existence by a worthy deed,
and though even this may procure me no mercy at the bridge of Chinvat, in
the mouths of men, at least, I shall have redeemed my honorable name from
the stain with which I defiled it. Know then, that the man who gives
himself out for the son of Cyrus, sent me hither; he promised me rich
rewards if I would deceive you by declaring him to be Bartja, the son of
the Achaemenidae. But I scorn his promises and swear by Mithras and the
Feruers of the kings, the most solemn oaths I am acquainted with, that
the man who is now ruling you is none other than the Magian Gaumata, he
who was deprived of his ears, the brother of the king's vicegerent and
high-priest, Oropastes, whom ye all know. If it be your will to forget
all the glory ye owe to the Achaemenidae, if to this ingratitude ye
choose to add your own degradation, then acknowledge these creatures and
call them your kings; but if ye despise a lie and are ashamed to obey
worthless impostors, drive the Magi from the throne before Mithras has
left the heavens, and proclaim the noblest of the Achaemenidae, Darius,
the exalted son of Hystaspes, who promises to become a second Cyrus, as
your king. And now, in order that ye may believe my words and not suspect
that Darius sent me hither to win you over to his side, I will commit a
deed, which must destroy every doubt and prove that the truth and glory
of the Achaemenidae are clearer to me, than life itself. Blessed be ye if
ye follow my counsels, but curses rest upon you, if ye neglect to
reconquer the throne from the Magi and revenge yourselves upon
them.--Behold, I die a true and honorable man!"

With these words he ascended the highest pinnacle of the tower and cast
himself down head foremost, thus expiating the one crime of his life by
an honorable death.

The dead silence with which the people in the court below had listened to
him, was now broken by shrieks of rage and cries for vengeance. They
burst open the gates of the palace and were pressing in with cries of
"Death to the Magi," when the seven princes of the Persians appeared in
front of the raging crowd to resist their entrance.

At sight of the Achaemenidae the citizens broke into shouts of joy, and
cried more impetuously than ever, "Down with the Magi! Victory to King
Darius!"

The son of Hystaspes was then carried by the crowd to a rising ground,
from which he told the people that the Magi had been slain by the
Achaemenidae, as liars an