Page:History of Greece Vol IV.djvu/243

 CONSPIRACY. -DARIUS SUCCEEDS SMERDIS. 22& tribes. 1 It thus appears that though Smerdis ruled as a son of the great Cyrus, yet he ruled by means of Medes and Magiana, depriving the Persians of that supreme privilege and predom* inance to which they had become accustomed. 2 We see thia by what followed immediately after the assassination of Smerdia and his brother ia the palace. The seven conspirators, ex- hibiting the bloody heads of both these victims as an evidence of their deed, instigated the Persians in Susa to a general mas- sacre of the Magians, many of whom were actually slain, and the rest only escaped by flight, concealment, or the hour of night. And the anniversary of this day was celebrated afterwards among the Persians by a solemnity and festival, called the Ma- gophonia ; no Magian being ever allowed on that day to appear in public. 3 The descendants of the Seven maintained a privi- leged name and rank, 4 even down to the ^rtinction of the mon- archy by Alexander the Great. 1 Herodot. i, 101-120. 2 In the speech which Herodotus puts into the morib of Kftmbyses OP his deathbed, addressed to the Persians around him in a s*?a ; n of propheti* adjuration (iii, 65), he says : Kal 6fy vfiiv rude kTnaKij-xru, i9*oy<- rpi)f paai^rji ov iTTiKaXsuv, Kal nuaiv vfj.lv Kal [IU.MGTO. 'AxatpevifiEuv rain irnpe^vai, fjf irepndelv TTJV iiyepoviriv avrif $ M^doff rrepisTi'&ovffav u?JS etrs 6'jfy* J^ouc* avTrjv KTrjaufievoi (the personification of the deceased son of Cyrus*,  rd Kaprspov uvaouaaadai (the forcible opposition of the Medes to Darius. which he put down by superior force on the Persian side): compare the speech of Gobryas, one of the seven Persian conspirators (iii, 73), and that of Prexaspes (iii, 75) ; also Plato, Legg. iii, 12, p. 695. Heeren has taken a correct view of the reign of Smerdis the Magian, and its political character (Ideen iiber den Verkehr, etc., der Alten "Welt, part i, abth. i, p. 431). 8 Herodot. iii, 79. 'ZTraaufj.Evoi 6s ra ty%eipidiai, EKTELVOV OKOV TWO. [idyov evpiaKov EI Je [ir] vv^ iirE'h.do'vaa. la%, i^nrov uv ovdeva iidyov TavTtjv TTJV j/pepTjv -QepuTTEVovaL Hspaai KOIVTJ fiu'kicrTa TIJV rjfj,Epeuv Kal sv airy 6pTr/v fj.Eya?t,r]v uvuyovai, q KEK^TITUI i>~b Tlepafuv Mayotyovia. The periodical celebration of the Magophonia is attested by Kte'sias, one of the few points of complete agreement with Herodotus. He farthei agrees in saying that a Magian usurped the throne, through likeness of person to the deceased son of Cyrus, whom Kambyses had slain, but oil lis other statements differ from Herodotus (Ktesias, 10-14). 4 Even at the battle of Arbela, " Summoe Orsines prwerat, a septem VOL. IT. 10* 150C.