Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/293

 MACEDONIA CONQUERED BY THE PERSIANS. 275 Nor did the conquests of Megabazus stop at the western bank of the Strymon. He carried his arms across that river, conquer- rcference to the bridge, would probably be the name of the leader who urged its destruction, and the name of Histiseus. who preserved it. Indeed, the mere fact of the mischievous influence exercised by the latter after wards would be pretty sure to keep these points of the case in full view. There are me?is of escaping from the difficulty of the case, I think, with out contradicting Herodotus on any matter of fact important and conspic nous, or indeed on any matter of fact whatever. We see by vi, 40, thai Miltiades did quit the Chersonese between the close of the Scythian expedi- tion of Darius and the Ionic revolt; Herodotus, indeed, tells us that he quitted it in consequence of an incursion of the Scythians : but without denying the fact of such an incursion, we may reasonably suppose the his- torian to have been mistaken in assigning it as the cause of the flight of Miltiades. The latter was prevented from living in the Chersonese con- tinuously, during the interval between the Persian invasion of Scythia and the Ionic revolt, by fear of Persian enmity. It is not necessary for us to believe that he was never there at all, but his residence there must have been interrupted and insecure. The chronological data in Herodot. vi, 40, are exceedingly obscure and perplexing ; but it seems to me that the sup- position which I suggest introduces a plausible coherence into the series of historical facts, with the slightest possible contradiction to our capital witness. The only achievement of Miltiades, between the affair on the Danube and his return to Athens shortly before the battle of Marathon, is the con- quest of Lemnos ; and that must have taken place evidently while the Per- sians were occupied by the Ionic revolt, (between 502-494 B.C.) There is nothing in his recorded deeds inconsistent with the belief, therefore, that between 515-502 B.C. he may not have resided in the Chersonese at all, or at least not for very long together : and the statement of Cornelius Nepos, that he quitted it immediately after the return from Scythia, from fear of the Persians, may be substantially time. Dr. Thirlwall observes (p. 487) '' As little would it appear that when the Scythians invaded the Cher- sonese, Miltiades was conscious of having endeavored to render them an important service. He flies before them, though he had been so secure while the Persian arms were in his neighborhood." He has here put his finger on what I believe to be the error of Herodotus, the supposition that Miltiades fled from the Chersonese to avoid the Scythians, whereaj he really left it to avoid the Persians. The story of Strabo (xiii, p. 591), that Darius caused the Greek cities tm the Asiatic side of the Hellespont to be burnt down, in order to hinder Jiem from affording means of transport to the Scythians into Asia, seems A.bydus among them, al the time of the Ionic revolt a few years afterward! flerodot. v 117)
 * 0 me highly improbable. These towns appear in their ordinary condition,