herodotus

Phenicia; and having there sunk merchant ships and taken a greatquantity of goods, he sailed thence to Sicily. Then with that for hisstarting-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 seafight,besieged Miletos by land and sea, undermining the walls andbringing against it all manner of engines; and they took itcompletely[9] in the sixth year from the revolt of Aristagoras, andreduced the people to slavery; so that the disaster agreed with theoracle which had been uttered with reference to Miletos. 19. For whenthe Argives were inquiring at Delphi about the safety of their city,there was given to them an oracle which applied to both, that is tosay, part of it had reference to the Argives themselves, while thatwhich was added afterwards referred to the Milesians. The part of itwhich had reference to the Argives I will record when I reach thatplace in the history,[10] but that which the Oracle uttered withreference 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 longhaired,and the women and children were dealt with as slaves; and thetemple at Didyma, with the sacred building and the sanctuary of theOracle, was first plundered and then burnt. Of the things in thistemple I have made mention frequently in other parts of thehistory.[11] 20. After this the Milesians who had been taken prisonerwere 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 theMilesian land the Persians themselves kept the surroundings of thecity and the plain, but the heights they gave to the Carians of Pedasafor a possession.21. When the Milesians suffered this treatment from the Persians, themen of Sybaris, who were dwelling in Laos and Skidros, being deprivedof their own city, did not repay like with like: for when Sybaris wastaken by the men of Croton, the Milesians all from youth upwardsshaved their heads and put on great mourning: for these cities weremore than all others of which we know bound together by ties offriendship. Not like the Sybarites were the Athenians; for these madeit clear that they were grieved at the capture of Miletos, both in