Ten Great Events in History | Page 3

the battle was not yet over. The genius of Miltiades had
anticipated this result. The wings of the Greek army, strengthened at
the expense of the center, fell upon the weakened wings of the Persians
with irresistable onset. The invaders were forced back step by step, the
retreat soon changing into a wild and promiscuous rout, and two thirds
of the Persian army ceased to exist as a fighting force. The victorious
Greeks now turned their attention to the Persian center, falling upon its
flanks with incredible fury. Surrounded on all sides, for a time the
Persians maintained their old reputation as valiant soldiers, but nothing
could withstand the impetuosity of the Greeks, and soon the whole of
the invading hosts were in tumultuous retreat.
13. The victorious Greeks pressed rapidly forward to prevent the foe
from embarking, and, if possible, to capture some of the ships. But the
Persian archers held the victors in check until the flying soldiery were
embarked, and the Greeks obtained possession of only seven vessels.
But they were left in undisputed possession of the field of battle, the
camp of the enemy, and an immense amount of treasure which had
been abandoned in the precipitate flight. Six thousand four hundred
Persian dead remained on the plain, while the Greek loss was one
hundred and ninety-two.
14. All Athens hastened to welcome the brave soldiery. A Spartan force,
on its way to join the Athenians, arrived too late to take part in the
battle, and they quietly returned home. As the news spread, loud and

frantic rejoicings were heard throughout Greece, and the name of Persia,
so long a dread and a menace, lost much of its terrors.
[Illustration: _Acropolis at Athens_]
15. But the battle of Marathon, and the victory of Miltiades, had a
wider significance than could enter into the imaginations of then living
man. It was a conflict between the barbarism of Asia and the dawning
civilization of Europe, between Oriental despotism and human liberty.
The victory rendered normal human growth possible, and, to use the
expressive phrase of the modern poet--
"Henceforth to the sunset, unchecked on its way, Shall liberty follow
the march of the day."
It was not for the Greeks alone, but for all ages and all peoples; and in
this Western World, when we celebrate the birth of our own country,
we should ever keep in mind the desperate struggle at Marathon, and
the valor of Miltiades and his Greek soldiery.
16. But the war was not yet over. A single defeat did not extinguish the
hopes of the Persian monarch, nor exhaust the resources of his empire.
Herodotus says: "Now Darius was very bitter against the Athenians,
and when he heard the tale of the battle of Marathon he was much more
wroth, and desired much more eagerly to march against Hellas.
Straightway he sent heralds to all the cities, and bade them make ready
an army, and to furnish much more than they had done before, both
ships, and horses, and corn; and while the heralds were going round, all
Asia was shaken for three years; but in the fourth year the Egyptians,
who had been made slaves by Cambyses, rebelled against the Persians,
and then the king sought only the more vehemently to go both against
the Egyptians and against the Greeks. So he named Xerxes, his son, to
be king over the Persians after himself, and made ready to march. But
in the year after the revolt of Egypt, Darius himself died; nor was he
suffered to punish the Athenians or the Egyptians who had rebelled
against him."
17. The death of Darius gave Greece a respite, but the final conflict was

only postponed. Xerxes was weak, obstinate, and vain-glorious, but he
inherited all his father's hatred of the Greeks, and he resolved upon one
supreme effort to reduce them to subjection. For seven years more the
whole vast Persian empire resounded with the notes of preparation. In
480 B.C., ten years after the battle of Marathon, everything was in
readiness. A formidable fleet had been built and equipped, corn and
military stores had been collected to a vast amount, and an army had
gathered which, including camp followers, was variously estimated at
from three to five millions. A bridge of boats was built across the
Hellespont, and the Oriental horde was prepared to ravage the Grecian
valleys like a swarm of devouring locusts. A great storm arose and
destroyed the bridge, and the Persian despot ordered the Hellespont
scourged with whips in token of his displeasure. When the bridge was
rebuilt, Xerxes, from a throne erected upon the shore, for seven days
and nights, watched his mighty host pass over from Asia into Europe.
18. In the mean time the Greeks were preparing for