Herodotos 6.7-17
(slackers at Lade):
Against
Miletus itself a great fleet and army were expected, for the Persian generals
had joined their power together and made one army, which they led against
Miletus, taking less account of the other fortresses. Of the fleet, the
Phoenicians were the most eager to fight, and there came with them to the war
the newly subdued Cyprians, and the Cilicians and
Egyptians. These were coming to attack Miletus and the rest of Ionia. When the
Ionians learned of it, they sent deputies to take counsel for them in the Panionium.1 When they came to that place and consulted, they
resolved not to collect a land army to meet the Persians, but to leave the Milesians to defend their walls themselves,
and to man their fleet to the last ship and gather as quickly as possible at Lade to fight for Miletus at sea. This Lade is a small island lying off the city
of Miletus.
The
Ionians then came there with their ships manned, and with them the Aeolians who
dwell in Lesbos. This was their order of battle: The Milesians
themselves had the eastern wing, bringing eighty ships; next to them were the Prieneans with twelve ships, and the Myesians
with three; next to the Myesians were the Teians with seventeen ships; next to these the Chians with a hundred; near these in the line were the Erythraeans, bringing eight ships, and the Phocaeans with three, and next to these the Lesbians with
seventy; last of all in the line were the Samians,
holding the western wing with sixty ships. [2] The
total number of all these together was three hundred and fifty-three triremes.
These
were the Ionian ships; the ships of the foreigners were six hundred. When
these, too, reached the Milesian shore, and all their
land power was present, the Persian generals, learning the number of the Ionian
ships, feared they would be too weak to overcome the Greeks. If they did not
have mastery of the sea, they would not be able to take Miletus, and would be
in danger of some evil treatment by Darius.
[2] With this in mind, they gathered the tyrants of the
Ionians who had been deposed from their governments by Aristagoras
of Miletus and had fled to the Medes, and who now were with the army that was
led against Miletus. They gathered as many of these men as were with them and
said to them:
[3] “Men of Ionia, let each one of you now show that he has
done good service to the king's house; let each one of you try to separate your
own countrymen from the rest of the allied power. Set this promise before them:
they will suffer no harm for their rebellion, neither their temples nor their
houses will be burnt, nor will they in any way be treated more violently than
before. [4] But if they will not do so and are set
on fighting, then utter a threat that will restrain them: if they are defeated
in battle, they will be enslaved; we will make eunuchs of their boys, and carry
their maidens captive to Bactra, and hand over their land to others.”
10] So
they spoke; the Ionian tyrants sent their messages by night, each to his own countrymen. But the Ionians to whom these messages
came were stubborn and would have no part of the treachery, each
thinking that the Persians made this offer to them alone. This happened
immediately after the Persians arrived at Miletus.
11] Then
the Ionians who had gathered at Lade
held assemblies; among those whom I suppose to have addressed them was
Dionysius, the Phocaean general, who spoke thus: [2] “Our affairs, men of Ionia, stand on the edge of a
razor, whether to be free men or slaves, and runaway slaves at that. If you now
consent to endure hardships, you will have toil for the present time, but it
will be in your power to overcome your enemies and gain freedom; but if you
will be weak and disorderly, I see nothing that can save you from paying the
penalty to the king for your rebellion. [4] Believe
me and entrust yourselves to me; I promise you that (if the gods deal fairly
with us) either our enemies shall not meet us in battle, or if they do they
shall be utterly vanquished.”
12.1]
When the Ionians heard this, they put themselves in
Dionysius' hands. He then each day put out to sea with ships in column, using
the rowers to pierce each other's line of ships,1 and arming the fighting men on board; for the
rest of the day he kept the fleet at anchor; all day he made the Ionians work.
[2] For seven days they obeyed him and did his bidding; but
on the next day, untried as they were in such labor and worn out by hard work
and by the sun, the Ionians began to say each to other: [3]
“Against what god have we sinned that we have to fulfill this task? We have
lost our minds and launched out into folly, committing ourselves into the hands
of this Phocaean braggart, who brings but three
ships; and having got us he afflicts us with afflictions incurable. Many of us
have fallen sick already, and many are likely to suffer the same thing; instead
of these ills, it would be better for us to suffer anything, and endure this
coming slavery, whatever it will be, rather than be oppressed by that which is
now upon us. Come, let us obey him no longer!”
[4] So they spoke, and from then on no man would obey. As
if they were an army, they raised tents on the island where they stayed in the
shade, and they were unwilling to embark upon their ships or to continue their
exercises.
When
the generals of the Samians learned what the Ionians
were doing, they recalled that message which Aeaces
son of Syloson had already sent them at the Persians'
bidding, entreating them to desert the Ionian alliance; seeing great disorder
on the Ionian side, they consented to the message; moreover, it seemed
impossible to them to overcome the king's power, and they were well assured
that if they overcame Darius' present fleet, another one five times as large
would come.
[2] Therefore, as soon as they saw the Ionians refusing to
be useful, they took up that for a pretext, considering it advantageous to save
their own temples and houses. This Aeaces, from whom
they received the message, was the son of Syloson son
of Aeaces, and had been tyrant of Samos until he was
deposed from his rule by Aristagoras of Miletus, just
like the other Ionian tyrants.
14.1]
Now when the Phoenician fleet came sailing against them, the Ionians put out to
sea against them with their ships in column. When they drew near and met each other
in battle, which of the Ionians were brave men or cowards then in that
sea-fight I cannot exactly say; for they all blame each other. [2] The Samians are said,
according to their agreement with Aeaces, to have
raised their sails and gone off to Samos, leaving their post, all except eleven
ships.
[3] The captains of these stood their ground and fought,
disobeying their admirals. For this deed the Samian
people granted that their names and patronymics should be engraved on a pillar
as brave men; this pillar now stands in their market-place. But the Lesbians,
seeing their neighbors fleeing, did the same as the Samians;
and most of the Ionians did likewise.
15.1]
The most roughly handled of those that stood their
ground in the sea-fight were the Chians, since they
refused to be cowards and achieved deeds of renown. They brought a hundred
ships to the fleet, as was mentioned above, and on each ship were forty picked
men of their citizens. The most roughly handled of those that stood their
ground in the sea-fight were the Chians, since they
refused to be cowards and achieved deeds of renown. They brought a hundred
ships to the fleet, as was mentioned above, and on each ship were forty picked
men of their citizens.
16.1]
The Chians escaped to their own country with their
remaining ships, but the crews of the Chian ships
that were damaged and disabled were pursued and took refuge in Mykale. There the men beached and left their ships, and
made their way across the mainland. [2] But when the
Chians entered the lands of Ephesus on their march,
they came by night while the women were celebrating the Thesmophoria;
then the Ephesians, never having heard the story of the Chians
and seeing an army invading their country, were fully persuaded that these were
robbers come after their women; so they mustered all their force and killed the
Chians.
17.1]
So these men met with such a fate. As for Dionysius
the Phocaean, when he saw that the Ionian cause was
lost, he sailed away with the three enemy ships that he had captured; but not
to Phocaea, now that he knew well that it would be enslaved with the rest of
Ionia; he right away sailed straight to Phoenicia instead, sunk some merchant
ships, took a lot of money, and sailed to Sicily; from this base he set himself
up as a pirate, robbing Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians,
but no Greeks.