heir enemies with a fleet upon the sea.
Salamis, which was also mentioned by the oracle, was an island not far
from Athens, being west of the city, between it and the Isthmus of
Corinth. Those who supposed that by the "wooden walls" was denoted the
fleet, thought that Salamis might have been alluded to as the place near
which the great naval battle was to be fought. This was the
interpretation which seemed finally to prevail.

The Athenians had a fleet of about two hundred galleys. These vessels
had been purchased and built, some time before this, for the Athenian
government, through the influence of a certain public officer of high
rank and influence, named Themistocles. It seems that a large sum had
accumulated in the public treasury, the produce of certain mines
belonging to the city, and a proposal was made to divide it among the
citizens, which would have given a small sum to each man. Themistocles
opposed this proposition, and urged instead that the government should
build and equip a fleet with the money. This plan was finally adopted.
The fleet was built, and it was now determined to call it into active
service to meet and repel the Persians, though the naval armament of
Xerxes was six times as large.

The next measure was to establish a confederation, if possible, of the
Grecian states, or at least of all those who were willing to combine,
and thus to form an allied army to resist the invader. The smaller
states were very generally panic-stricken, and had either already
signified their submission to the Persian rule, or were timidly
hesitating, in doubt whether it would be safer for them to submit to the
overwhelming force which was advancing against them, or to join the
Athenians and the Spartans in their almost desperate attempts to resist
it. The Athenians and Spartans settled, for the time, their own
quarrels, and held a council to take the necessary measures for forming
a more extended confederation.

All this took place while Xerxes was slowly advancing from Sardis to the
Hellespont, and from the Hellespont to Doriscus, as described in the
preceding chapter.

The council resolved on dispatching an embassy at once to all the states
of Greece, as well as to some of the remoter neighboring powers, asking
them to join the alliance.

The first Greek city to which these embassadors came was Argos, which
was the capital of a kingdom or state lying between Athens and Sparta,
though within the Peloponnesus.