Mardonius

“ He appointed Mardonius to succeed Artaphernes as satrap in western Asia, and he placed under his command a large armament, with injunctions to bring to Susa those Athenians and Eretrians who had insulted the authority of the Great King. Mardonius, after crossing the Hellespont, commenced his march through Thrace and Macedonia, subduing, as he went along, the tribes which had not yet submitted to the Persian power. He ordered the fleet to double the promontory of Mount Athos, and join the land forces at the head of the gulf of Therma ”

“ He was also commander of the Athenians at Plataeae, in the battle in which Mardonius was routed, and the army of the barbarians was cut off. Nor is there any other celebrated act of his in military affairs recorded, besides the account of this command; but of his justice, equity, and self-control, there are many instances. Above all, it was through his integrity, when he was joined in command of the common fleet of Greece with Pausanias, under whose leadership Mardonius had been put to flight, that the supreme authority at sea was transferred from the Lacedaemonians to the Athenians ”

“ Then proceeding to the Hellespont, Mardonius collected his mighty fleets and powerful army, and passed through Europe towards the avowed objects of the Persian vengeance— the cities of Eretria and Athens.
From the time that the Athenians had assisted the forces of Miletus and long in the destruction of Sardis, their offence had rankled in the bosom of Darius. Like most monarchs, he viewed as more heinous offenders the foreign abetters of rebellion, than the rebels themselves. Religion, no doubt, conspired to augment his indignation. ”

“ But Mardonius, learning from deserters the change of position, moved his Persians opposite the Spartans; and Pausanias again returning to the right, Mardonius pursued a similar manoeuvre. Thus the day was consumed without an action. The troops having resumed their former posts, Mardonius sent a herald to the Spartans, chiding them for their cowardice, and proposing that an allotted number meet equal Spartans in battle, and whoever conquered should be deemed victors over the whole adverse army. ”

“ At length he was left to follow or not, as he pleased, while the rest of the Spartans defiled along the safe and hilly ground, the Athenians striking across the exposed plain. Mardonius had now some reason to despise his enemy, and he ordered all his cavalry to charge, and the infantry to advance at quick march, crossing the Asopus. The Athenians were hidden from him by a series of knolls, but he pressed hard on the steps of the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans. Fortune sometimes favours the timid as well as the brave. ”

“ From remote antiquity I am of Grecian lineage. I am solicitous of the safety of Greece. Long since, but for the auguries, would Mardonius have given battle. Regarding these no longer, he will attack you early on the morning. Be prepared. If he change his purpose, remain as you are—he has provisions only for a few days more. Should the event of war prove favourable, you will but deem it fitting to make some effort for the independence of one who exposes himself to so great a peril for the purpose of apprizing you of the intentions of the foe. ”

“ But if again the issue be contrary to Mardonius’ opinion, it is no great misfortune so long as you and all that household of yours be safe; for while you and they of your house are safe, many a time and oft will the Greeks have to fight for their lives. As for Mardonius, if aught ill befall him, it is no matter for that; nor will any victory of the Greeks be a victory in truth, when they have but slain your servant; but as for you, you will be marching home after the burning of Athens, which thing was the whole purpose of your expedition.”
103. Artemisia’s counsel pleased Xerxes ”

“ The battle had raged disagreeably close to him.
“They are dead; even so perish all of your Eternity’s enemies,” rejoined Mardonius, close by. The bow-bearer himself was covered with blood and dust. A Spartan sword had grazed his forehead. He had exposed himself recklessly, as well he might, for it had taken all the efforts of the Persian captains, as well as the ruthless laying of whips over the backs of their men, to make the king’s battalions face the frenzied Hellenes, until the closing in of Hydarnes from the rear gave the battle its inevitable ending. ”

“ Now I cannot with exactness say if they came at the Thessalians’ desire to slay the Phocians, but, when they saw the men preparing to defend themselves, feared lest they themselves should suffer some hurt, and so rode away back (for such was Mardonius’ command) ,—or if Mardonius desired to test the Phocians’ mettle. But when the horsemen had ridden away, Mardonius sent a herald, with this message: “Men of Phocis, be of good courage; for you have shown yourselves to be valiant men, and not as it was reported to me. ”

“ So they made haste to reach the Isthmus. But the Argives had already promised Mardonius that they would hinder the Spartan from going out to war; and as soon as they were informed that Pausanias and his army had departed from Sparta, they sent as their herald to Attica the swiftest runner of long distances that they could find; who, when he came to Athens, spoke on this wise to Mardonius: “I am sent by the Argives to tell you that the young men have gone out from Lacedaemon to war, and that the Argives cannot stay them from so doing; wherefore, may fortune grant you good counsel.” ”

“ The sacrifices promised victory to the Greeks if they acted on the defensive, but the contrary if, passing the Asopus, they began the fight. Mardonius, though anxious to engage, had nothing to hope from the entrails, unless he acted on the defensive only. He had also sacrificed according to the Grecian rites, using as his soothsayer Hegesistratus, an Elean, and the most illustrious of the Telliadæ. ”

“ These dispositions of Xerxes were prompted by Mardonius. He represented to his master that the defeat, after all, was but slight; that having attained one of the great objects of the expedition by the capture of Athens, he might now retire with honour, and even with glory; and that for the rest he (Mardonius) would undertake to complete the conquest of Greece with 300,000 men. While the Persian fleet sailed towards Asia, Xerxes set out on his homeward march. In Thessaly Mardonius selected the 300,000 men with whom he proposed to conclude the war ”

“ As for Mardonius, if he prefers to remain, and undertakes to do as he has said, leave him behind by all means, with the troops which he desires. If his design succeeds, and he subdues the Greeks, as he promises, thine is the conquest, master; for thy slaves will have accomplished it. If, on the other hand, affairs run counter to his wishes, we can suffer no great loss, so long as thou art safe, and thy house is in no danger. The Greeks, too, while thou livest, and thy house flourishes, must be prepared to fight full many a battle for their freedom ”

“ These also being arrived at Thebes, Mardonius sent horsemen and bade the Phocians take their station on the plain by themselves. When they had so done, straightway appeared the whole of the Persian cavalry; and presently it was bruited about through all the Greek army that was with Mardonius, and likewise among the Phocians themselves, that Mardonius would shoot them to death. Then their general Harmocydes exhorted them: “Men of Phocis,” he said, “seeing it is plain that death at these fellows’ hands stares us in the face (we being, as I surmise, maligned by the Thessalians) ”

“ You may be assured that your endeavours to persuade us into an alliance with the barbarians never will succeed: tell, therefore, Mardonius, on the part of the Athenians, that as long as the sun shall continue its ordinary course, so long will we avoid any friendship with Xerxes, and so long will we continue to resist him. Tell him, we shall always look with confidence to the protecting assistance of those gods and heroes whose shrines and temples he has contemptuously destroyed. ”

“ But Mardonius began slowly to stir from his winter lethargy. Influenced, thought the Greeks, perhaps too fondly, by a Theban oracle, the Persian general despatched to Athens no less distinguished an ambassador than Alexander, the king of Macedon. That prince, connected with the Persians by alliance (for his sister had married the Persian Bubares, son of Megabazus) , was considered an envoy calculated to conciliate the Athenians while he served their enemy. And it was now the object of Mardonius to reconcile the foe whom he had failed to conquer. ”

“ But at the beginning of spring, the other generals being now deposed by the king from their offices, Mardonius son of Gobryas, a man young in years and lately wedded to Darius’ daughter Artozostre, came down to the coast at the head of a very great army and fleet; with which when Mardonius was come to Cilicia, he himself embarked on shipboard and sailed with the rest of his ships, while the land army was led by other captains to the Hellespont. ”

“ Mardonius put down all the despots throughout Ionia, and in lieu of them established democracies. Having so done, he hastened to the Hellespont, and when a vast multitude of ships had been brought together, and likewise a powerful land force, he conveyed his troops across the strait by means of his vessels, and proceeded through Europe against Eretria and Athens. ”

“ The king is turning against him. Megabyzus is the bow-bearer’s enemy, and already is gone to his Majesty to say that it is Mardonius’s blunders that have brought the army to such a plight. The king will catch at that readily.”
At the tents Glaucon found Artazostra and Roxana. They were both pale. The news of the great defeat had been brought by a dozen messengers. Mardonius had not arrived. He was not slain, that was certain, but Artazostra feared the worst. The proud daughter of Darius found it hard to bear up.
“My husband has many enemies. ”

“ The avenues to renown.
Blood inherited and blood shed. The two great counselors on whose judgment Xerxes mainly relied, so far as he looked to any other judgment than his own in the formation of his plans, were Artabanus, the uncle by whose decision the throne had been awarded to him, and Mardonius, the commander-in-chief of his armies. Xerxes himself was quite a young man, of a proud and lofty, yet generous character, and full of self-confidence and hope. Mardonius was much older, but he was a soldier by profession, and was eager to distinguish himself in some great military campaign. ”

“ When Mardonius came to Athens, he sent to Salamis one Murychides, a man of the Hellespont, bearing the same offer as Alexander the Macedonian had ferried across to the Athenians. He sent this the second time because, albeit he knew already the Athenians’ unfriendly purpose, he expected that they would abate their stiff-neckedness now that Attica was the captive of his spear and lay at his mercy. ”

“ When the cavalry returned to the camp, Mardonius and all the army made very great mourning for Masistius, cutting their own hair and the hair of their horses and beasts of burden, and lamenting loud and long; for the sound of it was heard over all Boeotia, inasmuch as a man was dead who was next to Mardonius most esteemed by all Persia and the king.
25. So the foreigners honoured Masistius’ death after their manner; but the Greeks were much heartened by their withstanding and repelling of the horsemen. And first they laid the dead man on a cart and carried him about their ranks ”

“ Xerxes was silent, thoughtful, and oppressed apparently with a sense of anxious concern. Mardonius finally proposed that, even if the king should think it best to return himself to Susa, he should not abandon the enterprise of subduing Greece, but that he should leave a portion of the army under his (Mardonius's) charge, and he would undertake, he said, to complete the work which had been so successfully begun. Three hundred thousand men, he was convinced, would be sufficient for the purpose. ”

“ Artabanus vindicates the character of the Greeks.
"Mardonius charges the Greeks with a want of sagacity, efficiency, and valor, and speaks contemptuously of them, as soldiers, in every respect. I do not think that such imputations are just to the people against whom they are directed, or honorable to him who makes them. To disparage the absent, especially an absent enemy, is not magnanimous or wise; and I very much fear that it will be found in the end that the conduct of the Greeks will evince very different military qualities from those which Mardonius has assigned them. ”

“ Ten months after this Mardonius a second time took possession of the city, and the Athenians were again fugitives on the island of Salamis; even then the Athenians would not lose hope. Only one man in the council dared to propose that they should yield; when he had left the council-chamber the people stoned him to death. Mardonius, who had an army of 300,000 men and the power of the Persian empire at his back, offered them most favourable terms, but the national spirit of the Greeks saved them when the outlook was practically hopeless. ”

“ On learning of this movement, Mardonius set fire to what of Athens remained, and fell back on the city of Thebes, in Bœotia, as a more favorable field for the battle which now seemed sure to come. Here his numerous cavalry could be brought into play, the country was allied with him, the friendly city of Thebes lay behind him, and food for his great army was to be had. Here, then, he awaited the coming of the Greeks, and built for his army a fortified camp, surrounded with walls and towers of wood. ”