forced to it whether they would or no, he prevailed upon al the other tyrants to do the same in every city. They complied the more readily, as the Persian power, since the check it received in Scythia, was the less able to protect them against the Ionians, who were naturally fond of liberty and a state of independence, and professed enemies to all tyranny. Having united them all in this manner in one common league, of which he himself was declared the head, he set up the standard of rebellion against the king, and made great preparations by sea and land for supporting a war against him. To enable himself to carry on the war with more vigour,* Aristagoras went in the beginning of the following year to Lacedæmon, in order to bring that city into his interest, and engage it to furnish him with succours. Cleomenes was at this time king of Sparta. He was the son of Anaxandrides by a second wife, whom the Ephori had obliged him to marry, because he had no issue by the first. He had by her three sons besides Cleomenes, namely, Doriæus, Leonidas, and Cleombrotus, the two last of which ascended the throne of Lacedæmon in their turns. Aristagoras then addressed hunself to Cleomenes, and the time and place for an interview between them being agreed on, he waited upon him, and represented to him, that the Ionians and Lacedæmonians were countrymen; that Sparta being the most powerful city of Greece, it would be for her honour to concur with him in the design he had formed of restoring the Ionians to their liberty; that the Persians, their common enemy, were not a warlike people, but extremely rich, and consequently would become an easy prey to the Lacedaemonians; that, considering the present spirit and disposition of the Ionians, it would not be difficult for them to carry their victorious arms even to Susa, the metropolis of the Persian empire, and the place of the king's residence: he showed him, at the same time, a plan of all the nations and towns through which they were to pass, engraven upon a little plate of brass which he had brought along with him. Cleomenes desired three days' time to consider of his proposals. That term being ex pired, he asked the lonian how far it was from the Ionian sea to Susa, and how much time it required to go from the one place to the other. Aristagoras, without considering the effect his answer was likely to have upon Cleomenes, told him, that from lonia to Susa was about three months' journey.† Cleomenes was so amazed at this pronosal. that he immediately ordered him to depart from Sparta before sun-set. Aristagoras nevertheless followed him home to his house, and endeavoured to win by arguments of another sort, that is, by presents

Ibid. l. v. c. 38. 41. 49. 51.

According to Herodotus's computation, who reckons the parasanga, a Persian measure, to contain 30 stadia, the distance from Sardis to Susa is 450 parasangas, or 13,500 stadia, which make 675 French leagues (for 20 stadia are generally reckoned to one of our common leagues.) So that by travelling 150 stadia per day, which make seven leagues and a half, French measure, it is ninety days' journey from Sardis to Susa. If they set out from Ephesus it would require about four days more; for Ephesus is 540 stadia from Sardis.

The first sum he offered him was only ten talents, which were equivalent to 30,000 livres of French money; that being refused, he still rose in his offers, till at last he proposed to give him fifty talents. Gorgo, a daughter of Cleomenes, about eight or nine years of age, whom her father had not ordered to quit the room, as apprehending nothing from so young a child, hearing the proposals that were made, cried out: Fly, father, fly, this stranger will corrupt you. Cleomenes laughed, but yet observed the child's admonition, and actually retired: Aristagoras left Sparta.

From hence he proceeded to Athens,* where he found a more favourable reception. He had the good fortune to arrive there at a time when the Athenians were extremely well disposed to hearken to any proposals that could be made to them against the Persians, with whom they were highly offended on the following occasion Hippias,† the son of Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, who, about ten years before, had been banished, after having tried in vain abundance of methods for his re-establishment, at last went to Sardis, and made his application to Artaphernes. He insinuated himself so far into the good opinion of that governor, that he gave a favourable ear to all he said to the disadvantage of the Athenians, and became extremely prejudiced against them. The Athenians, having ⚫ intelligence of this, sent an ambassador to Sardis, and desired of Artaphernes, not to give ear to what any of their outlaws should insinuate to their disadvantage. The answer of Artaphernes to this message was, that if they desired to live in peace, they must recall Hippias. When this haughty answer was brought back to the Athenians, the whole city were violently enraged against the Persians. Aristagoras, coming thither just at this juncture, easily obtained all he desired. Herodotus remarks on this occasion, how much easier it is to impose upon a multitude, than upon a single person: and so Aristagoras found it; for he prevailed with 30,000 Athenians to come to a resolution, into which he could not persuade Cleomenes alone. They engaged immediately to furnish twenty ships to assist him in his design; and it may be truly said, that this little fleet was the original source of all the calamities, in which both the Persians and Grecians were afterwards involved.

A. M. 3504.

In the third year of this war, the Ionians, having colAnt. J. C. 500 lected all their forces together, and being reinforced with the twenty vessels furnished by the city of Athens, and five more from Eretria, in the island of Euboea, set sail for Ephesus, and leaving their ships there, they marched by land to the city of Sardis: finding the place in a defenceless condition, they soon made themselves masters of it; but the citadel, into which Artaphernes retired, they were not able to force. As most of the houses of this city were built with reeds, and consequently were very combustible,

an Ionian soldier having set fire to one house, the flames soon spread and communicated to the rest, and reduced the whole city to ashes. Upon this accident the Persians and Lydians, assembling their forces together for their defence, the Ionians judged it was time for them to think of retreating; and accordingly they marched back with all possible diligence, in order to re-embark at Ephesus: but the Persians arriving there almost as soon as they, attacked them vigorously, and destroyed a great number of their men. The Athenians, after the return of their ships, would never engage any more in this war, notwithstanding the urgent solicitations of Aristagoras.

Darius being informed of the burning of Sardis,* and of the part the Athenians took in that affair, he resolved from that very time to make war upon Greece: and that he might never forget this resolution, he commanded one of his officers to cry out to him with a loud voice every night, when he was at supper: Sir, remember the Athenians. In the burning of Sardis it happened that the temple of Cybele, the goddess of that country, was consumed with the rest of the city. This accident served afterwards as a pretence to the Persians to burn all the temples they found in Greece: to which they were likewise induced by a religious motive, which I have explained before.

A. M. 3505. As Aristagoras,† the head manager of this revolt, Ant. J. C. 499. was Hystiæus's lieutenant at Miletus, Darius suspected that the latter might probably be the contriver of the whole conspiracy: for which reason he entered into a free conference with him upon the subject, and acquainted him with his thoughts, and the just grounds he had for his suspicion. Hystiæus, who was a crafty courtier, and an expert master in the art of dissembling, appeered extremely surprised and afflicted; and speaking in a tone that at once expressed both sorrow and indignation, Is it then possible, sir, said he to the king, for your majesty to have entertained so injurious a suspicion of the most faithful and most affectionate of your servants? I concerned in a rebellion against you! Alas! what is there in the world that could tempt me to it? Do I want any thing here? Am I not already raised to one of the highest stations in your court? And besides the honour I have of assisting at your councils, do I not daily receive new proofs of your bounty, by the numberless favours you heap upon me? After this he insinuated, that the revolt in Ionia proceeded from his absence and distance from the country; that they had waited for that opportunity to rebel; that if he had stayed at Miletus, the conspiracy would never have been formed; that the surest way to restore the king's affairs in that province, would be to send him thither to quell the insurrection; that he promised him, on the forfeiture of his head, to deliver Aristagoras into his hands; and engaged, besides all this, to make the large

island of Sardinia tributary to him.* The best princes are often too credulous; and when they have once taken a subject into their confidence, it is with difficulty they withdraw it from him; nor do they easily undeceive themselves. Darius, imposed upon by the air of sincerity with which Hystiæus spoke on this occasion, believed him on his own word, and gave him leave to return to Jonia, on condition he came back to the Persian court as soon as he had executed what he promised.

A. M. 3506.

The revolters,† in the mean time, though deserted Ant. J. C. 498. by the Athenians, and notwithstanding the considerable check they had received in Ionia, did not lose courage, but still pushed on their point with resolution. Their fleet set sail towards the Hellespont and the Propontis, and reduced Byzantium, with the greater part of the other Grecian cities, in that quarter. After which, as they were returning back again, they obliged the Carians to join with them in this war, as also the people of Cyprus. The Persian generals, having divided their forces among themselves, marched three different ways against the rebels, and defeated them in several encounters, in one of which Aristagoras was slain.

When Hystiæus was arrived at Sardis, his intriguing temper induced him to form a plot against the government, into which he drew a great number of Persians. But, perceiving by some discourse he had with Artaphernes, that the part he had in the revolt of Ionia was not unknown to that governor, he thought it not safe for him to stay any longer at Sardis, and retired secretly the night following to the isle of Chios; from thence he sent a trusty messenger to Sardis, with letters for such of the Persians as he had gained to his party. This messenger betrayed him, and delivered his letters to Artaphernes, by which means the whole plot was discovered, all his accomplices put to death, and his project utterly defeated. But still imagining, that he could bring about some enterprise of importance, if he were once at the head of the Ionian league, he made several attempts to get into Miletus, and to be admitted into the confederacy by the citizens: but none of his endeavours succeeded, and he was obliged to return to Chios.

There, being asked why he had so strongly urged Aristagoras to revolt, and by that means involved Ionia in such calamities, he made answer, that it was because the king had resolved to transport the Ionians into Phoenicia, and to plant the Phoenicians in Ionia. But all this was a mere story and fiction of his own inventing, Darius having never conceived any such design. The artifice however served his purpose extremely well, not only for justifying him to the Ionians, but also for engaging them to prosecute the war with vigour. For being alarmed at the thoughts of this transmigration,

* This island is very remote from Ionia, and could have no relation to it. I am there fore apt to believe, it must be an error that has crept into the text of Herodotus. † Herod. 1. v. c. 103. 104. 108. 122. + Herod. 1. vi. c. 1-5. Ibid. c. 3.

they came to a firm resolution to defend themselves against the Persians to the last extremity.

A. M. 3507.

Artaphernes and Otanes,* with the rest of the Per Ant. J. C. 497. sian generals, finding that Miletus was the centre of the Ionian confederacy, resolved to march thither with all their forces; concluding that, if they could carry that city, all the rest would submit of course. The Ionians, having intelligence of their design, determined in a general assembly to send no army into the field, but to fortify Miletus, and to furnish it to the utmost of their power with provisions, and all things necessary for enduring a siege; and to unite all their forces to engage the Persians at sea, their dexterity in maritime affairs inducing them to believe that they should have the advantage in a naval battle. The place of their rendezvous was Lade, a small isle over against Miletus, where they assembled a fleet of 353 vessels. At the sight of this fleet, the Persians, though stronger by one half with respect to the number of their ships, were afraid to hazard a battle, till by their emissaries they had secretly corrupted the greatest part of the confederates, and engaged them to desert: so that when the two fleets came to engage, the ships of Samos, of Lesbos, and several other places sailed off, and returned to their own country, and the remaining fleet of the confederates did not consist of above 100 vessels, which were all quickly overpowered by numbers, and almost entirely destroyed. After this, the city of Miletus was besieged, and became a prey to the conquerors, who utterly destroyed it. This happened six years after Aristagoras's revolt. All the other cities, as well on the continent as on the sea coast and in the isles, returned to their duty soon after, either voluntarily or by force. Those persons that stood out were treated as they had been threatened beforehand. The handsomest of the young men were chosen to serve in the king's palace; and the young women were all sent into Persia; the cities and temples were reduced to ashes. These were the effects of the revolt, into which the people were drawn by the ambitious views of Aristagoras and Hystiæus.

The latter of those two had his share also in the general calamity:† for that same year he was taken by the Persians, and carried to Sardis, where Artaphernes caused him to be immediately hanged, without consulting Darius, lest that prince's affection for Hystiæus should incline him to pardon him, and by that means a dangerous enemy should be left alive, who might create the Persians new troubles. It appeared by the sequel, that Artaphernes's conjecture was well grounded: for when Hysticus's head was brought to Darius, ne expressed great dissatisfaction at the authors of his death, and caused the head to be honourably interred, as being the remains of a person to whom he had infinite obligations, the remembrance whereof was too deeply engraven on his mind, ever to be effaced by

• Herod. 1. vi. c. 6-10. 31. 33.

† Ibid. c. 29. 30.