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Then the captains, believing all that the messenger had said,
proceeded to land a large body of Persian troops on the islet of
Psyttaleia, which lies between Salamis and the mainland; after
which, about the hour of midnight, they advanced their western wing
towards Salamis, so as to inclose the Greeks. At the same time the
force stationed about Ceos and Cynosura moved forward, and filled the
whole strait as far as Munychia with their ships. This advance was
made to prevent the Greeks from escaping by flight, and to block them
up in Salamis, where it was thought that vengeance might be taken upon
them for the battles fought near Artemisium. The Persian troops were
landed on the islet of Psyttaleia, because, as soon as the battle
began, the men and wrecks were likely to be drifted thither, as the
isle lay in the very path of the coming fight - and they would thus be
able to save their own men and destroy those of the enemy. All these
movements were made in silence, that the Greeks might have no
knowledge of them; and they occupied the whole night, so that the men
had no time to get their sleep.
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