Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/126

 94 HIbTORr OF GREECE. desperate defence, he preferred admlttiug them to terms of capitu- lation, and received them into his own service.^ To the surviv- nig Milesian citizens he granted the condition of a free city, while he caused all the remaining prisoners to be sold as slaves. The powerful Persian fleet, from the neighboring promontory of Mykale, was compelled to witness, without being able to pre- vent, the capture of Miletus, and was presently Avithdrawn to Ha- likarnassus. At the same time Alexander came to the resolution of disbanding his own fleet ; which, while costing more than he could then aiford, was nevertheless unfit to cope with the enemy in open sea. He calculated that by concentrating all his eflbrts on land-operations, especially against the cities on the coast, he should exclude the Persian fleet from all elfective hold on Asia Minor, and ensure that country to himself. He therefore paid off all the ships, retaining only a moderate squadron for the pur- poses of transport." Before this time, probably, the whole Asiatic coast northward of Miletus — including the Ionic and -3Eolic cities and the jirinci- pality of IVIemnon — had either accepted willingly the dominion of Alexander, or had been reduced by his detachments. Ac- cordingly he now directed his march southward from Miletus, towards Karia, and especially towai'ds Halikarnassus, the princi- pal city of that territory. On entering Karia, he was met by Ada, a member of the Karian princely family, who tendered to him her town of Alinda and her other possessions, adopting him as her son, and entreating his protection. Not many years earlier, under Maus61us and Artemisia, the powerful princes of this fam- ily had been formidable to all the Grecian islands. It was the custom of Ivaria that brothers and sisters of the reigning family intermarried with each other : Mausdlus and his wife Artemisia were succeeded by Idrieus and his wife Ada, all four being brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of Hekatomnus. On the ' Anian, i. 19 ; Diodor. xvii. 22. ' Arrian, i. 20, 1-4 ; Diodor. xvii. 22. At tlic s.ime time, the statement of Diodorus can hardly be correct (xvii. 24), that Alexander sent his battering engines from Miletus to Halikarnassus by sea. This would only have expos- ed them to be captured by the Persian fleet. We shall sec that Alexander reorganized his entire fleet during the ensuing year.