The Good Book

by A. C. Grayling

  15. ‘Now you see plainly, Prexaspes, that it is not I who am mad, but the Persians. I pray you tell me, did you ever see anyone send an arrow with better aim?’

  16. Prexaspes, seeing that the king was not in his right mind, and fearing for himself, hid his grief for his son and replied,

  17. ‘O! my lord, I do not think that anyone in all history could shoot so dexterously.’

  18. For this outrage Croesus thought it right to admonish Cambyses, which he did as follows:

  19. ‘King, do not allow yourself to give way entirely to your youth, and the heat of your temper, but control yourself.

  20. ‘It is well to look to consequences, and wisdom lies in forethought.

  21. ‘If you do such things as these, your Persians will eventually rebel against you. It is by your father’s wish that I say this; he charged me strictly to give you counsel if it became necessary.’

  22. In thus advising Cambyses, Croesus meant nothing but what was friendly. But Cambyses answered him,

  23. ‘Do you presume to offer me advice? You ruled your own country well when you were a king, and gave sage advice to my father Cyrus at times;

  24. ‘Yet by misdirection of your own affairs you ruined yourself, and by your own bad counsel, which he followed, you brought ruin upon Cyrus, my father.

  25. ‘But you will not escape punishment now, for I have long been seeking to find some occasion against you.’

  26. As he spoke, Cambyses took up his bow to shoot Croesus; but Croesus ran hastily out, and escaped.

  27. So Cambyses ordered his servants to run after him and seize him, and put him to death.

  28. The servants, however, who knew their master’s humour, thought it best to hide Croesus;

  29. So if Cambyses relented, and asked for him, they might bring him out, and get a reward for having saved his life.

  30. If, on the other hand, he did not relent, or regret the loss, they might then dispatch him.

  31. Not long afterwards, Cambyses did in fact regret the loss of Croesus, and the servants, perceiving it, let him know that he was still alive.

  32. ‘I am glad,’ said he, ‘that Croesus lives, but as for you who saved him, you shall not escape my vengeance, but all of you shall be put to death.’ And they were killed.

  33. Cambyses committed many other such outrages, both upon Persians and upon allies, while he was at Memphis;

  34. Among the rest he opened the ancient sepulchres, and examined the bodies that were buried in them, and had no respect for the Egyptians, but mistreated them at will.

  35. Thus it appears certain, by many such proofs, that Cambyses was mad; he would not otherwise have set himself to mock the Egyptians’ traditions and laws,

  36. But would have learned from his successor Darius, who set a good example in this.

  37. For Darius, after he had got the kingdom, summoned certain Greeks who were at hand, and asked,

  38. ‘What he should pay them to eat the bodies of their fathers when they died?’ To which they answered, that there was no sum that would tempt them to do such a thing.

  39. He then sent for certain Indians, of the race called Callatians,

  40. These being men who ate their fathers’ corpses to honour them, as they thought, with continued life;

  41. And asked them, while the Greeks stood by, ‘What he should give them to burn the bodies of their fathers?’

  42. The Indians exclaimed aloud, and begged him not to say such a terrible thing.

  43. Thus Darius showed the variability of human opinions and traditions, and accepted them, ruling accordingly.

  Chapter 26

  1. While Cambyses was in Egypt the Greeks were at war with one another over slights and insults that different cities felt they had received from one another.

  2. During these troubles some banished Samians went to Sparta to seek aid, and were given audience by the magistrates, before whom they made a long speech, as is the way with supplicants.

  3. The Spartans answered that by the end of the speech they had forgotten the first half, and could make nothing of the second half.

  4. Whereupon the Samians begged a second audience, and at it simply showed an empty bag, saying, ‘The bag lacks flour.’

  5. The Spartans answered that the Samians did not need to say ‘The bag’, but merely, ‘lacks flour’; nevertheless they resolved to give the Samians aid.

  6. The Samians were subject to a concerted attack by their neighbours for wrongs, real and perceived, done by them in earlier times.

  7. Among these were the Corinthians, whose grievance against Samos was that it had prevented them from taking three hundred sons of Corcyraean nobles to be eunuchs as a gift for an ally.

  8. This hard usage of Corcyraean youths was a punishment imposed by Periander for the murder of his son by the Corcyraeans, which arose as follows.

  9. After Periander had put to death his wife Melissa, it chanced that on this first affliction a second followed of a different kind.

  10. His wife had borne him two sons, and one of them had now reached the age of seventeen, the other eighteen years, when their mother’s father Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, invited them to his court.

  11. They went, and Procles treated them with much kindness, as was natural, considering they were his grandchildren.

  12. When time for parting came, Procles, as he was bidding farewell, asked, ‘Do you know who caused your mother’s death?’

  13. The elder son took no account of this speech, but the younger, whose name was Lycophron, was sorely troubled to learn that his father had killed his mother;

  14. So much so, that when he returned to Corinth he would neither speak to his father, nor answer when spoken to. So Periander at last, growing furious at such behaviour, banished him from his house.

  15. The younger son gone, he turned to the elder and asked him what it was that their grandfather had said to them.

  16. Then the youth related how kind and friendly Procles had been; but, not having taken notice of what Procles said at parting, he did not mention it.

  17. Periander insisted that it was not possible this should be all; their grandfather must have given them some hint or other; and he went on pressing the youth, till at last he remembered the parting speech and told it.

  18. Periander, after he had considered the whole matter, felt unwilling to give way, and sent a messenger to the persons who had opened their houses to his outcast son, and forbade them to harbour him.

  19. Then the boy, when he was chased from one friend, sought refuge with another, but was driven from shelter to shelter by the threats of his father,

  20. Who menaced all those that took him in, and commanded them to shut their doors against him.

  21. Still, as fast as he was forced to leave one house he went to another, and was received by the inmates;

  22. For his acquaintance, although in no small alarm at the danger, yet gave him shelter, as he was Periander’s son.

  23. At last Periander made proclamation that whoever harboured, or even spoke to him, would be fined.

  24. On hearing this no one any longer took Lycophron in, or even spoke with him, and he himself did not think it right to do what was forbidden; so he made his lodging in the public porticos.

  25. When four days had passed in this way, Periander, seeing how wretched his son was, that he neither washed nor took any food, felt moved with compassion towards him;

  26. And foregoing his anger, he approached him, and said, ‘Which is better, my son, to fare as you now do, or to receive my crown and all the good things I possess, on the one condition of submitting yourself to your father?

  27. ‘See, now, though my own child, and heir to this wealthy Corinth, you have brought yourself to a beggar’s life, because you must defy him whom it least behoves you to oppose.

  28. ‘If there has been a calamity, and you hate me on that account, consider that I feel it too, and am the greater sufferer, because it was by me that the deed was
done.

  29. ‘For yourself, now that you know how much better a thing it is to be envied than pitied, and how dangerous it is to indulge anger against parents, come home with me.’

  30. With such words as these did Periander chide his son; but the son made no reply, except to remind his father that he was liable to the fine for speaking to him.

  31. Then Periander knew that there was no cure for the youth’s disaffection, nor means of overcoming it;

  32. So he prepared a ship and sent him away out of his sight to Corcyra, which island at that time belonged to him.

  Chapter 27

  1. As for Procles, Periander regarded him as the true author of all his present troubles, and so he went to war with him as soon as his son was gone,

  2. And not only made himself master of Epidaurus, but also took Procles himself, and carried him into captivity.

  3. As time went by, and Periander grew old, he found himself no longer equal to the management of affairs.

  4. Knowing his eldest son to be dull and blockish, he sent to Corcyra and recalled Lycophron to take the kingdom.

  5. Lycophron, however, did not even deign to ask the bearer of this message a question.

  6. But Periander’s heart was set upon the youth, so he sent again to him, this time by his own daughter, the sister of Lycophron, who would, he thought, more than any other person be able to persuade him.

  7. When she reached Corcyra, she said to her brother, ‘Do you wish the kingdom to pass into strange hands,

  8. ‘And our father’s wealth to be made a prey, rather than yourself return to enjoy it? Come back with me, and cease to punish yourself. It is scant gain, this obstinacy.

  9. ‘Why seek to cure evil by evil? Mercy, remember, is by many set above justice. Many, also, while pushing their mother’s claims, have forfeited their father’s fortune.

  10. ‘Power is a slippery thing; it has many suitors; and he is old and stricken in years. Do not let your own inheritance go to another.’

  11. Thus did the sister, who had been tutored by Periander what to say, urge all the arguments most likely to win her brother.

  12. But he answered that so long as he knew his father to be still alive, he would never go back to Corinth.

  13. When the sister told this to Periander, he sent a message to his son a third time, and said he would himself come to Corcyra, and let his son take his place at Corinth as king.

  14. To this Lycophron agreed; and Periander was making ready to travel when the Corcyraeans, being informed of this, and from their hatred of Periander wishing to keep him away, put Lycophron to death.

  15. For this reason it was that Periander took vengeance on the Corcyraeans by taking their sons to be eunuchs.

  Chapter 28

  1. How the Samians angered Periander is as follows. The men who had the Corcyraean youths in charge touched at Samos on their way to Sardis;

  2. Whereupon the Samians, on finding out what was to become of the boys, gave them sanctuary in their city hall,

  3. And because the Corinthian sailors were forbidden to enter the Samians’ hall to recapture the boys, they tried to starve them into giving themselves up by forbidding anyone to enter the building with food.

  4. The Samians therefore invented a festival on the boys’ behalf, which they celebrated ever after, as follows:

  5. Each evening during the whole time the boys continued there, choirs of youths and virgins danced around the building, carrying in their hands cakes of sesame and honey,

  6. In order that the Corcyraean boys might snatch the cakes, and so get enough to live upon.

  7. And this went on for so long, that at last the Corinthians gave the boys up, and took their departure, upon which the Samians returned the boys to Corcyra.

  8. Thus were the seeds of enmity sown between Corinth and Samos; the two people were thereafter enemies to one another, and the Corinthians bore a grudge for it.

  9. Why dwell on the affairs of the Samians? Because three of the greatest works in all Greece were made by them.

  10. One is a tunnel under a hill one hundred and fifty fathoms high, carried entirely through the base of the hill, with a mouth at either end.

  11. The length of the cutting is seven furlongs, the height and width are each eight feet. Along the whole course there is a second cutting, twenty cubits deep and three feet broad, whereby water is brought into the city, through pipes.

  12. The architect of this tunnel was Eupalinus, son of Naustrophus, a Megarian.

  13. The second great work is a mole in the sea, which goes all round the harbour, near twenty fathoms deep, and in length above two furlongs.

  14. The third is the town hall, the largest of all the halls known to us, whereof Rhoecus, son of Phileus, a Samian, was first architect.

  15. Because of these works one likes to dwell on the affairs of Samos; the works of ingenuity and practicality are greater than the works of war, and the expertise of mankind is greater than the example of tyranny.

  Chapter 29

  1. While Cambyses, son of Cyrus, still lingered in Egypt, two brothers of the Magus tribe revolted against him.

  2. One of them, Patizeithes, had been left in Persia by Cambyses as comptroller of his household; it was he who began the revolt.

  3. Aware that Smerdis was dead, and that his death was hidden and known to few Persians, while most believed that he was still alive, Patizeithes laid his plan, and made a bold stroke for the crown.

  4. His brother happened greatly to resemble Smerdis, and not only was this brother like Smerdis in appearance, but he was also called Smerdis.

  5. Patizeithes, having persuaded his brother to the plan, sat him on the royal throne, and then sent heralds through the land,

  6. To Egypt and elsewhere, to make proclamation to the troops that henceforth they were to obey Smerdis the son of Cyrus, and not Cambyses.

  7. The heralds made proclamation as they were ordered, and likewise the herald who was sent to Egypt.

  8. When the herald reached Ecbatana in Syria, finding Cambyses and his army there, he went straight into the middle of the host, and standing before them made the proclamation which Patizeithes the Magus had commanded.

  9. Cambyses no sooner heard him, than believing that what the herald said was true, and imagining that he had been betrayed,

  10. He turned his eyes on Prexaspes, and said, ‘Is this the way, Prexaspes, that you did my errand?’

  11. ‘O! my liege,’ answered the other, ‘there is no truth in the tidings that Smerdis your brother has revolted against you,

  12. ‘Nor have you to fear any quarrel, great or small, with that man. With my own hands I killed him, and with my own hands I buried him.

  13. ‘If the dead could leave their graves, expect Astyages the Mede to rise and fight against you; but if the course of nature be the same as always, then no ill can come from this quarter.

  14. ‘Call that herald, and strictly question him who it was that charged him to bid us obey King Smerdis.’

  15. Cambyses approved Prexaspes’ words, and the herald was brought before the king.

  16. Prexaspes said to him, ‘Sirrah, you say that your message is from Smerdis, son of Cyrus. Now answer truly, and you will be allowed to go unharmed.

  17. ‘Did Smerdis have you in his presence to give you your orders, or did you have them from one of his officers?’

  18. The herald answered, ‘Truly I have not set eyes on Smerdis son of Cyrus, since the day when King Cambyses led the Persians into Egypt.

  19. ‘The man who gave me my orders was the Magus that Cambyses left in charge of the household; but he said that Smerdis son of Cyrus sent you the message.’

  20. Then Cambyses said to Prexaspes, ‘You are free from all blame, Prexaspes, since you did not fail to do what I commanded.

  21. ‘But tell me, which of the Persians can have taken the name of Smerdis, and revolted against me?’

  22. ‘I think, my liege,’ he answered, ‘that I understand
the whole business. The men who have risen in revolt are Patizeithes, who was left comptroller of your household, and his brother, named Smerdis.’

  23. Cambyses no sooner heard this than, smarting with vexation at his troubles, he sprang hastily onto his horse, meaning to march his army quickly to Susa against the rebels.

  24. But as he did so, the button of his sword-sheath fell off, and the bared point pierced his thigh, wounding him sorely.

  25. Then Cambyses, feeling that he had got his death-wound, called to his presence all the chief Persians who were with the army, and addressed them as follows:

  26. ‘Persians, I must tell you now what I have hitherto striven with the greatest care to keep secret.

  27. ‘I, in my folly, sent Prexaspes to Susa to put my brother to death, because I feared that he would revolt against me, and seize the crown.

  28. ‘When this great crime was accomplished I lived without fear, never imagining that, after Smerdis was dead, I need fear revolt from any other.

  29. ‘But I was mistaken, and slew my brother needlessly, for even so I have lost my crown.

  30. ‘For it is two of the Magi tribe who have rebelled against me and taken the royal power: Patizeithes, whom I left at Susa to overlook my household, and Smerdis his brother.

  31. ‘I charge you all, and specially such of you as are Achaemenids, that you do not lamely allow the kingdom to go back to the Medes.

  32. ‘Recover it one way or another, by force or fraud; by fraud, if it is by fraud that they have seized on it; by force, if force has helped them in their enterprise.

  33. ‘Do this, and then may your land bring you forth fruit abundantly, and your wives bear children, and your herds increase, and freedom be your portion for ever.’

  Chapter 30

  1. But the Persians who heard his words put no faith in anything that he said concerning the Magi having the royal power;

  2. Instead they believed that he spoke out of hatred towards his brother Smerdis, and had invented the tale of his death to cause the whole Persian race to rise up in arms against him.