John H. Haaren’s Complete Famous Men Series. John H. Haaren

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СКАЧАТЬ with Themistocles to fight behind the “wooden wall.”

      II

      Themistocles and the commanders of the fleets of the other Greek states took their vessels into the narrow strait of Salamis, which lay between the island of Salamis and the shore of Attica. Here the Persians followed them. Themistocles now wished the Greeks to give battle to the Persians, but the Spartan commander and the other Greek leaders were unwilling to risk a battle in the narrow strait. They proposed to retreat. Themistocles was determined, however, that a battle should be fought in the strait; so he sent word secretly to Xerxes that the Greek ships were going to try to get away and advised him to head them off. Xerxes was delighted to get this message, and during the night he sent a part of his fleet up the shore of Attica to the other end of the strait, so as to hem the Greek fleet in between two lines of Persian ships. Next morning the Greek leaders all saw that there was nothing to do but fight, and at once their ships were drawn up in line of battle.

      Xerxes’ throne had been placed on a high cliff on the shore of Attica, so that he might look down upon the battle. When the sun rose he took his seat upon the throne. He was clothed in his royal robes and surrounded by the princes of his court. Below him were a thousand Persian war vessels, while close to the shore of the island lay three hundred and seventy-eight Greek vessels. It seemed an easy victory for the Persians. The Greeks rowed forward from the shore of Salamis, shouting the cry, “We fight for all.” The Persians replied with their war cry, and the battle began. For a time the Persians had the advantage. But their ships were in the way of one another; those in the front could not go back, those in the rear could not come forward. The confusion became terrible. Ship after ship of the Persians sank, some of them rammed by the Greeks, others run down by their own allies. In all two hundred Persian vessels were destroyed and a great number captured, while the Greeks lost only forty.

      When Xerxes saw his thousand vessels sunk or captured or rowing away in flight, he determined to go back to Persia.

      He at once returned to northern Greece, where he left 300,000 men in command of his brother-in-law, Mardonius. With the rest of his army he marched on to the Hellespont.

      Here he found that storms had destroyed his bridges, so that what was left of his army was carried across to the shore of Asia Minor in ships.

      III

      Everybody in Greece now admitted that Themistocles had been right in his explanation of the oracle that the “wooden wall” would save the people. And “Salamis,” as the oracle had said, “destroyed the sons of women”; but they were chiefly the sons of Persian, not Grecian women.

      The battle of Salamis brought fresh glory to Themistocles. After some years, however, he became unpopular and was banished from Athens. He stayed at Argos. Then the Spartans, who were his enemies, accused him of treason against Greece. Fearing that he could not get a fair trial at Athens he fled to Persia.

      The Persian king gave him three cities to support him, and in one of these he lived until his death in 453 B.C.

      Aristides the Just

      I

      Aristides was the rival of Themistocles. Themistocles was wise and brave, but selfish and fond of money. Aristides, too, was wise and brave, but he was also so honorable that the Athenians called him “the Just.”

      On one occasion he was acting as judge between two men. One of them had spoken unfairly of Aristides and the other came secretly to Aristides to tell him of it. “My friend,” said Aristides, “tell me the wrong the man has done to you, not what he has done to me. It is not my cause that I am to decide, but yours.”

      Aristides opposed many plans that Themistocles wished to carry out, and so at length Themistocles determined to have him banished.

      There was at Athens a curious way of getting rid of a citizen. Every year this question was put before the people: “Does the safety of the State require that any citizen shall be banished?” If it was decided that this was necessary the people were called upon to vote. No person’s name was mentioned, but every citizen wrote on a small earthenware tablet the name of any man whom he thought dangerous to the state. The tablets were collected and counted, and if the name of any one man was written on as many as 6,000 tablets he had to leave the city for ten years. Banishing people in this way was called “ostracism.” We often use the word to-day. It comes from a Greek word meaning an earthenware tablet.

      Themistocles and his friends persuaded many of the Athenians that Aristides was a dangerous citizen. So when a public meeting was being held the people were asked if they thought any citizen ought to be banished. No one mentioned Aristides’ name, but Themistocles’ friends said, “Let a vote be taken.” While the vote was being cast a countryman who could not write his own name came up to Aristides and said:

      “Friend, will you write the name of Aristides for me on this tablet?”

      “Has Aristides ever wronged you?” asked Aristides gently.

      “No,” said the other, “I have never even seen him, but I am tired of hearing him called ‘the Just.’ “

      Aristides said no more, but wrote his own name on the tablet.

      There were enough votes against Aristides to banish him. As he was leaving Athens he prayed the gods that the time might never come when his fellow-citizens should have cause to be sorry for what they had done.

      That time came, however. Three years later when Athens was threatened by the Persians the citizens, at the request of Themistocles himself, recalled Aristides. He sailed from his place of exile to the bay of Salamis and went on board the ship of Themistocles only a few hours before the famous battle. Themistocles at once gave him command of one of the Athenian ships, and he did good service in the battle.

      II

      In the spring following the battle of Salamis Mardonius, the Persian commander who was in Thessaly, tried to bribe the Athenians to become allies of the great king but they refused his offers with scorn. He then marched to Athens and the people abandoned the city, so that it fell into his hands.

      The Greeks, however collected an army of one hundred and ten thousand men. Pausanias, a nephew of Leonidas, the hero of Thermopylae, was made commander-in-chief; but Aristides commanded the Athenian troops. Mardonius now retreated from Athens, destroying and burning as he went. The Greeks followed and overtook him near the city of Platæa, and there they defeated him in one of the “decisive battles of the world.” Mardonius himself was killed.

      It took ten days to divide the spoil and bury the dead. A tenth of the spoil was sent to Delphi and dedicated to Apollo, because the promise of his oracle that “the wooden wall would save the city” had led to the great victory of Salamis. A temple was erected to Minerva, and thank-offerings were made to other gods. “Liberty games” were established, to be held on the battlefield once in four years, and every year the tombs of those who had fallen in battle were to be decorated with flowers. The land upon which Platæa stood was declared to be sacred and the inhabitants of the city were to be always free from attack by other Greeks.

      On the afternoon of the very day on which the battle of Platæa was won the Greek fleet gained a great victory over the Persians at Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor. After their defeats at Marathon, at Platæa, and at Mycale, the Persians never again attempted to conquer Greece.

      III

      As soon as the victory at Platæa had freed Greece from the ravaging Persian army, the Athenians СКАЧАТЬ