CHAPTER II.

THE IONIAN REVOLT.

Aristagoras the Milesian, having been expelled from Sparta by Cleomenes the Lacedæmonian, repaired to Athens; for this city was much more powerful than the rest. Presenting himself before the people, he said the same that he had done at Sparta, respecting the wealth of Asia and the Persian mode of warfare, how they used neither shield nor spear, and could be easily conquered. He said also that the Milesians were a colony of the Athenians, and it was but reasonable that they, having such great power, should rescue them. And as there was nothing he did not promise, being very much in earnest, at length he persuaded them. It appears to be more easy to impose upon a multitude than one man; this schemer, you see, was not able to impose upon Cleomenes the Lacedæmonian singly, but did upon thirty thousand Athenians. Twenty ships were sent to succor the Ionians, and Melanthius commander over them, a citizen who was universally esteemed. These ships proved the source of calamities both to Greeks and barbarians. Aristagoras sailed first, arrived at Miletus, and had recourse to a project from which no advantage could result to the Ionians; nor did he employ it for that purpose, but that he might vex king Darius. He sent a man into Phrygia, to the Pæonians, who had been carried away captive by Megabazus, from the river Strymon, and occupied a tract in Phrygia, and a village by themselves. Arrived among the Pæonians, the messenger spoke as follows: "Men of Pæonia, Aristagoras, tyrant of Miletus, has sent me to suggest to you a mode of deliverance, if you will take his advice. For all Ionia has revolted from the king, and offers you an opportunity of returning safe to your own country; as far as to the coast take care of yourselves, and we will provide for the rest." When the Pæonians heard these words, they considered it a very joyful event, and taking with them their children and wives, fled to the coast; though some of them, through fear, remained where they were. When the Pæonians reached the coast, they crossed over to Chios, when a large body of Persian cavalry came on their heels, and sent orders to Chios to the Pæonians, commanding them to return. The Pæonians did not listen to the proposal; but the Chians conveyed them to Lesbos, and the Lesbians forwarded them to Doriscus; thence proceeding on foot they reached Pæonia.

The Athenians arrived with twenty ships, bringing with them five triremes of the Eretrians, who engaged in this expedition out of good-will to the Milesians, in order to repay a former obligation; for the Milesians had formerly joined the Eretrians in the war against the Chalcidians. When these had arrived, and the rest of the allies had come up, Aristagoras resolved to make an expedition to Sardis. He himself did not march with the army, but remained at Miletus, and appointed as generals of the Milesians, his own brother Charopinus, and of the other citizens Hermophantus. The Ionians arrived at Ephesus with this force, left their ships at Coressus, in the Ephesian territory, and advanced with a numerous army, taking Ephesians for their guides; and marching by the side of the river Cayster, they crossed Mount Tmolus, and reached and took Sardis without opposition; all except the citadel, for Artaphernes with a strong garrison defended the citadel. The following accident prevented them, after they had taken the city, from plundering it. Most of the houses in Sardis were built with reeds; and such of them as were built with brick, had roof of reeds. A soldier happened to set fire to one of these, and immediately the flame spread from house to house, and consumed the whole city. While the city was burning, the Lydians, and as many of the Persians as were in the city, being enclosed on every side, and having no means of escaping from the city, rushed together to the market-place, and to the river Pactolus, which, bringing down grains of gold from Mount Tmolus, flows through the middle of the market-place, and then discharges itself into the river Hermus, and that into the sea. The Lydians and Persians, being assembled on this Pactolus and at the market-place, were constrained to defend themselves: and the Ionians, seeing some of the enemy standing on their defence, and others coming up in great numbers, retired through fear to the mountain called Tmolus, and thence under favor of the night retreated to their ships. Thus Sardis was burnt, and in it the temple of the native goddess Cybebe; the Persians, making a pretext of this, afterwards burnt in retaliation the temples of Greece. As soon as the Persians who had settlements on this side the river Halys were informed of these things, they drew together and marched to assist the Lydians; the Ionians were no longer at Sardis; but following on their track they overtook them at Ephesus, where the Ionians drew out in battle-array against them, and coming to an engagement, were sorely beaten; and the Persians slew many of them, among other persons of distinction, Eualcis, general of the Eretrians, who had gained the prize in the contests for the crown, and had been much celebrated by Simonides the Cean. Those who escaped from the battle were dispersed throughout the cities.

Such was the result of the encounter. Afterward, the Athenians, totally abandoning the Ionians, though Aristagoras urgently solicited them by ambassadors, refused to send them any assistance. The Ionians, deprived of the alliance of the Athenians, (for they had conducted themselves in such a manner toward Darius from the first,) nevertheless prepared for war with the king. And sailing to the Hellespont, they reduced Byzantium and all the other cities in that quarter to their obedience. They then sailed out of the Hellespont, and gained over to their alliance the greater part of Caria; for the city of Caunus, which before would not join their alliance, when they had burnt Sardis, came over to their side.

When it was told king Darius, that Sardis had been taken and burnt by the Athenians and Ionians, and that Aristagoras the Milesian was the chief of the confederacy and the contriver of that enterprise, it is related that he took no account of the Ionians, well knowing that they would not escape unpunished for their rebellion, but inquired where the Athenians were; then having been informed, he called for a bow, put an arrow into it, let it fly toward heaven, and as he shot it into the air, exclaimed: "O Jupiter, grant that I may revenge myself on the Athenians!" Then he commanded one of his attendants, every time dinner was set before him, to say thrice: "Sire, remember the Athenians." Summoning to his presence Histiæus the Milesian, whom he had already detained a long time, Darius said: "I am informed, Histiæus, that your lieutenant, to whom you intrusted Miletus, has attempted innovations against me; for he has brought men from the other continent, and with them Ionians, who shall give me satisfaction for what they have done; and has deprived me of Sardis. Now, can it appear to you that this is right? Could such a thing have been done without your advice? Beware lest hereafter you expose yourself to blame." To this Histiæus answered: "O king, what have you said? That I should advise a thing from which any grief, great or little, should ensue to you! With what object should I do so? What am I in want of? I, who have all things the same as you, and am deemed worthy to share all your counsels? But if my lieutenant has done any such thing as you mention, be assured he has done it of his own contrivance. But I do not believe the account, that the Milesians and my lieutenant have attempted any innovations against your authority. Yet if you have heard the truth, consider, O king, what mischief you have done in withdrawing me from the coast. For the Ionians seem, when I was out of their sight, to have done what they long ago desired to do; and had I been in Ionia not one city would have stirred. Suffer me therefore to go with all speed to Ionia, that I may restore all things there to their former condition, and deliver into your hands this lieutenant of Miletus, who has plotted the whole. When I have done this according to your mind, I swear by the royal gods, not to put off the garments which I shall wear when I go down to Ionia, before I have made the great island Sardinia tributary to you." His speaking thus deceived the king; Darius was persuaded, and let him go, charging him to return to Susa, as soon as he should have accomplished what he had promised.

While the news concerning Sardis was going up to the king, tidings were brought to Onesilus the Salaminian, as he was besieging the Amathusians, that Artybius, a Persian, leading a large Persian force on shipboard, was to be expected in Cyprus. Onesilus accordingly sent heralds to the different parts of Ionia, inviting them to assist him; and the Ionians, without any protracted deliberation, arrived at Cyprus with a large armament. The Persians crossed over in ships from Cilicia, and marched by land against Salamis.

Then the kings of the Cyprians drew up their forces in line, and stationed the best of the Salaminians and Solians against the Persians. Onesilus voluntarily took up his position directly against Artybius, the general of the Persians. Artybius used to ride on a horse, that had been taught to rear up against an armed enemy. Onesilus had a shield-bearer, a Carian, well skilled in matters of war, and otherwise full of courage, to whom he said: "I am informed that the horse of Artybius rears up, and with his feet and mouth attacks whomsoever he is made to engage with; tell me which you will watch and strike, whether the horse or Artybius himself." His attendant answered: "I am ready to do both, or either of them, but a king and a general ought, I think, to engage with a king and a general. If you vanquish one who is a general, your glory is great; while if he should vanquish you, which may the gods avert, to fall by a noble hand is but half the calamity. We servants should engage with other servants, and also against a horse, whose tricks you need not fear at all; for I promise you he shall never again rear up against any man." Forthwith the forces joined battle by land and sea. Now, the Ionians fought valiantly on that day, when the armies met in close combat; and when Artybius, seated on his horse, bore down upon Onesilus. Onesilus, as he had concerted with his shield-bearer, struck Artybius himself; and as the horse was throwing his feet against the shield of Onesilus, the Carian with a scythe cut off the horse's feet. So that Artybius, the general of the Persians, fell together with his horse on the spot. While the rest were fighting, Stesenor, of Curium, deserted with no inconsiderable body of men, and the chariots of war belonging to the Salaminians did the same as the Curians. Consequently the Persians became superior to the Cyprians. The army was put to flight, many fell, and amongst them Onesilus, and the king of the Solians, Aristocyprus, son of the Philocyprus whom Solon the Athenian, when he visited Cyprus, celebrated in his verses above all tyrants. The Amathusians cut off the head of Onesilus, because he had besieged them, took it to Amathus, and suspended it over the gates; and when the head had become hollow, a swarm of bees entered it, and filled it with honey-comb. An answer was given to the Amathusians, who consulted the oracle respecting it, "that they should take down the head and bury it, and sacrifice annually to Onesilus, as to a hero, and that it would turn out better for them."

Afterward, the Persians crossed the Mæander and engaged the Carians on the banks of the river Marsyas. They fought an obstinate battle, and at last overpowered them. Of the Persians there fell about two thousand, and of the Carians ten thousand. The Carians, however, afterward recovered from this wound, and renewed the contest. For hearing that the Persians designed to invade their cities, they placed an ambuscade on the way to Pedasus, into which the Persians, falling by night, were cut in pieces, with their generals Daurises, Amorges, and Sisamaces.

Hymees, who was one of those who pursued the Ionians that had attacked Sardis, bending his march toward the Propontis, took Cius of Mysia. When he heard that Daurises had quitted the Hellespont, and was marching against Caria, he abandoned the Propontis, and led his army on the Hellespont. He subdued all the Æolians who inhabited the territory of Ilium, and subdued the Gergithæ, the remaining descendants of the ancient Teucrians. Just then, however, he died of disease in the Troad. But Artaphernes, governor of Sardis, and Otanes, who were appointed to invade Ionia and the neighboring territory of Æolia, took Clazomenæ and Cyme.

Aristagoras the Milesian, for he was not, as it proved, a man of strong courage, after he had thus thrown Ionia into confusion, and raised great disturbances, thought of flight, when he saw these results. Besides, it appeared to him impossible to overcome King Darius; so calling his partisans together, he suggested "that it would be better for them to have some sure place of refuge, in case they should be expelled from Miletus." He asked, therefore, whether he should lead them to Sardinia, to found a colony, or to Myrcinus of the Edonians, which Histiæus had begun to fortify, having received it as a gift from Darius. However, the opinion of Hecatæus the historian, son of Hegesander, was, that they should set out for neither of these places, but should build a fortress in the island of Leros, and remain quiet, if they were compelled to quit Miletus. But Aristagoras himself was decidedly in favor of proceeding to Myrcinus; he therefore intrusted Miletus to Pythagoras, a citizen of distinction, and, taking with him all who were willing, sailed to Thrace, and took possession of the region to which he was bound. But both Aristagoras himself and all his army perished while he was laying siege to a city in Thrace.

[21] The detail of stations above-mentioned gives only eighty-one instead of one hundred and eleven. The discrepancy can only be accounted for by a supposed defect in the manuscripts.

_BOOK VI. ERATO._