Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/233

 MEIDIAS 211 ably her ovn native city, the neighboring Dailanus. She main- tained, besides, a large military force of Grecian mercenaries in regular pay and excellent condition, which she employed both as garrison for each of her dependent towns, and as means for con- quest in the neighborhood. She had thus reduced the maritime towns of Larissa, Hamaxitus, and Kolonje, in the southern part of the Troad ; commanding her troops in person, sitting in her chariot to witness the attack, and rewarding every one who distinguished himself. Moreover, when Pharnabazus undertook an expedition against the predatory Mysians or Pisidians, she accompanied him, and her military force formed so much the best part of his army, that he paid her the highest compliments, and sometimes con- descended to ask her advice. 1 So, when Xerxes invaded Greece, Artemisia, queen of Halikarnassus, not only furnished ships among the best appointed in his fleet, and fought bravely at Salamis, but also, when he chose to call a council, stood alone, in daring to give him sound opinions contrary to his own leanings ; opinions which, fortunately for the Grecian world, he could bring himself only to tolerate, not to follow. 2 Under an energetic woman like Mania, thus victorious and well- provided, JEolis was the most defensible part of the satrapy of Pharnabazus, and might probably have defied DerkyUidas, had not a domestic traitor put an end to her life. Her son-in-law, Meidias, a Greek of Skepsis, with whom she lived on terms of intimate confidence "though she was scrupulously mistrustful of every one else, as it is proper for a despot to be," 3 was so inflamed by his own ambition and by the suggestions of evil counsellors, who told him it was a shame that a woman should thus be ruler while 1 Xen. Hellen. iii, 1, 15. 2 Herod, viii, 69. 3 Such is the emphatic language of Xenophon (Hellen. iii, 1, 14) M- <5Tal, For the illustration of this habitual insecurity in which the Grecian des- pot lived, see the dialogue of Xenophon called Hieron (i, 12; ii, 8-10; vii, 10). He particularly dwells upon the multitude of family crimes which stained the houses of the Grecian despots ; murders by fathers, sons, broth ers, wives, etc. (iii, 8).