Day dawned, and when they had mustered the marines, Themistocles, above all the others, harangued them most eloquently. His speech was entirely taken up in contrasting better things with worse, exhorting them to choose the best of all those things which depended on the nature and condition of man. As soon as the trireme from Ægina, which had gone to fetch the Æacidæ returned the Greeks got all their ships under way. The barbarians immediately fell upon them. Now all the other Greeks began to back water and make for the shore; but Aminias of Pallene, an Athenian, being carried onward, attacked a ship; and his ship becoming entangled with the other, and the crew not being able to clear, the rest thereupon came to the assistance of Aminias and engaged. Thus the Athenians say the battle commenced; but the Æginetæ affirm that the ship which went to Ægina to fetch the Æacidæ, was the first to begin. It is also said, that a phantom of a woman appeared to them, that she cheered them on, so that the whole fleet of Greeks heard her, after she had first reproached them in these words: "Dastards, how long will you back water?" Opposite the Athenians the Phœnicians were drawn up, for they occupied the wing toward Eleusis and westward; opposite the Lacedæmonians, the Ionians occupied the wing toward the east and the Piræus. Of these some few behaved ill on purpose, in compliance with the injunctions of Themistocles. The greater part of the ships were run down at Salamis; some being destroyed by the Athenians, others by the Æginetæ. For the Greeks fought in good order, in line, but the barbarians were neither properly formed nor did any thing with judgment. However they proved themselves to be far braver on this day than off Eubœa, every one exerting himself vigorously, and dreading Xerxes; for each thought that he himself was observed by the king.
I am unable to say with certainty how each of the barbarians or Greeks fought; but with respect to Artemisia, the following incident occurred, by which she obtained still greater credit with the king. For when the king's forces were in great confusion, the ship of Artemisia was chased by an Attic ship, and not being able to escape, she resolved upon a stratagem. For being pursued by the Athenian, she bore down upon a friendly ship, manned by Calyndians, and with Damasithymus himself, king of the Calyndians, on board; whether she had any quarrel with him while they were at the Hellespont, I am unable to say, or whether she did it on purpose, or whether the ship of the Calyndians happened by chance to be in her way; however, she ran it down, and sunk it, and by good fortune gained a double advantage to herself. For when the captain of the Attic ship saw her bearing down on a ship of the barbarians, he concluded Artemisia's ship to be either a Greek or one that had deserted from the enemy and was assisting them, and so turned aside and attacked others. Thus she escaped, and in consequence of it became still more in favor with Xerxes. For it is said that Xerxes, looking on, observed her ship making the attack, and that some near him said: "Sire, do you see how well Artemisia fights; she has sunk one of the enemy's ships?" Whereupon he asked if it was in truth the exploit of Artemisia; they answered "that they knew the ensign of her ship perfectly well." But they thought that it was an enemy that was sunk; for no one of the crew of the Calyndian ship lived to tell the tale and accuse her. And it is related that Xerxes exclaimed: "My men have become women, and my women men."
In this battle perished the admiral, Ariabignes, son of Darius, and brother of Xerxes, and many other illustrious men of the Persians and Medes, and the other allies; but only a very few of the Greeks: for as they knew how to swim, they whose ships were destroyed, and who did not perish in actual conflict, swam safe to Salamis; whereas, many of the barbarians, not knowing how to swim, perished in the sea. When the foremost ships were put to flight, then the greatest number were destroyed; for those who were stationed behind, endeavoring to pass on with their ships to the front, that they, too, might give the king some proof of their courage, fell foul of their own flying ships. The following event also occurred in this confusion. Some Phœnicians, whose ships were destroyed, went to the king and accused the Ionians of destroying their ships and betraying him. It, however, turned out that the Ionian captains were not put to death, but that those Phœnicians who accused them, received the following reward. For while they were yet speaking, a Samothracian ship bore down on an Athenian ship and sunk it. Just then an Æginetan ship, coming up, sunk the ship of the Samothracians. But the Samothracians being javelin-men, by hurling their javelins, drove the marines from the ship that had sunk them, and boarded and got possession of it. This action saved the Ionians: for when Xerxes saw them perform so great an exploit, he turned round upon the Phœnicians, and ordered their heads to be struck off, that they who had proved themselves cowards, might no more accuse those who were braver.
The barbarians turned to flight, and sailing away towards Phalerus, the Æginetæ waylaid them in the strait, and performed actions worthy of record. For the Athenians in the rout ran down both those ships that resisted and those that fled; and the Æginetæ, those that sailed away from the battle: so that when any escaped the Athenians they fell into the hands of the Æginetæ.
In this engagement the Æginetæ obtained the greatest renown; and next, the Athenians. Aristides, of whom I made mention a little before as a most upright man, in this confusion that took place about Salamis, took with him a considerable number of heavy-armed men, who were stationed along the shore of the Salaminian territory and were Athenians by race, landed them on the island of Psyttalea, and put to the sword all the Persians who were on that little island.
CHAPTER II.
XERXES' RETREAT.
When the sea-fight was ended, the Greeks hauled on shore at Salamis all the wrecks that still happened to be there and held themselves ready for another battle, expecting the king would still make use of the ships that survived. But a west wind carrying away many of the wrecks, drove them on the shore of Attica, which is called Colias, so as to fulfil both all the other oracles delivered by Bacis and Musæus concerning this battle, and also that relating to the wrecks which were drifted on this shore, which many years before had been delivered by Lysistratus, an Athenian augur, but had not been understood by any of the Greeks: "The Colian women shall broil their meat with oars."
When Xerxes saw the defeat he had sustained he was afraid that some of the Ionians might suggest to the Greeks, or might themselves resolve to sail to the Hellespont, for the purpose of breaking up the bridges, and shut him up in Europe. So he planned immediate flight. But wishing that his intention should not be known either to the Greeks or his own people, he pretended to throw a mound across to Salamis. He fastened together Phœnician merchantmen, that they might serve instead of a raft and a wall, and made preparation for war, as if about to fight another battle at sea. Every body who saw him thus occupied, was firmly convinced that he had seriously determined to stay and continue the war, except Mardonius, who was well acquainted with his design. At the same time Xerxes despatched a messenger to the Persians, to inform them of the misfortune that had befallen him. There is nothing mortal that reaches its destination more rapidly than these couriers of the Persians. They say that as many days as are occupied in the whole journey, so many horses and men are posted at regular intervals; neither snow nor rain, nor heat, nor night, prevents them from performing their appointed stage as quickly as possible. The first courier delivers his orders to the second, the second to the third, and so it passes throughout, being delivered from one to the other, just like the torch-bearing among the Greeks, which they perform in honor of Vulcan. The first message that reached Susa, with the news that Xerxes was in possession of Athens, caused so great joy among the Persians who had been left behind, that they strewed all the roads with myrtle, burnt perfumes, and gave themselves up to sacrifices and festivity. But the arrival of the second messenger threw them into such consternation, that they all rent their garments, and uttered unbounded shouts and lamentations, laying the blame on Mardonius, not so much grieved for the ships as anxious for Xerxes himself. And this the Persians continued to do until Xerxes himself arrived home.
