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A general of [the] Athenians. This man urged Darius to march against the Athenians and Greece, with Intaphernes and Datis as satraps and three hundred thousand soldiers, and he himself returned home with them, though he was already an old man. And they arrived and made a sweep through Eretria and sent those who had been captured to the king. He settled them near Sousa, and there is an epigram about them by Plato: "we are the Eretrian race of Euboeans; we lie near Sousa, alas! a land so far from our own."[1] They came thence to Marathon. [The] Athenians were under the command of Miltiades the son of Cimon and made war against the barbarians. They also called the Lacedaemonians to battle through Philippides the day-runner, who made one thousand five hundred stades in one night.[2] And because the custom did not permit them to go to war before the full moon, they declined. Pan met up with Philippides as he was going back across the Parthenion mountain in Arcadia and faulted the Athenians, by whom he alone of all the gods was neglected, and promised to support them in battle. After one man had advised -- for they were ten[3] -- waiting for the Lacedaemonians, but with Miltiades and then Callimachus recommending that they go forth, the Athenians went out, themselves being nine thousand and having one thousand Plataeans [in support]. And they say they won that same day. Among these Callimachus [was found] standing as a corpse [propped up] on spears,[4] and Polyzelus, after being blinded when he saw a phantom shading his shield with its beard (they suppose him to be Pan as ally), fought as if he could see, and distinguished the enemy and his own side by voice.[5]

*(ippi/as, *)aqhnai/wn strathgo/s. ou(=tos *darei=on parocu/nas e)pi\ tou\s *)aqhnai/ous strateu=sai kai\ th\n *(ella/da, dia\ *)intafe/rnous kai\ *da/tidos satrapw=n kai\ l# muria/dwn stratou=, kai\ au)to\s su\n au)toi=s kath/|ei ghraio\s h)/dh w)/n. kai\ e)lqo/ntes e)sagh/neusan me\n *)ere/trian kai\ tou\s lhfqe/ntas tw=| basilei= e)/steilan. o( de\ au)tou\s para\ ta\ *sou=sa katoiki/zei, e)f' oi(=s kai\ *pla/twno/s e)stin e)pi/gramma: *eu)boe/wn ge/nos e)sme\n *)eretriko/n: a)/gxi de\ *sou/swn kei/meqa, feu= gai/hs o(/sson a)f' h(mete/rhs. e)nteu=qen e)pi\ *maraqw=na h)=lqon. *)aqhnai=oi de\ u(po\ *miltia/dh| strathgou/menoi tw=| *ki/mwnos toi=s barba/rois e)pole/mhsan. e)ka/loun de\ e)pi\ summaxi/a| kai\ *lakedaimoni/ous dia\ *filippi/dou tou= h(merodro/mou, o(\s tou\s xili/ous kai\ pentakosi/ous stadi/ous h)/nuse dia\ mia=s nukto/s. kai\ o(/ti o( no/mos ou)k ei)/a strateu/ein au)tou\s pro\ panselh/nou, kai\ parh|th/santo. tw=| *filippi/dh| de\ e)panio/nti kata\ to\ *parqe/nion o)/ros th=s *)arkadi/as o( *pa\n e)ntuxw\n e)me/myato me\n *)aqhnai/ois, w(s mo/nos qew=n a)melou/menos, kai\ summaxh/sein u(pe/sxeto. oi( de\ *)aqhnai=oi, sumbouleu/santos e(no/s, h)=san ga\r de/ka, perimei=nai tou\s *lakedaimoni/ous, *miltia/dou de\ parainou=ntos e)cie/nai kai\ *kallima/xou, e)ch=lqon au)toi\ me\n o)/ntes #22q#, *plataie/as e)/xontes #22a#. kai\ e)n au)th=| fasi\ th=| h(me/ra| e)ni/khsan. e)n tou/tois *kalli/maxos e)pi\ dora/twn ei(sth/kei nekro/s, *polu/zhlos de\ phrwqei/s, w(s fa/sma qeasa/menos tw=| pw/gwni kru/ptwn th\n a)spi/da [su/mmaxon to\n *pa=na d' ei)ka/zousin ei)=nai], e)ma/xeto w(s o(rw=n, kai\ die/krine th=| fwnh=| tou\s i)di/ous kai\ tou\s polemi/ous.

For Hippias see also iota 544.
[1] Greek Anthology 7.259 (ascribed to Plato), an epitaph for Eretrians buried in Persia; cf. Page (171-173). The ancient city of Susa (Sousa) was located in the lower Zagros Mountains, about 240 km. north of the Persian Gulf, the site of modern-day Shush, Iran; cf. Barrington Atlas map 93 grid E1. As to epigram's ascription, Preger (Theodor Preger, German classicst, 1866-1911) suggested (213) that the philosopher's interest in and discussions of the plight of the Eretrians (cf. Plato Laws 3.698b and Menexenus 240a) factored in Plato being identified as the author. Page finds (172) this a plausible theory.
[2] Approximately 170 and one half miles.
[3] That is, ten generals (under the overall command of the polemarch Callimachus, about to be mentioned).
[4] Again at kappa 226.
[5] [Again, summarily, at pi 1962, and in most respects for the worse there -- but the neuter participle kru/pton there is surely to be preferred here also, from mss VM; Adler relegates it to the apparatus and prints masculine kru/ptwn.] This entire narrative is based on Herodotus 6.105-107 and 6.117 (web addresses 1 and 2). Some names, however, are garbled -- 'Intaphernes' should be Artaphernes, and the man called here 'Polyzelus' is 'Epizelus' in Herodotus -- and of course the figure of 300,000 troops is nonsense (more than ten times the best modern estimates).

William Hutton (Modified translation, augmented note, added keyword) on 19 November 2000@12:19:29.
David Whitehead (modified translation; added note; raised status) on 20 November 2000@04:18:21.
David Whitehead (augmented note) on 4 December 2002@03:12:49.
David Whitehead (modified translation; added x-ref) on 24 August 2003@06:21:53.
Elizabeth Vandiver (Added links) on 14 December 2003@15:12:04.
David Whitehead (tweaked tr and expanded n.4, at the prompting of Emilie Sel) on 22 April 2012@05:49:49.
David Whitehead (more keywords; cosmetics) on 14 January 2013@06:27:35.
David Whitehead (corrected tr (and expanded a note), as prompted by Dr Jan P. Stronk) on 19 March 2017@04:34:58.
Ronald Allen (Inserted note, added bibliography) on 1 July 2023@13:38:33.
Ronald Allen (added map reference) on 2 July 2023@18:19:23.

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