engagement of Salamis, and rather to sail to the Peloponnesus--the
Greeks, failing of provisions and divided among themselves, would
probably have dispersed.





BOOK II.




CHAPTER I.


At noon the next day, not only the vessels in the harbour presented
the same appearance of inactivity and desertion which had
characterised the preceding evening, but the camp itself seemed
forsaken. Pausanias had quitted his ship for the citadel, in which
he took up his lodgment when on shore: and most of the officers
and sailors of the squadron were dispersed among the taverns and
wine-shops, for which, even at that day, Byzantium was celebrated.

It was in one of the lowest and most popular of these latter resorts,
and in a large and rude chamber, or rather outhouse, separated from
the rest of the building, that a number of the Laconian Helots were
assembled. Some of these were employed as sailors, others were the
military attendants on the Regent and the Spartans who accompanied
him.