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B.C. 403-402. Thus the civil strife at Athens had an end. At a
subsequent date Cyrus sent messengers to Lacedaemon, claiming requital
in kind for the service which he had lately rendered in the war with
Athens.[1] The demand seemed to the ephorate just and reasonable.
Accordingly they ordered Samius,[2] who was admiral at the time, to
put himself at the disposition of Cyrus for any service which he might
require. Samius himself needed no persuasion to carry out the wishes
of Cyrus. With his own fleet, accompanied by that of Cyrus, he sailed
round to Cilicia, and so made it impossible for Syennesis, the ruler
of that province, to oppose Cyrus by land in his advance against the
king his brother.
B.C. 401. The particulars of the expedition are to be found in the
pages of the Syracusan Themistogenes,[3] who describes the mustering
of the armament, and the advance of Cyrus at the head of his troops;
and then the battle, and death of Cyrus himself, and the consequent
retreat of the Hellenes while effecting their escape to the sea.[4]
B.C. 400. It was in recognition of the service which he had rendered
in this affair, that Tissaphernes was despatched to Lower Asia by the
king his master. He came as satrap, not only of his own provinces, but
of those which had belonged to Cyrus; and he at once demanded the
absolute submission of the Ionic cities, without exception, to his
authority. These communities, partly from a desire to maintain their
freedom, and partly from fear of Tissaphernes himself, whom they had
rejected in favour of Cyrus during the lifetime of that prince, were
loth to admit the satrap within their gates. They thought it better to
send an embassy to the Lacedaemonians, calling upon them as
representatives and leaders[5] of the Hellenic world to look to the
interests of their petitioners, who were Hellenes also, albeit they
lived in Asia, and not to suffer their country to be ravaged and
themselves enslaved.
In answer to this appeal, the Lacedaemonians sent out Thibron[6] as
governor, providing him with a body of troops, consisting of one
thousand neodamodes[7] (i.e. enfranchised helots) and four thousand
Peloponnesians. In addition to these, Thibron himself applied to the
Athenians for a detachment of three hundred horse, for whose service-
money he would hold himself responsible. The Athenians in answer sent
him some of the knights who had served under the Thirty,[8] thinking
that the people of Athens would be well rid of them if they went
abroad and perished there.
B.C. 400-399. On their arrival in Asia, Thibron further collected
contingents from the Hellenic cities on the continent; for at this
time the word of a Lacedaemonian was law. He had only to command, and
every city must needs obey.[9] But although he had this armament,
Thibron, when he saw the cavalry, had no mind to descend into the
plain. If he succeeded in protecting from pillage the particular
district in which he chanced to be, he was quite content. It was only
when the troops[10] who had taken part in the expedition of Cyrus had
joined him on their safe return, that he assumed a bolder attitude. He
was now ready to confront Tissaphernes, army against army, on the
level ground, and won over a number of cities. Pergamum came in of her
own accord. So did Teuthrania and Halisarna. These were under the
government of Eurysthenes and Procles,[11] the descendants of
Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, who in days of old had received this
territory as a gift from the Persian monarch in return for his share
in the campaign against Hellas. Gorgion and Gongylus, two brothers,
also gave in their adhesion; they were lords, the one of Gambreum and
Palae-Gambreum, the other of Myrina and Gryneum, four cities which,
like those above named, had originally been gifts from the king to an
earlier Gongylus--the sole Eretrian who "joined the Mede," and in
consequence was banished. Other cities which were too weak to resist,
Thibron took by force of arms. In the case of one he was not so
successful. This was the Egyptian[12] Larisa, as it is called, which
refused to capitulate, and was forthwith invested and subjected to a
regular siege. When all other attempts to take it failed, he set about
digging a tank or reservoir, and in connection with the tank an
underground channel, by means of which he proposed to draw off the
water supply of the inhabitants. In this he was baffled by frequent
sallies of the besieged, and a continual discharge of timber and
stones into the cutting. He retaliated by the construction of a wooden
tortoise which he erected over the tank; but once more the tortoise
was burnt to a cinder in a successful night attack on the part of the
men of Larisa. These ineffectual efforts induced the ephors to send a
despatch bidding Thibron give up Larisa and march upon Caria.
He had already reached Ephesus, and was on the point of marching into
Caria, when Dercylidas arrived to take command of his army. The new
general was a man whose genius for invention had won him the nickname
of Sisyphus. Thus it was that Thibron returned home, where on his
arrival he was fined and banished, the allies accusing him of allowing
his troops to plunder their friends.
Dercylidas was not slow to perceive and turn to account the jealousy
which subsisted between Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. Coming to terms
with the former, he marched into the territory of the latter,
preferring, as he said, to be at war with one of the pair at a time,
rather than the two together. His hostility, indeed, to Pharnabazus
was an old story, dating back to a period during the naval command[13]
of Lysander, when he was himself governor in Abydos; where, thanks to
Pharnabazus, he had got into trouble with his superior officer, and
had been made to stand "with his shield on his arm"--a stigma on his
honour which no true Lacedaemonian would forgive, since this is the
punishment of insubordination.[14] For this reason, doubtless,
Dercylidas had the greater satisfaction in marching against
Pharnabazus. From the moment he assumed command there was a marked
difference for the better between his methods and those of his
predecessor. Thus he contrived to conduct his troops into that portion
of the Aeolid which belonged to Pharnabazus, through the heart of
friendly territory without injury to the allies.
This district of Aeolis belonged to Pharnabazus,[15] but had been held
as a satrapy under him by a Dardanian named Zenis whilst he was alive;
but when Zenis fell sick and died, Pharnabazus made preparation to
give the satrapy to another. Then Mania the wife of Zenis, herself
also a Dardanian, fitted out an expedition, and taking with her gifts
wherewith to make a present to Pharnabazus himself, and to gratify his
concubines and those whose power was greatest with Pharnabazus, set
forth on her journey. When she had obtained audience with him she
spoke as follows: "O Pharnabazus, thou knowest that thy servant my
husband was in all respects friendly to thee; moreover, he paid my
lord the tributes which were thy due, so that thou didst praise and
honour him. Now therefore, if I do thee service as faithfully as my
husband, why needest thou to appoint another satrap?--nay but, if in
any matter I please thee not, is it not in thy power to take from me
the government on that day, and to give it to another?" When he had
heard her words, Pharnabazus decided that the woman ought to be
satrap. She, as soon as she was mistress of the territory, never
ceased to render the tribute in due season, even as her husband before
her had done. Moreover, whenever she came to the court of Pharnabazus
she brought him gifts continually, and whenever Pharnabazus went down
to visit her provinces she welcomed him with all fair and courteous
entertainment beyond what his other viceroys were wont to do. The
cities also which had been left to her by her husband, she guarded
safely for him; while of those cities that owed her no allegiance, she
acquired, on the seaboard, Larisa and Hamaxitus and Colonae--attacking
their walls by aid of Hellenic mercenaries, whilst she herself sat in
her carriage and watched the spectacle. Nor was she sparing of her
gifts to those who won her admiration; and thus she furnished herself
with a mercenary force of exceptional splendour. She also went with
Pharnabazus on his campaigns, even when, on pretext of some injury
done to the king's territory, Mysians or Pisidians were the object of
attack. In requital, Pharnabazus paid her magnificent honour, and at
times invited her to assist him with her counsel.[16]
Now when Mania was more than forty years old, the husband of her own
daughter, Meidias--flustered by the suggestions of certain people who
said that it was monstrous a woman should rule and he remain a private
person[17]--found his way into her presence, as the story goes, and
strangled her. For Mania, albeit she carefully guarded herself against
all ordinary comers, as behoved her in the exercise of her "tyranny,"
trusted in Meidias, and, as a woman might her own son-in-law, was
ready to greet him at all times with open arms. He also murdered her
son, a youth of marvellous beauty, who was about seventeen years of
age. He next seized upon the strong cities of Scepsis and Gergithes,
in which lay for the most part the property and wealth of Mania. As
for the other cities of the satrapy, they would not receive the
usurper, their garrisons keeping them safely for Pharnabazus.
Thereupon Meidias sent gifts to Pharnabazus, and claimed to hold the
district even as Mania had held it; to whom the other answered, "Keep
your gifts and guard them safely until that day when I shall come in
person and take both you and them together"; adding, "What care I to
live longer if I avenge not myself for the murder of Mania!"
Just at the critical moment Dercylidas arrived, and in a single day
received the adhesion of the three seaboard cities Larisa, Hamaxitus,
and Colonae--which threw open their gates to him. Then he sent
messengers to the cities of the Aeolid also, offering them freedom if
they would receive him within their walls and become allies.
Accordingly the men of Neandria and Ilium and Cocylium lent willing
ears; for since the death of Mania their Hellenic garrisons had been
treated but ill. But the commander of the garrison in Cebrene, a place
of some strength, bethinking him that if he should succeed in guarding
that city for Pharnabazus, he would receive honour at his hands,
refused to admit Dercylidas. Whereupon the latter, in a rage, prepared
to take the place by force; but when he came to sacrifice, on the
first day the victims would not yield good omens; on the second, and
again upon the third day, it was the same story. Thus for as many as
four days he persevered in sacrificing, cherishing wrath the while--
for he was in haste to become master of the whole Aeolid before
Pharnabazus came to the succour of the district.
Meanwhile a certain Sicyonian captain, Athenadas by name, said to
himself: "Dercylidas does but trifle to waste his time here, whilst I
with my own hand can draw off their water from the men of Cybrene";
wherewith he ran forward with his division and essayed to choke up the
spring which supplied the city. But the garrison sallied out and
covered the Sicyonian himself with wounds, besides killing two of his
men. Indeed, they plied their swords and missiles with such good
effect that the whole company was forced to beat a retreat. Dercylidas
was not a little annoyed, thinking that now the spirit of the
besiegers would certainly die away; but whilst he was in this mood,
behold! there arrived from the beleaguered fortress emissaries of the
Hellenes, who stated that the action taken by the commandant was not
to their taste; for themselves, they would far rather be joined in
bonds of fellowship with Hellenes than with barbarians. While the
matter was still under discussion there came a messenger also from the
commandant, to say that whatever the former deputation had proposed
he, on his side, was ready to endorse. Accordingly Dercylidas, who, it
so happened, had at length obtained favourable omens on that day,
marched his force without more ado up to the gates of the city, which
were flung open by those within; and so he entered.[18] Here, then, he
was content to appoint a garrison, and without further stay advanced
upon Scepsis and Gergithes.
And now Meidias, partly expecting the hostile advance of Pharnabazus,
and partly mistrusting the citizens--for to such a pass things had
come--sent to Dercylidas, proposing to meet him in conference provided
he might take security of hostages. In answer to this suggestion the
other sent him one man from each of the cities of the allies, and bade
him take his pick of these, whichsoever and how many soever he chose,
as hostages for his own security. Meidias selected ten, and so went
out. In conversation with Dercylidas, he asked him on what terms he
would accept his alliance. The other answered: "The terms are that you
grant the citizens freedom and self-government." The words were
scarcely out of his mouth before he began marching upon Scepsis.
Whereupon Meidias, perceiving it was vain to hinder him in the teeth
of the citizens, suffered him to enter. That done, Dercylidas offered
sacrifice to Athena in the citadel of the Scepsians, turned out the
bodyguards of Meidias, and handed over the city to the citizens. And
so, having admonished them to regulate their civic life as Hellenes
and free men ought, he left the place and continued his advance
against Gergithes. On this last march he was escorted by many of the
Scepsians themselves; such was the honour they paid him and so great
their satisfaction at his exploits. Meidias also followed close at his
side, petitioning that he would hand over the city of Gergithians to
himself. To whom Dercylidas only made reply, that he should not fail
to obtain any of his just rights. And whilst the words were yet upon
his lips, he was drawing close to the gates, with Meidias at his side.
Behind him followed the troops, marching two and two in peaceful
fashion. The defenders of Gergithes from their towers--which were
extraordinarily high--espied Meidias in company of the Spartan, and
abstained from shooting. And Dercylidas said: "Bid them open the
gates, Meidias, when you shall lead the way, and I will enter the
temple along with you and do sacrifice to Athena." And Meidias, though
he shrank from opening the gates, yet in terror of finding himself on
a sudden seized, reluctantly gave the order to open the gates. As soon
as he was entered in, the Spartan, still taking Meidias with him,
marched up to the citadel and there ordered the main body of his
soliders to take up their position round the walls, whilst he with
those about him did sacrifice to Athena. When the sacrifice was ended
he ordered Meidias's bodyguard to pile arms[19] in the van of his
troops. Here for the future they would serve as mercenaries, since
Meidias their former master stood no longer in need of their
protection. The latter, being at his wits' end what to do, exclaimed:
"Look you, I will now leave you; I go to make preparation for my
guest." But the other replied: "Heaven forbid! Ill were it that I who
have offered sacrifice should be treated as a guest by you. I rather
should be the entertainer and you the guest. Pray stay with us, and
while the supper is preparing, you and I can consider our
obligations, and perform them."
When they were seated Dercylidas put certain questions: "Tell me,
Meidias, did your father leave you heir to his estates?" "Certainly he
did," answered the other. "And how many dwelling-houses have you? what
landed estates? how much pasturage?" The other began running off an
inventory, whilst some of the Scepsians who were present kept
interposing, "He is lying to you, Dercylidas." "Nay, you take too
minute a view of matters," replied the Spartan. When the inventory of
the paternal property was completed, he proceeded: "Tell me, Meidias,
to whom did Mania belong?" A chorus of voices rejoined, "To
Pharnabazus." "Then must her property have belonged to Pharnabazus
too." "Certainly," they answered. "Then it must now be ours," he
remarked, "by right of conquest, since Pharnabazus is at war with us.
Will some one of you escort me to the place where the property of
Mania and Pharnabazus lies?" So the rest led the way to the dwelling-
place of Mania which Meidias had taken from her, and Meidias followed
too. When he was entered, Dercylidas summoned the stewards, and
bidding his attendants seize them, gave them to understand that, if
detected stealing anything which belonged to Mania, they would lose
their heads on the spot. The stewards proceeded to point out the
treasures, and he, when he had looked through the whole store, bolted
and barred the doors, affixing his seal, and setting a watch. As he
went out he found at the doors certain of the generals[20] and
captains, and said to them: "Here, sirs, we have pay ready made for
the army--a year's pay nearly for eight thousand men--and if we can
win anything besides, there will be so much the more." This he said,
knowing that those who heard it would be all the more amenable to
discipline, and would yield him a more flattering obedience. Then
Meidias asked, "And where am I to live, Dercylidas?" "Where you have
the very best right to live," replied the other, "in your native town
of Scepsis, and in your father's house."
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