good faith of most establishedgovernments at the present day, these governments can procure indefinitesupplies of gold and silver at any time, by promising to pay an annualinterest in lieu of the principal borrowed. It is true that, in thesecases, a stipulation is made, by which the government may, at a certainspecified period, pay back the principal, and so extinguish the annuity;but in respect to a vast portion of the amount so borrowed, it is notexpected that this repayment will ever be made. The creditors, in fact, do not desire that it should be, as owners of property always prefer asafe annual income from it to the custody of the principal; and thusgovernments in good credit have sometimes induced their creditors toabate the rate of interest which they were receiving, by threateningotherwise to pay the debt in full. 

These inventions, however, by which a government in one generation mayenjoy the pleasure and reap the glory of waging war, and throw theburden of the expense on another, were not known in ancient times. Xerxes did not understand the art of funding a national debt, and therewould, besides, have probably been very little confidence in Persianstocks, if any had been issued. He had to raise all his funds by actualtaxation, and to have his arms, and his ships and chariots of war, manufactured express. The food, too, to sustain the immense army whichhe was to raise, was all to be produced, and store-houses were to bebuilt for the accumulation and custody of it. All this, as mightnaturally be expected, would require time; and the vastness of the scaleon which these immense preparations were made is evinced by the factthat _four years_ were the time allotted for completing them. Thisperiod includes, however, a considerable time before the great debate onthe subject described in the last chapter. 

The chief scene of activity, during all this time, was the tract ofcountry in the western part of Asia Minor, and along the shores of theÆgean Sea. Taxes and contributions were raised from all parts of theempire, but the actual material of war was furnished mainly from thoseprovinces which were nearest to the future scene of it. Each districtprovided such things as it naturally and most easily produced. Onecontributed horses, another arms and ammunition, another ships, andanother provisions. The ships which were built were of various forms andmodes of construction, according to the purposes which they wererespectively intended to serve. Some were strictly ships of war, intended for actual combat; others were transports, their destinationbeing simply the conveyance of troops or of military stores. There werealso a large number of vessels, which were built on a peculiar model, prescribed by the engineers, being very long and straight-sided, andsmooth and flat upon their decks. These were intended for the bridgeacross the Hellespont. They were made long, so that, when placed side byside across the stream, a greater breadth might be given to the platformof the bridge. All these things were very deliberately and carefullyplanned. 

Although it was generally on the Asiatic side of the Ægean Sea thatthese vast works of preparation were going on, and the crossing of theHellespont was to be the first great movement of the Persian army, thereader must not suppose that, even at this time, the European shoreswere wholly in the hands of the Greeks. The Persians had, long before, conquered Thrace and a part of Macedon; and thus the northern shores ofthe Ægean Sea, and many of the islands, were already in Xerxes's hands. The Greek dominions lay further south, and Xerxes did not anticipate anyopposition from the enemy, until his army, after crossing the strait, should have advanced to the neighborhood of Athens. In fact, all thenorthern country through which his route would lie was already in hishands, and in passing through it he anticipated no difficulties exceptsuch as should arise from the elements themselves, and the physicalobstacles of the way. The Hellespont itself was, of course, oneprincipal point of danger. The difficulty here was to be surmounted bythe bridge of boats. There was, however, another point, which was, insome respects, still more formidable: it was the promontory of MountAthos. 

By looking at the map of Greece, placed at the commencement of the nextchapter, the reader will see that there are two or three singularpromontories jutting out from the main land in the northwestern part ofthe Ægean Sea. The most northerly and the largest of these was formed byan immense mountainous mass rising out of the water, and connected by anarrow isthmus with the main land. The highest summit of this rocky pilewas called Mount Athos in ancient times, and is so marked upon the map. In modern days it is called Monte Santo, or Holy Mountain, being coveredwith monasteries, and convents, and other ecclesiastical establishmentsbuilt in the Middle Ages. 

Mount Athos is very celebrated in ancient history. It extended along thepromontory for many miles, and terminated abruptly in lofty cliffs andprecipices toward the sea, where it was so high that its shadow, as wassaid, was thrown, at sunset, across the water to the island of Lemnos, adistance of twenty leagues. It was a frightful specter in the eyes ofthe ancient navigators, when, as they came coasting along from the northin their frail galleys, on their voyages to Greece and Italy, they sawit frowning defiance to them as they came, with threatening cloudshanging upon its summit, and the surges and surf of the Ægeanperpetually thundering upon its base below. To make this stormypromontory the more terrible, it was believed to be the haunt ofinnumerable uncouth and misshapen monsters of the sea, that lived bydevouring the hapless seamen who were thrown upon the rocks from theirwrecked vessels by the merciless tumult of the waves. 

The plan which Xerxes had formed for the advance of his expedition was, that the army which was to cross the Hellespont by the bridge shouldadvance thence through Macedonia and Thessaly, by land, attended by asquadron of ships, transports, and galleys, which was to accompany theexpedition along the coast by sea. The _men_ could be marched moreconveniently to their place of destination by land. The stores, on theother hand, the arms, the supplies, and the baggage of everydescription, could be transported more easily by sea. Mardonius wassomewhat solicitous in respect to the safety of the great squadron whichwould be required for this latter service, in doubling the promontory ofMount Athos. 

In fact, he had special and personal reason for his solicitude, for hehad himself, some years before, met with a terrible disaster at thisvery spot. It was during the reign of Darius that this disasteroccurred. On one of the expeditions which Darius had intrusted to hischarge, he was conducting a very large fleet along the coast, when asudden storm arose just as he was approaching this terrible promontory. 

He was on the northern side of the promontory when the storm came on, and as the wind was from the north, it blew directly upon the shore. Forthe fleet to make its escape from the impending danger, it seemednecessary, therefore, to turn the course of the ships back against thewind; but this, on account of the sudden and terrific violence of thegale, it was impossible to do. The sails, when they attempted to usethem, were blown away by the howling gusts, and the oars were broken topieces by the tremendous dashing of the sea. It soon appeared that theonly hope of escape for the squadron was to press on in the desperateattempt to double the promontory, and thus gain, if possible, thesheltered water under its lee. The galleys, accordingly, went on, thepilots and the seamen exerting their utmost to keep them away from theshore. 

All their efforts, however, to do this, were vain. The merciless galesdrove the vessels, one after another, upon the rocks, and dashed them topieces, while the raging sea wrenched the wretched mariners from thewrecks to which they attempted to cling, and tossed them out into theboiling whirlpools around, to the monsters that were ready there todevour them, as if she were herself some ferocious monster, feeding heroffspring with their proper prey. A few, it is true, of the haplesswretches succeeded in extricating themselves from the surf, by crawlingup upon the rocks, through the tangled sea-weed, until they were abovethe reach of the surges; but when they had done so, they foundthemselves hopelessly imprisoned between the impending precipices whichfrowned above them and the frantic billows which were raging and roaringbelow. They gained, of course, by their apparent escape, only a briefprolongation of suffering, for they all soon miserably perished fromexhaustion, exposure, and cold. 

Mardonius had no desire to encounter this danger again. Now thepromontory of Mount Athos, though high and rocky itself, was connectedwith the main land by an isthmus level and low, and not very broad. Xerxes determined on cutting a canal through this isthmus, so as to takehis fleet of galleys across the neck, and thus avoid the stormynavigation of the outward passage. Such a canal would be of service notmerely for the passage of the great fleet, but for the constantcommunication which it would be necessary for Xerxes to maintain withhis own dominions during the whole period of the invasion. 

It might have been expected that the Greeks would have interfered toprevent the execution of such a work as this; but it seems that they didnot, and yet there was a considerable Greek population in that vicinity. The promontory of Athos itself was quite extensive, being about thirtymiles long and four or five wide, and it had several towns upon it. Thecanal which Xerxes was to cut across the neck of this peninsula was tobe wide enough for two triremes to pass each other. Triremes weregalleys propelled by three banks of oars, and were vessels of thelargest class ordinarily employed; and as the oars by which they wereimpelled required almost as great a breadth of water as the vesselsthemselves, the canal was, consequently, to be very wide. 

The engineers, accordingly, laid out the ground, and, marking theboundaries by stakes and lines, as guides to the workmen, the excavationwas commenced. Immense numbers of men were set at work, arrangedregularly in gangs, according to the various nations which furnishedthem. As the excavation gradually proceeded, and the trench began togrow deep, they placed ladders against the sides, and stationed a seriesof men upon them; then the earth dug from the bottom was hauled up fromone to another, in a sort of basket or hod, until it reached the top, where it was taken by other men and conveyed away. 

The work was very much interrupted and impeded, in many parts of theline, by the continual caving in of the banks, on account of the workmenattempting to dig perpendicularly down. In one section--the one whichhad been assigned to the Phoenicians--this difficulty did not occur; forthe Phoenicians, more considerate than the rest, had taken theprecaution to make the breadth of their part of the trench twice asgreat at the top as it was below. By this means the banks on each sidewere formed to a gradual slope, and consequently stood firm. The canalwas at length completed, and the water was let in. 

North of the promontory of Mount Athos the reader will find upon the mapthe River Strymon, flowing south, not far from the boundary betweenMacedon and Thrace, into the Ægean Sea. The army of Xerxes, in its marchfrom the Hellespont, would, of course, have to cross this river; andXerxes having, by cutting the canal across the isthmus of Mount Athos, removed an obstacle in the way of his fleet, resolved next to facilitatethe progress of his army by bridging the Strymon. 

The king also ordered a great number of granaries and store-houses to bebuilt at various points along the route which it was intended that hisarmy should pursue. Some of these were on the coasts of Macedonia andThrace, and some on the banks of the Strymon. To these magazines thecorn raised in Asia for the use of the expedition was conveyed, fromtime to time, in transport ships, as fast as it was ready, and, beingsafely deposited, was protected by a guard. No very extraordinary meansof defense seems to have been thought necessary at these points, for, although the scene of all these preliminary arrangements was on theEuropean side of the line, and in what was called Greek territory, stillthis part of the country had been long under Persian dominion. Theindependent states and cities of Greece were all further south, and thepeople who inhabited them did not seem disposed to interrupt thesepreparations. Perhaps they were not aware to what object and end allthese formidable movements on their northern frontier were tending. 

Xerxes, during all this time, had remained in Persia. The period atlength arrived when, his preparations on the frontiers being faradvanced toward completion, he concluded to move forward at the head ofhis forces to Sardis. Sardis was the great capital of the western partof his dominions, and was situated not far from the frontier. Heaccordingly assembled his forces, and, taking leave of his capital ofSusa with much parade and many ceremonies, he advanced toward AsiaMinor. Entering and traversing Asia Minor, he crossed the Halys, whichhad been, in former times, the western boundary of the empire, thoughits limits had now been extended very far beyond. Having crossed theHalys, the immense procession advanced into Phrygia. 

A very romantic tale is told of an interview between Xerxes and acertain nobleman named Pythius, who resided in one of the Phrygiantowns. The circumstances were these: After crossing the Halys, whichriver flows north into the Euxine Sea, the army went on to the westwardthrough nearly the whole extent of Phrygia, until at length they came tothe sources of the streams which flowed west into the Ægean Sea. One ofthe most remarkable of these rivers was the Meander. There was a townbuilt exactly at the source of the Meander--so exactly, in fact, thatthe fountain from which the stream took its rise was situated in thepublic square of the town, walled in and ornamented like an artificialfountain in a modern city. The name of this town was Celænæ. 

When the army reached Celænæ and encamped there, Pythius made a greatentertainment for the officers, which, as the number was very large, wasof course attended with an enormous expense. Not satisfied with this, Pythius sent word to the king that if he was, in any respect, in want offunds for his approaching campaign, he, Pythius, would take greatpleasure in supplying him. 

Xerxes was surprised at such proofs of wealth and munificence from aman in comparatively a private station. He inquired of his attendantswho Pythius was. They replied that, next to Xerxes himself, he was therichest man in the world. They said, moreover, that he was as generousas he was rich. He had made Darius a present of a beautiful model of afruit-tree and of a vine, of solid gold. He was by birth, they added, aLydian. 

Lydia was west of Phrygia, and was famous for its wealth. The RiverPactolus, which was so celebrated for its golden sands, flowed throughthe country, and as the princes and nobles contrived to monopolize thetreasures which were found, both in the river itself and in themountains from which it flowed, some of them became immensely wealthy. 

Xerxes was astonished at the accounts which he heard of Pythius'sfortune. He sent for him, and asked him what was the amount of histreasures. This was rather an ominous question; for, under such despoticgovernments as those of the Persian kings, the only real safeguard ofwealth was, often, the concealment of it. Inquiry on the part of agovernment, in respect to treasures accumulated by a subject, was, often, only a preliminary to the seizure and confiscation of them. 

Pythius, however, in reply to the king's question, said that he had nohesitation in giving his majesty full information in respect to hisfortune. He had been making, he said, a careful calculation of theamount of it, with a view of determining how much he could offer tocontribute in aid of the Persian campaign. He found, he said, that hehad two thousand talents of silver, and four millions, wanting seventhousand, of _staters_ of gold. 

The stater was a Persian coin. Even if we knew, at the present day, itsexact value, we could not determine the precise amount denoted by thesum which Pythius named, the value of money being subject to such vastfluctuations in different ages of the world. Scholars who have taken aninterest in inquiring into such points as these, have come to theconclusion that the amount of gold and silver coin which Pythius thusreported to Xerxes was equal to about thirty millions of dollars. 

Pythius added, after stating the amount of the gold and silver which hehad at command, that it was all at the service of the king for thepurpose of carrying on the war. He had, he said, besides his money, slaves and farms enough for his own maintenance. 

Xerxes was extremely gratified at this generosity, and at the proofwhich it afforded of the interest which Pythius felt in the cause of theking. "You are the only man, " said he, "who has offered hospitality tome or to my army since I set out upon this march, and, in addition toyour hospitality, you tender me your whole fortune. I will not, however, deprive you of your treasure. I will, on the contrary, order mytreasurer to pay to you the seven thousand staters necessary to makeyour four millions complete. I offer you also my friendship, and will doany thing in my power, now and hereafter, to serve you. Continue to livein the enjoyment of your fortune. If you always act under the influenceof the noble and generous impulses which govern you now, you will nevercease to be prosperous and happy. "

If we could end the account of Pythius and Xerxes here, what generousand noble-minded men we might suppose them to be! But alas! how large aportion of the apparent generosity and nobleness which shows itselfamong potentates and kings, turns into selfishness and hypocrisy whenclosely examined. Pythius was one of the most merciless tyrants thatever lived. He held all the people that lived upon his vast estates ina condition of abject slavery, compelling them to toil continually inhis mines, in destitution and wretchedness, in order to add more andmore to his treasures. The people came to his wife with their bittercomplaints. She pitied them, but could not relieve them. One day, it issaid that, in order to show her husband the vanity and folly of livingonly to amass silver and gold, and to convince him how little real powersuch treasures have to satisfy the wants of the human soul, she made hima great entertainment, in which there was a boundless profusion ofwealth in the way of vessels and furniture of silver and gold, butscarcely any food. There was every thing to satisfy the eye with thesight of magnificence, but nothing to satisfy hunger. The noble guestsat starving in the midst of a scene of unexampled riches and splendor, because it was not possible to _eat_ silver and gold. 

And as for Xerxes's professions of gratitude and friendship for Pythius, they were put to the test, a short time after the transactions which wehave above described, in a remarkable manner. Pythius had five sons. They were all in Xerxes's army. By their departure on the distant anddangerous expedition on which Xerxes was to lead them, their fatherwould be left alone. Pythius, under these circumstances, resolved toventure so far on the sincerity of his sovereign's professions of regardas to request permission to retain one of his sons at home with hisfather, on condition of freely giving up the rest. 

Xerxes, on hearing this proposal, was greatly enraged. "How dare you, "said he, "come to me with such a demand? You and all that pertain to youare my slaves, and are bound to do my bidding without a murmur. Youdeserve the severest punishment for such an insolent request. Inconsideration, however, of your past good behavior, I will not inflictupon you what you deserve. I will only kill one of your sons--the onethat you seem to cling to so fondly. I will spare the rest. " So saying, the enraged king ordered the son whom Pythius had endeavored to retainto be slain before his eyes, and then directed that the dead body shouldbe split in two, and the two halves thrown, the one on the right side ofthe road and the other on the left, that his army, as he said, might"march between them. "

On leaving Phrygia, the army moved on toward the west. Their immediatedestination as has already been said, was Sardis, where they were toremain until the ensuing spring. The historian mentions a number ofobjects of interest which attracted the attention of Xerxes and hisofficers on this march, which mark the geographical peculiarities of thecountry, or illustrate, in some degree, the ideas and manners of thetimes. 

There was one town, for example, situated, not like Celænæ, where ariver had its origin, but where one disappeared. The stream was a branchof the Meander. It came down from the mountains like any other mountaintorrent, and then, at the town in question, it plunged suddenly downinto a gulf or chasm and disappeared. It rose again at a considerabledistance below, and thence flowed on, without any further evasions, tothe Meander. 

On the confines between Phrygia and Lydia the army came to a place wherethe road divided. One branch turned toward the north, and led to Lydia;the other inclined to the south, and conducted to Caria. Here, too, onthe frontier, was a monument which had been erected by Croesus, thegreat king of Lydia, who lived in Cyrus's day, to mark the easternboundaries of his kingdom. The Persians were, of course, muchinterested in looking upon this ancient landmark, which designated notonly the eastern limit of Croesus's empire, but also what was, inancient times, the western limit of their own. 

There was a certain species of tree which grew in these countries calledthe plane-tree. Xerxes found one of these trees so large and beautifulthat it attracted his special admiration. He took possession of it inhis own name, and adorned it with golden chains, and set a guard overit. This idolization of a tree was a striking instance of the childishcaprice and folly by which the actions of the ancient despots were sooften governed. 

As the army advanced, they came to other places of interest and objectsof curiosity and wonder. There was a district where the people made asort of artificial honey from grain, and a lake from which theinhabitants procured salt by evaporation, and mines, too, of silver andof gold. These objects interested and amused the minds of the Persiansas they moved along, without, however, at all retarding or interruptingtheir progress. In due time they reached the great city of Sardis insafety, and here Xerxes established his head-quarters, and awaited thecoming of spring. 

In the mean time, however, he sent heralds into Greece to summon thecountry to surrender to him. This is a common formality when an army isabout to attack either a town, a castle, or a kingdom. Xerxes's heraldscrossed the Ægean Sea, and made their demands, in Xerxes's name, uponthe Greek authorities. As might have been expected, the embassage wasfruitless; and the heralds returned, bringing with them, from theGreeks, not acts or proffers of submission, but stern expressions ofhostility and defiance. Nothing, of course, now remained, but that bothparties should prepare for the impending crisis. 

CHAPTER V. 

CROSSING THE HELLESPONT. 

B. C. 480

Winter in Asia Minor. --Destruction of the bridge. --Indignation ofXerxes. --His ridiculous punishment of the sea. --Xerxes orders a newbridge to be made. --Its construction. --Mode of securing the boats. --Thebridge finished. --Eclipse of the sun. --March from Sardis. --Order ofmarch. --Car of Jupiter. --Chariot of Xerxes. --Camp followers. --Arrival atthe plain of Troy. --The grand sacrifice. --Dejection of the army. --Modeof enlistment. --Condition of the soldiers. --Privations andhardships. --Storm on Mount Ida. --Abydos. --Parade of the troops. --Xerxesweeps. --The reason of it. --Comments of writers. --Remarks ofArtabanus. --Conversation with Artabanus. --He renews hiswarnings. --Anxiety of Artabanus. --Xerxes is not convinced. --Advice ofArtabanus in respect to employing the Ionians. --Xerxes's opinion of theIonians. --Artabanus is permitted to return. --Sham sea fight. --Xerxes'saddress. --Crossing the bridge. --Preliminary ceremonies. --The order ofmarch. --Movement of the fleet. --Time occupied in the passage. --Scene ofconfusion. 

Although the ancient Asia Minor was in the same latitude as New York, there was yet very little winter there. Snows fell, indeed, upon thesummits of the mountains, and ice formed occasionally upon quietstreams, and yet, in general, the imaginations of the inhabitants, informing mental images of frost and snow, sought them not in their ownwinters, but in the cold and icy regions of the north, of which, however, scarcely any thing was known to them except what was disclosedby wild and exaggerated rumors and legends. 

[Illustration: MAP OF GREECE. ]

There was, however, a period of blustering winds and chilly rains whichwas called winter, and Xerxes was compelled to wait, before commencinghis invasion, until the inclement season had passed. As it was, he didnot wholly escape the disastrous effects of the wintery gales. A violentstorm arose while he was at Sardis, and broke up the bridge which he hadbuilt across the Hellespont. When the tidings of this disaster werebrought to Xerxes at his winter quarters, he was very much enraged. He was angry both with the sea for having destroyed the structure, andwith the architects who had built it for not having made it strongenough to stand against its fury. He determined to punish both the wavesand the workmen. He ordered the sea to be scourged with a monstrouswhip, and directed that heavy chains should be thrown into it, assymbols of his defiance of its power, and of his determination tosubject it to his control. The men who administered this senselessdiscipline cried out to the sea, as they did it, in the following words, which Xerxes had dictated to them: "Miserable monster! this is thepunishment which Xerxes your master inflicts upon you, on account of theunprovoked and wanton injury you have done him. Be assured that he willpass over you, whether you will or no. He hates and defies you, objectas you are, through your insatiable cruelty, and the nauseous bitternessof your waters, of the common abomination of mankind. "

As for the men who had built the bridge, which had been found thusinadequate to withstand the force of a wintery tempest, he ordered everyone of them to be beheaded. 

The vengeance of the king being thus satisfied, a new set of engineersand workmen were designated and ordered to build another bridge. Knowing, as, of course, they now did, that their lives depended upon thestability of their structure, they omitted no possible precaution whichcould tend to secure it. They selected the strongest ships, and arrangedthem in positions which would best enable them to withstand the pressureof the current. Each vessel was secured in its place by strong anchors, placed scientifically in such a manner as to resist, to the bestadvantage, the force of the strain to which they would be exposed. Therewere two ranges of these vessels, extending from shore to shore, containing over three hundred in each. In each range one or two vesselswere omitted, on the Asiatic side, to allow boats and galleys to passthrough, in order to keep the communication open. These omissions didnot interfere with the use of the bridge, as the superstructure and theroadway above was continued over them. 

The vessels which were to serve for the foundation of the bridge beingthus arranged and secured in their places, two immense cables were madeand stretched from shore to shore, each being fastened, at the ends, securely to the banks, and resting in the middle on the decks of thevessels. For the fastenings of these cables on the shore there wereimmense piles driven into the ground, and huge rings attached to thepiles. The cables, as they passed along the decks of the vessels overthe water, were secured to them all by strong cordage, so that eachvessel was firmly and indissolubly bound to all the rest. 

Over these cables a platform was made of trunks of trees, with branchesplaced upon them to fill the interstices and level the surface. Thewhole was then covered with a thick stratum of earth, which made a firmand substantial road like that of a public highway. A high and closefence was also erected on each side, so as to shut off the view of thewater, which might otherwise alarm the horses and the beasts of burdenthat were to cross with the army. 

When the news was brought to Xerxes at Sardis that the bridge wascompleted, and that all things were ready for the passage, he madearrangements for commencing his march. A circumstance, however, hereoccurred that at first alarmed him. It was no less a phenomenon than aneclipse of the sun. Eclipses were considered in those days asextraordinary and supernatural omens, and Xerxes was naturally anxiousto know what this sudden darkness was meant to portend. He directed themagi to consider the subject, and to give him their opinion. Theiranswer was, that, as the sun was the guardian divinity of the Greeks, and the moon that of the Persians, the meaning of the sudden withdrawalof the light of day doubtless was, that Heaven was about to withhold itsprotection from the Greeks in the approaching struggle. Xerxes wassatisfied with this explanation, and the preparations for the march wenton. 

The movement of the grand procession from the city of Sardis wasinconceivably splendid. First came the long trains of baggage, on mules, and camels, and horses, and other beasts of burden, attended by thedrivers, and the men who had the baggage in charge. Next came an immensebody of troops of all nations, marching irregularly, but under thecommand of the proper officers. Then, after a considerable interval, came a body of a thousand horse, splendidly caparisoned, and followed bya thousand spearmen, who marched trailing their spears upon the ground, in token of respect and submission to the king who was coming behindthem. 

Next to these troops, and immediately in advance of the king, werecertain religious and sacred objects and personages, on which the peoplewho gazed upon this gorgeous spectacle looked with the utmost awe andveneration. There were, first, ten sacred horses, splendidlycaparisoned, each led by his groom, who was clothed in appropriaterobes, as a sort of priest officiating in the service of a god. Behindthese came the sacred car of Jupiter. This car was very large, andelaborately worked, and was profusely ornamented with gold. It was drawnby eight white horses. No human being was allowed to set his foot uponany part of it, and, consequently, the reins of the horses were carriedback, under the car, to the charioteer, who walked behind. Xerxes's ownchariot came next, drawn by very splendid horses, selected especiallyfor their size and beauty. His charioteer, a young Persian noble, sat byhis side. 

Then came great bodies of troops. There was one corps of two thousandmen, the life-guards of the king, who were armed in a very splendid andcostly manner, to designate their high rank in the army, and the exaltednature of their duty as personal attendants on the sovereign. Onethousand of these life-guards were foot soldiers, and the otherthousand horsemen. After the life-guards came a body of ten thousandinfantry, and after them ten thousand cavalry. This completed what wasstrictly the Persian part of the army. There was an interval of about aquarter of a mile in the rear of these bodies of troops, and then came avast and countless multitude of servants, attendants, adventurers, andcamp followers of every description--a confused, promiscuous, disorderly, and noisy throng. 

The immediate destination of this vast horde was Abydos; for it wasbetween Sestos, on the European shore, and Abydos, on the Asiatic, thatthe bridge had been built. To reach Abydos, the route was north, throughthe province of Mysia. In their progress the guides of the army keptwell inland, so as to avoid the indentations of the coast, and thevarious small rivers which here flow westward toward the sea. Thusadvancing, the army passed to the right of Mount Ida, and arrived atlast on the bank of the Scamander. Here they encamped. They were uponthe plain of Troy. 

The world was filled, in those days, with the glory of the militaryexploits which had been performed, some ages before, in the siege andcapture of Troy; and it was the custom for every military hero whopassed the site of the city to pause in his march and spend some timeamid the scenes of those ancient conflicts, that he might inspirit andinvigorate his own ambition by the associations of the spot, and alsorender suitable honors to the memories of those that fell there. Xerxesdid this. Alexander subsequently did it. Xerxes examined the variouslocalities, ascended the ruins of the citadel of Priam, walked over theancient battle fields, and at length, when his curiosity had thus beensatisfied, he ordered a grand sacrifice of a thousand oxen to be made, and a libation of corresponding magnitude to be offered, in honor of theshades of the dead heroes whose deeds had consecrated the spot. 

Whatever excitement and exhilaration, however, Xerxes himself may havefelt, in approaching, under these circumstances, the transit of thestream, where the real labors and dangers of his expedition were tocommence, his miserable and helpless soldiers did not share them. Theircondition and prospects were wretched in the extreme. In the firstplace, none of them went willingly. In modern times, at least in Englandand America, armies are recruited by enticing the depraved and themiserable to enlist, by tendering them a bounty, as it is called, thatis, a sum of ready money, which, as a means of temporary and oftenvicious pleasure, presents a temptation they can not resist. The act ofenlistment is, however, in a sense voluntary, so that those who havehomes, and friends, and useful pursuits in which they are peacefullyengaged, are not disturbed. It was not so with the soldiers of Xerxes. They were slaves, and had been torn from their rural homes all over theempire by a merciless conscription, from which there was no possibleescape. Their life in camp, too, was comfortless and wretched. At thepresent day, when it is so much more difficult than it then was toobtain soldiers, and when so much more time and attention are requiredto train them to their work in the modern art of war, soldiers must betaken care of when obtained; but in Xerxes's day it was much easier toget new supplies of recruits than to incur any great expense inproviding for the health and comfort of those already in the service. The arms and trappings, it is true, of such troops as were in immediateattendance on the king, were very splendid and gay, though this was onlydecoration, after all, and the king's decoration too, not theirs. Inrespect, however, to every thing like personal comfort, whether of foodand of clothing, or the means of shelter and repose, the common soldierswere utterly destitute and wretched. They felt no interest in thecampaign; they had nothing to hope for from its success, but acontinuance, if their lives were spared, of the same miserable bondagewhich they had always endured. There was, however, little probabilityeven of this; for whether, in the case of such an invasion, theaggressor was to succeed or to fail, the destiny of the soldierspersonally was almost inevitable destruction. The mass of Xerxes's armywas thus a mere herd of slaves, driven along by the whips of theirofficers, reluctant, wretched, and despairing. 

This helpless mass was overtaken one night, among the gloomy and ruggeddefiles and passes of Mount Ida, by a dreadful storm of wind and rain, accompanied by thunder and lightning. Unprovided as they were with themeans of protection against such tempests, they were thrown intoconfusion, and spent the night in terror. Great numbers perished, struckby the lightning, or exhausted by the cold and exposure; and afterward, when they encamped on the plains of Troy, near the Scamander, the wholeof the water of the stream was not enough to supply the wants of thesoldiers and the immense herds of beasts of burden, so that manythousands suffered severely from thirst. 

All these things conspired greatly to depress the spirits of the men, sothat, at last, when they arrived in the vicinity of Abydos, the wholearmy was in a state of extreme dejection and despair. This, however, wasof little consequence. The repose of a master so despotic and lofty asXerxes is very little disturbed by the mental sorrows of his slaves. Xerxes reached Abydos, and prepared to make the passage of the strait ina manner worthy of the grandeur of the occasion. 

The first thing was to make arrangements for a great parade of hisforces, not, apparently, for the purpose of accomplishing any useful endof military organization in the arrangement of the troops, but togratify the pride and pleasure of the sovereign with an opportunity ofsurveying them. A great white throne of marble was accordingly erectedon an eminence not far from the shore of the Hellespont, from whichXerxes looked down with great complacency and pleasure, on the one hand, upon the long lines of troops, the countless squadrons of horsemen, theranges of tents, and the vast herds of beasts of burden which wereassembled on the land, and, on the other hand, upon the fleets of ships, and boats, and galleys at anchor upon the sea; while the shores ofEurope were smiling in the distance, and the long and magnificentroadway which he had made lay floating upon the water, all ready to takehis enormous armament across whenever he should issue the command. 

Any deep emotion of the human soul, in persons of a sensitive physicalorganization, tends to tears; and Xerxes's heart, being filled withexultation and pride, and with a sense of inexpressible grandeur andsublimity as he looked upon this scene, was softened by the pleasurableexcitements of the hour, and though, at first his countenance wasbeaming with satisfaction and pleasure, his uncle Artabanus, who stoodby his side, soon perceived that tears were standing in his eyes. Artabanus asked him what this meant. It made him sad, Xerxes replied, toreflect that, immensely vast as the countless multitude before him was, in one hundred years from that time not one of them all would be alive. 

The tender-heartedness which Xerxes manifested on this occasion, takenin connection with the stern and unrelenting tyranny which he wasexercising over the mighty mass of humanity whose mortality he mourned, has drawn forth a great variety of comments from writers of every agewho have repeated the story. Artabanus replied to it on the spot bysaying that he did not think that the king ought to give himself toomuch uneasiness on the subject of human liability to death, for ithappened, in a vast number of cases, that the privations and sufferingsof men were so great, that often, in the course of their lives, theyrather wished to die than to live; and that death was, consequently, insome respects, to be regarded, not as in itself a woe, but rather as therelief and remedy for woe. 

There is no doubt that this theory of Artabanus, so far as it applied tothe unhappy soldiers of Xerxes, all marshaled before him when he utteredit, was eminently true. 

Xerxes admitted that what his uncle said was just, but it was, he said, a melancholy subject, and so he changed the conversation. He asked hisuncle whether he still entertained the same doubts and fears in respectto the expedition that he had expressed at Susa when the plan was firstproposed in the council. Artabanus replied that he most sincerely hopedthat the prognostications of the vision would prove true, but that hehad still great apprehensions of the result. "I have been reflecting, "continued he, "with great care on the whole subject, and it seems to methat there are two dangers of very serious character to which yourexpedition will be imminently exposed. "

Xerxes wished to know what they were. 

"They both arise, " said Artabanus, "from the immense magnitude of youroperations. In the first place, you have so large a number of ships, galleys, and transports in your fleet, that I do not see how, when youhave gone down upon the Greek coast, if a storm should arise, you aregoing to find shelter for them. There are no harbors there large enoughto afford anchorage ground for such an immense number of vessels. "

"And what is the other danger?" asked Xerxes. 

"The other is the difficulty of finding food for such a vast multitudeof _men_ as you have brought together in your armies. The quantity offood necessary to supply such countless numbers is almost incalculable. Your granaries and magazines will soon be exhausted, and then, as nocountry whatever that you can pass through will have resources of foodadequate for such a multitude of mouths, it seems to me that your marchmust inevitably end in a famine. The less resistance you meet with, andthe further you consequently advance, the worse it will be for you. I donot see how this fatal result can possibly be avoided; and so uneasy andanxious am I on the subject, that I have no rest or peace. "

"I admit, " said Xerxes, in reply, "that what you say is not whollyunreasonable; but in great undertakings it will never do to take counselwholly of our fears. I am willing to submit to a very large portion ofthe evils to which I expose myself on this expedition, rather than notaccomplish the end which I have in view. Besides, the most prudent andcautious counsels are not always the best. He who hazards nothing gainsnothing. I have always observed that in all the affairs of human life, those who exhibit some enterprise and courage in what they undertake arefar more likely to be successful than those who weigh every thing andconsider every thing, and will not advance where they can see anyremote prospect of danger. If my predecessors had acted on theprinciples which you recommend, the Persian empire would never haveacquired the greatness to which it has now attained. In continuing toact on the same principles which governed them, I confidently expect thesame success. We shall conquer Europe, and then return in peace, I feelassured, without encountering the famine which you dread so much, or anyother great calamity. "

On hearing these words, and observing how fixed and settled thedeterminations of Xerxes were, Artabanus said no more on the generalsubject, but on one point he ventured to offer his counsel to hisnephew, and that was on the subject of employing the Ionians in the war. The Ionians were Greeks by descent. Their ancestors had crossed theÆgean Sea, and settled at various places along the coast of Asia Minor, in the western part of the provinces of Caria, Lydia, and Mysia. Artabanus thought it was dangerous to take these men to fight againsttheir countrymen. However faithfully disposed they might be incommencing the enterprise, a thousand circumstances might occur to shaketheir fidelity and lead them to revolt, when they found themselves inthe land of their forefathers, and heard the enemies against whom theyhad been brought to contend speaking their own mother tongue. 

Xerxes, however, was not convinced by Artabanus's arguments. He thoughtthat the employment of the Ionians was perfectly safe. They had beeneminently faithful and firm, he said, under Histiæus, in the time ofDarius's invasion of Scythia, when Darius had left them to guard hisbridge over the Danube. They had proved themselves trustworthy then, andhe would, he said, accordingly trust them now. "Besides, " he added, "they have left their property, their wives and their children, and allelse that they hold dear, in our hands in Asia, and they will not dare, while we retain such hostages, to do any thing against us. "

Xerxes said, however, that since Artabanus was so much concerned inrespect to the result of the expedition, he should not be compelled toaccompany it any further, but that he might return to Susa instead, andtake charge of the government there until Xerxes should return. 

A part of the celebration on the great day of parade, on which thisconversation between the king and his uncle was held, consisted of anaval sea fight, waged on the Hellespont, between two of the nations ofhis army, for the king's amusement. The Phoenicians were the victors inthis combat. Xerxes was greatly delighted with the combat, and, in fact, with the whole of the magnificent spectacle which the day had displayed. 

Soon after this, Xerxes dismissed Artabanus, ordering him to return toSusa, and to assume the regency of the empire. He convened, also, another general council of the nobles of his court and the officers ofthe army, to announce to them that the time had arrived for crossing thebridge, and to make his farewell address to them before they should taketheir final departure from Asia. He exhorted them to enter upon thegreat work before them with a determined and resolute spirit, sayingthat if the Greeks were once subdued, no other enemies able at all tocope with the Persians would be left on the habitable globe. 

On the dismission of the council, orders were given to commence thecrossing of the bridge the next day at sunrise. The preparations weremade accordingly. In the morning, as soon as it was light, and whilewaiting for the rising of the sun, they burned upon the bridge allmanner of perfumes, and strewed the way with branches of myrtle, theemblem of triumph and joy. As the time for the rising of the sun drewnigh, Xerxes stood with a golden vessel full of wine, which he was topour out as a libation as soon as the first dazzling beams should appearabove the horizon. When, at length, the moment arrived, he poured outthe wine into the sea, throwing the vessel in which it had beencontained after it as an offering. He also threw in, at the same time, agolden goblet of great value, and a Persian cimeter. The ancienthistorian who records these facts was uncertain whether these offeringswere intended as acts of adoration addressed to the sun, or as oblationspresented to the sea--a sort of peace offering, perhaps, to soothe thefeelings of the mighty monster, irritated and chafed by the chastisementwhich it had previously received. 

[Illustration: XERXES CROSSING THE HELLESPONT. ]

One circumstance indicated that the offering was intended for the sun, for, at the time of making it, Xerxes addressed to the great luminary asort of petition, which might be considered either an apostrophe or aprayer, imploring its protection. He called upon the sun to accompanyand defend the expedition, and to preserve it from every calamity untilit should have accomplished its mission of subjecting all Europe tothe Persian sway. 

The army then commenced its march. The order of march was very much thesame as that which had been observed in the departure from Sardis. Thebeasts of burden and the baggage were preceded and followed by immensebodies of troops of all nations. The whole of the first day was occupiedby the passing of this part of the army. Xerxes himself, and the sacredportion of the train, were to follow them on the second day. Accordingly, there came, on the second day, first, an immense squadronof horse, with garlands on the heads of the horsemen; next, the sacredhorses and the sacred car of Jupiter. Then came Xerxes himself, in hiswar chariot, with trumpets sounding, and banners waving in the air. Atthe moment when Xerxes's chariot entered upon the bridge, the fleet ofgalleys, which had been drawn up in preparation near the Asiatic shore, were set in motion, and moved in a long and majestic line across thestrait to the European side, accompanying and keeping pace with theirmighty master in his progress. Thus was spent the second day. 

Five more days were consumed in getting over the remainder of the army, and the immense trains of beasts and of baggage which followed. Theofficers urged the work forward as rapidly as possible, and, toward theend, as is always the case in the movement of such enormous masses, itbecame a scene of inconceivable noise, terror, and confusion. Theofficers drove forward men and beasts alike by the lashes of theirwhips--every one struggling, under the influence of such stimulants, toget forward--while fallen animals, broken wagons, and the bodies ofthose exhausted and dying with excitement and fatigue, choked the way. The mighty mass was, however, at last transferred to the Europeancontinent, full of anxious fears in respect to what awaited them, butyet having very faint and feeble conceptions of the awful scenes inwhich the enterprise of their reckless leader was to end. 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE REVIEW OF THE TROOPS AT DORISCUS. 

B. C. 480

The fleet and the army separate. --The Chersonesus. --Sufferings fromthirst. --The Hebrus. --Plain of Doriscus. --Preparations for the greatreview. --Mode of taking a census. --Immense numbers of the troops. --Thecavalry. --Corps of Arabs and Egyptians. --Sum total of the army. --Variousnations. --Dress and equipments. --Uncouth costumes. --Variousweapons. --The lasso. --Dresses of various kinds. --TheImmortals. --Privileges of the Immortals. --The fleet. --Xerxes reviews thetroops. --He reviews the fleet. --A lady admiral. --Her abilities. --Numberof vessels in the fleet. --Demaratus the Greek. --Story ofDemaratus. --Childhood of his mother. --The change. --Ariston, king ofSparta. --The agreement. --Birth of Demaratus. --Demaratus disowned. --Hisflight. --Question of Xerxes. --Perplexity of Demaratus. --Demaratusdescribes the Spartans. --Surprise of Xerxes. --Reply of Xerxes. --Hisdispleasure. --Demaratus's apology. --His gratitude toDarius. --Demaratus's defense of the Spartans. --They are governed bylaw. --Xerxes resumes his march. --Division of the army. --TheStrymon. --Human sacrifices. --Arrival at the canal. --Death of theengineer. --Burial of the engineer. --A grand feast. --Scene ofrevelry. --Desolation and depopulation of the country. 

As soon as the expedition of Xerxes had crossed the Hellespont andarrived safely on the European side, as narrated in the last chapter, itbecame necessary for the fleet and the army to separate, and to move, for a time, in opposite directions from each other. The reader willobserve, by examining the map, that the army, on reaching the Europeanshore, at the point to which they would be conducted by a bridge atAbydos, would find themselves in the middle of a long and narrowpeninsula called the Chersonesus, and that, before commencing itsregular march along the northern coast of the Ægean Sea, it would benecessary first to proceed for fifteen or twenty miles to the eastward, in order to get round the bay by which the peninsula is bounded on thenorth and west. While, therefore, the fleet went directly westward alongthe coast, the army turned to the eastward, a place of rendezvous havingbeen appointed on the northern coast of the sea, where they were allsoon to meet again. 

The army moved on by a slow and toilsome progress until it reached theneck of the peninsula, and then turning at the head of the bay, it movedwestward again, following the direction of the coast. The line of marchwas, however, laid at some distance from the shore, partly for the sakeof avoiding the indentations made in the land by gulfs and bays, andpartly for the sake of crossing the streams from the interior at pointsso far inland that the water found in them should be fresh and pure. Notwithstanding these precautions, however, the water often failed. Soimmense were the multitudes of men and of beasts, and so craving was thethirst which the heat and the fatigues of the march engendered, that, inseveral instances, they drank the little rivers dry. 

The first great and important river which the army had to pass afterentering Europe was the Hebrus. Not far from the mouth of the Hebrus, where it emptied into the Ægean Sea, was a great plain, which was calledthe plain of Doriscus. There was an extensive fortress here, which hadbeen erected by the orders of Darius when he had subjugated this part ofthe country. The position of this fortress was an important one, because it commanded the whole region watered by the Hebrus, which was avery fruitful and populous district. Xerxes had been intending to have agrand review and enumeration of his forces on entering the Europeanterritories, and he judged Doriscus to be a very suitable place for hispurpose. He could establish his own head-quarters in the fortress, whilehis armies could be marshaled and reviewed on the plain. The fleet, too, had been ordered to draw up to the shore at the same spot, and when thearmy reached the ground, they found the vessels already in the offing. 

The army accordingly halted, and the necessary arrangements were madefor the review. The first thing was to ascertain the numbers of thetroops; and as the soldiers were too numerous to be counted, Xerxesdetermined to _measure_ the mighty mass as so much bulk, and thenascertain the numbers by a computation. They made the measure itself inthe following manner: They counted off, first, ten thousand men, andbrought them together in a compact circular mass, in the middle of theplain, and then marked a line upon the ground inclosing them. Upon thisline, thus determined, they built a stone wall, about four feet high, with openings on opposite sides of it, by which men might enter and goout. When the wall was built, soldiers were sent into theinclosure--just as corn would be poured by a husbandman into a woodenpeck--until it was full. The mass thus required to fill the inclosurewas deemed and taken to be ten thousand men. This was the first fillingof the measure. These men were then ordered to retire, and a fresh masswas introduced, and so on until the whole army was measured. Theinclosure was filled one hundred and seventy times with the footsoldiers before the process was completed, indicating, as the totalamount of the infantry of the army, a force of one million seven hundredthousand men. This enumeration, it must be remembered, included the landforces alone. 

This method of measuring the army in bulk was applied only to the footsoldiers; they constituted the great mass of the forces convened. Therewere, however, various other bodies of troops in the army, which, fromtheir nature, were more systematically organized than the common footsoldiers, and so their numbers were known by the regular enrollment. There was, for example, a cavalry force of eighty thousand men. Therewas also a corps of Arabs, on camels, and another of Egyptians, in warchariots, which together amounted to twenty thousand. Then, besidesthese land forces, there were half a million of men in the fleet. Immense as these numbers are, they were still further increased, as thearmy moved on, by Xerxes's system of compelling the forces of everykingdom and province through which he passed to join the expedition; sothat, at length, when the Persian king fairly entered the heart of theGreek territory, Herodotus, the great narrator of his history, insumming up the whole number of men regularly connected with the army, makes a total of about five millions of men. One hundred thousand men, which is but one fiftieth part of five millions, is considered, inmodern times, an immense army; and, in fact, half even of that numberwas thought, in the time of the American Revolution, a sufficient forceto threaten the colonies with overwhelming destruction. "If ten thousandmen will not do to put down the rebellion, " said an orator in the Houseof Commons, "fifty thousand _shall_. "

Herodotus adds that, besides the five millions regularly connected withthe army, there was an immense and promiscuous mass of women, slaves, cooks, bakers, and camp followers of every description, that no humanpowers could estimate or number. 

But to return to the review. The numbers of the army having beenascertained, the next thing was to marshal and arrange the men bynations under their respective leaders, to be reviewed by the king. Avery full enumeration of these divisions of the army is given by thehistorians of the day, with minute descriptions of the kind of armorwhich the troops of the several nations wore. There were more than fiftyof these nations in all. Some of them were highly civilized, others weresemi-barbarous tribes; and, of course, they presented, as marshaled inlong array upon the plain, every possible variety of dress andequipment. Some were armed with brazen helmets, and coats of mail formedof plates of iron; others wore linen tunics, or rude garments made ofthe skins of beasts. The troops of one nation had their heads coveredwith helmets, those of another with miters, and of a third with tiaras. There was one savage-looking horde that had caps made of the skin of theupper part of a horse's head, in its natural form, with the earsstanding up erect at the top, and the mane flowing down behind. Thesemen held the skins of cranes before them instead of shields, so thatthey looked like horned monsters, half beast and half bird, endeavoringto assume the guise and attitude of men. There was another corps whosemen were really horned, since they wore caps made from the skins of theheads of oxen, with the horns standing. Wild beasts were personated, too, as well as tame; for some nations were clothed in lions' skins, andothers in panthers' skins--the clothing being considered, apparently, the more honorable, in proportion to the ferocity of the brute to whichit had originally belonged. 

The weapons, too, were of every possible form and guise. Spears--somepointed with iron, some with stone, and others shaped simply by beingburned to a point in the fire; bows and arrows, of every variety ofmaterial and form, swords, daggers, slings, clubs, darts, javelins, andevery other imaginable species of weapon which human ingenuity, savageor civilized, had then conceived. Even the lasso--the weapon of theAmerican aborigines of modern times--was there. It is described by theancient historian as a long thong of leather wound into a coil, andfinished in a noose at the end, which noose the rude warrior who usedthe implement launched through the air at the enemy, and entanglingrider and horse together by means of it, brought them both to theground. 

There was every variety of taste, too, in the fashion and the colors ofthe dresses which were worn. Some were of artificial fabrics, and dyedin various and splendid hues. Some were very plain, the wearers of themaffecting a simple and savage ferocity in the fashion of their vesture. Some tribes had painted skins--beauty, in their view, consisting, apparently, in hideousness. There was one barbarian horde who wore verylittle clothing of any kind. They had knotty clubs for weapons, and, inlieu of a dress, they had painted their naked bodies half white and halfa bright vermilion. 

In all this vast array, the corps which stood at the head, in respect totheir rank and the costliness and elegance of their equipment, was aPersian squadron of ten thousand men, called the Immortals. They hadreceived this designation from the fact that the body was kept alwaysexactly full, as, whenever any one of the number died, another soldierwas instantly put into his place, whose life was considered in somerespects a continuation of the existence of the man who had fallen. Thus, by a fiction somewhat analogous to that by which the king, inEngland, never dies, these ten thousand Persians were an immortal band. They were all carefully-selected soldiers, and they enjoyed very unusualprivileges and honors. They were mounted troops, and their dress andtheir armor were richly decorated with gold. They were accompanied intheir campaigns by their wives and families, for whose use carriageswere provided which followed the camp, and there was a long train ofcamels besides, attached to the service of the corps, to carry theirprovisions and their baggage. 

While all these countless varieties of land troops were marshaling andarranging themselves upon the plain, each under its own officers andaround its own standards, the naval commanders were employed in bringingup the fleet of galleys to the shore, where they were anchored in a longline not far from the beach, and with their prows toward the land. Thusthere was a space of open water left between the line of vessels and thebeach, along which Xerxes's barge was to pass when the time for thenaval part of the review should arrive. 

When all things were ready, Xerxes mounted his war chariot and rodeslowly around the plain, surveying attentively, and with great interestand pleasure, the long lines of soldiers, in all their variety ofequipment and costume, as they stood displayed before him. It required aprogress of many miles to see them all. When this review of the landforces was concluded, the king went to the shore, and embarked on boarda royal galley which had been prepared for him, and there, seated uponthe deck under a gilded canopy, he was rowed by the oarsmen along theline of ships, between their prows and the land. The ships were frommany nations as well as the soldiers, and exhibited the same variety offashion and equipment. The land troops had come from the inland realmsand provinces which occupied the heart of Asia, while the ships and theseamen had been furnished by the maritime regions which extended alongthe coasts of the Black, and the Ægean, and the Mediterranean Seas. Thusthe people of Egypt had furnished two hundred ships, the Phoeniciansthree hundred, Cyprus fifty, the Cilicians and the Ionians one hundredeach, and so with a great many other nations and tribes. 

The various squadrons which were thus combined in forming this immensefleet were manned and officered, of course, from the nations thatseverally furnished them, and one of them was actually commanded inperson by a queen. The name of this lady admiral was Artemisia. She wasthe Queen of Caria, a small province in the southwestern part of AsiaMinor, having Halicarnassus for its capital. Artemisia, though inhistory called a queen, was, in reality, more properly a regent, as shegoverned in the name of her son, who was yet a child. The quota of shipswhich Caria was to furnish was five. Artemisia, being a lady ofambitious and masculine turn of mind, and fond of adventure, determinedto accompany the expedition. Not only her own vessels, but also thosefrom some neighboring islands, were placed under her charge, so that shecommanded quite an important division of the fleet. She proved, also, inthe course of the voyage, to be abundantly qualified for the dischargeof her duties. She became, in fact, one of the ablest and most efficientcommanders in the fleet, not only maneuvering and managing her ownparticular division in a very successful manner, but also taking a veryactive and important part in the general consultations, where what shesaid was listened to with great respect, and always had great weight indetermining the decisions. In the great battle of Salamis she acted avery conspicuous part, as will hereafter appear. 

The whole number of galleys of the first class in Xerxes's fleet wasmore than twelve hundred, a number abundantly sufficient to justify theapprehensions of Artabanus that no harbor would be found capaciousenough to shelter them in the event of a sudden storm. The line whichthey formed on this occasion, when drawn up side by side upon the shorefor review, must have extended many miles. 

Xerxes moved slowly along this line in his barge, attended by theofficers of his court and the great generals of his army, who surveyedthe various ships as they passed them, and noted the diverse nationalcostumes and equipments of the men with curiosity and pleasure. Amongthose who attended the king on this occasion was a certain Greek namedDemaratus, an exile from his native land, who had fled to Persia, andhad been kindly received by Darius some years before. Having remained inthe Persian court until Xerxes succeeded to the throne and undertook theinvasion of Greece, he concluded to accompany the expedition. 

The story of the political difficulties in which Demaratus becameinvolved in his native land, and which led to his flight from Greece, was very extraordinary. It was this:

The mother of Demaratus was the daughter of parents of high rank andgreat affluence in Sparta, but in her childhood her features wereextremely plain and repulsive. Now there was a temple in theneighborhood of the place where her parents resided, consecrated toHelen, a princess who, while she lived, enjoyed the fame of being themost beautiful woman in the world. The nurse recommended that the childshould be taken every day to this temple, and that petitions should beoffered there at the shrine of Helen that the repulsive deformity of herfeatures might be removed. The mother consented to this plan, onlyenjoining upon the nurse not to let any one see the face of herunfortunate offspring in going and returning. The nurse accordinglycarried the child to the temple day after day, and holding it in herarms before the shrine, implored the mercy of Heaven for her helplesscharge, and the bestowal upon it of the boon of beauty. 

These petitions were, it seems, at length heard, for one day, when thenurse was coming down from the temple, after offering her customaryprayer, she was met and accosted by a mysterious-looking woman, whoasked her what it was that she was carrying in her arms. The nursereplied that it was a child. The woman wanted to look at it. The nurserefused to show the face of the child, saying that she had beenforbidden to do so. The woman, however, insisted upon seeing its face, and at last the nurse consented and removed the coverings. The strangerstroked down the face of the child, saying, at the same time, that nowthat child should become the most beautiful woman of Sparta. 

Her words proved true. The features of the young girl rapidly changed, and her countenance soon became as wonderful for its loveliness as ithad been before for its hideous deformity. When she arrived at a properage, a certain Spartan nobleman named Agetus, a particular friend of theking's, made her his wife. 

The name of the king of Sparta at that time was Ariston. He had beentwice married, and his second wife was still living, but he had nochildren. When he came to see and to know the beautiful wife of Agetus, he wished to obtain her for himself, and began to revolve the subjectin his mind, with a view to discover some method by which he might hopeto accomplish his purpose. He decided at length upon the following plan. He proposed to Agetus to make an exchange of gifts, offering to give tohim any one object which he might choose from all his, that is, Ariston's effects, provided that Agetus would, in the same manner, giveto Ariston whatever Ariston might choose. Agetus consented to theproposal, without, however, giving it any serious consideration. AsAriston was already married, he did not for a moment imagine that hiswife could be the object which the king would demand. The parties tothis foolish agreement confirmed the obligation of it by a solemn oath, and then each made known to the other what he had selected. Agetusgained some jewel, or costly garment, or perhaps a gilded andembellished weapon, and lost forever his beautiful wife. Aristonrepudiated his own second wife, and put the prize which he had thussurreptitiously acquired in her place as a third. 

About seven or eight months after this time Demaratus was born. Theintelligence was brought to Ariston one day by a slave, when he wassitting at a public tribunal. Ariston seemed surprised at theintelligence, and exclaimed that the child was not his. He, however, afterward retracted this disavowal, and owned Demaratus as his son. Thechild grew up, and in process of time, when his father died, hesucceeded to the throne. The magistrates, however, who had heard thedeclaration of his father at the time of his birth, remembered it, andreported it to others; and when Ariston died and Demaratus assumed thesupreme power, the next heir denied his right to the succession, and inprocess of time formed a strong party against him. A long series ofcivil dissensions arose, and at length the claims of Demaratus weredefeated, his enemies triumphed, and he fled from the country to savehis life. He arrived at Susa near the close of Darius's reign, and itwas his counsel which led the king to decide the contest among his sonsfor the right of succession, in favor of Xerxes, as described at theclose of the first chapter. Xerxes had remembered his obligations toDemaratus for this interposition. He had retained him in the royal courtafter his accession to the throne, and had bestowed upon him many marksof distinction and honor. 

Demaratus had decided to accompany Xerxes on his expedition intoGreece, and now, while the Persian officers were looking with so muchpride and pleasure on the immense preparations which they were makingfor the subjugation of a foreign and hostile state, Demaratus, too, wasin the midst of the scene, regarding the spectacle with no less ofinterest, probably, and yet, doubtless, with very different feelings, since the country upon which this dreadful cloud of gloom anddestruction was about to burst was his own native land. 

After the review was ended, Xerxes sent for Demaratus to come to thecastle. When he arrived, the king addressed him as follows:

"You are a Greek, Demaratus, and you know your countrymen well; and now, as you have seen the fleet and the army that have been displayed hereto-day, tell me what is your opinion. Do you think that the Greeks willundertake to defend themselves against such a force, or will they submitat once without attempting any resistance?"

Demaratus seemed at first perplexed and uncertain, as if not knowingexactly what answer to make to the question. At length he asked the kingwhether it was his wish that he should respond by speaking the blunt andhonest truth, or by saying what would be polite and agreeable. 

Xerxes replied that he wished him, of course, to speak the truth. Thetruth itself would be what he should consider the most agreeable. 

"Since you desire it, then, " said Demaratus, "I will speak the exacttruth. Greece is the child of poverty. The inhabitants of the land havelearned wisdom and discipline in the severe school of adversity, andtheir resolution and courage are absolutely indomitable. They alldeserve this praise; but I speak more particularly of my own countrymen, the people of Sparta. I am sure that they will reject any proposal whichyou may make to them for submission to your power, and that they willresist you to the last extremity. The disparity of numbers will have noinfluence whatever on their decision. If all the rest of Greece were tosubmit to you, leaving the Spartans alone, and if they should findthemselves unable to muster more than a thousand men, they would giveyou battle. "

Xerxes expressed great surprise at this assertion, and thought thatDemaratus could not possibly mean what he seemed to say. "I appeal toyourself, " said he; "would _you_ dare to encounter, alone, ten men? Youhave been the prince of the Spartans, and a prince ought, at least, tobe equal to two common men; so that to show that the Spartans in generalcould be brought to fight a superiority of force of even ten to one, itought to appear that you would dare to engage twenty. This is manifestlyabsurd. In fact, for any person to pretend to be able or willing tofight under such a disparity of numbers, evinces only pride and insolentpresumption. And even this proportion of ten to one, or even twenty toone, is nothing compared to the real disparity; for, even if we grant tothe Spartans as large a force as there is any possibility of theirobtaining, I shall then have _a thousand_ to one against them. 

"Besides, " continued the king, "there is a great difference in thecharacter of the troops. The Greeks are all freemen, while my soldiersare all slaves--bound absolutely to do my bidding, without complaint ormurmur. Such soldiers as mine, who are habituated to submit entirely tothe will of another, and who live under the continual fear of the lash, might, perhaps, be forced to go into battle against a great superiorityof numbers, or under other manifest disadvantages; but free men, never. I do not believe that a body of Greeks could be brought to engage abody of Persians, man for man. Every consideration shows, thus, that theopinion which you have expressed is unfounded. You could only have beenled to entertain such an opinion through ignorance and unaccountablepresumption. "

"I was afraid, " replied Demaratus, "from the first, that, by speakingthe truth, I should offend you. I should not have given you my realopinion of the Spartans if you had not ordered me to speak withoutreserve. You certainly can not suppose me to have been influenced by afeeling of undue partiality for the men whom I commended, since theyhave been my most implacable and bitter enemies, and have driven me intohopeless exile from my native land. Your father, on the other hand, received and protected me, and the sincere gratitude which I feel forthe favors which I have received from him and from you incline me totake the most favorable view possible of the Persian cause. 

"I certainly should not be willing, as you justly suppose, to engage, alone, twenty men, or ten, or even one, unless there was an absolutenecessity for it. I do not say that any single Lacedæmonian couldsuccessfully encounter ten or twenty Persians, although in personalconflicts they are certainly not inferior to other men. It is when theyare combined in a body even though that body be small, that their greatsuperiority is seen. 

"As to their being free, and thus not easily led into battle incircumstances of imminent danger, it must be considered that theirfreedom is not absolute, like that of savages in a fray, where each actsaccording to his own individual will and pleasure, but it is qualifiedand controlled by law. The Spartan soldiers are not personal slaves, governed by the lash of a master, it is true; but they have certainprinciples of obligation and duty which they all feel most solemnlybound to obey. They stand in greater awe of the authority of this lawthan your subjects do of the lash. It commands them never to fly fromthe field of battle, whatever may be the number of their adversaries. Itcommands them to preserve their ranks, to stand firm at the postsassigned them, and there to conquer or die. 

"This is the truth in respect to them. If what I say seems to youabsurd, I will in future be silent. I have spoken honestly what Ithink, because your majesty commanded me to do so; and, notwithstandingwhat I have said, I sincerely wish that all your majesty's desires andexpectations may be fulfilled. "

The ideas which Demaratus thus appeared to entertain of danger to thecountless and formidable hosts of Xerxes's army, from so small andinsignificant a power as that of Sparta, seemed to Xerxes too absurd toawaken any serious displeasure in his mind. He only smiled, therefore, at Demaratus's fears, and dismissed him. 

Leaving a garrison and a governor in possession of the castle ofDoriscus, Xerxes resumed his march along the northern shores of theÆgean Sea, the immense swarms of men filling all the roads, devouringevery thing capable of being used as food, either for beast or man, anddrinking all the brooks and smaller rivers dry. Even with this totalconsumption of the food and the water which they obtained on the march, the supplies would have been found insufficient if the whole army hadadvanced through one tract of country. They accordingly divided the hostinto three great columns, one of which kept near the shore; the othermarched far in the interior, and the third in the intermediate space. They thus exhausted the resources of a very wide region. All the men, too, that were capable of bearing arms in the nations that these severaldivisions passed on the way, they compelled to join them, so that thearmy left, as it moved along, a very broad extent of country trampleddown, impoverished, desolate, and full of lamentation and woe. The wholemarch was perhaps the most gigantic crime against the rights and thehappiness of man that human wickedness has ever been able to commit. 

The army halted, from time to time, for various purposes, sometimes forthe performance of what they considered religions ceremonies, which wereintended to propitiate the supernatural powers of the earth and of theair. When they reached the Strymon, where, it will be recollected, abridge had been previously built, so as to be ready for the army when itshould arrive, they offered a sacrifice of five white horses to theriver. In the same region, too, they halted at a place called the NineWays, where Xerxes resolved to offer a human sacrifice to a certain godwhom the Persians believed to reside in the interior of the earth. Themode of sacrificing to this god was to bury the wretched victims alive. The Persians seized, accordingly, by Xerxes's orders, nine young men andnine girls from among the people of the country, and buried them alive!

Marching slowly on in this manner, the army at length reached the pointupon the coast where the canal had been cut across the isthmus of MountAthos. The town which was nearest to this spot was Acanthus, thesituation of which, together with that of the canal, will be found uponthe map. The fleet arrived at this point by sea nearly at the same timewith the army coming by land. Xerxes examined the canal, and wasextremely well satisfied with its construction. He commended the chiefengineer, whose name was Artachæes, in the highest terms, for thesuccessful manner in which he had executed the work, and rendered himvery distinguished honors. 

It unfortunately happened, however, that, a few days after the arrivalof the fleet and the army at the canal, and before the fleet hadcommenced the passage of it, that Artachæes died. The king consideredthis event as a serious calamity to him, as he expected that otheroccasions would arrive on which he would have occasion to avail himselfof the engineer's talents and skill. He ordered preparations to be madefor a most magnificent burial, and the body was in due time deposited inthe grave with imposing funeral solemnities. A very splendid monument, too, was raised upon the spot, which employed, for some time, all themechanical force of the army in its erection. 

While Xerxes remained at Acanthus, he required the people of theneighboring country to entertain his army at a grand feast, the cost ofwhich totally ruined them. Not only was all the food of the vicinityconsumed, but all the means and resources of the inhabitants, of everykind, were exhausted in the additional supplies which they had toprocure from the surrounding regions. At this feast the army in generalate, seated in groups upon the ground, in the open air; but for Xerxesand the nobles of the court a great pavilion was built, where tableswere spread, and vessels and furniture of silver and gold, suitable tothe dignity of the occasion, were provided. Almost all the propertywhich the people of the region had accumulated by years of patientindustry was consumed at once in furnishing the vast amount of foodwhich was required for this feast, and the gold and silver plate whichwas to be used in the pavilion. During the entertainment, theinhabitants of the country waited upon their exacting and insatiableguests until they were utterly exhausted by the fatigues of the service. When, at length, the feast was ended, and Xerxes and his company leftthe pavilion, the vast assembly outside broke up in disorder, pulled thepavilion to pieces, plundered the tables of the gold and silver plate, and departed to their several encampments, leaving nothing behind them. 

The inhabitants of the country were so completely impoverished andruined by these exactions, that those who were not impressed intoXerxes's service and compelled to follow his army, abandoned theirhomes, and roamed away in the hope of finding elsewhere the means ofsubsistence which it was no longer possible to obtain on their ownlands; and thus, when Xerxes at last gave orders to the fleet to passthrough the canal, and to his army to resume its march, he left thewhole region utterly depopulated and desolate. 

He went on to Therma, a port situated on the northwestern corner of theÆgean Sea, which was the last of his places of rendezvous before hisactual advance into Greece. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE PREPARATIONS OF THE GREEKS FOR DEFENSE. 

B. C. 480

The Greeks. --The two prominent states of Greece. --Greek kings. --The twokings of Sparta. --Origin of the custom of two kings. --The twins. --TheDelphic oracle consulted. --Plan for ascertaining the eldest. --Civildissensions. --Two lines established. --Character of the Spartans. --Theirlofty spirit. --The Athenians. --The city of Athens. --Sparta and Athensdefy the Persians. --Earth and water. --Spirit of the Spartans. --The blanktablets. --Leonidas. --His wife discovers the writing on the tablets. --Thethree spies. --Alarm at Athens. --The Greeks consult the Delphicoracle. --The responses. --Various interpretations of the oracle. --TheAthenian fleet. --Themistocles. --Proposed confederation. --Council ofSpartans and Athenians. --The Argives reject the propositions of theSpartans. --Embassy to Sicily. --Demands of Gelon. --The embassadors go toCorcyra. --The River Peneus. --The Vale of Tempe. --Straits ofThermopylæ. --Question to be decided. --Messengers fromThessaly. --Negotiations. --Decision to defend the OlympicStraits. --Sailing of the fleet. --Advice of the King of Macedon. --TheGreeks fall back to Thermopylæ. --Xerxes visits Thessaly. --Beautifulrural scene. --Conversation of Xerxes at the Olympic Pass. 

We must now leave, for a time, the operations of Xerxes and his army, and turn our attention to the Greeks, and to the preparations which theywere making to meet the emergency. 

The two states of Greece which were most prominent in the transactionsconnected with the invasion of Xerxes were Athens and Sparta. Byreferring to the map, Athens will be found to have been situated upon apromontory just without the Peloponnesus, while Sparta, on the otherhand, was in the center of a valley which lay in the southern part ofthe peninsula. Each of these cities was the center and strong-hold of asmall but very energetic and powerful commonwealth. The two states wereentirely independent of each other, and each had its own peculiar systemof government, of usages, and of laws. These systems, and, in fact, thecharacters of the two communities, in all respects, were extremelydissimilar. 

Both these states, though in name republics, had certain magistrates, called commonly, in history, kings. These kings were, however, in fact, only military chieftains, commanders of the armies rather than sovereignrulers of the state. The name by which such a chieftain was actuallycalled by the people themselves, in those days, was _tyrannus_, the namefrom which our word _tyrant_ is derived. As, however, the word_tyrannus_ had none of that opprobrious import which is associated withits English derivative, the latter is not now a suitable substitute forthe former. Historians, therefore, commonly use the word king instead, though that word does not properly express the idea. They werecommanders, chieftains, hereditary generals, but not strictly kings. Weshall, however, often call them kings, in these narratives, inconformity with the general usage. Demaratus, who had fled from Spartato seek refuge with Darius, and who was now accompanying Xerxes on hismarch to Greece, was one of these kings. 

It was a peculiarity in the constitution of Sparta that, from a veryearly period of its history, there had been always two kings, who hadheld the supreme command in conjunction with each other, like the Romanconsuls in later times. This custom was sustained partly by the ideathat by this division of the executive power of the state, the exerciseof the power was less likely to become despotic or tyrannical. It hadits origin, however, according to the ancient legends, in the followingsingular occurrences:

At a very early period in the history of Sparta, when the people hadalways been accustomed, like other states, to have one prince orchieftain, a certain prince died, leaving his wife, whose name wasArgia, and two infant children, as his survivors. The children weretwins, and the father had died almost immediately after they were born. Now the office of king was in a certain sense hereditary, and yet notabsolutely so; for the people were accustomed to assemble on the deathof the king, and determine who should be his successor, choosing always, however, the oldest son of the former monarch, unless there was somevery extraordinary and imperious reason for not doing so. In this casethey decided, as usual, that the oldest son should be king. 

But here a very serious difficulty arose, which was, to determine whichof the twins was the oldest son. They resembled each other so closelythat no stranger could distinguish one from the other at all. The mothersaid that she could not distinguish them, and that she did not knowwhich was the first-born. This was not strictly true; for she did, infact, know, and only denied her power to decide the question because shewished to have both of her children kings. 

In this perplexity the Spartans sent to the oracle at Delphi to knowwhat they were to do. The oracle gave, as usual, an ambiguous andunsatisfactory response. It directed the people to make both thechildren kings, but to render the highest honors to the first-born. Whenthis answer was reported at Sparta, it only increased the difficulty;for how were they to render peculiar honors to the first-born unlessthey could ascertain which the first-born was?

In this dilemma, some person suggested to the magistrates that perhapsArgia really knew which was the eldest child, and that if so, bywatching her, to see whether she washed and fed one, uniformly, beforethe other, or gave it precedence in any other way, by which her latentmaternal instinct or partiality might appear, the question mightpossibly be determined. This plan was accordingly adopted. Themagistrates contrived means to place a servant maid in the house towatch the mother in the way proposed, and the result was that the trueorder of birth was revealed. From that time forward, while they wereboth considered as princes, the one now supposed to be the first-borntook precedence of the other. 

When, however, the children arrived at an age to assume the exercise ofthe governmental power, as there was no perceptible difference betweenthem in age, or strength, or accomplishments, the one who had beendecided to be the younger was little disposed to submit to the other. Each had his friends and adherents, parties were formed, and a long andangry civil dissension ensued. In the end the question was compromised, the command was divided, and the system of having two chief magistratesbecame gradually established, the power descending in two lines, fromfather to son, through many generations. Of course there was perpetualjealousy and dissension, and often open and terrible conflicts, betweenthese two rival lines. 

The Spartans were an agricultural people, cultivating the valley in thesoutheastern part of the Peloponnesus, the waters of which werecollected and conveyed to the sea by the River Eurotas and its branches. They lived in the plainest possible manner, and prided themselves on thestern and stoical resolution with which they rejected all therefinements and luxuries of society. Courage, hardihood, indifference tolife, and the power to endure without a murmur the most severe andprotracted sufferings, were the qualities which they valued. Theydespised wealth just as other nations despise effeminacy and foppery. Their laws discouraged commerce, lest it should make some of the peoplerich. Their clothes were scanty and plain, their houses werecomfortless, their food was a coarse bread, hard and brown, and theirmoney was of iron. With all this, however, they were the most ferociousand terrible soldiers in the world. 

They were, moreover, with all their plainness of manners and of life, ofa very proud and lofty spirit. All agricultural toil, and every otherspecies of manual labor in their state, were performed by a servilepeasantry, while the free citizens, whose profession was exclusivelythat of arms, were as aristocratic and exalted in soul as any nobles onearth. People are sometimes, in our day, when money is so much valued, proud, notwithstanding their poverty. The Spartans were proud of theirpoverty itself. They could be rich if they chose, but they despisedriches. They looked down on all the refinements and delicacies of dressand of living from an elevation far above them. They looked down onlabor, too, with the same contempt. They were yet very nice andparticular about their dress and military appearance, though every thingpertaining to both was coarse and simple, and they had slaves to waitupon them even in their campaigns. 

The Athenians were a totally different people. The leading classes intheir commonwealth were cultivated, intellectual, and refined. The cityof Athens was renowned for the splendor of its architecture, itstemples, its citadels, its statues, and its various public institutions, which in subsequent times made it the great intellectual center ofEurope. It was populous and wealthy. It had a great commerce and apowerful fleet. The Spartan character, in a word, was stern, gloomy, indomitable, and wholly unadorned. The Athenians were rich, intellectual, and refined. The two nations were nearly equal in power, and were engaged in a perpetual and incessant rivalry. 

[Illustration: FATE OF THE PERSIAN EMBASSADORS AT SPARTA. ]

There were various other states and cities in Greece, but Athens andSparta were at this time the most considerable, and they were altogetherthe most resolute and determined in their refusal to submit to thePersian sway. In fact, so well known and understood was the spirit ofdefiance with which these two powers were disposed to regard the Persianinvasion, that when Xerxes sent his summons demanding submission, to theother states of Greece, he did not send any to these. When Dariusinvaded Greece some years before, he had summoned Athens and Sparta aswell as the others, but his demands were indignantly rejected. It seemsthat the custom was for a government or a prince, when acknowledging thedominion of a superior power, to send, as a token of territorialsubmission, a little earth and water, which was a sort of legal form ofgiving up possession of their country to the sovereign who claimed it. Accordingly, when Darius sent his embassadors into Greece to summon thecountry to surrender, the embassadors, according to the usual form, called upon the governments of the several states to send earth andwater to the king. The Athenians, as has been already said, indignantlyrefused to comply with this demand. The Spartans, not content with asimple refusal, seized the embassadors and threw them into a well, telling them, as they went down, that if they wanted earth and water forthe King of Persia, they might get it there. 

The Greeks had obtained some information of Xerxes's designs againstthem before they received his summons. The first intelligence wascommunicated to the Spartans by Demaratus himself, while he was at Susa, in the following singular manner. It was the custom, in those days, towrite with a steel point on a smooth surface of wax. The wax was spreadfor this purpose on a board or tablet of metal, in a very thin stratum, forming a ground upon which the letters traced with the point wereeasily legible. Demaratus took two writing-tablets such as these, andremoving the wax from them, he wrote a brief account of the proposedPersian invasion, by tracing the characters upon the surface of the woodor metal itself, beneath; then, restoring the wax so as to conceal theletters, he sent the two tablets, seemingly blank, to Leonidas, king ofSparta. The messengers who bore them had other pretexts for theirjourney, and they had various other articles to carry. The Persianguards who stopped and examined the messengers from time to time alongthe route, thought nothing of the blank tablets, and so they reachedLeonidas in safety. 

Leonidas being a blunt, rough soldier, and not much accustomed tocunning contrivances himself, was not usually much upon the watch forthem from others, and when he saw no obvious communication upon thetablets, he threw them aside, not knowing what the sending of them couldmean, and not feeling any strong interest in ascertaining. His wife, however--her name was Gorgo--had more curiosity. There was somethingmysterious about the affair, and she wished to solve it. She examinedthe tablets attentively in every part, and at length removed cautiouslya little of the wax. The letters began to appear. Full of excitement andpleasure, she proceeded with the work until the whole cereous coatingwas removed. The result was, that the communication was revealed, andGreece received the warning. 

When the Greeks heard that Xerxes was at Sardis, they sent threemessengers in disguise, to ascertain the facts in respect to the Persianarmy assembled there, and, so far as possible, to learn the plans anddesigns of the king. Notwithstanding all the efforts of these men topreserve their concealment and disguise, they were discovered, seized, and tortured by the Persian officer who took them, until they confessedthat they were spies. The officer was about to put them to death, whenXerxes himself received information of the circumstances. He forbade theexecution, and directed, on the other hand, that the men should beconducted through all his encampments, and be allowed to view andexamine every thing. He then dismissed them, with orders to return toGreece and report what they had seen. He thought, he said, that theGreeks would be more likely to surrender if they knew how immense hispreparations were for effectually vanquishing them if they attemptedresistance. 

The city of Athens, being farther north than Sparta, would be the onefirst exposed to danger from the invasion, and when the people heard ofXerxes's approach, the whole city was filled with anxiety and alarm. Some of the inhabitants were panic-stricken, and wished to submit;others were enraged, and uttered nothing but threats and defiance. Athousand different plans of defense were proposed and eagerlydiscussed. At length the government sent messengers to the oracle atDelphi, to learn what their destiny was to be, and to obtain, ifpossible, divine direction in respect to the best mode of averting thedanger. The messengers received an awful response, portending, in wildand solemn, though dark and mysterious language, the most dreadfulcalamities to the ill-fated city. The messengers were filled with alarmat hearing this reply. One of the inhabitants of Delphi, the city inwhich the oracle was situated, proposed to them to make a secondapplication, in the character of the most humble supplicants, and toimplore that the oracle would give them some directions in respect tothe best course for them to pursue in order to avoid, or, at least, tomitigate the impending danger. They did so, and after a time theyreceived an answer, vague, mysterious, and almost unintelligible, butwhich seemed to denote that the safety of the city was connected in somemanner with Salamis, and with certain "wooden walls, " to which theinspired distich of the response obscurely alluded. 

The messengers returned to Athens and reported the answer which they hadreceived. The people were puzzled and perplexed in their attempts tounderstand it. It seems that the citadel of Athens had been formerlysurrounded by a wooden palisade. Some thought that this was what wasreferred to by the "wooden walls, " and that the meaning of the oraclewas that they must rebuild the palisade, and then retreat to the citadelwhen the Persians should approach, and defend themselves there. 

Others conceived that the phrase referred to ships, and that the oraclemeant to direct them to meet their enemies with a fleet upon the sea. Salamis, which was also mentioned by the oracle, was an island not farfrom Athens, being west of the city, between it and the Isthmus ofCorinth. Those who supposed that by the "wooden walls" was denoted thefleet, thought that Salamis might have been alluded to as the place nearwhich the great naval battle was to be fought. This was theinterpretation which seemed finally to prevail. 

The Athenians had a fleet of about two hundred galleys. These vesselshad been purchased and built, some time before this, for the Atheniangovernment, through the influence of a certain public officer of highrank and influence, named Themistocles. It seems that a large sum hadaccumulated in the public treasury, the produce of certain minesbelonging to the city, and a proposal was made to divide it among thecitizens, which would have given a small sum to each man. Themistoclesopposed this proposition, and urged instead that the government shouldbuild and equip a fleet with the money. This plan was finally adopted. The fleet was built, and it was now determined to call it into activeservice to meet and repel the Persians, though the naval armament ofXerxes was six times as large. 

The next measure was to establish a confederation, if possible, of theGrecian states, or at least of all those who were willing to combine, and thus to form an allied army to resist the invader. The smallerstates were very generally panic-stricken, and had either alreadysignified their submission to the Persian rule, or were timidlyhesitating, in doubt whether it would be safer for them to submit to theoverwhelming force which was advancing against them, or to join theAthenians and the Spartans in their almost desperate attempts to resistit. The Athenians and Spartans settled, for the time, their ownquarrels, and held a council to take the necessary measures for forminga more extended confederation. 

All this took place while Xerxes was slowly advancing from Sardis to theHellespont, and from the Hellespont to Doriscus, as described in thepreceding chapter. 

The council resolved on dispatching an embassy at once to all the statesof Greece, as well as to some of the remoter neighboring powers, askingthem to join the alliance. 

The first Greek city to which these embassadors came was Argos, whichwas the capital of a kingdom or state lying between Athens and Sparta, though within the Peloponnesus. The states of Argos and of Sparta, beingneighbors, had been constantly at war. Argos had recently lost sixthousand men in a battle with the Spartans, and were, consequently, notlikely to be in a very favorable mood for a treaty of friendship andalliance. 

When the embassadors had delivered their message, the Argolians repliedthat they had anticipated such a proposal from the time that they hadheard that Xerxes had commenced his march toward Greece, and that theyhad applied, accordingly, to the oracle at Delphi, to know what it wouldbe best for them to do in case the proposal were made. The answer of theoracle had been, they said, unfavorable to their entering into analliance with the Greeks. They were willing, however, they added, notwithstanding this, to enter into an alliance, offensive anddefensive, with the Spartans, for thirty years, on condition that theyshould themselves have the command of half the Peloponnesian troops. They were entitled to the command of the whole, being, as theycontended, the superior nation in rank, but they would waive their justclaim, and be satisfied with half, if the Spartans would agree to thatarrangement. 

The Spartans replied that they could not agree to those conditions. Theywere themselves, they said, the superior nation in rank, and entitled tothe whole command; and as they had two kings, and Argos but one, therewas a double difficulty in complying with the Argive demand. They couldnot surrender one half of the command without depriving one of theirkings of his rightful power. 

Thus the proposed alliance failed entirely, the people of Argos sayingthat they would as willingly submit to the dominion of Xerxes as to theinsolent demands and assumptions of superiority made by the governmentof Sparta. 

The embassadors among other countries which they visited in theirattempts to obtain alliance and aid, went to Sicily. Gelon was the Kingof Sicily, and Syracuse was his capital. Here the same difficultyoccurred which had broken up the negotiations at Argos. The embassadors, when they arrived at Syracuse, represented to Gelon that, if thePersians subdued Greece, they would come to Sicily next, and that it wasbetter for him and for his countrymen that they should meet the enemywhile he was still at a distance, rather than to wait until he camenear. Gelon admitted the justice of this reasoning, and said that hewould furnish a large force, both of ships and men, for carrying on thewar, provided that he might have the command of the combined army. Tothis, of course, the Spartans would not agree. He then asked that hemight command the fleet, on condition of giving up his claim to the landforces. This proposition the Athenian embassadors rejected, saying toGelon that what they were in need of, and came to him to obtain, was asupply of troops, not of leaders. The Athenians, they said, were tocommand the fleet, being not only the most ancient nation of Greece, butalso the most immediately exposed to the invasion, so that they weredoubly entitled to be considered as the principals and leaders in thewar. 

Gelon then told the embassadors that, since they wished to obtain everything and to concede nothing, they had better leave his dominionswithout delay, and report to their countrymen that they had nothing toexpect from Sicily. 

The embassadors went then to Corcyra, a large island on the westerncoast of Greece, in the Adriatic Sea. It is now called Corfu. Here theyseemed to meet with their first success. The people of Corcyra accededto the proposals made to them, and promised at once to equip and mantheir fleet, and send it round into the Ægean Sea. They immediatelyengaged in the work, and seemed to be honestly intent on fulfillingtheir promises. They were, however, in fact, only pretending. They werereally undecided which cause to espouse, the Greek or the Persian, andkept their promised squadron back by means of various delays, until itsaid was no longer needed. 

But the most important of all these negotiations of the Athenians andSpartans with the neighboring states were those opened with Thessaly. Thessaly was a kingdom in the northern part of Greece. It was, therefore, the territory which the Persian armies would first enter, onturning the northwestern corner of the Ægean Sea. There were, moreover, certain points in its geographical position, and in the physicalconformation of the country, that gave it a peculiar importance inrespect to the approaching conflict. 

By referring to the map placed at the commencement of the fifth chapter, it will be seen that Thessaly was a vast valley, surrounded on all sidesby mountainous land, and drained by the River Peneus and its branches. The Peneus flows eastwardly to the Ægean Sea, and escapes from the greatvalley through a narrow and romantic pass lying between the MountainsOlympus and Ossa. This pass was called in ancient times the OlympicStraits, and a part of it formed a romantic and beautiful glen calledthe Vale of Tempe. There was a road through this pass, which was theonly access by which Thessaly could be entered from the eastward. 

To the south of the Vale of Tempe, the mountains, as will appear fromthe map, crowded so hard upon the sea as not to allow any passage to theeastward of them. The natural route of Xerxes, therefore, in descendinginto Greece, would be to come down along the coast until he reached themouth of the Peneus, and then, following the river up through the Valeof Tempe into Thessaly, to pass down toward the Peloponnesus on thewestern side of Ossa and Pelion, and of the other mountains near thesea. If he could get through the Olympic Straits and the Vale of Tempe, the way would be open and unobstructed until he should reach thesouthern frontier of Thessaly, where there was another narrow passleading from Thessaly into Greece. This last defile was close to thesea, and was called the Straits of Thermopylæ. 

Thus Xerxes and his hosts, in continuing their march to the southward, must necessarily traverse Thessaly, and in doing so they would have twonarrow and dangerous defiles to pass--one at Mount Olympus, to get intothe country, and the other at Thermopylæ, to get out of it. Itconsequently became a point of great importance to the Greeks todetermine at which of these two passes they should make their standagainst the torrent which was coming down upon them. 

This question would, of course, depend very much upon the disposition ofThessaly herself. The government of that country, understanding thecritical situation in which they were placed, had not waited for theAthenians and Spartans to send embassadors to them, but, at a very earlyperiod of the war--before, in fact, Xerxes had yet crossed theHellespont, had sent messengers to Athens to concert some plan ofaction. These messengers were to say to the Athenians that thegovernment of Thessaly were expecting every day to receive a summonsfrom Xerxes, and that they must speedily decide what they were to do;that they themselves were very unwilling to submit to him, but theycould not undertake to make a stand against his immense host alone; thatthe southern Greeks might include Thessaly in their plan of defense, orexclude it, just as they thought best. If they decided to include it, then they must make a stand at the Olympic Straits, that is, at the passbetween Olympus and Ossa; and to do that, it would be necessary to senda strong force immediately to take possession of the pass. If, on thecontrary, they decided _not_ to defend Thessaly, then the pass ofThermopylæ would be the point at which they must make their stand, andin that case Thessaly must be at liberty to submit on the first Persiansummons. 

The Greeks, after consultation on the subject, decided that it would bebest for them to defend Thessaly, and to take their stand, accordingly, at the Straits of Olympus. They immediately put a large force on boardtheir fleet, armed and equipped for the expedition. This was at the timewhen Xerxes was just about crossing the Hellespont. The fleet sailedfrom the port of Athens, passed up through the narrow strait calledEuripus, lying between the island of Euboea and the main land, andfinally landed at a favorable point of disembarkation, south ofThessaly. From this point the forces marched to the northward until theyreached the Peneus, and then established themselves at the narrowestpart of the passage between the mountains, strengthened their positionthere as much as possible, and awaited the coming of the enemy. Theamount of the force was ten thousand men. 

They had not been here many days before a messenger came to them fromthe King of Macedon, which country, it will be seen, lies immediatelynorth of Thessaly, earnestly dissuading them from attempting to make astand at the Vale of Tempe. Xerxes was coming on, he said, with animmense and overwhelming force, one against which it would be utterlyimpossible for them to make good their defense at such a point as that. It would be far better for them to fall back to Thermopylæ, which, beinga narrower and more rugged pass, could be more easily defended. 

Besides this, the messenger said that it was possible for Xerxes toenter Thessaly without going through the Vale of Tempe at all. Thecountry between Thessaly and Macedon was mountainous, but it was notimpassable, and Xerxes would very probably come by that way. The onlysecurity, therefore, for the Greeks, would be to fall back and intrenchthemselves at Thermopylæ. Nor was there any time to be lost. Xerxes wascrossing the Hellespont, and the whole country was full of excitementand terror. 

The Greeks determined to act on this advice. They broke up theirencampment at the Olympic Straits, and, retreating to the southward, established themselves at Thermopylæ, to await there the coming of theconqueror. The people of Thessaly then surrendered to Xerxes as soon asthey received his summons. 

Xerxes, from his encampment at Therma, where we left him at the close ofthe last chapter, saw the peaks of Olympus and Ossa in the southernhorizon. They were distant perhaps fifty miles from where he stood. Heinquired about them, and was told that the River Peneus flowed betweenthem to the sea, and that through the same defile there lay the mainentrance to Thessaly. He had previously determined to march his armyround the other way, as the King of Macedon had suggested, but he saidthat he should like to see this defile. So he ordered a swift Sidoniangalley to be prepared, and, taking with him suitable guides, and a fleetof other vessels in attendance on his galley, he sailed to the mouth ofthe Peneus, and, entering that river, he ascended it until he came tothe defile. 

Seen from any of the lower elevations which projected from the bases ofthe mountains at the head of this defile, Thessaly lay spread out beforethe eye as one vast valley--level, verdant, fertile, and bounded bydistant groups and ranges of mountains, which formed a blue andbeautiful horizon on every side. Through the midst of this scene ofrural loveliness the Peneus, with its countless branches, gracefullymeandered, gathering the water from every part of the valley, and thenpouring it forth in a deep and calm current through the gap in themountains at the observer's feet. Xerxes asked his guides if it would bepossible to find any other place where the waters of the Peneus could beconducted to the sea. They replied that it would not be, for the valleywas bounded on every side by ranges of mountainous land. 

"Then, " said Xerxes, "the Thessalians were wise in submitting at once tomy summons; for, if they had not done so, I would have raised a vastembankment across the valley here, and thus stopped the river, turnedtheir country into a lake, and drowned them all. "

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE. 

B. C. 480

Advance of the army. --Sailing of the fleet. --Sciathus. --Euboea. --Straitsof Artemisium and Euripus. --Attica. --Saronic Gulf. --Island ofSalamis. --Excitement of the country. --Signals. --Sentinels. --Movement ofthe fleet. --The ten reconnoitering galleys. --Guard-shipscaptured. --Barbarous ceremony. --A heroic Greek. --One crew escape. --Thealarm spread. --Return of the Persian galleys. --The monument ofstones. --Progress of the fleet. --The fleet anchors in a bay. --A comingstorm. --The storm rages. --Destruction of many vessels. --Plunder of thewrecks. --Scyllias, the famous diver. --Dissensions in the Greekfleet. --Jealousy of the Athenians. --Situation of theAthenians. --Eurybiades appointed commander. --Debates in the Greekcouncil. --Dismay of the Euboeans. --The Greek leadersbribed. --Precautions of the Persians. --Designs of the Persiansdiscovered. --The Greeks decide to give battle. --Euripus andArtemisium. --Advance of the Greeks. --The battle. --A stormy night. --Sceneof terror. --A calm after the storm. --Terror of the Euboeans. --Theirplans. --The Greeks retire. --Inscription on the rocks. --The commanders ofthe Persian fleet summoned to Thermopylæ. 

From Therma--the last of the great stations at which the Persian armyhalted before its final descent upon Greece--the army commenced itsmarch, and the fleet set sail, nearly at the same time, which was earlyin the summer. The army advanced slowly, meeting with the usualdifficulties and delays, but without encountering any special orextraordinary occurrences, until, after having passed through Macedoninto Thessaly, and through Thessaly to the northern frontier of Phocis, they began to approach the Straits of Thermopylæ. What took place atThermopylæ will be made the subject of the next chapter. The movementsof the fleet are to be narrated in this. 

In order distinctly to understand these movements, it is necessarythat the reader should first have a clear conception of the geographicalconformation of the coasts and seas along which the path of theexpedition lay. By referring to the map of Greece, we shall see that thecourse which the fleet would naturally take from Therma to thesoutheastward, along the coast, was unobstructed and clear for about ahundred miles. We then come to a group of four islands, extending in arange at right angles to the coast. The only one of these islands withwhich we have particularly to do in this history is the innermost ofthem, which was named Sciathus. Opposite to these islands the line ofthe coast, having passed around the point of a mountainous and rockypromontory called Magnesia, turns suddenly to the westward, and runs inthat direction for about thirty miles, when it again turns to thesouthward and eastward as before. In the sort of corner thus cut off bythe deflection of the coast lies the long island of Euboea, which may beconsidered, in fact, as almost a continuation of the continent, as it isa part of the same conformation of country, and is separated from themain land only by submerged valleys on the north and on the east. Intothese sunken valleys the sea of course flows, forming straits orchannels. The one on the north was, in ancient times, called Artemisium, and the one on the west, at its narrowest point, Euripus. All theseislands and coasts were high and picturesque. They were also, in thedays of Xerxes, densely populated, and adorned profusely with temples, citadels, and towns. 

On passing the southernmost extremity of the island of Euboea, andturning to the westward, we come to a promontory of the main land, whichconstituted Attica, and in the middle of which the city of Athens wassituated. Beyond this is a capacious gulf, called the Saronian Gulf. Itlies between Attica and the Peloponnesus. In the middle of the SaronianGulf lies the island of Ægina, and in the northern part of it the islandof Salamis. The progress of the Persian fleet was from Therma down thecoast to Sciathus, thence along the shores of Euboea to its southernpoint, and so round into the Saronian Gulf to the island of Salamis. Thedistance of this voyage was perhaps two hundred and fifty miles. Inaccomplishing it the fleet encountered many dangers, and met with avariety of incidents and events, which we shall now proceed to describe. 

The country, of course, was every where in a state of the greatestexcitement and terror. The immense army was slowly coming down by land, and the fleet, scarcely less terrible, since its descents upon the coastwould be so fearfully sudden and overwhelming when they were made, wasadvancing by sea. The inhabitants of the country were consequently in astate of extreme agitation. The sick and the infirm, who were, ofcourse, utterly helpless in such a danger, exhibited every where thespectacle of silent dismay. Mothers, wives, maidens, and children, onthe other hand, were wild with excitement and terror. The men, too fullof passion to fear, or too full of pride to allow their fears to beseen, were gathering in arms, or hurrying to and fro with intelligence, or making hasty arrangements to remove their wives and children from thescenes of cruel suffering which were to ensue. They stationed watchmenon the hills to give warning of the approach of the enemy. They agreedupon signals, and raised piles of wood for beacon fires on everycommanding elevation along the coast; while all the roads leading fromthe threatened provinces to other regions more remote from the dangerwere covered with flying parties, endeavoring to make their escape, andcarrying, wearily and in sorrow, whatever they valued most and were mostanxious to save. Mothers bore their children, men their gold and silver, and sisters aided their sick or feeble brothers to sustain the toil andterror of the flight. 

All this time Xerxes was sitting in his war chariot, in the midst of hisadvancing army, full of exultation, happiness, and pride at the thoughtsof the vast harvest of glory which all this panic and suffering werebringing him in. 

The fleet, at length--which was under the command of Xerxes's brothersand cousins, whom he had appointed the admirals of it--began to movedown the coast from Therma, with the intention of first sweeping theseas clear of any naval force which the Greeks might have sent forwardthere to act against them, and then of landing upon some point on thecoast, wherever they could do so most advantageously for co-operationwith the army on the land. The advance of the ships was necessarilyslow. So immense a flotilla could not have been otherwise kept together. The admirals, however, selected ten of the swiftest of the galleys, and, after manning and arming them in the most perfect manner, sent themforward to reconnoiter. The ten galleys were ordered to advance rapidly, but with the greatest circumspection. They were not to incur anyneedless danger, but, if they met with any detached ships of the enemy, they were to capture them, if possible. They were, moreover, to beconstantly on the alert, to observe every thing, and to send back tothe fleet all important intelligence which they could obtain. 

The ten galleys went on without observing any thing remarkable untilthey reached the island of Sciathus. Here they came in sight of threeGreek ships, a sort of advanced guard, which had been stationed there towatch the movements of the enemy. 

The Greek galleys immediately hoisted their anchors and fled; thePersian galleys manned their oars, and pressed on after them. 

They overtook one of the guard-ships very soon, and, after a shortconflict, they succeeded in capturing it. The Persians made prisoners ofthe officers and crew, and then, selecting from among them the fairestand most noble-looking man, just as they would have selected a bullockfrom a herd, they sacrificed him to one of their deities on the prow ofthe captured ship. This was a religious ceremony, intended to signalizeand sanctify their victory. 

The second vessel they also overtook and captured. The crew of this shipwere easily subdued, as the overwhelming superiority of their enemiesappeared to convince them that all resistance was hopeless, and toplunge them into despair. There was one man, however, who, it seems, could not be conquered. He fought like a tiger to the last, and onlyceased to deal his furious thrusts and blows at the enemies thatsurrounded him when, after being entirely covered with wounds, he fellfaint and nearly lifeless upon the bloody deck. When the conflict withhim was thus ended, the murderous hostility of his enemies seemedsuddenly to be changed into pity for his sufferings and admiration ofhis valor. They gathered around him, bathed and bound up his wounds, gave him cordials, and at length restored him to life. Finally, when thedetachment returned to the fleet, some days afterward, they carried thisman with them, and presented him to the commanders as a hero worthy ofthe highest admiration and honor. The rest of the crew were made slaves. 

The third of the Greek guard-ships contrived to escape, or, rather, thecrew escaped, while the vessel itself was taken. This ship, in itsflight, had gone toward the north, and the crew at last succeeded inrunning it on shore on the coast of Thessaly, so as to escape, themselves, by abandoning the vessel to the enemy. The officers andcrew, thus escaping to the shore, went through Thessaly into Greece, spreading the tidings every where that the Persians were at hand. Thisintelligence was communicated, also, along the coast, by beacon fireswhich the people of Sciathus built upon the heights of the island as asignal, to give the alarm to the country southward of them, according tothe preconcerted plan. The alarm was communicated by other fires builton other heights, and sentinels were stationed on every commandingeminence on the highlands of Euboea toward the south, to watch for thefirst appearance of the enemy. 

The Persian galleys that had been sent forward having taken the threeGreek guard-ships, and finding the sea before them now clear of allappearances of an enemy, concluded to return to the fleet with theirprizes and their report. They had been directed, when they weredispatched from the fleet, to lay up a monument of stones at thefurthest point which they should reach in their cruise: a measure oftenresorted to in similar cases, by way of furnishing proof that a partythus sent forward have really advanced as far as they pretend on theirreturn. The Persian detachment had actually brought the stones for theerection of their landmark with them in one of their galleys. Thegalley containing the stones, and two others to aid it, pushed on beyondSciathus to a small rocky islet standing in a conspicuous position inthe sea, and there they built their monument or cairn. The detachmentthen returned to meet the fleet. The time occupied by this wholeexpedition was eleven days. 

The fleet was, in the mean time, coming down along the coast ofMagnesia. The whole company of ships had advanced safely andprosperously thus far, but now a great calamity was about to befallthem--the first of the series of disasters by which the expedition wasultimately ruined. It was a storm at sea. 

The fleet had drawn up for the night in a long and shallow bay on thecoast. There was a rocky promontory at one end of this bay and a cape onthe other, with a long beach between them. It was a very good place ofrefuge and rest for the night in calm weather, but such a bay affordedvery little shelter against a tempestuous wind, or even against the surfand swell of the sea, which were sometimes produced by a distant storm. When the fleet entered this bay in the evening, the sea was calm and thesky serene. The commanders expected to remain there for the night, andto proceed on the voyage on the following day. 

The bay was not sufficiently extensive to allow of the drawing up of solarge a fleet in a single line along the shore. The ships wereaccordingly arranged in several lines, eight in all. The innermost ofthese lines was close to the shore; the others were at differentdistances from it, and every separate ship was held to the placeassigned it by its anchors. In this position the fleet passed the nightin safety, but before morning there were indications of a storm. The skylooked wild and lurid. A heavy swell came rolling in from the offing. The wind began to rise, and to blow in fitful gusts. Its direction wasfrom the eastward, so that its tendency was to drive the fleet upon theshore. The seamen were anxious and afraid, and the commanders of theseveral ships began to devise, each for his own vessel, the best meansof safety. Some, whose vessels were small, drew them up upon the sand, above the reach of the swell. Others strengthened the anchoring tackle, or added new anchors to those already down. Others raised their anchorsaltogether, and attempted to row their galleys away, up or down thecoast, in hope of finding some better place of shelter. Thus all wasexcitement and confusion in the fleet, through the eager efforts made byevery separate crew to escape the impending danger. 

In the mean time, the storm came on apace. The rising and roughening seamade the oars useless, and the wind howled frightfully through thecordage and the rigging. The galleys soon began to be forced away fromtheir moorings. Some were driven upon the beach and dashed to pieces bythe waves. Some were wrecked on the rocks at one or the other of theprojecting points which bounded the bay on either hand. Some founderedat their place of anchorage. Vast numbers of men were drowned. Those whoescaped to the shore were in hourly dread of an attack from theinhabitants of the country. To save themselves, if possible, from thisdanger, they dragged up the fragments of the wrecked vessels upon thebeach, and built a fort with them on the shore. Here they intrenchedthemselves, and then prepared to defend their lives, armed with theweapons which, like the materials for their fort, were washed up, fromtime to time, by the sea. 

The storm continued for three days. It destroyed about three hundredgalleys, besides an immense number of provision transports and othersmaller vessels. Great numbers of seamen, also, were drowned. Theinhabitants of the country along the coast enriched themselves with theplunder which they obtained from the wrecks, and from the treasures, andthe gold and silver vessels, which continued for some time to be drivenup upon the beach by the waves. The Persians themselves recovered, itwas said, a great deal of valuable treasure, by employing a certainGreek diver, whom they had in their fleet, to dive for it after thestorm was over. This diver, whose name was Scyllias, was famed far andwide for his power of remaining under water. As an instance of what theybelieved him capable of performing, they said that when, at a certainperiod subsequent to these transactions, he determined to desert to theGreeks, he accomplished his design by diving into the sea from the deckof a Persian galley, and coming up again in the midst of the Greekfleet, ten miles distant!

After three days the storm subsided. The Persians then repaired thedamages which had been sustained, so far as it was now possible torepair them, collected what remained of the fleet, took the shipwreckedmariners from their rude fortification on the beach, and set sail againon their voyage to the southward. 

In the mean time, the Greek fleet had assembled in the arm of the sealying north of Euboea, and between Euboea and the main land. It was anallied fleet, made up of contributions from various states that hadfinally agreed to come into the confederacy. As is usually the case, however, with allied or confederate forces, they were not well agreedamong themselves. The Athenians had furnished far the greater number ofships, and they considered themselves, therefore, entitled to thecommand; but the other allies were envious and jealous of them onaccount of that very superiority of wealth and power which enabled themto supply a greater portion of the naval force than the rest. They werewilling that one of the Spartans should command, but they would notconsent to put themselves under an Athenian. If an Athenian leader werechosen, they would disperse, they said, and the various portions of thefleet return to their respective homes. 

The Athenians, though burning with resentment at this unjustdeclaration, were compelled to submit to the necessity of the case. Theycould not take the confederates at their word, and allow the fleet tobe broken up, for the defense of Athens was the great object for whichit was assembled. The other states might make their peace with theconqueror by submission, but the Athenians could not do so. In respectto the rest of Greece, Xerxes wished only for dominion. In respect toAthens, he wished for vengeance. The Athenians had burned the Persiancity of Sardis, and he had determined to give himself no rest until hehad burned Athens in return. 

It was well understood, therefore, that the assembling of the fleet, andgiving battle to the Persians where they now were, was a plan adoptedmainly for the defense and benefit of the Athenians. The Athenians, accordingly, waived their claim to command, secretly resolving that, when the war was over, they would have their revenge for the insult andinjury. 

A Spartan was accordingly appointed commander of the fleet. His name wasEurybiades. 

Things were in this state when the two fleets came in sight of eachother in the strait between the northern end of Euboea and the mainland. Fifteen of the Persian galleys, advancing incautiously some milesin front of the rest, came suddenly upon the Greek fleet, and were allcaptured. The crews were made prisoners and sent into Greece. Theremainder of the fleet entered the strait, and anchored at the easternextremity of it, sheltered by the promontory of Magnesia, which now layto the north of them. 

The Greeks were amazed at the immense magnitude of the Persian fleet, and the first opinion of the commanders was, that it was wholly uselessfor them to attempt to engage them. A council was convened, and, after along and anxious debate, they decided that it was best to retire to thesouthward. The inhabitants of Euboea, who had been already in a state ofgreat excitement and terror at the near approach of so formidable anenemy, were thrown, by this decision of the allies, into a state ofabsolute dismay. It was abandoning them to irremediable and hopelessdestruction. 

The government of the island immediately raised a very large sum ofmoney, and went with it to Themistocles, one of the most influential ofthe Athenian leaders, and offered it to him if he would contrive any wayto persuade the commanders of the fleet to remain and give the Persiansbattle where they were. Themistocles took the money, and agreed to thecondition. He went with a small part of it--though this part was a veryconsiderable sum--to Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, and offered itto him if he would retain the fleet in its present position. There weresome other similar offerings made to other influential men, judiciouslyselected. All this was done in a very private manner, and, of course, Themistocles took care to reserve to himself the lion's share of theEuboean contribution. The effect of this money in altering the opinionsof the naval officers was marvelous. A new council was called, theformer decision was annulled, and the Greeks determined to give theirenemies battle where they were. 

The Persians had not been unmindful of the danger that the Greeks mightretreat by retiring through the Euripus, and so escape them. In order toprevent this, they secretly sent off a fleet of two hundred of theirstrongest and fleetest galleys, with orders to sail round Euboea andenter the Euripus from the south, so as to cut off the retreat of theGreeks in that quarter. They thought that by this plan the Greek fleetwould be surrounded, and could have no possible mode of escape. Theyremained, therefore, with the principal fleet, at the outer entrance ofthe northern strait for some days, before attacking the Greeks, in orderto give time for the detachment to pass round the island. 

The Persians sent off the two hundred galleys with great secrecy, notdesiring that the Greeks should discover their design of thusintercepting their retreat. They did discover it, however, for this wasthe occasion on which the great diver, Scyllias, made his escape fromone fleet to the other by swimming under water ten miles, and he broughtthe Greeks the tidings. [E]

[Footnote E: There is reason to suppose that Scyllias made his escape bynight in a boat, managing the circumstances, however, in such a way asto cause the story to be circulated that he swam. ]

The Greeks dispatched a small squadron of ships with orders to proceedsouthward into the Euripus, to meet this detachment which the Persianssent round; and, in the mean time, they determined themselves to attackthe main Persian fleet without any delay. Notwithstanding their absurddissensions and jealousies, and the extent to which the leaders wereinfluenced by intrigues and bribes, the Greeks always evinced anundaunted and indomitable spirit when the day of battle came. It was, moreover, in this case, exceedingly important to defend the positionwhich they had taken. By referring to the map once more, it will be seenthat the Euripus was the great highway to Athens by sea, as the pass ofThermopylæ was by land. Thermopylæ was west of Artemisium, where thefleet was now stationed, and not many miles from it. The Greek army hadmade its great stand at Thermopylæ, and Xerxes was fast coming down thecountry with all his forces to endeavor to force a passage there. ThePersian fleet, in entering Artemisium, was making the same attempt bysea in respect to the narrow passage of Euripus; and for either of thetwo forces, the fleet or the army, to fail of making good the defense ofits position, without a desperate effort to do so, would justly beconsidered a base betrayal and abandonment of the other. 

The Greeks therefore advanced, one morning, to the attack of thePersians, to the utter astonishment of the latter, who believed thattheir enemies were insane when they thus saw them coming into the jaws, as they thought, of certain destruction. Before night, however, theywere to change their opinions in respect to the insanity of their foes. The Greeks pushed boldly on into the midst of the Persian fleet, wherethey were soon surrounded. They then formed themselves into a circle, with the prows of the vessels outward, and the sterns toward the centerwithin, and fought in this manner with the utmost desperation all theday. With the night a storm came on, or, rather, a series ofthunder-showers and gusts of wind, so severe that both fleets were gladto retire from the scene of contest. The Persians went back toward theeast, the Greeks to the westward, toward Thermopylæ--each party busy inrepairing their wrecks, taking care of their wounded, and saving theirvessels from the tempest. It was a dreadful night. The Persians, particularly, spent it in the midst of scenes of horror. The wind andthe current, it seems, set outward, toward the sea, and carried themasses and fragments of the wrecked vessels, and the swollen and ghastlybodies of the dead, in among the Persian fleet, and so choked up thesurface of the water that the oars became entangled and useless. Thewhole mass of seamen in the Persian fleet, during this terrible night, were panic-stricken and filled with horror. The wind, the perpetualthunder, the concussions of the vessels with the wrecks and with oneanother, and the heavy shocks of the seas, kept them in continualalarm; and the black and inscrutable darkness was rendered the moredreadful, while it prevailed, by the hideous spectacle which, at everyflash of lightning, glared brilliantly upon every eye from the widesurface of the sea. The shouts and cries of officers vociferatingorders, of wounded men writhing in agony, of watchmen and sentinels infear of collisions, mingled with the howling wind and roaring seas, created a scene of indescribable terror and confusion. 

The violence of the sudden gale was still greater further out at sea, and the detachment of ships which had been sent around Euboea was whollydispersed and destroyed by it. 

The storm was, however, after all, only a series of summer eveningshowers, such as to the inhabitants of peaceful dwellings on the landhave no terror, but only come to clear the sultry atmosphere in thenight, and in the morning are gone. When the sun rose, accordingly, uponthe Greeks and Persians on the morning after their conflict, the air wascalm, the sky serene, and the sea as blue and pure as ever. The bodiesand the wrecks had been floated away into the offing. The courage or theferocity, whichever we choose to call it, of the combatants, returned, and they renewed the conflict. It continued, with varying success, fortwo more days. 

During all this time the inhabitants of the island of Euboea were in thegreatest distress and terror. They watched these dreadful conflicts fromthe heights, uncertain how the struggle would end, but fearing lesttheir defenders should be beaten, in which case the whole force of thePersian fleet would be landed on their island, to sweep it with pillageand destruction. They soon began to anticipate the worst, and, inpreparation for it, they removed their goods--all that could beremoved--and drove their cattle down to the southern part of the island, so as to be ready to escape to the main land. The Greek commanders, finding that the fleet would probably be compelled to retreat in theend, sent to them here, recommending that they should kill their cattleand eat them, roasting the flesh at fires which they should kindle onthe plain. The cattle could not be transported, they said, across thechannel, and it was better that the flying population should be fed, than that the food should fall into Persian hands. If they would disposeof their cattle in this manner, Eurybiades would endeavor, he said, totransport the people themselves and their valuable goods across intoAttica. 

How many thousand peaceful and happy homes were broken up and destroyedforever by this ruthless invasion!

In the mean time, the Persians, irritated by the obstinate resistance ofthe Greeks, were, on the fourth day, preparing for some more vigorousmeasures, when they saw a small boat coming toward the fleet from downthe channel. It proved to contain a countryman, who came to tell themthat the Greeks had gone away. The whole fleet, he said, had sailed offto the southward, and abandoned those seas altogether. The Persians didnot, at first, believe this intelligence. They suspected some ambuscadeor stratagem. They advanced slowly and cautiously down the channel. Whenthey had gone half down to Thermopylæ, they stopped at a place calledHistiæa, where, upon the rocks on the shore, they found an inscriptionaddressed to the Ionians--who, it will be recollected, had been broughtby Xerxes as auxiliaries, contrary to the advice ofArtabanus--entreating them not to fight against their countrymen. Thisinscription was written in large and conspicuous characters on the faceof the cliff, so that it could be read by the Ionian seamen as theypassed in their galleys. 

The fleet anchored at Histiæa, the commanders being somewhat uncertainin respect to what it was best to do. Their suspense was very soonrelieved by a messenger from Xerxes, who came in a galley up the channelfrom Thermopylæ, with the news that Xerxes had arrived at Thermopylæ, had fought a great battle there, defeated the Greeks, and obtainedpossession of the pass, and that any of the officers of the fleet whochose to do so might come and view the battle ground. This intelligenceand invitation produced, throughout the fleet, a scene of the wildestexcitement, enthusiasm, and joy. All the boats and smaller vessels ofthe fleet were put into requisition to carry the officers down. Whenthey arrived at Thermopylæ the tidings all proved true. Xerxes was inpossession of the pass, and the Greek fleet was gone. 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ. 

B. C. 480

The pass of Thermopylæ. --Its situation. --Ancient intrenchments. --View atThermopylæ. --The allied forces. --Leonidas the Spartan. --Debate in regardto defending Thermopylæ. --The decision. --Character of theSpartans. --Their pride. --The Spartans adorn themselves for thebattle. --Approach of Xerxes. --The Persian horseman. --Hisobservation. --Report of the horseman. --Conversation withDemaratus. --Xerxes encamps at the pass. --Troops sent into thepass. --Defeat of the Persian detachment. --The Immortals called out. --TheImmortals advance to the charge. --Valor of the Greeks. --The Immortalsrepulsed. --Treachery of Ephialtes. --Joy of Xerxes. --Course of thepath. --A Persian detachment sent up the path. --The Phocæansretreat. --The Greeks surrounded. --Resolution of Leonidas. --Leonidasdismisses the other Greeks. --His noble generosity. --Leonidas retains theThebans. --Xerxes attacks him. --Terrible combat. --Death ofLeonidas. --Stories of the battle. --The two invalids. --Xerxes views theground. --His treatment of the body of Leonidas. --Message to thefleet. --Xerxes sends for Demaratus. --Conversation with Demaratus. --Plansproposed by him. --Opposition of the admiral. --Decision of Xerxes. 

The pass of Thermopylæ was not a ravine among mountains, but a narrowspace between mountains and the sea. The mountains landward were steepand inaccessible; the sea was shoal. The passage between them was narrowfor many miles along the shore, being narrowest at the ingress andegress. In the middle the space was broader. The place was celebratedfor certain warm springs which here issued from the rocks, and which hadbeen used in former times for baths. 

The position had been considered, long before Xerxes's day, a veryimportant one in a military point of view, as it was upon the frontierbetween two Greek states that were frequently at war. One of thesestates, of course, was Thessaly. The other was Phocis, which lay southof Thessaly. The general boundary between these two states wasmountainous, and impassable for troops, so that each could invade theterritories of the other only by passing round between the mountainsand the shore at Thermopylæ. 

The Phocæans, in order to keep the Thessalians out, had, in formertimes, built a wall across the way, and put up gates there, which theystrongly fortified. In order still further to increase the difficulty offorcing a passage, they conducted the water of the warm springs over theground without the wall, in such a way as to make the surfacecontinually wet and miry. The old wall had now fallen to ruins, but themiry ground remained. The place was solitary and desolate, and overgrownwith a confused and wild vegetation. On one side the view extended farand wide over the sea, with the highlands of Euboea in the distance, andon the other dark and inaccessible mountains rose, covered with forests, indented with mysterious and unexplored ravines, and frowning in a wildand gloomy majesty over the narrow passway which crept along the shorebelow. 

The Greeks, when they retired from Thessaly, fell back upon Thermopylæ, and established themselves there. They had a force variously estimated, from three to four thousand men. These were from the different states ofGreece, some within and some without the Peloponnesus--a few hundredmen only being furnished, in general, from each state or kingdom. Eachof these bodies of troops had its own officers, though there was onegeneral-in-chief, who commanded the whole. This was Leonidas theSpartan. He had brought with him three hundred Spartans, as the quotafurnished by that city. These men he had specially selected himself, oneby one, from among the troops of the city, as men on whom he could rely. 

It will be seen from the map that Thermopylæ is at some distance fromthe Isthmus of Corinth, and that of the states which would be protectedby making a stand at the pass, some were without the isthmus and somewithin. These states, in sending each a few hundred men only toThermopylæ, did not consider that they were making their fullcontribution to the army, but only sending forward for the emergencythose that could be dispatched at once; and they were all makingarrangements to supply more troops as soon as they could be raised andequipped for the service. In the mean time, however, Xerxes and hisimmense hordes came on faster than they had expected, and the news atlength came to Leonidas, in the pass, that the Persians, with one or twomillions of men, were at hand, while he had only three or four thousandat Thermopylæ to oppose them. The question arose, What was to be done?

Those of the Greeks who came from the Peloponnesus were in favor ofabandoning Thermopylæ, and falling back to the isthmus. The isthmus, they maintained, was as strong and as favorable a position as the placewhere they were; and, by the time they had reached it, they would havereceived great re-enforcements; whereas, with so small a force as theyhad then at command, it was madness to attempt to resist the Persianmillions. This plan, however, was strongly opposed by all those Greekswho represented countries _without_ the Peloponnesus; for, by abandoningThermopylæ, and falling back to the isthmus, their states would be leftwholly at the mercy of the enemy. After some consultation and debate, itwas decided to remain at Thermopylæ. The troops accordingly took uptheir positions in a deliberate and formal manner, and, intrenchingthemselves as strongly as possible, began to await the onset of theenemy. Leonidas and his three hundred were foremost in the defile, so asto be the first exposed to the attack. The rest occupied variouspositions along the passage, except one corps, which was stationed onthe mountains above, to guard the pass in that direction. This corps wasfrom Phocis, which, being the state nearest to the scene of conflict, had furnished a larger number of soldiers than any other. Their divisionnumbered a thousand men. These being stationed on the declivity of themountain, left only two or three thousand in the defile below. 

From what has been said of the stern and savage character of theSpartans, one would scarcely expect in them any indications or displaysof personal vanity. There was one particular, it seems, however, inregard to which they were vain, and that was in respect to their hair. They wore it very long. In fact, the length of the hair was, in theircommonwealth, a mark of distinction between freemen and slaves. All theagricultural and mechanical labors were performed, as has already beenstated, by the slaves, a body which constituted, in fact, the mass ofthe population; and the Spartan freemen, though very stern in theirmanners, and extremely simple and plain in their habits of life, were, it must be remembered, as proud and lofty in spirit as they were plainand poor. They constituted a military aristocracy, and a militaryaristocracy is always more proud and overbearing than any other. 

It must be understood, therefore, that these Spartan soldiers wereentirely above the performance of any useful labors; and while theyprized, in character, the savage ferocity of the tiger, they had ataste, in person, for something like his savage beauty too. They werenever, moreover, more particular and careful in respect to theirpersonal appearance than when they were going into battle. The field ofbattle was their particular theater of display, not only of thesubstantial qualities of strength, fortitude, and valor, but also ofsuch personal adornments as were consistent with the plainness andseverity of their attire, and could be appreciated by a taste as rudeand savage as theirs. They proceeded, therefore, when established attheir post in the throat of the pass, to adorn themselves for theapproaching battle. 

In the mean time the armies of Xerxes were approaching. Xerxes himself, though he did not think it possible that the Greeks could have asufficient force to offer him any effectual resistance, thought itprobable that they would attempt to make a stand at the pass, and, whenhe began to draw near to it, he sent forward a horseman to reconnoiterthe ground. The horseman rode into the pass a little way, until he camein sight of the enemy. He stopped upon an eminence to survey the scene, being all ready to turn in an instant, and fly at the top of his speed, in case he should be pursued. The Spartans looked upon him as he stoodthere, but seemed to consider his appearance as a circumstance of nomoment, and then went on with their avocations. The horseman found, ashe leisurely observed them, that there was an intrenchment thrown acrossthe straits, and that the Spartans were in front of it. There were otherforces behind, but these the horseman could not see. The Spartans wereengaged, some of them in athletic sports and gymnastic exercises, andthe rest in nicely arranging their dress, which was red and showy incolor, though simple and plain in form, and in smoothing, adjusting, andcurling their hair. In fact, they seemed to be, one and all, preparingfor an entertainment. 

And yet these men were actually preparing themselves to be slaughtered, to be butchered, one by one, by slow degrees, and in the most horribleand cruel manner; and they knew perfectly well that it was so. Theadorning of themselves was for this express and particular end. 

The horseman, when he had attentively noticed all that was to be seen, rode slowly back to Xerxes, and reported the result. The king was muchamused at hearing such an account from his messenger. He sent forDemaratus, the Spartan refugee, with whom, the reader will recollect, heheld a long conversation in respect to the Greeks at the close of thegreat review at Doriscus. When Demaratus came, Xerxes related to himwhat the messenger had reported. "The Spartans in the pass, " said he, "present, in their encampment, the appearance of being out on a party ofpleasure. What does it mean? You will admit now, I suppose, that they donot intend to resist us. "

Demaratus shook his head. "Your majesty does not know the Greeks, " saidhe, "and I am very much afraid that, if I state what I know respectingthem, I shall offend you. These appearances which your messengerobserved indicate to me that the men he saw were a body of Spartans, andthat they supposed themselves on the eve of a desperate conflict. Thoseare the men, practicing athletic feats, and smoothing and adorning theirhair, that are the most to be feared of all the soldiers of Greece. Ifyou can conquer them, you will have nothing beyond to fear. "

Xerxes thought this opinion of Demaratus extremely absurd. He wasconvinced that the party in the pass was some small detachment thatcould not possibly be thinking of serious resistance. They would, he wassatisfied, now that they found that the Persians were at hand, immediately retire down the pass, and leave the way clear. He advanced, therefore, up to the entrance of the pass, encamped there, and waitedseveral days for the Greeks to clear the way. The Greeks remainedquietly in their places, paying apparently no attention whatever to theimpending and threatening presence of their formidable foes. 

At length Xerxes concluded that it was time for him to act. On themorning, therefore, of the fifth day, he called out a detachment of histroops, sufficient, as he thought, for the purpose, and sent them downthe pass, with orders to seize all the Greeks that were there, and bringthem, _alive_, to him. The detachment that he sent was a body of Medes, who were considered as the best troops in the army, excepting always theImmortals, who, as has been before stated, were entirely superior to therest. The Medes, however, Xerxes supposed, would find no difficulty inexecuting his orders. 

The detachment marched, accordingly, into the pass. In a few hours aspent and breathless messenger came from them, asking forre-enforcements. The re-enforcements were sent. Toward night a remnantof the whole body came back, faint and exhausted with a long andfruitless combat, and bringing many of their wounded and bleedingcomrades with them. The rest they had left dead in the defile. 

Xerxes was both astonished and enraged at these results. He determinedthat this trifling should continue no longer. He ordered the Immortalsthemselves to be called out on the following morning, and then, placinghimself at the head of them, he advanced to the vicinity of the Greekintrenchments. Here he ordered a seat or throne to be placed for himupon an eminence, and, taking his seat upon it, prepared to witness theconflict. The Greeks, in the mean time, calmly arranged themselves onthe line which they had undertaken to defend, and awaited the charge. Upon the ground, on every side, were lying the mangled bodies of thePersians slain the day before, some exposed fully to view, ghastly andhorrid spectacles, others trampled down and half buried in the mire. 

The Immortals advanced to the attack, but they made no impression. Theirsuperior numbers gave them no advantage, on account of the narrowness ofthe defile. The Greeks stood, each corps at its own assigned station onthe line, forming a mass so firm and immovable that the charge of thePersians was arrested on encountering it as by a wall. In fact, as thespears of the Greeks were longer than those of the Persians, and theirmuscular and athletic strength and skill were greater, it was found thatin the desperate conflict which raged, hour after hour, along the line, the Persians were continually falling, while the Greek ranks continuedentire. Sometimes the Greeks would retire for a space, falling back withthe utmost coolness, regularity, and order; and then, when the Persianspressed on in pursuit, supposing that they were gaining the victory, theGreeks would turn so soon as they found that the ardor of pursuit hadthrown the enemies' lines somewhat into confusion, and, presenting thesame firm and terrible front as before, would press again upon theoffensive, and cut down their enemies with redoubled slaughter. Xerxes, who witnessed all these things from among the group of officers aroundhim upon the eminence, was kept continually in a state of excitementand irritation. Three times he leaped from his throne, with loudexclamations of vexation and rage. 

All, however, was of no avail. When night came the Immortals werecompelled to withdraw, and leave the Greeks in possession of theirintrenchments. 

Things continued substantially in this state for one or two days longer, when one morning a Greek countryman appeared at the tent of Xerxes, andasked an audience of the king. He had something, he said, of greatimportance to communicate to him. The king ordered him to be admitted. The Greek said that his name was Ephialtes, and that he came to informthe king that there was a secret path leading along a wild and hiddenchasm in the mountains, by which he could guide a body of Persians tothe summit of the hills overhanging the pass at a point below the Greekintrenchment. This point being once attained, it would be easy, Ephialtes said, for the Persian forces to descend into the pass belowthe Greeks, and thus to surround them and shut them in, and that theconquest of them would then be easy. The path was a secret one, andknown to very few. He knew it, however, and was willing to conduct adetachment of troops through it, on condition of receiving a suitablereward. 

The king was greatly surprised and delighted at this intelligence. Heimmediately acceded to Ephialtes's proposals, and organized a strongforce to be sent up the path that very night. 

On the north of Thermopylæ there was a small stream, which came downthrough a chasm in the mountains to the sea. The path which Ephialteswas to show commenced here, and following the bed of this stream up thechasm, it at length turned to the southward through a succession of wildand trackless ravines, till it came out at last on the declivities ofthe mountains near the lower part of the pass, at a place where it waspossible to descend to the defile below. This was the point which thethousand Phocæans had been ordered to take possession of and guard, whenthe plan for the defense of the pass was first organized. They wereposted here, not with the idea of repelling any attack from themountains behind them--for the existence of the path was wholly unknownto them--but only that they might command the defile below, and aid inpreventing the Persians from going through, even if those who were inthe defile were defeated or slain. 

The Persian detachment toiled all night up the steep and dangerouspathway, among rocks, chasms, and precipices, frightful by day, and nowmade still more frightful by the gloom of the night. They came out atlast, in the dawn of the morning, into valleys and glens high up thedeclivity of the mountain, and in the immediate vicinity of the Phocæanencampment. The Persians were concealed, as they advanced, by the grovesand thickets of stunted oaks which grew here, but the morning air was socalm and still, that the Phocæan sentinels heard the noise made by theirtrampling upon the leaves as they came up the glen. The Phocæansimmediately gave the alarm. Both parties were completely surprised. ThePersians had not expected to find a foe at this elevation, and theGreeks who had ascended there had supposed that all beyond and abovethem was an impassable and trackless desolation. 

There was a short conflict, The Phocæans were driven off their ground. They retreated up the mountain, and toward the southward. The Persiansdecided not to pursue them. On the other hand, they descended toward thedefile, and took up a position on the lower declivities of the mountain, which enabled them to command the pass below; there they paused, andawaited Xerxes's orders. 

The Greeks in the defile perceived at once that they were now wholly atthe mercy of their enemies. They might yet retreat, it is true, for thePersian detachment had not yet descended to intercept them; but, if theyremained where they were, they would, in a few hours, be hemmed in bytheir foes; and even if they could resist, for a little time, the doubleonset which would then be made upon them, their supplies would be cutoff, and there would be nothing before them but immediate starvation. They held hurried councils to determine what to do. 

There is some doubt as to what took place at these councils, though theprevailing testimony is, that Leonidas recommended that they shouldretire--that is, that all except himself and the three hundred Spartansshould do so. "You, " said he, addressing the other Greeks, "are atliberty, by your laws, to consider, in such cases as this, the questionof expediency, and to withdraw from a position which you have taken, orstand and maintain it, according as you judge best. But by our laws, such a question, in such a case, is not to be entertained. Wherever weare posted, there we stand, come life or death, to the end. We have beensent here from Sparta to defend the pass of Thermopylæ. We have receivedno orders to withdraw. Here, therefore, we must remain; and thePersians, if they go through the pass at all, must go through it overour graves. It is, therefore, your duty to retire. Our duty is here, andwe will remain and do it. "

After all that may be said of the absurdity and folly of throwing awaythe lives of three hundred men in a case like this, so utterly andhopelessly desperate, there is still something in the noble generositywith which Leonidas dismissed the other Greeks, and in the undauntedresolution with which he determined himself to maintain his ground, which has always strongly excited the admiration of mankind. It wasundoubtedly carrying the point of honor to a wholly unjustifiableextreme, and yet all the world, for the twenty centuries which haveintervened since these transactions occurred, while they haveunanimously disapproved, in theory, of the course which Leonidaspursued, have none the less unanimously admired and applauded it. 

In dismissing the other Greeks, Leonidas retained with him a body ofThebans, whom he suspected of a design of revolting to the enemy. Whether he considered his decision to keep them in the pass equivalentto a sentence of death, and intended it as a punishment for theirsupposed treason, or only that he wished to secure their continuedfidelity by keeping them closely to their duty, does not appear. At allevents, he retained them, and dismissed the other allies. Thosedismissed retreated to the open country below. The Spartans and theThebans remained in the pass. There were also, it was said, some othertroops, who, not willing to leave the Spartans alone in this danger, chose to remain with them and share their fate. The Thebans remainedvery unwillingly. 

The next morning Xerxes prepared for his final effort. He began bysolemn religious services, in the presence of his army, at an earlyhour; and then, after breakfasting quietly, as usual, and waiting, infact, until the business part of the day had arrived, he gave orders toadvance. His troops found Leonidas and his party not at theirintrenchments, as before, but far in advance of them. They had come outand forward into a more open part of the defile, as if to court andanticipate their inevitable and dreaded fate. Here a most terriblecombat ensued; one which, for a time, seemed to have no other objectthan mutual destruction, until at length Leonidas himself fell, and thenthe contest for the possession of his body superseded the unthinking anddesperate struggles of mere hatred and rage. Four times the body, havingbeen taken by the Persians, was retaken by the Greeks: at last thelatter retreated, bearing the dead body with them past theirintrenchment, until they gained a small eminence in the rear of it, at apoint where the pass was wider. Here the few that were still leftgathered together. The detachment which Ephialtes had guided were comingup from below. The Spartans were faint and exhausted with theirdesperate efforts, and were bleeding from the wounds they had received;their swords and spears were broken to pieces, their leader and nearlyall their company were slain. But the savage and tiger-like ferocitywhich animated them continued unabated till the last. They fought withtooth and nail when all other weapons failed them, and bit the dust atlast, as they fell, in convulsive and unyielding despair. The struggledid not cease till they were all slain, and every limb of every manceased to quiver. 

There were stories in circulation among mankind after this battle, importing that one or two of the corps escaped the fate of the rest. There were two soldiers, it was said, that had been left in a town nearthe pass, as invalids, being afflicted with a severe inflammation of theeyes. One of them, when he heard that the Spartans were to be left inthe pass, went in, of his own accord, and joined them, choosing to sharethe fate of his comrades. It was said that he ordered his servant toconduct him to the place. The servant did so, and then fled himself, ingreat terror. The sick soldier remained and fought with the rest. Theother of the invalids was saved, but, on his return to Sparta, he wasconsidered as stained with indelible disgrace for what his countrymenregarded a base dereliction from duty in not sharing his comrade's fate. 

There was also a story of another man, who had been sent away on somemission into Thessaly, and who did not return until all was over; andalso of two others who had been sent to Sparta, and were returning whenthey heard of the approaching conflict. One of them hastened into thepass, and was killed with his companions. The other delayed, and wassaved. Whether any or all of these rumors were true, is not nowcertain; there is, however, no doubt that, with at most a few exceptionssuch as these, the whole three hundred were slain. 

The Thebans, early in the conflict, went over in a body to the enemy. 

Xerxes came after the battle to view the ground. It was covered withmany thousands of dead bodies, nearly all of whom, of course, werePersians. The wall of the intrenchment was broken down, and the breachesin it choked up by the bodies. The morasses made by the water of thesprings were trampled into deep mire, and were full of the mutilatedforms of men and of broken weapons. When Xerxes came at last to the bodyof Leonidas, and was told that that was the man who had been the leaderof the band, he gloried over it in great exaltation and triumph. Atlength he ordered the body to be decapitated, and the headless trunk tobe nailed to a cross. 

Xerxes then commanded that a great hole should be dug, and ordered allthe bodies of the Persians that had been killed to be buried in it, except only about a thousand, which he left upon the ground. The objectof this was to conceal the extent of the loss which his army hadsustained. The more perfectly to accomplish this end, he caused thegreat grave, when it was filled up, to be strewed over with leaves, soas to cover and conceal all indications of what had been done. Thishaving been carefully effected, he sent the message to the fleet, whichwas alluded to at the close of the last chapter, inviting the officersto come and view the ground. 

The operations of the fleet described in the last chapter, and those ofthe army narrated in this, took place, it will be remembered, at thesame time, and in the same vicinity too; for, by referring to the map, it will appear that Thermopylæ was upon the coast, exactly opposite tothe channel or arm of the sea lying north of Euboea, where the navalcontests had been waged; so that, while Xerxes had been making hisdesperate efforts to get through the pass, his fleet had been engaged ina similar conflict with the squadrons of the Greeks, directly oppositeto him, twenty or thirty miles in the offing. 

After the battle of Thermopylæ was over, Xerxes sent for Demaratus, andinquired of him how many more such soldiers there were in Greece asLeonidas and his three hundred Spartans. Demaratus replied that he couldnot say how many precisely there were in Greece, but that there wereeight thousand such in Sparta alone. Xerxes then asked the opinion ofDemaratus as to the course best to be pursued for making the conquest ofthe country. This conversation was held in the presence of variousnobles and officers, among whom was the admiral of the fleet, who hadcome, with the various other naval commanders, as was stated in the lastchapter, to view the battle-field. 

Demaratus said that he did not think that the king could easily getpossession of the Peloponnesus by marching to it directly, so formidablewould be the opposition that he would encounter at the isthmus. Therewas, however, he said, an island called Cythera, opposite to theterritories of Sparta, and not far from the shore, of which he thoughtthat the king could easily get possession, and which, once fully in hispower, might be made the base of future operations for the reduction ofthe whole peninsula, as bodies of troops could be dispatched from it tothe main land in any numbers and at any time. He recommended, therefore, that three hundred ships, with a proper complement of men, should bedetached from the fleet, and sent round at once to take possession ofthat island. 

To this plan the admiral of the fleet was totally opposed. It wasnatural that he should be so, since the detaching of three hundredships for this enterprise would greatly weaken the force under hiscommand. It would leave the fleet, he told the king, a miserableremnant, not superior to that of the enemy, for they had already lostfour hundred ships by storms. He thought it infinitely preferable thatthe fleet and the army should advance together, the one by sea and theother on the land, and complete their conquests as they went along. Headvised the king, too, to beware of Demaratus's advice. He was a Greek, and, as such, his object was, the admiral believed, to betray and ruinthe expedition. 

After hearing these conflicting opinions, the king decided to follow theadmiral's advice. "I will adopt your counsel, " said he, "but I will nothear any thing said against Demaratus, for I am convinced that he is atrue and faithful friend to me. " Saying this, he dismissed the council. 

CHAPTER X. 

THE BURNING OF ATHENS. 

B. C. 480

The officers return to their vessels. --The Greek fleet retire toSalamis. --The Thessalians. --Their hostility to the Phocæans. --Defeat ofthe Thessalians. --Phocæan stratagem. --A spectral army. --Thessaliancavalry. --Pitfall for the cavalry. --They are caught in it. --Advance ofthe army. --Cruelties and atrocities. --The sacred town of Delphi. --MountParnassus. --Summit of Parnassus. --The Castalian spring. --Theoracle. --Architectural structures. --Works of art. --Inspiration of theoracle. --Its discovery. --Panic of the Delphians. --They apply to theoracle. --Response of the oracle. --The prodigy in thetemple. --Discomfiture of the Persians. --The spiritwarriors. --Consternation at Athens. --The inhabitants advised tofly. --Scenes of misery. --Some of the inhabitants remain. --Situation ofthe Acropolis. --Magnificent architectural structures. --Statue ofMinerva. --The Parthenon. --Xerxes at Athens. --Athens burned. --The citadeltaken and fired. --Exaltation of Xerxes. --Messenger sent to Susa. 

When the officers of the Persian fleet had satisfied themselves withexamining the battle-field at Thermopylæ, and had heard the narrationsgiven by the soldiers of the terrible combats that had been fought withthe desperate garrison which had been stationed to defend the pass, theywent back to their vessels, and prepared to make sail to the southward, in pursuit of the Greek fleet. The Greek fleet had gone to Salamis. ThePersians in due time overtook them there, and a great naval conflictoccurred, which is known in history as the battle of Salamis, and wasone of the most celebrated naval battles of ancient times. An account ofthis battle will form the subject of the next chapter. In this we are tofollow the operations of the army on the land. 

As the Pass of Thermopylæ was now in Xerxes's possession, the way wasopen before him to all that portion of the great territory which laynorth of the Peloponnesus. Of course, before he could enter thepeninsula itself, he must pass the Isthmus of Corinth, where he might, perhaps, encounter some concentrated resistance. North of the isthmus, however, there was no place where the Greeks could make a stand. Thecountry was all open, or, rather, there were a thousand ways openthrough the various valleys and glens, and along the banks of therivers. All that was necessary was to procure guides and proceed. 

The Thessalians were very ready to furnish guides. They had submitted toXerxes before the battle of Thermopylæ, and they considered themselves, accordingly, as his allies. They had, besides, a special interest inconducting the Persian army, on account of the hostile feelings whichthey entertained toward the people immediately south of the pass, intowhose territories Xerxes would first carry his ravages. This people werethe Phocæans. Their country, as has already been stated, was separatedfrom Thessaly by impassable mountains, except where the Straits ofThermopylæ opened a passage; and through this pass both nations had beencontinually making hostile incursions into the territory of the otherfor many years before the Persian invasion. The Thessalians hadsurrendered readily to the summons of Xerxes, while the Phocæans haddetermined to resist him, and adhere to the cause of the Greeks in thestruggle. They were suspected of having been influenced, in a greatmeasure, in their determination to resist, by the fact that theThessalians had decided to surrender. They were resolved that they wouldnot, on any account, be upon the same side with their ancient andinveterate foes. 

The hostility of the Thessalians to the Phocæans was equally implacable. At the last incursion which they had made into the Phocæan territory, they had been defeated by means of stratagems in a manner which tendedgreatly to vex and irritate them. There were two of these stratagems, which were both completely successful, and both of a very extraordinarycharacter. 

The first was this. The Thessalians were in the Phocæan country in greatforce, and the Phocæans had found themselves utterly unable to expelthem. Under these circumstances, a body of the Phocæans, six hundred innumber, one day whitened their faces, their arms and hands, theirclothes, and all their weapons, with chalk, and then, at the dead ofnight--perhaps, however, when the moon was shining--made an onset uponthe camp of the enemy. The Thessalian sentinels were terrified and ranaway, and the soldiers, awakened from their slumbers by theseunearthly-looking troops, screamed with fright, and fled in alldirections, in utter confusion and dismay. A night attack is usually adangerous attempt, even if the assaulting party is the strongest, as, inthe darkness and confusion which then prevail, the assailants can notordinarily distinguish friends from foes, and so are in great danger, amid the tumult and obscurity, of slaying one another. That difficultywas obviated in this case by the strange disguise which the Phocæans hadassumed. They knew that all were Thessalians who were not whitened likethemselves. The Thessalians were totally discomfited and dispersed bythis encounter. 

The other stratagem was of a different character, and was directedagainst a troop of cavalry. The Thessalian cavalry were renownedthroughout the world. The broad plains extending through the heart oftheir country contained excellent fields for training and exercisingsuch troops, and the mountains which surrounded it furnished grassyslopes and verdant valleys, that supplied excellent pasturage for therearing of horses. The nation was very strong, therefore, in thisspecies of force, and many of the states and kingdoms of Greece, whenplanning their means of internal defense, and potentates and conquerors, when going forth on great campaigns, often considered their armiesincomplete unless there was included in them a corps of Thessaliancavalry. 

A troop of this cavalry had invaded Phocis, and the Phocæans, consciousof their inability to resist them in open war, contrived to entrap themin the following manner. They dug a long trench in the ground, and thenputting in baskets or casks sufficient nearly to fill the space, theyspread over the top a thin layer of soil. They then concealed allindications that the ground had been disturbed, by spreading leaves overthe surface. The trap being thus prepared, they contrived to entice theThessalians to the spot by a series of retreats, and at length led theminto the pitfall thus provided for them. The substructure of casks wasstrong enough to sustain the Phocæans, who went over it as footmen, butwas too fragile to bear the weight of the mounted troops. The horsesbroke through, and the squadron was thrown into such confusion by sounexpected a disaster, that, when the Phocæans turned and fell uponthem, they were easily overcome. 

These things had irritated and vexed the Thessalians very much. Theywere eager for revenge, and they were very ready to guide the armies ofXerxes into the country of their enemies in order to obtain it. 

The troops advanced accordingly, awakening every where, as they came on, the greatest consternation and terror among the inhabitants, andproducing on all sides scenes of indescribable anguish and suffering. They came into the valley of the Cephisus, a beautiful river flowingthrough a delightful and fertile region, which contained many cities andtowns, and was filled every where with an industrious rural population. Through this scene of peace, and happiness, and plenty, the vast hordeof invaders swept on with the destructive force of a tornado. Theyplundered the towns of every thing which could be carried away, anddestroyed what they were compelled to leave behind them. There is acatalogue of twelve cities in this valley which they burned. Theinhabitants, too, were treated with the utmost cruelty. Some wereseized, and compelled to follow the army as slaves; others were slain;and others still were subjected to nameless cruelties and atrocities, worse sometimes than death. Many of the women, both mothers and maidens, died in consequence of the brutal violence with which the soldierstreated them. 

The most remarkable of the transactions connected with Xerxes's advancethrough the country of Phocis, on his way to Athens, were thoseconnected with his attack upon Delphi. Delphi was a sacred town, theseat of the oracle. It was in the vicinity of Mount Parnassus and of theCastalian spring, places of very great renown in the Greek mythology. 

Parnassus was the name of a short mountainous range rather than of asingle peak, though the loftiest summit of the range was calledParnassus too. This summit is found, by modern measurement, to be abouteight thousand feet high, and it is covered with snow nearly all theyear. When bare it consists only of a desolate range of rocks, withmosses and a few Alpine plants growing on the sheltered and sunny sidesof them. From the top of Parnassus travelers who now visit it look downupon almost all of Greece as upon a map. The Gulf of Corinth is a silverlake at their feet, and the plains of Thessaly are seen extending farand wide to the northward, with Olympus, Pelion, and Ossa, blue anddistant peaks, bounding the view. 

Parnassus has, in fact, a double summit, between the peaks of which asort of ravine commences, which, as it extends down the mountain, becomes a beautiful valley, shaded with rows of trees, and adorned withslopes of verdure and banks of flowers. In a glen connected with thisvalley there is a fountain of water springing copiously from among therocks, in a grove of laurels. This fountain gives rise to a stream, which, after bounding over the rocks, and meandering between mossy banksfor a long distance down the mountain glens, becomes a quiet lowlandstream, and flows gently through a fertile and undulating country to thesea. This fountain was the famous Castalian spring. It was, as theancient Greek legends said, the favorite resort and residence of Apolloand the Muses, and its waters became, accordingly, the symbol and theemblem of poetical inspiration. 

The city of Delphi was built upon the lower declivities of theParnassian ranges, and yet high above the surrounding country. It wasbuilt in the form of an amphitheater, in a sort of _lap_ in the hillwhere it stood, with steep precipices descending to a great depth oneither side. It was thus a position of difficult access, and wasconsidered almost impregnable in respect to its military strength. Besides its natural defenses, it was considered as under the specialprotection of Apollo. 

Delphi was celebrated throughout the world, in ancient times, not onlyfor the oracle itself, but for the magnificence of the architecturalstructures, the boundless profusion of the works of art, and the immensevalue of the treasures which, in process of time, had been accumulatedthere. The various powers and potentates that had resorted to it toobtain the responses of the oracle, had brought rich presents, or madecostly contributions in some way, to the service of the shrine. Some hadbuilt temples, others had constructed porches or colonnades. Some hadadorned the streets of the city with architectural embellishments;others had caused statues to be erected; and others had made splendiddonations of vessels of gold and silver, until at length the wealth andmagnificence of Delphi was the wonder of the world. All nations resortedto it, some to see its splendors, and others to obtain the counsel anddirection of the oracle in emergencies of difficulty or danger. 

In the time of Xerxes, Delphi had been for several hundred years in theenjoyment of its fame as a place of divine inspiration. It was said tohave been originally discovered in the following manner. Some herdsmenon the mountains, watching their flocks, observed one day a number ofgoats performing very strange and unaccountable antics among somecrevices in the rocks, and, going to the place, they found that amysterious wind was issuing from the crevices, which produced anextraordinary exhilaration on all who breathed it. Every thingextraordinary was thought, in those days, to be supernatural and divine, and the fame of this discovery was spread every where, the peoplesupposing that the effect produced upon the men and animals by breathingthe mysterious air was a divine inspiration. A temple was built over thespot, priests and priestesses were installed, a city began to rise, andin process of time Delphi became the most celebrated oracle in theworld; and as the vast treasures which had been accumulated thereconsisted mainly of gifts and offerings consecrated to a divine andsacred service, they were all understood to be under divine protection. They were defended, it is true, in part by the inaccessibleness of theposition of Delphi, and by the artificial fortifications which had beenadded from time to time to increase the security, but still more by thefeeling which every where prevailed, that any violence offered to such ashrine would be punished by the gods as sacrilege. The account of themanner in which Xerxes was repulsed, as related by the ancienthistorians, is somewhat marvelous. We, however, in this case, as in allothers, transmit the story to our readers as the ancient historians giveit to us. 

The main body of the army pursued its way directly southward toward thecity of Athens, which was now the great object at which Xerxes aimed. Alarge detachment, however, separating from the main body, moved more tothe westward, toward Delphi. Their plan was to plunder the temples andthe city, and send the treasures to the king. The Delphians, on hearingthis, were seized with consternation. They made application themselvesto the oracle, to know what they were to do in respect to the sacredtreasures. They could not defend them, they said, against such a host, and they inquired whether they should bury them in the earth, or attemptto remove them to some distant place of safety. 

The oracle replied that they were to do nothing at all in respect to thesacred treasures. The divinity, it said, was able to protect what wasits own. They, on their part, had only to provide for themselves, theirwives, and their children. 

On hearing this response, the people dismissed all care in respect tothe treasures of the temple and of the shrine, and made arrangements forremoving their families and their own effects to some place of safetytoward the southward. The military force of the city and a small numberof the inhabitants alone remained. 

When the Persians began to draw near, a prodigy occurred in the temple, which seemed intended to warn the profane invaders away. It seems thatthere was a suit of arms, of a costly character doubtless, and highlydecorated with gold and gems--the present, probably, of some Grecianstate or king--which were hung in an inner and sacred apartment of thetemple, and which it was sacrilegious for any human hand to touch. Thesearms were found, on the day when the Persians were approaching, removedto the outward front of the temple. The priest who first observed themwas struck with amazement and awe. He spread the intelligence among thesoldiers and the people that remained, and the circumstance awakened inthem great animation and courage. 

Nor were the hopes of divine interposition which this wonder awakeneddisappointed in the end; for, as soon as the detachment of Persians camenear the hill on which Delphi was situated, loud thunder burst from thesky, and a bolt, descending upon the precipices near the town, detachedtwo enormous masses of rock, which rolled down upon the ranks of theinvaders. The Delphian soldiers, taking advantage of the scene of panicand confusion which this awful visitation produced, rushed down upontheir enemies and completed their discomfiture. They were led on andassisted in this attack by the spirits of two ancient heroes, who hadbeen natives of the country, and to whom two of the temples of Delphihad been consecrated. These spirits appeared in the form of tall andfull-armed warriors, who led the attack, and performed prodigies ofstrength and valor in the onset upon the Persians; and then, when thebattle was over, disappeared as mysteriously as they came. 

In the mean time the great body of the army of Xerxes, with the monarchat their head, was advancing on Athens. During his advance the city hadbeen in a continual state of panic and confusion. In the first place, when the Greek fleet had concluded to give up the contest in theArtemisian Channel, before the battle of Thermopylæ, and had passedaround to Salamis, the commanders in the city of Athens had given up thehope of making any effectual defense, and had given orders that theinhabitants should save themselves by seeking a refuge wherever theycould find it. This annunciation, of course, filled the city withdismay, and the preparations for a general flight opened every wherescenes of terror and distress, of which those who have never witnessedthe evacuation of a city by its inhabitants can scarcely conceive. 

The immediate object of the general terror was, at this time, thePersian fleet; for the Greek fleet, having determined to abandon thewaters on that side of Attica, left the whole coast exposed, and thePersians might be expected at any hour to make a landing within a fewmiles of the city. Scarcely, however, had the impending of this dangerbeen made known to the city, before the tidings of one still moreimminent reached it, in the news that the Pass of Thermopylæ had beencarried, and that, in addition to the peril with which the Athenianswere threatened by the fleet on the side of the sea, the whole Persianarmy was coming down upon them by land. This fresh alarm greatlyincreased, of course, the general consternation. All the roads leadingfrom the city toward the south and west were soon covered with partiesof wretched fugitives, exhibiting as they pressed forward, weary andwayworn, on their toilsome and almost hopeless flight, every possiblephase of misery, destitution, and despair. The army fell back to theisthmus, intending to make a stand, if possible, there, to defend thePeloponnesus. The fugitives made the best of their way to the sea-coast, where they were received on board transport ships sent thither from thefleet, and conveyed, some to Ægina, some to Salamis, and others to otherpoints on the coasts and islands to the south, wherever the terrifiedexiles thought there was the best prospect of safety. 

Some, however, remained at Athens. There was a part of the populationwho believed that the phrase "wooden walls, " used by the oracle, referred, not to the ships of the fleet, but to the wooden palisadearound the citadel. They accordingly repaired and strengthened thepalisade, and established themselves in the fortress with a smallgarrison which undertook to defend it. 

The citadel of Athens, or the Acropolis, as it was called, was therichest, and most splendid, and magnificent fortress in the world. Itwas built upon an oblong rocky hill, the sides of which wereperpendicular cliffs, except at one end, where alone the summit wasaccessible. This summit presented an area of an oval form, about athousand feet in length and five hundred broad, thus containing a spaceof about ten acres. This area upon the summit, and also the approachesat the western end, were covered with the most grand, imposing, andcostly architectural structures that then existed in the whole Europeanworld. There were temples, colonnades, gateways, stairways, porticoes, towers, and walls, which, viewed as a whole, presented a mostmagnificent spectacle, that excited universal admiration, and which, when examined in detail, awakened a greater degree of wonder still bythe costliness of the materials, the beauty and perfection of theworkmanship, and the richness and profusion of the decorations, whichwere seen on every hand. The number and variety of statues of bronze andof marble which had been erected in the various temples and upon thedifferent platforms were very great. There was one, a statue of Minerva, which was executed by Phidias, the great Athenian sculptor, after thecelebrated battle of Marathon, in the days of Darius, which, with itspedestal, was sixty feet high. It stood on the left of the grandentrance, towering above the buildings in full view from the countrybelow, and leaning upon its long spear like a colossal sentinel onguard. In the distance, on the right, from the same point of view, thegreat temple called the Parthenon was to be seen, a temple which was, insome respects, the most celebrated in the world. The ruins of theseedifices remain to the present day, standing in desolate and solitarygrandeur on the rocky hill which they once so richly adorned. 

When Xerxes arrived at Athens, he found, of course, no difficulty inobtaining possession of the city itself, since it had been deserted byits inhabitants, and left defenseless. The people that remained had allcrowded into the citadel. They had built the wooden palisade across theonly approach by which it was possible to get near the gates, and theyhad collected large stones on the tops of the rocks, to roll down upontheir assailants if they should attempt to ascend. 

[Illustration: THE CITADEL AT ATHENS. ]

Xerxes, after ravaging and burning the town, took up a position upon ahill opposite to the citadel, and there he had engines constructed tothrow enormous arrows, on which tow that had been dipped in pitch waswound. This combustible envelopment of the arrows was set on fire beforethe weapon was discharged, and a shower of the burning missiles thusformed was directed toward the palisade. The wooden walls were soon seton fire by them, and totally consumed. The access to the Acropolis was, however, still difficult, being by a steep acclivity, up which it wasvery dangerous to ascend so long as the besiegers were ready to rolldown rocks upon their assailants from above. 

At last, however, after a long conflict and much slaughter, Xerxessucceeded in forcing his way into the citadel. Some of his troopscontrived to find a path by which they could climb up to the walls. Here, after a desperate combat with those who were stationed to guardthe place, they succeeded in gaining admission, and then opened thegates to their comrades below. The Persian soldiers, exasperated withthe resistance which they had encountered, slew the soldiers of thegarrison, perpetrated every imaginable violence on the wretchedinhabitants who had fled there for shelter, and then plundered thecitadel and set it on fire. 

The heart of Xerxes was filled with exultation and joy as he thusarrived at the attainment of what had been the chief and prominentobject of his campaign. To plunder and destroy the city of Athens hadbeen the great pleasure that he had promised himself in all the mightypreparations that he had made. This result was now realized, and hedispatched a special messenger immediately to Susa with the triumphanttidings. 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 

B. C. 480

Situation of Salamis. --Movements of the fleet and the army. --Policy ofthe Greeks. --Reasons for retreating to Salamis. --A council ofwar. --Consultations and debates. --Conflicting views. --The council breaksup in confusion. --Themistocles. --Interview withMnesiphilus. --Themistocles seeks Eurybiades. --Urges a new council. --Thecouncil convened again. --Themistocles rebuked. --Themistocles's argumentsfor remaining at Salamis. --Fugitives at Salamis. --Views of theCorinthians. --Excitement in the council. --Indignation ofThemistocles. --Eurybiades decides to remain at Salamis. --Anearthquake. --Advance of the Persians. --Perilous situation of theGreeks. --Xerxes summons a council of war. --Pompous preparations. --Viewsof the Persian officers. --Views of Queen Artemisia. --Artemisa'sarguments against attacking the Greek fleet. --Effect of Artemisia'sspeech. --Feelings of the council. --Discontent among theGreeks. --Sicinnus. --Bold stratagem of Themistocles. --He sends Sicinnusto the Persians. --Message of Themistocles. --Measures of thePersians. --The Persians take possession of the Psyttalia. --The Greekshemmed in. --Aristides. --He makes his way through the Persianfleet. --Interview between Aristides and Themistocles. --Theirconversation. --Aristides communicates his intelligence to theassembly. --Effect of Aristides intelligence. --Further news. --Adventurouscourage of Parætius. --Gratitude of the Greeks. --Final preparations forbattle. --Friendly offices. --Xerxes's throne. --His scribes. --Summarypunishment. --Speech of Themistocles. --He embarks his men. --Excitementand confusion. --Commencement of the battle. --Fury of theconflict. --Modern naval battles. --Observations ofXerxes. --Artemisia. --Enemies of Artemisia. --Her quarrel withDamasithymus. --Stratagem of Artemisia. --She attacksDamasithymus. --Artemisia kills Damasithymus. --Xerxes's opinion of hervalor. --Progress of the battle. --The Persians give way. --Heroism ofAristides. --He captures Psyttalia. --The Greeks victorious. --Repairingdamages. --Xerxes resolves on flight. --The sea after thebattle. --Fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. 

Salamis is an island of a very irregular form, lying in the SaronianGulf, north of Ægina, and to the westward of Athens. What was called thePort of Athens was on the shore opposite to Salamis, the city itselfbeing situated on elevated land four or five miles back from the sea. From this port to the bay on the southern side of Salamis, where theGreek fleet was lying, it was only four or five miles more, so that, when Xerxes burned the city, the people on board the galleys in thefleet might easily see the smoke of the conflagration. 

The Isthmus of Corinth was west of Salamis, some fifteen miles, acrossthe bay. The army, in retreating from Athens toward the isthmus, wouldhave necessarily to pass round the bay in a course somewhat circuitous, while the fleet, in following them, would pass in a direct line acrossit. The geographical relations of these places, a knowledge of which isnecessary to a full understanding of the operations of the Greek andPersian forces, will be distinctly seen by comparing the abovedescription with the map placed at the commencement of the fifthchapter. 

It had been the policy of the Greeks to keep the fleet and army as muchas possible together, and thus, during the time in which the troops wereattempting a concentration at Thermopylæ, the ships made theirrendezvous in the Artemisian Strait or Channel, directly opposite tothat point of the coast. There they fought, maintaining their positiondesperately, day after day, as long as Leonidas and his Spartans heldtheir ground on the shore. Their sudden disappearance from those waters, by which the Persians had been so much surprised, was caused by theirhaving received intelligence that the pass had been carried and Leonidasdestroyed. They knew then that Athens would be the next point ofresistance by the land forces. They therefore fell back to Salamis, or, rather, to the bay lying between Salamis and the Athenian shore, thatbeing the nearest position that they could take to support theoperations of the army in their attempts to defend the capital. When, however, the tidings came to them that Athens had fallen, and that whatremained of the army had retreated to the isthmus, the question at oncearose whether the fleet should retreat too, across the bay, to theisthmus shore, with a view to co-operate more fully with the army in thenew position which the latter had taken, or whether it should remainwhere it was, and defend itself as it best could against the Persiansquadrons which would soon be drawing near. The commanders of the fleetheld a consultation to consider this question. 

In this consultation the Athenian and the Corinthian leaders tookdifferent views. In fact, they were very near coming into opencollision. Such a difference of opinion, considering the circumstancesof the case, was not at all surprising. It might, indeed, have naturallybeen expected to arise, from the relative situation of the two cities, in respect to the danger which threatened them. If the Greek fleet wereto withdraw from Salamis to the isthmus, it might be in a betterposition to defend Corinth, but it would, by such a movement, bewithdrawing from the Athenian territories, and abandoning what remainedin Attica wholly to the conqueror. The Athenians were, therefore, infavor of maintaining the position at Salamis, while the Corinthians weredisposed to retire to the shores of the isthmus, and co-operate withthe army there. 

The council was convened to deliberate on this subject before the newsarrived of the actual fall of Athens, although, inasmuch as the Persianswere advancing into Attica in immense numbers, and there was no Greekforce left to defend the city, they considered its fall as all butinevitable. The tidings of the capture and destruction of Athens camewhile the council was in session. This seemed to determine the question. The Corinthian commanders, and those from the other Peloponnesiancities, declared that it was perfectly absurd to remain any longer atSalamis, in a vain attempt to defend a country already conquered. Thecouncil was broken up in confusion, each commander retiring to his ownship, and the Peloponnesians resolving to withdraw on the followingmorning. Eurybiades, who, it will be recollected, was thecommander-in-chief of all the Greek fleet, finding thus that it wasimpossible any longer to keep the ships together at Salamis, since apart of them would, at all events, withdraw, concluded to yield to thenecessity of the case and to conduct the whole fleet to the isthmus. Heissued his orders accordingly, and the several commanders repaired totheir respective ships to make the preparations. It was night when thecouncil was dismissed, and the fleet was to move in the morning. 

One of the most influential and distinguished of the Athenian officerswas a general named Themistocles. Very soon after he had returned to hisship from this council, he was visited by another Athenian namedMnesiphilus, who, uneasy and anxious in the momentous crisis, had comein his boat, in the darkness of the night, to Themistocles's ship, toconverse with him on the plans of the morrow. Mnesiphilus askedThemistocles what was the decision of the council. 

"To abandon Salamis, " said Themistocles, "and retire to the isthmus. "

"Then, " said Mnesiphilus, "we shall never have an opportunity to meetthe enemy. I am sure that if we leave this position the fleet will bewholly broken up, and that each portion will go, under its owncommander, to defend its own state or seek its own safety, independentlyof the rest. We shall never be able to concentrate our forces again. Theresult will be the inevitable dissolution of the fleet as a combined andallied force, in spite of all that Eurybiades or any one else can do toprevent it. "

Mnesiphilus urged this danger with so much earnestness and eloquence asto make a very considerable impression on the mind of Themistocles. Themistocles said nothing, but his countenance indicated that he wasvery strongly inclined to adopt Mnesiphilus's views. Mnesiphilus urgedhim to go immediately to Eurybiades, and endeavor to induce him toobtain a reversal of the decision of the council. Themistocles, withoutexpressing either assent or dissent, took his boat, and ordered theoarsmen to row him to the galley of Eurybiades. Mnesiphilus, having sofar accomplished his object, went away. 

Themistocles came in his boat to the side of Eurybiades's galley. Hesaid that he wished to speak with the general on a subject of greatimportance. Eurybiades, when this was reported to him, sent to inviteThemistocles to come on board. Themistocles did so, and he urged uponthe general the same arguments that Mnesiphilus had pressed upon him, namely, that if the fleet were once to move from their actual position, the different squadrons would inevitably separate, and could never beassembled again. He urged Eurybiades, therefore, very strenuously tocall a new council, with a view of reversing the decision that had beenmade to retire, and of resolving instead to give battle to the Persiansat Salamis. 

Eurybiades was persuaded, and immediately took measures for conveningthe council again. The summons, sent around thus at midnight, callingupon the principal officers of the fleet to repair again in haste to thecommander's galley, when they had only a short time before beendismissed from it, produced great excitement. The Corinthians, who hadbeen in favor of the plan of abandoning Salamis, conjectured that thedesign might be to endeavor to reverse that decision, and they came tothe council determined to resist any such attempt, if one should bemade. 

When the officers had arrived, Themistocles began immediately to openthe discussion, before, in fact, Eurybiades had stated why he had calledthem together. A Corinthian officer interrupted and rebuked him forpresuming to speak before his time. Themistocles retorted upon theCorinthian, and continued his harangue. He urged the council to reviewtheir former decision, and to determine, after all, to remain atSalamis. He, however, now used different arguments from those which hehad employed when speaking to Eurybiades alone; for to have directlycharged the officers themselves with the design of which he had accusedthem to Eurybiades, namely, that of abandoning their allies, andretiring with their respective ships, each to his own coast, in case theposition at Salamis were to be given up, would only incense them, andarouse a hostility which would determine them against any thing that hemight propose. 

He therefore urged the expediency of remaining at Salamis on othergrounds. Salamis was a much more advantageous position, he said, thanthe coast of the isthmus, for a small fleet to occupy in awaiting anattack from a large one. At Salamis they were defended in part by theprojections of the land, which protected their flanks, and preventedtheir being assailed, except in front, and their front they might make avery narrow one. At the isthmus, on the contrary, there was a long, unvaried, and unsheltered coast, with no salient points to give strengthor protection to their position there. They could not expect to deriveserious advantage from any degree of co-operation with the army on theland which would be practicable at the isthmus, while their situation atsea there would be far more exposed and dangerous than where they thenwere. Besides, many thousands of the people had fled to Salamis forrefuge and protection, and the fleet, by leaving its present position, would be guilty of basely abandoning them all to hopeless destruction, without even making an effort to save them. 

This last was, in fact, the great reason why the Athenians were sounwilling to abandon Salamis. The unhappy fugitives with which theisland was thronged were their wives and children, and they wereextremely unwilling to go away and leave them to so cruel a fate as theyknew would await them if the fleet were to be withdrawn. TheCorinthians, on the other hand, considered Athens as already lost, andit seemed madness to them to linger uselessly in the vicinity of theruin which had been made, while there were other states and cities inother quarters of Greece yet to be saved. The Corinthian speaker who hadrebuked Themistocles at first, interrupted him again, angrily, before hefinished his appeal. 

"You have no right to speak, " said he. "You have no longer a country. When you cease to represent a power, you have no right to take a part inour councils. "

This cruel retort aroused in the mind of Themistocles a strong feelingof indignation and anger against the Corinthian. He loaded his opponent, in return, with bitter reproaches, and said, in conclusion, that as longas the Athenians had two hundred ships in the fleet, they had still acountry--one, too, of sufficient importance to the general defense togive them a much better title to be heard in the common consultationsthan any Corinthian could presume to claim. 

Then turning to Eurybiades again, Themistocles implored him to remain atSalamis, and give battle to the Persians there, as that was, he said, the only course by which any hope remained to them of the salvation ofGreece. He declared that the Athenian part of the fleet would never goto the isthmus. If the others decided on going there, they, theAthenians, would gather all the fugitives they could from the island ofSalamis and from the coasts of Attica, and make the best of their way toItaly, where there was a territory to which they had some claim, and, abandoning Greece forever, they would found a new kingdom there. 

Eurybiades, the commander-in-chief, if he was not convinced by thearguments that Themistocles had offered, was alarmed at his declarationthat the Athenian ships would abandon the cause of the Greeks if thefleet abandoned Salamis; he accordingly gave his voice very decidedlyfor remaining where they were. The rest of the officers finallyacquiesced in this decision, and the council broke up, the variousmembers of it returning each to his own command. It was now nearlymorning. The whole fleet had been, necessarily, during the night in astate of great excitement and suspense, all anxious to learn the resultof these deliberations. The awe and solemnity which would, of course, pervade the minds of men at midnight, while such momentous questionswere pending, were changed to an appalling sense of terror, toward thedawn, by an earthquake which then took place, and which, as is usuallythe case with such convulsions, not only shook the land, but was felt byvessels on the sea. The men considered this phenomenon as a solemnwarning from heaven, and measures were immediately adopted forappeasing, by certain special sacrifices and ceremonies, the divinedispleasure which the shock seemed to portend. 

In the mean time, the Persian fleet, which we left, it will berecollected, in the channels between Euboea and the main land, near toThermopylæ, had advanced when they found that the Greeks had left thosewaters, and, following their enemies to the southward through thechannel called the Euripus, had doubled the promontory called Sunium, which is the southern promontory of Attica, and then, moving northwardagain along the western coast of Attica, had approached Phalerum, whichwas not far from Salamis. Xerxes, having concluded his operations atAthens, advanced to the same point by land. 

The final and complete success of the Persian expedition seemed nowalmost sure. All the country north of the peninsula had fallen. TheGreek army had retreated to the isthmus, having been driven from everyother post, and its last forlorn hope of being able to resist theadvance of its victorious enemies was depending there. And thecommanders of the Persian fleet, having driven the Greek squadrons inthe same manner from strait to strait and from sea to sea, saw thediscomfited galleys drawn up, in apparently their last place of refuge, in the Bay of Salamis, and only waiting to be captured and destroyed. 

In a word, every thing seemed ready for the decisive and final blow, and Xerxes summoned a grand council of war on board one of the vesselsof the fleet as soon as he arrived at Phalerum, to decide upon the timeand manner of striking it. 

The convening of this council was arranged, and the deliberationsthemselves conducted, with great parade and ceremony. The princes of thevarious nations represented in the army and in the fleet, and theleading Persian officers and nobles, were summoned to attend it. It washeld on board one of the principal galleys, where great preparations hadbeen made for receiving so august an assemblage. A throne was providedfor the king, and seats for the various commanders according to theirrespective ranks, and a conspicuous place was assigned to Artemisia, theCarian queen, who, the reader will perhaps recollect, was described asone of the prominent naval commanders, in the account given of the greatreview at Doriscus. Mardonius appeared at the council as the king'srepresentative and the conductor of the deliberations, there beingrequired, according to the parliamentary etiquette of those days, insuch royal councils as these, a sort of mediator, to stand between theking and his counselors, as if the monarch himself was on too sublimean elevation of dignity and grandeur to be directly addressed even byprinces and nobles. 

Accordingly, when the council was convened and the time arrived foropening the deliberations, the king directed Mardonius to call upon thecommanders present, one by one, for their sentiments on the questionwhether it were advisable or not to attack the Greek fleet at Salamis. Mardonius did so. They all advised that the attack should be made, urging severally various considerations to enforce their opinions, andall evincing a great deal of zeal and ardor in the cause, and animpatient desire that the great final conflict should come on. 

When, however, it came to Artemisia's turn to speak, it appeared thatshe was of a different sentiment from the rest. She commenced her speechwith something like an apology for presuming to give the king hercouncil. She said that, notwithstanding her sex, she had performed herpart, with other commanders, in the battles which had already occurred, and that she was, perhaps, entitled accordingly, in the consultationswhich were held, to express her opinion. "Say, then, to the king, " shecontinued, addressing Mardonius, as all the others had done, "that myjudgment is, that we should not attack the Greek fleet at Salamis, but, on the contrary, that we should avoid a battle. It seems to me that wehave nothing to gain, but should put a great deal at hazard by a generalnaval conflict at the present time. The truth is, that the Greeks, always terrible as combatants, are rendered desperate now by the straitsto which they are reduced and the losses that they have sustained. Theseamen of our fleet are as inferior to them in strength and courage aswomen are to men. I am sure that it will be a very dangerous thing toencounter them in their present chafed and irritated temper. Whateverothers may think, I myself should not dare to answer for the result. 

"Besides, situated as they are, " continued Artemisia, "a battle is what_they_ must most desire, and, of course, it is adverse to our interestto accord it to them. I have ascertained that they have but a smallsupply of food, either in their fleet or upon the island of Salamis, while they have, besides their troops, a great multitude of destituteand helpless fugitives to be fed. If we simply leave them to themselvesunder the blockade in which our position here now places them, they willsoon be reduced to great distress. Or, if we withdraw from them, andproceed at once to the Peloponnesus, to co-operate with the army there, we shall avoid all the risk of a battle, and I am sure that the Greekfleet will never dare to follow or to molest us. "

The several members of the council listened to this unexpected addressof Artemisia with great attention and interest, but with very differentfeelings. She had many friends among the counselors, and _they_ wereanxious and uneasy at hearing her speak in this manner, for they knewvery well that it was the king's decided intention that a battle shouldbe fought, and they feared that, by this bold and strenuous oppositionto it, Artemisia would incur the mighty monarch's displeasure. Therewere others who were jealous of the influence which Artemisia enjoyed, and envious of the favor with which they knew that Xerxes regarded her. These men were secretly pleased to hear her uttering sentiments by whichthey confidently believed that she would excite the anger of the king, and wholly lose her advantageous position. Both the hopes and the fears, however, entertained respectively by the queen's enemies and friends, proved altogether groundless. Xerxes was not displeased. On thecontrary, he applauded Artemisia's ingenuity and eloquence in thehighest terms, though he said, nevertheless, that he would follow theadvice of the other counselors. He dismissed the assembly, and gaveorders to prepare for battle. 

In the mean time a day or two had passed away, and the Greeks, who hadbeen originally very little inclined to acquiesce in the decision whichEurybiades had made, under the influence of Themistocles, to remain atSalamis and give the Persians battle, became more and more dissatisfiedand uneasy as the great crisis drew nigh. In fact, the discontent anddisaffection which appeared in certain portions of the fleet became sodecided and so open, that Themistocles feared that some of thecommanders would actually revolt, and go away with their squadrons in abody, in defiance of the general decision to remain. To prevent such adesertion as this, he contrived the following very desperate stratagem. 

He had a slave in his family named Sicinnus, who was an intelligent andeducated man, though a slave. In fact, he was the teacher ofThemistocles's children. Instances of this kind, in which slaves wererefined and cultivated men, were not uncommon in ancient times, asslaves were, in many instances, captives taken in war, who before theircaptivity had occupied as high social positions as their masters. Themistocles determined to send Sicinnus to the Persian fleet with amessage from him, which should induce the Persians themselves to takemeasures to prevent the dispersion of the Greek fleet. Having given theslave, therefore, his secret instructions, he put him into a boat whennight came on, with oarsmen who were directed to row him wherever heshould require them to go. The boat pushed off stealthily fromThemistocles's galley, and, taking care to keep clear of the Greek shipswhich lay at anchor near them, went southward toward the Persian fleet. When the boat reached the Persian galleys, Sicinnus asked to see thecommander, and, on being admitted to an interview with him, he informedhim that he came from Themistocles, who was the leader, he said, of theAthenian portion of the Greek fleet. 

"I am charged, " he added, "to say to you from Themistocles that heconsiders the cause of the Greeks as wholly lost, and he is now, accordingly, desirous himself of coming over to the Persian side. This, however, he can not actually and openly do, on account of the situationin which he is placed in respect to the rest of the fleet. He has, however, sent me to inform you that the Greek fleet is in a verydisordered and helpless condition, being distracted by the dissensionsof the commanders, and the general discouragement and despair of themen; that some divisions are secretly intending to make their escape;and that, if you can prevent this by surrounding them, or by taking suchpositions as to intercept any who may attempt to withdraw, the wholesquadron will inevitably fall into your hands. "

Having made this communication, Sicinnus went on board his boat again, and returned to the Greek fleet as secretly and stealthily as he came. 

The Persians immediately determined to resort to the measures whichThemistocles had recommended to prevent the escape of any part of theGreek fleet. There was a small island between Salamis and the coast ofAttica, that is, on the eastern side of Salamis, called Psyttalia, whichwas in such a position as to command, in a great measure, the channel ofwater between Salamis and the main land on this side. The Persians sentforward a detachment of galleys to take possession of this island in thenight. By this means they hoped to prevent the escape of any part ofthe Greek squadron in that direction. Besides, they foresaw that in theapproaching battle the principal scene of the conflict must be in thatvicinity, and that, consequently, the island would become the greatresort of the disabled ships and the wounded men, since they wouldnaturally seek refuge on the nearest land. To preoccupy this ground, therefore, seemed an important step. It would enable them, when theterrible conflict should come on, to drive back any wretched refugeeswho might attempt to escape from destruction by seeking the shore. 

By taking possession of this island, and stationing galleys in thevicinity of it, all which was done secretly in the night, the Persianscut off all possibility of escape for the Greeks in that direction. Atthe same time, they sent another considerable detachment of their fleetto the westward, which was the direction toward the isthmus, orderingthe galleys thus sent to station themselves in such a manner as toprevent any portion of the Greek fleet from going round the island ofSalamis, and making their escape through the northwestern channel. Bythis means the Greek fleet was environed on every side--hemmed in, though they were not aware of it, in such a way as to defeat anyattempt which any division might make to retire from the scene. 

The first intelligence which the Greeks received of their being thussurrounded was from an Athenian general named Aristides, who came onenight from the island of Ægina to the Greek fleet, making his way withgreat difficulty through the lines of Persian galleys. Aristides hadbeen, in the political conflicts which had taken place in former yearsat Athens, Themistocles's great rival and enemy. He had been defeated inthe contests which had taken place, and had been banished from Athens. He now, however, made his way through the enemy's lines, incurring, indoing it, extreme difficulty and danger, in order to inform hiscountrymen of their peril, and to assist, if possible, in saving them. 

When he reached the Greek fleet, the commanders were in council, agitating, in angry and incriminating debates, the perpetually recurringquestion whether they should retire to the isthmus, or remain where theywere. Aristides called Themistocles out of the council. Themistocles wasvery much surprised at seeing his ancient enemy thus unexpectedlyappear. Aristides introduced the conversation by saying that he thoughtthat at such a crisis they ought to lay aside every private animosity, and only emulate each other in the efforts and sacrifices which theycould respectively make to defend their country; that he had, accordingly, come from Ægina to join the fleet, with a view of renderingany aid that it might be in his power to afford; that it was now whollyuseless to debate the question of retiring to the isthmus, for such amovement was no longer possible. "The fleet is surrounded, " said he. "The Persian galleys are stationed on every side. It was with the utmostdifficulty that I could make my way through the lines. Even if the wholeassembly, and Eurybiades himself, were resolved on withdrawing to theisthmus, the thing could not now be done. Return, therefore, and tellthem this, and say that to defend themselves where they are is the onlyalternative that now remains. "

In reply to this communication, Themistocles said that nothing couldgive him greater pleasure than to learn what Aristides had stated. "Themovement which the Persians have made, " he said, "was in consequence ofa communication which I myself sent to them. I sent it, in order thatsome of our Greeks, who seem so very reluctant to fight, might becompelled to do so. But you must come yourself into the assembly, " headded, "and make your statement directly to the commanders. They willnot believe it if they hear it from me. Come in, and state what you haveseen. "

Aristides accordingly entered the assembly, and informed the officerswho were convened that to retire from their present position was nolonger possible, since the sea to the west was fully guarded by lines ofPersian ships, which had been stationed there to intercept them. He hadjust come in himself, he said, from Ægina, and had found greatdifficulty in passing through the lines, though he had only a singlesmall boat, and was favored by the darkness of the night. He wasconvinced that the Greek fleet was entirely surrounded. 

Having said this, Aristides withdrew. Although he could come, as awitness, to give his testimony in respect to facts, he was not entitledto take any part in the deliberations. 

The assembly was thrown into a state of the greatest possible excitementby the intelligence which Aristides had communicated. Instead ofproducing harmony among them, it made the discord more violent anduncontrollable. Of those who had before wished to retire, some were nowenraged that they had not been allowed to do so while the opportunityremained; others disbelieved Aristides's statements, and were stilleager to go; while the rest, confirmed in their previous determinationto remain where they were, rejoiced to find that retreat was no longerpossible. The debate was confused and violent. It turned, in a greatmeasure, on the degree of credibility to be attached to the accountwhich Aristides had given them. Many of the assembly wholly disbelievedit. It was a stratagem, they maintained, contrived by the Athenianparty, and those who wished to remain, in order to accomplish their endof keeping the fleet from changing its position. 

The doubts, however, which the assembly felt in respect to the truth ofAristides's tidings were soon dispelled by new and incontestableevidence; for, while the debate was going on, it was announced that alarge galley--a trireme, as it was called--had come in from the Persianfleet. This galley proved to be a Greek ship from the island of Tenos, one which Xerxes, in prosecution of his plan of compelling thoseportions of the Grecian territories that he had conquered, or that hadsurrendered to him, to furnish forces to aid him in subduing the rest, had pressed into his service. The commander of this galley, unwilling totake part against his countrymen in the conflict, had decided to desertthe Persian fleet by taking advantage of the night, and to come over tothe Greeks. The name of the commander of this trireme was Parætius. Heconfirmed fully all that Aristides had said. He assured the Greeks thatthey were completely surrounded, and that nothing remained for them butto prepare, where they were, to meet the attack which would certainly bemade upon them in the morning. The arrival of this trireme was thus ofvery essential service to the Greeks. It put an end to their discordantdebates, and united them, one and all, in the work of making resolutepreparations for action. This vessel was also of very essential servicein the conflict itself which ensued; and the Greeks were so grateful toParætius and to his comrades for the adventurous courage which theydisplayed in coming over under such circumstances, in such a night, toespouse the cause and to share the dangers of their countrymen, thatafter the battle they caused all their names to be engraved upon asacred tripod, made in the most costly manner for the purpose, and thensent the tripod to be deposited at the oracle of Delphi, where it longremained a monument of this example of Delian patriotism and fidelity. 

As the morning approached, the preparations were carried forward withardor and energy, on board both fleets, for the great struggle which wasto ensue. Plans were formed; orders were given; arms were examined andplaced on the decks of the galleys, where they would be most ready athand. The officers and soldiers gave mutual charges and instructions toeach other in respect to the care of their friends and the disposal oftheir effects--charges and instructions which each one undertook toexecute for his friend in case he should survive him. The commandersendeavored to animate and encourage their men by cheerful looks, and bywords of confidence and encouragement. They who felt resolute and strongendeavored to inspirit the weak and irresolute, while those who shrankfrom the approaching contest, and dreaded the result of it, concealedtheir fears, and endeavored to appear impatient for the battle. 

Xerxes caused an elevated seat or throne to be prepared for himself onan eminence near the shore, upon the main land, in order that he mightbe a personal witness of the battle. He had a guard and other attendantsaround him. Among these were a number of scribes or secretaries, whowere prepared with writing materials to record the events which mighttake place, as they occurred, and especially to register the names ofthose whom Xerxes should see distinguishing themselves by their courageor by their achievements. He justly supposed that these arrangements, the whole fleet being fully informed in regard to them, would animatethe several commanders with strong emulation, and excite them to makeredoubled exertions to perform their part well. The record which wasthus to be kept, under the personal supervision of the sovereign, waswith a view to punishments too, as well as to honors and rewards; and ithappened in many instances during the battle that ensued, thatcommanders, who, after losing their ships, escaped to the shore, werebrought up before Xerxes's throne, and there expiated their fault ortheir misfortune, whichever it might have been, by being beheaded on thespot, without mercy. Some of the officers thus executed were Greeks, brutally slaughtered for not being successful in fighting, bycompulsion, against their own countrymen. 

As the dawn approached, Themistocles called together as many of theAthenian forces as it was possible to convene, assembling them at aplace upon the shore of Salamis where he could conveniently addressthem, and there made a speech to them, as was customary with the Greekcommanders before going into battle. He told them that, in such contestsas that in which they were about to engage, the result depended, not onthe relative numbers of the combatants, but on the resolution andactivity which they displayed. He reminded them of the instances inwhich small bodies of men, firmly banded together by a strictdiscipline, and animated by courage and energy, had overthrown enemieswhose numbers far exceeded their own. The Persians were more numerous, he admitted, than they, but still the Greeks would conquer them. If theyfaithfully obeyed their orders, and acted strictly and perseveringly inconcert, according to the plans formed by the commanders, and displayedthe usual courage and resolution of Greeks, he was sure of victory. 

As soon as Themistocles had finished his speech, he ordered his men toembark, and the fleet immediately afterward formed itself in battlearray. 

Notwithstanding the strictness of the order and discipline whichgenerally prevailed in Greek armaments of every kind, there was greatexcitement and much confusion in the fleet while making all thesepreparations, and this excitement and confusion increased continually asthe morning advanced and the hour for the conflict drew nigh. Thepassing of boats to and fro, the dashing of the oars, the clangor of theweapons, the vociferations of orders by the officers and of responses bythe men, mingled with each other in dreadful turmoil, while all the timethe vast squadrons were advancing toward each other, each party ofcombatants eager to begin the contest. In fact, so full of wildexcitement was the scene, that at length the battle was found to beraging on every side, while no one knew or could remember how it began. Some said that a ship, which had been sent away a short time before toÆgina to obtain succors, was returning that morning, and that shecommenced the action as she came through the Persian lines. Others saidthe Greek squadron advanced as soon as they could see, and attacked thePersians; and there were some whose imaginations were so much excited bythe scene that they saw a female form portrayed among the dim mists ofthe morning, that urged the Greeks onward by beckonings and calls. Theyheard her voice, they said, crying to them, "Come on! come on! this isno time to linger on your oars. "

However this may be, the battle was soon furiously raging on every partof the Bay of Salamis, exhibiting a wide-spread scene of conflict, fury, rage, despair, and death, such as had then been seldom witnessed in anynaval conflict, and such as human eyes can now never look upon again. Inmodern warfare the smoke of the guns soon draws an impenetrable veilover the scene of horror, and the perpetual thunder of the artilleryoverpowers the general din. In a modern battle, therefore, none of thereal horrors of the conflict can either be heard or seen by anyspectator placed beyond the immediate scene of it. The sights and thesounds are alike buried and concealed beneath the smoke and the noise ofthe cannonading. There were, however, no such causes in this case toobstruct the observations which Xerxes was making from his throne on theshore. The air was calm, the sky serene, the water was smooth, and theatmosphere was as transparent and clear at the end of the battle as atthe beginning. Xerxes could discern every ship, and follow it with hiseye in all its motions. He could see who advanced and who retreated. Outof the hundreds of separate conflicts he could choose any one, and watchthe progress of it from the commencement to the termination. He couldsee the combats on the decks, the falling of repulsed assailants intothe water, the weapons broken, the wounded carried away, and swimmersstruggling like insects on the smooth surface of the sea. He could seethe wrecks, too, which were drifted upon the shores, and the capturedgalleys, which, after those who defended them had been vanquished--somekilled, others thrown overboard, and others made prisoners--were slowlytowed away by the victors to a place of safety. 

There was one incident which occurred in this scene, as Xerxes lookeddown upon it from the eminence where he sat, which greatly interestedand excited him, though he was deceived in respect to the true nature ofit. The incident was one of Artemisia's stratagems. It must be premised, in relating the story, that Artemisia was not without enemies among theofficers of the Persian fleet. Many of them were envious of the highdistinction which she enjoyed, and jealous of the attention which shereceived from the king, and of the influence which she possessed overhim. This feeling showed itself very distinctly at the grand council, when she gave her advice, in connection with that of the othercommanders, to the king. Among the most decided of her enemies was acertain captain named Damasithymus. Artemisia had had a special quarrelwith him while the fleet was coming through the Hellespont, which, though settled for the time, left the minds of both parties in a stateof great hostility toward each other. 

It happened, in the course of the battle, that the ship which Artemisiapersonally commanded and that of Damasithymus were engaged, togetherwith other Persian vessels, in the same part of the bay; and at a timewhen the ardor and confusion of the conflict was at its height, thegalley of Artemisia, and some others that were in company with hers, became separated from the rest, perhaps by the too eager pursuit of anenemy, and as other Greek ships came up suddenly to the assistance oftheir comrades, the Persian vessels found themselves in great danger, and began to retreat, followed by their enemies. We speak of theretreating galleys as Persian, because they were on the Persian side inthe contest, though it happened that they were really ships from Greeknations, which Xerxes had bribed or forced into his service. The Greeksknew them to be enemies, by the Persian flag which they bore. 

In the retreat, and while the ships were more or less mingled togetherin the confusion, Artemisia perceived that the Persian galley nearesther was that of Damasithymus. She immediately caused her own Persianflag to be pulled down, and, resorting to such other artifices as mighttend to make her vessel appear to be a Greek galley, she began to act asif she were one of the pursuers instead of one of the pursued. She boredown upon the ship of Damasithymus, saying to her crew that to attackand sink that ship was the only way to save their own lives. Theyaccordingly attacked it with the utmost fury. The Athenian ships whichwere near, seeing Artemisia's galley thus engaged, supposed that it wasone of their own, and pressed on, leaving the vessel of Damasithymus atArtemisia's mercy. It was such mercy as would be expected of a woman whowould volunteer to take command of a squadron of ships of war, and goforth on an active campaign to fight for her life among such ferocioustigers as Greek soldiers always were, considering it all an excursion ofpleasure. Artemisia killed Damasithymus and all of his crew, and sunkhis ship, and then, the crisis of danger being past, she made good herretreat back to the Persian lines. She probably felt no specialanimosity against the crew of this ill-fated vessel, but she thought itmost prudent to leave no man alive to tell the story. 

Xerxes watched this transaction from his place on the hill with extremeinterest and pleasure. He saw the vessel of Artemisia bearing down uponthe other, which last he supposed, of course, from Artemisia's attackingit, was a vessel of the enemy. The only subject of doubt was whether theattacking ship was really that of Artemisia. The officers who stoodabout Xerxes at the time that the transaction occurred assured him thatit was. They knew it well by certain peculiarities in its construction. Xerxes then watched the progress of the contest with the most eagerinterest, and, when he saw the result of it, he praised Artemisia in thehighest terms, saying that the men in his fleet behaved like women, while the only woman in it behaved like a man. 

Thus Artemisia's exploit operated like a double stratagem. Both theGreeks and the Persians were deceived, and she gained an advantage byboth the deceptions. She saved her life by leading the Greeks to believethat her galley was their friend, and she gained great glory and renownamong the Persians by making them believe that the vessel which she sunkwas that of an enemy. 

Though these and some of the other scenes and incidents which Xerxeswitnessed as he looked down upon the battle gave him pleasure, yet thecuriosity and interest with which he surveyed the opening of the contestwere gradually changed to impatience, vexation, and rage as he saw inits progress that the Greeks were every where gaining the victory. Notwithstanding the discord and animosity which had reigned among thecommanders in their councils and debates, the men were united, resolute, and firm when the time arrived for action; and they fought with suchdesperate courage and activity, and, at the same time, with so muchcoolness, circumspection, and discipline, that the Persian lines were, before many hours, every where compelled to give way. A striking exampleof the indomitable and efficient resolution which, on such occasions, always characterized the Greeks, was shown in the conduct of Aristides. The reader will recollect that the Persians, on the night before thebattle, had taken possession of the island of Psyttalia--which was nearthe center of the scene of contest--for the double purpose of enablingthemselves to use it as a place of refuge and retreat during the battle, and of preventing their enemies from doing so. Now Aristides had nocommand. He had been expelled from Athens by the influence ofThemistocles and his other enemies. He had come across from Ægina to thefleet at Salamis, alone, to give his countrymen information of thedispositions which the Persians had made for surrounding them. When thebattle began, he had been left, it seems, on the shore of Salamis aspectator. There was a small body of troops left there also, as a guardto the shore. In the course of the combat, when Aristides found that theservices of this guard were no longer likely to be required where theywere, he placed himself at the head of them, obtained possession ofboats or a galley, transported the men across the channel, landed themon the island of Psyttalia, conquered the post, and killed every manthat the Persians had stationed there. 

When the day was spent, and the evening came on, it was found that theresult of the battle was a Greek victory, and yet it was not a victoryso decisive as to compel the Persians wholly to retire. Vast numbers ofthe Persian ships were destroyed, but still so many remained, that whenat night they drew back from the scene of the conflict, toward theiranchorage ground at Phalerum, the Greeks were very willing to leave themunmolested there. The Greeks, in fact, had full employment on thefollowing day in reassembling the scattered remnants of their own fleet, repairing the damages that they had sustained, taking care of theirwounded men, and, in a word, attending to the thousand urgent andpressing exigencies always arising in the service of a fleet after abattle, even when it has been victorious in the contest. They did notknow in exactly what condition the Persian fleet had been left, nor howfar there might be danger of a renewal of the conflict on the followingday. They devoted all their time and attention, therefore, tostrengthening their defenses and reorganizing the fleet, so as to beready in case a new assault should be made upon them. 

But Xerxes had no intention of any new attack. The loss of this battlegave a final blow to his expectations of being able to carry hisconquests in Greece any further. He too, like the Greeks, employed hismen in industrious and vigorous efforts to repair the damages which hadbeen done, and to reassemble and reorganize that portion of the fleetwhich had not been destroyed. While, however, his men were doing this, he was himself revolving in his mind, moodily and despairingly, plans, not for new conflicts, but for the safest and speediest way of makinghis own personal escape from the dangers around him, back to his home inSusa. 

In the mean time, the surface of the sea, far and wide in everydirection, was covered with the wrecks, and remnants, and fragmentsstrewed over it by the battle. Dismantled hulks, masses of entangledspars and rigging, broken oars, weapons of every description, and theswollen and ghastly bodies of the dead, floated on the rolling swell ofthe sea wherever the winds or the currents carried them. At length manyof these mournful memorials of the strife found their way across thewhole breadth of the Mediterranean, and were driven up upon the beach onthe coast of Africa, at a barbarous country called Colias. The savagesdragged the fragments up out of the sand to use as fuel for theirfires, pleased with their unexpected acquisitions, but wholly ignorant, of course, of the nature of the dreadful tragedy to which their comingwas due. The circumstance, however, explained to the Greeks an ancientprophecy which had been uttered long before in Athens, and which theinterpreters of such mysteries had never been able to understand. Theprophecy was this:

 The Colian dames on Afric's shores Shall roast their food with Persian oars. 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA. 

B. C. 480

Mardonius. --His apprehensions after the battle. --Depression ofXerxes. --Mardonius's address to him. --Mardonius offers to complete theconquest of Greece. --Effect of Mardonius's address. --Xerxes consultsArtemisia. --Artemisia hesitates. --Her advice to Xerxes. --Xerxes adoptsArtemesia's advice. --His anxiety increases. --Xerxes commences hisretreat. --He sends his family to Ephesus. --Excitement in the Greekfleet. --The Persians pursued. --Debate among the generals. --Themistoclesoutvoted. --Another stratagem of Themistocles. --His message toXerxes. --Duplicity of Themistocles. --Retreat of Xerxes. --Horrors of theretreat. --Sufferings from hunger. --Famine and disease. --Xerxes crossesthe Hellespont. --Fate of Mardonius. --Xerxes arrives at Susa. --Xerxes'sdissolute life. --His three sons. --Artabanus, captain of the guard. --Heassassinates Xerxes. --Artaxerxes kills his brother. --He succeeds to thethrone. 

Mardonius, it will be recollected, was the commander-in-chief of theforces of Xerxes, and thus, next to Xerxes himself, he was the officerhighest in rank of all those who attended the expedition. He was, infact, a sort of prime minister, on whom the responsibility for almostall the measures for the government and conduct of the expedition hadbeen thrown. Men in such positions, while they may expect the highestrewards and honors from their sovereign in case of success, have alwaysreason to apprehend the worst of consequences to themselves in case offailure. The night after the battle of Salamis, accordingly, Mardoniuswas in great fear. He did not distrust the future success of theexpedition if it were allowed to go on; but, knowing the character ofsuch despots as those who ruled great nations in that age of the world, he was well aware that he might reasonably expect, at any moment, theappearance of officers sent from Xerxes to cut off his head. 

His anxiety was increased by observing that Xerxes seemed very muchdepressed, and very restless and uneasy, after the battle, as if he wererevolving in his mind some extraordinary design. He presently thoughtthat he perceived indications that the king was planning a retreat. Mardonius, after much hesitation, concluded to speak to him, andendeavor to dispel his anxieties and fears, and lead him to take a morefavorable view of the prospects of the expedition. He accordinglyaccosted him on the subject somewhat as follows:

"It is true, " said he, "that we were not as successful in the combatyesterday as we desired to be; but this reverse, as well as all thepreceding disasters that we have met with, is, after all, ofcomparatively little moment. Your majesty has gone steadily on, accomplishing most triumphantly all the substantial objects aimed at inundertaking the expedition. Your troops have advanced successfully byland against all opposition. With them you have traversed Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly. You have fought your way, against the mostdesperate resistance, through the Pass of Thermopylæ. You have overrunall Northern Greece. You have burned Athens. Thus, far from there beingany uncertainty or doubt in respect to the success of the expedition, wesee that all the great objects which you proposed by it are alreadyaccomplished. The fleet, it is true, has now suffered extensive damage;but we must remember that it is upon the army, not upon the fleet, thatour hopes and expectations mainly depend. The army is safe; and it cannot be possible that the Greeks can hereafter bring any force into thefield by which it can be seriously endangered. "

By these and similar sentiments, Mardonius endeavored to revive andrestore the failing courage and resolution of the king. He found, however, that he met with very partial success. Xerxes was silent, thoughtful, and oppressed apparently with a sense of anxious concern. Mardonius finally proposed that, even if the king should think it bestto return himself to Susa, he should not abandon the enterprise ofsubduing Greece, but that he should leave a portion of the army underhis (Mardonius's) charge, and he would undertake, he said, to completethe work which had been so successfully begun. Three hundred thousandmen, he was convinced, would be sufficient for the purpose. 

This suggestion seems to have made a favorable impression on the mindof Xerxes. He was disposed, in fact, to be pleased with any plan, provided it opened the way for his own escape from the dangers in whichhe imagined that he was entangled. He said that he would consult some ofthe other commanders upon the subject. He did so, and then, beforecoming to a final decision, he determined to confer with Artemisia. Heremembered that she had counseled him not to attack the Greeks atSalamis, and, as the result had proved that counsel to be eminentlywise, he felt the greater confidence in asking her judgment again. 

He accordingly sent for Artemisia, and, directing all the officers, aswell as his own attendants, to retire, he held a private consultationwith her in respect to his plans. 

"Mardonius proposes, " said he, "that the expedition should on no accountbe abandoned in consequence of this disaster, for he says that the fleetis a very unimportant part of our force, and that the army still remainsunharmed. He proposes that, if I should decide myself to return toPersia, I should leave three hundred thousand men with him, and heundertakes, if I will do so, to complete, with them, the subjugation ofGreece. Tell me what you think of this plan. You evinced so muchsagacity in foreseeing the result of this engagement at Salamis, that Iparticularly wish to know your opinion. "

Artemisia, after pausing a little to reflect upon the subject, saying, as she hesitated, that it was rather difficult to decide, under theextraordinary circumstances in which they were placed, what it reallywas best to do, came at length to the conclusion that it would be wisestfor the king to accede to Mardonius's proposal. "Since he offers, of hisown accord, to remain and undertake to complete the subjugation ofGreece, you can, very safely to yourself, allow him to make theexperiment. The great object which was announced as the one which youhad chiefly in view in the invasion of Greece, was the burning ofAthens. This is already accomplished. You have done, therefore, what youundertook to do, and can, consequently, now return yourself, withoutdishonor. If Mardonius succeeds in his attempt, the glory of it willredound to you. His victories will be considered as only the successfulcompletion of what you began. On the other hand, if he fails, thedisgrace of failure will be his alone, and the injury will be confinedto his destruction. In any event, your person, your interests, and yourhonor are safe, and if Mardonius is willing to take the responsibilityand incur the danger involved in the plan that he proposes, I would givehim the opportunity. "

Xerxes adopted the view of the subject which Artemisia thus presentedwith the utmost readiness and pleasure. That advice is always verywelcome which makes the course that we had previously decided upon asthe most agreeable seem the most wise. Xerxes immediately determined onreturning to Persia himself, and leaving Mardonius to complete theconquest. In carrying out this design, he concluded to march to thenorthward by land, accompanied by a large portion of his army and by allhis principal officers, until he reached the Hellespont. Then he was togive up to Mardonius the command of such troops as should be selected toremain in Greece, and, crossing the Hellespont, return himself to Persiawith the remainder. 

If, as is generally the case, it is a panic that causes a flight, aflight, in its turn, always increases a panic. It happened, inaccordance with this general law, that, as soon as the thoughts ofXerxes were once turned toward an escape from Greece, his fearsincreased, and his mind became more and more the prey of a restlessuneasiness and anxiety lest he should not be able to effect his escape. He feared that the bridge of boats would have been broken down, and thenhow would he be able to cross the Hellespont? To prevent the Greek fleetfrom proceeding to the northward, and thus intercepting his passage bydestroying the bridge, he determined to conceal, as long as possible, his own departure. Accordingly, while he was making the most efficientand rapid arrangements on the land for abandoning the whole region, hebrought up his fleet by sea, and began to build, by means of the ships, a floating bridge from the main land to the island of Salamis, as if hewere intent only on advancing. He continued this work all day, postponing his intended retreat until the night should come, in order toconceal his movements. In the course of the day he placed all his familyand family relatives on board of Artemisia's ship, under the charge of atried and faithful domestic. Artemisia was to convey them, as rapidly aspossible, to Ephesus, a strong city in Asia Minor, where Xerxes supposedthat they would be safe. 

In the night the fleet, in obedience to the orders which Xerxes hadgiven them, abandoned their bridge and all their other undertakings, and set sail. They were to make the best of their way to the Hellespont, and post themselves there to defend the bridge of boats until Xerxesshould arrive. On the following morning, accordingly, when the sun rose, the Greeks found, to their utter astonishment, that their enemies weregone. 

A scene of the greatest animation and excitement on board the Greekfleet at once ensued. The commanders resolved on an immediate pursuit. The seamen hoisted their sails, raised their anchors, and manned theiroars, and the whole squadron was soon in rapid motion. The fleet went asfar as to the island of Andros, looking eagerly all around the horizon, in every direction, as they advanced, but no signs of the fugitives wereto be seen. The ships then drew up to the shore, and the commanders wereconvened in an assembly, summoned by Eurybiades, on the land, forconsultation. 

A debate ensued, in which the eternal enmity and dissension between theAthenian and Peloponnesian Greeks broke out anew. There was, however, now some reason for the disagreement. The Athenian cause was alreadyruined. Their capital had been burned, their country ravaged, and theirwives and children driven forth to exile and misery. Nothing remainednow for them but hopes of revenge. They were eager, therefore, to presson, and overtake the Persian galleys in their flight, or, if this couldnot be done, to reach the Hellespont before Xerxes should arrive there, and intercept his passage by destroying the bridge. This was the policywhich Themistocles advocated. Eurybiades, on the other hand, and thePeloponnesian commanders, urged the expediency of not driving thePersians to desperation by harassing them too closely on their retreat. They were formidable enemies after all, and, if they were now disposedto retire and leave the country, it was the true policy of the Greeks toallow them to do so. To destroy the bridge of boats would only be totake effectual measures for keeping the pest among them. Themistocleswas outvoted. It was determined best to allow the Persian forces toretire. 

Themistocles, when he found that his counsels were overruled, resortedto another of the audacious stratagems that marked his career, which wasto send a second pretended message of friendship to the Persian king. Heemployed the same Sicinnus on this occasion that he had sent before intothe Persian fleet, on the eve of the battle of Salamis. A galley wasgiven to Sicinnus, with a select crew of faithful men. They were all putunder the most solemn oaths never to divulge to any person, under anycircumstances, the nature and object of their commission. With thiscompany, Sicinnus left the fleet secretly in the night, and went to thecoast of Attica. Landing here, he left the galley, with the crew incharge of it, upon the shore, and, with one or two select attendants, hemade his way to the Persian camp, and desired an interview with theking. On being admitted to an audience, he said to Xerxes that he hadbeen sent to him by Themistocles, whom he represented as altogether themost prominent man among the Greek commanders, to say that the Greekshad resolved on pressing forward to the Hellespont, to intercept him onhis return, but that he, Themistocles, had dissuaded them from it, underthe influence of the same friendship for Xerxes which had led him tosend a friendly communication to the Persians before the late battle;that, in consequence of the arguments and persuasions of Themistocles, the Greek squadrons would remain where they then were, on the southerncoasts, leaving Xerxes to retire without molestation. 

All this was false, but Themistocles thought it would serve his purposewell to make the statement; for, in case he should, at any future time, in following the ordinary fate of the bravest and most successful Greekgenerals, be obliged to fly in exile from his country to save his life, it might be important for him to have a good understanding beforehandwith the King of Persia, though a good understanding, founded onpretensions so hypocritical and empty as these, would seem to be worthyof very little reliance. In fact, for a Greek general, discomfited inthe councils of his own nation, to turn to the Persian king with suchprompt and cool assurance, for the purpose of gaining his friendship bytendering falsehoods so bare and professions so hollow, was an instanceof audacious treachery so original and lofty as to be almost sublime. 

Xerxes pressed on with the utmost diligence toward the north. Thecountry had been ravaged and exhausted by his march through it in comingdown, and now, in returning, he found infinite difficulty in obtainingsupplies of food and water for his army. Forty-five days were consumedin getting back to the Hellespont. During all this time the privationsand sufferings of the troops increased every day. The soldiers werespent with fatigue, exhausted with hunger, and harassed with incessantapprehensions of attacks from their enemies. Thousands of the sick andwounded that attempted at first to follow the army, gave out by degreesas the columns moved on. Some were left at the encampments; others laydown by the road-sides, in the midst of the day's march, wherever theirwaning strength finally failed them; and every where broken chariots, dead and dying beasts of burden, and the bodies of soldiers, that layneglected where they fell, encumbered and choked the way. In a word, allthe roads leading toward the northern provinces exhibited in fullperfection those awful scenes which usually mark the track of a greatarmy retreating from an invasion. 

The men were at length reduced to extreme distress for food. They atethe roots and stems of the herbage, and finally stripped the very barkfrom the trees and devoured it, in the vain hope that it might affordsome nutriment to re-enforce the vital principle, for a little time atleast, in the dreadful struggle which it was waging within them. Thereare certain forms of pestilential disease which, in cases like this, always set in to hasten the work which famine alone would be too slowin performing. Accordingly, as was to have been expected, camp fevers, choleras, and other corrupt and infectious maladies, broke out withgreat violence as the army advanced along the northern shores of theÆgean Sea; and as every victim to these dreadful and hopeless disordershelped, by his own dissolution, to taint the air for all the rest, thewretched crowd was, in the end, reduced to the last extreme of miseryand terror. 

At length Xerxes, with a miserable remnant of his troops, arrived atAbydos, on the shores of the Hellespont. He found the bridge brokendown. The winds and storms had demolished what the Greeks had determinedto spare. The immense structure, which it had cost so much toil and timeto rear, had wholly disappeared, leaving no traces of its existence, except the wrecks which lay here and there half buried in the sand alongthe shore. There were some small boats at hand, and Xerxes, embarking inone of them, with a few attendants in the others, and leaving theexhausted and wretched remnant of his army behind, was rowed across thestrait, and landed at last safely again on the Asiatic shores. 

[Illustration: THE RETURN OF XERXES TO PERSIA. ]

The place of his landing was Sestos. From Sestos he went to Sardis, and from Sardis he proceeded, in a short time, to Susa. Mardonius wasleft in Greece. Mardonius was a general of great military experience andskill, and, when left to himself, he found no great difficulty inreorganizing the army, and in putting it again in an efficientcondition. He was not able, however, to accomplish the undertaking whichhe had engaged to perform. After various adventures, prosperous andadverse, which it would be foreign to our purpose here to detail, he wasat last defeated in a great battle, and killed on the field. The Persianarmy was now obliged to give up the contest, and was expelled fromGreece finally and forever. 

When Xerxes reached Susa, he felt overjoyed to find himself once moresafe, as he thought, in his own palaces. He looked back upon thehardships, exposures, and perils through which he had passed, and, thankful for having so narrowly escaped from them, he determined toencounter no such hazards again. He had had enough of ambition andglory. He was now going to devote himself to ease and pleasure. Such aman would not naturally be expected to be very scrupulous in respect tothe means of enjoyment, or to the character of the companions whom hewould select to share his pleasures, and the life of the king soonpresented one continual scene of dissipation, revelry, and vice. He gavehimself up to such prolonged carousals, that one night was sometimesprotracted through the following day into another. The administration ofhis government was left wholly to his ministers, and every personal dutywas neglected, that he might give himself to the most abandoned andprofligate indulgence of his appetites and passions. 

He had three sons who might be considered as heirs to histhrone--Darius, Hystaspes, and Artaxerxes. Hystaspes was absent in aneighboring province. The others were at home. He had also a veryprominent officer in his court, whose name, Artabanus, was the same withthat of the uncle who had so strongly attempted to dissuade him fromundertaking the conquest of Greece. Artabanus the uncle disappearsfinally from view at the time when Xerxes dismissed him to return toSusa at the first crossing of the Hellespont. This second Artabanus wasthe captain of the king's body-guard and, consequently, the commonexecutioner of the despot's decrees. Being thus established in hispalace, surrounded by his family, and protected by Artabanus and hisguard, the monarch felt that all his toils and dangers were over, andthat there was nothing now before him but a life of ease, of pleasure, and of safety. Instead of this, he was, in fact, in the most imminentdanger. Artabanus was already plotting his destruction. 

One day, in the midst of one of his carousals, he became angry with hisoldest son Darius for some cause, and gave Artabanus an order to killhim. Artabanus neglected to obey this order. The king had been excitedwith wine when he gave it, and Artabanus supposed that all recollectionof the command would pass away from his mind with the excitement thatoccasioned it. The king did not, however, so readily forget. The nextday he demanded why his order had not been obeyed. Artabanus now beganto fear for his own safety, and he determined to proceed at once to theexecution of a plan which he had long been revolving, of destroying thewhole of Xerxes's family, and placing himself on the throne in theirstead. He contrived to bring the king's chamberlain into his schemes, and, with the connivance and aid of this officer, he went at night intothe king's bed-chamber, and murdered the monarch in his sleep. 

Leaving the bloody weapon with which the deed had been perpetrated bythe side of the victim, Artabanus went immediately into the bed-chamberof Artaxerxes, the youngest son, and, awaking him suddenly, he told him, with tones of voice and looks expressive of great excitement and alarm, that his father had been killed, and that it was his brother Darius thathad killed him. "His motive is, " continued Artabanus, "to obtain thethrone, and, to make the more sure of an undisturbed possession of it, he is intending to murder you next. Rise, therefore, and defend yourlife. "

Artaxerxes was aroused to a sudden and uncontrollable paroxysm of angerat this intelligence. He seized his weapon, and rushed into theapartment of his innocent brother, and slew him on the spot. Othersummary assassinations of a similar kind followed in this complicatedtragedy. Among the victims, Artabanus and all his adherents were slain, and at length Artaxerxes took quiet possession of the throne, andreigned in his father's stead. 

 THE END. 

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters errors, and toensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the original book. 

2. The chapter summaries in this text were originally published asbanners in the page headers, and have been moved to beginning of thechapter for the reader's convenience.