of ships was six hundred. When these too were come to the Milesian coast
and their whole land-army was also there, then the commanders of the
Persians, being informed of the number of the Ionian ships, were struck
with fear lest they should be unable to overcome them, and thus on the
one hand should not be able to conquer Miletos from not having command
of the sea, and at the same time should run a risk of being punished by
Dareios. Reflecting upon these things they gathered together the despots
of the Ionians who were exiles with the Medes, having been deposed from
their governments by Aristagoras the Milesian, and who chanced to be
then joining in the expedition against Miletos,--of these men they
called together those who were present and spoke to them as follows:
"Ionians, now let each one of you show himself a benefactor of the
king's house, that is to say, let each one of you endeavour to detach
his own countrymen from the body of the alliance: and make your
proposals promising at the same time that they shall suffer nothing
unpleasant on account of the revolt, and neither their temples nor their
private houses shall be burnt, nor shall they have any worse treatment
than they had before this; but if they will not do so, but will by all
means enter into a contest with us, threaten them and tell them this,
which in truth shall happen to them, namely that if they are worsted in
the fight they shall be reduced to slavery, and we shall make their sons
eunuchs, and their maidens we shall remove to Bactria, and deliver their
land to others.".
10. They thus spoke; and the despots of Ionia sent each one by night
to his own people announcing to them this. The Ionians however, that
is those to whom these messages came, continued obstinate and would not
accept the thought of treason to their cause; and each people thought
that to them alone the Persians were sending this message.
11. This happened as soon as the Persians came to Miletos; and after
this the Ionians being gathered together at Lade held meetings; and
others no doubt also made speeches to them, but especially the Phocaian
commander Dionysios, who said as follows: "Seeing that our affairs are
set upon the razor's edge, Ionians, whether we shall be free or slaves,
and slaves too to be dealt with as runaways, now therefore if ye shall
be willing to take upon yourselves hardships, ye will have labour for
the time being, but ye will be able to overcome the enemy and be free;
whereas if ye continue to be self-indulgent and without discipline, I
have no hope for you that ye will not pay the penalty to the king for
your revolt. Nay, but do as I say, and deliver yourselves over to me;
and I engage, if the gods grant equal conditions, that either the
enemy will not fight with us, or that fighting he shall be greatly
discomfited.".
12. Hearing this the Ionians delivered themselves to Dionysios; and he
used to bring the ships out every day in single file, 3 that he might
practise the rowers by making the ships break through one another's
line, 4 and that he might get the fighting-men in the ships under arms;
an then for the rest of the day he would keep the ships at anchor; and
thus he gave the Ionians work to do during the whole day. For seven
days then they submitted and did that which he commanded; but on the
day after these the Ionians, being unaccustomed to such toils and
being exhausted with hard work and hot sun, spoke to one another thus:
"Against which of the deities have we offended, that we thus fill up the
measure of evil? for surely we have delivered ourselves to a Phocaian,
an impostor, who furnishes but three ships: and he has taken us into
his hands and maltreats us with evil dealing from which we can never
recover; and many of us in fact have fallen into sicknesses, and many
others, it may be expected, will suffer the same thing shortly; and for
us it is better to endure anything else in the world rather than these
ills, and to undergo the slavery which will come upon us, whatever that
shall be, rather than to be oppressed by that which we have now. Come,
let us not obey him after this any more." So they said, and forthwith
after this every one refused to obey him, and they pitched their tents
in the island like an army, and kept in the shade, and would not go on
board their ships or practise any exercises.
13. Perceiving this which was being done by the Ionians, the commanders
of the Samians then at length accepted from Aiakes the son of Syloson
those proposals which Aiakes sent before at the bidding of the Persians,
asking them to leave the alliance of the Ionians; the Samians, I say,
accepted these proposals, perceiving that there was great want of
discipline on the part of the Ionians, while at the same time it was
clear to them that it was impossible to overcome the power of the king;
and they well knew also that even if they should overcome the present
naval force of Dareios, 5 another would be upon them five times as
large. Having found an occasion 6 then, so soon as they saw that the
Ionians refused to be serviceable, they counted it gain for themselves
to save their temples and their private property. Now Aiakes, from whom
the Samians accepted the proposals, was the son of Syloson, the son of
Aiakes, and being despot of Samos he had been deprived of his rule by
Aristagoras the Milesian, like the other despots of Ionia..
14. So when the Phenicians sailed to the attack, the Ionians also put
out their ships from shore against them, sailing in single file: and
when they came near and engaged battle with one another, as regards what
followed I am not able exactly to record which of the Ionians showed
themselves cowards or good men in this sea-fight, for they throw blame
upon one another. The Samians however, it is said, according to their
agreement with Aiakes put up their sails then and set forth from their
place in the line to sail back to Samos, excepting only eleven ships:
of these the captains stayed in their places and took part in the
sea-fight, refusing to obey the commanders of their division; and the
public authority of the Samians granted them on account of this to have
their names written up on a pillar with their fathers' names also, 601
as having proved themselves good men; and this pillar exists still in
the market-place. Then the Lesbians also, when they saw that those next
them in order were taking to flight, did the same things as the Samians
had done, and so also most of the Ionians did the very same thing..
15. Of those which remained in their places in the sea-fight the Chians
suffered very severely, 7 since they displayed brilliant deeds of valour
and refused to play the coward. These furnished, as was before said,
a hundred ships and in each of them forty picked men of their citizens
served as fighting-men; 8 and when they saw the greater number of their
allies deserting them, they did not think fit to behave like the
cowards among them, but left along with a few only of their allies they
continued to fight and kept breaking through the enemy's line; until at
last, after they had conquered many ships of the enemy, they lost the
greater number of their own..
16. The Chians then with the remainder of their ships fled away to
their own land; but those of the Chians whose ships were disabled by the
damage which they had received, being pursued fled for refuge to Mycale;
and their ships they ran ashore there and left them behind, while the
men proceeded over the mainland on foot: and when the Chians had entered
the Ephesian territory on their way, then since 801 they came into it by
night and at a time when a festival of Thesmophoria was being celebrated
by the women of the place, the Ephesians, not having heard beforehand
how it was with the Chians and seeing that an armed body had entered
their land, supposed certainly that they were robbers and had a design
upon the women; so they came out to the rescue in a body and slew the
Chians.
17. Such was the fortune which befell these men: but Dionysios the
Phocaian, when he perceived that the cause of the Ionians was ruined,
after having taken three ships of the enemy sailed away, not to Phocaia
any more, for he knew well that it would be reduced to slavery together
with the rest of Ionia, and he sailed forthwith straight to Phenicia;
and having there sunk merchant ships and taken a great quantity of
goods, he sailed thence to Sicily. Then with that for his starting-point
he became a freebooter, not plundering any Hellenes, but Carthaginians
and Tyrsenians only.
18. The Persians, then, being conquerors of the Ionians in the
sea-fight, besieged Miletos by land and sea, undermining the walls and
bringing against it all manner of engines; and they took it completely 9
in the sixth year from the revolt of Aristagoras, and reduced the people
to slavery; so that the disaster agreed with the oracle which had been
uttered with reference to Miletos..
19. For when the Argives were inquiring at Delphi about the safety of
their city, there was given to them an oracle which applied to both,
that is to say, part of it had reference to the Argives themselves,
while that which was added afterwards referred to the Milesians. The
part of it which had reference to the Argives I will record when I reach
that place in the history, 10 but that which the Oracle uttered with
reference to the Milesians, who were not there present, is as follows:
"And at that time, O Miletos, of evil deeds the contriver,
Thou shalt be made for many a glorious gift and a banquet:
Then shall thy wives be compelled to wash the feet of the long-haired,
And in Didyma then my shrine shall be tended by others."
At the time of which I speak these things came upon the Milesians, since
most of the men were killed by the Persians, who are long-haired, and
the women and children were dealt with as slaves; and the temple at
Didyma, with the sacred building and the sanctuary of the Oracle, was
first plundered and then burnt. Of the things in this temple I have made
mention frequently in other parts of the history. 11.
20. After this the Milesians who had been taken prisoner were conducted
to Susa; and king Dareios did to them no other evil, but settled them
upon the Sea called Erythraian, in the city of Ampe, by which the Tigris
flows when it runs out into the sea. Of the Milesian land the Persians
themselves kept the surroundings of the city and the plain, but the
heights they gave to the Carians of Pedasa for a possession.
21. When the Milesians suffered this treatment from the Persians, the
men of Sybaris, who were dwelling in Laos and Skidros, being deprived of
their own city, did not repay like with like: for when Sybaris was taken
by the men of Croton, the Milesians all from youth upwards shaved their
heads and put on great mourning: for these cities were more than all
others of which we know bound together by ties of friendship. Not like
the Sybarites were the Athenians; for these made it clear that they were
grieved at the capture of Miletos, both in many other ways and also by
this, that when Phrynichos had composed a drama called the "Capture of
Miletos" and had put it on the stage, the body of spectators fell to
weeping, and the Athenians moreover fined the poet a thousand drachmas
on the ground that he had reminded them of their own calamities; and
they ordered also that no one in future should represent this drama.
22. Miletos then had been stripped bare of its former inhabitants: but
of the Samians they who had substance were by no means satisfied with
that which had been concerted by the commanders of their fleet with the
Medes; and taking counsel forthwith after the sea-fight it seemed good
to them, before their despot Aiakes arrived in the country, to sail away
and make a colony, and not to stay behind and be slaves of the Medes
and of Aiakes: for just at this time the people of Zancle in Sicily
were sending messengers to Ionia and inviting the Ionians to come to the
"Fair Strand," 1101 desiring there to found a city of Ionians. Now this
which is called the Fair Strand is in the land of the Sikelians and on
that side of Sicily which lies towards Tyrsenia. So when these gave the
invitation, the Samians alone of all the Ionians set forth, having with
them those of the Milesians who had escaped: and in the course of this
matter it happened as follows:--
23. The Samians as they made their way towards Sicily reached Locroi
Epizephyroi, and at the same time the people of Zancle, both themselves
and their king, whose name was Skythes, were encamped about a city
of the Sikelians, desiring to conquer it. Perceiving these things,
Anaxilaos the despot of Rhegion, being then at variance with those of
Zancle, communicated with the Samians and persuaded them that they ought
to leave the Fair Strand alone, to which they were sailing, and take
possession of Zancle instead, since it was left now without men to
defend it. The Samians accordingly did as he said and took possession of
Zancle; and upon this the men of Zancle, being informed that their city
was possessed by an enemy, set out to rescue it, and invited Hippocrates
the despot of Gela to help them, for he was their ally. When however
Hippocrates also with his army had come up to their rescue, first he put
Skythes the ruler of the Zanclaians in fetters, on the ground that he
had been the cause of the city being lost, and together with him his
brother Pythogenes, and sent them away to the town of Incyos; 12 then he
betrayed the cause of the remaining Zanclaians by coming to terms with
the Samians and exchanging oaths with them; and in return for this it
had been promised by the Samians that Hippocrates should receive as his
share the half of all the movable goods in the city and of the slaves,
and the whole of the property in the fields round. So the greater number
of the Zanclaians he put in bonds and kept himself as slaves, but the
chief men of them, three hundred in number, he gave to the Samians to
put to death; which however the Samians did not do.
24. Now Skythes the ruler of the Zanclaians escaped from Incyos to
Himera, and thence he came to Asia and went up to the court of Dareios:
and Dareios accounted him the most righteous of all the men who had come
up to him from Hellas; for he obtained leave of the king and went away
to Sicily, and again came back from Sicily to the king; and at last he
brought his life to an end among the Persians in old age and possessing
great wealth. The Samians then, having got rid of the rule of the Medes,
had gained for themselves without labour the fair city of Zancle.
25. After the sea-battle which was fought for Miletos, the Phenicians by
the command of the Persians restored to Samos Aiakes the son of Syloson,
since he had been to them of much service and had done for them great
things; and the Samians alone of all who revolted from Dareios, because
of the desertion of their ships which were in the sea-fight, 13 had
neither their city nor their temples burnt. Then after the capture of
Miletos the Persians forthwith got possession of Caria, some of the
cities having submitted to their power voluntarily, while others of them
they brought over by force.
26. Thus it came to pass as regards these matters: and meanwhile
Histiaios the Milesian, who was at Byzantion and was seizing the
merchant vessels of the Ionians as they sailed forth out of the Pontus,
received the report of that which had happened about Miletos. Upon that
he entrusted the matters which had to do with the Hellespont to Bisaltes
the son of Apollophanes, a man of Abydos, while he himself with the
Lesbians sailed to Chios; and when a body of the Chians who were on
guard did not allow him to approach, he fought with them at that spot in
the Chian land which is called the "Hollows." 14 Histiaios then not only
slew many of these, but also, taking Polichne of the Chians as his base,
he conquered with the help of the Lesbians the remainder of the Chians
as well, since they had suffered great loss by the sea-fight..
27. And heaven is wont perhaps to give signs beforehand whenever great
evils are about to happen to a city or a race of men; for to the Chians
also before these events remarkable signs had come. In the first place
when they had sent to Delphi a chorus of a hundred youths, two only
returned home, the remaining ninety-eight of them having been seized by
a plague and carried off; and then secondly in their city about the same
time, that is shortly before the sea-fight, as some children were being
taught 15 in school the roof fell in upon them, so that of a hundred
and twenty children only one escaped. These signs God showed to them
beforehand; and after this the sea-fight came upon them and brought
their State down upon its knees; and as the Chians had suffered great
loss, he without difficulty effected the conquest of them.
28. Thence Histiaios made an expedition against Thasos, taking with him
a large force of Ionians and Aiolians; and while he was encamped about
the town of Thasos, a report came to him that the Phenicians were
sailing up from Miletos to conquer the rest of Ionia. Being informed of
this he left Thasos unconquered and himself hastened to Lesbos, taking
with him his whole army. Then, as his army was in want of food, 16 he
crossed over from Lesbos to reap the corn in Atarneus and also that in
the plain of the Caïcos, which belonged to the Mysians. In these parts
there chanced to be a Persian named Harpagos commanding a considerable
force; and this man fought a battle with him after he had landed, and
he took Histiaios himself prisoner and destroyed the greater part of his
army..
29. And Histiaios was taken prisoner in the following manner:--As the
Hellenes were fighting with the Persians at Malene in the district of
Atarneus, after they had been engaged in close combat for a long time,
the cavalry at length charged and fell upon the Hellenes; and the
cavalry in fact decided the battle. 17 So when the Hellenes had been
turned to flight, Histiaios trusting that he would not be put to death
by the king on account of his present fault, conceived a love of life,
so that when he was being caught in his flight by a Persian and was
about to be run through by him in the moment of his capture, he spoke
in Persian and made himself known, saying that he was Histiaios the
Milesian..
30. If then upon being taken prisoner he had been brought to king
Dareios, he would not, as I think, have suffered any harm, but Dareios
would have forgiven the crime with which he was charged; as it was,
however, for this very reason and in order that he might not escape
from punishment and again become powerful with the king, Artaphrenes
the governor of Sardis and Harpagos who had captured him, when he had
reached Sardis on his way to the king, put him to death there and then,
and his body they impaled, but embalmed his head and brought it up to
Dareios at Susa. Dareios having been informed of this, found fault
with those who had done so, because they had not brought him up to his
presence alive; and he bade wash the head of Histiaios and bestow upon
it proper care, and then bury it, as that of one who had been greatly a
benefactor both of the king himself and of the Persians.
31. Thus it happened about Histiaios; and meanwhile the Persian fleet,
after wintering near Miletos, when it put to sea again in the following
year conquered without difficulty the islands lying near the mainland,
Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos; and whenever they took one of the islands,
the Barbarians, as each was conquered, swept the inhabitants off it; 18
and this they do in the following manner:--they extend themselves from
the sea on the North to the sea on the South, each man having hold
of the hand of the next, and then they pass through the whole island
hunting the people out of it. They took also the Ionian cities on the
mainland in the same manner, except that they did not sweep off the
inhabitants thus, for it was not possible..
32. Then the commanders of the Persians proved not false to the threats
with which they had threatened the Ionians when these were encamped
opposite to them: for in fact when they conquered the cities, they chose
out the most comely of the boys and castrated them, making eunuchs of
them, and the fairest of the maidens they carried off by force to the
king; and not only this, but they also burnt the cities together with
the temples. Thus for the third time had the Ionians been reduced
to slavery, first by the Lydians and then twice in succession by the
Persians.
33. Departing from Ionia the fleet proceeded to conquer all the places
of the Hellespont on the left as one sails in, for those on the right
had been subdued already by the Persians themselves, approaching them by
land. Now the cities of the Hellespont in Europe are these:--first comes
the Chersonese, in which there are many cities, then Perinthos, the
strongholds of the Thracian border, Selymbria, and Byzantion. The people
of Byzantion and those of Calchedon opposite did not even wait for
the coming of the Persian ships, but had left their own land first and
departed, going within the Euxine; and there they settled in the city
of Mesambria. 19 So the Phenicians, having burnt these places which have
been mentioned, directed their course next to Proconnesos and Artake;
and when they had delivered these also to the flames, they sailed back
to the Chersonese to destroy the remaining cities which they had not
sacked when they touched there before: but against Kyzicos they did
not sail at all; for the men of Kyzicos even before the time when the
Phenicians sailed in had submitted to the king of their own accord, and
had made terms with Oibares the son of Megabazos, the Persian governor
at Daskyleion. 20.
34. In the Chersonese then the Phenicians made themselves masters of all
the other cities except the city of Cardia. Of these cities up to that
time Miltiades the son of Kimon, the son of Stesagoras, had been despot,
Miltiades the son of Kypselos having obtained this government in the
manner which here follows:--The inhabitants of this Chersonese were
Dolonkian Thracians; and these Dolonkians, being hard pressed in war by
the Apsinthians, sent their kings to Delphi to consult the Oracle about
the war. And the Pythian prophetess answered them that they must bring
into their land as founder of a settlement the man who should first
offer them hospitality as they returned from the temple. The Dolonkians
then passed along the Sacred Road through the land of the Phokians and
of the Boeotians, and as no man invited them, they turned aside and came
to Athens..
35. Now at that time in Athens the government was held by Peisistratos,
but Miltiades also the son of Kypselos had some power, who belonged to
a family which kept four-horse chariot teams, and who was descended
originally from Aiacos and Egina, though in more recent times his family
was Athenian, Philaios the son of Ajax having been the first of his
house who became an Athenian. This Miltiades was sitting in the entrance
of his own dwelling, and seeing the Dolonkians going by with dress that
was not of the native Athenian fashion and with spears, he shouted to
them; and when they approached, he offered them lodging and hospitality.
They then having accepted and having been entertained by him, proceeded
to declare all the utterances of the Oracle; and having declared it they
asked him to do as the god had said: and Miltiades when he heard it
was at once disposed to agree, because he was vexed by the rule of
Peisistratos and desired to be removed out of the way. He set out
therefore forthwith to Delphi to inquire of the Oracle whether he should
do that which the Dolonkians asked of him:.
36, and as the Pythian prophetess also bade him do so, Miltiades the
son of Kypselos, who had before this been victor at Olympia with a
four-horse chariot, now taking with him of the Athenians everyone who
desired to share in the expedition, sailed with the Dolonkians and took
possession of the land: and they who had invited him to come to them
made him despot over them. First then he made a wall across the isthmus
of the Chersonese from the city of Cardia to Pactye, in order that the
Apsinthians might not be able to invade the land and do them damage.
Now the number of furlongs 21 across the isthmus at this place
is six-and-thirty, and from this isthmus the Chersonese within is
altogether four hundred and twenty furlongs in length..
37. Having made a wall then across the neck of the Chersonese and having
in this manner repelled the Apsinthians, Miltiades made war upon the
people of Lampsacos first of all others; and the people of Lampsacos
laid an ambush and took him prisoner. Now Miltiades had come to be a
friend 22 of Croesus the Lydian; and Croesus accordingly, being informed
of this event, sent and commanded the people of Lampsacos to let
Miltiades go; otherwise he threatened to destroy them utterly like a
pine-tree. 23 Then when the people of Lampsacos were perplexed in their
counsels as to what that saying should mean with which Croesus had
threatened them, namely that he would destroy them utterly like a
pine-tree, at length one of the elder men with difficulty perceived the
truth, and said that a pine alone of all trees when it has been cut
down does not put forth any further growth but perishes, being utterly
destroyed. The people of Lampsacos therefore fearing Croesus loosed
Miltiades and let him go..