Kitap 6
In this way the Athenians overpowered seven ships. The foreigners pushed off with the rest, picked up the Eretrian slaves from the island where they had left them, and sailed around Sunium hoping to reach the city before the Athenians. There was an accusation at Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens that they devised this by a plan of the Alcmaeonidae, who were said to have arranged to hold up a shield as a signal once the Persians were in their ships.
They sailed around Sunium, but the Athenians marched back to defend the city as fast as their feet could carry them and got there ahead of the foreigners. Coming from the sacred precinct of Heracles in Marathon, they pitched camp in the sacred precinct of Heracles in Cynosarges. The foreigners lay at anchor off Phalerum, the Athenian naval port at that time. After riding anchor there, they sailed their ships back to Asia (continent)Asia.
In the battle at Marathon about six thousand four hundred men of the foreigners were killed, and one hundred and ninety-two Athenians; that many fell on each side.
The following marvel happened there: an Athenian, Epizelus son of Couphagoras, was fighting as a brave man in the battle when he was deprived of his sight, though struck or hit nowhere on his body, and from that time on he spent the rest of his life in blindness.
I have heard that he tells this story about his misfortune: he saw opposing him a tall armed man, whose beard overshadowed his shield, but the phantom passed him by and killed the man next to him. I learned by inquiry that this is the story Epizelus tells.
Datis journeyed with his army to Asia (continent)Asia, and when he arrived at Myconos he saw a vision in his sleep. What that vision was is not told, but as soon as day broke Datis made a search of his ships. He found in a Phoenician ship a gilded image of Apollo, and asked where this plunder had been taken. Learning from what temple it had come, he sailed in his own ship to Delos [25.2833,37.4] (Perseus)Delos.
The Delians had now returned to their island, and Datis set the image in the temple, instructing the Delians to carry it away to Theban Delium, on the coast opposite +Chalcis [23.6083,38.4667] (Perseus) Chalcis.
Datis gave this order and sailed away, but the Delians never carried that statue away; twenty years later the Thebans brought it to +Delium (deserted settlement), Boeotia, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Delium by command of an oracle.
When Datis and Artaphrenes reached Asia (continent)Asia in their voyage, they carried the enslaved Eretrians inland to Shush [48.333,32.2] (inhabited place), Khuzestan, Iran, AsiaSusa.
Before the Eretrians were taken captive, king Darius had been terribly angry with them for doing him unprovoked wrong; but when he saw them brought before him and subject to him, he did them no harm, but settled them in a domain of his own called Ardericca in the Cissian land; this place is two hundred and ten stadia distant from Shush [48.333,32.2] (inhabited place), Khuzestan, Iran, AsiaSusa, and forty from the well that is of three kinds.
Asphalt and salt and oil are drawn from it in the following way: a windlass is used in the drawing, with half a skin tied to it in place of a bucket; this is dipped into the well and then poured into a tank; then what is drawn is poured into another tank and goes three ways: the asphalt and the salt congeal immediately; the oil,Petroleum. which the Persians call rhadinace, is dark and evil-smelling.
There king Darius settled the Eretrians, and they dwelt in that place until my time, keeping their ancient language. Such was the fate of the Eretrians.
After the full moon two thousand Lacedaemonians came to Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens, making such great haste to reach it that they were in Attica [23.5,38.83] (department), Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Attica on the third day after leaving Sparta [22.4417,37.0667] (Perseus) Sparta. Although they came too late for the battle, they desired to see the Medes, so they went to Marathon and saw them. Then they departed again, praising the Athenians and their achievement.
It is a wonder to me, and I do not believe the story, that the Alcmeonidae would ever have agreed to hold up a shield as a sign for the Persians out of a desire to make Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens subject to foreigners and to Hippias; for it is plain to see that they were tyrant-haters as much as Callias (son of Phaenippus and father of Hipponicus), or even more so.
Callias was the only Athenian who dared to buy Pisistratus' possessions when they were put up for sale by the state after Pisistratus' banishment from Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens; and he devised other acts of bitter hatred against him.
This chapter is generally held to be an interpolation; it is only found in one (not the best) class of the MSS., and contains un-Herodotean words and phrases. [This Callias is worthy of all men's remembrance for many reasons: first, because he so excellently freed his country, as I have said; second, for what he did at Olympia [21.6333,37.65] (Perseus)Olympia, where he won a horserace, and was second in a four-horse chariot, after already winning a Pythian prize, and was the cynosure of all Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas for the lavishness of his spending;
and third, for his behavior regarding his three daughters. When they were of marriageable age, he gave them a most splendid gift and one very pleasant to them, promising that each would wed that man whom she chose for herself from all the Athenians.]
The Alcmeonidae were tyrant-haters as much as Callias, or not less so. Therefore I find it a strange and unbelievable accusation that they of all men should have held up a shield; at all times they shunned tyrants, and it was by their contrivance that the sons of Pisistratus were deposed from their tyranny.
Thus in my judgment it was they who freed Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens much more than did Harmodius and Aristogeiton. These only enraged the remaining sons of Pisistratus by killing Hipparchus, and did nothing to end the tyranny of the rest of them; but the Alcmeonidae plainly liberated their country, if they truly were the ones who persuaded the Pythian priestess to signify to the Lacedaemonians that they should free Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens, as I have previously shown.
Perhaps out of some grudge against the Athenian people they betrayed their country. But there were no others at Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens more esteemed or more honored than they;
therefore plain reason forbids believing that they of all men could have held up the shield for any such cause. A shield was held up; this cannot be denied, for it happened; but who did it I do not know, and I can say no further.
The Alcmeonidae had been men of renown at Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens even in the old days, and from the time of Alcmeon Alcmeon ‘flourished’ about 590; Croesus' reign was 560-546; it was Megacles son of Alcmeon, and not Alcmeon himself, who was Croesus' contemporary. and then Megacles their renown increased.
When the Lydians from Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis came from Croesus to the Delphic oracle, Alcmeon son of Megacles worked with them and zealously aided them; when Croesus heard from the Lydians who visited the oracle of Alcmeon's benefits to him, he summoned Alcmeon to Sardis [28.0167,38.475] (Perseus) Sardis, and there made him a gift of as much gold as he could carry away at one time on his person.
Considering the nature of the gift, Alcmeon planned and employed this device: he donned a wide tunic, leaving a deep fold in it, and put on the most spacious boots that he could find, then went into the treasury to which they led him.
Falling upon a heap of gold-dust, first he packed next to his legs as much gold as his boots would contain; then he filled all the fold of his tunic with gold and strewed the dust among the hair of his head, and took more of it into his mouth; when he came out of the treasury, hardly dragging the weight of his boots, he was like anything rather than a human being, with his mouth crammed full and all his body swollen.
Croesus burst out laughing at the sight and gave him all the gold he already had and that much more again. Thus the family grew very rich; Alcmeon came to keep four-horse chariots and won with them at Olympia [21.6333,37.65] (Perseus)Olympia.
In the next generation Cleisthenes Cleisthenes of Sikyon [22.725,37.9833] (Perseus)Sicyon was contemporary with Alcmeon. the tyrant of Sikyon [22.725,37.9833] (Perseus)Sicyon raised that house still higher, so that it grew much more famous in Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas than it had formerly been. Cleisthenes son of Aristonymus son of Myron son of Andreas had one daughter, whose name was Agariste. He desired to wed her to the best man he could find in Greece [22,39] (nation), EuropeHellas.
It was the time of the Olympian games, and when he was victor there with a four-horse chariot, Cleisthenes made a proclamation that whichever Greek thought himself worthy to be his son-in-law should come on the sixtieth day from then or earlier to Sikyon [22.725,37.9833] (Perseus)Sicyon, and Cleisthenes would make good his promise of marriage in a year from that sixtieth day.
Then all the Greeks who were proud of themselves and their country came as suitors, and to that end Cleisthenes had them compete in running and wrestling contests.
From Italy [12.833,42.833] (nation), Europe Italy came Smindyrides of +Sybaris [16.4833,39.75] (Perseus) Sybaris, son of Hippocrates, the most luxurious liver of his day (and +Sybaris [16.4833,39.75] (Perseus) Sybaris was then at the height of its prosperity), and Damasus of +Siris [15.6333,40.0667] (Perseus) Siris, son of that Amyris who was called the Wise.
These came from Italy [12.833,42.833] (nation), Europe Italy; from the Ionian Gulf, Amphimnestus son of Epistrophus, an Epidamnian; he was from the Ionian Gulf. From +Aetolia (region (general)), Aitolia and Akarnania, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Aetolia came Males, the brother of that Titormus who surpassed all the Greeks in strength, and fled from the sight of men to the farthest parts of the Aetolian land.
From the +Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese came Leocedes, son of Phidon the tyrant of Argos [22.7333,37.6417] (Perseus) Argos, that Phidon who made weights and measures for the Peloponnesians P. introduced the “Aeginetan” system of weights and measures. For the chronological difficulty connected with this mention of him, see the commentators. and acted more arrogantly than any other Greek; he drove out the Elean contest-directors and held the contests at Olympia [21.6333,37.65] (Perseus)Olympia himself. This man's son now came, and Amiantus, an Arcadian from +Trapezus [39.7167,41] (Perseus) Trapezus, son of Lycurgus; and an Azenian from the town of Paeus, Laphanes, son of that Euphorion who, as the Arcadian tale relates, gave lodging to the Dioscuri, and ever since kept open house for all men; and Onomastus from +Elis [21.4,37.8833] (Perseus) Elis, son of Agaeus.
These came from the +Peloponnese [22,37.5] (region), Greece, Europe Peloponnese itself; from Athens Megacles, son of that Alcmeon who visited Croesus, and also Hippocleides son of Tisandrus, who surpassed the Athenians in wealth and looks. From +Eretria [23.8083,38.3917] (Perseus) Eretria, which at that time was prosperous, came Lysanias; he was the only man from +Euboea [23.833,38.566] (island), Nomos Evvoias, Central Greece and Euboea, Greece, Europe Euboea. From +Thessaly [22.25,39.5] (region), Greece, Europe Thessaly came a Scopad, Diactorides of Crannon; and from the Molossians, Alcon.
These were the suitors. When they arrived on the appointed day, Cleisthenes first inquired the country and lineage of each; then he kept them with him for a year, testing their manliness and temper and upbringing and manner of life; this he did by consorting with them alone and in company, putting the younger of them to contests of strength, but especially watching their demeanor at the common meal; for as long as he kept them with him, he did everything for them and entertained them with magnificence.
The suitors that most pleased him were the ones who had come from Athens [23.7333,37.9667] (Perseus)Athens, and of these Hippocleides son of Tisandrus was judged foremost, both for his manliness and because in ancestry he was related to the Cypselids of Corinth [22.9083,37.9083] (Perseus) Corinth.
When the appointed day came for the marriage feast and for Cleisthenes' declaration of whom he had chosen out of them all, Cleisthenes sacrificed a hundred oxen and gave a feast to the suitors and to the whole of Sikyon [22.725,37.9833] (Perseus)Sicyon.
After dinner the suitors vied with each other in music and in anecdotes for all to hear. As they sat late drinking, Hippocleides, now far outdoing the rest, ordered the flute-player to play him a dance-tune; the flute-player obeyed and he began to dance. I suppose he pleased himself with his dancing, but Cleisthenes saw the whole business with much disfavor.
Hippocleides then stopped for a while and ordered a table to be brought in; when the table arrived, he danced Laconian figures on it first, and then Attic; last of all he rested his head on the table and made gestures with his legs in the air.
Now Cleisthenes at the first and the second bout of dancing could no more bear to think of Hippocleides as his son-in-law, because of his dancing and his shamelessness, but he had held himself in check, not wanting to explode at Hippocleides; but when he saw him making gestures with his legs, he could no longer keep silence and said, “son of Tisandrus, you have danced away your marriage.” Hippocleides said in answer, “It does not matter to Hippocleides!” Since then this is proverbial.
Then Cleisthenes bade them all be silent and spoke to the company at large: “Suitors for my daughter's hand, I thank you one and all; if it were possible I would grant each of you his wish, neither choosing out one to set him above another nor disparaging the rest.