Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/433

 ARTAXERXES. 425 further with royal golden necklaces and women's orna- ments, to the great scandal of everybody, the thing being quite unlawful. But the king laughed and told him, " You have my leave to wear the trinkets as a woman, and the robe of state as a fool." And whereas none usually sat down to eat with the king besides his mother and his wedded wife, the former being placed above, the other below him, Artaxerxes invited also to his table his two younger brothers, Ostanes and Oxathres. But what was the most popular thing of all among the Per- sians was the sight of his wife Statira's chariot, which always appeared with its curtains down, allowing her countrywomen to salute and approach her, which made the queen a great favorite with the people. Yet busy, factious men, that delighted in change, pro- fessed it to be their oj^inion that the times needed Cyrus, a man -of a great spirit, an excellent warrior, and a lover of his friends, and that the largeness of their empire ab- solutely required a bold and enterprising prince. Cyrus, then, not only relying upon those of his own province near the sea, but upon many of those in the upper coun- tries near the king, commenced the war against him. He wrote to the Lacedagmonians, bidding them come to his assistance and supply him with men, assuring them that to those who came to him on foot he would give horses, and to the horsemen chariots ; that upon those who had farms he would bestow villages, and those who were lords of villages he would make so of cities ; and that those who would be his soldiers should receive their pay, not by count, but by weight. And among many other high praises of himself, he said he had the stronger soul ; was more a philosopher and a better Magian ; and could drink and bear more wine than his brother, who, as he averred, was such a coward and so little like a man, that he (^ould neither sit his horse in hunting nor his throne in time