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THEMISTOCLES 336 THENABD convinced his countrymen that a power- ful fleet was absolutely necessary for their welfare. During the war with Persia which followed, Themistocles, commander of the Athenian squadron, which num- bered 200 of the 324 vessels engaged, to avoid dissension was content to serve under the Spartan Eurybiadas, a man of narrow mind and hopeless obstinacy, On THEMISTOCLES the eve of Salamis it required all the influence of Themistocles' vehement per- sonality and threats to induce his timid superior and colleagues to await the at- tack of the enemy. In his eagerness to precipitate a collision, he sent by night a messenger to urge the Persian generals to make an immediate attack, as the Greeks had resolved on retreat. Intimation of the Persian advance was brought at nightfall by his rival Aris- tides, who had been ostracized in 483 B. c. The Peloponnesians refused to con- tinue the pursuit of the Persians beyond Andros. From that place Themistocles sent a second message to Xerxes urging him to hasten back before the Greeks carried out their project of breaking down the bridges. The victor of Salamis was now the foremost name in the minds and mouths of men. The rebuilding of the walls of Athens by his advice on a scale far larger than anything in exist- ence aroused great uneasiness among the allies of Sparta, but, by a series of adroit stratagems, Themistocles succeeded in cajoling the ephors till the walls had reached a height sufficient for defense. But his popularity was now waning, and the Spartan faction in Athens was plot- ting his ruin. Plutarch tells us that he provoked the anger and resentment of the citizens by his insufferable arrogance. In 471 B. C. ostracism was demanded, and he was banished from Athens. Argos was his first retreat, but so long as he remained there Sparta could have no se- curity or peace. His condemnation on the false charge of implication in the treason of Pausanias drove him from Ar- gos. He fled to Corcyra, and after a se- ries of hairbreadth escapes was com- pelled to seek shelter in Asia. Arta- xerxes received his suppliant with the greatest favor, and listened with atten- tion to his schemes for the subjugation of Greece. He resided at Magnesia till about 453 b. c. It is said that the young king was so affected with joy that he was heard at night to cry thrice in his dreams, "The- mistocles, the Athenian, is mine." After the Persian fashion, the town of Lamp- sacus was appointed to supply him with wine, Magnesia with bread, and Myus with other provisions. At Magnesia he lived securely till about 453 B. C. "In a word," says Thucydides, "The- mistocles, by natural force of mind, and with the least preparation, was of all men the best able to extemporize the right thing to be done." Of his moral character the great historian says noth- ing. But if his patriotism seems at times to have been but a larger kind of selfish- ness, it must be remembered that Themistocles was possessed of the con- viction that no one could realize the dream of a great Athenian empire but himself. The sentence passed on him was a bitter return for the unparalleled services he had rendered his country, and, due as it was to Spartan influence and jealousy, proved all the harder for a man of spirit to bear. THENABD, LOUIS JACQUES, a French chemist; born in La Louptiere (Aube) May 4, 1777; studied chemistry in Paris under Vauquelin; was appointed (1810) professor at the College de France, and later at the Polytechnic School and in the philosophical faculty of the university; in 1825 was created baron, and in 1832 peer of France. In 1837 he resigned his professorship at the Poljrtechnic School, and in 1840 that at the university. In 1842, however, he be- came grand officer of the legion of honor, and in 1850 member of the Council of Public Instruction. His chief work is "Treatise on Elementary Chemistry" (5 vols. Paris 1813-1817; 6th ed. 1833-1836). Along with Gay-Lussac he published in 1816 "Physico-Cheraical Researches," and