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"Cambyses, since you are the elder, have the kingdom, by the gift of the gods and of me; but to you, O Tanaoxares, I give the satrapy of the Medes and the Armenians and the Cadusians." Having given these commands and much advice to his sons, and having addressed those present and shaken hands with all, he covered himself and thus passed away. But when he was gone, his sons immediately fell into strife, and cities and nations revolted, and everything turned for the worse. These things, then, are related by Xenophon about Cyrus; but Herodotus of Halicarnassus says other things about the upbringing and death and the rest of the life of Cyrus, which it would be long to relate. But for me, having made an epitome of history, it is not fitting to make the treatise a long one; but I myself have written the more probable things, and for whoever wishes to know also what Herodotus wrote concerning him, by taking up his book he will find these things in the first account, which he inscribed with Clio, the first of the Muses. Cyrus, then, thus put an end to the rule of the Assyrians. 1.262 And in the first year of his reign, being the seventieth since the Hebrews were carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon, he allowed the Jews who were in Babylon to depart to Jerusalem and to rebuild both the city and the temple, as the prophet Jeremiah foretold, and before him Isaiah had proclaimed. For the one was when the city was taken and the temple was razed, but Isaiah was one hundred and forty years before the city was taken and the sanctuary was razed. Not only did he permit the return of the captives and the rebuilding of the city and the temple, but he also sent with them the vessels of the temple, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon, delivering them to be brought by Mithridates his treasurer and by Zerubbabel. He also wrote to the satraps in Syria to assist them in the building of the works and to supply all the expense from the royal funds. When Cyrus had commanded these things, the leaders of the two tribes, of Judah and of Benjamin, and the Levites and the priests, set out; but many remained in Babylon, not choosing to leave their possessions. And when they arrived in Jerusalem, all the men of Cyrus helped them in the building and cooperated. And those who returned were forty-two thousand six hundred. But when they were hastening with the building of the city and the temple, the surrounding nations, and especially that of the Cuthites, whom Shalmaneser had settled in Samaria when he took the Israelites captive, being envious, first prevailed upon the satraps not to help the Jews in the building. Then, after Cyrus 1.263 had ended his life, and his son Cambyses succeeded to the rule, they wrote to Cambyses, slandering the Hebrews as a rebellious and insubordinate nation, and saying, "if they complete the city and the temple, they will neither pay tribute nor obey." Having written these and more things of this sort, they persuaded him to hinder the rebuilding of the city and the temple; and the works were stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius son of Hystaspes, for nine years. For Cambyses, having reigned for seven years, and having subjugated Egypt in that time, returned and died in Damascus, while the Magi became masters of the kingdom. It is well to relate the story of these matters in brief. Cambyses had a brother, named Tanaoxares according to Xenophon, but Smerdis according to Herodotus. It seemed then to Cambyses, while he was in Egypt, that someone appeared to him in a dream and said that Smerdis, sitting on the royal throne, touched the heavens with his head. Fearing therefore for his kingdom, he immediately sends Prexaspes to Susa, to kill his brother secretly. And so he was destroyed, but Cambyses did not escape his fate. For there were two brothers, Medes, called Magi, whose names were Patizithes and Smerdis. And Smerdis not only shared the name of Smerdis the son of Cyrus

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Καμβύση, πρεσβύτερος ων τὴν βασιλείαν εχε, θεῶν διδόντων κἀμοῦ· σοὶ δέ, ω Ταναοξάρη, ειναι σατράπῃ δίδωμι Μήδων τε καὶ ̓Αρμενίων καὶ Καδουσίων." ταῦτα τοῖς παισὶν ἐντειλάμενος καὶ παραινέσας πολλά, καὶ προσειπὼν τοὺς παρόντας καὶ πάντας δεξιωσάμενος, συνεκαλύψατο καὶ ουτως ἐξέλιπεν. ἐπεὶ δ' ἐκεῖνος ἀπῄει, εὐθὺς οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ ἐστασίαζον, πόλεις δὲ καὶ εθνη ἀφίσταντο, πάντα δ' ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ἐτράπετο. Ταῦτα μὲν ουν τῷ Ξενοφῶντι περὶ Κύρου ἱστόρηται· ὁ δ' ̔Αλικαρνασσεὺς ̔Ηρόδοτος αλλα περὶ τῆς Κύρου φησὶν ἀγωγῆς τε καὶ τελευτῆς καὶ τῆς λοιπῆς βιοτῆς, α μακρὸν αν ειη διηγεῖσθαι. ἐμοὶ δ' ἐπιτομὴν ἱστορίας πεποιημένῳ οὐκ ἐπέοικε τὴν πραγματείαν θέσθαι πολύστιχον, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς μὲν τὰ πιθανώτερα εγραψα, οτῳ δ' εἰδέναι βούλημα καὶ απερ ̔Ηρόδοτος περὶ αὐτοῦ συνεγράψατο, τὴν ἐκείνου μεταχειρισάμενος βίβλον εὑρήσει ταῦτα κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον λόγον, ῳ τὴν πρώτην τῶν Μουσῶν ἐπέγραψε τὴν Κλειώ. Κῦρος μὲν ουν ουτω τὴν τῶν ̓Ασσυρίων ἀρχὴν 1.262 καταλέλυκε. τῷ δὲ πρώτῳ ετει τῆς βασιλείας αὐτοῦ, ἑβδομηκοστῷ οντι ἐξ οτου ̔Εβραῖοι εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἐξ ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ μετηνέχθησαν, ἐπέτρεψε τοῖς ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ουσιν ̓Ιουδαίοις ἀπελθεῖν εἰς ̔Ιεροσόλυμα καὶ ἀνοικοδομῆσαι τήν τε πόλιν καὶ τὸν ναόν, ὡς ὁ προφήτης ̔Ιερεμίας προανεφώνησε, καὶ πρὸ ἐκείνου ὁ ̓Ησαΐας προείρηκεν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ην οτε ἡ πόλις ηλω καὶ ὁ ναὸς κατεσκάφη, ὁ δ' ̓Ησαΐας ετεσιν ἑκατὸν καὶ τεσσαράκοντα πρότερον ην η τὴν πόλιν ἁλῶναι καὶ κατασκαφῆναι τὸ ἱερόν. οὐ μόνον δ' ἐφῆκε τοῖς αἰχμαλώτοις τὴν ἐπάνοδον καὶ τὴν τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ ἐξανάστασιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ σκεύη τὰ τοῦ ναοῦ, α Ναβουχοδονόσορ εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἐκόμισε, συνέπεμψε, παραδοὺς ταῦτα φέρειν Μιθριδάτῃ τῷ αὐτοῦ γαζοφύλακι καὶ τῷ Ζοροβάβελ. ἐπέστειλε δὲ καὶ τοῖς ἐν Συρίᾳ σατράπαις συναίρεσθαι αὐτοῖς ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν εργων οἰκοδομῇ καὶ τὴν δαπάνην αὐτοὺς χορηγεῖν πᾶσαν ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν χρημάτων. ταῦτα τοῦ Κύρου θεσπίσαντος ἐξώρμησαν οἱ τῶν δύο φυλῶν αρχοντες τῆς τε τοῦ ̓Ιούδα καὶ τῆς Βενιαμίτιδος, οι τε Λευῖται καὶ οἱ ἱερεῖς· πολλοὶ δὲ ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι κατέμειναν, τὰς κτήσεις καταλιπεῖν οὐχ αἱρούμενοι. παραγενομένοις δὲ εἰς ̔Ιεροσόλυμα οἱ τοῦ Κύρου πάντες συνήργουν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὰς οἰκοδομὰς καὶ συνέπραττον. ησαν δ' οἱ ἐπανελθόντες μυριάδες τέσσαρες δισχίλιοί τε καὶ ἑξακόσιοι. Ηδη δὲ περὶ τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τῆς πόλεως σπευδόντων καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ, τὰ πέριξ εθνη, καὶ μάλιστα τὸ Χουθαίων, ους Σαλμανασὰρ μετῴκισεν εἰς Σαμάρειαν, οτε τοὺς ̓Ισραηλίτας ἐξῃχμαλώτισε, φθονοῦντες τοὺς σατράπας ἐδεξιώσαντο πρότερον μὴ ἐπαρήγειν τοῖς ̓Ιουδαίοις εἰς τὴν οἰκοδομήν. ειτα τοῦ Κύρου 1.263 τὴν ζωὴν καταλύσαντος, Καμβύσου δὲ τοῦ παιδὸς ἐκείνου τὴν ἀρχὴν διαδεξαμένου, γράφουσι τῷ Καμβύσῃ διαβάλλοντες τοὺς ̔Εβραίους ὡς εθνος ἀποστατικόν τε καὶ ἀνυπότακτον, καί "εἰ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸν ναὸν ἐκτελέσουσι" λέγοντες "ουτε φόρους δώσουσιν ουθ' ὑπακούσονται." ταῦτα καὶ πλείω τοιαῦτα γράψαντες επεισαν αὐτὸν κωλῦσαι τὴν τῆς πόλεως καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ ἀνοικοδόμησιν· καὶ ἐπεσχέθη τὰ εργα μέχρι τοῦ δευτέρου ετους τῆς βασιλείας ∆αρείου τοῦ ̔Υστάσπου ἐπ' ετη ἐννέα. Καμβύσης γὰρ ἑπτὰ βασιλεύσας ετη, καὶ καταστρεψάμενος ἐν τούτοις τὴν Αιγυπτον, ὑποστρέψας ἐν ∆αμασκῷ ἐτελεύτησε, τῶν μάγων τῆς βασιλείας ἐγκρατῶν γενομένων. καλὸν δὲ καὶ τὰ περὶ τούτων ἐν ἐπιτομῇ διηγήσασθαι. Τῷ Καμβύσῃ ην ἀδελφός, κατὰ μὲν τὸν Ξενοφῶντα Ταναοξάρης, κατὰ δὲ τὸν ̔Ηρόδοτον Σμέρδης ὀνομαζόμενος. εδοξεν ουν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ τῷ Καμβύσῃ τυγχάνοντι καθ' υπνους τις ἐπιστὰς λέγειν ὡς ἐς τὸν βασιλικὸν καθίσας θρόνον ὁ Σμέρδης τῇ κεφαλῇ τοῦ πόλου προσψαύσειε. δείσας ουν περὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ, τὸν Πρηξάσπην αὐτίκα πέμπει ἐς Σοῦσα, κτενοῦντα λάθρᾳ τὸν ἀδελφόν. καὶ ὁ μὲν ουτω διέφθαρτο, ὁ δὲ Καμβύσης τὸ χρεὼν οὐκ ἐξέφυγε. δύο γὰρ ησαν ἀδελφοὶ Μῆδοι, μάγοι κεκλημένοι, ων τῷ μὲν Κατιζίθης, τῷ δὲ Σμέρδης ην τὰ ὀνόματα. ὁ δὲ Σμέρδης οὐ τοῦ ὀνόματος ἐκοινώνει μόνον Σμέρδῃ τῷ τοῦ Κύρου