Chapter 40.

[202] It will be remarked that Artabazos’ statement on this point is in direct conflict with that reported by Herodotus to have been made at the same time by Alexander of Macedon to the Greeks.

[203] It appears later (Chap. 46, _ad init._) that it was to the Athenian generals alone that Alexander’s story was in the first instance imparted. That tends to confirm, what the lie of the ground would suggest, that the Greek left was nearer the Asopos than the right wing.

[204] This is one of the most important passages in Herodotus’ description of the battle. It indicates more clearly than has been hitherto indicated, the position of the Greeks in their second position.

In the first place, if we remember that the Lacedæmonians were on the Greek right, it will be seen that it forms a very strong argument in favour of the identification of Gargaphia which has been adopted. Had it been at Apotripi it would certainly have been near the Greek centre. It also shows the obliquity of the Greek line with respect to the course of the Asopos; in other words, that it was, as might be expected, extended along the Asopos ridge.

[205] This is shown still more clearly in the account of the withdrawal from this position.

[206] The three developments of the Greek second position may be summed up as follows:—

1. The Greek right was near the spring of Gargaphia, not on the Asopos ridge, while the left was near the Heroön of Androkrates.

2. After a forward movement of the whole line, the right took up position on the Asopos ridge, while the line extended along the course of that ridge, until the left was actually on the Asopos.

3. The left, when its position on the plain became untenable, took to the higher ground of the north extension of the Asopos ridge.

[207] It would seem as if this determination were not come to at the morning council. Their idea at that time appears to have been to move during the night, in case the enemy did not renew their attack. As the attack was renewed, the movement was deferred until the following night.

[208] The members of the American school at Athens who excavated parts of the site of Platæa some years ago were inclined to believe that at the time of the battle the town stood on the higher or southern end of the bastion which is now strewn with the traces of the successive towns which have occupied the site; and that it did not extend northward to the point where the bastion sinks more or less abruptly into the plain. They also believed that they discovered the foundations of the temple of Hera on this north extension of the bastion. I am disposed to think that their conjecture as to the position of the contemporary town is correct, though the question is not of sufficient importance with respect to this particular passage in Greek history to render it desirable or necessary to quote the mass of evidence on which the opinion is founded. The position of the temple of Hera as determined by them agrees with the brief mention of it in this passage of Herodotus.

[209] Herodotus, in words already quoted, says that it was the intention of the Greeks, on moving to the “Island,” to detach a part of the army to relieve the attendants who were blocked in the pass. This is certainly the Dryoskephalæ or the Platæa-Athens pass, probably the latter, which they were attempting to use as an alternative way, after the fearful disaster which had befallen the former provision train in the exit of the Dryoskephalæ pass. Herodotus shows, too, that this relief was urgently required, since the Greek army was running short of provisions; for, although the Platæa-Megara pass must have been open, it is of such a character as to render it impossible that the commissariat for a force of 100,000 men could be adequately maintained through its channel. It is therefore in the very highest degree probable that an attempt, at any rate, was made to carry out this part of the arrangement between the generals. Now, the Spartan force on the right of the Greek line would be, in so far as position was concerned, that portion of the Greek army on which this duty would naturally devolve. The mission of this force for the relief of the pass was one of extreme danger and difficulty, and it would be natural that the service should devolve on that part of the army which enjoyed the highest military reputation. It was, I venture to think, while carrying out this movement that the Spartans became involved in that series of events which led to the last catastrophe in the great tragedy.

[210] Thucydides (i. 20) denies that such a division or regiment existed in the Spartan army.

[211] Even in the Spartan army indiscipline was apt to make its appearance without the existence of such a substantial motive as in the present instance. Cf. the insubordination of the Spartan officers at the battle of Mantinea in 418 B.C. (Thuc. v. 72).

[212] That they never reached the rocky ὑπωρέη is plain from the incidents of the battle that followed.

[213] Of A 4 and A 5.

[214] The ὑπωρέη of Herodotus.

[215] Cf. the tale H. ix. 58.

[216] Δρόμῳ διαβάντας τὸν Ἀσωπὸν (H. ix. 59).

[217] It will be seen, when the details of the Athenian retreat come to be examined, how noticeably this detail accords with the account which Herodotus gives of that retreat.

[218] Some modern commentators have regarded this detail mentioned by Herodotus as a convincing proof of the Athenian bias in his narrative. To me it seems eminently natural, after the experience of the previous days, that Pausanias or any other commander should have summoned help under the circumstances. I shall, moreover, have occasion to show that the Athenians did undoubtedly diverge from their march to the Island in the direction in which the Spartan battle with the Persians took place.

[219] It is clear from Herodotus’ subsequent account of the proceedings of the Greek centre that this battle took place out of sight of that part of the army which had retired to Platæa.

[220] H. ix. 62: Ἤδη ἐγίνετο ἡ μάχη ἰσχυρὴ παρ’ αὐτὸ τὸ Δημήτριον.

[221] This incidental detail mentioned by Herodotus peculiarly supports the view that the temple must have stood on the site of the church of St. Demetrion.

[222] This is clearly shown in Herodotus’ narrative. He distinctly speaks of the Athenians as having at the beginning of the movement “turned down towards the plain” (H. ix. 56, κάτω τραφθέντες ἐς τὸ πεδίον); and in a still more remarkable passage he says that, when Mardonius led his Persians across the Asopos in pursuit of the Greeks, “he did not see the Athenians, who had turned down towards the plain, by reason of the (intervening) hills” (H. ix. 59). The hills mentioned are evidently the northern extension of the Asopos ridge.

[223] A 1 in the map.

[224] Ridge 5.

[225] Thus far διὰ τῆς ὑπωρέης (H. ix. 69).

[226] _I.e._ ridges 3 and 2; cf. H. ix. 69, διὰ ... τῶν κολωνῶν.

[227] Ridge 5.

[228] I confess I cannot understand the argument of those who regard Herodotus’ account of Platæa as being tainted throughout with a lying Athenian tradition. In so far as the narrative provides evidence of its source or sources, there is at least as much matter in it which may be attributed to Spartan as to Athenian origin.

[229] The Asopos ridge, the Long ridge, and the Plateau.

[230] The treatment meted out to the Æginetans in the narrative of Platæa, as contrasted with the account which Herodotus gives of their conduct at Salamis, points to the very various character of the sources from which he drew his history. This part of the Platæan narrative is undoubtedly drawn from a tradition highly coloured by the relations which existed between Athens and Ægina twenty years after Platæa was fought.

[231] Xen. Anab. iii. 2, 27. The striking words are μὴ τὰ ζεύγη ἡμῶν στρατηγῇ.

[232] I have had occasion to speak of the Thermopylæ narrative under various aspects in relation to the sources from which it is derived.

To prevent any misconception, I should like to sum up briefly my conclusions.

(1) The whole “motivation” of the story is derived from a version of official origin at Sparta.

(2) The incidents of the actual fighting may be derived partly from a Spartan source, probably of an unofficial character. The description of some of them, however, rests on ♠information picked up by Herodotus at Thermopylæ itself from natives of the region.

♠ “infornation” replaced with “information”

[233] For these two points cf. H. vii. 152.

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