fleet was drawn up in defence of the town.[14279] An engagement followed—­the first, so far as we know, between Phoenicians and Greeks—­wholly to the advantage of the latter.[14280] No complaint, however, is made of any lukewarmness, or want of zeal, on the part of the Phoenicians, who seem to have been beaten in fair fight by an enemy whom they had perhaps despised.  Their ill fortune did not lead to any very serious result, since the Persian land force defeated the Cyprians, and thus Persia once more obtained possession of the island.

A year or two later the Phoenicians recovered their lost laurels.  In B.C. 495 the Persians, having trampled out the flames of revolt in Cyprus, Caria, and Caunus, resolved on a great effort to bring the war to a close by attacking the Ionian Greeks in their own country, and crushing the head and front of the rebellion, which was the great and flourishing city of Miletus.  Miletus lay on the southern shore of a deep bay—­the Sinus Latmicus—­which penetrated the western coast of Asia Minor in about Lat. 37º 30’, but which the deposits of the Maeander have now filled up.[14281] North-west of the town, at the distance of about a mile, was the small island of Lade, now a mere hillock on the flat alluvial plain.  While the Persian land force advanced along the shore, and invested Milestus on the side towards the continent, a combined fleet of six hundred vessels[14282] proceeded to block the entrance to the bay, and to threaten the doomed city from the sea.  This fleet was drawn from four only of the countries subject to Persia—­viz.  Phoenicia, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt—­whereof Phoenicia, we are told, “showed the greatest zeal,"[14283] and we may presume furnished by far the larger number of ships.  On their arrival in Milesian waters the captains found a strong naval force collected to meet them, which rested upon the island of Lade, and guarded the approaches to the town.  Miletus had summoned to her aid the contingents of her various allies—­Chios, Lesbos, Samos, Teos, Priene, Erythrae, Phocaea, Myus—­and had succeeded in gathering together a fleet amounting to above three hundred and fifty vessels.[14284] This time Phoenicia did not despise her foe.  Before engaging, every effort was made to sow discord and dissension among the confederates, and induce the Greek captains to withdraw their squadrons, or at any rate to remain neutral in the battle.[14285] Considerable effect was produced by these machinations; and when at last the attack was made, two of the principal of the Greek allies[14286] drew off, and sailed homewards, leaving the rest of the confederates to their fate.  Yet, notwithstanding this defection, the battle was stoutly contested by the ships which remained, especially those of the Chians,[14287] and though a very decisive and complete victory was ultimately gained by the Phoenicians and their allies, the cost of the victory was great.  Persia regained her naval supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean; Phoenicia re-established her claim to be considered the great sea power of the time; but she lost a large number of her best vessels and seamen, and she was taught the lesson that, to cope with Greeks, she must have a vast superiority of force upon her side—­a superiority of not much less than three to one.