with the institution of these protective officers, the plebeians were
allowed the right of having two aediles chosen from their own body, whose
business it was to preserve order and decency in the streets, to provide
for the repair of all buildings and roads there, with other functions
partly belonging to police officers, and partly to commissioners of
public works.

THE BATTLE OF MARATHON

B.C. 490

SIR EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY

Marathon! A name to conjure up such visions of glory as few
battlefields have ever shown. Heroism and determination on the part
of the Athenians, supported by the small but ever noble band of
Plataeans who came to their aid; who can read the repulse of the
Persians on this ever memorable plain without experiencing a thrill
of admiration and delight at the achievement? The whole world since
that battle has looked upon it as a victory of the under dog. Many
of the great engagements of modern times have been likened unto it.
For long it has been the synonym of brave despair; the conquering
of an enemy many times superior in numbers to its opponent.

This attempt of the Persians on the Greeks was not the first
against them, That took place B.C. 493 under Mardonius. This
commander had reduced Ionia, dethroned the despots, and established
democracy throughout the land. After this he turned his attention
to Eretria and Athens, taking his army across the straits in
vessels. But the ships of war and transports were wrecked by a
mighty headwind as they rounded Mount Athos. Many were driven
ashore, about three hundred of them were totally lost, and some
twenty thousand men perished in the catastrophe.

All the trouble between the Persians and Greeks arose over the
capture of Sardis by the Ionians, B.C. 500. The city was burned,
and then the Ionians retreated. It was to avenge this that Persia
determined on a punitive expedition against the Greeks. The Ionians
and Milesian men were mostly slain by the Persians, the women and
children led into captivity, and the temples in the cities burned
and razed to the ground.[40]

[Footnote 40: The year following the fall of the Ionic city of
Miletus the poet Phrynichus made it the subject of a tragedy. On
bringing it on the stage he was fined one thousand drachmae for
having recalled to them their own