5.
The main body of the Theban army, which should have come during the night to the
support1 of the party entering the city in case of a reverse, having on their march heard
of the disaster, were now hastening to the rescue.
[2]
Plataea is about eight miles distant from Thebes, and the heavy rain which had fallen
in the night delayed their arrival; for the river Asopus had swollen, and was not easily
fordable.
[3]
Marching in the rain, and with difficulty crossing the river, they came up too late,
some of their friends being already slain and others captives.
[4]
When the Thebans became aware of the state of affairs, they resolved to lay hands on
what was outside the walls; for there were men and property left in the fields, as would
naturally happen when a sudden blow was struck in time of peace.
They meant to keep any one whom they caught as a hostage and exchange him for one of
their own men, if any of them were still alive.
[5]
But before they had executed their plan, the Plataeans, suspecting their intentions,
and fearing for their friends outside, sent a herald to the Thebans protesting against
the crime of which they had been guilty in trying to seize their city during peace, and
warning them not to touch anything which was outside the walls.
If they persisted they threatened in return to kill the prisoners; but if they retired,
they would give them up.
This is the Theban account, and they add that the Plataeans took an oath.
[6]
The Plataeans do not admit that they ever promised to restore the captives at once, but
only if they could agree after negotiations; and they deny that they took an oath.
[7]
However this may have been, the Thebans withdrew, leaving the Plataean
territory unhurt;2 but the Plataeans
had no sooner got in their property from the country than they put the prisoners to
death.
Those who were taken were a hundred and eighty in number, and Eurymachus, with whom the
betrayers of the city had negotiated, was one of them.
Thucydides translated into English; with introduction, marginal analysis, notes, and indices. Volume 1. Thucydides. Benjamin Jowett. translator. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1881.
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