314 HISTORY OF GREECE. have been tried at least by Msirdonius, twelve or thirteen years earlier, had not a terrible storm completely disabled the fleet. The sea near Athos was then, and is now, full of peril to navi gators. One of the hurricanes, so frequent in its neighborhood, overtook the Persian fleet, destroyed three hundred ships, and droxvned or cast ashore not less than twenty thousand men : of those who reached the shore, many died of cold, or were de- voured by the wild beasts on that inhospitable tongue of land. This disaster checked altogether the farther progress of Mardo- nius, who also sustained considerable loss with his land-army. and was himself wounded, in a night attack made upon him by the tribe of Thracians called Brygi. Though strong enough to repel and avenge this attack, and to subdue the Brygi, he was yet in no condition to advance farther. Both the land-force and the fleet were conveyed back to the Hellespont, and from thence across to Asia, with all the shame of failure. Nor was Mardo- nius again employed by Darius, though we cannot make out that the fault was imputable to him. 1 We shall hear of him again under Xerxes. The ill-success of Mardonius seems to have inspired the Tha- sians, so recently subdued, with the idea of revolting. At least, they provoked the suspicion of Darius by making active prepa- rations for defence, building war-ships, and strengthening their fortifications. The Thasians were at this time in great opulence, chiefly from their gold and silver mines, both in their island and in their mainland territory opposite. Their mines at SkaptS Hyle, in Thrace, yielded to them an annual income of eighty talents ; and altogether their surplus revenue after defraying all the expenses of government, so that the inhabitants were en- tirely untaxed was two hundred talents (forty-six thousand pounds, if Attic talents ; more, if either Euboic or ^Eginaean). With these large means, they were enabled soon to make prepa- rations which excited notice among their neighbors, many of whom were doubtless jealous of their prosperity, and perhaps inclined to dispute with them possession of the profitable mines 1 Herodot. vi, 44-94. Charon of Lampsakus had noticed the storm near Mount Athos, and the destruction of the fleet of Mardonius (Charonis Frag- ment 3, ed. Didot ; Athenae. ix, p. 394).
