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THE ARMY AND NAVY. 161At this moment Miltiades arose and addressed thedecide.Polemarch Callimachus. 1 " It now rests with you to reduceAthens to slavery, or, setting it free, to leave a reputationamong men, such as neither Harmodius nor Aristogiton hasleft for ; long as the city of Athens lias existed, it has neverbeen in any danger like the present. If it should submit tothe Persians, it is already determined what it will sufferunder its tyrants; should it be saved, it can become the firstof Grecian cities. If we do not join battle, I fear a factionwill confuse the minds of the Athenians,and make themPersian ;if we fight, victory will be ours with the gods."History can relate of a great man nothing more importantthan his conduct in the most decisive moment of his life.Miltiades himself could not have foreboded how much depended on that moment ; yet he gained his end, and Callimachusadopted his opinion. But besides the talent of thegeneral, who knew how to avail himself of his position tocover his wings, the victory was not less decided by thediscipline of the Athenian militia, accustomed to preservetheir ranks even while advancing with rapidity. They ranto the encounter; 2 the first of the Greeks, who did so. Thewings of the enemy were discomfited ;and the name ofMarathon became immortal among men.3The battle of Plataese, which happened eleven years later,is one of those, respecting which we have the most accurateaccounts. 4 The motions of the army on the preceding days,give it an importance for the student of tactics. In hisevolutions the Persian general seems to have been superiorto the Grecian ;for he cut off all communication with them,and all supplies of water, and compelled them to changetheir encampment. But the want of cavalry in the face ofan army which abounded in it,made every motion of theGreeks difficult ;and when we remember the internal organization of the army, and the littlepower possessed by1Herod, vi. 109.2 tv dpofup, Herod, vi. 112. Herodotus says expressly, that they made theattack with closed ranks, ddpdoi; we must not therefore think of a wildonset. They had neither cavalry nor archers; just as the Swiss at Novarain each case the result was thein 1513 were without cavalry and artillery;same. "When enthusiasm attacks, computationfails.3 In the year 479 B. C.4 Herod, ix. 28, etc. Plutarch, in Aristide, Op, ii. p. 510, etc., has madeuse of Herodotus.