Plutarch's Lives, Volume 4 (of 4)

by Plutarch

LIFE OF ARTAXERXES.

I. The first Artaxerxes, who surpassed all the kings of Persia in mildness and magnanimity of character, was surnamed Longhand, because his right hand was larger than his left. He was the son of Xerxes; and Artaxerxes the Second, the subject of this memoir, who was surnamed Mnemon, was the son of the former’s daughter: for Darius and Parysatis had four children, of whom the eldest was named Artaxerxes, the next Cyrus, and the two younger ones Ostanes and Oxathres.

Cyrus was named after the ancient king of that name, who is said to have been taken from the sun; for the Persians are said to call the sun Cyrus. Artaxerxes was originally named Arsikas, although the historian Deinon states that he was named Oarses. Still Ktesias, although his writings are full of all kinds of absurd and incredible tales, must be supposed to know the name of the king at whose court he lived, acting as physician to him, his mother and his wife.

II. Cyrus from his earliest youth displayed a determined and vehement disposition, while his brother was gentler in all respects and less passionate in his desires. He married a fair and virtuous wife at his parents’ command, and kept her against their will, for the king killed her brother, and wished to put her also to death, but Arsikas, by tears and entreaties, prevailed upon his mother to spare her life, and not to separate her from him. His mother, however, always loved Cyrus more than Artaxerxes, and wished him to become king instead of his brother. For this reason, when Cyrus was sent for from the coast during his father’s last illness, he went to court with great expectations, imagining that she had managed to have him declared heir to the throne. Indeed, Parysatis had a good argument for doing so, which had formerly, at the suggestion of Demaratus, been acted upon by the old king Xerxes; namely, that when Arsikas was born, Darius was merely a private man, but that when Cyrus was born he was a king. However, Parysatis did not succeed in inducing the king to declare Cyrus his heir, but the eldest son was proclaimed king and his name changed to Artaxerxes, while Cyrus was appointed satrap of Lydia and ruler of the provinces on the sea coast.

III. Shortly before the death of Darius, the king Artaxerxes travelled to Pasargadæ, in order that he might be initiated into the royal mystic rites by the priests there. The temple is dedicated to a warlike goddess whom one might liken to Athena. The person to be initiated enters this temple, removes his own clothes, and puts on those which the ancient Cyrus wore before he became king. He then eats some of a cake made of preserved figs, tastes the fruit of the terebinth tree, and drinks a cup of sour milk. Whether besides this he does anything else is known only to the initiated. When Artaxerxes was about to do this Tissaphernes met him, bringing with him one of the priests, who, when both the princes were boys, had been Cyrus’s teacher in the usual course of study, had taught him to use incantations like a Magian, and had been especially grieved at Cyrus not being proclaimed king. For this reason he more easily obtained credit when he accused Cyrus; and the accusation he brought against him was that Cyrus intended to conceal himself in the temple, and when the king took off his clothes, to attack him and murder him. Some writers say that this was how Cyrus came to be apprehended, while others state that he actually got into the temple, and was there betrayed by the priest. When he was about to be put to death, his mother threw her arms round him, flung her hair over him, pressed his neck against her own, and by her tears and entreaties obtained his pardon, and got him sent back again to his government on the sea coast. He was not satisfied with this position nor was he grateful for his pardon, but remembered only how he had been taken into custody, and through anger at this became all the more eager to gain the throne for himself.

IV. Some writers say that he revolted because his revenues did not suffice for his daily expenses; but this is absurd, since, if he could have obtained it from no other source, his mother was always ready to supply him, and used to give as much as he wanted from her own income. His wealth also is proved by the large mercenary force which, we learn from Xenophon, was enlisted by his friends and guests in many different places: for he never collected it together, as he wished to conceal his preparations, but he kept many persons in different places who recruited soldiers for him on various pretexts. His mother, who was present at court, lulled the king’s suspicions, and Cyrus himself constantly wrote to him in dutiful terms, asking him to grant certain matters, and bringing accusations against Tissaphernes, as though it was Tissaphernes of whom he were jealous and with whom he had a quarrel. There was also a certain slowness in the disposition of the king, which was mistaken by the people for good nature. At the beginning of his reign, he seemed inclined to rival the gentleness of his namesake, as he made himself pleasant to all whom he met, distributed honours and favours even beyond men’s deserts, took no delight in insulting and torturing evil-doers, and showed himself as affable and courteous to those from whom he received favours as he was to those upon whom he bestowed them. No present was so trifling that he did not receive it gladly, but even when a man named Onisus brought him a pomegranate of unusual size, he said, “By Mithras, if this man were given the charge of a small city he would soon make it great!”

V. When during one of his journeys all men were bringing him presents, a labouring man, not finding anything else to give, ran to the river, took up some of the water in his two hands and offered it to him. Artaxerxes was pleased with the man, and sent him a gold drinking-cup and a thousand darics. When Eukleidas the Lacedæmonian had spoken his mind very freely to him, he bade his general say to him, “You may say what you please, but I may both say and do what I please.” Once when they were hunting, Teribazus pointed out to him that his coat was torn. Artaxerxes asked what was to be done, to which Teribazus answered, “Put on another coat, and give this one to me.” He replied, “I will give it to you, Teribazus, but I forbid you to wear it.” Teribazus, however, who was a loyal subject, but careless and flighty, immediately put on the coat, and ornamented himself with women’s necklaces belonging to the king, so that all men were disgusted with him, for it was not lawful to do so. The king, however, laughed, and said, “I allow you to wear the jewelry as a woman, and the coat as a fool.” Though no one eats at the same table with the king of Persia except his mother, who sits above him, or his wedded wife, who sits below him, Artaxerxes invited his younger brothers also, Ostanes and Oxathres, to sit at the same table. One of the sights which especially delighted the Persians was the carriage in which Statira, the wife of Artaxerxes, drove, with the curtains drawn back, for the queen allowed the people to greet her and approach her, and was much beloved by them in consequence.

VI. However, all turbulent and unsettled spirits thought that the empire required Cyrus at its head, since he was a brilliant and warlike prince, a staunch friend to his comrades, and a man of intellect and ambition, capable of wielding the enormous power of Persia. Cyrus, when he began the war, relied upon the attachment of the people of the interior of Asia as much as he did upon that of his own followers; and he wrote to the Lacedæmonians, begging them to help him and to send soldiers to him, declaring that if the soldiers came to him on foot, he would give them horses, and if they came on horseback, he would give them carriages and pairs, that if they possessed fields, he would give them villages, and if they possessed villages he would give them cities; and that his soldiers’ pay should be given them by measure, instead of being counted out to them. At the same time he boasted loudly about himself, averring that he had a greater heart than his brother, was a better philosopher, and was a more learned Magian, and also that he could drink and carry more wine than his brother, who, he declared, was so lazy and cowardly that he would not even mount a horse when hunting, or a throne in time of peril. The Lacedæmonians now sent a skytale[581] to Klearchus, bidding him obey the bidding of Cyrus in all things. Cyrus marched against the King of Persia with a large force and nearly thirteen thousand Greek mercenary troops, whom he had engaged upon various pretences. His treason was not long undiscovered, for Tissaphernes went in person to tell the king of it, upon which there was a terrible scene of disorder in the palace, since Parysatis was blamed as being the chief instigator of the war, and her friends were all viewed with suspicion as traitors. Parysatis was especially enraged by the reproaches of Statira, who asked her loudly, “Where now are the pledges you gave us? What has come of the entreaties by which you begged off Cyrus when he plotted against his brother’s life, now that you have plunged us into war and misery?” In consequence of these reproaches Parysatis conceived a vehement hatred for Statira, and being of a fierce passionate unforgiving temper, she plotted her destruction. Deinon states that she effected her purpose during the war, but Ktesias says that she did the deed afterwards, and I shall adopt his account of the matter, for it is not probable that he, who was an eye-witness of these events, did not know the order in which they took place, or that in his history he should have had any reason for misrepresenting them, although he often departs from the exact truth with a view to dramatic effect.

VII. As Cyrus marched onwards, many rumours and reports were brought to him, that the king had determined not to fight at once, and was not anxious to meet him in battle, but that he intended to remain in Persia until his forces had assembled there from all parts of the empire. Indeed, although he had dug a trench across the plain ten fathoms wide, as many deep, and four hundred stadia long, yet he remained quiet and permitted Cyrus to cross it, and to march close to Babylon itself. Teribazus, we are told, was the first who ventured to tell the king that he ought not to avoid a battle, and retreat from Media and from Babylon, and even from Susa itself into Persia, when he possessed an army many times as great as that of the enemy, and numberless satraps and generals who were better generals and better soldiers than Cyrus. Upon hearing this advice, the king determined to fight as soon as possible. At first his sudden appearance with a splendidly equipped force of nine hundred thousand men caused great surprise and confusion among the rebels, who had gained such confidence that they were marching without their arms; and it was not without much shouting and disorder that Cyrus was able to rally them and place them in array. The king moved forward slowly and in silence, so that the Greeks were filled with admiration at the discipline of his army, for they had expected that in such a host there would be disorderly shouts and irregularity and intervals in the line. The strongest of the scythed chariots were judiciously posted by Artaxerxes in front of his line, in order that before the two armies engaged hand to hand they might break the enemy’s ranks by the force of their charge.

VIII. The battle[582] has been described by many writers, and as Xenophon’s narrative is so clear that the reader seems almost to be present, and to see the different events in the act of taking place, it would be folly for me to do more than to mention some important particulars which he has omitted. The place where the two armies met is called Kunaxa, and is five hundred stadia distant from Babylon. Before the battle Klearchus is said to have advised Cyrus to post himself behind the ranks of the soldiers, and not to risk his life; to which Cyrus replied “What say you, Klearchus? Just when I am striving to win a kingdom, do you bid me prove myself unworthy of one?” In the action itself, though Cyrus made a great mistake in plunging so rashly into the midst of the enemy without regarding the risk that he ran, yet Klearchus was quite as much, if not more to blame for not arraying his Greeks opposite to the Persian king, and for resting his right wing upon the river for fear he should be surrounded. If he valued safety more than anything else, and cared only to avoid the slightest risk of loss, he had better have stayed at home; but after he had marched ten thousand stadia from the sea, under no compulsion, but solely in order to place Cyrus upon the throne of Persia, then to be solicitous, not for a post where he might win the victory for his chief and paymaster, but merely for one where he might fight without exposing himself, was to act like a man who, on the first appearance of danger, abandons the whole enterprise and gives up the object for which the expedition was made. It is abundantly clear from what took place, that if the Greeks had charged the troops who defended the king’s person, they would have met with no resistance, and if these men had been routed, and the king slain or forced to take flight, Cyrus’s victory would at once have placed him on the throne. It was, therefore, the overcaution of Klearchus more than the rashness of Cyrus which really caused the death of the latter and the ruin of his cause; for the Persian King himself could not, if he had wished, have placed the Greeks in a position where they could do him less harm, for they were so far away from him and his main body that he did not even perceive that they had routed their antagonists, and Cyrus was slain before Klearchus could reap any advantage from his victory. Yet Cyrus knew what was best, for he ordered Klearchus to post his men in the centre; but Klearchus, saying that he would manage as well as he could, ruined everything.