of twenty he
had attracted the attention of that monarch, who suspected him even then
of a design to seize the throne. He was now about twenty-eight years
of age, and therefore at a time of life suited for vigorous enterprise;
which was probably the reason why his father, Hystaspes, who was still
alive, sent him to the capital, instead of proceeding thither in person.
Youth and vigor were necessary qualifications for success in a struggle
against the holders of power; and Hystaspes no longer possessed those
advantages. He therefore yielded to his son that headship of the
movement to which his position would have entitled him; and, with the
leadership in danger, he yielded necessarily his claim to the first
place, when the time of peril should be past and the rewards of victory
should come to be apportioned.

Darius, on his arrival at the capital, was at once accepted as head of
the conspiracy, and with prudent boldness determined on pushing matters
to an immediate decision. Overruling the timidity of a party among the
conspirators, who urged delay, he armed his partisans, and proceeded,
without a moment's pause, to the attack. According to the Greek
historians, he and his friends entered the palace in a body, and
surprised the Magus in his private apartments, where they slew him
after a brief struggle. But the authority of Darius discredits the Greek
accounts, and shows us, though with provoking brevity, that the course
of events must have been very different. The Magus was not slain in the
privacy of his palace, at Susa or Ecbatana, but met his death in a small
and insignificant fort in the part of Media called "the Maesan plain,"
or, more briefly, "Nisaea," whither he appears to have fled with a band
of followers. Whether he was first attacked in the capital, and escaping
threw himself into this stronghold, or receiving timely warning of his
danger withdrew to it before the outbreak occurred, or merely happened
to be at the spot when the conspirators decided to make their attempt,
we have no means of determining. We only know that the scene of the
last struggle was Sictachotes, in Media; that Darius made the attack
accompanied by six Persian nobles of high rank; and that the contest
terminated in the slaughter of the Magus and of a number of his
adherents, who were involved in the fall of their master.

Nor did the vengeance of the successful conspirators stop here.
Speeding to the capital, with the head of the Magus