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ἀπείθησαν, ‘were let go like runners’ (cf. vii. 122).

δρόμῳ. The thrice-repeated statement that the Athenians charged at the double (§§ 2, 3) is not to be explained away as an inference from the festival of the Boedromia (A. Mommsen, Feste Athen. 176) or by making δρόμῳ the opposite of βάδην (ix. 57. 1), ‘quick’ and ‘slow’ march. On the other hand, an orderly and effective charge after a mile's run in full armour would be beyond the power of any large body of soldiers, however well trained. The ‘mile’, however, is probably an inference from the distance between the Athenian position near Vrana and the place where they charged the Persians near the Soros. No doubt the advance was rapid, but only for the last 200 yards, when within bowshot, would the Attic hoplites charge at full speed. I have shown (C.Q. xiii (1919), pp. 40-2) that in accounts of battles βάδην means ‘at foot's pace’, and δρόμῳ ‘at the double’.

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