OF THE FIRST WAR AGAINST GREECE.
Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, came down from Susa, and he had a great
army and many ships. He was a young man, and he had newly married the
daughter of King Darius. When he was come to the land of Cilicia, he
took ship and sailed to the coast of Ionia, the other ships following
him. And being in Ionia he did this thing (a marvelous thing,
doubtless, in the eyes of them that believe not the story of Otanes,
how he would have set up among the Persians the rule of the people);
he cast down from their place all the lords of the Ionians, setting up
in every city the rule of the people. When he had done this he went
with all haste to the Hellespont, whither was gathered together a
great multitude of ships and many thousands of men. These crossed the
Hellespont in the ships, and so marched through the land of Europe. And
their purpose was, as they said, to have vengeance on the cities of
Athens and Eretria; but in truth they had it in their minds to subdue
as many as they should be able of the cities of the Greeks. First,
then, they subdued the Thracians. These did not so much as lift a hand
against the Persians, and so were added to the nations whom they had in
slavery. From Thasos they went to Acanthus, and leaving Acanthus they
sought to pass round Mount Athos, which is a great promontory, running
far out into the sea. Here there fell upon the ships a very mighty
wind, such as they could in no wise bear up against, and did them much
damage. Men say indeed that there perished of the ships three hundred,
and of men more than twenty thousand. For the sea in these parts is
full of great monsters, which laid hold on many of the men; many also
were dashed against the rocks, and were so destroyed; and some perished
because they could not swim, and some from cold. Thus it fared with the
ships. As for Mardonius and his army, the Brygi, that are a tribe of
Thracians, assailed him in his camp by night and slew many of his men,
and wounded Mardonius himself. Notwithstanding, the Brygi escaped not
the doom of slavery, for Mardonius left not this region till he had
utterly subdued them. But when he had done this he went back to Asia,
for his army had suffered much from the Thracians, and his ships from
the storm at Mount Athos. Thus did this great undertaking come to an
end with little honor.
For all this Darius changed not his purpose concerning Athens and the
other cities of Greece. For every day, at his bidding, did his servant
say to him, “O King, remember the Athenians.” Also the children of
Pisistratus ceased not to speak against the city. The King indeed
desired, having for a pretense his quarrel against the Athenians, to
subdue all the Greeks that would not give him earth and water; for
the giving of these things is to the Persians a token of submission.
Mardonius, seeing that he had fared badly in his undertaking, the King
discharged of his office, appointing thereto Datis, that was a Mede,
and Artaphernes his brother’s son. These then he sent on the same
errand on which he had sent Mardonius, saying to them, “Make slaves
of the men of Eretria and of the men of Athens, and bring them to me
that I may see them.” So these two went down from the city of Susa to
Cilicia, having with them a very great army and well-appointed; and
while they were encamped here in a plain that is called the Aleian
plain, there came also to that country the whole array of ships as had
been commanded, and with the rest ships designed for the carriage of
horses, for in the year before the King had commanded the inhabitants
that such should be built. On these ships, therefore, they embarked
their horses, and on the other ships the rest of the army, and so set
sail to Ionia, having in all six hundred ships of war.
But they sailed not along the coast after the former manner, going
northwards to the Hellespont and to Thrace, but voyaged through the
islands, beginning with Samos; and this they did, as it seems, because
they feared the going round Mount Athos, remembering what loss and
damage they had suffered at this place in the former expedition. Also
they had Naxos in their mind, for this had not as yet been conquered.
They sailed, therefore, first to Naxos, and the people of the island
did not abide their coming, but fled forthwith to the mountains. And
the Persians made slaves of all on whom they could lay their hands,
and burned the temples and the city with fire, and so departed. While
they were doing these things the men of Delos left their island of
Delos and fled to Tenos. But Datis suffered not the ships of the
Persians to come to anchor at Delos, but bade them tarry over against
it in Rhenea; and having heard where the men of Delos had bestowed
themselves, he sent an herald, saying, “Holy men, why have ye fled
from your dwelling-place, and have thought that which is not fitting
concerning me? For indeed my own purpose and the commandment also which
has been laid upon me by the King is this, that we should do no harm to
the land in which the two Great Ones, Apollo and Artemis, were born,
neither to it nor to the inhabitants thereof. Return ye therefore to
your own dwellings and inhabit your island.” This was the message which
Datis sent to the men of Delos; and afterward he burned three hundred
talents’ weight of frankincense upon the altar of their temple. And
it came to pass that when he had departed from Delos, the island was
shaken by an earthquake. Now it had never been so shaken before, nor
hath been since. This thing, without doubt, happened for a sign to the
sons of men of the evils that were coming upon them. And indeed, in the
days of Darius the son of Hystaspes, and Xerxes the son of Darius, and
Artaxerxes the son of Xerxes, that were kings of Persia, the one after
the other, there befell the Greeks worse evils than had befallen them
for twenty generations before the days of Darius, of which evils some
indeed came from the Persians and some from the chief among themselves
when they contended together for the pre-eminence. Therefore it may
well be believed that Delos had never been shaken before as it was
shaken in these days.
From Delos the barbarians sailed to the other islands of that sea.
And whithersoever they came they took some of the islanders to serve
in the army and the ships, and of their children some to be hostages.
But when they came to Carystus, the people of the land would not give
hostages, neither were they willing to help in making war upon the
cities of their neighbors, meaning thereby Eretria and Athens. Then the
Persians besieged their town and laid waste their country till the men
of Carystus agreed to do as had been required of them.
When the Eretrians heard that the Persians were coming against them
with a great host and many ships, they sent to the Athenians praying
for help. This the Athenians refused not to give, but sent to such of
their citizens as had had land allotted to them in the country of the
horse-breeding Chalcidians that they should go to the help of the men
of Eretria. But these, though they sent this message to the Athenians,
had no steadfast or worthy purpose in the matter. Some of them indeed
were for leaving the city, that they might flee to the hill country
of Eubœa, but others, looking only to their own gain, and thinking
that they should best get this from the Persians, made ready to betray
their country. This, when Æschines the son of Nothus, than whom there
was none greater in Eretria, heard, he told to the Athenians that had
come the whole matter, and said to them: “Depart ye straightway to
your own country, lest ye also perish.” And the Athenians hearkened
to the counsel of Æschines and departed, crossing the Oropus, and so
got safe away. After this the ships of the Persians came to the land
of Eretria, and put out the horses that they carried, and made ready
as if they would fight with the enemy. But the Eretrians had no mind
to come out of their walls and fight; only they hoped that they might
perchance keep these against the enemy, for as to the counsel of
leaving their city and fleeing to the hills, this they had given up.
Then the Persians attacked the wall with great fury; and for six days
they fought, many being slain on both sides; but on the seventh day,
two men, of good repute among the citizens, whose names were Euphorbus
and Philagrus, betrayed Eretria to the Persians; and these entering
into the city, first burned the temples, thereby revenging the burning
of the temples of Sardis, and next made slaves of all the people,
according as King Darius had given them commandment.
When they had thus dealt with Eretria, they sailed against Athens,
having no doubt that they should speedily deal with this also after
the same fashion. And seeing that Marathon was the most convenient for
their purpose, and nearest also to Eretria, thither did Hippias the son
of Pisistratus lead them. And the Athenians, so soon as they heard of
their coming, marched with their whole force to Marathon. Ten generals
they had, of whom the tenth was Miltiades the son of Cimon, the son of
Stesagoras.
This Cimon had been banished from Athens by Pisistratus. And it chanced
to him that as he went into banishment he won the prize at Olympia
for the race of four-horse chariots. This same prize his half-brother
Miltiades had also won. And in the next games at Olympia, being five
years afterwards, he won again with the same mares; but granted to
Pisistratus that his name should be proclaimed as the winner. Because
he did this he came back to Athens under safe-conduct. And yet again
he won the same prize with the same mares at the games next following;
and having done this he was slain by the sons of Pisistratus, for
Pisistratus himself was not yet alive. In the common hall was he slain
by men that were sent against him at night. He is buried before the
City, beyond the road that is called the Hollow Road; and over against
him are buried the mares that won for him these prizes. This same thing
was done by other four mares, belonging to Evagoras the Lacedæmonian,
but besides these none other have done it. This Cimon had two sons,
of whom the elder, Stesagoras, was brought up by his friends in the
Chersonese, and the younger, being named Miltiades, after this same
uncle, was with his father in Athens.
This Miltiades then the Athenians had chosen with nine others to be
general. But before this he had but narrowly escaped death. For first
the Phœnicians pursued him as far as Imbros, being very desirous to
lay hands upon him and to take him to the King. And when he had escaped
from these, and, coming to his own country, believed that he was now in
safety, his enemies brought him into judgment by reason of the lordship
which he had had in the Chersonese. But these, too, he escaped, and the
people chose him for their general.