e
matter was calmly debated, that the probabilities of success against
the might of Darius were small. But the arrest of the tyrants by
Aristagoras, and his deliverance of them into the hands of their
subjects, was an appeal to passion against which reason was powerless.
No state could resist the temptation of getting rid of the tyranny under
which it groaned. But the expulsion of the vassal committed those who
took part in it to resist in arms the sovereign lord.

In the original revolt appear to have been included only the cities
of Ionia and AEolis. Aristagoras felt that some further strength was
needed, and determined to seek it in European Greece. Repulsed from
Sparta, which was disinclined to so distant an expedition, he applied
for aid to cities on which he had a special claim. Miletus counted
Athens as her mother state; and Eretria was indebted to her for
assistance in her great war with Chalcis. Applying in these quarters
Aristagoras succeeded better, but still obtained no very important help.
Athens voted him twenty ships, Eretria five and with the promise of
these succors he hastened back to Asia.

The European contingent soon afterwards arrived; and Aristagoras,
anxious to gain some signal success which should attract men to his
cause, determined on a most daring enterprise. This was no less than an
attack on Sardis, the chief seat of the Persian power in these parts,
and by far the most important city of Asia Minor. Sailing to Ephesus, he
marched up the valley of the Cayster, crossed Mount Tmolus, and took
the Lydian capital at the first onset. Artaphernes, the satrap, was only
able to save the citadel; the invaders began to plunder the town, and in
the confusion it caught fire and was burnt. Aristagoras and his troops
hastily retreated, but were overtaken before they could reach Ephesus by
the Persians quartered in the province, who fell upon them and gave
them a severe defeat. The expedition then broke up; the Asiatic Greeks
dispersed among their cities; the Athenians and Eretrians took ship and
sailed home.

Results followed that could scarcely have been anticipated. The failure
of the expedition was swallowed up in the glory of its one achievement.
It had taken Sardis--it had burnt one of the chief cities of the Great
King. The news spread like wildfire on every side, and was proclaimed
aloud in places where the defeat of Ephesus was never even whispered.
Everywhere revolt burst out. The Greeks of th