that she should be stopped and brought into his presence. She
came; and her brothers, who had been watching the whole scene from a
convenient spot near at hand, joined her and came too. The king asked
them who they were. They replied that they were Paeonians. He wished to
know where they lived. "On the banks of the River Strymon," they
replied, "near the confines of Thrace." He next asked whether all the
women of their country were accustomed to labor, and were as
ingenious, and dexterous, and beautiful as their sister. The brothers
replied that they were.

Darius immediately determined to make the whole people slaves. He
accordingly dispatched a courier with the orders. The courier crossed
the Hellespont, and proceeded to the encampment of Megabyzus in
Thrace. He delivered his dispatches to the Persian general, commanding
him to proceed immediately to Paeonia, and there to take the whole
community prisoners, and bring them to Darius in Sardis. Megabyzus,
until this time, had known nothing of the people whom he was thus
commanded to seize. He, however, found some Thracian guides who
undertook to conduct him to their territory; and then, taking with him
a sufficient force, he set out on the expedition. The Paeonians heard
of his approach. Some prepared to defend themselves; others fled to
the mountains. The fugitives escaped, but those who attempted to
resist were taken. Megabyzus collected the unfortunate captives,
together with their wives and children, and brought them down to the
coast to embark them for Sardis. In doing this, he had occasion to
pass by the spot where Histiaeus was building his city, and it was
then, for the first time, that Megabyzus became acquainted with the
plan. Histiaeus was building a wall to defend his little territory on
the side of the land. Ships and galleys were going and coming on the
side of the sea. Every thing indicated that the work was rapidly and
prosperously advancing.

Megabyzus did not interfere with the work; but, as soon as he arrived
at Sardis with his captives, and had delivered them to the king, he
introduced the subject of Histiaeus's city, and represented to Darius
that it would be dangerous to the Persian interests to allow such an
enterprise to go on. "He will establish a strong post there," said
Megabyzus, "by means of which he will exercise a great ascendency over
all the neighboring seas. The place is admirably situated for a naval
station, as the country in the v