But the great king was displeased that his general had not sent the Greek to him alive.
‘If Histiaeus had been sent away alive to King Darius,’ says Herodotus, ‘he would not, I think, have suffered any harm, but his trespass would have been forgiven him.’
Even as it was, Darius was determined to show what honour was yet possible to his faithless servant. For he ordered his slaves to ‘wash the head and adorn it well, and to bury it as the head of one who had done much good to himself and to the Persians.’
In 494 B.C., four years after the Athenians had sailed to the help of the Ionians, the revolt was crushed. Miletus, where the rebellion had begun, was punished more severely than the other rebellious cities.
CHAPTER XL
DARIUS DEMANDS EARTH AND WATER
The Ionic revolt was ended, but Darius had yet to punish the Athenians for burning the city of Sardis. Eight years had now passed since she had been destroyed, yet his anger against the Greeks was as fierce as ever.
Daily during all these years a slave had said to him as he sat at dinner, ‘Sire, remember the Athenians,’ and now, at length, his vengeance was at hand.
Mardonius, one of the king’s generals, was ordered to invade Greece and to bring back with him to Susa the Athenians who had dared to destroy Sardis.
So Mardonius crossed the Hellespont, and began to march through Thrace and Macedonia. His fleet, with part of his army, was to meet him later, beyond the perilous promontory of Mount Athos.