Aristagoras remained at Miletus, and delegated to his brother the command of the Milesian forces. The Greeks then sailed to Ephesus, debarked at Coressus, in its vicinity, and, under the conduct of Ephesian guides, marched along the winding valley of the Cayster-- whose rapid course, under a barbarous name, the traveller yet traces, though the swans of the Grecian poets haunt its waves no more--passed over the auriferous Mount of Tmolus, verdant with the vine, and fragrant with the saffron--and arrived at the gates of the voluptuous Sardis. They found Artaphernes unprepared for this sudden invasion-- they seized the city (B. C. 499).--the satrap and his troops retreated to the citadel. The houses of Sardis were chiefly built of reeds, and the same slight and inflammable material thatched the roofs even of the few mansions built of brick. A house was set on fire by a soldier--the flames spread throughout the city. In the midst of the conflagration despair gave valour to the besieged--the wrath of man was less fearful than that of the element; the Lydians, and the Persians who were in the garrison, rushed into the market-place, through which flowed the river of Pactolus. There they resolved to encounter the enemy. The invaders were seized with a sudden panic, possibly as much occasioned by the rage of the conflagration as the desperation of the foe; and, retiring to Mount Tmolus, took advantage of the night to retrace their march along the valley of the Cayster. VI. But the Ionians were not fated to return in safety: from the borders of the river Halys a troop of Persians followed their retreat, and overtaking them when the Ephesian territory was already gained, defeated the Ionians with a great slaughter, amid which fell the leader of the Eretrians.