auguries and evil forebodings. One day a splendid banquet was given by a Theban leader to a hundred guests, of whom half were Persians and half Boeotians. Each couch accommodated a Theban and Persian. At one of these couches, as the story was afterwards told to Herodotus by one of the guests at the banquet, a Persian thus addressed a Theban, with strong emotion and many tears: "Since you have partaken with me at the same table and cup, I would fain leave with you some memorial of my conviction, the rather that you may be forewarned and take counsel for your own safety. See you not, then, these Persians here feasting, and the army which we have left yonder encamped near the river? Yet a little while, and from all these thou shalt see but few surviving." The Theban listened with astonishment, and then said: "Surely thou art bound to reveal this to Mardonius and his advisers." Persian answered: "My friend, man cannot avert what God has decreed to come, and no one will believe the revelation, though it is quite true. Many of us know it well, and we only serve here, being under the bond of necessity. And it is the worst kind of human misery to know all this, and yet be able to do nothing." Thus dispirited were the Persians themselves, and the case must have been worse with their allies. It was impossible for any memory to forget the disastrous flight of the great king himself not a year before.

The

The Lacedæmonian forces had been collected on the isthmus, and now moved forwards towards Boeotia. The army gathered constant accumulations on the march, and eventually formed a total of a hundred and ten thousand men. When they had passed over the ridge of Citharon they came in sight of the Persian host drawn up in the valley of the Asopus. Pausanias had taken the command, the uncle and guardian of one of the Spartan kings, and kept his army on the mountain declivities without, for the present, venturing to descend into the plain. The Persians greatly excelled in their cavalry and trained archers, and in both these useful arms of the forces of ancient warriors the Greeks were deficient. The Persian cavalry greatly harassed the Megarian contingents, and such

was the terror they inspired that none but the Athenians would volunteer to give any assistance. A desperate skirmish ensued between a chosen body of their troops and the Persian horsemen, commanded by the Persian general Masistius, a man of lofty stature and great courage, in conspicuous armour, and mounted on a steed magnificently caparisoned. In the conflict Masistius was slain, to the exultation of the Greeks and the infinite dismay of the Persians. The sound of their wailings filled all the land, and, according to their fashion, they cut off the hair of men, horses, and cattle in token of mourning. The dead body of the gigantic Masistius was placed on a cart, and paraded before the Greek lines. Pausanias-although, perhaps, on this occasion his own loss in men was greater than that of the Persians-might, nevertheless, from this circumstance consider himself the victor, and, encouraged by his success, he descended into the plain, and his Spartans took up their position near the fountain Gargaphia. The Spartans, of course, had the right wing, but a dispute arose between the Athenians and Tegeans which of the two should occupy the left wing, the second place of honour. Both pleaded their claims, but the Athenians modestly said that they would leave the matter to the decision of the Spartans, and would do their best in any post which might be assigned them. The desired post was voted to the Athenians by acclamation.

Mardonius, when he heard that the Greeks had descended to the plain, also advanced, and took up his position on the opposite side of the Asopus. His Persians faced the Lacedæmonians, and his Greek auxiliaries faced the Athenians. Each army was unwilling to begin the attack. The soothsayers on both sides declared that the omens were unfavourable. For eight days this continued, to the great annoyance of Mardonius, who saw that the Greeks were becoming stronger, and that he himself was becoming straitened for supplies. He received some encouragement from the fact that one night, in a rocky defile, some of his troops cut off five hundred beasts of burden belonging to the Greeks, and so intercepted to his own use the stores they were conveying. The omens still continued un

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favourable, but the patience of Mardonius was exhausted and he was resolved to wait no longer.

"The watches of the night were set," thus writes Herodotus," the night itself was far advanced, an universal and utter stillness prevailed throughout the army, buried in repose, when Alexander, the Macedonian prince, rode secretly from the Persian camp, and coming to the outposts of the Athenians, whose line was immediately opposed to his own, demanded an audience of their commanders." Alexander warned them to be prepared, as Mardonius was about to attack them the next morning. Alexander added that he was himself of Greek lineage, and anxious for the independence of Greece, and begged them, if they were successful, to' liberate him also, who was thus risking his head for them, from the Persian yoke. When Pausanias heard this, he directed the Athenians to exchange wings with the Spartans, as the Athenians were best acquainted with the Persian tactics and mode of fighting. When Mardonius heard of this in the morning he also changed the disposition of his forces, so that the former arrangement continued unaltered. Mardonius also charged the Spartans with his cavalry, and succeeded in choking up the Gargaphian fountain. Being greatly distressed by this, the Greeks determined to shift their position to a space which, being intersected by rivulets, was popularly called the Island, where they would have plenty of water. This movement was made by night, but great confusion was caused by one of the Spartan captains,' called Amompharetus, who, for a long time, obstinately refused to stir, as he considered the movement a flight. The dawn was breaking before the intractable Amompharetus gave way, and the retreat was attended with much confusion and disorder.

When Mardonius saw the ground vacated and the army retreating, he was full of contempt for the Spartansand eagerly started in pursuit. He soon came up to the Lacedæmonians, but the Athenians were out of sight, being separated from them by some low ridges of hill country. Pausanias again felt the want of cavalry, and the severe pressure to which the Persian cavalry put him, and he sent a horseman to the Athenians to ask for