Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/315

 DESERTION OF ARISTAGORAS. ?Q; nothing but mischief, 1 paid little obedience to his successor, and made their government from this period popular in reality aa well as in profession. The desertion of Aristagoras, with the citizens whom he carried away, must have seriously damped the spirits of those who remained : nevertheless, it seems that the cause of th? Ionic revolters was quite as well conducted without him. Not long after his departure, another despot Histiaeus of Miletus, his father-in-law, and jointly with him the fomenter of the revolt presented himself at the gates of Miletus for ad- mission. The outbreak of the revolt had enabled him, as he had calculated, to procure leave of departure from Darius. That prince had been thrown into violent indignation by the attack and burning of Sardis, and by the general revolt of Ionia, headed (so the news reached him) by the Milesian Aristagoras, but car- ried into effect by the active cooperation of the Athenians. "The Athenians (exclaimed Darius), who are they 1 }" On re- ceiving the answer, he asked for his bow, placed an arrow on the string, and shot as high as he could towards the heavens, saying : " Grant me, Zeus, to revenge myself on the Athe- nians." He at the same time desired an attendant to remind him thrice every day at dinner: "Master, remember the Athe- nians ;" for as to the lonians, he felt assured that their hour of retribution would come speedily and easily enough. 2 This Homeric incident deserves notice as illustrating the epical handling of Herodotus. His theme is, the invasions of Greece by Persia : he has now arrived at the first eruption, in the bosom of Darius, of that passion which impelled the Persian forces towards Marathon and Salamis, and he marks the beginning of the new phase by act and word both alike significant. It may be compared to the libation and prayer addressed by Achilles in the Iliad to Zeus, at the moment when he is sending forth Patro- klus and the Myrmidons to the rescue of the despairing Greeks. 1 Hcrodot. vi, 5. 01 6e 'Mt^fiatoi, ua/uevoi a;raA/lai9t'vref /cat 'Apiffra- )6pEif), oldajiuf ITOIUOI taav u/Ulov rvpavvov dsKecrSai If TTJV %upT]v, old re ifav&epiTii; yevaufievot. 8 Herodot. v, 105. '2 Zev, kKjevsadai pot ' Adrjvaiove riaacr&ai. Compare the Thracian practice of communicating with the gods by shooting arrow* high up into the air (Herodot. ir, 94).