battle in the order which here follows:--On the right wing the polemarch
Callimachos was leader (for the custom of the Athenians then was this,
that the polemarch should have the right wing); and he leading, next
after him came the tribes in order as they were numbered one after
another, and last were drawn up the Plataians occupying the left wing:
for 101 ever since this battle, when the Athenians offer sacrifices in
the solemn assemblies 102 which are made at the four-yearly festivals,
103 the herald of the Athenians prays thus, "that blessings 104 may come
to the Athenians and to the Plataians both." On this occasion however,
when the Athenians were being drawn up at Marathon something of this
kind was done:--their army being made equal in length of front to that
of the Medes, came to drawn up in the middle with a depth of but few
ranks, and here their army was weakest, while each wing was strengthened
with numbers..
112. And when they had been arranged in their places and the sacrifices
proved favourable, then the Athenians were let go, and they set forth at
a run to attack the Barbarians. Now the space between the armies was not
less than eight furlongs: 105 and the Persians seeing them advancing
to the attack at a run, made preparations to receive them; and in their
minds they charged the Athenians with madness which must be fatal,
seeing that they were few and yet were pressing forwards at a run,
having neither cavalry nor archers. 106 Such was the thought of the
Barbarians; but the Athenians when all in a body they had joined in
combat with the Barbarians, fought in a memorable fashion: for they were
the first of all the Hellenes about whom we know who went to attack the
enemy at a run, and they were the first also who endured to face the
Median garments and the men who wore them, whereas up to this time the
very name of the Medes was to the Hellenes a terror to hear..
113. Now while they fought in Marathon, much time passed by; and in the
centre of the army, where the Persians themselves and the Sacans were
drawn up, the Barbarians were winning,--here, I say, the Barbarians had
broken the ranks of their opponents and were pursuing them inland, but
on both wings the Athenians and the Plataians severally were winning
the victory; and being victorious they left that part of the Barbarians
which had been routed to fly without molestation, and bringing together
the two wings they fought with those who had broken their centre, and
the Athenians were victorious. So they followed after the Persians as
they fled, slaughtering them, until they came to the sea; and then they
called for fire and began to take hold of the ships..
114. In this part of the work was slain the polemarch Callimachos
after having proved himself a good man, and also one of the generals,
Stesilaos the son of Thrasylaos, was killed; and besides this Kynegeiros
the son of Euphorion while taking hold 107 there of the ornament at
the stern of a ship had his hand cut off with an axe and fell; and many
others also of the Athenians who were men of note were killed..
115. Seven of the ships the Athenians got possession of in this manner,
but with the rest the Barbarians pushed off from land, and after taking
the captives from Eretria off the island where they had left them,
they sailed round Sunion, purposing to arrive at the city before the
Athenians. And an accusation became current among the Athenians to the
effect that they formed this design by contrivance of the Alcmaionidai;
for these, it was said, having concerted matters with the Persians,
displayed to them a shield when they had now embarked in their ships..
116. These then, I say, were sailing round Sunion; and meanwhile the
Athenians came to the rescue back to the city as speedily as they could,
and they arrived there before the Barbarians came; and having arrived
from the temple of Heracles at Marathon they encamped at another temple
of Heracles, namely that which is in Kynosarges. The Barbarians however
came and lay with their ships in the sea which is off Phaleron, (for
this was then the seaport of the Athenians), they anchored their ships,
I say, off this place, and then proceeded to sail back to Asia.
117. In this fight at Marathon there were slain of the Barbarians about
six thousand four hundred men, and of the Athenians a hundred and ninety
and two. Such was the number which fell on both sides; and it happened
also that a marvel occurred there of this kind:--an Athenian, Epizelos
the son of Cuphagoras, while fighting in the close combat and proving
himself a good man, was deprived of the sight of his eyes, neither
having received a blow in any part of his body nor having been hit with
a missile, and for the rest of his life from this time he continued to
be blind: and I was informed that he used to tell about that which had
happened to him a tale of this kind, namely that it seemed to him that a
tall man in full armour stood against him, whose beard overshadowed his
whole shield; and this apparition passed him by, but killed his comrade
who stood next to him. Thus, as I was informed, Epizelos told the tale.
118. Datis, however, as he was going with his army to Asia, when he had
come to Myconos saw a vision in his sleep; and of what nature the vision
was it is not reported, but as soon as day dawned he caused a search to
be made of the ships, and finding in a Phenician ship an image of Apollo
overlaid with gold, he inquired from whence it had been carried off.
Then having been informed from what temple it came, he sailed in his
own ship to Delos: and finding that the Delians had returned then to
the island, he deposited the image in the temple and charged the men of
Delos to convey it back to Delion in the territory of the Thebans, which
is situated by the sea-coast just opposite Chalkis. Datis having given
this charge sailed away: the Delians however did not convey the statue
back, but after an interval of twenty years the Thebans themselves
brought it to Delion by reason of an oracle..
119. Now as to those Eretrians who had been reduced to slavery, Datis
and Artaphrenes, when they reached Asia in their voyage, brought them
up to Susa; and king Dareios, though he had great anger against the
Eretrians before they were made captive, because the Eretrians had done
wrong to him unprovoked, yet when he saw that they had been brought up
to him and were in his power, he did them no more evil, but established
them as settlers in the Kissian land upon one of his own domains, of
which the name is Ardericca: and this is distant two hundred and ten
furlongs from Susa and forty from the well which produces things of
three different kinds; for they draw from it asphalt, salt and oil, in
the manner which here follows:--the liquid is drawn with a swipe, to
which there is fastened half a skin instead of a bucket, and a man
strikes this down into it and draws up, and then pours it into a
cistern, from which it runs through into another vessel, taking three
separate ways. The asphalt and the salt become solid at once, and the
oil 108 which is called by the Persians rhadinake, is black and gives
out a disagreeable smell. Here king Dareios established the Eretrians
as settlers; and even to my time they continued to occupy this land,
keeping still their former language. Thus it happened with regard to the
Eretrians.
120. Of the Lacedemonians there came to Athens two thousand after the
full moon, making great haste to be in time, so that they arrived in
Attica on the third day after leaving Sparta: and though they had come
too late for the battle, yet they desired to behold the Medes; and
accordingly they went out to Marathon and looked at the bodies of the
slain: then afterwards they departed home, commending the Athenians and
the work which they had done.
121. Now it is a cause of wonder to me, and I do not accept the report,
that the Alcmaionidai could ever have displayed to the Persians a shield
by a previous understanding, with the desire that the Athenians
should be under the Barbarians and under Hippias; seeing that they are
evidently proved to have been haters of despots as much or more than
Callias the son of Phainippos and father of Hipponicos, while Callias
for his part was the only man of all the Athenians who dared, when
Peisistratos was driven out of Athens, to buy his goods offered for sale
by the State, and in other ways also he contrived against him everything
that was most hostile:
122. Of this Callias it is fitting that every one should have
remembrance for many reasons: first because of that which has been
before said, namely that he was a man of excellence in freeing his
country; and then also for that which he did at the Olympic games,
wherein he gained a victory in the horse-race and was second in the
chariot-race, and he had before this been a victor at the Pythian games,
so that he was distinguished in the sight of all Hellenes by the sums
which he expended; and finally because he showed himself a man of such
liberality towards his daughters, who were three in number; for
when they came to be of ripe age for marriage, he gave them a most
magnificent dowry and also indulged their inclinations; for whomsoever
of all the Athenians each one of them desired to choose as a husband for
herself, to that man he gave her.] 109.
123, and similarly, 110 the Alcmaionidai were haters of despots equally
or more 111 than he. Therefore this is a cause of wonder to me, and I do
not admit the accusation that these they were who displayed the shield;
seeing that they were in exile from the despots during their whole time,
and that by their contrivance the sons of Peisistratos gave up their
rule. Thus it follows that they were the men who set Athens free much
more than Harmodios and Aristogeiton, as I judge: for these my slaying
Hipparchos exasperated the rest of the family of Peisistratos, and
did not at all cause the others to cease from their despotism; but the
Alcmaionidai did evidently set Athens free, at least if these were in
truth the men who persuaded the Pythian prophetess to signify to the
Lacedemonians that they should set Athens free, as I have set forth
before..
124. It may be said however that they had some cause of complaint
against the people of the Athenians, and therefore endeavoured to betray
their native city. But on the contrary there were no men in greater
repute than they, among the Athenians at least, nor who had been more
highly honoured. Thus it is not reasonable to suppose that by them a
shield should have been displayed for any such purpose. A shield was
displayed, however; that cannot be denied, for it was done: but as to
who it was who displayed it, I am not able to say more than this.
125. Now the family of Alcmaionidai was distinguished in Athens in the
earliest times also, and from the time of Alcmaion and of Megacles after
him they became very greatly distinguished. For first Alcmaion the son
of Megacles showed himself a helper of the Lydians from Sardis who came
from Croesus to the Oracle at Delphi, and assisted them with zeal; and
Croesus having heard from the Lydians who went to the Oracle that
this man did him service, sent for him to Sardis; and when he came, he
offered to give him a gift of as much gold as he could carry away at
once upon his own person. With a view to this gift, its nature being
such, Alcmaion made preparations and used appliances as follows:--he put
on a large tunic leaving a deep fold in the tunic to hang down in front,
and he draw on his feet the widest boots which he could find, and so
went to the treasury to which they conducted him. Then he fell upon a
heap of gold-dust, and first he packed in by the side of his legs so
much of the gold as his boots would contain, and then he filled the
whole fold of the tunic with the gold and sprinkled some of the gold
dust on the hair of his head and took some into his mouth, and having so
done he came forth out of the treasury, with difficulty dragging along
his boots and resembling anything in the world rather than a man; for
his mouth was stuffed full, and every part of him was swelled out: and
upon Croesus came laughter when he saw him, and he not only gave him all
that, but also presented him in addition with more not inferior in
value to that. Thus this house became exceedingly wealthy, and thus the
Alcmaion of whom I speak became a breeder of chariot-horses and won a
victory at Olympia..
126. Then in the next generation after this, Cleisthenes the despot of
Sikyon exalted the family, so that it became of much more note among
the Hellenes than it had been formerly. For Cleisthenes the son of
Arisonymos, the son of Myron, the son of Andreas, had a daughter whose
name was Agariste; and as to her he formed a desire to find out the best
man of all the Hellenes and to assign her to him in marriage. So when
the Olympic games were being held and Cleisthenes was victor in them
with a four-horse chariot, he caused a proclamation to be made, that
whosoever of the Hellenes thought himself worthy to be the son-in-law of
Cleisthenes should come on the sixtieth day, or before that if he would,
to Sikyon; for Cleisthenes intended to conclude the marriage within a
year, reckoning from the sixtieth day. Then all those of the Hellenes
who had pride either in themselves or in their high descent, 112 came
as wooers, and for them Cleisthenes had a running-course and a
wrestling-place made and kept them expressly for their use..
127. From Italy came Smindyrides the son of Hippocrates of Sybaris, who
of all men on earth reached the highest point of luxury (now Sybaris at
this time was in the height of its prosperity), and Damasos of Siris,
the son of that Amyris who was called the Wise; these came from Italy:
from the Ionian gulf came Amphimnestos the son of Epistrophos of
Epidamnos, this man from the Ionian gulf: from Aitolia came Males, the
brother of that Titormos who surpassed all the Hellenes in strength and
who fled from the presence of men to the furthest extremities of the
Aitolian land: from Peloponnesus, Leokedes the son of Pheidon the despot
of the Argives, that Pheidon who established for the Peloponnesians
the measures which they use, and who went beyond all other Hellenes in
wanton insolence, since he removed from their place the presidents of
the games appointed by the Eleians and himself presided over the
games at Olympia,--his son, I say, and Amiantos the son of Lycurgos an
Arcadian from Trapezus, and Laphanes an Azanian from the city of Paios,
son of that Euphorion who (according to the story told in Arcadia)
received the Dioscuroi as guests in his house and from thenceforth was
wont to entertain all men who came, and Onomastos the son of Agaios
of Elis; these, I say, came from Peloponnesus itself: from Athens came
Megacles the son of that Alcmaion who went to Croesus, and besides him
Hippocleides the son of Tisander, one who surpassed the other Athenians
in wealth and in comeliness of form: from Eretria, which at that time
was flourishing, came Lysanias, he alone from Euboea: from Thessalia
came Diactorides of Crannon, one of the family of the Scopadai: and from
the Molossians, Alcon..
128. So many in number did the wooers prove to be: and when these had
come by the appointed day, Cleisthenes first inquired of their native
countries and of the descent of each one, and then keeping them for a
year he made trial continually both of their manly virtue and of
their disposition, training and temper, associating both with each one
separately and with the whole number together: and he made trial of them
both by bringing out to bodily exercises those of them who were younger,
and also especially in the common feast: for during all the time that he
kept them he did everything that could be done, and at the same time he
entertained them magnificently. Now it chanced that those of the wooers
pleased him most who had come from Athens, and of these Hippocleides the
son of Tisander was rather preferred, both by reason of manly virtues
and also because he was connected by descent with the family of Kypselos
at Corinth.
129. Then when the appointed day came for the marriage banquet and for
Cleisthenes himself to declare whom he selected from the whole number,
Cleisthenes sacrificed a hundred oxen and feasted both the wooers
themselves and all the people of Sikyon; and when the dinner was over,
the wooers began to vie with one another both in music and in speeches
for the entertainment of the company; 113 and as the drinking went
forward and Hippocleides was very much holding the attention of the
others, 114 he bade the flute-player play for him a dance-measure;
and when the flute-player did so, he danced: and it so befell that he
pleased himself in his dancing, but Cleisthenes looked on at the whole
matter with suspicion. Then Hippocleides after a certain time bade one
bring in a table; and when the table came in, first he danced upon it
Laconian figures, and then also Attic, and thirdly he planted his head
upon the table and gesticulated with his legs. Cleisthenes meanwhile,
when he was dancing the first and the second time, though he abhorred
the thought that Hippocleides should now become his son-in-law, because
of his dancing and his shamelessness, yet restrained himself, not
desiring to break out in anger against him; but when he saw that he thus
gesticulated with his legs, he was no longer able to restrain himself,
but said: "Thou hast danced away thy marriage however, 115 son of
Tisander!" and Hippocleides answered and said: "Hippocleides cares not!"
130. and hence comes this saying. Then Cleisthenes caused silence to
be made, and spoke to the company as follows: "Men who are wooers of my
daughter, I commend you all, and if it were possible I would gratify
you all, neither selecting one of you to be preferred, nor rejecting the
remainder. Since however it is not possible, as I am deliberating about
one maiden only, to act so as to please all, therefore to those of you
who are rejected from this marriage I give as a gift a talent of silver
to each one for the worthy estimation ye had of me, in that ye desired
to marry from my house, and for the time of absence from your homes;
and to the son of Alcmaion, Megacles, I offer my daughter Agariste in
betrothal according to the customs of the Athenians." Thereupon Megacles
said that he accepted the betrothal, and so the marriage was determined
by Cleisthenes.
131. Thus it happened as regards the judgment of the wooers, and thus
the Alcmaionidai got renown over all Hellas. And these having been
married, there was born to them that Cleisthenes who established the
tribes and the democracy for the Athenians, he being called after the
Sikyonian Cleisthenes, his mother's father; this son, I say, was born to
Megacles, and also Hippocrates: and of Hippocrates came another
Megacles and another Agariste, called after Agariste, the daughter of
Cleisthenes, who having been married to Xanthippos the son of Ariphron
and being with child, saw a vision in her sleep, and it seemed to her
that she had brought forth a lion: then after a few days she bore to
Xanthippos Pericles.
132. After the defeat at Marathon, Miltiades, who even before was well
reputed with the Athenians, came then to be in much higher estimation:
and when he asked the Athenians for seventy ships and an army with
supplies of money, not declaring to them against what land he was
intending to make an expedition, but saying that he would enrich them
greatly if they would go with him, for he would lead them to a land of
such a kind that they would easily get from it gold in abundance,--thus
saying he asked for the ships; and the Athenians, elated by these words,
delivered them over to him..
133. Then Miltiades, when he had received the army, proceeded to sail
to Paris with the pretence that the Parians had first attacked Athens by
making expedition with triremes to Marathon in company with the Persian:
this was the pretext which he put forward, but he had also a grudge
against the Parians on account of Lysagoras the son of Tisias, who was
by race of Paros, for having accused him to Hydarnes the Persian. So
when Miltiades had arrived at the place to which he was sailing, he
began to besiege the Parians with his army, first having shut them
up within their wall; and sending in to them a herald he asked for a
hundred talents, saying that if they refused to give them, his army
should not return back 116 until it had conquered them completely. The
Parians however had no design of giving any money to Miltiades, but
contrived only how they might defend their city, devising various things
besides and also this,--wherever at any time the wall proved to be open
to attack, that point was raised when night came on to double its former
height..
134. So much of the story is reported by all the Hellenes, but as to
what followed the Parians alone report, and they say that it happened
thus:--When Miltiades was at a loss, it is said, there came a woman to
speech with him, who had been taken prisoner, a Parian by race whose
name was Timo, an under-priestess 117 of the Earth goddesses; 118 she,
they say, came into the presence of Miltiades and counselled him that if
he considered it a matter of much moment to conquer Paros, he could do
that which she should suggest to him; and upon that she told him her
meaning. He accordingly passed through to the hill which is before the
city and leapt over the fence of the temple of Demeter Giver of Laws,
119 not being able to open the door; and then having leapt over he went
on towards the sanctuary 120 with the design of doing something within,
whether it were that he meant to lay hands on some of the things which
should not be touched, or whatever else he intended to do; and when he
had reached the door, forthwith a shuddering fear came over him and he
set off to go back the same way as he came, and as he leapt down from
the wall of rough stones his thigh was dislocated, or, as others say, he
struck his knee against the wall..
135. Miltiades accordingly, being in a wretched case, set forth to sail
homewards, neither bringing wealth to the Athenians nor having added
to them the possession of Paros, but having besieged the city for
six-and-twenty days and laid waste the island: and the Parians being
informed that Timo the under-priestess of the goddesses had acted as
a guide to Miltiades, desired to take vengeance upon her for this, and
they sent messengers to Delphi to consult the god, so soon as they had
leisure from the siege; and these messengers they sent to ask whether
they should put to death the under-priestess of the goddesses, who had
been a guide to their enemies for the capture of her native city and had
revealed to Miltiades the mysteries which might not be uttered to a male
person. The Pythian prophetess however forbade them, saying that Timo
was not the true author of these things, but since it was destined that
Miltiades should end his life not well, she had appeared to guide him to
his evil fate..
136. Thus the Pythian prophetess replied to the Parians: and the
Athenians, when Miltiades had returned back from Paros, began to talk of
him, and among the rest especially Xanthippos the son of Ariphron, who
brought Miltiades up before the people claiming the penalty of death and
prosecuted him for his deception of the Athenians: and Miltiades did not
himself make his own defence, although he was present, for he was unable
to do so because his thigh was mortifying; but he lay in public view
upon a bed, while his friends made a defence for him, making mention
much both of the battle which had been fought at Marathon and of
the conquest of Lemnos, namely how he had conquered Lemnos and taken
vengeance on the Pelasgians, and had delivered it over to the Athenians:
and the people came over to his part as regards the acquittal from the
penalty of death, but they imposed a fine of fifty talents for the wrong
committed: and after this Miltiades died, his thigh having gangrened and
mortified, and the fifty talents were paid by his son Kimon.