generations, more disasters befel Greece than during the twenty generations that preceded the time of Darius; partly brought upon it by the Persians, and partly by the chief men amongst them contending for power. So that it is nothing improbable that Delos should be moved at that time, having been until then unmoved: and in an oracle respecting it, it had been thus written: "I will move even Delos, although hitherto unmoved." And in the Grecian language these names mean, - Darius, one who restrains;" Xerxes, “a warrior ;" and Artaxerxes, "a mighty warrior." Thus, then, the Greeks may rightly designate these kings in their language.

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99. The barbarians, after they had parted from Delos, touched at the islands; and from thence they took with them men to serve in the army, and carried away the sons of the islanders for hostages. And when, having sailed round the islands, they touched at Carystus, as the Carystians would not give hostages, and refused to bear arms against their neighbouring cities, meaning Eretria and Athens, they thereupon besieged them, and ravaged their country, until at last the Carystians also submitted to the will of the Persians. 100. The Eretrians, being informed that the Persian armament was sailing against them, entreated the Athenians to assist them; and the Athenians did not refuse their aid, but gave them as auxiliaries those four thousand men to whom had been allotted the territory of the horse-feeding Chalcidians.2 But the councils of the Eretrians were not at all sound: they sent for the Athenians indeed, but held divided opinions; for some of them proposed to abandon the city, and to retire to the fastnesses of Eubœa; but others of them, hoping that they should derive gain to themselves from the Persians, were planning to betray their country. But Eschines, son of Nothon, a man of rank among the Eretrians, being informed of the views of both parties, communicated to the Athenians, who had come, the whole state of their affairs; and entreated them to return to their own country, lest they too should perish. The Athenians followed this advice of Æschines, and having crossed over to Oropus, saved themselves. 101. In the mean time the Persians, sailing on, directed their ships' course to Tamynæ, Chorea, and Ægilia, of the Eretrian territory; and having 2 See B. V. ch. 77.

taken possession of these places, they immediately disembarked the horses, and made preparations to attack the enemy. But the Eretrians had no thoughts of going out against them and fighting, but since that opinion had prevailed, that they should not abandon the city, their only care now was, if by any means they could defend the walls. A violent attack on the walls ensuing, for six days many fell on both sides; but on the seventh, Euphorbus, son of. Alcimachus, and Philargus, son of Cyneus, men of rank among the citizens, betrayed the city to the Persians. But they, having gained entrance into the city, in the first place pillaged and set fire to the temples, in revenge for those that had been burnt at Sardis; and in the next, they enslaved the inhabitants, in obedience to the commands of Darius.

102. Having subdued Eretria, and rested a few days, they sailed to Attica, pressing them very close, and expecting to treat the Athenians in the same way as they had the Eretrians. Now as Marathon was the spot in Attica best adapted for cavalry, and nearest to Eretria, Hippias, son of Pisistratus, conducted them there. 103. But the Athenians, when they heard of this, also sent their forces to Marathon: and ten generals led them, of whom the tenth was Miltiades, whose father, Cimon,3 son of Stesagoras, had been banished from Athens by Pisistratus, son of Hippocrates. During his exile, it was his good fortune to obtain the Olympic prize in the four-horse chariot race, and having gained this victory, he transferred the honour to Miltiades, his brother by the same mother; and afterwards, in the next Olympiad, being victorious with the same mares, he permitted Pisistratus to be proclaimed victor; and having conceded the victory to him, he returned home under terms. And after he had gained another Olympic prize with these same mares, it happened that he died by the hands of the sons of Pisistratus, when Pisistratus himself was no longer alive: they slew him near the Prytaneum, having placed men to waylay him by night. Cimon was buried in front of the city, beyond that which is called the road through Cola, and opposite him these same mares were buried, which won the three Olympic prizes. Other mares also had already done the same thing, belonging to Evagoras the Lacedæmonian; but besides these, none others. Stesagoras,

3 See ch. 39-41.

the elder of the sons of Cimon, was at that time being educated by his paternal uncle Miltiades, in the Chersonese, but the younger by Cimon himself at Athens, and he had the name of Miltiades, from Miltiades, the founder of the Chersonese. 104. At that time, then, this Miltiades, coming from the Chersonese, and having escaped a two-fold death, became general of the Athenians: for in the first place, the Phœnicians, having pursued him as far as Imbros, were exceedingly desirous of seizing him, and carrying him up to the king; and in the next, when he had escaped them, and had returned to his own country, and thought himself in safety, his enemies thereupon, having attacked him, and brought him before a court of justice, prosecuted him for tyranny in the Chersonese. But having escaped these also, he was at length appointed general of the Athenians, being chosen by the people.

105. And first, while the generals were yet in the city, they despatched a herald to Sparta, one Phidippides, an Athenian, who was a courier by profession, one who attended to this very business. This man, then, as Phidippides himself said and reported to the Athenians, Pan met near Mount Parthenion, above Tegea; and Pan, calling out the name of Phidippides, bade him ask the Athenians why they paid no attention to him, who was well inclined to the Athenians, and had often been useful to them, and would be so hereafter. The Athenians, therefore, as their affairs were then in a prosperous condition, believed that this was true, and erected a temple to Pan beneath the Acropolis, and in consequence of that message they propitiate Pan with yearly sacrifices and the torch race. 106. This Phidippides, being sent by the generals at that time when he said Pan appeared to him, arrived in Sparta on the following day after his departure from the city of the Athenians, and on coming in presence of the magistrates, he said, "Lacedæmonians, the Athenians entreat you to assist them, and not to suffer the most ancient city among the Greeks to fall into bondage to barbarians: for Eretria is already reduced to slavery, and Greece has become weaker by the loss of a renowned city." He accordingly delivered the message according to his instructions, and they resolved indeed to assist the Athenians; but it was out of their power to do so immediately, as they were unwilling to violate the law: for it was the ninth day of the current

month; and they said they could not march out on the ninth day, the moon's circle not being full. They, therefore, waited for the full moon.

107. Meanwhile Hippias, son of Pisistratus, had led the barbarians to Marathon, having the preceding night seen the following vision in his sleep. (Hippias fancied that he lay with his own mother; he inferred, therefore, from the dream, that having returned to Athens and recovered the sovereignty, he should die an old man in his own country. He drew this inference from the vision. At that time, as he was leading the way, he first of all landed the slaves from Eretria on the island of the Styreans, called Ægilia; and next he moored the ships as they came to Marathon, and drew up the barbarians as they disembarked on land: and as he was busied in doing this, it happened that he sneezed and coughed more violently than he was accustomed; and as he was far advanced in years, several of his teeth were loose, so that through the violence of his cough he threw out one of these teeth; and as it fell on the sand, he used every endeavour to find it, but when the tooth could no where be found, he drew a deep sigh, and said to the by-standers, "This country is not ours, nor shall we be able to subdue it; whatever share belongeth to me, my tooth possesses." Hippias accordingly inferred that his vision had been thus fulfilled.

108. When the Athenians were drawn up in a place sacred to Hercules, the Platæans came to their assistance with all their forces. For the Platæans had given themselves up to the Athenians, and the Athenians had already undergone many toils on their account: and they gave themselves up on the following occasion. The Plateans, being hard pressed by the Thebans, first offered themselves to Cleomenes, son of Anaxandrides, and to the Lacedæmonians who happened to be present. They would not receive them, but addressed them as follows: "We live at too great a distance, and such assistance would be of little value to you; for you would often be enslaved before any of us could be informed of it. We advise you, therefore, to give yourselves up to the Athenians, who are your neighbours, and are not backward in assisting.' The Lacedæmonians gave this advice, not so much from any good-will to the Platæans, as from a desire that the Athenians might be subject to toil, by being set at variance with the

Boeotians. The Lacedæmonians, accordingly, gave this advice to the Platæans, and they did not disregard it, but when the Athenians were performing the sacred rites to the twelve gods, they sat down at the altar as suppliants, and delivered themselves up. But the Thebans, having heard of this, marched against the Plateans, and the Athenians went to assist; and as they were about to engage in battle, the Corinthians interfered; for happening to be present, and mediating between them, at the request of both parties, they prescribed the limits to the country in the following manner: that the Thebans should leave alone those of the Boeotians who did not wish to be ranked among the Boeotians. The Corinthians, having made this decision, returned home; but the Boeotians attacked the Athenians as they were departing, but having attacked them were worsted in the battle. The Athenians, therefore, passing beyond the limits which the Corinthians had fixed for the Platæans,-passing beyond these, they made the Asopus and Hysia to be the boundary between the Thebans and Plateans. The Plateans, therefore, gave themselves up to the Athenians in the manner above described; and at that time came to assist them at Marathon.

109. The opinions of the Athenian generals were divided; one party not consenting to engage, "because they were too few to engage with the army of the Medes;" and the others, among whom was Miltiades, urging them to give battle. When, therefore, they were divided, and the worst opinion was likely to prevail, thereupon, for there was an eleventh voter who was appointed minister of war among the Athenians, for the Athenians in ancient times gave the minister of war an equal vote with the generals, and at that time Callimachus of Aphidna was minister of war; to him, therefore, Miltiades came and spoke as follows: "It now depends on you, Callimachus, either to enslave Athens; or, by preserving its liberty, to leave a memorial of yourself to every age, such as not even Harmodius and Aristogiton have left. For the Athenians were never in so great danger from the time they were first a people. And if they succumb to the Medes, it has been determined what they are to suffer, when delivered up to Hippias; but if the city survives, it will become the first of the Grecian cities. How, then, this can be brought to pass, and how the power of deciding this matter depends