| #### CHAPTER 3 |

| #### #### Such was the advice of the Thebans: but Mardonius did not follow it. A strong desire of taking Athens a second time possessed him, in part arising from his inborn stubbornness, in part from a wish to inform the king at Sardis, by fire-signals along the islands, that he was master of the place. However, he did not on his arrival in Attica find the Athenians in their country - they had again withdrawn, some to their ships, but the greater part to Salamis - and he only gained possession of a deserted town. It was ten months after the taking of the city by the king that Mardonius came against it for the second time. ####  |