BOOK   II.
 

Kal Alvqaiov ecpdpov iv Indprq, Kcd. HuOoBupou  eTi Suo p.'fjj'as dpxoi'TOS 2. I.
*A0T)i'aiois, perd rqv iv Uonbaicx pdxqv pqvl eKTcp, kcli dp.a ^pi dpxop.^Cb)
K.r.X.

It is difficult to fix the date of the attack on Plataea with certainty.
It took place a) 'When Pythodorus had two months of his archonship
to run,' b) ' at the beginning of spring,' c) about eighty days before
the first Peloponnesian invasion of Attica, which occurred roO
Bipovs Kal TOV aiTov aKpd^ovros, ii. 19 init., d) about the time of the
new moon (ii. 4 med.). But the first of these data appears to give
a different result to the second and third.

a)  The archons came into office on the first day of Hecatom¬
baeon, the first month of the Attic year. Hecatombaeon might
begin as early as the beginning of July (according to others towards
the end of June), or as late as the beginning of August (according
to others towards the end of July). The attack on Plataea will thus
fall at the earliest towards the end of April.

b)  The meaning of ' at the beginning of spring,' dpa qpi dpxopevcp,

is shown by a comparison of iv. 117 init. AaKebaipovioi be Kal 'ABq¬
valoi dp.a '^pi TOU eTriyiyj'op.ecou Oepous evBvs cKexeipiav inoiqaavro
iviavatov wdth iv. 118 fin. Kal oopoXdyqaav iv r« bqpcp rqv eK^x^tpiav eivac
iviavrdv, cipxeiv be rqvbe rqv qpepav, T€Tpd8a eirt SeKa ToO *EXa(f>T]|3oXia>KO$
p.if\v6s, and v. 19 init. apxei be rcov anovbcov,.. dpxcov ^AXKalos, *EXa4)if|-
{^oXicjcos p.irji'os eKTj] <|)0ti/o»'TOS with V. 20 init. avrai ai anovbal iyevovro
TeXeuTwi'TOS tou x^ifJi'Wi'OS dp,a ■^pi.

The date thus obtained for the attack on Plataea would be the
middle or end of Elaphebolion, i. e. roughly speaking, some time
in March, or the beginning of April. But the consideration men¬
tioned in d) fixes the date within these limits to about March f or
April 7, on which days there was a new moon. See Boeckh,
Mondcyclen der Hellenen, Jahrb. fur Class. Phih Suppl. i. p. 78.   It