He had been thus far on the road from the Ionian coast before, and when staying at Magnesia with Tissaphernes, he had become the owner of a little villa, or Persian country house, near the village of Melissa, some five miles from the marble quarries of Synnada. For, some time previously, when tired of the life he was leading at the satrap’s court, and not knowing how long it might be before he was recalled to Athens, he had explored some distance into the interior of the land which we call Asia Minor, and coming suddenly upon this villa, he was struck with the beauty of the woods and hills around it, and had fixed upon the small country place as a spot to which he might retire with a friend, if need be, far from the bustle of the world, and where he might end his days in peace. Like many other energetic and ambitious men, he longed at times to be rid of his constant anxieties, and to enjoy a period of rest. The house he had chosen stood some way from the high-road which leads from Synnada to Metropolis. He had enlarged and improved his small domain, and had there been honoured by the presence of Tissaphernes, who came to visit him on one occasion when he, too, was tired of excess of luxury, and wanted to exchange the pleasures of his court for the undisturbed companionship of his bosom friend. At the end of that visit the satrap presented the small domain to his friend, made him come back with him to Magnesia, and Alkibiades, having been called away soon afterwards to Samos, had not seen since then his rural, calm retreat. The travellers reached this place at the end of September. Timandra was enraptured with the charms of the lovely spot, and was for making Alkibiades stay there altogether and give up his great enterprise, letting kings and republics go their way, and resting there in peace for ever, without troubling himself more about the rights and wrongs of struggling men and women. There was much indeed to make him loath to leave the pleasant scene, for it was very beautiful, and the journey before him was full of dangers and fatigues in unknown lands. He would first have to get as best he could to Ikonion by Mount Paroreios, more than a hundred miles away. Thence he would be obliged to journey south to cross the great Tauros chain by the high and dangerous pass to Tarsos on the sea-coast; then, after skirting the Mediterranean, to strike across Syria and North Arabia to the wide Euphrates; and then, perhaps, if the king was not at Babylon, to cross that river and the Tigris, and proceed to Susa.