336 



THE PLAIN OR MARATHON. 



of the Attics, Pausanias particularly mentions the marsh at Marathon, 

 and as connected with the sea by a small stream of salt water. 

 This description corresponds most minutely with the ground in the 

 north east extremities of the plain. The remainder of the Persian 

 army embarked as hastily as possible, and doubling Cape Sunium 

 sailed towards Phalerum with the hopes of anticipating the Athenians, 

 and of taking the city before the army could return from Marathon. 



The Athenians, however, having left the tribe Antiochis com- 

 manded by Aristides, to guard the wounded and prisoners, and to collect 

 the spoil, marched instantly for Athens, so that the Persians being dis- 

 appointed of their object, returned with their fleet to the coast of Asia. 



According to the historian, there fell of the Athenians one hun- 

 dred and ninety-two ; while the loss on the part of the barbarians 

 amounted to six thousand four hundred : seven of the ships were 

 also burnt or destroyed by the Greeks. Callimachus, the Polemarch, 

 was among the slain, as was also the commander Cynaegirus, the 

 brother of the poet iEschylus. 



It was a custom with the Athenians to bury those who were slain 

 in battle, or to erect columns to their memory, in a place called the 

 Ceramicus, " the most beautiful suburb of their city," to use the words 

 of Thucydides ; but as a particular mark of distinction, three monu- 

 ments were erected at Marathon, in honor of the event of the battle; 

 one was raised to the memory of the Athenians, who fell in it; another 

 recorded the valour of the Plateans, and the slaves who fought : a 

 third was the monument of Miltiades. — Paus. At this day may be 

 seen towards the middle of the plain a large tumulus of earth, 25 feet 

 in height, resembling those on the plain of Troy. In a small marsh 

 near the sea, are the vestiges of ten monuments with marble foun- 

 dations, and fragments of columns, which, it may be conjectured, 

 marked the tombs of the Athenians. 



