Histories

Now when the Milesians suffered all this at the hands of the Persians, the Sybarites (who had lost their city and dwelt in Laus and Scidrus) did not give them equal return for what they had done. When Sybaris [16.4833,39.75] (Perseus) Sybaris was taken by the Crotoniates, all the people of Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus, young and old, shaved their heads and made great public lamentation; no cities which we know were ever so closely joined in friendship as these.

The Athenians acted very differently. The Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus in many ways, but especially in this: when Phrynichus wrote a play entitled “The Fall of Miletus [27.3,37.5] (Perseus) Miletus” and produced it, the whole theater fell to weeping; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally, and forbade the performance of that play forever.