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In the eighth month, however, it was discovered who he was in the
mode following. There was a man called Otanes, the son of
Pharnaspes, who for rank and wealth was equal to the greatest of the
Persians. This Otanes was the first to suspect that the Magus was
not Smerdis the son of Cyrus, and to surmise moreover who he really
was. He was led to guess the truth by the king never quitting the
citadel, and never calling before him any of the Persian noblemen.
As soon, therefore, as his suspicions were aroused he adopted the
following measures: One of his daughters, who was called Phaedima,
had been married to Cambyses, and was taken to wife, together with
the rest of Cambyses' wives, by the Magus. To this daughter
Otanes sent a message, and inquired of her "who it was whose bed she
shared, - was it Smerdis the son of Cyrus, or was it some other
man?" Phaedima in reply declared she did not know - Smerdis the son
of Cyrus she had never seen, and so she could not tell whose bed she
shared. Upon this Otanes sent a second time, and said, "If thou
dost not know Smerdis son of Cyrus thyself, ask queen Atossa who it
is with whom ye both live - she cannot fail to know her own brother."
To this the daughter made answer, "I can neither get speech with
Atossa, nor with any of the women who lodge in the palace. For no
sooner did this man, be he who he may, obtain the kingdom, than he
parted us from one another, and gave us all separate chambers."
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