Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/28

 6 HISTORY OF GREECE. queen Atossa 1 in determining her husband Darius son of Hystaspes to declare (even during his lifetime) her son Xerxes as his in- tended successor, to the exclusion of an elder son by a different wife, and born before his accession, so Cyrus, perhaps, antici- pated the like effective preference to himself from the solicitations of Parysatis. Probably his hopes were farther inflamed by the fact that he bore the name of the great founder of the monarchy ; whose memory every Persian reverenced. How completely he reckoned on becoming king, is shown by a cruel act performed about the early part of 405 B. c. It was required as a part of Persian etiquette that every man who came into the presence of the king should immerse his hands in certain pockets or large sleeves, which rendered them for the moment inapplicable to active use ; but such deference was shown to no one except the king. Two first cousins of Cyrus, sons of Hieramenes, (seem- ingly one of the satraps or high Persian dignitaries in Asia Mi- nor), by a sister of Darius, appeared in his presence without thus concealing their hands ; 2 upon which Cyrus ordered them both to be put to death. The father and mother preferred bitter com- plaints of this atrocity to Darius ; who was induced to send for Cyrus to visit him in Media, on the ground, not at all fictitious, that his own health was rapidly declining. If Cyrus expected to succeed to the crown, it was important that he should be on the spot when his father died. He accord- ingly went up from Sardis to Media, along with his body guard of three hundred Greeks, under the Arcadian Xenias ; who were so highly remunerated for this distant march, that the rate of pay was long celebrated. 3 He also took with him Tissaphernes as an osten- sible friend ; though there seems to have been a real enmity be- tween them. Not long after his arrival, Darius died ; but without complying with the request of Parysatis that he should declare in 1 Herodot. vii, 4. * Xen. Hellen. ii, 1, 8, 9; Thucyd. viii, 58. Compare Xen. Cyropsed. viii, 3, 10 ; and Lucian, Navigium sen Vota, c, 30, vol. iii. p. 267, ed. Hemsterhuys with Du Soul's note. It is remarkable that, in this passage of the HelUnica, either Xenophon, or the copyist, makes the mistake of calling Xerxes (instead of Artaxerxes) father of Darius. Some of the editors, without any authority from MSS, wish to alter the text from ZepSov to 'A.pra!;ep!-ov. Xen. Anab. i, 4, 12.