successful. Smerdis was
killed; his imprisoned queens were set free, and Darius was raised to
the throne in his stead.

Atossa now, by that strange principle of succession which has been
already alluded to, became the wife of Darius, and she figures
frequently and conspicuously in history during his long and splendid
reign.

Her name is brought into notice in one case in a remarkable manner, in
connection with an expedition which Darius sent on an exploring tour
into Greece and Italy. She was herself the means, in fact, of sending
the expedition. She was sick; and after suffering secretly and in
silence as long as possible--the nature of her complaint being such as
to make her unwilling to speak of it to others--she at length determined
to consult a Greek physician who had been brought to Persia as a
captive, and had acquired great celebrity at Susa by his medical science
and skill. The physician said that he would undertake her case on
condition that she would promise to grant him a certain request that he
would make. She wished to know what it was beforehand, but the physician
would not tell her. He said, however, that it was nothing that it would
be in any way derogatory to her honor to grant him.

On these conditions Atossa concluded to agree to the physician's
proposals. He made her take a solemn oath that, if he cured her of her
malady, she would do whatever he required of her, provided that it was
consistent with honor and propriety. He then took her case under his
charge, prescribed for her and attended her, and in due time she was
cured. The physician then told her that what he wished her to do for him
was to find some means to persuade Darius to send him home to his native
land.

Atossa was faithful in fulfilling her promise. She took a private
opportunity, when she was alone with Darius, to propose that he should
engage in some plans of foreign conquest. She reminded him of the
vastness of the military power which was at his disposal, and of the
facility with which, by means of it, he might extend his dominions. She
extolled, too, his genius and energy, and endeavored to inspire in his
mind some ambitious desires to distinguish himself in the estimation of
mankind by bringing his capacities for the performance of great deeds
into action.

Darius listened to these suggestions of Atossa with interest and with
evident pleasure. He said that he had been forming some such plans
himself. He was going to bui