He
won the whole country; and he afterwards marched into Ethiopia, where he
nearly lost his whole army by thirst in a desert. The Egyptians hated
him because he struck his sword into their sacred bull Apis, in his
anger at their feasting in honour of this creature, when he himself had
just met with such misfortunes. He had but one brother, named Smerdis,
whom he caused to be secretly put to death; and when his sister wept for
him, he kicked her so that she died. No one grieved when he was killed
by a chance wound from his own sword, in the year 522; but a young
Magian priest, pretending to be Smerdis, whose death was not generally
known, became king. However, some of the nobles suspected the deceit;
and one of them, whose daughter was among the many wives of the king,
sent word to her to find out whether the king were the real Smerdis. She
could not tell, having never seen the Prince Smerdis; but her father,
who knew that the young Magian had had his ears cut off for some
offence, told her to examine. She Answered that the king was earless;
and the fraud being thus detected, seven of the great lords combined and
slew him.
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