herodotus

agreement with him on those terms, and he was no longer a competitorwith them, but withdrew from the assembly; and at the present timethis house remains free alone of all the Persian houses, and submitsto rule only so far as it wills to do so itself, not transgressing thelaws of the Persians.84. The rest however of the seven continued to deliberate how theyshould establish a king in the most just manner; and it was resolvedby them that to Otanes and his descendants in succession, if thekingdom should come to any other of the seven, there should be givenas special gifts a Median dress every year and all those presentswhich are esteemed among the Persians to be the most valuable: and thereason why they determined that these things should be given to him,was because he first suggested to them the matter and combined themtogether. These were special gifts for Otanes; and this they alsodetermined for all in common, namely that any one of the seven whowished might pass in to the royal palaces without any to bear in amessage, unless the king happened to be sleeping with his wife; andthat it should not be lawful for the king to marry from any otherfamily, but only from those of the men who had made insurrection withhim: and about the kingdom they determined this, namely that the manwhose horse should first neigh at sunrise in the suburb of the citywhen they were mounted upon their horses, he should have the kingdom.85. Now Dareios had a clever horse-keeper, whose name was Oibares. Tothis man, when they had left their assembly, Dareios spoke thesewords: "Oibares, we have resolved to do about the kingdom thus, namelythat the man whose horse first neighs at sunrise, when we are mountedupon our horses he shall be king. Now therefore, if thou hast anycleverness, contrive that we may obtain this prize, and not any otherman." Oibares replied thus: "If, my master, it depends in truth uponthis whether thou be king or no, have confidence so far as concernsthis and keep a good heart, for none other shall be king before thee;such charms have I at my command." Then Dareios said: "If then thouhast any such trick, it is time to devise it and not to put thingsoff, for our trial is to-morrow." Oibares therefore hearing this didas follows:--when night was coming on he took one of the mares, namelythat one which the horse of Dareios preferred, and this he led intothe suburb of the city and tied her up: then he brought to her thehorse of Dareios, and having for some time led him round her, makinghim go so close by so as to touch the mare, at last he let the horsemount. 86. Now at dawn of day the six came to the place as they hadagreed, riding upon their horses; and as they rode through by thesuburb of the city, when they came near the place where the mare hadbeen tied up on the former night, the horse of Dareios ran up to theplace and neighed; and just when the horse had done this, there came