Story of the Greek and the Roman People

KING MIDAS'S DAUGHTER TURNED INTO GOLD.

The next Lydian king was Crœsus. He laid siege to one colony—but rather gently, so as to do it no real harm, —and soon not only that one but all the Ionian colonies agreed to acknowledge him as their king. Crœsus was the richest ruler in Asia, and he was as generous as he was rich. He admired the Greeks and liked them and was always ready to do them favors. The Spartans once sent to buy gold of him to adorn the statue of a god, he gave them freely all that they needed. An Athenian had been kind to his envoys, and the grateful king led him into the royal treasure-chamber and told him to take as much gold as he could carry. He was so good to the Delphians that they made him a citizen of the sacred place. The colonies were not pleased at losing their independence, but they had nothing to fear from so kindly a ruler.

The time soon came, however, when they did have reason to be alarmed. Cyrus, king of the Persians, had overthrown Media, the land lying to the eastward of his kingdom, and was to Cyrus ready to attack Lydia. He invited the colonies to join him. Miletus did so, but the others refused. Crœsus was defeated; and then Ionia had to yield.

SEAL OF DARIUS.

So it was that Greece lost the rich colonies of the Lydian coast; and before many years had passed, the Greeks began to fear for their own homeland. The Persian empire, vast as it was, was not vast enough to satisfy Cyrus's son Cambyses, and when he conquests of became ruler he set to work to make it larger. He conquered Phœnicia, and then swept along the African coast, conquering Egypt and the Greek colonies lying to the west of it. The next king, Darius, was even more ambitious than Cyrus and Cambyses, and as soon as he had quieted some revolts, made a few fine buildings, and laid out some good roads, he, too, set out to enlarge his kingdom. First, he turned to the east, and soon India had become a part of the Persian empire. He had not forgotten the country that lay to the west, and before long he determined to try his hand in Europe. He had an old grudge against the Scythians, who lived in what is now southern Russia, so he started to conquer them. He crossed the Bosphorus and marched through Thrace and toward the north. He knew the Danube would be in him way, so he had sent his fleet to its mouth with orders to make a bridge of boats across it. Then over the Danube he went in pursuit of the Scythians. He might as well have chased the wind, for they had no towns to be destroyed, and they almost lived on their horses. They had a most exasperating fashion of keeping just in sight of the Persians, but never allowing them to catch up.

The Scythians were enjoying themselves, but Darius was at his wits' end. Then the provoking Scythians sent him a present,—a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows. "If the Persians are wise," said the envoy, "they can find out the meaning for themselves." "The mouse is of the earth, the frog of the water, the bird of the air, and the arrows signify warfare," mused Darius. "This means that they are about to surrender." But one of his men did not agree. "This is its meaning," he said: "Unless, Persians, ye can turn into birds and fly up into the sky, or become mice and burrow under the ground, or make yourselves frogs and take refuge in the fens, ye will never make escape from this land, but die pierced by our arrows." Darius scorned this interpretation; but one day it came to pass that the Scythians and the Persians were really drawn up in line for battle, when a hare started up, and the Scythians all rushed off in pursuit of the hare. Then said Darius to the interpreter, "You were right. These Scythians despise us, and we will return to Persia."

They set out on the return, but the Scythians went faster and came first to the bridge of boats. It was guarded by some of the Ionians who had surrendered to Darius. "Break down the bridge," urged the Scythians, "and then you may go home in peace. We will see to it that King Darius never makes war again." The Ionian leaders had been put by Darius in charge of some cities that he had conquered. One of them, Miltiades, said, "Let us destroy the bridge, and then Greece will be forever free from the fear of Darius." "No," objected Histiæus, the ruler of Miletus, "if Darius is slain, we shall no longer be in command of his cities." The bridge was not destroyed, and Darius went home in safety. He had not subdued the Scythians, but he had forced many towns in Thrace and Macedonia to submit to him. Indeed, to the north, east, and south of Greece all was in his hands; and to make matters even worse for the little country, the kingdom of Carthage, in Africa, was trying to get possession of the island of Sicily.

The Greeks of the mother country were alarmed, and the Greeks in Ionia were unhappy. Still, nothing might have been done if Histiæus, whom Darius insisted upon keeping at his court, had not longed to return to Miletus. He said to himself, "If the Ionian colonies would only revolt, perhaps Darius would send me back to quell them." He contrived to send a message to his son-in-law, saying, "Set a revolt on foot in Ionia." The son-in-law obeyed. Then he crossed the Ægean Sea Ionia to learn whether Greece would help on the revolt. Sparta did not care to help Ionian colonies and so strengthen Athens, but Athens could hardly refuse to aid her own colonists. Moreover, she had a little grudge of her own against the Persians because they had received Hippias and done all that they could to make him again tyrant of Athens. The Athenians concluded to send twenty ships. The Eretrians of Eubœa, a large island just off the shores of Attica agreed to help, and so they and the Athenians sailed across the Ægean Sea. The colonists and their allies took Sardis, Darius's capital; then so many Persians came to oppose them that they began to be afraid. They hurried on board their ships and went home. They had done enough to make Darius hate them, but not enough to be of much service to the colonists. Swift couriers hastened to Darius. "O king, they cried, "Sardis is taken and burned by the Ionians and the Athenians!" "The Athenians, who are they?" demanded Darius. His counselors told him. He shot an arrow into the air and called, "O Zeus, suffer me to avenge myself on the Athenians!" Then he turned to a slave and gave him this command: "Whenever I seat myself to eat, do you cry aloud thrice, 'O king, remember the Athenians.'"