98 HISTOKV OF GREECE. Euboean money, that which he would have wished and haS probably tried to accomplish without the money, — to bring on a naval engagement at Artemisium. It was absolutely essential to the maintenance of Thermopyl*, and to the general plan of defence, that the Euboean strait should be defended against the Persian fleet, nor could the Greeks expect a more favorable posi- tion to fight in. "We may reasonably presume that Themistokles, distinguished not less by daring than by sagacity, and the great originator of maritime energies in his country, concurred unwill- ingly in the projected abandonment of Artemisium : bat his high mental capacity did not exclude that pecuniary conaiption which rendered the presents of the Euboeans both admissible and wel- come, — yet still more welcome to him perhaps, as they supplied means of bringing over the other opposing chiefs and the Spar- tan admiral.' It was finally determined, therefore, to remain, and if necessary, to hazard an engagement in the Euboean strait ; but at any rate to procure for the inhabitants of the island a short interval to remove their families. Had these Euboeans heeded the oracles, says Herodotus,^ they would have packed up and removed long before : for a text of Bakis gave them express warning : but, having neglected the sacred writings as unworthy of credit, they were now severely punished for such presumption. Among the Persian fleet at Aphetae, on the other hand, the feeling prevalent was one of sanguine hope and confidence in Uieir superior numbers, forming a strong contrast with the dis- ■inragement of the Greeks at Artemisium. Had they attacked rfie latter immediately, when both fleets first saw each other from their opposite stations, they would have gained an easy victory, ' The expression of Herodotus is somewhat remarkable : Ovroi re 6fj ■!r?i7iyivreg duipoiiji (Eurybiades, Adeimantus, etc.), uvaTveTveia/xevoi Tjaav, Kai Tolai 'Evfioeeai iKSX'ipi-OTO- aiiToc te 6 QeixtcTOKAeTjc sKEp6i^ve, iXuv&ave 6e TO. AOLTiU lx<Jv.
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