Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/144

 120 HISTORY OF GREECE. herself may have lived to entertain the conviction afterwards Whatever may have been her reasons, the historian tells us that friends as well as rivals were astonished at her rashness in dis- suading the monarch from a naval battle, and expected that she would be put to death. But Xerxes heard the advice with per- fect good temper, and even esteemed the Karian queen the more highly : though he resolved that the opinion of the majority, or his own opinion, should be acted upon : and orders were accord- ingly issued for attacking the next day,i while the land-force should move forward towards Peloponnesus. Whilst on the shore of Phalerum, an omnipotent will com- pelled seeming unanimity and precluded all real dehberation, — great, indeed, was the contrast presented by the neighboring Greek armament at Salamis, among the members of which unmeasured dissension had been reigning. It has already been stated that the Greek fleet had originally got together at that island, not with any view of making it a naval station, but sim- ply in order to cover and assist the emigration of the Athenians. This object being accomplished, and Xerxes being already in Attica, Eurybiades convoked the chiefs to consider what position was the fittest for a naval engagement. Most of them, especially those from Peloponnesus, were averse to remaining at Salamis, and proposed that the fleet should be transferred to the isthmus of Corinth, where it would be in immediate communication with the Peloponnesian land-force, so that in case of defeat at sea, the ships would find protection on shore, and the men would join in the land service, — while if worsted in a naval action near Salamis, they would be inclosed in an island from whence there wei'e no hopes of escape.2 In the midst of the debate, a mes- senger arrived with news of the capture and conflagration of Athens and her acropolis by the Persians: and such was the terror produced by this intelligence, that some of the chiefs, without even awaiting the conclusion of the debate and the final vote, quitted the council forthwith, and began to hoist sail, or prepare their rowers, for departure. The majority came to a and even designedly kept so, forming a contrast to the native Persians (Xenophon, Cyropsed. viii, 1, -15). ' Herodot. viii, 68, 69, 70. ' Herodot. viu, 70.