amis." But it had said
"divine Salamis." What did this mean but that it was not the Greeks, but
the enemies of Greece, who were to be destroyed? He begged his
countrymen not to desert their country, but to fight boldly for its
safety. Fortunately for Athens, his solution of the riddle was accepted,
and the city set itself diligently to building more ships, that they
might have as powerful a fleet as possible when the Persians came.

But not only Athens was to be defended; all Greece was in peril; the
invaders must be met by land as well as by sea. Greece is traversed by
mountain ranges, which cross from sea to sea, leaving only difficult
mountain paths and narrow seaside passes. One of these was the long and
winding defile to Tempe, between Mounts Olympus and Ossa, on the
northern boundary of Greece. There a few men could keep back a numerous
host, and thither at first marched the small army which dared to oppose
the Persian millions, a little band of ten thousand men, under the
command of a Spartan general.

But they did not remain there. The Persians were still distant, and
while the Greeks awaited their approach new counsels prevailed. There
was another pass by which the mountains might be crossed,--which pass,
in fact, the Persians took. Also the fleet might land thousands of men
in their rear. On the whole it was deemed best to retreat to another
pass, much farther south, the famous pass of Thermopylae. Here was a road
a mile in width, where were warm springs; and at each end were narrow
passes, called gates,--the name Thermopylae meaning "hot gates."
Adjoining was a narrow strait, between the mainland and the island of
Euboea, where the Greek fleet might keep back the Persian host of
ships. There was an old wall across the pass, now in ruins. This the
Greeks rebuilt, and there the devoted band, now not more than seven
thousand in all, waited the coming of the mighty Persian host.

It was in late June, of the year 480 B.C., that the Grecian army, led by
Leonidas, king of Sparta, marched to this defile. There were but three
hundred Spartans[3] in his force, with small bodies of men from the
other states of Greece. The fleet, less than three hundred ships in all,
took post beside them in the strait. And here they waited while day by
day the Persian hordes marched southward over the land.

The first conflict took place between some vessels of the fleets,
whereupon the Grecian admirals, filled with sudden fright, sa