ched against him by the king.
At last, however, the fortune of war changed. Persian gold was used
to corrupt the mercenaries; and the rebels being thus reduced to
extremities, were forced to capitulate, yielding themselves on the
condition that their lives should be spared. Parysatis induced her
husband to disregard the pledges given and execute both Arsites and his
fellow-conspirator--thus proclaiming to the world that, unless by the
employment of perfidy, the Empire was incapable of dealing with those
who rebelled against its authority.

The revolt of Pissuthnes, satrap of Lydia, was the next important
outbreak. Its exact date is uncertain; but it seems not to have very
long preceded the Athenian disasters in Sicily. Pissuthnes, who had held
his satrapy for more than twenty years, was the son of a Hystaspes, and
probably a member of the royal family. His wealth--the accumulations of
so long a term of office--enabled him to hire the services of a body of
Greek mercenaries, who were commanded by an Athenian, called Lycon. On
these troops he placed his chief dependence; but they failed him in the
hour of need. Tissaphernes, the Persian general sent against him, bribed
Lycon and his men, who thereupon quitted Pissuthnes and made common
cause with his adversaries. The unfortunate satrap could no longer
resist, and therefore surrendered upon terms, and accompanied
Tissaphernes to the Court. Darius, accustomed now to disregard the
pledged word of his officers, executed him forthwith, and made over his
satrapy to Tissaphernes, as a reward for his zeal. Lycon, the Athenian
traitor, received likewise a handsome return for his services, the
revenues of several towns and districts being assigned him by the Great
King.

The rebellion, however, was not wholly crushed by the destruction of
its author, Amorges, a bastard son of Pissuthnes, continued to maintain
himself in Caria, where he was master of the strong city of Iasus, on
the north coast of the Sinus Iasicus, and set the power of Tissaphernes
at defiance. Having probably inherited the wealth of his father, he
hired a number of Peloponnesian mercenaries, and succeeded in maintaining
himself as an independent monarch for some years.

Such was the condition of things in Asia Minor, when intelligence
arrived of the fearful disasters which had befallen the Athenians in
Sicily--disasters without a parallel since those of Salamis--sudden,
unexpected, overwhelming. The news, flyin