Histories

When they were six, Darius, whose father, Hystaspes, was a subordinate governor of the Persians, arrived at Shush [48.333,32.2] (inhabited place), Khuzestan, Iran, AsiaSusa. When he came, then, the six Persians resolved to include Darius too.

The seven then met and gave each other tokens of good faith and spoke together; and when it was Darius' turn to declare his mind, he spoke as follows:

“I thought that I alone knew that it was the Magus who was king and that Smerdis son of Cyrus was dead; and it was for this reason that I made haste to come, that I might effect the Magus' death; but since it turns out that you know too and not only I, I think that we should act at once and not put it off.”