THE HISTORY OF HERODOTUS, Volume 2

Part 7 out of 7

in full force, he arrived at Tegea on the third night; and the
Lacedemonians were possessed by great wonder both at his courage, when
they saw the piece of the foot that was cut off lying there, and also
because they were not able to find him. So he at that time having thus
escaped them took refuge at Tegea, which then was not friendly with
the Lacedemonians; and when he was healed and had procured for himself
a wooden foot, he became an open enemy of the Lacedemonians. However
in the end the enmity into which he had fallen with the Lacedemonians
was not to his advantage; for he was caught by them while practising
divination in Zakynthos, and was put to death.

38. However the death of Hegesistratos took place later than the
events at Plataia, and he was now at the Asopos, having been hired by
Mardonions for no mean sum, sacrificing and displaying zeal for his
cause both on account of his enmity with the Lacedemonians and on
account of the gain which he got: but as the sacrifices were not
favourable for a battle either for the Persians themselves or for
those Hellenes who were with them (for these also had a diviner for
themselves, Hippomachos a Leucadian), and as the Hellenes had men
constantly flowing in and were becoming more in number, Timagenides
the son of Herpys, a Theban, counselled Mardonios to set a guard on
the pass of Kithairon, saying that the Hellenes were constantly
flowing in every day and that he would thus cut off large numbers. 39.
Eight days had now passed while they had been sitting opposite to one
another, when he gave this counsel to Mardonios; and Mardonios,
perceiving that the advice was good, sent the cavalry when night came
on to the pass of Kithairon leading towards Plataia, which the
Bœotians call the "Three Heads"[46] and the Athenians the "Oak
Heads."[47] Having been thus sent, the cavalry did not come without
effect, for they caught five hundred baggage-animals coming out into
the plain, which were bearing provisions from Peloponnesus to the
army, and also the men who accompanied the carts: and having taken
this prize the Persians proceeded to slaughter them without sparing
either beast or man; and when they were satiated with killing they
surrounded the rest and drove them into the camp to Mardonios.

40. After this deed they spent two days more, neither side wishing to
begin a battle; for the Barbarians advanced as far as the Asopos to
make trial of the Hellenes, but neither side would cross the river.
However the cavalry of Mardonios made attacks continually and did
damage to the Hellenes; for the Thebans, being very strong on the side
of the Medes, carried on the war with vigour, and always directed them
up to the moment of fighting; and after this the Persians and Medes
took up the work and were they who displayed valour in their turn.

41. For ten days then nothing more was done than this; but when the
eleventh day had come, while they still sat opposite to one another at
Plataia, the Hellenes having by this time grown much more numerous and
Mardonios being greatly vexed at the delay of action, then Mardonios
the son of Gobryas and Artabazos the son of Pharnakes, who was
esteemed by Xerxes as few of the Persians were besides, came to speech
with one another; and as they conferred, the opinions they expressed
were these,--that of Artabazos, that they must put the whole army in
motion as soon as possible and go to the walls of the Thebans, whither
great stores of corn had been brought in for them and fodder for their
beasts; and that they should settle there quietly and get their
business done as follows:--they had, he said, great quantities of
gold, both coined and uncoined, and also of silver and of drinking-
cups; and these he advised they should send about to the Hellenes
without stint, more especially to those of the Hellenes who were
leaders in their several cities; and these, he said, would speedily
deliver up their freedom: and he advised that they should not run the
risk of a battle. His opinion then was the same as that of the
Thebans,[48] for he as well as they had some true foresight: but the
opinion of Mardonios was more vehement and more obstinate, and he was
by no means disposed to yield; for he said that he thought their army
far superior to that of the Hellenes, and he gave as his opinion that
they should engage battle as quickly as possible and not allow them to
assemble in still greater numbers than were already assembled; and as
for the sacrifices of Hegesistratos, they should leave them alone and
not endeavour to force a good sign, but follow the custom of the
Persians and engage battle. 42. When he so expressed his judgment,
none opposed him, and thus his opinion prevailed; for he and not
Artabazos had the command of the army given him by the king. He
summoned therefore the commanders of the divisions and the generals of
those Hellenes who were with him, and asked whether they knew of any
oracle regarding the Persians, which said that they should be
destroyed in Hellas; and when those summoned to council[49] were
silent, some not knowing the oracles and others knowing them but not
esteeming it safe to speak, Mardonios himself said: "Since then ye
either know nothing or do not venture to speak, I will tell you, since
I know very well. There is an oracle saying that the Persians are
destined when they come to Hellas to plunder the temple at Delphi, and
having plundered it to perish every one of them. We therefore, just
because we know this, will not go to that temple nor will we attempt
to plunder it; and for this cause we shall not perish. So many of you
therefore as chance to wish well to the Persians, have joy so far as
regards this matter, and be assured that we shall overcome the
Hellenes." Having spoken to them thus, he next commanded to prepare
everything and to set all in order, since at dawn of the next day a
battle would be fought.

43. Now this oracle, which Mardonios said referred to the Persians, I
know for my part was composed with reference with the Illyrians and
the army of the Enchelians, and not with reference to the Persians at
all. However, the oracle which was composed by Bakis with reference to
this battle,

"The gathering of Hellenes together and cry of Barbarian voices,
Where the Thermodon flows, by the banks of grassy Asopos;
Here very many shall fall ere destiny gave them to perish,
Medes bow-bearing in fight, when the fatal day shall approach them,"--

these sayings, and others like them composed by Musaios, I know had
reference to the Persians. Now the river Thermodon flows between
Tanagra and Glisas.

44. After the inquiry about the oracles and the exhortation given by
Mardonios night came on and the guards were set: and when night was
far advanced, and it seemed that there was quiet everywhere in the
camps, and that the men were in their deepest sleep, then Alexander
the son of Amyntas, commander and king of the Macedonians, rode his
horse up to the guard-posts of the Athenians and requested that he
might have speech with their generals. So while the greater number of
the guards stayed at their posts, some ran to the generals, and when
they reached them they said that a man had come riding on a horse out
of the camp of the Medes, who discovered nothing further, but only
named the generals and said that he desired to have speech with them.
45. Having heard this, forthwith they accompanied the men to the
guard-posts, and when they had arrived there, Alexander thus spoke to
them: "Athenians, I lay up these words of mine as a trust to you,
charging you to keep them secret and tell them to no one except only
to Pausanias, lest ye bring me to ruin: for I should not utter them if
I did not care greatly for the general safety of Hellas, seeing that I
am a Hellene myself by original descent and I should not wish to see
Hellas enslaved instead of free. I say then that Mardonios and his
army cannot get the offerings to be according to their mind,[50] for
otherwise ye would long ago have fought. Now however he has resolved
to let the offerings alone and to bring on a battle at dawn of day;
for, as I conjecture, he fears lest ye should assemble in greater
numbers. Therefore prepare yourselves; and if after all Mardonios
should put off the battle and not bring it on, stay where ye are and
hold out patiently; for they have provisions only for a few days
remaining. And if this way shall have its issue according to your
mind, then each one of you ought to remember me also concerning
liberation,[51] since I have done for the sake of the Hellenes so
hazardous a deed by reason of my zeal for you, desiring to show you
the design of Mardonios, in order that the Barbarians may not fall
upon you when ye are not as yet expecting them: and I am Alexander the
Macedonian." Thus having spoken he rode away back to the camp and to
his own position.

46. Then the generals of the Athenians came to the right wing and told
Pausanias that which they had heard from Alexander. Upon this saying
he being struck with fear of the Persians spoke as follows: "Since
then at dawn the battle comes on, it is right that ye, Athenians,
should take your stand opposite to the Persians, and we opposite to
the Bœotians and those Hellenes who are now posted against you; and
for this reason, namely because ye are acquainted with the Medes and
with their manner of fighting, having fought with them at Marathon,
whereas we have had no experience of these men and are without
knowledge of them; for not one of the Spartans has made trial of the
Medes in fight, but of the Bœotians and Thessalians we have had
experience. It is right therefore that ye should take up your arms and
come to this wing of the army, and that we should go to the left
wing." In answer to this the Athenians spoke as follows: "To ourselves
also long ago at the very first, when we saw that the Persians were
being ranged opposite to you, it occurred to us to say these very
things, which ye now bring forward before we have uttered them; but we
feared lest these words might not be pleasing to you. Since however ye
yourselves have made mention of this, know that your words have caused
us pleasure, and that we are ready to do this which ye say." 47. Both
then were content to do this, and as dawn appeared they began to
change their positions with one another: and the Bœotians perceiving
that which was being done reported it to Mardonios, who, when he heard
it, forthwith himself also endeavoured to change positions, bringing
the Persians along so as to be against the Lacedemonians: and when
Pausanias learnt that this was being done, he perceived that he was
not unobserved, and he led the Spartans back again to the right wing;
and just so also did Mardonios upon his left.

48. When they had been thus brought to their former positions,
Mardonios sent a herald to the Spartans and said as follows:
"Lacedemonians, ye are said forsooth by those who are here to be very
good men, and they have admiration for you because ye do not flee in
war nor leave your post, but stay there and either destroy your
enemies or perish yourselves. In this however, as it now appears,
there is no truth; for before we engaged battle and came to hand-to-
hand conflict we saw you already flee and leave your station, desiring
to make the trial with the Athenians first, while ye ranged yourselves
opposite to our slaves. These are not at all the deeds of good men in
war, but we were deceived in you very greatly; for we expected by
reason of your renown that ye would send a herald to us, challenging
us and desiring to fight with the Persians alone; but though we on our
part were ready to do this, we did not find that ye said anything of
this kind, but rather that ye cowered with fear. Now therefore since
ye were not the first to say this, we are the first. Why do we not
forthwith fight,[52] ye on behalf of the Hellenes, since ye have the
reputation of being the best, and we on behalf of the Barbarians, with
equal numbers on both sides? and if we think it good that the others
should fight also, then let them fight afterwards; and if on the other
hand we should not think it good, but think it sufficient that we
alone should fight, then let us fight it out to the end, and
whichsoever of us shall be the victors, let these be counted as
victorious with their whole army." 49. The herald having thus spoken
waited for some time, and then, as no one made him any answer, he
departed and went back; and having returned he signified to Mardonios
that which had happened to him. Mardonios then being greatly rejoiced
and elated by his empty[53] victory, sent the cavalry to attack the
Hellenes: and when the horsemen had ridden to attack them, they did
damage to the whole army of the Hellenes by hurling javelins against
them and shooting with bows, being mounted archers and hard therefore
to fight against: and they disturbed and choked up the spring
Gargaphia, from which the whole army of the Hellenes was drawing its
water. Now the Lacedemonians alone were posted near this spring, and
it was at some distance from the rest of the Hellenes, according as
they chanced to be posted, while the Asopos was near at hand; but when
they were kept away from the Asopos, then they used to go backwards
and forwards to this spring; for they were not permitted by the
horsemen and archers to fetch water from the river. 50. Such then
being the condition of things, the generals of the Hellenes, since the
army had been cut off from its water and was being harassed by the
cavalry, assembled to consult about these and other things, coming to
Pausanias upon the right wing: for other things too troubled them yet
more than these of which we have spoken, since they no longer had
provisions, and their attendants who had been sent to Peloponnese for
the purpose of getting them had been cut off by the cavalry and were
not able to reach the camp. 51. It was resolved then by the generals
in council with one another, that if the Persians put off the battle
for that day, they would go to the Island. This is distant ten
furlongs[54] from the Asopos and the spring Gargaphia, where they were
then encamped, and is in front of the city of the Plataians: and if it
be asked how there can be an island on the mainland, thus it is[55]:--
the river parts in two above, as it flows from Kithairon down to the
plain, keeping a distance of about three furlongs between its streams,
and after that it joins again in one stream; and the name of it is
Oëroe, said by the natives of the country to be the daughter of
Asopos. To this place of which I speak they determined to remove, in
order that they might be able to get an abundant supply of water and
that the cavalry might not do them damage, as now when they were right
opposite. And they proposed to remove when the second watch of the
night should have come, so that the Persians might not see them set
forth and harass them with the cavalry pursuing. They proposed also,
after they had arrived at this place, round which, as I say, Oëroe the
daughter of Asopos flows, parting into two streams[56] as she runs
from Kithairon, to send half the army to Kithairon during this same
night, in order to take up their attendants who had gone to get the
supplies of provisions; for these were cut off from them in Kithairon.

52. Having thus resolved, during the whole of that day they had
trouble unceasingly, while the cavalry pressed upon them; but when the
day drew to a close and the attacks of the cavalry had ceased, then as
it was becoming night and the time had arrived at which it had been
agreed that they should retire from their place, the greater number of
them set forth and began to retire, not however keeping it in mind to
go to the place which had been agreed upon; but on the contrary, when
they had begun to move, they readily took occasion to flee[57] from
the cavalry towards the city of the Plataians, and in their flight
they came as far as the temple of Hera, which temple is in front of
the city of the Plataians at a distance of twenty furlongs from the
spring Gargaphia; and when they had there arrived they halted in front
of the temple. 53. These then were encamping about the temple of Hera;
and Pausanias, seeing that they were retiring from the camp, gave the
word to the Lacedemonians also to take up their arms and go after the
others who were preceding them, supposing that these were going to the
place to which they had agreed to go. Then, when all the other
commanders were ready to obey Pausanias, Amompharetos the son of
Poliades, the commander of the Pitanate division,[58] said that he
would not flee from the strangers, nor with his own will would he
disgrace Sparta; and he expressed wonder at seeing that which was
being done, not having been present at the former discussion. And
Pausanias and Euryanax were greatly disturbed that he did not obey
them and still more that they should be compelled to leave the
Pitanate division behind, since he thus refused;[59] for they feared
that if they should leave it in order to do that which they had agreed
with the other Hellenes, both Amompharetos himself would perish being
left behind and also the men with him. With this thought they kept the
Lacedemonian force from moving, and meanwhile they endeavoured to
persuade him that it was not right for him to do so. 54. They then
were exhorting Amompharetos, who had been left behind alone of the
Lacedemonians and Tegeans; and meanwhile the Athenians were keeping
themselves quiet in the place where they had been posted, knowing the
spirit of the Lacedemonians, that they were apt to say otherwise than
they really meant;[60] and when the army began to move, they sent a
horseman from their own body to see whether the Spartans were
attempting to set forth, or whether they had in truth no design at all
to retire; and they bade him ask Pausanias what they ought to do. 55.
So when the herald came to the Lacedemonians, he saw that they were
still in their place and that the chiefs of them had come to strife
with one another: for when Euryanax and Pausanias both exhorted
Amompharetos not to run the risk of remaining behind with his men,
alone of all the Lacedemonians, they did not at all persuade him, and
at last they had come to downright strife; and meanwhile the herald of
the Athenians had arrived and was standing by them. And Amompharetos
in his contention took a piece of rock in both his hands and placed it
at the feet of Pausanias, saying that with this pebble he gave his
vote not to fly from the strangers, meaning the Barbarians.[61]
Pausanias then, calling him a madman and one who was not in his right
senses, bade tell the state of their affairs to the Athenian
herald,[62] who was asking that which he had been charged to ask; and
at the same time he requested the Athenians to come towards the
Lacedemonians and to do in regard to the retreat the same as they did.
56. He then went away back to the Athenians; and as the dawn of day
found them yet disputing with one another, Pausanias, who had remained
still throughout all this time, gave the signal, and led away all the
rest over the low hills, supposing that Amonpharetos would not stay
behind when the other Lacedemonians departed (in which he was in fact
right); and with them also went the Tegeans. Meanwhile the Athenians,
following the commands which were given them, were going in the
direction opposite to that of the Lacedemonians; for these were
clinging to the hills and the lower slope of Kithairon from fear of
the cavalry, while the Athenians were marching below in the direction
of the plain. 57. As for Amonpharetos, he did not at first believe
that Pausanias would ever venture to leave him and his men behind, and
he stuck to it that they should stay there and not leave their post;
but when Pausanias and his troops were well in front, then he
perceived that they had actually left him behind, and he made his
division take up their arms and led them slowly towards the main body.
This, when it had got away about ten furlongs, stayed for the division
of Amompharetos, halting at the river Moloeis and the place called
Argiopion, where also there stands a temple of the Eleusinian Demeter:
and it stayed there for this reason, namely in order that of
Amonpharetos and his division should not leave the place where they
had been posted, but should remain there, it might be able to come
back to their assistance. So Amompharetos and his men were coming up
to join them, and the cavalry also of the Barbarians was at the same
time beginning to attack them in full force: for the horsemen did on
this day as they had been wont to do every day; and seeing the place
vacant in which the Hellenes had been posted on the former days, they
rode their horses on continually further, and as soon as they came up
with them they began to attack them.

58. Then Mardonios, when he was informed that the Hellenes had
departed during the night, and when he saw their place deserted,
called Thorax of Larissa and his brothers Eurypylos and Thrasydeios,
and said: "Sons of Aleuas, will ye yet say anything,[63] now that ye
see these places deserted? For ye who dwell near them were wont to say
that the Lacedemonians did not fly from a battle, but were men
unsurpassed in war; and these men ye not only saw before this changing
from their post, but now we all of us see that they have run away
during the past night; and by this they showed clearly, when the time
came for them to contend in battle with those who were in truth the
best of all men, that after all they were men of no worth, who had
been making a display of valour among Hellenes, a worthless race. As
for you, since ye had had no experience of the Persians, I for my part
was very ready to excuse you when ye praised these, of whom after all
ye knew something good; but much more I marvelled at Artabazos that
/he/ should have been afraid of the Lacedemonians, and that having
been afraid he should have uttered that most cowardly opinion, namely
that we ought to move our army away and go to the city of the Thebans
to be besieged there,--an opinion about which the king shall yet be
informed by me. Of these things we will speak in another place; now
however we must not allow them to act thus, but we must pursue them
until they are caught and pay the penalty to us for all that they did
to the Persians in time past." 59. Thus having spoken he led on the
Persians at a run, after they had crossed the Asopos, on the track of
the Hellenes, supposing that these were running away from him; and he
directed his attack upon the Lacedemonians and Tegeans only, for the
Athenians, whose march was towards the plain, he did not see by reason
of the hills. Then the rest of the commanders of the Barbarian
divisions, seeing that the Persians had started to pursue the
Hellenes, forthwith all raised the signals for battle and began to
pursue, each as fast as they could, not arranged in any order or
succession of post. 60. These then were coming on with shouting and
confused numbers, thinking to make short work of[64] the Hellenes; and
Pausanias, when the cavalry began to attack, sent to the Athenians a
horseman and said thus: "Athenians, now that the greatest contest is
set before us, namely that which has for its issue the freedom or the
slavery of Hellas, we have been deserted by our allies, we
Lacedemonians and ye Athenians, seeing that they have run away during
the night that is past. Now therefore it is determined what we must do
upon this, namely that we must defend ourselves and protect one
another as best we may. If then the cavalry had set forth to attack
you at the first, we and the Tegeans, who with us refuse to betray the
cause of Hellas, should have been bound to go to your help; but as it
is, since the whole body has come against us, it is right that ye
should come to that portion of the army which is hardest pressed, to
give aid. If however anything has happened to you which makes it
impossible for you to come to our help, then do us a kindness by
sending to us the archers; and we know that ye have been in the course
of this present war by far the most zealous of all, so that ye will
listen to our request in this matter also." 61. When the Athenians
heard this they were desirous to come to their help and to assist them
as much as possible; and as they were already going, they were
attacked by those of the Hellenes on the side of the king who had been
ranged opposite to them, so that they were no longer able to come to
the help of the Lacedemonians, for the force that was attacking them
gave them much trouble. Thus the Lacedemonians and Tegeans were left
alone, being in number, together with light-armed men, the former
fifty thousand and the Tegeans three thousand; for these were not
parted at all from the Lacedemonians: and they began to offer
sacrifice, meaning to engage battle with Mardonios and the force which
had come against them. Then since their offerings did not prove
favourable, and many of them were being slain during this time and
many more wounded,--for the Persians had made a palisade of their
wicker-work shields[65] and were discharging their arrows in great
multitude and without sparing,--Pausanias, seeing that the Spartans
were hard pressed and that the offerings did not prove favourable,
fixed his gaze upon the temple of Hera of the Plataians and called
upon the goddess to help, praying that they might by no means be
cheated of their hope: 62, and while he was yet calling upon her thus,
the Tegeans started forward before them and advanced against the
Barbarians, and forthwith after the prayer of Pausanias the offerings
proved favourable for the Lacedemonians as they sacrificed. So when
this at length came to pass, then they also advanced against the
Persians; and the Persians put away their bows and came against them.
Then first there was fighting about the wicker-work shields, and when
these had been overturned, after that the fighting was fierce by the
side of the temple of Demeter, and so continued for a long time, until
at last they came to justling; for the Barbarians would take hold of
the spears and break them off. Now in courage and in strength the
Persians were not inferior to the others, but they were without
defensive armour,[66] and moreover they were unversed in war and
unequal to their opponents in skill; and they would dart out one at a
time or in groups of about ten together, some more and some less, and
fall upon the Spartans and perish. 63. In the place where Mardonios
himself was, riding on a white horse and having about him the thousand
best men of the Persians chosen out from the rest, here, I say, they
pressed upon their opponents most of all: and so long as Mardonios
survived, they held out against them, and defending themselves they
cast down many of the Lacedemonians; but when Mardonios was slain and
the men who were ranged about his person, which was the strongest
portion of the whole army, had fallen, then the others too turned and
gave way before the Lacedemonians; for their manner of dress, without
defensive armour, was a very great cause of destruction to them, since
in truth they were contending light-armed against hoplites. 64. Then
the satisfaction for the murder of Leonidas was paid by Mardonios
according to the oracle given to the Spartans,[67] and the most famous
victory of all those about which we have knowledge was gained by
Pausanias the son of Cleombrotos, the son of Anaxandrides; of his
ancestors above this the names have been given for Leonidas,[68]
since, as it happens, they are the same for both. Now Mardonios was
slain by Arimnestos,[69] a man of consideration in Sparta, who
afterwards, when the Median wars were over, with three hundred men
fought a battle against the whole army of the Messenians, then at war
with the Lacedemonians, at Stenycleros, and both he was slain and also
the three hundred. 65. When the Persians were turned to flight at
Plataia by the Lacedemonians, they fled in disorder to their own camp
and to the palisade which they had made in the Theban territory:[70]
and it is a marvel to me that, whereas they fought by the side of the
sacred grove of Demeter, not one of the Persians was found to have
entered the enclosure or to have been slain within it, but round about
the temple in the unconsecrated ground fell the greater number of the
slain. I suppose (if one ought to suppose anything about divine
things) that the goddess herself refused to receive them, because they
had set fire to the temple, that is to say the "palace"[71] at
Eleusis.

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. 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.

98. The Hellenes however, when they were informed that the Barbarians
had gone away to the mainland, were vexed because they thought that
they had escaped; and they were in a difficulty what they should do,
whether they should go back home, or sail down towards the Hellespont.
At last they resolved to do neither of these two things, but to sail
on to the mainland. Therefore when they had prepared as for a sea-
fight both boarding-bridges and all other things that were required,
they sailed towards Mycale; and when they came near to the camp and no
one was seen to put out against them, but they perceived ships drawn
up within the wall and a large land-army ranged along the shore, then
first Leotychides, sailing along in his ship and coming as near to the
shore as he could, made proclamation by a herald to the Ionians,
saying: "Ionians, those of you who chance to be within hearing of me,
attend to this which I say: for the Persians will not understand
anything at all of that which I enjoin to you. When we join battle,
each one of you must remember first the freedom of all, and then the
watchword 'Hebe'; and this let him also who has not heard know from
him who has heard." The design in this act was the same as that of
Themistocles at Artemision; for it was meant that either the words
uttered should escape the knowledge of the Barbarians and persuade the
Ionians, or that they should be reported to the Barbarians and make
them distrustful of the Hellenes.[108]

99. After Leotychides had thus suggested, then next the Hellenes
proceeded to bring their ships up to land, and they disembarked upon
the shore. These then were ranging themselves for fight; and the
Persians, when they saw the Hellenes preparing for battle and also
that they had given exhortation to the Ionians, in the first place
deprived the Samians of their arms, suspecting that they were inclined
to the side of the Hellenes; for when the Athenian prisoners, the men
whom the army of Xerxes had found left behind in Attica, had come in
the ships of the Barbarians, the Samians had ransomed these and sent
them back to Athens, supplying them with means for their journey; and
for this reason especially they were suspected, since they had
ransomed five hundred persons of the enemies of Xerxes. Then secondly
the Persians appointed the Milesians to guard the passes which lead to
the summits of Mycale, on the pretext that they knew the country best,
but their true reason for doing this was that they might be out of the
camp. Against these of the Ionians, who, as they suspected, would make
some hostile move[109] if they found the occasion, the Persians sought
to secure themselves in the manner mentioned; and they themselves then
brought together their wicker-work shields to serve them as a fence.

100. Then when the Hellenes had made all their preparations, they
proceeded to the attack of the Barbarians; and as they went, a rumour
came suddenly[110] to their whole army, and at the same time a
herald's staff was found lying upon the beach; and the rumour went
through their army to this effect, namely that the Hellenes were
fighting in Bœotia and conquering the army of Mardonios. Now by many
signs is the divine power seen in earthly things, and by this among
others, namely that now, when the day of the defeat at Plataia and of
that which was about to take place at Mycale happened to be the same,
a rumour came to the Hellenes here, so that the army was encouraged
much more and was more eagerly desirous to face the danger. 101.
Moreover this other thing by coincidence happened besides, namely that
there was a sacred enclosure of the Eleusinian Demeter close by the
side of both the battle-fields; for not only in the Plataian land did
the fight take place close by the side of the temple of Demeter, as I
have before said, but also in Mycale it was to be so likewise. And
whereas the rumour which came to them said that a victory had been
already gained by the Hellenes with Pausanias, this proved to be a
true report; for that which was done at Plataia came about while it
was yet early morning, but the fighting at Mycale took place in the
afternoon; and that it happened on the same day of the same month as
the other became evident to them not long afterwards, when they
inquired into the matter. Now they had been afraid before the rumour
arrived, not for themselves so much as for the Hellenes generally,
lest Hellas should stumble and fall over Mardonios; but when this
report had come suddenly to them, they advanced on the enemy much more
vigorously and swiftly than before. The Hellenes then and the
Barbarians were going with eagerness into the battle, since both the
islands and the Hellespont were placed before them as prizes of the
contest.

102. Now for the Athenians and those who were ranged next to them, to
the number perhaps of half the whole army, the road lay along the sea-
beach and over level ground, while the Lacedemonians and those ranged
in order by these were compelled to go by a ravine and along the
mountain side: so while the Lacedemonians were yet going round, those
upon the other wing were already beginning the fight; and as long as
the wicker-work shields of the Persians still remained upright, they
continued to defend themselves and had rather the advantage in the
fight; but when the troops of the Athenians and of those ranged next
to them, desiring that the achievement should belong to them and not
to the Lacedemonians, with exhortations to one another set themselves
more vigorously to the work, then from that time forth the fortune of
the fight was changed; for these pushed aside the wicker-work shields
and fell upon the Persians with a rush all in one body, and the
Persians sustained their first attack and continued to defend
themselves for a long time, but at last they fled to the wall; and the
Athenians, Corinthians, Sikyonians and Troizenians, for that was the
order in which they were ranged, followed close after them and rushed
in together with them to the space within the wall: and when the wall
too had been captured, then the Barbarians no longer betook themselves
to resistance, but began at once to take flight, excepting only the
Persians, who formed into small groups and continued to fight with the
Hellenes as they rushed in within the wall. Of the commanders of the
Persians two made their escape and two were slain; Artaÿntes and
Ithamitres commanders of the fleet escaped, while Mardontes and the
commander of the land-army, Tigranes, were slain. 103. Now while the
Persians were still fighting, the Lacedemonians and those with them
arrived, and joined in carrying through the rest of the work; and of
the Hellenes themselves many fell there and especially many of the
Sikyonians, together with their commander Perilaos. And those of the
Samians who were serving in the army, being in the camp of the Medes
and having been deprived of their arms, when they saw that from the
very first the battle began to be doubtful,[111] did as much as they
could, endeavouring to give assistance to the Hellenes; and the other
Ionians seeing that the Samians had set the example, themselves also
upon that made revolt from the Persians and attacked the Barbarians.
104. The Milesians too had been appointed to watch the passes of the
Persians[112] in order to secure their safety, so that if that should
after all come upon them which actually came, they might have guides
and so get safe away to the summits of Mycale,--the Milesians, I say,
had been appointed to do this, not only for that end but also for fear
that, if they were present in the camp, they might make some hostile
move:[113] but they did in fact the opposite of that which they were
appointed to do; for they not only directed them in the flight by
other than the right paths, by paths indeed which led towards the
enemy, but also at last they themselves became their worst foes and
began to slay them. Thus then for the second time Ionia revolted from
the Persians.

105. In this battle, of the Hellenes the Athenians were the best men,
and of the Athenians Hermolycos the son of Euthoinos, a man who had
trained for the /pancration/. This Hermolycos after these events, when
there was war between the Athenians and the Carystians, was killed in
battle at Kyrnos in the Carystian land near Geraistos, and there was
buried. After the Athenians the Corinthians, Troizenians and
Sikyonians were the best.

106. When the Hellenes had slain the greater number of the Barbarians,
some in the battle and others in their flight, they set fire to the
ships and to the whole of the wall, having first brought out the spoil
to the sea-shore; and among the rest they found some stores of money.
So having set fire to the wall and to the ships they sailed away; and
when they came to Samos, the Hellenes deliberated about removing the
inhabitants of Ionia, and considered where they ought to settle them
in those parts of Hellas of which they had command, leaving Ionia to
the Barbarians: for it was evident to them that it was impossible on
the one hand for them to be always stationed as guards to protect the
Ionians, and on the other hand, if they were not stationed to protect
them, they had no hope that the Ionians would escape with impunity
from the Persians. Therefore it seemed good to those of the
Peloponnesians that were in authority that they should remove the
inhabitants of the trading ports which belonged to those peoples of
Hellas who had taken the side of the Medes, and give that land to the
Ionians to dwell in; but the Athenians did not think it good that the
inhabitants of Ionia should be removed at all, nor that the
Peloponnesians should consult about Athenian colonies; and as these
vehemently resisted the proposal, the Peloponnesians gave way. So the
end was that they joined as allies to their league the Samians,
Chians, Lesbians, and the other islanders who chanced to be serving
with the Hellenes, binding them by assurance and by oaths to remain
faithful and not withdraw from the league: and having bound these by
oaths they sailed to break up the bridges, for they supposed they
would find them still stretched over the straits.

These then were sailing towards the Hellespont; 107, and meanwhile
those Barbarians who had escaped and had been driven to the heights of
Mycale, being not many in number, were making their way to Sardis: and
as they went by the way, Masistes the son of Dareios, who had been
present at the disaster which had befallen them, was saying many evil
things of the commander Artaÿntes, and among other things he said that
in respect of the generalship which he had shown he was worse than a
woman, and that he deserved every kind of evil for having brought evil
on the house of the king. Now with the Persians to be called worse
than a woman is the greatest possible reproach. So he, after he had
been much reviled, at length became angry and drew his sword upon
Masistes, meaning to kill him; and as he was running upon him,
Xeinagoras the son of Prexilaos, a man of Halicarnassos, perceived it,
who was standing just behind Artaÿntes; and this man seized him by the
middle and lifting him up dashed him upon the ground; and meanwhile
the spearmen of Masistes came in front to protect him. Thus did
Xeinagoras, and thus he laid up thanks for himself both with Masistes
and also with Xerxes for saving the life of his brother; and for this
deed Xeinagoras became ruler of all Kilikia by the gift of the king.
Nothing further happened than this as they went on their way, but they
arrived at Sardis.

Now at Sardis, as it chanced, king Xerxes had been staying ever since
that time when he came thither in flight from Athens, after suffering
defeat in the sea-fight. 108. At that time, while he was in Sardis, he
had a passionate desire, as it seems, for the wife of Masistes, who
was also there: and as she could not be bent to his will by his
messages to her, and he did not wish to employ force because he had
regard for his brother Masistes and the same consideration withheld
the woman also, for she well knew that force would not be used towards
her), then Xerxes abstained from all else, and endeavoured to bring
about the marriage of his own son Dareios with the daughter of this
woman and of Masistes, supposing that if he should do so he would
obtain her more easily. Then having made the betrothal and done all
the customary rites, he went away to Susa; and when he had arrived
there and had brought the woman into his own house for Dareios, then
he ceased from attempting the wife of Masistes and changing his
inclination he conceived a desire for the wife of Dareios, who was
daughter of Masistes, and obtained her: now the name of this woman was
Artaÿnte. 109. However as time went on, this became known in the
following manner:--Amestris the wife of Xerxes had woven a mantle,
large and of various work and a sight worthy to be seen, and this she
gave to Xerxes. He then being greatly pleased put it on and went to
Artaÿnte; and being greatly pleased with her too, he bade her ask what
she would to be given to her in return for the favours which she had
granted to him, for she should obtain, he said, whatsoever she asked:
and she, since it was destined that she should perish miserably with
her whole house, said to Xerxes upon this: "Wilt thou give me
whatsoever I ask thee for?" and he, supposing that she would ask
anything rather than that which she did, promised this and swore to
it. Then when he had sworn, she boldly asked for the mantle; and
Xerxes tried every means of persuasion, not being willing to give it
to her, and that for no other reason but only because he feared
Amestris, lest by her, who even before this had some inkling of the
truth, he should thus be discovered in the act; and he offered her
cities and gold in any quantity, and an army which no one else should
command except herself. Now this of an army is a thoroughly Persian
gift. Since however he did not persuade her, he gave her the mantle;
and she being overjoyed by the gift wore it and prided herself upon
it. 110. And Amestris was informed that she had it; and having learnt
that which was being done, she was not angry with the woman, but
supposing that her mother was the cause and that she was bringing this
about, she planned destruction for the wife of Masistes. She waited
then until her husband Xerxes had a royal feast set before him:--this
feast is served up once in the year on the day on which the king was
born, and the name of this feast is in Persian /tycta/, which in the
tongue of the Hellenes means "complete"; also on this occasion alone
the king washes his head,[114] and he makes gifts then to the
Persians:--Amestris, I say, waited for this day and then asked of
Xerxes that the wife of Masistes might be given to her. And he
considered it a strange and untoward thing to deliver over to her his
brother's wife, especially since she was innocent of this matter; for
he understood why she was making the request. 111. At last however as
she continued to entreat urgently and he was compelled by the rule,
namely that it is impossible among them that he who makes request when
a royal feast is laid before the king should fail to obtain it, at
last very much against his will consented; and in delivering her up he
bade Amestris do as she desired, and meanwhile he sent for his brother
and said these words: "Masistes, thou art the son of Dareios and my
brother, and moreover in addition to this thou art a man of worth. I
say to thee, live no longer with this wife with whom thou now livest,
but I give thee instead of her my daughter; with her live as thy wife,
but the wife whom thou now hast, do not keep; for it does not seem
good to me that thou shouldest keep her." Masistes then, marvelling at
that which was spoken, said these words: "Master, how unprofitable a
speech is this which thou utterest to me, in that thou biddest me send
away a wife by whom I have sons who are grown up to be young men, and
daughters one of whom even thou thyself didst take as a wife for thy
son, and who is herself, as it chances, very much to my mind,--that
thou biddest me, I say, send away her and take to wife thy daughter!
I, O king, think it a very great matter that I am judged worthy of thy
daughter, but nevertheless I will do neither of these things: and do
not thou urge me by force to do such a thing as this: but for thy
daughter another husband will be found not in any wise inferior to me,
and let me, I pray thee, live still with my own wife." He returned
answer in some such words as these; and Xerxes being stirred with
anger said as follows: "This then, Masistes, is thy case,--I will not
give thee my daughter for thy wife, nor yet shalt thou live any longer
with that one, in order that thou mayest learn to accept that which is
offered thee." He then when he heard this went out, having first said
these words: "Master, thou hast not surely brought ruin upon me?"[115]
112. During this interval of time, while Xerxes was conversing with
his brother, Amestris had sent the spearmen of Xerxes to bring the
wife of Masistes, and she was doing to her shameful outrage; for she
cut away her breasts and threw them to dogs, and she cut off her nose
and ears and lips and tongue, and sent her back home thus outraged.
113. Then Masistes, not yet having heard any of these things, but
supposing that some evil had fallen upon him, came running to his
house; and seeing his wife thus mutilated, forthwith upon this he took
counsel with his sons and set forth to go to Bactria together with his
sons and doubtless some others also, meaning to make the province of
Bactria revolt and to do the greatest possible injury to the king: and
this in fact would have come to pass, as I imagine, if he had got up
to the land of the Bactrians and Sacans before he was overtaken, for
they were much attached to him, and also he was the governor of the
Bactrians: but Xerxes being informed that he was doing this, sent
after him an army as he was on his way, and slew both him and his sons
and his army. So far of that which happened about the passion of
Xerxes and the death of Masistes.

114. Now the Hellenes who had set forth from Mycale to the Hellespont
first moored their ships about Lecton, being stopped from their voyage
by winds; and thence they came to Abydos and found that the bridges
had been broken up, which they thought to find still stretched across,
and on account of which especially they had come to the Hellespont. So
the Peloponnesians which Leotychides resolved to sail back to Hellas,
while the Athenians and Xanthippos their commander determined to stay
behind there and to make an attempt upon the Chersonese. Those then
sailed away, and the Athenians passed over from Abydos to the
Chersonese and began to besiege Sestos. 115. To this town of Sestos,
since it was the greatest stronghold of those in that region, men had
come together from the cities which lay round it, when they heard that
the Hellenes had arrived at the Hellespont, and especially there had
come from the city of Cardia Oiobazos a Persian, who had brought to
Sestos the ropes of the bridges. The inhabitants of the city were
Aiolians, natives of the country, but there were living with them a
great number of Persians and also of their allies. 116. And of the
province Artaÿctes was despot, as governor under Xerxes, a Persian,
but a man of desperate and reckless character, who also had practised
deception upon the king on his march against Athens, in taking away
from Elaius the things belonging to Protesilaos the son of Iphiclos.
For at Elaius in the Chersonese there is the tomb of Protesilaos with
a sacred enclosure about it, where there were many treasures, with
gold and silver cups and bronze and raiment and other offerings, which
things Artaÿctes carried off as plunder, the king having granted them
to him. And he deceived Xerxes by saying to him some such words as
these: "Master, there is here the house of a man, a Hellene, who made
an expedition against thy land and met with his deserts and was slain:
this man's house I ask thee to give to me, that every one may learn
not to make expeditions against thy land." By saying this it was
likely that he would easily enough persuade Xerxes to give him a man's
house, not suspecting what was in his mind: and when he said that
Protesilaos had made expedition against the land of the king, it must
be understood that the Persians consider all Asia to be theirs and to
belong to their reigning king. So when the things had been given him,
he brought them from Elaius to Sestos, and he sowed the sacred
enclosure for crops and occupied it as his own; and he himself,
whenever he came to Elaius, had commerce with women in the inner cell
of the temple.[116] And now he was being besieged by the Athenians,
when he had not made any preparation for a siege nor had been
expecting that the Hellenes would come; for they fell upon him, as one
may say, inevitably.[117] 117. When however autumn came and the siege
still went on, the Athenians began to be vexed at being absent from
their own land and at the same time not able to conquer the fortress,
and they requested their commanders to lead them away home; but these
said that they would not do so, until either they had taken the town
or the public authority of the Athenians sent for them home: and so
they endured their present state.[118] 118. Those however who were
within the walls had now come to the greatest misery, so that they
boiled down the girths of their beds and used them for food; and when
they no longer had even these, then the Persians and with them
Artaÿctes and Oiobazos ran away and departed in the night, climbing
down by the back part of the wall, where the place was left most
unguarded by the enemy; and when day came, the men of the Chersonese
signified to the Athenians from the towers concerning that which had
happened, and opened the gates to them. So the greater number of them
went in pursuit, and the rest occupied the city. 119. Now Oiobazos, as
he was escaping[119] into Thrace, was caught by the Apsinthian
Thracians and sacrificed to their native god Pleistoros with their
rites, and the rest who were with him they slaughtered in another
manner: but Artaÿctes with his companions, who started on their flight
later and were overtaken at a little distance above Aigospotamoi,
defended themselves for a considerable time and were some of them
killed and others taken alive: and the Hellenes had bound these and
were bringing them to Sestos, and among them Artaÿctes also in bonds
together with his son. 120. Then, it is said by the men of the
Chersonese, as one of those who guarded them was frying dried fish, a
portent occurred as follows,--the dried fish when laid upon the fire
began to leap and struggle just as if they were fish newly caught: and
the others gathered round and were marvelling at the portent, but
Artaÿctes seeing it called to the man who was frying the fish and
said: "Stranger of Athens, be not at all afraid of this portent,
seeing that it has not appeared for thee but for me. Protesilaos who
dwells at Elaius signifies thereby that though he is dead and his body
is dried like those fish,[120] yet he has power given him by the gods
to exact vengeance from the man who does him wrong. Now therefore I
desire to impose this penalty for him,[121]--that in place of the
things which I took from the temple I should pay down a hundred
talents to the god, and moreover as ransom for myself and my son I
will pay two hundred talents to the Athenians, if my life be spared."
Thus he engaged to do, but he did not prevail upon the commander
Xanthippos; for the people of Elaius desiring to take vengeance for
Protesilaos asked that he might be put to death, and the inclination
of the commander himself tended to the same conclusion. They brought
him therefore to that headland to which Xerxes made the passage
across, or as some say to the hill which is over the town of Madytos,
and there they nailed him to boards[122] and hung him up; and they
stoned his son to death before the eyes of Artaÿctes himself. 121.
Having so done, they sailed away to Hellas, taking with them, besides
other things, the ropes also of the bridges, in order to dedicate them
as offerings in the temples: and for that year nothing happened
further than this.

122. Now a forefather of this Artaÿctes who was hung up, was that
Artembares who set forth to the Persians a proposal which they took up
and brought before Cyrus, being to this effect: "Seeing that Zeus
grants to the Persians leadership, and of all men to thee, O Cyrus, by
destroying Astyages, come, since the land we possess is small and also
rugged, let us change from it and inhabit another which is better: and
there are many near at hand, and many also at a greater distance, of
which if we take one, we shall have greater reverence and from more
men. It is reasonable too that men who are rulers should do such
things; for when will there ever be a fairer occasion than now, when
we are rulers of many nations and of the whole of Asia?" Cyrus,
hearing this and not being surprised at the proposal,[123] bade them
do so if they would; but he exhorted them and bade them prepare in
that case to be no longer rulers but subjects; "For," said he, "from
lands which are not rugged men who are not rugged are apt to come
forth, since it does not belong to the same land to bring forth fruits
of the earth which are admirable and also men who are good in war." So
the Persians acknowledged that he was right and departed from his
presence, having their opinion defeated by that of Cyrus; and they
chose rather to dwell on poor land and be rulers, than to sow crops in
a level plain and be slaves to others.
----------

NOTES TO BOOK IX

1. "the same who at the former time also were of one accord together."

2. {ta ekeinon iskhura bouleumata}: some good MSS. omit {iskhura},
and so many Editors.

3. {up agnomosunes}.

4. {boulen}.

5. {exeneikai es ton dumon}.

6. {aleoren}.

7. Cp. viii. 140 (a).

8. {to men ap emeon outo akibdelon nemetai epi tous Ellenas}, "that
which we owe to the Hellenes is thus paid in no counterfeit coin.

9. {ekeleusan}, i.e. "their bidding was" when they sent us.

9a. This clause, "with no less--each man of them," is omitted in some
MSS. and considered spurious by several Editors.

10. Cp. ch. 55.

11. {perioikon}.

12. {ton emerodromon}, cp. vi. 105.

13. {tugkhane eu bouleoumenos}: perhaps, "endeavour to take measures
well."

14. {prodromon}, a conjectural emendation of {prodromos}.

15. {boiotarkhai}, i.e. the heads of the Bœotian confederacy.

16. {os epi deka stadious malista ke}.

17. {klinai}: several Editors have altered this, reading {klithenai}
or {klinenai}, "they were made to recline."

18. {diapinonton}, cp. v. 18.

19. {polla phroneonta medenos krateein}.

20. {sphodra}: not quite satisfactory with {emedizon}, but it can
hardly go with {ouk ekontes}, as Krüger suggests.

21. {pheme}, as in ch. 100.

22. {proopto thanato}.

23. {prosballontes}: most of the MSS. have {prosbalontes}, and so also
in ch. 21 and 22 they have {prosbalouses}.

24. i.e. the retreat with which each charge ended and the turn from
retreat in preparation for a fresh charge. So much would be done
without word of command, before reining in their horses.

25. {ephoiteon}.

25a. Or, according to some MSS., "much contention in argument."

26. i.e. the left wing.

27. The name apparently should be Kepheus, but there is no authority
for changing the text.

28. This is the number of nations mentioned in vii. 61-80 as composing
the land-army of Xerxes.

29. {oi epiphoiteontes}.

30. {peri andra ekaston}.

31. i.e. 38,700.

32. i.e. 69,500.

33. i.e. 110,000.

34. {opla de oud outoi eikhon}: i.e. these too must be reckoned with
the light-armed.

35. Cp. ii. 164.

36. {makhairophoroi}: cp. vii. 89.

37. i.e. 300,000: see viii. 113.

38. {geneos tou Iamideon}: the MSS. have {Klutiaden} after {Iamideon},
but the Clytiadai seem to have been a distinct family of
soothsayers.

39. {pentaethlon}.

40. {para en palaisma edrame nikan Olumpiada}. The meaning is not
clear, because the conditions of the {pentaethlon} are not known:
however the wrestling {pale} seems to have been the last of the
five contests, and the meaning may be that both Tisamenos and
Hieronymos had beaten all the other competitors and were equal so
far, when Tisamenos failed to win two out of three falls in the
wrestling.

41. {metientes}: some MSS. have {metiontes}, "they went to fetch him."

42. {aiteomenos}: this is the reading of the MSS., but the conjecture
{aiteomenous} (or {aiteomenon}) seems probable enough: "if one may
compare the man who asked for royal power with him who asked only
for citizenship."

43. i.e. instead of half for himself, he asks for two-thirds to be
divided between himself and his brother.

44. {o pros Ithome}: a conjectural emendation of {o pros Isthmo}.

45. {ton tarson eoutou}.

46. {Treis Kephalas}.

47. {Druos Kephalas}.

48. See ch. 2.

49. {ton epikleton}: cp. vii. 8.

50. {Mardonio te kai te stratie ta sphagia ou dunatai katathumia
genesthai}.

51. He asks for their help to free his country also from the Persian
yoke.

52. {emakhesametha}.

53. {psukhre}, cp. vi. 108.

54. {deka stadious}.

55. {nesos de outo an eie en epeiro}.

56. {periskhizetai}.

57. {epheugon asmenoi}.

58. {tou Pitaneteon lokhou}, called below {ton lokhon ton Pitaneten}.
Evidently {lokhos} here is a division of considerable size.

59. {anainomenou}: some MSS. and many Editors read {nenomenou}, "since
he was thus minded."

60. {os alla phroneonton kai alla legonton}.

61. Cp. ch. 11.

62. The structure of the sentence is rather confused, and perhaps some
emendation is required.

63. {eti ti lexete}. The MSS. and most Editors read {ti}, "what will
ye say after this?" The order of the words is against this.

64. {anarpasomenoi}: cp. viii. 28.

65. {phraxantes ta gerra}: cp. ch. 99.

66. {anoploi}, by which evidently more is meant than the absence of
shields; cp. the end of ch. 63, where the equipment of the
Persians is compared to that of light-armed troops.

67. See viii. 114.

68. {es Leoniden}: this is ordinarily translated "as far as Leonidas;"
but to say "his ancestors above Anaxandrides have been given as
far as Leonidas" (the son of Anaxandrides), is hardly
intelligible. The reference is to vii. 204.

69. Most of the MSS. call him Aeimnestos (with some variation of
spelling), but Plutarch has Arimnestos.

70. See ch. 15. There is no sharp distinction here between camp and
palisade, the latter being merely the fortified part of the
encampment.

71. {anaktoron}, a usual name for the temple of Demeter and Persephone
at Eleusis.

72. i.e. 40,000.

73. {ege katertemenos}: the better MSS. have {eie} for {ege}, which is
retained by some Editors ({toutous} being then taken with {inai
pantas}): for {katertemenos} we find as variations {katertemenos}
and {katertismenos}. Many Editors read {katertismenos} ("well
prepared"), following the Aldine tradition.

74. {ephelokakeonton}.

75. {en oudeni logo apolonto}.

76. Stein proposes to substitute "Athenians" for "Lacedemonians" here,
making the comparative {erremenestere} anticipate the account
given in the next few clauses.

77. {erromenestere}.

78. Cp. i. 66.

79. {aluktazon}, a word of doubtful meaning which is not found
elsewhere.

80. i.e. 300,000.

81. {o Spartietes}: it has been proposed to read {Spartietai}, for it
can hardly be supposed that the other two were not Spartans also.

82. One MS. at least calls him Aeimenstos, cp. ch. 64. Thucydides
(iii. 52) mentions Aeimnestos as the name of a Plataian citizen,
the father of Lacon. Stein observes that in any case this cannot
be that Arimnestos who is mentioned by Plutarch as commander of
the Plataian contingent.

83. {eoutou axion prophumeumenou apodexasthai}.

84. {atelein te kai proedrin}.

85. vi. 92.

86. {andra pentaethlon}.

87. {oute daimonon oute theon}: heroes and in general divinities of
the second order are included under the term {daimonon}.

88. Most of the commentators (and following them the historians)
understand the imperfect {ediokon} to express the mere purpose to
attempt, and suppose that this purpose was actually hindered by
the Lacedemonians. but for a mere half-formed purpose the
expression {mekhri Thessalies} seems to definite, and Diodorus
states that Artabazos was pursued. I think therefore that Krüger
is right in understanding {eon} of an attempt to dissuade which
was not successful. The alternative version would be "they were
for pursuing them as far as Thessaly, but the Lacedemonians
prevented them from pursuing fugitives."

89. {akinakas}.

90. Whether three tithes were taken or only one is left uncertain.

91. "furniture furnished" is hardly tolerable; perhaps Herodotus wrote
{skenen} for {kataskeuen} here.

92. The connexion here is not satisfactory, and the chapter is in part
a continuation of chapter 81. It is possible that ch. 82 may be a
later addition by the author, thrown in without much regard to the
context.

93. "Whereas however the body of Mardonios had disappeared on the day
after the battle (taken by whom I am not able to say . . . .), it
is reported with some show of reason that Dionysophanes, an
Ephesian, was he who buried it." The construction however is
irregular and broken by parentheses: possibly there is some
corruption of text.

94. {tous irenas}. Spartans between twenty and thirty years old were
so called. The MSS. have {ireas}.

95. {proxeinon}.

96. "fill up more calamities," cp. v. 4.

97. {es antilogien}.

98. {antilogies kuresein}.

99. {ten mesogaian tamnon tes odou}, cp. vii. 124. The expression
seems almost equivalent to {tamnon ten mesen odon}, apart from any
question of inland or coast roads.

100. {limo sustantas kai kamato}, "having struggled with hunger and
fatigue."

101. {autos}: some MSS. read {outos}. If the text is right, it means
Artabazos as distinguished from his troops.

102. i.e. "leader of the army."

102a. {en to Ionio kolpo}.

103. Stein reads {para Khona potamon}, "by the river Chon," a
conjecture derived from Theognostus.

104. It is thought by some Editors that "the prophets" just above, and
these words, "and they told them," are interpolated.

105. {emphuton mantiken}, as opposed to the {entekhnos mantike}
possessed for example by Melampus, cp. ii. 49.

106. Or possibly "Calamoi."

107. i.e. 60,000.

107a. {ton Potneion}, i.e. either the Eumenides or Demeter and
Persephone.

108. {apistous toisi Ellesi}. Perhaps the last two words are to be
rejected, and {apistous} to be taken in its usual sense,
"distrusted"; cp. viii. 22.

109. {neokhmon an ti poieein}.

110. {pheme eseptato}.

111. {eteralkea}, cp. viii. 11.

112. {ton Perseon}: perhaps we should read {ek ton Perseon},
"appointed by the Persians to guard the passes."

113. {ti neokhmon poieoien}.

114. {ten kephalen smatai}: the meaning is uncertain.

115. {Pou de kou me apolesas}: some Editors read {ko} for {kou} (by
conjecture), and print the clause as a statement instead of a
question, "not yet hast thou caused by ruin."

116. {en to aduto}.

117. {aphuktos}: many Editors adopt the reading {aphulakto} from
inferior MSS., "they fell upon him when he was, as one may say,
off his guard."

118. {estergon ta pareonta}.

119. {ekpheugonta}: many Editors have {ekphugonta}, "after he had
escaped."

120. {tarikhos eon}. The word {tarikhos} suggests the idea of human
bodies embalmed, as well as of dried or salted meat.

121. {oi}: some Editors approve the conjecture {moi}, "impose upon
myself this penalty."

122. {sanidas}: some read by conjecture {sanidi}, or {pros sanida}:
cp. vii. 33.

123. Or, "when he had heard this, although he did not admire the
proposal, yet bade them do so if they would."

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