It was only when Aristides, the exiled Athenian general arrived that night, followed by some deserters from the Persians, with news of the deployment of the Persian fleet, that the Peloponnesians accepted that they could not escape, and so would fight.
Det var først da Aristides, den landsforviste atheniensiske general, ankom den nat ledsaget af nogle persiske desertører med nyheden om indsættelsen af den persiske flåde, at peloponneserne indså, at de ikke kunne flygte og således måtte kæmpe.