Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/381

ANTALKIDAS ENVOY TO TIRIBAZUS. 359 Spartans with the idea of a second Athenian maritime empire, that they made every effort to detach the Persian force from the side of their enemies. The Spartan Antalkidas, a dexterous, winning and artful man, 1 not unlike Lysander, was sent as envoy to Tiribazus (392 B. c.) ; whom we now find as satrap of Ionia in the room of Tithraustes, after having been satrap of Armenia during the retreat of the Ten Thousand. As Tiribazus was newly arrived in Asia Minor, he had not acquired that personal enmity against the Spartans, which the active hostilities of Derkyllidas and Agesilaus had inspired to Pharnabazus and other Persians. Moreover, jealousy between neighboring satraps was an ordinary feeling, which Antalkidas now hoped to turn to the advantage of Sparta. To counteract his projects, envoys were also sent to Tiribazus, by the confederate enemies of Sparta, Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Argos; and Konon, as the envoy of Athens, was incautiously despatched among the number. On the part of Sparta, Antalkidas offered, first, to abandon to the king of Persia all the Greeks on the conti- nent of Asia ; next, as to all the other Greeks, insular as well as continental, he required nothing more than absolute autonomy for each separate city, great and small. 3 The Persian king (he said) could neither desire anything more for himself, nor have any mo- tive for continuing the war against Sparta, when he should once be placed in possession of all the towns on the Asiatic coast, and when he should find both Sparta and Athens rendered incapable of annoying him, through the autonomy and disunion of the Hel lenic world. But to neither of the two propositions of Antalkidas would Athens, Thebes, or Argos, accede. As to the first, they repu- diated the disgrace of thus formally abandoning the Asiatic Greeks; 3 morative column, countenanced the same impression, tneidij Kovuv T/?LEV- depuae rovf ' A^dr/vaiuv <ny//iuowc, etc. 1 Plutarch, Artaxerx. c. 22. * Xen. Hellen. iv, 8, 12-14. 3 Diodor. xiv, 110. He affirms that these cities strongly objected to this concession, five years afterwards, when the peace of Antalkidas was actually concluded ; but that they were forced to give up .their scruples and accept the peace including the concession, because they had not force to resist Persia and Sparta acting in hearty alliance. Hence we may infer with certainty, that they also objected to it during the earlier discussions, when it was first broached by Antalkidas ; and that their objections to it were in part the cause why the discussions reported in the text broke off without result.