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The History of Herodotus: Page 42
Volume Two - Book VIII
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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
Keïans 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:
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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 Eubœans 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 Eubœa.
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 Eubœans 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 Eubœa 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 Eubœa: 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 Eubœa.
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 Eubœa 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 Eubœa,[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 Eubœa, 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 Eubœa 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 Eubœa 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 Eubœans 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 Eubœans, 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 Eubœa."
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 Bœotians, coming into
the territory of Orchomenos. Now the general body of the Bœotians 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 Bœotians 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 Crœsus 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 Bœotia. 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 Autonoös,
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
Autonoös 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 Bœotia; 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 Bœotia 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 Keïans, 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 Phaÿlos, 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 Bœotia 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.
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