assailants. Their thousand vessels were drawn up in three lines, and
charged their antagonists with such spirit that the general inclination
on the part of the Greeks was at first to retreat. Some of their ships
had almost touched the shore, when the bold example of one of the
captains, or a cry of reproach from unknown lips, produced a revulsion
of feeling, and the whole line advanced in good order. The battle was
for a short time doubtful; but soon the superiority of Greek naval
tactics began to tell. The Persian vessels became entangled one with
another, and crashing together broke each other's oars. The triple
line increased their difficulties. If a vessel, overmatched, sought to
retreat, it necessarily came into collision with the ships stationed
in its rear. These moreover pressed too eagerly forward, since their
captains were anxious to distinguish themselves in order to merit the
approval of Xerxes. The Greeks found themselves able to practice
with good effect their favorite manoeuvre of the _periplus_, and thus
increased the confusion. It was not long before the greater part of
the Persian fleet became a mere helpless mass of shattered or damaged
vessels. Five hundred are said to have been sunk--the majority by the
enemy, but some even by their own friends. The sea was covered with
wrecks, and with wretches who clung to them, till the ruthless enemy
slew them or forced them to let go their hold.

This defeat was a death-blow to the hopes of Xerxes, and sealed the fate
of the expedition. From the moment that he realized to himself the fact
of the entire inability of his fleet to cope with that of the Greeks,
Xerxes made up his mind to return with all haste to Asia. From
over-confidence he fell into the opposite extreme of despair, and made
no effort to retrieve his ill fortune. His fleet was ordered to sail
straight for the Hellespont, and to guard the bridges until he reached
them with his army. He himself retreated hastily along the same road
by which he had advanced, his whole army accompanying him as far as
Thessaly, where Marnonius was left with 260,000 picked men, to prevent
pursuit, and to renew the attempt against Greece in the ensuing year.
Xerxes pressed on to the Hellespont, losing vast numbers of his troops
by famine and sickness on the way, and finally returned into Asia, not
by his magnificent bridge, which a storm had destroyed, but on board a
vessel, which, according to some, narrowly escaped ship