Salamis. Shout for the mighty men Who died along this shore, Who died within this mountain's glen! Was laid on valor's crimson bed, Nor ever prouder gore Sprang forth, than theirs who won the day GEORGE CROLY. Earth! render back from out thy breast A remnant of our Spartan dead! Of the three hundred, grant but three BYRON. Xerxes, having taken the pass of Thermopyla, moved towards Athens, whence the inhabitants had fled, taking refuge in their ships, according to their interpretation of a decree of the oracle that they must seek safety in their "wooden walls." The Persians burned Athens, and the fate of Greece was then decided by the naval battle of Salamis (480 B. C.), which resulted in a complete victory for the Greeks. So far as numbers are concerned, be well assured that the barbarians had the advantage with their ships; for the whole number of those of the Greeks amounted to ten squadrons of thirty, and besides these there were ten of surpassing excellence. - ESCHYLUS. Xerxes, I know, did into battle lead One thousand ships; of more than usual speed ESCHYLUS. A very great part of the Barbarian [Persian] fleet was torn in pieces at Salamis, principally by the Athenians and the people of Ægina. The event could not well be otherwise. The Greeks fought in order, and preserved their ranks; the Barbarians without either regularity or judgment. - HERODOTUS. And as the Persians fought in a narrow arm of the sea, and could bring but part of their fleet to fight, and fell foul of one another, the Greeks thus equalled them in strength, and fought with them till the evening, forced them back, and obtained, as says Simonides, that noble and famous victory, than which neither amongst the Greeks nor Barbarians was ever known a more glorious exploit on the seas; by the joint valor, indeed, and zeal of all who fought, but by the wisdom and sagacity of Themistocles. - PLUTARCH. And Xerxes shrieked aloud, when he saw the depth of his calamities; for he had a seat that afforded a clear prospect of the whole armament, a high hill near the ocean brine; and having rent his clothes, and uttered a shrill wail, after issuing orders quickly to the land forces, he dismisses them in disorderly flight. ÆSCHYLUS. [Eschylus, who was an eyewitness, gives an animated description of the battle of Salamis in his tragedy of "The Persians" (Persœ).] The three great tragic poets of Athens were singularly connected together by the battle of Salamis. Eschylus, in the heroic vigor of his life, fought there; Euripides, whose parents had fled from Athens on the approach of the Persians, was born in Salamis, probably on the day of the battle; and Sophocles, a beautiful boy of fifteen or sixteen, danced to the choral song of Simonides, in which the victory was celebrated. - FELTON. End of sian War. The battle of Salamis, with the battles of Platæa and Mycale, in the next year, decided the war, and the Persians were driven out of Greece forever, and finally, after several years, were driven wholly the Perout of Europe. The arbitrary rule of an irresponsible despot was overcome by the spirit of voluntary obedience to law, the freedom of Greece was maintained, and the future civilization of Europe was secured. Perhaps there is no event in the history of the world, which has been so momentous in its consequences, so vital in its effects, as the repulse of the Persian invasion of Greece by Xerxes. — ALISON. In gay hostility and barbarous pride, With half mankind embattled at his side, New powers are claimed, new powers are still bestowed, The daring Greeks deride the martial show, And heap their valleys with the gaudy foe; The insulted sea with humbler thoughts he gains, A single skiff to speed his flight remains; The incumbered oar scarce leaves the dreaded coast When in the wantonness of kingly pride, - e'en there JOHNSON. Vain Xerxes spurred his war-horse through the tide, ALAMANNI. Tr. De Vere. The conquest of Europe was no longer a vision which could cheat the fancy of the lord of Asia. The will and energy of Athens, aided by the rugged discipline of Sparta, had foiled the great enterprise through which the Barbarian despot sought to repress in the deadly bonds of Persian thraldom the intellect and freedom of the world.-G. W. Cox. ... The effeminacy of the Persians was not the cause of their ruin, but the unwieldy, unorganized character of their host, when opposed to the Greek organization; i. e., the superior principle subdued the inferior. . . . It is easy to perceive how the small but well-disciplined Greek forces, inspired by the same spirit, and with unequalled leadership, were able to withstand the vast but disorderly Persian hosts. - HEGEL. These are world-historical victories; they were the salvation of culture and spiritual vigor, and they rendered the Asiatic principle powerless. . . . In the case before us, the interest of the world's history hung trembling in the balance. Oriental despotism a world united under one lord and sovereign- on the one side, and separate states — insignificant in extent and resources, but animated by free individuality - on the other side, stood front to front in array of battle. Never in history has the superiority of spiritual power over material bulk — and that of no contemptible amount been made so gloriously manifest. This war, and the subsequent development of the states which took the lead in it, is the most brilliant period of Greece. HEGEL. After the retreat of Xerxes and the fall of Mardonius, national pride rendered the separation between the Greeks and the Barbarians complete. The conquerors considered themselves men of a superior breed, - men who, in their intercourse with the neighboring nations, were to teach, and not to learn. They looked for nothing out of themselves. - MACAULAY. When the deluge of the Persian arms rolled back to its eastern bed, and the world was once more comparatively at rest, the continent of Greece rose visibly and majestically above the rest of the civilized earth. Afar in the Latian plains, the infant state of Rome was silently and obscurely struggling into strength against the neighboring and petty states in which the old Etrurian civilization was rapidly passing to decay. The genius of Gaul and Germany, yet unredeemed from barbarism, lay scarce known, save where colonized by Greeks, in the gloom of its woods and wastes. The pride of Carthage had been broken by a signal defeat in Sicily. . . . The ambition of Persia, still the great monarchy of the world, was permanently checked and crippled; the strength of generations had been wasted, and the immense extent of the empire only served yet more to sustain the general peace, from the exhaustion of its forces. The defeat of Xerxes paralyzed the East. Thus Greece was left secure, and at liberty to enjoy the tranquillity it had acquired, and to direct to the arts of peace the novel and amazing energies which had been prompted by the dangers and exalted by the victories of war. BULWER. THE AGE OF PERICLES. Pericles the Olympian lightened, thundered, roused up all Greece. - ARISTOPHANES. He became sole master of Athens, he kept the public good in his eye, and pursued the straight path of honor. - PLUTARCH. DURING the half-century following the Persian War (480-430 B. C.), Athens, mainly in consequence of the prominent part she had played in that war, maintained a supremacy over the other Greek states, and rose to a remarkable degree of power and prosperity. This period is often known as the Age of Pericles, from the great statesman of that name, then the leader at Athens. All the time that he [Pericles] stood at the head of the state, he governed it with moderation, and watched over its safety. Under him it rose to the highest pitch of greatness. The cause of his influence was that he was powerful in dignity of character and wisdom; that he proved himself to be pre-eminently the most incorruptible of men; and that he restrained the people freely, and led them, instead of being led by them.— THUCYDIDES. The blossoming forth of Greek genius makes this the most illustrious era in Grecian history, and one of the most brilliant in the history of the world. It should be remembered, however, that both the unsurpassed literature and the unrivalled art then produced were, "to some extent, the work of a select few, who stood apart from the crowd, as they have done in other golden periods." An age hath been when Earth was proud Of lustre too intense To be sustained. WORDSWORTH. |