A T H 



which, under tlie name of Phceacia, is celebrated by Homer 

 for its amazing riches and fertihty, had been ilill further im- 

 proved by a coloi;y of Corinthians. It extends an hundred 

 inilcs along the weftern (hores of Epirus, and the natural 

 abundance of its produftions, the convenience of its- har- 

 -bours, and the adventurous fpirit of its new inhabitants, 

 gave them an undifputed advantage over their neiglibours 

 in navigation and commerce. They became fucceffively the 

 .rivals, the enemies, and the fuperiors of Corinth, their 

 mother country; and their fucccfsful cruifes infefted the 

 coafts, and difturbed the comi^.upication of the idands and 

 continent of Greece. It belonfjed to Athens, who had fo 

 lately punifhed the perfidy of vEgina, to challife the info- 

 lence of the Corcyreans. The naval depredations of thcfe 

 illanders made them be regarded as common enemies; and 

 Themiftocles, when, by leizing part of their fleet, he broke 

 the finews of their power, not only gratified the ambition 

 of his republic, but performed a fignal fervice to the whole 

 of the Grecian confederacy. Vittoiious by fca and land, 

 Bgainft Greeks and Barbarians, Athens might now feem 

 entitled to enjoy the fruits of a glorious fecunty. It was 

 generally believed in Greece, that the late difaller of the 

 Perl'ians would deter them from invading a fecond time the 

 coafts of Europe. But Themiftocles, who, in the words of 

 Thucydides (lib. i.), was no lefs fagacious in feeing the 

 future, than in managing the prefent, regarded the battle of 

 Marathon not as the end of the war, but as the prelude to 

 new and more glorious combats. He continually exhoited 

 hii fellow-citlzcns to keep themfelves in readinefs for aftion; 

 above all, to increafe, with unremitting ailiduity, the ftrength 

 of their fleet; and, in confequcnce of this judicious advice, 

 the Athenians were enabkd to oppofe the immenfe arma- 

 ments of Xerxes (of which the mod formidable tidings 

 foon arrived from every quarter), with two hundred gallies 

 of a fuperior fize and conftruction to any hitherto known in 

 Greece. (See GiUies's Greece, vol. i. p. 414.) 



Meanwhile the reduftion of revolted provinccshad given em- 

 ployment and luftre to the Perfian arms. Nine years after the 

 battle of Marathon, and in the fourth year of his reign (B. C. 

 4Sr.), Xerxes found himfelf uncontrolled mailer of the Eall, 

 and in poiTcflron of fuch a fleet and army as flattered him 

 with the hopes' of univerfal empire. The three lad years 

 of Darius were fpent in preparing for the Grecian expedition. 

 Xerxes, who fucceeded to his fceptre and to his revenge, 

 dedicated four years more to the fame hoilile pui-pole. 

 Amidft his various wars and pleafures, he took care th?t 

 the artifaiis of Egypt and Phoenicia, as well as all the mari- 

 time pronnces of Lov.er Afia, (hould labour with unremit- 

 ting diligence, in fitting out an armament adequate to the 

 exrent of h's ambition. TweUe hundred fliips of war, and 

 three tho-.ifand ihips of burthen, were at length ready to re- 

 ceive his commands. The former were of a larger fize and 

 firmer conftruction than any hitherto feen in the ancient 

 world : they carried on board, at a medium, 200 feamen, ai.d 

 thirty Perfians who ferved as marines. The (hips of burthen 

 contained, in general, eighty men, fewer being found inca- 

 pable of rowing them- The whole amounted to 42CG (hips, 

 and about 500,000 men, who were ordered to rendezvous 

 in the moft fecure roads and harbours of Ionia. We are not 

 exadly informed of the number of the land forces, which 

 were aflembled at Sufa. It is certain, ho\^tver, that tlicy 

 were extremely numerous, and it is probable that they 

 would continually increafe on the march from Sufa to Sardis, 

 by the confluence of many tributaiy nations, to the Impe- 

 rial ftandard of Xerxes. The Perfian army confiiled ot 

 1,700,000 infantn-, and 80,000 eavaliT, befides 2C,ooo 

 Arabians, riders of'camels, and Libyan cbanoteers: when to 



A T H 



thefe were added failors and marines, the number amounted 

 to 2,317,610 : this was the nnmber of fighting men whom 

 Xerxes brought from Afia,exclufivtly of attendants andfla\-t3. 

 Btfides, there were immenfe numbers of women and eunuchs, 

 v.-ho, according to tallem luxury and dtbaucher)-, foilowed 

 the camp, in all the oftentatious pageantry and feeble mag- 

 nificence of defpotic pomp : fo that, to ufc the words of 

 the animated Barthclemi, 5,000,000 had been torn from 

 their' native homes, and were preparing to deftroy whole 

 nations, to gratify the ambition of an individual named 

 Mardoriius. In Europe he was joined by 300,000 of 

 Tliraciaiis, Macedonians, and northern Gretks, who meanly 

 defertcd their brave countrymen of Sparta and Athens ; fo 

 that the whole exceeded 2,600,000 men. (This account 

 is t:-anlluteJ from Herodotus, I. vi.) The number of 

 this army, as recorded by the firft Greek hiftorian, has never 

 been equalled by any of ancient or modem times, from 

 Herodotus to his literary defcendant Gillies. But little 

 availed tlie bodies of Afiatic (laves, againft the fouls of 

 European freemen. Having wintered at Sardis, he fcnt 

 ambalfadors to demand earth and water, as a mark of fub- 

 miffion, from all the Grecian dates except Athens and 

 Sparta, whom he prefumptuouOy referved for the fevered 

 punilhment. (B. C. 480.) The flow march of his immenfe 

 army, and, dill more, its tedious tranfportation acrofs the 

 feas which feparate Europe from Afia, ill fuited the rapid 

 violence of his revenge. Xerees therefore ordered a bridge 

 of boats to be raifed on the Htllefpont, which, in the nar- 

 rowed part, is only fcven dadia, or fcvcn eighths of a mile ia 

 breadth. Here the bridge was formed with great labour; 

 but whether owing to the awkwardnefs of its condruction, 

 or to the violence of a fucceeding temped, it was no fooner 

 built than dedroyed. The great king ordered the direftors 

 of the work to be beheaded ; and, proud of his tyrannic 

 power over feeble men, dilplayed an impotent rage againd 

 the elements. In all the madnefs of defpotifm, he com- 

 manded the Hellefpont to be puni(hed with 300 dripes, 

 and a pair of fetters to be dropped into the lea ; adding 

 thefe frantic and ridiculous cxjirduons: — " It is thus, 

 thou fait ana bitter wateT, that thy mailer punifhes thy un- 

 provoked injury ; and he is determined to pals thy treache- 

 rous dreams, notwithdanding all the infoltnce ot thy malice.'' 

 After this abfurd ceremony, a new bridge was made of a 

 double i-ange of vclTels, fixed by drong anchors on both 

 fides, and joined together by cables of hemp and reed, 

 fadened to immenfe beams driven into the oppofite (hores. 

 The decks of the velTcls, which exceeded 600 in number, 

 were ftrewed with tninks of trees and earth, and their 

 ■furface was dill farther fmoothed by a covering of planks. 

 The fides were then railed with wicker work, to prevent 

 the fearaud impatience of the horfcs ; and upon this fin- 

 gular edifice the main drength of the army pafled in fevca 

 days and nights, from the Afiatic city of Abydos, to that 

 of Sedos in Europe. The army began its march, di\ided 

 into three bodies, one of which followed the fea (hore, and 

 the two others piocecded at dated didanccs, through the 

 interior part of the count ly. (See Herodotus, i. vii.) 

 The mcafiires that had been adopted, procured them certain 

 means of fubfiftence. Three thoufand vcd'els laden with 

 provifions kept along the coad, regulating their motions 

 by thoft of the aimy. The Egyptians and Phosmicians had 

 previoufly dored many of the maritime towns of Thrace and 

 Macedonia, and the Perfians at every dation were fed and 

 provided with every thing by the inhabitants of the adjacent 

 countries, who, long apprifcd of their arrival, were prepared 

 for their reception. But before this general tranfportation, 

 a conCderable part of the forces had been already fcnt to 

 P d z the 



