> began hastily to build a wall across the isthmus of Corinth with the

hope of keeping back the invading army. Athens was left to care for

itself. It was thus that Greece usually let itself be devoured

piecemeal.



There was but one thing for the Athenians to do, to obey the oracle and

fly from their native soil. In a few days the Persians would be in

Athens, and there was not an hour to lose. The old men, the women and

children, with such property as could be moved, were hastily taken on

shipboard and carried to Salamis, AEgina, Troezen, and other

neighboring islands. The men of fighting age took to their ships of war,

to fight on the sea for what they had lost on land. A few of the old and

the poverty-stricken remained, and took possession of the hill of the

Acropolis, whose wooden fence they fondly fancied might be the wooden

wall which the oracle had meant. Apart from these few the city was

deserted, and Athens had embarked upon the seas. Not only Athens, but

all Attica, was left desolate, and in the whole state Xerxes made only

five hundred prisoners of war.



Onward came the great Persian host, destroying all that could be

destroyed on Attic soil, and sending out detachments to ravage other

parts of Greece. The towns that submitted were spared. Those that

resisted, or whose inhabitants fled, were pillaged and burnt. A body of

troops was sent to plunder Delphi, the reputed great wealth of whose

temple promised a rich reward. The story of what happened there is a

curious one, and well worth relating.



The frightened Delphians prepared to fly, but first asked the oracle of

Apollo whether they should take with them the sacred treasures or bury

them in secret places. The oracle bade them not to touch these

treasures, saying that the god would protect his own. With this

admonition the people of Delphi fled, sixty only of their number

remaining to guard the holy shrine.



These faithful few were soon encouraged by a prodigy. The sacred arms,

kept in the temple's inmost cell, and which no mortal hand dared touch,

were seen lying before the temple door, as if Apollo was prepared

himself to use them. As the Persians advanced by a rugged path under the

steep cliffs of Mount Parnassus, and reached the temple of Athene

Pronaea, a dreadful peal of thunder rolled above their affrighted heads,

and two great crags, torn from the mountain's flank, came rushing down

with deafening sound, and buried many of them beneath their weight. At

the same time, from the temple of Athene, came the Greek shout of war.



In a panic the invaders turned and fled, hotly pursued by the few

Delphians, and, so the story goes, by two armed men of superhuman size,

whose destructive arms wrought dire havoc in the fleeing host. And thus,

as we are told, did the god preserve his temple and his wealth.



But no god guarded the road to Athens, and at length Xerxes and his army

reached that city,--four months after they had crossed the Hellespont.

It was an empty city they found. The few defenders of the Acropolis--a

craggy hill about one hundred and fifty feet high--made a vigorous

defence, for a time keeping the whole Persian army at bay. But some

Persians crept up a steep and unguarded part of the wall, entered the

citadel, and soon all its defenders were dead, and its temples and

buildings in flames.



While all this was going on, the Grecian fleet lay but a few miles away,

in the narrow strait between the isle of Salamis and the Attic coast,

occupying the little bay before the town of Salamis, from which narrow

channels at each end led into the Bay of Eleusis to the north and the

open sea to the south. In front rose the craggy heights of Mount

AEgaleos, over which, only five miles away, could be seen ascending the

lurid smoke of blazing Athens. It was a spectacle calculated to

infuriate the Athenians, though not one to inspire them with courage

and hope.



The fleet of Greece consisted of three hundred and sixty-six ships in

all, of which Athens supplied two hundred, while the remainder came in

small numbers from the various Grecian states. The Persian fleet,

despite its losses by storm, far outnumbered that of Greece, and came

sweeping down the Attic coast, confident of victory, while the great

army marched southward over Attic land.



And now two councils of war were held,--one by the Persian leaders, one

by the Greeks. The fleet of Xerxes, probably still a thousand ships

strong, lay in the Bay of Phalerum, a few miles from Athens; and hither

the king, having wrought his will on that proud and insolent city, came

to the coast to inspect his ships of war and take counsel as to what

should next be done.



Here, before his royal throne, were seated the kings of Tyre and Sidon,

and the rulers of the many other nations represented in his army. One by

one they were asked what should be done. "Fight," was the general reply;

"fight without delay." Only one voice gave different advice, that of

Queen Artemisia of Halicarnassus. She advised Xerxes to march to the

isthmus of Corinth, saying that then all the ships of the Peloponnesus

would fly to defend their own homes, and the fleet of Greece would thus

be dispersed. Xerxes heard her with calmness, but declined to take her

prudent advice. The voice of the others and his own confidence

prevailed, and orders were given for the fleet to make its attack the

next day.



The almost unanimous decision of this council, over which ruled the

will of an autocratic king, was very different from that which was

reached by the Greeks, in whose council all who spoke had equal

authority. The fleet had come to Salamis to aid the flight of the

Athenians. This done, it was necessary to decide where it was best to

meet the Persian fleet. Only the Athenians, under the leadership of

Themistocles, favored remaining where they were. The others perceived

that if they were defeated here, escape would be impossible. Most of

them wished to sail to the isthmus of Corinth, to aid the land army of

the Peloponnesians, while various other plans were urged.



While the chiefs thus debated news came that Athens and the Acropolis

were in flames. At once some of the captains left the council in alarm,

and began hastily to hoist sail for flight. Those that remained voted to

remove to the isthmus, but not to start till the morning of the next

day.



Themistocles, who had done his utmost to prevent this fatal decision,

which he knew would end in the dispersal of the fleet and the triumph of

Persia, returned to his own ship sad of heart. Many of the women and

children of Athens were on the island of Salamis, and if the fleet

sailed they, too, must be removed.



"What has the council decided?" asked his friend Mnesiphilus.



Themistocles gloomily told him.



"This will be ruinous!" burst out Mnesiphilus. "Soon there will be no

allied fleet, nor any cause or country to fight for. You must have the

council meet again; this vote must be set aside; if it be carried out

the liberty of Greece is at an end."



So strongly did he insist upon this that Themistocles was inspired to

make another effort. He went at once to the ship of Eurybiades, the

Spartan who had been chosen admiral of the fleet, and represented the

case so earnestly to him that Eurybiades was partly convinced, and

consented to call the council together again.



Here Themistocles was so excitedly eager that he sought to win the

chiefs over to his views even before Eurybiades had formally opened the

meeting and explained its object. For this he was chided by the

Corinthian Adeimantus, who said,--



"Themistocles, those who in the public festivals rise up before the

proper signal are scourged."



"True," said Themistocles; "but those who lag behind the signal win no

crowns."



When the debate was formally opened, Themistocles was doubly urgent in

his views, and continued his arguments until Adeimantus burst out in a

rage, bidding him, a man who had no city, to be silent.



This attack drew a bitter answer from the insulted Athenian. If he had

no city, he said, he had around him two hundred ships, with which he

could win a city and country better than Corinth. Then he turned to

Eurybiades, and said,--



"If you will stay and fight bravely here, all will be well. If you

refuse to stay, you will bring all Greece to ruin. If you will not stay,

we Athenians will migrate with our ships and families. Then, chiefs,

when you lose an ally like us, you will remember what I say, and regret

what you have done."






These words convinced Eurybiades. Without the Athenian ships the fleet

would indeed be powerless. He asked for no vote, but gave the word that

they should stay and fight, and bade the captains to make ready for

battle. Thus it was that at dawn of day the fleet, instead of being in

full flight, remained drawn up in battle array in the Bay of Salamis.

The Peloponnesian chiefs, however, were not content. They held a secret

council, and resolved to steal secretly away. This treacherous purpose

came to the ears of Themistocles, and to prevent it he took a desperate

course. He sent a secret message to Xerxes, telling him that the Greek

fleet was about to fly, and that if he wished to capture it he must at

once close up both ends of the strait, so that flight would be

impossible.



He cunningly represented himself as a secret friend of the Persian king,

who lost no time in taking the advice. When the next day's dawn was at

hand the discontented chiefs were about to fly, as they had secretly

resolved, when a startling message came to their ears. Aristides, a

noble Athenian who had been banished, but had now returned, came on the

fleet from Salamis and told them that only battle was left, that the

Persians had cooped them in like birds in a cage, and that there was

nothing to do but to fight or surrender.



This disturbing message was not at first believed. But it was quickly

confirmed. Persian ships appeared at both ends of the strait.

Themistocles had won. Escape was impossible. They must do battle like

heroes or live as Persian slaves. There was but one decision,--to fight.

The dawn of day found the Greeks actively preparing for the most famous

naval battle of ancient times.



The combat about to be fought had the largest audience of any naval

battle the world has ever known. For the vast army of Persia was drawn

up as spectators on the verge of the narrow strait which held the

warring fleets, and Xerxes himself sat on a lofty throne erected at a

point which closely overlooked the liquid plain. His presence, he felt

sure, would fill his seamen with valor, while by his side stood scribes

prepared to write down the names alike of the valorous and the backward

combatants. On the other hand, the people of Athens and Attica looked

with hope and fear on the scene from the island of Salamis. It was a

unique preparation for a battle at sea, such as was never known before

or since that day.



The fleet of Persia outnumbered that of Greece three to one. But the

Persian seamen had been busy all night long in carrying out the plan to

entrap the Greeks, and were weary with labor. The Greeks had risen fresh

and vigorous from their night's rest. And different spirits animated the

two hosts. The Persians were moved solely by the desire for glory; the

Greeks by the stern alternatives of victory, slavery, or death. These

differences in strength and motive went far to negative the difference

in numbers; and the Greeks, caught like lions in a snare, dashed into

the combat with the single feeling that they must now fight or die.



History tells us that the Greeks hesitated at first; but soon the ship

of Ameinias, an Athenian captain, dashed against a Phoenician trireme

with such fury that the two became closely entangled. While their crews

fought vigorously with spear and javelin, other ships from both sides

dashed to their aid, and soon numbers of the war triremes were fiercely

engaged.



The battle that followed was hot and furious, the ships becoming mingled

in so confused a mass that no eye could follow their evolutions. Soon

the waters of the Bay of Salamis ran red with blood. Broken oars, fallen

spars, shattered vessels, filled the strait. Hundreds were hurled into

the waters,--the Persians, few of whom could swim, to sink; the Greeks,

who were skilful swimmers, to seek the shore of Salamis or some friendly

deck.



From the start the advantage lay with the Greeks. The narrowness of the

strait rendered the great numbers of the Persians of no avail. The

superior discipline of the Greeks gave them a further advantage. The

want of concert in the Persian allies was another aid to the Greeks.

They were ready to run one another down in the wild desire to escape.

Soon the Persian fleet became a disorderly mass of flying ships, the

Greek fleet a well-ordered array of furious pursuers. In panic the

Persians fled; in exultation the Greeks pursued. One trireme of Naxos

captured five Persian ships. A brother of Xerxes was slain by an

Athenian spear. Great numbers of distinguished Persians and Medes shared

his fate. Before the day was old the battle on the Persian side had

become a frantic effort to escape, while some of the choicest troops of

Persia, who had been landed before the battle on the island of

Psyttaleia, were attacked by Aristides at the head of an Athenian troop,

and put to death to a man.



The confident hope of victory with which Xerxes saw the battle begin

changed to wrath and terror when he saw his ships in disorderly flight

and the Greeks in hot pursuit. The gallant behavior of Queen Artemisia

alone gave him satisfaction, and when he saw her in the flight run into

and sink an opposing vessel, he cried out, "My men have become women;

and my women, men." He was not aware that the ship she had sunk, with

all on board, was one of his own fleet.



The mad flight of his ships utterly distracted the mind of the

faint-hearted king. His army still vastly outnumbered that of Greece.

With all its losses, his fleet was still much the stronger. An ounce of

courage in his soul would have left Greece at his mercy. But that was

wanting, and in panic fear that the Greeks would destroy the bridge over

the Hellespont, he ordered his fleet to hasten there to guard it, and

put his army in rapid retreat for the safe Asiatic shores.



He had some reason to fear the loss of his bridge. Themistocles and the

Athenians had it in view to hasten to the Hellespont and break it down.

But Eurybiades, the Spartan leader, opposed this, saying that it was

dangerous to keep Xerxes in Greece. They had best give him every chance

to fly.



Themistocles, who saw the wisdom of this advice, not only accepted it,

but sent a message to Xerxes--as to a friend--advising him to make all

haste, and saying that he would do his best to hold back the Greeks, who

were eager to burn the bridge.



The frightened monarch was not slow in taking this advice. Leaving a

strong force in Greece, under the command of his general Mardonius, he

marched with the speed of fear for the bridge. But he had nearly

exhausted the country of food in his advance, and starvation and plague

attended his retreat, many of the men being obliged to eat leaves,

grass, and the bark of trees, and great numbers of them dying before the

Hellespont was reached.



Here he found the bridge gone. A storm had destroyed it. He was forced

to have his army taken across in ships. Not till Asia Minor was reached

did the starving troops obtain sufficient food,--and there gorged

themselves to such an extent that many of them died from repletion. In

the end Xerxes entered Sardis with a broken army and a sad heart, eight

months after he had left it with the proud expectation of conquering the

western world.