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After Leotychides had made this address, the Greeks brought their
ships to the land, and, having disembarked, arrayed themselves for
the battle. When the Persians saw them marshalling their array, and
bethought themselves of the advice which had been offered to the
Ionians, their first act was to disarm the Samians, whom they
suspected of complicity with the enemy. For it had happened lately
that a number of the Athenians who lingered in Attica, having been
made prisoners by the troops of Xerxes, were brought to Asia on board
the barbarian fleet; and these men had been ransomed, one and all, by
the Samians, who sent them back to Athens, well furnished with
provisions for the way. On this account, as much as on any other,
the Samians were suspected, as men who had paid the ransom of five
hundred of the king's enemies. After disarming them, the Persians
next despatched the Milesians to guard the paths which lead up into the
heights of Mycale, because (they said) the Milesians were well
acquainted with that region: their true object, however, was to
remove them to a distance from the camp. In this way the Persians
sought to secure themselves against such of the Ionians as they thought
likely, if occasion offered, to make rebellion. They then joined
shield to shield, and so made themselves a breastwork against the enemy.
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