herodotus

since his enemies were close at hand and pressed hard upon him, butthe other defended himself with his spear, and first he struckAspathines in the thigh, and then Intaphrenes in the eye; andIntaphrenes lost his eye by reason of the wound, but his life he didnot lose. These then were wounded by one of the Magians, but theother, when his bow and arrows proved useless to him, fled into abedchamber which opened into the chamber of the men, intending toclose the door; and with him there rushed in two of the seven, Dareiosand Gobryas. And when Gobryas was locked together in combat with theMagian, Dareios stood by and was at a loss what to do, because it wasdark, and he was afraid lest he should strike Gobryas. Then seeing himstanding by idle, Gobryas asked why he did not use his hands, and hesaid: "Because I am afraid lest I may strike thee": and Gobryasanswered: "Thrust with thy sword even though it stab through us both."So Dareios was persuaded, and he thrust with his danger and happenedto hit the Magian. 79. So when they had slain the Magians and cut offtheir heads, they left behind those of their number who were wounded,both because they were unable to go, and also in order that they mighttake charge of the fortress, and the five others taking with them theheads of the Magians ran with shouting and clashing of arms and calledupon the other Persians to join them, telling them of that which hadbeen done and showing the heads, and at the same time they proceededto slay every one of the Magians who crossed their path. So thePersians when they heard of that which had been brought to pass by theseven and of the deceit of the Magians, thought good themselves alsoto do the same, and drawing their daggers they killed the Magianswherever they found one; so that if night had not come on and stoppedthem, they would not have left a single Magian alive. This day thePersians celebrate in common more than all other days, and upon itthey keep a great festival which is called by the Persians thefestival of the slaughter of the Magians,[67a] on which no Magian ispermitted to appear abroad, but the Magians keep themselves withintheir houses throughout that day.80. When the tumult had subsided and more than five days hadelapsed,[68] those who had risen against the Magians began to takecounsel about the general state, and there were spoken speeches whichsome of the Hellenes do not believe were really uttered, but spokenthey were nevertheless.[69] On the one hand Otanes urged that theyshould resign the government into the hands of the whole body of thePersians, and his words were as follows: "To me it seems best that nosingle one of us should henceforth be ruler, for that is neitherpleasant nor profitable. Ye saw the insolent temper of Cambyses, towhat lengths it went, and ye have had experience also of the insolenceof the Magian: and how should the rule of one alone be a well-orderedthing, seeing that the monarch may do what he desires without