τὰ μὲν περὶ Ἱστιαῖον οὕτω ἔσχε. ὁ δὲ ναυτικὸς στρατὸς ὁ Περσέων χειμερίσας περὶ Μίλητον, τῷ δευτέρῳ ἔτεϊ ὡς ἀνέπλωσε, αἱρέει εὐπετέως τὰς νήσους τὰς πρὸς τῇ ἠπείρῳ κειμένας, Χίον καὶ Λέσβον καὶ Τένεδον. ὅκως δὲ λάβοι τινὰ τῶν νήσων, ὡς ἑκάστην αἱρέοντες οἱ βάρβαροι ἐσαγήνευον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους.
σαγηνεύουσι δὲ τόνδε τὸν τρόπον· ἀνὴρ ἀνδρὸς ἁψάμενος τῆς χειρὸς ἐκ θαλάσσης τῆς βορηίης ἐπὶ τὴν νοτίην διήκουσι, καὶ ἔπειτα διὰ πάσης τῆς νήσου διέρχονται ἐκθηρεύοντες τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. αἵρεον δὲ καὶ τὰς ἐν τῇ ἠπείρῳ πόλιας τὰς Ἰάδας κατὰ ταὐτά, πλὴν οὐκ ἐσαγήνευον τοὺς ἀνθρώπους· οὐ γὰρ οἷά τʼ ἦν.
Thus it happened about Histiaios; and meanwhile the Persian fleet, after wintering near Miletos, when it put to sea again in the following year conquered without difficulty the islands lying near the mainland, Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos; and whenever they took one of the islands, the Barbarians, as each was conquered, swept the inhabitants off it; and this they do in the following manner:—they extend themselves from the sea on the North to the sea on the South, each man having hold of the hand of the next, and then they pass through the whole island hunting the people out of it. They took also the Ionian cities on the mainland in the same manner, except that they did not sweep off the inhabitants thus, for it was not possible.
ἐνθαῦτα Περσέων οἱ στρατηγοὶ οὐκ ἐψεύσαντο τὰς ἀπειλὰς τὰς ἐπηπείλησαν τοῖσι Ἴωσι στρατοπεδευομένοισι ἐναντία σφίσι. ὡς γὰρ δὴ ἐπεκράτησαν τῶν πολίων, παῖδάς τε τοὺς εὐειδεστάτους ἐκλεγόμενοι ἐξέταμνον καὶ ἐποίευν ἀντὶ εἶναι ἐνόρχιας εὐνούχους καὶ παρθένους τὰς καλλιστευούσας ἀνασπάστους παρὰ βασιλέα· ταῦτά τε δὴ ἐποίευν καὶ τὰς πόλιας ἐνεπίμπρασαν αὐτοῖσι τοῖσι ἱροῖσι. οὕτω τε τὸ τρίτον Ἴωνες κατεδουλώθησαν, πρῶτον μὲν ὑπὸ Λυδῶν, δὶς δὲ ἐπεξῆς τότε ὑπὸ Περσέων.
Then the commanders of the Persians proved not false to the threats with which they had threatened the Ionians when these were encamped opposite to them: for in fact when they conquered the cities, they chose out the most comely of the boys and castrated them, making eunuchs of them, and the fairest of the maidens they carried off by force to the king; and not only this, but they also burnt the cities together with the temples. Thus for the third time had the Ionians been reduced to slavery, first by the Lydians and then twice in succession by the Persians.
ἀπὸ δὲ Ἰωνίης ἀπαλλασσόμενος ὁ ναυτικὸς στρατὸς τὰ ἐπʼ ἀριστερὰ ἐσπλέοντι τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου αἵρεε πάντα· τὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ δεξιὰ αὐτοῖσι τοῖσι Πέρσῃσι ὑποχείρια ἦν γεγονότα κατʼ ἤπειρον. εἰσὶ δὲ αἱ ἐν τῇ Εὐρώπῃ αἵδε τοῦ Ἑλλησπόντου, Χερσόνησός τε, ἐν τῇ πόλιες συχναὶ ἔνεισι, καὶ Πέρινθος καὶ τὰ τείχεα τὰ ἐπὶ Θρηίκης καὶ Σηλυμβρίη τε καὶ Βυζάντιον.
Βυζάντιοι μέν νυν καὶ οἱ πέρηθε Καλχηδόνιοι οὐδʼ ὑπέμειναν ἐπιπλέοντας τοὺς Φοίνικας, ἀλλʼ οἴχοντο ἀπολιπόντες τὴν σφετέρην ἔσω ἐς τὸν Εὔξεινον πόντον, καὶ ἐνθαῦτα πόλιν Μεσαμβρίην οἴκησαν. οἱ δὲ Φοίνικες κατακαύσαντες ταύτας τὰς χώρας τὰς καταλεχθείσας τρέπονται ἐπί τε Προκόννησον καὶ Ἀρτάκην, πυρὶ δὲ καὶ ταύτας νείμαντες ἔπλεον αὖτις ἐς τὴν Χερσόνησον ἐξαιρήσοντες τὰς ἐπιλοίπους τῶν πολίων, ὅσας πρότερον προσσχόντες οὐ κατέσυραν.
ἐπὶ δὲ Κύζικον οὐδὲ ἔπλωσαν ἀρχήν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ Κυζικηνοὶ ἔτι πρότερον τοῦ Φοινίκων ἐσπλόου ἐγεγόνεσαν ὑπὸ βασιλέϊ, Οἰβάρεϊ τῷ Μεγαβάζου ὁμολογήσαντες τῷ ἐν Δασκυλείῳ ὑπάρχῳ.
Departing from Ionia the fleet proceeded to conquer all the places of the Hellespont on the left as one sails in, for those on the right had been subdued already by the Persians themselves, approaching them by land. Now the cities of the Hellespont in Europe are these:—first comes the Chersonese, in which there are many cities, then Perinthos, the strongholds of the Thracian border, Selymbria, and Byzantion. The people of Byzantion and those of Calchedon opposite did not even wait for the coming of the Persian ships, but had left their own land first and departed, going within the Euxine; and there they settled in the city of Mesambria. So the Phenicians, having burnt these places which have been mentioned, directed their course next to Proconnesos and Artake; and when they had delivered these also to the flames, they sailed back to the Chersonese to destroy the remaining cities which they had not sacked when they touched there before: but against Kyzicos they did not sail at all; for the men of Kyzicos even before the time when the Phenicians sailed in had submitted to the king of their own accord, and had made terms with Oibares the son of Megabazos, the Persian governor at Daskyleion.
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