ed
to try the experiment of acting, by his own direct orders, upon the
troops and guards in Oretes's capital, with the intention of resorting
subsequently to an armed force of his own, if that should be at last
required.

He accordingly called together a number of his officers and nobles,
selecting those on whose resolution and fidelity he could most
confidently rely, and made the following address to them:

"I have an enterprise which I wish to commit to the charge of some one
of your number who is willing to undertake it, which requires no
military force, and no violent measures of any kind, but only wisdom,
sagacity, and courage. I wish to have Oretes, the governor of Sardis,
brought to me, dead or alive. He has perpetrated innumerable crimes,
and now, in addition to all his other deeds of treacherous violence,
he has had the intolerable insolence to put to death one of my
messengers. Which of you will volunteer to bring him, dead or alive,
to me?"

This proposal awakened a great enthusiasm among the nobles to whom it
was addressed. Nearly thirty of them volunteered their services to
execute the order. Darius concluded to decide between these
competitors by lot. The lot fell upon a certain man named Bagaeus, and
he immediately began to form his plans and make his arrangements for
the expedition.

He caused a number of different orders to be prepared, beginning with
directions of little moment, and proceeding to commands of more and
more weighty importance, all addressed to the officers of Oretes's
army and to his guards. These orders were all drawn up in writing with
great formality, and were signed by the name of Darius, and sealed
with his seal; they, moreover, named Bagaeus as the officer selected by
the king to superintend the execution of them. Provided with these
documents, Bagaeus proceeded to Sardis, and presented himself at the
court of Oretes. He presented his own personal credentials, and with
them some of his most insignificant orders. Neither Oretes nor his
guards felt any disposition to disobey them. Bagaeus, being thus
received and recognized as the envoy of the king, continued to present
new decrees and edicts, from time to time, as occasions occurred in
which he thought the guards would be ready to obey them, until he
found the habit, on their part, of looking to him as the
representative of the supreme power sufficiently established; for
their disposition to obey him was not merely tested, it