It is necessary to pursue the story somewhat further before any attempt can be made to hazard a conjecture as to the true explanation of some of the incidents in this narrative. Aristagoras had brought his affairs into a very critical position. He had quarrelled with Megabates, and had made himself surety for a debt to Artaphernes which he had no prospect of being able to pay. He had, indeed, reason to fear that he would lose his tyranny of Miletus. ◆H. v. 35.◆ “Fearing these two things, he proceeded to plan a revolt. For it so fell out that the man with the tattooed head[17] arrived at this time from Histiæus at Susa, suggesting to Aristagoras that he should revolt from the king. For Histiæus when wishing to suggest this revolt to Aristagoras, had, in consequence of the roads being watched, no other way of so doing except by shaving the head of the most faithful of his slaves and tattooing the message upon it. As soon as the hair had grown again he sent him off to Miletus, merely bidding him when he came to Miletus to ask Aristagoras to cut off his hair and look at his head. The tattoo marks, as I have already said, indicated revolt. Histiæus did this because he looked on his retention at Susa as a great misfortune. If a revolt took place he had every hope that he would be sent down to the sea, but he reckoned that if no disturbance took place at Miletus he would never get there. Such was the intent of Histiæus in sending the message. ◆H. v. 36.◆ But for Aristagoras it came about that all these things befel at the same time. He therefore proceeded to consult the conspirators, laying before them his own views and the message which had come from Histiæus.” There are certain strange inconsistencies in this tale. Megabates, though in command of the expedition, though responsible to Darius and Artaphernes for its success, is represented as wrecking what appears to have been a well-devised plan by giving information to the unsuspecting objects of attack. Yet he is neither disgraced nor discredited. His alleged treachery might have been concealed; his failure was, however, patent. Again, it is quite clear that it is the intention of Herodotus to ascribe the outbreak of the revolt to this failure at Naxos; the insurrection is set on foot by Aristagoras merely for the sake of rescuing himself from a position of great embarrassment. And yet, when he proceeds in all haste to plan revolt, he finds fellow conspirators already in existence. It is impossible to suppose that any long interval can have elapsed between the return from Naxos and the first act of the revolt, for that took place on the fleet which had just returned from the attack on the island. The conspiracy cannot have been of recent origin. There can be little doubt that Herodotus’ incidental reference to the “conspirators” or “insurgents” indicates that the plan of revolt had been made before,—it may be, long before,—the expedition to Naxos.