Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/299

 EXPEDITION AGAINST NAXOS. 281 It was about the year 506 B.C., that the exiled Athenian des- pot Hippias, after having been repelled from Sparta by the unanimous refusal of the Lacedaemonian allies to take part in uis cause, presented himself from Sigeium as a petitioner to Artaphernes at Sardis. He now, doubtless, found the benefit of the alliance which he had formed for his daughter with the des- pot jEantides of Lampsakus, whose favor with Darius would Bland him in good stead. He made pressing representations to the satrap, with a view of procuring restoration to Athens, on condition of holding it under Persian dominion ; and Artaphernes was prepared, if an opportunity offered, to aid him in his design. So thoroughly had he resolved on espousing actively the cause of Hippias, that when the Athenians despatched envoys to Sar- dis, to set forth the case of the city against its exiled pretender, he returned to them an answer not merely of denial, but of me- nace, bidding them receive Hippias back again, if they looked for safety. 1 Such a reply was equivalent to a declaration of war, KctK&v if the conjecture of some critics be adopted. Mr. Clinton, with Larcher and others (see Fasti Hellen. App. 18, p. 314), construe this passage as if the comma were to be placed after //era 6e, so that the historian would be made to affirm that the period of repose lasted only a short time. It appears to me that the comma ought rather to be placed after %povov, and that the " short time" refers to those evils which the historian had been describing before. There must have been an interval of eight years at least, if not of ten years, between the events which the historian had been de- scribing the evils inflicted by the attacks of Otanes and the breaking out of the Ionic revolt ; which latter event no one places earlier than 504 B.C., though some prefer 502 B.C., others even 500 B.C. If, indeed, we admitted with "Wesseling (ad Herodot. vi, 40 ; and Mr. Clinton seems inclined towards the same opinion, see p. 314, vi sup.) that the Scythian expedition is to be placed in 508-507 B.C., then indeed the in- terval between the campaign of Otanes and the Ionic revolt would be con- tracted into one or two years. But I have already observed that I cannot think 508 B.C. a correct date for the Scythian expedition : it seems to me to belong to about 515 B.C. Nor do I know what reason there is for deter- mining the date as Wesseling does, except this very phrase ov iroWAv yoovcv, which is on every supposition exceedingly vague, and which h* tppears to me not to have construed in the best way. - Her jdot- T, 96. '0 6e 'ApTiKJtepvrjf ln&eve apeaj d fiwtoiaro 0601 ireu, laraieKecr&oi biriau ~bv