Unable to persuade Eurybiades to engage the enemy's ships in the narrows, he sent a secret message to the barbarian telling him not to be afraid of the Greeks, who were running away. And when the barbarian, by taking this advice, was vanquished in the battle because he fought where the Greeks had the advantage, Themistocles again sent a message to him, bidding him flee to the Hellespont by the speediest route, since the Greeks were minded to destroy the bridge. In this his purpose was, while saving the Greeks, to give the king the impression that he was saving him. 1
1 The details may be found in Plutarch's Life of Themistocles, chaps. xiii.-xvi. (118 B-120 C). The story comes from Herodotus, viii. 75 and 110. Cf. also Polyaenus, Strategemata, i. 30. 3 and 4.
Plutarch. Moralia. with an English Translation by. Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1931. 3.
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