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A VICTOR OF SALAMIS The MM Co.
A VICTOR OF SALAMIS
A TALE OF THE DAYS OF XERXES, LEONIDAS AND THEMISTOCLES
BY
WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS
AUTHOR OF "A FRIEND OF CÆSAR," "GOD WILLS IT," "BELSHAZZAR," ETC.
"... On the Ægean shore a city stands, Built nobly, pure the air and light the soil, Athens, the eye of Greece."
New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1907 All rights reserved
COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
Set up and electrotyped. Published April, 1907.
Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co. Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
The invasion of Greece by Xerxes, with its battles of Thermopylæ, Salamis, and Platæa, forms one of the most dramatic events in history. Had Athens and Sparta succumbed to this attack of Oriental superstition and despotism, the Parthenon, the Attic Theatre, the Dialogues of Plato, would have been almost as impossible as if Phidias, Sophocles, and the philosophers had never lived. Because this contest and its heroes Leonidas and Themistocles cast their abiding shadows across our world of to day, I have attempted this piece of historical fiction.
Many of the scenes were conceived on the fields of action themselves during a recent visit to Greece, and I have tried to give some glimpse of the natural beauty of "The Land of the Hellene," a beauty that will remain when Themistocles and his peers fade away still further into the backgrounds of history.
W. S. D.
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE THE ISTHMIAN GAMES NEAR CORINTH
CHAPTER PAGE I. GLAUCON THE BEAUTIFUL 3 II. THE ATHLETE 10 III. THE HAND OF PERSIA 21 IV. THE PENTATHLON 31
BOOK I THE SHADOW OF THE PERSIAN
V. HERMIONE OF ELEUSIS 51 VI. ATHENS 62 VII. DEMOCRATES AND THE TEMPTER 74 VIII. ON THE ACROPOLIS 84 IX. THE CYPRIAN TRIUMPHS 95 X. DEMOCRATES RESOLVES 106 XI. THE PANATHENÆA 116 XII. A TRAITOR TO HELLAS 128 XIII. THE DISLOYALTY OF PHORMIO 141 XIV. MARDONIUS THE PERSIAN 152
BOOK II THE COMING OF THE PERSIAN
XV. THE LOTUS EATING AT SARDIS 165 XVI. THE COMING OF XERXES THE GOD KING 174 XVII. THE CHARMING BY ROXANA 186 XVIII. DEMOCRATES'S TROUBLES RETURN 197 XIX. THE COMMANDMENT OF XERXES 209 XX. THERMOPYLÆ 219 XXI. THE THREE HUNDRED AND ONE 230 XXII. MARDONIUS GIVES A PROMISE 243 XXIII. THE DARKEST HOUR 253 XXIV. THE EVACUATION OF ATHENS 264 XXV. THE ACROPOLIS FLAMES 268 XXVI. THEMISTOCLES IS THINKING 279 XXVII... Continue reading book >>
