s from Asia, he might reasonably hope that
one victory would inspirit all Greece to combine against the common foe;
and that the latent seeds of revolt and disunion in the Persian empire
would soon burst forth and paralyze its energies, so as to leave Greek
independence secure.

With these hopes and risks, Miltiades, on the afternoon of a September
day, B.C. 490, gave the word for the Athenian army to prepare for
battle. There were many local associations connected with those mountain
heights which were calculated powerfully to excite the spirits of the
men, and of which the commanders well knew how to avail themselves in
their exhortations to their troops before the encounter. Marathon itself
was a region sacred to Hercules. Close to them was the fountain of
Macaria, who had in days of yore devoted herself to death for the
liberty of her people. The very plain on which they were to fight was
the scene of the exploits of their national hero, Theseus; and there,
too, as old legends told, the Athenians and the Heraclidae had routed the
invader, Eurystheus.

These traditions were not mere cloudy myths or idle fictions, but
matters of implicit earnest faith to the men of that day, and many a
fervent prayer arose from the Athenian ranks to the heroic spirits who,
while on earth, had striven and suffered on that very spot, and who were
believed to be now heavenly powers, looking down with interest on their
still beloved country, and capable of interposing with superhuman aid in
its behalf.

According to old national custom, the warriors of each tribe were
arrayed together; neighbor thus fighting by the side of neighbor, friend
by friend, and the spirit of emulation and the consciousness of
responsibility excited to the very utmost. The War-ruler, Callimachus,
had the leading of the right wing; the Plataeans formed the extreme left;
and Themistocles and Aristides commanded the centre. The line consisted
of the heavy-armed spearmen only; for the Greeks--until the time of
Iphicrates--took little or no account of light-armed soldiers in a
pitched battle, using them only in skirmishes, or for the pursuit of a
defeated enemy. The panoply of the regular infantry consisted of a long
spear, of a shield, helmet, breastplate, greaves, and short sword.

Thus equipped, they usually advanced slowly and steadily into action in
a uniform phalanx of about eight spears deep. But the military genius of
Miltiades led him to deviate on this o