Ten Great Events in History | Page 4

the onset. Sparta,
true to her military organization, did little but to bring her army to the
perfection of discipline, and many of the weaker cities resolved to
quietly submit to the invaders. The Athenians alone seemed to have
fully understood the gravity of the situation. To them the rage of the
Persian king was particularly directed, for the crushing defeat at
Marathon, and Athens was more exposed than any other of the Greek
cities. During the ten years Athens raised and equipped as large an
army as her population would warrant. Every able-bodied man was
enrolled in the ranks. Food and military stores were collected, but the
chief means of defense was a novel one, and showed the desperate
nature of the conflict in which they were about to engage. Under the
wise direction of Themistocles they built a formidable fleet, so large
that in case of emergency the whole population of the city could
embark, and either remain afloat or take refuge on the neighboring
islands.
19. A congress of the cities had determined to oppose the approach of
Xerxes at some favorable place by a combined army. At the head of the
Maliac gulf there was a narrow pass, through which the Persians had to
go, the road running between a mountain and a swamp which stretched

to the sea; and at one place the swamp came so near the mountain that
there was hardly room for the road to run between. This is the famous
pass of Thermopylæ; and here it was that a small army might block the
way against any number of the enemy. Across this pass a wall was built,
and behind it was posted the Greek army under the command of
Leonidas, the Spartan king. His forces consisted of three hundred
Spartans, seven hundred Thespians, and about four thousand more from
the various Grecian cities. The Persians approached, and for four days
waited, expecting to see the Greek army disperse at the very sight of
their formidable numbers. But as they were apparently not frightened,
on the fifth day the Persians made an attack. For two days the battle
continued, inflicting great losses upon the Persians, while the little
army of Leonidas, behind their fortifications, was scarcely injured.
20. On the third morning a renegade Greek showed Xerxes a path
across the mountains where he could completely turn the Greek
position. The Persians were not slow to avail themselves of this
intelligence, and toward the close of the third day Leonidas saw the
enemy descending the mountain, ready to surround him and cut off his
retreat. Acting promptly, he ordered his allies to leave the field before it
was too late, but he, with his devoted band of three hundred, were to
remain, in accordance of a Spartan law which forbade a Spartan soldier
ever to retreat from the presence of an enemy. The seven hundred
Thespians remained with him, and the whole band was cut down, but
not without inflicting fearful loss upon the enemy.
[Illustration: THERMOPYLAE (Map)]
21. While the passage of Thermopylæ was disputed, he Greek fleet
advanced and took position in the strait of Artemisium, to prevent the
Persian fleet from advancing farther into Greek waters. During the
battle the fleets were also engaged in an indecisive conflict. A storm,
however, arose and destroyed two hundred of the Persian ships. When
Thermopylæ fell there was no longer reason for defending Artemisium,
and the Greek fleet returned to defend the approach to Athens at the
strait of Salamis.
22. Athens was now at the mercy of the conqueror. The Spartan army

moved off to defend their own city. It was now that the wisdom of
Themistocles showed itself. "The Athenians had no hope of being able
to defend Athens, and resolved to abandon the town, and to remove
their wives and children out of Attica to a place of safety. The whole
population, men, women, and children, sorrowfully left their homes,
and streamed down to the sea-shore, carrying what they could with
them." The fleet took them over to Salamis and adjacent islands; and
when Xerxes reached Athens he found it silent and deserted. A few
poor or desperate men alone refused to depart, and had posted
themselves behind a wooden fortification on the top of the Acropolis,
the fortress and sanctuary of Athens. The Persians fired the
fortifications, stormed the Acropolis, slaughtered its defenders, and
burned every holy place to the ground. Athens and its citadel were in
the hands of the barbarians; its inhabitants were scattered, its holy
places destroyed. One hope alone remained to the Athenians--the ships
which Themistocles had persuaded them to build.
23. The fleet was anchored in the strait of Salamis, and beside the two
hundred ships of Athens, it consisted of a large number