# Key to Easy Latin Stories for beginners/Part IV/XIV

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XIV.—THE CAMPAIGN IN CYPRUS.
Preparations of the Insurgents.
173.—Meanwhile these things were done in Cyprus. It is announced to Onesilus, the general of the Cyprians, that Artybius the Persian, with a fleet and a large army of Persians, will come to Cyprus. On ascertaining this, Onesilus the Cyprian sent a herald throughout Ionia, calling the Ionians to his assistance; and the Ionians came with a large fleet without deliberating long about the matter. At the same time as the Ionians arrived, the Persians also, after crossing in ships from Cilicia, marched upon Salamis on foot; but the Phoenicians with the ships sailed round' the foreland, which is called the Keys of Cyprus.
They hold a council of war.
174.—This being the state of affairs, the Cyprian despots addressed the assembled leaders of the Ionians as follows:—‘We Cyprians allow you, Ionians, to choose with which of the two you wish to fight—with the Persians or with the Phoenicians. Now, if you wish to fight with the Persians in a battle on land, you must, without any delay intervening, disembark from your vessels, and draw up your line of batUe on foot; while we, embarking on board your vessels, must oppose ​ourselves to the Phoenicians. But if you prefer to try your fortune with the Phoenicians, whichever part you choose, you must do your best (lit. give attention), that both Ionia and Cyprus may be free, as far as lies in you (lit. as much as can be done through you). To this the lonians replied, ‘Ionia has sent us to guard the sea, not to fight ourselves on foot with the Persians, giving up our ships to Cyprians. So we shall try to do a useful work in the station we have been placed in; but you, remembering what you have suffered when subject to the Persians, must be brave men.’ After this, when the Persians had come to the plain of the men of Salamis, the kings of the Cyprians formed their line of battle; so, indeed, as to oppose the rest of the Cyprians to the remaining soldiery of the enemy, but men selected from the men of Salamis to the Persians. Now Onesilus joyfully took his stand against Artybius, the leader of the Persians.
The charger of Artybius.
175.—Artybius used to ride on a horse which had been trained to rear itself (lit to stand erect) against an armed soldier. Knowing this, Onesilus, since he had an armour-bearer, by race a Carian, distinguished in military skill and full of courage, said to him, ‘I hear that the charger of Artybius rears and fights with feet and teeth against an opponent. Do thou therefore take counsel quickly with thyself, and tell me whether thou desirest me to watch and strike the horse or Artybius himself.’ To this the servant replied: ‘I for my part am ready, king, to do either thing or both, and whatever thou biddest me at all; yet I shall say what seems most advantageous for your success. I affirm that a king and leader should fight with a king and leader; for if thou slayest a man (who is) a general that will be a great thing for thee; or if he slays thee, which may the gods forbid, it is a less calamity to be slain by a man worthy (of one). But I say that we servants should fight with servants and with the charger ; and be not thou a&aid of his tricks, for I promise you that he will rear against no man any more.’
The battle.
176.{{bar|1}After the armour-bearer had said this, soon the battle began both by sea and land. And the lonians indeed with the ​fleet, fighting bravely on that day, defeated the Phoenicians; and among the lonians, the valour of the Samians was conspicuous before others. But when the forces on land came together, they fought charging in turn with great violence. Now this is what was done by the generals on either side. When Artybius, riding on the horse I have mentioned, made an attack on Onesilus, Onesilus, as it had been agreed by him with the armour-bearer, strikes Artybius himself as he charged; and when the horse threw its feet on to the shield of Onesilus, the Carian, striking with a bill, cut off the horse’s feet. Thus Artybius, the leader of the Persians, fell in the same place together with his horse.
The insurgents are betrayed and defeated.
177.—But while the others also are fighting in the battle, Stenosor, one of their leaders, with a considerable (lit. not small) band of soldiers, whom he had with him, deserts the Cyprians. After Stenosor deserted the allies, at once the charioteers of the men of Salamis did the same. This being done the Persians turned out superior to the Cyprians. And when their army was put to flight, there fell both many others, and also Onesilus himself, who had instigated the Cyprians (lit. had been an instigator to the Cyprians, &c.) to revolt. The allies resisted for a long time, but being hemmed in by the Persians they were at length routed and put to flight. The Persians got possession of great booty, and a great number of captives.
A strange portent.
178.—The men of Amathus, whom he had himself besieged, cut off the head of Onesilus and carried it to Amathus, and hung it over the gate of the town. They relate that after the hollow skull had been hung up thus, a swarm of bees, winding its way into it, filled it with their combs. And when this had happened, on the men of Amathus asking the oracle, ‘What they should do?’ an answer is given them, ‘Let them take away the head and bury it; but let them offer yearly sacrifices to Onesilus as a hero. That if they did this, things would go better with
The true author of the revolt.
179.—Aristagoras is slain while besieging a certain town. But Histiaeus, the tyrant of Miletus, who had been the author of the revolt, having been dismissed from Susa by Darius, had set out for Sardis On aiiivmg there, Artaphernes, the governor of Sardis, asked, ‘From what cause did he think the Ionians had revolted from the Great King?’ When he said that he did not know, Ariaphernes, seeing that he lied, said: ‘This is the way the matter stands, Histiaeus; thou has made this boot which Aristagoras put on.’ When Artaphernes had said this, Histiaeus, fearing that he would be killed, betakes himself to flight. Then he goes to Miletus. But the men of Miletus, being to their joy (lit. joyfully) freed from Aristagoras, were unwilling to receive him. So on attempting to enter Miletus by force during the night, he was repulsed, and even wounded in the thigh by one of the Milesians. Thence he sailed to Byzantium, and there he used to seize all the ships that passed by, with the exception of the vessels of those who said they were ready to obey Histiaeus. He was soon taken by Artaphemes, who hung his body on a gallows, but sent his head, pickled in salt, to Darius, at Susa. But Darius ordered his head to be buried, after being washed and well seen to, as that of a man who had deserved well of him. This then was the end of Histiaeus.