lowers of Themistocles, was this: "When everything else in this land of Cecrops shall be taken, Zeus grants to Athene, that the wooden walls alone shall remain unconquered, to defend you and your children. Stand not to await the assailing horse and foot from the continent, but turn your backs and retire: you shall yet live to fight another day. O divine Salamis! thou too shalt destroy the children of women, either at the seed-time or at the harvest." Themistocles declared to the Athenians that the wooden walls could mean nothing else but their own ships, and that the mention of slaughter at Salamis could only portend the destruction of their foes. The Athenians resolved that they would abandon their country, and, if necessary, live and fight and die on board their ships. It became necessary, also, that some one state should have the chief command in the war. Sparta was the most powerful by land and Athens by sea, and it was accordingly suggested that Sparta had better take the land command and Athens the sea command. But when most of the allies declared that they would only follow the lead of Sparta, Athens with great self-devotion gave way and conceded the place of honour to her rival. Thus the Greeks, who were found faithful and courageous, waited the awful time when Asia should precipitate itself upon Europe.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE MARCH OF XERXES AND BATTLES OF THERMOPYLE AND

ARTEMISIUM.

WHEN the spring of the memorable year B.c. 480 began, Xerxes commenced his invading march from Sardis. A striking incident showed the relentless cruelty and determination of the great king. Just before he had come to Sardis, an aged and very wealthy Phrygian had treated him with boundless hospitality, and had offered to contribute towards the expense of the expedition. He told Xerxes that besides lands, and slaves, and silver, he only fell a little short of owning four millions of golden

darics; he would give him all his money, and would only keep his lands for himself. Xerxes, who was capable of fits of generosity-he was also the tallest and most noble-looking man in all his host—would not accept this liberality, and by a munificent present, made the tale of four million golden darics complete. Then the old man Pythias was encouraged to ask a favour. He told the King that all his five sons were in the army: would the King accept the services of four of them, and allow his eldest son to stay behind as the solace of his declining years? The generosity of Xerxes gave way to fury when he heard this plea for exemption. He ordered this eldest son to be slain, and one-half of his body to be placed on the right hand and the other half on the left hand of the road over which his army was about to pass. With this dreadful warning, and with the sound of the lash quickening the loiterers, the huge host moved The army was divided into two columns, and the space between was reserved for the King, his guards, and chosen troops. First went the baggage and one-half the infantry. Then came one thousand horsemen and one thousand spearmen. Each spear was carried with the point downwards, and had a golden pomegranate at its other end. Next came ten sacred horses magnificently caparisoned. The sacred chariot of Zeus followed, which not even the charioteer was allowed to mount, drawn by eight milk-white horses. Then came the chariot of Xerxes himself, driven by a Persian of high rank, in which the King rode except when he exchanged it for a litter. The King was encompassed by one thousand horseguards, with golden apples at the reverse extremity of their spears, and followed by other detachments of one thousand cavalry, ten thousand foot, and ten thousand horse. Then came an interval, and after that the rest of the host followed as they could.

on.

The army directed its course to Abydos. They passed the famous plain of Troy, and the story goes that the scanty river Scamander was drunk dry by the troops. Xerxes ascended the heights of Ilium, sacrificed oxen to Athene, and made libations in honour of the fallen heroes. Then the transit from Asia to Europe was accomplished. The bridges were perfumed with incense and strewed with.

myrtle boughs, and as soon as the first rays of the morning sun gleamed forth, the ten thousand Persian troops, called the Immortals, with garlands on their heads, led the van. Xerxes himself, high on a marble throne, viewed the masses of troops covering the land, and his ships gliding to and fro on the waters of the riverlike sea. He directed his course to Doriscus in Thrace, near the mouth of the river Hebrus. Here he held a grand review of all his forces. There is much that is legendary or exaggerated about the numbers said to be assembled, but there can be no doubt that this was by far the largest army which has been ever drawn together in the history of the world. It took some days and even nights for the whole of the army to pass over the bridge, though the passage was incessant. The method which Xerxes employed for numbering his army at Doriscus was as follows. Ten thousand men were counted and closely packed together. Then a line was drawn round the enclosure and a wall built; the whole army passed by divisions into this enclosed space, and the aggregate numbers were thus ascertained. It was found that Xerxes had one million seven hundred thousand foot and eighty thousand horse. He had about one thousand two hundred triremes of war and three thousand smaller vessels. His hosts received further additions while on the march, and when it reached Thermopyla they were more than two millions and a half of men. The nonmilitary persons who accompanied it would be as many more. Herodotus says that forty-six different nations furnished the land-force, and eight different nations the sea-force. It is impossible to test the accuracy of these numbers, but they show generally that it was an exceedingly great host, such as the world has never seen before or since. The great majority, however, consisted of vast masses of undisciplined men, and the real strength of the army would be concentrated in the much smaller body of trained Persian troops.

It had been a matter of most serious consideration with the Greek congress assembled at Corinth, where they might most successfully attempt resistance to the barbaric invasion. About the time that Xerxes was passing the Hellespont, the Thessalians strongly urged

rear.

upon them that they should guard the passes of Olympus, the northernmost entrance into Greece. The long, narrow and winding defile of Tempe was the single entrance in winter from Lower Macedonia into Thessaly, and here a small force might long keep in check an infinitely larger force. But the summer season was now drawing on, and Xerxes might penetrate southwards through other passes, and his fleet might also land troops in the So ten thousand Greeks sent to Tempe came back to Corinth again, and the practical result of this was that all the northern states of Greece became the willing or unwilling allies of the Persians. When the news came that Xerxes had actually passed over, it was resolved that resistance should be offered both at Thermopylæ and Artemisium. The two places are not very far from each other. On the north portion of the island of Euboea is a line of coast called Artemisium from a neighbouring temple of Artemis. The whole of the allied fleet was sent here under the command of Eurybiades, the Spartan, with instructions that they should prevent the Persian fleet from sailing into the narrow strait between Euboea and the mainland, and landing troops in the rear of Thermopyla. The famous pass of Thermopyla lies between precipitous mountains and an impassable morass. Paths so narrow that each admitted only a single vehicle form two entrances, about a mile apart, where the mountains and the sea in close conjunction form, as it were, gates (Pyle) which from some warm springs are called Hot-Gates (Thermopyla). The island of Euboea was only two miles and a half away across the water. The edge of continental sea-line was chiefly rock, but still there were landing places which would allow communication between the Greek army and the Greek fleet. Leonidas, the King of Sparta, went to take his stand at Thermopyla with three hundred Spartans and three thousand Hoplites from other Peloponnesian states. The Olympic Games were then taking place, and the Spartans were unwilling to interrupt them, but they intended as soon as the sacred festival was over, to march against Xerxes with all their force. The number of men at Thermopyla was subsequently augmented to some thousands.

In the meanwhile, Xerxes, after the review at Doriscus, had proceeded westward along Thrace and Macedonia, levying contributions as he passed. The principal cities had to furnish a day's meal for the army, which nearly ruined them, but a certain inhabitant of Abdera told them to be thankful that Xerxes was satisfied with dinner, and did not want breakfast as well. In his route he necessarily lost sight of his fleet, which was to double the projecting peninsulas and meet him at Thessalonica, then known as Therma. At this time there were lions in this part of Europe, and his baggage camels were attacked by them in a wild and woody part of the country. In due time he came within sight of Thermopyla. The Spartans were already posted there. Leonidas, on reaching Thermopyla, had learned for the first time that there existed a mountain path as well as a defile, and that he would therefore be obliged to maintain a double line of defence. This path was very little known, but the Phocians, who knew the country, volunteered to occupy and defend it.

The first blood shed in this desperate conflict was at sea. The allied fleet of Greece, amounting to two hundred and eighty vessels in all, was assembled on the north coast of Euboea. Eurybiades, the Greek admiral, had sent out three vessels to watch the Persians. It so happened that the Persians had sent out ten vessels to watch the Greeks. Two out of the three Greek ships fell into the hands of the superior Persian forces; the third was driven ashore by its crew and abandoned. The Athenians were greatly disheartened by the loss of these three look-out vessels. They were afraid to trust themselves on the open waters, and so sailed down the narrow strait to the point where it was about the narrowest. Their terror was, however, lessened by an event most disastrous to the Persians, which brought the opposing fleets much nearer to a footing of equality. Persian admiral, having learned from his ten ships in advance that the coast was clear, had sailed with his enormous fleet to a part of the coast lined with high, precipitous rocks. At one part of this rocky coast there was, indeed, a certain amount of open beach, but this only permitted a very small number of the vessels to be

The