* * * * *
On entering the tent of Tissaphernes, the five generals had been surprised and made prisoners, and were forthwith sent to Susa, there to await the King’s pleasure. Menon was set at liberty, but the rest languished for a year in prison, and were then beheaded.
ARCHERS OF THE ROYAL BODY-GUARD.
(From a frieze in the palace at Susa.)
See [p. 2].
For Clearchus, who had been the most intimate friend of her dearly loved Cyrus, Parysatis, the Queen-mother, did everything in her power. Through the medium of her physician, she was able to supply him with many comforts in his prison, and she even hoped that her influence with Artaxerxes would prevail to save his life. But in Statira, the Queen-consort, she had a rival whose influence was even greater than her own. Statira succeeded in convincing her husband that it was indispensable to the dignity of the Persian throne to pass sentence of death upon the most active and distinguished adherent of the usurper Cyrus, and Clearchus was consequently executed.
Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had long been consumed by mutual jealousy and hatred, and this last struggle filled the cup to overflowing. In order to revenge herself for the death of Clearchus, Parysatis bribed a servant to give poison to Statira, and thus caused her death. As a punishment for the murder, she was banished for a time from Babylon.
For a year Menon was at liberty, and went about as he pleased in Susa, but at the end of that time he also was executed, after having been cruelly tortured. The freedom that he enjoyed at first seems to prove that, as Clearchus suspected, he had really rendered some service to the Great King, to the disadvantage of his countrymen. And his subsequent death shows that, cunning as he was, he was not cunning enough to provide against all contingencies. It is very possible that here also the influence of Parysatis may have been at work.