160 HISTORICAL TALES.

when you lose an ally like us, you will remember
what I say, and regret what you have done.”

These words convinced Eurybiades. Without the
Athenian ships the fleet would indeed be powerless.
He asked for no vote, but gave the word that they
should stay and fight, and bade the captains to make
ready for battle. Thus it was that at dawn of day
the fleet, instead of being in full flight, remained
drawn up in battle array in the Bay of Salamis.
The Peloponnesian chiefs, however, were not con-
tent. They held a secret council, and resolved to
steal secretly away. This treacherous purpose came
to the ears of Themistocles, and to prevent it he took
a desperate course. He sent a secret message to
Xerxes, telling him that the Greek fleet was about
to fly, and that if he wished to capture it he must at
once close up both ends of the strait, so that flight
would be impossible.

He cunningly represented himself as a secret
friend of the Persian king, who lost no time in
taking the advice. When the next day’s dawn was
at hand the discontented chiefs were about to fly, as
they had secretly resolved, when a startling message
came to theirears. Aristides, a noble Athenian who
had been banished, but had now returned, came on
the fleet from Salamis and told them that only battle
was left, that the Persians had cooped them in like
birds in a cage, and that there was nothing to do but
to fight or surrender.

This disturbing message was not at first believed,
But it was quickly confirmed. Persian ships appeared
at both ends of the strait. Themistocles had won.