The death of Masistius, coupled with that final repulse of the
cavalry which left his body in possession of the Greeks, produced
a strong effect on both armies, encouraging the one as much as it
disheartened the other. Throughout the camp of Mardonius, the grief
was violent and unbounded, manifested by wailings so loud as to echo
over all Bœotia; while the hair of men, horses, and cattle, was
abundantly cut in token of mourning. The Greeks, on the other hand,
overjoyed at their success, placed the dead body in a cart, and
paraded it around the army: even the hoplites ran out of their ranks
to look at it; not only hailing it as a valuable trophy, but admiring
its stature and proportions.[330] And so much was their confidence
increased, that Pausanias now ventured to quit the protection of
the mountain-ground, inconvenient from its scanty supply of water,
and to take up his position in the plain beneath, interspersed only
with low hillocks. Marching from Erythræ in a westerly direction
along the declivities of Kithæron, and passing by Hysiæ, the Greeks
occupied a line of camp in the Platæan territory along the Asôpus and
on its right bank; with their right wing near to the fountain called
Gargaphia,[331] and their left wing near to the chapel, surrounded
by a shady grove, of the Platæan hero, Androkratês. In this position
they were marshalled according to nations, or separate fractions of
the Greek name,—the Lacedæmonians on the right wing, with the Tegeans
and Corinthians immediately joining them,—and the Athenians on the
left wing; a post which, as second in point of dignity, was at first
claimed by the Tegeans, chiefly on grounds of mythical exploits,
to the exclusion of the Athenians, but ultimately adjudged by the
Spartans, after hearing both sides, to Athens.[332] In the field,
even Lacedæmonians followed those democratical forms which pervaded
so generally Grecian military operations: in this case, it was not
the generals, but the Lacedæmonian troops in a body, who heard the
argument, and delivered the verdict by unanimous acclamation.
[330] Herodot. ix, 24, 25. οἰμωγῇ τε χρεώμενοι ἀπλέτῳ· ἅπασαν γὰρ
τὴν Βοιωτίην κατεῖχε ἠχώ, etc.
The exaggerated demonstrations of grief, ascribed to Xerxes and
Atossa. in the Persæ of Æschylus, have often been blamed by
critics: we may see from this passage how much they are in the
manners of Orientals of that day.
[331] Herodot. ix, 25-30; Plutarch, Aristeidês, c. 11. τὸ τοῦ
Ἀνδροκράτους ἡρῷον ἐγγὺς ἄλσει πυκνῶν καὶ συσκίων δένδρων
περιεχόμενον.
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