XII. When Cyrus was dead it happened that Artasyras, who was called the king's eye,[583] rode past. Recognising the eunuchs who were mourning over the body, he asked the most trusted of them, "Pariskas, who is this beside whom you sit weeping?" He answered, "Artasyras, do you not see that it is Cyrus, who is dead?" Artasyras was astonished at this news, bade the eunuch be of good courage and guard the body, and himself rode in haste to Artaxerxes, who had given up all hope of success, and was in great bodily suffering from his wound and from thirst. Artasyras, with great delight, told him that he had seen Cyrus lying dead. On hearing this Artaxerxes at first wished to go to see it himself, and bade Artasyras lead him to the spot; but as there was much talk and fear of the Greeks, who were said to be advancing and carrying all before them; he decided to send a party to view the body; and thirty men went carrying torches. Meanwhile, as the king himself was almost dying of thirst the eunuch Satibarzanes went in search of drink for him; for there was no water in the place where he was, nor indeed anywhere near the army. After much trouble the eunuch at length fell in with one of the low Kaunian camp followers, who had about four pints of putrid water in a skin, which he took from the man and carried it to the king. When the king had drunk it all, he asked him if he was not disgusted with the water; and the king swore by the gods that he never had drank either wine or the purest of water with such pleasure. "So," added he, "if I be not able to find the man who gave you this water and reward him for it, I pray that the gods may make him rich and happy."
XIII. While they were talking thus, the thirty men rode up in high spirits, announcing to him his unlooked-for good fortune. Artaxerxes now began to recover his courage from the number of men who began to assemble round him, and descended from the hill amidst the glare of many torches. When he reached the body, the head and right hand were cut off, in accordance with some Persian custom. He ordered the head to be brought to him, took hold of it by the long thick hair, and showed it to those who were still wavering or fleeing. They all were filled with amazement, and did homage to him, so that he soon collected a force of seventy thousand men, accompanied by whom he re-entered his camp. He had left it in the morning, according to Ktesias, with an army of four hundred thousand men; though Deinon and Xenophon both estimate the forces actually engaged at a higher figure. Ktesias states that the number of the dead was returned to Artaxerxes as nine thousand, but that he himself thought that the corpses which he saw lying on the field must amount to more than twenty thousand. This point admits of discussion; but Ktesias tells an obvious untruth when he says that he was sent on an embassy to the Greeks, together with Phalinus of Zakynthus, and some other persons. Xenophon knew that Ktesias was at the king's court, for he makes mention of him, and has evidently read his history; so that he never would have passed him over, and only mentioned Phalinus of Zakynthus, if Ktesias had really come as interpreter on a mission of such importance. But Ktesias, being a wonderfully vain man, and especially attached to the Lacedæmonians and to Klearchus, constantly in his history introduces himself, while he sings the praises of Lacedæmon and of Klearchus.
XIV. After the battle, Artaxerxes sent most splendid and valuable presents to Artagerses, the son of the man who had been slain by Cyrus, and handsomely rewarded Ktesias and the rest of his companions. He sought out the Kaunian from whom he had received the water-skin, who was a poor and humble man, and made him rich and honoured. He also took pains to appoint suitable punishments to those who had misconducted themselves. One Arbakes, a Mede, deserted to Cyrus during the battle, and when Cyrus fell again returned to his allegiance. Artaxerxes, perceiving that he had done so not from treachery but from sheer cowardice, ordered him to carry a naked courtesan about the market-place upon his shoulders for the whole of one day. Another deserter, who besides changing sides falsely boasted that he had slain two of the enemy, was condemned by the king to have his tongue pierced with three needles. As Artaxerxes believed, and wished all men to think that he had himself slain Cyrus, he sent presents to Mithridates, who was the first man that wounded Cyrus, and bade those who carried the presents say, "The king honours you with these presents, because you found Cyrus's saddle-cloth and brought it to him." And when the Carian, who had struck Cyrus under the knee, demanded a present, he bade those who carried the presents say, "The king gives you these for having been second to bring him the good news; for Artasyras first, and you next, brought him the news of the death of Cyrus." Mithridates retired in silence, much vexed at this; but the unhappy Carian, as often happens, was ruined by his own folly. Excited by his good fortune into trying to obtain more than became him, he refused to take what was offered him for having brought good news, but remonstrated loudly, declaring that he, and no one else, slew Cyrus, and that he was most unjustly being deprived of the credit of the action. The king, when he heard this, was greatly angered, and ordered the man's head to be struck off. His mother, Parysatis, who was present, said, "My king, do not thus rid yourself of this pestilent Carian. He shall receive from me a fitting punishment for what he has dared to say." The king handed him over to her, and Parysatis ordered the executioners to torture him for ten days, and then to tear out his eyes and pour molten copper into his ears until he died.
XV. Mithridates also came to an evil end after a few days by his folly.
He came dressed in the robe, and adorned with the ornaments which he had received from the king, to a banquet at which the eunuchs of the king and of the king's mother were present. When they began to drink the most influential of the eunuchs of Parysatis said to him: "What a fine dress, Mithridates, and what fine necklaces and bracelet the king has given you! How valuable is your scimitar? Indeed, he has made you fortunate and envied by all men." Mithridates, who was already in liquor, answered: "What are these things, Sparamixes? I proved myself on that day worth more than these to the king." Sparamixes smiled and said, "I do not grudge you them, Mithridates, but come--as the Greeks say that there is truth in wine--tell us how it can be so great or brilliant an achievement to find a saddle-cloth that has fallen off a horse, and to bring it to the king." This the eunuch said, not because he did not know the truth, but because he wished to lead Mithridates, whose tongue was loosened by wine, to expose his folly before the company. Mithridates could not restrain himself, and said: "You may say what you please about saddle-cloths and such nonsense; I tell you plainly, that it was by my hand that Cyrus fell. I did not hurl my javelin in vain, like Artagerses, but I just missed his eye, struck him through the temple, and felled him to the ground; and with that blow he died." All the rest of the guests, foreseeing the miserable end to which Mithridates would certainly come, cast their eyes upon the ground; but the host said: "My good Mithridates, let us now eat and drink, adoring the fortune of the king, but let us not talk about subjects which are too high for us."
XVI. After this, the eunuch told Parysatis what Mithridates had said, and she told the king, who was much enraged, because he was proved not to have spoken the truth, and had been deprived of the sweetest part of his victory; for he wished to persuade all men, Asiatics and Greeks alike, that in the skirmish when he and his brother met he himself had been wounded by Cyrus, but had struck him dead. He therefore condemned Mithridates to the punishment of the boat. This is as follows:--Two wooden boats are made, which fit together. The criminal is placed on his back in one of them, and then the other is placed over him, and the two are fastened so as to leave his head, feet, and hands outside, but covering all the rest of his body. They give him food, and if he refuses it, they force him to eat it by pricking his eyes. When he has eaten they pour a mixture of milk and honey into his mouth and over his face.
They then keep turning his eyes towards the sun, his whole face becomes completely covered with flies. As all his evacuations are necessarily contained within the boat, worms and maggots are generated from the corruption, which eat into his body; for when the man is certainly dead, they take off the upper boat and find all his flesh eaten away, and swarms of these animals clinging to his bowels and devouring them. In this way Mithridates died, after enduring his misery for seventeen days.
XVII. The only remaining object of the vengeance of Parysatis was Masabates, the king's eunuch who cut off the head and hand of Cyrus. As he gave no handle against himself, Parysatis devised the following plot against him. She was naturally a clever woman, and was fond of playing with the dice. Before the war, she had often played with dice with the king; and after the war when she became reconciled to him she took part in his amusements, played at games with him, encouraged his amours, and altogether permitted Statira to have but very little of his society; for Parysatis hated Statira more than any one else, and wished to have most influence with Artaxerxes herself. Finding Artaxerxes one day eager for amusement, as he had nothing to do, she challenged him to play for a thousand darics. She purposely allowed her son to win, and paid him the money: and then pretending to be vexed at her loss, called on him to cast the dice afresh for a eunuch. Artaxerxes agreed, and they agreed to play upon the condition that each of them should set apart five of their most trusty eunuchs, and that the winner was to have his choice of the rest. On these terms they played; and Parysatis, who gave the closest attention to her game, and was also favoured by fortune, won, and chose Masabates, who was not one of the excepted ones. Before the king suspected her purpose she had Masabates arrested, and delivered him to the executioners with orders to flay him alive, impale his body sideways upon three stakes, and hang up his skin separately. This was done; and as the king was greatly grieved at it and was angry with her, she smiled and said ironically: "How pleasant and well-mannered you are, to be angry about a miserable old eunuch, whereas I have lost a thousand darics at dice and say nothing about it." The king, though he was sorry to have been so cheated, yet remained quiet; but Statira, who indeed often on other occasions openly braved Parysatis, was very indignant with her for so cruelly and unjustly putting the king's faithful eunuch to death for Cyrus's sake.
XVIII. When Tissaphernes betrayed Klearchus and the other generals, broke his plighted word, seized them and sent them away in chains, Ktesias tells us that Klearchus asked him to provide him with a comb.
When Klearchus received it and combed his hair with it, he was so much pleased that he gave Ktesias his ring, to be a token to all Klearchus's friends and relatives in Lacedæmon of his friendship for Ktesias. The device engraved upon the ring was a dance of Karyatides. At first the soldiers who were imprisoned with Klearchus took away the provisions which were sent to him and ate them themselves, giving him but a small part of them. Ktesias says that he remedied this also, by arranging that a larger portion should be sent to Klearchus, and that a separate allowance should be given to the soldiers. All these services Ktesias states that he rendered in consequence of the favour of Parysatis for the captives, and at her instigation. He says, also, that as he sent Klearchus a joint of meat daily in addition to his other provisions, Klearchus begged him and assured him that it was his duty to hide a small dagger in the meat, and send it to him, and not to allow him to be cruelly put to death by the king; but he was afraid, and did not dare to do it. Ktesias says that the king's mother pleaded with him for the life of Klearchus, and that he agreed to spare him, and even swore to do so, but that he was again overruled by Statira, and put them all to death except Menon. It was in consequence of this, according to Ktesias, that Parysatis began to plot against Statira, and devised the plan for poisoning her, though it seems very unlikely that it was only for the sake of Klearchus that she dared to do such wickedness as to murder the lawful wife of her king, who was the mother of the heirs to the throne.
But clearly all this was written merely for dramatic effect, to do honour to the memory of Klearchus. Ktesias writes, too, that when the generals were put to death the remains of the others were thrown away to be devoured by the dogs and fowls of the air; but that a violent storm of wind heaped much earth over the body of Klearchus, and that from some dates which were scattered around there soon sprung up a fair and shady grove above the place where he lay, so that the king sorely repented of what he had done, thinking that in Klearchus he had slain one who was a favourite of the gods.
XIX. Parysatis, who had long been jealous of Statira and hated her, and who saw that her own power depended merely on the respect with which she was regarded by the king, who loved and trusted Statira, now determined to destroy her, though at the most terrible risk to herself. She had a faithful maid-servant, named Gigis, who was high in her favour, whom Deinon accuses of having assisted to administer the poison, though Ktesias says that she was only privy to the plot, and that against her will. Ktesias says that the man who procured the poison was named Belitaris, but Deinon calls him Melantas. Now the two queens, leaving off their former hatred and suspicion, began again to visit one another and to dine together, but yet mistrusted each other so much that they only ate the same food from the same dishes. There is in Persia a small bird, which has no excrements, but all its entrails are filled with solid fat; it is supposed that it feeds upon air and dew; the name of it is _rhyntakes_. Ktesias states that Parysatis cut this bird in two with a small knife, one side of which was smeared over with the poison. As she cut it, she wiped the poison off the blade on to one piece of the bird, which she gave to Statira, while she ate the untouched portion herself. Deinon, however, says that it was not Parysatis, but Melantas, who cut off the poisoned part of the meat and gave it to Statira. As Statira perished in dreadful agonies and convulsions, she herself perceived that she had been poisoned, and directed the suspicions of the king against his mother, knowing, as he did, her fierce and rancorous disposition. He at once began to search for the author of the crime, seized all his mother's servants and the attendants at her table, and put them to the torture, except Gigis, whom Parysatis kept for a long time at home with herself, and refused to deliver up, though afterwards, when Gigis begged to be sent to her own home, the king heard of it, laid an ambuscade, caught her, and condemned her to death. Poisoners are put to death in Persia in the following manner: their heads are placed upon a flat stone, and are then beaten with another stone until the face and skull is crushed. Gigis perished in this manner; but Artaxerxes said and did nothing to Parysatis, except that he sent her to Babylon, at her own request, saying that he himself should not see Babylon as long as she lived. Such were the domestic troubles of Artaxerxes.
XX. Though the king was as anxious to get the Greek troops, who accompanied Cyrus, into his power as he had been to conquer Cyrus himself and to save his throne, yet he could not do so: for though they had lost their leader, Cyrus, and all their generals, yet they got away safe after having penetrated almost as far as the king's palace itself, proving clearly to the world that the Persian empire, in spite of all its gold and luxury and beautiful women, was mere empty bombast without any real strength. Upon this all Greece took courage and despised the Asiatics, while the Lacedæmonians felt that it would be a disgrace to them not to set free the enslaved Greeks of Asia Minor, and put a stop to the insolence of the Persians. Their army was at first commanded by Thimbron, and afterwards by Derkyllidas, but as neither of these effected anything of importance, they entrusted the conduct of the war to their king Agesilaus. He crossed over to Asia with the fleet, and at once began to act with vigour. He gained much glory, defeated Tissaphernes, and set free the Greek cities from the Persians.
Artaxerxes, upon this, having carefully considered how it would be best for him to contend with the Greeks, sent Timokrates of Rhodes into Greece with a large sum of money, and ordered him to corrupt the most important persons in each city by offering bribes to them, and to stir up the Greeks to make war against Lacedæmon. Timokrates did so, and as the greatest states formed a league, and Peloponnesus was in great confusion, the government ordered Agesilaus to return from Asia. On his departure on this occasion he is said to have remarked to his friends that he was being driven out of Asia by the King of Persia with thirty thousand archers; for the Persian coins bear the device of an archer.
XXI. Artaxerxes also chased the Lacedæmonians from the sea, making use for this purpose of Konon, the Athenian, as his admiral in conjunction with Pharnabazus. Konon, after the battle of Ægospotami, had retired to Cyprus, where he remained, not so much in order to ensure his own safety as to watch for a favourable opportunity, as one waits for the turn of the tide. Observing that while he possessed skill without power, the King of Persia possessed power without an able man to direct it, he wrote a letter to the king expressing these ideas. He ordered the man who carried the letter to make it reach the king, if possible, by the hands of Zeno the Cretan, or of Polykritus of Mende. Of these men, Zeno was a dancer, and Polykritus a physician. If these men should be absent he ordered the man to give the letter to Ktesias the physician. It is said that Ktesias received the letter and that he added to what Konon had written a paragraph bidding the king send Ktesias to him, as he would be a useful person to superintend naval operations. Ktesias, however, says that the king of his own accord appointed him to this service. Artaxerxes, now, by means of Pharnabazus and Konon, gained the sea-fight of Knidos, deprived the Lacedæmonians of the empire of the sea, and established so great an ascendancy over the Greeks that he was able to conclude with them the celebrated peace which was known as the peace of Antalkidas. This Antalkidas was a Spartan, the son of Leon; and he being entirely in the interests of the King of Persia, prevailed upon the Lacedæmonians to allow him to possess all the Greek cities in Asia, and all the islands off the coast, as his subjects and tributaries, as the result of the peace, if that can be called a peace, which was really an insult and betrayal of Greece to the enemy; for no war could have ended more disgracefully for the vanquished.
XXII. It follows from this that Artaxerxes, who, we learn from Deinon, always disliked all other Spartans, and thought them the most insolent of mankind, when he visited Persia, showed especial favour to Antalkidas. Once, after dinner, he took a garland of flowers, dipped it in the most valuable perfume, and sent it to Antalkidas. All men wondered at this mark of favour; but, it appears, Antalkidas was just the man to receive such presents, and to be corrupted by the luxury of the Persians, as he did not scruple to disgrace the memory of Leonidas and Kalikratidas by his conduct among them. When some one said to Agesilaus, "Alas for Hellas, when the Lacedæmonians are Medising."
Agesilaus answered "Is it not rather the Medes that are Laconising." Yet the cleverness of this retort did not take away the disgrace of the transaction, for, though the Lacedæmonians lost their empire at the battle of Leuktra by their bad generalship, yet the glory of Sparta was lost before, by that shameful treaty. While Sparta was the leading state in Greece, Artaxerxes made Antalkidas his guest, and spoke of him as his friend; but when after the defeat at Leuktra the Lacedæmonians were humbled to the dust, and were in such distress for money that they sent Agesilaus to Egypt to serve for hire, Antalkidas again came to the court of Artaxerxes to beg him to help the Lacedæmonians. But Artaxerxes treated him with such neglect, and so contemptuously refused his request, that Antalkidas, on his return, jeered at by his enemies, and afraid moreover of the anger of the Ephors, starved himself to death.
There went also to the King of Persia Ismenias of Thebes, and Pelopidas who had just won the battle of Leuktra. Pelopidas would not disgrace himself by any show of servility; but Ismenias, when ordered to do reverence to the king, dropped his ring, and then stooped to pick it up, so that he appeared to bow to the earth before him. Artaxerxes was so much pleased with Timagoras of Athens, who gave some secret intelligence in a letter which he sent by a secretary named Beluris, that he gave him a thousand darics, and, as he was in weak health and required milk sent eighty milch cows to accompany him. He also sent him a bed with bed-clothes and attendants to make it, as though Greeks did not know how, and bearers to carry him in a litter down to the sea-coast, on account of his indisposition. When he was at court, also, the king sent him a magnificent banquet, so that the king's brother, Ostanes, said to him, "Timagoras, remember this table; for it is not for slight services that it is so splendidly set out." This he said rather to reproach him for his treachery than to remind him to be grateful. However, the Athenians put Timagoras to death for taking bribes from the king.
XXIII. Although many of the acts of Artaxerxes grieved the Greeks, yet they were delighted with one of them, for he put to death Tissaphernes, their bitterest enemy. This he did in consequence of an intrigue of Parysatis; for Artaxerxes did not long continue angry with his mother, but became reconciled with her, and sent for her to his court, as he felt that her understanding and spirit would help him to govern, while there remained no further causes of variance between them. Henceforth she endeavoured in everything to please the king, and gained great influence with him by never opposing any of his wishes. She now perceived that he was violently enamoured of one of his own daughters, named Atossa, but that, chiefly on his mother's account, he concealed his love and restrained himself, though some historians state that he had already had some secret commerce with the girl. When Parysatis suspected this, she caressed the girl more than ever, and was continually praising her beauty and good qualities to the king, saying that she was a noble lady and fit to be a queen. At last she persuaded him into marrying the girl and proclaiming her as his lawful wife, disregarding the opinions and customs of the Greeks, and declaring that he himself was a law to the Persians and able to decide for himself what was right and wrong. Some writers, however, amongst whom is Herakleides of Kyme, state that Artaxerxes, besides Atossa, married another of his daughters, named Amestris, of whom I shall shortly afterwards make mention. Atossa lived with her father as his wife, and was so much beloved by him, that when leprosy broke out over her body he was not at all disgusted with her, but prayed for her to Hera alone of all the goddesses, prostrating himself in her temple and grasping the earth with his hands, while he ordered his satraps and friends to send so many presents to the goddess, that all the space between the palace and the temple, a distance of sixteen stadia (two English miles) was filled with gold and silver, and horses, and purple dyed stuffs.
XXIV. He appointed Pharnabazus and Iphikrates to conduct a war against Egypt,[584] which failed through the dissensions of the generals; and he himself led an army of three hundred thousand foot and ten thousand horse against the Kadousians.[585] On this occasion he insensibly placed himself in a position of great peril as he entered a difficult and foggy country, which produces no crops that grow from seed, but is inhabited by a fierce and warlike race of men who feed upon apples, pears, and other fruits which are found upon trees. No provisions could be found in this country, nor yet be brought into it from without, and the army was reduced to slaughtering the beasts of burden, so that an ass's head sold for more than sixty drachmas. The king's own table was scantily furnished; and but few of the horses remained alive, all the rest having been eaten. At this crisis Teribazus, a man who had often made himself the first man in the state by his bravery, and as often fallen into disrepute by folly, and who was then in a very humble and despicable position, saved both the king and his army. The Kadousians had two kings, each of whom occupied a separate camp. Teribazus, after having explained to Artaxerxes what he was about to do, himself went to one of these camps, and sent his son to the other. Each of them deceived the king to whom he went, by saying that the other king was about to send an embassy to Artaxerxes, offering to make peace and contract an alliance with him for himself alone. "If, then, you are wise," said they, "you will be beforehand with your rival, and I will manage the whole affair for you." Both of the kings were imposed upon in this manner, and, in their eagerness to steal a march upon one another, one of them sent ambassadors to the Persians with Teribazus, and the other with his son.
As Teribazus was a long while absent, Artaxerxes began to suspect his fidelity, and he fell into a very desponding condition, regretting that he had trusted Teribazus, and listening to his detractors. When, however, Teribazus arrived, and his son arrived also, each bringing ambassadors from the Kadousians, and a treaty of peace was concluded, Teribazus became again a great and important personage. In this campaign Artaxerxes proved that cowardice and effeminacy arise only from a depraved disposition and natural meanness of spirit, not, as the vulgar imagine, from wealth and luxury; for in spite of the splendid dress and ornaments, valued at twelve thousand talents, which he always wore, the king laboured as hard, and suffered as great privations, as any common soldier, never mounting his horse, but always leading the way on foot up steep and rugged mountain paths, with his quiver on his shoulder, and his shield on his left arm, so that all the rest were inspirited and encouraged by seeing his eagerness and vigour; for he accomplished every day a march of upwards of two hundred stadia.
XXV. When during cold weather the army, encamped in a royal domain, which was full of parks and fine trees, while all the rest of the country was bare and desert, he permitted the soldiers to gather wood from the royal park, and gave them leave to cut down the trees, without sparing either fir trees or cypresses. As they hesitated, and wished to spare the trees because of their size and beauty, he himself took an axe and cut down the largest and finest tree of all. After this they provided themselves with wood, lighted many fires, and passed a comfortable night.
On his return from this campaign he found that he had lost many brave men, and almost all his horses. He fancied that he was regarded with contempt because of his failure, and began to view all the great men of the kingdom with suspicion. Many of them he put to death in anger, but more because he feared them--for fear makes kings cruel, while cheerful confidence renders them gentle, merciful, and unsuspicious. For this reason, the beasts that start at the least noise are the most difficult to tame, while those which are of a more courageous spirit have more confidence and do not shrink from men's advances.
XXVI. Artaxerxes, who was now very old, perceived that his sons were caballing with their friends and with the chief nobles of the kingdom to secure the succession. The more respectable of these thought that Artaxerxes ought to leave the crown to his eldest son Darius, as he himself had inherited it, but Ochus his younger son, who was of a vehement and fierce disposition, had a very considerable party, who were ready to support his claims, and hoped to be able to influence his father by means of Atossa; for he paid her especial attention, and gave out that he intended to marry her and make her his queen after his father's death. It was even said that he intrigued with her during his father's life. Artaxerxes knew nothing of this: but as he wished to cut off the hopes of Ochus at once, for fear that he might do as Cyrus had done, and again plunge the kingdom in wars and disorders, he proclaimed Darius his heir, and allowed him to wear his tiara erect. There is a custom among the Persians that whoever is declared heir to the throne may ask for anything that he pleases, and that the king who has nominated him must, if possible, grant his request. Darius, in accordance with this custom, asked for Aspasia, the favourite of Cyrus, who was at that time living in the harem of Artaxerxes. This lady was a native of the city of Phokæa in Ionia, born of free parents, and respectably brought up. When she was introduced to Cyrus at supper, with several other women, the others sat down beside him, permitted him to touch them and sport with them, and were not offended at his familiarities, but she stood in silence near the couch on which Cyrus reclined, and refused to come to him when he called her. When his chamberlains approached her, meaning to bring her to him by force, she said, "Whoever lays hands on me shall smart for it." The company thought her very rude and ill-mannered, but Cyrus was pleased with her spirits, and said, with a smile, to the man who had brought her, "Do you not see that this is the only ladylike and respectable one of them all." After this he became much attached to her, loved her above all other women, and used to call her "Aspasia the wise." When Cyrus fell and his camp was plundered she was taken prisoner.
XXVII. Now, Darius vexed his father by asking for this lady; for the Persians are excessively jealous about their women; indeed, not only all who approach and speak to one of the king's concubines, but even any one who drives past or crosses their litters on the high road, is punished with death. Yet, Artaxerxes, through sheer passion, had made Atossa his wife, and kept three hundred most beautiful concubines. However, when Darius made this request, he replied that Aspasia was a free woman, and said that if she was willing he might take her, but that he would not force her to go against her will. When she was sent for, as she, contrary to the king's expectation, chose to go to Darius, the king let her go, for the law compelled him to do so, but he soon afterwards took her away from him again: for he appointed her priestess of the temple of Artemis, called Anäitis, at Ekbatana, in order that she might spend the rest of her life in chastity. This he considered to be not a harsh, but rather a playful way of reproving his son; but Darius was much enraged at it, either because he was so deeply enamoured of Aspasia, or because he thought that he was being wantonly insulted by his father.
Teribazus, perceiving his anger, confirmed him in it, because he saw in the treatment which Darius had received the counterpart of that which had befallen himself. The king, who had several daughters, promised Apama to Pharnabazus, Rhodogoune to Orontes, and Amestris to Teribazus.
He kept his word with the two former, but broke it to Teribazus by marrying Amestris himself, and betrothing his youngest daughter Atossa to him in her stead. When, as has been related, he fell in love with her also and married her, Teribazus became bitterly enraged against him, being of an unstable and fickle disposition, without any steady principles. For this reason he never could bear either bad or good fortune, but at one time he was honoured as one of the greatest men in the kingdom, and then swaggered insufferably, while when he was disgraced and reduced to poverty he could not bear his reverse of fortune with a good grace, but became insolent and offensive.
XXVIII. It may be imagined that the company of Teribazus was to Darius as fuel to fire, for Teribazus was constantly repeating to him that it was of no use for him to wear his tiara upright if he did not mean to advance his own interests, and that he was a fool if he imagined that he could inherit the crown without a struggle when his brother was bringing female influence to bear to secure his own succession, and when his father was in such a vacillating and uncertain frame of mind. He who could break the laws of the Persians--which may not be broken--out of his passion for a Greek girl, cannot be urged, be trusted, to keep the most important engagements. It was, moreover, a very different thing for Ochus not to obtain the crown, and for him to be deprived of it, for there was no reason why Ochus should not live happily in a private station, whereas he, having been appointed heir to the throne, must either become king or perish.
Generally speaking, perhaps we may say with Sophocles, "Swift runneth evil counsel to its goal," for men find the path smooth and easy towards what they desire, and most men desire what is wrong, because of their ignorance and low mindedness. Yet, besides all these considerations, the greatness of the empire, and the fear with which Ochus inspired Darius, also afforded arguments to Teribazus. Nor was the goddess of Love entirely blameless in the matter, for Darius was already incensed at the loss of Aspasia.
XXIX. He, therefore, placed himself entirely in the hands of Teribazus; and many joined in their conspiracy. But the plot was betrayed to the king by a eunuch, who had a perfect knowledge of their plans, and knew that they had determined to break into the king's chamber by night and murder him in his bed. When Artaxerxes heard this he was perplexed; for he felt that it would be wrong for him to neglect the information which he had received of so great a danger, and yet that it would be even worse to believe the eunuch's story without any proofs of its truth. He therefore ordered the eunuch to join the conspirators, and to enter his chamber with them. Meanwhile he had a door made in the wall behind his bed, and concealed it with tapestry. When the appointed time arrived, of which he was warned by the eunuch, he lay upon his bed, and did not rise