Greece -- History -- To 146 B.C.; History, Ancient
12. Hearing this the Ionians delivered themselves to Dionysios; and he
used to bring the ships out every day in single file, 3 that he might
practise the rowers by making the ships break through one another's
line, 4 and that he might get the fighting-men in the ships under arms;
an then for the rest of the day he would keep the ships at anchor; and
thus he gave the Ionians work to do during the whole day. For seven
days then they submitted and did that which he commanded; but on the
day after these the Ionians, being unaccustomed to such toils and
being exhausted with hard work and hot sun, spoke to one another thus:
"Against which of the deities have we offended, that we thus fill up the
measure of evil? for surely we have delivered ourselves to a Phocaian,
an impostor, who furnishes but three ships: and he has taken us into
his hands and maltreats us with evil dealing from which we can never
recover; and many of us in fact have fallen into sicknesses, and many
others, it may be expected, will suffer the same thing shortly; and for
us it is better to endure anything else in the world rather than these
ills, and to undergo the slavery which will come upon us, whatever that
shall be, rather than to be oppressed by that which we have now. Come,
let us not obey him after this any more." So they said, and forthwith
after this every one refused to obey him, and they pitched their tents
in the island like an army, and kept in the shade, and would not go on
board their ships or practise any exercises.
13. Perceiving this which was being done by the Ionians, the commanders
of the Samians then at length accepted from Aiakes the son of Syloson
those proposals which Aiakes sent before at the bidding of the Persians,
asking them to leave the alliance of the Ionians; the Samians, I say,
accepted these proposals, perceiving that there was great want of
discipline on the part of the Ionians, while at the same time it was
clear to them that it was impossible to overcome the power of the king;
and they well knew also that even if they should overcome the present
naval force of Dareios, 5 another would be upon them five times as
large. Having found an occasion 6 then, so soon as they saw that the
Ionians refused to be serviceable, they counted it gain for themselves
to save their temples and their private property. Now Aiakes, from whom
the Samians accepted the proposals, was the son of Syloson, the son of
Aiakes, and being despot of Samos he had been deprived of his rule by
Aristagoras the Milesian, like the other despots of Ionia..
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