building his city. Among the Paeonian chieftains there were two who
wished to obtain the government of the country, but they were not
quite strong enough to effect their object. In order to weaken the
force which was opposed to them, they conceived the base design of
betraying their tribe to Darius, and inducing him to make them
captives. If their plan should succeed, a considerable portion of the
population would be taken away, and they could easily, they supposed,
obtain ascendency over the rest. In order to call the attention of
Darius to the subject, and induce him to act as they desired, they
resorted to the following stratagem. Their object seems to have been
to lead Darius to undertake a campaign against their countrymen, by
showing him what excellent and valuable slaves they would make.

These two chieftains were brothers, and they had a very beautiful
sister; her form was graceful and elegant, and her countenance lovely.
They brought this sister with them to Sardis when Darius was there.
They dressed and decorated her in a very careful manner, but yet in a
style appropriate to the condition of a servant; and then, one day,
when the king was sitting in some public place in the city, as was
customary with Oriental sovereigns, they sent her to pass along the
street before him, equipped in such a manner as to show that she was
engaged in servile occupations. She had a jar, such as was then used
for carrying water, poised upon her head, and she was leading a horse
by means of a bridle hung over her arm. Her hands, being thus not
required either for the horse or for the vessel, were employed in
spinning, as she walked along, by means of a distaff and spindle.

The attention of Darius was strongly attracted to the spectacle. The
beauty of the maiden, the novelty and strangeness of her costume, the
multiplicity of her avocations, and the ease and grace with which she
performed them, all conspired to awaken the monarch's curiosity. He
directed one of his attendants to follow her and see where she should
go. The attendant did so. The girl went to the river. She watered her
horse, filled her jar and placed it on her head, and then, hanging the
bridle on her arm again, she returned through the same streets, and
passed the king's palace as before, spinning as she walked along.

The interest and curiosity of the king was excited more than ever by
the reappearance of the girl and by the report of his messenger. He
directed