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Having left these instructions, Zopyrus fled towards the gates of the
town, often looking back, to give himself the air of a deserter. The
men upon the towers, whose business it was to keep a lookout,
observing him, hastened down, and setting one of the gates slightly
ajar, 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. Then the doorkeepers, when they heard this, carried him
at once before the Magistrates. Introduced into the assembly, he
began to bewail his misfortunes, 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. "And now," he went on to say, "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. Verily he by whom I have been so mutilated shall not
escape unpunished. And truly all the paths of his counsels are known
to me." Thus did Zopyrus speak.
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