Erato   

allow them to engage; both sides consented to take them for
arbitrators, whereupon they made up the quarrel, and fixed the
boundary-line between the two states upon this condition: to wit, that
if any of the Boeotians wished no longer to belong to Boeotia, the
Thebans should allow them to follow their own inclinations. The
Corinthians, when they had thus decreed, forthwith departed to their
homes: the Athenians likewise set off on their return; but the
Boeotians fell upon them during the march, and a battle was fought
wherein they were worsted by the Athenians. Hereupon these last
would not be bound by the line which the Corinthians had fixed, but
advanced beyond those limits, and made the Asopus the boundary-line
between the country of the Thebans and that of the Plataeans and
Hysians. Under such circumstances did the Plataeans give themselves up
to Athens; and now they were come to Marathon to bear the Athenians
aid.
The Athenian generals were divided in their opinions; and some
advised not to risk a battle, because they were too few to engage such
a host as that of the Medes, while others were for fighting at once;
and among these last was Miltiades. He therefore, seeing that opinions
were thus divided, and that the less worthy counsel appeared likely to
prevail, resolved to go to the Polemarch, and have a conference with
him. For the man on whom the lot fell to be Polemarch at Athens was
entitled to give his vote with the ten generals, since anciently the
Athenians allowed him an equal right of voting with them. The
Polemarch at this juncture was Callimachus of Aphidnae; to him
therefore Miltiades went, and said:-
"With thee it rests, Callimachus, either to bring Athens to
slavery, or, by securing her freedom, to leave behind thee to all
future generations a memory beyond even Harmodius and Aristogeiton.
For never since the time that the Athenians became a people were
they in so great a danger as now. If they bow their necks beneath
the yoke of the Medes, the woes which they will have to suffer when
given into the power of Hippias are already determined on; if, on
the other hand, they fight and overcome, Athens may rise to be the
very first city in Greece. How it comes to pass that these things
are likely to happen, and how the determining of them in some sort
rests with thee, I will now proceed to make clear. We generals are ten
in number, and our votes are divided; half of us wish to engage,
half to avoid a combat. Now, if we do not fight, I look to see a great
disturbance at Athens which will shake men's resolutions, and then I
fear they will submit themselves; but if we fight the battle before
any unsoundness show itself among our citizens, let the gods but
give us fair play, and we are well able to overcome the enemy. On thee
therefore we depend in this matter, which lies wholly in thine own
power. Thou hast only to add thy vote to my side and thy country
will be free, and not free only, but the first state in Greece. Or, if
thou preferrest to give thy vote to them who would decline the combat,
then the reverse will follow."
Miltiades by these words gained Callimachus; and the addition of
the Polemarch's vote caused the decision to be in favour of
fighting. Hereupon all those generals who had been desirous of
hazarding a battle, when their turn came to command the army, gave
up their right to Miltiades. He however, though he accepted their
offers, nevertheless waited, and would not fight until his own day
of command arrived in due course.
Then at length, when his own turn was come, the Athenian battle
was set in array, and this was the order of it. Callimachus the
Polemarch led the right wing; for it was at that time a rule with
the Athenians to give the right wing to the Polemarch. After this
followed the tribes, according as they were numbered, in an unbroken
line; while last of all came the Plataeans, forming the left wing. And
ever since that day it has been a custom with the Athenians, in the
sacrifices and assemblies held each fifth year at Athens, for the
Athenian herald to implore the blessing of the gods on the Plataeans