The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1891-07-02

Victofy Nno8o tfuit8 nave ole1oeo nun
dred generations Of European blood.
The battleheld where persiAS victim horde
First bowed beneath the hrunt Of HollaS'
sword,
A on the morn to distant glory dear.
When Marathon became Q magic word;
Which uttered, to the hearers eye appear
The camp, the host, the fight, the conqueroFS
career;
The flying Mede, his Shaftiess. broken bow.
The hery Greek, his red pursuing spear.
From Marathon, also, dated a new de-
parture in the conduct Of warfare, since Of
course Q field 90 surprising In its results
had It's genius and its hero for the emula-
ton Of men who should come afterwArd.
This was MiltiAdes. q citizen Of Athena.
who had been in the service Of Darius
the Mede, and had shHrpened his wits as q
soldier Of fortune in some Of the conquered
colonies where he was a satrap Of the Per
sian king. The AtheniAns forgave him
grave sins and elected him one Of the
ten generals Of their army, when he TO
turned TO them with price upon his head
for an act Of daring treachery to Darius.
The Persian army set out in the year 100
B. G. to punish Athens for having assisted
Ionia in its rebellion against Asiatic
usurpation and tyranny, and having con-
AAGAgA WV AaabA1o 1Au EAAlA
Its city, EretriA, a. an example Of what
would befall Athens, they landed on the
plain Of Marathon with over 10000 men,
intending to march upon Athens. The
AthenianS went out to meet them 1000
strong, summoning their neighbOrs 10
lend hand The Spartans promised to
do 90, but religious scruples detained
them, and the Plateans sent 1000 men to
repay a similar service rendered some
years before.
When the Athenian generals saw Darius
host before them and beheld their own
weak muster q division Of opinion showed
itself at once. The Persian troops up TO
this date had proved invineiblS In every
contest waged against the Greeks, and the
very name Of Mede sent terror to the souls
Of the bsavest son Of Hellas. The Atheni.
ans, however, had immense advantages in
spite Of their weak battalions, and Eve
generals out Of ten voted for an immediate
battle. The Persians had landed on a low
plain but slightly elevated from the beach,
and the Greeks were upon height that
encircled the plain nearly from shore to
shore. At the extremities Of the height
were marshes which ct the season-au.
tumn-Nere impossible for troops. Five
Of the generals assumed that, a. the Per
SLAMS had come TO fight, they should be al
lowed TO take the initiative and butt theiI
heads against the Athenian spears that
would await them at every turn. Besides,
since the Spartans were coming up to aid
their fellows, It would be best to postpone
action until their arrival at least.
On the other hand, five colleagues voted
for immediate attack on the Persian camp.
Miltiades headed this party and founded
his opinion on his knowledge Of the Persian
troops, whom be deemed inferior TO Greeks
when the latter were we'll handled, and his
belief in the uncertainty Of human affairs,
no matter how rose colored they might ap-
pear. Athens was twenty-five miles dis
tant from Marathon, and there, safely hid
ing while better men were on the wArpath.
were factions Of scheming men ready 10
betray the state into the hands Of Dariusf for
their own endA An expelled tyrant Of
Athens, Hippias, was in the Persian camp
instigating the warfare on his people in