Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/314

 296 HISTORY OF GREECE. fit sea the lonians still remained masters. But the unwarlika Aristagoras began to despair of success, and to meditate a moan desertion of the companions and countrymen whom he had him- self betrayed into danger. Assembling his chief advisers, he represented to them the unpromising state of affairs, and the necessity of securing some place of refuge, in case they were expelled from Miletus. He then put the question to them, whether the island of Sardinia, or Myrkinus in Thrace, near (he Strymon (which Histiaeus had begun some time before to fortify, as I have mentioned in the preceding chapter), appeared to them best adapted to the purpose. Among the persons consulted was Hekataeus the historian, who approved neither the one nor the other scheme, but suggested the erection of a fortified post in the neighboring island of Leros ; a Milesian colony, wherein a tem- porary retirement might be sought, should it prove impossible to hold Miletus, but which permitted an easy return to that city, so soon as opportunity offered. 1 Such an opinion must doubtless have been founded on the assumption, that they would be able to maintain superiority at sea. And it is important to note such confident reliance upon this superiority in the mind of a saga- cious man, not given to sanguine hopes, like Hekataeus, even under circumstances very unprosperous on land. Emigration to Myrkinus, as proposed by Aristagoras, presented no hope of refuge at all ; since the Persians, if they regained their authority in Asia Minor, would not fail again to extend it to the Strymon, Nevertheless, the consultation ended by adopting this scheme, since, probably, no lonians could endure the immeasurable dis- tance of Sardinia as a new home. Aristagoras set sail for Myr- kinus, taking with him all who chose to bear him company ; but he perished not long after landing, together with nearly all his com- pany, in the siege of a neighboring Thracian town. 2 Though making profession to lay down his supreme authority at the com- mencement of the revolt, he had still contrived to retain it in gieat measure ; and on departing for Myrkinus, he devolved it on Pythagoras, a citizen in high esteem. It appears however that the Milesians, glad to get rid of a leader who had brought then) ! Herodot. v, 125 ; Strabo, xiv,p. 635.
 * Herodot. v, 1 26.