Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/369

 VICTORY OF THE ATHENIANS. 351 Both these Athenian generals are said to have perished in the assault of the ships, apparently the hottest part of the combat. The statement of (he Persian loss as given by Herodotus appears moderate and reasonable, 1 but he does not specify any distin- guished individuals as having fallen. But the Persians, though thus defeated and compelled to aban- don the position of Marathon, were not yet disposed to relinquish altogether their chances against Attica. Their fleet was observed to take the direction of Cape Sunium, a portion being sent to take up the Eretrian prisoners and the stores which had been left in the island of ^Egilia. At the same time a shield, discernible from its polished surface afar off, was seen held aloft upon some high point of Attica, 2 perhaps on the summit of Mount Pen- lelikus, as Colonel Leake supposes with much plausibility. The Athenians doubtless saw it as well ss the Persians ; and Mil- tiades did not fail to put the right inteipretation upon it, takeu in conjunction with the course of the departing fleet. The shield was a signal put up by partisans in the country, to invite the Persians round to Athens by sea, while the Marathonian army was absent. Miltiades saw through the plot, and lost not a mo- ment in returning to Athens. On the very day of the battle, the Athenian army marched back with the utmost speed from the precinct of Herakles at Marathon to the precinct of the same god at Kynosarges, close to Athens, which they reached before the arrival of the Persian fleet. 3 Datis soon came off the port 1 For the exaggerated stories of the numbers of Persians slain, see Xeno- phon, Anabas. iii, 2, 12; Plutarch, De Malign. Herodot. c. 26, p. 862; Justin, ii, 9 ; and Suidas, v, HOIK&T). In the account of Ktesias, Datis was represented as having been killed Jn the battle, and it was farther said, that the Athenians refused to give up his body for interment ; which was one of the grounds whereupon Xerxes afterwards invaded Greece. It is evident that in the authorities which KtAsias followed, the alleged death of Datis at Marathon was rather em- phatically dwelt upon. See Ktesias, Persica, c. 18-21, with the note of Bahr, who is inclined to defend the statement, against Herodotus. c'nrelv kyivt.ro yap of (JLEVTOI. qv 6 uvade^af OVK &x u r " npoourefu dire!* rotreuv. 1 Herodot. vi, 1 1 6. Ovrot fiev 6fi nepii^uov Zovviov. 'Atf^aio: it, u{ cl%ov, Tu%toTa i-@of/&eov if rbuarv Kal
 * Herodot. vi, 124. 'Avfde^iSj? uev yap <T7Tif, Kal TOVTO OVK can u.lAwf