te however, as the men of Praisos
report, after it had been thus stripped of inhabitants, settlements were
made by various nations, but especially by Hellenes; and in the next
generation but one after the death of Minos came the Trojan war, in
which the Cretans proved not the most contemptible of those who came to
assist Menelaos. Then after this, when they had returned home from Troy,
famine and pestilence came upon both the men and their cattle, until at
last Crete was stripped of its inhabitants for the second time, and a
third population of Cretans now occupy it together with those which
were left of the former inhabitants. The Pythian prophetess, I say, by
calling these things to their minds stopped them from giving assistance
to the Hellenes, though they desired to do so.

172. As for the Thessalians, they at first had taken the side of the
Persians against their will, and they gave proof that they were not
pleased by that which the Aleuadai were designing; for so soon as they
heard that the Persian was about to cross over into Europe, they sent
envoys to the Isthmus: now at the Isthmus were assembled representatives
of Hellas chosen by the cities which had the better mind about
Hellas: having come then to these, the envoys of the Thessalians
said: "Hellenes, ye must guard the pass by Olympos, in order that both
Thessaly and the whole of Hellas may be sheltered from the war. We are
prepared to join with you in guarding it, but ye must send a large force
as well as we; for if ye shall not send, be assured that we shall make
agreement with the Persian; since it is not right that we, standing as
outposts so far in advance of the rest of Hellas, should perish alone in
your defence: and not being willing 163 to come to our help, ye cannot
apply to us any force to compel inability; 164 but we shall endeavour to
devise some means of safety for ourselves."

173. Thus spoke the Thessalians; and the Hellenes upon this resolved to
send to Thessaly by sea an army of men on foot to guard the pass: and
when the army was assembled it set sail through Euripos, and having
come to Alos in the Achaian land, it disembarked there and marched into
Thessaly leaving the ships behind at Alos, and arrived at Tempe,
the pass which leads from lower Macedonia into Thessaly by the river
Peneios, going between the mountains of Olympos and Ossa. There the
Hellenes encamped, being assembled to the number of about ten thousand
hoplites, and to th