ii\ i (\\\'.'W •'''■■■,'' ???;):'':;' K,'i'\"-:.i'y. mmh::':'^, X -f .^^' ^^;^/ ;^10^ 0^ c « ^ '' ^ ^^<^^ ".% ■.^.. , ^' * ^ ' f^ 5l . *, ^^ x^^ ct- ">. THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR rr LONDON: PRINTED BY SPOITISWOODE AND CO.. NEW-STBEET SQUA-EB AND PAKLIAMENT STEEET HISTORY THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR / FROM THE HISTORIES OE HERODOTUS BY THE KEV. GEORGE W. COX, M.A. Late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford GR-^CIA BARBARLE LENTO COLLISA DUELLO NEW EDITION NEW YORK R . W O R T H I N G T O N & CO 7 5 BROADWAY London: Longmans, Green, & Co. 1875 The right of translation is reseived > PREFACE TO THE SECO:^D EDITIOK In the present edition the critical examinatioa of the history, which formed the Second Part of the former volume, has been omitted. The change has been made not from any wish to disavow conclu- sions to which ia my belief historical critics must more and more be carried by an impartial scrutiny, but because the questions there treated belong rather to a History of Grreece than to a volume which is designed to place before English readers the narrative of the Persian war, not as it may be regarded from any modern point of view but in the spirit and, as nearly as may be possible, in the language of Herodotus himself. That narrative in its singular simplicity must always possess a charm for old and young alike ; but it was scarcely to be expected that the scholar VI PREFACE TO should look for a treatise on the general credibility of the Herodotean history to a volume which pro- fessed to tell the Tale of the Grreat War as it has come down to us in the traditions of an age just awakening to a historical sense. The notes in the present edition relate only to questions of credibility on which it seemed scarcely honest to keep silence, or to points on which the information given might be necessary for the young. It is perhaps not to be wished that they should read the history in a spirit which instead of being critical may easily become captious ; but it can scarcely be thought right that they should go through a narrative involving grave improbabili- ties, especially when these improbabilities closely touch the good names of great men, without the least consciousness that it is their duty to see whether the facts took place as they are related or whether they did not. The episodes of Demokedes and Histiaios may present difficulties as great as any which may force themselves on our attention in the narrative of the two embassies of Sikinnos to Xerxes ; but an examination of the latter is not only needed to vindicate the character of The- mistokles, but is more likely to awaken the interest of readers who may take up the history for the first time. THE SECOND EDITION. Vll The Appendix on the constitutions of Athens and Sparta is designed, like the notes, to point out the direction in which the reader may extend his enquiries in order to make himself more fully acquainted with the subject. I PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION". Theke are few, perhaps/ who, even in the first reading, have failed to perceive something of the beauty which pervades the histories of Herodotus, — few who have not felt the deep religious sen- timent, the sympathy for unmerited suffering, the keen appreciation of all pure and lofty mo- tives, the strict impartiality towards friend or foe, which pre-eminently characterise his writings. But there are probably still fewer in whom the first perusal has not left an impression of strange incoherence and incongruity. The mention of each fresh king, or city, or people leads into long and apparently arbitrary digressions ; and a nar- rative of the struggle between Greece and Persia is introduced by an account of all the wars and battles of the world. His work assumes the X PREFACE TO appearance of history within history, of legend within legend, until the existence of any connect- ing principle seems doubtful or impossible. Soon, however, the reader begins to perceive, first, that a distinct religious conviction underlies each personal history, and then that the same moral sentiment is found in every episode of personal adventure. The jealousy of the gods who will not suffer pride to go too long unchecked, or wealth and happiness too long unbroken, — the inevitable course of a destiny which bears sway over the majesty of Zeus himself, — the influence, some- times kindly, sometimes malignant, which the gods exercise over men, — the retributive justice which visits the sins of the forefathers on their guiltless or devout posterity, — the reverent cau- tion which refuses to call any man during this life happy, — all make up a body of religious belief which supplies not only a theological creed, but also a system of moral philosophy. And pre- sently he will see that this religious sentiment is not confined to personal history. The national fortunes of Greeks and Lydians, Persians and Egyptians, exhibit the working of the same laws and teach the same religious lessons. If after this he cares to follow the track which opens before him, he will see that this moral or theo- II THE FIRST EDITION. XI logical conviction has imparted to his history a strictly epical unity : he will see that from the beginning to the end there is a chain of cause and effect, quite distinct from that sequence of human and political motive which we are wont to regard as the mainspring of history. He will learn to trace the working of this moral power from the legends of lo or Europe, through the tale of Troy and of the Lydian dynasties, to the punishment w^hich Persian arrogance brought upon itself at Delphi and Salamis and Mykale. And, last of all, he may perceive that such a conviction, so wide yet so penetrating, so comprehensive in its general survey, yet so careful of minute detail, can never have originated in the historian himself; that, to whatever extent the strength of his genius and the purity of his mind may have heigJitened his moral and religious sentiment, yet the impulse must have come from without ; and that, in all essential features, the historian is but the repre- sentative of the age in which he lived. He will thus see that the historical conception of the age (if it deserves the name) was pre-emi- nently religious ; that it sought less for the truth of actual facts than for evidence of its theological convictions ; and thnt a narrative which met this test underwent in other respects no careful and I Xll PREFACE TO rigorous scrutiny. The tale which proved the living jealousy of the gods, which spoke of ven- geance taken on fraud or violence or overmuch prosperity, which asserted the visible interference of heavenly beings among the children of men, satisfied every condition of credibility. The story was believed if it told of marvellous sights and preternatural sounds on the earth or in the heavens : it was disbelieved if it gave no further explanation of personal or national fortunes than that which may be furnished by motives of human appetite or passion. Things beyond nature pre- sented to that age nothing startling or strange ; the absence of prodigies and wonders alone pre- cluded the hearty acceptance of a story. But the region of signs and portents and heavenly manifestations is also the region of poetry. The mingling of gods and men, of those men, at least, whose soul was in some way raised above the mere appetite of food and drink and sleep, is the groundwork of all epical poems, and in a special degree of the great epics of the Greek heroic ages. The mythical belief of those ages surrounded the people with an atmosphere of poetry. The bard may have surpassed his hearers in the strength of his sensations and his power of expressing them ; the statesman and the general 1 THE FIRST EDITION. X311 may have had a keener appreciation of their grandeur and their loveliness : but, from the greatest to the meanest, the same religious faith, the same moral convictions, appealed to the deep- est feelings of their heart, and guided at once their judgment and their actions. At no time, perhaps, has there existed a con- dition of thought which could with greater truth receive the name of public opinion. It was a universal belief, not as enforced by some despotic power, but as the spontaneous expression of an all-pervading faith. It was a belief which needed neither proof nor argument, for no one was con- scious of a single thought which questioned or denied it ; and when the course of time gradually brought into life a new power, and men became conscious of another principle of causation than that which alone they had hitherto recognised, it was long before it was felt that the new principle had in it anything antagonistic to the former. The idea of a natural order, which was impressed on them by the interchange of times and seasons, suggested no thought of a similar order in the world of men. And even when the regulated operation of physical causes had conveyed to their minds some notions of probability or impos- sibility, the influence of this new knowledge was XIV PREFACE TO very uncertain, and its application very capricious. Men could believe that Apollo quenched the fire that rose around his devout worshipper, while they would not believe that doves had spoken with human voices. They could affirm that deified heroes came back to mingle in human strife, when they would not believe that Herakles in his mortal state had slain thousands at a single blow. It is this middle ground of unquestioning faith and an incipient historical criticism which is oc- cupied by the great work of Herodotus. The beauty of the narrative may be his own ; the poetical conception and religious sentiment he shared with the whole Hellenic family. This sentiment has moulded every part of his history, has guided him in the choice of his materials, has supplied the connecting link through the twisted chain of episodes and digressions. It has im- parted a character to his language of w^hich the peculiarity never breaks the charm, and in which a certain monotony never destroys the freshness. Such a history, it would seem, can scarcely be divested of its original form without weakening or destroying its vigour and beauty ; and if pre- sented in any other shape, it may to a greater or less degree satisfy the requirements of modern criticism, but it will not be the same history as it THE FIRST EDITION. XV rose before the mind of Herodotus. We may possibly arrive at the truth of facts by a careful analysis of its materials and sifting of its evi- dence ; but it will no longer be the narrative whose beauty is said to have extorted the applause of thousands at the great Olympic games. This narrative, whose exquisite beauty cannot be altogether veiled in the critical histories of our own time, has perhaps not yet been presented to English readers. There are many translations of Herodotus, but no translation can be free from some at least of the many defects which seem inseparable from the work of expressing literally in one language the thoughts and feelings of another. Phrases not without force and beauty in the original become heavy and cumbrous in the translation, while natural and expressive idioms pass into unmeaning and disagreeable verbiage. And if the long episodes and complicated digres- sions so interrupt the march of the narrative for the reader who studies it in the original language, there can, it would seem, be no necessity to intro- duce the same interruptions in another. The omis- i sion of those portions of the tale which do not J belong immediately to the main subject of the history, will probably give a far more faithful and vivid idea of the original narrative. 1^ XVI PREFACE TO It is not a question for historical criticism. Doubtless, the statements of the work are either credible or incredible, and we may reasonably attempt to determine the bounds and degrees of that credibility ; but no analysis of its contents and no examination of its evidence can lay before the reader the palpable form which has undergone this necessary dissection. The story, as conceived by Herodotus, can be told in no other way than his own. We may criticise and compare and draw inferences from the mythical legends of Greece or Eome or Scandinavia, but to realise them fully we must also read and tell them as they are. And while we read such narratives, we must remember that the poetical conception which they exhibit is not confined to the writer, and that all terms of praise or dispraise grounded on his poetical, or fanciful, or credulous tendencies, or his love of exaggeration and contrast, are equally erroneous. He cannot be accused of personal credulity, if his faith is but the reflection of the universal belief of his age ; he cannot be charged with equivoca- tion or falsehood, if he only remains true to the ordinary convictions of his countrymen. This narrative, certainly one of the most beau- tiful that mortal hand has written down, has been examined with admirable power and judgment THE FIRST EDITION. XVU by the great critical historians of the present cen- tury. The religious sentiment, the human and su- pernatural sequence of events, with every episode and every incident, have been minutely analysed ; but even in the pages of writers whom it would be presumptuous to praise, the reader will fail to find the history of Herodotus as it appears in his own pages. It is impossible that he should so find it ; and the want may furnish some justification for the present attempt to clothe in an English dress, and without the restraints imposed on a professed translation, a narrative rich with all the wealth of Homeric imagery and never perhaps surpassed in the majesty of epical conception. NOTE ON THB ORTHOGKAPHY OF GREEK NAMES. There are Few, probably, who still think that for the names of Greek gods and heroes should be substituted certain Latin names with which, for the most part, they have no connection either of sound or of idea. The system of adhering to the Greek names of deities had been long since adopted by Dr. Thirlwall and other writers, when Mr. Grote endeavoured in his History of Greece to bring the English spelling of all Greek names into a more strict agreement with the original. In his work on Homer and the Homeric Age, Mr. Gladstone retained not merely the Latin forms for ordinary names, but once more placed Jupiter, Mars, and Minerva on the thrones of Zeus, Ares, and Athene. Of the reasons which led him to this determination Mr. Gladstone said nothing ; but Mr. Rawlinson, who in his translation of Herodotus has followed his example, thinks that ' in a work intended for general reading, unfamiliar forms were to be eschewed, and that accuracy in such matters, although perhaps more scholarlike, would be dearly purchased at the expense of harshness and repulsive- ness.' a2 XX NOTE ON THE It is not easy to determine with any precision wLat may be familiar or unfamiliar forms in the world of letters. They must necessarily vary in successive gene- rations, or perhaps during the same generation. Yet, probably, the use of the Greek forms in translating the great epic and tragic poets is as familiar now to the boys of our public schools, as was the practice of calling Her^ Juno, and Demeter Ceres, some twenty or five-and- twenty years ago. At the least, it is a use which every year is becoming more general and more familiar ; and when once the scholar has accustomed himself to adopt the Greek forms in English translation, nothing will more grate upon his ear than to hear Poseidon called Neptime, or more offend his eye than to see ^ Diana * written where he looks to find ^ Artemis.' It may safely be maintained that to the readers of Plomer or Herodotus generally the Greek forms are quite as familiar as the Latin, and that the objections which may here and there be raised are fast growing weaker and will soon be abandoned. ' Harshness ' and ' repulsiveness,' again, are qualities which in some measure are matters of taste ; yet we might be tempted to think that the terms apply far more forcibly to the Latin nomenclature than to the Greek. The former is undoubtedly good in its place ; but by the side of the euphonious names of Hellas those of some at least among Latin gods and heroes may well be thought harush and ugly, and it needs a very long practice to make their sound agreeable, although it may be familiar. But a more serious objection to the use of the Latin forms is the confusion of ideas which it must cause in OETHOaHAPHY OF aKEEK NAMES. XXI any subjects closely connected with Greek mythology. It is of less consequence to talk of Mars, Ceres, or Bacchus in Thucydides, for Ares, Demeter, and Diony- sos do not much figure in his pages ; but the system as applied to Homer not only introduces innumerable blemishes to offend the eye, but places side by side words which convey notions entirely contradictory. The same page will contain the names of Mars and Askalaphos, lalmenos and Vesta, Podaleirios and Mer- cury, names of which the one may be said to belong wholly to Latin, the other wholly to Greek mythology. In the present edition an effort has been made to as- similate the spelling of proper names as nearly as pos- sible to the Greek, in all instances except in names which were foreign w^ords to the Greeks themselves (as Croesus, Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius), and the few in which the change might still wear an appearance of affectation. We are probably still too much accustomed to Thucydides, Delphi, and Lacedsemon, willingly to part with them for Thoukydides, Delphoi, and Lake- daimon. But in general it will be admitted that much is lost by departing from the Greek forms ; and if in some instances we may feel a reluctance in reverting to the latter, this feeling will soon be overcome if we remem- ber that in many if not in most cases the Latin forms involved no change of sound. The fault lies with our insular pronunciation of vowels, — a peculiarity shared by us with no other nation. The Greek Moirai and the Latinised Moerse, the Greek Boiotia and the Latinised Boeotia, were pronounced precisely alike ; and thus all that we need to bear in mind is that the Greek ai and the Latin ce should be pronounced like ai in faily the Greek oi and ei and the Latin oe like ee in sheen. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAG« The Beginnings of the Strife — The Tales of Croesus and Cambyses — The Athenians regain their Freedom . , 3 CHAPTER II. The Pall of Polykrates — Demokedes at Sousa and at Kroton ......... 25 CHAPTER III. The Inroad of the Persians into Scythia — The tale of Aris- tagoras and Histiaios — Miltiades and Marathon . . 39 CHAPTER IV. The Council of Xerxes — His Dream and its Issue — The Tale of Pythios, his Riches and his Children — The March of the Army, and the Passage of the Hellespont 62 CHAPTER V. The Oracles of Delphi, and the Counsels of Themistokles — The Embassies to Argos and to Syracuse — Leonid as at Thermopylai 93 XXIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PAGE The Strife of Ships and Storms at Artemision — The Sight- seeing at Thermopylai — The Persians at Delphi . . 123 CHAPTER VII. The Greeks at Salaniis — The Fight and Victory — The Counsel of Mardonios — The Flight to Sardes . .135 CHAPTER VIII. The Greatness of Themistokles and the Athenians — Mar- donios at Athens — The Feast of Attaginos . . .171 CHAPTER IX. The Gathering at Plataiai — Mardonios atones for the Death of Leonidas — The Storming of the Persian Camp — The Flight and Trick of Artabazos 1 90 CHAPTER X. The Fight at Mykale-The Marvel of the Herald's Staff— . The Loves of King Xerxes at Sardes and at Sousa — The Vengeance of Protesilaos 230 APPENDIX. I. On the Athenian Constitution .... 245 II. On the Constitution of Sparta .... 256 III. On the Spartan Army 262 Index 265 THE TALE THE GEEAT PEESIAN WAR \ -1 CHAPTEE I. THE BEGINNINGS OE THE STRIFE. — THE TALES OF CECESUS AND CAMBYSES. — THE ATHENIANS EEGAIN THEIE EEEE- DOM. Those far renowned brides of ancient song Peopled the hollow dark, like burning stars ; And I heard sounds of insult, shame, and wrong, And trumpets blown for wars. Tennyson. For many ages there was enmity between the Herodotus Persians and the Greeks; and many tales were told on both sides to show how it began. So Herodotus of Halikarnassos sought diligently to learn the truth, by asking questions of those who knew ; and he wrote a book to keep alive the memory of the great things which had been done, as well by the barbarians as by the Grreeks. The Persian tale-tellers lay the beginning of the quarrel to the charge of the Phoenicians, and say that these, as they sailed about the wide sea, came to Argos, which was then the greatest place in all Hellas, and there began to sell their wares. A few days afterwards, 16, the daughter of Inachos the king, came with other maidens into the ship ; 132 1. 1. TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. ^ and as they stood near the stern, buying the things for which they had need, the Phoenicians fell upon them, and carried away 16, with those of her 2 maidens who were not able to escape. In requital of this, some Greeks, they say, went to Tyre, the great city of the Phoenicians, and stole away the king's daughter Europe. Thus far both sides were equal. But after this the Grreeks opened up the strife afresh, when they sailed to Aia in the Kolchian land, and to the river Phasis, and thence brought away by force Medeia the daughter of the king, who sent a herald after them to Hellas to ask for the maiden and to demand a recom- pense. But the Grreeks said that they would give none, because they had received none when 16 3 was taken away from Argos. In the second gene- ration after this, Alexandres, the son of Priam, heard the tale, and determined to steal a wife from Hellas and give no recompense for her. So he went and stole Helen ; and when the Greeks asked them to give her up and to make an atone- ment, the men of Troy told the Greeks that they had made no requital for Medeia, and now they 4 would make none for Helen. Thus far, there w^ere but single thefts on either side ; but hence- forth the Persians lay much guilt to the charge of the Greeks ; for if it be unjust to steal women, still (they said) it was folly to seek to avenge them, and wisdom to take no heed to what was THE CAUSES OF THE QUAEREL. 5 done, seeing that women were never stolen against their will. Instead of doing thus^ the Greeks gathered together a great army, and, going into Asia, destroyed the kingdom of Priam : and there- fore was there hatred between the Persians and the Grreeks — for the Persians claim all the na- tions that dwell in Asia as their own, and a wrong done to any of them they hold to be done to themselves. Such are the tales which are told of the former days ; ^ but in after times there came other causes of quarrel. ^ It is scarcely necessary to say that, if we put aside the names, this version of the legends of 16, Europe, Medeia, and Helen, has nothing in conmion with the old mythical traditions. Yet unless we lay full stress on this fact, we cannot measure accurately the degree in which Herodotus was influenced by a form of thought utterly opposed to the spirit of the ancient stories. The incidents as here given are not only probable but commonplace, and they are presented as connected links in the series of causes which led to the Persian War. But the myths have a perfectly independent existence, while they exhibit scarcely a single incident which is not supernatural. In the genuine story 16 is not a young lady who is deceived by the captain of a Phoenician merchant-vessel, but a maiden whom Zeus loves, and who, when changed into a heifer by Here, is chased over boundless regions by the fearful gadfly (Manual of Mythology, p. 129). Eur6pe in the old legend was stolen away, not by Hellenes, but by Zeus in the form of a white bull ; and the name of her mother Telephassa, who dwells in the pm^ple land, points clearly to the origin of the story (Manual of Mytho- logy, p. 108). The legend of Medeia is still more full of marvels and prodigies. It brings before us the golden fleece of the ram b TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. . 6 Croesus, the son of Alyattes, ruled over the children of the Lydians^ and over all the nationsiB| who live within the river Halys, westward ; and he made many of the Grreeks pay him tribute, when up to his time they had all been free ; but the Lacedaemonians he won over to be his friends. In his days the power of the Persians began to 46 grow very great, and Croesus thought how he might break it down before it should become too strong ; for Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, had put 130 down his grandfather Astyages from being king of the Medians ; and even before his day, Ky- 103 axares, the father of Astyages, had taken Nineveh, and conquered the kingdom of Assyria. And therefore Croesus was the more afraid, because Cyrus was the master of the Medes and As- syrians, and of the Persians, who were the bravest of all ; and the thought of these things turned who bore Phrixos and Helle through the air, the voyage of the speaking ship Argo, the taming of the fire-breathing bulls, the destruction of the men who sprang from the dragon's teeth, the deadly robe of Helios which eats the flesh of Glauke and of Kreon, and the dragon chariot which bears the wise maiden away from the vengeance of the Argives. (lb. p. 149, &c.) Of the myth of Helen, it is enough to say that it has been brought down to the level of ordinary history only by rejecting every feature in the narratives of the Iliad or the Odyssey, and that, if this method is to be accepted, the wildest and most absurd legends may without difficulty be made to wear the semblance of genuine history. (Manual of Mythology, p. 155. See also Tales of Ancient Greece, xlix. 85, 186, 154.) THE QUESTION OF CRGESUS. 7 aside the grief which he had for the death of i. 46 his son Adrastos, whom Atys the Phrygian had unwittingly slain^ so that he resolved to make trial of all the oracles to see which of them spake truly^ before he asked them whether he should prosper in the war. He sent^ therefore, to Ammon in Libya, to Amphiaraos and Tro- phonios and the Milesian Branchidai, to Delphi also, and Abai of the Phokians, and Dodona, charging the men to count one hundred days 47 from the time of leaving Sardes, and then to ask all the oracles at once what Croesus, the king of Lydia, might then be doing. What the other oracles answered, there are none to tell us ; but at Delphi, when the Lydians had asked as Croesus bade them, the priestess answered and said : ^I know the number of the sand and the measure of the sea ; ' I understand the dumb man, and hear him who speaks not ; ' And there comes to me now the savour of a hard-shelled tortoise, ' Which is seething in a brazen vessel with the flesh of a ram. ' And brass there is beneath it and brass upon it.' 1 * I have not attempted to put the oracular responses into the form of hexameters, for it can scarcely be said with truth that any such metre exists in English. The hexameter is emi- 8 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. m car-SI I. ^8 These words the Lydians wrote down and ried back to the king ; and when all had returned to Sardes from the other oracles, Croesus took the answers and unfolded them. But none of them pleased him until he came to the words of the Delphian god, for he alone knew that on the hundredth day Croesus went into a secret place where none might see him, and boiled a tortoise 49 and a ram in a brazen vessel over which he placed a brazen cover. This oracle alone, with that of ^^ Amphiaraos, he held to have spoken truly. There- fore with mighty sacrifices he sought to win the favour of the god at Delphi. He offered up three thousand cattle, and he set on fire a great pile of couches broidered in silver and gold, with golden goblets and purple robes. He sent him also many talents of fine gold and silver, which he wrought out into the shape of bricks, with the figure of a lion made of gold, ten talents in weight, which now stands in the treasure chamber of the Corin- 51 thians at Delphi. Many other gifts also he sent, goblets and jars and vessels for sprinkling, all : 52 notable for their beauty and their richness. Others 53 also he sent to the temple of Amphiaraos ; and he nently a measure for a language guided by quantity, while the English is governed altogetlier by accent : and any attempt to reproduce the Greek metre in an English dress serves only to place the latter language under restraints which are alien to its character and spirit. THE EIDCLE OF THE MULE. 9 charged his messengers to go to both these oracles and ask if he should march against the Persians, and if he should ask any others to help him in the war. And both gave the same answer that if he went against the Persians he would destroy a great kingdom ; and counselled him to find out the mightiest among the Grreeks and make them his friends. Then was Croesus still more pleased, 54 feeling sure now that he would throw down the kingdom of Cyrus ; and he sent money for all the Delphians^ two pieces for each man ; in return for which the Delphians gave great honours to Croesus and all the Lydians. After this Croesus questioned the god for the 55 third time ; for when he found that he might trust him, he loaded him with questions. And now, when he asked if his empire should last a long time, the priestess answered — ' When a mule shall be king of the Modes, ' Then, tender-footed Lydian, flee by the banks of the pebbly Hermos, ^ Flee and tarry not, neither care to hide thy fear.' Then Croesus was more than ever pleased, for he thought that a mule would never rule over the Modes, and so his own power should last for ever. After this he sought to learn who were the 5(3 mightiest among the Greeks, and he found that the 10 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. Athenians were at the head of the Ionic race and the Lacedaemonians of the Dorian ;^ but the Athenians were at this time hard pressed under * The mythical genealogies would alone suffice to show that no generic distinctions between the several portions of the Hellenic race can be founded on the mere names of lonians and Dorians. Such distinctions, if they are to be ascertained at all, belong to purely physiological enquiry. History has nowhere preserved the evidence. All that can be said is, that in historical Greece we find certain peoples calling themselves lonians, Dorians, and -Slolians, that they are found both in Western Hellas and on the eastern shores of the ^ggean sea, and that the latter are said to be offshoots from the former. This alleged fact stands precisely on a level with the cajpitt mortuum to which Thucydides (i. 9-11) has reduced the story of the Trojan war ; and we can only say of it in Mr. Grote's words, that as the possibility of it cannot be denied, so neither can its reality be affirmed. The origin of national or clan names is a subject of great interest, which has not yet been satisfactorily handled. Whatever the name Ion may be, it is clearly connected with other mythical Greek names, as lole, lolaos, lokaste, lamos. When it is added that the names of Hellenes, Athenians, Arcadians, Lykians, Argives, are all claimed by comparative mythologists as pointing in the same direction, and carrying us away into cloudland, we may well be cautious in using them as evidence in strictly historical enquiries. The differences between Spartan and Athenian character may have been great, but they cannot be explained by referring Spartans and Athenians to the sons or grandsons of Deukalion and Pyrrha. These distinctions were unknowTi to Persians and Phoenicians who included all the Greeks under the Ionian name (Javan), just as the Romans spoke of the Hellenes collectively as Greeks — a name which Aristotle gives only to a tribe in the parts about Dodona and the Acheloos, and which therefore answers to the name Hesperian as a designation for the inhabitants of Italy. THE COUNSEL OF SANDANIS. 11 the rule of their tyrant Peisistratos the son of Hippokrates ; while the Lacedaemonians had risen 65 to great power and were well ordered by the laws which they had received from Lykourgos. To these 69 therefore he sent a herald, and made a covenant with them that they should help in the war; and so he made ready to march against the Per- 71 sians. Neither would he listen to the words of Sandanis, who counselled him well, saying, ^0 king, thou art going against men whose raiment is of leather, and who eat not what they like but what they can get in a rough and barren country, who have neither wine nor figs nor anything else that is good. If, then, thou shouldest conquer them, what canst thou take away from men who have nothing ? If thou art conquered, think what thou wilt lose. When they have once tasted of our good things, they will not cease to pour in upon us ; and therefore I thank the gods who have not put it into the mind of the Persians to come forth against the Lydians.' Thus he despised all counsel, and marched to 75 the Halys, where the army crossed over on the bridges which were there before ; or, as some say, Thales ^ of Miletos made a new channel for the ^ Thales was numbered among the seyen wise men of Greece — a mystic band which reminds us of the seven Eishis of ancient Hindoo tradition as well as of the seven champions of Christen- dom. The death of Thales preceded the manhood of Herodotus 12 TALE OF THE GEEAT PERSIAN WAE. ^ river, so that, when some part of the water was taken off, the men were able to cross it easily. 76 Then Croesus went on to Pterie, and took many cities, and ravaged their lands, until Cyrus came up with his armies. First he tried to draw off the lonians from Croesus^ but they would not hearken to him ; and afterwards a great battle was fought, in which neither side had the victory, 77 for the night came on and parted them. On the next day, when Cyrus came not again to the attack, Croesus drew off his army to Sardes, for he liked not the scantiness of their numbers: and he was minded during the winter to gather to his aid the Egj^ptians and Babylonians, with the men of Lacedsemon, and so in the spring to march out once more against the Persians. So when he reached Sardes, he sent away all the army which he had with him, for he thought not that the Persians were even now coming against him. 79 For when Cyrus knew that Croesus was gone to Sardes after the battle in Pterie and was about to scatter his army, he determined to march against him before his allies could come together, and himself to brinof the news of his coming. ■"o by about a century, and his birth preceded it by nearly two centuries. He left nothing in writing. . . . Hence the accounts both of his life and doctrines which reached the earliest histo- rians were confused and inaccurate or alloyed with fable.' — Sir G. C. Lewis, Astronomy of the Ancients, ch. ii. section 2. THE SIEGE OF SAEDES. 13 Then was Croesus in a great strait, but still he i. led forth his Lydians. who w^ere at this time the bravest of the nations in Asia and fought on horseback with long spears ; and he drew them 80 up on the large plain which lies before the city of Sardes. These horsemen Cyrus greatly feared ; and at the counsel of Harpagos^ a Mede^ he placed riders on all the camels, and drew them up in front of his arm}^ So when the battle began, and the horses of the Lydians smelt the camels and saw them, they turned and fled, and the hopes of King Croesus perished. But still the Lydians fought on bravely until many were killed, and at last they v^ere driven into the city and shut up there. Then Croesus sent in haste- to his 81 allies, and bade them come at once to his aid ; for, before, he had charged them to be ready at the end of the fourth month. So fourteen days passed away ; and then Cyrus 84 promised to reward richly the man w^ho first should climb the walls. But the men tried in vain to climb them, until a Mardian, named Hyroiades, found a part where no guards had been placed, because the hill was steep and the Lydians thought that no one would ever attempt to climb up by that way. But Hyroiades had seen some one go down there and fetch up his helmet, which had rolled from the wall ; and by the same path he went up himself, and other 14 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. 1 Persians with him ; and so was Sardes taken, all the city plundered. 86 Thus Croesus was made prisoner^ when he had reigned for fourteen years and had been besieged for fourteen days,^ and when, as the oracle had foretold^ he had destroyed his own great powder. And the men who took him led him to Cyrus, who raised a great pile of wood and placed Croesus on it, bound in chains, with fourteen of the Lydians, either because he wished to offer them up as the firstfruits of his victory, or to see if any of the gods w^ould deliver Croesus who (as he had learnt) was one w^ho greatly honoured them. Then to Croesus in his great agony came back the words which Solon had spoken to him, that no living man was happy ; and as he thought on this he sighed, and after a long silence thrice * This parallelism between the years and the days shows that the narrative still keeps ns in greater or less degree in the re- gion of artificial chronology. This system has been applied with great ingenuity to the Homan annals down to the burning of the city by the Gauls. The simple plan of dividing it into three equal periods is followed up by the more skilful device of placing the middle of the fourth reign at the end of the first of these periods. The arbitrary way in which the length of the other reigns was determined has been laid bare by Niebuhr, History of Rome, vol. i. Beginning and Nature of the Earliest History. An eight times repeated cycle of eight years, with the number forty employed to express completeness, forms the basis of early Anglo-Saxon chronology. Lappenberg, History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, i. 77, 109. THE DELIVERANCE OF CRCESUS. 15 called out the name of Solon. And Cyrus, hear- ] ing this, bade the interpreters ask him whom he called; but for a long time he would not answer them. At last, when they pressed him greatly, he told them that long ago Solon the Athenian came to see him and thought nothing of all his wealth ; and how the words had come to pass which Solon spake, not thinking of him more than of any others who fancy that they are happy. While Croesus thus spake, the edge of the pile was already kindled. And Cyrus, when he heard the tale, remembered that he too was but a man, and that he was now giving alive to the flames one who had been not less wealthy than himself; and when he thought also how man abideth not ever in one stay, he charged them to put out the fire and bring Croesus and the other Lydians dow^n from the pile. But the flame was too strong ; and when Croesus saw that 87 the mind of Cyrus was changed but that the men were not able to quench the fire, he prayed to Apollo to come and save him, if ever he had done aught to please him in the days that were past. And suddenly the wind rose, and clouds gathered where none had been before, and there burst from the heaven a great storm of rain, which put out the blazing fire. Then Cyrus knew that Croesus was a good man and that the gods loved him ; and when he came down from 16 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. the pile^ he said, ^ Croesus, who persuaded thee to march against my land, and to become my enemy rather than my friend ?' And Crcesus answered, ' It is the god of the Greeks, king, who urged me on ; for no man is so senseless as to choose war rather than peace, in which the children bury their fathers, while in war the fathers bury their children : but so it pleased the gods that thus it should be.' 88 Then Cyrus unloosed his chains and kept him by his side, and Croesus gave him good counsel 90 touching the plunder of the city, so that Cyrus bade him ask as a gift whatever he should most desire to have. And Croesus said, ' king, let me send these fetters to the god of the Grreeks, and ask him if it be his wont to deceive those who have done him good.' Then Cyrus asked him what he meant ; and when Croesus had told him all the tale, he laughed, and said, ^ This thou shalt have, Croesus, and whatsoever else thou mayest wish for.' So he sent men to Delphi to show the chains, and to ask if it was the wont of the Hellenic gods that they should be ungrateful. 91 When the Lydians came into the temple, the priestess said, ^ Not even a god can escape from the lot which is prepared for him ; and Croesus in the fifth generation, has suffered for the sin of him who, at the bidding of a woman, slew his lord and seized his power. Much did the god THE ANSWER OF APOLLO. 17 labour that the evil might fall in the days of his children and not of Croesus himself, but he could not turn the fates aside. Still, what he could he obtained for him. For three years he put off the taking of Sardes ; and he came to his aid when the flame had grown fierce on the blazing pile. And, yet more^ he is wrong in blaming the god for the answer that if he went against the Persians he would destroy a great power ; for he should then have asked if the god meant his own power or that of Cyrus : and therefore is he the cause of his own sorrow. Neither^ again, would he understand what the god spake about the mule ; for Cyrus himself was this mule, being the son of a Median woman, the daughter of Astyages, and of a man born of the meaner race of the Persians.' This answer the Lydians brought to Sardes ; and Croesus knew that the god was guiltless, and that the fault was all his own.^ So was Croesus taken, and so was Ionia first subdued. * Herodotus acknowledges that he obtained the story of the blazing pyre from Lydian sources. A Persian with his belief about fire would scarcely have made Cyrus use it for the purpose of burning an enemy. But a miraculous interposition is found also in Ktesias, who speaks of the chains of Crcesus as miraculously struck off in the midst of a storm of thunder and lightning, but says nothing of the kindled pile. Apart from the bare fact that Cyrus overthrew the Lydian monarchy, the story of Croesus is simply an embodiment of the theological feelings of the age. It is an illustration of the absolute supremacy of the Moirai, or C 18 TALE OF THE GREAT PEESIAN WAR. I. 141 But soon the lonians rebelled against the Per- 152 sians and sent to ask aid from the Lacedaemonians, who refused to help them but yet sent men in a ship of fifty oars to charge Cyrus not to hurt any 153 city of the Grreeks, for the Spartans would not overlook it. But Cyrus asked of the bystanders who the Spartans might be ; and when he heard, he answered, ' I never yet feared men who have a place in the midst of their city where they take oaths and cheat one another. If I live and pros- per, these men shall have sorrows of their own to talk about instead of the woes of the lonians.' 162 So Harpagos, the Median, was sent against the 169 lonians; and soon he conquered them, and Ionia was a second time brought into slavery. 178 Then the power of King Cyrus grew stronger, and he went against Babylon and took it, and put 200 down Labynetos from being king : and after this, he purposed to march against the Massagetai, a great and strong nation, who dwell beyond the 205 river Araxes and who at this time were ruled by a queen named Tomyris, whose husband was dead. So Cyrus asked her to become his wife; but Tomyris knew that he sought not herself but her Norns (Manual of Mythology, p. 234), even over the gods them- selves. * The religious element must here he viewed as giving the form, the historical element as giving the matter only, and not the whole matter, of the story/ (Grote, History of Greece, Part II. ch. xxxii.) CYRUS MAKES WAR WITH THE MASSAGETAI. 19 kingdom^ and forbade him to approach her. And i Cyrus, seeiog that craft availed not, marched openly to the Araxes and built bridges by which 206 his army might cross over. But as he was thus busied, Tomyris sent a herald, and said, ' King of the Medes, cease from thy toil, for thou canst not know the end of thy labour. Eule over thine own people, and leave me to rule over mine. But if thou wilt not do thus, come, let us make a covenant together. Either we will go three days' journey from the river, so that thou mayest cross over into my land; or do thou depart in like manner from the river and let us pass into thy country.' ^ Then Cyrus called together the first men of the Persians, who all besought him to let 207 Tomyris pass over into their land; but Croesus liked not their counsel, and he said, ' king, 1 promised at the first, when Zeus gave me into thy hands, to do all that I could in thy service. My sorrows have been my teachers ; but there will be no use in my words, if thou thinkest thyself im- mortal and that thou art leading an army of men who will never die. But if thou knowest that thou art a man and rulest also over men, then learn this, that there is a cycle in human fortunes, which, as it turns round in its course, suffers not * This chaHenge is introduced into the narrative of the first Scottish campaign of Edward III. in 1327. (Longman, Life and Times of Edward III.^ vol. ii.) C 2 20 TALE OF THE GRExiT PERSIAN WAR. the same men to be always prosperous. Now if we receive the enemy into our land, there is this danger, that if defeated thou wilt ruin all thy kingdom, for the Massagetai will not care to return to their own country ; and if thou gainest the victory, it will avail thee more to gain it where we may follow them as they flee; and, besides this, it is not to be borne that Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, should yield ground at the bidding of a woman. Cross the river then, and leave in the camp the weakest men in our army with plenty of food and wine ; and the Massagetai, who have but rough and poor fare, will turn greedily to the feast made ready for them, and leave thee to win glory elsewhere.' 211 This counsel Cyrus followed, and went on a day's j ourney from thebanks of the Araxes. There he left the sick and weak of his army ; and the Massagetai came upon them and took them, and when they had so filled themselves with food and wine that they fell asleep, the Persians came back, and, slaying many, took many more alive, and 212 among these the son of Queen Tomyris who was their general. But Tomyris, when she heard it, sent a herald and said, ' Cyrus, who canst not quench thy thirst for blood, be not proud and lifted up because thou hast taken my son, not in open fight, but by the fruit of the vine with which ye so fill and madden yourselves that, as the wine THE YOW OF QUEEN TOMYRIS. 21 goes down into the body, vile words rush up to i, your lips. And now hearken unto me. Give me back my son and depart scatheless from my land ; for, if thou wilt not do this, I swear by the Sun who is the lord of the Massagetai, that I will make even thee drink thy fill of blood.' But Cyrus 213 cared not for her words^ and Tomyris gathered all 2U her people together and fought with him in a very fierce battle^ in which, when their arrows were all spent, they smote each other with spears and daggers. At last the Persians were beaten, and Cyrus himself was killed. Then Tomyris filled a skin with human blood, and when she had found the body of Cyrus among the dead, she thrust his head into the skin ; and thus was fulfilled the word which she had spoken to him.^ Cyrus had been king for twenty and nine years ; and when he died, his son Cambyses ruled in his n stead, and made war on Amasis, king of Egypt, i ' The reign and tlie conquests of Cyrus are nnqiiestionably historical; but on the alleged incidents of his life no reliance can be placed. The story of his early years is the story of Komulus, CEdipus, Telephos, and a host of mythical heroes. The name of his grandfather Astyages reappears in that of the Biting Snake, Zohak (Max Miiller, Chips from a German Workshop, vol. ii. p. 169) ; and the details of his later life are almost as shadowy as the rest. According to Xenophon (Cyropaedeia, viii. 7) he died peacefully in his bed at Pasargada. Either then the two versions existed, or Xenophon invented the story which he has so well worked up at the end of his romance. 22 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. III. because, when he asked for his daughter in mar- riage, Amasis had sent him not his own child but the daughter of Apries, who had been king before him, and whom he had himself slain. So Cambyses marched against the Egyptians and fought in Pelu- 10 sium with Psammenitos the king (for Amasis, his father, was now" dead), and conquered him in the battle. Then going to Sais, he charged his people 16 to bring before him the body of Amasis and scourge it and pluck off the hair ; and when they were not able to do this because it had been embalmed, Cambyses ordered it to be burnt, which both Per- sians and Egyptians hold to be an unholy thing; for the Persians think it wrong to give the body of a man to the god Fire, and the Egyptians give not their dead to that which they hold to be a wild beast which eats up all that it can seize and dies when its feast is ended. 17 After this, Cambyses purposed to go against many nations ; but his armies prospered not, and he did continually things more and more strange 27 and horrible. He put to death many of the Egyptians because they rejoiced at the birth of the calf-god Apis. And at last, sending for the 29 priests and the calf, he smote the calf with a dagger, and said to them, ' Poor fools, these then are your gods, with flesh and blood, and which may be w^ounded by men. Truly the god well matches his w^orshippers ; but ye shall smart for THE MADNESS OF CAMBYSES. 23 your insult.' So he scourged the priests^ and the m. feast was broken up, and the calf died in the temple where it had been smitten. For this cause the Egyptians say that Cam- 30 byses was struck with madness ; while others hold that his body had been always unsound, and that the disease of his mind was caused by the sick- ness of his body. But however this may be, he slew his brother Smerdis, and his sister, and then he shot the son of Prexaspes to the heart, to show 35 that he was not mad. At last the Magians arose, and one of them, who pretended to be Smerdis, 61 the king's brother, seized the kingdom, and shared it with his brother Patizeithes. But Cambyses was 63 not able to march against him, for he died childless 65 at Ekbatana in the Syrian land. Then the Magians reigned at Sousa, and the power went over to the Modes, until seven men 70 of the noblest of the Persians conspired against the Magians and slew them, and set up Darius, 88 the son of Hystaspes, on the throne of Cyrus the Persian. Not many years after these things, it came to pass that the Athenians also rose up against their tyrants, the children of Peisistratos ; for when v. 55 Hipparchos had been slain by Harmodios and Aristogeiton, his brother Hippias began cruelly to oppress them, so that the people obtained help 65 from Sparta and drove away Hippias, who went 24 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. to dwell at Sigeion on the banks of the river Ska- 66 mandros. And as soon as they were free, the Athenians became great and strong, and con- 78 quered many people and took their land. And not only in this, but in every way, we see how good a thing is freedom/ since even the Athenians were in nowise better than their neighbours until they had put down their tyrants : for up to that time they were faint of heart, because they were toiling for a master ; but when they were free, every man knew that he was working for himself. ^ Appendix I. The Athenian Constitution. 25 CHAPTER ir. THE FALL OF POLYKRATES. — DEMOKEDES AT SOUSA AND AT KROTOX. I see thy glory like a Bhooting star Fall to the base earth from the firmament. Thy sun sets weeping in the lowly west, Witnessing storms to come. Shakjespeaee. Now in the time of Cambyses, king of Persia, Herodotus there ruled over the island of Samos a tyrant named Polykrates, the son of Aiakes. This man had taken the city by force ; and at the first he divided it into three parts, and gave two parts to his brothers Pantagnotos and Syloson. But afterwards he slew the one and drove away the other, and so he gained all Samos for himself. And when he had gained it, he made an alliance with Amasis, king of Egypt, both sending him gifts and receiving gifts from him. In a little while Polykrates became very great, and his fame was noised abroad throughout Ionia and the rest of Hellas ; for whithersoever he went all prospered 26 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. to his hand. And he had one hundred ships of fifty oars each, and a thousand bowmen. He robbed and plundered all, neither did he respect a.nj ; for he said that he should make his friend more glad by giving back that which he had taken from him, than if he had never taken it away from him at all. He conquered also many of the islands and many of the cities on the mainland ; and in a sea fight he beat the Lesbians and took them, when they came forth with all their strength to the help of the people of Mi- letos ; and he made them dig in chains the great moat around the wall in Samos. 40 Now Amasis, king of Egypt, had heard of the well-doing of Polykrates^ and it was a grief of mind to him. And when he prospered yet more ex- ceedingly, Amasis wrote a letter and sent it to Samos, saying, ' Thus saith Amasis to Polykrates. It is pleasant to hear of the well-doing of a man who is a friend : but thy great success pleases me not, for I know that the Deity is jealous. So, for myself and for those whom I love, I wish that in some things we may prosper and in others fail, and thus pass our days with changes from good to evil, rather than that we should do well in all things. For never yet have I by hearsay or tale known one so prospering in everything, who has not perished miserably at the last. Heed thou then what I say, and do thus for thy great glory. POLYKRATES AND THE FISHERMAN. 27 Seek out that thing for the loss of which thy soul m. would most be grieved^ and east it away, so that it may never come to mortal hand. And if here- after thy good fortune be not mixed with pain, remedy it in the manner which I have set before thee.' So the words of Amasis seemed good to Poly- 41 krates, and he sought amongst his treasures for that which was most precious to him ; and he found a seal-ring of emerald stone, set in gold, the work of Theodores, the son of Telekles of Samos. Then he filled with men a ship of fifty oars, and bade them row out into the sea ; and when they were far away from the island^ he took the ring from off his finger in the sight of all the men and cast it into the sea, and went home in great sorrow. Now, on the fifth or sixth day after these things, 42 there came to the door of his house a fisherman with a large and beautiful fish, and asked to see Polykrates. And when he was come into his presence, he said, ' king, though I live by the work of my hands, I would not carry to the market this fish which I have caught, for it seemed to me a gift fit for thee ; and therefore I have brought it.' And Polykrates was pleased and said to him, ^ Thou hast done well, and I thank thee for thy words and for thy gift, and I bid thee to sup with me.' So the fisherman went home rejoicing ; but 28 TALE OF THE GEEAT PERSIAN WAE. f. the servants, as they made ready the fish, found within it the seal-ring of Polykrates, and they were very glad and took it to him, and told him how they had found it. Then it seemed to him a marvellous thing ; and he wrote in a letter all that he had done and all that had happened unto him, and sent it to Amasis to Egypt. 43 When Amasis had read the letter which came from Polykrates, he knew that no man could deliver another from that which was to come upon him ; and that, for all his well-doing, Poly- krates would come to no good end, seeing that he found even those things which he threw away. So he sent a herald to Samos, and broke off the alliance ; and for this reason he brake it, that when some evil fate overtook Polykrates, his own heart might not be grieved as for a friend. 120 Now Cyrus, the king of Persia, had set up a ruler over Sardes, who was called Oroites. This man was set on doing an evil deed, for although he had suffered no wrong in word or in act from Polykrates and had not even seen him, yet he sought to slay him, as the more part say, for some such cause as this. It chanced that as Oroites sat before the doors of the king's palace and talked with another Persian, named Mitro- bates, who ruled the province in Daskyleion, they strove with each other to know which was THE CRAFT OF OEOITES. 29 the braver. And Mitrobates made it a reproach m. to Oroites, and said, ^What! dost thou count thyself to be a man, seeing thou hast not gained for the king the island of Samos which is close to thy province, so easy too for anyone to seize, since one of the men of the island has taken it with fifteen heavy-armed soldiers, and now is tyrant therein?' When Oroites heard these words, they say that he was grieved at the re- buke, and sought not so much to requite him who had said these things, as, by any means, to slay Polykrates, through whom he was evil spoken of. So, when Oroites abode in Magnesia which is 122 on the banks of the river Mseander, he sent a messenger to Samos, to learn the mind of Poly- krates ; and he came and spake these words : 'Thus saith Oroites to Polykrates. I hear that thou art set on great things, but that thou hast not money according to thy designs. Thus then do thou, and thou shalt both stablish thyself and save me, for King Cambyses seeks to slay me ; and this is told me of a surety. Therefore come and take me away and my money, and keep part of it for thyself, and part of it let me have. So if money be that which thou desirest, thou shalt be ruler over all Hellas. And if thou believest not about my wealth, send the trustiest of thy servants, and to him will I show it.' When Polykrates 123 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. "• heard this^ he was glad and resolved to send one,] for he greatly desired to have money. So he sent a man named Maiandrios, who was his scribe, to see it. And when Oroites heard that the Samian was at hand, he filled eight vessels with stones, all but a little about the brim ; and on the stones he placed gold, and fastened the vessels and kept them ready. So Maiandrios came and saw them, and told it 1-"^ to Polykrates who made ready to go, although the soothsayers forbade him much, and so did his friends. And his daughter also sought to stay him, because she had seen a vision which be- 12'^ tokened evil to him ; but he would not hear. Thus he despised all counsel and sailed to Oroi- tes, taking with him many of his comrades, and amongst them Demokedes, the son of Kalliphon of Kroton, a physician famed beyond all others of his time in the practice of his art. And when Polykrates came to Magnesia, he perished mise- rably, with an end befitting neither himself nor his great designs ; for, saving those who were tyrants of Syracuse, no one of the Greek tyrants deserved to be compared for greatness to Poly- krates. And Oroites sent away those of his fol- lowers who were Samians, bidding them to be thankful to him for their freedom ; but those amongst them who were strangers or slaves he kept_^as prisoners taken in war. So ended the THE VENGEANCE OF DARIUS. 31 good fortune of Polykrates in the way which m. Amasis, king of Egypt, had foretold ; but, no 126 long time after, the vengeance of Polykrates overtook Oroites. For, when Cambyseswas dead and the Magians were reigning, he did no good in Sardes to the Persians whose power had been taken away by the Modes, but killed Mitrobates who ruled in Daskyleion, and his son Kranaspes, men of note amongst the Persians, and waxed w^anton altogether, so that he slew a messenger who came to him from Darius, because he brought a message which did not please him. So Darius sought to punish Oroites for all his 127 evil deeds, and chiefly because he had killed Mi- trobates. But he did not think fit to make war upon him openly, because his own power was not yet firm, and because he heard that Oroites was a very mighty man and that he was guarded by a thousand Persians and ruled in the provinces of Phrygia, Lydia, and Ionia. So he called together the chief men of the Persians and said unto them, ^ Persians, which of you will do my bidding, and slay Oroites or bring him to me alive, for he has done the Persians no good, but only great evil ? He has killed Mitrobates and his son, and slain the messengers whom I sent unto him.' Then there 128 rose up thirty men, who were each ready to do his will; and as they strove which of them should do it, Darius ordered them to draw lots, and the 32 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. HI. lot fell on Bagaios, the son of Artontes. And Bagaios wrote many letters and sealed them ail with the king's seal^ and went with them to Sardes, and gave the letters one by one to the scribe that he might read them. When he saw that they gave great reverence to the letters and to what was read from them, he gave to the scribe one in which were written these words, ^0 Persians, King Darius forbids you to guard Oroites.' And when they heard this, they lowered their spears, and Bagaios knew that they would obey the command of the king. So he took courage and gave the last letter to the scribe, wherein was written, ^King Darius charges the Persians who are in Sardes to slay Oroites.' As soon as the guards heard this, they drew their swords and slew him : and so the vengeance for Polykrates overtook Oroites the Persian. 129 Then all that belonged to Oroites was taken to Sousa : and it came to pass in a little while that King Darius in a hunt leaped from his horse and twisted his foot ; and it was a very great strain, for the ankle bone was moved from its socket. Now, as he was wont to have about him Egyptians who had great fame for their skill in medicine, he sent for these first ; but they forced the foot and worked still greater evil. For seven days and seven nights Darius had no sleep by reason of the pain ; and on the eighth day, as he lay in misery. THE aLORY OF DEMOKEDES. 33 one who by chance had heard in Sardes of the art m of Demokedes of Kroton, told it to the king ; and he commanded forthwith to bring the man before him. And when they had found him lying un- cared for somewhere among the slaves of Oroites, they led him forth into the midst, dragging his chains and clothed with rags. Then King Darius asked him if he knew the 130 art ; and he denied, for he feared that, if he showed his skill, he should never see his own land again. But Darius saw that he was dealing craftily, and commanded those who had led him in to bring forth scourges and goads ; and then he confessed that he knew the art but poorly, having lived for a while with a physician. Then, at the bidding of the King, he used the remedies of the Grreeks, and, applying gentle means after strong ones, caused him to sleep, and in a little while made him well again when he never hoped to be firm of foot for the time to come. Then Demokedes, having healed Darius, had a 132 very great house in Sousa, and ate at the same table with the king : and, save that he might not go to Hellas, all things were granted to him ; for, when the Egyptians were going to be impaled because they were beaten by a Greek, he begged them from the king and saved them alive. He also ransomed a soothsayer from Elis who had followed Polykrates and lay neglected amongst the slaves. 34 TALE OF THE GEEAT PERSIAN WAR. I". So Demokedes was in very great favour with the king. 133 And it came to pass, not long after these things, that there grew a swelling upon the breast of Atossa, the daughter ofCj^rus and wife of Darius; and it burst and spread wide. So long as it was small, she concealed it from shame, and told it to none : but when the evil was now great, she sent for Demokedes and showed it to him, and he said that he would make her well ; but he caused her to swear that she would grant him in return that 134 which he should desire of her. So he healed her ; and Atossa, being taught by Demokedes, spake thus unto Darius, ^ king, thou sittest still with all thy great power, and gainest no nations or king- doms for the Persians ; but a man who is young and lord of great kingdoms should do some great thing, that the Persians may know that it is a man who rules over them. Therefore now rouse thy- self, whilst thou art young in years, for, as the body grows old, the mind grows along with it and is dulled for all action.' Then the king answered and said, ' Thou hast told me even that which I purpose to do, for I have resolved to make a bridge and cross over from this continent against the Scythians ; and this shall be done shortly.' Then said Atossa, ' See now, go not against the Scythians first, for thou mayest march against THE COUNSEL OF ATOSSA. 35 these whenever it pleaseth thee ; but go^ I pray m. thee, against Hellas : for I have heard the report 'of them, and I desire to have Laconian maidens, 'and Argive, and Athenian, and Corinthian, to be my servants ; and thou hast one who above all men is fitted to show and tell thee all about Hellas — I mean him who has healed thy foot.' And Darius answered, ^ Since thou wiliest that we first make trial against Hellas, it seems to me best to send along with this man spies of the Persians w^ho shall see and learn all about them and show it unto me.' Then Darius charged fifteen chosen men of the 135 Persians to follow Demokedes and go through the coast of Hellas, and to see that he did not escape, but by all means to bring him back again. Then he called Demokedes himself, and com- manded him to return to Sousa when he should have guided the Persians over all Hellas ; and he bade him take, as gifts for his father and his brethren, all the movable goods that were in his house, saying that he would give him much more when he came back again. He promised also to send with him a vessel laden with all good things. But Demokedes feared that this might be a trap to catch him ; so he said that he would leave his own goods in the land, that he might have them on his return, but that he would take the D 2 ob TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. ship, that he might have whence to give to his friends. 36 So they went down to Sidon, a city of Phoenicia, and manned two triremes, and with them a mer- chant vessel laden with good things ; and when they were ready, they sailed along the coasts of Hellas and wrote in a hook all the wonderful things that they saw, until they came to Taras ^ in Italy. There Aristophilides, the king of the Tarentines, who was a friend of Demokedes, took off the rudders of the Persian ships, and shut lip the Persians themselves in prison, because he said that they were spies ; and while they were iii this plight, Demokedes fled away to Kroton. So now, when he had come to his own city, Aristo- philides let the Persians go, and gave back what he had taken from them ; and they followed after Demokedes, and came to Kroton and found him in the market-place. But when they laid hands on him, the men of Kroton beat them with clubs and took Demokedes away and also the gift- vessel which Darius had sent with him. So the j Persians sailed back to Asia, and sought not to go any more over Hellas, because they had lost their ^ Tarentura. The Latin names of Greek towns in Italy and Sicily were formed from the genitive cases of the Greek names. This in the case of Maloeis, Maleventum, led to the singular slibstitution of Beneventum, to avoid a name which sounded of evil ompD in Latin ears. GILLOS OF TARAS. 37 ^uide. But, as they were now going, Demokedes n charged them to tell Darius that he had married the daughter of Milon, the wrestler. Now the 'name of Milon was very great with the king ; and Demokedes, I think, hastened the marriage^ that ^he might appear to King Darius to be a notable man in his own country also. But the Persians, 138 as they went back, were wrecked on the lapygian shore and made slaves : but a man named Grillos, who had been driven away from Taras, ran- somed them and took them to King Darius, w^ho promised to give him whatsoever he should ask. So Gillos told him how he had been banished, and besought the king to restore him to his own city ; but, fearing to disturb all Hellas, if a great army should sail to Italy for his sake, he said that the people of Knidos, who were friends of the Tarentines, could restore him. So Darius charged the people of Knidos to take Grillos to his own country, and they went with him to Taras ; but they could not persuade the men of that city to receive him, and they w^ere not able to compel them by force. Even so did these things come to pass; ^ and * Of the story of Demokedes it may he said that, like many other incidents in the narrative of Herodotus, it is in no way necessary. All Eastern empires fall as soon as they cease to be aggressive ; and Persian aggression had brought about a colli- sion with the Asiatic Greeks, and thus rendered inevitable a 38 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. Tii. these were the first Persians who came to Hellas from Asia. struggle with their western kinsmen, without referring to the private life of the royal harem. The inscription at Behistnn scarcely bears out the rebuke of Atossa for the unwarlike inac- tivity of Darius in the first or in any other part of his reign. 39 CHAPTEK III. THE INEOAD OE THE PERSIAIS^S INTO SCYTHIA. — THE TALE OF AKISTAaORAS AND HISTIATOS. — MILTIADES AND MA- RATHON. Preserves alike its bounds and boundless fame The battle-field, where Persia's victim horde Pirst bowed beneath the brunt of Hellas' sword, As on the morn to distant glory dear, When Marathon became a magic word. Byron. Then King Darius led forth his armies against Herodotus the Scythians^ as he was before minded ; and they crossed over into Europe at the Thracian Bosporos, where a bridge had been built by Man- 87 drokles the Samian. At the first the king thought to have the bridge unloosed, as soon as all should have gone over ; but Koes, a man of Mytilene, 90 besought him to let it remain, lest there should be no way to escape if any evil befell them in the war. So Darius charged the lonians to keep the bridge for sixty days, and then he marched away against the Scythians. But he fared not well in the war, for the people dwelt in desert regions. 40 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. IV. and it was hard to track them out. And Darius 131 and his host were in sore distress, when there came a man from the Scythians, bringing with him a bird and a mouse, a frog and five arrows. But when the Persians asked him what these gifts might mean, the man said that he had received no charge but to give them and to return. Then 132 the Persians took counsel; and the king thought that by these gifts the Scythians yielded up them- selves, their land and their water, because the mouse lives on the land and the frog in the water, and the bird signified the horses of warriors, and the arrows showed that they yielded up their power. But Grobryas, one of the seven who slew the Magians, spake and said, ^ Persians, unless ye become birds and fly up into heaven, or go down like mice beneath the earth, or, becoming frogs, leap into the lake, ye will not escape being shot to death by these arrows.' 135 Then the king feared greatly, and at last he commanded to bind all the sick of the army and the beasts of burden, and to leave them in the camp. So they lit fires and left the sick, and then 136 hastened away to reach the bridge. But when the Scythians heard the cries of the men who had been left behind, they knew that the host of the Persians had fled away ; and they made haste to reach the bridge first. And when they were come thither, they called out to the lonians who were DAEIUS EETURNS FEOM SCYTHIA. 41 in the ships to loosen all the bridge and to go iv. away. Now among the lonians there was an Athenian 137 named Miltiades, who was tyrant of the Chersone- sos ; and he gave counsel to do as the Scj^thians bade them, and to set their country free from the Persians. But Histiaios, the tyrant of Miletos, uesought them to guard the bridge until the king should come, and he said, ' ye tyrants, be sure of this, that, if we leave the Persians to perish, the men of our cities will rise up against us, because it is the king who strengthens us in our power ; and if he die, neither shall I be able to rule in Miletos, nor you in those cities of which ye are the tyrants.' Then all gave judgment to 138 wait for the coming of the king, and to cheat the Scythians by pretending to unloose the bridge. So the Scythians were deceived and went to look for 140 the Persians, who came by another way. It was night when they reached the bridge ; and when they found that the boats were unloosed, they feared greatly that the lonians had left them to perish. But Darius commanded an Egyptian in his army, who had a very loud voice, to call His- tiaios of Miletos ; and Histiaios heard the cry, and the bridge was made fast again, for the Persians to cross over. Now, when Darius reached Sardes, he remem- v. ii bered the good deed of Histiaios, and he promised 42 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. to give him whatsoever he should ask. So he . asked for Myrkinos in the Edonian land, because 23 he wished to build a city there ; and he went thither and began to make the placfe strong. But while he was so doing, Megabazos^ the general of Darius, heard it ; and as soon as he came to Sardes, he spake thus unto the king : ^ king, what hast thou done ? Thou hast given to a Greek, who is wise and crafty, to have a city in Thrace, where there is much timber for building ships, and blades for oars, and mines of silver ; and round it there are many people, both Grreek and barbarian, who will take him for a chief and do his will by night and by day. See then that he make not war against thee in time to come.' 24 So King Darius sent a messenger to Histiaios, to Myrkinos, and said, ' Histiaios, thus saith King Darius. I have pondered it well, and I find none who is better minded to me and to my kingdom than thou art. This I know, for I have learnt it not by words, but in deed. And now I purpose to do great things. Come therefore to me in anywise, that I may intrust them to thee.' So Histiaios went to Sardes, for he was proud that he was to be the king's counsellor. And Darius said to him, ^ Histiaios, there is nothing more precious than a wise and kind friend ; and I know that this thou art to me. So now thou must leave Miletos and thy Thracian city, and DARIUS HELPS THE NAXIANS. 43 come with me to Sousa. There thou shalt sit at my table, and all that I have shall be thine.' So Darius left his own brother Artaphernes to be 25 ruler over Sardes, and went with Histiaios to 3o Sousa. And Aristagoras, who was brother-in-law and cousin to Histiaios, was left to rule in Miletos. Now about this time the people of the isle of Naxos rose up and drove out some of the nobles, who came to ask help from Aristagoras. But he said, ' I am not able to conquer the Naxians by myself ; but Artaphernes, who rules in Sardes, is my friend, and he is the brother of the king. This man, I think, will do what wo desire.' So he went to Artaphernes, and promised him much 31 money and great gifts if he would let him have one hundred ships to go against Naxos. And Artaphernes promised to give him two hundred, if it should please the king. When Darius heard it, he was glad ; and Artaphernes charged Mega- bates to go with the ships to Naxos. So he took 32 Aristagoras and the Naxians up from Miletos, 33 and sailed to Chios, that he might cross over from thence to Naxos. But it happened that there was no watch kept that night in aMyndian vessel : and Megabates was wroth, and made them place the captain of the ship in one of the large oar- holes, so that his head hung over the side of the ship. Then Aristagoras went and prayed 44 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. Megabates to let the Myndian go ; but he would not. So Aristagoras set him free himself. Then Megabates was yet more angry, but Aristagoras came forth and said, ^ What hast thou to do with these things ? Hath not Artaphernes sent thee to obey me, and to go whithersoever I may bid thee ? ' Then Megabates sent secretly to the Nax- ians, and warned them ; and they brought much food into their city, and made the walls strong, so that the Persians were unable to take it. Pre- sently the money which Megabates brought with him was all spent, and the money of Aristagoras was also gone; and yet the Naxians were not 35 subdued. So Aristagoras could not fulfil the promise which he made to Artaphernes, and he was greatly troubled, for he knew not how he should be able to pay the men ; and he feared that Megabates was slandering him, that he might not rule any more in Miletos. Wherefore he thought to rebel against the king; and just at this time there came from Sousa a messenger from Histiaios with marks upon his head, telling him to revolt from the king ; for Histiaios knew not how to tell him safely in any other way, because the roads were guarded. So he shaved the head of the trustiest of his slaves, and marked letters thereon, and waited till the hair was grown ; and then he sent him to Miletos, bidding him only tell Aristagoras to shave off his hair and look at AKISTAGORAS REBELS AGAINST DARIUS. 45 his head. This did Histiaios because he was wearied at being so long kept in Sousa, and he hoped that, if Aristagoras rebelled, he should be sent down to the sea, but if Miletos revolted not, he never thought to see it again. Then Aristagoras rebelled openly against the 37 king, and he said that he would no more be tyrant in his own city. He put down the tyrants in the other cities also, and made them all free, that they might help him more cheerfully against the king. And when he had done this, he went in a trireme to Lacedaemon, for he needed some great help in this war. Now at this time Kleomenes, the son of Anax- 39 andridas, w^as king in Sparta ; and Aristagoras 49 came to him, and besought him to help the lonians, who were men of the same blood. He told him also how easy it was to conquer the Persians, and how they might go to Sousa and plunder the treasures of the great king, and be- come as rich as Zeus himself. Then Kleomenes said, ' In three days we will give our answer ;' and on the third day Kleomenes asked how long oO time it would take to go to Sousa from the sea ; and Aristagoras said, 'Three months.' Then the king said hastily, ^ stranger of Miletos, depart from Sparta before the sun goes down ; thou art no friend to the Lacedaemonians, when thou seekest to lead them three months' journey 46 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. V. 51 from the sea.' But Aristagoras took an olive- branch in his hand, and went into the house of Kleomenes; and when he saw him, he prayed him to send away his little daughter Grorgo, who was standing by : but Kleomenes bade him think not of the child. Then Aristagoras began to urge him with gifts, beginning with ten talents ; and when Kleomenes refused, he went on to more, till he promised him fifty talents, and the child cried out, ^ Father, the stranger will corrupt you, unless you rise up and go.' Then Kleomenes went away, and Aristagoras could tell him no more of the journey to the great king. So he left Sparta and went to Athens, which was now free, for the Athenians had risen up against 55 the sons of Peisistratos, and Hippias had fled with his children away to Sigeion, which is on the banks of the river Skamandros ; and there he 96 sought if by any means he might bring Athens under the power of Artaphernes and Darius, 97 Then Aristagoras besought aid from the Athe- nians, and he urged them so, that at length they promised to send twenty ships, and appointed Melanthios to be the admiral ; and these ships were the beginning of evils both to the Grreeks 98 and to the barbarians. So Aristagoras sailed back to Asia ; and when he came to Miletos, he re- mained there himself, but he sent his brother Charopinos to lead the lonians against Sardes. SARDES IS BUENT. 47 And when they reached Ephesos, they left their v. lOO ships in Koressos, and went up thence with a great host, having the Ephesians for their guides. So they went along the banks of the Kaystros, and took all Sardes, except the Akropolis which ^Ar- taphernes himself held with no small number of men. But the lonians did not plunder the city lOi when they had taken it. For most of the houses in Sardes were made of reeds, and even those that were built of brick had roofs of reeds. One of these a soldier happened to set on fire, and the flame went from house to house, until it spread over the whole city. Then the Persians and the Lydians ran down to the market-place, which is by the river Paktolos ; and when the lonians saw this, they were afraid, and retreated fast to the mountain which is called Tmolos ; and then, as the night came on, they went away to their ships. So Sardes was burnt, and in it a temple of 102 Kybebe, the goddess of the country; and the Persians always spake of this burning, when they burnt afterwards the temples of the Greeks. Then the Persians followed after the lonians, and overtook them in Ephesos, and beat them in a battle with great slaughter ; and those who es- caped from the fight were scattered among the cities. After this, the Athenians altogether forsook 103 48 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. r. the lonians, and would listen no more to the prayers of Aristagoras. But the lonians went on no less to make war against the king, and sub- dued Byzantion, and made alliance with the men 104 of Kaunos. And all the Cyprians joined them, except the people of Amathous^ who were besieged by Onesilos, the son of Grorgos, because they would not rebel against the king. 105 And when it was told to Darius that Sardes had been taken and burnt by the Athenians and lonians, and that the man who had guided them and woven these things together was the Milesian Aristagoras, they say that he took no heed to the lonians, because he well knew that they should not escape for their rebellion, but he asked only who the Athenians were. And when he was told, he called for a bow, and fitted an arrow to it ; and as he shot it into the air, he said, ^ Zeus, suffer me to avenge myself on the Athenians.' Then he charged one of his servants to say to him thrice during every meal, ' king, remember the 106 Athenians.' After this, he summoned Histiaios the Milesian, Avhom he had now so long kept at Sousa, and said to him, ^ Histiaios, I hear that the man to whom thou hast given thy city has been doing strange things. He has brought over men from Europe to help the lonians, whom I shall punish; and by their aid he has deprived me of Sardes. How can all this seem good to thee ? and without THE WEATH OF DARIUS. 49 thy counsels how could such a thing have been v. done ? See that thou bring not thyself into blame afresh.' Then answered Histiaios, ' king, what hast thou said — that I have devised anything from which harm may come to thee ? Why should I do thus, and of what do I stand in need ? That which thou hast^ I have also ; and I am thought worthy to listen to thy counsels. But if Aristagoras is thus doings be sure that he is doing it of himself. Still, I do not believe the tale at all. Only, if it be true, see what thou hast done by taking me away from the sea ; for, when I am out of sight, the lonians may well do that which they have long wished to do. Had I been there, not one city would have stirred itself. Send me, then, quickly to Ionia, and I will put all things right again, and give Aristagoras into thy hands. Yea, I swear by the gods whom the king worshippeth, that I will not put off the tunic in which I shall go down to Ionia, before I bring under thy power the mighty island of Sardinia.' Then Darius let him go, having charged him to come back again to Sousa when all this should be done. So the war went on; but at length the Cyprians 113 were beaten in a great battle, and having been 116 free for one year, were then made slaves again. Then the Persians took many cities on the Helles- pont, and defeated the Karians in two battles, so that Aristagoras was afraid, because he had dis- 124 £ 50 TALE OF THE GEEAT PEESIAN WAR. V. turbed Ionia and was not able to carry out his 126 great counsels. So he gave Miletos in charge to Pythagoras, a man of great repute among the citizens; and, taking with him everyone who wished to go, he sailed to Thrace, and seized on a part of the country. But as he was going out from it, he was attacked by the Thracians ; and Aristagoras was destroyed, and all his army. VI. 1 Now, when Histiaios reached Sardes from Sousa, Artaphernes asked him why the lonians had re- belled against the king ; and Histiaios said that he could not tell, and that he marvelled at all the things which had happened. But Artaphernes knew the reason well, and saw that he w^as deal- ing craftily ; so he said, ' Histiaios, thou hast thus much to do with these matters. Thou didst sew this sandal, and Aristagoras hath put it on.' Then Histiaios was afraid, and when the night 2 came he ran away to sea, and fled to Chios. But 5 when he desired to go to Miletos, the people would not receive him : so he went to Mytilene and got some ships, and sailed away to Byzantion. 11 But the lonians would not agree together; and when there was a battle between them and the Persians on the sea before Miletos, the Samians 14 fled away treacherously, and the Lesbians followed them. So the Persians conquered in the fight, and took Miletos in the sixth year after the rebellion of Aristagoras ; and the people were made slaves. DEATH OF HISTIAIOS. 51 After tMs Histiaios went to Thasos, and besieged v the town in that island. But when his men 28 wanted food, he crossed over one day to Atarneus in the Mysian land ; and Harpagos, the Persian general, took him alive after he had landed, and slew almost all his army. Now, if Histiaios had 30 been sent away alive to King Darius, he would not, I think, have suffered any harm, but his tres- pass would have been forgiven him ; but now, for fear of this, and lest he should again become great with the king, Artaphernes and Harpagos put him to death at Sardes, and sent his head to Sousa. And when Darius heard it, he rebuked them be- cause they had not brought Histiaios alive ; and he charged them to wash the head and adorn it well, and to bury it as the head of one who had done much good to himself and to the Persians. Thus were the lonians made slaves for the third 32 time. And after this King Darius made trial of 43 the Greeks, to see whether they were minded to make war against him or to yield themselves up. So he sent heralds all over Hellas to ask earth and water for the king ; and others he sent to his own cities which were on the sea-coast, charging them to make ready long ships and vessels to carry horses. But before this, strange things had happened 67 at Sparta, for the two kings were not friendly towards each other, and one of them, who was £ 2 52 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. named Demaratos, was put away from being king ; and he fled away from Sparta to the Modes. 94 So time went on ; and the Persian was accom- plishing his own work, for every day his servant bade him remember the Athenians, and the child- ren of Peisistratos were ever at hand to slander them. And Darius named two generals to go to Athens and Eretria, — Datis, a Mede, and Arta- phernes, his own brother's son ; and he charged them to make the men of Athens and Eretria slaves, and to bring them all before him. So these 95 generals set out, and when they came to the Aleian plain of the Kilikian land, they were joined by all the ships which Darius had ordered his subject cities to make ready. And when they had put all the men and horses on board, they sailed with six hundred triremes to Ionia ; but after that, they did not go along the mainland towards the Helles- pont and Thrace, but sailed from Samos through the islands, for they feared the voyage round 44 Mount Athos, because, in the year before, Mar- donios had lost there about three hundred ships 95 and more than twenty thousand men. And they wished also to take Naxos, because they had not 96 been able to take it with Aristagoras ; but as they came near, the Naxians fled from their city, and the Persians made slaves of all that they found in it, and burnt the temples and the town ; and they sailed against the other islands also. THE VOYAGE OF DATIS AND ARTAPHERNES. 53 Now the Delians had fled away to Tenos^ and vi. 9 Datis would not suffer his ships to anchor at the island, but kept them opposite in Kheneia. And he asked where the men of Delos were, and sent a herald to them, saying, ' holy men, why have ye thus fled away ? for thus hath it been com- manded me of the king, and so is my mind, to hurt not the land in which the two gods were born, neither the country nor any that dwell in it.' So he offered three hundred talents of incense upon the altar, and sailed away with his army to Eretria, 98 taking with him the lonians and ^olians. And immediately after this, as the Delians said, the island was shaken for the first time ; nor has it ever been shaken since. But this was assuredly a sign from the gods of all the evils that were com- ing on the earth. But the Eretrians had heard that the Persians lOO were coming ; and they sent to Athens to ask for help, and the Athenians gave them four thousand men. But the men of Eretria were divided in their counsels, and some wished to fly to the mountains, and others sought to betray their city to the Persians, hoping each for his reward. And when Aischines the son of Nothon, who was chief among the Eretrians, heard this, he prayed the Athenians to depart to their own land, that they might not perish also ; and so they crossed over to Oropos. Then the Persians came and moored lOi 54 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. I. their ships at Tamynai, and Choireai, and Aigili^ and made ready to attack the enemy ; but th< Eretrians sought only to defend their wall. S' the onset began, and for six days there fell man; on both sides ; and on the seventh Euphorbos an( Philagros, men of repute amongst the citizens betrayed the city to the Persians : and they en- tered it and plundered the temples and burn^ them, in vengeance for the temples which had been burnt in Sardes ; and they made the people slaves according to the command of King Darius. 102 After a few days, the Persians sailed onward to Attica, thinking that they would do to the Athe- ^ nians as they had done to the men of Eretria ; and Hippias, the son of Peisistratos, guided them to Marathon, because that was the best place in 103 Attica to encamp with h'orses. When the Athenians heard this, they also hastened to Marathon ; and they had ten generals, of whom the tenth was 104 Miltiades, the son of Kimon, who had lately come from Chersonesos. 105 But before they left the city, the generals had sent to Sparta a herald named Pheidippides, who, as he told the Athenians, met the god Pan upon his 106 journey, when he had come near to Tegea. And on the day after he left Athens, Pheidippides reached Sparta and went to the rulers and said, '0 Lacedaemonians, the Athenians pray you to help them, and not to suffer a most ancient city of the Greeks to be enslaved by barbarians ; for Eretria THE PERSIANS AT MARATHON. 55 has been already taken, and Hellas is made weaker tj by a notable city.' Then the Spartans wished to aid the Athenians, but they could not do so at once without breaking the law, for it was the ninth day of the month, and they could not go out while the moon was not yet full.^ Thus the Spartans waited till the moon should 107 be full, while Hippias, the son of Peisistratos, guided the barbarians to Marathon. And when 1O8 the Athenians were drawn out in the sacred ground of Herakles, the Plataians came to their help with all their strength; for the Plataians had given themselves up to the Athenians, and had received much help from them against the Thebans. But the minds of the generals were divided, and 109 some of them were not willing to fight, for they feared the numbers of the Medes. So Miltiades hastened to the polemarch, Kallimachos of Aphid- ^ The difficulties in the way of this story are formidable. The distance between Athens and Sparta is 150 miles ; and the track is such that over a great part of it the stoutest walker at the present day could not travel at a quicker rate than three miles and a half in the hour. According to the tale the journey was performed within forty-eight hours ; and unless the courier set out at midnight and arrived at midnight, and also walked without stopping to sleep, it cannot have been done in much less than this time. As the age of the moon is given, he must have walked in darkness for half the night (at this season nearly as long as the day) even if he took no rest, but it is perhaps im- possible to walk for forty-eight hours without sleeping. See an article in the ' Saturday Eeview,' November 4, 1865, p. 578. 56 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. ^i. nai, (for the polemarchs in old time voted even as did the generals), and said to him, ' It depends on thee, Kallimachos, either to bring Athens into slavery, or to deliver it and leave behind a me- morial for all time such as has been left not even by Harmodios and Aiistogeiton ; for now are the Athenians in such peril as they have never been in from the time that they were a people ; and if they yield to the Modes, we know what they will suffer at the hands of Hippias ; but if our city gain the victory, it will become the first of all the cities of Hellas. Now, of our generals one half are not willing to fight ; and if we fight not, I fear that the Athenians may follow evil counsels and take the side of the Modes ; but if we fight at once, then, with the equal aid of the gods, I think that we shall be conquerors in the battle. All this depends on thee. If thy mind is as mine is, then is our country free, and our city the first of all in Hellas : but if not, then shall befall us the contrary evils to those good things which I have set before thee.' 110 Thus Miltiades gained over Kallimachos, and it was decreed that they should fight, and each general, as his day of command came, gave it over to Miltiades; but he chose not to attack them 111 until his own day came. And on that day he drew out the Athenians in battle-array ; and the pole- march Kallimachos (for such was then the law of THE EATTLE OF MARATHON. 57 dhe Athenians) led the right wing. Then came v Itthe tribes in their order ; and the Plataians were (drawn up last upon the left wing. And from this ■it is that, whenever the Athenians offer solemn sacrifice, the herald prays for all blessings on the Athenians and Plataians together. Now when the army w^as drawn up, so as to face all the host of the Medes, the middle part of it was only a few men deep and was very weak ; but both the wings were strong. So, when the victims gave good omen, the Athe- 112 nians began the onset, and went running towards the barbarians. Now the space between the two armies was not less than two furlongs ; and the Persians, when they saw them coming, made ready to receive them ; but they thought the Athenians mad because, being so few in number, they came on furiously without either bows or horses. Then the Athenians, when they fell upon the barbarians, fought well ; for they were the first Grreeks, that I know of, who charged the enemy running and endured the sight of the Median dress, for up to this time the Grreeks had dreaded even to hear their name. Long time they fought in Marathon ; and in the 1 13 middle the barbarians were victorious, where the Persians and the Sakians were drawn up. These broke the centre of the Athenians, and drove them back on the plain ; but the Athenians and Pla- 58 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. ^i. taians had the best on both the wings. Still thej^ would not follow the barbarians who were running away, but they closed on the enemy who had broken their centre, and fought until they over- came them. Then they went after the Persians as they fled, and slaughtered them until they reached the sea ; and then they tried to set the ships of the Persians on fire. In this struggle the 114 polemarch Kallimachos fell fighting bravely, and there died also Stesilaos, one of the generals, and Kynegeiros, the son of Euphorion, whose hand was cut off by an axe when he had seized the stern- 115 ornament of one of the ships. In this way the Athenians took seven ships ; with the rest the barbarians beat out to sea, and, taking up the Eretrian slaves, sailed round Sounion, wishing to 116 reach the city before the Athenians could return thither. But the Athenians ran with all speed, and, reaching the city first, encamped in the Herakleion which is in Kynosarges, as they had encamped in the Herakleion at Marathon. And the barbarians lay for a while with their ships off Phaleron, which was at that time the port of the Athenians, and then sailed back to Asia. 117 In this battle at Marathon^ there died of the * Of the battle of Marathon we must content ourselves with knowing that it was fought and won by the Athenians and Plataians. Of the exact local and military details we cannot speak with any confidence. Later writers had confessedly no THE YICTORY OF THE ATHENIANS. 59 [.barbarians about six thousand four hundred men, and of the Athenians one hundred and ninety-two. And in the battle there happened a marvellous 'thing. As Epizelos, an Athenian, was fighting J bravely, he was struck blind without hurt or wound in all his body, and remained blind ever after ; and I have heard him tell how in the battle there stood before him a tall hoplite, whose beard over- shadowed all his shield, and that this phantom passed by himself, but slew his comrade. better means of information than Herodotus. Hippias, we are told, led the Persians to Marathon as being the best ground in Attica for the action of horsemen ; but in the battle no cavalry- are mentioned. Colonel Leake thinks that the Persian general may have sent away his cavalry to a neighbouring plain with orders to remain motionless in its cantonments. Dr. Thirlwall dismisses the statement of Nepos (that Miltiades protected his position from the attacks of the Persian cavalry by felled trees obstructing the approach) as one which must have been made also by Herodotus if the fact had been known to him. Opinions differ likewise on the reasons for the ill success of the Greek centre ; and finally Mr. G-rote, remarking that both Colonel Leake and Mr. Pinlay try to point out the exact ground occupied by the two armies but differ in the spot chosen, adds that he cannot think that there is sufficient evidence to be had in favour of any spot. History of Greece, Part 11. ch. xxxvi. But these, after all, are matters of very little moment as compared with the issue and results of the battle. That the great question of Hellenic freedom or barbaric tyranny was settled on this memorable field, that this battle decided the issue of the subse- quent invasion, and that the glory of this victory belonged altogether to the men of Athens and Plataiai, are facts which cannot be disputed. 60 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. VI. 119 So Datis and Artaphernes sailed away to Asi| and led the Eretrians, whom they had made slaves, up to Soiisa. Now King Darius had been very wroth with the men of Eretria, because they had begun the wrong; but when he saw them brought before him as slaves, he did them no harm, but made them to dwell in the Kissian land in his own region which is called Arderikka: and there they were living up to my time, speak- ing still their old language. 120 Now when the moon was full, the Lacedaemo- nians set out in haste, and they reached Attica on the third day after they left Sparta. But although they were too late for the battle, still they wished to look upon the Medes. So they went on to Marathon, and saw them ; and they praised the Athenians for all that they had done, and went away again to their own home. VII. 1 So the tale of the battle of Marathon was told to King Darius the son of Hystaspes. And, though he had been very bitter against the Athe- nians because they had taken Sardes, yet now he was much more wroth, and desired yet more eagerly to go against Hellas. And straightway he sent heralds to all the cities, and bade them make ready an army, and to furnish much more than they had done before, both ships and horses and corn. And while the heralds were going round, all Asia was shaken for three years ; but THE DEATH OF DAEIUS. 61 in the fourth year the Egyptians, who had been vn. Imade slaves by Cambyses, rebelled against the IPersians, and then the king sought only the more kehemently to go both against the Egyptians and against the Greeks. So he named Xerxes his son I to be king over the Persians after himself, and* made ready for the march : but in the year after the revolt of Egypt, Darius himself died, having reigned in all six-and-thirty years ; nor was he suffered to punish the Athenians, or the Egyptians who had rebelled against him. 62 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. CHAPTER IV. THE COUNCIL OF XERXES. — HIS DEEAM AND ITS ISSUE. — THE TALE OF PYTHIOS; HIS RICHES^ AND CHILDREN. — THE MARCH OF THE ARMY AND THE PASSAGE OF THE HELLESPONT. XpycJ'oyovov yeveas IcroOeos (pcos. Kvavovv 5* ofiixaCL Xevcrarcov (poviov ^epyfjLa ^paKovTOS, iroKvx^ip KoX TToKvvavrrjs '2,vpL6v & apfxa dicaKCDV, iirdyei ^ovpiK\vrois aydpd(rL ro^6hafxvov''KpT]. JESCHYLUS. \ Herodotus When Xeixes became kinsr in the stead of Darius VII. 5 "-^ his father, he sought not at all to go against the Athenians firsts and he made ready his army for Egypt. But there was with him a Persian whom he had in great honour^ Mardonios the son of Gobryas, who was cousin to Xerxes and son of the sister of Darius. And he came to the king and said : ' king, it is not seemly that the Athe- nians, who have done much wrong to the Persians, should not suffer for their evil doing. Still do now that which thou hast in hand ; and when thou hast subdued Egypt, then go against Athens, that men may speak well of thee, and that none THE PROPHECIES OF ONOMAKRITOS. 63 pay dare henceforth to come against thy land.' ^n. Thus he urged the king^ and he added also that Europe was a very fair country^ rich in trees and .Tuits, and that no man ought to possess it but the jreat king. But Mardonios spoke thus chiefly because he ^ I desired a new order of things and wished to be himself the ruler of Hellas. And in time he pre- vailed on Xerxes to do this, for other things hap- pened which worked together for this end. There came heralds from the Aleuadai, who were princes of Thessaly, inviting the king ; and the children of Peisistratos came to Sousa^ bringing with them an Athenian soothsayer named Onomakritos, who urged him on with oracles from Mousaios. This man said nothing of any oracles which spoke of hurt to the barbarian, but told him only that a Persian was destined to make a bridge over the Hellespont, and how he should march against Hellas. So, in the second year after the death of Darius, 7 Xerxes marched with his army against Egypt ; and when he had subdued the whole land and made its slavery worse than it had been under his father, he gave it to his brother 'Achaimenes to rule over, whom afterwards Inaros, the son of Psammitichos the Libyan, slew. After this, before 8 he gathered his armies to go against Athens, Xerxes called together the chiefest of the Persians, 64 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. that he might learn their judgments and tell them his will. And when they were assembled, Xerxes said : ' Persians, I am not going to bring before you any new custom, but I only adopt that which I have received ; for, as I learn from our elders, we have never been at rest from the time that we took the chief power from the Medes, when Cyrus dethroned Astyages. So the god leads us on, and good fortune ever attends us. But of those na- tions which Cyrus and Cambyses and my father Darius subdued, I need not speak, for ye know them well. And since I received the throne, I have striven not to fall behind them in this honour nor to acquire less power for the Persians. Nor do I think that I have failed. Wherefore I have now called you together, that I may tell you of the things which I am minded to do. I purpose to make a bridge over the Hellespont and to march with my army through Europe against Hellas, to punish the Athenians for all the evils that they have done to me and to my father. Now ye know that my father was making ready to go against these men. But he is dead, neither was he per- mitted to punish them ; and therefore, on his behalf and on that of the Persians, I will never cease before I take and burn Athens, because they began the wrong. First they came to Sardes with Aristagoras the Milesian, my slave, and burnt the temples and the groves ; and what wrongs they did XERXES DECLARES HIS PURPOSE AGAINST ATHENS. 65 to those whom Datis and ArtapherDes led against them to Marathon, ye all know. Therefore am I determined to march against them ; and I think that we shall gain much by going, for if we conquer these men and their neighbours who dwell in the land of Pelops the Phrygian, we shall give to the power of the Persians the wide bounds of heaven. The sun shall look upon no border-lands to ours, but I will make all nations to be one country for you, when I have passed through the whole of Europe. For I believe that no city and no nation will dare to face us in battle, as soon as these men have been put out of the way ; and so the innocent and the guilty shall bear our yoke alike. And now if ye do thus, ye will please me well. Come, all of you, readily and quickly, when I name the day for meeting ; and the man who comes with the best equipments, I will repay with the most honourable gifts. But that I may not appear to follow my own counsels, I place the matter before you, that all, who w^ll, may give their judgment.' Then Mardonios answered : ^ king, not only 9 art thou the best of all Persians that have lived, but of all that ever shall be ; for thou hast given the best and truest counsel, and wilt not suffer the lonians who dwell in Europe to mock us. Strange indeed would it be if, when from mere lust of power we have made slaves of the Sakai and the Indians, 66 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. VII the Ethiopians and Assyrians and other nations who never did us wrong, we should fail to punish the Athenians who have begun the quarrel. For what do we fear? Is it their number? is it their wealth or their power ? We know their way of fighting, we know their weakness, and we have conquered their kinsfolk, who dwell in our land and are called lonians and ^olians and Dorians. Yea^ even I myself marched against these men at thy father's bidding ; and though I came as far as Macedonia and so was but a little way from Athens^ not one of them came out against me to battle. Yet these Grreeks, I hear, are wont to make wars utterly without counsel, — so mad and so blind are they, — for, when they have declared war, they choose out the richest and the fairest si)ot^ and thither they go and fight, so that the conquerors gain only evil. Of the conquered I speak not : they are utterly destroyed. Now these men, as speaking the same language, ought to settle their quarrels by words and messengers, and in any way rather than by fighting ; but if fight they must, they should choose out those spots to fight in where it may be hardest to reach each other. And so, because they are thus mad, they never came out to meet me, though I went as far as Macedonia. And now will anyone dare to face thee, king, with thy great army from Asia and all thy ships ? Sure I am that the Greeks are not so desperate. ARTABANOS WITHSTANDS MARDONIOS. 6/ But if I am wrong, and in their rash folly they ^ come out to battle, they will find that of all men we are the bravest. Still we must leave nothing untried, for things come not of their own accord, but follow always the efforts of men.' So Mardonios, having ended his flattery, sat lO down ; and all the Persians kept silence, nor did any dare to give another judgment, until Arta- banos, the son of Hystaspes, the uncle of Xerxes, rose up and said : ' king, none can choose the better judgment, unless two have been set forth; even as we cannot distinguish pure gold by itself, but when we place it with other gold, then we see which is the better. Now I urged my brother Darius, thy father, not to march against the Scythians, who have no city in all their land. But he thought that he could conquer these wandering tribes, and would not listen to me. So he went, and lost many brave men, and came home again. But thou, king, art going against men much better than the Scythians, — men who are said to be most brave and strong both by sea and land. And it is right that I should say why we ought to fear them. Thou sayest that thou wilt make a bridge over the Hellespont, and carry thine army through Europe against Hellas : and so may we be beaten either by land or by sea, or even on both ; for the men are said to be strong, and it would seem that they are, if f2 68 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. II by themselves alone the Athenians destroyed the great host that landed withDatis and Artaphernes at Marathon. Yet in that fight they conquered only by land ; but if they beat us by sea also and sail to the Hellespont and break up the bridge, then it becomes terrible indeed. Yet it is no wisdom of my own that teaches me this^ but the thought of that mishap which all but overtook us when thy father made a bridge over the Thracian Bosporos and the river Istros, and went against the Scythians: for with all their might the Scythians prayed the lonians, who were guarding the bridge, to unloose it; and if Histiaios^ the tyrant of Miletos, had followed theJ the counsel of the other tyrants, the Persians would have been utterly destroyed. Still it is fearful even to hear that the fate of the kin, was in one man's hand. Eush not then into s< great a daDger_, when there is no need ; but hee^ my words. Send away this assembly, and whe: thou hast thought over these matters again, the: proclaim thy judgment. To take good counse' is indeed a gain ; for even if anything goes against it, none the less was the good counsel taken, but it hath been overborne by chance. But the man who has counselled ill, if he prosper, receives a godsend ; yet none the less was his counsel evil. Thou seest how the deity smites those creatures which hold themselves high, but THE WORDS OF ARTABANOS. 69 the little ones do not trouble him at all ; and how the lightning falls on the highest houses and the tallest trees, for the haughty things are ever made to bow down. So may a great army be destroyed by a little one, for when fear enters their heart, they perish shamefully ; for the deity will suffer none to have proud thoughts but himself. So, then, to urge on matters will bring mishaps, and from these great hurt may follow ; but in delay there is good, which time will discover, even if we may not be able to see it now. Such is my counsel to thee, king. But thou, Mardonios, son of Gobryas, speak no more vain words about the Grreeks, who deserve not to be evil spoken of; for by thy slanders thou movest the king yet more to go against them — and this, I think, is the very reason of thy counsel. Let it not be so any more, for slander is a terrible thing. In it there are two who do wrong, and one who suffers it ; for the slanderer injures an absent man by his words, and he who listens does wrong if he is persuaded without clear knowledge ; and the absent man receives a double wrong, in being slandered by one man, and in being thought evil of by another. But if an army must go against these men, come — let the king remain in the land of the Persians, and let us both put our children to the venture. Then go thou with thy chosen men, and take as 70 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. :. great an army as it maj^ please thee to have. And if the issue be what thou hast said, then let my children be slain, and let me die also ; but if it turn out as I have said, then let thy children be killed, and thyself also if thou return. And if thou likest not this but still in any case wilt lead an army against Hellas, then some of those who remain behind will hear some day that Mar- donios, after great mischief done to the Persians, and torn to pieces by dogs and birds in the land of the Athenians or Lacedaemonians, if not before by the way, found out against what sort of men he besought the king to march.' 11 Then was Xerxes very wroth, and said: ^0 Artabanos, thou art my father's brother. This shall save thee from the meet reward of thy vain words. And yet this shame do I put upon thee for thy meanness and faintness of heart, that thou shalt not go with me against Hellas, but remain at home with the women. I can do all that I have said without thee ; for may I not be sprung from Darius, the son of Hystaspes, the son of Arsames, the son of Ariaramnes, the son of Teispes, the son of Cyrus, the son of Cambyses, the son of Teispes, the son of Achaimenes, if I take not vengeance upon the Athenians. Sure I am that if we be still, yet will not they, but will the rather come against our land, if we may judge from what they have already done. They THE YISION OF XERXES. 71 have burnt Sardes and marched into Asia. It vi is not possible, therefore, that either should draw back ; but there is a struggle before both, to do and to suffer, — that all our lands may be under the Grreeks, or all their country under the Per- sians ; for there is no middle path in our enmity. It is good, therefore, that we, who have suffered beforehand, should punish them, and that so I may learn what that evil is which I shall suffer when I march against these men, whom even Pelops the Phrygian, the slave of my father, so subdued, that their land and all that dwell in it are called still by his name.' So the council was ended ; and the night came 12 on, and the words of Artabanos troubled Xerxes. And as he listened to the voice of the night,^ he learnt that he ought in no wise to march against Hellas ; and when he had thus fixed his mind, he fell asleep. Then in his sleep he saw a vision, as the Persians say ; and he thought that there stood over him a man fair and tall, who said, ^ Dost thou repent, Persian, from leading an army against Hellas, when thou hast charged thy * I should not wish this expression to be taken as a trans- lation of the somewhat unusual phrase vvktI ^ovK^u Bl^ovs — although a meaning not unlike it has been assigned to the phrase by some interpreters. (See the note of Bahr on the passage.) Here, however, as elsewhere, it is not my object to furnish an exact translation, or to be fettered by the conditions which must of necessity be imposed upon all translations. 72 TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR. ■• people to gather their hosts together? Thou doest'not well in thy change of counsel, neither is there any who will forgive thee. Gro thou on the road in the which thou didst purpose to walk on the day that is past.' And when he had said this, 3 3 he vanished away. But when the day dawned, . Xerxes took no heed of the dream ; but he called the Persians together again, and said, ' Forgive me, Persians, that my counsel is changed. When I heard 'the judgment of Artabanos, my spirit grew hot within me, as in youth it is wont to do ; and I spake unseemly words towards an aged man. Now, therefore, I shall follow his mind; and be ye all still, for I purpose no longer to go against Hellas.' When the Persians heard 14 this, they rejoiced and did obeisance. But when it was night, again the same vision stood over Xerxes as he slept, and said, ^So now, son of Darius, thou hast changed thy purpose in the sight of the Persians, and hast put aside my words as though they had never been spoken. But be thou sure that if thou set not out forthwith, as thou hast become great and mighty in a little while, so in a little while shalt thou be made low.' 15 And Xerxes rose in fear and sprang from his couch, and sent a messenger to call Artabanos ; and when he was come, he said, ^ Artabanos, I spoke rash and vain words to thee at the first in return for thy good counsel ; but in a little while I XEIIXES EECOUNTS HIS DEEAM TO ARTABANOS. 73 I knew that I ought to do that which thou didst v desire. And yet I cannot do so, although I wish it ; for a vision comes to me in my sleep, and will not suffer me thus to act. Even now has it threatened me and departed. Now if it be a god who sends it, and if it must be that an army go against Hellas, then the same vision will come to thee and give thee the like charge. Therefore put thou on all my dress, and sit first upon my throne, and afterwards sleep upon my couch.' But Artabanos would not at the first, because he 16 did not think himself worthy to sit on the king's throne, but at length he said, ^To be wise, king, and to obey the man who gives good coun- sel, seems to me the same thing. Thou hast both these virtues, but thou hast been deceived by the conversation of wicked men, — as the sea, they say, which is most useful to men, is not suffered to show its own nature by the winds that fall upon it. Nor did it so much grieve me to be evil spoken of by thee, as that thou shouldest choose the worse opinion when two were laid before the Persians, seeing that the one puffed up pride and the other taught that man should not be ever greedy after more than has been given to him. But now that thou art turned to the safer judgment, and hast renounced the journey to Hellas, thou sayest that there comes to thee a vision from heaven, which suffers thee not to TALE OF THE GREAT PERSIAN TV^R.