16 PLUTARCH'S LIVES.
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hey," replied Themistocles, " that are left behind are notcrowned." Again, Eurybiades lifting up his staff as if hewere going to strike, Themistocles said, "Strike if youwill, but hear " ; Eurybiades, wondering much at his mod-eration, desired him to speak, and Themistocles nowbrought him to a better understanding. And when onhwho stood by him told him that it did not become thosewho had neither city nor house to lose, to persuade othersto relinquish their habitations and forsake their countries,Themistocles gave this reply : " We have indeed left ourhouses and our walls, base fellow, not thinking it fit tobecome slaves for the sake of things that have no life norsoul ; and yet our city is the greatest of all Greece, con-sisting of two hundred galleys, which are here to defendyou, if you please ; but if you run away and betray us, asyou did once before, the Greeks shall soon hear news ofthe Athenians possessing as fair a country, and as largeand free a city, as that they have lost." These expressionsof Themistocles made Eurybiades suspect that if he re-treated, the Athenians would fall off from him. Whenone of Eretria began to oppose him, he said, " Have you,that are like an ink-fish, anything to say of war? youhave a sword, but no heart." ^ Some say that whileThemistocles was thus speaking upon the deck, an owlwas seen flying to the right hand of the fleet, whichcame and sate upon the top of the mast ; and this happyomen so far disposed the Greeks to follow his advice, thatthey presently prepared to fight. Yet, when the enemy'sfleet was arrived at the haven of Phalerum, upon the coast 1 The Teuthis, loligo, or cuttle-fish, when pursued, throws out an ink-colored liquid which blackens the water. It is said to have a bone or cartilageshaped like a sword, and was conceived to have no heart. •Digitized by GoOglC THEMISTOCLES. 17 of Attica, and with the number of their ships concealed allthe «hore, and when they saw the king himself in personcome down with his land army to the sea-side, with all hisforces united, then the good counsel of Themistocles wassoon forgotten, and the Peloponnesians cast their eyesagain towards the isthmus, and took it very ill if any onespoke against their returning home ; and, resolving to de-part that night, the pilots had order what course to steer._^Themistocles, in great distress that the Greeks shouldretire, and lose the advantage of the narrow seas andstrait passage, and slip home every one to his own city,considered with himself, and contrived that stratagemthat was carried out by Sicinnus. This Sicinnus was aPersian captive, but a great lover of Themistocles, andthe attendant of his children. Upon this occasion, he senthim privately to Xerxes, commanding him to tell the king,that Themistocles, the admiral of the Athenians, havingespoused his interest, wished to be the first to inform himthat the Greeks were ready to make their escape, and thathe counselled him to hinder their flight, to set upon themwhile they were in this confusion and at a distance fromtheir land army, and hereby destroy all their forces by sea.Xerxes was very joyful at this message, and received it asfrom one who wished him all that was good, and imme-diately issued instructions to the commanders of his ships,that they should instantly set out with two hundred gal-leys to encompass all the islands, and enclose all the straitsand passages, that none of the Greeks might escape, andthat they should afterwards follow with the rest of theirfleet at leisure. This being done, Aristides was the firstman that perceived it, and went to the tent of Themis-tocles, not out of any friendship, for he had been formerly
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