The Good Book (47 page)

32. One of the leading Samians, by name Telesarchus, rose up and said, ‘As if you were fit to rule us, base-born and rascal as you are!

33. ‘Think rather of accounting for the monies which you have spent since being given the power.'

34. Maeandrius, therefore, feeling sure that if he laid down the sovereign power someone else would become tyrant in his place, gave up the thought of relinquishing it.

35. Withdrawing to the citadel, he sent for the chief men one by one, under pretence of showing   them his accounts, and as fast as they came arrested them and put them in irons.

36. Soon afterwards Maeandrius fell sick: whereupon Lycaretus, one of his brothers, thinking that he was going to die, and wishing to secure the throne for himself more easily, killed all the prisoners. It seemed that the Samians did not choose to be a free people.

37. When the Persians whose business it was to restore Syloson reached Samos, not a man was found to lift up his hand against them.

38. Maeandrius and his partisans expressed themselves willing to quit the island on certain terms, and these terms were agreed by Otanes.

 

Chapter 37

  1. After the treaty was made, the most distinguished of the Persians had their thrones brought, and seated themselves opposite the citadel.

  2. Now Maeandrius had a hotheaded brother, Charilaus by name, whom he had emprisoned for some offence:

  3. This man heard what was going on, and peering through his bars, saw the Persians sitting peacefully on their seats,

  4. Whereupon he exclaimed aloud, and said he must speak with Maeandrius.

  5. When this was reported to him, Maeandrius gave orders that Charilaus should be released from prison and brought to him.

  6. No sooner did he arrive than Charilaus began reviling his brother, and strove to persuade him to attack the Persians.

  7. ‘You mean-minded man,' he said, ‘you can keep your brother chained in a dungeon, but when the Persians drive you from power, you look meekly on, though they might so easily be subdued.

  8. ‘If you, however, are too afraid, lend me your soldiers, and I will make them pay dearly for their coming here. I engage too to send you first safe out of the island.'

  9. Maeandrius gave consent, not because he was so foolish as to imagine that his forces could overcome those of the Persians, but because he was jealous of Syloson, and did not wish him to get so quietly an unharmed city.

10. He desired therefore to rouse the anger of the Persians against Samos, so that he might deliver it up to Syloson with its power at the lowest possible ebb;

11. For he knew well that if the Persians met with a disaster they would be furious against the Samians,

12. While he himself felt secure of a retreat at any time that he liked, since he had a secret passage underground leading from the citadel to the sea.

13. Maeandrius accordingly took ship and sailed away from Samos; and Charilaus, having armed all the mercenaries, threw open the gates, and fell upon the Persians.

14. The Persians expected no danger, since they supposed that all was peacefully settled by treaty.

15. At the first onslaught therefore all the Persians of most note, men who were in the habit of using litters, were slain by the mercenaries.

16. The rest of the army quickly came to the rescue, defeated the mercenaries and drove them back into the citadel.

17. Then Otanes, the general, when he saw the calamity which had befallen the Persians, made up his mind to forget Darius' orders,

18. Which had been ‘not to kill or enslave a single Samian, but to deliver up the island unharmed to Syloson',

19. And gave the word to his army that they should slay the Samians, both men and boys, wherever they could find them.

20. Upon this some of his troops laid siege to the citadel, while others began the massacre, killing all they met, some outside, some inside the buildings.

21. So the Persians reduced Samos, and delivered it up to Syloson, emptied of its men.

22. Maeandrius fled from Samos to Lacedaemon, and took there all the riches he had brought away, after which he acted as follows.

23. Having placed upon his board all the gold and silver vessels that he had, and bade his servants to employ themselves in cleaning them,

24. He himself went and entered into conversation with Cleomenes, son of Anaxandridas, king of Sparta, and as they talked, brought him along to his house.

25. There Cleomenes, seeing the plate, was filled with wonder and astonishment;

26. Whereon the other begged that he would carry home with him any of the vessels that he liked.

27. Maeandrius said this two or three times; but Cleomenes here displayed surpassing honesty.

28. He refused the gift, and thinking that if Maeandrius made the same offers to others he would get the aid he sought, the Spartan king went straight to the ephors and told them,

29. ‘It would be best for Sparta that the Samian stranger should be sent away from the Peloponnese;

30. ‘For otherwise he might persuade himself or some other Spartan to be base.'

31. The ephors took his advice, and let Maeandrius know by a herald that he must leave the city.

 

Chapter 38

  1. Not long after the defeat of the Samian rebellion Otanes decided to repeople the city. He did this as follows.

  2. At the time that the army under Otanes sailed for Samos, the Babylonians revolted, having made every preparation for defence.

  3. During the time that Smerdis the Magian was king, and while the seven were conspiring, the Babylonians had profited by the troubles,

  4. And had made themselves ready for a siege, no one noticing what they were doing.

  5. At last when the time came for rebelling openly, they first set apart their mothers, and then each man chose besides out of his whole household one woman, whichever he pleased;

  6. These alone were allowed to live, while all the rest were brought to one place and strangled.

  7. The women chosen were kept to make bread for the men; while the others were strangled so that they would not consume the stores.

  8. When news reached Darius of what had happened, he drew together all his power, and marched straight upon Babylon, laying siege to it.

  9. The Babylonians did not care about his siege, being so well prepared. Mounting upon their battlements they jeered at Darius and his mighty host.

10. One even shouted to them and said, ‘Why do you sit there, Persians? Why do you not go home? Till mules foal you will not take our city.'

11. This was by a Babylonian who thought that a mule would never foal.

12.   Now when a year and seven months had passed, Darius and his army were quite wearied, unable to find any way to take the city.

13. All stratagems and arts had been used, even the means by which Cyrus conquered the place.

14. At last, in the twentieth month, Zopyrus, son of Megabyzus who was among the seven men that overthrew the Magus,

15. Hit upon a radical and ingenious plan to overthrow Babylon, having reviewed all other ways of capturing the city.

16. His plan was to maim himself and go over to the enemy, pretending to have been savagely punished by Darius for a misdemeanour, and to be rebelling against him therefore.

17. So he cut off his own nose and ears, and then, clipping his hair close and flogging himself with a scourge, he came in this plight before Darius.

18. The king was stirred to wrath at the sight of a man of Zopyrus' lofty rank in such a condition;

19. Leaping down from his throne, he exclaimed aloud, and asked Zopyrus who it was that had disfigured him, and what he had done to be so treated.

20. Zopyrus answered, ‘There is not a man in the world but you, O king, that could reduce me to such a plight;

21. ‘No stranger's hands have wrought this work on me, but my own only. I maimed myself in order to help us defeat the Assyrians.'

22. Replied Darius, ‘Surely you have gone out of your mind! How will your disfigurement induce the enemy to yield one day the sooner?'

23. Zopyrus answered, ‘If I had told you what I planned on doing, you would not have allowed me; as it is, I kept my own counsel.

24. ‘Now, therefore, we shall take Babylon. I will desert to the enemy as I am, and when I get into their city I will tell them that it is by you I have been thus treated.

25. ‘I think they will believe my words, and entrust me with a command of troops.

26. ‘You, for your part, must wait till the tenth day after I have entered the town,

27. ‘And then place near to the gates of Semiramis a detachment of the army, troops for whose loss you will care little, a thousand men.

28. ‘Wait, after that, seven days, and post another detachment, two thousand strong, at the Nineveh gates;

29. ‘Then let twenty days pass, and at the end of that time station near the Chaldaean gates a body of four thousand.

30. ‘Let neither these nor the former troops be armed with any weapons but their swords.

31. ‘After the twenty days are over, bid the whole army attack the city on every side,

32. ‘And put two bodies of Persians, one at the Belian, the other at the Cissian gates;

33. ‘For I expect, that, on account of my successes, the Babylonians will entrust everything, even the keys of their gates, to me.

34. ‘Then it will be for me and our Persians to do the rest.'

 

Chapter 39

  1. When this plan was agreed Zopyrus fled towards the gates of the town, often looking back, to give himself the air of a deserter.

  2. The lookouts on the towers, observing him, hastened down, and setting one of the gates slightly ajar,

  3. Questioned him who he was, and on what errand he had come. He replied that he was Zopyrus, and had deserted to them from the Persians.

  4. When the doorkeepers heard this they took him at once to the magistrates. Introduced into the assembly, he began to bewail his misfortunes,

  5. Telling them that Darius had maltreated him in the way they could see, only because he had given advice that the siege should be raised, since there seemed no hope of taking the city.

  6. ‘And now,' he said, ‘my coming to you, Babylonians, will prove the greatest gain that you could possibly receive, while to Darius and the Persians it will be the severest loss.

  7. ‘Truly, he by whom I have been so mutilated shall not escape unpunished. And all the paths of his counsels are known to me.'

  8. The Babylonians, seeing a Persian of such exalted rank in so grievous a plight, his nose and ears cut off, his body red with marks of scourging and with blood,

  9. Had no suspicion but that he spoke the truth, and was really come to help them. They were ready, therefore, to grant him anything he asked;

10. And on his requesting a command, entrusted to him a body of troops, with whose help he proceeded to do as he had arranged with Darius.

11. On the tenth day after his flight he led out his detachment, and surrounding the thousand men, whom Darius according to agreement had sent, he slew them all.

12. Then the Babylonians, seeing that his deeds were as brave as his words, were beyond measure pleased, and set no bounds to their trust.

13. He waited, however, and when the next period agreed on had elapsed, again with a band of picked men he went out and defeated the two thousand.

14. After this second exploit, his praise was in all mouths. Once more, however, he waited till the interval appointed had gone by,

15. And then leading the troops to the place where the four thousand were, he put them also to the sword.

16. This last victory gave the finishing stroke to his power; the rejoicing Babylonians committed to him the command of their whole army, and put the keys of their city into his hands.

17. Darius now, still keeping to the plan agreed upon, attacked the walls on every side, whereupon Zopyrus played out the remainder of his stratagem.

18. While the Babylonians, crowding to the walls, did their best to resist the Persian assault, he threw open the Cissian and the Belian gates, and admitted the Persian troops.

19. Such of the Babylonians as witnessed the treachery, took refuge in the citadel; the rest, who did not see it, kept at their posts, till at last they too learnt that they were betrayed.

20. Thus was Babylon taken for the second time. Darius tore down the wall and all the gates; for Cyrus had done neither when he took Babylon.

21. He then chose three thousand of the leading citizens, and caused them to be crucified, while he allowed the remainder still to inhabit the city.

22. Further, wishing to prevent the race of the Babylonians from becoming extinct, he provided wives for them in the room of those whom they had strangled to save their stores.