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At least these towns served as a pretext for the expedition, the real
purpose of which was to subjugate as great a number as possible of the
Grecian cities; and this became plain when the Thasians, who did not
even lift a hand in their defence, were reduced by the sea force,
while the land army added the Macedonians to the former slaves of the
king. All the tribes on the hither side of Macedonia had been reduced
previously. From Thasos the fleet stood across to the mainland, and
sailed along shore to Acanthus, whence an attempt was made to double
Mount Athos. But here a violent north wind sprang up, against which
nothing could contend, and handled a large number of the ships with
much rudeness, shattering them and driving them aground upon Athos.
'Tis said the number of the ships destroyed was little short of three
hundred; and the men who perished were more than twenty thousand. For
the sea about Athos abounds in monsters beyond all others; and so a
portion were seized and devoured by these animals, while others were
dashed violently against the rocks; some, who did not know how to
swim, were engulfed; and some died of the cold.
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