’Tis small, for ships a risky mooring, but its reef,
Sea-swept, dance-loving Pan frequents.”
Here Xerxes stationed a picked body of Persians to save their friends and to slay the Greeks escaping from the wreckage, which, it was plain to foresee, would come bearing down upon the reef.
Beyond Psyttaleia and overlapping it is the long spit of land Cynosura (“Dog’s-tail”), like in name and shape to the promontory at Marathon. The result of the contest in this narrow channel is not so surprising as is the foresight of Themistocles and the courage of the Greeks in availing themselves with irresistible daring of the overconfidence of Xerxes. Æschylus’s account betrays the vivid memories of an actual eye-witness. The vessels took position by night. Across the desolated plain of Attica the new Day, “by white steeds drawn, her radiance fair to see, held all the land.” To the astonishment of the Persians, the Greeks, instead of fleeing, raised high their shout of happy omen, and Echo, mate of dance-loving Pan, “back from the island rock returned a shrill and pealing cry of joy.” The Persian messenger continues:—
“Fell fear on all of us barbarians, deceived
In expectation. For the Greeks a noble hymn
Were singing, not as though in flight, but like to men
Starting for battle with courageous heart. And then
The trumpet’s blare set all of them aflame. Therewith
The even dash of oar-blades, at the word, bit deep