NDOUBTEDLY the contest between the Grecian states and Persia, which lasted for several years and threatened at one time the annihilation of the Athenian power, was one of the most important in the history of the world. It was the struggle not

merely between Greece and Persia, but

between refinement and barbarism-the European and the Oriental systems. When Athens and Lacedæmon refused the tribute of earth and water and put the Persian ambassadors to death, they drew the sword against the most formidable power in the world, and they also threw away the

scabbard.

One attempt had already been made, and Persia was again preparing for its conquest, and for the chastisement of Athens and Eretria. Mardonius was recalled, and his command given to Artaphernes, son of the former satrap, joined with Datis, a Median nobleman, probably more experienced. To avoid the circuitous and dangerous route by Thrace and Macedonia, it was determined to cross the Egean, reducing the islands on the way. Naxos, where the Persians had before been foiled, was first attacked; the inhabitants fled to the mountains, and the town, with its temples, was burnt. The other islands sub

mitted, and gave hostages, till the fleet, arriving at Carystus, in Euboea, the Carystians refused, but were obliged to yield by the investment of their city, and the ravage of their land. The Eretrians were now assailed, who, applying to Athens for succour, the four thousand Athenians who had been settled on the terrirory of Chalcis were ordered to assist them. But the Eretrians were divided and disheartened: some were for flying to the mountains, others were inclined to betray the city; and Æschines, a principal citizen, seeing no hope of defence, advised the Athenians to reserve themselves for the protection of their native country. They crossed into Attica. The Persians formed the siege. For six days Eretria held out, but on the seventh was betrayed by two of the leading citizens. The town, with its temples, was burnt, and the inhabitants made slaves. The Persians, now masters of Euboa, crossed into Attica, and landed, at the suggestion of Hippias, on the narrow plain of Marathon. (B. C. 490.)

A

MILTIADES.

THENS had a commander equal to the emergency, in Miltiades the son of Cimon. His uncle, Miltiades the son of Cypselus, being invited by the natives of the Thracian Chersonese to found in it an Athenian colony, which might assist in their defence, had agreed to the pro posal, and had been made tyrant of the Chersonese. On his death, as he left no children, his authority passed to his nephew Stesagoras. He also died, and in the hope of succeeding him, Miltiades, his younger brother, went from Athens to the Chersonese. Miltiades had not, like Stesagoras, an interest established during the life of his predecessor, and the Chersonese was not by law an hereditary principality: but by a mixture of fraud and force, Miltiades secured the tyranny, and strengthened himself in it by keeping five hundred guards, and by marrying the daughter of Olorus,

Thracian prince. When Darius marched against the

Scythians, Miltiades submitted to him and followed in his train, and was left with the other Grecian chiefs of the army to guard the bridge of boats by which the Persians crossed the Danube. He then proposed to break up the bridge, and suffering the king and army to perish by the Scythians, to secure Greece, and deliver Ionia from the Persian yoke. His suggestion was rejected, not for its treachery, but because Persia was to each of the tyrants his surest support against the spirit of freedom in the people; but it has met with applauders among Grecian writers, generally ardent patriots, but somewhat lax moralists. Soon after Miltiades was expelled by the Scythians, but recalled on their retirement by the people: but he knew himself obnoxious to the Persians, and when, on the reconquest of Ionia, their fleet approached Thrace, he fled to Athens. The Athenian laws were severe against tyrants, even of foreign states, and Miltiades, on arriving, was tried for his life; but he won the favour of the people so far, that he was not only acquitted, but appointed one of the ten generals who regularly directed the armies of the state; and so conscious were his colleagues of his superior ability, that four of them made over to him their days of chief command.

元

BATTLE OF MARATHON.

HE generals being equally divided in opinion, whether to risk a battle or defend the city, the decision rested with the polemarch Calimachus. Miltiades pointed out to him that a siege by so powerful an enemy would divide and unsettle the minds of the people; that whoever had any leaning towards Hippias would be determined in his favour; that others, through despondence, would propose surrender. and make their own peace by betraying the city; but that. while all were yet united and hopeful, they might win a battie, an assurance which Miltiades was the better able to give. being acquainted with the Persian tactics as well as the Gre

cian. Callimachus was persuaded, and the army marched to Marathon, where, on his own day of command, Miltiades led it into action. The Athenians were joined by the whole strength of Platæa, a little commonwealth of Boeotia, which had thrown itself on their protection against Thebes, and had ever since been their most faithful ally. The combined force may have amounted to about fourteen thousand heavy-armed troops, with at least an equal number of lightarmed: the Persian army is stated at one hundred thousand

men.

Of the infantry in the invading army, the Persians and Saca only were good in close fight, and these were inferior to the Greeks in the length of their spears, the goodness of their defensive armour, and the firmness of their array. The rest of the foot were only to be feared for their skill in using missiles; but the cavalry was numerous and excellent. The ground was admirably chosen for the Athenians. In the hills their heavy phalanx would have been unable to keep its ranks unbroken and available against the archery of Asia; in a wide plain, it would have been surrounded by numbers, and harassed without the power of retaliation by the horse; but in the narrow plain of Marathon the ground favoured the movements of the phalanx, while its small extent precluded the evolutions of the hostile cavalry, and obliged all to receive the Greeks in front, instead of annoying them on the flanks or rear. Still, confined as was the space, Miltiades, could only present a front equal to that of the enemy by weakening some part of his line. He weakened the centre and strengthened the wings, and then, to leave as little opportunity of action as possible to the enemy's horse and archery, he ordered the troops to advance running, and engage at once in close fight. The conflict was obstinate. The Persians and Saca, who were in the centre, broke the weak centre of the Athenians, and pursued it up the country; but the rest were routed by the Athenians of the wings, who being immediately recalled from pursuit, and led against the conquering Persians, defeated them and pursued them to

their ships. Seven ships were taken on the shore, and the invaders lost six thousand four hundred men, the Athenians only one hundred and ninety-two, among whom, however, was the polemarch Callimachus, with many other eminent officers.

The Persian army, on its embarkation, sailed immediately towards Athens, hoping to surprise it during the absence of its defenders; but Miltiades guessing their design, made a hasty march and arrived in the city before the enemy was in sight. The invaders now returned to Asia, carrying with them their Eretrian prisoners, who were sent to Susa. Darius had borne them bitter enmity for the burning of Sardis; but when he had them at his mercy, he treated them with considerable humanity. According to a favourite practice of his, he established them as a colony on an estate of his own, where they were long after distinguished by their Grecian speech.

The Athenians, on the fall of Eretria, had applied to Lacedæmon for aid, which the senate promised, but alleged a superstition which prevented its being sent till after the full moon. They then despatched two thousand men, who marched with such haste to atone for the apparent slackness of their commonwealth, that they arrived in Attica on the third day. They were, nevertheless, too late for the battle, but they went to Marathon to see the dead, and departed giving due praise to the Athenians, as the first to stop the victories of Persia. Herodotus remarks, that "the Athenians first, of the Greeks, advanced running on their enemies, and first endured the sight of the Median dress and the men who wore it; for hitherto the very name of the Medes had been a terror to Greece."