s of him, to make up for the suppliant she had
lost, but they were always reproached for the sacrilege.

Themistocles was a friend of Pausanias, and was suspected of being mixed
up in his plots. He was obliged to flee the country, and went to Epirus,
where he came to the house of King Admetus, where the queen, Phthia,
received him, and told him how to win her husband's protection, namely,
by sitting down on the hearth by the altar to the household gods, and
holding her little son in his arms.

When Admetus came in, Themistocles entreated him to have pity on his
defenceless state. The king raised him up and promised his protection,
and kept his word. Themistocles was taken by two guides safely across
the mountains to Pydna, where he found a merchant ship about to sail for
Asia. A storm drove it to the island of Naxos, which was besieged by an
Athenian fleet; and Themistocles must have fallen into the hands of his
fellow-citizens if he had landed, but he told the master of the ship that
it would be the ruin of all alike if he were found in the vessel, and
promised a large reward if he escaped. So the crew consented to beat
about a whole day and night, and in the morning landed safely near
Ephesus. He kept his word to the captain; for indeed he was very rich,
having taken bribes, while Aristides remained in honourable poverty. He
went to Susa, where Xerxes was dead; but the Persians had fancied his
message before the battle of Salamis was really meant to serve them, and
that he was suffering for his attachment to them, so the new king,
Artaxerxes, the "Long-armed," who had a great esteem for his cleverness,
was greatly delighted, offered up a sacrifice in his joy, and three times
cried out in his sleep, "I have got Themistocles the Athenian."

Themistocles had asked to wait a year before seeing the king, that he
might have time to learn the language. When he came, he put forward such
schemes for conquering Greece that Artaxerxes was delighted, and gave him
a Persian wife, and large estates on the banks of the Maeander, where he
spent the rest of his life, very rich, but despised by all honest Greeks.

All the history of the war with Xerxes was written by Herodotus, a Greek
of Caria, who travelled about to study the manners, customs, and
histories of different nations, and recorded them in the most lively and
spirited manner, so that he is often called the father of history.

AEschylus went on gaining prizes for