DARIUS. 



599 



Scots in UK; finn possession of the country. Patter- 

 son, on his passage home, after the ruin of the first 

 colony, was seized with lunacy, from which, however, 

 ho recovered. He lived many years after, pitied 

 respected, and neglected. The famous Mr Law, 

 who was a youth at the time of the expedition to 

 Darien, acknowledged that he was induced to pro- 

 ject his Mississippi scheme, from the rapidity with 

 which he perceived the spirit of speculation com- 

 municate itself on this occasion. A full account of 

 the Darien expedition, is to be found in the 2d vol. 

 of Sir John Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain 

 and Ireland. See also Sir Walter Scott's Tales of a 

 Grandfather, for a most interesting narrative on the 

 subject. 



DARIUS ; the name of several Persian kings, or, 

 according to some writers, the royal title itself. 

 Among the most distinguished individuals of tliis 

 name, are, 



1. Darius, the fourth king of Persia, the son of 

 llystaspes, satrap of Persis. He joined the con- 

 spiracy against the Pseudo-Smerdis, who had possess- 

 ed himself of the Persian throne. After the con- 

 spirators had succeeded in getting rid of the usurper, 

 they agreed to meet early the next morning, on 

 horseback, and to appoint him king, whose horse 

 should neigh first after sunrise. The groom of Da- 

 rius, apprized of this project, led his master's horse, 

 in the night, with a mare, to the appointed place, and, 

 in consequence of this stratagem, the horse of Darius 

 neighed first the next morning. Darius was, there- 

 fore, saluted king, and the nation approved the choice. 

 His reign was marked by many important events. 

 The city of Babylon revolted, partly on account of 

 burdensome impositions of tribute, and partly be- 

 cause the royal residence, under Cyrus, had been 

 transferred from thence to Susa. Darius besieged 

 the city nearly two years without success, and was 

 on the point of abandoning the siege, when Zopyrus, 

 one of his generals, by a heroic sacrifice, placed the 

 city in his possession. The mode was this : he muti- 

 lated himself 'in the most shocking manner, and fled to 

 the Babylonians, pretending to them that he had suf- 

 fered this cruel treatment from Darius, and that he 

 wished for vengeance. The Babylonians gave him a 

 command ; and, after many successful sallies, by 

 which he gained their confidence, they intrusted to 

 him the charge of the whole city, which he immedi- 

 ately surrendered to Darius. After the subjection 

 of Babylon, Darius undertook an expedition, with an 

 army of 700,000 men, against the Scythians on the 

 Danube (513 B.C.), who enticed him so far into their 

 inhospitable country, by their pretended flight, that 

 he succeeded with difficulty in extricating himself and 

 liis army, after suffering great losses. Leaving a 

 part of his forces, under the command ofMegabyzus, 

 in Thrace, to conquer that country and Macedonia, 

 he returned with the remainder to Asia, to recruit at 

 Sardis. He next turned his arms against the Indians, 

 part of whom he subjected (508 B.C.). In the year 

 501 B. C., a disturbance at Naxos, in which the 

 Persians had taken part, occasioned a revolt of the 

 Ionian cities, which the Athenians endeavoured to 

 promote, but which was suppressed by the capture 

 and punishment of Miletus, in 496. To revenge him- 

 self upon the Athenians, Darius sent Mardonius with 

 an army, by the way of Thrace and Macedonia, 

 against Greece, and prepared a fleet to make a de- 

 scent upon its coasts. But his ships were scattered 

 and destroyed by a storm, in doubling mount Athos, 

 and the army was almost entirely cut to pieces by the 

 Tliracians. Darius, however, collected another 

 army of 500,000 men, and fitted out a second fleet of 

 600 ships. Naxos was conquered, and Eretria, in 

 Eubcea, sacked. Thence the army, under Datis and 



Artaphernes, proceeded to Attica, and was led, by 

 Hippias, to the plains of Marathon. The Athenians 

 liad, in vain, besought assistance from their neigh- 

 bours, and were obliged to depend upon their own 

 resources alone. They marched forth, 10,000 strong, 

 under the command of Miltiades, to meet the Persian 

 anny, and, animated by the reflection tliat they were 

 fighting for freedom and their country, obtained a 

 complete victory (B. C. 490). Darius now deter- 

 mined to take the command of a new army in person, 

 but was prevented by domestic troubles, and died B. 

 C. 485. This prince did much to improve the inter- 

 nal administration of his kingdom. In the year 508 

 B. C., he sent his admiral Scylax to explore the river 

 Indus, and he encouraged commerce and arts by use- 

 ful institutions and laws. His successor was Xerxes. 

 2. Darius III., sumamed Codomamis, son of Ar- 

 sanes and Sysigambis, and great-grandson of Darius 

 II., or Ochus (who reigned from 424 to 404 B.C.), 

 was the twelfth and last king of Persia. He as- 

 cended the throne B.C. 336, when the kingdom had 

 been weakened by luxury, and the tyranny of the sa- 

 traps under his predecessors, and could not resist the 

 attacks of a powerful invader. Such was Alexander 

 of Macedon ; and the anny, which was sent against 

 him by Darius, was totally routed, on the banks of 

 the Granicus, in Asia Minor. Darius then advanced, 

 with 400,000 soldiers, to the plains of Mesopotamia. 

 The Grecian mercenaries advised him to await the 

 enemy here, as the level country would enable him 

 to draw out his forces to advantage ; but Darius has- 

 tened forward to meet Alexander in the mountainous 

 Cilicia. Curtius describes the splendour of his march. 

 Darius was a second tune totally routed, near the Is- 

 sus, B. C. 333. He himself escaped, under cover of 

 the night, to the mountains. His mother, his wife, 

 and three of lus children, fell into the hands of the 

 conqueror, who treated them with great generosity. 

 Alexander loaded 7,000 camels with the spoil taken 

 here and at Damascus. Darius was so far from being 

 discouraged by these defeats, that he wrote a haughty 

 letter to Alexander, in which he offered him a ran- 

 som for the prisoners, and invited him to a new en- 

 gagement, or, if he did not choose that, granted him 

 permission to retire into Macedonia. A lexander then 

 laid siege to Tyre, on which Darius wrote him an- 

 other letter, offering him not only the title of king, 

 which he had before refused to do, but also 10,000 

 talents ransom, and all the countries of Asia as far as 

 the Euphrates, together with his daughter Statira in 

 marriage. These propositions, howe er, were un- 

 availing. Alexander subjected Egypt, and Darius 

 found himself once more obliged to collect an army, 

 which most writers estimate at 1,000,000. He led 

 his forces from Babylon to Nineveh, while Alexander 

 was encamped on the banks of the Tigris. The two 

 armies met between Arbela and Gaugamela, and, 

 after a bloody engagement, Darius was compelled to 

 seek safety in flight (331 B. C.). Alexander took 

 possession of his capital, Susa, captured Persepolis, 

 and reduced all Persia. Darius, meanwhile, arrived 

 at Ecbatana, in Media, where he had another army 

 of 30,000 men, among whom were 4000 Greeks, who 

 remained true to the end, besides 4000 slingers and 

 3000 horse, commanded by Bessus, the governor of 

 Bactria. With these he wished to march against the 

 conqueror, but a conspiracy of Nabazanes and Bes- 

 sus frustrated his plan. The magnanimous prince 

 would not credit the report of the conspiracy, which 

 reached his ears, and, at the same time, observed 

 that his death could not be premature, if his sulyects 

 considered him unworthy of life. The traitors soon 

 after took possession of his person, and carried him 

 in chains to Bactria. Here he refused to accompany 

 them any farther, and they transfixed him with their 



