PART THIRD.

THE PERSIAN WARS.

CHAPTER I.

PERSIA.

Establishment of the Empire.

ONE of the most striking points of difference between Asia and Europe lies in the manner in which the political communities of the respective continents have originated and grown. In Europe they have always been formed from small beginnings, and have increased little by little, developing their energy gradually, and lengthening their existence through many generations and even centuries. In Asia, however, great empires have quickly sprung up and as speedily decayed. Such was essentially the fortune of the Persian empire, which, beginning with the small district of Persia proper (the ancient Persis), was expanded into a mighty dominion by the efforts of Cyrus the Great, about the middle of the sixth century B. C. Within thirty years from the commencement of the conquests of this chieftain, his empire embraced the western half of Asia and the lower valley of the Nile. Within thirty years more it had entered upon its decline, and within two centuries from its first formation it had entirely disappeared.

The district of Persis, the nucleus of this great political system, was a small province lying northeast of the upper

extremity of the Persian Gulf. Its inhabitants belonged to the Zendic or Iranic branch of the Indo-European division of the Caucasian race, as did likewise those of the neighboring district of Media, and in general all the Asiatic tribes dwelling between the river Oxus on the north and the Persian Gulf on the south, and between the river Indus on the east and the Zagrus Mountains on the west. Most of these nations professed the religion of Zoroaster, and spoke different dialects of the Zendic tongue, or languages closely allied thereto.

Persis was a rough and mountainous country, and the Persians were an athletic race, of simple habits, divided into eleven tribes, of which seven were agricultural and four nomadic. Of all these tribes, the most powerful was that of the Pasargada, to which belonged Cyrus, who made this little nation the ruler of all western Asia. His first exploit was to excite his countrymen to rebellion against the Medes, to whom they were subject. The contest that ensued is said to have been long and desperate; but the insurgent Persians finally overcame Astyages, the Median king, who was connected by marriage with the royal family of Lydia. The Medes, however, although conquered, remained ever afterward closely associated with the Persians, and were regarded as the second nation in importance in the empire. So intimate, indeed, were their relations, and so closely allied were they in language and national character, that the Greeks were accustomed to use the terms Medes and Persians as synonymous and interchangeable.

After the defeat and overthrow of Astyages, his relative Cræsus proposed to take vengeance on his conqueror Cyrus. But the latter quickly marched into Asia Minor with a large army, and, before beginning his campaign against Crœsus, sought to secure the Grecian cities of that section as allies. Deeming Lydia the stronger power of the two, they declined his offers. The result showed that they were in error. After

a bloody but indecisive battle fought near Pteria, a city of Kappadokia, to the east of the river Halys (546 B. c.), Crosus retreated to his capital city Sardis, and applied to the Lacedæmonians for assistance. But the rapid movements of the Persian conqueror set at naught this alliance even before it was consummated. Cyrus at once pushed on to Sardis, and the Lydian empire was for ever at an end. The Grecian cities of Asia Minor, with the exception of Miletus, were then, after a brave resistance, subdued by Cyrus; and the islands of Chios and Lesbos also thought it best to recognize his supremacy. Cyrus subsequently made himself master of Babylon, Phoenicia, and all Syria, and (529 B. c.) died in the course of an expedition against the Scythians.

Cambyses, his son and successor, during a reign of seven years and five months, subdued Egypt and the Hellenic colony of Kyrene in Africa. Upon his death Smerdis, a Mede, usurped the throne and attempted to restore the ancient supremacy of his own countrymen. But after a reign of seven months he was assassinated by a party of Persian noblemen, who placed upon the throne one of their own number, Darius, son of Hystaspes, who was also a member of the famous family of the Achæmenidæ.

This prince proved himself the most liberal and energetic sovereign that ever occupied the throne of Persia. In his foreign wars, indeed, he was not invariably successful, and the conquests effected by him were of small importance in comparison with those of Cyrus. The greatest monument of his genius was his masterly organization of the immense conquests of his predecessors into a compact whole. When he ascended the throne the public affairs were in great confusion, and the empire bade fair to fall to pieces in consequence of its own weight. Darius systematized the administration by dividing the entire domain into twenty satrapies or provinces, on each of which was imposed a specific annual tax and a specific contribution of produce for the mainte

nance of the court; and over each of these satrapies he placed as ruler a noble Persian, who was called a satrap. This governmental system would no doubt have had the effect of imparting a lasting element of stability to the empire, had the immediate successors of Darius been men of the same energy and exalted character. As it was, it merely retarded the decline of the Persian power for the space of about two generations. Every satrap was in reality a king within the limits of his province, permitted to govern it as he liked, as long as he punctually remitted the royal taxes and contributed his contingent of troops to the general army. In this way was the sovereign of Persia enabled to realize his proud title as "the great king," or supreme lord over many tributary monarchs.

During the reign of Darius, Samos also was subdued by the Persians. About ten years after the capture of Sardis by Cyrus, the usurper Polykrates obtained the sovereignty of that island, and extended his dominion over several of the neighboring isles, and also over some cities on the Asiatic continent. He constructed a fleet of one hundred penteconters, or ships of fifty oars each, and maintained an army of one thousand men-mercenary bowmen-with which force he aspired to the conquest of all Ionia and of all the isles in the Ægean Sea. During his reign Samos was the foremost naval power of Greece; and to him were due the famous architectural monuments of that island-the aqueduct, brought through a lofty mountain, the works about the harbor, and the great temple of Hera. But, while at the height of his power, Polykrates was murdered by a Persian satrap of the adjacent continent, and his dominions were soon afterward added to the empire of Darius.

The Scythian Expedition.

Darius, having resolved to undertake an expedition against the Scythians, with a force of seven hundred thou

sand men crossed (515 B. c.) from Asia into Europe by means of a bridge built for him over the Bosporus by the Samian architect Mandrokles. Thence he marched northward through Thrace, subduing the native tribes on his way, and finally arrived on the banks of the great river Ister (Danube). He had ordered to precede him a naval force of six hundred ships, chiefly manned by Asiatic Greeks, who had been instructed to prepare for him a bridge of boats across that river, then supposed to be the largest in the world. Darius, having led his forces over this bridge, gave orders that it should be destroyed, and that the mariners in the fleet should follow his army into Scythia, leaving on board the ships merely a sufficient force to guard them. Before the Greeks had time to carry out these commands, Koës, the Mytilenean commander, represented to Darius that the expedition might result in failure, in which case wisdom demanded that the means of retreating across the river should be preserved; wherefore Darius retracted his former commands, and left behind a large force of Greeks as a garrison at the bridge. At the same time he bound sixty knots in a long leathern thong, and delivered it to the Grecian commanders in charge of the bridge and fleet, with instructions to untie one of the knots every day during his absence, and after the loosening of the sixtieth knot to break up the bridge and sail homeward. This event is worthy of note, not only as an example of the simple and primitive customs of the age in reckoning the lapse of time, but also as a proof that the intention of Darius was not to return by way of the Danube unless compelled to do so. His original design seems to have been to penetrate into the heart of Scythia in a northeasterly direction, subduing the tribes as he advanced, and to return to Asia by some route to the east of the Euxine; and it was evidently his expectation that sixty days would decide whether he would be able to accomplish this, or would be obliged to retrace his steps.