Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/260

 242 HISTORY OF GREECE. The facts mentioned by Herodotus rather lead us to believe that it was Polykrates, who, with characteristic faithlessness, broke off his friendship with Araasis ;' finding it suitable to his policy to cultivate the alliance of Kambyses, when that prince WPS pre- paring for his invasion of Egypt. In that invasion, the Ionic subjects of Persia were called upon to serve, and Polykrates, deeming it a good opportunity to rid himself of some Samiau malcontents, sent to the Persian king to tender auxiliaries from himself. Karabyses, having eagerly caught at the prospect of aid from the first naval potentate in the -i?Egean, forty Samiau triremes were sent to the Nile, having on board the suspected persons, as well as conveying a secret request to the Persian king that they might never be suffered to return. Either they never went to Egypt, however, or they found means to escape ; very contradictory stories had reached Herodotus. But they certainly returned to Samos, attacked Polykrates at home, and were driven off by his superior force without making any impres- sion. Whereupon they repaired to Sparta to entreat assist- ance. 2 We may here notice the gradually increasing tendency in the Grecian world to recognize Sparta as something like a head, pro- tector, or referee, in cases either of foreign danger or internal dispute. The earliest authentic instance known to us. of appli- cation to Sparta in this character, is that of Croesus against Cyrus: next, that of the Ionic Greeks against the latter: the instance of the Samians now before us, is the third. The impor- tant events connected with, and consequent upon, the expulsion of the Peisistratidae from Athens, manifesting yet more formally the headship of Sparta, occur fifteen years after the present event ; they have been already recounted in a previous chapter, and serve as a farther proof of progress in the same direction. To watch the growth of these new political habits, is essential to a right understanding of Grecian history. On reaching Sparta, the Samian exiles, borne down with de- spondency and suffering, entered at large into the particulars of their case. Their long speaking annoyed instead of moving the 1 Kerodot. iii, 44. ' Hcrodot. iii. 44