156 THE PLATAEANS WILL NOT DESERT ATHENS [ll consent they would do as he advised ; in the meantime they desired him to make a truce with them, and not to ravage their land. So he made a truce which allowed sufficient time for their ambassadors to return from Athens; and mean- while he spared their land. The Plataean envoys came to Athens, and after advising with the Athenians they brought back the following message to their fellow-citizens : —
- Plataeans, the Athenians say that never at any time since
you first became their allies ^ have they suffered any one to do you wrong, and that they will not forsake you now, but will assist you to the utmost of their power ; and they adjure you, by the oaths which your fathers swore, not to forsake the Athenian alliance.' 74 When the answer came, the Plataeans resolved not to They rei>ly that they desert the Athenians, but patiently to cannot accept the Lace- look on, if they must, while the Lace- daemoman proposals, daemonians Wasted their country, and to endure the worst. No one was henceforward to leave the town, but answer was to be made from the walls that they could not possibly consent to the Lacedaemonian proposal. King Archidamus, as soon as he received the reply, before proceeding to action, fell to calling upon the Gods and heroes of the country in the following words : — ' O ye Gods and heroes who possess the land of Plataea, Archidanms appeals be our witnesses that our invasion of to the Gods. this land in which our fathers prayed to you when they conquered the Persians, and which you made a propitious battle-field to the Hellenes, has thus far been justified, for the Plataeans first deserted the alliance ; and that if we go further we shall be guilty of no crime, for we have again and again made them fair pro- posals and they have not listened to us. Be gracious to us and grant that the real authors of the iniquity may be punished, and that they may obtain revenge who lawfully seek it.' » Herod, vi. 108.
