f his harem. The example of Artabanus, followed by that of
Hystaspes, had shown how easy it was for an ambitious man to get rid
secretly of a monarch or a prince and seriously endanger the crown. The
members of the families who had placed Darius on the throne, possessed
by hereditary right, or something little short of it, the wealthiest
and most populous provinces--Babylonia, Syria, Lydia, Phrygia, and the
countries of the Halys--and they were practically kings in all but name,
in spite of the _surveillance_ which the general and the secretary were
supposed to exercise over their actions. Besides this, the indifference
and incapacity of the ruling sovereigns had already tended to destroy
the order of the administrative system so ably devised by Darius: the
satrap had, as a rule, absorbed the functions of a general within his
own province, and the secretary was too insignificant a personage
to retain authority and independence unless he received the constant
support of the sovereign. The latter, a tool in the hands of women and
eunuchs, usually felt himself powerless to deal with his great vassals.
His toleration went to all lengths if he could thereby avoid a revolt;
when this was inevitable, and the rebels were vanquished, he still
continued to conciliate them, and in most cases their fiefs and rights
were preserved or restored to them, the monarch knowing that he could
rid himself of them treacherously by poison or the dagger in the case
of their proving themselves too troublesome. Megabyzos by his turbulence
was a thorn in the side of Artaxerxes during the half of his reign. He
had ended his campaign in Egypt by engaging to preserve the lives of
Inaros and the 6000 Greeks who had capitulated at Byblos, and, in spite
of the anger of the king, he succeeded in keeping his word for five
years, but at the end of that time the demands of Amestris prevailed.
She succeeded in obtaining from him some fifty Greeks whom she beheaded,
besides Inaros himself, whom she impaled to avenge Achaemenes. Megabyzos,
who had not recovered from the losses he had sustained in his last
campaign against Cimon, at first concealed his anger, but he asked
permission to visit his Syrian province, and no sooner did he reach it,
than he resorted to hostilities. He defeated in succession Usiris and
Menostates, the two generals despatched against him, and when force
failed to overcome his obstinate resistance, the government condescended
to treat with