0 
and among a people so energetic as the Persians. We can 
hardly suppose that they had not some running hand for ordi¬ 
nary purposes. Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom, i., p. 182) has 
recorded a tradition, that Atossa, the wife of Darius, and 
daughter of Cyrus, was the inventor of epistles,* which seems 
to point to a written character convenient for correspondence ; 
hut as no written document of the Persian times has come 
down to us nothing can be affirmed on this subject. But 
though a MS. in the old Persian character is not to he looked 
for, it is not impossible that in the countries subject to Persian 
dominion, but where the Greek language was spoken, a bilin¬ 
gual inscription should come to light, to correct and extend the 
results of philological enquiry. Darius, according to Herodotus 
(4, 87), erected two marble pillars on the coast opposite to 
Byzantium, in Greek and Assyrian letters, containing the 
names of all the nations which composed his array of 700,000 
men. The one with the Assyrian characters existed at Byzan¬ 
tium in the time of Herodotus. Is it too much to hope that 
some lucky chance, like that which has given us the Rosetta 
and the Canopic stone, may bring to light a bilingual inscrip¬ 
tion, cuneiform and Greek ? 
It may be said that philology and palaeography have gained 
by the discoveries which I have related, but what has been the 
gain to history ? Her gain has been rather in the new and 
clearer light thrown on facts doubtful or imperfectly under¬ 
stood, than in the disclosure of facts previously unknown. 
There is, however, one remarkable exception. Some years ago, 
when I was endeavouring to frame a chronology of the life of 
Herodotus,t I was perplexed by the mention (1. 130) of a 
revolt of the Medes from Darius, which he succeeded in putting 
down. Now till very lately, no revolt of the Medes was known 
except that which took place b. c. 408, under a later Darius 
(Nothus). Yet it seemed strange that Herodotus, who so con¬ 
stantly speaks of the son of Hystaspes as simply Darius, should 
here, without any adjunct, apply the name to another. Besides, 
the revolt under Nothus occurred when Herodotus was in his 
* Bentley on Phalaris, § xx. 
t Egypt of Herodotus, p. xviii. 
