he hid away, digging two great trenches for them and covering them with leaves, and heaping earth upon them. Now when the herald had made this proclamation there could scarcely be found a boat, so many desired to see the sight. So they crossed over and saw it, passing among the dead bodies; all these they thought to be either Spartans or men of Thespiæ, though indeed there were many helots among the slain. Nevertheless they that crossed over perceived what Xerxes had done with the dead of his own army. And indeed it was a foolish device, for on the one side were to be seen the thousand men, and on the other four thousand, gathered together all of them into one place. This day therefore they spent in this fashion, and in the next the seamen went back to their ships and Xerxes with his army went forward.
About this time there came to the Persians certain men from Arcadia, poor men that sought for a livelihood. When these were brought before the King, one of the Persians asked them, saying, “What do the Greeks at this season?” The Arcadians answered, “They hold the games at Olympia, looking on the sports and on the races of chariots.” Then said the Persian, “What is the prize for which they contend?” And when the Arcadians answered, “They contend for a wreath of olive leaves,” Tritantæchmes, that was the son of Artabanus, cried out, “Now, by the Gods, O Mardonius, what manner of men are these against whom thou bringest us, that they contend with each other, not for money, but for glory only?” This was in truth a noble thing that he said, but it angered the King, so that he charged Tritantæchmes with cowardice.
From Trachis the Persians marched into Doris, and from Doris into Phocis. This they laid waste, burning the towns and the temples. As for the Phocians themselves, they escaped, for the most part, with their wives and children, to the heights of Mount Parnassus. When they had passed through the land of Phocis the barbarians divided their army into two parts, whereof the one, with King Xerxes, marched toward Athens through the land of Bœotia, and the other, having taken to themselves