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After Artaxerxes had concluded the war with the Cadusians, he brought up the trial of Tiribazus and assigned three of the most highly esteemed Persians as judges. At this time other judges who were believed to have been corrupt were flayed alive and their skins stretched tight on judicial benches. The judges rendered their decisions seated on these, having before their eyes an example of the punishment meted out to corrupt decisions. [2] Now the accusers read the letter sent by Orontes and stated that it constituted sufficient cause for accusation. Tiribazus, with respect to the charge in connection with Evagoras, presented the agreement made by Orontes that Evagoras should obey the King as a king, whereas he had himself agreed upon a peace on the terms that Evagoras should obey the King as a slave his master. With respect to the oracle he stated that the god as a general thing gives no response regarding death,1 and to the truth of this he invoked all the Greeks present as witnesses. As for the friendship with the Lacedaemonians, he replied in defence that he had formed the friendship not for any advantage of his own but for the profit of the King; and he pointed out that the Greeks of Asia were thereby detached from the Lacedaemonians and delivered captive to the King. At the conclusion of his defence he reminded the judges of the former good services he had rendered the King. [3]

It is related that Tiribazus pointed out many services to the King, and one very great one, as a result of which he was highly regarded and became a very great friend.2 Once during a hunt, while the King was riding in a chariot, two lions came at him, tore to pieces two of the four horses belonging to the chariot, and then charged upon the King himself; but at that very moment Tiribazus appeared, slew the lions, and rescued the King from the danger. [4] In wars also, men say, he excelled in valour, and in council his judgement was so good that when the King followed his advice he never made a mistake. By means of such a defence Tiribazus was cleared of the charges by the unanimous vote of the judges.

1 Therefore he could not have inquired of the oracle about a revolt, which, if successful, would necessarily have involved the death of the King.

2 Herodotus (Hdt. 8.85) states that certain Persians who had especially distinguished themselves were recorded among "the king's benefactors," being called in Persian orosangae.

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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