herodotus

track and came up with them at Ephesos: and the Ionians stood indeedagainst them in array, but when they joined battle they had very muchthe worse; and besides other persons of note whom the Persiansslaughtered, there fell also Eualkides commander of the Eretrians, aman who had won wreaths in contests of the games and who was muchcelebrated by Simonides of Keos: and those of them who survived thebattle dispersed to their various cities.103. Thus then they fought at that time; and after the battle theAthenians left the Ionians together, and when Aristagoras was urgentin calling upon them by messengers for assistance, they said that theywould not help them: the Ionians, however, though deprived of thealliance of the Athenians, none the less continued to prepare for thewar with the king, so great had been the offences already committed bythem against Dareios. They sailed moreover to the Hellespont andbrought under their power Byzantion and all the other cities which arein those parts; and then having sailed forth out of the Hellespont,they gained in addition the most part of Caria to be in alliance withthem: for even Caunos, which before was not willing to be their ally,then, after they had burnt Sardis, was added to them also. 104. TheCyprians too, excepting those of Amathus, were added voluntarily totheir alliance; for these also had revolted from the Medes in thefollowing manner:--there was one Onesilos, younger brother of Gorgosking of Salamis, and son of Chersis, the son of Siromos, the son ofEuelthon. This man in former times too had been wont often to adviseGorgos to make revolt from the king, and at this time, when he heardthat the Ionians had revolted, he pressed him very hard andendeavoured to urge him to it. Since however he could not persuadeGorgos, Onesilos watched for a time when he had gone forth out of thecity of Salamis, and then together with the men of his own faction heshut him out of the gates. Gorgos accordingly being robbed of the citywent for refuge to the Medes, and Onesilos was ruler of Salamis andendeavoured to persuade all the men of Cyprus to join him in revolt.The others then he persuaded; but since those of Amathus were notwilling to do as he desired, he sat down before their city andbesieged it.105. Onesilos then was besieging Amathus; and meanwhile, when it wasreported to king Dareios that Sardis had been captured and burnt bythe Athenians and the Ionians together, and that the leader of theleague for being about these things[88] was the Milesian Aristagoras,it is said that at first being informed of this he made no account ofthe Ionians, because he knew that they at all events would not escapeunpunished for their revolt, but he inquired into who the Athenianswere; and when he had been informed, he asked for his bow, and havingreceived it and placed an arrow upon the string, he discharged it