808 HISTORY OF GREECE. Indeed so close upon him, that one cf his ships, with his son Metiochus on board, fell into their hands. As Miltiades had been strenuous in urging the destruction of the bridge over the Danube, on the occasion of the Scythian expedition, the Pheni- cians were particularly anxious to get possession of his person, aa the most acceptable of all Greek prisoners to the Persian king ; who, however, when Metiochus the son of Miltiades was brought to Susa, not only did him no harm, but treated him with great kindness, and gave him a Persian wife with a comfortable main- tenance. 1 Far otherwise did the Persian generals deal with the recon- quered cities on and near the coast. The threats which had been held out before the battle of Lade were realized to the full. The most beautiful Greek youths and virgins were picked out, to be distributed among the Persian grandees as eunuchs, or inmates of the harems ; the cities with their edifices, sacred as well as pro- fane, were made a prey to the flames ; and in the case of the islands, Herodotus even tells us, that a line of Persians was formed from shore to shore, which swept each territory from north to south, and drove the inhabitants out of it. 2 That much of this hard treatment is well founded, there can be no doubt. But it must be exaggerated as to extent of depopulation and de- struction, for these islands and cities appear ever afterwards as occupied by a Grecian population, and oven as in a tolerable, though reduced, condition. Samos was made an exception to the rest, and completely spared by the Persians, as a reward to its captains for setting the example of desertion at the battle of Lade ; at the same time, ./Eakes the despot of that island was reinstated in his government. 3 It appears that several other des- pots were also replaced in their respective cities, though we are not told which. Amidst the sufferings endured by so many innocent persons. of every age and of both sexes, the fate of Histiaeus excites but little sympathy. Having learned, while carrying on his piracies at Byzantium, the surrender of Miletus, he thought it expedient tc sail with his Lesbian vessels to Chios, where admittance was 1 Herodot. vi, 41. * Herodot. vi, 31, 32. 33. 1 Herodot. vi, 25
