of them to death, and sent others
into banishment. Cyrus, receiving the exiles under his protection, and
assembling an army, laid siege to Miletus by land and sea, and used
every exertion to restore these exiles; and he had thus another pretext
for augmenting the number of his forces. 8. He then sent to the king,
and requested that, as he was his brother, these cities should be given
to him rather than that Tissaphernes should govern them; and in this
application his mother supported him. Thus the king had no suspicion of
the plot against him, but supposed that Cyrus, from being at war with
Tissaphernes, was spending the money upon troops; so that he was not at
all concerned at the strife between them, especially as Cyrus remitted
to him the tribute arising from the cities which Tissaphernes had had.

9. Another army was collected for him in the Chersonesus opposite
Abydos, in the following method. Clearchus, a Lacedaemonian, happened to
be in exile. Cyrus, having met with him, was struck with admiration for
him, and made him a present of ten thousand darics.[12] Clearchus, on
receiving the gold, raised, by means of it, a body of troops, and making
excursions out of the Chersonesus, made war upon the Thracians that are
situated above the Hellespont, and was of assistance to the Greeks; so
that the towns on the Hellespont willingly contributed money for the
support of his men. This too was a force thus secretly maintained for
Cyrus.

10. Aristippus, also, a Thessalian, happened to be a guest-friend[13] of
Cyrus, and, being pressed by an adverse faction at home, came to him,
and asked him for two thousand mercenary troops, and three months' pay
for them, representing that he would thus be enabled to overpower his
enemies. Cyrus granted him four thousand, and six months' pay, desiring
him not to terminate the strife until he should consult him. Thus
another body of troops was clandestinely supported for him in Thessaly.

11. He then requested Proxenus a Boeotian, who was also his
guest-friend, to join him with as many men as he could procure, stating
that he intended to make war on the Pisidians, as they molested his
territories. He also desired Sophaenetus of Stymphalus,[14] and Socrates,
an Achaean, both of them his guest-friends, to come to him, and bring as
many men as possible, pretending that he was going to war with
Tissaphernes on behalf of the Milesian exiles; and they acted as he
wished.

[Footnote 1: Darius