XXI.  After this Aristeides proposed at a general assembly of all the Greeks, that all the cities of Greece should every year send deputies and religious representatives to the city of Plataea, and that every fifth year Eleutheria, or a festival in honour of Freedom, should be celebrated there.  Also he proposed that there should be a general levy throughout Greece, for the war against the Persians, of ten thousand heavy armed troops, a thousand horse, and a hundred ships of war; and that the Plataeans should be held inviolable, and consecrated to the service of the gods, to whom they offered sacrifice on behalf of all Greece.  These things were ratified, and the people of Plataea undertook to make yearly sacrifices in honour of those who had fallen fighting for Greece, and whose bodies were buried there.  This they perform even at the present day in the following fashion.  On the sixteenth day of the month Maimakterion, which in the Boeotian calendar is called Alalkomenius, they make a procession headed by a trumpeter sounding the charge.  After him follow waggons full of myrtle and garlands of flowers, a black bull, libations of wine and milk in jars, and earthenware vessels full of oil and perfume.  These are carried by young men of noble birth, for no slave is allowed to take any part in the proceedings, because the men in whose honour the sacrifice is made, died fighting for liberty.  Last of all comes the chief magistrate of Plataea, who, during the rest of his term of office, is not allowed to touch iron, or to wear clothes of any colour but white.  On this day, however, he wears a scarlet tunic, takes an urn[25] from the public record office in one hand, and a sword in the other, and proceeds through the middle of the city to the sepulchres.  There he with his own hands draws water from the well, washes the head-stones of the graves, and anoints them with oil.  After this he cuts the throat of the bull, places his bones on a funeral pile, and with prayer to Zeus, and Hermes who conducts men’s souls into the nether world, he calls on the brave men who died for Greece, to come to the feast and drink the libations of blood.  Next he mixes a large bowl of wine and water, pours out a cup for himself, and says, “I drink to those who died in defence of the freedom of Greece.”  This custom is observed even to this day by the Plataeans.

XXII.  After the return of the Athenians to their own city, Aristeides observed that they desired to adopt a democratic form of government.  As he considered that the people had by their bravery deserved a share in the management of affairs, and likewise thought that it would be hard to turn them from their purpose as they had arms in their hands, and were confident in their strength because of the victories which they had won, he carried a decree that every citizen should have a share in the government, and that the archons should be chosen out of the whole body of Athenians.