Chapter XXXIX

PROCEEDINGS IN GREECE FROM THE BATTLE OF MARATHON TO THE TIME OF
THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ.

Violent proceedings and death of Kleomenês king of Sparta. —
Complaint of the Æginetans at Sparta against Kleomenês and
Leotychidês, on the subject of the hostages which those two
kings had taken from Ægina. — The Spartans deliver Leotychidês
to the Æginetans, who require him to go with them to Athens,
to get back the hostages. — Refusal of the Athenians to give
up the hostages — reprisals of the Æginetans. — The Æginetan
Nikodromus lays a scheme for a democratical revolution in Ægina,
in concert with Athens — the movement fails. — Treatment of the
defeated conspirators — sacrilege. — The Athenians land a force
in Ægina — war which ensues. — Effect of this war in inducing the
Athenians to enlarge their military force. — Themistoklês and
Aristeidês, the chief men at Athens — intense rivalry between
them. — Banishment of the latter by ostracism. — Conversion
of Athens from a land power into a naval power proposed and
urged by Themistoklês. — Views and long-sighted calculations of
Themistoklês — he was at this time more essential to his country
than Aristeidês. — Fleet of Athens — the salvation of Greece
as well as of herself. — Valuable fund new first available to
Athens from the silver mines of Laurium in Attica. — Themistoklês
prevails upon the Athenian people to forego the distribution
of this fund, and employ it in building an increased number of
ships. — Preparations of Xerxes — known beforehand in Greece. —
Heralds from Persia to demand earth and water from the Grecian
cities — many of them comply and submit. — Pan-Hellenic congress
convened jointly by Athens and Sparta at the Isthmus of Corinth.
— Important effect on Grecian mind. — Effects of the congress in
healing feuds among the different Greeks — especially between
Athens and Ægina. — Alarm and mistrust prevalent throughout
Greece. — Terror conveyed in the reply of the Delphian oracle
to the Athenian envoys. — Sentence of the oracle frightful, yet
obscure: efforts of the Athenians to interpret it: ingenuity
and success of Themistoklês. — Great and genuine Pan-Hellenic
patriotism of the Athenians — strongly attested by Herodotus, as
his own judgment. — Unwillingness, or inability, on the part of a
large proportion of Greeks, to resist the Persians. — Ambiguous
neutrality of Argos. — Different stories current in Greece about
Argos — opinion of Herodotus. — Refusal or equivocation of the
Kretans and Korkyræans. — Mission to Gelon at Syracuse — his
reply. — Grecian army sent into Thessaly, to defend the defile
of Tempê against Xerxes. — On arriving, they find that it cannot
be successfully held against him, and retire. — Consequences of
this retreat — the Thessalians, and nearly all Hellas north of
Kithæron, either submit to Xerxes or waver.
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