who fell a prey to the men in Phyle. The next anxiety of the
government in Athens was to secure the farms and country houses
against the plunderings and forays to which they would be exposed, if
there were no armed force to protect them. With this object a
protecting force was despatched to the "boundary estates,"[2] about
two miles south of Phyle. This corps consisted of the Lacedaemonian
guards, or nearly all of them, and two divisions of horse.[3] They
encamped in a wild and broken district, and the round of their duties
commenced.

[1] "A strong fortress (the remains of which still exist) commanding
the narrow pass across Mount Parnes, through which runs the direct
road from Thebes to Athens, past Acharnae. The precipitous rock on
which it stands can only be approached by a ridge on the eastern
side. The height commands a magnificent view of the whole Athenian
plain, of the city itself, of Mount Hymettus, and the Saronic
Gulf,"--"Dict. of Geog., The demi of the Diacria and Mount
Parnes."

[2] Cf. Boeckh, "P. E. A." p. 63, Eng. ed.

[3] Lit. tribes, each of the ten tribes furnishing about one hundred
horse.

But by this time the small garrison above them had increased tenfold,
until there were now something like seven hundred men collected in
Phyle; and with these Thrasybulus one night descended. When he was not
quite half a mile from the enemy's encampment he grounded arms, and a
deep silence was maintained until it drew towards day. In a little
while the men opposite, one by one, were getting to their legs or