nsolent refusal;* even Athens, where the revolution had
for the moment relieved her from the fear of the Pisistratidaa and
the terrors of a barbarian invasion, granted him merely twenty
triremes--enough to draw down reprisals on her immediately after their
defeat, without sensibly augmenting the rebels' chances of success; to
the Athenian contingent Bretria added five vessels, and this comprised
his whole force. The leaders of the movement did not hesitate to assume
the offensive with these slender resources. As early as the spring
of 498, before Artaphernes had received reinforcements, they marched
suddenly on Sardes. They burnt the lower town, but, as on many previous
occasions, the citadel held out; after having encamped for several
days at the foot of its rock, they returned to Ephesus laden with the
spoil.**

* Aristagoras had with him a map of the world engraved on a
bronze plate, which was probably a copy of the chart drawn
up by Hecatseus of Miletus.

** Herodotus says that the Ionians on their return suffered
a serious reverse near Ephesus. The author seems to have
adopted some Lydian or Persian tradition hostile to the
Ionians, for Charon of Lampsacus, who lived nearer to the
time of these events, mentions only the retreat, and hints
at no defeat. If the expedition had really ended in this
disaster, it is not at all likely that the revolt would have
attained the dimensions it did immediately afterwards.

This indeed was a check to their hostilities, and such an abortive
attempt was calculated to convince them of their powerlessness against
the foreign rule. None the less, however, when it was generally known
that they had burnt the capital of Asia Minor, and had with impunity
made the representative of the great king feel in his palace the smoke
of the conflagration, the impression was such as actual victory could
have produced. The cities which had hitherto hesitated to join them, now
espoused their cause--the ports of the Troad and the Hellespont, Lycia,
the Carians, and Cyprus--and their triumph would possibly have been
secured had Greece beyond the AEgean followed the general movement and
joined the coalition. Sparta, however, persisted in her indifference,
and Athens took the opportunity of withdrawing from the struggle. The
Asiatic Greeks made as good a defence as they could, but their resources
fell far short of those of the enemy, and they could