Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/141

Rh great that Themistocles could no longer restrain the Greek captains, and the fleet sailed to Chalcis, on the Euripus, the narrowest point between Euboea and the mainland. But when the Persians, who were in an exposed position, had suffered severely from a great storm, the Greeks mustered courage to return to Artemisium, and there for three days the two fleets were engaged. On the first day the result was rather in favour of the Greeks, and the success was confirmed by another violent storm during the night, in which the Persians, being still in the more exposed position, suffered much more than the Greeks. On the second day nothing of importance was done, though the Greek fleet was reinforced by a new- Athenian squadron. .On the third day a more determined effort was made by the Persians, and though nightfall prevented a victory on either side, the Greek fleet suffered very severely. And now the news reached them that the Spartan army at Thermopylae was destroyed and the country open for the advance of Xerxes upon Attica and the Peloponnese.

The story of Thermopylae is one of the most famous in history. At that time between Mount Œta and the sea for about a mile there was a narrow road scarcely wide enough for two waggons to pass each other, and at one point defended by a wall built by the Phocians to keep off Thessalian marauders. Here Leonidas, with his small army, had established himself. The king could not believe that such a puny force would venture to withstand the grand army, though warned by Demaratus, the exiled Spartan king, that the Spartans would never