that a gigantic warrior, with a huge beard, which shaded all his
shield, stood over against him; but the ghostly semblance passed him
by, and slew the man at his side. Such, as I understand, was the
tale which Epizelus told.
Datis meanwhile was on his way back to Asia, and had reached
Myconus, when he saw in his sleep a vision. What it was is not
known; but no sooner was day come than he caused strict search to be
made throughout the whole fleet, and finding on board a Phoenician
vessel an image of Apollo overlaid with gold, he inquired from
whence it had been taken, and learning to what temple it belonged,
he took it with him in his own ship to Delos, and placed it in the
temple there, enjoining the Delians, who had now come back to their
island, to restore the image to the Theban Delium, which lies on the
coast over against Chalcis. Having left these injunctions, he sailed
away; but the Delians failed to restore the statue; and it was not
till twenty years afterwards that the Thebans, warned by an oracle,
themselves brought it back to Delium.
As for the Eretrians, whom Datis and Artaphernes had carried
away captive, when the fleet reached Asia, they were taken up to Susa.
Now King Darius, before they were made his prisoners, nourished a
fierce anger against these men for having injured him without
provocation; but now that he saw them brought into his presence, and
become his subjects, he did them no other harm, but only settled
them at one of his own stations in Cissia- a place called Ardericea-
two hundred and ten furlongs distant from Susa, and forty from the
well which yields produce of three different kinds. For from this well
they get bitumen, salt, and oil, procuring it in the way that I will
now describe: they draw with a swipe, and instead of a bucket make use
of the half of a wine-skin; with this the man dips, and after drawing,
pours the liquid into a reservoir, wherefrom it passes into another,
and there takes three different shapes. The salt and the bitumen
forthwith collect and harden, while the oil is drawn off into casks.
It is called by the Persians "rhadinace," is black, and has an
unpleasant smell. Here then King Darius established the Eretrians; and
here they continued to my time, and still spoke their old language. So
thus it fared with the Eretrians.
After the full of the moon two thousand Lacedaemonians came to
Athens. So eager had they been to arrive in time, that they took but
three days to reach Attica from Sparta. They came, however, too late
for the battle; yet, as they had a longing to behold the Medes, they
continued their march to Marathon and there viewed the slain. Then,
after giving the Athenians all praise for their achievement, they
departed and returned home. But it fills me with wonderment, and
I can in no wise believe the report, that the Alcmaeonidae had an
understanding with the Persians, and held them up a shield as a
signal, wishing Athens to be brought under the yoke of the
barbarians and of Hippias- the Alcmaeonidae, who have shown themselves
at least as bitter haters of tyrants as was Callias, the son of
Phaenippus, and father of Hipponicus. This Callias was the only person
at Athens who, when the Pisistratidae were driven out, and their goods
were exposed for sale by the vote of the people, had the courage to
make purchases, and likewise in many other ways to display the
strongest hostility.
He was a man very worthy to be had in remembrance by all, on
several accounts. For not only did he thus distinguish himself
beyond others in the cause of his country's freedom; but likewise,
by the honours which he gained at the Olympic Games, where he
carried off the prize in the horse-race, and was second in the
four-horse chariot-race, and by his victory at an earlier period in
the Pythian Games, he showed himself in the eyes of all the Greeks a
man most unsparing in his expenditure. He was remarkable too for his
conduct in respect of his daughters, three in number; for when they
came to be of marriageable age, he gave to each of them a most ample
dowry, and placed it at their own disposal, allowing them to choose