Kitap 9
Next to these were six hundred Arcadians from Kalpali [22.3,37.716] (inhabited place), Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Orchomenus, and after them three thousand men of Sikyon [22.725,37.9833] (Perseus)Sicyon. By these one thousand Troezenians were posted, and after them two hundred men of Lepreum, then four hundred from +Mycenae [22.7583,37.725] (Perseus) Mycenae and +Tiryns [22.8167,37.6] (Perseus) Tiryns, and next to them one thousand from Phlius. By these stood three hundred men of +Hermione [23.2583,37.3833] (Perseus) Hermione.
Next to the men of +Hermione [23.2583,37.3833] (Perseus) Hermione were six hundred Eretrians and Styreans; next to them, four hundred Chalcidians; next again, five hundred Ampraciots. After these stood eight hundred Leucadians and Anactorians, and next to them two hundred from Pale in Cephallenia;
after them in the array, five hundred Aeginetans; by them stood three thousand men of +Megara [23.35,38] (Perseus) Megara, and next to these six hundred Plataeans. At the end, and first in the line, were the Athenians who held the left wing. They were eight thousand in number, and their general was Aristides son of Lysimachus.
All these, except the seven appointed to attend each Spartan, were men-at-arms, and the whole sum of them was thirty-eight thousand and seven hundred. This was the number of men-at-arms that mustered for war against the barbarian; as regards the number of the light-armed men, there were in the Spartan array seven for each man-at-arms, that is, thirty-five thousand, and every one of these was equipped for war.
The light-armed from the rest of Sparta [22.416,37.83] (inhabited place), Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Lacedaemon and Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas were as one to every man-at-arms, and their number was thirty-four thousand and five hundred.
So the total of all the light-armed men who were fighters was sixty-nine thousand and five hundred, and of the whole Greek army mustered at Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea, men-at-arms and light-armed fighting men together, eleven times ten thousand less eighteen hundred. The Thespians who were present were one hundred and ten thousand in number, for the survivorsThat is, who had not fallen at +Thermopylae [22.5583,38.8] (Perseus) Thermopylae. of the Thespians were also present with the army, eighteen hundred in number. These then were arrayed and encamped by the Asopus.
When Mardonius' barbarians had finished their mourning for Masistius and heard that the Greeks were at Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea, they also came to the part of the Asopus river nearest to them. When they were there, they were arrayed for battle by Mardonius as I shall show. He posted the Persians facing the Lacedaemonians.
Seeing that the Persians by far outnumbered the Lacedaemonians, they were arrayed in deeper ranks and their line ran opposite the Tegeans also. In his arraying of them he chose out the strongest part of the Persians to set it over against the Lacedaemonians, and posted the weaker by them facing the Tegeans; this he did being so informed and taught by the Thebans.
Next to the Persians he posted the Medes opposite the men of Corinth [22.9083,37.9083] (Perseus) Corinth, +Potidaea (deserted settlement), Chalcidice, Macedonia, Greece, Europe Potidaea, Orkhomenos (deserted settlement), Boeotia, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, EuropeOrchomenus, and Sikyon [22.725,37.9833] (Perseus)Sicyon; next to the Medes, the Bactrians, opposite the men of Epidauros [23.0917,37.6] (Perseus)Epidaurus, Troizen [23.375,37.5] (Perseus)Troezen, Lepreum, +Tiryns [22.8167,37.6] (Perseus) Tiryns, +Mycenae [22.7583,37.725] (Perseus) Mycenae, and Phlius.
After the Bactrians he set the Indians, opposite the men of +Hermione [23.2583,37.3833] (Perseus) Hermione and +Eretria [23.8083,38.3917] (Perseus) Eretria and +Styra [24.2167,38.1833] (Perseus) Styra and +Chalcis [23.6083,38.4667] (Perseus) Chalcis. Next to the Indians he posted the Sacae, opposite the Ampraciots, Anactorians, Leucadians, Paleans, and Aeginetans;
next to the Sacae, and opposite the Athenians, Plataeans, Megarians, the Boeotians, Locrians, Malians, Thessalians, and the thousand that came from +Phocis (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Phocis; for not all the Phocians took the Persian side, but some of them gave their aid to the Greek cause; these had been besieged on +Parnassus (mountain), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Parnassus, and issued out from there to harry Mardonius' army and the Greeks who were with him. Beside these, he arrayed the Macedonians also and those who lived in the area of +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly opposite the Athenians.
These which I have named were the greatest of the nations set in array by Mardonius, but there was also in the army a mixture of Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Paeonians, and the rest, besides Ethiopians and the Egyptian swordsmen called Hermotybies and Calasiries,The Egyptian military classes mentioned in Hdt. 2.164. who are the only fighting men in Egypt [30,27] (nation), Africa Egypt.
These had been fighters on shipboard, till Mardonius while yet at Phalerum disembarked them from their ships; for the Egyptians were not appointed to serve in the land army which Xerxes led to Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens. Of the barbarians, then, there were three hundred thousand, as I have already shown. As for the Greek allies of Mardonius, no one knows the number of them (for they were not counted), I suppose them to have been mustered to the number of fifty thousand. These were the footmen that were set in array; the cavalry were separately ordered.
On the second day after they had all been arrayed according to their nations and their battalions, both armies offered sacrifice. It was Tisamenus who sacrificed for the Greeks, for he was with their army as a diviner; he was an Elean by birth, a Clytiad of the Iamid clan,The Iamidae were a priestly family, the members of which were found in all parts of Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas. The Clytiadae were also Elean priests, but quite separate from the Iamidae; so Stein is probably right in bracketing Κλυτιάδην. and the Lacedaemonians gave him the freedom of their city.
This they did, for when Tisamenus was inquiring of the oracle at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi concerning offspring, the priestess prophesied to him that he should win five great victories. Not understanding that oracle, he engaged in bodily exercise, thinking that he would then be able to win in similar sports. When he had trained himself for the Five Contests,The five events of the Pentathlum were running, jumping, wrestling, and throwing of the spear and the discus. he came within one wrestling bout of winning the Olympic prize, in a match with Hieronymus of +Andros [24.9,37.816] (inhabited place), Nisos Andros, Cyclades, Aegean Islands, Greece, Europe Andros.
The Lacedaemonians, however, perceived that the oracle given to Tisamenus spoke of the lists not of sport but of war, and they attempted to bribe Tisamenus to be a leader in their wars jointly with their kings of Heracles' line.
When he saw that the Spartans set great store by his friendship, he set his price higher, and made it known to them that he would do what they wanted only in exchange for the gift of full citizenship and all of the citizen's rights.
Hearing that, the Spartans at first were angry and completely abandoned their request; but when the dreadful menace of this Persian host hung over them, they consented and granted his demand. When he saw their purpose changed, he said that he would not be content with that alone; his brother Hegias too must be made a Spartan on the same terms as himself.
By so saying he imitated Melampus, in so far as one may compare demands for kingship with those for citizenship. For when the women of Argos [22.7333,37.6417] (Perseus) Argos had gone mad, and the Argives wanted him to come from Pylos [21.7083,36.9167] (Perseus) Pylos and heal them of that madness,According to the legend, the Argive women were driven mad by Dionysus for refusing to take part in his orgies, and cured by Melampus. Many Greek authors refer to it, with varying details. Melampus demanded half of their kingship for his wages.
This the Argives would not put up with and departed. When, however, the madness spread among their women, they promised what Melampus demanded and were ready to give it to him. Thereupon, seeing their purpose changed, he demanded yet more and said that he would not do their will except if they gave a third of their kingship to his brother Bias; now driven into dire straits, the Argives consented to that also.
The Spartans too were so eagerly desirous of winning Tisamenus that they granted everything that he demanded. When they had granted him this also, Tisamenus of +Elis [21.4,37.8833] (Perseus) Elis, now a Spartan, engaged in divination for them and aided them to win five very great victories. No one on earth save Tisamenus and his brother ever became citizens of Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta.
Now the five victories were these: one, the first, this victory at Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea; next, that which was won at Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea over the Tegeans and Argives; after that, over all the Arcadians save the Mantineans at Dipaea; next, over the Messenians at +Ithome [21.8167,39.4167] (Perseus) Ithome; lastly, the victory at +Tanagra [23.6,38.3083] (Perseus) Tanagra over the Athenians and Argives, which was the last won of the five victories.The battle at +Ithome [21.8167,39.4167] (Perseus) Ithome was apparently in the third Messenian war; that at +Tanagra [23.6,38.3083] (Perseus) Tanagra, in 457 B.C. (Thuc. 1.107). Nothing is known of the battles at Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea and Dipaea.
This Tisamenus had now been brought by the Spartans and was the diviner of the Greeks at Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea. The sacrifices boded good to the Greeks if they would just defend themselves, but evil if they should cross the Asopus and be the first to attack.
Mardonius' sacrifices also foretold an unfavorable outcome if he should be zealous to attack first, and good if he should but defend himself. He too used the Greek manner of sacrifice, and Hegesistratus of +Elis [21.4,37.8833] (Perseus) Elis was his diviner, the most notable of the sons of Tellias. This man had been put in prison and condemned to die by the Spartans for the great harm which he had done them.
Being in such bad shape inasmuch as he was in peril of his life and was likely to be very grievously maltreated before his death, he did something which was almost beyond belief; made fast in iron-bound stocks, he got an iron weapon which was brought in some way into his prison, and straightway conceived a plan of such courage as we have never known; reckoning how best the rest of it might get free, he cut off his own foot at the instep.
This done, he tunneled through the wall out of the way of the guards who kept watch over him, and so escaped to Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea. All night he journeyed, and all day he hid and lay hidden in the woods, till on the third night he came to Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea, while all the people of Sparta [22.416,37.83] (inhabited place), Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Lacedaemon sought him. The latter were greatly amazed when they saw the half of his foot which had been cut off and lying there but not were unable to find the man himself.
This, then, is the way in which he escaped the Lacedaemonians and took refuge in Tegea [22.4,37.5] (Perseus) Tegea, which at that time was unfriendly to Sparta [22.416,37.83] (inhabited place), Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece, Europe Lacedaemon. After he was healed and had made himself a foot of wood, he declared himself an open enemy of the Lacedaemonians. Yet the enmity which he bore them brought him no good at the last, for they caught him at his divinations in +Zakinthos [20.9,37.783] (inhabited place), Nisos Zakinthos, Zakinthos, Ionian Islands, Greece, Europe Zacynthus and killed him.
The death of Hegesistratus, however, took place after the Plataean business. At the present he was by the Asopus, hired by Mardonius for no small wage, where he sacrificed and worked zealously, both for the hatred he bore the Lacedaemonians and for gain.
When no favorable omens for battle could be won either by the Persians themselves or by the Greeks who were with them (for they too had a diviner of their own, Hippomachus of +Levkas [20.65,38.716] (island), Levkas, Ionian Islands, Greece, Europe Leucas), and the Greeks kept flocking in and their army grew, Timagenides son of Herpys, a Theban, advised Mardonius to guard the outlet of the pass over Cithaeron, telling him that the Greeks were coming in daily and that he would thereby cut off many of them.
The armies had already lain hidden opposite each other for eight days when he gave this counsel. Mardonius perceived that the advice was good, and when night had fallen, he sent his horsemen to the outlet of the pass over Cithaeron which leads towards Plataea [23.2667,38.2] (Perseus) Plataea. This pass the Boeotians call the Three Heads, and the Athenians the Oak's Heads. The horsemen who were sent out did not go in vain,
for they caught both five hundred beasts of burden which were going into the low country, bringing provisions from the +Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese for the army, and men who came with the wagons. When they had taken this quarry, the Persians killed without mercy, sparing neither man nor beast. When they had their fill of slaughter, they encircled the rest and drove them to Mardonius and his camp.
After this deed they waited two days more, neither side desiring to begin the battle, for although the barbarians came to the Asopus to test the Greeks intent, neither army crossed it. Mardonius' cavalry, however, kept pressing upon and troubling the Greeks, for the Thebans, in their zeal for the Persian part, waged war heartily, and kept on guiding the horsemen to the encounter; thereafter it was the turn of the Persians and Medes, and they and none other would do deeds of valor.
Until ten days had passed, no more was done than this. On the eleventh day from their first encampment opposite each other, the Greeks growing greatly in number and Mardonius being greatly vexed by the delay, there was a debate held between Mardonius son of Gobryas and Artabazus son of Pharnaces, who stood as high as only few others in Xerxes' esteem.
Their opinions in council were as I will show. Artabazus thought it best that they should strike their camp with all speed and lead the whole army within the walls of Thebes [23.3333,38.325] (Perseus) Thebes. Here there was much food stored and fodder for their beasts of burden; furthermore, they could sit at their ease here and conclude the business by doing as follows:
they could take the great store they had of gold, minted and other, and silver drinking-cups, and send all this to all places in Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas without stint, excepting none, but especially to the chief men in the cities of Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas. Let them do this (he said) and the Greeks would quickly surrender their liberty; but do not let the Persians risk the event of a battle.
This opinion of his was the same as the Thebans, inasmuch as he too had special foreknowledge. Mardonius' counsel, however, was more vehement and intemperate and not at all leaning to moderation. He said that he thought that their army was much stronger than the Greeks and that they should give battle with all speed so as not to let more Greeks muster than were mustered already. As for the sacrifices of Hegesistratus, let them pay no heed to these, nor seek to wring good from them,Lit. to do violence, compel the gods, like “superos votis fatigare” in Latin. but rather give battle after Persian custom.
No one withstood this argument, and his opinion accordingly prevailed; for it was he and not Artabazus who was commander of the army by the king's commission. He therefore sent for the leaders of the battalions and the generals of those Greeks who were with him and asked them if they knew any oracle which prophesied that the Persians should perish in Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas.
Those who were summoned said nothing, some not knowing the prophecies, and some knowing them but thinking it perilous to speak, and then Mardonius himself said: “Since you either have no knowledge or are afraid to declare it, hear what I tell you based on the full knowledge that I have.
There is an oracle that Persians are fated to come to Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas and all perish there after they have plundered the temple at Delphi [22.5167,38.4917] (Perseus) Delphi. Since we have knowledge of this same oracle, we will neither approach that temple nor attempt to plunder it; in so far as destruction hinges on that, none awaits us.
Therefore, as many of you as wish the Persian well may rejoice in that we will overcome the Greeks.” Having spoken in this way, he gave command to have everything prepared and put in good order for the battle which would take place early the next morning.