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Now, as he was about to lead forth his levies against Egypt and
Athens, a fierce contention for the sovereign power arose among his
sons; since the law of the Persians was that a king must not go out
with his army, until he has appointed one to succeed him upon the
throne. Darius, before he obtained the kingdom, had had three sons
born to him from his former wife, who was a daughter of Gobryas;
while, since he began to reign, Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, had
borne him four. Artabazanes was the eldest of the first family, and
Xerxes of the second. These two, therefore, being the sons of
different mothers, were now at variance. Artabazanes claimed the
crown as the eldest of all the children, because it was an established
custom all over the world for the eldest to have the pre-eminence;
while Xerxes, on the other hand, urged that he was sprung from
Atossa, the daughter of Cyrus, and that it was Cyrus who had won
the Persians their freedom.
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