238 THEMISTOCLES.

mius of Zelea, who brought gold from the king of Persia to corrupt the Greeks, and was, by an order from The- mistoeles, degraded and disfranchised, he and his children and his posterity ; but that which most of all redounded to his credit was, that he put an end to all the civil wars of Greece, composed their differences, and persuaded them to lay aside all enmity during the war with the Persians ; and in this great work, Chileus the Arcadian was, it is said, of great assistance to him. Having taken upon himself the command of the Athe- nian forces, he immediately endeavored to persuade the citizens to leave the city, and to embark upon their gal- leys, and meet with the Persians at a great distance from Greece ; but many being against this, he led a large force, together with the Lacedaemonians, into Tempe, that in this pass they might maintain the safety of Thessalv, which had not as yet declared for the king ; but when they returned without performing any thing, and it was known that not only the Thessalians, but all as far as Boeotia, was going over to Xerxes, then the Athenians more willingly hearkened to the advice of Themistocles to fight by sea, and sent him with a fleet to guard the straits of Artemisium. When the contingents met here, the Greeks would have the Lacedsemonians to command, and Eurybiades to be their admiral; but the Athenians, who surpassed all the rest together in number of vessels, would not submit to come after any other, till Themistocles, perceiving the danger of this contest, yielded his own command to Eu- rybiades, and got the Athenians to submit, extenuating the loss by persuading them, that if in this war they be- haved themselves like men, he would answer for it after that, that the Greeks, of their own will, would submit to their command. And by this moderation of his, it is evi-

dent that he was the chief means of the deliverance of