Ochus imagined at the outset that his generals would soon suppress these
rebellions, and, in fact, Idrieus, tyrant of Caria, supported by eight
thousand mercenaries under the Athenian Phocion, overcame the petty
tyrants of Cyprus without much difficulty; but in Asia Minor, Artabazus,
supported by Athens and Thebes, held at bay the generals sent to oppose
him, and Tennes won a signal victory in Syria. He turned for support
to Egypt, and Nectanebo, as might be expected, put Greek troops at his
disposal to the number of four thousand, commanded by one of his best
generals, Mentor of Ehodes: Belesys, the satrap of Syria, and Mazseus,
satrap of Cilicia, suffered a total defeat. Ochus, exasperated at their
want of success, called out every available soldier, three hundred
thousand Asiatics and ten thousand Greeks; the Sidonians, on their side,
dug a triple trench round their city, raised their ramparts, and set
fire to their ships, to demonstrate their intention of holding out
to the end. Unfortunately, their king, Tennes, was not a man of firm
resolution. Hitherto he had lived a life of self-indulgence, surrounded
by the women of his harem, whom he had purchased at great cost in Ionia
and Greece, and had made it the chief object of his ambition to surpass
in magnificence the most ostentatious princes of Cyprus, especially
Nicocles of Salamis, son of Evagoras. The approach of Ochus confused
his scanty wits; he endeavoured to wipe out his treachery towards his
suzerain by the betrayal of his own subjects. He secretly despatched
his confidential minister, a certain Thessalion, to the Persian camp,
promising to betray Sidon to the Persian king, and to act as his guide
into Egypt on condition of having his life preserved and his royal rank
guaranteed to him. Ochus had already agreed to these conditions, when
an impulse of vanity on his part nearly ruined the whole arrangement.
Thessalion, not unreasonably doubting the king's good faith, had
demanded that he should swear by his right hand to fulfil to the letter
all the clauses of the treaty; whereupon Ochus, whose dignity was
offended by this insistence, gave orders for the execution of the
ambassador. But as the latter was being dragged away, he cried out that
the king could do as he liked, but that if he disdained the help of
Tennes, he would fail in his attacks both upon Phonicia and Egypt. These
words produced a sudden reaction, and Thessalion obtained all that he
demanded. W