A T H 



archon, anrweved the meffengers of Maidoniiis, that all the 

 gold iiithc world was infufficient to corpjpt the Athtnians, 

 or to induce them to defcrt the defence of the common 

 liberty of their countr)- ; that while the fun continued to 

 light the world, the Athenians would remain the mortal 

 enemies of the Perfians, and would revenge, to the utmofl 

 of their powtr, the mifchief they had brought upon tbtir 

 country, and the burning of their hcn^fes and temples. As 

 foon as Mp.rdonius received the aiifwtr of the Athenians, 

 and thence faw that no motive could induce them to break 

 their engagements, he ordered his army to march towards 

 Attica. The Athenians, on the approach of the Periian 

 , army, left their city a fecotid time, and retired to Salamis. 

 Mardonius thereupon fent new deputies to them, with 

 terms fli^ more advantageous than the former: but the 

 Athei>ians were fo far from accepting them, that they 

 ftoned to death one Lycidas, only for faying that they 

 ought to g.ve an audience to the deputies. The Perfian 

 general, provoked at the contempt with which the Athe- 

 nians treated all his propofals, entered Athens, and burnt 

 ever)' tiling that had formerly efcaped the fury of Xerxes. 

 In this fituation, the Athenians com.plained to the Lacedx- 

 monians of their not having fent them, the tlipuiatcd fuc- 

 cours: the latter were then foltly intent on maintainino- 

 their ground within the Peloponnefe, and defending the 

 entry of the iilhmus; but in compliance with the requifition 

 of the Athenians, who made a great outcry againll the 

 flownefs of tlieir proceedings, they fent to their aflillance 

 five thoufand Spartans, each of whom was atter.d^d by 

 feven helots. Thefe forces, joined with thofe of the Athe- 

 nians and Peloponnelians. formed altogether an army of about 

 70,000 men ; which, after aflembling at Eleufis, followed 

 Mardonius into Bceotia, and encamped at the foot of mount 

 Citheron. Paufanias, fon of Cleombrotus, and viceroy of 

 Sparta, commanded the Lacedsmonian troops, and Arillides 

 thofe of the Athenians; the Periian amiy then amounted to 

 300,000 men. Paufanias, in the mean time, advanced 

 towards Platxa, with his forces drawn up in battle array ; 

 the Athenians being on the right wing, and oppofed to the 

 Perfian troops, and the Lacedsemooiaus on the left, oppofed 

 to the Greek troops in the fervice of the Perfians. The 

 Megareans, who were encamped on the plain, having been 

 attacked by the Perfian cavalry-, were, after a very brave 

 and long refiftance, on the point of giving way, when three 

 hundred Athenians ran to their relief. The battle then be- 

 came more obilinate than before; but Magillius, who com- 

 manded the Periian cavalry, being flain, his men betook 

 themfelves to flight. The death of this officer, who was 

 reckoned the ableil in the Perfian army, fpread univer- 

 fal confternation through all their troops. Ten days inter- 

 vened between this aftion and the general engagement. Ar- 

 tabazus was of opinion, that the Perfians ought to avoid a 

 general battle ; but Mardonius, a man of a violent fiery 

 difpofilion, thought othervvife. Paufanias and Ariftides, 

 informed of the defign of the Perfians to attack them, 

 drew up their army in order of battle near to the city of 

 ■ Platxa, which Mardonius perceiving, changed the intended 

 order of his attack. But the Greeks, finding themfelves 

 ftraitencd for water in their prefent fituation, refolved to 

 decamp. Mardonius believing this movement to be a flight, 

 immediately advanced with his men, uttering loud (houts, 

 and charged the rear of the Greek aruiy, compofed of the 

 Lacedemonians, who, forming themfelves into a column, 

 oppofed the enemy with their ufual valour, and falling on 

 the Perfians with the greateft fur)-, made a dreadful flaugh- 

 ter. Mardonius fell in the beginning of the artion. The 

 main body of the Greek army advancing in the mean time 



A T H 



to the charge, in feparate detachments, completed the over- 

 throw of the Perfians. In another quarter of the field, the 

 40,000 Greeks in the Perfian fervice, wiio were engaged 

 with the troops commanded by Arillides, hearing of the 

 flight of the liarbarians, followed their example, and re- 

 treated hki:wife, but rallied in their camp, and there en. 

 trenched theniftlvi^s. The Lacedaemonians, however, fup- 

 ported by the Athenians, attacked and forced their en- 

 trenehinei.ts ; after which, nothing was to be feen but a ge- 

 neral itiafTacre, for the Perfians being too numerous to be 

 made priloncrs, received no quirtcr, and were all put to 

 the fvvord. Artabazus, after diftinguifliing himfclf both as 

 a fl<iiful and as a brave foldicr, coUeacd the fcattcred re- 

 mains of t.i; Perfian army, amounting now to no more than 

 44,000 men, and returned with all polfible expedition to- 

 wards Perfia. The lofs of the Greeks in tiiis engagement 

 was about 10,000 men. The Greeks, as a monument of 

 thjs memorable victoiy, ertdcd a ftatue to Jupiter in the 

 temple of Olympia, infcribed with the names of all the 

 dates of Greece who had fought at Plataea. It came next 

 under canfideration, whether the prize of valour ought to 

 be adjudged to the Athenians or to the Lacedxmonian'. 

 But to avoid all controvcrfy on this head, whc-eby the ge- 

 neral joy arifiiig from the viftory might be difturbed, the 

 quellion was, by the influence of Arillides, referred to the 

 determiiiation of the other Greeks, who, to prevent any 

 jealoufy between thofe rival flates, adjudged it to belong to 

 the Platians. Then, after fending a tnpod of folid gold 

 to the temple at Dclphos, ar.d felting apart a tenth of the 

 fpoil, as an offering to the gods, to be applie'd to religious 

 purpofes, they divided with great iullice the reft of the 

 Ipoil, which was fo immenfe, that juftia is of opinion it 

 was the firft great caufe of the corruption of the Greciaa 

 manners. By the perfuafion of Ariftides, the Greeks 

 pafTed a folemn deciee, obliging all the Hates to fend depu- 

 ties to Platsea, to offer facnlices to Jupiter the deliverer, in- 

 flituting public games at that place every fifth year ; and 

 ordering a fleet of a hundred fhips, and an army of 10,000 

 foot, and as nrany horfe, to be kept always on foot, for 

 making continual war on the Barbarians. The Platx.»ns 

 were appointed to celebrate the anniverfary of all thofe who 

 had fallen in this battle, which they regularly performed 

 with much pomp and ceremony. The Perfian fleet, having, 

 in the mean time, failed towards Samos, that of the Greeks, 

 under the command of Leotychidcs the Lacedxmonian, and 

 Xantippus the Athenian, advanced as far as Dtlos, upon 

 the earnell entreaty of the inhabitants of Chios, who begged 

 to be delivered from their fubjeftion to the barbarians ; and 

 likewife in confequei.ce of fecrct intelligence received by 

 them of the intention of the lonians to revolt. The Per- 

 fians, hearing of the approach of the Greeks, retired to My- 

 cale in Afia Minor, where they drew their vcfTcls on fhore, 

 and furrounded them with a deep ditch. The Greeks, how- 

 ever, purfued them thither, and with the aflillance of the 

 lonians, attacked them. The battle was at firft bravely- 

 fought on both fides ; but the Milefians and Samians, foU 

 lowed by the reft of the Afiatic Greeks, having deferted 

 from the Perfians, the latter were vanquifiied, aid 40,000 

 of them cut in pieces. The Athenians took pofTeiTion of 

 the enemy's camp, burnt the Perfian fleet, and returned to 

 Samos with a rail deal of plunder. This cngagtme-nt hap-- 

 pened on the fame day with that of Platsea. Thus did that 

 memorable day for ever free the Greeks from any future 

 Perfian invaCoas, and deliver them from thofe innumerable 

 armies of Barbarians, which like clouds of loculls had con- 

 fumed their country for two whole years. Thefe gncvous 

 defeats were never forgotten by the Perfiau monarchs ; and 



they 



