en, for carrying on the
war, provided that he might have the command of the combined army. To
this, of course, the Spartans would not agree. He then asked that he
might command the fleet, on condition of giving up his claim to the land
forces. This proposition the Athenian embassadors rejected, saying to
Gelon that what they were in need of, and came to him to obtain, was a
supply of troops, not of leaders. The Athenians, they said, were to
command the fleet, being not only the most ancient nation of Greece, but
also the most immediately exposed to the invasion, so that they were
doubly entitled to be considered as the principals and leaders in the
war.

Gelon then told the embassadors that, since they wished to obtain every
thing and to concede nothing, they had better leave his dominions
without delay, and report to their countrymen that they had nothing to
expect from Sicily.

The embassadors went then to Corcyra, a large island on the western
coast of Greece, in the Adriatic Sea. It is now called Corfu. Here they
seemed to meet with their first success. The people of Corcyra acceded
to the proposals made to them, and promised at once to equip and man
their fleet, and send it round into the AEgean Sea. They immediately
engaged in the work, and seemed to be honestly intent on fulfilling
their promises. They were, however, in fact, only pretending. They were
really undecided which cause to espouse, the Greek or the Persian, and
kept their promised squadron back by means of various delays, until its
aid was no longer needed.

But the most important of all these negotiations of the Athenians and
Spartans with the neighboring states were those opened with Thessaly.
Thessaly was a kingdom in the northern part of Greece. It was,
therefore, the territory which the Persian armies would first enter, on
turning the northwestern corner of the AEgean Sea. There were, moreover,
certain points in its geographical position, and in the physical
conformation of the country, that gave it a peculiar importance in
respect to the approaching conflict.

By referring to the map placed at the commencement of the fifth chapter,
it will be seen that Thessaly was a vast valley, surrounded on all sides
by mountainous land, and drained by the River Peneus and its branches.
The Peneus flows eastwardly to the AEgean Sea, and escapes from the great
valley through a narrow and romantic pass lying between the Mountains
Olympus and Ossa. This pass