Lands, classical and sacred . ss of thence, for several hundred yards, the oneroad in which they join is hemmed in on the northby rugged hills impassable to heavy-armed troops,and on the south by the sea-shore. And there afew vessels provided with the engines of war thenin use would be quite sufficient to obstruct theprogress of a large army. On tlie farther side ofthe gulf, adjacent to the Scironian rocks, there isanother pass of like character on the waters long then as the Greeks could retain commandof this navigation, they had it in their power, asThemistocles had told
Lands, classical and sacred . ss of thence, for several hundred yards, the oneroad in which they join is hemmed in on the northby rugged hills impassable to heavy-armed troops,and on the south by the sea-shore. And there afew vessels provided with the engines of war thenin use would be quite sufficient to obstruct theprogress of a large army. On tlie farther side ofthe gulf, adjacent to the Scironian rocks, there isanother pass of like character on the waters long then as the Greeks could retain commandof this navigation, they had it in their power, asThemistocles had told them, to protect the Isthmus,as well as Salamis, Eleusis, and Megara, and pre-vent the invaders from penetrating beyond gain the command of this line had become theobject of the Persians in equal degree with the im-portance to the Greeks of retaining it. It was todetermine this question then, a battle being un-avoidable, that Themistocles had resolved to fightit in the straits. And these considerations assist ( 52 ). rian ul the Straits of Salamis, Fiom the Ailniiraity Survey. REMARKS ON THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS. 53 in assigning also with probable truth the limits ofthe space selected for the conflict. For, on the onehand, it is clear that the Greeks had arranged toreceive the attack to the eastward of the narrowestpassage ; and it is also clear that they could notventure on receiving it at any greater distance tothe eastward than just enough to give scope formarshalling their ships. It was necessary for themto occupy the whole navigable width of the chan-nel, in order to secure their flanks ; but most de-sirable not to remove themselves further from thecity of Salamis, and from their ships employed inguarding the passes on the sea-shore, than circum-stances should render unavoidable. An observation strongly confirmatory of the pro-bability that the line laid down on the annexedplan was the one taken up by the Grecian fleet isthis—Themistocles is described by Plutarch
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840, booksubjectmiddlee, bookyear1846
