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The Athenians had come to this decision, and were already in bad
odour with the Persians, when Aristagoras the Milesian, dismissed
from Sparta by Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian, arrived at Athens. He
knew that, after Sparta, Athens was the most powerful of the
Grecian states. Accordingly he appeared before the people, and, as
he had done at Sparta, spoke to them of the good things which there
were in Asia, and of the Persian mode of fight - how they used
neither shield nor spear, and were very easy to conquer. All this he
urged, and reminded them also that Miletus was a colony from Athens,
and therefore ought to receive their succour, since they were so
powerful - and in the earnestness of his entreaties, he cared little
what he promised - till, at the last, he prevailed and won them
over. It seems indeed to be easier to deceive a multitude than one man
- for Aristagoras, though he failed to impose on Cleomenes the
Lacedaemonian, succeeded with the Athenians, who were thirty
thousand. Won by his persuasions, they voted that twenty ships should
be sent to the aid of the Ionians, under the command of Melanthius,
one of the citizens, a man of mark in every way. These ships were the
beginning of mischief both to the Greeks and to the barbarians.
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