the crews. The other Athenian vessels pressed forward to the assistance of Ameinias. At the same time an Æginetan vessel on the right wing advanced beyond the line and began the engagement in that quarter; while Demokritus, the commander of the Naxian contingent, forced the contest in the center, and the action at once became general.

For some hours the combat was indecisive. The Persians fought much more bravely than at Artemisium; and their Ionian subjects, disregarding the advice Themistokles had endeavored to give them by means of his inscriptions on the rocks, caused much damage to the right wing of the Greeks. The Samians particularly distinguished themselves on the Persian side in this part of the action; and the Æginetans, with all their bravery and nautical skill, found it a hard task to cope with them. The truth of the matter was, that every man in the invading host was constrained to do his utmost, feeling that the eye of Xerxes was upon him; for the great king had seated himself on a throne at a convenient spot on the slope of Mount Egaleos, on the Attic mainland, whence he could view everything that took place in the strait below.

Finally, the fortune of war began to declare itself in favor of the Greeks; and this was mainly owing to the exertions of Themistokles on the right wing. Causing the best of his ships to cluster around his own galley, the Athenian admiral made a bold dash against the superior force of Phoenician vessels that were endeavoring to surround him, and broke their lines, compelling some of the disabled ones to retreat shoreward and others to take refuge behind the Persian center, which, already hard pressed by the Grecian ships in front, was now thrown into some degree of confusion by this sudden retreat of the Phoenicians. But the Kyprian and Kilikian mariners who formed the main bulk of the hostile center, inspired with renewed courage by the exhortations of their commanders, bravely met the assault of

the Athenians, as the latter, following the example of the daring Themistokles, hurled themselves against their flank. The battle raged with much fury until at last the death of Syennesis, the admiral of the Kilikians, became the signal for a hopeless panic on the part of all those under his command. Then the Persian center also gave way; so that, of all the hostile armament, the Ionians and the Karians alone still stood their ground, obstinately fighting against the Æginetans and other Dorians on the Grecian right. Everywhere else the ships of the Persians were retreating in desperate haste, some toward the Attic coast, others toward the open sea in the direction of Peiræus, clashing against one another in almost inextricable confusion.

The Athenians, elated by their double success in breaking both the right wing and the center of the invading armada, turned their prows toward the now exposed flank of the Ionians. Themistokles ordered his trireme to be steered directly at the vessel of Ariabignes, brother of Xerxes and admiral of the Ionians and Karians; but the vessel of Ameinias the Athenian, who had so honorably distinguished himself at the beginning of the action, shot ahead of that of Themistokles and bore down upon the ship of the Persian admiral, which was very tall and bulky, and from the deck of which the Persian archers incessantly shot a shower of arrows, as if from the ramparts of a castle. As the two vessels came together, Ariabignes ordered his men to board the Athenian trireme and capture her by a hand-to-hand fight, and was himself the first to leap down upon her deck. A desperate struggle ensued, in which Ameinias and his followers repulsed the boarders. Ariabignes, in the midst of the tumult, fell into the sea between the two ships and was drowned. Shortly afterward his vessel, which had been greatly injured by the collision, sank. As his body lay floating in the water, among innumerable other corpses, it was recognized by Artemisia, queen of Halikarnassus, who hap

pened to be sailing past in her war-galley, and was rescued by her and sent ashore to Xerxes.

Not only did this Artemisia command five triremes in the Persian service, but such was her wisdom that she acted as one of the counselors of the great king. The Athenians, indignant that a woman should presume to bear arms against them, had offered a reward of ten thousand drachmæ to whomsoever should take her alive. She had, however, taken part in the thickest of the battle and performed many astonishing feats of valor with the ships under her command and now, when after the fall of Ariabignes the rout of the Persians became general, and she found her galley closely pursued by an Athenian trireme and on the point of being overtaken, she again manifested her characteristic energy and decision of character by turning suddenly aside and running down and sinking one of the Persian vessels that happened to be near. The commander of the Athenian trireme, supposing her ship to be an Ionian that had deserted from the Persian side, desisted from the pursuit, and Artemisia by means of this unscrupulous stratagem effected her escape. King Xerxes, who from his lofty station had beheld this transaction in the distance, thought that the vessel she had sunk was one of the enemy, and is said to have exclaimed with vexation, "My men have behaved like women, and my women like men!"

In the midst of the confusion of the retreat, Aristeides, who still remained on the island of Salamis in charge of the few Athenian hoplites that had been stationed there, performed a signal service to the Grecian cause, by crossing over to the neighboring isle of Psyttaleia at the head of this band, and engaging in combat with the Persian troops occupying it, all of whom were slain after a desperate conflict.

Meanwhile the defeated naval force of the Persians did not escape without suffering much more damage at the hands of the victors. While the Athenians caused great havoc

among the ships that remained in the strait seeking to take refuge along the Attic coast, the Dorian allies, especially the Æginetans, took their stand at the mouth of the channel and intercepted many of those that attempted to sail away in the direction of Phalerum. By nightfall the victory of the Greeks was complete; and a bright full moon lighted up the whole expanse of the strait of Salamis, now thickly strewed with corpses, wrecks, and floating fragments. The Greeks had lost forty ships. Of the Persian vessels, two hundred had been sunk, and many more captured with all their crews.

Nevertheless, the danger was not yet over. The Persian fleet, notwithstanding its losses and its apparently disastrous defeat, was still much larger than that of the Greeks, while the land forces of Xerxes were as strong as ever. It was evident that many a blow was yet to be struck, ere the soil of Hellas would be free from the barbarian invader.

CHAPTER VII.

RESULTS OF THE BATTLE.

Retreat of Xerxes.

THE cowardice of Xerxes was destined to accomplish what the daring and dexterity of the Greeks had begun. Immediately after the battle great fear fell upon him lest the Hellenic forces should sail at once to the Hellespont, break down his bridges, and cut off his retreat into Asia. In order, however, to keep up an appearance of courage and determination, he began the construction of a vast mole or dike which should unite the mainland with the island of Salamis, and serve as a passageway for his army. At the same time he collected and repaired his scattered and dam

aged vessels, as if intent on another naval battle. But Mardonius, the brother-in-law of the great king, and the chief instigator of the invasion, suspecting that Xerxes had already resolved to return to Persia, endeavored to strengthen him in that purpose by promising that he would himself effect the conquest of Hellas, provided three hundred thousand of the best troops were left under his command. Xerxes, gladly hearkening to this proposal, bade Mardonius choose whatever forces he desired, and determined to return to Asia with the remainder. Moreover, that very night he issued orders to the captains of the vessels composing his fleet that they should forthwith sail away to the Hellespont, and keep guard over the bridges there until his arrival.

The next day the Greeks, supposing that the Persian fleet was still at Phalerum, put themselves into a condition of defense, expecting an attack at any moment. But when they learned that the Persian ships had all departed, they left at Salamis a detachment under the command of Aristeides to keep guard over the booty, and promptly set off in pursuit. Proceeding as far as the island of Andros, they halted and held a council of war. Themistokles and the rest of the Athenians were strongly in favor of following up the chase with all possible speed, so as to arrive at the Hellespont before the Persians and destroy the bridges. Eurybiades and the Peloponnesians opposed this, on the ground that it would not be wise to reduce the great king to despair by imprisoning him and his army in Europe. Themistokles, perceiving that he would not be able to carry the point, changed his plan, and had recourse to an expedient not less hazardous than that whereby he had compelled his countrymen to engage the enemy at Salamis. Summoning into his presence his slave Sikinnus, who had so faithfully carried out his instructions on the former occasion, he bade him go again to Xerxes and deliver to him the following message: "The Greeks since their victory at Salamis have formed a resolution,