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When both sides had drawn out their troops in battle-order and were advancing against each other, the Persians, observing how few the enemy were, disdained them and bore down on them with great shouting. [2] Now the Samians and Milesians had decided unanimously beforehand to support the Greek cause and were pushing forward all together at the double; and as their advance brought them in sight of the Greek army, although the Ionians thought that the Greeks would be encouraged, the result was the very opposite. [3] For the troops of Leotychides, thinking that Xerxes was come from Sardis with his army and advancing upon them, were filled with fear, and confusion and division among themselves arose in the army, some saying that they should take to their ships with all speed and depart and others that they should remain and boldly hold their lines. While they were still in disorder, the Persians came in sight, equipped in a manner to inspire terror and bearing down on them with shouting. [4] The Greeks, having no respite for deliberation, were compelled to withstand the attack of the barbarians.

At the outset both sides fought stoutly and the battle was indecisive, great numbers falling in both armies; but when the Samians and Milesians put in their appearance,1 the Greeks plucked up courage, whereas the barbarians were filled with terror and broke in flight. [5] A great slaughter followed, as the troops of Leotychides and Xanthippus pressed upon the beaten barbarians and pursued them as far as the camp; and Aeolians participated in the battle, after the issue had already been decided, as well as many other peoples of Asia, since an overwhelming desire for their liberty entered the hearts of the inhabitants of the cities of Asia. [6] Therefore practically all of them gave no thought either to hostages2 or to oaths, but they joined with the other Greeks in slaying the barbarians in their flight. This was the manner in which the Persians suffered defeat, and there were slain of them more than forty thousand, while of the survivors some found refuge in the camp and others withdrew to Sardis. [7] And when Xerxes learned of both the defeat in Plataea and the rout of his own troops in Mycale, he left a portion of his armament in Sardis to carry on the war against the Greeks, while he himself, in bewilderment, set out with the rest of his army on the way to Ecbatana.

1 Ephorus, whom Diodorus was following here, was an Ionian and so exaggerates the part played by the Samians and Milesians in the victory.

2 Held by the Persians as sureties of the faithfulness of the Greek contingents to their oaths of loyalty to the Persians.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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