The Ionians having been drawn into revolt through the intrigues and ambitious views of two persons, Aristagoras and Hysteius, the Persians, having routed the Ionians, laid siege to Miletus, both by sea and land. They not only undermined the walls, but applied every species of military machines against it. The oracle had declared:--
And thou, Miletus, versed in ill too long, Shalt be the prey and plunder of the strong: Your wives shall stoop to wash a long-hair'd train, And others guard our Didymæan fane.
This prophecy was fulfilled. The city was taken and utterly destroyed. The greater part of the Milesians were slain by the Persians, who at that time wore long hair; and their wives and children were carried into slavery. Those who survived, were sent to Susa; Darius treating them with great humanity.
The Milesians, continues Herodotus, on suffering these calamities from the Persians, did not meet with the return from the people of Sybaris, which they might justly have expected. When Sybaris was taken by the Crotoniati, the Milesians had shaved their heads, and discovered every testimony of sorrow; for betwixt these two cities a strict hospitality prevailed. And here we must give room for a beautiful instance of sensibility on the part of the Athenians. When they heard of the destruction of Miletus, they gave way to many indications of sorrow; and some years after the capture of Miletus, a drama, written by Phrynicus, being represented at Athens, the whole audience melted into tears. The poet, for thus reminding them of so terrible a calamity, was fined a thousand drachmæ, and the piece forbidden to be played in future.
A bloody battle was fought under the walls of the town, between the Athenians and Argives on one side, and the Peloponnesians assisted by the Persians and the revolted Milesians on the other. The fortune of the day turned to the side of the Athenians; and they would have entered the city and recovered their authority, had not a fleet of fifty-five sail, belonging to the enemy, compelled them to draw off their forces and retire.
B. C. 412[10]. In this year the inhabitants of Miletus joined the Lacedæmonian party against Athens. When the Athenians heard of this, they voted the expenditure of a thousand talents, which, in more prosperous times, they had deposited in the citadel, under the sanction of a decree of the senate and people, to reserve it for an occasion of the utmost danger. This enabled them to recruit their fleet; and having secured the fidelity of the Lesbians, they endeavoured to recover their authority in Miletus.