For the first time the populace knew that the Magi had slain Bardya and that a pretender had through their plots usurped the royal power. Every man looked at his fellow and laid his hand on the dagger at his belt. Hatred, fanned by the speaker’s revelations, blazed up; and a growl of anger passed throughout the vast crowd. Prexaspes ceased at last and for a moment stood in silence. Then he added:
“I have told you all! There, on yonder pole, is the head of false Gaumata! My hand is red with the blood of an Achæmenian Prince, and by the law I must die! By the grace of the mighty King of Kings, Darius, son of Hystaspis, who is this day your King, I die as I choose. I salute you, O King! May you live forever!”
He bowed towards the King, who sat still on his horse, sorrowfully contemplating the speaker. Then Prexaspes calmly opened his cloak and drew a long, keen dagger from his belt. He poised the dagger in air an instant, then drove it to the hilt in his breast. For a moment he stood smiling down upon the King, then his knees gave away and he fell, headlong, from the tower to the foot of the pole on which the hideous head of Gaumata leered. A murmur of horror ran through the vast throng. It increased in volume as the people spoke to each other. It rose to a vast roar in a moment and its burden was: “The Magi! They slew Bardya! Down with the Magi! Slay the Magi!”
There was a movement in the great throng. Here and there daggers and swords flashed. Screams of agony arose. The crowd swayed hither and thither. Then it scattered, and broke into groups under self-elected leaders who chased the frightened Magi and slew them wherever found. A riot of bloodshed and slaughter ran throughout the country such as Medea had not seen since that day, hundreds of years ago, when the Scythians had been massacred. Every man who had a Magian neighbor assaulted him. The house of every Magian priest was broken open and pillaged and its occupants slain or chased into the hills. It is said that a hundred thousand Magians died, before the King, with the aid of unwilling Persian soldiers, succeeded in stopping the slaughter. So deep-seated was the hatred of the orthodox Aryans towards the Magians that on the anniversary of this day hereafter it was the practice to slay every one of that sect that was found on the highway. The King made a decree that on such anniversary no Magian should leave his house and that if he did so and was killed, his slayer would not be punished.
But the remainder of our story is history. The kingdom of the Medes and Persians, or rather, the Kingdom of Iran, the rule of the Aryans, reached its zenith of power and glory under Darius Hystaspis, called Darius the Great. Well did he deserve the title “Great.” For he made laws for all the world save Greece and Rome. His coinage became the world standard. The provinces of his empire were ruled by kings. His public roads and rapid messenger service enabled him personally to supervise the general welfare of all his provinces. He invited men of letters to his court. He engraved his history on tablets and on the great rocks at Behistun and Persepolis. He brought architects and builders from Egypt, Palestine, and Phœnicia, and made for himself and his Queen a palace at Persepolis, whose stately ruins are yet mute witnesses of his power and magnificence. He had to reconquer many of the nations of Asia, which, because he was a young man and because religious feuds had torn Iran into factions, thought to free themselves. He redeemed his promise to Belteshazzer, the great Daniel of the Hebrew scriptures, and caused Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and he restored the Jews to their country. He restored the ancient religion of the Aryans and banished the false religion of the Magi, the Lie, from his empire. He worshiped God, whether named Jehovah by the Jew or Ahura-Mazda by his own people. His religion was pure and lofty.
But most of all did he love and honor his Queen, Athura, whose praises the world sang in those days, and whose fame has been preserved in various narratives, none of which agree except that all ascribe to her great wisdom and beauty. Together they ruled their empire many years, and their reign was the golden age of the Aryan race.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.