Herodotus - The Histories.pdf

The Histories–Book Seven V 159
of the Athenians Themistocles, the son of
Neocles. They did not however maintain their station
for more than a few days; since envoys came
from Alexander, the son of Amyntas, the
Macedonian, and counselled them to decamp
from Tempe, telling them that if they remained in
the pass they would be trodden under foot by the
invading army, whose numbers they recounted,
and likewise the multitude of their ships. So when
the envoys thus counselled them, and the counsel
seemed to be good, and the Macedonian who sent
it friendly, they did even as he advised. In my
opinion what chiefly wrought on them was the
fear that the Persians might enter by another pass,
whereof they now heard, which led from Upper
Macedonia into Thessaly through the territory of
the Perrhaebi, and by the town of Gonnus- the
pass by which soon afterwards the army of
Xerxes actually made its entrance. The Greeks
therefore went back to their ships and sailed away
to the Isthmus.
Such were the circumstances of the expedition
into Thessaly; they took place when the king was