ing acted so contradictorily to the fundamental laws of Sparta, and warmly represented to the ephori, how incumbent it was upon them to banish all that gold and silver from the republic, and to lay the heaviest of curses and imprecations upon it, as the fatal bane of all other states, introduced only to corrupt the wholesone constitution of the Spartan government, which had supported itself for so many ages with vigour and prosperity. The ephori immediately passed a decree to proscribe that money, and ordained that none should be current, except the useful pieces of iron. But Lysander's friends opposed this decree, and sparing no pains to retain the gold and silver in Sparta, the affair was referred for farther deliberation. There naturally seemed only two methods to be considered; which were, either to make the gold and silver species current, or to cry them down, and prohibit them absolutely. The men of address and policy found, out a third expedient, which in their sense, reconciled both the others with great success: this was making a proper choice between the vicious extremes of too much rigour and too much neglect. It was therefore resolved, that the new coin of gold and silver should be solely employed by the public treasury; that it should only pass in the occasions and uses of the state; and that every private person, in whose possession it should be found, should be immediately put to death. 66 66 A strange expedient!" says Plutarch: as if Lycurgus had feared gold and silver themselves, and not the avarice they occasioned: an avarice more likely to be inflamed by permitting the state to amass and make use of it for the public service, than to be suppressed by prohibiting the possession of it to private persons. For it was impossible while that money was in honour and esteem with the public, that it should be despised in private as useless, and that people should look upon that as of no value in their domestic affairs, which the city prized, and was so much concerned to have for its occasions; bad usages, authorized by the practice and example of the public, being a thousand times more dangerous to individuals, than the vices of individuals to the public. The Lacedæmonians therefore," continues Plutarch, "in punishing those with death who should make use of the new money in private, were so blind and imprudent as to imagine, that the placing of the law, and the terror of punishment, as a guard at the door, was sufficient to prevent gold and silver from entering the house they left the hearts of their citizens open to the desire and admiration of riches, and introduced themselves to a violent passion for amassing treasure, in causing it to be deemed a great and honourable thing to be come rich." It was about the end of the Peloponnesian war, that Darius Nothus king of Persia died, after a reign of nineteen years. Cyrus had arrived at the court before his death, and Parysatis his mother, whose idol he was, not contented with having made his peace, notwithstanding the faults he had committed in his government, pressed the old king to declare him his successor also, after the example of Darius the First, who gave Xerxes the preference before all his brothers, because born, as Cyrus was, after his father's accession to the throne. But Darius did not carry his complaisance for her so far. He gave the crown to Arsaces, his eldest son by Parysatis also, whom Plutarch calls Arsicas, and bequeathed to Cyrus only the provinces he already had.* A. M. 3600. Ant. J. C. 404. THE HISTORY OF THE PERSIANS AND GRECIANS, CONTINUED DURING THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS OF THE REIGN OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. CHAPTER I. THIS chapter contains the domestic troubles of the court of Persia, the death of Alcibiades, the re-establishment of the liberty of Athens, and Lysander's secret design to make himself king. SECTION 1.-CORONATION OF ARTAXERXES MNEMON. CYRUS ATTEMPTS TO AS- 66 ARSACES upon ascending the throne, assumed the name of Artaxerxes, to whom the Greeks also gave the surname of MNEMON,* from his very retentive memory. Being near his father's bed when he was dying, he asked him, a few moments before he expired, what had been the rule of his conduct during so long and happy a reign as his, that he might make it his example. It has been," replied he, to do always what justice and religion required of me.t Words of deep import and well worthy of being set up in letters of gold in the palaces of kings, to keep them perpetually in mind of what ought to be the guide and rule of all their actions. It is not uncommon for princes to give excellent instructions to their children on their death-beds, which would be more efficacious if preceded by their own example and conduct without which they are as weak and impotent as the sick man who gives them, and seldom survive him long. Soon after the death of Darius, the new king set out from his capital for Pasargada a city of Persia, built by Cyrus the Great, in order to be crowned, according to custom, by the priests of Persia. There was in that city a temple of the goddess who presided in war, in which the coronation was solemnized. It was attended with very singular ceremonies, which no doubt had some mysterious sense, though Plutarch does not explain it. The prince, at his consecration, took off his robe in the temple, and put on that worn by the ancient Cyrus, before he came to the throne, which was preserved in that place with great veneration. After that, he eat a dry fig, chewed some leaves of the turpentine tree, and drank a draught composed of milk and vinegar. This might signify, that the sweets of sovereign power are mingled with the sours of care and disquiet; and that, if the throne be surrounded with pleasures and honours, it is also attended with pains and anxieties. It seems sufficiently evident, that Which word signities in the Greek, one of : good memory. the design in putting the robes of Cyrus upon the new king, was to make him understand, that he should also clothe his mind with the great qualities and exalted virtues of that prince.* Young Cyrus, whose soul was all ambition, was in despair on being for ever prevented from ascending a throne which his mother had given him, and on seeing the sceptre, which he thought his right, transferred into the hands of his brother. The blackest crimes cost the ambitious nothing. Cyrus resolved to assassinate Artaxerxes in the temple itself, and in the presence of the whole court, just when he took off his own, to put on the robe of Cyrus the Great. Artaxerxes was apprised of this design by the priest him.self, who had educated his brother, and to whom he had imparted it. Cyrus was seized, and condemned to die, when his mother Parysatis, almost out of her senses, flew to the place, clasped him in her arms, bound herself to him with the tresses of her hair, fastened herself upon his neck, and by her sl.rieks, and tears, and prayers, prevailed so far as to obtain his pardon, and that he should be sent back to his government of the maritime provinces. He carried thither with him an ambition no less ardent than before, was animated besides with resentment for the check he had received, and the warm desire of revenge, and armed with an almost un bounded power. Artaxerxes upon this occasion acted contrary to the most common rules of policy, which do not admit the cherishing and inflaming, by extraordinary honours, the pride and haughtiness of a bold and enterprising young prince like Cyrus, who had carried his personal enmity to his brother so far as to have resolved to assassinate him with his own hand, and whose ambition for empire was so great as to employ the most criminal methods for the attainment of its end.t Artaxerxes had espoused Statira. Scarcely had her husband ascended the throne, when she employed the power her beauty gave her over him, to avenge the death of her brother Teriteuchmes. History does not record a more tra gical scene, nor a more monstrous complication of adultery, incest, and murder; which, after having occasioned great disorders in the royal family, terminated at length in the most fatal manner to all who had any share in it. But it is necessary, to give the reader a knowledge of the fact, to trace it from the beginning.‡ Hidarnes, Statira's father, a Persian of very great quality, was governor of one of the principal provinces of the empire. Statira was a lady of extraordinary beauty, which induced Artaxerxes to marry her, who was then called Arsaces. At the same time Teriteuchmes, Statira's brother, married Hamestris, sister of Arsaces, one of the daughters of Darius and Parysatis; in consequence of which marriage, Teriteuchines, upon his father's death, had his government given him. There was also another sister in this family, no less beautiful than Statira, and who besides excelled in the arts of shooting with the bow, and throwing the dart. Teriteuchmes her brother conceived a criminal passion for her, and to gratify it, resolved to set himself at liberty by killing Hamestris, whom he had espoused. Darius having been informed of this design, by the force of presents and promises, engaged Udiastes, the intimate friend and confidant of Teriteuchmes, to prevent it, by assassinating him. He obeyed, and received for his reward the government of him he had put to death with his own hands. Among the guards of Teriteuchmes, was a son of Udiastes, called Mithridates, very much attached to his master. The young gentleman, upon hearing that his father had committed this murder in person, uttered all manner of imprecations against him; and full of horror for so infamous and vile an action, seized on the city of Zaris, and openly revolting, declared for the establishment of Teriteuchmes's son. But that young man could not hold out long against Darius. He was shut up in the place with the son of Teriteuchmes, Plut. Artax. p. 10-12. † Ne quis mobiles adolescentium animos præmaturis honoribus ad superbiam extolleret.-Tacit. Annal. Ctes. c. li. lv. 1. iv. c. 17. whom he had with him; and all the rest of the family of Hidarnes were put in prison, and delivered to Parysatis, to do with them as she, exasperated to the highest degree by the treatment either done or intended against her daughter Hamestris, should think fit. That cruel princess began by causing Roxana, whose beauty had been the occasion of this evil, to be sawed in two, and ordered all the rest to be put to death, except Statira, whose life she granted to the tears, and the most tender and ardent solicitations of Arsaces, whose love for his wife made him spare no pains for her preservation, though Darius, his father, believed it necessary, even for his own good, that she should share the same fate with the rest of her family. Such was the state of the affair at the death of Darius. Statira, as soon as her husband was upon the throne, caused Udiastes to be delivered into her hands. She ordered his tongue to be torn out, and made him die in the most exquisite torments she could invent, to punish the crime which had occasioned the ruin of her family. She gave his government to Mithridates, in recompense for his attachment to the interests of her family. Parysatis on her side, took her revenge on the son of Teriteuchmes, whom she caused to be poisoned; and we shall see that Statira's turn was not very remote. We see here the terrible effects of female revenge, and in general of what excesses they are capable, who find themselves above all laws, and have no other rule for their actions than their will and passions. Cyrus, having resolved to dethrone his brother, employed Clearchus, the Lacedæmonian general, to raise a body of Grecian troops, under pretence of war, which that Spartan was to carry into Thrace. I shall defer speaking of this famous expedition, and also of the death of Socrates, which happened about the same time, intending to treat of those two great events as fully as they deserve. It was without doubt with the same view, that Cyrus presented Lysander a galley of two cubits in length, made of ivory and gold, to congratulate him upon his naval victory. That galley was consecrated to Apollo in the temple of Delphos. Lysander went soon after to Sardis, charged with magnificent presents for Cyrus from the allies. It was upon that occasion, that Cyrus had the celebrated conversation with Lysander related by Xenophon, and which Cicero after him has applied so beautifully.* That young prince, who prided himself more upon his integrity and politeness than nobility and grandeur, pleased himself with conducting in person so illustrious a guest through his gardens, and to make him observe the various beauties of them. Lysander, struck with so fine a prospect, admired the manner in which the several parts were laid out; the height and projection of the trees; the neatness and disposition of the walks; the abundance of fruits, planted with an art which had known how to unite the useful with the agreeable; the beauty of the parterres, and the glowing variety of flowers, exhaling odours throughout the delightful scene. Every thing in this place charms and transports me," said Lysander, addressing himself to Cyrus; "but what strikes me most, is the exquisite taste and elegant industry of the person who drew the plan of the several parts of this garden, and gave it the fine order, wonderful disposition, and happiness of symmetry, which I cannot sufficiently admire." Cyrus, infinitely pleased with this discourse, replied, "It was I that drew the plan, and entirely marked it out: and not only that, many of the trees which you see were planted by my own hands.” What," replied Ly 66 66 Narrat Socrates in eo libro, Cyrum minorem, regem Persarum, præstantem ingenio atque imperii gloria, cum Lysander Lacedæmonius, vir summæ virtutis, venisset ad eum, Sardes, eique dona a seciis attuJisset, et ceteris in rebus comem erga Lysandrum atque humanum fuisse, et ei quemdam conseptum agrum diligenter consitum ostendisse. Cum autem admiraretur Lysander et proceritates arborum, et directos in quincuncem ordines, et humum sub actam atque puram, et suavitatem odorum qui efflarentur e floribus; tun eum dixisse mirari se non modo diligentiam, sed etiam solertiam ejus, a quo essent illa dimensa atque descripta. Et ei Cyrum respondisse: atqui ego ista sum dimensus, mei sunt ordines, men descriptio, multæ etiam istarum arborum mea manu sunt sate. Tum Lysandrum, intuentem ejus purpuram et nitorem corpo vis, ornatuinque Persicum multo auro multisque gemmis dixisse: recte vero, te, Cyre, beatum ferunt, quoni am virtuti tua fortuna conjucta est.-Cic. de Senect. n. 39. |