ortion of
it must reflect upon himself, as the person who selected them, assigned
them their respective tasks, and permanently maintained them in office.

It was during this period of vigor and renewed life, when the Persian
monarchy seemed to have recovered almost its pristine force and
strength, that the attention of its rulers was called to a small cloud
on the distant horizon, which some were wise enough to see portended
storm and tempest. The growing power of Macedon, against which
Demosthenes was at this time in vain warning the careless Athenians,
attracted the consideration of Ochus or of his counsellors; and orders
went forth from the Court that Persian influence was to be used to check
and depress the rising kingdom. A force was consequently despatched to
assist the Thracian prince, Cersobleptes, to maintain his independence;
and such effectual aid was given to the city of Perinthus that the
numerous and well-appointed army with which Philip had commenced its
siege was completely baffled and compelled to give up the attempt (B.C.
340). The battle of Chseroneia had not yet been fought, and Macedonia
was still but one of the many states which disputed for supremacy over
Greece; but it is evident that she had already awakened the suspicions
of Persia, which saw a rival and a possible assailant in the rapidly
growing monarchy.

Greater and more systematic efforts might possibly have been made, and
the power of Macedon might perhaps have been kept within bounds, had not
the inveterate evil of conspiracy and revolution once more shown itself
at the Court, and paralyzed for a time the action of the Empire on
communities beyond its borders. Ochus, while he was a vigorous ruler
and administrator, was harsh and sanguinary. His violence and cruelty
rendered him hateful to his subjects; and it is not unlikely that they
caused even those who stood highest in his favor to feel insecure.
Bagoas may have feared that sooner or later he would himself be one
of the monarch's victims, and have been induced by a genuine alarm
to remove the source of his terrors. In the year B.C. 338 he poisoned
Ochus, and placed upon the throne his youngest son, Arses, at the same
time assassinating all the brothers of the new monarch. It was evidently
his aim to exercise the supreme power himself, as counsellor to a prince
who owed his position to him, and who was moreover little more than a
boy. But Arses, though subservient for a year or two,