ἐπέδωκεν οὖν ἑαυτὸν τῷ Τηριβάζῳ· καὶ πολλῶν ἤδη συνισταμένων, εὐνοῦχος ἐδήλωσε τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ τὸν τρόπον, εἰδὼς ἀκριβῶς ὅτι νυκτὸς ἐγνώκασιν ἐν τῷ θαλάμῳ κατακείμενον ἀναιρεῖν αὐτὸν ἐπεισελθόντες. ἀκούσαντι δὲ τῷ Ἀρτοξέρξῃ καὶ τὸ παριδεῖν κίνδυνον τηλικοῦτον, ἀμελήσαντα τῆς διαβολῆς, δεινὸν ἐδόκει, καὶ τὸ πιστεῦσαι μηδενὸς ἐλέγχου γενομένου δεινότερον.
Accordingly, Dareius put himself in the hands of Teribazus; and presently, when many were in the conspiracy, an eunuch made known to the king the plot and the manner of it, having accurate knowledge that the conspirators had resolved to enter the king’s chamber by night and kill him in his bed. When Artaxerxes heard the eunuch’s story, he thought it a grave matter to neglect the information and ignore so great a peril, and a graver still to believe it without any proof.
οὕτως οὖν ἐποίει· τὸν μὲν εὐνοῦχον ἐκείνοις ἐκέλευσε παρεῖναι καὶ παρακολουθεῖν,. αὐτὸς δὲ τοῦ θαλάμου τὸν ὄπισθεν τῆς κλίνης τοῖχον ἐκκόψας καὶ θυρώσας κατεκάλυψεν αὐλαίᾳ τὰς θύρας, ἐνστάσης δὲ τῆς ὥρας καὶ φράσαντος τοῦ εὐνούχου τὸν καιρόν, ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης ὑπέμεινε καὶ οὐκ ἐξανέστη πρότερον ἢ τῶν ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἐρχομένων τὰ πρόσωπα κατιδεῖν καὶ γνωρίσαι σαφῶς ἕκαστον.
He therefore acted on this wise. He charged the eunuch to attend closely upon the conspirators; meanwhile he himself cut away the wall of his chamber behind the bed, put a doorway there, and covered the door with a hanging. Then, when the appointed hour was at hand and the eunuch told him the exact time, he kept his bed amid did not rise from it until he saw the faces of his assailants and recognised each man clearly.
ὡς δὲ εἶδεν ἐσπασμένους τὰ ἐγχειρίδια καὶ προσφερομένους, ταχὺ τὴν αὐλαίαν ὑπολαβὼν ἀνεχώρησεν εἰς τὸ ἐντὸς οἴκημα καὶ τὰς θύρας ἐπήρραξε κράζων. ὀφθέντες οὖν οἱ σφαγεῖς ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ, πράξαντες δὲ μηθέν, ἀπεχώρουν φυγῇ διὰ θυρῶν, καὶ τοὺς περὶ τὸν Τηρίβαζον ἐκέλευον ἀποχωρεῖν ὡς φανεροὺς γεγονότας.
But when he saw them advancing upon him with drawn swords, he quickly drew aside the hanging, retired into the inner chamber, closed the door with a slam, and raised a cry. The murderers accordingly, having been seen by the king, and having accomplished nothing, fled back through the door by which they had come, and told Teribazus and his friends to be off since their plot was known.
οἱ μὲν οὖν ἄλλοι διαλυθέντες ἔφυγον ὁ δὲ Τηρίβαζος συλλαμβανόμενος πολλοὺς ἀπέκτεινε τῶν βασιλέως δορυφόρων καὶ μόγις ἀκοντίῳ πληγεὶς πόρρωθεν ἔπεσε, τῷ δὲ Δαρείῳ μετὰ τῶν τέκνων ἀναχθέντι καθίσας τοὺς βασιλείους δικαστάς, οὐ παρὼν αὐτός, ἀλλʼ ἑτέρων κατηγορησάντων, ἐκέλευσεν ὑπηρέτας τὴν ἑκάστου γραψαμένους ἀπόφασιν ὡς αὐτὸν ἐπανενεγκεῖν.
The rest, then, were dispersed and fled; but Teribazus slew many of the king’s guards as they sought to arrest him, and at last was smitten by a spear at long range, and fell. Dareius, together with his children, was brought to the king, who consigned him to the royal judges for trial. The king was not present in person at the trial, but others brought in the indictment. However, the king ordered clerks to take down in writing the opinion of each judge and bring them all to him.
ἀποφηναμένων δὲ πάντων ὁμοίως καὶ καταγνόντων τοῦ Δαρείου θάνατον, οἱ μὲν ὑπηρέται συλλαβόντες αὐτὸν εἰς οἴκημα πλησίον ἀπήγαγον, ὁ δὲ δήμιος κληθεὶς ἧκε μὲν ξυρὸν ἔχων, ᾧ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἀποτέμνουσι τῶν κολαζομένων, ἰδὼν δὲ τὸν Δαρεῖον ἐξεπλάγη καὶ ἀνεχώρει πρὸς τὰς θύρας ἀποβλέπων, ὡς; οὐ δυνησόμενος οὐδὲ τολμήσων αὐτόχειρ γενέσθαι βασιλέως.
All the judges were of one opinion and condemned Dareius to death, whereupon the servants of the king seized him and led him away into a chamber near by, whither the executioner was summoned. The executioner came, with a sharp knife in his hand, wherewith the heads of condemned persons are cut off; but when he saw Dareius, he was confounded, and retired towards the door with averted gaze, declaring that he could not and would not take the life of a king.
ἔξωθεν δὲ τῶν δικαστῶν ἀπειλούντων καὶ διακελευομένων ἀναστρέψας καὶ τῇ ἑτέρᾳ χειρὶ δραξάμενος τῆς κόμης αὐτοῦ καὶ καταγαγών ἀπέτεμε τῷ ξυρῷ τὸν τράχηλον. ἔνιοι δέ φασι τὴν κρίσιν γενέσθαι βασιλέως αὐτοῦ παρόντος, τὸν δὲ Δαρεῖον, ὡς κατελαμβάνετο τοῖς ἐλέγχοις, ἐπὶ στόμα πεσόντα δεῖσθαι καὶ ἱκετεύειν·
But since the judges outside the door plied him with threats and commands, he turned back, and with one hand clutching Dareius by the hair, dragged him to the ground, and cut off his head with the knife. Some say, however, that the trial was held in the presence of the king, and that Dareius, when he was overwhelmed by the proofs, fell upon his face and begged and sued for mercy;
τὸν δὲ ὑπʼ ὀργῆς ἀναστάντα καὶ σπασάμενον τὸν ἀκινάκην τύπτειν ἕως ἀπέκτεινεν εἶτα εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν προελθόντα τὸν Ἥλιον προσκυνῆσαι καὶ εἰπεῖν εὐφραίνεσθε ἀπιόντες, ὦ Πέρσαι, καὶ λέγετε τοῖς ἄλλοις ὅτι τοῖς ἄθεσμα καὶ παράνομα διανοηθεῖσιν ὁ μέγας Ὠρομάζης δίκην ἐπιτέθεικεν.
but Artaxerxes rose up in anger, drew his scimitar, and smote him till he had killed him; then, going forth into court, he made obeisance to the sun and said: Depart in joy and peace, ye Persians, and say to all whom ye meet that those who contrived impious and unlawful things have been punished by great Oromasdes.
ἡ μὲν οὖν ἐπιβουλὴ τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τέλος, ὁ δὲ Ὦχος ἤδη μὲν ἦν ταῖς ἐλπίσι λαμπρός ὑπὸ τῆς Ἀτόσσης ἐπαιρόμενος, ἔτι δὲ ἐφοβεῖτο τῶν μὲν γνησίων τὸν ὑπόλοιπον Ἀριάσπην, τῶν δὲ νόθων Ἀρσάμην. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ἀριάσπης οὐ διὰ τὸ πρεσβύτερος εἶναι τοῦ Ὤχου, πρᾶος δὲ καὶ ἁπλοῦς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος, ἠξιοῦτο βασιλεύειν ὑπὸ τῶν Περσῶν ὁ δὲ Ἀρσάμης καὶ νοῦν ἔχειν ἐδόκει καὶ μάλιστα τῷ πατρὶ προσφιλὴς ὢν οὐκ ἐλάνθανε τὸν Ὦχον.
Such, then, was the end of the conspiracy. And now Ochus was sanguine in the hopes with which Atossa inspired him, but he was still afraid of Ariaspes, the only legitimate son of the king remaining, and also of Arsames among the illegitimate sons. For Ariaspes, not because he was older than Ochus, but because he was mild and straightforward and humane, was deemed by the Persians worthy to be their king; Arsames, however, was thought to have wisdom, and the fact that he was especially dear to his father was not unknown to Ochus.
ἐπιβουλεύων οὖν ἀμφοτέροις καὶ δολερὸς ὢν ὁμοῦ καὶ φονικός ἐχρήσατο τῇ μὲν ὠμότητι τῆς φύσεως πρὸς τὸν Ἀρσάμην, τῇ δὲ κακουργίᾳ καὶ δεινότητι πρὸς τὸν Ἀριάσπην. ὑπέπεμψε γὰρ πρὸς αὐτὸν εὐνούχους καὶ φίλους βασιλέως ἀπειλάς τινας ἀεὶ καὶ λόγους φοβεροὺς ἀπαγγέλλοντας, ὡς τοῦ πατρὸς ἐγνωκότος ἀποκτιννύειν αὐτὸν ὠμῶς καὶ ἐφυβρίστως.
Accordingly, he plotted against the lives of both, and being at once wily and bloody-minded, he brought the cruelty of his nature into play against Arsames, but his villainy and craft against Ariaspes. For he secretly sent to Ariaspes eunuchs and friends of the king, who constantly brought him word of sundry threatening and terrifying utterances implying that his father had determined to put him to a cruel and shameful death.
οἱ δὲ ταῦτα καθʼ ἡμέραν ἐκφέρειν δοκοῦντες ὡς ἀπόρρητα, καὶ τὰ μὲν μέλλειν, τὰ δὲ ὅσον οὔπω πράσσειν βασιλέα λέγοντες, οὕτως ἐξέπληξαν τὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ τοσαύτην ἐνέβαλον πτοίαν αὐτῷ καὶ ταραχὴν καὶ δυσθυμίαν εἰς τοὺς λογισμούς, ὥστε φάρμακον σκευάσαντα τῶν θανασίμων καὶ πιόντα τοῦ ζῆν ἀπαλλαγῆναι.
Since they pretended that these daily reports of theirs were secrets of state, and declared, now that the king was delaying in the matter, and now that he was on the point of acting, they so terrified the prince, and filled his mind with so great trepidation, confusion, and despair, that he drank a deadly poison which he had prepared, and thus rid himself of life.
πυθόμενος δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν τρόπον τῆς τελευτῆς, ἐκεῖνον μὲν ἀπέκλαυσε, τὴν δʼ αἰτίαν ὑπώπτευεν. ἐλέγχειν δὲ καὶ ζητεῖν ἐξαδυνατῶν διὰ γῆρας ἔτι μᾶλλον ἠσπάζετο τὸν Ἀρσάμην, καὶ δῆλος ἦν μάλιστα πιστεύων ἐκείνῳ καὶ παρρησιαζόμενος. ὅθεν οἱ περὶ τὸν Ὦχον οὐκ ἀνεβάλοντο τὴν πρᾶξιν, ἀλλʼ Ἀρπάτην υἱὸν Τηριβάζου παρασκευάσαντες ἀπέκτειναν διʼ ἐκείνου τὸν ἄνθρωπον.
When the king was informed of the manner of his death, he bewailed his son. He also suspected what had caused his death, but being unable by reason of his age to search out and convict the guilty one, he was still more well-affectioned towards Arsames, and clearly made him his chief support and confidant. Wherefore Ochus would not postpone his design, but set Arpates, a son of Teribazus, to the task and by his hand slew the prince.
ἦν μὲν οὖν ἐπὶ ῥοπῆς μικρᾶς ὁ Ἀρτοξέρξης διὰ τὸ γῆρας ἤδη τότε· προσπεσόντος δὲ αὐτῷ τοῦ περὶ τὸν Ἀρσάμην πάθους οὐδὲ ὀλίγον ἀντέσχεν, ἀλλʼ εὐθὺς ὑπὸ λύπης καὶ δυσθυμίας ἀπεσβέσθη, βιώσας μὲν ἐνενήκοντα καὶ τέσσαρα ἔτη, βασιλεύσας δὲ δύο καὶ ἑξήκοντα, δόξας δὲ πρᾶος εἶναι καὶ φιλυπήκοος οὐχ ἥκιστα διὰ τὸν υἱὸν Ὦχον ὠμότητι καὶ μιαιφονίᾳ πάντας ὑπερβαλόμενον.
Now Artaxerxes, by reason of his age, was already hovering between life and death; and when the sad fate of Arsames came to his ears, he could not hold out even a little while, but straightway expired of grief and despair. He had lived ninety-four years, and had been king sixty-two, and had the reputation of being gentle and fond of his subjects; though this was chiefly due to his son Ochus, who surpassed all men in cruelty and bloodguiltiness.
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