The birth of Themistocles was somewhat too obscure to do him honour.His father, Neocles, was not of the distinguished people of Athens,but of the township Phrearrhi, and of the tribe Leontis； and by hismother's side, as it is reported, he was base-born-

    "I am not of the noble Grecian race, I'm poor Abrotonon, and born in Thrace； Let the Greek women scorn me, if they please, I was the mother of Themistocles."

    Yet Phanias writes that the mother of Themistocles was not of Thrace,but of Caria, and that her name was not Abrotonon, but Euterpe； andNeanthes adds farther that she was of Halicarnassus in Caria. And,as illegitimate children, including those that were of half-bloodor had but one parent an Athenian, had to attend at the Cynosarges（a wrestling-place outside the gates, dedicated to Hercules, who wasalso of half-blood amongst the gods, having had a mortal woman forhis mother）, Themistocles persuaded several of the young men of highbirth to accompany him to anoint and exercise themselves togetherat Cynosarges； an ingenious device for destroying the distinctionbetween the noble and the base-born, and between those of the wholeand those of the half-blood of Athens. However, it is certain thathe was related to the house of Lycomedae； for Simonides records thathe rebuilt the chapel of Phlya, belonging to that family, and beautifiedit with pictures and other ornaments, after it had been burnt by thePersians.

    It is confessed by all that from his youth he was of a vehement andimpetuous nature, of a quick apprehension, and a strong and aspiringbent for action and great affairs. The holidays and intervals in hisstudies he did not spend in play or idleness, as other children, butwould be always inventing or arranging some oration or declamationto himself, the subject of which was generally the excusing or accusinghis companions, so that his master would often say to him, "You, myboy, will be nothing small, but great one way or other, for good orelse for bad." He received reluctantly and carelessly instructionsgiven him to improve his manners and behaviour, or to teach him anypleasing or graceful accomplishment, but whatever was said to improvehim in sagacity, or in management of affairs, he would give attentionto, beyond one of his years, from confidence in his natural capacitiesfor such things. And thus afterwards, when in company where peopleengaged themselves in what are commonly thought the liberal and elegantamusements, he was obliged to defend himself against the observationsof those who considered themselves highly accomplished, by the somewhatarrogant retort, that he certainly could not make use of any stringedinstrument, could only, were a small and obscure city put into hishands, make it great and glorious. Notwithstanding this, Stesimbrotussays that Themistocles was a hearer of Anaxagoras, and that he studiednatural philosophy under Melissus, contrary to chronology； Melissuscommanded the Samians in the siege by Pericles, who was much Themistocles'sjunior； and with Pericles, also, Anaxagoras was intimate. They, therefore,might rather be credited who report, that Themistocles was an admirerof Mnesiphilus the Phrearrhian, who was neither rhetorican nor naturalphilosopher, but a professor of that which was then called wisdom,consisting in a sort of political shrewdness and practical sagacity,which had begun and continued, almost like a sect of philosophy, fromSolon： but those who came afterwards, and mixed it with pleadingsand legal artifices, and transformed the practical part of it intoa mere art of speaking and an exercise of words, were generally calledsophists. Themistocles resorted to Mnesiphilus when he had alreadyembarked in politics.

    In the first essays of his youth he was not regular nor happily balanced；he allowed himself to follow mere natural character, which, withoutthe control of reason and instruction, is apt to hurry, upon eitherside, into sudden and violent courses, and very often to break awayand determine upon the worst； as he afterwards owned himself, saying,that the wildest colts make the best horses, if they only get properlytrained and broken in. But those who upon this fasten stories of theirown invention, as of his being disowned by his father, and that hismother died for grief of her son's ill-fame, certainly calumniatehim； and there are others who relate, on the contrary, how that todeter him from public business, and to let him see how the vulgarbehave themselves towards their leaders when they have at last nofarther use of them, his father showed him the old galleys as theylay forsaken and cast about upon the sea-shore.

    Yet it is evident that his mind was early imbued with the keenestinterest in public affairs, and the most passionate ambition for distinction.Eager from the first to obtain the highest place, he unhesitatinglyaccepted the hatred of the most powerful and influential leaders inthe city, but more especially of Aristides, the son of Lysimachus,who always opposed him. And yet all this great enmity between themarose, it appears, from a very boyish occasion, both being attachedto the beautiful Stesilaus of Ceos, as Ariston the philosopher tellsus； ever after which they took opposite sides, and were rivals inpolitics. Not but that the incompatibility of their lives and mannersmay seem to have increased the difference, for Aristides was of amild nature, and of a nobler sort of character, and, in public matters,acting always with a view, not to glory or popularity, but to thebest interest of the state consistently with safety and honesty, hewas often forced to oppose Themistocles, and interfere against theincrease of his influence, seeing him stirring up the people to allkinds of enterprises, and introducing various innovations. For itis said that Themistocles was so transported with the thoughts ofglory and so inflamed with the passion for great actions, that, thoughhe was still young when the battle of Marathon was fought againstthe Persians, upon the skilful conduct of the general, Miltiades,being everywhere talked about, he was observed to be thoughtful andreserved, alone by himself； he passed the nights without sleep, andavoided all his usual places of recreation, and to those who wonderedat the change, and inquired the reason of it, he gave the answer,that "the trophy of Miltiades would not let him sleep." And when otherswere of opinion that the battle of Marathon would be an end to thewar, Themistocles thought that it was but the beginning for far greaterconflicts, and for these, to the benefit of all Greece, he kept himselfin continual readiness, and his city also in proper training, foreseeingfrom far before what would happen.

    And, first of all, the Athenians being accustomed to divide amongstthemselves the revenue proceeding from the silver mines at Laurium,he was the only man that durst propose to the people that this distributionshould cease, and that with the money ships should be built to makewar against the Aeginetans, who were the most flourishing people inall Greece, and by the number of their ships held the sovereigntyof the sea； and Themistocles thus was more easily able to persuadethem, avoiding all mention of danger from Darius or the Persians,who were at a great distance, and their coming very uncertain, andat that time not much to be feared； but by a seasonable employmentof the emulation and anger felt by the Athenians against the Aeginetans,he induced them to preparation. So that with this money an hundredships were built, with which they afterwards fought against Xerxes.And henceforward, little by little, turning and drawing the city downtowards the sea, in the belief that, whereas by land they were nota fit match for their next neighbours, with their ships they mightbe able to repel the Persians and command Greece, thus, as Plato says,from steady soldiers he turned them into mariners and seamen tossedabout the sea, and gave occasion for the reproach against him, thathe took away from the Athenians the spear and the shield, and boundthem to the bench and the oar. These measures he carried in the assembly,against the opposition, as Stesimbrotus relates, of Miltiades； andwhether or no be hereby injured the purity and true balance of governmentmay be a question for philosophers, but that the deliverance of Greececame at that time from the sea, and that these galleys restored Athensagain after it was destroyed, were others wanting, Xerxes himselfwould be sufficient evidence, who, though his land-forces were stillentire, after his defeat at sea, fled away, and thought himself nolonger able to encounter the Greeks； and, as it seems to me, leftMardonius behind him, not out of any hopes he could have to bringthem into subjection, but to hinder them from pursuing him.

    Themistocles is said to have been eager in the acquisition of riches,according to some, that he might be the more liberal； for loving tosacrifice often, and to be splendid in his entertainment of strangers,he required a plentiful revenue； yet he is accused by others of havingbeen parsimonious and sordid to that degree that he would sell provisionswhich were sent to him as a present. He desired Diphilides, who wasa breeder of horses, to give him a colt, and when he refused it, threatenedthat in a short time he would turn his house into a wooden horse,intimating that he would stir up dispute and litigation between himand some of his relations.

    He went beyond all men in the passion for distinction. When he wasstill young and unknown in the world, he entreated Episcles of Hermione,who had a good hand at the lute and was much sought after by the Athenians,to come and practise at home with him, being ambitious of having peopleinquire after his house and frequent his company. When he came tothe Olympic games, and was so splendid in his equipage and entertainments,in his rich tents and furniture, that he strove to outdo Cimon, hedispleased the Greeks, who thought that such magnificence might beallowed in one who was a young man and of a great family, but wasa great piece of insolence in one as yet undistinguished, and withouttitle or means for making any such display. In a dramatic contest,the play he paid for won the price, which was then a matter that excitedmuch emulation； he put up a tablet in record of it, with the inscription："Themistocles of Phrearrhi was at the charge of it； Phrynichus madeit； Adimantus was archon." He was well liked by the common people,would salute every particular citizen by his own name, and alwaysshow himself a just judge in questions of business between privatemen； he said to Simonides, the poet of Ceos, who desired somethingof him, when he was commander of the army, that was not reasonable,"Simonides, you would be no good poet if you wrote false measure,nor should I be a good magistrate if for favour I made false law."and at another time, laughing at Simonides, he said, that he was aman of little judgment to speak against the Corinthians, who wereinhabitants of a great city, and to have his own picture drawn sooften, having so ill-looking a face.

    Gradually growing to be great, and winning the favour of the people,he at last gained the day with his faction over that of Aristides,and procured his banishment by ostracism. When the king of Persiawas now advancing against Greece, and the Athenians were in consultationwho should be general, and many withdrew themselves of their own accord,being terrified with the greatness of the danger, there was one Epicydes,a popular speaker, son to Euphemides a man of an elegant tongue, butof a faint heart, and a slave to riches who was desirous of the command,and was looked upon to be in a fair way to carry it by the numberof votes； but Themistocles, fearing that, if the command should fallinto such hands, all would be lost, bought off Epicydes and his pretensions,it is said, for a sum of money.

    When the king of Persia sent messengers into Greece, with an interpreter,to demand earth and water, as an acknowledgment of subjection, Themistocles,by the consent of the people, seized upon the interpreter, and puthim to death, for presuming to publish the barbarian orders and decreesin the Greek language； this is one of the actions he is commendedfor, as also for what he did to Arthmius of Zelea, who brought goldfrom the king of Persia to corrupt the Greeks, and was, by an orderfrom Themistocles, degraded and disfranchised, he and his childrenand his posterity； but that which most of all redounded to his creditwas, that he put an end to all the civil wars of Greece, composedtheir differences, and persuaded them to lay aside all enmity duringthe war with the Persians； and in this great work, Chileus the Arcadianwas, it is said, of great assistance to him.

    Having taken upon himself the command of the Athenian forces, he immediatelyendeavoured to persuade the citizens to leave the city, and to embarkupon their galleys, and meet with the Persians at a great distancefrom Greece； but many being against this, he led a large force, togetherwith the Lacedaemonians, into Tempe, that in this pass they mightmaintain the safety of Thessaly, which had not as yet declared forthe king； but when they returned without performing anything, andit was known that not only the Thessalians, but all as far as Boeotia,was going over to Xerxes, then the Athenians more willingly hearkenedto the advice of Themistocles to fight by sea, and sent him with afleet to guard the straits of Artemisium.

    When the contingents met here, the Greeks would have the Lacedaemoniansto command, and Eurybiades to be their admiral； but the Athenians,who surpassed all the rest together in number of vessels, would notsubmit to come after any other, till Themistocles, perceiving thedanger of the contest, yielded his own command to Eurybiades, andgot the Athenians to submit, extenuating the loss by persuading them,that if in this war they behaved themselves like men, he would answerfor it after that, that the Greeks, of their own will, would submitto their command. And by this moderation of his, it is evident thathe was the chief means of the deliverance of Greece, and gained theAthenians the glory of alike surpassing their enemies in valour, andtheir confederates in wisdom.

    As soon as the Persian armada arrived at Aphetae, Eurybiades was astonishedto see such a vast number of vessels before him, and being informedthat two hundred more were sailing around behind the island of Sciathus,he immediately determined to retire farther into Greece, and to sailback into some part of Peloponnesus, where their land army and theirfleet might join, for he looked upon the Persian forces to be altogetherunassailable by sea. But the Euboeans, fearing that the Greeks wouldforsake them, and leave them to the mercy of the enemy, sent Pelagonto confer privately with Themistocles, taking with him a good sumof money, which, as Herodotus reports, he accepted and gave to Eurybiades.In this affair none of his own countrymen opposed him so much as Architeles,captain of the sacred galley, who, having no money to supply his seamen,was eager to go home； but Themistocles so incensed the Athenians againstthem, that they set upon him and left him not so much as his supper,at which Architeles was much surprised, and took it very ill； butThemistocles immediately sent him in a chest a service of provisions,and at the bottom of it a talent of silver, desiring him to sup tonight,and to-morrow provide for his seamen； if not, he would report it amongthe Athenians that he had received money from the enemy. So Phaniasthe Lesbian tells the story.

    Though the fights between the Greeks and Persians in the straits ofEuboea were not so important as to make any final decision of thewar, yet the experience which the Greeks obtained in them was of greatadvantage； for thus, by actual trial and in real danger, they foundout that neither number of ships, nor riches and ornaments, nor boastingshouts, nor barbarous songs of victory, were any way terrible to menthat knew how to fight, and were resolved to come hand to hand withtheir enemies； these things they were to despise, and to come up closeand grapple with their foes. This Pindar appears to have seen, andsays justly enough of the fight at Artemisium, that-

    "There the sons of Athens set The stone that freedom stands on yet." For the first step towardsvictory undoubtedly is to gain courage, Artemisium is in Euboea, beyondthe city of Histiaea, a sea-beach open to the north； most nearly oppositeto it stands Olizon, in the country which formally was under Philoctetes；there is a small temple there, dedicated to Diana, surnamed of theDawn, and trees about it, around which again stand pillars of whitemarble； and if you rub them with your hand, they send forth both thesmell and colour of saffron. On one of these pillars these versesare engraved：-

    "With numerous tribes from Asia's region brought The sons of Athens on these waters fought； Erecting, after they had quelled the Mede, To Artemis this record of the deed." There is a place still to beseen upon this shore, where, in the middle of a great heap of sand,they take out from the bottom a dark powder like ashes, or somethingthat has passed the fire； and here, it is supposed, the shipwrecksand bodies of the dead were burnt.

    But when news came from Thermopylae to Artemisium informing them thatking Leonidas was slain, and that Xerxes had made himself master ofall the passages by land, they returned back to the interior of Greece,the Athenians having the command of the rear, the place of honourand danger, and much elated by what had been done.

    As Themistocles sailed along the coasts, he took notice of the harboursand fit places for the enemy's ships to come to land at, and engravedlarge letters in such stones as he found there by chance, as alsoin others which he set up on purpose near to the landing-places, orwhere they were to water； in which inscriptions he called upon theIonians to forsake the Medes, if it were possible, and to come overto the Greeks, who were their proper founders and fathers, and werenow hazarding all for their liberties； but, if this could not be done,at any rate to impede and disturb the Persians in all engagements.He hoped that these writings would prevail with the Ionians to revolt,or raise some trouble by making their fidelity doubtful to the Persians.

    Now, though Xerxes has already passed through Doris and invaded thecountry of Phocis, and was burning and destroying the cities of thePhocians, yet the Greeks sent them no relief； and, though the Atheniansearnestly desired them to meet the Persians in Boeotia, before theycould come into Attica, as they themselves had come forward by seaat Artemisium, they gave no ear to their requests, being wholly intentupon Peloponnesus, and resolved to gather all their forces togetherwithin the Isthmus, and to build a wall from sea to sea in that narrowneck of land； so that the Athenians were enraged to see themselvesbetrayed, and at the same time afflicted and dejected at their owndestitution. For to fight alone against such a numerous army was tono purpose, and the only expedient now left them was to leave theircity and cling to their ships； which the people were very unwillingto submit to, imagining that it would signify little now to gain avictory, and not understanding how there could be deliverance anylonger after they had once forsaken the temples of their gods andexposed the tombs and monuments of their ancestors to the fury oftheir enemies.

    Themistocles, being at a loss, and not able to draw the people overto his opinion by any human reason, set his machines to work, as ina theatre, and employed prodigies and oracles. The serpent of Minerva,kept in the inner part of her temple, disappeared； the priest gaveit out to the people that the offerings which were set for it werefound untouched, and declared, by the suggestion of Themistocles,that the goddess had left the city, and taken her flight before themtowards the sea. And he often urged them with the oracle which badethem trust to walls of wood, showing them that walls of wood couldsignify nothing else but ships- and that the island of Salamis wastermed in it, not miserable or unhappy, but had the epithet of divine,for that it should one day be associated with a great good fortuneof the Greeks. At length his opinion prevailed, and he obtained adecree that the city should be committed to the protection of Minerva,"Queen of Athens；" that they who were of age to bear arms should embark,and that each should see to sending away his children, women, andslaves where he could. This decree being confirmed, most of the Atheniansremoved their parents, wives, and children to Troezen, where theywere received with eager good-will by the Troezenians, who passeda vote that they should be maintained at the public charge, by a dailypayment of two obols to every one, and leave be given to the childrento gather fruit where they pleased, and schoolmasters paid to instructthem. This vote was proposed by Nicagoras.

    There was no public treasure at that time in Athens； but the councilof Areopagus, as Aristotle says, distributed to every one that servedeight drachmas, which was a great help to the manning of the fleet；but Clidemus ascribes this also to the art of Themistocles. When theAthenians were on their way down to the haven of Piraeus, the shieldwith the head of Medusa was missing； and be, under the pretext ofsearching for it, ransacked all places, and found among their goodsconsiderable sums of money concealed, which he applied to the publicuse； and with this the soldiers and seamen were well provided fortheir voyage.

    When the whole city of Athens were going on board, it afforded a spectacleworthy alike of pity and admiration, to see them thus send away theirfathers and children before them, and, unmoved with their cries andtears, passed over into the island. But that which stirred compassionmost of all was, that many old men, by reason of their great age,were left behind； and even the tame domestic animals could not beseen without some pity, running about the town and howling, as desirousto be carried along with their masters that had kept them； among whichit is reported that Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, had a dogthat would not endure to stay behind, but leaped into the sea, andswam along by the galley's side till he came to the island of Salamis,where he fainted away and died, and that spot in the island, whichis still called the Dog's Grave, is said to be his.

    Among the great actions of Themistocles at this crisis, the recallof Aristides was not the least, for, before the war, he had been ostracizedby the party which Themistocles headed, and was in banishment； butnow, perceiving that the people regretted his absence, and were fearfulthat he might go over to the Persians to revenge himself, and therebyruin the affairs of Greece, Themistocles proposed a decree that thosewho were banished for a time might return again, to give assistanceby word and deed to the cause of Greece with the rest of their fellow-citizens.

    Eurybiades, by reason of the greatness of Sparta, was admiral of theGreek fleet, but yet was faint-hearted in time of danger, and willingto weigh anchor and set sail for the isthmus of Corinth, near whichthe land army lay encamped； which Themistocles resisted； and thiswas the occasion of the well-known words, when Eurybiades, to checkhis impatience, told him that at the Olympic games they that startup before the rest are lashed； "And they," replied Themistocles, "thatare left behind are not crowned." Again, Eurybiades lifting up hisstaff as if he were going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike ifyou will, but hear；" Eurybiades, wondering much at his moderation,desired him to speak, and Themistocles now brought him to a betterunderstanding. And when one who stood by him told him that it didnot become those who had neither city nor house to lose, to persuadeothers to relinquish their habitations and forsake their countries,Themistocles gave this reply： "We have indeed left our houses andour walls, base fellow, not thinking it fit to become slaves for thesake of things that have no life nor soul； and yet our city is thegreatest of all Greece, consisting of two hundred galleys, which arehere to defend you, if you please； but if you run away and betrayus, as you did once before, the Greeks shall soon hear news of theAthenians possessing as fair a country, and as large and free a city,as that they have lost." These expressions of Themistocles made Eurybiadessuspect that if he retreated the Athenians would fall off from him.When one of Eretria began to oppose him, he said, "Have you anythingto say of war, that are like an inkfish？ you have a sword, but noheart." Some say that while Themistocles was thus speaking upon thedeck, an owl was seen flying to the right hand of the fleet, whichcame and sate upon the top of the mast； and this happy omen so fardisposed the Greeks to follow his advice, that they presently preparedto fight. Yet, when the enemy's fleet was arrived at the haven ofPhalerum, upon the coast of Attica, and with the number of their shipsconcealed all the shore, and when they saw the king himself in personcome down with his land army to the seaside, with all his forces united,then the good counsel of Themistocles was soon forgotten, and thePeloponnesians cast their eyes again towards the isthmus, and tookit very ill if any one spoke against their returning home； and, resolvingto depart that night, the pilots had orders what course to steer.

    Themistocles, in great distress that the Greeks should retire, andlose the advantage of the narrow seas and strait passage, and sliphome every one to his own city, considered with himself, and contrivedthat stratagem that was carried out by Sicinnus. This Sicinnus wasa Persian captive, but a great lover of Themistocles, and the attendantof his children. Upon this occasion, he sent him privately to Xerxes,commanding him to tell the king that Themistocles, the admiral ofthe Athenians, having espoused his interest, wished to be the firstto inform him that the Greeks were ready to make their escape, andthat he counselled him to hinder their flight, to set upon them whilethey were in this confusion and at a distance from their land army,and hereby destroy all their forces by sea. Xerxes was very joyfulat this message, and received it as from one who wished him all thatwas good, and immediately issued instructions to the commanders ofhis ships, that they should instantly set out with two hundred galleysto encompass all the islands, and enclose all the straits and passages,that none of the Greeks might escape, and that they should afterwardsfollow with the rest of their fleet at leisure. This being done, Aristides,the son of Lysimachus, was the first man that perceived it, and wentto the tent of Themistocles, not out of any friendship, for he hadbeen formerly banished by his means, as has been related, but to informhim how they were encompassed by their enemies. Themistocles, knowingthe generosity of Aristides, and much struck by his visit at thattime, imparted to him all that he had transacted by Sicinnus, andentreated him that, as he would be more readily believed among theGreeks, he would make use of his credit to help to induce them tostay and fight their enemies in the narrow seas. Aristides applaudedThemistocles, and went to the other commanders and captains of thegalleys, and encouraged them to engage； yet they did not perfectlyassent to him, till a galley of Tenos, which deserted from the Persians,of which Panaetius was commander, came in, while they were still doubting,and confirmed the news that all the straits and passages were beset；and then their rage and fury, as well as their necessity, provokedthem all to fight.

    As soon as it was day, Xerxes placed himself high up, to view hisfleet, and how it was set in order. Phanodemus says, he sat upon apromontory above the temple of Hercules, where the coast of Atticais separated from the island by a narrow channel； but Acestodoruswrites, that it was in the confines of Megara, upon those hills whichare called the Horns, where he sat in a chair of gold, with many secretariesabout him to write down all that was done in the fight.

    When Themistocles was about to sacrifice, close to the admiral's galley,there were three prisoners brought to him, fine looking men, and richlydressed in ornamented clothing and gold, said to be the children ofArtayctes and Sandauce, sister to Xerxes. As soon as the prophet Euphrantidessaw them, and observed that at the same time the fire blazed out fromthe offerings with a more than ordinary flame, and a man sneezed onthe right, which was an intimation of a fortunate event, he took Themistoclesby the hand, and bade him consecrate the three young men for sacrifice,and offer them up with prayers for victory to Bacchus the Devourer；so should the Greeks not only save themselves, but also obtain victory.Themistocles was much disturbed at this strange and terrible prophecy,but the common people, who in any difficult crisis and great exigencyever look for relief rather to strange and extravagant than to reasonablemeans, calling upon Bacchus with one voice, led the captives to thealtar, and compelled the execution of the sacrifice as the prophethad commanded. This is reported by Phanias the Lesbian, a philosopherwell read in history.

    The number of the enemy's ships the poet Aeschylus gives in his tragedycalled the Persians, as on his certain knowledge, in the followingwords：-

    "Xerxes, I know, did into battle lead One thousand ships； of more than usual speed Seven and two hundred. So it is agreed."

    The Athenians had a hundred and eighty； in every ship eighteen menfought upon the deck, four of whom were archers and the rest men atarms.

    As Themistocles had fixed upon the most advantageous place, so, withno less sagacity, he chose the best time of fighting； for he wouldnot run the prows of his galleys against the Persians, nor begin thefight till the time of day was come, when there regularly blows ina fresh breeze from the open sea, and brings in with it a strong swellinto the channel； which was no inconvenience to the Greek ships, whichwere low-built, and little above the water, but did much to hurt thePersians, which had high sterns and lofty decks, and were heavy andcumbrous in their movements as it presented them broadside to thequick charges of the Greeks, who kept their eyes upon the motionsof Themistocles, as their best example, and more particularly because,opposed to his ship, Ariamenes, admiral to Xerxes, a brave man andby far the best and worthiest of the king's brothers, was seen throwingdarts and shooting arrows from his huge galley, as from the wallsof a castle. Aminias the Decelean and Sosicles the Pedian, who sailedin the same vessel, upon the ships meeting stem to stem, and transfixingeach the other with their brazen prows, so that they were fastenedtogether, when Ariamenes attempted to board theirs, ran at him withtheir pikes, and thrust him into the sea； his body, as it floatedamongst other shipwrecks, was known to Artemisia, and carried to Xerxes.

    It is reported that, in the middle of the fight, a great flame roseinto the air above the city of Eleusis, and that sounds and voiceswere heard through all the Thriasian plain, as far as the sea, soundinglike a number of men accompanying and escorting the mystic Iacchus,and that a mist seemed to form and rise from the place from whencethe sounds came, and, passing forward, fell upon the galleys. Othersbelieved that they saw apparitions, in the shape of armed men, reachingout their hands from the island of Aegina before the Grecian galleys；and supposed they were the Aeacidae, whom they had invoked to theiraid before the battle. The first man that took a ship was Lycomedesthe Athenian, captain of the galley, who cut down its ensign, anddedicated it to Apollo the Laurel-crowned. And as the Persians foughtin a narrow arm of the sea, and could bring but part of their fleetto fight and fell foul of one another, the Greeks thus equalled themin strength, and fought with them till the evening forced them back,and obtained, as says Simonides, that noble and famous victory, thanwhich neither amongst the Greeks nor barbarians was ever known moreglorious exploit on the seas； by the joint valour, indeed, and zealof all who fought, but by the wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles.

    After this sea-fight, Xerxes, enraged at his ill-fortune, attempted,by casting great heaps of earth and stones into the sea, to stop upthe channel and make a dam, upon which he might lead his land-forcesover into the island of Salamis.

    Themistocles, being desirous to try the opinion of Aristides, toldhim that he proposed to set sail for the Hellespont, to break thebridge of ships so as to shut up, he said, Asia a prisoner withinEurope； but Aristides, disliking the design, said： "We have hithertofought with an enemy who has regarded little else but his pleasureand luxury； but if we shut him up within Greece, and drive him tonecessity, he that is master of such great forces will no longer sitquietly with an umbrella of gold over his head, looking upon the fightfor his pleasure； but in such a strait will attempt all things； hewill be resolute, and appear himself in person upon all occasions,he will soon correct his errors, and supply what he has formerly omittedthrough remissness, and will be better advised in all things. Therefore,it is noways our interest, Themistocles," he said, "to take away thebridge that is already made, but rather to build another, if it werepossible, that he might make his retreat with the more expedition."To which Themistocles answered： "If this be requisite, we must immediatelyuse all diligence, art, and industry, to rid ourselves of him as soonas may be；" and to this purpose he found out among the captives oneof the King of Persia's eunuchs, named Arnaces, whom he sent to theking, to inform him that the Greeks, being now victorious by sea,had decreed to sail to the Hellespont, where the boats were fastenedtogether, and destroy the bridge； but that Themistocles, being concernedfor the king, revealed this to him, that he might hasten towards theAsiatic seas, and pass over into his own dominions； and in the meantimewould cause delays and hinder the confederates from pursuing him.Xerxes no sooner heard this, but, being very much terrified, he proceededto retreat out of Greece with all speed. The prudence of Themistoclesand Aristides in this was afterwards more fully understood at thebattle of Plataea, where Mardonius, with a very small fraction ofthe forces of Xerxes, put the Greeks in danger of losing all.

    Herodotus writes, that of all the cities of Greece, Aegina was heldto have performed the best service in the war； while all single menyielded to Themistocles, though, out of envy, unwillingly； and whenthey returned to the entrance of Peloponnesus, where the several commandersdelivered their suffrages at the altar, to determine who was mostworthy, every one gave the first vote for himself and the second forThemistocles. The Lacedaemonians carried him with them to Sparta,where, giving the rewards of valour to Eurybiades, and of wisdom andconduct to Themistocles, they crowned him with olive, presented himwith the best chariot in the city, and sent three hundred young mento accompany him to the confines of their country. And at the nextOlympic games, when Themistocles entered the course, the spectatorstook no farther notice of those who were contesting the prizes, butspent the whole day in looking upon him, showing him to the strangers,admiring him, and applauding him by clapping their hands, and otherexpressions of joy, so that he himself, much gratified, confessedto his friends that he then reaped the fruit of all his labours forthe Greeks.

    He was, indeed, by nature, a great lover of honour, as is evidentfrom the anecdotes recorded of him. When chosen admiral by the Athenians,he would not quite conclude any single matter of business, eitherpublic or private, but deferred all till the day they were to setsail, that, by despatching a great quantity of business all at once,and having to meet a great variety of people, he might make an appearanceof greatness and power. Viewing the dead bodies cast up by the sea,he perceived bracelets and necklaces of gold about them, yet passedon, only showing them to a friend that followed him, saying, "Takeyou these things, for you are not Themistocles." He said to Antiphates,a handsome young man, who had formerly avoided, but now in his glorycourted him, "Time, young man, has taught us both a lesson." He saidthat the Athenians did not honour him or admire him, but made, asit were, a sort of plane-tree of him； sheltered themselves under himin bad weather, and as soon as it was fine, plucked his leaves andcut his branches. When the Seriphian told him that he had not obtainedthis honour by himself, but by the greatness of the city, he replied,"You speak truth； I should never have been famous if I had been ofSeriphus； nor you, had you been of Athens." When another of the generals,who thought he had performed considerable service for the Athenians,boastingly compared his action with those of Themistocles, he toldhim that once upon a time the Day after the Festival found fault withthe Festival： "On you there is nothing but hurry and trouble and preparation,but, when I come, everybody sits down quietly and enjoys himself；"which the Festival admitted was true, but "if I had not come first,you would not have come at all." "Even so," he said, "if Themistocleshad not come before, where had you been now？" Laughing at his ownson, who got his mother, and, by his mother's means, his father also,to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any onein Greece： "For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I commandthe Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother."Loving to be singular in all things, when he had land to sell, heordered the crier to give notice that there were good neighbours nearit. Of two who made love to his daughter, he preferred the man ofworth to the one who was rich, saying he desired a man without riches,rather than riches without a man. Such was the character of his sayings.

    After these things, he began to rebuild and fortify the city of Athens,bribing, as Theopompus reports, the Lacedaemonian ephors not to beagainst it, but, as most relate it, overreaching and deceiving them.For, under the pretext of an embassy, he went to Sparta, whereuponthe Lacedaemonians' charging him with rebuilding the walls, and Poliarchuscoming on purpose from Aegina to denounce it, he denied the fact,bidding them to send people to Athens to see whether it were so orno； by which delay he got time for the building of the wall, and alsoplaced these ambassadors in the hands of his countrymen as hostagesfor him； and so, when the Lacedaemonians knew the truth, they didhim no hurt, but, suppressing all display of their anger for the present,sent him away.

    Next he proceeded to establish the harbour of Piraeus, observing thegreat natural advantages of the locality, and desirous to unite thewhole city with the sea, and to reverse, in a manner, the policy ofancient Athenian kings, who, endeavouring to withdraw their subjectsfrom the sea, and to accustom them to live, not by sailing about,but by planting and tilling the earth, spread the story of the disputebetween Minerva and Neptune for the sovereignty of Athens, in whichMinerva, by producing to the judges an olive-tree, was declared tohave won； whereas Themistocles did not only knead up, as Aristophanessays, the port and the city into one, but made the city absolutelythe dependant and the adjunct of the port, and the land of the sea,which increased the power and confidence of the people against thenobility； the authority coming into the hands of sailors and boatswainsand pilots. Thus it was one of the orders of the thirty tyrants, thatthe hustings in the assembly, which had faced towards the sea, shouldbe turned round towards the land； implying their opinion that theempire by sea had been the origin of the democracy, and that the farmingpopulation were not so much opposed to oligarchy.

    Themistocles, however, formed yet higher designs with a view to navalsupremacy. For, after the departure of Xerxes, when the Grecian fleetwas arrived at Pagasae, where they wintered, Themistocles, in a publicoration to the people of Athens, told them that he had a design toperform something that would tend greatly to their interests and safety,but was of such a nature that it could not be made generally public.The Athenians ordered him to impart it to Aristides only； and, ifhe approved of it, to put it in practice. And when Themistocles haddiscovered to him that his design was to burn the Grecian fleet inthe haven of Pagasae, Aristides coming out to the people, gave thisreport of the stratagem contrived by Themistocles, that no proposalcould be more politic, or more dishonourable； on which the Athenianscommanded Themistocles to think no farther of it.

    When the Lacedaemonians proposed, at the general council of the Amphictyonians,that the representatives of those cities which were not in the league,nor had fought against the Persians, should be excluded, Themistocles,fearing that the Thessalians, with those of Thebes, Argos, and others,being thrown out of the council, the Lacedaemonians would become whollymasters of the votes, and do what they pleased, supported the deputiesof the cities, and prevailed with the members then sitting to altertheir opinion on this point, showing them that there were but one-and-thirtycities which had partaken in the war, and that most of these, also,were very small； how intolerable would it be, if the rest of Greeceshould be excluded, and the general council should come to be ruledby two or three great cities. By this, chiefly, he incurred the displeasureof the Lacedaemonians, whose honours and favours were now shown toCimon, with a view to making him the opponent of the state policyof Themistocles.

    He was also burdensome to the confederates, sailing about the islandsand collecting money from them. Herodotus says, that, requiring moneyof those of the island of Andros, he told them that he had broughtwith him two goddesses, Persuasion and Force； and they answered himthat they had also two great goddesses, which prohibited them fromgiving him any money, Poverty and Impossibility. Timocreon, the Rhodianpoet, reprehends him somewhat bitterly for being wrought upon by moneyto let some who were banished return, while abandoning himself, whowas his guest and friend. The verses are these：-

    "Pausanias you may praise, and Xanthippus, he be for, For Leutychidas, a third； Aristides, I proclaim, From the sacred Athens came. The one true man of all； for Themistocles Latona doth abhor,

    The liar, traitor, cheat, who to gain his filthy pay, Timocreon, his friend, neglected to restore To his native Rhodian shore； Three silver talents took and departed （curses with him） on his

    way, Restoring people here, expelling there, and killing here,

    Filling evermore his purse： and at the Isthmus gave a treat,

    To be laughed at, of cold meat, Which they ate, and prayed the gods some one else might give the feast another year." But after the sentence and banishmentof Themistocles, Timocreon reviles him yet more immoderately and wildlyin a poem that begins thus：-

    "Unto all the Greeks repair, O Muse, and tell these verses there, As is fitting and is fair." The story is, that it was put to the questionwhether Timocreon should be banished for siding with the Persians,and Themistocles gave his vote against him. So when Themistocles wasaccused of intriguing with the Medes, Timocreon made these lines uponhim：-

    "So now Timocreon, indeed, is not the sole friend of the Mede,

    There are some knaves besides； nor is it only mine that fails,

    But other foxes have lost tails.-" When the citizens of Athens beganto listen willingly to those who traduced and reproached him, he wasforced, with somewhat obnoxious frequency, to put them in mind ofthe great services he had performed, and ask those who were offendedwith him whether they were weary with receiving benefits often fromthe same person, so rendering himself more odious. And he yet moreprovoked the people by building a temple to Diana with the epithetof Aristobule, or Diana of Best Counsel； intimating thereby, thathe had given the best counsel, not only to the Athenians, but to allGreece. He built this temple near his own house, in the district calledMelite, where now the public officers carry out the bodies of suchas are executed, and throw the halters and clothes of those that arestrangled or otherwise put to death. There is to this day a smallfigure of Themistocles in the temple of Diana of Best Counsel, whichrepresents him to be a person not only of a noble mind, but also ofa most heroic aspect. At length the Athenians banished him, makinguse of the ostracism to humble his eminence and authority, as theyordinarily did with all whom they thought too powerful, or, by theirgreatness, disproportional to the equality thought requisite in apopular government. For the ostracism was instituted, not so muchto punish the offender, as to mitigate and pacify the violence ofthe envious, who delighted to humble eminent men, and who, by fixingthis disgrace upon them, might vent some part of their rancour.

    Themistocles being banished from Athens, while he stayed at Argosthe detection of Pausanias happened, which gave such advantage tohis enemies, that Leobotes of Agraule, son of Alcmaeon, indicted himof treason, the Spartans supporting him in the accusation.

    When Pausanias went about this treasonable design, he concealed itat first from Themistocles, though he were his intimate friend； butwhen he saw him expelled out of the commonwealth, and how impatientlyhe took his banishment, he ventured to communicate it to him, anddesired his assistance, showing him the king of Persia's letters,and exasperating him against the Greeks, as a villainous, ungratefulpeople. However, Themistocles immediately rejected the proposals ofPausanias, and wholly refused to be a party in the enterprise, thoughhe never revealed his communications, nor disclosed the conspiracyto any man, either hoping that Pausanias would desist from his intentions,or expecting that so inconsiderate an attempt after such chimericalobjects would be discovered by other means.

    After that Pausanias was put to death, letters and writings beingfound concerning this matter, which rendered Themistocles suspected,the Lacedaemonians were clamorous against him, and his enemies amongthe Athenians accused him； when, being absent from Athens, he madehis defence by letters, especially against the points that had beenpreviously alleged against him. In answer to the malicious detractionsof his enemies, he merely wrote to the citizens, urging that he whowas always ambitious to govern, and not of a character or a dispositionto serve, would never sell himself and his country into slavery toa barbarous and hostile nation.

    Notwithstanding this, the people, being persuaded by his accusers,sent officers to take him and bring him away to be tried before acouncil of the Greeks, but, having timely notice of it, he passedover into the island of Corcyra, where the state was under obligationsto him； for, being chosen as arbitrator in a difference between themand the Corinthians, he decided the controversy by ordering the Corinthiansto pay down twenty talents, and declaring the town and island of Leucasa joint colony from both cities. From thence he fled into Epirus,and, the Athenians and Lacedaemonians still pursuing him, he threwhimself upon chances of safety that seemed all but desperate. Forhe fled for refuge to Admetus, king of the Molossians, who had formerlymade some request to the Athenians, when Themistocles was in the heightof his authority, and had been disdainfully used and insulted by him,and had let it appear plain enough, that, could he lay hold of him,he would take his revenge. Yet in this misfortune Themistocles, fearingthe recent hatred of his neighbours and fellow-citizens more thanthe old displeasure of the king, put himself at his mercy and becamean humble suppliant to Admetus, after a peculiar manner differ