Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/137

 BATTLE OF SALAMIS.- RETREAT OF XERXES. US serted countiy, his fleet occupying the roadstead of Phalei-um with the coast adjoining. His land-force had heen put in motion under the guidance of the Thessalians, two or three days after the battle of Thei'mopylte, and he was assured by some Arca- dians who came to seek service, that the Peloponnesians were, even at that moment, occupied with the celebration of the Olym- pic games. " "SVhat ■orize does the victor receive ? " he asked. Upon the reply made, that the prize was a wreath of the wild olive, Ti'itanttechmes, son of the monarch's uncle Artabanus, is said to have burst forth, notwithstanding the displeasure both of the monarch himself and of the bystanders : " Heavens, Mar- donius, what manner of men are these against whom thou hast brought us to fight ! men who contend not for money, but for honor I"i "Whether this be a remark really delivered, or a dra- matic illustration imagined by some contemporary of Herodotus, it i> not the less interesting as bringing to view a characteristic of Hellenic life, which contrasts not merely with the manners of contemporary Orientals, but even with those of the earlier Greeks themselves during the Homeric times. Among all the various Greeks between Thermopylae and the borders of Attica, there were none except the Phocians disposed to refuse submission : and they refused only because the para- mount influence of their bitter enemies the Thessahans made ♦iem despair of obtaining favorable terms.2 Nor would they even listen to a proposition of the Thessalians, who, boasting that it was in their power to guide as they pleased the terrors of the Persian host, offered to insure lenient treatment to the terri- tory of Phocis, provided a sum of fifty talents were paid to them.3 The proposition being indignantly refused, they con- ducted Xerxes through the little territory of Doris, which medized and escaped plunder, into the upper valley of the Kephisus, otus ; while Didot and GoUer would alter rpiaKoaiuv into TerpaKoaiuv in Demosthenes de Corona (c. 70), in order that Demosthenes may be in har- mony with Thucydides. Such emendations appear to me inadmissible in principle : we are not to force different M-itnesses into harmony by retouch- ing their statements. ' Herodot. viii, 26. TlaiTal, Mapdovie, kocov( err' uv6pac nyaycc /laxv^oiti' vovg ijfiEac, ol ov Tzepl XRVf^^'-TUV top uydva notevvTai, d?.?M Tvepi upiTT/^. ' Herodot. viii, 30. 3 Herodot. viii, 28, 29. VOL. V. 8oc.