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Thus was Babylon taken for the second time. Darius having become
master of the place, destroyed the wall, and tore down all the gates;
for Cyrus had done neither the one nor the other when he took
Babylon. He then chose out near three thousand of the leading
citizens, and caused them to be crucified, while he allowed the
remainder still to inhabit the city. Further, wishing to prevent the
race of the Babylonians from becoming extinct, he provided wives for
them in the room of those whom (as I explained before) they
strangled, to save their stores. These he levied from the nations
bordering on Babylonia, who were each required to send so large a
number to Babylon, that in all there were collected no fewer than
fifty thousand. It is from these women that the Babylonians of our
times are sprung.
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