WAR WITH GREECE.
Upon the death of Cyrus, in 529 B.C., his son Cambyses succeeded to the
throne, while a younger brother Smerdis, was left to supervise certain
provinces, according to his father's wishes. The conquest of Egypt had
been planned by Cyrus and would undoubtedly have been undertaken by him
had he lived. Cambyses at once began preparations to this end and these
occupied some considerable period.
This young prince who had just come into absolute power, apparently
inherited all his father's failings and few of his virtues. He had never
learned to control himself and that omened ill for those who became his
subjects. His jealousy, suspicion, cruelty, and arrogant pride
contrasted strikingly with the generous, kindly temperament of Cyrus.
Before setting out for Egypt, he had his brother secretly murdered. No
rumor of this crime reached his subjects, however.
Egypt at this time was not able to defend herself against an army that
had become experienced and confident under the command of Cyrus;
consequently, the country fell rapidly into the hands of the new Persian
king. Far from showing the leniency of his father toward the vanquished,
he marked his victories with needless cruelty.
The two great powers of Africa besides Egypt were the states of Ethiopia
in the south, and Carthage in the northwest. Of the former we learned
something in The Story of Egypt; of the latter we shall learn later on.
Suffice it to say here that the Carthaginians were colonists of the
Phoenicians, and, like them, were traders whose commerce penetrated to
all lands washed by the Mediterranean Sea.
When Egypt lay at his feet, Cambyses resolved to make himself supreme in
the whole continent of Africa--only the northern portion of the
continent was then known. Accordingly, he directed troops to advance
against these two powers which he thought alone worthy of his notice.
Now Carthage could only be taken by sea, and the king was limited to
Phoenician vessels, manned by Phoenician sailors. These men promptly
refused to make war on their own colony, whose interests were so closely
interwoven with those of their country. Their stand must have been
united and firm, for Cambyses found himself obliged to abandon his
project. The expedition to the south was disheartening. The Persian
soldiers were unused to the hot sands and intense sun of Nubia and great
loss and discouragement overtook the army. Those who withstood the heat
were too exhausted by the march to accomplish anything. The king
remained in Egypt. He was constantly haunted by his crime against his
brother. He realized his unpopularity with his subjects, and feared that
disaster would at any time overtake him. His fears were shortly
reflected in his soldiers, who having learned that they were no longer
led by one who could bring victory in the face of opposing obstacles,
lost heart and fought indifferently.
Herodotus wrote at length concerning the conduct of Cambyses in Egypt
and his stories were long credited. Tales were told of Cambyses'
profaning Egyptian temples, desecrating the tombs of the dead, stabbing
the apis-bull with his own sword, outraging the priests and inflicting
such injury upon the nobles as only the madness which they attribute to
him, could explain. In recent years these statements have been modified
by investigation. An Egyptologist of first rank claims that the tale
regarding the apis-bull was not well founded. Unquestionably Cambyses
was brutal in his treatment of a mild and gentle people, and he may have
easily incurred the wrath of the priesthood by his contempt for their
religion, certain features of which he regarded as mere folly. It is
also probable that his deeds have been greatly exaggerated by those who
had cause to hate him for his interference with a land to which he had
no just claim. Instead of being insane, he no doubt displayed his
ungovernable temper and in moments of rage, gave orders which he would
gladly have recalled in another mood.
While Cambyses loitered in Egypt, a report spread through the empire
that Smerdis had been crowned, and that Cambyses need no longer be
regarded as king. One of the Magians, a priesthood of Persia which
represented a more material form of worship than the teachings of
Zoroaster allowed, had attempted to usurp the throne in Cambyses'
absence. The real king, feeling depressed with his partial victory,
doubting the fidelity of his army, confessed the murder of his brother
to his ministers. Having thus disclosed the presumption of the
pretender, Cambyses committed suicide.
Darius, a prince of the house of Cyrus, was chosen to succeed. This was
a choice likely to prove acceptable to the people, for he was the only
legitimate heir to the throne. Herodotus explained with all gravity that
the counsellors of state, of whose number Darius was one, agreed to
determine the succession after this fashion: they would each go on
horseback at sunrise to the city gate, and he whose horse neighed first
should be proclaimed king!
THE MAGIAN WAS KILLED.
When the people finally learned the truth and realized how great a
deception had been practised, they turned against his priesthood and
instigated a general massacre. The worship they had established was cast
aside and the purer faith of ancient Persia was restored. The pretender
had compelled the Jews to cease labor on the new temple they were
building in Jerusalem. Darius gave them permission to continue. So
similar were the religions of the Hebrews and Persians, that there could
be no friction between the two nations on that ground in an age when
nearly all religions were polytheistic.
Darius was long occupied with internal disturbances. Revolts were put
down with severity. When the government of the empire was firmly
established, it was superior to any before known in Asia. The whole
empire was divided into satrapies, or provinces--each under a resident
governor; these governors made frequent reports to the capital and the
opportunity for revolts was slight.
Internal concerns thus settled, Darius turned to conquest. He conducted
a campaign in the east, pushing Persia's possessions to the banks of the
Indus.
It was natural that the king should have cast longing eyes westward,
toward the beautiful isles and states of Greece. Long before the age of
Cyrus, Greek colonists had settled in Asia Minor. They had fallen to the
share of Persia when Lydia was conquered, and Darius had organized their
local government so completely that the freedom-loving Greeks were
oppressed by it and in 500 B.C. revolted. These Greek cities appealed to
Athens for aid in their struggle for liberty. A few soldiers were sent,
and with such aid they displaced the Persian government and destroyed
Sardis. Darius sent an army to put down the revolt, and the city which
had led the struggle was destroyed. The king of Persia now determined to
punish Athens for having given help to the revolting Greek cities of
Asia Minor. Accordingly, he fitted out an expedition to conquer Greece.
The naval forces were wrecked in a storm and the land forces were routed
by hostile tribes en route. A second expedition was prepared, more
numerous and better equipped than the first. Before dispatching it,
however, Darius sent heralds to the various Greek states to inquire if
they would submit peacefully. They replied with great scorn. In 490 B.C.
the Persian king sent 300,000 soldiers to conquer Greece. The battle of
Marathon was fought, and owing to the skill of Miltiades, the Greeks
won. Four years later Darius died and Xerxes ruled in his stead. To him
was left the duty of wiping out the inglorious defeat of the Persian
arms. Not until 480 B.C. were the armies ready for what was expected to
be a great conquest.
It has been said that never in the history of the world has such a
motley array of soldiers been gathered together under one commander. All
nations subservient to Persia were represented, and while Herodotus may
have overstated their number, we may accept his statement that it was
the largest force ever thus far marshalled together. At the defense of
Thermopylæ the Persians learned the character of their opponents. A
little band of three hundred Spartans under command of Leonidas held the
entire Persian army at bay in a narrow pass for two days. When the army
spread out over the land, the Greeks realized their inability to cope
with it and decided to hazard all on a naval engagement. The famous
battle of Salamis followed, in which 1,000 men-of-war belonging to the
Persians were destroyed or put to flight by 300 Greek vessels. Xerxes
watched the fight from a throne hastily constructed for him on the
shore. When at night his naval forces withdrew to Asia, he could
scarcely credit the outcome. Byron has immortalized the occasion in a
stanza:
"A king sate on the rocky brow
Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis;
And ships, by thousands, lay below,
And men in nations--all were his!
He counted them at break of day--
And when the sun set where were they?"
Leaving a strong land force to conquer the Greeks the next year, Xerxes
returned to Persia. By the following spring the Greeks had gathered
their forces, and inspired by their glorious victory at Salamis, they
defeated the Persian army in the battle of Platæa. Thereupon the Greek
cities in Asia Minor asserted their freedom, and Greek independence
shone forth triumphantly before the world.
"But this glorious struggle and triumph of the few lifted to superhuman
heroism by an ennobling moral principle, as against the merely brutal
force of numbers, does not properly belong any more to the history of
the East, nor to that of remote antiquity; it is the dawn of a new star
in the West, and of times which, from their spirit, actors, and
achievements, may almost be called modern. At the bottom of the new
departure lies the difference between the ideals--the conceptions of
beauty and dignity of the political and social life--set up by the
Oriental and Western man: 'A good master!' is the prayer and ideal of
the Asiatic. 'No master! Liberty at any price, as the highest good in
itself!' is that of the Greek. And the Greek wins the day, for his own
time, and for his own race, and for future times and races to come."[1]
The following period, embracing nearly 150 years, was a time of decay
and degeneracy. With Xerxes began the corruption of the Persian
court--the licentiousness, assassinations, murders, and accompanying
crimes which soon undermined the entire social order. Conditions were
such that rulers were no longer strong, vigorous men, full of life and
ambition--save indeed those usurpers who occasionally appropriated the
reins of government. The days of Persian greatness were over, and under
guidance of one or another of the princes, the state plunged on to
ruin. In 336 B.C., Alexander, the young king of Macedonia, embarked upon
his world conquests, and the Persian Empire merged into the Empire of
Greece.
[Illustration: THE PERSIAN KING (WITH ATTENDANTS).]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ragozin: Persia.