284 Rev. Dr. Watt on the different Kinds of Cuneiform Writing 
declaration of Darius that bears upon this point evidently does not mean that the 
eight persons of his own race referred to were all kings de facto,—as, at any 
rate, such of them as were contemporary with the Cyrus in question and his son, 
Cambyses, could not have been so,—but merely signifies that they had in succes- 
sion a just claim to the throne, in virtue of their birthright. Now it is not, I 
submit, laying too great a stress upon the veracity of our royal author, to main- 
tain that he could not have made the public declaration he did, in this sense, 
unless his race was notoriously the eldest branch of the Achemenian family ; or, 
at least, unless it had become a matter of uncertainty what race was really entitled 
to that distinction.* But both suppositions are at variance with the account 
Xenophon gives of Cambyses, the father of Cyrus, which is simply that he was 
king of Persia, without adding how he came to the throne,—an omission which 
implies that he held it by clear and undisputed right of inheritance ;—while, on 
the other hand, either of those consequences drawn from the above declaration 
is fully compatible with the representation of Herodotus, that the individual in 
question was, indeed, a Persian of good family, but yet of so low a condition, as 
to be deemed by Astyages far inferior to a Mede of even middle rank.+ Nor do 
the numerous insurrections against the authority of Darius, which are described 
in the rest of his record, tell against the mference here drawn from its com- 
mencement; for, even supposing it certain that Cyrus belonged to a junior 
branch of the royal family, the Persians might yet have considered him as having 
acquired a right to the crown by his exploits, and as the founder of a new 
dynasty; in reference to which dynasty Darius, unless he was the nearest surviving 
relative of Cambyses, must have been an usurper, though the legitimate repre- 
sentative of the older race of kings. 
The brevity with which the several victories recorded in the Behistun tablets 
are described, is not, I apprehend, to be attributed to any remarkable modesty of 
* The above state of uncertainty would have naturally arisen among a people without the be- 
nefit of alphabetic writing, if they, as there is reason to think was the fact, were deprived of a regal 
government of their own by their Median conquerors, and no member of their royal family was 
actual king for some generations. Had the paternal pedigree of so remarkable a man as Cyrus 
been exactly known, it surely would have been recorded by some ancient author, as well as that 
of Darius. 
+ [Acrucyns | 3 [Meevdecévny ] Tlépon didor, To oUvoece ny KapeBvons* Tov eeirne oixins peey evra ceryccbns, 
Teomov Be novyiov" morra evegbe aywy cedToy marov dyvogos Mydov.— Herodotus, lib. i. cap. 107. 
