Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/209

 BATTLES OF PLATJ:A AND MYKALE. 18o The spoil was rich and multifarious, — gold and silver in Darics as well as in implements and ornaments, carpets, splendid arms and clothing, horses, camels, etc., even the magnificent tent of Xerxes, left on his retreat with Mardonius, was included. i By order of the general Pausanias, the Helots collected all the valuable articles into one spot for division ; not without stealing many of the golden ornaments, which, in ignorance of the value, they were persuaded by the -^ginetans to sell as brass. After reserving a tithe for the Delphian Apollo, together with ample offerings for the Olympic Zeus and the Isthmian Poseidon, as well as for Pausanias as general, — the remaining booty was distributed among the different contingents of the army in pro- portion to their respective numbers.^ The concubines of the Persian chiefs were among the prizes distributed : there were probably however among them many of Grecian birth, restored to their families ; and one especially, overtaken in her chariot amidst the flying Persians, with rich jewels and a numerous suite, threw herself at the feet of Pausanias himself, imploring his protection. She proved to be the daughter of his personal friend HegetoridC--, of Kos, carried off" by the Persian Pharan- dates ; and he had the satisfaction of restoring her to her father.3 Large as the booty collected was, there yet remained many valu- able treasures buried in the ground, which the Platoean inhabi- tants afterwards discovered and appropriated. The real victors in the battle of Plattea were the Lacedaemo- nians, Athenians, and Tegeans : the Corinthians and others, forming part of the army opposed to Mardonius, did not reach the field until the battle was ended, though they doubtless aided both in the assault of the fortified camp and in the subsequent operations against Thebes, and were universally recognized, in inscriptions and panegyrics, among the champions who had con- ' Herodot. ix, 80, 81 : compare vii, 41-83. - Diodorus (xi, 33) states this proportional distribution. Herodotus only says — i/MiSov tKaaroi ruv u^ioi ijaav (ix, 81). ^ Herodot. ix, 76, 80, 81, 82. The fate of these female companions of the Persian grandees, on the taking of the camp by an enemy, forms a melan- choly picture here as well as at Issus, and even at Kunaxa : see Diodor xvii, 35 ; Quintus Curtius, iii, xi, 21 ; Xenoj^h. Anab. i, 10, 2.