temples of their gods, from the grasp of
the barbarians. History has preserved to us but few details of the
engagement. The Persian fleet, with the exception of some of the Ionic
contingents, fought with courage. But the very numbers on which they
so confidently relied, proved one of the chief causes of their defeat.
Too crowded either to advance or to retreat, their oars broken or
impeded by collision with one another, their fleet lay like an inert
and lifeless mass upon the water, and fell an easy prey to the Greeks.
A single incident will illustrate the terror and confusion which
reigned among the Persians. Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus in
Caria, distinguished herself in it by deeds of daring bravery. At
length she turned and fled, pursued by an Athenian galley. Full in her
course lay the vessel of a Carian prince. Instead of avoiding, she
struck and sunk it, sending her countryman and all his crew to the
bottom. The captain of the Athenian galley, believing from this act
that she was a deserter from the Persian cause, suffered her to escape.
Xerxes, who from his lofty throne beheld the feat of the Halicarnassian
queen, but who imagined that the sunken ship belonged to the Greeks,
was filled with admiration at her courage, and exclaimed--"My men are
become women, my women men!"

Two hundred of the Persian ships were destroyed and sunk when night put
an end to the engagement. But notwithstanding this loss the fleet was
still formidable by its numbers. The Greeks themselves did not regard
the victory as decisive, and prepared to renew the combat. But the
pusillanimity of Xerxes relieved them from all further anxiety. He
became alarmed for his own personal safety; and his whole care was now
centred on securing his retreat by land. The best troops were
disembarked from the ships, and marched towards the Hellespont, in
order to secure the bridge, whilst the fleet itself was ordered to make
for Asia. These dispositions of Xerxes were prompted by Mardonius. He
represented to his master that the defeat, after all, was but slight;
that having attained one of the great objects of the expedition by the
capture of Athens, he might now retire with honour, and even with
glory; and that for the rest he (Mardonius) would undertake to complete
the conquest of Greece with 300,000 men. While the Persian fleet
sailed towards Asia, Xerxes set out on his homeward march. In Thessaly
Mardonius selected the 300,000 men w