The road which leads us to what we desire is indeed
smooth, and of an easy descent; and the desires of
most men are vicious, because they have never known
or tried the enjoyments of virtue.
smooth, and of an easy descent; and the desires of
most men are vicious, because they have never known
or tried the enjoyments of virtue.
Plutarch - Lives - v7
Such was the state of his do-
mestic affairs.
He was no less solicitous to get the Greeks into his
hands who had followed Cyrus into Asia, than he had
been to conquer Cyrus himself, and to keep the crown.
But he could not succeed: for though they had lost
Cyrus their general, and their own officers, yet they
forced their way, as it were, out of the very palace of
Artaxerxes, and made it appear to all the world that
the Persians and their king had nothing to value them-
selves on but wealth, luxury, women, and that the rest
was mere parade and ostentation. This gave fresh
spirits to the Greeks, and taught them to despise the
barbarians. The Lacedaemonians, in particular, thought
it would be a great dishonor, if they did not now de-
liver the Asiatic Greeks from servitude, and put an
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? ARTAXERXES.
219
end to the insults of the Persians. Their first attempt
was under the direction of Thimbro, and the next under
that of Dercyllidas; but as those generals effected
nothing of importance, the conduct of the war was given
to Agesilaus. That prince immediately passed into
Asia with his fleet, and soon distinguished himself by
his vigorous operations; for he defeated Tissaphernes
in a pitched battle, and brought over several cities.
By these losses Artaxerxes understood what was his
best method of making war. He therefore sent Her-
mocrates, the Rhodian, into Greece, with a great quan-
tity of gold, having instructed him to corrupt with it
the leading men amongst the states, and to stir up
a Grecian war against Lacedaemon. -
Hermocrates acquitted himself so well in his com-
mission, that the most considerable cities leagued
against Sparta, and there were such commotions in Pe-
loponnesus, that the magistrates were forced to recall
Agesilaus from Asia. On leaving that country he is
reported to have said to his friends, ' The king drives
me out of Asia with thirty thousand archers:' for
the Persian money bore the impression of an archer.
Artaxerxes deprived the Lacedaemonians of the do*
minion of the sea, by means of Conon, the Athenian,
who acted in conjunction with Pharnabazus: for Co-
non, after he had lost the sea-fight at JJgos Potamos,
took up his abode in Cyprus; not merely to provide
for his own safety, but to wait for a change of affairs,
as mariners wait for the turn of the tide. As he saw
that his own plan wanted a respectable power to carry
jt into execution, and that the Persian power required
a person of ability to conduct it, he wrote the king an
account of the measures he had concerted. The mes-
senger was ordered to get the letter delivered into his
hands by Zeno the Cretan, who danced in the revels,
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? 220
PLUTARCH.
or by Polycritus the Mendaean, who was his physician;
and in case of their absence, by Ctesias, another phy-
sician. The letter, we are told, was given to Ctesias,
and he added to it this paragraph: ' I desire you, sir,
to send Ctesias to me, for he will be very serviceable
in the business of the navy. ' But Ctesias affirms that
the king, without any kind of solicitation, put him on
this service.
After Artaxerxes had gained, by Conon and Pharna-
bazus, the battle of Cnidus, which stripped the Lace-
daemonians of the empire of the sea, he drew almost all
Greece into his interest; insomuch, that the celebrated
peace, called the Peace of Antalcidas, was intirely of
his modelling. Antalcidas was a Spartan, the son of
Leon, and so strongly attached to the king, that he
prevailed with the Lacedaemonians to give up to him
all the Greek cities in Asia, and the islands which
are reckoned amongst its dependences, to be held as
his tributaries, in virtue of the peace; if we can call
that a peace by which Greece was dishonored and be-
trayed; which was indeed so vile a bargain, that the
most unsuccessful war could have terminated in no-
thing more inglorious.
Hence it was that Artaxerxes, though, according to
Dinon's account, he always detested the other Spar-
tans as the most impudent of men, yet expressed a
great regard for Antalcidas, when he came to his court.
One evening he took a chaplet of flowers from his
head, dipped it in the richest essences, and sent it from
his table to Antalcidas. All the court was astonished
at such a mark of favor. But there seems to have been
a propriety in making him so ridiculous a compliment;
and he was a fit man to wear such a crown, who could
take off Leonidas and Callicratides in a dance before
the Persians. Somebody happening to say in the hear-
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? ARTAXERXES.
221
ing of Agesilaus, 'Alas for Greece! when the Lacedae-
monians are turning Persians,' he corrected him, and
said, 'No; the Medes are rather turning Lacedae-
monians. But the wit of the expression did not re-
move the disgrace of the thing. They lost their supe-
riority in Greece by the ill-fought battle of Leuctra,
as they had before lost their honor by the vile condi-
tions of this peace.
So long as Sparta kept the lead, the king admitted
Antalcidas to the privileges of hospitality, and called
Him his friend. But when, on their defeat at Leuctra,
the Spartans sent Agesilaus into Egypt, to get a sup-
ply of money, and Antalcidas went on the same busi-
ness to the Persian court, Artaxerxes treated him with
so much neglect and contempt, that between the ridi-
cule he suffered from his enemies, and his fear of the
resentment of the ephori, he resolved, on his return, to
starve himself to death. Ismenias the Theban, and
Pelopidas, who had lately won the battle of Leuctra,
went also to the court of Artaxerxes. Pelopidas sub-
mitted to nothing unworthy of his country or cha-
racter; but Ismenias being commanded to adore the
king, purposely let his ring fall from his finger, and
then, by stooping to take it up, appeared in a posture
of adoration. Timagoras, the Athenian, having given
the king some secret intelligence in a letter which he
sent by a secretary named Beluris, he was so much
pleased, that he made him a present of ten thousand
darics. The same Timagoras wanted a supply of cow's
milk, on account of a languishing disorder, and Arta-
xerxes ordered eighty cows for his use, which were
to follow him wherever he went. He likewise sent
him a bed with the necessary coverlets, and Persian
servants to make it, because he thought the Greeks not
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? PtUTARCH.
skilled in that aft; and he ordered him to be carried
to the sea-side in a litter, on account of his indispo-
sition. To this we may add the allowance for his
table while he was at court, which was so magnificent,
that Ostanes, the king's brother, one day said to him,
'Timagoras, remember this table, for it is not so
sumptuons for nothing. ' This was rather reproaching
him with his treason, than calling for his acknow-
legements. And, indeed, Timagoras, on his return,
was capitally condemned by the Athenians for taking
bribes.
Artaxerxes, in some measure, atoned for the causes
of sorrow he gave the Greeks, by doing one thing that
afforded them great pleasure: he put Tissaphernes
their most implacable enemy to death. This he did
partly at the instigation of Parysatis, who added other
charges to those alleged against him: for he did not
long retain his anger, but was reconciled to his mother,
and sent for her to court; because he saw she had
understanding and spirit enough to assist in governing
the kingdom, and there now remained no farther cause
of suspicions and uneasiness between them. From this
time she made it a rule to please the king in all her
measures, and not to oppose any of his inclinations, by
which she gained an absolute ascendant over him. She
perceived that he had a strong passion for one of his
own daughters, named Atossa. He endeavored, indeed,
to conceal it on his mother's account, and restrained it
in public. Parysatis no sooner suspected the intrigue,
than she caressed her grand-daughter more than ever;
and was continually praising to Artaxerxes both her
beauty and her behavior, in which she assured him
there was something great and worthy of a crown. At
last she persuaded him to make her his wife, without
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? AKTAXERXES.
regarding the laws and opinions of the Greeks. 'God,'
said she, 'has made you a law to the Persians, and a
rule of right and wrong. ' Some historians, amongst
whom is Heraclides of Cumae, affirm, that Artaxerxes
married not only Atossa, hut another of his daughters,
named Amestris, of whom we shall speak by and by.
His affection for Atossa was so strong, that though she
bad a leprosy, which spread itself over her body, he
was not disgusted at it; but be was daily imploring
Juno for her, and grasping the dust of her temple;
for be paid his homage to no other goddess. At the
same time, by bis order, bis great officers sent so many
offerings to her shrine, that the whole space between
the palace and the temple, which was sixteen fur-
longs, was filled with gold, silver, purple, and fine
horses.
He sent Pharnabazus and Iphicrates to make war on
the Egyptians; but the expedition miscarried through
the difference which happened between the generals he
employed. After this he went in person against the
Cadusiaus, with three hundred thousand foot, and ten
thousand horse. Their country is rough and uneven,
and covered with perpetual fogs. As it produces no
corn or fruits by cultivation, the inhabitants, a fierce
and warlike race of men, live on wild pears, apples,
and other things of that kind. He therefore insensibly
fell into great danger and distress; for his troops could
find no provisions there, nor could they be supplied
from any other place. They were forced to kill their
beasts of burden, and eat them; and those became so
scarce, that an ass's head was sold for sixty drachmas.
The king's table itself was ill supplied; and there re-
mained only a few horses, all the rest having been used
for food.
In this extremity Tiribazus, who often was in high
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PLUTARCH.
favor on account of his valor, and often degraded for
his levity, and who at this very time was in the great-
est disgrace, saved the king and his whole army by
the following stratagem. The Cadusians having two
kings, each had his separate camp. On this Tiribazus
formed his scheme; and, after he had communicated it
to Artaxerxes, went himself to one of those princes,
and sent his son to the other. Each imposed on the
king he applied to, by pretending that the other was
going to send a private embassy to Artaxerxes, to ne-
gotiate a separate alliance. 'But if you are wise,'
said they, 'you will be beforehand with your rival,'
and we will assist you in the whole affair. This argu-
ment had its effect; and each, persuaded that the other
was undermining him out of envy, sent his ambassa-
dors; the one with Tiribazus, and the other with his
son. As some time passed before they returned, Arta-
xerxes began to suspect; and there were those who
suggested that Tiribazus had some traitorous design.
The king was extremely dejected, and, repenting of
the confidence he had reposed in him, gave ear to all
the calumnies of his enemies. But at last Tiribazus
arrived, as did also his son, with the Cadusian ambas-
sadors, and peace was made with both parties; in con-
sequence of which Tiribazus returned with the king in
greater esteem and authority than ever. During this
expedition Artaxerxes showed that timidity and effe-
minacy ought not to be ascribed, as they generally are,
to the pomp and luxuries of life, but to a native mean-
ness and a depraved judgment: for neither the gold,
the purple, nor the jewels, which the king always wore,
and which were worth no less than twelve thousand
talents, hindered him from bearing the same fatigues
and hardships with the meanest soldier in his army.
He took his quiver on his back, and his buckler on his
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? ARTAXERXES.
225
arm, and quitting his horse, would often march fore-
most up the most craggy and difficult places; inso-
much, that others found their task much lighter, when
they saw the strength and alacrity with which he pro-
ceeded; for he marched above two hundred furlongs a
day.
At last he arrived at one of his own palaces, where,
there were gardens and parks of great extent and
beauty, though the country around it was naked and
barren. As the weather was exceedingly cold, he per-
mitted his men to cut wood out of his own parks, with-
out sparing either pine or cypress: and when the sol-
diers were loth to touch trees of such size and beauty,
he took an axe in his own hand, and laid it to the
finest tree amongst them. After which they cut them
down without scruple, and, having made a number of
fires, passed the night with great satisfaction.
He found, however, on his arrival at his capital, that
he had lost many brave men, and almost all his horses;
and imagining that he was despised for his losses, and
the ill success of the expedition, he became suspicious
of his grandees. Many of them he put to death in
anger, and more out of fear: for fear is the most san-
guinary principle a tyrant can act from; courage, on
the contrary, is merciful, mild, and unsuspicious. Thus
the most timorous animals are the hardest to be tamed;
but the more generous, having less suspicion, because
they have less fear, fly not the caresses and society of
men.
Artaxerxes being now far advanced in years, ob-*
served his sons making parties for the crown amongst
his friends and the rest of the nobility. The more
equitable part were for his leaving it to his eldest son
Darius, as he had received it from his father in the
PLUT. VOL. VII. P
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? PLUTARCH.
same right. But Lis younger son, Ochus, who was an
active man, and of a violent spirit, had also a consi-
derable interest among the grandees. Besides, he
hoped to gain his father through Atossa; for he paid
his court to her, and promised to make her the partner
of his throne on the death of Artaxerxes. Nay, it was
said that he had already private familiarities with her.
Artaxerxes, though he was ignorant of this circum-
stance, resolved to cut off the hopes of Ochus at once;
lest, following the daring steps of his uncle Cyrus, he
should involve the kingdom again in civil wars. He
therefore declared Darius his successor, who was now
twenty-five years old, and permitted him to wear the
point of his turban erect, as a mark of royalty.
As it is customary in Persia for the heir to ask a fa-
vor of him that declared him such, which, if possible,
is always granted, Darius asked for Aspasia, who had
been the favorite companion of Cyrus, and was now one
of the king's favorites. She was a native of Phocea
in Ionia, and her parents, who were above the condi-
tion of slaves, had given her a good education. One
evening she was introduced to Cyrus at supper with
the other women. They approached him without scru-
ple, and received his jokes and caresses with pleasure:
but Aspasia stood by in silence ; and when Cyrus called
her, she refused to go. Perceiving that the chamber-
lains were about to compel her, she said, 'Whoever
lays hands on me shall repent it. ' On which the com-
pany looked on her as an unpolished creature; but
Cyrus was pleased, and said, with a smile, to the per-
son who brought the women, 'Do not you see, that of
all you have provided, this only has generous and vir-
tuous sentiments? ' From this moment he attached
himself to her, loved her most of all his favorites,
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? ARTAXERXES.
227
and called her 'Aspasia the Wise. ' When Cyrus fell
in battle, she was taken amongst the plunder of his
camp.
Artaxerxes was much concerned at his son's request;
for the barbarians are so extremely jealous of their
women, that capital punishment is inflicted, not only
on the man who speaks to, or touches one of the king's
favorites, but on him who approaches or passes their
chariots on the road. And though, in compliance with
the dictates of his passion, he had made Atossa his
wife contrary to law, he kept three hundred and sixty
favorite women, all of the greatest beauty. However,
when Darius demanded Aspasia, he declared her free,
and said, 'She might go with him if she pleased;
but he would do no violence to her inclinations. ' Ac-
cordingly Aspasia was sent for, and, contrary to the
king's expectation, made choice of Darius. He gave
her up to him, indeed, because he was obliged to it by
the law; but he soon took her away, and made her a
priestess of Diana of Ecbatana, whom they call Anitis,
that she might pass the remainder of her life in chas-
tity. This he thought no severe revenge on his son,
but a pleasant way of chastising his presumption. But
Darius highly resented the affront; whether it was that
the charms of Aspasia had made a deep impression on
him, or whether he thought himself insulted and ridi-
culed by this proceeding.
Tiribazus, seeing how much he was offended, endea-
vored to exasperate him still more. This he did from
a fellow feeling; for he had suffered an injury much
of the same kind. The king, having several daughters,
promised to give Apama to Pharnabazus, Rhodogune
to Orontes, and Amestris to Tiribazus. He kept his
word with the two first, but deceived Tiribazus; for,
instead of giving Amestris to him, he married her him-
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? 228
I-
PLUTARCH.
self; promising, at the same time, that he should have
his youngest daughter Atossa. But he became ena-
moured of her too, and married her, as we have al-
ready mentioned. This treatment extremely incensed
Tiribazus, who had indeed nothing steady in his dispo-
sition, but was wild and irregular. One while suc-
cessful, and on a footing with the greatest men in the
court, another while unacceptable to the king, and
sinking into disgrace, he bore no change of fortune
with propriety. If he was in favor, his vanity was
insupportable; if in disgrace, instead of being humble
and quiet, he had recourse to violence and ferocity.
His conversing with the young prince was therefore
adding flame to fire. 'What avails it,' said he, 'to
have the point of your turban advanced, if you seek
not to advance your authority? Nothing can be more
absurd than your thinking yourself secure of the suc-
cession, while your brother is privately forwarding his
interest by means of the women, and your father is so
very foolish and unsteady. He who could break one
of the most sacred laws of the Persians, for the sake
of an insignificant Grecian woman, is certainly not to
be depended on in more important engagements. The
case is quite different between you and Ochus, as to
the event of the competition: if Ochus does not obtain
the crown, none will hinder him from livrng happily in
a private station; but you, who have been declared
king, must either reign or die. ' On this occasion was
verified that observation of Sophocles:
Swift in its march
Is evil counsel.
The road which leads us to what we desire is indeed
smooth, and of an easy descent; and the desires of
most men are vicious, because they have never known
or tried the enjoyments of virtue. The lustre of such
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? ARTAXERXES.
229
an imperial crown, and Darius' fear of his brother,
furnished Tiribazus with other arguments; but the
goddess of beauty contributed her share towards per-
suading him, by putting him in mind of the loss of
Aspasia.
He gave himself up therefore intirely to Tiribazus,
and many others soon entered into the conspiracy.
But before it could be carried into execution a slave
gave the king information of it, and of all the measures
that were taken; for he had got perfect intelligence
that they designed to enter his chamber in the night,
and kill him in his bed.
Artaxerxes thought it would be great imprudence
either to slight the information, and lay himself open
to such danger, or to credit it without farther proof.
The method he took was this: he ordered the slave to
join Darius and his adherents, and assist at all their
councils; and in the mean time broke a door through
the wall behind his bed, which he concealed with the
tapestry. When the time came, which the slave in-
formed him of, he placed himself on his bed, and re-
mained there till he had a sight of the faces of the
conspirators, and could perfectly distinguish each of
them. But when he saw them draw their swords, and
advance towards him, he pulled back the tapestry, re-
treated into the inner room, and, after he had bolted
the door, alarmed the palace. The assassins seeing
themselves discovered, and their designs disappointed,
immediately took to flight, and desired Tiribazus to
do the same, because he must certainly have been ob-
served. While he lingered the guards came and laid
hold of him; but he killed many of them, and it was
with difficulty that he was despatched at last by a ja-
velin thrown at a distance.
Darius was taken, together with his children, and
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? PLUTARCH.
brought to answer for his crime before the judges
which the king appointed. The king did not think
proper to assist at the trial in person, but directed
others to lay the charge against his son, and his nota-
ries were to take down separately the opinion of each
judge. As they all gave it unanimously for death, the
officers took Darius, and led him to an adjacent prison.
But when the executioner came, with the instrument
in his hand which is used in beheading the capital con-
victs, he was seized with horror at the sight of Darius,
and drew back towards the door, as having neither abi-
lity nor courage to lay violent hands on his king. But
the judges who stood at the door, urging him to do his
office, with menaces of instant punishment if he did
not comply, he returned, and seizing Darius by the
hair, threw him on the ground, and cut off his head.
Some say the cause was tried in presence of the king,
and that Darius, after he was convicted by indubitable
proofs, fell on his face and begged for mercy, but Ar-
taxerxes, rising in great anger, drew his cimeter, and
pursued his stroke till he laid him dead at his feet.
They add, that after this he returned to his palace;
and having paid his devotions to the sun, said to those
who assisted at the ceremony, ' My Persians, you may
now return in triumph, and tell your fellow-subjects
that the great Oromazes1 has taken vengeance on those
who formed the most impious and execrable designs
against their sovereign. ' Such was the end of the con-
spiracy.
Ochus now entertained very agreeable hopes, and
was encouraged besides by Atossa. But he had still
some fear of his remaining legitimate brother, Ariaspes,
and of his natural brother Arsames. Not that Ochus
1 The Persians worshipped Oromazes as the author of good,
and Arimauius as the author of evil.
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? ARTAXERXES.
231
had so much to apprehend from Ariaspes, merely be-
cause he was older, but the Persians were desirous of
having him succeed to the throne on account of his
mildness, his sincerity, and his humane disposition.
As for Arsames, he had the character of a wise prince,
and was the particular favorite of his father. This
was no secret to Ochus. However, he planned the
destruction of both these brothers of his; and being
of an artful, as well as sanguinary turn, he employed
his cruelty against Arsames, and his art against Ari-
aspes. To the latter he privately sent some of the
king's slaves and friends with frequent accounts of se-
vere and menacing expressions of his father's, as if he
had resolved to put him to a cruel and ignominious
death. As these persons came daily to tell him in
confidence, that some of these threats were on the
point of being put in execution, and the others would
not be long delayed, he was so terrified, and fell into
such a melancholy and desponding way, that he pre-
pared a poisonous draught, and drank it, to deliver
himself from the burden of life.
The king being informed of the manner of his death,
sincerely lamented him, and had some suspicion of the
cause, but could not examine into it thoroughly on ac-
count of his great age.
However, Arsames now became dearer to him than
ever, and it was easy to see that the king placed an
intire confidence in him, and communicated to him his
most secret thoughts. Ochus, therefore, would not
defer his enterprise longer, but employed Harpates,
the son of Tiribazus, to kill Arsames. Artaxerxes,
whom time had brought to the very verge of life, when
he had this additional stroke in the fate of Arsames,
could not make much more struggle; his sorrow and
regret soon brought him to the grave. He lived nine-
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? 232
PLUTARCH.
ty-four years, and reigned sixty-two. He had the
character of a prince who governed with lenity, and
loved his people. But perhaps the hehavior of his
successor might contribute not a little to his reputa-
tion; for Ochus was the most cruel and sanguinary of
princes.
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\
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? ARATUS.
THe philosopher Chrysippus, my dear Polycrates,
seems to have thought the ancient proverb not quite
justifiable, and therefore he delivered it, not as it really
is, but what he thought it should be--
Who but a happy son will praise his sire 1
Dionysidorus the Troezenian, however, corrects him,
and gives it right,
Who but unhappy sons will praise their sires I
He says, the proverb was made to silence those who,
having no merit of their own, dress themselves up in
the virtues of their ancestors, and are lavish in their
praises. And those in whom the virtues of their sires
shine in congenial beauty, to make use of Pindar's
expression ; who, like you, form their conduct after
the brightest patterns in their families, may think it a
great happiness to remember the most excellent of their
ancestors, and often to hear or speak of them: for they
assume not the honor of other men's virtues for want
of merit in their own, but uniting their great actions
to those of their progenitors, they praise them as the
authors of their descent, and the models of their lives:
for which reason, when I have written the life of Ara-
tus, your countryman, and one of your ancestors, I
shall send it to you, who reflect no dishonor on him
either in point of reputation or power. Not that 1
doubt your having informed yourself of his actions
from the first with all possible care and exactness; but
I do it, that your sons, Polycrates and Pythocles, may
form themselves on the great exemplars, in their own
family, sometimes hearing and sometimes reading what
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? PLUTARCH.
it becomes them well to imitate: for it is the self-ad-
mirer, not the admirer of virtue, that thinks himself
superior to others.
After the harmony of the pure Doric,1 I mean the
aristocracy, was broken in Sicyon, and seditions took
place through the ambition of the demagogues, the city
continued a long time in a distempered state. It only
changed one tyrant for another, till Cleon was slain,
and the administration committed to Timoclidas and
Clinias, persons of the greatest reputation and au-
thority amongst the citizens. The commonwealth
seemed to be in some degree re-established, when Ti-
moclidas died. Abantidas, the son of Paseas, taking
that opportunity to set himself up tyrant, killed Cli-
nias, and either banished or put to death his friends
and relations. He sought also for his son Aratus, who
was only seven years old, with a design to despatch
him. But, in the confusion that was in his house when
his father was slain, the boy escaped among those that
fled, and wandered about the city, in fear, and destitute
of help, till he happened to enter, unobserved, the
house of a woman named Soso, who was sister to
Abantidas, and had been married to Prophantus, the
brother of Clinias. As she was a person of generous
sentiments, and persuaded, besides, that it was by the
direction of some deity that the child had taken re-
fuge with her, she concealed him in one of her apart-
ments till night, and then sent him privately to Argos.
Aratus having thus escaped so imminent a danger,
immediately conceived a violent and implacable hatred
for tyrants, which increased as he grew up. He was
educated by the friends of his family at Argos, in ?
liberal manner; and as he was vigorous and robust, he
1 There was a gravity, but at the same time great perfec-
tion, in the Dorian music.
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? ARATUS.
235
took to gymnastic exercises, and succeeded so well, as
to gain the prize in the five several sorts. 1 Indeed, in
his statues there is an athletic look; and amidst the
strong sense and majesty expressed in his countenance,
we may discover something inconsistent with the vora-
city and mattock of the wrestlers. Hence perhaps it
was that he cultivated his powers of eloquence less than
became a statesman. He might indeed be a better
speaker than some suppose ; and there are those who
judge, from his Commentaries, that he certainly was
so, though they were hastily written, and attempted
nothing beyond common language.
Some time after the escape of Aratns, Dinias and
Aristotle the logician formed a design against Abanti-
das, and they easily found an opportunity to kill him,
when he attended, and sometimes joined in, their dis-
putations in the public halls, which they had insensibly
drawn him into for that very purpose. Paseas, the
father of Abantidas, then seized the supreme power,
but he was assassinated by Nicocles, who took his
place, and was the next tyrant. We are told that there
was a perfect likeness between this Nicocles and Pe-
riander, the son of Cypselus; as Orontes the Persian
resembled Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraus, and a La-
cedaemonian youth the great Hector. Myrtilas informs
us that the young man was crowded to death by the
multitudes who came to see him, when that resemblance
was known.
Nicocles reigned four months, during which time he
did a thousand injuries 1o the people, and was near
losing the city to the yEtolians, who formed a scheme
to surprise it. Aratus was by this time approaching
1 The five exercises of the pentathlon, as we have already
observed, were running, leaping, throwing the dart, boxing,
and wrestling.
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PLUTARCH.
to manhood, and great attention was paid him on ac-
count of his high birth, and his spirit, in which there
was nothing little or unenterprising, and yet it was
under the correction of a gravity and solidity of judg-
ment much beyond his years. The exiles therefore
considered him as their principal resource; and Ni-
cocles was not regardless of his motions, but by his
private agents observed the measures he was taking.
Not that he expected he would embark in so bold and
dangerous an enterprise as he did, but he suspected
his applications to the princes who were the friends
of his father. Indeed, Aratus began in that channel;
but when he found that Antigonus, notwithstanding
his promises, put him otf from time to time, and that
his hopes from Egypt and Ptolemy were too remote,
he resolved to destroy the tyrant without any foreign
assistance.
The first persons to whom he communicated his in-
tentions were Aristomachus and Ecdelus. Aristoma-
chus was an exile from Sicyon, and Ecdelus an Arca-
dian banished from Megalopolis. The latter was a
philosopher, who in speculation never lost sight of
practice, for he had studied at Athens under Arcesilaus
the academician. 1 As these readily accepted his pro-
posal, he applied to the other exiles; a few of whom
joined him, because they were ashamed to give up so
promising a hope; but the greatest part believed it was
only Aratus' inexperience2 that made him think of so
bold an attempt, and endeavored to prevent his pro-
ceeding.
While he was considering how to seize some post in
the territories of Sicyon, from whence he might prose-
- 1 Arcesilaus was the disciple of Crantor, and had esta-
blished the Middle Academy.
2 He was not yet twenty years old.
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? ARATUS.
237
cute hostilities against the tyrant, a man of Sicyon
arrived at Argos, who had escaped out of prison. He
was brother to Xenocles, one of the exiles; and being
introduced by him to Aratns, he informed him that the
part of the wall which he had got over was almost
level with the ground on the inside, as it joined on a
high rocky part of the city, and that on the outside it
was not so high but that it might be scaled. On this
intelligence Aratus sent two of his servants, Sceuthas
and Technon, along with Xenocles, to reconnoitre the
wall; for he was resolved, if he could do it secretly,
to hazard all on one great effort, rather than lengthen
out the war, and publicly engage with a tyrant, when
he had no resources but those of a private man.
Xenocles and his companions, after they had taken
the height of the wall, reported at their return that it
was neither impracticable nor difficult, but that it was
dangerous to attempt it on account of some dogs kept
by a gardener, which were little indeed, but at the same
time extremely fierce and furious. Aratus, however,
immediately set about the work. It was easy to pro-
vide arms without suspicion; for almost every body
went armed, by reason of the frequent robberies and
the incursions of one people into the territories of
another. And as to the scaling ladders, Euphranor,
who was one of the exiles, and a carpenter by trade,
made them publicly; his business screening him from
suspicion. Each of his friends in Argos, who had no
great number of men that he could command, furnished
him with ten : he armed thirty of his own servants, and
hired some few soldiers of Xenophilus, who was chief
captain of a band of robbers. To the latter it was given
out that the design of their march to Sicyon was to
carry off the king's stud; and several of them were
scut before by different ways to the tower of Polygno-
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? 238
PLUTARCH.
tus, with orders to wait for him there. Caphesias was
likewise sent with four others in a travelling dress.
These were to go in the evening to the gardener's, and
pretending to be travellers, get a lodging there; after
which they were to confine both him and his dogs: for
that part of the wall was not accessible any other way.
The ladders being made to take in pieces, were packed
up in corn chests, and sent before in waggons prepared
for that purpose.
In the mean time some of the tyrant's spies arrived
at Argos, and it was reported that they were sculking
about to watch the motions of Aratus. Next morning,
therefore, Aratus appeared early with his friends in the
market-place, and talked with them for some time. He
then went to the gymnasium, and after he had anointed
himself, took with him some young men from the
wrestling-ring who used to be of his parties of plea-
sure, and returned home. In a little time his servants
were seen in the market-place, some carrying chaplets
of flowers, some buying flambeaux, and some in dis-
course with the women who used to sing and play at
entertainments. These manoeuvres deceived the spies.
They laughed, and said to each other, ' Certainly nothing
can be more dastardly than a tyrant, since Nicocles, who
is master of so strong a city, and armed with so much
power, lives in fear of a young man, who wastes the
pittance he has to subsist on in exile, in drinking and
revelling even in the day-time. ' After these false rea-
sonings they retired.
Aratus, immediately after he had made his meal, set
out for the tower of Polygnotus, and when he had joined
the soldiers there, proceeded to Nemea, where he dis-
closed his real intentions to his whole company. Hav-
ing exhorted them to behave like brave men, and pro-
mised them great rewards, he gave propitious Apollo
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?
mestic affairs.
He was no less solicitous to get the Greeks into his
hands who had followed Cyrus into Asia, than he had
been to conquer Cyrus himself, and to keep the crown.
But he could not succeed: for though they had lost
Cyrus their general, and their own officers, yet they
forced their way, as it were, out of the very palace of
Artaxerxes, and made it appear to all the world that
the Persians and their king had nothing to value them-
selves on but wealth, luxury, women, and that the rest
was mere parade and ostentation. This gave fresh
spirits to the Greeks, and taught them to despise the
barbarians. The Lacedaemonians, in particular, thought
it would be a great dishonor, if they did not now de-
liver the Asiatic Greeks from servitude, and put an
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? ARTAXERXES.
219
end to the insults of the Persians. Their first attempt
was under the direction of Thimbro, and the next under
that of Dercyllidas; but as those generals effected
nothing of importance, the conduct of the war was given
to Agesilaus. That prince immediately passed into
Asia with his fleet, and soon distinguished himself by
his vigorous operations; for he defeated Tissaphernes
in a pitched battle, and brought over several cities.
By these losses Artaxerxes understood what was his
best method of making war. He therefore sent Her-
mocrates, the Rhodian, into Greece, with a great quan-
tity of gold, having instructed him to corrupt with it
the leading men amongst the states, and to stir up
a Grecian war against Lacedaemon. -
Hermocrates acquitted himself so well in his com-
mission, that the most considerable cities leagued
against Sparta, and there were such commotions in Pe-
loponnesus, that the magistrates were forced to recall
Agesilaus from Asia. On leaving that country he is
reported to have said to his friends, ' The king drives
me out of Asia with thirty thousand archers:' for
the Persian money bore the impression of an archer.
Artaxerxes deprived the Lacedaemonians of the do*
minion of the sea, by means of Conon, the Athenian,
who acted in conjunction with Pharnabazus: for Co-
non, after he had lost the sea-fight at JJgos Potamos,
took up his abode in Cyprus; not merely to provide
for his own safety, but to wait for a change of affairs,
as mariners wait for the turn of the tide. As he saw
that his own plan wanted a respectable power to carry
jt into execution, and that the Persian power required
a person of ability to conduct it, he wrote the king an
account of the measures he had concerted. The mes-
senger was ordered to get the letter delivered into his
hands by Zeno the Cretan, who danced in the revels,
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PLUTARCH.
or by Polycritus the Mendaean, who was his physician;
and in case of their absence, by Ctesias, another phy-
sician. The letter, we are told, was given to Ctesias,
and he added to it this paragraph: ' I desire you, sir,
to send Ctesias to me, for he will be very serviceable
in the business of the navy. ' But Ctesias affirms that
the king, without any kind of solicitation, put him on
this service.
After Artaxerxes had gained, by Conon and Pharna-
bazus, the battle of Cnidus, which stripped the Lace-
daemonians of the empire of the sea, he drew almost all
Greece into his interest; insomuch, that the celebrated
peace, called the Peace of Antalcidas, was intirely of
his modelling. Antalcidas was a Spartan, the son of
Leon, and so strongly attached to the king, that he
prevailed with the Lacedaemonians to give up to him
all the Greek cities in Asia, and the islands which
are reckoned amongst its dependences, to be held as
his tributaries, in virtue of the peace; if we can call
that a peace by which Greece was dishonored and be-
trayed; which was indeed so vile a bargain, that the
most unsuccessful war could have terminated in no-
thing more inglorious.
Hence it was that Artaxerxes, though, according to
Dinon's account, he always detested the other Spar-
tans as the most impudent of men, yet expressed a
great regard for Antalcidas, when he came to his court.
One evening he took a chaplet of flowers from his
head, dipped it in the richest essences, and sent it from
his table to Antalcidas. All the court was astonished
at such a mark of favor. But there seems to have been
a propriety in making him so ridiculous a compliment;
and he was a fit man to wear such a crown, who could
take off Leonidas and Callicratides in a dance before
the Persians. Somebody happening to say in the hear-
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? ARTAXERXES.
221
ing of Agesilaus, 'Alas for Greece! when the Lacedae-
monians are turning Persians,' he corrected him, and
said, 'No; the Medes are rather turning Lacedae-
monians. But the wit of the expression did not re-
move the disgrace of the thing. They lost their supe-
riority in Greece by the ill-fought battle of Leuctra,
as they had before lost their honor by the vile condi-
tions of this peace.
So long as Sparta kept the lead, the king admitted
Antalcidas to the privileges of hospitality, and called
Him his friend. But when, on their defeat at Leuctra,
the Spartans sent Agesilaus into Egypt, to get a sup-
ply of money, and Antalcidas went on the same busi-
ness to the Persian court, Artaxerxes treated him with
so much neglect and contempt, that between the ridi-
cule he suffered from his enemies, and his fear of the
resentment of the ephori, he resolved, on his return, to
starve himself to death. Ismenias the Theban, and
Pelopidas, who had lately won the battle of Leuctra,
went also to the court of Artaxerxes. Pelopidas sub-
mitted to nothing unworthy of his country or cha-
racter; but Ismenias being commanded to adore the
king, purposely let his ring fall from his finger, and
then, by stooping to take it up, appeared in a posture
of adoration. Timagoras, the Athenian, having given
the king some secret intelligence in a letter which he
sent by a secretary named Beluris, he was so much
pleased, that he made him a present of ten thousand
darics. The same Timagoras wanted a supply of cow's
milk, on account of a languishing disorder, and Arta-
xerxes ordered eighty cows for his use, which were
to follow him wherever he went. He likewise sent
him a bed with the necessary coverlets, and Persian
servants to make it, because he thought the Greeks not
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? PtUTARCH.
skilled in that aft; and he ordered him to be carried
to the sea-side in a litter, on account of his indispo-
sition. To this we may add the allowance for his
table while he was at court, which was so magnificent,
that Ostanes, the king's brother, one day said to him,
'Timagoras, remember this table, for it is not so
sumptuons for nothing. ' This was rather reproaching
him with his treason, than calling for his acknow-
legements. And, indeed, Timagoras, on his return,
was capitally condemned by the Athenians for taking
bribes.
Artaxerxes, in some measure, atoned for the causes
of sorrow he gave the Greeks, by doing one thing that
afforded them great pleasure: he put Tissaphernes
their most implacable enemy to death. This he did
partly at the instigation of Parysatis, who added other
charges to those alleged against him: for he did not
long retain his anger, but was reconciled to his mother,
and sent for her to court; because he saw she had
understanding and spirit enough to assist in governing
the kingdom, and there now remained no farther cause
of suspicions and uneasiness between them. From this
time she made it a rule to please the king in all her
measures, and not to oppose any of his inclinations, by
which she gained an absolute ascendant over him. She
perceived that he had a strong passion for one of his
own daughters, named Atossa. He endeavored, indeed,
to conceal it on his mother's account, and restrained it
in public. Parysatis no sooner suspected the intrigue,
than she caressed her grand-daughter more than ever;
and was continually praising to Artaxerxes both her
beauty and her behavior, in which she assured him
there was something great and worthy of a crown. At
last she persuaded him to make her his wife, without
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? AKTAXERXES.
regarding the laws and opinions of the Greeks. 'God,'
said she, 'has made you a law to the Persians, and a
rule of right and wrong. ' Some historians, amongst
whom is Heraclides of Cumae, affirm, that Artaxerxes
married not only Atossa, hut another of his daughters,
named Amestris, of whom we shall speak by and by.
His affection for Atossa was so strong, that though she
bad a leprosy, which spread itself over her body, he
was not disgusted at it; but be was daily imploring
Juno for her, and grasping the dust of her temple;
for be paid his homage to no other goddess. At the
same time, by bis order, bis great officers sent so many
offerings to her shrine, that the whole space between
the palace and the temple, which was sixteen fur-
longs, was filled with gold, silver, purple, and fine
horses.
He sent Pharnabazus and Iphicrates to make war on
the Egyptians; but the expedition miscarried through
the difference which happened between the generals he
employed. After this he went in person against the
Cadusiaus, with three hundred thousand foot, and ten
thousand horse. Their country is rough and uneven,
and covered with perpetual fogs. As it produces no
corn or fruits by cultivation, the inhabitants, a fierce
and warlike race of men, live on wild pears, apples,
and other things of that kind. He therefore insensibly
fell into great danger and distress; for his troops could
find no provisions there, nor could they be supplied
from any other place. They were forced to kill their
beasts of burden, and eat them; and those became so
scarce, that an ass's head was sold for sixty drachmas.
The king's table itself was ill supplied; and there re-
mained only a few horses, all the rest having been used
for food.
In this extremity Tiribazus, who often was in high
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? 224
PLUTARCH.
favor on account of his valor, and often degraded for
his levity, and who at this very time was in the great-
est disgrace, saved the king and his whole army by
the following stratagem. The Cadusians having two
kings, each had his separate camp. On this Tiribazus
formed his scheme; and, after he had communicated it
to Artaxerxes, went himself to one of those princes,
and sent his son to the other. Each imposed on the
king he applied to, by pretending that the other was
going to send a private embassy to Artaxerxes, to ne-
gotiate a separate alliance. 'But if you are wise,'
said they, 'you will be beforehand with your rival,'
and we will assist you in the whole affair. This argu-
ment had its effect; and each, persuaded that the other
was undermining him out of envy, sent his ambassa-
dors; the one with Tiribazus, and the other with his
son. As some time passed before they returned, Arta-
xerxes began to suspect; and there were those who
suggested that Tiribazus had some traitorous design.
The king was extremely dejected, and, repenting of
the confidence he had reposed in him, gave ear to all
the calumnies of his enemies. But at last Tiribazus
arrived, as did also his son, with the Cadusian ambas-
sadors, and peace was made with both parties; in con-
sequence of which Tiribazus returned with the king in
greater esteem and authority than ever. During this
expedition Artaxerxes showed that timidity and effe-
minacy ought not to be ascribed, as they generally are,
to the pomp and luxuries of life, but to a native mean-
ness and a depraved judgment: for neither the gold,
the purple, nor the jewels, which the king always wore,
and which were worth no less than twelve thousand
talents, hindered him from bearing the same fatigues
and hardships with the meanest soldier in his army.
He took his quiver on his back, and his buckler on his
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? ARTAXERXES.
225
arm, and quitting his horse, would often march fore-
most up the most craggy and difficult places; inso-
much, that others found their task much lighter, when
they saw the strength and alacrity with which he pro-
ceeded; for he marched above two hundred furlongs a
day.
At last he arrived at one of his own palaces, where,
there were gardens and parks of great extent and
beauty, though the country around it was naked and
barren. As the weather was exceedingly cold, he per-
mitted his men to cut wood out of his own parks, with-
out sparing either pine or cypress: and when the sol-
diers were loth to touch trees of such size and beauty,
he took an axe in his own hand, and laid it to the
finest tree amongst them. After which they cut them
down without scruple, and, having made a number of
fires, passed the night with great satisfaction.
He found, however, on his arrival at his capital, that
he had lost many brave men, and almost all his horses;
and imagining that he was despised for his losses, and
the ill success of the expedition, he became suspicious
of his grandees. Many of them he put to death in
anger, and more out of fear: for fear is the most san-
guinary principle a tyrant can act from; courage, on
the contrary, is merciful, mild, and unsuspicious. Thus
the most timorous animals are the hardest to be tamed;
but the more generous, having less suspicion, because
they have less fear, fly not the caresses and society of
men.
Artaxerxes being now far advanced in years, ob-*
served his sons making parties for the crown amongst
his friends and the rest of the nobility. The more
equitable part were for his leaving it to his eldest son
Darius, as he had received it from his father in the
PLUT. VOL. VII. P
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? PLUTARCH.
same right. But Lis younger son, Ochus, who was an
active man, and of a violent spirit, had also a consi-
derable interest among the grandees. Besides, he
hoped to gain his father through Atossa; for he paid
his court to her, and promised to make her the partner
of his throne on the death of Artaxerxes. Nay, it was
said that he had already private familiarities with her.
Artaxerxes, though he was ignorant of this circum-
stance, resolved to cut off the hopes of Ochus at once;
lest, following the daring steps of his uncle Cyrus, he
should involve the kingdom again in civil wars. He
therefore declared Darius his successor, who was now
twenty-five years old, and permitted him to wear the
point of his turban erect, as a mark of royalty.
As it is customary in Persia for the heir to ask a fa-
vor of him that declared him such, which, if possible,
is always granted, Darius asked for Aspasia, who had
been the favorite companion of Cyrus, and was now one
of the king's favorites. She was a native of Phocea
in Ionia, and her parents, who were above the condi-
tion of slaves, had given her a good education. One
evening she was introduced to Cyrus at supper with
the other women. They approached him without scru-
ple, and received his jokes and caresses with pleasure:
but Aspasia stood by in silence ; and when Cyrus called
her, she refused to go. Perceiving that the chamber-
lains were about to compel her, she said, 'Whoever
lays hands on me shall repent it. ' On which the com-
pany looked on her as an unpolished creature; but
Cyrus was pleased, and said, with a smile, to the per-
son who brought the women, 'Do not you see, that of
all you have provided, this only has generous and vir-
tuous sentiments? ' From this moment he attached
himself to her, loved her most of all his favorites,
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? ARTAXERXES.
227
and called her 'Aspasia the Wise. ' When Cyrus fell
in battle, she was taken amongst the plunder of his
camp.
Artaxerxes was much concerned at his son's request;
for the barbarians are so extremely jealous of their
women, that capital punishment is inflicted, not only
on the man who speaks to, or touches one of the king's
favorites, but on him who approaches or passes their
chariots on the road. And though, in compliance with
the dictates of his passion, he had made Atossa his
wife contrary to law, he kept three hundred and sixty
favorite women, all of the greatest beauty. However,
when Darius demanded Aspasia, he declared her free,
and said, 'She might go with him if she pleased;
but he would do no violence to her inclinations. ' Ac-
cordingly Aspasia was sent for, and, contrary to the
king's expectation, made choice of Darius. He gave
her up to him, indeed, because he was obliged to it by
the law; but he soon took her away, and made her a
priestess of Diana of Ecbatana, whom they call Anitis,
that she might pass the remainder of her life in chas-
tity. This he thought no severe revenge on his son,
but a pleasant way of chastising his presumption. But
Darius highly resented the affront; whether it was that
the charms of Aspasia had made a deep impression on
him, or whether he thought himself insulted and ridi-
culed by this proceeding.
Tiribazus, seeing how much he was offended, endea-
vored to exasperate him still more. This he did from
a fellow feeling; for he had suffered an injury much
of the same kind. The king, having several daughters,
promised to give Apama to Pharnabazus, Rhodogune
to Orontes, and Amestris to Tiribazus. He kept his
word with the two first, but deceived Tiribazus; for,
instead of giving Amestris to him, he married her him-
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I-
PLUTARCH.
self; promising, at the same time, that he should have
his youngest daughter Atossa. But he became ena-
moured of her too, and married her, as we have al-
ready mentioned. This treatment extremely incensed
Tiribazus, who had indeed nothing steady in his dispo-
sition, but was wild and irregular. One while suc-
cessful, and on a footing with the greatest men in the
court, another while unacceptable to the king, and
sinking into disgrace, he bore no change of fortune
with propriety. If he was in favor, his vanity was
insupportable; if in disgrace, instead of being humble
and quiet, he had recourse to violence and ferocity.
His conversing with the young prince was therefore
adding flame to fire. 'What avails it,' said he, 'to
have the point of your turban advanced, if you seek
not to advance your authority? Nothing can be more
absurd than your thinking yourself secure of the suc-
cession, while your brother is privately forwarding his
interest by means of the women, and your father is so
very foolish and unsteady. He who could break one
of the most sacred laws of the Persians, for the sake
of an insignificant Grecian woman, is certainly not to
be depended on in more important engagements. The
case is quite different between you and Ochus, as to
the event of the competition: if Ochus does not obtain
the crown, none will hinder him from livrng happily in
a private station; but you, who have been declared
king, must either reign or die. ' On this occasion was
verified that observation of Sophocles:
Swift in its march
Is evil counsel.
The road which leads us to what we desire is indeed
smooth, and of an easy descent; and the desires of
most men are vicious, because they have never known
or tried the enjoyments of virtue. The lustre of such
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? ARTAXERXES.
229
an imperial crown, and Darius' fear of his brother,
furnished Tiribazus with other arguments; but the
goddess of beauty contributed her share towards per-
suading him, by putting him in mind of the loss of
Aspasia.
He gave himself up therefore intirely to Tiribazus,
and many others soon entered into the conspiracy.
But before it could be carried into execution a slave
gave the king information of it, and of all the measures
that were taken; for he had got perfect intelligence
that they designed to enter his chamber in the night,
and kill him in his bed.
Artaxerxes thought it would be great imprudence
either to slight the information, and lay himself open
to such danger, or to credit it without farther proof.
The method he took was this: he ordered the slave to
join Darius and his adherents, and assist at all their
councils; and in the mean time broke a door through
the wall behind his bed, which he concealed with the
tapestry. When the time came, which the slave in-
formed him of, he placed himself on his bed, and re-
mained there till he had a sight of the faces of the
conspirators, and could perfectly distinguish each of
them. But when he saw them draw their swords, and
advance towards him, he pulled back the tapestry, re-
treated into the inner room, and, after he had bolted
the door, alarmed the palace. The assassins seeing
themselves discovered, and their designs disappointed,
immediately took to flight, and desired Tiribazus to
do the same, because he must certainly have been ob-
served. While he lingered the guards came and laid
hold of him; but he killed many of them, and it was
with difficulty that he was despatched at last by a ja-
velin thrown at a distance.
Darius was taken, together with his children, and
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? PLUTARCH.
brought to answer for his crime before the judges
which the king appointed. The king did not think
proper to assist at the trial in person, but directed
others to lay the charge against his son, and his nota-
ries were to take down separately the opinion of each
judge. As they all gave it unanimously for death, the
officers took Darius, and led him to an adjacent prison.
But when the executioner came, with the instrument
in his hand which is used in beheading the capital con-
victs, he was seized with horror at the sight of Darius,
and drew back towards the door, as having neither abi-
lity nor courage to lay violent hands on his king. But
the judges who stood at the door, urging him to do his
office, with menaces of instant punishment if he did
not comply, he returned, and seizing Darius by the
hair, threw him on the ground, and cut off his head.
Some say the cause was tried in presence of the king,
and that Darius, after he was convicted by indubitable
proofs, fell on his face and begged for mercy, but Ar-
taxerxes, rising in great anger, drew his cimeter, and
pursued his stroke till he laid him dead at his feet.
They add, that after this he returned to his palace;
and having paid his devotions to the sun, said to those
who assisted at the ceremony, ' My Persians, you may
now return in triumph, and tell your fellow-subjects
that the great Oromazes1 has taken vengeance on those
who formed the most impious and execrable designs
against their sovereign. ' Such was the end of the con-
spiracy.
Ochus now entertained very agreeable hopes, and
was encouraged besides by Atossa. But he had still
some fear of his remaining legitimate brother, Ariaspes,
and of his natural brother Arsames. Not that Ochus
1 The Persians worshipped Oromazes as the author of good,
and Arimauius as the author of evil.
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? ARTAXERXES.
231
had so much to apprehend from Ariaspes, merely be-
cause he was older, but the Persians were desirous of
having him succeed to the throne on account of his
mildness, his sincerity, and his humane disposition.
As for Arsames, he had the character of a wise prince,
and was the particular favorite of his father. This
was no secret to Ochus. However, he planned the
destruction of both these brothers of his; and being
of an artful, as well as sanguinary turn, he employed
his cruelty against Arsames, and his art against Ari-
aspes. To the latter he privately sent some of the
king's slaves and friends with frequent accounts of se-
vere and menacing expressions of his father's, as if he
had resolved to put him to a cruel and ignominious
death. As these persons came daily to tell him in
confidence, that some of these threats were on the
point of being put in execution, and the others would
not be long delayed, he was so terrified, and fell into
such a melancholy and desponding way, that he pre-
pared a poisonous draught, and drank it, to deliver
himself from the burden of life.
The king being informed of the manner of his death,
sincerely lamented him, and had some suspicion of the
cause, but could not examine into it thoroughly on ac-
count of his great age.
However, Arsames now became dearer to him than
ever, and it was easy to see that the king placed an
intire confidence in him, and communicated to him his
most secret thoughts. Ochus, therefore, would not
defer his enterprise longer, but employed Harpates,
the son of Tiribazus, to kill Arsames. Artaxerxes,
whom time had brought to the very verge of life, when
he had this additional stroke in the fate of Arsames,
could not make much more struggle; his sorrow and
regret soon brought him to the grave. He lived nine-
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PLUTARCH.
ty-four years, and reigned sixty-two. He had the
character of a prince who governed with lenity, and
loved his people. But perhaps the hehavior of his
successor might contribute not a little to his reputa-
tion; for Ochus was the most cruel and sanguinary of
princes.
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? t
\
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? ARATUS.
THe philosopher Chrysippus, my dear Polycrates,
seems to have thought the ancient proverb not quite
justifiable, and therefore he delivered it, not as it really
is, but what he thought it should be--
Who but a happy son will praise his sire 1
Dionysidorus the Troezenian, however, corrects him,
and gives it right,
Who but unhappy sons will praise their sires I
He says, the proverb was made to silence those who,
having no merit of their own, dress themselves up in
the virtues of their ancestors, and are lavish in their
praises. And those in whom the virtues of their sires
shine in congenial beauty, to make use of Pindar's
expression ; who, like you, form their conduct after
the brightest patterns in their families, may think it a
great happiness to remember the most excellent of their
ancestors, and often to hear or speak of them: for they
assume not the honor of other men's virtues for want
of merit in their own, but uniting their great actions
to those of their progenitors, they praise them as the
authors of their descent, and the models of their lives:
for which reason, when I have written the life of Ara-
tus, your countryman, and one of your ancestors, I
shall send it to you, who reflect no dishonor on him
either in point of reputation or power. Not that 1
doubt your having informed yourself of his actions
from the first with all possible care and exactness; but
I do it, that your sons, Polycrates and Pythocles, may
form themselves on the great exemplars, in their own
family, sometimes hearing and sometimes reading what
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? PLUTARCH.
it becomes them well to imitate: for it is the self-ad-
mirer, not the admirer of virtue, that thinks himself
superior to others.
After the harmony of the pure Doric,1 I mean the
aristocracy, was broken in Sicyon, and seditions took
place through the ambition of the demagogues, the city
continued a long time in a distempered state. It only
changed one tyrant for another, till Cleon was slain,
and the administration committed to Timoclidas and
Clinias, persons of the greatest reputation and au-
thority amongst the citizens. The commonwealth
seemed to be in some degree re-established, when Ti-
moclidas died. Abantidas, the son of Paseas, taking
that opportunity to set himself up tyrant, killed Cli-
nias, and either banished or put to death his friends
and relations. He sought also for his son Aratus, who
was only seven years old, with a design to despatch
him. But, in the confusion that was in his house when
his father was slain, the boy escaped among those that
fled, and wandered about the city, in fear, and destitute
of help, till he happened to enter, unobserved, the
house of a woman named Soso, who was sister to
Abantidas, and had been married to Prophantus, the
brother of Clinias. As she was a person of generous
sentiments, and persuaded, besides, that it was by the
direction of some deity that the child had taken re-
fuge with her, she concealed him in one of her apart-
ments till night, and then sent him privately to Argos.
Aratus having thus escaped so imminent a danger,
immediately conceived a violent and implacable hatred
for tyrants, which increased as he grew up. He was
educated by the friends of his family at Argos, in ?
liberal manner; and as he was vigorous and robust, he
1 There was a gravity, but at the same time great perfec-
tion, in the Dorian music.
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? ARATUS.
235
took to gymnastic exercises, and succeeded so well, as
to gain the prize in the five several sorts. 1 Indeed, in
his statues there is an athletic look; and amidst the
strong sense and majesty expressed in his countenance,
we may discover something inconsistent with the vora-
city and mattock of the wrestlers. Hence perhaps it
was that he cultivated his powers of eloquence less than
became a statesman. He might indeed be a better
speaker than some suppose ; and there are those who
judge, from his Commentaries, that he certainly was
so, though they were hastily written, and attempted
nothing beyond common language.
Some time after the escape of Aratns, Dinias and
Aristotle the logician formed a design against Abanti-
das, and they easily found an opportunity to kill him,
when he attended, and sometimes joined in, their dis-
putations in the public halls, which they had insensibly
drawn him into for that very purpose. Paseas, the
father of Abantidas, then seized the supreme power,
but he was assassinated by Nicocles, who took his
place, and was the next tyrant. We are told that there
was a perfect likeness between this Nicocles and Pe-
riander, the son of Cypselus; as Orontes the Persian
resembled Alcmaeon, the son of Amphiaraus, and a La-
cedaemonian youth the great Hector. Myrtilas informs
us that the young man was crowded to death by the
multitudes who came to see him, when that resemblance
was known.
Nicocles reigned four months, during which time he
did a thousand injuries 1o the people, and was near
losing the city to the yEtolians, who formed a scheme
to surprise it. Aratus was by this time approaching
1 The five exercises of the pentathlon, as we have already
observed, were running, leaping, throwing the dart, boxing,
and wrestling.
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PLUTARCH.
to manhood, and great attention was paid him on ac-
count of his high birth, and his spirit, in which there
was nothing little or unenterprising, and yet it was
under the correction of a gravity and solidity of judg-
ment much beyond his years. The exiles therefore
considered him as their principal resource; and Ni-
cocles was not regardless of his motions, but by his
private agents observed the measures he was taking.
Not that he expected he would embark in so bold and
dangerous an enterprise as he did, but he suspected
his applications to the princes who were the friends
of his father. Indeed, Aratus began in that channel;
but when he found that Antigonus, notwithstanding
his promises, put him otf from time to time, and that
his hopes from Egypt and Ptolemy were too remote,
he resolved to destroy the tyrant without any foreign
assistance.
The first persons to whom he communicated his in-
tentions were Aristomachus and Ecdelus. Aristoma-
chus was an exile from Sicyon, and Ecdelus an Arca-
dian banished from Megalopolis. The latter was a
philosopher, who in speculation never lost sight of
practice, for he had studied at Athens under Arcesilaus
the academician. 1 As these readily accepted his pro-
posal, he applied to the other exiles; a few of whom
joined him, because they were ashamed to give up so
promising a hope; but the greatest part believed it was
only Aratus' inexperience2 that made him think of so
bold an attempt, and endeavored to prevent his pro-
ceeding.
While he was considering how to seize some post in
the territories of Sicyon, from whence he might prose-
- 1 Arcesilaus was the disciple of Crantor, and had esta-
blished the Middle Academy.
2 He was not yet twenty years old.
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? ARATUS.
237
cute hostilities against the tyrant, a man of Sicyon
arrived at Argos, who had escaped out of prison. He
was brother to Xenocles, one of the exiles; and being
introduced by him to Aratns, he informed him that the
part of the wall which he had got over was almost
level with the ground on the inside, as it joined on a
high rocky part of the city, and that on the outside it
was not so high but that it might be scaled. On this
intelligence Aratus sent two of his servants, Sceuthas
and Technon, along with Xenocles, to reconnoitre the
wall; for he was resolved, if he could do it secretly,
to hazard all on one great effort, rather than lengthen
out the war, and publicly engage with a tyrant, when
he had no resources but those of a private man.
Xenocles and his companions, after they had taken
the height of the wall, reported at their return that it
was neither impracticable nor difficult, but that it was
dangerous to attempt it on account of some dogs kept
by a gardener, which were little indeed, but at the same
time extremely fierce and furious. Aratus, however,
immediately set about the work. It was easy to pro-
vide arms without suspicion; for almost every body
went armed, by reason of the frequent robberies and
the incursions of one people into the territories of
another. And as to the scaling ladders, Euphranor,
who was one of the exiles, and a carpenter by trade,
made them publicly; his business screening him from
suspicion. Each of his friends in Argos, who had no
great number of men that he could command, furnished
him with ten : he armed thirty of his own servants, and
hired some few soldiers of Xenophilus, who was chief
captain of a band of robbers. To the latter it was given
out that the design of their march to Sicyon was to
carry off the king's stud; and several of them were
scut before by different ways to the tower of Polygno-
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? 238
PLUTARCH.
tus, with orders to wait for him there. Caphesias was
likewise sent with four others in a travelling dress.
These were to go in the evening to the gardener's, and
pretending to be travellers, get a lodging there; after
which they were to confine both him and his dogs: for
that part of the wall was not accessible any other way.
The ladders being made to take in pieces, were packed
up in corn chests, and sent before in waggons prepared
for that purpose.
In the mean time some of the tyrant's spies arrived
at Argos, and it was reported that they were sculking
about to watch the motions of Aratus. Next morning,
therefore, Aratus appeared early with his friends in the
market-place, and talked with them for some time. He
then went to the gymnasium, and after he had anointed
himself, took with him some young men from the
wrestling-ring who used to be of his parties of plea-
sure, and returned home. In a little time his servants
were seen in the market-place, some carrying chaplets
of flowers, some buying flambeaux, and some in dis-
course with the women who used to sing and play at
entertainments. These manoeuvres deceived the spies.
They laughed, and said to each other, ' Certainly nothing
can be more dastardly than a tyrant, since Nicocles, who
is master of so strong a city, and armed with so much
power, lives in fear of a young man, who wastes the
pittance he has to subsist on in exile, in drinking and
revelling even in the day-time. ' After these false rea-
sonings they retired.
Aratus, immediately after he had made his meal, set
out for the tower of Polygnotus, and when he had joined
the soldiers there, proceeded to Nemea, where he dis-
closed his real intentions to his whole company. Hav-
ing exhorted them to behave like brave men, and pro-
mised them great rewards, he gave propitious Apollo
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