Xerxes' War 137 136 Herodotus Book 7 a match for three Greeks. The same is true of my fellow Spartans. fallen to the naval power of the invader. So the Spartans would have They are the equal of any men when they fight alone; fighting to­ stood alone, and in their lone stand they would have performed gether, they surpass all other men. For they are free, but not entirely mighty deeds and died nobly. Either that or, seeing the other Greeks free: They obey a master called Law, and they fear this master much going over to the Persians, they would have come to terms with more than your men fear you. They do whatever it commands them Xerxes. Thus, in either case, Greece would have been subjugated by the Persians, for I cannot see what possible use it would have been to to do, and its commands are always the same: Not to retreat from the fortify the Isthmus if the king had had mastery over the sea. battlefield even when badly outnumbered; to stay in formation and either conquer or die. So if anyone were to say that the Athenians were saviors of "If this talk seems like nonsense to you, then let me stay silent Greece, he would not be far off the truth. For it was the Athenians who held the scales in balance; whichever side they espoused would henceforth; I spoke only under compulsion as it is. In any case, sire, I be sure to prevail. It was they who, choosing to maintain the freedom hope all turns out as you wish." of Greece, roused the rest of the Greeks who had not submitted, and [7.105] That was Demaratus' response. As for Xerxes, he turned it was they who (apart from the gods, that is) repulsed the king. Not the whole thing into a joke and didn't get angry, but rather sent De­ even the dire warnings of the oracle of Delphi, striking fear into men's maratus away with kind words. hearts, could persuade them to abandon Greece.30 They stood their ground and awaited the coming of the invader. The glowing portrait of Spartan military virtue given in the above passage is soon followed up by Herodotus' own personal laudation of Athens, based on that city's refusal to abandon the Greek side even under grave pressure In the weeks following their crossing of the Hellespont, the Persian army and from Persia. In this passage Herodotus assumes a knowledge of the final out­ fleet moved relentlessly westward toward the Greek world, drinking rivers dry (in Herodotus' fanciful account at least) as they went. Most of the come of the war, in particular the fact that the tide of battle was turned by northerly Greek states, which now would bear the brunt of the invasion, ca­ Athenian naval power. pitulated by giving earth and water to the king's envoys. Xerxes did not bother to send envoys to Athens and Sparta, however, remembering that [7.138] The expedition of the Persian king, though nominally di­ both cities had murdered ambassadors sent by Darius ten years earlier. Prob­ ably he sensed as well that there was no point in seeking cooperation from rected against Athens, had as its objective the whole of Greece. The either of these leading Greek cities. Greeks had long been aware of this, but they were not all of one mind. At Athens there was fierce debate over what course of action the city Those who had given earth and water were confident that they would should take. Inquiry was made of the Delphic oracle, which, according to suffer nothing unpleasant from the barbarian. Others who had re­ Herodotus, at first urged the Athenians to "flee to the ends of the earth," but fused to submit were in a panic, seeing that there were not enough then softened its tone somewhat when asked for a more comforting reply. battle-ready ships in Greece to meet the enemy's attack, nor were This second oracular response, while still dire, spoke of safety that could be most of the Greeks willing to fight, being quite ready to accept Per­ found behind a "wooden wall" and of a disastrous battle that would take sian rule. place off the nearby island ofSalamis. Now the debate at Athens centered [7.139] At this point I feel myself constrained to express an opin­ on the meaning of this oracle: Some interpreted the "wooden wall" to mean ion that most people will find objectionable, but which, believing it to the wooden fence surrounding the acropolis, others the wooden ships of be true, I will not withhold. If the Athenians, through fear of the im­ Athens' newly built navy; while the verse proclaiming that "Holy Salamis will destroy mothers' sons" raised the question of whether Greek or Persian minent danger, had abandoned their country, or if they had remained "sons" would be destroyed. In the gloomy atmosphere of a city awaiting a there and made submission to Xerxes, there would certainly have been no attempt to resist the king by sea, and without any resistance at sea, by land the course of events would have been something like this: 30. Many cities consulted the Delphic oracle as to whether they should sub­ However many lines of defense should have been constructed across mit to Xerxes or fight for their freedom; usually they were advised to submit. the Isthmus by the Spartans, they would have been deserted by their The oracular response given to the Athenians, as will be seen in the next sec­ tion, was terrifying but ambiguous. allies, not willingly but under necessity, as city after city would have Xerxes' War 138 Herodotus Book 7 139 massive assault, most Athenians assumed that they themselves would be the These ships, already built, were ready for use, and more had to be casualties at Salamis. Into this debate stepped the emerging leader of the built to add to their number. In the debate they held after receiving democracy, Themistocles. the oracle's reply, they resolved, in obedience to the god, to meet the invaders in their ships in full force, along with such Greeks as would join with them. [7.143] There was someone among the Athenians, a man newly risen to prominence, Themistocles by name, said to be son of Neocles.31 This fellow said that the oracles had been entirely misunderstood; if In the fall of 481, before the Persians had crossed into Europe, the Greek states that had decided to resist the Persians (now including Athens) had sent the Athenians' interpretation were right and they were destined to die representatives to a kind of multi-state congress at the Isthmus of Corinth. in a sea battle at Salamis, he said, the oracle would surely have referred The first steps in organizing a joint defense of Greece were to send out a re­ to Salamis as "cursed" rather than "holy." If one interpreted correctly, connaissance party to spy on Xerxes' forces, and to use diplomacy to resolve he told them, then the oracle had been speaking of the enemy and not long-standing quarrels within the Greek world. Athens and Aegina easily the Athenians when it said "Holy Salamis will destroy mothers' sons." patched up their feud, but Argos remained steadfast in its hatred of Sparta, Themistocles therefore advised them to prepare to encounter the en­ refusing to serve in any joint force led by its old enemy. Efforts to bring in emy by sea, their ships being the wooden wall indicated by the ora­ Greek allies from outside the mainland, principally from Sicily and Crete, cle. When he had made this clear, the Athenians embraced this view also failed. in preference to that of the official interpreters who were against A second congress of the allied Greek states was held in the spring of 480, fighting at sea or lifting a hand against the enemy, who instead urged under more urgent circumstances. A preliminary line of defense in Thessaly them to abandon Attica and settle in another country. had been abandoned for strategic reasons, causing the Thessalians, who 32 now lay exposed to Persian assault, to go over to the enemy. To prevent the [7.144] There had been a previous occasion when the advice Boeotians and the vital city of Thebes from doing the same, the Greeks had given by Themistocles had proved its worth. The Athenians had ac­ to find a new defensive position that would safeguard these places. The de­ quired a large sum of money for the treasury, the revenue of the mines cision was made to take a stand at Thermopylae, where steep mountains run­ at Laurium, and there was a proposal that they should share this out ning down to the sea would force the Persians to march through a narrow between all citizens, ten drachmas apiece. But Themistocles per­ pass; meanwhile the Greek fleet could defend the nearby straits off Artemi- suaded them to renounce this distribution and to use the money to sium, where again the enemy would be forced into a bottleneck. By defend­ build two hundred ships for "the war," meaning the war against Aegina. ing these spots, the Greeks hoped to offset the great numerical advantage of It was the outbreak of this war that saved Greece, compelling the their enemy, since the narrow passageways would admit only a small Athenians to become a sea power. In actual fact, the ships were not portion of the Persian forces at any one time. The Greeks considered it used for the original purpose but served Greece in the time of crisis.33 essential to stop the Persian army and navy together; either force could do great damage to their territory even without the help of the other.