herodotus

fell upon them a violent North Wind, against which they could donothing, and handled them very roughly, casting away very many oftheir ships on Mount Athos. It is said indeed that the number of theships destroyed was three hundred,[30a], and more than twenty thousandmen; for as this sea which is about Athos is very full of seamonsters, some were seized by these and so perished, while others weredashed against the rocks; and some of them did not know how to swimand perished for that cause, others again by reason of cold. 45. Thusfared the fleet; and meanwhile Mardonios and the land-army whileencamping in Macedonia were attacked in the night by the BrygianThracians, and many of them were slain by the Brygians and Mardonioshimself was wounded. However not even these escaped being enslaved bythe Persians, for Mardonios did not depart from that region until hehad made them subject. But when he had subdued these, he proceeded tolead his army back, since he had suffered great loss with his landarmyin fighting against the Brygians and with his fleet in goinground Athos. So this expedition departed back to Asia having gained nohonour by its contests.46. In the next year after this Dareios first sent a messenger to themen of Thasos, who had been accused by their neighbours of planningrevolt, and bade them take away the wall around their town and bringtheir ships to Abdera. The Thasians in fact, as they had been besiegedby Histiaios the Milesian and at the same time had large revenuescoming in, were using their money in building ships of war and insurrounding their city with a stronger wall. Now the revenues came tothem from the mainland and from the mines: from the gold-mines inScapte Hyle[31] there came in generally eighty talents a year, andfrom those in Thasos itself a smaller amount than this but so muchthat in general the Thasians, without taxes upon the produce of theirsoil, had a revenue from the mainland and from the mines amountingyearly to two hundred talents, and when the amount was highest, tothree hundred. 47. I myself saw these mines, and by much the mostmarvellous of them were those which the Phenicians discovered, whomade the first settlement in this island in company with Thasos; andthe island had the name which it now has from this Thasos thePhenician. These Phenician mines are in that part of Thasos which isbetween the places called Ainyra and Koinyra and opposite Samothrake,where there is a great mountain which has been all turned up in thesearch for metal. Thus it is with this matter: and the Thasians on thecommand of the king both razed their walls and brought all their shipsto Abdera.48. After this Dareios began to make trial of the Hellenes, what theymeant to do, whether to make war with him or to deliver themselves up.He sent abroad heralds therefore, and appointed them to go some to one