were open to the outward aspect of the scene. It explains to us why there was so little distinction in those times between the soldier and the sailor. The same men who fought on land at Marathon fought on the sea at Salamis, and their naval warfare consisted mainly in hand-to-hand fighting after the ships had grappled one another; the chief aim, besides this, being to disable the enemy's ship by a blow from the armed prow, either crushing in its sides, or passing over and breaking its oars.
The messenger narrates how, by a stratagem of the Greeks, which we know from Herodotus was due to Themistocles, the Persians had been induced to surround the Greek fleet, in the belief that they meditated flight by night. Every passage by which a Greek ship could escape was carefully secured, but the Greeks did not stir. But when the day with its white steeds spread in its beauty over the earth,—
"At once from every Greek with glad acclaim
Burst forth the song of war, whose lofty notes
The echo of the island rocks returned,
Spreading dismay through Persia's hosts thus fallen
From their high hopes: no flight this solemn strain
Portended, but deliberate valour bent
On daring battle; whilst the trumpet's sound
Kindled the flames of war."
With oars dashing up the waves, the Greeks advance to the attack, their right wing leading, and on every side the voice of exhortation is heard. "Forward, Greeks, for your homes and the temples of your gods, and for your father's tombs: all are at stake to-day!"
