tains divided among themselves the ballots over Neptune's
altar, in order to give their votes for the two individuals
whom they thought the first and the second of the whole
forces. Thereupon each of them gave his vote for himself,
each thinking that he himself had been the most valiant ;
with respect to the second prize, the majority agreed in
awarding it to Themistocles. Accordingly the captains had
each but one vote, while Themistocles had by far the majority
124 for the second prize. Although the captains would not out
of envy 5 make the award, but departed each to his own
, country without adjudging the prize, yet was Themistocles
proclaimed and celebrated all over Greece as the wisest man
by far of the Greeks. And since, although he had really
won the prize, he received no honours from those who had
fought at Salaniis, he accordingly forthwith proceeded to
Lacedaemon, where he expected to obtain honours. And the
Lacedaemonians received him handsomely, and honoured him
greatly. They gave therefore the prize of valour to Eury-
biades, a wreath of olive ; that of wisdom and skill to Themi-
stocles, a wreath of olive likewise 6 . They likewise presented
2 Equivalent to il tr/Ugsa *a) a.^tTa. must be in allusion only to the reputa-
ta. angina. (a) AiX<z/5jx. See Matthise, tion they obtained in the battle ; unless
Gr. Gramm. p. 389, or sect. 265, second indeed we suppose that the " aristeia,"
paragraph. ' which were to have been awarded on the
3 According to Plutarch, the " aris- Isthmus, were for general good behaviour
teia" were solemnly awarded to the during the whole war, just terminated
./Eginetas, and to Aminias the brother of by the flight of Xerxes. Translat.
^Eschylus : from Herodotus we can only 4 y T ^ t Wxi^tov revrtv. See Matthiae,
deduce that the islanders and the poet's Gr. Gramm. p. 888, or sect. 579.
brother were named by the public voice 5 The fact was, they could not make
as deserving of those honours in the the award; as each captain gave his
battle of Salamis, rfxoturav aj/irra, ch. 93. vote for the first prize to himself, that
The Greeks, as we see by the following could not be adjudged. The first prize
chapter, could not, through mutual jea- remaining undecided, the second could
lousy and vanity, come to any award of not certainly be awarded.
the " aristeia ;" therefore the prize of 6 a^a-r^a ^jv (agjTif #t).i/uxr,t , or
valour which the Pythoness claims, as aS*yaA'j) iSar Ewjt//3/aSi, iXa/'x? ati-
the ged's perquisite, from the ^ginetae, <pavsy, rf/wf & KI $I|/OT>JT<>J (/<r<r>!<
URANIA. VIII. 125127. 285
him with the most beautiful chariot in Sparta ; and after
much applauding him, three hundred select Spartans, those
called the knights, escorted him, at his departure 7 , as far as
the Tegean boundaries. Themistocles is the only man. that
we know of, whom the Spartans ever accompanied out of the
town. On his arrival at Athens, Timodemus of Aphidna?, 125
who was one of the enemies of Themistocles, but otherwise
not a man of any note, raging with envy, began to rail at
Themistocles, reproaching him with his journey to Lacedae-
mon, that he' had obtained his honours at the hands of the
Lacedaemonians, through respect to Athens, and not to his
own personal merit. Themistocles, seeing that Timodemus
did not cease to hold such language, said, " It is so in truth ;
" were I a Belbinite 8 , I should not have been thus honoured
" by the Spartans ; nor you, fellow, though you are an
" Athenian."
Meanwhile Artabazus, the son of Pharnaces, a man formerly 126
held in esteem among the Persians, but much more so still
subsequently to the events at Plataea, had, at the head of sixty
thousand of the forces that Mardonius selected, escorted the
King as far as the strait ; and when the King was landed
in Asia, he himself marching back arrived near Pallena ; and
as Mardonius was in winter quarters about Thessaly, and
Macedonia, and was not in any hurry for 'him to join the
main body, he thought it would be disgraceful if, happening
to be in the country of the Potidaeatse, who had rebelled, he
neglected the opportunity of enthralling them 9 . For the
Potidaeatas, as soon as the King had retreated through their
territory, and the fleet of the Persians had fled from Salamis,
openly detached themselves from the barbarians ; as did the
others resident on the peninsula of Pallena. Artabazus there-
fore now besieged Potidoea. And having some suspicion that 127
the Olynthii were about to revolt from the King, he besieged
their town as well. The town was at that period possessed
by the Bottiaei, who had been driven from the bay 01 Therma
by the Macedonians. But when Artabazus had besieged and
captured them, he took them to a marsh, and massacred
ZS<rav) &ifti<fra^ii, toxins ffr'nfttyto *,) inhabitants of ' that island were treated
rauref. Schweig. Lei, Herod. with the same contempt as those of
7 it is generally allowed that these Jersey and Guernsey are now-a-days,
Whs, despite of their name, served on on the southern coasts of England, and
foot. See Larcher's note. perhaps with as little justice.^ Trans.
8 An inhabitant of Belbina, a small 9 oux, Qntlu . . . pti oi>* ia3g<r.
island situate, it appears, somewhere Matthias, Gr. Gramm. p. 930, or sect,
at the mouth of the Saronic gulf. This 601. " He thought it would be an m-
speech of Themistocles shews that the dignant thing if he did not," &c.
^ 286 URANIA. VIII. 128, 129.
them 1 ; he then gave the city to Critobulus, the Toronaean,
to govern, and to the Chalcidic tribe; and thus the people of
128 Chalcidice came into possession of Olynthus. After Artabazus
had captured Olynthus, he attended with all earnestness to
the siege of Potidaea ; and while he was zealously pushing on
his operations, Timoxenus, the captain of the Scionaeans, agreed
with him for the surrender of the place ; in what manner the
correspondence originally began, I cannot undertake to say,
for that is not related ; but in the end the following event
came to pass. Whenever Timoxenus wished to send to
Artabazus, or Artabazus to Timoxenus, they would write on
papyrus, and twisting it round the lower part of 2 an arrow,
and then fixing the wings over the papyrus, shoot the arrow
into some place agreed upon. But Timoxenus was discovered
in his plots to betray the town of Potidsea ; for Artabazus
wishing to shoot an arrow into the appointed spot, missed the
mark, and hit one of the inhabitants of Potidaea in the
shoulder. The people, as is wont in war, crowded round the
wounded man ; and having pulled out the arrow, as soon as
they saw the papyrus, took it to the captains, for the whole
confederate body of the Pallenians was there present. The
captains having read over the letter, and discovered the
author of the treachery, resolved not to impeach Timoxenus
of treachery, out of respect to the city of Scione, lest the
Scionaeans should ever after be considered to be traitors. Such
was the manner accordingly in which Timoxenus's treachery
129 was discovered. After three months had been expended in
the siege by Artabazus, there happened a violent ebb of the
sea, which lasted for a considerable time ; and the barbarians,
seeing the bay fordable, proceeded to cross over to Pallena 3 ;
but when they had performed two parts of the distance, and
three yet remained which they must have gone over, in order
to be in the peninsula of Pallena, a violent swell of the sea
came on,, such as, according to the account of the natives, is
by no means of frequent occurrence ; accordingly, those of
the barbarians who did not know how to swim perished ; and
those that did know, the Potidaeatae slaughtered, pursuing
1 This marsh was to the south of therefore, as Potidasa remained uncap-
Olynthus, adjoining the Toronaean gulf tured, the barbarians, who had no ships,
at its bottom. could not march into the peninsula in
" a,! yXr^/Sij are the four longitudinal order to chastise the rest of the inhabit-
incisions at the. bottom of the arrow, in ants of that quarter, who had all revolted
which the wings were inserted. Schweig. from the King. With this intention, and
Lei. Herod. probably likewise to take Potidaea itself
3 Potida;a was situate exactly on the in the rear, a detachment attempted to
isthmus which joins the peninsula of ford over when an opportunity was of-
Pallena to the main land : so long, fered them by the ebb of the sea. Tram.
URANIA. VIII. 130, 181. 287
them with their ships. The Potideeatse affirm, that the cause
of the ebb and flood, and of the Persian's disaster, was this ;
that those very Persians who perished in the sea had profaned,
by impious deeds, the shrine and image of Neptune in the
suburb ; and in giving this reason, to me at least they appear
to speak rightly. Artabazus led the survivors to join Mardo-
nius in Thessaly. Such was the unfortunate success of*
those who had escorted the King.
The surviving portion of Xerxes's naval armament, after 130
arriving in Asia in its flight from Salamis, and ferrying the
King and army over from the Chersonesus to Abydos, went
into winter quarters at Cyma : but when spring opened, the
ships hastened to collect at Samos, where some of them had
even wintered. Most of the fighting men were Persians and
Medes; and their admirals joined them, Mardontes, the son
of Bagasus, and Artayntes, the son of Artachaeus ; in joint
power with whom was Ithamitres, the nephew of Artayntes
himself, and by him associated to the command. As they
had been sorely handled, they did not advance any farther
to the westward ; neither did any one compel them so to do ;
but abiding at Samos, they kept watch over Ionia, lest it
should rebel, having with the Ionian vessels/ three hundred
sail. They did not either expect the Greeks would come to
Ionia, but thought they would be content to guard their own
territory ; inferring this because they had not pursued them
from Salamis, but had willingly retired. Accordingly, in
respect to the contest by sea, the barbarians were broken
hearted, but on land they imagined Mardonius would have a
decided superiority ; staying therefore at Samos, they con-
sulted what harm they could do to the enemy, and at the
same time were on the tiptoe to hear how the affairs of Mar-
donius would succeed. On the other hand, the arrival of 131
spring, and Mardonius still in Thessaly, awakened the Greeks.
The land forces however were not yet mustered ; but the fleet,
amounting to one hundred and ten -sail, proceeded to ^Egina.
The leader and admiral was Leotychides, lineally descended
from Menares, Agesilaus, Hippocratides, Leotychides, Anaxi-
laus, Archidamus, Anaxandrides, Theopompus, Nicander,
Charillus, Eunomus, Polydectes, Prytanis, Euryphon, Pro-
cles, Aristodamus, Aristomachus, Cleodseus, Hyllas, Hercules.
He was of the second 5 family of the kings, and all those
4 dm 'l*f*lct* without the addition of order of ascendants ; he likewise reads
**{, see p. 202, note 1, of the first i#r* lower down, instead of Siw, be-
volume of this work. cause Theopompus was the latest king
5 See p. 84, 85. Larcher states that of that line. S:e Larcher's Essai de
the above genealogy is wrong in the Chronologic, p. 513.
URANIA. VIII. 132134.
ancestors, saving the two mentioned first after Leotychides,
had been kings of Sparta. Over the Athenians, Xanthippus,
132 the son of Ariphron, commanded. When all the ships were
assembled at ^Egina, ambassadors came from the lonians to
the fleet of the Greeks ; they had a short time before gone to
Sparta, and besought the Lacedaemonians to deliver Ionia ;
and of their number was Herodotus, the son of Basilides. These,
being originally seven in number, had conspired together the
death of Strattis, the tyrant of Chios ; but their plot being
discovered, one of the party having reported their intention,
the other six fled from Chios, and went to Sparta, and more
particularly at the time I am speaking of, to ^Egina, in order
to beseech the Greeks to steer for Ionia. But it was with
difficulty they could get them as far on the voyage as Delos,
for every thing beyond was an object of fear to the Greeks,
Avho were unacquainted with those countries, and fancied that
all parts were full of troops. Nay ? they were convinced in
their own imagination, that Samos was as far off as the
columns of Hercules 6 . Thus it came to pass, that at the
same time the barbarians, through fear, durst not proceed
further than Samos to the west, and the Greeks, despite of
the entreaties of the Chians, durst not advance further to the
east than Delos : in this manner, terror served as a guard
over the parts between the two.
133 The Greeks accordingly made for Delos ; and in the mean
time Mardonius was still in winter quarters about Thessaly.
When he prepared to march from thence, he despatched to
the various oracles a native of Europos 7 , whose name was
Mys, commissioning him to go and consult in all parts what-
ever oracles he might find it possible to address. As to what
information he was desirous to obtain from the oracles when he
gave those orders, I cannot undertake to say, for that is not
related ; but for my part, I imagine it must have been on his
own present affairs, and not on those of others that he sent.
134 It is well known, that this Mys arrived at Lebadia, and hav-
ing prevailed on one of the natives, by means of a reward,
descended into the Trophonian cave ; likewise, that he went
to the oracle at Abae, of the Phocians; and more particularly,
that he visited Thebes, where as soon as he had arrived, he
first consulted Ismenian Apollo ; and there, as at Olympia, it
is the custom to deduce the answer from the victims 8 ; he
6 This remark of the historian applies disquisitions, which to us appear some-
no doubt only to the majority of the times rather needless. Translat.
Greeks, and not to all. The ignorance, 7 See the Geographical Index at the
however, which he mentions here, as end of this volume,
generally existing in the nation, will 8 /g must be taken here in the sense
account for many of his geographical of victims, as in iv. 60. The answer
URANIA. VIII. 135, 136. 289
secondly, after prevailing with money on some person who
was not a Theban, but a foreigner, he passed the night in the
temple of Amphiaraus : I say a foreigner^ for to none of the
Thebans is it lawful to consult 8 the oracle there on this
account : Amphiaraus, by an oracle, commanded them to
determine which of these two things they would elect, to the
exclusion of the other, whether to avail themselves of him as
a prophet, or as a confederate ; the Thebans elected that he
should be their confederate 9 , and for that reason it is per-
mitted to none of the Thebans to pass the night in that place.
The following, which to me is a very great wonder, is said 135
by the Thebans to have occurred ; that the Eurdpian Mys,
making the circuit of all the oracles, came accordingly to the
precinct of Apollo Ptous: (this sacred place is called Ptoum,
it belongs to the Thebans, and lies above the lake Copais to-
wards the mountain, close to the city of Acrasphia :) that when
this man, called Mys, [i. e. Mouse,] went to the temple, three
persons, chosen by the commonwealth, accompanied him, for the
purpose of writing down what the god might pronounce. But
that forthwith the head prophet pronounced in a barbarian
tongue ; and that the Thebans who had followed him were
seized with astonishment, at hearing a barbarian tongue,
instead of Greek, nor did they know what expedient to have
recourse to, in the present circumstances ; but that the Eurd-
pian Mys took from them the tablet they had brought, and
wrote down upon it the words pronounced by the prophet,
declaring that he used the Carian language. Having written
down the answer, he departed 1 , they say, for Thessaly.
Mardonius having read the answers pronounced accord- 136
ingly by the oracles, next sent, as an ambassador to Athens,
Alexander, the son of Amyntas, a Macedonian man. He
selected him for two reasons; first, because the Persians were
allied to him ; for Bubares, a man of Persia, had married
Gygaea, Alexander's sister, and Amyntas' s daughter, from
whom was born Amyntas the Asiatic, who took his name
from his maternal grandsire ; to this latter Alabanda, a large
was deduced at Olympia, not by con- may, I think, be taken here, as in ix. 36,
suiting the entrails of the victim, but in the sense of performing the duties of
by observing how it burnt : hence it has ftdans . This sense connects the narra-
been proposed to read i[i,xvii<rt in this live better than that which I have
passage of Herodotus. That such was adopted. Translat.
the meaning of the historian there seems 9 / l\ ttftfufcb fu i"A.avr that. !
to be little doubt ; but it is not so clear, Matthia;, Gr. Gramm. p. 593, or sect,
however, that the reading is bad. See 414, c.
Schweig. Not. 1 e'^tttai aw/ovra Is Qiirffitlivt. Sec
8 I have followed Larcher and Schweig- Matthias, Gr. Grirnm. p. 886, or sect,
user ; the verb pxiTtutftai, however, 578 ; and p. 857, or sect. 559, c.
VOL. II. 2 P
290 URANIA. VIII. 137.
city of Phrygia, was presented by the King, the revenues of
which he received : secondly, Mardonius sent Alexander, be-
cause he understood he was connected, by hospitality and ser-
vice, with the Athenians. In this manner, Mardonius fancied
he should certainly bring over to his side the Athenians,
understanding that they were a nation both numerous and
valiant ; and he knew that it was they principally, who had
caused the disasters that befell the Persians by sea. If they
were associated to him, he expected that he should easily
become master of the sea, which certainly would have been
the case ; and on land, he fancied he should be far superior ;
and in this manner, he inferred that his power would get the
upper hand of the Greek. Haply also the oracles advised
him to it, counselling him to make Athens an ally ; and accord-
ingly it might be in obedience to them that he sent.
137 Of this Alexander, the seventh 2 progenitor was Perdiccas, who
acquired the government of the Macedonians in this manner.
Three brothers, of the ancestors of Temenus, fled from Argos
to the Illyrians, Gauanes, Aeropus, and Perdiccas; passing over
from the Illyrians into upper Macedonia, they arrived at the
town of Lebsea ; where they engaged for wages in the king's
service; one tending the horses, another the kine, and the
youngest of the three, Perdiccaa, keeping the lesser cattle.
In olden times not only the people, but even the men who
held the sovereign power 3 , were scant of money ; so that the
king's wife herself used to cook their food for them. Now
whenever the bread of the young hireling Perdiccas was set
to bake, it would swell to double its first size 4 ; as this was
uniformly the case, she spoke of it to her husband ; when he
had heard, it presently entered his mind, that it was a miracle,
and pointed to something of importance; calling therefore
the hirelings into his presence, he warned them to withdraw
from his land; they however declared, that they were entitled 5
to receive their wages, and then they would go their ways ;
thereupon the king, hearing them speak about wages, and
seeing the sun dart his rays down the chimney 6 into the house,
- The sixth, according to our mode of thia;, Gr. Gramm. p. 807, or sect. 535%
reckoning; compare chap. 139. See a see likewise, m the same work, p. 429,
remarkable instance of the Greek mode or sect. 296.
of reckoning up ancestors, iii. 55, and p. 6 This passage proves that the **-
217, note 1, of the first volume of this $* was not the same thing that we
work. call a chimney. The house probably
3 aS <ruftitQt(, metonyra. for / *!>*. was built like those still seen in the
Schweig. Lex. Herod. mountainous and wild parts of Arcadia ;
4 S/TXrv . . . uavnu. Matthias, Gr. the houses I allude to consist of one
Gramm. p. 478, or sect. 334, aad more room, with a roof in the shape of a
particularly^. 656, or sect. 452. truncated cone, perforated at the top ;
9 &MIM j7i vf>.ftotrtf. See Mat- the fire is kindled immediately h^low
URANIA. VIII. 138140. 291
said, lik'e one distracted in mind by heaven, " This do I give
" you, fitting wages for you;" pointing to the sun-shine.
Accordingly Gauanes and Aeropus, the two elders, were
struck with astonishment when they heard this; but the
youngest, who happened to have a knife, said, " We accept,
" O king, thy boon ;" and so saying, traced with his knife
the outline of the sun-shine on the floor of the house ; having
so done, and thrice received the sun's rays in his bosom, he him-
self took his departure, and was followed by his two brothers.
Accordingly, these three brothers went their ways ; mean- 138
while some one of the king's assessors pointed out to him
what the youth had done, and that the youngest of them had
with some design accepted the proffer ; the king hearing this,
and filled with wrath, despatched after them some horsemen
to put them to death : now in that country there is a river,
to which the descendants of those three men from Argos offer
up sacrifice ; this river, as soon as the sons of Temenus had
got over, swelled to such a height, that the horsemen were not
able to cross it. Arriving in another quarter of Macedonia,
they settled near the gardens, said to be those of Midas, the
son of Gordius ; in which spring up wild roses, each with
sixty flower-leaves 7 , and in perfume surpassing the other sorts:
it was likewise in these gardens that Silenus was taken, as it
is reported by the Macedonians : above the gardens is a
mountain, Bermius its name, impassable by reason of the
inclemency of the air. Sallying from hence, when they had
obtained possession of that territory, they subdued the rest of
Macedonia likewise. From this Perdiccas, accordingly, Alex- 139
ander was sprung in this line: Alexander was son of Amyntas;
Amyntas of Alcetas; Alcetas's father was Aeropus; whose
father was Philip ; Philip had for father Argaeus ; and this
last had for father Perdiccas, who obtained the sovereign
power : such therefore was the race from which sprung Alex-
ander, the son of Amyntas.
When 8 , despatched by Mardonius, Alexander arrived at 140
the hole, and the inmates squat in a I have no doubt that Larcher has trans-
circle round the embers: through this lated <fu*.la very properly by petales,
opening the sun, no doubt, would some- but I did not think it right to use a
times dart his jays on the floor. Traml. botanical term in the text. Some of our
7 That is to say, double roses. Those garden roses have three hundred petals,
beautiful ornaments of our gardens seem Translat.
to have been almost unknown to the 8 This noble portion of ancient e!p-
ancients. The only rose frequent with quence has been inserted by Mr. Mit-
them was nearly the same that grows in ford, in his History of Greece, vol. 11.
our hedges, having five flower-petals; p. 208212, of the 8vo. edition,
and indeed the double varieties are even would have been very easy for me to
now very scarce in the eastern countries, avail myself of Mr. MvUord s translation,
292 URANIA. VIII. 140.
1 Athens, he spoke thus: " Men of Athens, Mardonius says
" these words : A message has come unto me from the King,
" saying thus : I FORGIVE THE ATHENIANS ALL THE INJU-
" HIES I HAVE RECEIVED AT THEIR HANDS ; THEREFORE,
" MARDONIUS, DO THIS : IN THE FIRST PLACE, GIVE BACK
" TO THEM THEIR LAND ; IN THE NEXT PLACE, LET THEM
" IN ADDITION THERETO TAKE WHATEVER OTHER LAND
" THEY MAY THEMSELVES CHOOSE, AND ABIDE UNDER THEIR
" OWN LAWS ; FINALLY, SHOULD THEY CONSENT TO HOLD
" WITH ME, BUILD UP AGAIN ALL THEIR TEMPLES THAT I
" HAVE FIRED. These orders having arrived, I needs must 9
" obey, unless you yourselves become an obstacle l . And
" this do I say io you from myself: wherefore now madly
" continue to levy war against the King? neither can you
" conquer him, nor will you be able to resist his power for
" ever : surely you have seen the multitude of Xerxes's host,
" and their deeds ; you must have heard of the forces even
" now with me; so that granting you surpass and conquer
" us, (of which, however, you cannot cherish the least hope,
" if you be wise,) still will other forces yet more numerous
" by far succeed. Resolve not, therefore, placing yourselves
" on a level with the King, to be deprived of country, and
" ever to run the danger of life 2 . Make peace therefore, for
" never can a fairer opportunity be afforded you of making