Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/49

 PEEPARATIONS AND MARCH OF XKEXES. 25 cavated this canal, which was fortified against the sea at its two extremities by compact earthen walls, or embankments, they also threw bridges of boats over the river Strymon : and these two works, together with the renovated double bridge across the Hel- lespont, were both announced to Xerxes as completed and ready for passage, on his arrival at Sardis at the beginning of winter, 481-480 B.C. "Whether the whole of his vast army arrived at Sardis at the same time as himself, and wintered there, may reasonably be doubted ; but the whole w^as united at Sardis and ready to march against Greece, at the beginning of spring, 480 B.C. "While wintering at Sardis, the Persian monarch despatched heralds to all the cities of Greece, except Sparta and Athens, to demand the received tokens of submission, earth and water : for news of his prodigious armament Avas well calculated to spread terror even among the most resolute of them. And he at the same time sent orders to the maritime cities in Thrace and Mace- donia to prepare " dinner " for himself and his vast suite as he passed on his march. That march was commenced at the first beginning of spring, and continued in spite of several threaten- ing portents during the course of it, — one of which Xerxes was blind enough not to comprehend, though, according to Herodotus, nothing could be more obvious than its signification,! — while i-oitiaaro, KacTiep evcrvfi[32.7}Tov kov • Imzog yap eteks ay6v. Hvai)fif3?.7}Tov o)V T^de iyEVETO, on E/LiE2,2.e fisv iXav arpari^v ettI ttjv 'EAAaJa Ssp^ric uyavpoTara kol /lEyaXoTrpETriaTara, bmau 6s nspl eCivtov rpi-xuv rjEetv i( rbv avTov x^pov. The prodigy was, that a mare brought forth a hare, which signified that Xerxes would set forth on his expedition to Greece with strength and splendor, but that he would come back in timid and disgraceful flight. The implicit faith of Herodotus, first in the reality of the fact, — next, in the certainty of his interpretation, — deserves notice, as illustrating his canon of belief, and that of his age. The interpretation is doubtless here the generating cause of the stoiy interpreted : an ingenious man, after the expedition has tenninated, imagines an appropriate simile for its proud commencement and inglorious termination (Parturiunt montcs, nascctur ridiculus mus), and the simile is recounted, either by himself or by some hearer wlio is struck with it, as if it had been a real antecedent fact. The aptness of this supposed antecedent fact to foreshadow the great Persian Invasion (rd tvaifjfi'/.rjTov of Herodotus) serves as presumptive endence to VOL. V. 2
 * Herodot. vii, 57. Tepac o(pi. idavrj fieya, to Asp^vc £V ovdevl Tioyu