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THE
HISTORIANS
'THE HISTORY
1
OF HERODOTUS
HERODOTUS
HISTORY OF
THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO
W. H. PRESCOTT
HISTORY OF
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
THUCYDIDES
HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF PERU
W. H. PRESCOTT
ANABASIS
XENOPIION
THE CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND
RAPHAEL HOLINSHED
THE HISTORY OF GREECE
GEORGE GROTE THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
J. L. MOTLEY
CATILINE
SALLUST
A HISTORY OF ENGLAND
J. A. FROUDE
COMMENTARIES OF THE GALLIC WAR
JULIUS CAESAR
THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS
JOSEPHUS
THE ANNALS
TACITUS
THE WARS OF THE JEWS
JOSEPHUS
HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS
W. E. H. LECKY
HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST
EDWARD FREEMAN
HISTORY OF
THE REBELLION IN ENGLAND
EARL OF CLARENDON
THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND
LORD MACAULAY
THE AGE OF LOUIS XIV
VOLTAIRE
THE AGE OF LOUIS XV
VOLTAIRE
HISTORY OF
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
THOMAS CARLYLE
CHRONICLES OF ENGLAND
JEAN FROISSART
HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE
F. P. G. GUIZOT
THE DECLINE AND FALL OF
THE ROMAN EMPIRE
EDWARD GIBBON
HISTORY OF
CIVILIZATION IN ENGLAND
H. T. BUCKLE
EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
HENRY HALLAM
THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION
WALTER BAGEHOT
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ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED
'The History' of Herodotus
HERODOTUS
W
HEN Cicero called Herodotus the Father of History he meant that the Greek
was the first to conceive an historical work in an artistic and dramatically unified
form. In subordination to this motif he worked up a vast mass of antiquarian and
ethnological lore. His History takes us down to 478 B.C. Its dramatic crisis is the
destruction of the power of Persia by a handful of Greeks at Thermopylae, Salamis
and Mycale; its lesson, that of the Nemesis falling on those who, drunk with pride of
power, forget the restrictions of mortality.
ITHE WESTWARD THRUST OF PERSIAN POWER
I
WILL not dispute whether those an-
cient tales be true, of Io and Helen
and the like, which one or another
have called the sources of the war be-
tween the Hellenes and the barbarians of
Asia; but I will begin with those wrongs
whereof I myself have knowledge. In
the days of Sadyattes, king of Lydia, and
his son Alyattes, there was war between
Lydia and Miletus. And Croesus made
himself master of the lands bounded by
the Halys, and he waxed in power and
wealth, so that there was none like him.
To him came Solon, the Athenian, but
would not hail him as the happiest of all
men, saying that none may be called
happy until his life's end.
Thereafter trouble fell upon Croesus
by the slaying of his son when he was
hunting. Then Cyrus the Persian rose
up and made himself master of the Medes
and Persians, and Croesus, fearing his
power, was fain to go up against him,
being deceived by an oracle; but first he
sought to make alliance with the chief of
the states of Hellas. In those days,
Pisistratus was despot of Athens; but
Sparta was mighty, by the laws of Lycur-
gus. Therefore Croesus sent envoys to
the Spartans to make alliance with them,
which was done very willingly. But when
Croesus went up against Cyrus, his army
was put to flight, and Cyrus besieged him
in the city of Sardis, and took it, and
made himself lord of Lydia. He would
have slain Croesus, but, finding him wise
and pious, he made him his counsellor.
Now this Cyrus had before overthrown
the Median king, Astyages, whose daugh-
ter was his own mother. For her father,
fearing a dream, wedded her to a Per-
sian, and when she bore a child, he gave
order for its slaying. But the babe was
taken away and brought up by a herds-
man of the hill-folk. But in course of
time the truth became known to Astyages,
and to Harpagus, the officer who had
been bidden to slay the babe, and to
Cyrus himself. Then Harpagus, fearing
the wrath of Astyages, bade Cyrus gather
together the Persianswho in those days
were a hardy people of the mountains
and make himself king over the Medians;
which things Cyrus did, overthrowing his
grandfather Astyages. And it was in this
wise that the dominion of the Persians
began.
The Ionian cities of Asia were zealous
to make alliance with Cyrus when he
had overthrown Croesus. But he held
them of little account, and threatened
them, and the Lacedaemonians also, who
sent him messengers warning him to let
the Ionians alone. And he sent Har-
pagus against the cities of the Ionians,
of whom certain Phocaeans and Teians
sailed away to Rhegium and Abdera
rather than become the slaves of the bar-
barians; but the rest, though they fought
valiantly enough, were brought to sub-
mission by Harpagus.
W
HILE Harpagus was completing the
subjugation of the West, Cyrus
was making conquest of Upper Asia, and
overthrew the kingdom of Assyria, of
which the chief city was Babylon, a very
wonderful city, wherein there had ruled
two famous queens, Semiramis and
Nitocris. Now, this queen had made the
city wondrous strong by the craft of engi-
neers, yet Cyrus took it by a shrewd
device, drawing off the water of the river
so as to gain a passage. Thus Babylon
also fell under the sway of the Persian.
But when Cyrus would have made war
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