Stories of the
Persian Wars
CHURCH
H. M. CALDWELL CO., PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK AND BOSTON
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. OF THE REVOLT OF MILETUS 7
II. OF THE TAKING OF MILETUS 16
III. OF THE FIRST WAR AGAINST GREECE 31
IV. OF THE BATTLE OF MARATHON 39
V. OF THE SONS OF ALCMÆON AND THE
END OF MILTIADES 49
VI. HOW PREPARATION WAS MADE FOR THE
SECOND WAR AGAINST THE GREEKS 57
VII. OF THE SETTING FORTH OF XERXES 71
VIII. OF THE MARCH OF XERXES 79
IX. HOW XERXES CROSSED OVER INTO
EUROPE AND OF HIS ARMY 89
X. OF THE MARCH OF XERXES 99
XI. OF THE PREPARATIONS OF THE
GREEKS 108
XII. OF THE ARMY AND THE SHIPS OF
XERXES, AND OF THE FIRST
FIGHTING WITH THE GREEKS 119
XIII. OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ 124
XIV. OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLÆ
(_Cont’d_) 135
XV. OF THE SHIPS OF THE GREEKS AT
ARTEMISIUM 144
XVI. OF THE DEPARTURE OF THE GREEKS
FROM ARTEMISIUM AND OF THE
ADVANCE OF XERXES 152
XVII. OF THE GREEKS AT SALAMIS AND OF
THE CITY OF ATHENS 159
XVIII. OF THE BATTLE OF SALAMIS 170
XIX. OF THE FLIGHT OF XERXES 180
XX. OF THE PREPARING OF THE
PERSIANS AND OF THE GREEKS
FOR THE WAR 188
XXI. OF THE BATTLE OF PLATÆA 197
XXII. OF THE BATTLE OF MYCALE 214
THE
STORY OF THE PERSIAN WAR.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE REVOLT OF MILETUS.
King Darius gave Myrcinus that is on the river Strymon, in the land of
Thrace, to Histiæus, lord of Miletus, for a reward; for Histiæus had
done him good service in his warfare against the Scythians. But when
the man began to build a wall about the place, one said to the King,
“O King, what is this that thou hast done, giving this city in Thrace
to a man that is a Greek, and wise moreover and crafty? For in that
country is great store of timber for ship-building, and mines also of
silver and there are many inhabitants, both Greeks and barbarians,
who will take this fellow for a leader, and will do what he shall bid
them, working day and night. Do thou therefore stay him in this work;
but stay him with soft words. Bid him come to thee, and when he is
come, take good care that he never go among the Greeks any more.” This
counsel seemed good to the King. Wherefore he sent a messenger to
Histiæus, saying, “Thus saith the King, I am persuaded that there is no
man better disposed to me and to my kingdom than thou. Come therefore
to me, for I have great matters in hand and would fain ask thy counsel
about them.” So Histiæus, taking these words to be true, and counting
it a great thing to be the King’s counselor, came to Sardis to Darius.
And when he was come, Darius said to him, “Hear now the cause wherefore
I have sent for thee. Since the day that thou didst depart from me I
have desired nothing so much as to see thee and talk with thee; for
in my judgment there is nothing so precious as a friend that is both
faithful and wise; and this I know thee to be. Leave now thy city of
Miletus, and that also which thou art building in Thrace, and come with
me to Susa, for all that I have is thine, and thou shalt live with me,
and be my counselor.”
After this the King went up to Susa, taking Histiæus with him. And he
left Otanes to be captain of them that dwell by the sea. This Otanes
was the son of a certain Sisamnes whom, being one of the royal judges,
and having given unrighteous judgment for money, King Cambyses slew;
and having slain him, he flayed off his skin, and cutting it into
strips stretched them on the judgment-seat. And making the son of
Sisamnes to be judge in his father’s room, he bade him remember on what
manner of seat he sat.
In these days Miletus was the most prosperous of all the cities of
Ionia, though it had been brought very low in the second generation
before by strife among its citizens. This strife was healed after this
fashion by the Parians, whom the men of Miletus chose out of all the
Greeks to be judges in their case. These Parians went through the land
of Miletus, and wheresoever they saw in the country, which was for most
part desolate, any field well tilled, they wrote down the name of the
master of the field. And when they had traversed the whole, and found
not many such, so soon as they were come back to the city, they called
an assembly, and made this award, that the men whose fields they had
seen to be well tilled should bear rule, for they judged that such as
managed well their own affairs would manage well the affairs of the
State also. But now from this city of Miletus, and from the island
of Naxos, which was the richest of all the islands, there came great
damage to the men of Ionia. It happened on this wise. Certain of the
rich men of Naxos, being banished by the commons, fled to Miletus, of
which city one Aristagoras was lord in those days, being son-in-law
to Histiæus. And when the exiles prayed him for help that they might
come back to their own country, Aristagoras, thinking that if they
should come back by his help, he should be lord of Naxos, said to them
(and he had this pretext for helping them that they had been long time
friends of his father in-law) “I cannot bring you back to Naxos against
the will of the city, for I hear that they have eight thousand men at
arms, and many ships of war. But I have a friendship with Otanes, that
is brother to King Darius, and captain of them that dwell by the sea,
and has many soldiers and ships. I will work with him that he shall do
what ye wish.” To this the exiles agreed, saying that they would find
pay for the army. Then went Aristagoras to Otanes and said to him,
“There is a certain island of Naxos, not very great, but a good land
and fair, and near to Ionia, and having in it much wealth and many
slaves. If thou wilt make war upon this island, bringing back to it
certain men that have been banished, thou shalt receive much wealth
from me, over and above the cost of the war, for this it is just that
we who desire it should pay; also thou wilt win for the King Naxos
and the islands that are subject to it, and from thence thou wilt be
able to make war on Eubœa, a great island and a rich, being not less
than Cyprus, and easy to be subdued. For all this a hundred ships will
be sufficient.” To this Otanes made answer, “Truly thou bringest a
matter that may advantage the house of the King, and thy counsel is
good, save as to the number of the ships. There shall be ready not
one hundred, but two hundred in the spring season. Only the King must
approve of the undertaking.” And when he had sent to the King and had
his assent, he made ready two hundred ships of war, putting on them a
great multitude of Persians and allies, and setting Megabates, that was
nephew to him and to the King, to command them. (It was the daughter
of this Megabates that Pausanias the Spartan would have taken to wife,
if indeed the story be true, when he sought to make himself lord of
Greece.) Megabates took with him Aristagoras, and many soldiers from
Miletus, and the exiles, and sailed towards the Hellespont. But when he
came to Chios he cast anchor, waiting for a north wind that he might
sail to Naxos. And here--for it was not to be that Naxos should perish
at this time--there befell this thing.
As Megabates went about visiting the watches of the fleet, he found
a ship of Myndus in Caria that had no watch set. Being very wroth
at this, he bade his guards find the captain of the ship (the man’s
name was Scylax,) and bind him in one of the tholes of the oars, so
that his head should be without the ship and his body within. When
the man had been so bound, there came one to Aristagoras saying that
Megabates had bound Scylax of Mindus in a shameful fashion. Then
Aristagoras entreated of Megabates that he would loose him; but, as he
could not prevail, he loosed the man himself. When Megabates heard it
he was very wroth with Aristagoras, who said to him, “What hast thou
to do with these things? Wast thou not sent to do my pleasure, and
to sail whithersoever I should bid thee? Meddle not then with other
men’s matters.” Then Megabates, in his anger, sent a messenger to the
Naxians, so soon as it was night, telling them what was preparing
against them. Now these had not thought of any such thing; but when
they heard it, forthwith they carried their goods from out of the
fields into the city, and prepared themselves for a siege, making
provision of food and drink. When therefore the Persians were come
from Chios, they found the city of the Naxians defended against them;
and having besieged it to no purpose for four months, when now all
the money they had brought with them was spent, and much also that
Aristagoras had furnished, they departed, having first built forts
for the exiles. Then Aristagoras was in a great strait, for he could
not fulfill the promise that he had made to the servants of the King,
neither could he pay the money that had been spent upon the war, and he
feared lest, falling into ill-favor with the Persians, being already
at enmity with Megabates, he should loose the lordship of Miletus.
For these causes he had it in his mind to revolt from the King. And
while he thought thereon there came to him the man with the branded
head from Histiæus at Susa, with a message that he should do this very
thing. For Histiæus, seeking to send word to Aristagoras, yet not
being able to send it safely, because the roads were guarded, devised
this thing. He took the most faithful of his slaves and, shaving the
man’s head, branded on it certain letters. And when the hair was grown
again he sent him to Aristagoras with a message, “Look on this man’s
head when thou hast shaven it.” Now the marks signified that he should
revolt. And this Histiæus did, counting it a grievous thing that he
was constrained to tarry at Susa; for he said to himself, “If there
be rebellion at Miletus, doubtless I shall be sent down to the sea;
but if not, I shall go there no more.” Then Aristagoras took counsel
with his fellows, declaring to them his own judgment and the message
that had come to him from Susa. To them spake Hecatæus, the writer of
chronicles. First he counseled them not to make war against the King,
telling them of all the nations that he ruled and of his might. And
when he could not persuade them, he said that they should certainly
make themselves masters of the sea, and that this they could do only
by laying hands on the treasures that had been given by Crœsus the
Lydian to the temple of Apollo at Branchidæ, for these were very great,
“since I have good hope,” said he, “that by help of these ye may have
the upper hand at sea; any how, ye will have the using of them, and
they will not be a spoil to the enemy.” But neither in this could he
prevail. Nevertheless they made ready to revolt. And first of all they
sent and laid hands by guile on the captains of the ships that had
sailed against Naxos. Such of these men as were lords of their cities
Aristagoras gave into the hands of their citizens to do with them as
they would. And he gave up his own lordship at Miletus. Thus lordship
ceased out of all the cities of Ionia.
After this Aristagoras sailed to Sparta, for he had need to make
alliance with some city that could help him. Now Cleomenes was King at
Sparta in those days; to him therefore Aristagoras opened the matter,
saying, “Marvel not, Cleomenes, that I have been at the pain to come
hither. That we men of Ionia should be slaves and not free is a shame
and grief, first indeed to us, but next to you more than all others,
seeing that ye have the pre-eminence in Greece. Do ye therefore
deliver us from slavery, seeing that we are of the same blood with
you. And this ye can easily do, for these barbarians have but small
courage, in which ye, I know, excel. Their manner of fighting is this.
They have bows and short spears, and for clothing they have loose
tunics and turbans on their heads. Think then how easily ye can subdue
them.” After this Aristagoras showed to the King the divers nations and
countries that were obedient to the Persians, for he had a tablet of
brass on which was engraven the whole compass of the world, with the
sea and all the rivers. And he set forth to him in what things each
was excellent, till he came at the last to the city of Susa. “Here,”
he said, “is the river Choaspes with the great city of Susa, where
the King has his palace. Here also are his treasures, on which if ye
can lay your hands ye may without fear compare yourselves for riches
to Zeus himself. What profit is there to fight, and that many times,
for a few furlongs of barren land, with Messenians, men that are your
match, or with Arcadians or Argives that have not gold or silver or any
such thing, for the getting of which a man might willingly go in peril
of his life, and this when ye might be lords of all Asia?” Then said
Cleomenes, “Man of Miletus, I will give thee an answer in this matter
on the third day.” And on the third, when they came together as had
been appointed, the King said, “Tell me, Aristagoras, of how many days
is the journey from the sea to this city of Susa?” Now in every thing
else Aristagoras had answered him craftily; but in this he was taken
unawares. For if he would have had the Spartans come to Asia, he should
not have told the truth; but this he did tell, for he said, “It is a
journey of three months.” But when the King heard this he would not
suffer Aristagoras to say what he would have told about the journey,
but cried, “Man of Miletus, depart from Sparta before the setting of
the sun; for thou hast nothing to say that can profit the Spartans if
thou wouldst take them a journey of three months from the sea.” When he
had said this, the King departed to his house. Then Aristagoras taking
the garb of a suppliant, went to him and besought him, as he had regard
to a suppliant, to listen to him. “But first,” he said, “send away the
child;” for there stood by the King his little daughter, whose name
was Gorgo. This Gorgo was his only child, being now of eight or nine
years. But Cleomenes bade him say what he would, and stay not for the
child. Then Aristagoras began with ten talents, promising that he would
give him so much if he would help him to that which he desired. And
when Cleomenes would not, he promised yet more, till he came to fifty
talents. Then the child spake, “Father, this stranger will corrupt thee
unless thou rise up and depart.” This counsel of the child greatly
pleased Cleomenes, so that he rose up from his place and went into
another chamber. After this Aristagoras departed from Sparta, and came
to Athens, knowing that this city held the next place for power.