Calliope   

Peloponnese. Grant their request then, before they make any fresh
resolve, which may bring Greece to ruin."
Such was the counsel which Chileus gave: and the Ephors, taking
the advice into consideration, determined forthwith, without
speaking a word to the ambassadors from the three cities, to
despatch to the Isthmus a body of five thousand Spartans; and
accordingly they sent them forth the same night, appointing to each
Spartan a retinue of seven Helots, and giving the command of the
expedition to Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus. The chief power
belonged of right at this time to Pleistarchus, the son of Leonidas;
but as he was still a child Pausanias, his cousin, was regent in his
room. For the father of Pausanias, Cleombrotus, the son of
Anaxandridas, no longer lived; he had died a short time after bringing
back from the Isthmus the troops who had been employed in building the
wall. A prodigy had caused him to bring his army home; for while he
was offering sacrifice to know if he should march out against the
Persian, the sun was suddenly darkened in mid sky. Pausanias took with
him, as joint-leader of the army, Euryanax, the son of Dorieus, a
member of his own family.
The army accordingly had marched out from Sparta with Pausanias:
while the ambassadors, when day came, appeared before the Ephors,
knowing nothing of the march of the troops, and purposing themselves
to leave Sparta forthwith, and return each man to his own country.
They therefore addressed the Ephors in these words:-
"Lacedaemonians, as you do not stir from home, but keep the
Hyacinthian festival, and amuse yourselves, deserting the cause of
your confederates, the Athenians, whom your behaviour wrongs, and
who have no other allies, will make such terms with the Persians as
they shall find possible. Now when terms are once made, it is plain
that, having become the king's allies, we shall march with the
barbarians whithersoever they choose to lead. Then at length you
will perceive what the consequences will be to yourselves." When the
envoys had spoken, the Ephors declared to them with an oath:- "Our
troops must be at Oresteum by this time, on their march against the
strangers." (The Spartans say "strangers" for "barbarians.") At this
the ambassadors, quite ignorant of what had happened, questioned
them concerning their meaning; and when, by much questioning, they had
discovered the truth, they were greatly astonished thereat, and
forthwith set off, at their best speed, to overtake the Spartan
army. At the same time a body of five thousand Lacedaemonian Perioeci,
all picked men and fully armed, set forth from Sparta, in the
company of the ambassadors.
So these troops marched in haste towards the Isthmus. Meanwhile
the Argives, who had promised Mardonius that they would stop the
Spartans from crossing their borders, as soon as they learnt that
Pausanias with his army had started from Sparta, took the swiftest
courier they could find, and sent him off to Attica. The message which
he delivered, on his arrival at Athens, was the following:
"Mardonius," he said, "the Argives have sent me to tell thee that
the Lacedaemonian youth are gone forth from their city, and that the
Argives are too weak to hinder them. Take good heed therefore to
thyself at this time." After thus speaking, without a word more, he
returned home.
When Mardonius learnt that the Spartans were on their march, he no
longer cared to remain in Attica. Hitherto he had kept quiet,
wishing to see what the Athenians would do, and had neither ravaged
their territory, nor done it any the least harm; for till now he had
cherished the hope that the Athenians would come to terms with him.
As, however, he found that his persuasions were of no avail, and as
their whole policy was now clear to him, he determined to withdraw
from Attica before Pausanias with his army reached the Isthmus; first,
however, he resolved to burn Athens, and to cast down and level with
the ground whatever remained standing of the walls, temples, and other
buildings. His reason for retreating was, that Attica was not a