THEMISTOCLES. 



tion into Grwce to enforce the demand of fubjeftioii, fur- 

 liillied Iwiii with a plea for urging the Grecian ftates to com- 

 promife their mutual dlfTentions, and to unite in defending 

 themfelves againft the invader. In the choice of a general, 

 with whom the command fhould be intruded in this emer- 

 _i(eucy, the Athenians favoured the claims of a democratical 

 orator, named Epicydcs, who had fafcinated them by liis elo- 

 quence ; but Themiftocles induced him to furrender his pre- 

 tenfious to an office for which he was totally unqualified by 

 a bribe, and thus fecured the appointment for liimfelf with- 

 out a competitor. When news arrived tiiat the Perfian 

 army, conreyed by a fleet, was approaching the (traits of 

 Thermopylae, Themiftocles propofed that the Athenians 

 ihould lit out th?ir galleys and fail to meet them ; but this 

 counfel being rejefted, he took the command of their troops, 

 and having joined the Lacedsmonians, marched towards 

 Tempe. In the mean while, intelligence was received that 

 the paflage of the ftraits had been forced, and tliat Boeotii 

 had iubmitted to the invaders ; and upon this alarm the army 

 returned without feeing the enemy. In thefe circumttauces 

 of apprehended danger, the Athenians, according to their 

 Ciiftomary praftice, had recourfe for counfel to tlie Delphic 

 oracle. The anfwer, probably fuggefted by Themiftocles 

 himfelf, was, that they (hould rely folely on their fleet. It 

 was now propofed, that the city fliould be wholly abandoned 

 to the Perhans, without any attempt for its defence ; that 

 the women, children, and aged ftiould be removed to fonve 

 place of fecurity ; and that all who were able to bear arms, 

 ihould erabark on board the galleys, and watch the event. 

 A decree was obtained, after much fruitlefs oppofition, to 

 this purpofe ; and this was followed by another, which per- 

 mitted all exiled citizens to return. Ariftides was one of 

 this number, who nobly facrificing, in tlie moment of his 

 counti-y's danger, all private animofities, concurred in all 

 the fpirited meafures of his former rival. 



Eurybiades, a Spartan, to whom the command of the 

 confederate fleet was affigned, and who was very unequal to 

 the office, differed with Themiftocles as to the meafures pro- 

 per to be purfued ; and behaved with an infolence, which, 

 probably for the fake of the pubhc fervice, the latter did 

 not think proper to refent. Eurybiades was pacified by the 

 gentlenefs and felf-comiaand of Themiftocles, and convinced 

 by his reafoning. Finding it prudent, however, to change 

 the meafures which he originally contemplated, he employed 

 a ftratagem to induce the Perfians to advance and make an 

 attack. This was followed by the famous battle of Salamis, 

 which took place in the year B.C. 480, and which termi- 

 nated in the fignal defeat of the Periian navy. The viftory 

 has been chiefly afcribed to the fl^ill and valour of Themif. 

 tocles ; and having thus fucceeded, he advifed the confede- 

 rates to fail immediately to the Hellefpont, in order to de- 

 ilroy the bridge of boats by which the army of Xerxes had 

 paffed over, and thus to intercept his communication with 

 Afia ; but being overruled in this propofal, he difpatched a 

 fecret meflenger to the Perfian king, with information that 

 the Greeks intended to break his bridge, and advifing him 

 to retreat immediately before the defign was executed. The 

 policy of Themiftocles, as we may judge from this inftance, 

 was not always uniform and confiftent ; and in another cafe, 

 which remains to be mentioned, on the authority of Plu- 

 tarch, it was iiiexcufably flagitious. When the combined 

 Grecian fleet was wintering at Pegafa in Magnefia, he 

 informed the Athenians, that be had conceived a projeft 

 which would be of uifinite fervice to the repubhc, and at 

 their defire, he would communicate it to Ariftides. This 

 virtuous man told them, that the fcheme of Themiftocles 

 iv.suld be highly advantageous, but that nothing could be 



more unjull ; upon which, very much to tlieir honour, they 

 determiiud not to adopt it. The plan was to burn all tlie 

 (hips of the fleet, except thofe of Athens, by which (he 

 would remain complete miftrcfs of the fcas. 



The viftory at Salamais advanced the name and ch;iratter 

 of Themiftocles to the higheft pitch of glory throughout 

 Greece. On his vilit to Sparta, he was received with every 

 token of refpeft ; and whilft the (irft prize of valour was 

 decreed by the people to their countryman Eurybiades, the 

 ohve wreath of fupcrior wifdom was placed on the head of 

 the Athenian ; and tliey alfo prefented him with a magnifi- 

 cent chariot, and ordered three hundred of their youth to 

 attend him back to the borders. At the next Olympic 

 games, the eyes of the whole alfembly were fixed upon The- 

 miftocles, and he was jiointed out to ftrangers as the moft in- 

 terefling obje£l at the fpeftacle. Themiftocles himfelf ac- 

 knowledged, that this was the nobleft day of his life. When 

 the conllitution of Athens was about to be re-eftabli(hcd, after 

 the rebuilding of the city, Themiftocles, in conformity to 

 the political principles whjch he had adopted, propofed that 

 every citizen fliould have an equal right to participate in the 

 government, and that the members (hould be chofen from 

 the body of the people, witliout diftinftion ; and in his pro- 

 pofals the people unanimoufly acquiefced. He alfo propofed 

 to fortify the city ; but as the Lacedsemonians objefted to 

 the propofal, he was deputed upon an embafTy to Sparta 

 with a view of concihating them. He contrived, however, 

 by various artifices, to prolong the negociation, fo that the 

 Atlienians had conftru^ed their walls before the Spartans 

 were duly apprized of the faft. Themiftocles vindicated 

 this artifice by alleging, " that all things are lawful in ferv- 

 ing our country ;" and the Spartans, admiring his patriotifm, 

 filently acquiefced. In the following year, his fcheme for 

 rendering the PyrKum the principal port of Athens, and 

 conneftlng it with the city by long walls, was adopted and 

 accomplirticd. 



Independently of the deceits which Themiftocles had 

 praftifed with regard to the Lacedsemonians, another cir- 

 cumllanee had occurred which increafed their enmity againft 

 him. He had fucceisfuUy oppofed their fending deputies 

 to the Amphiftyonic council, and thus degraded their au- 

 thority in Greece. Incenfed againft him, they joined his 

 rivals at Athens, and ufed all their influence to deftroy his 

 reputation. His own conduft alfo had excited jealoufy and 

 refentment ; for he had caufed to be erefted near his own 

 houfe a temple to " Diana Ariftobule," or " of the beft 

 counfel," thus intimating, that his counfels had been the 

 beft for the Grecian community. His enemies prevailed, and 

 procured his baniftiment from Athens by the fentence of 

 Oftracifm. During his exile at Argos, his enemies gained 

 an additional advantage .over him. Apprized of the trea- 

 fonable dcfigns of Paufanias, the Spartan, againft the li- 

 berty of Greece, he declined the difclofure of them ; and 

 after the deteftion and death of Paufanias, letters of The- 

 miftocles were found, which proved that they had conferred 

 on this bufinefs. The Lacedimonians preferred an accufa- 

 tion againft him to the Athenians ; and they called him to 

 account in the prefence of the ftates of Greece. Dreading 

 a trial, he fled to Corcyra, and thinking himfelf infecure 

 there, he v^athdrew to Epirus : and at length was reduced 

 to the neceffity of feeking the proteftion of Admetus, king 

 of the Molofli, whom he had formerly offended. The ven- 

 geance of the Spartans purfued him, and Admetus was 

 threatened with a war, if he protefted the criminal. The 

 king difmiffed him with money acrofs the continent to a port 

 in the iEgcan fea, whence he reached Afia in fafety. In 

 the year B.C. 462, he arrived at the Perfian court ; but here 

 3 N 2 his 



