DARIUa 



DARIUS III. 



810 



patriotic exertions and sacrifices in connection with the Industrial 

 Exhibition at Dublin in 1853. Mr. Dargan is the son of a farmer in 

 Carlow county. Early in life he was employed in the office of a 

 surveyor, where hia conduct was marked by integrity and assiduous 

 attention to his duties. For some time he was employed under 

 Telford in the construction of the Holyhead road, after which he 

 returned to his native country, and by the prudent and skilful 

 management of hia business, he succeeded in securing for himself an 

 important position among the large contractors for public works in 

 Ireland. He executed the first railway opened in Ireland, and he has 

 since been engaged in the promotion and construction of numerous 

 railways, roads, and canals. As already stated, it is to Mr. Dargan's 

 patriotic liberality that Ireland is mainly indebted for the Dublin 

 Exhibition of 1853. The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, followed 

 by the Cork Exhibition of 1852, led Mr. Dargan to devote a sum of 

 20,00(K., which, as the plans were gradually extended, was eventually 

 increased to a much greater amount, for the purpose of converting the 

 usual triennial Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures in Men-ion 

 Square, Dublin, into a truly national exhibition. The Royal Dublin 

 Society entered warmly into Mr. Dargan's project, and a building was 

 erected, which was opened on the 12th of May 1853, by the Lord- 

 Lieutenant of Ireland. The office of Chairman of the Executive 

 Committee was given to Mr. Dargan, and the result was gratifying to 

 hia feelings as an Irishman, although the speculation left him a loser 

 to the amount of several thousand pounds. The Exhibition was 

 visited by her Majesty and Prince Albert in September; and the 

 general estimate of Mr. Dargan's conduct in connection with the 

 enterprise, wns well represented by the desire expressed by her 

 Majesty to confer upon him at the close of the Exhibition the honour 

 of knighthood, an honour which was declined by Mr. Dargan : some 

 progress has been made in the founding of a ' Dargan Tribute ' in the 

 shape of a permanent gallery of art in Dublin. The Tower, Mount 

 Anville House, near Dundrum, was erected by Mr. Dargan, and is 

 occupied by him as his country residence. 



DARl'US, the name of several Persian kings. Darius I., commonly 

 called Darius Hvstaspis, or the son of Hystaspis, belonged to the 

 royal house of the Achaemeuid;p, and mounted the throne B.C. 521, 

 after having, with six other conspirators, despatched tbe usurper 

 Smerdis. It was one day agreed among them, according to Hero- 

 dotus (iii. 82, 83), that they should assemble on the following morning 

 before sunrise on horseback, and that he whose horse neighed first to 

 the rising sun thould be king : the horse of Darius neighed first, and 

 Darius was saluted king (iii. 84-87). Darius was in fact the founder 

 of the Persian constitution ; to him i due the consolidation of the 

 Persian empire. Countries which Cyrus and Cambyses had only 

 subdued he first organised into a systematic kingdom. He divided his 

 vast empiie into twenty B&trapies or provinces, aud appointed a fixed 

 tribute to be paid, as well as a regular supply to be sent for the 

 provisions of tbe army and the king's household (iii. 89-96). A 

 system of communication between diUerent part* of the empire was 

 established by means of couriers stationed at certain distances for tbe 

 tran-mi-bion of the royal messages, aud he devoted much attention to 

 public works aud to administrative improvements. 



Soon after his accession to the throne, Darius was visited by 

 Sylo-on, the brother of Polycrates, tyraut of Samos, who reminded 

 him of the cluak with which ha had obliged him iu E_*ypt, whtn 

 acting as one of the guards of Cambyses. Darius offered him any 

 reward he would name : he a-ked to be restored to Samos, and put 

 in possession of the kingdom of his late brother. Darius sent Otanes 

 with an army to Samoa, aud soon succeeded in reducing the island. 

 Mse-indrius, who was iu possession of it at the time, was allowed to 

 quit it (iii. 139-141). Meanwhile tlie attention of Darius was called 

 off to another and more important affair. Tha Babylonians had 

 revolted, and made great preparations for resistance. Darius marched 

 against them with considerable force, and besieged them for a year 

 and eight months, but without success, till the artifice of Zopyrus put 

 him in possession of the city. Z'ipyruB, one of the officars of Dariun, 

 after cutting off his own nose and ears, and lacerating his body iu a 

 frightful manner, went over to the enemy, ttlling them that this was 

 tLe treatment he got from Dariu*, and he had therefore come over to 

 them that he might aid in taki, g revenge on tlie tyrant. The 

 Babylonian^ received him gladly, and not <loul>ting for a moment tbe 

 truth of bis story, gave him an important post of command, and soon 

 entrusted to him the whole city, which he delivered up to Darius. 

 Darius impaled 3000 of the chief citizens, and destroyed tno walls and 

 gates of tbe city (iii. 150-160). Darius employed the Greek navigator, 

 Scylnx of Cananda, to follow the Indus to the ocean and to survey 

 the country (iv. 44) ; and the discoveries which he made were followed 

 by the subjugation of a portion of the Inilians (iv. 44 ; iii. 101). Urn: 

 of the principal events iu his reign was hi< expedition against the 

 Hcythiau*. lie marched against them with a force which is computer! 

 nt Fever] or tight hundred thousand men. A bridge of boats was laid 

 across the Bosporus, mid the work was executed by Mandrocles, a 

 Samiari, who received a pr;si nt from the king as a reward for the skill 

 which he displayed (iv. 85-87). Darius pursued his march through 

 Thruce, acro< the Danube, to the Dou, but m t with very ill-success, 

 and had great difficulty in escaping eventually. He returned to the 

 Danube, recroMed it, and came back into Asia, leaving Megabazus in 



Thrace with orders to subdue the Paiones (v. 12-16). Megabazus 

 subdued them and transported them into Asia, where Darius allotted 

 them a district in Phrygia. 



In 501 B.C. some disturbances arose in the island of Naxos, which 

 ended in the ariatocratical party being obliged to quit the country. 

 They applied to Aristagoras, governor of Miletus, for succour, which 

 he was willing to afford, but was unable to grant without the aid of 

 the Persians. Aristagoras communicated the scheme with splendid 

 promises of success to Artaphernes, the king's brother aud governor 

 of Sardis, who, after procuring the king's consent, entrusted a fleet of 

 two hundred ships to the command of Megabates, aud ordered it to 

 sail to Miletus to take on board the forces of Aristagoras. After a 

 four months' siege their funds were consumed, and Aristagoras had 

 contracted a debt with the Persian government which it was wholly 

 out of his power to discharge. An insurrection of the Ionian states, 

 whom he had excited to revolt, speedily followed, aud ended in the 

 fall of Miletus, B.C. 494. 



The Athenians had given Aristagoras aid in the revolt, and had thus 

 excited the bitter hostility of Darius, who sent, under the command 

 of Datis and Artaphernes, an army to Attica, where they were opposed 

 aud defeated by Miltiades in the plain of Marathon B.C. 490. (Herod. 

 VL 113-17), The conquered Persians returned to Asia. Darius began 

 to mako preparations for another expedition against the Greeks, as 

 well as for reducing the Egyptians, who had rebelled, but he died 

 before the commencement of the war, B.C. 485, after a reign of thirty- 

 six years (vii. 4 ; Clinton, ' Fast. H.' ii. 313). He appointed his sou 

 Xerxes his successor. (Herod, vii. 3.) 



Before he became king Darius had three sons, two of whom are 

 mentioned (vii. 2-97), Artabazanes and Ariabigues. After his accession 

 he had four sons by Atossa, and several other wives. 



DARIUS II., called Darius Ochus, or Nothus, because he wa<? the 

 illegitimate son of Artaxerxes. Soon after the murder of Xerxes II., 

 Darius succeeded in deposing Sogdianus, and ascended the throne 

 himself, B.C. 423. By his wife Parysatis he had Artaxerxes Mnemon 

 and Cyrus the younger. Nothing very remarkable occurred during 

 his reign, but some successful wars were carried on under Cyrus and 

 other generals. He died B.C. 404, after a reigu of nineteen years, and 

 was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes, who is said to have asked him 

 on his death-bed by what rule he had acted iu his administration, that 

 he might adopt the same and find the same success. The king's 

 answer is said to have been, that he had always kept, to the boat of 

 his knowledge, the strict path of justice and religion. (Xeuophon, 

 Anabasis, i. 1. ; Diodorus, xii. 71 ; Justin, v. 11.) 



DARIUS III., or Codomannus, the last of the Persian tnonarcus, 

 succeeded Artaxerxes III., B.C. 336, after a short interval, in which 

 Arces, the youngest son of Artaxerxes, was nominally king. Bagoas 

 had poisoned Artaxerxes, and then put Arces on the throne that he 

 himself might reign in his name ; but after two years he deposed him, 

 and put in his place Darius Codomannus. Darius not being so 

 obsequious to his wishes as he desired, he determined to remove him 

 in the same way as he had done with Artaxerxes. The king however, 

 aware of his design, made Bagoas himself drink the poison which ho 

 had prepared for him. Darius was now firmly established on the 

 throne, but had little time to enjoy his security before he found himself 

 opposed by Alexander tbe Great. 



it was in the second year of Darius's reign that Alexander passed 

 over the Hellespont into Asia : he pursued bis march till he arrived 

 at the river Granicus (now the Oostvola), when his first encounter 

 with the Persian army took place. The well-armed and well disciplined 

 troops of the Macedonians gained a complete victory. Another battle 

 was fought at Issus in Cilicia, where Darius took the commaml himself, 

 and was utterly defeated. He engaged in person again in a battle at 

 Gaugemela, commonly called the battle of Arbela, aud was defeated. 

 After the battle of Issus, Darius's camp was plundered, and his wife, 

 mother, and children, came into the iuuHs of Alexander, who treated 

 them with the utmost consideration aud care. Now that Susa, 

 Persepolis, and all his treasures had come into the possession of tho 

 conqueror, Darius took refuge in Ecbatanit, but was seized by Bessus, 

 the governor of Bactria, who betrayed him iu his misfortunes. Both 

 the traitor and his prisoner fled before the march of Alexander, who 

 hastened the pursuit till he came iu sight of them, when they fled 

 precipitately; and because Darius would not follow them, Bessus and 

 those about him discharged their darts at him, aud left him covered 

 with blood at the mercy of the Macedonians. When the Greeks found 

 him in this state he ha'l just strength enough left to ask for some 

 water to drink ; it was given him by a Macedonian, whom he requested 

 to return his thaufis to Alexander for the kindness he had shown to his 



ife, mother, and children, aud to say that he prayed the gods to pros- 

 per him in all his undertakings, and to make him monarch of the world. 



Alexander himself came up soon afterwards, ami was much affected 

 at seeing tho king in this deplorable state. He took off his own cloak 

 and spread it over the corpse, which he ordered to be embalmed and 

 sent in a splendid coffin to Siaigauibis, to be interred with tho other 

 monarchs of Persia. Darius died B.C. 330, in the sixth year of hix 

 reign and the fiftieth of his 'age. He enjoyed the reputation of a juat 

 ami humane prince. With Darius ended the empire of Persia, which 

 had lasted for upwards of two hundred years under thirteen kings. 



(DiodorusSiculus, xvii. 5-77; Plutarch,//i/eo/^lteanrfei-/ Justin, x.) 



