The character of Darius will have revealed itself with tolerable clearness in the sketch which has been here given of the chief events of his reign.  But a brief summary of some of its main points may not be superfluous.  Darius Hystaspis was, next to Cyrus, the greatest of the Persian kings; and he was even superior to Cyrus in some particulars.  His military talent has been underrated.  Though not equal to the founder of the Empire in this respect, he deserves the credit of energy, vigor, foresight, and judicious management in his military expeditions, of promptness in resolving and ability in executing, of discrimination in the selection of generals, and of a power of combination not often found in Oriental commanders.  He was personally brave, and quite willing to expose himself, even in his old age, to dangers and hardships.  But he did not unnecessarily thrust himself into peril.  He was content to employ generals, where the task to be accomplished did not seem to be beyond their powers; and he appears to have been quite free from an unworthy jealousy of their successes.  He was a man of kindly and warm feeling—­strongly attached to his friends; he was clement and even generous towards conquered foes.  When he thought the occasion required it, he could be severe but his inclination was towards mildness and indulgence.  He excelled all the other Persian kings in the arts of peace.  To him, and him alone, the Empire owed its organization.  He was a skilful administrator, a good financier, and a wise and far-seeing ruler.  Of all the Persian princes he is the only one who can be called “many-sided.”  He was organizer, general, statesman, administrator, builder, patron of arts and literature, all in one.  Without him Persia would probably have sunk as rapidly as she rose, and would be known to us only as one of the many meteor powers which have shot athwart the horizon of the East.

Xerxes, the eldest son of Darius by Atossa, succeeded his father by virtue of a formal act of choice.  It was a Persian custom that the king, before he went out of his dominions on an expedition, should nominate a successor.  Darius must have done this before his campaign in Thrace and Scythia; and if Xerxes was then, as is probable, a mere boy, it is impossible that he should have received the appointment.  Artobazanes, the eldest of all Darius’s sons, whose mother, a daughter of Gobryas, was married to Darius before he became king, was most likely then nominated, and was thenceforth regarded as the heir-apparent.  When, however, towards the close of his reign Darius again proposed to head a foreign expedition, an opportunity occurred of disturbing this arrangement, of which Atossa, Darius’s favorite wife, whose influence over her husband was unbounded, determined to take advantage.  According to the law, a fresh signification of the sovereign’s will was now requisite; and Atossa persuaded Darius to make it in favor of Xerxes.  The pleas put forward were, first, that he was the eldest son of the king, and secondly, that he was descended from Cyrus.  This latter argument could not fail to have weight.  Backed by the influence of Atossa, it prevailed over all other considerations; and hence Xerxes obtained the throne.