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When Mardonius and his army had returned to Thebes, the Greeks gathered in congress decreed to make common cause with the Athenians and advancing to Plataea in a body, to fight to a finish for liberty, and also to make a vow to the gods that, if they were victorious, the Greeks would unite in celebrating the Festival of Liberty on that day1 and would hold the games of the Festival in Plataea. [2] And when the Greek forces were assembled at the Isthmus, all of them agreed that they should swear an oath about the war, one that would make staunch the concord among them and would compel them nobly to endure the perils of the battle. [3] The oath ran as follows: "I will not hold life dearer than liberty, nor will I desert the leaders, whether they be living or dead, but I will bury all the allies who have perished in the battle; and if I overcome the barbarians in the war, I will not destroy any one of the cities which have participated in the struggle2; nor will I rebuild any one of the sanctuaries which have been burnt or demolished, but I will let them be and leave them as a reminder to coming generations of the impiety of the barbarians." [4] After they had sworn the oath, they marched to Boeotia through the pass of Cithaeron, and when they had descended as far as the foothills near Erythrae, they pitched camp there. The command over the Athenians was held by Aristeides, and the supreme command by Pausanias, who was the guardian3 of the son of Leonidas.

1 This Day of Freedom was commemorated every four years at Plataea, probably on the 27th of August. On the date see Munro in the Camb. Anc. Hist. 4, pp. 339 f.

2 Lyc. 81 gives the same oath with some slight variations, adding at this point: "and I will exact a tithe of all who have chosen the part of the barbarian." In the light of Diodorus' own statement in chap. 3.3, the clause may well have been in the oath.

3 And therefore regent.

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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