Darius saphernes against this rebel, and gave him, with a Nothus considerable army, the commission of governor of Lydia, of which he was to dispossess Pisuthnes. Tissaphernes, who was an artful man, and capable of acting in all characters, found means of tampering with the Greeks under Pisuthnes; and by dint of presents and promises, brought over the troops with their general to his party. Pisuthnes, who, by this desertion, was unable to carry on his designs, surrendered, upon his being flattered with the hopes of obtaining his pardon; but the instant he was brought before the king, he was sentenced to be suffocated in ashes, and accordingly met with the same fate as the rest of the rebels. But his death did not put an end to all troubles; for Amorges his son, with the remainder of his army, still opposed Tissaphernes; and for two years laid waste the maritime provinces of Asia minor, till he at last was taken by the Greeks of Peloponnesus, in Iasus, a city of Ionia, and delivered up by the inhabitants to Tissaphernes, who put him to death. d ← Darius was involved in fresh troubles by one of his eunuchs. This kind of officers had, for many years, engrossed all power in the court of Persia; and we shall find, by the sequel of this history, that they always governed absolutely in it. We may know their character, and the danger to which they expose princes, by the picture which Dioclesian, after he had resigned the empire, and reduced himself to a private station of life, drew of freedmen, who had gained a like ascendant over the Roman emperors. "Four or five persons," says he, "who are closely "united, and resolutely determined to impose on a prince, may do it very easily. They never shew things to him but in such a light as they are sure "will please. They conceal whatever would con d Thucyd. 1. viii. p. 554-567, 568. e Ctes. c. lii. "tribute to enlighten him: And as they only be- Darius "siege him continually, he cannot be informed of Nothus. any thing but through their canal, and does "nothing but what they think fit to suggest to ❝ him. Hence it is, that he bestows employments "on those he ought to exclude from them; and, on "the other side, removes from offices such persons as are most worthy of filling them. In a word, "the best prince is often sold by these men, though "he be ever so vigilant, and even suspicious of "them." Quid multa? Ut Diocletianus ipse dicebat, bonus, cautus, optimus venditur imperator. In this manner was Darius's court governed. Three eunuchs had usurped all power in it; * an infallible mark that a government is bad, and the prince of little merit. But one of those three eunuchs, whose name was Artoxares, presided over, and governed the rest. He had found Darius's weak side, by which he insinuated himself into his confidence. He had studied all his passions, to know how to indulge them, and govern his prince by their means. He plunged him continually in pleasures and amusements, to engross his whole authority to himself. In fine, under the name and protection of queen Parysatis, to whose will and pleasure he was the most devoted of slaves, he disposed of all the affairs of the empire, and nothing was transacted but by his orders. Intoxicated by the supreme authority which the favour of his sovereign gave him, he resolved to make himself king, instead of being prime minister; and accordingly formed a design to get Darius out of the way, and afterwards ascend the throne. However, his plot being discovered, he was seized and delivered up to Parysatis, who put him to a most ignominious and cruel death. But the greatest misfortune which happened in Euseb. in Chron. Seis præcipuum esse indicium non magni principis, magnos libertos. Plin. ad Trajan. Darius Darius's reign, was the revolt of the Egyptians. Nothus. This terrible blow fell out the same year with Pisuthnes's rebellion. But Darius could not reduce Egypt as he had done that rebel. h The Egyptians, weary of the Persian government, flocked from all parts to Amyrtæus of Sais, who at last was come out of the fens where he had defended himself, from the suppression of the revolt of Inarus. The Persians were drove out, and Amyrtæus proclaimed king of Egypt, where he reigned six years. A. M. After having established himself securely on the throne, and entirely expelled the Persians out of Egypt, he prepared to pursue them as far as Phoenicia, and had already concerted measures with the Arabians, to attack them in that country. News of this being brought the king of Persia, he recalled the fleet which he had promised the Lacedæmonians, to employ it in the defence of his own dominions. Whilst Darius was carrying on the war in Egypt and Arabia, the Medes rebelled; however, they were defeated, and reduced to their allegiance by force of arms. To punish them for this revolt, their yoke (till then easy enough) was made heavier: A fate that rebellious subjects always experience, when the government, which they endeavoured to throw off, gains the upper hand. Darius's arms seem to have had the like success against the Egyptians. Amyrtæus dying after he had reigned six years, (he possibly was killed in a battle) Herodotus observes, it was by the assistance of the Persians that Pausiris his son succeeded him in the throne. To effect this, they must either have been masters of Egypt, or their party the strongest in that kingdom. After having crushed the rebels in Media, and re. 3597 stored the affairs of Egypt to their former situation, Ant. J. C. Darius gave Cyrus, the youngest of his sons, the su preme command of all the provinces of Asia minor: 407. Thucyd. 1. i. p. 72, 73. i Herod. 1. iii. c. 15. Nothus. An important commission, by which he commanded Darius all the provincial governors in that part of the empire. I thought it necessary to anticipate times, and draw together the facts which relate to the kings of Persia; to prevent my being often obliged to interrupt the history of the Greeks, to which I now return. SECT. II. The Athenians make themselves masters of the island of Cythera. Expeditions of Brasidas into Thrace. He takes Amphipolis. Thucydides the historian is banished. A battle is fought near Delium, where the Athenians are defeated. The eighth year of the war. THE three or four campaigns which followed the reduction of the small island of Sphacteria, were distinguished by very few considerable events. The Athenians under Nicias took the little island of Cythera, situated on the coast of Lacedæmonia, near cape Malea, and from thence they infested the whole country. Brasidas, on the other side, marched towards Thrace. The Lacedæmonians were induced by more than one motive to undertake this expedition; imagining they should oblige the Athenians, who had fallen upon them in their country, to divide their forces. The inhabitants of it invited them thither, and offered to pay the army. In fine, they were extremely glad to embrace that opportunity, to rid themselves of the Helots, whom they expected to rise in rebellion, from the taking of Pylus, They had already made away with two thousand of them in a most horrid manner. Upon the specious pretence of rewarding merit even in slaves, but, in reality, to get rid of a body of men whose courage they • Thucyd. 1. iv. P 286. p. 117, 118. Ibid. p. 304–311. Diud. 1. xii. A. M. 3580. Ant. J.C. 424. Nothus. Darius dreaded, they caused proclamation to be made, that such of the Helots as had done the greatest service to the state in the last campaigns, should enter their names in the publick registers, in order for their being made free. Accordingly two thousand gave in their names. They were carried in procession through the temples, with chaplets of flowers on their heads, as if they were really to be set at liberty. After this ceremony, they all disappeared, and were never heard of more. We have here an instance, in what manner an umbrageous policy and power, when filled with jealousy and distrust, excite men to the commission of the blackest crimes, without scrupling to make even religion itself, and the authority of the gods, subservient to their dark designs. They therefore sent seven hundred Helots with Brasidas, whom they had appointed to head this enterprize. This general brought over several cities, either by force or intelligence, and still more by his wisdom and moderation. The chief of these were Acanthus and Stagyra, which were two colonies from Andros. u He also marched afterwards towards Amphipolis, an Athenian colony, on the river Strymon. The inhabitants immediately dispatched a messenger to Thucydides the Athenian general, who was then in Thasus, a little island of the Ægæan sea, half a day's journey from Amphipolis. He instantly set sail with seven ships that were near him, to secure the place before Brasidas could seize it; or, at worst, to get into Eion, which lay very near Amphipolis. Brasidas, who was afraid of Thucydides, from his great credit in all that country, where he was possessed of some gold-mines, made all the dispatch imaginable, to get thither before him; and offered such advantageous conditions to the besieged, who did not expect succours so soon, that they surrendered. Thucydides arrived the Thucyd. 1. iv. p. 320–324. The same who wrote the history of the Peloponnesian war. |