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The History of Herodotus: Page 28
Volume Two - Book V
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36. Accordingly Hisiaios with this intention was sending the
messenger; and it chanced that all these things happened to
Aristagoras together at the same time. He took counsel therefore with
his partisans, declaring to them both his own opinion and the message
from Hisiaios; and while all the rest expressed an opinion to the same
effect, urging him namely to make revolt, Hecataios the historian
urged first that they should not undertake war with the king of the
Persians, enumerating all the nations over whom Dareios was ruler, and
his power: and when he did not succeed in persuading him, he
counselled next that they should manage to make themselves masters of
the sea. Now this, he continued, could not come to pass in any other
way, so far as he could see, for he knew that the force of the
Milesians was weak, but if the treasures should be taken[21] which
were in the temple at Branchidai, which Crœsus the Lydian dedicated as
offerings, he had great hopes that they might become masters of the
sea; and by this means they would not only themselves have wealth at
their disposal, but the enemy would not be able to carry the things
off as plunder. Now these treasures were of great value, as I have
shown in the first part of the history.[22] This opinion did not
prevail; but nevertheless it was resolved to make revolt, and that one
of them should sail to Myus, to make the force which had returned from
Naxos and was then there, and endeavour to seize the commanders who
sailed in the ships.
37. So Iatragoras was sent for this purpose and
seized by craft Oliatos the son of Ibanollis of Mylasa, and Histiaios
the son of Tymnes of Termera, and Coës the son of Erxander, to whom
Dareios had given Mytilene as a gift, and Aristagoras the son of
Heracleides of Kyme, and many others; and then Aristagoras openly made
revolt and devised all that he could to the hurt of Dareios.
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And first he pretended to resign the despotic power and give to Miletos
equality,[23] in order that the Milesians might be willing to revolt
with him: then afterwards he proceeded to do this same thing in the
rest of Ionia also; and some of the despots he drove out, but those
whom he had taken from the ships which had sailed with him to Naxis,
these he surrendered, because he desired to do a pleasure to their
cities, delivering them over severally to that city from which each
one came.
38. Now the men of Mitylene, so soon as they received Coës
into their hands, brought him out and stoned him to death; but the men
of Kyme let their despot go, and so also most of the others let them
go. Thus then the despots were deposed in the various cities; and
Aristagoras the Milesian, after having deposed the despots, bade each
people appoint commanders in their several cities, and then himself
set forth as an envoy to Lacedemon; for in truth it was necessary that
he should find out some powerful alliance.
39. Now at Sparta Anaxandrides the son of Leon was no longer surviving
as king, but had brought his life to an end; and Cleomenes the son of
Anaxandrides was holding the royal power, not having obtained it by
merit but by right of birth. For Anaxandrides had to wife his own
sister's daughter and she was by him much beloved, but no children
were born to him by her. This being so, the Ephors summoned him before
them and said: "If thou dost not for thyself take thought in time, yet
we cannot suffer this to happen, that the race of Eurysthenes should
become extinct. Do thou therefore put away from thee the wife whom
thou now hast, since, as thou knowest, she bears thee no children, and
marry another: and in doing so thou wilt please the Spartans." He made
answer saying that he would do neither of these two things, and that
they did not give him honourable counsel, in that they advised him to
send away the wife whom he had, though she had done him no wrong, and
to take to his house another; and in short he would not follow their
advice.
40. Upon this the Ephors and the Senators deliberated together
and proposed to Anaxandrides as follows: "Since then we perceive that
thou art firmly attached to the wife whom thou now hast, consent to do
this, and set not thyself against it, lest the Spartans take some
counsel about thee other than might be wished. We do not ask of thee
the putting away of the wife whom thou hast; but do thou give to her
all that thou givest now and at the same time take to thy house
another wife in addition to this one, to bear thee children." When
they spoke to him after this manner, Anaxandrides consented, having
two wives, a thing which was not by any means after the Spartan
fashion.
41. Then when no long time had elapsed, the wife who had come
in afterwards bore this Cleomenes of whom we spoke; and just when she
was bringing to the light an heir to the kingdom of the Spartans, the
former wife, who had during the time before been childless, then by
some means conceived, chancing to do so just at that time: and though
she was in truth with child, the kinsfolk of the wife who had come in
afterwards, when they heard of it cried out against her and said that
she was making a vain boast, and that she meant to pass off another
child as her own. Since then they made a great show of indignation, as
the time was fast drawing near, the Ephors being incredulous sat round
and watched the woman during the birth of her child: and she bore
Dorieos and then straightway conceived Leonidas and after him at once
Cleombrotos,--nay, some even say that Cleombrotos and Leonidas were
twins. The wife however who had born Cleomenes and had come in after
the first wife, being the daughter of Primetades the son of
Demarmenos, did not bear a child again.
42. Now Cleomenes, it is said,
was not quite in his right senses but on the verge of madness,[24]
while Dorieos was of all his equals in age the first, and felt assured
that he would obtain the kingdom by merit. Seeing then that he had
this opinion, when Anaxandrides died and the Lacedemonians followed
the usual custom established the eldest, namely Cleomenes, upon the
throne, Dorieos being indignant and not thinking it fit that he should
be a subject of Cleomenes, asked the Spartans to give him a company of
followers and led them out to found a colony, without either inquiring
of the Oracle at Delphi to what land he should go to make a
settlement, or doing any of the things which are usually done; but
being vexed he sailed away with his ships to Libya, and the Theraians
were his guides thither. Then having come to Kinyps[25] he made a
settlement in the fairest spot of all Libya, along the banks of the
river; but afterwards in the third year he was driven out from thence
by the Macai and the Libyans[26] and the Carthaginians, and returned
to Peloponnesus.
43. Then Antichares a man of Eleon gave him counsel
out of the oracles of Laïos to make a settlement at Heracleia[27] in
Sicily, saying that the whole land of Eryx belonged to the
Heracleidai, since Heracles himself had won it: and hearing this he
went forthwith to Delphi to inquire of the Oracle whether he would be
able to conquer the land to which he was setting forth; and the
Pythian prophetess replied to him that he would conquer it. Dorieos
therefore took with him the armament which he conducted before to
Libya, and voyaged along the coast of Italy.[28]
44. Now at this time,
the men of Sybaris say that they and their king Telys were about to
make an expedition against Croton, and the men of Croton being
exceedingly alarmed asked Dorieos to help them and obtained their
request. So Dorieos joined them in an expedition against Sybaris and
helped them to conquer Sybaris. This is what the men of Sybaris say of
the doings of Dorieos and his followers; but those of Croton say that
no stranger helped them in the war against the Sybarites except
Callias alone, a diviner of Elis and one of the descendants of Iamos,
and he in the following manner:--he ran away, they say, from Telys the
despot of the Sybarites, when the sacrifices did not prove favourable,
as he was sacrificing for the expedition against Croton, and so he
came to them.
45. Such, I say, are the tales which these tell, and
they severally produce as evidence of them the following facts:--the
Sybarites point to a sacred enclosure and temple by the side of the
dried-up bed of the Crathis,[29] which they say that Dorieos, after he
had joined in the capture of the city, set up to Athene surnamed "of
the Crathis"; and besides they consider the death of Dorieos himself
to be a very strong evidence, thinking that he perished because he
acted contrary to the oracle which was given to him; for if he had not
done anything by the way but had continued to do that for which he was
sent, he would have conquered the land of Eryx and having conquered it
would have become possessor of it, and he and his army would not have
perished. On the other hand the men of Croton declare that many things
were granted in the territory of Croton as special gifts to Callias
the Eleisan, of which the descendants of Callias were still in
possession down to my time, and that nothing was granted to Dorieos or
the descendants of Dorieos: but if Dorieos had in fact helped them in
the way with Sybaris, many times as much, they say, would have been
given to him as to Callias. These then are the evidences which the two
sides produce, and we may assent to whichever of them we think
credible.
46. Now there sailed with Dorieos others also of the
Spartans, to be joint-founders with him of the colony, namely
Thessalos and Paraibates and Keleas and Euryleon; and these when they
had reached Sicily with all their armament, were slain, being defeated
in battle by the Phenicians and the men of Egesta; and Euryleon only
of the joint-founders survived this disaster. This man then having
collected the survivors of the expedition, took possession of Minoa
the colony of Selinus, and he helped to free the men of Selinus from
their despot Peithagoras. Afterwards, when he had deposed him, he laid
hands himself upon the despotism in Selinus and became sole ruler
there, though but for a short time; for the men of Selinus rose in
revolt against him and slew him, notwithstanding that he had fled for
refuge to the altar of Zeus Agoraios.[30]
47. There had accompanied Dorieos also and died with him Philip the
son of Butakides, a man of Croton, who having betrothed himself to the
daughter of Telys the Sybarite, became an exile from Croton; and then
being disappointed of this marriage he sailed away to Kyrene, whence
he set forth and accompanied Dorieos with a trireme of his own,
himself supplying the expenses of the crew. Now this man had been a
victor at the Olympic games, and he was the most beautiful of the
Hellenes who lived in his time; and on account of his beauty he
obtained from the men of Egesta that which none else ever obtained
from them, for they established a hero-temple over his tomb, and they
propitiate him still with sacrifices.
48. In this manner Dorieos ended his life: but if he had endured to be
a subject of Cleomenes and had remained in Sparta, he would have been
king of Lacedemon; for Cleomenes reigned no very long time, and died
leaving no son to succeed him but a daughter only, whose name was
Gorgo.
49. However, Aristagoras the despot of Miletos arrived at Sparta while
Cleomenes was reigning: and accordingly with him he came to speech,
having, as the Lacedemonians say, a tablet of bronze, on which was
engraved a map[31] of the whole Earth, with all the sea and all the
rivers. And when he came to speech with Cleomenes he said to him as
follows: "Marvel not, Cleomenes, at my earnestness in coming hither,
for the case is this.--That the sons of the Ionians should be slaves
instead of free is a reproach and a grief most of all indeed to
ourselves, but of all others most to you, inasmuch as ye are the
leaders of Hellas. Now therefore I entreat you by the gods of Hellas
to rescue from slavery the Ionians, who are your own kinsmen: and ye
may easily achieve this, for the Barbarians are not valiant in fight,
whereas ye have attained to the highest point of valour in that which
relates to war: and their fighting is of this fashion, namely with
bows and arrows and a short spear, and they go into battle wearing
trousers and with caps[32] on their heads. Thus they are easily
conquered. Then again they who occupy that continent have good things
in such quantity as not all the other nations of the world together
possess; first gold, then silver and bronze and embroidered garments
and beasts of burden and slaves; all which ye might have for
yourselves, if ye so desired. And the nations moreover dwell in such
order one after the other as I shall declare:--the Ionians here; and
next to them the Lydians, who not only dwell in a fertile land, but
are also exceedingly rich in gold and silver,"[33]--and as he said
this he pointed to the map of the Earth, which he carried with him
engraved upon the tablet,--"and here next to the Lydians," continued
Aristagoras, "are the Eastern Phrygians, who have both the greatest
number of sheep and cattle[34] of any people that I know, and also the
most abundant crops. Next to the Phrygians are the Cappadokians, whom
we call Syrians; and bordering upon them are the Kilikians, coming
down to this[35] sea, in which lies the island of Cyprus here; and
these pay five hundred talents to the king for their yearly tribute.
Next to these Kilikians are the Armenians, whom thou mayest see here,
and these also have great numbers of sheep and cattle. Next to the
Armenians are the Matienians occupying this country here; and next to
them is the land of Kissia here, in which land by the banks of this
river Choaspes is situated that city of Susa where the great king has
his residence, and where the money is laid up in treasuries. After ye
have taken this city ye may then with good courage enter into a
contest with Zeus in the matter of wealth. Nay, but can it be that ye
feel yourselves bound to take upon you the risk of[36] battles against
Messenians and Arcadians and Argives, who are equally matched against
you, for the sake of land which is not much in extent nor very
fertile, and for confines which are but small, though these peoples
have neither gold nor silver at all, for the sake of which desire
incites one to fight and to die,--can this be, I say, and will ye
choose some other way now, when it is possible for you easily to have
the rule over all Asia?" Aristagoras spoke thus, and Cleomenes
answered him saying: "Guest-friend from Miletos, I defer my answer to
thee until the day after to-morrow."[37]
50. Thus far then they
advanced at that time; and when the appointed day arrived for the
answer, and they had come to the place agreed upon, Cleomenes asked
Aristagoras how many days' journey it was from the sea of the Ionians
to the residence of the king. Now Aristagoras, who in other respects
acted cleverly and imposed upon him well, in this point made a
mistake: for whereas he ought not to have told him the truth, at least
if he desired to bring the Spartans out to Asia, he said in fact that
it was a journey up from the sea of three months: and the other
cutting short the rest of the account which Aristagoras had begun to
give of the way, said: "Guest-friend from Miletos, get thee away from
Sparta before the sun has set; for thou speakest a word which sounds
not well in the ears of the Lacedemonians, desiring to take them a
journey of three months from the sea."
51. Cleomenes accordingly
having so said went away to his house: but Aristagoras took the
suppliant's branch and went to the house of Cleomenes; and having
entered in as a suppliant, he bade Cleomenes send away the child and
listen to him; for the daughter of Cleomenes was standing by him,
whose name was Gorgo, and this as it chanced was his only child, being
of the age now of eight or nine years. Cleomenes however bade him say
that which he desired to say, and not to stop on account of the child.
Then Aristagoras proceeded to promise him money, beginning with ten
talents, if he would accomplish for him that for which he was asking;
and when Cleomenes refused, Aristagoras went on increasing the sums of
money offered, until at last he had promised fifty talents, and at
that moment the child cried out: "Father, the stranger will do thee
hurt,[38] if thou do not leave him and go." Cleomenes, then, pleased
by the counsel of the child, departed into another room, and
Aristagoras went away from Sparta altogether, and had no opportunity
of explaining any further about the way up from the sea to the
residence of the king.
52. As regards this road the truth is as follows.--Everywhere there
are royal stages[39] and excellent resting-places, and the whole road
runs through country which is inhabited and safe. Through Lydia and
Phrygia there extend twenty stages, amounting to ninety-four and a
half leagues;[40] and after Phrygia succeeds the river Halys, at which
there is a gate[40a] which one must needs pass through in order to
cross the river, and a strong guard-post is established there. Then
after crossing over into Cappadokia it is twenty-eight stages, being a
hundred and four leagues, by this way to the borders of Kilikia; and
on the borders of the Kilikians you will pass through two several
gates and go by two several guard-posts: then after passing through
these it is three stages, amounting to fifteen and a half leagues, to
journey through Kilikia; and the boundary of Kilikia and Armenia is a
navigable river called Euphrates. In Armenia the number of stages with
resting-places is fifteen, and of leagues fifty-six and a half, and
there is a guard-post on the way: then from Armenia, when one enters
the land of Matiene,[41] there are thirty-four stages, amounting to a
hundred and thirty-seven leagues; and through this land flow four
navigable rivers, which cannot be crossed but by ferries, first the
Tigris, then a second and third called both by the same name,[42]
though they are not the same river nor do they flow from the same
region (for the first-mentioned of them flows from the Armenian land
and the other[43] from that of the Matienians), and the fourth of the
rivers is called Gyndes, the same which once Cyrus divided into three
hundred and sixty channels.[44] Passing thence into the Kissian land,
there are eleven stages, forty-two and a half leagues, to the river
Choaspes, which is also a navigable stream; and upon this is built the
city of Susa. The number of these stages amounts in all to one hundred
and eleven.
53. This is the number of stages with resting-places, as
one goes up from Sardis to Susa: and if the royal road has been
rightly measured as regards leagues, and if the league[45] is equal to
thirty furlongs,[46] (as undoubtedly it is), the number of furlongs
from Sardis to that which is called the palace of Memnon is thirteen
thousand five hundred, the number of leagues being four hundred and
fifty. So if one travels a hundred and fifty furlongs each day, just
ninety days are spent on the journey.[47]
54. Thus the Milesian
Aristagoras, when he told Cleomenes the Lacedemonian that the journey
up from the sea to the residence of the king was one of three months,
spoke correctly: but if any one demands a more exact statement yet
than this, I will give him that also: for we ought to reckon in
addition to this the length of the road from Ephesos to Sardis; and I
say accordingly that the whole number of furlongs from the sea of
Hellas to Susa (for by that name the city of Memnon is known) is
fourteen thousand and forty; for the number of furlongs from Ephesos
to Sardis is five hundred and forty: thus the three months' journey is
lengthened by three days added.
55. Aristagoras then being driven out of Sparta proceeded to Athens;
which had been set free from the rule of despots in the way which I
shall tell.--When Hipparchos the son of Peisistratos and brother of
the despot Hippias, after seeing a vision of a dream which signified
it to him plainly,[48] had been slain by Aristogeiton and Harmodios,
who were originally by descent Gephyraians, the Athenians continued
for four years after this to be despotically governed no less than
formerly,--nay, even more.
56. Now the vision of a dream which Hipparchos had was this:--in the night before the Panathenaia it
seemed to Hipparchos that a man came and stood by him, tall and of
fair form, and riddling spoke to him these verses:
"With enduring soul as a lion endure unendurable evil:
No one of men who doth wrong shall escape from the judgment appointed."
These verses, as soon as it was day, he publicly communicated to the
interpreters of dreams; but afterwards he put away thought of the
vision[49] and began to take part in that procession during which he
lost his life.
57. Now the Gephyraians, of whom were those who murdered Hipparchos,
according to their own account were originally descended from Eretria;
but as I find by carrying inquiries back, they were Phenicians of
those who came with Cadmos to the land which is now called Bœotia, and
they dwelt in the district of Tanagra, which they had had allotted to
them in that land. Then after the Cadmeians had first been driven out
by the Argives, these Gephyraians next were driven out by the Bœotians
and turned then towards Athens: and the Athenians received them on
certain fixed conditions to be citizens of their State, laying down
rules that they should be excluded from a number of things not worth
mentioning here.
58. Now these Phenicians who came with Cadmos, of
whom were the Gephyraians, brought in among the Hellenes many arts
when they settled in this land of Bœotia, and especially letters,
which did not exist, as it appears to me, among the Hellenes before
this time; and at first they brought in those which are used by the
Phenician race generally, but afterwards, as time went on, they
changed with their speech the form of the letters also. During this
time the Ionians were the race of Hellenes who dwelt near them in most
of the places where they were; and these, having received letters by
instruction of the Phenicians, changed their form slightly and so made
use of them, and in doing so they declared them to be called
"phenicians," as was just, seeing that the Phenicians had introduced
them into Hellas. Also the Ionians from ancient time call paper
"skins," because formerly, paper being scarce, they used skins of goat
and sheep; nay, even in my own time many of the Barbarians write on
such skins.
59. I myself too once saw Cadmeian characters in the
temple of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes of the Bœotians, engraved on
certain[49a] tripods, and in most respects resembling the Ionic
letters: one of these tripods has the inscription,
"Me Amphitryon offered from land Teleboian returning:"[50]
this inscription would be of an age contemporary with Laïos the son of
Labdacos, the son of Polydoros, the son of Cadmos.
60. Another tripod
says thus in hexameter rhythm:
"Me did Scaios offer to thee, far-darting Apollo,
Victor in contest of boxing, a gift most fair in thine honour:"
now Scaios would be the son of Hippocoön (at least if it were really
he who offered it, and not another with the same name as the son of
Hippocoön), being of an age contemporary with Œdipus the son of Laïos:
61, and the third tripod, also in hexameter rhythm, says:
"Me Laodamas offered to thee, fair-aiming Apollo,
He, of his wealth,[51] being king, as a gift most fair in thine honor:"
now it was in the reign of this very Laodamas the son of Eteocles that
the Cadmeians were driven out by the Argives and turned to go to the
Enchelians; and the Gephyraians being then left behind were afterwards
forced by the Bœotians to retire to Athens. Moreover they have temples
established in Athens, in which the other Athenians have no part, and
besides others which are different from the rest, there is especially
a temple of Demeter Achaia and a celebration of her mysteries.
62. I have told now of the vision of a dream seen by Hipparchos, and
also whence the Gephrynians were descended, of which race were the
murderers of Hipparchos; and in addition to this I must resume and
continue the story which I was about to tell at first, how the
Athenians were freed from despots. When Hippias was despot and was
dealing harshly with the Athenians because of the death of Hipparchos,
the Alcmaionidai, who were of Athenian race and were fugitives from
the sons of Peisistratos,[52] as they did not succeed in their attempt
made together with the other Athenian exiles to return by force, but
met with great disaster when they attempted to return and set Athens
free, after they had fortified Leipsydrion which is above Paionia,--
these Alomaionidai after that, still devising every means against the
sons of Peisistratos, accepted the contract to build and complete the
temple at Delphi, that namely which now exists but then did not as
yet: and being wealthy and men of repute already from ancient time,
they completed the temple in a manner more beautiful than the plan
required, and especially in this respect, that having agreed to make
the temple of common limestone,[53] they built the front parts of it
in Parian marble.
63. So then, as the Athenians say, these men being
settled at Delphi persuaded the Pythian prophetess by gifts of money,
that whenever men of the Spartans should come to inquire of the
Oracle, either privately or publicly sent, she should propose to them
to set Athens free. The Lacedemonians therefore, since the same
utterance was delivered to them on all occasions, sent Anchimolios the
son of Aster, who was of repute among their citizens, with an army to
drive out the sons of Peisistratos from Athens, although these were
very closely connected with them by guest-friendship; for they held
that the concerns of the god[53a] should be preferred to those of men:
and this force they sent by sea in ships. He therefore, having put in
to shore at Phaleron, disembarked his army; but the sons of
Peisistratos being informed of this beforehand called in to their aid
an auxiliary force from Thessaly, for they had made an alliance with
the Thessalians; and the Thessalians at their request sent by public
resolution a body of a thousand horse and also their king Kineas, a
man of Conion.[54] So having obtained these as allies, the sons of
Peisistratos contrived as follows:--they cut down the trees in the
plain of Phaleron and made this district fit for horsemen to ride
over, and after that they sent the cavalry to attack the enemy's camp,
who falling upon it slew (besides many others of the Lacedemonians)
Anchimolios himself also: and the survivors of them they shut up in
their ships. Such was the issue of the first expedition from
Lacedemon: and the burial-place of Anchimolios is at Alopecai in
Attica, near the temple of Heracles which is at Kynosarges.
64. After
this the Lacedemonians equipped a larger expedition and sent it forth
against Athens; and they appointed to be commander of the army their
king Cleomenes the son of Anaxandrides, and sent it this time not by
sea but by land. With these, when they had invaded the land of Attica,
first the Thessalian horse engaged battle; and in no long time they
were routed and there fell of them more than forty men; so the
survivors departed without more ado and went straight back to
Thessaly. Then Cleomenes came to the city together with those of the
Athenians who desired to be free, and began to besiege the despots
shut up in the Pelasgian wall.
65. And the Lacedemonians would never
have captured the sons of Peisistratos at all; for they on their side
had no design to make a long blockade, and the others were well
provided with food and drink; so that they would have gone away back
to Sparta after besieging them for a few days only: but as it was, a
thing happened just at this time which was unfortunate for those, and
at the same time of assistance to these; for the children of the sons
of Peisistratos were captured, while being secretly removed out of the
country: and when this happened, all their matters were thereby cast
into confusion, and they surrendered receiving back their children on
the terms which the Athenians desired, namely that they should depart
out of Attica within five days. After this they departed out of the
country and went to Sigeion on the Scamander, after their family had
ruled over the Athenians for six-and-thirty years. These also[54a]
were originally Pylians and sons of Neleus, descended from the same
ancestors as the family of Codros and Melanthos, who had formerly
become kings of Athens being settlers from abroad. Hence too
Hippocrates had given to his son the name of Peisistratos as a
memorial, calling him after Peisistratos the son of Nestor.
Thus the Athenians were freed from despots; and the things worthy to
be narrated which they did or suffered after they were liberated, up
to the time when Ionia revolted from Dareios and Aristagoras the
Milesian came to Athens and asked them to help him, these I will set
forth first before I proceed further.
66. Athens, which even before that time was great, then, after having
been freed from despots, became gradually yet greater; and in it two
men exercised power, namely Cleisthenes a descendant of Alcmaion, the
same who is reported to have bribed the Pythian prophetess, and
Isagoras, the son of Tisander, of a family which was highly reputed,
but of his original descent I am not able to declare; his kinsmen
however offer sacrifices to the Carian Zeus. These men came to party
strife for power; and then Cleisthenes was being worsted in the
struggle, he made common cause with the people. After this he caused
the Athenians to be in ten tribes, who were formerly in four; and he
changed the names by which they were called after the sons of Ion,
namely Geleon, Aigicoreus, Argades, and Hoples, and invented for them
names taken from other heroes, all native Athenians except Ajax, whom
he added as a neighbour and ally, although he was no Athenian.
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