_Smerdis_ Reigned seven months, and in the eighth month being discovered, was slain, with a great number of the _Magi_; so the _Persians_ called their Priests, and in memory of this kept an anniversary day, which they called, _The slaughter of the _Magi__. Then Reigned _Maraphus_ and _Artaphernes_ a few days, and after them _Darius_ the son of _Hystaspes_, the son of _Arsamenes_, of the family of _Achæmenes_, a _Persian_, being chosen King by the neighing of his horse: before he Reigned his [479] name was _Ochus_. He seems on this occasion to have reformed the constitution of the _Magi_, making his father _Hystaspes_ their Master, or _Archimagus_; for _Porphyrius_ tells us, [480] that _the _Magi_ were a sort of men so venerable amongst the _Persians_, that _Darius_ the son of _Hystaspes_ wrote on the monument of his father_, amongst other things, _that he had been the Master of the _Magi__. In this reformation of the _Magi_, _Hystaspes_ was assisted by _Zoroastres_: so _Agathias_; _The _Persians_ at this day say simply that _Zoroastres_ lived under _Hystaspes__: and _Apuleius_; _Pythagoram, aiunt, inter captivos Cambysæ Regis _[ex Ægypto Babylonem abductos]_ doctores habuisse Persarum Magos, & præcipue Zoroastrem, omnis divini arcani Antistitem_. By _Zoroastres_'s conversing at _Babylon_ he seems to have borrowed his skill from the _Chaldæans_; for he was skilled in Astronomy, and used their year: so _Q. Curtius_; [481] _Magi proximi patrium carmen canebant: Magos trecenti & sexaginta quinque juvenes sequebantur, puniceis amiculis velati, diebus totius anni pares numero_: and _Ammianus_; _Scientiæ multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres_. From his conversing in several places he is reckoned a _Chaldæan_, an _Assyrian_, a _Mede_, a _Persian_, a _Bactrian_. _Suidas_ calls him [482] a _Perso-Mede_, and saith that he was _the most skilful of Astronomers, and first author of the name of the _Magi_ received among them_. This skill in Astronomy he had doubtless from the _Chaldæans_, but _Hystaspes_ travelled into _India_, to be instructed by the _Gymnosophists_: and these two conjoyning their skill and authority, instituted a new set of Priests or _Magi_, and instructed them in such ceremonies and mysteries of Religion and Philosophy as they thought fit to establish for the Religion and Philosophy of that Empire; and these instructed others, 'till from a small number they grew to a great multitude: for _Suidas_ tells us, that _Zoroastres gave a beginning to the name of the _Magi__: and _Elmacinus_; that _he reformed the religion of the _Persians_, which before was divided into many sects_: and _Agathias_; that _he introduced the religion of the _Magi_ among the _Persians_, changing their ancient sacred rites, and bringing in several opinions_: and _Ammianus_ [483] tells us, _Magiam esse divinorum incorruptissimum cultum, cujus scientiæ seculis priscis multa ex Chaldæorum arcanis Bactrianus