s, under the admirals
Leotychides and Xantippus, sailed across the Archipelago in search of the
Persian fleet. They found it in the waters of Samos, but the enemy retired
towards the mainland without giving battle. The Asiatics were disheartened
and divided. The Ionians were suspected of disaffection. The Phoenicians
were anxious only to return in safety to their own country and resume their
peaceful trading, and as soon as they were out of sight of the Greeks, they
deserted the Persian fleet, and sailed southwards, bound for Tyre and
Sidon.

What was left of the fleet anchored under the headland of Mycale. There was
no sign of a Greek pursuit. Rumour reported that the Athenian and Spartan
admirals were intent only on securing possession of the islands, and would
not venture on any enterprise against the coast of Asia. Perhaps it was
because he still feared to risk another engagement on the sea, that the
Persian admiral found a pretext for laying up his ships. He declared that
they were so foul with weeds and barnacles that, as a prelude to any
further operations, they must be beached and cleaned. They were therefore
hauled ashore under the headland, and a stockade was erected round them,
the fleet thus becoming a fortified camp guarded by its crews.

And then the dreaded Greek fleet appeared. Its hundred triremes could
disembark some twenty thousand men, for arms were provided even for the
rowers. A landing from low-sided ships of light draught was an easy matter.
They were driven in a long line towards the shore. As they grounded, the
warriors sprang into the water and waded to land. The rowers left their
oars, grasped spear or sword, and followed them. The stockade was stormed;
the ships inside it, dry with the heat of the Asiatic sun, and with seams
oozing with tar, were set on fire and were soon burning fiercely. As the
flames died down and the pall of smoke drifted far over the promontory of
Mycale, a mass of charred timbers was all that was left of the great armada
of Asia, and the victorious Greeks sailed homewards with the news that the
full fruits of Salamis had been garnered.

CHAPTER II

ACTIUM

B.C. 31

Actium was one of the decisive battles of the world--the event that fixed
the destinies of the Roman Empire for centuries to come, made Octavian its
dictator, and enabled him, while keeping the mere forms of Republican life,
to inaugurate the imperial system of absolute rule, and re