eard what he had to say, they re-entered the city, and
after consulting with the people said that they wished first to acquaint
the Athenians with this proposal, and in the event of their approving to
accede to it; in the meantime they asked him to grant them a truce and
not to lay waste their territory. He accordingly granted a truce for the
number of days requisite for the journey, and meanwhile abstained
from ravaging their territory. The Plataean envoys went to Athens, and
consulted with the Athenians, and returned with the following message
to those in the city: "The Athenians say, Plataeans, that they never
hitherto, since we became their allies, on any occasion abandoned us to
an enemy, nor will they now neglect us, but will help us according
to their ability; and they adjure you by the oaths which your fathers
swore, to keep the alliance unaltered."

On the delivery of this message by the envoys, the Plataeans resolved
not to be unfaithful to the Athenians but to endure, if it must be,
seeing their lands laid waste and any other trials that might come to
them, and not to send out again, but to answer from the wall that it was
impossible for them to do as the Lacedaemonians proposed. As soon as
he had received this answer, King Archidamus proceeded first to make a
solemn appeal to the gods and heroes of the country in words following:
"Ye gods and heroes of the Plataean territory, be my witnesses that not
as aggressors originally, nor until these had first departed from the
common oath, did we invade this land, in which our fathers offered you
their prayers before defeating the Medes, and which you made auspicious
to the Hellenic arms; nor shall we be aggressors in the measures to
which we may now resort, since we have made many fair proposals but have
not been successful. Graciously accord that those who were the first
to offend may be punished for it, and that vengeance may be attained by
those who would righteously inflict it."

After this appeal to the gods Archidamus put his army in motion. First
he enclosed the town with a palisade formed of the fruit-trees which
they cut down, to prevent further egress from Plataea; next they threw
up a mound against the city, hoping that the largeness of the
force employed would ensure the speedy reduction of the place. They
accordingly cut down timber from Cithaeron, and built it up on either
side, laying it like lattice-work to serve as a wall to keep the mound
from sp