herodotus

of disturbance he slew Mitrobates the governor in Daskyleion, who hadbrought up against him the matter of Polycrates as a reproach; and heslew also Cranaspes the son of Mitrobates, both men of repute amongthe Persians: and besides other various deeds of insolence, once whena bearer of messages had come to him from Dareios, not being pleasedwith the message which he brought he slew him as he was returning,having set men to lie in wait for him by the way; and having slain himhe made away with the bodies both of the man and of his horse. 127.Dareios accordingly, when he had come to the throne, was desirous oftaking vengeance upon Oroites for all his wrongdoings and especiallyfor the murder of Mitrobates and his son. However he did not think itgood to act openly and to send an army against him, since his ownaffairs were still in a disturbed state[112] and he had only latelycome to the throne, while he heard that the strength of Oroites wasgreat, seeing that he had a bodyguard of a thousand Persian spearmenand was in possession of the divisions[113] of Phrygia and Lydia andIonia. Therefore Dareios contrived as follows:--having called togetherthose of the Persians who were of most repute, he said to them:"Persians, which of you all will undertake to perform this matter forme with wisdom, and not by force or with tumult? for where wisdom iswanted, there is no need of force. Which of you, I say, will eitherbring Oroites alive to me or slay him? for he never yet did anyservice to the Persians, and on the other hand he has done to themgreat evil. First he destroyed two of us, Mitrobates and his son; thenhe slays the men who go to summon him, sent by me, displayinginsolence not to be endured. Before therefore he shall accomplish anyother evil against the Persians, we must check his course by death."128. Thus Dareios asked, and thirty men undertook the matter, each oneseparately desiring to do it himself; and Dareios stopped theircontention and bade them cast lots: so when they cast lots, Bagaiosthe son of Artontes obtained the lot from among them all. Bagaiosaccordingly, having obtained the lot, did thus:--he wrote many papersdealing with various matters and on them set the seal of Dareios, andwith them he went to Sardis. When he arrived there and came into thepresence of Oroites, he took the covers off the papers one afteranother and gave them to the Royal Secretary to read; for all thegovernors of provinces have Royal Secretaries. Now Bagaios thus gavethe papers in order to make trial of the spearmen of the guard,whether they would accept the motion to revolt from Oroites; andseeing that they paid great reverence to the papers and still more tothe words which were recited from them, he gave another paper in whichwere contained these words: "Persians, king Dareios forbids you toserve as guards to Oroites": and they hearing this lowered to him thepoints of their spears. Then Bagaios, seeing that in this they wereobedient to the paper, took courage upon that and gave the last of thepapers to the secretary; and in it was written: "King Dareios commands