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B.C. 395. With the fall of the year Agesilaus reached Phrygia--the
Phrygia of Pharnabazus--and proceeded to burn and harry the district.
City after city was taken, some by force and some by voluntary
surrender. To a proposal of Spithridates to lead him into
Paphlagonia,[1] where he would introduce the king of the country to
him in conference and obtain his alliance, he readily acceded. It was
a long-cherished ambition of Agesilaus to alienate some one of the
subject nations from the Persian monarch, and he pushed forward
eagerly.
On his arrival in Paphlagonia, King Otys[2] came, and an alliance was
made. (The fact was, he had been summoned by the king to Susa and had
not gone up.) More than that, through the persuasion of Spithridates
he left behind as a parting gift to Agesilaus one thousand cavalry and
a couple of thousand peltasts. Agesilaus was anxious in some way to
show his gratitude to Spithridates for such help, and spoke as
follows:--"Tell me," he said to Spithridates, "would you not like to
give your daughter to King Otys?" "Much more would I like to give
her," he answered, "than he to take her--I an outcast wanderer, and he
lord of a vast territory and forces." Nothing more was said at the
time about the marriage; but when Otys was on the point of departure
and came to bid farewell, Agesilaus, having taken care that
Spithridates should be out of the way, in the presence of the Thirty
broached the subject:[3] "Can you tell me, Otys, to what sort of
family Spithridates belongs?" "To one of the noblest in Persia,"
replied the king. Agesilaus: "Have you observed how beautiful his son
is?" Otys: "To be sure; last evening I was supping with him."
Agesilaus: "And they tell me his daughter is yet more beautiful."
Otys: "That may well be; beautiful she is." Agesilaus: "For my part,
as you have proved so good a friend to us, I should like to advise you
to take this girl to wife. Not only is she very beautiful--and what
more should a husband ask for?--but her father is of noble family, and
has a force at his back large enough to retaliate on Pharnabazus for
an injury. He has made the satrap, as you see, a fugitive and a
vagabond in his own vast territory. I need not tell you," he added,
"that a man who can so chastise an enemy is well able to benefit a
friend; and of this be assured: by such an alliance you will gain not
the connection of Spithridates alone, but of myself and the
Lacedaemonians, and, as we are the leaders of Hellas, of the rest of
Hellas also. And what a wedding yours will be! Were ever nuptials
celebrated on so grand a scale before? Was ever bride led home by such
an escort of cavalry and light-armed troops and heavy infantry, as
shall escort your wife home to your palace?" Otys asked: "Is
Spithridates of one mind with you in this proposal?" and Agesilaus
answered: "In good sooth he did not bid me make it for him. And for my
own part in the matter, though it is, I admit, a rare pleasure to
requite an enemy, yet I had far rather at any time discover some good
fortune for my friends." Otys: "Why not ask if your project pleases
Spithridates too?" Then Agesilaus, turning to Herippidas and the rest
of the Thirty, bade them go to Spithridates; "and give him such good
instruction," he added, "that he shall wish what we wish." The Thirty
rose and retired to administer their lesson. But they seemed to tarry
a long time, and Agesilaus asked: "What say you, King Otys--shall we
summon him hither ourselves? You, I feel certain, are better able to
persuade him than the whole Thirty put together." Thereupon Agesilaus
summoned Spithridates and the others. As they came forward, Herippidas
promptly delivered himself thus: "I spare you the details, Agesilaus.
To make a long story short, Spithridates says, 'He will be glad to do
whatever pleases you.'" Then Agesilaus, turning first to one and then
to the other: "What pleases me," said he, "is that you should wed a
daughter--and you a wife--so happily.[4] But," he added, "I do not see
how we can well bring home the bride by land till spring." "No, not by
land," the suitor answered, "but you might, if you chose, conduct her
home at once by sea." Thereupon they exchanged pledges to ratify the
compact; and so sent Otys rejoicing on his way.
Agesilaus, who had not failed to note the king's impatience, at once
fitted out a ship of war and gave orders to Callias, a Lacedaemonian,
to escort the maiden to her new home; after which he himself began his
march on Dascylium. Here was the palace of Pharnabazus. It lay in the
midst of abundant supplies. Here, too, were most fair hunting grounds,
offering the hunter choice between enclosed parks[5] and a wide
expanse of field and fell; and all around there flowed a river full of
fish of every sort; and for the sportsman versed in fowling, winged
game in abundance.
In these quarters the Spartan king passed the winter, collecting
supplies for the army either on the spot or by a system of forage. On
one of these occasions the troops, who had grown reckless and scornful
of the enemy through long immunity from attack, whilst engaged in
collecting supplies were scattered over the flat country, when
Pharnabazus fell upon them with two scythe-chariots and about four
hundred horse. Seeing him thus advancing, the Hellenes ran together,
mustering possibly seven hundred men. The Persian did not hesitate,
but placing his chariots in front, supported by himself and the
cavalry, he gave the command to charge. The scythe-chariots charged
and scattered the compact mass, and speedily the cavalry had laid low
in the dust about a hundred men, while the rest retreated hastily,
under cover of Agesilaus and his hoplites, who were fortunately near.
It was the third or fourth day after this that Spithridates made a
discovery: Pharnabazus lay encamped in Caue, a large village not more
than eighteen miles[6] away. This news he lost no time in reporting to
Herippidas. The latter, who was longing for some brilliant explout,
begged Agesilaus to furnish him with two thousand hoplites, an equal
number of peltasts, and some cavalry--the latter to consist of the
horsemen of Spithridates, the Paphlagonians, and as many Hellene
troopers as he might perchance persuade to follow him. Having got the
promise of them from Agesilaus, he proceeded to take the auspices.
Towards late afternoon he obtained favourable omens and broke off the
sacrifice. Thereupon he ordered the troops to get their evening meal,
after which they were to present themselves in front of the camp. But
by the time darkness had closed in, not one half of them had come out.
To abandon the project was to call down the ridicule of the rest of
the Thirty. So he set out with the force to hand, and about daylight,
falling on the camp of Pharnabazus, put many of his advanced guard of
Mysians to the sword. The men themselves made good their escape in
different directions, but the camp was taken, and with it divers
goblets and other gear such as a man like Pharnabazus would have, not
to speak of much baggage and many baggage animals. It was the dread of
being surrounded and besieged, if he should establish himself for long
at any one spot, which induced Pharnabazus to flee in gipsy fashion
from point to point over the country, carefully obliterating his
encampments. Now as the Paphlagonians and Spithridates brought back
the captured property, they were met by Herippidas with his brigadiers
and captains, who stopped them and[7] relieved them of all they had;
the object being to have as large a list as possible of captures to
deliver over to the officers who superintended the sale of booty.[8]
This treatment the Asiatics found intolerable. They deemed themselves
at once injured and insulted, got their kit together in the night, and
made off in the direction of Sardis to join Ariaeus without mistrust,
seeing that he too had revolted and gone to war with the king. On
Agesilaus himself no heavier blow fell during the whole campaign than
the desertion of Spithridates and Megabates and the Paphlagonians.
Now there was a certain man of Cyzicus, Apollophanes by name; he was
an old friend of Pharnabazus, and at this time had become a friend
also of Agesilaus.[9] This man informed Agesilaus that he thought he
could bring about a meeting between him and Pharnabazus, which might
tend to friendship; and having so got ear of him, he obtained pledges
of good faith between his two friends, and presented himself with
Pharnabazus at the trysting-place, where Agesilaus with the Thirty
around him awaited their coming, reclined upon a grassy sward.
Pharnabazus presently arrived clad in costliest apparel; but just as
his attendants were about to spread at his feet the carpets on which
the Persians delicately seat themselves, he was touched with a sense
of shame at his own luxury in sight of the simplicity of Agesilaus,
and he also without further ceremony seated himself on the bare
ground. And first the two bade one another hail, and then Pharnabazus
stretched out his right hand and Agesilaus his to meet him, and the
conversation began. Pharnabazus, as the elder of the two, spoke first.
"Agesilaus," he said, "and all you Lacedaemonians here present, while
you were at war with the Athenians I was your friend and ally; it was
I who furnished the wealth that made your navy strong on sea; on land
I fought on horseback by your side, and pursued your enemies into the
sea.[10] As to duplicity like that of Tissaphernes, I challenge you to
accuse me of having played you false by word or deed. Such have I ever
been; and in return how am I treated by yourselves to-day?--in such
sort that I cannot even sup in my own country unless, like the wild
animals, I pick up the scraps you chance to leave. The beautiful
palaces which my father left me as an heirloom, the parks[11] full of
trees and beasts of the chase in which my heart rejoiced, lie before
my eyes hacked to pieces, burnt to ashes. Maybe I do not comprehend
the first principles of justice and holiness; do you then explain to
me how all this resembles the conduct of men who know how to repay a
simple debt of gratitude." He ceased, and the Thirty were ashamed
before him and kept silence.[12]
At length, after some pause, Agesilaus spoke. "I think you are aware,"
he said, "Pharnabazus, that within the states of Hellas the folk of
one community contract relations of friendship and hospitality with
one another;[13] but if these states should go to war, then each man
will side with his fatherland, and friend will find himself pitted
against friend in the field of battle, and, if it so betide, the one
may even deal the other his death-blow. So too we to-day, being at war
with your sovereign lord the king, must needs regard as our enemy all
that he calls his; not but that with yourself personally we should
esteem it our high fortune to be friends. If indeed it were merely an
exchange of service--were you asked to give up your lord the king and
to take us as your masters in his stead, I could not so advise you;
but the fact is, by joining with us it is in your power to-day to bow
your head to no man, to call no man master, to reap the produce of
your own domain in freedom--freedom, which to my mind is more precious
than all riches. Not that we bid you to become a beggar for the sake
of freedom, but rather to use our friendship to increase not the
king's authority, but your own, by subduing those who are your fellow-
slaves to-day, and who to-morrow shall be your willing subjects. Well,
then, freedom given and wealth added--what more would you desire to
fill the cup of happiness to overflowing?" Pharnabazus replied: "Shall
I tell you plainly what I will do?" "That were but kind and courteous
on your part," he answered. "Thus it stands with me, then," said
Pharnabazus. "If the king should send another general, and if he
should wish to rank me under this new man's orders, I, for my part, am
willing to accept your friendship and alliance; but if he offers me
the supreme command--why, then, I plainly tell you, there is a certain
something in the very name ambition which whispers me that I shall war
against you to the best of my ability."[14] When he heard that,
Agesilaus seized the satrap's hand, exclaiming: "Ah, best of mortals,
may the day arrive which sends us such a friend! Of one thing rest
assured. This instant I leave your territory with what haste I may,
and for the future--even in case of war--as long as we can find foes
elsewhere our hands shall hold aloof from you and yours."
And with these words he broke up the meeting. Pharnabazus mounted his
horse and rode away, but his son by Parapita, who was still in the
bloom of youth, lingered behind; then, running up to Agesilaus, he
exclaimed: "See, I choose you as my friend." "And I accept you,"
replied the king. "Remember, then," the lad answered, and with the
word presented the beautiful javelin in his hand to Agesilaus, who
received it, and unclasping a splendid trapping[15] which his
secretary, Idaeus, had round the neck of his charger, he gave it in
return to the youth; whereupon the boy leapt on his horse's back and
galloped after his father.[16] At a later date, during the absence of
Pharnabazus abroad, this same youth, the son of Parapita, was deprived
of the government by his brother and driven into exile. Then Agesilaus
took great interest in him, and as he had a strong attachment to the
son of Eualces, an Athenian, Agesilaus did all he could to have this
friend of his, who was the tallest of the boys, admitted to the two
hundred yards race at Olympia.
B.C. 394. But to return to the actual moment. Agesilaus was as good as
his word, and at once marched out of the territory of Pharnabazus. The
season verged on spring. Reaching the plain of Thebe,[17] he encamped
in the neighbourhood of the temple of Artemis of Astyra,[18] and there
employed himself in collecting troops from every side, in addition to
those which he already had, so as to form a complete armament. These
preparations were pressed forward with a view to penetrating as far as
possible into the interior. He was persuaded that every tribe or
nation placed in his rear might be considered as alienated from the
king.
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