THE WOODEN WALLS OF ATHENS. 163

troops of Persia, who had been landed before the
battle on the island of Psyttaleia, were attacked by
Aristides at the head of an Athenian troop, and put
to death to a man.

The confident hope of victory with which Xerxes
saw the battle begin changed to wrath and terror
when he saw his ships in disorderly flight and the
Greeks in hot pursuit. The gallant behavior of
Queen Artemisia alone gave him satisfaction, and
when he saw her in the flight run into and sink an

‘ opposing vessel, he cried out, “ My men have become
women; and my women, men.” He was not aware
that the ship she had sunk, with all on board, was
one of his own fleet.

The mad flight of his ships utterly distracted the
mind of the faint-hearted king. His army still vastly
outnumbered that of Greece. With all its losses, his
fleet was still much the stronger. An ounce of cour-
age in his soul would have left Greece at his mercy.
But that was wanting, and in panic fear that the
Greeks would destroy the bridge over the Hellespont,
he ordered his fleet to hasten there to guard it, and
put his army in rapid retreat for the safe Asiatic
shores.

He had some reason to fear the loss of his bridge.
Themistocles and the Athenians had it in view to
hasten to the Hellespont and break it down. But
Kurybiades, the Spartan leader, opposed this, saying
that it was dangerous to keep Xerxes in Greece.
They had best give him every chance to fly.

Themistocles, who saw the wisdom of this advice,
not only accepted it, but sent a message to Kerxes—