THE HISTORY OF HERODOTUS, Volume 2

Part 5 out of 7

giving his daughter in marriage to Dareios gave also with her all his
substance, because she was his only child. 225. Two brothers of
Xerxes, I say, fell here fighting; and meanwhile over the body of
Leonidas there arose a great struggle between the Persians and the
Lacedemonians, until the Hellenes by valour dragged this away from the
enemy and turned their opponents to flight four times. This conflict
continued until those who had gone with Epialtes came up; and when the
Hellenes learnt that these had come, from that moment the nature of
the combat was changed; for they retired backwards to the narrow part
of the way, and having passed by the wall they went and placed
themselves upon the hillock,[227] all in a body together except only
the Thebans: now this hillock is in the entrance, where now the stone
lion is placed for Leonidas. On this spot while defending themselves
with daggers, that is those who still had them left, and also with
hands and with teeth, they were overwhelmed by the missiles of the
Barbarians, some of these having followed directly after them and
destroyed the fence of the wall, while others had come round and stood
about them on all sides.

226. Such were the proofs of valour given by the Lacedemonians and
Thespians; yet the Spartan Dienekes is said to have proved himself the
best man of all, the same who, as they report, uttered this saying
before they engaged battle with the Medes:--being informed by one of
the men of Trachis that when the Barbarians discharged their arrows
they obscured the light of the sun by the multitude of the arrows, so
great was the number of their host, he was not dismayed by this, but
making small account of the number of the Medes, he said that their
guest from Trachis brought them very good news, for if the Medes
obscured the light of the sun, the battle against them would be in the
shade and not in the sun. 227. This and other sayings of this kind
they report that Dienekes the Lacedemonian left as memorials of
himself; and after him the bravest they say of the Lacedemonians were
two brothers Alpheos and Maron, sons of Orsiphantos. Of the Thespians
the man who gained most honour was named Dithyrambos son of
Harmatides.

228. The men were buried were they fell; and for these, as well as for
those who were slain before being sent away[228] by Leonidas, there is
an inscription which runs thus:

"Here once, facing in fight three hundred myriads of foemen,
Thousands four did contend, men of the Peloponnese."

This is the inscription for the whole body; and for the Spartans
separately there is this:

"Stranger, report this word, we pray, to the Spartans, that lying
Here in this spot we remain, faithfully keeping their laws."[229]

This, I say, for the Lacedemonians; and for the soothsayer as follows:

"This is the tomb of Megistias renowned, whom the Median foemen,
Where Sperchios doth flow, slew when they forded the stream;
Soothsayer he, who then knowing clearly the fates that were coming,
Did not endure in the fray Sparta's good leaders to leave."

The Amphictyons it was who honoured them with inscriptions and
memorial pillars, excepting only in the case of the inscription to the
soothsayer; but that of the soothsayer Megistias was inscribed by
Simonides the son of Leoprepes on account of guest-friendship.

229. Two of these three hundred, it is said, namely Eurystos and
Aristodemos, who, if they had made agreement with one another, might
either have come safe home to Sparta together (seeing that they had
been dismissed from the camp by Leonidas and were lying at Alpenoi
with disease of the eyes, suffering extremely), or again, if they had
not wished to return home, they might have been slain together with
the rest,--when they might, I say, have done either one of these two
things, would not agree together; but the two being divided in
opinion, Eurystos, it is said, when he was informed that the Persians
had gone round, asked for his arms and having put them on ordered his
Helot to lead him to those who were fighting; and after he had led him
thither, the man who had led him ran away and departed, but Eurystos
plunged into the thick of the fighting, and so lost his life: but
Aristodemos was left behind fainting.[230] Now if either Aristodemos
had been ill[231] alone, and so had returned home to Sparta, or the
men had both of them come back together, I do not suppose that the
Spartans would have displayed any anger against them; but in this
case, as the one of them had lost his life and the other, clinging to
an excuse which the first also might have used,[232] had not been
willing to die, it necessarily happened that the Spartans had great
indignation against Aristodemos. 230. Some say that Aristodemos came
safe to Sparta in this manner, and on a pretext such as I have said;
but others, that he had been sent as a messenger from the camp, and
when he might have come up in time to find the battle going on, was
not willing to do so, but stayed upon the road and so saved his life,
while his fellow-messenger reached the battle and was slain. 213. When
Aristodemos, I say, had returned home to Lacedemon, he had reproach
and dishonour;[233] and that which he suffered by way of dishonour was
this,--no one of the Spartans would either give him light for a fire
or speak with him, and he had reproach in that he was called
Aristodemos the coward.[234] 232. He however in the battle at Plataia
repaired all the guilt that was charged against him: but it is
reported that another man also survived of these three hundred, whose
name was Pantites, having been sent as a messenger to Thessaly, and
this man, when he returned back to Sparta and found himself
dishonoured, is said to have strangled himself.

233. The Thebans however, of whom the commander was Leontiades, being
with the Hellenes had continued for some time to fight against the
king's army, constrained by necessity; but when they saw that the
fortunes of the Persians were prevailing, then and not before, while
the Hellenes with Leonidas were making their way with speed to the
hillock, they separated from these and holding out their hands came
near to the Barbarians, saying at the same time that which was most
true, namely that they were on the side of the Medes and that they had
been among the first to give earth and water to the king; and moreover
that they had come to Thermopylai constrained by necessity, and were
blameless for the loss which had been inflicted upon the king: so that
thus saying they preserved their lives, for they had also the
Thessalians to bear witness to these words. However, they did not
altogether meet with good fortune, for some had even been slain as
they had been approaching, and when they had come and the Barbarians
had them in their power, the greater number of them were branded by
command of Xerxes with the royal marks, beginning with their leader
Leontiades, the same whose son Eurymachos was afterwards slain by the
Plataians, when he had been made commander of four hundred Thebans and
had seized the city of the Plataians.[235]

234. Thus did the Hellenes at Thermopylai contend in fight; and Xerxes
summoned Demaratos and inquired of him, having first said this:
"Demaratos, thou art a good man; and this I conclude by the truth of
thy words, for all that thou saidest turned out so as thou didst say.
Now, however, tell me how many in number are the remaining
Lacedemonians, and of them how many are like these in matters of war;
or are they so even all of them?" He said: "O king, the number of all
the Lacedemonians is great and their cities are many, but that which
thou desirest to learn, thou shalt know. There is in Lacedemon the
city of Sparta, having about eight thousand men; and these are all
equal to those who fought here: the other Lacedemonians are not equal
to these, but they are good men too." To this Xerxes said: "Demaratos,
in what manner shall we with least labour get the better of these men?
Come set forth to us this; for thou knowest the courses of their
counsels,[236] seeing that thou wert once their king." 235. He made
answer: "O king, if thou dost in very earnest take counsel with me, it
is right that I declare to thee the best thing. What if thou shouldest
send three hundred ships from thy fleet to attack the Laconian land?
Now there is lying near it an island named Kythera, about which
Chilon, who was a very wise man among us, said that it would be a
greater gain for the Spartans that it should be sunk under the sea
than that it should remain above it; for he always anticipated that
something would happen from it of such a kind as I am now setting
forth to thee: not that he knew of thy armament beforehand, but that
he feared equally every armament of men. Let thy forces then set forth
from this island and keep the Lacedemonians in fear; and while they
have a war of their own close at their doors, there will be no fear
for thee from them that when the remainder of Hellas is being
conquered by the land-army, they will come to the rescue there. Then
after the remainder of Hellas has been reduced to subjection, from
that moment the Lacedemonian power will be left alone and therefore
feeble. If however thou shalt not do this, I will tell thee what thou
must look for. There is a narrow isthmus leading to the Peloponnese,
and in this place thou must look that other battles will be fought
more severe than those which have taken place, seeing that all the
Peloponnesians have sworn to a league against thee: but if thou shalt
do the other thing of which I spoke, this isthmus and the cities
within it will come over to thy side without a battle." 236. After him
spoke Achaimenes, brother of Xerxes and also commander of the fleet,
who chanced to have been present at this discourse and was afraid lest
Xerxes should be persuaded to do this: "O king," he said, "I see that
thou art admitting the speech of a man who envies thy good fortune, or
is even a traitor to thy cause: for in truth the Hellenes delight in
such a temper as this; they envy a man for his good luck, and they
hate that which is stronger than themselves. And if, besides other
misfortunes which we have upon us, seeing that four hundred of our
ships[237] have suffered wreck, thou shalt send away another three
hundred from the station of the fleet to sail round Peloponnese, then
thy antagonists become a match for thee in fight; whereas while it is
all assembled together our fleet is hard for them to deal with, and
they will not be at all a match for thee: and moreover the whole sea-
force will support the land-force and be supported by it, if they
proceed onwards together; but if thou shalt divide them, neither wilt
thou be of service to them nor they to thee. My determination is
rather to set thy affairs in good order[238] and not to consider the
affairs of the enemy, either where they will set on foot the war or
what they will do or how many in number they are; for it is sufficient
that they should themselves take thought for themselves, and we for
ourselves likewise: and if the Lacedemonians come to stand against the
Persians in fight, they will assuredly not heal the wound from which
they are now suffering."[239] 237. To him Xerxes made answer as
follows: "Achaimenes, I think that thou speakest well, and so will I
do; but Demaratos speaks that which he believes to be best for me,
though his opinion is defeated by thine: for I will not certainly
admit that which thou saidest, namely that he is not well-disposed to
my cause, judging both by what was said by him before this, and also
by that which is the truth, namely that though one citizen envies
another for his good fortune and shows enmity to him by his
silence,[240] nor would a citizen when a fellow-citizen consulted him
suggest that which seemed to him the best, unless he had attained to a
great height of virtue, and such men doubtless are few; yet guest-
friend to guest-friend in prosperity is well-disposed as nothing else
on earth, and if his friend should consult him, he would give him the
best counsel. Thus then as regards the evil-speaking against
Demaratos, that is to say about one who is my guest-friend, I bid
every one abstain from it in the future."

238. Having thus said Xerxes passed in review the bodies of the dead;
and as for Leonidas, hearing that he had been the king and commander
of the Lacedemonians he bade them cut off his head and crucify him.
And it has been made plain to me by many proofs besides, but by none
more strongly than by this, that king Xerxes was enraged with Leonidas
while alive more than with any other man on earth; for otherwise he
would never have done this outrage to his corpse; since of all the men
whom I know, the Persians are accustomed most to honour those who are
good men in war. They then to whom it was appointed to do these
things, proceeded to do so.

239. I will return now to that point of my narrative where it remained
unfinished.[241] The Lacedemonians had been informed before all others
that the king was preparing an expedition against Hellas; and thus it
happened that they sent to the Oracle at Delphi, where that reply was
given them which I reported shortly before this. And they got this
information in a strange manner; for Demaratos the son of Ariston
after he had fled for refuge to the Medes was not friendly to the
Lacedemonians, as I am of opinion and as likelihood suggests
supporting my opinion; but it is open to any man to make conjecture
whether he did this thing which follows in a friendly spirit or in
malicious triumph over them. When Xerxes had resolved to make a
campaign against Hellas, Demaratos, being in Susa and having been
informed of this, had a desire to report it to the Lacedemonians. Now
in no other way was he able to signify it, for there was danger that
he should be discovered, but he contrived thus, that is to say, he
took a folding tablet and scraped off the wax which was upon it, and
then he wrote the design of the king upon the wood of the tablet, and
having done so he melted the wax and poured it over the writing, so
that the tablet (being carried without writing upon it) might not
cause any trouble to be given by the keepers of the road. Then when it
had arrived at Lacedemon, the Lacedemonians were not able to make
conjecture of the matter; until at last, as I am informed, Gorgo, the
daughter of Cleomenes and wife of Leonidas, suggested a plan of which
she had herself thought, bidding them scrape the wax and they would
find writing upon the wood; and doing as she said they found the
writing and read it, and after that they sent notice to the other
Hellenes. These things are said to have come to pass in this
manner.[242]
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NOTES TO BOOK VII

1. {kai ploia}, for transport of horses and also of provisions:
however these words are omitted in some of the best MSS.

2. {all ei}: this is the reading of the better class of MSS. The rest
have {alla}, which with {pressois} could only express a wish for
success, and not an exhortation to action.

3. {outos men oi o logos en timoros}: the words may mean "this manner
of discourse was helpful for his purpose."

4. {khresmologon e kai diatheten khresmon ton Mousaiou}.

5. {aphanizoiato}, representing the present tense {aphanizontai} in
the oracle.

6. {ton thronon touton}: most MSS. have {ton thronon, touto}.

7. {epistasthe kou pantes}: the MSS. have {ta epistasthe kou pantes},
which is given by most Editors. In that case {oia erxan} would be
an exclamation, "What evils they did to us, . . . things which ye
all know well, I think."

8. {touton mentoi eineka}: it is hardly possible here to give
{mentoi} its usual meaning: Stein in his latest edition reads
{touton men toinun}.

9. {suneneike}: Stein reads {suneneike se}, "supposing that thou art
worsted."

10. {ep andri ge eni}, as opposed to a god.

11. {akousesthai tina psemi ton k.t.l.}, "each one of those who are
left behind."

12. {kai Kurou}, a conjectural emendation of {tou Kurou}. The text of
the MSS. enumerates all these as one continuous line of ascent. It
is clear however that the enumeration is in fact of two separate
lines, which combine in Te�spes, the line of ascent through the
father Dareios being, Dareios, Hystaspes, Arsames, Ariamnes,
Te�spes, and through the mother, Atossa, Cyrus, Cambyses, Te�spes.

13. {kai mala}: perhaps, "even."

13a. Lit. "nor is he present who will excuse thee."

14. Lit. "my youth boiled over."

15. Lit. "words more unseemly than was right."

16. {all oude tauta esti o pai theia}.

17. {peplanesthai}.

18. {autai}: a correction of {autai}.

19. {se de epiphoitesei}: the better MSS. have {oude epiphoitesei},
which is adopted by Stein.

20. {pempto de etei anomeno}.

21. {ton Ionion}.

22. {kai oud ei eperai pros tautesi prosgenomenai}: some MSS. read
{oud eterai pros tautesi genomenai}, which is adopted (with
variations) by some Editors. The meaning would be "not all these,
nor others which happened in addition to these, were equal to this
one."

23. {ama strateuomenoisi}: {ama} is omitted in some MSS.

24. {stadion}, and so throughout.

25. {entos Sanes}: some MSS. read {ektos Sanes}, which is adopted by
Stein, who translates "beyond Sane, but on this side of Mount
Athos": this however will not suit the case of all the towns
mentioned, e.g. Acrothoon, and {ton Athen} just below clearly
means the whole peninsula.

26. {leukolinou}.

27. {ton de on pleiston}: if this reading is right, {siton} must be
understood, and some MSS. read {allon} for {alla} in the sentence
above. Stein in his latest edition reads {siton} instead of
{pleiston}.

28. Lit. "the name of which happens to be Catarractes."

29. i.e. 4,000,000.

30. The {stater dareikos} was of nearly pure gold (cp. iv. 166),
weighing about 124 grains.

30a. {stele}, i.e. a square block of stone.

31. {athanato andri}, taken by some to mean one of the body of
"Immortals."

32. {akte pakhea}: some inferior MSS. read {akte trakhea}, and hence
some Editors have {akte trekhea}, "a rugged foreland."

33. {dolero}: some Editors read {tholero}, "turbid," by conjecture.

34. The meaning is much disputed. I understand Herodotus to state that
though the vessels lay of course in the direction of the stream
from the Hellespont, that is presenting their prows (or sterns) to
the stream, yet this did not mean that they pointed straight
towards the Propontis and Euxine; for the stream after passing
Sestos runs almost from North to South with even a slight tendency
to the East (hence {eurou} a few lines further on), so that ships
lying in the stream would point in a line cutting at right angles
that of the longer axis (from East to West) of the Pontus and
Propontis. This is the meaning of {epikarsios} elsewhere in
Herodotus (i. 180 and iv. 101), and it would be rash to assign to
it any other meaning here. It is true however that the expression
{pros esperes} is used loosely below for the side toward the
Egean. For {anakokheue} a subject must probably be supplied from
the clause {pentekonterous--sunthentes}, "that it (i.e. the
combination of ships) might support etc.," and {ton tonon ton
oplon} may either mean as below "the stretched ropes," or "the
tension of the ropes," which would be relieved by the support: the
latter meaning seems to me preferable.

Mr. Whitelaw suggests to me that {epikarsios} ({epi kar}) may mean
rather "head-foremost," which seems to be its meaning in Homer
(Odyss. ix. 70), and from which might be obtained the idea of
intersection, one line running straight up against another, which
it has in other passages. In that case it would here mean "heading
towards the Pontus."

35. {tas men pros tou Pontou tes eteres}. Most commentators would
supply {gephures} with {tes eteres}, but evidently both bridges
must have been anchored on both sides.

36. {eurou}: Stein adopts the conjecture {zephurou}.

37. {ton pentekonteron kai triereon trikhou}: the MSS. give {ton
pentekonteron kai trikhou}, "between the fifty-oared galleys in as
many as three places," but it is strange that the fifty-oared
galleys should be mentioned alone, and there seems no need of
{kai} with {trikhou}. Stein reads {ton pentekonteron kai triereon}
(omitting {trikhou} altogether), and this may be right.

38. i.e. in proportion to the quantity: there was of course a greater
weight altogether of the papyrus rope.

39. {autis epezeugnuon}.

40. {ekleipsin}: cp. {eklipon} above.

41. Or, according to some MSS., "Nisaian."

42. i.e. not downwards.

43. {tina autou sukhnon omilon}.

44. {to Priamou Pergamon}.

45. {en Abudo mese}: some inferior authorities (followed by most
Editors) omit {mese}: but the district seems to be spoken of, as
just above.

46. {proexedre lothou leukou}: some kind of portico or /loggia/ seems
to be meant.

47. {daimonie andoon}.

48. {ena auton}.

49. {to proso aiei kleptomenos}: "stealing thy advance continually,"
i.e. "advancing insensibly further." Some take {kleptomenos} as
passive, "insensibly lured on further."

50. {neoteron ti poiesein}.

51. Or, according to some MSS., "the Persian land."

52. Lit. "the name of which happens to be Agora."

53. i.e. 1,700,000.

54. {sunnaxantes}: a conjectural emendation very generally adopted of
{sunaxantes} or {sunapsantes}.

55. {apageas}, i.e. not stiffly standing up; the opposite to
{pepeguias} (ch. 64).

56. {lepidos siderees opsin ikhthueideos}: many Editors suppose that
some words have dropped out. The {kithon} spoken of may have been
a coat of armour, but elsewhere the body armour {thorex} is
clearly distinguished from the {kithon}, see ix. 22.

57. {gerra}: cp. ix. 61 and 102.

58. Cp. i. 7.

59. {mitrephoroi esan}: the {mitre} was perhaps a kind of turban.

60. {tesi Aiguptiesi}, apparently {makhairesi} is meant to be
supplied: cp. ch. 91.

61. {eklethesan}, "were called" from the first.

62. These words are by some Editors thought to be an interpolation.
The Chaldeans in fact had become a caste of priests, cp. i. 181.

63. {kurbasias}: supposed to be the same as the /tiara/ (cp. v. 49),
but in this case stiff and upright.

64. i.e. Areians, cp. iii. 93.

65. {sisurnas}: cp. iv. 109.

66. {akinakas}.

67. {sisurnophoroi}.

68. {zeiras}.

69. {toxa palintona}.

70. {spathes}, which perhaps means the stem of the leaf.

71. {gupso}, "white chalk."

72. {milto}, "red ochre."

73. Some words have apparently been lost containing the name of the
nation to which the following description applies. It is suggested
that this might be either the Chalybians or the Pisidians.

74. {lukioergeas}, an emendation from Athen�us of {lukoergeas} (or
{lukergeas}), which might perhaps mean "for wolf-hunting."

75. {anastpastous}: cp. iii. 93.

76. Some Editors place this clause before the words: "and Smerdomenes
the son of Otanes," for we do not hear of Otanes or Smerdomenes
elsewhere as brother and nephew of Dareios. On the other hand
Mardonios was son of the /sister/ of Dareios.

77. {tukhe}, "hits."

78. {keletas}, "single horses."

79. This name is apparently placed here wrongly. It has been proposed
to read {Kaspeiroi} or {Paktues}.

80. {ippeue}: the greater number of MSS. have {ippeuei} here as at the
beginning of ch. 84, to which this is a reference back, but with a
difference of meaning. There the author seemed to begin with the
intention of giving a full list of the cavalry force of the
Persian Empire, and then confined his account to those actually
present on this occasion, whereas here the word in combination
with {mouna} refers only to those just enumerated.

81. i.e. 80,000.

82. {Suroisi}, see note on ii. 104.

83. {tukous}, which appears to mean ordinarily a tool for stone-
cutting.

84. {mitresi}, perhaps "turbans."

85. {kithonas}: there is some probability in the suggestion of
{kitarias} here, for we should expect mention of a head-covering,
and the word {kitaris} (which is explained to mean the same as
{tiara}), is quoted by Pollux as occurring in Herodotus.

86. {kithonas}.

87. {drepana}, "reaping-hooks," cp. v. 112.

88. See i. 171.

89. {Pelasgoi Aigialees}.

90. {kerkouroi}.

91. {makra}: some MSS. and editions have {smikra}, "small."

92. Or "Mapen."

93. Or "Seldomos."

94. {metopedon}.

95. {me oentes arthmioi}. This is generally taken to mean, "unless
they were of one mind together"; but that would very much weaken
the force of the remark, and {arthmios} elsewhere is the opposite
of {polemios}, cp. vi. 83 and ix. 9, 37. Xerxes professes enmity
only against those who had refused to give the tokens of
submission.

96. {men mounoisi}: these words are omitted in some good MSS., and
{mounoisi} has perhaps been introduced from the preceding
sentence. The thing referred to in {touto} is the power of
fighting in single combat with many at once, which Demaratos is
supposed to have claimed for the whole community of the Spartans.

97. {stergein malista}.

98. {oudamoi ko}.

99. Or, "Strauos."

100. Or, "Compsatos."

101. {tas epeirotidas polis}: it is not clear why these are thus
distinguished. Stein suggests {Thasion tas epeirotidas polis}, cp.
ch. 118; and if that be the true reading {ion} is probably a
remnant of {Thasion} after {khoras}.

102. Or, "Pistiros."

103. {oi propheteountes}, i.e. those who interpret the utterances of
the Oracle, cp. viii. 36.

104. {promantis}.

105. {kai ouden poikiloteron}, an expression of which the meaning is
not quite clear; perhaps "and the oracles are not at all more
obscure," cp. Eur. Ph�n. 470 and Hel. 711 (quoted by B�hr).

106. "Ennea Hodoi."

107. Cp. iii. 84.

108. The "royal cubit" is about 20 inches; the {daktulos}, "finger's
breadth," is rather less than � inch.

109. Or, "Cape Canastraion."

110. Or "Echeidoros": so it is usually called, but not by any MS.
here, and by a few only in ch. 127.

111. {pro mesogaian tamnon tes odou}: cp. iv. 12 and ix. 89.

112. Cp. ch. 6 and 174: but it does not appear that the Aleuadai, of
whom Xerxes is here speaking, ever thought of resistance, and
perhaps {gnosimakheontes} means, "when they submitted without
resistance."

113. Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.

114. {dekateusai}: there is sufficient authority for this rendering of
{dekateuein}, and it seems better here than to understand the word
to refer only to a "tithing" of goods.

115. {es to barathron}, the place of execution at Athens.

116. "undesirable thing."

117. {ouk ex isou}: i.e. it is one-sided, because the speaker has had
experience of only one of the alternatives.

118. Cp. ch. 143 (end), and viii. 62.

119. {teikheon kithones}, a poetical expression, quoted perhaps from
some oracle; and if so, {kithon} may here have the Epic sense of a
"coat of mail," equivalent to {thorex} in i. 181: see ch. 61, note
56.

120. {to megaron}.

121. The form of address changes abruptly to the singular number,
referring to the Athenian people.

122. {azela}, probably for {aionla}, which has been proposed as a
correction: or possibly "wretched."

123. {oxus Ares}.

124. i.e. Assyrian, cp. ch. 63.

125. {min}, i.e. the city, to which belong the head, feet, and body
which have been mentioned.

126. {kakois d' epikidnate thumon}: this might perhaps mean (as it is
taken by several Editors), "show a courageous soul in your
troubles," but that would hardly suit with the discouraging tone
of the context.

127. {onax}, cp. iv. 15.

128. {ouros}: the word might of course be for {oros}, "mountain," and
{Kekropos ouros} would then mean the Acropolis (so it is understood by
Stein and others), but the combination with Kithairon makes it
probable that the reference is to the boundaries of Attica, and this
seems more in accordance with the reference to it in viii. 53.

129. {Demeteros}.

130. {sustas}, "having been joined" cp. viii. 142.

131. {ton peri ten Ellada Ellenon ta ameino phroneonton}: the MSS.
have {ton} also after {Ellenon}, which would mean "those of the
Hellenes in Hellas itself, who were of the better mind;" but the
expression {ton ta ameino phroneouseon peri ten Ellada} occurs in
ch. 172. Some Editors omit {Ellenon} as well as {ton}.

132. {egkekremenoi} (from {egkerannumi}, cp. v. 124), a conjectural
emendation (by Reiske) of {egkekhremenoi}. Others have conjectured
{egkekheiremenoi} or {egegermenoi}.

133. {te ge alle}: many Editors adopt the conjecture {tede alle} "is
like the following, which he expressed on another occasion."

134. See vi. 77. This calamity had occurred about fourteen years
before, and it was not in order to recover from this that the
Argives wished now for a thirty years' truce; but warned by this
they desired (they said) to guard against the consequence of a
similar disaster in fighting with the Persians, against whom,
according to their own account, they were going to defend
themselves independently. So great was their fear of this that,
"though fearing the oracle," they were willing to disobey it on
certain conditions.

135. {probalaion}, cp. {probolous}, ch. 76.

136. {es tous pleunas}.

137. Cp. v. 53.

138. {ethelousi}: this is omitted in most of the MSS., but contained
in several of the best. Many Editors have omitted it.

139. {ta oikeia kaka} seems to mean the grievances which each has
against his neighbours, "if all the nations of men should bring
together into one place their own grievances against their
neighbours, desiring to make a settlement with them, each people,
when they had examined closely the grievances of others against
themselves, would gladly carry away back with them those which
they had brought," judging that they had offended others more than
they had suffered themselves.

140. {oiketor o en Gele}: some Editors read by conjecture {oiketor eon
Geles}, others {oiketor en Gele}.

141. {iropsantai ton khthonion theon}: cp. vi. 134.

142. i.e. by direct inspiration.

143. {en dorupsoros}: the MSS. have {os en dorupsoros}. Some Editors
mark a lacuna.

144. {gamorous}, the name given to the highest class of citizens.

145. Or, "Killyrians." They were conquered Sicanians, in the position
of the Spartan Helots.

146. {pakheas}: cp. v. 30.

147. {gar}: inserted conjecturally by many Editors.

148. See v. 46.

149. {e ke meg oimexeie}, the beginning of a Homeric hexameter, cp.
Il. vii. 125.

150. Or, "since your speech is so adverse."

151. See Il. ii. 552.

152. Some Editors mark this explanation "Now this is the meaning--
year," as interpolated.

153. {purannida}.

154. {es meson Kooisi katatheis ten arkhen}.

155. {para Samion}: this is the reading of the best MSS.: others have
{meta Samion}, "together with the Samians," which is adopted by
many Editors. There can be little doubt however that the Skythes
mentioned in vi. 23 was the father of this Cadmos, and we know
from Thuc. vi. 4 that the Samians were deprived of the town soon
after they had taken it, by Anaxilaos, who gave it the name of
Messene, and no doubt put Cadmos in possession of it, as the son
of the former king.

156. Cp. ch. 154.

157. i.e. 300,000.

159. The MSS. add either {os Karkhedonioi}, or {os Karkhedonioi kai
Surekosioi}, but the testimony of the Carthaginians has just been
given, {os Phoinikes legousi}, and the Syracusans professed to be
unable to discover anything of him at all. Most of the Editors
omit or alter the words.

160. {epimemphesthe}: some Editors have tried corrections, e.g. {ou ti
memnesthe}, "do ye not remember," or {epimemnesthe}, "remember";
but cp. viii. 106, {oste se me mempsasthai ten . . . diken}.

161. {osa umin . . . Minos epempse menion dakrumata}. The oracle would
seem to have been in iambic verse.

162. {parentheke}.

163. {ou boulomenoi}, apparently equivalent to {me boulemenoi}.

164. Cp. viii. 111.

165. i.e. the six commanders of divisions {morai} in the Spartan army.

166. {mia}: for this most MSS. have {ama}. Perhaps the true reading is
{ama mia}.

167. {amaxitos moune}, cp. ch. 200.

168. {Khutrous}.

169. {ton epibateon autes}.

170. {emeroskopous}: perhaps simply "scouts," cp. ch. 219, by which it
would seem that they were at their posts by night also, though
naturally they would not see much except by day.

171. i.e. "Ant."

172. {autoi}.

173. i.e. 241,400.

174. {epebateuon}.

175. 36,210.

176. {o ti pleon en auton e elasson}. In ch. 97, which is referred to
just above, these ships are stated to have been of many different
kinds, and not only fifty-oared galleys.

177. 240,000.

178. 517,610.

179. 1,700,000: see ch. 60.

180. 80,000.

181. 2,317,610.

182. {dokesin de dei legein}.

183. Some MSS. have {Ainienes} for {Enienes}.

184. 300,000.

185. 2,641,610.

186. {tou makhimou toutou}.

187. {akatoisi}.

188. 5,283,220.

189. {khoinika}, the usual daily allowance.

190. The {medimnos} is about a bushel and a half, and is equal to 48
{khoinikes}. The reckoning here of 110,340 {medimnoi} is wrong,
owing apparently to the setting down of some numbers in the
quotient which were in fact part of the dividend.

191. {prokrossai ormeonto es ponton}: the meaning of {prokrossai} is
doubtful, but the introduction of the word is probably due to a
reminiscence of Homer, Il. xiv. 35, where the ships are described
as drawn up in rows one behind the other on shore, and where
{prokrossas} is often explained to mean {klimakedon}, i.e. either
in steps one behind the other owing to the rise of the beach, or
in the arrangement of the /quincunx/. Probably in this passage the
idea is rather of the prows projecting in rows like battlements
{krossai}, and this is the sense in which the word is used by
Herodotus elsewhere (iv. 152). The word {krossai} however is used
for the successively rising stages of the pyramids (ii. 125), and
{prokrossos} may mean simply "in a row," or "one behind the
other," which would suit all passages in which it occurs, and
would explain the expression {prokrossoi pheromenoi epi ton
kindunon}, quoted by Athen�us.

192. {apeliotes}. Evidently, from its name {Ellespontias} and from its
being afterwards called {Boreas}, it was actually a North-East
Wind.

193. i.e. "Ovens."

194. {exebrassonto}.

195. {thesaurous}.

196. The word {khrusea}, "of gold," is omitted by some Editors.

197. "in his case also {kai touton} there was an unpleasing misfortune
of the slaying of a child {paidophonos} which troubled him," i.e.
he like others had misfortunes to temper his prosperity.

198. {goesi}, (from a supposed word {goe}): a correction of {geosi},
"by enchanters," which is retained by Stein. Some read {khoesi},
"with libations," others {boesi}, "with cries."

199. {aphesein}, whence the name {Aphetai} was supposed to be derived.

199a. Or, "had crucified . . . having convicted him of the following
charge, namely," etc. Cp. iii. 35 (end).

200. {tritaios}. According to the usual meaning of the word the sense
should be "on the third day after" entering Thessaly, but the
distance was much greater than a two-days' march.

201. i.e. "the Devourer."

202. {Prutaneiou}, "Hall of the Magistrates."

203. {leiton}.

204. {estellonto}: many Editors, following inferior MSS., read
{eselthontes} and make changes in the rest of the sentence.

205. Some MSS. have {Ainienon} for {Enienon}.

206. {stadion}.

207. {diskhilia te gar kai dismuria plethra tou pediou esti}. If the
text is right, the {plethron} must here be a measure of area. The
amount will then be about 5000 acres.

208. {mekhri Trekhinos}, "up to Trachis," which was the Southern
limit.

209. {to epi tautes tes epeirou}. I take {to epi tautes} to be an
adverbial expression like {tes eteres} in ch. 36, for I cannot
think that the rendering "towards this continent" is satisfactory.

210. See v. 45.

211. {tous katesteotas}. There is a reference to the body of 300 so
called {ippeis} (cp. i. 67), who were appointed to accompany the
king in war; but we must suppose that on special occasions the
king made up this appointed number by selection, and that in this
case those were preferred who had sons to keep up the family.
Others (including Grote) understand {tous katesteotas} to mean
"men of mature age."

212. {ton Pulagoron}.

213. {es ten Pulaien}.

214. An indication that the historian intended to carry his work
further than the year 479.

215. See ch. 83.

216. {ek te tosou de katededekto eousa ouden khreste Melieusi}, i.e.
{e esbole}.

217. {Melampugon}.

218. Lit. "had set out to go at first."

219. Lit. "and afterwards deserters were they who reported."

220. {diakrithentes}.

221. {taute kai mallon te gnome pleistos eimi}.

222. i.e. the Persian.

223. {prin tond eteron dia panta dasetai}: i.e. either the city or the
king.

224. {mounon Spartieteon}: some Editors (following Plutarch) read
{mounon Spartieteon}, "lay up for the Spartans glory above all
other nations."

225. {to men gar eruma tou teikheos ephulasseto, oi de k.t.l.}

226. i.e. the Lacedemonians.

227. {izonto epi ton kolonon}.

228. Some Editors insert {tous} after {e}, "before those who were sent
away by Leonidas had departed."

229. {remasi}.

230. {leipopsukheonta}, a word which refers properly to bodily
weakness. It has been proposed to read {philopsukheonta}, "loving
his life," cp. vi. 29.

231. {algesanta}: some good MSS. have {alogesanta}, which is adopted
by Stein, "had in his ill-reckoning returned alone."

232. {tes autes ekhomenou prophasios}.

233. {atimien}.

234. {o tresas}.

235. Thuc. ii. 2 ff.

236. {tas diexodous ton bouleumaton}, cp. iii. 156.

237. {ton vees k.t.l.}: some Editors insert {ek} before {ton}, "by
which four hundred ships have suffered shipwreck."

238. {ta seoutou de tithemenos eu gnomen ekho}: for {ekho} some
inferior MSS. have {ekhe}, which is adopted by several Editors,
"Rather set thy affairs in good order and determine not to
consider," etc.

239. {to pareon troma}, i.e. their defeat.

240. {kai esti dusmenes te sige}. Some commentators understand {te
sige} to mean "secretly," like {sige}, viii. 74.

241. See ch. 220.

242. Many Editors pronounce the last chapter to be an interpolation,
but perhaps with hardly sufficient reason.

BOOK VIII

THE EIGHTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIES, CALLED URANIA

1. Those of the Hellenes who had been appointed to serve in the fleet
were these:--the Athenians furnished a hundred and twenty-seven ships,
and the Plataians moved by valour and zeal for the service, although
they had had no practice in seamanship, yet joined with the Athenians
in manning their ships. The Corinthians furnished forty ships, the
Megarians twenty; the Chalkidians manned twenty ships with which the
Athenians furnished them;[1] the Eginetans furnished eighteen ships,
the Sikyonians twelve, the Lacedemonians ten, the Epidaurians eight,
the Eretrians seven, the Troizenians five, the Styrians two, the
Ke�ans two ships[2] and two fifty-oared galleys, while the Locrians of
Opus came also to the assistance of the rest with seven fifty-oared
galleys.

2. These were those who joined in the expedition to Artemision, and I
have mentioned them according to the number[3] of the ships which they
severally supplied: so the number of the ships which were assembled at
Artemision was (apart from the fifty-oared galleys) two hundred and
seventy-one: and the commander who had the supreme power was furnished
by the Spartans, namely Eurybiades son of Eurycleides, since the
allies said that they would not follow the lead of the Athenians, but
unless a Lacedemonian were leader they would break up the expedition
which was to be made: 3, for it had come to be said at first, even
before they sent to Sicily to obtain allies, that the fleet ought to
be placed in the charge of the Athenians. So as the allies opposed
this, the Athenians yielded, having it much at heart that Hellas
should be saved, and perceiving that if they should have disagreement
with one another about the leadership, Hellas would perish: and herein
they judged rightly, for disagreement between those of the same race
is worse than war undertaken with one consent by as much as war is
worse than peace. Being assured then of this truth, they did not
contend, but gave way for so long time as they were urgently in need
of the allies; and that this was so their conduct proved; for when,
after repelling the Persian from themselves, they were now contending
for his land and no longer for their own, they alleged the insolence
of Pausanias as a pretext and took away the leadership from the
Lacedemonians. This however took place afterwards. 4. But at this time
these Hellenes also who had come to Artemision,[4] when they saw that
a great number of ships had put in to Aphetai and that everything was
filled with their armament, were struck with fear, because the
fortunes of the Barbarians had different issue from that which they
expected, and they deliberated about retreating from Artemision to the
inner parts of Hellas. And the Eub�ans perceiving that they were so
deliberating, asked Eurybiades to stay there by them for a short time,
until they should have removed out of their land their children, and
their households; and as they did not persuade him, they went
elsewhere and persuaded Themistocles the commander of the Athenians by
a payment of thirty talents, the condition being that the fleet should
stay and fight the sea-battle in front of Eub�a. 5. Themistocles then
caused the Hellenes to stay in the following manner:--to Eurybiades he
imparted five talents of the sum with the pretence that he was giving
it from himself; and when Eurybiades had been persuaded by him to
change his resolution, Adeimantos son of Okytos, the Corinthian
commander, was the only one of all the others who still made a
struggle, saying that he would sail away from Artemision and would not
stay with the others: to him therefore Themistocles said with an oath:
"Thou at least shalt not leave us, for I will give thee greater gifts
than the king of the Medes would send to thee, if thou shouldest
desert thy allies." Thus he spoke, and at the same time he sent to the
ship of Adeimantos three talents of silver. So these all[5] had been
persuaded by gifts to change their resolution, and at the same time
the request of the Eub�ans had been gratified and Themistocles himself
gained money; and it was not known that he had the rest of the money,
but those who received a share of this money were fully persuaded that
it had come from the Athenian State for this purpose.

6. Thus they remained in Eub�a and fought a sea-battle; and it came to
pass as follows:--when the Barbarians had arrived at Aphetai about the
beginning of the afternoon, having been informed even before they came
that a few ships of the Hellenes were stationed about Artemision and
now seeing them for themselves, they were eager to attack them, to see
if they could capture them. Now they did not think it good yet to sail
against them directly for this reason,--for fear namely that the
Hellenes, when they saw them sailing against them, should set forth to
take flight and darkness should come upon them in their flight; and so
they were likely (thought the Persians)[6] to get away; whereas it was
right, according to their calculation, that not even the fire-
bearer[7] should escape and save his life. 7. With a view to this then
they contrived as follows:--of the whole number of their ships they
parted off two hundred and sent them round to sail by Caphereus and
round Geriastos to the Euripos, going outside Skiathos so that they
might not be sighted by the enemy as they sailed round Eub�a: and
their purpose was that with these coming up by that way, and blocking
the enemies' retreat, and themselves advancing against them directly,
they might surround them on all sides. Having formed this plan they
proceeded to send off the ships which were appointed for this, and
they themselves had no design of attacking the Hellenes on that day
nor until the signal agreed upon should be displayed to them by those
who were sailing round, to show that they had arrived. These ships, I
say, they were sending round, and meanwhile they were numbering the
rest at Aphetai.

8. During this time, while these were numbering their ships, it
happened thus:--there was in that camp a man of Skione named Skyllias,
as a diver the best of all the men of that time, who also in the
shipwreck which took place by Pelion had saved for the Persians many
of their goods and many of them also he had acquired for himself: this
Skyllias it appears had had an intention even before this of deserting
to the side of the Hellenes, but it had not been possible for him to
do so then. In what manner after this attempt he did actually come to
the Hellenes, I am not able to say with certainty, but I marvel if the
tale is true which is reported; for it is said that he dived into the
sea at Aphetai and did not come up till he reached Artemision, having
traversed here somewhere about eighty furlongs through the sea. Now
there are told about this man several other tales which seem likely to
be false, but some also which are true: about this matter however let
it be stated as my opinion that he came to Artemision in a boat. Then
when he had come, he forthwith informed the commanders about the
shipwreck, how it had come to pass, and of the ships which had been
sent away to go round Eub�a. 9. Hearing this the Hellenes considered
the matter with one another; and after many things had been spoken,
the prevailing opinion was that they should remain there that day and
encamp on shore, and then, when midnight was past, they should set
forth and go to meet those ships which were sailing round. After this
however, as no one sailed out to attack them, they waited for the
coming of the late hours of the afternoon and sailed out themselves to
attack the Barbarians, desiring to make a trial both of their manner
of fighting and of the trick of breaking their line.[8] 10. And seeing
them sailing thus against them with few ships, not only the others in
the army of Xerxes but also their commanders judged them to be moved
by mere madness, and they themselves also put out their ships to sea,
supposing that they would easily capture them: and their expectation
was reasonable enough, since they saw that the ships of the Hellenes
were few, while theirs were many times as numerous and sailed better.
Setting their mind then on this, they came round and enclosed them in
the middle. Then so many of the Ionians as were kindly disposed to the
Hellenes and were serving in the expedition against their will,
counted it a matter of great grief to themselves when they saw them
being surrounded and felt assured that not one of them would return
home, so feeble did they think the power of the Hellenes to be; while
those to whom that which was happening was a source of pleasure, were
vying with one another, each one endeavouring to be the first to take
an Athenian ship and receive gifts from the king: for in their camps
there was more report of the Athenians than of any others. 11. The
Hellenes meanwhile, when the signal was given, first set themselves
with prows facing the Barbarians and drew the sterns of their ships
together in the middle; and when the signal was given a second time,
although shut off in a small space and prow against prow,[9] they set
to work vigorously; and they captured thirty ships of the Barbarians
and also Philaon the son of Chersis, the brother of Gorgos kind of the
Salaminians, who was a man of great repute in the army. Now the first
of the Hellenes who captured a ship of the enemy was an Athenian,
Lycomedes the son of Aischraios, and he received the prize for valour.
So these, as they were contending in this sea-fight with doubtful
result, were parted from one another by the coming on of night. The
Hellenes accordingly sailed away to Artemision and the Barbarians to
Aphetai, the contest having been widely different from their
expectation. In this sea-fight Antidoros of Lemnos alone of the
Hellenes who were with the king deserted to the side of the Hellenes,
and the Athenians on account of this deed gave him a piece of land in
Salamis.

12. When the darkness had come on, although the season was the middle
of summer, yet there came on very abundant rain, which lasted through
the whole of the night, with crashing thunder[10] from Mount Pelion;
and the dead bodies and pieces of wreck were cast up at Aphetai and
became entangled round the prows of the ships and struck against the
blades of the oars: and the men of the army who were there, hearing
these things became afraid, expecting that they would certainly
perish, to such troubles had they come; for before they had had even
breathing space after the shipwreck and the storm which had arisen off
Mount Pelion, there had come upon them a hard sea-fight, and after the
sea-fight a violent storm of rain and strong streams rushing to the
sea and crashing thunder. 13. These then had such a night as I have
said; and meanwhile those of them who had been appointed to sail round
Eub�a experienced the very same night, but against them it raged much
more fiercely, inasmuch as it fell upon them while they were making
their course in the open sea. And the end of it proved distressful[11]
to them; for when the storm and the rain together came upon them as
they sailed, being then off the "Hollows" of Eub�a,[12] they were
borne by the wind not knowing by what way they were carried, and were
cast away upon the rocks. And all this was being brought about by God
in order that the Persian force might be made more equal to that of
the Hellenes and might not be by very much the larger. 14. These then,
I say, were perishing about the Hollows of Eub�a, and meanwhile the
Barbarians at Aphetai, when day had dawned upon them, of which they
were glad, were keeping their ships quiet, and were satisfied in their
evil plight to remain still for the present time; but to the Hellenes
there came as a reinforcement three-and-fifty Athenian ships. The
coming of these gave them more courage, and at the same time they were
encouraged also by a report that those of the Barbarians who had been
sailing round Eub�a had all been destroyed by the storm that had taken
place. They waited then for the same time of day as before, and then
they sailed and fell upon some Kilikian ships; and having destroyed
these, they sailed away when the darkness came on, and returned to
Artemision.

15. On the third day the commanders of the Barbarians, being
exceedingly indignant that so small a number of ships should thus do
them damage, and fearing what Xerxes might do, did not wait this time
for the Hellenes to begin the fight, but passed the word of command
and put out their ships to sea about the middle of the day. Now it so
happened that these battles at sea and the battles on land at
Thermopylai took place on the same days; and for those who fought by
sea the whole aim of the fighting was concerned with the channel of
Euripos, just as the aim of Leonidas and of his band was to guard the
pass: the Hellenes accordingly exhorted one another not to let the
Barbarians go by into Hellas; while these cheered one another on to
destroy the fleet of the Hellenes and to get possession of the
straits. 16. Now while the forces of Xerxes were sailing in order
towards them, the Hellenes kept quiet at Artemision; and the
Barbarians, having made a crescent of their ships that they might
enclose them, were endeavouring to surround them. Then the Hellenes
put out to sea and engaged with them; and in this battle the two sides
were nearly equal to one another; for the fleet of Xerxes by reason of
its great size and numbers suffered damage from itself, since the
ships were thrown into confusion and ran into one another:
nevertheless it stood out and did not give way, for they disdained to
be turned to flight by so few ships. Many ships therefore of the
Hellenes were destroyed and many men perished, but many more ships and
men of the Barbarians. Thus contending they parted and went each to
their own place. 17. In this sea-fight the Egyptians did best of the
men who fought for Xerxes; and these, besides other great deeds which
they displayed, captured five ships of the Hellenes together with
their crews: while of the Hellenes those who did best on this day were
the Athenians, and of the Athenians Cleinias the son of Alkibiades,
who was serving with two hundred man and a ship of his own, furnishing
the expense at his own proper cost.

18. Having parted, both sides gladly hastened to their moorings; and
after they had separated and got away out of the sea-fight, although
the Hellenes had possession of the bodies of the dead and of the
wrecks of the ships, yet having suffered severely[13] (and especially
the Athenians, of whose ships half had been disabled), they were
deliberating now about retreating to the inner parts of Hellas. 19.
Themistocles however had conceived that if there should be detached
from the force of the Barbarians the Ionian and Carian nations, they
would be able to overcome the rest; and when the people of Eub�a were
driving their flocks down to that sea,[14] he assembled the generals
and said to them that he thought he had a device by which he hoped to
cause the best of the king's allies to leave him. This matter he
revealed to that extent only; and with regard to their present
circumstances, he said that they must do as follows:--every one must
slaughter of the flocks of the Eub�ans as many as he wanted, for it
was better that their army should have them than the enemy; moreover
he advised that each one should command his own men to kindle a fire:
and as for the time of their departure he would see to it in such wise
that they should come safe to Hellas. This they were content to do,
and forthwith when they had kindled a fire they turned their attention
to the flocks. 20. For in fact the Eub�ans, neglecting the oracle of
Bakis as if it had no meaning at all, had neither carried away
anything from their land nor laid in any store of provisions with a
view to war coming upon them, and by their conduct moreover they had
brought trouble upon themselves.[15] For the oracle uttered by Bakis
about these matters runs as follows:

"Mark, when a man, a Barbarian, shall yoke the Sea with papyrus,
Then do thou plan to remove the loud-bleating goats from Eub�a."

In the evils which at this time were either upon them or soon to be
expected they might feel not a little sorry that they had paid no
attention to these lines.

21. While these were thus engaged, there came to them the scout from
Trachis: for there was at Artemision a scout named Polyas, by birth of
Antikyra, to whom it had been appointed, if the fleet should be
disabled,[16] to signify this to those at Thermopylai, and he had a
vessel equipped and ready for this purpose; and similarly there was
with Leonidas Abronichos son of Lysicles, an Athenian, ready to carry
news to those at Artemision with a thirty-oared galley, if any
disaster should happen to the land-army. This Abronichos then had
arrived, and he proceeded to signify to them that which had come to
pass about Leonidas and his army; and then when they were informed of
it no longer put off their retreat, but set forth in the order in
which they were severally posted, the Corinthians first and the
Athenians last. 22. Themistocles however selected those ships of the
Athenians which sailed best, and went round to the springs of
drinking-water, cutting inscriptions on the stones there, which the
Ionians read when they came to Artemision on the following day. These
inscriptions ran thus: "Ionians, ye act not rightly in making
expedition against the fathers of your race and endeavouring to
enslave Hellas. Best of all were it that ye should come and be on our
side; but if that may not be done by you, stand aside even now from
the combat against us and ask the Carians to do the same as ye. If
however neither of these two things is possible to be done, and ye are
bound down by too strong compulsion to be able to make revolt, then in
the action, when we engage battle, be purposely slack, remember that
ye are descended from us and that our quarrel with the Barbarian took
its rise at the first from you." Themistocles wrote thus, having, as I
suppose, two things together in his mind, namely that either the
inscriptions might elude the notice of the king and cause the Ionians
to change and come over to the side on which he was, or that having
been reported and denounced to Xerxes they might cause the Ionians to
be distrusted by him, and so he might keep them apart from the sea-
fights.

Themistocles then had set these inscriptions: and to the Barbarians
there came immediately after these things a man of Histaia in a boat
bringing word of the retreat of the Hellenes from Artemision. They
however, not believing it, kept the messenger under guard and sent
swift-sailing ships to look on before. Then these having reported the
facts, at last as daylight was spreading over the sky, the whole
armament sailed in a body to Artemision; and having stayed at this
place till mid-day, after this they sailed to Histaia, and there
arrived they took possession of the city of Histaia and overran all
the villages which lie along the coast in the region of Ellopia, which
is the land of Histaia.

24. While they were there, Xerxes, after he had made his dispositions
with regard to the bodies of the dead, sent a herald to the fleet: and
the dispositions which he made beforehand were as follows:--for all
those of his army who were lying dead at Thermopylai, (and there were
as many as twenty thousand in all), with the exception of about a
thousand whom he left, he dug trenches and buried them, laying over
them leaves and heaping earth upon them, that they might not be seen
by the men of the fleet. Then when the herald had gone over to
Histaia, he gathered an assembly of the whole force and spoke these
words: "Allies, king Xerxes grants permission to any one of you who
desires it, to leave his post and to come and see how he fights
against those most senseless men who looked to overcome the power of
the king." 25. When the herald had proclaimed this, then boats were of
all things most in request, so many were they who desired to see this
sight; and when they had passed over they went through the dead bodies
and looked at them: and every one supposed that those who were lying
there were all Lacedemonians or Thespians, though the Helots also were
among those that they saw: however, they who had passed over did not
fail to perceive that Xerxes had done that which I mentioned about the
bodies of his own dead; for in truth it was a thing to cause laughter
even: on the one side there were seen a thousand dead bodies lying,
while the others lay all gathered together in the same place, four
thousand[17] of them. During this day then they busied themselves with
looking, and on the day after this they sailed back to the ships at
Histaia, while Xerxes and his army set forth upon their march.

26. There had come also to them a few deserters from Arcadia, men in
want of livelihood and desiring to be employed. These the Persians
brought into the king's presence and inquired about the Hellenes, what
they were doing; and one man it was who asked them this for all the
rest. They told them that the Hellenes were keeping the Olympic
festival and were looking on at a contest of athletics and
horsemanship. He then inquired again, what was the prize proposed to
them, for the sake of which they contended; and they told them of the
wreath of olive which is given. Then Tigranes[18] the son of Artabanos
uttered a thought which was most noble, though thereby he incurred
from the king the reproach of cowardice: for hearing that the prize
was a wreath and not money, he could not endure to keep silence, but
in the presence of all he spoke these words: "Ah! Mardonios, what kind
of men are these against whom thou hast brought us to fight, who make
their contest not for money but for honour!" Thus was it spoken by
this man.

27. In the meantime, so soon as the disaster at Thermopylai had come
about, the Thessalians sent a herald forthwith to the Phokians,
against whom they had a grudge always, but especially because of the
latest disaster which they had suffered: for when both the Thessalians
themselves and their allies had invaded the Phokian land not many
years before this expedition of the king, they had been defeated by
the Phokians and handled by them roughly. For the Phokians had been
shut up in Mount Parnassos having with them a soothsayer, Tellias the
Eleian; and this Tellias contrived for them a device of the following
kind:--he took six hundred men, the best of the Phokians, and whitened
them over with chalk, both themselves and their armour, and then he
attacked the Thessalians by night, telling the Phokians beforehand to
slay every man whom they should see not coloured over with white. So
not only the sentinels of the Thessalians, who saw these first, were
terrified by them, supposing it to be something portentous and other
than it was, but also after the sentinels the main body of their army;
so that the Phokians remained in possession of four thousand bodies of
slain men and shields; of which last they dedicated half at Abai and
half at Delphi; and from the tithe of booty got by this battle were
made the large statues which are contending for the tripod in front of
the temple[19] at Delphi, and others similar to these are dedicated as
an offering at Abai. 28. Thus had the Phokians done to the Thessalian
footmen, when they were besieged by them; and they had done
irreparable hurt to their cavalry also, when this had invaded their
land: for in the pass which is by Hyampolis they had dug a great
trench and laid down in it empty wine-jars; and then having carried
earth and laid it on the top and made it like the rest of the ground,
they waited for the Thessalians to invade their land. These supposing
that they would make short work with the Phokians,[20] riding in full
course fell upon the wine-jars; and there the legs of their horses
were utterly crippled. 29. Bearing then a grudge for both of these
things, the Thessalians sent a herald and addressed them thus:
"Phokians, we advise you to be more disposed now to change your minds
and to admit that ye are not on a level with us: for in former times
among the Hellenes, so long as it pleased us to be on that side, we
always had the preference over you, and now we have such great power
with the Barbarian that it rests with us to cause you to be deprived
of your land and to be sold into slavery also. We however, though we
have all the power in our hands, do not bear malice, but let there be
paid to us fifty talents of silver in return for this, and we will
engage to avert the dangers which threaten to come upon your land."
30. Thus the Thessalians proposed to them; for the Phokians alone of
all the people in those parts were not taking the side of the Medes,
and this for no other reason, as I conjecture, but only because of
their enmity with the Thessalians; and if the Thessalians had
supported the cause of the Hellenes, I am of opinion that the Phokians
would have been on the side of the Medes. When the Thessalians
proposed this, they said that they would not give the money, and that
it was open to them to take the Median side just as much as the
Thessalians, if they desired it for other reasons; but they would not
with their own will be traitors to Hellas.

31. When these words were reported, then the Thessalians, moved with
anger against the Phokians, became guides to the Barbarian to show him
the way: and from the land of Trachis they entered Doris; for a narrow
strip[21] of the Dorian territory extends this way, about thirty
furlongs in breadth, lying between Malis and Phokis, the region which
was in ancient time called Dryopis; this land is the mother-country of
the Dorians in Peloponnese. Now the Barbarians did not lay waste this
land of Doris when they entered it, for the people of it were taking
the side of the Medes, and also the Thessalians did not desire it. 32.
When however from Doris they entered Phokis, they did not indeed
capture the Phokians themselves; for some of them had gone up to the
heights of Parnassos,--and that summit of Parnassos is very convenient
to receive a large number, which lies by itself near the city of Neon,
the name of it being Tithorea,--to this, I say, some of them had
carried up their goods and gone up themselves; but most of them had
conveyed their goods out to the Ozolian Locrians, to the city of
Amphissa, which is situated above the Crissaian plain. The Barbarians
however overran the whole land of Phokis, for so the Thessalians led
their army, and all that they came to as they marched they burned or
cut down, and delivered to the flames both the cities and the temples:
33, for they laid everything waste, proceeding this way by the river
Kephisos, and they destroyed the city of Drymos by fire, and also the
following, namely Charadra, Erochos, Tethronion, Amphikaia, Neon,
Pedieis, Triteis, Elateia, Hyampolis, Parapotamioi and Abai, at which
last-named place there was a temple of Apollo, wealthy and furnished
with treasuries and votive offerings in abundance; and there was then,
as there is even now, the seat of an Oracle there: this temple they
plundered and burnt. Some also of the Phokians they pursued and
captured upon the mountains, and some women they did to death by
repeated outrage.

34. Passing by Parapotamioi the Barbarians came to Panopeus, and from
this point onwards their army was separated and went different ways.
The largest and strongest part of the army, proceeding with Xerxes
himself against Athens, entered the land of the B�otians, coming into
the territory of Orchomenos. Now the general body of the B�otians was
taking the side of the Medes, and their cities were being kept by
Macedonians appointed for each, who had been sent by Alexander; and
they were keeping them this aim, namely in order to make it plain to
Xerxes that the B�otians were disposed to be on the side of the Medes.
35. These, I say, of the Barbarians took their way in this direction;
but others of them with guides had set forth to go to the temple at
Delphi, keeping Parnassos on their right hand: and all the parts of
Phokis over which these marched they ravaged; for they set fire to the
towns of Panopeus and Daulis and Aiolis. And for this reason they
marched in that direction, parted off from the rest of the army,
namely in order that they might plunder the temple at Delphi and
deliver over the treasures there to king Xerxes: and Xerxes was well
acquainted with all that there was in it of any account, better, I am
told, than with the things which he had left in his own house at home,
seeing that many constantly reported of them, and especially of the
votive offerings of Cr�sus the son of Alyattes. 36. Meanwhile the
Delphians, having been informed of this, had been brought to extreme
fear; and being in great terror they consulted the Oracle about the
sacred things, whether they should bury them in the earth or carry
them forth to another land; but the god forbade them to meddle with
these, saying that he was able by himself to take care of his own.
Hearing this they began to take thought for themselves, and they sent
their children and women over to Achaia on the other side of the sea,
while most of the men themselves ascended up towards the summits of
Parnassos and carried their property to the Corykian cave, while
others departed for refuge to Amphissa of the Locrians. In short the
Delphians had all left the town excepting sixty men and the prophet of
the Oracle.[22] 37. When the Barbarians had come near and could see
the temple, then the prophet, whose name was Akeratos, saw before the
cell[23] arms lying laid out, having been brought forth out of the
sanctuary,[24] which were sacred and on which it was not permitted to
any man to lay hands. He then was going to announce the portent to
those of the Delphians who were stil there, but when the Barbarians
pressing onwards came opposite the temple of Athene Pronaia, there
happened to them in addition portents yet greater than that which had
come to pass before: for though that too was a marvel, that arms of
war should appear of themselves laid forth outside the cell, yet this,
which happened straightway after that, is worthy of marvel even beyond
all other prodigies. When the Barbarians in their approach were
opposite the temple of Athene Pronaia, at this point of time from the
heaven there fell thunderbolts upon them, and from Parnassos two crags
were broken away and rushed down upon them with a great crashing noise
falling upon many of them, while from the temple of Pronaia there was
heard a shout, and a battle-cry was raised. 38. All these things
having come together, there fell fear upon the Barbarians; and the
Delphians having perceived that they were flying, came down after them
and slew a great number of them; and those who survived fled straight
to B�otia. These who returned of the Barbarians reported, as I am
informed, that in addition to this which we have said they saw also
other miraculous things; for two men (they said) in full armour and of
stature more than human followed them slaying and pursuing. 39. These
two the Delphians say were the native heroes Phylacos and Autono�s,
whose sacred enclosures are about the temple, that of Phylacos being
close by the side of the road above the temple of Pronaia and that of
Autono�s near Castalia under the peak called Hyampeia. Moreover the
rocks which fell from Parnassos were still preserved even to my time,
lying in the sacred enclosure of Athene Pronaia, into which they fell
when they rushed through the ranks of the Barbarians. Such departure
had these men from the temple.

40. Meanwhile the fleet of the Hellenes after leaving Artemision put
in to land at Salamis at the request of the Athenians: and for this
reason the Athenians requested them to put in to Salamis, namely in
order that they might remove out of Attica to a place of safety their
children and their wives, and also deliberate what they would have to
do; for in their present case they meant to take counsel afresh,
because they had been deceived in their expectation. For they had
thought to find the Peloponnesians in full force waiting for the
Barbarians in B�otia; they found however nothing of this, but they
were informed on the contrary that the Peloponnesians were fortifying
the Isthmus with a wall, valuing above all things the safety of the
Peloponnese and keeping this in guard; and that they were disposed to
let all else go. Being informed of this, the Athenians therefore made
request of them to put in to Salamis. 41. The others then put in their
ships to land at Salamis, but the Athenians went over to their own
land; and after their coming they made a proclamation that every one
of the Athenians should endeavour to save his children and household
as best he could. So the greater number sent them to Troizen, but
others to Egina, and others to Salamis, and they were urgent to put
these out of danger, both because they desired to obey the oracle and
also especially for another reason, which was this:--the Athenians say
that a great serpent lives in the temple[25] and guards the Acropolis;
and they not only say this, but also they set forth for it monthly
offerings, as if it were really there; and the offering consists of a
honey-cake. This honey-cake, which before used always to be consumed,
was at this time left untouched. When the priestess had signified
this, the Athenians left the city much more and with greater eagerness
than before, seeing that the goddess also had (as they supposed) left
the Acropolis. Then when all their belongings had been removed out of
danger, they sailed to the encampment of the fleet.

42. When those who came from Artemision had put their ships in to land
at Salamis, the remainder of the naval force of the Hellenes, being
informed of this, came over gradually to join them[26] from Troizen:
for they had been ordered beforehand to assemble at Pogon, which is
the harbour of the Troizenians. There were assembled accordingly now
many more ships than those which were in the sea-fight at Artemision,
and from more cities. Over the whole was set as admiral the same man
as at Artemision, namely Eurybiades the son of Eurycleides, a Spartan
but not of the royal house; the Athenians however supplied by far the
greatest number of ships and those which sailed the best. 43. The
following were those who joined the muster:--From Peloponnese the
Lacedemonians furnishing sixteen ships, the Corinthians furnishing the
same complement as at Artemision, the Sikyonians furnishing fifteen
ships, the Epidaurians ten, the Troizenians five, the men of
Hermion[26a] three, these all, except the Hermionians, being of Doric
and Makednian[27] race and having made their last migration from
Erineos and Pindos and the land of Dryopis;[28] but the people of
Hermion are Dryopians, driven out by Heracles and the Malians from the
land which is now called Doris. 44. These were the Peloponnesians who
joined the fleet, and those of the mainland outside the Peloponnese
were as follows:--the Athenians, furnishing a number larger than all
the rest,[29] namely one hundred and eighty ships, and serving alone,
since the Plataians did not take part with the Athenians in the sea-
fight at Salamis, because when the Hellenes were departing from
Artemision and come near Chalkis, the Plataians disembarked on the
opposite shore of B�otia and proceeded to the removal of their
households. So being engaged in saving these, they had been left
behind. As for the Athenians, in the time when the Pelasgians occupied
that which is now called Hellas, they were Pelasgians, being named
Cranaoi, and in the time of king Kecrops they came to be called
Kecropidai; then when Erechtheus had succeeded to his power, they had
their name changed to Athenians; and after Ion the son of Xuthos
became commander[30] of the Athenians, they got the name from him of
Ionians. 45. The Megarians furnished the same complement as at
Artermision; the Amprakiots came to the assistance of the rest with
seven ships, and the Leucadians with three, these being by race
Dorians from Corinth. 46. Of the islanders the Eginetans furnished
thirty; these had also other ships manned, but with them they were
guarding their own land, while with the thirty which sailed best they
joined in the sea-fight at Salamis. Now the Eginetans are Dorians from
Epidauros, and their island had formerly the name of Oinone. After the
Eginetans came the Chalkidians with the twenty ships which were at
Artemision, and the Eretrians with their seven: these are Ionians.
Next the Ke�ans, furnishing the same as before and being by race
Ionians from Athens. The Naxians furnished four ships, they having
been sent out by the citizens of their State to join the Persians,
like the other islanders; but neglecting these commands they had come
to the Hellenes, urged thereto by Democritos, a man of repute among
the citizens and at that time commander of a trireme. Now the Naxians
are Ionians coming originally from Athens. The Styrians furnished the
same ships as at Artemision, and the men of Kythnos one ship and one
fifty-oared galley, these both being Dryopians. Also the Seriphians,
the Siphnians and the Melians served with the rest; for they alone of
the islanders had not given earth and water to the Barbarian. 47.
These all who have been named dwelt inside the land of the
Thesprotians and the river Acheron; for the Thesprotians border upon
the land of the Amprakiots and Leucadians, and these were they who
came from the greatest distance to serve: but of those who dwell
outside these limits the men of Croton were the only people who came
to the assistance of Hellas in her danger; and these sent one ship, of
whom the commander was Pha�los, a man who had three times won
victories at the Pythian games. Now the men of Croton are by descent
Achaians. 48. All the rest who served in the fleet furnished triremes,
but the Melians, Siphnian and Seriphians fifty-oared galleys: the
Melians, who are by descent from Lacedemon, furnished two, the
Siphnians and Seriphians, who are Ionians from Athens, each one. And
the whole number of the ships, apart from the fifty-oared galleys, was
three hundred and seventy-eight.[31]

49. When the commanders had assembled at Salamis from the States which
have been mentioned, they began to deliberate, Eurybiades having
proposed that any one who desired it should declare his opinion as to
where he thought it most convenient to fight a sea-battle in those
regions of which they had command; for Attica had already been let go,
and he was now proposing the question about the other regions. And the
opinions of the speakers for the most part agreed that they should
sail to the Isthmus and there fight a sea-battle in defence of the
Peloponnese, arguing that if they should be defeated in the sea-
battle, supposing them to be at Salamis they would be blockaded in an
island, where no help would come to them, but at the Isthmus they
would be able to land where their own men were. 50. While the
commanders from the Peloponnese argued thus, an Athenian had come in
reporting that the Barbarians were arrived in Attica and that all the
land was being laid waste with fire. For the army which directed its
march through B�otia in company with Xerxes, after it had burnt the
city of the Thespians (the inhabitants having left it and gone to the
Peloponnese) and that of the Plataians likewise, had now come to
Athens and was laying waste everything in those regions. Now he had
burnt Thespiai[31a] and Plataia because he was informed by the Thebans
that these were not taking the side of the Medes. 51. So in three
months from the crossing of the Hellespont, whence the Barbarians
began their march, after having stayed there one month while they
crossed over into Europe, they had reached Attica, in the year when
Calliades was archon of the Athenians. And they took the lower city,
which was deserted, and then they found that there were still a few
Athenians left in the temple, either stewards of the temple or needy
persons, who had barred the entrance to the Acropolis with doors and
with a palisade of timber and endeavoured to defend themselves against
the attacks of the enemy, being men who had not gone out to Salamis
partly because of their poverty, and also because they thought that
they alone had discovered the meaning of the oracle which the Pythian
prophetess had uttered to them, namely that the "bulwark of wood"
should be impregnable, and supposed that this was in fact the safe
refuge according to the oracle, and not the ships. 52. So the Persians
taking their post upon the rising ground opposite the Acropolis, which
the Athenians call the Hill of Ares,[32] proceeded to besiege them in
this fashion, that is they put tow round about their arrows and
lighted it, and then shot them against the palisade. The Athenians who
were besieged continued to defend themselves nevertheless, although
they had come to the extremity of distress and their palisade had
played them false; nor would they accept proposals for surrender, when
the sons of Peisistratos brought them forward: but endeavouring to
defend themselves they contrived several contrivances against the
enemy, and among the rest they rolled down large stones when the
Barbarians approached the gates; so that for a long time Xerxes was in
a difficulty, not being able to capture them. 53. In time however
there appeared for the Barbarians a way of approach after their
difficulties, since by the oracle it was destined that all of Attica
which is on the mainland should come to be under the Persians. Thus
then it happened that on the front side[33] of the Acropolis behind
the gates and the way up to the entrance, in a place where no one was
keeping guard, nor would one have supposed that any man could ascend
by this way, here men ascended by the temple of Aglauros the daughter
of Kecrops, although indeed the place is precipitous: and when the
Athenians saw that they had ascended up to the Acropolis, some of them
threw themselves down from the wall and perished, while others took
refuge in the sanctuary[34] of the temple. Then those of the Persians
who had ascended went first to the gates, and after opening these they
proceeded to kill the suppliants; and when all had been slain by them,
they plundered the temple and set fire to the whole of the Acropolis.

54. Then Xerxes, having fully taken possession of Athens, sent to Susa
a mounted messenger to report to Artabanos the good success which they
had. And on the next day after sending the herald he called together
the exiles of the Athenians who were accompanying him, and bade them
go up to the Acropolis and sacrifice the victims after their own
manner; whether it was that he had seen some vision of a dream which
caused him to give this command, or whether perchance he had a scruple
in his mind because he had set fire to the temple. The Athenian exiles
did accordingly that which was commanded them: 55, and the reason why
I made mention of this I will here declare:--there is in this
Acropolis a temple[35] of Erechtheus, who is said to have been born of
the Earth, and in this there is an olive-tree and a sea, which
(according to the story told by the Athenians) Poseidon and Athene,
when they contended for the land, set as witnesses of themselves. Now
it happened to this olive-tree to be set on fire with the rest of the
temple by the Barbarians; and on the next day after the conflagration
those of the Athenians who were commanded by the king to offer
sacrifice, saw when they had gone up to the temple that a shoot had
run up from the stock of the tree about a cubit in length. These then
made report of this.

56. The Hellenes meanwhile at Salamis, when it was announced to them
how it had been as regards the Acropolis of the Athenians, were
disturbed so greatly that some of the commanders did not even wait for
the question to be decided which had been proposed, but began to go
hastily to their ships and to put up their sails, meaning to make off
with speed; and by those of them who remained behind it was finally
decided to fight at sea in defence of the Isthmus. So night came on,
and they having been dismissed from the council were going to their
ships: 57, and when Themistocles had come to his ship, Mnesiphilos an
Athenian asked him what they had resolved; and being informed by him
that it had been determined to take out the ships to the Isthmus and
fight a battle by sea in defence of the Peloponnese, he said: "Then,
if they set sail with the ships from Salamis, thou wilt not fight any
more sea-battles at all for the fatherland, for they will all take
their way to their several cities and neither Eurybiades nor any other
man will be able to detain them or to prevent the fleet from being
dispersed: and Hellas will perish by reason of evil counsels. But if
there by any means, go thou and try to unsettle that which has been
resolved, if perchance thou mayest persuade Eurybiades to change his
plans, so as to stay here." 58. This advice very much commended itself
to Themistocles; and without making any answer he went to the ship of
Eurybiades. Having come thither he said that he desired to communicate
to him a matter which concerned the common good; and Eurybiades bade
him come into his ship and speak, if he desired to say anything. Then
Themistocles sitting down beside him repeated to him all those things
which he had heard Mnesiphilos say, making as if they were his own
thoughts, and adding to them many others; until at last by urgent
request he persuaded him to come out of his ship and gather the
commanders to the council. 59. So when they were gathered together,
before Eurybiades proposed the discussion of the things for which he
had assembled the commanders, Themistocles spoke with much
vehemence[36] being very eager to gain his end; and as he was
speaking, the Corinthian commander, Adeimantos the son of Okytos,
said: "Themistocles, at the games those who stand forth for the
contest before the due time are beaten with rods." He justifying
himself said: "Yes, but those who remain behind are not crowned." 60.
At that time he made answer mildly to the Corinthian; and to
Eurybiades he said not now any of those things which he had said
before, to the effect that if they should set sail from Salamis they
would disperse in different directions; for it was not seemly for him
to bring charges against the allies in their presence: but he held to
another way of reasoning, saying: "Now it is in thy power to save
Hellas, if thou wilt follow my advice, which is to stay here and here
to fight a sea-battle, and if thou wilt not follow the advice of those
among these men who bid thee remove the ships to the Isthmus. For hear
both ways, and then set them in comparison. If thou engage battle at
the Isthmus, thou wilt fight in an open sea, into which it is by no
means convenient for us that we go to fight, seeing that we have ships
which are heavier and fewer in number than those of the enemy. Then
secondly thou wilt give up to destruction Salamis and Megara and
Egina, even if we have success in all else; for with their fleet will
come also the land-army, and thus thou wilt thyself lead them to the
Peloponnese and wilt risk the safety of all Hellas. If however thou
shalt do as I say, thou wilt find therein all the advantages which I
shall tell thee of:--in the first place by engaging in a narrow place
with few ships against many, if the fighting has that issue which it
is reasonable to expect, we shall have very much the better; for to
fight a sea-fight in a narrow space is for our advantage, but to fight
in a wide open space is for theirs. Then again Salamis will be
preserved, whither our children and our wives have been removed for
safety; and moreover there is this also secured thereby, to which ye
are most of all attached, namely that by remaining here thou wilt
fight in defence of the Peloponnese as much as if the fight were at
the Isthmus; and thou wilt not lead the enemy to Peloponnese, if thou
art wise. Then if that which I expect come to pass and we gain a
victory with our ships, the Barbarians will not come to you at the
Isthmus nor will they advance further than Attica, but they will
retire in disorder; and we shall be the gainers by the preservation of
Megara and Egina and Salamis, at which place too an oracle tells us
that we shall get the victory over our enemies.[37] Now when men take
counsel reasonably for themselves, reasonable issues are wont as a
rule to come, but if they do not take counsel reasonably, then God is
not wont generally to attach himself to the judgment of men." 61. When
Themistocles thus spoke, the Corinthian Adeimantos inveighed against
him for the second time, bidding him to be silent because he had no
native land, and urging Eurybiades not to put to the vote the proposal
of one who was a citizen of no city; for he said that Themistocles
might bring opinions before the council if he could show a city
belonging to him, but otherwise not. This objection he made against
him because Athens had been taken and was held by the enemy. Then
Themistocles said many evil things of him and of the Corinthians both,
and declared also that he himself and his countrymen had in truth a
city and a land larger than that of the Corinthians, so long as they
had two hundred ships fully manned; for none of the Hellenes would be
able to repel the Athenians if they came to fight against them. 62.
Signifying this he turned then to Eurybiades and spoke yet more
urgently: "If thou wilt remain here, and remaining here wilt show
thyself a good man, well; but if not, thou wilt bring about the
overthrow of Hellas, for upon the ships depends all our power in the
war. Nay, but do as I advise. If, however, thou shalt not do so, we
shall forthwith take up our households and voyage to Siris in Italy,
which is ours already of old and the oracles say that it is destined
to be colonised by us; and ye, when ye are left alone and deprived of
allies such as we are, will remember my words." 63. When Themistocles
thus spoke, Eurybiades was persuaded to change his mind; and, as I
think, he changed his mind chiefly from fear lest the Athenians should
depart and leave them, if he should take the ships to the Isthmus; for
if the Athenians left them and departed, the rest would be no longer
able to fight with the enemy. He chose then this counsel, to stay in
that place and decide matters there by a sea-fight.

64. Thus those at Salamis, after having skirmished with one another in
speech, were making preparations for a sea-fight there, since
Eurybiades had so determined: and as day was coming on, at the same
time when the sun rose there was an earthquake felt both on the land
and on the sea: and they determined to pray to the gods and to call
upon the sons of Aiacos to be their helpers. And as they had
determined, so also they did; for when they had prayed to all the
gods, they called Ajax and Telamon to their help from Salamis, where
the fleet was,[38] and sent a ship to Egina to bring Aiacos himself
and the rest of the sons of Aiacos.

65. Moreover Dicaios the son of Theokydes, an Athenian, who was an
exile and had become of great repute among the Medes at this time,
declared that when the Attic land was being ravaged by the land-army
of Xerxes, having been deserted by the Athenians, he happened then to
be in company with Demaratos the Lacedemonian in the Thriasian plain;
and he saw a cloud of dust going up from Eleusis, as if made by a
company of about thirty thousand men, and they wondered at the cloud
of dust, by what men it was caused. Then forthwith they heard a sound
of voices, and Dicaios perceived that the sound was the mystic cry
/Iacchos/; but Demaratos, having no knowledge of the sacred rites
which are done at Eleusis, asked him what this was that uttered the
sound, and he said: "Demaratos, it cannot be but that some great
destruction is about to come to the army of the king: for as to this,
it is very manifest, seeing that Attica is deserted, that this which
utters the sound is of the gods, and that it is going from Eleusis to
help the Athenians and their allies: if then it shall come down in the
Peloponnese, there is danger for the king himself and for the army
which is upon the mainland, but if it shall direct its course towards
the ships which are at Salamis, the king will be in danger of losing
his fleet. This feast the Athenians celebrate every year to the Mother
and the Daughter;[39] and he that desires it, both of them and of the
other Hellenes, is initiated in the mysteries; and the sound of voices
which thou hearest is the cry /Iacchos/ which they utter at this
feast." To this Demaratos said: "Keep silence and tell not this tale
to any other man; for if these words of thine be reported to the king,
thou wilt surely lose thy head, and neither I nor any other man upon
earth will be able to save thee: but keep thou quiet, and about this
expedition the gods will provide." He then thus advised, and after the
cloud of dust and the sound of voices there came a mist which was
borne aloft and carried towards Salamis to the camp of the Hellenes:
and thus they learnt (said he) that the fleet of Xerxes was destined
to be destroyed. Such was the report made by Dicaios the son of
Theodykes, appealing to Demaratos and others also as witnesses.

66. Meanwhile those who were appointed to serve in the fleet of
Xerxes, having gazed in Trachis upon the disaster of the Lacedemonians
and having passed over from thence to Histiaia, after staying three
days sailed through Euripos, and in other three days they had reached
Phaleron. And, as I suppose, they made their attack upon Athens not
fewer in number both by land and sea than when they had arrived at
Sepias and at Thermopylai: for against those of them who perished by
reason of the storm and those who were slain at Thermopylai and in the
sea-fights at Artemision, I will set those who at that time were not
yet accompanying the king, the Malians, Dorians, Locrians, and
B�otians (who accompanied him in a body, except the Thespians and
Plataians), and moreover those of Carystos, Andros, and Tenos, with
all the other islanders except the five cities of which I mentioned
the names before; for the more the Persian advanced towards the centre
of Hellas, the more nations accompanied him.

67. So then, when all these had come to Athens except the Parians (now
the Parians had remained behind at Kythnos waiting to see how the war
would turn out),--when all the rest, I say, had come to Phaleron, then
Xerxes himself came down to the ships desiring to visit them and to
learn the opinions of those who sailed in them: and when he had come
and was set in a conspicuous place, then those who were despots of
their own nations or commanders of divisions being sent for came
before him from their ships, and took their seats as the king had
assigned rank to each one, first the king of Sidon, then he of Tyre,
and after them the rest: and when they were seated in due order,
Xerxes sent Mardonios and inquired, making trial of each one, whether
he should fight a battle by sea. 68. So when Mardonios went round
asking them, beginning with the king of Sidon, the others gave their
opinions all to the same effect, advising him to fight a battle by
sea, but Artemisia spoke these words:--(a) "Tell the king I pray thee,
Mardonios, that I, who have proved myself not to be the worst in the
sea-fights which have been fought near Eub�a, and have displayed deeds
not inferior to those of others, speak to him thus: Master, it is
right that I set forth the opinion which I really have, and say that
which I happen to think best for thy cause: and this I say,--spare thy
ships and do not make a sea-fight; for the men are as much stronger
than thy men by sea, as men are stronger than women. And why must thou
needs run the risk of sea-battles? Hast thou not Athens in thy
possession, for the sake of which thou didst set forth on thy march,
and also the rest of Hellas? and no man stands in thy way to resist,
but those who did stand against thee came off as it was fitting that
they should. (b) Now the manner in which I think the affairs of thy
adversaries will have their issue, I will declare. If thou do not
hasten to make a sea-fight, but keep thy ships here by the land,
either remaining here thyself or even advancing on to the Peloponnese,
that which thou hast come to do, O master, will easily be effected;
for the Hellenes are not able to hold out against thee for any long
time, but thou wilt soon disperse them and they will take flight to
their several cities: since neither have they provisions with them in
this island, as I am informed, nor is it probable that if thou shalt
march thy land-army against the Peloponnese, they who have come from
thence will remain still; for these will have no care to fight a
battle in defence of Athens. (c) If however thou hasten to fight
forthwith, I fear that damage done to the fleet may ruin the land-army
also. Moreover, O king, consider also this, that the servants of good
men are apt to grow bad, but those of bad men good; and thou, who art
of all men the best, hast bad servants, namely those who are reckoned
as allies, Egyptians and Cyprians and Kilikians and Pamphylians, in
whom there is no profit." 69. When she thus spoke to Mardonios, those
who were friendly to Artemisia were grieved at her words, supposing
that she would suffer some evil from the king because she urged him
not to fight at sea; while those who had envy and jealousy of her,
because she had been honoured above all the allies, were rejoiced at
the opposition,[40] supposing that she would now be ruined. When
however the opinions were reported to Xerxes, he was greatly pleased
with the opinion of Artemisia; and whereas even before this he thought
her excellent, he commended her now yet more. Nevertheless he gave
orders to follow the advice of the greater number, thinking that when
they fought by Eub�a they were purposely slack, because he was not
himself present with them, whereas now he had made himself ready to
look on while they fought a sea-battle.

70. So when they passed the word to put out to sea, they brought their
ships out to Salamis and quietly ranged themselves along the shore in
their several positions. At that time the daylight was not sufficient
for them to engage battle, for night had come on; but they made their
preparations to fight on the following day. Meanwhile the Hellenes
were possessed by fear and dismay, especially those who were from
Peloponnese: and these were dismayed because remaining in Salamis they
were to fight a battle on behalf of the land of the Athenians, and
being defeated they would be cut off from escape and blockaded in an
island, leaving their own land unguarded. And indeed the land-army of
the Barbarians was marching forward during that very night towards the
Peloponnese. 71. Yet every means had been taken that the Barbarians
might not be able to enter Peloponnesus by land: for as soon as the
Peloponnesians heard that Leonidas and his company had perished at
Thermopylai, they came together quickly from the cities and took post
at the Isthmus, and over them was set as commander Cleombrotos, the
son of Anaxandrides and brother of Leonidas. These being posted at the
Isthmus had destroyed the Skironian way, and after this (having so
determined in counsel with one another) they began to build a wall
across the Isthmus; and as they were many myriads[41] and every man
joined in the work, the work proceeded fast; for stones and bricks and
pieces of timber and baskets full of sand were carried to it
continually, and they who had thus come to help paused not at all in
their work either by night or by day. 72. Now those of the Hellenes
who came in full force to the Isthmus to help their country were
these,--the Lacedemonians, the Arcadians of every division, the
Eleians, Corinthians, Sikyonians, Epidaurians, Phliasians, Troizenians
and Hermionians. These were they who came to the help of Hellas in her
danger and who had apprehension for her, while the rest of the
Peloponnesians showed no care: and the Olympic and Carneian festivals
had by this time gone by. 73. Now Peloponnesus is inhabited by seven
races; and of these, two are natives of the soil and are settled now
in the place where they dwelt of old, namely the Arcadians and the
Kynurians; and one race, that of the Achaians, though it did not
remove from the Peloponnese, yet removed in former time from its own
land and dwells now in that which was not its own. The remaining
races, four in number, have come in from without, namely the Dorians,
Aitolians, Dryopians and Lemnians. Of the Dorians there are many
cities and of great renown; of the Aitolians, Elis alone; of the
Dryopians, Hermion[42] and Asine, which latter is opposite Cardamyle
in the Laconian land; and of the Lemnians, all the Paroreatai. The
Kynurians, who are natives of the soil, seem alone to be Ionians, but
they have become Dorians completely because they are subject to the
Argives and by lapse of time, being originally citizens of Orneai or
the dwellers in the country round Orneai.[43] Of these seven nations
the remaining cities, except those which I enumerated just now, stood
aside and did nothing; and if one may be allowed to speak freely, in
thus standing aside they were in fact taking the side of the Medes.

74. Those at the Isthmus were struggling with the labour which I have
said, since now they were running a course in which their very being
was at stake, and they did not look to have any brilliant success with
their ships: while those who were at Salamis, though informed of this
work, were yet dismayed, not fearing so much for themselves as for
Peloponnesus. For some time then they spoke of it in private, one man
standing by another, and they marvelled at the ill-counsel of
Eurybiades; but at last it broke out publicly. A meeting accordingly
was held, and much was spoken about the same points as before, some
saying that they ought to sail away to Peloponnesus and run the risk
in defence of that, and not stay and fight for a land which had been
captured by the enemy, while the Athenians, Eginetans and Megarians
urged that they should stay there and defend themselves. 75. Then
Themistocles, when his opinion was like to be defeated by the
Peloponnesians, secretly went forth from the assembly, and having gone
out he sent a man to the encampment of the Medes in a boat, charging
him with that which he must say: this man's name was Sikinnos, and he
was a servant of Themistocles and tutor to his children; and after
these events Themistocles entered him as a Thespian citizen, when the
Thespians were admitting new citizens, and made him a wealthy man. He
at this time came with a boat and said to the commanders of the
Barbarians these words: "The commander of the Athenians sent me
privately without the knowledge of the other Hellenes (for, as it
chances, he is disposed to the cause of the king, and desires rather
that your side should gain the victory than that of the Hellenes), to
inform you that the Hellenes are planning to take flight, having been
struck with dismay; and now it is possible for you to execute a most
noble work, if ye do not permit them to flee away: for they are not of
one mind with one another and they will not stand against you in
fight, but ye shall see them fighting a battle by sea with one
another, those who are disposed to your side against those who are
not." 76. He then having signified to them this, departed out of the
way; and they, thinking that the message deserved credit, landed first
a large number of Persians in the small island of Psyttaleia, which
lies between Salamis and the mainland; and then, as midnight came on,
they put out the Western wing of their fleet to sea, circling round
towards Salamis, and also those stationed about Keos and Kynosura put
out their ships to sea; and they occupied all the passage with their
ships as far as Munychia. And for this reason they put out their
ships, namely in order that the Hellenes might not even be permitted
to get away, but being cut off in Salamis might pay the penalty for
the contests at Artemision: and they disembarked men of the Persians
on the small island called Psyttaleia for this reason, namely that
when the fight should take place, these might save the men of one side
and destroy those of the other, since there especially it was likely
that the men and the wrecks of ships would be cast up on shore, for
the island lay in the way of the sea-fight which was to be. These
things they did in silence, that the enemy might not have information
of them.

77. They then were making their preparations thus in the night without
having taken any sleep at all: and with regard to oracles, I am not
able to make objections against them that they are not true, for I do
not desire to attempt to overthrow the credit of them when they speak
clearly, looking at such matters as these which here follow:

"But when with ships they shall join the sacred strand of the goddess,
Artemis golden-sword-girded, and thee, wave-washed Kynosura,
Urged by a maddening hope,[44] having given rich Athens to plunder,
Then shall Justice divine quell Riot, of Insolence first-born,[45]
Longing to overthrow all things[46] and terribly panting for bloodhshed:
Brass shall encounter with brass, and Ares the sea shall empurple,
Tinging its waves with the blood: then a day of freedom for Hellas
Cometh from wide-seeing Zeus[47] and from Victory, lady and mother."[48]

Looking to such things as this, and when Bakis speaks so clearly, I do
not venture myself to make any objections about oracles, nor can I
admit them from others.

78. Now between the commanders that were at Salamis there came to be
great contention of speech and they did not yet know that the
Barbarians were surrounding them with their ships, but they thought
that they were still in their place as they saw them disposed in the
day. 79. Then while the commanders were engaged in strife, there came
over from Egina Aristeides the son of Lysimachos, an Athenian who had
been ostracised by the people, a man whom I hold (according to that
which I hear of his character) to have been the best and most upright
of all Athenians. This man came into the council and called forth
Themistocles, who was to him not a friend, but an enemy to the last
degree; but because of the greatness of the present troubles he let
those matters be forgotten and called him forth, desiring to
communicate with him. Now he had heard beforehand that the
Peloponnesians were pressing to take the ships away to the Isthmus. So
when Themistocles came forth to him, Aristeides spoke these words:
"Both at other times when occasion arises, and also especially at this
time we ought to carry on rivalry as to which of us shall do more
service to our country. And I tell thee now that it is indifferent
whether the Peloponnesians say many words or few about sailing away
from hence; for having been myself an eye-witness I tell thee that now
not even if the Corinthians and Eurybiades himself desire to sail out,
will they be able; for we are encompassed round by the enemy. Go thou
in then, and signify this to them." 80. He made answer as follows:
"Thou advisest very well,[49] and also the news which thou hast
brought is good, since thou art come having witnessed with thine own
eyes that which I desired might come to pass: for know that this which
is being done by the Medes is of my suggestion; because, when the
Hellenes would not come to a battle of their own will, it was

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