Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/221

 BATTLES OF PLAT.EA AND MYKALE. 197 Mykale as well as at Platjea. Diodorus and other later writers,' who wrote when the impressions of the time had vanished, and when divine interventions were less easily and literally admitted, treat the whole proceeding as if it were a report designedly cir- culated by the generals, for the purpose of encouraging their army. The Lacedgemonians on the right wing, and the portion of the army near them, had a difficult path before them, over hilly ground and ravine ; while the Athenians, Corinthians, Sikyonians, and Troezenians, and the left half of the army, marching only along the beach, came much sooner into conflict Avith the enemy. The Persians, as at Platsea, employed their gerrha, or wicker bucklers, planted by spikes in the ground, as a breastwork, from behind which they discharged their arrows, and they made a strenuous resistance to prevent this defence from being over- thrown. Ultimately, the Greeks succeeded in demolishing it, and in driving the enemy into the interior of the fortification, where they in vain tried to maintain themselves against the ardor of the pursuers, who forced their way into it almost along with the defenders. Even when this last rampart was carried, and when the Persian allies had fled, the native Persians still continued to prolong the struggle with undiminished bravery. Unpractised in line and drill, and acting only in small knots,2 with disadvantages of armor, such as had been felt severely at Plataea, they still maintained an unequal conflict with the Greek hoplites ; nor was it until the Lacedeemonians with their half of the army arrived to join in the attack, that the defence was abandoned as hopeless. The revolt of the lonians in the camp put the finishing stroke to this ruinous defeat : first, the disarmed «iue la Bastille pouvoit faire si aisement, ils allerent jusqu'a promettre au gouvemeur, que s'il retirait ses canons, on ne I'attaqueroit pas. Les elec- teurs ne trahissoient pas comme ils en furent accuse's ; mais ils n'avoient pas la foi. " Qui I'eut ? Celui qui eut aussi le devoument, la force, pour accomplir sa foi. Qui ? Le peuple, tout le monde." ' Diodor. xi, 35 ; Polyoen. i, 33. Justin (ii, 14) is astonished in relating " tantam famoB velocitatcm." XOVTO Tolai alel ^f rd relxo? kamnrovcL 'E/l/l^vuv.
 * Herodot. ix, 102, 103. Ovtol 6e (Ilfpaai), Kar' bXiyovg yivofiEvot, ifid-