THALIA. 35

"integrity, you performed my commands, and have
** been guilty of no crime: but what Persian, assum-
" ing the name of Smerdis, has revolted against me ?"
** Sir," answered Prexaspes, " I believe I comprehend
" the whole of this business: the magi have excited
" this rebellion against you, namely, Patizithes, to
" whom you intrusted the management of yourhouse-
" hold, and Smerdis, his brother."

LXIV. As soon as Cambyses heard the name of
Smerdis, he was impressed with a conviction of the
truth ; and he immediately perceived the real signifi­
cation of the dream in which he had seen Smerdis
seated on the royal throne, and touching the firma­
ment with his head. Acknowledging that he had
destroyed his brother without any just cause, he la­
mented him with tears. After indulging for a while
in the extremest sorrow, which a sense of his misfor­
tunes prompted, he leaped hastily upon his horse, de­
termining to lead his army instantly to Susa, against
the rebels. In doing this, the sheath fell from his
sword, which, being thus naked, wounded him in the
thigh. The wound was in the very place in which he
had before struck Apis, the deity of the Egyptians.
As soon as the blow appeared to be mortal, Cambyses
anxiously inquired the name of the place where he
was : they told him it was called Ecbatana. An ora­
cle from Butos had warned him that he should end
his life at Ecbatana; this he understood of Ecbatana
of the Medes, where all his treasures were deposited,
and where he conceived he was to die in his old age.
The oracle, however, spoke of the Syrian Ecbatana.
When he learned the name of the town, the vexation
arising from the rebellion of the magus, and the pain
of his wound, restored him to his proper senses.
" This," he exclaimed, remembering the oracle, " is
" doubtless the place, in which Cambyses, son of Cy-
" rus, is destined to die."

LXV. On the twentieth day after the above event,
he convened the more illustrious of the Persians who
were with him, and thus addressed them: "What has
happened to me, compels me to disclose to you what
I anxiously desired to conceal. Whilst I was in