so they advanced, marching down along the
broad carriage road which leads into Piraeus. The men from Phyle seemed
at first inclined to dispute their passage, but as the wide circuit
of the walls needed a defence beyond the reach of their still scanty
numbers, they fell back in a compact body upon Munychia. (6) Then the
troops from the city poured into the Agora of Hippodmus. (7) Here they
formed in line, stretching along and filling the street which leads to
the temple of Artemis and the Bendideum. (8) This line must have been
at least fifty shields deep; and in this formation they at once began
to march up. As to the men of Phyle, they too blocked the street at the
opposite end, and facing the foe. They presented only a thin line, not
more than ten deep, though behind these, certainly, were ranged a body
of targeteers and light-armed javelin men, who were again supported by
an artillery of stone-throwers--a tolerably numerous division drawn from
the population of the port and district itself. While his antagonists
were still advancing, Thrasybulus gave the order to ground their heavy
shields, and having done so himself, whilst retaining the rest of
his arms, he stood in the midst, and thus addressed them: "Men and
fellow-citizens, I wish to inform some, and to remind others of you,
that of the men you see advancing beneath us there, the right division
are the very men we routed and pursued only five days ago; while on the
extreme left there you see the Thirty. These are the men who have not
spared to rob us of our city, though we did no wrong; who have hounded
us from our homes; who have set the seal of proscription on our dearest
friends. But to-day the wheel of fortune has revolved; that has come
about which least of all they looked for, which most of all we prayed
for. Here we stand with our good swords in our hands, face to face
with our foes; and the gods themselves are with us, seeing that we were
arrested in the midst of our peaceful pursuits; at any moment, whilst
we supped, or slept, or marketed, sentence of banishment was passed upon
us: we had done no wrong--nay, many of us were not even resident in the
country. To-day, therefore, I repeat, the gods do visibly fight upon our
side; the great gods, who raise a tempest even in the midst of calm for
our benefit, and when we lay to our hand to fight, enable our little
company to set up the trophy of victory over the multitude of our foes.
On this day they have bro