THE ASSISTANT OF EDUCATION. DECEMBER, 1825. A SKETCH OF GENERAL HISTORY. HISTORY OF PERSIA-FROM B.C. 401, TO B.C. 333. IN the year B.C. 400, the Lacedæmonians, having crushed the rival power of Athens, turned their arms against Persia, and invaded it with a considerable force under their king Agesilaus. For six years this prince waged successful war on the Persian territories, when he was recalled to the defence of his own country; and a great naval victory of the Persian fleet under Conon over the fleets of Lacedæmon, gave a turn to the prosperity of that state, which was never after recovered; the opportunity of 'this defeat being taken by the other Grecian states to resume the liberty of which the superiority of Sparta had deprived them. Athens, which the Persians had so recently assisted the Lacedæmonians to destroy, they now determined to rebuild, the better to oppose their power. Conon repaired thither with eighty ships, landed in the port of Athens, and, assisted by all those who were disposed to befriend her, rapidly rebuilt her walls, and restored the city to its former splendour, fortified at the expense and with the spoils of the Lacedæmonians, who had dismantled it. They, beholding F f VOL. V. with apprehension the resuscitation of so powerful an enemy, endeavoured to come to terms with Artaxerxes. The conditions they offered were too advantageous to be refused-a peace disgraceful to Greece was concluded, giving up to Persia all the Asiatic Greeks, for whose liberty Agesilaus had so long contended; while Conon is said to have been sacrificed by his king for the service rendered to the Athenians. The Lacedæmonians never after interfered with the affairs of Persia. Two unsuccessful expeditions followed, the one against Cyprus, then an independent kingdom, the other against the Cadusians, a people inhabiting the mountains between the Euxine and the Caspian seas, of whom all that we know is, that they at this time were governed by two kings, revolted probably from the dominion of Persia. With equal ill success, an expedition was made into Egypt, which had for some time freed itself from the Persian yoke. Towards the end of his reign, the peace of Artaxerxes was destroyed by the factions of his court, and the contentions of his children. He had one hundred and eighteen sons-of these he declared Darius, his eldest son by his wife, his successor on the throne, and allowed him to assume in his own life-time the title of king, and wear the tiara. This did not content the young prince, and engaging fifty of his brothers in the unnatural project, he formed a design against his father's life. The plot was discovered, the conspirators seized, and all put to death. The contention was not thus terminated; the other sons began to contend for what these had forfeited, and poisoned and destroyed each other. These crimes, and the loss of his children, overwhelmed with grief the aged monarch, already ninety-four years of age; unable longer to bear up against them, he died in the fortysixth year of his age, with the character of much justice, mildness, and generosity. B.C. 359. Ochus, his son, conscious of the hatred he had incurred by the murder of his brothers, prevailed with those about his court to conceal the king's death, and continued to issue decrees in the name of Artaxerxes, as if still alive; among others, a decree by which he proclaimed Ochus his successor. After about ten months, the death was acknowledged, and Ochus openly assumed the government; but an almost universal insurrection immediately arose throughout the empire. Ochus exceeded in cruelty and wickedness all the princes of his race-to prevent their becoming his rivals for the crown, he put to death every individual of his family, and indeed every one else whom he suspected of opposing him. Such measures could scarcely prevail; one revolt succeeded to another, and threatened to dismember the empire-but Ochus finally prevailed. As soon as peace was restored at home, he led an army into Egypt, and again brought that kingdom into subjection to Persia. All opposition thus ended, Ochus gave himself to luxury and dissipation, and left to his ministers the management of affairs; by one of whom, an Egyptian, he was eventually poisoned, in pious revenge for his god, Apis, whom Ochus, in his Egyptian expedition, had destroyed. B.C. 338. The minister who had thus murdered his master and benefactor, put to death also all his sons, except Arses, the youngest, whom he placed on the throne-but before the end of the second year, murdered him also and all his family. Darius Codomannus, a distant branch of the royal family, was next raised to the royal dignity. Him also the treacherous minister would have murdered, but being detected in his purpose, Darius forced him to drink himself the poisonous cup he had prepared, and thus had secure possession of his throne. This Darius was a prince of great valour and good disposition-but the period of Persian greatness was at hand, and Alexander, now on the throne of Macedon, was preparing to overthrow it. The name of Macedon is new to our history of the world-we have hitherto not had occasion to mention it, nor shall we do so particularly, till we come to the annals of Grecian history. It is sufficient now to remark, that the first Grecian states had already reached the summit of their glory and declined—while the kingdom of Macedonia, lying north of those with whose name we are already familiar, was rising to greatness on their decline, and about to claim an almost universal empire in the civilized world, as extensive as it was brief. At present we have no more to do with it than as connected with Persian history. The aggressions of Persia for three centuries passed, were not forgotten by the Greeks, and an invasion had for some time been contemplated, under Philip, the father of Alexander. He being dead, Alexander called an assembly of the Grecian states, and persuaded, or rather obliged them to choose him their commander, and furnish men and money for the expedition. But it was now by valour and moral strength, not by numbers that battles were to be won-the contrast is remarkable: when Persia was to attack the small states of Greece, she brought over an army of 600,000 men-now Greece was to subdue the immense empire of Persia, not more than 33,000 crossed the Hellespont. At the river Granicus Alexander first met the enemy, to the amount of more than 100,000, drawn up on the opposite side of the river to dispute his passage. The Persians waited till the Macedonians should enter the water, prepared to attack them in landing. As soon as a convenient place was found, the passage commenced with sounding of trumpets and loud shouts of joy. A bloody engagement ensued, the Macedonians resolutely endeavouring to land, the Persians driving them back into the river. valour of Alexander and his troops forced the Persians to give way after long and abstinate resistance. The victory was complete the Persians lost 45,000 men. Of the Macedonians, twenty-five men of the king's troops fell in the first attack, whose statues, made by Lysippus, Alexander, some time after, caused to be set up in Dia, a The city of Macedon, whence they were, many years after, carried to Rome by Metellus. About sixty others were killed, and buried the next day with solemnity, the king exempting their parents and children from all taxes and burdens. The cities of Sardis and Ephesus immediately surrendered to the conqueror-Miletus maintained a severe siege, but yielded at last. Halicarnassus was very bravely defended, and much knowledge of the art of war, as well as intrepid courage, was manifested on both sides. The Macedonians, with great difficulty, filled up the ditches and brought their engines to the walls; their works were repeatedly demolished, and their engines set on fire. No sooner was a part of the wall beaten down with the battering rams, than another rose behind it, and all was to begin again. But Alexander's perseverance was never vanquished. The Persian commander, Memnon, was obliged to abandon the city to its fate. As the sea was open, he placed a garrison in the citadel, and going on board the fleet, of which he was also admiral, he conveyed the inhabitants, with all their effects, to the island of Cos, not far distant. Alexander, finding the city empty both of riches and inhabitants, razed it to the ground: but left the citadel as of small importance. In the second year of this war, Phrygia, Gallicia, and most of the northern provinces were subdued, and the friends of the conqueror left to govern them. Darius made vigorous, but unavailing preparations for defence. The death of Memnon, his best general, as he was preparing to lead an army into Greece to attack the dominions of Alexander in his absence, was an irrecoverable loss to the Persian empire. At Babylon, Darius himself assembled from four to six hundred thousand men, according to different authors, and marched to meet the enemy in the vast plains of Mesopotamia. As this is the last opportunity, we shall relate as a matter of curiosity illustrative of Asiatic habits, the order of march on this occasion. |