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Last time, on Plutarch’s Life Of Themistocles, human sacrifice! Some dude we never heard about before getting killed in the sea battle! Coming up, more sea battle, and with any luck, the aftermath thereof.
Plutarch - Themistocles 15
When the battle was at this point, they say that a huge light shone from Eleusis, and the massive sound filled up the Thriasian plain right up to the sea, just as if from many men leading Iacchus of Mysteries [in a procession]. Then from the mass of noisy men, it seemed that a cloud rose up little by little from the earth to sink down again and then rush down among the triremes. Other men seemed to look down on ghosts and phantoms of armed men from Aegina, raising their hands towards the Greek triremes; they thought [these phantoms] to be the sons of Aeacus, whom they had prayed to for aid before the battle.
Lykodemos, an Athenian captain, seized an [enemy] ship first; he dedicated its cut-off figurehead to Apollo the Laurel-Bearer at Phlya. The others, being equal to the barbarians in numbers because of the narrows, carried off their own shares and turned [the enemy ships] to collide with each other, keeping up the fight into the afternoon. Just as Simonides says, they seized this lovely and famous victory--and no more famous deed on the sea has been done by Greeks or barbarians--by the manliness and common valor of the marines,* and by the plan and cleverness of Themistocles.
Plutarch - Themistocles 16
After the battle at sea, Xerxes--still angry at the failure--tried to lead the infantry against the Greeks at Salamis by [building] piers, and blocking up the pass through the middle. Themistocles, testing Aristides in conversation, gave the opinion [that they should] should sail on to the Hellespont to tear down the bridges with the ships, saying, “In order that we should seize Asia from inside Europe.”
But Aristides was annoyed, saying, “For now we have been at war with this complacent barbarian; but if we shut him up inside of Greece, and push this man--a commander of a great force--into fear and necessity, he’ll no longer sit under a golden canopy, gazing at the fight at his leisure; but instead he’ll take part in all the attempts and restore the whole matter in the midst of danger, and he’ll make better plans for the whole thing. Therefore, Themistocles,” he said, “it is not necessary for us to tear up the existing bridge, but as if we were building another one like it, throw the man out of Europe as quickly as possible.”
“Of course,” Themistocles said. “If this seems to be the agreement, it is time for us to contemplate and plan these things, as to how he will be removed from Greece by the fastest method.”
As this plan seemed best, he sent someone--one of the king’s eunuchs that he’d discovered among the prisoners of war, named Aracnes**--to the king, telling him to explain that the Greeks had decided, since they’d won with their ships, to sail up to the passage at the Hellespont and destroy the bridges; but Themistocles cared for the king, and advised him to hurry back to his own ocean and cross over; until then, [Themistocles] was producing some delays for his allies and putting off their pursuit.
When the barbarian heard these things he became very frightened, and made his retreat as quickly as possible. And the plan of Aristides and Themistocles proved itself in the campaign against Mardonius; for even though they were struggling at Plataea against a fraction of Xerxes’ forces, they found themselves in danger concerning the whole matter.
---
* Greek has a tendency to make mash-ups of words that are difficult to translate succinctly into English. Thus, it slaps “ship” and “battle” together to make a noun that I usually translate as “sea battle” or “naval battle”, and then it uses it as a verb (“to fight a battle at sea”), and in this case...well, it’s using it as a noun. And I don’t want to translate it as “marines”, as that seems overly specific--there are particular words for the men armed in different ways on these ships--but what else am I suppose to call ship-battling-dudes?
** You may recall that in other accounts, this particular role was also taken by Sikkanis. The editor of this edition of Plutarch is of the opinion that anyone Themistocles sent off to deliver messages to the king couldn’t be expected to ever come back, as the king wouldn’t let a potential spy shout off a message and then sail away again. He may be right, but I think it’s a lot more fun to think of Tricky Themistocles having a Tricky Slave who carries out his plans.
Plutarch - Themistocles 15
When the battle was at this point, they say that a huge light shone from Eleusis, and the massive sound filled up the Thriasian plain right up to the sea, just as if from many men leading Iacchus of Mysteries [in a procession]. Then from the mass of noisy men, it seemed that a cloud rose up little by little from the earth to sink down again and then rush down among the triremes. Other men seemed to look down on ghosts and phantoms of armed men from Aegina, raising their hands towards the Greek triremes; they thought [these phantoms] to be the sons of Aeacus, whom they had prayed to for aid before the battle.
Lykodemos, an Athenian captain, seized an [enemy] ship first; he dedicated its cut-off figurehead to Apollo the Laurel-Bearer at Phlya. The others, being equal to the barbarians in numbers because of the narrows, carried off their own shares and turned [the enemy ships] to collide with each other, keeping up the fight into the afternoon. Just as Simonides says, they seized this lovely and famous victory--and no more famous deed on the sea has been done by Greeks or barbarians--by the manliness and common valor of the marines,* and by the plan and cleverness of Themistocles.
Plutarch - Themistocles 16
After the battle at sea, Xerxes--still angry at the failure--tried to lead the infantry against the Greeks at Salamis by [building] piers, and blocking up the pass through the middle. Themistocles, testing Aristides in conversation, gave the opinion [that they should] should sail on to the Hellespont to tear down the bridges with the ships, saying, “In order that we should seize Asia from inside Europe.”
But Aristides was annoyed, saying, “For now we have been at war with this complacent barbarian; but if we shut him up inside of Greece, and push this man--a commander of a great force--into fear and necessity, he’ll no longer sit under a golden canopy, gazing at the fight at his leisure; but instead he’ll take part in all the attempts and restore the whole matter in the midst of danger, and he’ll make better plans for the whole thing. Therefore, Themistocles,” he said, “it is not necessary for us to tear up the existing bridge, but as if we were building another one like it, throw the man out of Europe as quickly as possible.”
“Of course,” Themistocles said. “If this seems to be the agreement, it is time for us to contemplate and plan these things, as to how he will be removed from Greece by the fastest method.”
As this plan seemed best, he sent someone--one of the king’s eunuchs that he’d discovered among the prisoners of war, named Aracnes**--to the king, telling him to explain that the Greeks had decided, since they’d won with their ships, to sail up to the passage at the Hellespont and destroy the bridges; but Themistocles cared for the king, and advised him to hurry back to his own ocean and cross over; until then, [Themistocles] was producing some delays for his allies and putting off their pursuit.
When the barbarian heard these things he became very frightened, and made his retreat as quickly as possible. And the plan of Aristides and Themistocles proved itself in the campaign against Mardonius; for even though they were struggling at Plataea against a fraction of Xerxes’ forces, they found themselves in danger concerning the whole matter.
---
* Greek has a tendency to make mash-ups of words that are difficult to translate succinctly into English. Thus, it slaps “ship” and “battle” together to make a noun that I usually translate as “sea battle” or “naval battle”, and then it uses it as a verb (“to fight a battle at sea”), and in this case...well, it’s using it as a noun. And I don’t want to translate it as “marines”, as that seems overly specific--there are particular words for the men armed in different ways on these ships--but what else am I suppose to call ship-battling-dudes?
** You may recall that in other accounts, this particular role was also taken by Sikkanis. The editor of this edition of Plutarch is of the opinion that anyone Themistocles sent off to deliver messages to the king couldn’t be expected to ever come back, as the king wouldn’t let a potential spy shout off a message and then sail away again. He may be right, but I think it’s a lot more fun to think of Tricky Themistocles having a Tricky Slave who carries out his plans.