"Then," said Xerxes, "the Thessalians were wise in submitting at once to my summons; for, if they had not done so, I would have raised a vast embankment across the valley here, and thus stopped the river, turned their country into a lake, and drowned them all." CHAPTER VIII. THE ADVANCE OF XERXES INTO GREECE. B.C. 480 Advance of the army.--Sailing of the fleet.--Sciathus.--Euboea.--Straits of Artemisium and Euripus.--Attica.--Saronic Gulf.--Island of Salamis.--Excitement of the country.--Signals.--Sentinels.--Movement of the fleet.--The ten reconnoitering galleys.--Guard-ships captured.--Barbarous ceremony.--A heroic Greek.--One crew escape.--The alarm spread.--Return of the Persian galleys.--The monument of stones.--Progress of the fleet.--The fleet anchors in a bay.--A coming storm.--The storm rages.--Destruction of many vessels.--Plunder of the wrecks.--Scyllias, the famous diver.--Dissensions in the Greek fleet.--Jealousy of the Athenians.--Situation of the Athenians.--Eurybiades appointed commander.--Debates in the Greek council.--Dismay of the Euboeans.--The Greek leaders bribed.--Precautions of the Persians.--Designs of the Persians discovered.--The Greeks decide to give battle.--Euripus and Artemisium.--Advance of the Greeks.--The battle.--A stormy night.--Scene of terror.--A calm after the storm.--Terror of the Euboeans.--Their plans.--The Greeks retire.--Inscription on the rocks.--The commanders of the Persian fleet summoned to Thermopylae. From Therma--the last of the great stations at which the Persian army halted before its final descent upon Greece--the army commenced its march, and the fleet set sail, nearly at the same time, which was early in the summer. The army advanced slowly, meeting with the usual difficulties and delays, but without encountering any special or extraordinary occurrences, until, after having passed through Macedon into Thessaly, and through Thessaly to the northern frontier of Phocis, they began to approach the Straits of Thermopylae. What took place at Thermopylae will be made the subject of the next chapter. The movements of the fleet are to be narrated in this.