remain "free," and were to
receive yearly a magnificent kaftan, or royal present. Thus, something
like a check on unbridled despotism was formally and regularly
established; an hereditary nobility was acknowledged; the king became
to some extent dependent on his grandees; he could not regard himself as
the sole fountain of honor; six great nobles stood round the throne
as its supports; but their position was so near the monarch that they
detracted somewhat from his prestige and dignity.

The guarantee of these privileges was, we may be sure, given, and the
choice of Darius as king made, before the attack upon the. Magus began.
It would have been madness to allow an interval of anarchy. When
Darius reached the capital, with the head of the Pseudo-Smerdis in his
possession, he no doubt proceeded at once to the palace and took his
seat upon the vacant throne. No opposition was offered to him. The
Persians gladly saw a scion of their old royal stock installed in power.
The provincials were too far off to interfere. Such malcontents as
might be present would be cowed by the massacre that was going on in the
streets. The friends and intimates of the fallen monarch would be only
anxious to escape notice. The reign of the new king no doubt commenced
amid those acclamations which are never wanting in the East when a
sovereign first shows himself to his subjects.

The measures with which the new monarch inaugurated his reign had for
their object the re-establishment of the old worship. He rebuilt the
Zoroastrian temples which the Magus had destroyed, and probably restored
the use of the sacred chants and the other accustomed ceremonies. It may
be suspected that his religious zeal proceeded often to the length of
persecution, and that the Magian priests were not the only persons who,
under the orders which he issued, felt the weight of the secular arm.
His Zoroastrian zeal was soon known through the provinces; and the Jews
forthwith resumed the building of their temple, trusting that their
conduct would be consonant with his wishes. This trust was not
misplaced: for, when the Samaritans once more interfered and tried to
induce the new king to put a stop to the work, the only result was
a fresh edict, confirming the old decree of Cyrus, forbidding
interference, and assigning a further grant of money, cattle,
corn, etc., from the royal stores, for the furtherance of the pious
undertaking. Its accomplishment was declared to be for t