still scanty numbers, they fell back in a compact body upon
Munychia.[6] Then the troops from the city poured into the Agora of
Hippodmus.[7] Here they formed in line, stretching along and filling
the street which leads to the temple of Artemis and the Bendideum.[8]
This line must have been at least fifty shields deep; and in this
formation they at once began to march up. As to the men of Phyle, they
too blocked the street at the opposite end, and facing the foe. They
presented only a thin line, not more than ten deep, though behind
these, certainly, were ranged a body of targeteers and light-armed
javelin men, who were again supported by an artillery of stone-
throwers--a tolerably numerous division drawn from the population of
the port and district itself. While his antagonists were still
advancing, Thrasybulus gave the order to ground their heavy shields,
and having done so himself, whilst retaining the rest of his arms, he
stood in the midst, and thus addressed them: "Men and fellow-citizens,
I wish to inform some, and to remind others of you, that of the men
you see advancing beneath us there, the right division are the very
men we routed and pursued only five days ago; while on the extreme
left there you see the Thirty. These are the men who have not spared
to rob us of our city, though we did no wrong; who have hounded us
from our homes; who have set the seal of proscription on our dearest
friends. But to-day the wheel of fortune has revolved; that has come
about which least of all they looked for, which most of all we prayed
for. Here we stand with our good swords in our hands, face to face
with our foes; and the gods themselves are with us, seeing that we
were arrested in the midst of our peaceful pursuits; at any moment,
whilst we supped, or slept, or marketed, sentence of banishment was
passed upon us: we had done no wrong--nay, many of us were not even
resident in the country. To-day, therefore, I repeat, the gods do
visibly fight upon our side; the great gods, who raise a tempest even