influence, had been banished from Athens, came to help his country in her distress as he best might, and forgot all private animosity in her service. Sailing from Ægina, he fell in with the enemy; and having heard that the Peloponnesians were urgent to retreat upon the Isthmus, he called Themistocles out from the assembly and addressed him thus: “It becomes us to contend, both at other seasons and at this also, which of us two shall most benefit his country.” He added that they were now surrounded, and that deliberation concerning flight was vain, because Eurybiades and the Corinthians could not depart if they would: and bid Themistocles inform the assembly of this. Themistocles avowed in return that this was done by his own contrivance, adding, that since the Greeks would not fight of their own good will, it was necessary to compel them; and bid Aristides himself carry in the tidings to the council. While the dispute still raged, some believing, others rejecting the intelligence, it was confirmed by a Tenian vessel which deserted from the enemy. At break of day, October 20th, B.C. 480, if we may trust implicitly to chronologers, they prepared for battle, and were no sooner in motion than the Persians advanced to meet them, Xerxes being stationed at the foot of Mount Ægaleos, near the port Phoron,[54] on a spot which commanded a view of the scene of action. The wind at that hour mostly blew fresh from the sea, and rolled up a strong current; two circumstances which gave the low–built Grecian ships a decided advantage over their loftier and more unwieldy opponents. For a naval conflict was chiefly carried on by means of the iron beaks with which vessels’ bows were armed, the great object being to strike an enemy upon the side, and thus, if the shock were direct and violent, sink her altogether, or at all events dash away her oars, and thus render her unmanageable. It was therefore of vital importance that they should readily obey the helm. Now a side wind had little effect upon the Grecian ships, but it disordered the Persian, which were built high in the bows and stern, to procure the advantage in a close engagement, when, as was the older usage, ship grappled with ship, and the issue, as in a land battle, depended chiefly upon the exertions of the heavy–armed soldiers: and by disordering them, it at once broke the momentum of their charge, and exposed them to what was so much dreaded, an oblique attack. The Greeks, when fairly confronted with the first mass of the hostile fleet, were seized with something like a panic; and reversing the action of their oars fell back toward the land, still keeping their prows turned towards the enemy. Ameinias, brother to the poet Æschylus, and to Cynægirus, who was slain at Marathon after distinguishing his valour, broke the spell by dashing singly into the hostile ranks; and the rest then followed his example. It was said that at this moment a female figure appearing