edes. But if we fight, before there is anything rotten in the state
of Athens, I believe that, provided the gods will give fair play and no
favor, we are able to get the best of it in an engagement."

The vote of the brave War-ruler was gained, the council determined to
give battle; and such was the ascendancy and acknowledged military
eminence of Miltiades, that his brother generals one and all gave up
their days of command to him, and cheerfully acted under his orders.
Fearful, however, of creating any jealousy, and of so failing to obtain
the vigorous cooeperation of all parts of his small army, Miltiades
waited till the day when the chief command would have come round to him
in regular rotation before he led the troops against the enemy.

The inaction of the Asiatic commanders during this interval appears
strange at first sight; but Hippias was with them, and they and he were
aware of their chance of a bloodless conquest through the machinations
of his partisans among the Athenians. The nature of the ground also
explains in many points the tactics of the opposite generals before the
battle, as well as the operations of the troops during the engagement.

The plain of Marathon, which is about twenty-two miles distant from
Athens, lies along the bay of the same name on the north-eastern coast of
Attica. The plain is nearly in the form of a crescent, and about six
miles in length. It is about two miles broad in the centre, where the
space between the mountains and the sea is greatest, but it narrows
toward either extremity, the mountains coming close clown to the water
at the horns of the bay. There is a valley trending inward from the
middle of the plain, and a ravine comes down to it to the southward.
Elsewhere it is closely girt round on the land side by rugged limestone
mountains, which are thickly studded with pines, olive-trees and cedars,
and overgrown with the myrtle, arbutus, and the other low odoriferous
shrubs that everywhere perfume the Attic air.

The level of the ground is now varied by the mound raised over those who
fell in the battle, but it was an unbroken plain when the Persians
encamped on it. There are marshes at each end, which are dry in spring
and summer and then offer no obstruction to the horseman, but are
commonly flooded with rain and so rendered impracticable for cavalry in
the autumn, the time of year at which the action took place.

The Greeks, lying encamped on the mountains, could wat