|
Besides these troops, the Locrians of Opus and the Phocians had
obeyed the call of their countrymen, and sent, the former all the
force they had, the latter a thousand men. For envoys had gone from
the Greeks at Thermopylae among the Locrians and Phocians, to call
on them for assistance, and to say - "They were themselves but the
vanguard of the host, sent to precede the main body, which might every
day be expected to follow them. The sea was in good keeping, watched
by the Athenians, the Eginetans, and the rest of the fleet. There
was no cause why they should fear; for after all the invader was not a
god but a man; and there never had been, and never would be, a man
who was not liable to misfortunes from the very day of his birth, and
those misfortunes greater in proportion to his own greatness. The
assailant therefore, being only a mortal, must needs fall from his
glory." Thus urged, the Locrians and the Phocians had come with
their troops to Trachis.
|
|