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[1]
The Phocians learned in the following way that the Persians had climbed up: they had ascended without the Phocians' notice because the mountain was entirely covered with oak trees. Although there was no wind, a great noise arose like leaves being trodden underfoot. The Phocians jumped up and began to put on their weapons, and in a moment the barbarians were there.
The Phocians learned in the following way that the Persians had climbed up: they had ascended without the Phocians' notice because the mountain was entirely covered with oak trees. Although there was no wind, a great noise arose like leaves being trodden underfoot. The Phocians jumped up and began to put on their weapons, and in a moment the barbarians were there.
[2] When they saw the men arming themselves, they were amazed, for they had supposed that no opposition would appear, but they had now met with an army.
Hydarnes feared that the
Phocians might be
Lacedaemonians and asked
Epialtes what country the army was from. When he had established what he wanted to know with certainty, he arrayed the
Persians for battle.
[3] The
Phocians, assailed by thick showers of arrows and supposing that the
Persians had set out against them from the start, fled to the top of the mountain and prepared to meet their destruction. This is what they intended, but the
Persians with
Epialtes and
Hydarnes paid no attention to the
Phocians and went down the mountain as fast as possible.
Histories. Herodotus. ed. A.D. Godley. Cambridge. 1920-1925.
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