a treaty with her at
Miletus itself, by the terms of which the Peloponnesians recognised the
suzerainty of Darius over all the territory once held by his ancestors
in Asia, including the cities since incorporated into the Athenian
league. They hoped shortly to be strong enough to snatch from him what
they now ceded, and to set free once more the Greeks whom they thus
condemned to servitude after half a century of independence, but their
expectations were frustrated. The towns along the coast fell one after
another into the power of Tissaphernes, Amorges was taken prisoner in
lassos, and at the beginning of 411 B.C. there remained to the Athenians
in Ionia and Caria merely the two ports of Halicarnassus and Notium, and
the three islands of Cos, Samos, and Lesbos: from that time the power of
the great king increased from year to year, and weighed heavily on the
destinies of Greece. Meanwhile Darius II. was growing old, and intrigues
with regard to the succession were set on foot. Two of his sons put
forward claims to the throne: Arsaces had seniority in his favour, but
had been born when his father was still a mere satrap; Cyrus, on the
contrary, had been born in the purple, and his mother Parysatis
was passionately devoted to him.* Thanks to her manouvres, he was
practically created viceroy of Asia Minor in 407 B.C., with such
abundant resources of men and money at his disposal, that he was
virtually an independent sovereign. While he was consolidating his
power in the west, his mother endeavoured to secure his accession to the
throne by intriguing at the court of the aged king; if her plans failed,
Cyrus was prepared to risk everything by an appeal to arms.

* Cyrus was certainly not more than seventeen years old in
407 B.C., evening admitting that he was born immediately
after his father's accession in 424-3 B.C.

[Illustration: 279.jpg CYRUS THE YOUNGER]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from one of the coins in the
_Cabinet des Medailles_.

He realised that the Greeks would prove powerful auxiliaries in such
a contingency; and as soon as he had set up his court at Sardes, he
planned how best to conciliate their favour, or at least to win over
those whose support was likely to be most valuable. Athens, as a
maritime power, was not in a position to support him in an enterprise
which especially required the co-operation of a considerable force of
heavily armed infantry. He therefore deliberately esp