162 HISTORICAL TALES,

History tells us that the Greeks hesitated at first ;
but soon the ship of Ameinias, an Athenian captain,
dashed against a Pheenician trireme with such fury
that the two became closely entangled. While their
crews fought vigorously with spear and javelin, other
ships from both sides dashed to their aid, and soon
numbers of the war triremes were fiercely engaged.

The battle that followed was hot and furious, the
ships becoming mingled in so confused a mass that
no eye could follow their evolutions. Soon the
waters of the Bay of Salamis ran red with blood.
Broken oars, fallen spars, shattered vessels, filled the
strait. Hundreds were hurled into the waters,—the
Persians, few of whom could swim, to sink; the
Greeks, who were skilful swimmers, to seek the shore
of Salamis or some friendly deck.

From the start the advantage lay with the Greeks.
The narrowness of the strait rendered the great num-
bers of the Persians of no avail. The superior disci-
pline of the Greeks gave them a further advantage.
The want of concert in the Persian allies was another
aid to the Greeks. They were ready to run one an-
other down in the wild desire to escape. Soon the
Persian fleet became a disorderly mass of flying
ships, the Greek fleet a well-ordered array of furious
pursuers. In panic the Persians fled; in exultation
the Greeks pursued. One trireme of Naxos captured
five Persian ships. A brother of Xerxes was slain by
an Athenian spear. Great numbers of distinguished
Persians and Medes shared his fate. Before the day
was old the battle on the Persian side had become a
frantic effort to escape, while some of the choicest