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The third day was now come, and the captains of the barbarians,
ashamed that so small a number of ships should harass their fleet, and
afraid of the anger of Xerxes, instead of waiting for the others to
begin the battle, weighed anchor themselves, and advanced against the
Greeks about the hour of noon, with shouts encouraging one another.
Now it happened that these sea-fights took place on the very same days
with the combats at Thermopylae; and as the aim of the struggle was in
the one case to maintain the pass, so in the other it was to defend the
Euripus. While the Greeks, therefore, exhorted one another not to
let the barbarians burst in upon Greece, these latter shouted to their
fellows to destroy the Grecian fleet, and get possession of the channel.
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