but in getting back over the fence he received a dangerous injury on his thigh. He now abandoned all hope of success, raised the siege, and returned to Athens.

He

§ 11. Loud was the indignation against Miltiades on his return. was accused by Xanthippus, the father of Pericles, of having deceived the people, and was brought to trial. His wound had already begun to show symptoms of gangrene. He was carried into court on a couch, and there lay before the assembled judges, while his friends pleaded on his behalf. They could offer no excuse for his recent conduct, but they reminded the Athenians of the inestimable services they had received from the accused, and urged them in the strongest terms to spare the victor of Marathon. The judges were not insensible to this appeal; and instead of condemning him to death, as the accuser had demanded, they commuted the penalty to a fine of fifty talents, probably the cost of the armament. He was unable immediately to raise this sum, and died soon afterwards of his wound. The fine was subsequently paid by his son Cimon. Later writers relate that Miltiades died in prison; but Herodotus does not mention his imprisonment, and we may therefore hope that the hero of Marathon was spared this further indignity.

The melancholy end of Miltiades must not blind us to his offence, and ought not to lead us to charge the Athenian people with ingratitude and fickleness. The Athenians did not forget his services at Marathon, and it was their gratitude towards him which alone saved him from death. He had grossly abused the public confidence, and deserved his punishment. A state which should give impunity to a criminal on account of previous services would soon cease to exist.

§ 12. Soon after the battle of Marathon, a war broke out between Athens and Ægina, which continued down to the invasion of Greece by Xerxes. This war is of great importance in Grecian history, since to it the Athenians were indebted for their navy, which enabled them to save Greece at Salamis as they had already done at Marathon.

The rocky island of Ægina is situated in the Saronic Gulf, about twelve miles from the coast of Attica, and contains only about forty-one square English miles. But, notwithstanding its small extent, it is one of the most celebrated of the Grecian islands. In the mythical ages it was the residence of Æacus, king of the Myrmidons, from whom Achilles and some of the most illustrious Grecian heroes were descended. In historical times it was inhabited by a wealthy and enterprising Dorian people, who carried on an extensive commerce with all parts of the Hellenic world. It is said that silver money was first coined in Ægina, by Pheidon, tyrant of Argos; and we know that the name of Æginetan was given to one of the two scales of weights and measures current throughout Greece. The wealth which its citizens acquired by commerce was partly devoted to

* Respecting this statement, see p. 57.

the encouragement of art, which was cultivated in this island with great success during the half-century preceding the Persian war. Indeed, during this period Ægina held a prominent rank among the Grecian states, and possessed the most powerful navy in all Greece.

§ 13. There had been an ancient feud between Athens and Ægina, which first broke out into open hostilities a few years after the expulsion of Hippias from Athens. About the year 506 B. c. the Thebans, who had been defeated by the Athenians,* applied for aid to Ægina. This was immediately granted; and the Æginetans immediately attacked the Athenian territory, without making any formal declaration of war. Of the details of this contest we have no information; and we lose sight of Ægina for the next few years.

In the year before the battle of Marathon Ægina is mentioned among the Grecian states which gave earth and water to the envoys of Darius. It was, probably, as much hatred of the Athenians as fear of the Persians which led the Æginetans to submit to Darius, hoping to crush their obnoxious rivals with the help of the Great King. The Persians, however, were not yet in Greece; and the Athenians lost no time in sending an embassy to Sparta, accusing the Æginetans of having betrayed the common cause of Hellas, and calling upon the Spartans, as the protectors of Grecian liberty, to punish the offenders. This request met with prompt attention; and Cleomenes, one of the Spartan kings, forthwith crossed over to Ægia. He was proceeding to arrest and carry away some of the leading citizens, when Demaratus, the other Spartan king, privately encouraged the Æginetans to defy the authority of his colleague. This was the second important occasion on which Demaratus had thwarted the plans of his colleague; and Cleomenes returned to Sparta, firmly resolved that Demaratus should not have a third opportunity.

It appears that there had always been doubts respecting the legitimacy of Demaratus. Cleomenes now persuaded Leotychides, the next heir to the crown, to lay claim to the royal dignity, on the ground that Demaratus was disqualified by his birth. The Spartans referred the question to the Delphic oracle; and, at the secret instigation of Cleomenes, the priestess declared that his colleague was illegitimate. Leotychides thus ascended the throne, and Demaratus descended into a private station. Shortly afterwards, the deposed monarch received a gross affront from the new king at a public festival, whereupon he quitted Sparta in wrath, and repaired to the Persian court, where we shall subsequently find him among the counsellors of Darius.

Cleomenes now returned to Ægina, accompanied by Leotychides. The Æginetans did not dare to resist the joint demand of the two Spartan kings, and surrendered to them ten of their leading citizens, whom Cleomenes deposited as hostages in the hands of the Athenians.

§ 14. After the battle of Marathon, the Æginetans endeavored to recover these hostages; and the refusal of the Athenians to give them back led to a renewal of the war, which was prosecuted with great activity on both sides. It was now that Themistocles came forward with his celebrated proposition, which converted Athens into a maritime power. Hitherto the Athenians had not possessed a navy; and Themistocles clearly saw that without a powerful fleet it would be impossible for his countrymen to humble their rival. But his views extended still further. He well knew that Persia was preparing for another and still more formidable attack upon Greece; and he had the sagacity to perceive that a large and efficient fleet would be the best protection against the barbarians. Influenced by these two motives, and also impressed with the conviction that the very position of Athens fitted it to be a maritime and not a land power, he urged the Athenians at once to build and equip a numerous and powerful fleet. The Athenians were both able and willing to follow his advice. There was at this time a large surplus in the public treasury, arising from the produce of the valuable silver mines at Laurium. These mines, which belonged to the state, were situated in the southern part of Attica, near Cape Sunium, in the midst of a mountainous district. It had been recently proposed to distribute this surplus among the Athenian citizens; but Themistocles persuaded them to sacrifice their private advantage to the public good, and to appropriate this money to building a fleet of two hundred ships. The immediate want of a fleet to cope with the Æginetans probably weighed with the Athenian people more powerfully than the prospective danger from the Persians. "And thus," as Herodotus says, "the Æginetan war saved Greece by compelling the Athenians to make themselves a maritime power." Not only were these two hundred ships built, but Themistocles also succeeded about the same time in persuading the Athenians to pass a decree that twenty new ships should be built every year.

We

§ 15. Of the internal history of Athens during the ten years between the battles of Marathon and Salamis we have little information. only know that the two leading citizens of this period were Themistocles and Aristeides. These two eminent men formed a striking contrast to each other. Themistocles possessed abilities of the most extraordinary kind. In intuitive sagacity, in ready invention, and in prompt and daring execution, he surpasses almost every statesman, whether of ancient or of modern times. With unerring foresight he divined the plans of his enemies; in the midst of difficulties and perplexities, not only was he never at a loss for an expedient, but he always adopted the right one; and he carried out his schemes with an energy and a promptness which astonished both friends and foes. But these transcendant abilities were marred by a

* Some of the shafts, and large accumulations of scoria, still testify to the extent of the ancient mining operations in the district of Laurium. - ED.

want of honesty. In the exercise of power he was accessible to bribes, and he did not hesitate to employ dishonest means for the aggrandizement both of Athens and of himself. He closed a glorious career in disgrace and infamy, an exile and a traitor.

Aristeides was inferior to Themistocles in ability, but was incomparably superior, not only to him but to all his contemporaries, in honesty and integrity. In the administration of public affairs he acted with a single eye to the public good, regardless of party ties and of personal friendships. His uprightness and justice were so universally acknowledged, that he received the surname of the Just. But these very virtues procured him enemies. Not only did he incur the hatred of those whose corrupt practices he denounced and exposed, but many of his fellow-citizens became jealous of a man whose superiority was constantly proclaimed. We are told that an unlettered countryman gave his vote against Aristeides at the ostracism simply on the ground that he was tired of hearing him always called the Just.

Between men of such opposite characters as Themistocles and Aristeides there could not be much agreement. In the management of public affairs they frequently came into collision; and they opposed each other with such violence and animosity, that Aristeides is reported to have said, "If the Athenians were wise, they would cast both of us into the barathrum." After three or four years of bitter rivalry, the two chiefs appealed to the ostracism, and Aristeides was banished.

Aristeides had used all his efforts to prevent the Athenians from abandoning their ancient habits, and from converting their state from a land into a maritime power. There can be no doubt that he viewed such a change as a dangerous innovation, and thought that the sailor would not make so good an Athenian citizen as the heavy-armed soldier. It was fortunate, however, for the liberties of Greece, that the arguments of his rival prevailed. Aristeides was a far more virtuous citizen than Themistocles; but their country could now dispense with the former much better than with the latter.

1. Death of Darius and Accession of Xerxes. § 2. Preparations for the Invasion of Greece. 3. A Bridge thrown across the Hellespont, and a Canal cut through the Isthmus of Mount Athos. § 4. Xerxes sets out from Sardis. Order of the March. § 5. Passage of the Hellespont. § 6. Numbering of the Army on the Plain of Doriscus. § 7. Continuation of the March from Doriscus to Mount Olympus. § 8. Preparations of the Greeks to resist Xerxes. Congress of the Grecian States at the Isthmus of Corinth. 9. Patriotism of the Athenians. Resolution of the Greeks to defend the Pass of Tempe, which is afterwards abandoned. § 10. Description of the Pass of Thermopyla. § 11. Leonidas sent out with Three Hundred Spartans to defend the Pass of Thermopylæ. § 12. Attack and Repulse of the Persians at Thermopylæ. § 13. A Persian Detachment cross the Mountains by a Secret Path in order to fall upon the Greeks in the Rear. 14. Heroic Death of Leonidas and his Comrades. 15. Monuments erected to their Honor. 16. Proceedings of the Persian and Grecian Fleets. § 17. The Persian Fleet overtaken by a Terrible Storm. § 18. The First Battle of Artemisium. § 19. Second Storm. 20. Second Battle of Artemisium. Retreat of the Grecian Fleet to Salamis.

§ 1. THE defeat of the Persians at Marathon served only to increase the resentment of Darius. He now resolved to collect the whole forces of his empire, and to lead them in person against Athens. For three years, busy preparations were made throughout his vast dominions. In the fourth year, his attention was distracted by a revolt of the Egyptians, who had always borne the Persian yoke with impatience; and before he could reduce them to subjection he was surprised by death, after a reign of thirty-seven years (B. c. 485).