世界小史 第73期:間諜
Having finally succeeded in persuading the allies not to leave,
最終成功勸服同盟者不離開，
he secretly sent a messenger to Xerxes saying: "Make haste and attack, or the Athenians allies will escape you!"
他便悄悄派一使者去向薛西斯告密：“快進(jìn)攻吧，否則雅典人的同盟者們就會(huì)從你眼皮底下逃脫。”
Xerxes, who must have heard from his spies that the allies were set on leaving, fell for it.
薛西斯一定從他的間諜那里得知雅典的同盟者正準(zhǔn)備離開。
The next morning he attacked with his many small and nimble warships1. And he lost.
次日早晨他立刻投入許多小而敏捷的戰(zhàn)船進(jìn)行攻擊。他被打敗了。
The Greek ships were larger and less easy to maneuver2, but once again they were fighting desperately3 for their freedom.
希臘人的船大一些，不容易調(diào)控，但他們再次為自己的自由拼命而戰(zhàn)。
Not only that, but their victory ten years earlier at Marathon had inspired them with confidence.
不僅如此，十年前10年前的馬拉松大捷給他們以信心。
From a vantage point Xerxes was forced to look on while his smaller, lighter4 galleys5 were rammed6 and sunk by the Greeks' heavy ships.
薛西斯不得不看著他的小巧的戰(zhàn)船被希臘人笨重的戰(zhàn)艦沖撞沉沒。
Aghast, he ordered the retreat. And so for the second time the Athenians were victorious7, and against an even greater army than before.
他極度沮喪地下達(dá)了撤退的命令。雅典人就這樣第二次取得了勝利，打敗了一支更強(qiáng)大的波斯帝國的軍隊(duì)。
This was in 480 BC.
這是發(fā)生在公元前480年的事。
Shortly afterwards, in 479 BC, the Persian land army was also defeated by the combined forces of the Greeks and their allies, near Plataea.
此后不久，在公元前479年，波斯陸軍也在普拉提亞附近被希臘和他的聯(lián)軍消滅。
