Page:A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi and Jonah.djvu/50

18 not being Bardes, the son of Cyrus. There was not any one bold enough to say aught against Gomates, the Magian, until I arrived. Then I prayed to Ormazd. Ormazd brought help to me. On the tenth day of the month Ragayadish, then it was that I slew this Gomates, the Magian, and the chief men who were his followers. At the fort named Sictachotes, in the district of Media called Nisæa, there I slew him. I dispossessed him of the empire. By the grace of Ormazd I became king. Ormazd granted me the sceptre."

It was one thing to dispose of Gomates, and quite another, as Darius soon discovered, to get possession of the power that Cambyses had wielded. One after another the principal provinces rebelled, until the whole of the eastern half of the empire, under various leaders, was in arms against him. The following is his catalogue of the insurgents he had to suppress before he could call himself, as he does at the beginning of this Behistun inscription, "the great king, the king of kings, the king of Persia, the king of the provinces":

"One was named Gomates, the Magian. He was an impostor; he said, I am Bardes, the son of Cyrus. He threw Persia into revolt.

"One, an impostor, was named Atrines, a Susian. He thus said, I am the king of Susiana. He caused Susiana to revolt against me.

"One was named Nadinta-belus, a native of Babylon. He was an impostor. He thus said, I am Nabochodrossor, the son of Nabonidus. He caused Babylon to revolt.

"One was an impostor named Martes, a Persian. He thus said, I am Imanes, the king of Susiana. He threw Susiana into rebellion.

"One was named Phraortes, a Median. He spake lies. He thus said, I am Xathrites, of the race of Cyaxares. He persuaded Media to revolt.

"One was an impostor named Sitratachmes, a native of Sagartia. He thus said, I am the king of Sagartia, of the race of Cyaxares. He caused Sagartia to revolt.

"One was an impostor named Phraates, a Margian. He thus said, I am the king of Margiana. He threw Margiana into revolt.

"One was an impostor named Veisdates, a Persian. He thus said, I am Bardes, the son of Cyrus. He headed a rebellion in Persia.

"One was an impostor named Aracus, a native of Armenia. He thus said, I am Nabochodrossor, the son of Nabonidus. He threw Babylon into revolt."

The courage and vigour that Darius brought to his herculean task are amazing; yet these essential qualities would hardly have availed him, had he not been loyally supported by several able generals, among whom was his own father, Hystaspes. He