Artax.
Mnemon.

CHAP. III.

SECT. I. The Grecian cities of Ionia implore aid of the Lacedæmonians against Artaxerxes. Rare prudence of a lady continued in her husband's government after bis death. Agesilaus elected king of Sparta. His

k

character.

THE cities of Ionia, that had taken party with Cyrus, apprehending the resentment of Tissaphernes, had applied to the Lacedæmonians, as the deliverers of Greece, for their support in the possession of the liberty they enjoyed, and to prevent their country from being ravaged. We have already said that Thimbron was sent thither, to whose troops Xenophon had joined his, after their return from A. M. Persia. Thimbron was soon recalled upon some 3605. discontent, and had for his successor Dercyllidas, Ant. J. C. surnamed Sisyphus, from his industry in finding

399.

resources, and his capacity in inventing machines of war. He took upon him the command of the army at Ephesus. When he arrived there, he was apprized, that there was a difference between the two satraps, who commanded in the country.

The provinces of the Persian monarchy, of which several, situate at the extremity of the empire, required too much application to be governed immediately by the prince, were confided to the care of the great lords commonly called satraps. They had each of them in their government an almost sovereign authority, and were, properly speaking, not unlike the vice-roys we see in our days in some neighbouring states. They were supplied with a number of troops sufficient for the defence of the country. They appointed all officers, disposed of the governments of cities, and were charged with levying and remitting the tributes to the prince.

Xenoph. Hist. Græc. 1. iii. p. 479-487.

They had power to raise troops, to treat with neigh- Artax. bouring states, and even with the generals of the Maemon. enemy; in a word, to do every thing necessary to the good order and tranquillity of their governments. They were independent of one another; and though they served the same master, and it was their duty to concur to the same ends, nevertheless cach being more affected with the particular advantage of his own province than the general good of the empire, they often differed among themselves, formed opposite designs, refused aid to their colleagues in necessity, and sometimes even acted entirely against them. The remoteness of the court, and the absence of the prince, gave room for these dissentions; and perhaps a secret policy contributed to keep them up, to elude, or prevent, conspiracies, which too good an understanding amongst the governors might have excited.

Dercyllidas having heard, therefore, that Tissaphernes and Pharnabasus were at variance, made a truce with the former, that he might not have them both upon his hands at the same time, entered Pharnabasus's province, and advanced as far as Æolia.

Zenis, the Dardanian, had governed that province under the satrap's authority; and as after his death it was to have been given to another, Mania, his widow, went to Pharnabasus with troops and presents, and told him, that having been the wife of a man who had rendered him great services, she desired him not to deprive her of her husband's reward; that she would serve him with the same zeal and fidelity; and that, if she failed in either, he was always at liberty to take her government from her. She was continued in it by this means, and acquitted herself with all the judgment and ability, that could have been expected from the most consummate person in the arts of ruling. To the ordinary tributes, which her husband had paid, she added presents of an extraordinary magnificence, and when Pharnabasus came into her province, she entertained

Artax. him more splendidly than any of the other goverMnemon. nors. She was not contented with the conservation

of the cities committed to her care, she made new conquests, and took * Larissa, Amaxita, and Colona. Hence we may observe, that prudence, good sense, and courage, are of all sexes. She was present in all expeditions in a chariot, and in person decreed rewards and punishments. None of the neighbouring provinces had a finer army than hers, in which she had a great number of Greek soldiers in her pay. She even attended Pharnabasus in all his enterprizes, and was of no common support to him. So that the satrap, who knew all the value of so extraordi nary'a merit, did more honour to this lady, than to all the other governors. He even admitted her into his council, and treated her with such a distinction, as might have excited jealousy, if the modesty and affability of that lady had not prevented bad effects, by throwing in a manner a veil over all her perfections, which softened their lustre, and let them only appear to be the objects of admiration.

She had no enemies but in her own family. Midias, her son-in-law, stung with the reproach of suffering a woman to command in his place, and abusing the entire confidence she reposed in him, which gave him access to her at all times, strangled her with her son. After her death he seized two fortresses, wherein she had secured her treasures; the other cities declared against him. He did not long enjoy the fruits of his crime. Dercyllidas happily arrived at this juncture. All the fortresses of Æolia, either voluntarily or by force, surrendered to him, and Midias was deprived of the possessions he had so unjustly acquired. The Lacedæmonian general having granted Pharnabasus a truce, took up his winter-quarters in Bithynia, to avoid being chargeable to his allies.

* From the Lydians and Pisidians.

A. M.

3606.

m The next year, being continued in the com- Artax. mand, he marched into Thrace, and arrived at the Mnemon Chersonesus. He knew, that the deputies of the country had been at Sparta to represent the neces- Ant.J.C. sity of fortifying the Isthmus with a good wall 398. against the frequent incursions of the Barbarians, which prevented the cultivation of the lands. Having measured the space, which is more than a league in breadth, he distributed the work amongst the soldiers, and the wall was finished in the autumn of the same year. Within this space were enclosed eleven cities, several ports, a great number of arable lands, and plantations, with pasture of all kinds. The work being finished, he returned into Asia, after having reviewed the cities, and found them all in good condition.

Conon the Athenian, after losing the battle of Egospotamos, having condemned himself to a voluntary banishment, continued in the isle of Cyprus with king Evagoras, not only for the safety of his person, but in expectation of a change in affairs; like one, says Plutarch, who waits the return of the tide before he embarks. He had always in view the re-establishment of the Athenian power, to which his defeat had given a mortal wound; and full of fidelity and zeal for his country, though little favourable to him, perpetually meditated the means to raise it from its ruins, and restore it to its ancient splendor.

This Athenian general, knowing the success of his views had occasion for a powerful support, wrote to Artaxerxes to explain his projects to him, and ordered the person who carried his letter, to apply himself to Ctesias, who would give it to the king. It was accordingly delivered to that physician, who, it is said, though he did not approve the contents of it, added to what Conon had wrote, that he desired the king would send Ctesias to him, being a person very

ni Xenoph. p. 487, 488. n Plut. in Artax. p. 1021.

Artax. capable of his service, especially in maritime affairs. Mnemon. Pharnabasus, in concert with Conon, was gone to

court to complain against the conduct of Tissaphernes, as too much in favour of the Lacedæmonians. Upon the warm instances of Pharnabasus, the king ordered five hundred talents * to be paid him for the equipment of a fleet, with instructions to give Conon the command of it. He sent Ctesias into Greece, who, after having visited Cnidos, his native country, went to Sparta.

P This Ctesias was at first in the service of Cyrus, whom he had followed in his expedition. He was taken prisoner in the battle wherein Cyrus was killed, and was made use of to dress the wounds Artaxerxes had received, of which he acquitted himself so well, that the king retained him in his service, and made him his first physician. He passed several years in his service in that quality. Whilst he was there, the Greeks, upon all their occasions at the court, applied themselves to him; as Conon did on this. His long residence in Persia, and at the court, had given him the necessary time and means for his information in the history of the country, which he wrote in three-and-twenty books. The first contained the history of the Assyrians and Babylonians from Ninus and Semiramis down to Cyrus. The other seventeen treated of the Persian affairs from the beginning of Cyrus's reign to the third year of the XVth Olympiad, which agrees with the three hundred and ninety-eighth before JESUS CHRIST. He wrote also an history of India. Photius has given us several extracts of both these histories, which are all that remain of Ctesias. He often contradicts Herodotus, and differs sometimes also from Xenophon. He was in no great estimation with the ancients, who speak of him as of a very vain man, whose

Diod. 1. xiv. p. 267. Justin, 1. vi. c. 1. P Strab. 1. xiv. p. 656. Plut. in. Artax. p. 1014-1017-1020. Diod. 1. xi. p. 273. Aristot. de Hist. anim. 1. viii. c. 28. Phot. Cod. LXII. * 500,000 crowns, or about 112,000l. sterling.