THE PLAIN OF MARATHON. 



333 



and afterwards destroyed by the cavalry, they would surely take a 

 position, securing their flanks as much as possible, while they pre- 

 sented but a small front towards the enemy. The valley of Marathon 

 offered to the Athenians as favourable a spot for engaging as could be 

 desired. While they could fight the enemy on equal terms, a body 

 so well trained and disciplined, and commanded by such able 

 generals as the Athenians were, would have little hesitation to 

 oppose themselves to the most spirited efforts of the barbarians. 

 The Athenians also had powerful motives to animate and encourage 

 them; their liberty, their existence were at stake; while the 

 numerous hordes of the enemy, unacquainted with their officers, and 

 prompted by different interests would easily relax in the fight, and 

 be overpowered by the firm and daring courage of the Athenians. 

 On the first view, indeed, the conduct of the Greeks in marching 

 out from the city, and thus risking their country in this single 

 engagement, appears wholly desperate ; though when their situation 

 is considered, it must be allowed that their councils were dictated 

 by prudence and reason. To have opposed the debarkation of the 

 Persians would have been absurd and fruitless ; had they suffered 

 the enemy to advance into the plain of Athens, their country would 

 most probably have been lost ; for rto situation between the city and 

 the place of landing could afford so many advantages for an en- 

 gagement as the valley of Marathon. Had the Athenians shut 

 themselves up in Athens, the Persians, in full possession of the 

 open country, would soon have compelled them to surrender; so 

 that, all things considered, the Athenians seem to have adopted the 

 wisest measure by deciding resolutely to occupy the pass on the 

 principal road towards the capital. 



The armies of the Athenians were commanded by ten generals, 

 according to the number of their tribes, each of whom was in his 

 turn commander-in-chief of the day. To these was added the Pole- 

 march, an officer who had the privilege of giving a casting vote in the 

 event of a difference of opinion on the plan of operations. In the 



