ns out
into the sea, 173 being in fact the region which is called Triopion,
beginning from the peninsula of Bybassos: and since all the land of
Cnidos except a small part is washed by the sea (for the part of it
which looks towards the North is bounded by the Gulf of Keramos, and
that which looks to the South by the sea off Syme and Rhodes), therefore
the men of Cnidos began to dig through this small part, which is about
five furlongs across, while Harpagos was subduing Ionia, desiring to
make their land an island: and within the isthmus all was theirs, 174
for where the territory of Cnidos ends in the direction of the mainland,
here is the isthmus which they were digging across. And while the
Cnidians were working at it with a great number of men, it was perceived
that the men who worked suffered injury much more than might have been
expected and in a more supernatural manner, both in other parts of their
bodies and especially in their eyes, when the rock was being broken
up; so they sent men to ask the Oracle at Delphi what the cause of
the difficulty was. And the Pythian prophetess, as the men of Cnidos
themselves report, gave them this reply in trimeter verse:--

"Fence not the place with towers, nor dig the isthmus through;
Zeus would have made your land an island, had he willed."

When the Pythian prophetess had given this oracle, the men of Cnidos
not only ceased from their digging but delivered themselves to Harpagos
without resistance, when he came against them with his army.

175. There were also the Pedasians, who dwelt in the inland country
above Halicarnassos; and among these, whenever anything hurtful is about
to happen either to themselves or to their neighbours, the priestess
of Athene has a great beard: this befell them three times. These of
all about Caria were the only men who held out for any time against
Harpagos, and they gave him trouble more than any other people, having
fortified a mountain called Lide.

176. After a time the Pedasians were conquered; and the Lykians, when
Harpagos marched his army into the plain of Xanthos, came out against
him 175 and fought, few against many, and displayed proofs of valour;
but being defeated and confined within their city, they gathered
together into the citadel their wives and their children, their property
and their servants, and after that they set fire to this citadel, so
that it was all in flames, and having done so and sworn terrible oaths
wit