An. 482. Xerxes 4. Xerxes, being resolved on the Grecian war, entered into a league with the Carthaginians: whereby it was agreed, that, while the Persians invaded Greece, the Carthaginians should fall on all those who were of the Grecian name in Sicily and Italy, that thereby they might be diverted from helping one the other. And the Carthaginians made choice of Hamilcar to be their general in this war, who not only raised what forces he could in Africa, but also with the money sent him by Xerxes hired a great number of mercenaries out of Spain, Gallia, and Italy; so that he got together an army of three hundred thousand men, and a fleet proportionable hereto, for the prosecuting of the intent of this league. And thus Xerxes, according as was foretold by the prophet Daniel,b having, by his strength, and through his great riches, stirred up all the then known habitable world against the realm of Grecia, that is, all the West under the command of Hamilcar, and all the East under his own, he did, in the fifth year of his reign, which wasd the tenth after the battle of Marathon, set out from Susa to begin the war, and having marched as far as Sardis, wintered there. An. 481. Xerxes 5. An. 480. Xerxes 6. Early the next springe Xerxes did set out for the Hellespont; over which two bridges of boats having been laid, the one for his army, and the other for his carriages and beasts of burden, he passed all over in seven days; during all which time they were continually a passing day and night, before all could get over; so great was the number of them that attended him in this expedition. From thence marching through the Thracian Chersonesus, he arrived at Doriscus, a city at the mouth of the river Hebrus, in Thracia; at which place having encamped. his army, and ordered his fleet also to attend him on the adjacent shore, he there took an account of both. His land army, upon the muster, was found to be one a Diod. Sic. lib. 11. e Herodot. lib. 7. b Daniel xi, 2. e Herodot. lib. 7. Diod. Siculus, lib. 11. Plutarchus in Themistocle et Aristide. Justin, lib. 2, c. 10. million seven hundred thousand foot, and eighty thousand horse, besides his chariots and his camels, for which, allowing twenty thousand more, the whole will amount to one million eight hundred thousand men. His fleet consisted of twelve hundred and seven ships of the line of battle, besides gallies, transports, victuallers, and other sorts of vessels that attended, which were three thousand more; on board all which were reckoned to be five hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten men. So that the whole number of forces by sea and land, which Xerxes brought with him out of Asia to invade Greece, amounted to two millions three hundred and seventeen thousand six hundred and ten men. After his passing the Hellespont, the nations on this side, that submitted to him, added to his land army three hundred thousand men more, and two hundred and twenty ships to his fleet, on board of which were twenty-four thousand men. So that, putting all together, his forces by sea and land, by that time he came to the straits of the Thermopylæ, made up the number of two millions six hundred and fortyone thousand six hundred and ten men. And the servants, eunuchs, women, sutlers, and all such other people as followed the camp, were computed to be no less than as many more. So that the whole number of persons of all sorts, that followed Xerxes in this expedition, were at least five millions. This is fHerodo tus' account of them, and & Plutarch and Isocrates agree with him herein. But i Diodorus Siculus, * Pliny, Elian, and others, do, in their computations, fall much short of this number, making the army of Xerxes, with which he passed the Hellespont against Greece, to be very little more than that with which Darius his father passed the Bosphorus to make war upon the Scythians. It is probable they might have mistaken the one for the other. The verses engraved on the monument of those Grecians, who were slain at Thermopyla, best agree with the account of Herodotus; for in them it f Herodot. lib. 7. h In Panathenaico. k Lib. 33, c. 10. g In Themistocle. i Lib. 11. 1 Vor. Histor. lib. 13, c. 8. k is said,m that they there fought against two millions of men. And he being the ancientest author that hath written of this war, and having lived in the age in which it happened, and treated of it more particularly, and with a greater appearance of exactness than any other, his computation seemeth the most likely to be the truest; and that especially since we find it to be the general opinion of the ancients, both Greeks and Latins, that this was the greatest army that was ever brought into the field. Josephus tells us," that a band of Jews was also in this army, and brings for proof of it a passage out of the poet Choerilus, who, in describing the army of Xerxes, as they passed on by their several nations in their march, hath these verses: Then next did march, in babit and in mien, A people wonderful for to be seen: Their language is in dialect the same, On hills, near which there doth a great lake stand, Jerusalem, having also had the name of Solyma, and all the country thereabout being mountainous, and lying near the great lake Asphaltites, commonly called the lake of Sodom, this description seems plainly to suit the Jews, especially since it is also mentioned, that they spake the Phoenician language, the Syriac being then the vulgar language of the Jews. But P Scaliger, Cunæus, and Bochartus, understand it of the Solymi in Pisidia. However $ Salmasius maintains the contrary opinion, and justifies Josephus in it; and it must be said, that it is not at all likely, that when Xerxes called all the other nations of the Persian empire to follow him to this war, the Jews alone should be excused from it. And therefore whether these, whom Chœrilus speaks of, were Jews or not, it must m Herodot. lib. 7. Diod. Siculus, lib. 11, p. 26. This inscription, according to the reading as in Herodotus, saith they were three millions, but as in Diodorus only two millions. n Contra Apionem lib. 1. p In Notis ad Fragmenta. o By abbreviation for Hierosolyma. r Geographia Sacra, part 2, lib. 1, c. 2. $ In Ossilegio Lingue Hellenisticæ. be taken for certain, that they also did bear a part in this expedition. After Xerxes had taken this account of his fleet and army at Doriscus,t he marched from thence with his army through Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly, towards Attica, and ordered his fleet to attend him on the coast all the way, making the same stations by sea that he did by land. All yielded to him in his march without any opposition, till he came to the straits of Thermopyla; where Leonidas, king of the Lacedæmonians, with three hundred Spartans, and as many other Greeks as made up a body of four thousand men, defended the pass against him. For two days he made it good against all the numerous army of the Persians, repulsing them in every assault with a great slaughter of their men. But on the third day being ready to be surrounded by the Persians, through the treachery of a certain Greek, who led them by a secret way over the mountains, to fall on them in the rear, all retired, saving Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans, and some few others that would not desert them, who, resolutely abiding by the post they had undertaken to defend, were at length all slain upon the spot. But the Persians paid very dear for this victory, having lost in the gaining of it twenty thousand of their men, and among them two of the brothers of Xerxes. After this Xerxes" entered through Boeotia into Attica, the country of the Athenians; having spent in his march hither since his passing the Hellespont four months. The Athenians, not able to defend themselves against so great a force, deserted their city, putting all their men aboard their fleet, and securing their wives and children in Salamis, Ægina, and Trozene, neighbouring cities, which, by the intervention of the sea, were out of the reach of his army; so that, on his coming thither, he became master of the place without any opposition. t Herodotus, lib. 7. u Herodotus, lib. 8. mistocle. Diodor. Sic. lib. 11. Plutarchus in Themistocle. In the interim, the Persian and Grecian fleets lying near each other, the former at Aphetæ, and the other at Artimisium, above Euboea, had several encounters 'with each other, in every one of which the Grecians had the advantage; and though it was not great, yet it served them to shew, that the enemy, notwithstanding their great number, were not invincible; which gave them the heart afterwards, with the greater courage and resolution, to fight against them. However, their ships being much shattered by these several encounters, they found it necessary to retire to some safer place to refit; and for this purpose came into the straits of Salamis, where they not only refitted, but were also reinforced and augmented by a great many other ships, which, from several parts of Greece, came thither to them, and there joined them against the common enemy, till at length they made up a fleet upward of three hundred sail. It was while they lay there, that Xerxes entered Athens; and thereon the Persian fleet came hither also, and anchored at Phalerus, a port on that shore. The straits of Salamis, where the Greek fleet lay, was the most advantageous place for them to fight the numerous fleet of the enemy in that they could choose; for the Persians, by reason of the narrowness of that sea, not being able to extend their front in it beyond that of the Greeks, could there have no advantage from their numbers; but although their fleet was four times as great, must in that place fight upon equal terms; which Themistocles the general of the Athenians, having wisely observed, did, by his prudence and dexterity, bring it to pass, that there it came to a battle between them; wherein the Grecians, by the advantage of the place, gained the victory, and gave the enemy such an overthrow, as wholly dashed all the aims and designs of this prodigious expedition, which was one of the greatest, both for expense and number of men, that was ever undertaken; for they having destroyed two hundred of their ships, besides those which they took, the rest got away to the Asian coast; and having set in at x Herodotus, lib. 8. Plutarchus in Themistocle. Diodor. Sic. lib. 11. |