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And now Themistocles chose out the swiftest sailers from among the
Athenian vessels, and, proceeding to the various watering-places
along the coast, cut inscriptions on the rocks, which were read by the
Ionians the day following, on their arrival at Artemisium. The
inscriptions ran thus: "Men of Ionia, ye do wrong to fight against
your own fathers, and to give your help to enslave Greece. We
beseech you therefore to come over, if possible, to our side: if you
cannot do this, then, we pray you, stand aloof from the contest
yourselves, and persuade the Carians to do the like. If neither of
these things be possible, and you are hindered, by a force too strong
to resist, from venturing upon desertion, at least when we come to
blows fight backwardly, remembering that you are sprung from us, and
that it was through you we first provoked the hatred of the
barbarian." Themistocles, in putting up these inscriptions,
looked, I believe, to two chances - either Xerxes would not
discover them, in which case they might bring over the Ionians to the
side of the Greeks; or they would be reported to him and made a ground
of accusation against the Ionians, who would thereupon be distrusted,
and would not be allowed to take part in the sea-fights.
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