should not leave the post in which they had been stationed, but should remain there, they might go back to their assistance. However, those with Amompharetus came up; and the whole of the barbarian's cavalry pressed upon them. For the horsemen did as they were always accustomed to do.; but seeing the place empty in which the Greeks had been drawn up on the preceding days, they pushed on continually in advance, and as soon as they overtook them, they pressed them closely. 58. Mardonius, when he was informed that the Grecians had withdrawn under cover of night, and saw the place deserted, having summoned Thorax of Larissa, and his brothers Eurypilus and Thrasydeius, said: "O sons of Aleuas, what will you say now, when you see this ground deserted? For you, their neighbours, said that the Lacedæmonians never fled from battle, but were the first of men in matters of war; these, whom you before saw changing their station, and who now we all see have fled away during the past night. They have clearly shown, when they had to come to the issue of battle with those who are truly the most valiant in the world, that being themselves good for nothing, they have gained distinction among worthless Greeks. And I readily forgave you, who are unacquainted with the Persians, when you extolled them by whom you knew something had been done but I wondered more at Artabazus, that he should dread the Lacedæmonians, and dreading them, should have advanced a most cowardly opinion, that it was expedient to remove our camp, and retire to the city of the Thebans to be besieged of this the king shall hereafter hear from me. But these matters will be discussed elsewhere. For the present, we must not suffer them to do what they intend, but they must be pursued, until they shall be overtaken, and have given us satisfaction for all the mischief they have done to the Persians." 59. Having spoken thus, he led the Persians at full speed, crossing the Asopus in the track of the Greeks, as if they had betaken themselves to flight; he directed his course only against the Lacedæmonians and Tegeans; for on account of the hills he did not discern the Athenians, who had turned into the plain. The rest of the commanders of the barbarian's brigades, seeing the Persians advancing to pursue the Greeks, all immediately took up their standards, and pursued, each as : quick as he could, without observing either rank or order: thus they advanced with a shout and in a throng, as if they were about to overwhelm the Greeks. 60. Pausanias, when the cavalry pressed on him, having despatched a horseman to the Athenians with this message, spoke as follows: "Men of Athens, when the mighty contest lies before us, whether Greece shall be free or enslaved, we are betrayed by the allies, (both we Lacedæmonians and you Athenians,) who have fled away during the past night. It is now, therefore, determined what we must henceforth do; for defending ourselves in the best manner we can, we must support each other. Now if the cavalry had attacked you first, it would have behoved us and the Tegeans, who with us have not betrayed Greece, to assist you. But now, since the whole body has advanced against us, you ought in justice to come to the succour of that division which is most hardly pressed. If, however, any inability to assist has befällen you, you will confer a favour on us by sending your archers to us. We are aware of your being by far the most zealous in this present war, so as in this instance to listen to our request." 61. When the Athenians heard this, they prepared to assist, and to defend them to the utmost of their power; but as they were already on their way, those of the Greeks who sided with the king, that were arrayed against them, attacked them, so that they were no longer able to render assistance; for the division that pressed upon them harassed them. Thus the Lacedæmonians and Tegeans being left alone, the former with the light-armed men, amounting in number to fifty thousand, and the Tegeans to three thousand, (for these last had never separated from the Lacedæmonians,) performed sacrifices, purposing to engage with Mardonius and the forces with him. But as the victims were not favourable to them, many of them fell during this interval, and many more were wounded; for the Persians, having made a fence with their osier-shields, let fly a number of arrows so incessantly, that, the Spartans being hard pressed, and the victims continuing unfavourable, Pausanias, looking towards the temple of Juno of the Plateans, invoked the goddess, praying that they might not be disappointed of their hopes. 62. While he was yet making this invocation, the Tegeans, starting first, advanced against the barbarians; and immedi ately after the prayer of Pausanias, the victims became favourable to the Lacedæmonians when they sacrificed. When some time had elapsed, they also advanced against the Persians, and the Persians withstood them, laying aside their bows. First of all a battle took place about the fence of bucklers; and when that was thrown down, an obstinate fight ensued near the temple of Ceres, and for a long time, till at last they came to a close conflict: for the barbarians laying hold of the enemy's spears, broke them. And indeed, in courage and strength, the Persians were not inferior; but being lightly armed, they were moreover ignorant of military discipline, and not equal to their adversaries in skill; but rushing forward singly, or in tens, or more or fewer in a body, they fell upon the Spartans and perished. 63. In that part where Mardonius happened to be, fighting from a white horse, at the head of a thousand chosen men, the best of the Persians, there they pressed their adversaries most vigorously. For as long as Mardonius survived, they held out, and defending themselves overthrew many of the Lacedæmonians; but when Mardonius had died, and the troops stationed round him, which were the strongest, had fallen, then the rest turned to flight, and gave way to the Lacedæmonians. Their dress, too, was particularly disadvantageous to them, being destitute of defensive armour; for being light-armed, they had to contend with heavy-armed men. 64. Here satisfaction for the death of Leonidas, according to the oracle, was paid to the Spartans by Mardonius; and Pausanias, son of Cleombrotus, son to Anaxandrides, obtained the most signal victory of all that we know of. (The names of his earlier ancestors have been mentioned in the genealogy of Leonidas; for they were the same.) Mardonius died by the hand of Aïmnestus, a man of distinction at Sparta, who, some time after the Medic affairs, at the head of three hundred men, engaged at Stenyclerus with all the Messenians, there being war; and he himself perished and his three hundred. 65. The Persians at Platea, when they were put to flight by the Lacedæmonians, fled in disorder to their own camp, and to the wooden fortification which they had made in the Theban territory. It is a wonder to me, that, when they fought near the grove of Ceres, not one of the barbarians was seen to enter into the sacred enclosure, or to die in it, but most fell See B. VII. chap. 204. round the precinct in unconsecrated ground. I am of opinion, if it is allowable to form an opinion concerning divine things, that the goddess would not receive them, because they had burnt her royal temple at Eleusis. Such was the issue of this battle. 66. Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, from the very first had . disapproved of Mardonius being left by the king, and at that time, though he strongly dissuaded him, he could not prevail, urging him not to engage. He therefore acted as follows, being displeased with the conduct of Mardonius. Those whom Artabazus commanded, (and he had no small force, but to the number of forty thousand men with him,) these, as soon as the action commenced, well knowing what the result of the battle would be, he drew up in order and advanced, having ordered them to go where he should lead, whenever they should see him advancing at a quick pace; having given this order, he led his forces as if to join in the engagement: but being in advance of his troops, he discovered the Persians flying; whereupon, he no longer led his forces in the same order, but fled with all possible speed; neither towards the wooden fortification nor the walls of Thebes, but to the Phocians, wishing to reach the Hellespont as soon as he could. These, then, took that direction. 67. Although the rest of the Greeks in the king's army behaved themselves ill on purpose, the Boeotians fought with the Athenians for a considerable time. For those Thebans who sided with the Mede displayed no little zeal, fighting and not willingly behaving ill, so that three hundred of them, the first and most valiant, fell there by the hands of the Athenians: but when they also were put to flight, they fled to Thebes, not as the Persians fled, and the whole throng of the other allies, without having fought at all, or performed any thing considerable. 68. And it is manifest to me that on the side of the barbarians all depended on the Persians, since the others, before they engaged with the enemy, fled at once, because they saw the Persians flying. Accordingly all fled, except the rest of the cavalry and especially the Boeotian: they so far assisted the fugitives, keeping constantly close to them against the enemy, and separating their friends who were flying, from the Greeks. 69. The victors however followed, pursuing and slaying the soldiers of Xerxes. In the midst of this rout news came to the rest of the Greeks who were drawn up about the Heræum, and were absent from the battle, that a battle had been fought, and Pausanias's party were victorious. When they heard this, without observing any kind of order, the Corinthians took the road that leads by the base of the mountain and the hills direct to the temple of Ceres, and the Megarians and the Phliasians the most level of the roads across the plain. But when the Megarians and Phliasians were near the enemy, the Theban cavalry seeing them hurrying on without any order, charged them with the horse, which Asopodorus, son of Timander, commanded; and having fallen on them they threw down and killed six hundred of them, and pursuing the rest, drove them headlong to Mount Citharon. Thus they perished ingloriously. 70. The Persians and the rest of the throng, when they arrived in their flight at the wooden wall, mounted the towers before the Lacedæmonians came up, and having mounted it, defended the wall in the best way they could; so that when the Lacedæmonians arrived, a vigorous battle took place before the walls. For so long as the Athenians were absent, the barbarians defended themselves, and had much the advantage over the Lacedæmonians, as they were not skilled in attacking fortifications; but when the Athenians came up, then a vehement fight at the walls took place, and continued for a long time. But at length the Athenians, by their valour and constancy, surmounted the wall, and made a breach; there at length the Greeks poured in. The Tegeans entered first within the wall; and these were they who plundered the tent of Mardonius, and among other things took away the manger for the horses, all of brass, and well worth seeing: this manger of Mardonius the Tegeans placed in the temple of the Alean Minerva; but all the other things they took, they carried to the same place as the rest of the Greeks. The barbarians, when the wall had fallen, no longer kept in close order, nor did any one think of valour; but they were in a state of consternation, as so many myriads of men were enclosed within a small space; and the Greeks had such an easy opportunity of slaughtering them, that of an army of three hundred thousand men, except the forty thousand with which Artabazus fled, not three thousand survived. Of Lacedæmonians from Sparta, all that died in the engagement were ninety-one; of Tegeans, sixteen; and of Athenians, fifty-two. |