herodotus

is right for one who is king and commander to fight with a king andcommander; for if thou shalt slay the commander of the enemy, it turnsto great glory for thee; and again, if he shall slay thee, whichheaven forbid, even death when it is at the hands of a worthy foe isbut half to be lamented: but for us who are under thy command it issuitable to fight with the others who are under his command and withhis horse: and of the tricks of the horse have thou no fear at all,for I engage to thee that after this at least he shall never standagainst any man more." Thus he spoke; and shortly afterwards theopposed forces joined battle both on land and with their ships. 112.On that day the Ionians for their part greatly distinguishedthemselves and overcame the Phenicians, and of them the Samians werebest: and meanwhile on land, when the armies met, they came to closequarters and fought; and as regards the two commanders, what happenedwas this:--when Artybios came to fight with Onesilos sitting upon hishorse, Onesilos, as he had concerted with his shield-bearer, struck atArtybios himself, when he came to fight with him; and when the horseput its hoofs against the shield of Onesilos, then the Carian struckwith a falchion[91] and smote off the horse's feet. 113 So Artybiosthe commander of the Persians fell there on the spot together with hishorse: and while the others also were fighting, Stesenor the despot ofCurion deserted them, having with him a large force of men,--now theseCurians are said to be settlers from Argos,--and when the Curians haddeserted, forthwith also the war-chariots of the men of Salamisproceeded to do the same as the Curians. When these things took place,the Persians had the advantage over the Cyprians; and after their armyhad been put to rout, many others fell and among them Onesilos the sonof Chersis, he who brought about the revolt of the Cyprians, and alsothe king of the Solians, Aristokypros the son of Philokypros,--thatPhilokypros whom Solon the Athenian, when he came to Cyprus, commendedin verse above all other despots. 114. So the men of Amathus cut offthe head of Onesilos, because he had besieged them; and having broughtit to Amathus they hung it over the gate of the city: and as the headhung there, when it had now become a hollow, a swarm of bees enteredinto it and filled it with honeycomb. This having so come to pass, theAmathusians consulted an Oracle about the head, and they received ananswer bidding them take it down and bury it and sacrifice to Onesilosevery year as a hero; and if they did this, it would go better withthem. 115. The Amathusians accordingly continued to do so even to mytime. But the Ionians who had fought the sea-fight in Cyprus, whenthey perceived that the fortunes of Onesilos were ruined and that thecities of the Cyprians were besieged, except Salamis, and that thiscity had been delivered over by the Salaminians to Gorgos the formerking,--as soon as they perceived this, the Ionians sailed away back toIonia. Now of the cities in Cyprus Soloi held out for the longest timeunder the siege; and the Persians took it in the fifth month by