THE RISE OF DARIUS.
"The Persians, when they heard the words of Cambyses," so Herodotus
continues his narrative, "did not believe that the Magians had possessed
themselves of the throne; on the contrary, they thought that Cambyses
had said what he had said of the death of Smerdis in order to deceive
them, that the whole of Persia might rise against Smerdis. They believed
that Smerdis the son of Cyrus was on the throne; for even Prexaspes
solemnly denied that he had slain Smerdis; after the death of Cambyses
it was dangerous for him to allow that he had put to death the son of
Cyrus with his own hand. The Magian who had taken the name of Cambyses
reigned in security and showed great mildness to all his subjects.
Immediately after he had got possession of the throne, he proclaimed
freedom from military service and tribute for three years to all the
nations over whom he reigned. But in the eighth month of his reign it
was discovered who he was. Otanes, the son of Pharnaspes, was one of the
first of the Persians in descent and wealth. He first conceived a
suspicion of the Magian because he never went out of the citadel, nor
allowed any of the leading Persians to approach him. Phaedyme, the
daughter of Otanes, had been the wife of Cambyses, and with the rest of
the wives she had passed over to the Magian. Otanes caused the question
to be put to his daughter, whether the man with whom she lay was Smerdis
the son of Cyrus, or another. She replied that she had never seen
Smerdis, and could not tell who he was. Then Otanes sent a second time:
'If you do not know Smerdis, ask Atossa, with whom you and she lie, for
she will know her own brother.' The daughter answered: 'I cannot speak
with Atossa, or see any other of the women, for since this man, whoever
he is, came to the throne, he has kept us all apart, and sent one in one
direction, and another in another.' When Otanes heard this, the matter
became yet clearer. He sent a third message to his daughter, saying: 'My
daughter, you are come of a noble race and must accept the risk which
your father lays upon you. If this man is not Smerdis the son of Cyrus,
but the person whom I suspect that he is, he must not go unpunished for
associating with you, and exercising dominion over the Persians. Do as
follows: When you perceive that he is asleep, feel for his ears. If he
has ears, be sure that he is the son of Cyrus, but if he has none he is
Smerdis the Magian.' Phaedyme sent an answer to her father, saying that
she would run the greatest risk in doing as he bade, for if the man had
no ears, and she was found feeling for them, he would put her out of the
way; however, she would do it. And when it came to her turn to go to the
Magian, she did all that her father had bidden her; she lay with him,
and when he was asleep she felt for his ears, and easily discovered that
he had none. When Cyrus was king he had for some grave reason cut off
this man's ears. When it was day she sent her father word how the
matter stood."
"Otanes related all the circumstances to Aspathines and Gobryas, who
were the first among the Persians and most worthy of confidence, and as
they had also had their suspicions that the case was so, they listened
to the proposals of Otanes. The three were of opinion that each should
join with him the Persians whom he counted most worthy of confidence.
Otanes brought Intaphernes; Gobryas, Megabyzus; and Aspathines,
Hydarnes. To these six at Susa, Darius the son of Hystaspes came from
Persia, for Hystaspes was satrap of Persia, and when he came, the six
resolved to make him their associate. They met, pledged mutual fidelity,
and took counsel. And when it came to Darius' turn to give his opinion,
he said: 'I believed that I alone knew that the Magian was king, and
that Smerdis the son of Cyrus was dead, and for that reason I came with
haste to put the Magian to death. But as I feel that you also know this
and not I only, we must at once proceed to action without delay; for
that will be dangerous.' Then Otanes spoke: 'O son of Hystaspes, thou
art the son of a brave father, and thou showest thy courage not less
than he. But do not so hasten the matter without consideration; begin it
with prudence. We must be more numerous, and then make our attempt.'
Darius replied: 'Ye men that are present, if ye enter on the matter as
Otanes wishes, ye will come to a shameful end. Some one who seeks his
own advantage will betray the matter to the Magian. Ye ought to have
taken the matter on yourselves and so accomplished it. But as ye have
resolved to take in more confederates, and have confided the matter to
me, it must be done to-day. If this day passes by, I tell you that I
will allow no informer to be before me; I will myself betray you to the
Magian.' When Otanes saw Darius so eager, he said: 'As you compel us to
hasten the matter and allow no delay, tell us how shall we enter the
palace and overcome them? You know yourself--if you have not seen, you
have heard--that guards are set; how shall we pass by them?' 'Many
things,' Darius said, 'may be proved by deeds and not by words; other
things may be done in word but no brilliant deed corresponds to them.
You know that it is not difficult to pass through the guards that are
set. No one will prevent men of our rank; one will give way from
respect, another from fear. Then I have an excellent excuse for passing
through, if I say that I have just come from Persia and have to give a
message from my father to the king. If an untruth must be told, let it
be told. If a man seeks for no advantage to himself by his untruth, he
who tells the truth may be a liar, and he who lies may be a truthful
man. If any of the door-keepers allow us to pass willingly by, this will
be in the future an advantage for him, but any one who opposes us will
show at once that he is our enemy; we will then force our way and begin
the work.' Then Gobryas said: 'We can never with greater honour win back
the empire, or, if we fail, find a more honourable death. Are not we
Persians ruled by a Mede, a Magian, a fellow without ears? Those of you
who were with Cambyses when sick remember what he imprecated on the
Persians if they did not seek to regain the dominion. At that time we
did not believe him, we thought that he spoke to deceive us. Now I give
my vote to you, Darius, and go straight from this consultation to the
Magian.' So Gobryas spake and all agreed with him.
"While they were thus deliberating, the following incident happened.
After solemn deliberation it seemed advisable to the Magians to make
Prexaspes their friend; he had been cruelly treated by Cambyses, he
alone knew of the death of Smerdis, and was of great influence among the
Persians. For this reason they sent for him, and sought by pledges and
oaths to bind him not to reveal to any one the deception he had
practised on the Persians, and they promised him everything in their
power. When Prexaspes agreed to do as they wished, they further proposed
that he should summon the Persians under the walls of the citadel; mount
a tower and tell them that they were governed by Smerdis and by no
other. This request the Magians made because the Persians had great
confidence in Prexaspes, and he had repeatedly told them that Smerdis
was alive and his death a fiction. When Prexaspes declared his readiness
they summoned the Persians to the tower and bade him speak. But he,
purposely forgetting what they had requested, began to speak of the race
of Cyrus, and when he came to Cyrus himself he enumerated the blessings
which he had provided for the Persians, and going yet further he
revealed the truth, declaring that he had concealed it before because it
was dangerous for him to say what had been done, but now the necessity
was laid upon him to reveal it. And now he said, that, compelled by
Cambyses, he had slain Smerdis, and that Magians were on the throne.
When he had imprecated a bitter curse upon the Persians if they did not
win back the kingdom, and take vengeance on the Magians, he threw
himself head foremost down from the tower. All his life he had been an
honourable man, and such he died.
"When they had resolved to attack the Magians without delay, the seven
Persians invoked the gods, and set forth on the way, without knowing
what had happened to Prexaspes. When they had proceeded half the
distance, they heard of it. They slipped aside to consider the matter.
And Otanes with some others were of opinion that they must wait, for all
would be in confusion, but Darius and the rest declared that without
hesitation they must carry out what they had resolved upon. While they
were thus at variance, seven pairs of hawks appeared, which pursued and
tore to pieces two pairs of vultures. When the seven saw this they all
took the view of Darius, and encouraged by the birds, went to the
palace. When they reached the gates it happened as Darius expected. The
guards respectfully allowed the first men among the Persians to pass
through, as though they were led by some divine guide; no one suspected
them, and no one asked any questions. But when they came to the portico,
they came upon the eunuchs who carried messages in to the king. These
asked what they wanted, threatened the guards for allowing them to pass,
and detained them. The conspirators encouraged each other, drew their
swords, struck down those who sought to detain them, and burst at a run
into the hall. The two Magians were there at the time, consulting about
the affair of Prexaspes. When they heard the noise and the cry of the
eunuchs, they sprang up to see what was the matter, then hastened back
and made ready for defence. One seized a bow, the other a spear. The
first could not use the bow, for the conspirators were close upon him,
but the other wounded Aspathines in the thigh and hit Intaphernes in the
eye. The Magian with the bow retired into a dark chamber off the hall,
and wished to close the door, but Darius and Gobryas hastened after
him; Gobryas seized and held him, and when Darius hesitated to strike
lest in the darkness he should hit Gobryas, Gobryas cried out: 'Strike
even though you pierce us both.' Darius did so and smote the Magian
only. When both were slain, their heads were cut off; the two
conspirators who were wounded remained to guard the citadel; the other
five rushed out, called the Persians together, and showed them the
heads. When the Persians heard of the deception of the Magians, and what
had happened, they thought it right to do the same; they drew their
swords, and slew every Magian whom they could find, and had they not
been prevented by the approach of night, not a Magian would have been
left."
The account given by Trogus of the overthrow of the Medes, so far as it
has been preserved to us, differs only in unimportant points from the
narrative of Herodotus. In order to gain the favour of the people, the
Magians remitted the tribute and military service for three years. This
first excited suspicion in the mind of Otanes, a Persian of great
position and discernment. He commanded his daughter, who was among the
royal concubines,--they were secluded from each other,--to feel the ears
of the king when asleep, for Cambyses (in Herodotus it is Cyrus) had cut
off both the ears of the Magian. "Informed by his daughter that the king
had no ears, he announced this to the princes of the Persians, urged
them to put the false king to death, and bound them by an oath. Seven
persons shared in the conspiracy; and to prevent any change of opinion
in time, or any disclosure, they at once put their swords under their
garments and went to the palace. They cut down all who came in their
way, and so reached the Magians, who were not wanting in skill to defend
themselves; with drawn weapons they slew two of the conspirators (in
Herodotus these are only wounded), but they were overpowered by numbers.
Gobryas seized one of them, and when his companions hesitated to strike
lest they should pierce him along with the Magian, for the affair took
place in a dark room, he called out to them to strike even through his
own body. But by good fortune he was uninjured and the Magian was
slain."
In the narrative of Ctesias, as we have seen, there is but one Magian,
Sphendadates, whom Cambyses himself had placed on the throne of Bactria
in the place of his murdered brother (Tanyoxarkes), and had commanded
him to play his part. Astasyras, Bagapates, and Izabates are aware of
the secret. After Cambyses, Sphendadates becomes king, whom Astasyras
and Bagapates had determined to assist to the throne even before the
death of Cambyses. "When the Magian was reigning under the name of
Tanyoxarkes, Izabates came out of Persia, where he had brought the body
of Cambyses, revealed all to the army, and insulted the Magians. Then he
fled to the sanctuary, where he was seized and his head cut off. Then
seven distinguished Persians met, and after pledging their faith
mutually, they joined with themselves Artasyras and then Bagapates who
had the keys of the royal citadel. And when the seven were admitted by
Bagapates to the citadel, they found the Magian with a concubine from
Babylon. When he saw them, he sprang up, and as he had no weapons--for
Bagapates had secretly removed them all--he broke up a golden chair, and
fought with the foot of this till he was cut down by the seven. He had
reigned seven months."[199]
Herodotus' narrative of the death of the Magians again points to a
poetical source. In the speech of the dying Cambyses, in the curse which
he imprecates if the kingdom is not maintained and recovered, and the
indication that it must be done by force and treachery, this source
introduces the new series of events in an attractive and exciting
manner. But the concealment of the truth, the secret murder of his
brother, have evil consequences which extend beyond the life of
Cambyses. The Persians did not believe him; they thought that when dying
he wished to make them the enemies of his brother. It required the
penetration of Otanes, the courage and devotion of his daughter, to
bring the truth to light. At first Otanes prudently admits two men only
into the secret; each of the three then discloses it to a trusty friend,
and when Darius comes from Persia to Susa all are agreed to make him a
confederate. His high mission has already been indicated in the poem by
the dream of Cyrus wherein he saw the son of Hystaspes with wings on his
shoulders, one of which overshadowed Asia, the other Europe. Darius
urged the confederates to immediate action. The faint justification of
the deception which we find in Herodotus shows that in this matter an
attempt was made in the poetical source to keep in harmony with the
Iranian view of the absolute necessity of telling the truth. The
decisive moment approaches nearer and with greater force to the Magians.
They have won the throne by treachery, they maintain it by cunning,
inasmuch as they demand neither tribute nor soldiers from the subject
countries; but at length they suffer for their treachery. They attempt
to gain Prexaspes; he is to declare publicly that the Magian is the son
of Cyrus. Prexaspes proceeds apparently to do this, but he is resolved
to use the freedom of speech which the Magians allow him for their ruin.
He reveals the truth before all the people, and throws himself down from
the tower. The punishment which the poem has already inflicted on
Prexaspes for the murder of Bardiya in the death of his own son (p. 185)
is not sufficient. Like the king at whose command he sinned, Prexaspes
ends his days by suicide. It is only by this complete revelation of the
truth, this voluntary death, and tragic end, that he makes complete
atonement for laying his hand on the son of Cyrus. Thus the figure of
Prexaspes belongs to the series of faithful Persians, who, like Oebares,
knew how to serve not the king only but the prosperity of Persia with
complete devotion. While this took place before the citadel, and the
Magians in terror deliberated what they should do, now that the
proceeding which was to establish their dominion had dashed them to the
ground, the conspirators were already on the way. Once more the prudent
Otanes hesitates; and once more Darius urges haste. But the princes of
the Persians must perform the act alone; they cannot wait for the effect
of the revelation of Prexaspes on the people. The gods themselves give
them a sign; the seven hawks tear to pieces the two vultures. The poem
closes with the death-struggle of the Magians, the readiness of Gobryas
to allow himself to be slain with the Magian, _i.e._ the false king, and
the happy restoration of the dominion of the Achaemenids.
The objections which can be made against this poetical account of the
matter are obvious. The disbelief of the Persians in the admissions of
Cambyses is hardly credible. If they had doubted at the first, they
could doubt no longer when the king had sealed his accusation by his
despair and death. When Otanes imparts his discovery to Gobryas and
Aspathines, they say that "they had already suspected it;" Darius then
comes, and when he has been unanimously received into the conspiracy he
says: "that he had hitherto believed that he alone knew the secret, and
had hastened from Persia in order to slay the Magian." The poem has no
doubt inserted this scepticism of the Persians to explain why they did
not rise against the usurper immediately after the death of Cambyses.
The discovery by the absence of the ears must also belong to the poem;
it is a tale of the harem, in the manner of the poetry of the East. The
deed of Prexaspes, whose place is taken by Izabates in Ctesias, is quite
incredible and impossible in the context of Herodotus. The Magians had
no reason whatever to urge Prexaspes to a public explanation; no one
among the people had any suspicion; seven men only are acquainted with
the truth, and the Magians have no intimation of their knowledge. If
Susa was the scene of the deed, the Magians acted still more perversely,
and Prexaspes sacrificed himself at any rate without the hope of any
immediate effect. The Susians had not the least interest in the
legitimacy or illegitimacy of the king. If the Achaemenids were no longer
their masters, so much the better, inasmuch as they now enjoyed that
mild dominion, which Herodotus himself ascribes to the Magians. In the
narrative of the conspiracy two factors are obviously combined. Otanes
is the originator, Darius joins the band later, but has already resolved
to slay the Magi. Supported by Gobryas he urges immediate action, and
indeed forces the conspirators to act by the threat that, if there is
any delay, he will himself reveal the conspiracy, while Otanes, both in
the deliberation, and on the way to the palace, is in favour of delay.
It was obviously the effect of the poem to bring plainly into light the
merit which, on the one hand, Otanes and the five conspirators, and on
the other Darius, had earned in the great achievement of the overthrow
of the Magi, and to apportion a part of it to each section. The eminent
position which the poem allots Otanes is explained by the advantages and
privileges which the house of Otanes enjoyed in Persia above the other
tribal princes, and which were attributed to the part which he took in
the removal of the dominion of the Magi.[200] According to Herodotus
Otanes was the son of Pharnaspes, and his sister Cassandane was the wife
of Cyrus, the mother of Cambyses and Smerdis. He was thus the uncle of
the king and of Smerdis; and he was also the father-in-law of the king,
for his daughter Phaedyme was among the wives of Cambyses. This is the
account of Herodotus. But we have convincing evidence that Otanes was
not the son of Pharnaspes. As the father-in-law of Cambyses he was
sufficiently near the throne to take a leading part in the action.
Hystaspes, the father of Darius, had already been sent back by Cyrus
from his camp on the Jaxartes (p. 115), according to Herodotus, in order
to keep watch over his son Darius. In Herodotus Hystaspes is now
overseer of Persia, and his son comes to Susa, to slay the Magians with
his own hand. In another passage Herodotus himself relates that Darius
was sprung from the family of the Achaemenids; Hystaspes was the son of
Arsames, who was the son of Ariaramnes, the brother of Cambyses I. the
father of Cyrus.[201]
It is a fact that Darius was sprung from the younger line of the house
of Achaemenes. The elder son of Teispes, the son of Achaemenes, was
Cambyses I., and the younger son was Ariaramnes. His son was Arsames,
who was the father of Hystaspes, the cousin of Cambyses.[202] When the
older line became extinct in Cambyses, the younger should have ascended
the throne in the person of their head Hystaspes, but the Magians
usurped it. What could be more natural than that Hystaspes and Darius
should take the lead in overthrowing the usurper, and winning back the
crown which had been taken from them. As the future head of the tribe of
the Pasargadae, the future heir to the throne takes the lead, and we may
find in his six associates the remaining six tribes of the Persians. We
know that they had the privilege of marriage with the house of
Achaemenes, and of free entry to the king; the tribal princes also wore
the upright _kidaris_, like the king (V. 328). Hence Darius could say in
Herodotus: "Who will refuse entrance to us, the chiefs of the
Persians?[203]" And any one who should do so "would at once show himself
to be their enemy;" hence, as Herodotus relates, the seven, by divine
guidance, arrived at the palace.
Thus far does tradition carry us; but the inscriptions of Darius enable
us to go a good step farther. "The dominion, which Gaumata the Magian
took from Cambyses, belonged of old to our family," so king Darius tells
us. "My father was Vistacpa, the father of Vistacpa was Arsama, the
father of Arsama was Ariyaramna, the father of Ariyaramna was Chaispis,
and the father of Chaispis was Hakhamanis. This Gaumata lied. He said: I
am Bardiya, the son of Kurus; I am king. There was no one, either Mede
or Persian, or of our family, who had taken the dominion from Gaumata
the Magian.[204] The people feared him; he put to death many people who
had known Bardiya, to prevent its being known that he was not Bardiya
the son of Kurus. No one made any attempt against Gaumata the Magian,
till I came. Then I called Auramazda to my aid; and Auramazda assisted
me. There is a citadel, Cikathauvatis by name, in the land of Nicaya in
Media; there with men devoted to me I slew Gaumata the Magian and his
chief adherents. This was in the month Bagayadis, on the tenth day. I
slew him, and took from him the dominion. By the grace of Auramazda I
became king. Auramazda transferred the kingdom to me; I restored the
dominion which was taken from our tribe. The places of worship (the
houses of the gods in the Babylonian version) which Gaumata the Magian
destroyed, these I preserved for the people. I gave back to the families
what Gaumata had taken from them. What had been carried away I placed
where it had been before. By the grace of Auramazda I did this. I
laboured till I placed this race of ours again in its position. As it
was before, as though Gaumata the Magian had not robbed our family, so I
arranged it again.[205] These are the men who were present at the time
when I slew Gaumata the Magian, who called himself Bardiya; these men
helped me at that time as my adherents: Vindafrana (Intaphernes in
Herodotus), the son of Vayacpara, a Persian; Utana (Otanes), the son of
Thukhra, a Persian; Gaubaruva (Gobryas), the son of Marduniya
(Mardonius), a Persian; Vidarna (Hydarnes), the son of Bagabigna, a
Persian; Bagabukhsa (Megabyzus), the son of Daduhya, a Persian;
Ardumanis, the son of Vahuka (Ochus), a Persian."[206]
As has been shown, Gaumata had seized the dominion on Persian ground. He
had first shown himself to the Persians as their master: "He caused
Persia to revolt," is the recapitulation in the inscription of Behistun.
The statement of Herodotus that he remitted for a certain period the
tribute, which the provinces had to furnish yearly in the form of
presents, and announced that for some years to come they need not expect
anything from distant wars, cannot be called in question. He had every
reason to make his rule acceptable, and the treasures of Cyrus at
Pasargadae were no doubt still large enough to enable him to dispense
with the tribute for some years.[207] The inscription of Darius and the
tablets at Babylon (p. 195), establish the fact that not the satraps
only, whom Cyrus and Cambyses had set up, and the population of the
subject lands, but even the army of Cambyses which had gone with him to
Egypt and returned after his death, recognized the Magian as king. As
Herodotus says, Gaumata succeeded so that all nations wished his reign
back when he had fallen, except the Persians. Most remarkable is the
passage in the inscription of Darius according to which Gaumata had
destroyed the places of worship or the houses of the gods. How could a
man, who claimed to be the son of Cyrus, begin by attacking the existing
mode of worship, which Cyrus had practised and protected, without
annihilating himself? Or was it the Magian tendency in him, which
sought to bring the stricter forms observed by the priests into
universal observance, and establish uniformity of worship? Or does
Darius merely mean that Gaumata had allowed the temples of the subject
nations to fall into ruin (Cyrus and Darius took them under their care).
This is probably the meaning of the obscure passage in the Persian text;
the Babylonian version shows that temples of the gods are spoken of, and
these the Persians and Medes did not possess.
The murder of Smerdis cannot have remained an entire secret. The
murderer or murderers knew it, and the relatives, the members of the
house of Achaemenes, the servants and women, cannot have been deceived by
the resemblance for any length of time. The narrative of Darius tells us
plainly, "that Gaumata put to death many men in order that it might not
be known that he was not the son of Cyrus." There is no doubt that
Cambyses, when dying, acknowledged his deed, but only to the Achaemenids
and the six tribal princes. Darius was with Cambyses in Egypt. From
Herodotus we learn that he secretly sent messages to the satraps at the
time of the rule of the Magians[208]. Hence he knew of the fact, and, as
was fitting, he urged the overthrow of the Magian before all others. Why
the younger line of the royal house and the tribal princes of the
Persians did not come forward immediately after the death of
Cambyses--why they did not call on the Persians to rise against the
Magians--on these matters we can only make conjectures, which however
are of a suggestive kind. One obvious reason was that the declaration
that the throne had been usurped, and the rising of the Persians which
would have followed such a declaration, would have thrown the kingdom
into the most violent convulsions. This would have given the subject
nations the choice of taking up arms for their favourite, the usurper,
or for their own independence; it would have given them the right, and
the Medes above all, of throwing off the existing rule. Could they
venture to renew the dangerous war, which Cyrus had waged against the
Medes, which had been so long undecided, and had brought the Persians
into the greatest distress, in which they had conquered only after the
most severe efforts? Who would guarantee a happy issue to the new
conflict? And if the Medes were really conquered for the second time,
would not the conflict with them be the signal for the other nations to
revolt on their part also? In this way the kingdom of Cyrus would be
completely disorganized. Thus Hystaspes and Darius and the princes of
the Persians hesitated; and contented themselves with coming to a secret
understanding with the satraps. So long as the royal house and the six
princes remained silent, the pretended son of Cyrus was compelled to
spare the Achaemenids and the tribal princes in order to play his own
part, but their silence on the other hand declared the Magian to be the
legitimate ruler, and the longer that they were silent the more securely
did they establish his throne. This position of affairs was the more
difficult for the Achaemenids, because Gaumata, as we are told in the
inscription, removed his residence from Persia to Media. He was aware no
doubt that his deception could not be long maintained against the
Persians and the satraps. In Media, therefore, he was more secure than
in Persia, for in Media the Magians formed a numerous and exclusive
order. If the Persians rose against him his best support against them
was the Medes; if the deception had to be dropped, the rising of the
Persians would pass into a war between the Persians and Medes.
From the important position which the authority of Herodotus assigns to
Otanes, and the peculiar honours subsequently paid to him and his
family, we may perhaps assume that it was he more than any other, who,
with the fixed resolution not to endure the dominion of Gaumata, pointed
out at the same time the unavoidable consequences of an armed rising of
Persia. Instead of shattering the central power with their own hands, he
must have advised his confederates to get it into their own power, and
with this object in view he proposed the removal of the Magian, the
surprise, and assassination in the citadel. There would be time for an
open conflict if the assassination failed. Darius, who was then about
thirty-five,[209] was younger and more hasty; he may have insisted on a
sudden decision and have been more inclined to use open violence.
Finally, the princes of the Persians united with Darius in the attempt
to assassinate the king. It is obvious that the consultations and
deliberations which led to this resolution took place among few, and in
the greatest secrecy. It was necessary to avoid observation and
suspicion; they must not go in a company. The son of Hystaspes might
take a message from his father to the king, and the chiefs of the
Persian tribes might accompany him. They were the chosen councillors of
the king, and had the right of free entry to him. Ought they to despair
of this because they had not been summoned to the council? If they had
had confederates in the palace of Gaumata, as Ctesias suggests, it
would have been the most foolish rashness to go to Media in such small
numbers. That Darius accomplished the deed with six associates only, as
he himself tells us, proves that they could reckon on obtaining an
entrance for these seven only, and that the king dared not refuse it to
them. His false assertion that he was an Achaemenid, and the king of the
Persians, must have been his ruin; it compelled him to admit the seven;
at any rate the guards of the palace had no orders to the contrary. The
upright tiara, which the Persian kings, the descendants of Achaemenes,
and the princes of the remaining six tribes wore, and which Plutarch
suggests was the mark of recognition among the conspirators (Polyaenus
states this for a fact[210]), pointed out Darius and his associates to
the body-guard as having the right of free entrance. It was not, as the
Greeks thought, a mark of distinction given to the six after the deed,
but, as we have seen, a distinction which they possessed, along with
others, from the time of Achaemenes, and the arrangement of the Persian
constitution. The six princes of the Persians, and at their head the
eldest son of the lawful successor to the throne, Hystaspes the prince
of the seventh tribe, or Pasargadae, were resolved to attack the
pretended king in his palace in Media, and risk their lives to maintain
the throne in the hands of the Persians. We must look for the citadel of
Cikathauvatis in Nicaya between Kermanshah and Elvend, at the southern
foot of the mountain overlooking the pastures of the Nisaean horses. If
the attempt failed Darius and his companions could hardly escape. But
the father of Darius and two younger brothers (Artabanus and
Artaphernes) were alive and in safety. They could avenge the fall of
the conspirators, and by taking up the struggle openly, attempt to
succeed where craft had failed. In the struggle, as in the previous
consultation, the source from which Herodotus has drawn represents
Gobryas as the leading person next to Darius. He is the first whom
Otanes admits to the secret; he always votes with Darius for immediate
action; he seizes one of the two Magians--obviously the king
himself--whom Darius then slays. Gobryas was the chief of the
Pateischoreans, who dwelt next to the Pasargadae on Lake Bakhtegan, and
the father-in-law of Darius, to whom his daughter had already borne
three sons.[211]
The bold resolution to attack the usurper in the midst of Media and cut
him down with his adherents in his palace succeeded. If Herodotus tells
us that when the princes after the assassination called the Persians
together, and showed them the heads of the Magians, the Persians also
drew their swords and slew all the Magians who came in their way, the
truth is that the only Persians before the citadel of Cikathauvatis in
the Median district of Nisaea would be the servants of the Persians who
accompanied them there. The question was not the slaughter of the Magi;
such a massacre would have been the most foolish thing that could have
been done. The Persians who attended the princes had no other duty than
to enable their masters to escape from the citadel in case of failure,
and in case of success to prevent the servants of Gaumata, who may very
likely have been for the most part Magians, from dispersing, and to cut
them down, to avail themselves of the overthrow of the guard in order to
disarm them. The supposed slaughter of the Magians has arisen from the
festival, by which the Persians celebrated the day of the assassination
of the Magian, the tenth of Bagayadis.[212]
Five days after the death of the Magian the seven took counsel together,
as Herodotus relates, on the state of affairs. Otanes was of opinion
that the government should be handed over to the whole body of the
Persians, that it was not well that one should rule over them. Megabyzus
represented oligarchy; the best men should form the best resolutions.
Darius spoke in favour of monarchy. In an oligarchy enmities arise, and
out of enmities rebellions and struggles, which lead to monarchy. In
democracy baseness forces its way in, and the base gather together till
a man arises who can reduce them to order; he is then admired by the
people and raised to be their ruler. A man had given freedom to the
Persians, and it was not well to set aside the laws of the fathers. Then
Otanes said: "Fellow-conspirators, it is obvious that one of us will be
king, as we are leaving the choice to the Persians either by lot or in
some other manner. But I do not seek the throne with you: I wish neither
to be a ruler, nor to be ruled over. I leave the dominion to you on the
condition that neither I nor my descendants shall be subjects to you."
The six agreed, and Otanes remained apart; to this day his family is the
only free family in Persia, and is governed only so much as it pleases,
provided that it does not transgress the laws of the Persians. The
others resolved, that if the monarchy came to one of them, Otanes and
his descendants should each year receive a Median robe and the gifts of
highest honour usual among the Persians, because he had been the first
to entertain the idea and had called them together. For the whole seven
they resolved that each should have the right of entering the palace
without announcement, whenever he would, and the king should not be
allowed to take a wife from any but the families of the conspirators.
The throne was to go to the man whose horse, when in the suburbs of the
city, should be the first to neigh at the rising of the sun. In the
night Oebares, the groom of Darius, led his horse along the road, on
which the six would ride in the morning, to a mare which he had
previously caused to be brought there. When the princes rode out next
morning, as had been agreed upon, the horse of Darius neighed at the
place where the mare had been brought to him in the night, and at the
same moment there was thunder and lightning in a clear sky. Then the
five sprang from their horses and did homage to Darius. And when Darius
was established on his throne, he set up a picture in relief on stone
representing a man with a horse, and underneath it he engraved the
words: "Darius, the son of Hystaspes, by the help of his horse and his
groom Oebares, came to be king over the Persians."[213]
In Pompeius Trogus we are told: "The conspirators were so equal in
valour and noble birth, that it was difficult for the people to elect
one of them to be king. But the conspirators themselves devised an
expedient which left the decision to religion and good luck. They
resolved to ride early in the morning to a particular place before the
citadel; and he whose horse was the first to neigh at the rising of the
sun, was to be king. For the Persians regarded the sun as the only
deity, and horses as sacred to him. Among the conspirators was Darius
the son of Hystaspes." After narrating the trick of the groom in the
same manner as Herodotus, our excerpt continues: "The moderation of the
others was so great that when they had received the sign from the gods
(Justin speaks only of the neighing, not of the thunder and lightning),
they at once sprang from their horses and greeted Darius as king. The
whole people followed the decision of the princes and made him their
king. By such a trivial circumstance did the monarchy of the Persians,
which was won by the valour of the seven noblest men, come into the
hands of one person. It is extraordinary that those who risked their
lives to wrest the throne from the Magians, should have resigned it with
such readiness, though it is true that in addition to the nobility of
form, and the valour, which made Darius worthy of the throne, he was
also related by blood to the ancient kings."[214] The excerpt from the
account of Ctesias tells us: "Sphendadates (p. 208 ff.) had reigned
seven months (_i.e._ after the death of Cambyses). Of the seven Darius
became king because his horse first neighed at the rising of the sun,
which was the sign agreed upon among them; but it was induced to neigh
by a certain trick and stratagem. Since then the Persians celebrate the
slaughter of the Magians on the day on which Sphendadates the Magian was
slain."[215]
An election to the throne was not a matter of necessity after the fall
of the Magian. The older line of the royal house, the descendants of the
elder son of Teispes, had become extinct with Smerdis and Cambyses; the
younger line had the right to ascend the throne. The head of this line
was Hystaspes. We not only learn from Herodotus, that he was still
alive, the inscription of Behistun mentions his achievements after his
son ascended the throne. The father gave place to the son, just as the
father of Cyrus had given place to his son in the rise of the Persians
against Astyages. Hystaspes abandoned the throne in favour of his eldest
son. This renunciation, in case of success, must have taken place before
Darius set out to Media, when the son went with the princes of the
Persians to succeed in the work of liberation or to perish. These
princes were in a position to salute Darius as king immediately after
the fall of the Magian. A sign from the gods could only be required to
show that the son would be accepted in the place of the father. It was
more important to prove to the Medians, the inhabitants of Nisaea, that
the new ruler who took the place of the murdered prince had done so with
the will of the gods, that Darius had seized the crown with the will of
Auramazda and Mithra. We know the sacred horses and chariot which the
Persians kept for the god of the sun and of light. The lucky neighing
with which the horse on which the new king was mounted greeted the
rising of the sun on the seventh day after the death of the Magian, put
it beyond doubt that the act was just, that the new ruler of Persia was
under the protection of the far-seeing Mithra, the god of truth, the
destroyer of lies. The narrative of the trick of Oebares is no doubt a
Greek invention. In the mind of the Persians it would have deprived the
divine signal of any importance. In the narrative of Herodotus it is
quite superfluous, for not only does the horse neigh but thunder and
lightning occur in a clear sky. The name of the groom, Oebares, does
not improve the story or make it more credible; it is merely a
repetition of the name of that most faithful and energetic counsellor
and helper of Cyrus, who first, himself a fortunate omen, meets him in
the foreign country, and carries horsedung towards him, and afterwards
assists him to victory and the throne (V. 346). As regards the
equestrian picture, which, according to Herodotus, Darius set up in
honour of his horse and his groom, Darius had certainly no interest in
announcing to the kingdom that he had won the throne by deception. No
doubt Darius left splendid monuments behind him. He may also have caused
the divine consecration and confirmation of his kingdom to be engraved
upon a rock, but the inscription to the picture certainly did not
mention the deception, or the inventor of it and his service.
Herodotus represents the conspirators as consulting about the best form
of government on the sixth day after the assassination, no doubt because
the opinion existed among the Greeks, that the Persians had a custom by
which anarchy was allowed to prevail for five days after the death of
the king, not as a sign of mourning, but in order to learn by experience
what an evil anarchy was.[216] The best form of government might be
discussed in Hellas, but it could not be discussed in Persia, and least
of all in the citadel of Cikathauvatis. Herodotus himself observes, that
these speeches were incredible to some of the Greeks, but that
nevertheless they were made;[217] he even recurs to the subject,
supporting the story on the fact that Mardonius, the son of Gobryas, had
removed the tyrants from the cities of the Ionians and set up
democracies there. Herodotus exaggerates what was done in the year 493
B.C. in order to support his story of this discussion; if Mardonius
established democracies, Otanes may have represented this form of
constitution in the council of the seven. At that time tyrannies were
not preserved in the Greek cities to the extent that the princes of
Miletus, Histiaeus and Aristagoras, raised the sign of rebellion for the
Ionians on purely personal grounds. Hence after the rebellion had been
crushed, tyrannies were not fully restored in these cities. But the
tyrants who remained faithful to Persia, like Aeaces of Lesbos, and
Strattis of Chios, were replaced on their thrones. Strattis was ruler of
Lesbos in the time of Xerxes. Even after Mardonius had visited the coast
of Anatolia, Hippoclus and Aeantides ruled over Lampsacus; the
Pisistratidae in Sigeum; Demaratus obtained Teuthrania, Halisarna, and
Pergamum; Gongylus, Gambrion, Myrina, and Gryneum; Theomestor in the
reign of Xerxes was tyrant of Samos; in Herodotus' own city the
descendants of Lygdamis retained the throne. To renew the tyrannies in
their old extent, when they were intended to keep in subjection Greek
maritime cities of considerable power without Persian garrisons was not
necessary after these cities had been so greatly weakened by the
suppression of the rebellion.[218]
The legend of the discussion of the seven as to the best form of
constitution has grown up out of the privileges of the six tribal
princes, who as a fact formed an aristocratic element in the Persian
constitution (V. 329), and out of the peculiar immunities enjoyed by the
house of Otanes; the Greeks traced both one and the other back to the
assassination of the Magians. From the immunities, and supposed
self-government of this house, the Greeks concluded that Otanes must at
that time have pronounced for the freedom and self-government of the
Persians, and Herodotus represents him as consistently democratic, and
taking no part in the election to the throne. In the discussion the
defence of monarchy was naturally assigned to the future occupant of the
throne.
FOOTNOTES:
[199] Ctes. "Pers." 13. The names of the Seven in Ctesias have been
discussed already, Vol. V. 329 _n._
[200] Herod. 3, 83, 84, and below, p. 221, 222.
[201] Herod. 4, 83; 5, 25, 30.
[202] Vol. V. 326 _n._
[203] Herod. 3, 72, 77.
[204] Spiegel, "Keilinschriften," s. 7, "to say;" so Oppert ("Peuple des
Medes," p. 110) after the Turanian version; on the other hand Mordtmann
in "Z. D. M. G." 16, 37 gives, "to undertake."
[205] Spiegel, "Keilinschriften," s. 81 ff.; Oppert, _loc. cit._ p. 121.
[206] Herodotus gives Aspathines or Aspathenes; the inscription on the
tomb of Darius mentions Acpachana as holding an honourable office near
the person of the king.
[207] Herod. 3, 67.
[208] Herod. 3, 139, 126, 127.
[209] See below, p. 229.
[210] Plutarch, "Praec. gerend. reip." c. 27; Polyaen. "Strateg." 7, 12.
[211] Herod. 7, 2; Behist. 4, 84; 5, 7, 9. N. R. c.
[212] G. Rawlinson's view, which he gives in an excursus to his
Herodotus (2, 548 ff.)--that the Magian was not a Mede, I accept, as I
have observed, p. 191. Darius says in the inscription of Behistun that
neither a Persian nor a "Mede" had risen against Gaumata, and moreover,
that he had recovered the dominion which had been taken "from his tribe"
and "race." But in no case was it a question of a religious conflict,
but rather to avoid a new struggle between Media and Persia. On the
passage 3, 14 in the inscription all that need be said has been given
already (p. 216).
[213] Herod. 3, 80-88.
[214] Justin. 1, 10.
[215] Ctes. "Pers." 14.
[216] Sext. Empir. "Adv. Rhet." 33 in Stein, Herod. 3, 80.
[217] Herod. 6, 43.
[218] The evidence in support of this will be found in the Greek
History.