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[1]
Here I am forced to declare an opinion which will be displeasing to most, but I will not refrain from saying what seems to me to be true.
Here I am forced to declare an opinion which will be displeasing to most, but I will not refrain from saying what seems to me to be true.
[2] Had the
Athenians been panic-struck by the threatened peril and left their own country, or had they not indeed left it but remained and surrendered themselves to
Xerxes, none would have attempted to withstand the king by sea. What would have happened on land if no one had resisted the king by sea is easy enough to determine.
[3] Although the
Peloponnesians had built not one but many walls across the Isthmus for their defense,
1
they would nevertheless have been deserted by their allies (these having no choice or free will in the matter, but seeing their cities taken one by one by the foreign fleet), until at last they would have stood alone. They would then have put up quite a fight and perished nobly.
[4] Such would have been their fate. Perhaps, however, when they saw the rest of
Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas siding with the enemy, they would have made terms with
Xerxes. In either case
Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas would have been subdued by the
Persians, for I cannot see what advantage could accrue from the walls built across the isthmus, while the king was master of the seas.
[5] As it is, to say that the
Athenians were the saviors of
Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas is to hit the truth. It was the
Athenians who held the balance; whichever side they joined was sure to prevail. choosing that
Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeGreece should preserve her freedom, the
Athenians roused to battle the other
Greek states which had not yet gone over to the
Persians and, after the gods, were responsible for driving the king off.
[6] Nor were they moved to desert
Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas by the threatening oracles which came from
Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi and sorely dismayed them, but they stood firm and had the courage to meet the invader of their country.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.