[103]
When the Plataeans
were quite worn out and were in want of everything, and despaired of safety,
they divided themselves by lot into two groups; some of them remained and
endured the siege, but the others, waiting for a night when there was rain and a
heavy wind, climbed over the wall of circumvallation, unseen of the enemy, cut
down the sentinels, and got safely to Athens, but in a desperate plight and
beyond all expectation. As for those who remained behind, when the city was
taken by storm, all who had reached manhood were killed and the women and
children were made slaves—all, that is, save those who, when they saw
the Lacedaemonians advancing, got secretly away to Athens.1
1 The account of the siege and fall of Plataea is given in Thuc. 2.71-78, and Thuc. 3.20-24 and Thuc. 3.52-68.
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