THE WOODEN WALLS OF ATHENS. 155

Acropolis, whose wooden fence they fondly fancied
might be the wooden wall which the oracle had
meant. Apart from these few the city was de-
serted, and Athens had embarked upon the seas.
Not only Athens, but all Attica, was left desolate,
and in the whole state Xerxes made only five hundred
prisoners of war.

Onward came the great Persian host, destroying
all that could be destroyed on Attic soil, and sending
out detachments to ravage other parts of Greece.
The towns that submitted were spared. Those that
resisted, or whose inhabitants fled, were pillaged and
burnt. A body of troops was sent to plunder Delphi,
the reputed great wealth of whose temple promised
a rich reward. The story of what happened there
is a curious one, and well worth relating.

The frightened Delphians prepared to fly, but first
asked the oracle of Apollo whether they should take
with them the sacred treasures or bury them in
secret places. The oracle bade them not to touch
these treasures, saying that the god would protect
his own. With this admonition the people of Delphi
fled, sixty only of their number remaining to guard

. the holy shrine.

These faithful few were soon encouraged by a
prodigy. The sacred arms, kept in the temple’s
inmost cell, and which no mortal hand dared touch,
were seen lying before the temple door, as if Apollo
was prepared himself to use them. As the Persians
advanced by a rugged path under the steep cliffs of
Mount Parnassus, and reached the temple of Athené
Pronewa, a dreadful peal of thunder rolled above