Thalia   

cleaning them, he himself went and entered into conversation with
Cleomenes, son of Anaxandridas, king of Sparta, and as they talked
brought him along to his house. There Cleomenes, seeing the plate, was
filled with wonder and astonishment; whereon the other begged that
he would carry home with him any of the vessels that he liked.
Maeandrius said this two or three times; but Cleomenes here
displayed surpassing honesty. He refused the gift, and thinking that
if Maeandrius made the same offers to others he would get the aid he
sought, the Spartan king went straight to the ephors and told them "it
would be best for Sparta that the Samian stranger should be sent
away from the Peloponnese; for otherwise he might perchance persuade
himself or some other Spartan to be base." The ephors took his advice,
and let Maeandrius know by a herald that he must leave the city.
Meanwhile the Persians netted Samos, and delivered it up to
Syloson, stripped of all its men. After some time, however, this
same general Otanes was induced to repeople it by a dream which he
had, and a loathsome disease that seized on him.
After the armament of Otanes had set sail for Samos, the
Babylonians revolted, having made every preparation for defence.
During all the time that the Magus was king, and while the seven
were conspiring, they had profited by the troubles, and had made
themselves ready against a siege. And it happened somehow or other
that no one perceived what they were doing. At last when the time came
for rebelling openly, they did as follows:- having first set apart
their mothers, each man chose besides out of his whole household one
woman, whomsoever he pleased; these alone were allowed to live,
while all the rest were brought to one place and strangled. The
women chosen were kept to make bread for the men; while the others
were strangled that they might not consume the stores.
When tidings reached Darius of what had happened, he drew together
all his power, and began the war by marching straight upon Babylon,
and laying siege to the place. The Babylonians, however, cared not a
whit for his siege. Mounting upon the battlements that crowned their
walls, they insulted and jeered at Darius and his mighty host. One
even shouted to them and said, "Why sit ye there, Persians? why do
ye not go back to your homes? Till mules foal ye will not take our
city." This was by a Babylonian who thought that a mule would never
foal.
Now when a year and seven months had passed, Darius and his army
were quite wearied out, finding that they could not anyhow take the
city. All stratagems and all arts had been used, and yet the king
could not prevail- not even when he tried the means by which Cyrus
made himself master of the place. The Babylonians were ever upon the
watch, and he found no way of conquering them.
At last, in the twentieth month, a marvellous thing happened to
Zopyrus, son of the Megabyzus who was among the seven men that
overthrew the Magus. One of his sumpter-mules gave birth to a foal.
Zopyrus, when they told him, not thinking that it could be true,
went and saw the colt with his own eyes; after which he commanded
his servants to tell no one what had come to pass, while he himself
pondered the matter. Calling to mind then the words of the
Babylonian at the beginning of the siege, "Till mules foal ye shall
not take our city"- he thought, as he reflected on this speech, that
Babylon might now be taken. For it seemed to him that there was a
Divine Providence in the man having used the phrase, and then his mule
having foaled.
As soon therefore as he felt within himself that Babylon was fated
to be taken, he went to Darius and asked him if he set a very high
value on its conquest. When he found that Darius did indeed value it
highly, he considered further with himself how he might make the
deed his own, and be the man to take Babylon. Noble exploits in Persia
are ever highly honoured and bring their authors to greatness. He
therefore reviewed all ways of bringing the city under, but found none
by which he could hope to prevail, unless he maimed himself and then