of age, a son is not admitted to the presence of his father, but lives entirely with the women: the reason of this custom is, that if he should die in childhood, he may occasion no grief to his father.

137. Now I much approve of the above custom, as also of the following, that not even the king is allowed to put any one to death for a single crime, nor any private Persian exercise extreme severity against any of his domestics for one fault, but if on examination he should find that his misdeeds are more numerous and greater than his services, he may in that case give vent to his anger. They say that no one ever yet killed his own father or mother, but whenever such things have happened they affirm, that if the matter were thoroughly searched into, they would be found to have been committed by supposititious children or those born in adultery, for they hold it utterly improbable that a true father should be murdered by his own son. 138. They are not allowed even to mention the things which it is not lawful for them to do. To tell a lie is considered by them the greatest disgrace; next to that, to be in debt; and this for many other reasons, but especially because they think that one who is in debt must of necessity tell lies. Whosoever of the citizens has the leprosy or scrofula, is not permitted to stay within a town, nor to have communication with other Persians; and they say that from having committed some offence against the sun a man is afflicted with these diseases. Every stranger that is seized with these distempers many of them even drive out of the country; and they do the same to white pigeons, making the same charge against them. They neither make water, nor spit, nor wash their hands in a river, nor defile the stream with urine, nor do they allow any one else to do so, but they pay extreme veneration to all rivers. 139. Another circumstance is also peculiar to them, which has escaped the notice of the Persians themselves, but not of us. Their names, which correspond with their personal forms and their rank, all terminate in the same letter which the Dorians call San, and the Ionians Sigma. And if you inquire into this you will find, that all Persian names, without exception, end in the same letter. 140. These things I can with certainty affirm to be true, since I myself know them. But what follows, relating to the dead, is only secretly mentioned and not openly; viz. that the dead body of a Persian is

never buried until it has been torn by some bird or dog; but I know for a certainty that the Magi do this, for they do it openly. The Persians then, having covered the body with wax, conceal it in the ground. The Magi differ very much from all other men, and particularly from the Egyptian priests, for the latter hold it matter of religion not to kill any thing that has life, except such things as they offer in sacrifice; whereas the Magi kill every thing with their own hands, except a dog or a man; and they think they do a meritorious thing, when they kill ants, serpents, and other reptiles and birds. And with regard to this custom, let it remain as it existed from the first. I will now return to my former subject.

141. The Ionians and Eolians, as soon as the Lydians were subdued by the Persians, sent ambassadors to Cyrus at Sardis, wishing to become subject to him, on the same terms as they had been to Croesus. But he, when he heard their proposal, told them this story: "A piper seeing some fishes in the sea, began to pipe, expecting that they would come to shore; but finding his hopes disappointed, he took a castingnet, and enclosed a great number of fishes, and drew them out. When he saw them leaping about, he said to the fishes,' Cease your dancing, since when I piped you would not come out and dance.' Cyrus told this story to the Ionians and Æolians, because the Ionians, when Cyrus pressed them by his ambassador to revolt from Croesus, refused to consent, and now, when the business was done, were ready to listen to him. He, therefore, under the influence of anger, gave them this answer. But the Ionians, when they heard this message brought back to their cities, severally fortified themselves with walls, and met together at the Panionium, with the exception of the Milesians; for Cyrus made an alliance with them only, on the same terms as the Lydians had done. The rest of the Ionians resolved unanimously to send ambassadors to Sparta, to implore them to succour the Ionians. 142. These Ionians, to whom the Panionium belongs, have built their cities under the finest sky and climate of the world that we know of; for neither the regions that are above it, nor those that are below, nor the parts to the east or west, are at all equal to Ionia ; for some of them are oppressed by cold and rain, others by heat and drought. These Ionians do not all use the same language, but have four varieties of dialect. Miletus, the first

of them, lies towards the south; next are Myus and Priene: these are situate in Caria, and use the same dialect. The following are in Lydia; Ephesus, Colophon, Lebedus, Teos, Clazomenæ, Phocæa: these cities do not at all agree with those before mentioned in their language, but they speak a dialect common to themselves. There are three remaining of the Ionian cities, of which two inhabit islands, Samos and Chios; and one, Erythrae, is situated on the continent. Now the Chians and Erythræans use the same dialect, but the Samians have one peculiar to themselves. And these are the four different forms of language.

143. Of these Ionians, the Milesians were sheltered from danger, as they had made an alliance. The islanders also had nothing to fear; for the Phoenicians were not yet subject to the Persians, nor were the Persians themselves at all acquainted with maritime affairs. Now the Milesians had seceded from the rest of the Ionians only for this reason, that weak as the Grecian race then was, the Ionian was weakest of all, and of least account; for except Athens, there was no other city of note. The other Ionians, therefore, and the Athenians shunned the name, and would not be called Ionians; and even now many of them appear to me to be ashamed of the name. But these twelve cities gloried in the name, and built a temple for their own use, to which they gave the name of Panionium; and they resolved not to communicate privileges to any other of the Ionians; nor indeed have any others, except the Smyrnæans, desired to participate in them. 144. In the same manner, the Dorians of the present Pentapolis, which was before called Hexapolis, take care not to admit any of the neighbouring Dorians into the temple at Triopium, but excluded from participation such of their own community as have violated the sacred laws. For in the games in honour of Triopian Apollo, they formerly gave brazen tripods to the victors; and it was usual for those who gained them not to carry them out of the temple, but to dedicate them there to the god: however, a man of Halicarnassus, whose name was Agasicles, having won the prize, disregarded their custom, and carrying away the tripod hung it up in his own house; for this offence, the five cities, Lindus, Ialyssus, Cameirus, Cos, and Cnidus, excluded the sixth city, Halicarnassus, from participation ; on them, therefore, they imposed

this punishment. 145. The Ionians appear to me to have formed themselves into twelve cities, and to have refused to admit more, for the following reason, because when they dwelt in Peloponnesus there were twelve divisions of them, as now there are twelve divisions of the Achæans, who drove out the Ionians. Pellene is the first towards Sicyon; next Ægyra and Ege, in which is the ever-flowing river Crathis, from which the river in Italy derived its name; then Bura and Helice, to which the Ionians fled when they were defeated by the Achæans; Ægium, Rhypes, Patrees, Pharees, and Olenus, in which is the great river Pirus; lastly Dyma and Tritæes, the only inland places among them. 146. These now are the twelve divisions of the Achæans, which formerly belonged to the Ionians; and on that account the Ionians erected twelve cities. For to say that these are more properly Ionians, or of more noble origin than other Ionians, would be great folly; since the Abantes from Euboea, who had no connexion even in name with Ionia, are no inconsiderable part of this colony; and Minyan-Orchomenians are intermixed with them, and Cadmæans, Dryopians, Phocians, (who separated themselves from the rest of their countrymen,) and Molossians, Pelasgians of Arcadia, Dorian Epidaurians, and many other people, are intermixed with them; and those of them who set out from the Prytaneum of Athens, and who deem themselves the most noble of the Ionians, brought no wives with them when they came to settle in this country, but seized a number of Carian women, after they had killed their men and on account of this massacre these women established a law and imposed on themselves an oath, and transmitted it to their daughters, that they would never eat with their husbands, nor ever call them by the name of husband; because they had killed their fathers, their husbands, and their children, and then after so doing had forced them to become their wives. This was done in Miletus. 147. The Ionians appointed kings to govern them; some choosing Lycians, of the posterity of Glaucus son of Hippolochus; others Cauconian Pylians, descended from Codrus son of Melanthus ; others again from both those families. However, they are more attached to the name of Ionians than any others; let it be allowed then that they are genuine Ionians: still, all are Ionians, who derive their original from Athens, and celebrate the Apaturian

F

festival; but all do so except the Ephesians and Colophonians; for these alone do not celebrate the Apaturian festival, on some pretext of a murder. 148. The Panionium is a sacred place in Mycale, looking to the north, and by the Ionians consecrated in common to Heliconian Neptune; and Mycale is a headland on the continent, stretching westward towards Samos. At this place the Ionians, assembling from the various cities, were accustomed to celebrate the festival to which they gave the name of Panionia; and not only do the festivals of the Ionians, but all the festivals of all the Greeks terminate, like the Persian names,8 in the same letter. These then are the Ionian cities.

149. The following are the Eolian; Cyme, called also Phriconis, Larissa, Neon-teichos, Temnos, Cilla, Notium, Ægiroessa, Pitane, Ægææ, Myrina, and Grynia: these are eleven of the ancient cities of the Æolians; for one of them, Smyrna, was taken away from them by the Ionians; for they too had twelve cities on the continent. These Eolians have settled in a more fertile country than the Ionians, but not equal in climate. 150. The Eolians lost Smyrna in the following manner. They received into their city certain Colophonians, who were unsuccessful in a sedition and driven from their country. But some time after, the Colophonian exiles, having watched the opportunity while the Smyrnæans were celebrating a festival to Bacchus outside the walls, shut to the gates, and seized the city. But when all the Æolians came to the assistance of the Smyrnæans, an agreement was made, that the Ionians should restore the moveable property, and that the Æolians should abandon Smyrna. When the Smyrnæans did this, the other eleven cities distributed them amongst themselves and gave them the privilege of citizens. 151. These then are the Eolian cities on the continent; besides those settled on Mount Ida; for these are altogether distinct. But of those that occupy islands, five cities are situated in Lesbos; for the sixth in Lesbos, Arisba, the Methymnæans reduced to slavery, although they were of kindred blood; one city is situated in Tenedos ; and another in what are called the Hundred Islands. Accordingly the Lesbians and Tenedians, as well as the Ionians of the Islands, had nothing to fear; but

8 See ch. 130.