counsel," said he, "but I will not
hear any thing said against Demaratus, for I am convinced that he is a
true and faithful friend to me." Saying this, he dismissed the council.

CHAPTER X.

THE BURNING OF ATHENS.

B.C. 480

The officers return to their vessels.--The Greek fleet retire to
Salamis.--The Thessalians.--Their hostility to the Phocaeans.--Defeat of
the Thessalians.--Phocaean stratagem.--A spectral army.--Thessalian
cavalry.--Pitfall for the cavalry.--They are caught in it.--Advance of
the army.--Cruelties and atrocities.--The sacred town of Delphi.--Mount
Parnassus.--Summit of Parnassus.--The Castalian spring.--The
oracle.--Architectural structures.--Works of art.--Inspiration of the
oracle.--Its discovery.--Panic of the Delphians.--They apply to the
oracle.--Response of the oracle.--The prodigy in the
temple.--Discomfiture of the Persians.--The spirit
warriors.--Consternation at Athens.--The inhabitants advised to
fly.--Scenes of misery.--Some of the inhabitants remain.--Situation of
the Acropolis.--Magnificent architectural structures.--Statue of
Minerva.--The Parthenon.--Xerxes at Athens.--Athens burned.--The citadel
taken and fired.--Exaltation of Xerxes.--Messenger sent to Susa.

When the officers of the Persian fleet had satisfied themselves with
examining the battle-field at Thermopylae, and had heard the narrations
given by the soldiers of the terrible combats that had been fought with
the desperate garrison which had been stationed to defend the pass, they
went back to their vessels, and prepared to make sail to the southward,
in pursuit of the Greek fleet. The Greek fleet had gone to Salamis. The
Persians in due time overtook them there, and a great naval conflict
occurred, which is known in history as the battle of Salamis, and was
one of the most celebrated naval battles of ancient times. An account of
this battle will form the subject of the next chapter. In this we are to
follow the operations of the army on the land.

As the Pass of Thermopylae was now in Xerxes's possession, the way was
open before him to all that portion of the great territory which lay
north of the Peloponnesus. Of course, before he could enter the
peninsula itself, he must pass the Isthmus of Corinth, where he might,
perhaps, encounter some concentrated resistance. North of the isthmus,
however, there was no place where the Greeks could make a stand. The
country was all open, or, rather, there were a thousan