After the fleet had collected, a Council of War was held. It soon appeared that the majority were in favour of retiring to some point off the Isthmus. They argued that there, in case of defeat, they could withdraw to land held by their own troops, whereas a disaster at Salamis would mean that they would be blockaded on that not very fruitful island. Before the decision was taken, an Athenian messenger arrived announcing that the Persian was already committing devastation in Attica. Of Xerxes’ passage from Panopeus, near Parapotamii, to Attica, little is told by Herodotus. ◆H. viii. 50.◆ He must have taken the great route to Thebes, whence, after burning Thespiæ and Platæa, he probably made his way into Attica by the Dryoskephalæ and other passes. ◆H. viii. 51.◆ There is a curious and somewhat self-contradictory tale in Herodotus about what occurred in Athens itself at this time. He says that the Persians “came upon the city deserted, but found a few of the Athenians in the temple, both the temple stewards and (certain) poor men, who, having fortified the Acropolis with planks, and wooden (breastworks), tried to defend themselves against the assailants. The reason they had not departed to Salamis was that they had not the means to do so; and, furthermore, because they thought that they had discovered the meaning of the oracular response which the Pythian gave them, namely, that the wooden wall should never be taken, and that this and not the ships was to be their salvation.” The historian then proceeds to give what purports to be a description of a siege of this fortification. The Persians took up their position on Areopagus, and confined their attack in the first place to the discharge of fire-bearing arrows against the wooden wall. The besieged replied by rolling down boulder stones upon the assailants, and “for a long time” Xerxes was at a loss how to force an entrance. Finally a party scaled one of the cliffs at an unexpected point, and the Acropolis was taken, and all its defenders massacred. #THE SIEGE OF THE ACROPOLIS.# Such is, in brief, the extraordinary tale. But the strangest part of the whole story is the account of the impression created in the fleet by the news of the capture. ◆H. viii. 56.◆ “The Greeks at Salamis, on hearing what had happened to the Athenian Acropolis, fell into such a state of panic, that some of the commanders did not even wait for the settlement of the question under discussion, but rushed to the ships, and set sail with intent to take to flight. By those who remained it was decided to fight in front of the Isthmus.”