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Thus was Darius, son of Hystaspes, appointed king; and, except
the Arabians, all they of Asia were subject to him; for Cyrus, and
after him Cambyses, had brought them all under. The Arabians were
never subject as slaves to the Persians, but had a league of
friendship with them from the time when they brought Cambyses on his
way as he went into Egypt; for had they been unfriendly the Persians
could never have made their invasion.
And now Darius contracted marriages of the first rank, according to
the notions of the Persians: to wit, with two daughters of Cyrus,
Atossa and Artystone; of whom, Atossa had been twice married
before, once to Cambyses, her brother, and once to the Magus,
while the other, Artystone, was a virgin. He married also Parmys,
daughter of Smerdis, son of Cyrus; and he likewise took to wife the
daughter of Otanes, who had made the discovery about the Magus. And
now when his power was established firmly throughout all the kingdoms,
the first thing that he did was to set up a carving in stone, which
showed a man mounted upon a horse, with an inscription in these words
following: "Darius, son of Hystaspes, by aid of his good horse"
(here followed the horse's name), "and of his good groom Oebares,
got himself the kingdom of the Persians."
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