the Red Sea, by the mouth of the river Tigris.
The Athenians showed what great sorrow they had at the taking of Miletus by many other proofs, and especially by this. The poet Phrynichus made a play, “The Taking of Miletus;” but when he showed it on the stage the whole multitude in the theatre wept. And they put a fine of a thousand drachmas upon him because he had called to mind, they said, their own misfortune. And they made a law that no one thereafter should show this play.
Not many days afterwards Histiæus was taken prisoner by the Persians. Doubtless, had he been sent to Susa, King Darius would have pardoned him. And indeed, for fear of this, Artaphernes, governor of Sardis, commanded him to be slain. His body he fastened on a stake, and his head he embalmed and sent it on to the King. When the King heard it, he greatly blamed the governor, because he had not sent him up alive; and he commanded that they should take the head and dress it with all care, and so bury it, for that this man had been a great benefactor to the Persians.