Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/100

 76 HISTORY OF GREECE. sition for a certain number of their troops to assist in the defence of Thermopylae, was doubtful whether they would not refuse compliance, and openly declare against the Greek cause. The Theban chiefs thought it prudent to comply, though against their real inclinations, and furnished a contingent of four hundred men,i chosen from citizens of a sentiment opposed to their own. Lideed the Theban people, and the Boeotians generally, with the exception of Thespiae and Platsa, seem to have had little senti- ment on either side, and to have followed passively the inspu-a- tions of their leaders. With these troops Leonidas reached Thermopylag, whence he sent envoys to invite the junction of the Phocians and the Lokrians of Opus. The latter had been among those who had sent earth and water to Xerxes, of which they are said to have repented : the step was taken, probably, only from fear, which at this particular moment prescribed acquiescence in the summons of Leonidas, justified by the plea of necessity in case the Per- sians should prove ultimately victorious :2 while the Phocians, if originally disposed to medize, were now precluded from doing so by the fact that their bitter enemies, the Thessalians, were active in the cause of Xerxes, and influential in guiding his movements.3 The Greek envoys added strength to their sum- mons by all the encouragement in their power. " The troops now at ThermopyliB, they said, were a mere advanced body, preceding the main strength of Greece, which was expected to arrive every day : on the side of the sea, a sufficient fleet was already on guard : nor was there any cause for fear, since the ' Herodot. vii, 205 ; Thucyd. iii, 62 ; Diodor. xi, 4 ; Plutarch, Aristeides, c. 18. The passage of Thucydides is very important here, as confirming, to a great degree, the statement of Herodotus, and enabling us to appreciate the criticisms of Plutarch, on this particular point very plausible (De Herodoti Malign, pp. 865, 866). The latter seems to have copied from a lost Boeotian author named Aristophanes, who tried to make out a more honorable case for his countrymen in respect to their conduct in the Persian war. The statement of Diodorus, — Brj^aluv and ttjc hepac fispi6oc wf rerpa- Koaioc, — is illustrated by a proceeding of the Korkyraean government (Thucyd. iii, 75), when they enlisted their enemies in order to send them away : also that of the Italian Cumae (Dionys. Hal. vii, 5).
 * Diodor. xi. 4. ' Herodot. viii, 80 ,