11 - Xerxes, Makers of History by Jacob Abbott

Dive into the fascinating history of Xerxes, the formidable ruler of the Persian Empire, as he leads his forces in the dramatic invasion of Greece. Join Deon Gines as he unravels the intricate tapestry of power, conflict, and legacy during this pivotal era.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter eleven of Xerxes by Jacob Abbott. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain recording by Dion Jin's Salt
Lake City, Utah The Battle of Salamis b. C. Four eighty.
Salamis is an island of a very irregular form, lying

(00:23):
in the Serhonian Gulf, north of Aegina and to the
westward of Athens. What was called the Port of Athens
was on the shore opposite to Solomis, the city itself
being situated on elevated land four or five miles back
from the sea. From this port to the bay on

(00:45):
the southern side of Salomas, where the Greek fleet was lying,
it was only four or five miles, more so that
when Xerxes burned the city, the people on board the
galleys in the fleet might easily see the smoke of
the conflagration. The Isthmus of Corinth was west of Solemnus,

(01:08):
some fifteen miles across the bay. The army, in retreating
from Athens toward the Isthmus would have necessarily to pass
round the bay in a course somewhat circuitous, while the
fleet in following them would pass in a direct line
across it. The geographical relations of these places, a knowledge

(01:33):
of which is necessary to a full understanding of the
operations of the Greek and Persian forces, will be distinctly
seen by comparing the above description with the map placed
at the commencement of the fifth chapter. It had been
the policy of the Greeks to keep the fleet and

(01:55):
army as much as possible together, and thus during the
time in which the troops were attempting a concentration at Thermopylae,
the ships made their rendezvous in the Artemisian Strait or
channel directly opposite to that point of the coast. There

(02:15):
they fought, maintaining their position desperately day after day as
long as Leonidas and his Spartans held their ground on
the shore. Their sudden disappearance from those waters by which
the Persians had been so much surprised, was caused by
their having received intelligence that the pass had been carried

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and Leonidas destroyed. They knew then that Athens would be
the next point of resistance by the land forces. They
therefore fell back to Solomus, or rather to the bay
lying between Solomus and the Athenian shore, being the nearest

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position that they could take to support the operations of
the army in their attempts to defend the capital. When, however,
the tidings came to them that Athens had fallen and
that what remained of the army had retreated to the Isthmus,
the question at once arose whether the fleet should retreat

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to across the bay to the Isthmus shore, with a
view to cooperate more fully with the army in the
new position which the latter had taken, or whether it
should remain where it was and defend itself as it
best could against the Persian squadrons which would soon be

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drawing near. The commanders of the fleet held a consultation
to consider this question. In this consultation, the Athenian and
the Corinthian leaders took different views. In fact, they were
very near coming into open collision. Such a difference of opinion,

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considering the circumstances of the case, was not at all surprising.
It might, indeed have naturally been expected to arise from
the relative situation of the two cities in respect to
the danger which threatened them. If the Greek fleet were
to withdraw from Solomus to the Isthmus, it might be

(04:30):
in a better position to defend corinth, but it would,
by such a movement, be withdrawing from the Athenian territories
and abandoning what remained in Attica wholly to the conqueror.
The Athenians were therefore in favor of maintaining the position
at Solemus, while the Corinthians were disposed to retire to

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the shores of the Isthmus and cooperate with the army there.
The Council was convened to deliberate on this subject before
the news arrived of the actual fall of Athens. Although
inasmuch as the Persians were advancing into Attica in immense
numbers and there was no Greek force left to defend

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the city, they considered its fall as all but inevitable.
The tidings of the capture and destruction of Athens came
while the Council was in session. This seemed to determine
the question. The Corinthian commanders and those from the other
Peloponnesean cities declared that it was perfectly absurd to remain

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any longer at Solemus in a vain attempt to defend
a country already conquered. The council was broken up in confusion,
each commander retiring to his own ship, and the Peloponnesians
resolving to withdraw on the following morning. Eurybides, who it

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will be recollected, was the commander in chief of all
the Greek fleet. Finding thus that it was impossible any
longer to keep the ships together at Solemus, since a
part of them would at all events withdraw, concluded to
yield to the necessity of the case, and to conduct

(06:26):
the whole fleet to the Disthmus. He issued his orders accordingly,
and the several commanders repaired to their respective ships to
make the preparations. It was night when the council was
dismissed and the fleet was to move in the morning.
One of the most influential and distinguished of the Athenian

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officers was a general named Themistocles. Very soon after he
had returned to his ship from this councilviited by another
Athenian named Messyphilis, who, uneasy and anxious in the momentous crisis,
had come in his boat in the darkness of the

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night to the Mestocles ship to converse with him on
the plans of the morrow. Messyphilis asked the Mystocles what
was the decision of the council to abandon Solemus, said
the Mystocles, and retire to the Isthmus then said Messiphilis,

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we shall never have an opportunity to meet the enemy.
I am sure that if we leave this position, the
fleet will be wholly broken up, and that each portion
will go under its own commander to defend its own
state or seek its own safety independently of the rest.

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We shall never be able to concentrate our forces again.
The result will be the inevitable dissolution of the fleet
as a combined and allied force, in spite of all
that Eurybiades or anyone else can do to prevent it.
Messyphilis urged this danger with so much earnestness and eloquence

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as to make a very considerable impression on the mind
of Themistocles. Themistocles said nothing, but his countenance indicated that
he was very strongly inclined to adopt Messiphilus's views. Messyphilis
urged him to go immediately to Eurybiades, and endeavored to

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induce him to obtain a reversal of the decision of
the council. The Mistocles, without expressing either ascent or descent,
took his boat and ordered the horseman to row him
to the galley of Eurybiades. Messyphilis, having so far accomplished
his object, went away. The Mystocles came in his boat

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to the side of Eurybiades's galley. He said that he
wished to speak with the general on a subject of
great importance. Eurybiades, when this was reported to him, sent
to invite the Mystocles to come on board. The Mystocles
did so, and he urged upon the General the same

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arguments that Messyphilis had pressed upon him, namely that if
the fleet were once to move from their actual position,
the different squadrons would inevitably separate and could never be
assembled again. He urged Eurybiades therefore, very strenuously to call

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a new council, with a view of reversing the decision
that had been made to retire, and of resolving instead
to give battle to the Persians at Solemus. Eurybiades was
persuaded and immediately took measures for convening the council again.
The summons sent around thus at midnight, calling upon the

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principal officers of the fleet, to repair again in haste
to the commander's galley, when they had only a short
time before been dismissed from It. Produced great excitement the Corinthians,
who had been in favor of the plan of abandoning Soelamus,
conjectured that the design might be to endeavor to reverse

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that decision, and they came to the council determined to
resist any such attempt if one should be made. When
the officers had arrived Themistocles began immediately to open the discussion, before,
in fact, Eurybiades had stated why he had called them together.

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A Corinthian officer interrupted and rebuked him for Brazum to
speak before his time. The Mystoicles retorted upon the Corinthian
and continued his harangue. He urged the council to review
their former decision and to determine after all to remain
at Solmis. He however, now used different arguments from those

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which he had employed when speaking to Eurybiades alone, for
to have directly charged the officers themselves with the design
of which he had accused them to Eurybiades, namely that
of abandoning their allies and retiring with their respective ships

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each to his own coast, in case the position at
Solomus or to be given up, would only incense them
and arouse a hostility which would determine them against anything
that he might propose. He therefore urged the ex obediency
of remaining at Salamis. On other grounds, Salamis was a

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much more advantageous position, he said, than the coast of
the Isthmus, for a small fleet to occupy in awaiting
an attack from a large one. At Salamis, they were
defended in part by the projections of the land, which
protected their flanks and prevented their being assailed except in front.

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And their front they might make a very narrow one.
At the Isthmus. On the contrary, there was a long,
unvaried and unsheltered coast with no salient points to give
strength or protection to their position. There. They could not
expect to derive serious advantage from any degree of cooperation

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with the army on the land, which would be practical
at the Isthmus, while their situation at sea there would
be far more exposed and dangerous than where they then were. Besides,
many thousands of the people had fled to Solemus for
refuge and protection, and the fleet, by leaving its present position,

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would be guilty of basely abandoning them all to hopeless destruction,
without even making an effort to save them. This last was,
in fact the great reason why the Athenians were so
unwilling to abandon Solemus. The unhappy fugitives with which the

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island was thronged were their wives and children, and they
were extremely unwilling to go away and leave them to
so cruel a fate, as they knew would await them
if the fleet were to be withdrawn. The Corinthians, on
the other hand, considered Athens as already lost, and it

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seemed madness to them to linger uselessly in the vicinity
of the ruin which had been made, while there were
other states and cities in other quarters of Greece yet
to be saved. The Corinthian speaker, who had rebuked the
Mystocles at first, interrupted him again angrily before he finished

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his appeal. You have no right to speak, said he.
You have no longer a country, when you ceased to
represent a power, You have no right to take a
part in our councils. This cruel retort aroused in the
mind of the Mystocles a strong feeling of indignation and

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anger against the Corinthian. He loaded his opponent in return
with bitter reproaches, and said in conclusion that as long
as the Athenians had two hundred ships in the fleet,
they had still a country two sufficient importance to the

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general defense to give them a much better title to
be heard in the common consultations than any Corinthian could
presume to claim. Then, turning to Eurybiites again, the Mystocles
implored him to remain at Salamis and give battle to
the Persians there, as that was, he said, the only

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course by which any hope remained to them of the
salvation of Greece. He declared that the Athenian part of
the fleet would never go to the Isthmus. If the
others decided on going there, they the Athenians would gather
all the fugitives they could from the island of Solomus

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and from the coasts of Attica, and make the best
of their way to Italy, where there was a territory
to which they had some claim, and abandoning Greece forever,
they would found a new kingdom there. Eurybiades the commander
in chief, if he was not convinced by the arguments

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that Themistocles had offered, was alarmed at his declaration that
the Athenian ships would abandon the cause of the Greeks
if the fleet abandoned Solemnus. He accordingly gave his voice
very decidedly for remaining where they were. The rest of
the officers finally acquiesced in this decision, and the council

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broke up the various members of it, returning each to
his own command. It was now nearly morning. The whole
fleet had been necessarily during the night in a state
of great excitement and suspense, all anxious to learn the
result of these deliberations, the awe and solemnity which would

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of course pervade the minds of men. At midnight, while
such momentous questions were pending, were changed to an appalling
sense of terror toward the dawn by an earthquake, which
then took place, and which, as is usually the case
with such convulsions, not only shook the land, but was

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felled by vessels on the sea. The men considered this
phenomenon as a solemn warning from heaven, and measures were
immediately adopted for appeasing by certain special sacrifices and ceremonies,
the divine displeasure which the shock seemed to portend. In

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the meantime, the Persian fleet, which we left it will
be recollected in the channels between Euboa and the mainland
near to Thermopylae, had advanced when they found that the
Greeks had left those waters, and following their enemies to
the southward through the channel called the Europus, had doubled

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the promontory called Sunium, which is the southern promontory of Attica,
and then moving northward again along the western coast of Attica,
had approached Filerum, which was not far from Solamus. Xerxes,
having concluded his operations at Athens, advanced to the same

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point by land. The final and complete success of the
Persian expedition seemed now almost sure. All the country north
of the peninsula had fallen. The Greek army had retreated
to the Isthmus, having been driven from every other post,
and its last forlorn hope of being able to resist

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the advance of its victorious enemies was depending there, and
the commanders of the Persian fleet, having driven the Greek
squadrons in this same manner, from straight to straight and
from sea to c saw the discomfited galleys drawn up
and apparently their last place of refuge in the Bay

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of Solamus, and only waiting to be captured and destroyed.
In a word, everything seemed ready for the decisive and
final blow, and Xerxes summoned a grand council of war
on board one of the vessels of the fleet as
soon as he arrived at Falerum, to decide upon the

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time and manner of striking it. The convening of this
council was arranged, and the deliberations themselves conducted with great
parade and ceremony. The princes of the various nations represented
in the army and in the fleet, and the leading
Persian officers and nobles were summoned to attend it. It

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was held on board one of the principal galleys, where
great preparations had been made for receiving so august an assemblage.
A throne was provided for the king and seats for
the various commanders according to their respective ranks, and a
conspicuous place was assigned to Artemisia, the Carrion Queen, who

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the reader will perhaps recollect, was described as one of
the prominent naval commanders in the account given of the
Great Review at Duriscus. Mardonius appeared at the council as
the King's representative and the conductor of the deliberations, there
being required, according to the parliamentary etiquette of those days,

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in such royal councils as these, a sort of mediator
to stand between the king and his councilors, as if
the monarch himself was on too sublime an elevation of
dignity and grandeur to be directly addressed, even by princes
and nobles. Accordingly, when the council was convened and the

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time arrived for opening the deliberations, the King directed Mardonius
to call upon the commanders present, one by one for
their sentiments on the question whether it were advisable or
not to attack the Greek fleet at Selmus. Mardonius did so.

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They all advised that the attack should be made, urging
severally various considerations to enforce their opinions, and all evincing
a great deal of zeal and ardor in the cause,
and an impatient desire that the great final conflict should

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come on. When, however, it came to Artemisius's turn to speak,
it appeared that she was of a different center from
the rest. She commenced her speech with something like an
apology for presuming to give the king her counsel. She
said that, notwithstanding her sex, she had performed her part

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with other commanders in the battles which had already occurred,
and that she was perhaps entitled accordingly in the consultations
which were held to express her opinion. Say then to
the king, she continued, addressing Mardonius, as all the others
had done, that my judgment is that we should not

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attack the Greek fleet at Solemus, but on the contrary,
that we should avoid a battle. It seems to me
that we have nothing to gain, but should put a
great deal at hazard by a general naval conflict at
the present time. The truth is that the Greeks, always
terrible as combatants, are rendered desperate now by the straits

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to which they are reduced and the losses that they
have sustained. The semen of our fleet are as inferior
to them in strength and courage as women are to men.
I am sure that it will be a very dangerous
thing to encounter them in their present chafed and irritated temper.

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Whatever others may think, I myself should not dare to
answer for the result. Besides, situated as they are, continued Artemisia,
a battle is what they must most desire, and of
course it is adverse to our interest to accord it
to them. I have ascertained that they have but a

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small supply of food, either in their fleet or upon
the island of Solamus, while they have besides their troops
a great multitude of des institute and helpless fugitives to
be fed. If we simply leave them to themselves under
the blockade in which our position here now places them,

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they will soon be reduced to great distress. Or if
we withdraw from them and proceed at once to the
Peloponnesus to cooperate with the army there, we shall avoid
all the risk of a battle, and I am sure
that the Greek fleet will never dare to follow or

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to molest Us. The several members of the council listened
to this unexpected address of our Temisia with great attention
and interest, but with very different feelings. She had many
friends among the councilors, and they were anxious and uneasy
at hearing her speak in this manner, for they knew

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very well that it was the King's decided intention that
a battle should be fought, and they feared that by
this bold and strenuous opposition to it, Artemisia would incur
the mighty monarch's displeasure. There were others who were jealous
of the influence which Artemisia enjoyed, and envious of the

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favor with which they knew that Xerxes regarded her. These
men were secretly pleased to hear her uttering sentiments, by
which they confidently believed that she would excite the anger
of the King and wholly lose her advantageous position. Both
the hopes and the fears, however, entertained respectively by the

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queen's enemies and friends, proved altogether groundless. Xerxes was not displeased.
On the contrary, he applauded Artemisia's ingenuity and eloquence in
the highest terms, though he said nevertheless that he follow
the advice of the other councilors. He dismissed the assembly

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and gave orders to prepare for battle. In the meantime,
a day or two had passed away, and the Greeks,
who had been originally very little inclined to acquiesce in
the decision which Eurybiades had made, under the influence of Themistocles,
to remain at Solemus and give the Persians battle, became

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more and more dissatisfied and uneasy as the great crisis
drew nigh. In fact, the discontent and disaffection which appeared
in certain portions of the fleet became so decided and
so open that the Mystocles feared that some of the
commanders would actually revolt and go away with their squadrons

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in a body, in defiance of the general decision to remain.
To prevent such a desertion as this, he contrived the
following very desperate stratagem. He had a slave in his
family named Sicinus, who was an intelligent and educated man.
Though a slave, in fact, he was the teacher of

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Themystocles's children. Instances of this kind, in which slaves were
refined and cultivated men, were not uncommon in ancient times,
as slaves were in many instances captives taken in war
who before their captivity had occupied as high social positions

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as their masters. The Mystocles determined to send Sicinus to
the Persian fleet with a message from him which should
induce the Persians themselves to take measures to prevent the
dispersion of the Greek fleet. Having given the slave therefore
his secret instructions, he put him into a boat when

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night came on, with oarsmen who were directed to row
him wherever he should require them to go. The boat
pushed off stealthilly from Themistocles's galley, and, taking care to
keep clear of the Greek ships which lay at anchor
near them, went southward toward the Persian fleet. When the

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boat reached the Persian galleys, Sicinus asked to see the commander, and,
on being admitted to an interview with him, he informed
him that he came from the Mistocles, who was the leader.
He said, of the Athenian portion of the Greek fleet,
I am charged. He added to say to you from

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the Mystocles, that he considers the cause of the Greeks
as holy lost, and he is now accordingly desirous himself
of coming over to the Persian side. This, however, he
cannot actually and openly do on account of the situation
in which he is placed in respect to the rest

(29:09):
of the fleet. He has, however, sent me to inform
you that the Greek fleet is in a very disordered
and helpless condition, being distracted by the dissensions of the
commanders and the general discouragement and despair of the men.
That some divisions are secretly intending to make their escape,

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and that if you can prevent this by surrounding them,
or by taking such positions as to intercept any who
may attempt to withdraw, the whole squadron will inevitably fall
into your hands. Having made this communication, Cicinus went on
board his boat again and returned to the Greek fleet

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as secretly and stealthily as he came. The Persians immediately
determined to resort to the measures which the Mystoicles had
recommended to prevent the escape of any part of the
Greek fleet. There was a small island between Solomus and
the coast of Attica, that is, on the eastern side

(30:18):
of Solomus, called Stalia, which was in such a position
as to command in a great measure the channel of
water between Solomus and the mainland. On this side. The
Persians sent forward a detachment of galleys to take possession
of this island in the night. By this means, they

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hoped to prevent the escape of any part of the
Greek squadron in that direction. Besides, they foresaw that in
the approaching battle, the principal scene of the conflict must
be in that vicinity, and that consequently the island would
become the great resort of the disabled ships and the

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wounded men. Since they would naturally seek refuge on the
nearest land. To preoccupy this ground therefore seemed an important step.
It would enable them, when the terrible conflict should come on,
to drive back any wretched refugees who might attempt to

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escape from destruction by seeking the shore. By taking possession
of this island and stationing galleys in the vicinity of it,
all which was done secretly in the night, the Persians
cut off all possibility of escape for the Greeks in
that direction. At the same time, they sent another considerable

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detachment of their fleet to the westward, which was the
direction toward the Isthmus. Ordering The galleys thus sent to
station themselves in such a manner as to prevent any
portion of the Green fleet from going round the island
of Solamus and making their escape through the northwestern channel.

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By this means, the Greek fleet was environed on every side,
hemmed in, though they were not aware of it, in
such a way as to defeat any attempt which any
division might make to retire from the scene. The first
intelligence which the Greeks received of their being thus surrounded

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was from an Athenian general named Aristides, who came one
night from the island of Aegina to the Greek fleet,
making his way with great difficulty through the lines of
Persian galleys. Aristides had been in the political conflicts which
had taken place in former years at Athens, Themistocles's great

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rival and enemy. He had been defeated in the contests
which had taken place, and had been banished from Athens.
He now, however, made his way through the enemy's lines,
incurring in doing it extreme difficulty and danger, in order
to inform his countrymen of their peril and to assist,

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if possible, in saving them. When he reached the Greek fleet,
the commanders were in council, agitating in angry and incriminating debates.
The perpetually recurring question whether they should retire to the
Isthmus or remain where they were. Aristides called Themistocles out

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of the council. The Mystocles was very much surprised at
seeing his ancient enemy thus unexpectedly appear. Aristides introduced the
conversation by saying that he thought that at such a
crisis they ought to lay aside every private animosity and

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only emulate each other in the efforts and sacrifices which
they could respectively make to defend their country. That he
had accordingly come from a Gina to join the fleet
with a view of rendering any aid that it might
be in his power to afford. That it was now

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wholly useless to debate the question of retiring to the Isthmus,
for such a movement was no longer possible. The fleet
is surrounded, said he. The Persian galleys are stationed on
every side. It was with the utmost difficulty that I
could make my way through the lines. Even if the

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whole assembly, even Eurybiades himself, were resolved on withdrawing to
the Isthmus, the thing could not now be done. Return therefore,
and tell them this, and say that to defend themselves
where they are is the only alternative that now remains.

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In reply to this communication, the Mysticles said that nothing
could give him greater pleasure than to learn what Aristides
had stated. The movement which the Persians have made, he said,
was in consequence of a communication which I myself sent
to them. I sent it in order that some of

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our Greeks, who seemed so very reluctant to fight, might
be compelled to do so. But you must come yourself
into the assembly, he added, and make your statement directly
to the commanders. They will not believe it if they
hear it from me. Come in and state what you

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have seen. Aristides accordingly entered the assembly and informed the
officers who were convened that to retire from their present
position was no longer possible, since the sea to the
west was fully guarded by lines of Persian ships, which
had been stationed there to intercept them. He had just

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come in himself, he said, from Aegina, and had found
great difficulty in passing through the lines. Though he had
only a single small boat and was favored by the
darkness of the night. He was convinced that the Greek
fleet was entirely surrounded. Having said this, Aristides withdrew. Although

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he could come as a witness to give his testimony
in respect to facts, he was not entitled to take
any part in the deliberations. The Assembly was thrown into
a state of the greatest possible excitement by the intelligence
which Aristides had communicated. Instead of producing harmony among them,

(36:55):
it made the discord more violent and uncontrollable. Those who
had before wished to retire, some were now enraged that
they had not been allowed to do so while the
opportunity remained. Others disbelieved Aristides's statements and were still eager

(37:16):
to go, while the rest, confirmed in their previous determination
to remain where they were rejoiced to find that retreat
was no longer possible. The debate was confused and violent.
It turned in a great measure on the degree of
credibility to be attached to the account which Aristides had

(37:38):
given them. Many of the Assembly wholly disbelieved it. It
was a stratagem, they maintained, contrived by the Athenian Party
and those who wished to remain, in order to accomplish
their end of keeping the fleet from changing its position.
The doubts, however, which the Assembly felt in respect to

(38:02):
the truth of Aristides's tidings, were soon dispelled by new
and incontestable evidence. For while the debate was going on,
it was announced that a large galley, a trirem, as
it was called, had come in from the Persian fleet.
This galley proved to be a Greek ship from the

(38:23):
island of Tenos, one which Xerxes, in prosecution of his
plan of compelling those portions of the Grecian territories that
he had conquered or that had surrendered to him, to
furnish forces to aid him in subduing the rest, had
pressed into his service. The commander of this galley, unwilling

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to take part against his countrymen in the conflict, had
decided to desert the Persian fleet by taking advantage of
the night, and to come over to the Greeks. The
name of the commander of this trirem was Poratious. He
confirmed fully all that Aristides had said. He assured the

(39:08):
Greeks that they were completely surrounded, and that nothing remained
for them but to prepare where they were to meet
the attack which would certainly be made upon them in
the morning. The arrival of this trirem was thus a
very essential service to the Greeks. It put an end

(39:30):
to their discordant debates and united them one and all
in the work of making resolute preparations for action. This
vessel was also a very essential service in the conflict
itself which ensued, and the Greeks were so grateful to
Poratious and to his comrades for the adventurous courage which

(39:54):
they displayed in coming over under such circumstances in such
a night to espouse the cause and to share the
dangers of their countrymen, that after the battle they caused
all their names to be engraved upon a sacred tripod,
made in the most costly manner for the purpose, and

(40:16):
then sent the tripod to be deposited at the Oracle
of Delphi, where it long remained a monument of this
example of Delian patriotism and fidelity. As the morning approached,
the preparations were carried forward, with ardor and energy on
board both fleets for the great struggle which was to ensue.

(40:40):
Plans were formed, orders were given, arms were examined and
placed on the decks of the galleys where they would
be most ready at hand. The officers and soldiers gave
mutual charges and instructions to each other in respect to
the care of their friends, the disposal of their effects.

(41:02):
Charges and instructions which each one undertook to execute for
his friend in case he should survive him. The commanders
endeavored to animate and encouraged their men by cheerful looks
and by words of confidence and encouragement. They who felt
resolute and strong endeavored to inspirit the weak and irresolute,

(41:28):
while those who shrank from the approaching contest and dreaded
the result of it concealed their fears and endeavored to
appear impatient for the battle. Cerxes caused an elevated seat
or throne to be prepared for himself on an eminence
near the shore upon the main land, in order that

(41:50):
he might be a personal witness of the battle. He
had a guard and other attendants around him. Among these
were a number of scribes or secretaries, who were prepared
with writing materials to record the events which might take
place as they occurred, and especially to register the names

(42:12):
of those whom Xerxes should see distinguishing themselves by their
courage or by their achievements. He justly supposed that these arrangements,
the whole fleet, being fully informed in regard to them,
would animate the several commanders with strong emulation and excite

(42:33):
them to make redoubled exertions to perform their part well.
The record, which was thus to be kept under the
personal supervision of the sovereign, was with a view to
punishments too, as well as to honors and rewards, and
it happened in many instances during the battle that ensued

(42:55):
that commanders, who, after losing their ships, escaped to the
shore were brought up before Xerxes throne, and there expiated
their fault or their misfortune, whichever it might have been,
by being beheaded on the spot without mercy. Some of
the officers thus executed were Greeks, brutally slaughtered for not

(43:19):
being successful in fighting by compulsion against their own countrymen.
As the dawn approached Themistocles called together as many of
the Athenian forces as it was possible to convene, assembling
them at a place upon the shore of Solomus where
he could conveniently address them, and there made a speech

(43:43):
to them, as was customary with the Greek commanders before
going into battle. He told them that in such contests
as that in which they were about to engage, the
result depended not on the relative numbers of the combatant,
but on the resolution and activity which they displayed. He

(44:05):
reminded them of the instances in which small bodies of men,
firmly banded together by a strict discipline, and animated by
courage and energy, had overthrown enemies whose numbers far exceeded
their own. The Persians were more numerous, he admitted, than they,

(44:26):
but still the Greeks would conquer them. If they faithfully
obeyed their orders and acted strictly and perseveringly in concert
according to the plans formed by the commanders, and displayed
the usual courage and resolution of Greeks, he was sure
of victory. As soon as the Mystocles had finished his speech,

(44:50):
he ordered his men to embark, and the fleet immediately
afterward formed itself in battle array. Notwithstanding the strictness of
the order and discipline which generally prevailed in Greek armaments
of every kind, there was great excitement and much confusion
in the fleet while making all these preparations, and this

(45:14):
excitement and confusion increased continually as the morning advanced and
the hour for the conflict drew nigh. The passing of
boats to and fro, the dashing of the oars, the
clanger of the weapons, the vociferations of orders by the
officers and of responses by the men, mingled with each

(45:37):
other in dreadful turmoil, while all the time the vast
squadrons were advancing toward each other, each party of combatants
eager to begin the contest. In fact, so full of
wild excitement was the scene that at length the battle
was found to be raging on every side, while no

(45:59):
one knew or could remember how it began. Some said
that a ship which had been sent away a short
time before to a Gina to obtain succors, was returning
that morning, and that she commenced the action as she
came through the Persian lines. Others said the Greek squadron

(46:21):
advanced as soon as they could see and attacked the Persians.
And there were some whose imaginations were so much excited
by the scene that they saw a female form portrayed
among the dim myths of the morning, that urged the
Greeks onward by beckonings and calls. They heard her voice,

(46:44):
they said, crying to them, come on, Come on, this
is no time to linger on your oars. However this
may be, The battle was soon furiously raging on every
part of the Bay of Solmus, exhibiting a widespread scene
of conflict, fury, rage, despair, and death, such as had

(47:07):
been then seldom witnessed in any naval conflict, and such
as human eyes can now never look upon again in
modern warfare. The smoke of the guns soon draws an
impenetrable veil over the scene of horror, and the perpetual
thunder of the artillery overpowers the general din in a

(47:31):
modern battle. Therefore, none of the real horrors of the
conflict can either be heard or seen by any spectator
placed beyond the immediate scene of it. The sights and
the sounds are alike buried and concealed beneath the smoke
and the noise of the cannonading. There were, however, no

(47:54):
such causes in this case to obstruct the observations which
Xerxes was making from his throne on the shore. The
air was calm, the sky serene, the water was smooth,
and the atmosphere was as transparent and clear at the
end of the battle as at the beginning. Ceruxes could

(48:16):
discern every ship and follow it with his eyes in
all its motions. He could see who advanced and who retreated.
Out of the hundreds of separate conflicts, he could choose
anyone and watch the progress of it, from the commencement
to the termination. He could see the combats on the decks,

(48:38):
the falling of repulsed assailants into the water, the weapons broken,
the wounded carried away, and swimmers struggling like insects on
the smooth surface of the sea. He could see the recks,
two which were drifted upon the shores, and the captured galleys, which,

(48:58):
after those who defended them had been vanquished, some killed,
others thrown overboard, and others made prisoners, were slowly towed
away by the victors to a place of safety. There
was one incident which occurred in this scene, as Eerxes
looked down upon it from the eminence where he sat,

(49:20):
which greatly interested and excited him, though he was deceived
in respect to the true nature of it. The incident
was one of Artemisia's stratagems. It must be promised in
relating the story, that Artemisia was not without enemies. Among
the officers of the Persian fleet. Many of them were

(49:43):
envious of the high distinction which she enjoyed, and jealous
of the attention which she received from the King and
of the influence which she possessed over him. This feeling
showed itself very distinctly at the Grand Council, when she
gave her advice in connection with that of the other

(50:06):
commanders to the King. Among the most decided of her
enemies was a certain captain named Demiscithemis. Artemisia had had
a special quarrel with him while the fleet was coming
through the hellspont which, though settled for the time, left
the minds of both parties in a state of great

(50:29):
hostility toward each other. It happened in the course of
the battle that the ship which Artemisia personally commanded and
that of Demiscithemus were engaged together with other Persian vessels
in the same part of the bay, and at a
time when the ardor and confusion of the conflict was

(50:51):
at its height, the galley of Artemisia and some others
that were in company with hers became separated from the rest,
perhaps by the too eager pursuit of an enemy, and
as other Greek ships came up suddenly to the assistance
of their comrades, the Persian vessels found themselves in great

(51:13):
danger and began to retreat, followed by their enemies. We
speak of the retreating galleys as Persian because they were
on the Persian side in the contest, though it happened
that they were really ships from Greek nations which Xerxes
had bribed or forced into his service. The Greeks knew

(51:36):
them to be enemies by the Persian flag which they
bore in the retreat, and while the ships were more
or less mingled together in the confusion, Artemisia perceived that
the Persian galley nearest her was that of Demisithemus. She
immediately caused her own Persian flag to be pulled down,

(52:00):
resorting to such other artifices as might tend to make
her vessel appear to be a Greek gally, she began
to act as if she were one of the pursuers
instead of one of the pursued. She bore down upon
the ship of Demisithemus, saying to her crew that to

(52:21):
attack and sink that ship was the only way to
save their own lives. They accordingly attacked it with the
utmost fury. The Athenian ships, which were near, seeing Artemisia's
gally thus engaged, supposed that it was one of their own,
and pressed on, leaving the vessel of Demisithemus at Artemisia's mercy.

(52:47):
It was such mercy as would be expected of a
woman who would volunteer to take command of a squadron
of ships of war and go forth on an active
campaign to fight for her life among such ferocious tigers,
as Greek soldiers always were, considering it all an excursion

(53:08):
of pleasure, Artemisia killed Downmiscythemus and all of his crew,
and sunk his ship, and then the crisis of danger
being passed, she made good her retreat back to the
Persian lines. She probably felt no special animosity against the
crew of this ill fated vessel, but she thought it

(53:31):
most prudent to leave no man alive to tell the story.
Xerxes watched this transaction from his place on the hill
with extreme interest and pleasure. He saw the vessel of
Artemisia bearing down upon the other, which last he supposed,
of course, from Artemisia's attacking it was a vessel of

(53:54):
the enemy. The only subject of doubt was whether the
attacking ship was really that of Artemisia. The officers who
stood about Xerxes at the time that the transaction occurred
assured him that it was. They knew it well by
certain peculiarities in its construction. Xerxes then watched the progress

(54:18):
of the contest with the most eager interest, and when
he saw the result of it, he praised Artemisia in
the highest terms, saying that the men in his fleet
behaved like women, while the only woman in it behaved
like a man. Thus, Artemisia's exploit operated like a double stratagem.

(54:41):
Both the Greeks and the Persians were deceived, and she
gained an advantage by both the deceptions. She saved her
life by leading the Greeks to believe that her galley
was their friend, and she gained great glory and renown
among the Persians making them believe that the vessel which

(55:03):
she sunk was that of an enemy. Though these and
some of the other scenes and incidents which Xerxes witnessed
as he looked down upon the battle gave him pleasure,
yet the curiosity and interest with which he surveyed the
opening of the contest were gradually changed to impatience, vexation,

(55:26):
and rage, as he saw in its progress that the
Greeks were everywhere gaining the victory. Notwithstanding the discord and
animosity which had reigned among the commanders in their councils
and debates, the men were united, resolute, and firm when
the time arrived for action, and they fought with such

(55:49):
desperate courage and activity, and at the same time with
so much coolness, circumspection, and discipline, that the Persian lines were,
before many hours everywhere compelled to give way. A striking
example of the indomitable and efficient resolution, which on such

(56:10):
occasions always characterized the Greeks, was shown in the conduct
of Aristides. The reader will recollect that the Persians, on
the night before the battle, had taken possession of the
island of Sitalia, which was near the center of the
scene of contest, for the double purpose of enabling themselves

(56:32):
to use it as a place of refuge and retreat
during the battle, and of preventing their enemies from doing so.
Now Aristides had no command. He had been expelled from
Athens by the influence of Themistocles and his other enemies.
He had come across from Aegina to the fleet at

(56:54):
Solomus alone to give his countrymen information of the disposition
which the Persians had made for surrounding them. When the
battle began, he had been left, it seems, on the
shore of Solmus a spectator. There was a small body
of troops left there also as a guard to the shore.

(57:16):
In the course of the combat, when Aristides found that
the services of this guard were no longer likely to
be required where they were, he placed himself at the
head of them, obtained possession of boats or a galley,
transported the men across the channel, landed them on the
island of Sitalia, conquered the post, and killed every man

(57:41):
that the Persians had stationed there. When the day was
spent and the evening came on, it was found that
the result of the battle was a Greek victory, and
yet it was not a victory so decisive as to
compel the Persians holly to retire. Of the Persian ships

(58:01):
were destroyed, but still so many remained that when at
night they drew back from the scene of the conflict
toward their anchorage ground at Flarum, the Greeks were very
willing to leave them unmolested. There. The Greeks, in fact,
had full employment on the following day in reassembling the

(58:23):
scattered remnants of their own fleet, repairing the damages that
they had sustained, taking care of their wounded men, and,
in a word, attending to the thousand urgent and pressing
exigencies always arising in the service of a fleet after
a battle, even when it has been victorious in the contest.

(58:47):
They did not know in exactly what condition the Persian
fleet had been left, nor how far there might be
danger of a renewal of the conflict. On the following day.
They devoted all their time and attention therefore to strengthening
their defenses and reorganizing the fleet, so as to be

(59:08):
ready in case a new assault should be made upon them.
But Serxes had no intention of any new attack. The
loss of this battle gave a final blow to his
expectations of being able to carry his conquests in Greece
any further. He, too, like the Greeks, employed his men

(59:30):
in industrious and vigorous efforts to repair the damages which
had been done, and to reassemble and reorganize that portion
of the fleet which had not been destroyed. While, however,
his men were doing this, he was himself revolving in
his mind moodily and despairingly plans not for new conflicts,

(59:54):
but for the safest and speediest way of making his
own personal escape from the dangers around him, back to
his home in Susa. In the meantime, the surface of
the sea, far and wide in every direction, was covered
with the wrecks and remnants and fragments strewed over it

(01:00:16):
by the battle. Dismantled hulks, masses of entangled spars and
rigging broken oars, weapons of every description, and the swollen
and ghastly bodies of the dead floated on the rolling
swell of the sea, wherever the winds or the currents
carried them. At length. Many of these mournful memorials of

(01:00:39):
the strife found their way across the whole breadth of
the Mediterranean and were driven up upon the beach on
the coast of Africa, at a barbarous country called Colius.
The savages dragged the fragments out of the sand to
use as fuel for their fires. Pleased with their unexpected acquisitions,

(01:01:02):
but wholly ignorant, of course, of the nature of the
dreadful tragedy to which their coming was due. The circumstance, however,
explained to the Greeks an ancient prophecy which had been
uttered long before in Athens, and which the interpreters of
such mysteries had never been able to understand. The prophecy

(01:01:26):
was this, the Kolian dames on Afric's shores shall roast
their food with Persian ores. End of Chapter eleven.