Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/218

 194 ' HISTORY OF GREECE. with which the latter were familiar as a part of their (mn feP* ritory.i Serving as these Greeks in the fleet were, at a distance froni their own homes, and having left a powerful army of Persiana and Greeks under Mardonius in Boeotia, they were of course full of anxiety lest his arms might prove victorious and extinguish the freedom of tlieir country. It was under these feelings of solicitude for their absent brethren that they disembarked, and were made ready for attack by the afternoon. But it was the afternoon of an ever-memorable day, — the fourth of the month Boedromion (about September) 479 B. c. By a remarkable co- incidence, the victory of Plat^a in Boeotia had been gained by Pausanias that very morning. At the moment w^hen the Greeks were advancing to the charge, a divine pheme, or message, flew into the camp, — whilst a herald's staff was seen floated to the shox'e by the western wave, the symbol of electric transmission across the ^gean ; — the revelation, sudden, simultaneous, irre- sistible, struck at once upon the minds of all, as if the multitude had one common soul and sense, acquainting them that on that verj' morning their countrymen in Boeotia had gained a complete victory over Mardonius. At once the previous anxiety was dis- sipated, and the whole army, full of joy and confidence, charged with redoubled energy. Such is the account given by Herodo- tus,2 and doubtless universally accepted in his time, when the ' Herodot. ix, 98, 99, 104. ' 'H.ew(iot.x,,lOl. loiGidi cpi ('E?.A7jai) (}> 71 firj re iffEWTaro kgrb CTpa-OTredov Trav, Koi KrjpvKrfcov k(^vr} h~l rye KVfiaruy^c KcifiEvov. ij 6e 6y/iV di7j/.-&i c6i u6e, ug ol ''E?.?^rjVEC rriv 'Mapdovlov (TTparcTjv v'tKutv Iv Boiurir/ fjaxo/XEVoi. A^Aa 6^ Tro?J.oi(n TEKfirjploiai kan ra ^Ela Tuv TzptiyuuTUv d Koi tote t^c avTTJg rjfiEprig avfiTviTiToveric Tov te iv Il^^arat^fft Kol TOV iv yivKu/.T} fiEA7.ovTog icEaSai rpufiarog, ^Tjfiri Tolat "E?.?i7}ai rolci ravTTj ead-'cKETO. ucte ■Qapcfjoai te ttjv CTpaTiTjv -noyj.C) fiaJ.T.ov, kol e^eXelv TTpo&vpLOTEpov KivdtVEVEiv yeyovEvai 6e vlktiv tuv /xerd Uavaavlev ''E/./.rjvuv bp-&Cii a^L 7} rif^V owi^aiv e k7.-&ovaa- Tb fiev yap hv ID-aTaiyGL izput etl tt/c vnEpriq kyivETO • Tb 61 kv M.vku7.ij, TZEpl deiXriv i;v Se uppuSiij c<^i Trplv ttjv (^7}iitjv kcra—LKEU&ai, ovtc TZEpl adiuv avTuv ovtu, (jf TUV 'E/.'/.ijvuv, jxj] -^Epl 'Mapdoviu rr-alGri rj 'E/.?.af, wf /ikvToi. t) kItj^uv avTT] a (pi k <j k ~ T a T o, fia?./.6v Ti aal TaxvTepov ttjv ■;zp6ao6ov etzoievvto: compare Plutarch, Paul. Emilias, c. 24, 25, about the battle of Pydna. The ^(iri which circulated thivngh the assembled army of Mardonius in Boeotia,