332 THUCYDIDES
edly not be without witnesses ; there are mighty monuments of our power which will make us the won- der of this and of succeeding ages ; we shall not need the praises of Homer or of any other panegyrist whose poetry may please for the moment, although his repre- sentation of the facts will not bear the light of day. For we have compelled every land and every sea to open a path for our valor, and have everywhere planted eternal memorials of our friendship and of our enmity. Such is the city for whose sake these men nobly fought and died ; they could not bear the thought that slie might be taken from them ; and every one of us who survive should gladly toil on her behalf." {Book II., Chaj)ters 34-4^•}
THE SIEGE OF PLATAEA
During the same winter the Plataeans, who were still besieged by the Peloponnesiaus and Boeotians, began to suffer from the failure of provisions. They had no hope of assistance from Athens and no other chance of deliverance. So they and the Athenians who were shut up with them contrived a plan of forcing their way ovev the enemy's walls. The idea was sug- gested by Theaenetus, the son of Tolmides, a diviner, and Eumolpides, the son of Da'imachus, one of their generals. At first they were all desirous of joiniug, but afterwards half of them somehow lost heart, think- ing the danger too great, and only two hundred and twenty agreed to persevere. They first made ladders equal in length to the height of the enemy's wall, which they calculated by help of the layers of bricks on the side facing the town, at a place where the wall had accidentally not been plastered. A great many counted at once, and, although some might make mistakes, the
