Well would it have been for the Plataeans who remained in the town if
they had stood by their first purpose, and shared the fortunes of their
brave comrades. Better far to have died, sword in hand, than to meet
the ignoble fate which was now reserved for them. It was in the
following summer, two years after the beginning of the siege, that the
crisis arrived. The Plataeans had come to the end of their provisions,
and were suffering severely from want of food. In this state of
weakness they were suddenly attacked by the besiegers, who might easily
have carried the town by storm. But the Spartan general wished, if
possible, to avoid this, as all places taken by assault would have to
be given back to their original owners on the conclusion of peace,
whereas those which had voluntarily surrendered might be retained.
Accordingly he sent a herald, and summoned the Plataeans to surrender,
promising that they should have a fair trial by Spartan judges; and
they, being actually on the point of starvation, accepted the terms
offered, and laid down their arms. They were kept in custody and
supplied with food until the judges, five in number, arrived from
Sparta. On the arrival of the judges no express charge was made against
them, but they were called up one by one, and asked this simple
question: "Have you done any service to the Spartans or their allies in
the course of the present war?"
The Plataeans saw the snare which was set for them, and seeking to
evade it they asked permission to plead their cause at length. Leave
being given, the Plataean advocate rose to address the court, and made
a most moving and eloquent appeal, which well deserves to be reproduced
in its main outlines.
"Men of Sparta," began the orator, "we surrendered our city on the
faith of your promise that the innocent should be spared, and only the
guilty condemned. But we fear that our confidence has been misplaced.
That our doom is already pronounced we have but too plain evidence, in
your sinister question, in your cold, condemning looks, in the gloomy
faces of our enemies, who have poisoned your ears against us. We have
but little hope of turning you from your purpose by anything that we
can say. Nevertheless we have resolved to speak, lest in the hour of
death we should be tormented by the thought that a word might have
saved us, and that word remained unspoken.
"In the history of the last fifty years no city in Greece has a fairer
record than ours. Though not trained to the sea, we served in the fleet
at Artemisium; we fought under Pausanias in the great battle which
decided the fate of Greece, and took part beyond our strength in all
the trials and perils of our common country. On the gratitude of Sparta
we have a special claim, for in the day of her direst extremity, after
the earthquake, when the Helots were in arms against her, we sent a
third part of our citizens to her aid. Since then we have been found in
the ranks of your enemies; but this was your fault, not ours. Who drove
us into the arms of Athens, when we were hard pressed by the tyranny of
Thebes? We joined the Athenian alliance at your bidding; they defended
us against our enemies, and admitted us to the rights of Athenian
citizenship. We were bound, therefore, by every tie of honour and duty
to stand by them, whether their cause was just or unjust.
"What, then, is the meaning of your question, whether we have done you
or your allies any service during this war? If you ask as foes, how can
you claim any service? And if you ask as friends, you have done us
bitter wrong, by attacking us unprovoked.
"The Thebans seized our city in time of peace, and at a holy season,
and we were justified by the laws of nature and of nations in wreaking
vengeance upon them. It may seem to your interest to pay court to them
now; but think how different was our conduct from theirs when the
Persian was at our doors, threatening slavery to us all. We were among
the few who obeyed the call of honour, while Thebes and all the other
towns of Boeotia took sides with the Barbarian.
"Hitherto Sparta has been called the glass of honour in Greece. What,
then, will men say, if Spartan judges are guilty of blotting Plataea
out of the map of Greece, and of the judicial murder of her citizens?
Strange, indeed, and terrible has been the fate of our city, both now
and in the past. Our fathers were brought to the brink of ruin by their
valour and devotion; we, their sons, have just passed through all the
horrors of a siege, and now we are forced to plead for our lives.
Outcasts from our fatherland, spurned and rejected of all, we are
thrown upon your mercy; and much we fear that your hearts are hardened
against us.
"We adjure you, then, by the memory of those times, and of the part
which we took in the salvation of Greece, not to betray us to our worst
enemies, the Thebans. Do not win their gratitude by murder, but ours by
mercy. Forget the cold calculations of policy; think of the everlasting
infamy of such a deed. Your fathers are buried in our land, and we have
been constant in paying all honour and service to their tombs. Will ye
give up the land in which they rest to the men [Footnote: The Thebans,
who fought on the side of the Persians at Plataea.] who are guilty of
their blood? Will ye enslave those fields which saw the triumph of
Greek liberty, and dishonour the gods by whose favour the victory was
won? By your own renown, by the conscience of Greece, by the memory of
your sires, we adjure you, men of Lacedaemon, not to do this deed.
"But it is time to make an end. If we have spoken in vain, and you are
resolved on our death, we have still one request. Send us back into our
city, and keep us there immured until we have perished of hunger. Any
fate is better than falling into the hands of the Thebans, the enemies
of Plataea, and of all Greece."
The orator had indeed spoken in vain, or if his words had made any
impression on the minds of the judges, it was speedily obliterated by a
fierce and bitter tirade which was delivered by a Theban speaker in
reply. As soon as he had finished his harangue, the prisoners were
called up again in turn, and questioned as before. When each of them
had answered, in the only manner possible, he was led away and put to
death; and not one of them was spared. The number of those slain was
two hundred and twenty-five, and of these twenty-five were Athenians.
The city was then levelled to the ground, and the territory left at the
disposal of the Thebans. Thus was this brave little community
sacrificed to the rancour of Thebes, and the selfish policy of Sparta.