Installment 6

Having heard that, Cyrus thought about what would be the wisest manner to convince the Persians to revolt, and, thinking, he found that which was most seasonable and did just that: he wrote on a paper what he wanted and gathered the Persians, and afterward, unfolding the paper and reading, he said Astyages appointed him general of the Persians. “And so now,” he asserted by speaking, “Persians, I command you to be present, each with a sickle.” Cyrus commanded that, but there are numerous races among the Persians, and only some of them Cyrus gathered together and convinced to revolt from the Medes—they are these, on whom the rest of the Persians depend: the Pasargadians, the Maraphians and the Maspians, and of those the Pasargadians are the best, among whom the Achaimenidians are a clan, whence the Persian kings are born—while the other Persians are these: the Panthialians, the Derousians and the Germanians—those are ploughers, and all the rest are pastoral—the Daians, the Mardians, the Dropikians, and the Sagartians. And when all were present with the aforementioned, thereupon Cyrus, since there was a thorny place in the Persian land that extended approximately eighteen or twenty stades every way, ordered them to reclaim that land entirely in a day. And, the Persians having brought to completion the proposed contest, next he ordered them on the morrow to be present bathed. Meanwhile, after he had gathered together all the flocks of goats and of sheep and the herds of cattle of his father, Cyrus slaughtered and prepared them with the intention that he would entertain the Persians’ army with them and, in addition, with wine and food as suitable as possible. And, on their coming the morrow, he laid down in a meadow and feasted the Persians. When they were done with dinner, Cyrus asked them whether what they had had the day before or what was presently theirs was preferable. And they said the difference between them was large, since the day before they had all kinds of evils for themselves and that present one all kinds of goods. Then, having taken over that saying, Cyrus laid bare his whole reasoning by saying, “Persian men, thus it is for you. If you want to obey me, there are these present and countless other goods with no slavish toil and, if you do not want to obey me, yours are numberless toils pretty near to that of yesterday. Therefore obey me now and become free. For I myself think, who was born with a divine fortune, I should set hands to this, and hold you men are not more paltry than the Medes, neither in everything else nor matters of war. Accordingly, on the ground that things are so, revolt from Astyages the quickest way.”

Now, the Persians got hold of a leader and gladly became free, since quite long they had been thinking it terrible to be ruled by the Medes. And when Astyages had learned by inquiry that Cyrus was doing the above, he sent a messenger and called him. But Cyrus bade the messenger announce back that he would be present with him sooner than Astyages himself would want. Having heard that, Astyages armed all Medes and as their general, seeing that he was stricken by a god, appointed Harpagus, since he forgot what he had done to him. When the Medes had advanced with an army and were joining battle with the Persians, some men of them fought, all who had not shared in what had been said, some deserted to the Persians, and the largest number performed badly on purpose and fled. The Median expedition having dispersed shamefully, as soon as Astyages had learned of it by inquiry, he said as a threat to Cyrus, “Well, not even so will Cyrus, at least, get off with impunity.” With so brief a speech, he first impaled those oneirocritics of the Magians, who had convinced him to let Cyrus go, and afterward armed those left behind in the town of the Medes, young and old men. But when he had led them out and encountered the Persians, he was worsted, and Astyages himself was taken alive and lost those of the Medes whom he had led out. Then Harpagus, standing by Astyages, who had been captured by the spear, exulted over and mocked at him; he both said other words to pain the heart against him and, what’s more, asked him in view of his own dinner, at which he had banqueted him on the flesh of his son, what kind of thing was his slavery instead of his kingdom. And he looked at him and asked in return whether he considered the action of Cyrus his own. And Harpagus said that, because it was he himself who had done the writing, the deed was, in fact, justly his own. So Astyages declared by speech he was the most maladroit and the most unjust of all human beings, indeed the most maladroit, if, it being possible for him to become king, since, in fact, the present things had been done through him, he had conferred the power on another, and the most unjust, in that, because of the dinner, he had utterly enslaved the Medes; for, if, indeed, he had had at all events to confer on some other the kingdom and not to have it himself, it would have been juster to bestow that good on one of the Medes rather than one of the Persians, but as it was, the Medes, although they had not been the cause of that former incident, had become slaves instead of masters, and the Persians, although they had been slaves formerly, had now become the masters of the Medes.

Now, Astyages, who had been king for thirty five years, thus was deposed from the kingdom, and the Medes bowed down to the Persians on account of his bitter cruelty, after they had ruled Asia above the Halys river for a hundred and thirty years but two, except for as long as the Scythians were its ruler. Yet, at a later time, it repented them that they had done the foregoing and they revolted from Darius, but, although they had revolted, they were subjected again after their having been prevailed over in battle. Then, however, in Astyages’ time, the Persians and Cyrus stood up against the Medes and were the ruler from then on of Asia, and Cyrus, doing no other evil to Astyages, kept him at his court, until he met with his end. Thus indeed Cyrus was born and brought up and became king, and he subjected Croesus later than that, who had made a beginning of injustice, as has been said by me previously. So having subjected him, thus he ruled all Asia.

The Persians, I know, observe laws like the following: they do not just consider unlawful to set up images, temples and altars, but even impute folly to those who do, because, at least so far as it seems to me, they believe the gods are not of a human nature, very unlike the Greeks. So they are accustomed, in Zeus’ case, to go up on the tallest of the mountains and perform sacrifices to him, since they call the vault of the sky as a whole Zeus. They also sacrifice to sun and moon, and to earth, fire, water and winds. To those alone, then, they have been sacrificing from the beginning, but they have learned subsequently to sacrifice to the Heavenly One as well, and have learned it from the Assyrians and Arabians. The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alilat, and the Persians Mitra. The manner of the Persians’ sacrificing regarding the said gods is established as follows. Neither do they build altars nor kindle fire, when they are to sacrifice; they make use of no libation, not any flute, no wreathes, not any barleycorns. But when one wishes to sacrifice to each of them, one leads the victim to a cleared place and calls the god, while one is crowned on one’s tiara with a myrtle branch. For oneself, then, the sacrificer, privately alone, it is not allowed to one to petition for goods, but one prays earnestly for it to turn out well for all the Persians and the king; for, indeed, oneself also is included in all the Persians. Whenever one chops up the sacred offering, piece by piece, and boils the meat, one spreads under grass as soft as possible and especially the trefoil and then on it puts all the meat. As one distributes it, a Magian man stands by and sings in accompaniment a theogony, the very sung accompaniment like they say should be, since, in fact, without a Magian, their law is not to make sacrifices. Then, on holding back a short time, he who sacrificed takes the meat away for himself and uses it however whim takes him. They are accustomed to honor that day most of all on which each was born. And on that day they think it right to put before oneself a larger banquet than all the others; on it their happy put before themselves an ox, a horse, a camel and an ass, baked whole in ovens, and their poor put before themselves small cattle. They use few courses of food, but many desserts and not all together. And on account of that the Persians say that the Greeks, hungering, stop eating, because after dinner nothing worth mentioning is brought to them, but if anything should be brought, they would not stop taking food. To wine they are very devoted, and to them it is permitted not to vomit, not to make water in another’s presence. Now, that is thus maintained, and, drunk, they are wont to take counsel about the weightiest of their affairs; whatever pleases them when they thus take counsel, the master of whosever house they are in as they take counsel, proposes that to them on the morrow, when they are sober; and so if it pleases them also, when they are sober, they observe it, and if it pleases not, they cast it aside; and whatever counsel, sober, they earlier take, drunk, they later reconsider.

When they fall in with one another in the ways, because of the following one can distinguish whether those meeting are equals: instead of greeting one another, they kiss with their mouths, whereas, if one is a little inferior, they kiss one another’s cheeks and, if one is far more lowborn, he falls to the ground and bows to the other. And they honor above all those settled nearest themselves, after themselves at least, next the next, and afterward proportionally, going on progressively, they show honor; and they hold least in honor those living farthest from themselves, because they believe that they themselves are far the best of human beings in all respects, while all the others proportionally hold on to excellence and those settled farthest away from themselves are worst. And in the time when the Medes ruled, the nations too ruled one another, the Medes all of them together and those settled nearest themselves, moreover those their neighbors, and again they those next; so in the same way the Persians show honor, since the nation, indeed, goes on progressively ruling and being guardian. The Persians adopt foreign customs most of men. For in fact they wear Median clothing in the belief it is more beautiful than their own and for their wars Egyptian breastplates, and learning by inquiry of every country's enjoyments they pursue them and, particularly, after learning it from the Greeks, have intercourse with boys. They each of them marry many wedded wives and acquire still far more concubines. And that is appointed manly goodness, after being good at fighting, being one who produces many children, and to the producer of the most the king sends off gifts annually. For they hold the greater number is powerful.

Beginning from the age of five years until that of twenty years they educate their sons in three things alone: riding horses, shooting arrows and speaking the truth; and before any becomes five years old, he comes not into his father’s sight, but dwells among the women, and that is thus done for this reason, that, if he dies while he is being brought up, he causes no distress to his father. Now, I praise this law and praise this one as well, that because of one charge neither the king himself should kill anyone, nor any of the rest of the Persians for one charge inflict incurable suffering on any of his own household slaves, but if, by count, anyone finds a man's injustices are more and greater than his services, thus he may use anger. And they say that no one yet has killed his own father or mother, but however so many by now have proven like that, there’s every necessity, they assert, should those be investigated, they would be found to be either supposititious or adulterine; for indeed they assert it is not reasonable for the true parent, at least, to be killed by his own child. Whatever it is not permitted to them to do, it is not permitted even to speak of. And to lie is believed by them the most shameful act, and next to owe a debt, for many other reasons and most of all because they assert that there is a necessity for the debtor to say a falsehood. Whoever of their townsmen has leprosy or elephantiasis, does not go down to the city and does not mix with the rest of the Persians; they say, because he committed some offence against the sun, he has them. Every foreigner that is seized by them many expel from their country and white pigeons as well, since they bring the same charge against them. In a river, they neither make water nor spit; they don’t wash their hands in one; they allow no other either, but reverence rivers most. And this following other thing for them the following way has happened coincidently to come about, which has escaped the notice of the Persians themselves, yet not ours: their names, being in accord with their bodies and magnificence, all end in the same letter, which the Dorians call “san” and the Ionians “sigma”; in this, if you look, you will find end the Persians’ names, not some and some not, but all alike.

The above I can say exactly, since I know about them; the following, however, is said in a hidden way and not distinctly about the dead, that the corpse of a Persian man is not buried before it is drawn apart by a bird or dog. The Magians for their part indeed, I know exactly, do that, because they do it openly. Then, after waxing over the corpse, the Persians cover it with earth. The Magians are far different from all the other human beings and the priests in Egypt; for the latter think pure to kill nothing animate, except all that they sacrifice, but the Magians in fact kill with their own hands all but dog and human being and consider that a great object of contention, since they kill alike ants, snakes and everything that creeps and flies. And so concerning that law let it be as, to begin with, was done customarily and I will go back to my previous account.

The Ionians and the Aeolians, as soon as the Lydians had been subjected by the Persians, sent messengers into Sardis to Cyrus, since they wished to be subjects on the same conditions as they were under Croesus. He, then, having heard from them what they put forward told them a tale; he said a flutist, on seeing fish in the sea, played the flute, because he thought they would go out onto land, but that when he was mistaken in his expectation, he took hold of a casting-net, cast it round a large multitude of the fish and drew them out; and, on seeing they were quivering, he then said to the fish, “Stop dancing, since, when I was playing the flute, you refused to come out dancing!” Cyrus told that tale to the Ionians and the Aeolians because of this very reason, that the Ionians, although previously Cyrus himself had asked them through messengers to revolt from Croesus, refused to obey and at that time, when all his business had been accomplished, were ready to obey Cyrus. He, then, in the grip of anger told them this and, after the Ionians had heard those words that had been brought back to their cities, each group put walls round themselves and collected themselves in the Panionium, all the others except the Milesians, since Cyrus had sworn an oath with them alone on the very conditions the Lydians had, and the remaining Ionians decided by common consent to send messengers to Sparta to ask them to lend aid to themselves. Those Ionians, whose the Panionium is, as for region of the sky and the seasons, in fact set up cities in the most beautiful spot of all the human beings of which we know. For neither the regions above it do the same as Ionia nor those below, because the former are oppressed by the cold and moisture and the latter by the heat and dryness. As for tongue, however, they are not users of the same, but of four kinds of variations. Miletus is the first city of theirs situated to the south and afterward is Myus and Priene; those have their dwellings in Caria and talk in the same fashion as themselves. These are in Lydia: Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedos, Teos, Clazomenai and Phocaea. Those cities resemble the previously said in tongue not at all, but speak the same as themselves. There are still three Ionic cities left, of which two are settled on islands, Samos and Chios, and one is set up on the mainland, Erythrae. Now, the Chians and the Erythraeans talk in the same fashion, and the Samians are alone by themselves. Those prove the four characters of tongue.

It was those Ionians, then, of which the Milesians were in a shelter from the object of their terror, in that they had sworn an oath, while for their islanders nothing was to be feared, since neither the Phoenicians were the Persians’ subjects yet nor the Persians themselves seafarers. And they were detached from all the other Ionians because of nothing else but, that the then whole Greek race being lacking in strength, the Ionic was quite far the most lacking in strength of the nations and of least account; for, except for Athens, there was no other borough to speak of. Now, not only did all the other Ionians and the Athenians flee the name, since they did not want to be called Ionians, but even now the greater number of them appear to me to be ashamed of the name, whereas those twelve cities gloried in the name and set up a shrine by themselves, whose name they made the Panionium, while they took counsel and decided to give no others of the Ionians a share of it (and none even asked to have a share except for the Smyrnians), just as the Dorians from the country now of five cities, that same that previously was called of six cities, are on guard, then, to admit none of the Dorians settled near into the Triopician shrine; indeed they also have shut out those of their own who broke the law concerning the shrine from having a share of it. For in the contest in honor of Triopian Apollo they had of old been setting up bronze tripods for the victors, and those who took a prize had had not to carry it out of the shrine, but to dedicate it there to the god. A Halicarnassian man, then, whose name was Agasicles, won and thought the law of small account, and so he carried to his house and nailed down the tripod fast. Because of that, the five cities, Lindos, Ielysus, Camirus, Cos and Cnidus, shut out from having a share of the shrine the sixth city, Halicarnassus. Now, on those those inflicted that punishment.

The Ionians seem to me to have built twelve cities and to refuse to admit more for this reason, that, even when they were settled in the Peloponnesus, their parts were twelve, just as now the Achaeans who drove out the Ionians’ parts are twelve; Pellene the first city toward Sicyon, afterward Aegeira, Aegae, in which is the always full Crathis river, from which the river in Italy got its name, Boura, Helice, in which the Ionians took refuge after being worsted in battle by the Achaeans, Aegium, the Rhypes, the Patres, the Phares, Olenus, in which is the great river Peirus, Dyme and the Tritaees, who are the only ones of those to be settled inland. Those now are the Achaeans’ twelve parts and then, at any rate, were the Ionians’. For that very reason in fact the Ionians built twelve cities, since it’s much folly to say that indeed those are Ionians somewhat more or have been born somewhat more beautifully than all the other Ionians, of whom the Abantians from Euboea are not the least portion, while the Orchomenian Minyians have been mixed up with them as well as the Cadmeians, the Dryopians, the division of Phocaeans, the Molossians, the Pelasgian Arcadians and the Epidaurian Dorians, and thus many other nations have been mixed up; moreover, some of them, after they had set out from the magistrates’ hall of the Athenians and while they believed they were the most well-born of the Ionians, they then brought with themselves no women for their colony but took Carian women as wives, whose fathers they had killed. And on account of that killing those women made a law for themselves; they imposed oaths on themselves and handed them down to their daughters never to eat with their husbands and for none to shout for her own husband by name for this reason, that they had killed their fathers, husbands and sons and then, after they had done that, cohabited with them (that was done in Miletus); some of them set over themselves as kings the Lycians descended from Glaucus, the son of Hippolochus, others Pylian Cauconians descended from Codrus, the son of Melanthus; and others both alike. But, since they embrace the name somewhat more than all the other Ionians, let them be indeed the purely descended Ionians. All those are Ionians too who are descended from those in Athens and hold the festival of Apatouria, and all hold it except for the Ephesians and the Colophonians; for those of the Ionians are the only not to hold Apatouria, and those don’t on a pretext of a killing. The Panionium is a sacred place in Mycale, turned toward the north, jointly picked out by the Ionians for the Heliconian Poseidon; Mycale is the mainland's promontory toward the west wind that projects to Samus, at which the Ionians collected from their cities and held a festival, whose name they made Panionia. And the festivals of the Ionians are not at all the only to have undergone that, but all alike of all Greeks end in the same letter, just as the Persians’ names.

Those are the Ionian cities and these the Aeolian: the so-called Phriconian Cyme, Lerisae, Neon Teichus, Temnus, Cilla, Notium, Aegiroessa, Pitane, Aegaeae, Myrina and Gryneia. Those eleven are the Aeolians ancient cities, because one of them, Smyrna, was detached by the Ionians, and those twelve indeed had been the cities on the mainland. Those Aeolians, then, in fact founded a country better than the Ionians’, but not similarly well off for seasons. The Aeolians lost Smyrna this way: they entertained Colophonian men worsted by a faction and banished from their fatherland. Afterward the exiles of the Colophonians, after waiting for the Smyrnians’ holding a festival outside the wall in honor of Dionysus, shut the gates and got hold of the city. Then, on all the Aeolians’ coming to the rescue, they agreed, once the Ionians gave back the movables, Aeolians should abandon Smyrna and, the Smyrnians having done that, the eleven cities divided them up among themselves and made them their fellow citizens. Now, those are the mainland Aeolian cities, outside of those living in Ida—for they are separate—but as for those that have islands, five cities inhabit Lesbos, since the sixth that’s settled on Lesbos, Arisba, the Methymnaeans, being of the same blood, captured as slaves, one city is settled on Tenedos and another one on the so-called Hundred Islands. Now, for the Lesbians and the Tenedians, just as for those of the Ionians that have islands, nothing was to be feared, but it pleased the remaining cities jointly to follow the Ionians wherever they led the way.

When the messengers of the Ionians and the Aeolians had come to Sparta—that was done with speed—they chose the Phocaean, whose name was Pythermus, to speak before all. So he, on donning a purple cloak, that most of the Spartiates might learn of it by inquiry and come together, and taking up his position, spoke many words, since he desired them to lend them aid. Yet the Lacedaemonians would not listen, but decided against lending the Ionians aid. They, then, departed, and the Lacedaemonians, although they had thrust away the Ionians’ messengers, nevertheless dispatched men with a penteconter as spies, as it seems to me, of Cyrus’ affairs and Ionia. And they, on coming into Phocaea, sent to Sardis the most esteemed of themselves, whose name was Lacrines, to speak to Cyrus a prohibitive speech from the Lacedaemonians, that in Greek land he should ravage no city, on the ground that they would not allow it. When the herald had said that, it is said that Cyrus asked those of the Greeks present with him, the Lacedaemonians, being what kinds of human beings and how many in multitude, gave that command to him, and that he learned by his inquiry and said to the herald who was a Spartiate, “I am not yet afraid of men like that, for whom is appointed a place in the middle of their city in which they collect and utterly deceive one another through oaths. By them, if I am healthy, not the Ionians’ sufferings will be talked of but their own.” Those words Cyrus cast forth against the Greeks, because they set up public squares for themselves and buy and sell; for the Persians, for their part, are wont to use public squares not at all and theirs is absolutely no public square.

After that, he entrusted Sardis to Tabalus, a Persian man, and the gold of Croesus and that of all the other Lydians to Pactyes, a Lydian man, to convey, and himself drove away to Agbatana, at the same time as he took Croesus with himself and considered the Ionians to be first of all in no account, since Babylon was in his way as well as the Bactrian nation, the Sakians and the Egyptians, against whom he purposed to drive an army in person, whereas against the Ionians he purposed to send another general. So when Cyrus had driven out of Sardis, Pactyes caused the Lydians to revolt from Tabalus and Cyrus; whereupon he went down to the sea and, seeing that he had all the gold from Sardis, hired mercenaries and persuaded the inhabitants of the coast to advance as an army with him. Then he drove against Sardis and besieged Tabalus shut up in the acropolis. On learning by inquiry along the road the above, Cyrus said to Croesus this: “Croesus, what will be the end of those events for me? The Lydians will not stop, as they seem, causing troubles and themselves having them. I think that it is best to lead them into captivity, because now, indeed, I appear to myself to have acted like as if one should kill the father and spare his children; likewise I took hold of and led away you who among the Lydians are something more than a father, and to the Lydians themselves I gave up their city and then marvel that they are in revolt from me.” He, then, said just what he had in mind, and the other answered with the following, in fear lest he cause Sardis to migrate: “O king, although you have spoken what’s reasonable, yet stop you being angry at everyone and do not expel an ancient city, since it is guiltless both of what was before and what is now; for what was before I did and I, having wiped its pollution on my head, bear it, while as to what injustice is now at hand, because Pactyes is its doer, let him pay you the penalty. So pardon the Lydians and give them the following commands, that they may neither revolt nor be feared by you: forbid them, by sending an envoy, from possessing martial weapons, bid them don tunics under their clothes and shoe themselves with buskins and order them to educate their sons to play the cithara, to pluck the psaltery, and to be retailers. And quickly them, o king, you will see become women instead of men so that they will not at all be feared by you lest they revolt.”

Croesus, then, suggested that to him, since he found that preferable for the Lydians to their being captured as slaves and sold, because he knew that, if he proposed no serviceable pretext, he would not convince him to change his mind, and he was afraid lest at some later time the Lydians, if they ran out from under what was at hand, revolt from the Persians and perish. And Cyrus, taking pleasure at the suggestion and abating from his anger, said he would obey him; then he called Mazares, a Median man, and enjoined on him to give the Lydians those commands that Croesus suggested and in addition to lead into captivity all the others who, accompanying the Lydians, had advanced with the army against Sardis, but Pactyes himself absolutely to bring to him alive. He, then, enjoined that on the road and drove away to the abodes of the Persians, and Pactyes, having learned by inquiry an army that was going against him was near, in fear went fleeing off to Cyme. And Mazares the Mede drove against Sardis with such and such a portion of Cyrus’ army and, when he had found Pactyes and his circle were no longer in Sardis, first he made necessary for the Lydians to bring to completion Cyrus’ injunctions—from the bidding of that the Lydians changed their whole way of leading their life—and Mazares after that sent messengers to Cyme and bade give up Pactyes.

The Cymaeans, however, decided concerning advice to refer to the god in Branchidae. For a seat of prophecy had been right there set up from of old, which all Ionians and Aeolians are wont to use and that place is in Milesian land above the Panormus harbor. Accordingly the Cymaeans sent messengers to consult the oracle in Branchidae and asked about Pactyes, by doing what kind of a deed they were to gratify the gods. To them who asked that, an oracle was given to give up Pactyes to the Persians. And when the Cymaeans had heard that had been brought back, they were minded to give him up and, the multitude minded that way, Aristodicus, the son of Heracleides, who was a man esteemed among his townsmen, kept the Cymaeans from doing that, since he disbelieved the response and thought the messengers who consult the oracles did not speak truly, until other messengers to consult the oracle went to ask about Pactyes a second time, among whom was Aristodicus.

When they had come to Branchidae, out of all Aristodicus consulted the oracle and asked this: “O lord, Pactyes the Lydian came to us a suppliant in flight from a violent death at the Persians’ hands, and they demand his surrender and bid the Cymaeans send him forth. But we, although we are afraid of the Persians’ power, hitherto have not dared to give up the suppliant, before it should be made clear by you for us exactly what we are to do.” The one asked this, and the other again brought to light for them the same response and bade give up Pactyes to the Persians. Thereupon Aristodicus with forethought did this: he went round the temple in a circle and took away the sparrows and all the other kinds of birds that were nesting in the temple. Then, as he did that, it is said that a voice came from the innermost sanctuary that addressed Aristodicus and said this: “Unholiest of human beings, what’s this you dare do? Are you plundering my suppliants from the temple?”; that Aristodicus at no loss thereupon said, “O lord, do you yourself thus come to the rescue of your suppliants and bid the Cymaeans give up their suppliant?”; and that he again answered with this: “Yes, I do bid it, just that in your impiety you may perish more quickly, to the end that in the future you may not go to the oracle concerning the giving up of suppliants.”

When the Cymaeans had heard that had been brought back, wanting neither to give him up and perish nor to keep him among themselves and be besieged, they sent him off to Mytilene. And the Mytilenians, at Mazares’ sending thither messages that they should give up Pactyes, prepared to do so for such and such a fee. For that I am unable to state exactly, in that the matter was not completed, because the Cymaeans, when they had learned that was being done by the Mytilenians, sent a boat to Lesbos and conveyed Pactyes out to Chios. Then thence from the shrine of Athena Protector of the City he was dragged away and given up by the Chians. And the Chians gave him up for Atarneus as a fee; the place of that Atarneus is in Mysian land, opposite Lesbos.

Now, the Persians received him from them and kept him under guard, because they wished to show him forth to Cyrus, and a time was passed, and that not a short, when none of the Chians from that Atarneus would either pour forth barleycorns to any of the gods or bake cakes from the grain thence; in short, all that was produced from that country was kept from all the shrines. Now, the Chians gave up Pactyes, and Mazares after that advanced with an army against those joined in besieging Tabalus; on the one hand he led the Prienians into captivity and on the other overran the whole plain of Maeander and made it booty for the army, and Magnesia in the same way. Then after that at once he met with his end from illness.

After his death, Harpagus went down as successor in the office of general, being himself a Mede by race, whom the Medes’ king, Astyages, had banqueted with an unlawful table, he who had joined Cyrus in getting the kingdom. That man at that time, appointed general by Cyrus, when he had come to Ionia, took its cities by means of piles of earth; for whenever he caused them to be within their walls, thereafter he piled up piles at the walls and tried to destroy them. He laid hands on Phocaea first in Ionia. Those Phocaeans were the first of the Greeks to make long voyages, and of Adries, Tyrsenia, Iberia and Tartessus they are the discoverers. And they made their voyages not with round ships but with penteconters. On their coming to Tartessus, they became friendly with the king of the Tartessians, whose name was Arganthonius, who was tyrant of Tartessus eighty years and who lived in all a hundred and twenty. With that very man the Phocaeans became friendly to such a very high degree that at the first he bade them abandon Ionia and be settled in his own land wherever they wanted and afterward, when he could not persuade the Phocaeans of that, he then, on learning by inquiry of the Mede from them, how he grew, offered them money to put a wall round their city, and he offered it unsparingly; for in fact the circumference of the wall is no few stades and it’s all of large and well fitted together stones. The wall, then, of the Phocaeans in a manner like this was finished off, and Harpagus, after he had driven his host in opposition, besieged them, while he put forward the statement that it sufficed for him, if the Phocaeans wanted to tear down only one battlement of the wall and to devote one building. So the Phocaeans, aggrieved at their slavery, said they wished to take counsel and then they would reply and, in the time when they took counsel by themselves, they bade him lead away his host from the wall.