IONIC REVOLT. 285 in the end the/ fell into the hands of the enemy, as Ilckatocus anticipated, would have been insupportable to the pious feel- ings of the people, and would thus have proved more injurious than beneficial : l perhaps, indeed, Hekatseus himself may have urged it with the indirect view of stifling the whole project. We may remark that he seems to have urged the question as if Mi- letus were to stand alone in the revolt ; not anticipating, as indeed no prudent man could then anticipate, that the Ionic cities gener- ally would follow the example. Aristagoras and his friends resolved forthwith to revolt, and their first step was to conciliate popular favor throughout Asiatic Greece by putting down the despots in all the various cities, the instruments not less than the supports of Persian ascen- dency, as Histiaeus had well urged at the bridge of the Danube. The opportunity was favorable for striking this blow at once on a considerable scale. The fleet, recently employed at Naxos, had not yet dispersed, but was still assembled at Myus, with many of the despots present at the head of their ships. latrag- oras was despatched from Miletus, at once to seize as many of them as he could, and to stir up the soldiers to revolt. This de- cisive proceeding was the first manifesto against Darius. latrag- oras was successful : the fleet went along with him, and many of the despots fell into his hands, among them Histiseus (a second person so named) of Termera, Oliatus of Mylasa (both Karians), 2 Koes of Mitylene, and Aristagoras (also a second person so named) of Kyme. At the same time the Milesian Aristagoras himself, while he formally proclaimed revolt against Darius, and invited the Milesians to follow him, laid down his own authority, and affected to place the government in the hands of the people. Throughout most of the towns of Asiatic Greece, insular and continental, a similar revolution was brought about ; the despots were expelled, and the feelings of the citizens were thus warmly interested in the revolt. Such of these despots as fell into the hands of Aristagoras were surrendered into the hands of their former subjects, by whom they were for the most part quistly dismissed, and we shall find them hereafter active auxil- 1 Herodot. v, 36.
- Compare Herodotus, v, 121, and .vii, 98. Oliatus was son of Ibimdli*,
u was also the Mylasian Herakleides mentioned in v, 121.
