INVESTMENT OF PLATAEA
In the third year of the war the usual invasion of Attica was omitted,and the Peloponnesian army under Archidamus marched against Plataea.Having pitched their camp before the walls they prepared to lay wastethe territory; but before the work of havoc began, the Plataeans sentenvoys to remonstrate. "Unrighteous are your deeds," said the spokesmanof the embassy, "ye men of Sparta, and unworthy of the men whose sonsye are. After the victory of Plataea, which ended the struggle againstPersia, Pausanias, the chief captain of the confederate Greeks, offeredsacrifice and thanksgiving at Plataea to Zeus the Liberator, and sworea solemn oath, both he, and all the Greeks whom he led, to maintain theindependence of our city against all who should assail it. This theydid as a recompense for our valour and devotion in our country'sservice. But ye, in direct violation of that oath, have made commoncause with our worst enemies, the Thebans, and have come hither toenslave us. In the name of the gods who witnessed that covenant, in thename of every power worshipped alike at Plataea and at Sparta, weadjure you not to commit this sacrilege, but to leave us in peacefulpossession of the privileges vouchsafed to us on that memorable day."
Such were the words of the Plataeans, to which Archidamus replied asfollows: "Ye say well, men of Plataea, if ye act in the spirit of thecompact to which ye have appealed. The oath which Pausanias swore wastaken in defence of the common liberties of Greece. Against thoseliberties a new enemy has arisen, Athens, who holds half our nation inbondage, and threatens to lay her yoke upon us all. To put down thattyranny has this great coalition been called together, and if ye aretrue men, ye will enlist in the same cause, and take up arms for therelief of your distressed countrymen. Or at least, if ye cannot dothis, then stand apart from this conflict, helping neither one side northe other; and with this we shall be satisfied."
Having heard the answer of Archidamus, the Plataean envoys went back,and reported his words to their fellow-townsmen. But the Plataeansreplied that, without the consent of the Athenians, they dare notaccept his proposal, as their wives and children had been removed toAthens. Moreover, they feared that if they remained neutral the Thebanswould seize the opportunity to make another attempt on their town."Well, then," answered Archidamus, "we make you this second offer: Handover your town and your dwellings to us, the Spartans; keep a strictaccount of all your trees, [Footnote: Vines and olive-trees] and of allelse that can be numbered, and retire yourselves to some safe retreat,as long as the war continues. When it is over, we will restore all yourproperty, and meanwhile keep the land in cultivation, and pay you afixed rent, such as may suffice you."
The offer was fair, and even generous; but the Plataeans were powerlessto act, without the consent of the Athenians, who held their familiesas hostages. Accordingly they asked for a truce, to enable them to laythe proposal before the authorities at Athens, and this being granted,they sent envoys to Athens, who speedily returned with this answer: "Wehave never left you at the mercy of your enemies in the past, since yebecame our allies, nor will we do so now, but will help you to the bestof our power; and we charge you by the oath which your fathers sworenot to depart from your allegiance to Athens."
It was a cruel alternative which was offered to the hapless Plataeans:either they must leave their wives and children to the vengeance ofAthens, or face the whole power of the confederates, led by Sparta.True to their character, they chose the nobler part, and determined tostand by the Athenian alliance. Henceforth no one was allowed to leavethe town, and their final answer was delivered from the walls. Theywere unable, they said, to accept the terms offered by Archidamus.
On hearing their decision, the Spartan king made a last solemn appealto the powers who presided over the territory of Plataea, a hallowedprecinct, now about to be given up to plunder and ravage: "Ye gods andheroes, who keep the land of Plataea, bear witness that we had justcause from the first for marching hither, since the Plataeans hadforsaken the alliance, and that if we do aught against them, we shallstill be justified. For we have made them the fairest offers, but theywould not be persuaded. Therefore let those with whom the guilt lies bepunished, and prosper ye the cause of righteous vengeance."
The siege of Plataea now began in earnest. First the town wassurrounded with a palisade, to prevent anyone from escaping, thematerials being taken from the plantations in the neighbourhood of thetown. Then they raised a mound against the wall, expecting that with solarge a force as theirs they would easily carry the place by storm.Timber was brought from Cithaeron, and with this they set up two stoutbuttresses of cross-beams, at right angles to the town-wall, to serveas a support on either side of the mound. Within this framework theypiled up fascines, stones, earth, and whatever else was at hand. Thewhole army was employed in this task, which was continued for seventydays and nights without intermission, the men working in regular spells.
Meanwhile the Plataeans had not been idle. First they built a wall ofbricks and timber opposite to the point where the mound was rising, andresting on the ramparts, in order to raise the height of theirdefences. The new wall was covered with hides, raw and dressed, toprotect the timber and the workmen from being injured by burningarrows. And while this structure was in progress, they made a breach inthe old wall, and carted away the earth from the bottom of the mound.To prevent this, the Peloponnesians filled up the space thus causedwith heavy masses of clay, rammed tightly into baskets of osier, whichmade a solid structure, much harder to remove than the loose earth.Then the Plataeans had recourse to another device: marking carefullythe position of the mound, they ran a mine from the city under it, andas fast as the earth fell in, they carried it away. This continued fora long time, for the Peloponnesians, who saw their mound rising nohigher, for all their labour, but rather growing less, did not guessthe cause, but went on heaping up materials, which were swallowed up asfast as they were brought.
Still the Plataeans feared that in spite of these counterworks theywould at length be overpowered by numbers, unless they contrived somebetter means of defence. So they left off building the wall of bricksand timber, and beginning at either end of it, they built acrescent-shaped wall, curving inwards towards the city. Thus thePeloponnesians, if they succeeded in carrying the first wall, wouldfind themselves confronted by a second line of defence, and would haveall their work to do over again, besides being exposed to a cross-fire.
While the Plataeans were thus vigorously defending themselves, andbefore the mound was completed, the Peloponnesians broughtsiege-engines to bear on the wall, one of which greatly alarmed thebesieged garrison, by severely shaking their wall of timber and bricks.But this new mode of attack was frustrated, like the rest, by theingenuity of the Plataeans, who dropped nooses over the ends of thebattering-rams, and drew them up just before the moment of impact.Moreover they suspended heavy beams of wood at intervals along thewall, each beam hanging by long chains from two cranes which rested onthe wall and projected outwards from it; and whenever a ram was beingbrought up, they drew up the beam at right angles to it, and then,letting go the chains, dropped the ponderous timber, which camecrashing down on the ram, and broke off its head.
Thus baffled at every point, the Peloponnesians began to despair oftaking the town by assault, and thought that they would be compelled toform a blockade. But before being driven to this costly and tediousoperation, they determined to try and set fire to the place, whichseemed possible, as it was but small in extent. So they waited till thewind was in the right direction, and then brought vast quantities offaggots, and threw them into the space between the mound and the wall;and this being soon filled up, they piled up more faggots as far asthey could reach within the city itself, and then throwing in lightedtorches, with brimstone and pitch, they set fire to the whole mass.Then arose a great sheet of flame, such as had never been raised byhuman hands, though not, of course, to be compared to the vastforest-fires, produced by natural means; yet it was sufficient to causea panic among the Plataeans, and bring their town to the verge ofdestruction. The heat was so in
tense that a whole quarter of the placewas cleared of its defenders, and if a wind had arisen to drive theflame inwards, nothing could have saved the whole town fromdestruction. [Footnote: Thucydides seems to imply that there was awind, though a slight one.] But fortunately the breeze was but slight,and it is said also that a heavy fall of rain came on, and quenched theconflagration.
Having failed in their last attempt, the Peloponnesians sent away partof their army, and employed those who remained in building a blockadingwall round Plataea. The work was completed towards the end ofSeptember, and they then disbanded their army, leaving a forcesufficient to guard half the wall; for the Thebans, relentless in theirzeal against Plataea, took charge of the other half. The number of thebesieged was four hundred and eighty, of whom eighty were Athenians,and a hundred and ten women to make bread for the garrison.