PLATAEAE will ever be memorable on account of the battle in which the destruction of the Persian army and the liberation of Greece were completed; the account of this battle in Herodotus, however, is more poetical than historical; its whole course was different, and the forces were not by any means as formidable; but we know nothing better, and his narrative is so beautiful that we gladly accept it as a poem. Certain it is, however, that the Greeks under Pausanias destroyed the army of the Persians. During that war, Thebes, owing to the influence of its aristocracy, acted a disgraceful part. Plataeae and Thespiae maintained themselves against the arrogance of Thebes, and found sympathy among the other Greeks; and in this manner Plataeae in particular formed a small independent democratic state under the protection of Athens until the time of the Peloponnesian war, which the Thebans commenced with the treacherous attack during the night, which led to the destruction of Plataeae. The account of this occurrence shows us the smallness of Greek towns; the population of Greece is generally estimated too high, a mistake into which we may easily be led by the statements of the ancients. Subsequently Plataeae was restored; but after the battle of Leuctra it was again destroyed by the Thebans. The inhabitants then withdrew to Athens, and when the restoration of their town was sanctioned by Alexander, a small number only returned, and formed a village with a few temples which preserved the remembrance of better days, especially the temple of Zeus Eleutherios. Dicaearchus gives us a most vivid picture of what Plataeae was in later times. THESPIAE, near mount Helicon, was on the whole an insignificant place, and became still more so when, after the battle of Leuctra, it was destroyed by the Thebans. At the time of the Macedonian supremacy it was restored, and acquired great reputation on account of the Eros of Praxiteles, which secured to the place its existence, for it was visited by strangers from all parts, who came to see that work of art. In like manner some small places in Italy were celebrated for a single picture. Otherwise Thespiae was a deserted and decayed place. LEUCTRA was situated in the territory of Thespiae; there the numerical superiority of the Spartans was overpowered by the military skill of the Thebans. HALIARTUS on the lake is known from the battle which was gained there by Lysander over the allies. In the war with Perseus it was destroyed by the Romans, and as the Athenians had been unable to obtain its preservation, they made the unbecoming request that the Romans should give them the territory. The Romans with a Machiavellistic policy sometimes gave away such districts for the purpose of fostering divisions and animosities.