Lysander stood near, looking on, as the Athenians and the Spartans together began to break down the walls. It was not so gloomy a scene as you might have expected. Perhaps the Athenians were glad that at length the long and desperate struggle had come to an end. Flute players and dancers were present, and added a strange touch of gaiety to the crowd. Soon after the surrender of Athens, Lysander was ordered to put Alcibiades to death, lest he should encourage the Athenians at any time to throw off their allegiance to Sparta. Plutarch tells us that ‘those who were sent to assassinate him had not courage enough to enter the house, but surrounded it first and set it on fire. ‘Alcibiades, as soon as he perceived it, getting together great quantities of clothes and furniture, threw them upon the fire to choke it, and having wrapped his cloak about his left arm, and holding his naked sword in his right, he cast himself into the middle of the fire, and escaped securely through it, before his clothes were burnt. ‘The barbarians, as soon as they saw him, retreated, and none of them durst stay to wait for him, or to engage with him, but, standing at a distance, they slew him with darts and arrows.’ CHAPTER LXXIX THE MARCH OF THE TEN THOUSAND In 404 B.C., soon after the disaster of Ægospotami, Darius, king of Persia, died. His eldest son Artaxerxes succeeded to his father’s throne. Cyrus, the younger son, who was present at his father’s death, was accused by Tissaphernes of trying to secure the throne for himself. Artaxerxes believed Tissaphernes, and Cyrus was arrested, and would have been put to death had not his mother pleaded that his life might be spared. The king listened to his mother’s request and set his brother free. He even allowed him to govern the provinces that had been his in his father’s lifetime. But Cyrus felt no gratitude to his brother, he hated him, and was determined if it were possible to seize his throne. So he hired a large number of Greek soldiers, for now that there was peace between Athens and Sparta, many of them were idle and glad to take service under Cyrus. The prince pretended that he was going to fight against Tissaphernes, and no one save himself and the Spartan, Clearchus, who was the leader of the Greeks, knew that the army was going to Babylon to fight against Artaxerxes, king of Persia. Among the Greek soldiers was Xenophon, a scholar and a pupil of Socrates, who wrote the story of this expedition. Early in 401 B.C., Cyrus assembled his troops at Sardis. When they arrived at Tarsus, a city on the coast of Cilicia, the soldiers began to suspect that Cyrus was going to lead them against Artaxerxes. They were not afraid of the great king, but they were afraid to leave the sea behind them, for that was ever a terrible thing to the Greeks. So they refused to march farther.