It so happened that news of this was brought to the Carians before Daurises' coming, and when the Carians heard, they mustered at the place called the White Pillars by the river Marsyas which flows from the region of Idria and issues into the Maeander. When they had gathered together, many plans were laid before them, the best of which, in my judgment, was that of Pixodarus of Cindya, the son of Mausolus and husband of the daughter of Syennesis, king of Cilicia. He proposed that the Carians should cross the Maeander and fight with the river at their back, so that being unable to flee and compelled to stand their ground they might prove themselves even braver than nature made them. This opinion, however, did not prevail, and it was decided instead that the Persians and not the Cilicians should have the Maeander at their back, the intent being that if the Persians were overcome in the battle and put to flight, they would not escape but be hurled into the river.