tinguished itself beyond all others on that day. For this reason,
the Aiantid tribe offered the sacrifice to the nymphs Sphragitides,
ordered by the oracle for the victory, at the public expense. Of the
Lacedaemonians, there fell ninety-one, and of the Tegeans sixteen. It
is hard, therefore, to understand Herodotus when he says that these
alone came to blows with the enemy, and that no other Greeks were
engaged at all; for both the number of the slain and the tombs of the
fallen prove that the victory was won by all the Greeks together. If
only three cities had fought, and the rest had done nothing, they
never would have inscribed on the altar:

"The Greeks in battle drove the Persian forth
By force of arms, and bravely Greece set free,
To Zeus Protector they this altar reared,
Where all might thank him for their victory."

This battle was fought on the day of the month Boedromion, according
to the Athenian calendar; and on the twenty-sixth of the month Panemus
according to that of the Boeotians, on which day the Hellenic meeting
still takes place at Plataea, and sacrifice is offered to Zeus, the
Protector of Liberty, in memory of this victory. The discrepancy of
the dates is no marvel, seeing that even at the present day, when
astronomy is more accurately understood, different cities still begin
and end their months on different days.

XX. After the battle, as the Athenians would not assign the prize of
valour[24] to the Lacedaemonians, nor suffer them to set up a trophy,
the common cause of Greece was within a little of being ruined by the
quarrels of the two armies, had not Aristeides by argument and
entreaty prevailed upon his colleagues, especially Leokrates and
Myronides, to submit the dispute to the decision of all the Greeks.
Upon this a council was held, at which Theogeiton of Megara said that
the prize for valour ought to be given to another city, and not either
to Athens or Sparta, if they did not wish to bring about a civil war.
To this Kleokritus of Corinth made answer. All men expected that he
would demand the honour for Corinth, which city had acquitted itself
best, next to Athens and Sparta; but he made a very excellent and
conciliatory speech, demanding that the prize should be bestowed on
the Plataeans, by which means neither of the claimants would be
aggrieved. This proposal was agreed to by Aristeides on behalf of the
Athenians, and by Pausanias on behalf of the Lacedaemonians.