Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/212

 i68 Outlines of European History The armies Miltiades induces the Athenians to advance to Marathon The Greek position they passed weeping from the theater to prosecute and fine the author. Now this Persian foe who had crushed the Ionian cities was camping behind the hills only a few miles northeast of Athens. After dispatching messengers in desperate haste to seek aid in Sparta, the Athenian citizens turned to contemplate the seemingly hopeless situation of their beloved city. Here was a tiny Greek state confronted by the army of the Lord of Asia, the Emperor of the world, who regarded the peoples of the West as insignificant communities which had been troubling the fron- tiers of his vast world empire. Thinking to find the Athenians unprepared, Darius had not sent a large army. The Persian forces probably numbered no more than twenty thousand men, while at the utmost the Athe- nians could not put more "than half this number into the field. Fortunately for them there was among their generals a skilled and experienced commander named Miltiades, a man of resolu- tion and firmness, who, moreover, had lived on the Hellespont and was familiar with Persian methods of fighting. To his judgment the commander-in-chief, Callimachus, yielded at all points. As the citizen-soldiers of Attica flocked to the city at the call to arms, Miltiades was able to induce the leaders not to await the assault of the Persians at Athens, but to march across the peninsula (see map, p. 146) and block the Persian advance among the hills overlooking the eastern coast and commanding the road to the city. This bold and resolute move roused cour- age and enthusiasm in the downcast ranks of the Greeks. Nevertheless, when they issued between the hills and looked down upon the Persian host encamped upon the Plain of Mara- thon (Fig. 83), flanked by a fleet of hundreds of vessels, misgiv- ing and despair chilled the hearts of the little Attic army. But Miltiades held the leaders firmly in hand, and the arrival of a thousand Greeks from Plataea revived the courage of the Athe- nians. The Greek position overlooked the main road to Athens, and the Persians could not advance without leaving their line of march exposed on one side to the Athenian attack.