OF THE PREPARING OF THE PERSIANS AND OF THE GREEKS FOR THE WAR.
Mardonius and his host had their winter quarters in Thessaly. When
he was now about to leave them, he sent one Mys, a man of Caria,
to inquire of the oracles. This Mys inquired of the oracles and of
Amphiaraus in Thebes. (No Theban may inquire of Amphiaraus, for he gave
them their choice whether they would have him for their prophet or
their helper; and they chose to have him for their helper.) But when
Mardonius read the answer that had been given to Mys, he sent an envoy
to Athens, even Alexander of Macedon, choosing him because his sister
was married to a Persian, and because he was a friend to the Athenians.
Of the ancestors of Alexander there is told this story. Three brothers
of the royal house of Argos came into the land of Macedonia and took
service with the King, one tending the horses, and one the cows, and
one the smaller cattle. In those days not the people only, but the
kings also were poor, so that the King’s wife was wont to bake the
bread. And when she baked it she saw that the loaf of Perdiccas, that
was the youngest of the brothers, grew to be twice as large as the
other loaves. And as this happened day after day she told it to her
husband. Then the man perceiving that it was a miracle, and signified
no small matter, bade the three depart out of the country. But when
they would have had their wages, he said to them, for it chanced that
the sun was shining down the chimney into the house, “Here are your
fit wages. This I give you;” and he pointed to the sunshine, for the
Gods had taken his wits from him. The two elder stood astonished and
said nothing, but the youngest, having a knife in his hand, drew a line
with it on the floor round the sunshine, and made as if he would draw
it up into his bosom three times, and so departed and his brothers
with him. Now when they were gone, one went and told to the King what
the youngest had done; and the King, when he heard it, was angry, and
sent horsemen after them to slay them. But a certain river swelled so
high when the three brothers of Argos had safely crossed it, that the
horsemen could not follow. (Their descendants yet do sacrifice to this
river as to their saviour.) The brothers took up their abode in a place
which they call the Gardens of Midas. (Here are roses so great as can
not be found elsewhere, having each sixty leaves, and over the gardens
a mountain so cold that none can climb to the top.) From this place
they went forth till they had conquered the whole land of Macedonia.
From this Perdiccas came Alexander the Macedonian in the seventh
generation.
Alexander said, “Men of Athens, Mardonius bids me say that there has
come to him this message from the King, ‘I forgive the Athenians all
their trespasses against me. And do thou this, Mardonius. Give them
back their land and add to it any other that they will, and build again
the temples that I burned with fire, if they will make agreement with
me. And they shall live under their own laws.’ Mardonius also says,
‘This will I do unless ye on your part hinder me. And why do ye stand
out against the King? Do ye not know his might? See this great host
that I have. If so be that ye prevail over this, which indeed ye can
not hope to do, there will come against ye a host many times greater.
Why then will ye resist, losing your country and going always in danger
of your lives?’ These are the words of Mardonius; and I, Alexander,
for that I am your friend, beseech you to give ear to him, and to make
agreement with the King, who has chosen you out of all the Greeks to
make friendship and alliance with you.”
Now the Spartans knew that Alexander had been sent by Mardonius to
Athens. Whereupon they also sent ambassadors; and it was ordered that
they should have audience of the people on the self-same day. When
therefore Alexander had spoken, the Spartans stood forth, and urged
them that they should not listen to the words of Mardonius, nor betray
the Greeks. Also they promised that they would give sustenance to their
women and children so long as the war should continue. To Alexander
the Athenians made this answer: “We know how great is the power of the
barbarians, yet will we resist it to the uttermost, holding fast to
our freedom. Seek not then to persuade us, but say to Mardonius, ‘So
long as the sun shall go by the path which now he goeth, we make no
agreement with Xerxes, but will stand against him, the Gods and heroes
whose temples he has burned with fire helping us.’ And thou, Alexander,
come not again to Athens with such words as these, for thou art our
friend and we would not willingly do thee hurt.”
To the Spartans they said, “It is like enough that ye should be fearful
about this thing. Nevertheless, ye, knowing what manner of men we are,
did us great wrong. Know then there is no store of gold in all the
world, nor land so fair that would tempt us to make agreement with the
Persians. For first we can have no peace with them that have burned
with fire our temples and the images of our Gods. And next we can not
betray our brethren the Greeks that have one tongue with us and worship
the same Gods. Know therefore that so long as one Athenian shall remain
alive we will make no agreement with Xerxes. As for your kindness to
us, we thank you; but we will not be burdensome to you. Only lead out
your army with all speed. For we doubt not that the barbarians will
invade our land a second time. Therefore should we meet him in Bœotia,
and there join battle with him.”
When Mardonius heard the words of the Athenians he marched forthwith
into Attica, nor would he hearken to the Thebans when they counseled
him to tarry in Bœotia and seek to divide the Greeks against
themselves. For they said, “If the Greeks be at one no power on earth
can subdue them; but if thou wilt send gifts to the chief men in each
state, thou wilt easily prevail.” But Mardonius greatly desired to be
master of Athens a second time. This he did, but the Athenians had
departed, some to their ships, but the greater part to Salamis.
After this he sent another messenger with the same words that Alexander
of Macedonia had brought, for he thought, “Now that they have lost
their country a second time they will surely listen to him.” When the
man--he was a Greek from the Hellespont--was brought into the council,
a certain councilor, Lycidas, said, “Let us bring this matter before an
assembly of the people.” But when the Athenians, both the councilors
and they that stood without, heard these words, they were full of
wrath, and rose up against Lycidas, and stoned him with stones that he
died. And the women ran with one accord to his house and slew his wife
and his children in the same fashion. But the messenger the Athenians
sent away without hurt.
Meanwhile the Athenians had sent ambassadors to Sparta, complaining
that the Spartans had not sent an army to defend Attica from the
barbarians. Now the Spartans were keeping holiday, for it was the feast
of Hyacinthus, and had no thought for any thing besides. Also the wall
which they were building across the Isthmus was now well advanced,
so that they were putting on it the battlements. The ambassadors
therefore, being brought in before the Ephors, said, “The King was
willing to make peace with us, and to give us back our country, and
to add to it any other country that we would. But we would not betray
Greece, though we knew that it should be more to our profit to make
peace with the Persians than to continue fighting against them. We
therefore have been true to you, but ye have been false to us, caring
nothing for us now that ye have come near to finish your wall across
the Isthmus. But come; now that Bœotia is lost we shall best fight in
the plain of Thria.”
To these words the Ephors made no answer, but put off the matter to the
morrow; and on the morrow they did likewise, and so for ten days.
But on the tenth day there came to the Ephors a man of Tegea, one
Chileus, that had more weight with the Spartans than any other
stranger. This Chileus said, “The matter stands thus, ye Ephors. If the
Athenians be not your friends, but make agreement with the Persians,
then how strong soever shall be your wall across the Isthmus, there
will be many doors open into the Peloponnese. Hearken therefore to what
these men say while it is time.”
This counsel they took to heart. To the ambassadors they said nothing,
but that same night they sent five thousand Spartans, and with each
seven helots, their captain being Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus.
The next day the ambassadors came unto the Ephors, being minded to
depart to their own country, and said, “Ye Spartans stay at home and
keep holiday and leave the Greeks to perish. We Athenians will make
agreement with the King, and will go with him whithersoever he will
lead us.”
To this the Ephors made answer with an oath, “The men are gone against
the strangers (for they called the barbarians _strangers_), and are
now in Oresteum of Arcadia.” When the ambassadors heard this they also
departed; and at the same time there went five thousand men of Laconia,
chosen men and fully armed.
When the men of Argos knew that the Spartans had departed they sent a
messenger to Mardonius, the swiftest runner they could find--for they
had promised to keep the Spartans from coming--saying, “The Spartans
have set forth, neither could we stay them. Take heed therefore to
thyself.” When Mardonius heard this he would tarry no longer in Attica,
but departed straightway, having first burned with fire and destroyed
all that yet stood, whether house or temple. For Attica was not fit
for horsemen, and if he should be worsted in the battle, there was no
escape save by one narrow pass only. Wherefore he was minded to go
back into Bœotia, for this country was fit for horsemen, and also was
the country of friends. But while he was on his way there came another
messenger saying that there was a thousand Spartans in the land of
Megara, having come in advance of the army; and, thinking that he might
cut them off, he changed his purpose and marched toward Megara, while
the horsemen ravaged the country. Nor did the Persians make their way
toward the setting sun further than this. And now there came another
messenger saying that the whole army of the Peloponnesians was at the
Isthmus. Therefore he turned his course, and came into the territory
of the Thebans. And here he encamped his army along the river Asopus
from Erythræ to Platæa. And though the Thebans were friends to the
Persians, he cut down all the trees in the country, not from hatred but
from need, because he would have a rampart and a place of refuge if the
battle should go against him. Such a rampart he made of ten furlongs
every way.
While the Persians were building this defense a certain Theban made
a great feast to Mardonius and the Persians. Concerning this feast
Thersander, a notable citizen of Orchomenus, told this story to
Herodotus: “I was called to this feast with other Thebans, fifty in
all, and there were called also fifty Persians. We were not set apart,
but on each crouch a Persian and a Theban; and when we had dined and
were now drinking, the Persian that was on the same couch said to me in
the Greek tongue, ‘Whence art thou?’ and I said, ‘I am of Orchomenus.’
Then said he, ‘Since thou hast eaten with me from the same table and
poured out a libation from the same cup, I will leave with thee a
memorial of my belief, and this the more that thou mayest look after
thine own life. Thou seest these Persians that are feasting with us
and this army that we left encamped on the river. Of all these thou
shalt see in a short time but few remaining.’ And when the Persian had
so spoken he wept bitterly. And I said to him, for I marveled much
at his words, ‘Shouldst thou not tell this to Mardonius and to the
Persians that are in high place with him?’ But the Persian answered, ‘O
my friend, that which the Gods order a man can not change, for though
he speak the truth no one will hearken to him. Many of the Persians
know these things that I have said unto thee, but are constrained by
necessity to follow whither we are led. But of all the griefs in man’s
life none is so sore as this, to know much and to have power to do
nothing.’”
This story did Thersander tell to Herodotus, as he told it to many
others also, even before the battle of Platæa.