was Lycomedes, an Athenian, captain of a galley, who cut down its ensign, and dedicated it to Apollo the Laurel-crowned, at Phlya. And as the Persians fought in a narrow arm of the sea, and could bring but part of their fleet to fight, and fell foul of one another, the Greeks thus equalled them in strength, and fought with them till the evening, and forced them back, and obtained, as says Simonides *, that noble and famous victory, than which neither amongst the Greeks nor barbarians was ever known more glorious exploit on the seas, by the joint valour indeed and zeal of all who fought, but by the wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles.

After this sea fight, Xerxes, enraged at his ill-fortune, 16 attempted, by casting great heaps of earth and stones into the sea, to stop up the channel and to make a dam, upon which he might lead his land forces over into the island of Salamis. And Themistocles, being desirous to try the judgment of Aristides, told him that he proposed to set sail for the Hellespont, to break the bridge of ships, so as to shut up, he said, Asia a prisoner within Europe. But Aristides disliking the design said, “We have hitherto fought with an enemy who has regarded little else but his pleasure and luxury; but if we shut him up within Greece, and drive him to necessity, he that is master of such great forces will no longer sit quietly with an umbrella of gold over his head, looking upon the fight for his pleasure; but in such a strait

tutelar heroes of Ægina and Salamis. His sons were Telamon and Peleus, and their sons Ajax and Achilles.

* Simonides most likely wrote an ode in celebration of the victory. There are fragments remaining of odes which he wrote in honour of the battles of Artemisium and Thermopyla.

will attempt all things; he will be resolute, and appear himself in person upon all occasions, he will correct his errors, and supply what he has formerly omitted through remissness, and will be better advised in all things. Therefore, it is no way our interest, Themistocles," he said, "to take away the bridge that is already made, but rather to build another, if it were possible, that he might make his way out of Europe with the more expedition." To which Themistocles answered, "If this be requisite, it will be well for us to use our art and industry, to rid ourselves of him as soon as may be;" and to this purpose he found out among the captives one of the king of Persia's eunuchs, named Arnaces, whom he sent to the king, to inform him that the Greeks, being now victorious by sea, had decreed to sail to the Hellespont, where the boats were fastened together, and destroy the bridge; but that Themistocles being concerned for the king revealed this to him, that he might hasten towards the Asiatic seas, and pass over into his own dominions; and in the mean time he would cause delays, and hinder the confederates from pursuing him. Xerxes no sooner heard this, but being very much terrified, he proceeded to retreat out of Greece with all speed; and the prudence of Themistocles and Aristides Battle in this, was afterwards more fully shown by the battle tæa, of Platea, where Mardonius, with a very small fraction B.C.479. of the forces of Xerxes, put the Greeks in danger of losing all.

of Pla

17

Herodotus writes, that of all the cities of Greece, Ægina was held to have performed the best service in the battle; while all single men yielded to Themistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly; and when they re

turned to the entrance of Peloponnesus, where the several commanders delivered their suffrages at the altar, to determine who was most worthy, every one gave the first vote for himself and the second for Themistocles. The Lacedæmonians carried him with them to Sparta, where, giving the rewards of valour to Eurybiades, and of wisdom and conduct to Themistocles, they crowned him with olive, presented him with the best chariot in the city, and sent three hundred young men to accompany him to the confines of their country. And at the next Olympic games, when Themistocles 76th Olym. entered the course, the spectators took no farther notice piad. of those who were contesting the prizes, but spent the whole day in looking upon him, showing him to the strangers, admiring him, and applauding him by clapping their hands, and other expressions of joy, so that he himself, much gratified, confessed to his friends that he then reaped the fruit of all his labours for the Greeks.

B.C.476.

He was indeed by nature a great lover of honour, as 18 is evident from the anecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians, he would not quite conclude any single matter of business, either public or private, but deferred all till the day they were to set sail, that, by despatching a great quantity of business all at once, and having to meet a great variety of people, he might make an appearance of greatness and power. Viewing the dead bodies cast up by the sea, he perceived bracelets and necklaces of gold about them, yet passed on, only showing them to a friend that followed him, saying, “Take you these things, for you are not Themistocles." He said to Antiphates, a

handsome young man who had formerly avoided, but now in his glory courted him, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson." He said that the Athenians did not honour him or admire him, but made as it were a sort of plane-tree of him; sheltered themselves under him in bad weather, and as soon as it was fine, plucked his leaves and cut his branches. When the Seriphian told him that he had not obtained this honour by himself, but by the greatness of his city, he replied, "You speak truth; I should never have been famous if I had been of Seriphus; nor you, had you been of Athens." When another of the generals, who thought he had performed a considerable service for the Athenians, boastingly compared his actions with those of Themistocles, he told him that once upon a time the Day after the Festival found fault with the Festival; "On you there is nothing but hurry and trouble and preparation, but when I come everybody sits down quietly and enjoys himself;" which the Festival admitted was true, buy" if I had not come first, you would not have come "Even so," he said, "if Themistocles had not come before, where had you been now?" Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother's means, his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece, "for the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother." Loving to be singular in all things, when he had land to sell, he ordered the crier to give notice that there were good neighbours near it. Of two who courted his daughter, he preferred the man of worth to the one who was rich, saying he de

at all."

sired a man without riches, rather than riches without a Such was the character of his sayings.

man.

Immediately after the war, he set about to rebuild 19 and fortify the city of Athens, bribing, as Theopompus reports, the Lacedæmonian Ephors not to be against it, but, as most relate it, overreaching and deceiving them. For, under pretext of an embassy, he went to Sparta, whereupon the Lacedæmonians charging him with rebuilding the walls, and Polyarchus coming on purpose from Ægina to denounce it, he denied the fact, bidding them send people to Athens to see whether it were so or no; by which delay he got time for the building of the wall, and also placed these ambassadors in the hands of his countrymen as hostages for him; and so, when the Lacedæmonians knew the truth, they did him no hurt, but, suppressing all display of the anger which they felt, sent him away. Next he proceeded to establish the Piræus, observing the great natural advantages of the harbours there*, and desirous to unite the whole city with the sea, and to reverse, in a manner, the policy of the ancient Athenian kings; who, endeavouring to withdraw their subjects from the sea, and to accustom them to live, not by sailing about, but by planting and tilling the earth, spread the story of the dispute between Minerva and Neptune for the sovereignty of Athens, in which Minerva, by producing to the judges the olive tree, was declared to have won; whereas Themistocles did not only knead up, as Aristophanes says, the port

* The old ports of Athens had been Munychia and Phalerum. The new harbour, Piræus, contained, it was said, three separate harbours in one: Cantharus, Zea, and Aphrodisium.