took the field, and so harassed the Persians, that they kept them from making any farther progress, till at length, the Nile in its proper season, overflowing all the country, forced them to withdraw again into Phoenicia, with the loss of a great part of their army. And so this expedition, in which were expended such vast sums of treasure, and so much time in preparing for it, all miscarried, and came to nothing. This produced great dissensions between the two generals; for Pharnabazus, to excuse himself, laid the whole blame of this miscarriage upon Iphicrates; and Iphicrates, with much more reason, on Pharnabazus. But Iphicrates being aware that Pharnabazus would be believed before him at the Persian court, and remembering the case of Conon, that he might not meet with the like fate, privately hired a ship, and got safely away to Athens. Hereon Pharnabazus sent ambassadors after him, to accuse him of making this expedition into Egypt miscarry; to which the Athenians gave only this answer, that, if he were found guilty of this, they would punish him for it according to his demerit. But it seems they were so far convinced of his innocency as to this matter, that they never called him to a trial for it; and a little while after they made him sole admiral of their whole fleet. That which made most of the expeditions of the Persians under this empire miscarry, was their slowness in the execution of their designs. For the generals having nothing left to their own discretion, but being in all things strictly tied up to orders, durst not proceed on any emergency without instructions from court; 1 The nature of this river is, to be six months a rising, and six months a falling; and when it is at the height, it doth for two months together overflow the whole country, and then there is no marching or encamping of an army in any part of it. This is caused by the rains, which for six months together fall in the upper parts of Ethiopia, where the rise of the Nile is, These rains begin to fall in April, and continue till October, and send great floods into the Nile; which beginoing to reach Egypt in the May following. do there cause this rising or increase of the Nile, which from thence continues to rise higher and higher, till the beginning of October following, and then it again falls in the same gradual manner as it rose, till the April following The months of the overflow are August and September, and some part of October. It must rise sixteen cubits to make a fertile year; but sometimes it riseth to twenty-three. If it riseth no higher than twelve or thirteen cubits, a famine followeth in that country. and usually, before these could arrive, the opportunity was lost. And this was signally the case in this war. And therefore Iphicrates perceiving Pharnabazus to be very quick in his resolves, and very slow in the execution of them, and having thereon asked him, how it came to pass that he was so forward in his words, and so backward in his actions?m had the whole truth told him in this memorable answer, That his words were his own, but his actions wholly depended on his master. And many like instances may be given wherein noble opportunities of acting great things for the good of the public have been wholly lost, by too straitly tying up the hands of those who are to execute them. The same year that these things were done in Egypt, Euagoras," king of Salamine, in the island of Cyprus, being murdered by one of his eunuchs, Nicocles his son reigned in his stead, and is the same for whose sake two of Isocrates' orations were composed, and they still bear the title of his name. In the first of these is proposed the duty of a king to his subjects; in the second the duty of subjects to their kings; for which Nicocles gave him twenty talents, that is, three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds of our money. The next year after, which was the thirty-second of Artaxerxes Mnemon, Joiada the high priest of the Jews being dead, Johanan his son, called also "Jonathan, succeeded him in his office, and held it thirty-two years. An. 373. Artax. 32. An. 371. Artax. 34. Artaxerxess again sent ambassadors into Greece, to exhort the states and cities, which were there at war with each other, to lay down their arms, and come to an accord upon the terms of the peace which he had made with Antalcidas. All expressed a readiness to submit hereto, except the Thebans. That which made them at that time dissent was, that by that peace it was provided, that all the cities of Greece should be left to enjoy their own liberties, m Diodor. Sic. lib. 15, p. 478. n Aristotels Politic. lib. 5, c. 10. No. 176. o Plutarch. in Vita Isocratis. q Nehemiah xii, 22; xiii, 28. s Diodor. Sic. lib. 15, p. 483. VOL. II: 34 Theopompus in Bibliotheca Photii, p Chronicon. Alexandrin. r Nehemiah xii, 11. Xenoph. Hellenic. lib. 6. and be governed according to their own laws. Upon this article, the Lacedemonians pressed the Thebans to set all the cities of Boetia free, and to rebuild Pla tea and Thespia, two cities of that country which they had demolished, and restore them again to the former inhabitants, with the territories appertaining to them. And, on the other side, the Thebans, retorting upon the Lacedemonians the same argument, pressed them to permit all the towns of Laconia to enjoy their liberties, and restore Messena to its ancient owners: for they urged, that the articles of the peace insisted on did as much require the one as the other; and that therefore, if the Lacedemonians would not execute this article on their part, neither would they on theirs, But the Lacedemonians, not being sufficiently humbled by the loss of their fleet at Cnidus, would not understand this way of arguing, but, looking on themselves still as much superiour to the Thebans, would have them submit to that which they would not do themselves; and therefore sent an army against them, to force them to it, which produced the battle at Leuctra, in which the Lacedemonians were overthrown, with the loss of Cleombrotus, one of their kings, and above four thousand of their citizens; which was the greatest blow they had received in many ages past: for it brought the Thebans, in pursuit of this victory, into Laconia, which they wasted all over, even home to the city of Lacedemon itself, where they had not seen an enemy in five hundred years before; and it was with difficulty that they preserved this their capital from falling under the same devastation. An. 370 The Lacedemonians being brought to this distress, " sent Agesilaus into Egypt, and Antalcidas to the Persian court, to solicit for succours. But the Lacedemonians, since their overthrow at Leuctra, becoming contemptible to the Persians, Antalcidas had that ill success in his embassy, as caused him to put an end to his life, in the manner as hath been above related. t Diodor. Sic lib. 15. Xenoph. ibid. Plutarch. in Pelopida. Corn. Nepos in Epaminonda et Pelopida. Plutarch. in Agesilao et Artaxerxe. An. 369. Artax. 36. However, this embassy prevailed so far with Artaxerxes, that Philiscus of Abydus was by his order, the next year after, sent into Greece, to endeavour the composing of the wars, which were there risen, and the bringing of all to peace upon the terms agreed on by Antalcidas. But the Lacedemonians refusing to consent that Messena should enjoy its liberty (to which it had been re stored by the Thebans, in their late expedition into Peloponnesus, after the battle of Leuctra,) and the Thebans refusing to come to peace on any other terms, this embassy ended without any effect; only Philiscus, thinking the Thebans stood upon too high terms, and being much offended thereat, sent to the assistance of the Lacedemonians two thousand mercenaries, which he had raised with the king's money, and so returned. An. 368. Artax. 37. The truth of the case was, the Thebans, being ele vated with their late success, and much confiding in their two generals, Pelopidas and Epaminondas (the latter of which was one of the greatest men that ever Greece produced,) aimed now at nothing less than the empire of Greece. And therefore, to strengthen themselves for the obtaining of it, they sent Pelopidas and Ismenias, two of the eminentest of their citizens, in an embassy to king Artaxerxes, to secure him on their side. And, on the hearing of this the Athenians sent Timagoras and Leontes, and the other cities of Greece other ambassadors, to take care of their respective interests at that court on this occasion. At their admission to audience, they being required to adore the king, Asmenias, on his entrance into the presence of the king, dropped his ring, and, stooping to take it up, thought by this trick to satisfy the ceremonial, and save his honour at the same time. But Timagoras the Athenian, to gain the greater favour with Artaxerxes, directly, without any trick or subterfuge, paid him that ceremony of adoration which was required; for which x Xenoph. Hellenic. lib. 7. Diodorus Siculus, lib. 15, p. 494. a he was put to death on his return, the Athenians thinking the honour of their whole city sullied by this low act of submission in one of their citizens, though made to the greatest of kings. Pelopidas and Leontes would not submit to the Persian ceremonial in this particu lar. However, they often had free access to the king, and Pelopidas, by the fame of his great actions, as well as by his noble demeanour at this court, got that ascendant above all the other ambassadors, both in the king's esteem and favour, that he obtained all that he desired in behalf of his citizens, and returned with full success from his embassy; for he brought back letters from the king under his seal royal, whereby it was required, that the Lacedemonians should let Mes sena be free, and that the Athenians should recall their fleet, and that all the other cities of Greece should have the full enjoyment of their liberties; and war was threatened against all that should not comply herewith. The success of this embassy was much to the satisfaction of the Thebans, they thinking hereby most certainly to gain the superiority over all the other cities and states of Greece. For, should the peace be accepted of on these terms, and the Messenians thoroughly restored, the Lacedemonians would lose one half of their territory, and thereby would be brought too low to be any more a match for them; and, should the other cities of Greece, as well small as great, be all set at liberty, and made distinct states, free and independent of each other, this would so divide their power, that none of them would be in a condition to contend with them, but all must submit to them. And if the peace were not accepted of, then the king being engaged in this case to join with them to force all to it, they thought, by this addition of strength, they should easily overpower all, and thereby gain to themselves the same empire over the rest of Greece, as first the Athenians, and afterwards the Lacedemonians, had for some time enjoyed. But they failed of their expectations in both these particu lars; for the cities of Greece, when met together by a Plutarch. in Pelopida. Xenophon. Hellenic. lib. 7. |