Hearing from evil-minded men full often these reproaches,
This expedition did he plan and armament to Hellas.
Darius.
Therefore by him hath ruin been achieved
Portentous, aye to be remembered, such
As ne'er before on Susa's city fell
To drain it utterly, since Sovereign Zeus
Ordained this honour, that one potentate
O'er all sheep-pasturing Asia sway should bear,
The sceptre wielding of command; for first 760
A Median led the host; another then,
His son, succeeding, the emprize achieved,
For reason swayed the rudder of his mind.
Third after him, Cyrus, god-favoured man,
Reigned, and for all his friends established peace;
O'er Lydia's host and Phrygia spread his rule,
And all Ionia forcibly subdued,
For, such his wisdom, God was not his foe.
A son of Cyrus fourth the army ruled;
Fifth, Mardos governed, to his fatherland 770
An outrage, and to Persia's ancient throne;
And him, by stratagem, brave Artaphren,
In league with friendly chiefs whose work this was,
Slew in his palace.[1] Next myself obtained
- ↑ εκτος δε Μαραφις, εβδομας δ᾽ Αρταφρενες.
"The sixth was Maraphis, and the seventh Artaphrenes." As this line is almost universally regarded as spurious, I have thought it better to omit it from the context. It has been
