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The History of Herodotus: Page 33
Volume Two - Book VI
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83. Argos however was so bereft of men that their slaves took
possession of all the State, ruling and managing it until the sons of
those who had perished grew to be men. Then these, endeavouring to
gain Argos back to themselves, cast them out; and the slaves being
driven forth gained possession of Tiryns by fighting. Now for a time
these two parties had friendly relations with one another; but
afterwards there came to the slaves a prophet named Cleander, by race
a Phigalian from Arcadia: this man persuaded the slaves to attack
their masters, and in consequence of this there was war between them
for a long time, until at last with difficulty the Argives overcame
them.
84. The Argives then say that this was the reason why Cleomenes went
mad and had an evil end: but the Spartans themselves say that
Cleomenes was not driven mad by any divine power, but that he had
become a drinker of unmixed wine from having associated with
Scythians, and that he went mad in consequence of this: for the nomad
Scythians, they say, when Dareios had made invasion of their land,
desired eagerly after this to take vengeance upon him; and they sent
to Sparta and tried to make an alliance, and to arrange that while the
Scythians themselves attempted an invasion of Media by the way of the
river Phasis, the Spartans should set forth from Ephesos and go up
inland, and then that they should meet in one place: and they say that
Cleomenes when the Scythians had come for this purpose, associated
with them largely, and that thus associating more than was fit, he
learnt the practice of drinking wine unmixed with water; and for this
cause (as the Spartans think) he went mad. Thenceforth, as they say
themselves, when they desire to drink stronger wine, they say "Fill up
in Scythian fashion."[73] Thus the Spartans report about Cleomenes;
but to me it seems that this was a retribution which Cleomenes paid
for Demaratos.
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85. Now when the Eginetans heard that Cleomenes had met his end, they
sent messengers to Sparta to denounce Leotychides for the matter of
the hostages which were being kept at Athens: and the Lacedemonians
caused a court to assemble and judged that the Eginetans had been
dealt with outrageously by Leotychides; and they condemned him to be
taken to Egina and delivered up in place of the men who were being
kept at Athens. Then when the Eginetans were about to take
Leotychides, Theasides the son of Leoprepes, a man of repute in
Sparta, said to them: "What are ye proposing[74] to do, men of Egina?
Do ye mean to take away the king of the Spartans, thus delivered up to
you by his fellow-citizens? If the Spartans now being in anger have
decided so, beware lest at some future time, if ye do this, they bring
an evil upon your land which may destroy it." Hearing this the
Eginetans abstained from taking him; but they came to an agreement
that Leotychides should accompany them to Athens and restore the men
to the Eginetans.
86. When however Leotychides came to Athens and asked for the deposit
back, the Athenians, not being willing to give up the hostages,
produced pretexts for refusing, and alleged that two kings had
deposited them and they did not think it right to give them back to
the one without the other: so since the Athenians said that they would
not give them back, Leotychides spoke to them as follows:
(a) "Athenians, do whichever thing ye yourselves desire; for ye know
that if ye give them up, ye do that which religion commands, and if ye
refuse to give them up, ye do the opposite of this: but I desire to
tell you what kind of a thing came to pass once in Sparta about a
deposit. We Spartans report that there was in Lacedemon about two
generations before my time on Glaucos the son of Epikydes. This man we
say attained the highest merit in all things besides, and especially
he was well reported of by all who at that time dwelt in Lacedemon for
his uprightness: and we relate that in due time[75] it happened to him
thus:--a man of Miletos came to Sparta and desired to have speech with
him, alleging the reasons which follow: 'I am a Milesian,' he said,
'and I am come hither desiring to have benefit from thy uprightness,
Glaucos; for as there was much report of thy uprightness throughout
all the rest of Hellas and also in Ionia, I considered with myself
that Ionia is ever in danger, whereas Peloponnesus is safely
established, and also that we never see wealth continue in the
possession of the same persons long;--reflecting, I say, on these
things and taking counsel with myself, I resolved to turn into money
the half of my possessions, and to place it with thee, being well
assured that if it were placed with thee I should have it safe. Do
thou therefore, I pray thee, receive the money, and take and keep
these tallies; and whosoever shall ask for the money back having the
tokens answering to these, to him do thou restore it.' (b) The
stranger who had come from Miletos said so much; and Glaucos accepted
the deposit on the terms proposed. Then after a long time had gone by,
there came to Sparta the sons of him who had deposited the money with
Glaucos; and they came to speech with Glaucos, and producing the
tokens asked for the money to be given back: but he repulsed them
answering them again thus: 'I do not remember the matter, nor does my
mind bring back to me any knowledge of those things whereof ye speak;
but I desire to recollect and do all that is just; for if I received
it, I desire to restore it honestly; and if on the other hand I did
not receive it at all, I will act towards you in accordance with the
customs of the Hellenes:[76] therefore I defer the settling of the
matter with you for three months from now.' (c) The Milesians
accordingly went away grieved, for they supposed that they had been
robbed of the money; but Glaucos set forth to Delphi to consult the
Oracle: and when he inquired of the Oracle whether he should rob them
of the money by an oath, the Pythian prophetess rebuked him with these
lines:
"'Glaucos, thou, Epikydes' son, yea, this for the moment,
This, to conquer their word by an oath and to rob, is more gainful.
Swear, since the lot of death waits also for him who swears truly.
But know thou that Oath has a son, one nameless and handless and footless,
Yet without feet he pursues, without hands he seizes, and wholly
He shall destroy the race and the house of the man who offendeth.
But for the man who swears truly his race is the better hereafter.'
Having heard this Glaucos entreated that the god would pardon him for
that which he had said, but the prophetess said that to make trial of
the god and to do the deed were things equivalent. (d) Glaucos then,
having sent for the Milesians, gave back to them the money: but the
reason for which, O Athenians, I set forth to relate to you this
story, shall now be told. At the present time there is no descendant
of Glaucos existing, nor any hearth which is esteemed to be that of
Glaucos, but he has been utterly destroyed and rooted up out of
Sparta. Thus it is good not even to entertain a thought about a
deposit other than that of restoring it, when they who made it ask for
it again."
87. When Leotychides had thus spoken, since not even so were the
Athenians willing to listen to him, he departed back; and the
Eginetans, before paying the penalty for their former wrongs wherein
they did outrage to the Athenians to please the Thebans,[77] acted as
follows:--complaining of the conduct of the Athenians and thinking
that they were being wronged, they made preparations to avenge
themselves upon the Athenians; and since the Athenians were
celebrating a four-yearly festival[78] at Sunion, they lay in wait for
the sacred ship which was sent to it and took it, the vessel being
full of men who were the first among the Athenians; and having taken
it they laid the men in bonds.
88. The Athenians after they had
suffered this wrong from the Eginetans no longer delayed to contrive
all things possible to their hurt. And there was[79] in Egina a man of
repute, one Nicodromos the son of Cnithos:[80] this man had cause of
complaint against the Eginetans for having before this driven him
forth out of the island; and hearing now that the Athenians had
resolved to do mischief to the Eginetans, he agreed with the Athenians
to deliver up Egina to them, telling them on what day he would make
his attempt and by what day it would be necessary for them to come to
his assistance.
89. After this Nicodromos, according as he had agreed
with the Athenians, seized that which is called the old city, but the
Athenians did not come to his support at the proper time; for, as it
chanced, they had not ships sufficient to fight with the Eginetans; so
while they were asking the Corinthians to lend them ships, during this
time their cause went to ruin. The Corinthians however, being at this
time exceedingly friendly with them, gave the Athenians twenty ships
at their request; and these they gave by selling them at five drachmas
apiece, for by the law it was not permitted to give them as a free
gift. Having taken these ships of which I speak and also their own,
the Athenians with seventy ships manned in all sailed to Egina, and
they were later by one day than the time agreed.
90. Nicodromos
meanwhile, as the Athenians did not come to his support at the proper
time, embarked in a ship and escaped from Egina, and with him also
went others of the Eginetans; and the Athenians gave them Sunion to
dwell in, starting from whence these men continued to plunder the
Eginetans who were in the island.
91. This happened afterwards: but at
the time of which we speak the well-to-do class among the Eginetans
prevailed over the men of the people, who had risen against them in
combination with Nicodromos, and then having got them into their power
they were bringing their prisoners forth to execution. From this there
came upon them a curse which they were not able to expiate by
sacrifice, though they devised against it all they could; but they
were driven forth from the island before the goddess became propitious
to them. For they had taken as prisoners seven hundred of the men of
the people and were bringing them forth to execution, when one of them
escaped from his bonds and fled for refuge to the entrance of the
temple of Demeter the Giver of Laws,[81] and he took hold of the latch
of the door and clung to it; and when they found that they could not
drag him from it by pulling him away, they cut off his hands and so
carried him off, and those hands remained clinging to the latch of the
door.
92. Thus did the Eginetans to one another: and when the
Athenians came, they fought against them with seventy ships, and being
worsted in the sea-fight they called to their assistance the same whom
they had summoned before, namely the Argives. These would no longer
come to their help, having cause of complaint because the ships of
Egina compelled by Cleomenes had put in to the land of Argos and their
crews had landed with the Lacedemonians; with whom also had landed men
from ships of Sikyon in this same invasion: and as a penalty for this
there was laid upon them by the Argives a fine of a thousand talents,
five hundred for each State. The Sikyonians accordingly, acknowledging
that they had committed a wrong, had made an agreement to pay a
hundred talents and be free from the penalty; the Eginetans however
did not acknowledge their wrong, but were more stubborn. For this
reason then, when they made request, none of the Argives now came to
their help at the charge of the State, but volunteers came to the
number of a thousand; and their leader was a commander named
Eurybates, a man who had practised the five contests.[82] Of these men
the greater number never returned back, but were slain by the
Athenians in Egina; and the commander himself, Eurybates, fighting in
single combat[83] killed in this manner three men and was himself
slain by the fourth, Sophanes namely of Dekeleia.
93. The Eginetans
however engaged in contest with the Athenians in ships, when these
were in disorder, and defeated them; and they took of them four ships
together with their crews.
94. So the Athenians were at war with the Eginetans; and meanwhile the
Persian was carrying forward his design, since he was put in mind ever
by his servant to remember the Athenians, and also because of the sons
of Peisistratos were near at hand and brought charges continually
against the Athenians, while at the same time Dareios himself wished
to take hold of this pretext and subdue those nations of Hellas which
had not given him earth and water. Mardonios then, since he had fared
miserably in his expedition, he removed from his command; and
appointing other generals to command he despatched them against
Eretria and Athens, namely Datis, who was a Mede by race, and
Artaphrenes the son of Artaphrenes, a nephew of the king: and he sent
them forth with the charge to reduce Athens and Eretria to slavery and
to bring the slaves back into his presence.
95. When these who had
been appointed to command came in their march from the king to the Aleïan plain in Kilikia, taking with them a large and well-equipped
land-army, then while they were encamping there, the whole naval
armament came up, which had been appointed for several nations to
furnish; and there came to them also the ships for carrying horses,
which in the year before Dareios had ordered his tributaries to make
ready. In these they placed their horses, and having embarked the
land-army in the ships they sailed for Ionia with six hundred
triremes. After this they did not keep their ships coasting along the
mainland towards the Hellespont and Thrace, but they started from
Samos and made their voyage by the Icarian Sea[84] and between the
islands; because, as I think, they feared more than all else the
voyage round Athos, seeing that in the former year[85] while making
the passage by this way they had come to great disaster. Moreover also
Naxos compelled them, since it had not been conquered at the former
time.[86]
96. And when they had arrived at Naxos, coming against it
from the Icarian Sea (for it was against Naxos first that the Persians
intended to make expedition, remembering the former events), the
Naxians departed forthwith fleeing to the mountains, and did not await
their attack; but the Persians made slaves of those of them whom they
caught and set fire to both the temples and the town. Having so done
they put out to sea to attack the other islands.
97. While these were doing thus, the Delians also had left Delos and
fled away to Tenos; and when the armament was sailing in thither,
Datis sailed on before and did not allow the ships to anchor at the
island of Delos, but at Rhenaia on the other side of the channel; and
he himself, having found out by inquiry where the men of Delos were,
sent a herald and addressed them thus: "Holy men, why are ye fled away
and departed, having judged of me that which is not convenient? for
even I of myself have wisdom at least so far, and moreover it has been
thus commanded me by the king, not to harm at all that land in which
the two divinities were born, neither the land itself nor the
inhabitants of it. Now therefore return to your own possessions and
dwell in your island." Thus he proclaimed by a herald to the Delians;
and after this he piled up and burned upon the altar three hundred
talents' weight of frankincense.
98. Datis having done these things
sailed away with his army to fight against Eretria first, taking with
him both Ionians and Aiolians; and after he had put out to sea from
thence, Delos was moved, not having been shaken (as the Delians
reported to me) either before that time or since that down to my own
time; and this no doubt the god[86a] manifested as a portent to men of
the evils that were about to be; for in the time of Dareios the son of
Hystaspes and Xerxes the son of Dareios and Artoxerxes the son of
Xerxes, three generations following upon one another, there happened
more evils to Hellas than during the twenty other generations which
came before Dareios, some of the evils coming to it from the Persians,
and others from the leaders themselves of Hellas warring together for
supremacy. Thus it was not unreasonable that Delos should be moved,
which was before unmoved. [And in an oracle it was thus written about
it:
"Delos too will I move, unmoved though it hath been aforetime."][87]
Now in the Hellenic tongue the names which have been mentioned have
this meaning--Dareios means "compeller,"[88] Xerxes "warrior,"[89]
Artoxerxes "great warrior."[90] Thus then might the Hellenes rightly
call these kings in their own tongue.
99. The Barbarians then, when they had departed from Delos, touched at
the islands as they went, and from them received additional forces and
took sons of the islanders as hostages: and when in sailing round
about the islands they put in also to Carystos, seeing that the
Carystians would neither give them hostages nor consent to join in an
expedition against cities that were their neighbours, meaning Eretria
and Athens, they began to besiege them and to ravage their land; until
at last the Carystians also came over to the will of the Persians.
100. The Eretrians meanwhile being informed that the armament of the
Persians was sailing to attack them, requested the Athenians to help
them; and the Athenians did not refuse their support, but gave as
helpers those four thousand to whom had been allotted the land of the
wealthy[91] Chalkidians. The Eretrians however, as it turned out, had
no sound plan of action, for while they sent for the Athenians, they
had in their minds two different designs: some of them, that is,
proposed to leave the city and go to the heights of Eubœa; while
others of them, expecting to win gain for themselves from the Persian,
were preparing to surrender the place. Having got knowledge of how
things were as regards both these plans, Aischines the son of Nothon,
one of the leaders of the Eretrians, told the whole condition of their
affairs to those of the Athenians who had come, and entreated them to
depart and go to their own land, that they might not also perish. So
the Athenians did according to this counsel given to them by
Aischines.
101. And while these passed over to Oropos and saved
themselves, the Persians sailed on and brought their ships to land
about Temenos and Chioreai and Aigilea in the Eretrian territory; and
having taken possession of these places,[91a] forthwith they began to
disembark their horses and prepared to advance against the enemy. The
Eretrians however did not intend to come forth against them and fight;
but their endeavour was if possible to hold out by defending their
walls, since the counsel prevailed not to leave the city. Then a
violent assault was made upon the wall, and for six days there fell
many on both sides; but on the seventh day Euphorbos the son of
Alkimachos and Philagros the son of Kyneos, men of repute among the
citizens, gave up the city to the Persians. These having entered the
city plundered and set fire to the temples in retribution for the
temples which were burned at Sardis, and also reduced the people to
slavery according to the commands of Dareios.
102. Having got Eretria into their power, they stayed a few days and
then sailed for the land of Attica, pressing on[92] hard and supposing
that the Athenians would do the same as the Eretrians had done. And
since Marathon was the most convenient place in Attica for horsemen to
act and was also very near to Eretria, therefore Hippias the son of
Peisistratos was guiding them thither.
103. When the Athenians had
information of this, they too went to Marathon to the rescue of their
land; and they were led by ten generals, of whom the tenth was
Miltiades, whose father Kimon of Stesagoras had been compelled to go
into exile from Athens because of Peisistratos the son of Hippocrates:
and while he was in exile it was his fortune to win a victory at the
Olympic games with a four-horse chariot, wherein, as it happened, he
did the same thing as his half-brother Miltiades[93] had done, who had
the same mother as he. Then afterwards in the next succeeding Olympic
games he gained a victory with the same mares and allowed Peisistratos
to be proclaimed as victor; and having resigned to him the victory he
returned to his own native land under an agreement for peace. Then
after he had won with the same mares at another Olympic festival, it
was his hap to be slain by the sons of Peisistratos, Peisistratos
himself being no longer alive. These killed him near the City Hall,
having set men to lie in wait for him by night; and the burial-place
of Kimon is in the outskirts of the city, on the other side of the
road which is called the way through Coile, and just opposite him
those mares are buried which won in three Olympic games. This same
thing was done also by the mares belonging to Euagoras the Laconian,
but besides these by none others. Now the elder of the sons of Kimon,
Stesagoras, was at that time being brought up in the house of his
father's brother Miltiades in the Chersonese, while the younger son
was being brought up at Athens with Kimon himself, having been named
Miltiades after Miltiades the settler of the Chersonese.
104. This
Miltiades then at the time of which we speak had come from the
Chersonese and was a general of the Athenians, after escaping death in
two forms; for not only did the Phenicians, who had pursued after him
as far as Imbros, endeavour earnestly to take him and bring him up to
the presence of the king, but also after this, when he had escaped
from these and had come to his own native land and seemed to be in
safety from that time forth, his opponents, who had laid wait for him
there, brought him up before a court and prosecuted him for his
despotism in the Chersonese. Having escaped these also, he had then
been appointed a general of the Athenians, being elected by the
people.
105. First of all, while they were still in the city, the generals
sent off to Sparta a herald, namely Pheidippides[94] an Athenian and
for the rest a runner of long day-courses and one who practised this
as his profession. With this man, as Pheidippides himself said and as
he made report to the Athenians, Pan chanced to meet by mount
Parthenion, which is above Tegea; and calling aloud the name of
Pheidippides, Pan bade him report to the Athenians and ask for what
reason they had no care of him, though he was well disposed to the
Athenians and had been serviceable to them on many occasions before
that time, and would be so also yet again. Believing that this tale
was true, the Athenians, when their affairs had been now prosperously
settled, established under the Acropolis a temple of Pan; and in
consequence of this message they propitiate him with sacrifice offered
every year and with a torch-race.
106. However at that time, the time
namely when he said that Pan appeared to him, this Pheidippides having
been sent by the generals was in Sparta on the next day after that on
which he left the city of the Athenians; and when he had come to the
magistrates he said: "Lacedemonians, the Athenians make request of you
to come to their help and not to allow a city most anciently
established among the Hellenes to fall into slavery by the means of
Barbarians; for even now Eretria has been enslaved, and Hellas has
become the weaker by a city of renown." He, as I say, reported to them
that with which he had been charged, and it pleased them well to come
to help the Athenians; but it was impossible for them to do so at
once, since they did not desire to break their law; for it was the
ninth day of the month, and on the ninth day they said they would not
go forth, nor until the circle of the moon should be full.[95]
107. These men were waiting for the full moon: and meanwhile Hippias
the son of Peisistratos was guiding the Barbarians in to Marathon,
after having seen on the night that was just past a vision in his
sleep of this kind,--it seemed to Hippias that he lay with his own
mother. He conjectured then from the dream that he should return to
Athens and recover his rule, and then bring his life to an end in old
age in his own land. From the dream, I say, he conjectured this; and
after this, as he guided them in, first he disembarked the slaves from
Eretria on the island belonging to the Styrians, called Aigleia;[96]
and then, as the ships came in to shore at Marathon, he moored them
there, and after the Barbarians had come from their ships to land, he
was engaged in disposing them in their places. While he was ordering
these things, it came upon him to sneeze and cough more violently than
was his wont. Then since he was advanced in years, most of his teeth
were shaken thereby, and one of these teeth he cast forth by the
violence of the cough:[97] and the tooth having fallen from him upon
the sand, he was very desirous to find it; since however the tooth was
not to be found when he searched, he groaned aloud and said to those
who were by him: "This land is not ours, nor shall we be able to make
it subject to us; but so much part in it as belonged to me the tooth
possesses."
108. Hippias then conjectured that his vision had been thus fulfilled:
and meanwhile, after the Athenians had been drawn up in the sacred
enclosure of Heracles, there joined them the Plataians coming to their
help in a body: for the Plataians had given themselves to the
Athenians, and the Athenians before this time undertook many toils on
behalf of them; and this was the manner in which they gave themselves:
--Being oppressed by the Thebans, the Plataians at first desired to
give themselves to Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides and to the
Lacedemonians, who chanced to come thither; but these did not accept
them, and said to them as follows: "We dwell too far off, and such
support as ours would be to you but cold comfort; for ye might many
times be reduced to slavery before any of us had information of it:
but we counsel you rather to give yourselves to the Athenians, who are
both neighbours and also not bad helpers." Thus the Lacedemonians
counselled, not so much on account of their goodwill to the Plataians
as because they desired that the Athenians should have trouble by
being involved in a conflict with the Bœtians. The Lacedemonians, I
say, thus counselled the men of Plataia; and they did not fail to
follow their counsel, but when the Athenians were doing sacrifice to
the twelve gods, they sat down as suppliants at the altar and so gave
themselves. Then the Thebans having been informed of these things
marched against the Plataians, and the Athenians came to their
assistance: and as they were about to join battle, the Corinthians did
not permit them to do so, but being by chance there, they reconciled
their strife; and both parties having put the matter into their hands,
they laid down boundaries for the land, with the condition that the
Thebans should leave those of the Bœotians alone who did not desire to
be reckoned with the other Bœotians. The Corinthians having given this
decision departed; but as the Athenians were going back, the Bœotians
attacked them, and having attacked them they were worsted in the
fight. Upon that the Athenians passed beyond the boundaries which the
Corinthians had set to be for the Plataians, and they made the river
Asopos itself to be the boundary of the Thebans towards the land of
Plataia and towards the district of Hysiai. The Plataians then had
given themselves to the Athenians in the manner which has been said,
and at this time they came to Marathon to bring them help.
109. Now the opinions of the generals of the Athenians were divided,
and the one party urged that they should not fight a battle, seeing
that they were too few to fight with the army of the Medes, while the
others, and among them Miltiades, advised that they should do so: and
when they were divided and the worse opinion was like to prevail,
then, since he who had been chosen by lot[98] to be polemarch of the
Athenians had a vote in addition to the ten (for in old times the
Athenians gave the polemarch an equal vote with the generals) and at
that time the polemarch was Callimachos of the deme of Aphidnai, to
him came Miltiades and said as follows: "With thee now it rests,
Callimachos, either to bring Athens under slavery, or by making her
free to leave behind thee for all the time that men shall live a
memorial such as not even Harmodios and Aristogeiton have left. For
now the Athenians have come to a danger the greatest to which they
have ever come since they were a people; and on the one hand, if they
submit to the Medes, it is determined what they shall suffer, being
delivered over to Hippias, while on the other hand, if this city shall
gain the victory, it may become the first of the cities of Hellas. How
this may happen and how it comes to thee of all men[99] to have the
decision of these matters, I am now about to tell. Of us the generals,
who are ten in number, the opinions are divided, the one party urging
that we fight a battle and the others that we do not fight. Now if we
do not, I expect that some great spirit of discord will fall upon the
minds of the Athenians and so shake them that they shall go over to
the Medes; but if we fight a battle before any unsoundness appear in
any part of the Athenian people, then we are able to gain the victory
in the fight, if the gods grant equal conditions. These things then
all belong to thee and depend on thee; for if thou attach thyself to
my opinions, thou hast both a fatherland which is free and a native
city which shall be the first among the cities of Hellas; but if thou
choose the opinion of those who are earnest against fighting, thou
shalt have the opposite of those good things of which I told thee."
110. Thus speaking Miltiades gained Callimachos to his side; and the
opinion of the polemarch being added, it was thus determined to fight
a battle. After this, those generals whose opinion was in favour of
fighting, as the turn of each one of them to command for the day[100]
came round, gave over their command to Miltiades; and he, accepting
it, would not however yet bring about a battle, until his own turn to
command had come.
111. And when it came round to him, then the
Athenians were drawn up for battle in the order which here follows:--
On the right wing the polemarch Callimachos was leader (for the custom
of the Athenians then was this, that the polemarch should have the
right wing); and he leading, next after him came the tribes in order
as they were numbered one after another, and last were drawn up the
Plataians occupying the left wing: for[101] ever since this battle,
when the Athenians offer sacrifices in the solemn assemblies[102]
which are made at the four-yearly festivals,[103] the herald of the
Athenians prays thus, "that blessings[104] may come to the Athenians
and to the Plataians both." On this occasion however, when the
Athenians were being drawn up at Marathon something of this kind was
done:--their army being made equal in length of front to that of the
Medes, came to drawn up in the middle with a depth of but few ranks,
and here their army was weakest, while each wing was strengthened with
numbers.
112. And when they had been arranged in their places and the
sacrifices proved favourable, then the Athenians were let go, and they
set forth at a run to attack the Barbarians. Now the space between the
armies was not less than eight furlongs:[105] and the Persians seeing
them advancing to the attack at a run, made preparations to receive
them; and in their minds they charged the Athenians with madness which
must be fatal, seeing that they were few and yet were pressing
forwards at a run, having neither cavalry nor archers.[106] Such was
the thought of the Barbarians; but the Athenians when all in a body
they had joined in combat with the Barbarians, fought in a memorable
fashion: for they were the first of all the Hellenes about whom we
know who went to attack the enemy at a run, and they were the first
also who endured to face the Median garments and the men who wore
them, whereas up to this time the very name of the Medes was to the
Hellenes a terror to hear.
113. Now while they fought in Marathon,
much time passed by; and in the centre of the army, where the Persians
themselves and the Sacans were drawn up, the Barbarians were winning,
--here, I say, the Barbarians had broken the ranks of their opponents
and were pursuing them inland, but on both wings the Athenians and the
Plataians severally were winning the victory; and being victorious
they left that part of the Barbarians which had been routed to fly
without molestation, and bringing together the two wings they fought
with those who had broken their centre, and the Athenians were
victorious. So they followed after the Persians as they fled,
slaughtering them, until they came to the sea; and then they called
for fire and began to take hold of the ships.
114. In this part of the
work was slain the polemarch Callimachos after having proved himself a
good man, and also one of the generals, Stesilaos the son of
Thrasylaos, was killed; and besides this Kynegeiros the son of
Euphorion while taking hold[107] there of the ornament at the stern of
a ship had his hand cut off with an axe and fell; and many others also
of the Athenians who were men of note were killed.
115. Seven of the
ships the Athenians got possession of in this manner, but with the
rest the Barbarians pushed off from land, and after taking the
captives from Eretria off the island where they had left them, they
sailed round Sunion, purposing to arrive at the city before the
Athenians. And an accusation became current among the Athenians to the
effect that they formed this design by contrivance of the
Alcmaionidai; for these, it was said, having concerted matters with
the Persians, displayed to them a shield when they had now embarked in
their ships.
116. These then, I say, were sailing round Sunion; and
meanwhile the Athenians came to the rescue back to the city as
speedily as they could, and they arrived there before the Barbarians
came; and having arrived from the temple of Heracles at Marathon they
encamped at another temple of Heracles, namely that which is in
Kynosarges. The Barbarians however came and lay with their ships in
the sea which is off Phaleron, (for this was then the seaport of the
Athenians), they anchored their ships, I say, off this place, and then
proceeded to sail back to Asia.
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