There are, however, some instances where the commentator makes a useful correction. The erroneous reading, ‘he would frequently address the state’ (par. 13), he altered to ‘er möchte das Reich mit Macht vernichten,’ which approaches Spiegel, ‘er möchte viele Leute tödten,’ or, as Rawlinson said in 1873, ‘he slew many people.’ So also the passage ‘afterwards Dadarses remained away from me in the field’ (Col. II. par. 9), is improved to ‘dann erwartete mich dem Befehl gemäss Dadarses.’ This Rawlinson changed in 1873 to ‘afterwards Dadarses waited for me there,’ the accepted version being ‘dort erwartete mich Dadarses so lange’ etc. It will be observed that the critic was himself liable to fall into superfluous additions not far removed from error. Sometimes, however, he avoided this trap, as when he substituted ‘he lied’ (Col. IV. par. 1) for Rawlinson’s ‘impostor,’ and ‘if you so think’ (par. 5) for ‘if it should be thus kept up.’ But in a large proportion of cases Benfey follows his leader into error with perfect complacency. In one or two places Rawlinson is obliged to confess that the difficulties are so great that translation is almost impossible. One of these occurs in the description of the religious reform after the death of Gomates, the Magian (Col. I. par. 14). Referring to this passage, he says: ‘Of several of the most important words the orthography is doubtful; of others the etymology is almost impenetrable, and the construction, moreover, in some parts renders the division into sentences a matter of serious embarrassment.’[589] But the difficulties have been found almost as insuperable by his successors. They have not been able to derive assistance from the Susian and Babylonian columns, where the difficulties are even greater. The meaning of some words still remains a mystery, and even the general drift of the passage is open to discussion. Spiegel[590] warns his readers that the explanation of the whole paragraph is still so uncertain that no opinion as to the religious history of the times can be prudently based upon it. But such passages as these are fortunately of rare occurrence; and from the moment of Rawlinson’s publication the contents of the inscription were known as thoroughly as they are at the present day. The careful study of two generations of scholars has changed a word here and a word there, and cleared up the meaning of a few doubtful passages, but in all substantial respects the translation remains unaltered.