Smerdis

“ There was another Smerdis in Susa, the Persian capital, who was a magian—that is, a sort of priest—in whose hands, as regent, Cambyses had left the government while he was absent on his campaigns. This magian Smerdis accordingly conceived the plan of usurping the throne, as if he were Smerdis the prince, resorting to a great many ingenious and cunning schemes to conceal his deception. Among his other plans, one was to keep himself wholly sequestered from public view, with a few favorites, such, especially, as had not personally known Smerdis the prince. ”

“ The deed is done, however, and Smerdis, son of Cyrus, be sure is lost to you. The Magi have the royal power- Patizeithes, whom I left at Susa to overlook my household, and Smerdis his brother. There was one who would have been bound beyond all others to avenge the wrongs I have suffered from these Magians, but he, alas! has perished by a horrid fate, deprived of life by those nearest and dearest to him. In his default, nothing now remains for me but to tell you, O Persians, what I would wish to have done after I have breathed my last. ”

“ Cambyses immediately imagined that Prexaspes, whom he had charged to kill Smerdis, had dealt falsely. So he turned upon him and taxed him with treachery.
“‘O, my king,’ replied Prexaspes, ‘unless the dead can come to life, thou hast no need to fear Smerdis thy brother. Question, I pray thee, this herald, and see if this be not some trick.’
“Cambyses approved of this, and the herald confessed that he had not seen Smerdis—the king’s brother—since the day Cambyses left for Egypt. It was Patizeithes who had given him the message, purporting to come from Smerdis. ”

“ The change in his temper was first shown by the murder of his brother Smerdis, whom he had sent back to Susa in a fit of jealousy because he was the only man in the army who could draw the King of Ethiopia’s bow, even for two fingers’ breadth. After taking this step, he dreamed that a messenger came to him from Persia, with tidings that Smerdis sat upon the throne, and touched the heavens with his head. Fearing, therefore, that this vision portended his being deposed and murdered, he sent a trusty follower, named Prexaspes, to Susa, with orders to assassinate his brother. ”

“ On this occasion the madman behaved reasonably, for instead of killing Prexaspes and the herald in the first instance, and then proceeding to inquire how Smerdis came to be alive, he began by investigating, and soon perceived the real state of the case. ”

“ Smerdis is able to draw the bow of the Ethiopian further than Cambyses and all the other Persians. This excites envy and jealousy in his brother, who sends Smerdis back to Persia. Then in a dream he sees him on the throne, and his head reaches to heaven. He sends Prexaspes to Persia, who slays the son of Cyrus in the chase and buries him with his own hand. The instrument of the murder is quickly overtaken by punishment. Had Cambyses slain Prexaspes himself intentionally or in anger, it would be conceivable ”

“ The murder of Smerdis cannot have remained an entire secret. The murderer or murderers knew it, and the relatives, the members of the house of Achæmenes, the servants and women, cannot have been deceived by the resemblance for any length of time. ”

“ A Magian [Footnote: There were at this time two opposing religions in Persia: Zoroastrianism, which taught the simple worship of God under the name of Ormazd; and Magianism, a less pure faith, whose professors were fire-worshippers. The former was the religion of the Aryans; the latter, that of the non-Aryan portion of the population. The usurpation which placed Smerdis on the throne was planned by the Magi, Smerdis himself being a fire-priest.] impostor, Gomates by name, who resembled the murdered Smerdis, had personated him, and actually grasped the sceptre. ”

“ Otanes knew that the Magian Smerdis, whom he guessed the impersonator of the dead prince to be, had had his ears cut off. He therefore commanded his daughter to try and discover, during his slumbers, whether the present wearer of the crown had lost his or not. The girl consented, and, despite all the pretender's care to conceal his deficiency, in the course of a few days was enabled to inform her father that this Smerdis had not any ears. This intelligence was sufficient for Otanes, who summoned six of the leading Persian nobles, and informed them of his discovery. ”

“ Diodorus Siculus and Strabo make him the son of Meroê. ** The original form was Bardiya or Barzîya, “the laudable,” and the first Greek transcript known, in Æschylus, is Mardos, or, in the scholiasts on the passage, Merdias, which has been corrupted into Marphios by Hellanikos and into Merges by Pompeius Trogus. The form Smerdis in Herodotus, and in the historians who follow him, is the result of a mistaken assimilation of the Persian name with the purely Greek one of Smerdis or Smerdies. ”

“ Following the Egyptian custom, or setting up a law for himself, since it does not seem to have been the habit of the Persian monarchs, he married his two sisters, Atossa and Roxana. The Persian judges said it was not lawful for a man to marry his sister, but the king could of course do as he pleased. The unfortunate Roxana excited the fury of this monster by mourning for her brother Smerdis, and is said also to have been killed by Cambyses with a kick. A Greek inscription at Behistan affirms that Smerdis was murdered before Cambyses started for Egypt ”

“ Enter Smerdis, the king's jester, and Ahafid, poet and minstrel to the king, from opposite sides of the hall. Ahafid is already an old man, with long grey beard and a little stooped with age. He carries a golden Persian harp on which he plays and accompanies his own song. ”

“ When the Persians saw their king weep, all rent the garments they had on, and gave themselves up to lamentation. Soon the bone became infected, the thigh mortified, and Cambyses, son of Cyrus, died, after he had reigned in all seven years and five months, having never had any children. Great incredulity stole over the Persians who were present, as to the story that the magi had possession of the government, and agreed that it must be Smerdis, son of Cyrus, who had risen up and seized the kingdom. Prexaspes, moreover, vehemently denied that he had killed Smerdis ”

“ Upon the decease of Cambyses, no one cared to dispute possession of the Persian throne with the pseudo Smerdis, who was, indeed, generally believed to be the prince whose name he had assumed, most people deeming the dying words of the late monarch to have been prompted by a desire for vengeance upon his brother for seeking the Persian sovereignty during his life. ”

“ The first to break out into open rebellion were the neighbouring countries of Elam and Chaldæa: the death of Smerdis took place towards the end of September, and a fortnight later saw two rebel chiefs enthroned—a certain Athrîna at Susa, and a Nadinta-bel at Babylon.* Athrîna, the son of Umbadaranma, was a scion of the dynasty dispossessed by the successors of Sargon in the preceding century, but nevertheless he met with but lukewarm assistance from his own countrymen;** he was taken prisoner before a month had passed, and sent to Darius, who slew him with his own hand. ”

“ He believed, he said, that the usurper was Smerdis the magian, whom he had left as one of the regents when he set out on his Egyptian campaign. He urged them, therefore, not to submit to his sway, but to go back to Media, and [Pg 58] if they could not conquer him and put him down by open war, to destroy him by deceit and stratagem, or in any way whatever by which the end could be accomplished. ”

“ Her beauty is surpassing?
Ahafid
Vashti does
Not know that she is beautiful. She loves
Her country and is brave as well as good.
[4] I dread the issue of this night. The king
Has ordered that the queen be brought before
The court, a target for licentious eyes.
She will refuse to go because her heart
Is pure. Ahasuerus, flushed with wine,
Will brook no opposition to his will.
A tragedy that never Persia knew
Will see the rising of to-morrow's sun.
Smerdis
A tragedy no country ever knew—
A woman who is beautiful, but doesn't know it's true.
Ahafid
[Sings.] ”

“ Daily a courier pricked into Sardis with despatches from the Great King to his trusted general. Mardonius left the great levees and public spectacles to Artaphernes, but his hand was everywhere. His decisions were prompt. He was in constant communication with the Medizing party in Hellas. He had no time for the long dicing and drinking bouts the Persians loved, but he never failed to find each day an hour to spend with Artazostra his wife, with Roxana his half-sister, and with Glaucon his preserver. ”

“ And the merry men vigorously nodded their heads though they did not dare to cheer, and presently Smerdrak came running up and they threw him a rope by the stern. And when they had done fifteen knots they anchored, and Captain Shard gathered his men about him and, standing by the land-wheel in the bows, under the large and clear Algerian stars, he explained his system of steering. ”

“ He heard the rustle of the wind through the forest. It blent and mingled with a horrid tumult of grunts, of clicking cries, of gnashing teeth and little bestial cries.
“The--gate!” sobbed Stern, between hard-set teeth, and stumbled forward, ever forward, through the Horde.
To him, protectingly, he clasped the beautiful body in the tiger-skin.
Living? Was she living yet? A great, aching wonder filled him. Could he reach the stair with her, and bear her up it? Hurl back these devils? Save her, after all? ”

“ Repeated messengers told how Xerxes was quitting Babylon, was holding a muster in Cappadocia, and now was crossing Asia Minor toward Sardis. Mardonius and his companions had returned to that capital. Daily the soldiery poured into Sardis by tens of thousands. Glaucon knew now it was not a vain boast that for ten years the East had been arming against Hellas, that the whole power of the twenty satrapies would be flung as one thunderbolt upon devoted Greece.
In the plain about Sardis a second city was rising, of wicker booths and gay pavilions. The host grew hourly. ”

“ Stern would pat him on the head and say, "Billy One-Foot is sick now." Occasionally, he would swing his boy round the room in a circle, clamping his own eyes shut in an effort to black out a vision of himself heaving the boy headfirst against a stone wall, forever ending thoughts of God and blankets and other children.
He had always found it amusing that his wife was lax about managing things. "You think you can get away with carelessness because your behind is beautiful," he would say, and clasp her surging buttocks. But a banister was loose that winter in their bare and windy house. ”

“ During the reign of Atys, son of Gyges, the Cimmerians, being expelled their own country by the Nomades of Scythia, passed over into Asia, and possessed themselves of Sardis. Some time after this, Crœsus became king of Lydia, and a war ensued between him and Cyrus the Great. At that period no nation of Asia was more hardy, or more valiant, than the Lydians. They fought principally on horseback, [Pg 318] armed with long spears, and were very expert in managing the horse. Sardis, according to Herodotus, was taken by storm ”

“ Then ensued a long conversation, at the end of which Ahmed rode back to Peshawar and Sherdil sought an interview with his commander.
"Well, what can I do for you?" shouted Lumsden in his breezy way as Sherdil stood before him, saluting humbly.
"If it please the heaven-born," said Sherdil, "I have a friend who wishes to put on the khaki and serve the Kumpani."
"Aha! another son of a dyer, like Sherdil, son of Assad?"
Sherdil gasped. Was his origin known after all?
"The heaven-born knows everything," he said, with a sigh. "No; this friend is of high caste and the son of a chief—a good man." ”

“ But the mass of them now outwardly seemed so eager to serve and care for him, so quick to obey, so grateful almost to adoration, that Stern felt ashamed of his own suspicions and of the revolver that he still always carried whenever outside the patriarch's hut.
And in his heart he buried his fears as unworthy delusions, as the imaginings of a brain still hurt. The occasional black looks of one or another of the people, or perchance some sullen, muttered word, he set down as the crude manners of a primitive and barbarous race. ”

“ Zadig was more dangerously wounded; an arrow had pierced him near his eye, and penetrated to a considerable depth. Semira wearied Heaven with her prayers for the recovery of her lover. Her eyes were constantly bathed in tears; she anxiously awaited the happy moment when those of Zadig should be able to meet hers; but an abscess growing on the wounded eye gave everything to fear. A messenger was immediately dispatched to Memphis for the great physician Hermes, who came with a numerous retinue. ”

“ Sardis was painfully silent. In the west the low thunder still mocked and muttered, but otherwise the stillness was profound. The great house rose before us at twice its normal height, and at the doorstep, sinister in the saddle, sat Flood—knocking—
The disturbing influence of the earlier hours again had fallen upon me; a weight lay heavily on my consciousness.
With infinite relief, I heard from within the walls the high voice of Robert Hamelin, made higher by its pitch of terror. ”