arms tied behind their backs, and cords round their
necks, representing all the pretenders whom he had fought and put
to death--Athrina, Nadinta-bel, Khshatrita, Vahyazdata, Arakha, and
Chitrantakhma; an inscription, written in the three official languages
of the court, recounts at full length his mighty deeds. The drama did
not, however, come to a close with the punishment of Vahyazdata, for
though no tribe or chieftain remained now in open revolt, many of those
who had taken no active share in the rebellion had, by their conduct
during the crisis, laid themselves open to grave suspicions, and it
seemed but prudent to place them under strict surveillance or to remove
them from office altogether. Orotes had been summarily despatched, and
his execution did not disturb the peace of Asia Minor; but Aryandes, to
whose rule Cambyses had entrusted the valley of the Nile, displayed no
less marked symptoms of disaffection, and deserved the same fate. Though
he had not ventured to usurp openly the title of king, he had arrogated
to himself all the functions and rights of royalty, and had manifested
as great an independence in his government as if he had been an actual
Pharaoh. The inhabitants of Gyrene did not approve of the eagerness
displayed by their tyrant Arkesilas III. to place himself under the
Persian yoke: after first expelling and then recalling him, they drove
him away a second time, and at length murdered him at Barca, whither
he had fled for refuge. Pheretimo came to Egypt to seek the help of
Aryandes, just as Laarchos had formerly implored the assistance of
Amasis, and represented to him that her son had fallen a victim to his
devotion to his suzerain. It was a good opportunity to put to ransom
one of the wealthiest countries of Africa; so the governor sent to the
Cyrenaica all the men and vessels at his disposal. Barca was the only
city to offer any resistance, and the Persian troops were detained
for nine months motionless before its walls, and the city then only
succumbed through treachery. Some detachments forced their way as far
as the distant town of Euesperides,* and it is possible that Aryandes
dreamt for a moment of realising the designs which Cambyses had formed
against Carthage. Insufficiency of supplies stayed the advance of his
generals; but the riches of their ally, Cyrene, offered them a strong
temptation, and they were deliberating how they might make this wealth
their own before returning to Memphis