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The idea is not that the whole army should or could find refuge within the walls of Thebes, but that the city should be made the base of the army, and the wooden fort on the Asopus (ch. 15. 2 n.) be given up. In view of the Greek advance, a base on the Asopus may well have seemed too far forward.

The existence of plentiful supplies at Thebes is inconsistent with Alexander's report of a shortage on the Asopus (45. 2), since with superior cavalry it must have been easy to maintain communication between them. The statement here is probably accurate, as it comes from a better source (Busolt, ii. 730 n.) and is more in accord with the care of the Persians for their commissariat (cf. vii. 25). Grundy (pp. 476, 477), however, holds that the Phocians, who were threatening Mardonius's communications (ch. 31. 5), may have caused supplies to run short.

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