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The History of Herodotus: Page 31
Volume Two - Book VI
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BOOK VI
THE SIXTH BOOK OF THE HISTORIES, CALLED ERATO
1. Aristagoras accordingly, after having caused Ionia to revolt, thus
brought his life to an end; and meanwhile Histiaios the despot of
Miletos, having been let go by Dareios had arrived at Sardis: and when
he came from Susa, Artaphrenes the governor of Sardis asked him for
what reason he supposed the Ionians had revolted; and he said that he
could not tell, and moreover he expressed wonder at that which had
happened, pretending that he knew nothing of the state of affairs.
Then Artaphrenes seeing that he was using dissimulation said, having
knowledge of the truth about the revolt: "Thus it is with thee,
Histiaios, about these matters,--this shoe was stitched by thee, and
put on by Aristagoras."
2. Thus said Artaphrenes with reference to the
revolt; and Histiaios fearing Artaphrenes because he understood the
matter, ran away the next night at nightfall and went to the sea-
coast, having deceived king Dareios, seeing that he had engaged to
subdue Sardinia the largest of islands, and instead of that he was
endeavouring to take upon himself leadership of the Ionians in the war
against Dareios. Then having crossed over to Chios he was put in bonds
by the Chians, being accused by them of working for a change of their
State by suggestion of Dareios. When however the Chians learnt the
whole story and heard that he was an enemy to the king, they released
him.
3. Then Histiaios, being asked by the Ionians for what reason he
had so urgently charged Aristagoras to revolt from the king and had
wrought so great an evil for the Ionians, did not by any means declare
to them that which had been in truth the cause, but reported to them
that king Dareios had resolved to remove the Phenicians from their
land and to settle them in Ionia, and the Ionians in Phenicia; and for
this reason, he said, he had given the charge. Thus he attempted to
alarm the Ionians, although the king had never resolved to do so at
all.
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4. After this Histiaios acting through a messenger, namely Hermippos a
man of Atarneus, sent papers to the Persians who were at Sardis,
implying that he had already talked matters over with them about a
revolt: and Hermippos did not deliver them to those to whom he was
sent, but bore the papers and put them into the hands of Artaphrenes.
He then, perceiving all that was being done, bade Hermippos bear the
papers sent by Histiaios and deliver them to those to whom he was sent
to bear them, and to deliver to him the replies sent back by the
Persians to Histiaios. These things having been discovered,
Artaphrenes upon that put to death many of the Persians.
5. As regards Sardis therefore there was confusion of the design; and
when Histiaios had been disappointed of this hope, the Chians
attempted to restore him to Miletos at the request of Histiaios
himself. The Milesians, however, who had been rejoiced before to be
rid of Aristagoras, were by no means eager to receive another despot
into their land, seeing that they had tasted of liberty: and in fact
Histiaios, attempting to return to Miletos by force and under cover of
night, was wounded in the thigh by one of the Milesians. He then,
being repulsed from his own city, returned to Chios; and thence, as he
could not persuade the Chians to give him ships, he crossed over to
Mytilene and endeavoured to persuade the Lesbians to give him ships.
So they manned eight triremes and sailed with Histiaios to Byzantion,
and stationing themselves there they captured the ships which sailed
out of the Pontus, excepting where the crews of them said that they
were ready to do the bidding of Histiaios.
6. While Histiaios and the men of Mytilene were acting thus, a large
army both of sea and land forces was threatening to attack Miletos
itself; for the commanders of the Persians had joined together to form
one single army and were marching upon Miletos, considering the other
towns of less account. Of their naval force the most zealous were the
Phenicians, and with them also served the Cyprians, who had just been
subdued, and the Kilikians and Egyptians.
7. These, I say, were
advancing upon Miletos and the rest of Ionia; and meanwhile the
Ionians being informed of this were sending deputies[1] chosen from
themselves to the Panionion.[2] When these had arrived at that place
and took counsel together, they resolved not to gather a land-army to
oppose the Persians, but that the Milesians should defend their walls
by themselves, and that the Ionians should man their fleet, leaving
out not one of their ships, and having done so should assemble as soon
as possible at Lade, to fight a sea-battle in defence of Miletos. Now
Lade is a small island lying opposite the city of the Milesians.
8.
Then the Ionians manned their ships and came thither, and with them
also those Aiolians who inhabit Lesbos; and they were drawn up in
order thus:--the extremity of the line towards the East was held by
the Milesians themselves, who furnished eighty ships; next to them
were the Prienians with twelve ships and the men of Myus with three;
next to those of Myus were the Teians with seventeen ships, and after
the Teians the Chians with a hundred; after these were stationed the
men of Erythrai and of Phocaia, the former furnishing eight ships and
the latter three; next to the Phocaians were the Lesbians with seventy
ships, and last, holding the extremity of the line towards the West,
were stationed the Samians with sixty ships. Of all these the total
number proved to be three hundred and fifty-three triremes.
9. These
were the ships of the Ionians; and of the Barbarians the number of
ships was six hundred. When these too were come to the Milesian coast
and their whole land-army was also there, then the commanders of the
Persians, being informed of the number of the Ionian ships, were
struck with fear lest they should be unable to overcome them, and thus
on the one hand should not be able to conquer Miletos from not having
command of the sea, and at the same time should run a risk of being
punished by Dareios. Reflecting upon these things they gathered
together the despots of the Ionians who were exiles with the Medes,
having been deposed from their governments by Aristagoras the
Milesian, and who chanced to be then joining in the expedition against
Miletos,--of these men they called together those who were present and
spoke to them as follows: "Ionians, now let each one of you show
himself a benefactor of the king's house, that is to say, let each one
of you endeavour to detach his own countrymen from the body of the
alliance: and make your proposals promising at the same time that they
shall suffer nothing unpleasant on account of the revolt, and neither
their temples nor their private houses shall be burnt, nor shall they
have any worse treatment than they had before this; but if they will
not do so, but will by all means enter into a contest with us,
threaten them and tell them this, which in truth shall happen to them,
namely that if they are worsted in the fight they shall be reduced to
slavery, and we shall make their sons eunuchs, and their maidens we
shall remove to Bactria, and deliver their land to others."
10. They
thus spoke; and the despots of Ionia sent each one by night to his own
people announcing to them this. The Ionians however, that is those to
whom these messages came, continued obstinate and would not accept the
thought of treason to their cause; and each people thought that to
them alone the Persians were sending this message.
11. This happened as soon as the Persians came to Miletos; and after
this the Ionians being gathered together at Lade held meetings; and
others no doubt also made speeches to them, but especially the
Phocaian commander Dionysios, who said as follows: "Seeing that our
affairs are set upon the razor's edge, Ionians, whether we shall be
free or slaves, and slaves too to be dealt with as runaways, now
therefore if ye shall be willing to take upon yourselves hardships, ye
will have labour for the time being, but ye will be able to overcome
the enemy and be free; whereas if ye continue to be self-indulgent and
without discipline, I have no hope for you that ye will not pay the
penalty to the king for your revolt. Nay, but do as I say, and deliver
yourselves over to me; and I engage, if the gods grant equal
conditions, that either the enemy will not fight with us, or that
fighting he shall be greatly discomfited."
12. Hearing this the
Ionians delivered themselves to Dionysios; and he used to bring the
ships out every day in single file,[3] that he might practise the
rowers by making the ships break through one another's line,[4] and
that he might get the fighting-men in the ships under arms; an then
for the rest of the day he would keep the ships at anchor; and thus he
gave the Ionians work to do during the whole day. For seven days then
they submitted and did that which he commanded; but on the day after
these the Ionians, being unaccustomed to such toils and being
exhausted with hard work and hot sun, spoke to one another thus:
"Against which of the deities have we offended, that we thus fill up
the measure of evil? for surely we have delivered ourselves to a
Phocaian, an impostor, who furnishes but three ships: and he has taken
us into his hands and maltreats us with evil dealing from which we can
never recover; and many of us in fact have fallen into sicknesses, and
many others, it may be expected, will suffer the same thing shortly;
and for us it is better to endure anything else in the world rather
than these ills, and to undergo the slavery which will come upon us,
whatever that shall be, rather than to be oppressed by that which we
have now. Come, let us not obey him after this any more." So they
said, and forthwith after this every one refused to obey him, and they
pitched their tents in the island like an army, and kept in the shade,
and would not go on board their ships or practise any exercises.
13. Perceiving this which was being done by the Ionians, the
commanders of the Samians then at length accepted from Aiakes the son
of Syloson those proposals which Aiakes sent before at the bidding of
the Persians, asking them to leave the alliance of the Ionians; the
Samians, I say, accepted these proposals, perceiving that there was
great want of discipline on the part of the Ionians, while at the same
time it was clear to them that it was impossible to overcome the power
of the king; and they well knew also that even if they should overcome
the present naval force of Dareios,[5] another would be upon them five
times as large. Having found an occasion[6] then, so soon as they saw
that the Ionians refused to be serviceable, they counted it gain for
themselves to save their temples and their private property. Now
Aiakes, from whom the Samians accepted the proposals, was the son of
Syloson, the son of Aiakes, and being despot of Samos he had been
deprived of his rule by Aristagoras the Milesian, like the other
despots of Ionia.
14. So when the Phenicians sailed to the attack, the
Ionians also put out their ships from shore against them, sailing in
single file:[3] and when they came near and engaged battle with one
another, as regards what followed I am not able exactly to record
which of the Ionians showed themselves cowards or good men in this
sea-fight, for they throw blame upon one another. The Samians however,
it is said, according to their agreement with Aiakes put up their
sails then and set forth from their place in the line to sail back to
Samos, excepting only eleven ships: of these the captains stayed in
their places and took part in the sea-fight, refusing to obey the
commanders of their division; and the public authority of the Samians
granted them on account of this to have their names written up on a
pillar with their fathers' names also,[6a] as having proved themselves
good men; and this pillar exists still in the market-place. Then the
Lesbians also, when they saw that those next them in order were taking
to flight, did the same things as the Samians had done, and so also
most of the Ionians did the very same thing.
15. Of those which
remained in their places in the sea-fight the Chians suffered very
severely,[7] since they displayed brilliant deeds of valour and
refused to play the coward. These furnished, as was before said, a
hundred ships and in each of them forty picked men of their citizens
served as fighting-men;[8] and when they saw the greater number of
their allies deserting them, they did not think fit to behave like the
cowards among them, but left along with a few only of their allies
they continued to fight and kept breaking through the enemy's line;
until at last, after they had conquered many ships of the enemy, they
lost the greater number of their own.
16. The Chians then with the
remainder of their ships fled away to their own land; but those of the
Chians whose ships were disabled by the damage which they had
received, being pursued fled for refuge to Mycale; and their ships
they ran ashore there and left them behind, while the men proceeded
over the mainland on foot: and when the Chians had entered the
Ephesian territory on their way, then since[8a] they came into it by
night and at a time when a festival of Thesmophoria was being
celebrated by the women of the place, the Ephesians, not having heard
beforehand how it was with the Chians and seeing that an armed body
had entered their land, supposed certainly that they were robbers and
had a design upon the women; so they came out to the rescue in a body
and slew the Chians.
17. Such was the fortune which befell these men: but Dionysios the
Phocaian, when he perceived that the cause of the Ionians was ruined,
after having taken three ships of the enemy sailed away, not to Pocaia
any more, for he knew well that it would be reduced to slavery
together with the rest of Ionia, and he sailed forthwith straight to
Phenicia; and having there sunk merchant ships and taken a great
quantity of goods, he sailed thence to Sicily. Then with that for his
starting-point he became a freebooter, not plundering any Hellenes,
but Carthaginians and Tyrsenians only.
18. The Persians, then, being conquerors of the Ionians in the sea-
fight, besieged Miletos by land and sea, undermining the walls and
bringing against it all manner of engines; and they took it
completely[9] in the sixth year from the revolt of Aristagoras, and
reduced the people to slavery; so that the disaster agreed with the
oracle which had been uttered with reference to Miletos.
19. For when
the Argives were inquiring at Delphi about the safety of their city,
there was given to them an oracle which applied to both, that is to
say, part of it had reference to the Argives themselves, while that
which was added afterwards referred to the Milesians. The part of it
which had reference to the Argives I will record when I reach that
place in the history,[10] but that which the Oracle uttered with
reference to the Milesians, who were not there present, is as follows:
"And at that time, O Miletos, of evil deeds the contriver,
Thou shalt be made for many a glorious gift and a banquet:
Then shall thy wives be compelled to wash the feet of the long-haired,
And in Didyma then my shrine shall be tended by others."
At the time of which I speak these things came upon the Milesians,
since most of the men were killed by the Persians, who are long-
haired, and the women and children were dealt with as slaves; and the
temple at Didyma, with the sacred building and the sanctuary of the
Oracle, was first plundered and then burnt. Of the things in this
temple I have made mention frequently in other parts of the
history.[11]
20. After this the Milesians who had been taken prisoner
were conducted to Susa; and king Dareios did to them no other evil,
but settled them upon the Sea called Erythraian, in the city of Ampe,
by which the Tigris flows when it runs out into the sea. Of the
Milesian land the Persians themselves kept the surroundings of the
city and the plain, but the heights they gave to the Carians of Pedasa
for a possession.
21. When the Milesians suffered this treatment from the Persians, the
men of Sybaris, who were dwelling in Laos and Skidros, being deprived
of their own city, did not repay like with like: for when Sybaris was
taken by the men of Croton, the Milesians all from youth upwards
shaved their heads and put on great mourning: for these cities were
more than all others of which we know bound together by ties of
friendship. Not like the Sybarites were the Athenians; for these made
it clear that they were grieved at the capture of Miletos, both in
many other ways and also by this, that when Phrynichos had composed a
drama called the "Capture of Miletos" and had put it on the stage, the
body of spectators fell to weeping, and the Athenians moreover fined
the poet a thousand drachmas on the ground that he had reminded them
of their own calamities; and they ordered also that no one in future
should represent this drama.
22. Miletos then had been stripped bare of its former inhabitants: but
of the Samians they who had substance were by no means satisfied with
that which had been concerted by the commanders of their fleet with
the Medes; and taking counsel forthwith after the sea-fight it seemed
good to them, before their despot Aiakes arrived in the country, to
sail away and make a colony, and not to stay behind and be slaves of
the Medes and of Aiakes: for just at this time the people of Zancle in
Sicily were sending messengers to Ionia and inviting the Ionians to
come to the "Fair Strand,"[11a] desiring there to found a city of
Ionians. Now this which is called the Fair Strand is in the land of
the Sikelians and on that side of Sicily which lies towards Tyrsenia.
So when these gave the invitation, the Samians alone of all the
Ionians set forth, having with them those of the Milesians who had
escaped: and in the course of this matter it happened as follows:--
23.
The Samians as they made their way towards Sicily reached Locroi
Epizephyroi, and at the same time the people of Zancle, both
themselves and their king, whose name was Skythes, were encamped about
a city of the Sikelians, desiring to conquer it. Perceiving these
things, Anaxilaos the despot of Rhegion, being then at variance with
those of Zancle, communicated with the Samians and persuaded them that
they ought to leave the Fair Strand alone, to which they were sailing,
and take possession of Zancle instead, since it was left now without
men to defend it. The Samians accordingly did as he said and took
possession of Zancle; and upon this the men of Zancle, being informed
that their city was possessed by an enemy, set out to rescue it, and
invited Hippocrates the despot of Gela to help them, for he was their
ally. When however Hippocrates also with his army had come up to their
rescue, first he put Skythes the ruler of the Zanclaians in fetters,
on the ground that he had been the cause of the city being lost, and
together with him his brother Pythogenes, and sent them away to the
town of Incyos;[12] then he betrayed the cause of the remaining
Zanclaians by coming to terms with the Samians and exchanging oaths
with them; and in return for this it had been promised by the Samians
that Hippocrates should receive as his share the half of all the
movable goods in the city and of the slaves, and the whole of the
property in the fields round. So the greater number of the Zanclaians
he put in bonds and kept himself as slaves, but the chief men of them,
three hundred in number, he gave to the Samians to put to death; which
however the Samians did not do.
24. Now Skythes the ruler of the
Zanclaians escaped from Incyos to Himera, and thence he came to Asia
and went up to the court of Dareios: and Dareios accounted him the
most righteous of all the men who had come up to him from Hellas; for
he obtained leave of the king and went away to Sicily, and again came
back from Sicily to the king; and at last he brought his life to an
end among the Persians in old age and possessing great wealth. The
Samians then, having got rid of the rule of the Medes, had gained for
themselves without labour the fair city of Zancle.
25. After the sea-battle which was fought for Miletos, the Phenicians
by the command of the Persians restored to Samos Aiakes the son of
Syloson, since he had been to them of much service and had done for
them great things; and the Samians alone of all who revolted from
Dareios, because of the desertion of their ships which were in the
sea-fight,[13] had neither their city nor their temples burnt. Then
after the capture of Miletos the Persians forthwith got possession of
Caria, some of the cities having submitted to their power voluntarily,
while others of them they brought over by force.
26. Thus it came to pass as regards these matters: and meanwhile Histiaios the Milesian, who was at Byzantion and was seizing the
merchant vessels of the Ionians as they sailed forth out of the
Pontus, received the report of that which had happened about Miletos.
Upon that he entrusted the matters which had to do with the Hellespont
to Bisaltes the son of Apollophanes, a man of Abydos, while he himself
with the Lesbians sailed to Chios; and when a body of the Chians who
were on guard did not allow him to approach, he fought with them at
that spot in the Chian land which is called the "Hollows."[14]
Histiaios then not only slew many of these, but also, taking Polichne
of the Chians as his base, he conquered with the help of the Lesbians
the remainder of the Chians as well, since they had suffered great
loss by the sea-fight.
27. And heaven is wont perhaps to give signs
beforehand whenever great evils are about to happen to a city or a
race of men; for to the Chians also before these events remarkable
signs had come. In the first place when they had sent to Delphi a
chorus of a hundred youths, two only returned home, the remaining
ninety-eight of them having been seized by a plague and carried off;
and then secondly in their city about the same time, that is shortly
before the sea-fight, as some children were being taught[15] in school
the roof fell in upon them, so that of a hundred and twenty children
only one escaped. These signs God showed to them beforehand; and after
this the sea-fight came upon them and brought their State down upon
its knees; and as the Chians had suffered great loss, he without
difficulty effected the conquest of them.
28. Thence Histiaios made an expedition against Thasos, taking with
him a large force of Ionians and Aiolians; and while he was encamped
about the town of Thasos, a report came to him that the Phenicians
were sailing up from Miletos to conquer the rest of Ionia. Being
informed of this he left Thasos unconquered and himself hastened to
Lesbos, taking with him his whole army. Then, as his army was in want
of food,[16] he crossed over from Lesbos to reap the corn in Atarneus
and also that in the plain of the Caïcos, which belonged to the
Mysians. In these parts there chanced to be a Persian named Harpagos
commanding a considerable force; and this man fought a battle with him
after he had landed, and he took Histiaios himself prisoner and
destroyed the greater part of his army.
29. And Histiaios was taken
prisoner in the following manner:--As the Hellenes were fighting with
the Persians at Malene in the district of Atarneus, after they had
been engaged in close combat for a long time, the cavalry at length
charged and fell upon the Hellenes; and the cavalry in fact decided
the battle.[17] So when the Hellenes had been turned to flight,
Histiaios trusting that he would not be put to death by the king on
account of his present fault, conceived a love of life, so that when
he was being caught in his flight by a Persian and was about to be run
through by him in the moment of his capture, he spoke in Persian and
made himself known, saying that he was Histiaios the Milesian.
30. If
then upon being taken prisoner he had been brought to king Dareios, he
would not, as I think, have suffered any harm, but Dareios would have
forgiven the crime with which he was charged; as it was, however, for
this very reason and in order that he might not escape from punishment
and again become powerful with the king, Artaphrenes the governor of
Sardis and Harpagos who had captured him, when he had reached Sardis
on his way to the king, put him to death there and then, and his body
they impaled, but embalmed his head and brought it up to Dareios at
Susa. Dareios having been informed of this, found fault with those who
had done so, because they had not brought him up to his presence
alive; and he bade wash the head of Histiaios and bestow upon it
proper care, and then bury it, as that of one who had been greatly a
benefactor both of the king himself and of the Persians.
31. Thus it happened about Histiaios; and meanwhile the Persian fleet,
after wintering near Miletos, when it put to sea again in the
following year conquered without difficulty the islands lying near the
mainland, Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos; and whenever they took one of
the islands, the Barbarians, as each was conquered, swept the
inhabitants off it;[18] and this they do in the following manner:--
they extend themselves from the sea on the North to the sea on the
South, each man having hold of the hand of the next, and then they
pass through the whole island hunting the people out of it. They took
also the Ionian cities on the mainland in the same manner, except that
they did not sweep off the inhabitants thus, for it was not possible.
32. Then the commanders of the Persians proved not false to the
threats with which they had threatened the Ionians when these were
encamped opposite to them: for in fact when they conquered the cities,
they chose out the most comely of the boys and castrated them, making
eunuchs of them, and the fairest of the maidens they carried off by
force to the king; and not only this, but they also burnt the cities
together with the temples. Thus for the third time had the Ionians
been reduced to slavery, first by the Lydians and then twice in
succession by the Persians.
33. Departing from Ionia the fleet proceeded to conquer all the places
of the Hellespont on the left as one sails in, for those on the right
had been subdued already by the Persians themselves, approaching them
by land. Now the cities of the Hellespont in Europe are these:--first
comes the Chersonese, in which there are many cities, then Perinthos,
the strongholds of the Thracian border, Selymbria, and Byzantion. The
people of Byzantion and those of Calchedon opposite did not even wait
for the coming of the Persian ships, but had left their own land first
and departed, going within the Euxine; and there they settled in the
city of Mesambria.[19] So the Phenicians, having burnt these places
which have been mentioned, directed their course next to Proconnesos
and Artake; and when they had delivered these also to the flames, they
sailed back to the Chersonese to destroy the remaining cities which
they had not sacked when they touched there before: but against
Kyzicos they did not sail at all; for the men of Kyzicos even before
the time when the Phenicians sailed in had submitted to the king of
their own accord, and had made terms with Oibares the son of
Megabazos, the Persian governor at Daskyleion.[20]
34. In the
Chersonese then the Phenicians made themselves masters of all the
other cities except the city of Cardia. Of these cities up to that
time Miltiades the son of Kimon, the son of Stesagoras, had been
despot, Miltiades the son of Kypselos having obtained this government
in the manner which here follows:--The inhabitants of this Chersonese
were Dolonkian Thracians; and these Dolonkians, being hard pressed in
war by the Apsinthians, sent their kings to Delphi to consult the
Oracle about the war. And the Pythian prophetess answered them that
they must bring into their land as founder of a settlement the man who
should first offer them hospitality as they returned from the temple.
The Dolonkians then passed along the Sacred Road through the land of
the Phokians and of the Bœotians, and as no man invited them, they
turned aside and came to Athens.
35. Now at that time in Athens the
government was held by Peisistratos, but Miltiades also the son of
Kypselos had some power, who belonged to a family which kept four-
horse chariot teams, and who was descended originally from Aiacos and
Egina, though in more recent times his family was Athenian, Philaios
the son of Ajax having been the first of his house who became an
Athenian. This Miltiades was sitting in the entrance of his own
dwelling, and seeing the Dolonkians going by with dress that was not
of the native Athenian fashion and with spears, he shouted to them;
and when they approached, he offered them lodging and hospitality.
They then having accepted and having been entertained by him,
proceeded to declare all the utterances of the Oracle; and having
declared it they asked him to do as the god had said: and Miltiades
when he heard it was at once disposed to agree, because he was vexed
by the rule of Peisistratos and desired to be removed out of the way.
He set out therefore forthwith to Delphi to inquire of the Oracle
whether he should do that which the Dolonkians asked of him: 36, and as
the Pythian prophetess also bade him do so, Miltiades the son of
Kypselos, who had before this been victor at Olympia with a four-horse
chariot, now taking with him of the Athenians everyone who desired to
share in the expedition, sailed with the Dolonkians and took
possession of the land: and they who had invited him to come to them
made him despot over them. First then he made a wall across the
isthmus of the Chersonese from the city of Cardia to Pactye, in order
that the Apsinthians might not be able to invade the land and do them
damage. Now the number of furlongs[21] across the isthmus at this
place is six-and-thirty, and from this isthmus the Chersonese within
is altogether four hundred and twenty furlongs in length.
37. Having
made a wall then across the neck of the Chersonese and having in this
manner repelled the Apsinthians, Miltiades made war upon the people of
Lampsacos first of all others; and the people of Lampsacos laid an
ambush and took him prisoner. Now Miltiades had come to be a
friend[22] of Crœsus the Lydian; and Crœsus accordingly, being
informed of this event, sent and commanded the people of Lampsacos to
let Miltiades go; otherwise he threatened to destroy them utterly like
a pine-tree.[23] Then when the people of Lampsacos were perplexed in
their counsels as to what that saying should mean with which Crœsus
had threatened them, namely that he would destroy them utterly like a
pine-tree, at length one of the elder men with difficulty perceived
the truth, and said that a pine alone of all trees when it has been
cut down does not put forth any further growth but perishes, being
utterly destroyed. The people of Lampsacos therefore fearing Crœsus
loosed Miltiades and let him go.
38. He then escaped by means of Crœsus, but afterwards he brought his life to an end leaving no son to
succeed him, but passing over his rule and his possessions to
Stesagoras, who was the son of Kimon, his brother on the mother's
side:[24] and the people of the Chersonese still offer sacrifices to
him after his death as it is usual to do to a founder, and hold in his
honour a contest of horse-races and athletic exercises, in which none
of the men of Lampsacos are allowed to contend. After this there was
war with those of Lampsacos; and it happened to Stesagoras also that
he died without leaving a son, having been struck on the head with an
axe in the City Hall by a man who pretended to be a deserter, but who
proved himself to be in fact an enemy and a rather hot one moreover.
39. Then after Stesagoras also had ended his life in this manner,
Miltiades son of Kimon and brother of that Stesagoras who was dead,
was sent in a trireme to the Chersonese to take possession of the
government by the sons of Peisistratos, who had dealt well with him at
Athens also, pretending that they had had no share in the death of his
father Kimon, of which in another part of the history I will set forth
how it came to pass.[25] Now Miltiades, when he came to the
Chersonese, kept himself within his house, paying honours in all
appearance[26] to the memory of his brother Stesagoras; and the chief
men of the inhabitants of the Chersonese in every place, being
informed of this, gathered themselves together from all the cities and
came in a body to condole with him, and when they had come they were
laid in bonds by him. Miltiades then was in possession of the
Chersonese, supporting a body of five hundred mercenary troops; and he
married the daughter of Oloros the king of the Thracians, who was
named Hegesipyle.
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