Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/365

PLAIN OF MARATHON. 847 fino bay, and is in length about six miles, in breadth never less than about one mile and a half. Two marshes bound the extrem- ities of the plain: the southern is not very large, and is almost dry at the conclusion of the great heats ; but the northern, which generally covers considerably more than a square mile, offers several parts which are at all seasons impassable. Both, however, leave a broad, firm, sandy beach between them and the sea. The uninterrupted flatness of the plain is hardly relieved by a single tree ; and an amphitheatre of rocky hills and rugged mountains separates it from the rest of Attica, over the lower ridges of which some steep and difficult paths communicate with the dis- tricts of the interior." The position occupied by Miltiades before the battle, identified as it was to all subsequent Athenians by the sacred grove of Herakles near Marathon, was probably on some portion of the high ground above this plain, and Cornelius Nepos tells us that he protected it from the attacks of the Persian cavalry by felled trees obstructing the approach. The Persians occupied a position on the plain ; while their fleet was ranged along the beach, and Hippias himself marshalled them for the battle. 1 The native Persians and Sakae, the best troops in the whole army, were placed in the centre, which they considered as the post of honor, a trees were chiefly situated in the two valleys, where some are still growing : for as to the plain itself, the circumstances of the battle incline one to be- lieve that it was anciently as destitute of trees as it is at the present day." (Leake, on the Demi of Attica, Trans, of Roy. Soc. of Literature, vol. ii, p. 162.) Colonel Leake farther says, respecting the fitness of the Marathonian ground for cavalry movements : "As I rode across the plain of Marathon with a peasant of Vrana, he remarked to me that it was a fine place for cavalry tc fight in. None of the modern Marathonii were above the rank of laborers : they have heard that a great battle was once fought there, but that is all they know." (Leake, utsup. ii, p. 175.) 1 Herodot. vi, 107. 8 Plutarch, Symposiac. i, 3, p. 619 ; Xenophon. Anabas. i, 8, 21 ; Arrian, <,8, 18; iii, 11, 16. We may compare, with this established battle-array of the Persian ai> wies, that of the Turkish armies, adopted and constantly followed ever since the victorious battle of Ikonium, in 1386, gained by Amurath ths First over the Karamanians. The European troops, or those of Rum, occupy the left wing : the Asiatic trooos. or those of Anatoli, the right