myths, or idle fictions, but matters of implicit earnest faith to
the men of that day: and many a fervent prayer arose from the
Athenian ranks to the heroic spirits who while on earth had
striven and suffered on that very spot, and who were believed to
be now heavenly powers, looking down with interest on their still
beloved country, and capable of interposing with superhuman aid
in its behalf.

According to old national custom, the warriors of each tribe were
arrayed together; neighbour thus fighting by the side of
neighbour, friend by friend, and the spirit of emulation and the
consciousness of responsibility excited to the very utmost. The
War-Ruler, Callimachus, had the leading of the right wing; the
Plataeans formed the extreme left; and Themistocles and Aristides
commanded the centre. The line consisted of the heavy-armed
spearmen only. For the Greeks (until the time of Iphicrates)
took little or no account of light-armed soldiers in a pitched
battle, using them only in skirmishes or for the pursuit of a
defeated enemy. The panoply of the regular infantry consisted of
a long spear, of a shield, helmet, breast-plate, greaves, and
short sword. Thus equipped, they usually advanced slowly and
steadily into action in an uniform phalanx of about eight spears
deep. But the military genius of Miltiades led him to deviate on
this occasion from the commonplace tactics of his countrymen. It
was essential for him to extend his line so as to cover all the
practicable ground, and to secure himself from being outflanked
and charged in the rear by the Persian horse. This extension
involved the weakening of his line. Instead of an uniform
reduction of its strength, he determined on detaching principally
from his centre, which, from the nature of the ground, would have