When the Persians and the rest of the throng arrived in their flight at the wooden wall, they mounted the towers before the Lacedæmonians came up, and defended the wall in the best way they could; so that when the Lacedæmonians arrived, a vigorous battle took place before the walls. So long as the Athenians were absent, the barbarians defended themselves, and had much the advantage over the Lacedæmonians, as they were not skilled in attacking fortifications; but when the Athenians came, then a vehement fight at the walls took place, and continued for a long time. But at length the Athenians, by their valor and pluck, surmounted the wall, and made a breach; there at length the Greeks poured in. The Tegeans entered first, and plundered the tent of Mardonius, and among other things took away the manger for his horse, all of bronze, and well worth seeing. This manger of Mardonius the Tegeans placed in the temple of the Alean Minerva; but all the other things they took they carried to the same place as the rest of the Greeks. The barbarians no longer kept in close order, nor did any one think of valor; but they were in a state of consternation, as so many myriads of men were enclosed within so small a space; and the Greeks had such an easy opportunity of slaughtering them, that of an army of three hundred thousand men, except forty thousand with whom Artabazus fled, not three thousand survived. Of Lacedæmonians from Sparta, all that died in the engagement were ninety-one; of Tegeans, sixteen; and of Athenians, fifty-two.
ELEGANT VASES AND AMPHORÆ.
Pausanias made proclamation that no one should touch the booty, and commanded the helots to bring together all the treasures. Dispersing themselves through the camp, they found tents decked with gold and silver, and couches gilt and plated, and golden bowls, and cups, and other drinking vessels; they also found sacks on the waggons, in which were discovered gold and silver cauldrons: and from the bodies that lay dead they stripped bracelets, necklaces, and scimetars of gold; but no account at all was taken of the variegated apparel. Of this the helots stole a great deal and sold it to the Æginetæ, so that the great wealth of the Æginetæ here had its beginning, for they purchased gold from the helots as if it had been bronze. They collected the treasures together, and took from them a tithe for the god at Delphi, from which the golden tripod was dedicated, which stands on the three-headed bronze serpent, close to the altar; they also took a tithe for the god at Olympia, from which they dedicated the bronze Jupiter, ten cubits high; and a tithe to the god at the Isthmus, from which was made the bronze Neptune, seven cubits high. They divided the rest, and each took the share he was entitled to, of the gold, silver, and other treasures, and beasts of burden. Now what choice treasures were given those others who most distinguished themselves at Platæa, is mentioned by no one. But for Pausanias, ten of every thing was selected and given him—slaves, horses, talents, camels, and all other treasures in like manner. It is said also that when Xerxes fled from Greece, he left all his own equipage to Mardonius; Pausanias, therefore, seeing Mardonius' equipage furnished with gold, silver, and various-colored hangings, ordered the bakers and cooks to prepare a supper in the same manner as for Mardonius: and, astonished at the profusion set before him of gold and silver couches handsomely carved, and gold and silver tables, and magnificent preparations for the supper, he in derision ordered his own attendants to prepare a Laconian supper by the side of it, and when the repast was spread, the difference was so ridiculous that he laughed, and sent for the generals of the Greeks and said: "Men of Greece, I have called you together to show you the folly of the leader of the Medes, who left such sumptuous fare as this, to come to us, who have such poor fare, to take it from us." A considerable time after these events, many of the Platæans found chests of gold and silver, and other precious things. And still later was discovered a skull without any seam, consisting of one bone, and an upper jaw which had teeth growing in a piece, all in one bone, both the front teeth and the grinders; and there was likewise discovered the skeleton of a man five cubits high.
When the Greeks had buried their dead in Platæa, they immediately determined, on consultation, to march against Thebes, and to demand the surrender of those who had sided with the Medes, amongst the first of them Timegenides and Attaginus, who were the chief leaders; and, if they should not give them up, they resolved not to depart from the city before they had taken it. On the eleventh day after the engagement, they arrived and besieged the Thebans, requiring them to give up the men; and, receiving "No" for an answer, they ravaged the country, and attacked the walls. As they did not cease damaging them, on the twentieth day Timegenides spoke thus to the Thebans: "Men of Thebes, since the Greeks have so resolved that they will not give over besieging us until either they have taken Thebes, or you have delivered us up to them, let not the Bœotian territory suffer any more on our account. But if, being desirous of money, they demand us as a pretence, let us give them money from the public treasury; for we sided with the Mede by general consent, and not of ourselves alone. If, however, they carry on the siege really because they want us, we will present ourselves before them to plead our cause." He appeared to speak well and to the purpose; and the Thebans immediately sent a herald to Pausanias, expressing their willingness to surrender the men. When they had agreed on these terms, Attaginus escaped from the city, and his sons, who were brought before him, Pausanias acquitted from the charge, saying that boys could have no part in the guilt of siding with the Mede. As to the others whom the Thebans delivered up, they thought that they should be admitted to plead their cause, and moreover trusted to repel the charge by bribery; but he, as soon as he had them in his power, suspecting this very thing, dismissed the whole army of the allies, and, conducting the men to Corinth, put them to death.
CHAPTER II.
THE BATTLE OF MYCALE.
On the same day on which the defeat at Platæa occurred, another happened to take place at Mycale in Ionia. For while the Greeks were stationed at Delos, there came to them as ambassadors from Samos, Lampon, Athenagoras, and Hegesistratus, being sent by the Samians, unknown to the Persians. When they came to the generals, Hegesistratus urged that "if only the Ionians should see them, they would revolt from the Persians, and that the barbarians would not withstand them; or, if they should withstand them, the Greeks would not find any other such booty." Invoking, too, their common gods, he besought them to deliver Grecian men from servitude, and to repel the barbarian; and he said, "that this would be easy for them to do, for their ships sailed badly, and were not fit to fight with them; and, if they suspected at all that they were leading them on deceitfully, they were themselves ready to go on board their ships as hostages." The Samian stranger was so earnest in his entreaties, that Leotychides asked: "O Samian friend, what is your name?" "Hegesistratus," he answered; upon which, interrupting the rest of his discourse, Leotychides exclaimed: "I accept the "Hegesistratus,"[30] my Samian friend; only do you take care that before you sail away both you yourself and those who are with you, pledge your faith that the Samians will be zealous allies to us." The Samians immediately pledged their faith and made oath of confederacy with the Greeks. The others sailed home, but he ordered Hegesistratus to sail with the fleet, regarding his name as an omen. The Greeks tarried that day, and on the next sacrificed auspiciously, Deiphonus, son of Evenius, of Apollonia in the Ionian gulf, acting as diviner.
The following incident befel his father, Evenius. There are in this Apollonia sheep sacred to the sun, which by day feed near the river that flows from Mount Lacmon through the Apollonian territory into the sea, near the port of Oricus; but by night, chosen men, the most eminent of the citizens for wealth and birth, keep watch over them, each for a year: for the Apollonians set a high value upon these sheep, in consequence of some oracle. They are folded in a cavern at a distance from the city. There, once on a time, Evenius, being chosen, kept watch, and one night when he had fallen asleep during his watch, wolves entered the cave, and destroyed about sixty of the sheep. When he discovered what had happened, he mentioned it to no one, purposing to buy others, and put them in their place. This occurrence, however, did not escape the notice of the Apollonians; and as soon as they discovered it, they brought him to trial, and gave sentence that, for having fallen asleep during his watch, he should be deprived of sight. But after they had blinded Evenius, from that time forward neither did their sheep multiply, nor did the land yield its usual fruit. An admonition was given them at Dodona and Delphi, when they inquired of the prophets the cause of the present calamities "that they had unjustly deprived Evenius, the keeper of the sacred sheep, of his sight; for they themselves had sent the wolves, and would not cease avenging him, until the people should give such satisfaction for what they had done, as he himself should choose, and think sufficient: then, the gods themselves would give such a present to Evenius, that most men would pronounce him happy, from possessing it." The Apollonians, keeping this answer secret, deputed some of their citizens to negociate the matter with Evenius. One day when he was seated on a bench, they went and sat down by him, and conversed on different subjects, till at length they began to commiserate his misfortune, and leading him artfully on, they asked, "what reparation he would choose, if the Apollonians were willing to give him satisfaction for what they had done." Not having heard of the oracle he made this choice, "if any one would give him the lands of certain citizens," naming those who he knew had the two best estates in Apollonia, "and besides these a house," which he knew was the handsomest in the city, he said, "he would thenceforth forego his anger, and this reparation would content him." Immediately taking him up they said, "the Apollonians make you this reparation for the loss of your eyes, in obedience to an oracle they have received." He thereupon was very indignant, on hearing the whole truth, for he had been deceived; but the Apollonians bought the property from the owners, and gave him what he had chosen, and immediately the gift of divination was implanted in him, so that he became very celebrated.
Deiphonus, the son of this Evenius, was brought by the Corinthians to officiate as diviner to the army.