kind comes from you to us, lo! we send a challenge to you. Why
should not you on the part of the Greeks, as you are thought to be the
bravest of all, and we on the part of the barbarians, fight a battle
with equal numbers on both sides? Then, if it seems good to the others
to fight likewise, let them engage afterwards- but if not,- if they
are content that we should fight on behalf of all, let us so do- and
whichever side wins the battle, let them win it for their whole army."
When the herald had thus spoken, he waited a while, but, as no one
made him any answer, he went back, and told Mardonius what had
happened. Mardonius was full of joy thereat, and so puffed up by the
empty victory, that he at once gave orders to his horse to charge
the Greek line. Then the horsemen drew near, and with their javelins
and their arrows- for though horsemen they used the bow- sorely
distressed the Greek troops, which could not bring them to close
combat. The fountain of Gargaphia, whence the whole Greek army drew
its water, they at this time choked up and spoiled. The Lacedaemonians
were the only troops who had their station near this fountain; the
other Greeks were more or less distant from it, according to their
place in the line; they however were not far from the Asopus. Still,
as the Persian horse with their missile weapons did not allow them
to approach, and so they could not get their water from the river,
these Greeks, no less than the Lacedaemonians, resorted at this time
to the fountain.
When the fountain was choked, the Grecian captains, seeing that
the army had no longer a water-place, and observing moreover that
the cavalry greatly harassed them, held a meeting on these and other
matters at the headquarters of Pausanias upon the right. For besides
the above-named difficulties, which were great enough, other
circumstances added to their distress. All the provisions that they
had brought with them were gone; and the attendants who had been
sent to fetch supplies from the Peloponnese, were prevented from
returning to camp by the Persian horse, which had now closed the
passage.
The captains therefore held a council, whereat it was agreed, that
if the Persians did not give battle that day, the Greeks should move
to the Island- a tract of ground which lies in front of Plataea, at
the distance of ten furlongs from the Asopus and fount Gargaphia,
where the army was encamped at that time. This tract was a sort of
island in the continent: for there is a river which, dividing near its
source, runs down from Mount Cithaeron into the plain below in two
streams, flowing in channels about three furlongs apart, which after a
while unite and become one. The name of this river is Oeroe, and the
dwellers in those parts call it, the daughter of the Asopus. This
was the place to which the Greeks resolved to remove; and they chose
it, first because they would there have no lack of water, and
secondly, because the horse could not harass them as when it was drawn
up right in their front. They thought it best to begin their march
at the second watch of the night, lest the Persians should see them as
they left their station, and should follow and harass them with
their cavalry. It was agreed likewise, that after they had reached the
place, which the Asopus-born Oeroe surrounds, as it flows down from
Cithaeron, they should despatch, the very same night, one half of
their army towards that mountain-range, to relieve those whom they had
sent to procure provisions, and who were now blocked up in that
region.
Having made these resolves, they continued during that whole day
to suffer beyond measure from the attacks of the enemy's horse. At
length when towards dusk the attacks of the horse ceased, and, night
having closed in, the hour arrived at which the army was to commence
its retreat, the greater number struck their tents and began the march
towards the rear. They were not minded, however, to make for the place
agreed upon; but in their anxiety to escape from the Persian horse, no
sooner had they begun to move than they fled straight to Plataea;
where they took post at the temple of Juno, which lies outside the