herodotus

e turned to flight by so few ships. Many ships therefore of theHellenes were destroyed and many men perished, but many more ships andmen of the Barbarians. Thus contending they parted and went each totheir own place. 17. In this sea-fight the Egyptians did best of themen who fought for Xerxes; and these, besides other great deeds whichthey displayed, captured five ships of the Hellenes together withtheir crews: while of the Hellenes those who did best on this day werethe Athenians, and of the Athenians Cleinias the son of Alkibiades,who was serving with two hundred man and a ship of his own, furnishingthe expense at his own proper cost.18. Having parted, both sides gladly hastened to their moorings; andafter they had separated and got away out of the sea-fight, althoughthe Hellenes had possession of the bodies of the dead and of thewrecks of the ships, yet having suffered severely[13] (and especiallythe Athenians, of whose ships half had been disabled), they weredeliberating now about retreating to the inner parts of Hellas. 19.Themistocles however had conceived that if there should be detachedfrom the force of the Barbarians the Ionian and Carian nations, theywould be able to overcome the rest; and when the people of Eubœa weredriving their flocks down to that sea,[14] he assembled the generalsand said to them that he thought he had a device by which he hoped tocause the best of the king's allies to leave him. This matter herevealed to that extent only; and with regard to their presentcircumstances, he said that they must do as follows:--every one mustslaughter of the flocks of the Eubœans as many as he wanted, for itwas better that their army should have them than the enemy; moreoverhe advised that each one should command his own men to kindle a fire:and as for the time of their departure he would see to it in such wisethat they should come safe to Hellas. This they were content to do,and forthwith when they had kindled a fire they turned their attentionto the flocks. 20. For in fact the Eubœans, neglecting the oracle ofBakis as if it had no meaning at all, had neither carried awayanything from their land nor laid in any store of provisions with aview to war coming upon them, and by their conduct moreover they hadbrought trouble upon themselves.[15] For the oracle uttered by Bakisabout these matters runs as follows:"Mark, when a man, a Barbarian, shall yoke the Sea with papyrus,Then do thou plan to remove the loud-bleating goats from Eubœa."In the evils which at this time were either upon them or soon to beexpected they might feel not a little sorry that they had paid noattention to these lines.21. While these were thus engaged, there came to them the scout from