§11.1χειροτονηθεὶς δὲ στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ ἐπὶ τὴν μάχην, καὶ τῶν Ἀθηναίων ὀκτακισχιλίους ὁπλίτας ἀναλαβών, ἧκεν εἰς Πλαταιάς.
Having been elected general with full powers for the battle, and having taken with him eight thousand hoplites of the Athenians, he came to Plataea.
ἐκεῖ δὲ καὶ Παυσανίας ὁ τοῦ σύμπαντος ἡγούμενος Ἑλληνικοῦ συνέμιξεν ἔχων τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων Ἑλλήνων ἐπέρρει τὸ πλῆθος.
There, Pausanias also, the commander of the entire Greek force, joined him, having the Spartans, and the multitude of the other Greeks kept flowing in.
§11.2τῶν δὲ βαρβάρων τὸ μὲν ὅλον τῆς στρατοπεδείας παρὰ τὸν Ἀσωπὸν ποταμὸν παρεκτεταμένης οὐδεὶς ἦν ὄρος διὰ τὸ μέγεθος, περὶ δὲ τὰς ἀποσκευὰς καὶ τὰ κυριώτατα τεῖχος περιεφράξαντο τετράγωνον, οὗ τῶν πλευρῶν ἑκάστη μῆκος ἦν δέκα σταδίων.
As for the barbarians, their camp as a whole being stretched out along the river Asopus, there was no visible limit to it on account of its size, but around their baggage and most valuable things they fortified a square wall, of which each of the sides was ten stades in length.
Παυσανίᾳ μὲν οὖν καὶ τοῖς Ἕλλησι κοινῇ Τισαμενὸς ὁ Ἠλεῖος ἐμαντεύσατο, καὶ προεῖπε νίκην ἀμυνομένοις καὶ μὴ προεπιχειροῦσιν·
Now, for Pausanias and the Greeks in common, Tisamenus the Elean took the auspices and foretold victory if they defended themselves and did not strike the first blow.
§11.3Ἀριστείδου δὲ πέμψαντος εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀνεῖλεν ὁ θεὸς Ἀθηναίους καθυπερτέρους ἔσεσθαι τῶν ἐναντίων εὐχομένους τῷ Διῒ καὶ τῇ Ἥρα τῇ Κιθαιρωνίᾳ καὶ Πανὶ καὶ νύμφαις Σφραγίτισι, καὶ θύοντας ἥρωσιν Ἀνδροκράτει, Λεύκωνι, Πεισάνδρῳ, Δαμοκράτει, Ὑψίωνι, Ἀκταίωνι, Πολϋΐδῳ, καὶ τὸν κίνδυνον ἐν γᾷ ἰδίᾳ ποιουμένους ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ τᾶς Δάματρος τᾶς Ἐλευσινίας καὶ τᾶς Κόρας.
And when Aristeides sent to Delphi, the god answered that the Athenians would be superior to their opponents if they prayed to Zeus, Cithaeronian Hera, Pan, and the Sphragitid nymphs, and sacrificed to the heroes Androcrates, Leucon, Peisander, Damocrates, Hypsion, Actaeon, and Polyidus, and if they engaged in the danger on their own land in the plain of Eleusinian Demeter and Core.
§11.4οὗτος ὁ χρησμὸς ἀνενεχθεὶς ἀπορίαν τῷ Ἀριστείδῃ παρεῖχεν.
When this oracle was brought back, it caused great perplexity to Aristeides.
οἱ μὲν γὰρ ἥρωες, οἷς ἐκέλευε θύειν, ἀρχηγέται Πλαταιέων ἦσαν, καὶ τὸ τῶν Σφραγιτίδων νυμφῶν ἄντρον ἐν μιᾷ κορυφῇ τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνός ἐστιν, εἰς δυσμὰς ἡλίου θερινὰς τετραμμένον, ἐν ᾧ καὶ μαντεῖον ἦν πρότερον, ὥς φασι, καὶ πολλοὶ κατείχοντο τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, οὓς νυμφολήπτους προσηγόρευον. §11.5τὸ δὲ τῆς Ἐλευσινίας Δήμητρος πεδίον, καὶ τὸ τὴν μάχην ἐν ἰδίᾳ χώρᾳ ποιουμένοις τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις νίκην δίδοσθαι, πάλιν εἰς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ἀνεκαλεῖτο καὶ μεθίστη τὸν πόλεμον.
For the heroes to whom it ordered them to sacrifice were the founding leaders of the Plataeans, and the cave of the Sphragitid nymphs is on one of the peaks of Cithaeron, turned toward the summer sunset, in which there was also formerly an oracle, as they say, and many of the local people were possessed, whom they called "nympholepts." But the plain of Eleusinian Demeter, and the fact that victory was to be given to the Athenians if they fought on their own land, recalled them back to Attica and was shifting the war.
ἔνθα τῶν Πλαταιέων ὁ στρατηγὸς Ἀρίμνηστος ἔδοξε κατὰ τοὺς ὕπνους ὑπὸ τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἐπερωτώμενον αὑτόν, ὅ τι δὴ πράττειν δέδοκται τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, εἰπεῖν,
αὔριον εἰς Ἐλευσῖνα τὴν στρατιὰν ἀπάξομεν, ὦ δέσποτα, καὶ διαμαχούμεθα τοῖς βαρβάροις ἐκεῖ κατὰ τὸ πυθόχρηστον. §11.6τὸν οὖν θεὸν φάναι διαμαρτάνειν αὐτοὺς τοῦ παντός· αὐτόθι γὰρ εἶναι περὶ τὴν Πλαταϊκὴν τὰ πυθόχρηστα καὶ ζητοῦντας ἀνευρήσειν.
There, Arimnestus the general of the Plataeans seemed in his sleep to be asked by Zeus the Savior what indeed the Greeks had decided to do, and to say: "Tomorrow, O master, we shall lead the army away to Eleusis, and we shall fight it out with the barbarians there according to the oracle." The god, therefore, said that they were missing the whole mark; for the places spoken of by the oracle were right there in the territory of Plataea, and if they searched they would find them.
τούτων ἐναργῶς τῷ Ἀριμνήστῳ φανέντων ἐξεγρόμενος τάχιστα μετεπέμψατο τοὺς ἐμπειροτάτους καὶ πρεσβυτάτους τῶν πολιτῶν, μεθʼ ὧν διαλεγόμενος καὶ συνδιαπορῶν εὗρεν, ὅτι τῶν Ὑσιῶν πλησίον ὑπὸ τὸν Κιθαιρῶνα ναός ἐστιν ἀρχαῖος πάνυ Δήμητρος Ἐλευσινίας καὶ Κόρης προσαγορευόμενος.
When these things appeared clearly to Arimnestus, he woke up and immediately summoned the most experienced and eldest of the citizens, conversing and puzzling over it with them, and discovered that near Hysiae, under Mount Cithaeron, there was a very ancient temple called that of Eleusinian Demeter and Core.
§11.7εὐθὺς οὖν παραλαβὼν τὸν Ἀριστείδην ἦγεν ἐπὶ τὸν τόπον, εὐφυέστατον ὄντα παρατάξαι φάλαγγα πεζικὴν ἱπποκρατουμένοις, διὰ τὰς ὑπωρείας τοῦ Κιθαιρῶνος ἄφιππα ποιούσας τὰ καταλήγοντα καὶ συγκυροῦντα τοῦ πεδίου πρὸς τὸ ἱερόν.
Immediately, therefore, taking Aristeides with him, he led him to the place, which was most naturally suited for drawing up an infantry phalanx against those superior in cavalry, because the foothills of Cithaeron made the parts of the plain that ended and met near the temple impassable for horses.
αὐτοῦ δʼ ἦν καὶ τὸ τοῦ Ἀνδροκράτους ἡρῷον ἐγγύς, ἄλσει πυκνῶν καὶ συσκίων δένδρων περιεχόμενον.
And the hero-shrine of Androcrates was also near there, surrounded by a grove of thick and shady trees.
§11.8ὅπως δὲ μηδὲν ἐλλιπὲς ἔχῃ πρὸς τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς νίκης ὁ χρησμός, ἔδοξε τοῖς Πλαταιεῦσιν, Ἀριμνήστου γνώμην εἰπόντος, ἀνελεῖν τὰ πρὸς τὴν Ἀττικὴν ὅρια τῆς Πλαταιΐδος καὶ τὴν χώραν ἐπιδοῦναι τοῖς Ἀθηναίοις ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἐν οἰκείᾳ κατὰ τὸν χρησμὸν ἐναγωνίσασθαι.
In order that the oracle might have nothing lacking for the hope of victory, it seemed good to the Plataeans, after Arimnestus had proposed the motion, to remove the boundaries of Plataea bordering on Attica and to give the territory to the Athenians, so that they might contend for Greece on their own land according to the oracle.
§11.9ταύτην μὲν οὖν τὴν φιλοτιμίαν τῶν Πλαταιέων οὕτω συνέβη περιβόητον γενέσθαι, ὥστε καὶ Ἀλέξανδρον ἤδη βασιλεύοντα τῆς Ἀσίας ὕστερον πολλοῖς ἔτεσι τειχίζοντα τὰς Πλαταιὰς ἀνειπεῖν Ὀλυμπιάσιν ὑπὸ κήρυκος, ὅτι ταύτην ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀποδίδωσι Πλαταιεῦσι τῆς ἀνδραγαθίας καὶ τῆς μεγαλοψυχίας χάριν, ἐπειδὴ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἐν τῷ Μηδικῷ πολέμῳ τὴν χώραν ἐπέδωκαν καὶ παρέσχον αὑτοὺς προθυμοτάτους.
This generosity of the Plataeans happened to become so celebrated that even Alexander, when he was already ruling over Asia many years later, rebuilding the walls of Plataea, had it proclaimed by a herald at the Olympic games: "The King restores this city to the Plataeans in return for their bravery and magnanimity, because in the Persian war they gave up their land to the Greeks and showed themselves most zealous."