Meantime, Timagenides, a Theban, advised Mardonius to guard the passes of Mount Cithæron; saying, that the Greeks were continually pouring in every day, and that he would intercept great numbers. Eight days had already elapsed since they had been posted opposite each other; but Mardonius thought the suggestion good, and as soon as it was night, sent some cavalry to the passes of Cithæron, that lead to Platæa, which the Bœotians call The Three Heads; but the Athenians, The Heads of Oak. The horsemen that were sent did not arrive in vain; for issuing on the plain, they took five hundred beasts carrying provisions from Peloponnesus to the army, with the men who attended the beasts of burden. The Persians not only took the booty, but killed without mercy, sparing neither beast nor man. Two more days passed, neither being willing to begin the battle; but when the eleventh day after the two armies had been encamped opposite each other in Platæa was almost gone, and the night was far advanced, and silence appeared to prevail throughout the camps, Alexander, son of Amyntas, who was general and king of the Macedonians, rode up on horseback to the sentries of the Athenians, and desired to confer with their generals. Most of the sentries remained at their posts, while some ran to the generals, and told them, "that a man had come on horseback from the camp of the Medes, who uttered not a word more, but, naming the generals, said he wished to confer with them." They immediately repaired to the out-posts, and Alexander addressed them as follows: "O Athenians, I leave these words with you as a deposit, entreating you to keep them secret, and not tell them to any other than Pausanias, lest you should ruin me. I should not utter them, were I not extremely concerned for the safety of all Greece; for I am myself a Greek by origin, and would by no means wish to see Greece enslaved instead of free. I tell you, then, that the victims have not been favorable to Mardonius and his army, or else you would have fought long ago; but now, he has determined to dismiss the victims, and to come to an engagement at dawn of day; fearing, as I conjecture, that you may assemble in greater numbers. Therefore be ready. But if Mardonius should defer the engagement, and not undertake it, persevere remaining where you are, for in a few days provisions will fail him. And if this war should terminate according to your wishes, it is right that you should bear it in mind to effect my freedom, who on behalf of the Greeks have undertaken so hazardous a task, as to acquaint you with the intention of Mardonius, in order that the barbarians may not fall upon you unexpectedly. I am Alexander the Macedonian." Thus having spoken, he rode back to the camp and his own station.
THE FISHERMAN.
The generals of the Athenians went to the right wing, and told Pausanias what they had heard from Alexander; but as the army was deprived of water and harassed by the cavalry of Mardonius, they remained to deliberate on these and other matters. They had no longer any provisions, and their attendants, who had been despatched to the Peloponnesus to get provisions, were shut out by the cavalry, and unable to reach the camp.
On consultation the generals of the allies resolved, if the Persians should defer making the attack on that day, to remove to the island of Oëroë, ten stades distant from the Asopus, on which they were then encamped. This is an island in the midst of the continent. For the river, dividing higher up, flows down to the plain from Mount Cithæron, having its streams about three stades separate from each other, and united together below. To this place they determined to remove, that they might have an abundant supply of water, and the cavalry might not harass them, as when they were directly opposite. So, in the night, at the hour agreed upon, they fled from the cavalry toward the city of the Platæans until they arrived at the temple of Juno, which stands before the city of the Platæans, twenty stades distant from the fountain of Gargaphia. They then encamped round the Heræum and stood to their arms before the sacred precinct.
When Mardonius was informed that the Greeks had withdrawn under cover of night, and saw the place deserted, he summoned Thorax, of Larissa, and said: "O son of Aleuas, what will you say now, when you see this ground deserted? For you, their neighbor, said that the Lacedæmonians never fled from battle, but were the first of men in matters of war; but now we all see that they have fled away during the past night, in terror of us, who are truly the most valiant in the world." Then without more ado he led the Persians at full speed, crossing the Asopus in the track of the Greeks, as if they had betaken themselves to flight. He directed his course only against the Lacedæmonians and Tegeans; for on account of the hills he did not espy the Athenians, who had turned into the plain. The rest of the commanders of the barbarians' brigades, seeing the Persians advancing to pursue the Greeks, all immediately took up their standards, and pursued, each as quick as he could, without observing either rank or order; thus they advanced with a shout and in a throng, as if they were about to overwhelm the Greeks.
The Persians made a fence with their osier-shields, and let fly their arrows so incessantly that the Spartans being hard pressed, and the victims continuing unfavorable, Pausanias looked toward the temple of Juno of the Platæans, and invoked the goddess, praying that they might not be disappointed of their hopes.
JUNO.
While he was yet making this invocation, the Tegeans, starting first, advanced against the barbarians; and immediately after the prayer of Pausanias, the victims became favorable to the Lacedæmonians. Then they advanced against the Persians, who withstood them, laying aside their bows. First of all a battle took place about the fence of bucklers; and when that was thrown down, a long, obstinate fight ensued near the temple of Ceres, till at last they came to close conflict, when the barbarians laid hold of the Spartan spears and broke them. Indeed, in courage and strength, the Persians were not inferior, but were lightly armed, ignorant of military discipline, and not equal to their adversaries in skill. They rushed forward upon the Spartans, only to perish. In that part where Mardonius happened to be, fighting upon a white horse, at the head of a thousand chosen men, the best of the Persians, there they pressed their adversaries most vigorously. For as long as Mardonius survived, they held out, defended themselves, and overthrew many of the Lacedæmonians; but when Mardonius had died, and the troops stationed round him, which were the strongest, had fallen, then the rest turned to flight, and gave way to the Lacedæmonians. Their dress, too, was particularly disadvantageous to them, being destitute of defensive armor. Here satisfaction for the death of Leonidas, according to the oracle, was paid to the Spartans by Mardonius; and Pausanias obtained the most signal victory we have ever heard of. Mardonius died by the hand of Aïmnestus, a man of distinction at Sparta, who, some time after the Medic affairs, at the head of three hundred men, engaged at Stenyclerus with all the Messenians, and he himself perished and his three hundred. When the Persians at Platæa were put to flight by the Lacedæmonians, they fled in disorder to their own camp, and to the wooden fortification which they had made in the Theban territory. It is a wonder to me that, when they fought near the grove of Ceres, not one of the barbarians was seen to enter into the sacred enclosure, or to die in it, but most fell round the precinct in unconsecrated ground. I am of opinion, if it is allowable to form an opinion concerning divine things, that the goddess would not receive them because they had burnt her royal temple at Eleusis.