The Lacedaemonians [Spartans], against their will, had the fortune to be left by the rest. For Amompharetus, a brave and daring man, who had long been burning with the desire of the fight, and resented their many lingerings and delays, calling the removal of the camp a mere running away and flight, protested he would not desert his post, but would there remain with his company and sustain the charge of Mardonius. And when Pausanias came to him and told him he did do these things by the common vote and determination of the Greeks, Amompharetus taking up a great stone and flinging it at Pausanias’ feet, and “By this token,” said he, “do I give my suffrage for the battle, nor have I any concern with the cowardly consultations and decrees of other men,” Pausanias, not knowing what to do in the present juncture, sent to the Athenians, who were drawing off, to stay to accompany him; and so he himself set off with the rest of the army for Platae, hoping thus to make Amompheratus move.
Source:
Plutarch, John Dryden, and Arthur Hugh Clough. "Aristides." Plutarch's Lives. New York: Modern Library, 2001. 447-48. Print.
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