Page:History of Greece Vol X.djvu/390

 68 HISTORY OF GREECE afterwards. 1 He expired, and his son Ochus, taking the name of Artaxerxes, succeeded to him without opposition ; manifesting as king the same sanguinary dispositions as those by which he had placed himself on the throne. During the two years following the battle of Mantinea, Athens, though relieved by the general peace from land-war, appears to have been entangled in serious maritime contests and difficulties. She had been considerably embarrassed by two events ; by the Theban naval armament under Epaminondas, and by the submis- sion of Alexander of Pheras to Thebes, both events belonging to 364-363 B. c. It was in 363-362 B. c. that the Athenian Timotheus, having carried on war with eminent success against Olynthus and the neighboring cities in the Thermaic Gulf, but with very bad success against Amphipolis, transferred his forces to the war against Kotys king of Thrace near the Thracian Cher- sonese. The arrival of the Theban fleet in the Hellespont greatly distracted the Athenian general, and served as a powerful as- sistance to Kotys ; who was moreover aided by the Athenian gen- 1 Plutarch, Artaxerx. c. 29, 30 ; Justin, x, 1-3. Plutarch states that the lady whom the prince Darius asked for, was, Aspasia of Phokaea the Greek mistress of Cyrus the younger, who had fallen into the hands of Artaxerxes after the battle of Kunaxa, and had acquired a high place in the monarch's affections. But if we look at the chronology of the case, it will appear hardly possi- ble that the lady who inspired so strong a passion to Darius, in or about 361 B. c., as to induce him to risk the displeasure of his father and so decided a reluctance on the part of Artaxerxes to give her up can have been the person who accompanied Cyrus to Kunaxa forty years before ; for the battle ot Jianaxa was fought in 401 B. c. The chronological improba- bility would be siill greater, if we adopted Plutarch's statement that Arta- xerxes reigned sixty-two years ; for it is certain that the battle of Kunaxa occurred very nea,i the beginning of his reign, and the death of his son Darius near the eaJ of it. Justin states the circumstances which preceded the death of Artaxerxea Mnemon in a manner yet more tragical. He affirms that the plot against the life of Artaxerxes was concerted by Darius in conjunction with several of his brothers ; and tiiat, on the plot being discovered, all these brothers, together with their wives and children, were p it to death. Ochus, on com- ing to the throne, put to death a great number of his kinsmen and of tha principal persons about the court, together with their wives and children fearing like conspiracy against himself.