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The History of Herodotus: Page 48
Volume Two - Book IX
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66. Thus far then had this battle proceeded: but Artabazos the son of
Pharnakes had been displeased at the very first because Mardonios
remained behind after the king was gone; and afterwards he had been
bringing forward objections continually and doing nothing, but had
urged them always not to fight a battle: and for himself he acted as
follows, not being pleased with the things which were being done by
Mardonios.--The men of whom Artabazos was commander (and he had with
him no small force but one which was in number as much as four
myriads[72] of men), these, when the fighting began, being well aware
what the issue of the battle would be, he led carefully,[73] having
first given orders that all should go by the way which he should lead
them and at the same pace at which they should see him go. Having
given these orders he led his troops on pretence of taking them into
battle; and when he was well on his way, he saw the Persians already
taking flight. Then he no longer led his men in the same order as
before, but set off at a run, taking flight by the quickest way not to
the palisade nor yet to the wall of the Thebans, but towards Phokis,
desiring as quickly as possible to reach the Hellespont.
67. These, I
say, were thus directing their march: and in the meantime, while the
other Hellenes who were on the side of the king were purposely slack
in the fight,[74] the Bœotians fought with the Athenians for a long
space; for those of the Thebans who took the side of the Medes had no
small zeal for the cause, and they fought and were not slack, so that
three hundred of them, the first and best of all, fell there by the
hands of the Athenians: and when these also turned to flight, they
fled to Thebes, not to the same place as the Persians: and the main
body of the other allies fled without having fought constantly with
any one or displayed any deeds of valour.
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68. And this is an
additional proof to me that all the fortunes of the Barbarians
depended upon the Persians, namely that at that time these men fled
before they had even engaged with the enemy, because they saw the
Persians doing so. Thus all were in flight except only the cavalry,
including also that of the Bœotians; and this rendered service to the
fugitives by constantly keeping close to the enemy and separating the
fugitives of their own side from the Hellenes.
69. The victors then
were coming after the troops of Xerxes, both pursuing them and
slaughtering them; and during the time when this panic arose, the
report was brought to the other Hellenes who had posted themselves
about the temple of Hera and had been absent from the battle, that a
battle had taken place and that the troops of Pausanias were gaining
the victory. When they heard this, then without ranging themselves in
any order the Corinthians and those near them turned to go by the
skirts of the mountain and by the low hills along the way which led
straight up to the temple of Demeter, while the Megarians and
Phliasians and those near them went by the plain along the smoothest
way. When however the Megarians and Phliasians came near to the enemy,
the cavalry of the Thebans caught sight of them from a distance
hurrying along without any order, and rode up to attack them, the
commander of the cavalry being Asopodoros the son of Timander; and
having fallen upon them they slew six hundred of them, and the rest
they pursued and drove to Kithairon.
70. These then perished thus ingloriously;[75] and meanwhile the
Persians and the rest of the throng, having fled for refuge to the
palisade, succeeded in getting up to the towers before the Lacedemonians came; and having got up they strengthened the wall of
defence as best they could. Then when the Lacedemonians[76] came up to
attack it, there began between them a vigorous[77] fight for the wall:
for so long as the Athenians were away, they defended themselves and
had much the advantage over the Lacedemonians, since these did not
understand the art of fighting against walls; but when the Athenians
came up to help them, then there was a fierce fight for the wall,
lasting for a long time, and at length by valour and endurance the
Athenians mounted up on the wall and made a breach in it, through
which the Hellenes poured in. Now the Tegeans were the first who
entered the wall, and these were they who plundered the tent of
Mardonios, taking, besides the other things which were in it, also the
manger of his horse, which was all of bronze and a sight worth seeing.
This manger of Mardonios was dedicated by the Tegeans as an offering
in the temple of Athene Alea,[78] but all the other things which they
took, they brought to the common stock of the Hellenes. The Barbarians
however, after the wall had been captured, no longer formed themselves
into any close body, nor did any of them think of making resistance,
but they were utterly at a loss,[79] as you might expect from men who
were in a panic with many myriads of them shut up together in a small
space: and the Hellenes were able to slaughter them so that out of an
army of thirty myriads,[80] if those four be subtracted which
Artabazos took with him in his flight, of the remainder not three
thousand men survived. Of the Lacedemonians from Sparta there were
slain in the battle ninety-one in all, of the Tegeans sixteen, and of
the Athenians two-and-fifty.
71. Among the Barbarians those who proved themselves the best men
were, of those on foot the Persians, and of the cavalry the Sacans,
and for a single man Mardonios it is said was the best. Of the
Hellenes, though both the Tegeans and the Athenians proved themselves
good men, yet the Lacedemonians surpassed them in valour. Of this I
have no other proof (for all these were victorious over their
opposites), but only this, that they fought against the strongest part
of the enemy's force and overcame it. And the man who proved himself
in my opinion by much the best was that Aristodemos who, having come
back safe from Thermopylai alone of the three hundred, had reproach
and dishonour attached to him. After him the best were Poseidonios and
Philokyon and Amompharetos the Spartan.[81] However, when there came
to be conversation as to which of them had proved himself the best,
the Spartans who were present gave it as their opinion that
Aristodemos had evidently wished to be slain in consequence of the
charge which lay against him, and so, being as it were in a frenzy and
leaving his place in the ranks, he had displayed great deeds, whereas
Poseidonios had proved himself a good man although he did not desire
to be slain; and so far he was the better man of the two. This however
they perhaps said from ill-will; and all these whose names I mentioned
among the men who were killed in this battle, were specially honoured,
except Aristodemos; but Aristodemos, since he desired to be slain on
account of the before-mentioned charge, was not honoured.
72. These obtained the most renown of those who fought at Plataia, for
as for Callicrates, the most beautiful who came to the camp, not of
the Lacedemonians alone, but also of all the Hellenes of his time, he
was not killed in the battle itself; but when Pausanias was offering
sacrifice, he was wounded by an arrow in the side, as he was sitting
down in his place in the ranks; and while the others were fighting, he
having been carried out of the ranks was dying a lingering death: and
he said to Arimnestos[82] a Plataian that it did not grieve him to die
for Hellas, but it grieved him only that he had not proved his
strength of hand, and that no deed of valour had been displayed by him
worthy of the spirit which he had in him to perform great deeds.[83]
73. Of the Athenians the man who gained most glory is said to have
been Sophanes the son of Eutychides of the deme of Dekeleia,--a deme
of which the inhabitants formerly did a deed that was of service to
them for all time, as the Athenians themselves report. For when of old
the sons of Tyndareus invaded the Attic land with a great host, in
order to bring home Helen, and were laying waste the demes, not
knowing to what place of hiding Helen had been removed, then they say
that the men of Dekeleia, or as some say Dekelos himself, being
aggrieved by the insolence of Theseus and fearing for all the land of
the Athenians, told them the whole matter and led them to Aphidnai,
which Titakos who was sprung from the soil delivered up by treachery
to the sons of Tyndareus. In consequence of this deed the Dekeleians
have had continually freedom from dues in Sparta and front seats at
the games,[84] privileges which exist still to this day; insomuch that
even in the war which many years after these events arose between the
Athenians and the Peloponnesians, when the Lacedemonians laid waste
all the rest of Attica, they abstained from injury to Dekeleia.
74. To
this deme belonged Sophanes, who showed himself the best of all the
Athenians in this battle; and of him there are two different stories
told: one that he carried an anchor of iron bound by chains of bronze
to the belt of his corslet; and this he threw whensoever he came up
with the enemy, in order, they say, that the enemy when they came
forth out of their ranks might not be able to move him from his place;
and when a flight of his opponents took place, his plan was to take up
the anchor first and then pursue after them. This story is reported
thus; but the other of the stories, disputing the truth of that which
has been told above, is reported as follows, namely that upon his
shield, which was ever moving about and never remaining still, he bore
an anchor as a device, and not one of iron bound to his corslet.
75.
There was another illustrious deed done too by Sophanes; for when the
Athenians besieged Egina he challenged to a fight and slew Eurybates
the Argive,[85] one who had been victor in the five contests[86] at
the games. To Sophanes himself it happened after these events that
when he was general of the Athenians together with Leagros the son of
Glaucon, he was slain after proving himself a good man by the Edonians
at Daton, fighting for the gold mines.
76. When the Barbarians had been laid low by the Hellenes at Plataia,
there approached to these a woman, the concubine of Pharandates the
son of Teaspis a Persian, coming over of her own free will from the
enemy, who when she perceived that the Persians had been destroyed and
that the Hellenes were the victors, descended from her carriage and
came up to the Lacedemonians while they were yet engaged in the
slaughter. This woman had adorned herself with many ornaments of gold,
and her attendants likewise, and she had put on the fairest robe of
those which she had; and when she saw that Pausanias was directing
everything there, being well acquainted before with his name and with
his lineage, because she had heard it often, she recognised Pausanias
and taking hold of his knees she said these words: "O king of Sparta,
deliver me thy suppliant from the slavery of the captive: for thou
hast also done me service hitherto in destroying these, who have
regard neither for demigods nor yet for gods.[87] I am by race of Cos,
the daughter of Hegetorides the son of Antagoras; and the Persian took
me by force in Cos and kept me a prisoner." He made answer in these
words: "Woman, be of good courage, both because thou art a suppliant,
and also if in addition to this it chances that thou art speaking the
truth and art the daughter of Hegetorides the Coan, who is bound to me
as a guest-friend more than any other of the men who dwell in those
parts." Having thus spoken, for that time her gave her in charge to
those Ephors who were present, and afterwards he sent her away to
Egina, whither she herself desired to go.
77. After the arrival of the woman, forthwith upon this arrived the Mantineians, when all was over; and having learnt that they had come
too late for the battle, they were greatly grieved, and said that they
deserved to be punished: and being informed that the Medes with
Artabazos were in flight, they pursued after them as far as Thessaly,
though the Lacedemonians endeavoured to prevent them from pursuing
after fugitives.[88] Then returning back to their own country they
sent the leaders of their army into exile from the land. After the
Mantineians came the Eleians; and they, like the Mantineians, were
greatly grieved by it and so departed home; and these also when they
had returned sent their leaders into exile. So much of the Mantineians
and Eleians.
78. At Plataia among the troops of the Eginetans was Lampon the son of
Pytheas, one of the leading men of the Eginetans, who was moved to go
to Pausanias with a most impious proposal, and when he had come with
haste, he said as follows: "Son of Cleombrotos, a deed has been done
by thee which is of marvellous greatness and glory, and to thee God
has permitted by rescuing Hellas to lay up for thyself the greatest
renown of all the Hellenes about whom we have any knowledge. Do thou
then perform also that which remains to do after these things, in
order that yet greater reputation may attach to thee, and also that in
future every one of the Barbarians may beware of being the beginner of
presumptuous deeds towards the Hellenes. For when Leonidas was slain
at Thermopylai, Mardonios and Xerxes cut off his head and crucified
him: to him therefore do thou repay like with like, and thou shalt
have praise first from all the Spartans and then secondly from the
other Hellenes also; for if thou impale the body of Mardonios, thou
wilt then have taken vengeance for Leonidas thy father's brother."
79.
He said this thinking to give pleasure; but the other made him answer
in these words: "Stranger of Egina, I admire thy friendly spirit and
thy forethought for me, but thou hast failed of a good opinion
nevertheless: for having exalted me on high and my family and my deed,
thou didst then cast me down to nought by advising me to do outrage to
a dead body, and by saying that if I do this I shall be better
reported of. These things it is more fitting for Barbarians to do than
for Hellenes; and even with them we find fault for doing so. However
that may be, I do not desire in any such manner as this to please
either Eginetans or others who like such things; but it is enough for
me that I should keep from unholy deeds, yea and from unholy speech
also, and so please the Spartans. As for Leonidas, whom thou biddest
me avenge, I declare that he has been greatly avenged already, and by
the unnumbered lives which have been taken of these men he has been
honoured, and not he only but also the rest who brought their lives to
an end at Thermopylai. As for thee however, come not again to me with
such a proposal, nor give me such advice; and be thankful moreover
that thou hast no punishment for it now."
80. He having heard this went his way; and Pausanias made a
proclamation that none should lay hands upon the spoil, and he ordered
the Helots to collect the things together. They accordingly dispersed
themselves about the camp and found tents furnished with gold and
silver, and beds overlaid with gold and overlaid with silver, and
mixing-bowls of gold, and cups and other drinking vessels. They found
also sacks laid upon waggons, in which there proved to be caldrons
both of gold and of silver; and from the dead bodies which lay there
they stripped bracelets and collars, and also their swords[89] if they
were of gold, for as to embroidered raiment, there was no account made
of it. Then the Helots stole many of the things and sold them to the
Eginetans, but many things also they delivered up, as many of them as
they could not conceal; so that the great wealth of the Eginetans
first came from this, that they bought the gold from the Helots making
pretence that it was brass.
81. Then having brought the things
together, and having set apart a tithe for the god of Delphi, with
which the offering was dedicated of the golden tripod which rests upon
the three-headed serpent of bronze and stands close by the altar, and
also[90] for the god at Olympia, with which they dedicated the
offering of a bronze statue of Zeus ten cubits high, and finally for
the god at the Isthmus, with which was made a bronze statue of
Poseidon seven cubits high,--having set apart these things, they
divided the rest, and each took that which they ought to have,
including the concubines of the Persians and the gold and the silver
and the other things, and also the beasts of burden. How much was set
apart and given to those of them who had proved themselves the best
men at Plataia is not reported by any, though for my part I suppose
that gifts were made to these also; Pausanias however had ten of each
thing set apart and given to him, that is women, horses, talents,
camels, and so also of the other things.
82. It is said moreover that this was done which here follows, namely
that Xerxes in his flight from Hellas had left to Mardonios the
furniture of his own tent, and Pausanias accordingly seeing the
furniture of Mardonios furnished[91] with gold and silver and hangings
of different colours ordered the bakers and the cooks to prepare a
meal as they were used to do for Mardonios. Then when they did this as
they had been commanded, it is said that Pausanias seeing the couches
of gold and of silver with luxurious coverings, and the tables of gold
and silver, and the magnificent apparatus of the feast, was astonished
at the good things set before him, and for sport he ordered his own
servants to prepare a Laconian meal; and as, when the banquet was
served, the difference between the two was great, Pausanias laughed
and sent for the commanders of the Hellenes; and when these had come
together, Pausanias said, pointing to the preparation of the two meals
severally: "Hellenes, for this reason I assembled you together,
because I desired to show you the senselessness of this leader of the
Medes, who having such fare as this, came to us who have such sorry
fare as ye see here, in order to take it away from us." Thus it is
said that Pausanias spoke to the commanders of the Hellenes.
83. However,[92] in later time after these events many of the Plataians also found chests of gold and of silver and of other
treasures; and moreover afterwards this which follows was seen in the
case of the dead bodies here, after the flesh had been stripped off
from the bones; for the Plataians brought together the bones all to
one place:--there was found, I say, a skull with no suture but all of
one bone, and there was seen also a jaw-bone, that is to say the upper
part of the jaw, which had teeth joined together and all of one bone,
both the teeth that bite and those that grind; and the bones were seen
also of a man five cubits high.
84. The body of Mardonios however had
disappeared[93] on the day after the battle, taken by whom I am not
able with certainty to say, but I have heard the names of many men of
various cities who are said to have buried Mardonios, and I know that
many received gifts from Artontes the son of Mardonios for having done
this: who he was however who took up and buried the body of Mardonios
I am not able for certain to discover, but Dionysophanes an Ephesian
is reported with some show of reason to have been he who buried
Mardonios.
85. He then was buried in some such manner as this: and the
Hellenes when they had divided the spoil at Plataia proceeded to bury
their dead, each nation apart by themselves. The Spartans made for
themselves three several burial-places, one in which they buried the
younger Spartans,[94] of whom also were Poseidonios, Amompharetos,
Philokyon and Callicrates,--in one of the graves, I say, were laid the
younger men, in the second the rest of the Spartans, and in the third
the Helots. These then thus buried their dead; but the Tegeans buried
theirs all together in a place apart from these, and the Athenians
theirs together; and the Megarians and Phliasians those who had been
slain by the cavalry. Of all these the burial-places had bodies laid
in them, but as to the burial-places of other States which are to be
seen at Plataia, these, as I am informed, are all mere mounds of earth
without any bodies in them, raised by the several peoples on account
of posterity, because they were ashamed of their absence from the
fight; for among others there is one there called the burial-place of
the Eginetans, which I hear was raised at the request of the Eginetans
by Cleades the son of Autodicos, a man of Plataia who was their public
guest-friend,[95] no less than ten years after these events.
86. When the Hellenes had buried their dead at Plataia, forthwith they
determined in common council to march upon Thebes and to ask the
Thebans to surrender those who had taken the side of the Medes, and
among the first of them Timagenides and Attaginos, who were leaders
equal to the first; and if the Thebans did not give them up, they
determined not to retire from the city until they had taken it. Having
thus resolved, they came accordingly on the eleventh day after the
battle and began to besiege the Thebans, bidding them give the men up:
and as the Thebans refused to give them up, they began to lay waste
their land and also to attack their wall.
87. So then, as they did not
cease their ravages, on the twentieth day Timagenides spoke as follows
to the Thebans: "Thebans, since it has been resolved by the Hellenes
not to retire from the siege until either they have taken Thebes or ye
have delivered us up to them, now therefore let not the land of Bœotia
suffer[96] any more for our sakes, but if they desire to have money
and are demanding our surrender as a colour for this, let us give them
money taken out of the treasury of the State; for we took the side of
the Medes together with the State and not by ourselves alone: but if
they are making the siege truly in order to get us into their hands,
then we will give ourselves up for trial."[97] In this it was thought
that he spoke very well and seasonably, and the Thebans forthwith sent
a herald to Pausanias offering to deliver up the men.
88. After they
had made an agreement on these terms, Attaginos escaped out of the
city; and when his sons were delivered up to Pausanias, he released
them from the charge, saying that the sons had no share in the guilt
of taking the side of the Medes. As to the other men whom the Thebans
delivered up, they supposed that they would get a trial,[98] and they
trusted moreover to be able to repel the danger by payment of money;
but Pausanias, when he had received them, suspecting this very thing,
first dismissed the whole army of allies, and then took the men to
Corinth and put them to death there. These were the things which
happened at Plataia and at Thebes.
89. Artabazos meanwhile, the son of Pharnakes, in his flight from
Plataia was by this time getting forward on his way: and the
Thessalians, when he came to them, offered him hospitality and
inquired concerning the rest of the army, not knowing anything of that
which had happened at Plataia; and Artabazos knowing that if he should
tell them the whole truth about the fighting, he would run the risk of
being destroyed, both himself and the whole army which was with him,
(for he thought that they would all set upon him if they were informed
of that which had happened),--reflecting, I say, upon this he had told
nothing of it to the Phokians, and now to the Thessalians he spoke as
follows: "I, as you see, Thessalians, am earnest to march by the
shortest way to Thracia; and I am in great haste, having been sent
with these men for a certain business from the army; moreover
Mardonios himself and his army are shortly to be looked for here,
marching close after me. To him give entertainment and show yourselves
serviceable, for ye will not in the end repent of so doing." Having
thus said he continued to march his army with haste through Thessaly
and Macedonia straight for Thracia, being in truth earnest to proceed
and going through the land by the shortest possible way:[99] and so he
came to Byzantion, having left behind him great numbers of his army,
who had either been cut down by the Thracians on the way or had been
overcome by hunger and fatigue;[100] and from Byzantion he passed over
in ships. He himself[101] then thus made his return back to Asia.
90. Now on the same day on which the defeat took place at Plataia,
another took place also, as fortune would have it, at Mycale in Ionia.
For when the Hellenes who had come in the ships with Leotychides the
Lacedemonian, were lying at Delos, there came to them as envoys from
Samos Lampon the son of Thrasycles and Athenagoras the son of
Archestratides and Hegesistratos the son of Aristagoras, who had been
sent by the people of Samos without the knowledge either of the
Persians or of the despot Theomestor the son of Androdamas, whom the
Persians had set up to be despot of Samos. When these had been
introduced before the commanders, Hegesistratos spoke at great length
using arguments of all kinds, and saying that so soon as the Ionians
should see them they would at once revolt from the Persians, and that
the Barbarians would not wait for their attack; and if after all they
did so, then the Hellenes would take a prize such as they would never
take again hereafter; and appealing to the gods worshipped in common
he endeavoured to persuade them to rescue from slavery men who were
Hellenes and to drive away the Barbarian: and this he said was easy
for them to do, for the ships of the enemy sailed badly and were no
match for them in fight. Moreover if the Hellenes suspected that they
were endeavouring to bring them on by fraud, they were ready to be
taken as hostages in their ships.
91. Then as the stranger of Samos
was urgent in his prayer, Leotychides inquired thus, either desiring
to hear for the sake of the omen or perhaps by a chance which
Providence brought about: "Stranger of Samos, what is thy name?" He
said "Hegesistratos."[102] The other cut short the rest of the speech,
stopping all that Hegesistratos had intended to say further, and said:
"I accept the augury given in Hegesistratos, stranger of Samos. Do
thou on thy part see that thou give us assurance, thou and the men who
are with thee, that the Samians will without fail be our zealous
allies, and after that sail away home."
92. Thus he spoke and to the
words he added the deed; for forthwith the Samians gave assurance and
made oaths of alliance with the Hellenes, and having so done the
others sailed away home, but Hegesistratos he bade sail with the
Hellenes, considering the name to be an augury of good success. Then
the Hellenes after staying still that day made sacrifices for success
on the next day, their diviner being Deïphonos the son of Euenios an
Apolloniate, of that Apollonia which lies in the Ionian gulf.[102a]
93. To this man's father Euenios it happened as follows:--There are at
this place Apollonia sheep sacred to the Sun, which during the day
feed by a river[103] running from Mount Lacmon through the land of
Apollonia to the sea by the haven of Oricos; and by night they are
watched by men chosen for this purpose, who are the most highly
considered of the citizens for wealth and noble birth, each man having
charge of them for a year; for the people of Apollonia set great store
on these sheep by reason of an oracle: and they are folded in a cave
at some distance from the city. Here at the time of which I speak this
man Euenios was keeping watch over them, having been chosen for that
purpose; and it happened one night that he fell asleep during his
watch, and wolves came by into the cave and killed about sixty of the
sheep. When he perceived this, he kept it secret and told no one,
meaning to buy others and substitute them in the place of those that
were killed. It was discovered however by the people of Apollonia that
this had happened; and when they were informed of it, they brought him
up before a court and condemned him to be deprived of his eyesight for
having fallen asleep during his watch. But when they had blinded
Euenios, forthwith after this their flocks ceased to bring forth young
and their land to bear crops as before. Then prophesyings were uttered
to them both at Dodona and also at Delphi, when they asked the
prophets the cause of the evil which they were suffering, and they
told them[104] that they had done unjustly in depriving of his sight
Euenios the watcher of the sacred sheep; for the gods of whom they
inquired had themselves sent the wolves to attack the sheep; and they
would not cease to take vengeance for him till the men of Apollonia
should have paid to Euenios such satisfaction as he himself should
choose and deem sufficient; and this being fulfilled, the gods would
give to Euenios a gift of such a kind that many men would think him
happy in that he possessed it.
94. These oracles then were uttered to
them, and the people of Apollonia, making a secret of it, proposed to
certain men of the citizens to manage the affair; and they managed it
for them thus:--when Euenios was sitting on a seat in public, they
came and sat by him, and conversed about other matters, and at last
they came to sympathising with him in his misfortune; and thus leading
him on they asked what satisfaction he should choose, if the people of
Apollonia should undertake to give him satisfaction for that which
they had done. He then, not having heard the oracle, made choice and
said that if there should be given him the lands belonging to certain
citizens, naming those whom he knew to possess the two best lots of
land in Apollonia, and a dwelling-house also with these, which he knew
to be the best house in the city,--if he became the possessor of
these, he said, he would have no anger against them for the future,
and this satisfaction would be sufficient for him if it should be
given. Then as he was thus speaking, the men who sat by him said
interrupting him: "Euenios, this satisfaction the Apolloniates pay to
thee for thy blinding in accordance with the oracles which have been
given to them." Upon this he was angry, being thus informed of the
whole matter and considering that he had been deceived; and they
bought the property from those who possessed it and gave him that
which he had chosen. And forthwith after this he had a natural gift of
divination,[105] so that he became very famous.
95. Of this Euenios, I
say, Deïphonos was the son, and he was acting as diviner for the army,
being brought by the Corinthians. I have heard however also that
Deïphonos wrongly made use of the name of Euenios, and undertook work
of this kind about Hellas, not being really the son of Euenios.
96. Now when the sacrifices were favourable to the Hellenes, they put
their ships to sea from Delos to go to Samos; and having arrived off
Calamisa[106] in Samos, they moored their ships there opposite the
temple of Hera which is at this place, and made preparations for a
sea-fight; but the Persians, being informed that they were sailing
thither, put out to sea also and went over to the mainland with their
remaining ships, (those of the Phenicians having been already sent
away to sail home): for deliberating of the matter they thought it
good not to fight a battle by sea, since they did not think that they
were a match for the enemy. And they sailed away to the mainland in
order that they might be under the protection of their land-army which
was in Mycale, a body which had stayed behind the rest of the army by
command of Xerxes and was keeping watch over Ionia: of this the number
was six myriads[107] and the commander of it was Tigranes, who in
beauty and stature excelled the other Persians. The commanders of the
fleet then had determined to take refuge under the protection of this
army, and to draw up their ships on shore and put an enclosure round
as a protection for the ships and a refuge for themselves.
97. Having
thus determined they began to put out to sea; and they came along by
the temple of the "Revered goddesses"[107a] to the Gaison and to
Scolopoeis in Mycale, where there is a temple of the Eleusinian
Demeter, which Philistos the son of Pasicles erected when he had
accompanied Neileus the son of Codros for the founding of Miletos; and
there they drew up their ships on shore and put an enclosure round
them of stones and timber, cutting down fruit-trees for this purpose,
and they fixed stakes round the enclosure and made their preparations
either for being besieged or for gaining a victory, for in making
their preparations they reckoned for both chances.
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