Herodotus' HISTORY BOOK 6 (ERATO) Complete

Translated by G. Macaulay.

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17. Such was the fortune which befell these men: but Dionysios the Phocaian, when he perceived that the cause of the Ionians was ruined, after having taken three ships of the enemy sailed away, not to Pocaia any more, for he knew well that it would be reduced to slavery together with the rest of Ionia, and he sailed forthwith straight to Phenicia; and having there sunk merchant ships and taken a great quantity of goods, he sailed thence to Sicily. Then with that for his starting-point he became a freebooter, not plundering any Hellenes, but Carthaginians and Tyrsenians only.

18. The Persians, then, being conquerors of the Ionians in the sea-fight, besieged Miletos by land and sea, undermining the walls and bringing against it all manner of engines; and they took it completely[9] in the sixth year from the revolt of Aristagoras, and reduced the people to slavery; so that the disaster agreed with the oracle which had been uttered with reference to Miletos. 19. For when the Argives were inquiring at Delphi about the safety of their city, there was given to them an oracle which applied to both, that is to say, part of it had reference to the Argives themselves, while that which was added afterwards referred to the Milesians. The part of it which had reference to the Argives I will record when I reach that place in the history,[10] but that which the Oracle uttered with reference to the Milesians, who were not there present, is as follows:

"And at that time, O Miletos, of evil deeds the contriver, Thou shalt be made for many a glorious gift and a banquet: Then shall thy wives be compelled to wash the feet of the long-haired, And in Didyma then my shrine shall be tended by others."

At the time of which I speak these things came upon the Milesians, since most of the men were killed by the Persians, who are long-haired, and the women and children were dealt with as slaves; and the temple at Didyma, with the sacred building and the sanctuary of the Oracle, was first plundered and then burnt. Of the things in this temple I have made mention frequently in other parts of the history.[11] 20. After this the Milesians who had been taken prisoner were conducted to Susa; and king Dareios did to them no other evil, but settled them upon the Sea called Erythraian, in the city of Ampe, by which the Tigris flows when it runs out into the sea. Of the Milesian land the Persians themselves kept the surroundings of the city and the plain, but the heights they gave to the Carians of Pedasa for a possession.

9. {kat akres}, lit. "from the top downwards," i.e. town and citadel both.

10. See ch. 77.

11. See i. 92 and v. 36.

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