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It was while they were at this station that a herald reached them from
Xerxes, whom he had sent after making the following dispositions with
respect to the bodies of those who fell at Thermopylae. Of the twenty
thousand who had been slain on the Persian side, he left one thousand
upon the field while he buried the rest in trenches; and these he
carefully filled up with earth, and hid with foliage, that the sailors
might not see any signs of them. The herald, on reaching Histiaea,
caused the whole force to be collected together, and spake thus to
them:
"Comrades, King Xerxes gives permission to all who please, to quit
their posts, and see how he fights with the senseless men who think to
overthrow his armies."
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