[99]
He did this from Thebes, through the
agency of Eurymachus, the son of Leontiadas, the Boeotarch,1 and the gates were opened at night by Naucleides and some
accomplices of his, who had been won over by bribes. The Plataeans, discovering
that the Thebans had got within the gates in the night and that their city had
been suddenly seized in time of peace, ran to bear aid and arrayed themselves
for battle. When day dawned, and they saw that the Thebans were few in number,
and that only their first ranks had entered—a heavy rain which had
fallen in the night prevented them from all getting in; for the river Asopus was
flowing full and was not easy to cross especially in the night;—
1 This title was given to the high officials at Thebes. The story of the attack on Plataea is told in detail in Thuc. 2.2 ff. The date was 428 B.C.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by Norman W. DeWitt, Ph.D., and Norman J. DeWitt, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1949.
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