Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/192

 168 mSTORY OF GREECE. kindness of the patron-heroes of Plataea^ had been solemnly invoked, yet Pausanias did not venture to cross the Asopus and begin the attack, in the face of a pronounced declaration from his prophet. Nor did even Hegesistratus, the prophet employed by Mardonius, choose on his side to urge an aggressive move- ment, though he had a deadly personal hatred against the Lace- dgeraonians, and would have been delighted to see them worsted. There arose commencements of conspiracy, perhaps encouraged by promises or bribes from the enemy, among the wealthier Athenian hoplites, to establish an oligarchy at Athens under Persian su- premacy, like that which now existed at Thebes, — a conspiracy full of danger at such a moment, though fortunately repressed'^ by Aristeides, with a hand at once gentle and decisive. More over, the annoyance inflicted by the Persian cavalry, under the guidance of the Thebans, was incessant : their constant assaults, and missile weapons from the other side of the Asopus, prevented the Greeks from using it for supplies of water, so that the whole army was forced to water at the fountain Gargaphia, at the extreme right of the position,3 near the Lacedaemonian hoplites. Moreover, the Theban leader, Timegenidas, remarking the con- voys which arrived over the passes of Kjthaeron, in the rear of the Grecian camp, and the constant reinforcements of hoplites which accompanied them, prevailed upon Mardonius to employ his cavalry in cutting off such communication. The first move- ' Plutarch, Aristeides, c. xi ; Thucyd. ii, 74. ' Plutarch, Aristeides, c. 13. ^ Herodot. ix. 40, 49, 50. r^v te Kpijvrjv tfjv Tapya^iTjv, utt' t/c vSpevero frdv TO aTpdrevfia to 'E?.?^7jvik6v -— ipvKOfiEvoi, 6e utto tov ^kaunov, oiiru dfj em TTjv Kpr/vqv e^OLTevv • and tov TTOTa/iov '/up <T^i oi'K k^f/v v6(jp (popeeaifai, VTTO re Tuv ircTTiuv kol To^tvjjLaTov. Diodorus (xi, 30) affirms that the Greek position was so well defended bv the nature of the ground, and so difficult of attack, that Mardonius was prevented from making use of his superior numbers. It is evident from the account of Herodotus that this is quite incorrect. The position seems to have had no protection except what it derived from the river Asopus, and the Greeks were ultimately forced to abandon it by the incessant at- tacks of the Persian cavalry. The whole account, at once diffuse and uninstructive, given by Diodorus of this battle (xi, 30-36), forms a strong contrast with the clear, impressive, and circumstantial narrative of He- rodotus.