pretender. After this
Cambyses died from a wound inflicted by himself.

"After Gaumata had drawn away Persia, Media, and the other countries
from Cambyses, he followed out his purpose: he became king. The people
feared him on account of his cruelty: he would have killed the people
so that no one might learn that he was not Smerdis, the son of Cyrus.
Darius the king declares there was not a man in all Persia or in Media
who dared to snatch the crown from this Gaumata, the magus. Then I
presented myself, I prayed Ormuzd. Ormuzd accorded me his
protection.... Accompanied by faithful men I killed this Gaumata and
his principal accomplices. By the will of Ormuzd I became king. The
empire which had been stolen from our race I restored to it. The
altars that Gaumata, the magus, had thrown down I rebuilt to the
deliverance of the people; I received the chants and the sacred
ceremonials." Having overturned the usurper, Darius had to make war on
many of the revolting princes, "I have," said he, "won nineteen
battles and overcome nine kings."

=The Persian Empire.=--Darius then subjected the peoples in revolt and
reestablished the empire of the Persians. He enlarged it also by
conquering Thrace and a province of India. This empire reunited all
the peoples of the Orient: Medes and Persians, Assyrians, Chaldeans,
Jews, Phoenicians, Syrians, Lydians, Egyptians, Indians; it covered
all the lands from the Danube on the west to the Indus on the east,
from the Caspian Sea on the north to the cataracts of the Nile on the
south. It was the greatest empire up to this time. One tribe of
mountaineers, the last to come, thus received the heritage of all the
empires of Asia.

=The Satrapies.=--Oriental kings seldom concerned themselves with
their subjects more than to draw money from them, levy soldiers, and
collect presents; they never interfered in their local affairs.
Darius, like the rest, left each of the peoples of his empire to
administer itself according to its own taste, to keep its language,
its religion, its laws, often its ancient princes. But he took care to
regulate the taxes which his subjects paid him. He divided all the
empire into twenty[34] districts called satrapies. There were in the
same satrapy peoples who differed much in language, customs, and
beliefs; but each satrapy was to pay a fixed annual tribute, partly in
gold and silver, partly in natural products (wheat, horses, ivory).
The satrap, or governor, had the tr