Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/55

PROGRESS OF THE ARMY OF XERXES. 81 the first to pass over, and Xerxes himself, with the remaining army, followed next, though in an order somewhat different from that which had been observed in quitting Sardis : the monarch having reached the European shore, saw his troops crossing the bridges after him " under the lash." But in spite of the use of this sharp stimulus to accelerate progress, so vast were the num- bers of his host, that they occupied no less than seven days and seven nights, without a moment of intermission, in the business of crossing over, — a fact to be borne in mind presently, when we come to discuss the totals computed by Herodotus.^ Having thus cleared the strait, Xerxes directed his march along the Thracian Chersonese, to the isthmus whereby it is joined with Thrace, between the town of Kardia on his left hand and the tomb of Helle on his right, — the eponymous heroine of the strait. After passing this isthmus, he turned westward along the coast of the gulf of Melas and the -^gean sea, — crossing the river from which that gulf derived its name, and even drink- ing its waters up — accoi'ding to Herodotus — with the men and animals of his army. Having passed by the -3i^olic city of -iEnus and the harbor called Stentoris, he reached the sea-coast and plain called Doriskus, covering the rich delta near the mouth of the Hebrus : a fort had been built there and garrisoned by Da- rius. The spacious plain called by this same name reached far along the shore to Cape Serreium, and comprised in it the towns of Sale and Zone, possessions of the Samothracian Greeks planted on the territory once possessed by the Thracian Kikones on the mainland. Having been here joined by his fleet, which had doubled- the southernmost promontory of the Thracian Chersonese, he thought the situation convenient for a general review and enumeration both of his land and his naval force. Never probably in the history of mankind has there been ' Herodot. vii, 55, 56. AiejSt} 6e 6 arparbg avrov iv etztu 7](iEpriGt Kol iv inru £v<l>fi6vri(n, e7uvvaa^ ovdiva xpovov. ■* Herodot. vii, 58-59 ; Pliny, H. N. iv, 1 1 . See some valuable remarks on the topography of Doriskus and the neighborhood of the town still called Enos. in Grisebach, Reise durch Rumelien und nach Brussa, ch. vi, Tol. i, pp. 157-159 (Gottingen, 1841). He shows reason for believing that the indentation of the coast, marked on the map as the gulf of JEnos, did not exist in ancient times, any more than it exists now.