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 Euboeans 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 Euboea.
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 Euboeans 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 Euboea 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 Euboea: 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 Euboea.
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 Euboea 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 Euboea, 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 Euboea, 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 Euboea 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 Euboea 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 Euboeans 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 Euboeans, 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 Euboea."
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.
23. 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.