And when they were come to Doriscus he numbered them, and found them to be 1,700,000 men, besides his fleets.  And in the fleet were 1,207 great ships, manned chiefly by the Phoenicians and the Greeks of Asia, having also Persian and Scythian fighting men on board.  But when Demaratus, an exiled king of Sparta, warned Xerxes of the valour of all the Greeks, but chiefly of the Spartans, who would give battle, however few they might be, against any foe, however many, his words seemed to Xerxes a jest, seeing how huge his own army was.

Now, Xerxes had sent to many of the Greek states heralds to demand earth and water, which many had given; but to Athens and Sparta he had not sent, because there the heralds of his father Darius had been evilly entreated.  And if it had not been for the resolution of the Athenians at this time, all Hellas would have been forced to submit to the Great King; for they, in despite of threatening oracles, held fast to their defiance, being urged thereto by Themistocles, who showed them how those oracles must mean that, although they would suffer evil things, they would be victorious by means of wooden bulwarks, which is to say, ships; and thus they were encouraged to rely upon building and manning a mighty fleet.  And all the other cities of Greece resolved to stand by them, except the Argives, who would not submit to the leadership of the Spartans.  And in like manner Gelon, the despot of Syracuse in Sicily, would not send aid unless he were accepted as leader.  Nor were the men of Thessaly willing to join, since the other Greeks could not help them to guard Thessaly itself, as the pass of Tempe could be turned.

Therefore the Greeks resolved to make their stand at Thermopylae on land, and at the strait of Artemisium by sea.  But at the strong pass of Thermopylae only a small force was gathered to hold the barbarians in check, there being of the Spartans themselves only 300, commanded by the king Leonidas.  And when the Persians had come thither and sought to storm the pass, they were beaten back with ease, until a track was found by which they might take the defenders in the rear.  Then Leonidas bade the rest of the army depart except his Spartans.  But the Thespians also would not go; and then those Spartans and Thespians went out into the open and died gloriously.

V.—­Destruction of the Persian Hosts

During these same days the Greek fleet at Artemisium fought three several engagements with the Persian fleet, in which neither side had much the better.  And thereafter the Greek fleet withdrew, but was persuaded to remain undispersed in the bay of Salamis.  The Peloponnesians were no longer minded to attempt the defence of Attica, but to fortify their isthmus, so that the Athenians had no choice but either to submit or to evacuate Athens, removing their families and their goods to Troezen or Aegina or Salamis.  In the fleet, their contingent was by far the largest and best, but the commanding admiral was the Spartan Eurybiades.  Then the Persians, passing through Boeotia, but, being dispersed before Delphi by thunderbolts and other portents, took possession of Athens, after a fierce fight with the garrison in the Acropolis.