This city has long been famous; for it was in a plain near to it that was fought the celebrated battle between the Greeks and Persians98. On the evening previous to the engagement, the Grecians held a council of war, in which it was resolved, that they should decamp from the place they were in, and march to another more conveniently situated for water. Night being come on, and the officers endeavouring at the head of their corps to make more haste than ordinary to the camp marked out for them, great confusion happened among the troops, some going one way and some another, without observing any order or regularity in their march. At last they halted near the little city of PlatÆa.

On the first news of the Grecians being decamped, Mardonius drew his army into order of battle, and pursued them with hideous shouting and bawling of his barbarian forces, who thought they were advancing not so much in order of battle, as to strip and plunder a flying enemy; and their general likewise, making himself sure of victory, proudly insulted Artabazus; reproaching him with his fearful and cowardly prudence, and with the false notion, he had conceived of the LacedÆmonians, who never fled, as he pretended, before an enemy; whereas here was an instance of the contrary. But the general found quickly this was no false or ill-grounded notion. He happened to fall in with the LacedÆmonians, who were alone and separated from the body of the Grecian army, to the number of fifty thousand men, together with three thousand of the TegeatÆ. The encounter was exceedingly fierce and resolute on both sides; the men fought with the courage of lions, and the barbarians perceived that they had to do with soldiers, who were determined to conquer or die on the field. The Athenian troops, to whom Pausanias sent an officer, were already upon their march to their aid; but the Greeks who had taken part with the Persians, to the number of fifty thousand men, went out to meet them on their way, and hindered them from proceeding any farther. Aristides, with his little body of men, bore up firmly against them, and withstood their attack, telling them how insignificant a superiority of numbers is against true courage and bravery. The battle being thus divided, and fought in two different places, the Spartans were the first who broke in upon the Persian forces, and put them in disorder. Mardonius, their general, falling dead of a wound he had received in the engagement, all his army betook themselves to flight; and those Greeks, who were engaged against Aristides, did the same thing as soon as they understood the barbarians were defeated. The latter ran away to their former camp which they had quitted, where they were sheltered and fortified with an inclosure of wood.

The manner, in which the LacedÆmonians treated the PlatÆans some time after, is, also, not unworthy of remembrance. About the end of the campaign, which is that wherein Mitylene was taken, the PlatÆans, being in absolute want of provisions, and unable to make the least defence, surrendered, upon condition that they should not be punished till they had been tried and judged in form of justice. Five commissioners came for that purpose from LacedÆmon; and these, without charging them for any crime, barely asked them, Whether they had done any service to the LacedÆmonians and the allies in war? The PlatÆans were much surprised as well as puzzled at this question, and were sensible that it had been suggested by the Thebans, their professed enemies, who had vowed their destruction. They therefore put the LacedÆmonians in mind of the services, they had done to Greece in general; both at the battle of Artemesium, and that of PlatÆa, and particularly in LacedÆmonia, at the time of the earthquake, which was followed by the revolt of their slaves. The only reason, they declared, of their having joined the Athenians afterwards, was to defend themselves from the hostilities of the Thebans, against whom they had implored the assistance of the LacedÆmonians to no purpose: that if that was imputed to them as a crime, which was only their misfortune, it ought not however entirely to obliterate the remembrance of their former services. “Cast your eyes,” said they, “on the monuments of your ancestors, which you see here, to whom we annually pay all the honours, which can be rendered to the manes of the dead. You thought fit to entrust their bodies with us, as we were eye-witnesses of their bravery; and yet you will now give up their ashes to their murderers, in abandoning us to the Thebans, who fought against us at the battle of PlatÆa. Will you enslave a province where Greece recovered its liberty? Will you destroy the temples of those gods to whom you owe the victory? Will you abolish the memory of their founders, who contributed so greatly to your safety? On this occasion, we may venture to say, our interest is inseparable from your glory; and you cannot deliver up your ancient friends and benefactors to the unjust hatred of the Thebans, without eternal infamy to yourselves.”

One would conclude, that these just remonstrances would have made some impression on the LacedÆmonians; but they were biassed more by the answer the Thebans made, and which was expressed in the most bitter and haughty terms against the PlatÆans, and, besides, they had brought their instructions from LacedÆmon. They stood, therefore, to their first question, “Whether the PlatÆans had done them any service during the war?” And making them pass one after another, as they severally answered “No,” each was immediately butchered, and not one escaped. About two hundred were killed in this manner; and twenty-five Athenians, who were among them, met the same unhappy fate. Their wives, who were taken prisoners, were made slaves. The Thebans afterwards peopled their city with exiles from Megara and PlatÆa; but, the year after, they demolished the latter entirely. It was in this manner the LacedÆmonians, in the hopes of reaping great advantages from the Thebans, sacrificed the PlatÆans to their animosity, ninety-three years after their first alliance with the Athenians.

Herodotus relates, that cenotaphs, composed of heaps of earth, were raised near the town; but no vestige of these remain; nor are there any traces of the sepulchres of those who fell at PlatÆa. These are mentioned by Plutarch, who says, that at the anniversary of those who were killed at PlatÆa, the Archon crossed the city to go to the sepulchres, and drawing water from the fountain in a vase, washed the columns of the tombs, and made libations of wine, oil, milk, and perfumes.

Here was a temple of Minerva, in which Polygnotus executed a group of the return of Ulysses; and a statue of the goddess of great size, of gilt wood; but the face, hands, and feet, were of ivory. Also a temple of Diana, in which was a monument of Euchidas, a citizen of PlatÆa, to commemorate his having run from PlatÆa to Delphos, and returned before sunset: he expired a few minutes after. The distance was thirty-seven leagues and a half.

Mr. Dodwell says, he could find no certain traces of this temple, nor of one dedicated to Ceres, unless several heaps of large stones might be regarded as such. Neither could he find any remains of a stadium. He saw, however, a frieze of white marble, enriched with Ionic ornaments.

Dr. Clarke says, that the upper part of the promontory is covered with ruins; amidst which he found some pieces of serpentine porphyry; and the peasants, he says, in ploughing the soil in the neighbourhood, find their labours frequently obstructed by large blocks of stone, and earth, filled with broken remains of terra cottas. The ground-plot and foundations of temples are visible among the vestiges of the citadel, and remains of towers are conspicuous upon the walls.

The walls form a triangle of about three thousand three hundred yards in compass. In some parts they are in a high state of preservation, and extremely interesting; since they were rebuilt in the reign of Alexander, after having been destroyed by the Persians. They are of regular masonry, eight feet in thickness, and fortified by towers, most of which are square.99

The view from the ruins is extremely interesting and beautiful. “When we look towards Thebes,” says Mr. Dodwell, “we behold the Asopos, and the other small streams, winding through this memorable plain, which, towards the west, is separated by a low range of hills from the equally celebrated field of Leuctra; while the distant view is terminated by the two pointed summits of Helicon, and the snow-topped heights of Parnassus.”—“What must this city have been, in all its pride and glory!” exclaims Mr. Williams. “The remains now appear grey as twilight; but without a charm of returning day. Time is modelling now, instead of art. Miles of ancient pottery and tiles, hardly allowing the blades of corn to grow among the ruins; sheep-tracks among the massive foundations; asses loaded with brush-wood, from shrubs growing in the courts of ancient palaces and temples; shepherds with their flocks, the bells of the goats heard from among the rocks; tombs and sarcophagi of ancient heroes, covered with moss, some broken and some entire; fragments, and ornaments, and stones containing mutilated inscriptions;—these are the objects, which PlatÆa now presents. But who, that stands there, with a recollection of its ancient glory, and having Parnassus full in view, can quit the spot without regret?100”