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Themistocles, having received authority to proceed and enjoying every assistance ready at hand for his undertakings, again conceived a way to deceive the Lacedaemonians by a stratagem; for he was fully assured that just as the Lacedaemonians had interfered with the building of the wall about the city, they would in the same manner endeavour to obstruct the plans of the Athenians in the case of the making of the harbour. [2] Accordingly he decided to dispatch ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians to show them how it was to the advantage of the common interests of Greece that it should possess a first-rate harbour in view of the expedition which was to be expected on the part of the Persians. When he had in this way somewhat dulled the impulse of the Spartans to interfere, he devoted himself to that work, and since everybody enthusiastically co-operated it was speedily done and the harbour was finished before anyone expected. [3] And Themistocles persuaded the people each year to construct and add twenty triremes to the fleet they already possessed, and also to remove the tax upon metics and artisans, in order that great crowds of people might stream into the city from every quarter and that the Athenians might easily procure labour for a greater number of crafts. Both these policies he considered to be most useful in building up the city's naval forces. The Athenians, therefore, were busy over the matters we have described.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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  • Cross-references to this page (2):
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), ARTIF´ICES
    • A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), TRIEROPOEI
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