[68] Sparta, doubtless, would not act with the Alkmæonidæ.
[69] As represented in some histories of Greece.
[70] As the object of this chapter is not to refute the theories of others, but to examine and explain the evidence bearing on the campaign, I do not propose to point out defects in theories which differ from my own. I am most nearly in agreement with Mr. J. A. R. Munro. I had formed my opinions on the main questions of the campaign before I read his article, but it has supplied me with arguments of an important character which certainly had not occurred to me before I read it.
[71] In the accepted text of Herodotus the name is Pheidippides, which is almost certainly a textual error.
[72] These chronological details are important, as they enable us to construct a diary of events, which is not without its significance in the narrative of the truce.
[73] It is impossible to say how far this excuse for delay was genuine.
[74] The Persian dead are still unburied when the Spartans visit the field. H. vi. 120. They leave Sparta on the 15th, and arrive at Athens on the 17th. A period of several days intervened between the arrival of the Athenians at Marathon and the battle.
Plutarch (De Herod. Malign. 26) asserts that the battle took place on the 6th of Boedromion. He accuses Herodotus of suppressing the fact that the Athenians held a festal procession in honour of the battle on the 6th of this month.
It is true that the festival did take place on this date; but the day was chosen, not because it was the date of the battle, but because it was the festival of Artemis Agrotera, to whom a vow had been made in case of success, probably before the army started from Athens.
[75] Cf. (Arist.) Athen. Polit. 22.