by Herodotus
146. So spake Charilaüs, and Maeandrius gave consent; not (I believe) that he was so void of sense as to imagine that his own forces could overcome those of the king, but because he was jealous of Syloson, and did not wish him to get so quietly an unharmed city. He desired therefore to rouse the anger of the Persians against Samos, that so he might deliver it up to Syloson with its power at the lowest possible ebb; for he knew well that if the Persians met with a disaster they would be furious against the Samians, while he himself felt secure of a retreat at any time that he liked, since he had a secret passage under ground [153] leading from the citadel to the sea. Maeandrius accordingly took ship and sailed away from Samos; and Charilaüs, having armed all the mercenaries, threw open the gates, and fell upon the Persians, who looked for nothing less, since they supposed that the whole matter had been arranged by treaty. At the first onslaught therefore all the Persians of most note, men who were in the habit of using litters, were slain by the mercenaries; the rest of the army, however, came to the rescue, defeated the mercenaries, and drove them back into the citadel.
147. Then Otanes, the general, when he saw the great calamity which had befallen the Persians, made up his mind to forget the orders which Darius had given him, ‘not to kill or enslave a single Samian, but to deliver up the island unharmed to Syloson,’ and gave the word to his army that they should slay the Samians, both men and boys, wherever they could find them. Upon this some of his troops laid siege to the citadel, while others began the massacre, killing all they met, some outside, some inside the temples.
148. Maeandrius fled from Samos to Lacedaemon, and conveyed thither all the riches which he had brought away from the island, after which he acted as follows. Having placed upon his board all the gold and silver vessels that he had, and bade his servants employ themselves in cleaning them, he himself went and entered into conversation with Cleomenes, son of Anaxandridas, king of Sparta, and as they talked brought him along to his house. There Cleomenes, seeing the plate, was filled with wonder and astonishment; whereon the other begged that he would carry home with him any of the vessels that he liked. Maeandrius said this two or three times; but Cleomenes here displayed surpassing honesty. [154] He refused the gift, and thinking that if Maeandrius made the same offers to others he would get the aid he sought, the Spartan king went straight to the ephors and told them ‘it would be best for Sparta that the Samian stranger should be sent away from the Peloponnese; for otherwise he might perchance persuade himself or some other Spartan to be base.’ The ephors took his advice, and let Maeandrius know by a herald that he must leave the city.
149. Meanwhile the Persians netted [155] Samos, and delivered it up to Syloson, stripped of all its men. After some time, however, this same general Otanes was induced to repeople it by a dream which he had, and a loathsome disease that seized on him.
150. After the armament of Otanes had set sail for Samos, the Babylonians revolted, [156] having made every preparation for defence. During all the time that the Magus was king, and while the seven were conspiring, they had profited by the troubles, and had made themselves ready against a siege. And it happened somehow or other that no one perceived what they were doing. At last when the time came for rebelling openly, they did as follows: having first set apart their mothers, each man chose besides out of his whole household one woman, whomsoever he pleased; these alone were allowed to live, while all the rest were brought to one place and strangled. The women chosen were kept to make bread for the men; [157] while the others were strangled that they might not consume the stores.
151. When tidings reached Darius of what had happened, he drew together all his power, and began the war by marching straight upon Babylon, and laying siege to the place. The Babylonians, however, cared not a whit for his siege. [158] Mounting upon the battlements that crowned their walls, they insulted and jeered at Darius and his mighty host. One even shouted to them and said, ‘Why sit ye there, Persians? why do ye not go back to your homes? Till mules foal ye will not take our city.’ This was said by a Babylonian who thought that a mule would never foal.
152. Now when a year and seven months had passed, Darius and his army were quite wearied out, finding that they could not anyhow take the city. All stratagems and all arts had been used, and yet the king could not prevail – not even when he tried the means by which Cyrus made himself master of the place. The Babylonians were ever upon the watch, and he found no way of conquering them.
153. At last, in the twentieth month, a marvellous thing happened to Zopyrus, son of the Megabyzus who was among the seven men that overthrew the Magus. One of his sumpter-mules gave birth to a foal. Zopyrus, when they told him, not thinking that it could be true, went and saw the colt with his own eyes; after which he commanded his servants to tell no one what had come to pass, while he himself pondered the matter. Calling to mind then the words of the Babylonian at the beginning of the siege, ‘Till mules foal ye shall not take our city’ – he thought, as he reflected on this speech, that Babylon might now be taken. For it seemed to him that there was a divine providence in the man having used the phrase, and then his mule having foaled.
154. As soon therefore as he felt within himself that Babylon was fated to be taken, he went to Darius and asked him if he set a very high value on its conquest. When he found that Darius did indeed value it highly, he considered further with himself how he might make the deed his own, and be the man to take Babylon. Noble exploits in Persia are ever highly honoured and bring their authors to greatness. He therefore reviewed all ways of bringing the city under, but found none by which he could hope to prevail, unless he maimed himself and then went over to the enemy. To do this seeming to him a light matter, he mutilated himself in a way that was utterly without remedy. For he cut off his own nose and ears, and then, clipping his hair close and flogging himself with a scourge, he came in this plight before Darius.
155. Wrath stirred within the king at the sight of a man of his lofty rank in such a condition; leaping down from his throne, he exclaimed aloud, and asked Zopyrus who it was that had disfigured him, and what he had done to be so treated. Zopyrus answered, ‘There is not a man in the world, but thou, O king, that could reduce me to such a plight – no stranger’s hands have wrought this work on me, but my own only. I maimed myself because I could not endure that the Assyrians should laugh at the Persians.’ ‘Wretched man,’ said Darius, ‘thou coverest the foulest deed with the fairest possible name, when thou sayest thy maiming is to help our siege forward. How will thy disfigurement, thou simpleton, induce the enemy to yield one day the sooner? Surely thou hadst gone out of thy mind when thou didst so misuse thyself.’ ‘Had I told thee,’ rejoined the other, ‘what I was bent on doing, thou wouldest not have suffered it; as it is, I kept my own counsel, and so accomplished my plans. Now, therefore, if there be no failure on thy part, we shall take Babylon. I will desert to the enemy as I am, and when I get into their city I will tell them that it is by thee I have been thus treated. I think they will believe my words, and entrust me with a command of troops. Thou, on thy part, must wait till the tenth day after I am entered within the town, and then place near to the gates of Semiramis a detachment of thy army, troops for whose loss thou wilt care little, a thousand men. Wait, after that, seven days, and post me another detachment, two thousand strong, at the Nineveh gates; then let twenty days pass, and at the end of that time station near the Chaldaean gates a body of four thousand. Let neither these nor the former troops be armed with any weapons but their swords – those thou mayest leave them. After the twenty days are over, bid thy whole army attack the city on every side, and put me two bodies of Persians, one at the Belian, the other at the Cissian gates; for I expect, that, on account of my successes, the Babylonians will entrust everything, even the keys of their gates, [159] to me. Then it will be for me and my Persians to do the rest.’ [160]
156. Having left these instructions, Zopyrus fled towards the gates of the town, o
ften looking back, to give himself the air of a deserter. The men upon the towers, whose business it was to keep a look-out, observing him, hastened down, and setting one of the gates slightly ajar, questioned him who he was, and on what errand he had come. He replied that he was Zopyrus, and had deserted to them from the Persians. Then the doorkeepers, when they heard this, carried him at once before the magistrates. Introduced into the assembly, he began to bewail his misfortunes, telling them that Darius had maltreated him in the way they could see, only because he had given advice that the siege should be raised, since there seemed no hope of taking the city. ‘And now,’ he went on to say, ‘my coming to you, Babylonians, will prove the greatest gain that you could possibly receive, while to Darius and the Persians it will be the severest loss. Verily he by whom I have been so mutilated shall not escape unpunished. And truly all the paths of his counsels are known to me.’ Thus did Zopyrus speak.
157. The Babylonians, seeing a Persian of such exalted rank in so grievous a plight, his nose and ears cut off, his body red with marks of scourging and with blood, had no suspicion but that he spoke the truth, and was really come to be their friend and helper. They were ready, therefore, to grant him anything that he asked; and on his suing for a command, they entrusted to him a body of troops, with the help of which he proceeded to do as he had arranged with Darius. On the tenth day after his flight he led out his detachment, and surrounding the thousand men, whom Darius according to agreement had sent first, he fell upon them and slew them all. Then the Babylonians, seeing that his deeds were as brave as his words, were beyond measure pleased, and set no bounds to their trust. He waited, however, and when the next period agreed on had elapsed, again with a band of picked men he sallied forth, and slaughtered the two thousand. After this second exploit, his praise was in all mouths. Once more, however, he waited till the interval appointed had gone by, and then leading the troops to the place where the four thousand were, he put them also to the sword. This last victory gave the finishing stroke to his power, and made him all in all with the Babylonians: accordingly they committed to him the command of their whole army, and put the keys of their city into his hands.
158. Darius now, still keeping to the plan agreed upon, attacked the walls on every side, whereupon Zopyrus played out the remainder of his stratagem. While the Babylonians, crowding to the walls, did their best to resist the Persian assault, he threw open the Cissian and the Belian gates, and admitted the enemy. Such of the Babylonians as witnessed the treachery, took refuge in the temple of Zeus Belus; [161] the rest, who did not see it, kept at their posts, till at last they too learnt that they were betrayed.
159. Thus was Babylon taken for the second [162] time. Darius having become master of the place, destroyed the wall, [163] and tore down all the gates; for Cyrus had done neither the one nor the other when he took Babylon. He then chose out near three thousand of the leading citizens, and caused them to be crucified, while he allowed the remainder still to inhabit the city. Further, wishing to prevent the race of the Babylonians from becoming extinct, he provided wives for them in the room of those whom (as I explained before) they strangled, to save their stores. These he levied from the nations bordering on Babylonia, who were each required to send so large a number to Babylon, that in all there were collected no fewer than fifty thousand. It is from these women that the Babylonians of our times are sprung.
160. As for Zopyrus, he was considered by Darius to have surpassed, in the greatness of his achievements, all other Persians, whether of former or of later times, except only Cyrus – with whom no Persian ever yet thought himself worthy to compare. Darius, as the story goes, would often say that ‘he had rather Zopyrus were unmaimed, than be master of twenty more Babylons.’ And he honoured Zopyrus greatly; year by year he presented him with all the gifts which are held in most esteem among the Persians; [164] he gave him likewise the government of Babylon for his life, free from tribute; and he also granted him many other favours. Megabyzus, who held the command in Egypt against the Athenians and their allies, [165] was a son of this Zopyrus. And Zopyrus, who fled from Persia to Athens, [166] was a son of this Megabyzus.
Notes to Book Three
1. Herodotus had already told us that the subjugation of Egypt was among the designs of Cyrus (i, 153). Indeed, two motives of a public character, each by itself enough to account for the attack, urged the Persian army in this direction: revenge, and the lust of conquest. Grote has noticed the ‘impulse of aggrandisement,’ which formed the predominant characteristic of the Persian nation at this period.
2. See ii, 84. Egyptians first, and afterwards Greeks, were the court physicians of the Achaemenidae.
3. This account, which Herodotus says was that of the Persians, is utterly inadmissible.
4. The Carian and Ionian mercenaries mentioned repeatedly in Book ii, chs. 152, 154, 163, etc.
5. Herodotus appears to have thought that the Arabs were united under the government of a single king.
6. That is, Gaza.
7. Palestine Syria means properly ‘the Syria of the Philistines,’ who were in ancient times by far the most powerful race of southern Syria (cf. Gen. xxi, 32–34; xvi, 14–18, Ex. xiii, 17, etc.)
8. Besides the quantity of wine made in Egypt, a great supply was annually imported from Greece, after the trade was opened with that country.
9. The fidelity of the Arabs to their engagements is noticed by all travellers. Mr Kinglake remarks, ‘It is not of the Bedouins that travellers are afraid, for the safe-conduct granted by the Chief of the ruling tribe is never, I believe, violated.’ (Eothen.)
10. Events were often recorded in the East by stones. Compare the 12 stones placed in the bed of the Jordan, Joshua iv, 9. The number 7 had an important meaning (as in the Bible frequently), as well as 4. The former was the fortunate number. It was also a sacred number with the Persians.
11. There can be little doubt that the religion of the Arabians in the time of Herodotus was astral – ‘the worship of the host of heaven.’
12. The temple of Athene at Saïs. (See ii, 169.)
13. This was a mode of making an oath binding.
14. Probably the shading by the turban is alone meant.
15. Vide infra, vii, 7. The revolt of Inarus is fixed by Clinton to the year BC 460, the fifth year of Artaxerxes.
16. See iv, 165. Arcesilaüs III was king of Cyrene at this time.
17. If Attic minae are intended, as is probable, the value of the Cyrenaean contribution would be little more than £2000 of our money. [1996 note: for the value of money in today’s terms, see also Book ii, note 333.]
18. It appears from the Jewish history that this was a general Oriental practice in ancient times. When Pharaoh Necho deposed Jehoahaz, he made Eliakim (Jehoiakim), his brother, king over Judah (2 Kings xxiii, 34). And when Nebuchadnezzar deposed Jehoiachin (2 Kings xxiv, 17), he set Mattaniah (Zedekiah), his uncle, upon the throne.
19. There seems to have been a wide-spread belief among the ancients that bull’s blood was poisonous.
20. This is evidently a Greek statement, and not derived from the Egyptian priests. There was no hair to pluck out, the ‘head and all the body’ of the kings and priests being shaved. The whole story may be doubted.
21. On this point see i, 131.
22. The Egyptians were averse to burning a body, not only because burning was considered the punishment of the wicked, but because it was opposed to all their prejudices in favour of its preservation. If they really believed in the return of the soul to the body, this would be an additional reason.
23. Not only in this passage, but again, in ch. 114, they are said to dwell towards the south, at the furthest limits of Africa. Their country must have lain, therefore, beyond the Straits of Babel-mandeb.
24. This was less common in early times, and as Athenaeus says, the heroes in Homer seldom ‘boil their meat, or dress i
t with sauces’; but in Egypt as well as in Ethiopia boiled meat was eaten, though the Egyptians more frequently roasted it, and boiled their fish. With the Arabs the custom of boiling meat seems to be very ancient.
25. It has been usual to ascribe the conquest of Phoenicia to Cyrus. But according to Herodotus, the acquisition belongs to the reign of Cambyses.
26. Various opinions have been held about the origin of the Tyrian purple. The murex is generally supposed to have given it. A shell-fish (Helix Ianthina) is found on the coast, about Tyre and Beirut, which is remarkable for its throwing out a quantity of purple liquid when approached, in order (like the sepia) to conceal itself.
27. See iii, 114; and compare Isaiah xlv, 14.
28. The communication between Egypt and Ethiopia was such as to render the expedition easy. Its chief object would be the conquest of Meroë.
29. The city Oasis is taken, with much reason, for the modern El Khargeh, the chief town of what is called the great Oasis. This is distant, by one road 42, by another 52 hours (6 and 7 1/2 days’ journey respectively), from ancient Thebes. The Egyptians in the time of Herodotus may have given the name Oasis to the city, as well as to the tract surrounding it.
30. See ii, 153.
31. Apis was supposed to be the image of the soul of Osiris, and he was the sacred emblem of that god; but he is sometimes figured as a man with a bull’s head.
32. Like the Turks, and other orientals, the Persians had certain persons whose duty it was to inflict the bastinado and other punishments. The conduct of the Egyptians to their enemies contrasts favourably with that of the eastern people of antiquity; for they only cut off the hands of the dead, and laid them in ‘heaps’ before the king (cf. I Kings x, 8, and I Sam. xviii, 27) as returns of the enemy’s killed; and if their captives were obliged to work, this was only the condition on which life was preserved in early times; and we see no systematic tortures inflicted and no cruelties beyond accidental harsh treatment by some ignorant soldier, not unknown in the wars of Christian Europe.