Letitia Elizabeth Landon.
Platæa lay on the northern slope of beautiful Mt. Cithæron at the foot of which wound the picturesque river Asopus. On this day in midsummer, four hundred and seventy-nine B. C., three hundred thousand Persians and fifty thousand Greek allies were encamped on the north bank of the river while the confederate Greek army which numbered one hundred and ten thousand, waited for the Persian attack on the slopes of Cithæron. Because of unfavorable advice from soothsayers, both sides hesitated to commence the assault.
After several days of suspense, Mardonius summoned his soothsayer to his tent, the same tent occupied by Xerxes before his return to Asia. The general sat before a table gazing steadfastly at a parchment which was spread before him. The soothsayer bowed and approached Mardonius.
“Did you send for me, my lord?” he asked.
Mardonius lifted a face that was strangely pale and haggard. “Aye, Hegesistratus, I would know the latest signs.”
“It grieves me that the signs are all unfavorable, especially in the case of an initiative on the Persian side,” replied the soothsayer.
Mardonius frowned. “Can you not tell us what it were best to do? If you can not I shall find a man who can.”
“My lord,” replied Hegesistratus, “I have examined closely the entrails of every sacrificial animal, and the signs are the same. Would you know the truth? I am here to tell you, no matter what that truth may be.”
Mardonius leaned forward clutching the table until the knuckles of his hands were white. “Tell me, Hegesistratus, am I in imminent danger?”
The seer turned his face slowly away and made no reply.