opening it from any other cause than
necessity; for in such a case it shall not turn to his advantage."
This sepulcher remained undisturbed till Darius ascended the throne.
To this king it seemed a grievance both that this gate should remain
useless, and that the wealth deposited in it, and which invited
research, should not be appropriated. The gate was not used, because
no one could pass through it without having a dead body over his head.
He therefore opened the tomb, in which he found--of treasures indeed
nothing, but the corpse, and an inscription to this effect: "If thou
hadst not been insatiably eager for riches, and greedy of filthy
lucre, thou wouldst not have opened the depository of the dead." So
much for this queen and the reports that have been handed down
concerning her.

It was against the son of this woman that Cyrus made war; he was named
(like his father) Labynetus, and reigned over the Assyrians. When the
Great King[11] goes out to battle, he is attended by ample provisions
and cattle drawn from the home stock; and even water from the
Choaspian spring at Susa,[12] of which alone the king drinks, is
carried about for his use; for he can taste no other stream. This
Choaspian water, after having been boiled, is put into vases of
silver, which are transported in four-wheeled wagons drawn by mules,
following him wherever he goes.

Cyrus advancing toward Babylon arrived at the river Gyndes, which,
rising in the Matienian hills and running through the country of the
Dardanians (or Darnians), empties itself into the Tigris; and this
river, passing by the city Opis, discharges its waters into the Red
Sea.[13] When Cyrus attempted to pass this river Gyndes, which could
only be done by boats, one of the white horses called sacred, full of
mettle, plunged into the stream and endeavored to reach the opposite
bank; but, being submerged in the current, it was carried away. Cyrus,
enraged at the river for this injury, threatened to reduce it so low
that in future women should ford it with ease, not wetting their
knees. Having uttered this threat, he delayed the progress of his army
toward Babylon, and, dividing his forces into two bodies, measured out
one hundred and eighty channels to be cut from both banks of the
river, thus diverting the Gyndes on all sides. He enjoined upon his
army the work of digging these trenches, and by their numbers they
completed it; but the whole summer was spent there in the labor.