Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/389

 DEATH OF ARTAXERXES. 367 bloody tragedies which so frequently stained the transmission of a Persian sceptre. Darius, the eldest son of Artaxerxes, had been declared by his father successor to the throne. According to Per- sian custom, the successor thus declared was entitled to prefer any petition which he pleased ; the monarch being held bound to grant it. Darius availed himself of the privilege to ask for one of the favorite inmates of his father's harem, for whom he had contracted a passion. The request so displeased Artaxerxes, that he seemed likely to make a new appointment as to the succession ; discarding Darius and preferring his younger son Ochus, whose interests were warmly espoused by Atossa, wife as well as daughter of the mon- arch. Alarmed at this prospect, Darius was persuaded by a dis- contented courtier, named Teribazus, to lay a plot for assassinating Artaxerxes ; but the plot was betrayed, and the king caused both Darius and Teribazus to be put to death. By this catastrophe the chance of Ochus was improved, and his ambition yet farther stim- ulated. But there still remained two princes, older than he Ar- sames and Ariaspes. Both these brothers he contrived to put out of the way ; the one by a treacherous deceit, entrapping him tc take poison, the other by assassination. Ochus thus stood next as successor to the crown, which was not long denied to him, for Artaxerxes, now very old and already struck down by the fatal consummation respecting his eldest son, Darius, did not survive the additional sorrow of seeing his two other sons die so speedily Hellenici, Appendix, ch. 18. p. 316 where the statements are brought together and discussed. Plutarch states the reign of Artaxerxes Mnemon to have lasted sixty-two years (Plutarch, Artax. c. 33) ; which cannot be correct, though in what manner the error is to be amended, we cannot determine. An Inscription of Mylasa in Karia recognizes the forty-fifth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and thus supports the statement in the Astronomical Canon, which assigns to him forty-six years of reign. See Boeckh, Corp. Inscr. No. 2691, with his comments, p. 470. This same inscription affords ground of inference respecting the duration of the revolt ; for it shows that the Karian Mausolus recognized himself aa satrap, and Artaxerxes as his sovereign, in the year beginning November 359 B. c., wjiich corresponds with the forty-fifth year of Artaxerxes Mne- mon. The revolt therefore must have been suppressed before that period see Sievers, Geschichte von Griechenland bis zur Schlacht von Mantineia p. 373, note.