It seems probable that the Thebans had received some such
explicit assurance as they asserted; for, on receiving the answer from
Plataea, they marched away without doing any harm. No sooner were they
gone than the Plataeans made all haste to get their property within
the walls, and then put all their prisoners to death. The day was not
far distant when they were bitterly to rue this act of passion, which
was not only cruel, but grossly impolitic; for the Thebans thus slain
in cold blood, a hundred and eighty in number, would have been
invaluable as hostages, whereas the Plataeans had now cut themselves
off from all hope of reconciliation with Thebes, and virtually sealed
their own fate.
Two messengers had been despatched from Plataea to Athens, one after
the first entrance of the Thebans, and the second after their defeat
and capture; and the Athenians, on receiving the second message, sent
off a herald bidding the Plataeans to wait for further instructions,
before taking any steps against the prisoners. When the herald
arrived, he found the men already slain, and the Athenians then
proceeded to place the town in a state of defence, removing the women
and children and all those who were unfit for military service, to
Athens, and leaving a small body of their own citizens to direct
operations.
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