Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/47

PREPARATIONS AND MARCH OF XERXES. 23 from motives of mere ostentation : " for it would have cost no trouble at all," he observes,i " to drag all the ships in the fleet ' Herodot. vii, 24 : tic iJ-iv kfTe avfijia'A-Aeofievov evpi<TK£iv, n£ya}.o(ppocvvr}q elvEKa avTo Si/jf)7f opvaaeiv eKe?iEve, i'&iTiuv te 6vvafj.Lv uTTodELKvva&ai, nal HVTj/ioavva ?.i-£a^af izapEov yd.p, /irjdiva tzovov ?^ap6vTaQ, rbv la'&fihv Tag viag diEtpvcrai, bpinKreiv ekeKeve diupvxa Ty ^a?M<T(jTj, svpog ug 6vo rpir'/pEag ttMeiv o/iov £?MG-pEV/j.Eva(. According to the manner in -which Herodotus represents this excavation to have been performed, the earth dug out was handed up from man to man from the bottom of the canal to the top — the whole performed by hand, without any aid of cranes or ban'ows. The pretended work of turning the course of the river Halys, which Grecian report ascribed to Croesus on the advice of Thales, was a far greater work than the cutting at Athos (Herodot. i, 75). As this ship-canal across the isthmus of Athos has been treated often as a fable both by ancients (Juvenal, Sat. x.) and by modems (Cousinery, Voyage en Mace'doine), I transcribe the observations of Colonel Leake. That excellent observer points out evident traces of its past existence: but in my judgment, even if no such traces now remained, the testimony of Herodotus and Thucydides (iv, 109) would alone be sufficient to prove that it had existed really. The observations of Colonel Leake illustrate at the same time the motives in which the canal originated : " The canal (he says) seems to have been not more than sixty feet wide. As history does not mention that it was ever kept in repair after the time of Xerxes, the waters from the heights around have naturally filled it in part with soil, in the course of ages. It might, however, ^vithout much labor, be renewed: and there can be no doubt that it would be useful to the navigation of the iEgean : for such is the fear entertained by the Greek boatmen, of the strength and uncertain direction of the currents around Mount Athos, and of the gales and high seas to which the vicinity of the mountain is subject daring half the year, and which are rendered more formidable by the de- ficiency of harbors in the gulf of Orfxna, that I could not, as long as I was on the peninsula, and though offering a high price, prevail upon any boat to carry me from the eastern side of the peninsula to the western. Xerxes, therefore, was perfectly justified in cutting this canal, as well from the secu- rity which it afforded to his fleet, as from the facility of .'he work and the advantages of the ground, whicn seems made expressly to tempt such an undertaking. The experience of the losses which the former expedition under Mardonius had suffered suggested the idea. The circumnavigation of the capes Ampelus and Canastraum was much less dangei-ous, as the gulfs afford some good harboBS, and it was the object of Xerxes to collect forces from the Greek cities in those gulfs as he passed. If there be any diflSculty arising from the narrative of Herodotus, it is in comprehending how the operation should have required so long a time as three years, when the king of Persia had such multitudes at his disposal, and among them