25　战争狂人

此时，大流士比以前更加恼火，而彻底打败那些顽固不化的希腊人的想法也更加坚定了，因为那些希腊人竟然胆敢藐视他和他的巨大权威；于是，他便开始再次备战。然而，这一次他却下定决心，要组建一支世界上无人能敌的陆军和海军，还庄严地发下誓言，要彻底消灭希腊人。因此，在好几年里，他都一直在招募人马、筹集给养；可后来发生了一件事情，使得他尽管发过誓，却还是没有实现自己的计划。为什么呢？你们猜猜看吧。原来，他死掉啦。

不过，大流士有一个儿子，叫作薛西斯；这个名字，在英文里的发音就像是以字母Z开头似的。

我小的时候，曾经学过一首记忆字母表的儿歌，其中第一句是“A代表苹果（Apple）”，一直往下，直到“X指薛西斯（Xerxes），伟大的波斯王”。虽然记住了这首儿歌，但那时我对这个薛西斯或者波斯的情况，却一无所知。

薛西斯与他过世的父亲一样，决心打败希腊，所以他继续备战。

然而，希腊人也同样下定了决不能被波斯打败的决心，也在积极备战；因为他们都知道，波斯人早晚还会回来，再次攻打希腊的。

当时，雅典有两个重要的人物，并且两人都想要成为雅典的领袖。其中一人叫

and try again.

At this time there were two chief men in Athens,and each was trying to be leader. One was named Themistocles—pronounced The MIS to kleez—and the other Aristides—pronounced Ar is Tl deez.Notice how many Greek names seem to end in the letters es.

Themistocles urged the Athenians to get ready for what he knew was coming,the next war with Persia. Especially did he urge the Athenians to build a fleet of boats,for they had no boats and the Persians had a great many.

Aristides,on the other hand,didn't believe in Themistocles's scheme to build boats. He thought it a foolish expense and talked against it.

Aristides had always been so wise and fair that people called him Aristides the Just. Even so,some people wanted to get rid of him,because they thought he was wrong about building a fleet of boats and Themistocles was right.They waited till the time came to vote,when they could ostracize anyone they wanted to get rid of.Do you remember who started this custom?Cleisthenes—about 500 B.C.

When the day for voting came,a man who could not write and did not know Aristides by sight happened to ask his help in voting. Aristides inquired what name he should write,and the man replied，“Aristides.”

Aristides did not tell who he was,but merely said：

“Why do you want to get rid of this man?Has he done anything wrong?”

“Oh,no，”the voter replied.“He hasn’t done anything wrong，”but with a long sigh he

作地米斯托克利斯，地—米斯—托—克利斯；另一个人叫亚里斯泰迪斯，亚—里斯—泰—迪斯。注意，希腊人名字中用“斯”字结尾的，可真不少呢。

地米斯托克利斯敦促雅典人做好准备，因为他明白，他们与波斯人的下一场战争即将到来。他尤其坚持让雅典人组建一支船队，因为当时他们没有战船，而波斯军队却拥有大量的船只。

而另一方面，亚里斯泰迪斯却并不赞同地米斯托克利斯建造船只的计划。他认为这是一种浪费钱财的愚蠢做法，因此反对这样做。

由于一向聪明、公允，因此人们都称亚里斯泰迪斯为“亚青天”。但即便如此，还是有一些人想要除掉他，因为那些人觉得，他在建造船队这一问题上的观念是错误的，而地米斯托克利斯的想法是对的。于是他们便等着投票日的到来；到了那时，他们就可以根据“陶片流放法”，来放逐任何一个他们想要除掉的人了。你们还记得是谁创立了这种方法吗？是公元前500年左右的克里斯提尼啊。

到了投票日，碰巧有一个不会写字、也不认识亚里斯泰迪斯的人，要亚里斯泰迪斯帮他投票。亚里斯泰迪斯问他要写谁的名字，那个人回答说：“写亚里斯泰迪斯。”

亚里斯泰迪斯并没有向那人表明自己的身份，只是说：

said，“I'm so tired of hearing him always called The Just.”

Aristides must have been surprised by this unreasonable answer,but nevertheless he wrote his own name for the voter,and when the votes were counted,there were so many that he was ostracized.

Though it did not seem quite fair that Aristides should be ostracized,it was fortunate,as it turned out,that Themistocles had his way,and it was fortunate the Athenians went on preparing for war.

They built a fleet of triremes. Then they got all the cities and towns in Greece to agree to join forces in case of war.Sparta,on account of its fame as a city of soldiers,was made the leader of all the others in case war should come.

And then,just ten years after the battle of Marathon in 490 B. C.the great Persian army was again ready to attack Greece.It had been brought together from all parts of the vast Persian Empire and was far bigger than the former army with its 120，000 men,although that was a large army for those days.

This time the army is supposed to have consisted of over two million soldiers—two million；just think of that！The question then was how to get so many soldiers over to Greece.Such a multitude could not be carried across to Greece in boats,for even the largest triremes only held a few hundred men,and it would have taken—well,can you tell how many boats,to carry over two million?Probably many more triremes than there were in the whole world at that time.Xerxes decided to have his army march to Greece，

“您为什么想要放逐这个人呢？是因为他干了什么坏事吗？”

“哦，不是的，”那人回答道，“他没有干任何坏事。”长叹了一声后，那人又说：“我只是因为总是听人叫他‘青天’，听得烦了。”

听到这样不可理喻的回答，亚里斯泰迪斯当时一定很惊讶；可尽管如此，他还是帮那人在陶片上写下了自己的名字。经过计票之后，要求放逐他的票数很多，于是他便被流放了。

虽然流放亚里斯泰迪斯显得不那么公平，但后来却表明，幸好地米斯托克利斯按照自己的计划行事，也幸亏雅典人积极进行了备战呢。

他们建造了一支由三列桨座战船组成的船队。然后，他们又说服了希腊的所有城邦和小市镇，让它们全都同意在爆发战争的时候将军队联合起来作战。由于拥有“战士之城”的美名，所以斯巴达被推选为战时所有城邦的领袖。

接下来，在公元前490年发生的马拉松之战恰好过去十年之后，强大的波斯军队再次准备攻打希腊了。这支军队，是由广袤的波斯帝国各地的军队集结而成的，规模远远超过了上一支兵力为十二万人的军队，尽管十二万兵力在当时也算是一支大军了。

这一次，波斯大军的兵力据说超过了两百万人；你们不妨想象一下，有两百万呢！当时的问题，就是怎样才能把这么多的士兵派往希腊。人数这么多，是不可能再乘坐船只渡海前往希腊的，因为就算是当时最大的三列桨座战船，也只能容纳几百人；而要把两百多万兵力送到海那边去的话，要用多少艘船只，你们能告诉我

the long way but the only way round. So they started.

Now,there is a strip of water called a strait,something like a wide river,right across the path the Persian army had to take. This strait was then called the Hellespont.It is,of course still there,but if you look on the map you will find it is now called the Dardanelles.There was no bridge across the Hellespont,for it was almost a mile wide,and they didn't have bridges as long as that in those days.Xerxes fastened boats together in a line that stretched from one shore to the other shore,and over these boats he built a floor to form a bridge so that his army could cross upon it.

Hardly had he finished building the bridge,however,when a storm arose and destroyed it. Xerxes,in anger at the waves,ordered that the water of the Hellespont be whipped as if it were an enemy or a slave he were punishing.Then he built another bridge,and this time the water behaved itself,and his soldiers were able to cross over safely.

So vast was Xerxes's army that it is said to have taken it seven days and seven nights marching continuously all the time in two long unbroken lines to get over to the opposite shore. Xerxes's fleet followed the army as closely as they could along the shore,and at last they reached the top of Greece.Down through the north of Greece the army came,overrunning everything before it,and it seemed as though nothing on earth could stop such numbers of men.

吗？很可能比当时整个世界上所有三列桨座战船加起来的总数还要多得多呢。因此，薛西斯决定让军队经由陆地，行军前往希腊；虽说路途遥远，但这是唯一可行的办法。于是，波斯大军便开拔了。

注意，在波斯军队前往希腊的必经之路上，有一片狭窄的水域，叫作“海峡”，它有点儿像是一条宽阔的河流。这个海峡，当时叫作赫勒斯滂。当然，这个海峡如今仍然位于那里；不过，如果看一看地图，你们就会发现，如今它叫作“达达尼尔海峡”了。赫勒斯滂海峡上面没有桥梁，因为这个海峡差不多有一英里宽，当时的人还建造不出这么长的桥梁来。于是，薛西斯下令将战船联结起来，排成一列，从这边的海岸一直延伸到对岸；然后，他又令人在船上铺上木板，从而形成一座浮桥，好让波斯军队能够从上面越过海峡。

然而，他刚刚建好这座浮桥，海上便风雨大作，海浪将浮桥打了个七零八落。薛西斯迁怒于海浪，便下令鞭笞赫勒斯滂海峡里的海水，就像是在惩罚一名敌人或者奴隶似的。然后，他又搭建起了一座浮桥；这一次，海水平静得很，所以他手下的大军便安全地渡过了赫勒斯滂海峡。

据说，薛西斯所率的这支军队兵力实在是太庞大了，所以分成两列、连续行军，也用了七天七夜才全部渡过海去，到达对岸。薛西斯的船队则沿着海岸，尽可能地紧靠大军前进，最后终于到达了希腊的北端。然后，波斯大军便从希腊北部挥师向南，并且所向披靡、势如破竹，似乎世界上再也没有什么可以阻挡住这支如此庞大的军队了。