Page:Thucydides, translated into English Vol 2.djvu/118

no DEFEAT ASD DEATH OF CLEON [v seeing that the Athenians were on the move and that his opportunity was come, said to his companions and to the troops : ' These men do not mean to face us ; see how their spears and their heads are shaking ; such behaviour always shows that an army is going to run away. Open me the gates there as I ordered, and let us boldly attack them at once.' Thereupon he went out himself by the gate leading to the palisade and by the first gate of the long wall which was then standing, and ran at full speed straight up the road, where, on the steepest part of the hill, a trophy now stands: he then attacked the centre of the Athenians, who were terrified at his audacity and their own disorder, and put them to flight. Then Clearidas, as he was bidden, sallied forth by the Thrac- ian gate with his division, and charged the Athenians. The sudden attack at both points created a panic among them. Their left wing, which had proceeded some little way along the road towards Eion, broke off and instantly fled. They were already in full retreat, and Brasidas was going on to the right wing when he was wounded ; the Athenians did not observe his fall, and those about him carried him off the field. The right wing of the Athenians was more disposed to stand. Cleon indeed, who had never intended to remain, fled at once, and was overtaken and slain by a Myrcinian targeteer. But his soldiers rallied where they were on the top of the hill, and repulsed Clearidas two or three times. They did not yield until the Chalcidian and Myrcinian cavalry and the targeteers hemmed them in and put them to flight with a shower of darts. And so the rout became general, and those of the Athenians who were not slain at once in close combat or destroyed by the Chalcidian horse and the targeteers, hard-pressed and wandering by many paths over the hills, made their way back to Eion. Brasidas was carried safely by his followers out of the battle into the cit}'. He was still alive, and knew that his army had conquered, but soon afterwards he dirci. The rest of the army returning