and
Theban heavy-armed under Lacrates, three thousand Argives under
Nicostratus, and six thousand AEolians, Ionians, and Dorians from the
Greek cities of Asia Minor. The assistance thus secured was numerically
small, amounting to no more than ten thousand men--not a thirtieth part
of his native force; but it formed, together with the Greek mercenaries
from Egypt--who went over to him afterwards--the force on which he
placed his chief reliance, and to which the ultimate success of his
expedition was mainly due.

The overwhelming strength of the armament which Ochus had brought with
him into Syria alarmed the chiefs of the rebel confederacy. Tennes,
especially, the Sidonian monarch, despaired of a successful resistance,
and made up his mind that his only chance of safety lay in his appeasing
the anger of Ochus by the betrayal of his confederates and followers. He
opened his designs to Mentor of Rhodes, the commander of the Greek
mercenaries furnished by Egypt, and found him quite ready to come into
his plans. The two in conjunction betrayed Sidon into the hands of
Persia, by the admission of a detachment within the walls; after which
the defence became impracticable. The Sidonians, having experienced the
unrelenting temper and sanguinary spirit of the Persian king, who had
transfixed with javelins six hundred of their principal citizens, came
to the desperate resolution of setting fire to their houses, and so
destroying themselves with their town. One is glad to learn that the
cowardly traitor, Tennes, who had brought about these terrible
calamities, did not derive any profit from them, but was executed by the
command of Ochus, as soon as Sidon had fallen.

The reduction of Sidon was followed closely by the invasion of Egypt.
Ochus, besides his 330,000 Asiatics, had now a force of 14,000 Greeks,
the mercenaries under Mentor having joined him. Marshalling his army in
four divisions, he proceeded to the attack. The first, second, and
third divisions contained, each of them, a contingent of Greeks and a
contingent of Asiatics, commanded respectively by a Greek and a Persian
leader. The Greeks of the first division, consisting mainly of Boeotians,
were under the orders of Lacrates, a Theban of enormous strength, who
regarded himself as a second Hercules, and adopted the traditional
costume of that hero, a lion's skin and a club. His Persian colleague
was Rhosaces, satrap of Ionia and Lydia, who claimed descent from one of
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