1 " in perfon" but had the very name of the young prince, the fon of Cyrus, who had been put to death by the order of his brother Cambyfes. Him Patizithes, the other magus, publicly introduced and placed upon the royal throne, having previously inftructed him in the part he was to perform. Having done this, he fent meffengers to different places, and one in particular to the Ægyptian army, ordering them to obey Smerdis, the fon of Cyrus, alone, LXII. These orders were every where obeyed, The meffenger who came to Egypt found Cambyfes with the army at Ecbatana, in Syria. He entered into the midst of the troops ", and executed the 69 Refembled in perfon.]—Similar historical incidents will here occur to the most common reader, there having been no state whose annals are come down to us, in which, from the fimilitude of person, factious individuals have not excited commotions. In the Roman government a false Pompey and a falfe Drufus claim our attention, because one exercised the political fagacity of Cicero, the other employed the pen of Tacitus. Neither have we in our own country been without fimilar impoftors, the examples of which must be too familiar to require infertion here. -T'. 7° Into the midst of the troops.]—It may to an English reader at firft fight feem extraordinary that any person should dare to execute fuch a commiffion as this, and fhould venture himself on fuch a bufinefs amongst the troops of a man whose power had been fo long established, and whofe cruelty must have been notorious. But the perfons of heralds, as the functions they were to perform were the most important poffible, were on all occafions facred. Homer more than once calls them the facred minifters of geds and men; they denounced war, and proclaimed peace, the commiffion which had been given him. When Cambyfes heard this, he was not aware of any fallacy, but imagined that Prexafpes, whom he had 74 fent to put Smerdis to death, had neglected to obey his commands. "Prexafpes," faid the king, " thou" "haft not fulfilled my orders." "Sir," he replied," you are certainly deceived; it is impoffible that your brother should rebel against you, or occafion you the smallest trouble. I not only executed ་་ your orders concerning Smerdis, but I buried "him with my own hands. If the dead can rife ❝ again, you may expect also a rebellion from Aftyages the Mede; but if things go on in their usual course, you can have nothing to apprehend from your brother. I would recommend, therefore, "that you fend for this herald, and demand by "what authority he claims our allegiance to Smer"dis." peace. It has been a matter of difpute amongst the learned from whence this fan&tity was conferred on them; they were faid to be defcended from Cenyx, the fon of Mercury, and under the protection of that god. This office, in Athens and Sparta, was hereditary. In Athens, as I have obferved, the heralds were faid to be derived from Cenyx; in Sparta from Talthybius, the celebrated herald of Agamemnon. They ufually carried a staff of laurel in their hands, fometimes of olive, round this two ferpents were twisted. To what an extreme this reverence for the perfons of ambaffadors or heralds was carried, will appear from the book Polymnia, chap. 134. It is almost urneceffary to add, that in modern times the perfons of ambaffadors are in like manner deemed facred, unless the treatment which in case of war they receive at Conftantinople be deemed an exception. The moment that war is declared against any foreign power, the reprefentative of that power is seized, and sent as a prisoner to the Black Tower.-7. LXIII. LXIII. This advice was agreeable to Cambyfes: the perfon of the herald was accordingly seized, and he was thus addreffed by Prexafpes: "You fay," my friend, "that you come from Smerdis, the "fon of Cyrus; but I would advise you to be cau"tious, as your fafety will depend upon your speak ing the truth; tell me, therefore, did Smerdis "himself entruft you with this commiffion, or did ce you receive it from fome one of his officers ?" "I "must confefs," replied the herald, "that fince the departure of Cambyfes on this Ægyptian expedi"tion, I have never seen Smerdis, the fon of Cyrus, "I received my prefent commiffion from the magus to whom Cambyfes entrusted the manage ment of his domeftic affairs; he it was who told "me that Smerdis, the fon of Cyrus, commanded "me to execute this bufinefs." This was the fincere answer of the herald; upon which Cambyfes thus addreffed Prexafpes: "I perceive that, like a "man of integrity, you performed my commands, " and have been guilty of no crime: but what Per«fian, affuming the name of Smerdis, has revolted againft me?" "Sir," anfwered Prexafpes, "I be"lieve I comprehend the whole of this business: "the magi have excited this rebellion against you, namely, Patizithes, to whom you entrusted the management of your houfhold, and Smerdis, his "brother." LXIV. As foon as Cambyfes heard the name of Smerdis, he was impreffed with conviction of the truth; i truth; and he immediately perceived the real fignification of the dream in which he had feen Smerdis feated on the royal throne, and touching the firmament with his head. Acknowledging that without any just cause he had destroyed his brother, he lamented him with tears. After indulging for a while in the extremeft forrow, which a sense of his misfortunes prompted, he leaped haftily upon his horfe determining to lead his army instantly to Sufa against the rebels. In doing this the fheath fell from his fword", which, being thus naked, wounded him in the thigh. The wound was in the very place in which he had before ftruck Apis, the deity of the Ægyptians. As foon as the blow appeared to be mortal, Cambyfes anxioufly enquired the name of the place where he was: they told him it was called Ecbatana, An oracle from Butos had warned him 71 The sheath fell from the fword.]-The firft fwords were probably made of brafs; for, as Lucretius obferves, Et prior æris erat quam ferri cognitus ufus. It has been remarked, on the following paffage of Virgil, that the poet only ufes brafs poetically inftead of iron; this, however, feems forced and improbable. More anciently, which indeed appears from Homer, the fword was worn over the fhoulder; if, therefore, the attitude of Cambyfes in the act of mounting his horse be confidered, his receiving the wound here described does not appear at all unlikely. In contradiction to modern cuftom, the Romans fometimes wore two fwords, one on each fide; when they wore but one it was usually, though not always, on the right fide. On this fubject, fee Montfaucon, where different specimens of ancient fwords may be feen. The Perfian fwords were called acinaces, or fcymetars.-T. that that he should end his life at Ecbatana; this he understood of Ecbatana" of the Medes, where all his treafures were depofited, and where he conceived he was in his old age to die. The oracle, however, fpoke of the Syrian Ecbatana. When he learned the name of the town, the vexation arifing from the rebellion of the magus, and the pain of his wound, restored him to his proper fenses. "This," he exclaimed, confidering the oracle, "is doubt"less the place in which Cambyfes, son of Cyrus, "is destined to die." LXV. On the twentieth day after the above event he convened the more illustrious of the Perfians who were with him, and thus addressed them; "What has happened to me, compels me to dif"close to you what I anxiously defired to conceal. "Whilft I was in Ægypt, I beheld in my sleep a Ecbatana.]-Ctefias makes this prince die at Babylon; but this is not the only place in which he contradicts Herodotus. -Larcher. It appears by the context, that this Ecbatana was in Syria; an obfcure place, probably, and unheard of by Cambyfes till this moment. A fimilar fiction of a prophecy occurs in our own history. Henry the Fourth had been told he was to die in Jerufalem, but died in the Jerufalem chamber at Westminster. Which tale Shakespeare has immortalized by noticing it. It hath been prophefy'd to me many years I fhould not die but in Jerufalem, Which vainly I fuppos'd the Holy Land. But bear me to that chamber, there I'll lie, Batanæa in Palestine marks the place of this Syrian Ecbatana, See d'Anville. T. "vifion, |