BATTLES OF THERMOPYLAE AND ARTEmSIXBL 89 his army trampling through the woodi aroused the defenders ; but the surprise was mutual, and Hydarnes in alarm asked his guide whether these men also were Lacedaemonians. Having ascertained the negative, he began the attack, and overwhelmed the Phocians with a shower of arrows, so as to force them to abandon the path and seek their own safety on a higher point of the mountain. Anxious only for their own safety, they became unmindful of the inestimable opening which they were placed to guard. Had the full numerical strength of the Greeks been at Thermopylai, instead of staying behind for the festivals, they might have planted such a force on the mountain-path as would have rendered it not less impregnable than the pass beneath. Hydarnes, not troubling himself to pursue the Phocians, fol- lowed the descending portion of the mountain-path, shorter than the ascending, and arrived in the rear of Thermopylse not long after midday .^ But before he had yet completed his descent, the fatal truth had already been made known to Leonidas, that the enemy were closing in upon him behind. Scouts on the hills, and deserters from the Persian camp, especially a Kymcean^ named Tyrastiada;;, had both come in with the news : and even if such informants had been wanting, the prophet Megistias, descended from the legendary seer Melampus, read the approach of death in the gloomy aspect of the morning sacrifices. It was evident that Thermopylae could be no longer defended ; but there was ample time for the defenders to retire, and the detachment of Leonidas were divided in opinion on the subject. The greater number of them were inclined to abandon a position now become untenable, and to reserve themselves for future occasions on which they might effectively contribute to repel the invader. Nor is it to be doubted that such was the natural impulse, both
- Herodot. vii, 217, 218. 7}ug re 6/) diecpaive — fjv fiev drj VT]ve/xhi, ■tp6(pov 6e
yevo^EVOv iroA?.oO, etc. I cannot refrain from transcribing a remark of Colonel Leake : " The stillness of the claim, -vvliich saved the Phocians from being surprised, is very characteristic of the climate of Greece in the season when the occurrence took place, and like many other trifling circumstances occtu-ring in the his- tory of the Persian invasion, is an interesting proof of the accuracy and veracity of the historian." (Travels in Northern Greece, vol. ii, c. x, p. 55.) ' Herodot. vii, 216, 217. ^ Diodor. xi, 9.
