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UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
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 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/historyofdariusgabbo 
 
Jiiiliof T. SvaeLair, ThiZ* 
 

HISTORY 
 
 DARIUS THE GREAT 
 
 BY JACOB ABBOTT. 
 
 ®2nti) JEnQtuWnQH. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 82 BEEKMAN STREET. 
 18 54. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and fifty, by 
 
 Harper & Brothers, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
 of New Yr.rk. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In describing the character and trie action of 
 the personages whose histories form the subjects 
 of this series, the writer makes no attempt to 
 darken the colors in which he depicts their 
 deeds of violence and wrong, or to increase, by 
 indignant denunciations, the obloquy which he- 
 roes and conquerors have so often brought upon 
 themselves, in the estimation of mankind, by 
 their ambition, their tyranny, or their desperate 
 and reckless crimes. In fact, it seems desirable 
 to diminish, rather than to increase, the spirit 
 of censoriousness which often leads men so 
 harshly to condemn the errors and sins of oth- 
 ers, committed in circumstances of temptation 
 to which they themselves were never exposed. 
 Besides, to denounce or vituperate guilt, in a 
 narrative of the transactions in which it was 
 displayed, has little influence in awakening a 
 healthy sensitiveness in the conscience of the 
 reader. We observe, accordingly, that in the 
 narratives of the sacred Scriptures, such denun- 
 ciations are seldom found. The story of Absa- 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 lom's undutifulness and rebellion, of David's 
 adultery and murder, of Herod's tyranny, and 
 all other narratives of crime, are related in a 
 calm, simple, impartial, and forbearing spirit, 
 which leads us to condemn the sins, but not to 
 feel a pharisaical resentment and wrath against 
 the sinner. 
 
 This example, so obviously proper and right, 
 the writer of this series has made it his endeav- 
 or in all respects to follow. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I. CAMBYSES 13 
 
 II. . THE END OF CAMBYSES 38 
 
 III. SMERDIS THE MAGIAN 59 
 
 IV. THE ACCESSION OF DARIUS 82 
 
 V. THE PROVINCES 99 
 
 VI. THE RECONNOITERING OF GREECE 123 
 
 VII. THE REVOLT OF BABYLON. . 144 
 
 VIII. THE INVASION OF SCYTHIA 167 
 
 IX. THE RETREAT FROM SCYTHIA 189 
 
 X. THE STORY OF HISTLEUS 210 
 
 XI. THE INVASION OF GREECE 233 
 
 XH. THE DEATH OF DARIUS 264 
 
ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 Page 
 MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 
 
 darius crossing the Bosporus Frontispiece. 
 
 THE ARMY OF CAMBYSES OVERWHELMED IN THE 
 
 DESERT 35 
 
 PH^DYMA FEELING FOR SMERDIs's EARS 69 
 
 THE INDIAN GOLD HUNTERS 121 
 
 THE BABYLONIANS DERDDING DARHJS FROM THE 
 
 WALL 156 
 
 MAP OF GREECE 232 
 
 THE INVASION OF GREECE 256 
 

DARIUS THE GREAT. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 Cambyses. 
 
 Cyrus the Great. His extended conquests. 
 
 A BOUT five or six hundred years before 
 -£*- Christ, almost the whole of the interior 
 of Asia was united in one vast empire. The 
 founder of this empire was Cyrus the Great. 
 He was originally a Persian; and the whole 
 empire is often called the Persian monarchy, 
 taking its name from its founder's native land. 
 Cyrus was not contented with having an- 
 nexed to his dominion all the civilized states 
 of Asia. In the latter part of his life, he con- 
 ceived the idea that there might possibly be 
 some additional glory and power to be acquired 
 in subduing certain half-savage regions in the 
 north, beyond the Araxes. He accordingly 
 raised an army, and set off on an expedition 
 for this purpose, against a country which was 
 governed by a barbarian queen named Tomyris. 
 He met with a variety of adventures on tins 
 
14 Darius the Great. [B.C. 530. 
 
 Cambyses and Smerdis. Hystaspes and Darius. 
 
 expedition, all of which are fully detailed in our 
 history of Cyrus. There is, however, only one 
 occurrence that it is necessary to allude to par- 
 ticularly here. That one relates to a remark- 
 able dream which he had one night, just after 
 he had crossed the river. 
 
 To explain properly the nature of this dream, 
 it is necessary first to state that Cyrus had two 
 sons. Their names were Cambyses and Smer- 
 dis. He had left them in Persia when he set 
 out on his expedition across the Araxes. There 
 was also a young man, then about twenty years 
 of age, in one of his capitals, named Darius. He 
 was the son of one of the nobles of Cyrus's court. 
 His father's name was Hystaspes. Hystaspes, 
 besides being a noble of the court, was also, as 
 almost all nobles were in those days, an officer 
 of the army. He accompanied Cyrus in his 
 march into the territories of the barbarian queen, 
 and was with him there, in camp, at the time 
 when this narrative commences. 
 
 Cyrus, it seems, felt some misgivings in re- 
 spect to the result of his enterprise ; and, in 
 order to insure the tranquillity of his empire du- 
 ring his absence, and the secure transmission 
 of his power to his rightful successor in case he 
 should never return, he established his son Cam- 
 
B.C. 530.] Cambyses. 15 
 
 Dream of Cyrus. _ His anxiety and fears. 
 
 byses as regent of his realms before he crossed 
 the Araxes, and delivered the government of 
 the empire, with great formality, into his hands. 
 This took place upon the frontier, just before 
 the army passed the river. The mind of a 
 father, under such circumstances, would natu- 
 rally be occupied, in some degree, with thoughts 
 relating to the arrangements which his son 
 would make, and to the difficulties he would 
 be likely to encounter in managing the moment- 
 ous concerns which had been committed to his 
 charge. The mind of Cyrus was undoubtedly 
 so occupied, and this, probably, was the origin 
 of the remarkable dream. 
 
 His dream was, that Darius appeared to him 
 in a vision, with vast wings growing from his 
 shoulders. Darius stood, in the vision, on the 
 confines of Europe and Asia, and his wings, 
 expanded either way, overshadowed the whole 
 known world. When Cyrus awoke and re- 
 flected on this ominous dream, it seemed to 
 him to portend some great danger to the fu- 
 ture security of his empire. It appeared to 
 denote that Darius was one day to bear sway 
 over all the world. Perhaps he might be even 
 then forming ambitious and treasonable designs. 
 Cyrus immediately sent for Hystaspes, the 
 
16 Darius the Great. [B.C. 530. 
 
 Accession of Cambyses. War with Egypt. 
 
 father of Darius ; when he came to his tent, 
 he commanded him to go back to Persia, and 
 keep a strict watch over the conduct of his son 
 until he himself should return. Hystaspes re- 
 ceived this commission, and departed to execute 
 it; and Cyrus, somewhat relieved, perhaps, of 
 his anxiety by this measure of precaution, went 
 on with his army toward his place of destina- 
 tion. 
 
 Cyrus never returned. He was killed in bat- 
 tle ; and it would seem that, though the import 
 of his dream was ultimately fulfilled, Darius 
 was not, at that time, meditating any schemes 
 of obtaining possession of the throne, for he 
 made no attempt to interfere with the regular 
 transmission of the imperial power from Cy- 
 rus to Cambyses his son. At any rate, it was 
 so transmitted. The tidings of Cyrus's death 
 came to the capital, and Cambyses, his son, 
 reigned in his stead. 
 
 The great event of the reign of Cambyses was 
 a war with Egypt, which originated in the fol- 
 lowing very singular manner : 
 
 It has been found, in all ages of the world, that 
 there is some peculiar quality of the soil, or 
 climate, or atmosphere of Egypt which tends to 
 produce an inflammation of the eyes. The in- 
 
B.C. 530.] Cambyses. 17 
 
 Origin of the war with Egypt. Ophthalmia. 
 
 habitants themselves have at all times been 
 very subject to this disease, and foreign armies 
 marching into the country are always very seri- 
 ously affected by it. Thousands of soldiers in 
 such armies are sometimes disabled from this 
 cause, and many are made incurably blind. 
 Now a country which produces a disease in its 
 worst form and degree, will produce also, gen- 
 erally, the best physicians for that disease. At 
 any rate, this was supposed to be the case in 
 ancient times ; and accordingly, when any pow- 
 erful potentate in those days was afflicted him- 
 self with ophthalmia, or had such a case in his 
 family, Egypt was the country to send to for a 
 physician. 
 
 Now it happened that Cyrus himself, at one 
 time in the course of his life, was attacked with 
 this disease, and he dispatched an embassador 
 to Amasis, who. was then king of Egypt, asking 
 him to send him a physician. Amasis, who, 
 like all the other absolute sovereigns of those 
 days, regarded his subjects as slaves that were 
 in all respects entirely at his disposal, selected 
 a physician of distinction from among the at- 
 tendants about his court, and ordered him to 
 repair to Persia. The physician was extremely 
 reluctant to go. He had a wife and family, 
 B 
 
18 Darius the Great. [B.C. 530. 
 
 The Egyptian physician. His plan of revenge. 
 
 from whom he was very unwilling to be sepa- 
 rated ; but the orders were imperative, and he 
 must obey. He set out on the journey, there- 
 fore, but he secretly resolved to devise some 
 mode of revenging himself on the king for the 
 cruelty of sending him. 
 
 He was well received by Cyrus, and, either 
 by his skill as a physician, or from other causes, 
 he acquired great influence at the Persian court. 
 At last he contrived a mode of revenging him- 
 self on the Egyptian king for having exiled him 
 from his native land. The king had a daugh- 
 ter, who was a lady of great beauty. Her fa- 
 ther was very strongly attached to her. The 
 physician recommended to Cyrus to send to 
 Amasis and demand this daughter in marriage. 
 As, however, Cyrus was already married, the 
 Egyptian princess would, if she came, be his 
 concubine rather than his wife, or, if considered 
 a wife, it could only be a secondary and subor- 
 dinate place that she could occupy. The phy- 
 sician knew that, under these circumstances, 
 the King of Egypt would be extremely unwill- 
 ing to send her to Cyrus, while he would yet 
 scarcely dare to refuse ; and the hope of plung- 
 ing him into extreme embarrassment and dis- 
 tress, by means of such a demand from so pow- 
 
B.C. 530.] Cambyses. 19 
 
 Demand of Cyrus. Stratagem of the King of Egypt. 
 
 erful a sovereign, was the motive which led the 
 physician to recommend the measure. 
 
 Cyrus was pleased with the proposal, and 
 sent, accordingly, to make the demand. The 
 king, as the physician had anticipated, could 
 not endure to part with his daughter in such a 
 way, nor did he, on the other hand, dare to in- 
 cur the displeasure of so powerful a monarch hy 
 a direct and open refusal. He finally resolved 
 upon escaping from the difficulty hy a stratagem. 
 
 There was a young and beautiful captive 
 princess in his court named Nitetis. Her fa- 
 ther, whose name was Aprils, had been formerly 
 the King of Egypt, but he had been dethroned 
 and killed by Amasis. Since the downfall of 
 her family, Nitetis had been a captive ; but, as 
 she was very beautiful and very accomplished, 
 Amasis conceived the desisni of sending her to 
 Cyrus, under the pretense that she was the 
 daughter whom Cyrus had demanded. He ac- 
 cordingly brought her forth, provided her with 
 the most costly and splendid dresses, loaded her 
 with presents, ordered a large retinue to attend 
 her, and sent her forth to Persia. 
 
 Cyrus was at first very much pleased with 
 his new bride. Nitetis became, in fact, his prin- 
 cipal favorite ; though, of course, Ms other wife, 
 
20 Darius the Great. [B.C. 530. 
 
 Resentment of Cassandane. Threats of Cambyses. 
 
 whose name was Cassandane, and her children, 
 Cambyses and Smerdis, were jealous of her, and 
 hated her. One day, a Persian lady was visit- 
 ing at the court, and as she was standing near 
 Cassandane, and saw her two sons, who were 
 then tall and handsome young men, she ex- 
 pressed her admiration of them, and said to 
 Cassandane, " How proud and happy you must 
 he !" " No," said Cassandane ; " on the con- 
 trary, I am very miserable ; for, though I am 
 the mother of these children, the king neglects 
 and despises me. All his kindness is bestowed 
 on this Egyptian woman." Cambyses, who 
 heard this conversation, sympathized deeply 
 with Cassandane in her resentment. "Moth- 
 er," said he, " be patient, and I will avenge you. 
 As soon as I am king, I will go to Egypt and 
 turn the whole country upside down." 
 
 In fact, the tendency which there was in the 
 mind of Cambyses to look upon Egypt as the 
 first field of war and conquest for him, so soon 
 as he should succeed to the throne, was encour- 
 aged by the influence of his father ; for Cyrus, 
 although he was much captivated by the charms 
 of the lady whom the King of Egypt had sent 
 him, Was greatly incensed against the king for 
 having practiced upon him such a deception. 
 
B.C. 530.] Cambyses. 21 
 
 Future conquests. Temperament and character of Cambyses. 
 
 Besides, all the important countries in Asia 
 were already included within the Persian do- 
 minions. It was plain that if any future prog- 
 ress were to he made in extending the empire, 
 the regions of Europe and Africa must he the 
 theatre of it. Egypt seemed the most accessi- 
 hle and vulnera hie point heyond the confines of 
 Asia; and thus, though Cyrus himself, heing 
 advanced somewhat in years, and interested, 
 moreover, in other projects, was not prepared to 
 undertake an enterprise into Africa himself, he 
 was very willing that such plans should he cher- 
 ished hy his son. 
 
 Camhyses was an ardent, impetuous, and 
 self-willed hoy, such as the sons of rich and 
 powerful men are very apt to hecome. They 
 imbibe, hy a sort of sympathy, the ambitious 
 and aspiring spirit of their fathers ; and as all 
 their childish caprices and passions are general- 
 ly indulged, they never learn to submit to con- 
 trol. They become vain, self-conceited, reck- 
 less, and cruel. The conqueror who founds an 
 empire, although even his character generally 
 deteriorates very seriously toward the close of 
 his career, still usually knows something of 
 moderation and generosity. His son, however, 
 who inherits his father's power, seldom inherits 
 
22 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 527. 
 
 Impetuosity of Cambyses. Preparations for the Egyptian war. 
 
 the virtues by which the power was acquired. 
 These truths, which we see continually exem- 
 plified all around us, on a small scale, in the 
 families of the wealthy and the powerful, were 
 illustrated most conspicuously, in the view of 
 all mankind, in the case of Cyrus and Camby- 
 ses. The father was prudent, cautious, wise, 
 and often generous and forbearing. The son 
 grew up headstrong, impetuous, uncontrolled, 
 and uncontrollable. He had the most lofty 
 ideas of his own greatness and power, and he 
 felt a supreme contempt for the rights, and in- 
 difference to the happiness of all the world be- 
 sides. His history gives us an illustration of 
 the worst which the principle of hereditary sov- 
 ereignty can do, as the best is exemplified in 
 the case of Alfred of England. 
 
 Cambyses, immediately after his father's 
 death, began to make arrangements for the 
 Egyptian invasion. The first thing to be de- 
 termined was the mode of transporting his ar- 
 mies thither. Egypt is a long and narrow val- 
 ley, with the rocks and deserts of Arabia on one 
 side, and those of Sahara on the other. There 
 is no convenient mode of access to it except by 
 sea, and Cambyses had no naval force sufficient 
 for a maritime expedition. 
 
B.C. 527.] Cambyses. 23 
 
 Desertion of Phanes. His narrow escape. 
 
 "While he was revolving the subject in his 
 mind, there arrived in his capital of Susa, where 
 he was then residing, a deserter from the army 
 of Amasis in Egypt. The name of this desert- 
 er was Phanes. He was a Greek, having been 
 the commander of a body of Grreek troops who 
 were employed by Amasis as auxiliaries in his 
 army. He had had a quarrel with Amasis, and 
 had fled to Persia, intending to join Cambyses 
 in the expedition which he was contemplating, 
 in order to revenge himself on the Egyptian 
 king. Phanes said, in telling his story, that he 
 had had a very narrow escape from Egypt ; for, 
 as soon as Amasis had heard that he had fled, 
 he dispatched one of his swiftest vessels, a gal- 
 ley of three banks of oars, in hot pursuit of the 
 fugitive. The galley overtook the vessel in 
 which Phanes had taken passage just as it was 
 landing in Asia Minor. The Egyptian officers 
 seized it and made Phanes prisoner. They im- 
 mediately began to make their preparations for 
 the return voyage, putting Phanes, in the mean 
 time, under the charge of guards, who were in- 
 structed to keep him very safely. Phanes, 
 however, cultivated a good understanding with 
 his guards, and presently invited them to drink 
 wine with him. In the end, he got them intox- 
 
24 Darius the Great. [B.C. 527. 
 
 Information given by Phanes. Treaty with the Arabian king. 
 
 icated, and while they were in that state he 
 made his escape from them, and then, traveling 
 with great secrecy and caution until he was be- 
 yond their reach, he succeeded in making his 
 way +o Cambyses in Susa. 
 
 Phanes gave Cambyses a great deal of in- 
 formation in respect to the geography of Egypt, 
 the proper points of attack, the character and 
 resources of the king, and communicated, like- 
 wise, a great many other particulars which it 
 was very important that Cambyses should know. 
 He recommended that Cambyses should proceed 
 to Egypt by land, through Arabia ; and that, in 
 order to secure a safe passage, he should send first 
 to the King of the Arabs, by a formal embassy, 
 asking permission to cross his territories with an 
 army, and engaging the Arabians to aid him, if 
 possible, in the transit. Cambyses did this. 
 The Arabs were very willing to join in any pro- 
 jected hostilities against the Egyptians; they 
 offered Cambyses~a free passage, and agreed to 
 aid his army on iiheir march. To the faithful 
 fulfillment of these stipulations the Arab chief 
 bound himself by a treaty, executed with the 
 most solemn forms and ceremonies. 
 
 The great difficulty to be encountered in 
 traversing the deserts which Cambyses would 
 
B.C. 526.] Cambyses. 25 
 
 Plan for providing water. Account of Herodotus. 
 
 have to cross on his way to Egypt was the 
 want of water. To provide for this necessity, 
 the king of the Arabs sent, a vast number of 
 camels into the desert, laden with great sacks 
 or bags full of water. These camels were sent 
 forward just before the army of Cambyses came 
 on, and they deposited their supplies along the 
 route at the points where they would be most 
 needed. Herodotus, the Grreek traveler, who 
 made a journey into Egypt not a great many 
 years after these transactions, and who wrote 
 subsequently a full description of what he saw 
 and heard there, gives an account of another 
 method by which the Arab king was said to 
 have conveyed water into the desert, and that 
 was by a canal or pipe, made of the skins of 
 oxen, which he laid along the ground, from a 
 certain river of his dominions, to a distance of 
 twelve days' journey over the sands! This 
 story Herodotus says he did not believe, though 
 elsewhere in the course of his history he gravely 
 relates, as true history, a thousand tales infi- 
 nitely more improbable than the idea of a leath- 
 ern pipe or hose like this to serve for a conduit 
 of water. 
 
 By some means or other, at all events, the 
 Arab chief provided supplies of water in the 
 
26 Darius the G-reat. [B.C. 526. 
 
 A great battle. Defeat of the Egyptians. 
 
 desert for Cambyses's army, and the troops made 
 the passage safely. They arrived, at length, on 
 the frontiers of Egypt.* Here they found that 
 Amasis, the king, was dead, and Psammeni- 
 tus, his son, had succeeded him. Psammenitus 
 came forward to meet the invaders. A great 
 battle was fought. The Egyptians were rout- 
 ed. Psammenitus fled up the Nile to the city 
 of Memphis, taking with him such broken rem- 
 nants of his army as he could get together after 
 the battle, and feeling extremely incensed and 
 exasperated against the invader. In fact, Cam- 
 byses had now no excuse or pretext whatever 
 for waging such a war against Egypt. The 
 monarch who had deceived his father was dead, 
 and there had never been any cause of com- 
 plaint against his son or against the Egyptian 
 people. Psammenitus, therefore, regarded the 
 invasion of Egypt by Carr^byses as a wanton 
 and wholly unjustifiable aggression, and he de- 
 termined, in his own mind, that such invaders 
 deserved no mercy, and that he would show 
 them none. Soon after this, a galley on the 
 river, belonging to Cambyses, containing a crew 
 
 * For the places mentioned in this chapter, and the track 
 of Cambyses on his expedition, see the map at the com- 
 mencement of this volume. 
 
B.C. 526.] Cambyses. 27 
 
 Inhuman conduct of Cambyses. His treatment of Psammenitus. 
 
 of two hundred men, fell into his hands. The 
 Egyptians, in their rage, tore these Persians all 
 to pieces. This exasperated Cambyses in his 
 turn> and the war went on, attended by the 
 most atrocious cruelties on both sides. 
 
 In fact, Cambyses, in this Egyptian cam- 
 paign, pursued such a career of inhuman and 
 reckless folly, that people at last considered him 
 insane. He began with some small semblance 
 of moderation, but he proceeded, in the end, to 
 the perpetration of the most terrible excesses of 
 violence and wrong. 
 
 As to his moderation, his treatment of Psam- 
 menitus personally is almost the only instance 
 that we can record. In the course of the war, 
 Psammenitus and all his family fell into Cam- 
 byses's hands as captives. A few days after- 
 ward, Cambyses conducted the unhappy king 
 without the gates of the city to exhibit a spec- 
 tacle to him. The spectacle was that of his 
 beloved daughter, clothed in the garments of a 
 slave, and attended by a company of other 
 maidens, the daughters of the nobles and other 
 persons of distinction belonging to his court, all 
 going down to the river, with heavy jugs, to 
 draw water. The fathers of all these hapless 
 maidens had been brought out with Psamme- 
 
28 Darius the Great. [B.C. 526. 
 
 The train of captive maidens. The young men. 
 
 nitus to witness the degradation and misery of 
 their children. The maidens cried and sobbed 
 aloud as they went along, overwhelmed with 
 shame and terror. Their fathers manifested 
 the utmost agitation and distress. Cambyses 
 stood smiling by, highly enjoying the spectacle. 
 Psammenitus alone appeared unmoved. He 
 gazed on the scene silent, motionless, and with 
 a countenance which indicated no active suffer- 
 ing ; he seemed to be in a state of stupefaction 
 and despair. Cambyses was disappointed, and 
 his pleasure was marred at finding that his vic- 
 tim did not feel more acutely the sting of the 
 torment with which he was endeavoring to 
 goad him. 
 
 When this train had gone by, another came. 
 It was a company of young men, with halters 
 about their necks, going to execution. Cam- 
 byses had ordered that for every one of the crew 
 of his galley that the Egyptians had killed, ten 
 Egyptians should be executed. This propor- 
 tion would require two thousand victims, as 
 there had been two hundred in the crew. These 
 victims were to be selected from among the 
 sons of the leading families ; and their parents, 
 after having seen their delicate and gentle 
 daughters go to their servile toil, were now 
 
B.C. 524] Cambyses. 29 
 
 Scenes of distress and suffering. Composure of Psammenitus. 
 
 next to behold their sons march in a long and 
 terrible array to execution. The son of Psam- 
 menitus was at the head of the column. The 
 Egyptian parents who stood around Psamme- 
 nitus wept and lamented aloud, as one after 
 another saw his own child in the train. Psam- 
 menitus himself, however, remained as silent 
 and motionless, and with a countenance as va- 
 cant as before. Cambyses was again disap- 
 pointed. The pleasure which the exhibition 
 afforded him was incomplete without visible 
 manifestations of suffering in the victim for 
 whose torture it was principally designed. 
 
 After this train of captives had passed, there 
 came a mixed collection of wretched and mis- 
 erable men, such as the siege and sacking of 
 a city always produces in countless numbers. 
 Among these was a venerable man whom Psam- 
 menitus recognized as one of his friends. He 
 had been a man of wealth and high station ; he 
 had often been at the court of the king, and had 
 been entertained at his table. He was now, 
 however, reduced to the last extremity of dis- 
 tress, and was begging of the people something 
 to keep him from starving. The sight of this 
 man in such a condition seemed to awaken the 
 king from his blank and death-like despair. He 
 
30 Darius the Great. [B.C. 524. 
 
 Feelings of the father. His explanation of them. 
 
 called his old friend by name in a tone of aston- 
 ishment and pity, and burst into tears. 
 
 Cambyses, observing this, sent a messenger to 
 Psammenitus to inquire what it meant. " He 
 wishes to know," said the messenger, " how it 
 happens that you could see your own daughter 
 set at work as a slave, and your son led away 
 to execution unmoved, and yet feel so much 
 commiseration for the misfortunes of a stran- 
 ger." We might suppose that any one possess- 
 ing the ordinary susceptibilities of the human 
 soul would have understood without an explan- 
 ation the meaning of this, though it is not sur- 
 prising that such a heartless monster as Cam- 
 byses did not comprehend it. Psammenitus 
 sent him word that he could not help weeping 
 for his friend, but that his distress and anguish 
 on account of his children were too great for 
 tears. 
 
 The Persians who were around Cambyses 
 began now to feel a strong sentiment of com- 
 passion for the unhappy king, and to intercede 
 with Cambyses in his favor. They begged him, 
 too, to spare Psammenitus's son. It will in- 
 terest those of our readers who have perused 
 our history of Cyrus to know that Croesus, the 
 captive king of Lydia, whom they will recollect 
 
B.C. 524.] Cambyses. 31 
 
 Cambyses relents. His treatment of the body of Amasis. 
 
 to have been committed to Cambyses's charge 
 by his father, just before the close of his life, 
 w.hen he was setting forth on his last fatal ex- 
 pedition, and who accompanied Cambyses on 
 this invasion of Egypt, was present on this oc- 
 casion, and was one of the most earnest inter- 
 ceders in Psammenitus's favor. Cambyses al- 
 lowed himself to be persuaded. They sent off 
 a messenger to order the execution of the king's 
 son to be stayed ; but he arrived too late. The 
 unhappy prince had already fallen. Cambyses 
 was so far appeased by the influence of these 
 facts, that he abstained from doing Psammeni- 
 tus or his family any further injury. 
 
 He, however, advanced up the Nile, ravaging 
 and plundering the country as he went on, and 
 at length, in the course of his conquests, he 
 gained possession of the tomb in which the em- 
 balmed body of Amasis was deposited. He or- 
 dered this body to be taken out of its sarcopha- 
 gus, and treated with every mark of ignominy. 
 His soldiers, by his orders, beat it with rods, as 
 if it could still feel, and goaded it, and cut it 
 with swords. They pulled the hair out of the 
 head by the roots, and loaded the lifeless form 
 with every conceivable mark of insult and ig- 
 nominy. Finally, Cambyses ordered the mu- 
 
32 Darius the Great. [B.C. 524. 
 
 Cambyses's desecrations. The sacred bull Apis. 
 
 tilated remains that were left to be burned, 
 which was a procedure as abhorrent to the ideas 
 and feelings of the Egyptians as could possibly 
 be devised. 
 
 Cambyses took every opportunity to insult 
 the religious, or as, perhaps, we ought to call 
 them, the superstitious feelings of the Egyp- 
 tians. He broke into their temples, desecrated 
 their altars, and subjected every thing which 
 they held most sacred to insult and ignominy. 
 Among their objects of religious veneration was 
 the sacred bull called Apis. This animal was 
 selected from time to time, from the country at 
 large, by the priests, by means of certain marks 
 which they pretended to discover upon its body, 
 and which indicated a divine and sacred char- 
 acter. The sacred bull thus found was kept in 
 a magnificent temple, and attended and fed in a 
 most sumptuous manner. In serving him, the 
 attendants used vessels of gold. 
 
 Cambyses arrived at the city where Apis was 
 kept at a time when the priests were celebra- 
 ting some sacred occasion with festivities and re- 
 joicings. He was himself then returning from 
 an unsuccessful expedition which he had made, 
 and, as he entered the town, stung with vexa- 
 tion and anger at his defeat, the gladness and 
 
B.C. 524.] Cambyseb. 33 
 
 Cambyses stabs the sacred bull. His mad expeditious. 
 
 joy which the Egyptians manifested in their 
 ceremonies served only to irritate him, and to 
 make him more angry than ever. He killed 
 the priests who were officiating. He then de- 
 manded to be taken into the edifice to see the 
 sacred animal, and there, after insulting the 
 feelings of the worshipers in every possible way 
 by ridicule and scornful words, he stabbed the 
 innocent bull with his dagger. The animal 
 died of the wound, and "the whole country was 
 filled with horror and indignation. The people 
 believed that this deed would most assuredly 
 bring down upon the impious perpetrator of it 
 the judgments of heaven. 
 
 Cambyses organized, while he was in Egypt, 
 several mad expeditions into the surrounding- 
 countries. In a fit of passion, produced by an 
 unsatisfactory answer to an embassage, he set 
 off suddenly, and without any proper prepara- 
 tion, to march into Ethiopia. The provisions 
 of his army were exhausted before he had per- 
 formed a fifth part of the march. Still, in his 
 infatuation, he determined to go on. The sol- 
 diers subsisted for a time on such vegetables as 
 they could find by the way ; when these failed, 
 they slaughtered and ate their beasts of burden ; . 
 and finally, hi the extremity of their famine, 
 C 
 
34 Darius the Great. [B.C. 524. 
 
 The sand storm. Cambyses a wine-bibbcr. 
 
 they began to kill and devour one another ; then, 
 at length, Cambyses concluded to return. He 
 sent off, too, at one time, a large army across 
 the desert toward the Temple of Jupiter Am- 
 nion, without any of the necessary precautions 
 for such a march. This army never reached 
 their destination, and they never returned. 
 The people of the Oasis said that they were 
 overtaken by a sand storm in the desert, and 
 were all overwhelmed. 
 
 There was a certain officer in attendance on 
 Cambyses named Prexaspes. He was a sort 
 of confidential friend and companion of the 
 king ; and his son, who was a fair, and grace- 
 ful, and accomplished youth, was the king's 
 cup-bearer, which was an office of great consid- 
 eration and honor. One day Cambyses asked 
 Prexaspes what the Persians generally thought 
 of him. Prexaspes replied that they thought 
 and spoke well of him in all respects but one. 
 The king wished to know what the exception 
 was. Prexaspes rejoined, that it was the gen- 
 eral opinion that he was too much addicted to 
 wine. Cambyses was offended at this reply j 
 and, under the influence of the feeling, so wholly 
 unreasonable and absurd, which so often leads 
 men to be angry with the innocent medium 
 
'■»7! \h ~H 
 
 ft 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 I 
 
B.C. 524.] Cambyses. 37 
 
 Brutal act of Cambyses. He is deemed insane. 
 
 through which there comes to them any com- 
 munication which they do not like, he determ- 
 ined to punish Prexaspes for his freedom. He 
 ordered his son, therefore, the cup-hearer, to 
 take his place against the wall on the other 
 side of the room. " Now," said he, " I will put 
 what the Persians say to the test." As he said 
 this, he took up a bow and arrow which were 
 at his side, and began to fit the arrow to the 
 string. " If," said he, " I do not shoot him ex- 
 actly through the heart, it shall prove that the 
 Persians are right. If I do, then they are wrong, 
 as it will show that I do not drink so much as 
 to make my hand unsteady." So saying, he 
 drew the bow, the arrow flew through the air, 
 and pierced the poor boy's breast. He fell, and 
 Cambyses coolly ordered the attendants to open 
 the body, and let Prexaspes see whether the ar- 
 row had not gone through the heart. 
 
 These, and a constant succession of similar 
 acts of atrocious and reckless cruelty and folly, 
 led the world to say that Cambyses was insane. 
 
38 Darius the Great. [B.C.523. 
 
 Cambyses's profligate conduct. He marries his own sisters. 
 
 Chapter II. 
 The End of Cambyses. 
 
 AMONG- the other acts of profligate wicked- 
 ness which have blackened indelibly and 
 forever Cambyses's name, he married two of 
 his own sisters, and brought one of them with 
 him to Egypt as his wife. The natural in- 
 stincts of all men, except those whose early life 
 has been given up to the most shameless and 
 dissolute habits of vice, are sufficient to preserve 
 them "from such crimes as these. Cambyses 
 himself felt, it seems, some misgivings when 
 contemplating the first of these marriages ; and 
 he sent to a certain council of judges, whose 
 province it was to interpret the laws, asking 
 them their opinion of the rightfulness of such 
 a marriage. Kings ask the opinion of their le- 
 gal advisers in such cases, not because they 
 really wish to know whether the act in question 
 is right or wrong, but because, having them- 
 selves determined upon the performance of it, 
 they wish their counselors to give it a sort of 
 legal sanction, in order to justify the deed, and 
 
B.C.523.] The End of Cambyses. 39 
 
 Consultation of the Persian judges. Their opinion. 
 
 diminish the popular odium which it might 
 otherwise incur. 
 
 The Persian judges whom Cambyses con- 
 sulted on this occasion understood very well 
 what was expected of them. After a grave 
 deliberation, they returned answer to the king 
 that, though they could find no law allowing a 
 man to marry his sister, they found many which 
 authorized a king of Persia to do whatever he 
 thought best. Cambyses accordingly carried 
 his plan into execution. He married first the 
 older sister, whose name was Atossa. Atossa 
 became subsequently a personage of great his- 
 torical distinction. The daughter of Cyrus, the 
 wife of Darius, and the mother of Xerxes, she 
 was the link that bound together the three 
 most magnificent potentates of the whole East- 
 ern world. How far these sisters were willing 
 participators in the guilt of their incestuous 
 marriages we can not now know. The one 
 who went with Cambyses into Egypt was of 
 a humane, and gentle, and timid disposition, 
 being in these respects wholly unlike her broth- 
 er ; and it may be that she merely yielded, in 
 the transaction of her marriage, to her brother's 
 arbitrary and imperious will. 
 
 Besides this sister, Cambyses had brought 
 
40 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 Smerdis. Jealousy of Cambyses. The two magi. 
 
 his brother Smerdis with him into Egypt. 
 Smerdis was younger than Cambyses, but he 
 was superior to him in strength and personal ac- 
 complishments. Cambyses was very jealous 
 of this superiority. He did not dare to leave 
 his brother in Persia, to manage the govern- 
 ment in his stead during his absence, lest he 
 should take advantage of the temporary power 
 thus committed to his hands, and usurp the 
 throne altogether. He decided, therefore, to 
 bring Smerdis with him into Egypt, and to 
 leave the government of the state in the hands 
 of a regency composed of two magi. These 
 magi were public officers of distinction, but, 
 having no hereditary claims to the crown, Cam- 
 byses thought there would be little danger of 
 their attempting to usurp it. It happened, how- 
 ever, that the name of one of these magi was 
 Smerdis. This coincidence between the magi- 
 an's name and that of the prince led, in the 
 end, as will presently be seen, to very import- 
 ant consequences. 
 
 The uneasiness and jealousy which Camby- 
 ses felt in respect to his brother was not whol- 
 ly allayed by the arrangement which he thus 
 made for keeping him in his army, and so un- 
 der his own personal observation and command. 
 
B.C.523.] The End of Cambyses. 41 
 
 Cambj r ses suspicious. He plans an invasion of Ethiopia. 
 
 Smerdis evinced, on various occasions, so much 
 strength and skill, that Cambyses feared his in- 
 fluence among the officers and soldiers, and was 
 rendered continually watchful, suspicious, and 
 afraid. A circumstance at last occurred which 
 excited his jealousy more than ever, and he de- 
 termined to send Smerdis home again to Persia. 
 The circumstance was this : 
 
 After Cambyses had succeeded in obtaining 
 full possession of Egypt, he formed, among his 
 other wild and desperate schemes, the design of 
 invading the territories of a nation of Ethiopi- 
 ans who lived in the interior of Africa, around 
 and beyond the sources of the Nile. The Ethi- 
 opians were celebrated for then* savage strength 
 and bravery. Cambyses wished to obtain in- 
 formation respecting them and their country 
 before setting out on his expedition against 
 them, and he determined to send spies into their 
 country to obtain it. But, as Ethiopia was a 
 territory so remote, and as its institutions and 
 customs, and the language, the dress, and the 
 manners of its inhabitants were totally different 
 from those of all the other nations of the earth, 
 and were almost wholly unknown to the Per- 
 sian army, it was impossible to send Persians 
 in disguise, with any hope that they could en- 
 
42 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 Island of Elephantine. - The Icthyophagi. 
 
 ter and explore the country without being dis- 
 covered. It was very doubtful, in fact, wheth- 
 er, if such spies were to be sent, they could 
 succeed in reaching Ethiopia at all. 
 
 Now there was, far up the Nile, near the cat- 
 aracts, at a place where the river widens and 
 forms a sort of bay, a large and fertile island 
 called Elephantine, which was inhabited by a 
 half-savage tribe called the Icthyophagi. They 
 lived mainly by fishing on the river, and, conse- 
 quently, they had many boats, and were accus- 
 tomed to make long exclusions up and down 
 the stream. Their name was, in fact, derived 
 from their occupation. It was a Greek word, 
 and might be translated " Fishermen."* The 
 manners and customs of half-civilized or savage 
 nations depend entirely, of course, upon the 
 modes in which they procure their subsistence. 
 Some depend on hunting wild beasts, some on 
 rearing flocks and herds of tame animals, some 
 on cultivating the ground, and some on fishing 
 in rivers or in the sea. These four different 
 modes of procuring food result in as many to- 
 tally diverse modes of life: it is a curious fact, 
 however, that while a nation of hunters differs 
 very essentially from a nation of herdsmen or 
 
 * Literally, fish-eaters. 
 
 ■ 
 
B.C. 523.] The End of Cambyses. 43 
 
 Classes of savage nations. Embassadors sent to Ethiopia. 
 
 of fishermen, though they may Live, perhaps, in 
 the same neighborhood with them, still, all na- 
 tions of hunters, however widely they may he 
 separated in geographical position, very strong- 
 ly resemble one another in character, in cus- 
 toms, in institutions, and in all the usages of 
 life. It is so, moreover, with all the other types 
 of national constitution mentioned above. The 
 Greeks observed these characteristics of the va- 
 rious savage tribes with which they became ac- 
 quainted, and whenever they met with a tribe 
 that lived by fishing, they called them Icthy- 
 ophagi. ' 
 
 Cambyses sent to the Icthyophagi of the isl- 
 and of Elephantine, requiring them to furnish 
 him with a number of persons acquainted with 
 the route to Ethiopia and with the Ethiopian 
 language, that he might send them as an em- 
 bassy. He also provided some presents to be 
 sent as a token of friendship to the Ethiopian 
 king. The presents were, however, only a pre- 
 text, to enable the embassadors, who were, in 
 fact, spies, to go to the capital and court of the 
 Ethiopian monarch in safety, and bring back to 
 Cambyses all the information which they should 
 be able to obtain. 
 
 The presents consisted of such toys and orna- 
 
 
44 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 The presents. The Ethiopian king detects the imposture. 
 
 merits as they thought would most please the 
 fancy of a savage king. There were some pur- 
 ple vestments of a very rich and splendid dye, 
 and a golden chain for the neck, golden brace- 
 lets for the wrists, an alabaster box of very pre- 
 cious perfumes, and other similar trinkets and 
 toys. There was also a large vessel filled with 
 wine. 
 
 The Icthyophagi took these presents, and set 
 out on their expedition. After a long and toil- 
 some voyage and journey, they came to the 
 country of the Ethiopians, and delivered their 
 presents, together with the message which Cam- 
 byses had intrusted to them. The presents, 
 they said, had been sent by Cambyses as a 
 token of his desire to become the friend and ally 
 of the Ethiopian king. 
 
 The king, instead of being deceived by this 
 hypocrisy, detected the imposture at once. He 
 knew very well, he said, what was the motive 
 of Cambyses in sending such an embassage to 
 him, and he should advise Cambyses to be con- 
 tent with his own dominions, instead of planning 
 aggressions of violence, and schemes and strata- 
 gems of deceit against his neighbors, in order to 
 get possession of theirs. He then began to look 
 at the presents which the embassadors had 
 
B.C. 523.] The End of Cambyses. 45 
 
 *The Ethiopian king's opinion of Cambyses's presents. 
 
 brought, which, however, he appeared very 'soon 
 to despise. The purple vest first attracted his 
 attention. He asked whether that was the true, 
 natural color of the stuff, or a false one. The 
 messengers told him that the linen was dyed, 
 and began to explain the process to him. The 
 mind of the savage potentate, however, instead 
 of being impressed, as the messengers supposed 
 he would have been through their description, 
 with a high idea of the excellence and superi- 
 ority of Persian art, only despised the false show 
 of what he considered an artificial and fictitious 
 beauty. " The beauty of Cambyses's dresses," 
 said he, "is as deceitful, it seems, as the fair 
 show of his professions of friendship." As to 
 the golden bracelets- and necklaces, the king 
 looked upon them with contempt. He thought 
 that they were intended for fetters and chains, 
 and said that, however well they might answer 
 among the effeminate Persians, they were wholly 
 insufficient to confine such sinews as he had to 
 deal with. The wine, however, he liked. He 
 drank it with great pleasure, and told the Icthy- 
 ophagi that it was the only article among all 
 their presents that was worth receiving. 
 
 In return for the presents which Cambyses 
 had sent him, the King of the Ethiopians, who 
 
46 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 Return of the Icthyophagi. The Ethiopian bow. 
 
 was a man of prodigious size and strength, took 
 down his bow and gave it to the Icthyophagi, 
 telling them to carry it to Cambyses as a token 
 of his defiance, and to ask him to see if he could 
 find a man in all his army who could bend it. 
 " Tell Cambyses," he added, " that when his sol- 
 diers are able to bend such bows as that, it will 
 be time for him to think of invading the terri- 
 tories of the Ethiopians ; and that, in the mean 
 time, he ought to consider himself very fortu- 
 nate that the Ethiopians were not grasping and 
 ambitious enough to attempt the invasion of 
 his." 
 
 "When the Icthyophagi returned to Camby- 
 ses with this message, the strongest men in the 
 Persian camp were of course greatly interested 
 in examining and trying the bow. Smerdis 
 was the only one that could be found who was 
 strong enough to bend it ; and he, by the supe- 
 riority to the others which he thus evinced, 
 gained great renown. Cambyses was filled with 
 jealousy and anger. He determined to send 
 Smerdis back again to Persia. " It will be bet- 
 ter," thought he to himself, " to incur whatever 
 danger there may be of his exciting revolt at 
 home, than to have him present in my court, 
 subjecting me to continual mortification and 
 
B.C. 523.] The End of Cambyses. 47 
 
 Jealousy of Cambyses. He orders Smerdis to be murdered. 
 
 chagrin by the perpetual parade of his superior- 
 ity." 
 
 His mind was, however, not at ease after his 
 brother had gone. Jealousy and suspicion in re- 
 spect to Smerdis perplexed his waking thoughts 
 and troubled his dreams. At length, one night, 
 he thought he saw Smerdis seated on a royal 
 throne in Persia, his form expanded supernatu- 
 rally to such a prodigious size that he touched 
 the heavens with his head. The next day, Cam- 
 byses, supposing that the dream portended dan- 
 ger that Smerdis would be one day in posses- 
 sion of the throne, determined to put a final and 
 perpetual end to all these troubles and fears, 
 and he sent for an officer of his court, Prexaspes 
 — the same whose son he shot through the heart 
 with an arrow, as described in the last chapter 
 — and commanded him to proceed immediately 
 to Persia, and there to find Smerdis, and kill 
 him. The murder of Prexaspes's son, though 
 related in the last chapter as an illustration of 
 Cambyses's character, did not actually take 
 place till after Prexaspes returned from this ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 Prexaspes went to Persia, and executed the 
 orders of the king by the assassination of Smer- 
 dis. There are different accounts of the mode 
 
48 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 Cambyses grows more cruel. Twelve noblemen buried alive. 
 
 which he adopted for accomplishing his purpose. 
 One is, that he contrived some way to drown 
 him in the sea ; another, that he poisoned him ; 
 and a third, that he killed him in the forests, 
 when he was out on a hunting excursion. At 
 all events, the deed was done, and Prexaspes 
 went back to Cambyses, and reported to him 
 that he had nothing further to fear from his 
 brother's ambition. 
 
 In the mean time, Cambyses went on from 
 bad to worse in his government, growing every 
 day more despotic and tyrannical, and abandon- 
 ing hinself to fits of cruelty and passion which 
 became' more and more excessive and insane. 
 At one time, on some slight provocation, he or- 
 dered twelve distinguished noblemen of his 
 court to be buried alive. It is astonishing that 
 there can be institutions and arrangements in 
 the social state which will give one man such 
 an ascendency over others that such commands 
 can be obeyed. On another occasion, Camby- 
 ses's sister and wife, who had mourned the 
 death of her brother Smerdis, ventured a re- 
 proach to Cambyses for having destroyed him. 
 She was sitting at table, with some plant or 
 flower in her hand, which she slowly picked to 
 pieces, putting the fragments on the table. She 
 
B.C.523.] The End of Cambyses. 49 
 
 Cambyses's cruelty to his sister. Her death. 
 
 asked Cambyses whether he thought the flower 
 looked fairest and best in fragments, or in its 
 original and natural integrity. " It looked 
 best, certainly," Cambyses said, " when it was 
 whole." "And yet," said she, "you have be- 
 gun to take to pieces and destroy our family, as 
 I have destroyed this flower." Cambyses sprang 
 upon his unhappy sister, on hearing this re- 
 proof, with the ferocity of a tiger. He threw 
 her down and leaped upon her. The attend- 
 ants succeeded in rescuing her and bearing her 
 away ; but she had received a fatal injury. 
 She fell immediately into a premature and un- 
 natural sickness, and died. 
 
 These fits of sudden and terrible passion to 
 which Cambyses was subject, were often fol- 
 lowed, when they had passed by, as is usual in 
 such cases, with remorse and misery ; and some- 
 times the officers of Cambyses, anticipating a 
 change in their master's feelings, did not exe- 
 cute his cruel orders, but concealed the object 
 of his blind and insensate vengeance until the 
 paroxysm was over. They did this once in the 
 case of Croesus. Croesus, who was now a ven- 
 erable man, advanced in years, had been for a 
 long time the friend and faithful counselor of 
 Cambyses's father. He had known Cambyses 
 D 
 
50 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 The venerable Croesus. His advice to Cambyses. 
 
 himself from his boyhood, and had been charged 
 by his father to watch over him and counsel 
 him, and aid him, on all occasions which might 
 require it, with his experience and wisdom. 
 Cambyses, too, had been solemnly charged by 
 his father Cyrus, at the last interview that he 
 had with him before his death, to guard and 
 protect Crcesus, as his father's ancient and 
 faithful friend, and to treat him, as long as he 
 lived, with the highest consideration and honor. 
 
 Under these circumstances, Crcesus consid- 
 ered himself justified in remonstrating one day 
 with Cambyses against his excesses and his 
 cruelty. He told him that he ought not to give 
 himself up to the control of such violent and 
 impetuous passions ; that, though his Persian 
 soldiers and subjects had borne with him thus 
 far, he might, by excessive oppression and cru- 
 elty, exhaust their forbearance and provoke 
 them to revolt against him, and that thus he 
 might suddenly lose his power, through his in- 
 temperate and inconsiderate use of it. Crcesus 
 apologized for offering these counsels, saying 
 that he felt bound to warn Cambyses of his 
 danger, in obedience to the injunctions of Cy- 
 rus, his father. 
 
 Cambyses fell into a violent passion at hear- 
 
B.C.523.] The End of Cambyses. 51 
 
 Cambyses's rage at CrcEsus. He attempts to kill him. 
 
 iiig these words. He told Croesus that he was 
 amazed at his presumption in daring to offer 
 him advice, and then began to load his vener- 
 able counselor with the bitterest invectives and 
 reproaches. He taunted him with his own mis- 
 fortunes, in losing, as he had done, years before, 
 his own kingdom of Lydia, and then accused 
 him of having been the means, through his fool- 
 ish counsels, of leading his father, Cyrus, into 
 the worst of the difficulties which befell him to- 
 ward the close of his life. At last, becoming 
 more and more enraged by the reaction upon 
 himself of his own angry utterance, he told 
 Croesus that he had hated him for a long time, 
 and for a long time had wished to punish him ; 
 " and now," said he, " you have given me an 
 opportunity." So saying, he seized his bow, 
 and began to fit an arrow to .►the string. Croesus 
 fled. Cambyses ordered his attendants to pur- 
 sue him, and when they had taken him, to kill 
 him. The officers knew that Cambyses would 
 regret his rash and reckless command as soon as 
 his anger should have subsided, and so, instead 
 of slaying Croesus, they concealed him. A few 
 days after, when the tyrant began to express his 
 remorse and sorrow at having destroyed his ven- 
 erable friend in the heat of passion, and to mourn 
 
52 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 The declaration of the oracle. Ecbatane, Susa, and Babylon. 
 
 his death, they told him that Croesus was still 
 alive. They had ventured, they said, to save 
 him, till they could ascertain whether it was 
 the kind's real and deliberate determination that 
 he must die. The king was overjoyed to find 
 Croesus still alive, hut he would not forgive 
 those who had been instrumental in saving him. 
 He ordered every one of them to be executed. 
 
 Cambyses was the more reckless and des- 
 perate in these tyrannical cruelties because he 
 believed that he possessed a sort of charmed life. 
 He had consulted an oracle, it seems, in Media, 
 in respect to his prospects of life, and the oracle 
 had informed him that he would die at Ecbat- 
 ane. Now Ecbatane was one of the three 
 great capitals of his empire, Susa and Babylorr 
 being the others. Ecbatane was the most north- 
 erly of these cities, and the most remote from 
 danger. Babylon and Susa were the points 
 where the great transactions of government 
 chiefly, centered, while Ecbatane was more par- 
 ticularly the private residence of the kings. It 
 was their refuge in danger, their retreat in sick- 
 ness and age. In a word, Susa was their seat 
 of government, Babylon their great commercial 
 emporium, but Ecbatane was their home. 
 
 And thus as the oracle, when Cambyses in- 
 
B.C.522.] The End of Cambyses. 53 
 
 Cambyses returns northward. He enters Syria. 
 
 quired in respect to the circumstances of his 
 death, had said that it was decreed by the fates 
 that he should die at Ecbatane, it meant, as he 
 supposed, that he should die in peace, in his 
 bed, at the close of the usual period allotted to 
 the life of man. Considering thus that the 
 fates had removed all danger of a sudden and 
 violent death from his path, he abandoned him- 
 self to his career of vice and folly, remembering 
 only the substance of the oracle, while the par- 
 ticular form of words in which it was expressed 
 passed from his mind. 
 
 At length Cambyses, after completing his 
 conquests in Egypt, returned to the northward, 
 along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, until 
 he came into Syria. The province of Galilee, 
 so often mentioned in the sacred Scriptures, 
 was a part of Syria. In traversing Galilee at 
 the head of the detachment of troops that was 
 accompanying him, Cambyses came, one day, 
 to a small town, and encamped there. The 
 town itself was of so little importance that 
 Cambyses did not, at the time of his arriving 
 at it, even know its name. His encampment 
 at the place, however, was marked by a very 
 memorable event, namely, he met with a herald 
 here, who was traveling through Syria, saying 
 
54 Darius the Great. [B.C. 522. 
 
 A herald proclaims Smerdis. The herald seized. 
 
 that he had been sent from Siisa to proclaim 
 to the people of Syria that Smerdis, the son of 
 Cyrus, had assumed the throne, and to enjoin 
 upon them all to obey no orders except such 
 as should come from him ! 
 
 Cambyses had supposed that Smerdis was 
 dead. Prexaspes, when he had returned from 
 Susa, had reported that he had killed him. He 
 now, however, sent for Prexaspes, and demand- 
 ed of him what this proclamation could mean. 
 Prexaspes renewed, and insisted upon, his dec- 
 laration that Smerdis was dead. He had de- 
 stroyed him with his own hands, and had seen 
 him buried. " If the dead can rise from the 
 grave," added Prexaspes, "then Smerdis may, 
 perhaps, raise a revolt and appear against you ; 
 but not otherwise." 
 
 Prexaspes then recommended that the king 
 should send and seize the herald, and inquire 
 particularly of him in respect to the govern- 
 ment in whose name he was acting. Cambyses 
 did so. The herald was taken and brought be- 
 fore the king. On being questioned whether it 
 was true that Smerdis had really assumed the 
 government and commissioned him to make 
 proclamation of the fact, he replied that it was 
 so. He had not seen Smerdis himself, he said, 
 
B.C. 522.] The End of Cambyses. 55 
 
 Probable explanation. Rage of Cambyses. 
 
 for he kept himself shut up very closely in his 
 palace ; but he was informed of his accession by 
 one of the magians whom Cambyses had left in 
 command. It was by Mm, he said, that he had 
 been commissioned to proclaim Smerdis as king. 
 
 Prexaspes then said that he had no doubt 
 that the two magians whom Cambyses had left 
 in charge of the government had contrived to 
 seize the throne. He reminded Cambyses that 
 the name of one of them was Smerdis, and that 
 probably that was the Smerdis who was usurp- 
 ing the supreme command. C ambyses said that 
 he was convinced that tins supposition was 
 true. His dream, in which he had seen a vision 
 of Smerdis, with his head reaching to the heav- 
 ens, referred, he had no doubt, to the magian 
 Smerdis, and not to his brother. He began bit- 
 terly to reproach himself for havmg caused his 
 innocent brother to be put to death; but the 
 remorse which, he thus felt for his crime, in as- 
 sassinating an imaginary rival, soon gave way 
 to rage and resentment against the real usurp- 
 er. He called for his horse, and began to mount 
 him in hot haste, to give immediate orders, and 
 make immediate preparations for marching to 
 Susa. 
 
 As he bounded into the saddle, with his mind 
 
56 Darius the Great. [B.C. 522 
 
 Cambyses mortally wounded. • His remorse and despair. 
 
 in this state of reckless desperation, the sheath, 
 by some accident or by some carelessness caus- 
 ed by his headlong haste, fell from his sword, 
 and the naked point of the weapon pierced his 
 thigh. The attendants took him from his horse, 
 and conveyed him again to his tent. The wound, 
 on examination, proved to be a very dangerous 
 one, and the strong passions, the vexation, the 
 disappointment, the impotent rage, which were 
 agitating the mind of the patient, exerted an 
 influence extremely unfavorable to recovery. 
 Cambyses, terrified at the prospect of death, 
 asked what was the name of the town where 
 he was lying. They told him it was Ecbatane. 
 
 He had never thought before of the possibil- 
 ity that there might be some other Ecbatane 
 besides his splendid royal retreat in Media ; but 
 now, when he learned that was the name of the 
 place where he was then encamped, he felt sure 
 that his hour was come, and he was overwhelm- 
 ed with remorse and despair. 
 
 He suffered, too, inconceivable pain and an- 
 guish from his wound. The sword had pierced 
 to the bone, and the inflammation which had 
 supervened was of the worst character. After 
 some days, the acuteness of the agony which he 
 at first endured passed gradually away, though 
 
B.C.522.] The End of Cambyses. 57 
 
 Cambyses calls his nobles about him. His dying declaration. 
 
 the extent of the injury resulting from the 
 wound was growing every clay greater and more 
 hopeless. The sufferer lay, pale, emaciated, 
 and wretched, on his couch, his mind, in every 
 interval of bodily agony, filling up the void with 
 the more dreadful sufferings of horror and de- 
 spair. 
 
 At length, on the twentieth day after his 
 wound had been received, he called the leading 
 nobles of his court and officers of his army about 
 his bedside, and said to them that he was about 
 to die, and that he was compelled, by the calam- 
 ity which had befallen him, to declare to them 
 what he would otherwise have continued to keep 
 concealed. The person who had usurped the 
 throne under the name of Smerdis, he now said, 
 was not, and could not be, his brother Smerdis, 
 the son of Cyrus. He then proceeded to give 
 them an account of the manner in which his 
 fears in respect to his brother had been excited 
 by his dream, and of the desperate remedy that 
 he had resorted to in ordering him to be killed. 
 He believed, he said, that the usurper was Smer- 
 dis the magian, whom he had left as one of the 
 regents when he set out on his Egyptian cam- 
 paign. He urged them, therefore, not to sub- 
 mit to his sway, but to go back to Media, and 
 
58 Darius the Great. [B.C. 522. 
 
 Death of Cambyses. IIis"dying declaration discredited. 
 
 if they could not conquer him and put him down 
 by open war, to destroy him by deceit and strata- 
 gem, or in any way whatever by which the end 
 could be accomplished. Cambyses urged this 
 with so much of the spirit of hatred and revenge 
 beaming in his hollow and glassy eye as to show 
 that sickness, pain, and the approach of death, 
 which had made so total a change in the wretch- 
 ed sufferer's outward condition, had altered noth- 
 ing within. 
 
 Very soon after making this communication 
 to his nobles, Cambyses expired. 
 
 It will well illustrate the estimate which 
 those who knew him best, formed of this great 
 hero's character, to state, that those who heard 
 this solemn declaration did not believe one word 
 of it from beginning to, end. They supposed 
 that the whole story which the dying tyrant 
 had told them, although he had scarcely breath 
 enough left to tell it, was a fabrication, dictated 
 by his fraternal jealousy and hate. They be- 
 lieved that it was really the true Smerdis who 
 had been proclaimed king, and that Cambyses 
 had invented, in his dying moments, the story 
 of his having killed him, in order to prevent 
 the Persians from submitting peaceably to his 
 reign. 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magian. 59 
 
 Usurpation of the magians. . Circumstances favoring it. 
 
 Chapter III. 
 Smerdis the Magian. 
 
 CAMBYSES and his friends had been right 
 in their conjectures that it was Smerdis 
 the magian who had usurped the Persian throne. 
 This Smerdis resembled, it was said, the son of 
 Cyrus in his personal appearance as well as in 
 name. The other magian who had been asso- 
 ciated with him in the regency when Cambyses 
 set out from Persia on his Egyptian campaign 
 was his brother. His name was Patizithes. 
 When Cyrus had been some time absent, these 
 magians, having in the mean time, perhaps, 
 heard unfavorable accounts of his conduct and 
 character, and knowing the effect which such 
 wanton tyranny must have in alienating from 
 him the allegiance of his subjects, conceived 
 the design of taking possession of the empire in 
 their own name. The great distance of Cam- 
 byses and his army from home, and his Jong- 
 continued absence, favored this plan. Their 
 own position, too, as they were already in pos- 
 session of the capitals and the fortresses of the 
 
60 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Murder of Smerdis not known. He is supposed to be alive. 
 
 country, aided them ; and then the name of 
 Smerdis, being the same with that of the brother 
 of Cambyses, was a circumstance that greatly 
 promoted the success of the undertaking. In 
 addition to all these general advantages, the 
 cruelty of Cambyses was the means of furnish- 
 ing them with a most opportune occasion for 
 putting their plans into execution. 
 
 The reader will recollect that, as was related 
 in the last chapter, Cambyses first sent his 
 brother Smerdis home, and afterward, when 
 alarmed by his dream, he sent Prexaspes to 
 murder him. Now the return of Smerdis was 
 publicly and generally known, while his as- 
 sassination by Prexaspes was kept a profound 
 secret. Even the Persians connected with 
 Cambyses' s court in Egypt had not heard of 
 the perpetration of this crime, until Cambyses 
 confessed it on his dying bed, and even then, 
 as was stated in the last chapter, they did not 
 believe it. It is not probable that it was known 
 in Media and Persia ; so that, after Prexaspes 
 accomplished his work, and returned to Cam- 
 byses with the report of it, it was probably gen- 
 erally supposed that his brother was still alive, 
 and was residing somewhere in one or another 
 of the royal palaces. 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magian. 61 
 
 Precautions taken by Smerdis. Effect of Cambyses's measures. 
 
 Such royal personages were often accustom- 
 ed to live thus, in a state of great seclusion, 
 spending their time in effeminate pleasures 
 within the walls of their palaces, parks, and 
 gardens. When the royal Smerdis, therefore, 
 secretly and suddenly disappeared, it would be 
 very easy for the magian Smerdis, with the col- 
 lusion of a moderate number of courtiers and 
 attendants, to take his place, especially if he 
 continued to live in retirement, and exhibited 
 himself as little as possible to public view. 
 Thus it was that Cambyses himself, by the 
 very crimes which he committed to shield him- 
 self from all danger of a revolt, opened the way 
 which specially invited it, and almost insured 
 its success. Every particular step that he took, 
 too, helped to promote the end. His sending 
 Smerdis home ; his waiting an interval, and 
 then sending Prexaspes to destroy him ; his or- 
 dering his assassination to be secret — these, and 
 all the other attendant circumstances, were 
 only so many preliminary steps, preparing the 
 way for the success of the revolution which was 
 to accomplish his ruin. He was, in a word, his 
 own destroyer. Like other wicked men, he 
 found, in the end, that the schemes of wicked- 
 ness which he had malignantly aimed at the 
 
62 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Opinion in regard to Smerdis. Acquiescence of the people. 
 
 destruction of others, had been all the time slow- 
 ly and surely working out his own. 
 
 The people of Persia, therefore, were. prepar- 
 ed by Cambyses's own acts to believe that the 
 usurper Smerdis was really Cyrus's son, and, 
 next to Cambyses, the heir to the throne. The 
 army of Cambyses, too, in Egypt, believed the 
 same. It was natural that they should do so, 
 for they placed no confidence whatever in Cam- 
 byses's dying declarations ; and since intelli- 
 gence, which seemed to be official, came from 
 Susa declaring that Smerdis was still alive, and 
 that he had actually taken possession of the 
 throne, there was no apparent reason for doubt- 
 ing the fact. Besides, Prexaspes, as soon as 
 Cambyses was dead, considered it safer for him 
 to deny than to confess having murdered the 
 prince. He therefore declared that Cambyses's 
 story was false, and that he had no doubt that 
 Smerdis, the monarch in whose name the gov- 
 ernment was administered at Susa, was the son 
 of Cyrus, the true and rightful heir to the 
 throne. Thus all parties throughout the em- 
 pire acquiesced peaceably in what they suppos- 
 ed to be the legitimate succession. 
 
 In the mean time, the usurper had placed 
 himself in an exceedingly dizzy and precarious 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magian. 63 
 
 Dangerous situation of Smerdis. Arrangement with Patizithes. 
 
 situation, and one which it would require a 
 great deal of address and skillful management 
 to sustain. The plan arranged between him- 
 self and his brother for a division of the advant- 
 ages which they had secured by their joint and 
 common cunning was, that Smerdis was to en- 
 joy the ease and pleasure, and Patizithes the 
 substantial power of the royalty which they had 
 so stealthily seized. This was the safest plan. 
 Smerdis, by living secluded, and devoting him- 
 self to retired and private pleasures, was the 
 more likely to escape public observation ; while 
 Patizithes, acting as his prime minister of state, 
 could attend councils, issue orders, review troops, 
 dispatch embassies, and perform all the other 
 outward functions of supreme command, with 
 safety as well as pleasure. Patizithes seems to 
 have been, in fact, the soul of the whole plan. 
 He was ambitious and aspiring in character, 
 and if he could only himself enjoy the actual 
 exercise of royal power, he was willing that his 
 brother should enjoy the honor of possessing it. 
 Patizithes, therefore, governed the realm, act- 
 ing, however, in all that he did, in Smerdis's 
 name. 
 
 Smerdis, on his part, was content to take 
 possession of the palaces, the parks, and the 
 
64 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Smerdis lives in retirement.. Special grounds of apprehension. 
 
 gardens of Media and Persia, and to live in them 
 in retired and quiet luxury and splendor. He 
 appeared seldom in public, and then only under 
 such circumstances as should not expose him 
 to any close observation on the part of the spec- 
 tators. His figure, air, and manner, and the 
 general cast of his countenance, were very much 
 like those of the prince whom he was attempt- 
 ing to personate. There was one mark, how- 
 ever, by which he thought that there was dan- 
 ger that he might be betrayed, and that was, 
 his ears had been cut off. This had been done 
 many years before, by command of Cyrus, on 
 account of some offense of which he had been 
 guilty. The marks of the mutilation could, in- 
 deed, on public occasions, be concealed by the 
 turban, or helmet, or other head-dress which he 
 wore ; but in private there was great danger ei- 
 ther that the loss of the ears, or the studied ef- 
 fort to conceal it, should be observed. Smerdis 
 was, therefore, very careful to avoid being seen 
 in private, by keeping himself closely secluded. 
 He shut himself up in the apartments of his 
 palace at Susa, within the citadel, and never 
 invited the Persian nobles to visit him there. 
 
 Among the other means of luxury and pleas- 
 ure which Smerdis found in the royal palaces, 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magian. 65 
 
 Cambyses's wives. Smerdis appropriates them. 
 
 and which he appropriated to his own enjoy- 
 ment, were Cambyses's wives. In those times, 
 Oriental princes and potentates — as is, in fact, 
 the case at the present day, in many Oriental 
 countries — possessed a great number of wives, 
 who were bound to them by different sorts of 
 matrimonial ties, more or less permanent, and 
 bringing them into relations more or less inti- 
 mate with their husband and sovereign. These 
 wives were in many respects in the condition 
 of slaves : in one particular they were especial- 
 ly so, namely, that on the death of a sovereign 
 they descended, like any other property, to the 
 heir, who added as many of them as he pleased 
 to his own seraglio, Until this was done, the 
 unfortunate women were shut up in close se- 
 clusion on the death of their lord, like mourn- 
 ers who retire from the world when suffering 
 any great and severe bereavement. 
 
 The wives of Cambyses were appropriated by 
 Smerdis to himself on his taking possession of 
 the throne and hearing of Cambyses's death. 
 Among them was Atossa, who has already been 
 mentioned as the daughter of Cyrus, and, of 
 course, the sister of Oambyses as well as his 
 wife. In order to prevent these court ladies 
 from being the means, in any way, of discover- 
 
66 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Phaedyma. Measures of Otanes. 
 
 ing the imposture which he was practicing, the 
 magian continued to keep them all closely shut 
 up in their several separate apartments, only 
 allowing a favored few to visit him, one by one, 
 in turn, while he prevented their having any 
 communication with one another. 
 
 The name of one of these ladies was Phesdy- 
 ma. She was the daughter of a Persian noble 
 of the highest rank and influence, named Ota- 
 nes. Otanes, as well as some other nobles of 
 the court, had observed and reflected upon the 
 extraordinary circumstances connected with the 
 accession of Smerdis to the throne, and the sin- 
 gular mode of life that he led in'secluding him- 
 self, in a manner so extraordinary for a Persian 
 monarch, from all intercourse with his nobles 
 and his people. The suspicions of Otanes and 
 his associates were excited, but no one dared to 
 communicate his thoughts to the others. At 
 length, however, Otanes, who was a man of 
 great energy as well as sagacity and discretion, 
 resolved that he would take some measures to 
 ascertain the truth. 
 
 He first sent a messenger to Phsedyma, his 
 daughter, asking of her whether it was really 
 Smerdis, the son of Cyrus, who received her 
 when she went to visit the king. Phaedyma, 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magian. 67 
 
 Otanes's communications with his daughter. Her replies. 
 
 in return, sent her father word that she did not 
 know, for she had never seen Smerdis, the son 
 of Cyrus, "before the death of Cambyses. She 
 therefore could not say, of her own personal 
 knowledge, whether the king was the genuine 
 Smerdis or not. Otanes then sent to Phaedyma 
 a second time, requesting her to ask the queen 
 Atossa. Atossa was the sister of Smerdis the 
 prince, and had known him from his childhood. 
 Phaedyma sent back word to her father that 
 she could not speak to Atossa, for she was kept 
 closely shut up in her own apartments, without 
 the opportunity to communicate with any one. 
 Otanes then sent a third time to his daughter, 
 telling her that there was one remaining mode 
 by which she might ascertain the truth, and 
 that was, the next time that she visited the 
 king, to feel for his ears when he was asleep. 
 If it was Smerdis the magian, she would find 
 that he had none. He urged his daughter to 
 do this by saying that, if the pretended king 
 was really an impostor, the imposture ought to 
 be made known, and that she, being of noble 
 birth, ought to have the courage and energy to 
 assist in discovering it. To this Phaedyma re- 
 plied that she would do as her father desired, 
 though she knew that she hazarded her fife in 
 
68 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Phffidyma discovers the deception. Otanes and the six nobles. 
 
 the attempt. "If he has no ears," said she, 
 " and if I awaken him in attempting to feel for 
 them, he will kill me ; I am sure that he will 
 kill me on the spot." 
 
 The next time that it came to Phsedyma's 
 turn to visit the king, she did as her father had 
 requested. She passed her hand very cautious- 
 ly beneath the king's turban, and found that his 
 ears had been cut off close to his head. Early 
 in the morning she communicated the knowl- 
 edsfe of the fact to her father. 
 
 o 
 
 Otanes immediately made the case known 
 to two of his friends, Persian nobles, who had, 
 with him, suspected the imposture, and had 
 consulted together before in respect to the means 
 of detecting it. The question was, what was 
 now to be done. After some deliberation, it was 
 agreed that each of them should communicate 
 the discovery which they had made to one other 
 person, such as each should select from among 
 the circle of his friends as the one on whose res- 
 olution, prudence, and fidelity he could most im- 
 plicitly rely. This was done, and the number 
 admitted to the secret was thus increased to 
 six. At this juncture it happened that Darius, 
 the son of Hystaspes, the young man who has 
 already been mentioned as the subject of Cy- 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magian. 71 
 
 Arrival of Darius. Secret consultations, 
 
 rus's dream, came to Susa: Darius was a man 
 of great prominence and popularity. His father, 
 Hystaspes, was at that time the governor of the 
 province of Persia, and Darius had been re- 
 siding with him in that country. As soon as 
 the six conspirators heard of his arrival, they 
 admitted him to their councils, and thus their 
 number was increased to seven. 
 
 They immediately began to hold secret con- 
 sultations for the purpose of determining how 
 it was best to proceed, first binding themselves 
 by the most solemn oaths never to betray one 
 another, however their undertaking might end. 
 Darius told them that he had himself discovered 
 the imposture and usurpation of Smerdis, and 
 that he had come from Persia for the purpose 
 of slaying him ; and that now, since it appeared 
 that the secret was known to so many, he was 
 of opinion that they ought to act at once with 
 the utmost decision. He thought there would 
 be great danger in delay. 
 
 Otanes, on the other hand, thought that they 
 were not yet ready for action. They must first 
 increase their numbers. Seven persons were 
 too few to attempt to revolutionize an empire. 
 He commended the courage and resolution 
 which Darius displayed, but he thought that a 
 
72 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Various opinions. Views of Darius. 
 
 more cautious and deliberate policy would be 
 far more likely to conduct them to a safe result. 
 
 Darius replied that the course which Otanes 
 recommended would certainly ruin them. " If 
 we make many other persons acquainted with 
 our plans," said he, " there will be some, not- 
 withstanding all our precautions, who will be- 
 tray us, for the sake of the immense rewards 
 which they well know they would receive in 
 that case from the king. No," he added, " we 
 must act ourselves, and alone. We must do 
 nothing to excite suspicion, but must go at once 
 into the palace, penetrate boldly into Smerdis's 
 presence, and slay him before he has time to 
 suspect our designs." 
 
 " But we can not get into his presence," re- 
 plied Otanes. " There are guards stationed 
 at every gate and door, who will not allow us 
 to pass. If we attempt to kill them, a tumult 
 will be immediately raised, and the alarm given, 
 and all our designs will thus be baffled." 
 
 " There will be little difficulty about the 
 guards," said Darius. " They know us all, and, 
 from deference to our rank and station, they 
 will let us pass without suspicion, especially if 
 we act boldly and promptly, and do not give 
 them time to stop and consider what to do. 
 
B.C. 520.] Smeedis the Magian. 73 
 
 Apology for a falsehood. Opinion of Gobryas. 
 
 Besides, I can say that I have just arrived from 
 Persia with important dispatches for the king, 
 and that I must be admitted immediately into 
 his presence. If a falsehood must be told, so 
 let it be. T?he urgency of the crisis demands 
 and sanctions it." 
 
 It may seem strange to the reader, consider- 
 ing the ideas and habits of the times, that Da- 
 rius should have even thought it necessary to 
 apologize to his confederates for his proposal of 
 employing falsehood in the accomplishment of 
 their plans ; and it is, in fact, altogether prob- 
 able that the apology which he is made to utter 
 is his historian's, and not his own. 
 
 The other conspirators had remained silent 
 during this discussion between Darius and Ota- 
 nes ; but now a third, whose name was Grobry- 
 as, expressed his opinion in favor of the course 
 which Darius recommended. He was aware, 
 he said, that, in attempting to force their way 
 into the king's presence and kill him by a sud- 
 den assault, they exposed themselves to the 
 most imminent danger ; but it was better for 
 them to die in the manly attempt to bring back 
 the imperial power again into Persian hands, 
 where it properly belonged, than to acquiesce 
 any further in its continuance in the possession 
 
74 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Uneasiness of the magi. Situation of Prexaspes. 
 
 of the ignoble Median priests who had so treach- 
 erously usurped it. 
 
 To this counsel they all finally agreed, and 
 began to make arrangements for carrying their 
 desperate enterprise into execution. 
 
 In the mean time, very extraordinary events 
 were transpiring in another part of the city. 
 The two magi, Smerdis the king and Patizithes 
 his brother, had some cause, it seems, to fear 
 that the nobles about the court, and the officers 
 of the Persian army, were not without suspi- 
 cions that the reigning monarch was not the 
 real son of Cyrus. Rumors that Smerdis had 
 been killed by Prexaspes, at the command of 
 Cambyses, were in circulation. These rumors 
 were contradicted, it is true, in private, by 
 Prexaspes, whenever he was forced to speak of 
 the subject ; but he generally avoided it ; and 
 he spoke, when he spoke at all, in that timid 
 and undecided tone which men usually assume 
 when they are persisting in a lie. In the mean 
 time, the gloomy recollections of his past life, 
 the memory of his murdered son, remorse for 
 his own crime in the assassination of Smerdis, 
 and anxiety on account of the extremely dan- 
 gerous position in which he had placed himself 
 by his false denial of it, all conspired to harass 
 
B.C.520.] Smerdis the Magian. 75 
 
 Measures of the magi. An assembly of the people. 
 
 his mind with perpetual restlessness and mis- 
 ery, and to make life a burden. 
 
 In order to do something to quiet the suspi- 
 cions which the magi feared were prevailing, 
 they did not know how extensively, they con- 
 ceived the plan of inducing Prexaspes to declare 
 in a more public and formal manner what he 
 had been asserting timidly in private, namely, 
 that Smerdis had not been killed. They ac- 
 cordingly convened an assembly of the people in 
 a court-yard of the palace, or perhaps took ad- 
 vantage of some gathering casually convened, 
 and proposed that Prexaspes should address 
 them from a neighboring tower. Prexaspes was 
 a man of high rank and of great influence, and 
 the magi thought that his public espousal of 
 their cause, and his open and decided contra- 
 diction of the rumor that he had killed Camby- 
 ses's brother, would fully convince the Persians 
 that it was really the rightful monarch that had 
 taken possession of the throne. 
 
 But the strength even of a strong man, when 
 he has a lie to carry, soon becomes very small. 
 That of Prexaspes was already almost exhaust- 
 ed and gone. He had been wavering and hes- 
 itating before, and this proposal, that he should 
 commit himself so formally and solemnly, and 
 
76 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 520 
 
 Decision of Prexaspes. His speech from the towa 
 
 in so public a manner, to statements wholly 
 and absolutely untrue, brought him to a stand. 
 He decided, desperately, in his own mind, that 
 he would go on in his course of falsehood, re- 
 morse, and wretchedness no longer. He, how- 
 ever, pretended to accede to the propositions of 
 the magi. He ascended the tower, and began 
 to address the people. Instead, however, of de- 
 nying that he had murdered Smerdis, he fully 
 confessed to the astonished audience that he had 
 really committed that crime; he openly de- 
 nounced the reigning Smerdis as an impostor, 
 and called upon all who heard him to rise at 
 once, destroy the treacherous usurper, and vin- 
 dicate the rights of the true Persian line. As 
 he went on, with vehement voice and gestures, 
 in this speech, the utterance of which he knew 
 sealed his own destruction, he became more and 
 more excited and reckless. He denounced his 
 hearers in the severest language if they failed 
 to obey his injunctions, and imprecated upon 
 them, in that event, all the curses of Heaven. 
 The people listened to this strange and sudden 
 phrensy of eloquence in utter amazement, mo- 
 tionless and silent ; and before they or the offi- 
 cers of the king's household who were present 
 had time even to consider what to do, Prexas- 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magi an. 77 
 
 Death of Prexaspes. The conspirators. 
 
 pes, coming abruptly to the conclusion of his 
 harangue, threw himself headlong from the 
 parapet of the tower, and came down among 
 them, lifeless and mangled, on the pavement 
 below. 
 
 Of course, all was now tumult and commo- 
 tion in the court-yard, and it happened to be 
 just at this juncture that the seven conspira- 
 tors came from the place of their consultation 
 to the palace, with a view of executing their 
 plans. They were soon informed of what had 
 taken place. Otanes was now again disposed 
 to postpone their attempt upon the life of the 
 king. The event which had occurred changed, 
 he said, the aspect of the subject, and they must 
 wait until the tumult and excitement should 
 have somewhat subsided. But Darius was 
 more eager than ever in favor of instantaneous 
 action. He said that there was not a moment 
 to be lost; for the magi, so soon as they should 
 be informed of the declarations and of the death 
 of Prexaspes, would be alarmed, and would take 
 at once the most effectual precautions to guard 
 against any sudden assault or surprise. 
 
 These arguments, at the very time in which 
 Darius was offering them with so much vehe- 
 mence and earnestness, were strengthened by a 
 
78 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 The omen. The conspirators enter the palace. 
 
 very singular sort of confirmation ; for while the 
 conspirators stood undetermined, they saw a 
 flock of birds moving across the sky, which, on 
 their more attentively regarding them, proved to 
 he seven hawks pursuing two vultures. This 
 they regarded an omen, intended to signify to 
 them, by a divine intimation, that they ought to 
 proceed. They hesitated, therefore, no longer. 
 They went together to the outer gates of the 
 palace. The action of the guards who were 
 stationed there was just what Darius had pre- 
 dicted that it would be. Awed by the imposing 
 spectacle of the approach of seven nobles of the 
 highest distinction, who were advancing, too, 
 with an earnest and confident air, as if expect- 
 ing no obstacle to their admission, they gave 
 way at once, and allowed them to enter. The 
 conspirators went on until they came to the 
 inner apartments, where they found eunuchs 
 in attendance at the doors. The eunuchs re- 
 sisted, and demanded angrily why the guards 
 had let the strangers in. "Kill them," said 
 the conspirators, and immediately began to cut 
 them down. The magi were within, already 
 in consternation at the disclosures of Prexaspes, 
 of which they had just been informed. They 
 heard the tumult and the outcries of the eu- 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magi an. 79 
 
 Combat with the magi. Flight of Smerdis. 
 
 nuchs at the doors, and seized their arms, the 
 one a bow and the other a spear. The conspir- 
 ators rushed in. The how was useless in the 
 close combat which ensued, and the magian 
 who had taken it turned and fled. The other 
 defended himself with his spear for a moment, 
 and wounded severely two of his assailants. 
 The wounded conspirators fell. Three others 
 of the number continued the unequal combat 
 with the armed magian, while Darius and Go- 
 bryas rushed in pursuit of the other. 
 
 The flying magian ran from one apartment 
 to another until he reached a dark room, into 
 which the blind instinct of fear prompted him 
 to rush, in the vain hope of concealment. Gro- 
 bryas was foremost ; he seized the wretched 
 fugitive by the waist, and struggled to hold him, 
 while the magian struggled to get free. Gro- 
 bryas called upon Darius, who was close behind 
 him, to strike. Darius, brandishing his sword, 
 looked earnestly into the obscure retreat, that 
 he might see where to strike. 
 
 "Strike!" exclaimed Grobryas. "Why do 
 you not strike ?" 
 
 " I can not see," said Darius, " and I am 
 afraid of wounding you." 
 
 " No matter," said G-obryas, struggling des- 
 
80 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Smerdis is killed. Exultation of the conspirators. 
 
 perately all the time with his frantic victim. 
 " Strike quick, if you kill us both." 
 
 Darius struck. (xobryas loosened his hold, 
 and the magian fell upon the floor, and there, 
 stabbed again through the heart by Darius's 
 sword, almost immediately ceased to breathe. 
 
 They dragged the body to the light, and cut 
 off the head. They did the same with the other 
 magian, whom they found that their confeder- 
 ates had killed when they returned to the apart- 
 ments where they had left them contending. 
 The whole body of the conspirators then, except 
 the two who were wounded, exulting in their 
 success, and wild with the excitement which 
 such deeds always awaken, went forth into the 
 streets of the city, bearing the heads upon pikes 
 as the trophies of their victory. They sum- 
 moned the Persian soldiers to arms, and an- 
 nounced every where that they had ascertained 
 that the king was a priest and an impostor, and 
 not their legitimate sovereign, and that they 
 had consequently killed him. They called upon 
 the people to kill the magians wherever they 
 could find them, as if the whole class were im- 
 plicated in the guilt of the usurping brothers. 
 
 The populace in all countries are easily ex- 
 cited by such denunciations and appeals as 
 
 
B.C. 520.] Smerdis the Magi an. 81 
 
 General massacre of the magians. 
 
 these. The Persians armed themselves, and 
 ran to and fro every where in pursuit of the 
 unhappy magians, and before night vast num- 
 bers of them were slain. 
 
 :.. 
 
 ) 
 
 
 
82 Darius the Great. [B.C.520. 
 
 Confusion at Susa. No heir to the throne. 
 
 Chapter IY. 
 The Accession of Darius. 
 
 FOR several days after the assassination of 
 the magi the city was filled with excite- 
 ment, tumults, and confusion. There was no 
 heir, of the family of Cyrus, entitled to succeed 
 to the vacant throne, for neither Camhyses, nor 
 Smerdis his "brother, had left any sons. There 
 was, indeed, a daughter of Smerdis, named Par- 
 mys, and there were also still living two daugh- 
 ters of Cyrus. One was Atossa, whom we have 
 already mentioned as having heen married to 
 Cambyses, her brother, and as having been aft- 
 erward taken by Smerdis the magian as one of 
 his wives. These princesses, though of royal 
 lineage, seem neither of them to have been dis- 
 posed to assert any claims to the throne at such 
 a crisis. The mass of the community were 
 stupefied with astonishment at the sudden rev- 
 olution wjiich had occurred. No movement was 
 made toward determining the succession. Por 
 five days nothing was done. 
 
 During this period, all the subordinate func- 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 83 
 
 Five days' interregnum. Provisional government. 
 
 tions of government in the provinces, cities, and 
 towns, and among the various garrisons and 
 encampments of the army, went on, of course, 
 as usual, but the general administration of the 
 government had no head. The seven confeder- 
 ates had been regarded, for the time being, as 
 a sort of provisional government, the army and 
 the country in general, so far as appears, look- 
 ing to them for the means of extrication from 
 the political difficulties in which this sudden 
 revolution had involved them, and submitting, 
 in the mean time, to their direction and control. 
 Such a state of things, it was obvious, could 
 not long last ; and after five days, when the 
 commotion had somewhat subsided, they began 
 to consider it necessary to make some arrange- 
 ments of a more permanent character, the pow- 
 er to make such arrangements as they thought 
 best resting with them alone. They accord- 
 ingly met for consultation. 
 
 Herodotus the historian,* on whose narrative 
 of these events we have mainly to rely for all 
 
 * An account of Herodotus, and of the circumstances under 
 which he wrote his history, which will aid the reader very 
 much in forming an opinion in respect to the kind and degree 
 of confidence which it is proper to place in his statements, 
 will be found in the first chapter of our history of Cyrus the 
 Great. 
 
84 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Consultation of the confederates. Otanes in favor of a republic. 
 
 the information respecting them which is now 
 to be attained, gives a very minute and drama- 
 tic account of the deliberations of the conspira- 
 tors on this occasion. The account is, in fact, 
 too dramatic to be probably true. 
 
 Otanes, in this discussion, was in favor of 
 establishing a republic. He did not think it 
 safe or wise to intrust the supreme power again 
 to any single individual. It was proved, he 
 said, by universal experience, that when any 
 one person was raised to such an elevation above 
 his fellow-men, he became suspicious, jealous, 
 insolent, and cruel. He lost all regard for the 
 welfare and happiness of others, and became su- 
 premely devoted to the preservation of his own 
 greatness and power by any means, however 
 tyrannical, and to the accomplishment of the 
 purposes of his own despotic will. The best 
 and most valuable citizens were as likely to be- 
 come the victims of his oppression as the worst. 
 In fact, tyrants generally chose their favorites, 
 he said, from among the most abandoned men 
 and women in their realms, such characters be- 
 ing the readiest instruments 'of their guilty 
 pleasures and their crimes. Otanes referred 
 very particularly to the case of Cambyses as an 
 example of the extreme lengths to which the 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. So 
 
 Otaues's republic. Principles of representation. 
 
 despotic insolence and cruelty of a tyrant could 
 go. He reminded his colleagues of the suffer- 
 ings and terrors which they had endured while 
 under his sway, and urged them very strongly 
 not to expose themselves to such terrible evils 
 and dangers again. He proposed, therefore, 
 that they should establish a republic, under 
 which the officers of Government should be elect- 
 ed, and questions of public policy be determin- 
 ed, in assemblies of the people. 
 
 It must be understood, however, by the 
 reader, that a republic, as contemplated and 
 intended by Otanes in this speech, was en- 
 tirely different from the mode of government 
 which that word denotes at the present day. 
 They had little idea, in those times, of the prin- 
 ciple of representation, by which the thousand 
 separate and detached communities of a great 
 empire can choose delegates, who are to delib- 
 erate, speak, and act for them in the assemblies 
 where the great governmental decisions are ul- 
 timately made. By this principle of represent- 
 ation, the people can really all share in the 
 exercise of power. Without it they can not, 
 for it is impossible that the people of a great 
 state can ever be brought together in one as- 
 sembly ; nor, even if it were practicable to bring 
 
86 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Large assemblies. Nature of ancient republics. 
 
 them thus together, would it be possible for 
 such a concourse to deliberate or act. The ac- 
 tion of any assembly which goes beyond a very 
 few hundred in numbers, is always, in fact, the 
 action exclusively of the small knot of leaders 
 who call and manage it. Otanes, therefore, as 
 well as all other advocates of republican gov- 
 ernment in ancient times, meant that the su- 
 preme power should be exercised, not by the 
 great mass of the people included within the 
 jurisdiction in question, but by such a portion 
 of certain privileged classes as could be brought 
 together in the capital. It was such a sort of 
 republic as would be formed in this country if 
 the affairs of the country at large, and the muni- 
 cipal and domestic institutions of all the states, 
 were regulated and controlled by laws enacted, 
 and by governors appointed, at great municipal 
 meetings held in the city of New York. 
 
 This was, in fact, the nature of all the re- 
 publics of ancient times. They were generally 
 small, and the city in whose free citizens the 
 supreme power resided, constituted by far the 
 most important portion of the body politic. The 
 Roman republic, however, became at one pe- 
 riod very large. It overspread almost the whole 
 of Europe; but, Avidely extended as it was in 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 87 
 
 Nature of a representative republic. 
 
 territory, and comprising innumerable states 
 and kingdoms within its jurisdiction, the vast 
 concentration of power by which the whole was 
 governed, vested entirely and exclusively in 
 noisy and tumultuous assemblies convened in 
 the Roman forum. 
 
 Even if the idea of a representative system 
 of government, such as is adopted in modern 
 times, and by means of which the people of a 
 great and extended empire can exercise, con- 
 veniently and efficiently, a general sovereignty 
 held in common by them all, had been under- 
 stood in ancient times, it is very doubtful wheth- 
 er it could, in those times, have been carried into 
 effect, for want of certain facilities which are 
 enjoyed in the present age, and which seem es- 
 sential for the safe and easy action of so vast 
 and complicated a system as a great represent- 
 ative government must necessarily be. The 
 regular transaction of business at public meet- 
 ings, and the orderly and successful manage- 
 ment of any extended system of elections, re- 
 quires a great deal of writing ; and the general 
 circulation of newspapers, or something exer- 
 cising the great function which it is the object 
 of newspapers to fulfill, that of keeping the peo- 
 ple at large in some degree informed in respect 
 
88 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Megabyzus. He opposes the plan of Otanes. 
 
 to the progress of public affairs, seems essential 
 to the successful working of a system of repre- 
 sentative government comprising any consid- 
 erable extent of territory. 
 
 However this may be, whether a great rep- 
 resentative system would or would not have 
 been practicable in ancient times if it had been 
 tried, it is certain that it was never tried. In 
 all ancient republics, the sovereignty resided, es- 
 sentially, in a privileged class of the people of 
 the capital. The territories governed were 
 provinces, held in subjection as dependencies, 
 and compelled to pay tribute ; and this was the 
 plan which Otanes meant to advocate when rec- 
 ommending a republic, in the Persian council. 
 
 The name of the second speaker in this cel- 
 ebrated consultation was Megabyzus. He op- 
 posed the plan of Otanes. He concurred fully, 
 he said, in all that Otanes had advanced in re- 
 spect to the evils of a monarchy, and to the op- 
 pression and tyranny to which a people were 
 exposed whose liberties and lives were subject 
 to the despotic control of a single human will. 
 But, in order to avoid one extreme, it was not 
 necessary to run into the evils of the other. 
 The disadvantages and dangers of popular con- 
 trol in the management of the affairs of state 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 89 
 
 Speech of Megabyzus. He proposes an oligarchy. 
 
 were scarcely less than those of a despotism. 
 Popular assemblies were always, he said, tur- 
 bulent, passionate, capricious. Their decisions 
 were controlled by artful and designing dema- 
 gogues. It was not possible that masses of the 
 common people could have either the sagacity 
 to form wise counsels, or the energy and stead- 
 iness to execute them. There could be no de- 
 liberation, no calmness, no secrecy in their con- 
 sultations. A populace was always governed 
 by excitements, which spread among them by 
 a common sympathy ; and they would give way 
 impetuously to the most senseless impulses, as 
 they were urged by their fear, their resentment, 
 their exultation, their hate, or by any other 
 passing emotion of the hour. 
 
 Megabyzus therefore disapproved of both a 
 monarchy and a republic. He recommended 
 an oligarchy. " "We are now," said he, " al- 
 ready seven. Let us select from the leading 
 nobles in the court and officers of the army a 
 small number of men, eminent for talents and 
 virtue, and thus form a select and competent 
 body of men, which shall be the depository of 
 the supreme power. Such a plan avoids the 
 .evils and inconveniences of both the other sys- 
 tems. There can be no tyranny or oppression 
 
90 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Speech of Darius. He advocates a monarchy. 
 
 under such a system ; for, if any one of so largo 
 a number should be inclined to abuse his pow- 
 er, he will be restrained by the rest. On the 
 other hand, the number will not be so large as 
 to preclude prudence and deliberation in coun- 
 sel, and the highest efficiency and energy in 
 carrying counsels into effect." 
 
 When Megabyzus had completed his speech, 
 Darius expressed his opinion. He said that the 
 arguments of those who had already spoken ap- 
 peared plausible, but that the speakers had not 
 dealt quite fairly by the different systems whose 
 merits they had discussed, since they had com- 
 pared a good administration of one form of gov- 
 ernment with a bad administration of another. 
 Every thing human was, he admitted, subject 
 to imperfection and liable to abuse ; but on the 
 supposition that each of the three forms which 
 had been proposed were equally well adminis- 
 tered, the advantage, he thought, would be 
 strongly on the side of monarchy. Control ex- 
 ercised by a single mind and will was far more 
 concentrated and efficient than that proceeding 
 from any conceivable combination. The form- 
 ing of plans could be, in that case, more secret 
 and wary, and the execution of them more im- 
 mediate and prompt. Where power was lodg- 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 91 
 
 Four of the seven confederates concur with Darius. 
 
 ed in many hands, all energetic exercise of it 
 was paralyzed by the dissensions, the animosi- 
 ties, and the contending struggles of envious 
 and jealous rivals. These struggles, in fact, 
 usually resulted in the predominance of some 
 one, more energetic or more successful than the 
 rest, the aristocracy or the democracy running 
 thus, of its own accord, to a despotism in the 
 end, showing that there were natural causes 
 always tending to the subjection of nations of 
 men to the control of one single will. 
 
 Besides all this, Darius added, in conclusion, 
 that the Persians had always been accustomed 
 to a monarchy, and it would be a very danger- 
 ous experiment to attempt to introduce a new 
 system, which would require so great a change 
 in all the habits and usages of the people. 
 
 Thus the consultation went on. At the end 
 of it, it appeared that four out of the seven 
 agreed with Darius in preferring a monarchy. 
 This was a majority, and thus the question 
 seemed to be settled. Otanes said that he 
 would make no opposition to any measures 
 which they might adopt to carry their decision 
 into effect, but that he would not himself bo 
 subject to the monarchy which they might es- 
 tablish. " I do not wish," he added, " either to 
 
92 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Otanes withdraws. Agreement made by the rest. 
 
 govern others or to have others govern me. 
 You may establish a kingdom, therefore, if you 
 choose, and designate the monarch in any mode 
 that you see fit to adopt, hut he must not con- 
 sider me as one of his subjects. I myself, and 
 all my family and dependents, must be wholly 
 free from his control." 
 
 This was a very unreasonable proposition, 
 unless, indeed, Otanes was willing to withdraw 
 altogether from the community to which he 
 thus refused to be subject ; for, by residing 
 within it, he necessarily enjoyed its protection, 
 and ought, therefore, to bear his portion of its 
 burdens, and to be amenable to its laws. Not- 
 withstanding this, however, the conspirators ac- 
 ceded to the proposal, and Otanes withdrew. 
 
 The remaining six of the confederates then 
 proceeded with their arrangements for the es- 
 tablishment of a monarchy. They first agreed 
 that one of their own number should be the 
 king, and that on whomsoever the choice should 
 fall, the other five, while they submitted to his 
 dominion, should always enjoy peculiar privi- 
 leges and honors at his court. They were at 
 all times to have free access to the palaces and 
 to the presence of the king, and it was from 
 among their daughters alone that the king was 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 93 
 
 Singular mode of deciding which should be the king. 
 
 to choose his wives. These and some other 
 similar points having been arranged, the man- 
 ner of deciding which of the six should be the 
 king remained to be determined. The plan 
 which they adopted, and the circumstances con- 
 nected with the execution of it, constitute, cer- 
 tainly, one of the most extraordinary of all the 
 strange transactions recorded in ancient times. 
 It is gravely related by Herodotus as sober 
 truth. How far it is to be considered as by any 
 possibility credible, the reader must judge, aft- 
 er knowing what the story is. 
 
 They agreed, then, that on the following 
 morning they would ah meet on horseback at a 
 place agreed upon beyond the walls of the city, 
 and that the one whose horse should neigh first 
 should be the king ! The time when this ridic- 
 ulous ceremony was to be performed was sun- 
 rise. 
 
 As soon as this arrangement was made the 
 parties separated, and each went to his own 
 home. Darius called his groom, whose name 
 was (E bases, and ordered him to have his horse 
 ready at sunrise on the next morning, explain- 
 ing to him, at the same time, the plan which 
 had been formed for electing the king. " If 
 that is the mode which is to be adopted," said 
 
94 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 The groom (Ebases. His method of making Darius's horse neigh. 
 
 (E bases, " you need have no concern, for I can 
 arrange it very easily so as to have the lot fall 
 upon you." Darius expressed a strong desire 
 to have this accomplished, if it were possible, 
 and (Ebases went away. 
 
 The method which (Ebases adopted was to 
 lead Darius's horse out to the ground that even- 
 ing, in company with another, the favorite com- 
 panion, it seems, of the animal. Now the at- 
 tachment of the horse to his companion is very 
 strong, and his recollection of localities very 
 vivid, and (Ebases expected that when the 
 horse should approach the ground on the follow- 
 ing morning, he would be reminded of the com- 
 pany which he enjoyed there the night before, 
 and neigh. The result was as he anticipated. 
 As the horsemen rode up to the appointed place, 
 the horse of Darius neighed the first, and Da- 
 rius was unanimously acknowledged king. 
 
 In respect to the credibility of this famous 
 story, the first thought which arises in the mind 
 is, that it is utterly impossible that sane men, 
 acting in so momentous a crisis, and where in- 
 terests so vast and extended were at stake, 
 could have resorted to a plan so childish and ri- 
 diculous as this. Such a mode of designating a 
 leader, seriously adopted, would have done dis- 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 95 
 
 Probable truth or falsehood of this account. 
 
 credit to a troop of boys making arrangements 
 for a holiday ; and yet here was an empire ex- 
 tending for thousands of miles through the 
 heart of a vast continent, comprising, probably, 
 fifty nations and many millions of people, with 
 capitals, palaces, armies, fleets, and all the oth- 
 er appointments and machinery of an immense 
 dominion, to be appropriated and disposed of ab- 
 solutely, and, so far as they could see, forever. 
 It seems incredible that men possessing such in- 
 telligence, and information, and extent of view 
 as we should suppose that officers of their rank 
 and station would necessarily acquire, could 
 have attempted to decide such a momentous 
 question in so ridiculous and trivial a manner. 
 And yet the account is seriously recorded by 
 Herodotus as sober history, and the story has 
 been related again and again, from that day to 
 this, by every successive generation of histo- 
 rians, without any particular question of its 
 truth. 
 
 And it may possibly be that it is true. It is 
 a case in which the apparent improbability is 
 far greater than the real. In the first place, it 
 would seem that, in all ages of the world, the acts 
 and decisions of men occupying positions of the 
 most absolute and exalted power have been con- 
 
96 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Ancient statesmen. Their character and position. 
 
 trolled, to a much greater degree, by caprice and 
 by momentary impulse, than mankind have gen- 
 erally supposed. Looking up as we do to these 
 vast elevations from below, they seem invested 
 with a certain sublimity and grandeur which 
 we imagine must continually impress the minds 
 of those who occupy them, and expand and 
 strengthen then powers, and lead them to act, 
 in all respects, with the circumspection, the de- 
 liberation, and the far-reaching sagacity which 
 the emergencies continually arising seem to 
 require. And this is, in fact, in some degree 
 the case with the statesmen and political lead- 
 ers raised to power under the constitutional gov- 
 ernments of modern times. Such statesmen 
 are clothed with their high authority, in one 
 way or another, by the combined and deliberate 
 action of vast masses of men, and every step 
 which they take is watched, in reference to its 
 influence on the condition and welfare of these 
 masses, by many millions ; so that such men 
 live and act under a continual sense of respon- 
 sibility, and they appreciate, in some degree, 
 the momentous importance of their doings. 
 But the absolute and independent sovereigns of 
 the Old "World, who held their power by con- 
 quest or by inheritance, though raised some- 
 
B.C. 520.] Accession of Darius. 97 
 
 The conspirators governed, in their decision, by superstitious feelings. 
 
 times to very vast and giddy elevations, seem 
 to have been unconscious, in many instances, 
 of the dignity and grandeur of their standing, 
 and to have considered their acts only as they 
 affected their own personal and temporary in- 
 terests. Thus, though placed on a great eleva- 
 tion, they took only very narrow and circum- 
 scribed views ; they saw nothing but the ob- 
 jects immediately around them ; and they often 
 acted, accordingly, in the most frivolous and 
 capricious manner. 
 
 It was so, undoubtedly, with these six con- 
 spirators. In deciding which of their number 
 should be king, they thought nothing of the in- 
 terests of the vast realms, and of the countless 
 millions of people whose government was to be 
 provided for. The question, as they considered 
 it, was doubtless merely which of them should 
 have possession of the royal palaces, and be the 
 center and the object of royal pomp and parade 
 in the festivities and celebrations of the capital. 
 
 And in the mode of decision which they adopt- 
 ed, it may be that some degree of superstitious 
 feeling mingled. The action and the voices of 
 animals were considered, in those days, as su- 
 pernatural omens, indicating the will of heaven. 
 These conspirators may have expected, accord- 
 ed 
 
98 Darius the Great. [B.C.520. 
 
 The conspirators do homage to Darius. The equestrian statue. 
 
 ingly, in the neighing of the horse, a sort of di- 
 vine intimation in respect to the disposition of 
 the crown. This idea is confirmed by the state- 
 ment which the account of this transaction con- 
 tains, that immediately after the neighing of 
 Darius's horse, it thundered, although there 
 were no clouds in the sky from which the thun- 
 der could be supposed naturally to come. The 
 conspirators, at all events, considered it solemnly 
 decided that Darius was to be king. They all 
 dismounted from their horses and knelt around 
 him, in acknowledgment of their allegiance and 
 subjection. 
 
 It seems that Darius, after he became es- 
 tablished on his throne, considered the contri- 
 vance by which, through the assistance of his 
 groom, he had obtained the prize, not as an act 
 of fraud which it was incumbent on him to 
 conceal, but as one of brilliant sagacity which 
 he was to avow and glory in. He caused a 
 magnificent equestrian statue to be sculptured, 
 representing himself mounted on his neighing 
 horse. This statue he set up in a public place 
 with this inscription : 
 
 Darius, son of Hystaspes, obtained the sov- 
 ereignty of Persia by the sagacity of his horse 
 and the ingenious contrivance of (e bases his 
 
 GROOM. 
 
B.C.520.] The Provinces. 99 
 
 Intaphernes. He is denied admittance to Darius. 
 
 Chapter V. 
 The Provinces. 
 
 SEVERAL of the events and incidents which 
 occurred immediately after the accession 
 of Darius to the throne, illustrate in a striking 
 manner the degree in which the princes and po- 
 tentates of ancient days were governed by ca- 
 price and passionate impulse even in their pub- 
 lic acts. One of the most remarkable of these 
 was the case of Intaphernes. 
 
 Intaphernes was one of the seven conspira- 
 tors who combined to depose the magian and 
 place Darius on the throne. By the agree- 
 ment which they made with each other before 
 it was decided which should be the king, each 
 of them was to have free access to the king's 
 presence at all times. One evening, soon after 
 Darius became established on his throne, Inta- 
 phernes went to the palace, and was proceed- 
 ing to enter the apartment of the king without 
 ceremony, when he was stopped by two officers, 
 who told him that the king had retired. Inta- 
 phernes was incensed at the officers' insolence, 
 
100 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Intaphernes's cruelty to the two guards. Darius's apprehensions. 
 
 as he called it. He drew his sword, and cut off 
 their noses and their ears. Then he took the 
 bridle off from his horse at the palace gate, and 
 tied the officers together ; and then, leaving 
 them in this helpless and miserable condition, 
 he went away. 
 
 The officers immediately repaired to the king, 
 and presented themselves to him, a frightful 
 spectacle, wounded and bleeding, and complain- 
 ing bitterly of Intaphernes as the author of the 
 injuries which they had received. The king 
 was at first alarmed for his own safety. He 
 feared that the conspirators had all combined 
 together to rebel against his authority, and that 
 this daring insult offered to his personal attend- 
 ants, in his very palace, was the first outbreak 
 of it. He accordingly sent for the conspirators, 
 one by one, to ask of them whether they ap- 
 proved of what Intaphernes had done. They 
 promptly disavowed all connection with Inta- 
 phernes in the act, and all approval of it, and 
 declared their determination to adhere to the 
 decision that they had made, by which Darius 
 had been placed on the throne. 
 
 Darius then, after taking proper precautions 
 to guard against any possible attempts at re- 
 sistance, sent soldiers to seize Intaphernes, and 
 
B.C.520.] The Provinces. 101 
 
 Intaphernes and family arrested. They are condemned to die. 
 
 also his son, and all of his family, relatives, and 
 friends who were capable of bearing arms ; for 
 he suspected that Intaphernes had meditated a 
 rebellion, and he thought that, if so, these men 
 would most probably be his accomplices. The 
 prisoners were brought before him. There was, 
 indeed, no proof that they were engaged in any 
 plan of rebellion, nor even that any plan of re- 
 bellion whatever had been formed ; but this cir- 
 cumstance afforded them no protection. The 
 liberties and the lives of all subjects were at the 
 supreme and absolute disposal of these ancient 
 kings. Darius thought it possible that the pris- 
 oners had entertained, or might entertain, some 
 treasonable designs, and he conceived that he 
 should, accordingly, feel safer if they were re- 
 moved out of the way. He decreed, therefore, 
 that they must all die. 
 
 While the preparations were making for the 
 execution, the wife of Intaphernes came con- 
 tinually to the palace of Darius, begging for an 
 audience, that she might intercede for the lives 
 of her friends. Darius was informed of this, 
 and at last, pretending to be moved with com- 
 passion for her distress, he sent her word that 
 he would pardon one of the criminals for her 
 sake, and that she might decide which one it 
 
102 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Alternative offered to Intaphernes's wife. Her strange decision. 
 
 should be. His real motive in making this pro- 
 posal seems to have been to enjoy the perplex- 
 ity and anguish which the heart of a woman 
 must suffer in being compelled thus to decide, 
 in a question of life and death, between a hus- 
 band and a son. 
 
 The wife of Intaphernes did not decide in fa- 
 vor of either of these. She gave the preference, 
 on the other hand, to a brother. Darius was 
 very much surprised at this result, and sent a 
 messenger to her to inquire how it happened 
 that she could pass over and abandon to their 
 fate her husband and her son, in order to save 
 the life of her brother, who was certainly to be 
 presumed less near and dear to her. To which 
 she gave this extraordinary reply, that the loss 
 of her husband and her son might perhaps be 
 repaired, since it was not impossible that she 
 might be married again, and that she might 
 have another son ; but that, inasmuch as both 
 her father and mother were dead, she could 
 never have another brother. The death of her 
 present brother would, therefore, be an irrepar- 
 able loss. 
 
 The king was so much pleased with the nov- 
 elty and unexpectedness of this turn of thought, 
 that he gave her the life of her son in addition 
 
B.C. 520.] TheProvinces. 103 
 
 Death of Intaphernes. The provinces. 
 
 to that of her brother. All the rest of the fam- 
 ily circle of relatives and friends, together with 
 Intaphernes himself, he ordered to be slain. 
 
 Darius had occasion to be so much displeased, 
 too, shortly after his accession to the throne, 
 with the governor of one of his provinces, that 
 he was induced to order him to be put to death. 
 The circumstances connected with this gov- 
 ernor's crime, and the manner of his execution, 
 illustrate very forcibly the kind of government 
 which was administered by these military des- 
 pots in ancient times. It must be premised 
 that great empires, like that over which Darius 
 had been called to rule, were generally divided 
 into provinces. The inhabitants of these prov- 
 inces, each community within its own borders, 
 went on, from year to year, in their various 
 pursuits of peaceful industry, governed mainly, 
 in their relations to each other, by the natural 
 sense of justice instinctive in man, and by those 
 thousand local institutions and usages which 
 are always springing up in all human commu- 
 nities under the influence of this principle. 
 There were governors stationed over these prov- 
 inces, whose main duty it was to collect and 
 remit to the king the tribute which the prov- 
 ince was required to furnish him. These gov- 
 
104 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 The governors. Their independence. 
 
 ernors were, of course, also to suppress any do- 
 mestic outbreak of violence, and to repel any- 
 foreign invasion which might occur. A suffi- 
 cient military force was placed at their disposal 
 to enable them to fulfill these functions. They 
 paid these troops, of course, from sums which 
 they collected in their provinces under the same 
 system by which they collected the tribute. 
 This made them, in a great measure, independ- 
 ent of the king in the maintenance of their 
 armies. They thus intrenched themselves in 
 their various capitals at the head of these troops, 
 and reigned over their respective dominions al- 
 most as if they were kings themselves. They 
 had, in fact, very little connection with the su- 
 preme monarch, except to send him the annual 
 tribute which they had collected from their 
 people, and to furnish, also, their quota of troops 
 in case of a national war. In the time of our 
 Savior, Pilate was such a governor, intrusted 
 by the Romans with the charge of Judea, and 
 Matthew was one of the tax gatherers employed 
 to collect the tribute. 
 
 Of course, the governors of such provinces, 
 as we have already said, were, in a great meas- 
 ure, independent of the king. He had, ordina- 
 rily, no officers of justice whose jurisdiction 
 
B.C. 520.] The Provinces. 105 
 
 Power of the governors. Oretes, governor of Sardis. 
 
 could control, peacefully, such powerful vassals. 
 The only remedy in most cases, when they 
 were disobedient and rebellious, was to raise an 
 army and go forth to make war upon them, as 
 in the case of any foreign state. This was at- 
 tended with great expense, and trouble, and 
 hazard. The governors, when ambitious and 
 aspiring, sometimes managed their resources 
 with so much energy and military skill as to 
 get the victory over their sovereign in the con- 
 tests in which they engaged with them, and 
 then »they would gain vast accessions to the 
 privileges and powers which they exercised in 
 their own departments ; and they would some- 
 times overthrow their discomfited sovereign en- 
 tirely, and take possession of his throne them- 
 selves in his stead. 
 
 Oretes was the name of one of these govern- 
 ors in the time of Darius. He had been placed 
 by Cyrus, some years before, in charge of one 
 of the provinces into which the kingdom of Lyd- 
 ia had been divided. The seat of government 
 was Sardis.* He was a capricious and cruel 
 tyrant, as, in fact, almost all such governors 
 
 * For the position of Sardis, and of other places mentioned 
 in this chapter, see the map at the commencement of the vol- 
 ume, and also that at the commencement of chapter xi. 
 
106 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Conversation between Oretes and Mitrobates. Polycrales. 
 
 were. We will relate an account of one of the 
 deeds which he performed some time before 
 Darius ascended the throne, and which suffi- 
 ciently illustrates his character. 
 
 He was one day sitting at the gates of his 
 palace in Sardis, in conversation with the gov- 
 ernor of a neighboring territory who had come 
 to visit him. The name of this guest was Mit- 
 robates. As the two friends were boasting to 
 one another, as such warriors are accustomed 
 to do, of the deeds of valor and prowess which 
 they had respectively performed. Mitrobates 
 said that Oretes could not make any great 
 pretensions to enterprise and bravery so long 
 as he allowed the Greek island of Samos, which 
 was situate at a short distance from the Lyd- 
 ian coast, to remain independent, when it would 
 be so easy to annex it to the Persian em- 
 pire. " You are afraid of Polycrates, I sup- 
 pose," said he. Polycrates was the king of 
 Samos. 
 
 Oretes was stung by this taunt, but, instead 
 of revenging himself on Mitrobates, the author 
 of it, he resolved on destroying Polycrates, 
 though he had no reason other than this for 
 any feeling of enmity toward him. 
 
 Polycrates, although the seat of his dominion 
 
B.C.520.] The Provinces. 107 
 
 Dominion of Polycrates. Letter of Amasis. 
 
 was a small island in the iEgean Sea, was a 
 very wealthy, and powerful, and prosperous 
 prince. All his plans and enterprises had been 
 remarkably successful. He had built and 
 equipped a powerful fleet, and had conquered 
 many islands in the neighborhood of his own. 
 He was projecting still wider schemes of con- 
 quests, and hoped, in fact, to make himself the 
 master of all the seas. 
 
 A very curious incident is related of Polyc- 
 rates, which illustrates very strikingly the child- 
 ish superstition which governed the minds of 
 men in those ancient days. It seems that in 
 the midst of his prosperity, his friend and ally, 
 the King of Egypt — for these events, ' though 
 narrated here, occurred before the invasion of 
 Egypt by Cambyses — sent to him a letter, of 
 which the following is the purport. 
 
 " Amasis, king of Egypt, to Polycrates. 
 
 "It always gives me great satisfaction and 
 pleasure to hear of the prosperity of a friend 
 and ally, unless it is too absolutely continuous 
 and uninterrupted. Something like an alterna- 
 tion of good and ill fortune is best for man ; I 
 have never known an instance of a very long- 
 continued course of unmingled and uninter- 
 
108 Darius the Great. [B.C.520. 
 
 Suggestion of Amasis. Adopted by Polycrates. 
 
 rupted success that did not end, at last, in 
 overwhelming and terrible calamity. I am 
 anxious, therefore, for you, and my anxiety will 
 greatly increase if this extraordinary and un- 
 broken prosperity should continue much longer. 
 I counsel you, therefore, to break the current 
 yourself, if fortune will not break it. Bring 
 upon yourself some calamity, or loss, or suffer- 
 ing, as a means of averting the heavier evils 
 which will otherwise inevitably befall you. It 
 is a general and substantial welfare only that 
 can be permanent and final." 
 
 Polycrates seemed to think there was good- 
 sense in this suggestion. He began to look 
 around him to see in what way he could bring 
 upon himself some moderate calamity or loss, 
 and at length decided on the destruction of a 
 very valuable signet ring which he kept among 
 his treasures. The ring was made with very 
 costly jewels set in gold, and was much cele- 
 brated both for its exquisite workmanship and 
 also for its intrinsic value. The loss of this 
 ring would be, he thought, a sufficient calam- 
 ity to break the evil charm of an excessive and 
 unvaried current of good fortune. Polycrates, 
 therefore, ordered one of the largest vessels in 
 
B.C.520.] The Provinces. 109 
 
 Polycrates throws away his ring. Its singular recovery. 
 
 his navy, a fifty-oared galley, to be equipped 
 and manned, and, embarking in it with a large 
 company of attendants, he put to sea. When 
 he was at some distance from the island, he 
 took the ring, and in the presence of all his at- 
 tendants, he threw it forth into the water, and 
 saw it sink, to rise, as he supposed, no more. 
 
 But Fortune, it seems, was not to be thus 
 outgeneraled. A few days after Polycrates 
 had returned, a certain fisherman on the coast 
 took, in his nets, a fish of very extraordinary 
 size and beauty ; so extraordinary, in fact, that 
 he felt it incumbent on him to make a present 
 of it to the king. The servants of Polycrates, 
 on opening the fish for the purpose of preparing 
 it for the table, to their great astonishment and 
 gratification, found the ring within. The king 
 was overjoyed at thus recovering his lost treas- 
 ure ; he had, in fact, repented of his rashness 
 in throwing it away, and had been bitterly la- 
 menting its loss. His satisfaction and pleasure 
 were, therefore, very great in regaining it ; and 
 he immediately sent to Amasis an account of 
 the whole transaction, expecting that Amasis 
 would share in his joy. 
 
 Amasis, however, sent word back to him in 
 reply, that he considered the return of the ring 
 
110 Darius the Great. [B.C.520. 
 
 Predictions of Amasis. Their fulfillment. 
 
 in that almost miraculous manner as an ex- 
 tremely unfavorable omen. " I fear," said he, 
 " that it is decreed by the Fates that you must 
 be overwhelmed, at last, by some dreadful ca- 
 lamity, and that no measures of precaution 
 which you can adopt will avail to avert it. It 
 seems to me, too," he added, " that it is incum- 
 bent on me to withdraw from all alliance and 
 connection with you, lest I should also, at last, 
 be involved in your destined destruction." 
 
 "Whether this extraordinary story was true, 
 or whether it was all fabricated after the fall 
 of Polycrates, as a dramatic embellishment of 
 his history, we can not now know. The result, 
 however, corresponded with these predictions of 
 Amasis, if they were really made ; for it was 
 soon after these events that the conversation 
 took place at Sardis between Oretes and Mitro- 
 bates, at the gates of the palace, which led Ore- 
 tes to determine on effecting Polycrates's de- 
 struction. 
 
 In executing the plans which he thus formed, 
 Oretes had not the courage and energy neces- 
 sary for an open attack on Polycrates, and he 
 consequently resolved on attempting to accom- 
 plish his end by treachery and stratagem. 
 
 The plan which he devised was this : He sent 
 
 
B.C.520.] The Provinces. Ill 
 
 Letter of Oretes. His hypocrisy. 
 
 a messenger to Polycrates with a letter of the 
 following purport : 
 
 " Oretes, governor of Sardis, to Polycrates of 
 Samos. 
 " I am aware, sire, of the plans which you 
 have long heen entertaining for extending your 
 power among the islands and over the waters 
 of the Mediterranean, until you shall have ac- 
 quired the supreme and absolute dominion of 
 the seas. I should like to join you in this en- 
 terprise. You have ships and men, and I have 
 money. Let us enter into an alliance with 
 each other. I have accumulated in my treas- 
 uries a large supply of gold and silver, which I 
 will furnish for the expenses of the undertak- 
 ing. If you have any doubt of my sincerity in 
 making these offers, and of my ability to fulfill 
 them, send some messenger in whom you have 
 confidence, and I will lay the evidence before 
 him." 
 
 Polycrates was much pleased at the prospect 
 of a large accession to his funds, and he sent 
 the messenger, as Oretes had proposed. Oretes 
 prepared to receive him by filling a large num- 
 ber of boxes nearly full with heavy stones, and 
 
112 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 The pretended treasure. Fears of Polycrates's daughter. 
 
 then placing a shallow layer of gold or silver 
 coin at the top. These boxes were then suit- 
 ably covered and secured, with the fastenings 
 usually adopted in those days, and placed away 
 in the royal treasuries. When the messenger 
 arrived, the boxes were brought out and open- 
 ed, and were seen by the messenger to be full, 
 as he supposed, of gold and silver treasure. The 
 messenger went back to Polycrates, and report- 
 ed that all which Oretes had said was true; 
 and Polycrates then determined to go to the 
 main land himself to pay Oretes a visit, that 
 they might mature together their plans for the 
 intended campaigns. He ordered a fifty-oared 
 galley to be prepared to convey him. 
 
 His daughter felt a presentiment, it seems, 
 that some calamity was impending. She earn- 
 estly entreated her father not to go. She had 
 had a dream, she said, about him, which had 
 frightened her excessively, and which she Wffs 
 convinced portended some terrible danger. Po- 
 lycrates paid no attention to his daughter's warn- 
 ings. She urged them more and more earnest- 
 ly, until, at last, she made her father angry, and 
 then she desisted. Polycrates then embarked 
 on board his splendid galley, and sailed away. 
 As soon as he landed in the dominions of Ore- 
 
B.C. 520.] The Provinces. 113 
 
 Oretes murders Polycrates. He commits other murders. 
 
 tes, the monster seized him and put him to 
 death, and then ordered his body to be nailed to 
 a cross, for exhibition to all passers by, as a 
 public spectacle. The train of attendants and 
 servants that accompanied Polycrates on this 
 expedition were all made slaves, except a few 
 persons of distinction, who were sent home in a 
 shameful and disgraceful manner. Among the 
 attendants who were detained in captivity by 
 Oretes was a celebrated family physician, nam- 
 ed Democedes, whose remarkable and romantic 
 adventures will be the subject of the next 
 chapter. 
 
 Oretes committed several other murders and 
 assassinations in this treacherous manner, with- 
 out any just ground for provocation. In these 
 deeds of violence and cruelty, he seems to have 
 acted purely under the influence of that wan- 
 ton and capricious malignity which the posses- 
 sion of absolute and irresponsible power so often 
 engenders in the minds of bad men. It is 
 doubtful, however, whether these cruelties and 
 crimes would have particularly attracted the 
 attention of Darius, so long as he was not him- 
 self directly affected by them. The central gov- 
 ernment, in these ancient empires, generally in- 
 terested itself very little in the contentions and 
 H 
 
114 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Oretes destroys Darius's messenger. Darius is incensed. 
 
 quarrels of the governors of the provinces, pro- 
 ided that the tribute was efficiently collected 
 .nd regularly paid. 
 
 A case, however, soon occurred, in Oretes's 
 reacherous and bloody career, which arrested 
 iie attention of Darius and aroused his ire. 
 Darius had sent a messenger to Oretes, with 
 certain orders, which, it seems, Oretes did not 
 like to obey. After delivering his dispatches, 
 the bearer set out on his return, and was never 
 afterward heard of. Darius ascertained, to his 
 own satisfaction at least, that Oretes had caus- 
 ed his messenger to be waylaid and killed, and 
 that the bodies both of horse and rider had been 
 buried, secretly, in the solitudes of the mount- 
 ains, in order to conceal the evidences of the 
 deed. 
 
 Darius determined on punishing this crime. 
 Some consideration was, however, required, in 
 order to determine in what way his object could 
 best be effected. The province of Oretes was 
 at a great distance from Susa, and Oretes was 
 strongly established there, at the head of a great 
 force. His guards were bound, it is true, to 
 obey the orders of Darius, but it was question- 
 able whether they would do so. To raise an 
 army and march against the rebellious govern- 
 
B.C.520.] The Provinces. 115 
 
 Plan of Darius for punishing Oretes. His proposal. 
 
 or would be an expensive and hazardous under- 
 taking, and perhaps, too, it would prove that 
 such a measure was not necessary. All things 
 considered, Darius determined to try the exper- 
 iment of acting, "by his own direct orders, upon 
 the troops and guards in Oretes's capital, with 
 the intention of resorting subsequently to an 
 armed force of his own, if that should be at last 
 required. 
 
 He accordingly called together a number of 
 his officers and nobles, selecting those on whose 
 resolution and fidelity he could most confidently 
 rely, and made the following address to them : 
 
 " I have an enterprise which I wish to com- 
 mit to the charge of some one of your number 
 who is willing to undertake it, which requires 
 no military force, and no violent measures of 
 any kind, but only wisdom, sagacity, and cour- 
 age. I wish to have Oretes, the governor of 
 Sardis, brought to me, dead or alive. He has 
 perpetrated innumerable crimes, and now, in 
 addition to all his other deeds of treacherous vi- 
 olence, he has had the intolerable insolence to 
 put to death one of my messengers. Which of 
 you will volunteer to bring him, dead or alive, 
 to me ?" 
 
 This proposal awakened a great enthusiasm 
 
11G Darius the Great. [B.C. 520. 
 
 Commission of Bagseus. His plan. 
 
 among the nobles to whom it was addressed. 
 Nearly thirty of them volunteered their services 
 to execute the order. Darius concluded to de- 
 cide between these competitors by lot. The lot 
 fell upon a certain man named Bagseus, and he 
 immediately began to form his plans and make 
 his arrangements for the expedition. 
 
 He caused a number of different orders to be 
 prepared, beginning with directions of little mo- 
 ment, and proceeding to commands of more and 
 more weighty importance, all addressed to the 
 officers of Oretes's army and to his guards. 
 These orders were all drawn up in writing with 
 great formality, and were signed by the name 
 of Darius, and sealed with his seal ; they, more- 
 over, named Bagseus as the officer selected by 
 the king to superintend the execution of them. 
 Provided with these documents, Bagaeus pro- 
 ceeded to Sardis, and presented himself at the 
 court of Oretes. He presented his own person- 
 al credentials, and with them some of his most 
 insignificant orders. Neither Oretes nor his 
 guards felt any disposition to disobey them. 
 Bagseus, being thus received and recognized as 
 the envoy of the king, continued to present new 
 decrees and edicts, from time to time, as occa- 
 sions occurred in which he thought the guards 
 
B.C. 520.] The Provinces. 117 
 
 Oretes beheaded. Divisions of Darius's empire. 
 
 would be ready to obey them, until he found 
 the habit, on their part, of looking to him as 
 the representative of the supreme power suffi- 
 ciently established ; for their disposition to obey 
 him was not merely tested, it was strengthened 
 by every new act of obedience. When he found, 
 at length, that his hold upon the guards was 
 sufficiently strong, he produced his two final 
 decrees, one ordering the guards to depose Ore- 
 tes from his power, and the other to behead him. 
 Both the commands were obeyed. 
 
 The events and incidents which have been 
 described in this chapter were of no great im- 
 portance in themselves, but they illustrate, more 
 forcibly than any general description would do, 
 the nature and the operation of the government 
 exercised by Darius throughout the vast em- 
 pire over which he found himself presiding. 
 
 Such personal and individual contests and 
 transactions were not all that occupied his at- 
 tention. He devoted a great deal of thought and 
 of time to the work of arranging, in a distinct 
 and systematic manner, the division of his do- 
 minions into provinces, and to regulating pre- 
 cisely the amount of tribute to be required of 
 each, and the modes of collecting it. He di- 
 vided his empire into twenty great districts, 
 
118 Darius the Great. [B.C. 520- 
 
 Tribute of the satrapies. The white horses. 
 
 each of which was governed by a ruler called a 
 satrap. He fixed the amount of tribute which 
 each of these districts was to pay, making it 
 greater or less as the soil and the productions 
 of the country varied in fertility and abundance. 
 In some cases this tribute was to be paid in 
 gold, in others in silver, and in others in pecu- 
 liar commodities, natural to the country of 
 which they were required. For example, one 
 satrapy, which comprised a country famous for 
 its horses, was obliged to furnish one white 
 horse for every day in the year. This made 
 three hundred and sixty annually, that being 
 the number of days in the Persian year. Such 
 a supply, furnished yearly, enabled the king 
 soon to have a very large troop of white horses ; 
 and as the horses were beautifully caparisoned, 
 and the riders magnificently armed, the body 
 of cavalry thus formed was one of the most 
 splendid in the world. 
 
 The satrapies were numbered from the west 
 toward the east. The western portion of Asia 
 Minor constituted the first, and the East Indian 
 nations the twelfth and last. The East In- 
 dians had to pay their tribute in ingots of gold. 
 Their country produced gold. 
 
 As it is now forever too late to separate the 
 
B.C. 520.] The Provinces. 119 
 
 The gold oflndia. Mode of gathering it. 
 
 facts from the fiction of ancient history, and de- 
 termine what is to be rejected as false and what 
 received as true, our only resource is to tell the 
 whole story just as it comes down to us, leav- 
 ing it to each reader to decide for himself what 
 he will believe. In this view of the subject, we 
 will conclude this chapter by relating the man- 
 ner in which it was said in ancient times that 
 these Indian nations obtained their gold. 
 
 The gold country was situated in remote and 
 dreary deserts, inhabited only by wild beasts 
 and vermin, among which last there was, it 
 seems, a species of ants, which were of enor- 
 mous size, and wonderful fierceness and voraci- 
 ty, and which could run faster than the fleetest 
 horse or camel. These ants, in making their 
 excavations, would bring up from beneath the 
 surface of the ground all the particles of gold 
 which came in their way, and throw them out 
 around their hills. The Indians then would pen- 
 etrate into these deserts, mounted on the fleetest 
 camels that they could procure, and leading oth- 
 er camels, not so fleet, by their sides. They 
 were provided, also, with bags for containing 
 the golden sands. "When they arrived at the 
 ant hills, they would dismount, and, gathering 
 up the gold which the ants had discarded, would 
 
120 Darius the Great. [B.C.520. 
 
 The wonderful ants. Their prodigious size. 
 
 fill their bags with the utmost possible dispatch, 
 and then mount their camels and ride away. 
 The ants, in 'the mean time, would take the 
 alarm, and begin to assemble to attack them; 
 but as their instinct prompted them to wait 
 until considerable numbers were collected be- 
 fore they commenced their attack, the Indians 
 had time to fill their bags and begin their flight 
 before their enemies were ready. Then com- 
 menced the chase, the camels running at their 
 full speed, and the swarms of ants following, 
 and gradually drawing nearer and nearer. At 
 length, when nearly overtaken, the Indians 
 would abandon the camels that they were lead- 
 ing, and fly on, more swiftly, upon those which 
 they rode. "While the ants were busy in devour- 
 ing the victims thus given up to them, the au- 
 thors of all the mischief would make good their 
 escape, and thus carry off their gold to a place 
 of safety. These famous ants were bigger than 
 foxes ! 
 
B.C. 519.] Greece Reconnoitered. 123 
 
 The reconnoitering party. The physician Democedes. 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 T*he Reconnoitering of Gtreece. 
 
 npHE great 'event in the history of Darius — 
 -*- the one, in fact, on account of which it was, 
 mainly, that his name and his career have been 
 so widely celebrated among mankind, was an 
 attempt which he made, on a very magnificent 
 scale, for the invasion and conquest of Greece. 
 Before commencing active operations in this 
 grand undertaking, he sent a reconnoitering 
 party to examine and explore the ground. This 
 reconnoitering party met with a variety of ex- 
 traordinary adventures in the course of its prog- 
 ress, and the history of it will accordingly form 
 the subject of this chapter. 
 
 The guide to this celebrated reconnoitering 
 party was a certain Greek physician named 
 Democedes. Though Democedes was called a 
 G-reek, he was, really, an Italian by birth. His 
 native town was Crotona, which may be found 
 exactly at the ball of the foot on the map of 
 Italy. It was by a very singular series of ad- 
 ventures that he passed from this remote vil- 
 
124 Darius the Great. [B.C. 519. 
 
 Siory of Democedes. His boyhood 
 
 lage in the west, over thousands of miles by 
 land and sea, to Susa, Darius's capital. He 
 began by running away from his father while 
 he was still a boy. He said that he was driven 
 to this step by the intolerable strictness and 
 cruelty of his father's government. This, "how- 
 ever, is always the pretext of turbulent and 
 ungovernable young men, who abandon their 
 parents and their homes when the favors and the 
 protection necessary during their long and help- 
 less infancy have been all received, and the 
 time is beginning to arrive for making some 
 return. 
 
 Democedes was ingenious and cunning, and 
 fond of roving adventure. In running away 
 from home, he embarked on board a ship, as 
 such characters generally do at the present day, 
 and went to sea. After meeting with various 
 adventures, he established himself in the island 
 of Egina, in the iEgean sea, where he began 
 to practice as a physician, though he had had 
 no regular education in that art. In his prac- 
 tice he evinced so much medical skill, or, at 
 least, exercised so much adroitness in leading 
 people to believe that he possessed it, as to give 
 him very soon a wide and exalted reputation. 
 The people of Egina appointed him tjieir phy 
 
B.C. 519.] G-reece Reconnoitered. 125 
 
 Democedes at Egina. At Athens. At the court of Polycratcs. 
 
 sician, and assigned him a large salary for his 
 services in attending upon the sick throughout 
 the island. Tins was the usual practice in 
 those days. A town, or an island, or any cir- 
 cumscribed district of country, would appoint 
 a physician as a public officer, who was to de- 
 vote his attention, at a fixed annual salary, to 
 any cases of sickness which might arise in the 
 community, wherever his services were needed, 
 precisely as physicians serve in hospitals and 
 public institutions in modern times. 
 
 Democedes remained at JEgina two years, 
 during which time his celebrity increased and 
 extended more and more, until, at length, he 
 received an appointment from the city of Ath- 
 ens, with the offer of a greatly increased salary. 
 He accepted the appointment, and remained in 
 Athens one year, when he received still more 
 advantageous offers from Polycrates, the king 
 of Samos, whose history was given so fully in 
 the last chapter. 
 
 Democedes remained for some time in the 
 court of Polycrates, where he was raised to the 
 highest distinction, and loaded with many hon- 
 ors. He was a member of the household of the 
 king, enjoyed his confidence in a high degree, 
 and attended him, personally, on all his expo- 
 
126 Darius the Great. [B.C. 519." 
 
 Dcmocedes a captive. He is sent to Darius. 
 
 ditions. At last, when Polycrates went to Sar- 
 dis, as is related in the last chapter, to receive 
 the treasures of Oretes, and concert with him 
 the plans for their proposed campaigns, Demo- 
 cedes accompanied him as usual ; and when 
 Polycrates was slain, and his attendants and 
 followers were made captive by Oretes, the un- 
 fortunate physician was among the number. 
 By this reverse, he found that he had suddenly 
 fallen from affluence, ease, and honor, to the 
 condition of a neglected and wretched captive 
 in the hands of a malignant and merciless ty- 
 rant. 
 
 Democedes pined in this confinement for a 
 long time ; when, at length, Oretes himself was 
 killed by the order of Darius, it might have 
 been expected that the hour of his deliverance 
 had arrived. But it was not so ; his condition 
 was, in fact, made worse, and not better by it ; 
 for Bagreus, the commissioner of Darius, instead 
 of inquiring into the circumstances relating to 
 the various members of Oretes's family, and 
 redressing the wrongs which any of them might 
 be suffering, simply seized the whole company, 
 and brought them all to Darius in Susa, as 
 trophies of his triumph, and tokens of the faith- 
 fulness and efficiency with which he had exe- 
 
B.C. 519.] Greece Reconnoitered. 127 
 
 Dcmocedcs is cast into prison. His wretched condition. 
 
 cutecl the work that Darius had committed to 
 his charge. Thus Democedes was home away, 
 in hopeless "bondage, thousands of miles farther 
 from his native land than "before, and with 
 very little prospect of being ever able to re- 
 turn. He arrived at Susa, destitute, squalid, 
 and miserable. His language was foreign, his 
 rank and his professional skill unknown, and 
 all the marks which might indicate the refine- 
 ment and delicacy of the modes of life to which 
 he had been accustomed were wholly disguised 
 by his present destitution and wretchedness. 
 He was sent with the other captives to the 
 prisons, where he was secured, like them, with 
 fetters and chains, and was soon almost entirely 
 forgotten. • 
 
 He might have taken some measures for 
 making his character, and his past celebrity 
 and fame as a physician known; but he did 
 not dare to do this, for fear that Darius might 
 learn to value his medical skill, and so detain 
 him as a slave for the sake of his services. He 
 thought, that the chance was greater that some 
 turn of fortune, or some accidental change in 
 the arrangements of government might take 
 place, by which he might be set at liberty, as 
 an insignificant and worthless captive, whom 
 
128 Darius the Great. [B.C. 519. 
 
 Darius sprains his ankle. The Egyptian physicians baffled. , 
 
 there was no particular motive for detaining, 
 than if he were transferred to the king's house- 
 hold as a slave, and his value as an artisan — 
 for medical practice was, in those days, simply 
 an art — were once known. He made no effort, 
 therefore, to bring his true character to light, 
 but pined silently in his dungeon, in rags and 
 wretchedness, and in a mental despondency 
 which was gradually sinking into despair. 
 
 About this time, it happened that Darius was 
 one day riding furiously in a chase, and coming 
 upon some sudden danger, he attempted to leap 
 from his horse. He fell and sprained his ankle. 
 He was taken up by the attendants, and carried 
 home. His physicians were immediately called 
 to attend to the case. They were Egyptians. 
 Egypt was, in fact, considered the great seat 
 and centre of learning and of the arts in those 
 days, and no royal household was complete 
 without Egyptian physicians. 
 
 The learning and skill, however, of the Egyp- 
 tians in Darius's court were entirely baffled by 
 the sprain. They thought that the joint was 
 dislocated, and they turned and twisted the foot 
 with so much violence, in their attempts to re- 
 store the bones to their proper position, as great- 
 ly to increase the pain and the inflammation. 
 
B.C. 519.] Greece Reconnoitered. 129 
 
 Sufferings of Darius. He sends for Democedes. 
 
 Darius spent a week in extreme and excruci- 
 ating suffering. He could not sleep day nor 
 night, but tossed in continual restlessness and 
 anguish on his couch, made constantly worse 
 instead of better by every effort of his physi- 
 cians to relieve him. 
 
 At length somebody informed him that there 
 was a Grreek physician among the captives that 
 came from Sardis, and recommended that Da- 
 rius should send for him. The king, in his im- 
 patience and pain, was ready for any experi- 
 ment which promised the least hope of relief, 
 and he ordered that Democedes should be im- 
 mediately summoned. The officers accordingly 
 went to the prison and brought out the aston- 
 ished captive, without any notice or prepara- 
 tion, and conducted him, just as he was, rag- 
 ged and wretched, and shackled with iron fet- 
 ters upon his feet, into the presence of the king. 
 The fetters which such captives wore were in- 
 tended to allow them to walk, slowly and with 
 difficulty, while they impeded the movements 
 of the feet so as effectually to prevent any long 
 or rapid flight, or any escape at all from free 
 pursuers. 
 
 Democedes, when questioned by Darius, de- 
 nied at first that he possessed any medical 
 I 
 
130 Darius the Great. [B.C. 523. 
 
 Democedes's denial. He treats the sprain successfully. 
 
 knowledge or skill. Darius was, however, not 
 deceived "by these protestations. It was very 
 customary, in those days of royal tyranny, for 
 those who possessed any thing valuable to con- 
 ceal the possession of it : concealment was often 
 their only protection. Darius, who was well 
 aware of this tendency, did not "believe the as- 
 surances of Democedes, and in the irritation 
 and impatience caused hy his pain, he ordered 
 the captive to he taken out and put to the tor- ' 
 ture, in order to make him confess that he was 
 really a physician. 
 
 Democedes yielded without waiting to he act- 
 ually put to the test. He acknowledged at once, 
 for fear of the torture, that he had had some 
 experience in medical practice, and the sprained 
 ankle was immediately committed to his charge. 
 On examining the case, he thought that the 
 harsh and violent operations which the Egyp- 
 tian physicians had attempted were not re- 
 quired. He treated the inflamed and swollen 
 joint in the gentlest manner. He made fo- 
 menting and emollient applications, which sooth- 
 ed the pain, subdued the inflammation, and al- 
 layed the restlessness and the fever. The royal 
 sufferer became quiet and calm, and in a short 
 time fell asleep. 
 
B.C. 519.] Greece Reconnoitered. 131 
 
 Darius's recovery. The golden fetters 
 
 In a word, the king rapidly recovered ; and, 
 overwhelmed with gratitude toward the bene- 
 factor whose skill had saved him from such suf- 
 fering, he ordered that, in place of his single 
 pair of iron fetters, he should have two pahs of 
 fetters of gold ! 
 
 It might at first be imagined that such a 
 strange token of regard as this could be intend- 
 ed only as a jest and an insult ; but there is no 
 doubt that Darius meant it seriously as a com- 
 pliment and an honor. He supposed that Dem- 
 ocedes, of course, considered his condition of 
 captivity as a fixed and permanent one; and 
 that his fetters were not, in themselves, an in- 
 justice or disgrace, but the necessary and una- 
 voidable concomitant of his lot, so that the 
 sending of golden fetters to a slave was very 
 naturally, in his view, like presenting a golden 
 crutch to a cripple. Democedes received the 
 equivocal donation with great good nature. He 
 even ventured upon a joke on the subject to the 
 convalescent king. " It seems, sire," said he, 
 " that in return for my saving your limb and 
 your life, you double my servitude. You have 
 given me two chains instead of one." 
 . The king, who was now in a much better 
 humor to be pleased than when, writhing in an- 
 
132 Darius the Great. [B.C. 519. 
 
 Democedes released. Honors conferred on him. 
 
 guish, he had ordered Democedes to be put to 
 the torture, laughed at this reply, and released 
 the captive from the bonds entirely. He or- 
 dered him to be conducted by the attendants to 
 the apartments of the palace, where the wives 
 of Darius and the other ladies of the court re- 
 sided, that they might see him and express their 
 gratitude. " This is the physician," said the 
 eunuchs, who introduced him, " that cured the 
 king." The ladies welcomed him with the ut- 
 most cordiality, and loaded him with presents 
 of gold and silver as he passed through their 
 apartments. The king made arrangements, 
 too, immediately, for providing him with a mag- 
 nificent house in Susa, and established him 
 there in great luxury and splendor, with costly 
 furniture and many attendants, and all other 
 marks of distinction and honor. In a word, 
 Democedes found himself, by means of another 
 unexpected change of fortune, suddenly elevated 
 to a height as lofty as his misery and degrada- 
 tion had been low. He was, however, a captive 
 still. 
 
 The Queen Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, 
 who has already been mentioned as the wife of 
 Cambyses and of Smerdis the magian, was one 
 of the wives of Darius. Her sister Antystone 
 
B.C. 519.1 G-reece Reconnoitered. 133 
 
 Atossa cured by Democedes. His conditions. 
 
 was another. A third was Phsedyma, the 
 daughter of Otanes, the lady who had heen so 
 instrumental, in connection with Atossa, in the 
 discovery of the magian imposture. It hap- 
 pened that, some time after the curing of Da- 
 rius's sprain, Atossa herself was sick. Her 
 malady was of such a nature, that for some 
 time she kept it concealed, from a feeling of del- 
 icacy.* At length, terrified by the danger 
 which threatened her, she sent for Democedes, 
 and made her case known to him. He said 
 that he could cure her, but she must first prom- 
 ise to grant him, if he did so, a certain favor 
 which he should ask. She must promise "be- 
 forehand to grant it, whatever it might be. It 
 was nothing, he said, that should in any way 
 compromise her honor. 
 
 Atossa agreed to these conditions, and Demo- 
 cedes undertook her case. Her malady was 
 soon cured ; and when she asked him what was 
 the favor which he wished to demand, he replied, 
 
 " Persuade Darius to form a plan for the in- 
 vasion of Greece, and to send me, with a small 
 company of attendants, to explore the country, 
 
 * It was a tumor of the breast, which became, at length, 
 an open ulcer, and began to spread and enlarge in a very 
 formidable manner. 
 
134 Darius the Great. [B.C. 519. 
 
 Atossa with Darius. She suggests the invasion of Greece. 
 
 and obtain for hirn all the necessary preliminary- 
 information. In this way I shall see my native 
 land once more." 
 
 Atossa was faithful in her promise. She 
 availed herself of the first favorable opportunity, 
 when it became her turn to visit the king, to 
 direct his mind, by a dexterous conversation, to- 
 ward the subject of the enlargement of his em- 
 pire. He had vast forces and resources, she 
 said, at his command, and might easily enter 
 upon a career of conquest which would attract 
 the admiration of the world. Darius replied 
 that he had been entertaining some views of 
 that nature. He had thought, he said, of at- 
 tacking the Scythians : these Scythians were 
 a group of semi-savage nations on. the north of 
 his dominions. Atossa represented to him that 
 subduing the Scythians would be too easy a 
 conquest, and that it would be a far nobler en- 
 terprise, and more worthy of his talents and 
 his vast resources, to undertake an expedition 
 into Europe, and attempt the conquest of 
 Greece. You have all the means at your com- 
 mand essential for the success of such an under- 
 taking, and you have in your court a man who 
 can give you, or can obtain for you, all the 
 necessary information in respect to the country, 
 
B.C. 519.] G-reece Reconnoitered. 135 
 
 The exploring party. Democedes appointed guide. 
 
 to enable you to form the plan of your cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 The ambition of Darius was fired by these 
 suggestions. He began immediately to form 
 projects and schemes. In a day or two he or- 
 ganized a small party of Persian officers of dis- 
 tinction, in whom he had great confidence, to 
 go on an exploring tour into Greece. They 
 were provided with a suitable company of at- 
 tendants, and with every thing . necessary for 
 their journey, and Democedes was directed to 
 prepare to go with them as their guide. They 
 were to travel simply as a party of Persian no- 
 blemen, on an excursion of curiosity and pleas- 
 ure, concealing their true design ; and as Dem- 
 ocedes their guide, though born in Italy, was 
 in all important points a Greek, and was well 
 acquainted with the countries through which 
 they were to pass, they supposed that they could 
 travel every where without suspicion. Darius 
 charged the Persians to keep a diligent watch 
 over Democedes, and not to allow him, on any 
 account to leave them, but to bring him back 
 to Susa safely with them on their return. 
 
 As for Democedes, he had no intention what- 
 ever of returning to Persia, though he kept his 
 designs of making his escape entirely concealed. 
 
136 Darius the Great. [B.C.519. 
 
 Designs of Democedes. Darius baffled. 
 
 Darius, with seeming generosity, said to him, 
 while he was making his preparations, " I rec- 
 ommend to you to take with you all your pri- 
 vate wealth and treasures, to distribute, for 
 presents, among your friends in Greece and 
 Italy. I will bestow more upon you here on 
 your return." Democedes regarded this coun- 
 sel with great suspicion. He imagined that 
 the king, in giving him this permission, wished 
 to ascertain, by observing whether he would 
 really take with him all his possessions, the ex- 
 istence of any secret determination in his mind 
 not to come back to Susa. If this were Da- 
 rius's plan, it was defeated by the sagacious 
 vigilance and cunning of the physician. He 
 told the king, in reply, that he preferred to leave 
 his effects in Persia, that they might be ready 
 for his use on his return. The king then or- 
 dered a variety of costly articles to be provided 
 and given to Democedes, to be taken with him 
 and presented to his friends in Greece and Italy. 
 They consisted of vessels of gold and silver, 
 pieces of Persian armor of beautiful workman- 
 ship, and articles of dress, expensive and splen- 
 did. These were all carefully packed, and the 
 various other necessary preparations were made 
 for the long journey. 
 
B.C. 519.] G-reece Reconnoitered. 137 
 
 The expedition sets out. City of Sidon. 
 
 At length the expedition set out. They 
 traveled by land westward, across the conti- 
 nent, till they reached the eastern shores of the 
 Mediterranean Sea. The port at which they 
 arrived was Sidon, the city so often mentioned 
 in the Scriptures as a great pagan emporium 
 of commerce. The city of Sidon was in the 
 height of its glory at this time, being one of the 
 most important ports of the Mediterranean for 
 all -the western part of Asia. Caravans of trav- 
 elers came to it by land, bringing on the backs 
 of camels the productions of Arabia, Persia, and 
 all the East ; and fleets of ships by sea, loaded 
 with the corn, and wine, and oil of the Western 
 nations. 
 
 At Sidon the land journey of the expedition 
 was ended. Here they bought two large and 
 splendid ships, galleys of three banks of oars, 
 to convey them to Greece. These galleys were 
 for their own personal accommodation. There 
 was a third vessel, called a transport, for the 
 conveyance of their baggage, which consisted 
 mainly of the packages of rich and costly pres- 
 ents which Darius had prepared. Some of theso 
 presents were for the friends of Democedes, as 
 has been already explained, and others had been 
 provided as gifts and offerings from the king 
 
138 Darius the Great. [B.C.519. 
 
 The sea voyage. The Grecian coasts examined. 
 
 himself to such distinguished personages as the 
 travelers mi<?ht visit on their route. When 
 the vessels were ready, and the costly cargo 
 was on board, the company of travelers em- 
 barked, and the little fleet put to sea. 
 
 The Grecian territories are endlessly divided 
 and indented by the seas, whose irregular and 
 winding shores form promontories, peninsulas, 
 and islands without number, which are access- 
 ible in every part by water. The Persian ex- 
 plorers cruised about among these coasts under 
 Democedes's guidance, examining every thing, 
 and noting carefully all the information which 
 they could obtain, either by personal observa- 
 tion or by inquiring of others, which might be 
 of service to Darius in his intended invasion. 
 Democedes allowed them to take their own 
 time, directing their course, however, steadily, 
 though slowly, toward his own native town of 
 Crotona. The expedition landed in various 
 places, and were every where well received. 
 It was not for the interest of Democedes that 
 they should yet be intercepted. In fact, the 
 name and power of Darius were very much 
 feared, or, at least, very highly respected in all 
 the Grecian territory, and the people were little 
 inclined to molest a peaceful party of Persians 
 
B.C. 518.] G-reece Reconnoitered. 139 
 
 Arrival at Tarentum. Suspicions of the authorities. 
 
 traveling like ordinary tourists, and under the 
 guidance, too, of a distinguished countryman of 
 their own, whose name was, in some degree, a 
 guarantee for the honesty and innocence of their 
 intentions. At length, however, after spending 
 some time in the Grecian seas, the little squad- 
 ron moved still farther west, toward the coast 
 of Italy, and arrived finally at Tarentum. Ta- 
 rentum was the great port on the Grecian side 
 of Italy. It was at the head of the spacious hay 
 which sets up "between the heel and the hall of 
 the foot of the hoot-shaped peninsula. Crotona, 
 Democedes's native town, to which he was now 
 desirous to return, was southwest of Tarentum, 
 about two hundred miles along the shore.* 
 
 It was a very curious and extraordinary cir- 
 cumstance that, though the expedition had been 
 thus far allowed to go and come as its leaders 
 pleased, without any hinderance or suspicion, 
 yet now, the moment that they touched a point 
 from which Democedes could easily reach his 
 home, the authorities on shore, in some way or 
 other, obtained some intimation of the true 
 character of their enterprise. The Prince of 
 Tarentum seized the ships. He made the Per- 
 
 * For the situation of these places, see the map at the com- 
 mencement of chapter xi. 
 
140 Darius the Great. [B.C. 518. 
 
 The Persians seized. Escape of Democedes. Release of the Persians. 
 
 sians themselves prisoners also, and shut them 
 up ; and, in order effectually to confine the ships, 
 he took away the helms from them, so that they 
 could not be steered, and were thus entirely dis- 
 abled. The expedition being thus, for the time 
 at least, broken up, Democedes said, coolly, that 
 he would take the opportunity to make a little 
 excursion along the coast, and visit his friends 
 at Crotona ! 
 
 It was another equally suspicious circum- 
 stance in respect to the probability that this 
 seizure was the result of Democedes's manage- 
 ment, that, as soon as he was safely away, the 
 Prince of Tarentum set his prisoners at liberty, 
 releasing, at the same time, the ships from the 
 seizure, and sending the helms on board. The 
 Persians were indignant at the treatment which 
 they had received, and set sail immediately 
 along the coast toward Crotona in pursuit of 
 Democedes. They found him in the market- 
 place in Crotona, haranguing the people, and 
 exciting, by his appearance and his discourse, 
 a great and general curiosity. They attempted 
 to seize him as a fugitive, and called upon the 
 people of Crotona to aid them, threatening them 
 with the vengeance of Darius if they refused. 
 A part of the people were disposed to comply 
 
B.C. 518.] Greece Reconnoiteiu;];. 141 
 
 Tumult at Crotona. Conduct of Democedes. 
 
 with this demand, while others rallied to defend 
 their townsman. A great tumult ensued ; but, 
 in the end, the party of Democedes was victo- 
 rious. He was not only thus personally rescued, 
 but, as he informed the people that the trans- 
 port vessel which accompanied the expedition 
 contained property that belonged to him, they 
 seized that too, and gave it up to Democedes, 
 saying to the Persians that, though they must 
 give up the transport, the galleys remained at 
 their service to convey them back to their own 
 country whenever they wished to go. 
 
 The Persians had now no other alternative 
 but to return home. They had, it is true, pretty 
 nearly accomplished the object of their under- 
 taking ; but, if any thing remained to be done, 
 they could not now attempt it with any advant- 
 age, as they had lost their guide, and a great 
 portion of the effects which had been provided 
 by Darius to enable them to propitiate the fa- 
 vor of the princes and potentates into whose 
 power they might fall. They accordingly be- 
 gan to make preparations for sailing back again 
 to Sidon, while Democedes established himself 
 in great magnificence and splendor in Crotona. 
 When, at length, the Persians were ready to 
 sail, Democedes wished them a very pleasant 
 
142 Darius 
 
 the Great. 
 
 [B.C. 518. 
 
 Tlu expedition returns. 
 
 Misfortunes. 
 
 Cillus. 
 
 voyage, and desired them to give his best re- 
 spects to Darius, and inform him that he could 
 not return at present to Persia, as he was 
 making arrangements to he married ! 
 
 The disasters which had befallen these Per- 
 sian reconnoiterers thus far were only the be- 
 ginning of their troubles. Then ships were 
 driven by contrary winds out of their course, 
 and they were thrown at last upon the coast 
 of Iapygia, a country occupying the heel of It- 
 aly. Here they were seized by the inhabitants 
 and made slaves. It happened that there was 
 living in this wild country at that time a man 
 of wealth and of cultivation, who had been ex- 
 iled from Tarentum on account of some political 
 offenses. His name was Cillus. He heard the 
 story of these unhappy foreigners, and interested 
 himself in their fate. He thought that, by rescu- 
 ing them from their captivity and sending them 
 home, he should make Darius his friend, and 
 secure, perhaps, his aid in effecting his own 
 restoration to his native land. He accordingly 
 paid the ransom which was demanded for the 
 captives, and set them free. He then aided 
 them in making arrangements for their return 
 to Persia, and the unfortunate messengers found 
 their way back at last to the court of Darius, 
 
B.C. 518.] G-re'ece Reconnoiteued. 143 
 
 Arrival at Susa. Reception by Darius. 
 
 without their guide, without any of the splendid 
 appointments with which they had gone forth, 
 but stripped of every thing, and glad to escape 
 with their lives. 
 
 They had some cause to fear, too, the anger 
 of Darius, for the insensate wrath of a tyrant 
 is awakened as often by calamity as by crime. 
 Darius, however, was in this instance graciously 
 disposed. He received the unfortunate com- 
 missioners in a favorable manner. He took 
 immediate measures for rewarding Cillus for 
 having ransomed them. He treasured up, too, 
 the information which they had obtained re- 
 specting Greece, though he was prevented by 
 circumstances, which we will proceed to de- 
 scribe, from immediately putting into execution 
 his plans of invasion and conquest there. 
 
144 Darius the Great. [B.C.5KJ. 
 
 City of Babylon. The captive Jews. 
 
 Chapter VII. 
 The Revolt of Babylon. 
 
 I^HE city of Babylon, originally the capital 
 - of the Assyrian empire, was conquered by 
 Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, 
 when he annexed the Assyrian empire to his 
 dominions. It was a vast and a very magnifi- 
 cent and wealthy city ; and Cyrus made it, for 
 a time, one of his capitals. 
 
 "When Cyrus made this conquest of Babylon, 
 he found the Jews in captivity there. They 
 had been made captive by Nebuchadnezzar, a 
 previous king of Babylon, as is related in the 
 Scriptures. The holy prophets of Judea had 
 predicted that after seventy years the captives 
 should return, and that Babylon itself should 
 afterward be destroyed. The first prediction 
 was fulfilled by the victory of Cyrus. It de- 
 volved on Darius to execute the second of these 
 solemn and retributive decrees of heaven. 
 
 Although Darius was thus the instrument 
 of divine Providence in the destruction of Bab- 
 ylon, he was unintentionally and unconsciously 
 so. In the terrible scenes connected with the 
 
B.C. 516.] The Revolt of Babylon. 145 
 
 "Wickedness of the Babylonians. Causes of discontent. 
 
 siege and the storming of the ill-fated city, it 
 was the impulse of his own hatred and revenge 
 that he was directly obeying ; he was not at all 
 aware that he was, at the same time, the mes- 
 senger of the divine displeasure. The wretched 
 Babylonians, in the storming and destruction of 
 their city, were expiating a double criminality. 
 Their pride, their wickedness, their wanton cru- 
 elty toward the Jews, had brought upon them 
 the condemnation of God, while their political 
 treason and rebellion, or, at least, what was con- 
 sidered treason and rebellion aroused the im- 
 placable resentment of their king. 
 
 The Babylonians had been disposed to revolt 
 even in the days of Cyrus. They had been ac- 
 customed to consider their city as the most 
 noble and magnificent capital in the world, 
 and they were displeased that Cyrus did not 
 make it the seat and center of his empire. Cy- 
 rus preferred Susa ; and Babylon, accordingly, 
 though he called it one of his capitals, soon fell 
 to the rank of a provincial city. The nobles 
 and provincial leaders that remained there be- 
 gan accordingly to form plans for revolting from 
 the Persian dominion, with a view of restoring 
 their city to its ancient position and renown. 
 
 They had a very favorable opportunity for 
 K 
 
146 Darius the Great. [B.C. 516. 
 
 Preparations of the Babylonians for revolt. Their secrecy. 
 
 maturing their plans, and making their prepa- 
 rations for the execution of them during the 
 time of the magian usurpation ; for while the 
 false Smerdis was on the throne, heing shut up 
 and concealed in Ins palace at Susa, the affairs 
 of the provinces were neglected ; and when Da- 
 rius and his accomplices discovered the impos- 
 ture and put Smerdis to death, there was nec- 
 essarily required, after so violent a revolution, 
 a considerable time before the affairs of the em- 
 pire demanding attention at the capital could 
 be settled, so as to allow the government to turn 
 their thoughts at all toward the distant depend- 
 encies. The Babylonians availed themselves 
 of all these opportunities to put their city in 
 the best condition for resisting the Persian 
 power. They strengthened their defenses, and 
 accumulated great stores of provisions, and took 
 measures for diminishing that part of the pop- 
 ulation which would be useless in war. These 
 measures were all concerted and carried into 
 effect in the most covert and secret manner ; 
 and the tidings came at last to Susa that Bab- 
 ylon had openly revolted, before the government 
 of Darius was aware even of the existence of 
 any disaffection. 
 
 The time which the Babylonians chose for 
 
B.C. 516.] The Revolt of Babylon. 147 
 
 Time chosen for revolt. Story of Syloson. 
 
 their rebellion at last was one when the mova- 
 ble forces which Darius had at command were 
 at the west, engaged in a campaign on the 
 shores of Asia Minor. Darius had sent them 
 there for the purpose of restoring a certain ex- 
 ile and wanderer named Syloson to Samos, and 
 making him the monarch of it. Darius had 
 been induced thus to interpose in Syloson's be- 
 half by the following very extraordinary cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
 Syloson was the brother of Poly crates, whose 
 unhappy history has already been given. He 
 was exiled from Samos some time before Da- 
 rius ascended the tln*one, and he became, con- 
 sequently, a sort of soldier of fortune, serving, 
 like other such adventurers, wherever there was 
 the greatest prospect of glory and pay. In this 
 capacity he followed the army of Cambyses into 
 Egypt in the memorable campaign described 
 in the first chapter of this volume. It happen- 
 ed, also, that Darius himself, who was then a 
 young noble in the Persian court, and yet of 
 no particular distinction, as there was then no 
 reason to imagine that he would ever be ele- 
 vated to the throne, was also in Cambyses's 
 army, and the two young men became acquaint- 
 ed with one another there. 
 
148 Darius the Great. [B.C. 516. 
 
 Syloson's red cloak He gives it to Darius. 
 
 "While the army was at Memphis, an inci- 
 dent occurred in which these two personages 
 were actors, which, though it seemed unim- 
 portant at the time, led, in the end, to vast and 
 momentous results. The incident was this : 
 
 Syloson had a very handsome red cloak, 
 which, as he appeared in it one day, walking 
 in the great square at Memphis, strongly at- 
 tracted the admiration of Darius. Darius asked 
 Syloson if he would sell him the cloak. Syloson 
 said that he would not sell it, but would give it 
 to him. He thought, probably, that Darius 
 would decline receiving it as a present. If he 
 did entertain that idea, it seems he was mis- 
 taken. Darius praised him for his generosity, 
 and accepted the gift. 
 
 Syloson was then sorry that he had made so 
 inconsiderate an offer, and regretted very much 
 the loss of his cloak. In process of time, the 
 campaign of Cambyses in Egypt was ended, 
 and Darius returned to Persia, leaving Syloson 
 in the west. At length the conspiracy was 
 formed for dethroning Smerdis the magian, as 
 has already been described, and Darius was 
 designated to reign in his stead. As the news 
 of the young noble's elevation spread into the 
 western world, it reached Syloson. He was 
 
B.C. 516.] The Revolt of Babylon. 149 
 
 Syloson goes to Susa. Interview with Darius. 
 
 much pleased at receiving the intelligence, and 
 he saw immediately that there v^as a prospect 
 of his being able to derive some advantage, him- 
 self, from the accession of his old fellow-soldier 
 to the throne. 
 
 He immediately proceeded to Susa. He ap- 
 plied at the gates of the palace for admission 
 to the presence of the king. The porter asked 
 him who he was. He replied that he was a 
 Greek who had formerly done Darius a service, 
 and he wished to see him. The porter carried 
 the message to the king. The king could not 
 imagine who the stranger should be. He en- 
 deavored in vain to recall to mind any instance 
 in which he had received a favor from a Greek. 
 At length he ordered the attendant to call the 
 visitor in. 
 
 Syloson was accordingly conducted into the 
 king's presence. Darius looked upon him, but 
 did not know him. He directed the interpret- 
 ers to inquire what the service was which he 
 had rendered the king, and when he had ren- 
 dered it. The Greek replied by relating the 
 circumstance of the cloak. Darius recollected 
 the cloak, though he had forgotten the giver. 
 "Are you, indeed," said he, " the man who 
 made me that present? I thought then that 
 
150 Darius the Great. [B.C. 516. 
 
 Request of Syloson. Darius grants it. 
 
 you were very generous to me, and you shall 
 see that I do npt undervalue the ohligation now. 
 I am at length, fortunately, in a situation to 
 requite the favor, and I will give you such an 
 abundance of gold and silver as shall effectually 
 prevent your being sorry for having shown a 
 kindness to Darius Hystaspes." 
 
 Syloson thanked the king in reply, but said 
 that he did not wish for gold and silver. Da- 
 rius asked him what reward he did desire. He 
 replied that he wished Samos to be restored to 
 him : " Samos," said he, " was the possession of 
 my brother. When he went away from the 
 island, he left it temporarily in the hands of 
 MsBandrius, an officer of his household. It still 
 remains in the possession of this family, while 
 I, the rightful heir, am a homeless wanderer and 
 exile, excluded from my brother's dominions by 
 one of his slaves." 
 
 Darius immediately determined to accede to 
 Syloson's request. He raised an army and put 
 it under the command of Otanes, who, it will 
 be recollected, was one of the seven conspira- 
 tors that combined to dethrone Smerdis the 
 magian. He directed Otanes to accompany 
 Syloson to Samos, and to put him in possession 
 of the island. Syloson was particularly earnest 
 
B.C. 516.] The Revolt of Babylon. 151 
 
 Citadel of Samos. Measures of Maeandrius. 
 
 in his request that no unnecessary violence 
 should be used, and no blood shed, or vindictive 
 measures of any kind adopted. Darius prom- 
 ised to comply with these desires, and gave his 
 orders to Otanes accordingly. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, however, the expedi- 
 tion resulted in the almost total destruction of 
 the Samian population, in the following manner. 
 There was a citadel at Samos, to winch the in- 
 habitants retired when they learned that Otanes 
 had embarked his troops in ships on the coast, 
 and was advancing toward the island. Maean- 
 drius was vexed and angry at the prospect of 
 being deprived of his possessions and his power ; 
 and, as the people hated him on account of his 
 extortion and tyranny, he hated them hi return, 
 and cared not how much suffering his measures 
 might be the means of bringing upon them. 
 He had a subterranean and secret passage from 
 the citadel to the shore of the sea, where, in a 
 secluded cove, were boats or vessels ready to 
 take him away. Having made these arrange- 
 ments to secure his own safety, he proceeded to 
 take such a course and adopt such measures 
 as should tend most effectually to exasperate 
 and offend the Persians, intending to escape, 
 himself, at the last moment, by this subterra- 
 
152 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 516. 
 
 Hypocrisy of Maeandrius. His brother Charilaus. 
 
 nean retreat, and to leave the inhabitants of 
 the island at the mercy of their infuriated ene- 
 mies. 
 
 He had a brother whom he had shut up in a 
 dungeon, and whose mind, naturally depraved, 
 and irritated by his injuries, was in a state of 
 malignant and furious despair. Mseandrius 
 had pretended to be willing to give up the island 
 to the Persians. He had entered into negotia- 
 tions with them for this purpose, and the Per- 
 sians considered the treaty as in fact concluded. 
 The leaders and officers of the army had as- 
 sembled, accordingly, before the citadel in a 
 peaceful attitude, waiting merely for the com- 
 pletion of the forms of surrender, when Cha- 
 rilaus, Mseandrius's captive brother, saw them, 
 by looking out between the bars of his window, 
 in the tower in which he was confined. He 
 sent an urgent message to Maeandrius, request- 
 ing to speak to him. Maeandrius ordered the 
 prisoner to be brought before him. The hag- 
 gard and wretched-looking captive, rendered 
 half insane by the combined influence of the 
 confinement he had endured, and of the wild 
 excitement produced by the universal panic and 
 confusion which reigned around him, broke forth 
 asrainst his brother in the boldest and most 
 
B.C. 516.] The Revolt of Babylon. 153 
 
 Reproaches of Charilaus. Character of Maeandrius. 
 
 violent invectives. He reproached him in the 
 most bitter terms for being willing to yield so 
 ingloriously, and without a struggle, to an in- 
 vading foe, whom he might easily repel. " You 
 have courage and energy enough, it seems," said 
 he, " to make war upon an innocent and defense- 
 less brother, and to keep him for years in chains 
 and in a dungeon, but when an actual enemy 
 appears, though he comes to despoil you of all 
 your possessions, and to send you into hopeless 
 exile, and though, if you had the ordinary cour- 
 age and spirit of a man, you could easily drive 
 him away, yet you dare not face him. If you 
 are too cowardly and mean to do your duty 
 yourself, give me your soldiers, and I will do it 
 for you. I will drive these Persians back into 
 the sea with as much pleasure as it would give 
 me to drive you there !" 
 
 Such a nature as that of Maeandrius can not 
 be stung into a proper sense of duty by re- 
 proaches like these. There seem to have been 
 in his heart no moral sensibilities of any kind, 
 and there could be, of course, no compunctions 
 for the past, and no awakening of new and 
 better desires for the future. All the effect 
 which was produced upon his mind by these 
 bitter denunciations was to convince him that 
 
154 Darius the Great. [B.C. 516. 
 
 Attack of Charilaus. Slaughter of the Samians. 
 
 to comply with his brother's request would be 
 to do the best thing now in his power for widen- 
 ing, and extending, and making sure the misery 
 and mischief which were impending. He placed 
 his troops, therefore, under his brother's orders ; 
 and while the infuriated madman sallied forth 
 at the head of them to attack the astonished 
 Persians on one side of- the citadel, Maeandrius 
 made his escape through the under-ground pas- 
 sage on the other. The Persians were so ex- 
 asperated at what appeared to them the basest 
 treachery, that, as soon as they could recover 
 their arms and get once more into battle array, 
 they commenced a universal slaughter of the 
 Samians. They spared neither age, sex, nor 
 condition ; and when, at last, their vengeance 
 was satisfied, and they put the island into Sy- 
 loson's hands, and withdrew, he found himself 
 in possession of an almost absolute solitude. 
 
 It was while Otanes was absent on this en- 
 terprise, having with him a large part of the 
 disposable forces of the king, that the Babylo- 
 nians revolted. Darius was greatly incensed 
 at hearing the tidings. Sovereigns are always 
 greatly incensed at a revolt on the part of their 
 subjects. The circumstances of the case, what- 
 ever they may be, always seem to them to con- 
 
B.C.516.]The Revolt of Babylon. 157 
 
 Revolt of Babylon. Insults and jeers of the Babylonians. 
 
 stitute a peculiar aggravation of the offense. 
 Darius was indignant that the Babylonians had 
 attempted to take advantage of his weakness, 
 by rebelling when his armies were away. If 
 they had risen when his armies were around 
 him, he would have been equally indignant with 
 them for having dared to brave his power. 
 
 He assembled all the forces at his disposal, 
 and advanced to Babylon. The people of the 
 city shut their gates against him, and derided 
 him. They danced and capered on the walls, 
 making all sorts of gestures expressive of con- 
 tempt and defiance, accompanied with shouts 
 and outcries of ridicule and scorn. They had 
 great confidence in the strength of their de- 
 fenses, and then, besides this, they probably re- 
 garded Darius as a sort of usurper, who had no 
 legitimate title to the throne, and who would 
 never be able to subdue any serious resistance 
 which might be offered to the establishment of 
 his power. It was from these considerations 
 that they were emboldened to be guilty of the 
 folly of taunting and insulting their foes from 
 the city walls. 
 
 Such incidents as this, of personal commu- 
 nications between masses of enemies on the 
 eve of a battle, were very common in ancient 
 
158 Darius the Great. [B.C. 516. 
 
 Ancient mode of warfare. Modern warfare. 
 
 warfare, though impossible in modern times. 
 In those days, when the missiles employed wero 
 thrown chiefly "by the strength of the human 
 arm alone, the combatants could safely draAV 
 near enough together for each side to hear the 
 voices and to see the gesticulations of the other. 
 Besiegers could advance sufficiently close to a 
 castle or citadel to parley insultingly with the 
 garrison upon the walls, and yet he safe from 
 the showers of darts and arrows which were 
 projected toward them in return. But all this 
 is now changed. The reach of cannon, and 
 even of musketry, is so long, that combatants, 
 approaching a conflict, are kept at a very re- 
 spectful distance apart, until the time arrives 
 in which the actual engagement is to begin. 
 They reconnoiter each other with spy-glasses 
 from watch-towers on the walls, or from emi- 
 nences in the field, but they can hold no com- 
 munication except by a formal embassy, pro- 
 tected by a flag of truce, which, with its white 
 and distant fluttering, as it slowly advances 
 over the green fields, warns the gunners at the 
 battery or on the bastion to point their artillery 
 another way. 
 
 The Babylonians, on the walls of their city, 
 reproached and taunted their foes incessantly. 
 
B.C. 514.] The Revolt of Babylon. 159 
 
 Taunt of the Babylonians. Fabricating prodigies. 
 
 " Take our advice," said they, " and go back 
 ■where you came from. You will only lose your 
 time in besieging Babylon. "When mules have 
 foals, you will take the city, and not till then." 
 
 The expression " when mules have foals" 
 was equivalent in those days to our proverbial 
 phrase, "when the sky falls," being used to 
 denote any thing impossible or absurd, inas- 
 much as mules, like other hybrid animals, do 
 not produce young. It was thought in those 
 times absolutely impossible that they should do 
 so ; but it is now well known that the case is 
 not impossible, though very rare. 
 
 It seems to have added very much to the in- 
 terest of an historical narrative in the minds of 
 the ancient Greeks, to have some prodigy con- 
 nected with every great event; and, in order 
 to gratify this feeling, the writers appear in 
 some instances to have fabricated a prodigy for 
 the occasion, and in others to have elevated some 
 unusual, though by no means supernatural cir- 
 cumstance, to the rank and importance of one. 
 The prodigy connected with this siege of Bab- 
 ylon was the foaling of a mule. The mule 
 belonged to a general in the army of Darius, 
 named Zopyrus. It was after Darius had been 
 prosecuting the siege of the city for a year and 
 
160 Darius the Great. [B.C. 514. 
 
 The mule of Zopyrus. Interview with Darius. 
 
 a half, without any progress whatever toward 
 the accomplishment of his end. The army be- 
 gan to despair of success. Zopyrus, with the 
 rest, was expecting that the siege would he 
 indefinitely prolonged, or, perhaps, absolutely 
 abandoned, when his attention was strongly at- 
 tracted to the phenomenon which had happened 
 in respect to the mule. He remembered the 
 taunt of the Babylonian on the wall, and it 
 seemed to him that the whole occurrence por- 
 tended that the time had now arrived when some 
 way might be devised for the capture of the city. 
 
 Portents and prophecies are often the causes 
 of their own fulfillment, and this portent led 
 Zopyrus to endeavor to devise some means to 
 accomplish the end in view. He went first, 
 however, to Darius, to converse with him upon 
 the subject, with a view of ascertaining how far 
 he was really desirous of bringing the siege to 
 a termination. He wished to know whether 
 the object was of sufficient importance in Dari- 
 us's mind to warrant any great sacrifice on his 
 own part to effect it. 
 
 He found that it was so. Darius was ex- 
 tremely impatient to end the siege and to cap- 
 ture the city ; and Zopyrus saw at once that, 
 if he could in any way be the means of accom- 
 
B.C. 514.] The Revolt of Babylon. 161 
 
 Desperate plan of Zopyrus. He mutilates himself. 
 
 plishing the work, he should entitle himself, in 
 the highest possible degree, to the gratitude of 
 the king. 
 
 He determined to go himself into Babylon as 
 a pretended deserter from Darius, with a view 
 to obtaining an influence and a command within 
 the city, which should enable him afterward to 
 deliver it up to the besiegers ; and, in order to 
 convince the Babylonians that his desertion was 
 real, he resolved to mutilate himself in a man- 
 ner so dreadful as would effectually prevent 
 their imagining that the injuries which he suf- 
 fered were inflicted by any contrivance of his 
 own. He accordingly cut off his hair and his 
 ears, and mutilated his face in a manner too 
 shocking to be here detailed, inflicting injuries 
 which could never be repaired. He caused 
 himself to be scourged, also, until his whole 
 body was covered with cuts and contusions. 
 He then went, wounded and bleeding as he was, 
 into the presence of Darius, to make known 
 his plans. 
 
 Darius expressed amazement and consterna- 
 tion at the terrible spectacle. He leaped from 
 his throne and rushed toward Zopyrus, de- 
 manding who had dared to maltreat one of Ins 
 generals in such a manner. When Zopyrus re- 
 
162 Darius the Great. [B.C.514. 
 
 Darius's astonishment. Final arrangements. 
 
 plied that he had himself done the deed, the 
 king's astonishment was greater than before. 
 He told Zopyrus that he was insane. Some 
 sudden paroxysm of madness had come over 
 him. Zopyrus replied that he was not insane ; 
 and he explained his design. His plan, he said, 
 was deliberately and calmly formed, and it 
 should be steadily and faithfully executed. " I 
 did not make known my design to you," said 
 he, " before I had taken the preliminary steps, 
 for I knew that you would prevent my taking 
 them. It is now too late for that, and nothing 
 remains but to reap, if possible, the advantage 
 which may be derived from what I have done." 
 He then arranged with Darius the plans 
 which he had formed, so far as he needed the 
 co-operation of the king in the execution of 
 them. If he could gain a partial command in 
 the Babylonian army, he was to make a sally 
 from the city gates on a certain day, and at- 
 tack a portion of the Persian army, which Da- 
 rius was to leave purposely exposed, in order 
 that he might gain credit with the Babyloni- 
 ans by destroying them. From this he sup- 
 posed that the confidence which the Babyloni- 
 ans would repose in him would increase, and 
 he might consequently receive a greater com- 
 
B.C. 514.] The Revolt of Babylon. 163 
 
 Preliminary arrangements. Zopyrus leaves the Persian camp. 
 
 mand. Thus he might, by acting in concert 
 with Darius without, gradually gain such an 
 ascendency within the city as finally to have 
 power to open the gates and let the besiegers 
 in. Darius was to station a detachment of a 
 thousand men near a certain gate, leaving them 
 imperfectly armed, on the tenth day after Zo- 
 pyrus entered the city. These Zopyrus was 
 to destroy. Seven days afterward, two thou- 
 sand more were to be stationed in a similar 
 manner at another point ; and these were also 
 to be destroyed by a second sally. Twenty 
 days after this, four thousand more were to be 
 similarly exposed. Thus seven thousand in- 
 nocent and defenseless men would be slaugh- 
 tered, but that, as Zopyrus said, would be " of 
 no consequence." The lives of men were es- 
 timated by heroes and conquerors in those days 
 only at their numerical value in swelling the 
 army roll. 
 
 These things being all arranged, Zopyrus 
 took leave of the King to go to Babylon. As 
 he left the Persian camp, he began to run, look- 
 ing round behind him continually, as if in flight. 
 Some men, too, pretended to pursue him. He 
 fled toward one of the gates of the city. The 
 sentinels on the walls saw him coming. When 
 
164 Darius the Great. [B.C. 514. 
 
 Success of Zopyrus's stratagem. His piteous story. 
 
 he reached the gate, the porter inside of it talked 
 with him through a small opening, and heard 
 his story. The porter then reported the case 
 to the superior officers, and they commanded 
 that the fugitive should be admitted. When 
 conducted into the presence of the magistrates, 
 he related a piteous story of the cruel treatment 
 which he had received from Darius, and of the 
 difficulty which he had experienced in making 
 his escape from the tyrant's hands. He ut- 
 tered, too, dreadful imprecations against Da- 
 rius, and expressed the most eager determina- 
 tion to be revenged. He informed the Babylo- 
 nians, moreover, that he was well acquainted 
 with all Darius's plans and designs, and with 
 the disposition which he had made of his army ; 
 and that, if they would, in a few days, when his 
 wounds should have in some measure healed, 
 give him a small command, he would show 
 them, by actual trial, what he could do to aid 
 their cause. 
 
 They acceded to this proposition, and fur- 
 nished Zopyrus, at the end of ten days, with a 
 moderate force. Zopyrus, at the head of this 
 force, sallied forth from the gate which had 
 been previously agreed upon between him and 
 Darius, and fell upon the unfortunate thousand 
 
B.C. 514.] The Revolt of Babylon. 165 
 
 The three victories. Zopyrus intrusted with power in Babylon. 
 
 that had been stationed there for the purpose 
 of being destroyed. They were nearly defense- 
 less, and Zopyrus, though his force was inferior, 
 cut them all to pieces before they could be re- 
 enforced or protected, and then retreated safely 
 into the city again. He was received by the 
 Babylonians with the utmost exultation and 
 joy. He had no difficulty in obtaining, seven 
 days. afterward, the command of a larger force, 
 when, sallying forth from another gate, as had 
 been agreed upon by Darius, he gained anoth- 
 er victory, destroying, on this occasion, twice 
 as many Persians as before. These exploits 
 gained the pretended deserter unbounded fame 
 and honor within the city. The populace ap- 
 plauded him with continual acclamations ; and 
 the magistrates invited him to their councils, 
 offered him high command, and governed their 
 own plans and measures by his advice. At 
 length, on the twentieth day, he made his third 
 sally, at which time he destroyed and captured 
 a still greater number than before. This gave 
 him such an influence and position within the 
 city, in respect to its defense, that he had no 
 difficulty in getting intrusted with the keys of 
 certain gates — those, namely, by which he had 
 agreed that the army of Darius should be ad- 
 mitted. 
 
166 Darius the Great. [B.C. 514. 
 
 Zopyrus admits the Persians. Fall of Babylon. 
 
 When the time arrived, the Persians ad- 
 vanced to the attack of the city in that quarter, 
 and the Babylonians rallied as usual on the 
 walls to repel them. The contest had scarcely 
 begun before they found that the gates were 
 open, and that the columns of the enemy were 
 pouring in. The city was thus soon wholly at 
 the mercy of the conqueror. Darius dismantled 
 the walls, carried off the brazen gates, and cru- 
 cified three thousand of the most distinguished 
 inhabitants ; then establishing over the rest a 
 government of his own, he withdrew his troops 
 and returned to Susa. He bestowed upon Zo- 
 pyrus, at Susa, all possible rewards and honors. 
 The marks of his wounds and mutilations could 
 never be effaced, but Darius often said that he 
 would gladly give up twenty Babylons to be 
 able to efface them. 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 167 
 
 Darius's authority fully established throughout his dominions. 
 
 Chapter VIII. 
 
 The Invasion of Scythia. 
 
 N the reigns of ancient monarchs and con- 
 querors, it often happened that the first 
 great transaction which called forth their en- 
 ergies was the suppression of a rebellion within 
 their dominions, and the second, an expedition 
 against some ferocious and half-savage nations 
 beyond their frontiers. Darius followed this 
 general example. The suppression of the Baby- 
 lonian revolt established his authority through- 
 out the whole interior of his empire. If that 
 vast, and populous, and wealthy city was found 
 unable to resist his power, no other smaller 
 province or capital could hope to succeed in the 
 attempt. The whole empire of Asia, therefore, 
 from the capital at Susa, out to the extreme 
 limits and bounds to which Cyrus had extended 
 it, yielded without any further opposition to 
 his sway. He felt strong in his position, and 
 being young and ardent in temperament, he 
 experienced a desire to exercise his strength. 
 For some reason or other, he seems to have 
 
168 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The Scythians. Ancient account of them. 
 
 been not quite prepared yet to grapple with 
 the Greeks, and he concluded, accordingly, first 
 to test his powers in respect to foreign invasion 
 by a war upon the Scythians. This was an 
 undertaking which required some courage and 
 resolution; for it was while making an incur- 
 sion into the country of the Scythians that Cy- 
 rus, his renowned predecessor, and the founder 
 of the Persian empire, had fallen. 
 
 The term Scythians seems to have been a 
 generic designation, applied indiscriminately to 
 vast hordes of half-savage tribes occupying those 
 wild and inhospitable regions of the north, that 
 extended along the shores of the Black and 
 Caspian Seas, and the banks of the Danube. 
 The accounts which are given by the ancient 
 historians of the manners and customs of these 
 people, are very inconsistent and contradictory ; 
 as, in fact, the • accounts of the characters of 
 savages, and of the habits and usages of sav- 
 age life, have always been in every age. It is 
 very little that any one cultivated observer can 
 really know, in respect to the phases of charac- 
 ter, the thoughts and feelings, the sentiments, 
 the principles and the faith, and even the modes 
 of life, that prevail among uncivilized aborigines 
 living in forests, or roaming wildly over unin- 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 169 
 
 Pictures of savage life Their diversity. 
 
 closed and trackless plains. Of those who have 
 the opportunity to observe them, accordingly, 
 some extol, in the highest degree, their rude 
 but charming simplicity, their truth and faith- 
 fulness, the strength of their filial and conju- 
 gal affection, and their superiority of spirit in 
 rising above the sordid sentiments and gross 
 vices of civilization. They are not the slaves, 
 these writers say, of appetite and passion. They 
 have no inordinate love of gain ; they are pa- 
 tient in enduring suffering, grateful for kind- 
 ness received, and inflexibly firm in their ad- 
 herence to the principles of honor and duty. 
 Others, on the other hand, see in savage life 
 nothing but treachery, cruelty, brutality, and 
 crime. Man in his native state, as they im- 
 agine, is but a beast, with just intelligence 
 enough to give effect to his depravity. "With- 
 out natural affection, without truth, without a 
 sense of justice, or the means of making law a 
 substitute for it, he lives in a scene of continual 
 conflict, in which the rights of the weak and 
 the defenseless are always overborne by brutal 
 and tyrannical power. 
 
 The explanation of this diversity is doubtless 
 this, that in savage life, as well as in every 
 other state of human society, all the varieties 
 
■■'■ 
 
 170 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 Social instincts of man. Their universality. 
 
 of human conduct and character are exhibited ; 
 and the attention of each observer is attracted 
 to the one or to the other class of phenomena, 
 according to the circumstances in which he is 
 placed when he makes his observations, or the 
 mood of mind which prevails within him when 
 he records them. There must be the usual 
 virtues of social life, existing in a greater or 
 less degree, in all human communities ; for such 
 principles as a knowledge of the distinction of 
 right and wrong, the idea of property and of 
 individual rights, the obligation resting on every- 
 one to respect them, the sense of justice, and 
 of the ill desert of violence and cruelty, are all 
 universal instincts of the human soul, as uni- 
 versal and as essential to humanity as mater- 
 nal or filial affection, or the principle of conju- 
 gal love. They were established by the great 
 Author of nature as constituent elements in the 
 formation of man. Man could not continue to 
 exist, as a gregarious animal, without them. 
 It would accordingly be as impossible to find a 
 community of men without these moral senti- 
 ments generally prevalent among them, as to 
 find vultures or tigers that did not like to pur- 
 sue and take their prey, or deer without a pro- 
 pensity to fly from danger. The laws and 
 
BC.513.] Invasion of Scythia. 171 
 
 Moral sentiments of mankind. Religious depravity 
 
 usages of civilized society are the expression 
 and the result of these sentiments, not the ori- 
 gin and foundation of them ; and violence, cru- 
 elty, and crime are the exceptions to their op- 
 eration, very few, in all communities, savage 
 or civilized, in comparison with the vast pre- 
 ponderance of cases in which they are obeyed. 
 
 This view of the native constitution of the 
 human character, which it is obvious, on very 
 slight reflection, must be true, is not at all op- 
 posed, as it might at first appear to be, by the 
 doctrine of the theological writers in the Chris- 
 tian Church in respect to the native depravity 
 of man ; for the depravity here referred to is a 
 religious depravity, an alienation of the heart 
 from God, and a rebellious and insubmissive 
 spirit in respect to his law. Neither the Scrip- 
 tures nor the theological writers who interpret 
 them ever call in question the universal ex- 
 istence and prevalence of those instincts that 
 are essential to the social welfare of man. 
 
 But we must return to the Scythians. 
 
 The tribes which Darius proposed to attack 
 occupied the countries north of the Danube. 
 His route, therefore, for the invasion of their 
 territories would lead him through Asia Minor, 
 thence across the Hellespont or the Bosporus 
 
172 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 Advice of Artabanus. Emissaries sent forward 
 
 into Thrace, and from Thrace across the Dan- 
 ube. It was a distant and dangerous expedition. 
 
 Darius had a brother named Artabanus. Ar- 
 tabanus was of opinion that the enterprise which 
 the kjng was contemplating was not only dis- 
 tant and dangerous, but that the country of the 
 Scythians was of so little value that the end 
 to be obtained by success would be wholly in- 
 adequate to compensate for the exertions, the 
 costs, and the hazards which he must necessa- 
 rily incur in the prosecution of it. But Darius 
 was not to be dissuaded. He thanked his 
 brother for his advice, but ordered the prepara- 
 tions for the expedition to go on. 
 
 He sent emissaries forward, in advance, over 
 the route that his army was destined to take, 
 transmitting orders to the several provinces 
 which were situated on the line of his march 
 to prepare the way for the passage of his troops. 
 Among other preparations, they were to con- 
 struct a bridge of boats across the Bosporus 
 at Chalcedon. This work was intrusted to the 
 charge and superintendence of an engineer of 
 Samos named Mandrocles. The people of the 
 provinces were also to furnish bodies of troops, 
 both infantry and cavalry, to join the army on 
 its march. 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 173 
 
 The petition of GEbazus. Darius's wanton cruelty. 
 
 The soldiers that were enlisted to go on this 
 remote and dangerous expedition joined the 
 army, as is usual in such cases, some willingly, 
 from love of adventure, or the hope of opportu- 
 nities for plunder, and for that unbridled indul- 
 gence of appetite and passion which soldiers so 
 often look forward to as a part of their reward ; 
 others from hard compulsion, being required to 
 leave friends and home, and all that they held 
 dear, under the terror of a stern and despotic 
 edict which they dared not disobey. It was 
 even dangerous to ask for exemption. 
 
 As an instance of this, it is said that there 
 was a Persian named (Ebazus, who had three 
 sons that had been drafted into the army. 
 (Ebazus, desirous of not being left wholly alone 
 in his old age, made a request to the king that 
 he would allow one of the sons to remain at 
 home with his father. Darius appeared to re- 
 ceive this petition favorably. He told (Ebazus 
 that the request was so very modest and con- 
 siderate that he would grant more than he 
 asked. He would allow all three of his sons 
 to remain with him. (Ebazus retired from the 
 king's presence overjoyed at the thought that 
 his family was not to be separated at all. Da- 
 rius ordered his guards to kill the three young 
 
174 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 Race of rendezvous. The fleet of galleys. 
 
 men, and to send the dead bodies home, with a 
 message to their father that his sons were re- 
 stored to him, released forever from all obliga- 
 tion to serve the king. 
 
 The place of general rendezvous for the va- 
 rious forces which were to join in the expedi- 
 tion, consisting of the army which marched with 
 Darius from Susa, and also of the troops and 
 ships which the maritime provinces of Asia 
 Minor were to supply on the way, was on the 
 shores of the Bosporus, at the point where 
 Mendrocles had constructed the bridge.* The 
 people of Ionia, a region situated in Asia 
 Minor, on the shores of the iEgean Sea, had 
 been ordered to furnish a fleet of galleys, which 
 they were to build and equip, and then send to 
 the bridge. The destination of this fleet was 
 to the Danube. It was to pass up the Bospo- 
 rus into the Euxine Sea, now called the Black 
 Sea, and thence into the mouth of the river. 
 After ascending the Danube to a certain point, 
 the men were to land and build a bridge across 
 that fiver, using, very probably, then galleys 
 for this purpose. In the mean time, the army 
 was to cross the Bosporus by the bridge which 
 
 * For the track of Darius on this expedition, see the map 
 at the commencement of this volume. 
 
r-.-- 
 
 B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 175 
 
 Darius's march through Asia Minor. Monuments. 
 
 had been erected there by Mandrocles, and pur- 
 sue their way toward the Danube by land, 
 through the kingdom of Thrace. By this ar- 
 rangement, it was supposed that the bridge 
 across the Danube would be ready by the time 
 that the main body of the army arrived on the 
 banks of the river. The idea of thus building 
 in Asia Minor a bridge for the Danube, in the 
 form of a vast fleet of galleys, to be sent round 
 through the Black Sea to the mouths of the 
 river, and thence up the river to its place of 
 destination, was original and grand. It strik- 
 ingly marks the military genius and skill which 
 gave the Greeks so extended a fame, for it was 
 by the Greeks that the exploit was to be per- 
 formed. 
 
 Darius marched magnificently through Asia 
 Minor, on his way to the Bosporus, at the head 
 of an army of seventy thousand men. He 
 moved slowly, and the engineers and architects 
 that accompanied him built columns and mon- 
 uments here and there, as he advanced, to com- 
 memorate his progress. These structures were 
 covered with inscriptions, which ascribed to Da- 
 rius, as the leader of the enterprise, the most 
 extravagant praise. At length the splendid 
 array arrived at the place of rendezvous on the 
 
176 Darius the (treat. [B.C.513. 
 
 Arrival at the Bosporus. The bridge of boats. 
 
 Bosporus, where there was soon presented to 
 view a very grand and imposing scene. 
 
 The bridge of boats was completed, and the 
 Ionian fleet, consisting of six hundred galleys, 
 was at anchor near it in the stream. Long 
 lines of tents were pitched upon the shore, and 
 thousands of horsemen and of foot soldiers were 
 drawn up in array, their banners flying, and 
 their armor glittering in the sun, and all eager 
 to see and to welcome the illustrious sovereign 
 who had come, with so much pomp and splen- 
 dor, to take them under his command. The 
 banks of the Bosporus were picturesque and 
 high, and all the eminences were crowded with 
 spectators, to witness the imposing magnifi- 
 cence of the spectacle. 
 
 Darius encamped his army on the shore, and 
 began to make the preparations necessary for 
 the final departure of the expedition. He had 
 been thus far within his own dominions. He 
 was now, however, to pass into another quarter 
 of the globe, to plunge into new and unknown 
 dangers, among hostile, savage, and ferocious 
 tribes. It was right that he should pause until 
 he had considered well his plans, and secured 
 attention to every point which could influence 
 success. 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 177 
 
 Reward of Mandrocles. The group of statuary. 
 
 He first examined the bridge of boats. He 
 was very much pleased with, the construction of 
 it. He commended Mandrocles for his skill and 
 fidelity in the highest terms, and loaded him 
 with rewards and honors. Mandrocles used the 
 money which Darius thus gave him in employ- 
 ing an artist to form a piece of statuary which 
 should at once commemorate the building of the 
 bridge and give to Darius the glory of it. The 
 group represented the Bosporus with the bridge 
 thrown over it, and the king on his throne re- 
 viewing his troops as they passed over the struc- 
 ture. This statuary was placed, when finished, 
 in a temple in Greece, where it was universally 
 admired. Darius was very much pleased both 
 with the idea of this sculpture on the part of 
 Mandrocles, and with the execution of it by the 
 artist. He gave the bridge builder new re- 
 wards ; he recompensed the artist, also, with 
 similar munificence. He was pleased that they 
 had contrived so happy a way of at the same 
 time commemorating the bridging of the Bos- 
 porus and rendering exalted honor to him. 
 
 The bridge was situated about the middle of 
 
 the Bosporus ; and as the strait itself is about 
 
 eighteen miles long, it was nine miles from the 
 
 bridge to the Euxine Sea. There is a small 
 
 M 
 
178 Darius the Great. [B.C.513. 
 
 The Cyanean Islands. Darius makes an excursion to them. 
 
 group of islands near the mouth of this strait, 
 where it opens into the sea, which were called 
 in those days the Cyanean Islands. They were 
 famed in the time of Darius for having once 
 been floating islands, and enchanted. Their 
 supernatural properties had disappeared, hut 
 there was one attraction which still pertained 
 to them. They were situated beyond the limits 
 of the strait, and the visitor who landed upon 
 them could take his station on some picturesque 
 cliff or smiling hill, and extend his view far and 
 wide over the blue waters of the Euxine Sea. 
 
 Darius determined to make an excursion to 
 these islands while the fleet and the army were 
 completing their preparations at the bridge. 
 He embarked, accordingly, on board a splendid 
 galley, and, sailing along the Bosporus till he 
 reached the sea, he landed on one of the islands. 
 There was a temple there, consecrated to one 
 of the Grecian deities. Darius, accompanied 
 by his attendants and followers, ascended to 
 this temple, and, taking a seat which had been 
 provided for him there, he surveyed the broad 
 expanse of water which extended like an ocean 
 before him, and contemplated the grandeur of 
 the scene with the greatest admiration and de- 
 light. 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scytiiia. 179 
 
 The two monuments. Inscriptions on them. 
 
 At length he returned to the bridge, where 
 he found the preparations for the movement of 
 the fleet and of the army nearly completed. He 
 determined, before leaving the Asiatic shores, 
 to erect a monument to commemorate his ex- 
 pedition, on the spot from which he was to take 
 his final departure. He accordingly directed 
 two columns of white marble to be reared, and 
 inscriptions to be cut upon them, giving such 
 particulars in respect to the expedition as it 
 was desirable thus to preserve. These inscrip- 
 tions contained his own name in very conspic- 
 uous characters as the leader of the enterprise ; 
 also an enumeration of the various nations that 
 had contributed to form his army, with the num- 
 bers which each had furnished. There was a 
 record of corresponding particulars, too, in re- 
 spect to the fleet. The inscriptions were the 
 same upon the two columns, except that upon 
 the one it was written in the Assyrian tongue, 
 which was the general language of the Per- 
 sian empire, and upon the other in the Greek. 
 Thus the two monuments were intended, the 
 one for the Asiatic, and the other for the Eu- 
 ropean world. 
 
 At length the day of departure arrived. The 
 fleet set sail, and the immense train of the army 
 
180 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The troops cross the bridge Movements of the fleet. 
 
 put itself in motion to cross the bridge.* The 
 fleet went on through the Bosporus to the Eux- 
 ine, and thence along the western coast of that 
 sea till it reached the mouths of the Danube. 
 The ships entered the river by one of the branch- 
 es which form the delta of the stream, and as- 
 cended for two days. This carried them above 
 the ramifications into which the river divides 
 itself at its mouth, to a spot where the current 
 was confined to a single channel, and where 
 the banks were firm. Here they landed, and 
 while one part of the force which they had 
 brought were occupied in organizing guards 
 and providing defenses to protect the ground, 
 the remainder commenced the work of arrang- 
 ing the vessels of the fleet, side by side, across 
 the stream, to form the bridge. 
 
 In the mean time, Darius, leading the great 
 body of the army, advanced from the Bosporus 
 by land. The country which the troops thus 
 traversed was Thrace. They met with various 
 adventures as they proceeded, and saw, as the 
 accounts of the expedition state, many strange 
 and marvelous phenomena. They came, for ex- 
 ample, to the sources of a very wonderful river, 
 which flows west and south toward the iEgean 
 * See Frontispiece. 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 181 
 
 The River Teams. Its wonderful sources. 
 
 Sea. The name of the river was the Teams. 
 It came from thirty-eight springs, all issuing 
 from the same rock, some hot and some cold. 
 The waters of the stream which was produced 
 hy the mingling of these fountains were pure, 
 limpid, and delicious, and were possessed of re- 
 markable medicinal properties, being effica- 
 cious for the cure of various diseases. Darius 
 was so much pleased with this river, that his 
 army halted to refresh themselves with its 
 waters, and he caused one of his monuments 
 to be erected on the spot, the inscription of 
 which contained not only the usual memorials 
 of the march, but also a tribute to the salubrity 
 of the waters of this magical stream. 
 
 At one point in the course of the march 
 through Thrace, Darius conceived the idea of 
 varying the construction of his line of monu- 
 ments by building a cairn. A cairn is a heap 
 of stones, such as is reared in the mountains of 
 Scotland and of Switzerland by the voluntary 
 additions of every passer by, to commemorate a 
 spot marked as the scene of some accident or 
 disaster. As each guide finishes the story of 
 the incident in the hearing of the party which 
 he conducts, each tourist who has listened to it 
 adds his stone to the heap, until the rude struc- 
 
182 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The cairn. Primitive mode of ccnsus-Uiking. 
 
 ture attains sometimes to a very considerable 
 size. Darius, fixing upon a suitable spot near 
 one of his encampments, commanded every sol- 
 dier in the army to bring a stone and place it 
 on the pile. A vast mound rose rapidly from 
 these contributions, which, when completed, not 
 only commemorated the march of the army, 
 but denoted, also, by the immense number of 
 the stones entering into the composition of the 
 pile, the countless multitude of soldiers that 
 formed the expedition. 
 
 There was a story told to Darius, as he was 
 traversing these regions, of a certain king, reign- 
 ing over some one of the nations that occupied 
 them, who wished to make an enumeration of 
 the inhabitants of his realm. The mode which 
 he adopted was to require every man in his do- 
 minions to send him an arrow head. When all 
 the arrow heads were in, the vast collection was 
 counted by the official arithmeticians, and the 
 total of the population was thus attained. The 
 arrow heads were then laid together in a sort 
 of monumental pile. It was, perhaps, this 
 primitive mode of census-taking which sug- 
 gested to Darius the idea of his cairn. 
 
 There was a tribe of barbarians through 
 whose dominions Darius passed on his way from 
 
B.C.513.] Invasion of Scythia. 183 
 
 Instinctive feeling of dependence on a supernatural power. 
 
 the Bosporus to the Danube, that observed a 
 custom in their religious worship, which, though 
 in itself of a shocking character, suggests re- 
 flections of salutary influence for our own 
 minds. There is a universal instinct in the 
 human heart, leading it strongly to feel the 
 need of help from an unseen and supernatural 
 world in its sorrows and trials ; and it is almost 
 always the case that rude and savage nations, 
 in their attempts to obtain this spiritual aid, 
 connect the idea of personal privation and suf- 
 fering on their part, self inflicted if necessary, 
 as a means of seeking it. It seems as if the 
 instinctive conviction of personal guilt, which 
 associates itself so naturally and so strongly in 
 the minds of men with all conceptions of the 
 unseen world and of divine power, demands 
 something like an expiation as an essential pre- 
 requisite to obtaining audience and acceptance 
 with the King of Heaven. The tribe of sav- 
 ages above referred to manifested this feeling 
 by a dreadful observance. Once in every five 
 years they were accustomed to choose by lot. 
 with solemn ceremonies, one of their number, 
 to be sent as a legate or embassador to their 
 god. The victim, when chosen, was laid down 
 upon the ground in the midst of the vast as- 
 
184 
 
 
 Darius 
 
 THE 
 
 G 
 
 RE AT. 
 
 [B.C. 
 
 513. 
 
 Strange 
 
 rclijj 
 
 ;ious observance. 
 
 
 
 Arrival at the Danube. 
 
 sembly convened to witness the rite, while offi- 
 cers designated for the purpose stood by, armed 
 with javelins. Other men, selected for their 
 great personal strength, then took the man 
 from the ground hy the hands and feet, and 
 swinging him to and fro three times to gain 
 momentum, they threw him with -all their force 
 into the air, and the armed men, when he came 
 down, caught him on the points of their jave- 
 lins. If he was killed hy this dreadful impale- 
 ment, all was right. He would hear the. mes- 
 sage of the wants and necessities of the tribe to 
 their god, and they might reasonably expect a 
 favorable reception. If, on the other hand, he 
 did not die, he was thought to be rejected by the 
 god as a wicked man and an unsuitable mes- 
 senger. The unfortunate convalescent was, in 
 such cases, dismissed in disgrace, and another 
 messenger chosen. 
 
 The army of Darius reached the banks of the 
 Danube at last, and they found that the fleet 
 of the Ionians had attained the point agreed 
 upon before them, and were awaiting their ar- 
 rival. The vessels were soon arranged in the 
 form of a bridge across the stream, and as there 
 was no enemy at hand to embarrass them, the 
 army soon accomplished the passage. They 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scythia. 185 
 
 Orders to destroy the bridge. Counsel of the Grecian general. 
 
 were now fairly in the Scythian country, and 
 immediately began their preparations to ad- 
 vance and meet the foe. Darius gave orders 
 to have the bridge broken up, and the galleys 
 abandoned and destroyed, as he chose rather to 
 take with him the whole of his force, than to 
 leave a guard behind sufficient to protect this 
 ■ shipping. These orders were about to be exe- 
 cuted, when a Grecian general, who was at- 
 tached to one of the bodies of troops which were 
 furnished from the provinces of Asia Minor, 
 asked leave to speak to the king. The king 
 granted him an audience, when he expressed 
 his opinion as follows : 
 
 " It seems to me to be more prudent, sire, to 
 leave the bridge as it is, under the care of those 
 who have constructed it, as it may be that we 
 shall have occasion to use it on our return. I 
 do not recommend the preservation of it as a 
 means of securing a retreat, for, in case we meet 
 the Scythians at all, I am confident of victory ; 
 but our enemy consists of wandering hordes 
 who have no fixed habitation, and their coun- 
 try is entirely without cities or posts of any 
 kind which they will feel any strong interest in 
 defending, and thus it is possible that we may 
 not be able to find any enemy to combat. Be- 
 
186 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The bridge is preserved. Guard left to protect it. 
 
 sides, if we succeed in our enterprise as com- 
 pletely as we can desire, it will be important, 
 on many accounts, to preserve an open and 
 free communication with the countries "behind 
 
 The king approved of this counsel, and coun- 
 termanded his orders for the destruction of the 
 bridge. He directed that the Ionian forces that 
 had accompanied the fleet should remain at the 
 river to guard the bridge. They were to re- 
 main thus on guard for two months, and then, 
 if Darius did not return, and if they heard no 
 tidings of him, they were at liberty to leave 
 their post, and to go back, with their galleys, 
 to their own land again. 
 
 Two months would seem to be a very short 
 time to await the return of an army going on 
 such an expedition into boundless and trackless 
 wilds. There can, however, scarcely be any 
 accidental error in the statement of the time, as 
 the mode which Darius adopted to enable the 
 guard thus left at the bridge to keep their reck- 
 oning was a very singular one, and it is very 
 particularly described. He took a cord, it is 
 said, and tied sixty knots in it. This cord he 
 delivered to the Ionian chiefs who were to be 
 left in charge of the bridge, directing them to 
 
B.C. 513.] Invasion of Scytiiia. 187 
 
 Singular mode of reckoning. Probable reason for employing it. 
 
 untie one of the knots every day. When the 
 cord should become, hy this process, wholly 
 free, the detachment were also at liberty. They 
 might thereafter, at any time, abandon the post 
 intrusted to them, and return to their homes. 
 
 "We can not suppose that military men, cap- 
 able of organizing a force of seventy thousand 
 troops for so distant an expedition, and possess- 
 ed of sufficient science and skill to bridge the 
 Bosporus and the Danube, could have been 
 under any necessity of adopting so childish a 
 method as this as a real reliance in regulating 
 their operations. It must be recollected, how- 
 ever, that, though the commanders in these an- 
 cient days were intelligent and strong-minded 
 men, the common soldiers were but children 
 both in intellect and in ideas ; and it was the 
 custom of all great commanders to employ out- 
 ward and visible symbols to influence and gov- 
 ern them. The sense of loneliness and deser- 
 tion which such soldiers would naturally feel in 
 being left in solitude on the banks of the river, 
 would be much diminished by seeing before 
 them a marked and definite termination to the 
 period of their stay, and to have, in the cord 
 hanging up in their camp, a visible token that 
 the remnant of time that remained was steadily 
 
188 Darius the Great. [B.C.513. 
 
 Darius's determination to return before the knots should be all untied. 
 
 diminishing day by day ; while, in the mean 
 time, Darius was fully determined that, long 
 before the knots should be all untied, he would 
 return to the river. 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 189 
 
 Motive for Darius's invasion. The foundation of government. 
 
 Chapter IX. 
 
 The Retreat from Scythia. 
 
 HPHE motive which dictated Darius's inva- 
 -*- sion of Scythia seems to have been purely 
 a selfish and domineering love of power. The 
 attempts of a stronger and more highly civil- 
 ized state to extend its dominion over a weaker 
 and more lawless one, are not, however, neces- 
 sarily and always of this character. Divine 
 Providence, in making men gregarious in na- 
 ture, has given them an instinct of organiza- 
 tion, which is as intrinsic and as essential a 
 characteristic of the human soul as maternal 
 love or the principle of self-preservation. The 
 right, therefore, of organizations of men to es- 
 tablish law and order among themselves, and to 
 extend these principles to other communities 
 around them, so far as such interpositions are 
 really promotive of the interests and welfare of 
 those affected by them, rests on precisely the 
 same foundation as the right of the father to 
 govern the child. This foundation is the exist- 
 ence and universality of an instinctive principle 
 
190 Darius the Great. [B.C.513. 
 
 Darius without justification in invading Scythia. 
 
 implanted by the Creator in the human heart ; 
 a principle which we are bound to submit to, 
 both because it is a fundamental and constitu- 
 ent element in the very structure of man, and 
 because its recognition and the acknowledg- 
 ment of its authority are absolutely essential to 
 his continued existence. Wherever law and or- 
 der, therefore, among men do not exist, it may 
 be properly established and enforced by any 
 neighboring organization that has power to do 
 it, just as wherever there is a group of children 
 they may be justly controlled and governed by 
 their father. It seems equally unnecessary to 
 invent a fictitious and wholly imaginary com- 
 pact to justify the jurisdiction in the one case 
 as in the other. 
 
 If the Scythians, therefore, had been in a 
 state of confusion and anarchy, Darius might 
 justly have extended his own well-regulated 
 and settled government over them, and, in so 
 doing, would have promoted the general good 
 of mankind. But he had no such design. It 
 was a desire for personal aggrandizement, and 
 a love of fame and power, which prompted him. 
 He offered it as a pretext to justify his inva- 
 sion, that the Scythians, in former years, had 
 made incursions into the Persian dominions; 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 191 
 
 Alarm of the Scythians. Condition of the tribes. 
 
 but this was only a pretext. The expedition 
 was a wanton attack upon neighbors whom he 
 supposed unable to resist him, simply for the 
 purpose of adding to his own already gigantic 
 power. 
 
 When Darius commenced his march, from 
 the river, the Scythians had heard rumors of 
 his approach. They sent, as soon as they were 
 aware of the impending danger, to all the na- 
 tions and tribes around them, in order to se- 
 cure their alliance and aid These people were 
 all wandering and half-savage tribes, like the 
 Scythians themselves, though each seems to 
 have possessed its own special and distinctive 
 mark of barbarity. One tribe were accustom- 
 ed to carry home the heads of the enemies 
 which they had slain in battle, and each one, 
 impaling his own dreadful trophy upon a stake, 
 would set it up upon his house-top, over the 
 chimney, where they imagined that it would 
 have the effect of a charm, and serve as a pro- 
 tection for the family. Another tribe lived in 
 habits of promiscuous intercourse, like the low- 
 er orders of animals ; and so, as the historian 
 absurdly states, being, in consequence of this 
 mode of life, all connected together by the ties 
 of consanguinity, they lived in perpetual peace 
 
192 Darius the Great. [B.C.513. 
 
 Men metamorphosed into wolves. Story of the Amazons. 
 
 and good will, without any envy, or jealousy, 
 or other evil passion. A third occupied a re- 
 gion so infested with serpents that they were 
 once driven wholly out of the country by them. 
 It was said of these people that, once in every 
 year, they were all metamorphosed into wolves, 
 and, after remaining for a few days in this form, 
 they were transformed again into men. A 
 fourth tribe painted their bodies blue and red, 
 and a fifth were cannibals. 
 
 The most remarkable, however, of all the 
 tales related about these northern savages was 
 the story of the Sauromateans and their Ama- 
 zonian wives. The Amazons were a nation of 
 masculine and ferocious women, who often fig- 
 ure in ancient histories and legends. They 
 rode on horseback astride like men, and their 
 courage and strength in battle were such that 
 scarcely any troops could subdue them. It 
 happened, however, upon one time, that some 
 Greeks conquered a body of them somewhere 
 upon the shores of the Euxine Sea, and took a 
 large number of them prisoners. They placed 
 these prisoners on board of three ships, and put 
 to sea The Amazons rose upon their captors 
 and threw them overboard, and thus obtained 
 possession of the ships. They immediately pro- 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 193 
 
 Adventures of the Amazons. Two of them captured. 
 
 ceeded toward the shore, and landed, not know- 
 ing where they were. It happened to be on 
 the northwestern coast of the sea that they 
 landed. Here they roamed up and down the 
 country, until presently they fell in with a 
 troop of horses. These they seized and mount- 
 ed, arming themselves, at the same time, either 
 with the weapons which they had procured on 
 board the ships, or fabricated, themselves, on 
 the shore. Thus organized and equipped, they 
 began to make excursions for plunder, and soon 
 became a most formidable band of marauders. 
 The Scythians of the country supposed that 
 they were men, but they could learn nothing 
 certain respecting them. Their language, their 
 appearance, their manners, and their dress were 
 totally new, and the inhabitants were utterly 
 unable to conceive who they were, and from 
 what place they could so suddenly and myste- 
 riously have come. 
 
 At last, in one of the encounters which took 
 place, the Scythians took two of these strange 
 invaders prisoners To their utter amazement, 
 they found that they were women. On mak- 
 ing this discovery, they changed their mode of 
 dealing with them, and resolved upon a plan 
 based on the supposed universality of the in- 
 N 
 
194 Darius the Great. [B.C.513. 
 
 The corps of cavaliers Their maneuvers- 
 
 stincts of their sex They enlisted a corps of 
 the most handsome and vigorous young men 
 that could be obtained, and after giving them 
 instructions, the nature of which will he learn- 
 ed by the result, they sent them forth to meet 
 the Amazons. 
 
 The corps of Scythian cavaliers went out to 
 seek their female antagonists with designs any 
 thing but belligerent. They advanced to the 
 encampment of the Amazons, and hovered 
 about for some time in their vicinity, without, 
 however, making any warlike demonstrations. 
 They had been instructed to show themselves 
 as much as possible to the enemy, but by no 
 means to fight them. They would, accordingly, 
 draw as near to the Amazons as was safe, and 
 linger there, gazing upon them, as if under the 
 influence of some sort of fascination. If the 
 Amazons advanced toward them, they would 
 fall back, and if the advance continued, they 
 would retreat fast enough to keep effectually 
 out of the way. Then, when the Amazons 
 turned, they would turn too, follow them back, 
 and linger near them, around their encamp- 
 ment, as before. 
 
 The Amazonians were for a time puzzled 
 with this strange demeanor, and they gradually 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 195 
 
 Success of the cavaliers. •Matrimonial alliances. 
 
 learned to look upon the handsome horsemen 
 at first without fear, and finally even without 
 hostility. At length, one day, one of the young 
 horsemen, observing an Amazon who had stray- 
 ed away from the rest, followed and joined her. 
 She did not repel him. They were not able to 
 converse together, as neither knew the lan- 
 guage of the other. They established a friend- 
 ly intercourse, however, by looks and signs, and 
 after a time they separated, each agreeing to 
 bring one of their companions to the place of 
 rendezvous on the following day. 
 
 A friendly intercommunication being thus 
 commenced, the example spread very rapidly ; 
 matrimonial alliances began to be formed, and, 
 in a word, a short time only elapsed before the 
 two camps were united and intermingled, the 
 Scythians and the Amazons being all paired 
 together in the most intimate relations of do- 
 mestic life. Thus, true to the instincts of their 
 sex, the rude and terrible maidens decided, 
 when the alternative was fairly presented ^to 
 them, in favor of husbands and homes, rather 
 than continuing the life they had led, of inde- 
 pendence, conflict, and plunder. It is curious 
 to observe that the means by which they were 
 won, namely, a persevering display of admira- 
 
196 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The Amazons rule their husbands. They establish a separate tribe. 
 
 tion and attentions, steadily continued, but not 
 too eagerly and impatiently pressed, and varied 
 with an adroit and artful alternation of advanc- 
 es and retreats, were precisely the same as 
 those by which, in every age, the attempt is 
 usually made to win the heart of woman from 
 hatred and hostility to love. 
 
 "We speak of the Amazonians as having been 
 won ; but they were, in fact, themselves the 
 conquerors of their "captors, after all ; for it ap- 
 peared, in the end, that in the future plans and 
 arrangements of the united body, they ruled 
 their Scythian husbands, and not the Scythians 
 them. The husbands wished to return home 
 with their wives, whom, they said, they would 
 protect and maintain in the midst of their coun- 
 trymen in honor and in peace. The Amazons, 
 however, were in favor of another plan. Their 
 habits and manners were such, they said, that 
 they should not be respected and beloved among 
 any other people. They wished that their hus- 
 bands, therefore, would go home and settle their 
 affairs, and afterward return and join their 
 wives again, and then that all together should 
 move to the eastward, until ~they should find a 
 suitable place to settle in by themselves. This 
 plan was acceded to by the husbands, and was 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 197 
 
 The Scythians send an embassy to the neighboring tribes. 
 
 carried into execution ; and the result was the 
 planting of a new nation, called the Sauroma- 
 teans, who thenceforth took their place among 
 the other barbarous tribes that dwelt upon the 
 northern shores of the Euxine Sea. 
 
 Such was the character of the tribes and na- 
 tions that dwelt hi the neighborhood of the 
 Scythian country. As soon as Darius had 
 passed the river, the Scythians sent embassa- 
 dors to all their people, proposing to them to 
 form a general alliance against the invader. 
 " We ought to make common cause against 
 him," said they ; " for if he subdues one nation, 
 it will only open the way for an attack upon 
 the rest. Some of us are, it is true, more re- 
 mote than others from the immediate danger, 
 but it threatens us all equally in the end." 
 
 The embassadors delivered their message, and 
 some of the tribes acceded to the Scythian pro- 
 posals. Others, however, refused. The quar- 
 rel, they said, was a quarrel between Darius 
 and the Scythians alone, and they were not in- 
 clined to bring upon themselves the hostility of 
 so powerful a sovereign by interfering. The 
 Scythians were very indignant at this refusal ; 
 but there was no remedy, and they accordingly 
 began to prepare to defend themselves as well 
 
198 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 Habits of the Scythians. Their mode of warfare. 
 
 as they could, with the help of those nations 
 that had expressed a willingness to join them. 
 
 The habits of the Scythians were nomadic 
 and wandering, and their country was one vast 
 region of verdant and beautiful, and yet, in a 
 great measure, of uncultivated and trackless 
 wilds. They had few towns and villages, and 
 those few were of little value. They adopted, 
 therefore, the mode of warfare which, in' such a 
 country and for such a people, is always the 
 wisest to be pursued. They retreated slowly 
 before Darius' s advancing army, carrying off 
 or destroying all such property as might aid the 
 king in respect to his supplies. They organized 
 and equipped a body of swift horsemen, who 
 were ordered to hover around Darius' s camp, 
 and bring intelligence to the Scythian generals 
 of every movement. These horsemen, too, were 
 to harass the flanks and the rear of the army, 
 and to capture or destroy every man whom they 
 should find straying away from the camp. By 
 this means they kept the invading army con- 
 tinually on the alert, allowing them no peace 
 and no repose, while yet they thwarted and 
 counteracted all the plans and efforts which the 
 enemy made to bring on a general battle. 
 
 As the Persians advanced in pursuit of the 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 199 
 
 Message to Indathyrsus. His reply. 
 
 enemy, the Scythians retreated, and in this re- 
 treat they directed their course toward the 
 countries occupied by those nations that had 
 refused to join in the alliance. By this artful 
 management they transferred the calamity and 
 the burden of the war to the territories of their 
 neighbors. Darius soon found that he was ma- 
 king no progress toward gaining his end. At 
 length he concluded to try the effect of a di- 
 rect and open challenge. 
 
 He accordingly sent embassadors to the 
 Scythian chief, whose name was Indathyrsus, 
 with a message somewhat as follows : 
 
 " Foolish man ! how long will you continue 
 to act in this absurd and preposterous manner ? 
 It is incumbent on you to make a decision in 
 favor of one thing or the other. If you think 
 that you are able to contend with me, stop, and 
 let us engage. If not, then acknowledge me as 
 your superior, and submit to my authority." 
 
 The Scythian chief sent back the following 
 reply : 
 
 " We have no inducement to contend with 
 you in open battle on the field, because you 
 are not doing us any injury, nor is it at present 
 in your power to do. us any. We have no cit- 
 ies and no cultivated fields that you can seize 
 
200 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The Scythian cavalry. Their attacks on the Persians. 
 
 or plunder. Your roaming about our country, 
 therefore, does us no harm, and you are at lib- 
 erty to continue it as long as it gives you any 
 pleasure. There is nothing on our soil that 
 you can injure, except one spot, and that is the 
 place where the sepulchres of our fathers he. 
 If you were to attack that spot — which you 
 may perhaps do, if you can find it — you may 
 rely upon a battle. In the mean time, you 
 may go elsewhere, wherever you please. As 
 to acknowledging your superiority, we shall do 
 nothing of the kind. We defy you." 
 
 Notwithstanding the refusal of the Scythians 
 to give the Persians battle, they yet made, from 
 time to time, partial and unexpected onsets 
 upon their camp, seizing occasions when they 
 hoped to find their enemies off their guard. 
 The Scythians had troops of cavalry which 
 were very efficient and successful in these at- 
 tacks. These horsemen were, however, some- 
 times thrown into confusion and driven back 
 by a very singular means of defense. It seems 
 that the Persians had brought with them from 
 Europe, in their train, a great number of asses, 
 as beasts of burden, to transport the tents and 
 the baggage of the army. These asses were 
 accustomed, in times of excitement and dan- 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 201 
 
 Braying of the Persian asses Scythians sent to the bridge. 
 
 ger, to set up a very terrific braying. It was, 
 in fact, all that they could do Braying at a 
 danger seems to be a very ridiculous mode of 
 attempting to avert it, but it was a tolerably 
 effectual mode, nevertheless, in this case at 
 least ; for the Scythian horses, who would have 
 faced spears and javelins, and the loudest shouts 
 and vociferations of human adversaries without 
 any fear, were appalled and put to flight at 
 hearing the unearthly noises which issued from 
 the Persian camp whenever they approached it. 
 Thus the mighty monarch of the whole Asiatic 
 world seemed to depend for protection against 
 the onsets of these rude and savage troops on 
 the braying of his asses ! 
 
 While the S3 things were going on in the in- 
 terior of the country, the Scythians sent down 
 a detachment of their forces to the banks of 
 the Danube, to see if they could not, in some 
 way or other, obtain possession of the bridge. 
 They learned here what the orders were which 
 Darius had given to the Ionians who had been 
 left in charge, in respect to the time of their re- 
 maining at their post. The Scythians told 
 them that if they would govern themselves 
 strictly by those orders, and so break up the 
 
202 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 Agreement with the Ionians. The Scythians change their policy 
 
 bridge and go down the river with then* boats 
 as soon as the two months should have ex- 
 pired, they should not be molested in the mean 
 time. The Ionians agreed to this. The time 
 was then already nearly gone, and they prom- 
 ised that, so soon as it should be fully expired, 
 they would withdraw. 
 
 The Scythian detachment sent back word to 
 the main army acquainting them with these 
 facts, and the army accordingly resolved on a 
 change in their policy. Instead of harassing 
 and distressing the Persians as they had done, 
 to hasten their departure, they now determined 
 to improve the situation of their enemies, and 
 encourage them in their hopes, so as to protract 
 their stay. They accordingly allowed the Per- 
 sians to gain the advantage over them in small 
 skirmishes, and they managed, also, to have 
 droves of cattle fall into their hands, from time 
 to time, so as to supply them with food. The 
 Persians were quite elated with these indica- 
 tions that the tide of fortune was about to turn 
 in their favor. 
 
 While things were in this state, there ap- 
 peared one day at the Persian camp a messen- 
 ger from the Scythians, who said that he had 
 some presents from the Scythian chief for Da- 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 203 
 
 The Scythians' strange presents. Various interpretations. 
 
 rius. The messenger was admitted, and allow- 
 ed to deliver his gifts. The gifts proved to be 
 a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows. The 
 Persians asked the bearer of these strange of- 
 ferings what the Scythians meant by them. 
 He replied that he had no explanations to give. 
 His orders were, he said, to deliver the presents 
 and then return ; and that they must, accord- 
 ingly, find out the meaning intended by the ex- 
 ercise of their own ingenuity. 
 
 When the messenger had retired, Darius and 
 the Persians consulted together, to determine 
 what so strange a communication could mean. 
 They could not, however, come to any satisfac- 
 tory decision. Darius said that he thought the 
 three animals might probably be intended to 
 denote the three kingdoms of nature to which 
 the said animals respectively belonged, viz., the 
 earth, the air, and the water ; and as the giving 
 up of weapons was a token of submission, the 
 whole might mean that the Scythians were 
 now ready to give up the contest, and acknowl- 
 edge the right of the Persians to supreme and 
 universal dominion. 
 
 The officers, however, did not generally con- 
 cur in this opinion. They saw no indications, 
 they said, of any disposition on the part of the 
 
204 Darius the Great. [B.C.513. 
 
 Opinions of the Persian officers. The Scythians draw up their forces. 
 
 Scythians to surrender. They thought it quite 
 as probable that the communication was meant 
 to announce to those who received it threats 
 and defiance, as to express conciliation and sub- 
 mission. " It may mean," said one of them, 
 "that, unless you can fly like a bird into the 
 air, or hide like a mouse in the ground, or bury 
 yourselves, like the frog, in morasses and fens, 
 you can not escape our arrows." 
 
 There was no means of deciding positively 
 between these contradictory interpretations, but 
 it soon became evident that the former of the 
 two was very far from being correct ; for, soon 
 after the present was received, the Scythians 
 were seen to be drawing up their forces in ar- 
 ray, as if preparing for battle. The two months 
 had expired, and they had reason to suppose 
 that the party at the bridge had withdrawn, as 
 they had promised to do. Darius had been so 
 far weakened by his harassing marches, and 
 the manifold privations and sufferings of his 
 men, that he felt some solicitude in respect to 
 the result of a battle, now that it seemed to be 
 drawing near, although such a trial of strength 
 had been the object which he had been, from 
 the beginning, most eager to secure. 
 
 The two armies were encamped at a moder- 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 205 
 
 The armies prepare for battle. Hunting the hare. 
 
 ate distance from each other, with a plain, part- 
 ly wooded, between them. While in this po- 
 sition, and before any hostile action was com- 
 menced by either party, it was observed from 
 the camp of Darius that suddenly a great tu- 
 mult arose from the Scythian lines. Men were 
 seen rushing in dense crowds this way and that 
 over the plain, with shouts and outcries, which, 
 however, had in them no expression of anger or 
 fear, but rather one of gayety and pleasure. 
 Darius demanded what the strange tumult 
 meant. Some messengers were sent out to as- 
 certain the cause, and on their return they re- 
 ported that the Scythians were hunting a hare, 
 which had suddenly made its appearance. The 
 hare had issued from a thicket, and a consider- 
 able portion of the army, officers and soldiers, 
 had abandoned their ranks to enjoy the sport of 
 pursuing it, and were running impetuously, 
 here and there, across the plain, filling the air 
 with shouts of hilarity. 
 
 " They do indeed despise us," said Darius, 
 "since, on the eve of a battle, they can lose all 
 thoughts of us and of their danger, and abandon 
 their posts to hunt a hare !" 
 
 That evening a council of war was held. It 
 was concluded that the Scythians must be very 
 
206 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The Persians resolve to retreat. Stratagem and secret flight. 
 
 confident and strong in their position, and that, 
 if a general battle were to be hazarded, it would 
 be very doubtful what would be the result. 
 The Persians concluded unanimously, there- 
 fore, that the wisest plan would be for them to 
 give up the intended conquest, and retire from 
 the country. Darius accordingly proceeded to 
 make his preparations for a secret retreat. 
 
 He separated all the infirm and feeble por- 
 tion of the army from the rest, and informed 
 them that he was going that night on a short 
 expedition with the main body of the troops, 
 and that, while he was gone, they were to re- 
 main and defend the camp. He ordered the 
 men to build the camp fires, and to make them 
 larger and more numerous than common, and 
 then had the asses tied together in an unusual 
 situation, so that they should keep up a continu- 
 al braying. These sounds, heard all the night, 
 and the light of the camp fires, were to lead the 
 Scythians to believe that the whole body of the 
 Persians remained, as usual, at the encamp- 
 ment, and thus to prevent all suspicion of their 
 flight. 
 
 Toward midnight, Darius marched forth in 
 silence and secresy, with all the vigorous and 
 able-bodied forces under his command, leaving 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 207 
 
 Surrender of the camp. Difficulties of the retreat. 
 
 the weary, the sick, and the infirm to the mer- 
 cy of their enemies. The long column suc- 
 ceeded in making good their retreat, without 
 exciting the suspicions of the Scythians. They 
 took the route which they supposed would con- 
 duct them most directly to the river. 
 
 When the troops which remained in the 
 camp found, on the following morning, that 
 they had been deceived and abandoned, they 
 made signals to the Scythians to come to them, 
 and, when they came, the invalids surrendered 
 themselves and the camp to their possession. 
 The Scythians then, immediately, leaving a 
 proper guard to defend the camp, set out to fol- 
 low the Persian army. Instead, however, of 
 keeping directly upon their track, they took a 
 shorter course, which would lead them more 
 speedily to the river. The Persians, being un- 
 acquainted with the country, got involved in 
 fens and morasses, and other difficulties of the 
 way, and their progress was thus so much im- 
 peded that the Scythians reached the river be- 
 fore them. 
 
 They found the Ionians still there, although 
 the two months had fully expired. It is possi- 
 ble that the chiefs had received secret orders 
 from Darius not to hasten their departure, even 
 
208 Darius the Great. [B.C. 513. 
 
 The bridge partially destroyed. Darius arrives at the Danube. 
 
 after the knots had all been untied ; or perhaps 
 they chose, of their own accord, to await their 
 sovereign's return. The Scythians immediate- 
 ly urged them to be gone. " The time has ex- 
 pired," they said, " and you are no longer un- 
 der any obligation to wait. Return to your 
 own country, and assert your own independ- 
 ence and freedom, which you can safely do if 
 you leave Darius and his armies here." 
 
 The Ionians consulted together on the sub- 
 ject, doubtful, at first, what to do. They con- 
 cluded that they would not comply with the 
 Scythian proposals, while yet they determined 
 to pretend to comply with them, in order to 
 avoid the danger of being attacked. They ac- 
 cordingly began to take the bridge to pieces, 
 commencing on the Scythian side of the stream. 
 The Scythians, seeing the work thus going on, 
 left the ground, and marched back to meet the 
 Persians. The armies, however, fortunately 
 for Darius, missed each other, and the Persians 
 arrived safely at the river, after the Scythians 
 had left it. They arrived in the night, and the 
 advanced guard, seeing no appearance of the 
 bridge on the Scythian side, supposed that the 
 Ionians had gone. They shouted long and loud 
 on the shore, and at length an Egyptian, who 
 
B.C. 513.] Retreat from Scythia. 209 
 
 The bridge repaired. The army returns to Asia. 
 
 was celebrated for the power of his voice, suc- 
 ceeded in making the Ionians hear. The boats 
 were immediately brought back to their posi- 
 tions, the bridge was reconstructed, and Dari- 
 us's army recrossed the stream. 
 
 The Danube being thus safely crossed, the 
 army made the best of its way back through 
 Thrace, and across the Bosporus into Asia, and 
 thus ended Darius's great expedition against 
 the Scythians. 
 
 
 
210 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Histiaeus at the bridge on the Danube. Darius's anxiety. 
 
 Chapter X. 
 The Story of HiSTiiEus. 
 
 THE nature of the government which was 
 exercised in ancient times by a royal despot 
 like Darius, and the character of the measures 
 and management to which he was accustomed 
 to resort to gam his political ends, are, in many 
 points, very strikingly illustrated by the story 
 of Histiseus. 
 
 Histiasus was the Ionian chieftain who had 
 been left in charge of the bridge of boats across 
 the Danube when Darius made his incursion 
 into Scythia. When, on the failure of the ex- 
 pedition, Darius returned to the river, knowing, 
 as he did, that the two months had expired, he 
 naturally felt a considerable degree of solicitude 
 lest he should find the bridge broken up and 
 the vessels gone, in which case his situation 
 would be very desperate, hemmed in, as he 
 would have been, between the Scythians and 
 the river. His anxiety was changed into ter- 
 ror when his advanced guard arrived at the 
 bank and found that no signs of the bridge were 
 
B.C. 504] The Story of Histijeus. 211 
 
 Darius's gratitude. Scythia abandoned. 
 
 to be seen. It is easy to imagine what, under 
 these circumstances, must have been the relief 
 and joy of all the army, when they heard friend- 
 ly answers to their shouts, coming, through the 
 darkness of the night, over the waters of the 
 river, assuring them that their faithful allies 
 were still at their posts, and that they them- 
 selves would soon be in safety. 
 
 Darius, though he was governed by no firm 
 and steady principles of justice, was still a man 
 of many generous impulses. He was grateful 
 for favors, though somewhat capricious in his 
 modes of requiting them. He declared to His- 
 tiaeus that he felt under infinite obligations to 
 him for his persevering fidelity, and that, as soon 
 as the army should have safely arrived in Asia, 
 he would confer upon him such rewards as 
 would evince the reality of his gratitude. 
 
 On his return from Scythia, Darius brought 
 back the whole of his army over the Danube, 
 thus abandoning entirely the country of the 
 Scythians ; but he did not transport the whole 
 body across the Bosporus. He left a considera- 
 ble detachment of troops, under the command 
 of one of his generals, named Megabyzus, in 
 Thrace, on the European side, ordering Mega- 
 byzus to establish himself there, and to reduce 
 
212 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Darius sends for Ilistisus. Petition of Histissus. 
 
 all the countries in that neighborhood to his 
 sway. Darius then proceeded to Sardis, which 
 was the most powerful and wealthy of his cap- 
 itals in that quarter of the world. At Sardis, 
 he was, as it were, at home again, and he ac- 
 cordingly took an early opportunity to send for 
 Histiseus, as well as some others who had ren- 
 dered him special services in his late campaign, 
 in order that he might agree with them in re- 
 spect to their reward. He asked Histiseus 
 what favor he wished to receive. 
 
 Histiseus replied that he was satisfied, on the 
 whole, with the position which he already en- 
 joyed, which was that of king or governor of 
 Miletus, an Ionian city, south of Sardis, and on 
 the shores of the iEgean Sea.* He should he 
 pleased, however, he said, if the king would as- 
 sign him a certain small territory in Thrace, or, 
 rather, on the borders between Thrace and 
 Macedonia, near the mouth of the River Stry- 
 mon. He wished to build a city there. The 
 king immediately granted this request, which 
 was obviously very moderate and reasonable. 
 He did not, perhaps, consider that this territo- 
 ry, being in Thrace, or in its immediate vi- 
 
 * For these places, see the map at the commencement of 
 the next chapter. 
 
B.C.504.] The Story of Histijeus. 213 
 
 Histiaeus organizes a colony. The Paeonians. 
 
 cinity, came within the jurisdiction of Megaby- 
 zus, whom he had left in command there, and 
 that the grant might lead to some conflict be- 
 tween the two generals. There was special 
 danger of jealousy and disagreement between 
 them, for Megabyzus was a Persian, and Histi- 
 aeus was a Greek. 
 
 Histiaeus organized a colony, and, leaving a 
 temporary and provisional government at Mile- 
 tus, he proceeded along the shores of the ^3ge- 
 an Sea to the spot assigned him, and began to 
 build his city. As the locality was beyond the 
 Thracian frontier, and at a considerable dis- 
 tance from the head-quarters of Megabyzus, it 
 is very probable that the operations of Histiaeus 
 would not have attracted the Persian general's 
 attention for a considerable time, had it not 
 been for a very extraordinary and peculiar train 
 of circumstances, which led him to discover 
 them. The circumstanoes were these : 
 
 There was a nation or tribe called the Paeo- 
 nians, who inhabited the valley of the Strymon, 
 which river came down from the interior of the 
 country, and fell into the sea near the place 
 where Histiaeus was building his city. Among 
 the Paeonian chieftains there were two who 
 wished to obtain the government of the coun- 
 
214 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Baseness of the Paeonian chiefs. Their stratagem. 
 
 try, but they were not quite strong enough to 
 effect their object. In order to weaken the 
 force which was opposed to them, they conceiv- 
 ed the base design of betraying their tribe to 
 Darius, and inducing him to make them cap- 
 tives. If their plan should succeed, a consider- 
 able portion of the population would be taken 
 away, and they could easily, they supposed, ob- 
 tain ascendency over the rest. In order to call 
 the attention of Darius to the subject, and in- 
 duce him to act as they desired, they resorted 
 to the following stratagem. Their object seems 
 to have been to lead Darius to undertake a 
 campaign against their countrymen, by show- 
 ing him what excellent and valuable slaves they 
 would make. 
 
 These two chieftains were brothers, and they 
 had a very beautiful sister ; her form was grace- 
 ful and elegant, and her countenance lovely. 
 They brought this sister with them to Sardis 
 when Darius was there. They dressed and dec- 
 orated her in a very careful manner, but yet in 
 a style appropriate to the condition of a servant ; 
 and then, one day, when the king was sitting in 
 some public place in the city, as was customary 
 with Oriental sovereigns, they sent her to pass 
 along the street before him, equipped in such a 
 
B.C.504.] The Story of Histi^eus. 215 
 
 The Paeonian maiden. Multiplicity of her avocations. 
 
 manner as to show that she was engaged in 
 servile occupations. She had a jar, such as 
 was then used for carrying water, poised upon 
 her head, and she was leading a horse by means 
 of a bridle hung over her arm. Her hands, be- 
 ing thus not required either for the horse or for 
 the vessel, were employed in spinning, as she 
 walked along, by means of a distaff and spindle. 
 
 The attention of Darius was strongly attract- 
 ed to the spectacle. The beauty of the maid- 
 en, the novelty and strangeness of her costume, 
 the multiplicity of her avocations, and the ease 
 and grace with which she performed them, all 
 conspired to awaken the monarch's curiosity. 
 He directed one of his attendants to follow her 
 and see where she should go. The attendant 
 did so. The girl went to the river. She wa- 
 tered her horse, filled her jar and placed it on 
 her head, and then, hanging the bridle on her 
 arm again, she returned through the same 
 streets, and passed the king's palace as before, 
 spinning as she walked along. 
 
 The interest and curiosity of the king was 
 excited more than ever by the reappearance of 
 the girl and by the report of his messenger. 
 He directed that she should be stopped and 
 brought into his presence. She came ; and her 
 
216 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Darius and the maiden. He determines to make the Paeonians slaves. 
 
 "brothers, who had been watching the whole 
 scene from a convenient spot near at hand, 
 joined her and came too. The king asked them 
 who they were. They replied that they were 
 Paeonians. He wished to know where they 
 lived. " On the hanks of the River Strymon," 
 they replied, "near the confines of Thrace." 
 He next asked whether all the women of their 
 country were accustomed to labor, and were as 
 ingenious, and dexterous, and beautiful as their 
 sister. The brothers replied that they were. 
 
 Darius immediately determined to make the 
 whole people slaves. He accordingly dispatch- 
 ed a courier with the orders. The courier cross- 
 ed the Hellespont, and proceeded to the en- 
 campment of Megabyzus in Thrace. He de- 
 livered his dispatches to the Persian general, 
 commanding him to proceed immediately - to 
 Paeonia, and there to take the whole commu- 
 nity prisoners, and bring them to Darius in 
 Sardis. Megabyzus, until this time, had known 
 nothing of the people whom he was thus com- 
 manded to seize. He, however, found some 
 Thracian guides who undertook to conduct him 
 to their territory ; and then, taking with him a 
 sufficient force, he set out on the expedition. 
 The Paeonians heard of his approach. Some 
 
B.C.504.]The Story of Histi^us. 217 
 
 Capture of the Paeonians. Megabyzus discovers Histiaeus's city. 
 
 prepared to defend themselves ; others fled to 
 the mountains. The fugitives escaped, hut 
 those who attempted to resist were taken. 
 Megabyzus collected the unfortunate captives, 
 together with their wives and children, and 
 brought them down to the coast to embark them 
 for Sardis. In doing this, he had occasion to 
 pass by the spot where Histiaeus was building 
 his city, and it was then, for the first time, that 
 Megabyzus became acquainted with the plan. 
 Histiaeus was buildinsr a wall to defend his lit- 
 
 o 
 
 tie territory on the side of the land. Ships and 
 galleys were going and coming on the side of 
 the sea. Every thing indicated that the work 
 was rapidly and prosperously advancing. 
 
 Megabyzus did not interfere with the work ; 
 but, as soon as he arrived at Sardis with his 
 captives, and had delivered them to the king, 
 he introduced the subject of Histiaeus's city, 
 and represented to Darius that it would be dan- 
 gerous to the Persian interests to allow such an 
 enterprise to go on. " He will establish a strong 
 post there," said Megabyzus, " by means of 
 which he will exercise a great ascendency over 
 all the neighboring seas. The place is admi- 
 rably situated for a naval station, as the coun- 
 try in the vicinity abounds with all the mate- 
 
218 Darius the (treat. [B.C. 504. 
 
 HistisEus sent for. Darius revokes his gift. 
 
 rials for building and equipping ships. There 
 are also mines of silver in the mountains near, 
 from which he will obtain a great supply of 
 treasure. By these means he will become so 
 strong in a short period of time, that, after you 
 have returned to Asia, he will revolt from your 
 authority, carrying with him, perhaps, in his 
 rebellion, all the Greeks of Asia Minor." 
 
 The king said that he was sorry that he had 
 made the grant, and that he would revoke it 
 without delay. 
 
 Megabyzus recommended that the king should 
 not do this in an open or violent manner, but 
 that he should contrive some way to arrest the 
 progress of the undertaking without any appear- 
 ance of suspicion or displeasure. 
 
 Darius accordingly sent for Histiaeus to come 
 to him at Sardis, saying that there was a serv- 
 ice of great importance on which he wished to 
 employ him. Histiseus, of course, obeyed such 
 a summons with eager alacrity. "When he ar- 
 rived, Darius expressed great pleasure at seeing 
 him once more, and said that he had constant 
 need of his presence and his counsels. He val- 
 ued, above all price, the services of so faithful 
 a friend, and so sagacious and trusty an advis- 
 er. He was now, he said, going to Susa, and 
 
B.C.504.] The Story of Histi^us. 219 
 
 Histiueus goes to Susa. Artaphernes. 
 
 he wished Histiaeus to accompany him as his 
 privy counselor and confidential friend. ft 
 would be necessary, Darius added, that he 
 should give up his government of Miletus, and 
 also the city in Thrace which he had begun to 
 build ; but he should be exalted to higher hon- 
 ors and dignities at Susa in their stead. He 
 should have apartments in the king's palace, 
 and live in great luxury and splendor. 
 
 Histiaeus was extremely disappointed and 
 chagrined at this announcement. He was oblig- 
 ed, however, to conceal his vexation and submit 
 to his fate. In a few days after this, he set 
 out, with the rest of Darius's court, for the Per- 
 sian capital, leaving a nephew, whose name was 
 Aristagoras, as governor of Miletus in his stead. 
 Darius, on the other hand, committed the gen- 
 eral charge of the whole coast of Asia Minor to 
 Artaphernes, one of his generals. Artaphernes 
 was to make Sardis his capital. He had not 
 only the general command of all the provinces 
 extending along the shore, but also of all the 
 ships, and galleys, and other naval armaments 
 which belonged to Darius on the neighboring 
 seas. Aristagoras, as governor of Miletus, was 
 under his general jurisdiction. The two offi- 
 cers were, moreover, excellent friends. Aris- 
 
220 Darius the Great. [B.C.504. 
 
 Island of Naxos. Civil war there. 
 
 tagoras was, of course, a Greek, and Artapher- 
 nes a Persian. 
 
 Among the Greek islands situated in the 
 iEgean Sea, one of the most wealthy, import- 
 ant, and powerful at that time, was Naxos. It 
 was situated in the southern part of the sea, 
 and about midway between the shores of Asia 
 Minor and Greece. It happened that, soon after 
 Darius had returned from Asia Minor to Persia, 
 a civil war broke out in that island, in which 
 the common people were on one side and the 
 nobles on the other. The nobles were overcome 
 in the contest, and fled from the island. A 
 party of them landed at Miletus, and called 
 upon Aristagoras to aid them in regaining pos- 
 session of the island. 
 
 Aristagoras replied that he would very glad- 
 ly do it if he had the power, but that the Per- 
 sian forces on the whole coast, both naval and 
 military, were under the command of Artapher- 
 nes at Sardis. He said, however, that he was 
 on very friendly terms with Artaphernes, and 
 that he would, if the Naxians desired it, apply 
 to him for his aid. The Naxians seemed very 
 grateful for the interest which Aristagoras took 
 in their cause, and said that they would com- 
 mit the whole affair to his charge. 
 
B.C. 504.] The Story of HiSTiieus. 221 
 
 Action of Aristagoras. Co-operation of Artaphernes. 
 
 There was, however, much less occasion for 
 gratitude than there seemed, for Aristagoras 
 was very far from being honest and sincere in 
 his offers of aid. He perceived, immediately on 
 hearing the fugitives' story, that a very favor- 
 able opportunity was opening for him to add 
 Naxos, and perhaps even the neighboring isl- 
 ands, to his own government. It is always a 
 favorable opportunity to subjugate a people 
 when their power of defense and of resistance 
 is neutralized by dissensions with one another. 
 It is a device as old as the history of mankind, 
 and one resorted to now as often as ever, for 
 ambitious neighbors to interpose in behalf of the 
 weaker party, in a civil war waged in a coun- 
 try which they wish to make their own, and, 
 beginning with a war against a part, to end by 
 subjugating the whole. This was Aristago- 
 ras's plan. He proposed it to Artaphernes, rep- 
 resenting to him that a very favorable occasion 
 had occurred for bringing the Greek islands of 
 the iEgean Sea under the Persian dominion. 
 Naxos once possessed, all the other islands 
 around it would follow, he said, and a hundred 
 ships would make the conquest sure. 
 
 Artaphernes entered very readily and very 
 warmly into the plan. He said that he would 
 
222 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Darius consulted. His approval. Preparations. 
 
 furnish two hundred instead of one hundred 
 galleys. He thought it was necessary, how- 
 ever, first to consult Darius, since the affair 
 was one of such importance ; and besides, it 
 was not best to commence the undertaking un- 
 til the spring. He would immediately send a 
 messenger to Darius to ascertain his pleasure, 
 and, in the mean time, as he did not doubt that 
 Darius would fully approve of the plan, he 
 would have all necessary preparations made, so 
 that every thing should be in readiness as soon 
 as the proper season for active operations should 
 arrive. 
 
 Artaphernes was right in anticipating his 
 brother's approval of the design. The messen- 
 ger returned from Susa with full authority 
 from the king for the execution of the project. 
 The ships were built and equipped, and every 
 thing was made ready for the expedition. The 
 intended destination of the armament was, how- 
 ever, kept a profound secret, as the invaders 
 wished to surprise the people of Naxos when 
 off their guard. Aristagoras was to accompany 
 the expedition as its general leader, while an 
 officer named Megabates, appointed by Arta- 
 phernes for this purpose, was to take command 
 of the fleet as a sort of admiral. Thus there 
 
B.C. 504.] The Story of Histleus. 223 
 
 Sailing of the expedition. Plan of the commander. 
 
 were two commanders — an arrangement which 
 almost always, in such cases, leads to a quar- 
 rel. It is a maxim in war that one bad general 
 is better than two good ones. 
 
 The expedition sailed from Miletus ; and, in 
 order to prevent the people of Naxos from being 
 apprised of their danger, the report had been cir- 
 culated that its destination was to be the Helles- 
 pont. Accordingly, when the fleet sailed, it 
 turned its course to the northward, as if it were 
 really going to the Hellespont. The plan of the 
 commander was to stop after proceeding a short 
 distance, and then to seize the first opportuni- 
 ty afforded by a wind from the north to come 
 down suddenly upon Naxos, before the popula- 
 tion should have time to prepare for defense. 
 Accordingly, when they arrived opposite the 
 island of Chios, the whole fleet came to anchor 
 near the land. The ships were all ordered to 
 be ready, at a moment's warning, for setting 
 sail ; and, thus situated, the commanders were 
 waiting for the wind to change. 
 
 Megabates, in going his rounds among the 
 fleet while things were in this condition, found 
 one vessel entirely abandoned. The captain 
 and crew had all left it, and had gone ashore. 
 They were not aware, probably, how urgent 
 
224 Darius the Great. [B.C.504. 
 
 Difficulty in the fleet. Cruel discipline. 
 
 was the necessity that they should be every 
 moment at their posts. The captain of this 
 galley was a native of a small town called Cny- 
 dus, and, as it happened, was a particular friend 
 of Aristagoras. His name was Syclax. Meg- 
 abates, as the commander of the fleet, was very 
 much incensed at finding one of his subordinate 
 officers so derelict in duty. He sent his guards 
 in pursuit of him ; and when Syclax was brought 
 to his ship, Megabates ordered his head to be 
 thrust out through one of the small port-holes 
 intended for the oars, in the side of the ship, 
 and then bound him in that position — his head 
 appearing thus to view, in the sight of all the 
 fleet, while his body remained within the Ves- 
 sel. " I am going to keep him at his post," 
 said Megabates, " and in such a way that ev- 
 ery one can see that he is there." 
 
 Aristagoras was much distressed at seeing 
 his friend suffering so severe and disgraceful a 
 punishment. He went to Megabates and re- 
 quested the release of the prisoner, giving, at 
 the same time, what he considered satisfactory 
 reasons for his having been absent from his ves- 
 sel. Megabates, however, was not satisfied, 
 and refused to set Syclax at liberty. Aristag- 
 oras then told Megabates that he mistook his 
 
B.C. 504.] The Story of Histijsus. 225 
 
 Dissension between the commanders. The expedition fails. 
 
 position in supposing that he was master of the 
 expedition, and could tyrannize over the men in 
 that manner, as he pleased. " I will have you 
 understand," said he, " that I am the command- 
 er in this campaign, and that Artaphernes, in 
 making you the sailing-master of the fleet, had 
 no intention that you should set up your au- 
 thority over mine." So saying, he went away 
 in a rage, and released Syclax from his durance 
 with his own hands. 
 
 It was now the turn of Megahates to he en- 
 raged. He determined to defeat the expedition. 
 He sent immediately a secret messenger to 
 warn the Naxians of their enemies' approach. 
 The Naxians immediately made effectual prep- 
 arations to defend themselves. The end of it 
 was, that when the fleet arrived, the island was 
 prepared to receive it, and nothing could he 
 done. Aristagoras continued the siege four 
 months ; hut inasmuch as, during all this time, 
 Megahates did every thing in his power to cir- 
 cumvent and thwart every plan that Aristago- 
 ras formed, nothing was accomplished. Final- 
 ly, the expedition was broken up, and Aristago- 
 ras returned home, disappointed and chagrined, 
 all his hopes blasted, and his own private finan- 
 ces thrown into confusion by the great pecuniary 
 P 
 
226 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Chagrin of Aristagoras. He resolves to revolt. 
 
 losses which he himself had sustained. He had 
 contributed very largely, from his own private 
 funds, in fitting out the expedition, fully confi- 
 dent of success, and of ample reimbursement 
 for his expenses as the consequence of it. 
 
 He was angry with himself, and angry with 
 Megabates, and angry with Artaphernes. He 
 presumed, too, that Megabates would denounce 
 him to Artaphernes, and, through him, to Dari- 
 us, as the cause of the failure of the expedition. 
 A sudden order might come at any moment, 
 directing that he should be beheaded. He be- 
 gan to consider the expediency of revolting from 
 the Persian power, and making common cause 
 with the Greeks against Darius. The danger 
 of such a step was scarcely less than that of re- 
 maining as he was. "While he was pondering 
 these momentous questions in his mind, he was 
 led suddenly to a decision by a very singular 
 circumstance, the proper explaining of which 
 requires the story to return, for a time, to His- 
 tiseus at Susa. 
 
 Histiseus was very ill at ease in the posses- 
 sion of his forced elevation and grandeur at 
 Susa. He enjoyed great distinction there, it is 
 true, and a life of ease and luxury, but he wish- 
 ed for independence and authority. He was, 
 
B.C. 504.] The Story of Histi^us. 227 
 
 Position of Ilistiscus. His uneasiness. 
 
 accordingly, very desirous to get back to his 
 former sphere of activity and power in Asia 
 Minor. After revolving in his mind the various 
 plans which occurred to him for accomplishing 
 this purpose, he at last decided on inducing Ar- 
 istagoras to revolt in Ionia, and then attempt- 
 ing to persuade Darius to send him on to quell 
 the revolt. "When once in Asia Minor, he would 
 join the rebellion, and bid Darius defiance. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to contrive 
 some safe and secret way to communicate with 
 Aristagoras. This he effected in the following 
 manner: There was a man in his court who 
 was afflicted with some malady of the eyes. 
 HistiaBUS told him that . if he would put himself 
 under his charge he could effect a cure. It 
 would be necessary, he said, that the man should 
 have his head shaved and scarified; that is, 
 punctured with a sharp instrument, previously 
 dipped in some medicinal compound. Then, 
 after some further applications should have been 
 made, it would be necessary for the patient to 
 go to Ionia, in Asia Minor, where there was a 
 physician who would complete the cure. 
 
 The patient consented to this proposal. The 
 head was shaved, and Histiseus, while pretend- 
 ing to scarify it, pricked into the skin — as sail- 
 
228 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 Singular mode of communication. Its success. 
 
 ors tattoo anchors on their arms — by means of a 
 needle and a species of ink which had proba- 
 bly no great medicinal virtue, the words of a 
 letter to Aristagoras, in which he communica- 
 ted to him fully, though very concisely, the 
 particulars of his plan. He urged Aristagoras 
 to revolt, and promised that, if he would do so, 
 he would come on, himself, as soon as possible, 
 and, under pretense of marching to suppress the 
 rebellion, he would really join and aid it. 
 
 As soon as he had finished pricking this trea- 
 sonable communication into the patient's skin, 
 he carefully enveloped the head in bandages, 
 which, he said, must on no account be disturb- 
 ed. He kept the man shut up, besides, in the 
 palace, until the hair had grown, so as effect- 
 ually to conceal the writing, and then sent him 
 to Ionia to have the cure perfected. On his ar- 
 rival at Ionia he was to find Aristagoras, who 
 would do what further was necessary. Histi- 
 seus contrived, in the mean time, to send word 
 to Aristagoras by another messenger, that, as 
 soon as such a patient should present himself, 
 Aristagoras was to shave his head. He did so, 
 and the communication appeared. "We must 
 suppose that the operations on the part of Aris- 
 tagoras for the purpose of completing the cure 
 
B.C. 504.] The Story of Histijeus. 229 
 
 Revolt of Aristagoras. Feigned indignation of Ilistiieus. 
 
 consisted, probably, in pricking in more ink, so 
 as to confuse and obliterate the writing. 
 
 Aristagoras was on the eve of throwing off 
 the Persian authority when he received this 
 communication. It at once decided him to pro- 
 ceed. He organized his forces and commenced 
 his revolt. As soon as the news of this rebellion 
 reached Susa, Histiaeus feigned great indigna- 
 tion, and earnestly entreated Darius to commis- 
 sion him to go and suppress it. He was confi- 
 dent, he said, that he could do it in a very prompt 
 and effectual manner. Darius was at first in- 
 clined to suspect that Histiaeus was in some 
 way or other implicated in the movement ; but 
 these suspicions were removed by the protesta- 
 tions which Histiaeus made, and at length he 
 gave him leave to proceed to Miletus, command- 
 ing him, however, to return to Susa again as 
 soon as he should have suppressed the revolt. 
 
 "When Histiaeus arrived in Ionia he joined 
 Aristagoras, and the two generals, leaguing 
 with them various princes and states of Greece, 
 organized a very extended and dangerous rebel- 
 lion, which it gave the troops of Darius infinite 
 trouble to subdue. AVe can not here give an 
 account of the incidents and particulars of this 
 war. For a time the rebels prospered, and 
 
230 Darius the Great. [B.C. 504. 
 
 The Ionian rebellion. Its failure. Death of IIistia?us. 
 
 their cause seemed likely to succeed ; but at 
 length the tide turned against them. Then- 
 towns were captured, their ships were taken 
 and destroyed, their armies cut to pieces. His- 
 tiaeus retreated from place to place, a wretched 
 fugitive, growing more and more distressed and 
 destitute every day. At length, as he was fly- 
 ing from a battle field, he arrested the arm of 
 a Persian, who was pursuing him with his 
 weapon upraised, by crying out that he was 
 Histiaeus the Milesian. The Persian, hearing 
 this, spared his life, but took him prisoner, and 
 delivered him to Artaphernes. Histiseus beg- 
 ged very earnestly that Artaphernes would send 
 him to Darius alive, in hopes that Darius would 
 pardon him in consideration of his former serv- 
 ices at the bridge of the Danube. This was, 
 however, exactly what Artaphernes wished to 
 prevent ; so he crucified the wretched Histiseus 
 at Sardis, and then packed his head in salt and 
 sent it to Darius. 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 233 
 
 Great battles. Progress of the Persian empire. 
 
 Chapter XL 
 
 The Invasion of Greece and the 
 Battle of Marathon. 
 
 IN the history of a great military conquer- 
 or, there seems to be often some one great 
 battle which in importance and renown eclips- 
 es all the rest. In the case of Hannibal it was 
 the battle of Cannae, in that of Alexander the 
 battle of Arbela. Caesar's great conflict was at 
 Pharsalia, Napoleon's at Waterloo. Marathon 
 was, in some respects, Darius's Waterloo. The 
 place is a beautiful plain, about twelve miles 
 north of the great city of Athens. The battle 
 was the great final contest between Darius and 
 the Greeks, which, both on account of the aw- 
 ful magnitude of the conflict, and the very ex- 
 traordinary circumstances which attended it, 
 has always been greatly celebrated among man- 
 kind. 
 
 The whole progress of the Persian empire, 
 from the time of the first accession of Cyrus to 
 the throne, was toward the westward, till it 
 reached the confines of Asia on the shores of 
 the iEgean Sea. All the shores and islands of 
 
234 Darius the Great. [B.C. 512. 
 
 Condition of the Persian empire. Plans of Darius. 
 
 this sea were occupied by the states and the 
 cities of Greece. The population of the whole 
 region, both on the European and Asiatic shores, 
 spoke the same language, and possessed the 
 same vigorous, intellectual, and elevated char- 
 acter. Those on the Asiatic side had been con- 
 quered by Cyrus, and their countries had been 
 annexed to the Persian empire. Darius had 
 wished very strongly, at the commencement of 
 his reign, to go on in this work of annexation, 
 and had sent his party of commissioners to ex- 
 plore the ground, as is related in a preceding 
 chapter. He had, however, postponed the ex- 
 ecution of his plans, in order first to conquer 
 the Scythian countries north of Greece, think- 
 ing, probably, that this would make the sub- 
 sequent conquest of Greece itself more easy. 
 By getting a firm foothold in Scythia, he would, 
 as it were, turn the flank of the Grecian terri- 
 tories, which would tend to make his final de- 
 scent upon them more effectual and sure. 
 
 This plan, however, failed ; and yet, on his 
 retreat from Scythia, Darius did not withdraw 
 his armies wholly from the European side of 
 the water. He kept a large force in Thrace, 
 and his generals there were gradually extend- 
 ing and strengthening their power, and prepar- 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 235 
 
 Persian power in Thrace. Attempted negotiation with Macedon. 
 
 ing for still greater conquests. They attempt- 
 ed to extend their dominion, sometimes by ne- 
 gotiations, and sometimes by force, and they 
 were successful and unsuccessful by turns, 
 whichever mode they employed. 
 
 One very extraordinary story is told of an at- 
 tempted negotiation with Macedon, made with 
 a view of bringing that kingdom, if possible, 
 under the Persian dominion, without the neces- 
 sity of a resort to force. The commanding gen- 
 eral of Darius's armies in Thrace, whose name, 
 as was stated in the last chapter, was Megaby- 
 zus, sent seven Persian officers into Macedon, 
 not exactly to summon the Macedonians, in a 
 peremptory manner, to surrender to the Per- 
 sians, nor, on the other hand, to propose a vol- 
 untary alliance, but for something between the 
 two. The communication was to be in the 
 form of a proposal, and yet it was to be made 
 in the domineering and overbearing manner 
 with which the tyrannical and the strong often 
 make proposals to the weak and defenseless. 
 
 The seven Persians went to Macedon, which, 
 as will be seen from the map, was west of 
 Thrace, and to the northward of the other Gre- 
 cian countries. Amyntas, the king of Mace- 
 don, gave them a very honorable reception. At 
 
236 Darius the (treat. [B.C.512. 
 
 The seven commissioners. Their rudeness at the feast. 
 
 length, one day, at a feast to which they were 
 invited in the palace of Amyntas, they became 
 somewhat excited with wine, and asked to have 
 the ladies of the court brought into the apart- 
 ment. They wished " to see them," they said. 
 Amyntas replied that such a procedure was 
 entirely contrary to the usages and customs of 
 their court ; but still, as he stood somewhat in 
 awe of his visitors, or, rather, of the terrible pow- 
 er which the delegation represented, and wish- 
 ed by every possible means to avoid provoking 
 a quarrel with them, he consented to comply 
 with their request. The ladies were sent for. 
 They came in, reluctant and blushing, their 
 minds excited by mingled feelings of indigna- 
 tion and shame. 
 
 The Persians, becoming more and more ex- 
 cited and imperious under the increasing influ- 
 ence of the wine, soon began to praise the beau- 
 ty of these new guests in a coarse and free 
 manner, which overwhelmed the ladies with 
 confusion, and then to accost them familiarly 
 and rudely, and to behave toward them, in oth- 
 er respects, with so much impropriety as to 
 produce great alarm and indignation among all 
 the king's household. The king himself was 
 much distressed, but he was afraid to act de- 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 237 
 
 Stratagem of Amyntas's son. The commissioners killed. 
 
 cidedly. His son, a young man of great energy 
 and spirit, approached his father with a counte- 
 nance and manner expressive of high excite- 
 ment, and begged him to retire from the feast, 
 and leave him, the son, to manage the affair. 
 Amyntas reluctantly allowed himself to be per- 
 suaded to go, giving his son many charges, as 
 he went away, to do nothing rashly or violent- 
 ly. As soon as the king was gone, the prince 
 made an -excuse for having the ladies retire for 
 a short time, saying that they should soon re- 
 turn. The prince conducted them to their 
 apartment, and then selecting an equal number 
 of tall and smooth-faced boys, he disguised them 
 to represent the ladies, and gave each one a 
 dagger, directing him to conceal it beneath his 
 robe. These counterfeit females were then in- 
 troduced to the assembly in the place of those 
 who had retired. The Persians did not detect 
 the deception. It was evening, and, besides, 
 their faculties were confused with the effects of 
 the wine. They approached the supposed la- 
 dies as they had done before, with rude famili- 
 arity; and the boys, at a signal made by the 
 prince when the Persians were wholly off their 
 guard, stabbed and killed every one of them on 
 the spot. 
 
238 Darius the Great. [B.C. 512. 
 
 Artifice of the prince. Darius's anger against the Athenians. 
 
 Megabyzus sent an embassador to inquire 
 what became of his seven messengers; but 
 the Macedonian prince contrived to buy this 
 messenger off by large rewards, and to induce 
 him to send back some false but plausible sto- 
 ry to satisfy Megabyzus. Perhaps Megabyzus 
 would not have been so easily satisfied had it 
 not been that the great Ionian rebellion, un- 
 der Aristagoras and Histiaeus, as described in 
 the last chapter, broke out soon after, and de- 
 manded his attention in another quarter of the 
 realm. 
 
 The Ionian rebellion postponed, for a time, 
 Darius's designs on Greece, but the effect of it 
 was to make the invasion more certain and 
 more terrible in the end \ for Athens, which was 
 at that time one of the most important and pow- 
 erful of the Grecian cities, took a part in that 
 rebellion against the Persians. The Athenians 
 sent forces to aid those of Aristagoras and His- 
 tiseus, and, in the course of the war, the com- 
 bined army took and burned the city of Sardis. 
 When this news reached Darius, he was ex- 
 cited to a perfect phrensy of resentment and 
 indignation against the Athenians for coming 
 thus into his own dominions to assist rebels, 
 and there destroying one of his most important 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 239 
 
 Civil dissensions in Greece. The tyrants. 
 
 capitals. He uttered the most violent and ter- 
 rible threats against them, and, to prevent his 
 anger from getting cool before the preparations 
 should be completed for vindicating it, he made 
 an arrangement, it was said, for having a slave 
 call out to him every day at table, " Remem- 
 ber the Athenians !" 
 
 It was a circumstance favorable to Darius's 
 designs against the states of Greece that they 
 were not united among themselves. There was 
 no general government under which the whole 
 naval and military force of that country could 
 be efficiently combined, so as to be directed, in 
 a concentrated and energetic form, against a 
 common enemy. On the other hand, the sev- 
 eral cities formed, with the territories adjoining 
 them, so many separate states, more or less 
 connected, it is true, by confederations and al- 
 liances, but still virtually independent, and oft- 
 en hostile to each other. Then, besides these 
 external and international quarrels, there was 
 a great deal of internal dissension. The mo- 
 narchical and the democratic principle were all 
 the time struggling for the mastery. Military 
 despots were continually rising to power in the 
 .various cities, and after they had ruled, for a 
 time, over their subjects with a rod of iron, the 
 
240 Darius the Great. [B.C. 512. 
 
 Periander. His message to a neighboring potentate. 
 
 people would rise in rebellion and expel them 
 from their thrones. These revolutions were 
 continually taking place, attended, often, by the 
 strangest and most romantic incidents, which 
 evinced, on the part of the actors in them, 
 that extraordinary combination of mental sa- 
 gacity and acumen with childish and senseless 
 superstition so characteristic of the times. 
 
 It is not surprising that the populace often 
 rebelled against the power of these royal des- 
 pots, for they seem to have exercised their pow- 
 er, when their interests or their passions excited 
 them to do it, in the most tyrannical and cruel 
 manner. One of them, it was said, a king of 
 Corinth, whose name was Periander, sent a 
 messenger, on one occasion, to a neighboring 
 potentate — with whom he had gradually come 
 to entertain very friendly relations— to inquire 
 by what means he could most certainly and 
 permanently secure the continuance of his pow- 
 er. The king thus applied to gave no direct 
 reply, but took the messenger out into his gar- 
 den, talking with him by the way about the 
 incidents of his journey, and other indifferent 
 topics. He came, at length, to a field where 
 grain was growing, and as he walked along, he 
 occupied himself in cutting off, with his sword, 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 241 
 
 Periander's intolerable tyranny. His wife Melissa. 
 
 every head of the grain which raised itself above 
 the level of the rest. After a short time he 
 returned to the house, and finally dismissed the 
 messenger without giving him any answer 
 whatever to the application that he had made. 
 The messenger returned to Periander, and re- 
 lated what had occurred. " I understand his 
 meaning," said Periander. " I must contrive 
 some way to remove all those who, by their tal- 
 ents, their influence, or their power, rise above 
 the general level of the citizens." Periander 
 began immediately to act on this recommenda- 
 tion. Whoever, among the people of Corinth, 
 distinguished himself above the rest, was mark- 
 ed for destruction. Some were banished, some 
 were slain, and some were deprived of their in- 
 fluence, and so reduced to the ordinary level, by 
 the confiscation of their property, the lives and 
 fortunes of all the citizens of the state being 
 wholly in the despot's hands. 
 
 This same Periander had a wife whose name 
 was Melissa. A very extraordinary tale is re- 
 lated respecting her, which, though mainly fic- 
 titious, had a foundation, doubtless, in fact, and 
 illustrates very remarkably the despotic tyran- 
 ny and the dark superstition of the times. Me- 
 lissa died and was buried ; but her garments, 
 
242 Darius the Great. [B.C. 512. 
 
 The ghost of Melissa. A great sacrifice. 
 
 for some reason or other, were not burned, as 
 was usual in such cases. Now, among the oth- 
 er oracles of Greece, there was one where de- 
 parted spirits could be consulted. It was called 
 the oracle of the dead. Periander, having oc- 
 casion to consult an oracle in order to find the 
 means of recovering a certain article of value 
 which was lost, sent to this place to call up and 
 consult the ghost of Melissa. The ghost ap- 
 peared, but refused to answer the question put 
 to her, saying, with frightful solemnity, 
 
 " I am cold ; I am 'cold ; I am naked and 
 cold. My clothes were not burned ; I am naked 
 and cold." 
 
 When this answer was reported to Perian- 
 der, he determined to make a great sacrifice 
 and offering, such as should at once appease the 
 restless spirit. He invited, therefore, a general 
 assembly of the women of Corinth to witness 
 some spectacle in a temple, and when they were 
 convened, he surrounded them with his guards, 
 seized them, stripped them of most of their 
 clothing, and then let them go free. The clothes 
 thus taken were then all solemnly burned, as 
 an expiatory offering, with invocations to the 
 shade of Melissa. 
 
 The account adds, that when this was done, 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 243 
 
 The reason of Pcriander's rudeness to the assembly of females. 
 
 a second messenger was dispatched to the ora- 
 cle of the dead, and the spirit, now clothed and 
 comfortable in its grave, answered the inquiry, 
 informing Periander where the lost article might 
 be found. 
 
 The rude violence which Periander resorted 
 to in this case seems not to have been dictated 
 by any particular desire to insult or injure the 
 women of Corinth, but was resorted to simply 
 as the easiest and most convenient way of ob- 
 taining what he needed. He wanted a supply 
 of valuable and costly female apparel, and the 
 readiest mode of obtaining it was to bring to- 
 gether an assembly of females dressed for a pub- 
 lic occasion, and then disrobe them. The case 
 only shows to what an extreme and absolute 
 supremacy the lofty and domineering spirit of 
 ancient despotism attained. 
 
 It ought, however, to be related, in justice to 
 these abominable tyrants, that they often evinc- 
 ed feelings of commiseration and kindness ; 
 sometimes, in fact, in very singular ways. 
 There was, for example, hi one of the cities, a 
 certain family that had obtained the ascenden- 
 cy over the rest of the people, and had held it 
 for some time as an established aristocracy, 
 taking care to preserve their rank and power 
 
244 Darius the Great. [B.C. 512. 
 
 Labda the cripple. Prediction in respect to her progeny. 
 
 from generation to generation, by intermarry- 
 ing only with one another. At length, in one 
 branch of the family, there grew up a young 
 girl named Labda, who had been a cripple from 
 her birth, and, on account of her deformity, none 
 of the nobles would marry her. A man of ob- 
 scure birth, however, one of the common peo- 
 ple, at length took her for his wife. His name 
 was Eetion. One day, Eetion went to Delphi 
 to consult an oracle, and as he was entering the 
 temple, the Pythian* called out to him, saying 
 that a stone should proceed from Labda which 
 should overwhelm tyrants and usurpers, and 
 free the state. The nobles, when they heard 
 of this, understood the prediction to mean that 
 the destruction of their power was, in some 
 way or other, to be effected by means of Lab- 
 da's child, and they determined to prevent the 
 fulfillment of the prophecy by destroying the 
 babe itself so soon as it should be born. 
 
 They accordingly appointed ten of their num- 
 ber to go to the place where Eetion lived and 
 kill the child. The method which they were 
 to adopt was this : They were to ask to see the 
 infant on their arrival at the house, and then it 
 
 * For a full account of these oracles, see the history of Cy- 
 rus the Great. 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 245 
 
 Conspiracy to destroy Labda's child. Its failure. 
 
 was agreed that whichever of the ten it was to 
 whom the babe was handed, he should dash it 
 down upon the stone floor with all his force, by 
 which means it would, as they supposed, cer- 
 tainly be killed. 
 
 This plan being arranged, the men went to 
 the house, inquired, with hypocritical civility, 
 after the health of the mother, and desired to 
 see the child. It was accordingly brought to 
 them. The mother put it into the hands of one 
 of the conspirators, and the babe looked up into 
 his face and smiled. This mute expression of 
 defenseless and confiding innocence touched the 
 murderer's heart. He could not be such a mon- 
 ster as to dash such an ima^e of trusting and 
 happy helplessness upon the stones. He looked 
 upon the child, and then gave it into the hands 
 of the one next to him, and he gave it to the 
 next, and thus it passed through the hands of 
 all the ten. No one was found stern and de- 
 termined enough to murder it, and at last they 
 gave the babe back to its mother and went 
 away. 
 
 The sequel of this story was, that the con- 
 spirators, when they reached the gate, stopped 
 to consult together, and after many mutual 
 criminations and recriminations, each impugn- 
 
246 Darius the Great. [B.C. 512. 
 
 The child secreted. Fulfillment of the oracle. 
 
 ing the courage and resolution of the rest, and 
 all joining in special condemnation of the man 
 to whom the child had at first been given, they 
 went back again, determined, in some way or 
 other, to accomplish their purpose. But Labda 
 had, in the mean time, been alarmed at their 
 extraordinary behavior, and had listened, when 
 they stopped at the gate, to hear their conver- 
 sation. She hastily hid the babe in a corn 
 measure ; and the conspirators, after looking in 
 every part of the house in vain, gave up the 
 search, supposing that their intended victim had 
 been hastily sent away. They went home, and 
 not being willing to acknowledge that their res- 
 olution had failed at the time of trial, they 
 agreed to say that their undertaking had suc- 
 ceeded, and that the child had been destroyed. 
 The babe lived, however, and grew up to man- 
 hood, and then, in fulfillment of the prediction 
 announced by the oracle, he headed a rebellion 
 against the nobles, deposed them from their 
 power, and reigned in their stead. 
 
 One of the worst and most reckless of the, 
 Greek tyrants of whom we have been speaking 
 was Hippias of Athens. His father, Pisistra- 
 tus, had been hated all his life for his cruelties 
 and his crimes ; and when he died, leaving two 
 
B.C. 512.] Invasion of Greece. 247 
 
 Hippias of Athens. His barbarous cruelty. 
 
 sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, a conspiracy- 
 was formed to kill the sons, and thus put an 
 end to the dynasty. Hipparchus was killed, 
 but Hippias escaped the danger, and seized the 
 government himself alone. He began to exer- 
 cise his power in the most cruel and wanton 
 manner, partly under the influence of resent- 
 ment and passion, and partly because he thought 
 his proper policy was to strike terror into the 
 hearts of the people as a means of retaining his 
 dominion. One of the conspirators by whom his 
 brother had been slain, accused Hippias's warm- 
 est and best friends as his accomplices in that 
 deed, in order to revenge himself on Hippias by 
 inducing him to destroy his own adherents and 
 supporters. Hippias fell into the snare ; he 
 condemned to death all whom the conspirator 
 accused, and his reckless soldiers executed his 
 friends and foes together. When any protest- 
 ed their innocence, he put them to the torture 
 to make them confess their guilt. Such indis- 
 criminate cruelty only had the effect to league 
 the whole population of Athens against the per- 
 petrator of it. There was at length a general 
 insurrection against him, and he was dethroned. 
 He made his escape to Sardis, and there ten- 
 dered his services to Artaphernes, offering to 
 
248 Darius the Great. [B.C. 510. 
 
 Hippias among the Persians. Wars between the Grecian states. 
 
 conduct the Persian armies to Greece, and aid 
 them in getting possession of the country, on 
 condition that, if they succeeded, the Persians 
 would make him the governor of Athens. Ar- 
 taphernes made known these offers to Darius, 
 and they were eagerly accepted. It was, how- 
 ever, very impolitic to accept them. The aid 
 which the invaders could derive from the serv- 
 ices of such a guide, were far more than coun- 
 terbalanced by the influence which his defec- 
 tion and the espousal of his cause by the Per- 
 sians would produce in Greece. It handed the 
 Athenians and their allies together in the most 
 enthusiastic and determined spirit of resistance, 
 against a man w r ho had now added the baseness 
 of treason to the wanton wickedness of tyranny. 
 Besides these internal dissensions between 
 the people of the several Grecian states and 
 their kings, there w r ere contests between one 
 state and another, which Darius proposed to 
 take advantage of in his attempts to conquer 
 the country. There w r as one such war in par- 
 ticular, between Athens and the island of iEgi- 
 im, on the effects of w T hich, in aiding him in his 
 operations against the Athenians, Darius placed 
 great reliance. ^Egina w 7 as a large and popu- 
 lous island not far from Athens. In account- 
 
B.C.500.] Invasion of Greece. 249 
 
 Quarrel between Athens and iEgina. The two wooden statues. 
 
 ing for the origin of the quarrel between the 
 two states, the (xreek historians relate the fol- 
 lowing marvelous story : 
 
 .ZEgina, as will be seen from the map, was 
 situated in the middle of a bay, southwest from 
 Athens. On the other side of the bay, opposite 
 from Athens, there was a city, near the shore, 
 called Epidaurus.^ It happened that the people 
 of Epidaurus were at one time suffering from 
 famine, and they sent a messenger to the ora- 
 cle at Delphi to inquire what they should do to 
 obtain relief. The Pythian answered that they 
 must erect two statues to certain goddesses, 
 named Damia and Auxesia, and that then the 
 famine would abate. They asked whether they 
 were to make the statues of brass or of marble. 
 The priestess replied, " Of neither, but of wood." 
 They were, she said, to, use for the purpose the 
 wood of the garden olive. 
 
 o 
 
 This species of olive was a sacred tree, and. 
 it happened that, at this time, there were no 
 trees of the kind that were of sufficient size for 
 the purpose intended except at Athens ; and 
 the Epidaurians, accordingly, sent to Athens 
 to obtain leave to supply themselves with wood 
 for the sculptor by cutting down one of the trees 
 from the sacred grove. The Athenians consent- 
 
250 Darius the Great. [B.C. 500. 
 
 Incursion of the ^ginetans. They carry off the statues. 
 
 ed to this, on condition that the Epidaurians 
 would offer a certain yearly sacrifice at two 
 temples in Athens, which they named. This 
 sacrifice, they seemed to imagine, would make 
 good to the city whatever of injury their relig- 
 ious interests might suffer from the loss of the 
 sacred tree. The Epidaurians agreed to the 
 condition ; the tree was felled ; blocks from it, 
 of proper size, were taken to Epidaurus, and 
 the statues were carved. They were set up in 
 the city with the usual solemnities, and the 
 famine soon after disappeared. 
 
 Not many years after this, a war, for some 
 cause or other, broke out between Epidaurus 
 and iEgina. The people of zEgina crossed the 
 water in a fleet of galleys, landed at Epidau- 
 rus, and, after committing various ravages, 
 they seized these images, and bore them away 
 in triumph as trophies of their victory. They 
 set them up in a public place in the middle of 
 their own island, and instituted games and spec- 
 tacles around them, which they celebrated with 
 great festivity and parade. The Epidaurians, 
 having thus lost their statues, ceased to make 
 the annual offering at Athens which they had 
 stipulated for, in return for receiving the woo 
 from which the statues were carved. The Athe- 
 
B.C. 500.] Invasion of Greece. 251 
 
 Attempt to recover the statues. They fall upon their knees. 
 
 nians complained. The Epidaurians replied 
 that they had continued to make the offering 
 as long as they had kept the statues ; but that 
 now, the statues being in other hands, they 
 were absolved from the obligation. The Athe- 
 nians next demanded the statues themselves of 
 the people of iEgina. They refused to surren- 
 der them. The Athenians then invaded the isl- 
 and, and proceeded to the spot where the stat- 
 ues had been erected. They had been set up 
 on massive and heavy pedestals. The Athe- 
 nians attempted to get them down, but could 
 not separate them from their fastenings. They 
 then changed their plan, and undertook to move 
 the pedestals too, by dragging them with ropes. 
 They were arrested in this undertaking by an 
 earthquake, accompanied by a solemn and ter- 
 rible sound of thunder, which warned them that 
 they were provoking the anger of Heaven. 
 
 The statues, too, miraculously fell on their 
 knees, and remained fixed in that posture ! 
 
 The Athenians, terrified at these portentous 
 signs, abandoned their undertaking and fled to- 
 ward the shore. They were, however, inter- 
 cepted by the people of iEgina, and some allies 
 whom they had hastily summoned to their aid, 
 and the whole party was destroyed except one 
 single man. He escaped. 
 
252 Darius the Great. [B.C. 500. 
 
 The Athenian fugitive. He is murdered by the women. 
 
 This single fugitive, however, met with a 
 worse fate than that of his comrades. He went 
 to Athens, and there the wives and sisters of 
 the men who had been killed thronged around 
 him to hear his story. They were incensed 
 that he alone had escaped, as if his flight had 
 been a sort of betrayal and desertion of his com- 
 panions. They fell upon him, therefore, with 
 one accord, and pierced and wounded him on 
 all sides with a sort of pin, or clasp, which they 
 used as a fastening for their dress. They final- 
 ly killed him. 
 
 The Athenian magistrates were unable to 
 bring any of the perpetrators of this crime to 
 conviction and punishment; but a law was 
 made, in consequence of the occurrence, forbid- 
 ding the use of that sort of fastening for the 
 dress to all the Athenian women forever after. 
 The people of iEgina, on the other hand, rejoic- 
 ed and gloried in the deed of the Athenian wom- 
 en, and they made the clasps which were worn 
 upon their island of double size, in honor of it. 
 
 The war, thus commenced between Athens 
 and iEgina, went on for a long time, increasing 
 in bitterness and cruelty as the injuries in- 
 creased in number and magnitude which the 
 belligerent parties inflicted on each other. 
 
B.C. 491.] Invasion of (jreece. 253 
 
 The Persian army. Its commander, Datis. 
 
 Such was the state of things in Greece when 
 Darius organized his great expedition for the 
 invasion of the country. He assembled an im- 
 mense armament, though he did not go forth 
 himself to command it. He placed the whole 
 force under the charge of a Persian general 
 named Datis. A considerable part of the army 
 which Datis was to command was raised in 
 Persia ; but orders had been sent on that large 
 accessions to the army, consisting of cavalry, 
 foot soldiers, ships, and see men, and every oth- 
 er species of military force, should be raised in 
 all the provinces of Asia Minor, and be ready 
 to join it at various places of rendezvous. 
 
 Darius commenced his march at Susa with 
 the troops which had been collected there, and 
 proceeded westward till he reached the Medi- 
 terranean at Cilicia, which is at the northeast 
 corner of that sea. Here large re-enforcements 
 joined him ; and there was also assembled at 
 this point an immense fleet of galleys, which 
 had been provided to convey the troops to the 
 Grecian seas. The troops embarked, and the 
 fleet advanced along the southern shores of Asia 
 Minor to the iEgean Sea, where they turned 
 to the northward toward the island of Samos, 
 which had been appointed as a rendezvous. At 
 
254 Darius the Great. [B.C. 491. 
 
 Sailing of the fleet. Various conquests. 
 
 Samos they were joined by still greater num- 
 bers coming from Ionia, and the various prov- 
 inces and islands on that coast that were al- 
 
 • 
 
 ready under the Persian dominion. When they 
 were ready for their final departure, the im- 
 mense fleet, probably one of the greatest and 
 most powerful which had then ever been assem- 
 bled, set sail, and steered their course to the 
 northwest, among the islands of the iEgean 
 Sea. As they moved slowly on, they stopped 
 to take possession of such islands as came in 
 their way. The islanders, in some cases, sub- 
 mitted to them without a struggle. In others, 
 they made vigorous but perfectly futile attempts 
 to resist. In others still, the terrified inhabit- 
 ants abandoned their homes, and fled in dismay 
 to the fastnesses of the mountains. The Per- 
 sians destroyed the cities and towns whose in- 
 habitants they could not conquer, and took the 
 children from the most influential families of 
 the islands which they- did subdue, as hostages 
 to hold their parents to their promises when 
 their conquerors should have gone. 
 
 The mighty fleet advanced thus, by slow de- 
 grees, from conquest to conquest, toward the 
 Athenian shores. The vast multitude of gal- 
 leys covered the whole surface of the water, and 
 

B.C. 490.] Invasion of Greece. 257 
 
 Landing of the Persians. State of Athens. 
 
 as they advanced, propelled each by a triple row 
 of oars, they exhibited to the fugitives who had 
 gained the summits of the mountains the ap- 
 pearance of an immense swarm of insects, 
 creeping, by an almost imperceptible advance, 
 over the smooth expanse of the sea. 
 
 The fleet, guided all the time by Hippias, 
 passed on, and finally entered the strait between 
 the island of Eubcea and the main land to the 
 northward of Athens. Here, after some oper- 
 ations on the island, the Persians finally brought 
 their ships into a port on the Athenian side, and 
 landed. Hippias made all the arrangements, 
 and superintended the disembarkation. 
 
 In the mean time, all was confusion and dis- 
 may in the city of Athens. The government, 
 as soon as they heard of the approach of this 
 terrible danger, had sent an express to the city 
 of Sparta, asking for aid. The aid had been 
 promised, but it had not yet arrived. The 
 Athenians gathered together all the forces at 
 their command on the northern side of the city, 
 and were debating the question, with great anx- 
 iety and earnestness, whether they should shut 
 themselves up within the walls, and await the 
 onset of their enemies there, or go forth to meet 
 them on the way. The whole force which the 
 R 
 
258 Darius the Great. [B.C.490. 
 
 The Greek army. Miltiades and his colleagues. 
 
 Greeks could muster consisted of but about ten 
 thousand men, while the Persian host contain- 
 ed over a hundred thousand. It seemed mad- 
 ness to engage in a contest on an open field 
 against such an overwhelming disparity of num- 
 bers. A majority of voices were, accordingly, 
 in favor of remaining within the fortifications 
 of the city, and awaiting an attack. 
 
 The command of the army had been intrust- 
 ed, not to one man, but to a commission of 
 three generals, a sort of triumvirate, on whose 
 joint action the decision of such a question de- 
 volved. Two of the three were in favor of tak- 
 ing a defensive position ; but the third, the cel- 
 ebrated Miltiades, was so earnest and so decid- 
 ed in favor of attacking the enemy themselves, 
 instead of waiting to be attacked, that his opin- 
 ion finally carried the day, and the other gener- 
 als resigned their portion of authority into his 
 hands, consenting that he should lead the Greek 
 army into battle, if he dared to take the re- 
 sponsibility of doing so. 
 
 The two armies were at this time encamped 
 in sight of each other on the plain of Marathon, 
 between the mountain and the sea. They were 
 nearly a mile apart. The countless multitude 
 of the Persians extended as far as the eye could 
 
B.C. 490.] Invasion of Greece. 259 
 
 Position of the armies. Miltiades's plan of attack. 
 
 reach, with long lines of tents in the distance, 
 and thousands of horsemen on the plain, all 
 ready for the charge. The Greeks, on the oth- 
 er hand, occupied a small and isolated spot, in 
 a compact form, without cavalry, without arch- 
 ers, without, in fact, any weapons suitable ei- 
 ther for attack or defense, except in a close en- 
 counter hand to hand. Their only hope of suc- 
 cess depended on the desperate violence of the 
 onset they were to make upon the vast masses 
 of men spread out before them. On the one 
 side were immense numbers, whose force, vast 
 as it was, must necessarily be more or less im- 
 peded in its operations, and slow. It was to be 
 overpowered, therefore, if overpowered at all, by 
 the utmost fierceness and rapidity of action — 
 by sudden onsets, unexpected and furious as- 
 saults, and heavy, vigorous, and rapid blows. 
 Miltiades, therefore, made all his arrangements 
 with reference to that mode of warfare. Such 
 soldiers as the Greeks, too, were admirably 
 adapted to execute such designs, and the im- 
 mense and heterogeneous mass of Asiatic na- 
 tions which covered the plain before them was 
 exactly the body for such an experiment to be 
 made upon. Glorying in their numbers and 
 confident of victory, they were slowly advanc- 
 
260 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Onset of the Greeks. Rout of the Persians. 
 
 ing, without the least idea that the little band 
 before them could possibly do them any serious 
 harm. They had actually brought with them, 
 in the train of the army, some blocks of mar- 
 ble, with which they were going to erect a mon- 
 ument of their victory, on the field of battle, as 
 soon as the conflict was over ! 
 
 At length the Greeks began to put them- 
 selves in motion. As they advanced, they ac- 
 celerated their march more and more, until just 
 before reaching the Persian lines, when they 
 began to run. The astonishment of the Per- 
 sians at this unexpected and daring onset soon 
 gave place, first to the excitement of personal 
 conflict, and then to universal terror and dis- 
 may ; for the headlong impetuosity of the 
 Greeks bore down all opposition, and the des- 
 perate swordsmen cut their way through the 
 vast masses of the enemy with a fierce and 
 desperate fury that nothing could withstand. 
 Something like a contest continued for some 
 hours ; but, at the end of that time, the Per- 
 sians were flying in all directions, every one en- 
 deavoring, by the track which he found most 
 practicable for himself, to make his way to the 
 ships on the shore. Vast multitudes were kill- 
 ed in this headlong flight ; others became en- 
 

 B.C. 490.] Invasion of Greece. 261 
 
 Results of the battle. Numbers slain. 
 
 tangled in the morasses and fens, and others 
 still strayed away, and sought, in their terror, 
 a hopeless refuge in the denies of the mount- 
 ains. Those who escaped crowded in confusion 
 on board their ships, and pushed off from the 
 shore, leaving the whole plain covered with 
 their dead and dying companions. 
 
 The Greeks captured an immense amount of 
 stores and baggage, which were of great cost 
 and value. They took possession, too, of the 
 marble blocks which the Persians had brought 
 to immortalize their victory, and built with 
 them a monument, instead, to commemorate 
 their defeat. They counted the dead. Six thou- 
 sand Persians, and only two hundred Greeks, 
 were found. The bodies of the Greeks were 
 collected together, and buried on the field, and 
 an immense mound was raised over the grave. 
 This moand has continued to stand at Mara- 
 thon to the present day. 
 
 The battle of Marathon was one of those 
 great events in the history of the human race 
 which continue to attract, from age to age, the 
 admiration of mankind. They who look upon 
 war, in all its forms, as only the perpetration . 
 of an unnatural and atrocious crime, which 
 rises to dignity and grandeur only by the very 
 
262 . Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 The field of Marathon. The mound. 
 
 enormity of its guilt, can not but respect the 
 courage, the energy, and the cool and determ- 
 ined resolution with which the little band of 
 Greeks went forth to stop the torrent of foes 
 which all the nations of a whole continent had 
 combined to pour upon them. The field has 
 been visited in every age by thousands of trav- 
 elers, who have upon the spot offered their trib- 
 ute of admiration to the ancient heroes that tri- 
 umphed there. The plain is found now, as of 
 old, overlooking the sea, and the mountains in- 
 land, towering above the plain. The mound, 
 too, still remains, which was reared to conse- 
 crate the memory of the Greeks who fell. They 
 who visit it stand and survey the now silent and 
 solitary scene, and derive from the influence 
 and spirit of the spot new strength and energy 
 to meet the great difficulties and dangers of 
 life which they themselves have to encounter. 
 The Greeks themselves, of the present day, 
 notwithstanding the many sources of discour- 
 agement and depression with which they have 
 to contend, must feel at Marathon some rising 
 spirit of emulation in contemplating the lofty 
 mental powers and the undaunted spirit of their 
 sires. Byron makes one of them sing, 
 
B.C.490.] Invasion of Greece. 263 
 
 Song of the Greek. 
 
 The mountains look on Marathon, 
 And Marathon looks on the sea ; 
 
 And musing there an hour alone, 
 
 I dreamed that Greece might still be free ; 
 
 For, standing on the Persians' grave, 
 
 I could not deem myself a slave." 
 
264 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 The Persian fleet sails southward. Fate of Hippias. 
 
 Chapter XII. 
 The Death of Darius. 
 
 THE city of Athens and the plain of Mara- 
 thon are situated upon a peninsula. The 
 principal port by which the city was ordinarily 
 approached was on the southern shore of the 
 peninsula, though the Persians had landed on 
 the northern side. Of course, in their retreat 
 from the field of battle, they fled to the north. 
 When they were beyond the reach of their en- 
 emies and fairly at sea, they were at first some- 
 what perplexed to determine what to do. Da- 
 tis was extremely unwilling to return to Darius 
 with the news of such a defeat. On the other 
 hand, there seemed but little hope of any other 
 result if he were to attempt a second landing. 
 
 Hippias, their Greek guide, was killed in the 
 battle. He expected to be killed, for his mind, 
 on the morning of the battle, was in a state of 
 great despondency and dejection. Until that 
 time he had felt a strong and confident expec- 
 tation of success, but his feelings had then been 
 very suddenly changed. His confidence had 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 265 
 
 The dream and the sneeze. 
 
 arisen from the influence of a dream, his dejec- 
 tion from a cause more frivolous still ; so that 
 he was equally irrational in his hope and in his 
 despair. 
 
 The omen which seemed to him to portend 
 success to the enterprise in which he had un- 
 dertaken to act as guide, was merely that he 
 dreamed one night that he saw, and spent some 
 time in company with, his mother. In attempt- 
 ing to interpret this dream in the morning, it 
 seemed to him that Athens, his native city, was 
 represented hy his mother, and that the vision 
 denoted that he was about to he restored to 
 Athens again. He was extremely elated at 
 this supernatural confirmation of his hopes, and 
 would have gone into the battle certain of vic- 
 tory, had it not been that another circumstance 
 occurred at the time of the landing to blast his 
 hopes. He had, himself, the general charge of 
 the disembarkation. He stationed the ships at 
 their proper places near the shore, and formed 
 the men upon the beach as they landed. While 
 he was thus engaged, standing on the sand, he 
 suddenly sneezed. He was an old man, and 
 his teeth — those that remained — were loose. 
 One of them was thrown out in the act of 
 sneezing, and it fell into the sand. Hippias was 
 
266 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Ilippias falls in battle. Movements of the Persian fleet. 
 
 alarmed at this occurrence, considering it a tad 
 omen. He looked a long time for the tooth in 
 vain, and then exclaimed that all was over. 
 The joining of his tooth to his mother earth was 
 the event to which his dream referred, and there 
 was now no hope of any further fulfillment of 
 it. He went on mechanically, after this, in 
 marshaling his men and preparing for battle, 
 but his mind was oppressed with gloomy fore- 
 bodings. He acted, in consequence, feebly and 
 with indecision ; and when the Greeks explor- 
 ed the field on the morning after the battle, his 
 body was found among the other mutilated and 
 ghastly remains which covered the ground. 
 
 As the Persian fleet moved, therefore, along 
 the coast of Attica, they had no longer their 
 former guide. They were still, however, very 
 reluctant to leave the country. They followed 
 the shore of the peninsula until they came to 
 the promontory of Sunium, which forms the 
 southeastern extremity of it. They doubled 
 this cape, and then followed the southern shore 
 of the peninsula until they arrived at the point 
 opposite to Athens on that side. In the mean 
 time, however, the Spartan troops which had 
 been sent for to aid the Athenians in the con- 
 test, but which had not arrived in time to take 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 267 
 
 The Tersian fleet returns to Asia. Anxiety of Datis. 
 
 part in the battle, reached the ground ; and the 
 indications which the Persians observed, from 
 the decks of their galleys, that the country was 
 thoroughly aroused, and was every where ready 
 to receive them, deterred them from making 
 any further attempts to land. After lingering, 
 therefore, a short time near the shore, the fleet 
 directed its course again toward the coasts of 
 Asia. 
 
 The mind of Datis was necessarily very ill 
 at ease. He dreaded the wrath of Darius ; for 
 despots are very prone to consider military fail- 
 ures as the worst of crimes. The expedition 
 had not, however, been entirely a failure. Da- 
 tis had conquered many of the Greek islands, 
 and he had with him, on board his galleys, great 
 numbers of prisoners, and a vast amount of' 
 plunder which he had obtained from them. 
 Still, the greatest and most important of the 
 objects which Darius had commissioned him to 
 accomplish had been entirely defeated, and he 
 ;felt, accordingly, no little anxiety in respect to 
 the reception which he was to expect at Susa. 
 
 One night he had a dream which greatly dis- 
 turbed him. He awoke in the morning with 
 an impression upon his mind, which he had de- 
 rived from the dream, that some temple had 
 
268 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Datis finds a stolen statue. Island of Delos. 
 
 been robbed by his soldiers in the course of his 
 expedition, and that the sacrilegious booty 
 which had been obtained was concealed some- 
 where in the fleet. He immediately ordered a 
 careful search to be instituted, in which every 
 ship was examined. At length they found, con- 
 cealed in one of the galleys, a golden statue of 
 Apollo. Datis inquired what city it had been 
 taken from. They answered from Delium. 
 Delium was on the coast of Attica, near the 
 place where the Persians had landed, at the 
 time of their advance on Marathon. Datis 
 could not safely or conveniently go back there 
 to restore it to its place. He determined, there- 
 fore, to deposit it at Delos for safe keeping, un- 
 til it could be returned to its proper home. 
 
 Delos was a small but very celebrated island 
 near the center of the iEgean Sea, and but a 
 short distance from the spot where the Persian 
 fleet was lying when Datis made this discovery. 
 It was a sacred island, devoted to religious rites, 
 and all contention, and violence, and, so far as 
 was possible, all suffering and death, were ex- 
 cluded from it. The sick were removed from it ; 
 the dead were not buried there ; armed ships 
 and armed men laid aside their hostility to each 
 other when they approached it. Belligerent 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 269 
 
 Account of the sacred island. Its present condition. 
 
 fleets rode at anchor, side by side, in peace, 
 upon the smooth waters of its little port, and 
 an enchanting picture of peace, tranquillity, 
 and happiness was seen upon its shores. A large 
 natural fountain, or spring, thirty feet in diam- 
 eter, and inclosed partly by natural rocks and 
 partly by an artificial wall, issued from the 
 ground in the center of the island, and sent 
 forth a beautiful and fertilizing rill into a rich 
 and happy valley, through which it meandered, 
 deviously, for several miles, seeking the sea. 
 There was a large and populous city near the 
 port, and the whole island was adorned with 
 temples, palaces, colonnades, and other splendid 
 architectural structures, which made it the ad- 
 miration of all mankind. All this magnificence 
 and beauty have, however, long since passed 
 away. The island is now silent, deserted, and 
 desolate, a dreary pasture, where cattle browse 
 and feed, with stupid indifference, among the 
 ancient ruins. Nothing living remains of the 
 ancient scene of grandeur and beauty but the 
 fountain. That still continues to pour up its 
 clear and pellucid waters with a ceaseless and 
 eternal flow. 
 
 It was to this Delos that Datis determined 
 to restore the golden statue. He took it on 
 
270 
 
 
 D 
 
 AR 
 
 [US 
 
 THE 
 
 G-RE AT. 
 
 [B.C. 490. 
 
 Dispos 
 
 uion 
 
 of the a; 
 
 my. 
 
 
 
 Danus's reception of Datis. 
 
 board his own galley, and proceeded with it, 
 himself, to the sacred island. He deposited it 
 in the great temple of Apollo, charging the 
 priests to convey it, as soon as a convenient op- 
 portunity should occur, to its proper destination 
 at Delium. 
 
 The Persian fleet, after this business was dis- 
 posed of, set sail again, and pursued its course 
 toward the coasts of Asia, where at length the 
 expedition landed in safety. 
 
 The various divisions of the army were then 
 distributed in the different provinces where they 
 respectively belonged, and Datis commenced his 
 march with the Persian portion of the troops, and 
 with his prisoners and plunder, for Susa, feeling, 
 however, very uncertain how he should be re- 
 ceived on his arrival there. Despotic power is 
 always capricious ; and the character of Darius, 
 which seems to have been naturally generous 
 and kind, and was rendered cruel and tyrannic- 
 al only through the influence of the position in 
 which he had been placed, was continually pre- 
 senting the most opposite and contradictory 
 phases. The generous elements of it, fortu- 
 nately for Datis, seemed to be in the ascenden- 
 cy when the remnant of the Persian army ar- 
 rived at Susa. Darius received the returning 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 271 
 
 Subsequent history of Miltiades. His great popularity. 
 
 general without anger, and even treated the 
 prisoners with humanity. 
 
 Before finally leaving the subject of this cel- 
 ebrated invasion, which was brought to an end 
 in so remarkable a manner by the great battle 
 of Marathon, it may be well to relate the ex- 
 traordinary circumstances which attended the 
 subsequent history of Miltiades, the great com- 
 mander in that battle on the Greek side. Be- 
 fore the conflict, he seems to have had no offi- 
 cial superiority over the other generals, but, by 
 the resolute decision with which he urged the 
 plan of giving the Persians battle, and the con- 
 fidence and courage which he manifested in ex- 
 pressing his readiness to take the responsibility 
 of the measure, he placed himself virtually at 
 the head of the Greek command. The rest of 
 the officers acquiesced in his pre-eminence, and, 
 waiving their claims to an equal share of the 
 authority, they allowed him to go forward and 
 direct the operations of the day. If the day 
 had been lost, Miltiades, even though he had 
 escaped death upon the field, would have been 
 totally and irretrievably ruined ; but as it was 
 won, the result of the transaction was that he 
 was raised to the highest pinnacle of glory and 
 renown. 
 
272 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Miltiades's influence at Athens. His ambitious designs. 
 
 And yet in this, as in all similar cases, the 
 question of success or of failure depended upon 
 causes wholly beyond the reach of human fore- 
 sight or control. The military commander who 
 acts in such contingencies is compelled to stake 
 every thing dear to him on results which are 
 often as purely hazardous as the casting of a die. 
 
 The influence of Miltiades in Athens after 
 the Persian troops were withdrawn was para- 
 mount and supreme. Finding himself in pos- 
 session of this ascendency, he began to form 
 plans for other military undertakings. It prov- 
 ed, in the end, that it would have been far bet- 
 ter for him to have been satisfied with the fame 
 which he had already acquired. 
 
 Some of the islands in the iEgean Sea he 
 considered as having taken part with the Per- 
 sians in the invasion, to such an extent, at least, 
 as to furnish him with a pretext for making 
 war upon them. The one which he had spe- 
 cially in view, in the first instance, was Paros. 
 Paros is a large and important island situated 
 near the center of the southern portion of the 
 iEgean Sea. It is of an oval form, and is 
 about twelve miles long. The surface of the 
 land is beautifully diversified and very pictur- 
 esque, while, at the same time, the soil is very 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 273 
 
 Island and city of Paros. Appearance of the modern town. 
 
 fertile. In the days of Miltiades, it was very 
 wealthy and populous, and there was a large 
 city, called also Paros, on the western coast of 
 the island, near the sea. There is a modern 
 town built upon the site of the former city, 
 which presents a very extraordinary appear- 
 ance, as the dwellings are formed, in a great 
 measure, of materials obtained from the ancient 
 ruins. Marble columns, sculptured capitals, 
 and fragments of what were once magnificent 
 entablatures, have been used to construct plain 
 walls, or laid in obscure and neglected pave- 
 ments- — all, however, still retaining, notwith- 
 standing their present degradation, unequivocal 
 marks of the nobleness of their origin. The 
 quarries where the ancient Parian marble was 
 obtained were situated on this island, not very 
 far from the town. They remain to the pres- 
 ent day in the same state in which the ancient 
 workmen left them. 
 
 In the time of Miltiades the island and the 
 city of Paros were both very w T ealthy and very 
 powerful. Miltiades conceived the design of 
 making a descent upon the island, and levying 
 an immense contribution upon the people, in the 
 form of a fine, for what he considered their trea- 
 son in taking part with the enemies of their 
 
274 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Miltiades's proposition to the Athenians. They accept it. 
 
 countrymen. In order to prevent the people of 
 Paros from preparing for defense, Miltiades in- 
 tended to keep the object of his expedition se- 
 cret for a time. He therefore simply proposed 
 to the Athenians that they should equip a fleet 
 and put it under his command. He had an en- 
 terprise in view, he said, the nature of which 
 he could not particularly explain, but he was 
 very confident of its success, and, if successful, 
 he should return, in a short time, laden with 
 spoils which would enrich the city, and amply 
 reimburse the people for the expenses they 
 would have incurred. The force which he ask- 
 ed for was a fleet of seventy vessels. 
 
 So great was the popularity and influence 
 which Miltiades had acquired by his victory at 
 Marathon, that this somewhat extraordinary 
 proposition was readily complied with. The 
 fleet was equipped, and crews were provided, 
 and the whole armament was placed under Mil- 
 tiades's command. The men themselves who 
 were embarked on board of the galleys did not 
 know whither they were going. Miltiades prom- 
 ised them victory and an abundance of gold as 
 their reward ; for the rest, they must trust, he 
 said, to him, as he could not explain the actual 
 destination of the enterprise without endanger- 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 275 
 
 Miltiades marches against Paros. Its resistance. 
 
 ing its success. The men were all satisfied 
 with these conditions, and the fleet set sail. 
 
 "When it arrived on the coast of Paros, the 
 Parians were, of course, taken by surprise, but 
 they made immediate preparations for a very 
 vigorous resistance. Miltiades commenced a 
 siege, and sent a herald to the city, demanding 
 of them, as the price of their ransom, an im- 
 mense sum of money, saying, at the same time, 
 that, unless they delivered up that sum, or, at 
 least, gave security for the payment of it, he 
 would not leave the place until the city was 
 captured, and, when captured, it should be whol- 
 ly destroyed. The Parians rejected the de- 
 mand, and engaged energetically in the work of 
 completing and strengthening their defenses. 
 They organized companies of workmen to labor 
 during the night, when their operations would 
 not be observed, in building new walls, and re- 
 enforcing every weak or unguarded point in the 
 line of the fortifications. It soon appeared that 
 the Parians were making far more rapid prog- 
 ress in securing their position than Miltiades 
 was in his assaults upon it. Miltiades found 
 that an attack upon a fortified island in the 
 iEgean Sea was a different thing from encoun- 
 tering the undisciplined hordes of Persians on 
 
276 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Miltiades is discouraged. The captive priestess. 
 
 the open plains of Marathon. There it was a 
 contest "between concentrated courage and dis- 
 cipline on the one hand, and a vast expansion 
 of pomp and parade on the other ; whereas now 
 he found that the courage and discipline on his 
 part were met by an equally indomitable reso- 
 lution on the part of his opponents, guided, too, 
 by an equally well-trained experience and skill. 
 In a word, it was Greek against Greek at Pa- 
 ros, and Miltiades began at length to perceive 
 that his prospect of success was growing very 
 doubtful and dim. 
 
 This state of things, of course, filled the mind 
 of Miltiades with great anxiety and distress ; 
 for, after the promises which he had made to 
 the Athenians, and the blind confidence which 
 he had asked of them in proposing that they 
 should commit the fleet so unconditionally to 
 his command, he could not return discomfited 
 to Athens without involving himself in the most 
 absolute disgrace. While he was in this per- 
 plexity, it happened that some of his soldiers 
 took captive a Parian female, one day, among 
 other prisoners. She proved to be a priestess, 
 from one of the Parian temples. Her name 
 was Timo. The thought occurred to Miltiades 
 that, since all human means at his command 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 277 
 
 Miltiades's interview with the priestess. Her instructions. 
 
 had proved inadequate to accomplish his end, 
 he might, perhaps, through this captive priest- 
 ess, obtain some superhuman aid. As she had 
 been in the service of a Parian temple, she 
 would naturally have an influence with the di- 
 vinities of the place, or, at least, she would be 
 acquainted with the proper means of propitiat- 
 ing their favor. 
 
 Miltiades, accordingly, held a private inter- 
 view with Timo, and asked her what he should 
 do to propitiate the divinities of Paros so far as 
 to enable him to gain possession of the city. 
 She replied that she could easily point out the 
 way, if he would but follow her instructions. 
 Miltiades, overjoyed, promised readily that he 
 would do so. She then gave him her instruc- 
 tions secretly. What they were is not known, 
 except so far as they were revealed by the oc- 
 currences that followed. 
 
 There was a temple consecrated to the god- 
 dess Ceres near to the city, and so connected 
 with it, it seems, as to be in some measure in- 
 cluded within the defenses. The approach to 
 this temple was guarded by a palisade. There 
 were, however, gates which afforded access, ex- 
 cept when they were fastened from within. 
 Miltiades, in obedience to Timo's instructions, 
 
278 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Miltiades attempts to enter the temple of Ceres. He dislocates a limb. 
 
 went privately, in the night, perhaps, and with, 
 very few attendants, to this temple. He at- 
 tempted to enter by the gates, which he had 
 expected, it seems, to find open. They were, 
 however, fastened against him. He then un- 
 dertook to scale the palisade. He succeeded in 
 doing this, not, however, without difficulty, and 
 then advanced toward the temple, in obedience 
 to the instructions which he had received from 
 Timo. The account states that the act, what- 
 ever it was, that Timo had directed him to per- 
 form, instead of being, as he supposed, a means 
 of propitiating the favor of the divinity, was 
 sacrilegious and impious ; and Miltiades, as he 
 approached the temple, was struck suddenly 
 with a mysterious and dreadful horror of mind, 
 which wholly overwhelmed him. Rendered al- 
 most insane by this supernatural remorse and 
 terror, he turned to fly. He reached the pali- 
 sade, and, in endeavoring to climb over it, his 
 precipitation and haste caused him to fall. His 
 attendants ran to take him up. He was help- 
 less and in great pain. They found he had dis- 
 located a joint in one of his limbs. He receiv- 
 ed, of course, every possible attention ; but, in- 
 stead of recovering from the injury, he found 
 that the consequences of it became more and 
 
B.C. 490.] The Death of Darius. 279 
 
 Miltiades returns to Athens. He is impeached. 
 
 more serious every day. In a word, the great 
 conqueror of the Persians was now wholly over- 
 thrown, and lay moaning on his couch as help- 
 less as a child. 
 
 . He soon determined to abandon the sie^e of 
 Paros and return to Athens. He had been 
 about a month upon the island, and had laid 
 waste the rural districts, but, as the city had 
 made good its defense against him, he returned 
 without any of the rich spoil which he had 
 promised. ■ The disappointment which the peo- 
 ple of Athens experienced on his arrival, turn- 
 ed soon into a feeling of hostility against the 
 author of the calamity. Miltiades found that 
 the fame and honor which he had gained at 
 Marathon were gone. They had been lost al- 
 most as suddenly as they had been acquired. 
 The rivals and enemies who had been silenced 
 by his former success were now brought out 
 and made clamorous against him by his present 
 failure. They attributed the failure to his own 
 mismanagement of the expedition, and one ora- 
 tor, at length, advanced articles of impeachment 
 against him, on a charge of having been bribed 
 by the Persians to make his siege of Paros only 
 a feint. Miltiades could not defend himself 
 from these criminations, for he was lying, at 
 
280 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Milliades is condemned. He dies of his wound. 
 
 the time, in utter helplessness, upon his couch 
 of pain. The dislocation of the limb had end- 
 ed in an open wound, which at length, having 
 resisted all the attempts of the physicians to 
 stop its progress, had begun to mortify, and the 
 life of the sufferer was fast ebbing away. His 
 son Cimon did all in his power to save his fa- 
 ther from both the dangers that threatened him. 
 He defended his character in the public tribu- 
 nals, and he watched over his person in the cell 
 in the prison. These filial efforts were, how- 
 ever, in both cases unavailing. Miltiades was 
 condemned by the tribunal, and he died of his 
 wound. 
 
 The penalty exacted of him by the sentence 
 was a very heavy fine. The sum demanded 
 was the amount which the expedition to Paros 
 had cost the city, and which, as it had been lost 
 through the agency of Miltiades, it was adjudg- 
 ed that he should refund. This sentence, as 
 well as the treatment in general which Miltiades 
 received from Ins countrymen, has been since 
 considered by mankind as very unjust and cruel. 
 It was, however, only following out, somewhat 
 rigidly, it is true, the essential terms and con- 
 ditions of a military career. It results from 
 principles inherent in the very nature of war, 
 
B.C.490.] The Death of Darius. 281 
 
 The fine paid. Proposed punishment of Timo. 
 
 that we are never to look for the ascendency of 
 justice and humanity in any thing pertaining 
 to it. It is always power, and not right, that 
 determines possession ; it is success, not merit, 
 that gains honors and rewards ; and they who 
 assent to the genius and spirit of military rule 
 thus far, must not complain if they find that, 
 on the same principle, it is failure and not crime 
 which hrings condemnation and destruction. 
 
 When Miltiades was dead, Cimon found that 
 he could not receive his father's hody for honor- 
 able interment unless he paid the fine. He had 
 no means, himself, of doing this. He succeed- 
 ed, however, at length, in raising the amount, 
 by soliciting contributions from the family 
 friends of his father. He paid the fine into the 
 city treasury, and then the body of the hero 
 was deposited in its long home. 
 
 The Parians were at first greatly incensed 
 against the priestess Timo, as it seemed to 
 them that she had intended to betray the city 
 to Miltiades. They wished to put her to death, 
 but they did not dare to do it. It might be con- 
 sidered an impious sacrilege to punish a priest- 
 ess. They accordingly sent to the oracle at 
 Delphi to state the circumstances of the case, 
 and to inquire if they might lawfully put the 
 
282 Darius the Great. [B.C. 490. 
 
 Timo saved by the Delphic oracle. Another expedition against Greece. 
 
 priestess to death. She had been guilty, they 
 said, of pointing out to an enemy the mode by 
 which he might gain possession of their city ; 
 and, what was worse, she had, in doing so, at- 
 tempted to admit him to those solemn scenes 
 and mysteries in the temple which it was not 
 lawful for any man to behold. The oracle re- 
 plied that the priestess must not be punished, 
 for she had done no wrong. It had been de- 
 creed by the gods that Miltiades should be de- 
 stroyed, and Timo had been employed by them 
 as the involuntary instrument of conducting 
 him to his fate. The people of Paros acqui- 
 esced in this decision, and Timo was set free. 
 
 But to return to Darius. His desire to sub- 
 due the Greeks and to add then country to Ins 
 dominions, and his determination to accomplish 
 his purpose, were increased and strengthened, 
 not diminished, by the repulse' which his army 
 had met with at the first invasion. He was 
 greatly incensed against the Athenians, as if 
 he considered their courage and energy in 
 defending their country an audacious outrage 
 against himself, and a crime. He resolved to 
 organize a new expedition, still greater and 
 more powerful than the other. Of this arma- 
 
B.C. 485.] The Death of Darius. 283 
 
 Preparations. Necessity for settling the succession. 
 
 ment he determined to take the command him- 
 self in person, and to make the preparations for 
 it on a scale of such magnitude as that the ex- 
 pedition should be worthy to be led by the great 
 sovereign of half the world. He accordingly 
 transmitted orders to all the peoples, nations, 
 languages, and realms, in all his dominions, to 
 raise their respective quotas of troops, horses,, 
 ships, and munitions of war, and prepare to as- 
 semble at such place of rendezvous as he should 
 designate when all should be ready. 
 
 Some years elapsed before these arrange- 
 ments were matured, and when at last the 
 time seemed to have arrived for carrying his 
 plans into effect, he deemed it necessary, before 
 he commenced his march, to settle the succes- 
 sion of his kingdom ; for he had several sons, 
 who might each claim the throne, and involve 
 the empire in disastrous civil wars in attempt- 
 ing to enforce their claims, in case he should 
 never return. The historians say that there 
 was a law of Persia forbidding the sovereign to 
 leave the realm without previously fixing upon 
 a successor. It is difficult to see, however, by 
 what power or authority such a law could have 
 been enacted, or to believe that monarchs like 
 Darius would recognize an abstract obligation 
 to law of any kind, in respect to their own po- 
 
284 Darius the Great. [B.C. 485. 
 
 Darius's two sons. Their claims to the throne. 
 
 litical action. There is a species of law regu- 
 lating the ordinary dealings between man and 
 man, that springs up in all communities, wheth- 
 er savage or civilized, from custom, and from 
 the action of judicial tribunals, which the most 
 despotic and absolute sovereigns feel themselves 
 bound, so far as relates to the private affairs of 
 their subjects, to respect and uphold ; but, in 
 regard to their own personal and governmental 
 acts and measures, they very seldom know any 
 other authority than the impulses of their own 
 sovereign will. 
 
 Darius had several sons, among whom there 
 were two who claimed the right to succeed 
 their father on the throne. One was the oldest 
 son of a wife whom Darius had married before 
 he became king. His name was Artobazanes. 
 The other was the son of Atossa, the daughter 
 of Cyrus, whom Darius had married after his 
 accession to the throne. His name was Xerxes. 
 Artobazanes claimed that he was entitled to be 
 his father's heir, since he was his oldest son. 
 Xerxes, on the other hand, maintained that, at 
 the period of the birth of Artobazanes, Darius 
 was not a king. He was then in a private sta- 
 tion, and sons could properly inherit only what 
 their fathers possessed at the time when they 
 were born. He himself, on the other hand, was 
 
B.C. 485.] The Death of Darius. 285 
 
 Xerxes declared heir. Death of Darius. 
 
 the oldest son which his father had had, being" 
 a king, and he was, consequently, the true 
 inheritor of the kingdom. Besides, being the 
 son of Atossa, he was the grandson of Cyrus, 
 and the hereditary rights, therefore, of that great 
 founder of the empire had descended to him. 
 
 Darius decided the question in favor of Xerx- 
 es, and then made arrangements for commenc- 
 ing his march, with a mind full of the elation 
 and pride which were awakened by the grand- 
 eur of his position and the magnificence of his 
 schemes. -These schemes, however, he did not 
 live to execute. He suddenly fell sick and died, 
 just as he was ready to set out upon his expe- 
 dition, and Xerxes, his son, reigned in his stead. 
 
 Xerxes immediately took command of the 
 vast preparations which his father had made, 
 and went on with the prosecution of the enter- 
 prise. The expedition which followed deserves, 
 probably, in respect to the numbers engaged in 
 it, the distance which it traversed, the im- 
 menseness of the expenses involved, and the 
 magnitude of its results, to be considered the 
 greatest military undertaking which human 
 ambition and power have ever attempted to ef- 
 fect. The narrative, however, both of its splen- 
 did adventures and of its ultimate fate, belongs 
 to the history of Xerxes. 
 
286 Darius the Great. [B.C. 485. 
 
 Character of Darius. Ground of his renown. 
 
 The greatness of Darius was the greatness of 
 position and not of character. He was the ab- 
 solute sovereign of nearly half the world, and, 
 as such, was held up very conspicuously to the 
 attention of mankind, who gaze with a strong 
 feeling of admiration and awe upon these vast 
 elevations of power, as they do upon the sum- 
 mits of mountains, simply because they are 
 high. Darius performed ho great exploit, and 
 he accomplished no great object while he lived ; 
 and he did not even leave behind him any strong 
 impressions of personal character. There is in 
 his history, and in the position which he occu- 
 pies in the minds of men, greatness without 
 dignity, success without merit, vast and long- 
 continued power without effects accomplished 
 or objects gained, and universal and perpetual 
 renown without honor or applause. The world 
 admire Caesar, Hannibal, Alexander, Alfred, and 
 Napoleon for the deeds which they performed. 
 They admire Darius only on account of the el- 
 evation on which he stood. In the same lofty 
 position, they would have admired, probably, 
 just' as much, the very horse whose neighing 
 placed him there. 
 
 The End. 
 

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