“First from the Greeks a tuneful shout uprose,
Well omened, and with replication loud,
Leaped the blithe echo from the rocky shore.
Fear seized the Persian host, no longer tricked
By vain opinion; not like wavering flight
Billowed the solemn paean of the Greeks,
But like the shout of men to battle urging,
With lusty cheer.”
Aeschylus.
The Persian forces were now turning from the Acropolis, and drunk with victory, were scattering over the city. Dwellings were plundered and burned, and a few wild-eyed Greeks who had remained to guard their valuable possessions, fled in mad confusion, but were overtaken by the ruthless enemy and slaughtered.