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The History of Herodotus: Page 39
Volume Two - Book VII
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148. The spies then, having thus looked at everything and after that
having been dismissed, returned back to Europe: and meanwhile those of
the Hellenes who had sworn alliance against the Persian, after the
sending forth of the spies proceeded to send envoys next to Argos. Now
the Argives report that the matters concerning themselves took place
as follows:--They were informed, they say, at the very first of the
movement which was being set on foot by the Barbarian against Hellas;
and having been informed of this and perceiving that the Hellenes
would endeavour to get their alliance against the Persians, they had
sent messengers to inquire of the god at Delphi, and to ask how they
should act in order that it might be best for themselves: because
lately there had been slain of them six thousand men by the
Lacedemonians and by Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides,[134] and this
in fact was the reason that they were sending to inquire: and when
they inquired, the Pythian prophetess made answer to them as follows:
"Thou to thy neighbours a foe, by the gods immortal beloved,
Keep thou thy spear[135] within bounds, and sit well-guarded behind it:
Guard well the head, and the head shall preserve the limbs and the body."
Thus, they say, the Pythian prophetess had replied to them before
this; and afterwards when the messengers of the Hellenes came, as I
said, to Argos, they entered the Council-chamber and spoke that which
had been enjoined to them; and to that which was said the Council
replied that the Argives were ready to do as they were requested, on
condition that they got peace made with the Lacedemonians for thirty
years and that they had half the leadership of the whole confederacy:
and yet by strict right (they said) the whole leadership fell to their
share, but nevertheless it was sufficient for them to have half.
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149.
Thus they report that the Council made answer, although the oracle
forbade them to make the alliance with the Hellenes; and they were
anxious, they say, that a truce from hostilities for thirty years
should be made, although they feared the oracle, in order, as they
allege, that their sons might grow to manhood in these years; whereas
if a truce did not exist, they had fear that, supposing another
disaster should come upon them in fighting against the Persian in
addition to that which had befallen them already, they might be for
all future time subject to the Lacedemonians. To that which was spoken
by the Council those of the envoys who were of Sparta replied, that as
to the truce they would refer the matter to their public
assembly,[136] but as to the leadership they had themselves been
commissioned to make reply, and did in fact say this, namely that they
had two kings, while the Argives had one; and it was not possible to
remove either of the two who were of Sparta from the leadership, but
there was nothing to prevent the Argive king from having an equal vote
with each of their two. Then, say the Argives, they could not endure
the grasping selfishness of the Spartans, but chose to be ruled by the
Barbarians rather than to yield at all to the Lacedemonians; and they
gave notice to the envoys to depart out of the territory of the
Argives before sunset, or, if not, they would be dealt with as
enemies.
150. The Argives themselves report so much about these matters: but
there is another story reported in Hellas to the effect that Xerxes
sent a herald to Argos before he set forth to make an expedition
against Hellas, and this herald, they say, when he had come, spoke as
follows: "Men of Argos, king Xerxes says to you these things:--We hold
that Perses, from whom we are descended, was the son of Perseus, the
son of Danae, and was born of the daughter of Kepheus, Andromeda; and
according to this it would seem that we are descended from you. It is
not fitting then that we should go forth on an expedition against
those from whom we trace our descent, nor that ye should set
yourselves in opposition to us by rendering assistance to others; but
it is fitting that ye keep still and remain by yourselves: for if
things happen according to my mind, I shall not esteem any people to
be of greater consequence than you." Having heard this the Argives, it
is said, considered it a great matter; and therefore at first they
made no offer of help nor did they ask for any share; but afterwards,
when the Hellenes tried to get them on their side, then, since they
knew well that the Lacedemonians would not give them a share in the
command, they asked for this merely in order that they might have a
pretext for remaining still.
151. Also some of the Hellenes report
that the following event, in agreement with this account, came to pass
many years after these things:--there happened, they say, to be in
Susa the city of Memnon[137] envoys of the Athenians come about some
other matter, namely Callias the son of Hipponicos and the others who
went up with him; and the Argives at that very time had also sent
envoys to Susa, and these asked Artoxerxes the son of Xerxes, whether
the friendship which they had formed with Xerxes still remained
unbroken, if they themselves desired to maintain it,[138] or whether
they were esteemed by him to be enemies; and king Artoxerxes said that
it most certainly remained unbroken, and that there was no city which
he considered to be more his friend than Argos.
152. Now whether
Xerxes did indeed send a herald to Argos saying that which has been
reported, and whether envoys of the Argives who had gone up to Susa
inquired of Artoxerxes concerning friendship, I am not able to say for
certain; nor do I declare any opinion about the matters in question
other than that which the Argives themselves report: but I know this
much, that if all the nations of men should bring together into one
place the evils which they have suffered themselves, desiring to make
exchange with their neighbours, each people of them, when they had
examined closely the evils suffered by their fellows, would gladly
carry away back with them those which they had brought.[139] Thus it
is not the Argives who have acted most basely of all. I however am
bound to report that which is reported, though I am not bound
altogether to believe it; and let this saying be considered to hold
good as regards every narrative in the history: for I must add that
this also is reported, namely that the Argives were actually those who
invited the Persian to invade Hellas, because their war with the
Lacedemonians had had an evil issue, being willing to suffer anything
whatever rather than the trouble which was then upon them.
153. That which concerns the Argives has now been said: and meanwhile
envoys had come to Sicily from the allies, to confer with Gelon, among
whom was also Syagros from the Lacedemonians. Now the ancestor of this
Gelon, he who was at Gela as a settler,[140] was a native of the
island of Telos, which lies off Triopion; and when Gela was founded by
the Lindians of Rhodes and by Antiphemos, he was not left behind. Then
in course of time his descendants became and continued to be priests
of the mysteries of the Earth goddesses,[141] an office which was
acquired by Telines one of their ancestors in the following manner:--
certain of the men of Gela, being worsted in a party struggle, had
fled to Mactorion, the city which stands above Gela: these men Telines
brought back to Gela from exile with no force of men but only with the
sacred rites of these goddesses; but from whom he received them, or
whether he obtained them for himself,[142] this I am not able to say;
trusting in these however, he brought the men back from exile, on the
condition that his descendants should be priests of the mysteries of
the goddesses. To me it has caused wonder also that Telines should
have been able to perform so great a deed, considering that which I am
told; for such deeds, I think, are not apt to proceed from every man,
but from one who has a brave spirit and manly vigour, whereas Telines
is said by the dwellers in Sicily to have been on the contrary a man
of effeminate character and rather poor spirit.
154. He then had thus
obtained the privilege of which I speak: and when Cleander the son of
Pantares brought his life to an end, having been despot of Gela for
seven years and being killed at last by Sabyllos a man of Gela, then
Hippocrates succeeded to the monarchy, who was brother of Cleander.
And while Hippocrates was despot, Gelon, who was a descendant of
Telines the priest of the mysteries, was spearman of the guard[143] to
Hippocrates with many others and among them Ainesidemos the son of
Pataicos. Then after no long time he was appointed by reason of valour
to be commander of the whole cavalry; for when Hippocrates besieged
successively the cities of Callipolis, Naxos, Zancle, Leontini, and
also Syracuse and many towns of the Barbarians, in these wars Gelon
showed himself a most brilliant warrior; and of the cities which I
just now mentioned, not one except Syracuse escaped being reduced to
subjection by Hippocrates: the Syracusans however, after they had been
defeated in battle at the river Eloros, were rescued by the
Corinthians and Corcyreans; these rescued them and brought the quarrel
to a settlement on this condition, namely that the Syracusans should
deliver up Camarina to Hippocrates. Now Camarina used in ancient time
to belong to the men of Syracuse.
155. Then when it was the fate of
Hippocrates also, after having been despot for the same number of
years as his brother Cleander, to be killed at the city of Hybla,
whither he had gone on an expedition against the Sikelians, then Gelon
made a pretence of helping the sons of Hippocrates, Eucleides and
Cleander, when the citizens were no longer willing to submit; but
actually, when he had been victorious in a battle over the men of
Gela, he robbed the sons of Hippocrates of the power and was ruler
himself. After this stroke of fortune Gelon restored those of the
Syracusans who were called "land-holders,"[144] after they had been
driven into exile by the common people and by their own slaves, who
were called Kyllyrians,[145] these, I say, he restored from the city
of Casmene to Syracuse, and so got possession of this last city also,
for the common people of Syracuse, when Gelon came against them,
delivered up to him their city and themselves.
156. So after he had
received Syracuse into his power, he made less account of Gela, of
which he was ruler also in addition, and he gave it in charge to Hieron his brother, while he proceeded to strengthen Syracuse. So
forthwith that city rose and shot up to prosperity; for in the first
place he brought all those of Camarina to Syracuse and made them
citizens, and razed to the ground the city of Camarina; then secondly
he did the same to more than half of the men of Gela, as he had done
to those of Camarina: and as regards the Megarians of Sicily, when
they were besieged and had surrendered by capitulation, the well-to-do
men[146] of them, though they had stirred up war with him and expected
to be put to death for this reason, he brought to Syracuse and made
them citizens, but the common people of the Megarians, who had no
share in the guilt of this war and did not expect that they would
suffer any evil, these also he brought to Syracuse and sold them as
slaves to be carried away from Sicily: and the same thing he did
moreover to the men of Euboia in Sicily, making a distinction between
them: and he dealt thus with these two cities because he thought that
a body of commons was a most unpleasant element in the State.
157. In the manner then which has been described Gelon had become a
powerful despot; and at this time when the envoys of the Hellenes had
arrived at Syracuse, they came to speech with him and said as follows:
"The Lacedemonians and their allies sent us to get thee to be on our
side against the Barbarian; for we suppose that thou art certainly
informed of him who is about to invade Hellas, namely that a Persian
is designing to bridge over the Hellespont, and to make an expedition
against Hellas, leading against us out of Asia all the armies of the
East, under colour of marching upon Athens, but in fact meaning to
bring all Hellas to subjection under him. Do thou therefore, seeing
that[147] thou hast attained to a great power and hast no small
portion of Hellas for thy share, being the ruler of Sicily, come to
the assistance of those who are endeavouring to free Hellas, and join
in making her free; for if all Hellas be gathered together in one, it
forms a great body, and we are made a match in fight for those who are
coming against us; but if some of us go over to the enemy and others
are not willing to help, and the sound portion of Hellas is
consequently small, there is at once in this a danger that all Hellas
may fall to ruin. For do not thou hope that if the Persian shall
overcome us in battle he will not come to thee, but guard thyself
against this beforehand; for in coming to our assistance thou art
helping thyself; and the matter which is wisely planned has for the
most part a good issue afterwards."
158. The envoys spoke thus; and Gelon was very vehement with them, speaking to them as follows:
"Hellenes, a selfish speech is this, with which ye have ventured to
come and invite me to be your ally against the Barbarian; whereas ye
yourselves, when I in former time requested of you to join with me in
fighting against an army of Barbarians, contention having arisen
between me and the Carthaginians, and when I charged you to exact
vengeance of the men of Egesta for the death of Dorieos the son of
Anaxandrides,[148] while at the same time I offered to help in setting
free the trading-places, from which great advantages and gains have
been reaped by you,--ye, I say, then neither for my own sake came to
my assistance, nor in order to exact vengeance for the death of
Dorieos; and, so far as ye are concerned, all these parts are even now
under the rule of Barbarians. But since it turned out well for us and
came to a better issue, now that the war has come round and reached
you, there has at last arisen in your minds a recollection of Gelon.
However, though I have met with contempt at your hands, I will not act
like you; but I am prepared to come to your assistance, supplying two
hundred triremes and twenty thousand hoplites, with two thousand
horsemen, two thousand bowmen, two thousand slingers and two thousand
light-armed men to run beside the horsemen; and moreover I will
undertake to supply corn for the whole army of the Hellenes, until we
have finished the war. These things I engage to supply on this
condition, namely that I shall be commander and leader of the Hellenes
against the Barbarian; but on any other condition I will neither come
myself nor will I send others."
159. Hearing this Syagros could not
contain himself but spoke these words: "Deeply, I trow, would
Agamemnon son of Pelops lament,[149] if he heard that the Spartans had
had the leadership taken away from them by Gelon and by the
Syracusans. Nay, but make thou no further mention of this condition,
namely that we should deliver the leadership to thee; but if thou art
desirous to come to the assistance of Hellas, know that thou wilt be
under the command of the Lacedemonians; and if thou dost indeed claim
not to be under command, come not thou to our help at all."
160. To this Gelon, seeing that the speech of Syagros was adverse, set
forth to them his last proposal thus: "Stranger from Sparta,
reproaches sinking into the heart of a man are wont to rouse his
spirit in anger against them; thou however, though thou hast uttered
insults against me in thy speech, wilt not bring me to show myself
unseemly in my reply. But whereas ye so strongly lay claim to the
leadership, it were fitting that I should lay claim to it more than
ye, seeing that I am the leader of an army many times as large and of
ships many more. Since however this condition is so distasteful to
you,[150] we will recede somewhat from our former proposal. Suppose
that ye should be leaders of the land-army and I of the fleet; or if
it pleases you to lead the sea-forces, I am willing to be leader of
those on land; and either ye must be contented with these terms or go
away without the alliance which I have to give."
161. Gelon, I say,
made these offers, and the envoy of the Athenians, answering before
that of the Lacedemonians, replied to him as follows: "O king of the
Syracusans, it was not of a leader that Hellas was in want when it
sent us to thee, but of an army. Thou however dost not set before us
the hope that thou wilt send an army, except thou have the leadership
of Hellas; and thou art striving how thou mayest become commander of
the armies of Hellas. So long then as it was thy demand to be leader
of the whole army of the Hellenes, it was sufficient for us Athenians
to keep silence, knowing that the Lacedemonian would be able to make
defence even for us both; but now, since being repulsed from the
demand for the whole thou art requesting to be commander of the naval
force, we tell that thus it is:--not even if the Lacedemonian shall
permit thee to be commander of it, will we permit thee; for this at
least is our own, if the Lacedemonians do not themselves desire to
have it. With these, if they desire to be the leaders, we do not
contend; but none others beside ourselves shall we permit to be in
command of the ships: for then to no purpose should we be possessors
of a sea-force larger than any other which belongs to the Hellenes,
if, being Athenians, we should yield the leadership to Syracusans, we
who boast of a race which is the most ancient of all and who are of
all the Hellenes the only people who have not changed from one land to
another; to whom also belonged a man whom Homer the Epic poet said was
the best of all who came to Ilion in drawing up an army and setting it
in array.[151] Thus we are not justly to be reproached if we say these
things."
162. To this Gelon made answer thus: "Stranger of Athens, it
would seem that ye have the commanders, but that ye will not have the
men to be commanded. Since then ye will not at all give way, but
desire to have the whole, it were well that ye should depart home as
quickly as possible and report to the Hellenes that the spring has
been taken out of their year." Now this is the meaning of the saying:
--evidently the spring is the noblest part of the year; and so he
meant to say that his army was the noblest part of the army of the
Hellenes: for Hellas therefore, deprived of his alliance, it was, he
said, as if the spring had been taken out of the year.[152]
163. The envoys of the Hellenes, having thus had conference with Gelon, sailed away; and Gelon upon this, fearing on the one hand about
the Hellenes, lest they should not be able to overcome the Barbarian,
and on the other hand considering it monstrous and not to be endured
that he should come to Peloponnesus and be under the command of the
Lacedemonians, seeing that he was despot of Sicily, gave up the
thought of this way and followed another: for so soon as he was
informed that the Persian had crossed over the Hellespont, he sent
Cadmos the son of Skythes, a man of Cos, with three fifty-oared
galleys to Delphi, bearing large sums of money and friendly proposals,
to wait there and see how the battle would fall out: and if the
Barbarian should be victorious, he was to give him the money and also
to offer him earth and water from those over whom Gelon had rule; but
if the Hellenes should be victorious, he was bidden to bring it back.
164. Now this Cadmos before these events, having received from his
father in a prosperous state the government[153] of the people of Cos,
had voluntarily and with no danger threatening, but moved merely by
uprightness of nature, placed the government in the hands of the
people of Cos[154] and had departed to Sicily, where he took from[155]
the Samians and newly colonised the city of Zancle, which had changed
its name to Messene. This same Cadmos, having come thither in such
manner as I have said, Gelon was now sending, having selected him on
account of the integrity which in other matters he had himself found
to be in him; and this man, in addition to the other upright acts
which had been done by him, left also this to be remembered, which was
not the least of them: for having got into his hands that great sum of
money which Gelon entrusted to his charge, though he might have taken
possession of it himself he did not choose to do so; but when the
Hellenes had got the better in the sea-fight and Xerxes had marched
away and departed, he also returned to Sicily bringing back with him
the whole sum of money.
165. The story which here follows is also reported by those who dwell
in Sicily, namely that, even though he was to be under the command of
the Lacedemonians, Gelon would have come to the assistance of the
Hellenes, but that Terillos, the son of Crinippos and despot of
Himera, having been driven out of Himera by Theron the son of
Ainesidemos[156] the ruler of the Agrigentines, was just at this very
time bringing in an army of Phenicians, Libyans, Iberians, Ligurians,
Elisycans, Sardinians and Corsicans, to the number of thirty
myriads,[157] with Amilcas the son of Annon king of the Carthaginians
as their commander, whom Terillos had persuaded partly by reason of
his own guest-friendship, and especially by the zealous assistance of
Anaxilaos the son of Cretines, who was despot of Rhegion, and who to
help his father-in-law endeavoured to bring in Amilcas to Sicily, and
had given him his sons as hostages; for Anaxilaos was married to the
daughter of Terillos, whose name was Kydippe. Thus it was, they say,
that Gelon was not able to come to the assistance of the Hellenes, and
sent therefore the money to Delphi.
166. In addition to this they
report also that, as it happened, Gelon and Theron were victorious
over Amilcas the Carthaginian on the very same day when the Hellenes
were victorious at Salamis over the Persian. And this Amilcas, who was
a Carthaginian on the father's side but on the mother's Syracusan, and
who had become king of the Carthaginians by merit, when the engagement
took place and he was being worsted in the battle, disappeared, as I
am informed; for neither alive nor dead did he appear again anywhere
upon the earth, though Gelon used all diligence in the search for him.
167. Moreover there is also this story reported by the Carthaginians
themselves, who therein relate that which is probable in itself,
namely that while the Barbarians fought with the Hellenes in Sicily
from the early morning till late in the afternoon (for to such a
length the combat is said to have been protracted), during this time Amilcas was remaining in the camp and was making sacrifices to get
good omens of success, offering whole bodies of victims upon a great
pyre: and when he saw that there was a rout of his own army, he being
then, as it chanced, in the act of pouring a libation over the
victims, threw himself into the fire, and thus he was burnt up and
disappeared. Amilcas then having disappeared, whether it was in such a
manner as this, as it is reported by the Phenicians, or in some other
way,[159] the Carthaginians both offer sacrifices to him now, and also
they made memorials of him then in all the cities of their colonies,
and the greatest in Carthage itself.
168. So far of the affairs of Sicily: and as for the Corcyreans, they
made answer to the envoys as follows, afterwards acting as I shall
tell: for the same men who had gone to Sicily endeavoured also to
obtain the help of these, saying the same things which they said to
Gelon; and the Corcyreans at the time engaged to send a force and to
help in the defence, declaring that they must not permit Hellas to be
ruined without an effort on their part, for if it should suffer
disaster, they would be reduced to subjection from the very first day;
but they must give assistance so far as lay in their power. Thus
speciously they made reply; but when the time came to send help, they
manned sixty ships, having other intentions in their minds, and after
making much difficulty they put out to sea and reached Peloponnese;
and then near Pylos and Tainaron in the land of the Lacedemonians they
kept their ships at anchor, waiting, as Gelon did, to see how the war
would turn out: for they did not expect that the Hellenes would
overcome, but thought that the Persian would gain the victory over
them with ease and be ruler of all Hellas. Accordingly they were
acting of set purpose, in order that they might be able to say to the
Persian some such words as these: "O king, when the Hellenes
endeavoured to obtain our help for this war, we, who have a power
which is not the smallest of all, and could have supplied a contingent
of ships in number not the smallest, but after the Athenians the
largest, did not choose to oppose thee or to do anything which was not
to thy mind." By speaking thus they hoped that they would obtain some
advantage over the rest, and so it would have happened, as I am of
opinion: while they had for the Hellenes an excuse ready made, that
namely of which they actually made use: for when the Hellenes
reproached them because they did not come to help, they said that they
had manned sixty triremes, but had not been able to get past Malea
owing to the Etesian Winds; therefore it was that they had not come to
Salamis, nor was it by any want of courage on their part that they had
been left of the sea-fight.
169. These then evaded the request of the Hellenes thus: but the
Cretans, when those of the Hellenes who had been appointed to deal
with these endeavoured to obtain their help, did thus, that is to say,
they joined together and sent men to inquire of the god at Delphi
whether it would be better for them if they gave assistance to Hellas:
and the Pythian prophetess answered: "Ye fools, do ye think those woes
too few,[160] which Minos sent upon you in his wrath,[161] because of
the assistance that ye gave to Menelaos? seeing that, whereas they did
not join with you in taking vengeance for his death in Camicos, ye
nevertheless joined with them in taking vengeance for the woman who by
a Barbarian was carried off from Sparta." When the Cretans heard this
answer reported, they abstained from the giving of assistance.
170.
For the story goes that Minos, having come to Sicania, which is now
called Sicily, in search of Daidalos, died there by a violent death;
and after a time the Cretans, urged thereto by a god, all except the
men of Polichne and Praisos, came with a great armament to Sicania and
besieged for seven years the city of Camicos, which in my time was
occupied by the Agrigentines; and at last not being able either to
capture it or to remain before it, because they were hard pressed by
famine, they departed and went away. And when, as they sailed, they
came to be off the coast of Iapygia, a great storm seized them and
cast them away upon the coast; and their vessels being dashed to
pieces, they, since they saw no longer any way of coming to Crete,
founded there the city of Hyria; and there they stayed and were
changed so that they became instead of Cretans, Messapians of Iapygia,
and instead of islanders, dwellers on the mainland: then from the city
of Hyria they founded those other settlements which the Tarentines
long afterwards endeavoured to destroy and suffer great disaster in
that enterprise, so that this in fact proved to be the greatest
slaughter of Hellenes that is known to us, and not only of the
Tarentines themselves but of those citizens of Rhegion who were
compelled by Mikythos the son of Choiros to go to the assistance of
the Tarentines, and of whom there were slain in this manner three
thousand men: of the Tarentines themselves however, who were slain
there, there was no numbering made. This Mikythos, who was a servant
of Anaxilaos, had been left by him in charge of Rhegion; and he it was
who after being driven out of Rhegion took up his abode at Tegea of
the Arcadians and dedicated those many statues at Olympia.
171. This
of the men of Rhegion and of the Tarentines has been an episode[162]
in my narrative: in Crete however, as the men of Praisos report, after
it had been thus stripped of inhabitants, settlements were made by
various nations, but especially by Hellenes; and in the next
generation but one after the death of Minos came the Trojan war, in
which the Cretans proved not the most contemptible of those who came
to assist Menelaos. Then after this, when they had returned home from
Troy, famine and pestilence came upon both the men and their cattle,
until at last Crete was stripped of its inhabitants for the second
time, and a third population of Cretans now occupy it together with
those which were left of the former inhabitants. The Pythian
prophetess, I say, by calling these things to their minds stopped them
from giving assistance to the Hellenes, though they desired to do so.
172. As for the Thessalians, they at first had taken the side of the
Persians against their will, and they gave proof that they were not
pleased by that which the Aleuadai were designing; for so soon as they
heard that the Persian was about to cross over into Europe, they sent
envoys to the Isthmus: now at the Isthmus were assembled
representatives of Hellas chosen by the cities which had the better
mind about Hellas: having come then to these, the envoys of the
Thessalians said: "Hellenes, ye must guard the pass by Olympos, in
order that both Thessaly and the whole of Hellas may be sheltered from
the war. We are prepared to join with you in guarding it, but ye must
send a large force as well as we; for if ye shall not send, be assured
that we shall make agreement with the Persian; since it is not right
that we, standing as outposts so far in advance of the rest of Hellas,
should perish alone in your defence: and not being willing[163] to
come to our help, ye cannot apply to us any force to compel
inability;[164] but we shall endeavour to devise some means of safety
for ourselves."
173. Thus spoke the Thessalians; and the Hellenes upon
this resolved to send to Thessaly by sea an army of men on foot to
guard the pass: and when the army was assembled it set sail through
Euripos, and having come to Alos in the Achaian land, it disembarked
there and marched into Thessaly leaving the ships behind at Alos, and
arrived at Tempe, the pass which leads from lower Macedonia into
Thessaly by the river Peneios, going between the mountains of Olympos
and Ossa. There the Hellenes encamped, being assembled to the number
of about ten thousand hoplites, and to them was added the cavalry of
the Thessalians; and the commander of the Lacedemonians was Euainetos
the son of Carenos, who had been chosen from the polemarchs,[165] not
being of the royal house, and of the Athenians Themistocles the son of
Neocles. They remained however but few days here, for envoys came from
Alexander the son of Amyntas the Macedonian, who advised them to
depart thence and not to remain in the pass and be trodden under foot
by the invading host, signifying to them at the same time both the
great numbers of the army and the ships which they had. When these
gave them this counsel, they followed the advice, for they thought
that the counsel was good, and the Macedonian was evidently well-
disposed towards them. Also, as I think, it was fear that persuaded
them to it, when they were informed that there was another pass
besides this to the Thessalian land by upper Macedonia through the
Perraibians and by the city of Gonnos, the way by which the army of
Xerxes did in fact make its entrance. So the Hellenes went down to
their ships again and made their way back to the Isthmus.
174. Such was the expedition to Thessaly, which took place when the
king was about to cross over from Asia to Europe and was already at
Abydos. So the Thessalians, being stripped of allies, upon this took
the side of the Medes with a good will and no longer half-heartedly,
so that in the course of events they proved very serviceable to the
king.
175. When the Hellenes had returned to the Isthmus, they deliberated,
having regard to that which had been said by Alexander, where and in
what regions they should set the war on foot: and the opinion which
prevailed was to guard the pass at Thermopylai; for it was seen to be
narrower than that leading into Thessaly, and at the same time it was
single,[166] and nearer also to their own land; and as for the path by
means of which were taken those of the Hellenes who were taken by the
enemy at Thermopylai, they did not even know of its existence until
they were informed by the people of Trachis after they had come to
Thermopylai. This pass then they resolved to guard, and not permit the
Barbarian to go by into Hellas; and they resolved that the fleet
should sail to Artemision in the territory of Histiaia: for these
points are near to one another, so that each division of their forces
could have information of what was happening to the other. And the
places are so situated as I shall describe.
176. As to Artemision
first, coming out of the Thracian Sea the space is contracted from
great width to that narrow channel which lies between the island of
Skiathos and the mainland of Magnesia; and after the strait there
follows at once in Eubœa the sea-beach called Artemision, upon which
there is a temple of Artemis. Then secondly the passage into Hellas by
Trechis is, where it is narrowest, but fifty feet wide: it is not here
however that the narrowest part of this whole region lies, but in
front of Thermopylai and also behind it, consisting of a single wheel-
track only[167] both by Alpenoi, which lies behind Thermopylai and
again by the river Phoinix near the town of Anthela there is no space
but a single wheel-track only: and on the West of Thermopylai there is
a mountain which is impassable and precipitous, rising up to a great
height and extending towards the range of Oite, while on the East of
the road the sea with swampy pools succeeds at once. In this passage
there are hot springs, which the natives of the place call the
"Pots,"[168] and an altar of Heracles is set up near them. Moreover a
wall had once been built at this pass, and in old times there was a
gate set in it; which wall was built by the Phokians, who were struck
with fear because the Thessalians had come from the land of the
Thesprotians to settle in the Aiolian land, the same which they now
possess. Since then the Thessalians, as they supposed, were attempting
to subdue them, the Phokians guarded themselves against this
beforehand; and at that time they let the water of the hot springs run
over the passage, that the place might be converted into a ravine, and
devised every means that the Thessalians might not make invasion of
their land. Now the ancient wall had been built long before, and the
greater part of it was by that time in ruins from lapse of time; the
Hellenes however resolved to set it up again, and at this spot to
repel the Barbarian from Hellas: and very near the road there is a
village called Alpenoi, from which the Hellenes counted on getting
supplies.
177. These places then the Hellenes perceived to be such as their
purpose required; for they considered everything beforehand and
calculated that the Barbarians would not be able to take advantage
either of superior numbers or of cavalry, and therefore they resolved
here to receive the invader of Hellas: and when they were informed
that the Persian was in Pieria, they broke up from the Isthmus and set
forth for the campaign, some going to Thermopylai by land, and others
making for Artemision by sea.
178. The Hellenes, I say, were coming to the rescue with speed, having
been appointed to their several places: and meanwhile the men of
Delphi consulted the Oracle of the god on behalf of themselves and on
behalf of Hellas, being struck with dread; and a reply was given them
that they should pray to the Winds, for these would be powerful
helpers of Hellas in fight. So the Delphians, having accepted the
oracle, first reported the answer which had been given them to those
of the Hellenes who desired to be free; and having reported this to
them at a time when they were in great dread of the Barbarian, they
laid up for themselves an immortal store of gratitude: then after this
the men of Delphi established an altar for the Winds in Thuia, where
is the sacred enclosure of Thuia the daughter of Kephisos, after whom
moreover this place has its name; and also they approached them with
sacrifices.
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