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As he offered his prayer, the Tegeans, advancing before the rest,
rushed forward against the enemy; and the Lacedaemonians, who had
obtained favourable omens the moment that Pausanias prayed, at
length, after their long delay, advanced to the attack; while the
Persians, on their side, left shooting, and prepared to meet them.
And first the combat was at the wicker shields. Afterwards, when
these were swept down, a fierce contest took Place by the side of the
temple of Ceres, which lasted long, and ended in a hand-to-hand
struggle. The barbarians many times seized hold of the Greek spears
and brake them; for in boldness and warlike spirit the Persians were
not a whit inferior to the Greeks; but they were without bucklers,
untrained, and far below the enemy in respect of skill in arms.
Sometimes singly, sometimes in bodies of ten, now fewer and now more
in number, they dashed upon the Spartan ranks, and so perished.
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