The Persian Wars
by
Herodotus
Written 440 BC
Translated by George Rawlinson
Book 5 – TERPSICHORE
[5.1] The Persians left behind by King Darius in Europe,
who had Megabazus for their general, reduced, before any other Hellespontine
state, the people of Perinthus, who had no mind to become subjects of the king.
Now the Perinthians had ere this been roughly handled by another nation, the
Paeonians. For the Paeonians from about the Strymon were once bidden by an
oracle to make war upon the Perinthians, and if these latter, when the camps
faced one another, challenged them by name to fight, then to venture on a
battle, but if otherwise, not to make the hazard. The Paeonians followed the
advice. Now the men of Perinthus drew out to meet them in the skirts of their
city; and a threefold single combat was fought on challenge given. Man to man,
and horse to horse, and dog to dog, was the strife waged; and the Perinthians,
winners of two combats out of the three, in their joy had raised the paean; when
the Paeonians struck by the thought that this was what the oracle had meant,
passed the word one to another, saying, “Now of a surety has the oracle been
fulfilled for us; now our work begins.” Then the Paeonians set upon the
Perinthians in the midst of their paean, and defeated them utterly, leaving but
few of them alive.
[5.2] Such was the affair of the Paeonians, which happened
a long time previously. At this time the Perinthians, after a brave struggle for
freedom, were overcome by numbers, and yielded to Megabazus and his Persians.
After Perinthus had been brought under, Megabazus led his host through Thrace,
subduing to the dominion of the king all the towns and all the nations of those
parts. For the king’s command to him was that he should conquer Thrace.
[5.3] The Thracians are the most powerful people in the
world, except, of course, the Indians; and if they had one head, or were agreed
among themselves, it is my belief that their match could not be found anywhere,
and that they would very far surpass all other nations. But such union is
impossible for them, and there are no means of ever bringing it about. Herein
therefore consists their weakness. The Thracians bear many names in the
different regions of their country, but all of them have like usages in every
respect, excepting only the Getae, the Trausi, and those who dwell above the
people of Creston.
[5.4] Now the manners and customs of the Getae, who believe
in their immortality, I have already spoken of. The Trausi in all else resemble
the other Thracians, but have customs at births and deaths which I will now
describe. When a child is born all its kindred sit round about it in a circle
and weep for the woes it will have to undergo now that it is come into the
world, making mention of every ill that falls to the lot of humankind; when, on
the other hand, a man has died, they bury him with laughter and rejoicings, and
say that now he is free from a host of sufferings, and enjoys the completest
happiness.
[5.5] The Thracians who live above the Crestonaeans observe
the following customs. Each man among them has several wives; and no sooner does
a man die than a sharp contest ensues among the wives upon the question which of
them all the husband loved most tenderly; the friends of each eagerly plead on
her behalf, and she to whom the honour is adjudged, after receiving the praises
both of men and women, is slain over the grave by the hand of her next of kin,
and then buried with her husband. The others are sorely grieved, for nothing is
considered such a disgrace.
[5.6] The Thracians who do not belong to these tribes have
the customs which follow. They sell their children to traders. On their maidens
they keep no watch, but leave them altogether free, while on the conduct of
their wives they keep a most strict watch. Brides are purchased of their parents
for large sums of money. Tattooing among them marks noble birth, and the want of
it low birth. To be idle is accounted the most honourable thing, and to be a
tiller of the ground the most dishonourable. To live by war and plunder is of
all things the most glorious. These are the most remarkable of their customs.
[5.7] The gods which they worship are but three, Mars,
Bacchus, and Dian. Their kings, however, unlike the rest of the citizens,
worship Mercury more than any other god, always swearing by his name, and
declaring that they are themselves sprung from him.
[5.8] Their wealthy ones are buried in the following
fashion. The body is laid out for three days; and during this time they kill
victims of all kinds, and feast upon them, after first bewailing the departed.
Then they either burn the body or else bury it in the ground. Lastly, they raise
a mound over the grave, and hold games of all sorts, wherein the single combat
is awarded the highest prize. Such is the mode of burial among the Thracians.
[5.9] As regards the region lying north of this country no
one can say with any certainty what men inhabit it. It appears that you no
sooner cross the Ister than you enter on an interminable wilderness. The only
people of whom I can hear as dwelling beyond the Ister are the race named
Sigynnae, who wear, they say, a dress like the Medes, and have horses which are
covered entirely with a coat of shaggy hair, five fingers in length. They are a
small breed, flat-nosed, and not strong enough to bear men on their backs; but
when yoked to chariots, they are among the swiftest known, which is the reason
why the people of that country use chariots. Their borders reach down almost to
the Eneti upon the Adriatic Sea, and they call themselves colonists of the
Medes; but how they can be colonists of the Medes I for my part cannot imagine.
Still nothing is impossible in the long lapse of ages. Sigynnae is the name
which the Ligurians who dwell above Massilia give to traders, while among the
Cyprians the word means spears.
[5.10] According to the account which the Thracians give,
the country beyond the Ister is possessed by bees, on account of which it is
impossible to penetrate farther. But in this they seem to me to say what has no
likelihood; for it is certain that those creatures are very impatient of cold. I
rather believe that it is on account of the cold that the regions which lie
under the Bear are without inhabitants. Such then are the accounts given of this
country, the sea-coast whereof Megabazus was now employed in subjecting to the
Persians.
[5.11] King Darius had no sooner crossed the Hellespont and
reached Sardis, than he bethought himself of the good deed of Histiaeus the
Milesian, and the good counsel of the Mytilenean Coes. He therefore sent for
both of them to Sardis, and bade them each crave a boon at his hands. Now
Histiaeus, as he was already king of Miletus, did not make request for any
government besides, but asked Darius to give him Myrcinus of the Edonians, where
he wished to build him a city. Such was the choice that Histiaeus made. Coes, on
the other hand, as he was a mere burgher, and not a king, requested the
sovereignty of Mytilene. Both alike obtained their requests, and straight-way
betook themselves to the places which they had chosen.
[5.12] It chanced in the meantime that King Darius saw a
sight which determined him to bid Megabazus remove the Paeonians from their
seats in Europe and transport them to Asia. There were two Paeonians, Pigres and
Mantyes, whose ambition it was to obtain the sovereignty over their countrymen.
As soon therefore as ever Darius crossed into Asia, these men came to Sardis,
and brought with them their sister, who was a tall and beautiful woman. Having
so done, they waited till a day came when the king sat in state in the suburb of
the Lydians; and then dressing their sister in the richest gear they could, sent
her to draw water for them. She bore a pitcher upon her head, and with one arm
led a horse, while all the way as she went she span flax. Now as she passed by
where the king was, Darius took notice of her; for it was neither like the
Persians nor the Lydians, nor any of the dwellers in Asia, to do as she did.
Darius accordingly noted her, and ordered some of his guard to follow her steps,
and watch to see what she would do with the horse. So the spearmen went; and the
woman, when she came to the river, first watered the horse, and then filling the
pitcher, came back the same way she had gone, with the pitcher of water upon her
head, and the horse dragging upon her arm, while she still kept twirling the
spindle.
[5.13] King Darius was full of wonder both at what they who
had watched the woman told him, and at what he had himself seen. So he commanded
that she should be brought before him. And the woman came; and with her appeared
her brothers, who had been watching everything a little way off. Then Darius
asked them of what nation the woman was; and the young men replied that they
were Paeonians, and she was their sister. Darius rejoined by asking, “Who the
Paeonians were, and in what part of the world they lived? and, further, what
business had brought the young men to Sardis?” Then the brothers told him they
had come to put themselves under his power, and Paeonia was a country upon the
river Strymon, and the Strymon was at no great distance from the Hellespont. The
Paeonians, they said, were colonists of the Teucrians from Troy. When they had
thus answered his questions, Darius asked if all the women of their country
worked so hard? Then the brothers eagerly answered, Yes; for this was the very
object with which the whole thing had been done.
[5.14] So Darius wrote letters to Megabazus, the commander
whom he had left behind in Thrace, and ordered him to remove the Paeonians from
their own land, and bring them into his presence, men, women, and children. And
straightway a horseman took the message, and rode at speed to the Hellespont;
and, crossing it, gave the paper to Megabazus. Then Megabazus, as soon as he had
read it, and procured guides from Thrace, made war upon Paeonia.
[5.15] Now when the Paeonians heard that the Persians were
marching against them, they gathered themselves together, and marched down to
the sea-coast, since they thought the Persians would endeavour to enter their
country on that side. Here then they stood in readiness to oppose the army of
Megabazus. But the Persians, who knew that they had collected, and were gone to
keep guard at the pass near the sea, got guides, and taking the inland route
before the Paeonians were aware, poured down upon their cities, from which the
men had all marched out; and finding them empty, easily got possession of them.
Then the men, when they heard that all their towns were taken, scattered this
way and that to their homes, and gave themselves up to the Persians. And so
these tribes of the Paeonians, to wit, the Siropaeonians, the Paeoplians and all
the others as far as Lake Prasias, were torn from their seats and led away into
Asia.
[5.16] They on the other hand who dwelt about Mount
Pangaeum and in the country of the Doberes, the Agrianians, and the Odomantians,
and they likewise who inhabited Lake Prasias, were not conquered by Megabazus.
He sought indeed to subdue the dwellers upon the lake, but could not effect his
purpose. Their manner of living is the following. Platforms supported upon tall
piles stand in the middle of the lake, which are approached from the land by a
single narrow bridge. At the first the piles which bear up the platforms were
fixed in their places by the whole body of the citizens, but since that time the
custom which has prevailed about fixing them is this:- they are brought from a
hill called Orbelus, and every man drives in three for each wife that he
marries. Now the men have all many wives apiece; and this is the way in which
they live. Each has his own hut, wherein he dwells, upon one of the platforms,
and each has also a trapdoor giving access to the lake beneath; and their wont
is to tie their baby children by the foot with a string, to save them from
rolling into the water. They feed their horses and their other beasts upon fish,
which abound in the lake to such a degree that a man has only to open his
trap-door and to let down a basket by a rope into the water, and then to wait a
very short time, when he draws it up quite full of them. The fish are of two
kinds, which they call the paprax and the tilon.
[5.17] The Paeonians therefore – at least such of them as
had been conquered – were led away into Asia. As for Megabazus, he no sooner
brought the Paeonians under, than he sent into Macedonia an embassy of Persians,
choosing for the purpose the seven men of most note in all the army after
himself. These persons were to go to Amyntas, and require him to give earth and
water to King Darius. Now there is a very short cut from the Lake Prasias across
to Macedonia. Quite close to the lake is the mine which yielded afterwards a
talent of silver a day to Alexander; and from this mine you have only to cross
the mountain called Dysorum to find yourself in the Macedonian territory.
[5.18] So the Persians sent upon this errand, when they
reached the court, and were brought into the presence of Amyntas, required him
to give earth and water to King Darius. And Amyntas not only gave them what they
asked, but also invited them to come and feast with him; after which he made
ready the board with great magnificence, and entertained the Persians in right
friendly fashion. Now when the meal was over, and they were all set to the
drinking, the Persians said –
“Dear Macedonian, we Persians have a custom when we make a
great feast to bring with us to the board our wives and concubines, and make
them sit beside us. Now then, as thou hast received us so kindly, and feasted us
so handsomely, and givest moreover earth and water to King Darius, do also after
our custom in this matter.”
Then Amyntas answered – “O, Persians! we have no such
custom as this; but with us men and women are kept apart. Nevertheless, since
you, who are our lords, wish it, this also shall be granted to you.”
When Amyntas had thus spoken, he bade some go and fetch the
women. And the women came at his call and took their seats in a row over against
the Persians. Then, when the Persians saw that the women were fair and comely,
they spoke again to Amyntas and said, that “what had been done was not wise; for
it had been better for the women not to have come at all, than to come in this
way, and not sit by their sides, but remain over against them, the torment of
their eyes.” So Amyntas was forced to bid the women sit side by side with the
Persians. The women did as he ordered; and then the Persians, who had drunk more
than they ought, began to put their hands on them, and one even tried to give
the woman next him a kiss.
[5.19] King Amyntas saw, but he kept silence, although
sorely grieved, for he greatly feared the power of the Persians. Alexander,
however, Amyntas’ son, who was likewise there and witnessed the whole, being a
young man and unacquainted with suffering, could not any longer restrain
himself. He therefore, full of wrath, spake thus to Amyntas:- “Dear father, thou
art old and shouldst spare thyself. Rise up from table and go take thy rest; do
not stay out the drinking. I will remain with the guests and give them all that
is fitting.”
Amyntas, who guessed that Alexander would play some wild
prank, made answer:- “Dear son, thy words sound to me as those of one who is
well nigh on fire, and I perceive thou sendest me away that thou mayest do some
wild deed. I beseech thee make no commotion about these men, lest thou bring us
all to ruin, but bear to look calmly on what they do. For myself, I will
withdraw as thou biddest me.”
[5.20] Amyntas, when he had thus besought his son, went
out; and Alexander said to the Persians, “Look on these ladies as your own, dear
strangers, all or any of them – only tell us your wishes. But now, as the
evening wears, and I see you have all had wine enough, let them, if you please,
retire, and when they have bathed they shall come back again.” To this the
Persians agreed, and Alexander, having got the women away, sent them off to the
harem, and made ready in their room an equal number of beardless youths, whom he
dressed in the garments of the women, and then, arming them with daggers,
brought them in to the Persians, saying as he introduced them, “Methinks, dear
Persians, that your entertainment has fallen short in nothing. We have set
before you all that we had ourselves in store, and all that we could anywhere
find to give you – and now, to crown the whole, we make over to you our sisters
and our mothers, that you may perceive yourselves to be entirely honoured by us,
even as you deserve to be – and also that you may take back word to the king who
sent you here, that there was one man, a Greek, the satrap of Macedonia, by whom
you were both feasted and lodged handsomely.” So speaking, Alexander set by the
side of each Persian one of those whom he had called Macedonian women, but who
were in truth men. And these men, when the Persians began to be rude, despatched
them with their daggers.
[5.21] So the ambassadors perished by this death, both they
and also their followers. For the Persians had brought a great train with them,
carriages, and attendants, and baggage of every kind – all of which disappeared
at the same time as the men themselves. Not very long afterwards the Persians
made strict search for their lost embassy; but Alexander, with much wisdom,
hushed up the business, bribing those sent on the errand, partly with money, and
partly with the gift of his own sister Gygaea, whom he gave in marriage to
Bubares, a Persian, the chief leader of the expedition which came in search of
the lost men. Thus the death of these Persians was hushed up, and no more was
said of it.
[5.22] Now that the men of this family are Greeks, sprung
from Perdiccas, as they themselves affirm, is a thing which I can declare of my
own knowledge, and which I will hereafter make plainly evident. That they are so
has been already adjudged by those who manage the Pan-Hellenic contest at
Olympia. For when Alexander wished to contend in the games, and had come to
Olympia with no other view, the Greeks who were about to run against him would
have excluded him from the contest – saying that Greeks only were allowed to
contend, and not barbarians. But Alexander proved himself to be an Argive, and
was distinctly adjudged a Greek; after which he entered the lists for the
foot-race, and was drawn to run in the first pair. Thus was this matter settled.
[5.23] Megabazus, having reached the Hellespont with the
Paeonians, crossed it, and went up to Sardis. He had become aware while in
Europe that Histiaeus the Milesian was raising a wall at Myrcinus – the town
upon the Strymon which he had obtained from King Darius as his guerdon for
keeping the bridge. No sooner therefore did he reach Sardis with the Paeonians
than he said to Darius, “What mad thing is this that thou hast done, sire, to
let a Greek, a wise man and a shrewd, get hold of a town in Thrace, a place too
where there is abundance of timber fit for shipbuilding, and oars in plenty, and
mines of silver, and about which are many dwellers both Greek and barbarian,
ready enough to take him for their chief, and by day and night to do his
bidding! I pray thee make this man cease his work, if thou wouldest not be
entangled in a war with thine own followers. Stop him, but with a gentle
message, only bidding him to come to thee. Then when thou once hast him in thy
power, be sure thou take good care that he never get back to Greece again.”
[5.24] With these words Megabazus easily persuaded Darius,
who thought he had shown true foresight in this matter. Darius therefore sent a
messenger to Myrcinus, who said, “These be the words of the king to thee, O
Histiaeus! I have looked to find a man well affectioned towards me and towards
my greatness; and I have found none whom I can trust like thee. Thy deeds, and
not thy words only, have proved thy love for me. Now then, since I have a mighty
enterprise in hand, I pray thee come to me, that I may show thee what I
purpose!”
Histiaeus, when he heard this, put faith in the words of
the messenger; and, as it seemed to him a grand thing to be the king’s
counsellor, he straightway went up to Sardis. Then Darius, when he was come,
said to him, “Dear Histiaeus, hear why I have sent for thee. No sooner did I
return from Scythia, and lose thee out of my sight, than I longed, as I have
never longed for aught else, to behold thee once more, and to interchange speech
with thee. Right sure I am there is nothing in all the world so precious as a
friend who is at once wise and true: both which thou art, as I have had good
proof in what thou hast already done for me. Now then ’tis well thou art come;
for look, I have an offer to make to thee. Let go Miletus and thy newly-founded
town in Thrace, and come with me up to Susa; share all that I have; live with
me, and be my counsellor.
[5.25] When Darius had thus spoken he made Artaphernes, his
brother by the father’s side, governor of Sardis, and taking Histiaeus with him,
went up to Susa. He left as general of all the troops upon the sea-coast Otanes,
son of Sisamnes, whose father King Cambyses slew and flayed, because that he,
being of the number of the royal judges, had taken money to give an unrighteous
sentence. Therefore Cambyses slew and flayed Sisamnes, and cutting his skin into
strips, stretched them across the seat of the throne whereon he had been wont to
sit when he heard causes. Having so done Cambyses appointed the son of Sisamnes
to be judge in his father’s room, and bade him never forget in what way his seat
was cushioned.
[5.26] Accordingly this Otanes, who had occupied so strange
a throne, became the successor of Megabazus in his command, and took first of
all Byzantium and Chalcidon, then Antandrus in the Troas, and next Lamponium.
This done, he borrowed ships of the Lesbians, and took Lemnos and Imbrus, which
were still inhabited by Pelasgians.
[5.27] Now the Lemnians stood on their defence, and fought
gallantly; but they were brought low in course of time. Such as outlived the
struggle were placed by the Persians under the government of Lycaretus, the
brother of that Maeandrius who was tyrant of Samos. (This Lycaretus died
afterwards in his government.) The cause which Otanes alleged for conquering and
enslaving all these nations was that some had refused to join the king’s army
against Scythia, while others had molested the host on its return. Such were the
exploits which Otanes performed in his command.
[5.28] Afterwards, but for no long time, there was a
respite from suffering. Then from Naxos and Miletus troubles gathered anew about
Ionia. Now Naxos at this time surpassed all the other islands in prosperity, and
Miletus had reached the height of her power, and was the glory of Ionia. But
previously for two generations the Milesians had suffered grievously from civil
disorders, which were composed by the Parians, whom the Milesians chose before
all the rest of the Greeks to rearrange their government.
[5.29] Now the way in which the Parians healed their
differences was the following. A number of the chief Parians came to Miletus,
and when they saw in how ruined a condition the Milesians were, they said that
they would like first to go over their country. So they went through all Milesia,
and on their way, whenever they saw in the waste and desolate country any land
that was well farmed, they took down the names of the owners in their tablets;
and having thus gone through the whole region, and obtained after all but few
names, they called the people together on their return to Miletus, and made
proclamation that they gave the government into the hands of those persons whose
lands they had found well farmed; for they thought it likely (they said) that
the same persons who had managed their own affairs well would likewise conduct
aright the business of the state. The other Milesians, who in time past had been
at variance, they placed under the rule of these men. Thus was the Milesian
government set in order by the Parians.
[5.30] It was, however, from the two cities above mentioned
that troubles began now to gather again about Ionia; and this is the way in
which they arose. Certain of the rich men had been banished from Naxos by the
commonalty, and, upon their banishment, had fled to Miletus. Aristagoras, son of
Molpagoras, the nephew and likewise the son-in-law of Histiaeus, son of
Lysagoras, who was still kept by Darius at Susa, happened to be regent of
Miletus at the time of their coming. For the kingly power belonged to Histiaeus;
but he was at Susa when the Naxians came. Now these Naxians had in times past
been bond-friends of Histiaeus; and so on their arrival at Miletus they
addressed themselves to Aristagoras and begged him to lend them such aid as his
ability allowed, in hopes thereby to recover their country. Then Aristagoras,
considering with himself that, if the Naxians should be restored by his help, he
would be lord of Naxos, put forward the friendship with Histiaeus to cloak his
views, and spoke as follows:-
“I cannot engage to furnish you with such a power as were
needful to force you, against their will, upon the Naxians who hold the city;
for I know they can bring into the field eight thousand bucklers, and have also
a vast number of ships of war. But I will do all that lies in my power to get
you some aid, and I think I can manage it in this way. Artaphernes happens to be
my friend. Now he is a son of Hystaspes, and brother to King Darius. All the
sea-coast of Asia is under him, and he has a numerous army and numerous ships. I
think I can prevail on him to do what we require.”
When the Naxians heard this, they empowered Aristagoras to
manage the matter for them as well as he could, and told him to promise gifts
and pay for the soldiers, which (they said) they would readily furnish, since
they had great hope that the Naxians, so soon as they saw them returned, would
render them obedience, and likewise the other islanders. For at that time not
one of the Cyclades was subject to King Darius.
[5.31] So Aristagoras went to Sardis and told Artaphernes
that Naxos was an island of no great size, but a fair land and fertile, lying
near Ionia, and containing much treasure and a vast number of slaves. “Make war
then upon this land (he said) and reinstate the exiles; for if thou wilt do
this, first of all, I have very rich gifts in store for thee (besides the cost
of the armament, which it is fair that we who are the authors of the war should
pay); and, secondly, thou wilt bring under the power of the king not only Naxos
but the other islands which depend on it, as Paros, Andros, and all the rest of
the Cyclades. And when thou hast gained these, thou mayest easily go on against
Euboea, which is a large and wealthy island not less in size than Cyprus, and
very easy to bring under. A hundred ships were quite enough to subdue the
whole.” The other answered – “Truly thou art the author of a plan which may much
advantage the house of the king, and thy counsel is good in all points except
the number of the ships. Instead of a hundred, two hundred shall be at thy
disposal when the spring comes. But the king himself must first approve the
undertaking.”
[5.32] When Aristagoras heard this he was greatly rejoiced,
and went home in good heart to Miletus. And Artaphernes, after he had sent a
messenger to Susa to lay the plans of Aristagoras before the king, and received
his approval of the undertaking, made ready a fleet of two hundred triremes and
a vast army of Persians and their confederates. The command of these he gave to
a Persian named Megabates, who belonged to the house of the Achaemenids, being
nephew both to himself and to King Darius. It was to a daughter of this man that
Pausanias the Lacedaemonian, the son of Cleombrotus (if at least there be any
truth in the tale), was allianced many years afterwards, when he conceived the
desire of becoming tyrant of Greece. Artaphernes now, having named Megabates to
the command, sent forward the armament to Aristagoras.
[5.33] Megabates set sail, and, touching at Miletus, took
on board Aristagoras with the Ionian troops and the Naxians; after which he
steered, as he gave out, for the Hellespont; and when he reached Chios, he
brought the fleet to anchor off Caucasa, being minded to wait there for a north
wind, and then sail straight to Naxos. The Naxians however were not to perish at
this time; and so the following events were brought about. As Megabates went his
rounds to visit the watches on board the ships, he found a Myndian vessel upon
which there was none set. Full of anger at such carelessness, he bade his guards
to seek out the captain, one Scylax by name, and thrusting him through one of
the holes in the ship’s side, to fasten him there in such a way that his head
might show outside the vessel, while his body remained within. When Scylax was
thus fastened, one went and informed Aristagoras that Megabates had bound his
Myndian friend and was entreating him shamefully. So he came and asked Megabates
to let the man off; but the Persian refused him; whereupon Aristagoras went
himself and set Scylax free. When Megabates heard this he was still more angry
than before, and spoke hotly to Aristagoras. Then the latter said to him –
“What has thou to do with these matters? Wert thou not sent
here by Artaphernes to obey me, and to sail whithersoever I ordered? Why dost
meddle so?
Thus spake Aristagoras. The other, in high dudgeon at such
language, waited till the night, and then despatched a boat to Naxos, to warn
the Naxians of the coming danger.
[5.34] Now the Naxians up to this time had not had any
suspicion that the armament was directed against them; as soon, therefore, as
the message reached them, forthwith they brought within their walls all that
they had in the open field, and made themselves ready against a siege by
provisioning their town both with food and drink. Thus was Naxos placed in a
posture of defence; and the Persians, when they crossed the sea from Chios,
found the Naxians fully prepared for them. However they sat down before the
place, and besieged it for four whole months. When at length all the stores
which they had brought with them were exhausted, and Aristagoras had likewise
spent upon the siege no small sum from his private means, and more was still
needed to insure success, the Persians gave up the attempt, and first building
certain forts, wherein they left the banished Naxians, withdrew to the mainland,
having utterly failed in their undertaking.
[5.35] And now Aristagoras found himself quite unable to
make good his promises to Artaphernes; nay, he was even hard pressed to meet the
claims whereto he was liable for the pay of the troops; and at the same time his
fear was great, lest, owing to the failure of the expedition and his own quarrel
with Megabates, he should be ousted from the government of Miletus. These
manifold alarms had already caused him to contemplate raising a rebellion, when
the man with the marked head came from Susa, bringing him instructions on the
part of Histiaeus to revolt from the king. For Histiaeus, when he was anxious to
give Aristagoras orders to revolt, could find but one safe way, as the roads
were guarded, of making his wishes known; which was by taking the trustiest of
his slaves, shaving all the hair from off his head, and then pricking letters
upon the skin, and waiting till the hair grew again. Thus accordingly he did;
and as soon as ever the hair was grown, he despatched the man to Miletus, giving
him no other message than this – “When thou art come to Miletus, bid Aristagoras
shave thy head, and look thereon.” Now the marks on the head, as I have already
mentioned, were a command to revolt. All this Histiaeus did because it irked him
greatly to be kept at Susa, and because he had strong hopes that, if troubles
broke out, he would be sent down to the coast to quell them, whereas, if Miletus
made no movement, he did not see a chance of his ever again returning thither.
[5.36] Such, then, were the views which led Histiaeus to
despatch his messenger; and it so chanced that all these several motives to
revolt were brought to bear upon Aristagoras at one and the same time.
Accordingly, at this conjuncture Aristagoras held a council
of his trusty friends, and laid the business before them, telling them both what
he had himself purposed, and what message had been sent him by Histiaeus. At
this council all his friends were of the same way of thinking, and recommended
revolt, except only Hecataeus the historian. He, first of all, advised them by
all means to avoid engaging in war with the king of the Persians, whose might he
set forth, and whose subject nations he enumerated. As however he could not
induce them to listen to this counsel, he next advised that they should do all
that lay in their power to make themselves masters of the sea. “There was one
only way,” he said, “so far as he could see, of their succeeding in this.
Miletus was, he knew, a weak state – but if the treasures in the temple at
Branchidae, which Croesus the Lydian gave to it, were seized, he had strong
hopes that the mastery of the sea might be thereby gained; at least it would
give them money to begin the war, and would save the treasures from falling into
the hands of the enemy.” Now these treasures were of very great value, as I
showed in the first part of my History. The assembly, however, rejected the
counsel of Hecataeus, while, nevertheless, they resolved upon a revolt. One of
their number, it was agreed, should sail to Myus, where the fleet had been lying
since its return from Naxos, and endeavour to seize the captains who had gone
there with the vessels.
[5.37] Iatragoras accordingly was despatched on this
errand, and he took with guile Oliatus the son of Ibanolis the Mylassian, and
Histiaeus the son of Tymnes the Termerean-Coes likewise, the son of Erxander, to
whom Darius gave Mytilene, and Aristagoras the son of Heraclides the Cymaean,
and also many others. Thus Aristagoras revolted openly from Darius; and now he
set to work to scheme against him in every possible way. First of all, in order
to induce the Milesians to join heartily in the revolt, he gave out that he laid
down his own lordship over Miletus, and in lieu thereof established a
commonwealth: after which, throughout all Ionia he did the like; for from some
of the cities he drove out their tyrants, and to others, whose goodwill he hoped
thereby to gain, he handed theirs over, thus giving up all the men whom he had
seized at the Naxian fleet, each to the city whereto he belonged.
[5.38] Now the Mytileneans had no sooner got Coes into
their power, than they led him forth from the city and stoned him; the Cymaeans,
on the other hand, allowed their tyrant to go free; as likewise did most of the
others. And so this form of government ceased throughout all the cities.
Aristagoras the Milesian, after he had in this way put down the tyrants, and
bidden the cities choose themselves captains in their room, sailed away himself
on board a trireme to Lacedaemon; for he had great need of obtaining the aid of
some powerful ally.
[5.39] At Sparta, Anaxandridas the son of Leo was no longer
king: he had died, and his son Cleomenes had mounted the throne, not however by
right of merit, but of birth. Anaxandridas took to wife his own sister’s
daughter, and was tenderly attached to her; but no children came from the
marriage. Hereupon the Ephors called him before them, and said – “If thou hast
no care for thine own self, nevertheless we cannot allow this, nor suffer the
race of Eurysthenes to die out from among us. Come then, as thy present wife
bears thee no children, put her away, and wed another. So wilt thou do what is
well-pleasing to the Spartans.” Anaxandridas however refused to do as they
required, and said it was no good advice the Ephors gave, to bid him put away
his wife when she had done no wrong, and take to himself another. He therefore
declined to obey them.
[5.40] Then the Ephors and Elders took counsel together,
and laid this proposal before the king:- “Since thou art so fond, as we see thee
to be, of thy present wife, do what we now advise, and gainsay us not, lest the
Spartans make some unwonted decree concerning thee. We ask thee not now to put
away thy wife to whom thou art married – give her still the same love and honour
as ever – but take thee another wife beside, who may bear thee children.”
When he heard this offer, Anaxandridas gave way – and
henceforth he lived with two wives in two separate houses, quite against all
Spartan custom.
[5.41] In a short time, the wife whom he had last married
bore him a son, who received the name of Cleomenes; and so the heir to the
throne was brought into the world by her. After this, the first wife also, who
in time past had been barren, by some strange chance conceived, and came to be
with child. Then the friends of the second wife, when they heard a rumour of the
truth, made a great stir, and said it was a false boast, and she meant, they
were sure, to bring forward as her own a supposititious child. So they raised an
outcry against her; and therefore, when her full time was come, the Ephors, who
were themselves incredulous, sat round her bed, and kept a strict watch on the
labour. At this time then she bore Dorieus, and after him, quickly, Leonidas,
and after him, again quickly, Cleombrotus. Some even say that Leonidas and
Cleombrotus were twins. On the other hand, the second wife, the mother of
Cleomenes (who was a daughter of Prinetadas, the son of Demarmenus), never gave
birth to a second child.
[5.42] Now Cleomenes, it is said, was not right in his
mind; indeed he verged upon madness; while Dorieus surpassed all his co-mates,
and looked confidently to receiving the kingdom on the score of merit. When,
therefore, after the death of Anaxandridas, the Spartans kept to the law, and
made Cleomenes, his eldest son, king in his room, Dorieus, who had imagined that
he should be chosen, and who could not bear the thought of having such a man as
Cleomenes to rule over him, asked the Spartans to give him a body of men, and
left Sparta with them in order to found a colony. However, he neither took
counsel of the oracle at Delphi as to the place whereto he should go, nor
observed any of the customary usages; but left Sparta in dudgeon, and sailed
away to Libya, under the guidance of certain men who were Theraeans. These men
brought him to Cinyps, where he colonised a spot, which has not its equal in all
Libya, on the banks of a river: but from this place he was driven in the third
year by the Macians, the Libyans, and the Carthaginians.
[5.43] Dorieus returned to the Peloponnese; whereupon
Antichares the Eleonian gave him a counsel (which he got from the oracle of
Laius), to “found the city of Heraclea in Sicily; the whole country of Eryx
belonged,” he said, “to the Heracleids, since Hercules himself conquered it.” On
receiving this advice, Dorieus went to Delphi to inquire of the oracle whether
he would take the place to which he was about to go. The Pythoness prophesied
that he would; whereupon Dorieus went back to Libya, took up the men who had
sailed with him at the first, and proceeded upon his way along the shores of
Italy.
[5.44] Just at this time, the Sybarites say, they and their
king Telys were about to make war upon Crotona, and the Crotoniats, greatly
alarmed, besought Dorieus to lend them aid. Dorieus was prevailed upon, bore
part in the war against Sybaris, and had a share in taking the town. Such is the
account which the Sybarites give of what was done by Dorieus and his companions.
The Crotoniats, on the other hand, maintain that no foreigner lent them aid in
their war against the Sybarites, save and except Callias the Elean, a soothsayer
of the race of the Iamidae; and he only forsook Telys the Sybaritic king, and
deserted to their side, when he found on sacrificing that the victims were not
favourable to an attack on Crotona. Such is the account which each party gives
of these matters.
[5.45] Both parties likewise adduce testimonies to the
truth of what they say. The Sybarites show a temple and sacred precinct near the
dry stream of the Crastis, which they declare that Dorieus, after taking their
city, dedicated to Minerva Crastias. And further, they bring forward the death
of Dorieus as the surest proof; since he fell, they say, because he disobeyed
the oracle. For had he in nothing varied from the directions given him, but
confined himself to the business on which he was sent, he would assuredly have
conquered the Erycian territory, and kept possession of it, instead of perishing
with all his followers. The Crotoniats, on the other hand, point to the numerous
allotments within their borders which were assigned to Callias the Elean by
their countrymen, and which to my day remained in the possession of his family;
while Dorieus and his descendants (they remark) possess nothing. Yet if Dorieus
had really helped them in the Sybaritic war, he would have received very much
more than Callias. Such are the testimonies which are adduced on either side; it
is open to every man to adopt whichever view he deems the best.
[5.46] Certain Spartans accompanied Dorieus on his voyage
as co-founders, to wit, Thessalus, Paraebates, Celeas, and Euryleon. These men
and all the troops under their command reached Sicily; but there they fell in a
battle wherein they were defeated by the Egestaeans and Phoenicians, only one,
Euryleon, surviving the disaster. He then, collecting the remnants of the beaten
army, made himself master of Minoa, the Selinusian colony, and helped the
Selinusians to throw off the yoke of their tyrant Peithagoras. Having upset
Peithagoras, he sought to become tyrant in his room, and he even reigned at
Selinus for a brief space – but after a while the Selinusians rose up in revolt
against him, and though he fled to the altar of Jupiter Agoraeus, they
notwithstanding put him to death.
[5.47] Another man who accompanied Dorieus, and died with
him, was Philip the son of Butacidas, a man of Crotona; who, after he had been
betrothed to a daughter of Telys the Sybarite, was banished from Crotona,
whereupon his marriage came to nought; and he in his disappointment took ship
and sailed to Cyrene. From thence he became a follower of Dorieus, furnishing to
the fleet a trireme of his own, the crew of which he supported at his own
charge. This Philip was an Olympian victor, and the handsomest Greek of his day.
His beauty gained him honours at the hands of the Egestaeans which they never
accorded to any one else; for they raised a hero-temple over his grave, and they
still worship him with sacrifices.
[5.48] Such then was the end of Dorieus, who if he had
brooked the rule of Cleomenes, and remained in Sparta, would have been king of
Lacedaemon; since Cleomenes, after reigning no great length of time, died
without male offspring, leaving behind him an only daughter, by name Gorgo.
[5.49] Cleomenes, however, was still king when Aristagoras,
tyrant of Miletus, reached Sparta. At their interview, Aristagoras, according to
the report of the Lacedaemonians, produced a bronze tablet, whereupon the whole
circuit of the earth was engraved, with all its seas and rivers. Discourse began
between the two; and Aristagoras addressed the Spartan king in these words
following:- “Think it not strange, O King Cleomenes, that I have been at the
pains to sail hither; for the posture of affairs, which I will now recount unto
thee, made it fitting. Shame and grief is it indeed to none so much as to us,
that the sons of the Ionians should have lost their freedom, and come to be the
slaves of others; but yet it touches you likewise, O Spartans, beyond the rest
of the Greeks, inasmuch as the pre-eminence over all Greece appertains to you.
We beseech you, therefore, by the common gods of the Grecians, deliver the
Ionians, who are your own kinsmen, from slavery. Truly the task is not
difficult; for the barbarians are an unwarlike people; and you are the best and
bravest warriors in the whole world. Their mode of fighting is the following:-
they use bows and arrows and a short spear; they wear trousers in the field, and
cover their heads with turbans. So easy are they to vanquish! Know too that the
dwellers in these parts have more good things than all the rest of the world put
together – gold, and silver, and brass, and embroidered garments, beasts of
burthen, and bond-servants – all which, if you only wish it, you may soon have
for your own. The nations border on one another, in the order which I will now
explain. Next to these Ionians” (here he pointed with his finger to the map of
the world which was engraved upon the tablet that he had brought with him)
“these Lydians dwell; their soil is fertile, and few people are so rich in
silver. Next to them,” he continued, “come these Phrygians, who have more flocks
and herds than any race that I know, and more plentiful harvests. On them border
the Cappadocians, whom we Greeks know by the name of Syrians: they are
neighbours to the Cilicians, who extend all the way to this sea, where Cyprus
(the island which you see here) lies. The Cilicians pay the king a yearly
tribute of five hundred talents. Next to them come the Armenians, who live here
– they too have numerous flocks and herds. After them come the Matieni,
inhabiting this country; then Cissia, this province, where you see the river
Choaspes marked, and likewise the town Susa upon its banks, where the Great King
holds his court, and where the treasuries are in which his wealth is stored.
Once masters of this city, you may be bold to vie with Jove himself for riches.
In the wars which ye wage with your rivals of Messenia, with them of Argos
likewise and of Arcadia, about paltry boundaries and strips of land not so
remarkably good, ye contend with those who have no gold, nor silver even, which
often give men heart to fight and die. Must ye wage such wars, and when ye might
so easily be lords of Asia, will ye decide otherwise?” Thus spoke Aristagoras;
and Cleomenes replied to him, – “Milesian stranger, three days hence I will give
thee an answer.”
[5.50] So they proceeded no further at that time. When,
however, the day appointed for the answer came, and the two once more met,
Cleomenes asked Aristagoras, “how many days’ journey it was from the sea of the
Ionians to the king’s residence?” Hereupon Aristagoras, who had managed the rest
so cleverly, and succeeded in deceiving the king, tripped in his speech and
blundered; for instead of concealing the truth, as he ought to have done if he
wanted to induce the Spartans to cross into Asia, he said plainly that it was a
journey of three months. Cleomenes caught at the words, and, preventing
Aristagoras from finishing what he had begun to say concerning the road,
addressed him thus:- “Milesian stranger, quit Sparta before sunset. This is no
good proposal that thou makest to the Lacedaemonians, to conduct them a distance
of three months’ journey from the sea.” When he had thus spoken, Cleomenes went
to his home.
[5.51] But Aristagoras took an olive-bough in his hand, and
hastened to the king’s house, where he was admitted by reason of his suppliant’s
pliant’s guise. Gorgo, the daughter of Cleomenes, and his only child, a girl of
about eight or nine years of age, happened to be there, standing by her father’s
side. Aristagoras, seeing her, requested Cleomenes to send her out of the room
before he began to speak with him; but Cleomenes told him to say on, and not
mind the child. So Aristagoras began with a promise of ten talents if the king
would grant him his request, and when Cleomenes shook his head, continued to
raise his offer till it reached fifty talents; whereupon the child spoke:-
“Father,” she said, “get up and go, or the stranger will certainly corrupt
thee.” Then Cleomenes, pleased at the warning of his child, withdrew and went
into another room. Aristagoras quitted Sparta for good, not being able to
discourse any more concerning the road which led up to the king.
[5.52] Now the true account of the road in question is the
following:- Royal stations exist along its whole length, and excellent
caravanserais; and throughout, it traverses an inhabited tract, and is free from
danger. In Lydia and Phrygia there are twenty stations within a distance Of 94
1/2 parasangs. On leaving Phrygia the Halys has to be crossed; and here are
gates through which you must needs pass ere you can traverse the stream. A
strong force guards this post. When you have made the passage, and are come into
Cappadocia, 28 stations and 104 parasangs bring you to the borders of Cilicia,
where the road passes through two sets of gates, at each of which there is a
guard posted. Leaving these behind, you go on through Cilicia, where you find
three stations in a distance of 15 1/2 parasangs. The boundary between Cilicia
and Armenia is the river Euphrates, which it is necessary to cross in boats. In
Armenia the resting-places are 15 in number, and the distance is 56 1/2
parasangs. There is one place where a guard is posted. Four large streams
intersect this district, all of which have to be crossed by means of boats. The
first of these is the Tigris; the second and the third have both of them the
same name, though they are not only different rivers, but do not even run from
the same place. For the one which I have called the first of the two has its
source in Armenia, while the other flows afterwards out of the country of the
Matienians. The fourth of the streams is called the Gyndes, and this is the
river which Cyrus dispersed by digging for it three hundred and sixty channels.
Leaving Armenia and entering the Matienian country, you have four stations;
these passed you find yourself in Cissia, where eleven stations and 42 1/2
parasangs bring you to another navigable stream, the Choaspes, on the banks of
which the city of Susa is built. Thus the entire number of the stations is
raised to one hundred and eleven; and so many are in fact the resting-places
that one finds between Sardis and Susa.
[5.53] If then the royal road be measured aright, and the
parasang equals, as it does, thirty furlongs, the whole distance from Sardis to
the palace of Memnon (as it is called), amounting thus to 450 parasangs, would
be 13,500 furlongs. Travelling then at the rate of 150 furlongs a day, one will
take exactly ninety days to perform the journey.
[5.54] Thus when Aristagoras the Milesian told Cleomenes
the Lacedaemonian that it was a three months’ journey from the sea up to the
king, he said no more than the truth. The exact distance (if any one desires
still greater accuracy) is somewhat more; for the journey from Ephesus to Sardis
must be added to the foregoing account; and this will make the whole distance
between the Greek Sea and Susa (or the city of Memnon, as it is called) 14,040
furlongs; since Ephesus is distant from Sardis 540 furlongs. This would add
three days to the three months’ journey.
[5.55] When Aristagoras left Sparta he hastened to Athens,
which had got quit of its tyrants in the way that I will now describe. After the
death of Hipparchus (the son of Pisistratus, and brother of the tyrant Hippias),
who, in spite of the clear warning he had received concerning his fate in a
dream, was slain by Harmodius and Aristogeiton (men both of the race of the
Gephyraeans), the oppression of the Athenians continued by the space of four
years; and they gained nothing, but were worse used than before.
[5.56] Now the dream of Hipparchus was the following:- The
night before the Panathenaic festival, he thought he saw in his sleep a tall and
beautiful man, who stood over him, and read him the following riddle:-
Bear thou unbearable woes with the all-bearing heart of a
lion;
Never, be sure, shall wrong-doer escape the reward of wrong-doing.
As soon as day dawned he sent and submitted his dream to
the interpreters, after which he offered the averting sacrifices, and then went
and led the procession in which he perished.
[5.57] The family of the Gephyraeans, to which the
murderers of Hipparchus belonged, according to their own account, came
originally from Eretria. My inquiries, however, have made it clear to me that
they are in reality Phoenicians, descendants of those who came with Cadmus into
the country now called Boeotia. Here they received for their portion the
district of Tanagra, in which they afterwards dwelt. On their expulsion from
this country by the Boeotians (which happened some time after that of the
Cadmeians from the same parts by the Argives) they took refuge at Athens. The
Athenians received them among their citizens upon set terms, whereby they were
excluded from a number of privileges which are not worth mentioning.
[5.58] Now the Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, and to
whom the Gephyraei belonged, introduced into Greece upon their arrival a great
variety of arts, among the rest that of writing, whereof the Greeks till then
had, as I think, been ignorant. And originally they shaped their letters exactly
like all the other Phoenicians, but afterwards, in course of time, they changed
by degrees their language, and together with it the form likewise of their
characters. Now the Greeks who dwelt about those parts at that time were chiefly
the Ionians. The Phoenician letters were accordingly adopted by them, but with
some variation in the shape of a few, and so they arrived at the present use,
still calling the letters Phoenician, as justice required, after the name of
those who were the first to introduce them into Greece. Paper rolls also were
called from of old “parchments” by the Ionians, because formerly when paper was
scarce they used, instead, the skins of sheep and goats – on which material many
of the barbarians are even now wont to write.
[5.59] I myself saw Cadmeian characters engraved upon some
tripods in the temple of Apollo Ismenias in Boeotian Thebes, most of them shaped
like the Ionian. One of the tripods has the inscription following:-
Me did Amphitryon place, from the far Teleboans coming.
This would be about the age of Laius, the son of Labdacus,
the son of Polydorus, the son of Cadmus.
[5.60] Another of the tripods has this legend in the
hexameter measure:-
I to far-shooting Phoebus was offered by Scaeus the
boxer,
When he had won at the games – a wondrous beautiful offering.
This might be Scaeus, the son of Hippocoon; and the tripod,
if dedicated by him, and not by another of the same name, would belong to the
time of Oedipus, the son of Laius.
[5.61] The third tripod has also an inscription in
hexameters, which runs thus:-
King Laodamas gave this tripod to far-seeing Phoebus,
When he was set on the throne – a wondrous beautiful offering.
It was in the reign of this Laodamas, the son of Eteocles,
that the Cadmeians were driven by the Argives out of their country, and found a
shelter with the Encheleans. The Gephyraeans at that time remained in the
country, but afterwards they retired before the Boeotians, and took refuge at
Athens, where they have a number of temples for their separate use, which the
other Athenians are not allowed to enter – among the rest, one of Achaean Ceres,
in whose honour they likewise celebrate special orgies.
[5.62] Having thus related the dream which Hipparchus saw,
and traced the descent of the Gephyraeans, the family whereto his murderers
belonged, I must proceed with the matter whereof I was intending before to
speak; to wit, the way in which the Athenians got quit of their tyrants. Upon
the death of Hipparchus, Hippias, who was king, grew harsh towards the
Athenians; and the Alcaeonidae, an Athenian family which had been banished by
the Pisistratidae, joined the other exiles, and endeavoured to procure their own
return, and to free Athens, by force. They seized and fortified Leipsydrium
above Paeonia, and tried to gain their object by arms; but great disasters
befell them, and their purpose remained unaccomplished. They therefore resolved
to shrink from no contrivance that might bring them success; and accordingly
they contracted with the Amphictyons to build the temple which now stands at
Delphi, but which in those days did not exist. Having done this, they proceeded,
being men of great wealth and members of an ancient and distinguished family, to
build the temple much more magnificently than the plan obliged them. Besides
other improvements, instead of the coarse stone whereof by the contract the
temple was to have been constructed, they made the facings of Parian marble.
[5.63] These same men, if we may believe the Athenians,
during their stay at Delphi persuaded the Pythoness by a bribe to tell the
Spartans, whenever any of them came to consult the oracle, either on their own
private affairs or on the business of the state, that they must free Athens. So
the Lacedaemonians, when they found no answer ever returned to them but this,
sent at last Anchimolius, the son of Aster – a man of note among their citizens
– at the head of an army against Athens, with orders to drive out the
Pisistratidae, albeit they were bound to them by the closest ties of friendship.
For they esteemed the things of heaven more highly than the things of men. The
troops went by sea and were conveyed in transports. Anchimolius brought them to
an anchorage at Phalerum; and there the men disembarked. But the Pisistratidae,
who had previous knowledge of their intentions, had sent to Thessaly, between
which country and Athens there was an alliance, with a request for aid. The
Thessalians, in reply to their entreaties, sent them by a public vote 1000
horsemen, under the command of their king, Cineas, who was a Coniaean. When this
help came, the Pisistratidae laid their plan accordingly: they cleared the whole
plain about Phalerum so as to make it fit for the movements of cavalry, and then
charged the enemy’s camp with their horse, which fell with such fury upon the
Lacedaemonians as to kill numbers, among the rest Anchimolius, the general, and
to drive the remainder to their ships. Such was the fate of the first army sent
from Lacedaemon, and the tomb of Anchimolius may be seen to this day in Attica;
it is at Alopecae (Foxtown), near the temple of Hercules in Cynosargos.
[5.64] Afterwards, the Lacedaemonians despatched a larger
force against Athens, which they put under the command of Cleomenes, son of
Anaxandridas, one of their kings. These troops were not sent by sea, but marched
by the mainland. When they were come into Attica, their first encounter was with
the Thessalian horse, which they shortly put to flight, killing above forty men;
the remainder made good their escape, and fled straight to Thessaly. Cleomenes
proceeded to the city, and, with the aid of such of the Athenians as wished for
freedom, besieged the tyrants, who had shut themselves up in the Pelasgic
fortress.
[5.65] And now there had been small chance of the
Pisistratidae falling into the hands of the Spartans, who did not even design to
sit down before the place, which had moreover been well provisioned beforehand
with stores both of meat and drink, – nay, it is likely that after a few days’
blockade the Lacedaemonians would have quitted Attica altogether, and gone back
to Sparta – had not an event occurred most unlucky for the besieged, and most
advantageous for the besiegers. The children of the Pisistratidae were made
prisoners, as they were being removed out of the country. By this calamity all
their plans were deranged, and – as the ransom of their children – they
consented to the demands of the Athenians, and agreed within five days’ time to
quit Attica. Accordingly they soon afterwards left the country, and withdrew to
Sigeum on the Scamander, after reigning thirty-six years over the Athenians. By
descent they were Pylians, of the family of the Neleids, to which Codrus and
Melanthus likewise belonged, men who in former times from foreign settlers
became kings of Athens. And hence it was that Hippocrates came to think of
calling his son Pisistratus: he named him after the Pisistratus who was a son of
Nestor. Such then was the mode in which the Athenians got quit of their tyrants.
What they did and suffered worthy of note from the time when they gained their
freedom until the revolt of Ionia from King Darius, and the coming of
Aristagoras to Athens with a request that the Athenians would lend the Ionians
aid, I shall now proceed to relate.
[5.66] The power of Athens had been great before; but, now
that the tyrants were gone, it became greater than ever. The chief authority was
lodged with two persons, Clisthenes, of the family of the Alcmaeonids, who is
said to have been the persuader of the Pythoness, and Isagoras, the son of
Tisander, who belonged to a noble house, but whose pedigree I am not able to
trace further. Howbeit his kinsmen offer sacrifice to the Carian Jupiter. These
two men strove together for the mastery; and Clisthenes, finding himself the
weaker, called to his aid the common people. Hereupon, instead of the four
tribes among which the Athenians had been divided hitherto, Clisthenes made ten
tribes, and parcelled out the Athenians among them. He likewise changed the
names of the tribes; for whereas they had till now been called after Geleon,
Aegicores, Argades, and Hoples, the four sons of Ion, Clisthenes set these names
aside, and called his tribes after certain other heroes, all of whom were
native, except Ajax. Ajax was associated because, although a foreigner, he was a
neighbour and an ally of Athens.
[5.67] My belief is that in acting thus he did but imitate
his maternal grandfather, Clisthenes, king of Sicyon. This king, when he was at
war with Argos, put an end to the contests of the rhapsodists at Sicyon, because
in the Homeric poems Argos and the Argives were so constantly the theme of song.
He likewise conceived the wish to drive Adrastus, the son of Talaus, out of his
country, seeing that he was an Argive hero. For Adrastus had a shrine at Sicyon,
which yet stands in the market-place of the town. Clisthenes therefore went to
Delphi, and asked the oracle if he might expel Adrastus. To this the Pythoness
is reported to have answered – “Adrastus is the Sicyonians’ king, but thou art
only a robber.” So when the god would not grant his request, he went home and
began to think how he might contrive to make Adrastus withdraw of his own
accord. After a while he hit upon a plan which he thought would succeed. He sent
envoys to Thebes in Boeotia, and informed the Thebans that he wished to bring
Melanippus, the son of Astacus, to Sicyon. The Thebans consenting, Clisthenes
carried Melanippus back with him, assigned him a precinct within the
government-house, and built him a shrine there in the safest and strongest part.
The reason for his so doing (which I must not forbear to mention) was because
Melanippus was Adrastus’ great enemy, having slain both his brother Mecistes and
his son-in-law Tydeus. Clisthenes, after assigning the precinct to Melanippus,
took away from Adrastus the sacrifices and festivals wherewith he had till then
been honoured, and transferred them to his adversary. Hitherto the Sicyonians
had paid extraordinary honours to Adrastus, because the country had belonged to
Polybus, and Adrastus was Polybus’ daughter’s son; whence it came to pass that
Polybus, dying childless, left Adrastus his kingdom. Besides other ceremonies,
it had been their wont to honour Adrastus with tragic choruses, which they
assigned to him rather than Bacchus, on account of his calamities. Clisthenes
now gave the choruses to Bacchus, transferring to Melanippus the rest of the
sacred rites.
[5.68] Such were his doings in the matter of Adrastus. With
respect to the Dorian tribes, not choosing the Sicyonians to have the same
tribes as the Argives, he changed all the old names for new ones; and here he
took special occasion to mock the Sicyonians, for he drew his new names from the
words “pig,” and “ass,” adding thereto the usual tribe-endings; only in the case
of his own tribe he did nothing of the sort, but gave them a name drawn from his
own kingly office. For he called his own tribe the Archelai, or Rulers, while
the others he named Hyatae, or Pig-folk, Oneatae, or Assfolk, and Choereatae, or
Swine-folk. The Sicyonians kept these names, not only during the reign of
Clisthenes, but even after his death, by the space of sixty years: then,
however, they took counsel together, and changed to the well-known names of
Hyllaeans, Pamphylians, and Dymanatae, taking at the same time, as a fourth
name, the title of Aegialeans, from Aegialeus the son of Adrastus.
[5.69] Thus had Clisthenes the Sicyonian done. The Athenian
Clisthenes, who was grandson by the mother’s side of the other, and had been
named after him, resolved, from contempt (as I believe) of the Ionians, that his
tribes should not be the same as theirs; and so followed the pattern set him by
his namesake of Sicyon. Having brought entirely over to his own side the common
people of Athens, whom he had before disdained, he gave all the tribes new
names, and made the number greater than formerly; instead of the four phylarchs
he established ten; he likewise placed ten demes in each of the tribes; and he
was, now that the common people took his part, very much more powerful than his
adversaries.
[5.70] Isagoras in his turn lost ground; and therefore, to
counter-plot his enemy, he called in Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, who had
already, at the time when he was besieging the Pisistratidae, made a contract of
friendship with him. A charge is even brought against Cleomenes that he was on
terms of too great familiarity with Isagoras’s wife. At this time the first
thing that he did was to send a herald and require that Clisthenes, and a large
number of Athenians besides, whom he called “The Accursed,” should leave Athens.
This message he sent at the suggestion of Isagoras: for in the affair referred
to, the blood-guiltiness lay on the Alcmaeonidae and their partisans, while he
and his friends were quite clear of it.
[5.71] The way in which “The Accursed” at Athens got their
name, was the following. There was a certain Athenian called Cylon, a victor at
the Olympic Games, who aspired to the sovereignty, and aided by a number of his
companions, who were of the same age with himself, made an attempt to seize the
citadel. But the attack failed; and Cylon became a suppliant at the image.
Hereupon the Heads of the Naucraries, who at that time bore rule in Athens,
induced the fugitives to remove by a promise to spare their lives. Nevertheless
they were all slain; and the blame was laid on the Alcmaeonidae. All this
happened before the time of Pisistratus.
[5.72] When the message of Cleomenes arrived, requiring
Clisthenes and “The Accursed” to quit the city, Clisthenes departed of his own
accord. Cleomenes, however, notwithstanding his departure, came to Athens, with
a small band of followers; and on his arrival sent into banishment seven hundred
Athenian families, which were pointed out to him by Isagoras. Succeeding here,
he next endeavoured to dissolve the council, and to put the government into the
hands of three hundred of the partisans of that leader. But the council
resisted, and refused to obey his orders; whereupon Cleomenes, Isagoras, and
their followers took possession of the citadel. Here they were attacked by the
rest of the Athenians, who took the side of the council, and were besieged for
the space of two days: on the third day they accepted terms, being allowed – at
least such of them as were Lacedaemonians – to quit the country. And so the word
which came to Cleomenes received its fulfilment. For when he first went up into
the citadel, meaning to seize it, just as he was entering the sanctuary of the
goddess, in order to question her, the priestess arose from her throne, before
he had passed the doors, and said – “Stranger from Lacedaemon, depart hence, and
presume not to enter the holy place – it is not lawful for a Dorian to set foot
there.” But he answered, “Oh! woman, I am not a Dorian, but an Achaean.”
Slighting this warning, Cleomenes made his attempt, and so he was forced to
retire, together with his Lacedaemonians. The rest were cast into prison by the
Athenians, and condemned to die – among them Timasitheus the Delphian, of whose
prowess and courage I have great things which I could tell.
[5.73] So these men died in prison. The Athenians directly
afterwards recalled Clisthenes, and the seven hundred families which Cleomenes
had driven out; and, further, they sent envoys to Sardis, to make an alliance
with the Persians, for they knew that war would follow with Cleomenes and the
Lacedaemonians. When the ambassadors reached Sardis and delivered their message,
Artaphernes, son of Hystaspes, who was at that time governor of the Place,
inquired of them “who they were, and in what part of the world they dwelt, that
they wanted to become allies of the Persians?” The messengers told him; upon
which he answered them shortly – that “if the Athenians chose to give earth and
water to King Darius, he would conclude an alliance with them; but if not, they
might go home again.” After consulting together, the envoys, anxious to form the
alliance, accepted the terms; but on their return to Athens, they fell into deep
disgrace on account of their compliance.
[5.74] Meanwhile Cleomenes, who considered himself to have
been insulted by the Athenians both in word and deed, was drawing a force
together from all parts of the Peloponnese, without informing any one of his
object; which was to revenge himself on the Athenians, and to establish Isagoras,
who had escaped with him from the citadel, as despot of Athens. Accordingly,
with a large army, he invaded the district of Eleusis, while the Boeotians, who
had concerted measures with him, took Oenoe and Hysiae, two country towns upon
the frontier; and at the same time the Chalcideans, on another side, plundered
divers places in Attica. The Athenians, notwithstanding that danger threatened
them from every quarter, put off all thought of the Boeotians and Chalcideans
till a future time, and marched against the Peloponnesians, who were at Eleusis.
[5.75] As the two hosts were about to engage, first of all
the Corinthians, bethinking themselves that they were perpetrating a wrong,
changed their minds, and drew off from the main army. Then Demaratus, son of
Ariston, who was himself king of Sparta and joint-leader of the expedition, and
who till now had had no sort of quarrel with Cleomenes, followed their example.
On account of this rupture between the kings, a law was passed at Sparta,
forbidding both monarchs to go out together with the army, as had been the
custom hitherto. The law also provided, that, as one of the kings was to be left
behind, one of the Tyndaridae should also remain at home; whereas hitherto both
had accompanied the expeditions, as auxiliaries. So when the rest of the allies
saw that the Lacedaemonian kings were not of one mind, and that the Corinthian
troops had quitted their post, they likewise drew off and departed.
[5.76] This was the fourth time that the Dorians had
invaded Attica: twice they came as enemies, and twice they came to do good
service to the Athenian people. Their first invasion took place at the period
when they founded Megara, and is rightly placed in the reign of Codrus at
Athens; the second and third occasions were when they came from Sparta to drive
out the Pisistratidae; the fourth was the present attack, when Cleomenes, at the
head of a Peloponnesian army, entered at Eleusis. Thus the Dorians had now four
times invaded Attica.
[5.77] So when the Spartan army had broken up from its
quarters thus ingloriously, the Athenians, wishing to revenge themselves,
marched first against the Chalcideans. The Boeotians, however, advancing to the
aid of the latter as far as the Euripus, the Athenians thought it best to attack
them first. A battle was fought accordingly; and the Athenians gained a very
complete victory, killing a vast number of the enemy, and taking seven hundred
of them alive. After this, on the very same day, they crossed into Euboea, and
engaged the Chalcideans with the like success; whereupon they left four thousand
settlers upon the lands of the Hippobotae, – which is the name the Chalcideans
give to their rich men. All the Chalcidean prisoners whom they took were put in
irons, and kept for a long time in close confinement, as likewise were the
Boeotians, until the ransom asked for them was paid; and this the Athenians
fixed at two minae the man. The chains wherewith they were fettered the
Athenians suspended in their citadel; where they were still to be seen in my
day, hanging against the wall scorched by the Median flames, opposite the chapel
which faces the west. The Athenians made an offering of the tenth part of the
ransom-money: and expended it on the brazen chariot drawn by four steeds, which
stands on the left hand immediately that one enters the gateway of the citadel.
The inscription runs as follows:-
When Chalcis and Boeotia dared her might,
Athens subdued their pride in valorous fight;
Gave bonds for insults; and, the ransom paid,
From the full tenths these steeds for Pallas made.
[5.78] Thus did the Athenians increase in strength. And it
is plain enough, not from this instance only, but from many everywhere, that
freedom is an excellent thing since even the Athenians, who, while they
continued under the rule of tyrants, were not a whit more valiant than any of
their neighbours, no sooner shook off the yoke than they became decidedly the
first of all. These things show that, while undergoing oppression, they let
themselves be beaten, since then they worked for a master; but so soon as they
got their freedom, each man was eager to do the best he could for himself. So
fared it now with the Athenians.
[5.79] Meanwhile the Thebans, who longed to be revenged on
the Athenians, had sent to the oracle, and been told by the Pythoness that of
their own strength they would be unable to accomplish their wish: “they must lay
the matter,” she said, “before the many-voiced, and ask the aid of those nearest
them.” The messengers, therefore, on their return, called a meeting, and laid
the answer of the oracle before the people, who no sooner heard the advice to
“ask the aid of those nearest them” than they exclaimed – “What! are not they
who dwell the nearest to us the men of Tanagra, of Coronaea, and Thespiae? Yet
these men always fight on our side, and have aided us with a good heart all
through the war. Of what use is it to ask them? But maybe this is not the true
meaning of the oracle.”
[5.80] As they were thus discoursing one with another, a
certain man, informed of the debate, cried out – “Methinks that I understand
what course the oracle would recommend to us. Asopus, they say, had two
daughters, Thebe and Egina. The god means that, as these two were sisters, we
ought to ask the Eginetans to lend us aid.” As no one was able to hit on any
better explanation, the Thebans forthwith sent messengers to Egina, and,
according to the advice of the oracle, asked their aid, as the people “nearest
to them.” In answer to this petition the Eginetans said that they would give
them the Aeacidae for helpers.
[5.81] The Thebans now, relying on the assistance of the
Aeacidae, ventured to renew the war; but they met with so rough a reception,
that they resolved to send to the Eginetans again, returning the Aeacidae, and
beseeching them to send some men instead. The Eginetans, who were at that time a
most flourishing people, elated with their greatness, and at the same time
calling to mind their ancient feud with Athens, agreed to lend the Thebans aid,
and forthwith went to war with the Athenians, without even giving them notice by
a herald. The attention of these latter being engaged by the struggle with the
Boeotians, the Eginetans in their ships of war made descents upon Attica,
plundered Phalerum, and ravaged a vast number of the townships upon the
sea-board, whereby the Athenians suffered very grievous damage.
[5.82] The ancient feud between the Eginetans and Athenians
arose out of the following circumstances. Once upon a time the land of Epidaurus
would bear no crops; and the Epidaurians sent to consult the oracle of Delphi
concerning their affliction. The answer bade them set up the images of Damia and
Auxesia, and promised them better fortune when that should be done. “Shall the
images be made of bronze or stone?” the Epidaurians asked; but the Pythoness
replied, “Of neither: but let them be made of the garden olive.” Then the
Epidaurians sent to Athens and asked leave to cut olive wood in Attica,
believing the Athenian olives to be the holiest; or, according to others,
because there were no olives at that time anywhere else in all the world but at
Athens.’ The Athenians answered that they would give them leave, but on
condition of their bringing offerings year by year to Minerva Polias and to
Erechtheus. The Epidaurians agreed, and having obtained what they wanted, made
the images of olive wood, and set them up in their own country. Henceforth their
land bore its crops; and they duly paid the Athenians what had been agreed upon.
[5.83] Anciently, and even down to the time when this took
place, the Eginetans were in all things subject to the Epidaurians, and had to
cross over to Epidaurus for the trial of all suits in which they were engaged
one with another. After this, however, the Eginetans built themselves ships,
and, growing proud, revolted from the Epidaurians. Having thus come to be at
enmity with them, the Eginetans, who were masters of the sea, ravaged Epidaurus,
and even carried off these very images of Damia and Auxesia, which they set up
in their own country, in the interior, at a place called Oea, about twenty
furlongs from their city. This done, they fixed a worship for the images, which
consisted in part of sacrifices, in part of female satiric choruses; while at
the same time they appointed certain men to furnish the choruses, ten for each
goddess. These choruses did not abuse men, but only the women of the country.
Holy orgies of a similar kind were in use also among the Epidaurians, and
likewise another sort of holy orgies, whereof it is not lawful to speak.
[5.84] After the robbery of the images the Epidaurians
ceased to make the stipulated payments to the Athenians, wherefore the Athenians
sent to Epidaurus to remonstrate. But the Epidaurians proved to them that they
were not guilty of any wrong:- “While the images continued in their country,”
they said, “they had duly paid the offerings according to the agreement; now
that the images had been taken from them, they were no longer under any
obligation to pay: the Athenians should make their demand of the Eginetans, in
whose possession the figures now were.” Upon this the Athenians sent to Egina,
and demanded the images back; but the Eginetans answered that the Athenians had
nothing whatever to do with them.
[5.85] After this the Athenians relate that they sent a
trireme to Egina with certain citizens on board, and that these men, who bore
commission from the state, landed in Egina, and sought to take the images away,
considering them to be their own, inasmuch as they were made of their wood. And
first they endeavoured to wrench them from their pedestals, and so carry them
off; but failing herein, they in the next place tied ropes to them, and set to
work to try if they could haul them down. In the midst of their hauling suddenly
there was a thunderclap, and with the thunderclap an earthquake; and the crew of
the trireme were forthwith seized with madness, and, like enemies, began to kill
one another; until at last there was but one left, who returned alone to
Phalerum.
[5.86] Such is the account given by the Athenians. The
Eginetans deny that there was only a single vessel – “Had there been only one,”
they say, “or no more than a few, they would easily have repulsed the attack,
even if they had had no fleet at all; but the Athenians came against them with a
large number of ships, wherefore they gave way, and did not hazard a battle.”
They do not however explain clearly whether it was from a conviction of their
own inferiority at sea that they yielded, or whether it was for the purpose of
doing that which in fact they did. Their account is that the Athenians,
disembarking from their ships, when they found that no resistance was offered,
made for the statues, and failing to wrench them from their pedestals, tied
ropes to them and began to haul. Then, they say – and some people will perhaps
believe them, though I for my part do not – the two statues, as they were being
dragged and hauled, fell down both upon their knees; in which attitude they
still remain. Such, according to them, was the conduct of the Athenians; they
meanwhile, having learnt beforehand what was intended, had prevailed on the
Argives to hold themselves in readiness; and the Athenians accordingly were but
just landed on their coasts when the Argives came to their aid. Secretly and
silently they crossed over from Epidaurus, and, before the Athenians were aware,
cut off their retreat to their ships, and fell upon them; and the thunder came
exactly at that moment, and the earthquake with it.
[5.87] The Argives and the Eginetans both agree in giving
this account; and the Athenians themselves acknowledge that but one of their men
returned alive to Attica. According to the Argives, he escaped from the battle
in which the rest of the Athenian troops were destroyed by them. According to
the Athenians, it was the god who destroyed their troops; and even this one man
did not escape, for he perished in the following manner. When he came back to
Athens, bringing word of the calamity, the wives of those who had been sent out
on the expedition took it sorely to heart that he alone should have survived the
slaughter of all the rest; – they therefore crowded round the man, and struck
him with the brooches by which their dresses were fastened each, as she struck,
asking him where he had left her husband. And the man died in this way. The
Athenians thought the deed of the women more horrible even than the fate of the
troops; as however they did not know how else to punish them, they changed their
dress and compelled them to wear the costume of the Ionians. Till this time the
Athenian women had worn a Dorian dress, shaped nearly like that which prevails
at Corinth. Henceforth they were made to wear the linen tunic, which does not
require brooches.
[5.88] In very truth, however, this dress is not originally
Ionian, but Carian; for anciently the Greek women all wore the costume which is
now called the Dorian. It is said further that the Argives and Eginetans made it
a custom, on this same account, for their women to wear brooches half as large
again as formerly, and to offer brooches rather than anything else in the temple
of these goddesses. They also forbade the bringing of anything Attic into the
temple, were it even a jar of earthenware, and made a law that none but native
drinking vessels should be used there in time to come. From this early age to my
own day the Argive and Eginetan women have always continued to wear their
brooches larger than formerly, through hatred of the Athenians.
[5.89] Such then was the origin of the feud which existed
between the Eginetans and the Athenians. Hence, when the Thebans made their
application for succour, the Eginetans, calling to mind the matter of images,
gladly lent their aid to the Boeotians. They ravaged all the sea-coast of
Attica; and the Athenians were about to attack them in return, when they were
stopped by the oracle of Delphi, which bade them wait till thirty years had
passed from the time that the Eginetans did the wrong, and in the thirty-first
year, having first set apart a precinct for Aeacus, then to begin the war. “So
should they succeed to their wish,” the oracle said; “but if they went to war at
once, though they would still conquer the island in the end, yet they must go
through much suffering and much exertion before taking it.” On receiving this
warning the Athenians set apart a precinct for Aeacus – the same which still
remains dedicated to him in their market-place – but they could not hear with
any patience of waiting thirty years, after they had suffered such grievous
wrong at the hands of the Eginetans.
[5.90] Accordingly they were making ready to take their
revenge when a fresh stir on the part of the Lacedaemonians hindered their
projects. These last had become aware of the truth – how that the Alcmaeonidae
had practised on the Pythoness, and the Pythoness had schemed against
themselves, and against the Pisistratidae; and the discovery was a double grief
to them, for while they had driven their own sworn friends into exile, they
found that they had not gained thereby a particle of good will from Athens. They
were also moved by certain prophecies, which declared that many dire calamities
should befall them at the hands of the Athenians. Of these in times past they
had been ignorant; but now they had become acquainted with them by means of
Cleomenes, who had brought them with him to Sparta, having found them in the
Athenian citadel, where they had been left by the Pisistratidae when they were
driven from Athens: they were in the temple, and Cleomenes having discovered
them, carried them off.
[5.91] So when the Lacedaemonians obtained possession of
the prophecies, and saw that the Athenians were growing in strength, and had no
mind to acknowledge any subjection to their control, it occurred to them that,
if the people of Attica were free, they would be likely to be as powerful as
themselves, but if they were oppressed by a tyranny, they would be weak and
submissive. Under this feeling they sent and recalled Hippias, the son of
Pisistratus, from Sigeum upon the Hellespont, where the Pisistratidae had taken
shelter. Hippias came at their bidding, and the Spartans on his arrival summoned
deputies from all their other allies, and thus addressed the assembly:-
“Friends and brothers in arms, we are free to confess that
we did lately a thing which was not right. Misled by counterfeit oracles, we
drove from their country those who were our sworn and true friends, and who had,
moreover, engaged to keep Athens in dependence upon us; and we delivered the
government into the hands of an unthankful people – a people who no sooner got
their freedom by our means, and grew in power, than they turned us and our king,
with every token of insult, out of their city. Since then they have gone on
continually raising their thoughts higher, as their neighbours of Boeotia and
Chalcis have already discovered to their cost, and as others too will presently
discover if they shall offend them. Having thus erred, we will endeavour now,
with your help, to remedy the evils we have caused, and to obtain vengeance on
the Athenians. For this cause we have sent for Hippias to come here, and have
summoned you likewise from your several states, that we may all now with heart
and hand unite to restore him to Athens, and thereby give him back that which we
took from him formerly.”
[5.92] Such was the address of the Spartans. The greater
number of the allies listened without being persuaded. None however broke
silence but Sosicles the Corinthian, who exclaimed –
“Surely the heaven will soon be below, and the earth above,
and men will henceforth live in the sea, and fish take their place upon the dry
land, since you, Lacedaemonians, propose to put down free governments in the
cities of Greece, and to set up tyrannies in their room. There is nothing in the
whole world so unjust, nothing so bloody, as a tyranny. If, however, it seems to
you a desirable thing to have the cities under despotic rule, begin by putting a
tyrant over yourselves, and then establish despots in the other states. While
you continue yourselves, as you have always been, unacquainted with tyranny, and
take such excellent care that Sparta may not suffer from it, to act as you are
now doing is to treat your allies unworthily. If you knew what tyranny was as
well as ourselves, you would be better advised than you now are in regard to it.
The government at Corinth was once an oligarchy – a single race, called
Bacchiadae, who intermarried only among themselves, held the management of
affairs. Now it happened that Amphion, one of these, had a daughter, named Labda,
who was lame, and whom therefore none of the Bacchiadae would consent to marry;
so she was taken to wife by Aetion, son of Echecrates, a man of the township of
Petra, who was, however, by descent of the race of the Lapithae, and of the
house of Caeneus. Aetion, as he had no child, either by this wife or by any
other, went to Delphi to consult the oracle concerning the matter. Scarcely had
he entered the temple when the Pythoness saluted him in these words –
No one honours thee now, Aetion, worthy of honour –
Labda shall soon be a mother – her offspring a rock, that will one day
Fall on the kingly race, and right the city of Corinth.
By some chance this address of the oracle to Aetion came to
the ears of the Bacchiadae, who till then had been unable to perceive the
meaning of another earlier prophecy which likewise bore upon Corinth, and
pointed to the same event as Aetion’s prediction. It was the following:-
When mid the rocks an eagle shall bear a carnivorous
lion,
Mighty and fierce, he shall loosen the limbs of many beneath them –
Brood ye well upon this, all ye Corinthian people,
Ye who dwell by fair Peirene, and beetling Corinth.
The Bacchiadae had possessed this oracle for some time; but
they were quite at a loss to know what it meant until they heard the response
given to Aetion; then however they at once perceived its meaning, since the two
agreed so well together. Nevertheless, though the bearing of the first prophecy
was now clear to them, they remained quiet, being minded to put to death the
child which Aetion was expecting. As soon, therefore, as his wife was delivered,
they sent ten of their number to the township where Aetion lived, with orders to
make away with the baby. So the men came to Petra, and went into Aetion’s house,
and there asked if they might see the child; and Labda, who knew nothing of
their purpose, but thought their inquiries arose from a kindly feeling towards
her husband, brought the child, and laid him in the arms of one of them. Now
they had agreed by the way that whoever first got hold of the child should dash
it against the ground. It happened, however, by a providential chance, that the
babe, just as Labda put him into the man’s arms, smiled in his face. The man saw
the smile, and was touched with pity, so that he could not kill it; he therefore
passed it on to his next neighbour, who gave it to a third; and so it went
through all the ten without any one choosing to be the murderer. The mother
received her child back; and the men went out of the house, and stood near the
door, and there blamed and reproached one another; chiefly however accusing the
man who had first had the child in his arms, because he had not done as had been
agreed upon. At last, after much time had been thus spent, they resolved to go
into the house again and all take part in the murder. But it was fated that evil
should come upon Corinth from the progeny of Aetion; and so it chanced that
Labda, as she stood near the door, heard all that the men said to one another,
and fearful of their changing their mind, and returning to destroy her baby, she
carried him off and hid him in what seemed to her the most unlikely place to be
suspected, viz., a ‘cypsel’ or corn-bin. She knew that if they came back to look
for the child, they would search all her house; and so indeed they did, but not
finding the child after looking everywhere, they thought it best to go away, and
declare to those by whom they had been sent that they had done their bidding.
And thus they reported on their return home. Aetion’s son grew up, and, in
remembrance of the danger from which he had escaped, was named Cypselus, after
the cornbin. When he reached to man’s estate, he went to Delphi, and on
consulting the oracle, received a response which was two-sided. It was the
following:
See there comes to my dwelling a man much favour’d of
fortune,
Cypselus, son of Aetion, and king of the glorious Corinth –
He and his children too, but not his children’s children.
Such was the oracle; and Cypselus put so much faith in it
that he forthwith made his attempt, and thereby became master of Corinth. Having
thus got the tyranny, he showed himself a harsh ruler – many of the Corinthians
he drove into banishment, many he deprived of their fortunes, and a still
greater number of their lives. His reign lasted thirty years, and was prosperous
to its close; insomuch that he left the government to Periander, his son. This
prince at the beginning of his reign was of a milder temper than his father; but
after he corresponded by means of messengers with Thrasybulus, tyrant of Miletus,
he became even more sanguinary. On one occasion he sent a herald to ask
Thrasybulus what mode of government it was safest to set up in order to rule
with honour. Thrasybulus led the messenger without the city, and took him into a
field of corn, through which he began to walk, while he asked him again and
again concerning his coming from Corinth, ever as he went breaking off and
throwing away all such ears of corn as over-topped the rest. In this way he went
through the whole field, and destroyed all the best and richest part of the
crop; then, without a word, he sent the messenger back. On the return of the man
to Corinth, Periander was eager to know what Thrasybulus had counselled, but the
messenger reported that he had said nothing; and he wondered that Periander had
sent him to so strange a man, who seemed to have lost his senses, since he did
nothing but destroy his own property. And upon this he told how Thrasybulus had
behaved at the interview. Periander, perceiving what the action meant, and
knowing that Thrasybulus advised the destruction of all the leading citizens,
treated his subjects from this time forward with the very greatest cruelty.
Where Cypselus had spared any, and had neither put them to death nor banished
them, Periander completed what his father had left unfinished. One day he
stripped all the women of Corinth stark naked, for the sake of his own wife
Melissa. He had sent messengers into Thesprotia to consult the oracle of the
dead upon the Acheron concerning a pledge which had been given into his charge
by a stranger, and Melissa appeared, but refused to speak or tell where the
pledge was – ‘she was chill,’ she said, ‘having no clothes; the garments buried
with her were of no manner of use, since they had not been burnt. And this
should be her token to Periander, that what she said was true – the oven was
cold when he baked his loaves in it.’ When this message was brought him,
Periander knew the token; wherefore he straightway made proclamation, that all
the wives of the Corinthians should go forth to the temple of Juno. So the women
apparelled themselves in their bravest, and went forth, as if to a festival.
Then, with the help of his guards, whom he had placed for the purpose, he
stripped them one and all, making no difference between the free women and the
slaves; and, taking their clothes to a pit, he called on the name of Melissa,
and burnt the whole heap. This done, he sent a second time to the oracle; and
Melissa’s ghost told him where he would find the stranger’s pledge. Such, O
Lacedaemonians! is tyranny, and such are the deeds which spring from it. We
Corinthians marvelled greatly when we first knew of your having sent for Hippias;
and now it surprises us still more to hear you speak as you do. We adjure you,
by the common gods of Greece, plant not despots in her cities. If however you
are determined, if you persist, against all justice, in seeking to restore
Hippias – know, at least, that the Corinthians will not approve your conduct.”
[5.93] When Sosicles, the deputy from Corinth, had thus
spoken, Hippias replied, and, invoking the same gods, he said – “Of a surety the
Corinthians will, beyond all others, regret the Pisistratidae, when the fated
days come for them to be distressed by the Athenians.” Hippias spoke thus
because he knew the prophecies better than any man living. But the rest of the
allies, who till Sosicles spoke had remained quiet, when they heard him utter
his thoughts thus boldly, all together broke silence, and declared themselves of
the same mind; and withal, they conjured the Lacedaemonians “not to
revolutionise a Grecian city.” And in this way the enterprise came to nought.
[5.94] Hippias hereupon withdrew; and Amyntas the
Macedonian offered him the city of Anthemus, while the Thessalians were willing
to give him Iolcos: but he would accept neither the one nor the other,
preferring to go back to Sigeum, which city Pisistratus had taken by force of
arms from the Mytilenaeans. Pisistratus, when he became master of the place,
established there as tyrant his own natural son, Hegesistratus, whose mother was
an Argive woman. But this prince was not allowed to enjoy peaceably what his
father had made over to him; for during very many years there had been war
between the Athenians of Sigeum and the Mytilenaeans of the city called
Achilleum. They of Mytilene insisted on having the place restored to them: but
the Athenians refused, since they argued that the Aeolians had no better claim
to the Trojan territory than themselves, or than any of the other Greeks who
helped Menelaus on occasion of the rape of Helen.
[5.95] War accordingly continued, with many and various
incidents, whereof the following was one. In a battle which was gained by the
Athenians, the poet Alcaeus took to flight, and saved himself, but lost his
arms, which fell into the hands of the conquerors. They hung them up in the
temple of Minerva at Sigeum; and Alcaeus made a poem, describing his
misadventure to his friend Melanippus, and sent it to him at Mytilene. The
Mytilenaeans and Athenians were reconciled by Periander, the son of Cypselus,
who was chosen by both parties as arbiter – he decided that they should each
retain that of which they were at the time possessed; and Sigeum passed in this
way under the dominion of Athens.
[5.96] On the return of Hippias to Asia from Lacedaemon, he
moved heaven and earth to set Artaphernes against the Athenians, and did all
that lay in his power to bring Athens into subjection to himself and Darius. So
when the Athenians learnt what he was about, they sent envoys to Sardis, and
exhorted the Persians not to lend an ear to the Athenian exiles. Artaphernes
told them in reply, “that if they wished to remain safe, they must receive back
Hippias.” The Athenians, when this answer was reported to them, determined not
to consent, and therefore made up their minds to be at open enmity with the
Persians.
[5.97] The Athenians had come to this decision, and were
already in bad odour with the Persians, when Aristagoras the Milesian, dismissed
from Sparta by Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, arrived at Athens. He knew that,
after Sparta, Athens was the most powerful of the Grecian states. Accordingly he
appeared before the people, and, as he had done at Sparta, spoke to them of the
good things which there were in Asia, and of the Persian mode of fight – how
they used neither shield nor spear, and were very easy to conquer. All this he
urged, and reminded them also that Miletus was a colony from Athens, and
therefore ought to receive their succour, since they were so powerful – and in
the earnestness of his entreaties, he cared little what he promised – till, at
the last, he prevailed and won them over. It seems indeed to be easier to
deceive a multitude than one man – for Aristagoras, though he failed to impose
on Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, succeeded with the Athenians, who were thirty
thousand. Won by his persuasions, they voted that twenty ships should be sent to
the aid of the Ionians, under the command of Melanthius, one of the citizens, a
man of mark in every way. These ships were the beginning of mischief both to the
Greeks and to the barbarians.
[5.98] Aristagoras sailed away in advance, and when he
reached Miletus, devised a plan, from which no manner of advantage could
possibly accrue to the Ionians; – indeed, in forming it, he did not aim at their
benefit, but his sole wish was to annoy King Darius. He sent a messenger into
Phrygia to those Paeonians who had been led away captive by Megabazus from the
river Strymon, and who now dwelt by themselves in Phrygia, having a tract of
land and a hamlet of their own. This man, when he reached the Paeonians, spoke
thus to them:-
“Men of Paeonia, Aristagoras, king of Miletus, has sent me
to you, to inform you that you may now escape, if you choose to follow the
advice he proffers. All Ionia has revolted from the king; and the way is open to
you to return to your own land. You have only to contrive to reach the
sea-coast; the rest shall be our business.”
When the Paeonians heard this, they were exceedingly
rejoiced, and, taking with them their wives and children, they made all speed to
the coast; a few only remaining in Phrygia through fear. The rest, having
reached the sea, crossed over to Chios, where they had just landed, when a great
troop of Persian horse came following upon their heels, and seeking to overtake
them. Not succeeding, however, they sent a message across to Chios, and begged
the Paeonians to come back again. These last refused, and were conveyed by the
Chians from Chios to Lesbos, and by the Lesbians thence to Doriscus; from which
place they made their way on foot to Paeonia.
[5.99] The Athenians now arrived with a fleet of twenty
sail, and brought also in their company five triremes of the Eretrians; which
had joined the expedition, not so much out of goodwill towards Athens, as to pay
a debt which they already owed to the people of Miletus. For in the old war
between the Chalcideans and Eretrians, the Milesians fought on the Eretrian side
throughout, while the Chalcideans had the help of the Samian people. Aristagoras,
on their arrival, assembled the rest of his allies, and proceeded to attack
Sardis, not however leading the army in person, but appointing to the command
his own brother Charopinus and Hermophantus, one of the citizens, while he
himself remained behind in Miletus.
[5.100] The Ionians sailed with this fleet to Ephesus, and,
leaving their ships at Coressus in the Ephesian territory, took guides from the
city, and went up the country with a great host. They marched along the course
of the river Cayster, and, crossing over the ridge of Tmolus, came down upon
Sardis and took it, no man opposing them; – the whole city fell into their
hands, except only the citadel, which Artaphernes defended in person, having
with him no contemptible force.
[5.101] Though, however, they took the city, they did not
succeed in plundering it; for, as the houses in Sardis were most of them built
of reeds, and even the few which were of brick had a reed thatching for their
roof, one of them was no sooner fired by a soldier than the flames ran speedily
from house to house, and spread over the whole place. As the fire raged, the
Lydians and such Persians as were in the city, inclosed on every side by the
flames, which had seized all the skirts of the town, and finding themselves
unable to get out, came in crowds into the market-place, and gathered themselves
upon the banks of the Pactolus This stream, which comes down from Mount Tmolus,
and brings the Sardians a quantity of gold-dust, runs directly through the
market place of Sardis, and joins the Hermus, before that river reaches the sea.
So the Lydians and Persians, brought together in this way in the market-place
and about the Pactolus, were forced to stand on their defence; and the Ionians,
when they saw the enemy in part resisting, in part pouring towards them in dense
crowds, took fright, and drawing off to the ridge which is called Tmolus when
night came, went back to their ships.
[5.102] Sardis however was burnt, and, among other
buildings, a temple of the native goddess Cybele was destroyed; which was the
reason afterwards alleged by the Persians for setting on fire the temples of the
Greeks. As soon as what had happened was known, all the Persians who were
stationed on this side the Halys drew together, and brought help to the Lydians.
Finding however, when they arrived, that the Ionians had already withdrawn from
Sardis, they set off, and, following close upon their track, came up with them
at Ephesus. The Ionians drew out against them in battle array; and a fight
ensued, wherein the Greeks had very greatly the worse. Vast numbers were slain
by the Persians: among other men of note, they killed the captain of the
Eretrians, a certain Eualcidas, a man who had gained crowns at the Games, and
received much praise from Simonides the Cean. Such as made their escape from the
battle, dispersed among the several cities.
[5.103] So ended this encounter. Afterwards the Athenians
quite forsook the Ionians, and, though Aristagoras besought them much by his
ambassadors, refused to give him any further help. Still the Ionians,
notwithstanding this desertion, continued unceasingly their preparations to
carry on the war against the Persian king, which their late conduct towards him
had rendered unavoidable. Sailing into the Hellespont, they brought Byzantium,
and all the other cities in that quarter, under their sway. Again, quitting the
Hellespont, they went to Caria, and won the greater part of the Carians to their
side; while Caunus, which had formerly refused to join with them, after the
burning of Sardis, came over likewise.
[5.104] All the Cyprians too, excepting those of Amathus,
of their own proper motion espoused the Ionian cause. The occasion of their
revolting from the Medes was the following. There was a certain Onesilus,
younger brother of Gorgus, king of Salamis, and son of Chersis, who was son of
Siromus, and grandson of Evelthon. This man had often in former times entreated
Gorgus to rebel against the king; but, when he heard of the revolt of the
Ionians, he left him no peace with his importunity. As, however, Gorgus would
not hearken to him, he watched his occasion, and when his brother had gone
outside the town, he with his partisans closed the gates upon him. Gorgus, thus
deprived of his city, fled to the Medes; and Onesilus, being now king of
Salamis, sought to bring about a revolt of the whole of Cyprus. All were
prevailed on except the Amathusians, who refused to listen to him; whereupon
Onesilus sate down before Amathus, and laid siege to it.
[5.105] While Onesilus was engaged in the siege of Amathus,
King Darius received tidings of the taking and burning of Sardis by the
Athenians and Ionians; and at the same time he learnt that the author of the
league, the man by whom the whole matter had been Planned and contrived, was
Aristagoras the Milesian. It is said that he no sooner understood what had
happened, than, laying aside all thought concerning the Ionians, who would, he
was sure, pay dear for their rebellion, he asked, “Who the Athenians were?” and,
being informed, called for his bow, and placing an arrow on the string, shot
upward into the sky, saying, as he let fly the shaft – “Grant me, Jupiter, to
revenge myself on the Athenians!” After this speech, he bade one of his servants
every day, when his dinner was spread, three times repeat these words to him –
“Master, remember the Athenians.”
[5.106] Then he summoned into his presence Histiaeus if
Miletus, whom he had kept at his court for so long a time; and on his appearance
addressed him thus “I am told, O Histiaeus, that thy lieutenant, to whom thou
hast given Miletus in charge, has raised a rebellion against me. He has brought
men from the other continent to contend with me, and, prevailing on the Ionians
– whose conduct I shall know how to recompense – to join with this force, he has
robbed me of Sardis! Is this as it should be, thinkest thou Or can it have been
done without thy knowledge and advice? Beware lest it be found hereafter that
the blame of these acts is thine.”
Histiaeus answered – “What words are these, O king, to
which thou hast given utterance? I advise aught from which unpleasantness of any
kind, little or great, should come to thee! What could I gain by so doing? Or
what is there that I lack now? Have I not all that thou hast, and am I not
thought worthy to partake all thy counsels? If my lieutenant has indeed done as
thou sayest, be sure he has done it all of his own head. For my part, I do not
think it can really be that the Milesians and my lieutenant have raised a
rebellion against thee. But if they have indeed committed aught to thy hurt, and
the tidings are true which have come to thee, judge thou how ill-advised thou
wert to remove me from the sea-coast. The Ionians, it seems, have waited till I
was no longer in sight, and then sought to execute that which they long ago
desired; whereas, if I had been there, not a single city would have stirred.
Suffer me then to hasten at my best speed to Ionia, that I may place matters
there upon their former footing, and deliver up to thee the deputy of Miletus,
who has caused all the troubles. Having managed this business to thy heart’s
content, I swear by all the gods of thy royal house, I will not put off the
clothes in which I reach Ionia till I have made Sardinia, the biggest island in
the world, thy tributary.”
[5.107] Histiaeus spoke thus, wishing to deceive the king;
and Darius, persuaded by his words, let him go; only bidding him be sure to do
as he had promised, and afterwards come back to Susa.
[5.108] In the meantime – while the tidings of the burning
of Sardis were reaching the king, and Darius was shooting the arrow and having
the conference with Histiaeus, and the latter, by permission of Darius, was
hastening down to the sea – in Cyprus the following events took place. Tidings
came to Onesilus, the Salaminian, who was still besieging Amathus, that a
certain Artybius, a Persian, was looked for to arrive in Cyprus with a great
Persian armament. So Onesilus, when the news reached him, sent off heralds to
all parts of Ionia, and besought the Ionians to give him aid. After brief
deliberation, these last in full force passed over into the island; and the
Persians about the same time crossed in their ships from Cilicia, and proceeded
by land to attack Salamis; while the Phoenicians, with the fleet, sailed round
the promontory which goes by the name of “the Keys of Cyprus.”
[5.109] In this posture of affairs the princes of Cyprus
called together the captains of the Ionians, and thus addressed them:-
“Men of Ionia, we Cyprians leave it to you to choose
whether you will fight with the Persians or with the Phoenicians. If it be your
pleasure to try your strength on land against the Persians, come on shore at
once, and array yourselves for the battle; we will then embark aboard your ships
and engage the Phoenicians by sea. If, on the other hand, ye prefer to encounter
the Phoenicians, let that be your task: only be sure, whichever part you choose,
to acquit yourselves so that Ionia and Cyprus, so far as depends on you, may
preserve their freedom.”
The Ionians made answer – “The commonwealth of Ionia sent
us here to guard the sea, not to make over our ships to you, and engage with the
Persians on shore. We will therefore keep the post which has been assigned to
us, and seek therein to be of some service. Do you, remembering what you
suffered when you were the slaves of the Medes, behave like brave warriors.”
[5.110] Such was the reply of the Ionians. Not long
afterwards the Persians advanced into the plain before Salamis, and the Cyprian
kings ranged their troops in order of battle against them, placing them so that
while the rest of the Cyprians were drawn up against the auxiliaries of the
enemy, the choicest troops of the Salaminians and the Solians were set to oppose
the Persians. At the same time Onesilus, of his own accord, took post opposite
to Artybius, the Persian general.
[5.111] Now Artybius rode a horse which had been trained to
rear up against a foot-soldier. Onesilus, informed of this, called to him his
shield-bearer, who was a Carian by nation, a man well skilled in war, and of
daring courage; and thus addressed him:- “I hear,” he said, “that the horse
which Artybius rides, rears up and attacks with his fore legs and teeth the man
against whom his rider urges him. Consider quickly therefore and tell me which
wilt thou undertake to encounter, the steed or the rider?” Then the squire
answered him, “Both, my liege, or either, am I ready to undertake, and there is
nothing that I will shrink from at thy bidding. But I will tell thee what seems
to me to make most for thy interests. As thou art a prince and a general, I
think thou shouldest engage with one who is himself both a prince and also a
general. For then, if thou slayest thine adversary, ’twill redound to thine
honour, and if he slays thee (which may Heaven forefend!), yet to fall by the
hand of a worthy foe makes death lose half its horror. To us, thy followers,
leave his war-horse and his retinue. And have thou no fear of the horse’s
tricks. I warrant that this is the last time he will stand up against any one.”
[5.112] Thus spake the Carian; and shortly after, the two
hosts joined battle both by sea and land. And here it chanced that by sea the
Ionians, who that day fought as they have never done either before or since,
defeated the Phoenicians, the Samians especially distinguishing themselves.
Meanwhile the combat had begun on land, and the two armies were engaged in a
sharp struggle, when thus it fell out in the matter of the generals. Artybius,
astride upon his horse, charged down upon Onesilus, who, as he had agreed with
his shield-bearer, aimed his blow at the rider; the horse reared and placed his
fore feet upon the shield of Onesilus, when the Carian cut at him with a
reaping-hook, and severed the two legs from the body. The horse fell upon the
spot, and Artybius, the Persian general, with him.
[5.113] In the thick of the fight, Stesanor, tyrant of
Curium, who commanded no inconsiderable body of troops, went over with them to
the enemy. On this desertion of the Curians – Argive colonists, if report says
true – forthwith the war-chariots of the Salaminians followed the example set
them, and went over likewise; whereupon victory declared in favour of the
Persians; and the army of the Cyprians being routed, vast numbers were slain,
and among them Onesilus, the son of Chersis, who was the author of the revolt,
and Aristocyprus, king of the Solians. This Aristocyprus was son of Philocyprus,
whom Solon the Athenian, when he visited Cyprus, praised in his poems beyond all
other sovereigns.
[5.114] The Amathusians, because Onesilus had laid siege to
their town, cut the head off his corpse, and took it with them to Amathus, where
it was set up over the gates. Here it hung till it became hollow; whereupon a
swarm of bees took possession of it, and filled it with a honeycomb. On seeing
this the Amathusians consulted the oracle, and were commanded “to take down the
head and bury it, and thenceforth to regard Onesilus as a hero, and offer
sacrifice to him year by year; so it would go the better with them.” And to this
day the Amathusians do as they were then bidden.
[5.115] As for the Ionians who had gained the sea-fight,
when they found that the affairs of Onesilus were utterly lost and ruined, and
that siege was laid to all the cities of Cyprus excepting Salamis, which the
inhabitants had surrendered to Gorgus, the former king, forthwith they left
Cyprus, and sailed away home. Of the cities which were besieged, Soli held out
the longest: the Persians took it by undermining the wall in the fifth month
from the beginning of the siege.
[5.116] Thus, after enjoying a year of freedom, the
Cyprians were enslaved for the second time. Meanwhile Daurises, who was married
to one of the daughters of Darius, together with Hymeas, Otanes, and other
Persian captains, who were likewise married to daughters of the king, after
pursuing the Ionians who had fought at Sardis, defeating them, and driving them
to their ships, divided their efforts against the different cities, and
proceeded in succession to take and sack each one of them.
[5.117] Daurises attacked the towns upon the Hellespont,
and took in as many days the five cities of Dardanus, Abydos, Percote, Lampsacus,
and Paesus. From Paesus he marched against Parium; but on his way receiving
intelligence that the Carians had made common cause with the Ionians, and thrown
off the Persian yoke, he turned round, and, leaving the Hellespont, marched away
towards Caria.
[5.118] The Carians by some chance got information of this
movement before Daurises arrived, and drew together their strength to a place
called “the White Columns,” which is on the river Marsyas, a stream running from
the Idrian country, and emptying itself into the Maeander. Here when they were
met, many plans were put forth; but the best, in my judgment, was that of
Pixodarus, the son of Mausolus, a Cindyan, who was married to a daughter of
Syennesis, the Cilician king. His advice was that the Carians should cross the
Maeander, and fight with the river at their back; that so, all chance of flight
being cut off, they might be forced to stand their ground, and have their
natural courage raised to a still higher pitch. His opinion, however, did not
prevail; it was thought best to make the enemy have the Maeander behind them;
that so, if they were defeated in the battle and put to flight, they might have
no retreat open, but be driven headlong into the river.
[5.119] The Persians soon afterwards approached, and,
crossing the Maeander, engaged the Carians upon the banks of the Marsyas; where
for a long time the battle was stoutly contested, but at last the Carians were
defeated, being overpowered by numbers. On the side of the Persians there fell
2000, while the Carians had not fewer than 10,000 slain. Such as escaped from
the field of battle collected together at Labranda, in the vast precinct of
Jupiter Stratius – a deity worshipped only by the Carians – and in the sacred
grove of plane-trees. Here they deliberated as to the best means of saving
themselves, doubting whether they would fare better if they gave themselves up
to the Persians, or if they abandoned Asia for ever.
[5.120] As they were debating these matters a body of
Milesians and allies came to their assistance; whereupon the Carians, dismissing
their former thoughts, prepared themselves afresh for war, and on the approach
of the Persians gave them battle a second time. They were defeated, however,
with still greater loss than before; and while all the troops engaged suffered
severely, the blow fell with most force on the Milesians.
[5.121] The Carians, some while after, repaired their ill
fortune in another action. Understanding that the Persians were about to attack
their cities, they laid an ambush for them on the road which leads to Pedasus;
the Persians, who were making a night-march, fell into the trap, and the whole
army was destroyed, together with the generals, Daurises, Amorges, and Sisimaces:
Myrsus too, the son of Gyges, was killed at the same time. The leader of the
ambush was Heraclides, the son of Ibanolis, a man of Mylasa. Such was the way in
which these Persians perished.
[5.122] In the meantime Hymeas, who was likewise one of
those by whom the Ionians were pursued after their attack on Sardis, directing
his course towards the Propontis, took Cius, a city of Mysia. Learning, however,
that Daurises had left the Hellespont, and was gone into Caria, he in his turn
quitted the Propontis, and marching with the army under his command to the
Hellespont, reduced all the Aeolians of the Troad, and likewise conquered the
Gergithae, a remnant of the ancient Teucrians. He did not, however, quit the
Troad, but, after gaining these successes, was himself carried off by disease.
[5.123] After his death, which happened as have related,
Artaphernes, the satrap of Sardis, and Otanes, the third general, were directed
to undertake the conduct of the war against Ionia and the neighbouring Aeolis.
By them Clazomenae in the former, and Cyme in the latter, were recovered.
[5.124] As the cities fell one after another, Aristagoras
the Milesian (who was in truth, as he now plainly showed, a man of but little
courage), notwithstanding that it was he who had caused the disturbances in
Ionia and made so great a commotion, began, seeing his danger, to look about for
means of escape. Being convinced that it was in vain to endeavour to overcome
King Darius, he called his brothers-in-arms together, and laid before them the
following project:- “‘Twould be well,” he said, “to have some place of refuge,
in case they were driven out of Miletus. Should he go out at the head of a
colony to Sardinia, or should he sail to Myrcinus in Edonia, which Histiaeus had
received as a gift from King Darius, and had begun to fortify?”
[5.125] To this question of Aristagoras, Hecataeus, the
historian, son of Hegesander, made answer that in his judgement neither place
was suitable. “Aristagoras should build a fort,” he said, “in the island of
Leros, and, if driven from Miletus, should go there and bide his time; from
Leros attacks might readily be made, and he might re-establish himself in
Miletus.” Such was the advice given by Hecataeus.
[5.126] Aristagoras, however, was bent on retiring to
Myrcinus. Accordingly, he put the government of Miletus into the hands of one of
the chief citizens, named Pythagoras, and, taking with him all who liked to go,
sailed to Thrace, and there made himself master of the place in question. From
thence he proceeded to attack the Thracians; but here he was cut off with his
whole army, while besieging a city whose defenders were anxious to accept terms
of surrender.
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