Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/132

 108 HISTORY OF GREECE. way he could. "We may conceive the state of tumult and terror which followed on this unexpected proclamation, when we reflect that it had to be circulated and acted upon throughout all Attica, from Sunium to Oropus, within the narrow space of less than six days ; for no longer interval elapsed before Xerxes actually arrived at Athens, where indeed he might have arrived even sooner.' The whole Grecian fleet was doubtless employed in carrying out the helpless exiles ; mostly to Troezen, where a kind reception and generous support were provided for them (the Trcezenian population being seemingly semi-Ionic, and having ancient relations of religion as well as of trafiic Avith Athens), — but in part also to ^gina : there were, however, many who could not, or would not, go father than Salamis. Themistokles im- pressed upon the sufferers that they were only obeying the oracle, which had directed them to abandon the city and to take refuge behind the wooden walls ; and either his policy, or the mental depression of the time, gave circulation to other stories, intimating that even the divine inmates of the acropolis were for a while deserting it. In the ancient temple of Athene Polias on that rock, there dwelt, or was believed to dwell, as guardian to the sanctuary and familiar attendant of the goddess, a sacred serpent, for whose nourishment a honey-cake was placed once in the month. The honey-cake had been hitherto regularly con- sumed ; but at this fatal moment the priestess announced that it remained untouched : the sacred guardian had thus set the ex- ample of quitting the acropolis, and it behooved the citizens to follow the example, confiding in the goddess herself for future return and restitution. The migration of so many ancient men, women, and children, was a scene of tears and misery inferior only to that which would have ensued on the actual capture of the city .2 Some few individuals, too poor to hope for mainte- ' Herodot. viii, 66, 67. There was, therefore, but little time for the break- ing up and carrying away of furniture, alluded to by Tliucydides, i, 18 — 6Lavori-&EVTEQ eKXiTTEcv TTjv TTo'/uv Kol avaoKevacTafievoi, etc. ^ Herodot. viii, 41 ; Plutarch, Themistokles, c. x. In the years 1821 and 1822, during the struggle which preceded the lib- eration of Greece, the Athenians were forced to leave their country and seek refuge in Salamis three several times. These incidents are sketched in a manner alike interesting and instructive by Dr. Waddington, in his Visit to