The histories of Herodotus;

356 HERODOTUS—BOOK VI, ERATO [112-116
space between them was not less than eight stades. But the
Persians, seeing them charging at full speed, prepared to receive
them ; and they imputed madness to them, and that
utterly destructive, when they saw that they were few in number,
and that they rushed on at full speed, though they had
no cavalry nor archers. So the barbarians surmised. The
Athenians, however, when they engaged in close ranks with
the barbarians, fought in a manner worthy of record. For
they, the first of all the Greeks whom we know of, charged
the enemy at full speed, and they first endured the sight of
the Medic garb, and the men that wore it ; but until that time
the very name of the Medes was a terror to the Greeks. The
battle at Marathon lasted a long time; and in the middle of
the line, where the Persians themselves and the Sacae were
arrayed, the barbarians were victorious ; in this part, then,
the barbarians conquered, and having broken the line, pursued
to the interior; but in both wings the Athenians and
the Plataeans were victorious ; and having gained the victory,
they allowed the defeated portion of the barbarians to flee;
and having united both wings, they fought with those that
had broken their centre, and the Athenians were victorious.
They followed the Persians in their flight, cutting them to
pieces, till, reaching the shore, they called for fire and attacked
the ships.
And in the first place, in this battle the war minister, Cal-
limachus, was killed, having proved himself a brave man
and among the generals, Stesilaus, son of Thrasylas, perished
and in the next place Cynsegeirus, son of Euphorion, having
laid hold of a ship's poop, had his hand severed by an axe
and fell : and, besides, many other distinguished Athenians
were slain. In this manner the Athenians made themselves
masters of seven ships : but with the rest the barbarians rowing
rapidly back, and after taking off the Eretrian slaves from
the island in which they had left them, sailed round Sunium,
wishing to anticipate the Athenians in reaching the city. The
charge prevailed among the Athenians that they formed this
design by the contrivance of the Alcmseonidae ; for that they,
having agreed with the Persians, held up a shield to them
when they were on board their ships. They then sailed round
Sunium. But the Athenians marched with all speed to the
assistance of the city, and were beforehand in reaching it before
the barbarians arrived ; and having come from the precinct
of Hercules at Marathon, they took up their station in
another precinct of Hercules at Cynosarges : but the barbarians,
having laid to with their fleet off Phalerum, for this
;