ut a mile from the sea, and their fleet was ranged behind
them on the beach. The Athenians occupied the rising ground above the
plain, and extended from one side of the plain to the other. This
arrangement was necessary in order to protect their flanks by the
mountains on each side, and to prevent the cavalry from passing round
to attack them in rear. But so large a breadth of ground could not be
occupied with a small a number of men without weakening some portion of
the line. Miltiades, therefore, drew up the troops in the centre in
shallow files, and resolved to rely for success upon the stronger and
deeper masses of his wings. The right wing, which was the post of
honour in a Grecian army, was commanded by the Polemarch Callimachus;
the hoplites were arranged in the order of their tribes, so that the
members of the same tribe fought by each other's side; and at the
extreme left stood the Plataeans.

Miltiades, anxious to come to close quarters as speedily as possible,
ordered his soldiers to advance at a running step over the mile of
ground which separated them from the foe. Both the Athenian wings were
successful, and drove the enemy before them towards the shore and the
marshes. But the Athenian centre was broken by the Persians, and
compelled to take to flight. Miltiades thereupon recalled his wings
from pursuit, and charged the Persian centre. The latter could not
withstand this combined attack. The rout now became general along the
whole Persian line; and they fled to their ships, pursued by the
Athenians.

The Persians lost 6400 men in this memorable engagement: of the
Athenians only 192 fell. The aged tyrant Hippias is said to have
perished in the battle, and the brave Polemarch Callimachus was also
one of the slain. The Persians embarked and sailed away to Asia.
Their departure was hailed at Athens with one unanimous burst of
heartfelt joy. Marathon became a magic word at Athens. The Athenian
people in succeeding ages always looked back upon this day as the most
glorious in their annals, and never tired of hearing its praises
sounded by their orators and poets. And they had reason to be proud of
it. It was the first time that the Greeks had ever defeated the
Persians in the field. It was the exploit of the Athenians alone. It
had saved not only Athens but all Greece. If the Persians had
conquered at Marathon, Greece must, in all likelihood, have become a
Persian province; the destinies of