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120Now about the time of the sickness of Cambyses it had come to pass as follows:—There was one Oroites, a Persian, who had been appointed by Cyrus to be governor of the province of Sardis.[106] This man had set his desire upon an unholy thing; for though from Polycrates the Samian he had never suffered anything nor heard any offensive word nor even seen him before that time, he desired to take him and put him to death for a reason of this kind, as most who report the matter say:—while Oroites and another Persian whose name was Mitrobates, ruler of the province of Daskyleion,[107] were sitting at the door of the king's court, they came from words to strife with one another; and as they debated their several claims to excellence, Mitrobates taunting Oroites said: "Dost thou[108] count thyself a man, who didst never yet win for the king the island of Samos, which lies close to thy province, when it is so exceedingly easy of conquest that one of the natives of it rose up against the government with fifteen men-at-arms and got possession of the island, and is now despot of it?" Some say that because he heard this and was stung by the reproach, he formed the desire, not so much to take vengeance on him who said this, as to bring Polycrates to destruction at all costs, since by reason of him he was ill spoken of:
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Notes
[106] This is the second of the satrapies mentioned in the list, see ch. 90, named from its chief town. Oroites also possessed himself of the first satrapy, of which the chief town was Magnesia (ch. 122), and then of the third (see ch. 127).
[107] The satrapy of Daskyleion is the third in the list, see ch. 90.
[108] {su gar en andron logo}.