Page:History of Greece Vol VII.djvu/374

356 J56 HISTORY OF GREECE. Her impoverished finances also compelled her to dismiss s body of Thracian mercenaries, whose aid would have been very useful against the enemy at Dekeleia. These Thracian peltasts, thirteen hundred in number, had been hired at a drachma per day each man, to go with Demosthenes to Syracuse, but had not reached Athens in time. As soon as they came thither, the Athe- nians placed them under the command of Diitrephes, to conduct them back to their native country, with instructions to do damage to the Boeotians, as opportunity might occur, in his way through the Euripus. Accordingly, Diitrephes, putting them on shipboard, sailed round Sunium and northward along the eastern coast of Attica. After a short disembarkation near Tanagra, he passed on to Chalkis in Euboea in the narrowest part of the strait, from whence he crossed in the night to the Boeotian coast opposite, and marched up some distance from the sea to the neighborhood of the Boeo- tian town Mykalessus. He arrived here unseen, lay in wait near a temple of Hermes about two miles distant, and fell upon the town unexpectedly at break of day. To the Mykalessians, dwelling in the centre of Boeotia, not far from Thebes, and at a considerable distance from the sea, such an assault was not less unexpected than formidable. Their fortifications were feeble, in some parts low, in other parts even tumbling down ; nor had they even taken the precaution to close their gates at night : so that the barbarians under Diitrephes, entering the town without the smallest difficulty, began at once the work of pillage and destruction. The scene which followed was something alike novel and revolting to Grecian eyes. Isot only were all the houses and even the temples plundered, but the Thracians farther man- ifested that raging thirst for blood which seemed inherent in their race. They slew every living thing that came in their way ; men, women, children, horses, cattle, etc. They burst into a school, wherein many boys had just been assembled, and masa- indecd be sufficiently probable, if it be true that the tax ever came into operation ; but we are not entitled to affirm it. Considering how very soon the terrible misfortunes of Athens earns on, I cannot but tlr'nk it a matter of uncertainty whether the new assessment ever became a reality throughout the Athenian empire. And the face that Thucydides docs not notice it as an additioral cause of discontent arnona the allies, is one reason for such doubts.