Page:The Anabasis of Alexander.djvu/135

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Darius' s Letter, and Alexander's Reply.

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conspirators whom you instigated, as you have yourself boasted to all in your letters;^[1] and after slaying Arses, as well as Bagoas, and unjustly seizing the throne contrary to the law of the Persians,^[2] and ruling your subjects unjustly, you sent unfriendly letters about me to the Greeks, urging them to wage war with me. You have also despatched money to the Lacedaemonians, and certain other Greeks; but none of the States received it, except the Lacedaemonians.^[3] As your agents destroyed my friends, and were striving to dissolve the league which I had formed among the Greeks, I took the field against you, because you were the party who commenced the hostility. Since I have vanquished your generals and viceroys in the previous battle, and now yourself and your forces in like manner, I am, by the gift of the gods, in possession of your land. As many of the men who fought in your army as were not killed in the battle, but fled to me for refuge, I am protecting; and they are with me, not against their own will, but they are serving in my army as volunteers. Come to me therefore, since I am lord of

↑ Impartial historians deny that Philip's murderers were bribed; they committed the murder from private resentment.
↑ Ochus was poisoned about B.C. 338, by the eunuch Bagoas, who placed upon the throne Arses, one of the king's sons, killing all the rest. Cf. Aeliau (Varia Historia, vi. 8). Two years afterwards, Bagoas put Arses and all his children to death; thus leaving no direct heir of the regal family alive. He then placed upon the throne one of his adherents, named Darius Codomannus, a descendant of one of the brothers of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Bagoas soon afterwards tried to poison this Darius; but the latter, discovering his treachery, forced him to drink the deadly draught himself (Diod., xvii. 5; Justin., x. 3). From Arrian, iii. 19, we learn that Bistanes, a son of Ochus, was alive after the battle of Arbela.
↑ Aeschines, in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 634), asserts that Darius sent 300 talents to Athens, that the Athenians refused them, and that Demosthenes took them, reserving 70 talents for his own private use. Deinarchus repeats this statement in his speech against Demosthenes. (pp. 9-14). If Demosthenes had really acted thus, it is strange Alexander knew nothing about it.

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[1] Impartial historians deny that Philip's murderers were bribed; they committed the murder from private resentment.

[2] Ochus was poisoned about B.C. 338, by the eunuch Bagoas, who placed upon the throne Arses, one of the king's sons, killing all the rest. Cf. Aeliau (Varia Historia, vi. 8). Two years afterwards, Bagoas put Arses and all his children to death; thus leaving no direct heir of the regal family alive. He then placed upon the throne one of his adherents, named Darius Codomannus, a descendant of one of the brothers of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Bagoas soon afterwards tried to poison this Darius; but the latter, discovering his treachery, forced him to drink the deadly draught himself (Diod., xvii. 5; Justin., x. 3). From Arrian, iii. 19, we learn that Bistanes, a son of Ochus, was alive after the battle of Arbela.

[3] Aeschines, in his speech against Ctesiphon (p. 634), asserts that Darius sent 300 talents to Athens, that the Athenians refused them, and that Demosthenes took them, reserving 70 talents for his own private use. Deinarchus repeats this statement in his speech against Demosthenes. (pp. 9-14). If Demosthenes had really acted thus, it is strange Alexander knew nothing about it.

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