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κατὰ συντυχίην δὲ Μεγαρέες. Hdt. apparently treats the Megarians as occupying a post in line with the rest of the forces, which by this time, according to him, are perhaps drawn up, or drawing up, along the ὑπωρέη of Kithairon; but he is not explicit upon the point, and gives no account of the respective positions of the various contingents. ἀντετάσσοντο above may well be an imperfect of the veriest type (‘were falling into line,’ or ‘were taking up positions’). Hdt. first describes the line formation of the Greeks for the second position below, when there is even a dispute over a question of precedence, which must have been settled for the first position, if in the first position the Greeks were in line formation. I therefore suggest that in this first position the Greeks were still in column, emerging down the pass, headed by the Megarians (and Athenians?), who were to hold Erythrai and the roadway, which it commanded, while the remainder of the forces deployed from behind them only or mainly to the left, so as to take up positions ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπωρέης τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος, the Spartans to the right (but cp. 1. 12 infra), the Athenians to the left, towards Hysiai and Plataia. This development may or may not have been finally accomplished; meanwhile Mardonios attacks the head of the column as it emerges from the pass. (Perhaps, if the Athenians headed the column, they had already deployed on to the ground to the left.) He seems to have struck a little too soon, though not, perhaps, until convinced that the Greeks were not coming down into the plain. How it happened that ‘the Megarians,’ 3000 strong, were at the head of the column, if that was their position, who can say? Possibly the Lakedaimonian χίλιοι (c. 14 supra) were still with them, though the strongly ‘atticizing’ tradition forgets them; they may have headed the column from Megara to Eleusis, and so onwards; or they may even have come across Kithairon by the direct route from Megara, and so arrived at the head of the forces, while the Athenians may have led the column from Eleusis by Eleutherai. Of course there was no accident in the matter; all had been arranged.
τῇ τε ἐπιμαχώτατον ... τῇ ἵππῳ. This description would apply to the roadway running up the pass; of course, even so, the position, τὸ χωρίον, was not as much exposed as ‘the second position,’ c. 25 infra, and the cavalry could not attack en masse, but only on a narrow front, κατὰ τέλεα: ἐπίμαχος, cp. 1. 84, 6. 133 (in both places of fortifieations, liable to assault); πρόσοδος, as in 7. 212, 223.
τοὺς στρατηγοὺς τῶν Ἑλλήνων. Where were they? and were they all together in one place? Are only Pausanias and Euryanax (c. 10 supra） covered by the term? Below, as the result of the message, Pausanias appears in sole authority. The message seems to imply a standpoint for the Strategoi, or Strategos, at some distance, and hardly in sight of the situation, which could hardly have been the case if the Greek lines had been already deployed ἐπὶ τῆς ὐπωρέης. The Megarian message was carried back up the pass; they call for support and relief. μοῦνοι denies the presence of any other contingent (so the Athenians ignored the presence of the Plataians at Marathon c. 27 infra). ἔχοντες: στάσιν ... ἀρχήν suggests an advanced post, or post some time in occupation. στάσις, ‘station’; cp. c. 26 infra. ἀρχήν, adv., ‘to begin with,’ ‘in the first instance’; cp. 7. 220, 8. 128.
λιπαρίῃ τε καὶ ἀρετῇ: cp. c. 70 infra, a sort of hendiadys; for the verb λιπαρέειν, perseverare, cp. cc. 45, 111 infra, 8. 144 supra. ἀντέχειν, resistere, abs., 8. 68.
διαδόχους τῆς τάξιος, ‘to take our post,’ to succeed us in our position. ἐκλείπειν τ. τ., cp. 8. 24. In actual battle λιποταξία (-ιον) was a capital crime; and mere failure to serve, λιποστρατία (-ιον), might have serious consequences (cp. 5. 27, Thuc. 1. 99. 1, 6. 76. 3).
Παυσανίης δὲ ἀπεπειρᾶτο. This ἀπόπειρα (cp. 8. 9) τῶν Ἑλλήνων, in which they all prove wanting but the Athenians, is a transparent Atticism. The first brush with the Barbarians is presented as a forlorn hope, calling for valiant volunteers; Thermopylai is forgotten, or only remembered to be eclipsed; instead of sending forward some of his own men, out of his 10,000 hoplites and 40,000 light-armed, Pausanias asks for volunteers; and Athenians, a bare 300, step lightly forward into the breach: it is enough!—300 Athenians save the situation at Erythrai; 300 Spartans at Thermopylai could only die! Probably the Athenians were next to the Megarians, whether in the column or in the line, and were ordered forwards as a matter of course, especially as they had a corps of archers. The Megarians (with the 1000 Spartans perhaps) presumably remained at their post; even among the Athenians, it was probably not the 300 hoplites but the archers— ‘perhaps 3000 in number’ (Rawlinson)— who kept the Persian cavalry at bay; meanwhile the rest of the Greek column was passing forward, behind Erythrai, westwards towards Hysiai and Plataia, dcploying to the left. When this manœuvre was accomplished, the Athenians, Megarians (and Lakedaimonian Chiliad?) might be on the extreme right of the Greek line, and the Lakedaimonian main body on the extreme left, towards Plataia.
ὑπεδέξαντο: sc. ἰἐναι τε κτλ. οἱ τριηκόσιοι λογάδες: this corps d'élite in the Athenian army is remarkable. At this time Athens had little or no cavalry: does this body constitute the aristocratic nucleus of the later institution? Are they like οἱ καλούμενοι ἱππεῖς at Sparta? (Cp. 8. 124.) These men are plainly hoplites; 30 from each tribe? 10, perhaps, from each Trittys? under a λοχαγός (hardly an Attic term; cp. c. 53 infra).
Ὀλυμπιόδωρος ὁ Λάμπωνος: (1) a Samian Lampon meets us in c. 90 infra; (2) a better known Aiginetan in c. 78 infra; (3) the Athenian here named may be conjecturally regarded as the grandfather of Lampon the diviner (Plutarch, Perikl. 6), who was concerned in the foundation of Thurioi (Diodor. 12. 10. 3), figures as author of a rider in the celebrated Eleusinian Decree (C.I.A. iv. 276, Dittenberger1 No. 13, Michel No. 71), and was something of a butt for the Old Comedy ( Aristoph. Bds. 521 “Λάμπων δ᾽ ὄμνυσ᾽ ἔτι καὶ νυνὶ τὸν χῆν᾽ ὅταν ἐξαπατᾷ τι”): his patronymie is not preserved, but Olympiodoros may have been his father (or his uncle). Of this Olympiodoros (a high-sounding but not uncommon name) nothing further is known. Hdt. might have read or heard of his fame long before joining the colony at Thurioi, and there is nothing in this passage to lead us to postdate its composition. The story is an integral portion of the Attic legend of Plataia.
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