|
So when the battle was set in array, and the victims showed themselves
favourable, instantly the Athenians, so soon as they were let go,
charged the barbarians at a run. Now the distance between the two
armies was little short of eight furlongs. The Persians, therefore,
when they saw the Greeks coming on at speed, made ready to receive
them, although it seemed to them that the Athenians were bereft of
their senses, and bent upon their own destruction; for they saw a mere
handful of men coming on at a run without either horsemen or archers.
Such was the opinion of the barbarians; but the Athenians in close
array fell upon them, and fought in a manner worthy of being recorded.
They were the first of the Greeks, so far as I know, who introduced
the custom of charging the enemy at a run, and they were likewise the
first who dared to look upon the Median garb, and to face men clad in
that fashion. Until this time the very name of the Medes had been a
terror to the Greeks to hear.
|
|