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At this time he said no more; but twenty days afterwards he called to
his presence all the chief Persians who were with the army, and
addressed them as follows: "Persians, needs must I tell you now
what hitherto I have striven with the greatest care to keep concealed.
When I was in Egypt I saw in my sleep a vision, which would that I
had never beheld! I thought a messenger came to me from my home, and
told me that Smerdis sate upon the royal throne, and with his head
touched the heavens. Then I feared to be cast from my throne by
Smerdis my brother, and I did what was more hasty than wise. Ah!
truly, do what they may, it is impossible for men to turn aside the
coming fate. I, in my folly, sent Prexaspes to Susa to put my
brother to death. So this great woe was accomplished, and I then
lived without fear, never imagining that, after Smerdis was dead, I
need dread revolt from any other. But herein I had quite mistaken
what was about to happen, and so I slew my brother without any need,
and nevertheless have lost my crown. For it was Smerdis the Magus,
and not Smerdis my brother, of whose rebellion God forewarned me by
the vision. The deed is done, however, and Smerdis, son of
Cyrus, be sure is lost to you. The Magi have the royal power -
Patizeithes, whom I left at Susa to overlook my household, and
Smerdis his brother. There was one who would have been bound beyond
all others to avenge the wrongs I have suffered from these Magians,
but he, alas! has perished by a horrid fate, deprived of life by
those nearest and dearest to him. In his default, nothing now remains
for me but to tell you, O Persians, what I would wish to have done
after I have breathed my last. Therefore, in the name of the gods
that watch over our royal house, I charge you all, and specially such
of you as are Achaemenids, that ye do not tamely allow the kingdom to
go back to the Medes. Recover it one way or another, by force or
fraud; by fraud, if it is by fraud that they have seized on it; by
force, if force has helped them in their enterprise. Do this, and
then may your land bring you forth fruit abundantly, and your wives
bear children, and your herds increase, and freedom be your portion
for ever: but do it not - make no brave struggle to regain the kingdom
- and then my curse be on you, and may the opposite of all these
things happen to you - and not only so, but may you, one and all,
perish at the last by such a fate as mine!" Then Cambyses, when he
left speaking, bewailed his whole misfortune from beginning to end.
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