Polymnia   

that, if they made preparations for a sea-fight, they would suffer a
defeat off Salamis.
Now there was at Athens a man who had lately made his way into the
first rank of citizens: his true name was Themistocles; but he was
known more generally as the son of Neocles. This man came forward
and said that the interpreters had not explained the oracle altogether
aright- "for if," he argued, "the clause in question had really
respected the Athenians, it would not have been expressed so mildly;
the phrase used would have been 'Luckless Salamis,'rather than 'Holy
Salamis,' had those to whom the island belonged been about to perish
in its neighbourhood. Rightly taken, the response of the god
threatened the enemy, much more than the Athenians." He therefore
counselled his countrymen to make ready to fight on board their ships,
since they were the wooden wall in which the god told them to trust.
When Themistocles had thus cleared the matter, the Athenians
embraced his view, preferring it to that of the interpreters. The
advice of these last had been against engaging in a sea-fight; "all
the Athenians could do," they said, "was, without lifting a hand in
their defence, to quit Attica, and make a settlement in some other
country."
Themistocles had before this given a counsel which prevailed
very seasonably. The Athenians, having a large sum of money in their
treasury, the produce of the mines at Laureium, were about to share it
among the full-grown citizens, who would have received ten drachmas
apiece, when Themistocles persuaded them to forbear the
distribution, and build with the money two hundred ships, to help them
in their war against the Eginetans. It was the breaking out of the
Eginetan war which was at this time the saving of Greece; for hereby
were the Athenians forced to become a maritime power. The new ships
were not used for the purpose for which they had been built, but
became a help to Greece in her hour of need. And the Athenians had not
only these vessels ready before the war, but they likewise set to work
to build more; while they determined, in a council which was held
after the debate upon the oracle, that, according to the advice of the
god, they would embark their whole force aboard their ships, and, with
such Greeks as chose to join them, give battle to the barbarian
invader. Such, then, were the oracles which had been received by the
Athenians.
The Greeks who were well affected to the Grecian cause, having
assembled in one place, and there consulted together, and interchanged
pledges with each other, agreed that, before any other step was taken,
the feuds and enmities which existed between the different nations
should first of all be appeased. Many such there were; but one was
of more importance than the rest, namely, the war which was still
going on between the Athenians and the Eginetans. When this business
was concluded, understanding that Xerxes had reached Sardis with his
army, they resolved to despatch spies into Asia to take note of the
king's affairs. At the same time they determined to send ambassadors
to the Argives, and conclude a league with them against the
Persians; while they likewise despatched messengers to Gelo, the son
of Deinomenes, in Sicily, to the people of Corcyra, and to those of
Crete, exhorting them to send help to Greece. Their wish was to unite,
if possible, the entire Greek name in one, and so to bring all to join
in the same plan of defence, inasmuch as the approaching dangers
threatened all alike. Now the power of Gelo was said to be very great,
far greater than that of any single Grecian people.
So when these resolutions had been agreed upon, and the quarrels
between the states made up, first of all they sent into Asia three men
as spies. These men reached Sardis, and took note of the king's
forces, but, being discovered, were examined by order of the
generals who commanded the land army, and, having been condemned to
suffer death, were led out to execution. Xerxes, however, when the
news reached him, disapproving the sentence of the generals, sent some
of his bodyguard with instructions, if they found the spies still