Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/307

 THE ATHENIANS ASSIST IONIA. 289 Rejected at Sparta, Aristagoras proceeded to Athens, now de- cidedly the second power in Greece. And here he found ac easier task, not only as it was the metropolis, or mother-city, of Asiatic Ionia, but also as it had already incurred the pro- nounced hostility of the Persian satrap, and might look to be attacked as soon as the project came to suit his convenience, under the instigation of Hippias : whereas the Spartans had not only no kindred with Ionia, beyond that of common Hellenism, but were in no hostile relations with Persia, and would have been provoking a new eno-ny by meddling in the Asiatic war. The promises and representations of Aristagoras were accordingly received with great favor by the Athenians : who, over and above the claims of sympathy, had a powerful interest in sus- taining the Ionic revolt as an indirect protection to themselves, and to whom the abstraction of the Ionic fleet from the Per- sians afforded a conspicuous and important relief. The Athe- nians at once resolved to send a fleet of twenty ships, under Melanthius, as an aid to the revolted lonians, ships which are 6t) led by Herodotus, " the beginning of the mischiefs between Gi-teks and barbarians," as the ships in which Paris crossed l-he -<Egean had before been called in the Iliad of Homer. He- rodotus farther remarks that it seems easier to deceive many men togetuer than one, since Aristagoras, after having failed with Kleomenes, thus imposed upon the thirty thousand citizens of Athens. 1 But on this remark two comments suggest themselves. First, the circumstances of Athens and Sparta were not the f$ame in regard to the Ionic quarrel, an observation which Herodotus himself had made a little while before : the Athe- nians had a material interest in the quarrel, political as well as aurolai ))filv, (Ti tie TUV MtiriJv v/tlv, offu Trpoeore'are r?}f 'EAAudof (Herod otus, v, 49). In reference to the earlier incident (Herodot. i, 70) Tov- TSUV TS uv elvEKEt oi a.Kedai/j.6vioi TTJV avfj.fia^irjv idegavTO, Kat OTI e/c TTUV- TUV atyi'af irpoKpiva 'E%.Ar/vuv, atpeero v. 13