Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/302

 g84 HISTORY OF GREECE. Aristagoras himself, the unsuccessful armament was brought back to the coast of Ionia. 1 The failure of this expedition threatened Aristagoras with entire ruin. He had incensed Megabates, deceived ArtaphernGs, and incurred an obligation, which he knew not how to discharge, of indemnifying the latter for the costs of the fleet. He began to revolve in his mind the scheme of revolting from Persia, when it so happened that there arrived nearly at the same mo- ment a messenger from his father-in-law, Histioeus, who was detained at the court of Susa, secretly instigating him to this very resolution. Not knowing whom to trust with this dangerous message, Histiteus had caused the head of a faithful slave to be shaved, branded upon it the words necessary, and then despatched him, so soon as his hair had grown, to Mi- letus, with a verbal intimation to Aristagoras that his head was to be again shaved and examined. 2 Histiaeus sought to provoke this perilous rising, simply as a means of procuring his own release from Susa, and in the calculation that Darius would send him down to the coast to reestablish order. His message, arriving at so critical a moment, determined the falter- ing resolution of Aristagoras, who convened his principal parti- sans at Miletus, and laid before them the formidable project of revolt. All of them approved it, with one remarkable exception, the historian Hekatoeus of Miletus ; who opposed it as alto- gether ruinous, and contended that the power of Darius was too vast to leave them any prospect of success. "When he found di- rect opposition fruitless, he next insisted upon the necessity of at once seizing the large treasures in the neighboring temple of Apollo, at Branchidse, for the purpose of carrying on the revolt. By this means alone, he said, could the Milesians, too feeble to carry on the contest with their own force alone, hope to become masters at sea, while, if they did not take these treasures, the victorious enemy surely would. Neither of these recommenda- tions, both of them indicating sagacity and foresight in the pro- poser, were listened to. Probably the seizure of the treasures, though highly useful for the impending struggle, and though 1 Herodot. v, 34, 35. 1 Herodot. v, 35 : compare Polyaen. i, 24, and Aulus Gelliua, U A. xvii. g