CHAPTER I.

ORIGIN OF THE WAR BETWEEN THE GREEKS AND BARBARIANS.

This is a publication of the researches of Herodotus of Halicarnassus, made in order that the actions of men may not be effaced by time, and that the great and wondrous deeds displayed both by Greeks and barbarians[1] may not be deprived of renown; and, furthermore, that the cause for which they waged war upon each other may be known.

The learned among the Persians assert that the Phœnicians were the original authors of the quarrel; that they migrated from that which is called the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and, having settled in the country which they now inhabit, forthwith applied themselves to distant voyages; and that they exported Egyptian and Assyrian merchandise, touching at other places, and also at Argos. Argos, at that period, surpassed in every respect all those states which are now comprehended under the general appellation of Greece. They say, that on their arrival at Argos, the Phœnicians exposed their merchandise for sale, and that on the fifth or sixth day after their arrival, when they had almost disposed of their cargo, a great number of women came down to the sea-shore, and among them Io the daughter of the king Inachus. While these women were standing near the stern of the vessel, and were bargaining for such things as most pleased them, the Phœnicians made an attack upon them. Most of the women escaped, but Io with some others was seized. Then the traders hurried on board and set sail for Egypt. Thus the Persians say that Io went to Egypt, and that this was the beginning of wrongs. After this certain Greeks (for they are unable to tell their name), having touched at Tyre in Phœnicia, carried off the king's daughter Europa. These must have been Cretans. Thus far they say that they had only returned like for like, but that after this the Greeks were guilty of the second provocation; for having sailed down in a vessel of war to Æa, a city of Colchis on the river Phasis, when they had accomplished the more immediate object of their expedition, they carried off the king's daughter Medea; and the king of Colchis, having despatched a herald to Greece, demanded satisfaction and the restitution of the princess; but the Greeks replied, that as they of Asia had not given satisfaction for the stealing of Io, they would not give any to them. In the second generation after this, Alexander, the son of Priam, having heard of these events, was desirous of obtaining a wife from Greece by means of violence, being fully persuaded that he should not have to give satisfaction, since the Greeks had not done so. When, therefore, he had carried off Helen, the Greeks immediately sent messengers to demand her back again and require satisfaction; but when they brought forward these demands they were met with this reply: "You who have not yourselves given satisfaction, nor made it when demanded, now wish others to give it to you." After this the Greeks were greatly to blame, for they levied war against Asia before the Asiatics did upon Europe. Now, to carry off women by violence the Persians think is the act of wicked men; to trouble one's self about avenging them when so carried off is the act of foolish ones; and to pay no regard to them when carried off, of wise men: for it is clear, that if they had not been willing, they could not have been carried off. Accordingly the Persians say, that they of Asia made no account of women that were carried off; but that the Greeks for the sake of a Lacedæmonian woman assembled a mighty fleet, sailed to Asia, and overthrew the empire of Priam. From this event they had always considered the Greeks as their enemies: for the Persians claim Asia, and the barbarous nations that inhabit it, as their own, and consider Europe and the people of Greece as totally distinct.

Such is the Persian account; and to the capture of Troy they ascribe the commencement of their enmity to the Greeks. As relates to Io, the Phœnicians do not agree with this account of the Persians but affirm that she voluntarily sailed away with the traders. I, however, am not going to inquire further as to facts; but having pointed out the person whom I myself know to have been the first guilty of injustice toward the Greeks, I will then proceed with my history, touching as well on the small as the great estates of men: for of those that were formerly powerful many have become weak, and some that were formerly weak became powerful in my time. Knowing, therefore, the precarious nature of human prosperity, I shall commemorate both alike.

Crœsus was a Lydian by birth, son of Alyattes, and sovereign of the nations on this side the river Halys. This river flowing from the south between the Syrians[2] and Paphlagonians, empties itself northward into the Euxine Sea. This Crœsus was the first of the barbarians whom we know of that subjected some of the Greeks to the payment of tribute, and formed alliances with others. He subdued the Ionians and Æolians, and those of the Dorians who had settled in Asia, and formed an alliance with the Lacedæmonians; but before his reign all the Greeks were free.