‘Ye gods, we have been caught this time in a trap!’ So saying, with a short laugh he threw himself down upon a sumptuous couch and slept. In the morning he and Mantitheos were awakened by a polite chamberlain. He was followed by a guard of finely-dressed and well-armed cavalry officers. The chamberlain inclined with deep respect, and made many apologies if any inconvenience had been suffered by the distinguished strategos. ‘It grieved him to the heart to be obliged to inform the distinguished strategos that his master Tissaphernes had been obliged to set out only the day before for his capital of Sardis, there to receive a special envoy from the King of Kings, and, as his master had been unable to receive his noble guest in his castle at Magnesia, he prayed that he would honour him by a visit at his castle at Sardis; and, as an escort for the journey, a guard of horsemen were at his service, and were now, in fact, awaiting his pleasure in the court below.’
Alkibiades bowed and smiled. Neither was taken in. The one knew the whole meaning of the message, and its depth of treachery; the other was perfectly aware that it was known. They descended into the courtyard. Alkibiades was assisted to mount an Arab horse; another was provided for Mantitheos. On asking for the sailors who had come with him, he was told they had returned to Paniônion. The two travellers were preceded by twenty horsemen armed with spears. On each side of them rode an officer with drawn sword; in the rear came twenty other horsemen with spears. So they started from Magnesia.
At mid-day they halted. An ample meal was served. They pursued their way, along the banks of the Hermos, to the fertile plains where the old town of Sardis stood beneath its lofty citadel. They passed the new paradeisos that Tissaphernes had lately finished. Through its wooden palings they could see its various wonders, its splendid trees, and its pavilions, and the fountains and curious waterworks and lakes which the satrap had formed from the gold-bearing Paktôlos, which ran through it. On account of its grace and beauty, as well as with a view to the pleasant hours he had hoped to spend there with his friend, Tissaphernes had named this paradise ‘Alkibiades.’
The prisoners were received with every mark of courtesy and with real kindness by the governor of the citadel. Alkibiades was cheerful. There was still some chance of hearing news of Tissaphernes. After a week of close confinement they were allowed to take as much exercise as they liked in the governor’s garden, shut in only by the high outer wall, and closed by the great gate near which the governor lodged. Alkibiades soon won the affections of his keeper. He had noticed from the first the kindness with which he treated him. As the time hung heavily upon him, he was glad to talk to the old officer, who at last confided to him the cause of his imprisonment.
Orders had come some time ago from the Great King to take Alkibiades, alive or dead. The affair of the fleet had got Tissaphernes into terrible trouble with the Spartans. By taking their fleet away from the Ionian coast to the Hellespont they enabled Pharnabazos to collect the tribute for the Persian king from the Greek cities in that part. Tissaphernes knew that if Pharnabazos sent his tribute to Suza, the king would hear no excuse why the rest of the Ionian tribute should not be paid. If one satrap could collect and pay it, then the other must do so, or make it up out of his own property. This question of the tribute had been a long-standing trouble. While Athens was mistress of the sea there was a good reason why the Lydian satrap could not enforce it; but when Athens was weakened, and could no longer hold her own or protect her colonies, this excuse must cease.
The Athenian victory at Abydos frightened Tissaphernes still more. It now seemed that the balance of power between the two chief Greek states would not be maintained. The Athenians would preponderate if many more victories such as that were gained.
It was the Persian policy to keep them at war, weakening one another, until they were reduced to such weakness that they might both be driven from the sea. To take Alkibiades away, to keep him in confinement at this time, would stop any more Athenian victories for the present. At any rate, it would show to the Spartans, Tissaphernes thought, how sincerely he was on their side, and to the king, his master, that he was ready to sacrifice his personal affection for his friend to that master’s service.
It was time to do something to pacify both. The Lakedaimonians were threatening to end the war, and retire with the remnant of their force to Sparta, while the king was growing something more than suspicious of his satrap’s fidelity. These, then, were the reasons why he had ordered the arrest of his dearest friend. And when the friend had so unexpectedly run into the snare, he had left without seeing him, for fear his resolution might be shaken, and he tried to soothe his own regret at having to treat so badly one he sincerely loved by giving commands that every attention should be paid the Athenian strategos while he was in captivity.