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It was not long before retribution for the murder of Polycrates
overtook Oroetes. After the death of Cambyses, and during all the
time that the Magus sat upon the throne, Oroetes remained in
Sardis, and brought no help to the Persians, whom the Medes had
robbed of the sovereignty. On the contrary, amid the troubles of this
season, he slew Mitrobates, the satrap of Dascyleium, who had cast
the reproach upon him in the matter of Polycrates; and he slew also
Mitrobates's son, Cranaspes - both men of high repute among the
Persians. He was likewise guilty of many other acts of insolence;
among the rest, of the following: there was a courier sent to him by
Darius whose message was not to his mind - Oroetes had him waylaid
and murdered on his road back to the king; the man and his horse both
disappeared, and no traces were left of either.
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