Page:History of Greece Vol V.djvu/196

172 HISTORY OF GREECE. have failed to produce that effect, if the intention had been realized : it is at the same time the highest compliment to the formidable reputation of the native Persian troops, — a reputa- tion recognized by Herodotus, and well sustained at least by their personal bravery.i Nor can we wonder that this publicly mani- fested reluctance on the part of the leading troops in the Grecian army contributed much to exalt the rash confidence of Mardonius : a feeling which Herodotus, in Homeric style,^ casts into the speech of a Persian herald sent to upbraid the Lacedaemonians, and challenge them to a " single combat with champions of equal numbers, Lacedaemonians against Persians." This herald, whom no one heard or cared for, and who serves but as a mouthpiece for bringing out the feelings belonging to the moment, was fol- lowed by something very real and terrible, — a vigorous attack on the Greek line by the Persian cavalry ; whose rapid motions, and showers of arrows and javelins, annoyed the Greeks on this day more than ever. The latter, as has been before stated, had no cavalry whatever ; nor do their light troops, though sufficiently numerous, appear to have rendered any service, with the excep- tion of the Athenian bowmen. How great was the advantage gained by the Persian cavalry, is shown by the fact that they for a time drove away the Lacedaemonians from the fountain of Gargaphia, so as to choke it up and render it unfit for use. As the army had been prevented by the cavalry from resorting to the river Asopus, this fountain had been of late the only water- ing-place : and without it the position which they then occupied became untenable, — while their provisions also were exhausted, inasmuch as the convoys, from fear of the Persian cavalry, could not descend from Kithaeron to join them.3 In this dilemma, Pausanias summoned the Grecian chiefs to his tenf, and after an anxious debate the resolution was taken, in case Mardonius should not bring on a general action in the course of the day, to change their position during the night, when there ' Hcrodot. ix, 71. ^ Compare the reproaches of Hektor to Diomedes (Iliad, viii, 161). ^ Herodot. ix, 49, 50. Pausanias mentions that the Platoeans restored the fountain of Gargaphia after the victory {to vdup uveauaavTo) ; but he hardly seems to speak as if he had himself seen it (ix, 4, 2).