Sections 76 to 100
76When the Barbarians had been laid low by the Hellenes at Plataia, there approached to these a woman, the concubine of Pharandates the son of Teaspis a Persian, coming over of her own free will from the enemy, who when she perceived that the Persians had been destroyed and that the Hellenes were the victors, descended from her carriage and came up to the Lacedemonians while they were yet engaged in the slaughter. This woman had adorned herself with many ornaments of gold, and her attendants likewise, and she had put on the fairest robe of those which she had; and when she saw that Pausanias was directing everything there, being well acquainted before with his name and with his lineage, because she had heard it often, she recognised Pausanias and taking hold of his knees she said these words: "O king of Sparta, deliver me thy suppliant from the slavery of the captive: for thou hast also done me service hitherto in destroying these, who have regard neither for demigods nor yet for gods. 87 I am by race of Cos, the daughter of Hegetorides the son of Antagoras; and the Persian took me by force in Cos and kept me a prisoner." He made answer in these words: "Woman, be of good courage, both because thou art a suppliant, and also if in addition to this it chances that thou art speaking the truth and art the daughter of Hegetorides the Coan, who is bound to me as a guest-friend more than any other of the men who dwell in those parts." Having thus spoken, for that time her gave her in charge to those Ephors who were present, and afterwards he sent her away to Egina, whither she herself desired to go.
77After the arrival of the woman, forthwith upon this arrived the Mantineians, when all was over; and having learnt that they had come too late for the battle, they were greatly grieved, and said that they deserved to be punished: and being informed that the Medes with Artabazos were in flight, they pursued after them as far as Thessaly, though the Lacedemonians endeavoured to prevent them from pursuing after fugitives. 88 Then returning back to their own country they sent the leaders of their army into exile from the land. After the Mantineians came the Eleians; and they, like the Mantineians, were greatly grieved by it and so departed home; and these also when they had returned sent their leaders into exile. So much of the Mantineians and Eleians.
78At Plataia among the troops of the Eginetans was Lampon the son of Pytheas, one of the leading men of the Eginetans, who was moved to go to Pausanias with a most impious proposal, and when he had come with haste, he said as follows: "Son of Cleombrotos, a deed has been done by thee which is of marvellous greatness and glory, and to thee God has permitted by rescuing Hellas to lay up for thyself the greatest renown of all the Hellenes about whom we have any knowledge. Do thou then perform also that which remains to do after these things, in order that yet greater reputation may attach to thee, and also that in future every one of the Barbarians may beware of being the beginner of presumptuous deeds towards the Hellenes. For when Leonidas was slain at Thermopylai, Mardonios and Xerxes cut off his head and crucified him: to him therefore do thou repay like with like, and thou shalt have praise first from all the Spartans and then secondly from the other Hellenes also; for if thou impale the body of Mardonios, thou wilt then have taken vengeance for Leonidas thy father's brother.".
79He said this thinking to give pleasure; but the other made him answer in these words: "Stranger of Egina, I admire thy friendly spirit and thy forethought for me, but thou hast failed of a good opinion nevertheless: for having exalted me on high and my family and my deed, thou didst then cast me down to nought by advising me to do outrage to a dead body, and by saying that if I do this I shall be better reported of. These things it is more fitting for Barbarians to do than for Hellenes; and even with them we find fault for doing so. However that may be, I do not desire in any such manner as this to please either Eginetans or others who like such things; but it is enough for me that I should keep from unholy deeds, yea and from unholy speech also, and so please the Spartans. As for Leonidas, whom thou biddest me avenge, I declare that he has been greatly avenged already, and by the unnumbered lives which have been taken of these men he has been honoured, and not he only but also the rest who brought their lives to an end at Thermopylai. As for thee however, come not again to me with such a proposal, nor give me such advice; and be thankful moreover that thou hast no punishment for it now."
80He having heard this went his way; and Pausanias made a proclamation that none should lay hands upon the spoil, and he ordered the Helots to collect the things together. They accordingly dispersed themselves about the camp and found tents furnished with gold and silver, and beds overlaid with gold and overlaid with silver, and mixing-bowls of gold, and cups and other drinking vessels. They found also sacks laid upon waggons, in which there proved to be caldrons both of gold and of silver; and from the dead bodies which lay there they stripped bracelets and collars, and also their swords 89 if they were of gold, for as to embroidered raiment, there was no account made of it. Then the Helots stole many of the things and sold them to the Eginetans, but many things also they delivered up, as many of them as they could not conceal; so that the great wealth of the Eginetans first came from this, that they bought the gold from the Helots making pretence that it was brass..
81Then having brought the things together, and having set apart a tithe for the god of Delphi, with which the offering was dedicated of the golden tripod which rests upon the three-headed serpent of bronze and stands close by the altar, and also 90 for the god at Olympia, with which they dedicated the offering of a bronze statue of Zeus ten cubits high, and finally for the god at the Isthmus, with which was made a bronze statue of Poseidon seven cubits high,—having set apart these things, they divided the rest, and each took that which they ought to have, including the concubines of the Persians and the gold and the silver and the other things, and also the beasts of burden. How much was set apart and given to those of them who had proved themselves the best men at Plataia is not reported by any, though for my part I suppose that gifts were made to these also; Pausanias however had ten of each thing set apart and given to him, that is women, horses, talents, camels, and so also of the other things.
82It is said moreover that this was done which here follows, namely that Xerxes in his flight from Hellas had left to Mardonios the furniture of his own tent, and Pausanias accordingly seeing the furniture of Mardonios furnished 91 with gold and silver and hangings of different colours ordered the bakers and the cooks to prepare a meal as they were used to do for Mardonios. Then when they did this as they had been commanded, it is said that Pausanias seeing the couches of gold and of silver with luxurious coverings, and the tables of gold and silver, and the magnificent apparatus of the feast, was astonished at the good things set before him, and for sport he ordered his own servants to prepare a Laconian meal; and as, when the banquet was served, the difference between the two was great, Pausanias laughed and sent for the commanders of the Hellenes; and when these had come together, Pausanias said, pointing to the preparation of the two meals severally: "Hellenes, for this reason I assembled you together, because I desired to show you the senselessness of this leader of the Medes, who having such fare as this, came to us who have such sorry fare as ye see here, in order to take it away from us." Thus it is said that Pausanias spoke to the commanders of the Hellenes.
83However, 92 in later time after these events many of the Plataians also found chests of gold and of silver and of other treasures; and moreover afterwards this which follows was seen in the case of the dead bodies here, after the flesh had been stripped off from the bones; for the Plataians brought together the bones all to one place:—there was found, I say, a skull with no suture but all of one bone, and there was seen also a jaw-bone, that is to say the upper part of the jaw, which had teeth joined together and all of one bone, both the teeth that bite and those that grind; and the bones were seen also of a man five cubits high..
84The body of Mardonios however had disappeared 93 on the day after the battle, taken by whom I am not able with certainty to say, but I have heard the names of many men of various cities who are said to have buried Mardonios, and I know that many received gifts from Artontes the son of Mardonios for having done this: who he was however who took up and buried the body of Mardonios I am not able for certain to discover, but Dionysophanes an Ephesian is reported with some show of reason to have been he who buried Mardonios..
85He then was buried in some such manner as this: and the Hellenes when they had divided the spoil at Plataia proceeded to bury their dead, each nation apart by themselves. The Spartans made for themselves three several burial-places, one in which they buried the younger Spartans, 94 of whom also were Poseidonios, Amompharetos, Philokyon and Callicrates,—in one of the graves, I say, were laid the younger men, in the second the rest of the Spartans, and in the third the Helots. These then thus buried their dead; but the Tegeans buried theirs all together in a place apart from these, and the Athenians theirs together; and the Megarians and Phliasians those who had been slain by the cavalry. Of all these the burial-places had bodies laid in them, but as to the burial-places of other States which are to be seen at Plataia, these, as I am informed, are all mere mounds of earth without any bodies in them, raised by the several peoples on account of posterity, because they were ashamed of their absence from the fight; for among others there is one there called the burial-place of the Eginetans, which I hear was raised at the request of the Eginetans by Cleades the son of Autodicos, a man of Plataia who was their public guest-friend, 95 no less than ten years after these events.
86When the Hellenes had buried their dead at Plataia, forthwith they determined in common council to march upon Thebes and to ask the Thebans to surrender those who had taken the side of the Medes, and among the first of them Timagenides and Attaginos, who were leaders equal to the first; and if the Thebans did not give them up, they determined not to retire from the city until they had taken it. Having thus resolved, they came accordingly on the eleventh day after the battle and began to besiege the Thebans, bidding them give the men up: and as the Thebans refused to give them up, they began to lay waste their land and also to attack their wall..
87So then, as they did not cease their ravages, on the twentieth day Timagenides spoke as follows to the Thebans: "Thebans, since it has been resolved by the Hellenes not to retire from the siege until either they have taken Thebes or ye have delivered us up to them, now therefore let not the land of Boeotia suffer 96 any more for our sakes, but if they desire to have money and are demanding our surrender as a colour for this, let us give them money taken out of the treasury of the State; for we took the side of the Medes together with the State and not by ourselves alone: but if they are making the siege truly in order to get us into their hands, then we will give ourselves up for trial." 97 In this it was thought that he spoke very well and seasonably, and the Thebans forthwith sent a herald to Pausanias offering to deliver up the men..
88After they had made an agreement on these terms, Attaginos escaped out of the city; and when his sons were delivered up to Pausanias, he released them from the charge, saying that the sons had no share in the guilt of taking the side of the Medes. As to the other men whom the Thebans delivered up, they supposed that they would get a trial, 98 and they trusted moreover to be able to repel the danger by payment of money; but Pausanias, when he had received them, suspecting this very thing, first dismissed the whole army of allies, and then took the men to Corinth and put them to death there. These were the things which happened at Plataia and at Thebes.
89Artabazos meanwhile, the son of Pharnakes, in his flight from Plataia was by this time getting forward on his way: and the Thessalians, when he came to them, offered him hospitality and inquired concerning the rest of the army, not knowing anything of that which had happened at Plataia; and Artabazos knowing that if he should tell them the whole truth about the fighting, he would run the risk of being destroyed, both himself and the whole army which was with him, (for he thought that they would all set upon him if they were informed of that which had happened),—reflecting, I say, upon this he had told nothing of it to the Phokians, and now to the Thessalians he spoke as follows: "I, as you see, Thessalians, am earnest to march by the shortest way to Thracia; and I am in great haste, having been sent with these men for a certain business from the army; moreover Mardonios himself and his army are shortly to be looked for here, marching close after me. To him give entertainment and show yourselves serviceable, for ye will not in the end repent of so doing." Having thus said he continued to march his army with haste through Thessaly and Macedonia straight for Thracia, being in truth earnest to proceed and going through the land by the shortest possible way: 99 and so he came to Byzantion, having left behind him great numbers of his army, who had either been cut down by the Thracians on the way or had been overcome by hunger and fatigue; 100 and from Byzantion he passed over in ships. He himself 101 then thus made his return back to Asia.
90Now on the same day on which the defeat took place at Plataia, another took place also, as fortune would have it, at Mycale in Ionia. For when the Hellenes who had come in the ships with Leotychides the Lacedemonian, were lying at Delos, there came to them as envoys from Samos Lampon the son of Thrasycles and Athenagoras the son of Archestratides and Hegesistratos the son of Aristagoras, who had been sent by the people of Samos without the knowledge either of the Persians or of the despot Theomestor the son of Androdamas, whom the Persians had set up to be despot of Samos. When these had been introduced before the commanders, Hegesistratos spoke at great length using arguments of all kinds, and saying that so soon as the Ionians should see them they would at once revolt from the Persians, and that the Barbarians would not wait for their attack; and if after all they did so, then the Hellenes would take a prize such as they would never take again hereafter; and appealing to the gods worshipped in common he endeavoured to persuade them to rescue from slavery men who were Hellenes and to drive away the Barbarian: and this he said was easy for them to do, for the ships of the enemy sailed badly and were no match for them in fight. Moreover if the Hellenes suspected that they were endeavouring to bring them on by fraud, they were ready to be taken as hostages in their ships..
91Then as the stranger of Samos was urgent in his prayer, Leotychides inquired thus, either desiring to hear for the sake of the omen or perhaps by a chance which Providence brought about: "Stranger of Samos, what is thy name?" He said "Hegesistratos." 102 The other cut short the rest of the speech, stopping all that Hegesistratos had intended to say further, and said: "I accept the augury given in Hegesistratos, stranger of Samos. Do thou on thy part see that thou give us assurance, thou and the men who are with thee, that the Samians will without fail be our zealous allies, and after that sail away home.".
92Thus he spoke and to the words he added the deed; for forthwith the Samians gave assurance and made oaths of alliance with the Hellenes, and having so done the others sailed away home, but Hegesistratos he bade sail with the Hellenes, considering the name to be an augury of good success. Then the Hellenes after staying still that day made sacrifices for success on the next day, their diviner being Deïphonos the son of Euenios an Apolloniate, of that Apollonia which lies in the Ionian gulf. 10201.
93To this man's father Euenios it happened as follows:—There are at this place Apollonia sheep sacred to the Sun, which during the day feed by a river 103 running from Mount Lacmon through the land of Apollonia to the sea by the haven of Oricos; and by night they are watched by men chosen for this purpose, who are the most highly considered of the citizens for wealth and noble birth, each man having charge of them for a year; for the people of Apollonia set great store on these sheep by reason of an oracle: and they are folded in a cave at some distance from the city. Here at the time of which I speak this man Euenios was keeping watch over them, having been chosen for that purpose; and it happened one night that he fell asleep during his watch, and wolves came by into the cave and killed about sixty of the sheep. When he perceived this, he kept it secret and told no one, meaning to buy others and substitute them in the place of those that were killed. It was discovered however by the people of Apollonia that this had happened; and when they were informed of it, they brought him up before a court and condemned him to be deprived of his eyesight for having fallen asleep during his watch. But when they had blinded Euenios, forthwith after this their flocks ceased to bring forth young and their land to bear crops as before. Then prophesyings were uttered to them both at Dodona and also at Delphi, when they asked the prophets the cause of the evil which they were suffering, and they told them 104 that they had done unjustly in depriving of his sight Euenios the watcher of the sacred sheep; for the gods of whom they inquired had themselves sent the wolves to attack the sheep; and they would not cease to take vengeance for him till the men of Apollonia should have paid to Euenios such satisfaction as he himself should choose and deem sufficient; and this being fulfilled, the gods would give to Euenios a gift of such a kind that many men would think him happy in that he possessed it..
94These oracles then were uttered to them, and the people of Apollonia, making a secret of it, proposed to certain men of the citizens to manage the affair; and they managed it for them thus:—when Euenios was sitting on a seat in public, they came and sat by him, and conversed about other matters, and at last they came to sympathising with him in his misfortune; and thus leading him on they asked what satisfaction he should choose, if the people of Apollonia should undertake to give him satisfaction for that which they had done. He then, not having heard the oracle, made choice and said that if there should be given him the lands belonging to certain citizens, naming those whom he knew to possess the two best lots of land in Apollonia, and a dwelling-house also with these, which he knew to be the best house in the city,—if he became the possessor of these, he said, he would have no anger against them for the future, and this satisfaction would be sufficient for him if it should be given. Then as he was thus speaking, the men who sat by him said interrupting him: "Euenios, this satisfaction the Apolloniates pay to thee for thy blinding in accordance with the oracles which have been given to them." Upon this he was angry, being thus informed of the whole matter and considering that he had been deceived; and they bought the property from those who possessed it and gave him that which he had chosen. And forthwith after this he had a natural gift of divination, 105 so that he became very famous..
95Of this Euenios, I say, Deïphonos was the son, and he was acting as diviner for the army, being brought by the Corinthians. I have heard however also that Deïphonos wrongly made use of the name of Euenios, and undertook work of this kind about Hellas, not being really the son of Euenios.
96Now when the sacrifices were favourable to the Hellenes, they put their ships to sea from Delos to go to Samos; and having arrived off Calamisa 106 in Samos, they moored their ships there opposite the temple of Hera which is at this place, and made preparations for a sea-fight; but the Persians, being informed that they were sailing thither, put out to sea also and went over to the mainland with their remaining ships, (those of the Phenicians having been already sent away to sail home): for deliberating of the matter they thought it good not to fight a battle by sea, since they did not think that they were a match for the enemy. And they sailed away to the mainland in order that they might be under the protection of their land-army which was in Mycale, a body which had stayed behind the rest of the army by command of Xerxes and was keeping watch over Ionia: of this the number was six myriads 107 and the commander of it was Tigranes, who in beauty and stature excelled the other Persians. The commanders of the fleet then had determined to take refuge under the protection of this army, and to draw up their ships on shore and put an enclosure round as a protection for the ships and a refuge for themselves..
97Having thus determined they began to put out to sea; and they came along by the temple of the "Revered goddesses" 10701 to the Gaison and to Scolopoeis in Mycale, where there is a temple of the Eleusinian Demeter, which Philistos the son of Pasicles erected when he had accompanied Neileus the son of Codros for the founding of Miletos; and there they drew up their ships on shore and put an enclosure round them of stones and timber, cutting down fruit-trees for this purpose, and they fixed stakes round the enclosure and made their preparations either for being besieged or for gaining a victory, for in making their preparations they reckoned for both chances.
98The Hellenes however, when they were informed that the Barbarians had gone away to the mainland, were vexed because they thought that they had escaped; and they were in a difficulty what they should do, whether they should go back home, or sail down towards the Hellespont. At last they resolved to do neither of these two things, but to sail on to the mainland. Therefore when they had prepared as for a sea-fight both boarding-bridges and all other things that were required, they sailed towards Mycale; and when they came near to the camp and no one was seen to put out against them, but they perceived ships drawn up within the wall and a large land-army ranged along the shore, then first Leotychides, sailing along in his ship and coming as near to the shore as he could, made proclamation by a herald to the Ionians, saying: "Ionians, those of you who chance to be within hearing of me, attend to this which I say: for the Persians will not understand anything at all of that which I enjoin to you. When we join battle, each one of you must remember first the freedom of all, and then the watchword 'Hebe'; and this let him also who has not heard know from him who has heard." The design in this act was the same as that of Themistocles at Artemision; for it was meant that either the words uttered should escape the knowledge of the Barbarians and persuade the Ionians, or that they should be reported to the Barbarians and make them distrustful of the Hellenes. 108
99After Leotychides had thus suggested, then next the Hellenes proceeded to bring their ships up to land, and they disembarked upon the shore. These then were ranging themselves for fight; and the Persians, when they saw the Hellenes preparing for battle and also that they had given exhortation to the Ionians, in the first place deprived the Samians of their arms, suspecting that they were inclined to the side of the Hellenes; for when the Athenian prisoners, the men whom the army of Xerxes had found left behind in Attica, had come in the ships of the Barbarians, the Samians had ransomed these and sent them back to Athens, supplying them with means for their journey; and for this reason especially they were suspected, since they had ransomed five hundred persons of the enemies of Xerxes. Then secondly the Persians appointed the Milesians to guard the passes which lead to the summits of Mycale, on the pretext that they knew the country best, but their true reason for doing this was that they might be out of the camp. Against these of the Ionians, who, as they suspected, would make some hostile move 109 if they found the occasion, the Persians sought to secure themselves in the manner mentioned; and they themselves then brought together their wicker-work shields to serve them as a fence.
100Then when the Hellenes had made all their preparations, they proceeded to the attack of the Barbarians; and as they went, a rumour came suddenly 110 to their whole army, and at the same time a herald's staff was found lying upon the beach; and the rumour went through their army to this effect, namely that the Hellenes were fighting in Boeotia and conquering the army of Mardonios. Now by many signs is the divine power seen in earthly things, and by this among others, namely that now, when the day of the defeat at Plataia and of that which was about to take place at Mycale happened to be the same, a rumour came to the Hellenes here, so that the army was encouraged much more and was more eagerly desirous to face the danger..