He began to distinguish himself particularly by the execution of à commission that was given him to reduce Thyus, a very powerful prince, and governour of Paphlagonia, who had revolted against the king. As he was his near relation, he thought it incumbent upon him at first to try the methods of lenity and reconciliation, which almost cost him his life, through the treachery of Thyus, by the ambuscades he laid for him. Having escaped so great a danger, he attacked him with open force, though he saw himself abandoned by Ariobarzanes, satrap of Lydia, Ionia, and all Phrygia, whom jealousy prevented from giving him aid. He took his enemy prisoner, with his wife and children; and knowing with what joy the king would receive the news, he endeavoured to make it the more sensible by the pleasure of a surprise. He set out with his illustrious prisoner, without giving the court any advice, and made great marches, to prevent its being known from rumour before his arrival. When he came to Susa, he equipped Thyus in a very singular manner. He was a man of very tall stature, of an haggard and terrible aspect, a black complexion, with the hair of his head and beard very long. He dressed him in a magnificent habit, put a collar and bracelets of gold about his neck and arms, and added to this equipage all the ornaments of a king, as he was in effect. For himself, in the gross habit of a peasant, and clad like a hunter, he led Thyus upon the left in a leash, like a wild beast that had been taken in the toils. The novelty of the sight drew the whole city after it but nobody was so much surprised and pleased as the king, when he saw them approach in that pleasant masquerade. The rebellion of a prince, very powerful in his country, had given Artaxerxes great and just alarm, and he did not expect to have seen him so soon in his hands. So sudden and successful an execution gave him an higher opinion than ever of the merit of Datames. : To express his sense of it, he gave him an equal share in the command of the army designed against Egypt, with Pharnabasus and Tithraustes, the two principal persons in the state, and even appointed him general in chief, when he recalled Pharnabasus. When he was upon the point of setting out for that expedition, Artaxerxes ordered him to march directly against Aspis, who had made the country revolt which he commanded in the neighbourhood of Cappadocia. The commission was little important for an officer who had been appointed general, and besides very dangerous, because it was necessary to go in quest of the enemy into a very remote country. The king soon perceived his error, and countermanded him but Datames had set out directly with an handful of men, and marched night and day; judging that diligence, without a great number of troops, was all that was necessary to surprise and vanquish the enemy. It happened according to his expectation, and the couriers dispatched by the king met Aspis in chains upon the road to Susa. Nothing was talked of at the court but Datames. It was not known which to admire most, his ready obedience, his wise and enterprising bravery, or his extraordinary success. So glorious a reputation gave of fence to the courtiers in power. Enemies in secret to each other, and divided by a contrariety of interests, and a competition in their pretensions, they united together against a superior merit, which reproached their defects, and was therefore a crime in their acceptation. They conspired to ruin him in the king's opinion, and succeeded but too well. As they besieged him perpetually, and he was not upon his guard against persona VOL. II. 39 who appeared so well affected to his service, they inspired him with jealousy and suspicion to the prejudice of the most zealous and faithful of his officers. An intimate friend of Datames, who held one of the highest posts at the court, apprised him of what passed, and of the conspiracy which had been formed against him, and had already sunk his credit considerably with the king. He represented to him, that if the Egyptian expedition, with which he was charged, should take a bad turn, he would find himself exposed to great dangers that it was the custom with kings to attribute good successes to themselves and their auspicious fortune only, and to impute the bad to the faults of their generals, for which they were responsible at the peril of their heads: that he ran the greater risk, as all that were about the king's person, and had any ascendant over him, were his declared enemies, and had sworn bis destruction. : Upon this advice, Datames resolved to quit the king's service, though without doing any thing hitherto contrary to the fidelity he owed him. He left the command of the army to Mandrocles of Magnesia, departed with his own troops for Cappadocia, seized Paphlagonia which joined it, allied himself secretly with Ariorbarzanes, raised troops, took possession of fortresses, and put good garrisons in them. He received advice that the Pisidians were arming against him. He did not wait their coming on, but made his army march thither under the command of his youngest son, who had the misfortune to be killed in a battle. However lively his affiction might be upon that occasion, he concealed his death, lest the bad news should discourage his troops. When he approached near the enemy, his first care was to take possession of an advantageous post. † Mithrobarzanes, his father-in-law, who commanded the horse, believing his son entirely ruined, determined to go over to the enemy. Datames without concern or emotion, caused a rumour to be spread throughout the army, that it was only a feint concerted between him and his father-in-law, and followed him close, as if he designed to put his troops into a disposition for charging the enemy in two different attacks. The stratagem had all the success he expected from it. When they joined battle, Mithrobarzanes was treated as an enemy on both sides, and cut to pieces with his troops. The army of the Pisidians was put to flight, and left Datames master of the field, and of all the rich booty found in the camp of the conquered. Datames had not till then declared openly against the king, the actions we have related being only against governours, with whom he might have particular differences, which we have observed before was common enough. His own eldest son, called Scismas, made himself his accuser, and discovered his whole designs to the king. Artaxerxes was highly apprehensive of the consequence. He knew all the merit of this new enemy, and that he did not engage in any enterprise without having maturely considered all its consequences, and taken the necessary measures to secure its success; and that hitherto the execution had always answer * Docet eum magno fore in periculo, siquid, illo imperante, in Ægypto adversi accidisset. Namque eam esse consuetudinem regum, ut casus adversos hominibus tribuant, secundos fortunæ suæ; quo facile fieri, ut impellantur ad eorum perniciem, quorum ductu res male gesta nuncientur. Illum hoc majore fore in discrimine, quod, quibus rex maxime obediat, eos habeat inimicissimos. Cor. Nep Diod. 1. xv. p. 399. ed the wisdom of his projects. He sent an army against him into Cappadocia, of almost 200,000 men, of which 20,000 were horse, all commanded by Autophradates. The troops of Datames did not amount to the twentieth part of the king's; so that he had no resource but in himself, the valour of his soldiers, and the happy situation of the post he had chosen, For in that consisted his chief excellence; never captain having better known how to take his advantages and choose his ground, when he was to draw up an army in battle. His post, as I have observed, was infinitely superior to that of the ene.' my. He had pitched upon a situation where they could not surround him; where, upon the least movement they made, he could come to blows with them with very considerable advantage; and where, had they resolv ed to fight, their odds in number would have been absolutely useless to them. Autophradates well knew, that according to all the rules of war, he ought not to hazard a battle in such a conjuncture; but he observed at the same time, that it was much to his dishonour, with so numerous an army, to make choice of a retreat, dr to continue any longer in inaction before an handful of enemies. He therefore gave the signal. The first attack was rude, but the troops of Autophradates soon gave way, and were entirely routed. The victor pursued them for some time with great slaughter. There were only 1000 men killed on the side of Datames. Several battles, or rather skirmishes, were fought afterwards, in which the latter was always victorious; because, perfectly knowing the country, and succeeding especially in the stratagems of war, he always posted himself advantageously, and engaged the enemy in difficult ground, from whence they could not extricate themselves without loss. Autophradates seeing all his endeavours ineffectual, and his supplies entirely exhausted, and despairing of ever being able to subject by force so artful and valiant an enemy, entreated an accommodation, and proposed to him the being restored to the king's favour upon honourable conditions. Datames was' not ignorant that there was little security for him in such a choice, because princes are seldom reconciled in earnest with a subject who has failed in his obedience, and to whom they see themselves in some sort obliged to submit. However, as only despair had hurried him into the revolt, and he had always retained at heart the sentiments of zeal and affection for his prince, he accepted the offers with joy, which would put an end to the violent condition his misfortune had engaged him in, and afford him the means of returning to his duty, and of employing his talents for the service of the prince to whom they were due. He promised to send deputies to the king; upon which ensued a cessation of arms, and Autophradates retired into Phrygia, which was his government, Datames was not deceived. Artaxerxes, furiously enraged against him, had changed the esteem and affection he formerly possessed for him, into an implacable hatred. Finding himself incapable of conquering him by force of arms, he was not ashamed to employ artifice and treachery: means unworthy every man of honour, and how much more so of a prince! He hired several murderers to assassinate him; but Datames was so happy as to escape their ambuscades. At length Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes, to whom the king had made magnificent promises, if he could deliver him from so formidable an enemy, having insinuated himself into his friendship, and having long treated him with all the marks of the most entire fidelity to acquire his confidence, took the advantage of a favourable opportunity when he was alone, and stabbed him with his sword, before he was in a condition to defend himself, Thus * fell this great captain in the snares of a pretended friendship, who had always thought it his honour to observe the most inviolable fidelity in regard to those with whom he had any engagements. Happy, had he always piqued himself also upon being as faithful a subject as he was a true friend; and if he had not in the latter part of his life sullied the lustre of his heroic qualities, by the ill use he made of them; which neither the fear of disgrace, the injustice of those who envied him, the ingratitude of his master for the services he had rendered him, nor any other pretext, could sufficiently authorise. I am surprised that, comparable as he was to the greatest persons of antiquity, he has remained in a manner buried in silence and oblivion. His great actions and exploits are however worthy of being preserved in history. For it is in such small bodies of troops as those of Datames that the whole soul is exerted, in which the highest prudence is shown, in which chance has no share, and the abilities of a general appear in their full light. As CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF SOCRATES ABRIDGED. S the death of Socrates is one of the most considerable events of antiquity, I thought it incumbent on me to treat that subject with all the extent it deserves. In this view I shall premise some things which are necessary to the reader's having a just idea of this prince of the philosophers. Two authors will supply me principally with what I have to say upon this subject, Plato and Xenophon, both disciples of Socrates. It is to them posterity is indebted for many of his discourses († that philosopher baving left nothing in writing,) and for an ample account of all the circumstances of his condemnation and death. Plato was an eye witness of the whole, and relates, in his Apology, the manner of Socrates' accusation and defence; in his Criton, his refusal to make his escape out of prison; in his Phædon, his admirable discourse upon the immortality of the soul, which was immediately followed by his death. Xenophon was absent at that time, and upon his return after the expedition of young Cyrus against bis brother Artaxerxes: so that he wrote his apology of Socrates only upon the report of others; but his actions and discourses, in his four books of memorable things, he repeats from his own knowledge. Diogenes Laertius, has given us the life of Socrates, but in a very dry and abridged manner. * Ita vir, qui multos consilio, neminem perfidia ceperat, simulata captus est amicitia. Cor. Nep. +Socrates, cujus ingenium variosque sermones immortalitati scriptis suis Plato tradidit, literam nullam reliquit. Cic. de orat. 1. iii. n. 57. SECTION I. BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF SOCRATES. SOCRATES was born at Athens in the fourth year of the 77th Olympiad.* His father Sophroniscus was a sculptor, and his mother Phanarete a midwife. Hence we may observe, that meanness of birth is no obstacle to true merit, in which alone solid glory and real nobility consist. It appears from the comparisons Socrates often used in his discourses, that he was neither ashamed of his father's nor mother's profession. He was surprised that a sculptor should employ his whole attention to mould an insensible stone into the likeness of a man, and that a man should take so little pains not to resemble an insensible stone. He would often say that he exercised the function of a midwife with regard to the mind, in making it bring forth all its thoughts, which was indeed the peculiar talent of Socrates. He treated subjects in so simple, natural, and pure an order, that he made those with whom he disputed say what he would, and find an answer themselves to all the questions he proposed to them. He at first learned his father's trade, in which he made himself very expert. In the time of Pausanias there was a Mercury and the Graces to be seen at Athens of his workmanship, and it is to be presumed, these statues would not have found place amongst those of the greatest masters in the art, if they had not been thought worthy of it. Criton is reported to have taken him out of his father's shop, from the admiration of his fine genius, and the opinion that it was inconsistent for a young man, capable of the greatest things, to continue perpetually employed upon stone with a chisel in his hand. He was the disciple of Archelaus, who conceived a great affection for him. Archelaus had been pupil to Anaxagoras, a very celebrated philosopher. His first study was physics, the works of nature, and the movement of the heavens, stars, and planets; according to the custom of those times, wherein only that part of philosophy was known, and Xenophon ¶ assures us of his being very learned in it. But ** after having found by his own experience, how difficult, abstruse, intricate, and at the same time how little useful that kind of learning was to the generality of mankind, he was the first, according to Cicero, who conceived the thought of bringing down philosophy from heaven, to place it in cities, and introduce it into private houses; humanizing it, to use that expression, and rendering it more familiar, more useful in common life, more within the reach of man's capacity, and applying it solely to what might make them more rational, just, and virtuous. He found there was a kind of folly in devoting the whole vivacity of his mind, and employing all his * A. M. 3533. Ant. J. C. 471. Diog. Laert. in Socrat. p. 100. Lib. iv. Mem. p. 710. t Plat. in Theatet. p. 149, &c. **Socrates primus philosophiam devocavit e cœlo, et in urbibus collocavit, et in domos etiam introduxit, et coegit de vita et moribus, rebusque bonis et malis quærere. Cic. Tus. quæst. I. v. n. 10. Socrates mihi videtur, id quod constat inter omnes, primus a rebus occultis, et ab ipsa natura involutis, in quibus omnes ante eum philosophi occupati fuerunt, avocavisse philosophiam, et ad vitam communem adduxisse; ut de virtutibus et vitiis, omninoque de bonis rebus et malis quæreret; cœlestia autem vel procul esse nostra cognitione censeret, vel si maxime cognita essent, nihil tamen ad bene vivendum conferre. Cic. acad. quæst. 1. i. n. 15. Xenoph. Memorab. I. i. p. 710. |