mistocles, who,upon some other pretext,had caused 100galleys to be built. Instead of judging like the rest of the Atheni ans, who looked upon the victory of Marathon as the end of the war, he, on the contrary, considered it rather as the beginning, or as the signal of still greater battles, for which it was necessary to prepare the Athenian people: and from that very time he began to think of raising Athens to a superiority over Sparta, which for a long time had been the mistress of all Greece. With this view he judged it expedient to make the Athenian power entirely maratime, perceiving very plainly, that, as she was so weak by land, she had no other way to render herself necessary to her allies, or formidable to her enemies. His opinion herein prevailed among the people in spite of the opposition of Militiades, whose difference of opinion undoubtedly arose from the little probability there was, that a people entirely unacquainted with fighting at sea, and that were only capable of fitting out and arming very small vessels, should be able to withstand so formidable a power as that of the Persians, who had both a numerous land army, and a fleet of above 1000 ships. * The Athenians had some silver mines in a part of Attica called Laurium, the whole revenues and products of which used to be distributed amongst them. Themistocles had the courage to propose to the people, that they should abolish these distributions, and employ that money in building vessels with three benches of oars, in order to make war upon the people of Ægina, against whom he endeavoured to inflame their ancient jealousy. No people are ever willing to sacrifice their private interests to the general utility of the public: for they seldom have so much generosity or public spirit, as to purchase the welfare or preservation of the state at their own expence. The Athenian people, however, did it upon this occasion: moved by the lively remonstrances of Themistocles, they consented that the money which arose from the product of the mines, should be employed in the building of 100 galleys. Against the arrival of Xerxes they doubled the number, and to that fleet Greece owed its preservation. When they came to the point of naming a general for the command of the navy, the Athenians, who alone had furnished the two-thirds of it, laid claim to that honour, as appertaining to them, and their pretensions were certainly just and well grounded. It happened,however,that the suffrages of the allies * Plut, in Themist. p. 113. Herod. 1. viii. c. 213. all concurred in favour of Eurybiades, a Lacedæmonian. Themistocles, though very aspiring after glory, thought it incumbent upon him on this occasion to neglect his own interests for the common good of the nation; and giving the Athenians to understand, that, provided they behaved themselves with courage and conduct, all the Grecians would quickly desire to confer the command upon them of their own accord, he persuaded them to consent, as he would do himself, to give up that point at present to the Spartans. It may justly be said, that this prudent moderation in Themistocles was another means of saving the state; for the allies threatened to separate themselves from them if they refused to comply; and if that had happened, Greece must have been inevitably ruined. SECTION V. THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLE. THE DEATH OF LEONIDAS. THE only thing that now remained to be discussed *, was to know in what place they should resolve to meet the Persians, in order to dispute their entrance into Greece. The people of Thessaly represented, that as they were the most exposed, and likely to be first attacked by the enemy, it was but reasonable that their defence and security on which the safety of all Greece so much depended, should first be provided for, without which they should be obliged to take other measures, that would be contrary to their inclinations, but yet absolutely necessary, in case their country was left unprotected and defenceless. It was hereupon resolved, that 10,000 men should be sent to guard the passage which separates Macedonia from Thessaly, near the river Peneus, between the mountains of Olympus and Ossa. But Alexander, the son of Amyntas, king of Macedonia, having given them to understand, that if they waited for the Persians in that place, they must inevitably be overpowered by their numbers, they retired to Thermopyla. The Thessalians, finding themselves thus abandoned, without any farther deliberation submitted to the Persians. Thermopyla is a strait or narrow pass of mount of Œta, between Thessaly and Phocis, but 25 feet broad, which therefore might be defended by a small number of forces, and * A. M. 3524. Ant. J. C. 480. Herod. 1. vii, c. 172, 173. Herod. 1. vii. c. 175, 177. which was the only way through which the Persian land-army could enter Achaia, and advance to besiege Athens. This was the place where the Grecian army thought fit to wait for the enemy: the person who commanded it was Leonidas, one of the two kings of Sparta. * Xerxes in the mean time was upon his march: he had given orders for his fleet to follow him along the coast, and to regulate their motions according to those of the land-army. Wherever he came, he found provisions and refreshments prepared beforehand, pursuant to the orders he had sent; aud every city he arrived at gave him a magnificent entertainment, which cost immense sums of money. The vast expence of these treats gave occasion to a witty saying of a certain citizen of Abdera in Thrace, who, when the king was gone, said, they ought to thank the gods, that he ate but one meal a-day. In the same country of Thrace, there was a prince who showed an extraordinary greatness of soul on this occasion: it was the king of the Bisaltes. Whilst all the other princes ran into servitude, and basely submitted to Xerxes, he bravely refused to receive his yoke, or to obey him. Not being in a condition to resist him with open force, he retired to the top of the mountain Rhodope, into an inaccessible place, and forbade all his sons, who were six in number, to carry arms against Greece. But they, either out of fear of Xerxes, or out of a curiosity to see so important a war, followed the Per sians, in contradiction to their father's injunction. On their return home, their father, to punish so direct a disobedience, condemned all his sons to have their eyes put out. Xerxes continued his march through Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly, every thing giving way before him till he came to the Strait of Thermopyla. ‡ One cannot see, without the utmost astonishment, with what an handful of troops the Grecians opposed tho innumerable army of Xerxes. We find a particular account of their number in Pausanias. All their forces joined together, amounted only to 11,200 men, of which number 4000 only were employed at Thermopyla to defend the pass. But these soldiers, adds the historian, were all determined to a man either to conquer or die. And what is it that an army of such resolution is not able to effect? § When Xerxes advanced near the Straits of Thermopyla, he was strangely surprised to find that they were prepared to dispute his passage. He had always flattered himself, that on the first hearing of his arrival, the Grecians would betake themselves to flight: nor could he ever be persuaded to believe, what Demaratus had told him from the beginning of his project, that at the first pass he came to, he would find his whole army stopped by an handful of men. He sent out a spy before him to take a view of the enemy. The spy brought him word, that he found the Lacedæmonians out of their intrenchments, and that they were diverting themselves with military exercises, and combing their hair: this was the Spartan manner of preparing themselves for battle. Xerxes, still entertaining some hopes of their flight, waited four days on purpose to give them time to retreat; * and in this interval of time he used his utmost endeavours to gain Leonidas, by making him magnificent promises, and assuring him, that he would make him master of all Greece if he would come over to his party. Leonidas rejected his proposal with scorn and indignation. Xerxes, having afterwards wrote to him to deliver up his arms, Leonidas, in a style and spirit truly laconical, answered him in these words, "+ Come and "take them." Nothing remained but to prepare themselves to engage the Lacedæmonians. Xerxes first commanded his Median forces to March against them, with orders to take them all alive and bring them to him. These Medes were not able to stand the charge of the Grecians; and being shamefully put to flight, they showed, says Herodotus +, that Xerxes had a great many men, and but few soldiers. The next that were sent to face the Spartans, were those Persians called the Immortal Band, which consisted of 10,000 men, and were the best troops in the whole army. But these had no better success than the former. Xerxes, out of all hopes of being able to force his way through troops so determined to conquer or die, was extremely perplexed, and could not tell what resolution to take, when an inhabitant of the country came to him, and discovered a secret path to the top of an eminence, which overlooked and * Plut. in Lacon. Apoph. p. 225. + Αντέραψε, μελων λάβε. † Ὅτι πολλοι μεν άνθρωποι ενεν, ολίγοι δε ανδροσο Quod multi homines essent, pauci autem viri. When the Gauls 200 years after this, came to invade Greece, they possessed themselves of the Straits of Thermopylæ by means of the same by-path, which the Grecians had still neglected to sePausan. I. i. p. 7. et 8. cure. commanded the Spartan forces. He quickly dispatched a detachment thither; which, marching all night, arrived there at the break of day, and possessed themselves of that advantageous post. The Greeks were soon apprised of this misfortune; and Leonidas, seeing that it was now impossible to repulse the enemy, obliged the rest of the allies to retire, but staid himself with his 300 Lacedæmonians, all resolved to die with their leader; who being told by the oracle, that either Lacedæmon or her king must necessarily perish, determined, without the least difficulty or hesitation, to sacrifice himself for his country. The Spartans lost all hopes either of conquering or escaping, and looked upon Thermopyla as their buryingplace. The king, exhorting his men to take some nourishment, and telling them at the same time, that they should sup together with Pluto, they set up a shout of joy as if they had been invited to a banquet, and full of ardour advanced with their king to battle. The shock was exceedingly violent and bloody. Leonidas himself was one of the first that fell. The endeavours of the Lacedæmonians to defend his dead body were incredible. At length, not vanquished, but oppressed by numbers, they all fell except one man, who escaped to Sparta, where he was treated as a coward and traitor to his country, and nobody would keep company or converse with him. But soon afterwards he made a glorious amend for his fault at the battle of Plataa, where he distinguished himself in an extraordinary manner. *Xerxes, enraged to the last degree against Leonidas for daring to make head against him, caused his dead body to be hung up on a gallows, and made his intended dishonour of his enemy his own immortal shame. * Some time after these transactions, by order of the Amphictyons, a magnificent monument was erected at Thermopyla to the honour of these brave defenders of Greece; and upon the monument were two inscriptions; one of which was general, and related to all those that died at Thermopyla, importing, that the Greeks of Peloponnesus, to the number only of 4000, had made head against the Persian army, which consisted of 3,000,000 of men: the other related to the Spartans in particular. It was composed by the poet Simonides, and is very remarkable for its simplicity. It is as follows: |